Otaku no Podcast News, reviews, and commentary on all things Anime and Manga

OK, We are on the road. (rails, actually) Expect to hit the LACC around 3 pm. Watch this space for more updates and announcements of live broadcasts.

I should learn to never make promises. No sooner had I posted the last “we’re coming back soon, honest!” message, then I got slammed with a huge wall of work which pretty much left me with NO free time – not enough to even watch anime. (See, that’s the problem with freelancing in a tough economy: you take what work you can get, when you can get it, and count yourself lucky because you may not be so lucky next month.)

Of course, now that I actually have a break in my work schedule, my voice is now gone thanks to a freak summer cold I managed to catch. (I suppose I COULD do a podcast now, but you probably wouldn’t like it, as I sound something like a cross between Darth Vader without his breathing mask, and a 50 year old chain smoker.)

Anyway, the voice (and my cold) are finally healing up.. and just in time too… because Anime Expo is THIS WEEKEND!!! (Time sure flies, doesn’t it?)

Yes, Anime Expo, one of the world’s largest – certainly the West Coast’s largest – anime conventions, will return to the Los Angeles Convention Center THIS WEEKEND. Actually, the dates are Thursday July 2 through Sunday July 5. Some of the awesome Guests of Honor who will be making an appearance at this convention include:

• Hiroyuki Imaishi – Recipient of the 12th Animation Kobe Director’s Award. Mr. Imaishi has worked on Neon Genesis Evangelion, Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann, and many more!
• Daisuke Ishiwatari – Video game developer best known for creating the fighting game Guilty Gear. He also provides the in-game voice for the characters Sol Badguy and Order-Sol.
• Yun Kouga – Revered manga artist who has garnered praise and acclaim for her current series Loveless. Ms. Kouga is also the character designer for the anime MOBILE SUIT GUNDAM 00.
• Yosuke Kuroda – Mr. Kuroda has been involved in numerous projects including Excel Saga, Gungrave, Hayate the Combat Butler!, Hellsing OVA, Love Hina, etc.
• Seiji Mizushima – Famed director of the upcoming theatrical version of MOBILE SUIT GUNDAM 00. Mr. Mizushima also worked on Fullmetal Alchemist, Neon Genesis Evangelion, and many more!
• Moi dix Mois – Sound project headed by Mana, the consummate guitarist and leader of Malice Mizer.
• Toshimichi Mori – Mr. Mori is currently working on the Aksys Games title BLAZBLUE as its director, lead artist and designer.
• Toshiyuki Morikawa – Legendary voice actor who has in many popular anime roles, such as Bleach, Gundam X, Full Metal Panic, Initial D, Inuyasha, and many others.
• Morning Musume – Famous not just for being the Japan’s top female group, but also for its unique approach with the shuffling of band members.
• Yasuhiro Nightow – Creator of the highly popular TRIGUN manga that inspired the television anime series of the same title.
• Atsushi Nishigori – Recipient of the 7th Annual Tokyo International Anime Awards. Mr. Nishigori has worked many titles and now serves as the character animation director for Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann franchise.
• Satoshi Nishimura – The director of the highly anticipated 2009 TRIGUN movie. Mr. Nishimura has also worked on many huge and popular titles, including Black Lagoon, Rurouni Kenshin, and Street Fighter Alpha.
• Takashi Okazaki – The creator of the popular Afro Samurai manga. Mr. Okazaki has also done illustration works for Spider-Man 2 DVD & Blade III Sound Track CD.
• Kari Wahlgren – Kari Wahlgren was first introduced to anime audiences as the Vespa-riding, guitar-bashing Haruko in “FLCL.”
• …and tons more industry guests!

Aside from the many GoH, fan, and industry panels, there’s also the ever-popular Anime Music Video (AMV) contest, AX Idol singing/voice acting contest, Masquerade cosplay contest, various tea and masquerade balls, gaming (both console and table-top), dances, karaoke, concerts, maid cafe, film and video rooms, and of course, the always impressive Dealers Room.

Full 4-day passes are $65 ($70 at door), or $50 ($55 at door) for a two-day pass, or $30 ($35 at door) for single-day pass. A 4-day childs pass is $30, and children 5 and under are free. Online registration is still online and is highly recommended.

