A podcast with a foundation in Anime and Pacific related material, with a good dose of pop culture. The dynamic of the show lies with Dane’s encyclopaedic fan-boy attitude, and Alex’s average joe anime-ignorance. The banter back and forth with Dane's ballistic, quick thinking quips and Alex's irreverent laid back Norm Macdonald-like snark make for an entertaining counter balance.
After our longest episode gap yet, we deliver a ramble heavy episode that includes the top Asian hits and flops of 2010, twitter, our fourth anniversary and more!
* The woes of DuoMatrix
* Microsoft's banning of any Kinect sex games (there goes Microsoft's last chance of winning the Japanese market)
* Wildgrounds' "Top & Flop 2010"
* Tokyo's new law regarding explicit Manga. (Could it be a GOOD thing?)
* My "microphone" fondling
* Snow in Hong Kong!
We get a fascinating e-mail form Professor Charles Thatcher who puts an academic spin on our podcast. He is a fascinating, intelligent individual. Trust me!
Meta Talk
We discuss Twitter (you really should follow us) and my interactions with the great, Toshio Maeda, and various other cool fans we have met.
Next episode: Much more Anime content a review of the classic Manga, Sanctuary. It should come much sooner than this episode did.
In this very "spotty" 101st episode, amongst other things, we discuss the disturbing plethora of Anime industry deaths, on both sides of the Pacific. We also discuss an atrocious article that suggests some classic anime that need a remake.!?
It's alarming how many pivotal figures in the Anime industry have died in the last few months. Upon examining these figures and their causes of death we learnt several things:
* The animation industry is full of smokers
* Smoking is BAD FOR YOU.
Carl Macek (1951 - 2010)
Carl Macek: the Anime pioneer. Looking back at Streamline picture's anime library, they housed some of my favorite anime titles of all time. Whilst dub-only, their dubs are still far superior to what we have today.
Listen ANN's very informative review which was posted earlier this year, here.
Peter Fernandez (1927 - 2010)
Another early contributor to English speaking Anime, Peter Fernandez was actively involved in the animation fan community until his death.
Satoshi Kon (1963 - 2010)
One of the only remaining rays of sunshine, in an otherwise cloudy Anime industry. Of all mentioned here, Kon's death will have the greatest rippling effect on the anime industry as it stands now. Unlike the others on this list, Kon had several potential decades left in him.
Yoshinobu Nishizaki (1934-2010)
Yoshinobu Nishizaki's life was perhaps best summarized by Al Pacino's wonderful performance in the semi-biographical film, Scarface. [citation needed] (They toned down the use of automatic firearms and cocaine in the film).
Before his tragic death aboard the Yamato (That, I did not make up), "The Nish" was perhaps best known as the co-creator of..well.. Space Battleship Yamato.
The Nish's West Cape Corporation, before it went belly up, brought us such classics as Urotsukidoji and "Freakin'" Odin!
Shojuro Yamauchi (19?? - 2010)
Key animator for a lot of the classics, his pen shall be missed. He deserves a place in history for the The Castle of Cagliostro, alone.
Takeshi Shudo (1949 - 2010)
One of the Anime "fathers" of Pokemon and more importantly, Gold LightanThe only Mecha that doubles as a cigarette lighter. Ironically, he died in an airport smoking room due to a subarachnoid hemorrhage, something in which smoking contributes greatly to the risk factor of it occurring. Damn you, Lightan!
Peter Keefe (1952 - 2010)
Just based off of this picture alone, I love this guy. He can largely be attributed to Voltron (the Golion butcher job) and Dragonball Z's overseas success. More importantly, he single handily averted the world from chaos and ushered in a new era of global peace and prosperity with his creation of Denver the Last Dinosaur. This further facilitated First Contact, as upon viewing Denver the Last Dinosaur, extra-terrestrial life had decided that humanity had demonstrated it's worthiness in being propelled to the galactic stage. Denver was one of the few American shows that were broadcast in mainland China throughout the 1980's.
