Friday, February 23, 2007


Daryl reviews the MANLY MANGA Satsuma Gishiden, Gerald reviews the MANLY CARTOON Spirit of Wonder (what?), and Clarissa is the MANLIEST of us all since she reviews MAZINKAISER~! which law dictates must be spelled in all-caps tilde exclamation point.

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Show notes are possibly delayed due to us all undertaking an impossible mission, and by that we mean that Daryl got a Nintendo Wii.

Introduction (0:00 - 20:33)
Is there such a thing as "anime literacy", and can we recommend any nonsensical anime comedies? We talked about that for 20 minutes?

Let's News! (20:33 - 40:43)
Kadokawa, undoubtedly best known around the USA for bringing us ABSOLUTE ZERO, NOW!, is going to start distributing their movies via BitTorrent, Yamato Toys is expanding their US operations, the live-action Speed Racer has a set release date, a doujinshi circle somehow sold 15,000 copies of their comic and got nailed for it, the cost to license one episode of anime for release in the US officially averages to $20,000 per episode but can go as high as $80,000, and the Go Nagai Chibi World OAV is getting remastered. In the rumors department, Discotek might actually release something new and Tokyopop might have licensed one of the Gutsoon!/Raijin Comics titles (presumably Slam Dunk), but in the flat-out FACTS department, Hajime no Ippo is THE BUSINESS and Initial D is for people in the Home For Infinite Losers. Also, there are now Rilakkuma condoms.

Promo: Anime Pacific (40:43 - 42:17)
Never mind that this promo is entirely too long; see that website background? ONE OF US! ONE OF US! Clearly Daryl's advocacy is proving effective. Even though that fansub script for Raoh Gaiden they made totally used "hegemony" as every other word.

Review: Satsuma Gishiden (manga), Volume 1 (42:17 - 1:04:22)
Daryl reviews this fine gekiga title about angry samurai who run around in loincloths and scream like lunatics, as drawn by a master calligrapher. It goes without saying that this is a title from Dark Horse Comics, makers of all sorts of totally rad manga that nobody fucking sells anywhere. Otherwise, this review would also cover Volume 2. Wait, Mail Volume 2 is out? They're on Volume FOUR of Oldboy? God damn you, bookstores and comicbook shops. Oh well, at least you can order them online. Here's some Amazon links for the first two volumes: if you buy them through clicking these, we get some money for it or something.

And if you want to buy the comics anthology containing Fairy Princess Yukio Mishima, it can be yours for $10 shipped by heading over to Cheap Disposable Entertainment!

Promo: Popcorn Samurai (1:04:22 - 1:05:26)
Yeah yeah, so his show isn't actually "weekly," but it's not like we're ones to talk. Because of Daryl's review, he picked up Le Chevalier D'Eon Volume 1. AND his next episode is about Kazuo Koike. Clearly Daryl's advocacy is proving effective.

Review: Spirit of Wonder (1:05:26 - 1:20:35)
Gerald has not one, but two different titles to review here, though we get the feeling that neither of them really have any business being classified as "hard sci-fi." No, this is more of a whimsical light romance affair, though Inignokt and Err better step back if they know what's good for them. WHICH THEY DON'T.

Review: MAZINKAISER~! (1:20:35 - 1:52:18)
Due to strict awesomeness quotient laws enforced by the federal government, Clarissa is obliged to tell people on the air that MAZINKAISER~! will not change their life and is not as good as GaoGaiGar. These laws do not apply in print. The truth is that it WILL change your life--entirely for the better--and that if there is anything it is not as good as, it would be Getter Robo. After all, how can one TRULY believe in GaoGaiGar's superiority without acknowledging that GaoGaiGar Final is better than the series itself?

The reason there has not yet been any sort of MAZINKAISER~! vs SHIN GETTER ROBO~! is because that would violate even Japan's awesomeness quotient laws, which are generally more lenient than ours. Make the right choice, Shinzo Abe.

Promo: Dave and Joel's Fast Karate for the Gentleman (1:52:18 - 1:53:08)
This is actually a fan-made promo and so there's nothing in it mentioning the website. Wait, they get fan-made promos?! Actually, we got a fan-made promo too from The Comics Interpreter, but it's like three minutes long and no podcast would ever actually run that. However, it was professionally done and was awesome. We received this promo and have done nothing with it since...August 2006. Hmm. Maybe THAT'S why we don't get fan-made promos...

