Animanga in the News: 10/1 - 10/8

This week we've got two new anime trailers, 'Liar Game' gets 2nd Live-Action film, 'Blue Exorcist' gets an anime, an European Otaku interviewed in Japan, an Interview with a Korean mangaka, 'Bakuman' & 'Sket Dance' having an Anime Crossover, a man arrested for selling pirated-anime for 5 Million Yen, and a mangaka having troubles selling his works due to the recent 'Adult Manga' Tokyo Law! Enjoy!~


Nickelodeon has invested more than US$150 million in the Korean animation industry with series such as SpongeBob SquarePants, Dora the Explorer and Avatar, which are all animated in Korea. At the end of the year, Nickelodeon animation will have a refurbished place to call home in South Korea.

According to an announcement earlier this week, Viacom's international media division is partnering with SBS Media Holdings to form Nickelodeon Korea. The jointly-owned venture will make its way to the local cable/satellite tier -- making Nick Korea the first children's channel to be offered as part of SBS' current programming bundle.

Assuredly, 'Nickelodeon Korea' will provide a wealth of opportunities for Viacom to re-package its content for local consumption. However, the more important draw certainly comes from the new channel's position as an upstart in youth-oriented, locally produced programming. The new Nickelodeon Korea is scheduled to launch December 2011, and along with it a new approach to reaching out to Korean viewers with a strong interest in music, social entertainment, and children's programming.


"We are very excited about entering into this joint venture as it enhances our offering to Korean viewers by introducing two of the worlds' leading youth brands into SBS Media Holdings," Seongwan Hong, President & CEO, SBS Medianet, commented. "SBS-MTV and Nickelodeon are bound to be welcome additions to millions of Korean television homes, and Viacom and SBS' strengths will create an ideal offering for affiliates, advertisers, and viewers alike."

Nickelodeon launched in Korea back in 2006. A new Chief Executive Officer, to be named at a future time, will accompany two new programming heads for each of the re-branded outlets. Earlier this year, reports indicated that as much as 40% of the animation aired on Nickelodeon were intellectual properties native to Korea (whereas, in terms of physical animation production, the number skyrockets to an estimated 75%, outsourcing considered).

This early into the joint venture by Viacom (49% ownership) and SBS Media Holding's (51%), which covers both SBS-MTV and Nick Korea, it is unclear where animation will fall into the re-branding mix. Full programming details for the two channels will be announced at a date closer to the anticipated December launch.

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Takashi Okazaki, the creator of the series Afro Samurai, will be at Japan Expo Centre from 29 to 30 October this year! That's what we found on the organizer of the event's Facebook page! The author probably participate in one or more conferences as well as book signings! More information soon!

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A Japanese announcer interviewing a Danish guy on the street in Akihabara. He tells her that he is studying Japanese so he can better understand anime and manga. His favorite anime is “Ore no Imōto ga Konna ni Kawaii Wake ga Nai” (My Little Sister Can’t Be This Cute). She asks him what would give him a “moe” feeling, so he asks her to please call him “onii-chan” (big brother).

She does it, and he gives an appropriate “moe” reaction. He says it warms his heart.

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While the staffs of ICv2 were in Korea for the Bicof comic convention and conference a few weeks back, they have interviewed Yang Jae-hyun, the artist of 'The Ruler of the Land'. The Ruler of the Land was licensed for the U.S. by ADV Manga, which published three volumes. The first six volumes of the series has also been scanlated in English. There are currently 55 volumes, and it is still ongoing.

In this far-ranging conversation (which was conducted in Korean via a translator), they have discussed the Korean manhwa market and how it is changing, especially the trend toward Web delivery of comics; Yang’s influences; and The Ruler of the Land, his long-running work.


Where is your work published? Is it on the Web, in books or in magazines?
-My work can be found online. It also used to be published in the magazine Young Champ; but unfortunately it went out of business a year ago because the offline market in Korea has changed. Now there are more comics on the Web.

