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This episode probably sets some sort of AWO record for going off-topic, so if you find yourself wondering “when are they going to actually talk about anime” then you are encouraged to consult the timecodes. Gerald reviews Witchblade (which he repeatedly paid money to own), Daryl reviews Strait Jacket (probably the newest thing he’s ever done), and Clarissa reviews Moyashimon.
And since we forgot to throw the links in last time, Daryl was a guest on Destroy All Podcasts DX and talked about Macross Frontier. The conversation took a while, so it was split into two parts entitled Side A and Side B. Daryl was also on the Greatest Movie EVER! podcast yet again, this time to talk about Doomsday.
Intro (0:00 – 32:45)
Since every single anime podcast out there talks a whole lot about videogames, we thought we’d give it a shot ourselves for a few minutes. But as it turns out, none of us are actually PLAYING anything despite owning decades worth of console/PC games, right up to the present. Email-wise, we talk about the scarcity of the Imaginasian DVDs, Helen McCarthy reports on how her Osamu Tezuka exhibit turned out, and a Japanese listener offers us some additional clarification regarding our earlier comments made during the review of The Girl Who Leapt Through Time by directing us to a Japanese language interview with the director, Mamoru Hosoda. We also plug our appearances at SITACon (which at the time of writing is happening RIGHT NOW) as well as EXPCon (the panel creation for which begins immediately now that this podcast is out, and then Otaku USA deadlines are immediately after THAT).
Let’s News! (32:45 – 1:12:09)
Cartoon Network has bid farewell to the Toonami block after all these years, which puts us on a quite lengthy tangent regarding the television industry, advertising, and our disdain for same. Not that we didn’t already know it, but Vertical’s manga sales for non-Tezuka works aren’t exactly setting the world on fire. Additionally, some of the old Bandai Visual titles that were scheduled to be released at absolutely outrageous prices are now slated for releases with somewhat less outrageous prices, and the Moyashimon manga has been licensed.
Promo: Rocket Punch! The Podcast (1:12:09 – 1:13:22)
Rocket Punch! is a podcast about videogames and cartoons, and some of those cartoons are anime! What is also just for the record: Inspector Gadget’s no robot. Inspector Gadget is a cyborg.
Review: MILFBlade Witchblade (1:13:22 – 1:37:25)
Now for a Gonzo show that, like every single other Gonzo show ever made, completely changes its focus a few episodes in. Gerald takes a look at a show for which the best thing he can say about it is that “he didn’t dislike it for the reasons he thought he would.” In a revolutionary move, Gerald ends up disliking the show for completely DIFFERENT reasons then what he thought originally. But we know why you’re here: screen caps!
Hey boys and girls, what does this scene from the opening of Witchblade remind you of? Think hard…
The requisite “butt blood” shot, so often seen in anime. Remember this is still the opening sequence, so this show knows how to hold an audience.
This is roughly 10 seconds into the first episode. Usually the red cord has a very specific meaning in Japan. Here I’m pretty sure is NO exception.
That’s David Riley-level ass there!
Amaha has got junk pretty much in the hood AND the trunk. Erm, MASANE Amaha to be specific.
Here’s the pervert machine that is the predominant enemy in the first part of the show, complete with…
…pumping pistons, which are completely NOT sexual.
It’s hard to see in this screencap, but I promise you there’s a robot dick about to meet its end.
Theeeeere we go!
And here is where we finally see what we were paying for, at least for the first disc.
And that very important highlighting. Makes me wonder if any animators got in trouble for not putting ENOUGH highlighting in?
I PROMISE you that is NOT pubic hair on her crotch…I think.
And I PROMISE you that is, umm, robot blood? Eh, whatever…
Actually, at this point, you can think it’s whatever you want! Also note the very slutty tongue piercing. Don’t lie, they have only ONE use!
Promo: Anime HACK (1:37:25 – 1:37:50)
Jason Michael is a man with two first names that was a cool bro for attending at least one of our Saturday night panels at AWA, and since he emailed us his promo, we are now playing it! They are a podcast that for over a year has reviewed titles such as Rozen Maiden, Love Hina, and other detestable titles so we don’t have to! Actually, they’re not all detestable. If Jason’s reading this, two bits of advice: one, don’t have your embedded Pickle Players auto-load the MP3s, because when you have multiple podcast posts per page it ends up downloading like 5 files at once thus slowing down the connection of anyone who checks the site. Two, when you mix in music, turn the volume WAY DOWN.
Promo: Pop Rocks and Soda (1:37:50 – 1:39:30)
That is RIGHT. Two promos one after the other (due to errant pasting). This is quite obviously done in one take with little to no script, but with the US presidential election mere days away, we thought it best to do everything in our power to encourage other podcasts to create attack ads against us which we will then run ON THIS VERY PODCAST. This was actually sent to us six months ago, but instead of sending an MP3 they sent us a Garage Band project. All of us use Windows! If you’re not entirely sure what this podcast is about based on the promo, here is their Myspace page.
Review: Strait Jacket (1:39:30 – 2:03:50)
For once in his life, Daryl reviews a title that just came out. Strait Jacket is the latest “short OAV edited together to form a movie” from Manga Video, which is quite the miracle considering that it’s 2008 and OAVs are hardly made any more. Everything about this feels like a typical 90s OAV production, which in this day and age is like an oasis in the desert. This will be airing on the Sci-Fi Channel this month as part of their Ani-Monday programming block. Its running time is 75 minutes, and while we’d like to hope that means it’d air in a 90 minute block after commercials, based on what we just said in the news segment we wouldn’t be surprised if they ran 45 minutes of commercials in there.
