Let's Manga

For those of you who missed this fast-spread news over Easter Weekend, Amazon.com is being targeted for discrimination. Adult content, with particular emphasis on homosexual titles, began disappearing from Amazon’s search results and individual listings have had their Sales Rank (how well they’re selling comparatively on the site) removed.

As my site caters primarily to a manga reading audience, yes, yaoi was/is affected. There were several yaoi titles that no longer came up when I searched for their names or authors (Kitty Media titles in particular) and the pages no longer had sales rankings.

It was a blatant matter of discrimination, and whether by fault or intent, it was an issue that had to be dealt with head on.

From video games to pop art, the government reportedly plans to establish a major collection of modern Japanese media arts to showcase and promote internationally at the new centre.The government plans to collaborate with regional museums, galleries and institutions such as the Kyoto International Manga Museum and the NTT InterCommunication Centre in Tokyo in the establishment of the new centre.

Aso's Angel ...appears to be the manga industry, if this recent speech is any indication. It's telling that the Prime Minister focused exclusively on manga and not anime, which has "entered the global lexicon" and enjoys great popularity abroad well. Was it simply a slip of the tongue or an actual slight -- a sign that the troubled industry simply isn't worth saving to The Powers that Be?