Podcast: Download (Duration: 39:21 — 18.0MB)
Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | RSS
If you’re seeing this page as a result of the link on ANN, we recommend you not listen to this show first. Instead, please click on the Review Index link on the right-hand side of the page and choose a topic of interest to you. You can also click on the Podcast RSS Feed link for a full listing of all of our episodes along with brief synopses of the topics covered.
It’s time, it’s time, it’s…GERALD TIME! The extra drawn-out Show 54 continues as a result of Daryl’s moving, so this week is Gerald’s review of Black Lion by the almighty Go Nagai. Egged on by Daryl’s solo recordings last week, Gerald follows suit.
Introduction (00:00 – 12:00)
In hoping to keep the pain to a minimum Gerald decided to read one viewer email. To talk about Kinokuniya Books, Gerald went to it in San Francisco about ten years ago and still has the exact manga anthology that he bought there sitting next to him. WHY? Well, because insanity is endemic in anime fandom and no other reason. Gerald also comments on the lack of anime music on iTunes and is STILL pissed off that the few songs he bought with free promotional iTunes money are lost to him forever in the world of iTunes Digital Rights Management. Also, Gerald reveals a big secret about himself in that he actually enjoys the Kingdom Hearts games, although, like the listener who wrote in, he’s not an “SUPER CRAZY INSANE FANFIC/FANART/YAOI Fan” and just enjoys them enough to borrow them. Also, as far as we know, there is no place to find all of Cyborg 009 in complete subtitled format and the closest thing to it is an Australian release of the very good dub, GOD DAMMIT SONY, YOU CAN’T STOP FUCKING UP CAN YOU!? He ends the letter segment with a commentary by R5 Central’s Mike Dent on the many times he’s been mentioned on the show.
News (12:01 – 17:54)
In the sexiest opening to the news that we’ve ever done (and also the most obscure ever, does anyone know where that strange MIDI track comes from?) Gerald talks about the recent death of one of the most recognizable composers in anime, Kentaro Haneda, with accompanying sexy music. The questionably unbiased AnimeTV is going to be shown on Comcast Cable. Of course, a video podcast, featuring a bunch of employees of Bang Zoom Entertainment, reviewing work by Bang Zoom Entertainment is, of course, going to be totally unbiased RIGHT!? Also, big surprise, there’s going to be a new Gundam TV series named Mobile Suit Gundam 00, which will be incredibly popular but will still be awful because the worst director working in anime is at the helm, Seiji Mizushima. A man who absolutely thinks he’s some sort of comedian when he’s not funny at all. No, the same joke for 52 episodes is NOT funny! It’s also being written by Yousuke Kuroda who is the most up and down writer in anime with the ability to write such amazing shows like Battle Athletes Victory, Magical Project S (probably the best Tenchi related thing done), and Ring ni Kakero, but then turns it all round to write utter shit like Please Teacher!, Panzar Dragoon (Gerald watched this show with an ADV voice actress who was embarrassed to find out later that what she was watching was something ADV put out).
Review: Black Lion (17:55 – 38:23)
Gerald came into Black Lion completely by accident when Clarissa got it free in the mail with a purchase from ADV’s website and Gerald traded for the Kenshin OAVs. Gerald is extremely glad he did so as Black Lion is quite possibly the best hour of insanity and destruction ever produced delivered like only Go Nagai can produce! The is the only show featuring cyborg ninjas/samurai, plasma bombs, time machines, fire bombs, stabbing, head crushing, missile shooting, fire spitting, beheading, head chopping (yes they are distinct), and Oda Nobunaga! What more could you possibly want! Screenshots to follow possibly.
Closing (38:24 – 39:23)
Next week, we’re not entirely sure, but it might be the all Clarissa episode, maybe, maybe not, we’ll see. Perhaps we’ll be back to the regular show, only time will tell.
Christ. Gerald, either you’re the dumbest guy ever, or that show is the best fucking thing ever.
All I got to ask is, does this mean next episode, Clarissa will go insane as well? Or is the pattern I’m seeing just an illusion from the marijuana on the barley?
I purchased my copy halfway through your review! I hope its as AWESOME as you say. Amazon had it for $2.50.
There are ten minutes left on this podcast and I have purchased this DVD.
Heh, glad to see another good podcast installment come to a close on a good note! (can’t believe they can sell this DVD for that price, would be my first Amazon purchase if I order there).
I’ve heard about Kentaro Haneda’s death as well, sad to see so many greats of anime’s past just fading into history nowadays.