Promo: Spiraken Manga Review (2:03:50 – 2:04:33)
Ed Chavez better watch his back because he’s not the only manga-centric podcast on the block no mo’! May-san and Xan (what about Xzar? Either his voice is ambrosia or he’s the alpha and omega) get bonus points from us for immersing themselves into just manga rather than manga plus anime [plus videogames] or what have you. However, those bonus points are REVOKED due to the fact that they reviewed Chibi Vampire AND Rosario+Vampire. So the only bonus points they get to keep are the ones they got for saying we are awesome.
Review: Moyashimon: Tales of Agriculture (2:04:33 – 2:24:20)
As the voicemails for this episode demonstrate, we’re all a bunch of egotists. Clarissa reviews the entirely too short TV series Moyashimon, which is about going to agricultural college and getting so constantly shitfaced that you can perpetually see bizarre giant yet cute versions of bacteria all around you. Judging from Florida A&M attendees, this is a perfectly accurate portrayal of agricultural college life. The anime has yet to be licensed, but the manga release is impending thanks to Del Rey. Watch and learn all about the joys of fermentation!
The many microbes of Moyashimon. Aspergillus Oryzae, Japan’s national micro-organism, is the little yellow guy front and center.Closing (2:24:20 – 2:28:55)
It was not until WARP Anime’s PAC report that it dawned on us that Christian is in fact the chair of PAC. We figured Mara was in charge of everything, just like how she’s in charge of everything else BA-DA-BING! Next time on AWO, we’re taking Spiraken’s words to heart and reviewing only manga titles. Gerald is reviewing the Vertical release of Osamu Tezuka’s Dororo, Daryl is reviewing the greatest otaku tale ever told aka Ressentiment, and Clarissa’s shooting you up with Part 4 of Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure.
Yeah you showed that clown Daryl.
Gutted that I completely missed the Osama Tezuka season last month. Had no idea something like that was happening at the Barbican… Ah well, I’ll be sure tp catch the anniversary weekend in January 09.
Yo, thanks for playing it.
And thanks Daryl for the advice, see, im REALLY lazy, so… thats a big part of why the volume and shit is really loud or something. But, I take the advice and most likely i will use it, so thanks guys.
Peace
OH YEAH!
one more thing,
great episode guys!
Keep it up
Due to curiosity, I just read the first volume of Ressentiment. Thanks but no thanks. It’s nice to know that at least I’m not that terrible of an otaku and I’m quite close but I think I have some resemblance of sanity left. That and I’m going to start an online course to change career paths.
It’s also interesting you brought about the notion of how in modern society, there’s just WAY too much competition for your time. The amount of non licensed mecha shows I downloaded, I don’t know if I’ll ever get to viewing them all by the end of the year.
One more thing. Did you know that Guy Double Target is getting a U.S. DVD release? The best in science FRICTION. Wow ADV, you’re sure hitting hard times.
It’s been explained to me by those living in Area 11 that they don’t do 5.1 very often over there because of space limitations and respect for neighbours in tight quarters: the more speakers you have the more likely you are to be pointing them at someone else’s flat through the paper walls.
And Helen was right, the Lion Books were fecking incredible.
I didn’t talk a whole lot on the Frontier podcast because I was tired from work and whenever Jeremy faces off against Daryl, every gets to experience the epic podcast rivalry.
@ the title:
??? !!!!
Guess Uncle Yo’s got a vendetta against Daryl now
About advertising during anime in Japan vs in the US; there are actually multiple commercial breaks in Japan as well, not just at the eyecatch. The typical flow is something like:
OP
1m30s advertising
First portion of the show
1m30s advertising (eyecatch)
Second portion of the show
1m30s advertising
ED
1m30s advertising
Next episode preview
Some stations may do slightly longer breaks by skipping the one before the ED (fairly common) or depending on how long the commercials *between* shows are (the show + commercials are generally speaking to amount to a 30min block of time) but the above format is pretty consistent whatever you’re watching. If you can get your hands on some .ts or .m2ts raws these are usually the more or less untouched broadcast, i.e. with commercial breaks still included.
I personally don’t have a big problem with the Japanese approach as it at no point interferes with the show the way a popup at the bottom or breaks during the two portions do. Also, if you’re not terribly interested in rewatching the ED for every episode and can live without a 5-10 second preview, it only amounts to two short commercial breaks at unintrustive times.
Adding to this, quite a lot of the commercials tend to be anime related, i.e. about DVD releases, merchandise, games, magazines or other anime shows. It’s not all fast food chains and tampons.
In the time since I started working in “telly” (1996) I’ve watched advertising time slowly erode the space in which we have to tell a story.
Back then, the running length was a solid 22 minutes sans OP and ED. We never did eyecatches or next-ep previews, because the common wisdom was that eyecatches were unnecessary and previews were pointless since syndicators didn’t want the obligation of running episodes in order. But that’s old news.
