Anime World Order Show # 23 – Decadence, Depravity, and Disasters

The popular podcasts release their shows on time and foster communities out of their listeners. We are capable of neither of these things. The theme of this episode was “disasters,” and that’s what befell us all. Gerald was going to review Spriggan but couldn’t find the words, Clarissa reviews the “gay porn only without the porn” title My Sexual Harassment (and eventually found the words), and Daryl’s ongoing search for THE TRUTH leads him to the simple, startling, and plagiarized revelation that The Japanese Animation Convention is Decadent and Depraved.

Once again we’re late releasing this thing AND it’s 3 AM (er, 3:45 AM now that I’m done writing the basic outline for these notes). After nearly half a year now, we STILL have not gotten any faster or better at doing the editing on these things. Perhaps now is the time to start begging people to donate mixer boards and audio hardware stuff to us or something.

Introduction (0:00 – 26:39)
We start things off by responding to listener feedback. What anime should you show to your girlfriend? Why, who better to ask than a bunch of people that have never had one! Who are the lamest character designers in anime? How do we even FIND all this stuff we review? And why the heck don’t we take a cue from the GOOD podcasts and set up some forums, an IRC channel, or ANYTHING that’d help build a community, anyway?!

Let’s News! (26:39 – 32:50)
A bunch of anime titles supposedly have live-action versions being made of them. WHY did we bother to report on this, again? Plus, there’s a place called Moe Burger now. We all demanded that Matt Alt and Patrick Macias head over to that vile place immediately to get pictures, but since this episode is so late, they actually did it already.

Was Going to Be Reviewed But Wasn’t: Spriggan (32:50 – 33:35)
Gerald tried to convince us all that Spriggan absolutely sucked, but couldn’t quite formulate a proper means of conveying that message. After days of trying to fix it all through re-recordings and editing, he gave up on it so that the rest of this episode could actually be released. We’d rather release nothing at all than something not up to our standards, minimal though they may be. Will Spriggan be reviewed in the future? Time will tell.

Promo: R5 Central (33:35 – 34:19)
You know what I just learned from listening to Otaku Generation this week? That that female robot filter effect Mike does in all his promos and episodes is supposed to be his sarcastic female AI cohost! You know, like how the villains in Bibleman all have that sarcastic female AI sidekick with the New Yawk/Joisey accent to gently remind the good children viewing the Trinity Broadcasting Network that people from ’round those parts are evil? All this time, I just thought he was doing it to be ridiculous, like when Wesley Willis would do it, but it’s actually an homage to the Full Armor of God. Never leave home without it. Sure, there’s OTHER tokusatsu shows out there with that type of character, but I KNOW this is what he was going for. Anime Central’s been over for about two months now, and by the rate it takes us to get OUR con reports done, I’d say R5 Central’s right on schedule.

Review: My Sexual Harassment (34:19 – 48:24)
According to our feed statistics, the least downloaded episode of all our shows is Show # 4 in which, among other things, Clarissa reviewed the yaoi title Sensitive Pornograph. Common sense would dictate that we shouldn’t review any more of this stuff since nobody cares, but we’d rather just ignore that and review whatever we feel like. Thus, Clarissa EXPLAINS IT ALL, (HAW HAW HAW HAW) by reviewing the CORNIEST (HAW HAW HAW HAW) gay anime porn title of them all!

Promo: Chibi-Tokyo (48:24 – 49:00)
Sure, Daryl made fun of uh…that one guy for spending an hour talking somewhat incoherently about Fist of the North Star for over an hour while drunk, getting various minutia wrong in the process, but that’s STILL more Fist of the North Star talk than you’ll see on other podcasts outside of Fast Karate for the Gentleman and (I guess) R5 Central! So check these guys out. This promo is a Quinn/Martin Production. Also, Eli Nouguez will die just as he lived: alone and unloved, with tears in his eyes brought about by the sores growing within his urethra preventing him from beating off to his Waita Uziga collection without experiencing incredible pain.

THE TRUTH: The Japanese Animation Convention is Decadent and Depraved, Part 1 (49:00 – 1:02:45)
Daryl Surat has noticed how all the other anime podcasts refuse to reveal THE TRUTH about anime conventions, and that’s been especially so as of late. Here’s what all the OTHER podcasters and websites don’t want you to know: anime conventions are a den of sin overrun by people whose interest in anime is but tangential or secondary to another, more primary interest, usually some freaky kink. The word has spread about anime cons being “safe” territory to practice one’s deviancies without fear of retribution, and this is the result. In the first part of yet another SHOCKING and COMPLETELY NOT DISHONEST look at anime conventions in the light of the Katsucon and Megacon reports of shows past, Daryl once again does what those OTHER convention reporters don’t have the BALLS to do, and that’s flat-out lie, deceptively edit, and plagiarize for the sake of proving his pre-conceived conclusions. Just like the real news you see on TV!

Closing (1:02:45 – 1:04:36)
This episode is about the length we originally envisioned the podcast as being (as evidenced in our early episodes) by virtue of not having Gerald’s segment. Perhaps we should put up that video of Daryl stabbing him to compensate. Next time, to make up for this week, Gerald will review Crusher Joe. Alas, it won’t be the “I’m the leader of this team, ‘CAUSE I’M THE WHINIEST!” version. Clarissa will review another “pretty boys in armor,” show named Yoroiden Samurai Troopers better known to anime fans in the US as Ronin Warriors, and Daryl will discuss the Often Overlooked (except in previous episodes of this podcast) fan favorite of decades past, Prefectural Earth Defense Force. Well, provided he rewatches it first. He was supposed to do that today, but got caught up in…editing this.

