Anime World Order Podcast

Anime World Order Show # 83 - The AWO Is Short of Money, Like the BBC

2009-11-17T22:51:00.006-05:00

As a result of the hidden catches of web hosting, this podcast MAY VANISH FOREVER (or temporarily), but not before Gerald reviews Astro Fighter Sunred, Clarissa reviews Ristorante Paradiso, and Daryl reviews Sword of the Stranger!

Click Here to Download

Introduction (0:00 - 36:00)
For many, the last podcast returned Bandwidth Exceeded errors. That's a misnomer, as what we've actually exceeded is our CPU/RAM usage on the server. As our existing AWO funds are insufficient, we're gonna have to beg for money. But it's just for a little bit, as we get back on the track we're always at: belittling our very own listeners for watching terrible anime. In this case, Girls Bravo. Evan from Ani-Gamers asks about anime with notable mid-series staff changes. To which we say, Benjamin Ettinger: he's Jerry Beck approved! We're also asked questions regarding the almighty Patlabor 2 (which we reviewed a while back) and our thoughts on the X TV series.

Let's News! (36:00 - 58:29)
Taro Aso steps down as Japan's Prime Minister. As Daryl said on his Twitter way back in August, "you and your crew run a nation with an iron fist for 50 years. Then you say you like Rozen Maiden and it all falls apart. Instant justice." ADV rose from the dead, the author of Crayon Shin-Chan fell to the dead, Kadokawa Pictures USA missed one life support call, and Astro Boy was DOA. Ouch. On the bright side, Prince Planet is now streaming on Hulu and Youtube, so go watch it because the current season of anime is almost entirely awful. And read Dave Merrill's posts about it. And Clarissa's favorite franchise, for which the latest installment is upon us all and for Internet cred purposes she pretends to hate, is having an art contest as judged by character designer Yoshiyuki Sadamoto and videogame crazy man Hideo Kojima.

Review: Astro Fighter Sunred (58:29 - 1:18:23)
It is like an Adult Swim show, back when Adult Swim was good. It is also the biographical story of Brian Smith, last heard on the AWA 2009 con report we posted prior to this.

Review: Ristorante Paradiso (1:18:23 - 1:40:39)
As best as we can tell, this is a show about DILFs serving food that is classy, and therefore does not have anything such as this in it:

A visual aid will probably be helpful for those of you wondering about Ono Natsume's style. It's definitely very distinctive from what you would expect. Some of her works, like Coppers, have even more heavily stylized artwork.

Here's an example of the original manga artwork compared with how it translated into anime. It doesn't translate over super well, but enough of the proportions are retained that it "feels" similar.

Review: Sword of the Stranger (1:40:39 - 2:10:09)
Yes, this was a review copy. But it is still the Greatest Movie EVER! PS: Paul Chapman's podcast is currently gone because he's beset by the exact same problem as us.

Closing (2:10:09 - 2:15:14)
The next episode is already recorded! Probably months ago, by this point. We just don't quite have a place to upload it to! But our guest is none other than Jason Thompson, author of Manga: The Complete Guide, and thus it is only fitting that we do an all-manga episode. Clarissa's falling into the spiral of Uzumaki, Daryl's going out with a bang courtesy of Violence Hero Riki-Oh, and Gerald's venturing into the holy land of Kazuo Koike and Ryoichi Ikegami with Crying Freeman. YOU TOTALLY WANT TO LISTEN TO THAT.

Bonus - Anime Weekend Atlanta 2009 Con Report

2009-10-31T01:00:00.010-04:00

Hey kids, remember this podcast? Yeah, neither do we. But here's our recorded some time ago convention report for Anime Weekend Atlanta 2009! Our special guests are a bunch of crazy people we know, many of whom sleep in Gerald's quarters EVERY NIGHT. Just be warned: the audio and editing quality on this one is...kind of rough.

Click Here to Download

By all rights, there should be several pictures, videos, and links in these show notes. However, I do not have any of them because they're locked away in the vaults. Bug Gerald and Clarissa to post their stuff. It won't do anything, but you'll feel better afterwards! Actually, I have some pictures of Gerald's harem:

Laina, going completely Berserk. In more ways than one.

Amanda (demonstrating why she is The Face, even though this is not The Face)

Andrea (it's a good thing she has those goggles, I'm just sayin')

Brian in his Travis Touchdown / Miami Bass outfit

Brian and Laina. (Laina is the one on the right.)

This gas station / Dairy Queen art is a caricatured representation of everyone on this podcast.

IT'S A FUCKING SHARK

Pricing iTunes out of business

Bonus - Daryl on ANNCast

2009-10-10T01:34:00.002-04:00

All of us are currently at EXPCon this weekend, and between business trips and Otaku USA deadlines there may not be a new episode posted for a bit. We've got two entire shows recorded, but we still need to edit them. In the meantime, Daryl was a guest on the ANNCast, the Anime News Network podcast hosted by Justin Sevakis and Zac Bertschy. Go here to download it.

In the rather likely event that you've found this site via the ANN link, thanks for checking us out! You'll see on the right-hand side of this page links to both the Review Index and the Podcast RSS Feed, both of which you can use to browse through the nearly four years worth of episodes we've released. Do tell us what you think via the email address or voicemail number.

Bonus - Interview With the "Old Timers of Anime," Otakon 2009

2009-09-30T01:23:00.003-04:00

After two and a half months we finally got it together and have edited some of our Otakon audio! Here's our interview with the Philadelphia Animation Society's "Old Timers of Anime," conducted Saturday, July 18 at Otakon 2009. Do go back and listen to our 2008 interview with them if you haven't already done so.

Click Here to Download

From left to right: Kevin, Bill, Sidney

Show #83 of AWO still isn't recorded yet. But our AWA 2009 con report is, and tomorrow we're recording Show #84. Maybe 84 will just become 83. Who knows?

Promo #2 was derived from our 2008 interview. Promo #3 will be coming from this one. You'll probably know it when you hear it.

AWA 2009 - Anime's Craziest Deaths Title Listing

2009-09-20T23:18:00.013-04:00

Here's a listing of the titles shown at the AWA 2009 edition of the Anime's Craziest Deaths panel. Actually, some of them might not have been shown due to time constraints, but I'll list them anyway. If you want to learn more about these titles, click the links where applicable and it'll take you to our review of the show (where applicable), so please listen! If you liked the panel, be sure to post what you thought about it and request that it come back next year over at the AWA message board!

Akira
Angel Cop (shown last year)
Apocalypse Zero (shown last year)
Baccano! (shown last year)
Baoh
Battle Angel
Battle Royal High School
Black Lagoon
Blood: The Last Vampire
City Hunter
Crystal Triangle
Cyber City Oedo 808
Cybernetics Guardian
Dai Mahou Touge (this is the talking vegetables one)
Demon City Shinjuku (shown last year)
Dirty Pair (Flight 005 Conspiracy)
Fairy Princess Minky Momo
Fist of the North Star
Genocyber
Getter Robo (original + Shin Getter Robo vs Neo Getter Robo, but oddly enough not the one I linked to, New Getter Robo, despite it being the most gory)
Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
Golgo 13 (The Professional)
Jojo's Bizarre Adventure
Lupin the Third (Dead or Alive)
Macross: Do You Remember Love?
Mad Bull 34
MD Geist
Mobile Suit Gundam
Riding Bean
Science Ninja Team Gatchaman
Shigurui: Death Frenzy (from the creator of Apocalypse Zero)
Space Pirate Captain Harlock (SSX)
Space Runaway Ideon
Space Transformers
Sword of the Stranger (review coming soon!)
Vampire Hunter D
Violence Jack (review coming soon!)
Wicked City
X/1999
Zambot 3

If you have any suggestions for crazy deaths you'd like to see included, be sure to send them our way! (No hentai titles, please.) The next episode is not yet recorded. If you must hear something we made, you can listen to this: it's what Daryl sent to Anime Pulse to congratulate them on their 200th episode.

Bonus - Otakon 2009 Press Conference, Japanese Creators

2009-09-07T20:54:00.002-04:00

Courtesy of the Ani-Gamers Podcast at www.anigamers.com, here is the Otakon 2009 press conference for Japanese guests Noboru Ishiguro, Masao Maruyama, Yukio Kikukawa, and Hidenori Matsubara. Gerald and Clarissa were in attendance, as were several others. A-G edited it so we don't have to, so go over there to download it!

