Show #75 – Black Lagoon, Part 1

  By ninjaconsultant | January 26, 2010 - 1:02 pm | Uncategorized
6 Comments

Show #075 – Direct Download:

Show #73 – NYAF 2009 Part 2: Caleb

  By ninjaconsultant | November 29, 2009 - 11:38 pm | Uncategorized
8 Comments

Show #073 – Direct Download:
OP: Kanon 2006 OP, “Last regrets” by Ayana
ED: Clannad After Story ED, “TORCH” by Lia

In this episode we interview Caleb, an Otaku USA writer. Here’s his personal blog, Anime wa Bakuhatsu da!

  • For a better definition of moe, listen to Dr. Weeaboo’s 2007 panel recording we did.
  • Caleb saw Cencoroll at NYAF but we missed it.
  • You can read more about Caleb’s opinions here and also over here:

    It’s insulting to the entire human race to put someone down because you think the anime they watch is trashy compared to what you watch. It’s rude, it’s annoying, and it’s an embarrassment to any fan community. It’s perfectly okay to not like a series; no one’s expected to like everything, but insisting, even in jest, that someone who watches Kanon is suffering from severe autism (just like the characters! truly I am a comedy genius!) is just taking the extra step from “having a different opinion” to “being a jerk”. it’s common Internet behavior, true, but the Internet at large is another huge embarrassment to humanity.

I am the new Bamboo Dong

  By ninjaconsultant | October 13, 2009 - 1:23 pm | Uncategorized
4 Comments

It’s official. Starting next week I’ll be taking over Bamboo Dong’s1 “Shelf Life” column on Anime News Network. I’ll be reviewing anime on a weekly basis, for “…the #1 English language source for anime and manga news on the Internet”.

Five years ago, when I was reading Bamboo’s column, I never thought, “Oh, I bet someday I’ll be writing this!” I really liked her Nightshift Nurses 2 comic strip – and apparently so did everyone else, it’s her “longest viewed” column.

Back in 2004 I also asked the Answerman a question. I couldn’t really imagine that there would come a time in 2009 when I would be randomly hanging out with ANN staff over lunch at Tokyo Big Sight.

So next week please look forward to my review of Black Lagoon! Hopefully Noah will get his Black Lagoon podcast ready soon, too.

I’m trying to figure out what this will mean for the podcast. Our pace of shows is already really slow, (averaging once a month) so I can’t imagine it getting any worse. We will certainly be watching a lot more anime. Maybe we’ll give away DVDs once in a while.

1 Yes, that is her real name.

Show #72 – NYAF 2009 Part 1: The Rough Guide to Anime

  By ninjaconsultant | October 5, 2009 - 12:58 am | Uncategorized
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Show #072 – Direct Download:

OP: Only Yesterday clip
ED: Multilanguage version of Ponyo end theme, including the abysmal English language remix.

An interview with Simon Richmond, author of the Rough Guide to Anime (and the very useful Rough Guide to Japan) conducted at NYAF 2009. Here’s my Otaku USA NYAF coverage.  Here’s my PW interview with Simon.

Daryl’s comment is worth noting in the show notes:

In my review of the book in Otaku USA, I said that if I had to pick *one* book that every anime fan should read, The Rough Guide to Anime was it. It’s not just because I briefly met Simon at Anime Boston thanks to your interviewing him, either. If everyone knew (or at least read through and partially retained) the information contained within it and watched the 50 recommended anime titles (well, you can skip Steamboy. And if you absolutely MUST watch Evangelion, save it for last so you can properly contextualize it), then anime fandom would be substantially better off for it. It’s not a big book, it’s not expensive, and despite being really information-dense it’s got a lot of pictures and sidebars so as not to overwhelm people.

At every con I go to where I do some sort of anime recommendations panel (such as this weekend’s upcoming EXPCon in St. Augustine, FL!), I tell people to go out and get this book. My actual success rate is unknown, as I’m still the only person I know to have read it, but it’s simultaneously “newbie-friendly” while containing more worthwhile, lasting information worth retaining than pretty much any other anime book on the shelves.

