manganews.net

Contents

Viz Explains Naruto Speed-ups
Manga in Comic Awards
Follow-Up on Nymphet
New Yaoi Titles from Kitty Media
Manga Influnece Comics: Female-Oriented Comic Line from DC
Hideyuki Kikuchi’s Vampire Hunter D Website Bonus Lair
Monthly Jump's Final Notice
Investigation on "Shoujo Harmful Books"
Upcoming Misc Serializations
Japanese Top 10 (6/6)
Reviews

News

•Viz Explains Naruto Speed-ups:
ICv2 sits down withGonzalo Ferreyra, Viz Vice President of Sales, and David Rewalt, Director of Retail Marketing, to discuss the aggressive strategy of releasing twelve volumes of Naruto starting Sept to Dec this year.

Some people have characterized this as a market share grab.  In other words, Viz is putting out a huge number of volumes of its most popular book; it's going to suck dollars out of the environment; suck the oxygen out of the room for competitors.  What do you say to that characterization?
GF:  I can certainly see how it might look that way.  I'd probably suspect the same thing if I were somewhere else, but I can say in all honesty that was never even remotely a consideration of ours.  It really was about the property, about the needs of this narrative arc, about the need to be true to the spirit of the property and to the manga in light of everything else we've seen hitting these shores.  I wish I had something more scandalous to report, but I really don't. [ Part I, Part II ]

•Manga in Comic Awards:

2007 Harvey Award Nominees -- Awards given to excellence in the Comic Book Industry: Best American Edition of Foreign Material
Abandon the Old in Tokyo by Yoshihiro Tatsumi (Drawn and Quarterly)
Ode to Kirihito by Osamu Tezuka (Vertical)
[ LIst of All Norminees ] Quill Awards Nominees -- a People's choice award given to promote literacy; voting will start Sept 10th:
Ode to Kirihito by Osamu Tezuka (Vertical) [ List of All Norminees ]

•Follow-Up on Nymphet:
Since Seven Seas announced the cancellation of Nymphet (Kodomo no Jikan), Jason DeAngelis gives us an honest and thorough response and Watashiya-sensei replies.

•New Yaoi Titles:
Yaoi Suki points us to two new yaoi titles: I Want to Be Naughty! by Mei Sakuraga and Roses of the Rhine by Megumu Minami
[ Source: Yaoi Suki ]

•Manga Influnece Comics: Female-Oriented Comic Line from DC:
Drawing from the success of manga, DC will have a comic line called "Minx", with their first title to release this month. "We were looking at the success of manga as a great sign that teenage girls were actually reading comics again," said Karen Berger, a senior vice president at DC Comics who oversees the Minx line. "Girls tend to read more than boys historically, and the fact that there hasn't been that much material in the comic and graphic novel form aimed for young girls before this just leaves the area wide open."
[ Read More ]

•Hideyuki Kikuchi’s Vampire Hunter D Website Bonus Lair:
DMP Announces Vampire Hunter D Website, which brings the latest information on the upcoming manga.
[ Read Full Press Release ][ Previous: Vampire Hunter D Worldwid Stimultaneous Releases ]

•Monthly Jump's Final Notice:

After the huge July issue, Monthly Shounen Jump will be suspended. Shueisha will be preparing for a new manga magazine this fall that will be much stronger. The information for the new magazine will be published in Weekly Shounen Jump.

• Claymore, which the anime is currently being aired will be temporarily moved to Weekly Shounen Jump for a month and be published once a mnth, the first one being No. 31 (on sale July 2nd).

• Gyagu Manga Biyori, Keisatsuken Kinzon and Tegami Bunch will be serialized in Weekly Shounen Jump and then move to the new magazine. (Note: Claymore will be serializing twice in Weekly Jump while Gyagu Manga Biyori, Keisatsuken Kinzon and Tegami Bunch will have different serialization schedule. Please follow the upcoming notice.)

• Mahou Tsukai Kurohime will continue serializing on the homepage of the new magazine. The same author, Masanori Katakura, will have a new serialization in the new magazine on the first issue.

• The mangaka for Beet the Vandel Buster, Kouji Inada, has been unwelled. The series will continue sometimes in the future. A notice will be given in Weekly Shounen Jump and V Jump's websites when the date of the reopening of the series has been decided. [ Source: Weekly Shounen Jump ]

•Investigation on "Shoujo Harmful Books": How are we doing, a year after Osaka Prefecture strengtening regulation on "obscene depicted" shoujo and list them as "harmful books"? (original report)

On the 8th of this month, the Osaka Police, the Prefecture Government, and the Prefecture Board of Education went to various bookstores in Osaka to investigate the actual sale of shoujo comic magazines that were listed as as "harmful books" under the Fostering Healthy Young People Regulation. After investigating a total of 70 stores, including 44 bookstores and 26 convenience stores, about half the stores had put the "harmful books" right beside the general books. The Prefecture police were instructing the stores to prevent people under 18 from reading or purchasing the harmful books.

In a comic specialty store at a Northern area in Osaka, five volumes of sexually depicted comics were lined up together with sports and friendship theme manga. The investigator has instructed the bookstore to separate the general books from these harmful books.

According to the Prefecture Laws, books that "stimulate young people's sexual feelings remarkably" have been marked as "harmful books" and those under 18 are forbidden to purchase them. Since the law was put in effect in April of last year, 81 volumes of shoujo magazine has been marked as "harmful books".

Many of these shoujo manga magazines contain advertisements of internet dating services and sex-related industry employment. According to the police investigator, "It's difficult to tell from the cover whether these books are harmful or not. A girl can easily buy these books without being noticed. We do not wish them to end up in sex crimes, so we want the stores to be careful with these materials."
[ Source: Asahi ]

•c: Some interesting serialization coming up, including Iriya no Sora, UFO no Natsu from popular Dengek Bunko novel turned anime OVA, Dennou Coil, the popular children anime this season, a series from Touhou Project, a major selling doujin game and finally the most top selling (technically pre-ordering) amazon.jp game for months, the loli-witch touching/hunting SNK game for Ninendo DS, Doki Doki Majo Shinpan.

- Comic Moeoh (Summer)
Iriya no Sora, UFO no Natsu by Nukako Kanno
[ Source: Moon Phase ]

- Bessatsu CiaoAugust Issue (7/3)
Dennou Coil by Mizuki Kuse

- Comic Rex
July Issue (6/8) Touhou Hougetsushou -- Silent Sinner in Blue by Aki*Ada
[ Source: Moon Chronicle ]

- Shounen Champion Red
August Issue (6/18) Doki Doki Majo Shinpan by Ken Yagami
[ Source: Moon Phase ]