Anime World Order Show # 26 – We Have No Idea What We’re Talking About

This week, our special guest is Steve Harrison, which is fitting because this week none of us have a clue what we’re talking about! Gerald rants about the state of the anime industry, Daryl does a braindump of MD Geist, and Clarissa reviews Shinesman! Informed viewpoints? What are those?!

Introduction (0:00 – 10:04)
Ten minutes only? Well, that’s because the one audio feedback we played was responded to over the course of about 90 minutes (edited down to 60), and it’s available as a separate download. Wait, it still takes us ten minutes just to say “hey, this is who we are and this is what we’re doing this week”?! Normally when we edit this show, we all edit our own segments, then Daryl pieces everything together and listens to the whole thing to make sure that everything sounds okay. This week, the “listens to the whole thing” part was skipped since there was so much to edit through. Whether or not this resulted in tragedy has yet to be conveyed to us by our listeners.

  • Bonus one hour long response to the voicemail sent to us by GeekNights – we were going to start this off by all saying LET’S DO THIS in unison, but we couldn’t actually…say that in unison, so we gave up; actually this entire account is a fabrication for the sake of entertainment
  • Anime News Network’s entry for John Swasey – he’s an ADV dub actor/director guy who worked on their Gamera releases; even got to put a full-on parody dub of Gamera on the actual official DVD
  • Space Webzine Yamato – we linked to this before and we’re doing it again now that Steve’s on the show!
  • Mur Lafferty – she’s a person who does podcasts and wrote a book about podcasting containing lots of advice we don’t follow yet due to lack of funds/stupidity

Promo: GeekNights (10:04 – 11:14)
Since most people who listen to podcasts are well, other podcasters, you probably know what we mean when we say that coming up with a promo that doesn’t sound totally awful and contrary to the nature of your show is really hard work, no matter how many actual podcasts you’ve got under your belt. It took us forever just to come up with our one AWO promo, and even that sounds kind of…fake. Rym and Scott agree, and even though they’ve recorded hundreds of podcasts, they never got around to doing any promos until now.

FANBOY RAGE RANT TIME: The Anime Industry’s Licensing Practices Are Stupid (11:14 – 51:50)
Gerald brings us back to our roots, since we haven’t done a full-on rant segment since Show # 2. There’s really not much structure to this, and truth be told it’s doubtful that any of what is said here is supported by the actual facts, but since when does THAT ever stop anyone on the Internet, huh?! Or the news. Or the current best-selling book in the US.

Promo: Anime Pulse (51:50 – 52:20)
This episode was so long that it was decided to just cut out all that music in the beginning since hey, everyone (except us) has heard that Bleach song a hundred times by now! Anyway, not only is Anime Pulse one of the most popular anime podcasts out there, but we won their Podcast Pickle contest and in so doing received the Tenchi Universe box set, a Death Note (like a notebook that looks like the Death Note), and signed yaoi fanart of Ichigo and Batou as drawn by Erin from the Ninja Consultant podcast. Clarissa called dibs on the Death Note, and since these things all look the same, Daryl went and wrote her name in it so that if it ever got lost, people would know it was her Death Note. Gerald said he hated Hiroshi Negishi during the Shadow Skill segment last week, so that meant he couldn’t have the Tenchi Universe boxed set since he directed that too, which means that Gerald gets the yaoi fanart and Daryl gets the DVD set. Hey, it’s what they asked for!

Not Really a Review of the Second Worst Anime Ever Made: MD Geist Director’s Cut (52:20 – 1:22:41)
We may never agree on what the worst anime ever made is, but after you hear Daryl’s summary description of MD Geist (as was requested of him!), we should all be able to reach the consensus that MD Geist is the second worst. Naturally, it has been CPM’s company spokesmecha since the inception of the company…even though MD Geist is not a mecha or a robot or anything like that. MD Geist is actually one of the best-selling anime titles OF ALL TIME, but listen to this so you never need actually watch it for yourself. Even though we know you’re all going to go see it now.

