Mid-Spring 2012 Podcast Transcript. Transcribed by Zanibas, Mochi, Cherrie, and Zephyr. Zanibas: Thanks to my fellow co-transcribers for easing my burden by at least 15 minutes! Please excuse the mistakes that may be in this, if you spot any, let me know in the IRC channel! ----- Verdant = V Stilts = S Stereoman = St Moomba = M Mochi = Mc Takaii = T Zephyr = Z V: Welcome everyone, to Random Curiosity inaugural podcast. I'll be your host verdant and to start things off we'll have our theme which has been composed by Moomba. *RC Theme plays* (Don't worry, there are no lyrics) V: Next, we're going to introduce ourselves. I'm your host verdant and you may know me as the writer who blogged Nise and F/Z. One thing I like are movies and long walks on the beach and cliches. S: Cliches, clearly V: Next up is Stilts, go ahead! S: Hey everybody I'm Stilts. Been a writer since January 1st this year. Blogged shows like Zero no Tsukaima, High School DxD, finished off Lagrane and Ano Natsu, and this season I'm doing Korezon, Natsuiro, and Saki Achiga. Oh yeah, random fact: I really like craft beer and grade S zettai ryouiki. V: It's pretty embarassing. S: Ehhhhh! M: and lolis? S: I'm the perverted anyways, but I'm not saying lolis dammit! Hahahaha! That's all you, that's all you! St: Hahahahaha V: Alright, Moomba, our composer. M: Eh, Moomba here. I'm the one currently blogging space bros and Medaka box. Random fact; I, although you wouldn't know it from what I've been blogging so far, am a big fantasy fan. Stilts' rival in the future maybe? V: Guess we'll have to get you a fantasy show one of these days. Maybe next season? M: Sword Art Online? Heh. S: We'll duel for that later. Heh heh heh. V: Zephyr. Z: Hey there, I'm Zephyr. I'm like many of the new writers: I've been here for about 3 months now, since March I think. I cover Ozuma earlier this season and I'm currently covering Jormungand and the Naruto manga. Uh, random fact is that I like traveling and photography in my free time. V: Sounds good. Stereoman! S: Yeah, I'm all fired up! I'm Stereoman and uh, you may know as the Fairy Tail fan. I cover Fairy Tail and Fairy Tail and heh...I cover Amnesia. V: I'm sensing that-- St: --and a random fact is that I like to spin chairs! S: Right on! M: I was expecting "I like Fairy Tail" right there. V & S: Yeah St: *cough* V: Pretty good. Mochi? Mo: Alright, hi, I'm BakaMochi and last season I blogged Guilty Crown and right now I'm blogging Hiiro no Kakera and Zetman and a random fact: I like Shota. S: Hahahaha V: Also very interesting. I'd like to hear more. S: You're learning lots of stuff about one another there. Mo: Yeah V: We'll see about that after the next episode. Takaii would you like to introduce yourself? T: Hey there guys: I'm Takaii. So I'm the senior writer compared to all these guys. I've been here for what--over about a year, a year and half two years now? So I'm currently covering Acchi Kocchi and Hyouka and I guess one random fact about me is that I love all of you guys! S: Awwwwwwwww St: Awwwwww! V: That's like the best fact. Mc: So cute. T: But, other than that, I'm excited for our first podcast and uhm, one quick note is that shirt post whenever this comes out, the shirt post will be out soon and you can see all the cool designs. V: Awesome. Well, we are all excited to be on this inaugural podcast and this one will be a retrospective of the spring shows a little bit probably because we're 2/3 of the way through this season though it would be nice to talk about what we've seen so far, what we've liked so far, and have people who haven't seen these shows get an idea of what some of the other writers think about it. I think that'll be pretty interesting to hear about. T: I think so too. V: Alright-- S: Ehhh, we'll find out. V: So first we have Stilts who, as you all know, really likes moe and stuff. S: What, are you going from perverted to moe now. Mrawwww. V: Isn't that what you're going to talk about? S: No yes, I'm going to try to send some more readers Takaii's way by talking one of the shows he's covering: Acchi Kocchi. T: Right, that's right! S: So, uh, Acchi Kocchi. When I first heard about this I thought it sounded kind of like a pretty standard tsundere and kind of dense guy. That kind of thing. But when I started watching it: it's really not all that typical. I mean, just taking the main two characters Tsumiki and Io, I mean yeah, she is tsundere and he is kind of dense, but they're also really, like Tsumi is really chill, she doesn't get angry all the time like most tsunderes. She's spends most of her time with cat ears and being really cute. Io is really cool. He actually deserves all of the attention he gets from all of these girls. He's kind of a kind-hearted casanova without really meaning to. Just watching their interactions is realy really cute. The show itself is done really well. Really high attention to detail, interesting scene transitions, all the characters seem to be kind of useful. Has anybody else watched this? I feel like I'm the only one talking! Ho ho ho! V: I haven't. M: I watched an episode! V: But it sounds intriguing. S: Moomba, I know you're watching it! M: Yeah yeah, I'm keeping up with it. I think one of the reasons it's so good for me is because it's pretty much just the "four girls" stereotype, but instead of four girls we have three girls and two guys and that adds a whole new layer to the dynamic. V: So, it's not like a triangle...? S: Mmmm, No, not really, I mean uh. T: It's kind of like a world loves so it's like a circle. S: Yeah, pretty much. Everybody loves...yeah....but everybody knows Io is Tsumiki's uh.... V: So the main character is pretty likeable? S: yeah, I mean, I have a giant man-crush on Io, I will freely admit. He's extremely aweseome. V: Huh, a cool male main character, I might have to watch this. It's kind of rare these days. S: Yeah, unlike some of the other shows we got this season, or every season, where the main character is kind of useless; definitely not the case here. V: This is a very endearingly cute show too. S: Definitely. One of the things I really like about is, most shows you have the guys are always thinking perverting thoughts and getting nosebleeds, and this one is's the female characters. V: So that's the perverted aspect of that brings you into this show, right? S: Well, I, uh---shut up. V: *laughs* S: They're not so much perverted as like romanticness ones nosebleeds I guess? V: Oh, okay. S: If that makes any sense. It's kind of how it is. V: Sounds good. Anyone else have any last comments on Acchi Kocchi? T: You know, you should watch it, more comments a week, people should watch it. V: I'll try. I'll pick it up soon. T: No, that means you're not going to pick it up. Ever. V: No I will! It's next on my---ever expanding backlog. S: Meh, I know what you mean there. v: Alright, we'll move onto the next show then. Moomba? M: Yeah, I'm going to talk about Space Pirates, as it happens, which I'm sure none of you are watching except for verdant. Am I right about that? V: Yeah, I think so... S: Ehhhh, I'm going to marathon it eventually, so yeah. Mc: It's on my backlog! M: It's one of those anime that you don't really want to take at face value. I mean, the title has pirates in it, but you shouldn't really go into it expecting that much piracy. It's very much a space slice of life really. Where we're following a mercenary company basically who do various jobs, which include elaborate stage shows, escort missions, that sort of thing. It's not really what you'd expect from pirates, but it has a great environmental aspect. It has got all the technology you'd expect to see in that era, it's a really nice window into that kind of future. V: Yeah, uh, the title supposed to be "Miniskirt Space Pirates" right, but there's actually like no fanservice and you would think that a series set in space where there's no gravity and skirts would be just flying around and stuff. S: Oh man, what. M: Yeah, they kind of really went casual with the fanservice shots there. V: and I remember one episode they're about to go to the beach and you're like uh oh, they're about to go to the beach, but it got subverted. It's like on the main planet. The main character was about to go to the beach and then she gets kidnapped, so we've never had a beach episode really. T: Ohhhhkay. M: We did have that one with the windsailing but.... V: Yeah, that's about it. Iunno, I really like the show. It's not too serious, it definitely has a lot of political intrigue too, the chracters are really memorable and likeable. I think the thing for me that really draws me to this show is that it shows us a side of space that we don't get to see as often. It's like when think about the coming of pirates, you don't really think about fighting or blowing up stuff that much, you think about getting lots of booty. M: Wat. S: Ha ha ha ha. V: Fight