Anime World Order Show # 71 – Depression, Suicide, and Vanilla Ice

The remainder of Show 71 is quite lengthy, but let it tide you over for a while since we’ve got conventions coming up. Gerald reviews Nobody’s Boy Remi, Clarissa reviews the anime version of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and Daryl finally covers Part 3 of Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure.

Here’s the segment timecodes because this one runs pretty long.

Introduction (0:00 – 28:32)
In lieu of reading emails, Daryl gives his convention report on the 2008 Florida Supercon. Photos to possibly be added here soon, but in the meantime, here’s over a thousand for you to look at. Witness THE TRUTH of the convention that Daryl wasn’t mentally prepared to confront. One word: W-rock. [That’s short for “wizard rock.” You know, garage bands that sing songs about Harry Potter. There’s LOTS OF THEM NOW.]

Promo: R5 Central (28:32 – 29:15)
The Otakon-bound Mike Dent managed to post an interview with Mark Musashi, tokusatsu fan soon to be seen on Kamen Rider: Dragon Knight. Mike fails to spend the entirety of this 2-part interview talking about the fact that Mark did motion capture for God Hand and Thunderbolt Volgin in Metal Gear Solid 3. He better watch out for errant bolts of lightning from God as punishment. Kuwabara, kuwabara…

Review: Nobody’s Boy Remi (29:15 – 56:50)
Gerald takes on this TMS’ 1977 attempt to recreate Nippon Animation’s success with the World Masterpiece Theater series brought to us by Osamu Dezaki and Akio Sugino. It’s an anime adaptation of Hector Malot’s novel Sans Famille, and it’s so depressing and features sufficient quantities of child suffering that it bears the Official Justin Sevakis Seal of Approval (Tm). Note that this series was remade in the 90s as Nobody’s Girl Remi, but we won’t talk about that because that one was terrible enough that it got canceled halfway through. In fact, while we’re at it let’s pretend that recent World Masterpiece Theater production Les Misérables doesn’t exist either. Not like we watched that. But we saw a picture of the helpless little moe girl they decided to make it about instead, and figured that was enough.

Promo: Robotronic Dynamite (56:50 – 57:53)
We have yet to play Ninja Gaiden 2 beyond the demo, but word on the street is that we should wait for it to drop to about half price anyway. Anyway, this podcast features Otaku USA’s own Joseph Luster and his merry band of merry men as they talk about movies, videogames, and stuff. In the latest episode, they all seem to have gone to the San Diego Comic-Con, so if you can’t get enough of people talking about Watchmen this is the show for you. For the record, Watchmen is BO-RING no matter what the rest of the world claims, and don’t you fucking tell me I didn’t get it or link me to that goddamned annotations site. Nobody in Watchmen matters besides Rorschach anyway. Oh, you can try to claim otherwise, but you’ll have to deny the 90s happened on account that everyone wanted their heroes to be like Rorschach (and DKR Batman). Good luck with THAT.

Review: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles – Superman Legend (57:53 – 1:33:00)
Clarissa proves once and for all that the Japanese can screw up American properties with equal if not greater efficiency than we can screw up theirs! Whether or not this iteration of the Ninja Turtles is superior to the version that EE “Doc” Finnegan is working on will be judged by history. OR HISTORIANS. Fair warning: Hironobu Kageyama probably will not be performing the theme song to this one as part of his Otakon set. Maybe “review” up there should go in quotation marks, because we really don’t want you to watch this. Under any circumstances. So don’t watch it.

Review: Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure, Part 3 (1:33:00 – 2:17:48)
TJ calls in to let us know that he greatly enjoyed Kaiji upon hearing our review of it, and so can you! Daryl put this one off for a year, but he finally broke down and decided to reread through, rewatch, and replay Part 3 of Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure, more commonly known as “the greatest part of Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure.” This is the big one that all the swingin’ cats know about; a tale of Stands, really big belts, and members of the United States Senate being treated with the respect they deserve. The obscene running length would suggest this review should have just been released as its own podcast, but accessibility was never our trump card. Daryl stopped his own heart about 8 times during the editing of this, and his heart is still stopping every so often even though it’s done now. Maybe it’s just heartburn. He’s got a problem, but if you listen to this review in full, yo you’ll solve it.

