Say it isn’t so: Masashi Kishimoto’s phenomenally popular Naruto will conclude its fifteen-year run on November 10th.

In conjunction with his appearance at NYCC, Death Note artist Takeshi Obata will be signing books at two Manhattan bookstores: Kinokuniya (October 10th) and the Tribeca Barnes & Noble (October 11th).

Seven Seas unveiled three new fantasy and sci-fi licenses: Magika Swordsman, Summoner, and Bodacious Space Pirates: Abyss of Hyperspace.

Need some guidance in the manga aisle? The Manga Bookshelf team offers their picks for the week’s best new arrivals.

Ash Brown catalogs his September reading list, from the first volume of Alice in the Country of Hearts to the latest volume of What Did You Eat Yesterday?

Support a good cause! The Comic Book Legal Defense Fund will be throwing a party on October 11th in New York City. The event is open to fans and pros alike, and will raise money for the organization’s advocacy work. Need proof that censorship of manga is still an issue? As recently as two weeks ago, the town of Cleveland, Texas, was holding hearings on whether to remove Vampire Knight from its library for “Satanic content.”

Reviews: The Manga Bookshelf gang files another installment of Bookshelf Briefs, while Lesley Aeschliman runs down the contents of the latest issue of Weekly Shonen Jump.

Lesley Aeschliman on vol. 1 of Alice in the Country of Hearts (Lesley’s Musings… on Anime & Manga)
Matthew Warner on Battle Royale: Angel’s Border (The Fandom Post)
Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 8 of Happy Marriage?! (Comic Book Bin)
Sean Gaffney on vol. 1 of I Am Alice: Body Swap in Wonderland (A Case Suitable for Treatment)
Matthew Alexander on vol. 10 of Knights of Sidonia (The Fandom Post)
Lori Henderson on vols. 5-9 of Library Wars: Love and War (Good Comics for Kids)
Khursten Santos on Sanzoku Diary (Otaku Champloo)
Erica Friedman on vol. 4 of Torikaebaya (Okazu)
Rebecca Silverman on Uzumaki: 3-in-1 Deluxe Edition (Anime News Network)
Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 2 of World Trigger (Comic Book Bin)

Pour yourself a cup of coffee and grab a Danish — Ryan Holmberg has posted another in-depth article about the early manga industry, this time examining the influence of American cartoonists on Osamu Tezuka’s early artistic development.

Derek Bown dedicates his latest Combat Commentary column to Naruto.

Sequential Tart interviews Gina Biggs, creator of the OEL manga Red String.

And the Eisner goes to… Shigeru Mizuki’s autobiographical comic Onwards Towards Our Noble Deaths, which won the award for Best U.S. Edition of International Material — Asia. Katsuhiro Otomo also got a nod from the judges, earning himself a spot in the Eisner Hall of Fame.

Shiftylook, a webcomic initiative of Namco/Bandai, has hired manga-ka Hitoshi Ariga (The Big O, Megaman Megamix) to draw a new webcomic based on popular game Klonoa; Canadian artist and writer Jim Zub will pen the script.

Reviews: Over at Anime News Network, Carlo Santos dedicates his latest Right Turn Only!! column to such new releases as 5 Centimeters Per Second and Jiu Jiu. Closer to home, the Manga Bookshelf gang posts an assortment of brief reviews.

Patti Martinson on vol. 20 of Claymore (Sequential Tart)
Connie on vol. 2 of Dawn of the Arcana (Slightly Biased Manga)
Johanna Draper Carlson on Genshinken: Second Season Book One (Manga Worth Reading)
Erica Friedman on Jigoku NEET (Okazu)
Connie on vol. 14 of Kimi ni Todoke: From Me to You (Slightly Biased Manga)
Sean Gaffney on vol. 63 of One Piece (A Case Suitable for Treatment)
Lissa Patillo on vol. 18 of Ouran High School Host Club (Kuriousity)
Connie on vol. 2 of Princess Knight (Slightly Biased Manga)
Lori Henderson on vols. 8-9 of Rin-ne (Manga Xanadu)
Connie on vol. 2 of Wandering Son (Slightly Biased Manga)

If you weren’t able to attend San Diego Comic-Con, fear not: Sean Gaffney has posted a report detailing the major licensing news from Kodansha Comics, VIZ Media, and Yen Press. Among the most exciting announcements at SDCC came from JManga, which has teamed up with Kodansha to rescue titles left unfinished by Tokyopop and Del Rey. JManga hasn’t revealed which titles it will be releasing through its online portal, so stay tuned.

