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Great minds think alike |
Join us for our first tri-continental podcast, as RC strikes a blow against the tyranny of distance.
It was my pleasure to slide back into the host’s seat (I’m not paying to have those beer stains cleaned, Mister) for a spur-of-the-moment podcast. Joining me from California is Kairi, and from Scotland Samu.
Apologies if you were expecting more bloodshed, but the fact it that the three of us tend to agree an awful lot when it comes to anime-related topics (such is the curse of impeccable taste). If we’d kept the tape rolling we could have had about three more podcasts worth of lavishing praise on series we all love (that, and giving Samu grief about his “plan to watch” list).
- Kairi – @Okaeri_Kairi, MAL profile
- Guardian Enzo – @GuardianEnzo, Anime-Planet profile, lostinanime.com
- Samu – @its_samu, MAL profile
We cast a wide net with a very spontaneous conversation. Among the catch:
00:00 – Intro – What superpower would you choose?
05:30 – Underrated Spring shows
- Kairi – Akatsuki no Yona
- Samu – Shirobako
- Enzo – Tribe Cool Crew
- Plus: Animator working conditions, the stigma of shoujo and kids shows, and “What makes a harem show a harem show?”
13:48 – In praise of Akatsuki no Yona
22:17 – World Trigger is better than it gets credit for
27:58 – Sanzoku no Musume Ronja, Sidonia no Kishi and CGI
31:40 – What Fall show would you rather have your eyes poked out with yakatori skewers than watch?
- Enzo – Cross Ange
- Samu – Trinity Seven (sorry, Stilts-chama) and Ore, Twintails ni Narimasu
- Kairi – Twintails
34:30 – Shigatsu wa Kimi no Uso post-mortem
47:40 – Koe no Katachi adaptation discussion
51:45 – Kairi tries in three minutes or less to convince Samu to watch Eureka Seven
54:58 – Samu tries in three minutes or less to convince Kairi to watch Game of Thrones
58:50 – If you could tell the anime industry to start doing one thing and stop doing one thing, what would they be?
63:00 – “Stilts and Zanibas walk into a bar…”
65:00 – Dealer’s Choice
- Kairi – Pokemon and a slightly creepy story of generosity
- Samu – Ano-hana love
68:05 – Wrap-up/shout-outs
71:10 – He has spoken!
A special congrats to Samu, who in his very first podcast won the “make Xumbra talk” sweepstakes.
Download 160 kbps (61.29 MB)
Now this is a rare combi to hear.
63:00 – “Stilts and Zanibas walk into a bar…”
Hahaha, skipping straight to this.
*listens*
No shipping jokes? I am disappoint.
Might give this a full listen later tonight after I wake up just because the combination is pretty different from the norm. Also to hear some impressions on Ronja.
I think this is the Shirobako salary sheet Enzo was talking about:
http://img1.ak.crunchyroll.com/i/spire4/189b6b90965c69920d87f207307e17271416435727_full.png
That’s the one, thanks.
Wow…
600k?? Did I read that sheet correctly?
That’s not the real annual earning of those working in the anime industry, is it? Even the top seiyuu such as HanaKana obviously earn a lot less than this, though Nana Mizuki with her long successful singing career might be pretty rich by now.
The very top seiyuu, who are as much idols as voice actors, do earn that much. But that’s only the top 1-2% or so – the rest obviously earn considerably less.
I was quite proud of myself for getting Xumbra out of his **** and making him speak.
P.S I hope you could all understand my accent between Enzo’s and Kairi’s. Sorry if you couldn’t~
I think you’re way more hung up on that than the listeners – it’s easy peasy. Though my favorite part was when you said World Trigger had “Sexy chapters” out… 😉
Your accent can’t be worse than whatever I’m working with.
Are you kidding! Who cares about that! You already had my heart when you proclamed your undying love for Shinsekai yori and Kyousougiga in your introduction. The accent is the cherry on top, I would say! (wow, this didn’t sound nearly as creepy in my mind!)
Yay, I have a fan!
Zack Morris of Saved By the Bell has that “time-out” superpower.
i think Shigatsu would be such a better show if they do a timeskip and then make the characters realize how much of a dicks they have been and apologize.
