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Anime: Dead or Alive?

Today’s news post comes hot on the heels of a recent prediction that Anime, in its current business format would die out in the next few decades. In fact, he’s not the only one that sees a steady decline in anime viewership. Anime Nation’s Ask John column grazes the surface of this issue. For more on it, here’s my mini rant:

Download The Girl Nerd’s Mini-Rant!  (Play button at the end of the post.)

That said, here are a few other noteworthy anime  newsies that might interest you:

  • There’s a Gundam show about Gunpla (Gundam model building) coming out in Japan. It’s like the snake that eats its own tail….
  • Anime and Manga had some representation at Comic-Con last weekend. Here’s alllll the crap you missed :) !
  • And what can only be described as the best animation (notice I did not say Anime) news all week: Avatar: The Last Airbender (the cartoon) is getting a sequel!!!!11one!

Bonus: A video describing some cosplay tips from Comic-Con!

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Podcast 61: Cenco-rolling into our hearts

Instead of doing a little flowery introduction this week, I’m going to drop the download link below, and then after that you can read the Guy Nerd’s written review (he overslept, and this is his punishment).  Please enjoy!

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Bit Ratings:
Gay Nerd: 7.5
Girl Nerd: 8
Guy Nerd: a millionty twelve

From the Brainmouth of the Guy Nerd

What’s squishy enough to sleep on, yet hard enough to brain your worst enemy? That’s right…it’s Cencoroll.

My two cohorts will cover the plot in greater detail, but I would be lax in my duties if I ignored it entirely. To summarize the plot is to essentially tell nearly the whole story, as Cencoroll is, in its entirety, a 30 minute OVA. Japan, already famous in anime for its tendency to attract hordes of strange monsters, has not changed its collective mind about the inconvenience and now finds itself beset by hordes of large, shape-shifting
creatures teleporting in from…somewhere. These creatures might be content to sit around on buildings all day and look creepy, but they can be telepathically controlled by teenage youths who generally use them to raise a mildly destructive ruckus.

Enter our players: protagonists Yuki and Tetsu, and antagonist Shu. Tetsu controls one of the shape-shifters who is named (or who he has named) Cenco. The audience is told nothing about the creatures, be it origin or purpose, presumably because we’re meant to identify with our heroine Yuki. Yuki is drawn into this shape-shifting world when she discovers Cenco disguised as Tetsu’s bicycle. What follows is the appropriate barrage of questions, none of which Tetsu is keen on answering.

Shu, meanwhile, controls his own monster and duels Tetsu while he is somewhat unwillingly carting around Yuki. Afterwards, we get the usual plot of warring creatures, hostage situations, explosions, and everything we’ve come to expect from sci-fi anime.

Thematically, at the forefront is the necessity for adaptability, and I like that. Adaptability will always have to be addressed as a theme when you have shape-shifters with which to work, but it’s writ large all across Cencoroll. The monsters adapt to fight each other; the humans adapt to work with their monsters; the audience adapts to deal with the largely unexplained world and plot of the OVA. Those that adapt the best win the day; those that don’t end up unconscious in a bed of alien slop.

Story-wise, there’s nothing fresh about this plot. Everything you’ll see has been done before and done better. Teenagers telepathically controlling giant creatures?! We’ve never seen the like in anime before!! Shape-shifting monsters doing battle?! What is this devilry?! No, the plotline is a rehash of any number of Gainax shows you’ve seen over the last 15 years or so, and with an art style to match. Some of the scenes feel so much like I’m watching Evangelion again that I’m forced to wonder if it’s not an intentional tribute.

But I’m recommending it anyway. You should see it. And yes, I can hear you asking “Why, GuyNerd? You hate everything!” The singularity of this OVA lies in the herculean effort of it’s sole creator Atsuya Uki.

You read that right. One guy did this. Atsuya Uki put pen to paper and wrote, drew, animated, and directed an entire 30 minute OVA.

Come on…it’s only 30 minutes long, and it’s really pretty to behold, and it’s a cute little story. And one guy did it. Just give it a watch. You owe him that much.

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Happy Bastille Day!

It’s been a slooooow news week as Japan seems to have its hands full with previewing the Summer anime lineup.I do not envy the people at ANN who actually have to review all of those shows. If you like a little 1-on-1 man-on-man shogun-on-shogun action tho, then  you’d be pleasantly surprised that Sengoku Basara’s second season has got off to a blazing PUT YOUR GUNS ON (this is an actual line from the show) start! Altho I’m not quite sure as to whether the fact that its ratings beat shows that aired at the same timeslot such as Mobile Suit Gundam 00 second season (*cackle*) to be a compliment at all or not.(Picture courtesy of FanServiceFTW)

But no, seriously- on to more important news, if the ending of FMA:Brotherhood’s successful anime run has got you down, rejoice! A movie to tantalize you. Oh, information! If only we had more.

Oh hell Miyazaki’s at it again, quick get the nurses! This time he’s ranting on about how iPad users must all be chronic masturbators. I want to say “well I’m sure it takes one to know one” O_o

Stay tuned for our review of Cencoroll this coming week!

Podcast 60: Kemono no Soulja Boy?

The names are eerily similar in pronunciation, ne? The show for this week’s review is Kemono no Souja Erin, which, roughly translated, is Beast Player Erin. We’ve also got the final installment of our Japanese slang term quizzes for you. I didn’t get multiple choice this time…you can imagine how poorly I did there. How many can you guess without cheating?

