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’m hoping to get my schedule set up in such a way this week that I can get an extra post up, so keep an eye out for some extra content. In other news, some highlights from last week: the 1st seasons of Attack on Titan and My Hero Academia have been removed from Crunchyroll; comic and graphic novel sales are up 14% at the start of 2019; and it looks like the Japanese government is reevaluating the laws surrounding copyright infringement as they pertain specifically to the manga industry. Be sure to check out the articles and videos below, and as always, have a great Sunday!

Top Anime and Manga News

Japan’s Council for Cultural Affairs has announced more plans and information about its new regulations concerning copyright infringement. The new proposal would ban screenshots of pirated media. Current laws only punish the downloading of music or video, and these future changes would be focusing on the manga industry and piracy sites.

The first seasons of Attack on TItan and My Hero Academia have been removed from Crunchyroll’s streaming service. This comes after Funimation and Crunchyroll broke from their partnership. They had agreed to let the series shown on Crunchyroll during the partnership stay, but it these two seasons were streamed before the partnership agreement took effect.

Red Cross Japan has partnered with Cells at Work bringing the anime and merchandise into blood donation centers. Blood donors will receive a calendar of the anime with a newly drawn illustration. The partnership begins February 25th.

Anime Announcements

• If It’s for my Daughter, I’d Even Defeat a Demon Lord gets anime
• Radiant gets 2nd season in October
• Gundam the Origin premieres April 29th
• Carole & Tuesday original anime premieres April 10th
• Bakumatsu 2nd season debuts April 4th

Manga Announcements

• Kimi to, Nami ni Moreta film gets 2-chapter manga
• DN Angel to get collected editions in 2020
• Frankenstein Family manga ends
• Gintama manga continues in App

Top Comics News

Marvel’s Jessica Jones and the Punisher series on Netflix has been cancelled, the last of the Marvel-Netflix partnership to be removed from the platform. The Punisher has ended on season two, but Jessica Jones will continue with season three and then be permanently cancelled.

Comichron has the sales statistics for the start of the year, January 2019, that point to a good start for comic and graphic novel sales. The numbers point to a 14% increase from the previous year, with Marvel taking the largest, 39%, share of the market. Comichron also lists top selling comics, with Captain Marvel taking over some top slots.

BOOM! Studios has announced their new direct market initiative to help independent comic storie owners who have voiced their concern about the low sales of the direct market. Part of their plans include making their comics completely returnable and will only have one cover instead of multiple variants.

Dan Didio, Publisher of DC Comics, has announced he will be cutting back the number of comics DC will be selling through comics retailers by 10 – 15%. Didio has said this is what he believes the market can bear and that this change is due to what he sees as a flooding of the market with too many new titles.

Featured Articles and Interviews

• Critical Role sits down with Noelle Stevenson, creator of the new She-Ra, Nimona, and Lumberjanes, to talk about her life and the pursuit of being creative.
• The Manga Answerman tackles manga sales and how publishers go about deciding when to drop a series or continue publishing based on sales numbers.
• The Sakuga Blog takes a deep dive into the life and legacy of female animator Reiko Okuyama who fought for women’s rights in the Japanese animation industry and how sexism is still present for women animators.
• Anime Feminist spotlights one of my favorite manga creators, Kaori Mori, and how her dedication to detail, history, and interpersonal relationships appears in her manga.

Featured Videos

• Get in the Robot takes a look at depictions of black characters in anime like Dragon Ball Z and how the series has been a major part of black culture in America for years.
• Wisecrack examines the philosophy of Mob Psycho 100 and how Mob’s growth as a character and his interactions with others points to a larger message within the series.

Featured WordPress Post

• This week I’m highlighting a fun post by Karandi on the top 5 best Obi moments in Snow White with the Red Hair, one of my favorite romance series and one of my favorite characters.

~~Thanks for Reading!~~

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