Promos Played: Up A Paddle - Despite his dislike of Italians, Kent is a lovely chap. Thank you for introducing us to Jack Hoff; he's changed our life.
Anime Pulp : 65 episodes in and I never heard of it!?
News & Wrapup
What 80's Mecha anime should be remade? Simple answer: NONE.
And.......
A blossoming adult video star in Japan is discovered to be just 16, So what happened next? Japanese auction websites were flooded with her DVD's which are going for exorbitant prices!
And on that note, we bid you adieu until next time!
For the first half of the show, we are joined by Benu "The Heart Soul of Ra", Jake "The Rootbeer King" and "The Mangaman" with special musical guest, Regan Strongblood. We discuss what makes Anime Pacific what it is, and what the past four years have meant. It's a very amusing yet insightful discussion.
Mail
We also return to yet another epic Mail segment, where we discuss teaching in Asia, and the state of my future podcast. Very exciting!
We discuss our plans for the 100th episode of Anime Pacific, I am very excited about Stickam; Alex...Not so much! (Probably due to the fact that he'll have to wear pants)
We also discuss new fan, The Mangaman and his amusing tweets that fill us with nostalgia.
Meta-Time!
China-Smack has become increasingly negative and tabloid-ish and has been removed from the links section of our website. It has since been replaced with China-Hush.
After discussing our memories of Malaysia, we discuss Red-Line. Which has attracted a lot of buzz lately.
Who could have guessed that a Hindi action film would attract this much attention?
The always great Colony Drop has an excellent review of Redline, here.
"Wait a minute, they don't look Indian...."
Alex wishes to reiterate that this is not a review of Gundam Unicorn, but more of an impression of what Gundam fruitycornUnicorn actually is and what it means for the UC Gundam Franchise.
Wrapup
We discover more DuoMatrix gold, I discuss my disdain for Dog owners (those who own dogs and "Dog-Owners" are very different things)
Up A Paddle (try as he might, Kent shall never surpass Anime Pacific in episode count!)
Special Extra:
If you stick around after the ending song, there's a little extra snippet about the latest Japan-China crisis. Listen if you are interested; It didn't really fit anywhere else in the show.
As part of the build up to the 100th episode, and three year anniversary, here is: "The Best of Anime Pacific: a Little Risqué".
Clocking in at 12 minutes, it does double duty as an introduction/trailer for new fans of the show, and a "Best of" clip show, sure to jog the memories of long time fans.
With the Anime Pacific Feed now fixed, this show will show up as "Episode 0" in itunes, before Episode 4.
Dane has plans to make a "Best of" review show/trailer along these lines.
We realize, it is too long to be a commercial for other podcasts, but if someone out there perhaps wouldn't mind tacking it on the end of one of their podcasts, we would be grateful. If you think it is WAY too long, email us at animepacific at gmail dot com, and maybe we can make something shorter.
We return! This episode, we discuss Macross Frontier, the current state of Anime, our summer holidays and go through the excellent, Reverse Thieves list of Anime to show to the fallen fan.
Note: My microphone connection had some issues. I apologise for the clicks and pops.
We also discuss our continued stalking of the MIA Podcaster, DuoMatrix and beseech fans of the show to try and locate the missing episodes of the show. As of this posting, Episodes 4-54 & 56-68 are still missing.
And finally, we discuss Ranka Lee. Is she typical of the moe trend or is she an accurate representation of a 16 year old girl?
As we enter the summer holidays, another season of Anime Pacific has wrapped up. Will it return? Listen and find out!
Essentially the show is comprised of a rant, made by myself just minutes ago, followed by a review of the two new Evangelion films recorded with Alex over a month ago.
Does Alex, who famously despises Evangelion, enjoy this? Surprisingly; Yes, yes he did.
