Podcast: Download (Duration: 2:08:23 — 59.2MB)
Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | RSS
This episode marks our 20th year of podcasting, to the day! After some reflection on the two decades journey we’ve undertaken, it’s down to business as usual as we give some thoughts on the concluding anime season before once again recapping some Christmas-focused episodes of anime.
Introduction (0:00 – 52:55)
How were things twenty years ago, when we first started anyway? Do we even remember? Now that Anime Herald Issue #1 is out in both print and digital, you can read Daryl’s article which happens to be exactly about this very topic! We also talk about our closing thoughts on the current anime season as well as how the inaugural AWO Secret Santa SANDA turned out.
The AWO Christmas Roundup, Volume 3 (52:55 – 2:08:23)
Another year, another set of Christmas episodes! This year, our selections are less in line with Last Christmas by Wham–the official anthem of Japanese Christmas–but there’s still a heaping portion of angst to go around. “Angst” sure was the word of choice for many an anime back in the days of IRC in the 1990s.
Cardcaptor Sakura (55:32 – 1:06:16)
Cyborg 009: The Cyborg Soldier (1:06:16 – 1:17:52)
Maison Ikkoku (1:17:52 – 1:34:48)
Yawara! A Fashionable Judo Girl (1:34:48 – 1:48:00)
Aggretsuko (1:48:00 – 1:54:59)
Strawberry Marshmallow (1:54:59 – 2:03:04)
A friend on Discord mentioned Maison Ikkoku while talking about the new Ranma 1/2.
So I gave it a shot; I like it a lot. I’m like 34 episodes in so this was a bit of a spoiler though.
So to answer your question “is this a show modern audiences can get into?” – no freaking idea. I’m thirty years old.
Last Christmas, I gave you my heaSAKURA MENTIONED.
I’m still pissed my UK Bluray set #1 has audio issues that only exist due to lazy mixing…… and meh subtitles. Will 2026 be the year when there is a new US release of Cardcaptor Cherry Girl with superior audio and better subtitles? Having my fingers crossed as I type, PLEASE let that happen!
And Merry Christmas.
Tojima Wants to be a Kamen Rider is coming back in January not April. Also I didn’t mind that Tackle won the tournament since it would be so easy to reduce her to just being there for the fanservice but glad it didn’t turn out that way with her.
As for Black Clover, I have a hard time justifying for people to watch the show. It’s really a slow burn for the show to be great. I know the main character’s Japanese VA was very loud in the very beginning but after a couple of episodes, the VA dialed it back or get used it. I do love that the childhood friend character could easily be a Sasuke type of rival character but he always respected the main character. It’s actually a fun rivalry to watch.
That rock episode of Maison Ikkoku is specific to the anime adaptation if I’m remembering correctly, but don’t hold me to it.
I like both the anime and manga, but I did feel like sometimes chapters would end a little too soon so I’m more partial to the pacing of the anime adaptation.
I’ve expressed my appreciation about the podcast both in public spaces and also to the hosts directly in-person, so I’ll try not to belabor the point too much but there’s some universe out there where I never found the podcast and just entirely stopped watching anime in high school.
One of the aspects I appreciate the most about the podcast is the contextualization of how fandom at the time perceived or reacted to seeing certain shows for the first time. It adds a lot of perspective I otherwise wouldn’t have considered.
In part due to my life circumstances, I didn’t engage at all with wider fandom when I was younger. Even when I did finally meet other anime fans I didn’t really relate much to them (not just due to my obsession with older anime, but also because no one else seemed to care about learning about the actual creators behind anime). Fast forward to now, things haven’t changed that much for me. (By choice) I still don’t interact that much with wider fandom, and while it’s a bummer to be sorta isolated with this obsession, I’ve always found comfort with the podcast that I’m not alone out there.
Thanks for all the great laughs and enlightening insights over all these years.
What’s funny is I hadn’t heard of Gachiakuta at all until a family friend I saw for the holidays said her whole family is watching together with the kids getting old enough to really love anime. I had no idea it was so successful but maybe it’s popular with a demographic I just don’t hang out with that much or see post on social media. I wanted to check it out to chat with them because I do find it pretty cool their whole family could sit down and enjoy it like My Hero Academia.
As for Tojima, I haven’t heard a single person or seen a single thing on social media with people complaining about Tackle winning the tournament. Heck, the only complaint I’ve seen people making about Tojima in general is that Tackle is too sexy, which someone actually mentioned in your comments here! It seems to have had a bit of a general breakthrough though thankfully where I’ve talked to a few people at work who found it all on their own.