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Show 75 with our special guest Ryan Gavigan concludes with the news segment, Gerald’s review/summary of Riding Bean, and Clarissa’s review of Yakitate! Japan.
Let’s News! (0:00 – 33:47)
The news was like, a month out of date when we recorded it…months ago! So we recorded an addendum to it…like one month ago! So yeah, there’s this guy named Chris Handley. You know, the guy who got busted because customs inspected a package of manga he bought from Japan and declared it mad gross. We still have no idea what manga it was he bought. Some people say it is “the gay,” as stated by the ugly freckle face girl in Transporter 3, but radicals like Carl Horn and Jason Thompson wrote some cool things on that one website about what this all MEANS, maaan. You know, the one with the news…what was it? Oh yeah, Anime Vi–no wait, the site they and we steal all OUR news items from. Oh yeah, Anime News Network.
In other news, Gonzo is cutting down on the amount of bad shows they make each year to only about four or so bad shows a year. Also, anime studios in Singapore are being all like “I’M A COMPUTER! STOP ALL THE DOWNLOADING!” Again. And which will be more dire: Dragonball Evolution or Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li? You know what? It doesn’t matter. Stop talking on and on about live-action anime adaptations. We don’t care. ADV is resurrecting their porn/quasi-porn line to GET PAID, YO, and Funimation posted an episode of Sgt Frog dubbed to Youtube, the localization of which is…different from the original.
For some reason, they’re making some Maria Watches Over Us in 3-D. Also, Hajime no Ippo: New Challenger is out. In fact, why are you listening to this podcast? You could be watching more Hajime no Ippo right now. Even though the music’s different and they just might be playing up the gayness factor in a cynical grab for more viewers. You could of course read the manga, since much like Black Lagoon and Monster it’s more or less identical. But you won’t hear the jet engine during the Dempsey Roll, and the jet engine is the most important part. The final news is that our interview with Kazuko Tadano and Hiromi Matsushita (whose name we couldn’t remember!) that we did at Otakon will probably never get posted since the audio quality is so terrible. A pity too, since we learned the secrets of Crystal Triangle!
Promo: ANON Podcast (33:47 – 34:42)
It’s short for ANime ONline Podcast! It was formerly the Anime and Television in Toronto Podcast, but then they realized that now that The Shield is over and Prison Break is ending, there’s no reason to watch television anymore. Jack Bauer may be fighting the goddamned Candyman, but it’s hard to care when you know that ZOMBIE TONY is around the corner. He may have got shot…IN THE NECK…but he also crossed Robocop. And even though that was only a little less dumb than David Palmer, it’s…oh right, this podcast. They tend to cover more recent fansub-only titles if that’s your thing!
Review/Synopsis: Riding Bean (34:42 – 1:32:08)
It would be faster to just WATCH Riding Bean! This segment will probably not go down in history as our finest hour, as we were all driven insane by the pizza. Pictures forthcoming.
Promo: The Japan Xperience (1:32:08 -1:32:36)
It’s a good thing they spelled the URL for me in the email, because they didn’t actually spell it out in the promo. Who would have guessed that there was a second “i” in there? Not me! Fortunately, you did the smart thing and read the show notes, so now YOU know too! These guys actually live in Japan, and their show’s largely about Japanese music. Say, we’ve heard some of that!
Review: Yakitate! Japan (1:32:36 – 2:01:21)
This is a cartoon that applies the shonen action/adventure formula to baking bread combined with outlandish Mr. Ajikko-like food hallucinations. You now have all the information you need to decide whether or not you wish to watch this cartoon.
I could certainly add a great deal of notes with screenshots, and bread reactions and such. But perhaps all I really need to include is the second ED credits that so mesmerized Gerald.
Closing (2:01:21 – 2:07:19)
The next two episodes of AWO were actually recorded quite some time ago; Show 76 was actually recorded a few days before Christmas 2008. Next time, Gerald’s reviewing Shootfighter Tekken (the manga of which was partially released in the US under the name Tough), Clarissa’s seriously actually for real this time reviewing Part 4 of Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure, and Daryl is reviewing Hirohiko Araki’s single greatest work, Baoh the Visitor. This was originally held off for over a year in the hopes that Dave and Joel would do it, but they ignored the pleas. The gambit has paid off.
Hey, how can I be a faggot if I draw tits?
But at least you mentioned the release of Guy and Lyon Flare.
