Just to let people who are interested in this show know, since it doesn't seem to have been mentioned on these boards, at the beginning of the 16 October 2009 Japanese broadcast of Crayon Shin-chan, there was an announcement of the death of the manga's author, Yosito Usui. Apparently on the 11th of September, he went out mountain hiking (that being one of his pastimes) by himself and was reported missing the next day since the trip he took can usually be completed in one day. On the 19th, his body was found at the bottom of a cliff, with the last photo on his digital camera taken from the top of it. Gunma Prefectural police are still investigating the circumstances of it, but it is believed to be an accident.
The announcement also stated that the show will continue as usual for the time being. Due to the length of production, they probably still have several months of material remaining, in which time they are likely to either just use material that he wrote that hadn't been used, find a new writer, or cancel it later on.
R.I.P.