For more details, including links to the online registration, and complete details on events, schedules, guests, and more, check out the Anime Expo website at http://www.anime-expo.org/.

I’ll be on site during most of the convention (I’ll be getting in mid-day on the first day so will miss the first half day or so) and will do my best to bring you coverage from the convention. (I’m not making any promises, I’ll just leave it at “I’ll do my best.”) If I can, I’ll be broadcasting certain events live, either via Ustream/Stickam, or over our experimental streaming radio station, Otaku no Radio, so keep an eye on the website for more details. At the very least, I should have a post-con wrap up episode (including video highlights – if my camcorder, which was recently damaged, gets back from the repair shop in time) shortly after the convention ends.

The short version: We’re not dead yet. Alot happened in my life last year, most of it not good. But I’m finally coming out from under it all. Already recorded an episode, about to record another, but I’m holding back on releasing them until I’ve built up a couple of “ready to publish” episodes – that way, if something should happen and I’m unable to record any given week, I will have something that I can still release. Really trying to ensure a smooth and steady flow of new content for you folks. I hope to start releasing episodes within the next few weeks.

There’s plenty going on in the anime industry, in spite of the problems facing the economy at large. New series are constantly coming out (and being fansubbed), and companies are still putting out US releases, and most conventions are still running. In fact there are some big ones coming up in the next few months – FanimeCon on the weekend of May 22-25, and the grand-daddy of them all, Anime Expo, on July 2-5. (Also, while not strictly anime-related, if you are in San Francisco, you might want to check out the Northern CA Cherry Blossom Festival going on both this AND next weekends, April 11-12 and April 18-19.)

Anyway, got a lot of interesting stuff in store for the show. Besides the usual news stuff, I’m in talks right now with several people and hope to bring you some really interesting interviews over the next few months. I’m not announcing anything specific yet, but keep your eyes open and your iPods synced. There will be at least several roundtable episodes, cuz you guys seem to enjoy those. And, of course, tons of reviews (I’ve been watching alot over the past year, it’s one of the few things that have kept me relatively sane during all the craziness).

I have disabled the ad-block temporarily until the various paid political ads have run out of rotation. I apologize if any political ads that may have shown up on this site have offended you in any way.

EDIT: Now that the madness has passed, I have re-enabled the ad blocks. Help us out a little, click on one every now and then.

Sorry folks, Otaku has been on hiatus for most of this year, due to a combination of really crappy things that hit me like a runaway freight train. A lot of changes in my life, ones that affected me significantly, on a physical, mental, and emotional level.

Things are a lot better now (thanks for your concern, to everyone who contacted) and so we are set to relaunch in a BIG way. The first part of this relaunch is the all-new web site, which I hope you are enjoying. I’m still trying to sort out an issue where the theme may look strange to you if you’re trying to view the site at a lower resolution, but I hope to have that taken care of soon.

As far as a new podcast episode is concerned, be looking for one within the next two weeks.

The one good thing about my downtime is that I’ve had the opportunity to sample a LOT of anime, so definitely be on the lookout for some reviews coming up in the not-too-distant future.

Thank you all for your patience. Soon it shall be rewarded.

For those of you in the Southern California area, specifically Cal State Northridge, MikomiCon will be held THIS WEEKEND – Friday through Sunday, September 19-21.  The convention will be held at the CSUN campus, at 18111 Nordhoff St., in Northridge.  That’s at the cross of Prarie St. and Zelzah Ave.  This relatively new convention (only in its third year) has gotten off to an excellent start.  I was lucky enough to be able to attend for one day last year, and thoroughly enjoyed myself.  This year’s convention is shaping up to be even bigger and better, so you won’t want to miss it!  Guests of Honor include Rob Paulsen, Robert Axelrod, Johnny Yong Bosch, Kyle Hebert, Roger Gibbs, Leslie S. Klinger, Tone Rodriguez, and Erika Weinstein.  Musical guests include Stephanie Yanez, Eyeshine, M3 Productions, DJ Helsing, The Black Crystals, Jishin Taiko, Vaeidos, Rusika, Makenai, and L2D.  Aside from the usual Masquerade, Dealers Room, Gaming, Panels, and Video Rooms, other events include the Ninja Wall Challenge, Pirate Rum Party (gotta have balance in the Force after all), tag team watermelon eating contest, Bridget Shuffle Competition, Modeling, and even Sumo.

