It’s been entirely too long since we’ve done any con reports. In fact, we owe about a year’s worth. But here’s our report for Otakon 2009 while it’s still fresh in our minds. Warning: in order to release this “on time,” we opted to more or less release the audio unedited. It’s rougher than we’d like.
Read our Otaku USA con reports for Otakon 2009, too! Daryl’s is here and Clarissa’s is here.
Show 81 concludes with Daryl’s review of Kekko Kamen and Clarissa’s review of Butt Attack Punisher Girl Gautaman. Along with the post-Anime Expo news, can you really call it the second half of a podcast when it’s over 2 hours long? WE CAN!
Full show notes with pictures and stuff later. Maybe. It’s nearly 2:00 AM, already.
Let’s News! (0:00 – 53:41)
Notes forthcoming, much like last week’s episode which is still listed as “notes forthcoming.” If only one of us had some sort of online repository full of links and subject material for this segment that could be easily pasted into these spaces…
Review: Kekko Kamen (53:41 – 1:26:41)
Go Nagai? Restraining himself? H…holding back?! GODDAMMIT WHERE THE HELL IS JACK?! Reports suggest his knife is made of Super Alloy Z, but this is contradicted by the fact that it breaks all the time and he just summons forth a new one via the power of VIOLENCE~!. In any case, Kekko Kamen is a textbook example of how far we’ve come [fallen...?] over the last 30 years. Can there even truly BE screenshots of this, either of Kekko Kamen herself or the villains? Maybe we’ll just post the English translated lyrics to the theme song.
Review: Butt Attack Punisher Girl Gautaman (1:26:41 – 1:57:08)
Everything you need to know about this cartoon is succinctly encapsulated within its title. But maybe we should post some pictures of it anyway.
Buddha wants to make one lucky woman a superhero!
Sadly, this mostly involves wearing a really unfortunate outfit. And lots of butts. Buichi Terasawa and Sir Mix-a-Lot would both be proud.
Butt-related persecution, even!
It also involves stupidly ripped pretty boys.
Lesbian
And lots of blatant copyright infringement.Promo: Anime Hell (1:57:08 – 1:58:06)
The Sounds of Hell involve Isaac Hayes and Yaphet Kotto. Including a promo for the Greatest Movie EVER! podcast to promote Daryl’s guest appearance to discuss Ninja III: The Domination was considered, but ninja don’t MAKE sound.
Closing (1:58:06 – 2:12:13)
Next time, all that remains on the “one person recommends titles for everyone else” train is Clarissa. She has opted to do unto others as was done unto her. It’s a gamble. A very risky gamble. But also a manly gamble. Manly enough to the point that it’s probably really gay. But if you can get past the fact that the gamble is so gay they have their pants zipped down a lot, you’d see it was awesome. What we’re trying to say here is that Clarissa’s reviewing One Outs next time. As for Daryl and Gerald? THAT IS CLASSIFIED (for the next few hours). Be on the lookout: there’s a deadly stinger at the end of all this.
The deadly experiment continues! This time it’s Gerald’s turn to pick the titles for everyone to review. He’s chosen Kekko Kamen for Daryl and Butt Attack Punisher Girl Gautaman for Clarissa. But he’s taken the heavy burden of Yukikaze upon himself.
Introduction (0:00 – 21:09)
Gerald was not met with much approval over his review of Kemonozume last episode. Daryl reiterates why we’ll never be popular on the Internet by pointing out our lack of a quantitative value system, and Clarissa confesses to not knowing much about Takarazuka revue on account that she doesn’t feel like spending $300 on one DVD. 3 emails down! That leaves 436 in the Inbox.
Let’s News! (21:09 – 43:01)
Notes forthcoming. But we were probably responding to what Egan Loo, One Man Pillar of Internet Anime Fandom, posted on www.animenewsnetwork.com. Also, at some point we answer an email from a pedophile about the lack of availability of Giant Robo OST 5.
Review: Yukikaze (43:01 – 1:33:32)
Notes and perhaps screenshots forthcoming, but really. All you need to know about this is the following: Gonzo made it.
The remaining reviews are already recorded and edited. But hey, we’ll have to talk about whatever happens at Anime Expo anyway. We’ll include them with that.
The deadly experiment continues! This time it’s Gerald’s turn to pick the titles for everyone to review. He’s chosen Kekko Kamen for Daryl and Butt Attack Punisher Girl Gautaman for Clarissa. But he’s taken the heavy burden of Yukikaze upon himself.
Introduction (0:00 – 21:09)
Gerald was not met with much approval over his review of Kemonozume last episode. Daryl reiterates why we’ll never be popular on the Internet by pointing out our lack of a quantitative value system, and Clarissa confesses to not knowing much about Takarazuka revue on account that she doesn’t feel like spending $300 on one DVD. 3 emails down! That leaves 436 in the Inbox.
Let’s News! (21:09 – 43:01)
Notes forthcoming. But we were probably responding to what Egan Loo, One Man Pillar of Internet Anime Fandom, posted on www.animenewsnetwork.com. Also, at some point we answer an email from a pedophile about the lack of availability of Giant Robo OST 5.
Review: Yukikaze (43:01 – 1:33:32)
Notes and perhaps screenshots forthcoming, but really. All you need to know about this is the following: Gonzo made it.
The remaining reviews are already recorded and edited. But hey, we’ll have to talk about whatever happens at Anime Expo anyway. We’ll include them with that.
The news segment for Show #80 ran long, so here it is in its own separate file. Numbered #80b because most of you guys said you didn’t mind it in our online poll. SORRY, BOSTONIANS!
In this incredibly long episode of the news, probably the longest we’ve done yet, we talk about many things, most importantly DARKSIDE BLUES has been re licensed. Also in the news, Christopher Handley is probably going to go to jail for owning a comic book, you can read some of the details here, but be warned that the article, while well written was written by guy that might have some conflicts of interest.
We also get largely pissed off at everyone over the recent leak of an episode of One Piece which seemed like a case of lax security on Funimation’s part and general internet douche-bagery on anime fans’ part, and as soon as we thought this was all over, it happened again!
In other bad news, Shojo Beat is no longer accepting subscriptions. A magazine we all thought was doing well, but was probably like Pulp, the mid-90’s manga anthology by Viz that everyone seemed to like and no one bought. Let’s hope Otaku USA can avoid such a fate. In some of our rare gaming news Tatsunoko vs. Capcom has been set for US release. This gives us a bit of hope that non-Original Generation Super Robot Wars may get a release here, which is still incredibly unlikely (PROVE ME WRONG), but we still hold out hope.
Finally, as a warning to Kenta Miura of Berserk fame, Kaoru Kurimoto has passed away, thankfully, we understand that she actually finished the core of the Guin Saga story before dying, so there will not be another Wheel of Time issue.