If there ever came a day when 1. I figured out what the heck I’d write a book about, and 2. I managed to actually write said book and get it published, key in my mind would be “does this book I’m writing handle [whatever its subject material would be] as good as if not better than The Rough Guide to Anime?” Were that day to ever come, I’m not fully sure the answer would be “yes.”

Show #71 – The Webcomic Episode

  By ninjaconsultant | August 24, 2009 - 11:53 pm | Uncategorized
9 Comments

Show #071Direct Download:
OP and ED: "Theme from Mega Force" by Movie Night: The Band

Hetalia – began as a webcomic, and was collected into manga volumes, then adapted into an anime series which was streamed online for free in Japan.
Tonari No 801-chan was similarly a webcomic, and I think it was adapted into a live action drama series.

At 1 h 9m 35s – we talk about Japanese comics some more, and it’s historical and informative.

Guest: Chris from Ego and the Squid

If my hotlinking crashes your server let me know.

Chris’s Favs:
Dinosaur Comics
Isotown
Overcompensating
Penny Arcade
New Feelings
Achewood
American Elf
Scene Language
Star Shaped Rock
Daisy Owl
The Ego And The Squid
The Order Of The Stick
Fart Party
Hark! A Vagrant
Cat And Girl
Creased Comics
Buttersafe
Nedroid
Natalie Dee
Married To The Sea
Toothpaste For Dinner

Noah’s Favs:
Penny Arcade
Skinhorse (by the author of Narbonic)
Erfworld (dude is cool)
Order of the Stick

Erin’s Favs:
A Kick in the Head
XKCD
Perry Bible Fellowship (retired)
Fart Party
Jerk City (NSFW)
Dinosaur Comics

Old-Timey Comics:
Wondermark
Married to the Sea
Edison Hates the Future

Some Other Mentions:
Alien Loves Predator
Idiot Comics
Irregular Comics

Webcomic Cons:
Conneticon
MoCCA
Stumpytown
APE
New England Webcomics Weekend

Goodbye Kim’s Video Underground!

Now Syndicated: Diesel Sweeties

Paper Comics:
Ted Rall of Tom the Dancing Bug
Ernie Pook’s Comeek by Lynda Barry

Topatocow Store for the coolest shirts

Drama Webcomics:
Voids
Scene Language

Eventually we talk about manga again – around 57-1 hour in.
Viz’s IKKI – titles for free
Rin-E – Rumiko Takahashi’s bland Bleach rip-off

Garfield Without Garfield
Arbuckle
Lasagna Cat

Flethcher Hanks reprints – Super Wizard Stardust (recommended!)

1 h 9m 35s – Japanese strip comics

A Drifting Life – read it!
My Neighbors the Yamadas – based a newspaper strip – recommended!

4-Koma strips in translation:
Azumanga Daioh (recommended)
Lucky Star
Shoulder a Coffin Kuro
S.S. Astro
Cosplay Kurumi-chan
Sazae-san

Although not a strip comic, High School Girls is recommended!

60 Ways to Leave Your Mother
Star Shaped Rock
American Elf
Creased Comics by Brad Neeley, who did Wizard People Dear Reader, and a hilarious short about George Washington
Overcompensating

e-sheep

Promos:
Gamma Quadrant
Anime Roundtable

Last minute Otakon roommate?

  By ninjaconsultant | July 15, 2009 - 11:29 am | Uncategorized
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Hey guys, we could use one to three more Otakon roommates. We’re staying at the Brookshire, which is not the cheapest, but has free breakfasts and free microbrew beer on Friday night. I arrive Thursday night, we’re leaving Sunday afternoon.

Contact: ninjaconsultant (at) gmail (dot) com

And no, we don’t want to move to another hotel to stay in your room. We love breakfast.