about treasure. M: Wat. M: I kind of think of fighting when you think of pirates, really. S: Yeah V: I guess I think of that too-- T: --and cannonballs and stuff. V: I see some of that now... S: The cannonballs? M: Yeah you pulled off a 180 now... T: They all shoot cannonballs and yell parlay? Mo: When I think pirates I think Johnny Depp, but whatever. T: Exactly, exactly. S: The person we all have a man crush on. Anyways--- M: You said earlier that the title of the light novels was "Miniskirt Space Pirates" and the anime is "Bodacious [Space Pirates]" instead. V: Its actually more bodacious than miniskirts. M: I dunno, there are actually plenty of miniskirts in there. V: That's true. Zephyr, were you going to say something? Z: I haven't really watched Moretsu Pirates but I'm wondering because I'm hearing all the stuff about pirates in space and I'm wondering if there's any real similarities to Outlaw Star. V: I actually haven't seen Outlaw Star...it's also on my backlog... M: Same. Shamefully. S: Well, I've seen Outlaw Star, but I haven't started Moretsu...if no one has an answer to that, I have a question. I heard originally that Moretsu Pirates starts pretty slowly. Is that accurate and does it ever pick up later or what? M: Yeah, it's a pretty slow start. I mean, the first few episodes are very much character introductions. A lot of electronic warfare: they really like spamming that word the first few episodes and still do sometimes, but it does pick up. I mean, there's the later arc with the ghost ship and that's where it really starts picking up for me. I don't know what verdant thinks on it. V: Yeah, definitely the ghost ship arc is the part that really gets to gear. But the thing about the show is that no one is really good at anything at the start. Even though the main character is a captain of a pirate ship, she still has to train to become a captain. T: Oh god. S: hahahha. That's not that bad Takaii. Everybody's gotta learn. V: So yeah, I really like this show a lot, I thinks its definitely underrated and underwatched. It's like, after the first four or five episodes, it really starts getting good. M: It's also very moe and has yuri...so....Stilts, you should be watching... Mo: Ha ha ha! V: Oh yeah, I forgot, Stilts is into that stuff! S: Just because I'm blogging two yuri shows this...goddammit. M: Yeah, you're never going to get away from that now. S: Yeah, I realize that. Ah well. V: Alright, any last thoughts on Moretsu? M: More people should watch it. That's about it. V: I agree. I like comments too. Zephyr. Go ahead. Z: Oh, uhm, pretty much I was really tempted to talk about AKB0048, but in the end I really have to talk about Eureka 7 AO. I mean, the original series was pretty much one of my favorite all time series, since I started watching anime. Astral Ocean is a really really good sequel. Considering how much I liked the original, I really really mean it when I say it :P. It's really good because it does everything a sequel should do. It maintains the feel of the original for one. The world looks pretty different. Not much of the original world carries over. It's pretty much like Guardian Enzo said in his first post, it still feels like Eureka 7 and it's pretty obvious that this is a sequel to the original. That's one big aspect a sequel should have. The other major factor about AO is that it builds on the original while being unique enough to stand out on its own. See, it doesn't just rest at saying that, "yo this is Eureka 7", and stop from there. We get a whole new cast of great characters, completely separate plot, and drastically different worlds. We get some great animation from BONES and one of the best soundtracks of the season in my opinion. We also get this great main character that's not afraid to fight for what he wants and what he believes in, and so its a real big departure from the main characters these days. In the end you're probably better off watching the original first, but it is possible to enjoy the show and all of its references without watching the original. You might be a bit lost in the beginning, it looks like it's something that'll solve itself. V: It looks like you answered my question I was about to ask, if I wanted to watch the original. S: How about if you watched the original but that it's been years, so much so that I've watched it back when I was still watching anime dubbed...uhm...would I need to go back through and rewatch stuff or can I pick up stuff pretty quick? Z: Well, as long as you remember the main cast; the original cast is with Renton and Eureka. At this point, if you know what the main plot of the original was, then you should be able to get most of the stuff in the sequel right now. The sequel right now, the thing is, a lot of the connections are pretty abstract; you have to assume a lot of stuff. S: Yeah, I thought it was it was a side-story or an alternate dimension kind of thing. Is it actually a true sequel? Z: Well, it's hard to tell, but from my view, it's definititely a true sequel. They haven't quite explained how exactly it ties in, but it definitely looks like a true sequel. M: There's a lot of debate on that, but I want to kind of bid your brain on something. There have been a lot of haters recently on the truth arc being overly dramatic and the original Eureka 7 having young pilots in an adult world where things didn't go right for them, but this time around, all the pilots are young and the ace pilot is actually one of the youngest. What do you think about that? What do you say to the people who say those things? Z: The big thing is, a lot of the hating is not actually that warranted persay. I can see where a lot of people are getting off saying that it's too different from the original, but this is where I go back and say that why it 's good in the first place. The first few episodes were pretty much a really good reference to the original seires; there were a lot of action series similar to the first two episodes of the original series. You can really see that this is first and foremost part of the Eureka 7 universe, but becaus of the insertion of the truth arc and the different atmosphere having every pilot being young...it's something obviously different. You can see that they're not really trying to copy the original series. It's a unique idea, it's standalone, and it's something I think the series' creator should be lauded for because they're obviously making an effort into making a whole new complex story rather just borrowing over the original. S: Actually, I really like hearing that because a lot of the sequels try to go in and rehash the same thing to print yen or dollar bills or whatever particular currency people want a lot of but, if they're taking it as a jumping off point, doing something a bit different, that's good to hear. V: Say you're completely new to the franchise. What about the sequel would draw you into watching it? Z: I think the biggest thing right now is--well there's a lot of thing for people to like about the series. Theoretically you're going to have some questions in the beginnning if you never watched the original, but there's some great mech designs, you have mech like the Nirvash flying on surfboards. There are just some things you don't see in other typical anime. You get some great animation quality, great sountrack, and really assertive characters that you don't see anywhere else. Also, there is the insertions of bunches of references to other anime and a lot of people have fun finding those easter eggs. S: Well, I'm not surprised it's good animation if BONES is doing it. V: I like BONES. S: BOOONNESS. V: Any last words? S: Take that comment out of context. V: Only you would take that comment out of context, only you. S: And I wouldn't have. Ha ha ha ha! V: So, out of the gutter and into the next episode. S: *chuckle* St: *chuckle* v: Stereoman, go ahead. St: Yeah, I was about to go talk about Tsuritama. I think it's my favorite for this season, I might even like it more than Fate/Zero and I know people will hate me for this! V: *gasp* St: Heh heh. But-- S: --How dare you! *gasp* St: I like it! It's actually a pretty weird show, but it's so put together so well and it's interesting. Most people avoid it because they think fishing is the main theme, which it's not. It's actually about an alien from outer space and he forces people to fish with him. I can't say more than that. S: What was it, an alien mind control squirt gun or something like that? St: Yeah, but it's actually really mellow and I'd rather call it slice of life than science fiction like a lot of people say because it brings up a lot of family problems too because it's about four guys and their lives and they connect this with fishing and this alien. T: Yeah. M: You said it's not it's not completely a fishing anime but there's still a lot of fishing there, isn't there? St: Yeah, but