Kairi, what do you think of what’s happening in the Shigatsu manga right now? I’m curious about what you think about the teacher character in comparison to Arima’s “friends” and how they treat him (although I’m aware this is spoiler territory).
If you’re still reading it/caught up, of course – no pressure if you aren’t. 😀
I definitely prefer the teacher character. She’s a lot more subtle in the way she supports him, and if I remember correctly she lets him choose to continue right?
I still see some of the issues I had before but I certainly enjoy the manga more when there’s more of her and less of the earlier harrassment.
People always say animes are ads to sell more manga but World Trigger’s anime isn’t making a good case for the manga unfortunately. Haven’t read the manga but the art and animation isn’t the only issue, framing, pacing and editing are all absolutely terrible. It’s kind of a shame since the concept and characters seems fairly good.
As for Twintails… I thought nothing of it reading the description, but it has some of the greatest and hilarious villain death lines ever. If you think a fun parody of Vividred Operation would be interesting, it’s worth a watch. It’s not amazing but quite entertaining.
Thanks for the podcast! RandomC podcasts will probably be the only ones I ever listen to.
I definitely agree that it is much easier to read manga at times. When the anime focuses too much on some things I get annoyed too..
I read koi no kitachi when it was a one shot and I didn’t know it was continued. I liked it a lot and I’m really glad to hear that.
Kairi’s laughter before she started convincing Samu to watch eureka seven was funny 😛
Xumbra spoke :O
:O
hey there love that there was a podcast!!! I agree with Kairi that when it gets to episode 24 just stop!! Unfortunately I don’t think we are going to get to more “exciting” stuff that happens in the manga for Akatsuki no Yona but hey at least the story will be well told and I’m hoping you guys can do a chapter review for the manga ^_^
I’m about to start class so I can’t finish listening to the podcast but I just wanted to make a comment that there should be a statement for the high amount of abusive comments in the recent episode of Akatsuki no Yona post shi gatsu ha kimi no uso incident. I would really hate if every week there will be abusive comments in those posts especially since I’m here to enjoy a fun conversations with fellow fans. The good comments keep getting a high amount of down votes. Its just unpleasant. I will finish the rest of the podcast when I get home ^_^
It’s funny Enzo doesn’t wanna watch it but Cross Ange is actually… good. As in, better than the abysmal trainwreck we all expected. Even the reviewers from ANN who (some of them) have a slight SJW-bias are enjoying it.
Totally agree with you, it’s actually pretty decent, if you give it a chance. It has nice dinamics and characters, it’s all about friendship and the idea that you cant make on your own all the time…
On the other side i think we can all agree that twintails is just bad, reaaaaaaaly bad, i’ve watch some bad anime even some where this genre inversion occurs(not my thing, but Kore wa Zombie Desu ka, was one of the few that did it right), but this one is just the worst of them all –‘
Yeah, it’s just amazing that underneath the mountain of fanservice there’s actually… a decent plot, and character development. Every character behaves rationally and I honestly can’t wait until we know more about the DRAGONS and why they have to freeze them and all the other stuff concerning the Light of Mana and Tusk… Wow I can’t believe I’m saying all these things about an anime that we all thought was gonna be just utter trash.
Thing with Cross Ange, its a show made to test how much people can tolerate. I mean a lot of it comes from its overdone fan service, which i kind of just roll my eyes to the side but I don’t let it bother me since at least this fan service doesn’t get in the way of the plot/distracts from the plot….its just…there unfortunately. Also testing how much people can tolerate of a main character who’s unlikeable (though of course she’s growing into someone better). Of course there’s the people who’re in the whole rape debate with it when clearly they did some medical adjustments to her so she wouldn’t have kids. All in all, I don’t really like Cross Ange so much and I do see where everyone is coming from with what they hate about it (though some are just overblowing the whole thing. Its kind of like if you hate something then any little thing that you come across you’ll just make a mountain out of a molehill). But!
It’s only one of the few shows this season that I’ll bother to watch start-to-finish without skipping with those being:
Chaika
Yugioh Arc V
Ange
Shingeki no Bahumat
Wixoss
IDK, I just find it somewhat entertaining and it helps being gay so I’m not exactly that pissed off when I see constant flaunting of female goodies because I could care less. Plus I honestly want to see how this all turns out in the end, with Ange brining on a revolution or the mana-users getting killed or converted to norma’s or something.