Careful Vinnie, or people might start commenting on your blog.
and i did do that Twin Spica review too quite a while ago now as well. it was very comprehensive and great, but since only two people in my living room heard it and it wasn’t being recorded, you’ll just have to read a synopsis later
Gerald, for the next hentai themed episode you must, MUST review Guy Double Target. Even if the second ep sucks, the first one has more crazy shit that a review will be longer than the show itself (like the Riding Bean review).
Haven’t seen Riding Been yet, but it’s on the things to see list.
I can’t believe you said Blassreiter was boring. How many anime have Barack Obama and a handjob in it? Granted, Obama wasn’t receiving said handjob, but all the same…boring?
Dude! Lucky & Wild!
What you failed to mention about Riding Bean was all the LOLI. I guess you mentioned the naughty one, but you didn't talk about how cute the other one was. That is the most important part! Actually, it really isn't, but Riding Bean is the greatest show because it mixes all of my favourite things together into the most awesome forty-five minutes ever put to film. I was blown away when I first saw it, and I still get blown away time and time again on each re-watch! It's that good!
I would also happily welcome another season of Strike Witches (which I maintain is really good, and would be the best show of 2008 if Kure-nai didn't air) but you know that already.
Linebarrels isn't so bad either. It's good cheese. Pizza cheese.
In excitement after hearing the rambling review-like segment I’ve dug out my old Animeigo VHS of Riding Bean.
Watching it again on the same TV/video combi as I did when I was much younger and just getting into anime is like magic.
Thank you, AWO, for helping me rediscover this little nice thing.
I don't get what's making Funimation so big all of a sudden. Really, their catalog is so bland. Now they're going to rerelease a bunch a shows that mostly weren't that big the first time.
BTW Riding Bean has been released on BD in Japan. There might be encodes but it doesn't matter as my iMac is clocking 7 yrs old and hates the high bit rate format.
wildarmsheero-Yes, Strike Witches was a fun show, although my favorite anime of 2008 was the unloved Today in Class 5-2 TV version (TV version>OVA version, sorry).
I can’t believe you guys actually think the Street Fighter Chun Li movie is gonna be shitty. I say it’ll be mediocre at best getting enough money to make another one.
To me if you’ve ever watched Hong Kong action films, the trailer basically showed the the tone that this movie is going for.
Also, a friend of mine got a letter from Aniplex telling him to stop downloading Birdy The Mighty: Decode. That’s probably the one company Clarissa was thinking about.
The best part was that he dropped the show, and didn’t even watch the episode they sent him a letter over :v
Am I alone in not giving a crap about the yaoi-up-for-trial debacle? I know a lot of alarmists getting worked up and presenting it as some sort of horrific freedom issue, but no one really knows jack squat about the details of this guy’s collection. And donating some money for a guy whose particular situation you know NOTHING about is not only stupid, but a little GAY.
What if there are extenuating circumstances that no one knows about? With all the people in the US downloading lolita porn, would you please stop and consider that maybe there’s more to the story? That’s definitely a possibility that this guy is pure 100% scapegoat victim, but I wouldn’t bet my left testicle on it.
ANYWAYS, the gayest thing on my computer is JoJo and Grappler Baki, so I still don’t care.
I hope you’ve seen Saijou no Meii/THE WORLD’S BEST DOCTOR, which is apparently what that guy really wanted to make while he was doing Yakitate. I can’t read it because the medical kanji are way too squinty.
I know your review of the Shootfighter Tekken OVAs will be awesome, and I’m sure you guys will make reference to the Riki-Oh live action movie and animated OVAs, but I just want to point out that the Riki-Oh manga by far is superior. Everyone should read the scanlations. In that same vein, the sequel manga to the long-running Shootfighter manga is fucking awesome. Everyone should read those scanlations, too (available as “Tough”).
Yes, I can’t wait to hear the shootfighter tekken review. Haven’t watched it myself since the only DVD avaliable here (in Australia) is a really crappy looking release that was released by some other company than madman, should’ve bought it online though ah well.
Speaking of Tetsuya Saruwatari, thanks to AWO I now own all of the manga for Riki-Oh, Dog Soldier, VIZ released Tough, 4 volumes of the sequel to Tough, the 2 volumes of Tough Gaiden and some other Saruwatari manga called Abare Bonya. I should’ve bought the volumes of Dokoro I saw at BookOff as well when I was in Japan last year but decieded to hold off… ah well.
Can’t wait for the next episode! Tetsuya Saruwatari + Hirohiko Araki should be fun.