Anime Weekend Atlanta panel preparations are still taking up our free time, so if you'll be there be sure and attend our panels: Doujin World (18+), History of Hentai (18+), Black Jack: Tezuka's Dark Doctor, the Panel OF DOOM!, and Anime's Craziest Deaths!

Anime World Order Show # 82b - Chow Yun-Fat Has The REAL Tequila Shotgun

2009-09-01T23:09:00.005-04:00

Show 82 concludes with Daryl's review of Bartender and Clarissa's review of One Outs. But first, a special voice mail from the ONE AND ONLY Vic Mignogna, who tells us all about his experience at Whack-a-Nerd at Anime Festival Orlando! Keep your eyes on our Youtube channel for possibly related material in the near future.

Click Here to Download

Pictures forthcoming. For now, you may go to our Youtube channel and feast your eyes on the majesty. And also.

Review: Bartender (1:56 - 28:46)
Clarissa has selected for Daryl this 11 episode series from 2006. It's low-key and low keyframe, but this is the sort of thing that personifies seinen...of a sorts. The series was written by Yasuhiro Imagawa during his "I'm done with directing, I'll just stick to writing stuff" phase which was basically a seven year stretch between Seven of Nana (his attempt to ride the moe wave which failed because it's actually for little girls only instead of pretending to be/also catering to older dudes) and Shin Mazinger Z. This is the Golgo 13 of food anime. To find out WHY, listen on! TJ from Chicago thinks we should get Carl Horn as a guest on the show. We also think that, but unfortunately he has no microphone/headset/Skype or cell phone, so we'd have to get him when he's at home and has nothing better to do. As they'd say in Super Hyper Mega Bloody Ultra Cosmo Death Extravaganza X-23 II: Electric Boogaloo, that's our story and we're...stuck with it.

This sort of thing does not happen in Bartender, as many were hoping. That said, I'm 100% certain that bottle of Jack Daniels was drawn entirely from memory.

Review: One Outs (28:46 - 58:22)
When Clarissa chooses the reviews, nobody wins but she! It's about baseball which is fujoshi code talk for GET YOUR HOT YAOI HERE (paddle juggling optional but hopefully banned), but it's also about gambling which is code talk for ZAWA ZAWA. For a reminder on what the deal is with gambling anime and such, do go back and listen to our review of Gambling Apocalypse Kaiji - The Suffering Pariah ~ The Ultimate Survivor. We just wanted an excuse to write out that full title. ZAWA!

Promo: R5 Central (58:22 - 58:54)
Mike Dent just hit his four year anniversary, which puts him at Show 60 on the dot. For this relatively laser-free edition, he's interviewing Bey Logan, the smartest English-speaking man on the planet when it comes to Asian action cinema and thus the best candidate to run Dragon Dynasty. The quality of some of the latest DD releases were a little below their usually high standards, but all that gets covered in the interview. Be sure to leave your comments regarding what you think...over there, that is!

Closing (58:54 - 1:05:47)
The next episode of AWO...may take a little while to come out. But what else is new, right? We've all got panels at Anime Weekend Atlanta which is but a few short weeks away...so maybe we should start working on them! But once that's over, Daryl will be losing his mind over Sword of the Stranger, Gerald's throwing the kids out of the pool for Astro Fighter Sunred, and Clarissa couldn't think of anything in time to counteract Daryl's suggestion of Ristorante Paradiso so she's doing that. In the meantime, Daryl did a second guest appearance on Anime 3000 which you can download here.

Just as a reminder, the contest is still going! Email us once with suggestions for all three of us regarding what we should review in a future episode! You may only suggest one title for each of us, and in order to win, all three of us must agree to each of our suggested reviewers. We will select at least one winner, and that person will receive a FABULOUS PRIZE. 10 runners-up will also receive FABULOUS PRIZES courtesy of Green Mustard Productions. So get those suggestions in!

Anime World Order Show # 82a - Carmencita Is A Bird, Your Argument Is Invalid

2009-08-21T00:46:00.009-04:00

Otaku USA deadlines are (mostly) behind us, our panels at Anime Festival Orlando are all done, which gives us a window of opportunity between now and Anime Weekend Atlanta to actually post something. Better get to it! This time, Clarissa's picking the shows for everyone. In return for what Gerald made her review, she's assigning him to review the Starship Troopers anime.

Click Here to Download

Adblock

Introduction (0:00 - 29:45)
We forgot to put this in before. Fortunately, we're just answering emails as usual. None of us can identify the anime that is requested of us, but we did at least properly conclude that the film in question was not Japanese in origin. It was the French film Gandahar. We also find out that someone exists on this planet who has seen Voltage Fighter Gowcaiser entirely too many times (more than once!), and end with some discussion regarding how the Japanese handle lip sync in animation.

Let's News! (29:45 - 59:32)
Weird things are happening and it seems that Andrew WK, possibly the nicest guy in music, is bringing the world an album full of Gundam songs. The world is curious how on Earth this happened, and if we can get a sequel of just lectures about Zeta Gundam from Andrew WK too! Susumu Takaku has died, very sad considering he is probably responsible fo screwing up an entire generation of Japanese anime fans with having written Cutey Honey, Mazinger Z, Fist of the North Star Movie, and Devil Man. Also, Yoshinori Kanada has died, tragically early too, who also has a wide repertoire of works, we can forgive him for Birth, the show we secretly all love and hate. NO LONGER A SECRET NOW IS IT!? And because two isn't enough and four is too many, we have THREE deaths for this episode with the passing of Takuji Endo creator of Clarissa's favorite work EVER, Zetsuai 1989. In less death-y news, Noboru Ishiguro, director of Macross and, honestly, Yamato too, confirmed that a live action Yamato is in the works. Normally we wouldn't talk about this, but since it's Japanese, there is a slight likelihood it'll be made, we'll see if it can possibly be as good as the upcoming TV series! Then we talk about other stuff for a long period of time and show the world how unlistenable we are when we are not heavily edited.

Starship Troopers (59:33 - 1:34:44)
Oh man, Starship Troopers. If you can, watch this opening video along with us and maybe you'll see somewhat prepared for this rather awful piece from 1988:

Yes, as awful as that show is, it is reponsible for give us some of the greatest anime ever, specifically many of those 1980's real robot shows, and we owe it to the artwork in the 1977 re-release of the book. Here's the cover to give you an idea:

This, however doesn't allow for this show to have some of the very worst character designs to ever grace anime. While everyone in this show looks awful, its the females the suffer the most, and Carmencita suffers the most of them:

That's not even the worst shot of her, in face, that's pretty much how she looks in every shot.

The REAL show is below:
Look in to that picture, and just see if you can get that out of your nightmares!

Anyway, we talk about the awful show, how the book is one of the most important books in anime, and how making something 90% training and only about 5% fighting is really boring. UPDATE: Anime News Network reports that the man responsible for the art direction of this series just won an Emmy.

We'll have the rest of the show up soon.

Bonus - Otakon 2009 Con Report

2009-07-28T20:43:00.004-04:00

It's been entirely too long since we've done any con reports. In fact, we owe about a year's worth. But here's our report for Otakon 2009 while it's still fresh in our minds. Warning: in order to release this "on time," we opted to more or less release the audio unedited. It's rougher than we'd like.

Click Here to Download

Read our Otaku USA con reports for Otakon 2009, too! Daryl's is here and Clarissa's is here.

Anime World Order Show # 81b - Tickle Me Pink Elmo Would've Prevented Cannibalism

2009-07-10T01:31:00.007-04:00

Show 81 concludes with Daryl's review of Kekko Kamen and Clarissa's review of Butt Attack Punisher Girl Gautaman. Along with the post-Anime Expo news, can you really call it the second half of a podcast when it's over 2 hours long? WE CAN!

Click Here to Download

Full show notes with pictures and stuff later. Maybe. It's nearly 2:00 AM, already.

