Otaku no Podcast » Announcements

We did it!

Donald Burr — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 06:41:01 +0000

You took down your sites. You overwhelmed your elected officials with messages of opposition. Some of you even took to the streets. And, by golly, you did it: SOPA and PIPA are starting to lose support on Capitol Hill. Whereas last week only 5 lawmakers were in opposition, after today’s actions, that number has swelled to an impressive 35 opposing. And the thing only needs 41 “no” votes to effectively be stalled.

So does this mean we can relax, that we can declare “Mission accomplished” ? Not on your life. The powers of evil behind will not rest until their goals are achieved. There is still so much that can happen between now and January 24, when voting is set to begin on these bills. Bribes can be circulated. Lawmakers can sneak loopholes and other tools in at the 11th hour. And even if SOPA and PIPA go down, you know they’ll be back with something else. And it might even seem reasonable. But, believe you me, it isn’t. (It’s a trap!). We must remain ever vigilant, and continue to educate and inform our elected officials. Please keep on your Congress critters’ backs — give them something to think about come voting day.

But not right this minute. Take a few minutes and give yourself a hearty pat on the back. Go hoist up an icy cold beer (or any other beverage of choice). You — we — made history today.

I’d like to take this opportunity to personally thank our listeners and website viewers for answering the call and for putting up with a little website downtime. You guys all rock. Seriously.

Gothic & Lolita Products, magazine subscriptions from Japan

No related posts.

Moving to a new server; there may be some podcast/website issues over the next week or so (Updated)

Donald Burr — Sat, 07 Jan 2012 03:51:38 +0000

Update, early Saturday morning, January 14: If you are reading this message, then that means that the worst of it is over: the site is up and running on the new server, and all the data was moved over successfully. All that’s left now is tweaking things to get everything working “just right” and tuning for performance. Things may go down here and there for brief periods during the weekend, but the worst of it is behind us.

When I started this blog and podcast several years ago, I really had no idea where this would all be going. And, for the first year or two, our numbers (podcast subscribers as well as web site visitors) were pretty dismal. But lately I have watched those numbers climb ever so slowly as the days, weeks and months flew by, and they’re now at a pretty respectable level. Not quite OVER NINE THOUSAAAAAAAAAND, but getting there. So, yeah, we’re movie’ on up in the world. Unfortunately these larger numbers have begun to strain our resources, namely server capacity, as can be evidenced by the increasingly slow and sluggish Otaku no Podcast website. Clearly it’s high time to make some changes around here.

Actually, the first of these changes happened several weeks ago. As some of you may know, we’ve had our domain name registered through Go Daddy. I was reasonably happy with their service, and was willing to give them a “pass” on some of their more controversial aspects (their “sexy” advertising, etc.). But all that changed when it came to light that they supported the destructive legislation known as SOPA, a very disturbing piece of legislation that, if passed, could pave the way to loss of Internet freedoms and privacy. They have since backed down (somewhat – their language is still very wishy-washy); however this has eroded their credibility in my eyes to the point where I wanted to stop giving them my business. As of several weeks ago, all Otaku no Podcast-related domains are now off of Go Daddy and are registered through Hover.com, an excellent registrar who opposes SOPA. Over the next few weeks I will be moving my other domains (those used for personal means as well as other projects I’m involved in) to Hover. (Note: the Otaku no Podcast website has been hosted for quite some time at 1and1, who are on the record as opposing SOPA.)

Anyway, the real change will be coming over the next week or two, in that we’ll be moving the website onto a new server with significantly larger capacity (but still hosted at 1and1 – I’m quite pleased with their service so have no inclination to switch). At the same time, I’ll be doing some “behind the scenes” work, restructuring the code that runs everything, to make it run smoother and better (things that I’ve been meaning to do for a while now).

So, over the next week or so, as I migrate the site’s code and data over to the new server, you may start to see some strange things happen around here: silly “test” posts, missing pages, missing audio/video files, or perhaps even the dreaded “404 Not Found.” I’ll try and keep this to a minimum, but, in a move as large-scale as this, there are a thousand and one ways that things could go horribly wrong; so let this serve as fair warning.

(Of course, I’ve managed to say in 1,000 words what really only needed about 10. Such is the way with me. Oh well.)

Otaku no Podcast has its first sponsor!

Donald Burr — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 07:02:09 +0000

Greetings, and Happy New Year! We hope everyone had a great (insert name of particular holiday variant you celebrate), and we wish you all the best for a happy, safe, prosperous and fun-filled 2012!

In case you haven’t noticed, we’ve just published our first episode of the year. And you probably noticed something different about it: we now have a sponsor! The various podcast networks we publish through have begun offering advertiser opportunities to us.

But, before you get the wrong ideas and think we’ve gone all commercial and sold out on you, let me (hopefully) reassure you with the following three promises. Whenever I decide to put an ad in an episode, I promise that…

It will be short and sweet.
If you’ve listened to other tech podcasts, such as those on Leo Laporte’s TWiT network, they’ll operate similar to the ads he does: a brief “This podcast sponsored by X” message during the intro, and a short ad read sometime during the middle of the episode. By “short,” I mean 1-2 minute tops. And there may be an extra ad banner on the website. But that’s it. No ginormous background image plastered all over the home page, no over 9,000 hour long testimonials, none of that.
There will be only one ad per episode.
Unlike some of Leo’s podcasts (which sometimes have 2, 3 or even more ads per episode) I’ve decided to only put out 1 ad per episode. MAYBE, if the episode is really really long, I might put a second ad in it. But absolutely, positively no more than 2 ads per episode, and in 99% of the cases, there’ll be just 1 ad.
I will only accept advertisements from companies and products that I believe in, and that I believe offer a product or service of interest to you, the listener.
Ideally I’d love to offer ads from anime-related businesses (stores that sell DVDs/Blu-rays, figures, etc.); if you happen to work at such a company and are looking for a place to advertise, please get in touch . But until such a glorious occasion presents itself, you’ll probably be seeing and hearing ads for various tech related products and services, since most anime fans I know fall rather squarely in the geek/tech enthusiast mold.

Finally, lest you get the wrong idea that I’ll suddenly be “rolling in it” and buying yachts and taking trips to Tahiti or something like that, we’re not talking about a whole lot of money here. Again it’ll basically amount to just a little extra “something” to help keep the bills paid around here. (Besides if I were to take a trip, it would be to Japan, and not Tahiti or anywhere boring like that. )

Anyway, if you have any comments or concerns about all of this, then please don’t hesitate to get in touch.

J-List is a peaceful island of Japanese pop culture for you

The 12 Days of Kurisumasu returns for Christmas 2011!

Donald Burr — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 01:30:52 +0000

Greetings, fellow humanoids. I hope your holiday shopping is going well. Wait a minute, you’re saying it’s not going so well for you at all? How unfortunate. Well I’ve got just the thing that might help: the return of the 12 Days of Kurisumasu!

In case you weren’t around for it last year (where have you been?!), here’s the scoop: starting on Wednesday, December 14 and going through Christmas Day, Sunday, December 25, I will be picking a cool new otaku-themed product each day and will be featuring it on our Twitter and Facebook. (They’ll also be posted on the 12 Days of Kurisumasu page here, along with a witty (well, at least I think so) writeup.)

Each product I’ll be featuring will come from one of our affiliate advertisers — Amazon, CDjapan, Right Stuf, J-List, etc. Yeah, I know what you’re saying, you’ve been waiting for the “catch” and it finally came. But as catches go, this isn’t much of one. Remember that purchasing through any of the links here costs you nothing extra but brings us a little much-needed income, which helps keep the lights on and the bits flowing.

What products will you be choosing, you might be asking. No real rhyme or reason to it, really. As long as it’s even tangentially related to anime or other otaku-worthy pursuits, then it’s fair game. That means anime DVDs (and even Blu-rays); calendars; figures; “things from Japan” (food, snacks, etc.); plashes; whatever. Hopefully, among this cornucopia of consumer goods, you’ll find something cool and out of the ordinary to give to any otaku-leaning friends/acquaintances you’re looking for gifts for. (Or even yourself…)

One last note: it has come to my attention that there are actually multiple interpretations of the “12 Days of Christmas.” There are some who believe, like I do, that they start on the 14th of December and end on Christmas Day; however there are some who believe that they actually start on Christmas Day, December 25, and go through the first week of January. Well, which one is technically correct or not doesn’t really matter anyway, because I make the rules around here, and I hereby decree that the “starts on the 14th and ends on the 25th” version is the right and proper version.

Hentai PC dating-sim games at J-List

The 12 Days of Kurisumasu

Doing some holiday shopping? Let us help you with that…

Donald Burr — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 00:42:52 +0000

Yep, folks, it’s that time again. The holidays. Time to brave the elements, hunt for a parking space at your local mega mall, battle armies of crazed shoppers, spill some blood, only to find, after all that trouble, that the Super Whiz Bang Gadget (or toy, or whatever) your (insert name of whiny child, relative, etc.) wants is all out of stock. Lovely.

Hey, here’s an idea: instead of sharpening your swords and suiting up in your battle armor, why not make it easy on yourself and do all your shopping online? And, whaddaya know, we can help you with that!

We are enrolled in a number of affiliate programs that offer a wide variety of items for sale (not just anime). For every purchase you make through an affiliate, we get a small percentage. And it costs you nothing extra.

Probably the most well known is Amazon, whose selection of goods for sale is truly awe-inspiring. Books; DVDs and Blu-rays (yes, even anime ones); audiobooks; household goods; computers, cell phones, and other electronics; clothing; sporting goods; shoes; you name it, they sell it. Shipping is fast (and you can even have them gift wrap and ship a gift directly to its recipient — handy!), and their prices are surprisingly reasonable. Simply use the Amazon search box on the right hand sidebar (it’s called the AnimeFinder™ but it allows you to search all of Amazon’s catalog), search for something, and click buy, it’s as simple as that.

Not your cup of tea? No problem. We’ve got quite a few other affiliates to choose from, including:

The Right Stuf, who sell anime as well as related items (character goods, wall scrolls, manga, etc.);
CDjapan, your source for those hard-to-find import CDs, including Jpop/Jrock/visual kei, anime and video game soundtracks, etc. — and they also sell some anime related goods (figurines, etc.);
J-List, “your friend in Japan,” who sell a mind-boggling array of anime-related goods; anime DVDs and Blu-rays, manga, figurines, calendars, and more; Japanese cultural items including bento boxes, chopsticks, kitchen gadgets, and more; items to help you learn Japanese; visual novel and dating-sim games for computers and game consoles; Japanese snacks and drinks; and, ahem, “that” kind of stuff as well;
and Crunchyroll, in our opinion, the best deal in town when it comes to watching all-you-can-eat high quality streaming anime while supporting the companies who produce it.

So if you are in need of doing gift shopping this year — if nothing else, perhaps a gift for yourself even — yet the thought of holiday shopping gives you the screaming heebie jeebies, relax, we’re here to help. (And in return you’ll be helping us as well )

PC dating-sim games @ J-List

Announcing my new app, SongTweeter

Donald Burr — Tue, 22 Nov 2011 04:29:47 +0000

I hope you’ll excuse me this little bit of blatant self-promotion, but I wanted to advertise my latest and greatest iOS app, SongTweeter!

One common thing on Twitter is to share whatever music, podcast, etc. you’re currently listening to, usually using the “#NowPlaying” hash tag. I was looking for an easy way to do this, and so decided to write an app. This app is small, and it does only one thing: lets you tweet whatever song/podcast/etc. you’re currently listening to. You can optionally add any text of your choice (e.g. the aforementioned #nowplaying hashtag) before and/or after the song title; and you can even optionally include album artwork.

Go download it for free in the App Store today! It’s compatible with any iOS device running iOS 5 or later, and is a Universal Binary (works natively on both iPhone/iPod touch and iPad).

J-List is a peaceful island of Japanese pop culture for you

Otaku no Podcast app updated to version 2.1

Donald Burr — Mon, 21 Nov 2011 19:57:01 +0000

We are pleased to announce the availability of Version 2.1 Build 63 of the Otaku no Podcast app, available now in the iTunes App Store. This release includes some bug fixes as well as quite a few new features.

FIXED: Improved loading performance.
FIXED: Some screens weren’t being properly resized when an ad appeared or disappeared.
FIXED: Ads now disappear immediately when you purchase ad removal.
FIXED: Improved the speed of scrolling in the Tweets tab, and added graphical indicators showing tweet type (standard, @reply and retweet).
NEW: Improved accessibility for VoiceOver users.
NEW: Added support for localization. We need translators! If you’re willing to help us translate the app into your native language, please contact us (use the “Support” link).
NEW: Added support for AirPlay for audio and video podcasts.
NEW: Audio playback position indicator now shows elapsed time and total track length.
NEW: Episode title and album artwork are now displayed on the lock screen and the multitasking audio controller. (iOS 5 only)
NEW: Added support for AirPrint. You can now print blog posts or podcast show notes of interest.
NEW: Calendar Detail View. Tap on any event on the Convention Calendar to get more information, including location and URL.
NEW: Tapping on a tweet now allows you to e-mail it, @reply to it or retweet it.
NEW: Added an About dialog box.
NEW: Added settings dialog with an option to include chibicasts when displaying latest audio podcast.

Download it now for free from the iTunes App Store

Hentai PC dating-sim games at J-List

The PMX 2011 Meta-Post of Doom!

Donald Burr — Wed, 16 Nov 2011 22:16:35 +0000

You’re probably wondering “gee, where the hell has the Otaku no Podcast crew been?! Surely they must be back from PMX by now!” Yes, in fact we have been back for a few days; however one of us is more or less incommunicado while she’s helping to housesit for a relative…. and I have contracted the Dreaded Con Plague of Doom. (Remember, people: Emergen-C. LOTS of Emergen-C.)

I hope to be in a well enough shape to record our inevitable PMX wrap-up podcast episode this weekend. And I’ve started finally ingesting the video and photos we took while at the show, and hope to have those posted over the next week or so as well. But in the meantime, I’ve started gathering up other peoples’ PMX-related postings, in particular photos and videos, and present them here for your enjoyment.

(Note: I will be constantly updating this post as I find more peoples’ photos and videos, so check back often! And if you know of any PMX 2011 photo and/or video posts that I don’t, please let us know so we can update this post.)

ChillyWillyTube’s PMX cosplay video
Mike Rollerson’s PMX 2011 Photos (Facebook) (Flickr)
Ani.me PMX Photo Studio photos (Facebook) (Flickr)

Gothic & Lolita Products, magazine subscriptions from Japan

Another way to help Otaku no Podcast – Buy Me Stuff!

Donald Burr — Sat, 29 Oct 2011 23:22:22 +0000

I have come up with yet another way to help the podcast! If buying stuff from our affiliates, or donating, is not to your tastes, then why not buy me some stuff?! (Why you would be willing to do this instead of buying stuff for yourself, I have no idea, but a guy can dream, right?)

I’ve put up a public wish list on Amazon and will be filling it with things.

Here are my promises to you:

Every item you see is on this list because I need it for something relating to the podcast. Either it’s an anime or video game I want to review, or it’s something I need, for example, a new shock mount to replace the one that I have right now that’s on its last legs; or supplies that I need for giving a panel or workshop at an anime convention (e.g. office supplies, printer ink/toner, etc.). You get the idea.
For all anime/video game type products, I promise to put up a review of it, either as a blog post/article or as part of a podcast episode. (This of course only applies to anime, video games, etc.; I don’t think you’d want to see a review of the latest HP LaserJet toner cartridge or something like that.)