Being reminded, I had to take a gander at SciFi’s “AniMonday” promo, and thought it was pretty lame, but whatever sells for them it must be working (such an annoying voice it bugged me they had to go with that).
I can’t wait to listen to this show 😛
I will have to do it tomorrow during work 😀
DVD of Black Lion bought as Gerald was manly enough to punch himself in the mini-Gerald.
Awesome show guys. Gerald punching himself in the balls should be like a regular segment.
You’ve got to be shitting me. Gerald, you gave Black Lion a positive review, but you won’t even give Planetes a try?
Black Lion is shit. It’s not even entertaingly bad. You’re going to trick millions of unsuspecting listeners into actually buying this trash. How do you sleep at night?
hey is $2.50, i think is a fair price for:
Gerald, you gave Black Lion a positive review, but you won’t even give Planetes a try?
I watched eight episodes of Planetes so that’s more than just a try. And that show definitely needed much less Tanabe and more people spitting missiles.
One man’s trash is another man’s Best. Show. Ever.
And, come on. Go Nagai for $2.50? It’s almost like I played a bluff in the poker game of life…and won.
Gerald man, that podcast was fucking AWESOME. I too now want to go and kick some balls. It’s actually too bad the podcast was that short. I wanted to hear more!
A much more stable episode due to Gerald’s curt and quick manner. Though, he really creeped the shit outta of me when he was talking bout FMA and seiji mizushima. Talk about vocal projection.
Gerald. Planetes wasn’t an action show. It was a comedy drama that just happened to take place in space(in which the writers created a future environmental problem.)
Oh Fuck it’s Gerald. WE WANT SURAT.
This Should Be Interesting.
Christ, that’s another Go Nagai OAV I’d totally forgotten existed… there’s a million of these things. I just recently saw Hanappe Bazooka, the big Go Nagai/Kazuo Koike team-up, which never even got a dvd release, so I saw it on one of the vintage ADV white cassettes. While not quite as epoch-defining as I’d hoped, by the time I got to the thrilling climax, in which a sexy girl demon drags the hero out of a giant woodland elf’s vagina, which is also the corridor to reincarnation, I knew I’d gotten my six dollars worth of entertainment (shipping included).
Nice one Gerald, even if you seemed freaked by my response ^_^
Who is the voice of Ai on R5 Central? Or is that a secret yet to be revealed?
Clarissa: “Does this show *ever* make sense?”
Daryl: “It’s makin’ sense right now!”
Just doing some work on The Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service Vol. 4 to that A.W.O. beat…
–Carl
Carl Horn said…
Who is the voice of Ai on R5 Central? Or is that a secret yet to be revealed?I am pretty sure, let’s say 75% sure, that R5 central is completely produced by one person and one person only. In other words, I think the voice of Ai is just created entirely using digital voice processing effects. Feel free to tell me otherwise if you have evidence to the contrary.
I’m about to listen to this show. Gerald, don’t let me down!
Kurosagi 4, Carl, excellent 🙂
It has actually been really interesting to hear Daryl and Gerald flying solo – you guys have such a distinct dynamics together that it’s not always obvious how your personalities would play without each other. Daryl is definitely calmer when he isn’t allowed to talk so much, but Gerald is pretty much the same any case. After this Clarissa will have to do a Clarissa only show. There’s no other choice anymore.
Daryl, you keep getting more and more powerful, especially after referencing one of my favorite movies of all time, American History X.
I’m not a fan of Fullmetal Alchemist, and I’ve only seen like 5 episodes, but I saw some random comedic episode from the middle (37, I believe) and I thought it was actually funny. It was basically a comedy of errors with pretty good writing and timing, and I enjoyed it far more than the stupid shorty gags the series was peppered with.
I’m actually quite entertained by the hate that I’m getting for, well, hating on Full Metal Alchemist. Some of it’s fine and good natured and some of it is rather entertainingly brutal. I think I knew I’d get some people angry, but oh well, that’s half the fun I guess.
Carl said..
Who is the voice of Ai on R5 Central? Or is that a secret yet to be revealed?
Apreche said…
I am pretty sure, let’s say 75% sure, that R5 central is completely produced by one person and one person only. In other words, I think the voice of Ai is just created entirely using digital voice processing effects. Feel free to tell me otherwise if you have evidence to the contrary.