I haven’t read any of the comments for Shigatsu, but I do have to say that the people who condone what Arima’s friends are doing to him sound like a bunch of sociopaths. The way they’re doing it is not how you help someone get past mental trauma! What his friends are doing is equivalent to throwing someone who has a fear of cats into a pit full of lions. It’s a wonder as to how Arima came out of that harrowing experience mentally intact.
I always wanna listen to podcasts but I always forget, I probably have some older ones bookmarked I still haven’t got to. This one took my attention and listened a bit because of the “children and shoujo shows stigma” thing which I couldn’t agree more with. It’s sad how many people haven’t seen the best show of those past three years, Pretty Rhythm.
Still haven’t watched Ginga e Kickoff, but still planning to.
About the “less stuff you want” in the anime industry thing. I’d like less LN adaptations as well. I’d like to bring up other reasons as well. LN adaptations are also getting a “stigma” now. Because of all the bad adaptations people are starting to judge them by the cover and automatically don’t want to watch any. Good novels are drown in the sea of “guy in Tokyo highschool with his harem using fancy English words under brackets”.
Basically they should focus more on quality rather than quantity.
Would be cool if the rest of the Slayers novels would get animated to show who the king of LNs is.
Also I’m just gonna say Cross Ange is actually great.
Yes, watch Ginga e Kickoff by all means! Not just a good series, but a great one.
You raise a good point about LNs. Perhaps (since we’re in the realm of fantasy anyway) a hiatus (say three years) rather than a permanent ban on adaptations would be ideal. That way the reputation of the medium can be rehabilitated a bit, and when the odd good one comes along it won’t be summarily categorized as formula crap.
Speaking of LNs, Durarara!! will be smothered all over 2015. 3 cours, whew!
XUMBRA, WHAT WAS THE PUNCHLINE!? D:
Samu already said it: “Zanibas walks under the bar.”
Underrated? Inou Battle ^^
I just remembered that RC’s “Best of Anime 2014” will be coming soon. Can’t wait!
I enjoyed the Podcast a lot and I had no problem understanding Samu.
However I must disagree about throwing Cross Ange under the bus. It is a cross(ha ha)between a women in prison story and a magic version of Gundam Seed but underneath all the rape and fanservice is a good show. Indeed I found it funny that Akatsuki no Yona was heaped with such praise and the complaints that people were prejudging it based on it being a shoujo. Followed by them piling on Cross Ange in much the same way.
I really like both shows and think that most of the good points mentioned about Akatsuki no Yona could equally be applied to Cross Ange. The shows are in some ways mirror images of each other with similar stories seen through different lens.
Cross Ange also has the best letter of apology that I have ever read as well. Even if the rest of the show was completely worthless, which it is not,that letter would be reason enough for the show to exist.
Couldn’t agree more.
The letter of apology was one of the funniest things I saw this year.
“Are you embarrassed when a bug sees you naked?” Ange 11/10?
You don’t get many female leads like Ange and while I’m very much able to enjoy a glorious Sunrise trainwreck,it wouldn’t be nearly as entertaining if it wasn’t for her. Glorious trainwreck aspect aside,Ange get’s some genuinely good character development,much more than any character in Valvrave did.
Akatsuki has a much more refined way of telling it’s character-driven story though,whereas Cross Ange is a more trashy kind of show,therefore putting many people off. But for those of us who aren’t bothered it,there’s definitely a lot to enjoy. And sweet Lord Tatsuya-Stu,that glorious letter.
A-1 Pictures/Aniplex has a really weird way of looking at the world, it’s not just Shigatsu. The entire company just seems to be full of people that see things through a matter of pure profit motive and who seem to be exactly the kinds of people Miyazaki was talking about when he said too many people working in the anime industry don’t spend enough time around real people and the actual world. What they do works from a commercial perspective extremely well though so it is what it is, but I can’t say I pretty much didn’t see the pitfalls their adaptation of that fell into coming from a mile away since I knew they were going to overemphasize certain aspects of the manga just via experience with their bad habits. Even something as innocuous as Mahouka for example they love to play up certain aspects they know will be more popular with otaku viewers as opposed to just trying to do the most accurate adaptation possible and suddenly the show comes across as some aggressive right wing themed diatribe even though it’s really not so much as just oblivious handling of matters that are too complex for the people in charge of writing about and adapting them to give proper consideration.