Either way, whatever (if anything) people are willing to get me off this list means less money I need to spend out of pocket, which I can use instead towards paying for other things that the blog/podcast needs (equipment, servers, bandwidth, web hosting, etc.). And, of course, you will have my undying and eternal gratitude, not to mention the continuation of this blog and podcast.

View the wish list here or by clicking on the “Otaku no Podcast Wish List of Doom!” link on the right sidebar, just below the AnimeFinder™ (patent pending).

Gothic & Lolita Products, magazine subscriptions from Japan

PMX 2011 preliminary schedules are now up!

Donald Burr — Sat, 29 Oct 2011 19:37:08 +0000

Good news everyone – the PMX preliminary schedules are now up! They’re available in PDF form as a print-ready black and white or color version.

I would like to point your attention at 3 panels in particular. (Yes, as you might have guessed, we will be running some panels of our own!)

“Otaku Podcasting for the Complete n00b,” Friday November 11 at 5 PM in LP2 (Los Angeles B) is basically the same old podcasting talk we gave at AX, Fanime, and Anime LA. If you’ve seen it already, you don’t need to come, but why not do so anyway to show your support? And if you don’t know what in blazes I’m talking about, then please come on by! If you’ve ever wanted to know how we run this dog and pony show called Otaku no Podcast, we will show you how it’s done, and you’ll learn that it is not only easy to do, but cheap as well. (which is why even weirdos like us can do it).

“Con Photography 101,” Saturday November 12 at 12 noon in LP2 (Los Angeles B) is for all you costly photographers out there. Ever come home from a day of shooting at con only to be met with pain and disappointment when you load up your pictures and look at them? Well, we’re here to help! If you’ve seen this talk before (yes, we’ve given this one before as well), you may still want to come anyway, because we’ve reorganized it somewhat. We’ll be focusing in (heh, pun) on tips and techniques for point and shoot camera owners first, but we’ll also cover what you DSLR owners can do as well (and why you point and shooters might want to upgrade). Besides, there will be swag!

And finally, Otaku no Podcast co-host and noted doll enthusiast Michelle “Ms. Geek” Klein-Hass will be putting on a Dollfie Dream/Obitsu Doll Panel on Sunday November 13 at 2 PM in Workshops (Marina).

For more information on PMX, including guests of honor and other events, check out the PMX website. Online pre-registration is still open as well. Prices are $40 for an Adult Full (Fri-Sun) membership (before Nov 5th) or $50 (after November 5); $20 for a single-day adult membership (Friday or Sunday) or $35 for Saturday; $15 for children 12 and under; and children 5 and under get in for free. (Children must be accompanied by a paying adult). A 20% group discount is also available for groups of 5 or more who register together.

Gothic & Lolita Products, magazine subscriptions from Japan

Cool Find: ProPlayer Video Player for iPhone, iPod touch and iPad

Donald Burr — Sun, 23 Oct 2011 00:56:00 +0000

Those of us that have collections of anime videos on our hard drives (unlicensed only, please; and please support the creators by buying the title when it becomes officially licensed in your region, blah blah blah) are presented with a problem when we want to enjoy said content in places other than sitting right in front of your computer. I’ve been on a quest of sorts over the past few years to find tools to help with this scenario, which I’ve written about before. And, indeed, products like Air Video, Meridian Media Player and the WD TV Live work beautifully and allow us to free ourselves from the confines of our computer monitors.

But what if you want to enjoy your content when you’re out and about, away from home, and on the go? The WD TV Live isn’t an option for obvious reasons, and Air Video doesn’t work either, because you’re not within range of your WiFi network and your home computer. If you’ve got an Android phone, Meridian works well. And, indeed, it worked quite well for me, while I had an Android phone. But then, in January (or was it February? I forget) Apple announced that the iPhone was coming to Verizon.

Now I don’t want to get into any smartphone/OS holy wars here. Suffice it to say that, much as I liked my Android experience, I still prefer iOS devices and iPhones. The UI is more refined, the phone performs better and the battery lasts much longer. But, alas, there is no Meridian player for iOS. Yes, I could use something like the excellent (not to mention free) HandBrake to convert my video files and load them into iTunes, but that is a clunky extra step to have to go through. What I liked about Meridian was that all I had to do was mount my phone’s SD card and drag my video files onto it.

Well, I’ve finally found something comparable in the iOS world: ProPlayer. It can play just about every video file format under the sun, including those oh-so-pesky MKV files, and it supports one of the most common subtitle file formats (SRT). You can load your video content onto your device using iTunes’ app file sharing mechanism — not as easy as Meridian/Android’s drag-and-drop, but not too bad. And once the files are on the device, you can use the ProPlayer app to organize them in folders. You can even password protect certain folders of your choosing, for, ahem, “those” certain types of files that you’d rather your mother or girlfriend not see.

Now for the bad news. Unfortunately it doesn’t support the other most common subtitle file format, SSA/ASS. You can work around this by loading up said subtitles in an external subtitle editor program such as Jubler (really good, and it’s free too) and save them out in SRT format. It doesn’t support FLAC (lossless) audio tracks (but fortunately those are fairly rare, and can be down converted to AC3 or MP3 if needed). And it doesn’t support multiple audio tracks, which you don’t see very often “in the wild”; however if you’ve made rips of your own anime DVDs and preserved both the English and Japanese audio, it will only play the “first” audio track that it finds.

It is compatible with the iPhone 3GS and above (including the new iPhone 4S), iPod touch (3rd generation or later), and iPad, and can be purchased on the App Store for $2.99, a fantastic price for such a capable piece of software. Go grab it today on the App Store.

The Reverse Thieves announce the 2011 Anime Secret Santa project!

Donald Burr — Wed, 12 Oct 2011 15:45:04 +0000

The Reverse Thieves have just announced their 2011 Anime Secret Santa project!

If you don’t know what in blazes I’m talking about, go back and read our post about it a couple years ago. But, for the lazy, here’s the Reader’s Digest version: basically, you e-mail your name, blog title and url, and a link to the list of anime you’ve watched (from sites such as MyAnimeList or Anime-Planet (both are free)), and the Reverse Thieves will randomly pair you up with another participant. You then look thorugh that participant’s list of anime and then suggest to them three anime that they might enjoy. Only — your identities are kept secret until the very end. The whole idea is to help get some inter-blog anime review participation going on, as well as broadening peoples’ horizons and getting them to maybe step out of their comfort zones and try something different.

We had a great deal of fun participating in years past, and with any luck we will be participating once again this year.

Unfortunately this almost slipped under my radar, and so I missed this when they announced it over a week ago. Which means that you have until the end of today (Wednesday, October 12) to respond if you’re interested in participating. Just e-mail your name, your blog’s name and url, and the link to your anime list, to secretsanta.rt@gmail.com with the subject “Secret Santa Participant” But remember, you only have until the end of today, so you better hurry!

J-List is a peaceful island of Japanese pop culture for you

Otaku no Podcast App v2.0 is out; Android app coming soon

Donald Burr — Wed, 12 Oct 2011 01:21:07 +0000

We are pleased to announce that a brand new version of the Otaku no Podcast app is now available in the app store!

New features include:

Completely rewritten from scratch. Faster performance, and follows the iOS user interface design more closely.
No longer asks for your location. (Note: The location prompt was due to a mistake on my part when creating the first version of the app. No actual location data was ever collected or stored.)
Supports Push Notifications – get notified instantly when new podcasts or blog posts are published
Lets you listen to and/or watch the latest audio and video podcasts, as well as previous podcasts
Supports background audio and remote audio control
Option to let you view blog posts in Mobile Safari
You can now share interesting blog posts and/or podcasts with others via e-mail or Twitter (Twitter sharing requires iOS 5)
New Con Calendar – check out our upcoming anime convention schedule
Contact Us now lets you send us e-mail as well as call our voice mail line (requires an iPhone) or via Skype (requires the free Skype app be installed, available for iPhone/iPod touch and iPad)
The app is now ad-supported, using Apple’s iAd ad network. We feel that these ads are reasonably unobtrusive — they don’t bog down your phone, or jump out at you and annoy you like many other ads do. However, if you wish to show your support for Otaku no Podcast directly, there is an option that will allow you to remove all ads from the program for a small one-time fee.

Of course, with a rewrite of this magnitude, there are bound to be a few bugs still. If you run into one, we’d appreciate it if you could let us know about it.

Go grab the app today (it’s free). You can also check out a video (also embedded below the cut) on how the app works.

Finally, for all you Android users out there, don’t fret; my friend is hard at work on an Android version of the app, which should be out in the Android marketplace soon.

RIP Steve Jobs

Donald Burr — Thu, 06 Oct 2011 01:51:18 +0000

I hope you’ll forgive me this non-anime-related post. But I feel that we have to acknowledge the loss of a true visionary. In a statement released late today by the Apple board of directors, they announced that Steve Jobs has passed away.

I won’t say very much, because not only am I still in shock, but I really have nothing to add to what has already been said – there are far better bloggers and news outlets out there that are doing that, and I’ll link to some of them at the end of this article.

Even so, I can’t help but voice a few thoughts myself. (Because that’s the way I roll)

Love him or hate him, agree with him or disagree with him, I don’t think there’s a single person on this planet who would deny that he made a significant impact on the computing landscape. He brought the user friendly to computing. And let’s not forget his impact on the music industry. Before the iPod came out, MP3 players (those few that existed) were big, clunky, complicated, and had battery lives measured in minutes. Now, with each successive generation of iPod and the inevitable copycats, we end up with better products — both the iPods as well as the copycats have improved. And the iTunes Music Store finally dragged the recording industry kicking and screaming into the age of digital music. Only Steve could have got them to agree to drop DRM. And his creations have directly affected many other industries — desktop publishing, digital video, telecommunications… I could go on and on.

Many people have asked me why I use Macs and Apple products. My more frugal friends ask me why I insist on paying 2-3x of what the “other guys” charge for their tech. My Open Source advocate friends ask me why I persist in using a closed system. Well my answer is simple: Apple products do what I want and need them to do, and they do it well. I’m not necessarily saying that the other tools are bad — they serve the needs of many people just fine. But for my particular mindset, I just couldn’t think of doing it on anything other than a Mac. Apple kicked off the whole digital video revolution with products like iMovie and Final Cut, and while there are now some competitors in the space, I still think the Apple tools work better. The same goes for audio editing and digital photo editing. Yes they are more expensive than their PC alternatives. But they are built to last. I’m notoriously hard on technology, and I have managed to turn lesser (PC) laptops into nonfunctional, broken pieces of crap. (Just about the only laptop I haven’t managed to thoroughly destroy is the classic IBM Thinkpad.) Whereas my poor MacBook Pro has been dropped God knows how many times (trust me, it has the battle scars to prove it), yet still performs just as well as it did on day 1. It goes even farther than that. There are many people out there — including a certain Otaku no Podcast co-host — that still have more aged Macs that still perform beautifully (albeit a bit slowly by comparison), and these people use them every day.

And there is one thing I cannot help but respect him for: he had the — well, there’s no other word for it, “balls” — to tell us “You’re gonna do things my way.” This can be summed up brilliantly in the “Think Different” ad campaign. He wasn’t always right — Apple has certainly had its share of titanic failures — but even still, out of the ashes of those failures came the seeds for later successes. Take the Lisa, for example. A technologically revolutionary machine, yet a commercial failure — but it formed the core (if you’ll pardon the pun) of the Macintosh. Or his NeXT machines — again, a failure in the marketplace, yet the operating system at their core went on to become today’s Mac OS X.

Either way, the world has lost a truly remarkable individual. Our hearts and prayers go out to Steve’s family

Important note I have decided to donate all affiliate income earned during the months of October and November to cancer charities.

Some stories from around the net:

Page announcing his passing on the Apple website
Apple press release
Apple CEO Tim Cook’s note to employees
Statement from Steve’s family
Steve Jobs’ 2005 Stanford commencement speech
Kind words from his technological rival Bill Gates
A really touching eulogy from, of all people, Gizmodo (Gizmodo and Apple have had a very antagonistic relationship. Way to show some class, guys.)
Reflections from Brian Lam (he’s the guy at Gizmodo who was responsible for the whole iPhone 4 scandal)
A tribute video by Gizmodo
A very fitting tribute on the front page of BoingBoing
Picture of Steve leaving the keynote stage for the last time at this year’s WWDC
LA Times article
A touching eulogy from technology columnist Andy Ihnatko
Words from President Barack Obama
A picture of Steve doing what he loved to do
Article on Steve’s passing from Crunchyroll News (There, I made this post anime related! Take THAT, on-topic post police!)
Tributes to Steve Jobs from Pixiv artists (Pixiv is sort of like Japan’s answer to deviantART. And, oh yeah, +1 to making this post anime-related! )
Libsyn’s tribute to Steve Jobs (Libsyn is a file hosting service used by many podcasters, including us!)
Tribute image by designer jonathan mak
Steve Jobs tribute page from ScreenCastsOnline
Tribute article written by TUAW blogger Michael Rose
Tribute articles and videos from Wired
Steve’s friend and Apple cofounder Steve Wozniak reminisces (The last 3 seconds really choked me up)

PC dating-sim games @ J-List

No related posts.

Otaku no Podcast is once again an Amazon affiliate

Donald Burr — Mon, 03 Oct 2011 21:23:40 +0000

Earlier this year, we wrote about Amazon’s decision to terminate its California affiliates (of which we were one) due to the new CA sales tax law. This, of course, spurred me on to search for more affiliate programs, resulting in the new affiliate links you may have seen from various places such as Right Stuf, Crunchyroll, Best Buy, CDjapan (still pending, cross your fingers), and others.

Well, apparently Amazon reached a compromise with the state, and Governor Jerry Brown signed a new law that requires Amazon and other out-of-state retailers to start collecting sales tax starting in September of next year. And, hot on the heels of that news, Amazon announced it has officially reinstated its California affiliates. So you should once again start seeing Amazon links popping up across the site. (Fortunately I have been too busy/lazy to remove all Amazon links when they terminated us. Now I don’t have to. Win!)

But that doesn’t mean we’ll be dropping our new affiliates. For one thing, some of them carry stuff that Amazon doesn’t. (Such as import CDs in the case of CDjapan, Crunchyroll memberships, etc.) But also, whenever I post a product, I’ll do my best to find you the best deal on it.

So, what are you waiting for? Come forth and consume! (Moichandising! Moichandising!)

Otaku Call to Action: Please Take our Listener Survey!

Donald Burr — Sun, 02 Oct 2011 02:38:31 +0000

Listen up, folks – I need your help here. We need information on YOU, the people who listen to our podcast and view our website. I’m gonna level with you: the purpose of this survey is to help position this podcast in various ad networks. As I’ve mentioned before, I run this whole dog and pony show out of my own pocket, and, with the economy being the way it is, any source of income to help me in this is greatly appreciated.

The survey is pretty much standard demographics collection fare: highest level of education completed, average household income, types of podcasts you are interested in. Pretty standard stuff. However, we WILL NOT ask you for any personally identifiable information (name, social security number, etc.) So in other words we’re only collecting statistics in aggregate (i.e. our listening audience in general), NOT on a specific person by person basis. And the information you provide will NOT be sold. (Check out the privacy statement for more information)

If, having read all of the above, you’re still willing to help out, then I thank you from the bottom of my heart. Seriously. You rock. Just click on the survey link in this post, or on the Otaku no Podcast website, and fill it out. It’ll only take a few minutes of your time (it took me only about 2 minutes).

