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Finally, an actual episode again! Clarissa reviews Suzuka, and Daryl not only recounts his experience at Florida Supercon, but also reviews Barefoot Gen, which is a very important work indeed. Gerald’s Otakon report has been split off into a separate file.
We would like to thank everyone who inquired to ask whether the podcast was no more following PT Chapman’s vicious attack upon Daryl’s throat. Some wondered if perhaps he would need a voicebox to talk like Junjo from Return of the Street Fighter, but fear not: Daryl retaliated using a secret unblockable technique that does triple damage:
Introduction (0:00 – 33:25)
Clarissa clearly does not believe in the concept of stating your name at the start of each episode, but we may as well abide by SOME of the podcasting do’s, right? No emails this week, since Daryl’s got his much-overdue report of the most recent Florida Supercon, a sci-fi convention in South Florida whose attendees largely consist of people who don’t go to any other conventions throughout the state and don’t seem to have any sort of presence on the Internet whatsoever. There is an entire hidden underworld of anime fandom that is mostly invisible save for events such as this.
- Risingsun.net is one of the largest cosplay picture sites around, and due to it being centered in Florida, we know a great deal of the featured people on this site. In fact, the cosplayer with the most pictures of all is Gerald’s neighbor. The “Boner Robin” pictures of Troy that Snacks mentioned originated from here, and there’s even pictures of us looking dumbfounded for those willing to investigate.
- On the opposite site of the eternal Blood War, here’s the homepage for AssimilationCon, which is the week after AWA. Decide for yourselves which side is the Tanar’ri and which side is the Baatezu (we get to be the Yugoloths). Just to review: the day after AWA, Daryl has jury duty. The day after that, Halo 3 comes out. Then this convention happens. I bet we have Otaku USA deadlines around then too. Good thing we didn’t get conscripted to do panels at Assimilation, oh wait
Promo: Ninja Consultants (33:25 – 35:21)
Following a courtesy bump voicemail and an explanation that this is where Gerald’s Otakon report was originally, Daryl has created a special promo for Erin and Noah that’s all sunshine and rainbows as proof that he is not entirely negative despite being the Hunter Zolomon of podcasting.
As for the Otakon report, here’s a slideshow of the pictures you should totally look at while listening to Gerald’s Otakon report:
You might want to just click this link to view the full gallery at once. Captions by Gerald; no writing in to say “that’s Dr McNinja, dude!” since we already told him.
Here’s the doujin cover Gerald was talking about:
Review: Suzuka (35:21 – 54:45)
Following her highly demoralizing review of everyone’s favorite government crime investigation agent, Zaizen Jotaro, Clarissa really needed something to pick her out of that haze. That’s when Daryl told her to review Suzuka. Funimation has sent us three discs worth of this show. Clearly they hate us. Perhaps Clarissa can elaborate upon our feelings on this show in an upcoming issue of Otaku USA!
- One look at the cover to this thing should tell you all you need to know
Promo: Otaku USA Magazine (54:45 – 56:11)
Did you see that freaking segue we just did? Daryl finally saw Issue 2 last week and was quite glad to see that clown pistols not only got mentioned in print, but the picture appeared as well. Journalistic aspirations: COMPLETED.
Review: Barefoot Gen (56:11 – 1:28:28)
Daryl may claim to be a serious anime fan who discusses serious subjects, but it was his decision to put in the Gap Band song, the sound effect for which made him laugh hysterically as a toddler…and also now. It’s too bad that it was used in GTA San Andreas. Regardless, this is an important work that everyone should at least see once, and it’s kind of annoying Grave of the Fireflies gets all the mainstream Roger Ebert-level praise while this story remains relatively unrecognized.
- Buy Barefoot Gen: The Movies 1 & 2 (or anything else on the site), and I think we get a percentage if you do so by clicking that link!
- Last Gasp Publishing, whose press releases seem to suggest that their editions of Barefoot Gen have sold out multiple printings of several thousand copies each. If that’s the case, then where’s the next six volumes? I think the recent volumes of Phoenix sold fewer than 100 copies (really, I’m not exaggerating), but those still come out eventually.
- Here’s a link to Barefoot Gen Volume One: A Cartoon Story of Hiroshima, which is the first volume of the manga; volumes two, three, and four are all that’s out so far in the US, and it’s been a few years since the last one came out
Closing (1:28:28 – 1:38:14)
People are actually THANKING us for tricking them into watching MD Geist. Must be some crazy variant of Stockholm Syndrome. The current contest is over, since we have entirely too many entries, but there’ll certainly be more contests to come. Next er…time, Daryl is going to talk about Robot Carnival like he was originally going to do this time around. In the weeks to come, he’ll be burning through a bunch of the stuff that Vertical Inc. has released over the last few months. Gerald managed to find one of the few things DMP publishes that isn’t gay porn, Project X: Cup Noodle, which has nothing to do with training chimps to be astronauts. Clarissa, after having been Zaizen’ed and Suzuka’ed, is feeling like murdering children, so it’s only fitting that she review When They Cry: Higurashi, which is one that’s been repeatedly requested of us. Hey, one of us has to review anime, right?
I think Suzuka’s the breaking point: from this point on we’ll try sticking to our original principles of reviewing series in their entirety whenever possible, so when we’ve got just Volume 1 of something, which is happening more and more, we’ll try and do mini-reviews that last something like 5 minutes instead. There’s no other way we’ll get through all of this stuff!