Closing (2:17:48 – 2:23:18)
Show 72 may be a while, so consider yourselves FORTUNATE that Show 71 is as long as it is, because you’ll have plenty of time to listen to it all. Preferably not while you’re grinding levels in World of Warcraft! Next time, Daryl’s back in the Madhouse as he reviews Cyber City Oedo, Clarissa reviews the BL title Dog Style (shockingly, Yasuomi Umetsu is not involved), and Gerald’s administering the lead enemas with Burn Up! In the interim we might post a few bonuses since this week and next week we’re caught up in anime conventions and preparations for same. See you at Otakon!

56 Replies to “Anime World Order Show # 71 – Depression, Suicide, and Vanilla Ice”

  1. @ Clarissa-Those Saint Armor Turtles toys were released in the U.S. and I specifically remember it being around the time Powers Rangers was big (around 1994 I want to say). Also I think those super mutant ones were actually in the American show (at the end of its original run). I shouldn’t even recall this stuff as I’m not a big TMNT fan (I casually liked it in the 90’s).

    @ Gerald-I liked the first Burn Up! anime. That was when AIC was still a good animation studio IMO. I bet you’ll comment on how the girl with pink hair did nothing but cry.

    @ Daryl-Baoh is indeed awesome even though it felt so much like trying to be like the Guyver.

    Anyway, great reviews all of them.

  2. Nowhere it would seem until Imaginasian straightens things out with TMS (if I remember right). TRSI was selling it initially but due to the burn-on-demand nature, the show isn’t available any longer

  3. 4chan is all about Steel ball run.

    And Part 4 wasn’t that gay, was it? I mean okay there was that scene where Kira got in the bath with the son of the guy whose identity he’s stolen, but that was meant to be excessively creepy.

    The real queerness kicks in in part 5.

    I always liked part 2 the best myself. It had magical Aztec super-vampires and a nazi soldier with a heavy machine gun for a stomach.

  4. Guys, I know this isn’t what you want to hear, but I’m so checking out that ninja turtles anime!

    Interesting to see Daryl is reviewing Cyber City Oedo. The SFX magazine won’t shut up about how awesome that show is.

  5. Oh yeah, Clarrisa asked if anyone cared I about her BL reviews. I’m generally not interested, but I did watch Ai No Kusabi after she talked about it. It was really good! Probably wouldn’t of seen it if she hadn’t reviewed it.

  6. I started buying the Jojo Part 3 manga as soon I finished scans of the first two parts. I didn’t know there were any edits until a bit later (though that “giant rat” did seem off). While the edits are pretty dumb they don’t deter me from buying buy every volume as they come out because the manga itself is a blast to read. Personally, I like to encourage people to buy it while noting there are some edits (as well as mention there are uncut scans they can check out) and let them make their decision to purchase it themselves rather than be all “Don’t buy this piece of crap because they slighty changed one panel of a dog getting it’s head ripped off by Yellow Temperance to look a tad less gory”.

    Anyway, looking forward to the Cyber City Oedo review. I like this show and it’ll be nice to hear you guys talk about a Kawarjiri work that’s not so rapey (Wicked City and Ninja Scroll were the only ones anyway, right?).

  7. I’ll make sure to stay clear of the Japanese Ninja Turtles series, with the exception of the opening on Youtube. It sounds horribly retarded.

  8. Thanks Daryl. Now I can steal Clarissa for DAPDX shows on Part 4 and Part 5. And yes I do love the fact that Part 5 is completely fabulous.

  9. I really need to get into Jojo Part 3, beyond just an internet meme or MUGEN character videos.

    Never watched that Japanese TMNT show, but yes, the original show was goofy enough, so I guess they just ran with that, albeit in a different race track. With no finishing line.

    Nobody’s Boy Remi…I’m not sure if I ever got to watch it, but I do have some vague childhood memory of bits and pieces of similar shows. Kinda makes me wish I had that time machine too, since I’d probably watch a lot of those old fairy tales (or similar stories) if they were still easily available.

