Conventions – Page 44 – Anime World Order Podcast

Podcast: Download (Duration: 2:16:01 — 62.3MB)

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It’s our glorious 50th episode! Gerald reviews Megazone 23 Part 1, Clarissa’s got Princess Tutu, and Daryl rambles about Macross: Do You Remember Love? for nearly an hour. Judge for yourselves whether we condone bootlegging/are as bad as Coultergeist.

The loudness levels might be a little weird this episode, but hopefully the clipping is minimal. With any luck, everything is still intelligible.

Introduction/News/Contest Announcement (0:00 – 41:03)
Reintroductions are in order, even though we aren’t exactly in order ourselves. In the emails, the emails, what what, the emails: we get more speculation regarding why anime companies don’t publicize much in the way of numbers, respond to allegations of spreading hate speech, reveal the truth about THE TRUTH, and try to find out whether we have any favorite anime genres or not. We don’t have any news really, but Patrick Macias (as seen on television) aka MD Patrick has been named Editor-in-Chief of the upcoming print magazine Otaku USA. The first issue comes out in June, but we have a SHOCKING REVELATION about the content of this publication that you can find out by listening right now!

On the subject of conventions, we were asked to mention this before April 1st, and because we doubt that the next episode will be out before then, so we’ll mention it here. On Sunday April 1st from 1:00 PM – 5:00 PM, Zenkaikon is holding a nerd prom! Yep, it’s their Spring Formal and it’ll be held at the Valley Forge Scanticon in King of Prussia, PA (that’s where the Otaku Generation podcast guys are based out of). Actually, it’s semi-formal, but there is going to be a King and Queen voted on and chosen by attendees, and nothing says King Of Nerd Prom better than winning Best Buy gift cards. Like all nerd proms, it does cost money to attend, and while registration closes in five days, there’s special pricing for AWO listeners. And by “listeners” I mean “readers”: $23.00 flat for the formal (even if they’re not attending the convention itself in October). $33.00 to combine the formal and registration. Mention us by name and get $1.00 off admission! Think of it this way: you’ll be getting access to a full Asian buffet including dessert!

Oh yeah. If you’ve got a con or event or something you want us to promote on the air (like how we didn’t just do), let us know and we’ll work something out. Also, if you’re reading this and you buy things from Right Stuf, write in “Anime World Order Podcast” in the “how did you hear about this site” field since they seem to think we actively encourage bootlegging. If enough people do that, it’ll be a good joke. Still, it gives us a contest idea. Listen to the show and find out what it is!

MIKE TOOLE’S SEXY MAN-VOICE (41:03 – 42:40)
We’re probably too lazy to give timecodes for the voicemails, but since Mike Toole’s sexy voice out-sexies them all, we figured you’d want to know about it. If you couldn’t get enough after hearing his rendition of the Moon Phase theme song, he’s got more vocal stylings in store for you here.

Review: Megazone 23 Part 1 (42:40 – 1:02:22)
Yes, it’s pronounced “two three” and not “twenty three.” Just ask someone who legally changed their name to Megazone that I think listens to this show even though he’s never written in. This is a really important feature-length OAV as far as American anime fandom is concerned, as it served as a “gateway anime” for many people even though you don’t usually hear it mentioned much anymore. Gerald invokes the statute of limitations regarding spoilers on this one, but this one was always more about the SUPER DUPER 1980s-ness of everything than the plot itself so don’t let that stop you from listening.

Promo: The Greatest Movie EVER! Podcast (1:02:22 – 1:02:53)
Paul Chapman is a resentful shell of a man on the grounds that his movie ideas are completely wrong roughly 1/3 to 2/3 of the time and he does not have a sexy voice. Also, his mom gets all the fan mail. But just so everyone listening knows, that was his weak arm.

