Anime World Order Show # 83 – The AWO Is Short of Money, Like the BBC

As a result of the hidden catches of web hosting, this podcast MAY VANISH FOREVER (or temporarily), but not before Gerald reviews Astro Fighter Sunred, Clarissa reviews Ristorante Paradiso, and Daryl reviews Sword of the Stranger!

Introduction (0:00 – 36:00)
For many, the last podcast returned Bandwidth Exceeded errors. That’s a misnomer, as what we’ve actually exceeded is our CPU/RAM usage on the server. As our existing AWO funds are insufficient, we’re gonna have to beg for money. But it’s just for a little bit, as we get back on the track we’re always at: belittling our very own listeners for watching terrible anime. In this case, Girls Bravo. Evan from Ani-Gamers asks about anime with notable mid-series staff changes. To which we say, Benjamin Ettinger: he’s Jerry Beck approved! We’re also asked questions regarding the almighty Patlabor 2 (which we reviewed a while back) and our thoughts on the X TV series.

Let’s News! (36:00 – 58:29)
Taro Aso steps down as Japan’s Prime Minister. As Daryl said on his Twitter way back in August, “you and your crew run a nation with an iron fist for 50 years. Then you say you like Rozen Maiden and it all falls apart. Instant justice.” ADV rose from the dead, the author of Crayon Shin-Chan fell to the dead, Kadokawa Pictures USA missed one life support call, and Astro Boy was DOA. Ouch. On the bright side, Prince Planet is now streaming on Hulu and Youtube, so go watch it because the current season of anime is almost entirely awful. And read Dave Merrill’s posts about it. And Clarissa’s favorite franchise, for which the latest installment is upon us all and for Internet cred purposes she pretends to hate, is having an art contest as judged by character designer Yoshiyuki Sadamoto and videogame crazy man Hideo Kojima.

Review: Astro Fighter Sunred (58:29 – 1:18:23)
It is like an Adult Swim show, back when Adult Swim was good. It is also the biographical story of Brian Smith, last heard on the AWA 2009 con report we posted prior to this.

Review: Ristorante Paradiso (1:18:23 – 1:40:39)
As best as we can tell, this is a show about DILFs serving food that is classy, and therefore does not have anything such as this in it:

A visual aid will probably be helpful for those of you wondering about Ono Natsume’s style. It’s definitely very distinctive from what you would expect. Some of her works, like Coppers, have even more heavily stylized artwork.

Here’s an example of the original manga artwork compared with how it translated into anime. It doesn’t translate over super well, but enough of the proportions are retained that it “feels” similar.


Review: Sword of the Stranger (1:40:39 – 2:10:09)
Yes, this was a review copy. But it is still the Greatest Movie EVER! PS: Paul Chapman’s podcast is currently gone because he’s beset by the exact same problem as us.

Closing (2:10:09 – 2:15:14)
The next episode is already recorded! Probably months ago, by this point. We just don’t quite have a place to upload it to! But our guest is none other than Jason Thompson, author of Manga: The Complete Guide, and thus it is only fitting that we do an all-manga episode. Clarissa’s falling into the spiral of Uzumaki, Daryl’s going out with a bang courtesy of Violence Hero Riki-Oh, and Gerald’s venturing into the holy land of Kazuo Koike and Ryoichi Ikegami with Crying Freeman. YOU TOTALLY WANT TO LISTEN TO THAT.

103 Replies to “Anime World Order Show # 83 – The AWO Is Short of Money, Like the BBC”

  1. I unfortunately saw Astro Boy in the theaters… 90% of the people there were kids and their parents (which I guess makes sense since it was during the school holidays). I was cringing with all the bad dialogue and then there was a scene where they played Alright by Supergrass and I was rolling my eyes at that scene. I can agree that it would seem to be for kids only.

    Hmmm, the only thing I can think of from Sailor Moon as far as staff changes was Sailor Stars where they changed character designer.

  2. NOOO! Please do not VANISH FOREVER (nor temporarily), thought that might not make much of the difference with the awesomely pinctual schedule of releases with this podcast. *shot*

    I have been listening to your podcast for a year and I must say that it deserves a chance to be heard.

  3. First of all, thanks for the new podcast guys.

    I hope Gerald's coverage of Sunred encourages more people to check it out. It's such a fantastic gem.

  4. hey guys i really hope u guys stay in podcasting we need more people to stick it to the niche i for 1 will try to donate money to u but as a broke ass blogger and student il try to scarp any money i have in euros and ship it over to u

  5. It's rare to hear of a podcast going under for being too popular.

    If you could get more people using the torrent that would cut down on the bandwidth. There's no limit on torrents (aside from ISP capping).