they must be true to the title! I think this fishing, it connects them, but the main theme is still a space mystery. They still connect everything with fishing. Z: Yeah, in the end, the show...before I watched the show myself I was like, "Oh my god it's a fishing anime! Why would I watch this!". In the end, I watched it and it's a really fun show. Fishing does take a big factor in the overall show itself but it's definitely not nearly everything that this show offers. You have great characters, great animation. I really think it's just one of the most enjoyable shows of the season. St: Yeah, the art is very outstanding, it's very abstract. It reminds me of my favorite anime movie, I don't know if you've seen it, but it's called Tekkonkinkreet. It's really underrated and most people avoid it because they think the art is really ugly, but I love these kinds of shows: abstract and weird. Z: The colors---they use so many colors in every different scene. It's vivid and so surreal and it looks amazing. St: Yeah, it does. I even got myself a water gun. Mc: Are you going to squirt it at me all now? St: I try, but they won't listen to me. S: Now we know your secret plan. V: So you like squirt guns and spinning chairs! St: Yeah, I'm going to take over the world. M: Spun chairs all the times V: Yeah, when I first heard of this anime, I thought it'd be "Daily Lives of Fishing Boys" or something. M: In a way it is. It is very much a "Daily Lives of Fishing Boys" show, but it has that sci-fi aspect to it too. Mc: They take quite a bit of time getting into that aspect though. It's drawn in a little bit each episode. It's like, some people call it a little too slow at times, the plot. I don't know if anyone else would agree with that but... V: But the show will have another season after this one, right? Like another cour? Z: Uh, we're not really sure about that, uh. M: It doesn't really seem to be winding down just yet, so I don't know. Z: As of now, there isn't really any real confirmation on the number of episodes, but it definitely looks like it's not going to end this season. Mc: I thought it's kicking into gear enough that it could resolve this season, but I don't know. I would like to see a little bit more. V: The alien sci-fi aspect sounds pretty intriguing. A nice twist to your slice-of-life show. St: I think a lot of aspects are like Ano Natsu: there is an alien, but not a ton of it is about space; it shows up later. It's not the same kind of plot at all, but the alien aspect, I think, that's kind of like that. V: I don't know if it's ecchi enough for you Stilts. S: Just hearing that there's something else than the sci-fi aspect other than the fishing part. When I first heard about it, I thought okay, "fishing". In my mind, fishing involves waking up at 7 in the morning, getting out on a boat, drinking too much, and getting fish. Not something I especially want to watch an anime about. Throwing a mind-controlling alien in there sounds more entertaining. V: I agree. Anyone else want to say anything about Tsuritama? Z: Watch it! Mc: Yeah, everyone should watch it! St: Yeah, it's a refreshing show. V: Should I take drugs before I watch it? Z: Yes. M: That would probably help. A lot. Or drink. But, Stilts it down on that. S: Yeah, not that we encourage drugs though. Though I do encourage drinking. T: wait, what? V: Alright, Mochi. You want to talk about Jormungand? Mc: Yeah, alright. When I read the premise in the preview, I didn't really know what to expect. Like, with the heavy subject matter, with the arms dealing and the child soldiers I thought that would be kind of pretentious or preachy about what it's about, but when I started watching it, it's really zippy. It's one of the only shows where I don't look at the running time to see if it's over yet, and I do that for a lot of shows. It's got really good characters. With such a large ensemble cast, it's really hard to care for each of the characters, but I don't know how Jormungand does it: it makes you care about them, a lot. The plot and writing is sharp. It doesn't rely on force-feeding its information to the audience. It allows the audience to form their own opinions and think about things, without derailing too far from the show's original intention, if that makes sense. I don't know, it's one of those shows that I really like watching this season. It's probably my favorite, aside from Fate/Zero. V: Good save, good save. Mc: Yeah. S: Yeah, the characters, they did a really good job early on of introducing all the characters, but without spending too much time on it. Even now, I couldn't even tell you the names of all of them, but I know who they are and what they do and how they interact. Some of them like Lin and Wiley are really entertaining. Lin's just a badass little guy. They didn't dwell too much on that stuff and just naturally came out when it was important that we get to know these characters more and more. M: Maybe one of the good things about the characters is that they're all completely psychotic. T: Oh yeah! *everyone else laughs* M: I like psychotic characters! It's interesting. It's something that does turn up a lot, but we don't see it on this scale with so many characters. I don't think there's anyone who's remotely sane in to the cast of Jormungand. S: It's like that one scene, where they're in the car. I forgot, one of the characters said something, and suddenly all the characters eyes turn evil. Mc: Yeah, that was like the reason why--that was pretty funny. S: It was awesome, I fell in my chair laughing. I was like, "They're nuts!" Z: Yeah, but really, not only are the characters strong, you have a complex plot. It's deep, it's complex, pretty much a dark premise. But, at the same time, they manage to sneak in some great humorous comedy in every episode and it never seems out of place. I mean, it takes some real skill to incorporate that so seamlessly with the subject matter, and it makes the show just spectacular. S: I think that's because they're all insane. Z: That's true, that's so true. S: You don't expect them to be taking things too seriously. V: So that's where the loco thing comes from? Z: Loco coco! S: You say oh no! Z: Yeah, you know, I'm blogging it, but I think everyone has to be watching this one. Mc: It's got something for everybody, it's got action, it's got comedy, and kind of slice-of-life. V: Is there romance? Mc: No, not really. Sorry! No! Z: Koko is a shotacon... M: It has some implied yuri as well. Mc: Oh right! V: Is that why Stilts is watching it? Z: Yes. M: Probably. S: Right...I like action too, but yeah. V: Yuri action! S: Haha! Z: Oh yeah, but another thing is that you could come in as someone who just loves action and you can just pretty much pay attention to the action and enjoy the show. At the same time, there are some more deeper, more philosophical things like child soldiers, your views on guns, whether it's something positive or negative, something you should have. It's something you can pretty much go through the show and if you like philosophy, you'll dwell into that. If you don't, you can just move on. There's something for everyone. V: Something for everyone. Seems like the theme of this show, even for Stilts! S: Heh heh heh. Come on, I almost watch everything when I have more free time, so that's not saying a whole lot. V: Sounds good. S: I'm not as good as Zephyr...aren't you watching 30 shows this season? Z: I think I was watching 24-25...it's dropped down to 21 at the moment. S: You slacker. Ha ha. Z: Apologies. V: I'm like at 2...or 3... S: Awwwww.... M: I think I'm at 23, but.... Mc: Wow. M: I think I'm going to cut back next season, maybe. It's a bit of a slow season as well next season...not as much airing. There's just been way too much this seasonn. Z: Yeah, this season has pretty much been one of the best seasons in the last couple years. In my opinion. S: Fair enough. V: Anyone else want to say anything else about Jormungand? S: Shots are scary? V: I guess I'll move onto-- M: --I don't mind shots V: I guess I'll move onto the show I want to talk about, Hyouka. Oh Hyouka. So, when I read the preview, I don't know that much about KyoAni. I haven't watched K-ON!, and somebody told me this was going to be like K-ON!, but with a mystery and I was like, "uhhh....I don't know if I would want to watch that." But then my friend convinced me to watch the first episode and the first thing I thought was, "Dang, this animation is sublime."It's just so smooth and there's, there's just something slick and pretty and the CGI and the mixing of it all. It's like candy for my eyes. So, even if I didn't care that much about the story, I might just watch it for the animation. I actually find the story pretty interesting as well because the mysteries aren't your typical mysteries, not like the "whodunnit" kind of things. They're more like "whodunnit", but in