Anonymous, please understand that Mr. Handley hasn’t been accused of anything other than buying manga, and to me, a prison sentence for buying manga fits the definition of a horrific freedom issue. In this particular case, it isn’t about what they are drawings of, but the simple fact that they are…drawings. I want justice to be done, and this simply doesn’t seem like any kind of justice to me.
I think freedom of speech also means that people have every right, if they so feel, to denounce a drawing, protest a drawing, make fun of a drawing, or refuse to publish, sell, or buy a drawing. Free expression doesn’t mean you’re obligated to respect the expression; you might hate that expression. To say that someone shouldn’t go to prison over a drawing isn’t the same thing as saying you approve of the drawing.
But going so far as to actually send someone to prison over a drawing–in the absence of any other charges or accusations, which again, have not been brought–is, in my view, pointless, and cruel. For that reason, I believe the alarmists, the ones who are getting worked up, are those who brought this case against Mr. Handley, not those who are defending him.
–Carl
I do really like Yakitate Japan, which I was introduced to by a friend of mine about 2-3 years ago.
I have to say though, I really felt the last episode of the anime was incredibly rushed. Besides that it is still awesome, even though it made me think croissants tasted really nice (although that might be because of the bakery I bought it from…)
I actually do kinda want to see the Dragonball movie in the cinemas, just to see how awful it is. I ALMOST watched the Resident Evil movie while I was in Japan, but decided on watching 20th Century Boys instead since I decided I’m not that much of a RE fan to begin with (didn’t regret that choice).
honestly, I didn’t really like the ‘Yakitate 9’ final arc of the series as much as the rest of the show. It was good, but it definitely seemed to drag a little more. a few bizarre Gems like the crime family sucession subplot and such, but a bit tedious for a wrapup arc. Perhaps a tighter, shorter story arc to finish would have been better.
Bean Bandit = Robocop
SHOOT HIS CHIN!!!
I will definitely watch Riding Bean now after listening this podcast. If one takes time more than the OAV itself lasts to describe it, then it most be an interesting experience to watch.
According to ye olde liner notes:
“Buff the Roadbuster is a completely customized vehicle, based on a Porsche chassis and a Corvette Stingray engine block (either ’71 or ’72).”
It is entirely possible to fit a big block Chevy engine into a Porsche 928. A 928 with a crazy body kit. And sideways wheels. And f’n SPIKES.
Why the black and depresing layout guys?
My long-suffering husband has many time had a volume of Yakitate Japan shoved under his nose while I dizzily explain just how hilarious the pun is. Sometimes I think I detect a note of indulgence in his chuckle. (I do this a lot with Gintama, as well.)
I really, really love the moment in the second tournament when Kawachi faces off against the the baker who’s fighting for his mama. I love Kuroyan in the battle, but I really love how devastated Kawachi is that no appreciates how cute and ingenius his crab bread is.
I enjoyed the episode as usual, and I’m reminded why CB once called Ryan anime fandom’s fifth most eligible bachelor. (CB was eighth on the list.)
Okay, I clearly need to download Yakitate! Japan and force my roommates to watch it with me.
Also, I would have bought Monster when I went to Borders to take advantage of their closeout sale, but alas! The manga was nowhere to be found. In fact, I don’t recall seeing Monster in any bookstore I’ve gone to in Arizona. If they hadn’t had a few volumes of Trigun Maximum, that trip would have been a bust for me.
Finally, I must raise an objection to the title of this episode. Morgan Freeman starred in Bruce Almighty as God, so I’m pretty sure he CAN be everywhere at once.
I know that you ragged on me for being excited over ADV’s DVD release for Guy and Lyon Flare but really that’s like the only things I want from them (also they’re rereleasing Mazinkaiser which I missed the first time around. Now I hope Getter Robo Armageddon gets rereleased too).
And yes, I want people to post on my blog cause I admit to being an attention whore.
(Gotta establish my nerd cred or it’s gonna bug me all day.)
Sonada actually did explain Bean’s scar at some point. I think he told Rally in one of the GSC issues that he got it when an engine block exploded in his face while he was working on it.
…you just knew it was gonna be car related, didn’t you?
wildarmsheero –
Yes, Aniplex was indeed the company I was thinking of. Not sure why my brain refused to supply that during the recording.
Carl –
I am basically with you completely on this. Maybe whatever manga he has are pretty awful, and people surely have every right to object to that material or judge him personally based on his affection for it. But uh, jail is a bit much.
elizchris –
Oh, the adorable crab bread. Yeah, poor Kawachi never did get any appreciation for his hard work on that.