  • ANN’s entry for MD Geist – there are two people we know that actually like this and they’re both anime con staffers
  • ANN’s entry for MD Geist II: Death Force – this is even lamer than part 1, but it all counts as “MD Geist” okay?!
  • Anime on DVD’s review of MD Geist – Chris Beveridge gives MD Geist a “D” for content, and it’s not like he’s using Anime Jump’s review system where the “F” rating was hilariously bad and the “D” rating is the real worst rating; also, he says that MD Geist II has “a good narrative and streamlined a lot of things”

Review: Shinesman (1:22:41 – 1:38:38)
Fulfilling another listener request, Clarissa reviews this beauty of an OAV, a parody sentai anime with one of the most entertaining (albeit not exactly accurate) dubs ever made. So when the heck is someone going to release the manga for this one, anyway?! Come on, Media Blasters!

Closing (1:38:38 – 1:45:43)
This episode nearly ruined all of our lives. Next week, Gerald’s going to review Goshogun: The Time Etranger, which is also known as Time Stranger. It is not to be confused with the Rintaro movie of the same name, but apparently it’s confusing enough that even the back of the DVD case calls the thing by two different names. Daryl’s bouncing over to the other end of the good/bad spectrum by reviewing Discotek Media’s latest classic anime release, Puss n’ Boots! Finally, who likes short shorts on little boys? That’s right, Michael Jackson and Clarissa. She’s going to be reviewing CLAMP Campus Detectives.

Just so everyone knows, we may have to take a short bit of time off soon. With Anime Festival Orlando coming up–which we’ve all got panels to prepare for–and then Otakon the week right after that, things are going to get pretty hectic for all of us near the end of this month and the time we’d spend on the podcast is going to have to be spent putting our presentations together. Maybe we can be superhuman and accomplish both tasks, but in case we can’t, we’re letting you know now and in the weeks to come.

Anime World Order Show # 25 – Anime With Girls Who Kick Butt

It’s all about the catfights this week as Clarissa talks about Air Master, Daryl reviews Shadow Skill, and Gerald discusses Project A-Ko! Outrageous! Truly outrageous!

Introduction (0:00 – 28:10)
We answer emails! Former contributor to the long-gone EX Darius Washington writes in to talk about Crusher Joe and sound off, Tim Eldred–whom we interviewed in Show #14–writes in with his viewpoints on the supposed lack of zeal among today’s anime fans (PS: buy Grease Monkey! In stores now!), Ichigo from the Anime-Pulse podcast (hey cool, we won their Podcast Pickle contest!) has a SHOCKING REVELATION for us, and a 14 year-old girl tells us all about how she’s able to buy yaoi and shota without being checked for ID! Then Clarissa helps contribute to the delinquency of all the minors that we’ve got listening despite the Explicit tags by offering additional tips on how to do the same!

Let’s News! (28:10 – 43:28)
Even kids in Japan can’t follow the panel layouts in manga, Dark Horse has to edit Cannon God Exaxxion (which we reviewed back in Show # 9), the Japanese have come up with something even MORE terrifying than that moe burger place, and the US release of Speed Grapher won’t have “Girls on Film” by Duran Duran as its theme song! If anyone from Funimation’s listening, Daryl offers the PERFECT solution. Rock over London, rock on Chicago. Finally, the details for the limited edition of Patlabor Movie 2 have been released. That comes out on July 11th, so preorder it to save $30 or so.

  • Google – do an image search for “Pretty Dictator” to see what we’re afraid of (probably not work safe)

Promo: Eeeper’s Choice (43:28 – 44:20)
For you anime fans in the UK, or at least we think he’s from the UK, here’s a brand-new podcast that’s just started up for you guys! Two episodes in and he’s already got an interview with Manga Entertainment UK’s head of marketing! If it were Daryl conducting that interview, the entire thing would have been about Angel Cop, Violence Jack, and Mad Bull.

