A podcast all about Japanese cartoons and comics as discussed by three self-proclaimed experts in the world of anime and manga! Plus anime news / reviews, coverage of classic anime, hentai / yaoi, and much, much more. Updated every week. We hope.
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It’s time, it’s time, it’s…GERALD TIME! The extra drawn-out Show 54 continues as a result of Daryl’s moving, so this week is Gerald’s review of Black Lion by the almighty Go Nagai. Egged on by Daryl’s solo recordings last week, Gerald follows suit.
Introduction (00:00 – 12:00)
In hoping to keep the pain to a minimum Gerald decided to read one viewer email. To talk about Kinokuniya Books, Gerald went to it in San Francisco about ten years ago and still has the exact manga anthology that he bought there sitting next to him. WHY? Well, because insanity is endemic in anime fandom and no other reason. Gerald also comments on the lack of anime music on iTunes and is STILL pissed off that the few songs he bought with free promotional iTunes money are lost to him forever in the world of iTunes Digital Rights Management. Also, Gerald reveals a big secret about himself in that he actually enjoys the Kingdom Hearts games, although, like the listener who wrote in, he’s not an “SUPER CRAZY INSANE FANFIC/FANART/YAOI Fan” and just enjoys them enough to borrow them. Also, as far as we know, there is no place to find all of Cyborg 009 in complete subtitled format and the closest thing to it is an Australian release of the very good dub, GOD DAMMIT SONY, YOU CAN’T STOP FUCKING UP CAN YOU!? He ends the letter segment with a commentary by R5 Central’s Mike Dent on the many times he’s been mentioned on the show.
News (12:01 – 17:54)
In the sexiest opening to the news that we’ve ever done (and also the most obscure ever, does anyone know where that strange MIDI track comes from?) Gerald talks about the recent death of one of the most recognizable composers in anime, Kentaro Haneda, with accompanying sexy music. The questionably unbiased AnimeTV is going to be shown on Comcast Cable. Of course, a video podcast, featuring a bunch of employees of Bang Zoom Entertainment, reviewing work by Bang Zoom Entertainment is, of course, going to be totally unbiased RIGHT!? Also, big surprise, there’s going to be a new Gundam TV series named Mobile Suit Gundam 00, which will be incredibly popular but will still be awful because the worst director working in anime is at the helm, Seiji Mizushima. A man who absolutely thinks he’s some sort of comedian when he’s not funny at all. No, the same joke for 52 episodes is NOT funny! It’s also being written by Yousuke Kuroda who is the most up and down writer in anime with the ability to write such amazing shows like Battle Athletes Victory, Magical Project S (probably the best Tenchi related thing done), and Ring ni Kakero, but then turns it all round to write utter shit like Please Teacher!, Panzar Dragoon (Gerald watched this show with an ADV voice actress who was embarrassed to find out later that what she was watching was something ADV put out).
Review: Black Lion (17:55 – 38:23)
Gerald came into Black Lion completely by accident when Clarissa got it free in the mail with a purchase from ADV’s website and Gerald traded for the Kenshin OAVs. Gerald is extremely glad he did so as Black Lion is quite possibly the best hour of insanity and destruction ever produced delivered like only Go Nagai can produce! The is the only show featuring cyborg ninjas/samurai, plasma bombs, time machines, fire bombs, stabbing, head crushing, missile shooting, fire spitting, beheading, head chopping (yes they are distinct), and Oda Nobunaga! What more could you possibly want! Screenshots to follow possibly.
Closing (38:24 – 39:23)
Next week, we’re not entirely sure, but it might be the all Clarissa episode, maybe, maybe not, we’ll see. Perhaps we’ll be back to the regular show, only time will tell.
In what will go down in history as the AWO’s darkest hour (it was Gerald’s idea!), this episode is entirely devoted to hentai. Daryl reviews the extensively surreal Kanashimi no Belladonna, Clarissa reviews the manga Pink Sniper by her favorite hentai artist Kengo Yonekura, and Gerald fulfills the dream by providing us with a highly-researched review of Urotsukidoji: Legend of the Overfiend.
Know that this special commemorative Photoshop was…shall we say, OFFERED to us (you know, Comics-One is no more and their entire release of this has been scanned…hmm, ideas are forming…):
Remember, it’s not porn if you don’t draw the dick. Ikegami = ALL CLASS.
