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After over a month of no new episodes, this show–recorded a month ago–is now out. Nothing but absolute evil is contained within as Daryl reviews MW by Vertical Inc (featuring nonstop depictions of evil), Gerald reviews Dangaioh (the dub of which is truly evil), and Clarissa reviews the most evil of them all: Potemayo (a moe show). Also, we finally remembered to do another first impressions bit! This time it’s Blood+.
Why was this show so delayed? Three words: No More Heroes. Three more words: Replaying God Hand. Anyone who’s thinking of racing to be the first to leave a comment just so they can have the first comment should think twice because it’s always really obvious that’s what you’re doing! [EDIT: Guess Jeremy didn’t think twice after all, FAYGO]
Otaku USA Issue 5 is out, featuring Daryl’s article on Golgo 13 and Clarissa’s article on Tengen Toppa Gurren-Lagann! Please buy it! Also, we got mentioned in the Japanese magazine ASCII in the same manner by which we got to write articles in Otaku USA:
F. Murray Abraham’s anguished face: forever immortalized.
Introduction (0:00 – 25:55)
It turns out that we were recording this episode on Valentine’s Day. To true otaku, there’s nothing that differentiates Valentine’s Day from any other day. When ANN’s Hey, Answerman! column goes on hiatus, the emails about “how do I get Japan to make my idea for an anime into a show?” come to us instead! Has the connection between pornographic doujinshi and otaku popularity been erm, exposed? No need to find out for yourself, cause WE have all the answers as always!
Let’s News! (25:55 – 55:39)
Some blog written by some yabbo that’s not read by anyone except when we make him a SOOPASTAH illustrates that TV Tokyo just might be getting a little too overzealous with what it’s deleting off of Youtube (the act of deleting Naruto fansubs alone pretty much makes them the number one source of sending copyright notices to Youtube). Here’s the article Clarissa was referencing. On an undoubtedly related note, anime sales are down ANOTHER 20% from the year prior (when they were down 20% there too). The top selling titles list is pretty much the same as it was last year. Finally, someone more beloved than us that draws crap points out that at a small Texas convention someone tried to kidnap a teenage girl. But who are we kidding with those other links? We stole this one from Dave Merrill’s Livejournal. The sidebar wasn’t lying when it said it was DANGEROUS, MOST DANGEROUS. We then get a voicemail that is the audio equivalent of what is still one of the finest image macros of all time. But I don’t actually have the Menacer-created macro on this computer.
Promo: R5 Central (55:39 – 56:04)
Mike Dent’s one-man laser sound effects saga has hit fifty episodes, and to celebrate he’s got special appearances by the Ninja Consultants and–more importantly–by Daryl. Listen to this one! Now you can actually hear what he’s saying! Most of the time.
Review (manga): MW (56:04 – 1:26:00)
Daryl finally reviews something again! This time it’s the latest Osamu Tezuka title released by Vertical Inc since Gerald reviewed Ode to Kirihito as well as Apollo’s Song. Time to start balancing the scales, dangit! This review will rape you until you love it, then murder you JUST BECAUSE. Plus, a dangerously powerful voicemail regarding not just Maple Town (despite having never watched the show, Daryl still remembers the tagline and the melody to this from when he was 3) but also Pigeon Blood (Google it your God-damned self, clown).
Review: Hyper Combat Unit Dangaioh (1:26:00 – 1:43:21)
Gerald was offended to his core when slanderous things were spoken by slanderers about this cartoon and has decided to forego karmic retribution and get his justice WITH satisfaction. But is it really slander if it’s all true? If this is justice…
Review – Potemayo (1:43:21 – 1:58:58)
Corbin from Colorado needs to know better than to ask rhetorical questions. Clarissa wanted us to all become possessed by the Warp’s most treacherous of spawn, but the God-Emperor Koike guides Daryl’s bolter true. Still, the Emperor’s protection is not absolute. Each individual brother within the Adeptus Gekigartes must be strong on his own accord. Is Chaos beginning to take hold of the AWO? Will an Exterminatus be deemed necessary? If so, the only thing that will be written on the order will be to Destroy All Podcasts:
Promo – Lather’s Blather (1:57:58 – 1:59:05)
Now that it’s officially too damn cold to breed Kokuohs, Jeff Tatarek has resumed his podcasting obligations to society! Be sure to also catch him on the latest episode of the Greatest Movie EVER! podcast. I hear tell the next episode of that will feature some seriously sexy voices indeed.