    I’ve realized, partially through this review and a couple of other things I’ve watched recently (SPOILERS…not really, unless I tossed out a couple of names), that I really like depressing shows…at least as long at the ending is satisfying and not just another kick in the face. I like shows that make the audience suffer, but then give them something good at the end. So Remi…I might as well voluntarily fall into depression for a while, if I can eventually find it. It’s not like I can’t watch…say, Godannar, to get out of it, worst case scenario. Hey, it worked once before!

  10. I just wanted to post in comment to the end of your podcast, that while it is unfortunate that you don’t get much feedback, I download your podcast from the Zune Marketplace and love it whenever I look at it and it’s over an hour and a half. Keep up the good work, and Daryl, you should talk about mech designs again, I love mecha anime more than just about..any other kind, and would love to here your input again.

  11. Daryl, thanks for reviewing Jojo’s Part 3! It was worth the wait. I liked the comment you made about how in our society, seeing mass violence is fine, but seeing tits it totally unacceptable. It’s sad because it’s true.

    Anyway guys, have a great time at Otakon. If you can, try to get an interview with the guys from JAM Project. Since I can’t go, and therefore am not going to be able to see JAM Project perform (damn!), hearing them interviewed on your show would be the next best thing.

  12. The Metal Mutant and Super Mutants TMNT figures were indeed released here in the US by Playmates but were very hard to find. The Super Mutants came out in 1994 and the Metal Mutants came out in 1995. The official TMNT website has very extensive information on all things Ninja Turtles, so I recommend you check it out for further information.

    http://www.ninjaturtles.com/

    To see the pics and info about the Metal Mutants and Super Mutants, go into the Toys section, then go into the Old Toy Archive and click the appropriate year. Sorry I don’t have any links handy.

    I’ve never seen these OVAs myself, but I knew they existed. Thanks for the review. I will now have to check them out and see what all the hubub is about.

  13. Thanks for the info about the TMNT toys, guys. I actually didn’t even think the official site would have had such a comprehensive listing of the toy lines, since official sites often only list the newest stuff.

    BTW, thanks iamzim! Glad you liked it even if it’s not your usual cup of tea.

  14. I’ve never seen the sequels to Burn Up. All I know is that there’s a scene where the blonde girl has to bungee jump nude to distract terrorists or something.
    I await the review for the fist one anyway but I thought you’d at least like the original one. Oddly enough, there’s a character in there that Daryl can cosplay as (the annoying American who only says “Hello”). I actually never listened to the dub so your review will be the first for me to hear it.

  15. The awesome thing about Japanese weepies is that unrelenting pattern of things improving a bit and then worsening hideously. Either the show is good, and you get to stare sniffling at the screen, enjoying your misery; or the show is bad, and you get to laugh as people suffer. It’s kind of like reading Thomas Hardy.

    I wanted to tie A Dog of Flanders into this somehow, but I’m coming up a bit short. I will say that Hans Christian Andersen’s tales are overall darker than the Grimms’. I mean you get blood and gore and destruction, but if you’re virtuous, you can shake that shit off. Granted, your family didn’t enjoy getting chopped up, but they’re together now, aren’t they? You’ve only got to watch your back if you’re rude to old people. Keep your pride in check and be gentle with the senile, that’s the lesson the Brothers Grimm and the old wives of Germany teach us. Hans Christian Andersen, on the other hand, counts it as a happy ending when a little Jewish girl who freezes to death eavesdropping on a Christmas service ends up in heaven.

    Clarissa, I find your gay reviews helpful, informative, and enjoyable. I feel the same way about your boys’ love reviews. HA! At any rate, I welcome hot man-on-man action.

  16. Heys guys!!! I just started listening to the podcast and it is awesome. All three of you are hilarious. Keep up the great work.

  17. When I heard ‘Have another lead enema’, first thing that popped in my mind was Dead Leaves. Looks like I was wrong.

  18. You know, Richard Epcar WAS going to attend AFO, but apparently had a project to do, so he had to cancel. It’s too bad, the interview shows that a panel he would have would be awesome.

    Anyway, great show, guys. Unlike a lot of shows, I actually like it when you guys go long. You’ve all got great personalities, and bounce off each other really well.

    Oh, and one more thing. DARYL, WATCHMEN BORING?! ASTJLEKJOEJAODIDULIJGREATESTCOMICEVERFJDKFJIADJFIADFKDKGAHALLCAPSRAGE!
    Ok, I’m done. See you guys at AFO!

