CLAMP Ending Kobato Manga Series

Manga author team CLAMP announced that the Kobato manga series will conclude in the August issue of Newtype magazine. According to Animate, Volume 6 of the Japanese collections will be released July 25th.

The series, launched in 2005, follows cheery Kobato, who, with the help of her spirit companion/dog plushie, aims to heal people's hearts and in doing so fill a bottle that will grant her a wish.

Kobato also ran in the English language Newtype USA, and following the closure of that magazine, and its publisher, the series was picked up by Yen Press. Its anime adaptation is coming to North America from Sentai Filmworks.

Source: CLAMP's Official Website

Level 5 to Help Create Gundam AGE Anime This Fall

The July issue of Shogakukan's Corocoro Comic magazine is announcing next Wednesday that the game developer Level 5 (Inazuma Eleven, Danbōru Senki) is working on all aspects of the new Gundam AGE anime for release this fall. In particular, Level 5 President Akihiro Hino is in charge of the story. There will also be a Gundam AGE manga running in the magazine.

Scan of Corocoro

Scan2

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The new series will have three generations of "father, child, and descendant" as the lead characters. The main characters pilot the Gundam unit to fight against an unknown attacking enemy (UE) and save Earth in a "One Hundred Year War" — an apparent homage to the One Year War of the first Gundam series.

The first main character is Furitto Asuno, who developed the Gundam AGE-1 mobile suit (humanoid mobile weapon) equipped with the AGE System (a self-adapting computer). The second main character is Asemu Asuno, Furitto's child. The third main character is Kio Asuno, Furitto's descendant who inherits the Gundam. The Gundam AGE-1 can be augmented as the Gundam AGE-1 Titus for more power, or as the Gundam AGE-1 Sparrow for more speed.

Other characters include Emily, Furitto's friend since he was 7. Guruudekku is a Commander in the Earth Federation Forces and the captain of the battleship Diva. Mireesu is a Lieutenant (junior grade) in the Federation Forces aboard the Diva.

Tied into the anime will be "four ultimate projects" in the works: manga, hobby (model kits and figures), games, and cards.

Source: 0taku.com

Image © 2011 Sunrise

20 One Piece Volumes Publicly Posted on Tokyo Co-op's Site

The first 20 volumes of Eiichiro Oda's One Piece manga were posted without restrictions or authorization onto the website of the cooperative association Co-Op Land Tokyo. The unauthorized uploading was allegedly done by the company entrusted with maintaining the website. The 20 volumes were available on the site for about nine months since last September.

Word of the volumes' availability spread on the online forum 2channel (2ch) around 10:00 p.m. on Monday in Japan (9:00 a.m. EDT). As a result, the home page was overwhelmed by 70,000 hits at around noon the next day, effectively denying service to the website as it became unreachable.

According to an investigation by Co-Op Land Tokyo, the president of the company maintaining the home page had accidentally uploaded unauthorized electronic copies of the manga last November. As a result, the manga files were available for reading without restrictions. There was no link to the manga files on the actual home page of Co-Op Land Tokyo, but the files could be accessed by net searches.

Upon being notified, the 53-year-old president of the company maintaining the website deleted the files. According to the president, he had received the unauthorized manga scans a number of years ago from a friend or an acquaintance. He said that he only looked at the manga once and mixed the manga files with regular data files being uploaded onto the server. The president said that he was unaware that files were unauthorized and that he did not remember how he came to have them. He added that he is himself a Sunset on Third Street (San-chōme no Yūhi - Yūyake no Uta) manga fan, and does not know One Piece well. Nevertheless he asked for forgiveness from the publisher and author.

Co-Op Land Tokyo, which has been doing business with the website maintainer for seven to eight years, are looking into apologizing or another form of response, given the possibility of copyright infringement. Shueisha, the publisher of the manga, said it was still looking into the matter.

Source: Sports Hochi

Blood Lad Anime Confirmed

The July issue of Kadokawa's Young Ace magazine confirmed on Saturday that an anime adaptation of Yūki Kodama's Blood Lad vampire manga has been green-lit. The Kadokawa Sneaker Bunko imprint's official website for the next Haruhi Suzumiya novel had displayed the cover of the July issue in May, thus revealing the anime news two and a half weeks early.