Anyway I don’t think it’s serious or as culturally problematic as Enzo seems to think though, it’s just the obliviousness and profit driven motives of certain producers and authors getting in the way of logic and how people really work. I just don’t really expect any better than that out of anime really lol.
You can’t generalize when it comes to a studio like A-1, which is one of the most prolific in the industry. They adapted Gin no Saji and Shin Sekai Yori too, for example – how does that jibe with your theory? Yes, they were the studio that was sued (and lost) by the family of the animator that committed suicide from overwork and poverty, but that’s an industry-wide problem – they were just the drunk driver who happened to kill someone rather than somehow get home safely.
I happen to think Mahouka is quite the opposite of innocuous, for the record – not to mention it was animated by Madhouse, not A-1. But that’s an argument for a different place.
Didn’t knew Kairy was ten-bilingual… Now i am actually curious how that debate would go when she gets started on the whole language thing ^_^
As for twintails and cross ange, twintails is just for some mindless laughter i guess. The villains are just weird with the whole affinity while the twintailed ones are not a single dime better with how random they can be 😛
Cross ange on the other hand, not so much for mindless laughter but an interesting one none the less. Just watch a few more episodes Enzo, you might even like the show when you ignore the bad first impression that the first episode left on you ^^
What part does she talk about she is ten-bilingual? Unfortunately I probably won’t be able to hear the entire podcast but i would love to hear her take on languages. ^_^
No no I’m not ten bilingual! I wish I was but I only speak two languages fluently (Spanish, English) and a few others more or less decently, depending (Japanese, Italian, and Swedish).
I think I meant to say a bilingual person, sorry if I said another thing, speaking is tough for me since I speak Spanish and English equally and often interchangeably.
Deca-lingual…
http://airgear.wikia.com/wiki/Yasuyoshi_Sano
This guy has the power to stop time.
It’s pronounced Hantā Hantā (hunter hunter), not hunter ex hunter. Just FYI.
In Japan it is, yes. But I’m not Japanese and old habits die hard.
But you don’t have to be Japanese to say Hunter Hunter.
If you want someone to stop time, look no further than DIO!!!
ZA WARUDO!!!
I don’t think it’s right for you guys to take an absolute stand on the shigatsu issue. As Enzo said, There are many cultures where you have people who supposedly “help” you are considered friends. I had a lot of shit happen to me as well. Maybe I have been insensitive many times. At the same time I agree with the author here in this particular scenario. Dealing with loss is tough yes, and I’m going to come out as very insensitive here and maybe it was because I grew up in a society which makes me say “People have had worse happen to them. Get up and do shit.” If about half the people have a different view then maybe you can’t absolutely judge them. In fact maybe I could accuse your views as probably consistent with the first world upbringing. I dislike the fact that you’ve just colored every single person who shares a different opinion here as bullies or something.
Twintails are love, twintails are life! Sad that Kaira and Samu have no love for ’em, it’s solidly my second favorite show this season. Though I can see why, its humor is very subjective, and I wasn’t expecting much from the cover either.
Speaking of underrated shows, IMO I’d definitely say Garo is the most underrated this season. It’s a lot like Bahamut in that it seems to be influenced in setting and style by western media; it feels like a cross between Power Rangers and Supernatural. The directing’s been pretty great, and I really like the main characters and their synergy. Between this, Bahamut, Chaika, and Akatsuki, this is really an awesome season for people who like medieval high fantasy.
From what I saw of the first episode I wouldn’t say Cross Ange is completely worthless. Remove the appalling fanservice and there’s an interesting and unique plot underneath. Pity it’s shot and directed like a hentai. I might go back and watch it if I hear good things after it ends. And have a lot of time. And no better mecha to watch.
Actually, it’s pretty damn good. I’ve always been a fan of sunrise mecha anime, so I buckled down and ventured past the first ep. To say the least, it feels like sunrise finally optimized their mecha formula for a truly interesting story.