Closing (1:59:05 – 2:08:04)
Daryl offers up his initial impressions of Blood+. The content may not be the greatest, but the release itself is something that other anime publishers would do well to take notice of. Here’s hoping this release tactic catches on. Perhaps then we’ll finally get the rest of Cyborg 009! REMEMBER THAT ONE, SONY?! WHERE’S THE REST OF OUR UNCUT CYBORG 009 HUH? Edit: Dan in the comments reminds us of all the talk going on at AnimeOnDVD and the like regarding Blood+ being dubtitled. This wasn’t mentioned during the capsule review, so do take note of it.
Anyway, we’ve been doing other podcast appearances in lieu of editing our own. In addition to Daryl’s already-mentioned appearances on Snacktime Online and Greatest Movie EVER!, Clarissa was a guest host on Destroy All Podcasts DX talking about the Twilight Q OAVs. Gerald will also be a guest host soon on DAPDX to talk about Detonator Orgun, so now that all three of us have been on another podcast, we can only assume that podcast will be destroyed or otherwise cease to exist. Surely other podcasts couldn’t contain all three of US, right?
Next time on AWO, Clarissa’s reviewing the much-requested School Rumble, Gerald’s doing Detonator Orgun just like he’s doing on DAPDX, and Daryl’s reviewing the also very much requested Satoshi Kon film, Paprika. He initially was taking a pass on this one because “everyone’s seen this or knows about it already,” but that is apparently not the case. Included at the end is a special unedited bonus that will illustrate for you why it takes us a month to edit these shows.
once again Anime World Order has saved me from boredom at Speech Tournaments. And now I know for a fact why DBZ is popular.
So what the heck. You’re gonna post ALMOST VERBATIM the message you posted on our forums, just with “Fast Karate” switched with “Anime World Order”?
YOU BETTER NOT BE CHEATING ON ME, BITCH.
james: “Case Closed didn’t fail because of market appeal. It failed because Funimation butchered the localization and the dubbing.”
They couldn’t do anything about the localization for the reason that the rights to a series of novels about a bulky guy in a loin-cloth have yet to go into public domain. And their dubbing is awful across the board, too, but that still has not stopped DBZ from being a hit.
“Also, CN aired Case Closed at 1:30 AM. What audience is watching television at 1:30 in the morning?”
I imagine the audience which watches Adult Swim in general.
“Case Closed is a heavily formulaic show. It was created to be disposable entertainment. The show was not created to be collected on DVD as Clarissa explains on the podcast.”
Then why license it in the first place? It’s obvious that just supports my argument that FUNi was hoping for another shonen hit.
“Case Closed was meant to be seen on a regularly scheduled tv time slot with a broad young audience. “
In Japan, yes. In the United States, any form of crime-related entertainment which doesn’t involve car-jacking or beating up hookers will not sell to anyone under 12.
“Regarding CN and Time Warner, Time Warner is a conglomerate, which means it has multiple investments/interests. CN is just a minor subsection of a much larger cash machine.”
If that were the case, they wouldn’t have expanded the network in the first place.
“Programming on CN has very little to do with the conglomerate’s larger goals and other projects.”
Then why invest in Aqua Teen Hunger Force, Justice League, or Powerpuff Girls movie? Hell, why make a Japanese PPG show?
“If CN can get better ratings by showing Saved By The Bell instead of Hikaru no Go, the programmers will run more shows like Saved By The Bell.”
I doubt it’s about ratings, because people can get their shitty teen-com fix on the CW.
Um, dude, don’t kid yourself. EVERYTHING in TV is ALWAYS about ratings. CN and CW (and what remains of the WB) are all run as separate studios, but the larger WB apparatus has oversight and receive ratings reports on a regular basis. It’s how they decide what’s working and what isn’t so they can correct mistakes.
If something comes along that breaks out, the larger WB apparatus will look for other ways to exploit it, but their only real involvement in day-to-day operations is to respond to the production needs of a studio (payroll, resources, etc).
I know this because my wife and I have reached a point in our respective animation careers where, despite our best efforts, everything we do feeds the Time Warner machine. She’s a Nickelodeon employee (under the Viacom umbrella) and I’m currently working on two shows for separate studios. Get this: Batman for WB (which will broadcast on CN this fall) and Spider-Man for Sony (which is already being broadcast on WB Sat AM).
It’s a bit spooky that no matter how far afield we go, we always seem to end up working for Time Warner…
“Um, dude, don’t kid yourself. EVERYTHING in TV is ALWAYS about ratings.”
If that were the case, then UPN would’ve gone down in flames a long time ago, not just a few years ago.