Let's News! (0:00 - 53:41)
Notes forthcoming, much like last week's episode which is still listed as "notes forthcoming." If only one of us had some sort of online repository full of links and subject material for this segment that could be easily pasted into these spaces...

Review: Kekko Kamen (53:41 - 1:26:41)
Go Nagai? Restraining himself? H...holding back?! GODDAMMIT WHERE THE HELL IS JACK?! Reports suggest his knife is made of Super Alloy Z, but this is contradicted by the fact that it breaks all the time and he just summons forth a new one via the power of VIOLENCE~!. In any case, Kekko Kamen is a textbook example of how far we've come [fallen...?] over the last 30 years. Can there even truly BE screenshots of this, either of Kekko Kamen herself or the villains? Maybe we'll just post the English translated lyrics to the theme song.

Review: Butt Attack Punisher Girl Gautaman (1:26:41 - 1:57:08)
Everything you need to know about this cartoon is succinctly encapsulated within its title. But maybe we should post some pictures of it anyway.

Buddha wants to make one lucky woman a superhero!

Sadly, this mostly involves wearing a really unfortunate outfit. And lots of butts. Buichi Terasawa and Sir Mix-a-Lot would both be proud.

Butt-related persecution, even!

It also involves stupidly ripped pretty boys.

Lesbian ~~sub~~text.

And lots of blatant copyright infringement.

Promo: Anime Hell (1:57:08 - 1:58:06)
The Sounds of Hell involve Isaac Hayes and Yaphet Kotto. Including a promo for the Greatest Movie EVER! podcast to promote Daryl's guest appearance to discuss Ninja III: The Domination was considered, but ninja don't MAKE sound.

Closing (1:58:06 - 2:12:13)
Next time, all that remains on the "one person recommends titles for everyone else" train is Clarissa. She has opted to do unto others as was done unto her. It's a gamble. A very risky gamble. But also a manly gamble. Manly enough to the point that it's probably really gay. But if you can get past the fact that the gamble is so gay they have their pants zipped down a lot, you'd see it was awesome. What we're trying to say here is that Clarissa's reviewing One Outs next time. As for Daryl and Gerald? THAT IS CLASSIFIED (for the next few hours). Be on the lookout: there's a deadly stinger at the end of all this.

Anime World Order Show # 81a - Rei Fukai, You Are Worse Than Michael Jordan

2009-07-02T20:59:00.007-04:00

The deadly experiment continues! This time it's Gerald's turn to pick the titles for everyone to review. He's chosen Kekko Kamen for Daryl and Butt Attack Punisher Girl Gautaman for Clarissa. But he's taken the heavy burden of Yukikaze upon himself.

Click Here to Download

Introduction (0:00 - 21:09)
Gerald was not met with much approval over his review of Kemonozume last episode. Daryl reiterates why we'll never be popular on the Internet by pointing out our lack of a quantitative value system, and Clarissa confesses to not knowing much about Takarazuka revue on account that she doesn't feel like spending $300 on one DVD. 3 emails down! That leaves 436 in the Inbox.

Let's News! (21:09 - 43:01)
Notes forthcoming. But we were probably responding to what Egan Loo, One Man Pillar of Internet Anime Fandom, posted on www.animenewsnetwork.com. Also, at some point we answer an email from a pedophile about the lack of availability of Giant Robo OST 5.

Review: Yukikaze (43:01 - 1:33:32)
Notes and perhaps screenshots forthcoming, but really. All you need to know about this is the following: Gonzo made it.

The remaining reviews are already recorded and edited. But hey, we'll have to talk about whatever happens at Anime Expo anyway. We'll include them with that.

Anime World Order Show # 80b - Let's News Lengthy!

2009-06-11T00:12:00.008-04:00

The news segment for Show #80 ran long, so here it is in its own separate file. Numbered #80b because most of you guys said you didn't mind it in our online poll. SORRY, BOSTONIANS!

Click Here to Download

In this incredibly long episode of the news, probably the longest we've done yet, we talk about many things, most importantly DARKSIDE BLUES has been re licensed. Also in the news, Christopher Handley is probably going to go to jail for owning a comic book, you can read some of the details here, but be warned that the article, while well written was written by guy that might have some conflicts of interest.

We also get largely pissed off at everyone over the recent leak of an episode of One Piece which seemed like a case of lax security on Funimation's part and general internet douche-bagery on anime fans' part, and as soon as we thought this was all over, it happened again!

In other bad news, Shojo Beat is no longer accepting subscriptions. A magazine we all thought was doing well, but was probably like Pulp, the mid-90's manga anthology by Viz that everyone seemed to like and no one bought. Let's hope Otaku USA can avoid such a fate. In some of our rare gaming news Tatsunoko vs. Capcom has been set for US release. This gives us a bit of hope that non-Original Generation Super Robot Wars may get a release here, which is still incredibly unlikely (PROVE ME WRONG), but we still hold out hope.

Finally, as a warning to Kenta Miura of Berserk fame, Kaoru Kurimoto has passed away, thankfully, we understand that she actually finished the core of the Guin Saga story before dying, so there will not be another Wheel of Time issue.

In some other, far less impressive news, there will be more Yamato, time will tell if it's bad or not, there's some BGC movie, maybe happening which I won't even link because we don't care about this until filming actually happens, Japan's ban on rape games will have no effect on anything at all, and Casey Rankin, the completely fluent English language singer of the excellent Orguss Opening and Ending passed away.

Here's the terrific opening and ending:

Next time we continue with your horribly failed experiment of choosing what other people will watch, with Gerald's episode. Daryl will review Kekko Kamen of Go Nagai fame, Clarissa will review Butt Attack Punisher Girl Gautaman (see a trend here?) and Gerald will arguably have the hardest thing to review with Fairy Squadron Yukikaze.

Anime World Order Show # 80 - Daryl Just Made You a Better Hero (Through Tragedy)

2009-06-03T23:08:00.020-04:00

With Show #80 begins Gerald's experiment, in which one host selects the anime that will be reviewed by the other two, rather than each person choosing on their own. Daryl is up first, and as such he is dragging everyone into the Madhouse...Studios, that is! Gerald's reviewing Kemonozume and Clarissa's reviewing Kaiba, both by Masaaki Yuasa. Meanwhile, Daryl himself shall speak of the grand masterpiece that is Goku: Midnight Eye!

Click Here to Download

Introduction (0:00 - 26:55)
The Angry Otaku, who is angry that nobody else reads his blog or truly cares for him other than Daryl, sent in a voicemail regarding the wacky hijinks of North American companies releasing doujinshi in America. Not just any company, but Antarctic Press which thanks to furries is still kicking and teaching us that the easiest way to depict people with Down's Syndrome looking up is to just flip their head a full 180 degrees. We also get some clarification about the extended GaoGaiGar universe thanks to Carl over at Ogiue Maniax. But really, the BIG question nobody is asking until now is...what DO we think of Armitage the Third and Sol Bianca, anyway? We try our best to remember.

News? Nah, there's no news. Nothing really happened of note as of late. Oh wait. It's too long to fit in here, so we'll post it on its own. Onto what is philosophically known as "the REAL sentais":

Review: Kemonozume (26:55 - 43:27)
Gerald, having spent entirely too much time wallowing in absolute goddamned anime filth as of late, is given a chance by Daryl to wash himself clean by ways of watching through this series from 2006 that is guaranteed to be substantially different than whatever mind-numbing tripe the group hivethink which considers Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex to be "too boring" has forced him to put on at his weekly anime club meetings. You can take a man out of the anime ghetto...but can you take the anime ghetto out of the man? Warning: your ability to like the works of Masaaki Yuasa is directly proportional to your ability to like killer7. Note: if that link doesn't work, it's because the content management system for that site IS RETARDED. Also note that, as was the case with Mind Game, Benjamin Ettinger is the Most Dangerous Masaaki Yuasa fan on the Internet, so do peruse the Kemonozume posts on Anipages Daily to learn more.