In the time since, the length has been adjusted and re-adjusted several times, getting down as low as 18 minutes. Think of it; 12 minutes out of 30 devoted to NOT telling a story. One show I was on (can’t remember which one now; might have been MTV’s Spider-Man) drifted into the 17-minute zone but then drifted back out before too much damage could be done.
The most common format (which was already well-established when I got into the game) is to have 2 commercial breaks, which divides up an episode into three acts. A less common format (applied to several Nickelodeon shows) is a single commercial break dividing two self-contained segments. I can’t think of a single show that uses this format to tell one full-length story.
Anyway, this is why I boycott ALL anime on television no matter how alluring; my sensibilities run 100% against the reformatting of a show from single-break to double-break. First off, you can’t do this without cutting or compressing content, and secondly, it disrupts the flow of a story as intended by its creators. As for the network logos and on-screen promos during a show, I only have one word: unconscionable.
So as long as alternatives still exist, I feel no need to seek out my anime on TV.
That said, if anyone knows of shows that are NOT being tampered with as described above, I’m happy to hear about them.
Daryl, I don’t believe that you haven’t seen Desert Punk. Sunabozu does, in fact, turn out to be a bad guy, or at least a big asshole, in the end of the show.
Cute twist, but not really a good show.
Oh, thanks for reminding me about the new Cobra. If my Japanese was badass enough I’d try my hand at subbing it. But my Japanese isn’t good at all, so 🙁
For some reason I thought Straight Jacket was some kind of psychological thriller. I dunno why.
And I’d like to put forward that Yin (and all the resulting fanart of her trying to smile) was the best part of Darker Than Black. Well, Yin and the show’s storyboarding. The rest of it was horrible.
Daryl,
I just listened to the DX podcast on which you talked about Macross Frontier. How can you NOT like Ranka Lee? I’m sorry, but I’m going to have to respectfully disagree with you on this one. Ranka Lee is cute and lovable. Sheryl is a bitch and a slut.
Thanks for playing our promo guys. I can’t wait to grab a copy of the Black Jack manga. To elaborate on that Inspector Gadget comment, Gadget was never given a backstory to elaborate on this fact. Unless you count the live action movie. But who ever would do that?
I’ve also wondered why Orguss O2 wasn’t simply called Orguss Alternative…there is still a small link with the original, somewhere, but its one I’d rather forget because the show works much better without it. O2 definitely has more mainstream appeal, but Orguss had a certain charm…including an ending which made me brainstorm for a couple of painfully long hours.
Speaking of Toonami…at least you guys had a good decade’s worth of entertainment there. We only had the Toonami block around here for about half of that time and CN couldn’t decide what the heck to do with the thing before quietly killing it last year. I sort of envy you, but in a positive way.
Yay for the ATX love, definitely the superior SRW OG path.
I must watch Moyashimon at some point. Adding it to the endless list.
Lest I forget…Casshern Sins is awesome. It’s almost like Mega Man and Saint Seiya all rolled into one, except darker. And hopefully with a story that goes somewhere.
-NJ
Very entertaining show as usual. Thanks.
“Ranka Lee is cute and lovable. Sheryl is a bitch and a slut.”
Wait…were we watching the same show? As much as I want to start listing all the things I couldn’t stand about Ranka, I’d rather not turn AWO’s comment page into a Sheryl vs. Ranka flame war, so I’ll just say I agree with Daryl and move on to matters actually related to the podcast.
This fall’s crop of anime includes more quality than I originally imagined it would. Sure, you’ve still got your crappy fanservice shows (I’m looking at you, Rosario + Vampire; that catchy OP is wasted on you) and bizarre fansubbing choices (Eleven groups working on Tales of the Abyss and six on Toradora!, but none for Tytania and Hokuto no Ken? What the hell?!), but there seem to be some diamonds in the rough. Gundam 00 started its second season with a bang, Casshern: Sins is looking promising, and I remain cautiously optimistic for Ga-Rei -zero-. I just hope none of these shows go into train-wreck mode like Code Geass did.
Regarding the death of Toonami, I wasn’t all that surprised. I loved it for what it was when I was younger, but hated it for what it became. After we heard the news, my best friend and I watched all those snazzy promos (like the Outer Space one that Clarissa mentioned) that they used to air and soaked in all the glorious nostalgia. Ah, yes, those were the days when I watched DBZ, Sailor Moon, Outlaw Star, Gundam Wing, G Gundam, and Trigun; I’ll always be grateful to Cartoon Network for introducing me to those shows. What’s really sad is that Toonami might have been as good today as it was back then if it hadn’t been criminally mishandled. And now Adult Swim is suffering from similar problems. Brilliant!
Anyway, great work as usual, AWO. Gerald’s segment had me chuckling consistently throughout, Daryl’s segment gave me something new to check out, and Clarissa’s segment, as her manga reviews often do, left me wondering what the hell I just listened to. In a good way.
I just realized I said that Clarissa reviewed a manga, when it was actually a TV show. I listened to the whole episode less than 24 hours ago, so that should give you an idea of how crummy my memory is. All my comments still stand, it’s just that one of them makes me look stupid.
So what else is new!
dustin:
I agree with you and almost anyone else about Sheryl and I obviously agree about Casshern Sins too, so I won’t add anything else there.
Someone is actually working on Tytania, I hear, albeit slowly. Apparently it’s fairly interesting, beyond some animation oddities that don’t really matter for this kind of show, but I’ll check it out whenever something is out. I think someone has done a little work on HnK already, but I don’t know if that will continue.
