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OH NO, THE BANDANA’S COME OFF! Here now is the second half of Show 76 containing the reviews of Shootfighter Tekken, Baoh, and Part 4 of Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure. Warning: this might melt your brain.
Review: Shootfighter Tekken (0:00 – 33:39)
Gerald reviews a fine masterpiece by Tetsuya Saruwatari, esteemed student of the mighty Kazuo Koike and creator of the grand masterpiece known as Violence Hero: Riki-Oh. A relatively short 3 part-OAV anime adapted from the very long-running manga series Koukou Tekken-den Tough that was partially released by Viz under the name Tough, Shootfighter Tekken was one of the last, if not THE last, new releases from Central Park Media. Nobody really seemed to care when it came out. Were they mistaken? Listen on and find out!
Promo: Ani-Gamers (33:39 – 34:33)
Evan assures us that this promo doesn’t have people who ultimately didn’t end up being on the podcast at all in it, which while beneficial isn’t always necessary. Heck, the reason our latest promo is so good is precisely because it has nothing to do with much of anything we said at all! Anyway, Ani-Gamers just released the second half of episode 11, so check them out. Just remember: UNCLE YO SEES ALL, except for the hentai clips that Gerald shows at anime conventions. He did the right thing and bolted out of there when those came on.
Review: Baoh (34:33 – 1:11:05)
Daryl gave strong consideration to just ripping the dub audio from Baoh–PERHAPS THE GREATEST SINGLE-LENGTH OAV EVER MADE–in its entirety and posting that as the review. Perhaps a future bonus installment of AWO could simply be entitled “Baoh: The Audio Drama” because aside from a few scenes, you actually don’t need to see what’s going on at any point whatsoever due to all the narration. Daryl always dreamed of just getting cosplayers to read the lines from Baoh, but this dream never came to fruition because if you think it’s hard to get a cosplayer you personally know to speak into a microphone, try getting them to say “there is! Such a power is contained WITHIN BAOH!” It’s not happening, folks.
Promo: Anime82 (1:11:05 – 1:11:49)
We suspect that Regan might have been impersonating the Macross II dub when recording this promo, but no matter: after a few months of hiatus he’s back with a new episode! Thanks to Regan and the rest of the guys at Box Fansubs for their work on Locke the Superman and Queen Millennia, the latter of which you can definitely expect Daryl to review in a future episode! Though it begs the question whether or not Queen Millennia should get priority over Violence Jack…
Review (manga): Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure Part 4 (1:11:49 – 1:49:34)
Daryl and Clarissa may never read them and Gerald may have given up reading them in disgust, but Bass_kat from the Fast Karate for the Gentleman forums calls in to relate to us all the tale of how she saw Wicked City back when she was 8 years old. A bizarre tale as that can only be placed prior to Clarissa’s review of a bizarre manga. This one is sort of the “Death Note + Hot Fuzz” portion of Jojo’s, and marks a definitive turning point as far as content and art style is concerned.
Meet the Jojo’s Part 4 gang! Clockwise from top left there’s Okuyasu, Josuke, Jotaro, Koichi (whose face is being eaten by Araki’s name) and Rohan. Josuke, of course, is easy to spot thanks to his kickin’ pompadour. Sadly, people tend to make fun of it because rather than being a real tough guy style, now it’s pretty much just worn by Yoyogi Park rockabilly dudes.
Of course, Josuke has his Stand Crazy Diamond, which valiantly continues the heart motif Araki loves so much.
And I couldn’t not devote time to that amazing Araki/Tezuka/Go Nagai hybrid Rohan. I mentioned he’s crazy IN THE NAME OF GREAT MANGA right?
If you were wondering, this is what Rohan’s Stand does to people. It’s much better in visuals than in the description.
True, there’s no Dio anymore. But just take a fucking look at Kira and Killer Queen. Top tier Stand design? I think so. (Hey Medicos, when you’re done with this year’s Stardust Crusaders blitz, could we maybe get a poseable Killer Queen and Kira? With bonus amputated hand girlfriend of course.)