Man, one glimpse of the new co-host and everybody wants Ai back? It’ll be fun explaining this one away >_>
But as for the voice. There’s a long, complicated story behind it. Maybe I’ll tell it at Otakon 😛
I am glad to hear my email got a mention but I still need an answer for your favorite Gundam shows.
Well, it’s a pretty impressive voice if it was created simply through processing–not only the tone, but the cadences. My first impression was that “Ai” was a professional voice actor.
holy crap
A. if they ever give you guys a show please, please dont change the intro to anything like what i just witnessed on anime tv…or whatever the crap its called…its so bad its making me incoherent…it was like the mickey mouse club…but without the irony…ahhhh i cant imagine that a review coming from that pile of crap could be any good regardless of who pays the bill…(PS THEY GET PAID FOR THAT?) i didnt get farther than the intro so i dont even know if they do reviews or just act retards the whole time, or possibly both…i make no excuses, that was just plain offensive
B. I almost peed my pants when i heard the awo – R5 central exchange of fake promos and counter fake promo rebuttle. A list stuff guys, A list stuff.
Mike, if “Ai” really is your voice, I’m going to have to become a flagellant.
It kind of turned me on.
Since I’m entitled to speak on behalf of other people–you know, like when you go to a restaurant and just order food on someone else’s behalf without actually letting them choose for themselves?–the following all carries total and complete authority:
Disregarding the “radio play” segments, until a few episodes ago R5 Central was indeed produced and recorded entirely by Mike using a large variety of digital voice effects such that “Ai” is just him. But to paraphrase Dave Merrill’s observations on the dub of Prince Planet, he’s got the background music, the narration, the singing, and the voice effects when you really would want one or the other. Or the other or the other. Not all at the same time, because then nobody can figure out what you’re saying.
However, the response played in this episode was not just Mike by himself since he can’t quite nail the FOB accent (RACISM AW DANG). The new robot girl from the last few episodes is from the (goon-run!) Rangercast.
I’m not a fan of Fullmetal Alchemist, and I’ve only seen like 5 episodes, but I saw some random comedic episode from the middle (37, I believe) and I thought it was actually funny.
That was the only episode that was actually funny, and the reason was that it wasn’t also trying to be serious at the same time. I agree with everything Gerald says about FMA, but at the same time, as I stated in my review of the movie in Show 42, I think the series itself is well above average; brought down from “excellent” because try as it may, it just ain’t funny.
I still need an answer for your favorite Gundam shows.
As far as the de facto measuring stick of one’s Gundam-peener goes, I think I’m the only AWO member who’s seen Char’s Counterattack and owns it on DVD. We haven’t really talked about Gundam on the show much since well…does anyone really NEED to be told about Gundam? Ken Nabbe/Joey Snackpants is a big fan of 0083, and we’ll probably talk about that once he’s back on.
But to the chagrin of “true Gundam fans” everywhere, I’m tied on G and Zeta as tops. However, the Sazabi from Char’s Counterattack is my favorite robot. Clarissa’s a Wing fan (did she somehow like F-91? I can’t remember) and Gerald will say he likes the original Gundam movies since he owns them, but don’t be fooled: Gerald hates Gundam because everyone watches that instead of VOTOMS. Sort of like how he owns all of Cowboy Bebop (in the awfully rare box, to boot) and he HATES Cowboy Bebop.
Like Gundam, VOTOMS is also getting a new series (Paisen Files), but everyone will ignore that to sub 00 instead, thus keeping the VOTOMS fandom–which is fueled almost entirely by anti-Gundam backlash and the relative difficulty of getting into it–alive. If the gals all squee’ed for Chirico Cuvie, Vanilla’s afro, and the blood on Mellowlink’s ever-bleeding hand, VOTOMS fans would all have to rally behind Gasaraki instead.
VOTOMS fandom is the anime fandom equivalent of Linux users.
thus keeping the VOTOMS fandom–which is fueled almost entirely by anti-Gundam backlash and the relative difficulty of getting into it–alive.
Getting into VOTOMS is difficult!? You realize you can go onto Deep Discount and buy the box set and boom you’re “into” VOTOMS. How is that difficult? It’s not more complex or out there than Gundam is and is really just grittier and more realistic than Gundam. How is it fueled by the anti-Gundam backlash? Is it because I like it and not ALL of Gundam, just the original movies (maybe some of the OAVs too, and I’m saying that having not seen Zeta Gundam)? Because obviously I represent all fans of VOTOMS fans, including Tim Eldred who said that the reason he likes VOTOMS more than Gundam is because VOTOMS got to him first, nothing negative about Gundam. VOTOMS is about as difficult to get into as, say, Macross, in that they’re both older shows, and that’s about it, OK, well VOTOMS doesn’t have a dub, big deal.
