Oricon published another of its findings from its recent online survey about "business manga." Participants were asked which manga most changed their lives. The top answers overall were "Salaryman Kintaro," "Oishinbo," the "Kacho Shima Kosaku" series, "Kabachitare!," and "Hataraki Man," in that order. Among men, the list was exactly the same. Meanwhile, women named the same five in a different order, with "Kabachitare!" on top.

Many participants commented that "Salaryman Kintaro" inspired them with the belief that they could do anything if they had courage and worked hard.

Anime Expo, Bandai, and Kadokawa Pictures USA are collaborating for an event called the "SOS Brigade Invasion Tour" to celebrate the North American debut of "The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya."

Voice actresses Aya Hirano, Yuko Goto, and Minori Chihara have been named Guests of Honor at this year's Anime Expo (June 29-July 2), where they will participate in panels and sign autographs.

They will also hold a live concert on Saturday afternoon (June 30) at the Long Beach Arena, which is next to the convention center where the expo is being held. Bandai is sponsoring a Haruhi Dance Contest at their booth on Friday (June 29) at 4:00pm, and the winner of the contest will get an opportunity to share the stage with the voice actresses.

TV Asahi has decided to drop its Sunday evening variety program, "Warau no Kin Medal" (also known as "Waraking"), due to low ratings. The show will air through the end of June, but the network has not yet decided what will replace it.

The show started in April 2004, originally airing on Friday nights. In 2006, it was moved to its current time slot. It underwent a revamping this past April, but its ratings have failed to improve.

NHK announcer Yumiko Udo will be heading to New York on June 4 to start her new assignment as a foreign correspondent for the network. She will be in charge of covering major league baseball, as well as American fashion, culture, and lifestyle.

Udo's last day on "Studio Park Kara Konnichiwa" will be June 1. Her replacement on the show will be Toko Takeuchi.

Earlier this week, the 10th Shanghai International Film Festival revealed its list of films in competition for the Jin Jue award. Yoji Yamada's "Love and Honor" ("Bushi no Ichibun") is among the list of sixteen, along with Isshin Inudo's "Bizan."

The festival takes place on June 16-24.

Two weeks ago, FRIDAY reported that Impulse's Toshiyuki Itakura was dating a model-like beauty, and at the time, Itakura commented that she was a non-celebrity. However, it has now been discovered that his girlfriend is actually Mitsuho Otani, an actress and former idol. Otani's agency has confirmed the relationship, and mentioned that the two have been dating for less than half a year.

NTV has confirmed that there will be a "Tantei Gakuen Q" drama series this summer. The story is based on the manga of the same name by Tadashi Agi (under the pen name of Seimaru Amagi) about a group of young students at a detective academy founded by a legendary detective.

The manga was turned into a drama special on NTV last July. The upcoming series will feature many of the same cast members, including the two leads played by Ryunosuke Kamiki and Mirai Shida. Other confirmed cast members include Ryosuke Yamada (of Johnny's Jr.), Katsumi Wakaba, Taro Yamamoto, Kazuma Suzuki, Shigeru Saiki, Jun Kaname, and Takanori Jinnai.

The series begins on July 3, airing on Tuesdays at 10:00pm.