    Smaller podcasts would help, even though that would mean shortening the length of the podcast. Maybe giving yourself a time limit as to the length of the show.

    You could also consider using the Internet Archive to store the files. It's free. You just need to license the files as Creative Commons or Public Domain. I use it (alongn with Blogger and Mininova) and I've never paid a cent for my podcasts. Although most of my downloads come from Mininova.

  6. Sunred sounds interesting. I may just check out a bit of it.

    Daryl-I know that you want more films like Sword in the Stranger but really they have to make what's going to sell in Japan first. And for the most part, people there just don't care for samurai stuff anymore.

    Also you forgot to mention the best possible news in a long time. That Hidamari Sketch is FINALLY getting an R1 DVD release.

  7. I acutally showed Sword of the Stranger to a bunch of my friends (two of whom routinely hate on anime) and they loved it. I think we all agreed though that the dog was by far and away the best character. It's too bad about the dub though as it's something they should have had somebody other then the Ocean Group handling especially since it's a prime candidate for selling to your average moviegoer.

    Also have to echo the recommendation of picking this up on Blu-Ray if you got it.

    I also find it interesting you guys saying the Girl who Leapt Through Time not selling well as most of the anime people I know its one of the few DVD's they will actually buy. Usually these are the kind of people too who will just download your average moe or harem show but acutally spend the money on a movie like that.

  8. Oh and I finally got to see Odin and just like that emailer I have to agree it was bad. While I don't think it's as terrible as AWO made it out to be, it was definitely cheesy. I did like the part when the crew was fighting that big multi legged robot but um yeah, I see what you guys mean now. Maybe it was just the year it came out 1985, that made the whole thing worse as really awesome things like Zeta Gundam, Megazone 23, Dancougar and Iczer-1 came out the same year.

    Well ok, Loudness is awesome though.

  9. A couple of anime with noteworthy episode to episode staff changes are Otogi Zoshi (TV series) and Hakkeden (OVA). Neither is entirely enjoyable, but both are worth seeing.

  10. I picked up my BluRay copy of Sword of the Stranger when it was on a RightStuf Deal-of-the-Day special. Still haven't checked out the disc but I'm definitely looking forward to it.

  11. I love the "Moorehead Rides Again" bits. Toobad they came from Vice City Stories, and were not from an anime. I would totally watch that as an anime.

  12. least one or two snot-nosed brats and their moms there to constantly ask questions to.

    I was cringing with all the bad dialogue and then there was a scene where they played Alright by Supergrass and I was rolling my eyes at that scene. I can agree that it would seem to be for kids only.

    In my opinion, this is a "stupid-fun-kiddie flick". It's not a film for US, nor should we even bother seeing it besides renting it later out of sheer curiosity (which I should have done).

    While it definitely tanked in Japan, apparently it went over big in China anyway, since they can't tell shit from Shinola anyway (and I"m not saying that to sound racist). 🙂

    Really, it's just not our film, though it was nice they bothered with making it. I'd rather see the company go under anyway.

    VZ said…
    Daryl-I know that you want more films like Sword in the Stranger but really they have to make what's going to sell in Japan first. And for the most part, people there just don't care for samurai stuff anymore.

    You go home!

    soundwaveCA said…
    I also find it interesting you guys saying the Girl who Leapt Through Time not selling well as most of the anime people I know its one of the few DVD's they will actually buy. Usually these are the kind of people too who will just download your average moe or harem show but acutally spend the money on a movie like that.

    Well glad to hear people do care about that one (I'm still waiting for a Blu-Ray release myself but bet that'll never happen).

    Glad you guys also try to knock sense into the Girls Bravo dude. More need to learn before it's too late (and being caught by his own mom too)!

    I'll have to check out the titles in this month's podcast if I get around to it (and perhaps donate if I have anything left in checking), joyfully dancing on graves til the cows come home!

  13. Great show guys, been really missing a typical AWO episode. Daryl's "SUTORENJAA" review was right on, and I totally agree with it – I lucked out and caught that in the theater, and it was totally worth it. Daryl, your review of it actually reminded me a lot about many of the reviews on the recent CG film "9", and if you haven't seen it yet I highly recommend it (disclaimer: I worked as a story artist on it) based on your previous tastes on films in general.

    I hope the move to libsyn is successful – maybe having too many listeners is a good problem…

  14. I watched an early screening of Astro Boy, and my first impression was it tried to appeal to everyone. It ultimately failed to appeal to anyone.

    The writer and director took many liberties with the story. They've created new characters and added plot elements. I knew that the hardcore Tezuka fans were going to pick it apart.

