Please come to Boston in the springtime…

Anime Boston is this weekend, and the Manga Recon crew are ready with a Manga Map of Boston, directing you to all the cool sites. Also, a reminder to bloggers: E-mail me or drop me a comment if you want to get together at the con. We’re thinking coffee in the food court on Saturday morning, but plans are still fluid. I’ll post more at the end of the week.

Chloe Ferguson discusses josei and seinen manga in her Panelosophy column at ComiPress.

ICv2 has an analysis of February comic and graphic novel sales; sales of pamphlet comics seem to have softened, while the graphic novel list is unusually diverse.

I’ll save you the trouble of reading this story from Crain’s New York Business by excerpting the manga-related content:

James Killen, the manga and graphic novel buyer for Barnes & Noble, reports that the bookstore chain has seen sales grow by double digits in the category annually for the past five years, and he forecasts the same for 2008.

New York’s major trade book publishers continue to launch manga and graphic novel lines, and to expand the ones they have. Random House imprint Del Rey, the nation’s third-largest manga publisher after VIZ Media and TokyoPop, will publish 125 titles this year, up from 12 when it launched four years ago.

The publisher says the titles work because they’ve expanded the comic book audience. “The comics category was all superheroes,” says Dallas Middaugh, associate publisher of Del Rey Manga. “There wasn’t a lot there for girls.”

(Via the Del Rey blog.)

David Welsh has found a manga he’d like to see licensed, please. And John Jakala is thrilled by the latest offering from Emma creator Kaoru Mori.

Is Rozen Maiden coming back? Creators Peach-Pit announced that the manga had come to an end a few months ago, but they reappeared with a one-shot in Young Jump this week, and the magazine promises a major announcement in next week’s issue. Stay tuned!

In other news from Japan, Kodansha is publishing a second volume of the international manga anthology Mandala. Oh, and the latest prize in a McDonald’s competition is the chance to become a character in the manga Dokaben.

At Comics212, Christopher Butcher dissects the first issue of PiQ.

Ryan presents a sneak peek of the new Maruo and Shintaro Kago manga at Same Hat.

Gia notes that the small global yaoi publisher Yaoi House is closing its doors.

ComiPress lists some upcoming manga-related events.

Reviews: Head on over to ANN, where Carlo Santos has posted his latest Right Turn Only!! column, with reviews of vol. 8 of Nana, vol. 1 of Minima, and more. Sporadic Sequential’s John Jakala scores some cheap manga but criticizes it anyway; Chikyu Misaki and ES are among his purchases. At It Can’t All Be About Manga, Cathy explains why she doesn’t like vol. 2 of Fall In Love Like a Comic, and she also presents an interesting cashier’s dilemma. Margaret Veira reviews vol. 16 of Fullmetal Alchemist and Holly Ellingwood checks out vol. 1 of Selfish Mr. Mermaid at Active Anime. At Comics-and-More, Dave Ferraro finds vol. 1 of Fever a little unclear, and I’m glad I’m not the only one; unlike him, though, I’m captivated enough by the art to want more. Michelle gives vol. 1 of Kare Kano an A+ at Soliloquy in Blue. Tangognat reads vol. 1 of Tenshi Ja Nai and likes it enough to check out the next volume. Julie reviews vol. 2 of The Yagyu Ninja Scrolls: Revenge of the Hori Clan and vol. 2 of Venus in Love at the Manga Maniac Cafe. Tiamat’s Disciple discusses vol. 1 of Legend, focusing on format and marketing as much as content.