Closing (1:53:08 - 1:55:54)
Next time, Daryl will review another Dark Horse manga title that he can't find Volume 2 of anywhere, The Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service. In celebration of it's 20th anniversary, Gerald's reviewing Dirty Pair: Project E.D.E.N. aka "the real Dirty Pair," and Clarissa acknowledges that MAZINKAISER~! does indeed change your life by reviewing Loveless in order to bring her testosterone levels back down.

Wednesday, February 14, 2007

Anime World Order Show # 47 - Podcasting For the Restless and the Brokenhearted

2/16/07, 5:15 AM: Our hosting is now working once more. If you were unable to download the latest episode yesterday (about 40% of everyone was affected by this), please retry again now.

Daryl has an advance review of Le Chevalier D'Eon, Gerald gets sprung with Utawarerumono, and Clarissa reflects upon Nerima Daikon Brothers. As a test to see if we can hang with REAL reviewers, all of us have decided to review just Volume 1 of shows we've never seen before, all courtesy of ADV Films. We're going nowhere fast.

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Introduction (0:00 - 19:48)
One guy on the GeekNights forums said that we answer too many emails per show and should stick to one per episode, but we'd never get through it all if we did that! Besides, if certain parts of the show aren't your bag, you can check these show notes for the timecodes for each segment so you know what to skip over. We're asked to name our Top 10 Mediocre Anime, which proves impossible for us and results in a lengthy diatribe over the usefulness and viability of quantitative ratings systems as a whole. The voicemails reveal that DARYL'S LIFE GOAL IS ACCOMPLISHED, and yet he is not the one equipped to complete the requested task to "make Gerald a real man." However, this happened in celebration of Gerald's birthday:

Let's News! (19:48 - 39:06)
Paprika didn't get nominated for an Oscar, probably because nobody saw it. Thanks, Sony! By the way, they're distributing Tekkon Kinkreet, too. And they're denying that they prohibit adult content on Blu-Ray, but of the eight or so duplication centers, they run two and Disney works with five (and apparently per their contracts, duplicators who work with Disney agree not to duplicate adult content). The identity of the remaining one is shrouded in secrecy. Speaking of secret identities, Princess Ai is getting set for another giant push. You know, the "manga" that's written by the Tokyopop CEO under the fake persona "DJ Milky"? The one that contains his poetry? Kind of like how the theme songs to Initial D, GTO, Rave Master, and Reign the Conqueror were changed to shitty things he wrote himself? Hopefully he won't throw any of his office chairs our way. Hmm, we probably won't be getting anything from Tokyopop anytime soon. Steel Jeeg's getting remade, and a lot of smaller US anime cons got canceled, too (there is a much larger story about this particular con full of drama, suspense, and Dan Woren, the voice of Roy Fokker). Also, fanboys everywhere are canceling their Gunbuster orders because the US DVD altered about a minute worth of the background music. We're told that omelettes are nutritious.

Promo: Anime Roundtable (39:06 - 39:42)
Do you like our podcast? This is sort of like, the Canadian version of us. Daryl thinks that one guy Neil sounds like he's impersonating Scott Thompson's Buddy Cole character from Kids in the Hall, and the fangirls on it are stereotypical fangirls and therefore THE ENEMY. However, one of them on the latest episode said she liked Mind Game. She will be spared in the first sweep, but we'll be sure to leave room in the oven for the next go since she thinks Ryoga's hot because of the fang. Ain't no love in the hood for Madarame, it seems.

Review: Le Chevalier D'Eon (39:42 - 1:10:03)
Daryl's pick is probably the most recent thing he's ever reviewed in the history of the podcast, as this Production IG title is still ongoing in Japan. Production IG + Kenshin + Comte de Saint Germain?! Hell yeah! They couldn't POSSIBLY screw this one up, right? If we never hear back from ADV ever again, we'll know this is the reason.

