A public funeral was held this week in Japan for Crayon Shin-Chan manga-ka Yoshito Usui. Over three thousand fans attended the event for the late creator. It's good to hear that so many people loved his series & wanted to pay their respects. Shin-chan is, after all, one of the few manga/anime in Japan that everybody reads/watches- not just anime fans & children. At the event, fellow manga-ka & good friend Tetsuya Chiba (Ashita no Joe) said "Mr Usui unfortunately died, but the characters created by Mr Usui are still alive."

We knew this was true for the anime, but now it holds true for the manga as well. After the few remaining chapters run over the next few months, it was announced that Usui's assistants will be creating a sequel to Crayon Shin-Chan will starting in Summer 2010. It's also expected that the new manga will be in a different format than the current Shin-Chan manga, which is done in the four-koma style. Usui’s surviving family gave their consent to the idea of his manga living on.

Sources: http://www.japanator.com/three-thousand-attend-crayon-shin-chan-creator-s-funeral-12502.phtml
http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2009-11-30/newspaper/crayon-shin-chan-manga-sequel-in-the-works

& another American anime licensing company bites the dust. As was rumored back in June, Kadokawa Pictures has officially closed down as of the end of August. While the original Japanese version of the company will continue to operate, its American branch which it creared to bring its own titles to US is now closed forever.

Kadokawa USA's goal was to be the middleman in licensing anime titles. They would acquire the American rights to their titles, & then hand them over to other American studios take care of the dubbing & distribution. In the past they had licensed titles such as Haruhi Suzumiya, Lucky Star, Spice & Wolf, & the Girl Who Leapt Through Time to companies like ADV, FUNimation, Bandai, & Right Stuf. They also licensed several other titles that they never successfully pitched to other companies. While the licenses to those unreleased titles will likely lapse, it's unlikely that the titles that have already been licensed & distributed (like Haruhi & Spice & Wolf) will be affected. Future Kadokawa Japan titles will also not to affected by this.

Source: http://www.otakureview.net/?p=5478

On the morning of Friday September 11, the creator of the immensely popular "Crayon Shin-chan" manga, 51 year-old Yoshito Usui, left his home to go on a day-long hike in the mountainous Gunma Prefecture. Several days later, police broke the news that his family reported he never returned home from his trip or responded to any phone calls. His publisher also said he hadn't been in touch for several days, & were becoming very worried. Nearly a week after he had gone missing, police were able to determine that his cellphone was last detected on Monday in the town of Karuizawa, located in the mountain region 60 miles from his home.

On Saturday the 20th, over a week after Usui's disappearance, the remains of a male body was found in the Gunma Prefecture mountains underneath the 120 meter (~400 feet) tall Tomoiwa Cliff. While the body was decomposed too much to tell by sight who the individual was, the clothes were said to resemble Usui's style. The next day, authorities were able to determine that the body was indeed him. His various items, including cellphone, had scattered 50 meters from him, indicating that he fell off the tall cliff to his death.

Manga Town magazine confirmed that Usui had submitted two more chapters of the "Shin-chan" manga before leaving his home that faithful day, leaving enough material behind to fill the December 2009 issue which goes on sale in November. TV Asahi has said the future of the anime series, one of the most watched anime in all of Japan since it began nearly 20 years ago, is yet to be determined. The "Shin-Chan" anime was currently in the middle of taking a break (as long running series usually do) & was to return on October 16. It's now currently unknown if the series will air that day.

Horribly sad news. May he rest in peace.

Source: http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2009-09-20/crayon-shin-chan-to-continue-in-mag-until-november

ADV Films, which until about 2 years ago was the biggest anime licensing company in North America, sent out what they promised to be their final press release ever yesterday, & it said what we all feared for the past year & a half- ADV is dead. What was left of ADV Films was split up between brand new companies. AEsir Holdings has taken over all of ADV's titles & licenses, Section23 Films has taken over home distribution for the DVDs, Valkyrie Media Partners acquired the Anime Network, & Seraphim Studios now has the production & dubbing studio formally known as Amusement Park Media.

When news first broke out about this, people were panicking. It seemed ADV had fallen to the same fate that took Geneon & Central Park Media. & with good reason too. Ever since the beginning of 2008 when ADV's deal with Sojitz first went sour, they've been in very bad shape. They had to shut down a lot of their subdivisions like magazines, manga, toys, fanclubs, movie productions, & the TV version of their own network. They haven't even licensed a new title in about two years. Instead they've been releasing titles for Sentai Filmworks, re-releasing older titles like crazy, & more recently, license-rescuing old Geneon & CPM titles.