Let me elaborate. Each episode so far has been building the plot consistently. Sunrise has done so many mecha shows, they’ve got the general makings of a decent story etched in stone. But what makes Cross Ange better than the rest is
the fanserviceunique and subtle approach of world building.In my opinion, there are 3 factors that helped sunrise conceive this title. Code Geass, Gundam, and their experience in anime in general.
1. Using discrimination to engage and motivate the viewers. The theme that serves as the primary device to roll the plot along. Code Geass was based on this, and Cross Ange has inherited it. The story so far takes the concept of discrimination and subtly foreshadows the flaws with it. Similar to Code Geass, where we wish to see how the Lelouch joins the societal minority to regain his status, Ange of Cross Ange treads a similar yet noticeably different path. It keeps me intrigued.
2. Gundam, the most successful franchise known to anime. Sunrise spawned countless renditions of it, they’re masters of the mecha franchise. So far, Cross Ange has been following the fundamental formula with the proper tweaks to make it feel like a standalone title. If you’ve got a keen eye, you might be rewarded with split-second cameos from another particular sunrise title 🙂
3. I’m a pretty veteran anime watcher… not that it’s anything special. I’m sure most of us have quite a few years on our belt. I’ve got 10 years, and I’ve seen an overwhelming share of fanservice to the point I get disgusted with most of the antics I see. To me, characters making the obligatory blunder to flash their underwear is so generic that I’d rather it not happen. There’s so many series that do the obligatory “cute” moments that I’m completely numb to them. Cross Ange does it in a new and refreshing way… by integrating fanservice directly into the norm. It’s a controversial decision, and I think they did it well. With fanservice, it’s often hard to give just the right amount so that people don’t get disgusted by it. While the opening episode might have left a lot disgusted, I guarantee that the fanservice is actually done quite naturally. I feel that none of the scenes are wasted. They all add to the plot in an interesting way.
I spent an hour typing this!
In short, watch it! Every episode has been strong, and best of all, consistently so. I won’t say it’s going to be a legendary masterpiece yet, but if it can keep it up for the rest of it’s run time, it might earn it’s place as such!
To elaborate a bit on the “mecha formula”
Consider the many mecha series to date. Other than Gundam, most of what we see as mecha consists of main character defeating goons every episode until the boss shows up. I’ve watched too much of that. After the first few fights, it starts getting repetitive even with the power ups. Star Driver, and more recently, Captain Earth, were prime culprits of this formula.
To my pleasant surprise, Cross Ange has moved on from that and am I glad it did. Just before the renditions of dragon killing gets repetitive, it feels like the story moves on to a deeper and darker plot. Time will tell.
I agree. Honestly, as it stands now Cross Ange is twenty times better than the mediocre/forgettable Aldnoah Zero. If anyone doesn’t believe it, there anime is there for you to watch.
@flCer: All possibly true to some extent, but the fanservice makes it unwatchable for me. Usually I’m OK with or even enjoy fanservice, but rape used as fanservice crosses the line. It’s not something I enjoy watching, want to watch, or want to enjoy watching. If the events in the first two episodes were animated and presented seriously I’d be perfectly fine with them, but when the show takes every single opportunity to shove T&A into my face and treats dark plot elements as something to arouse me rather than horrify me, it completely undermines the story and characters by making it feel like something stuck in to get people off rather than reflect on the ugly side of the human condition. Kudos to you if you’re able to overlook it and see the good side of the show, but I (and many others from what I’ve seen) am not.
Ange started as and is still a trainwreck without a doubt, but funnily enough it seems to be trying to claw its way into more neutral territory; I am not one to like these types of “padded” shows, but something about it keeps bringing me back every week. It still can fail miserably (especially considering Sunrise’s previous work), but the faint spark is there for the show to turn into something more akin to Code Geass than Valvrave.
Personally I’m expecting the series to still fall flat on its face when the bondage-esque fan service inevitably returns, but Ange has managed to wiggle some doubt into that professed certainty. We shall see soon one way or another.
Happy 10 years!
Thanks very much! I’ve only been around for about three of them, but it’s been a great ride.
I really hope Kairi would read the books of ASOIAF instead. What happened in the end of Season 4 is freaking fanfiction.
It’s salvageable (they went too far with Bran). I’ll be freaking wroth if they cut the ironborn.
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Great podcast everyone, as expected. It’s great to hear so many people with good tastes at the same time.
