July 1

Del Rey

• Dragon Eye, Vol. 5

TokyoPop

• Bizenghast, Vol.5
• Fruits Basket Sticker Collection, Vol. 1 (Art Book)
• Rising Stars of Manga, Vol. 8 (Anthology)
• Silver Diamond, Vol. 1
• Star Trek: The Manga, Vol. 3
• Tokko, Vol.1
• Vassalord, Vol. 1

Viz Media

• Black Cat, Vol. 15
• Claymore, Vol. 12
• COWA!
• Gin Tama, Vol. 7
• Gun Blaze West , Vol. 2
• High School Debut , Vol. 4
• Hunter x Hunter, Vol. 21
• Kurohime, Vol. 6
• La Corda d’Oro, Vol. 8
• Love Com, Vol. 7
• Nana, Vol. 11
• Naruto, Vol. 30
• Reborn!, Vol. 8
• S.A, Vol. 5
• Shaman King, Vol. 17
• Skip Beat!, Vol. 13
• Strawberry 100%, Vol. 5
• The Prince of Tennis, Vol. 26
• Time Stranger Kyoko, Vol. 1
• Ultimate Muscle, Vol. 20
• YuYu Hakusho, Vol. 15

July 2

CMX

• Crayon Shinchan, Vol.3
• The Flat Earth/Exchange, Vol.1
• Shirley, Vol. 1
• Steel Fist Riku, Vol. 1
• The Young Magician, Vol. 12

Dark Horse

• Path of the Assassin, Vol. 12: Three Foot Battle

July 7

TokyoPop

• Getbackers, Vol. 25

July 8

Del Rey

• Gacha Gacha:The Next Revolution, Vol.7
• Kagetora, Vol. 10

Digital Manga Publishing

• Ai no Kusabi, Vol. 3: Nightmare
• Gentle Cage
• Kiss Blue, Vol. 1
• Today’s Ulterior Motives
• Blue Sky
• Fafner: Dead Aggressor

TokyoPop

• Arcana, Vol.9
• Atelier Marie and Elie - Zarlburg Alchemist, Vol.4
• B’Tx, Vol. 15
• Chibi Vampire: The Novel, Vol. 5
• Daemonium, Vol. 1
• Elemental Gelade, Vol. 8
• Ellie Mamahara: Alley of First Love, Vol. 1
• Fever, Vol. 2
• Fruits Basket, Vol. 20
• Guardian Hearts, Vol. 1
• Kannazuki no Miko: Destiny of Shrine Maiden, Vol. 2
• Lights Out, Vol. 9
• Martin and John, Vol. 1
• Never Give Up, Vol. 8
• Nosatsu Junkie, Vol. 6
• Pick of the Litter, Vol. 4
• Princess Ai of Ai-land: The Comic Strip Collection, Vol. 1
• Private School, Vol. 1
• Psychic Power Nanaki, Vol. 3
• Rolling, Vol. 1
• Samurai Deeper Kyo, Vol. 29
• Seduction More Beautiful Than Love, Vol. 2
• Suppli, Vol. 3
• The Dark Goodbye, Vol. 2
• The Third, Vol. 2
• Warriors: The Rise of Scourge, Vol. 1
• Yonen Buzz: Plastic Chew, Vol. 1
• Your & My Secret, Vol. 2
• Zig*Zag, Vol. 3

Viz Media

• Bastard!!, Vol. 17
• Inuyasha, Vol. 34
• Red River, Vol. 22
• Switch, Vol. 3
• Togari, Vol. 7
• Yakitate!! Japan, Vol. 12

Read more

In early June, Tokyopop announced that they would be restructuring their company. Publishing operations would still be handled by Tokyopop, Inc. However, a new company called Tokyopop Media LLC would be created. This company will take over the comics-to-film and digital units (including the Tokyopop.com website).

The “new” Tokyopop Inc. will be leaner than its predecessor.John Parker, Tokyopop Group President and COO, will take over as Publisher of Tokyopop Inc. and Marco Pavia, formerly the Director of Marketing will be the new Associate Publisher. The former Publisher of Tokyopop Inc., Mike Kiley, will move over to Tokyopop Media in a key senior (though as yet unnamed) position.

The “new” Tokyopop Inc. will be leaner than its predecessor. 39 positions, or about 35% - 40% of the US staff, have been cut. While all departments were affected, Mike Kiley said in an ICv2 (pop culture trade news/information site) interview:

I can tell you that the reduction in force was mainly a function of right-sizing our release schedule, that those people that were closest to the actual production of physical books were more heavily impacted than in more general support categories.

As the above statement implies, the number of releases have also been reduced. The output will now be around 200-225 titles per year, or roughly 50% of the original plan of releasing 500 titles per year.

Information about specific titles has started to become available. Lianne Sentar (freelance rewriter and editor) wrote in her blog that the series she has been working on (Fruits Basket, Saiyuki, Tactics, and Rave Master) have not been canceled. But, she also said that the news was bittersweet since most of the staff editors she worked with have been laid off.

Diamond Comic Distributors Cancels Orders

Diamond Comic Distributors have canceled the July solicitations of over 20 volumes. The list of titles may be found here.