Promo: Late Night Anime Review (43:27 - 43:47)
We would tell you what this podcast is about, except their About page links to the Wordpress sample page! Oh well, we can infer from the title that they review late night anime such as [checks] Bleach...Naruto...the live-action Dragonball...Advent Children--WAIT A SECOND

Review: Kaiba (43:47 - 1:09:17)
Clarissa, like all pre-Jerichoholics, has accepted mediocrity as excellence and has a fever...for which the only cure...is more Yuasa. But the only way to get her to take her medicine is to wrap it in her favorite item of consumption, which intelligence reports indicate is "pederasty." 2008's Kaiba is the answer! As always with Yuasa, what Benjamin Ettinger has written about Kaiba over at Anipages Daily is Dangerous, Most Dangerous. Pity that the only English-speaking people who really seem to know about and like Masaaki Yuasa's work enough to talk about it on the Internet are stoners. One step at a time...

Note: Rintaro did not direct My Youth in Arcadia. He directed the TV series Space Pirate Captain Harlock and the not-as-good Harlock: Endless Odyssey (released in the US as "Captain Herlock"). Refer to the old review here.

Promo: Videogame Cast (1:09:17 - 1:09:43)
Why is there a "W' in the abbreviation? There is no "W" in the name of the show! What, are they a terrestrial radio station located east of the Mississippi River? Is WVGC their call letter? It is a mystery! They did, however, watch and review Baoh. Now THAT'S what Gerald and Clarissa should rewatch!

Review: Goku: Midnight Eye (1:09:43 - 1:52:18)
Yoshiaki Kawajiri. Buichi Terasawa. All you need to know. But fine, pictures as promised:

Buichi Terasawa circa 1989. Kawajiri may not have that much hair anymore, but he still wears those shades. Terasawa's hair/shades combo, by contrast, is ETERNAL.

Although it's true that once you're sufficiently powerful you can dress however you damn well please, Goku's giving the cast of Jojo's Bizarre Adventure a run for their money with this outlandish getup. Like Colt 45, it works every time.
Some might call this a mere Easter egg, but TRUE BELIEVERS know that truck is actually going TO Cyber City Oedo 808. Which we can only assume is a few blocks away from where Goku: Midnight Eye takes place.

Repeat after me: NOT GAY.

Just as with Cyber City Oedo, this single image encapsulates whether or not you want to see this cartoon. The HK sub version currently floating around on the Internet sucks. Better subbed versions may pop up soon, but come on. Surely someone out there has THE DUB.

Closing (1:52:18 - 1:57:19)
Next time, it's Gerald's turn to select anime for everyone else to review. With such freedom to have others review virtually anything that can be viewed in about 4 hours, the anime selection one chooses as a result of this project truly shows what kind of human being they are deep down. As such, after roughly a month and a half of deliberation, Gerald has opted to have Clarissa review...Butt Attack Punisher Girl Gautaman...and Daryl must review...Kekko Kamen. If these weren't EXCITING enough for you, Gerald has saved the ultimate excitement for himself since he will be reviewing...Battle Fairy Yukikaze. Contemplate this...on the tree of woe.

Anime World Order Show # 79b - Bruce Willis-chan, Why Have You Forsaken Us

2009-05-07T01:26:00.023-04:00

Behold the final half, and by "half" we mean "105 minutes" of AWO Show 79 in which Clarissa goes to Detroit Metal City and Daryl largely glosses over the finer points of Queen Millennia.

Click Here to Download

Let's News! (0:00 - 28:40)
More news on top of the previous news? Yeah, because stuff happened.

Review: Detroit Metal City (28:40 - 56:10)
[Clarissa starts stopwatch]
RAPERAPERAPERAPERAPERAPERAPERAPERAPERAPE
[stops stopwatch, checks time...still not quite 1 second or better :( ]

The opening of DMC is awesome, though it only fully encapsulates the nature of the series when combined with Negishi's terrible ending pop song. If you're curious to compare the anime with the live action movie, there's a PV of Satsugai here.

Behold, Negishi's terrible songwriting. Luckily the manager is awesome enough to fix his lyrics and traumatize him in one fell swoop!

I had to add Krauser-tan. All shall love her and despair!

Review: Queen Millennia (56:10 - 1:43:51)
Daryl reviews what he declares to be the Leiji Matsumoto equivalent of a Michael Bay movie, though perhaps Roland Emmerich is a more apt fit. There's a lot of lore and history behind all of this, but he generally ignores it for the sake of focusing on the IMPORTANT THINGS. All screencaps taken from the R2 remastered anamorphic DVD, patched to include the English fansub by BOX on the subtitle track. They oughta release a version that's just a H264 encode from this.

This is Leiji Matsumoto and he is ON THE ATTACK. Steve Harrison sent this picture like, a year and a half ago. We are using it now.

Daryl wants to believe that this is Cartoon Leiji Matsumoto, whose presence in this cartoon thus explains why it was made.The ghost of Jackson Beck would like to inform you that GI Matsumoto is the code name for Dai Nippon's daring, highly untrained special mission force. Its purpose: to defend human freedom against AMERIC...er, wait

Our lead characters. With the exception of "handsome male lead" this image neatly encapsulates Leiji Matusmoto's character design preferences. Here, Yukino is in her "scientist" outfit as opposed to her "sexy teacher in nightgown" outfit.

Yukino in her titular role as Queen Millennia. We can only assume that nobody realizes Yukino is indeed Queen Millennia because they're too busy staring at the fully exposed cleavage and heart-shaped midriff which doubles as a vagina indicator arrow to look up at her face.

This picture can best be described as "the REAL sentais" as it deftly conveys exactly why Matsumoto started giving his women such long hair in the first place.

Yukino's sister, Selen. Aka Girl Captain Harlock. In the Maetel Legend OAVs, they used the other Girl Captain Harlock instead: Emeraldas. Suffice to say that even though Matsumoto and some fans want continuity between these works, there isn't any because nothing fits the way it would need to. Therefore, Emeraldas and Maetel are only sisters in Maetel Legend, because they're filling in for the roles of Yukino and Selen.

It might just be because it's faithful to the manga which we never read, but nothing says "Matsumoto by the guy who directed most of the 70s Go Nagai Super Robot shows" better than Space Battleship Cleopatra. HASSHIN! Despite what's stated in the segment, Cleopatra does have lines.

Closing (1:43:51 - 1:51:27)
EE "Doc" Finnegan is presumably too busy unleashing the Terror of MechaBridezilla to listen to this podcast, but we'll still be her friend to the end, much like Chucky in the Child's Play movies. In the next exciting installment of AWO, we're trying something new because rather than having each person pick the title they wish to talk about, someone else will be choosing it for them! Daryl's up first, so he's decided to force-feed Gerald and Clarissa with Masaaki Yuasa because they won't do it themselves. As such, Gerald shall be reviewing Kemonozume and Clarissa will be reviewing Kaiba while Daryl opts to NOT review Cat Soup and instead talk more about Yoshiaki Kawajiri. So Goku: Midnight Eye's coming at'cha.

Anime World Order Show # 79a - Kittens Without Perception Are Spiritually Useless

2009-04-21T22:33:00.010-04:00

Here's the first half of Show 79, where we read some emails, play a voicemail, talk the news, and Gerald reviews Chi's Sweet Home.

Click Here to Download

Introduction (0:00 - 31:00)
In a future exciting installment of Otaku USA, Daryl will be talking about Fist of the North Star as a result of the impending release of the remastered edition in the US. In celebration of this, he has pasted in assorted excerpts from the infamously inaccurate Streamline dub that did so much irreparable damage to the series in the eyes of US anime fans. This is not entirely inappropriate, since over in the emails, we're asked our thoughts on the whole sub/dub thing. Rather than answering that at length since we've done so too many times, we opt instead to talk about some of our favorite English dub actors...nearly all of whom are in that Streamline Fist of the North Star dub. Except Mike Reynolds. We used Lily C.A.T. for that one.

We also weigh in on Hellsing Ultimate as well as the Hellsing manga, then shortly after start talking about the various anime adaptations of Bible stories: Superbook, Flying House, and In the Beginning. God is clearly at work here, since Dave Merrill just posted about Superbook over at the exceptional Let's Anime web log, and Dan Baker just informed the world that Jack Chick is coming to an Anime Hell near you to save you from HAW HAW HAW HAW Hell. Somebody loves us.

