August 1st – or 8/01 – has been proclaimed Yaoi Day! Not a bad thing to celebrate mid-summer – nice and hot, right? Well, unless you’re living on the East Coast of Canada… but that’s a different matter!

Digital Manga is ready to celebrate Yaoi Day with sales and contests, the deals of which are lasting all week. Curious what they’ve got to offer? It’s all available to readers around the world and you can read all the details below:

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How to Celebrate Yaoi Day…

1) Wake up happy…despite the fact you still haven’t quite recovered from AX and you were no doubt up late last night making in-roads into your new stack of manga purchased at AX.

2) Read at least one yaoi — this is a definite requirement to Yaoi Day celebration.

3) Count down the days when Finder 4 will finally be available — Wait! it’s coming out this month (August)!!! <Try not to squeal too load> :)

4) Spread the love — by lending out or giving yaoi as a gift to friends, relatives, or even the stranger on the street. You never know who might have been deprived all their lives and may not even know what yaoi is. <Surpress shock and horror>

5) Visit DMP’s Site and Blog to get updates on the latest yaoi news.

6) Visit us on Twitter for the Yaoi Day Twitter Contest — Details below!

7) Don’t miss the awesome Yaoi Day sale with all its Yaoi goodness!!!

Yaoi Daily Twitter Contest!

On 8/01 (August 1^st) beginning 11am, there will be a yaoi trivia question every 15 minutes via twitter (@digitalmanga).  Prizes every 15 minutes are as follows:

To win a prize:

Send in your answer to preview@emanga.com. ONE winner with a correct answer will be chosen randomly every 15 minutes.

Limit ONE entry per question. Multiple submissions will be thrown away. You may enter all 25 times. Contest winners will be notified and announced at the end of the day.

All prizes will be mailed via USPS Media Mail.  Please allow up to 3-4 weeks for a delivery. Contest is open worldwide.

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If looking to take advantage of their boys’ love savings, I recommend keeping an eye on their Yaoi-specific shopping site: Yaoi Club!

In celebration of their shoujo series, Itazura na Kiss, making the YALSA’s Great Graphic Novel for Teens list, Digital Manga is holding a contest over on their blog for readers to win some copies of the omnibus-released series.

To enter the contest, you must correctly answer twenty trivia questions about the series and submit it via e-mail. The contest is also open (based on the rules given there) to readers around the world instead of being restricted to the United States – yay! Winners who submit the correct answers will then be chosen by random draw.

The prize? “You can win any volume(s) or all of the series, including future releases. It’s a your pick prize!” So in theory you could request one volume, two volume, future volumes… all volumes? It’s a little vague but who would only pick one volume when you can have them all? No complaints from me to be given the option to choose to be sent all future volumes! Consider me some definite competition shoujo-fans.

Anime News Network is holding a contest to give away theatre-showing tickets to the upcoming Neon Genesis Evangelion 2.0! The site had a similar contest for the first movie last year. This time they’re giving away not one, not two but 240 tickets – that’s five for each of the theatre showings across the country. It’s a simple enter-your-info-to-be-qualified contest and with that many tickets to give away, chances are good!

The showing is a single-night event on January 20th. Along with the contest, ANN’s site also has the complete list of theatres confirmed as playing the movie.

January 13, 2011: Winners announced – congrats folks!

Time for some winnings! A few interesting contests going on right now that are worth a gander and an enter.

Firstly, AnimeNewsNetwork has teamed with Aniplex (from whom they’ve licensed their two simulcasting series) and Pop Travel Japan (the tour-company of Digital Manga) to offer a contest where the winner gets a fully-paid trip to Japan!

There are two trip packages to be won – Tokyo Anime Fair Tour: an Otaku-centric tour of Japan including a trip to the Tokyo Anime Fair and Akihabara; and Fangirl Paradise Tour: a more boys’ love fan-central tour that includes the infamous Otome Road and a visit to an “authentic butler cafe”.

Entrants for the Fangirl Paradise Tour are required to take pictures of themselves in togainu no chi cosplay, with one of the two images having a sign proclaiming ‘ANN Please Send Me To Japan!’. For the Tokyo Anime Fair Tour contest, participants are to draw some Oreimo fanart and submit for the judges to see (with the ANN logo included somewhere in the picture all not-sneaky-like).

The winning packages include airfare, hotel accommodations, transportation while there, tour guides and customized guidebooks. Us Canadians (alas  excluding myself) are able to enter the contest as well, though in place of airfare, there will be $500 given towards booking your own flight to Japan. Full guidelines and rules of course available over on the website.