But you know…even if it’s messy and rushed -which only a blind man would deny- I’d argue Code Geass is still better and, for the purposes of anime as a hobby, entertaining than many other things. I’d like to see more “train wrecks” resembling Code Geass and less being akin to the average Gonzo show. Which doesn’t prevent me from liking something completely different, by any means (say, I’m seriously about to start freaking Touch sometime this week/month…talk about a change of pace).
-Nj
“I’d argue Code Geass is still better and, for the purposes of anime as a hobby, entertaining than many other things.”
And I’d agree. If my previous post made it seem like I didn’t enjoy the show…uh…my bad. The second season may have blew any semblance of good and logical plotting out of the sky, but I’ll be damned if the resulting fireball of death and destruction didn’t look spectacular. It’s actually pretty impressive that Code Geass always managed to entertain me despite it’s many snafus.
Fabulous.
dustin:
Then we may indeed agree, for the most part…but actually, one real difference would be that I think there was some semblance of thematic logic at the very end of the entire thing (in other words, the ending was more fitting than people expected it to be)…even if that doesn’t overshadow a lot of the madness and hilarity of what came before.
-NJ
Trying to play catch-up as usual!
I guess I feel glad I don’t have any real interest in gaming anymore yet I had been interesting in getting a PS3, if only for it’s Blu-Ray capabilities.
Being reminded of having talked with Justin Sevakis over those ImaginAsian DVD’s, and being told they were still in talks about trying to re-release those a few months back, but I haven’t heard anything new since. The only Remi anime you’ll ever find would be a foreign language editions on eBay.
Being reminded of an extensive long thread over at Usenet about Toonami’s end with the usual questions being asked that had already been covered by you guys til the cows came home already, so I don’t have to address any of it, but to ask people to check out the previous podcast where AWO interviewed Steve Harrison about the differences between the anime industry in Japan and the US and the way things work. It explains everything with why things don’t always work the way we expect.
Being reminded of having noticed Dragon Ball Z was aired on a station in my hometown around Monday at 8:30AM or whatever, but I wasn’t around to seeing it as I was in college when it aired. It wasn’t until Toonami first aired DBZ was when I was watching that regularly. Toonami pretty much gave anime that push it needed in the late 90’s/early 00’s. Playing shows during that afternoon hours was effective and should’ve been kept.
Thanks to ‘scab’ for the rundown of the typical anime program template, as I wanted to give it a try to, but that is what differs from how the practice is being done here.
Then Tim Eldred chimed…
Back then, the running length was a solid 22 minutes sans OP and ED. We never did eyecatches or next-ep previews, because the common wisdom was that eyecatches were unnecessary and previews were pointless since syndicators didn’t want the obligation of running episodes in order. But that’s old news.
In the time since, the length has been adjusted and re-adjusted several times, getting down as low as 18 minutes. Think of it; 12 minutes out of 30 devoted to NOT telling a story. One show I was on (can’t remember which one now; might have been MTV’s Spider-Man) drifted into the 17-minute zone but then drifted back out before too much damage could be done.
Sooner or later it’ll be 14-15 minutes of no story, just you wait!
Anyway, this is why I boycott ALL anime on television no matter how alluring; my sensibilities run 100% against the reformatting of a show from single-break to double-break. First off, you can’t do this without cutting or compressing content, and secondly, it disrupts the flow of a story as intended by its creators. As for the network logos and on-screen promos during a show, I only have one word: unconscionable.
I boycotted TV entirely. I can't stand where it has gone to, and feel it needs none of my interest in it now. Those promo/watermark/animation deals have really soiled it.
The sameness that has occurred with cable TV is a joke too. Noticed or instance, some show on History Channel all about trucks roaming the icy roads of the Northwest Territories. What's historic about that? I guess if it had taken place 30 years ago, it would be, but not in the present day. Reality TV has brought down any real talent or creativity that could be put into good use when all they want to do is build another house for an unfortunate family a mile from my house!
And it's total ass when it comes to that magic number 52 they have to abide to as if it's economically unfeasible to go any further. Just as Clarissa stated, demographics come into play too much in how these shows are marketed and why it's a stigma that's hard to break. The only good consolation is the possibility that those execs will be dead in 10-20-30 years after the fact. Even then it would be too late to do anything but piss on their graves.
And yes, what Gerald stated is something I heard similar to what has been happening to British television in recent years where there is this concept that a child is grown up once he's 11 or 12, and wouldn't watch program specific to their age group as the industry has changed their habits dramatically over the past few decades. I can see that with my friend's kids now. One of the daughters already got scolded for wearing a tank top to a buffet we went to a couple days ago, thinking it was OK to wear one, since 'everyone's doing it'. All these kids ever watch is Hannah Montana, High School Musical and other Disney Channel drek that doesn't deserve to have the Disney namesake plastered above the title. When I was 7, I never even considered wanting to act like a teenager at all, but I see it in today's youth who think they need to look right, complain about their looks, or expect a school dance to pop up when they're still in the second grade.
Jetix is seen on Toon Disney, but from what I've heard, they're changing that channel to "Disney XD". Apparently, this will be a channel for boys since the normal Disney Channel is mostly watched by girls now.
