Podcast: Download (Duration: 54:27 — 24.9MB)
Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | RSS
Here’s our interview from Anime Weekend Atlanta 2007 with renowned science fiction anime director Noboru Ishiguro, whose works include Space Battleship Yamato (aka Star Blazers) as well as Superdimensional Fortress Macross (part of which became Robotech), the movie of which we reviewed back in episode 50 along with another of his works entitled Megazone 23 Part 1. We recommend listening to those episodes first if you are not already familiar with these titles.
This weekend is JACON, which all of us will be attending. If you’ll be there on Friday, show up for Paul Chapman’s Odin: Photon Space Sailer Starlight marathon if you dare. How long will Joey Snackpants be able to handle the pain? Saturday, Gerald’s got his mecha panel and Daryl’s got the Panel OF DOOM! from 11 PM to 1 AM on Saturday night.
In other words, the release of the next episode is delayed.
You’re in for a treat with the next ep, though! Besides me guesting, you’ll also be able to look forward to perhaps the highest usage count of the word “rape” in a single review!
Yeah, I’m not surprised Ishiguro hadn’t heard of Robotech: The Movie. He didn’t even know about “Stealth” and the Starblazers Disney movie until I brought it up to him at AX. [Some guy at Macross World said they had to make it a rule not to mention that film on their forums.] I guess he just likes to move on to different projects. I’m surprised he considered Hitchcock to be American, though.
BTW, I wiki’ed the Heinlein book. It’s also still in stock @ Amazon. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orphans_of_the_Sky
Man, DC pisses me off, because they omitted a Ken Takakura reference in Crayon Shin Chan. When it comes to cultural notes, they’re really lazy.
Someone needs to fansub Dokonjo Gaeru! And now, knowing that Ishiguro is among the great artists who worked on it, I really want to watch it.
One can find the openings and endings of the show on Youtube, but that’s about it.
Thanks for the interview AWO, really well put together.
Sucks about Imaginasian halting the production of their anime classics DVD’s. I wanted to get Orguss but I wanted the whole set, not one by one.
Yeah, I’m not surprised Ishiguro hadn’t heard of Robotech: The Movie….I guess he just likes to move on to different projects.
I actually don’t think it’s too surprising, considering the man is 70 years old. I think what he’s really guilty of is being a 70 year old guy who’s not keeping up with new stuff, which, well I’m pretty guilty of right now.
I wanted to get Orguss but I wanted the whole set, not one by one.
Umm, what?
Orguss, and all of the Imaginasian stuff has been available in its entirity for probably six months or more. I’ve had my sets sitting here for a long time as I’m moving through Remi. I’m pretty sure six months is perfectly long enough to wait to check out the series considering this is not a case of waiting for the price to drop since the disks are made on a per order basis, so there’s not going to be any bulk to unload at a cheaper price. It seems to me like Imaginasian isn’t giving up on those titles, it’s more an issue of the company that was pressing the DVDs appears to have been a shady joint.
Gerald, you’re 70?
vz: They had the sets.
gerald: Remi wasn’t a priority for me, but I regret not getting it sooner, since I heard good things about it. I’m glad I got the other two, though. They were shipped in the same day that hiatus was announced, too.
Gerald:
It’s not so much that Titlematch was shady, it’s just been the history of the industry that NO burn-on-demand setup lasts any length of time.
This is a concept that’s been around since…Ohhh, I think I first read about a company back in 2000, it was a SURE FIRE profit center for stores, no more carrying inventory!
Fail, fail, fail every time.
The concept (like printing books on demand) depends on the idea that a customer is willing to buy something just based on a few lines of text and maybe a short excerpt. The price was *supposed* to bring the product back to the ‘cheap, disposable’ level but it never really reaches that.
How is that different from buying from Amazon et al? It isn’t, and note that Amazon and the online stores have not managed at all to totally close down real world shopping. And online sales have NOT saved anime.
No, I am sure the reason Titlematch has folded their tent is because they were assuming that the IaTV/TMS deal was the thing the burn-on-demand concept was waiting for- a STEADY STREAM of product, constantly promoted and advertised, with the ability to grow and build the customer base, then being able to take those numbers to OTHER places, studios, license holders and saying “SEE! See! It DOES work! now hire us!”
But whoever is actually in charge, either TMS (my bet) or IaTV, they’ve totally dropped the ball. Don’t believe the hype. Unless Right Stuf decides to do a rescue and actually invest in pressing discs, those three titles are lost forever.
