According to Anime News Service Tohan, Japan's leading book distributor, has announced that the bestselling novel of 2006 was an adaptation (by Tomohito Oosaki) of the Gintama manga created by Hideaki Sorachi and published in Japan by Shueisha.  Viz Media ran the first chapter of the Gintama manga in issue #37 of the U.S. Shonen Jump and the series about an anachronistic samurai who has to confront powerful aliens goes monthly starting with issue #49.

The third most popular novel on Tohan's list is also based on a manga. It is Kaya Kizaki's D. Gray-man: Reverse (2), which is based on Katsura Hoshino's D. Gray-man manga (also published in Japan by Shueisha and in the U.S. by Viz Media).  The D.Gray-man manga debuted in the U.S. in 2006 and has already made it to number 26 on ICv2's 'Top 50 Manga Properties' list, which is based on sales in U.S. bookstores and comic shops.

Manga and anime-related novels have also done very well in the U.S.  Dark Horse's edition of Hideuyuki Kikuchi's Vampire Hunter D novels have consistently ranked in the Top 20 in sales when compared with manga releases in the U.S., while Tokyopop's Dot Hack novels and Viz's Fullmetal Alchemist and Naruto novelizations have also done very well in the North American market in 2006.