I do think it's hard to admit that you still watch cartoons when you're of an adult age. I went through that period in high school where I wasn't sure if I should knock that or not, since it was the early 90's, we had MTV showing Liquid TV and Beavis & Butt-Head and I could still get away with that.
Apart from the promos Toonami did show like that "Space" one, this little gem popped up a few times…
I miss those days when cable TV was a tad daring or experimental with how things were done on it.
Sad about To Terra's low sales and what the guy ended up saying that put me in my place (the closet). Don't think anyone would scanilate Shin Takarajima anytime soon so we're stuck!
I hate to admit when I first saw "Jumping" and "Broken Down Film", they were both on the same tape compiled of animated short films produced in the 80's I found at a public library's A/V department, and was the first time the name Osamu Tezuka came to my mind as I hadn't heard of him before or seen anything he has done yet, but it made me interested in what else he did and to look for it. I guess I'm the minority for that sort of thing.
that was a fun Tiny Toons episode (though Bosko and Honey were nothing like what they drawn in it). To throw in a plug, the 6th volume of the Looney Tunes Golden Collection will be coming out soon, featuring Bosko and Buddy cartoons, the highly anticipated WWII material and seldom seen one-shots like Norman Normal!
Well that's all from me news-wise. Have to get back to listening to your reviews!
>>Eleven groups working on Tales of the Abyss and six on Toradora!
Toradora is a really good romance show that breaks through a lot of cliches in its first two episodes.I was expecting another light Zero no Tsukaima-ish fanservice romp (which is just fine) but instead I got a rather good, well thought out high school romance. So don't diss it.
Can we leave the Code Geass/Macross Frontier discussions out of the comments? They have nothing to do with this episode, and you can basically go to any anime website ever created to have a discussion about those crappy shows.
It’s a shame we aren’t seeing Raoh subs, but I’m glad we have Casshern subs. WHAT THE FUCK is wrong with the world when the new Cobra stuff is being overlooked? Seriously, the anime fansubbing world seems to be as deeply flawed as 95% of the anime industry itself.
Isn’t it illegal to write a dissertation within the confines of a comment box, Chris Sobieniak?
The Macross Frontier comments have reminded me that I forgot to post links to my guest spots on Destroy All Podcasts DX where we reviewed Macross Frontier. The post is now updated; please listen to those episodes and post all Macross Frontier discussion over THERE instead of here!
Isn’t it illegal to write a dissertation within the confines of a comment box, Chris Sobieniak?
Considering the average length of MY comments, I certainly hope not. For what it’s worth, I’ve never seen even a single episode of Desert Punk. I have however heard Dave and Joel talk about how bad it is, and they watched that entire show.
Toradora is a really good romance show . . . So don’t diss it.
Considering that romance is the crappiest genre of storytelling AND an unnecessarily large amount of groups are focusing their efforts towards fansubbing it while the shows I care about are being ignored completely, I think I will be dissing on it even though I’ve never seen it or even heard of it until it got brought up in these comments.
Color me surprised that Casshern Sins is as popular as it is. There were thousands of people downloading it by the time I saw it was posted, so that one just might be subbed entirely after all. I can’t help but notice how much girlier Casshern looks in this new one compared to before, but I kind of doubt that’s a significant factor here.
Another good ‘cast, guys (guys and gal? Youse people? whatever).
Don’t expect to ever see anything like the ImgainAsian disc thing to happen again. It was a good idea poorly executed, and that’s enough to scare the Japanese companies away from even thinking of it again.
The death of Toonami is more significant than anyone knows. It signals the death of the CONCEPT of a programming block that is the ONLY WAY anime can get a shot at ‘breaking thru’, at creating the next Gundam Wing or DBZ, that beloved, coveted weekday syndication Monday-Friday ‘strip’ slot of 3-5 PM EST. Yes, Toonami hasn’t been that for a few years now but in the TV world of ‘track records’ and ‘templates’ and ‘playbooks’ that is where it is linked.
If Cartoon Network had kept Toonami as a M-F afternoon block, and run One Piece there, it would be the hit that was expected. Case Closed would have done better. Long series NEED that kind of exposure. But of course it’s not about entertaining or anything like that, it’s all about numbers and demographics and market research and ownership and marketing and aftermarket income flow and blah blah blah. Anime stopped being of interest because it was thought it wasn’t providing these things, and it all ties to the pronouncement of Al Kahn stating that ‘Japan is over’ several years back now.
Because according to ‘track records’ and ‘playbooks’ and ‘templates’ Al Kahn had a BIG HIT with Pokemon so his words carry much much weight. ALL the other failures from 4Kids don’t matter. It’s like how Carl Macek can still ride the Robotech and Akira ponies until the end of times. ONE NOTABLE SUCCESS is all that matters.
(George Lucas/Star Wars ? Episode 1,2,3)
Gundam 00 running on the Sci Fi channel WILL NOT have the ratings that Bandai would hope for. It will NOT be Gundam Wing v2.0 in that regard, even tho it was specifically created to be exactly that. But it might be Bandai doesn’t CARE because they can take the placement and wave it in the face of the various Japanese investors that own Bandai stock and shout “LOOK LOOK it’s on AMERICAN TV in PRIME TIME we are the success BANZAI! BANZAI BANZAI!” and that helps them in some way.
