Anime World Order Show # 68 – Mur Lafferty Would Be So Proud [fingers crossed]

The full-on Podcast411-approved rig is officially in full effect! Daryl reviews The Girl Who Leapt Through Time, Clarissa has the baseball anime Ookiku Furikabutte (“Swing Big”), and Gerald catches Clarissa’s moe infection brought on by Potemayo as he reviews Lucky Star. Lucky Star? LUCKY STAR? NAJICA?!

This episode was delayed because we were placed under duress by Shingo Takagi:

That is indeed Nigel McGuinness in the background. The ultimate Nigel picture may or may not be posted at some point in the future.

Also, because Gerald came out of the Narutard closet. You’ll get those pictures SOON ENOUGH.

Introduction (0:00 – 27:00)
We tackle the important questions this time, such as “who would win in a fight between John Rambo, John Matrix from Commando, and John Kyosuke Hiba from Dog Soldier?” and “what advice do we have to offer regarding running panels at anime conventions?” Also, Ikkitousen? It sucks and don’t let anyone from the Teen Girl Squad tell you otherwise. And that whole simultaneous streaming thing Gonzo’s got going on? It’s not available to people outside the US.

Let’s News! (27:00 – 45:13)
One Piece is no longer on Cartoon Network, Media Blasters licensed one of Geneon’s previously defunct properties Seirei no Moribito, two animations from 90 years ago were recently discovered in a Japanese antique shop, and Dezaki/Sugino aren’t working on Golgo 13 or Cobra because they’re too busy making an anime out of–of all things–Ultraviolet. We suspect this came about because investors were scouring the Internet and found a webpage proclaiming Ultraviolet to be “the greatest movie ever.”

Anti-Promo / Promo: Weekly Anime Review Podcast (45:13 – 46:38)
Hilarious though it may be for us to receive emails and voicemails from people proclaiming other podcasts to be terrible, it does nobody any good if you never ever bring your grievances up with the makers of said podcast themselves. Sure, you’re probably thinking “well, there’s no point in telling them, since they’re not going to change anything anyway,” but if enough people mention the same issue, most anyone will start paying attention to it. We would say that “we can only assume people do this to us as well,” but as the AWO we see and hear EVERYTHING. In fact, we are watching you poop by way of our operative Jeff Goldblum. Google it if you doubt the claim. Oh, and do listen to Aaron’s review of Town of Evening Calm, Country of Cherry Blossoms with special guest host Eeeper. Not only is it released through jaPRESS which is operated by TV’s Patrick Macias, it’s got enough child suffering to bear the Official Justin Sevakis Seal of Approval!

Review: The Girl Who Leapt Through Time (46:38 – 1:08:46)
With the US release finally officially forthcoming, Daryl brings out a review of a film from an up-and-coming anime director, Mamoru Hosoda. People are always talking about “who’s going to be the next Miyazaki once he’s gone” and such, but you know something? We don’t need another guy just like Miyazaki to come along. Not when we’ve got people like Satoshi Kon, Mamoru Hosoda, and Masaaki Yuasa right now. All people need to do is start watching the things they make. Judging from the general fan apathy to Yuasa’s new series Kaiba, that may be a while yet. Pictures to come.

This is the de facto promotional image for this film, and it’s well chosen because it more or less sums up the spirit of the film in one shot. Of course, there’s the matter of what happens immediately afterwards…

Review: Ookiku Furikabutte / “Swing Big” (1:08:46 – 1:29:34)
Clarissa may say that phrase translates to “swing big,” but deep down she knows the TIMED BY KILLSHOK translation that read “big booty freak” is the one she carries in her heart. Actually, this show is about baseball. Specifically, pitching and catching. If you get the picture. If you don’t get the picture, we’ll put pictures here later.

Ah yes, baseball. And indeed, the complex strategy and interpersonal workings of the battery.
It is, of course, a sports anime about a team sport. So we should all remember that it’s also about team building. Sometimes team building involves holding hands.
This show is also about Mihashi’s really good facial expressions. Mihashi: example of actual moe without being a shitty waste of space? Perhaps!
OoFuri also teaches us how to compensate for a lack of female cast members by endowing one with ridiculous breasts! Except Maria’s also pretty awesome.
P.S. Teenage boys are spazzes. Oh, the springtime of youth. (This is Tajima, by the way. It may be scientifically impossible not to love him.)

Promo: Podcast Pickle (1:29:34 – 1:29:44)
We figured that since we use their free Flash Pickle players on every post for the specific purpose of infuriating Steve Harrison (hint: just disable Flash entirely in your browser if it slows down the page loading so much!), we oughta actually play their promos. It’s also a good site to actually find new podcasts to listen to, and if you add the shows you like to a Favorites list, you can get a OPML file of all those feeds together. This is helpful if you use feed aggregator / podcatching software.