In some other, far less impressive news, there will be more Yamato, time will tell if it’s bad or not, there’s some BGC movie, maybe happening which I won’t even link because we don’t care about this until filming actually happens, Japan’s ban on rape games will have no effect on anything at all, and Casey Rankin, the completely fluent English language singer of the excellent Orguss Opening and Ending passed away.
Here’s the terrific opening and ending:
Next time we continue with your horribly failed experiment of choosing what other people will watch, with Gerald’s episode. Daryl will review Kekko Kamen of Go Nagai fame, Clarissa will review Butt Attack Punisher Girl Gautaman (see a trend here?) and Gerald will arguably have the hardest thing to review with Fairy Squadron Yukikaze.
With Show #80 begins Gerald’s experiment, in which one host selects the anime that will be reviewed by the other two, rather than each person choosing on their own. Daryl is up first, and as such he is dragging everyone into the Madhouse…Studios, that is! Gerald’s reviewing Kemonozume and Clarissa’s reviewing Kaiba, both by Masaaki Yuasa. Meanwhile, Daryl himself shall speak of the grand masterpiece that is Goku: Midnight Eye!
Click Here to Download (or download via BitTorrent)
Introduction (0:00 – 26:55)
The Angry Otaku, who is angry that nobody else reads his blog or truly cares for him other than Daryl, sent in a voicemail regarding the wacky hijinks of North American companies releasing doujinshi in America. Not just any company, but Antarctic Press which thanks to furries is still kicking and teaching us that the easiest way to depict people with Down’s Syndrome looking up is to just flip their head a full 180 degrees. We also get some clarification about the extended GaoGaiGar universe thanks to Carl over at Ogiue Maniax. But really, the BIG question nobody is asking until now is…what DO we think of Armitage the Third and Sol Bianca, anyway? We try our best to remember.
News? Nah, there’s no news. Nothing really happened of note as of late. Oh wait. It’s too long to fit in here, so we’ll post it on its own. Onto what is philosophically known as “the REAL sentais”:
Review: Kemonozume (26:55 – 43:27)
Gerald, having spent entirely too much time wallowing in absolute goddamned anime filth as of late, is given a chance by Daryl to wash himself clean by ways of watching through this series from 2006 that is guaranteed to be substantially different than whatever mind-numbing tripe the group hivethink which considers Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex to be “too boring” has forced him to put on at his weekly anime club meetings. You can take a man out of the anime ghetto…but can you take the anime ghetto out of the man? Warning: your ability to like the works of Masaaki Yuasa is directly proportional to your ability to like killer7. Note: if that link doesn’t work, it’s because the content management system for that site IS RETARDED. Also note that, as was the case with Mind Game, Benjamin Ettinger is the Most Dangerous Masaaki Yuasa fan on the Internet, so do peruse the Kemonozume posts on Anipages Daily to learn more.
Promo: Late Night Anime Review (43:27 – 43:47)
We would tell you what this podcast is about, except their About page links to the WordPress sample page! Oh well, we can infer from the title that they review late night anime such as [checks] Bleach…Naruto…the live-action Dragonball…Advent Children–WAIT A SECOND
Review: Kaiba (43:47 – 1:09:17)
Clarissa, like all pre-Jerichoholics, has accepted mediocrity as excellence and has a fever…for which the only cure…is more Yuasa. But the only way to get her to take her medicine is to wrap it in her favorite item of consumption, which intelligence reports indicate is “pederasty.” 2008’s Kaiba is the answer! As always with Yuasa, what Benjamin Ettinger has written about Kaiba over at Anipages Daily is Dangerous, Most Dangerous. Pity that the only English-speaking people who really seem to know about and like Masaaki Yuasa’s work enough to talk about it on the Internet are stoners. One step at a time…
Note: Rintaro did not direct My Youth in Arcadia. He directed the TV series Space Pirate Captain Harlock and the not-as-good Harlock: Endless Odyssey (released in the US as “Captain Herlock”). Refer to the old review here.
Promo: Videogame Cast (1:09:17 – 1:09:43)
Why is there a “W’ in the abbreviation? There is no “W” in the name of the show! What, are they a terrestrial radio station located east of the Mississippi River? Is WVGC their call letter? It is a mystery! They did, however, watch and review Baoh. Now THAT’S what Gerald and Clarissa should rewatch!
Review: Goku: Midnight Eye (1:09:43 – 1:52:18)
Yoshiaki Kawajiri. Buichi Terasawa. All you need to know. But fine, pictures as promised:
Buichi Terasawa circa 1989. Kawajiri may not have that much hair anymore, but he still wears those shades. Terasawa’s hair/shades combo, by contrast, is ETERNAL.
Some might call this a mere Easter egg, but TRUE BELIEVERS know that truck is actually going TO Cyber City Oedo 808. Which we can only assume is a few blocks away from where Goku: Midnight Eye takes place.
Repeat after me: NOT GAY.
Just as with Cyber City Oedo, this single image encapsulates whether or not you want to see this cartoon. The HK sub version currently floating around on the Internet sucks. Better subbed versions may pop up soon, but come on. Surely someone out there has THE DUB.Closing (1:52:18 – 1:57:19)
Next time, it’s Gerald’s turn to select anime for everyone else to review. With such freedom to have others review virtually anything that can be viewed in about 4 hours, the anime selection one chooses as a result of this project truly shows what kind of human being they are deep down. As such, after roughly a month and a half of deliberation, Gerald has opted to have Clarissa review…Butt Attack Punisher Girl Gautaman…and Daryl must review…Kekko Kamen. If these weren’t EXCITING enough for you, Gerald has saved the ultimate excitement for himself since he will be reviewing…Battle Fairy Yukikaze. Contemplate this…on the tree of woe.
Behold the final half, and by “half” we mean “105 minutes” of AWO Show 79 in which Clarissa goes to Detroit Metal City and Daryl largely glosses over the finer points of Queen Millennia.
Let’s News! (0:00 – 28:40)
More news on top of the previous news? Yeah, because stuff happened.
Review: Detroit Metal City (28:40 – 56:10)
[Clarissa starts stopwatch]
RAPERAPERAPERAPERAPERAPERAPERAPERAPERAPE
[stops stopwatch, checks time...still not quite 1 second or better 
]
Behold, Negishi’s terrible songwriting. Luckily the manager is awesome enough to fix his lyrics and traumatize him in one fell swoop!Review: Queen Millennia (56:10 – 1:43:51)
Daryl reviews what he declares to be the Leiji Matsumoto equivalent of a Michael Bay movie, though perhaps Roland Emmerich is a more apt fit. There’s a lot of lore and history behind all of this, but he generally ignores it for the sake of focusing on the IMPORTANT THINGS. All screencaps taken from the R2 remastered anamorphic DVD, patched to include the English fansub by BOX on the subtitle track. They oughta release a version that’s just a H264 encode from this.
This is Leiji Matsumoto and he is ON THE ATTACK. Steve Harrison sent this picture like, a year and a half ago. We are using it now.
