Anime World Order Show # 201 – Otakon 2021 Report with Evan Minto

We are joined by Evan Minto of the newly launched digital manga service Azuki as well as the Ani-Gamers podcast to recap Otakon 2021, which we all attended. How are anime conventions faring in what was supposed to be the tail end of the COVID-19 pandemic?

Normally we’d have like, show notes where we detail the segments and offer some timestamps, but this whole episode is about the anime convention as it pertains to the COVID-19 pandemic, what prompted conventions to reopen, what safety measures were and were not followed by whom, etc. We can try and break it down, I guess:

0:00 – 31:00: Catching up with Evan, giving background information on COVID-19, conventions shutting down, Otakon proceeding in 2021, what prompted our decision to attend instead of cancel, etc.

This “Welcome Back” was all over the place in the con.
Panel room for "Openings to Show you (Probably) Didn't See"
At least the people in our panels were fully masked.
A celebrity was in the dealer’s room

31:00 – 1:23:37: Panels and live events which we attended, WOOO LEDICOMI YEAHHHHH BABY

Promo: Right Stuf Anime (1:23:37 – 1:25:52)
Interested in a reprint of Aria: The Masterpiece by Akari Mizunashi? Right Stuf is taking a survey to gauge potential interest in a reprint of select volumes or potentially the entire series, so head on over there and fill it out if you are interested. You can also preorder new releases for 25% off, such as Lupin the Third: Part V, which instead of being released in two parts as originally planned is now going to be one complete set. There are also weekly sales; as of this writing, Viz titles are on sale so if you were wanting to pick up those Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure limited editions now is your chance.

1:25:52 – Dealer’s Room, Artist Alley, closing thoughts

This was Artist Alley as it was sort of winding down on Saturday night. Still pretty crowded…

Anime World Order Show # 194 – A Kentucky Meat Shower of Trivia

It’s the 7th annual trivia episode! For this edition we’re joined by Ryan aka BlacOtaku1 on Twitter and Oldtype/Newtype on Tumblr. How infuriating will the categories be this year? ONLY ONE WAY TO FIND OUT.

Introduction (0:00 – 37:09)
We talk to Ryan about his interests in anime, digital archiving efforts, why you should USE YOUR DAMN STICKERS ALREADY, and perhaps even how he became Cassette Guy from his home base in North Carolina. Then over in the emails we hear a similar story from someone thousands of miles away. Ryan’s on his phone for this, so there’s a lot of pops and the like which we did our best to reduce, so if you want to know what title it was that he recommended it was the six-part OAV Kyomu Senshi Miroku. It’s another masterpiece from the one and only Ken Ishikawa of Getter Robo and Beast Fighter: The Apocalypse fame. To give you an idea of what you’re in for from this man whom we’ve described as “the Venom to Go Nagai’s Spider-Man,” the analogy goes something like this: Mazinger Z is to Getter Robo as Devilman is to Beast Fighter: The Apocalypse as Black Lion is to Kyomu Senshi Miroku.

Promo: Right Stuf Anime (37:09 – 40:00)
As Black Friday sales are ongoing and Christmas sales are about to commence, we figure now is a good time to take up the suggestions made in the comments section from the previous episodes and note that Right Stuf does give the option to make payments on orders over $150 using Sezzle, a service which lets you pay the price of your order in 4 interest-free installments over the course of 6 weeks. That way, you just pay 25% of the total every pay period rather than one giant chunk. Good to know with all these Ultra editions and bundles and figure preorders etc going on while other sites are having THEIR sales concurrently.

Trivia! Round One (40:00 – 1:24:12)
We promise the episode title and the significance of the embedded MP3 image will definitely make sense after listening to this. We considered using the other category names but we’re pretty sure every podcast directory would have simply blanked it out on us. Jerks. This one features an audio category!

Trivia!: Part Deux (1:24:12 – 1:51:04)
For Round 2, we face our greatest challenge of all, since now we must contend with LISTENER-SUBMITTED TRIVIA QUESTIONS~! WHO will survive? (We always felt that was less confrontational to the viewer compared to “Will you be able to survive?” a next episode tagline which Tomino should have saved for his future series.) If you make it this far, you’re probably due for a drink. Here’s the other side of Ryan’s flask.

Trivia! Part 33 1/3: The Final Insult (1:51:04 – 2:45:13)
Community marketing is a strategy to engage an audience in an active, non-intrusive prospect and customer conversation. Whereas marketing communication strategies such as advertising, promotion, PR, and sales all focus on attaining customers, Community Marketing focuses on the perceived needs of existing customers. This accomplishes four things for a business:
–Connects existing customers with prospects
–Connects prospects with each other
–Connects a company with customers/prospects to solidify loyalty
–Connects customers with customers to improve product adoption, satisfaction, etc.

There are two types of community marketing. Organic or natural marketing occurs without the assistance of the company. Organic marketing is word-of-mouth marketing and is one of the most effective marketing methods. Sponsored community marketing is promoted by company through activities like investments in the local community improvement initiatives or corporate social responsibility. Skepticism among consumers as a result of blatant advertising and other unethical communications has affected the success of the sponsored form of Community Marketing. Continuing success in community marketing strategies has been found in engaging and cultivating the natural communities that form around their product/service.

WELL PLAYED, MILES CRUNCHYROLL. WELL PLAYED INDEED.