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It’s our fourth year anniversary! (Actually, it’s probably the third year anniversary. But we already HAD a third year anniversary LAST year!) Our special guest is Otaku USA’s Jason Thompson, author of Manga: The Complete Guide, so we’re doing an all-manga edition of AWO. Clarissa spirals into madness with Uzumaki, Gerald lets fly with Crying Freeman, and Daryl passes on to the next life courtesy of Violence Hero Riki-Oh! For this episode we offer the option of downloading the show per segment, should you prefer. Just click on the segment name and its running length.
Introduction (0:00 – 37:51)
Who is the mysterious Jason Thompson? Whatever could have inspired him to write Manga: The Complete Guide and King of RPGs ? How can one man give away so much manga for free every day for a year? How does he manage to write for not just Otaku USA but also Comixology? And how many websites can one dude have, anyway? His Twitter account just isn’t enough to answer all this. Though for the record, the short answer is “because he hit his Otaku Expiration Date.” Indeed, he just got engaged a few days ago! If our kung fu were as strong as Joe McCulloch’s, we would have remembered this first half of his writeup on the English language comics anthology “Manga” when we asked the question about it. But we forgot. Since the time of the recording, the second half of his writeup has been posted. Read those, retain their knowledge, and you shall be a Formidable Opponent (TM).
Review: Uzumaki (37:51 – 1:01:47)
Clarissa reviews this horror manga by Junji Ito. Like you even need to specify that it’s “horror” when it comes to this crazy cat. Why, if you buy from the links we provide, we get about ten cents…eventually! Here are links for Volume 1, Volume 2, and Volume 3.
Review: Crying Freeman (1:01:47 – 1:33:42)
Gerald reviews the most well-known collaboration between ultimate manga master Kazuo Koike and artist Ryoichi Ikegami among US readers. This was the first manga Paul Chapman ever saw when he was a young child. He opened it to a random page and saw a dude getting–as he phrases it–“a hummer.” Speaking of which, look for Daryl to make another guest appearance on the Greatest Movie EVER! podcast once Paul figures out that, rather than waiting until the end of the month, he can delete an old episode to free up space on his Libsyn account in order to post a new episode. Like what we just ended up doing to bring you this! [12/10 update: here you go! We talked about Crank, Crank 2: High Voltage, and Gamer. I kind of sucked here since this was on short notice and I didn’t actually rewatch the films prior to recording.] Here are AWO-supportive Amazon links to buy this: Volume 1, Volume 2, Volume 3, Volume 4, and Volume 5.
Review: Violence Hero Riki-Oh (1:33:42 – 2:13:25)
There’s a good chance that you’ve seen the live-action movie, as its infamy and legend helped shape Media Blasters into the entity it is today. If you have NOT seen it, then your life is incomplete until you remedy the situation. But that is merely scratching the surface of what awaits you in this manga. Sadly, it cannot be purchased in the US, but there are full scanlations available. What is Riki-Oh about? What is going on in this comicbook? That…is the question.
- A History of Horrible, Harmless Violence – by Jason Thompson, featuring quotes by “ultraviolence fan Daryl Surat”
Closing (2:13:25 – 2:21:58)
Next time, which to be honest will probably not be until next year at this rate, Clarissa will be reviewing Helen McCarthy’s new book, The Art of Osamu Tezuka: God of Manga. Gerald will be reviewing the somewhat experimental–and until recently, virtually impossible to find–anime Bobby’s Girl (aka Bobby’s In Deep!), and Daryl fulfills a promise that he’s put off for too many years by finally getting around to answering the question…GOD DAMMIT WHERE THE HELL IS JACK? (FUCKIN’ CHICKENSHIT. FUCKIN’, FUCKIN’, SHIT, FUCKIN’ SHIT!). For it shall be the second pillar of the Holy Manga Video Trinity of Suck, Violence Jack. The first pillar of course was the glorious Angel Cop, reviewed back in 2007. He was spacing them out so as not to run out, but this was probably too much spacing.
If you can find the AEIOU Boy comics on Amazon Japan like I did, buying the things shouldn't be difficult since you can set the buying area in English.
Great reviews, I wanna check out Uzumaki now.
