Welcome back to another installment of “Last Week in Geekdom” where I comb the internet for all the news you need to know so you don’t have to. Some housekeeping news first: I’m still on a reduced schedule due to the busy nature of my life right now, however I’m hoping to get two post up next week. We’ll see how that goes. Now for the news highlights: Anime Expo apparently has all of the world premieres of anime movies and series this year (I really need to go one of these years), the CEO of Anime News Network sparked a ton of controversy after punishing forum posters for speaking up against hateful posts, and the backlash against Dark Horse comics has come to somewhat of a conclusion after a former editor spoke out against the anti-trans policies in their insurance coverage. Be sure to check below for some great articles and videos, and as always, let me know if I overlooked anything. Happy Sunday!
Anime and Manga News
- Liz and the Blue Bird anime movie US premiere has been confirmed to take place at Anime Expo.
- Toei and Fanthom Events will be screening three remastered Dragon Ball Z movies this fall beginning in September.
- Anime Expo will host the Sirius the Jaeger US premiere on July 7th.
- AT&T has been making plans to buy out Otter Media from it’s co-owner Chernin Group. Otter Media happens to be the digital holding company for Crunchyroll’s parent company Ellation, among other things.
- Episode 9 of Full Metal Panic has been delayed due to production issues.
- Crunchyroll and Funimation have announced the titles they will be streaming this Summer season.
- Netflix premieres CoMix Wave Films’ Flavor of Youth at Anime Expo with special guests.
- Moribito author Nahoko Uehashi’s fantasy novel Shika no O will be getting an anime adaptation.
- Dokaben Baseball manga will end on June 28th after 46 years of comics, an anime adaptation, and a live action film.
- 3D Kanojo will be getting a second season in January 2019.
- A controversy has started over recent comments by One Piece mangaka Eiichiro Oda that were written in the 89th volume of his manga for which Shonen Jump editors have apologized.
- Anime News Network’s CEO has sparked controversy over the rules he has outlined for posters that fail to take a hard-line stance against forum posts spouting support for White Supremacy or other hateful views, while punishing those that speak out against them.
Comic News
- Disney has topped Comcast’s bid for the acquisition of 20th Century Fox at a whopping 71.3 Billion dollars, meaning that if no one comes with a better offer, the deal may be finalized in the near future.
- IDW is planning two crossover series for this September including Star Trek vs Transformers and Batman vs Maxx.
- Diamond Comics is launching a spinner-rack program for comic shops and other related stores to put more 44-pocket spinner-racks of comics to target more readers.
- Dark Horse came under fire in the last couple weeks after former employee Jay Edidan pointed out flaws in their employee insurance plan that specifically excluded coverage for trans employees. In a recent blog post, they have announced a change to their plan to now include coverage for hormone, mental health, and surgical services.
- DC Comics is launching a new line of 100-page comics to be sold exclusively at Walmart stores. We are now being told it will include 12 pages of new content and three reprints.
- Women Write about Comics talks with one of the founders of a new website for comic creators called Creator Resource, a place for information on the comic book industry for comic creators.
Featured Articles
- The Sakuga Blog takes a look at the new animated film Okko’s Inn and what it has to say about some of the difficulties the anime movie industry is facing right now.
- Gina Brandolino writes for Women Write about Comics on the struggle she faced in picking the comics she would teach in her comics course, talking about why she decided to stay away from the most known and popular ones.
- Anime News Network writer Rebecca Silverman sat down with Inio Asano (creator of Goodnight Punpun and A Girl on the Shore) to talk about his views on manga, social media, and the Millennial generation among other topics.
- Crunchyroll writer Nicole Mejias talks about the how hip hop music has been historically displayed in anime and its use over time.
Featured Videos
- Wisecrack takes a look at the philosophy behind many of Miyazaki’s films and the influence of the Japanese Shinto religion.
- The One Panel Later podcast discusses the rise of the children’s comic book market, its expansion outside of the comic book store, and how the past and current comic book market primarily targets the older audience of readers.
- Oh No, Anime! takes a look at the artists and music in Megalobox, and more broadly the history and culture of hip hop in Japan.
Featured WordPress Post
- Otaku She Wrote take a look at the relationship between Ash and Eiji in Banana Fish, going in depth into how the manga displays their special brand of love through art, special editions, and a questionable ending.
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