  19. Entertaining show as usual guys, keep up the good work. I’ve got to agree with that voicemail you played; every anime/manga purchase I have made since 2006 has been influenced by you guys. Has something in me died also?

  20. I’m downloading the TMNT OVA’s now. I’m sure that they’ll be enjoyable on the terrible level (maybe).

    I also wanted to say that even if there’s other podcasts that review all the same shows, I’d still like to hear AWO’s opinion on them.

  21. I’ve been wanting to get into Jojo’s, but I generally hate scanlations… I like reading real books, and I can also take them anywhere I go with me. I know where you’re coming from, I do detest edits, especially when they’re so meaningless… yet I wanna check the series out.

    And speaking of edits, I think it’s second time you’ve mentioned edits on Eyeshield 21 – do you know exactly what those are? I’ve been buying the series from the beginning and had no idea 😛

    Clarissa: looking forward to Dog Style review, I love Modoru Motoni… I listen to your podcast regardless, but I especially look forward to these treats. I know you want to keep pretty cool when doing AWO reviews but I wouldn’t mind, at all, seeing some of the passion you clearly have for this stuff to show through more ^^

  22. I’ll be excited to hear the BL review! Clarissa, you need to do more of those! BL is really the hardest genre that I’m interested in for me to actually find decent stuff in (of course, that’s because most BL is awful, or at least most of what comes out here, it seems. Quite the shame…)

    And the fact that JoJo’s has a character named after Vanilla Ice is hilarious and makes me want to go find scans of JoJo’s or something.

  23. Although I have no interest in BL genre, I’d like to hear a review of the OVA Legend of the Blue Wolves since one of my absolute favorite mecha designers worked on it (Makoto Kobayashi).

  24. My own note on Nobody’s Boy Remi. I heard the idea that “Life is full of shitty things – deal with it” being the message of the show.

    I can’t claim to have seen it yet, but based on the time period the original work was written in – look at the work of Dickens, or the earlier works of Hugo – the message is something else.

    Dickens, for example, focused on the injustice of the poor. Being put into debtor’s prisons so they could never get out of their situation while their families starved. Children abandoned to the streets and crime. In Hugo’s work, the poor and oppressed were made to suffer by those with power and the system.

    The point was to show how injust this was, and to move people to action. It’s what lead to, later on, the end of child labor and abuse. It lead to people reforming the prison system in Europe (ironically, basing it on the American system of reform, while the American system devolved into a prison of punishment).

    I don’t believe the message was “Life sucks deal with it”, but instead “Look at how life was for these people in the past. Look at how bad life can be now for people even living today – the poor and the homeless and the sick.” Perhaps people watching it would walk away with the message that things can and should be better.

    “Grave of the Fireflies” showed how horrible war can be for the most tender in our society, and I wonder how many people walked away thinking “Maybe war *isn’t* the answer.”

    Anyway, I’m going to try to get my hands on this show – it sounds very interesting, and thank you for introducing it to us.

    John Hummel

  25. @milla –

    The biggest edits I know of for Eyeshield 21 are language. Hiruma swears a lot, including numerous uses of the English word “fuck.” This was greatly toned down for the English edition.

    There may have also been some changes to the storyline about the egregiously racist American football coach, but it’s been a while since I looked at the English version so I’m not sure.

    I don’t usually care about the presence or lack of profanity, but Hiruma’s speech patterns have always struck me as part of his character. When they retooled it to make his language “acceptable” it carries a much different connotation and effect, I think.

    @shewhomustnotbenamed –

    Thanks! I haven’t been reading much BL lately, mostly for the same reasons. There are a few authors I still like, but when I fell behind on manga and the internet in general it became somewhat trickier to find good new authors.

    It’s also tough because so many BL manga are very short. I might try to do more of those five minute mini-reviews for BL manga that we can splice between regular segments, perhaps it will work better. Or maybe I should just blog ’em.

    @vz –

    I was thinking about reviewing that one. It’s kind of interesting, it’s pretty different from most other BL, especially animated.

