A podcast all about Japanese cartoons and comics as discussed by three self-proclaimed experts in the world of anime and manga! Plus anime news / reviews, coverage of classic anime, hentai / yaoi, and much, much more. Updated every week. We hope.
Malady and illness caused us to miss last month, but Gerald attended Otakon 2025 and Daryl reviews what he considers a landmark of “post-Evangelion TV anime,” the mecha comedy-drama Martian Successor Nadesico. And also…the movie. But also the Gekiganger 3 OVA.
Introduction (0:00 – 1:14:13)
Gerald was the only one among us well enough to attend Otakon 2025, so he offers this report of a convention attended by roughly 43,000 people. That’s slightly down compared to the previous year, for reasons which we speculate upon. Here are some of the photos Gerald took:
It truly is a Laid Back CampThe Latin American anime dub panel, run by a suitably costumed hostOne part of the Anime Home Video Museum. Be kind, rewindThe highly-coveted Daicon LD, justifiably kept under lock and keyThe use of generative AI by anime convention panelists is something cons need to take a stand against. This Princess Ai panel will be done at the virtual Anime Lockdown con in a week or soGinguiser is one ugly robotThe live drawing of Panty and Stocking with Garterbelt done at the Trigger panelThey did this one tooThis itasha’s theme was perhaps not as focused as what people usually doCosplayers for K-Pop Demon Hunters–which as of today is the most-viewed title on Netflix of all time–was prominent at Otakon despite only having come out a few weeks prior
We wrap things up by talking about the Animeigo and Discotek anime licenses that were announced.
Review: Martian Successor Nadesico (1:14:13 – 2:39:31)
After showing the Christmas episode to the group last December, Daryl now revisits this mecha dramedy series from 1996, which he first saw via VHS fansubs at his local anime club. Those were fansubbed off of laserdiscs, such that each disc opened with a different Japanese voice cast member introducing themselves, then after two episodes they’d pop in to ask you to turn your laserdisc over now to continue watching. These segments don’t seem to ever be included on any new Nadesico release “because you’re not watching on laserdisc” or whatever goofy reason abounds. In any case, we watched the entire Nadesico TV series, along with the movie Prince of Darkness and the OVA Gekiganger 3. This results in a wild rollercoaster of quality and reaction, much like Nadesico itself. You can watch Nadesico TV for free on RetroCrush, though it’s only the English dub of the TV series which is listed as “Season 2” when there is no “Season 1” that would presumably be the Japanese subtitled version which we watched.
An autographed illustration of Ruri by Kia Asamiya. There are fans of Nadesico, and there are fans of Ruri. The latter seems to exceed the former.
[Once again we are betrayed by this new version of Audacity, which exported the episode in joint stereo rather than mono. If you’re hearing audio in only the left channel or right depending on who’s speaking, redownload the episode. It is corrected now.] It’s been a long time since we answered emails and even longer since we did a convention report, so let’s do both!
Introduction (0:00 – 1:09:34)
If you haven’t already done so, please leave us a 5-star review on either/both Apple Podcasts and Spotify, since we’ve recently been downvoted by a number of people over the previous episode’s news discussion, which knocked us out of the search result listings threshold for those searching for anime podcasts. We dive into the mailbag and answer a variety of questions, many from listeners who have been listening to us since the first episode nearly 20 years ago. Whether you’ve been listening that long yourself or not, we’d love to receive thoughtful email correspondence from you! You can email us at the link on the sidebar, message us on BlueSky, or chat with us on the AWO Discord available to Patreon backers.
We also talk about some anime news items. Anime Herald is celebrating its 15th anniversary by launching a print magazine, which is due for release this coming October. In addition to reprinting eight noteworthy articles from the website’s archives, it will also feature brand-new articles by several noteworthy contributors: Samantha Ferreira (Anime Herald’s founder and Editor-in-Chief), Lynzee Loveridge (Anime News Network), Chiaki Mitama (Anime Feminist), Erica Friedman (Okazu), Red Bard (@RedBardIsCool on YouTube), Borealis Capps (Anime Herald, Yatta-Tachi, Anime Feminist), Lucas DeReuyter (Anime News Network). Also, Daryl is writing an article once he can figure out a catchy title and find some suitable images. The current plan is to release one issue a year, but if there are enough orders they could expand to two issues or even four!
It was a topic of discussion among every anime podcast already, but the 2025 Crunchyroll Anime Awards winners were announced, and the results struck everybody as somewhat puzzling, since the majority of categories were (rather surprisingly) won by the title which happens to be the most publicized title on the entire Crunchyroll website: the fantasy series Solo Leveling, which Crunchyroll reports as the single most watched anime series in all of Crunchyroll’s history, surpassing such titles as Dragon Ball, Naruto, One Piece, and so on. The fanbase for this series, however, does not appear to be as prominently visible as those other ones, though Miles from Anime By the Numbers did note in his analysis The State of Isekai Anime that this is because the viewership for such fare does not actively engage in anime fandom. They do however, appear to know enough about anime fandom to not only be aware of the existence of Crunchyroll, but to pay for a subscription whereupon they rate episodes aired and vote in fan awards. Is the result valid? Is the issue the fact that the Anime Awards differ from traditional awards in that fan voting is weighted on an even 50% with the judges, who number over one hundred (disclaimer: we have been Crunchyroll Anime Awards judges in the past, albeit not this year)?
Con Report: Anime Boston 2025 (1:09:34 – 2:19:08)
It’s been about 14 or 15 years since we last went to Anime Boston, but we returned as guest panelists this year! We go over what we did, who we saw, our impressions of the venue, the dealer’s room, artist’s alley, and so on. Based on this coverage of the Thirty Years Ago: Anime in 1995 panel, Daryl probably did better at his panels than he’s letting on. Keep your eyes posted to our BlueSky accounts as well as the AWO Discord, since we might do extended virtual versions of these panels soon for the benefit of those curious.
The view from Main Events can be daunting, but we were only there for Opening Ceremonies.This is more representative of the vantage point we had for most of our panels.Graphic design actually IS Carl Horn’s passion.We definitely need another season or two of Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken! so we can see the anime club members…but it’s already been five years…If you see the Otaku Joe’s sign at a convention, be prepared to consider spending a lot of money.Artist’s Alley booths are vastly more elaborate than ever before. Everyone in there is effectively a small business/LLC.This is Gerald’s default state at any given anime convention: showing Agent Aika to a crowd of people. Sometimes it’s Najica instead.
