Anime World Order Show # 65b – Sonic Soldier Borgman and the NY Anime Festival

Here’s the rest of Show # 65: Gerald’s super-short review of Sonic Soldier Borgman and Daryl’s super-long report on the New York Anime Festival 2007.


Daryl was once again a guest on The Greatest Movie EVER! podcast, this time to review The Running Man. For those who can’t enough of the Daryl Surat / Paul Chapman [aka White Daryl Surat] combination, the two were also guests on the second episode of Snacktime Online, the new not-yet-a podcast by “Joey Snackpants.” The subject of discussion is “Comic Books and Other Media: The Good, the Bad, and the Really Really REALLY Ugly,” so if you’re interested in hearing us talk about US comicbooks and their adaptations into other media, click here to get the episode. Do be sure to send Mr. Snackpants feedback in order to let him know what you think of the show. Especially if it’s hate mail, which there will be after the awesome things that were said; TV’s Patrick Macias may never forgive Daryl for his hatorizing! On the subject of hatorizing: Mr. Show sucked just like everything Bob “Let’s Go To Prison” Odenkirk has done, and Tina Fey is not funny. Before anyone says “what about 30 Rock?” note that Tina Fey is not funny on 30 Rock. Alec Baldwin and Tracy Morgan are. Dissension on this matter shall be subject to RAMBO’S LAW.

Erin is stockpiling arms for some sort of apocalyptic war. There are at least two of these cases in her apartment, which Dave Riley may or may not have partaken of in order to shoot members of GeekNights during the Match Game.
Not that much interest in gekiga at NYAF, it seems. It didn’t have the greatest time slot though; most people weren’t at the con yet. I’ll bet money that Katsucon’s turns out better.
Much like PT Chapman, Alison joined the Daryl Surat School of Fashion Sense. Maybe she and her man will meditate on THAT next time they talk about ME being abrasive! Hah!
The World Magic: The Gathering Championships were being conducted at the con, so they brought this nightmare out. I have never played a CCG and hopefully never will.

TV’s Patrick Macias continues searching for THE TRUTH even after I’ve stopped.

Maybe there’ll be more pictures. Possibly a Youtube video of Rym re-enacting one of Tatsumi’s stories.

62 Replies to “Anime World Order Show # 65b – Sonic Soldier Borgman and the NY Anime Festival”

  1. THANK YOU!!

    Not bad. Even the NYAF wasn’t that bad. That Uncle Yo guy. I’ve seen a video clip and um yeah, shit sucks hard. The only panel I went to was Media Blasters. Half of it was boring because they were talking about videogames. All I cared to know was about the rest of Gaogaigar and if they’d release Cream Lemon in their Kitty line. I did get Vol.1 of Simoun (they said who likes Yuri and I’m like “MEEEEEEEEEE”).

    The only Borgman toys were from Sega’s short venture into making figures (the other was Zillion and the obscure toku Changerion). I wish they make some new Borgman toys. Even a fixed posed PVC statue of Anice Farm would suffice. Rather see that then the billion different Rei & Asuka figures in oufits that have noting to do with the anime that I can’t get why people love them so much.

    Read about them here.

    http://www.toyboxdx.com/datafiles/data/sega/

    Also DANGAIOH!!!

    I’ve only seen the really REALLY bad Manga Ent.Dub.
    You must spend at least 5 minutes talking about the gorgeous Toshihiro artwork.

    P.S. Daryl, I still want you to review Moetan, even if it’s like pulling teeth. Do it from the perspective of someone that hates pedomoe anime. The show doesn’t even try to denie it like Strawberry Marshmallow.

  2. The most fightening thing about Uncle Yo is that he has improved TREMENDOUSLY. And he’s still awful.

    Maybe he’ll “get” it some day.

  3. Thanks for the positive shout-out re: John O’Donnell. I always thought (and said) that guy was a straight shooter and I’m glad somebody else agrees. He’s done a lot for me and has always been refreshingly open and candid about the biz. We need more of that.

    On topics related to NYC, my most recent trip there was in Feb ’06 for the first New York Comic Con (also at the Javitz Center) and I was intro’d to some great little anime shops in Chinatown, including an underground mall with loads of stuff–sort of a miniature Nakano Broadway. Do any of you NYC listeners know of the place? It should automatically be on every traveling anime fan’s hit list.

  4. The NYAF report was fun to listen to, all things considered. Thankfully, I had no idea who this Uncle Yo guy was, or is, so his existence within my memories will fade into the dark soon enough. I hope.