If the gals all squee’ed for Chirico Cuvie, Vanilla’s afro, and the blood on Mellowlink’s ever-bleeding hand, VOTOMS fans would all have to rally behind Gasaraki instead.
Umm, what characters from shows 20+ years old are fangirls going wild over in large numbers? Not too many in the US at least, although I’m sure that I’ve seen some yaoi doujin covers of it online from recent Comikets (and I’d HOPE SO, Chirico’s ALL MAN!). Anyway who can rally behind Gasaraki when they totally throw all the good ideas out about halfway through?
>>However, the response played in this episode was not just Mike by himself since he can’t quite nail the FOB accent (RACISM AW DANG). The new robot girl from the last few episodes is from the (goon-run!) Rangercast.
So, she’s one of the people who does the Rangercast? I didn’t see a staff list on their site, but perhaps I missed it. You podcasters are worse than Seattle bands–everyone’s on each other’s shows.
–C.
Rangercast is run by SA Goons? Oh hell… now I feel obligated to listen to it.
I have an explanation for Gerald’s behavior regarding Black Lion, and it ties in to how it’s so hard to find on retailers, save Amazon:
The DVD contains trace amounts of Getter Rays, causing anyone who plays the DVD to become more manly, but at the price of a part of their sanity.
But if you’re already “in tune” with Go Nagai’s works, the Getter Rays work that much more quickly and that much more potently.
Gerald, you haven’t started wearing a scarf, have you?
Holy crap. I listened to this near midnight, and I had the worst effing nightmares…
But, I loved the episode. Gerald, do not EVER punch yourself in the privvies EVER again, ’cause it made me squirm. Thank God you didn’t vomit, though…
Clarissa! Get that episode out fast! You’re my favourite. =)
Is your scarf a Go Nagai scarf or an Ishinomori scarf? Because that is a CRUCIAL difference.
I will totally buy into Black Lion being encoded with Getta Rays, because holy cats I thought Gerald was going to chew his way thru my iMac case and punch MY balls!
It was totally Sonny Chiba punch to the head.
As to the mystery of Ai on the R5 response, I too will have to flog my back bloody in the name of God because crap, she’s hot. If that is Mike, sorry buddy. But seriously? if that is another person and happens to be female, she’s TOTALLY got the right voice and pacing to be a dub actress. One of the few who actually can match the sound of the Japanese seiyuu.
Man…Black Lion..I don’t know if I want to watch something that will make me want to sledgehammer my berries. But I do think we need more titles like this to repel the MOE invasion.
Everyone (yeah right) knows that the worst Go Nagai title is Delinquent in Drag. Then again, Go Nagai doing a high school romance comedy is bizarre enough to be utterly fantastic.
Well, the consensus seems clear: this “Ai” is a hit. So we have to know the truth, even if it kills us, which is a distinct possibility.
About Nagai vs. Ishinomori scarves: don’t forget, these days it could also be a Tsurumaki scarf. Kazuya Tsurumaki admits in the liner notes of GUNBUSTER 2 that he has scarf fechi, which is why both Haruko and Nono ended up with one.
–Carl
Delinquent in Drag is a great title that i want to see AWO review.
Gerald you were awesome as always, please get your own show additional to AWO. There are more Gerald fans than Dayrl fans because Gerald is more down to earth and in touch with the old school fans (shhh don’t tell anyone).
Damn, Gerald’s face is red all the time, but I bet it was EXTRA RED during this recording.
G, I hope you know you’ve set a standard now. At the end of every panel you ever do from now to the end of time, your audience will be expecting a clip of Black Lion followed by a personal nutclubbing.
Just sayin…
Gerald’s extreme behavior during his review can be credited to his longing desire to be a man and for people to recognize him as a man. Unfortunately his erratic behavior did not convince me. He wasn’t in character. He was trying to hard to be Daryl. But I give him credit for trying, even though he tried to achieve manliness…..through a cartoon show.
Is Clarissa up next?
Kudos for punching yourself in the balls though. That freaking hurts like hell. The next step is to video tape it and put it on youtube. Get on that…….NOW!
Kazuya Tsurumaki admits in the liner notes of GUNBUSTER 2 that he has scarf fechi, which is why both Haruko and Nono ended up with one.