I am super lethargic for this episode, and semi-incoherent. I do apologize! In this episode Alex discusses Demon King Daimao, Daphne in the Brilliant Blue
Shootin' The Breeze
I am tired and semi-incoherent, and Alex is heading off on an epic road trip. I saw a message from Alex's wife Kaori, which said, "Looks like we're heading back east." Naturally, I thought Japan!
Alex discusses Demon King Daimao:
And, Daphne in the Brilliant Blue; I can see the appeal:
We also get a rather delightful? mail. Huzzah!
Next episode: Alex reviews the two new Evangelion films!
Trying to synthesize the myriad of topics we discuss in this episode into shownotes would be, quite frankly, madness.
Suffice it to say, it is not exactly a normal episode. However, bear in mind that at the time of this episode's recording, my apartment was a bombshell of half packed boxes, disassembled furniture and dead hookers plastic bags. As a matter of fact, I'll most likely be moving to my new apartment as you listen to this.
Perhaps as a prelude to my upcoming Hong Kong cinema podcast, I rant about what I perceive to be the death of Hong Kong cinema.
For some now-forgotten reason, we discuss, "The Patriot", undoubtedly one of the worst films of all time. Funnily enough, the one scene I recall as being utterly vomit inducing is actually all over Youtube, thanks to Americans who are utterly moved to tears by it:
YouTube user, "RichBorris" states: "This I think is probably the best scene from the whole movie!"
The aforementioned, RichBorris also links to various websites and groups advocating "Southern Independence".
In this, our 94th episode, we discuss Y2K panic, moving home, Anime R.I.P., and I spend more time reviewing the mediocre 90's OVA, Wizardry than any other sane podcaster would dare...
Shootin' The Breeze
We start the show by discussing my big move; finally a room for my computer. Masturbation jokes ensue; what a surprise.
Mail & News:
That little darling, Kent, e-mails us supporting my love of Summer Wars. Alex rolls on the floor and squeals with utter despair. Or not. But it's a funny thought, is it not?
Review: Wizardry; The Anime
Wizardry the Anime is not in and of itself an important title; nor is it an especially good one. However, Wizardry itself is extremely relevant in gaming history; almost single handily being responsible for J-RPG gaming as we know it, and through the ripple effect, the Japanese AND North American anime industry. How? Listen and find out...
This week, we give our thoughts on the passing of the late, great Carl Macek. We also discuss the current Anime season and I give my thoughts on Summer Wars, which Alex reviewed last episode.
This episode we discuss how CNN has discovered Time Travel and Alex reviews, Summer Wars. Very exciting!
Shootin' The Breeze
Alex provides a tasty teaser of his upcoming appearance in Anime 82.
Alex discovers a...*DUM DUM DUMMMMMMMMM* Korean Conspiracy to discredit Japan; Also, Star Trek First Contact-esque time travel.
See Destructoid's amusing follow-up article, here.
MORAL PANIC TIME!
Finally, Alex has also gone back in time and discovered Zero Punctuation.
Review: Summer Wars
Is Mamoru Hosoda's latest film a masterpiece? Listen and find out. Alex to his credit goes against the grain when you compare this review to all the other Summer Wars reviews that have come thus far...
It's a wrap!
Alex accesses me of having Tourette syndrome, though according to Google, more people type "turrets syndrome". That sounds cool; I wish I had that instead.
Anime Pacific attempts to go back to its roots. We hope this episode feels like one of the classics. You decide!
Shootin' The Breeze
We discuss the classic things we used to discuss; See! Sexy female air hostsstewardesses. Hip-Hip-Huzzah!
Alex furiously masturbates to gets very excited ("eh") at any "Game of Thrones" news, so here's some.
News
The news makes its unwelcome triumphant return!
Wolfgang Petersen (possibly) to make live action-Paprika. (Article)
...Enemy Mine RULES
Evangelion 2.22
What do you expect...It is Gainax afterall. Money Money Money!
2.23 coming soon, featuring corrected colours on Shinji's nose hair. It WILL be the DEFINITIVE VERSION.
