Anime World Order Show # 50 – Watch Everything We Talk About This Week, Okay?

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.

Anime World Order Show # 48 – DON’T WANNA KNOW WHY, EVERYBODY READY GET IT ON!

Daryl reviews the MANLY MANGA Satsuma Gishiden, Gerald reviews the MANLY CARTOON Spirit of Wonder (what?), and Clarissa is the MANLIEST of us all since she reviews MAZINKAISER~! which law dictates must be spelled in all-caps tilde exclamation point.

Show notes are possibly delayed due to us all undertaking an impossible mission, and by that we mean that Daryl got a Nintendo Wii.

Introduction (0:00 – 20:33)
Is there such a thing as “anime literacy”, and can we recommend any nonsensical anime comedies? We talked about that for 20 minutes?

Let’s News! (20:33 – 40:43)
Kadokawa, undoubtedly best known around the USA for bringing us ABSOLUTE ZERO, NOW!, is going to start distributing their movies via BitTorrent, Yamato Toys is expanding their US operations, the live-action Speed Racer has a set release date, a doujinshi circle somehow sold 15,000 copies of their comic and got nailed for it, the cost to license one episode of anime for release in the US officially averages to $20,000 per episode but can go as high as $80,000, and the Go Nagai Chibi World OAV is getting remastered. In the rumors department, Discotek might actually release something new and Tokyopop might have licensed one of the Gutsoon!/Raijin Comics titles (presumably Slam Dunk), but in the flat-out FACTS department, Hajime no Ippo is THE BUSINESS and Initial D is for people in the Home For Infinite Losers. Also, there are now Rilakkuma condoms.

Promo: Anime Pacific (40:43 – 42:17)
Never mind that this promo is entirely too long; see that website background? ONE OF US! ONE OF US! Clearly Daryl’s advocacy is proving effective. Even though that fansub script for Raoh Gaiden they made totally used “hegemony” as every other word.

Review: Satsuma Gishiden (manga), Volume 1 (42:17 – 1:04:22)
Daryl reviews this fine gekiga title about angry samurai who run around in loincloths and scream like lunatics, as drawn by a master calligrapher. It goes without saying that this is a title from Dark Horse Comics, makers of all sorts of totally rad manga that nobody fucking sells anywhere. Otherwise, this review would also cover Volume 2. Wait, Mail Volume 2 is out? They’re on Volume FOUR of Oldboy? God damn you, bookstores and comicbook shops. Oh well, at least you can order them online. Here’s some Amazon links for the first two volumes: if you buy them through clicking these, we get some money for it or something.

And if you want to buy the comics anthology containing Fairy Princess Yukio Mishima, it can be yours for $10 shipped by heading over to Cheap Disposable Entertainment!

Promo: Popcorn Samurai (1:04:22 – 1:05:26)
Yeah yeah, so his show isn’t actually “weekly,” but it’s not like we’re ones to talk. Because of Daryl’s review, he picked up Le Chevalier D’Eon Volume 1. AND his next episode is about Kazuo Koike. Clearly Daryl’s advocacy is proving effective.

Review: Spirit of Wonder (1:05:26 – 1:20:35)
Gerald has not one, but two different titles to review here, though we get the feeling that neither of them really have any business being classified as “hard sci-fi.” No, this is more of a whimsical light romance affair, though Inignokt and Err better step back if they know what’s good for them. WHICH THEY DON’T.

Review: MAZINKAISER~! (1:20:35 – 1:52:18)
Due to strict awesomeness quotient laws enforced by the federal government, Clarissa is obliged to tell people on the air that MAZINKAISER~! will not change their life and is not as good as GaoGaiGar. These laws do not apply in print. The truth is that it WILL change your life–entirely for the better–and that if there is anything it is not as good as, it would be Getter Robo. After all, how can one TRULY believe in GaoGaiGar’s superiority without acknowledging that GaoGaiGar Final is better than the series itself?

The reason there has not yet been any sort of MAZINKAISER~! vs SHIN GETTER ROBO~! is because that would violate even Japan’s awesomeness quotient laws, which are generally more lenient than ours. Make the right choice, Shinzo Abe.

Promo: Dave and Joel’s Fast Karate for the Gentleman (1:52:18 – 1:53:08)
This is actually a fan-made promo and so there’s nothing in it mentioning the website. Wait, they get fan-made promos?! Actually, we got a fan-made promo too from The Comics Interpreter, but it’s like three minutes long and no podcast would ever actually run that. However, it was professionally done and was awesome. We received this promo and have done nothing with it since…August 2006. Hmm. Maybe THAT’S why we don’t get fan-made promos…

Closing (1:53:08 – 1:55:54)
Next time, Daryl will review another Dark Horse manga title that he can’t find Volume 2 of anywhere, The Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service. In celebration of it’s 20th anniversary, Gerald’s reviewing Dirty Pair: Project E.D.E.N. aka “the real Dirty Pair,” and Clarissa acknowledges that MAZINKAISER~! does indeed change your life by reviewing Loveless in order to bring her testosterone levels back down.