Bloom Reviews

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. I somehow caught another cold recently so I’ve been trying to work through that as well as my backlog of manga reviews. So expect more manga and comic reviews for the future. In terms of highlights for this week: Prolific voice actor Unsho Ishizuka, Professor Oak and Jet Black, has passed away at 67; the Los Angeles Anime Film Festival will be hosting the first awards ceremony for English voice actors; and the new Watchmen HBO series is set to come out next year. Be sure to check out the articles and videos below, and have a great rest of your Sunday!

Anime and Manga News

• Osamu Tezuka’s manga Dororo will be getting a remake in October created by Satoshi Shiki and will be entitled Dororo to Hyakkimaru-den (The Legend of Dororo and Hyakkimaru).
• Rei Hiroe’s manga Black Lagoon will be going on hiatus after the 11th volume in order to work on a compiled volume; this comes after a recent 3-year hiatus that ended last year.
• Prolific voice actor Unsho Ishizuka — voice of Professor Oak in Pokemon and Jet Black in Cowboy Bebop, among others — has passed away at the age of 67 due to cancer.
• Maquia: When the Promised Flower Blooms will be getting an English dub that will be coming to theaters starting September 21st.
• Viz Media has licensed Fullmetal Alchemist: The Complete Four-Panel Comics for North American release in Spring 2019.
• Crunchyroll has confirmed the theatrical release of Haikyuu!! The Movie: Battle of Concepts with US screenings beginning in September.
• JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Golden Wind anime TV series to premiere on October 5th.
• Izumi Miyazono, mangaka for Everyone’s Getting Married, is launching a new manga project entitled I Will Not Succumb to Love.
• Escaflowne’s director Kazuki Akane is going to be directing a new project, Star Crossing Skies, a tennis anime created by Studio 8-Bit.
• The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya will be getting an 88-hour “Endless Eight” streaming event starting August 28th.
• The Los Angeles Anime Film Festival will be hosting the first ever awards ceremony for English dub voice actors in anime to be live-streamed on September 21st.

Comic News

• Image Comic’s title East of West will end with issue #46 according to writer Jonathan Hickman.
• Marvel’s Champions #24 will focus on the impact of gun violence in schools centered around Miles Morales.
• HBO has officially ordered the series adaptation of Watchmen and has announced a 2019 release date.
• Fox has taken the comic license for both Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Firefly away from Dark Horse Comics according to Joss Whedon.
• Marvel’s Old Man Logan is ending this October, to be followed by a short 12-issue series entitled Dead Man Logan.
• DC Comics is celebrating Batman’s 80th anniversary with a year-long celebration leading up to issue #1000 of Detective Comics.
• ICv2 reveals July 2018’s Book Scan ranking for manga, graphic novel, and superhero titles.
• IDW Entertainment president David Ozer has announced his departure from the company, no replacement has yet been announced.

Featured Articles

• Artist Shreya Arora redraws some sexist comic book covers using male superheroes in traditionally sexist poses.
• Writer Jack Fisher takes a dive into understanding the motivations of Lex Luthor and what makes the conflict between him and Superman meaningful.
• CBR takes a look at how Grant Morrison redefined the character of Batwoman.
• Anime New Network lists the top 7 worst animation meltdowns.
• For its 5th anniversary, the Sakuga Blog pulls from its data to look at the most popular forms of animation and animators.

Featured Videos

• Pause and Select interviews anime academic writer Rayna Denison on why she keeps coming back to Princess Mononoke as the best Ghibli film.
• Gigguk delves into the history of anime music videos back before Youtube became a huge platform and where the state of the fandom is today.

Featured WordPress Post

• A Dash of Dorry looks at what makes a Yonkoma or a Japanese 4-panel comic, breaking down its parts and influences.

~~Thanks for Reading!~~

Follow me on Facebook, Twitter, and WordPress for all Bloom Reviews content updates and news!