  • ADV's official Le Chevalier D'Eon website - you can watch the first episode dubbed in English for free
  • Production IG's official English-language Le Chevalier site - be sure to check the Special Feature section for several interviews with the crew, because otherwise you'd never find out that they marketed this series to takarazuka fans and cast the voice actress for Lady Oscar from Rose of Versailles in later episodes
  • Mike Toole's Sorcerer Stabber Orphen dub/sub comparison - Internet Explorer is required to view this file, which is presented in How-They-Lied-O-Vision (copyright Corn Pone Flicks), this is one of many articles from Anime Jump that was lost when the old site died and everything moved over to the new site. Incidentally, the new site is also dead, and updates to it are basically no longer possible due to some sort of bizarre CSS debacle or something.
  • Correction: Marie was not 15 when she married Louis XV, thus making Louis 8. Louis was 15, thus making Marie 22. It wasn't OUR mistake, it was the commentary track's!
Promo: Up a Paddle (1:10:03 - 1:10:40)
You see this guy's show notes? Notes that tell you every single point that's covered in the episode that are a mere fraction of the length of this crap? And he remembered to actually put the links in rather than just write a bunch of garbage? That's the way show notes should be.

Review: Utawarerumono (1:10:40 - 1:32:54)
Gerald picked this one to review after seeing the impressive trailer for it on The Anime Network. What Gerald did not know then and knows now was that this anime is based off of a porn game yet is not a porn anime. This is truly a testament to the work of those poor interns who have to edit together trailers to make crappy shows looks decent. If we never hear back from ADV ever again, we'll know this is the reason.
Review: Nerima Daikon Brothers (1:32:54 - 1:56:36)
Clarissa pulled the latest work from WataNABE SHINichi (that's how you get "Nabeshin" for a nickname, kids!). It's...pretty much the same as the rest of his work. If we never hear back from ADV ever again, we'll know this is the reason. Promo: Greatest Movie EVER! Podcast (1:56:36 - 1:57:28)
Daryl has once again made a guest appearance on this podcast, this time to review the Greatest Movie EVER!, Streets of Fire. Joining him on this expedition is Gerald and former guest/frequent poster Steve Harrison. Maybe we should get Paul to record special promos for those episodes as opposed to just taking music from the movie and playing it at the same time as his promo. Hmm.

Closing (1:57:28 - 2:02:32)
Next episode, it's time to get back on track, sort of. Gerald's reviewing Spirit of Wonder (as much of it as he could get a hold of), Daryl has vowed to increase the number of manga reviews he's done by reviewing the ultra-manly gekiga samurai action piece Satsuma Gishiden, and Clarissa vows to be even more manly than Daryl since she's reviewing MAZINKAISER~! Why? You don't wanna know why. Everybody ready? Get it on.

Monday, February 05, 2007

Anime World Order Show # 46 - Animated Snuff Film Misogynist Crap

In what will go down in history as the AWO's darkest hour (it was Gerald's idea!), this episode is entirely devoted to hentai. Daryl reviews the extensively surreal Kanashimi no Belladonna, Clarissa reviews the manga Pink Sniper by her favorite hentai artist Kengo Yonekura, and Gerald fulfills the dream by providing us with a highly-researched review of Urotsukidoji: Legend of the Overfiend.

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Know that this special commemorative Photoshop was...shall we say, OFFERED to us (you know, Comics-One is no more and their entire release of this has been scanned...hmm, ideas are forming...):

Remember, it's not porn if you don't draw the dick. Ikegami = ALL CLASS.

Introduction (0:00 - 22:25)
In the emails, we're told that there IS quite a bit of horror anime after all. It's just that most all of it is either hentai or isn't stuff we'd consider scary, such as Serial Experiments Lain or Paranoia Agent. Actually, it's a total misuse of the term for American fans to call pornographic Japanese cartoons and comics "hentai" since that's how you'd describe a person, but it's not like it's the first time that American anime fandom has taken a Japanese word and misconstrued its meaning, and it won't be the last. We also learn that even American movie horror fans are mentally decimated by Waita Uziga's manga. People have been watching Mind Game as a result of Daryl's review, which leads to a grand dismissive of experimental cinema that is sure to cause the TRUE FILM SCHOLARS to turn their noses up at how primitive we are. So be it. Waking Life is still a crappy movie, and so is Garden State. Carl Horn calls in to reveal to us a brand new insight about the End of Evangelion that dawned on him as a result of our Moon Phase review. Somebody notify Aaron Clark!