Daryl wants to believe that this is Cartoon Leiji Matsumoto, whose presence in this cartoon thus explains why it was made.
The ghost of Jackson Beck would like to inform you that GI Matsumoto is the code name for Dai Nippon’s daring, highly untrained special mission force. Its purpose: to defend human freedom against AMERIC…er, wait
Our lead characters. With the exception of “handsome male lead” this image neatly encapsulates Leiji Matusmoto’s character design preferences. Here, Yukino is in her “scientist” outfit as opposed to her “sexy teacher in nightgown” outfit.
Yukino in her titular role as Queen Millennia. We can only assume that nobody realizes Yukino is indeed Queen Millennia because they’re too busy staring at the fully exposed cleavage and heart-shaped midriff which doubles as a vagina indicator arrow to look up at her face.
This picture can best be described as “the REAL sentais” as it deftly conveys exactly why Matsumoto started giving his women such long hair in the first place.
Yukino’s sister, Selen. Aka Girl Captain Harlock. In the Maetel Legend OAVs, they used the other Girl Captain Harlock instead: Emeraldas. Suffice to say that even though Matsumoto and some fans want continuity between these works, there isn’t any because nothing fits the way it would need to. Therefore, Emeraldas and Maetel are only sisters in Maetel Legend, because they’re filling in for the roles of Yukino and Selen.
It might just be because it’s faithful to the manga which we never read, but nothing says “Matsumoto by the guy who directed most of the 70s Go Nagai Super Robot shows” better than Space Battleship Cleopatra. HASSHIN! Despite what’s stated in the segment, Cleopatra does have lines.Closing (1:43:51 – 1:51:27)
EE “Doc” Finnegan is presumably too busy unleashing the Terror of MechaBridezilla to listen to this podcast, but we’ll still be her friend to the end, much like Chucky in the Child’s Play movies. In the next exciting installment of AWO, we’re trying something new because rather than having each person pick the title they wish to talk about, someone else will be choosing it for them! Daryl’s up first, so he’s decided to force-feed Gerald and Clarissa with Masaaki Yuasa because they won’t do it themselves. As such, Gerald shall be reviewing Kemonozume and Clarissa will be reviewing Kaiba while Daryl opts to NOT review Cat Soup and instead talk more about Yoshiaki Kawajiri. So Goku: Midnight Eye’s coming at’cha.
Here’s the first half of Show 79, where we read some emails, play a voicemail, talk the news, and Gerald reviews Chi’s Sweet Home.
Introduction (0:00 – 31:00)
In a future exciting installment of Otaku USA, Daryl will be talking about Fist of the North Star as a result of the impending release of the remastered edition in the US. In celebration of this, he has pasted in assorted excerpts from the infamously inaccurate Streamline dub that did so much irreparable damage to the series in the eyes of US anime fans. This is not entirely inappropriate, since over in the emails, we’re asked our thoughts on the whole sub/dub thing. Rather than answering that at length since we’ve done so too many times, we opt instead to talk about some of our favorite English dub actors…nearly all of whom are in that Streamline Fist of the North Star dub. Except Mike Reynolds. We used Lily C.A.T. for that one.
We also weigh in on Hellsing Ultimate as well as the Hellsing manga, then shortly after start talking about the various anime adaptations of Bible stories: Superbook, Flying House, and In the Beginning. God is clearly at work here, since Dave Merrill just posted about Superbook over at the exceptional Let’s Anime web log, and Dan Baker just informed the world that Jack Chick is coming to an Anime Hell near you to save you from HAW HAW HAW HAW Hell. Somebody loves us.
Daryl, having recently spent much time replaying Thief: Gold, tried to impersonate Stephen Russell when reading an email asking our thoughts on Brigadoon and where otaku can meet similarly-minded folk. Unfortunately, much like the voice of Jason Statham, Stephen Russell’s Garrett voice cannot easily be replicated. Perhaps more unfortunately is the fact that several of the DVDs we reviewed years ago are now out of print, and even when they’re not it can be hard to ship them to MMM-MEXICO-OOO. We end with the ultimate in accidental dub poetry, courtesy of Michael McConnohie:
Hello Ken.
How nice to see you again!
How have you been?
Let’s News! (31:00 – 1:02:36)
After an 8 year run, Anime Insider ceased publication and we’re pretty sure the lack of Mike Dent had nothing to do with it this time like what happened to Newtype USA. Media Blasters and Bandai Entertainment are delaying or canceling the releases of some of their box sets, which is presumably due to the fact that there’s no more brick and mortar shelf space for much anime anymore. Toei (not to be confused with To-Y) has struck a deal with FUNimation’s to stream some of their anime on the FUNimation website, and much of it is pretty darn good stuff such as Air Master, Galaxy Express 999 TV, and the original Space Pirate Captain Harlock TV series. One of these titles is Fist of the North Star TV, but unlike GE999 and Harlock it doesn’t look like they’re releasing subtitled episodes past what were released subtitled by Manga Video forever ago.
As a shock to nobody, our “favorite” anime studio Gonzo ended up being de-listed from the Japanese stock exchange after all, and as the current season of anime demonstrates, they’re as terrible as always. On the pornographic doujinshi front, Linda Project–notorious for being especially protective of “their work”–will be putting English translated, uncensored digital editions of their doujinshi up for sale on Peter Payne Presents Peter Payne’s J-List: A Peter Payne Production. It took SUBSTANTIAL willpower to not make the obvious joke when Gerald said “it’s going to be interesting to see if anything comes out of this.” Yoshihiro Tatsumi will be a guest at PEN Fest in New York City next week, so go and see him because we guarantee you that nobody else will. Also, Rumiko Takahashi’s new manga, which starts…TODAY…is being officially released on the Web in English, for free, as it comes out in Japan. She can afford to do this because of her MASSIVE BREASTS. Also, being rich.
Review: Chi’s Sweet Home (1:02:36 – 1:20:06)
KITTY!
Daryl will be a guest on the April 27th edition of the OSMCast, in which the subject is Fallout. It saddens him to know how much less intelligent and reasoned he sounds without editing and the ability to drop in additional things in post, but it’ll have to tide you over for now because it’s hard to do podcast stuff when you’re recovering from surgery. Hopefully it will go well enough that we can post HILARIOUS pictures of blood-soaked gauze and Daryl having a bandaged, Jagi-esque face.
Oh yeah. We’re still selling the AWO T-shirts ($10) and hoodies ($20). Email us if you want one!
Here’s the second half of Show 78. This was actually completed and ready to post some time ago.
