Anime World Order Show # 62 – Playing Catch-Up Before Videogames Ruin Us All

It’s catch-up week for all of us. Daryl’s going back and reviewing the remainder of To Terra and Gerald’s reviewing the rest of Hakugei and Vol 1 of Xenosaga. Clarissa’s belated AWA report was split into a separate bonus file that we uploaded prior to this.

Show notes in a bit. Actually putting in the pictures and links that we said we would? That will probably take longer.

Introduction (0:00 – 38:08)
The audio for this segment is probably a bit lower than usual, but oh well. In the emails, we follow up on what’s going on with Singapore and the Odex situation (of course, since we’re so out of date, matters have further developed still). We also receive admonishment that there’s a fine line between self-deprecation and self-loathing, and hear about what anime fandom in Scotland is like. A question regarding our thoughts on Buddha and Hellsing Ultimate leads into a discussion on attention spans and how the storytelling pace of longer anime series versus shorter ones is affecting fan opinions. The catching up begins as we weigh in on the Anime Bento theatrical anime showings from several months ago, and we wrap things up with a poem courtesy of Patrick from the Podcast Ping podcast entitled “What’s with the Moe?” On the subject of catching up, episode 8 of Lather’s Blather is out after months of waiting. Do be sure to listen to Jeff’s Robot Carnival review, since Daryl totally forgot to say a single thing about the still images in the end credits that sort of explain where the Robot Carnival came from.

The record will show that if we were all about monetizing AWO and growing it into a media juggernaut, this intro segment would have been an entire podcast episode on its own.

Promo: Just Push Play (38:08 – 38:37)
The professionally-produced promo should clue you in: Just Push Play is a podcast made by people who are professional radio folks that know more about radio and podcasting stuff than we ever will. It’s about all the things Daryl wastes his life involved with: videogames, anime, movies, comicbooks, conventions, TV shows, and even pro wrestling and MMA! We marvel at their masterful usage of magical Internet technology, what with their forums and chat rooms and Myspace/Facebook/Livejournal communities. When AWO first started, these were among the first folks we asked to listen to us and give us pointers.

The record will show that we acted upon none of their advice, even though all of it was excellent.

Review: To Terra Volumes 2 and 3 (38:37 – 59:52)
When this was recorded, Daryl had been awake for about five minutes prior. Nevertheless, he soldiered on bluely to cover all the things he wasn’t able to say back in Show 51. Could there really be any worthwhile content presented here that wasn’t already done? IT IS AN ENIGMA.

DOO DOO DOO DOO!

Review: Hakugei Legend of Moby Dick (59:52 – 1:16:51)
Gerald finally manages to finish watching this series which he started watching nearly two years ago for his review back in Show # 4. Having watched it all and had this much time to think matters over, he gives his final thoughts on this sci-fi retelling of Herman Melville’s book that, while boring, is still not as brutal as Billy Budd. And Billy Budd was only like, 75 pages long.

Cavemantom actually sent us that voice mail forever ago, and most of it was to complain about the one time we ran a fan-submitted review, so we trimmed out that stuff and just left in the sycophantic bits that we crave so much.

Closing (1:16:51 – 1:21:27)
For our penultimate bit of catching up, we offer up Gerald’s initial impressions of Xenosaga: The Animation based on Volume 1. It’s not a full-on review, but we’ve got to do something to justify all this stuff people keep sending us that we aren’t reviewing! As for next week? You want to know what’s coming up next week (provided it gets edited in time)? We’re not Nicolas Cage in Next, but if we’re anything, we’re Mr T circa Rocky III. And our prediction? PAIN. After nearly two years of restraint and sporadic outbursts, the Anime That Sucks floodgates have been opened! Daryl’s hitting you right between the eyes with Dog Soldier: Shadows of the Past, YOU DON’T DESERVE TO HEAR Gerald’s review of Machine Robo: Revenge of Chronos, and Clarissa has something so deadly that–much like MD Geist–it can’t actually BE reviewed, merely summarized. Fine, so Dog Soldier is also like that, but she’s delivering God’s message by means of the Crystal Triangle. Normally, any one of these titles would make for a crown jewel centerpiece to cap off an episode, but with so much power amassed in one place, we’ve enlisted the help of a special guest, Totally Lame Anime’s keymaster and gatekeeper Neil Nadelman.

But don’t get TOO excited. We didn’t make a single joke about the posse. “Neil’s posse is so big they walk in twos; they’re gettin’ dirty looks from those other sucker crews” –Carl “Rollin’ with Nadelman” Horn.