Man, I must have missed a lot of those hilarious quotes and scenes when I read through Crying Freeman. But after listening to the review, I'm gonna definitely read it again XD
I own all of Riki-Oh, but unfortunately I haven't really watched the movie yet. I have seen most of the choice scenes though when I was showing my friend how insane it can get through youtube. It's still something I really need to buy one day probably next time deepdiscount has one of those sales.
If Jason's getting married, does this mean Manga Sutra Futari H [Why the hell use a title which confuses people into thinking it's about dick-girls, anyway?] would be the right gift for him?
"He opened it to a random page and saw a dude getting–as he phrases it–"a hummer."
The little 'dude' getting a "helping hand" in a later installment was what creeped me out, even though the yakuza moll doin' it was totally fuckin' hot, and why did you have to replace her with the fat pissing chick and the naked granny chick, Koike, you asshole?! And why is there less hawt sex near the end of the series with that spectacle chick, dammit? Anyway, I'm actually surprised DH wanted to bring the manga back, in spite of that former scene.
"If you have NOT seen it, then your life is incomplete until you remedy the situation."
Believe it or not, there was a huge chunk of audience which raised its hands when Edgar Wright asked who hadn't seen it when he was hosting it in L.A. last year. And for some reason, he even got John "Animal House/Blues Brothers/American Werewolf in London" Landis to show up and watch it, too, and thus probably ruined their friendship together.
Yes!!!! Can't wait for the next show now! Daryl's finally gonna talk about Violence Jack! I remember Them Anime hated fucking Violence Jack. Never watched it, but i wish too!
I've seen one ep of Violence Jack and enjoyed it but it was the Japanese version. Is there a torrent for the DUB?
"I have no name but this Jack Knife's been good to me. Hmmn, I will call myself Jack, Violence Jack."
Clarissa-Will you be willing to review Gyo? I enjoyed that manga.
>>Manga Sutra Futari H [Why the hell use a title which confuses people into thinking it's about dick-girls, anyway?]
Your fault that you read futari as futanari when it just means "two people".
Try learning Japanese, bro.
Whats the thing thats playing inbetween the reviews the horribly mysogynistic but very funny private eye stuff?
I just discovered that Hideyuki Kikuchi's first Wicked City novel is now available in English!
http://www.aintitcool.com/node/43311
(Scroll down a bit)
More of that Moorhead stuff in between the reviews? What, did the well of podcast promos dry up or something?
first time you've played a voicemail twice. Great episode guys, when are you guys going to review Busou Renkin. Oh, and thanks to the episodes way back when, I bought all of the Darkhorse Crying Freeman manga and just like Gerald said, is does not disappoint, and unlike Goku Midnight eye, you can conceivably read them in public, but make sure you are against a wall so nobody sees what you are reading.
Those things that you're going to review next ep, are those your own choices or part of that "pick something for us to review" contest?
Funny sidenote:
The Riki-Oh manga was hugely popular in Hong Kong; more-so than Japan. Yet almost no one in Hong Kong has actually seen the live action film which is a crying shame. Fan-Siu Wong (who played Riki) was unofficially blacklisted from the Hong Kong film industry for various reasons. He's made somewhat of a comeback though, he was certainly great in "Ip-Man". Every christmas, I hold a Riki-Oh night in the hopes that Hong Kong people can recognize this national treasure.
"What, did the well of podcast promos dry up or something?"
I have a SNEAKING suspicion that Daryl puts what he like in between segments because he feels like putting it there and not because of some kind of obligation he has to fulfill. And that's fine by me.
Anyway, my anime fandom started out with me being thrown head first into titles like Violence Jack, Urotsukidoji, Devilman (OVA) and Crying Freeman at the tender age of 13. Out of those, Violence Jack was probably the most important of the lot in shaping me into the fan I am today.
*turns into a phoenix for no reason*
Dane: I think Justin Lin's seen the LA Riki-Oh, too, 'cus he also has a similar fat guy steam-room scene for Tokyo Drift.
The line from the Anime of Crying Freeman that to me has always encapsulated the whole experience to me was something like "I want you to kill one of my guards while I masturbate".
Well, I should have known Gerald would cover that.
And yes, in Crying Freeman, 4chan is born.