Click Here to Download (or download via BitTorrent)
Let’s News! (0:00 – 42:00)
Perhaps you’ve noticed that Best Buy has cut down their anime section rather drastically. There were some clearance sales that came and went, but there wasn’t much worth picking up anyway…because all the copies of Akira on Blu-Ray were long gone. Riyoko Ikeda, who at some point started getting that extra “i” in her name so she wouldn’t just be “Ryoko,” got great accolades from France for helping to popularize French culture amidst the Japanese. We think the award is fully deserved due to this car advertisement. If you haven’t really gotten into the whole “streaming anime” thing, perhaps you should give it another look because there’s a lot of titles coming out for which streaming just might be the only way you’ll see a translated English version officially available. There is probably not going to be an official translated English version of the Japanese porn comic with Barack Obama and John McCain. Sorry ladies, but it is not yaoi…YET. More bad news on that front: Sunshine Creation is canceled…again! Fortunately Figma is there to save the day in this time of need.
Review: Heaven Wars Shurato (42:00 – 1:26:22)
Clarissa concludes her reviews of all the “[pretty] boys in armor” anime series with this. Previously–and by that we mean about three years ago–she had reviewed Saint Seiya and Yoroiden Samurai Troopers. If you liked those, then you will probably like this! Probably.
This is a story about reincarnation and fighting godlike beings while wearing cool armor, but also about bros.
Well, until Lady Vishnu decides to show up, anyway.
Then it’s off to Tenkuukai, which to be fair is pretty gorgeous.
After that horrible things happen and Shurato is very sad, and kind of pissed off at Gai suddenly being evil. Hmm, I wonder how much of that Kamui and Fuuma nonsense in X derived from CLAMP’s love of Shurato…
This is pretty much the gang of major characters for Shurato, with a couple of exceptions. There’s something I find very pleasant and “human” about Okuda’s character designs that makes it stand out from Saint Seiya (with it’s crazily beautiful and exaggerated designs) and Samurai Troopers.
As we mentioned, these shows are largely about cool-looking armor. So here’s an idea of what they look like.
Here’s Reiga’s. Am I the only one who just doesn’t think the bird head works as well?
In addition to the show, I highly recommend any of the artbooks with Matsuri Okuda’s original illustrations. There are some really beautiful and melodramatic pieces, along with lots of silly stuff. Here’s some good samples. BTW, a lot of nice images including the ones here can be found at Arcadia’s Shulato Shrine.
Closing (1:26:22 – 1:31:22)
Next time, Gerald is a terrorist straight out of Hell because he’s reviewing Chi’s Sweet Home, and Clarissa lives a happy, peaceful, lighthearted existence within Detroit Metal City. For a moment we thought we might have those backwards, but no. Definitely not. Daryl’s reviewing Queen Millennia: The Movie.
Once again, we’re splitting this one in two due to the ever-increasing running time. In this first half, Gerald reviews Roujin Z and Daryl finally breaks his silence on Mamoru Oshii to talk about Angel’s Egg.
Click Here to Download (or download via BitTorrent)
Show notes to come…maybe.
Introduction (0:00 – 34:15)
As we feebly attempt to make dents in our inbox, Daryl opts to answer an email from a year ago. Technically, he’d answered it a year ago, but this time we’re reading it on the show: how do you keep track of which Lupin III is which? We recommend the Lupin the Third Encyclopedia. What’s our take on this whole FUNimation thing? Are they the lord…of the martial world? Where do you find those old Streamline Pictures dubs at this point? And what are our thoughts on Slayers? Our response effectively means we no longer need to review Slayers, since we covered it all right here.
Promo: Robotronic Dynamite! (34:15 – 35:19)
Despite being around for over 70 episodes, it took Daryl’s guest appearance on Robotronic Dynamite! to convince them to actually put a link to the podcast’s feed up on the site, not just the iTunes-only version. Well, it’s not there NOW, but it will be. Maybe.
Review: Roujin Z (35:19 – 59:08)
Gerald does the responsible thing by making his review be as long as how we initially envisioned our reviews to be. This is hands-down the best anime about a mechanical bed wrecking Japan ever made. A bold statement considering the tough competition it’s got, yes.
Promo: Anime 3000 (59:08 – 1:00:19)
You hear that promo? How could you NOT go on this podcast after hearing that promo? Daryl sure couldn’t not do it, which is why Daryl’s guest appearance on Anime3000 was SOOOOO GOOOD [because he didn't need to edit anything]. The AWO’s standing offer to be on your podcast as long as we don’t have to edit anything STANDS, and that’s true for all three of us. This is yet another podcast that did not have a link to their podcast feed until Daryl zoomed in and changed their lives FOR THE BETTER.
Review: Angel’s Egg (1:00:19 – 1:44:21)
What better way to kick off a review of this than with one of those things done solely for the entertainment of various former guests of this very podcast? If you don’t get it, worry not for there’s corn pone a plenty. Daryl knuckles up and reviews this film, which he has taken to classifying as “the real sentais.” Be warned that softer, weaker folk than the AWO, ones who never tempered their wills in the fires of Odin: Photon Space Sailer Starlight to the point of immunity simply won’t have the power, patience, or will to sit through this movie. Nobody quite knows what it all means, so perhaps what you get out of it is an indication of that which consumes your being. On second thought, everybody who disagrees with us is wrong. We are the bastions of original thought, even when we’re reading other people’s writings and claiming them as our own ideas. WHICH WE’D NEVER DREAM OF DOING.
Here’s the second half of Show 77 with our special guest Mike Toole. It contains Gerald’s review of Five Star Stories and Clarissa’s review of The Big O.
Click Here to Download (or download via BitTorrent)
Gerald and Clarissa have their notes for their segments, so pictures and such are forthcoming. Hopefully they can add them in less time than it takes for Daryl to add notes for his.
Review: Five Star Stories (0:00 – 39:42)
As Howard Stern so deftly put it one New Year’s Eve so very long ago, FIND OUT WHICH ONE OF THESE GIRLS IS A MAN
Review: The Big O (39:42 – 1:25:35)
This segment TOM JOWNS. Let me show you the REAL Big O:
Closing (1:25:35 – 1:29:29)
Next time, Daryl’s getting himself into trouble by finally talking about Mamoru Oshii for the first time on this podcast. May as well go for broke: he’s talking about Angel’s Egg…and yes, In The Aftermath. Gerald will be reviewing the much-requested Roujin Z, and Clarissa completes her jailbait dudes in armor trifecta by reviewing Shurato. We haven’t recorded this yet, and this weekend is technically a convention. So uh…see you when we see you!
Our special guest this episode is the returning Mike Toole, last heard on this show nearly three years ago. Don’t worry, the Anime Jump front page was never updated since. In this episode, Daryl’s reviewing Baccano!, Gerald’s reviewing Five Star Stories, and Clarissa being THE GIRL AND ALL opted to speak of The Big O. Huh huh, huh huh. But you’ll have to wait a few days for the second half of the show which contains the second two reviews, because we’ve got videogames to play!
Click Here to Download (or download via BitTorrent)
Less empty show notes are forthcoming. For now, here’s the timecodes.
Introduction (0:00 – 32:34)
Much was spoken of Raijin Comics and how Superdimensional Southern Cross and Genesis Climber Mospeada hold up as shows in and of themselves without having any knowledge of Robotech, let alone nostalgia. Too bad we got beaten to the punch! Note that Daryl’s Southern Cross knowledge is minimal and he generally can only refer to things by their Robotech equivalents.