But don’t get too down. Psychotic murderers and high body counts aside, remember: it’s Jojo’s so they’re all dorks. Inviiiiisible baaaaby.Closing (1:49:34 – 1:53:58)
Next time on AWO, it’s SHOW TIME because our special guest once again is Mike Toole! Last heard from about two years ago, Mike’s since capitalized on his knowledge that audio is for suckers to become a sporadic streaming video sensation, but he’s still keeping it real! Daryl will be reviewing his favorite series of 2007, Baccano! (warning: don’t read the Wikipedia page or the ANN encyclopedia entry or especially the ANN review of volume 1), Gerald is reviewing the former crown jewel of the anime laserdisc empire known as Five Star Stories, and Clarissa does what we should have done the first time we had Mike on: review freakin’ Big O! This entire episode was recorded about a month ago, and we still haven’t started editing it because…well…sowwwhy! We had done tol’ Craig and ‘dem that we was gon’ kick it wit’ ‘dem. Gotta go; see you when we see you!
YES YES YOU MADE MY MORNING
There are these great pictures of Jotaro riding on a dolphin and also Sea King. He seems so happy.
Awesome episode.
Tough probably is not as crazy violence as other Tetsuya Saruwatari manga as you said, but it still does have some crazy violence in it as an example from the sequel.
http://img519.imageshack.us/img519/4189/scan0002xu2.jpg
“And at a power-level unlike anything known by man!”
“Power-Level,Power-Level,Power-Level,Power-Level,Power-Level-“
“IT’S OVER 9000!”
I am also from chicago and saw wicked city when I was young (I was 9) and doomed megalopolis, and the fist of the north star movie, and golgo 13 The Professional and other things that made my childhood equally wonderful and awful, along with sailor moon, the 90s were awesome.
Okay, I’m going to have a crapton of comments about this episode. I’ll group each by topic to avoid wall-o-text.
First topic: You guys are awesome connoisseurs of anime, and have tastes that are rarer than I’d like. However, I found Daryl’s description of Tetsuya Saruwatari surprising, being a huge fan myself.
This might be a result of my relative (self-imposed) isolation from larger fandom, but I never experienced Tetsuya Saruwatari as a “he’s so crazy and nonsensical” creator, and never heard him described that way. Violent, fuckwin, manly, these are words I’m used to hearing and saying about the man’s body of work.
Basically, it’s the sort of the position that reeks of self-defensiveness in my past experience. I’m not sure what you’re comparing Riki-Oh and Tough to, but the only thing that sets Tetsuya apart is the awesomely-drawn degree of violence shown, the logic and basic storytelling is no different from any other action-oriented anime. It’s not “dumb” or less legitimate at all. Quite the contrary.
This is all just my opinion, of course. And I know that what comes out my mouth rarely matches up with public consensus on 4chan and other relatively shitty places.
Gerald really got me excited about Shootfighter Tekken. I saw the first episode years ago, and just lost track of it among the deluge of anime that I was watching at the time. (That’s what college is for, right? Deluging yourself with anime and pop-culture because the people around you are boring and one-dimensional.) I can’t wait to finish it, probably tonight.
Gerald, I think you introduced your review really well, and it was overall just a fantastic review. It’s great hearing people talk about things they really enjoyed, and being someone who shares a lot of your tastes (and basked in the glory of the live-action Speedracer film), I just can’t wait to finish watching Shootfighter Tekken.
Daryl, your review of Baoh is hilarious. I gave it a shot a few months ago, but I was too impatient and got bored, and didn’t watch it long enough to get to the hilarious bits. I also watched it subbed, which probably added to the boring retread feeling which would have been rectified by listening to the HIDEOUS and heelarious English dub.