Gothic & Lolita Products, magazine subscriptions from Japan

Mikunopolis CD, DVD and Blu-ray releases are coming soon; pre-order today!

Donald Burr — Fri, 30 Sep 2011 21:05:35 +0000

Those of you that missed Mikunopolis, the awesome Vocaloid concert that took place at this year’s Anime Expo, listen up! The release dates for the concert videos have been set!

But first, the bad news. These are only going to be released in Japan. Why they chose to do this, I have no idea. If rumors are to be believed, Sega is doing this deliberately to punish those who illegally uploaded video from the concert. (Please note that we attended Anime Expo as official members of the press and that our videos were shot from the press area with permission.) Actually, the first rumors indicated that they would not be releasing the concert footage at all. Whether these rumors are true or not, we don’t know; but the reality of the situation is that if you want ‘em, you’re gonna have to import ‘em.

And now, the good news. This is going to be a multi-media release – it’s coming out in CD, DVD and Blu-ray! Each will include all of the songs performed at the concert. In addition, the DVD and Blu-ray releases will feature some extras, including a special booklet, photo of Hatsune Miku, and a “making-of” video.

The CD will be released on November 30, at a price of ¥3,150 (about US$40) and the Blu-ray and DVD will follow on December 21, at ¥6,300 (about US$80) for the DVD and ¥7,350 (about US$95) for the Blu-ray. (Welcome to the world of Japanese media pricing.)

(Important note: the Blu-rays are region free (meaning that they will play in any Blu-ray player anywhere in the world); however the DVD release is Region 2, meaning that, unless you live in Japan, you will need a “region-free” DVD player (or a “region free” hack for your computer-based DVD player) in order to play it. Fortunately region-free DVD players can be easily obtained.)

You can pre-order them today from Play-asia (CD, DVD, Blu-ray) and CDjapan (CD, DVD, Blu-ray).

Note: We have applied to become a CDjapan affiliate. So please use the CDjapan links

Winter 2011 anime at a glance

Donald Burr — Fri, 30 Sep 2011 05:55:11 +0000

Yes, it’s true! @cowboybibimbop strikes again! (You may remember him from the Autumn 2011 anime guide we wrote about a while ago.) Well he’s back with a new guide, this time showcasing the Winter 2011/2012 anime lineup.

Go take a look at it here or below the cut.

(Note that he’s actually created a separate Twitter account, @animucharts, specifically for news and discussion relating to the charts. So if you’re on Twitter, you might want to follow it for the latest and greatest.)

Hentai PC dating-sim games at J-List

Nominate us for the 2011 Podcast Awards!

Donald Burr — Mon, 26 Sep 2011 19:49:05 +0000

I wasn’t gonna do this, but then I figured: Why not?

Every year the People’s Choice Podcast Awards asks you, the podcast listening audience, to vote on your favorite podcasts in various categories. And, just for the halibut, I thought, why not have everybody vote for Otaku no Podcast? I do need your help for this though.

OK, so here’s what you do. Head on over to http://podcastawards.com/. Scroll down to the “Cultural/Arts” section, and fill in our name (Otaku no Podcast) and URL (http://otakunopodcast.com/). Scroll down to the bottom of the form, and enter your name and e-mail address (I really doubt they’ll spam you, but if you’re paranoid, you can always create a free Gmail account). And hit the “submit” button. That’s it.

You only have 5 days to do this (until September 30) so hurry up!!

We probably have more of a chance of winning the lottery or being visited by intelligent aliens from another planet than winning this, but we might as well try, right?

Now, go forth, my armies of evil minions, and vote! Your Supreme Leader commands you!

ChibiCast #0022 – Nominate us for the 2011 Podcast Awards!

Autumn 2011 Anime at a Glance

Donald Burr — Fri, 09 Sep 2011 23:35:17 +0000

Twitter follower @cowboybibimbop has put together a really sweet (and well done) graphical overview of the Autumn 2011 anime lineup.

Go check it out now or take a look below the cut.

PC dating-sim games @ J-List

“We Heart Performing for Japan” Charity Event to benefit Japanese disaster relief set for October 1

Donald Burr — Fri, 09 Sep 2011 18:21:53 +0000

We Heart Japan, a charity organized by several individuals including anime voice actress Stephanie Sheh, will be holding another charity event next month in Southern California.

We Heart Japan made news earlier this year when, less than 1 week after the March 11 earthquake and tsunami, they organized an event that, in spite of its hastily put together nature, managed to raise a very impressive $13,000. (OK, fine, I’ll say it…)

Well, they’re back for another go. We Heart Performing for Japan is coming to the Theatre of Arts Arena Stage, 1625 N. Las Palmas, Hollywood, CA 90028, for one night only, Saturday, October 1, from 6:00 to 8:00 pm. Headliners include Mari Iijima, known as both the acting and singing voice of Lynn Minmay from the classic Super Dimension Fortress Macross (and its American adaptation Robotech); also, the English cast of an “unannounced classic anime series” will be reuniting to perform a live reading of an episode (a little birdie landed on my shoulder and whispered in my ear that it might be Cowboy Bebop). Other guests include Beau Billingslea (BLEACH, FRANKLIN & BASH, NARUTO); Steve Blum (COWBOY BEBOP, FINAL FANTASY VII, GURREN LAGANN); Melissa Fahn (DIGIMON, FLCL, BLUE DRAGON); and Wendee Lee (BLEACH, THE MELANCHOLY OF HARUHI SUZUMIYA, MAGIC KNIGHT RAYEARTH). Prizes will be raffled off throughout the evening as well.

Tickets are $40 for general admission and $60 for premium/reserved seating (which includes an exclusive gift bag) and must be purchased online. All proceeds will go towards the Japan NGO Earthquake Relief and Recovery Fund, a joint venture between the Japan Center for International Exchange (JCIE/USA) and JCIE/Japan dedicated to supporting relief efforts in Japan.

Come out and show your support!

PC dating-sim games @ J-List

It’s time for the Otaku no Podcast Live Call-in Show of Doom!

Donald Burr — Thu, 01 Sep 2011 21:11:04 +0000

Edit 2011-09-08: Thanks to everyone who participated! Everyone had a good time, and we’ll definitely be doing something like this again. Keep an eye on the website for an announcement of when the next one will be. I’m editing the recording I made of this event and I’ll be putting it out as a series of podcast episodes over the next few weeks.

Well, September 1 has finally come, meaning that this upcoming weekend is Labor Day. Time to kick back and relax, fire up the grill, enjoy the last dog days of summer… and, oh yeah, take part in the Otaku no Podcast Live Call-in Show of Doom!

As I mentioned before, this is something I’ve been wanting to do for quite some time. Basically, I am envisioning a sort of live group call-in show where hosts, co-hosts and guests can drop in and out at will. What will we talk about? Whatever you want, and whatever strikes our fancy. The summer 2011 anime season, anime conventions you’ve been to, your favorite (and not so favorite) anime/character, whatever…

We will be “on the air” through the afternoon and evening, starting at, let’s say, around 4 PM Pacific time, and going on until either we have nothing left to talk about, everybody else has left the call, or we’ve all passed out. (These times may change – I’m still waiting to hear back from some potential participants to see what times work for them. If I have to change the times, I’ll update this post.)

Now, it should go without saying that for something like this to really work, we need your help! Call in and join the discussion, won’t you? Now’s your chance to tell the world about why (insert name of anime) is the greatest in the world (or sucks worse than a sack of wet gym socks), or what your latest doll or figma acquisition is… anything goes, providing that it’s even vaguely related to anime (or manga – this is something I don’t know that much about, but would like to learn more)

Here’s how you can participate.

Via Skype:

If you have Skype installed on your computer, in most cases, clicking this handy link will launch Skype and automatically dial in for you.
If that doesn’t work, just open Skype’s “dial pad” and dial in this number: +9900827047586112 This is a free Skype call and you don’t need to be subscribed to SkypeOut for it to work.

Via phone:

(201) 793-9022 (long distance)
(888) 350-0075 (toll free)

Please use the long distance number if possible. This shouldn’t be a problem for most people — most cell phone plans these days have free weekend calling as well as free long distance, and for those using landline phones, reasonably priced “phone cards” (MCI, Sprint, etc.) can be purchased at many grocery/drug stores as well as Costco. If this is not doable for you, then you can use the toll-free number, but since this service costs us extra, we’d prefer it if you didn’t.

Once you’ve joined the conference:

IMPORTANT NOTE: If you are asked for the Conference Room Number, it is 7586112.

You will be asked to speak your name. It doesn’t have to be your real name – feel free to use whatever you go by when on the Internets.

If, once you join, all you hear is cheesy elevator muzak, that means you are the only person in the call. Congratulations. You can either wait around for someone to join you, or better yet, keep an eye on our Twitter; we will tweet when we start and stop the live call.

If all you hear is silence, then either we are all off doing something else, or we’ve all passed out, or there is something wrong with the conference call. Be patient, and again, keep an eye on our twitter to find out what’s going on.

If you just want to listen in…

If all you want to do is listen in, we’ve got you covered there as well. Our streaming Internet radio station Otaku no Radio will be interrupting its usual broadcasting to bring a live simulcast of this event.

If you already have a program capable of playing Shoutcast radio streams (iTunes and Winamp are two popular free ones), this link should launch your player and tune in to the stream. (If you’re a Google Chrome user, you might need to use this link instead.) Otherwise you can listen in directly on your web browser (assuming your computer, tablet, or other listening device of choice supports Flash) by loading up the Flash based stream player.

New Audio-only and Video-only Podcast Feeds are now available

Donald Burr — Thu, 01 Sep 2011 16:10:48 +0000

When I started putting out video podcasts a few years ago, I was worried that this decision might meet with some controversy. After all, video files are large and consume lots of bandwidth, which some people just can’t or won’t want to download. (Especially these days, when many internet service providers are imposing data caps.) However, I was pleasantly surprised when I failed to receive one single complaint. Still, in the back of my mind I fear that someone is secretly plotting my assassination in retaliation for the heinous crime of forcing them to download my (admittedly cheesy) video podcasts. Well, in an effort to head that admittedly far-fetched problem off at the pass, and to provide an extra bit of convenience and choice for you, our audience, I have implemented separate audio-only and video-only podcast feeds! Now YOU get to choose what content you get!

If you want to continue receiving both audio and video podcasts, you don’t need to do anything. (Truly the lazy man’s solution, which is why it’s my favorite. ) The “default” podcast feed that you’re currently subscribed to will continue to carry both audio and video episodes.
If you want to receive only the audio podcasts, then you can subscribe to the audio-only feed (iTunes link). (Useful if you use a podcast client on your smartphone, since most people don’t watch video on those tiny screens. Also useful for those standalone Internet radio gizmos that are popular with some people out there)
If you want to receive only the video podcasts, then you can subscribe to the video-only feed (iTunes link). (Handy if, for example, you want to watch them on your iPad or big-screen TV, say using an Apple TV or Roku box for example, since playing audio-only stuff on large screens like that doesn’t really make much sense.)

The combined (main) feed will remain available on iTunes as well as the various other podcast directories where we’re listed. I’ll be submitting the separate audio- and video-only feeds as well, so they should start appearing in search results soon.

Announcing the Labor Day Weekend Otaku-thon of Doom!

Donald Burr — Mon, 22 Aug 2011 21:32:44 +0000

Summer is coming to an end, which for many people unfortunately means it’s Back to School time. (I feel your pain) It also means that it’s time once again for the infamous MDA Labor Day Telethon. I remember watching this with my parents for years when I was a kid, groaning at the lame jokes, and watching the various performers.

Thinking about this gave me an idea — how about we hold our own Labor Day event — a Labor Day Otakuthon, if you will? No, I won’t be crass and ask for your donations (though if you do I certainly wouldn’t mind). Instead, I am envisioning a sort of live group call-in show where hosts, co-hosts and guests can drop in and out at will, and we can talk about anything that strikes our fancy. (This is actually something I’ve been wanting to do for a while now.)

We can talk about what we think of the Summer 2011 anime season so far. We can talk about the various anime conventions we’ve been to this year. We can sing the praises of our all-time favorite anime, or lampoon and ridicule the worst anime in the history of mankind. Whatever!

I was thinking that we could do this on Labor Day weekend, which is Saturday and Sunday, September 3rd and 4th this year. No, we won’t be going all weekend long – I don’t want to completely emulate the MDA telethon (which in its heyday lasted as long as 21-1/2 hours!). I was thinking of doing this for a few hours on both Saturday and Sunday (to give as many people as possible on both the east and west coasts an opportunity to join in).

I’ve already lined up a few co-hosts who will be joining us. But for this to really succeed, we need you! If you’ve got a reasonably good computer and Internet connection, and a decent mic or USB headset, you can participate using Skype (which can be downloaded for free). Or you can join in by dialing a (toll free, in the US or Canada) telephone number.

If you’re interested in participating, drop us a line letting us know around what time(s) you might be available that weekend. I’ve also set up an editable web page where anyone who is interested can suggest topics of discussion; also please list the days/times that you might be able to join in there.

Look for another blog post closer to the weekend in question (sometime next week) that will detail the specific time(s) we’ll be operational, as well as instructions on how to join us by Skype or phone.

Announcing the Otaku no Podcast Tumblr blog

Donald Burr — Wed, 03 Aug 2011 20:59:42 +0000

We here at Otaku no Podcast pride ourselves on always being at the trailing edge of technology and trendiness. So, in that vein, we are pleased to announce that we have finally set up our own Tumblr.

Tumblr, in case you’re unaware, is a sort of microblogging platform that lets you post quick little snippets of text, images, videos, links, quotes, and audio. Think of it as a short-form blog: something that kind of sits in between a full-on blog posting here at otakunopodcast.com, and a really short tweet or Facebook post. Basically, this will be used for things that are kind of cool (well, at least I think so), but aren’t deserving of a full-on blog post at Otaku no Podcast (I wouldn’t want to clutter up the home page even worse than it already is…) Fun screenshots from anime I’m watching, cool or funny YouTube videos I run into, etc.

You can follow it via RSS feed or just follow our Twitter since I’ve set up Tumblr to post to Twitter whenever I put up a new entry.

We are now a Crunchyroll affiliate!

Donald Burr — Sat, 23 Jul 2011 01:06:28 +0000

We are pleased to announce that we are now a Crunchyroll affiliate!

Crunchyroll is quite possibly the best thing to come around for us anime fans, and is the easiest and cheapest way of enjoying 100% legal streaming anime while supporting the companies that create it. They actively go after the latest and greatest anime titles, as well as maintain a back catalog of over 200 titles.

You can access most of the site for free. But if you pay for a Premium membership, not only do you help support the people and companies that create anime, you also get access to some cool extras. For one thing, you get access to the full back catalog (only a subset of the older titles are available for free). You also get — and this is the big one — same-day simulcast. Yes, on the same day that any given anime episode comes out in Japan, you can watch it on Crunchyroll, complete with English subtitles. You also get access to high-quality HD (720p and 1080p) streams. And not only can you watch Crunchyroll on your computer, but with a Premium membership, you also can use their apps for iOS (iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad), Android, as well as set-top boxes by Boxee and Roku. And finally, if you’re a fan of live-action Japanese or Korean dramas (“dorama”) they’ve got those too.

