Podcast: Download (Duration: 1:33:46 — 42.9MB)
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We’re joined by Mitsugi from the Anime Addicts Anonymous podcast for a SPOILER-FREE discussion about Hayao Miyazaki’s newest film released in Japan this past weekend, The Wind Rises. So don’t worry if you haven’t seen it, because basically nobody outside of Japan has. This includes us.
Introduction (0:00 – 47:00)
The Otaku USA “Best Anime of 2012-2013” free PDF is now available to all. It consists of articles previously only available in print. Half of these are articles written by Daryl. But they also have contributions from Paul “Unicorns” Chapman, Erin Finnegan, Mike Dent, and other crazy cats so check it out. And hey, if you dig it then consider subscribing. Subscriptions are cheap. Onto the email:
We reviewed Barefoot Gen in Show 58. This review inspired a man to go to Japan and visit Hiroshima. The exact same review also inspired another, more different man to create this:
Go vote that up, favorite, comment, etc.
We talk to Mitsugi about his wacky, yet surprisingly typical, life as an Assistant Language Teacher in Japanese elementary schools. Naturally, this leads us to talking about the unsurprisingly typical tales of debauchery that gaijin English teachers in Japan are up to, be they pornography shops or maid cafes. This leads straight into the themed cafe discussion. Let it be known that the Gundam cafe has a unique bathroom, perhaps even on the level of the one in the robot zone the Most Dangerous Ones, Patrick Macias and Matt Alt, hit up:
Daryl keeps using Peepo Choo as his sole frame of reference, a manga we reviewed in Show 90 focusing in large part on Americans visiting Japan with preconceived notions that are proven false. In Mitsugi’s case, the preconceived notions were all true! Mitsugi also briefly weighs in regarding the new Dragon Ball Z movie recently released in Japan. AAA reviewed it in full on their own podcast.
Review: The Wind Rises (47:00 – 1:33:46)
Having seen Hayao Miyazaki’s latest film in Japanese theaters, Mitsugi weighs in on the Japanese movie-viewing experience. We speculate on the future of the place, and without delving too deeply into the specifics of the plot evaluate how we think this stacks up overall in the Ghibli hierarchy of things. (As Daryl previously established, I Can Hear the Sea is most likely the worst, thus edging out Tales From Earthsea.) All our burning questions are answered, including but not limited to “so how the Hell is Hideaki Anno’s voice acting talents, anyway? Was he cast purely because Gainax is across the street and Miyazaki in his senility forgot about Khara?” Whatever, Khara’s around.
NEXT TIME: it’s been too long since we’ve gone off to outer space. Also: Gerald, Paul “Unicorns” Chapman, Jeremy “Unicorns” Kaufmann, and others are looking to crowd-fund a horror comics anthology. Skin Crawling Comics is headed up by Rachel “Unicorns” Pandich, who’s got some experience with this stuff thanks to her work on the crowd-funded Womanthology. (This one will be better than that because it has MEN working on it. *puts on fedora*) To give incentive, we said “if anyone pledges at the $100 level they have the option of FORCING us to review ANY ANIME OF YOUR CHOOSING (fewer than 26 episodes).” Someone took that slot IMMEDIATELY. The only course of action is to open…MORE slots. Perhaps Gerald, fearing for his life and our sanity, will opt to up the bounty? WHATEVER, I’M WRITING THIS INSTEAD OF PLAYING SHADOWRUN RETURNS OR PAYDAY 2…or uh, working on Otakon panels since that’s in two weeks…er, I mean, did you see the front page story of Yahoo! that one time?