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Anime World Order Show # 22 – Otaku Anime Reviews…More So Than Usual

Podcast: Download (Duration: 1:26:33 — 39.6MB)

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This episode is entirely about anime and manga which itself is about obsessive fans of anime and manga, or otaku. Gerald reviews Otaku no Video, Clarissa reviews Genshiken, and Daryl reviews Welcome to the NHK.

Introduction (0:00 – 20:05)
Gilles Poitras calls in to enlighten us on the proper way to pronounce his name, but we still pronounce it differently anyway despite hearing exactly how it’s supposed to be said. We must be manifesting the same brain disorder that guides so many people to pronounce “Naruto” as “nuh-ROO-to” despite the fact that they don’t pronounce it like that in either the Japanese or English versions of the show. We read listener mail, where we discover that Megatokyo is actually unintentional parody and that Kannazuki no Miko totally sucks. Actually, we knew that already, but it’s good to hear it from other people, much like it’s good to hear people talk about how good Giant Robo is. For the sake of staying on topic, Daryl is rather dismissive of one email asking about Western animation, but he’d written a full-length response to the guy in email form. Then the guy’s email address had permanent fatal errors. If you’re reading the show notes, let me know. Finally, we end with a special message from everyone’s favorite shouting tin cans…FROM SPACE!

Let’s News! (20:05 – 34:50)
The official Genshiken website has been cryptically updated for the first time in quite some time, and we can only hope that means that the second season of Genshiken may happen after all, but there’s no telling at this point. Plus, it’s old news by now, but Central Park Media, one of the oldest US anime licensors, laid off a whole bunch of people, and well, that’s what we talk about for pretty much the entirety of this segment.

Promo: Anime 101 (34:50 – 35:32)
We’ll admit it. All too often we make the mistake of assuming people know what we’re talking about, except for the times when Daryl deliberately makes a joke that only two people can actually get. Vespaholic from Anime Genesis has decided to start up this podcast dedicated to covering the basics. So if you don’t know what we’re talking about and you don’t feel like checking our show notes or asking us to elaborate, thus giving us the impression that nothing’s wrong, perhaps this will be of help. [Daryl: Actually, after listening to their ninth episode, there’s a fair amount of misinformation and potentially bad advice here. Well, the same goes for us, but we’re doing it on purpose for the sake of jokes!]

Review: Otaku no Video (35:32 – 50:48)
Gerald starts things off by reviewing Animeigo’s release of the classic Gainax OAV about the fictionalized account of the rise, fall, and rise again of the studio in the early 1980s. The “Portrait of an Otaku” segments are what make this one so memorable since people can often draw similarities to people they know from them. Gerald is a combination of “Mr A” and the “don’t you think Hiroko is pretty?” guy, and Clarissa is, of course, Miss Honda. Daryl Surat is like the guy who has all the tapes and stuff for the sake of having it, since he barely watches all this stuff he downloads and buys.

Promo: Anime Genesis (50:48 – 51:14)
The promos Benu sent us way back when are out of date since they mention the old website address, and because of that we haven’t really been running their promos. Still, it’s been so long since we ran an AG promo that we figured we’d just go with the one we’ve got. Personally, I wish this podcast wasn’t like, 80% them reading the headlines from Anime News Network or whatever, but check them out. Hmm, they’ve had Mick Aloha, Apocalypse Dowell, and the Anime Pulse guys on as guests. I think an AWO coup might be in order, just as soon as we finish recording a promo for them.

Review: Genshiken (51:14 – 1:05:36)
Clarissa explai…er, tells us about this much more recent anime and manga series that provides a much more evenhanded portrayal of otaku in the modern day. Of the shows we review this week, Genshiken is the most accessible, so don’t worry so much about catching all the references. In terms of character similarities, Gerald acts like Madarame and Daryl looks like him. I guess that makes Clarissa er…Kousaka.

Promo: Ninja Consultant (1:05:36 – 1:06:36)
Erin was one person who wrote in to tell us exactly what makes the Apocalypse Dowell as well-loved as it is (in a nutshell, it’s all the stuff Daryl wasn’t interested in) while also conveying a riveting tale of Asian dudes who had Nazi swastikas hanging in their cubicle because they didn’t quite know what it meant. To steal one from Colt Cabana, “good times, great memories.”

Review: Welcome to the NHK (1:06:36 – 1:21:22)
It’s only fitting that Daryl review the most harsh otaku title of what we’re reviewing this week. This is a manga about a guy which most people would not find endearing or appealing in the slightest, so Daryl can relate and tell YOU exactly what’s going on in this guy’s head. Yeah, that’s the ticket: “this guy.” Warning: the stark, bleak realities revealed in this segment may be too intense, too depressing, and too awesome for most listeners to handle.