Let's News! (22:25 - 36:27)
Digital Meme is going to be releasing 55 of those really old anime titles from 1928-1936 which were recently discovered on DVD in a four-disc set entitled the "Japanese Anime Classic Collection" on April 30th. The all-region set is going to be $110, and it'll include English subtitles (plus Japanese, Chinese, and Korean). Still, the influence these have on modern anime is tenuous at best, since these are from the silent era. Daryl is so totally not buying into this post on Conversations on Ghibli, but he recommends everyone read it anyway since he clearly just has an inadequate brain capacity. Perhaps aliens turned him into a Scotsman. More likely, he's just living up to his Magic: The Gathering card representation as "The Purveyor of Violence." There's yet another "there's gonna be a live-action Ghost in the Shell!" story going around, but not only did they already make The Matrix (it's totally stretching it, but here's a page comparing screenshots from both), none of these "live action versions of anime" rumors should be taken to heart unless shooting actually starts. Clarissa is not pleased with Hollywood's trend of doing bad remakes and screen adaptations of stories that are excessively dumbed down or unnecessarily updated. However, she can't wait to see how Napoleon Dynamite influences anime. We talk some more about Tokyopop's impending release of the Twelve Kingdoms novels, which Daryl mentioned during his review of it. Hajime no Ippo actually did really well on TV in Japan, which makes its lack of popularity here in the US all the more tragic. Maybe if they didn't release a 75 episode series one disc at a time...

Review: Kanashimi no Belladonna (36:27 - 1:01:30)
Daryl talks about the final film released by Mushi Productions, the third of the so-called Animerama trilogy. We could talk about this movie, but suffice it to say that this movie is made by one of the men who directed Odin: Photon Space Sailer Starlight, which is what we best associate The Nish with. Yamato? What's that? Also, behold these clips from Belladonna NOW before Youtube takes them down and deletes our account for violation of its terms of use, though we say they're more "mature content" than "pornographic":

Assuming Youtube has not deleted those videos and removed our account, pat yourself on the back because you have now seen the best parts of this film. Gerald's recollection was slightly off, as those are in fact RABBITS flying out of that guy's butt, not fish. Fish are involved in a different shot.

  • Jules Michelet and his book, La Sorciere; "La Sorciere" is actually the film's sub-title
  • I don't think any of this stuff happened to the real Joan of Arc
  • Clarissa made a reference to Tommy Johnson, but Daryl's only knowledge of him would be from O Brother, Where Art Thou?, and he only saw that once.
  • Art Nouveau -- apparently that's the style this moviefilm was supposedly done in
  • 200, by the United States propaganda department - Daryl happens to know that the style shown here was REAL style Belladonna was done in. The name for this style is, shall we say, Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds-influenced. No, not the Shatner song! (The Beatles? Who are they?)
Promo: R5 Central (1:01:30 - 1:02:29)
Courageous mecha pilot/large black man (hint hint, ladies...though just so you know, PER HIS OWN ADMISSION, it's a climax the moment he starts!) Mike Dent is not a number. He is a free man! Be sure to check out Episode 33 featuring special guest monologue by Daryl Surat! He's got a special comment for tokusatsu fandom, and it starts around the 17 minute mark. CLI-MAX JUMP! ii JUMP! ii JUMP! Suge-JUMP! ii JUMP! ii JUMP! Suge-JUMP!

Review: Pink Sniper (1:02:29 - 1:25:04)
Man, you know this episode is trouble when the most normal hentai title being discussed is the one that contains cow people having sex. Clarissa throws her Magic: The Gathering card representation for a loop, since despite the fact that Pink Sniper is a porn manga from a female author, it's not yaoi. Well, if you don't count the sequel, anyway. Kengo Yonekura is one of Clarissa's favorite artists, and part of that has to do with the fact that the guys have faces and aren't just invisible aside from their peen. How are the people who buy this [guys] supposed to mentally swap out the guy for themselves if they can see his face?! Even regular porn knows not to do that! To the disbelief of all, this is commercially available in English thanks to Eros Comix, which is actually still releasing this stuff even after Dark Horse bought out Studio Proteus years ago. This is probably the only ACTUAL porn review of the show, and as such, Daryl asks THE TOUGH QUESTIONS~!