What will all of this cost you? Very little. For an anime- or drama-only Premium membership, you pay the low low price of just $6.95 per month. Or if you want both anime and drama, that’ll run you $11.95/month. Better still, if you’re willing to pay for multiple months in advance, the price drops to as low as $4.99/month!

So what are you waiting for? Get a Crunchyroll Premium Membership today! If you sign up through any of the CR links/banners on our site, we’ll get a little cut (it doesn’t cost you anything extra), which goes towards keeping the website up, paying for server and bandwidth, equipment for the studio, etc.

Cool Find: ComiPo!

Donald Burr — Fri, 15 Jul 2011 19:56:55 +0000

“Those who can, do. Those who can’t, teach.” Or so the old saying goes. And if the act of “teaching” includes blogging and podcasting, then it’s especially true in my case. You see, I can’t draw worth a darn. And that explains why I write about anime and manga rather than actually create it. But, as is true for many people I’m sure, there are still stories bouncing around in my head that I wish I could either animate or draw. (Or maybe I just want to make a cheap rip-off or parody of some already existing property.) Luckily, for people like us, technology is here to help, at least as far as “drawing” manga is concerned, thanks to a new program called ComiPo!.

This software lets you place 3D models of various manga-y characters in various standard outfits (school uniforms, etc.) in various poses, add speech bubbles or action text, and place them on a variety of backgrounds. And because the models are 3D, you can easily pose them any which way you want. It really has an impressive list of features. The software is currently still under development, but they have released a free trial version that’s good through November 30, 2011 which can be downloaded from their website. (Look for the big red download button about halfway down the page.) The software should run on almost any fairly modern PC, and appears to work with Windows XP and later versions. (Mac users – sorry, there doesn’t appear to be a Mac version; but it runs beautifully under emulation software such as Parallels, VMware Fusion and VirtualBox.)

You’ll need to enable Japanese language support in Windows. I previously showed you how to do this in my Kanon installation video, but it turns out the steps I showed there were incomplete. I’ve made a new video that shows you how to properly enable Japanese language support.

Unfortunately the software is in Japanese (duh) and no English translation (or tutorial) has yet been put forth; ~~I’m sure that there are groups working on this~~ Newsflash! The creators of ComiPo! have announced that they are working on an English language version of the software!! For now you’ll have to resort to the tried-and-true technique of “click on something and see what it does.” You also might want to check out the official demo video to get an idea of what you can do with the software, as well as episode 8 of Patrick Macias’ and Yuu Asakawa’s (English language) show Otaku-verse Zero, who also showed off ComiPo!; the segment starts in at around 03:00. Japanese culture blogger Danny Choo also wrote about it and you might find some useful tidbits in his post (as well as in the comments to his post). He also featured ComiPo! in episode 11 of his show Culture Japan. (The segment starts in at about 26 minutes.) There’s also a community site (in English, fortunately). And, the makers of ComiPo! have set up an English language Facebook page where Facebook users have helpfully posted their own English language tutorials on how to use the software. Sugoi ne!!

Demo videos below the cut.

Gothic & Lolita Products, magazine subscriptions from Japan

You can now listen to Otaku no Podcast on Stitcher Radio!

Donald Burr — Tue, 12 Jul 2011 02:31:23 +0000

In our continuing efforts to ~~take over the world, bwahahahh!!!!~~ bring Otaku no Podcast to the widest possible listening audience, we are pleased to announce that we are now available on the Stitcher SmartRadio app.

Stitcher is an award-winning provider of news and talk radio for your mobile phone. With the free Stitcher SmartRadio app (available for devices running iOS, Android, BlackBerry OS, and HP/Palm webOS), you can listen to your favorite radio programs and podcasts – anytime and anywhere you want.

Stitcher has a truly wide variety of programming available, from the media industry’s premier content providers — tech news, sports, talk radio, business, entertainment, and much more. It’s the easiest way to stay connected to your world while on-the-go. You can easily create your own personalized audio stream, with only the content that you want, and listen to it anytime, anywhere. With over 5,000 shows available on Stitcher, you’re bound to find something of interest to you. And if you’re having trouble finding something to listen to, Stitcher’s recommendation feature can help you out.

So go download the free app today!

Otaku no Podcast is now affiliated with The Right Stuf; get your anime and manga fix here!

Donald Burr — Thu, 30 Jun 2011 05:51:45 +0000

By now you all know that, for many years, we have been a happy member of the Amazon Affiliates program – that is what powered our wonderful AnimeFinder(TM) search box, as well as the product links in the various podcasts and other articles here (such as when we review an anime, or choose one as one of our Picks, etc.). This has been (IMHO) a great relationship for both you the audience and us the podcasters: you get to acquire anime (and other products) at a decent price (their selection is pretty good and their prices are not too shabby), and we get a little “something” for your business. And, while small, these little “something”s really do add up. (Example: our most recent affiliate payment helped me put together a cheap, but pretty sweet mobile studio rig for the interviews we’ll be doing at Anime Expo.)

Sadly, as the man said, all good things must come to an end. Recently my home state of California signed a new budget, one of the more controversial parts of which institutes a sales tax on all online purchases, even if the business in question doesn’t maintain facilities in California. As a result, Amazon has decided to terminate all California-based associates’ contracts. (Apparently, at least according to Amazon, Governor Brown has signed this new legislation, though I can’t find any news articles confirming this.) It’s thought by many that Amazon is doing this just so that they can raise a ruckus, make a statement, whatever. Still, this is bad news for us, as we are now left without a small, but reasonably steady income stream.

Fortunately, however, not all affiliates programs are “wussing out” or grandstanding like Amazon is, and so I am pleased to announce that we are now an affiliate of The Right Stuf. The Right Stuf, aside from being an anime distributor in their own right, runs a truly awesome store that sells a huge variety of anime, manga and related goods (and not only titles that they own the rights to either). They regularly have some pretty amazing sales, and of course there’s always the by-now-infamous Shawne’s Deal of the Day. They’ve been in the business of feeding the otaku need for many years, and are second to none when it comes to customer service. They’re good people.

So please click through to the Otaku no Podcast Anime Store of Doom! and buy something, won’tcha?

In the meantime, we ask that you please don’t make any purchases through any of the links in our past postings until I’ve had a chance to go through and update them to point to Right Stuf. Seeing as how I’m busy with Anime Expo this weekend, that probably won’t happen for another 2 weeks or so. We’ll update this article, as well as post announcements to Twitter and Facebook when that has been completed.

Remember, too, that we are a Friend of J-List, and we will get a small “something” thanks to any purchases you make from their simply awe-inspiring collection of anime figures, t-shirts, calendars, snack foods, traditional Japanese culture items, and ahem “those” kind of products too (this does not cost you anything extra). Check out all that J-List (includes some NSFW products) and J-Box (100% work-safe) have to offer, and be amazed. Also, remember that clicking on our Google ads helps as well.

Click for J-List now!

Got questions for the AX Guests of Honor?

Donald Burr — Wed, 29 Jun 2011 21:12:52 +0000

Yes, it’s that time again, time for another Anime Expo. This time we’re actually going to try and bring you some actual coverage. To that end we have set up our new liveblog, which, after hours of experimentation, I have determined to be much easier (and much less vomit-inducing) than live video streaming.

And this is your opportunity to ask a question of one of the Guests of Honor. We’ll be in one-on-one interviews with Fred Gallagher of MegaTokyo and Taliesin Jaffe, who’s been involved in one way or another with more anime projects than I can count; and we’re gonna try to get interviews with Danny Choo and Hiroyuki Itoh and Wataru Sasaki of Crypton Future Media (yes, the Vocaloid people). However there may be other opportunities to ask questions of the other Guests of Honor too.

So, got anything you want us to ask? Then post them in the comments here. We make no promises, but will do our best to get your questions answered.

Gothic & Lolita Products, magazine subscriptions from Japan

Announcing the new Liveblog of Doom!

Donald Burr — Tue, 28 Jun 2011 19:17:14 +0000

As you may (or may not) know, for a while we have been experimenting with livestreaming video from various anime conventions. And after hours of experimentation, I have come to one inescapable conclusion:

Livestreaming video is hard.

For one thing, it’s almost impossible to hold a cameraphone steady, which is painfully evident if you’ve managed to sit through any of our livestream trials. (Contrary to what it may seem, it is not our intention to induce nausea and vomiting in our audience.) I suppose I could put together some sort of eXtreme steadicam type rig, but (A) I don’t have the money to do so, and (B) I’m lazy. There’s also the fact that all cameraphones have really crappy sound. Which means that, most of the time, it’s almost impossible to understand what the speaker/panelist/GoH/whatever is saying; it usually ends up sounding something like this: “Mmfffrrf mrrrfff mrr mfff mff mrrrrfff.” And, of course, unless you happen to travel with a backpack-mounted studio lighting kit (which I don’t), the only thing you have to work with lighting-wise is the (often lousy) lighting found in most convention center rooms; so even if I could manage to get a rock-steady shot, the video would most likely be of inferior quality as well.

So, yeah, livestreaming video is hard. So how am I to achieve my goal of bringing you live on-the-spot convention coverage? One word: Liveblogging.

Yes, the very same technique that many tech bloggers have successfully employed to bring coverage of tech conference keynotes and so forth will now be put to use to bring you the latest and greatest anime news from whatever con we happen to be attending. This is being brought to you thanks to the excellent free liveblogging service CoverItLive. If you head to our livestream page you will now see a lovely new “Liveblog of Doom!” widget. When we are at an event and are liveblogging it, you will see our pearls of wisdom scroll by just as fast as my fingers can type them. And there’s no need to obsessively hit your browser’s “reload” button either; the CoverItLive widget does all of that hard work for you, so all you have to do is sit back and watch. Unfortunately the service is ad-supported, so you’ll have to sit through the occasional advertisement video. But in general I’ve found the service to work pretty well.

How will you know when we are liveblogging an event? For one thing, you can take a look at our con calendar. This will list the events that we are interested in. However that doesn’t necessarily mean that we’ll be at each and every event listed here (the usual disclaimer about the fickle nature of convention scheduling, plus my unpredictable stamina level at any given moment applies). However when we do decide to livestream, we will of course update our Twitter.

We hope you enjoy this new method of convention coverage. If you have any comments, or are having trouble getting the CoverItLive widget to work for you, please drop us a line.

Announcing the new Otaku News Central website!

Donald Burr — Sun, 05 Jun 2011 04:51:28 +0000

We are pleased to announce a brand new service in the Otaku no Podcast universe: Otaku News Central!

You’ve no doubt heard of social news sites such as Digg or Reddit. These sites allow users to submit news stories, and people can vote them up (digg them) or down (bury them). This “social curation” lets the really interesting, timely and/or cool news items bubble up to the top, while the less interesting or boring stuff sinks to the bottom.

Well, since (to my knowledge) there is no such site dedicated specifically to topics that we otaku would find interesting (i.e. anime, manga, Japan, etc.), I decided to take it upon myself to start one! (OK, actually it was just an excuse to play with a new bit of server software.)

The site is still a bit bare right now; that’s because, well, we need people to submit stuff!! So go ahead and register yourself an account and submit a story or three, and vote up/down other peoples’ submissions already!

Click for J-List now!

Announcing a new anime convention for the Central California area

Donald Burr — Fri, 27 May 2011 16:47:59 +0000

It’s no small secret that Otaku no Podcast is very California-centric when it comes to anime convention coverage. Unfortunately, financial reality being what it is, I can’t really afford a trip to any of the non-California conventions, both in terms of money (or the lack of it) and in terms of time. I’m even not able to make it to many of the ones in our home state, thanks to the generally sucktacular (and virtually nonexistent) intercity public transportation system. (Life sucks when you live in California and can’t drive.) If not for what little public transportation we have, such as the wonderful Bay Area system, or the LA Metro system, I wouldn’t even be able to make it to the few cons we do go to. Which is why, when I heard about a fairly new (only in its 2nd year) convention starting up fairly close to us, my ears perked up.

Anime Five Cities (which, as mentioned before, is only in its 2nd year) is a small fan-run convention in the San Luis Obispo area. They claim to be the central coast’s first anime convention, and I believe them. It’s being held at the Ludwick Community Center in downtown San Luis Obispo, CA on Saturday, June 18, 2011, from 11 AM till 7 PM. (Hey, I told you it’s a small convention…)

Guests of Honor include voice actress Lauren Landa, illustrator Irene Flores, and the fine guys and gals of the AniMaid Cafe. Also, even though it’s a small con, they’ll also have some traditional con favorites: some live programming, dealer’s room, artist’s alley, video screenings, and even a cosplay competition.

Pre-registration is open until June 4 and will run you $11; after that, tickets will cost you $14 at the door. Attendance is capped at 400, so don’t delay.

Some of you might blow off smaller conventions, thinking that the only cons worth going to are the big ones. And some people I know (perhaps certain Otaku no Podcast cohosts) have the exact opposite view, that the big cons are way too much trouble and the only ones worth attending are the smaller, fan-run events. Me, I see merit in both, and I have this “discussion” with that co-host in question at least two or three times every year. What I’ve said to her time and time again still stands: each has its merits, and I will continue to frequent both large and small cons. You can’t beat the large cons for the sheer star power they can attract (in terms of guests of honor, etc.), as well as the sheer awesomeness of their dealer’s room and breadth of live programming. At the same time, the smaller cons are great because you get to meet and hear from some of the lesser-known (but just as interesting) figures in the industry, and get to know your fellow fan in a more intimate setting. And you should definitely support the smaller cons too, because, well, even the big guys had to start somewhere…

An Update from the Otaku no Podcast IT Department

Donald Burr — Tue, 24 May 2011 07:37:08 +0000

You’ve probably noticed that things have been a little rough and tumble around here in terms of the website and podcast. Several times over the past few months we’ve had inexplicable server outages, where the thing would suddenly stop responding for no apparent reason. (Naturally this would usually happen either when I can’t really get to a keyboard and fix things — I’m out of town, at work, etc.) Finally, things came to a head this past weekend when the server went down again, only this time it was accompanied by a call from my hosting company saying that my server had been compromised and was being used to send denial-of-service attacks. Whether these events are related is still unknown (I suspect that they are). In any case, it meant that I needed to take some action. So, this week I completely wiped the machine, restored from backups, and re-installed the software that runs the site in a (hopefully) more secure and less haphazard manner than before. (We also moved to a new server with more capacity.) I’m hoping that these changes will result in a smoother running, better performing, and more reliable website and podcast.

First of all, my apologies for the downtime.

Now, in an ideal world, you (the listener) would have no idea that anything has changed. Unfortunately this is not an ideal world. So odds are that some of you may have had some trouble getting to the website. Some of you may still be having trouble as I write this. Fortunately this should all settle out over the next day or three.

We also changed the way we serve out the podcast episode files (the MP3s and videos themselves). We are no longer hosting the podcast files ourselves, but instead are serving these out through a third party service called Libsyn. I’m still in the process of copying over all our episodes. All of the audio episodes should be up by now; however most of the older video episodes haven’t yet been posted. So if you’ve just subscribed to the podcast, or you’re going through our back catalog, and are wondeing why none of the videos are there, well, that’s why. I’ll be uploading the rest of our videos over the next few weeks, but in the meantime, if you, for whatever reason, have some burning desire to see some of our older video content, then please feel free to check out our YouTube channel.

Heads up! FanimeCon is this coming weekend!