“CN and CW (and what remains of the WB) are all run as separate studios, but the larger WB apparatus has oversight and receive ratings reports on a regular basis. It’s how they decide what’s working and what isn’t so they can correct mistakes.”
Well, I’m not sure how canceling Buffy was a “correction”, but I doubt CN would be airing anime in the first place, if they went by the original broadcast ratings for Sailor Moon and DB.
“I know this because my wife and I have reached a point in our respective animation careers where, despite our best efforts, everything we do feeds the Time Warner machine.”
Better than the Disney and Fox Kids machine. [*cough* Dic and 4Kids *cough*]
“Get this: Batman for WB (which will broadcast on CN this fall) and Spider-Man for Sony (which is already being broadcast on WB Sat AM).”
Batman’s a good example. That sucker did horribly in the ratings after it left FOX, but they continued to fund it anyway. Why? Because of strong dvd sales. The last Spider-Man cartoon held its own, but Pokemon ended up being the hit-maker by then.
By the way…. How much is MW? Just wondering, cause i think i might pick it up.
And a can’t belive the top selling anime of last year was Dragon Ball! STILL?! That shows been on cartoon network since the late 90s!
MSRP on Amazon says $24.95 so you’d probably be able to pick it up for around $18-19.
This is nothing to do with the show, but here’s some really terrible songs from france.
The guy in this group looks like a porn star!
After your podcast, I went on a glut of purchasing manga off of amazon.co.uk, including MW.
I have to thank you for reviewing this, as I had only seen it fleetingly once before and would otherwise would have forgotten it. It was an amazing book, and it was so powerful in its unrelenting power that I had to read it over two days. I can marathon Crying Freeman (Thanks for telling me about that also, I now have all 5 volumes) because of the absurdity of it’s content but MW is just so marvellously dark that I couldn’t stomach it all in one go.
There are many parts I could enthuse about here, but suffice to say that anyone reading this should go out and get it post haste if you have not already.
I also picked up Kurosagi volumes 4 and 5, something else I have to thank your for, as well as Excel Saga volume 17, a series which has the amazing power to siphon money from me. I blame it on Carl Horn’s perfected art of editing.
Anyone going to NY Comic con in April?
Oh and Gerald, I enjoyed your review you did for Detonator Orgun at Destroy All Podcasts DX. I need to pick that up. I need to finish my collection gaps of CPM titles before they’re totally gone.
Dan: there’s Ratings, and then there’s ratings. They’re viewed differently by different networks at different times for different purposes. But they are the only meter by which an audience can be measured. They determine advertising rates, which is the lifeblood of the entire TV machine.
That doesn’t mean every show needs killer ratings to survive. Some can coast by on a tiny fraction of a percentage if the network knows how to squeeze every penny. Animation studios are constantly playing with the production model to find ways of stretching the dollar. Many stretch it beyond the breaking point and then creatively restructure a budget so it can borrow money from another show that has a surplus.
But without a ratings number, there’s nothing to fuel that system. UPN got low ratings for so long they couldn’t charge advertisers enough to support their programming anymore. The same thing is slowly happening with WB. I promise you, if you go into any network or studio you’ll find a variation on that theme.
DVD and toy sales are less important than ratings because you can’t have either until a show gets made. If product sales earn enough revenue they can help fund the next season of a show, but it’s always dodgy the first time out.
Then there’s the legacy issue. A show like Batman or Scooby Doo has been around for a really long time and has global recognition–so there’s a certain bottom-line guarantee that even if the US market doesn’t turn out high ratings there are plenty of international markets that can pick up the series. Occasionally the international market becomes the cash cow (a series I occasionally worked on called Max Steel was a flop in the US, but is a major hit in Brazil; now Mattel makes Max Steel OAVs for Brazil) but this is the exception rather than the rule.
You are correct, all of these things can add fuel to the flame, but without the ratings the flame never gets lit.
“UPN got low ratings for so long they couldn’t charge advertisers enough to support their programming anymore. “
But whoever ran the network at the time still managed to blow someone at FOX in exchange for Buffy at a higher asking price than WB was paying for it.
“DVD and toy sales are less important than ratings because you can’t have either until a show gets made.”
That didn’t seem to be the case w/ Family Guy…Hell, how do you explain Afro Samurai or that rebooted Ren and Stimpy? I imagine ratings used to mean everything once, but nowadays, even the networks are just by-passing the middle man[I.E. advertisers] and selling their productions on-line. It’s what the point of that last strike was, after all…
Tim, of course, has summed up almost all of it, but I’ll add one thing he didn’t mention in how TV works – the demographic crunch. Networks and advertisers want each programme to have a specific target audience, be it Boys 8-12 or Women 35-50. They would rather see a programme with one high target demographic than something with multiple low targets but an overall higher score – this, for example, is what killed Dr. Demento in syndication.