World Manga Impacts

In the area of World Manga (manga produced outside of Japan), Graphic Novelist Rivkah has reported on her blog, that the third and final volume of her Steady Beat series will only be available on the web. There will not, at least for the foreseeable future, be a print version. She also writes that many of Tokyopop’s books will be web-only.

She does mention that she has concerns about how royalties will be calculated for web content. Bettina Marie Kurkoski has bad news. She wrote in her blog that My Cat Loki, Vol. 3 will not be released in web or print form.

Two other World Manga authors have good news. Christy Lijewski says her Re: Play, Vol. 3 will be released in print form. Likewise, Rikki Simons says that Shutterbox, Vol. 6 will be printed.

Why the sudden reduction? In another ICv2 interview, Tokyopop CEO, Stuart Levy said:

The time is now for us to focus our publishing business to overcome current market challenges. Few(er) releases will allow for less cannibalization at retail.

Some of these challenges were mentioned in an ICv2 report released in April. This was presented at their annual Graphic Novel Conference at New York Comic Con…specifically:

Manga sales, including both comics and periodicals, were
about 5% to $210 million in 2007, up from $200 million in 2006. This was the lowest growth rate for manga since ICv2 began tracking sales.

Overall Bookstore Sales

Sales through bookstores were up by a mid-single digit rate, but direct market sales declined 5-10%. The decline in direct sales of manga was due to a reduced emphasis on the category by comic stores, a significant percentage of whom reduced their manga floor space in response to the growing number of releases and the increased difficulty in choosing between them.

Over-all, top manga titles continue to do well, but titles in the lower ranks of releases are having difficulty finding breathing room.

Another factor in the slowing manga growth rate may have been increased competition from publishers of American graphic novel material for space in stores.

Manga Sales Drop In Japan

In Japan, manga sales have been declining for the past 5-6 years. According to a 2007 report from the Tokyo-based Research Institute for Publications (via USA Today), the reasons for the decline are the shrinking pool of potential readers due to falling birthrates, dissatisfaction with the quality of current manga (lack of originality and variety), the print media as a whole has a decline in readership, and the increasing popularity of using the electronic media (cellphones and PCs) as a way of getting manga.

Perhaps the latter influenced Tokyopop’s decision to split their print and digital arms into separate companies…allowing them to position themselves as a leading force in the new medium. Mike Kiley of Tokyopop Media explained the reorganization this way:

I think the most immediate and practical answer is that we wanted to set things up in ways that would very clearly and definitively allow those businesses (Tokyopop Inc. and Tokyopop Media) to focus on what they need to do to succeed. The goals in each company are different and the achievement of those goals is more realistic, more possible if everyone working in each of those companies is very clearly focused.

Tokyopop Japan Updates

On a side note, according to ICv2, Tokyopop’s Japan operation will also be splitting into two. One will be under Tokyopop Media and the other will be under the Tokyopop Group’s holding company. The European operations will be unaffected…at least structurally. After the US division announced their release reductions, Tokyopop UK is planning on cutting their releases by about 20%.

Sources

ICv2 Sources:

• Tokyopop Splits into Two Companies
• Inside the Tokyopop Restructuring
• Graphic Novels Hit $375 Million

ANN Sources:

• Different Fates for Tokyopop’s World Manga Titles
• Tokyopop Manga Volumes Pulled from July Solicitations (Updated)
• Tokyopop to Cut Manga Output in United Kingdom

USA Today Source:

• Manga comics losing longtime hold on Japan

Leading things off this month are three contests:

Third International Manga Competition (MIMC)

First, Kodansha’s weekly manga magazine, Morning, is presenting its Third International Manga Competition (MIMC). The purpose of the competition is to find and develop new talent.

The grand prize is $5,000 (US) and there are two second prizes of $2,000 (US) each. The grand prize winner will also have his/her work featured in Morning. The contest is not limited to manga. All types of comics are welcome. The deadline for entry is September 30, 2008. For the full set of rules visit the MIMC website which offers the rules in 11 languages. Here is the link for the English set.

Incidentally, the Morning website announced the grand winner of the 2nd MIMC…Meng-Lin Yu of Taiwan who wrote the short story, “Fairy Tale”. The fantasy has been published as a 32 page print (including some color pages) in the May 22 issue of Morning2 (a special issue of Morning). The two second prize winners will be announced later this month.

Image from “Fairy Tale” originally posted on MIMC website.

RightStuf Contests

The other two contests (one has an anime prize and the other has a live action prize) are presented by RightStuf:

The Anime contest features the box set of Full Metal Panic! The Second Raid, which was released earlier this month. RightStuf has teamed up with FUNimation and they are offering 4 lucky people a copy of this box set. Here is a synopsis of Full Metal Panic! The Second Raid:

It’s tough to keep your grades up without having to take off at a moment’s notice to save the world. But for Sousuke Sagara, undercover high school student and member of the mercenary group Mithril, life in Tokyo seemed the same as always.

But underneath the promising exterior spin the wheels of a conspiracy that threaten to destroy the peace. A new threat has arisen: Amalgam.

