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[Once again we are betrayed by this new version of Audacity, which exported the episode in joint stereo rather than mono. If you’re hearing audio in only the left channel or right depending on who’s speaking, redownload the episode. It is corrected now.] It’s been a long time since we answered emails and even longer since we did a convention report, so let’s do both!
Introduction (0:00 – 1:09:34)
If you haven’t already done so, please leave us a 5-star review on either/both Apple Podcasts and Spotify, since we’ve recently been downvoted by a number of people over the previous episode’s news discussion, which knocked us out of the search result listings threshold for those searching for anime podcasts. We dive into the mailbag and answer a variety of questions, many from listeners who have been listening to us since the first episode nearly 20 years ago. Whether you’ve been listening that long yourself or not, we’d love to receive thoughtful email correspondence from you! You can email us at the link on the sidebar, message us on BlueSky, or chat with us on the AWO Discord available to Patreon backers.
We also talk about some anime news items. Anime Herald is celebrating its 15th anniversary by launching a print magazine, which is due for release this coming October. In addition to reprinting eight noteworthy articles from the website’s archives, it will also feature brand-new articles by several noteworthy contributors: Samantha Ferreira (Anime Herald’s founder and Editor-in-Chief), Lynzee Loveridge (Anime News Network), Chiaki Mitama (Anime Feminist), Erica Friedman (Okazu), Red Bard (@RedBardIsCool on YouTube), Borealis Capps (Anime Herald, Yatta-Tachi, Anime Feminist), Lucas DeReuyter (Anime News Network). Also, Daryl is writing an article once he can figure out a catchy title and find some suitable images. The current plan is to release one issue a year, but if there are enough orders they could expand to two issues or even four!
It was a topic of discussion among every anime podcast already, but the 2025 Crunchyroll Anime Awards winners were announced, and the results struck everybody as somewhat puzzling, since the majority of categories were (rather surprisingly) won by the title which happens to be the most publicized title on the entire Crunchyroll website: the fantasy series Solo Leveling, which Crunchyroll reports as the single most watched anime series in all of Crunchyroll’s history, surpassing such titles as Dragon Ball, Naruto, One Piece, and so on. The fanbase for this series, however, does not appear to be as prominently visible as those other ones, though Miles from Anime By the Numbers did note in his analysis The State of Isekai Anime that this is because the viewership for such fare does not actively engage in anime fandom. They do however, appear to know enough about anime fandom to not only be aware of the existence of Crunchyroll, but to pay for a subscription whereupon they rate episodes aired and vote in fan awards. Is the result valid? Is the issue the fact that the Anime Awards differ from traditional awards in that fan voting is weighted on an even 50% with the judges, who number over one hundred (disclaimer: we have been Crunchyroll Anime Awards judges in the past, albeit not this year)?
Con Report: Anime Boston 2025 (1:09:34 – 2:19:08)
It’s been about 14 or 15 years since we last went to Anime Boston, but we returned as guest panelists this year! We go over what we did, who we saw, our impressions of the venue, the dealer’s room, artist’s alley, and so on. Based on this coverage of the Thirty Years Ago: Anime in 1995 panel, Daryl probably did better at his panels than he’s letting on. Keep your eyes posted to our BlueSky accounts as well as the AWO Discord, since we might do extended virtual versions of these panels soon for the benefit of those curious.
Nostalgia is weird for me, since I have memory issues and a poor concept of time. I can’t remember when I started, but it was after seeing an “Anime’s Craziest Deaths” panel and another panel by Gerald and Clarissa at my first Otakon. Been off and on ever since, and have gotten into quite a few anime because of your podcasts, notably Samurai Flamenco and Getter Robo Armageddon. Thanks for keeping it up for so long!
Nice photos, and extra nice SICKOS cosplay (that one is getting saved). Also also, it’s nice there was 1 magician in attendance.
I just started listening to this episode. Daryl is fully in the left channel, Gerald is fully to the right, and Clarissa is totally mute. I thought the silences early on were an editing mistake, but when it kept happening I realised those gaps were when Clarissa was talking. Did no other listeners notice?
Read the very first thing in this post you are commenting on. A stereo encode was initially released and then replaced with a corrected mono version, so if you delete and redownload it should be fine.
Regarding tariffs:
Back in mid May the Orange One proposed a 100 percent tariff on foreign made films. Now this idea is nothing new, it has been proposed in the past to reduce the number of US Produced films and TV shows made outside the country. However it could be applied to all film and TV production. Take this one step further and it could be applied to all licenses on written material, both prose and illustrated.
As much as Birth may be recognized for its technical quality by the modern English-speaking sakuga fandom, in contrast to how English-speaking fandom back in the day felt generally about Birth, it is also in contrast to how the Japanese audience felt around the time of its release. The fact that the Japanese fans broadly-speaking did not take to Birth either is also reflected in the sales numbers.
As part of their pitch to Bandai for Royal Space Force, Gainax cites Birth as an example for why the prevailing theories around the commercial viability of anime released on home video don’t necessarily hold:
“””
Original Video Animation Market Outlook
What Do Young People (Anime Fans) Spend on Today?
