Animanga in the News: 2/1/11

Here you will find a run down of today's anime and manga news! If anything sent waves through the anime and manga world today, you'll find it in this post! By the way, I'm saladesu, one of the translator-moderators of MH, and I'll be posting a post like this every day (as much as possible, anyway). Look forward to them ;)

If you would like to help in finding and translating news of this nature, please contact saladesu via PM ^^ Feel free to PM me any interesting bits of anime or manga news you find floating around the internet, too.




China's Baidu's Japanese version Baidu.jp was found on the 1st of February to be hosting large amounts of popular manga, novels and so on, all of which had been uploaded to the file sharing "Baidu Library" without the consent of the copyright holders. The presence of the illegal files in question had been confirmed around November last year, but even after that, the number of files continued to increase rapidly, and now Baidu says that they are "in the midst of confirming the situation".

Baidu Library allows users to upload Word and PDF files, and then displays it as a Flash object. Baidu only began this service in November last year after taking over "Hot.Docs", which had the same function. However, the illegal files had already been uploaded from the very beginning.

As of the 1st of February, a browse through Baidu Library's manga corner reveals a large number of scanned manga files that have been uploaded without the consent of the copyright holders. From "Mobile Police PATLABOR" to "ONE PIECE", from "Saint Onii-san" to "Honey and Clover" and "Dragon Ball", numerous popular manga are uploaded in multiple copies. In addition, novels such as "The Triumphant Return of General Rouge" and "The Melancholy of Suzumiya Haruhi" are available in the novels corner.

The matter came to light after it was reported in a popular blog, "Lead-off Man's Blog", and subsequently became hot news on the internet. The author of "Mobile Police PATLABOR", Yuuki Masami, wrote on Twitter that he was "In discussions with the editorial division", showing that both authors and publishing firms have begun taking action.

The company had told ITmedia News in November last year, "Copyright infringement is strictly prohibited. We have a system to sieve out illegal files whenever contents are uploaded, however the service is still in beta, and there are still some issues that have yet to be smoothed out. If we receive any reports from copyright holders about any infringement, we will investigate the matter and delete the files if they are confirmed to be illegal.

This time, when contacted, they gave the comment, "We are confirming the situation. We will contact you once we have decided on our response".

original source





It was discovered on the 1st of February that an application that used an image from popular manga "ONE PIECE" without permission was being sold in Apple's application distribution site "App Store".

Publisher Shueisha has requested that Apple delete it, claiming that this is an "obvious case of copyright infringement". Apple has said that "If there is a request from the copyright holder, we will respond as quickly as we can".

The application that is being sold is a puzzle game that uses images that have been illegally obtained from the "ONE PIECE" manga and anime. The songs and music from the anime are also used in the app. The puzzle game can be downloaded for ¥115, and appears to be sold by a developer in Hong Kong.

"ONE PIECE" tells the story of a youth, Luffy, and his adventures as he strives to fulfull his dream of becoming the Pirate King. Total sales of "ONE PIECE" have exceeded 200 million copies. The author is Oda Eiichirou.

original source





Dengeki carried out a survey on which anime director everyone liked best. The results are as follows:

1. Mizushima Tsutomu
   
2. Shinbou Akiyuki
   
3. Taniguchi Gorou
   
4. Satou Jun'ichi
   
5. Yamamoto Hiroshi
   
6. Satou Tatsuo
   
7. Nishikiori Hiroshi
   
8. Mashimo Kouichi
   
9. Kamiyama Kenji
   
10. Kawamori Shouji

Director Mizushima, who took the top spot, is famous for comedy series such as "Haré+Guu", as well as some more serious and dramatic works. Director Shinbou, who took the second place, is famous for his literary style. Rather than a single series, people praise him, saying that they love his works that can be described simply as "SHAFT-like".

Director Taniguchi in third is well-remembered for high-quality adaptations such as the one he did for "Planetes". Those who have been his fans for a longer time might also bring up action series like "s.CRY.ed"

Director Satou Jun'ichi takes the fourth place with his works that are usually aimed more at girls. Many people read "Keroro Gunsou" on Dengeki Online, so it's likely that this is the source of the votes for him. Finally, in fifth place is Director Yamamoto. Expectations for his latest work "Fractale" are high.

original source





Kidou Senshi Gundam UC Episode 3 "The Ghost of Laplace" will open at a private showing on the 22nd of February before officially opening in cinemas on the 5th of March. Attendees will also receive exclusive Unicorn merchandise. All 3 episodes of Gundam Unicorn will be screened at the event.

The episode will officially be screened at 10 cinemas across the nation from the 5th of March.

original source