    Imagi Studios was counting on Astro Boy to save them since they were having financial troubles. They actually had to borrow money from Chinese investors. Since I don't think they are going to see any returns, I highly doubt that Gatchaman is going to get made.

    I did get the chance to talk to David Bowers (director), but the PR person was completely tight lipped about the film. I got no real answers. He was kind enough to pose for this photo:

    http://twitpic.com/lwtr4

  15. In TV anime, if you read the credits (or can differentiate between what name-kanji look like but just can't quite read them) you'll see that there are always different episode directors (enshutsu) and animation directors (sakuga kantoku) that work on each episode. I think it's particularly noticeable in older anime, and if you have a good eye you can pick out various animation director's styles. Maybe in recent years direction in general has become tighter which has lead to shows looking a bit more consistent. That's my observation, at any rate. As Clarissa mentioned, entire animation teams change between episodes as well.

    I haven't seen Abenobashi, but I suspect that the core staff remained the same (it tends to do so for TV anime) but they probably just directed it all fast and loose.

    Sunred is certainly a great show, and it's nice to see it get some press. I actually do think it stays true to the initial premise of "weird guys doing normal things" but the situations tend to all be very creative, so it's consistently funny. ANBU's subtitle job localizes too much for tastes (Seriously? Dollars? That shit gets you NOWHERE in Japan) but generally does a good job of capturing the feel of the original Japanese.

    Its low budget is probably due to the fact that it was originally aired on Nico Nico Douga, so it wasn't some big TV production at first.

    And tentacle porn has not disappeared from ero-anime or the fan scene in general… just lettin' ya know.

    Canaan isn't connected to Nasu Kinoko or Type Moon outside of the character designs. It's loosely based around a scenario in the Japanese Wii game 428 written by Nasu, but the anime is actually written by some rising-star scenario writer whose name escapes me. It doesn't even adapt the events in the game, and I'm not even sure if the characters are consistent. Aside from a weak middle section, it's a pretty strong show with some of the best action I've ever seen since Cowboy Bebop. The first episode seems more like a movie than TV show, and the rest of the series more or less maintains that standard. Some plot elements are kind of silly, but I had a good time with it.

    Not like my opinion is worth anything in these parts, though.

  16. Good luck with the money situation but if all else fails try asking the governments for a bailout.

    If its anything that needs to be economically stimulated its entertaining podcasts.

  17. As a podcaster myself, I'd say 90% of post AWO podcasts owe it to AWO for podcasting in the first place.
    I'd train carrier pigeons to litter the streets with USB sticks full of AWO episodes if I could.

  18. Sorry to double post. I know the law differs greatly from region to region, but have you looked into any sort of arts grant that could facilitate AWO's continued existence?

  19. There is a scroll in Ninja Scroll. It's tiny and Kagero throws it to a hawk to inform her boss about the shipment of gold being delivered.

    No, really.

  20. Seeing as I just got paid recently, I'll probably send a donation to the cause of AWO, because it's just that awesome and grand. It must never die.

    So expect somewhere between 20-30$ going your way.

  21. It's interesting listening about Sunred. In some ways it reminds me of an old indy comic called 'Ultra Klutz', then as Gerald went on it sounded more and more like a mashup of Excel Saga, Perfectual Earth Defense Force and a big heaping of Sgt. Frog.

    I wonder if this was one of Bandai/Sunrise's penta-annual 'make a show for America!' (because it sure sounds like it would 'localize quite easily) things that, alas, too bad so sad TOO LATE didn't anybody tell you IT'S OVER guys?

    bah.

  22. Don't fret Daryl, Bandai is going to release Gundam Unicorn with both sub and dub (with several different sub tracks) for the low price of roughly 60 bucks for each 50 minute (+ credits) volume.

  23. Maybe tightening up the show a bit would help with costs as well, at least a tiny bit. You could not do a star wars saga worth of multi-part episodes, for instance.

    I'll donate. Not today, but soon enough. I don't know what I would do without the podcast. Oh, that's right, I'd just listen to Fast Karate. I can get me Evangelion-related douchiness there as well.

  24. Sword and the Stranger was such a damn breath of fresh air. Action movies in general, not just Anime, have gotten to be so drawn out and full of themselves. I'm glad someone applied the K.I.S.S. principle and made a very solid movie. I'm so naming my next dog Tobimaru.

    @Steve Harrison:
    Sunred could be easy to localize today. But like back in the day it would not fly because it's very apparent that it's Japan. You don't have people waiting in line for MELON-PAN in America, for example.