Let’s News! (32:34 – 1:06:49)
Mike Toole mysteriously vanished during this part of the show due to the magic of post-production. We might have actually discussed the news for these 30-40 minutes. Or we might have just talked a lot about girls not wearing any pants, be they animated, drawn, or otherwise.
Review: Baccano! (1:06:49 – 1:42:19)
Since Daryl and Mike were the only ones who’d seen the series, this review is more or less spoiler-free. It is highly recommended that you NOT read the Wikipedia entry for this show, or the ANN encyclopedia entry, or the ANN review, or pretty much anything prior to watching this series. Not even the back of the DVD. No, you should just trust in Daryl and Mike’s good judgment here and the fact that they both consider it their pick for best series of 2007 (or 2009 depending on how you want to count it). Note that Gerald and Clarissa upon hearing this review decided to watch Akikan and that one about the gay vampire butler instead of this show. This is like what happened with the New Getter Robo review all over again. Wait, they did watch that eventually. Er, Godannar then. Only this one doesn’t involve robots or fanservice. This sort of thing was going on even before Daryl was crowned the Pied Piper of Nerds along with White Daryl.
OH NO, THE BANDANA’S COME OFF! Here now is the second half of Show 76 containing the reviews of Shootfighter Tekken, Baoh, and Part 4 of Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure. Warning: this might melt your brain.
Click Here to Download (or download via BitTorrent)
Review: Shootfighter Tekken (0:00 – 33:39)
Gerald reviews a fine masterpiece by Tetsuya Saruwatari, esteemed student of the mighty Kazuo Koike and creator of the grand masterpiece known as Violence Hero: Riki-Oh. A relatively short 3 part-OAV anime adapted from the very long-running manga series Koukou Tekken-den Tough that was partially released by Viz under the name Tough, Shootfighter Tekken was one of the last, if not THE last, new releases from Central Park Media. Nobody really seemed to care when it came out. Were they mistaken? Listen on and find out!
Promo: Ani-Gamers (33:39 – 34:33)
Evan assures us that this promo doesn’t have people who ultimately didn’t end up being on the podcast at all in it, which while beneficial isn’t always necessary. Heck, the reason our latest promo is so good is precisely because it has nothing to do with much of anything we said at all! Anyway, Ani-Gamers just released the second half of episode 11, so check them out. Just remember: UNCLE YO SEES ALL, except for the hentai clips that Gerald shows at anime conventions. He did the right thing and bolted out of there when those came on.
Review: Baoh (34:33 – 1:11:05)
Daryl gave strong consideration to just ripping the dub audio from Baoh–PERHAPS THE GREATEST SINGLE-LENGTH OAV EVER MADE–in its entirety and posting that as the review. Perhaps a future bonus installment of AWO could simply be entitled “Baoh: The Audio Drama” because aside from a few scenes, you actually don’t need to see what’s going on at any point whatsoever due to all the narration. Daryl always dreamed of just getting cosplayers to read the lines from Baoh, but this dream never came to fruition because if you think it’s hard to get a cosplayer you personally know to speak into a microphone, try getting them to say “there is! Such a power is contained WITHIN BAOH!” It’s not happening, folks.
Promo: Anime82 (1:11:05 – 1:11:49)
We suspect that Regan might have been impersonating the Macross II dub when recording this promo, but no matter: after a few months of hiatus he’s back with a new episode! Thanks to Regan and the rest of the guys at Box Fansubs for their work on Locke the Superman and Queen Millennia, the latter of which you can definitely expect Daryl to review in a future episode! Though it begs the question whether or not Queen Millennia should get priority over Violence Jack…
Review (manga): Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure Part 4 (1:11:49 – 1:49:34)
Daryl and Clarissa may never read them and Gerald may have given up reading them in disgust, but Bass_kat from the Fast Karate for the Gentleman forums calls in to relate to us all the tale of how she saw Wicked City back when she was 8 years old. A bizarre tale as that can only be placed prior to Clarissa’s review of a bizarre manga. This one is sort of the “Death Note + Hot Fuzz” portion of Jojo’s, and marks a definitive turning point as far as content and art style is concerned.
Meet the Jojo’s Part 4 gang! Clockwise from top left there’s Okuyasu, Josuke, Jotaro, Koichi (whose face is being eaten by Araki’s name) and Rohan. Josuke, of course, is easy to spot thanks to his kickin’ pompadour. Sadly, people tend to make fun of it because rather than being a real tough guy style, now it’s pretty much just worn by Yoyogi Park rockabilly dudes.
Of course, Josuke has his Stand Crazy Diamond, which valiantly continues the heart motif Araki loves so much.
And I couldn’t not devote time to that amazing Araki/Tezuka/Go Nagai hybrid Rohan. I mentioned he’s crazy IN THE NAME OF GREAT MANGA right?
If you were wondering, this is what Rohan’s Stand does to people. It’s much better in visuals than in the description.
True, there’s no Dio anymore. But just take a fucking look at Kira and Killer Queen. Top tier Stand design? I think so. (Hey Medicos, when you’re done with this year’s Stardust Crusaders blitz, could we maybe get a poseable Killer Queen and Kira? With bonus amputated hand girlfriend of course.)
But don’t get too down. Psychotic murderers and high body counts aside, remember: it’s Jojo’s so they’re all dorks. Inviiiiisible baaaaby.Closing (1:49:34 – 1:53:58)
Next time on AWO, it’s SHOW TIME because our special guest once again is Mike Toole! Last heard from about two years ago, Mike’s since capitalized on his knowledge that audio is for suckers to become a sporadic streaming video sensation, but he’s still keeping it real! Daryl will be reviewing his favorite series of 2007, Baccano! (warning: don’t read the Wikipedia page or the ANN encyclopedia entry or especially the ANN review of volume 1), Gerald is reviewing the former crown jewel of the anime laserdisc empire known as Five Star Stories, and Clarissa does what we should have done the first time we had Mike on: review freakin’ Big O! This entire episode was recorded about a month ago, and we still haven’t started editing it because…well…sowwwhy! We had done tol’ Craig and ‘dem that we was gon’ kick it wit’ ‘dem. Gotta go; see you when we see you!
Here’s the first half of Show 76, containing the “general chat” portions of the show; reading emails and responding to recent anime news developments. Show 76b will contain the actual reviews.
The Podcast Pickle player is down and we figure we may as well put up the torrent for both halves. We’ll hold off on posting the second half of Show 76 for about a day or two, since otherwise all the people using podcatching software that downloads just the latest episode–that’s most of you–won’t ever hear this part. This is actually the first thing we’ve posted since Google changed the feed URL to http://feeds2.feedburner.com/AnimeWorldOrder but since they state that the previous feed link will redirect, let’s see if it causes problems for anyone if we just leave everything the same.