Won’t do jack shit for the DVD sales I wager, and won’t create a burning desire for toys, models, figures…
Daryl, that bit about people spoiling the ending of a series when you mention you’re starting it, that’s just a continuing symptom of the ‘instant gratification isn’t fast enough’ world. Those people likely figure you WANT to know the ending RIGHT AWAY so you can judge how much of the show is ‘filler’ in getting to that ending. GOD DAMN will people SHUT UP about calling anything that isn’t exactly as seen in the manga (or other things) filler! I’ve seen people complain about ‘filler’ in 13 episode shows! THIRTEEN EPISODES?! That’s not even enough room for plot and chara development how can there be FILLER?! AAGGGGGHHH!
*pant pant pant* pass me one of them packed in a dead seal birds will ya? I need some energy…
The positive factors about MILFBlade were:
– main character / sex object was a woman and not a loli
– it aired uncut on IFC
I guess I’ll just throw in that I saw the first episode of the new Cobra. Pretty good, except for it has some absolutely horrible 3D CG. Like, even worse than in the Golgo 13 TV show (and there it’s not so bad)
It’s 2008, Japan. Why can’t you do 3D well yet? I mean seriously.
A slut? Really? Misogyny is hilarious.
I think those “pop rocks and soda” guys might have drunkdialled you.
Or they’re just hopped up on pop rocks and soda. And it’s three am.
And they’re like. . .twelve or something.
It seems as if all American television has given up on an afternoon cartoon block, not just CN. I think it was about half a decade or so ago that I read about networks cutting down or removing their afternoon cartoons because they weren’t selling.
So we’ll probably never see something like Toonami again, unless some channel has the balls to revive the afternoon cartoon.
Considering the average length of MY comments, I certainly hope not. For what it’s worth, I’ve never seen even a single episode of Desert Punk. I have however heard Dave and Joel talk about how bad it is, and they watched that entire show.
Thanks Daryl for not minding the way I write! It’s a nasty habit I can’t break out of too easily.
Then Steve went…
Don’t expect to ever see anything like the ImgainAsian disc thing to happen again. It was a good idea poorly executed, and that’s enough to scare the Japanese companies away from even thinking of it again.
“No, don’t go TMS! We can work this out, please don’t go! NOOOOOOOOOO!!!!”
If Cartoon Network had kept Toonami as a M-F afternoon block, and run One Piece there, it would be the hit that was expected. Case Closed would have done better. Long series NEED that kind of exposure.
Again, so many miss-opportunities for things to shine but hadn’t. And yes, I wouldn’t mind watching those shows if they had been at a sensible time of the day
But of course it’s not about entertaining or anything like that, it’s all about numbers and demographics and market research and ownership and marketing and aftermarket income flow and blah blah blah.
That’s it Steve, pour it on! Kids out here want their programs about obnoxious brats who think they’re adults and run things for a change.
Because according to ‘track records’ and ‘playbooks’ and ‘templates’ Al Kahn had a BIG HIT with Pokemon so his words carry much much weight. ALL the other failures from 4Kids don’t matter. It’s like how Carl Macek can still ride the Robotech and Akira ponies until the end of times. ONE NOTABLE SUCCESS is all that matters.
I guess in the end, Al got the last laugh after all.
Won’t do jack shit for the DVD sales I wager, and won’t create a burning desire for toys, models, figures…
Welcome back to the 1990’s!
YotaruVegeta said…
It seems as if all American television has given up on an afternoon cartoon block, not just CN. I think it was about half a decade or so ago that I read about networks cutting down or removing their afternoon cartoons because they weren’t selling.
I can’t remember the Big Three having cartoons on during the afternoons or was this back before the 70’s? Network affiliates might show something in the afternoons before talk shows and news took over those slots. It was typically indie stations that had those times (remember it often being 2:30-6:00PM where I was) for toonage and what-not, though you had the occasional ‘afterschool special’ from ABC or CBS.
So we’ll probably never see something like Toonami again, unless some channel has the balls to revive the afternoon cartoon.
When hell freezes over.
Wow, you certainly were right on about setting a “going off track” record. But nice job, as usual.
Yeah, Cartoon Network’s decision to phase out the anime makes no sense. I just saw a bumper on Adult Swim that said that Bleach was last Saturday’s highest rated show. Stupid.
As for the new anime season, I also hate how the one show I actually care about (Tytania) took forever to finally come out. By the way, thanks for informing me about the new Fist of the North Star series; I had no idea that even existed until you mentioned it.
By the way, Daryl, all comments about his girliness aside, what did you think of Casshern Sins? I thought it seemed pretty cool, albeit slightly confusing.
Networks, the nationals (NBC, CBS, ABC) never had a national afternoon kidvid block, that was always left to the local stations. When Fox was starting up, as one way to cement relationships with affiliates, they offered a pre-packaged kidvid block that negated the need for stations to go out one by one and make the deals with the various syndicators. 2 hours of afternoon programming with kickbacks from national ads AND the ability to sell local ad time? SWEET.
Rumor has it that the Foxblock on weekdays and Sat. did more to sell Fox to unaffiliated stations then the first couple years of primetime programming.
Of course there’s still cartoons running on CN during the prime kidvid timeslot, they’re just not anime, nor is there any real ‘destination’ to the block. Looking at my paper’s TV listings I just see a block tagged ‘Varied Programming’ from 3-5, so that means I guess they just run whatever’s handy…which means no growing an audience, no building loyality, no creating a DESTINATION for kids running home from school to watch the next episode of….whatever.