    As for the Excel Saga comparison, not really. Sunred is much more dry and to the point, where as Excel saga is overblown and uh, "XDDD" as the kids say.

  25. I'm going to answer Daryl's response to that guy that talked about watching Girl's Bravo. I just think many people tend to actually prefer to watch shows that have fanservice/ecchi but WITHOUT the dicking. Now watching a show that has nipples or none is another matter (seriously, Funimation put an TV-MA on the Negima OVA's and they have NO nudity whatsoever).

    Oh and you failed to mention Dairugger XV is FINALLY getting a release date.

  26. Did Gerald really say that Sword of the Stranger was the kind of show a bunch of black people would like?! I'm not sure that prefacing a statement like that with "Pardon my language, but…" makes it okay. Come on now! If I'm missing something here, please feel free to explain.

  27. I feel absolutely no need to defend Gerald, but I'll explain it to you. While not all black people go crazy and get amped during the course of watching their entertainment, some black people grew up in a situation where that's totally OK.

    Some of us, the Wu Tang clan-esque subcategory of african-american male, if you will, enjoy crazy buckwild action flicks, like kung-fu flicks and the like.

    So I totally see where Gerald was coming from. He just happened to say it when he was wearing his white face. Don't fucking Don Imus Gerald.

    Support free speech, cocksucker.

  28. Great show, as usual, but I just gotta say one little thing…

    Now that you people have said that all of you have never seen CANAAN, I feel like I should watch the series now, if only to say I've watched something even the Anime World Order would fear to look upon…

  29. A podcast I used to listen to actually ran into the money wall themselves when their distibutor decided that they wanted to not only charge them but their listeners as well.

    They switched to blog talk radio and have been posting ever since. Yeah, it's gotta be live but still… Argh….

    Oh, but there's imeem as well… I think….

    In any case, if AWO is truly facing its last days I shall prepare my sword for honorable seppuku v__v…

  30. Shows that underwent staff shifts while in progress:

    Votoms! Each of the four arcs had different writers. One (Sunsa) even had a different animation director.

    Lupin III Series 2! Especially at the end.

    In fact, any show that ran longer than a year probably has staff changes just because there's no way to stay on it that long and NOT get burned out. Therefore, City Hunter, Dragonball, and Dr. Slump are candidates. Plus a little thing I like to call Hokuto no Ken. The tone changes noticeably from arc to arc, especially when it goes to Ken 2.

  31. Also, Basquach's (I hope I'm spelling that right) team changing was somewhat recent news. It didn't look like it changed the way the show looked, but I've only seen screens of episodes, not video.

  32. I think Full Metal Panic switched entire studios between season 1 and the Second Raid. Season 1 was animated by Gonzo, and the Second Raid was animated by Kyoto Animation.

    I don't know if that counts…

  33. Macross is a great example of switching teams. It is VERY obvious when it's Artland doing it and when it's Anime-Friend and other crap ass fill in studios. Yikes.

  34. Fuck, I had a whole bunch of shit to write on this clip which got wiped out. And I'm gonna have to split it in two parts, to boot. Um, lemme see.

    XTV is slow as hell, and mostly talky, which is great if you jerked off to the more pretentious parts of Death Note, but disappointing if you like Kawajiri-style action.

    Sword of the Stranger is overrated as hell, and other than the pretty water-colors, is just basically a Don Bluth-wannabe with gore. Plus, I hate that Anakin-like smart-ass who follows the guy, and the whole
    "Let's skip the wholewar/espionage angle and just make the bad guys just stab each other in the back" second half. For me, the anime films which embody the best I haven't seen in a long time include Highlander and Ponyo. Oh, and Paprika and Tokikake.

    The most fucked up hentai I've seen when I was younger would be Twin Dolls and Countdown. Oh, and some Ranma fan-made shit you can find on nameless torrent sites. Non-hentai which fucked me up would be the Bakshi Fritz the Cat and Meet the Feebles.

    As for companies which fuck up, I don't normally get schaudenfruede from 'em, but anything run by Harvey Weinstein, as well as 4Kids, is fair game. The only thing stopping me from trashing BVUSA is the guy running it was well-intentioned, but clearly behind the times.

    Ninja Scroll, for me, worked as an action-horror flick, but doesn't have much replay value, compared to Kawajiri's other stuff. The characters aren't memorable enough.

    Astroboy's problem is that movies and shows featuring humanoid robots aren't that novel nowadays in today's society. Plus, Capcom's pretty much cornered that market here with Mega Man. But if it makes anime fans who wanted it to do better feel better, that Bruce Willis GITS movie bombed, too. Anyway, surprised you didn't mention Something Awful's review, since they liked it, even though they like trashing anime fans. As for Tomino, he endorsed the LA Aussie Gundam, so I'm not sure he's in the right to criticize AB.