Introduction (0:00 – 26:51)
All the podcast gurus state you should save emails for the end of the show, which is why we read them at the beginning! Current emails in Inbox: 345. We lament the continued non-licensing of Ippatsu Kikimusume, and Gerald clarifies his stance on Dirty Pair Flash which was probably initially brought up when he reviewed Project E.D.E.N. way back when. Daryl takes the time to update the list of People In His Sights before trying to remember some anime titles with particularly noteworthy narrators. We can’t help but think that we forgot something terribly important. And given the attendance levels for the Providence Anime Conference, are anime fandom gatherings geared towards non-teenagers viable?
Let’s News! (26:51 – 1:03:09)
There were some regrettable deaths in the world of Gatchaman and O-DIIIIIIIIIIIIN, and we suspect Baoh as the cause of the death. Bandai Entertainment is joining FUNimation, ADV Films, and Tokyopop at the layoff party, and Diamond is upping their minimum order price by $1000. Dave Merrill’s Livejournal is where the party was for that discussion: our favorite comment exchange was “GOSH WHY CAN’T WE GET WOMEN AND KIDS INTO THE COMIC BOOK SHOPS OF AMERICA? BECAUSE MY VAGINA IS HAUNTED!” Be sure to read those comments so you too may have the covers to the next three Grant Morrison projects. PS: all comicbook writers from the British Isles are awful no matter how much TRUE BELIEVERS claim otherwise. PPS: laserdiscs are finally no longer being made. You remember laserdiscs, right? Oh, huh. Well, we don’t either.
Based on the amount of people in a previous poll who correctly identified the right answer, about 100+ people reading this will be glad to know that Discotek Media will be releasing the remastered Fist of the North Star theatrical animated movie on DVD later this year. In other “wow, someone licensed that?” news, The Roots of Japanese Anime Until the End of World War II is coming out in the US as well. It won’t be cheap, but spare no expense for DVD quality copies of Momotaro’s Divine Sea Warriors, the very first feature-length Japanese animated film which is also incredibly jingoistic Japanese WW2 propaganda. On the newer side of things, Toei now has Space Pirate Captain Harlock and Galaxy Express 999 available to view in streaming form, and iTunes has a whole bunch of anime songs up for purchase. Oh yeah, remember all that stuff about Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure, Part 3? Looks like it’s been worked out. You know what hasn’t been worked out? The fact that people don’t seem to realize that anime voice actors are perpetually out of work and/or make very little money.
But enough about THE INDUSTRY: the Reverse Thieves have begun the Otaku Diaries project, an anonymous survey about the social lives or lack thereof of self-proclaimed otaku. You’ve got two months to complete the survey, and at about 150 short answer/essay questions you’ll probably need it. Daryl’s signed up for it, and hopefully so will everyone else. Let’s see how deep the pit goes, shall we? If all that writing gets you in a mode, we recommend contributing to the proposed Anime Confessions archive, a would-be repository for all manners of fandom soapbox diatribes. So far they don’t really have very many submissions. Perhaps YOU can help! Finally, Ben and Matt over at For Tax Reasons have released yet another short, which at nearly 8000 views is proof positive that they don’t really need the rub from us. Too bad; they’re getting it anyway!
Promo: Pop Rocks and Soda (1:03:09 – 1:04:28)
All the podcast gurus state you should make your promos about 30 seconds long, so we’re playing this one that’s about 90. Bonus points for no bongo drums this time!
We’ll post the second half of this on Tuesday or Wednesday or so. It’s actually done. We could post it now. BUT WE AREN’T. You know why? Because even though we shipped out nearly all of the T-shirts and hoodies, we didn’t yet ship out the international orders. It turns out that shipping for hoodies is more like $8.75 than $5, and we shudder to think how much more expensive the international shipping will be. Anyway, if YOU want AWO t-shirts or hoodies, email us for the details. Here’s Aaron from the WARP Anime Podcast (Go Recursive Acronym GO!) stylin’ and profilin’:
Show 75 with our special guest Ryan Gavigan concludes with the news segment, Gerald’s review/summary of Riding Bean, and Clarissa’s review of Yakitate! Japan.
Click Here to Download (or download via BitTorrent)
Full show notes to come. For now, here are the timecodes at least.
Let’s News! (0:00 – 33:47)
The news was like, a month out of date when we recorded it…months ago! So we recorded an addendum to it…like one month ago! So yeah, there’s this guy named Chris Handley. You know, the guy who got busted because customs inspected a package of manga he bought from Japan and declared it mad gross. We still have no idea what manga it was he bought. Some people say it is “the gay,” as stated by the ugly freckle face girl in Transporter 3, but radicals like Carl Horn and Jason Thompson wrote some cool things on that one website about what this all MEANS, maaan. You know, the one with the news…what was it? Oh yeah, Anime Vi–no wait, the site they and we steal all OUR news items from. Oh yeah, Anime News Network.
In other news, Gonzo is cutting down on the amount of bad shows they make each year to only about four or so bad shows a year. Also, anime studios in Singapore are being all like “I’M A COMPUTER! STOP ALL THE DOWNLOADING!” Again. And which will be more dire: Dragonball Evolution or Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li? You know what? It doesn’t matter. Stop talking on and on about live-action anime adaptations. We don’t care. ADV is resurrecting their porn/quasi-porn line to GET PAID, YO, and Funimation posted an episode of Sgt Frog dubbed to Youtube, the localization of which is…different from the original.
For some reason, they’re making some Maria Watches Over Us in 3-D. Also, Hajime no Ippo: New Challenger is out. In fact, why are you listening to this podcast? You could be watching more Hajime no Ippo right now. Even though the music’s different and they just might be playing up the gayness factor in a cynical grab for more viewers. You could of course read the manga, since much like Black Lagoon and Monster it’s more or less identical. But you won’t hear the jet engine during the Dempsey Roll, and the jet engine is the most important part. The final news is that our interview with Kazuko Tadano and Hiromi Matsushita (whose name we couldn’t remember!) that we did at Otakon will probably never get posted since the audio quality is so terrible. A pity too, since we learned the secrets of Crystal Triangle!
Promo: ANON Podcast (33:47 – 34:42)
It’s short for ANime ONline Podcast! It was formerly the Anime and Television in Toronto Podcast, but then they realized that now that The Shield is over and Prison Break is ending, there’s no reason to watch television anymore. Jack Bauer may be fighting the goddamned Candyman, but it’s hard to care when you know that ZOMBIE TONY is around the corner. He may have got shot…IN THE NECK…but he also crossed Robocop. And even though that was only a little less dumb than David Palmer, it’s…oh right, this podcast. They tend to cover more recent fansub-only titles if that’s your thing!
Review/Synopsis: Riding Bean (34:42 – 1:32:08)
It would be faster to just WATCH Riding Bean! This segment will probably not go down in history as our finest hour, as we were all driven insane by the pizza. Pictures forthcoming.