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On their Twitter account, NetComics announced a fun little contest with the winner receiving $100 in e-Cash to go towards reading manga and manhwa on their website. With chapters for $.025, that’s a lot of reading!

1) Choose your favorite series.
2) Identify a scene/panel to recreate.
3) Do yer thang: bubbles, illustrations, etc.–the whole nine yards.
4) Q yourself whether or not your work is compelling/original.
5) Tweet it like there’s no tomorrow.

The deadline for NetComics’ contest is November 30th.

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RightStuf also runs numerous small contests, a current one being a draw for a random bag of swag. And though not really a contest but still for the artistically-inclined, a reminder that Yen Press’s current talent search is still on-going with a deadline of January 3, 2011.

Gardena, CA (November 17, 2010) – In recognition of the simulcast of the Aniplex anime titles Oreimo and togainu no chi ~Bloody Curs~ on Anime News Network (ANN), Aniplex of America, ANN, and Pop Japan Travel (PJT) have teamed up to offer Oreimo and togainu no chi fans something very special: the chance to win one of two trips to Japan!

The simulcast of Oreimo and togainu no chi were first announced by Aniplex and ANN earlier this fall and give fans the chance to view two of Japan’s hottest new anime series right after they are first broadcast in Japan. As a way of saying “thanks” to the anime fans that tune in to the simulcasts, viewers will be able to participate in a contest to win one of two trips to Japan courtesy of Pop Japan Travel, the leader in Pop Culture tours to Japan.

The contest details can only be accessed by watching the two series on ANN. The prize for the winner of the Oreimo contest will be a trip to Japan on PJT’s Tokyo Anime Fair Tour in March 2011, while the winner of the togainu no chi contest will get to join the Fangirl Paradise Tour in May 2011.

“Being able to do something special like this for the viewers of our first simulcasts means a lot to us,” says ANN CEO Christopher Macdonald. “We’re very happy to team up with Aniplex and PJT to draw more attention to these great shows and to give two of our fans a wonderful and memorable experience.”

“To get to be a part of this project is a special honor for us,” says PJT Director of Operations Gigi Guiting. “We’re looking forward to having more anime fans experience all the sights, sounds, and attractions Japan has to offer!”

New episodes of Oreimo and togainu no chi ~Bloody Curs~ stream every week at http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/. ANN is offering a free stream of both shows, in addition to a high-quality video stream for a reasonable subscription fee. Both regular viewers and subscribers are eligible to participate in the contests. People interested in learning more about the Tokyo Anime Fair Tour, the Fangirl Paradise Tour, or the other tours offered by Pop Japan Travel can visit http://www.popjapantravel.com/ or e-mail go@popjapantravel.com for more information.

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About Aniplex of America Inc.

Aniplex of America Inc.. (Santa Monica, California) is a subsidiary of Aniplex Inc. (headquartered in Tokyo, Japan), a group of Sony Music Entertainment and leading provider of anime content and music production and distribution in Japan. Aniplex Inc. has introduced a variety of properties including such hits as “Gurren Lagann,” “Fullmetal Alchemist,” “Kuroshitsuji (Black Butler),” “Rurouni Kenshin (Samurai X),” “R.O.D -THE TV-,” and “Blood+,” all of which are licensed and distributed worldwide. In addition to licensing business, the company launched its direct video release business, starting with Gurren Lagann the Movie – Childhood’s End- and –The Lights in the Sky Are Stars- in summer 2010. The company plans to release selected titles in North America including R.O.D –THE COMPLETE- Blu-ray Box and Durarara!! DVDs.

Official Website: www.AniplexUSA.com

About Anime News Network

Anime News Network is the number 1 website worldwide for news and information about Japanese anime and manga. Anime News Network was launched in 1998 and now serves millions of readers from around the world every month. The company is also active in market research and has been streaming anime online since 2008.Anime News Network’s mission is to bring the anime industry and its consumers together with the latest and best information, editorial and anime content.

For more, visit http://www.AnimeNewsNetwork.com/

About Pop Japan Travel

Since 2003, POP JAPAN TRAVEL has operated countless group tours and custom tours with themes focused on Japanese anime, manga, video games, music, fashion (to name a few) – all at an affordable price. Pop Japan Travel tours offer a careful balance of the hyper-modern world of J-pop culture and the rich traditions of ancient Japan. Additionally, PJT is the ONLY tour agency to provide exclusive experiences such as visits to anime and game studios, meetings with manga artists or designers, and classes at an actual manga school. On every group tour, a friendly, accommodating, knowledgeable, and bilingual guide will make sure your experience in Japan is everything you could ever hope it would be, and more.