I think this is a major reason people should occasionally watch anime with friends: it really helps with seeing the humor in it, and makes less interesting stuff more interesting. I’ll have to settle for Mogulus, being the outcast-type that I am.
Clarissa, thanks a lot for the JoJo review! I’ve read/watched the first 3 stories (Part 2 is my favorite, even though the anime adaptation of Stardust Crusaders is just made of awesome).
I read the first volume of Part 4, and felt somewhat ambivalent. I was glad to see the protagonist of part 3 return in a diminished role, but I’m even happier to hear that the hero from Part 2 also shows up!
After listening to your review, I’m convinced: JoJo Part 4 goes back on my queue. It does sound like there are some flaws, but honestly no one could even get to Part 4 unless they were used to overlooking flaws in favor of the insanity and unique vision that JoJo brings to the table.
Thanks for the Tough review. It’s a favorite of mine.
This could be apocryphal, but I thought that the Viz release was based on a “best of” re-packaged re-release. From what I understand they completed that version.
It tries to play the fights straight and possible, especially compared to something like Baki, but the manga does get rather silly. There’s been a bit of plot about dodging firearms, and in a recent chapter Kiibo’s father dodged a mini-gun burst.
Have you guys read any Shamo? It’s another quality, semi-realistic fight manga.
“Have you guys read any Shamo? It’s another quality, semi-realistic fight manga.”
Why do I always feel like there are only 5 people that know about this manga? It’s seriously one of the best things I’ve ever read, period.
Actually, Baoh IS one of the “classics,” because I say so!
I’ve been waiting for this review, and even though it wasn’t that long ago that I rewatched Baoh, I think I’ll have to do it again now.
I can’t even fathom what kind of hummingbird attention span one would need to get bored by Baoh.
That is some HIGH turnover, let me tell you! For as often as you say you never read e-mails or listen to voice mails, I made the assumption that my message would be one of many, and that you would probably never, ever hear it. You have made my ENTIRE day, so thank you very much for that. *hugs Daryl, Gerald, and Clarissa*
“I can’t even fathom what kind of hummingbird attention span one would need to get bored by Baoh.”
My friend, it’s all a matter of relativity. When you still haven’t even seen all of Fist of the Northstar, a lot of the anime out there, closely as it may be tied to your interests, will seem dimmer and more unappealing than the offerings available.
I have to confess I looked through your blogs, half curious about what other anime you like, and half curious about what kind of person would insult a random blog commenter. You seem to have really good taste! I guess that just makes you a person with really good taste who’s kind of a dick.
Well, I didn’t really expect my comment to be taken as insulting. Maybe mildly off-putting, but certainly not insulting!
“Well, I didn’t really expect my comment to be taken as insulting. Maybe mildly off-putting, but certainly not insulting!”
Fair point, maybe having a low attention span just means you only settle for the most high quality stuff, meaning you have excellent taste. 🙂
Basically, it’s the sort of the position that reeks of self-defensiveness in my past experience. I’m not sure what you’re comparing Riki-Oh and Tough to, but the only thing that sets Tetsuya apart is the awesomely-drawn degree of violence shown, the logic and basic storytelling is no different from any other action-oriented anime. It’s not “dumb” or less legitimate at all. Quite the contrary.
I am incredibly, incredibly confused at your entire post, because your general tone seems to somehow suggest that you listen to this podcast with regularity, and yet you’ve somehow interpreted my position on this matter as the direct polar opposite of what it actually is. You make it seem as though I am not secretly working in the shadows as a prime architect of spreading the Tetsuya Saruwatari gospel among the English speaking anime world.
For as often as you say you never read e-mails or listen to voice mails, I made the assumption that my message would be one of many, and that you would probably never, ever hear it.