(I dunno, did I miss it? Has TMS put ANYTHING ELSE out on IaTV, or are they endlessly re-running Orguss et al?)
just wanted to say that i loved the interview – space cruiser yamato was
my first introduction to japanese anime proper [the only exposure id had was when battle of the planets was shown on the telly].
hopefully when i go to the film and anime expo in london for my birthday next week i’ll try to get a hold of the first movie.
again thanks for giving me an insight of this man, and i hope i can get the chance to see more of his work in the future.
I know that TRS had those Imaginasian boxset titles on there site but they were still $80 which is a bit much for any anime at one shot. I was waiting till DiscountAnimeDVD had their preorder shipped but it looks like that it’ll never ship. Really, if there was a better distribution for it, it’d be easier.
I think Media Blasters has the right idea when it comes to selling subbed only niche mecha shows.
Oh, I forgot to say that I finished watching Manabi Straight. I think Clarissa and MAYBE Gerald will like it.
There’s nothing creepy about it really (unless you count the fact that the girls are in highschool but look 10yrs old).
There’s nothing creepy about it really (unless you count the fact that the girls are in highschool but look 10yrs old).
Okay, two things. One: that sounds INCREDIBLY creepy. Two: what you’re talking about has absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with anything discussed in this podcast. Even all the stuff about the Imaginasian titles was pushing it, but I opted to leave it since one of those titles was Orguss.
Both you and Dan should give strong consideration to sending in emails to us rather than posting comment after comment about whatever it is that’s on your mind at the moment, regardless of topic. I am certainly interested in reading that CMX’s liner notes aren’t necessarily up to par on Crayon Shin-chan, or hearing one’s thoughts on a series, but when they have nothing at all to do with anything talked about in the particular episode, it just clutters up everything.
Hmm. Am I brave enough to make the next poll question be about whether or not we should consider setting up a forum?
Ok sorry. I’ll keep the discussion to the relevant show (and that interview was nice since Macross is one of my favorite 80’s TV anime series).
Yes, I think a forum would be a great idea.
I just noticed there’s a story on Anime News Network about this very interview. Nice job, you finally got some mainstream attention (mainstream in terms of anime fandom, anyway).
And, the interview was awesome; I’ve been waiting A LONG TIME for it to be released, and it certainly didn’t disappoint.
Thank you, Daryl, for putting this interview up, as it’s great to actually hear from someone responsible for the shows we watch.
Without a doubt, the funniest part of the interview was the gasp that went up from the group at the mention of Robot Jox.
Wow this is some good stuff, If only I had someone like you to do the writing for my website.
Hello AWO, I am off topic in this post and I am sorry for breaking the mighty law of Rambo.I just wanted to point out I sent the some scans of the Violence jack vhs covers to your email.As they are attachments they may end up in your junk mail so look out for them.Daryl I sent you what we talked about today aswell.
Hail Odin
The interview was interesting, but I only have one criticism–leaving the Japanese voices in was distracting.. I guess its because I don’t speak it, much less understand it. Fast forwarding through it made it bearable however—
I forgot to add, I don’t see Orguss available anymore for purchase.. tried to look for it everywhere.
I guess it didn’t help it was $83 all together.. Daryl you should do a review on this later to see if it was worth its cost (Personally I’ve only seen a partial fansub of it)
While I respect David E’s criticism of language distraction, I have to say that I actually really liked the fact that it was included. Now, I do understand a little bit of Japanese, but not enough to fully follow Ishiguro’s answers, yet I find that listening to his inflections and mannerisms only made the listening experience much better, as if we were there.
I still don’t get why it matters whether or not the Wachowskis ripped off Megazone. You can buy it, so what’s the problem? In fact, Image version aside, the entire series wouldn’t have even gotten an R1 DVD release if it wasn’t for the Matrix. At least the Wachowskis don’t sue anyone who sells it like Quentin Tarantino does with imports of City on Fire, slap their logo on bootleg versions of it like Ebaum does with flash movies, or sell unauthorized t-shirts of it like Todd Goldman does with comic strips. Those are the real thieves who have no respect forintellectual content.