Review: Princess Tutu (1:02:53 – 1:25:35)
Aaron from WARP calls in to mention how much better Clarissa sounds now with the new microphone, but perhaps the fact that Daryl not only uses the Levelator but also the Audacity beta Leveler tool on top of that since he forgets that he used the Levelator invalidates any such improvements. This one’s a semi-recent magical girl that’s an awful lot like Revolutionary Girl Utena in many aspects, but unlike Utena this totally didn’t catch on in the US despite positive reviews, and that’s a shame. We speculate as to why that might have been the case, though perhaps the split reactions among us with regards to this show sums it all up.

Nothing Remotely Resembling a Coherent Review: Superdimensional Fortress Macross: Do You Remember Love? (1:25:35 – 2:09:22)
Megazone 23 Part 1 may best encompass the 80s look, but this movie, which incidentally featured much of the same staff, best encompasses the 80s anime spirit. Daryl knew full well that he could never put together a proper review of this, since the Egan Loos of the world that know the exact missile capacities of the fighters would have his head, so he opts not to have done any research or taken any notes before speaking. The result is a segment that by itself is the length of most typical podcasts. Normally we don’t bother with this approach, but this is Show # 50 and, more importantly, this is DYRL we’re talking about here. Since this movie will not be seeing a US release any time soon, here is a BitTorrent link.

Otaku may not necessarily remember love, but at least we can remember that once upon a time, we weren’t all dead inside. Listen and perhaps you’ll find out why.

Closing (2:09:22 – 2:16:01)
Next time, Daryl’s going to try and do some more things he’s weeks/months late in doing by discussing Megacon 2007 and also reviewing To Terra Volume 1, released by Vertical Inc. In addition to that, Clarissa’s reviewing Animation Runner Kuromi and Gerald’s reviewing The Venus Wars. Our sidebar has all those podcast directories as well as our contact information in the event you’re interested in that stuff.

Podcast: Download (Duration: 1:39:39 — 45.6MB)

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There are officially too many good videogames coming out right now, but we resist the urge to slack off just barely. Daryl talks about The Twelve Kingdoms, Clarissa gives us her thoughts on the first few episodes of both Death Note and D. Gray-Man, and we somehow manage to talk about our experiences at Anime Weekend Atlanta 2006 in 30 minutes instead of 2 hours.

We were going to write in the rest of the show notes, but these videogames aren’t going to play themselves, okay?! Well, the ones that aren’t Final Fantasy 12, anyway.

Introduction (0:00 – 23:28)
We’ve got three copies of Full Metal Panic: The Second Raid Volume 1 to give away, courtesy of Funimation. It’s simple: just email us your name and address (and while you’re at it, include some feedback about the podcast!) and then we’ll choose the winners at random from the entries we receive by the 16th or so. Actually, the 16th is Thanksgiving, isn’t it. Eh, whatever; we’re otaku who live in isolation. To us, Thanksgiving is just another day! If we were smart, we’d choose the winners randomly from the people who’ve added us as favorites on Podcast Pickle, but we’re not. Oh yeah, and we answer your emails: somehow, discussion on Rumiko Takahashi turns into discussion on Akira Toriyama. No wonder Keith Allison sent us this:

The Anime Expo 1993 opening animation

Let’s News! (23:28 – 31:49)
We talk about Vertical’s licensing of the manga Terra E or Toward the Terra by Keiko Takemiya the writer of some shonen ai stuff, HOWEVER Terra E is NOT shonen ai. Gerald is furious with the movie because his VHS tape of it died five minutes before the end forever depriving him of knowing the outcome. Production IG is also continuing the 70’s robot show Raideen which was remade previously in ’96. Also, Japanese companies are not being paid on their licenses, perhaps because they’re insane on their licensing costs.

Promo: R5 Central (31:49 – 33:14)
Mike’s just a little despondent over the news that the Wachowskis are going to be the ones making the upcoming live-action Speed Racer movie. The GAIM promo was originally what was in this space, but then everything got thrown into disarray when we heard that Rym and Scott pronounce it “Gee Aim.”

