Category: Classics

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Anime World Order Show # 40 – Forty Episodes and Daryl Still Can’t Use A Mic

Podcast: Download (Duration: 1:53:29 — 52.0MB)

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We’re officially over the hill. Can you believe we’ve been babbling for 40 episodes? Daryl–whose gain level introduced lots of static whenever he spoke–reviews the semi-obscure 1980s film The Dagger of Kamui, Gerald reviews the quite obscure 1980s TV series Future Police Urashiman, and Clarissa gets the ball rolling with Part 1 of our Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure review.

Introduction (0:00 – 33:28)
We didn’t get a whole lot of responses regarding the state of your local anime clubs, but we did get a few, which we read here. Shocking as it may seem, there are some people out there actually taking our recommendations to heart and enjoying what they’re watching, and so we read one letter from a male MIT college student (Chemical Engineering major…wonder if he was able to finish reading Orion?) and another from a female middleaged…not a college student. Our listenership is DIVERSE! Here now is a picture of what those evil Bostonians do to their fair city:
No wonder people from Boston were portrayed as evil in that totally lame Call of the Wild anime. Hey wait a second, Daryl’s originally from Boston! Also, the winners of the Full Metal Panic: The Second Raid Vol 1 giveaway are announced! Thanks go out to Funimation for donating the prizes.

Let’s News! (33:28 – 42:04)
Koichi Murata and Ken Ishikawa are dead, people. Who’s going to protect us from moe now?! For those who bought the newly recently Lupin the Third movie/TV special compilation that Funimation released, it accidentally contains an edited version of The Secret of Twilight Gemini, and unlike those jerks at Bandai who won’t swap out Zeta Gundam DVDs, they’re letting people exchange their edited discs for the unedited one. Oh, and check out the upcoming Gunbuster DVD set. In the “huh, how about that” department, Death Note isn’t actually the most popular new anime of the season since twice as many people are watching Onna no Hataraki Man. Not like Japanese popularity translates to US fan preference, but hey. Finally, ADV’s licensed Sergeant Frog, presumably in the hopes that it’ll be another Excel Saga for them. Here’s hoping they don’t let Steven Foster dub it. Or anything else ever.

Promo: Dave and Joel’s Fast Karate For the Gentleman (42:04 – 43:11)
As heard in the beginning of this episode, Dave has graciously offered to host AWO if Daryl hosts Fast Karate. One dare not imagine what would result if Dave, Joel, and we were all gathered together in one podcast.

Review: The Dagger of Kamui (43:11 – 1:00:40)
Daryl tackles this one, as it was one of the first anime he ever saw in his formulative teenage years. This is a theatrical animated movie about ninjas. REAL ninjas, not those Ninja Scroll/Naruto weird dudes who claim to be ninjas. It also contains pirates, cowboys, Indians, quasi-zombies, Mark Twain, and multiple bears being chopped in half. Very special thanks go out to Michael Minnott for providing us with the OST to this film, which has been out of print for decades. Sasuga Books managed to track it down for him, so check them out even though their dealer’s room booths at anime cons stock the gay porno right next to the regular artbooks.

In this picture there are forty ninjas. None of them can be seen. In this film we hope to show YOU how not to be seen.
See this, Japan? This is what REAL ninjas look like. Apparently you didn’t teach this to a generation. Even Michael Dudikoff knows this.
But unlike the ninja which Michael Dudikoff and Carl Weathers would face off against, these ninja know how to LOOK UPWARDS and attack in swarms. Mr Ninja, would you stand up, please?
This demonstrates the value of not being seen. Face it, they’re in black ninja outfits; they’re meant to be fodder. Didn’t you people ever watch WMAC Masters?!
Okay Devious, don’t move! The Bishop…Tenkai! He’s the one on the left, and Jiro’s on the right. Told you he was big.
Jiro’s got the touch. Jiro’s got the power…YEAH! Yes, I’m done with the worn-out Flying Circus references. What can I say? I just got the DVD set.
This is what modern anime is missing: people being cut in half lengthwise. I think more people get cut in half lengthwise throughout this one film than in the entire history of Mortal Kombat tournaments.
With this kind of cinematography, I don’t think anyone will have trouble realizing this movie’s from the 80s, which for Japan is more like the 70s for us. Then they were stuck in the 80s for a while, then skipped the 90s entirely. Pretty good strategy when you consider how comicbooks turned out thanks to the 90s.
This is what Gerald means when he mentions in the next segment how Kaneto Shiozawa built his career off of voicing beautiful men. The “Unicorn Power” shirt I plan on buying is less flaming than that. GET IT? FLAMING? CAUSE THERE’S FIRE ON…eh.