  26. RE: Eyeshield 21 edits

    Ah, fuck, the most expressive of English four letter words. I’ve read some scanlations and did notice that – personally that doesn’t actually bother me… I mean, translating swear words from another language isn’t exact science, there really isn’t just one “right” translation. I could see translation for a certain word vary according to use, intention, person and situation… With Hiruma though, I agree, his swearing would probably be pretty obscene. Yet, I can easily just replace “damn” in my mind with “fuck” if I want – with edited art this becomes much more difficult.

    Otherwise I think Viz has done nicely with Eyeshield – the racism aspect wasn’t changed (as far as I can tell), and they even had a full color chapter in volume 20 (something they should have done for Bleach when it had one instead changing it to that terrible monochrome).

  27. The good news: we got a TON of audio recorded at Otakon 2008, including but not limited to interviews with Masao Maruyama, Kappei Yamaguchi, and JAM Project. The unedited audio length for each interview is about 90 minutes. Look forward to those…at some point…

    The bad news: all of this week we’ve been occupied with getting panels assembled for Anime Festival Orlando, which starts TODAY. And then right afterwards we’ve got Otaku USA deadlines. As such, we have not even so much as started doing a shred of work on any of the audio recordings from Otakon.

    And it’s going to require a LOT of work. We’ll probably have to boost the audio by about 40-50 dB just to get something you can actually hear. You can imagine this will introduce a TON of noise which we won’t be able to completely eliminate.

    Consolation: most of what we recorded was also recorded by Mike from R5 Central and/or Tyler from Rangercast, so if they post the recordings it’d be pretty much identical to what we’ve got. There’s also a Ninja Consultant recording from Saturday night that is in all likelihood unintelligible. But they should post it anyway.

  28. Nice! I can always count on you guys to get great interviews. I’ll be looking forward to all of those in the future. Good luck with all your panels and Otaku USA stuff.

  29. Considering my tastes in anime seem to parallel most of the AWO’s I figured I’d ask about this here. I’m growing weary of the AnimeOnDVD forums for some of the reasons AWO mentions at times… anyone know of good set of active anime forums that don’t cater to the bootleg crowd?

  30. Holy fucking shit! That Picture that comes with the mp3 is fucking disturbing!

    Wait……. Is that Gerald!?

  31. milla –

    Generally when it comes to translating Japanese cursing that’s very true. Hiruma does actually use the word “fuck” in English though, which sidesteps the translation issue.

    I agree that it’s better than edits to the actual artwork, however. Luckily Eyeshield didn’t seem to get that, since there’s not really nudity or underage drinking/smoking which are the usual SJ editing targets.

    Really glad about the color chapter. I hate when they take the color pages and switch them to black and white–I don’t think I’ve ever seen one of those that didn’t look really awful.

  32. “There’s no Ass Burgers’ in the world of NOBODY’S BOY REMI.”

    A.W.O. is helping to get me through the letter “W” in the Oh My Goddess! Colors Encyclopedia.

  33. Thanks alot for reviewing a show I absolutely loved as a child. YES, I WATCHED NOBODIES BOY REMI AS CHILD. Along with other depressing shows like Princess Sarah, Zakki, Shoukoushi Ceddie..etc.

    No, I didnt grow up to be a self hating Emo, nor did I hate the world because of it.

    To me, these were interesting shows that I would watch every day (they would air them an episode a day), those were the days where children were treated as intelligent beings!

    Parents are being very sensitive these days in terms of what they show their kids, I think its all bullocks. Shoukoushi Ceddie and Nobodies Boy Remi were both shown on national TV and were very popular, this was 10-15 years ago. Nowadays we are bombarded with all the cute, lovely, “nice” show that are all very boring to watch.

    I dont know when parents and TV Broadcasters decided that children are better off watching this crap they put on, but in doing so they created this generation that doesn’t really have any visual heritage of any sort, a generation that didn’t feel the excitement of waiting for their little wee drama every day..

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Princess_Sarah

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shoukoushi_Ceddie

    You guys are doing great reviewing old stuff but we want more. Please review series like My Daddy Long Legs:

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Watashi_no_Ashinaga_Ojisan

    Heidi, Girl of the Alps, I heard you guys mentioning it but not seen a review.

    Takarajima or Treasure Island, one of the best things I have seen in my childhood.

    Chibi Maruko Chan.

    Jungle Book Shonen Mowgl.