Review: The Twelve Kingdoms (33:14 – 53:49)
Daryl summarizes it this way: it’s like Fushigi Yuugi. Only it doesn’t suck. This was another excellent newer show that was pretty much ignored by the vast majority of anime fans, which is a crying shame because it’s awesome. If you’re into epic fantasy tales of political intrigue, this is the show for you.

See this map? MEMORIZE IT. There will be a test later.

Long straight red hair is second only in superiority to long straight black hair. Someday all the “redheads” of the world will have red hair like Jennifer Garner’s in the first episode of Alias.

This is why The Twelve Kingdoms succeeds where Fushigi Yuugi and all the rest fail. NO CRAPPY ROMANCE STORY.

Anime News Network’s entry for The Twelve Kingdoms – come on otaku, Aya Hisakawa is the voice of the main character! And it’s got Takehito Koyasu playing the role he always plays! In fact, there’s a lot of famous seiyuu in this, so you Hitoshi Doi types HAVE to watch it now!
Twelve Kingdoms Encyclopedia of Terms – both in English and Japanese; the index page is a 404 so I’m just linking to the “K” page because there’s a lot of entries there and it inspires dread
Incomplete fan translations of the novel which picked up where the anime ended: The Shore in Twilight, The Sky in Daybreak Vol 1, Vol 2 – too bad the translation was never completed

Early Impressions: Death Note and D. Gray-Man (53:49 – 1:04:11)
By listener request, Clarissa’s gone ahead and checked out some of the new shows currently airing in Japan so we can talk about something new for once. Here’s what she thinks so far about these two anime adaptations of popular Shonen Jump series.

This is Allen Walker. Observe, you can tell it’s the Victorian era by his stylish Black Jack ensemble.

This is Allen’s parasite-type anti-Akuma weapon, aka his left arm.

What is akuma? (Lady don’t hurt me.)

Okay, this is an akuma. I was going to pull a screencap, but none of them give a full view on one screen without being too tiny and dark to make out.

The Earl of the Millenium and his easy Akuma model kit! It only looks innocent until the soul of your loved one gets trapped in it and it kills you, then wears you like a flesh suit.

And because I like them and I felt like it, here’s Allen and a couple other Exorcists in their semi-gothy uniforms.

Promo: Eeeper’s Choice (1:04:11 – 1:05:03)
Eeeper bought each of us copies of the Region 2 DVD of Only Yesterday just because we complained on an earlier episode that Turner Classic Movies aired it but there’s still no R1 DVD. We figure the least we can do to pay him back is play his promo.

Con Report: Anime Weekend Atlanta 2006 (1:05:03 – 1:33:58)
Nobody else in the Orlando area who goes to AWA seems to enjoy it at all except for us. This is mysterious and terrifying. Anyway, AWA was Daryl’s first convention, and it’s still his favorite. Listen on and discover why!

Promo: Otaku Generation (1:33:58 – 1:34:24)
OG’s got the right idea. Take goofy excerpts from your podcast and make THOSE your promos, that way you can have TONS of them. We should rip that idea off from them just like how we rip everything else off from them! Only we’ll claim we ripped off Dave and Joel instead. BRILLIANT!

Closing (1:34:24 – 1:39:38)
This segment STINGS, and that’s a shoot! Next week, we’re actually probably just going to put up the rest of Clarissa’s take on the Fall 2006 season, but the week after THAT is when we’ll stick to what we said here. Gerald is going to live up to William Bradford’s expectations by reviewing “obscure bootleg anime from the 80s” since he’ll be talking about Future Police Urashiman. Daryl’s going to review obscure non-bootleg anime from the 80s since he’s going to talk about a movie he likes that everyone else hates (other than crazy old men who refuse to get broadband), The Dagger of Kamui. Finally, now that Daryl caved in on reviewing Fist of the North Star, Clarissa’s caving and reviewing Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure! Just Part 1 for now, otherwise it’d take up the entire show.

You know who’d make a good Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure/Fist of the North Star character? That’s right: Carl Horn!

The flattened-out pointed hand is the most vital element to mastery of both Hokuto Shinken and Stands alike.