1UP's Yakuza Article. As an avid gamer, I dare say I will never understand my fellow gamers. Do we not love to be transported to foreign worlds? This is the magic gaming brings us, why does everything have to be localized to such an extent?
Analysis Review: The Rance Franchise
The Rance series, is something of a goliath. It is the longest running eroge game series in existence. Rance himself carries a similar prestige in the adult gaming world that the lovable Larry Laffer does in the English speaking world.
This is Larry Laffer. Whilst rather sleazy on the surface, he is effect, utterly harmless and a rather nice fellow. His need to "chase tail" stems from the fact that he was a rather repressed nerd earlier in life and suddenly experienced a "second puberty" in his late forties. Try as you might, it's impossible to dislike the guy.
This is Rance. He owns a slave called Sill, who for some reason, loves him. He is driven by the need for constant sexual arousal and will get it anyway possible. His non sexual hobbies include, slapping his slave around and taunting her. Females are merely trophies to him. He is incapable of maintaining proper relationships with males or anyone he foresees having no immediate or future sexual encounters with. He treats most men with outright hostility and has been known to kill without mercy, justified or not. This beckons the question:
Is Rance the personification of the collective mindset of obsessed, shut-in Hentai gamers?
Or is he merely an unrepentant douche?
The Rance games have been churned out on a semi regular basis since 1989; The most recent being "Sengoku Rance", which has been fan translated into English. The game itself, as a strategy, game is rather fun; addictive even. One of the perceived initial strengths was that it attempted to set a moral precedent with it's apparent anti loli stance. However, one brief loli-esque scene put that theory flat on its back.
Rance: The Anime
The Anime is much more harmless. It is more of an "American Pie"-esque parody than anything else. It does get points for having some genuinely hilarious scenes. The unexpected tentacle scene alone is worth the price of admission time for downloading.
The Rance empire has all elements of Otaku culture covered:
It's a wrap!
Sorry for the long wait, and do check out Anime-82, we'll both be on the next one hopefully!
A fire upon the Deap - Vernor Vinge Sundiver (Uplift series) - David Brin Taipan - James Clavell Colleen McCullough - The First man in Rome Robert Graves - I Claudius George R. R. Martin - A Game of Thrones
This episode, we review the Gantz Manga, the first episodes of some Winter season 2010 anime, Sherlock Holmes and...Toradora!?
Yes, another episode, released for the sole purpose of being one move ahead of our First Nation friend: Kent from UpAPaddle.
Toradora!
Alex is right, that character is disturbingly loli.
We also get a delightful mail from an old listener. We achieve a new Anime Pacific record by staying on topic for TEN WHOLE MINUTES throughout the mail segment's forty minute runtime.
Not only do we greet the new year by looking at what the Winter 09/10 anime season has to offer us, we also review Gantz and talk about Avatar.
Shootin' The Breeze
Fansubbing once meant bringing the shows, we otherwise could not see. Now, it's a popularity content involving mainstream shows. Why are one hundred groups subbing Naruto, yet no one is subbing Souten Kouro?
Souten Kouro, in half of its 24 episode length, has valiantly stormed its way into my top ten anime TV series, ever.
Winter 09/10 Anime Season Preview
Thanks to Chartfag, for providing this jolly good chart.
Our picks:
Qwaser of Stigmata: An anime in which our heroes get power from breast milk!? Too crazy to miss.
Dance in the Vampire Bund: Whilst it seems pedo friendly, the premise seems promising.
Chu Bra: My Daney sense is tingling. Daney sense as in penis.
Nodame Cantabile Finale
We haven't seen the other seasons, but its apparently a very solid show.
SPACE ADVENTURE "Freakin'" COBRA!
How did Chartfag miss this!? Easily the pick of the season, if not, 2010!
Review: Gantz
Am image says a thousand words...
Some Manga to Anime pacing issues notwithstanding, the first two-thirds of the show is rather solid. Check out the manga.
Avatar
An amazing experience, but the story is nothing new...