The Wachowskis, on the other hand, have given back to anime a hundredfold. Do you really think we’d be getting anime versions of Highlander and Batman, or we’d be getting celebrities like Samuel L. Jackson and Stan Lee involved if it wasn’t for them? I think the flack against them is akin to the flack against Macek: That is, they took steps which gave the genre more exposure, but instead of praise, they get criticism precisely for making it more accessible to the casual viewer. To the naysayers, it’d be better if anime could be appreciated on its own-without the help of some fan-boy with industry connections trying to emphasize the aspects of the genre more marketable to Western audiences.
Man, now I really wish Ishiguro could do a comedy show.
Is there any chance of getting Youtube coverage of some of those panels? I’ve always wanted to see Anime Hell and Totally Lame Anime, but I don’t have the budget to make it to most cons.
I was a bit surprised to hear that he wanted to comedy series, since Daryl didn’t you say that you find him kind of dry?
Is there any chance of getting Youtube coverage of some of those panels? I’ve always wanted to see Anime Hell and Totally Lame Anime, but I don’t have the budget to make it to most cons.
AWA’s four months away. You can save up enough by then if you really try, and then you can see Anime Hell and Totally Lame Anime in person. YouTube just isn’t the same.
Enjoyed the interview very much and I actually appreciated you leaving Japanese voices in as there is always something lost during a translation. But you know what was distracting? The interpreter! He was too damn good! I kept muttering “damn” to myself thru the whole podcast. Describing his interpreting skill as “exceptional” is a gross understatement. No corners cut, no words misinterpreted. Simply flawless. That was impressive.
But you know what was distracting? The interpreter! He was too damn good!
Such is the wonderment of Taka. The man is truly a god of translating, regardless of his day job (nuclear engineering manuals) or cons/anime. It’s also worth nothing that he’s done the only official English translations on Legend of the Galactic Heroes (which was sadly underrepresented in this interview). Still a marvelous listen overall, and always good to learn a bit about M23.
Legend of the Galactic Heroes (which was sadly underrepresented in this interview)
I just got back from JACON (one more Panel OF DOOM!, but also one more speeding ticket…), but I figure I should respond to this. We intentionally didn’t get that much into LoGH on the grounds that we had discussed things with Walter and Rob prior to doing this interview. The original plan was for Walter and Rob to spend a good bit of time talking LoGH at the actual Ishiguro interview panel. For those keeping track, that was after our interview, so that’s practically a whole day of interviews Ishiguro was doing. And even with that much interview time, I guarantee you that everyone has tons more to ask.
Alas, as we now know from the AWA report, Walter’s Ishiguro interview panel got cut short due to the need for the costume contest to use the room, and so he never quite got around to his LoGH inquiries. I guess there’s always Anime Expo.
LOGH questions would take forever for him to answer. I’m surprised no one asked him about Orguss, though.
LOGH questions would take forever for him to answer. I’m surprised no one asked him about Orguss, though.
Noboru Ishiguro is a man that we could have very easily interviewed for probably three or four hours and still not have scratched the surface of all the things he knows or has experienced in anime. I know I had about a dozen more questions to ask him, but I just wanted to get out the questions that had been on my mind forever.
Alas, as we now know from the AWA report, Walter’s Ishiguro interview panel got cut short due to the need for the costume contest to use the room, and so he never quite got around to his LoGH inquiries.
I just love how Ishiguro’s panel got started late and got cut short due to cosplay. Sure, cut short the panel of your guest of honor who flew in from Japan for an event that every single convention has and 95% of which start late anyway. Ah well, maybe it shouldn’t have been in the main events all anyway, but it’s rough to cut the guest of honor short, especially when he’d only been able to answer about two questions.
It’s depressing that these things happen. I just came back from Anime Central 2008 and the Japanese guest panel was only an hour and this was after a 2 hour Vic Mignogna panel(Not that I have anything against the guy). You would think that the creators of Gunsmith Cats and Brave Story would hold a higher precedent.
The current generation of fans is too young to know about Gunsmith Cats, which makes me wonder why DH chose to re-release it over YUA…And the Brave Story anime has yet to get an official home video release.
You know, after seeing the Animatrix and reading the manga, it’s pretty clear that the Wachowskis weren’t just fans of Megazone and GITS, but also Black Magic M-66.
So where’s show #69?
Ishiguro and Kawamori need to make it clear to Harmony Gold and their Robotech fanboys that they’re not happy at the “liberties” and deliberate misinformation that HG did with Macross. Not to mentino distributing Robotech to other countries as their own “creation”.
Daryl’s voice is smoother than usual in this episode.