  1. JK/DK
  2. KWSK
  3. WKTK
  4. GMM

Please enjoy our humble offering to the anime reviewing community, and check us out on The Otaku Momentum podcast from last week (part of the ADD Network). Thanks everyone!

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For once, some good news!

At least to me it is! If you’ve been following what I believe is one of Spring 2010′s better anime, Arakawa Under the Bridge, a SECOND SEASON has been green-lit!

More kappa, star headed, yakuza wannabe grade school girl, abusive farmer lady, fish eating Venusian madness!

Also, we’re starting to see some of the preview videos for Summer’s lineup, like that of Shiki and Nurarihyon no Mago.

Lastly, because we care, here’s the Top 10 Signs Someone is an Otaku list, translation courtesy of Sankakucomplex.com, the source for wacky news from Japan.

  1. They are using otaku slang, net jargon or 2ch cant
  2. They just happen to have anime/manga/game goods about them
  3. They respond to otaku type keywords and issues
  4. They become very intense when the conversation turns to anime/manga/games, and only then
  5. The tunes they hum are all anime related
  6. They know excessive amounts about a given anime/manga/game
  7. You can somehow just tell intuitively that they are an otaku
  8. They talk unconcernedly about anime, manga and games all the time as if it were normal
  9. They start talking about a seiyuu
  10. They are carrying a bag from an otaku shop like Animate or Tora no Ana

And this week we’ll be reviewing, from the creator of Seirei no Moribito which we loved when we reviewed it what almost must be a year ago, Kemono no Souja Erin!

Podcast 59: Summer sucks.

You heard us! As of this posting, all the anime we know about coming up this summer SUCKS. It looks positively terrible. Go back through the Hulu archives and watch something worthwhile like Baccano or FMA brotherhood (GirlNerd Approved). But we digress. As always, we’ve pilfered our information from Chartfag. We’ve attached the image for your perusal!

This week’s Modern Japanese Internet Slang quiz consists of the following:

  1. KY or KKYM
  2. YH
  3. MM
  4. CZ
  5. YNKKR

So there you have it! Enjoy our summer preview.

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The little people!

This week it’s a combination of good and bad news for you all. I’ll jump right in!

  • First things first, please watch this trailer for The Borrower Arrietty, a new film from Studio Ghibli set to come out next month. It’s based on the Borrowers books. I remember reading those as a child, and I’m quite thrilled to see what Ghibli does with it.

  • Next we’ve got an interesting turn of events in the manga world which I will hesitate to put into editorial terms. Apparently the publishers are taking a page from the book of U.S. anti-piracy techniques. At least they’re not going the way of England. Here’s a couple of articles to sum it up. Doesn’t look good for scanlation sites.
  • Good news for pedophiles? A bill to prohibit cartoon kiddie porn was struck down. Why? My money’s on “everyone in the Japanese government is a pedo.”
  • And finally, because the Gay Nerd wouldn’t let me go without posting this (and speaking of pedos, look at the pedo-stache on this guy) , Ai no Kotodama is getting another live action film. Boys loooove!

Podcast 58: Baka Test: Only Idiots need apply…

IT'S A TRAPIdiots, Tests, and Summoned Beasts (as it should be called) is a show designed clearly for an audience which does not comprise myself or the Guy Nerd (due to technical difficulties,  he did not join us for this show, but he expressed utter hatred of it just the same).

Instead of the regularly scheduled Japanese Lesson, The Gay Nerd has put together a little quiz! Before you go listen to the show, try to identify the following chat acronyms:

  1. KTKR
  2. FK
  3. IT
  4. orz
  5. w (also wwwwwwwww)

With that, let’s get to the show. Let us know how you did on the quiz. The Girl Nerd definitely failed miserably, thus proving she is not as otaku as she should be. She’ll try harder next show!

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Bit Ratings:
The Gay Nerd: 6.5 bits
The Girl Nerd: 4 bits

Bonus Hideyoshi (SLIGHTLY NSFW): “It’s actually a boy. Seriously, I need some images of his sister that I can ogle without feeling ashamed of myself.” The internet lets us know why this show is not one of the best we’ve reviewed…

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News in the key of sigh.

Hello everyone! I hope the U.S. dwellers among you enjoyed yesterday’s holiday and consumed copious quantities of meat. For everyone else, happy Tuesday!

That said, here are a few tidbits of anime news fresh-picked from my RSS feeds and shipped directly to you!

Am I the only one who thinks that, while it’s great these companies are trying to cut out the fansubbers to increase their revenue, they’re doing it all wrong by bringing Rainbow TV and magical girl shows to us in surprising quantity?

Am I just outside the anime companies’ target demographic now, or will people watch ANYTHING to satisfy their anime cravings? I can’t be alone here, seriously.

Next week: another shining example of the above complaint in tasty podcast format.

http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2010-05-28/iron-man-anime-us-debut-in-july-jp-debut-in-october

Podcast 57: Tata-my galaxy beat up your honor student

Hello and welcome to this week’s show! We’ve reviewed yet another of the noitaminA block this week, Tatami Galaxy (Yojō-Han Shinwa Taikei). It’s a show about fate, and I feel certain we were meant to watch it.

Edit: Here’s a link to the Japanese lesson thing mentioned in the show!

Enjoy the podcast!

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Bit Ratings:
The Gay Nerd: 6.5 bits
The Girl Nerd: 7 bits
The Guy Nerd: 7 bits

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