The latest edition of Wired magazine includes an article titled How Manga Conquered the U.S., a Graphic Guide to Japan’s Coolest Export which explores the story of manga in the U.S., from its humble beginnings to the behemoth it is today. Oh and said article is in Manga form, with illustrations by Atsuhisa Okura. Its nifty and informative if you are rather new to the whole manga scene. The article is available on PDF as well.

[Wired]

A recent investigation at the Japanese agriculture ministry revealed that all that hard work their staff had been putting on the computer wasn’t exactly about making more geometrically modified watermelons. It was much more about giant earth-saving robots.

The 6 staffers this investigation focused on had apparently spent countless work hours editing Gundam articles on Wikipedia, about 260 of them. The staffers received a stern talking to (which is the Japanese equivalent of punching your mother in the face) and Wikipedia was banned from all of the ministry’s computers. Then a ministry official released the following revealing statement:

“The Agriculture Ministry is not in charge of Gundam.”

They should just send them to work with Taro Aso, the declared manga otaku and maybe form the Ministry of Gundam, it’s long overdue.

[Tokyomango]

Speed Racer was a cool arse cartoon. I use to watch it when I was a kid. So a part of me died when I heard they were going to do a live film based on it. And I damn near fainted when I read who was on board to write and direct the script: Andy and Larry Wachowski.

Read more!

So we’ve established you probably wouldn’t like to be a game tester anymore, it’s time to look for a new dream job. What else could you do? How about manga translator? Oh but that must be a lot of work huh? A day like that probably sucks as well. Let’s see, PingMag has an interview with Simona Pini, a manga and anime translator, where she shares  her experiences in the job, such as:

Let’s get a bit practical: What would be a typical day for a manga translator?

Well, usually I wake up at 4 in the afternoon, turn on my computer, read my mail – and get lost on the internet. I read the Panini forum because I like to read what our readers think, and I do Mixi. Eventually I start working until the morning…

Oh wow, sweet deal! Sound’s like we’ve got ourselves a new dream job candidate huh? Better bust out those Japanese flashcards!

[PingMag]

Oh. . .My. . .God! It’s the World Cosplay Summit 2007 celebrated in Nagoya (Japan. . . D’uh). Fresh from the oven! You get to see some pretty, pretty awesome cosplays out there, from Suisei Seki to a Delphino from S. Mario Sunshine, going through some Lucky Star, Bleach, and FMA, and there’s even a Power Ranger! (looks an awful lot like the racer power rangers, although this is pretty hard to be true, Japan dominating the Sentai area by much)

Kuan Hoong is the author of the video seen above, and I must say, great angle(s)!

And here, for some Mexican pride! Fellow Mexican Alejandra Rodriguez Rivera participating at the contest. Go, girl, we’re rooting for you!

[Japan Probe]

[Photo from XinHuaNet]

A mouthful of a title, but an oh-so-spectacular read. Hit the jump for more.
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Megatokyo, the webcomic everyone loves to hate, besides the hardcore fans that is, is hitting it big time as Kodansha recently announced they will be publishing the title on Japan. First through a 30 page introduction on Faust magazine in September and the first whole volume a few months after.

Love it or hate it, Fred-chan’s little-manga-that-could made the impossible jump. Which goes to show that if you believe yourself yourself to be something, eventually you are. Fred Gallagher, mangaka.

[ANN]

So who knew this game even existed? I didnt, thats for sure! Manga Fighter is a game which features “manga characters” in a free for all third person shooter. Now the manga part is really a vague statement, the game has such western feel to it that a couple of anime-eyed characters really wont cut it. The stages look like something that came out of those first Lego 3D games, which while it worked for Lego, it doesnt so much for Manga Fighter.

Still, it just might be really fun and if you want to give it a try you are in luck since their first closed beta just ended and the next one begins sometime this month. A bear with a rocket launcher is never a bad thing, bad manga style aside.

[MangaFighter]

Much in the same flavor of the 100 top anime of japan lists of 2006, this time we have for you a list of the top 50 Manga in Japan composed by Japan’s Agency for Cultural Affairs. And whats best? It was put on video with an awesome song to boot!

Here the top 10 manga in the list, hit the jump for the rest!

1. Slam Dunk
2. JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure
3. Dragon Ball
4. Full Metal Alchemist
5. Doraemon
6. Phoenix
7. Black Jack
8. Nausicaa
9. Mushishi
10. Death Note Read more!

As controversial as Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is he’s always been very supportive of Japanese pop culture and exporting it to the world (alledgedly as a means of world domination). An ouspoken Manga fan, Prime Minister Abe is now proposing a Foreign Manga Award that would be given to the top manga creators outside Japan. Mr. Abe has wants this award to be the ”Nobel Prize of Manga”, something I’m sure Alfred Nobel would be very proud of.

Also, anyone else think this will eventually be awarded to Doujinshi artists, furry included and webcomic artists (read: Fred from Megatokyo)? Or will anybody dare and say Manwa?

[ANN]