The black comedy follows a vampire named Staz who has his figurative heart stolen by Fuyumi, a human high school girl who suddenly appears in his world. Unfortunately, she is just as suddenly killed, and thus she beco

mes a ghost. Staz tries to bring Fuyumi back to life.

Source: Comic Natalie

Volume 8 of Saki Manga Solicited, Band to Include Two Huge Announcements

After a wait of a year and two months, volume 8 of the "girls mahjong story" Saki manga is solicited for release on June 25th, 2011. Volume 7 had previously been released in April of 2010.

Now, as mentioned on Crunchyroll's twitter, an image was posted from a bbs to various blogs, presumably from Young Gangan 12 which comes out this Friday, stating that there will be two huge announcements on the band of volume 8. What are they? OVA? TV Season 2? Movie? Drama? Game? BD Box? Here are some things to think about.

It's obviously season 2! Not so fast. While possible, season 2 would be starved of material, especially for anything more than 12 episodes. The first series covered approximately 6.5 volumes in approximately 22 episodes. Including volume 8, there are approximately 3 additional volumes worth of material published since. The math is not too favorable. However, a movie or OVA might be possible.

A live action drama? A basically typical, or in other words lacking any source, 2ch rumor states that 3 Young Gangan properties are being turned into dramas. The first and already announced one is Arakawa Under the Bridge. The second is "A work with a lot of girls." That would describe Saki... and many other things. Though, with a live action Saki, how would they handle things like Nodoka and the super short skirts with an apparent lack of clothing under it. (Oh, and for those who want to know, the third is listed as "Unknown.")

Maybe a game? Another PSP game? An adult mahjong game?

Speculate amongst yourselves in the comment below.

Release info via Ota-suke. Band info and analysis ideas via Yaraon.

Image ©Ritsu Kobayashi/Square Enix, Kiyosumi High School Mahjong Club

Taken from: Crunchyroll

New Descendants of Darkness Manga Chapter Runs in June

This year's 13th issue of Hakusensha's Hana to Yume magazine is announcing on Saturday that Yoko Matsushita will draw a new chapter in her Descendants of Darkness (Yami no Matsuei) fantasy manga in The Hana to Yume spinoff magazine on June 25. Not only is Matsushita drawing the Descendants of Darkness Special Edition (Yami no Matsuei: Tokubetsu-hen) chapter, but she is also drawing the main characters Tsuzuki and Hisoka on the front cover of The Hana to Yume magazine.

Matsushita serialized the main Descendants of Darkness manga in Hana to Yume from 1994 to 2002. There was a eight-year gap between the 11th Descendants of Darkness book volume and the 12th volume, which shipped in Japan last January.

Viz Media published the 11th volume of the manga in North America in 2006. J.C. Staff animated a 13-episode television series from 2000 to 2001, and Central Park Media released the anime in North America. The anime has since run on America's Sci Fi Channel.

The same issue of The Hana to Yume magazine will also run a 32-page one-shot story from Maki Minami's S.A. romance manga, whose main storyline ended in 2009.

Source: Manga News

Kannagi: Crazy Shrine Maidens Vol. 1 Manga In Stores Today!

May 25, 2011 (Cypress, CA) – Bandai Entertainment announced today that the first volume of the English version of the KANNAGI: CRAZY SHRINE MAIDENS manga will be available in North American book stores and online starting today. The manga, written and illustrated by Eri Takenashi, focuses on Jin, a normal high-school-aged boy who meets Nagi, a young goddess who awakes after years of slumber with Jin’s help. The odd pair starts living under the same roof together resulting in a bizarre situation with both comedic and dramatic overtones.

The successful manga series was turned into an anime by A-1 Pictures and Directed by Yutaka Yamamoto of Haruhi and Lucky Star fame. The anime was previously released by Bandai Entertainment.

Six volumes of the manga are scheduled for release and creator Takenashi recently resumed work on the series in Japan.

For more information

www.bandai-ent.com

About Bandai Entertainment Inc.

Bandai Entertainment Inc. is a subsidiary of Namco Bandai Holdings (USA) Inc. and a premier distributor of Japanese animation on DVD and programming for television broadcast in North America. Titles include K-ON!, Gundam 00, Code Geass: Lelouch of Rebellion, Lucky Star, Gurren Lagann,The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, Cowboy Bebop, Outlaw Star, Escaflowne, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex, My Otome, and many more.