Why do you think offline revenue have been declining?
-One reason is the industry structure, the way Korea distributes comics. At this moment the young generation thinks they should enjoy online comics for free. It has become commonplace and they don’t feel any guilt in enjoying comics for free. It’s convenient to enjoy comics on the Web instead of readers going to the physical stores. The number of physical stores has decreased. There are so few stores, like Kyopo, which dominates the publishing sector here in Korea, that it is very difficult to get books in person. This is why people are just searching for the comics online: it’s convenient and it’s free.

You mentioned earlier there are illegitimate ways to get your work on the web, but are there also legal ways to get the works on the Web?
-Of course there are legal ways to enjoy comics on the Web, but at this moment here in Korea, the understanding about digital rights to comics is not realistic among the readers. If a company researches the number of how many people downloaded comics, they think, ‘Oh, we can generate some profits from this work.’ They think they can distribute digital rights. But, we need to raise our understanding of digital rights to comics, and we need to build some sites where readers can pay a reasonable price and enjoy the comics online.

Many people have access to the portal sites, Daum.net, Naver.com, and Nate.com, where they can enjoy comics on the Web for free. These portal sites are trying to find a good way to have comics as a paid service. So we are expecting these portal sites to act like a conventional physical publisher and get a specific price from readers.

When they are available on the Web now, since people don’t pay, are the sites supported by advertising?
-The Korean artists who upload their works to the Websites are paid monthly. But if the artists try to publish their work in a book, the artist has to contact the publisher in person. The paid comics have a different system, so if paid comics have a lot of readers, the artists get more pay from the purchase site. Paid comics have a double structure. Paid comics have a publisher and the portal site. The publisher pays a specific amount to the portal site so that is why they calculate how many readers read these books.

If interested, you can continue reading the full interview (here).



The November issue of Shueisha's Jump Square magazine is announcing on Tuesday that a theatrical film anime adaptation of Kazue Katō's Blue Exorcist (Ao no Exorcist) manga has been green-lit. The television anime adaptation of the supernatural manga is ending on Sunday.


Aniplex has been streaming the television series on Hulu, Anime News Network, Crunchyroll and Viz Anime in North America as it airs in Japan. Aniplex is also planning to release the television series in four DVD sets (pictured right) in October, January, April, and July. Viz Media will release the fourth English-language volume of the manga next week.

The story focuses on Rin Okumura, a boy raised by a famous exorcist named Father Fujimoto. After an argument between the two, Rin discovers he is the son of Satan. Rin decides to fight his fate by joining the True Cross Academy to become an exorcist and defeat demons. However, when he draws his father's sword, it releases a dark power within him.

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The 43rd issue of Shueisha's Weekly Shonen Jump magazine announced on Monday that the Bakuman. anime and Sket Dance anime will collaborate for three crossover episodes.

Two episodes will run in October, and one will run in November, but no further details about the episodes' release dates or story have been announced. Weekly Shonen Jump will publish the next announcement, including information about the character or characters who will hold the key to the crossover, on October 24.

Weekly Shonen Jump announced last month that two crossover episodes between Gintama and Sket Dance would air on September 26 and September 29.

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Manga creator Ken Akamatsu announced on Monday that the new Premium service on his online manga site J-Comi has posted Seiji Matsuyama's Oku-sama wa Shōgakusei (My Wife Is an Elementary Student) manga. The manga made headlines last year when Tokyo Vice Governor Naoki Inose had shown this manga on television last year. He showed the manga as an example of which manga should be restricted under Tokyo's recently revised Youth Healthy Development Ordinance.

The revised law expanded the number of manga and anime that fall under "harmful publications," the legal category of works that must not be sold or rented to people under the age of 18. Erotic material was already restricted before the amendment, but the amended law also restricts the sales and renting of materials that the Tokyo Metropolitan Government considers "to be excessively disrupting of social order."

The manga's story is set in the near future when the marriageable age was lowered in response to the declining birth rate. A 24-year-old man marries a 12-year-old girl in this gag comedy. The Tokyo Metropolitan Government revealed in April that it had designated this manga to be restricted due to its depiction of child rape.