Promo: The Japan Xperience (1:32:08 -1:32:36)
It’s a good thing they spelled the URL for me in the email, because they didn’t actually spell it out in the promo. Who would have guessed that there was a second “i” in there? Not me! Fortunately, you did the smart thing and read the show notes, so now YOU know too! These guys actually live in Japan, and their show’s largely about Japanese music. Say, we’ve heard some of that!
Review: Yakitate! Japan (1:32:36 – 2:01:21)
This is a cartoon that applies the shonen action/adventure formula to baking bread combined with outlandish Mr. Ajikko-like food hallucinations. You now have all the information you need to decide whether or not you wish to watch this cartoon.
I could certainly add a great deal of notes with screenshots, and bread reactions and such. But perhaps all I really need to include is the second ED credits that so mesmerized Gerald.
Closing (2:01:21 – 2:07:19)
The next two episodes of AWO were actually recorded quite some time ago; Show 76 was actually recorded a few days before Christmas 2008. Next time, Gerald’s reviewing Shootfighter Tekken (the manga of which was partially released in the US under the name Tough), Clarissa’s seriously actually for real this time reviewing Part 4 of Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure, and Daryl is reviewing Hirohiko Araki’s single greatest work, Baoh the Visitor. This was originally held off for over a year in the hopes that Dave and Joel would do it, but they ignored the pleas. The gambit has paid off.
For our final podcast of the year, we celebrate our third year anniversary with our special guest, Ryan Gavigan! Took us long enough; we’d been meaning to record this since before our first year anniversary. In the first part of this show, we talk to Ryan about his sordid life in anime fandom and Daryl reviews the Bubblegum Crisis OAVs, aka “the only Bubblegum Crisis that exists” or if you prefer “the REAL Bubblegum Crisis.”
Click Here to Download (or download via BitTorrent)
Introduction (0:00 – 40:40)
For our three year anniversary, we figured we’d record an actual show proper with everyone together for the very first time instead of just a bonus. Nearly all podcasts do this, but not us! That’s why we didn’t know to position the microphones in such a way as to prevent echoing induced from multiple mics recording the same sounds. Oh well. So who is this Ryan Gavigan, anyway? Listen and find out for yourself!
Promo: Weeaboobies (40:40 – 43:33)
This is a genuine custom promo made by Erin from the Ninja Consultant podcast! Includes genuine voicemail message from Erin!
Review: Bubblegum Crisis (43:33 – 1:45:46)
Daryl…sort of talks about Bubblegum Crisis for an hour. Maybe. The way he sees it, all the cool anime podcasts already talked about it so he has nothing to lose!
Bubblegum Crisis is, as the title card suggests, the story of [the] Knight Sabers. Not the Knight Saviors.
BGC was made in the 1980s.
Daley Wong and Leon McNichol, the two longest-living members of the AD Police. Daley, if you couldn’t tell, is a flamboyant homosexual of the type and variety never to be respected by the Iron Shiek. All Leon ever does right is take his shades off, put his shades on, say stupid things, and occasionally shoot someone. So THAT’S where CSI: Miami came from. YEAHHHHHH!
This is Priss in her concert gear. You might have to squint to notice it, but she looks KINDA like Pris from Blade Runner!
But despite the haircut, she is not “the gay,” as that ugly freckleface girl from Transporter 3 would say. Otherwise, she’d be enjoying this more.
If she was, there’d be scenes of her doing this sort of thing. BGC is not exactly a subtle series. So stop contemplating whether Sylia is a boomer. (PS: Deckard = NOT A REPLICANT, NO MATTER WHAT)
In addition to her skeletal structure, Priss is constantly breaking the rules. Observe this BLATANT DISREGARD for the laws of physics.
Sylia Stingray, by contrast, complies with the laws of physics. This is the law of buoyancy. Though I guess buoyancy isn’t a law so much as a force. Fuck it.
The wardrobe for Vision’s truly, truly outrageous number comes to us courtesy of the Cyber City Oedo Mercenary Girl’s Closet.
But if you’re thinking of cosplaying it, know that there are downsides. MORE LIKE BACKSIDES, AMIRITE
Vision’s character designer was Satoshi Urushihara. The breasts on his female characters are always that shiny because he uses his many, many love dolls as reference. Gerald only has one inflatable anime girl love doll for the moment.
Nene is the worst character, so naturally the Japanese gave her an entire episode. Nothing “proto”-moe about it!
Largo however, is the best character other than Sylia. That Hiroaki Gouda (No. Edam? No.) probably designed him is a true oddity, as he directed the Nene episode then spent the rest of his life directing all the Ah My Goddess! anime.
Maybe Masami Obari might have designed Largo. If Masami Obari is involved and it does not involve either Largo or Terry Bogard, then I’m probably not interested.
Obari-tan wants us all to know: this person is DEFINITELY Australian.
As a rule, it is pointless to bother doing high-definition remasterings for most non-theatrical anime made prior to the onset of HD. However, certain bits of hilarious English/Engrish text become more easily noticeable here. WHAT’S THAT BETWEEN THOSE BOOKS NENE, HUH? This must be the REAL reason PT Chapman loves you so. PS: Mackie is “the character we, the viewer, would actually be.” Dwell on THAT.
Oh yeah, there’s mecha in this series, which is why it’s awesome. Sylia is the leader!
Nobody gonna beat my car / It’s gonna break the speed of sound / Ooh, it’s a killing machine / It’s got everything / Except for a girl in powered armor riding a giant fucking motorcycle / But other than that, it’s cool
This is the part Sonoda was responsible for; the mechanical designs of the hardsuits. Also, the little girl in the first episode FO’ SHO’. Note the presence of the high heels which make this awesome and EMPOWERING and why Japanese animation is mature advanced sci-fi storytelling with STRONG FEMALE CHARACTERS blah blah blah
This is clearly the Shinji Aramaki part. Because it’s AWESOME.
Motorcycles that transform into robots…AND THEY CAN FLY? If they can fly, why even HAVE motorcycles? Only Shinji Aramaki truly knows.
This is what happens to most members of the AD Police that are not in helicopters. (If they’re in helicopters, they get immolated due to the freaking chopper exploding. Holy CRAP.) Note that this guy lost his hands before losing his arms, and that head comes off about a second after this screenshot was taken.See? You should go watch this cartoon. Again, if need be.
Here’s the last of our con reports for the year, this time for both SITACon 2008 and EXPCon 2008.
Click Here to Download (or download via BitTorrent)
We were hoping to have at least part of Show 75 out by now, but this probably marks our three year anniversary of podcasting instead. Kind of fitting, really. Pictures forthcoming.
Now that we’re out of “filler” to post, next time will be Show 75 FO’ SHO’. Recorded live with our special guest Ryan Gavigan, Daryl will be reviewing the original Bubblegum Crisis OAVs, Gerald will be reviewing Riding Bean, and Clarissa will be reviewing Yakitate! Japan.