How about over at that other cartoon channel? Hm, something called ‘you pick’ on Nick. Which I guess means that only kids with broadband and computer skills have a voice, huh? Unless the entire ‘you pick’ idea is a sham.
Disney? ‘Varied programming’ until 7 PM.
They have ALL forgotten the goldmine of the afternoon kidvid time slot. Dismissed the potential.
Yet it was that time slot that created the Pokemon success. And Power Rangers.
Dragonball Z and Sailor Moon were DEAD because DIC couldn’t get broad afternoon syndication for them because the Foxblock and competing Disney Block were taking up the key afternoons in the main markets. left to wither and die at 6 AM. A kid can’t enjoy a show like DBZ at 6 AM, mom or dad is bugging them to eat, get dressed, get ready for school….but when CN got those shows for cheap and put them on Monday thru Friday after school…BOOM. Because that’s what kids will go for. something to look forward to at the end of the school day, and they can talk to their friends about the next day at recess. Pokemon, Power Rangers. Dragonball Z. Sailor Moon. The pattern is clear and obvious.
I think those programming heads are all just idiots anymore. Clueless idiots.
R-Gun’s where it’s at, guys. Metal-Genocider mode forever. Although with all this talk about SRW, I can’t help but bring this up. What’s with all the hate on Team SRX? Now don’t get me wrong, I like ATX a lot, what with Zengar Zonvolt and such. But still if you think about it, the real story in OG1 is follows SRX team more than it does ATX, plus there are some pretty cool characters there. There’s Masaki, Ryoto, and of course the totally awesome but asshole Ingram. I guess this kind of also evens out with OG2 being more focused on ATX, what with the main enemy being the same one that was in SRW Impact.
I think that they did the same thing with the two anime. The OVA was more ATX-fanservice, and then Divine Wars was to give the SRX fans time for their characters some time to shine. If they do decide to make an anime series for OG2, it would probably be aimed at ATX characters as well.
Steve has more wisdom to tell…
Networks, the nationals (NBC, CBS, ABC) never had a national afternoon kidvid block, that was always left to the local stations.
As early as I can remember, that was always the case. Though growing up in a smaller market, you often saw network affiliates showing the bulk of kids’ programming when no indies or other outlets were present. It was like this in Toledo up to the mid 80’s when we got ch. 36 up on running (though ch. 24 started out as an indie before picking up ABC in ’70, alleviating the need of the only two VHF stations in town from pick ‘n choosing ABC programming to show due to the lesser stations we had). I remember watching the usual Looney Tunes, Pink Panther, He-Man and the likes popping up on ch. 24 during the afternoons right after General Hospital or some soap.
When Fox was starting up, as one way to cement relationships with affiliates, they offered a pre-packaged kidvid block that negated the need for stations to go out one by one and make the deals with the various syndicators. 2 hours of afternoon programming with kickbacks from national ads AND the ability to sell local ad time? SWEET.
Rumor has it that the Foxblock on weekdays and Sat. did more to sell Fox to unaffiliated stations then the first couple years of primetime programming.
Interesting if that’s true. I wouldn’t have noticed a thing since FOX came into my life from day one, but yeah, it felt like a new chapter opened up when the new Fox Kids block showed up
Of course there’s still cartoons running on CN during the prime kidvid timeslot, they’re just not anime, nor is there any real ‘destination’ to the block. Looking at my paper’s TV listings I just see a block tagged ‘Varied Programming’ from 3-5, so that means I guess they just run whatever’s handy…which means no growing an audience, no building loyality, no creating a DESTINATION for kids running home from school to watch the next episode of….whatever.
How pathetic. I’ve seen similar messages on my cable box’s OSD too.
How about over at that other cartoon channel? Hm, something called ‘you pick’ on Nick. Which I guess means that only kids with broadband and computer skills have a voice, huh? Unless the entire ‘you pick’ idea is a sham.
Hardly paid much attention to what Nick does anymore, but I guess it’s all about conforming those to a set ideal that has to be acknowledged.
Disney? ‘Varied programming’ until 7 PM.
Seems like the entire day is that.
They have ALL forgotten the goldmine of the afternoon kidvid time slot. Dismissed the potential.
All those years I’ve spent looking up my paper’s Sunday TV section are gone. Used to get so damn excited whenever the Fall season showed up. 🙁
Yet it was that time slot that created the Pokemon success. And Power Rangers.
Something that’s hard to deny (though Pokemon at first was aired around 7:30AM or such where I am).
Dragonball Z and Sailor Moon were DEAD because DIC couldn’t get broad afternoon syndication for them because the Foxblock and competing Disney Block were taking up the key afternoons in the main markets. left to wither and die at 6 AM. A kid can’t enjoy a show like DBZ at 6 AM, mom or dad is bugging them to eat, get dressed, get ready for school….but when CN got those shows for cheap and put them on Monday thru Friday after school…BOOM. Because that’s what kids will go for. something to look forward to at the end of the school day, and they can talk to their friends about the next day at recess. Pokemon, Power Rangers. Dragonball Z. Sailor Moon. The pattern is clear and obvious.
I think those programming heads are all just idiots anymore. Clueless idiots.
Guess kids’ll have to get used to using those precious hours for homework.