Akamatsu launched the J-Comi site last November, and the site's "J-comi Premium" service began its beta test on Saturday. The premium service distributes adult, boys' love, and erotic and violent manga, including out-of-print titles, to users for a fee. The site restricts users by requiring a credit card.

Matsuyama explained that he considered various ways that his manga could be published after the revised Tokyo law restricted his manga, and came to the conclusion that J-Comi is the most suitable venue.

Masahiro Itosugi, the author of another manga (Aki Sora) restricted by the revised law, had discussed the possibility of publishing the manga on J-Comi, but added she "probably" cannot do so. Itosugi had revealed in April that there would be no more printings of volumes 1 and 3 of this manga after July. At the time, Akamatsu had not yet announced J-Comi's paid Premium service.

In addition to J-Comi, Akamatsu is known for creating manga such as Negima and Love Hina.

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Creator quartet CLAMP's new Legal Drug manga series will begin serialization in the December issue of Kadokawa's Young Ace magazine on November 4 under the title Drug & Drop. After the first Legal Drug series went on hiatus in 2003, Drug & Drop will again follow the lead characters Kazahaya Kudō and Rikuō Himura. The new manga will reveal Kazahaya and Rikuō's pasts as well as the background of Green Drug, the mysterious drugstore where they work.

In honor of the new manga, a new edition of volumes 1 and 2 of the original Legal Drug manga with special cover art shipped in Japan on Tuesday. Volume 3 will ship on November 4, the same day the new manga begins serializing. Tokyopop published those three manga volumes in North America between 2004 and 2005.

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The musician DAIGO for the band BREAKERZ and his older sister, manga creator Eiki Eiki (Dear Myself, Train☆Train), are working together to create a new manga titled Scissors Sisters (pictured at above). Artist MARICO will draw the manga. The manga will premiere in first volume of Kadokawa Shoten's new magazine Altima Ace on October 18.

Scissors Sisters is about five sisters who run a hair salon. The sisters are also magical girls who use their salon equipment to fight to protect the Earth's peace. The pemiere issue of Altima Ace will also feature a dialogue with the brother-sister team about how they created the manga.

Altima Ace will also include Jinsei Kataoka and Kazuma Kondou's new work Kami-sama☆Permanent, Hiroto Ida's Baka ga Zenra de Yattekuru (based on Hitoma Iruma's original work), Busta! by Eiri Iwamoto, Mahou Shounen no Sodatekata by Yuu Mori, Fate/Zero Black by mendori (based on Gen Urobuchi's original work), Kangaero by Mayu Taumi, and other titles.

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On September 28, police in Hyōgo Prefecture arrested a 27-year-old unemployed male from the prefecture's Kawabe District on suspicion of using the Share file-sharing software to upload anime online without the copyright holders' permission. According to the Association of Copyright for Computer Software (ACCS), the suspect uploaded the 23rd episode of Suite Precure and the 17th episode of Danbōru Senki (Little Battlers eXperience) around August 1.

According to the police investigation, the suspect allegedly had 2,400 files of animated videos — about 3.7 terabytes — uploaded via Share. Police seized a personal computer after a search of the suspect's home on the day of his arrest.

The ACCS also provided more information about the previously announced arrest of a teacher for uploading anime via Share. The teacher was also arrested on September 28. The teacher allegedly uploaded about 1.5 terabytes of animated works and manga, including Oreimo, The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, and K-ON!!

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On September 30, police in Kanagawa Prefecture arrested a 35-year-old male part-time worker from the prefecture's Odawara City on suspicion of selling pirated anime, mainly to users of auctions sites via mobile phones.

The suspect allgedly sold Case Closed The Movie: The Time Bombed Skyscraper and other titles on 15 DVD-Rs to a female buyer from Chiba Prefecture for 3,600 yen (about US$47) around May 6. The suspect also allegedly sold the first volume of Sengoku Basara, Pokemon: The First Movie, Case Closed The Movie: The Time Bombed Skyscraper, and other titles on 115 DVD-Rs around August 3.