Also, once again I come out with something(s) I want to read/watch that I never heard about before or where much lower in my list(Strobe Edge 2 podcast ago, Shingeki no Bahamut in the last one and Shirobako, World Trigger and Koe no Katachi in this one).
I really expected Gugure! Kokkuri-san to be one of the underrated shows. It’s so funny and charming yet it feels like almost no one is watching it.
I also find it really funny that I am watching(Trinity Seven and Twintails)/plan to watch(Cross ange) aka your 3 “worst” shows of the season. Sure they are not as good as Parasyte, Akatsuki no Yona or Bahamut and I don’t expect them as much every weeks but I can’t help but be entertained by them.
Twintails is a mix of “so bad it’s good” and funny parody to me. It doesn’t make any sense 3/4 of the time, the animation is pretty average, the characters are kind of insane but yet I keep coming back because for one reason or another, it makes me laugh.
Trinity Seven is more of a guilty pleasure as of course the main “attraction” is the girls but it’s also nice to see a main character that doesn’t panic when a girl touches him(and I mean anywhere) and some handling issues aside, the story can be interesting once in a while.
Finally, I had cross ange in my sight from the start of the season just because of the music composer but after seeing a few people say it’s not that bad I might have to give it a shot(though what I saw of the first episode does scares me, in a bad way)
PS. I’m one of the watch but don’t really comment AnY viewers and also, keep up the great work guys and girls.
Eh, you just have to give it a chance beyond the first episode.
The first one is a bit of a mixed bag, but after that it becomes kinda fun to watch.
That, and the music is kinda catchy without being overly catchy.
What manly voice you have Kairi! lol
She knows how to kick it back with the boys, but manly? Nope.
Not the first time I’ve heard that but I’m actually a soprano soooooo
I just have a slightly wider voice range and my normal talking voice tends to sit in the lower part of my register. Or so my music teachers have explained.
She doesnt sound manly AT ALL. I mean its the complete opposite. The WAY she talks may be “strong” (for the lack of a better word), but it is not her VOICE. She sounds more feminine than most girls I know. Also – as I already mentioned once – I really like your “like”, Kairi 😉
I have the same opinion with Kairi about Akatsuki no Yona. XD
Could someone please tell me whats so wrong about light novels? I dont know the source material in every case, especially if its a harem story etc., but even if I just think about it a bit, there are so many stories coming from light novels that I really liked – Shinsekai Yori, Hataraku Maou-sama, Kyoukai senjou no horizon, Maouyuu, Denyuuden, no game no life, mondaijitachi, fate zero… Of course, the adaptations werent always perfect, but that was not because of the source material and there are just as many mangas who use these “formulas”. Its not that I wont admit that light novels are worse here, its just that I dont get it.
#1 Shin sekai yori, by far the best show on your list, is based on a pure novel, not a light novel.
#2 Roughly, the issue with most LN is that their usual tropes don’t make for compelling story telling and character development and yet most writters are scared to write something different because their books most likely won’t sell as well to the usual LN demographic. Sure some of them get things right like Maou-sama(at least the really good adapation did) but it’s not enough to forget 90% of generic boring stuff we get every seasons.
Without wanting to talk for them, I’d say that’s the biggest reason the “staff” on this podcast prefer manga adaptations or original works over LN adaptations.
There’s nothing wrong about light novels, they go like normal books, except for the part that they are divided into chapters who are launched from time to time.
I’ve been watching Madan no Ou to Vanadis and became interested enough in it for start reading the light novels and i must say that it is a nice reading with a lot more detail and cool stuff than the anime 🙂
this is not in itunes.
so much hate and salt in this podcast made it hard to listen to.
Guys, where can i get all of Fate series light novels?
Most of the Fate series are games, not light novels. Only Fate Zero is based on a light novel, to my knowledge, and I couldn’t tell you where to get those. Fate/stay night, Fate/hollow ataraxia, Fate/unlimited codes, Fate/Extra and others are all games.
Oh, and Fate/kaleid liner Prisma Illya was a manga first.
…. you know, it’s telling that I only now realized, after almost a month, that Guardian Enzo is no longer watching Shirobako and covering it on Lost In Anime….
Sora no Method is woefully under appreciated around these parts. It’s a travesty.