Chip Kidd announced that he’s working on a new anthology of bara manga for PictureBox. Entitled The Passion of Gengoroh Tagame: Bara Master, the book will feature a dozen or so short stories by Tagame, and will be translated by Anne Ishii.

In honor of the just-announced Sailor Moon reboot, Mike Toole takes a look at the franchise’s fascinating twenty-year history, from storylines to swag.

The Manga Bookshelf gang — myself included — weigh in on this week’s new arrivals.

File under “Not Manga, But Relevant”: Manga Bookshelf contributor Sara K. offers tips for mastering a new language. Not surprisingly, she recommends reading comics as a fun vocabulary-building exercise.

Erica Friedman rounds up the latest yuri manga news at Okazu.

DMP’s ambitious Kickstarter campaign is entering its final week. Currently, the publisher has raised enough funds for two titles — Osamu Tezuka’s Unico and A*Tomcat — but is hoping to attract additional support for a third, Triton of the Sea. Readers curious about Triton can read a short preview at Kickstarter.

Reviews: Melinda Beasi and Michelle Smith dedicate their latest Off the Shelf column to supernatural shojo titles, including Jiu Jiu and Natsume’s Book of Friends. Over at Experiments in Manga, Ash Brown reviews Bond(z), Hikaru no Go, and Olympos.

Sean Gaffney on vol. 1 of Alice in the Country of Clover: Cheshire Cat Waltz (A Case Suitable for Treatment)
Kristin Bomba on vol. 20 of Claymore and vol. 9 of Rosario + Vampire Season II (Comic Attack)
Kate O’Neil on vol. 7 of House of Five Leaves (The Fandom Post)
Ash Brown on NonNonBa (Experiments in Manga)
Matthew Alexander on vol. 6 of Omamori Himari (The Fandom Post)
Anna Neatrour on Roman Holiday (Manga Report)

Hey, y’all… Brigid is at San Diego Comic-Con this week where she’ll wearing several hats: journalist, panelist, and jurist. (That’s right: Brigid is one of this year’s Eisner Award judges!) That means you’re stuck with me for a couple of days. I’ll do my best to fill Brigid’s shoes; you can help out by emailing or tweeting me links to breaking news stories, interesting articles about manga, and, of course, reviews!

Speaking of SDCC, the first news items are beginning to trickle in. VIZ just unveiled its new Android manga app, which is available through Google Play. Users will be able to purchase volumes of popular VIZ titles such as Naruto and Black Bird, as well as issues of Weekly Shonen Alpha. VIZ also announced that it will be publishing Street Fighter x Sanrio: World View, in which characters from the video game duke it out with characters from Sanrio’s vast empire of cuteness.

Yen Press will be doing a graphic adaptation of James Patterson’s forthcoming novel, Zoo. Zoo is something of a departure for Yen; unlike Daniel X and Maximum Ride, the novel is clearly aimed at adult readers. Andy MacDonald is adapting and drawing the manga.

At the Kodansha Comics panel, Dallas Middaugh reviewed the company’s fall line-up, which will include three new titles: Genshinken: Second Season, Missions of Love, a shojo comedy by Emi Toyama (Pixie Pop, I Am Here!), and Danza, a short story collection by Natsume Ono (House of Five Leaves, not simple). Middaugh also announced that Kodansha would be re-issuing Battle Angel Alita: Last Order in a new, omnibus edition in 2013.