Review: Air Master (44:20 – 1:02:51)
Daryl really wanted to do this one, but Clarissa had first dibs on this most radical TV show from 2004. This is some of the best animated, best choreographed fighting anime has to offer, so naturally Toei went and screwed up the Region 1 DVD release. In fact, they did such a piss-poor job that we’re just going to say “screw it all”: here’s a link to a torrent for the entire series!

  • Probably not work safe picture of someone who looks almost exactly like Daryl being manhandled by a large woman – Daryl DEMANDS that someone send him the entire series

Promo: R5 Central (1:02:51 – 1:03:31)
The more of these ACen promos we hear, the more we realize that much of R5 Central is what is presumably written in Mike’s Livejournal, only in audio format. Or so we’d imagine; his Livejournal is friends-only and only Clarissa actually has an account at that terrifying place.

Review: Shadow Skill (1:03:51 – 1:20:56)
Daryl thinks that if there’s any fault to be found in Air Master, it’s that most of the time all the bloodletting is courtesy of really severe nosebleeds and not much else. Shadow Skill however, is BY FAR AND AWAY the bloodiest and therefore most violent “girls kicking ass” anime reviewed in this episode. Recoil in terror as Daryl leaves in all of his arcane Fist of the North Star references! Actually, his likening of Yuki Minaguchi’s fighting style to that of Nanto Koshuu Ken crossed with judo was stolen by the thoughtbird during the Air Master segment and he just forgot to say it. You have to get these names RIGHT, damn it! Geometry Man? GEOMETRY MAN?!

  • Shadow Skill Network – a fairly comprehensive fan site that includes twelve fanfics and forums that are still active
  • ANN’s Shadow Skill entry
  • The really poorly written Wikipedia entry for Shadow Skill – not only is some of it just plain wrong, most of it applies to the TV series and not the OAVs
  • Anime on DVD’s Shadow Skill review – it’s perfectly understandable to give this a bad review, but to not talk about the fights AT ALL and just rag on how much the story sucks is like knocking a 70s Shaw Brothers kung fu movie
  • Official Japanese website for Shadow Skill – the art all over this site is for the awful OAV that Daryl mentioned at the end of the review, not the original ones

Review: Project A-Ko (1:20:56 – 1:38:03)
Daryl promised not to edit in any of the many jokes that were presumably removed from this segment, and so he has remained true to his word as Gerald talks about this classic anime parody. Arguments ensue over whether or not non-anime fans can tell that this is a comedy since the jokes are almost all inside references: Daryl postulates the answer is no, citing as evidence the years in which he thought this was the MOST BADASS CARTOON EVER CRAFTED BY THE HANDS OF MAN. Gerald postulates that Daryl’s Ultimate Eye may in fact be Asperger’s Syndrome.

Closing (1:38:03 – 1:44:05)
Man, this has to be the longest show we’ve ever done. Thanks to everyone who voted for us over at Podcast Pickle, getting us into the Top 10! BUT…on Saturday they’re wiping the board clean and we have to start over from zero! Rats! Oh well, just go and vote for us again! The Podcast Awards starts up on July 1st as well, but that’s something that you’d have to vote for us every day for two weeks straight (while following their specific rules about voting). If you’re up for it, perhaps you could vote for us in the Podcast of the Year and…hmm, Movies/Films? The chances of winning anything here are slim to none, but hey! That’s what we thought about getting into the Podcast Pickle Top 10!

Next week, it’s time we remembered the time when we used to have multiple different kinds of segments! Clarissa’s going to review Shinesman, Gerald’s got a rant about the licensing practices of the US and Japanese anime industries, and Daryl’s going to throw down with a frank and MOST DANGEROUS discourse on the SECOND worst anime ever made…

M.D. Geist.

We may never agree on what the worst anime ever made is, but we can all agree that MD Geist is the SECOND worst.