Month: June 2006

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Anime World Order Show # 25 – Anime With Girls Who Kick Butt

Podcast: Download (Duration: 1:44:05 — 47.7MB)

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It’s all about the catfights this week as Clarissa talks about Air Master, Daryl reviews Shadow Skill, and Gerald discusses Project A-Ko! Outrageous! Truly outrageous!

Introduction (0:00 – 28:10)
We answer emails! Former contributor to the long-gone EX Darius Washington writes in to talk about Crusher Joe and sound off, Tim Eldred–whom we interviewed in Show #14–writes in with his viewpoints on the supposed lack of zeal among today’s anime fans (PS: buy Grease Monkey! In stores now!), Ichigo from the Anime-Pulse podcast (hey cool, we won their Podcast Pickle contest!) has a SHOCKING REVELATION for us, and a 14 year-old girl tells us all about how she’s able to buy yaoi and shota without being checked for ID! Then Clarissa helps contribute to the delinquency of all the minors that we’ve got listening despite the Explicit tags by offering additional tips on how to do the same!

Let’s News! (28:10 – 43:28)
Even kids in Japan can’t follow the panel layouts in manga, Dark Horse has to edit Cannon God Exaxxion (which we reviewed back in Show # 9), the Japanese have come up with something even MORE terrifying than that moe burger place, and the US release of Speed Grapher won’t have “Girls on Film” by Duran Duran as its theme song! If anyone from Funimation’s listening, Daryl offers the PERFECT solution. Rock over London, rock on Chicago. Finally, the details for the limited edition of Patlabor Movie 2 have been released. That comes out on July 11th, so preorder it to save $30 or so.

  • Google – do an image search for “Pretty Dictator” to see what we’re afraid of (probably not work safe)

Promo: Eeeper’s Choice (43:28 – 44:20)
For you anime fans in the UK, or at least we think he’s from the UK, here’s a brand-new podcast that’s just started up for you guys! Two episodes in and he’s already got an interview with Manga Entertainment UK’s head of marketing! If it were Daryl conducting that interview, the entire thing would have been about Angel Cop, Violence Jack, and Mad Bull.

Review: Air Master (44:20 – 1:02:51)
Daryl really wanted to do this one, but Clarissa had first dibs on this most radical TV show from 2004. This is some of the best animated, best choreographed fighting anime has to offer, so naturally Toei went and screwed up the Region 1 DVD release. In fact, they did such a piss-poor job that we’re just going to say “screw it all”: here’s a link to a torrent for the entire series!

  • Probably not work safe picture of someone who looks almost exactly like Daryl being manhandled by a large woman – Daryl DEMANDS that someone send him the entire series

Promo: R5 Central (1:02:51 – 1:03:31)
The more of these ACen promos we hear, the more we realize that much of R5 Central is what is presumably written in Mike’s Livejournal, only in audio format. Or so we’d imagine; his Livejournal is friends-only and only Clarissa actually has an account at that terrifying place.

Review: Shadow Skill (1:03:51 – 1:20:56)
Daryl thinks that if there’s any fault to be found in Air Master, it’s that most of the time all the bloodletting is courtesy of really severe nosebleeds and not much else. Shadow Skill however, is BY FAR AND AWAY the bloodiest and therefore most violent “girls kicking ass” anime reviewed in this episode. Recoil in terror as Daryl leaves in all of his arcane Fist of the North Star references! Actually, his likening of Yuki Minaguchi’s fighting style to that of Nanto Koshuu Ken crossed with judo was stolen by the thoughtbird during the Air Master segment and he just forgot to say it. You have to get these names RIGHT, damn it! Geometry Man? GEOMETRY MAN?!

  • Shadow Skill Network – a fairly comprehensive fan site that includes twelve fanfics and forums that are still active
  • ANN’s Shadow Skill entry
  • The really poorly written Wikipedia entry for Shadow Skill – not only is some of it just plain wrong, most of it applies to the TV series and not the OAVs
  • Anime on DVD’s Shadow Skill review – it’s perfectly understandable to give this a bad review, but to not talk about the fights AT ALL and just rag on how much the story sucks is like knocking a 70s Shaw Brothers kung fu movie
  • Official Japanese website for Shadow Skill – the art all over this site is for the awful OAV that Daryl mentioned at the end of the review, not the original ones

Review: Project A-Ko (1:20:56 – 1:38:03)
Daryl promised not to edit in any of the many jokes that were presumably removed from this segment, and so he has remained true to his word as Gerald talks about this classic anime parody. Arguments ensue over whether or not non-anime fans can tell that this is a comedy since the jokes are almost all inside references: Daryl postulates the answer is no, citing as evidence the years in which he thought this was the MOST BADASS CARTOON EVER CRAFTED BY THE HANDS OF MAN. Gerald postulates that Daryl’s Ultimate Eye may in fact be Asperger’s Syndrome.

Closing (1:38:03 – 1:44:05)
Man, this has to be the longest show we’ve ever done. Thanks to everyone who voted for us over at Podcast Pickle, getting us into the Top 10! BUT…on Saturday they’re wiping the board clean and we have to start over from zero! Rats! Oh well, just go and vote for us again! The Podcast Awards starts up on July 1st as well, but that’s something that you’d have to vote for us every day for two weeks straight (while following their specific rules about voting). If you’re up for it, perhaps you could vote for us in the Podcast of the Year and…hmm, Movies/Films? The chances of winning anything here are slim to none, but hey! That’s what we thought about getting into the Podcast Pickle Top 10!

Next week, it’s time we remembered the time when we used to have multiple different kinds of segments! Clarissa’s going to review Shinesman, Gerald’s got a rant about the licensing practices of the US and Japanese anime industries, and Daryl’s going to throw down with a frank and MOST DANGEROUS discourse on the SECOND worst anime ever made…

M.D. Geist.

