Anime World Order Show # 167 – Beating Multiple Dead Horses Enhanced By Cybernetics

It’s October now, so that does mean we missed September. To make up for it, Gerald has elected to review something thematically appropriate for the Halloween month by doubling up and reviewing both the 1985 Vampire Hunter D as well as its sequel, Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust from the year 2000.

Introduction (0:00 – 47:08)
Now that Daryl is back from Anime Weekend Atlanta where he had to do four panels, has turned in his Otaku USA writing assignments, and his spoiler-free review of Fist of the North Star: Lost Paradise is now up on the Anime News Network, there is once again time to do this podcast. The AWA trip was nearly a disaster since everyone in Florida but Daryl canceled, but thankfully a contingent of the Third Impact Anime podcast crew who went straight from a trip to Japan to a devastating hurricane to Anime Weekend Atlanta (where they not only had a Super Happy Fun Sell table but also collectively did something like 13 hours worth of panels) were able to fill the hotel room we’d reserved. We’ll likely be doing a guest appearance for them soon. In the meantime, Daryl was a guest on the Blade Licking Thieves podcast to discuss an Ebola-caliber topic for which zero cohosts of AWO as well as zero cohosts of Blade Licking Thieves were willing to discuss: the intersection between Japanese animation and professional wrestling fandom.

Over in the emails, with a new season of anime having just gotten underway, we discuss the viewing habits of modern anime fans, how they became that way, and what might be done to make even an incremental adjustment to the practice of “watch so many simulcasts that there’s no time to watch anything else.” As you might guess from the timecode duration of this segment, it takes a while and extends off into multiple tangents, as we are prone to do.

Promo: Right Stuf Anime (47:08 – 49:53)
There are only a few days left to meet the stretch goals for the Emma: A Victorian Romance Blu-Ray Kickstarter, the final of which is to dub the second season, so if you’re keen on Kaoru Mori you’ll want to take a look at that. In addition, the license for The Rose of Versailles has expired, so it’s been removed from streaming and the last remaining DVD inventory is on clearance. Get the entire 40-episode series for $22 instead of the usual $80, because once it’s gone it’s not coming back.

Review: Vampire Hunter D (49:53 – 1:27:06) & Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust (1:27:06 – 2:04:59)
Since Daryl had already written an article on how vampire anime is mostly terrible back in 2009, reviewed the re-release of the 1985 film back in 2015, and can’t remember if he reviewed Discotek’s Bloodlust Blu-Ray but probably did, Gerald elects to take point on this extended two-for-the-price-of-one review segment. The original Vampire Hunter D theatrical-length OAV from 1985 marked the beginning of an era, and 2000’s Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust marked the end of an era. Blu-Rays are still in print for both the original as well as Bloodlust, though if you want the old Streamline Pictures dub for nostalgia purposes you’ll have to track down the 2000 DVD release from Urban Vision, which does include some extras that weren’t replicated for the current releases. Note: please do not pay $75 for that DVD like that one goof is trying to charge; though it’s long out of print, you should still be able to get that DVD for roughly $10. Daryl checked after the recording, and you can indeed just sync their dub up with the Blu-Ray video if you are so inclined.

Closing (2:04:59 – 2:06:12)
Next episode will be out in just a few weeks, since the Christmas promise must be fulfilled: we’re going to reunite with The Internet’s Mike Toole to talk about yet another robot series written and directed by Yoshiyuki Tomino: Gundam Reconguista in G. If you want to listen to the previous episode with Mike where this promise was made as we were talking about Brain Powerd you can do so here to mentally prepare yourself.

Anime World Order Show # 163 – This Episode Appropriately Delayed Due to Severe Rainstorm

In this episode, Daryl and the gang review 2010’s Rainbow – Nisha Rokubou no Shichinin, a show about criminals for which the biggest crime is how overlooked it remains. With the timing of this episode, it is likely to remain that way.

Introduction (0:00 – 30:34)
We didn’t actually get much in the way of new emails between the last episode and this one, so rather than do the responsible thing and simply read one of the thousands of existing emails, we elected instead to give our impressions of the currently airing anime season. The problem was that we recorded this one day into the new season, so most of the top favorites had yet to even start.

Promo: Right Stuf Anime (30:34 – 33:53)
It’s not just for videogames anymore; one-day flash sales are all the rage over at your favorite anime/manga vendor as well! All the better to encourage us to check the site every single day. Alternatively, if you listened to our review of Mobile Suit Gundam 00 and concluded “I must own this in its entirety!” (as many do), you’ll want to get your preorder in before September since you’ll save over $100.

Review: Rainbow – Nisha Rokubou no Shichinin (33:53 – 1:18:06)
The 2010 series Rainbow was one of those shows that everybody who watched it through loved it, but virtually nobody was willing to watch; a critically acclaimed flop. Fans at the time didn’t want to watch a show with so much objectionable content whose cast was pretty much entirely guys that focused so heavily on their deeply-forged bonds of friendship…but perhaps in 2018, all of these things are selling points! Hey, it could happen; people are watching Legend of the Galactic Heroes now! Alas, the streaming rights for Rainbow expired long ago and it was never released on home video in the US, so your only option is fansubs and (partial) scanlations for this one.