As to the black layout, anonymous, it was an accident but we didn’t particularly feel bothered to switch it back.
Okay, so who put the fake Yakitate ending in the shownotes ?
Who the fuck is that in the photo tag!? Looks like the hunchback of notre dame!
I wanted to see the first half of Guy, cause i have the second oav on vhs.
I really really really enjoyed the whole Riding Bean segment. It felt like I was in the room with you guys, just gassing away.
I’m surprised nobody recalled that little character bit when Rally came into Bean’s apartment, where in a surprise bit of ‘domestication’ she tried to neaten up the place a little, picked up Bean’s coat and almost fell over, because the thing seems to be a mix of leather, kevlar and chain mail, maybe even with titanium ‘critical area’ plates. I seem to recall it even clanked a little when she almost dropped it.
I believe Corn Pone Flicks addressed things such as this in their ‘Foreshadowing’ short.
From what I can recall (and as soon as I finish this tape of Space Pirate Captain Harlock I’ll pop in my RB tape and check) the highway scenes were pretty much ripped from ‘The Blues Brothers’, because I’ve marveled over that unfinished overpass and how it looks the same now (finished) every time I came in to Chicago driving on I-80/90 from I-94..
Also, in the discussion about Bean Bandit, not ONE SINGLE PERSON mentioned Bruce Campbell?
REALLY?
Wouldn’t surprise me at all if Sonoda had Bruce in action and some of that ended up in the creation of Bean.
Wow, when I’m wrong I am really wrong. There’s no ‘Rally picks up Bean’s jacket’ in Riding Bean. Where the hell was that? was it in the Gunsmith Cats manga?
So, I r dumb, Daryl can now point at this and mock me as he tries to do often.
Other points: I got the firm impression that Rally lives in the same building as Bean, right next door likely. It’s meant to be an ‘odd couple’ riff, she so neat and organized, he on the couch because that’s just good enough.
Yes, Rally has her CZ-75
Man, I do wish all the crap with Artmic and Youmix and Toshiba/EMI hadn’t gone down, I think I would have grooved on more Riding Bean.
*gaaaa* could you IMAGINE what it would have been like had ADV tried to fund a revival series in the late ’90s? oy!
I’d like the black on white blog theme back please.
>>the highway scenes were pretty much ripped from 'The Blues Brothers',
Yeah. There's one cut of animation that looks completely copied from the movie. Not like there's anything wrong with that, The Blues Brothers is great.
Okay, so who put the fake Yakitate ending in the shownotes?
Unless somebody edited something and then replaced it while I wasn’t looking, then that’s the real ending.
Steve –
I’ve seen Blues Brothers multiple times, but I guess I either never saw RB enough times or never watched them closely enough together to notice the lifted car chase parts. Thanks for pointing it out!
Clarissa:
I think the main reason I noticed the highway stuff is because of all the years I spent driving to Chicago to buy my anime magazines, whatever cool manga I might see and other Japanese books and crap at Yaohan, now Mitsuwa in Arlington Heights.
That stretch, where i-94 splits to I-80/90 and the Skyway and all that, it just leaps into the front of my brain because it was a key decision point, guessing which route would be less f-ed up by traffic at that time of day.
Never saw a truckstop or ‘overpass island’ that had rollerskating waiteress, however….
Also, re-watching the tape, I do wonder if, had Riding Bean continued as a series of some sort, if Carrie would have become the Minnie May to pale Rally.
“Unless somebody edited something and then replaced it while I wasn’t looking, then that’s the real ending.”
It seems that you have a gremlin there, or something, cause thats exactly what happened. There was a different clip before with some moe song tacked on the right video.
Well, either gremlin, or you’re just afraid to admit you made a mistake and posted wrong clip. 😛
You mentioned Studio Gonzo, I think it may very well be a good job that they are dropping their production since some of their shows can be really awful.
Although I do like what they are doing in conjunction crunchy roll. I can watch Kurogane no Linebarrels for free (I know it’s a trainwreck but it is quite entertaining and I don’t have to pay for it now :D)
Riding Bean. I meant to write Riding Bean. That oily mind altering pizza infected my brain through my mp3 player.
Question for you guys about the Yakitate Japan manga: since the jokes usually revolve around puns, do you have any idea how well Viz’s translation pulls that off? Because when the scanlators are just explaining all the jokes it kinda ruins it.
So yeah, back in the day when I did those AMV things. I made this crap.
