Canned Dogs

TBS news reports that Konjiki no Gash!! author Raiku Makoto has sued publisher Shogakukan for 3.3 million yen (US$33,000) in damages for losing the original copies of several pieces of colour art. The reason for having sued for the amount mentioned is because the pieces have artistic value.

Original colour art for Gash has sold for 354,000 yen (US$3540) and 164,000 yen (US$1640) when Raiku gave his art for a charity auction, so the amount is probably based on that.

Raiku had said 2 weeks earlier that he’ll never work with Shounen Sunday again after Gash ended and would reveal his reasons soon, I guess this was what he was talking about.

Update: Raiku has updated his blog with all the details of the lawsuit, which includes details of how badly the Shogakukan editors treat their manga authors.

Gravure idol defends Arino and gets flamed by Geass fans too

Heart-sama hidebu ball released as crane game prize
From Hokuto no ken

The official site for Negima Ala Alba has updated with a promo trailer of the upcoming OAD anime. I hadn’t noticed that Shinbou was still directing it, but still no signs of any possible battle scenes…

Muhyojo reports that three new serializations will be starting in Shounen Sunday on issues 29, 30, and 31. All three of them are manga that were successful as one shot manga in Sunday, two of the one shots were published early 2007 and another one early this year.

Japanese blog ManiaxZ reports that on the 1st of June, a man was caught attacking a woman on the streets of Akihabara because he lost to her in a video game in the arcades. These violent fighting games sure are making people violent.

Japanese blog Katsujichuudoku reports that the book “Manga note” has a part on magazine editors where they revealed the reason why Inoue Takehiko made the strange decision to leave Shounen Jump after Slam Dunk ended to start a manga on Miyamoto Musashi in the magazine “Morning”.

Apparently, editors from various magazines had approached Inoue Takehiko to start a new serialization on their magazine after Slam Dunk ended.

The reason for why he picked to go to Morning was because amongst all the editors that approached him, every one of them told him that he can draw anything he likes on their magazine, however, the editor from Morning was the only person who had a plan on the manga that they wanted Inoue to do in their magazine. The editor asked him to do a manga adaptation of Yoshikawa Eiji’s Miyamoto Musashi.

Though the author of the book also adds that the story was not heard directly from Inoue Takehito himself, so he is not 100% sure if the story is completely true.

The story is definitely very plausible considering the unexpected move and the completely different genre that he started on at the time. And if it is true, it is a great story, showing a different side to the manga industry, since there are more than a handful manga authors in the industry that wish they were free to draw whatever they want to instead of being forced to do topics imposed by the editors.

Edit: corrected a big mistake. Morning magazine, not Evening!

I couldn’t find anything interesting today so I’m posting about the wonderful Kodansha 32nd manga awards! So basically Kodansha’s panel of judges has decided on the winners and they will be holding the awards ceremony on the 20th of June where each of the winners get 1 million yen (US$10,000).

Best children’s manga
Shugochara by Peach Pit
Currently running in Nakayoshi (Kodansha)

Best shounen manga
Saikyou! Toritsu aoizaka koukou yakyuubu by Tanaka Motoyuki
Currently running in Shounen Sunday (Shogakukan)

Best shoujo manga
Kimi ni Todoke by Shiina Karuho
Currently running in Bessatsu Margaret (Shueisha)

Best general manga
Moyashimon by Ishikawa Masayuki
Currently running in Evening (Kodansha)

Here’s a quick history on the Kodansha manga awards though for those who aren’t familiar with what they do. The awards were created to award the best manga that was produced each year.

Which is why of all the awards given out in the past 32 years, over 80% of the awards have gone to manga published by Kodansha.

The other publisher that had received the most number of awards next to Kodansha is Shueisha, who got about 8% of all the awards in past 32 years. And none of the manga in Shueisha’s most popular magazine Shounen Jump has ever won a single award. (Shounen Jump manga doesn’t even get nominated anymore)

On the other hand, Shogakukan’s manga awards that has been going for 53 years usually gives awards for Shounen Sunday and Shounen Jump, but has never ever given an award for manga running in Shounen Magazine, Kodansha’s most popular magazine.

But for the first time in the history of the Shogakukan manga awards this year, Shogakukan gave a manga award to a manga from Kodansha’s Shounen Magazine, which is why a Shounen Sunday manga also received an award for the first time in the history of Kodansha’s manga awards. And the reason for this sudden change is because… Shounen Magazine and Shounen Sunday had a collaboration project.

Japanese blog 12 year old Tiyu has a more detailed analysis of all these awards stuff.

The Lucky Star OVA will start in the summer apparently. Still by Kyoani. Haruhi in 2009 sounds more real with each passing day!

The Wii Haruhi game will be a dance game.

Dengeki has revealed details on Akibablog about their upcoming magazine renewal that was announced last month. It involves a new logo and… increased number of pages and lower price. 900 pages and 580 yen is awesome, but I guess that means they’ll be back to using cheap paper.

Japanese site Takahiro no kenkyuukan had a write up on the readership data released by publisher Ichijinsha on their site for potential advertisers. So… yeah. Here’s a bunch of data for people who’s interested in knowing what kind of people read Comic ZERO-SUM or Comic REX.

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The usual Jump insider on 2ch has revealed that Mx0 will end soon in the coming issues. I don’t post about comics getting cut from Jump, but I liked Mx0 so I’m posting about it! Man I thought it would survive a little longer. Also getting cut from Jump are Poseidon and Hatsukoi gentei.

226 名前： ◆rxdZIQsltk [sage] 投稿日：2008/04/25(金) 12:30:46 ID:3BHc/Jn60
今更用無しかも
in　島袋（2号連続巻頭）濱田（新人）
out　H　ポ　初　M

Additional note: Just in case anybody misreads, Mx0 is going to end in the next 3-4 chapters or so, it’s not going to end immediately in the next issue of Jump.

Kami nomi zo shiru sekai - The world only god knows, is a manga that has recently started in Shounen Sunday by author Wakaki Tamiki (who has no money). The manga is about 17 year old student Katsuragi Keima who is apparently the god of galge and has already conquered 10,000 girls in galge.

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The June issue of Dengeki Daioh which will be released on the 21st of April contains a mysterious ad depicting a baby feeling up Shana and a message saying that a brand new Dengeki Daioh will be revealed in June. Nothing else is known at this point, more will probably be revealed in the July issue.

The Dengeki Moeoh blog also reveals that a Sharin no kuni manga by Usami Wataru will start in the July issue of Dengeki Daioh. About time!

Japanese blog Ninniki nikki reports that the bakery Boulangerie Ken at Akatsuka have started selling bread that is made to look like the stone mask from JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure. Pics are available on the blog.