Daryl, having recently spent much time replaying Thief: Gold, tried to impersonate Stephen Russell when reading an email asking our thoughts on Brigadoon and where otaku can meet similarly-minded folk. Unfortunately, much like the voice of Jason Statham, Stephen Russell's Garrett voice cannot easily be replicated. Perhaps more unfortunately is the fact that several of the DVDs we reviewed years ago are now out of print, and even when they're not it can be hard to ship them to MMM-MEXICO-OOO. We end with the ultimate in accidental dub poetry, courtesy of Michael McConnohie:

Hello Ken.
How nice to see you again!
How have you been?

Let's News! (31:00 - 1:02:36)
After an 8 year run, Anime Insider ceased publication and we're pretty sure the lack of Mike Dent had nothing to do with it this time like what happened to Newtype USA. Media Blasters and Bandai Entertainment are delaying or canceling the releases of some of their box sets, which is presumably due to the fact that there's no more brick and mortar shelf space for much anime anymore. Toei (not to be confused with To-Y) has struck a deal with FUNimation's to stream some of their anime on the FUNimation website, and much of it is pretty darn good stuff such as Air Master, Galaxy Express 999 TV, and the original Space Pirate Captain Harlock TV series. One of these titles is Fist of the North Star TV, but unlike GE999 and Harlock it doesn't look like they're releasing subtitled episodes past what were released subtitled by Manga Video forever ago.

As a shock to nobody, our "favorite" anime studio Gonzo ended up being de-listed from the Japanese stock exchange after all, and as the current season of anime demonstrates, they're as terrible as always. On the pornographic doujinshi front, Linda Project--notorious for being especially protective of "their work"--will be putting English translated, uncensored digital editions of their doujinshi up for sale on Peter Payne Presents Peter Payne's J-List: A Peter Payne Production. It took SUBSTANTIAL willpower to not make the obvious joke when Gerald said "it's going to be interesting to see if anything comes out of this." Yoshihiro Tatsumi will be a guest at PEN Fest in New York City next week, so go and see him because we guarantee you that nobody else will. Also, Rumiko Takahashi's new manga, which starts...TODAY...is being officially released on the Web in English, for free, as it comes out in Japan. She can afford to do this because of her MASSIVE BREASTS. Also, being rich.

Review: Chi's Sweet Home (1:02:36 - 1:20:06)
KITTY!

Daryl will be a guest on the April 27th edition of the OSMCast, in which the subject is Fallout. It saddens him to know how much less intelligent and reasoned he sounds without editing and the ability to drop in additional things in post, but it'll have to tide you over for now because it's hard to do podcast stuff when you're recovering from surgery. Hopefully it will go well enough that we can post HILARIOUS pictures of blood-soaked gauze and Daryl having a bandaged, Jagi-esque face.

Oh yeah. We're still selling the AWO T-shirts ($10) and hoodies ($20). Email us if you want one!

Anime World Order Show # 78b - It's Totally Off-Topic, Except Not

2009-03-27T23:42:00.008-04:00

Here's the second half of Show 78. This was actually completed and ready to post some time ago.

Click Here to Download

Let's News! (0:00 - 42:00)
Perhaps you've noticed that Best Buy has cut down their anime section rather drastically. There were some clearance sales that came and went, but there wasn't much worth picking up anyway...because all the copies of Akira on Blu-Ray were long gone. Riyoko Ikeda, who at some point started getting that extra "i" in her name so she wouldn't just be "Ryoko," got great accolades from France for helping to popularize French culture amidst the Japanese. We think the award is fully deserved due to this car advertisement. If you haven't really gotten into the whole "streaming anime" thing, perhaps you should give it another look because there's a lot of titles coming out for which streaming just might be the only way you'll see a translated English version officially available. There is probably not going to be an official translated English version of the Japanese porn comic with Barack Obama and John McCain. Sorry ladies, but it is not yaoi...YET. More bad news on that front: Sunshine Creation is canceled...again! Fortunately Figma is there to save the day in this time of need.

Review: Heaven Wars Shurato (42:00 - 1:26:22)
Clarissa concludes her reviews of all the "[pretty] boys in armor" anime series with this. Previously--and by that we mean about three years ago--she had reviewed Saint Seiya and Yoroiden Samurai Troopers. If you liked those, then you will probably like this! Probably.

This is a story about reincarnation and fighting godlike beings while wearing cool armor, but also about bros.

Well, until Lady Vishnu decides to show up, anyway.

Then it's off to Tenkuukai, which to be fair is pretty gorgeous.

After that horrible things happen and Shurato is very sad, and kind of pissed off at Gai suddenly being evil. Hmm, I wonder how much of that Kamui and Fuuma nonsense in X derived from CLAMP's love of Shurato...

This is pretty much the gang of major characters for Shurato, with a couple of exceptions. There's something I find very pleasant and "human" about Okuda's character designs that makes it stand out from Saint Seiya (with it's crazily beautiful and exaggerated designs) and Samurai Troopers.

As we mentioned, these shows are largely about cool-looking armor. So here's an idea of what they look like.

Here's Reiga's. Am I the only one who just doesn't think the bird head works as well?

In addition to the show, I highly recommend any of the artbooks with Matsuri Okuda's original illustrations. There are some really beautiful and melodramatic pieces, along with lots of silly stuff. Here's some good samples. BTW, a lot of nice images including the ones here can be found at Arcadia's Shulato Shrine.

Closing (1:26:22 - 1:31:22)
Next time, Gerald is a terrorist straight out of Hell because he's reviewing Chi's Sweet Home, and Clarissa lives a happy, peaceful, lighthearted existence within Detroit Metal City. For a moment we thought we might have those backwards, but no. Definitely not. Daryl's reviewing Queen Millennia: The Movie.

Anime World Order Show # 78a - Look, Mr Takazawa! An AAAAA-NGEL!

2009-03-18T19:33:00.010-04:00

Once again, we're splitting this one in two due to the ever-increasing running time. In this first half, Gerald reviews Roujin Z and Daryl finally breaks his silence on Mamoru Oshii to talk about Angel's Egg.

Click Here to Download

Show notes to come...maybe.

Introduction (0:00 - 34:15)
As we feebly attempt to make dents in our inbox, Daryl opts to answer an email from a year ago. Technically, he'd answered it a year ago, but this time we're reading it on the show: how do you keep track of which Lupin III is which? We recommend the Lupin the Third Encyclopedia. What's our take on this whole FUNimation thing? Are they the lord...of the martial world? Where do you find those old Streamline Pictures dubs at this point? And what are our thoughts on Slayers? Our response effectively means we no longer need to review Slayers, since we covered it all right here.

Promo: Robotronic Dynamite! (34:15 - 35:19)
Despite being around for over 70 episodes, it took Daryl's guest appearance on Robotronic Dynamite! to convince them to actually put a link to the podcast's feed up on the site, not just the iTunes-only version. Well, it's not there NOW, but it will be. Maybe.

Review: Roujin Z (35:19 - 59:08)
Gerald does the responsible thing by making his review be as long as how we initially envisioned our reviews to be. This is hands-down the best anime about a mechanical bed wrecking Japan ever made. A bold statement considering the tough competition it's got, yes.

Promo: Anime 3000 (59:08 - 1:00:19)
You hear that promo? How could you NOT go on this podcast after hearing that promo? Daryl sure couldn't not do it, which is why Daryl's guest appearance on Anime3000 was SOOOOO GOOOD [because he didn't need to edit anything]. The AWO's standing offer to be on your podcast as long as we don't have to edit anything STANDS, and that's true for all three of us. This is yet another podcast that did not have a link to their podcast feed until Daryl zoomed in and changed their lives FOR THE BETTER.

Review: Angel's Egg (1:00:19 - 1:44:21)
What better way to kick off a review of this than with one of those things done solely for the entertainment of various former guests of this very podcast? If you don't get it, worry not for there's corn pone a plenty. Daryl knuckles up and reviews this film, which he has taken to classifying as "the real sentais." Be warned that softer, weaker folk than the AWO, ones who never tempered their wills in the fires of Odin: Photon Space Sailer Starlight to the point of immunity simply won't have the power, patience, or will to sit through this movie. Nobody quite knows what it all means, so perhaps what you get out of it is an indication of that which consumes your being. On second thought, everybody who disagrees with us is wrong. We are the bastions of original thought, even when we're reading other people's writings and claiming them as our own ideas. WHICH WE'D NEVER DREAM OF DOING.