Up through today, most anime — especially those released originally for the home video market — is made specifically for “anime fans,” according to these theories:
(1) If you make a popular animator work on it, then it will sell to anime fans.
(2) If mecha and girls appear, it will sell.
However, sales for some releases on the home video market clearly contradict these claims. We describe the circumstances and issues below.
Example 1) Birth, 3000~5000 tapes sold
Popular animator Yoshinori Kanada was appointed for the production, mecha and girls appear, and plenty of flashy action sequences occur, satisfying (1) and (2) above. People thought it could be a big hit.
The reality is that it didn’t even push 5000 units. One could say that they relied too much on satisfying the conditions outlined by (1) and (2), and neglected development of the story, drama, and world within. Due to this, despite the high technical quality of animation, the lack of drama to motivate the story resulted in abysmal sales. In other words, no matter how good the movement is, if there is no meaning to that movement, then (of course) people won’t be interested.
“””
All that said, during its original theatrical run, Royal Space Force itself did not become a massive hit either.
If I recall correctly, Kanada himself felt regretful about Birth’s commercial failure, acknowledging his own recklessness with the production.
One of the reasons I myself gravitated towards anime is because of its emphasis on and versatility in storytelling. That’s not to say *all* anime does a good job at this, and I can still enjoy things as mostly a visual art piece, but I tend to associate the obsession over the technical qualities of animation at the cost of its narrative strength with the classic Disney animators.
Actually listened to the episode, and here is something more substantial. There aren’t many anime that were cut before being fully finished that I care about and want finished. The ones I do care about, and do want to see fully finished, are 3.
First, there is B The Beginning, which as far as I can see, is not all that beloved. But it’s beloved by ME, dammit! I love a detective/mystery story, where the puzzle DOES make sense. And I love when the way someone solves it, makes sense and is compelling to watch. In other words, writing good mystery stories hard. And the way B ties it all up in just ONE short season, is a small miracle, considering how much plot there is, and they had to shove in 10/10 action scenes too. I did not think a second season would ever be made, but then it was! Aaaaaaaand it is only Season 2 part 1. I want part 2, I really do.
The other show is the Birdy the Mighty reboot from 2009, DECODE. Both seasons end well, but the writer CLEARLY wanted to explore the “space terrorists vs space government” plot more. Cause those terrorists are still out there, you know. A 3rd season is something the show can simply not have, but it is undeniable there is space left for 1 more season. Fun fact: I own the Manga UK release, and the image is actually clean and progressive, with no bullshit forever interlaced frames, which was a rarity back then for an anime show released in Europe.
3rd anime thing I want continued is an old movie, Weathering Continent, which was based on a series of light novels. I get WHY the movie flopped; it’s a 40 minute story stretched to 60 minutes. But to this day I want more of it. AT LEAST MAKE MANGA ADAPTATIONS OF THE REST OF THE STORY! I am fine with reading comic sequels to movies, that is always better than nothing.
P.S. More studios should be comfortable releasing SD on Bluray. I would love such releases for FMA 2003 and Last Exile.
Gerald is confused about The Game Awards (The Keighleys). Studios pay to have their trailer shown during the event; they do not pay to win an award. There are 2 separate votes for GOTY. 1 by fans, and 1 by the worldwide enthusiast and mainstream media. Blame the media if something wins, blame Geoff for the shitty ads.
On the letter about anime having an ending, it’s kind of crazy to think about Fullmetal Alchemist (2003), which started when there were about 5 manga volumes completed of a series that would eventually have 18. If they were doing it today, the anime would just stop there and come back in a few years if the title still had any legs. But no, they actually spent 26 episodes on largely new material (we are not going to debate here whether that material is good or bad, because that debate will never end) just so that they could tell a complete story with an ending. And I’m grateful for that.
I also just want to mention that endings are something we lost with the fall of visual novels. Anime of manga and light novels tend to come out while the original is still going, often when they’re nowhere near finished, but by its very nature, a visual novel is typically a completed work. So when you start adapting “Clannad” or “Steins;Gate”, you know how it’s going to end, and an adaptation can just drive to that ending. You have to really fuck up to adapt a visual novel and not make it to the proper ending. You know, like how “Muv-Luv Alternative” did.
I think the reason why the Isekai anime fandom chooses not to engage with the general anime fandom might have to with how the general anime fandom has a negative viewpoint on the Isekai genre itself. If you like Isekai anime, why you want to engage with people who already predetermined that your anime is horrible.
With anime cancellations, I’m surprised that Gangsta wasn’t brought up since it ended on a cliffhanger and basically cancelled because Manglobe went under. For manga, you can tell basically when a series suddenly gets cancelled when there’s a couple page flash forward epilogue at the final chapter.
With Solo Leveling winning every award, I have heard a couple of theories behind it. One reason could be that people just finished watching season 2 and basically voted for Solo Leveling based on Season 2 instead of Season 1. I’m not exactly sure how the ballot looked like to see if there was a separation between Season 1 and Season 2. Another reason could be that the judges were used to basically to make the initial list of nominations and that’s it. It could be even possible that the final voting weight was 100% fan. If that’s the case, then your lowest common denominator probably voted Solo Leveling since it was only anime they saw.