The point we repeatedly state is that we read emails and listen to voicemails more or less the day we receive them, if not the instant. Where we lack is in actually responding to them all!
maybe having a low attention span just means you only settle for the most high quality stuff, meaning you have excellent taste. 🙂
Having a low attention span means you can’t listen to any episode of this show since they’re “too long,” so as Colin Salmon said in the immortal classic Punisher: War Zone, “that…is BULLSHIT!“
This is all just my opinion, of course. And I know that what comes out my mouth rarely matches up with public consensus on 4chan and other relatively shitty places.
If you’re not that keen on 4chan, perhaps you shouldn’t sign all of those posts as “Anonymous”! I mean, it takes active effort to post anonymously the way we have this set up since it’s not the default option. Actually, I’d prefer when people who make multiple posts to sign using “Name/URL” at least.
My favorite part of the Tough manga is definitely Kii-bou’s match against the (((sex maniac fighter who conditions himself by having his brother chain him to a wall in a pitch-black room, unable to satiate his reptile brain.))) The way Kii-bou disposes of him in the ring has to be one of the best finishing moves I’ve ever seen grace the oily pages of fighting manga.
For my money (so to speak), the best ongoing fighting manga right now is Dorohedoro. What more can one red-blooded manga reader ask for besides a gas mask-wearing knife fighter and a Chinese restaurant chef who is also a kungfu master chasing down and disposing of Harry Potter reject magicians and wizards from a different dimension (which resembles the Epcott Center) in the grungy streets of what looks like modern New Orleans?
Damn, didn’t think part b would come so soon.
FiveStarStories next time WOO!! I hope you spend at least a couple of minutes discussing my favorite mecha designer, Mamoru Nagano.
I still want a Hidamari Sketch review from Clarissa.
On the subject of Spike games, I have a feeling that if the Kenka Bancho games had seen an American release, I might’ve had a gateway into the current generation of gaming. There’s a hole in my gamer heart that can only be filled by MENCHI BEAM.
I think my chest hair grew a few centimeters from listening to this episode. Are you guys still taking orders for shirts in the US, or have I missed out?
Thanks Anonymous, glad I could convince you to give Part 4 another chance. I don’t really think there’s a section of Jojo’s not worth reading, even if you have to accept some pretty ridiculous things, which is kind of an accomplishment given the length. Of course, as you say, accepting ridiculous things and overlooking some faults is something any Jojo’s fan should be used to (or indeed fans of many manga series, especially of the shonen fighting variety).
Now I want to watch Baoh again, this time in the dub.
I have a duel audio upload of it on my blog.
I remember YEARS ago when that whole seizure Pokemon thing happened and there was this article about this “anime” thing. Baoh was one of the examples they gave. Also I do recall Baoh VHS being at Blockbuster.
Just got the Australian release of Shootfighter Tekken. Thankfully it’s all on one DVD and it looks pretty good, I think my biggest gripe is that most of the subtitles are about 1-2 seconds off but its still watchable.
Although, I’m most familiar Kiichi’s Japanese voice actor as the rat from Mini Goddess and Itsuki from Initial D so sometimes I can’t take him seriously hahaha. Haven’t seen Akira in Japanese yet so I haven’t heard him as Kaneda yet.
I watched Baoh before the show came out, i wanted to get ready for it….. And well it’s fucking amazing. I bought it on vhs along with Dog Solder, Wicked City, Another Animego with a title i can’t spell…… And Dragon Knight! Which is a hentai from adv.
And yes there was a dubbed vhs tape of Baoh.
All i need now is to pick up Genocyber And MD Geist Part 2.
A quick update, and JOJO is involved, i loved you too long
AWO!!
Oh, yeah, speaking of Riki-Oh, Mr. John “Blues Bros. and Animal House” Landis showed up for the Edgar Wright screening of the live-action flick. I never did find out if he stayed through the whole thing, but part of me is hoping he wants to do a remake.
Ah Surat.
You missed a handful of choice bits in your BAOH review, most of which Dave & Joel extemporized on greatly.