Actually, there was another thing I didn’t mention: gambling. This actually comes into play before the ratings. A gang of network execs all have to agree to back a show before it can go into production, and for this they all have to agree that it’s got a chance of hooking enough eyeballs to make it worth the gamble. Often this involves changing the initial concept (dumbing it down in most cases) into something they think will sell. This usually requires sanding down the rough edges that might poke or prod (i.e. get letters of protest) so that advertisers can feel safe getting on board with it.
A certain amount of money has to be spent on the gamble; material has to be created to pitch the show. I don’t know how many pitches actually make it all the way through this process, but I know it’s only a small percentage. When I first got into the game, it was around 25%. Studios went into development with four times the number of shows than they expected to sell. The other 75% get rejected down the road and go into limbo until their rights revert back to whoever created them. (This was the case with ‘Grease Monkey’ at Film Roman. You can read more about it at greasemonkeybook.com.)
Another case in point: about a year ago, a couple friends of mine were developing a new Thundercats series for WB. Money was spent on script, design and storyboards. The first two episodes were ready to ship out for animation when the plug was pulled by the one component of Time Warner that didn’t want the show to go on– the Consumer Products Division. They felt the show wouldn’t get enough ratings to justify the startup costs to make toys and such.
Any show that is developed for TV has to pass through this gauntlet. Everyone has to agree that it will pull in enough ratings to make it worth the gamble.
Anime shows have an advantage in that they can slide through the most expensive part of this process (development) and any exec who evaluates them doesn’t have to use their imagination to figure out what the finished show is going to look like. But even then, a lot of stuff doesn’t get through for reasons that we all know full well. (‘Cause in this case it’s a lot harder to sand off the rough edges that poke and prod.)
In the case of Family Guy, Afro Samurai, and R&S, DVD sales might have been planned into the mix from the start (since they were all conceived during the time TV on DVD was peaking), but they still had to pass through the gauntlet described above to get the production money together. Nobody has the cash to fund an entire season for DVD. That’s why made-for-home-video animation like Hellboy is less than an hour long. You can’t expect to make your money back on something longer unless it’s a major (i.e. Clone Wars) license.
The guy in this group looks like a porn star!
Plus he went on to compose (I think) many 80’s cartoon music we’ve grew up on! Something to think of next time you watch someone his name is plastered on. 🙂
Tim Eldred then said…
Anime shows have an advantage in that they can slide through the most expensive part of this process (development) and any exec who evaluates them doesn’t have to use their imagination to figure out what the finished show is going to look like. But even then, a lot of stuff doesn’t get through for reasons that we all know full well. (‘Cause in this case it’s a lot harder to sand off the rough edges that poke and prod.)
If only it was that possible around here.
In the case of Family Guy, Afro Samurai, and R&S, DVD sales might have been planned into the mix from the start (since they were all conceived during the time TV on DVD was peaking), but they still had to pass through the gauntlet described above to get the production money together. Nobody has the cash to fund an entire season for DVD. That’s why made-for-home-video animation like Hellboy is less than an hour long. You can’t expect to make your money back on something longer unless it’s a major (i.e. Clone Wars) license.
Sad in many ways.
While “vz” gave you his blog link, I might as well share off a little something I got going on for no particular reason!
http://onlinevideodepot.blogspot.com/
Doesn’t need to be explained more than it cares to show I feel.
Yes, what about merchandising? Where’s the talk about the money being made from that? You can download a video or a scanned book, but not (yet) a plushie, a keychain, a plastic model kit, etc. The obscene amount of money we’re paying in dealer’s rooms and through Diamond for this stuff has to be going somewhere, right?
Two points, both random and not particularly worthy:
1. In the early 90’s, “I sentence you to death by Hyper Napalm” became a meme amongst my anime watching friends after that terrible dub.
2. Cyber City Oedo was pretty awesome for ‘fifteening’ action.
I’m totally with Gerald on Dangaioh — this was one of the first anime things I saw as a kid; a local video store had the subtitled VHS tapes. I was never exposed to the dub….. I always thought this was another super awesome 80s mech show until I started listening to podcasts and realized everyone hates it!
*PSYCHIC WAVE*
…I’m a little bit confused about the release history for this, as Gerald asserts there wasn’t an official subtitled release?? A local hipster-y video place in Philadelphia definitely had subtitled versions of this in the early 90s,, I’m pretty sure I still have the Betamax bootlegs I made…