school. They're more relatable mysteries. Like sometimes you'll just sit there and wonder, "I wonder how this transpired. I wonder how this happened. I wonder how." S: It's less of a "whodunnit" and more of a "what happened". V: Yeah, and I find it that I've always asked that question a lot in my life. Like when I was a little kid I always asked my cousin so many questions, he just bought me a question and answer book so I'd shut up. This book, this anime is right down my alley. I'm not as curious as Chitanda exactly, but... S: Yeah, I just got a mental image of you kind of like spliced with Chitanda, and I was like, "Ahhh, that doesn't work!" heh heh. V: Yeah, that'll never work. I like the characters too, especially the main character. I forget who he's voiced by, but... Mc: Are you serious? No, just no. *laughs* S: Out. Get out. T: Send him away! V: I'm just kidding. Mc: Oh my gosh... S: Yeah, I'm just kidding...wait, googling it... Mc: Wait, what!? Noo!! V: It's Naka Yu (Nakamura Yuuichi), right? Mc: Yes, yes! V: Thanks Mochi. Mc: Good job. V: I like it whenever he voices a character, so part of me always wants to watch a show when he's the main guy. This guy is pretty cool too, he's super chill, relaxed, doesn't really care, but, iunno. I find that interesting to see him begin to care because Chitanda cares. For me, I think it's not too cerebral of a mystery show, but enough for me to keep watching every week. They're pretty good with the cliffhangers too. I watched it while I was writing a paper and I couldn't stop after one. S: Yeah, that's always a mistake. You've always gotta go for a really reallyy light slice-of-life show when you do that, otherwise you're going to be five episodes in and realize, "Aww, crap!" Cannot stop. M: I've heard that it's another show that's pretty slow to start, so how long does it actually take to start up? V: The first five episodes are already part of the first arc. The first episode sets up the characters, sets up the main characters really good at deducing what's going on behind these convulted mysteries. Things like, how did the door get locked even though no one has the key, that kind of thing. But then after that, it'll go into the backstory of one of the characters, so I think it picks up pretty quickly. S: It does pick up pretty quickly, though I was, as they always say in the show, "curious" after the first one, with Chitanda with that tentacle weird hair thing. Remember that one? V: Yeah. S: I did not know what that was, I was very curious as to what was going... V: Yeah that hair thing was weird. I thought that, when I first saw that, "Does this show have some supernatural things? Is Chitanda a ghost or she's dead or something?" But I think it's just how she's just got her hooks on him, like he had a premonition that she's not going to let him go. Z: Yeah, she really probably never let him go either. V: Yeah.. Mc: Oh ho ho ho! S: Oh my.... V: I'm sure he doesn't mind though, she's like the prettiest girl in school, right? Z: Uhhh, she's pretty popular, to say the least. S: Heh heh. V: But yeah, I-- M: yandere in the making? V: Maybe, I don't know, I like this show, I'm surprised that I would like it. M: Yeah... S: A random aside. You said you haven't watched many KyoAni shows, and this might get a lot of people mad at you. Did you watch Haruhi? V: Yeah, I watched Haruhi. S: Yeah, you should probably be alright then. V: Okay. S: That, and Clannad. As long as you've seen those. M: You might live a few weeks longer if you hadn't. V: I shouldn't have my anime history aired out ever again. S: All been redacted. "Don't hurt me!" Mc: Hide it! V: I do watch certain things though, I'll say that. Mc: That's my job. Don't take my job! V: We can share, right? Mc: heh heh. V: Anything else you guys want to say about Hyouka? S: Go ahead and bring this uhm, conversation back down to my level, uhm, one thing I really enjoy------ V: I don't think we can go that far.. S: Haha, okay, not quite my level. One thing I enjoy is just hearing the main male duo from Clannad begin. Especially Sunohara. I love to hear their actions every time they do their voices together. V: Oh yeah. They have a good-- T: Best combo duo ever. v: Yeah. It's like the straight main and comedic frilly. Pretty much one of the best combos there are. T: Well, in other shows, yeah. In this one, they're kind of more serious. S: Yeah, I guess Satoshi is, he's a little more silly but not overly comedic. He's just a little more carefree. V: I just find it funny there's another show where the main characters sits in the back left corner of the classroom right next to the window. S: That's ALL shows. Mc: That's the way it always has to be, for maximum dramatic effect. S: You'd always be the main character! V: I should just--I wish I knew that in high school: I would always sit there then. I would end up starring in half a dozen shows. Mc: Yeah, you got the backlight from the sun. V: Hopefully there's a really pretty girl sitting in my vicinity. Z: As long as you're not a zombie who dries out in the sun in the corner. S: Yeah. Mc: Ohhhh! S: The one time I...that was the one time recently I really enjoyed that, and I was like, "alright this is the same thing" and then he dries out. This is Korezon (Kore wa Zombie Desu ka?) for anyone who doesn't know. I was like , "Ah, nice!" at least they subverted that, that trope a little bit. V: Alright, now we're going to talk about Accel World. T: So Accel World it's my dirty little pleasure of the season. S: Heh heh T: I started like the first episode before I started watching Hana. I forgot who I heard from, but I remember many people were bashing down on it for how its protagonist looks, its unreal story, and how bad it's supposed to be, but week after week, it's one of the shows when Thursday rolls around, I go, "Awwww, it's not going to be on until Friday now!" For a show that you don't take too seriously or watching it for fun, it's something to look at and pick up because the art is pretty stellar, the protagonist is better than Guilty Crown's protagonist. And uh--- S: That's not saying a lot though... T: I think that I really like watching this show not for the sake of watching it, but it's a fun show to watch I'd say. Those are my points on it. V: Yeah S: I really like the combat, which is pretty entertaining. There's a little bit of that whole "random powerup" that the main character gets because he's the main character, but other times they also do a little tactics, something I appreciate. Makes it seem more believable when he wins or doesn't. V: I guess for me it's a hard show to watch, because I can't stand main characters like Haru, they're just--- S: What do you mean? Ones that are...what? T: What about main characters like Shuu, who are even worse than that. Mc: Hay! I liked Shuu! S: Your mistake. Ha ha ha! M: In Shuu's defense, he actually has some reasons for being so...uh...self loathing at times. I mean, bad things happen to him whereas Haru is kind of...living the dream at the moment anyway. T: Yeah, I remember before he was living the dream, he was a short fat kid who's like to up to people's knees. Like--- Mc: But he's up to people's knees, it's not like he magically grew taller right? T: Well you say he's living the dream of having the hottest girl in school date him and then having the most epic avatar inside of Accel World, but, before that, can you imagine how much it must suck to be fat an short in Japan? V: But, he had friends, right? and he's like... Mc: I think the issue with Haru is that I feel like he's so self-loating and pathetic just for the sake of pathetic and self-loathing. I'm not sure how sympathetic I'm supposed to feel towards him. It's not like there's actual reasons for him to be that way, it' just more like...the author just heaped in all these bad traits on him just to bring out sympathy. S: But then again, these things aren't always not just in characters but in actual people, and logically, you might look at someone's life, and say, "You've got a good life guy! Don't be so depressed!" but how they feel about it is not always so great. Like Takaii was saying, he's a short fat kid, who's getting bullied for awhile. He does have these great friends, but then again, he's had those friends for his whole life so maybe he just, maybe he didn't realize how great those friendships are... Mc: So he's taking them for granted? S: I don't really want to say he's taking them for granted, but just not realizing how great that is, since it's always there. I feel like there are reasons for him to have low self-esteems, and although they might not be great reasons, that stuff takes awhile to rub off or to go away. It's not something that just goes away overnight because the most popular girls says he likes him. Mc: Yeah, just the reasons I guess...like the way he's portrayed is what I don't like. Like