I’m pretty sure that scene in Gunsmith Cats Burst, where a dehydrated Riding Bean begs Rally to let him drink her piss, was based on Gerald.
So, Gerald has achieved cosplayer nirvana, whereby his imitation of a character has surpassed the truthfulness of the character itself, and Riding Bean is now merely a depiction of Mr. Rathkolb.
🙂
Hey Chris, I wasn’t a listener when they initially talked Desert Punk, but they don’t even give anime they like a full look. I don’t think they watched all the volumes of Desert Punk.
I didn’t hate it, but it’s not like you’re missing a damn thing if you skip it. The art was pretty ugly, meaning the actual characters were ugly looking, even the “hot” women.
At the UK con, Amecon in August, United Publications still had a volume each of most, if not all the Imaginasian titles. So they might be worthwhile contacting for getting those titles outside the US. A bit pricey though, which is probably why they still had them. Had it been 20 quid cheaper I’d probably have got the Cat’s Eye set.
Another great show guys. Thought I’d tell you what I’ve heard about the whole gun pointing straight forward thing (from what I’ve learned working in the movie trailer industry). Basically post-Columbine the gun to the camera restriction started which is why also in movie trailers you won’t see them. Or if you do, it cuts RIGHT after or before the gun is level. Watch the trailer for the first Matrix movie, that’s one of the last times you ever saw guns pointing straight at the camera.
Loved that Clarissa did Moyashimon, I got a little yeast one sitting on my desk at work. I was kind of disappointed the show stopped being about microbes towards the latter half, but it was still enjoyable. I can’t wait for the manga to come out so I can learn more about microbes!
Just a correction, I’m the one Daryl has heard ranting about Desert Punk. Dave and Joel only watched the first disc. I watched the whole thing. I refused to let that show defeat me, but in watching the whole thing, I lost anyway. 🙁
More ramblings and bitching about the inner workings of television. . .
When I was animating on the second season of Kappa Mikey for Nicktoons, we were told there was no chance of season three, regardless of how the show was doing on the air. Kids shows can, in theory, be repeated over and over for a captive audience who has no problem watching just a small handful of episode over and over again. At 52 episodes over two seasons, Kappy Mikey had hit that glorious benchmark where it could be syndicated year round without repeating to a detrimental level. Outside of kid’s television, the benchmark is 100 episodes. Just as well that Mikey ended. . .
. . . but then the same thing happened when working on Little Einsteins, a super popular Disney preschooler show. As season two headed towards an end, there seemed to be no interest in continuing a show that they could rerun for free and still push tons of merchandise for. I can understand the realities of it, but it still sucks.
Plus, while I don’t think anyone here will be directly upset by this, I am hearing rumors that Nick Jr. will cease all animated product by 2010. No more cartoons for preschoolers. . . just live action shows like Lazytown. A disheartening trend across the industry is this backing away from animation all together.
Hey everyone, sorry it took so long but I’ve got some visuals from Moyashimon up! Enjoy the kiviak scene.
MCBurnett said…
More ramblings and bitching about the inner workings of television. . .
Spill it!
When I was animating on the second season of Kappa Mikey for Nicktoons, we were told there was no chance of season three, regardless of how the show was doing on the air. Kids shows can, in theory, be repeated over and over for a captive audience who has no problem watching just a small handful of episode over and over again. At 52 episodes over two seasons, Kappy Mikey had hit that glorious benchmark where it could be syndicated year round without repeating to a detrimental level. Outside of kid’s television, the benchmark is 100 episodes. Just as well that Mikey ended. . .
Probably.
. . . but then the same thing happened when working on Little Einsteins, a super popular Disney preschooler show. As season two headed towards an end, there seemed to be no interest in continuing a show that they could rerun for free and still push tons of merchandise for. I can understand the realities of it, but it still sucks.
Again, magic number 52!
Plus, while I don’t think anyone here will be directly upset by this, I am hearing rumors that Nick Jr. will cease all animated product by 2010. No more cartoons for preschoolers. . . just live action shows like Lazytown. A disheartening trend across the industry is this backing away from animation all together.
R.I.P. Nick Jr.
Not that I would care, though if I were working at Nick, I’d rather bring back this classic pre-school gem of my youth (for that time, watching anything animated on that show was worth it for it’s creepy foreign nature)…
I’ve just seen that kiviak footage, thanks Clarissa for giving me a reason to be thankful I wasn’t born up in Nunavut! ^_^
I wonder if there’s a trend of networks all over the U.S.
seemingly to get rid of ANY animation with even a bit of action of violence. Feels like it. Notice how Transformers has been made for a younger preschool audience (LA movie not counting).
At the same time I stopped caring if anything I want to see gets aired on national TV as I just spend my time watching the anime I want on DVD or torrents.
I apologize, first, for not getting those screen caps everyone, I’m sure, was so looking forward to, up earlier. I also apologize for getting these screen caps up in the first place since it almost turns this episode in to pornography, ALMOST!
CHRIS SOBENIAK STOP RESPONDING TO PARAGRAPHS WITH SHORT PHRASES THAT AMOUNTS TO LITTLE MORE THAN “ME TOO” BECAUSE THAT PRACTICE DIED WITH AOL.COM’S SUPERIORITY OVER THE INTERNET
RAAAAAAAGE
PS: PLANNED FAILURE MODEL