  • Yonekura Kengo's web site - the site moved recently, so unfortunately her gallery is down at the moment, but you can still access her works listing.
  • You can order Pink Sniper directly from Eros Comix or from bookstores like Amazon; it's cheaper on Amazon than most other places, but they don't appear to have it in stock so it could take a while
Promo: Happy House of Hentai (1:25:04 - 1:25:27)
Lord Kaosu and Hello Kitty just hit Show # 50, so congrats are in order! Check them out for hentai reviews, The Sims 2...and uh...Speed Grapher. And Dead or Alive Xtreme 2--wait a second, those aren't hentai! All that Phantasy Star Universe Lord K's been playing lately must have thrown him for a loop. Why, he's even started up a PSU-only podcast. Curse you people and ethic! You know, TECHNICALLY, we've released over 50 things too, if you count the stuff that wasn't actually shows! Yeah, that's the ticket!

Review: Urotsukidoji: Legend of the Overfiend (1:25:27 - 1:53:39)
Did Wesley Willis compose that music or something? Of all the segments Gerald has ever done, he has probably done the most research and preparation on this one, another winner brought to us by The Nish. Brought about by a request from Teleport City (Keith's review of Overfiend is up, even though it's not listed on the front page...WONDER WHY), this could have easily been half the episode on its own, what with Gerald's Magic: The Gathering card representation and all, so a lot had to go for the sake of time, such as Daryl talking about how much he wishes this anime never existed, and that the existence of Overfiend is why he never really tells anyone that he's an anime fan to this day, which doesn't stop his cockblocking friends from chiming in with "you know, DARYL is an ANIME FAN!" which has since been upped to "you know, DARYL is an INTERNET CELEBRITY because he has a PODCAST about ANIME!" Swell, guys. Thanks for the help there. Anyway, what remains is the result of much editing and reorganizing, and that's our official excuse for why this episode is a week late. Watch this space for what is sure to be a great deal of supplemental links.

Promo: Otaku Generation (1:53:39 - 1:53:53)
Dan "The Fan" is gone, but in his place is...A GIRL?! And...KYLE?! Wow, I wonder what he's going to review after that extended hiatus brought about by being burned out from watching mediocre anime. Wait, E's Otherwise? E'S OTHERWISE?! One of the more notoriously crappy shows in recent years? And he was looking FORWARD to it?! Yeah, we get the feeling that Kyle will be itching for another hiatus real soon. And while we all got copies of the first volume of Mechademia to review several weeks ago, Bryce actually beat us to the punch since a fan sent in a copy. Man. We freaking fail at the timeliness.

Closing (1:53:53 - 2:02:10)
Can you believe that this week's episode is LONGER than the latest episode of Otaku Generation?! Special belated congratulations to Tim Eldred, whose graphic novel Grease Monkey has won the 2007 award for Best Book for Young Adults from the American Library Association. Plus, if you purchase the Viz DVD release of the Densha Otoko movie, it includes a commentary track by TV's Patrick Macias, Most Dangerous Tomohiro Machiyama, and "Jay Tack." Does even get updated anymore? We're not quite sure. Next week, we have ANOTHER astonishing idea, and this time it's Daryl's fault! For you see, next time around we're not only going to review just Volume 1 of the title we're reviewing as opposed to the entire series, but we're also going to review things that we've never ever seen before and have absolutely no idea as to what they're about! Chris over at ADV sent us a bunch of stuff to review as well as give away, and so Daryl's got an advance review of Le Chevalier d'Eon (set for release 2/20), Gerald takes a look at Utawarerumono since he saw the preview for it on The Anime Network and thought it looked interesting, and Clarissa tackles Volume 1 of Nerima Daikon Brothers! Don't bother spoiling the secret, since this episode's actually already recorded and we just suck when it comes to editing. Namely, that we have to edit at all. All the smart podcasters never seem to need to do that.