In case you haven't heard, the anime adaptions of Bleach, Beelzebub and Gintama will come to a close over the course of this week and early next. The final Beelzebub, episode 60, will air on March 25, followed by Gintama closing up shop again on March 26 and finally Bleach concludes on March 27 with episode 366. I should note that if you've been keeping up with Anime Vice's various weekly Beelzebub reviews, you might be aware of its close already. I've never seen the show yet, but will now "marathon" it after the final show airs. I heard that the series departs some from the manga similar to Soul Eater, so for me personally, I won't have any preconceptions of how it should end. Bleach, well, people have been calling for its cancellation for years now. I myself have seen very little since the end of the Arrancar: Downfall arc somewhere around 316. I'm relieved by this news because there's been so much filler in the series over the years that it's hard to stick with it. And that brings us to Gintama. Damn, I love this show. When I look over the course of its run, however it did manage to produce 252 episodes. Additionally, this series resurrected from the dead once before, so perhaps in another two years it will be back again. Incidentally, it's my understanding that Masashi Tanaka's Gon manga about a tiny dinosaur will be replacing Gintama in the television schedule. I'm quite surprised to see three Shonen Jump shows get the axe simultaneously.
It's no secret, too that the end of this month will also close the books on long time anime franchises Shakugan no Shana and Zero no Tsukaima (The Familiar of Zero). I'm startled to see that three Rie Kugimiya shows conclude at the same time; Shana, Zero and Gintama. I know she recorded her voice work on them months and months ago, but the coincidence is unexpected.
On the manga front, Mahou Sensei Negima recently ended with chapter 355. The series began in 2003 and has had two anime adaptions plus a bunch of OVAs. I'd like to take a look at this one soon. I've recently started (gasp!) reading some manga again, and since this one is complete, I may give it a shot. I really liked the second anime adaption, Negima?!. The other manga announced to conclude is Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei which debuted in 2005. According to Weekly Shonen Magazine, it will wrap up something this summer with chapter 301.
It feels like 2012 is shaping up to be a year of great change. Perhaps the Mayans were right after all. Ah, well I suspect we'll have One Piece even after the end of time.
