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Anime World Order Show # 220 – Witness the Beginning of Toei’s Dark Universe

Podcast: Download (Duration: 52:59 — 24.3MB)

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This was originally the intro of Show 219, but it took a little longer to edit. So, PRESTO! In this, Show 220, Gerald–mere hours upon exiting the theater–shares his thoughts on the major critical and commercial disaster that every single one of us and every single one of you could see coming from a mile away, the 2023 live-action Knights of the Zodiac film adaptation of Saint Seiya. Despite originally recording this 3 weeks ago, we remain fairly confident that this is not something which you’ll have heard discussed to death by this point. Because that would have required people to SEE it! (We estimate the comments section will be the highest concentration online of people in the US who saw this movie. So…less than 10?)

No outlines or show notes for this one, really. The promo for Right Stuf Anime is from 21:13 – 23:52.

We last talked about Saint Seiya in Show 21 back in 2006.

I guess in the meantime you can watch the trailer and think “yeah, this was a bad idea.”

Or think about that recently unearthed from the Library of Congress pilot of “Guardians of the Cosmos” which was an attempt to make a more US TV-friendly animated version…and think “yeah, this was a bad idea.”

Or that live-action Starstorm pilot thing done around the time of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers. Or that CG Netflix one that everybody hated which this movie appears to be adapting itself from despite the aforementioned “that everybody hated.” You know what you can’t readily get, though? An unedited official English translation of the entire manga. Or the anime, for that matter. Hmm, you don’t suppose the reason “Saint Seiya will never be popular in the US, no matter how hard they try” is actually just because they’re not exactly trying properly? Maybe consider NOT putting the cart before the horse for once?

Don’t worry; we intend to release another episode in June that will be an actual anime review! Of something people like and you might have seen or heard about before, even!

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Anime World Order Show # 219 – Stop Fighting and Give Me Your Brain

Podcast: Download (Duration: 56:50 — 26.1MB)

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The intro ended up running long and possibly out of control since it was recorded moments after Gerald ended up being one of the only people in America to have actually gone to see Knights of the Zodiac, the English live-action film adaptation of Saint Seiya produced by Toei. Fret not; we’ll release that audio next time! For now, we’ve got Clarissa reviewing the classic anime series Red Photon Zillion, the most entertaingly deranged extended light gun toy commercial sponsored by Sega in anime history.

Review: Zillion aka Red Photon Zillion (1:30 – 54:04)

Se-ga! Not seen in this shot: the power cables that happen to exactly match the controller cables of the Sega Master System light gun.

Oh sure, Zillion is historically noteworthy for a variety of reasons, most of which we touch upon in the review. But the MAIN reason to watch it in 2023 is because, like Machine Robo: Revenge of Cronos, it operates on a logic of the lunatic geniuses who made it.

Fantasy Zone is not messing around

Zillion recently celebrated its 35 year anniversary and is available streaming and on home video (for now) from FUNimation. You…might want to consider purchasing this one either from Right Stuf or Amazon (affiliate links) since FUNimation first released Zillion in 2019 with the “Anime Essentials” edition out a few months later. You may also want to grab it in conjunction with the recent 4K release of Streets of Fire, since the “Burning Night” OVA is infamously the crew deciding “let’s just do an animated Streets of Fire only using the cast of Zillion!” We will reveal the actual relationship this OVA has to the original TV series, which is contrary to what we were told / what was suggested for decades.

Yep, that’s Ellen Aim’s dress, all right
And we’ll fly away on those angel wings of chrome in your daddy’s car…

Sadly, the Streamline Pictures English dub of the first five episodes and the OAV is not included on FUNimation’s releases. Fortunately, fans have preserved it in a few places. Here’s a semi-restoration using the HD footage (they didn’t replicate the Streamline title cards, but others did VHS captures).

Dave and Apple making the face that the writers of this show were making as they concocted these scenarios

Promo: Right Stuf Anime (54:49 – 56:30)
It’s Ani-May 2023, which means that for orders over $50, not only do you get free shipping in the US but you also get a 1.5″ enamel pin of Crunchyroll’s mascot, Hime. This week the specials are themed around “Midnight Run,” which is basically Adult Swim/Toonami titles. Turns out that several of the most popular anime in the US achieved that status thanks to airing on Toonami and/or Adult Swim, so there should be plenty of favorites to choose from.

This would qualify as JJ’s Bizarre Adventure