ANN interviews Arina Tanemura, creator of Full Moon o Sagashite and The Gentlemen’s Alliance +.

MangaCast has audio of Jason Thompson’s “100 Manga Magazines in 60 Minutes” panel from SDCC. He also has this week’s new manga list, the first part of the Big List of new manga in Japan, and links to a handful of previews.

Vol. 5 of the yuri anthology Yuri Monogatari is available for pre-order!

Here’s a little eye candy to start your day: Tokyopop editor Tim Beedle has posted the cover of vol. 2 of Return to Labyrinth. Check Beedle’s blog for updates on the title, which is written by Jake Forbes and is sort of a manga sequel to the Jim Henson film Labyrinth.

Madeleine Rosca wraps up her multipart account of her trip to Japan, part of her prize for taking honorable mention in the Foreign Minister’s international manga competition.

ComiPress interviews uber-otaku Ed Chavez about the future of MangaCast.

The Kansas City Star has an article on manga and graphic novels in the classroom.

If you’re running out of things to read, check out the Scanlations of the Month at Manganews.

Digital is publishing an Essential Otaku Guide to Japan. And if you’re going, you might want to check out the Japan Football Museum’s Captain Tsubasa exhibit.

Reviews: At the Savage Critics, Jog reviews vol. 2 of Mushishi and observes that the book is on a twice-yearly schedule, which is not a good sign. Christopher Seaman takes an advance look at vol. 10 of Kekkaishi at Active Anime. At Comics Worth Reading, Johanna looks at three quite different yaoi titles, My Paranoid Next Door Neighbor, Words of Devotion, and Can’t Win With You! Julie takes an early look at a new title from CMX, vol. 1 of The Key to the Kingdom, at the Manga Maniac Cafe. Emily’s Random Shoujo Manga Page profiles two Japanese titles, Toshiue no Hito (“Older Man”) and a student-teacher manga, Sono ki ni Sasanaide. Alexiel checks out vol. 1 of Rose Hip Zero at Storymode.