Thank you for making me regret throwing away my old Riding Bean VHS copy. :C
Daryl has set a new bar with the line, “Silence is taken for consent, just like THE CASTLE OF CAGLIOSTRO.” I did a spit-take, and wished my that mouth had been full of kerosene, for that line deserved also a tribute of fire.
I’ve only listened through the RIDING BEAN review thus far, but I agree that it can be a good introduction to our little medium. For two years in the early ’90s, I ran the anime room at Rice University’s gaming event Owlcon (to which Rice alumnus Steve Jackson lends quiet support). This was mainly an excuse to pass out dubious program books made in Aldus Freehand, such as the one with a letter to attendees from newly-minted VP Al Gore, claiming that watching anime was “a challenge to America’s youth.”
I had an odd idea of what made for good intro anime—my program consisted of stuff like the first PATLABOR movie (Dave Fleming’s SVII fansub), OTAKU NO VIDEO, THE MYSTERY OF MAMO, ROBOTECH III: NOT NECESSARILY THE SENTINELS. And, of course, RIDING BEAN. I asked one attendee what he thought of it, and interestingly, he didn’t compare it to THE BLUES BROTHERS, but instead, 48 HOURS.
I saw the RIDING BEAN dub under very bizarre circumstances in April of 1994, during what was essentially the last week I ever pretended I was still a college student (this is why I relate to the KUROSAGI hang-out-on-campus ethic so much). I’ve wanted to do a doujinshi about that week for years, but apparently not enough to draw more than two or three pages of it ^_^
I don’t want Gonzo or any company to focus on western tastes. The medium has already been comprised too much for us.
The moe and fanservice stuff is here to stay baby!.
There may sometimes be a fine line between Western influence and Western taste. Growing up, my favorite anime TV show was LUPIN III, which doesn’t strike a foreign viewer as being Japanese in the same way, say, an anime set at a Japanese high school does. I would never dis my man Goemon, but years later I realize he had the ironic effect of making everything else in the series that was Japanese seem less so by contrast–since he was a fucking samurai.
But I would like to see more anime that can be enjoyed by otaku, yet isn’t designed just for them. Nostalgia towards shows meant for boys may be a less troublesome devotion to youth than moe, but neither takes on the work of actually making anime for grown-ups.
For a minute there, I thought the name of ADV’s new adult line was called “Happy C__t”, glad to see it wasn’t, though I wonder why they couldn’t bring back Soft Cel anyway?
The Kid character in Yukitate Japan sounds a little like a cross between Alfred E. Neuman and Dr. Tran.
Shame I’ll never know the secret of the Crystal Triangle. Damn you guys, damn you all to hell (no really, I mean it)! ^_^
Gerald, you might (or might not ^_^) be interested in a new manga that’s out there: “The Manzai Comics” Vol. 1 from Aurora Publishing. It has an offbeat Sonoda connection: the artist, Hizuru Imai, is a longtime contributor to Sonoda’s doujinshi MEGATON PUNCH (originally called CHOSEN AME). In fact, she’s often the first contributor in each issue, prefacing her story with a drunken argument (Imai is big on the alcohol) with Sonoda over that issue’s theme.
It was Imai in fact, I believe, who invented the “blackout panel” in manga, a device to show you at what point exactly in a story the character stopped remembering events. Hizuru Imai also has the greatest name for a homepage ever, “H no ato ni I ga aru” (“After H comes I”).
–Carl
Being reminded of the Rally’s Hamburgers reference in this episode. We’ve had that in Toledo for nearly two decades, but I can see where the Rally’s and Checkers names may confuse some given which market has either, yet they usually sell the same things like Big Bufords. Those Peter Chung ads were killer!
You guys should really do a Gunsmith Cat’s review of these days as well, the manga of that along with Riding Bean are really what got me into this whole anime/manga thing so I’m glade it’s AWO approved.
You might like this: http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b136/ApexFFspec/beanbanditdemotivational.jpg
Yes i did this, and i think it needed to be done a long time ago.
Oh yea you dont know me, hi there. Bottom line, I love Sonoda stuff, pretty much one of my goals in life to see pretty much everything thing he has worked on (both good and bad). Right now, im really into Gunsmith Cats. I mean really, whats the hold up guys, you might as well have an hour long review of the manga and anime, but theres alot to say on the manga. Im accually just catching up on anime that ive had seen a while back and listening to the reviews on those, great stuff.
Yea, get on that GSC you slackers… geez…