We may never agree on what the worst anime ever made is, but we can all agree that MD Geist is the SECOND worst.

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Anime World Order Show # 24 – Ronin Warriors, 80s Sci-Fi, and…Audio Problems

Podcast: Download (Duration: 1:38:25 — 45.1MB)

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The sound quality on this is pretty bad. We did the best we could to amplify this sufficiently so that people could hear it, but the levels are all over the place and we apologize in advance. This week, Gerald reviews one of his all-time favorites Crusher Joe, Daryl reviews the Often Overlooked Prefectural Earth Defense Force, and Clarissa continues her “pretty boys in armor” overview by telling about Ronin Warriors aka Yoroiden Samurai Troopers.

This episode was ALMOST on time since we missed our self imposed deadline by a mere 22 hours or so!

Introduction (0:00 – 30:00)
Man, David Williams is one tough-sounding dude. He and Reggie Fils-Aime should duke it out some day. So, the war for rankings supremacy rages on over at Podcast Pickle, with Anime Pulse having unseated the Weekly Anime Review’s top spot. We’re thinking “now is the time to get nothing but anime podcasts in the Top 10.” Along with Vespaholic’s Anime101 podcast (which might actually be teaching people how to be the type of fans that Daryl hates), we’re pretty close to breaking into the Top 10. So register over at Podcast Pickle and adding us to your favorites list. We don’t have pocky or yaoi fanart to give away. We’re just trying to commit a grand Internet prank.

Oh yeah, we answer emails too! Here’s some relevant links. We’ve been forgetting to put relevant links for the intro segment where it’s most important, but it’s not like we’ve received complaints. We’re guessing that people just scratch their heads at what we’re talking about and stop listening.

From this point on, the microphones start going haywire and the audio levels fluctuate A LOT. The audio will get really low in places, then jump up again. You have been warned.

Let’s News! (30:00 – 40:58)
Geneon has licensed Zipang, which we reviewed back in Show #11. This somehow leads to us whining about the cost and manner of release of Hajime no Ippo. Gainax is planning to release a compilation movie for both Gunbuster and its sequ…er…follow-up, Daibuster, and Tohru Furuya is going to be a guest at Anime Expo. If only we could get our Mobile Suit Gundam boxes autographed. HEY, MAYBE WE COULD ASK THESE PEOPLE TO DO IT FOR US!

Promo: Brace For Impact (40:58 – 41:55)
Daryl is pretty sure that he’s discovered the secret appeal of Apocalypse Dowell and Mick Aloha, and that’s this thing which is what they publicize the most. It’s an audiobook, which means that it’s all written out in advance, THEN recorded. This does wonders for keeping things moving along. The villain is a heel wrestling promoter!

Review: Crusher Joe (41:55 – 59:59)
Gerald tells us all about this one, his all-time favorite sci-fi action space opera anime. Gerald would like to make it clear that Crusher Joe is nothing like The Chronicles of Riddick or The Transporter, regardless of what Daryl is saying or the fact that he’s trying to sabotage my segment. He also doesn’t seem to realize that no one reads the text on the feed aggregators and if they read anything they read the home page notes, and even if they did, the home page is what matters. And Daryl needs to stop messing around and leave Gerald’s section alone, and stop comparing an awesome movie like Crusher Joe to crap like Riddick or The Transporter.

Often Overlooked: Prefectural Earth Defense Force (1:00:00 – 1:15:39)
If you couldn’t tell from the theme song, this is science fiction. Daryl tells us about this 45 minute OAV that’s sure to appeal to the people who dig Mel Brooks movies…er, from back when Mel Brooks was still funny. And Zucker Brothers movies…er, before they started doing those Scary Movie sequels. It’s screwball comedy a la Excel Saga or most of Akitaro Daichi’s work. Make sure to have the Pause key ready because the gags are constant. Oh by the way, this is only available through online retailers. Oh, and also: how well this sells will determine whether ADV will license other obscure but good anime titles and sell them subtitled only and cheap. So buy it, ya pencil-necked geeks!

Review: Yoroiden Samurai Troopers aka Ronin Warriors ( 1:15:39 – 1:33:58)
At this point, the audio levels get unbearable and our heroes are pushed to the limit. QUAKE WITH FEAR! Clarissa’s microphone and PC is particularly haywire at this point, but she continues on the “armored hero” anime beat which started with her Saint Seiya review in Show #21 by talking about the show that people in America are the most likely to be familiar with since it aired relatively unedited on US television and has been available on DVD for some time.

Promo: Otaku Generation (1:33:58 – 1:34:20)
Did you see how Daryl was the first to get the OG Clap in their recent one year anniversary episode? That’s right, you’d better recognize. Wait, they gave him the clap?! Those bastards! Wait, that joke’s been used every single time “the OG Clap” has been mentioned? Those BASTARDS!

Closing (1:34:20 – 1:38:24)
Note to selves: invest in a USB mixer and three USB preamps. But man, do we really want to spend $550 on audio equipment that we don’t actually know how to USE? Next week, it’s a special CATFIGHT! CATFIGHT! episode, as we talk about anime titles centered around girls beating each other up. Gerald’s going to talk about Project A-Ko, which got a lot of play on Sci-Fi Channel back in the day and is coming up on its 20th anniversary. Clarissa will be discussing Air Master, which was the number one anime show in Japan when it came out on account that it’s a show about people being KICKED RIGHT IN THE FREAKING FACE, but it never caught on here since people didn’t like the artwork and the R1 DVD release was utter trash. Finally, Daryl’s going to tell us all about the Shadow Skill OAVs, which is an anime devoted to girls who kick things and have pretty radical fights amidst a sort of Slayers-ish fantasy setting.