Promo: R5 Central (1:00:40 – 1:01:40)
Actually Mike, most people I see pronounce GAIM as “gee aim,” but any excuse to make Tomino references and throw in songs by MIO is welcome around these parts. Not like anyone here ever really cared about Heavy Metal L-Gaim in the first place…

Review: Future Police Urashiman (1:01:40 – 1:21:27)
Here’s a show that was somewhat popular among American anime fandom in the very early 1980s, and since “the 1980s” is what Gerald loves most (but wait, he’s never seen any of the Rocky movies, not even Rocky IV!) (Actually Gerald HAS seen Rocky and Rocky III), he takes the plunge and reviews this 52 episode series, which ranks among one of the most obscure titles we’ve covered. It’s not licensed in the US, the DVDs are out of print in Japan, and nobody ever fansubbed this show, not even in the VHS days. So how will people ever see this show? Well, we’re going to put some episodes up on BitTorrent, albeit with crappy Hong Kong bootleg subtitles. Watch this space. Oh yeah, what we said about Koji Morimoto being a protege of Katsuhiro Otomo? That wasn’t quite right since Morimoto was working prior to collaborating with Otomo…on this show. And The Dagger of Kamui. Then again, Tugboat was Hulk Hogan’s protege and he was wrestling prior to that, but we’d rather not remember that dark time. We’d rather remember the glory days of the Shockmaster instead.

Promo: The Greatest Movie EVER! Podcast (1:21:27 – 1:22:16)
We said last week that something had to be done to straighten Paul out. That something has happened, for Daryl has guest-starred on the latest episode. Appropriate background music has been added to this promo to illustrate this fact. WE FIGHT FOR LOVE!

Review (manga): Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure, Part 1 (1:22:16 – 1:49:41)
Buckle up, folks. After months of putting it off, Clarissa’s thrown the gauntlet down and started on what will be a series of parts dedicated to reviewing the single longest shonen fighting series ever. And one of the gayest. But also one of the most awesome and violent due to its being heavily influenced by Fist of the North Star. At least the story is pre-broken up into about seven parts (to date); this review is for Part 1 of the manga, “Phantom Blood.” Like all long-running manga, the artwork and storytelling haven’t quite hit their stride at this point, but at the very least, it lives up to the name.

This is Joseph Joestar. Observe the beginning of Araki drawing people in weird poses. Also the clothes are a bit strange for Victorian England, but just FYI this is nothing compared to Araki’s fashion obsessed nonsense later.
This is Dio Brando, and by the way he would like you to note that he is fabulous. The first clue to his being evil is when he kicks Joseph’s dog upon meeting him. Worse things will happen to that dog later. This is another ongoing thing with Jojo’s: animals (also Italians) never fare very well. I think Araki might have had a traumatic experience at the zoo when he was young (I’ve got no clue what’s going on with the Italians).
You can tell that Dio’s a vampire now because 1) he makes that screeching WRYYYY sound (yes, it’s spelled about four different ways throughout the manga, so all those people arguing about how many Ys are correct should shut up) and 2) he sucks people’s blood. As you can maybe see, even though they have fangs vampires in Jojo’s drink blood through their fingers. I don’t know why, I guess biting wasn’t weird enough.
For the heck of it, here’s the trio. That weirdo Zeppeli (the one Gerald mentioned as having only one facial expression) is in the front, Joseph in the middle, and THE INTERFERING SPEEDWAGON smirking at his idol in the back.

Closing (1:49:41 – 1:53:29)
Next time, and by next time that’s later today for us, Daryl is continuing his trend of reviewing shows with strikingly unique art styles by talking about the 2004 series by Studio Gonzo, Gankutsuou: The Count of Monte Cristo. Does the “Gonzo Syndrome” apply here, too? Gerald’s got a manga review of Voyeur and its followup, Voyeurs Inc. by Hideo Yamamoto, author of Ichi the Killer as well as Homunculus which Clarissa reviewed way back in Show # 10. Speaking of Clarissa, she’s going to review what just might be Studio Ghibli’s best movie, and it’s not even one of Miyazaki’s: Omoide Poro Poro, better known as Only Yesterday. Thanks go out to Eeeper from the Eeeper’s Choice podcast for sending the three of us the Region 2 DVD release of the film after we complained about how they played it on Turner Classic Movies but didn’t release it on DVD yet in the US.

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Anime World Order Show # 36 – Cagliostro, Phoenix, and Embracing Love

Podcast: Download (Duration: 1:51:14 — 50.9MB)

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This episode is a week late due to computer troubles, but hopefully the wait is worth it. Gerald reviews Hayao Miyazaki’s theatrical directorial debut The Castle of Cagliostro, Daryl reviews the 2004 anime remake of Osamu Tezuka’s Phoenix (aka Hi no Tori), and Clarissa reviews the yaoi manga Embracing Love by Youka Nitta.

Man, we’re totally slacking off on these show notes as of late. But hey, we’ve got a Review Index now! It’s incomplete because it doesn’t yet include all the instances where we waste time on “weeaboo” when someone asks us “what do you think about…” but it’s a start. Did you just read “weeaboo”? ‘Cause I think you just saw someone write “weeaboo.” Forget about yaoi paddles, for I have seen the future and it is the past.