An unknown element with advanced mech technology, this mysterious organization has been running things from behind the scenes. As dissension spreads throughout the ranks of Mithril, Sousuke faces his own internal struggle.

Spread thin between schoolwork and war, the powers that be have decided to lighten his load… beginning with Kaname!

The contest is open to anyone 13 years old or older. To enter, simply fill out the entry form and submit it by June 19, 2008. You can view the official rules here.

Honey and Clover/Love*Com Contests

The Live-Action contest features the recent movie releases of Honey and Clover and Love*Com. For this contest, RightStuf has partnered with Viz to offer two lucky people a gift package. Each package includes:

• A copy of the Honey and Clover DVD, plus movie poster
• A copy of the Love*Com DVD, plus mini-poster
• A copy of Shojo Beat July Issue

Here is a synopsis of the Honey and Clover movie:

Honey and Clover is a romantic comedy about a group of art school students who try to scrape by, barely earning enough money buy food and pay their rent. But as soon as an innocent and talented 19-year-old girl enters their lives, things get a lot more complicated as love triangles result.

Here is a synopsis of the Love*Com movie:

Love*Com - Risa Koizumi is taller than the average girl, and the last thing she wants is the humiliation of standing next to Atsushi Otani, a shorter-than-average boy. Fate and the whole school have other ideas, however, and the two find themselves cast as the unwilling stars of a bizarre romantic comedy duo. But as their friendship develops, so do Risa’s feelings toward Otani.

As with the Anime Contest, the Live-Action Contest is open to anyone 13 years old or older. To enter, simply fill out the entry form and submit it by June 19, 2008. View the official rules.

RightStuf Sales

Now on to the sales…staying with RightStuf, their current sale is called Dive into Savings.

This is essentially a clearance sale of select portions of their Geneon stock. All select items are $5, $10, or $15 and many items are “while supplies last”. Because this is a special sale, there are a few additional restrictions:

• Box set items are not included in the sale.
• Quantities are limited. RightStuf reserves the right to restrict quantities purchased during the sale. This way no one customer can load up on all of the available inventory for a specific item. Fair for all, and more savings to go around.
• This sale is for end-user customers only. (No dealers or resellers.)
• There is no coupon code needed. The sale ends on June 15 at 11:59 CDT.

• Anime Nation Sales

• AnimeNation has a new sale. You can get 40% off all Nozomi Entertainment titles. For those of you interested in adult anime, this sale also includes Critical Mass titles.

The consolidation of US anime distributors is continuing. On July 1, Bandai Namco Holdings will combine Bandai Entertainment and Bandai Visual USA. The latter will be liquidated by the end of September.

Bandai Visual USA has been shrinking. As of April, they had only two employees. The company head, Tatsunori Konno, moved back to Japan earlier this month.

Bandai Visual USA was established to primarily present collectors’ editions of Bandai Visual titles from Japan. The price structure was similar to their Japanese counterparts and was not warmly received by North American consumers. Last year, the company had over $1.15 million in sales, but had a loss of $595,000.

On a related note, parent company, Bandai Namco Holdings announced their financial numbers on May 8 for last fiscal year which ended in March. The news was not bad, but it also was not good. According to Anime! Anime!, the consolidated income was 460,473 million yen (about $4.4 billion US). This was only a 0.3% increase from last year, and did not meet the projected amount of 480,000 million yen (about $4.6 billion US). Other numbers:

• operating income was 33,411 million yen (about $319 million US)
• recurring income was 36,198 million yen (about $345 million US)
• net income was 32,679 million yen (about $312 million US)

ANN Story:
Bandai Visual USA to be Liquidated by September

Press Releases:
Bandai Namco
Bandai Entertainment
Bandai Visual USA

Anime! Anime! Story (translated by KatanaXtreme):
Namco Bandai’s financial result reveals the hard fight of AM, and visual and music content businesses

__________

In other Bandai news, Bandai Entertainment announced that the Gainax series, Gurren Lagann, will air on the US’s Sci Fi Channel. It will air as part of Sci Fi’s Ani-Monday block beginning July 28. Two episodes will be presented every week through October. The announcement was made earlier this month at the Talks on Gurren Lagann panel discussion which was part of FanimeCon (San Jose, California).

Image © Gainax/Aniplex, KDE-J, TV Tokyo, Dentsu

ANN Story:
Bandai Entertainment Confirms Gurren Lagann on Sci Fi Channel (Updated)

__________

Director Mamoru Oshii (Ghost in the Shell) recently supervised the opening and ending animations for NHK’s new documentary mini-series, Futto Toshi (Effervescent Cities…ANN’s translation of the title is Cities in Tumultuous Change). Production I.G animated the title sequence and Kenji Kawai (Ghost in the Shell movies) composed the music.

The 8-part series premiered on May 18 and focuses on cities which are “becoming new international players with the advance of globalization“. On the NHK website, Shinichi Terazono, Senior Producer (Special Programs Division in charge Futto Toshi) comments about the series:

“This is said to be the year when the world’s urban population is overtaking the world’s rural population. Globalization is also shifting power away from the United States to other growing economic powers. I believe we can present a new type of documentary. The title sequence images have been created by Mamoru Oshii, whose work is popular among young Japanese people, and the pace of the program will be faster than in our conventional documentaries. Dubai is the first rising city of the series, followed by London, Dacca, and Istanbul.“

Image captures taken from a promotional video of the first two episodes of Futto Toshi:
Copyright NHK Japan Broadcasting Corporation. All rights reserved.