    The Hollywood One Missed Call was actually cheap for what it cost to produce, but you usually don't put your own money up for these things anyway. You let the studio handle it.

    "What will they do for shows people actually like?"

    Charge a fortune for the music rights to the point that licensors can't afford to even look at the series? Combine two different ovas together and try to charge you extra for a little footage which barely connects their stories together? Reboot shows you've seen before, but change the order certain sequences take place?

    Um, what else? Sexy Losers is back on a semi-regular basis, but it sucks now.

    And I think Darryl will agree with me that the only movie which deserves an Oscar for Best Picture this year is Black Dynamite.

    soundwave: "I also find it interesting you guys saying the Girl who Leapt Through Time not selling well as most of the anime people I know its one of the few DVD's they will actually buy."

    I hope not, either, but I'm guessing it's because there are too many girl-themed titles here which keep it from standing out better.

    Chris: "While it definitely tanked in Japan, apparently it went over big in China anyway, since they can't tell shit from Shinola anyway (and I"m not saying that to sound racist). :-)"

    Stephen Chow was saying on the CJ7 dvd that there's not a lot of family-themed entertainment in China right now, so I guess AB filled that void.

  35. Part 2.

    James: I don't think people are being fair to the Imagi AB, given that the original anime's already been rebooted twice in Japan. If you want a real childhood-raping, sit through Bayformers or DB:E. [Unless you were one of those people who don't mind, because TF was so "awesome" when Optimus Prime was turned into a CG gorilla during the BeastWars era. And Reboot rocked, too. And why don't they make cartoons like that and every Pixar movie anymore, because those were so original, unless they were downgraded to 2-d. But who the hell cares about if that shit comes off lifeless and cookie-cutter, as long as they do quirky things for half an hour? That's the stuff. Then you shouldn't be surprised that the Bay TF sucks, too. *returns John K. Stand to blog*] Imagi's AB was fine, though. Personally, I think they should've updated it more, 'cus it's hoakey by today's standards; but then people might end up comparing it to Pluto.

    Goober: I've always thought the scroll was about referring to the animation. And maybe they were cashing in on Ninja Gaiden, since that sucker does have scrolls.

    "Did Gerald really say that Sword of the Stranger was the kind of show a bunch of black people would like?!"

    Nah, brothers like DBZ. They made that shit a brand name here long before FUNi had it. I even saw a dude wearing one of those bootleg Hawaiian shirts with Broli on it.
    I don't know why they consider a bunch of blonde-haired, blue-eyed guys their heroes, since they didn't give a fuck about Hulk Hogan, but Goku is their homeboy.
    And if you don't believe me, check out Weekly Tube Show at http://www.youtube.com/user/WeeklyTubeShow2 .

  36. Now you're speaking for black people? My cousin turned me onto pro wrestling. Most people who dug WWE dug Hogan's blonde, balding ass.

    Also, as a DBZ fan, we didn't care who's blonde. We care who's gonna fuck shit up. I'd also like to point out that saiya-jins just have a REALLY highly advanced dying process. They're not full-time blondes.

  37. Thanks for another great show, I'm sening in a donation as soon as payday comes.

    Does anyone know what the deal is with those Sunred "Supplemental" videos? They look like clips from a variety show; did Sunred air as a feature within one of those shows?

    I'd rather claw my eyes out with a Robert Pattinson-shaped dildo than watch a Type Moon or Beetrain show, but Canaan was actually good. Masahiro Ando puts together some damn good looking action scenes. The show is short and fast-paced, so it bucks the trend of the typical Type Moon emo molasses.

  38. I agree, the Astro Boy movie does look like Jimmy Nutron. And i liked liked Perfect Hair Forever! Most of the newer Adult Swim shows now suck ass!

  39. vic: "Most people who dug WWE dug Hogan's blonde, balding ass."

    I see. I thought the white wrestler the black community was enamored with when I was growing up was pre-outed for domestic violence Stone Cold.

  40. >>Does anyone know what the deal is with those Sunred "Supplemental" videos? They look like clips from a variety show; did Sunred air as a feature within one of those shows?

    If you read the readme files that come with the episodes, you'll notice that they include those because they're used to illustrate some of the references that appear in the actual episode.

  41. Well, anonymous, if you started your WWF watching in the 90s, then yes, Stone Cold it is. Again, I don't speak for all, but I believe that black people dug stone cold because he whupped ass, not because of some (alleged) wife beating or because of the blonde hair that used to be on his head.

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