Escaping via the guidewire/power lines and being electrocuted should have been the first tip-off. I'm not familiar with the set up of Japanese trains but those wires looked like they were insulated the way power lines are here in the US. Therefore they would only shock him if he'd cut through.
The tiger fight? Awesome.
The Masked men were investors, not necessarily higher-ups in DORESS (mostly likely intended to be 'Duress' in English)
The incongruity of the flashback where the car looks like it was from the '50s or '60s when everything else is very '80s.
The creepiness of Sumire, who seems pretty stoic for a nine-year old girl (not that she can hold a candle to 'Mai the Psychic Girl'), the auto-writing plot device ('Red Rum'!), inured to the deaths around her and the cloying 'I'll be waiting for you when I'm 17' ending.
I would have liked to know why the two incarnations of Baoh (Ikuro & the dog) had to be kept in sensory deprivation tanks …or is that supposed to be suspended animation? Did the water pressure or something about a fluid cause the parasite to go dormant?
And that ending theme song is a total WTF? It's right up there with 'Mr. Dandy' and the 'Ghost Stories' themes.
Clarissa, you forgot to mention the TRUE reason why Kira Yoshikage is obsessed with hand girlfriends.
He like WIPING HIS ASS with them.
You mentioned that the English scanlation is pretty bad. I don’t know if this get translated or not.
the fabulous aWo hoodie made it’s public debut last Friday at Ohayocon while hosting Hell, it definitely got notice, and people who never even heard of the podcast before were asking about how to buy them :).
MasterPete –
No, I don’t think that made it into the English scanlation. Man.
Gavv –
Sweet!
I simply must watch Baoh now.
OMK…..that has to be the coolest thing EVER i mean, if one thing in the hole world, should have the title of ‘l337′ Boah should kami damn have it. and really from what i heard there is only thing that should be said for the ending of Boah “I’M FIRIN’ MEH LAZER”
~Talieon
* ok insert every thing that said Boah and replace it with Baoh
Dang. Now I don’t know if I’m sticking with my original plan and watching Date no Juyaku with Ichikawa Ennosuke III playing ten roles in it or if I’ll pull out my copy of BAOH.
Or Damn I may just watch Five Star Stories
In any case I think I’ll crack open that bottle of sake I’ve got in the pantry.
Daryl, I listened to your Baoh review, and after watching some clips, I’m wondering if you actually paid attention to what you’re watching: the General’s helicopter doesn’t randomly explode, it explodes because Baoh caught the General’s explosive round and shot it back at him.
So the lesson to be learned here is less “never chase somebody in a helicopter” as “never give Baoh the benefit of the doubt, otherwise he’ll paint the walls with your flesh”.
One of my local comicbookstores(I live in Gothenburg)has a big manga sale of mostly OOP stuff, including alot of older Viz titles. They had the 2nd vol of Baoh and after this podcast i just had to pick it up. I never read vol1 but i didnt think it was neccesary after hearing Daryls sumary.
Based on vol2, i have a few observations.
* The secretary is nowhere to be seen. I guess she was added to the anime so that there would be more than one female character.
* Dorudo(who looks alot goofier and uses remote-controlled bats in this version) is not killed by Baoh. Instead the doctor orders him to be executed by Walken.
* Aside from the “headphones”. Walken looks exactly like Violence Jack. He sorta does in the anime too but it’s not quite as blatant.
Looking forward to the Big O review, probably one of my, if not my personal favorite anime of all time.
OMK…..that has to be the coolest thing EVER i mean, if one thing in the hole world, should have the title of ‘l337′ Boah should kami damn have it. and really from what i heard there is only thing that should be said for the ending of Boah “I’M FIRIN’ MEH LAZER”
Congratulations, few things I read these days make me physically wince but this did the trick, Talieon! Please tell us when you graduate from catchphrases and lame Japanese juxtapositions, OK?