For more information, visit http://www.popjapantravel.com/

Covention season is upon us and that means a lot of things –  but for the sake of this post, it means art contests! New York Anime Fest (which is joining with New York Comic Con for the first time this year) has opened up its annual mascot design contest with snazzy prizes and a one month submission time.

“Announced May 1 at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden’s Sakura Matsuri and running until May 20th, Kinokuniya, theOtaku.com, Del Rey Manga, and the New York Anime Festival welcome artists and anime fans from around America to think about what “Anime”, “New York City”, and (because we’re in October) “Halloween”, mean to them and draw these thoughts into an original character. Whether it’s big, small, a towering mecha, or chibi, we want to see your entries!”

The grand-prize winner will not only have the fun of seeing their artwork used on all NYAF”s official merchandise but will also receive a copy of all the material the art is used on, 10 free passes to the event and 50 volumes of Del Rey manga!

All entries are due May 20th with the finalists announced on June 1st. Then, after a month of voting at their Kinokuniya bookstore in New York, the official grand-prize winner will be revealed at the end of June.

Good luck to all the entrants!

A bunch of interesting news and previews this past week – what better way to spend a lazy Sunday than getting caught up on a bunch of them! From contests to continuations, there should be a little something for everyone in this lengthy round-up of the week’s what-have-yous:

RightStuf’s most recent sale is on Tokyopop books, including their boys’ love imprint, BLU. Until February 1st, you’ll save at least 33% on each book. Perfect time to get caught up some series and get your hands on the recent ones – which include lots of fantastic new licenses including Alice in the Country of Hearts and Deadman Wonderland.

More information about Yen Press’s upcoming adaptation of Twilight has been released. The book will be a hardcover edition costing $19.99. It’s already one of the top-selling books on Amazon right now! Entertainment Weekly has an image of the cover and an interior preview. On a related note, Shannon Garrity has a great – and amusing – post comparing Twilight with most modern-day shoujo manga.

Fans of the series rejoice – Descendants of Darkness (Yami no Matsuei) is returning! After an eight year hiatus the supernatural manga laced with all that glorious homoerotic tension (perhaps biggest understatement of the new year so far) will be returning to publication with the release of its twelth volume in Japan. Viz Media has the English license to the series and has published up to volume eleven, last released in 2006.

DeviantArt is currently holding a contest: Ponyo Make A Splash – Online Banner Creation Contest. They’re looking for ad banners designed for use on the website to promote the upcoming DVD/Blu-Ray release of Studio Ghibli/Disney’s Ponyo. There are four different banner templates for designers to submit banners in. As for the prizes, “…each of the four winners will recieve a $500 Visa gift card, a devWEAR bag of Winner’s choice, a copy of Ponyo on DVD, a devWEAR shirt of Winner’s choice, and a one year Premium Membership to deviantART.”

After the continuation was pushed back to Spring 2010in early 2009, it looks like Yu Watase is finally able to put Fushigi Yuugi‘s prequel series, Genbu Kaiden, back into her busy production schedule! She posts about it over on her personal blog, though no complete translation is yet publicly posted of the entry. Viz Media has released the currently available nine volumes of the series. (via Manga Xanadu)

Lastly, the fairly-silent-in-recent-months publisher, GoComi has posted an update of their status via their forums. There isn’t a lot of specific news but they assure readers that despite some economic problems, they’re still plugging forward and going at it their best. Unfortunately a number of titles have gone on hold. You can read the whole post over there which also includes information of the potential future of their website community, the popularity of 07-Ghost and word about the status of books sold through their online store. (via @danielle_leigh1)

Digital Manga announced on their blog yesterday their first giveaway of the new year. From today (Wednesday, January 13) to Tuesday, January 19 – anyone who rents or purchases-to-keep any title on eManga will be entered into a draw to win a copy of Taishi Zaou’s one-shot boys’ love story, Electric Hands.

“In most ways, Fujino is a typical high school student; his mind wanders during class, and he often finds himself lost in a daydream. But the odd thing about Fujino is that his daydreams are starting to revolve around a peculiar fetish for hands – specifically, the sleek, beautiful hands of his classmate and tutor, Takie. Hours spent admiring an attractive set of appendages is one thing, but Fujino is in for the shock of his life when a brush with Takie’s hands gives him a literal jolt. What makes a current pass from Takie through every part of Fujino’s body? How will Fujino’s fellow students react when each accidental contact sends him skittering across the room?!”

