Bloom Reviews

Welcome back to another issue of “Last Week in Geekdom” where I comb the internet for all the news you need to know so you don’t have to. This week has been a bit hectic and exhausting for me, so the anime and manga news section may be a little sparser than usual. However, I’ve added a lot more featured articles to somewhat make up for that fact. Of particular note this week is the continuing drama of the failed anime adaptation of [New Life +], Gamestop’s announcement that it will begin selling monthly comics, and the passing of comic creator and all around awesome human being Anthony Bourdain. You can read all these down below. Also check out the featured sections for some great content, particularly the article of autism in Violet Evergarden and the two featured videos this week. Happy Sunday!

Anime and Manga News

• Manga and light novel creators are claiming a jump in sales after the shutdown of manga pirate sites in Japan.
• Kakifly has announced a new manga series for K-ON! called K-ON! Shuffle that will launch in July.
• The anime adaptation for [New Life +] Young Again in Another World has been cancelled following objections about the story’s premise and resignations from many of the cast.
• Outspoken anime director Yutaka Yamamoto took to twitter to blame otaku and otaku culture for the cancellation of the [New Life +] anime adaptation, saying it was a bad thing that otaku have so much power over the industry.
• Representative director of pixiv, Hiroaki Nagata, has resigned from his position following a sexual harassment lawsuit brought by Niji No Conquistador idol group member “A-san”.
• A new manga in the Fruits Basket series is set to be released this July, entitled Fruits Basket: Another, to be published in the US by Yen Press.
• Rurouni Kenshin: Hokkaido Arc does not return in Viz’s Shonen Jump following charges of possession of child pornography in February.
• Free! Dive to the Future anime will premiere on July 11th.
• Crunchyroll is sponsoring a Magical Girl Ore cosplay photoshoot featuring Power Rangers stars Peter Adrian Sudarso and Yoshi Sudarso.
• Episode 8 of Full Metal Panic has been delayed due to production issues.
• Nozomi Entertainment’s license for the Rose of Versaille anime is expiring. The anime will continue to stream on their Youtube channel until June 15th and will stop streaming on Crunchyroll soon. No more DVD copies will be printed.

Comic News

• GameStop is going to try selling monthly comics in the coming weeks. Twenty branches of GameStop and twenty branches of ThinkGeek will begin selling comics on June 15th.
• Archie will go on hiatus after issue #32, but will be replaced with a new Archie spin-off set during WWII called Archie 1941.
• Cloak and Dagger is getting its own Comixology digital series releasing this week.
• Jared Leto is getting his own Joker movie as a way to expand the Suicide Squad universe.
• Humanoid, publisher of French graphic novels in the US, is adding a new line-up of memoir, YA, and kids graphic novels.
• Netflix’s inaugural comic book series The Magic Order has reached record numbers of pre-orders, becoming the first biggest pre-order in the past twenty years.
• Valiant has announced four new titles coming to their 2019 line-up, including Faith and Livewire.
• DC Vertigo is relaunching with a new slate of titles including Bordertown, Hex Wives, and Goddess Mode.
• Netflix’s Castlevania has already begun work on season three.
• Graphic novel publishers were shown to be well represented this year at Book Expo and Book Con in Publishers Weekly’s overview of the conventions.

Featured Articles

• Rob Salkowitz on ICv2 talks about some of the worries he has about the new Comixology Originals program and who it may affect the most.
• This article from Good takes a look at a small comic shop called Red Planet Comics, perhaps the only bookstore in the world dedicated to selling Native American comics and graphic novels.
• Tokyo Weekender sits down with mangaka Nao Yazawa to discuss what a day in the life of a manga artist is like.
• Huffpost takes a look at Anthony Bourdain’s love of comics and the brand of humor that can be found in his comic debut Get Jiro.
• Sara Connor writes for Anime Feminist about the nature of power and sex in the manga series Fruits Basket.
• Devon Buchanan writes for Anime Feminist about autistic representation in Violet Evergarden and how the story and character progression seems to follow the social model of disability.
• Hollywood Reporter sits down with She Could Fly comic creator Christopher Cantwell and the mental health struggles that inspired his new comic.

Featured Videos

• Super Eyepatch Wolf talks about the existential horror of Aggretsuko and the message it creates for its audience of working adults.
• The Cartoon Cipher discusses how the dub for FLCL was crafted to stay as close to the original as possible while still following the meaning behind the point of the show.

Featured WordPress Posts

• Phoenix Talks discusses the use of Japanese terms such as otaku and hikkikomori by non-Japanese fans and how the meaning of those terms differ in the Japanese cultural context.
• Welcome to the Hell Zone takes a look at the Cowboy Bebop soundtrack, specifically the choice angry lesbian anthems that can be found within.

~~Thanks for Reading!~~

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