Closing (1:21:22 – 1:26:33)
Next week is the disaster themed episode! Actually, there’s not really a theme, but Gerald’s going to review the explosively disastrous Spriggan, Clarissa’s going to review this really…corny disaster known as My Sexual Harassment, and Daryl’s going to finally bite the bullet and unveil what may or may not be the first of many parts, as he relays his discoveries during his search for THE TRUTH at JACON 2006. Or, if you prefer, “The Japanese Animation Convention is Decadent and Depraved.” Prepare yourselves if you want any hopes of survival.

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Anime World Order Show # 21 – The Anti-Moe Equation: Giant Robo, Saint Seiya, and Combattler V

Podcast: Download (Duration: 1:29:20 — 40.9MB)

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It’s flexible, it’s metal, it’s our 21st podcast as Daryl reviews Giant Robo (perhaps his favorite anime ever), Gerald reviews Combattler V, and Clarissa tackles Saint Seiya!

Introduction (0:00 – 22:40)
You know, we have all these Discipline readings but we keep forgetting to play them. We forget this week too. In its place, the MMD calls in to complain about Jeff Tatarek’s Discipline reading in Show # 17. Sensing this, Jeff “Rich Lather” Tatarek calls in to put forth a 1-2-3 Rider Kick argument as to why HE should be given our spare Patlabor Limited Edition box. You know, that ANN contest only has about four entries, people! We also answer listener feedback regarding Captain Tsubasa and what anime would appeal to military otaku. We know little about either.

  • Jeff Tatarek’s AV-98 Ingram costume from like, decades ago: Pic 1 Pic 2

Let’s News! (22:40 – 30:50)
Some Japanese folks serve time for the crime of scanning manga (search for “Stiff Sentence For Uploading Manga In Japan”), and there won’t be a second season of Genshiken after all because they’re making an entire show out of Kujibiki Unbalance. We make sure to scream about how idiotic and bad that manuever is at least once per segment for the remainder of this episode.

Promo: Anime Pulse (30:50 – 31:38)
It takes true dedication to run both this podcast as well as the theotaku.com podcast! No wonder they’re about twice as popular as us. The fact that they’re habitually on time probably helps with that, too. You know, technically AWO is supposed to come out on Tuesdays, but I can count the amount of times that’s been managed on my fingers.

Often Overlooked: Giant Robo (31:38 – 50:47)
Daryl talks about his pick for the greatest OAV series ever made, Giant Robo The Animation: The Day the Earth Stood Still. In so doing, he reveals pretty much nothing about the show itself in the hopes of not spoiling everything, but ultimately he’s just failing to convince people to watch it. He also forgot to include audio bumpers. Still, anyone who doesn’t buy the brick of Giant Robo by clicking here gets THE HOSE.

Promo: R5 Central (50:47 – 51:23)
Mike Dent is probably still applying every audio filter he can find to his upcoming coverage of Anime Central 2006, so it’s still not out yet. In the meantime, consider this excerpt interview from someone cool he met. You know, next week Daryl was going to tell us all THE TRUTH about JACON, but Metrocon’s coming up this weekend.

Review: Combattler V (51:23 – 1:06:27)
The amount of people who wrote in to correct Gerald about Combattler V not being a Tomino show does our hearts proud, even though Gerald only got that idea because Daryl heard Rob Lantz mention Tomino’s involvement with the show back at Katsucon this year. Listen on and find out all about the very first show to feature five vehicles that combine to form a giant robot! Yep, it wasn’t Voltron.

Review: Saint Seiya (1:06:27 – 1:26:25)
Clarissa does the impossible and manages to coherently describe what Saint Seiya is actually about in this last segment. Complaints about ADV and DiC’s handling of the property in North America is kept to a minimum since if we did that, whatever would Steve Harrison talk about once we get him on as a guest? That’s totally happening now that we can do free long distance calls to the US and Canada!

  • ANN’s page on Saint Seiya – being a gigantic show of the 80s, the voice cast was pretty stellar, which was something that didn’t make it into the episode
  • Wikipedia entry for Saint Seiya – it’s got some pretty good breakdowns of story arcs and world details for if you want more info than you got here
  • Seiya-subtitles.net’s writeup on Masami Kurumada

Closing (1:26:25 – 1:29:19)
As if this week weren’t enough to cause everyone to stop listening, next week it’s going to be as otaku-concentrated as we can manage. Yes, we’ve only been using 20% of our full power all this time, for next time Gerald will review Otaku no Video, Clarissa will review Genshiken, and Daryl will review Welcome to the NHK! Yeah, we know. Gerald probably should have reviewed NHK since he’s clearly the most like that guy of the three of us, but he’s already “Mr A.”