ANN Story:
Oshii Oversees Opening, Ending for NHK Documentaries

NHK Reference:
On two new NHK Specials, Futto Toshi (Effervescent Cities), and The Arctic Circle – The Future of the Globe
__________

ADV Films and San Francisco based video sharing site Crunchyroll have teamed up with a digital promotion campaign. The first 12 episodes of the 24 episode series, Welcome to the NHK will be available on Crunchyroll’s website. Currently, episodes 1 - 4 are available (as of May 29). Over the next four weeks, the remaining episodes will be posted, two episodes every Thursday. As a cross-promotion, ADV is also offering Volumes 1 - 3 of Welcome to the NHK DVDs at 50% off the suggested retail price at select retailers.

Crunchyroll has its own promotional tie-in. They are running a contest to find the “Top Otaku”. The contest is open to community members, who have to post photos of their otaku room showing off all their fan stuff. The winners will get Volumes 1 - 4 of Welcome to the NHK DVDs. For full rules, check the Crunchyroll website.

What makes this partnership a little unusual is that Crunchyroll is known for pushing (and often stepping over) the boundaries of copyright law. The site has been popular and, in 2007, Viacom nearly bought Crunchyroll for $10 million. Probably someone in the company realized that the purchase of a company known for posting copyright infringing content would hurt their lawsuit with Google (YouTube) and the deal was dropped. Still, Crunchyroll was able to secure over $4 million of funding earlier this February from venture capital firm Venrock.

ANN Story:
Crunchyroll to Stream ADV’s Welcome to the NHK

Crunchyroll References:
Crunchyroll Pushes the Envelope On Video Copyright
VC’s Back Crunchyroll: Guts? Brains? Or Sheer Stupidity?

__________

Speaking of copyright infringement, the Belarusian baked goods and confectionery company, MINSKHLEBPROM, seems to be pushing the envelope with a mascot character shown on the packaging of their chocolate waffle. The character looks suspiciously like Haruhi Suzumiya, the title charater of The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya (light novels, manga, and anime). Several online sites in Japan have nicknamed the Belarusian character “Haruhinov,” “Haruhichov,” “Haruhikov Dekovitch,” and “Haruhinikov Uchujinsky”.

Haruhi Image © 2006 Nagaru Tanigawa / Noizi Ito / member of SOS

ANN Story:
Haruhi Lookalike Appears on Belarusian Waffle Packaging (Updated)

Japanese Source:
newAkiba.com

__________

Japan’s Ministry of Tourism is hoping that kawaii will bring in more visitors from China. Earlier this month, the Ministry appointed Hello Kitty as the tourism ambassador to China and Hong Kong. She is very popular among children and young women there and ministry officials are hoping this popularity translates to helping with their “Visit Japan” campaign’s goal of attracting 10 million overseas visitors every year. Last year, there were 8.35 million overseas visitors to Japan, a record high.

It doesn’t hurt that Hello Kitty’s Dream Light Fantasy, a multi-million dollar musical, opened earlier this year in Beijing. The musical is currently touring China and will later visit Malaysia, Singapore, and the U.S. as part of a three year run.

Hello Kitty will be the first fictional character to be used as a tourism ambassador. Past ambassadors include J-pop duo Puffy AmiYumi, Korean singer Younha, and Japanese actress Yoshino Kimura. On a side note, Japan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs tapped robot cat Doraemon as Japan’s anime ambassador in March.

Picture of Hello Kitty with Japan’s Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism Minister Tetsuzo Fuyushiba: AP Photo/Koji Sasahara

Associated Press Story:
Hello Kitty is named Japan tourism ambassador

June 1

TokyoPop

• Avatar, Vol. 7
• Battle Vixens, Vol. 13
• Dragon Knights, Vol. 26
• Faeries’ Landing, Vol. 19
• Rising Stars of Manga - UK & Ireland Edition, Vol. 3
• Utopia’s Avenger, Vol. 5

June 3

Del Rey

• Negima! 18

Viz Media

• Baby & Me, Vol. 8
• Beauty Pop, Vol. 8
• Bleach, Vol. 23
• Dragon Ball Z, Vol. 1 (VIZBIG Edition)
• Dragon Ball, Vol. 1 (VIZBIG Edition)
• Dragon Drive , Vol. 8
• Eyeshield 21, Vol. 20
• Honey and Clover, Vol. 2
• Hoshin Engi, Vol. 7
• Knights of the Zodiac (Saint Seiya), Vol. 23
• Monkey High! , Vol. 2
• Muhyo & Roji’s Bureau of Supernatural Investigation, Vol. 5
• One Piece, Vol. 18
• Pokémon: The Rise of Darkrai
• Pretty Face, Vol. 6
• Rosario+Vampire, Vol. 1
• Tail of the Moon, Vol. 11
• The Gentlemen’s Alliance †, Vol. 6
• Wild Ones, Vol. 3
• Yurara, Vol. 5

June4

CMX

• Key to the Kingdom, Vol.4
• Orfina, Vol. 3

Dark Horse

• MPD-Psycho, Vol. 5

June 8

TokyoPop

• Roadsong, Vol. 3
• Strawberry Marshmallow, Vol. 5

June 9

Tokyo Pop

• Bad Kitty, Vol. 1
• King of Hell, Vol. 19

June 10

Digital Manga Publishing

• New Beginnings
• Eternal Love
• Golden Prince and Argent King
• Restart
• Hard Rock
• Red Angel, Vol. 1
• Hero Heel, Vol.