    Borgman…no comment, really. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose, I guess. Too bad the TV series isn’t really available yet, one way or another.

    Dangaioh? The art seems fine, but the mechas look a bit to…muscular, I guess. Let’s see how that works out.

    Potemayo…my supreme ignorance about it knows no bounds.

    And while I’m more interested in the other two ImaginAsian releases myself, a Remi review would be OK too.

  5. Milk came out of my nostrils when i saw the thumb to this week’s episode.

    For a minute I thought it was Porky Pig! 🙂

    Keep up those ID tags!

    Hearing about Borgman sounds more like what happened to Ghost Sweeper Mikami. I too would find that annoying if something I saw was meant to be a follow-up to something that came before but was never released domestically.

  6. The way that Borgman and Ghost Sweeper Mikami was released is also like that of Patlabor where the movies came first but the exception of course is that the TV and OVA series were released as well.

    Borgman seems like one of those things that was popular for a short time in Japan but now is pretty much forgotten. I’d like to find a Newtype book for that someday.

    Tim Eldred-I know exactly the little place in Chinatown your talking about. There’s also a nice toy store next to that as well.

  7. The most terrifying thing about this episode wasn’t even anime related. Learning that Epic Movie made 40 million dollars made me cry.

    In all seriousness however, nice job with the show. NYAF doesn’t sound like my idea of a good time; those Megacon type cons don’t appeal to me.

    Do you guys think that NYAF will fade away just like Big Apple Anime Fest did years ago? New York just doesn’t seem like a good place to hold a con, with all the high costs involved.

    Definately looking forward to the Dangaioh review next episode. Luckally, I found a fansub of it so I don’t have to watch Manga Entertainment’s terrible excuse for a DVD release that they put out.

  8. Other stuff of note in the Big Apple for the visiting Otaku:

    BOOK-OFF! FTW! Used Japanese books, manga, art books, CDs, DVDs, etc. In December I picked up a super-nifty art book dedicated to Kazuo Komatsubara (a.k.a. K. Kazuo) or “Animator the Great” as he is referred to on the cover: director of Devilman and CB Go Nagai OVAs, as well as Captain Harlock, Nausicaa, and more! You never know exactly what you’re gonna find, and locating a specific manga can be a pain if you’re illiterate (densely packed shelves with just spines showing), but worth checking out. Apropos the show, I have a BGM CD from one of the Borgman OVAs that I picked up there some time ago: one of the only places I know of to find BGM CDs from older and obscure anime!

    Oh and as an aside, the street Book-Off is on is just down from the NY Public Library. If you saw the movie “Day After Tomorrow”, the biggest thrill was watching the tsunami come crashing right down this very street, inundating poor Book-Off before the heroes sealed themselves in the library.

  9. I didn’t see these additional links until after I posted the previous note:

    BOOK-OFF Official Site (with handy map)

    Blog Post showing off some obscure Tezuka manga adaptation of Crime & Punishment and other stuff, all bought at Book-Off. (I can think of no other group of people who’d be more interested in that than the crowd here!)

  10. Mike Dent hasn’t posted here yet, so I guess I’ll have to hold up that ned of things.

    Gerald, I’d classify Borgman as a Metal Hero type of show as opposed to a sentai show. They are but two of the many colors of the tokusatsu rainbow.

    There is a precedent for sentai shows that have three main characters. Two that spring to mind are Sun Vulcan and the recent Gekiranger, which Power Ranger fans will soon see as Jungle Fury.

  11. Being reminded of noticing “Anime-Classic” subtitled a Doraemon educational vid on adding/subtracting a couple days ago, though it sounds like they aren’t going to do anymore of those (such as with the English lessons vids), I kinda like watching that goofy stuff!

  12. For the record, I see about a billion Anice Farm resin kits every time I hit up a secondhand model shop in Japan. Clearly she was very well loved in her time!

  13. * A lot of professional comedians will carry crib notes with them, mostly as a safety net. I only know this as it was brought up on Jimmy Pardo’s NNF podcast last week. However, from what I head of that Uncle Yo on FKFTG, he is a long way off from being professional.

    * Mr Show was great, don’t listen to Daryl on that, it was the second best sketch show of the nineties (and the best US sketch of the 90s, though that trophy is not so hard to win.). Let’s Go To Jail and Brothers Solomon, however, are awful. The Drugachusetts sketch Dan linked to is from the third season, which for my money is the strongest.

