Dark Horse reveals manga sales numbers

Comic AG issue 105 is in stores right now!  Get ‘em before they’re banned!

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Found via Robot 6: Click here for a great PDF presentation of Dark Horse’s manga catalog.  What makes it so noteworthy, you ask?  This product guide contains cumulative sales estimates!  It pretty much explains why Lone Wolf and Cub (1 million+ served) has seen steady publication all these years, while the dark cloud of cancellation has continually cast a shadow over the critically well-received Eden (40,000 copies over 11 books).

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Comics212 takes Bandai to task for not using a common spine template for their books.  I’m not picky about spines… Bandai’s designs aren’t bad, although the inconsistencies do become glaring when the books are shelved together.  But on all matters relating to trade dress, publishers have to take retailer opinions seriously… they’re the ones on the front line selling the books, so they see the consequences of such bad judgment calls first-hand.

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For my own future reference… Canned Dogs’ excellent continuous coverage of the Japan eroge rape ban here, here, and here.  It seems some developers will be hit hard by the new guidelines, which were hastily written and adopted with little time for review by industry members.

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Danny Choo plugs Kodansha’s Otaku Encyclopedia, which contains a  plug for Danny Choo.  It also has an entry on tentacles.

I think I want this.

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Somehow missed it… Manga.About.com points to a free online preview of Osamu Tezuka’s Swallowing the Earth, about a secret order of women who swear vengeance against all men.  There is nudity.  I mean, there are other things going for it, but, you know.  Nudity.

Come to think of it, my two earliest anime memories are of the various butt-flashing in Phoenix, and the erotic dance in front of a fire scene in Bagi.  I think Osamu Tezuka messed me up royally.