One major question was the fate of all these DVDs. Would ADV titles on DVD still get released by these new companies? What about the Geneon & CPM titles ADV rescued? Would they now have to be re-rescued? & what about Sentai Filmworks? How would their titles, including their new upcoming licenses, get released without ADV? & would the Anime Network's website still exist? It had better considering the number of people who have a payed subscription.

But now after giving time for all this news to settle & looking into things further, we got some answers. The fact is a lot of ADV's former owners & staff are now working for these new companies. In fact seems like this whole thing just means a change in name more than anything else. ADV Films is simply now Section23 Films, with the staff being largely the same. & now all their sub divisions are owned by technically separate companies, rather than all owned by one large company. One can only guess why they felt the need to do this. I'm sure there are some legal or financial or business reasons behind it that we'll never know.

So no worries, everyone. All their DVDs will still get released. Sentai Filmworks' titles are safe as well (more on that in my next post), & the Anime Network will continue to operate as normal, stating that they've always been a separate entity from ADV. In fact they posted a brand new commercial on to YouTube a mere couple hours after the big news broke out. So everything should turn out all right. Same company (companies), different name.

Press Release: http://www.advfilms.com

Back in early 2008, an English version of Japan's extremely popular AkibaBlog launched for the first time. & over the past year & a half, it brought us a unique & great inside look into the world of Japanese otaku culture. Covering anime & manga releases, doujinshi, hentai, video games, Comiket, Wonder Festival, figurines, character popularity polls, unique coverage & stories with contests (thanks again for the shirt!), & lots more, we English speakers were really given a look into their world for the first time ever. But sadly that is no more.

As August came to an end, so did the English AkibaBlog website. An exact reason is not given, but it seemed like its end was a complete certainty. Were the amount of hits & page views not high enough to keep on supporting a translated version of the site (despite the fact that the translations never felt 100% natural & always kind of Engrish-y)? As someone who's been following the site everyday since it launched, I for one feel sad to see it go. The Japanese version of the site will continue, however. So if you wanna know what perverted things are going on in the next issue of Champion Red magazine, you better learn Japanese. Thanks again, English AkibaBlog, for the great past year & a half.

Source: http://en.akibablog.net/archives/2009/08/dear_akibablog_readers.html

Last Fall there was talk of Shonen Jumps To Love-ru facing cancellation due to declining interest in the story. Well it doesn't seem the lack of support for the title has changed a lot over the months, & To Love-ru will likely be ending sometime in the next few issues of Jump. I'm amusing it's getting that much so that the author can have time to wrap up the story in a reasonable manner. At least I hope so, as it'd really suck if it didn't get a proper ending.

To Love-ru isn't alone either, as it seems one other title will be getting the boot as well. & since Medaka Box ranked in last place in the last issue's reader survey, it seems to be the likely candidate.

Source: http://zepy.momotato.com/2009/08/23/toloveru-manga-is-ending

Andrew "RaymsCreator" Paone, the creator of Yu-Gi-Oh GX Abridged & Kannagi Abridged, passed away last week at the young age of 16. A horrible diving accident is said to be the cause. The Abridging community has lost a great soul, one full of wit that brought laughter to his audience. He will be missed.

After his passing, YouTube suspended his account (I can sort of see the logic behind this, but I mean come ON). Fortunately, his videos can still be found online in many places. The above dedication video in particular is moving & quite well done, & showcases his talent. Rest in Peace, RaymsCreator. Thank you for being an Abridger.

http://www.youtube.com/RestInPeaceRayms

Been awhile since I last got one of these up, & a lot has happened since. Including, the passing of Michael Jackson. So we'll pay tribute to him with this video game MAD of Michael Jackson Forever mixed with various Famicom games, as you can view above. Then check out the videos below, which feature trailers for games such as Gundam Senki, DragonBall for the Wii, Claymore, Naruto Shippuden, & much more:

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The long proposed live-action American adaptation of Akira has reportedly now been canceled. It seems that director Robinson decided to leave the project for unknown reasons, & since then the two films have been doomed. Bloody Disgusting explains the situation:

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Viz Media announced the end of one magazine this week & the beginning of another. First the bad news. Viz has confirmed that their Shojo Beat magazine, the sister magazine to Shonen Jump, will be ending with the July 2009 issue (#49, just one shy of the big 5-0). The female-oriented manga magazine has been running in America for exactly 4 years next month, when the final issue goes on sale. The magazine had already stopped taking new subscriptions for sometime now. All the manga titles in the magazine will continue in graphic novel format, & the Shojo Beat lineup will continue in that fashion as well. Viz had the following to say about the ending of the magazine:

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Former American anime licensor & distributor Central Park Media filed for Chapter 7 Bankruptcy last week & officially closed its doors this past Monday. The company still owes about $1.2 million to its creditors, with its biggest & most secure being Bank of America. The company now faces liquidation.