Tokyo Pop

• +Anima, Vol. 8
• .hack//G.U.+, Vol. 2
• .hack//XXXX, Vol. 1
• Avalon High: Coronation, Vol. 2
• Battle Royale Ultimate Edition, Vol. 3
• BECK:Mongolian Chop Squad, Vol. 12
• Blood Sucker, Vol. 7
• Dragon Hunter, Vol. 18
• Forget About Love, Vol. 1
• Fruits Basket Ultimate Edition, Vol. 3
• Gakuen Alice, Vol. 3
• Gothic & Lolita Bible, Vol. 2
• I Wish…, Vol. 2
• Junjo Romantica, Vol. 6
• Life, Vol. 9
• Manga School With Selena Lin, Vol. 1
• Me & My Brothers, Vol. 4
• Missle Happy!, Vol. 3
• Pet Shop of Horrors: Tokyo, Vol. 2
• Recast, Vol. 6
• Rure, Vol. 3
• Shin Megami Tensei (KAHN), Vol. 2
• Tactics, Vol. 5
• The Tarot Cafe, Vol. 7

Viz Media

• Boys Over Flowers, Vol. 30
• Gimmick!, Vol. 1
• Inuyasha Ani-Manga, Vol. 27
• Nightmare Inspector: Yumekui Kenbun , Vol. 2
• O-Parts Hunter, Vol. 10
• One Pound Gospel , Vol. 1 (2nd Edition)
• Shakugan no Shana , Vol. 3
• The Law of Ueki, Vol. 12
• Zatch Bell!, Vol. 19

June 11

CMX

• Teru Teru X Shonen, Vol. 2

Dark Horse

• Blade of the Immortal: Badger Hole, Vol. 19

Tokyo Pop

• Welcome to the NHK, Vol.7

June 12

Tokyo Pop

• Trinity Blood - Rage Against the Moons, Vol. 3

June 13

Tokyo Pop

• Full Metal Panic (Novel), Vol. 3

June 14

Tokyo Pop

• Saiyuki Reload, Vol. 8

June 17

Del Rey

• Suzuka, Vol. 8
• Le Chevalier d’Eon, Vol. 5
• Nodame Cantabile, Vol. 14
• Pumpkin Scissors, Vol. 3
• xxxHOLiC, Vol. 12

Viz Media

• Cat Eyed Boy , Vol. 1
• Cat Eyed Boy , Vol. 2
• Inubaka: Crazy for Dogs, Vol. 9
• Naoki Urasawa’s Monster, Vol. 15

June 18

CMX

• From Eroica With Love, Vol. 13
• Go Go Heaven!!, Vol. 6
• Musashi #9, Vol. 15

Dark Horse

• Oh My Goddess!, Vol. 9 TPB

June 24

Del Rey

• Alive, Vol. 5
• Fairy Tail, Vol. 3
• In Odd We Trust
• Kamichama Karin Chu, Vol. 1

Digital Manga Publishing

• Like a Love Comedy
• Love Recipe, Vol. 2
• Sleeping with Money
• Don’t Blame Me, Vol. 2

June 25

CMX

• Moon Child, Vol. 11
• Tower of the Future, Vol. 11
• The Young Magician, Vol. 12

Dark Horse

• Gantz, Vol. 1
• Path of the Assassin: Three Foot Battle, Vol. 12

June 27

DrMaster

• Junk, Vol. 7
• Mamoru the Shadow Protector, Vol. 1
• The King of Fighters 2003, Vol. 5

Releasing throughout the month of June

801 Media

• Love is Like a Hurricane, Vol.

Aurora Publishing, Inc.

• Flock of Angels, Vol. 3

Go! Comi

• Cy-Believers, Vol. 2
• Her Majesty’s Dog, Vol. 9
• Kanna, Vol. 4
• Ultimate Venus, Vol. 1
• Kamisama Kazoku, Vol. 1
• Kurogane Communication, Vol. 1

Seven Seas Entertainment

• Aoi House In Love!, Vol. 2 - “Happy Endings”
• Venus Versus Virus, Vol. 4

Yen Press

• Zombie-Loan, Vol. 3
• Black God, Vol. 3
• Sunshine Sketch, Vol. 1
• You’re So Cool, Vol. 1
• Croquis Pop, Vol. 1
• Bring It On, Vol. 5
• Chocolat, Vol. 5
• Cynical Orange, Vol. 4
• Freak, Vol. 3
• One Thousand And One Nights, Vol. 4