But don’t take my word for it – see for yourself the vast cornucopia of anime goodness that is the Mikomicon Program Guide; Download the program guide here.

Sadly, online registration is closed; you will have to register on-site.  On-site registration opens bright and early Friday morning at 8 AM.  At-door pricing is $40 for full con (all 3 days), and $35 for single-day attendance.  (Child 12-and-under pricing is $35 for full-con and $30 for one-day.)

Sadly, I will not be able to attend this year.  If you are able to make it, send us your review and photos/videos!

Once again, the fine folks over at the Cartoon Geeks blog and podcast have invited me onto their fine show. We talk about various random topics in the anime industry (as well as the animation industry in general). Listen to it here.

I’ve received some questions from a few of you asking me to clarify whether or not you are required to create an account in order to comment on these blog and/or podcast postings.

One of the main reasons why I decided to completely rejigger the website and move to a dedicated server is because our old Libsyn-powered website had NO spam protection measures whatsoever. In late July/early August we got hit by a flood of spams and I said “enough is enough.” So we are now running on WordPress software on a dedicated virtual Linux server hosted at Go Daddy, my hosting and domain name provider of choice.

WordPress provides an excellent plugin called “Akismet” that dramatically reduces (sometimes even eliminates) the threat of comment and trackback spam. When I set it up, however, I mistakenly thought that in order for Akismet to work, I would need to require you to register for an account here in order to post comments. This turns out not to be the case after all.

So, here is the clarification: You do NOT need to create an account on otakunopodcast.com in order to make a comment to any of these blogs or podcasts. There, I’ve said it, it’s official now.

However, if you wish to participate in the Otaku no Podcast forums, you DO need to create an account through the Forum software. The Forum software is a completely separate piece of software from WordPress, and it maintains its own database of accounts. Therefore, if you have already created an account here (on the main blog/site), and you also want to participate in the Forums, you’ll need to create another account through the Forums software. There is no way I can see of linking the two softwares’ accounts databases. (I suppose if I had the services of a class-A software wizard, but unfortunately, I don’t.)

Hopefully this will help to clear up the confusion.

As you may (or may not) have noticed, we’ve got a brand new look and feel here.  Our old website left much to be desired, and in particular, it had absolutely NO spam protection whatsoever.  (as is evident by the recent flood of spam postings)  After much thought (interspersed with some head-scratching and nail-biting, as well as more than a little bit of hair-tearing-out and head-banging-against-wall) I’ve decided to just tear everything down and start from scratch.

To that end, we have a really nifty new site based on the uber-popular WordPress blogging engine.  I’ve done a lot of research and found that WordPress offers the most flexibility with the least amount of effort (very important for a lazy otaku such as myself), and has some pretty darn fine looking themes if I do say so myself.  (Right now we’re still using the default “Kubrick” theme, but I’ll be playing around with it in the days and weeks to come, making it look even cooler.)  WordPress’s “Akismet” plugin offers excellent spam protection (but at a cost – you have to register for a free account if you want to post a comment.  Sorry folks, them’s the rules.)  Also the PodPress plugin makes adding and managing podcasts a breeze.  (Plus it provides nifty Flash-based player applet so that you can play back podcasts right on the web page.)

Not everything is back in place yet.  The nifty “subscribe via iTunes” link, for one, isn’t there.  (However, this podcast is still listed in the iTunes directory.)  Also I’m still in the process of re-adding the Google AdSense stuff, the forums, etc.  Those will slowly come online within the next few days.  But, at least, the basics are up and running.

Oh yes – and a new podcast is coming, just as soon as I can find the time to edit it.  (It’s all recorded, just need to cut out my more embarrassing flubs.  )

Finally getting through some of the con video that’s filling up my hard drive.  Here is the Anime Los Angeles 4 (2008) video I promised… uhh, a while ago.

EDIT: Yes, I know, the video claims that it was held at the AirTel.  The AirTel was, in fact, the location of all previous A-LA’s.  I made a mistake, okay? 

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 3:35 — 40.6MB)