Anime World Order Show # 77b - Please Don't Take My Baby Robot

2009-02-26T18:52:00.009-05:00

Here's the second half of Show 77 with our special guest Mike Toole. It contains Gerald's review of Five Star Stories and Clarissa's review of The Big O.

Click Here to Download

Gerald and Clarissa have their notes for their segments, so pictures and such are forthcoming. Hopefully they can add them in less time than it takes for Daryl to add notes for his.

Review: Five Star Stories (0:00 - 39:42)
As Howard Stern so deftly put it one New Year's Eve so very long ago, FIND OUT WHICH ONE OF THESE GIRLS IS A MAN

Review: The Big O (39:42 - 1:25:35)
This segment TOM JOWNS. Let me show you the REAL Big O:

Closing (1:25:35 - 1:29:29)
Next time, Daryl's getting himself into trouble by finally talking about Mamoru Oshii for the first time on this podcast. May as well go for broke: he's talking about Angel's Egg...and yes, In The Aftermath. Gerald will be reviewing the much-requested Roujin Z, and Clarissa completes her jailbait dudes in armor trifecta by reviewing Shurato. We haven't recorded this yet, and this weekend is technically a convention. So uh...see you when we see you!

Anime World Order Show # 77a - Might As Well [Anime] Jump For Your Love

2009-02-23T23:36:00.008-05:00

Our special guest this episode is the returning Mike Toole, last heard on this show nearly three years ago. Don't worry, the Anime Jump front page was never updated since. In this episode, Daryl's reviewing Baccano!, Gerald's reviewing Five Star Stories, and Clarissa being THE GIRL AND ALL opted to speak of The Big O. Huh huh, huh huh. But you'll have to wait a few days for the second half of the show which contains the second two reviews, because we've got videogames to play!

Click Here to Download

Less empty show notes are forthcoming. For now, here's the timecodes.

Introduction (0:00 - 32:34)
Much was spoken of Raijin Comics and how Superdimensional Southern Cross and Genesis Climber Mospeada hold up as shows in and of themselves without having any knowledge of Robotech, let alone nostalgia. Too bad we got beaten to the punch! Note that Daryl's Southern Cross knowledge is minimal and he generally can only refer to things by their Robotech equivalents.

Let's News! (32:34 - 1:06:49)
Mike Toole mysteriously vanished during this part of the show due to the magic of post-production. We might have actually discussed the news for these 30-40 minutes. Or we might have just talked a lot about girls not wearing any pants, be they animated, drawn, or otherwise.

Review: Baccano! (1:06:49 - 1:42:19)
Since Daryl and Mike were the only ones who'd seen the series, this review is more or less spoiler-free. It is highly recommended that you NOT read the Wikipedia entry for this show, or the ANN encyclopedia entry, or the ANN review, or pretty much anything prior to watching this series. Not even the back of the DVD. No, you should just trust in Daryl and Mike's good judgment here and the fact that they both consider it their pick for best series of 2007 (or 2009 depending on how you want to count it). Note that Gerald and Clarissa upon hearing this review decided to watch Akikan and that one about the gay vampire butler instead of this show. This is like what happened with the New Getter Robo review all over again. Wait, they did watch that eventually. Er, Godannar then. Only this one doesn't involve robots or fanservice. This sort of thing was going on even before Daryl was crowned the Pied Piper of Nerds along with White Daryl.

Anime World Order Show # 76b - BAOH HAS A LASER CANNON!

2009-02-03T22:35:00.010-05:00

OH NO, THE BANDANA'S COME OFF! Here now is the second half of Show 76 containing the reviews of Shootfighter Tekken, Baoh, and Part 4 of Jojo's Bizarre Adventure. Warning: this might melt your brain.

Click Here to Download

Review: Shootfighter Tekken (0:00 - 33:39)
Gerald reviews a fine masterpiece by Tetsuya Saruwatari, esteemed student of the mighty Kazuo Koike and creator of the grand masterpiece known as Violence Hero: Riki-Oh. A relatively short 3 part-OAV anime adapted from the very long-running manga series Koukou Tekken-den Tough that was partially released by Viz under the name Tough, Shootfighter Tekken was one of the last, if not THE last, new releases from Central Park Media. Nobody really seemed to care when it came out. Were they mistaken? Listen on and find out!

Promo: Ani-Gamers (33:39 - 34:33)
Evan assures us that this promo doesn't have people who ultimately didn't end up being on the podcast at all in it, which while beneficial isn't always necessary. Heck, the reason our latest promo is so good is precisely because it has nothing to do with much of anything we said at all! Anyway, Ani-Gamers just released the second half of episode 11, so check them out. Just remember: UNCLE YO SEES ALL, except for the hentai clips that Gerald shows at anime conventions. He did the right thing and bolted out of there when those came on.

Review: Baoh (34:33 - 1:11:05)
Daryl gave strong consideration to just ripping the dub audio from Baoh--PERHAPS THE GREATEST SINGLE-LENGTH OAV EVER MADE--in its entirety and posting that as the review. Perhaps a future bonus installment of AWO could simply be entitled "Baoh: The Audio Drama" because aside from a few scenes, you actually don't need to see what's going on at any point whatsoever due to all the narration. Daryl always dreamed of just getting cosplayers to read the lines from Baoh, but this dream never came to fruition because if you think it's hard to get a cosplayer you personally know to speak into a microphone, try getting them to say "there is! Such a power is contained WITHIN BAOH!" It's not happening, folks.

Promo: Anime82 (1:11:05 - 1:11:49)
We suspect that Regan might have been impersonating the Macross II dub when recording this promo, but no matter: after a few months of hiatus he's back with a new episode! Thanks to Regan and the rest of the guys at Box Fansubs for their work on Locke the Superman and Queen Millennia, the latter of which you can definitely expect Daryl to review in a future episode! Though it begs the question whether or not Queen Millennia should get priority over Violence Jack...

Review (manga): Jojo's Bizarre Adventure Part 4 (1:11:49 - 1:49:34)
Daryl and Clarissa may never read them and Gerald may have given up reading them in disgust, but Bass_kat from the Fast Karate for the Gentleman forums calls in to relate to us all the tale of how she saw Wicked City back when she was 8 years old. A bizarre tale as that can only be placed prior to Clarissa's review of a bizarre manga. This one is sort of the "Death Note + Hot Fuzz" portion of Jojo's, and marks a definitive turning point as far as content and art style is concerned.

Meet the Jojo's Part 4 gang! Clockwise from top left there's Okuyasu, Josuke, Jotaro, Koichi (whose face is being eaten by Araki's name) and Rohan. Josuke, of course, is easy to spot thanks to his kickin' pompadour. Sadly, people tend to make fun of it because rather than being a real tough guy style, now it's pretty much just worn by Yoyogi Park rockabilly dudes.

Of course, Josuke has his Stand Crazy Diamond, which valiantly continues the heart motif Araki loves so much.

And I couldn't not devote time to that amazing Araki/Tezuka/Go Nagai hybrid Rohan. I mentioned he's crazy IN THE NAME OF GREAT MANGA right?

If you were wondering, this is what Rohan's Stand does to people. It's much better in visuals than in the description.

True, there's no Dio anymore. But just take a fucking look at Kira and Killer Queen. Top tier Stand design? I think so. (Hey Medicos, when you're done with this year's Stardust Crusaders blitz, could we maybe get a poseable Killer Queen and Kira? With bonus amputated hand girlfriend of course.)

But don't get too down. Psychotic murderers and high body counts aside, remember: it's Jojo's so they're all dorks. Inviiiiisible baaaaby.

Closing (1:49:34 - 1:53:58)
Next time on AWO, it's SHOW TIME because our special guest once again is Mike Toole! Last heard from about two years ago, Mike's since capitalized on his knowledge that audio is for suckers to become a sporadic streaming video sensation, but he's still keeping it real! Daryl will be reviewing his favorite series of 2007, Baccano! (warning: don't read the Wikipedia page or the ANN encyclopedia entry or especially the ANN review of volume 1), Gerald is reviewing the former crown jewel of the anime laserdisc empire known as Five Star Stories, and Clarissa does what we should have done the first time we had Mike on: review freakin' Big O! This entire episode was recorded about a month ago, and we still haven't started editing it because...well...sowwwhy! We had done tol' Craig and 'dem that we was gon' kick it wit' 'dem. Gotta go; see you when we see you!