his character itself is just fine but the way he's portrayed and just his actions...it's just...Iunno, he rubs me off the wrong way. V: His voice actor rubs me off the wrong way. T: I love his voice actor man! Did you know he's also Snow, perhaps he's also Hope in Final Fantasy XIII-2? It's so good! Z: I hated that guy. T: Yeah... M: I didn't think Hope is that much more popular than Shuu really... Z: Oh god... Mc: *laughs* T: Older hope is pretty awesome. He is pretty awesome. V: Alright. Well, contentous show. T: I know right? Everyone is so angry now! V: So now, we'll go to our favorites of the season so far. Um... first off, we'll talk about our favorite character – male or female or both... or a trap. S: That would be both, yes. V: Stilts, you want to start us off? S: Alright. I'm going to cheat by picking a couple for both. My favorite female characters are... hmm, I can't decide; they're both from Kore wa Zombie – Yukinori and Tayaka. I dunno why [I love Yukinori] so much, even though she does that 'ore' thing all the time, but she's just really cute and innocent and then well, the same thing is true for Tayaka. M: I think it's the tomboyish-ness that drew a lot of people to [the Yukinori boat] S: Yeah... I mean, for me, Tayaka might have a slight edge, but only because she's so innocent but she always manages to say things that just really destroy Ayumu... especially when she's talking about how much she likes his legs *laughs* *awkward pause* S: No? I'm the only one? Anyway, male characters... you're probably gonna hear these names from me again, but it's a tie between Io and Andy of Aquarion EVOL. I... don't really care about any of the other characters in Aquarion EVOL except for Andy and uh, one other. He's just so energetic; I just love watching every scene he's in. V: Sounds good. Moomba? M: Well uh, I'm gonna do mine the opposite way around, starting with male. Just like Stilts, Io is a pretty obvious choice – S: Yeah, man! M, continuing: – I mean, he's pretty cool, especially with the more recent episodes with the shooting range, for example. That was pretty impressive. S: That was good. That was the one time that both him and Sakaki were a little bit – well I mean, Io is always awesome, but uh, both of them were really impressive there. M: Definitely. Uh, for female, I'm going to go with Chinatsu from Jormungand, just for pure psychotic value. S: I can respect that. M: Yeah Mc: *jokingly* The pure psychotic value and not the fact she goes commando, right? Just checking. M: *laughs* Yeah, that's the one. Mc: Got it. S: Absolutely not! That'd be weird. V: I don't know if I believe that coming from you, Stilts. S: *laughing* Z: That's a plus either way, though. V: Zephyr, favorite characters. Z: Um – I guess for the male... I'll go with male first also, I guess. Um... my favorite has to be Rider from Fate/Zero – Iskander, I guess. I mean, the guy is pretty much the definition of manliness. The guy is ridiculously strong and he has perfect morals and he has that really big – V: Perfect? Z: Well I mean like, he has a great sense of justice – like you know, he has good morals – S: You do know he subjugated a lot of the world at one point in the past. Z: Well yeah, but he wasn't like those kind of conquerors that were just like, "Yo, I'm gonna take your land and you're screwed". He actually – like he gives back to the people and lets them pretty much run things, so... M: At the risk of being murdered by people in the future, I actually agree with Rider's views far more than I do with Saber's views. Z: Haha, oh man... M: She – Mc: A lot of people would agree with you Moomba, actually. Z: Yeah, a lot of people would probably agree with you, actually. M: Uh huh, but I know Saber has a really strong fanbase, so... *laughs* S: True. Well how could she not? Mc: She does? I thought a lot of Type-Moon fans actually disliked her... that was the vibe I got... Z: Well people like her character, but the view are a whole different story. From what I heard, anyway. But um, anyway, I guess the other thing about Iskander is when you have a bunch of heroic spirits following you after your death – after you're dead, come one... that's just too cool. Anyway, uh moving on... my favorite female character is definitely Koko from Jormungand. Heh, there's not much to say here except that she's funny at times, she's totally crazy, she says ridiculous quotes like, "I sell weapons for world peace", and she leads a giant armed gang of mercenaries and deals arms in her free time, so... what's not to like? S: Also she's a fantastic shotacon and like you said – totally crazy. *laughter* V: Stereoman, favorite male and female character. St: I don't know if my male character is a secret... well it's Natsu from Fairy Tail. I think – S: Gasp! St: – picking him for this might be a bit boring because it's a long show, so I'll go with the Penguin from Polar Bear Cafe because he's so ridiculous *laugh* Well he's actually the neutral character in the show, but he's so unlucky, so you just feel sorry for him a little bit. V: Who's he voiced by? Mc: Kamiya Hiroshi. V: Ooh. St: Yeah *laugh* It doesn't sound like him though. I think the funniest thing about him is that he has a crush and he tries to confess to her and he fails all the time – it's actually quite funny, and his friends make fun of him, so... He's actually a realistic character; I think more people would watch this if it was with real people because Penguin's problems... they're actually pretty much uh... you can relate to him. V: Sounds like a fun character. St: Yeah. V: And do you have a – St: And my favorite female character is Yuuko from Amnesia. I'm so glad I got to cover that show because I really love her – she's so childish and her personality is just like mine *laugh* I can really relate to her and I also like her voice a lot; it's pretty... unknown and her voice actress... I think she was from Idolm@ster? She's mysterious and always interesting. S: So she's just like you... that's worrisome *laughs* M: Yeah, you say she's just like you – does that mean you're also a shotacon? St: Uh – I don't know... Natsu is – S: She's taking too long to answer! *laugh* St: – younger than me *laugh*Well besides that, her childish personality, and when she's mad, she likes to kick things. I like to kick M. S: Yeah, yeah, I can back up all this. M: [She does do that]. V: I've heard about this. St: They even me an IRC command – trigger. V: Cool, cool. Uh... Mochi. Mc: Um... let's see... I think my favorite male character is a toss-up between Andy, Kerry and Natsuki? *pause* I don't know which one I like most though. S: The correct answer is Andy. Mc: Andy? Well, Andy's really fun! But he's gotten a little bit depressing lately, I don't know... S: He has reasons. Mc: He does, he does. It's a pretty big reason, too... V: So, as soon as a guy gets depressed, you're gonna leave them? S: Haha, wow, so cold! Mc: *laugh* V: Ouch. Mc: Hmm, OK... my favorite female... probably Iri from Fate/Zero, or Mix from Aquarion EVOL, like her Big Bangs – come on. S: Haha. Mc: I'm a girl and I'm pretty jealous of those. V: I like Iri a lot, too. Like I said, she's the – Mc: Yeah, Iri's pretty cool, too. Z: E-lees-field (Irisviel). V: She's like the ideal wife, but done well? The ideal woman? Of Japanese, but the – S: What,[ did you forget how to say that?] V: Yamato Nadeshiko, I think? She's like that done well, I think. S: So you're saying Belldandy wasn't done well? V: I like Belldandy! S: OK, I was hoping you weren't gonna say you hadn't seen that one. Then, well that would've been worrisome. V: Oh. That's like one of the first things I watched somehow. Somebody just gave me the OVA when I was a kid. Uh... I guess my favorite male character would have to be Kiritsugu. I just... feel so bad for him and I understand – M: Well that sounds like it might cause a little bit of controversy. *laughter* Z: Oh Enzo's gonna kill you. V: I relish in controversy. I don't know. I really enjoyed watching his backstory, and he's also just such a badass assassin... I like badass assassins. And yeah, I don't know – he's just like a typical assassin who has a conscience, who has a heart in some way? He's not like as some people might like to argue, like a machine, but I don't think he's a machine. Mc: I think like, the latest episode... Iri explains it pretty well, so... V: Mmhmm. I think so too, so I hope that some people, after watching the latest episode, will join my side in liking Kerry a bit more. M: I actually liked his character a bit more before the flashback episodes. They kind of knocked him down a few notches for me seeing how he reacted to certain situations – trying to avoid spoilers because of Stilts – S: Sorry, we done talking about Fate/Zero yet? I've got my ears covered. V: Oh we didn't spoil anything S: OK. M: No, no, we actually skirted around them . S: Okay, yes. At the risk of uh, actually getting myself mobbed, I've not started the second season yet... it's why I was doing that, dear listeners. I'll get to it, don't worry! Z: Hunted down! V: I'm sorry, I don't think there's any yuri in it. *snickers* Mc: Yeah there is! V: Oh, there is? Mc: Saber and Iri? Z: Yeah... M: Yeah... it's quite a thing in the fandom. V: I guess this stuff just goes over my head. I don't even know what yuri is, half the time. I'll have to ask Stilts about it sometime. Mc: Like if there's any two girls together for an extended amount of time, you're probably right in thinking it's gonna spawn some sort of yuri fandom S: It doesn't have to be extended. Mc: OK. M: If it doesn't have yuri, the fandom will put it in there. V: Well I guess this is a pretty good segue into my favorite female character, which is Marika from Mouretsu Pirates, who basically has a harem of girls chasing after her... but I don't blame them. She's pretty awesome. She's like an ace pilot, a great captain... she's kindda cute; she can sing, um... M: Kindda cute? V: Yeah... I'm just protecting myself there. She's just got this personality that I think even if the show itself wasn't that great, I would probably keep watching just for her personality. It's just personality that brightens up your day; you just can't help but smile whenever she does things. S: So what's she... like Madoka from Lagrange? V: Yeah; pretty much... they're awfully similar. S: Dammit. Now I'll have to watch this immediately. V: Heh heh heh heh. And there's yuri, so... that's another reason for you to watch it. S: Eh... 'like Madoka' is better than yuri, (but of course there's yuri), so the whole package *laugh* V: Heh. Uh... takaii? Do you want to talk about your favorite character, takaii? Or favorite couple? T: Uh for this season, um... favorite character... oh, who did I say during the practice? I don't remember... um – favorite couple, I guess would have to be probably Io and Tsumiki if they were really a couple. S: *falsetto gibberish* T: Or I guess you could also say for... well not really a couple, but for romance, Houtarou and Sakaki – no, not Sakaki... what's his name... Houtarou, and – S: [Looks like we] should've done a bromance category T: – Satoshi. So Sakaguchi Daisuke and uh... Nakamura Yuuichi together again, so... it works in both ways. V: Yeah... bromance – I'll have to remember that for the next podcast. (S: And traps we couldn't do because there weren't enough traps) V: Alright. Yeah; I'm sorry... I know you wanted traps. S: *sigh* But they're always so much fun. And we've got – the only one I've seen this season is in Natsuiro Kiseki. It was a reverse-trap... i.e. the best kind. V: Alright, favorite couple. S: Woo hoo! V: Alright, Stilts? S: Um... once again cheating, having two: Io and Tsumiki – come on, everybody saw that coming by how much I've been talking about Acchi Kocchi. They are fricking adorable. *pause* And then the other one: Mix and Andy. Those two *pause* oh man, if they uh – Mc: OTP. OTP S: Yes. Seriously the best couple. I seriously don't care about any of the other couples in the show, just those two. Mc: *laughs* Z: Fill your holes! S: *laughs* Mc: *laughs* Oh my gosh, awesome. S: Best. Confession. *falsetto* Ever~ Almost. V: Oh yeah, we don't have enough falsettos from you. S: I'm gettin' there! V: *laugh* S: You're making me feel so embarrassed, but yes. Those were my two. V: Alright. Moomba, favorite couple. *pause* V: What's that? M: I think everyone's picked Andy and Mix at some point in there, so I'll skip that one, for now, but I'm actually gonna go with Marika and Chiaki despite verdant's choices on that front. V: Hey I like that – I just I have vibes that Kane and Marika might end up doing something. We'll see though. M: Even with the whole uh, 'teacher' thing standing in the way? V: Yeah... *laugh* Forbidden love, you know. S: Even more interested now. *laughter* V: I am learning a lot of things about you today, Stilts. S: None of them good, I assume. V: Well you know, it depends on your moral relativism. S: Ouch. Just perverted, not anything else! *pause* V: Zephyr, you have a favorite couple? Z: Uhh, I have to pick Kiritsugu x Irisviel pretty much. I mean, there's not much here to say here because they theoretically haven't shown much of their background before Fate/Zero but really. They're two really strong characters and you can really tell their affection for one another and they're both in this war together and they know each other so well. It's just one of those relationships that you just can't describe, but really, it's a great one. V: Stereoman, favorite couple? St: I'll have to go with a Fairy Tail couple this time. It's Juvia and Gray from Fairy Tail. S: Ah, that's a good one. St: Yeah, it is. Because it's so one-sided! Juvia, she's actually pretty crazy about Gray and he completely ignores her it's so funny. Her imagination is completely crazy. S: I wouldn't say completely ignores...but you know. St: SPOILERS!!! Mc: So tragic! M: What about some of the more spoilerish ones that have turned up recently? S: Want to watch or read Fairy Tail, close your ears. St: I ship almost everyone in Fairy Tail, but Juvia and Gray they stand out and they match each other based on magic too because she uses water and he uses ice, so they're a nice match. S: It's like they're destined. St: Something really funny is that their voice actors did Nagisa and Tomoya in Clannad, so that's an extra thing. V: Extra shipping? St: Yeah. V: Shipping is always fun. St: Yeah, but I consider them as being a couple because she really loves him. She's more like a fangirl stalker. S: Just not a very subtle one *chuckle* St: Yeah. V: Mochi? Mc: Well, my two favorite couples have already been mentioned, like Andy and Mix and Iri and Kerry--- S: I'm putting down four votes for Andy and Mix by the way. Mc: They're just super fun to watch, like seriously! And then like Aya and Carey like Zephyr mentioned, they're just two strong characters which both two of them together, I wish... I don't know if anyone's heard of the drama CD that came with the Blu Ray disks, this is from last season, but if you watched the ending, double whammy, you know that they're meant to be together. V: Wow, so cursed! Mc: So cursed! V: Double cursed! I think my favorite character comes from Hyouka. Hotaru and Chitanda. I really, when she trolled him and he was like, "Woah! I found my soulmate!" it was just the most hillarious part of the show so far for me. I think if they ever got together as a couple, he would never get a chance to rest. S: Ho ho ho! Mc: That sounds so.... V: That's not what I meant! S: You're making it too easy! Come on! V: She'll be like, "I'm curious about this and that and this and that..." you know. S: Curious about this---I gotcha. Mc: Got it. V: Gonna lose things there. Mc: At least Mochi is backing me up on this one. V: Next we'll go to favorite OP and ED. S: Uhm, for me, Hyouka's OP is pure, just the song itself would be the best. I really like, what was it, ChouChou? Their music is very energetic, very lively energetic, but also it's got a deeper feel to it. Another OP is Natsuiro Kiseki, but of course I'm a fan because I decided to cover that, but both the OP and ED are really really good examples of what they can do, so I like that one as well. V: Moomba? M: I think I'm going to choose 3 OPs because it's just a pretty good seasons for OPs as well as anime, but I kind of really like the Phi Brain S2 OP and the AKB0048 OP and the Space Bros OP. All three of them, I'm not really sure which one of them would be my favorite, probably Space Bros edging out the front, but they're definitely all really good tracks. For the ED, even though I'm not watching it I'm just going to pick this because Stereoman will want to as well, I'm going to go with the Fairy Tail ED, the new one, because it's a really great song. St: Yeah, it is. V: Yeah, I liked it, I don't even watch it too, I thought it was pretty good. It's very soothing. S: Well, a lot of the Fairy Tail songs are pretty soothing, I've read the manga instead of watching the anime but I still, ya know, have enjoyed most of the ones I've come across. V: Zephyr, favorite OP/ED? Z: Well, I have to agree, there are a crazy amount of opening themes this season, but I'm probably going to have to pick Aquarion Evol's "Paradoxical Zoo" by AKINO with bless4. It's really strong emotional ride that just perfectly fits in with the vibe that EVOL gives. Of course I have to mention too Tsuritama and Hyouka, they also have some great OPs as well. In terms of endings, I have to say both of Fate/Zero's themes this season were spectacular. They just resonate with what Fate/Zero is about, so it fit really great. Jormungand's ballad at the end of each episode is pretty pretty darn good too. V: I'd have to agree on the Fate/Zero EDs, it was