Anime World Order Show # 22 – Otaku Anime Reviews…More So Than Usual

This episode is entirely about anime and manga which itself is about obsessive fans of anime and manga, or otaku. Gerald reviews Otaku no Video, Clarissa reviews Genshiken, and Daryl reviews Welcome to the NHK.

Introduction (0:00 – 20:05)
Gilles Poitras calls in to enlighten us on the proper way to pronounce his name, but we still pronounce it differently anyway despite hearing exactly how it’s supposed to be said. We must be manifesting the same brain disorder that guides so many people to pronounce “Naruto” as “nuh-ROO-to” despite the fact that they don’t pronounce it like that in either the Japanese or English versions of the show. We read listener mail, where we discover that Megatokyo is actually unintentional parody and that Kannazuki no Miko totally sucks. Actually, we knew that already, but it’s good to hear it from other people, much like it’s good to hear people talk about how good Giant Robo is. For the sake of staying on topic, Daryl is rather dismissive of one email asking about Western animation, but he’d written a full-length response to the guy in email form. Then the guy’s email address had permanent fatal errors. If you’re reading the show notes, let me know. Finally, we end with a special message from everyone’s favorite shouting tin cans…FROM SPACE!

Let’s News! (20:05 – 34:50)
The official Genshiken website has been cryptically updated for the first time in quite some time, and we can only hope that means that the second season of Genshiken may happen after all, but there’s no telling at this point. Plus, it’s old news by now, but Central Park Media, one of the oldest US anime licensors, laid off a whole bunch of people, and well, that’s what we talk about for pretty much the entirety of this segment.

Promo: Anime 101 (34:50 – 35:32)
We’ll admit it. All too often we make the mistake of assuming people know what we’re talking about, except for the times when Daryl deliberately makes a joke that only two people can actually get. Vespaholic from Anime Genesis has decided to start up this podcast dedicated to covering the basics. So if you don’t know what we’re talking about and you don’t feel like checking our show notes or asking us to elaborate, thus giving us the impression that nothing’s wrong, perhaps this will be of help. [Daryl: Actually, after listening to their ninth episode, there’s a fair amount of misinformation and potentially bad advice here. Well, the same goes for us, but we’re doing it on purpose for the sake of jokes!]

Review: Otaku no Video (35:32 – 50:48)
Gerald starts things off by reviewing Animeigo’s release of the classic Gainax OAV about the fictionalized account of the rise, fall, and rise again of the studio in the early 1980s. The “Portrait of an Otaku” segments are what make this one so memorable since people can often draw similarities to people they know from them. Gerald is a combination of “Mr A” and the “don’t you think Hiroko is pretty?” guy, and Clarissa is, of course, Miss Honda. Daryl Surat is like the guy who has all the tapes and stuff for the sake of having it, since he barely watches all this stuff he downloads and buys.

Promo: Anime Genesis (50:48 – 51:14)
The promos Benu sent us way back when are out of date since they mention the old website address, and because of that we haven’t really been running their promos. Still, it’s been so long since we ran an AG promo that we figured we’d just go with the one we’ve got. Personally, I wish this podcast wasn’t like, 80% them reading the headlines from Anime News Network or whatever, but check them out. Hmm, they’ve had Mick Aloha, Apocalypse Dowell, and the Anime Pulse guys on as guests. I think an AWO coup might be in order, just as soon as we finish recording a promo for them.

Review: Genshiken (51:14 – 1:05:36)
Clarissa explai…er, tells us about this much more recent anime and manga series that provides a much more evenhanded portrayal of otaku in the modern day. Of the shows we review this week, Genshiken is the most accessible, so don’t worry so much about catching all the references. In terms of character similarities, Gerald acts like Madarame and Daryl looks like him. I guess that makes Clarissa er…Kousaka.

Promo: Ninja Consultant (1:05:36 – 1:06:36)
Erin was one person who wrote in to tell us exactly what makes the Apocalypse Dowell as well-loved as it is (in a nutshell, it’s all the stuff Daryl wasn’t interested in) while also conveying a riveting tale of Asian dudes who had Nazi swastikas hanging in their cubicle because they didn’t quite know what it meant. To steal one from Colt Cabana, “good times, great memories.”

Review: Welcome to the NHK (1:06:36 – 1:21:22)
It’s only fitting that Daryl review the most harsh otaku title of what we’re reviewing this week. This is a manga about a guy which most people would not find endearing or appealing in the slightest, so Daryl can relate and tell YOU exactly what’s going on in this guy’s head. Yeah, that’s the ticket: “this guy.” Warning: the stark, bleak realities revealed in this segment may be too intense, too depressing, and too awesome for most listeners to handle.

Closing (1:21:22 – 1:26:33)
Next week is the disaster themed episode! Actually, there’s not really a theme, but Gerald’s going to review the explosively disastrous Spriggan, Clarissa’s going to review this really…corny disaster known as My Sexual Harassment, and Daryl’s going to finally bite the bullet and unveil what may or may not be the first of many parts, as he relays his discoveries during his search for THE TRUTH at JACON 2006. Or, if you prefer, “The Japanese Animation Convention is Decadent and Depraved.” Prepare yourselves if you want any hopes of survival.