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Anime World Order Show 218 – We Forgot To Mention The Two Guys Who Accidentally Stabbed Each Other to Death

Podcast: Download (Duration: 1:17:27 — 35.6MB)

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It took us a while–okay, it took 17 years since the last one–but we finally get around to completing our coverage of the 1980s Yoshikazu Yasuhiko post-Gundam film trilogy as Gerald reviews 1986’s Neo Heroic Fantasia Arion, which most of us just knew as “Arion.”

Introduction (0:00 – 31:43)
Everybody catches up on what they’ve been up to, what anime they’ve been watching, or in the case of what anime they haven’t been watching, what videogames they’ve been playing and/or what movies they’ve been watching. This one gets a lot more “off topic” than usual, and so in keeping with our last episode’s call for show format feedback we ask once again: do these segments work better as part of a single episode, or would you prefer they be standalone? We know a lot of our existing listeners who write back will be inclined to say “keep things as they are” since well, you’re already an existing listener. But if you find yourself needing to listen to the episode in multiple sessions, then perhaps that’s a sign we need to change things up. Remember to back us on Patreon, for in a few short days there will be a Patreon-exclusive “the AWO gang watches the trailers for all of the new anime coming out in the new season” event that is likely to have some of us wishing for somebody, ANYBODY, to slash the tires on Truck-kun once and for all.

Promo: Right Stuf Anime (31:43 – 34:49)
This week, Udon Entertainment titles are on sale, so if you’re looking to get some hardcover artbooks or prestige manga now is the time! All volumes of The Rose of Versailles are currently out of stock, but if you place your order at the sale price they will honor the sale price and ship your copies out once additional copies arrive (your credit card isn’t charged until they ship the order). It’s pretty easy to hit the $50 free economy shipping mark when you’re buying hardcover books.

Review: Arion aka Neo Heroic Fantasia Arion (34:49 – 1:17:27)
Gerald reviews this 1986 film from Yoshikazu Yasuhiko to complete the trifecta of Crusher Joe, Arion, and The Venus Wars which were previously reviewed long, long ago (there was also the television series Giant Gorg). To think that once upon a time this stuff was hard to find and now it’s all out on Blu-Ray in the US! Speaking of which, you can totally buy Arion on Blu-Ray courtesy of this affiliate link. The film itself has many of the same strengths and weaknesses of YAS’s other output from this era: gorgeous visuals, amazing soundtrack, breakneck pace that comes at the expense of characterization/narrative depth, and so on. But hey, perhaps that’s befitting an anime equivalent of Clash of the Titans! Or perhaps it’s an anime equivalent to God of War, though it’s not as gory as God of War and features more child nudity–look, it’s an anime epic film take about the gods of ancient Greece, okay?! This stuff comes with the territory.

The classic myths say Prometheus gifted mankind with fire, but they omit that this was done by way of [IT’S ARION! ARION HAS] A LASER CANNON.
The backgrounds of Arion are phenomenal; a product of bubble economy location scouting (turns out modern Greece doesn’t look like this) and maniacs with paintbrushes
Titan Apollo, he is a CHAR.
He should be becoming the leader b is satisfied with being meve soldier
There’s a ton of hand-drawn animation flexes throughout Arion. This psychedelic sequence is actually a live-action background of swirling…green paint I guess
[guy who has only played Dark Souls] Getting a lot of Dark Souls vibes from this. In stark contrast to Miyazaki’s “save Earth” themes, YAS be all like “YEAH! Kill Gaia!”

Observant listeners will note that Daryl previously reviewed Arion for Otaku USA Magazine around when the Blu-Ray first came out, and so he kinda just recycled a lot of his same lines from that.

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Anime World Order Show # 217 – Chug It Down! Glug It Down! Boa Juice!

Podcast: Download (Duration: 1:42:22 — 47.0MB)

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In this episode we bring Mister Kitty‘s Dave Merrill back on to talk about his favorite movie (and a Patreon request!): 1969’s The Flying Phantom Ship, adapted from a manga by Shotaro Ishinomori. DID YOU KNOW HAYAO MIYAZAKI DREW A PART OF THIS MOVIE? (Yes. Yes we do know. You can lower your hand and sit down now.)

Introduction (0:00 – 36:19)
We catch up with Dave, whom we last saw around Halloween, and reminisce for a bit about how he discovered Prince of Space before we get to the topic that’s on everybody’s minds: the death of Leiji Matsumoto, a creator for whom much of organized anime fandom in America owes itself to. Clubs, conventions, cosplay, AMVs: they started up as a result of fan affinity for his works, including but not limited to Space Battleship Yamato aka Star Blazers, Captain Harlock, Galaxy Express 999, Queen Millennia, and okay probably not so much The Cockpit but you should still check out The Cockpit. Japan Remembers Leiji Matsumoto by Tim Eldred has collected the coverage of Leiji Matsumoto’s passing, which was a globally covered event. If you didn’t pick it up back when we had Helen McCarthy on to talk about it, consider picking up Leiji Matsumoto: Essays on the Manga and Anime Legend which covers his influence in far greater detail than we can ever manage.

Promo: Right Stuf Anime (36:19 – 38:52)
The best place to buy Discotek Media titles remains Right Stuf, especially for preorders. This is because Amazon charges full MSRP for their releases, whereas even when there isn’t a Discotek-specific sale, Right Stuf offers a 25%-33% discount. Plus, the packaging is better and you’ll often find they ship you titles weeks before the listed release date. Speaking of which, you might want to preorder those Gunbuster Blu-Rays. They’re set to come out at the end of the next month, after all.

Review: The Flying Phantom Ship (38:52 – 1:42:22)
Yes, once again we manage to take more time talking about a thing than it would take to simply watch it in its entirety. At least our excuse this time is that the film is only about an hour long from start to finish. Thirteen years ago, we listed this as one of our “Ten Anime You’ve Never Heard of But Must See” and Daryl recently reviewed it in the April 2023 issue of Otaku USA Magazine, but that’s got nothing on how long Dave’s been talking and writing about it, since he has writeups dating back to over 30 years ago. Here’s his more recent 2009 piece from his Let’s Anime blog. Dave is probably the first person to have extensively written about this topic in English, like period, and so it’s only fitting that he provided the commentary track for Discotek’s Blu-Ray release along with Mike Toole. We’re spoiling the whole thing, but this is something for which seeing is the only true experience.

This line at the beginning should give you an idea of exactly what you’re in for. Tonally, anyway.
Narrator: There was such a thing as a skeleton ghost. Technically.
This only happens to the inadequately plot armored, which includes all the kids being scarred for life upon seeing this.
Attack its weak spot for massive damage.