Releases for 2008 (no monthly breakdown):

Broccoli Books

• Di Gi Charat Theater - Leave it to Piyoko, Vol. 2
• Di Gi Charat Theater - Dejiko’s Adventure, Vols. 2-3
• Disgaea 2, Vol. 3
• E’S, Vols. 6 - 14
• Galaxy Angel Party, Vol. 3
• Galaxy Angel II, Vols. 4 - 6
• KAMUI, Vol. 11
• Kon Kon Kokon, Vol. 2
• Devil Princess, Vols. 3-6

Many apologies for the lack of updates recently; the past few months have been busy for me. Here are some sales and coupon offers for mid-May:

Rightstuf! has a pair of sales running. First, they have extended their current Spring T-Shirt Special. The sale also includes hats, wristbands, and headbands. From now through May 14, prices on T-shirts, hats, wristbands, and headbands have been reduced by 25%. No coupons are necessary.

Their new sale is called Sail Into Summer. From now through May 18, you can take 33% off the retail prices of graphic novels and books from Tokyopop. This includes preorders. The coupon code is sailing. The sale ends May 18, 2008 at 11:59pm CDT.

__________

AnimeNation also has a pair of sales. Their Spring Cleaning Sale continues with select lists of apparel, books & manga, DVDs, merchandise & figures, and soundtracks on sale.

Their new sale is called the May Daze Sale. You can save up to 40% on select DVDs, apparel, books, and miscellaneous items. No end date has been listed, though the sale’s title infers that it will finish at month’s end.

__________

CD Japan has a sale called their Anime DVD Box Sale. Their web site claims that you can get up to 70% off of a select list of box sets. However, when I looked at their site, there were several sets listed as “out of print” and none of the remaining sets were shown to have a 70% discount. Most of the remaining sets were discounted by 10% to 20% with a few discounted by 30%, 40%, and 60%. Note that the prices are in Yen. The sale ends June 29, 2008 at 23:59 (Tokyo time, I believe).

__________

Best Buy is offering a printable coupon for in-store purchases. You can get 10% off of up to 3 DVDs. The restrictions are that this does not include new releases, one offer per coupon per household, good on in-stock items only (no rainchecks), no dealers, excludes stores in Puerto Rico and Canada. It is good through May 19.

__________

Barnes & Noble is offering a coupon for purchases made online. You can get 15% off of one item. The coupon code is Y8Y8E9R and the coupon expires on May 18.

Later this year, Japan will host the World Cosplay Summit 2008. This will be the sixth Summit, which began in 2003. Last year’s event featured 14 teams (28 cosplayers) from 12 countries (Japan had 3 teams) with an estimated 10,000 people watching the championship. The winners were the French team with Japan B taking second and Mexico taking third.

This year’s event will feature at cosplayers from at least 13 countries. There have been seven preliminary rounds held so far which select each country’s representatives.

September 8, 2007

The German preliminary round was held as part of Connichi 2007 at the Kongress Palais Kassel in Kassel, Germany. There were three judges: one member of the WCS 2007 German team, one Connichi organizer, and one member of the cosplay community “Cosplay Heaven“. The winning team performed as characters from Sailor Moon.

• Annie Fischinger (left) as Sailor Moon
• Katharina Wehrmann (right) as Sailor Chibi Moon

Use the following links to view more information about the preliminary and the team members.

September 23, 2007

The Thai preliminary round was held as one of the final events of Japan Week at Central World in Bangkok. There was a large panel of judges, mostly Japanese, including the Public Relations & Culture Division Chief of the Japanese Embassy, TV Aichi’s Division Chief of the Executive Office, the Deputy Manager of the JETRO Bangkok Center, the Head of the JNTO Bangkok Center, the Head of the ANA branch in Bangkok, and the Head of the Japan National Tourist Organization’s Sightseeing and PR Office. The lone non-Japanese judge was the organizer for Korea’s WCS preliminary. The person who wrote the report about this preliminary round mentioned that:

“The Japanese judges were older guys lined up on stage; it felt as if they were in the wrong place! Basically, it didn’t feel like it had an otaku atmosphere.“

However, the reporter also had a favorable reaction to their choice of the team who would represent Thailand. This team performed as characters from Xenosaga.

• Julaluk Lohanawakul (left) as T-ELOS
• Jittraporn Distaprom (right) as KOS-MOS

Use the following links to view more information about the preliminary and the team members.

October 4, 2007

The Italian preliminary round was held at the Romics 2007 comics and animation festival. The event took place at the Camera di Commercio di Roma in Rome. Like the Thai preliminary round, there were many judges, though, this set of judges seemed to be a better fit (less business oriented).

According to the person who reported about the Italian preliminary round: “The Jury was made up of a number of personalities from the world of TV and entertainment so as to have different points of view in the final decision: a TV producer, Cosplay experts, publishers, the Italian representatives of previous editions of the WCS, a voice actor for anime.” This reporter also seemed to like the judges’ decision. The winning team performed as characters from Five Star Stories.

• Nadia Baiardi (left) as Lachesis
• Martina Arnaldi (right) as Amaterasu

Use the following links to view more information about the preliminary and the team members.

