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After missing an entire month, we have returned. It seemed only fitting that after being that late on an episode, Clarissa review a series that’s entirely about doing precisely that: the recently concluded Shirobako.
Introduction (0:00 – 48:20)
It’s May, so to prove how timely we are we respond to not one but TWO emails sent to us in May…2014. One has to do with everyone’s favorite least favorite topic, bad anime for group viewing purposes. But the landscape has changed between when we first started this podcast NINE YEARS AGO and today. What’s the deal with Americans in anime (F YEAH!)? And why’s it so hard to represent anime online without coming across as a freak, anyway? Why doesn’t anime seem to be truly integrated into the modern geek monoculture? The answer requires we don glasses and start drawing incomprehensible flowcharts on a chalkboard. At some point we recount our times at Florida Anime Experience 2015 as well as Clarissa’s guest appearance on the Pseudo-Random Podcast for anime/manga. Actually, her episode isn’t out just yet. BUT SOMEDAY.
- Here’s a 90 minute video of the Anime Podcast Summit at FAE 2015, as recorded by the mega-popular Anime America Podcast. Also features the Anime Addicts Anonymous Podcast, the Ass Backwards Anime Podcast, Gundamn! Anime Podcast, The A3K Network, and Blackstar Anime. Oh, and we’re there too, but we’re audio people in an era of video. Find out who everybody considers a god-tier waifu and perhaps even who’s a trash garbage-tier waifu!
- The Adventures of Butthurt Anime Fan is the most accurate depiction of the state of American anime fandom in 2015, and a lot of people can’t handle that…MILADY
- Otaku USA Magazine Spring 2015 Discount – $14 for a one-year subscription, available in either print or digital, for those who want to read our reviews of things that are generally more current than what we talk about on the podcast
Review: Shirobako (48:20 – 1:26:19)
It’s anime about making anime, only this time nobody’s being bloodily murdered at their desk and the mad automotive races to the studio contain sick drifts instead of Shonen Bat. GO EAT KRISPY KREMES, YOU KRISPY KREME MOTHERFUCKERS.
- Watch Shirobako on Crunchyroll – that’s the legal option if you’re in the US
- Shirobako’s Glossary
- Shirobako’s Real-Life Counterparts – this is a partial set, there are more
We don’t know what the next episode will be about, but it will definitely NOT be about R*botech. The less we talk about that, the better a chance it can cease to exist. Warner Brothers is already helping us along in this aspect, as the official website has been offline for the last three weeks. THANKS, WARNER BROTHERS! PS: go see Mad Max: Fury Road also known as Doomsday 2: Fury Road, which is shaping up to be one of this year’s “Daryl Surat genre” films.
It’s the return of the one true animu podcast!!! Praise the lord.
…and by “the lord”, I mean Daryl of course.
…I like G-Reco, and it seemed pretty clear to me what was happening. [PLOT SUMMARY REMOVED] it all has to do with how some folks are trying to get something beyond the SDF in Japan, along with nukes. I think folks just need to stop playing Farmville or whatever and pay attention. Then again, I like Brain Powerd.
To better clarify what I was trying to say, as that snippet doesn’t make too much sense without the plot summary stuff the way it is written (or maybe it didn’t make any sense beforehand): the main thrust of G-Reco has to do with the Shinzo Abe’s attempts at expanding the Japanese military into something greater than a self-defense force. In addition, there’s an increasing desire by some groups in Japan for the nation to acquire nuclear weapons, and that comes into play in the show’s plot, as well.
You mentioned the historical angle in, “Ip Man” being an excusable reason for featuring Japanese villains, as Chinese films so often do.
In fact, any real “action” Ip Man saw during the war was against Chairman Mao’s forces; Ip Man fought for the Kumintang. Little details like that are chipped away when big money is at stake!
And yes, Hong Kong film is long dead. Dead as a doornail. Sure, there are still plenty of Hong Kong / Mainland joint productions but those come with all the restrictions / bullshit one would expect when working with the mainland.
To clarify, Hong Kong is still free to make films that bash the mainland or to make films that are uniquely, “Hong Kong” . 2010’s Gallants comes to mind; they chose to slash the budget in half and abandon any attempts for a mainland release so they could have complete artistic freedom. But, given all the money to be made….
Well, bye-bye Hong Kong, it was nice knowing you!
I wish Tintin was fucked up (you can still say it’s batshit racist if you’ve only read “Tintin in the Congo”).
https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/2f/10/ae/2f10ae573697b169da10545e2dee0c02.jpg
Given the few Simpsons refs, the one where Krusty showed an Eastern European cartoon to a vacant audience reminded me so much of what anime fandom is to me.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UinqvbAm0xM (Not the obvious clip, but this best describes it)
The real problem is that there’s a section of this country, a rather small one, that simply have an interest in something that’s not normal, at least, not something that has mainstream potential, and it never was. I felt that way a lot over the stuff I saw growing up outside those mainstream outlets (before cable TV became that in the 90’s). I miss those weird days in the 80’s when weird animated stuff would appear in between movies on Showtime. That stuff never got any respect at all, and so didn’t Japanese cartoons. I suppose it’ll never change.
Never heard of “Shirobako” before, but now I may have to check it out. Neat there’s a caricature of Yasuji Mori i this, that guy never got any respect in life I feel (glad he wasn’t around when Moe became a thing). His animals certainly had appeal nobody who calls themselves “Otaku” could appreciate. I’ll always miss his pointy-cheek ruffs he gave the wolves in those “Grimm’s Fairy Tale Classics” episodes.
http://www.pelleas.net/mori/
http://www.anido.com/people/41?lang=en
Because I have no life, I’ll bore you guys with my thoughts on “Free Comic Book Day”.
First off, I don’t really believe in it, yet I bothered to motor my ass to the nearest comic/RPG shop only to find they had three titles left (and this was before noon), and they didn’t have Secret Wars #0 at all, so I missed out on the Attack on Titan hype I wasn’t even anticipating at all (if they had that book there). I suppose had I bothered getting there and standing in line before they opened I would’ve had a shot but I don’t want to be those guys who do that, you understand. This is just simply me being a casual person and wanting to get what was left anyway, not really knowing what there was ahead of time nor caring to know but I was glad I was told to take one of each, I think the last time I was there (2012 or 2013) I could only pick one.
Here’s what they had…
Marvel Free Previews: Secret Wars
DC Comics: Divergence #1
Boom Studios: Ten Year Celebration Sampler
They’ll simply go in my stash and be forgotten like the rest.
Thinking of the review this time, the last episode of the “Golden Boy” OVA comes to my mind right now, I have a cel from one scene in it I loved of the studio boss going insane after finding out what happened to the director.
You know, the cute schoolgirls shows have really been into foreign characters lately.
Hanayamata tried, but “Hana N. Fountainstand from New Jersey” needs work. But Kin’iro Mosaic (a not so funny comedy that keeps laughing at its own jokes) is getting pretty advanced, they’ve even made them speak Japanese with an accent and have long subtitled conversations in English.
The characters are all very typecast blonde blue-eyed weeaboos, though, so it’s only trying so hard.
The reason why all the Shirobako guys can keep their jobs is because it’s impossible to fire people in Japan.
The thing I really liked about the show was that it showed how people working in anime aren’t that different from typical salarymen. All the social dynamics are the same, and the lives the characters lead outside of work (cheap drinks, cheap conbini dinners) are eerily similar to my own. It’s very relatable.