Anime World Order Show # 76a - A Disgrace to the Anime Punditocracy

2009-02-01T23:49:00.012-05:00

Here's the first half of Show 76, containing the "general chat" portions of the show; reading emails and responding to recent anime news developments. Show 76b will contain the actual reviews.

Click Here to Download

The Podcast Pickle player is down and we figure we may as well put up the torrent for both halves. We'll hold off on posting the second half of Show 76 for about a day or two, since otherwise all the people using podcatching software that downloads just the latest episode--that's most of you--won't ever hear this part. This is actually the first thing we've posted since Google changed the feed URL to http://feeds2.feedburner.com/AnimeWorldOrder but since they state that the previous feed link will redirect, let's see if it causes problems for anyone if we just leave everything the same.

Introduction (0:00 - 26:51)
All the podcast gurus state you should save emails for the end of the show, which is why we read them at the beginning! Current emails in Inbox: 345. We lament the continued non-licensing of Ippatsu Kikimusume, and Gerald clarifies his stance on Dirty Pair Flash which was probably initially brought up when he reviewed Project E.D.E.N. way back when. Daryl takes the time to update the list of People In His Sights before trying to remember some anime titles with particularly noteworthy narrators. We can't help but think that we forgot something terribly important. And given the attendance levels for the Providence Anime Conference, are anime fandom gatherings geared towards non-teenagers viable?

Let's News! (26:51 - 1:03:09)
There were some regrettable deaths in the world of Gatchaman and O-DIIIIIIIIIIIIN, and we suspect Baoh as the cause of the death. Bandai Entertainment is joining FUNimation, ADV Films, and Tokyopop at the layoff party, and Diamond is upping their minimum order price by $1000. Dave Merrill's Livejournal is where the party was for that discussion: our favorite comment exchange was "GOSH WHY CAN'T WE GET WOMEN AND KIDS INTO THE COMIC BOOK SHOPS OF AMERICA? BECAUSE MY VAGINA IS HAUNTED!" Be sure to read those comments so you too may have the covers to the next three Grant Morrison projects. PS: all comicbook writers from the British Isles are awful no matter how much TRUE BELIEVERS claim otherwise. PPS: laserdiscs are finally no longer being made. You remember laserdiscs, right? Oh, huh. Well, we don't either.

Based on the amount of people in a previous poll who correctly identified the right answer, about 100+ people reading this will be glad to know that Discotek Media will be releasing the remastered Fist of the North Star theatrical animated movie on DVD later this year. In other "wow, someone licensed that?" news, The Roots of Japanese Anime Until the End of World War II is coming out in the US as well. It won't be cheap, but spare no expense for DVD quality copies of Momotaro's Divine Sea Warriors, the very first feature-length Japanese animated film which is also incredibly jingoistic Japanese WW2 propaganda. On the newer side of things, Toei now has Space Pirate Captain Harlock and Galaxy Express 999 available to view in streaming form, and iTunes has a whole bunch of anime songs up for purchase. Oh yeah, remember all that stuff about Jojo's Bizarre Adventure, Part 3? Looks like it's been worked out. You know what hasn't been worked out? The fact that people don't seem to realize that anime voice actors are perpetually out of work and/or make very little money.

But enough about THE INDUSTRY: the Reverse Thieves have begun the Otaku Diaries project, an anonymous survey about the social lives or lack thereof of self-proclaimed otaku. You've got two months to complete the survey, and at about 150 short answer/essay questions you'll probably need it. Daryl's signed up for it, and hopefully so will everyone else. Let's see how deep the pit goes, shall we? If all that writing gets you in a mode, we recommend contributing to the proposed Anime Confessions archive, a would-be repository for all manners of fandom soapbox diatribes. So far they don't really have very many submissions. Perhaps YOU can help! Finally, Ben and Matt over at For Tax Reasons have released yet another short, which at nearly 8000 views is proof positive that they don't really need the rub from us. Too bad; they're getting it anyway!

Promo: Pop Rocks and Soda (1:03:09 - 1:04:28)
All the podcast gurus state you should make your promos about 30 seconds long, so we're playing this one that's about 90. Bonus points for no bongo drums this time!

We'll post the second half of this on Tuesday or Wednesday or so. It's actually done. We could post it now. BUT WE AREN'T. You know why? Because even though we shipped out nearly all of the T-shirts and hoodies, we didn't yet ship out the international orders. It turns out that shipping for hoodies is more like $8.75 than $5, and we shudder to think how much more expensive the international shipping will be. Anyway, if YOU want AWO t-shirts or hoodies, email us for the details. Here's Aaron from the WARP Anime Podcast (Go Recursive Acronym GO!) stylin' and profilin':

Anime World Order Show # 75b - Morgan Freeman Can't Be Everywhere At Once

2009-01-14T00:45:00.011-05:00

Show 75 with our special guest Ryan Gavigan concludes with the news segment, Gerald's review/summary of Riding Bean, and Clarissa's review of Yakitate! Japan.

Click Here to Download (or download via BitTorrent)

Full show notes to come. For now, here are the timecodes at least.

Let's News! (0:00 - 33:47)
The news was like, a month out of date when we recorded it...months ago! So we recorded an addendum to it...like one month ago! So yeah, there's this guy named Chris Handley. You know, the guy who got busted because customs inspected a package of manga he bought from Japan and declared it mad gross. We still have no idea what manga it was he bought. Some people say it is "the gay," as stated by the ugly freckle face girl in Transporter 3, but radicals like Carl Horn and Jason Thompson wrote some cool things on that one website about what this all MEANS, maaan. You know, the one with the news...what was it? Oh yeah, Anime Vi--no wait, the site they and we steal all OUR news items from. Oh yeah, Anime News Network.

In other news, Gonzo is cutting down on the amount of bad shows they make each year to only about four or so bad shows a year. Also, anime studios in Singapore are being all like "I'M A COMPUTER! STOP ALL THE DOWNLOADING!" Again. And which will be more dire: Dragonball Evolution or Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li? You know what? It doesn't matter. Stop talking on and on about live-action anime adaptations. We don't care. ADV is resurrecting their porn/quasi-porn line to GET PAID, YO, and Funimation posted an episode of Sgt Frog dubbed to Youtube, the localization of which is...different from the original.

For some reason, they're making some Maria Watches Over Us in 3-D. Also, Hajime no Ippo: New Challenger is out. In fact, why are you listening to this podcast? You could be watching more Hajime no Ippo right now. Even though the music's different and they just might be playing up the gayness factor in a cynical grab for more viewers. You could of course read the manga, since much like Black Lagoon and Monster it's more or less identical. But you won't hear the jet engine during the Dempsey Roll, and the jet engine is the most important part. The final news is that our interview with Kazuko Tadano and Hiromi Matsushita (whose name we couldn't remember!) that we did at Otakon will probably never get posted since the audio quality is so terrible. A pity too, since we learned the secrets of Crystal Triangle!

Promo: ANON Podcast (33:47 - 34:42)
It's short for ANime ONline Podcast! It was formerly the Anime and Television in Toronto Podcast, but then they realized that now that The Shield is over and Prison Break is ending, there's no reason to watch television anymore. Jack Bauer may be fighting the goddamned Candyman, but it's hard to care when you know that ZOMBIE TONY is around the corner. He may have got shot...IN THE NECK...but he also crossed Robocop. And even though that was only a little less dumb than David Palmer, it's...oh right, this podcast. They tend to cover more recent fansub-only titles if that's your thing!

Review/Synopsis: Riding Bean (34:42 - 1:32:08)
It would be faster to just WATCH Riding Bean! This segment will probably not go down in history as our finest hour, as we were all driven insane by the pizza. Pictures forthcoming.

