Anime World Order Show # 10 – The search for THE TRUTH begins

Fine, so we’re late this week. In our letters section we talk about anime fans outside of the US, then Gerald discusses the Often Overlooked Lensman (the DUB), Clarissa reviews the manga Homunculus, and Daryl’s search for THE TRUTH kicks off with Part 1 of his Katsucon experience. If you don’t normally read the show notes, now is the time to start.

Introduction (0:00 – 33:52)
We’ve got a Frappr map now, so be sure to go there and leave your comments while also voting on who is the best. Daryl was hoping that the votes would be even with him and Clarissa each having 50% and Gerald having 0%, but that’s not how things ended up. Listener email clarifies us on matters we didn’t quite get correct about Naruto and Serial Experiments Lain, then we get a brief idea of what it’s like being an anime fan outside of America as well as a possible reason for why US fans don’t seem to care about older anime titles the way the Japanese fans do. Plus, the differences between the Gravitation manga and anime and much more! SEND IN MORE READINGS OF THE DISCIPLINE AD COPY, DAMN YOU!

Often Overlooked: Lensman (the DUB!) (33:52 – 49:13)
Gerald waxes poetic over this out-of-print 1980s anime adaptation of E.E. “Doc” Smith’s genre-defining science fiction tale. Find out the secret connection between this, Clarissa, and Ninja Scroll!

Review (manga): Homunculus (49:13 – 1:02:28)
Clarissa brings us this overview of yet another masterpiece by Hideo Yamamoto, author of Ichi the Killer, among other things. This title is about this guy who’s a lot like this person who’s a friend of Daryl’s. We’d have him on the show except for the fact that he’s too much like the main character in this manga. Don’t let the name fool you: the Ultimate Eye isn’t quite the same thing here.

The Search for THE TRUTH — Katsucon 12, Part 1 (1:02:28 – 1:18:03)
Daryl embarks on his quest to save his soul and somehow escape the fate which he has been struggling so hard to overcome to no avail. He’s going to do this by finding the most Internet-worthy of anime convention attendees, then interviewing them and posting pictures of them, all the while impersonating a radio news correspondent. Man, it’s no wonder Rob Landtz voted for Clarissa over him on the Frappr map even after having met him!

Closing (1:18:03 – 1:20:05)
Something tells us that we aren’t going to adhere to this next episode preview much, but Clarissa promises a review of Gravitation, Gerald will talk about the Often Overlooked fansub title Zipang, and Daryl’s search for THE TRUTH at Katsucon will continue, just as soon as he reconstitutes his sanity and composure by rereading Volume 1 of Crying Freeman by Kazuo Koike, available now in unflipped format from Dark Horse Comics! Go and buy it now along with Cromartie High School Volume 5!