    Future Boy Conan.

    Nils no Fushigi na Tabi.

    PLZ AWO!!!

  34. TMNT… dang.

    I remember the TMNT comic that caused some real waves was actually the Archie comics adaptation of the DIC cartoon show, which caused some major furors in the bible belt for a storyline which explained Shinto and Buddhism. The letters sent in by angry Jesus Camp soccer moms were unbelievable.

  35. Bothering to respond at this point in time, despite some trouble I’ve had with a few unfinished businesses in my home, not to mention my computer being in the shop for the moment.

    So err…where exactly can you get hold of “Nobody’s Boy Remi”?

    I was able to get whatever Robert’s Anime Corner Store had leftover, but I’m missing a few discs of the whole set.

    I’ll make sure to stay clear of the Japanese Ninja Turtles series, with the exception of the opening on Youtube. It sounds horribly retarded.

    I dare you to watch it! I had to expose a bunch of people to this at a perfect setting, and they still couldn't get over the scene of the flood in NY killing all those people! Being reminded of having to giggle at the destruction that happens to China in that one shot, as we already see both the Tokyo and Effel Towers getting decimated, yet in Beijing, Mao's picture calmly falls off that building in Tiananmen Square, they're being real nice on China there!

    Noticing a studio mentioned in the credits as "Bee Media", for a moment then I thought they were related to Bee Train! 🙂 Still, imagine if these episodes had been dubbed over here, and given some sort of VHS release, perhaps as a tie-in to those toys were you had to send in proof of purchase tabs from the boxes with whatever shipping money to get them. Either way they were still pretty silly and dumb. Still, I wouldn't mind wanting to die and become like that ghost who goes around laughing constantly!

    I will say this, I think Remi is an excellent show that people should try to watch at least once in their lives, and I think I would've been a better person if I had seen it back when I was watching classics like "Belle & Sebastian" on Nickelodeon. What do kids have nowadays to straighten them up? Obviously not Hannah Montana.

    Heidi, Girl of the Alps, I heard you guys mentioning it but not seen a review.
    Takarajima or Treasure Island, one of the best things I have seen in my childhood.
    Chibi Maruko Chan.
    Jungle Book Shonen Mowgl.
    Future Boy Conan.
    Nils no Fushigi na Tabi.
    PLZ AWO!!!

    Yes, we demand it! I’ve only ever seen a couple of these myself (you can pretty much watch all of Shonen Mowgli on YouTube nowadays, just reminded myself I have some cels from that show in my greasy mitts). Takarajima/Treasure Island should at least be another one to check out.

    Thinking about another OVA of interest to explore, I’d suggest the 3-part Megaman OVA that ADV released some years back that were meant to teach Americans on Japan’s culture and it’s holidays. Could be worth a shot.

    Oh and Clarissa, I think those weird talking frogs in a scene of the Everglades where mutant characters from the show, I sorta remember seeingan episode with them before, but it’s been WAY TOO LONG since I’ve ever saw that show, and in particular the first few seasons. I guess it made a little more sense if you had known who those guys were than the brief couple seconds they show up on screen in this vid.

  36. The Jojo’s rewiev made me laugh. Much.
    Especially the part about the dreaded hair/hat and Jojo fashion in general (actually, it’s one of the main reasons I read this thing).

    and just by the way – I started reading Jojo’s manga because of you. Currently, I’m on part 4, and like it most so far – the stands are so awesomly weird, it makes me wonder if Araki’s clean.
    Also, I don’t think its THAT gay. From screenshots I saw part 5 and 7 seemed much more queer.

    @Clarissa
    More BL is always welcome. Even though I knew all the titles you rewieved so far, it’s fun to hear somebody else talk about them. Also, it’s sort of fun to hear Gerald and Daryl squirm quietly in the backround.

    Your rabid, first-time commenting fan

  37. Let me tell you I am pretty excited for the Cyber City Odeo review. I was watching Mazinkaiser today and DAMN that shit is good. I hope you guys don’t have any weather trouble in the next week.

  38. Clarissa must review Legend of the Blue Wolves. The rape see-saw must be balanced, and right now, Daryl and Gerald are piled on to one side.

    Any hope of an AWO presence at New York Anime Fest?

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