    * Reviewing individual volumes is a valid approach as long as that’s how anime continues to be released. However, what most of single volume reviews are lacking is a perspective on whether an individual release is worth your money. Instead they tend to review the content in a way more suited to an overall series review. In this way, Gerald’s Borgman review actually hit the spot for a DVD release review.

  14. “Anime-Classic” subtitled a Doraemon educational vid on adding/subtracting a couple days ago, though it sounds like they aren’t going to do anymore of those (such as with the English lessons vids)

    Well, the big issue is that I can’t go raiding the NYC Book-Off for them anymore living across the ocean and all (and if people like Walt keep telling everyone where they are they won’t have any in stock). If it makes you feel any better, they’ve been cutting down on their VHS selection and bizarre content for the last year or so. However, fear not – two of our translators live in Japan and routinely raid the rental stores. There may indeed be more wacky vids like that once I can bribe them to go rip me some. If you can’t wait, the Dragonball Traffic and Fire safety vids are up on YouTube.

  15. Here’s all the stuff you got wrong about NYAF:

    – The anime industry panels on Saturday were VERY well attended – the Funimation and Bandai Entertainment panels especially. I think Viz anime was too crowded to get in to.

    – Everyone attended the con on Saturday because no one can afford to stay at a hotel in NYC. The attendees commuted in for just one day and didn’t spend the night.

    – Friday the con ended too early to make it worthwhile to drop by after work or school. I was unemployed, but Noah couldn’t go at all, since the con ended at like 6 PM both Friday and Saturday.

    – The maids in the maid cafe did a song and dance number every hour or so. That’s all they did.

    – Alison didn’t write “all” the Avatar comics, but she did write some of them, and draw some stuff for the Avatar issue of Nick magazine.

    – GeekNights “knew a guy,” I don’t care how professional their email was.

    – Only Times Square smells like urine.

  16. Just saw the U.S. premiere of Genius Party in D.C. It was great.

    Watanabe showed up with an introduction, and surprised me by not only joining the audience instead of heading out, but sitting three seats next to me. I couldn’t help but grin, and it was pretty easy to give him a handshake and a “Great job” on the way out.

    Genius Party is an awesome anthology that I feel is up in the ranks of such movies as Robot Carnival, and I think you’re really going to like it. I put up summaries and mini-reviews of the shorts here:

    http://escapistcartoons.blogspot.com/2008/02/genius-party.html

  17. If you can’t wait, the Dragonball Traffic and Fire safety vids are up on YouTube.

    Been there done that (and in a few other subbed language editions since people just had to circulate that around)! Usually anything DBZ-related usually shows up on YouTube that Televiko video or the so-called OVA that was really animation for another Bandai console do-hickey.

    Like noticing one guy who stuck those DB safety films up on YouTube labeled them “Lost Episodes”! Again, fueling the fires further into the ground!

    Still, rather a shame I don’t have a store like that in my area where I could find that sort of thing and harp about it.

  18. Keith said…
    I just heard some Uncle Yo stuff, and now I am disappointed with the human race.

    It’s not nice to ‘cowboy’ your ‘bebop’! (sorry for stealing his bit) 🙂

  19. The next New York Anime Fest is not going to fade away. The next one is scheduled for September 12-14, 2008 at the Jacob Javits Center.

    Erin, I did talk to some people at Reed Exhibitions about the hotel situation. I recommended that they cut some deals for event discounts on hotel rooms. I don’t know if they are going to follow my advise.

    IMHO, The real problem with NYAF was inexperience. I talked to both staff and volunteers at the NYAF. I got the distinct impression that most of the paid floor staff had very little knowledge of anime cons. They seemed more like American comicbook fans. I don’t know… it was just my impression.

    On another note, Chinatown also smells like urine. The fish markets pour their waste into the street sewers, and you also get a fantastic rotting fish odor.

    PS: ERIN ROCKS THE BON JOVI!

  20. On another note, Chinatown also smells like urine. The fish markets pour their waste into the street sewers, and you also get a fantastic rotting fish odor.

    I don’t think it’s just fish, or urine, but something more toxic and illegal. Also occasionally Chinatown smells like live chickens.

    I only like two Bon Jovi songs.