Introduction (0:00 – 22:25)
In the emails, we’re told that there IS quite a bit of horror anime after all. It’s just that most all of it is either hentai or isn’t stuff we’d consider scary, such as Serial Experiments Lain or Paranoia Agent. Actually, it’s a total misuse of the term for American fans to call pornographic Japanese cartoons and comics “hentai” since that’s how you’d describe a person, but it’s not like it’s the first time that American anime fandom has taken a Japanese word and misconstrued its meaning, and it won’t be the last. We also learn that even American movie horror fans are mentally decimated by Waita Uziga’s manga. People have been watching Mind Game as a result of Daryl’s review, which leads to a grand dismissive of experimental cinema that is sure to cause the TRUE FILM SCHOLARS to turn their noses up at how primitive we are. So be it. Waking Life is still a crappy movie, and so is Garden State. Carl Horn calls in to reveal to us a brand new insight about the End of Evangelion that dawned on him as a result of our Moon Phase review. Somebody notify Aaron Clark!
Let’s News! (22:25 – 36:27)
Digital Meme is going to be releasing 55 of those really old anime titles from 1928-1936 which were recently discovered on DVD in a four-disc set entitled the “Japanese Anime Classic Collection” on April 30th. The all-region set is going to be $110, and it’ll include English subtitles (plus Japanese, Chinese, and Korean). Still, the influence these have on modern anime is tenuous at best, since these are from the silent era. Daryl is so totally not buying into this post on Conversations on Ghibli, but he recommends everyone read it anyway since he clearly just has an inadequate brain capacity. Perhaps aliens turned him into a Scotsman. More likely, he’s just living up to his Magic: The Gathering card representation as “The Purveyor of Violence.” There’s yet another “there’s gonna be a live-action Ghost in the Shell!” story going around, but not only did they already make The Matrix (it’s totally stretching it, but here’s a page comparing screenshots from both), none of these “live action versions of anime” rumors should be taken to heart unless shooting actually starts. Clarissa is not pleased with Hollywood’s trend of doing bad remakes and screen adaptations of stories that are excessively dumbed down or unnecessarily updated. However, she can’t wait to see how Napoleon Dynamite influences anime. We talk some more about Tokyopop’s impending release of the Twelve Kingdoms novels, which Daryl mentioned during his review of it. Hajime no Ippo actually did really well on TV in Japan, which makes its lack of popularity here in the US all the more tragic. Maybe if they didn’t release a 75 episode series one disc at a time…
Review: Kanashimi no Belladonna (36:27 – 1:01:30)
Daryl talks about the final film released by Mushi Productions, the third of the so-called Animerama trilogy. We could talk about this movie, but suffice it to say that this movie is made by one of the men who directed Odin: Photon Space Sailer Starlight, which is what we best associate The Nish with. Yamato? What’s that? Also, behold these clips from Belladonna NOW before Youtube takes them down and deletes our account for violation of its terms of use, though we say they’re more “mature content” than “pornographic”:
Assuming Youtube has not deleted those videos and removed our account, pat yourself on the back because you have now seen the best parts of this film. Gerald’s recollection was slightly off, as those are in fact RABBITS flying out of that guy’s butt, not fish. Fish are involved in a different shot.
Clarissa made a reference to Tommy Johnson, but Daryl’s only knowledge of him would be from O Brother, Where Art Thou?, and he only saw that once.
Art Nouveau — apparently that’s the style this moviefilm was supposedly done in
200, by the United States propaganda department – Daryl happens to know that the style shown here was REAL style Belladonna was done in. The name for this style is, shall we say, Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds-influenced. No, not the Shatner song! (The Beatles? Who are they?)
Promo: R5 Central (1:01:30 – 1:02:29)
Courageous mecha pilot/large black man (hint hint, ladies…though just so you know, PER HIS OWN ADMISSION, it’s a climax the moment he starts!) Mike Dent is not a number. He is a free man! Be sure to check out Episode 33 featuring special guest monologue by Daryl Surat! He’s got a special comment for tokusatsu fandom, and it starts around the 17 minute mark. CLI-MAX JUMP! ii JUMP! ii JUMP! Suge-JUMP! ii JUMP! ii JUMP! Suge-JUMP!
