ICv2 has published its latest guide to anime and manga, and for those of you who don’t have time to read it all, here are the quick facts:

• FUNimation’s share of the anime DVD market has increased from about a quarter/25% to a third/33%– perhaps unsurprising given its acquisition of the Sojitz and Geneon titles, and ADV’s recent quietness.
• Not many surprises on the Top 50 manga properties list: In Odd We Trust, the Queenie Chan/Dean Koontz joint project, appears on the list at #11, and there is another interesting addition: Batman: Gotham Knight, by Louise Simonson. It’s a tie-in for the Gothic Knight anime shorts DVD, but it’s a novelization in and of itself– not sure why it’s on a manga list. (Maybe it’s illustrated?)
• Moving on to the top 25 anime list, where the Production I.G/Madhouse/Studio 4°C vignette combo Batman: Gotham Knight stands mighty at #1. The rest of the list is more or less as expected– you might note that Gurren Lagann is at the bottom of the list, but it’s probably because people are split between the sub-only and bilingual releases of the show.

ICv2’s got the latest list of best-selling graphic novels, and while Naruto books took the two top spots, the overall results may surprise you. See, Naruto has three books on the list, which means it ties for the most books there– with Vampire Knight. (Although ICv2 seems to mistakenly report that all four volumes of VK are on the list…I think Chibi Vampire’s appearance at #10 threw them off.)

Wow, a shoujo soap opera with hot vampire sexiness and beautiful gothic art is popular? NO WAY!

Heavens to betsy, lookit all that news!

TV Anime:
- ANN has confirmed that Bandai Visual (that’s the Japanese one) is going to be releasing some of its titles globally on Blu-Ray, i.e. with subtitles in English and other languages.
- Meanwhile, Slayers REVOLUTION just looks better and better: Megumi Hayashibara has announced on her official site that she’ll be singing both the OP and ED themes.

Manga:
- ICv2 has released its Anime/Manga Guide, and Naruto remained the top property while anime sales continue to decline (although box sets seem to be doing well).
- An absolute must-read: Christopher Butcher goes way in-depth with VIZ’s original content line.
- God help us all, the 48-person girl group AKB48 is getting its own manga.
- A mysteriously unnamed set of “anime artists” (I can only assume they actually draw manga?) took part in a breast cancer fundraiser.

Movies/OVAs:
- An official trailer for Mamoru Oshii’s Sky Crawlers is up at the official website. Score!

Music:
- Anime on DVD has a press release from Jpop group Budo Grape, with two Texas appearances (including A-kon) and one in New York City.

Toys/Swag:
- Kotobukiya is a Japanese company, and Batman is getting made into an anime, so I can call this anime-ish news, right? ‘Cause it’s absolutely badass.
- In other toy news, Japan is working on a line of eco-friendly toys.

Misc:
- I finally have a good reason to hunt down a copy of Otaku USA– Japanator’s Zac Bentz is in the new issue.
- If my preview of Manga Cafe Mika wasn’t enough for you, here’s Deb Aoki’s coverage of the grand opening over at manga.about.com.

Weehaw!