  21. Erin said…
    I only like two Bon Jovi songs.

    Heh, I was in the second/third grade when they were big. 🙂

    Ironically, I had a lot of things to say a few hours ago, but due to my short-term memory to nag on something, I purely forgotten what it was I wanted to say, but given the latest I’ve read, looks like there’s going to be some newbie card-base RPG show coming out, animated by TMS, dubbed by Nelvana, and airing on CN Saturday nights at 9PM (ho-hum)! Really, I gave up on wanting to bother with TV than I had a decade ago when the good stuff had been on during the afternoons like the way we had with Toonami. We’ll never see that again (Sgt. Frog would’ve been great if only CN gave ADV a break, Kaiketsu Zorori would also be a nice show to show around 3PM). Again, anime has always been a string of wasted potential and wasted opportunities in my eye.

  22. Chinatown has a stench that defies classification, as it is comprised not just of human urine, rotting fish, and chicken poop; but also contains several elements that are hitherto unmapped on the Periodic Chart and exist nowhere in the universe except Chinatown.

    The Canal Street subway station used to be plagued by a smell I can only describe as “sour hippie corpse foot.”

  23. Well Surat, I played Gunstar Heroes, and discussed it in my most recent episode. I’ve got to say, good call. That game is the best thing I’ve played all year!!! Thanks.

  24. Daryl: Patrick likes to take down my comments, so I’ll just respond to your blog entry here.

    “If you ask me, the reason pretty much all of those Asian directors/actors who came over to America never really hit it big here was precisely BECAUSE they change their schtick from “whatever it was that made them stand out” to “be just like other things we already have here, only not quite as good” on the grounds that people in America won’t go for it otherwise.”

    The Pangs and Andrew Lau didn’t really have a choice in the matter, since the studio took control of their films early in the production. And from what I hear, Nakata’s Ring sequel is as weak as his Ringu sequel. The verdict’s still out on Stephen Chow, though, but he claims DBZ should be good, so let’s cross our fingers on that one.

  25. Hey Daryl, did you ever put up that torrent for Dog Soldier yet? I’d still need to see that, and also Violence Jack.

    I’m finally finishing up the rest of Tekkaman Blade. Such a good series that didn’t get alot of attention. Glad it still holds up from when I originally saw the dub & edited “Teknoman”.

    I also bought the thinpack for Nadesico and an obscure mid 90’s OVA Sailor Victory.

  26. @ vz

    Thanks for the heads up on Guy. God, I remember walking into a screening room at I-CON (a local sci-fi con) and seeing the tail end of Guy in the middle of the afternoon. I was just looking for a place to eat lunch, and suddenly, I’m looking at two women 69’ing, and one of them has a handgun shoved up her Slip ‘n Slide. I sat down and ate my sandwich.

    I hope the torrent has the dub track!

  27. In Japan, Nippon TV has been able to acquire the rights for its most ambitious live-action project to date. “20th Century Boy” (”20 Seiki Shonen” — 20????), a sci-fi thriller trilogy based on a hit comic by Naoki Urasawa, will be its next big feature.

    The film series focuses on a convenience store manager named Kenji played byToshiaki Karasawa (”Casshern”). As a teenage boy he wrote a prediction about the end of the world. Now, as an adult, he is watching everything he invisioned as a teen begin to unveil in real life. Alarmed that, apart from a himself and a few of his friends, nobody else seems to be picking up on what is happening, he makes it his quest to try to stop it and the fiendish, mysterious cult-leader named “Friend” who is out to destroy the world.

    The first film in the trilogy will be released on August 30, 2008, the second late in 2008 or early in 2009 and the third in the fall of 2009. The budget for the entire trilogy is six billion yen ($57 million USD), with location shoots set up in several different locations throughout the US, the UK, Thailand and China.

    The English rock band T.Rex has agreed to have its “20th Century Boy” song play as the trilogy’s theme song. This 1973 song helped inspired the motif of Urasawa’s original manga, according to AnimeNewsNetwork.

    “20th Century Boy” co-stars Etsushi Toykawa (”Great Yokai War”) portraying Otcho and Takiko Tokiwa (”Brave Story”) as Yukiji.

  28. Iczer-1 is awsome, you might be thinking of Icezelion, which isnt that good
    (but I still like it aswell)

  29. Iczer-1 was one of those things that I knew about when I was younger but haven’t seen until the DVD was out and man was surprised how well I enjoy it. Now I consider it one of my favorite OVA’s. Iczer Reborn was good too (not as cool as the original; though).

    I have Iczelion on my separate HD so I’ll eventually watch that too (that never came out on DVD so a torrent was my only other option).

    I have a book from third episode of the original Iczer.

    Yeah, Gerald needs to review the original one.

  30. I’m thankful we’re getting more Black Jack period, since Tezuka manga just doesn’t get any love over here saleswise.

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