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Geneon Posts Anime Songs in iTunes in 22 Countries (Update 2)

Geneon Entertainment has announced on Wednesday that it has begun distributing anime songs on Apple's iTunes Store online in 22 countries in North America, Europe, and the Pacific Ocean region. The selection includes Shakugan no Shana's opening theme song "being" by KOTOKO, Shakugan no Shana Second's opening theme song "Joint" by Mami Kawada, and Black Lagoon's opening theme song "Red Fraction" by MELL.

The Miraishonen company announced on Thursday that its Moe*MobileGirl*Merumeru manga was the #5 top-selling title (out of over 900 titles) in the Books category of the Japanese iTunes App Store for the iPhone and iPod Touch mobile devices. It was also the #73 title in the same category in the United States. The manga was released in several countries on December 20 and 21.

The Voyager Japan company also announced on Thursday that it began distributing the full-color Survival manga by Golgo 13 manga creator Takao Saitō in the iTunes App Store in December. The manga is available in most countries, but Voyager Japan has not announced plans to translate the manga from Japanese into other languages.

Sources: Nikkei Trendy Net

Update: As of Thursday, Moe*MobileGirl*Merumeru has risen from #73 to #53 among paid applications in the Books category of the American iTunes App Store.

Update 2: Geneon Entertainment also plans to distribute anime soundtracks, character songs, and other materials on behalf of partner labels on iTunes later. Other creators and companies that have released anime, manga, and related materials on iTunes include Domo Records, Funimation, Sunrise, Tezuka Productions, Manga Entertainment, Viz Media, Kodansha, and Yoshitoshi ABe. (Abe's name spelling corrected — thanks, SDS-YukiChan.)