Although they only just filed for bankruptcy, CPM hasn't released a new anime DVD since June 2007, nearly two years ago. CPM began licensing anime nearly 20 years ago & released such classic titles as Grave of the Fireflies, Utena, Slayers, Patlabor, Project A-ko, Urotsukidoji, & even famous hentai titles like La Blue Girl. They will be missed.

Source: http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2009-04-28/central-park-media-files-for-chapter-7-bankruptcy

"Power Rangers RPM" is the latest Power Rangers series in the US, having just started earlier this month on ABC Kids. Sadly, it also looks to be the last. Word has leaked out to the New Zealand cast & crew (which is where the American adaptation has been filmed ever since Disney took over from Saban in 2003) that the current 17th season of the live-action series will most likely be its last. Production manager Sally Campbell did say that "at this stage we will not be shooting another season." So it doesn't seem like a 100% sure thing yet. Still though, I wouldn't hold my breath.

The reason for the cancellation of the long-running series, which is of course based on an even longer running series in Japan, is a bit lost on me. The toys from Bandai still sell pretty well, & I know Power Rangers at least used to do pretty well on Jetix. But then Jetix started messing around with their schedule, & ever since it changed its name to Disney XD last month, Power Rangers has been completely removed from its lineup (just one of many reasons why Disney is ruining any potential the new channel may have had), despite it now officially being an all-action network that's not limited to just cartoons. As a result, the final season "RPM" is now only watchable on ABC Kids Saturday morning lineup. Of course, it's also easy to blame its cancellation on the current struggling US economy. Guess Disney had to save money somewhere. So enjoy it while it lasts, because 17 years of TV history is about to go up in smoke.

Source: http://www.nzherald.co.nz/entertainment/news/article.cfm?c_id=1501119&objectid=10560372

Well, our worst fears are now confirmed. When Toonami Jetstream removed all their episodes in favor of a special Top 10 list two weeks ago, it really was the beginning of the end. As of today, Cartoon Network completely took down Jetstream, the last remnants of the Toonami legacy.

When the Toonami television block came to an end last year, we thought "Hey, at least we still have Jetstream." But sadly that is no longer the case. Toonami now really is dead, having lasted in some form or another from 1997-2009. Why CN decided to kill off Jetstream as well is beyond me. As I've previously said, Hikaru no Go only had THREE more episodes to go. Likewise, Blue Dragon had about 10 more episodes & Zatch Bell only had 7 more dubbed episodes remaining (which seems to be the point where Viz stopped dubbing the series, though about 50 episodes were still left undubbed). Kiba still had a ton of episodes left to go, which I thought would have done a nice job of carrying Jetstream for awhile. Meanwhile, as of today, future episodes of Naruto will move to the Cartoon Network Video service. When you go to Jetstream's old site, here's the message one gets instead:

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It seems that the online video streaming site Toonami Jetstream may be joining its older, televised sibling in the grave. I posted my concerns about Jetstream last week when they took down all the regular shows & episodes in favor of a Top 10 episode list for most of their current series. This being despite the fact that all the episodes on the site had an expiration date of at least another week (& over a year for every episode of Naruto & Samurai Jack). But now it seems my concerns were warranted.

No updates were made this week to Toonami Jetstream, marking the first time this has ever happened since Jetstream first launched two & a half years ago. The Top 10 episodes from last week still remain, with an expiration date of January 13, 2010 for each of them (take that for what it's worth, I guess). So does that mean Jetstream will no longer be updated with new episodes every week?

This is particularly bad news for the four series that were showing actual premiere episodes. "Kiba" & "Blue Dragon" are being released on DVD in America, so there's still a way to watch those (though the Blue Dragon DVDs are far behind where Jetstream was, & since Viz is releasing them you can almost count on them being canceled at a moments notice). "Zatch Bell" & "Hikaru no Go" are even worse, since DVDs for both series have long since been canceled, meaning there's now no legal way to watch these shows in the US. & "Hikaru no Go," the longest running Jetstream series to stream premiere episodes since the very beginning, had only THREE more episodes to go before it finished! But now it looks like we may never get those last three episodes.

It may be too early to know for sure, but this really does seem to be the end of the last fragments of Toonami. Farewell, beautiful friend. Bang.

Maddie Blaustein, the 4Kids voice actress & writer who provided many iconic voices such as Meowth in "Pokemon," Grandpa Muto in "Yu-Gi-Oh," & Sartorius in GX, passed away this week at the age of 48. A truly sad & shocking news to hear about, considering her great talent & young age. Our thoughts go out to her family, friends, & loved ones. May she rest in peace.

Source: http://www.4kids.tv/buzz/view/2005