Gerald, I’m a little behind on show #76, but when you got to the part about trying to make it through ANATHEM, I craned my head over–the way Peter Graves did in Airplane! to look at the fishbones on his plate–and saw my own copy on the kitchen chair, as yet unopened. And a strange dread ran through me, as if of a truth I had suspected, yet refused to face.
The reviews for Shootfigher Tekken and Boah were great as usual. Never did see those before, so I’ll have to check into those. I had seen the other AnimEigo title Battle Royal High School way back in the LD days when AE was trying to clear out the remaining stock of LD’s they had, and I had to pick that one for god knows why, and it had left me that “WTF” feeling for the rest of the week. ^_^
Hearing how Shueisha is going to republish JoJo’s again, I do sorta wonder what kind of nit-picking and compare/contrasting issues will we be seeing in the coming months through any number of webpages that will spring up I’m sure? I guess time will tell.
Glad to see Mike Toole will be coming by next time. His NPR voice is an inspiration for us all!
I really can’t help but feel that when you mentioned the whole dismembered hand fetish, you missed a very important musical cue:
Hey guys, what was that manga you mentioned briefly – Violence Disciple Something, or something along those lines.
It sounded supremely relevant to my interests; but I can’t remember the title properly and listening to the episode for the title is a bit daunting.
Thanks!
Daryl, I listened to your Baoh review, and after watching some clips, I’m wondering if you actually paid attention to what you’re watching: the General’s helicopter doesn’t randomly explode, it explodes because Baoh caught the General’s explosive round and shot it back at him.
Had you REALLY listened to the review, Mr. Smartey Man, you would have heard the part where I included the show’s very own dialogue that straight-up explained exactly what just happened for the benefit of everyone listening. Perhaps you might have caught on from the previous BGC review that helicopters in anime tend to explode one way or the other, without fail. “Don’t mess with Baoh” is the equivalent of “give a man a fish,” because it’s only worthwhile for one cartoon. “Never get in a helicopter” is the equivalent of “teach a man to fish” because it is UNIVERSAL.
Hey guys, what was that manga you mentioned briefly – Violence Disciple Something, or something along those lines.
You probably would have been better off just emailing us with that question, but you’ll find the translated scans under the name “Riki-Oh.” The name “Violence Hero Riki-Oh” might not actually be the name of the manga at all; I just call it that because every volume has “VIOLENCE HERO” written in English on the cover.
Total number of additional AWO shirt/hoodie orders received since Ohayocon and the release of this episode: zero!
Funny thing, I found this on reddit:
http://2chan.us/wordpress/2009/02/16/dear-america-learn-to-offkai/
I thought you guys might be interested, or at least Daryl, since seems only his panels are worth attending to according to that blog 😛
Okay, it’s been more than two weeks, so I think it’s fair to ask.
When can we expect the next episode?
Thanks For Sharing!!!
Regards,
Anime
Gerald, I think you introduced your review really well, and it was overall just a fantastic review. It’s great hearing people talk about things they really enjoyed, and being someone who shares a lot of your tastes (and basked in the glory of the live-action Speedracer film), I just can’t wait to finish watching Shootfighter Tekken.
Concerning JJBA Part 4.
The beginning isn’t too exciting, even though it has a few cool fights here and there (Red Hot Chili Pepper, a couple of others) but it does become really very good once Yoshikage Kira is introduced. And his stand is actually weaker than Dio and Jotaro’s, hence why he has to sneak about the place and hide from Jotaro. This leads to several very tense and exciting scenes where instead of the “fight” being a physical confrontation it’s more about nerves and ingenuity. For example one storyline where he has to steal back a piece of incriminating evidence from the pocket of one of Josuke’s gang while hiding under a piece of gym equipment.
And the final “battle” as it were with Kira can definitely, in my opinion, contend with those against Cars and Dio.
Incidentally I’ve heard that Araki’s favourite part is part 4.
Is Young Magazine really a shonen magazine? I mean even shueisha classifies it as seinen on their website.
http://www.s-manga.net/