November 3, 2007

There were two countries which had preliminary rounds on this date. The Danish preliminary round was held at J-Popcon 2007 at the Valby Kulturhus in Copenhagen. There were four judges…two were from Gainax (a director and a character designer), one was a member of Germany’s WCS 2007 team, and one was a WCS 2008 staff member from TV Aichi. They selected a team who performed as characters from Tsubasa RESERVoir CHRoNiCLE.

• Liuwina Haeklund (left) as Sakura
• Lisa Hvidberg (right) as Shaoran

Use the following links to view more information about the preliminary and the team members.

The Spanish preliminary round was held at the 13th Salón del Manga (which is said to be the oldest manga and anime festival in Europe) at the Poliesportiu Centre in Barcelona. The were six judges including the Envoy from the Japanese Embassy in Madrid, the Event Coordinator of the Salón del Manga, 2 editors from comics publishing firms (Planeta DeAgostini Comics & Norma Comics), a TV producer (from Televisión de Catalunya), and a gothic fashion designer. Coincidentally, they also chose a team whose performance featured characters from Tsubasa RESERVoir CHRoNiCLE.

• Maria Pérez Tomás (left) as Sakura
• Nicolás Cabrerizo García (right) as Shaoran

Use the following links to view more information about the preliminary and the team members.

December 7, 2007

The US preliminary round was held at the innaugural New York Anime Festival. The competition was at the Jacob Javits Center in New York City. This marked the return of the US to the WCS after a two year hiatus. There were five judges- a photographer, a cosplayer, and three people representing the sponsors of the WCS. They chose the team who performed as characters from Magic Knight Rayearth.

• Renee Gloger (left) as Umi
• Sonnya Paz (right) as Hikaru

Use the following links to view more information about the preliminary and the team members.

February 4, 2008

The Mexican preliminary round was held as part of the 14th Expo Manga Comic TNT GT2 event. The venue was the Mexico City World Trade Center large event hall. There were four judges: one was a member of the 2005 WCS Italian team, one was a coordinator for TNT, and there were two others. They chose a team of veteran cosplayers (9 and 6 years of experience) who performed as characters from Digimon.

• Teresa Garcia Hernandez (left) as Lady Devimon
• Ingrid Alin Naba (right) as Angemon

Use the following links to view more information about the preliminary and the team members.

More preliminaries are scheduled to round out the final list of competitors. This year, Japan will have two teams (an East team from the Tokyo preliminary and a West team from the Osaka preliminary). Other countries which will be sending teams include Korea, Brazil, China, France, and Singapore. Here is a projected itinerary for their preliminary rounds:

May 18, 2008

Japan Team 1 preliminary round

• Tokyo Dome City Cosplay Festa Tokyo Dome City, Tokyo

June 1, 2008

Korean preliminary round

• Everland Cosplay Party 2008 Everland, Yongin

July 13, 2008

Japan Team 2 preliminary round

• Cosplayers Jam@World Cosplay Summit 2008 - West Japan Grand Prix Kyocera Dome, Osaka

July 21, 2008

Brazilian preliminary round

• Event name TBA in São Paulo Dates and Locations TBA

Preliminary rounds for China, France, and Singapore

Once all the teams have been chosen, they will participate in the World Cosplay Summit 2008 in the late summer. The venue will be in Nagoya (Aichi Prefecture), Japan.

One note- early reports had indicated that Australia would be holding preliminary rounds for the 2008 WCS. However, according to the Animania Festival website, these preliminaries are for the 2009 WCS.

Images and reports of preliminary winners: WCS website (more photos from the preliminary rounds may be accessed here as well)

ANN Stories:
World Cosplay Summit 2008’s Italian Finalists Chosen
Tsubasa Team Wins Danish World Cosplay Summit Round
Spanish World Cosplay Summit Finalists Chosen
World Cosplay Summit Announces American Finalists
Mexico’s World Cosplay Summit Competitors Selected
Cosplay Event Adds Brazil, China, France, Singapore, Korea

801 Media

801 Media

Aurora Publishing

Aurora Publishing

May

• Walkin’ Butterfly, Vol. 3

Broccoli Books

Broccoli Books

CMX

CMX

May 7

• Crayon Shinchan, Vol. 2

Dark Horse

Dark Horse

May 7

• Eden: It’s an Endless World, Vol. 10

May 14

• Appleseed, Vol. 2
• Blood +, Vol. 2
• Red String, Vol. 3

May 28

• Berserk, Vol. 28
• Path of the Assassin, Vol. 11

Del Rey

Del Rey

May 6

• Hell Girl, Vol. 2
• Kitchen Princess, Vol. 6
• Nodame Cantabile, Vol. 13

May 13

• Parasyte, Vol. 3
• Toto!:The Wonderful Adventure, Vol. 1
• Tsubasa, Vol.17
• The Yagyu Ninja Scrolls, Vol. 3

May 20

• Haridama: Magic Cram School, Vol. 1
• Maid Machinegun Vol. 1
• Mamotte! Lollipop, Vol. 6
• Mushishi, Vol. 4
• Psycho Busters, Vol. 3
• Shugo Chara!, Vol. 4
• Yozakura Quartet, Vol. 2