going to be my pick for my favorite too. S: I don't know about Jormungand, I think the music that plays during the next episode preview is a bit better in my opinion. Z: Heh. Mc: Loco? S: Makes me smile every time. V: Never a bad thing. Uh, Stereoman. St: My favorite opening is the one from Amnesia, it's called CHOIR JAIL and it's really nice. I don't know if it's heavy metal or hard rock with really sweet singing, and the girl who sings, her name is Suzuki Konomi, she's just 15. It's a really good song. Mc: Is that the one girl that won the anime song thing...? V: Is that the one who won the anime song competition? St: Yeah, she did. She won this and her debut single, and it's really nice to listen to, and if you get the whole single there's another version of the same song in it, which is a bit slower but still a rock song. The ending theme is probably Fairy Tail. Not because it's one of my favorite shows, but because it's a really good song. It's nice to listen to and it's the best Fairy Tail song ever so far. S: You already got some feel, I'll agree with you on that one... V: I'm gonna nod my head. Mochi, favorites? Mc: I've got a couple of favorite openings like both of the Accel World openings and the Jormungand opening. Iunno, I just keep listening to it over and over again on my mp3 player. For ending, the Fate/Zero ending, the current one, not the one that was for the last half. The new Polar Bear Cafe ending, Grizzly Rock I think, pretty interesting one. It's sung by Nakamura Yuuichi so there's a big bonus there too. V: Oh, I might have to listen to that one then. Mc: It's pretty quirky, I like it. V: Uh, I don't really have a favorite OP this season, I guess cause I probably haven't watched enough shows to make up my mind. T: It's because you're not watching Acchi Kocchi. That's why. S: Ah yes, I forgot to mention that one. Acchi Kocchi's OP and ED are very good; fit in with the show very well. V: Very adorable? S: The OP is more kind of gunning you up for the show whereas the ED kind of tapers off from this cute scene into the ED which is really cute. Yeah, it works well within the show. Yeah, go ahead and steal verdant's turn right there. V: I think I'll go with the Fate/Zero ones. They always fit in with the show so well. You always finish with an episode and the music fits in perfectly with what you're feeling. So, that's probably why it's jumped up to the top of my favorites list this season. Takaii, favorite OP and ED? T: Uh, favorite opening is probably, it's pretty tough 'cause Fate/Zero's is pretty good, but I don't know. Acchi Kocchi is pretty up there too but its sequence is pretty good. Everything matches up pretty well. Ending probably goes to...*sigh*...so many good shows. Probably goes to Fate/Zero for being so awesome, but when you watch Acchi Kocchi Verdant, make sure to read what the lyrics actually mean, because the first 30 seconds are pretty sad. V: Sad? S: Yeah, it pretty is. T: Yeah, in retrospect to the show and how Tsumiki and Io's relationship works, it makes you pay attention to what she's actually saying in the first 30 seconds of the ending sequence. V: I'll make sure to do that. S: It's still kind of like "awwww" sad, it's not you're going to start crying, but it's still awwwww. V: It's not like foreshadowing, is it? T: Uhhh, foreshadowing in a bad way. V: Oh man. S: I think I need to pay more attention to that. V: It's pretty insightful right there, thanks! T: No problem! V: Well, from OP and ED, we're going to move on to our favorite soundtracks of the season! S: I'm not really good at paying attention to soundtracks, persay, so I'll take this moment to say something completely off-topic. People should watch Nyaruko, it's awesome. It's hella crazy fun. T: So, before our resident composer steps in and I have to run back to the front, uhm, so for favorite soundtrack. It was soundtrack, right? V: Yeah. T: Hyouka's soundtrack I think is spot-on and it's pretty damn amazing. V: I do like the piano in it. It's very appropriate. T: Every time it plays music, it always just compliments the mood really well and can really change a scene. You know something is coming if you hear like a slight shift in the tempo or the pitch of a song. I like it. M: Well, I don't know, watching it myself, I've heard there's a lot of licensed classical music used in there. How much of the soundtrack is not comprised of classical music and is actually original material written for the anime itself. T: For the classical music pieces, it usually happens like during jarring "ah solution time" moments. But you know, the background music playing during certain scenes, like if they're debating over certain topics, I guess it has a very smooth feel to it, but it all resembles classical music, but I dunno if any kind of famous piece is playing during most of the series. V: and I feel that even when they do play the famous classical pieces, it's played in a slightly different way that makes it unique to Hyouka. T: I've only heard a few of them so...*chuckles* V: When you hear it, it doesn't feel like they're just putting in classical music, it fits in with the show. It's done in the style of the show. I like it too. Good choice. and Moomba? M: I'm actually going to go with Fate/Zero for my favorite OST because I'm a huge fan of Kajura and all the works generally. A lot of music in Fate/Zero, a lot of people have found that it's not that great, but I don't see that at all. The style is very straightforward in a way. If you put all the soundtracks back to back, you wouldn't be able to tell which is which, which belonged to what anime, unless you knew them really intimately. However, I don't see that as a bad thing, I see that as a really good thing in a way. S: Gurren Lagann type music is always good. I'm surprised though, that you didn't want to talk about - or haven't at some point, talked about AKB4-0-12-13, whatever the hell... (AKB0048) M: The reason I haven't talked about that is because when we did the practice I actually managed to convince Zephyr to watch it and I feel like any chance of convincing anyone else...so... S: *chuckles* V: Iunno, I heard it's like by the Macross director, so I might watch it. M: Yeah, it has the Macross director and it has got anything I'd want to watch in a sci-fi anime and plus the stuff you'd want to see in an idol anime and a magical girl anime. It's all all these different genres spliced together that really works well. In my opinion anyways. But on top of that, I really like the latest episode of Jormungand's background music, because we actually get to see Iwasaki come into his own towards the end of the most recent episode we had some very Gurren Lagann type of music, which I think really worked well. V: Sounds good. Zephyr, favorite soundtrack? Z: Um... pretty much, uh... it's pretty hard to decide, um... between AKB0048, Fate/Zero and Eureka Seven. But in the end, I think I'm going to have to choose Eureka Seven Astral Ocean's soundtrack as my favorite soundtrack. Mostly because, I mean, we get, from the original series we had some spectacular music from Naoki Sato but once it was announced that he wasn't coming back for the sequel, I know a lot of people were pretty bummed about that and they want - 'cuz music is pretty important to the atmosphere of Eureka Seven as a whole. But then they brought in Koji Nakamura, the lead singer of Supercar and really, he makes an absolutely astounding soundtrack. You've got all these upbeat themes, gorgeous violin ensembles and it's pretty much, it's exactly what Eureka Seven should be and should sound like, should feel like. Doesn't have as much as a vocal tracks that the original series had but it's still quite strong in its own way. V: Sounds good. Stereoman, favorite soundtrack? St: I think everyone knows this already. It's Fairy Tail. It's my all-time favorite soundtrack and I really love Moomba for doing a post on it. I'm so happy, it's the best RC post ever, you must read it. V: Alright, um... Mochi, favorite soundtrack? Mc: I think, like I like soundtracks, I don't pay special attention to them. But like, I think this season has to be Fate/Zero, just for that one track - The Sword of Promised Victory. Like, it was also in Fate/Stay Night and Kajiura made it here and it was like amazing. Like I can't wait to hear the full version. V: Ya... I'm the same. I don't really pay attention to soundtracks that much, so when something does stick out in my mind and like stays there, it's really unusual and for me, this season's been Fate/Zero. I always just hear the coral arrangements in my head all the time whenever I do something epic, which is pretty much every day. Our last favorite of this podcast, will be animation of this season. Favorite animation. S: Animation... I guess I would have to say... and you went over this in your show portion a little bit but Hyouka's animation, is