Introduction (0:00 – 32:03)
Carl Gustav Horn is officially smarter than us, but he was suffering from an inflamed farceurix which required immediate care. This week, we realize that if we keep asking people to send us Odeo feedback, it would do us well to actually PLAY some of them and respond to them on air. Subjects include: cons and cosplay stuff, Planetes, Chobits, Street Fighter II, and why Fist of the North Star is popular everywhere else in the world except for North America. On a highly related note, the US DVDs released by Toei are officially no longer available. This picture sums up AWA in a nutshell:

Promo: GeekNights (32:03 – 33:11)
Rym and Scott exhibited their full recovery from their pierrotlectomies by informing us that the Monty Python Spanish Inquisition-style promo of theirs was not actually meant to be seriously played by anyone, so we’re playing the Blues Brothers-style one instead. And you thought it was going to be the Blues Brothers combined with the Inquisition…what a show. They’ll be guests at SITACon in New York this weekend, so to help you identify them, here’s a picture (Rym is on the left and Scott is on the right):

Review: Lupin the Third: The Castle of Cagliostro (33:11 – 59:12)
Man. Thirty-six episodes before we officially covered anything directed by Miyazaki, “because everyone knows about him already.” Gerald reviews the newly-released special edition available from Manga Video, compares it to the previous DVD release, and in so doing answers the question on the minds of everyone who’s ever been hit by a double-dip DVD release: is it worth picking up the new release if you already own the original one? Sure, every other anime podcast has reviewed this movie by now, but only OURS has the foresight to point out how this movie inspired Time Crisis!

Review: Phoenix [Hi no Tori] (59:12 – 1:26:08)
Daryl didn’t exactly write any notes to himself whatsoever prior to doing this segment, but he figured he’d try and schmooze his way through this one anyway. The result is that he takes nearly 30 minutes to say what could have been said in 15, and he completely forgot to fully say exactly what the Phoenix was in the story. It’s essentially the Power Cosmic incarnate, or for you Excel Saga fans, the Great Will of the Macrocosm. The will of the universe incarnate, as it were. Phoenix is Osamu Tezuka’s life work and perhaps his grandest achievement, having been remade multiple times over the years. The Phoenix being reviewed in this segment is the 2004 remake, but since Daryl can’t ever stay on topic, he ends up talking about the other stuff too. Under the guise of “putting things in context,” you see. Of course, like all of Tezuka’s work, almost nobody in America cares about this even though it’s really good. PS: Vertical’s English-language release of Ode to Kirihito comes out on October 24th.

  • Media Blasters told us at AWA that they do actually plan on releasing the anime, so instead of linking to a torrent for the series, here’s the opening so you can see how nice this show looks; Youtube/Google Video doesn’t cut it
  • Viz Media’s excellent release of the Phoenix manga – which nobody except Daryl seems to be buying as it comes out, provided he can actually FIND IT because much like Golgo 13, stores and anime con dealers don’t tend to carry it…in addition to what’s listed on the Viz page, volumes 7 and 8 of are also out, but they’re practically out of stock at both Amazon and Right Stuf
  • Tezuka in English – a fantastic resource for those who wish to learn more about Tezuka’s output and derivative works over the years
  • Osamu Tezuka World – Tezuka Production’s official English-language webpage
  • This was going to be a link to the full English-language text of the February 10, 1989 article that ran in Asahi following Tezuka’s death, but we can’t find it anywhere. It’s got to be out there, but in the meantime, here instead is the often-repeated quote from said article: “Foreign visitors to Japan often find it difficult to understand why Japanese people like comics so much. One explanation for the popularity of comics in Japan, however, is that Japan had Tezuka Osamu, whereas other nations did not. Without Dr. Tezuka, the postwar explosion in comics in Japan would have been inconceivable.”
  • Japan Media Arts Festival poll where about 80,000 people voted and declared Phoenix the #6 manga of all time – though bear in mind, the list is almost entirely shonen action and Slam Dunk was #1

Review: Embracing Love [Haru wo Daiteita] (1:26:08 – 1:47:35)
But it’s not like the Viz Signature line is the only manga imprint you can’t find sold anywhere! It’s been a while since the last yaoi review, but Clarissa was finally able to track down this Youka Nitta manga released by Be Beautiful. Why the Be Beautiful releases are so much more expensive than all other manga releases despite not really being of superior print quality or page count strikes us as being particularly blatant on the “we charge more because fans are willing to pay extra and that’s it” front, but that’s CPM for you.

Promo: Happy House of Hentai (1:47:35 – 1:47:58)
Last we checked, “Lord Kaosu” and “Hello Kitty” both live in New Mexico, but they’re both guests at SITACon in New York on October 6-8. They’re inviting a whole bunch of podcasters to be guests there, but we unfortunately cannot attend. Not only would it be tricky for the three of us to all get time off from school/work, we’d have to pay to fly ourselves there. Between Anime Weekend Atlanta and Right Stuf’s sale on Geneon DVDs, we’re about spent. So if you head to SITACon and you see these folks, be sure to say hello because they totally traveled across the country to be there:

Say, we’ve got Ninja Consultant T-shirts, too!

Closing (1:47:58 – 1:51:13)
This episode is like, an entire week late. What this means is that in order to catch back up, the next episode will have to come out in a few days. Fortunately for us, the next episode will consist mostly of the recording of our AWA panel on podcasting, which turned out mostly well, boring. Perhaps it would be best to throw in some extra bits while we’re at it for the sake of adding excitement.