Anime World Order # 237 – Triv-ia! Don’t Give It Up, Ba-sil! Triv-ia! Don’t Give It Up Ger-ald!

For the tenth time, it’s our annual trivia episode! We are joined by Basil, head honcho of the OSMcast as well as The Carbuncle Chronicle and OSMquest podcasts who’s been doing this for just about as long as we have. Basil has been doing this for about as long as us and is from our same fandom generation, though he’s got more experience on camera as our Patreon supporters at the $5 and up tiers were able to see during the live recording which was held about a week ago.

Introduction (0:00 – 18:20)
We talk to Basil about how he became an anime fan and what inspired him to start podcasting, while also going over his contributions to anime conventions in the Southeastern United States which are numerous enough that we couldn’t get into them all.

Trivia Round One (18:20 – 1:18:22)
The carnage commences! Yell in frustration as we are unable to identify famous anime catgirls, are asked questions about animals in which not one single person says “call me YOON-kers!”, and have to remember anime by their OP/ED song titles…to limited success.

Trivia Round Two (1:18:22 – 2:11:11)
This one’s got a music category aka the sort of thing that would prevent us from posting this to YouTube and the like. We’ve also got to identify titles whose international titles don’t necessarily align to what a translation of their Japanese titles are, aka “absolute anathema to adherent users of MyAnimeList.” There was going to be another round of Anime Family Feud, but regrettably Basil actually had family committments over the weekend and could not simply sit around all day and talk about vague memories of cartoons. There’s always next year, I guess!

Anime World Order Show # 227 – Not Much Ion Fury but Very Much an Ion Maiden, Featuring Shoujo Sundae

For our first episode of 2024 we are joined by the two cohosts of the Shoujo Sundae podcast (@ShoujoSundae), Giana Luna and Chika Supreme, as we review the manga ION, by Arina Tanemura. Apologies are in order, for despite the episode number, this podcast does not contain Jackée.

Introduction (0:00 – 27:23)
We talk to Chika and Giana about how they first saw anime, how they learned more about it in a pre high-speed Internet era, what brought them to podcasting, and how big of a bullet one dodges when you go to Blockbuster Video as a kid in search of “stuff that looks like Sailor Moon” and end up renting a copy of Perfect Blue. Hashtag relatable.

Otaku In Memoriam: Erik Reiss (27:23 – 32:24)
This year, we’d like to hear more stories about noteworthy anime fans who are no longer around, ideally by people who knew or had interactions with them. If you knew someone and wish to share some memories, record a short memoriam (2-4 minutes) and email them to us so we can put them into later episodes. Or, if you’re like us and aren’t especially comfortable with the sound of your own voice–yeah, that’s us even after all this time–write it up so we can read it on your behalf.

Erik Reiss was one of our earliest guests that we interviewed, and about two months ago he passed away at the age of 54. Along with his also deceased wife Karen Trudeau, Erik was an influential figure in Florida anime fandom so we figured we’d spend a few minutes talking about him. We’re pretty certain that we have listeners who knew him way better, so perhaps this haphazard memoriam will spur activity. As a correction: Anime Festival Orlando was not the first “Florida” anime convention, as the now-defunct Anime Express started three years prior in 1997 over at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University and many future Florida anime convention staffers attended. AFO was the first “Central Florida” anime convention.

Review: ION (32:24 – 1:22:09)
Last episode we talked a little bit about Arina Tanemura, and so it’s fitting that we review her professional serial debut: ION, from 1997. It’s a cute, lighthearted sci-fi rom=com that is self-contained in a single volume…well, aside from the single chapter follow-up written 13 years later which is included as a bonus with Volume 8 of Sakura Hime: The Legend of Princess Sakura.

Always attempt to bend the spoon. It’s possible. There is a spoon.
Tanemura keeps things cute and moving along. [Guy who has only read Kodocha] Getting a lot of Kodocha vibes from this…
Ion is rife with tons of silly gags like this fourth wall-breaking one, from the follow-up bonus chapter included with Sakura Hime.