Influential mangaka passes away Beloved mangaka Shigeru Mizuki passed away earlier this week at the age of 93. His manga GeGeGe no Kitaro is credited with encouraging Japan’s love of yokai. Mizuki kept working and producing new manga until his death. May all comic creators aspire to be as industrious as he was! Chinese nationals…
Shinbun Saturday: ’90s Manga Classic Takes the Stage
’90s manga Fushigi Yuugi gets stage musical adaptation The official website for the production based on Yuu Watase’s manga launched earlier this week. The role of heroine Miaka will be played by Reina Tanaka, a former member of girl group Morning Musume. This is the third time the manga has received a stage play. Hiromu…
Shinbun Saturday: Online Piracy Crackdown
Two Chinese nationals arrested for uploading manga Two Chinese men were arrested and charged with copyright violation for allegedly uploading pages from Shounen Jump. The Japanese deliveryman, Takehisa Hidaka, has also been arrested for providing the manga magazine without legal permission to three other Chinese nationals before this incident. While that charge involved the upload…
Shinbun Saturday: Dark Horse to Republish Kenji Tsuruta Fantasy Series
Dark Horse acquires Wandering Island for North American publication The publisher hopes to tap into the wide popularity of Kenji Tsuruta’s previous series Spirit of Wonder with this new title. Fans of Kiki’s Delivery Service may find their interest peaked by Mikura Amelia’s story, as she sets out in her seaplane to find the mysterious…
Shinbun Saturday: Industry Spotlights Manga Creators in New Publications
Shounen Jump and Ichijinsha highlight manga creators in new magazines Jump Ryu! is set to launch in January 2016, with a bi-monthly release schedule, supplementing Shounen Jump. The magazine will feature a different manga writer and/or artist in every issue–including a peek at their workspaces–with the cover of that issue drawn by the artists themselves….
Shinbun Saturday: Manga Faces Bans and Criticism
Increasing pressure on Japan to ban manga featuring sexualizd portrayals of minors Earlier this week, a UN special envoy called for Japan to ban manga featuring sexualized images of children. The request comes after a new law criminalizing possession of child pornography came into effect this past summer. Under the law, manga containing pedophiliac content…
Shinbun Saturday: Osamu Tezuka Biography Comes to North American Shores
Stone Bridge Press to publish Osamu Tezuka biography Earlier this week, Stone Bridge Press announced that they would be releasing The Osamu Tezuka Story: A Life in Manga and Anime, a manga-style biography next summer. At over 900 pages long, the book covers the entirety of Tezuka’s career–including his early successes. It’s a nice way…
Shinbun Saturday: New Film Adaptations, New Licenses, New Chapters!
NYCC manga industry round-up New York Comic Con took place last weekend and the manga industry played a pretty big role! While I’m sure a lot of this had to do with Masashi Kishimoto (Naruto) being a guest, that was still great to see. The biggest news to come out of NYCC is probably the…
Shinbun Saturday: A Ninja Manga Goes Out with Style
October marks the English-language series finale of Naruto Naruto may have ended in Japan last year, but VIZ Media released the final volume of the long-running ninja manga earlier this week. To celebrate the occasion, VIZ Media is offering exclusive bundles collecting all 72 volumes of the series on VIZManga.com and ComiXology. In addition, the Naruto…
Shinbun Saturday: Manga, Angels, and Tentacle Monsters
More Assassination Classroom action on the way Can get enough of a certain alien tentacle monster? Don’t worry! Yusei Matsui’s Assassination Classroom is getting a spin-off series next month. Slated to run in Saikyou Jump, Koro-sensei Q! will be drawn and written by Kizuku Watanabe and Jou Aoto and feature the titular character as a…
Shinbun Saturday: Japanese Company To Debut Popular Ebook Store in English
Kadokawa to launch English-language version of their online bookstore Japanese company Kadokawa will be launching an English-language version of BookWalker, their online ebook store, this fall. One of Japan’s largest publishing and entertainment companies, Kadokawa will be adding 700+ manga and light novel titles to the etailer in October. Fans will likely recognize some of…
Shinbun Saturday: TOKYOPOP Aims for 2016 Relaunch
TOKYOPOP talks more about its future plans TOKYOPOP sent waves through the industry earlier this year at Anime Expo when they announced their intention to get back into the manga business. Some of it stirred up memories about the company’s influence on the North American manga scene; others raised concerns about their questionable contracts. More…