Donald Burr — Mon, 23 May 2011 20:36:43 +0000

Well, Memorial Day weekend will soon be upon us, and you know what that means… it’s FanimeCon time once again!! Yes, that’s right, FanimeCon will once again be returning to the San Jose Convention Center for four days of fun-filled anime goodness, this coming weekend, Friday-Monday, May 27-30. This is a terrific convention, and very fan-friendly (they are, after all, billing themselves as a convention run “by fans, for fans”) and is set in a perfect location — two hotels directly attached, easy access via public transportation for those not staying on-site, and plenty of food of all types and prices within easy walking distance.

This year’s Guests of Honor include anime book author Gilles Poitras; author and martial artist Ric Meyers; actor and singer Yuya Matsushita; manga artist Ryusuke Hamamoto; anime director Seiji Mizushima; animation director and character designer Takahiro Yoshimatsu; voice actor Tohru Furuya; Hangry & Angry character and fashion designer GASHICON; singer and voice actress Halko Momoi; Hiroyuki Yamaga, one of the co-founders of GAINAX and an anime industry veteran; animation director Fumio Iida; illustrator Mamoru Yokota; and musicians FLOW and Yoshiki.

Besides that rather impressive guest roster, there is of course all the usual trappings of an anime convention: a rather impressive dealer’s room and Artist’s Alley; panels and workshops galore; cosplay competition; music; gaming; martial arts (!!); and of course tons of anime being screened in the multiple video rooms.

Unfortunately pre-registration is closed, so you’ll have to register at-con. A full weekend badge will run you $60; single-day badges can be purchased for $30 (Friday), $35 (Saturday and Sunday), and $25 (Monday). For more information check out the FanimeCon website.

We will be at-con and I’ll do my best to get you as much coverage as possible. (I won’t make any more promises beyond that (wouldn’t want to jinx myself now would I? ) Definitely keep an eye on the Otaku no Podcast website as well as our livestream page and our Twitter stream. Also, we will shortly be posting the schedule of events we are interested in on our brand-new Con Calendar page.

Hentai PC dating-sim games at J-List

Want the latest in anime news and commentary? There’s an app for that!

Donald Burr — Sun, 20 Mar 2011 21:04:37 +0000

Do you own an iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad? Then go check out the shiny new Otaku no Podcast app on the iTunes app store! With our fine new app you can listen to and watch our latest audio and video episodes; read our latest blog posts; see what we’ve been up to on Twitter; and contact us by phone or email.

The app is compatible with any device (iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad) running iOS 3.1 or later. Unfortunately it isn’t yet optimized for the iPad (though it does work just fine in iPhone emulation mode); I’m working on adding iPad optimizations for the next version, as well as some other miscellaneous fixes and additional features.

So go check it out! It’s free in the App Store.

Hentai PC dating-sim games at J-List

Otaku no Podcast now supports HTML5

Donald Burr — Tue, 15 Mar 2011 20:45:17 +0000

The world is increasingly moving toward mobile devices to consume content with. Whether it be an iPhone, iPod touch, iPad, Android based smartphone or tablet, Palm webOS device, BlackBerry, or what have you, we are increasingly turning to these mobile companions to get our fix of news and entertainment while out and about.

Now, we’re not the type to shy away from a trend; and so we here at Otaku no Podcast are taking steps to make ourselves available on these mobile devices. Right now, if you browse to otakunopodcast.com on most mobile devices, you should be presented with a mobile-optimized version of our website, perfect for smaller-screened devices such as your smartphone.

Unfortunately that leaves the problem of actually playing back our media content (i.e. the podcasts themselves). Many devices out there do not support Adobe Flash, which is what we (as well as pretty much every other website out there) use for our web-based audio/video player widgets. The good news is that there is a new standard gaining widespread adoption to fix this. HTML 5 adds built-in support for audio and video playback, doing away with the need for Flash or Silverlight or any other such plugin. Most of the latest web browsers, including the latest versions of Safari, Firefox, Google Chrome and Internet Explorer for both Mac and Windows support this standard. Most mobile phone and tablets support this as well. And now so does Otaku no Podcast. When you browse to any audio or video podcast episode, you will now be able to play said episode on any HTML 5 compliant browser or device. (If your browser isn’t fully HTML 5 compliant, the site will automatically fall back to the traditional Flash-based audio/video player.)

Of course if you have any questions or (we hope not!) problems with this player, please do let us know about it.

J-List is a peaceful island of Japanese pop culture for you

Reach out and touch someone: Otaku no Podcast has a new voice call-in line!

Donald Burr — Mon, 14 Mar 2011 01:32:10 +0000

In our continuing effort to (A) make ourselves available to you, the fans, so that you can send us your thoughts, comments and whatnot, while at the same time (B) reducing costs, we now have a new voicemail call-in line!

The new number is: 949-OTAKU-09 (949-682-5809).

You can either call from your home or cell phone, which unfortunately is a long-distance call for most people; or if you use the handy dandy widget on our Contact Us page, then we’ll pick up the tab by calling you ourselves. (or rather, Google will pick up the tab, since we are using their free Google Voice service for this). Either way, you’ll be given the opportunity to leave a voice message. Try and keep it short (no more than 2-3 minutes) and clean, and we may just use it on our next episode!

This line is also capable of receiving live calls, which we may explore somewhere down the line when I start exploring livestreaming our episodes.

Anyway, give us a ring, why don’tcha?

My Anime Los Angeles schedule

Donald Burr — Sat, 01 Jan 2011 21:30:28 +0000

Here is my Anime Los Angeles schedule. These are the things I might be interested in checking out and/or possibly get coverage for the podcast. Of course the standard disclaimers apply: I sometimes double- or even triple-book myself intentionally, the idea being that I am interested in multiple events at the same time slot and will probably make my final decision as to which one I want to go to 5 minutes before the time it starts; the usual “convention schedules are HIGHLY subject to change without notice”; and of course, I might be otherwise indisposed and unable to attend a given event due to my body suddenly pooping out on me and requiring an unplanned nap (or in other words, “the spirit is willing but the flesh (may be) weak”), or for some other unforeseen reason. And in between events, I’ll of course be roaming around the con in general, maybe peeking into dealer’s room and artist’s alley and various other places, and of course taking a ton of photos. Remember also that we will occasionally livestream events, if bandwidth, cell phone battery, and my laziness/inertia permit. If we do, you can watch on our Livestream page; we will also post announcements to our Twitter whenever we start livestreaming, so follow us there for the latest news). Anyway, check out my schedule below the cut.

PC dating-sim games @ J-List

Anime Los Angeles program guide is live

Donald Burr — Sat, 01 Jan 2011 20:25:49 +0000

First of all, greetings to everyone coming to us thanks to my appearance on Leo Laporte‘s Tech Guy radio show. Thanks for your visit, and I hope you enjoy your stay, and, more importantly, come back soon

Anyway, Anime Los Angeles has made their programming guide public. I’ll be going over the schedule myself this weekend and highlighting the events I’m interested in (and will post my calendar here once I’ve done so), but in the meantime, why don’t you head over there yourself now and check it out!

Come see us at Anime Los Angeles next weekend!

Donald Burr — Tue, 28 Dec 2010 04:42:21 +0000

Anime Los Angeles is a small, very friendly fan-run convention in the Los Angeles area. (Although it’s not so small any more – attendance has risen lately and is now in the low thousands I’d say) But it’s still small and friendly. We’ve written and talked about it before. Anyway, it’s coming up next weekend — Friday through Sunday, January 7-9, 2011 to be precise — at the LAX Airport Marriott:

Los Angeles Airport Marriott
5855 W. Century Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90045

Guests of Honor include Gina “Red String” Biggs, webcomic artist; Helen McCarthy, manga expert and author of the Osamu Tezuka book we recently featured in the 12 Days of Kurisumasu; Patrick Seitz, voice actor on many projects including Hetalia, One Piece, Ouran High School Host Club, and Hellsing; Taliesin Jaffe, ADR (dub) director; and, of course, the inimitable Tadao Tomomatsu, toastmaster and all around man about con. And, of course, there’s plenty of con staples, including a rather nice dealer’s room, artist’s alley, various panels and workshops, karaoke, various music acts, cosplay contest (aka masquerade), AMV contest, cosplay gatherings, gaming (both console and tabletop), and much much more.

Speaking of panels… (yeah, I bet you saw that one coming a mile away) the Otaku no Podcast crew will once again be doing our song and dance. If you’ve ever wondered how we do the thing that we do (namely this here podcast), come to “Anime Podcasting for Beginners” on Saturday, January 8, from 4 to 5 PM, in LP3 (Imperial A). And if you’ve ever had that experience where you excitedly hurry home from taking con pictures, only to find that you’ve ended up with a bag of hurt, get yourself to “Convention Photography 101″ on Friday, January 7, from 3 to 4 PM, again in LP3 (Imperial A). (There will be swag…)

Of course, in between running our panels, eating, sleeping, and zoning out in general, there will be time to run around and maybe get some con coverage. But as I’ve learned countless times before, I’m not going to make any promises. Just keep an eye on our Twitter feed as well as the Otaku no Podcast website (especially the livestream page). You just might see some stuff go up. Maybe.

Unfortunately, pre-reg is closed so you’ll have to register at-con. Prices are $50 for a full weekend, $25 for Friday only, $30 for Saturday only, and $20 for Sunday only. As part of their “Parent in Tow” system, any child 14 or under who pays for a full membership can bring a grown-up for free (doesn’t have to be a parent; could be a friend of the family, uncle, teacher, neighbor, etc.)

Hope to see you there!

Click for J-List now!

The 12 Days of Kurisumasu

Donald Burr — Thu, 09 Dec 2010 03:55:42 +0000

So I was sitting around the other night after dinner, thinking of yet another method of blatantly self-promoting the various affiliate networks we’re on, when an idea hit me like a bolt out of the blue. (or maybe it was that attack of gas brought on by that super deluxe burrito? Who knows…) Why not have a “12 Days of Anime Christmas” – each day feature a really cool gift idea for that certain otaku in your life (perhaps even yourself)? ”You’re brilliant!” I proudly thought to myself. ”Why thank you!” came the inevitable response several seconds later. (At least I thought it was brilliant. In reality, i.e. outside of the crazy world that’s inside my head, everybody and their dog probably thought of this before I did. Oh well, that’s my story and I’m sticking with it.)

So, starting on Tuesday, December 14, be sure and tune in to our Twitter or Facebook every day, and you will be greeted by a cool anime or otaku related gift pick. (You can also find them all up on the 12 Days of Kurisumasu page, in case you missed one — shame on you!) Are you making yourself sick agonizing over what to get your friends and loved ones? We’ve got you covered! And remember, this ain’t your father’s 12 Days of Christmas: every product I pick will be guaranteed to have some anime or Japan or otaku related connection. There’ll be no maids-a-milkin’ or lords-a-leapin’ or turtle doves or any of that crap. You don’t even have to sing the song!

(Yeah, I know, on second thought this is just a cheesy rehashing of my already-existing J-List Product of the Day. Only this time, it will actually be correctly named, since (come hell or high water) I actually intend on picking one product per day. At least until Christmas. After that, all bets are off.)

The 12 Days of Kurisumasu returns for Christmas 2011!

Report from the Treasurer: Holiday 2010 Edition

Donald Burr — Sun, 28 Nov 2010 23:59:27 +0000

In accordance with our policy of openness, honesty and transparency, I present to you the Holiday 2010 edition of the Report from the Treasurer. Continue on past the cut for the gory details.

Google AdSense – These are of course the Google ads on both the top and right sides of the page, as well as the Google search box on the top of the right sidebar. When we last reported on this back in July, our Google earnings stood at a whopping $8.97. Since then, our ads and search revenue have pulled in an additional $8.86, making the total an impressive-sounding $17.83. But, lest you think I took this money and ran, Google doesn’t pay out until your account reaches a threshold level of $100. So, in other words, I won’t be getting a check from Google for a while…

Amazon Associates – These are the Amazon product links you see in articles/podcast episodes where we review or recommend various things. This also covers anything bought using the (patent-pending) AnimeFinder™ search box in the right sidebar. (pro tip: you can use this to search for things other than anime), as well as the “Top 10 Anime DVDs at Amazon” listing on the right sidebar. When we last reported, we had $27.06, which, due to an error on my part, was given out in the form of an Amazon gift certificate rather than a check. Which actually worked out, as I needed some materials for the photography workshop I gave at Anime Expo this year. Since then, I’ve changed my payment method to direct deposit into a special checking account that I use only for Internet and website stuff (domain name registration fees, paying my ISP, etc.). And as of yesterday, we have earned an additional $9.96. (Ignore the Revenue column, this is the amount that Amazon made; the amount they pay out to their affiliates is shown in the Advertising Fees column.) Domain name renewal for otakunopodcast.com is due in January, and so this money will go towards that.

Friends of J-List – On September 28 of this year, we joined the Friends of J-List affiliates program. Basically it’s like the Amazon program, only for stuff sold at J-list and J-box. Manifestations of this include our (somewhat inaccurately named) J-List Product of the Day, in which periodically (not necessarily daily, hence the inaccurately-named part) I highlight a cool J-List or J-Box product I find while browsing their site, which I post on both Facebook and Twitter; as well as the various J-list banners and search boxes you will find in the right sidebar as well as around the website in general. J-List has a truly awe-inspiring selection of products straight from Japan; not just your traditional otaku goods (anime artbooks, figurines, plushies, magazines, dating-sim games, etc.) but many items of traditional Japanese culture (bento boxes, chopsticks, etc.); items to help you learn Japanese (study guides, workbooks, flashcards, etc.); tons of traditional and not-so-traditional Japanese foods, snacks, and drinks; and, ahem, “those” products as well. Definitely worth a look, and if you use one of the links or search boxes on our page to buy, we’ll get a small cut of it. Unfortunately, although there has been quite a bit of interest in the items we put up, no one has ponied up yet, resulting in our earnings coming to a grand total of $0.00.

The Future – As I said earlier, our domain name renewal fees are due in January, and our recent Amazon Associates payment will partially cover that. (I usually renew for at least 2 years at a time, which supposedly increases your “Google juice,” plus that way I don’t have to remember to do it as often). It also looks extremely likely that I will be giving my two talks at the upcoming Anime Los Angeles as well, which may require some additional expenditure as, in particular, I’ve greatly expanded and rejiggered the photography workshop. I’ll also be resubmitting my workshops to both FanimeCon and Anime Expo; we’ll see whether their respective administrative bodies deem my programs worthy of a repeat performance. My co-hosts and I have also been noodling over some other panel/workshop ideas, which may bear fruit sometime in 2011 as well. I’m also investigating the possibility of finding a web person and/or an artist to help out with our website design as well as a new Otaku no Podcast logo - it might be nice to have some REAL logos and web art for a change. And payment for our Skype and Vimeo accounts are due late in 2011, so that’s not on our immediate radar. (Neither is the website/logo thing, it’s just something I have in the back of my mind).

Gothic & Lolita Products, magazine subscriptions from Japan

My PMX Schedule

Donald Burr — Thu, 11 Nov 2010 17:43:42 +0000

OK folks, I’ve started going over the PMX schedule (they just released the final schedule btw, might want to go check it out) and I’ve started marking down things I might be interested in checking out and/or possibly get coverage for the podcast for. Of course the standard disclaimers apply: I sometimes double- or even triple-book myself intentionally, the idea being that I am interested in both events and will probably make my final decision as to which one I want to go to 5 minutes before the time it starts; the usual “convention schedules are HIGHLY subject to change without notice”; and of course, I might be otherwise indisposed and unable to attend a given event due to my body suddenly pooping out on me and requiring an unplanned nap (or in other words, “the spirit is willing but the flesh (may be) weak”). And in between events, I’ll of course be roaming around the con in general, maybe peeking into dealer’s room and artist’s alley and various other places, and of course taking a ton of photos. (And no doubt spending a fair amount of time at the food trucks!) Check out my schedule below the cut.