I didn’t know you could have a fetish for scarves.
Now that I do, I realize I have, and have always had, one.
SEKUSHI DESU KA *_*_*_*_*
How does one go about disliking Cowboy Bebop? All this and last episode’s revelation that you (as Group Entity) didn’t like Magiranger, the only sentai show I’ve managed to get on with in my very short (but obviously Authoritative~!) relationship with the semi-genre – A boy could start doubting your credentials and all. I guess I just have to remember that you correctly identified the levels of awesome inherent in ninjas spitting missiles. We still have that, at least.
Also, my word verification *nearly* says “octopoi”.
He wasn’t in character. He was trying to hard to be Daryl.
Probably the most interesting thing said of all, since Daryl and I can’t seem to figure out what part of that podcast was me “trying to be like Daryl”. Daryl is simply not man enough to club himself in the nads! Seriously though, I have no idea.
Sony_CEO said…
Kudos for punching yourself in the balls though. That freaking hurts like hell. The next step is to video tape it and put it on youtube. Get on that…….NOW!
No, no. What Gerald needs to do is lie down on the ground and have Clarissa and Daryl kick him in the balls to prove that he’s a man.
And have someone tape it.
Oh alright >_>
Fine. Sit down folks, it’s time to reveal the big mystery behind the voice of Ai.
*takes breath*
..oh and if you actually carte about the storyline, you might want to ignore this next bit for fear of spoilers….like anybody cares >_>
Up until recently with the climax of the big story arc (dubbed “Advent of Gestalt”), the voice of Ai was none other than….yours truly
*watches as everybody spits out soda*
Yes, I possess the ability to really alter my voice pitch. After doing amateur voice work online for about 7 years, I kinda discovered it on accident. Nevertheless, it came in handy when I started the podcast and as time went on, it developed and changed a bit to a point where I was happy with it and just kept going.
As for the process of getting the voice right, there’s only some slight pitch modulation and then the filters. Sometimes they worked, sometimes they didn’t.
HOWEVER (and I bet a bunch of you guys were thankful I said that) until Episode 29 (Which so help me LORD I will finally fight past everything and release it), Ai revealed her new powered up alter ego, the “Trace Hybrid Custom”. That was played by an up and coming voice actress who goes by the handle of Haushinka (I call her Rina), found after three rounds of auditions on the Voice Acting Alliance forums.
(And Carl, I’ll belay you comments over to her…that is unless you were referring to my rendition…or if you meant the both of us which would be awesome but we must press on..)
From then on out it was me for commercials, segment intros, occasional skits and the tech updates while Rina was the voice of Trace Hybrid Ai all the way through the climactic Episode 36 and then in episode 38.
As for the new co-host, that’s Sylene, played by another actress found on the VAA after two rounds of auditions. She makes her official debut on the show in Episode 40 (Part 2 of the Epic ACEN Trilogy for those that are keeping count at home) after having made appearances on Rangercast Episode 50 and this episode of AWO. It’ll be a fun introduction and origin so tune in and check it out when it comes online.
There’s also talk of a third member to the crew but I’m going to keep the curtain down on that one for the time being.
In the meantime, if you want to know what happened to Ai…just listen to episode 36.
Otherwise, it’s interesting to read about people not knowing who was the person behind the voice. I would have thought it would have been obvious but that’s just me taking the listeners for granted I guess.
Jeff – I’ll belay your comment about Sylene’s hotness over to the actress next time I talk to her. Means we’re doing something right XD
Dane – I hope to god you meant her voice. I should have seen this one coming from Day 1. *hides*
Well that’s all from me, hope this was informative if not shocking to say to the least. Take care all.
AWO is about to get a ton of traffic.
The Answerman linked to them.
http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/answerman/2007-06-15
Dear Gaijinder,
Actually, the first time I caught the Ai character was on the promo for show #54c. So I’m very glad to hear that Haushinka/Rina actually is lending her talent to voice acting, because I think it’s definitely going to make some English dubs out there better.
It may just be her natural style, but, as Steve said, her performance is somehow more like that of a seiyuu than that of a typical English-language VA. Somehow when many VAs try to reproduce the sound of the original, it comes off as annoying or too obvious (which is why the better approach is often not to try and sound like the original, and just concentrate on giving a well-acted performance; if you can only have good casting or good acting, I’ll take the latter any day), but that’s definitely not the case here.
–Carl
That was epic. You just made me a fan for life.