Along with the book, the winner will also receive a shikishi/shitajiki pencilboard signed by Taishi Zaou herself! The winner of the draw will be announced the following day.

AnimeNewsNetwork has officially announced the start of their 2009 Holiday Logo Contest. The contest is open to “to any and all residents of the planet Earth and neighbour parallel dimensions” and, while potential prizes are not yet listed, they promise a value of at least $500-worth.

Entries must be created to certain size specifications and Nina from their weekly web-comic. I recommend checking out the comic for not only inspiration and reference but some good anime-related laughs as well.

The contest catch however? Only four days until deadline! All entries are due December 20th at midnight (EST). If last year’s prize lot is any indication there, though’s more than enough reason to snap up your art supplies and get crackin’!

Two new contest calls are out for artists so sharpen your pencils and dust off those tablets (though may you artists out there keep your tablet much better dusted than mine!).

First off Viz Media is looking for fan art submissions for upcoming volumes of St. Dragon Girl. Via Twitter (@viz_media): “AM: Calling All Artists! Fan Art needed for future volumes of St. Dragon Girl manga.” The most recent volume of St. Dragon Girl is volume five and it’s available on store shelves this week.

Meanwhile over on her DeviantArt journal, Svetlana Chmkova is holding a contest for fan art to potentially appear in the next volume of her currently running series, Nightschool. Winners will be published in the third volume of Nightschool, due out from Yen Press in April 2010, and will be sent signed copies of the book when it’s released. All entries must be submitted to Yen Press by the fast-approaching deadline of December 28th along with a fanart consent form available on their webpage.

Today’s AnimeNewsNetwork has posted its list of winners for the recently held Canadian-exclusive contest for tickets to Evangelion 1.0. Congrats to all the winners!

And as another reminder, the first showing of Evangelion 1.0 hits Canadian theatres across the country September 30th (next Wednesday!). The Empire Theatres’ website has information on participating locations including word that each theatre will again be holding cosplay contests for attendees with prizes and goodies for the winners on the premiere night!

I’ll be attending the Halifax showing as both a fan and promoter for 2010′s Animinitime events, so I hope to see lots of friendly and familiar faces there :)

Reusing the above graphic because it’s cool and relevant. AnimeNewsNetwork is holding a contest giving away tickets to 67 showings of the upcoming Evangelion 1.0 film, coming soon to Canadian theatres. ANN is giving away 310 tickets in total and it’s one ticket per location per winner. The giveaway ends on September 19th so head on over for a quick and easy chance to see the movie compliments of ANN and Eleven Arts Inc.

Yaoi Press has posted the results of its previously announced Caption Contest. You can currently head on over to their contest page to see the winner, along with the runners-up and honorable mentions. Congrats to the winners! For the shiny posters, I would’ve loved to enter but conflicting interest or something like that no doubt.

Speaking of which, the panels used in the contest are from Yaoi Press’s newest anthology, Happy Yaoi Yum Yum which just had a release of volume one. I was allowed the opportunity to letter a couple of the stories (which was fantastically fun, let me tell you) so the book already has a special place awaiting it on my bookshelf along with being a collection of work from some talented creators. If you like your yaoi porny and your story’s funny, I recommend checking it out.

With Yaoi Press’s contest out there for the writers, here’s a contest for the artists out there. In celebration of the upcoming release of King of Fighters XII, a fanart contest is being held with some pretty sweet prizes.

Bad news is that it’s only open to residents of the United States. You’re losing out on a lot of fantastic potential entries, KoF!

For US residents, the contest runs from April 21 to July 31st and entrants are invited to submit their fanart using the handy upload system set up on on the contest page for a chance to win $1000, consoles, and/or copies of the game! Sharpen your pencils and dust of the tablets, those’re some fine prizes for a shiny game.

From now until the deadline of June 22nd, Yaoi Press is holding a Captain Contest in connection with their weekly gag panels, Yaoi Not Actually. Entrants of the contest must take the images provided for the contest and give them some amusing dialouge that will likely be entertaingly out of context.

The prize for the funniest phrases? A copy of Yaoi Press’s upcoming first volume of Happy Yaoi Yum Yum and sixteen gorgeous 11×17 posters of various Yaoi Press artists’ work. You can check out the contest page for all the details. And don’t forget, if you win the contest and are wondering what to do with all those pretty posters, remember who told you about the contest, alright? ;)