J-List is a peaceful island of Japanese pop culture for you

Announcing the Otaku no Podcast YouTube Channel

Donald Burr — Tue, 12 Oct 2010 18:21:31 +0000

As you may know, we’ve been posting our videos up on Vimeo for a while now. This has been working pretty well, and I really don’t have much to complain about the service (other than having to pay $60/year for the increased upload capacity we need ). But, as the old blogger’s adage goes, you gotta go where the eyeballs are, and without a doubt, that has to be YouTube. With over 5 billion online video views from the US alone in 2008 (OVER NINE THOUSAAAAAND!!), that’s a heck of a lot of eyeballs.

And so to that end, we’ve set up our very own YouTube channel. Of course you’ll always find our latest and greatest videos there. But you’ll also see what we’ve been doing on YouTube — the anime/cosplay/Japan/etc. related videos that we really like, the ones that we commented on, etc.

Unfortunately, due to YouTube’s content length restrictions, you’ll only see the first 15 minutes or so of each video. (Which means that we’ll still be posting to Vimeo, at least for the time being). A YouTube Partner account removes this restriction, and we have applied for one; whether or not we will qualify, who knows? (If you happen to know any people over at YouTube, it wouldn’t hurt to put in a good word on our behalf, eh?)

So go check it out today!

PC dating-sim games @ J-List

It’s Secret Santa time once again!

Donald Burr — Mon, 04 Oct 2010 20:17:57 +0000

Remember last year’s Secret Santa experiment? You know, the one that the Reverse Thieves put on? The one that we participated in? Well guess what, It’s that time again!

Yup, that’s right, once again the Reverse Thieves are organizing a Secret Santa event. The idea is basically to get together a bunch of Anime Bloggers and have them exchange the names of Anime to review. The catch is you don’t know who you’re swapping with. (Read my post from last year for a better description. I’m posting this from my phone so can’t really express myself too well.) The idea is to get people to step outside their comfort zones if you will, and watch and review shows they may not have considered before.

Once again Otaku no Podcast will be participating. And you can too! Just shoot an email off to the Reverse Thieves with your name, blog, and a link to the list of Anime you’ve seen (using a site such as MyAnimeList or Anime-Planet; They’re free). But you better hurry; the deadline to respond is next Wednesday the 13th!

This was a really fun event last year, and I am really looking forward to having more fun with it this year as well.

Otaku no Podcast is proud to announce that we are now a Friend of JList!

Donald Burr — Wed, 29 Sep 2010 06:30:14 +0000

Click for J-List

Do you look at all those cool anime figurines, artbooks, toys, posters, and related goods that all the J-bloggers are gushing over, only to have your heart filled with sadness because you live in an area absolutely bereft of any sort of Japanese import store? Do you drool and salivate when certain podcasters talk about the Japanese snacks and drinks that they love, only to get mad because the nearest Japanese market is over 9000 miles away from you? Well cheer up, because little did you know, you have a friend in Japan, who would be more than happy to purchase said items for you and ship them to you. And that friend’s name is J-List. J-List has been putting a smile on otakus’ faces since 1996, and they stock a truly mind-boggling selection of goods straight from the land of the rising sun: artbooks, figurines, magazines, photobooks, DVDs, dating-sim games, toys, calendars, t-shirts, cosplay costumes and accessories, dating-sim games (many of which are direct-to-download titles, no need to wait for a physical CD!), all manner of Japanese snack food and drinks, traditional Japanese items such as bento, charms, chopsticks, etc. — and yes, “those” kinds of products as well. Their selection really is unbelievable, their prices are reasonable enough (considering that these are imports we’re talking about here, people), they offer many different shipping options depending on how impatient you are , and their customer service is top notch, always friendly, knowledgable, and quick to respond.

Do give them a look, why don’tcha? If you’re of age and interested in all items that they stock — including adult items — check out JList; otherwise, JBox is your friend.

We are pleased to announce that we are now part of the JList affiliate program — we are a Friend of JList. If you order through any of the search boxes or ad banners sprinkled throughout the site (such as the ones below) we will get a small percentage (this doesn’t cost you anything extra), which we will gratefully use to help keep this ship afloat.

J-List is a peaceful island of Japanese pop culture for you

Hentai PC dating-sim games at J-List

Poll: Who is your favorite K-ON! character?

Donald Burr — Tue, 28 Sep 2010 21:37:41 +0000

First, a quick note: I’m changing the way polls are handled on the site, due to feedback from people that the poll sidebar widget was easy to miss. Now whenever a new poll comes out, it will be posted as a new website story, so it’ll be right up front and center. You can always go back and vote on (or check the results of) all previous polls using the “Previous Polls” menu bar item at the top of the site. And now that that’s out of the way, let’s move on to today’s poll!

Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post's poll.

J-List is a peaceful island of Japanese pop culture for you

Buy one Anime Expo membership, get the second one half off… but only until September 30

Donald Burr — Fri, 24 Sep 2010 19:31:47 +0000

Are you still hemming and hawing, or procrastinating, or on the fence, or (insert other related idiom) about going to AX next year? Well you might want to hurry up on that. Anime Expo is currently running a buy one, get one half-off deal on 2011 memberships. But this deal runs out on Thursday, September 30 — that’s next week! So hurry it up already! Simply head on over to the registration website and use coupon code AXSept2010 when checking out.

2011 will mark Anime Expo’s 20th anniversary, and while they haven’t yet made any guest announcements, I’m sure they’ll be pulling out all the stops for this one. (And considering the star power that they managed to grab for this year’s event, this means that next year will be that much awesomer.)

Presenting the all-new AnimeFinder™!

Donald Burr — Sat, 14 Aug 2010 21:30:08 +0000

Looking for some new anime to buy and watch? Do you need to find that “one more disk” to complete that box set you’ve been working on collecting for the last 5 years? (gotta catch ‘em all…) Are you bummed that you didn’t make it back to the dealers room on the last day of con to buy that series you really had your eye on? Maybe you’re into manga, and are looking to buy some of that as well?

We here at Otaku no Podcast are proud to present our latest enhancement to the already super crowded and confusing Otaku no Podcast website, that aims to help you do all of the above, and more. Introducing the all-new Otaku no Podcast AnimeFinder™ (patent pending), a handy dandy widget thingie that harnesses the awesome technology and inventory of Amazon.com, quite possibly Earth’s biggest online store, to connect you with the item(s) you seek, and allows you to buy them. Amazon has a truly mind-boggling selection of goods, from anime DVDs (even those newfangled Blu-ray thingies), soundtracks, manga, character goods, artbooks, and all manner of other stuff that’d make any otaku drool with envy. Their prices are often fairly competitive too (and let’s face it, if you live in some hick town without any good anime stores, any port in a storm, right?) and they ship practically anywhere, at fairly decent rates to boot. And, oh yeah, if you buy through us, we get a small cut of the proceeds. It doesn’t cost you anything extra, and the money helps keep the lights on and the bits flowing. Which, of course, is much appreciated.

Pro tip – you can use this to search for and buy things other than anime. So the next time you need some new shiny bit of computer equipment, or if you suddenly have the strong urge to completely upgrade your home theater system, keep that in mind, eh? ;-)

No related posts.

Report from the Treasurer: Summer 2010 Edition

Donald Burr — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 23:21:36 +0000

We here at Otaku no Podcast are committed to openness and transparency. To this end I am starting a new series of periodic reports where we will inform you, the listening/viewing audience, exactly how much we’ve made off this website, and how it’s going to use.

This site (and associated podcast) is very much a labor of love for me. (Plus it gives me the excuse to play with geeky things like microphones, web server software, etc.) And, to be brutally honest, it costs me a fair amount to run. The server costs me $60/month (although since I also run my personal email and website, as well as several friends’ websites off of it, it’s not fair to associate that entire cost with Otaku – if I had to divvy it up, I’d say Otaku’s share is maybe $20-30 per month). There’s also domain renewal fees, which are about $30 per year. (ICANN, the domain registrar, is in the process of raising their rates, so I don’t have an exact figure for this) Of course, since this is my personal hobby, I don’t mind paying for it. Still, I’m not the sort to turn away any assistance, and to that end we have two money-making methods in place here. (Although, “money making” is a relative term – as you’ll soon see, we’re not exactly talking gobs of money here…) Read below for the current state of things, and how the funds will be used.

Google AdSense: The most obvious manifestation of this is the ads that you see at the top and side of each page. Less obvious is the “search” box located just above the right ad bar. Any time you click an ad or perform a search, we get credited a miniscule amount. As of this past June 30, we’ve made a grand total of $8.97 through these. Unfortunately the money is currently held up in Google (I’m in the process of setting up direct deposit to my Internet-use checking account); however when I do get it, I will probably put it in reserve to help pay for our domain renewal which is due in January. (I admit I briefly debated maybe taking it and going to lunch at either McDonald’s, KFC or Pizza Hut…)

Amazon Associates: Every time we review an anime product, or I blog about it, etc., you will see a shiny happy link to said product that takes you to Amazon. If you buy that product — or any other product at Amazon, as long as you don’t close your browser or clear your cookies in the meantime – we get a little percentage. It doesn’t cost you anything extra, and it gives us a little sumthin’ sumthin’. (So if you ever decide one day to completely upgrade your home theater setup, keep that in mind ). Thanks to your purchases, we have made a grand total of $27.06. Unfortunately, due to an error I made when setting up my Amazon account (which I have since corrected), this first disbursement to me came in the form of an Amazon gift certificate. (Almost missed it too – it got caught by my spam filter) So I had no choice but to spend it at Amazon. ;-) Thanks to this, I was able to get some much-needed supplies for the podcasting and photography workshops I recently gave at Anime Expo. I even had a little left over, and so was able to pick up the Evangelion reboot Blu-ray thanks to a sale FUNimation was putting on. This is of course for a review I’ll be doing for the podcast. (Remember, we’re not affiliated with any distributors, so everything I review, I pay for out of my own pocket).

Save $$$ on an Anime Expo 2011 4-day Pass — but only if you act quickly!

Donald Burr — Tue, 06 Jul 2010 02:02:02 +0000

Did you have so much fun at Anime Expo this year that you’ve resolved to definitely attend next year, come hell or high water? Or maybe you couldn’t make it this year because of financial reasons, but really want to try and go next year? Or maybe you’re a tightwad and want to try and save as much money as possible? (hey, gotta set aside as much as you can to buy anime after all…)

Well, if you act quickly, you can pre-register now for a full 4-day pass, for the amazingly low price of $45! Considering that this year’s regular pre-reg price for a 4-day pass was $75, and at-the-door pricing was a whopping $85, that’s quite a savings. But you only have until this Friday, July 9 to get this special pricing. So hurry up and reg, why don’tcha?! (Operators are standing by…)

Next year’s AX is sure to be even more awesome than usual, because it’s their 20th anniversary! Who knows what cool guests and other surprises they’ll pull out for this special occasion? I for one am dying to find out. The next 365 days are going to be unbearable…

Gothic & Lolita Products, magazine subscriptions from Japan

My AX 2010 Schedule

Donald Burr — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 03:59:37 +0000

Here it is, in all its glory. Again, the usual “I am only human, and a pretty flaky one at that, so may not (most likely won’t) make it to every event I’ve highlighted, the mind is willing but the flesh is weak and all that” applies.

(Yes, I know, I’ve seemingly double- or triple-booked myself during certain times. No, I don’t have an army of evil robotic henchmen, nor do I have access to a cloning chamber, nor can I split myself off into 8 identical copies. (Although there are times when I really wish I could…) I just haven’t decided which of the given events I want to attend (and likely won’t make that decision until 2 minutes before the event, at which point I’ll say something like “Ehh, whatever, I’ll just go to X.”)

This should auto-update whenever I’ve made changes on Sched.

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Make the most of your time at AX with these cool new scheduling tools

Donald Burr — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 01:46:03 +0000

When you look at your typical anime convention’s schedule, what do you do? Does your mind seize up with panic and indecision? Do you just say “screw it” and decide to “go with the flow” and just randomly drift between whatever events interest you? (One of my friends and co-hosts swears by this method and seems to have fun at whatever convention he goes to, so maybe it’d work for you too). Or do you whip out your maps, charts, and sextant, and begin plotting your convention course to military precision? Planning things down to the second isn’t necessarily the best idea either – there’s always things going on, events get changed/canceled, etc., so leaving some flexibility in your schedule is always a good idea. Still, being able to at least roughly sketch out what events you’re interested in seeing is helpful. What’s even more helpful is if you could share this information with your friends that you’re attending the convention with – after all, if several people are going to the same event, it would be easier (and perhaps more fun even) to group up with them. So yeah, having at least a basic plan of attack definitely helps. But dealing with paper schedules is such a pain. (besides, generally speaking, you don’t actually get the paper schedules until you’re actually at the convention, and it’s always a good idea to plan things out beforehand). Surely there must be some cool flashy Web 2.0 synergistic XML-based social networking-aware (insert various other random buzzwords here) tech tool to help you out with this?!

If you’re the proud owner of an iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad, well guess what, there’s an app for that. The new Anime Expo app, to be more precise. Armed with this app, you’ll have just about everything you’ll need to better navigate your way around the convention. Exhibitor listings and information; maps of the convention center, exhibit hall, and surrounding areas; the full programming schedule; listings of nearby businesses and restaurants; schedule updates and alerts; a “you are here” (location-based) feature to help you more easily meet up with friends; and fun little mini-games to pass the time while you’re in those Xbox Huge lines. The app is compatible with all mobile Apple devices, including the iPod touch and the iPad, and is available for $1.99 in the App Store. I will admit that their charging $1.99 for this app when they’re already charging for so many things at con seems a bit crass to me, but at least $1.99 isn’t too bad as things go.

What? You’re not part of the iCollective? No need to fret, because you’ve got SCHED. This Web-based tool will allow you to browse and search through the AX events schedule and mark down which events you’re interested in seeing. Once you’ve selected, you can either print out a paper-based schedule, or you can export your schedule to a variety of different formats (iCal, Outlook, Google Calendar, etc.). You can even link to your Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn accounts, and find out what events your friends will be attending. SCHED even has a mobile-friendly version which will allow you to use the site from your smartphone without the need to install any special software or apps (I’ve tested this on Android and it works beautifully; it is also said to work on iPhone, BlackBerry, and Palm Pre). Find out more or sign up (it’s free) here.

Hentai PC dating-sim games at J-List

The State of the Podcast: Summer 2010 Edition

Donald Burr — Mon, 21 Jun 2010 22:42:14 +0000

Hey folks, it’s been a pretty busy summer so far and so I thought it’s time for another State of the Podcast.

First item on the agenda: the move. It’s going, but at a slower than expected pace, thanks largely to some setbacks that we encountered. Still, it’s nothing we can’t handle, it’s just delaying things. Of course, we’re in the middle of packing, so the place looks kind of like a warehouse that got hit by a bomb. (Someone set up us the bomb!!) Which makes day to day living rather difficult. We’re hoping to be moved in and all settled/unpacked/etc. by August. Whether or not I’ll be able to construct my Studio of Doom(TM) by then… who knows?

