Manga

It's the title that broke manga in the US -- no comic has had a bigger influence than SAILOR MOON, the manga/anime that kicked...

With the ongoing tragedy in eastern Japan unfolding before our eyes, it's inevitable that there will be cancellations to many planned Anime/Manga events. Although Tokyo is not affected directly by the quake, given the difficult conditions -- potential blackouts and crisis management-- the Tokyo International Anime Fair 2011, which was to be held March 24-27 has been canceled, according to the website of the venue, the Big Site in Tokyo. According to posts on the Anime convention mailing list, the Big Site venue was damaged in the quake; in addition, air travel to Japan is being limited. The Anime Contents Expo is also expected to be canceled.

To mark their 100th manga for their iPad app, leading manga publisher Viz Media is launching several promotions, including the release of BAKUMAN #4 in digital form on March 28th, more than a week ahead of its April 5th print debut. In addition, they are making all #1 manga volumes just 99 cents for the rest of March. Finally, BAKUMAN #1 is available for free for 24 hours, starting today at noon PDT. Created by the popular DEATH NOTE team of Tsugumi Ohba and Takeshi Obata, BAKUMAN is a humorous look behind the manga business, following two students who are trying to break into the manga industry,

Word is going around that LA manga publisherToykopop has laid off several more people -- including editors Lillian Diaz-Przybyl and Troy Lewter. The staff is now reduced to a mere handful of people -- including owner Stu Levy and publisher Mike Kiley. EDIT: Editor Asako Suzuki has also been laid off.

Oji Suzuki is the latest in D&Q's gekiga projects, and Tom Devlin explains why:

Chinese artist Xiao Bai was just presented with the Gold Award in the International Manga Awards. The prize, founded by Japan's former otaku-loving prime minister Taro Aso are presented to recognize international achievements in the manga style. Bai won for “So Far, So Close,” a time travel story about a woman who meets her own son.

Japanese publishing giant Kodansha and Dai Nippon Printing have joined up to purchase Vertical, Inc., the American publishing company that specializes in Engilsh-language versions of Japanese literature, including manga by Tezuka, Kou Yaginuma, and Felipe Smith, among others. The companies each purchased about 46 percent of the company, which has about $930,000 in capitalization.

Just to forestall a heart attack by Mike Richardson, I'll spoil the answer right here: YES. The reason the question even came up is some dissension following Dark Horse's win in the Diamond Awards for "Best Manga Publisher," which, given the wide ranging publisher programs of Viz, Yen and TokyoPop was surprising, to say the least, as Johanna explained:

Before MAUS proved that US comics could take on the most serious subjects with intelligence and dignity, the Japanese were there first. BAREFOOT GEN took on another World War II horror -- the bombing of Hiroshima -- with 10 harrowing volumes, based on the real life experiences of Keiji Nakazawa. The series -- published in 6 volumes in the US by Last Gasp -- is the subject of this month's Manga Movable Feast, hosted at A Life in Panels, but also summarized by Ed Sizemore who reviews the series at Manga Worth Reading:

This article from New Zealand goes into more detail on he thinking behind the current manga sales restrictions, and they are pretty much aimed at stopping young folks from doing anything stupid and fun, not stopping perverts. Take this from gynecologist Dr Tsuneo Akaeda, who thinks manga leads to STDs:

Hiroko Tabuchi of the NY Times has alengthy piece Japan's recent legislation banning sales of adult material to minors. Along the way there's a lot of "Only in Japan!" stuff:

Because you can't get enough surreal cartooniness today,. here's the first episode of CAT SH*T ONE, an anime version of the war in the MIddle East starring violent bunnies and camels. It's based on the manga series by Motofumi Kobayashi, which was set in the VIetnam War, but there's plenty of guerilla war to go around for reboots. Sadly, the kitty kat Viet Cong in the original are replaced by camel terrorists here.