Rebecca Silverman interviews Kaze editors David Guelou and Raphael Pennes about Japan: One Year Later, an anthology exploring the aftermath of last year’s devastating earthquake and tsunami.

Last but not least, Melinda Beasi will be hosting the July Manga Movable Feast at Manga Bookshelf. The topic is CLAMP, and the discussion begins on Monday, July 23rd.

News from Japan: The latest issue of Hana to Yume reports that Julietta Suzuki’s Kamisama Kiss will be getting the anime treatment; no word yet on a possible air date, though Akitaro Daichi (Fruits Basket, Kodocha) will direct the series.

Reviews: Over at Manga Xanadu, Lori Henderson files brief reviews of Bakuman and Nura: Rise of the Yokai Clan.

Anna Neatrour on vol. 3 of Alice in the Country of Hearts Omnibus (Manga Report)
Serdar Yegulalp on vol. 2 of The Flowers of Evil (Genji Press)
Jenny on vols. 1-27 of Fullmetal Alchemist (No Flying No Tights)
Kristin Bomba on vol. 7 of House of Five Leaves (Comic Attack)
Paige McKee on vol. 9 of Jormungand (Sequential Tart)
Sean Gaffney on Olympos (A Case Suitable for Treatment)
Kate Dacey on Sakuran (The Manga Critic)
Sheena McNeil on vol. 7 of Tenjo Tenge: Full Contact Edition (Sequential Tart)
Nichole on vol. 1 of Ugly Duckling’s Love Revolution (No Flying No Tights)

It’s almost time for the second annual Aniblog Tourney, in which dozens of anime blogs face off, March Madness style, for the honor of Best Anime Blog. This year, tournament organizers have widened the scope of the contest to include manga blogs as well, explaining that “The anime and manga spheres seem to be very disconnected from each other, so hopefully we can spread some of the readers of anime blogs into reading some manga blogs.”

Over at Manga Worth Reading, Ed Sizemore interviews Fanfare/Ponent Mon publisher Stephen Robson. As Ed notes, Fanfare is responsible for publishing almost 70% of the Jiro Taniguchi titles available in English.

Also at Manga Worth Reading: Ed Sizemore explores Jiro Taniguchi’s artistic influences.

VIZ Media announced that it would be producing an original graphic novel series based on the popular Redakai television series, currently airing on Cartoon Network. Look for the first full-color book in October 2012.

Connie has a licensing request: Setona Mitzushiro’s Heartbroken Chocolatier.

The Manga Bookshelf gang declare Dororo and Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service this week’s must-buy manga.

News from Japan: In a recent interview with Geijutsu Shincho, Katsuhiro Otomo revealed that he is working on his first long series since AKIRA. Otomo was stingy with details, saying only that the story would appear in a shonen magazine.

Reviews: In their latest Going Digital column, Melinda Beasi and Sean Gaffney review both manga apps and online manga. Over at Experiments in Manga, Ash Brown shares his thoughts on A A’, King of Thorn, and Mister Mistress.

Connie on vol. 3 of Dawn of the Arcana (Slightly Biased Manga)
Connie on Golgo 13: Ice Lake Hit (Slightly Biased Manga)
Sean Gaffney on vols. 1-3 of Hana-Kimi (A Case Suitable for Treatment)
Rob McMonigal on vol. 8 of Jormungand (Panel Patter)
Sakura Eries on vol. 7 of Oresama Teacher (The Fandom Post)
Matthew Warner on vol. 3 of Psyren (The Fandom Post)
Lori Henderson on The Quest for the Missing Girl (Manga Xanadu)
Rebecca Silverman on vols. 5-6 of Sakura Hime: The Legend of Princess Sakura (Anime News Network)
Lori Henderson on Samurai Legend (Manga Xanadu)
Anna on vol. 7 of Stepping on Roses (Manga Report)
Johanna Draper Carlson on vol. 2 of Summit of the Gods (Manga Worth Reading)
Anna on Tenka Ichi!! (Manga Report)
Sean Gaffney on Young Miss Holmes, Casebooks 1-2 (A Case Suitable for Treatment)