just very beautiful. I mean... not just the characters but the scenes... very fine animation. V: Took my answer again. S: Sorry, animation is another thing I don't think I pay attention to. That's just like what you said, the soundtrack, when something stands out, I go "Oh." Hyouka did that. V: Sometimes it's hard to pay attention to the background when you're busy reading subtitles all the time. S: A little bit. V: Moomba? M: I'm actually going to take animation as art in this case and mention how much I really like the backgrounds in AKB, particularly the city environments and all the different locations, they way they blend in the more sci-fi buildings, the skyscrapers with more rustic churches and interesting housing, it just looks really really nice from my perspective. S: I saw on the posts that you were helping the screenshots on, there was a lot of ones that were just scenery porn...so... V: It's always nice--- M: I couldn't help myself there. I just had to take a few caps of them. V: It's always a nice feeling when you notice these things other than the usual suspects when you watch an anime. S: It's like you leveled up as an anime watcher. V: Zephyr? Z: I'm gonna have to agreeing with Moomba. AKB0048 pretty much takes the top animation pic for this season for me. I mean, there's crazy amount of animation quality in Hyouka, Tsuritama, all that, but there's just the great gorgeous scenes in AKB that takes the cake and I guess most of it is because you have Macross Frontier's director Kawamori Shouji leading this product. You actually notice a lot of the similarities between the visual style of AKB and in Macross Frontier. We all know how great Macross Frontier looked, so. V: It did look pretty great. Stereoman? St: I'm stuck between Hyouka or Amnesia. But Hyouka has better animation, if we talk about quality, and Amnesia is pretty much more artistic I think. Everything is portrayed in a very artistic way, it's very stylish, and its own scenes in the background are amazing. The sky, the painting, everything. It's a lot of strong colors contrasting with black. I really like that kind of art. It sounds, it sounds, it's outstanding, sorry. V: It does sound pretty, a treat for your eyes. Mochi? Mc: Oh sorry, I caught on again. I think a lot of people don't watch this, but Shining Hearts has amazing animation. You look at it, and you would think it's 3D. The character designs are pretty, but I'm talking about the backgrounds, there's amazing detail in there. S: Yeah, I was watching that, and compared to some of the promotional art, for what that artist has done for the characters, yeah the animators and stuff so the animation isn't as smooth but the backgrounds, they did have some pretty good backgrounds in Shining Hearts. Mc: Yeah, it's pretty great. M: and some very well drawn bread. Mc: Oh yeah! They put a lot of detail there too! M: I always get very hungry after watching Shining Hearts. Mc: I can't disagree with you there, like wow. S: Totally no plot, but lots of bread. Mc: Yeah, plot is nonexistent I think. V: Who needs plot when you have bread? S: You're trying to get people to watch things! *mumble mumble* V: I think for me, I already talked about Hyouka, but I also really like the little details that Fate/Zero has, like they'll animate when it's cold outside you can see your own breath and they'll animate that. They also have pretty good angles at looking at aesthetics of setting up the scene and I'm sure people already know how good the motorcycle scenes looks. Mc: and you have like 50,000 versions of the figurine being made there, so...? V: So Takaii, favorite animation art? T: For this season, Hyouka and Fate/Zero are pretty much, in terms of production value, pretty high up there. I guess I would say, just to bring something a little different to the table... Acchi Kocchi, all the animation throughout has been pretty consistant. For a slice of life with low budget values, everything comes out pretty nice except for the side... the background characters on aren't drawn in, but all in all it has pretty good art for a show like this. S: Then again, I haven't really been bothered by that. It's not like the black faces you got in (CAN'T HEAR THE SHOW NAME AT 79:11) or something like that where it's really distracting. In this case they're just grayed out a bit so... Plus, the scene transitions are really really slick. How they do it, they usually always tell something about what's going on. T: I didn't like it at first, but now that it seems to be flowing much better, I really like it when we have those funny things there. V: Okay, now we'll shift over to our shoutouts. Just stuff we want to tell our listeners in general. T: Okay guys, so that shirt design... the reason why the post is not out yet is because I'm waiting on the company to tell me whether or not they can do it, because if they can't, then I have to pick a different design. But I have a few picked that I really like. And I want to just say, whoever's listening to this, thank you again for everything... all of the designs have been really good. And for those of you going to Anime Expo, one of my friend's is going to have me cosplay Shu. M: What?! Z: Oh my God. M: Are you going to have Inori with you? T: Psh, girls exist in real life aren't in anime, what! No, one of my friends might be doing (Can't hear 80:25). But yes, I'll probably be going as Shu maybe. I have the thing ready, so maybe I'll do it. V: So who's going to cut off... M: ... one of his arms!? T: I'll just be emo Shu so I can keep both my arms. V: Sounds cool. S: Fair enough. V: Any other shoutouts? S: Shoutouts... anyone who's read my Stilts Out Loud posts, I really appreciate all the really nice feedback and comments. There's been a lot of those. Especially on some the ones, it's like oh there's actually comments and they're ones I enjoy reading... that are in depth and insightful and those are always nice to see. Other than that, SeishunOtoko and Croos, all of you over on IRC. You guys are always really fun, but really distracting... so I don't show up there as much as I should... but hey. And the last one is to the big guy up there, who without which none of this would be possible: Divine. T: Who refuses to join us on the podcast for fear of people just finding him and I guess giving him mad love. S: It's disappointing, but he's still amazing so... You're awesome Divine. V: Alright then, Moomba, anything you want to say? M: Alright, well, I want to thank everyone for giving such a great reaction to the soundtrack posts I've been doing, which I'm continuing to do. But the current one is a bit delayed at the moment because I've been busy. But hopefully in the next week or so, people will see something. And I also want to tell people to watch Space Bros. More people need to watch Space Bros. V: I wholeheartedly concur. T: The moment Verdant watches two episode of Acchi Kocchi, I'll watch one episode of Space Bros. V: Alright, I'll do it later. I'll do it tomorrow. S: Gauntlet thrown down. V: I'll update my list once I do it. Zephyr? Shoutout? Z: I guess two things for me. This first thing might be a bit early, but chances are I'll be going to Comic Con this October... so those of you going to Comic Con, you know, might be a chance to meet up there, say hi and have a little chat. And the second thing is, my Blast From The Past column, if you guys go over on IRC, I'll be willing to take some requests for shows you want to get covered. That's about it. V: Stereoman. St: Yeah, I think that more people should watch Tsuritama because it's a really nice show, it's mellow, it's always interesting. Same goes for Amnesia. I'd be very happy if people picked up Fairy Tail even though it's really long. It's a fun show. I made unlisted watch it. V: I was waiting for that. Mochi, shoutout? Mc: Well, what can I say. I don't know what to say! Yeah I love every one of you guys! T: But I said it first so it's okay. V: I like that answer, it's like the best one yet. Mc: Let's see...also I'll be taking to blog the Hitman Reborn manga so look forward to that please and yeah, thank you! T: Let it be on record before any of you say anything, I call Little Busters for when it comes out next next season. It's been done. S: We'll have that fight later on. V: I guess my shoutout would be thanks for all the great comments you've been leaving. It's definitely a highlight of writing is getting to read the comments you leave on our post, so thank you! Anymore shoutouts guys? S: To all of your readers and now listeners, you're all awesome! T: Verdant, thank you for hosting it! V: Yeah, glad to host! That's the end of our first podcast! We're going to leave you out with a song of Moomba and Zephyr's choosing, which is from Muv Luv. It's called the Limo Theme, aka "Theory for a Speedy Welcome and Farewell", and with that, farewell! *Ending song plays*