Are you a manga reader who is tired of not being able to find a wide variety of manga in the bookstores? Well, you’re in luck! Japan’s Digital Comic Association (DCA), which is comprised of 39 prominent Japanese publishers, has launched JManga.com in North America. The DCA’s manga portal site provides online manga for sale by chapter and volume; the manga can be purchased by a monthly point subscription. Previews are free for everyone, as well as information on manga titles being published in North America. The site also features interviews with manga artists, special feature content on manga culture, and more. The aim of the site is to bridge…

Title: Ghost in the Shell – Stand Alone Complex: Solid State Society Directed by Kenji Kamiyama Distributed by Manga Video & Bandai Entertainment Running time:  113 min, Not Rated, Available on standard DVD In the year 2034 and the section 9 field team is out to investigate a chain of suicides by Siak  Republic agents that are linked to a master hacker known as the “Puppeteer.” Meanwhile thousands of children go missing and are discovered to have had their cyberbrains replaced and identities modified to become the children of “Noble Rot” senior citizens, who are elderly patients in a hospice-like environment that are hooked up to a health care monitoring…

According to a report from Variety.com, DreamWorks Pictures has hired Laeta Kalogridis (“Shutter Island”) to write the long-rumored live-action English adaptation of the famous Japanese manga “Ghost in the Shell”. Ari Arad and Steven Paul of Seaside Entertainment are attached to produce the 3D live-action project, which is set in a futuristic Japanese city and the cybernetic covert ops team that specialize in combating technology-related crimes. Created by Masamune Shirow, “Ghost in the Shell” was first published in 1989 and has since gone onto generate two more manga series, a long-running anime TV series, and three animated movies. Stay tuned for more on “Ghost In The Shell” right here at…

Collider is reporting that Warner Bros. Pictures is still developing a live-action adaptation of the hit Japanese manga and anime “Akira”, and has tapped Mark Fergus and Hawk Ostby to write the script. Akira is Katsuhiro Otomo’s six-volume manga series, and takes place in a post-apocalyptic city where members of a bike gang get involved in a battle between the mysterious psychic forces that are connected to the initial destruction of the city, the military government, and rebel forces. The famous motorcycle used by the protagonist Kaneda, according to Collider, will definitely be a part of the film. Keep checkin’ back for more “Akira” news here at Shockya.com. By Costa…

San Francisco, CA, August 27, 2009 – VIZ Media, LLC (VIZ Media), one of the entertainment industry’s most innovative and comprehensive publishing, animation and licensing companies, will release the Uncut DVD Box Set for the animated romantic rock and roll melodrama, NANA, on September 8th. The 3-disc set featuring 12 episodes will be rated ‘M’ for Mature Audiences and carry an MSRP of $59.90 U.S. / $85.99 CAN. The first box set will also include an exclusive NANA guitar pick. The NANA anime is based on the popular manga by Ai Yazawa, which has sold over 43 million copies in Japan and is published in North America by VIZ Media…

Convergence Entertainment (The King of Fighters) has gained the rights to produce live-action adaptations of the “Gungrave” and “Lone Wolf” properties. Tim Kwok will produce both projects. Andrew Lam is tapped to be the associate producer on “Lone Wolf”, while Yasuaki Nagoshi of Red Entertainment being the excutive producer on “Gungrave”. “Gungrave” was created by Japanese manga author Yasuhiro Nightow and follows the protagonist as he rises in a crime syndicate but is betrayed and murdered by his best friend. He is then resurrected by a kindly old doctor and equipped with various weapons, and sets out to destroy the syndicate that was once his life, and avenge his death…

Entertainment Weekly reports that the official Manga graphic novel based on Twilight will soon become available from Yen Press by Korean artist Young Kim. Check out some of the artwork below. Stay tuned to the latest news on the upcoming Twilight movie entitled The Twilight Saga: New Moon based on the novel by Stephenie Meyer. “New Moon” stars Robert Pattinson (Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix), Kristen Stewart (Adventureland, The Runaways), Nikki Reed (K-11), Ashley Greene (Skateland), Taylor Lautner, (My Own Worst Enemy), Jackson Rathbone (S. Darko) Dakota Fanning and Kellan Lutz. Click Here for more photos, news and videos from Twilight and New Moon. Film Synopsis: After…

Despite numerous legal difficulties surrounding the rights to the property, Steven Spielberg and Will Smith are “moving forward”, according to IGN, with plans to remake “Oldboy”, by Chan-wook Park. The film has been in considerable legal limbo since release. Futabasha, the Japanese publishing company that released the original “Oldboy” manga, is suing the Korean film production company Show East, the makers of the cult hit live-action film, over the remake rights. However, Reuters reports that Show East has shut down and Kim Dong-Ju, the company’s CEO, has disappeared. The company Big Egg, who helped to co-produce the film, has also ceased operation and its ex-staff members are listed as unreachable….

Bloody Disgusting is reporting that the long-rumored and long-in production live action adaptation of “Akira”, the groundbreaking 1982 manga by Katsuhiro Otomo that was the basis of the 1988 anime movie of the same name, is officially dead in the water. The site broke the news last year of the live-action adaptation of the cyberpunk anime classic about biker gangs, government corruption, and psychic warfare, with Ruairi Robinson directing. However, Robinson has left the project and the whole thing is, according to the site, “dead as a doornail”. Originally running from 1982 to 1990 before being collected into six volumes, “Akira” was adapted into a critically-lauded animated movie in 1988,…

Variety is reporting that Warner Bros. Pictures has acquired the rights to turn the highly popular Japanese manga series “Death Note”, created by Tsugumi Ohba and illustrated by Takeshi Obata, into a live-action film. The studio has hired screenwriters Charley and Vlas Parlapanides to adapt the manga. The story of “Death Note” follows a high school student who finds a mysterious notebook called a “death note,” infusing him with the power to kill merely by writing anyone’s name on the page while picturing the person in his mind. He is drawn into a mysterious conflict, aided by a supernatural demon and discovering others with their own demon allies and death…