Anime World Order Show # 61 – Another All-Mecha Episode To Scare Away Listeners

Are we deliberately trying to get people to stop listening to us? Not only is this episode late, it’s also nearly three hours long. THREE. HOURS. LONG. Why, just think of all the OTHER podcasts that you could listen to in the time it takes to just hear this one. Ones that you actually LIKE. Or the music you could listen to! And it’s the moment you’ve been dreading: another all-mecha podcast! Gerald reviews Space Runaway Ideon, Clarissa tells us about Gravion, and Daryl might need a helping hand with Godannar. Huh huh, huh huh.

We TRIPLE DOG DARE YOU to listen to this whole thing. Hmm, Christmas isn’t for another month and change. We should have waited before escalating to that level of dare.

Show notes? As in, something you could use to maybe, NOT listen to nearly 3 hours of our monotone droning voices? Ha! I bet you’d like to see that, wouldn’t you? Well, here you go. Not interested in what we’re talking about (perhaps as a result of hearing Destroy All Podcasts ST not be able to hate on us because we bored them too much)? Just skip to the part you like. Listening on a portable MP3 player or something else where you can’t easily fast forward? Just hit Pause or Stop or Delete or whatever once you’re bored. Don’t worry, we won’t be angry.

Introduction (0:00 – 30:37)
Nothing turns anime fans away faster than by talking about Gundam, right? Boy, 30 minute “introduction,” huh? How many emails do you suppose we answered in that 30 minutes? Seventy five? Fifty? Try ONE. That’s right. One email.

Let’s News! (30:37 – 48:27)
In an attempt to make the news segment more timely, we’ve decided to record this long after everything else, once the rest of the show is edited entirely. Hooray for Vertical Inc! The one hour block of Gerald starts here, ladies!

Review: Space Runaway Ideon (48:27 – 1:21:49)
Don’t forget to use that voicemail number! Following the news segment, it’s only fitting that we play a voicemail about the anime industry and its IMPENDING DEMISE. Gerald pops our Yoshiyuki Tomino cherries by reviewing a series that along with Minky Momo and Cowboy Bebop might just have the most spoiled ending in all of anime. Too bad everybody’s wrong since they didn’t actually see the show. OR ARE THEY? We’re too busy scoping out that SWEET afro to tell.

Review: Godannar (1:21:49 – 2:06:11)
Full disclosure: the remainder of this episode of AWO is brought to you by Chris Oarr from ADV Films, who sent us this stuff to review eons ago. Before the carnage unfolds, Daryl saw fit to play a voicemail near and dear to his heart, guaranteed to freeze any heart solid even if it was just exposed to a dreadful Hugh Grant romantic comedy. Anyway, this show is…well, we’re probably going to need to resort to pictures. WATCH THIS SPACE.

Promo: R5 Central (2:06:11 – 2:07:44)
It’s not REALLY an R5 Central promo since the entire thing is just a fake movie trailer that Mike created after being inspired by Grindhouse. Still, Mike “accepts Death Proof for what it is” yet denies that “what it is” is “a boring and crappy movie/extended Kotex commercial with god awful characters and a boring, tedious car chase.” Therefore, he is no friend of ours.

Review: Gravion/Gravion Zwei (2:07:44 – 2:37:23)
Whenever Godannar is mentioned, Gravion must also be mentioned! Clarissa fields this one since once Daryl found out that the character in it named Sandman did not perform drunken ladder sentons, he had no interest in watching it. Listen on, and bear witness to Masami Obari’s resurrection from obscurity. For Daryl, Masami Obari ceased to exist after the Fatal Fury Movie. Gerald, by contrast, owns all of Angel Blade and its sequels.

Closing (2:37:23 – 2:48:22)
Review Legend of the Galactic Heroes, huh? What if we spent several hours talking to people who were diehard LoGH fanatics instead? Regardless, that’s something on our ever-expanding “to do” pile, and so next week we try to make some headway on reducing that a bit. Daryl’s going back and reviewing the remainder of the To Terra manga as well as the new anime series, while simultaneously creating more work for himself by reviewing Volume 1 of Andromeda Stories. Volumes 2 and 3 aren’t out yet. Gerald’s finally going back and giving his final thoughts on Hakugei: Legend of Moby Dick now that he’s seen the entire series, and Clarissa’s got the honor of spearheading our Anime Weekend Atlanta convention report. With any luck it’ll come out faster than the Ninja Consultant one!

Instead of doing full-on reviews of single-volume titles, we’re going to TRY and just talk about them at the end of the show. Gerald actually started this off by talking about Xenosaga the Animation Volume 1 in Show 60, but we forgot to actually put it in the episode. For Show 61, Daryl gives a quick overview of the Blu-Ray release of the Dragon Ball Z: Broly Double Feature. So a three hour podcast where we talked about Gundam, Tomino, super robot shows, and DBZ. This will no doubt be the most reviled episode of AWO ever.