According to the police investigation, the suspect allegedly sold pirated titles from last November to this past August to 2,100 people for about 5 million yen (US$65,000). Police seized a personal computer, a duplicator, and other equipment after a search of the suspect's home in August.

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Kenji Kamiyama, the director behind such anime as Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex, Eden of the East, and Moribito - Guardian of the Spirit, announced on Tuesday that his latest 3D film will be a 009 Re:Cyborg adaptation of Shotaro Ishinomori's classic science fiction manga Cyborg 009. The film is slated to open in Japanese theaters next fall.

In the original manga, the secret Black Ghost organization transforms nine unsuspecting humans into cyborgs. However, the nine cyborgs turn on their masters and protect the rest of humanity from Black Ghost's plans for world war.

There have already been three Cyborg 009 television anime series which premiered in 1968, 1979, and 2001. There have also been three theatrical anime films in 1966, 1967, and 1980. Another director with Ghost in the Shell and Production I.G ties, Mamoru Oshii, directed his own 3D short of Cyborg 009 last year with sponsor Panasonic.

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The Smuggler: Omae no Mirai o Hakobe (Smuggler: Carry Your Future) film adaptation of Shohei Manabe's Smuggler manga will receive a live-action drama spinoff for mobile devices this month. The mobile video distribution service LISMO Drama will release the Smuggler: Omae no Yaku wa Dore? (Smuggler: What's Your Role?) drama for free on au brand cell phones beginning this Friday, October 7. The drama will be a four-part prologue to the film which opens on October 22 in Japan.

The film adaptation of Manabe's manga follows the story of Ryōsuke Kinuta, a failed actor with major debt problems. In order to pay off his debt, Kinuta becomes part of a group who transports and hides the bodies of people killed in gang hits.

Created as a situational comedy, the spinoff mobile drama takes place before the events in the film. In the story, Kinuta goes to auditions for roles such as "a stoic yet feared smuggler of illegal goods" and "a quick-tempered, brutal assassin."

Masatoshi Yamaguchi, a producer for the Smuggler film, directed the mobile drama version. Satoshi Tsumabuki (Ryōsuke Kinuta), Masatoshi Nagase, and Tatsuya Gashuin will reprise their film roles in the prologue.

Directed by Katsuhito Ishii, the Smuggler live-action film also received a one-shot prequel manga in August. The film's American premiere took place at Austin's Fantastic Fest last week.

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The 28th issue of Akita Shoten's Champion RED Ichigo magazine began serializing a spinoff of Takayuki Yamaguchi's Kakugo no Sasume (Apocalypse Zero) manga on Wednesday. Shizuku Ichigono (Omuko no Hijo-sama, Hiyoko Gohan) is drawing the new manga titled Kaika no Susume.

Like its predecessor, Kaika no Susume is set in a post-apocalyptic Neo-Tokyo where monsters attacks are a constant threat. The story follows a high school girl named Tomoe Kurosu whose older brother is involved in an accident and goes to live in a ruined district.

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This year's 45th issue of Shueisha's Weekly Young Jump magazine is announcing on Thursday that a second live-action film inspired by Shinobu Kaitani's Liar Game psychological thriller manga will open on March 3, 2012. Shota Matsuda (Hana Yori Dango) will reprise his lead role as the genius Akiyama, while Mikako Tabe (Kimi ni Todoke) will play the heroine Yū in a new game. The manga itself will resume in the magazine in November.



In the original manga, a woman named Nao Kanzaki is caught in a dangerous high-stakes competition known as "Liar Game," and a genius con artist named Shinichi Akiyama (Matsuda) comes to Kanzaki's aid.

The manga launched in Young Jump in 2005, and Shueisha published the 13th compiled book volume last year. The manga already inspired two television seasons with Matsuda in 2007 and 2009, as well as a 2010 film.

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