Sometimes I like to imagine Crying Freeman is an early or late canonical appearance of Gordon Freeman.
Thanks so much for the recommendations guys; looking so forward to the uzumaki manga and thanks in general for helping rediscover my love of the art form overall with items like kurosagi corpse delivery service and gems like mpd psycho and monster. Keep up the good work guys.
I'm only mid-way through Gerald's review, but in February of this year, Ikegami released a new work with Koike–a Lady Snowblood story, very beautifully drawn. It looked as if it was straight to graphic novel, which is unusual for manga.
–Carl
What the hell was going on in the 90's that made me watch Crying Freeman, Fist of the Northstar, Devilman, ect.. and quickly move on to the next thing?
Perhaps we all just plowed through them too quickly? We were captivated by the next show, the shiny new romantic comedy, or melodramatic character exploration and got sucked in so much that we forgot all about the crazy action, scifi, and horror. We were fooled into wanting Anime to be "more Japanese".
Now Anime is too Japanese and we all seem to be rediscovering a lot of these shows we watched when we were dumb teenagers who didn't appreciate them enough.
We forgot what got us into Japanese cartoons in the first place. They were cartoons made for adults. Cartoons where people died. Cartoons where you could curse, be naked, and pick up sharks as your enemies heads explode.
Thank you for reminding me AWO.
Looking at the transition from Riki-Oh to Shootfighter Tekken,I still feel strange about the shift from EPIC SERIOUSNESS GUYS(WE HAVE JEWS!) to flat-out toilet jokes for Saruwatari Tetsuya.
On another note,don't particularly remember looking at Fan Siu Wong in Yip Man.I guess I'll go watch that again for the 5th time.Did you see this epicness of kung-fu/wushu,Daryl?
Claire, here's some pictures of Fan Siu Wong taken from the film:
http://www.wu-jing.org/News/images/2008/2008_09_14_02_Ip_Man_fb.jpg
http://www.wu-jing.org/News/images/2008/2008_09_14_03_Ip_Man_fb.jpg
I'm not a kiss-ass when I say that I might have to listen to this episode twice. Jason says some manga writer (artist?) might have lost his gig for getting too out of hand. If that's so, then why is Waita Uziga still running around? Wow, I read my first an only guro manga by him and that's about alls I can stand, and I can't stands no more.
Guess I can say I did recognise the dude in Yip Man,but I didn't know he was Fan Siu Wong.I never really do remember Cantonese actor's names ever……
Great episode, all. The Crying Freeman portion especially had me laughing as it was so true to my first experience of it. I will be looking for Uzumaki and Riki-Oh now too.
Is it just my imagination, or do the shows about manga attract fewer posts? ^_^
Gerald pointed out one of the interesting things about Ikegami–that even though he's famous for handsome men and sexy women, he also takes this Fellini-esque delight in portraying odd-looking characters as well. And not just as bad guys; whether cross-eyed, obese, or dwarf, there's always a place for you in an Ikegami hero's posse. (Strangely enough, this seems to have come in more with the 1980s–you don't really see as much of it in The Starving Man).
Thanks for the Uzumaki review, now I will never sleep again, especially after checking out his other stuff. I liked the option for review-specific downloads as well.
Dynamite! DYNAMITE!
Great show as always! Adding Crying Freeman to my to_be_read list
I'd just like to point out that I really appreciate the new choice of listening to the show by segment. Hopefully this can alleviate bandwidth consumption. It's going to be pretty cool to click on the archive links of the new reviews and find just the single critique.
Congrulations on your third year, no sorry fourth year anniversary!
!I know it may be a little late to comment, but I just recently discovered this podcast.
Can anyone tell me where the short audio clip ( starts around 38:51 ) is from?
[I really didn’t want to ever outright say it, but just Googling the name reveals the secret. –Daryl]
Hi, Daryl,
I don’t know if it matters to you, since you’ve already got the DVD version, but there’s going to be a Blu-ray Steelbook release of “Crying Freeman” (French, of course): http://www.amazon.fr/dp/B00GCM1PWW/?tag=aniworord-20 [It appears to be the same as the 3-disc French DVD set–which was the best release–except the movie is in HD. It doesn’t look like there are any new extras. –Daryl]