“No, it’s not the same thing, because Toho and Toei don’t specialize in bastardizing and watering down entertainment for Japanese audiences.”
What they do is totally irrelevant, you blamed SSSS on Saban when they had nothing to do with you. You are wrong.
“Yeah, but no one watched them. And I’m going to bet it was because of SHSCS.”
Or because like SSSS, they were knock-offs of Power Rangers and every knew that.
“Yeah, but the toys started declining in sales after both movies.”
I don’t know if that’s true, but even if it were, it has nothing to do with your ludicrous assertation that SSSS killed Amerisatsu.
“Compared to TMNT, that movie’s opening was fairly limp. I mean, Pocahontas did better than it, and kids hate “history”. As for the toys, can you find them in most places like you could in the past?”
Yeah, you can. Go to Toys R Us or Wal-Mart and they are right on the shelves at this very moment. You act like it’s a collector’s only niche market.
“Yeah, and we haven’t seen anything new since then.”
Oh really? How could SSSS have killed Amerisatsu in its second year when it is still going, 15 years later?
“Many shows followed later, like Tattooed Teenage Alien Fighters from Beverly Hills,Ninja Turtles: The Next Mutation, Big Bad Beetleborgs, Mystic Knights of Tir Na Nog, and various other Amerisatsu shows.”
Yeah, but no one watched them. And I’m going to bet it was because of SHSCS.
For what it’s worth, I watched both Mystic Knights of Tir Na Nog (yes I was in high school at the time) and Superhuman Samurai blabla Squad and LOVED them. The former was fun as a medieval junkie, and the latter to watch Tim Curry hamming it up as the villain.
karaoke: “What they do is totally irrelevant, you blamed SSSS on Saban when they had nothing to do with you.You are wrong.”
I’m wrong with the names, but not the kind of companies I’ve ridiculed.
“Or because like SSSS, they were knock-offs of Power Rangers and every knew that.”
Um, no, they were their own shows in Japan. They only were molded into Power Rangers knock-offs.
“I don’t know if that’s true, but even if it were, it has nothing to do with your ludicrous assertation that SSSS killed Amerisatsu.”
Why is it ludicrous? Could you honestly think Power Rangers was still cool after sitting through that embarrassment? It’s like going back to Pokemon after sitting through Beyblade.
“Yeah, you can. Go to Toys R Us or Wal-Mart and they are right on the shelves at this very moment. You act like it’s a collector’s only niche market.”
I just googled Toy R Us’s site, and
while I do see toys, they’re only a fraction of what used to be out there.
“Oh really?”
And look how long it took for that to happen.
“How could SSSS have killed Amerisatsu in its second year when it is still going, 15 years later?”
It’s not really going anywhere. Whatever’s currently on the air is just there to fill up broadcast time, not to sell toys-like in the past.
Oh, and http://www.gamespite.net/toastywiki/index.php/Media/WelcomeToTheNHKVol3
wrote a scathing review of Genshiken and Haruhi while praising NHK.
It’s a shame when people won’t even sign their name in an Anon. post like E. and Carl do, makes it tough to properly berate and mock the person.
What is missing from the discussion about the success of Power Rangers and the failure of Syber Squad is context, and this is where the difference between Saban and DIC matters a great deal.
Saban had a contract with Fox to supply programming for the Fox Kids blocks, the M-F strip syndication and the Sat AM Kidvid block. Fox Kids was just about the only group producing a kidvid block for M-F use (Disney being the other main player), and pretty much only the fledgling Fox Network was running a daily kidvid block unlike the heydays of the late ’70s/ early ’80s.
DIC, on the other hand, was forced into syndication, and while there may have been a package of other DIC programming grouped into a block, there just wasn’t a MARKET for it because MOST TV stations had abandoned their unique afternoon programming for ‘chick chat’ shows and infomercials. DIC did get some placement in early AM slots.
Note that Saban didn’t have much success with any of their other shows: VR Troopers, Kamen Rider or Beetleborgs, altho IIRC Beetleborgs did manage to make it 2 years. I attribute the failure to Saban taking the shows further and further away from their Japanese roots.
Good god Daryl. Super Seinen Level 3? Where do you come up with this shit? I just about died laughing.
~Kamon
What Kamon is referring to is my assessment of moe over on the “Hey, Answerman!” column at ANN. It’s been brought to my attention that I’ve never actually thanked Zac for his multiple endorsements of this podcast on the ANN site as well as at conventions–largely because I’m an ingrate–but I think we did that at some point during Show 59 or 60. Which we’ve got recorded.
I’ll try and get the first part of Show 59 up before the end of the week, then I’ll post the remainder a day or two afterwards. The comical length of this thread is testament to the fact that we’re super late on the release. And then AWA is next week. And then I have jury duty. And then Halo 3 comes out, even though I don’t really care for Halo much. And then there’s AssimilationCon.
How DO the real podcasters balance all this stuff, anyway? Oh, right: being good enough to not require much editing. SO JEALOUS.
I definitely wanna be part of the Adeptus Gekigartes. Though I think I need to actually finish reading Lone Wolf and Cub first before even attempting to prove myself before the experts of justice.
Really liked the Barefoot Gen review, you guys were so into it so I loved it and I like how this episode was mostly depressing but ended with lots of laughter, really unexpected.