Review: Pink Sniper (1:02:29 – 1:25:04)
Man, you know this episode is trouble when the most normal hentai title being discussed is the one that contains cow people having sex. Clarissa throws her Magic: The Gathering card representation for a loop, since despite the fact that Pink Sniper is a porn manga from a female author, it’s not yaoi. Well, if you don’t count the sequel, anyway. Kengo Yonekura is one of Clarissa’s favorite artists, and part of that has to do with the fact that the guys have faces and aren’t just invisible aside from their peen. How are the people who buy this [guys] supposed to mentally swap out the guy for themselves if they can see his face?! Even regular porn knows not to do that! To the disbelief of all, this is commercially available in English thanks to Eros Comix, which is actually still releasing this stuff even after Dark Horse bought out Studio Proteus years ago. This is probably the only ACTUAL porn review of the show, and as such, Daryl asks THE TOUGH QUESTIONS~!
Yonekura Kengo’s web site – the site moved recently, so unfortunately her gallery is down at the moment, but you can still access her works listing.
You can order Pink Sniper directly from Eros Comix or from bookstores like Amazon; it’s cheaper on Amazon than most other places, but they don’t appear to have it in stock so it could take a while
Promo: Happy House of Hentai (1:25:04 – 1:25:27)
Lord Kaosu and Hello Kitty just hit Show # 50, so congrats are in order! Check them out for hentai reviews of…um, The Sims 2…and uh…Speed Grapher. And Dead or Alive Xtreme 2–wait a second, those aren’t hentai! All that Phantasy Star Universe Lord K’s been playing lately must have thrown him for a loop. Why, he’s even started up a PSU-only podcast. Curse you people and your…work ethic! You know, TECHNICALLY, we’ve released over 50 things too, if you count the stuff that wasn’t actually shows! Yeah, that’s the ticket!
Review: Urotsukidoji: Legend of the Overfiend (1:25:27 – 1:53:39)
Did Wesley Willis compose that music or something? Of all the segments Gerald has ever done, he has probably done the most research and preparation on this one, another winner brought to us by The Nish. Brought about by a request from Teleport City (Keith’s review of Overfiend is up, even though it’s not listed on the front page…WONDER WHY), this could have easily been half the episode on its own, what with Gerald’s Magic: The Gathering card representation and all, so a lot had to go for the sake of time, such as Daryl talking about how much he wishes this anime never existed, and that the existence of Overfiend is why he never really tells anyone that he’s an anime fan to this day, which doesn’t stop his cockblocking friends from chiming in with “you know, DARYL is an ANIME FAN!” which has since been upped to “you know, DARYL is an INTERNET CELEBRITY because he has a PODCAST about ANIME!” Swell, guys. Thanks for the help there. Anyway, what remains is the result of much editing and reorganizing, and that’s our official excuse for why this episode is a week late. Watch this space for what is sure to be a great deal of supplemental links.
Promo: Otaku Generation (1:53:39 – 1:53:53)
Dan “The Fan” is gone, but in his place is…A GIRL?! And…KYLE?! Wow, I wonder what he’s going to review after that extended hiatus brought about by being burned out from watching mediocre anime. Wait, E’s Otherwise? E’S OTHERWISE?! One of the more notoriously crappy shows in recent years? And he was looking FORWARD to it?! Yeah, we get the feeling that Kyle will be itching for another hiatus real soon. And while we all got copies of the first volume of Mechademia to review several weeks ago, Bryce actually beat us to the punch since a fan sent in a copy. Man. We freaking fail at the timeliness.
Closing (1:53:53 – 2:02:10)
Can you believe that this week’s episode is LONGER than the latest episode of Otaku Generation?! Special belated congratulations to Tim Eldred, whose graphic novel Grease Monkey has won the 2007 award for Best Book for Young Adults from the American Library Association. Plus, if you purchase the Viz DVD release of the Densha Otoko movie, it includes a commentary track by TV’s Patrick Macias, Most Dangerous Tomohiro Machiyama, and “Jay Tack.” Does japattack.com even get updated anymore? We’re not quite sure. Next week, we have ANOTHER astonishing idea, and this time it’s Daryl’s fault! For you see, next time around we’re not only going to review just Volume 1 of the title we’re reviewing as opposed to the entire series, but we’re also going to review things that we’ve never ever seen before and have absolutely no idea as to what they’re about! Chris over at ADV sent us a bunch of stuff to review as well as give away, and so Daryl’s got an advance review of Le Chevalier d’Eon (set for release 2/20), Gerald takes a look at Utawarerumono since he saw the preview for it on The Anime Network and thought it looked interesting, and Clarissa tackles Volume 1 of Nerima Daikon Brothers! Don’t bother spoiling the secret, since this episode’s actually already recorded and we just suck when it comes to editing. Namely, that we have to edit at all. All the smart podcasters never seem to need to do that.