Review: Lucky Star (1:29:44 – 2:02:39)
Gerald reveals his inner pedophile by copping to enjoying Lucky Star after the initial crappy episodes. Daryl by contrast KNOWS this show fucking blows from beginning to end, and in a few years will be completely forgotten and remembered by nobody. Actually, it’s probably more like a few months. Anyway, listen in to hear how we can talk for over 30 minutes about a show with pretty much no plot at all.


Anime Tenchou

The original Anime Tenchou video created by Gainax.

Anime Tenchou’s appearance in Lucky Star.
Closing (2:02:39 – 2:07:16)
Next episode, it’s Show 69. This will only happen once, so it’s time to do another hentai episode BY POPULAR REQUEST. Gerald’s reviewing Cream Lemon, Clarissa offers up an overview on doujinshi, and Daryl follows up on the path of karate science as he reviews Wicked City.

Note: if your posts are deemed exceedingly stupid, they’re getting blown away. Who’s making this decision regarding what’s stupid? Rambo’s walking down a really long road to a farm at the moment, so it falls to this man instead, and he is not as merciful:

112 Replies to “Anime World Order Show # 68 – Mur Lafferty Would Be So Proud [fingers crossed]”

  1. I don’t think it necessarily has anything to say about the anime market, per se. After all, the comic book market isn’t that great either, and that didn’t prevent IRON MAN from being a success.

  2. VZ said…
    Yeah, I’d like a torrent for the Streamline version of Lensmen. Thanks Chris.

    In many ways, I’d like to “make a difference” to those that aren’t ready to make the commitment I did to get to where I am now.

    The interesting this was I knew something was familar with the way the animation looked and then I looked at the credits from ANN and I knew that it was Koji Morimoto. Very fluid animation! I really hope that someone like Media Blasters decides to release it on DVD.

    Assuming any company would want to pick it up at all. I feel like I’m the only one qualified for stuff like this anyway. Hell I’d like to pick up the renmants of stuff Streamline had as well as those Geneon titles MB passed up on.

    Dan said…
    carl: I guess. I can’t wait to see Akira and DBZ bomb from bad writing and set designs.

    Don’t we all! 🙂

  3. Is that a Glamour Shot? Umm anyway.

    Has anyone found a fansub of the Lensman TV series? I can’t even begin to imagine 25 episodes of that badness.

    But Lensman was the first “Official” Anime VHS I’ve ever purchased.

  4. I marathoned Potemayo, The Girl Who Leapt Through Time, and Lucky Star in anticipation for their AWO reviews. If you had told a year ago that I’d end up loving two moe shows and a movie about a clumsy schoolgirl, I’d have given you three punches to the face.

    But if I may regurgitate Daryl’s thoughts, just because other people have nauseatingly overused certain genres or subject matter, talented creators can spin gold out of shit.

    The Girl Who Leapt Through Time does this by forming an exciting and dramatic story out of mundane components. When a character takes a nasty tumble on the street, it’s heart wrenching. Lucky Star almost literally shits gold, given how awful the original 4-koma are. I found the show to have some topical elements, but this is mostly window dressing, and not integral to understanding the jokes. The vast majority of the the humor is character-based, not referential. When they do a 24 reference, it’s in service of a joke about Konata staying out late; people who know not of Jack Bauer will still understand the gag.

    (I was hoping Clarissa would do Legend of the Blue Wolves for the next hentai episode, but I guess there’s always show 169.)

  5. Daryl, I’m still going through the latest issue of OTAKU USA, but I liked your references to robot insurance in the Vexille article, as well as your crack about Snow Sugar pillows. Among the things I like about the magazine is that between, say, wildarmsheero and yourself, it’s like watching the different political factions in “Homage to Catalonia”–or perhaps more appropriately, “The Seven Days of Fire.” I have an ironic story to tell about Snow Sugar sometime. It may not seem possible to tell an ironic story about Snow Sugar, and yet there it is.

  6. enju: “But if I may regurgitate Daryl’s thoughts, just because other people have nauseatingly overused certain genres or subject matter, talented creators can spin gold out of shit.”

    If you want to be technical, the Tokikake novel predates all the schoolgirl cliches we see in anime and manga, so that’s why the anime doesn’t suck. [I can’t vouch for the live-action movie, though…]

    subatomic: “I, uh, don’t think DBZ’s success ever lay in the quality of its writing.”

    True, but at least it had *some* writing. I imagine the Hollywood version will just wing it, since “The One” hack is directing, and all…

  7. If you want to be technical, the Tokikake novel predates all the schoolgirl cliches we see in anime and manga, so that’s why the anime doesn’t suck.

    Well, if I may be totally pedantic, the anime is a sequel, takes place decades after the events in the novel, and has a mostly new cast. And being a sequel to a successful work that doesn’t directly involve the original author, its potential crap factor is over 9000.

    The fact that it’s such a winning movie despite having (IMO) so many hurdles in its way, makes me like it even more.

  8. This is hilarious. I thought I was downloading an episode with an Outlaw Star review. Got Lucky Star instead. But hey, it’s not like you produced an episode that was not enjoyable to listen to regardless of what is being reviewed.

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