Podcast: Download (Duration: 58:05 — 26.6MB)
Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | RSS
We missed another month because Gerald changed his mind on what he wanted to review. So rather than have another Spriggan on our hands, have THIS review instead of the recently-concluded (for now) Land of the Lustrous!
Introduction (0:00 – 20:05)
Oh hey, we’ve done some stuff since the last episode! The June 2018 issue of Otaku USA is out, where Daryl reviewed DEVILMAN Crybaby, Pop Team Epic, Mind Game (the text of which you can read online here), and interviewed legendary voice actor Toshio Furukawa! Daryl also wrote a piece on Anime News Network, Thirty Years Ago: The Best Anime of 1988 which you should totally also check out…and then you can read his review of the Blu-Ray release of Robot Carnival when you’re done! Speaking of ANN, we updated our Guest Spots listing with our most recent appearance on the ANNCast. Hey, can that count as our February episode? No? Darn. In the emails, we go over some panel preparation advice regarding the sourcing of video clips, which is basically all that we do because we have to watch through enough PowerPoint presentations at work as it is.
Promo: Right Stuf Anime (20:05 – 22:15)
The Anime Madness sale is underway, in which 32 titles are currently on sale. Fan voting determines what stays and what gets eliminated, and so even though we feel confident that several of the brackets are rigged to ensure the most coveted items remain on sale the longest, THERE’S NO TELLING WITH YOU PEOPLE so get in on that while the getting in is good!
Review: Land of the Lustrous (22:15 – 58:05)
It’s not typically the AWO style to be reviewing something that’s so recent and so currently the “in” thing among anime fans, but three months is an eternity in anime fandom time! Maybe it’s been sort of forgotten about? In any case, this is a spoiler-free overview of the series for those who did NOT pirate the ever-lovin’ crap out of this series, since during its airing it was behind the now-defunct Anime Strike paywall. As we predicted another volume of the manga did just come out by the time we got around to posting this. It’ll be a while before the anime is released in the US on Blu-Ray/DVD, but for now the manga is available to purchase here. You can also buy digital editions courtesy of Amazon, and provided you have Amazon Prime you can watch this very anime on there as well!
These days, since I’m well past my anime fan expiration date, this show is one of the only connections to what’s happening in anime I keep up with, and have kept up with since you started in 2005. Thus, until listening to this episode I’d never heard of Land of the Lustrous, but you’ve convinced me to check it out. I’m going to plough into it sight unseen, as Gerald’s descriptions of the visuals were very enticing.
Despite my love of anime being severely diminished, I still crave more good new shows, but everything lately leaves me feeling empty. There’s only so many times I can re-watch Kill La Kill.
You often mention “Guru Guru Fairies”, but I can’t find any show by that exact name. Does it goes by some other name as well? Is it even on MyAnimeList? [We’re saying “Guda Guda Fairies” which would be listed on Crunchyroll et al as “gdgd Fairies”; a not quite as great spinoff named gdgd Men’s Party is currently airing, but we reviewed the original series back in Show 113. –Daryl]
Sure, they are non-gendered aliens from space made of rocks………… but they just HAD to look like attractive anime girls, right? 😀
This is a serious question in regard to discussion beginning around 9:35: if a scanslation group is motivated to translate and letter a certain manga because they feel that no one is going to officially publish that title in English, have they considered trying to *be* the ones who officially publish it? In other words, contact the Japanese license-holder with an offer to produce a version of the manga in English themselves, that would then be available through a digital distribution platform?
Manga are such a vast field, with such a huge “back catalog” of good, interesting, enjoyable titles that the current English-language publishing companies couldn’t possibly release more than a small fraction of them. But it’s possible, even for one person or a small group, to change this at least a little; there is plenty of room for new publishers to enter the field and help to develop it further. It’s perfectly fine to try to start with a single license; if you look at the last decade of manga publishing, in fact, you can find instances of small firms here and there who released non-traditional or offbeat manga.
Unlike most Marvel or DC characters, which are owned by media conglomerates, manga-ka typically own their work, and this includes having a veto over whether it gets licensed or not. Some are actively enthusiastic about the idea, some don’t mind, and some, on occasion, say no (and in some instances, this is why a manga hasn’t yet been licensed in English). But the positive side of that is when you get the license, you know that means the manga-ka approved your proposal. And to do proper business with the Japanese license-holder means you’ve achieved more than just an English version of a specific manga—you’ve achieved that, *plus* you’ve just expanded the manga industry a small but real bit, through your own efforts.
Some people might feel uncomfortable at the thought of expressing their love of manga, and the desire that more people appreciate it, through choosing to become part of the “industry.” But why not? If it’s a scanslation of a pro work, that means the manga-ka created the story for the industry; it was serialized by the industry in a magazine before being collected by the industry in a tankobon.
The “industry” is a business, but it is also a network of relationships, of personal commitments and trust (or else people won’t do business with you for long), built up by many, many different people over the years, and since the 1980s, foreigners have become a part of that network, gradually helping to expand it around the world. By choosing to do your work within that network, you are becoming an authentic part of that development, extending new relationships with, and for, the Japanese manga tradition.
I am very, very happy, joyous even, to know that this show is so beautiful and gorgeous-looking.
However, in the classical Gerald fashion, i havent heard even three sentences on the topic of what the hell that show even is, and why should people care. Two sentences may even be a stretch. Typical Gerald.