Promo: The Japan Xperience (1:32:08 -1:32:36)
It's a good thing they spelled the URL for me in the email, because they didn't actually spell it out in the promo. Who would have guessed that there was a second "i" in there? Not me! Fortunately, you did the smart thing and read the show notes, so now YOU know too! These guys actually live in Japan, and their show's largely about Japanese music. Say, we've heard some of that!

Review: Yakitate! Japan (1:32:36 - 2:01:21)
This is a cartoon that applies the shonen action/adventure formula to baking bread combined with outlandish Mr. Ajikko-like food hallucinations. You now have all the information you need to decide whether or not you wish to watch this cartoon.

I could certainly add a great deal of notes with screenshots, and bread reactions and such. But perhaps all I really need to include is the second ED credits that so mesmerized Gerald.

Closing (2:01:21 - 2:07:19)
The next two episodes of AWO were actually recorded quite some time ago; Show 76 was actually recorded a few days before Christmas 2008. Next time, Gerald's reviewing Shootfighter Tekken (the manga of which was partially released in the US under the name Tough), Clarissa's seriously actually for real this time reviewing Part 4 of Jojo's Bizarre Adventure, and Daryl is reviewing Hirohiko Araki's single greatest work, Baoh the Visitor. This was originally held off for over a year in the hopes that Dave and Joel would do it, but they ignored the pleas. The gambit has paid off.

Anime World Order Show # 75a - 3rd Year Anniversary, So We Better Talk About Bubblegum Crisis

2008-12-22T04:46:00.011-05:00

For our final podcast of the year, we celebrate our third year anniversary with our special guest, Ryan Gavigan! Took us long enough; we'd been meaning to record this since before our first year anniversary. In the first part of this show, we talk to Ryan about his sordid life in anime fandom and Daryl reviews the Bubblegum Crisis OAVs, aka "the only Bubblegum Crisis that exists" or if you prefer "the REAL Bubblegum Crisis."

Click Here to Download

Introduction (0:00 - 40:40)
For our three year anniversary, we figured we'd record an actual show proper with everyone together for the very first time instead of just a bonus. Nearly all podcasts do this, but not us! That's why we didn't know to position the microphones in such a way as to prevent echoing induced from multiple mics recording the same sounds. Oh well. So who is this Ryan Gavigan, anyway? Listen and find out for yourself!

Promo: Weeaboobies (40:40 - 43:33)
This is a genuine custom promo made by Erin from the Ninja Consultant podcast! Includes genuine voicemail message from Erin!

Review: Bubblegum Crisis (43:33 - 1:45:46)
Daryl...sort of talks about Bubblegum Crisis for an hour. Maybe. The way he sees it, all the cool anime podcasts already talked about it so he has nothing to lose!

Bubblegum Crisis is, as the title card suggests, the story of [the] Knight Sabers. Not the Knight Saviors.

BGC was made in the 1980s.

Daley Wong and Leon McNichol, the two longest-living members of the AD Police. Daley, if you couldn't tell, is a flamboyant homosexual of the type and variety never to be respected by the Iron Shiek. All Leon ever does right is take his shades off, put his shades on, say stupid things, and occasionally shoot someone. So THAT'S where CSI: Miami came from. YEAHHHHHH!

This is Priss in her concert gear. You might have to squint to notice it, but she looks KINDA like Pris from Blade Runner!

But despite the haircut, she is not "the gay," as that ugly freckleface girl from Transporter 3 would say. Otherwise, she'd be enjoying this more.

If she was, there'd be scenes of her doing this sort of thing. BGC is not exactly a subtle series. So stop contemplating whether Sylia is a boomer. (PS: Deckard = NOT A REPLICANT, NO MATTER WHAT)

In addition to her skeletal structure, Priss is constantly breaking the rules. Observe this BLATANT DISREGARD for the laws of physics.

Sylia Stingray, by contrast, complies with the laws of physics. This is the law of buoyancy. Though I guess buoyancy isn't a law so much as a force. Fuck it.

The wardrobe for Vision's truly, truly outrageous number comes to us courtesy of the Cyber City Oedo Mercenary Girl's Closet.

But if you're thinking of cosplaying it, know that there are downsides. MORE LIKE BACKSIDES, AMIRITE

Vision's character designer was Satoshi Urushihara. The breasts on his female characters are always that shiny because he uses his many, many love dolls as reference. Gerald only has one inflatable anime girl love doll for the moment.

Nene is the worst character, so naturally the Japanese gave her an entire episode. Nothing "proto"-moe about it!

Largo however, is the best character other than Sylia. That Hiroaki Gouda (No. Edam? No.) probably designed him is a true oddity, as he directed the Nene episode then spent the rest of his life directing all the Ah My Goddess! anime.

Maybe Masami Obari might have designed Largo. If Masami Obari is involved and it does not involve either Largo or Terry Bogard, then I'm probably not interested.Obari-tan wants us all to know: this person is DEFINITELY Australian.

As a rule, it is pointless to bother doing high-definition remasterings for most non-theatrical anime made prior to the onset of HD. However, certain bits of hilarious English/Engrish text become more easily noticeable here. WHAT'S THAT BETWEEN THOSE BOOKS NENE, HUH? This must be the REAL reason PT Chapman loves you so. PS: Mackie is "the character we, the viewer, would actually be." Dwell on THAT.

Oh yeah, there's mecha in this series, which is why it's awesome. Sylia is the leader!

Nobody gonna beat my car / It's gonna break the speed of sound / Ooh, it's a killing machine / It's got everything / Except for a girl in powered armor riding a giant fucking motorcycle / But other than that, it's cool

This is the part Sonoda was responsible for; the mechanical designs of the hardsuits. Also, the little girl in the first episode FO' SHO'. Note the presence of the high heels which make this awesome and EMPOWERING and why Japanese animation is mature advanced sci-fi storytelling with STRONG FEMALE CHARACTERS blah blah blahThis is clearly the Shinji Aramaki part. Because it's AWESOME.

Motorcycles that transform into robots...AND THEY CAN FLY? If they can fly, why even HAVE motorcycles? Only Shinji Aramaki truly knows.This is what happens to most members of the AD Police that are not in helicopters. (If they're in helicopters, they get immolated due to the freaking chopper exploding. Holy CRAP.) Note that this guy lost his hands before losing his arms, and that head comes off about a second after this screenshot was taken.

See? You should go watch this cartoon. Again, if need be.

Bonus - SITACon and EXPCon 2008 Report

2008-12-13T16:57:00.003-05:00

Here's the last of our con reports for the year, this time for both SITACon 2008 and EXPCon 2008.

Click Here to Download (or download via BitTorrent)

We were hoping to have at least part of Show 75 out by now, but this probably marks our three year anniversary of podcasting instead. Kind of fitting, really. Pictures forthcoming.

Now that we're out of "filler" to post, next time will be Show 75 FO' SHO'. Recorded live with our special guest Ryan Gavigan, Daryl will be reviewing the original Bubblegum Crisis OAVs, Gerald will be reviewing Riding Bean, and Clarissa will be reviewing Yakitate! Japan.

Bonus - Anime Weekend Atlanta 2008 Con Report

2008-12-07T14:03:00.013-05:00

Even though the convention was back in September, here's our con report for Anime Weekend Atlanta 2008.

Click Here to Download

Show 75 is recorded and will hopefully be posted soon, but there may be one more convention report bonus edition posted first. Three bonus recordings in a row? Man, we are lazy. Heck, one of them we didn't even edit! We'll upload some important pictures from the con here at some point. For now, feast your eyes upon this glorious slideshow (click any picture in the slideshow to get a full sized version):

And here's Gerald's version of the events including the fateful headlock with Rob Fenelon:

You will notice embedded in the show MP3 as well as within the slideshow above is a grandiose method of transport. What fiendish practitioners of kung fu treachery could be responsible for such a thing, you ask? This video has the answers:

This would have been funnier if the people in the outfits weren't so keen on wandering into large events and then leaving in a manner that illustrated they didn't actually care about what was going on in the room. They did spend most of their time in the halls, though. McCain's campaign headquarters was a few minutes away, but they were closed! HOW ARE YOU SUPPOSED TO CONVINCE INUYASHA TO VOTE MCCAIN IF YOUR "VICTORY CENTER" IS CLOSED ON WEEKENDS?! No wonder he lost.