Today's snark allotment

Somewhere, someone is masturbating to this.

NARUTO vs GOKU!!

Takahashi rides again

See, I need something like this to trick me into learning Japanese. Then everything would be awesome. And it looks like I'd get a sampler of many as-yet-unknown manga titles too.

Through MNS: Big Comic Original magazine announces the launch of a new Rumiko Takahashi series, Permanent Love. Couldn't read the summary, but I did pick out the word "salaryman" ... which suggests that the new work will have little similarity to Inu-Yasha. ;)

And look! Manga Jouhou got a face lift.

P.S. Here's a thought for this week: instead of a Demo scriptbook, why not a Demo sketchbook? I, personally, would totally pay for a book of Becky Cloonan's scribbles as she worked on the series.

The awesomeness of Kudo

According to Diamond Previews and AoD (no link -- scroll down), Viz may possibly have licensed 20th Century Boys? That would ROCK.

And just for random interest. MNS has the rankings for the top manga in Japan this week:

1. Great Detective Conan Vol. 48 (that's Case Closed to you Amerikaners)
2. Useless Cantabile Vol. 11 (aka Nodame Cantabile -- due out from Del Rey in April)
3. Prince Of Tennis Vol. 27
4. Golden Gouache Vol. 19
5. Sacraran High School Host Part 5
6. Shaman King Vol. 32
7. Back Peach Girl Vol. 1
8. Mask Of The Glass Vol. 42
9. Strawberry 100% Vol. 14 (more commonly known as Ichigo 100% among scanlation circles)
10. ARIA Vol. 6

Light Up

I doubt there's much time to get started now, but a note to all aspiring comickers: Tokyopop's 5th Rising Stars of Manga contest ends on Feb. 15! New in this contest is a "People's Choice Award" where manga fans can look at the 20 finalists' entries on the TP site and vote for their favorite.

AoD has an advance review of the gothlolitastic Alichino Vol. 1.

Translated through the MNS: But is there too much smoking in boys' manga? "There were some 8.7 smoking scenes on average in boys' comics magazine examined by the survey. ... There were only 0.2% of smoking scenes containing a message cigarette were bad for the body." Hmmm.

The best things in life are $10 apiece

Courtesy of Cognitive Dissonance, now's a good a time as any to get on the Imadoki! and Sgt. Frog trains. Assuming you aren't already, of course.

MNS points out the webpage of Kazuo Umezu, a horror manga-ka who is "generally considered as the godfather of the horror manga genre, authoring Orochi: Blood*, Drifting Classroom, Baptism of Blood and Left Hand of God, Right Hand of the Devil."

*This one is available in the U.S., I'm pretty sure.

Today's scanlation of choice, should you choose to accept it, is Usamaru Furuya's The Music of Marie, a gorgeously rendered tale that somehow manages to out-Miyazaki Miyazaki in its construction of fantasy worlds and sweeping landscapes. From Kotonoha: " ... A world in which men are watched over by the mechanical goddess Marie who at times appears in the sky. Marie's music brings people happiness and harmony. Their life is free from advanced technology and the longing for progress. The main story centers around Kai, a young man who develops a deep affection for Marie. His quest for enlightenment leads him inside Marie's mechanical body where he learns the unbelievable truth about her and his own world."