May 27

• Metal Gear Solid, Vol. 1
• Minima!, Vol. 2
• My Heavenly Hockey Club, Vol.5
• The Reformed, Vol. 1

Digital Manga Publishing

DMP

May 13

• Endless Rain
• Enchanter, Vol. 8
• Happiness Recommended
• Better Than a Dream
• Loving Gaze

May 27

• A Love Song for the Miserable
• S, Vol. 1
• A Strange and Mystifying Story, Vol. 1
• Red
• A Promise of Romance

DrMaster Publications

DrMaster Publications

May

• Chinese Hero, Vol. 6
• Magic Lover’s Tower, Vol. 1
• Magic Lover’s Tower, Vol. 2
• Metro Survive, Vol. 2

Go! Comi!

Go! Comi!

No May releases

Netcomics

Netcomics

May 1

• Do Whatever You Want, Vol.2
• Honey Senior, Darling Junior, Vol.2
• Romance Papa, Vol.2
• Operation Liberate Men, Vol.3
• The Great Catsby, Vol.6

Seven Seas Entertainment

Seven Seas Entertainment

May

• Amazing Agent Luna Omnibus I (Contains AALuna Vol. 1-3)
• Dance in the Vampire Bund, Vol. 1
• Hollow Fields, Vol. 2
• I, Otaku: Struggle in Akihabara, Vol. 2

Tokyopop

TokyoPop

May 1

• Archlord, Vol. 5
• Battle Club, Vol. 6
• Clam No Kiseki, Vol.11
• The Good Witch of the West, Vol. 6
• Kedamono Damono, Vol. 3
• Rozen Maiden, Vol. 8
• Sakura Taisen, Vol. 7

May 6

• Gatcha Gacha, Vol. 7

May 8

• Getbackers, Vol. 24

May 9

• Kingdom Hearts II, Vol. 2

May 10

• Brave Story, Vol. 4
• GTO: The Early Years - Shonan Junai Gumi, Vol.7
• The Queen’s Knight, Vol. 11
• Rave Master, Vol. 28
• Sgt. Frog, Vol. 15
• Trinity Blood, Vol. 6

May 11

• The Good Witch of the West, (Novel) Vol. 2

May 12

• Initial D Volume 30
• Warriors, Vol. 3

May 13

• The Adventures of Duan Surk, Vol. 4
• Aria, Vol. 2
• Cherry Juice, Vol. 3
• Chibi Vampire, Vol. 8
• Chronicles of the Cursed Sword, Vol. 21
• Demon Flowers: Kuruizaki No Hana, Vol. 3
• Fantamir, Vol. 3
• Foxy Lady, Vol. 1
• Good Luck, Vol.5
• Harukaze Bitter Bop, Vol. 2
• Heavenshield, Vol. 1
• Kannazuki No Miko: Destiny of Shrine Maiden, Vol. 1
• The Kindaichi Case Files, Vol. 17
• King of Thorn, Vol. 4
• The Knockout Mode, Vol. 9
• Love Pistols, Vol. 5
• Manga Sutra–Futari H, Vol. 2
• Monochrome Factor, Vol. 2
• Rhysmyth, Vol. 2
• Samurai Deeper Kyo, Vol. 28
• Satisfaction Guaranteed, Vol. 7
• Short Sunzen!, Vol. 2
• V.B. Rose, Vol. 2
• White Night Melody, Vol. 1
• Wild Adapter, Vol. 5

Viz Media

Viz Media

May 6

• Absolute Boyfriend, Vol. 6
• Black Cat, Vol. 14
• B.O.D.Y., Vol. 1
• Crimson Hero, Vol. 8
• Dr. Slump, Vol. 15
• Fairy Cube, Vol. 1
• Gin Tama, Vol. 6
• High School Debut , Vol. 3
• Hikaru no Go, Vol. 12
• Hunter x Hunter, Vol. 20
• Kaze Hikaru, Vol. 9
• Kurohime, Vol. 5
• Love Com, Vol. 6
• Nana, Vol. 10
• Naruto, Vol. 29
• S.A, Vol. 4
• Sand Chronicles, Vol. 2
• Shaman King, Vol. 16
• Skip Beat!, Vol. 12
• The Prince of Tennis, Vol. 25
• Whistle!, Vol. 19

May 13

• Basara, Vol. 27
• Flame of Recca, Vol. 27
• Hayate the Combat Butler, Vol. 7
• Project Arms, Vol. 19
• Switch, Vol. 2
• The Record of a Fallen Vampire, Vol. 1
• Togari, Vol. 6
• Yakitate!! Japan, Vol. 11

May 20

• Case Closed, Vol. 23
• Kekkaishi, Vol. 13

May 27

• Rurouni Kenshin, Vol. 2 (VIZBIG Edition)

Yen Press

Yen Press

May

• 11th Cat, Vol. 5
• Heavenly Execution Chiwoo, Vol. 4
• Legend, Vol. 2
• One Thousand and One Nights, Vol. 4
• Shoulder-a-Coffin Kuro, Vol. 1
• Sundome, Vol. 2
• You’re So Cool, Vol. 1