Second: FanimeCon. In a word, AWESOME. Rumor has it that Fanime this year saw almost 20k attendees – and it sure felt like it. Crowds as far as the eye could see. We may be in an economic downturn, but you wouldn’t know it just by looking at FanimeCon. I’m beginning to wonder if they’re beginning to outgrow the San Jose Convention Center area. (Then again, where would they go? Moscone? Perish the thought…) Still, despite the increased crowds and hectic pacing, the FanimeCon staff were able to put on what I still consider a wonderful anomaly in the con milieu – a convention that has the large size and event roster of a big convention, and yet also has the small-town friendly feel of a smaller convention. The staff were friendly, if a bit disorganized. Oh sure there were some frayed nerves, but still everyone managed to remain at least civil, and I once again detected none of that ‘tude you see at the major conventions. This year saw a dramatic increase in the number of activities (videos, panels, etc.), with events often running throughout the night. There were definitely more late-night events this year than last year, a conscious effort on their parts, and I commend them for it. The sheer number of events, coupled with the fact that we were staying off-site, meant that I couldn’t see nearly as much as I had wanted to. (Pro tip: really, I mean REALLY, consider staying at an at-con hotel. Being in the center of it all has its advantages, chief of which is that you don’t have to travel very far to get to any given event.) I’m still trying to wrestle together a panel to do our usual review of the event, but scheduling conflicts and general laziness have prevented anything from gelling. Soon, hopefully…

Third: my panels at FanimeCon. Unfortunately my podcasting panel happened to be scheduled at the same time as several uber-popular events. Oh well, nothing you can do about that. But the several attendees that were there found it very valuable, and I’d like to take this space to thank you for attending. Remember, all of my materials, including slides and links to the products I talked about, can be found on the Podcasting talk page. My photography talk was also plagued with rather low attendance, but for a different reason: it was literally a last-minute addition to the schedule, and in particular didn’t make it into the printed program guide. It was also at 9 PM. But once again, those few hardy souls that attended seemed to get a lot out of it (and once again, I thank you for your attendance). Extra-special thanks also go to my partner in crime Dave “Paradox” Fayram for helping me slap a reasonably coherent presentation together at the very last moment. I’m working on a page with links to my photo presentation and the products/services mentioned therein. I’ll post the audio from that presentation shortly.

Fourth: my panels at Anime Expo. As previously announced, I’ll be doing the same song and dance at Anime Expo as well. Both of my presentations are on Sunday, July 4. My podcasting panel, “Anime Podcasting for Beginners,” is at the ungodly hour of 9 to 10 AM, in LP 3. My photography panel is at the somewhat more sane hour of 12:30 PM to 2:30 PM in WS 1. (Note: this is different from my original announcement. They changed both my time slot and room assignment.)

Fifth: the podcast. I’ll be honest with you. I don’t think I’ll be able to put anything out before AX (with the possible exception of the FanimeCon wrap-up/review I mentioned above). Things are just too crazy right now.

Sixth: finally, you probably already noticed this now, but I’ve made a few tweaks to the website, starting with an all-new logo. In addition, the main page will always have a link to the latest podcast episode at the top – this should make it more convenient for those of you who listen via the web (and there are a fair number of you) to access the latest episode. Finally, I’ve set up an account at Anime-Planet, which is a website that lets you track your anime and manga consumption, and gives you recommendations based on the series that you liked. It’s pretty cool, and you should definitely check it out. If you join, feel free to friend me up – I’m on as dburr. Since I’ll be updating this site regularly, it’s a good indicator of what I’m watching at the moment, so I’ve put a Anime-Planet banner on the site, and removed the “What’s Donald Watching These Days” and MyAnimeList.net sidebars (which were woefully out of date and inconsistent at that). To replace those sidebars I’ve added several more RSS feeds, including the top anime DVD’s at Netflix and Amazon (although for some reason, the Amazon feed isn’t sorted while the Netflix one is. Haven’t figured that one out yet.)

So that about does it for now. Hope you folks are having a fine summer, and are enjoying the summer con season. Definitely check out our Convention Survival Guide episode if you haven’t already – the tips contained therein might save your life! (Or at least make your con experience much more enjoyable and stress-free.)

PC dating-sim games @ J-List

Heading up to FanimeCon… (and some Important Announcements!)

Donald Burr — Thu, 27 May 2010 07:28:43 +0000

Apologies for the radio silence, but between work (crazy busy with the added fun of rush deadlines, joy!), the Great Move, and FanimeCon, I’ve been a pretty busy boy. But, deities willing, I’ll be on my way to San Jose (do you know the way? ha!) tomorrow evening, and will be snaking my way through Reg Hell sometime Friday morning/early afternoon.

Naturally I’ll be blogging (as time, energy level, and bandwidth permits), and I’ll also once again activate the AudioBoo gateway, so you should be able to hear short audio updates as I find things that interest me enough to yak about ‘em. Those will come out on the podcast feed.

But more importantly, I have some announcements about my panel. First of all, I now know what room my podcasting panel will be in. (As a reminder, that’s scheduled for Sunday the 30th at high noon.) We’ll be in Panels 1 (Marriott Salon 1:2). So if you’ve ever wondered what this whole podcasting fuss is about, or wanted to know how I run this three-ring circus we call Otaku no Podcast, come on by!

BUT WAIT, THERE’S MORE!!! (or, as the great Steve Jobs would say, “…There is one more thing.”)

Thanks to some cancellations in the panels schedule, I will now be doing ANOTHER PANEL! Yes, you read correctly. My friend Dave and I will be presenting a panel, ”Con Photography: Shoot to Win!”, which is currently scheduled for Sunday May 30th from 9pm to 10pm in Panels 3 (Marriott Salon 4:6). Yes, as the title implies, we’ll be talking all about the tips and techniques that you can use to get those awesome cosplay shots. Whether you’re a total photography n00b or fancy yourself to be the next Ansel Adams, whether you own an uber-crappy point and shoot you picked up for 20 bucks at a Wal*Mart or a DSLR with more knobs and dials on it than the space shuttle, you’re sure to pick up some tips, techniques, and gear recommendations that are sure to improve your photography. (Or at the very least we’ll entertain you with our lame geek humor.)

One last thing: the full FanimeCon schedule is now online for your viewing pleasure. Now you might be asking “So what’s the best way of keeping up with those inevitable schedule changes that are bound to happen?” Well, FanimeCon has a Twitter account (which they actually use quite liberally throughout the con, for things such as schedule changes and event announcements). But if you have one of those newfangled cell phones that can surf the Intarwebs, then you’ll be thrilled to learn that FanimeCon has a spiffy mobile website version of their schedule. Just type in m.fanime.com in your phone’s web browser, and behold the marvels of modern technology. It even has a nifty search function. Schweet!

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It’s officially official, part deux: Looks like I’ll be at Anime Expo as well!

Donald Burr — Sun, 16 May 2010 05:05:46 +0000

Looks like I’ll be pretty busy this summer. Not only will I be presenting a panel at FanimeCon, but today I found out that I will also be presenting not one, but TWO panels at Anime Expo!!

Anime Expo is, I would wager, one of the US’s largest anime conventions (44,000 attended in 2009), and is held every July 4 weekend in Southern California. This year’s event will be held Thursday-Sunday, July 1-4, at the Los Angeles Convention Center.

Unlike most fan-run anime conventions, AX (as the cool kids call it) is much more of an industry affair. Don’t get me wrong; you’ll still find plenty of traditional fan favorite events at AX (AMVs, masquerade, various fan-run panels and workshops, console and tabletop gaming, artist alley, etc.), not to mention a dealer’s room of epic proportions; however there is a decidedly industry-heavy focus to the live programming lineup. This is where you’ll see the industry heavyweights — Bandai, FUNimation, Tokyopop, et al — trotting out their latest offerings, and giving glimpses into their plans for the future. (There are also, I’m sure, quite a few “behind closed doors” industry meetings as well.) Keeping up with the news around AX time is difficult, what with all the announcements and press releases flying about. Many a hot property has had its world premiere in an AX film or video room — for example, at last year’s AX, FUNimation premiered the US release of Evangelion: 1.0 - You are (not) alone, the Eva reboot.

Unfortunately, this year’s AX is marred by controversy between the new management at AX’s parent organization and much of the convention staff, who resigned in protest, citing a long chain of grievances including excessive travel expenses (and other financial shenanigans), restructuring of the chain of command, inexperience with the anime industry and how to run a convention, unjust terminations of key staff positions, offending Guests of Honor and industry guests and refusing to honor their contracts, and heavy-handed censorship of staffers’ Internet postings. The other side naturally counters that their accusations are unjust, and all changes in staff, power structure, etc. were done to make AX and SPJA a more financially sound organization, and to increase attendance from both exhibitors/guests and attendees (whose growth has flatlined for the past few years). Which side is right? Well, one way or another, we’ll find out in a little less than two months.

Anyway, this year’s guest list does look pretty good, including such heavy-hitters as Shinichi “Nabeshin” Watanabe, Kenji Kamiyama, Toshihiro Kawamoto, and musical guests Sophia, MELL, and AKB48 (huh… Morning Musume last year, AKB48 this year… the circle is now complete??!). There are also rumors that legendary expatriate otaku Danny Choo himself will be there, no doubt promoting his latest anime-related project Chinka. Of course, there will also be your usual convention fare, including a truly awe-inspiring dealer’s room, artist’s alley, AMV contest, masquerade, console and tabletop gaming, and various and sundry panels and workshops.

AX hasn’t gone totally industry, however, as there are still quite a few fan-run panels and workshops in the lineup – and yours truly, as it turns out, will be running two of said workshops (yes, I’m finally getting to the point of this long-winded post!). ”Anime Podcasting for Beginners” is basically the same song and dance I’ll be giving at Fanimecon (with changes based on my experiences there). If you’ve ever wanted to start your own anime or manga related podcast but just weren’t sure how, then this is the workshop for you! According to the preliminary scheduling info I’ve been given, this fine event will take place on Sunday, July 4, from 9:00 AM-10:00 AM (sorry folks, I have no say in the matter), in LP3. My second panel, “Convention Photography 101: How To Get The Shot (and make it look easy!)” will help you if you’ve ever had that experience where you take a bunch of pictures at con, excitedly hurry home and load them on your computer, but are greeted with only pain and misery (and a bunch of blurry or sub-optimal shots). We’ll show you how you can get that great shot, whether you’re armed with a crappy point and shoot or a DSLR with more knobs and buttons on it than the space shuttle. If you think that sounds familiar, yes we did talk about it on the podcast. (Unfortunately my friend Dave who was my co-host on that episode won’t be able to make it to AX.) That workshop will also take place on Sunday the 4th, at 12:30, in WS1. (Note: this is a new room and time!) So if you’ll be in the LA area come July 4 weekend, come on down!

Pre-reg for AX as well as hotel registration is online at the AX website.

PC dating-sim games @ J-List

It’s officially official: Come see my panel @ FanimeCon!

Donald Burr — Thu, 13 May 2010 05:32:56 +0000

Well, those of you who have been particularly observant may have caught me making vague references to this on Twitter or Facebook, or on some of my past video podcasts. And if you were paying attention to last week’s audio episode, you almost certainly heard me announce this. Well, now it’s officially official: I will be putting on a workshop at FanimeCon!!

FanimeCon, to those of you not “in the know,” is a rather nice anime convention held in San Jose, CA, around Memorial Day weekend each year. Many moons ago, when I for a brief time lived in the Bay Area during my first (and, I am chagrined to say, rather unsuccessful) attempt at obtaining a higher education, I attended my first FanimeCon with my friend Charles (I remember seeing Iria: Zeiram the Animation – an anime most fans these days probably have never heard of – there when it was still fairly new – that’s how long ago it was). Unfortunately, because of having to move back home (remember, failed education?) I wasn’t able to return until last year when, on a whim (and thanks to some unused train tickets that were about to expire that I found while cleaning my desk), I decided to check it out. Boy was I glad I did, because man, has it grown! When I went in 2000, attendance was a paltry 2,300; the attendance at the 2008 show (the most recent data I was able to find) was a whopping 14,926. (No, I’m not gonna say it…) The 2009 show, which is the one I went to, felt even bigger than that – I’d say at least 20,000. That’s still less than a half of the mega-cons (Anime Expo 2009, for example, with 44,000 attendees), but still quite impressive by my book. Despite its growth, however, FanimeCon has still managed to remain a fun and worthwhile experience, and lacks the ‘tude that you sometimes see at the larger cons; as I noted in my review of last year’s event, it has that unique and rarely-seen mixture of big-con excitement and smaller-con friendliness and breadth of events. Not surprising, as they to this day bill themselves as a con run “by fans, for fans.”

This year’s FanimeCon is shaping up to be yet another awesome event, with guests such as musicians LM.C and Haruko Momoi (who totally rocked my socks off at last year’s FanimeCon – I’m so glad she’ll be returning!); Daisuke Ishiwatari, creator of the Guilty Gear franchise; Hiroyuki Yamaga, one of the founding members of a little anime studio called GAINAX; and many others. Aside from the usual con happenings (AMVs, Masquerade, a pretty happening dealer’s room, gaming, etc.), FanimeCon also features a refreshingly broad lineup of panels covering a wide range of topics, including cosplay, gaming, entertainment, gatherings and debate, how-to/demo, manga, webcomics, music, working in the industry, and many more.

Well, yours truly will be responsible for one such panel, and if you’ve ever wondered how I put together this little dog and pony show we call Otaku no Podcast, you might want to stop by. My workshop, “Anime Podcasting for n00bs” is currently scheduled for Sunday, November 30, at high noon. So far only the preliminary schedules have been drawn up, so this time and date may change; also, since it’s just a preliminary schedule, I don’t yet have a room assignment. I’ll definitely let you know when I find out more.

While I’m at con, I’ll also do my best to bring you some audio and video highlights from the event — and yes, I’ll actually try and get you some real interviews for a change! So be sure and keep an eye on the website and the podcast feed come Memorial Day weekend. Bandwidth and technology willing, I’ll be posting as much stuff as I can before collapsing in an exhausted quivering heap at the end of the day.

FanimeCon will be held on Memorial Day weekend, Friday-Monday May 28-31, at the San Jose Convention Center in downtown San Jose, CA. For more information, links to pre-register, etc., check out their website.

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Testing out a new method of updating Twitter and Facebook

Donald Burr — Thu, 25 Mar 2010 22:25:36 +0000

This is just a quick heads-up. I’m testing a new method of updating Twitter AND Facebook whenever I post a new blog or podcast. I’m hoping that this will work without any major snags, but there is always the possibility that it may flood either Twitter or Facebook or both. If this does end up flooding the feed, please accept my sincere apologies. I’ll be monitoring things closely so if things do go wonky I’ll be able to pull the plug quickly. Thanks for your patience and understanding.

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TOKYOPOP announces its 2010 Digital Media Production and Marketing Summer Internship!

Donald Burr — Thu, 25 Mar 2010 21:43:15 +0000

ATTENTION ALL COLLEGE STUDENTS!! Looking for a unique and fun way to earn some internship credits and — maybe, just maybe — break into the anime/manga industry? The TOKYOPOP 2010 Digital Media Production and Marketing Summer Internship might just be your golden ticket! From May 28 through September 6 of this year, TOKYOPOP will be hitting the road and touring America, stopping at just about any place that’ll have them — anime/manga conventions, bookstores, libraries, parking lots, you name it — to promote their properties and characters. But this isn’t any old roadshow – this is a multimedia experience – and that’s where you come in! TOKYOPOP is looking for a few good fans to join them and help “create a viral grassroots experience the likes of which have never been seen before.”