Even though the convention was back in September, here’s our con report for Anime Weekend Atlanta 2008.
Click Here to Download (or download via BitTorrent)
Show 75 is recorded and will hopefully be posted soon, but there may be one more convention report bonus edition posted first. Three bonus recordings in a row? Man, we are lazy. Heck, one of them we didn’t even edit! We’ll upload some important pictures from the con here at some point. For now, feast your eyes upon this glorious slideshow (click any picture in the slideshow to get a full sized version):
And here’s Gerald’s version of the events including the fateful headlock with Rob Fenelon:
You will notice embedded in the show MP3 as well as within the slideshow above is a grandiose method of transport. What fiendish practitioners of kung fu treachery could be responsible for such a thing, you ask? This video has the answers:
This would have been funnier if the people in the outfits weren’t so keen on wandering into large events and then leaving in a manner that illustrated they didn’t actually care about what was going on in the room. They did spend most of their time in the halls, though. McCain’s campaign headquarters was a few minutes away, but they were closed! HOW ARE YOU SUPPOSED TO CONVINCE INUYASHA TO VOTE MCCAIN IF YOUR “VICTORY CENTER” IS CLOSED ON WEEKENDS?! No wonder he lost.
Here’s a recording of the press conference for anime song super-group JAM Project that was held at Otakon 2008. Thanks to Mike Dent from R5 Central for doing the backbreaking work of editing this, because now we don’t have to! In fact, this is actually just a link to the R5 Central podcast episode. Also special thanks to Tyler from Rangercast; between Mike, Tyler, and us that comprised nearly all of the questions asked during this interview. Warning: as we realized that the rest of the press in attendance was probably not going to ask anything, our questions become progressively more absurd until…well…
We actually still haven’t recorded the next episode of AWO yet. And then Otaku USA deadlines are…next week. Oops!
Kept you waiting, huh? For this episode we’re all reviewing manga titles. Gerald’s reviewing Dororo by Osamu Tezuka and Daryl’s reviewing Ressentiment by Kengo Hanazawa. Clarissa’s review of Part 4 of Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure will be postponed. Fear not Jojo’s fans, it’s still going to happen, just not now.
Click Here to Download (or click here to download via BitTorrent)
Two hours may not be enough time to make up for the AWO deficit, but in the previous…weeks…Daryl was once again a guest star on the Greatest Movie EVER! Podcast where he talked about Drive in an attempt to restart the Big Month of Mark [Dacascos], and was a guest on the Mistakes of Youth “podcast” (there is no podcast-specific feed!) where he once again talked about Macross Frontier. Also, the original poll was about whether or not you used the BitTorrent link, but it was taken down since we can just look at the tracker statistics to see exactly how many people used it.
And before anyone asks: if you want one of the hats, we can hook you up. Also, mudkip hats. Inquire within!
Introduction (0:00 – 24:25)
Daryl for whatever reason has decided to boost the crap out of the low frequency end of his voice in an attempt to sound cool for this entire episode, but it’s probably just [comically...?] distorted. Further proof that everyone he knows is becoming smarter than him by virtue of their continued educations, though perhaps “smarter” is the new “dumber.” In the emails department, we get some feedback regarding our discussion from the last episode regarding the cancelation of Toonami. We then shill like it’s going out of style for Hulu and its recent anime additions. Cross our hearts, we aren’t on the take. The site just has all kinds of awesome things on it. At some point MTV Music gets brought up, and since Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure is on the brain the inevitable ugliness of Dio in the Holy Diver video is mentioned. And do we have toy/figure/model kit collections? PERHAPS.
Let’s News! (24:25 – 45:19)
With the exception of the fact that FUNimation seems to be doing better than expected, there is like, nothing but sleaze to talk about this episode. In an attempt to delay this fact, we go into what some of the top selling anime titles of the last few months have been, but it’s only a matter of time before we start talking about people who want to marry fictional characters, whether or not loli/shota stuff qualifies as obscenity, and a 38 year old guy who really, REALLY hopes the answer to that question is “no” right about now.
Promo: Weeaboobies (45:19 – 46:00)
Aside from the fact that this is the WORST NAME FOR ANYTHING EVER and also that face piercings = automatic disqualification, this all-female hosted anime podcast is out there to be excessively immature so we don’t have to be. But wait…we’re also excessively immature. Actually, I can’t really think of any truly “mature” podcasts dedicated to Japanese cartoons. I think people say that’s us from a relative standpoint. That is terrifying.
Review (manga): Dororo (46:00 – 1:10:27)
Then again, maybe it’s because we’re reviewing the Osamu Tezuka stuff. Gerald gets into this 3-volume manga series that has been released in English courtesy of Vertical Inc, which for our money’s worth is an early precursor to the “shonen” genre of anime that dominates much of the anime we consume in the US. Daryl reviewed this in the pages of Otaku USA magazine, PS buy the latest issue because it is radical kthxbye
Review (manga): Ressentiment (1:10:27 – 1:49:12)
Daryl’s been making offhand references to how good this comic is for quite some time now, but it’s only now that THE TRUTH can be told. Forget about Genshiken, Welcome to the NHK, Otaku no Video, and all that flippity floppity stuff: this is the real shit. Finally a tale of otakudom that tells it like it is…or at least, we think. Despite only being 4 volumes long, it’s not available for sale in the US and the scanlation efforts stopped at Chapter 29. Perhaps this review will inspire Manga-Screener or someone else to FINISH THE FIGHT. We can only hope. Our salvation–or lack thereof–depends on it!
Closing (1:49:12 – 1:55:54)
Hey, you people who responded to the previous poll saying you were interested in buying AWO T-shirts and/or hoodies (as famously depicted here)? Send us emails with some contact information, desired sizes, and the like. Once we get enough people, we’ll be able to put those orders in! How much would you pay for these things? We’re thinking that since they need to be shipped, it might be $10 for a shirt and $20 for a hoodie once we factor in the “buy mailers and postage” cost, but who knows? Let us know. Next episode will probably be a bonus edition where we do a variety of convention reports: Anime Weekend Atlanta, SITACon, and EXPCon. Plus we should have that Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure Part 4 review ready to go. Next episode proper, we’re hoping to get Ryan Gavigan on as our special guest! Daryl will be talking about the original Bubblegum Crisis OAVs, Gerald will be talking about Riding Bean, and Clarissa will not be talking about Gunsmith Cats since she’s going to cover Yakitate! Japan. See you hopefully sooner than it took for this one to come out. Fallout 3 doesn’t play itself, you know! In the meantime, you can look at this picture of the Bureau of ATF:
 | John N. on Bonus – Otakon 2009 Con… |
| hdn guy on Bonus – Otakon 2009 Con… |
| reggaenights on Bonus – Otakon 2009 Con… |
| Anonymous on Bonus – Otakon 2009 Con… |
| subatomic brainfreez… on Bonus – Otakon 2009 Con… |