Some of the things you’ll be doing include:

Working under the supervision and guidelines of a real-world production company to plan, shoot, edit, and upload video for a web-based “reality show”-styled grassroots marketing endeavor
Using social media tools to promote and market your videos, TOKYOPOP products, and the TOKYOPOP Tour
Hosting contests and events at conventions, bookstores, etc., nationwide
Assisting the Tour Managers to set-up, tear down, and troubleshoot all events
And more!

What qualifications do you need to have? You…

Must be a manga/anime/Japan enthusiast
Must be comfortable on camera and able to energize a crowd
Must be a skillful user of Facebook, Twitter, blogs, and YouTube
Must be able to plan, shoot, edit, and upload video
Must be available for most if not all of the Tour: May 22-September 7
Must like to travel
Must have lots and lots of energy!
Film or film marketing studies a plus
Japanese speakers a plus
Must receive course credit; this is an unpaid internship (travel expenses will be covered)
Must receive verifiable college credit for an internship; this internship is unpaid (travel expenses are covered)
Must enter into a TOKYOPOP Tour Internship agreement with TOKYOPOP

To apply:

Become a member of the TOKYOPOP Tour Ning group and join the Intern Applicants Group
Upload your resume and a writing sample as a blog post to your TOKYOPOP Tour profile
Upload a video telling us why you’re the right person for the internship to your TOKYOPOP Tour profile. Show us your most positive attributes, the ones that you think will make you a great spokesperson for TOKYOPOP on the road. (Note: Both TOKYOPOP and Ning prohibit the use of profanity in your video. All other Ning terms of service apply.)
Send and email to Tour@TOKYOPOP.com with the subject line “TOKYOPOP Tour Internship Application” confirming that you have submitted an application

Better hurry tho – deadline for application is this coming Wednesday, March 31! (Sorry for this last minute post. Somehow I missed this story until now.)

For full details, check out the announcement.

Gothic & Lolita Products, magazine subscriptions from Japan

Crunchyroll App for iPhone and iPod touch (and soon, iPad!)

Donald Burr — Wed, 24 Mar 2010 22:55:31 +0000

Exciting news for all of you anime fans who are iPhone/iPod touch (and soon to be iPad) owners. Have you ever wanted to watch your favorite streaming anime site Crunchyroll on your iDevice? Well now you can, because there’s an app for that! Crunchyroll has recently released their iPhone and iPod touch app, available for free in the iTunes App Store. It will let you watch any of the content that you would normally be able to watch on Crunchyroll, including premium content if you login to the app with your Crunchyroll account. Currently it only streams over WiFi; however with Apple and AT&T’s recent change of policy that now allows 3G access for the SlingPlayer and Skype apps, this may change. And – here’s the part that’s good news for those of you planning on getting an iPad — they are planning on upgrading their app to work natively on the iPad and take advantage of its ginormous screen size (and other nifty features)!

To commemorate this event. Crunchyroll is sponsoring a contest wherein one lucky winner anywhere in the world (you just have to be able to receive a package by mail) can win their very own 16 GB WiFi iPad! The only requirements are that you must: (A) sign up for a Crunchyroll account, (B) become a Premium member (Since you get a free two-week trial as a Premium member, tecnically there is no purchase necessary – just make sure that your trial status doesn’t expire before the contest ends. But at only $6.95/month or $60/year, a premium membership is quite reasonable if you ask me); and (C) become a fan of their Facebook page. The contest ends on March 31, at which point the lucky winner will be announced.

Check their announcement for all the details, the contest rules, etc.

A long time ago, on a Crunchyroll forum post far, far away, I once opined on the awesomeness that would result if CR made their very own iPhone app. I was rather perfunctorily brushed off with an “ehh… not likely to happen.” They must have been planning this all along… those sneaky bastards!!

PC dating-sim games @ J-List

about today’s accidental AudioBoos

Donald Burr — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 17:12:57 +0000

I’m not sure how or why, but apparently a few random peoples’ AudioBoos somehow accidentally made it onto the Otaku no Podcast AudioBoo feed. So far it looks like this is just an isolated event, but just in case it isn’t, I’ve temporarily disabled AudioBoo publishing. Sorry for any inconvenience and/or confusion, and thanks for [...]

J-List is a peaceful island of Japanese pop culture for you

The State of the Podcast: January 2010 Edition

Donald Burr — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 22:12:47 +0000

Greetings, and Happy New Year everyone! The Otaku no Podcast staff and I wish you all a happy, healthy, and prosperous New Year.

We started off the New Year in true Japanese fashion with a traditional cleaning of the house – or, in our case, the Otaku no Podcast website. The site has needed a redesign for quite some time, and so I switched to a new theme that offers much more flexibility without the need to go in and directly hack on the code. I’ve also installed some caching code which should (theoretically) improve performance (i.e. faster page load times).

And now, on to the financial report. People have asked me how much money I make on this, and I’m sure many others have wondered the same in silence. Well, today I am here to tell you that, including all of the income generating items on this site — Amazon affiliate links, Google ads, etc. — I have made a grand total of… drum roll please… $0.00. So no, I’m not making any money on this. No trips to Tahiti or the Bahamas, no off-shore bank accounts, etc. This is very much a hobby and labor of love for me. Still, I’m not one to turn down any additional income, so if you DO happen to click on some Google ads or Amazon product links, well, you’d have my eternal gratitude, and you’ll help keep this boat afloat, so to speak. Every little bit helps in this lousy economy. (Pro tip: you can still help us out, even if you don’t want to buy any of the products mentioned in the Amazon affiliate links. Just click through to the link, and then use Amazon’s search box to find whatever you are looking for. Any items purchased during this session (i.e. until you close your web browser or clear your cache) will be credited to us. Keep this in mind when you decide to finally purchase that 60″ plasma TV and home theater sound system. ) OK, enough begging.

Now, on to The Future(tm)…. Right now I have yet another of our famous Panel Discussions of Doom, talking about Anime Los Angeles in the pipeline, and should have that posted by the end of this week. No, I haven’t forgotten about Anime on the Cheap. Unfortunately the really hectic time I mentioned in previous posts and chibicasts is beginning – The Move of Doom(tm). Also my girlfriend and friend of the show Beep will be going in for surgery at the end of this week, and I’ll be taking a few days away from the Interwebs to visit her in the hospital and help her recover when she returns home. Please send her your best wishes for a fast recovery. So the next episode after our Anime LA recap will come… sometime. Sorry, I can’t be more specific than that.

As far as anime convention coverage, the next convention for me isn’t until July – Anime Expo. I always make it to AX, come hell or high water. No exceptions. And this year I’ll really try and actually cover it (i.e. actually attend events, get interviews, etc.) We MAY be going to the San Francisco Cherry Blossom Festival (which is usually around mid-April), mostly because that’s right around our anniversary time, and a trip to San Francisco is always a welcome anniversary present. If we do end up going, I will of course get some photos and video for you. Other than that, I probably won’t be at any other conventions until Anime LA 2011. Maybe MikomiCon, which is sometime in the fall (September-October-ish). I just can’t afford to take time off from work to attend anything else. Also, hotel, travel, etc. is expensive, and I’m not exactly flush with cash these days. (see the financial report above). However, I will do what I can to cover major anime conventions (Otakon, NYAF, etc.) remotely, by slogging through the torrent of news articles, blog posts, etc. that come out of these, and condensing them down into pure unadulterated anime convention-y goodness. Of course, if you, the reader/listener, happen to attend any anime conventions, we’d really appreciate your thoughts on the experience. And pictures if you’ve got ‘em. Use any of the methods on the Contact Us page to get in touch.

Also, over the next few months, I’ll be working on some other interesting projects, including some Video podcasts. And no, this isn’t because TJX recently did one of their own. (okay, that’s a lie, but I had always wanted to do some video podcasts even before TJX did theirs. Honest.)

And, of course, I’ve got quite a few anime reviews in various stages of completion as well, so look for those to trickle out in the coming months.

Finally, I would like to thank you for continuing to visit our website, and for subscribing and listening to our podcast. If you could find the time to do so, we’d really appreciate it if you could rate us and/or write a review in iTunes. Just click on the iTunes subscribe link in the left column and use the “rate this podcast” box. Also, if you’re a Zune user — or even if you’re not — please submit us to the Zune Podcast directory. (Yes, the Zune directory requires the LISTENERS to submit podcasts to their directory, rather than the podcast creators. Very odd.) Simply go to the Zune podcast directory page and click the “Submit a Podcast” link in the lower left. It will ask you for the podcast RSS feed, which is

http://otakunopodcast.com/feed/podcast/

Again, best wishes for the New Year, and we hope to see you again real soon!

Possible trouble with AudioBoo and social media updates

Donald Burr — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 01:48:16 +0000

I can’t believe I forgot about this. Turns out that A-LA is taking place at the same time as the ginormous Consumer Electronics Show (CES). Which is heavily attended by geeks. Who tend to use Web 2.0 and social media (such as Twitter, Facebook, and AudioBoo) to their fullest. And when these Web 2.0 sites experience heavy usage, they typically fail. Spectacularly.

This might pose a problem for me sending updates via these services.

At the moment, AudioBoo is complete fail. (Editor’s note: while typing this post, AudioBoo returned to service. It could be due to some problem they’re having that’s not related to CES. We don’t know.) Twitter, surprisingly, is actually responding fairly quickly – not a fail whale in sight. (How long this will hold up is anybody’s guess.) Same with Facebook.

Of course, the Otaku no Podcast website is not affected by this whole CES madness (besides, it’s not like we have an army of listeners yet, after all )

PC dating-sim games @ J-List

Artistically challenged podcaster seeking artistic assistance

Donald Burr — Sun, 03 Jan 2010 21:59:15 +0000

All right, I’ll admit it. I have absolutely no artistic talent whatsoever. For ample evidence of this, just take a look at my podcast logo. First of all, it’s not even mine – I based it off of two pieces I found online (Creative Commons licensed, don’t worry). Not only that, but it’s not even composited correctly. (So not only do I lack any artistic talent whatsoever, I also suck at Photoshop. In fact, feel free to submit it to Photoshop Disasters. I know you want to.)

In any case, I’m definitely looking to replace my logo with something nicer. Also, I’ve always thought the website looked a little plain, and was in need of a splash of… something. And the new theme I’m using has room for a banner image at the top of the page…

So I’m putting out the call for artistic assistance! If you’re an artist, or know one, who would be willing and able to help out Otaku no Podcast with some much-needed artwork, please get in touch using any of the means listed on the Contact Us page. Obviously the artwork must be in some computer-readable form (if nothing else, I could scan in hand-drawn/painted art using my scanner). And, of course, I would be willing to liberally sprinkle the website and podcast with links back to the artist’s website, etc.

No related posts.

New Year – New Website

Donald Burr — Thu, 31 Dec 2009 20:41:48 +0000

In Japan, one of the traditional activities undertaken by families at the start of the New Year is a thorough cleaning of the home. This is seen as symbolic in the sense that you are sweeping away the junk and detritus of the old year, to start the new year in a fresh and clean state.

Well unfortunately doing this in my own home is, erm, not bloody likely. (If you’ve seen my home, you’ll know why.) But I can do it to the Otaku no Podcast website! So let this be a warning to you that, over the next few weeks/months, you may start to see some changes in the Otaku no Podcast website.

I’m not doing this just to annoy you, or because I want to play with some new bit of WordPress code. (Well, ok, I’ll confess, I actually am playing with a new bit of WordPress code.) But it’s for a good reason. I’ve found a new WordPress theme, Atahualpa, that offers a tremendous level of flexibility in terms of the ability to configure and customize things without having to directly hack on the wordpress theme code, which is what I had to do with our previous theme when I wanted to add something custom like a “subscribe to podcast” link or an ad banner or whatnot. Basically, the practical upshot of all this is that you, the user, will end up with a much prettier, more functional, and faster website, whereas I, the webmaster and server guru, will end up with something much more manageable.

Don’t fret however. I’ll be confining most of my, erm, experimentation on my personal blog and website, and will only update the Otaku site once I have something that is stable, works well, and looks good. Look forward to it!

In the meantime, yes, I’m still working on Anime on the Cheap, Part 2; I’ve also gotten into the anime review groove (thanks to my recent work on the Anime Secret Santa project) and have started writing up some reviews of other anime series I’ve completed recently. You can look forward to those appearing gradually on the website in the coming weeks/months.

Finally, I hope everyone had a great holiday season, and I wish you all the best for a happy, healthy and prosperous New Year!

Otaku no Podcast will be participating in the Anime Secret Santa project

Donald Burr — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 19:58:38 +0000

Remember the Anime Secret Santa project that the folks over at Reverse Thieves cooked up? Well I’ve got good news – Otaku no Podcast will be participating! Look for our Anime Secret Santa review to hit both blog and podcast shortly after Christmas. This should be interesting – and fun! PC dating-sim games @ J-ListRelated posts: The Reverse Thieves announce the 2011 Anime Secret Santa project! Here’s an opportunity to review anime – Secret Santa style! It’s Secret Santa time once again!

J-List is a peaceful island of Japanese pop culture for you

Here’s an opportunity to review anime – Secret Santa style!

Donald Burr — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 07:54:57 +0000

This comes by way of a tweet from the cool guys over at Tokyo Tower WAWL, who pointed us to a post over at the Reverse Thieves blog with a rather cool and unique idea for a group anime review writing project. (Sorry if this doesn’t match up to my usually scintillating level of writing prowess, it’s past midnight and we’ve had a long day of sightseeing around the greater Las Vegas Nevada area. In other words, I’m dead tired.)

Basically the idea is this: get together a whole bunch of anime fans with blogs/websites, have them throw the names of a bunch of anime series into a hat (in this case, the hat is the anime community website MyAnimeList), and have everybody review a random anime series from that hat – Secret Santa style.

Not familiar with this whole Secret Santa thing? C’mon, I’m sure you’ve heard of it, it’s probably been used as a plot device in at least one or two Christmas-themed anime episodes that you’ve probably seen. Okay fine, I’ll explain it anyway. Basically it’s a fairly common custom in Western countries, where a group of friends, family members, coworkers, etc. randomly choose a person from among the group to buy a gift for, and they give that gift to them in secret. (Starting to sound familiar to you? Thought so…)

Anyway, here’s the skinny: sign up for a MyAnimeList account (they’re free), and fill it with the anime that you have seen, then email your name, blog/website url, and link to your MyAnimeList page to the folks at Reverse Thieves. Once all entries are in, they will then randomly pair people together, at which point you get to review one of the animes on their list, and they get to review one of the ones on your list.

Their reasoning behind why they are doing this is threefold: mixing up what you watch and review on your blog, getting other people to watch things you feel deserve more attention, and facilitating a way to interact with other bloggers thus creating possibilities for cross blog readership, also it fosters an environment to try other cross blog experiments. Also, they hope to encourage reviewers to be more willing to step outside of their “comfort zones” and try out series that they may not normally be into – which is always a good thing if you ask me.

Again, more details can be found on the Reverse Thieves blog post about this project.

Better hurry tho – you only have until November 8th to get your entries in!

Of course, I will be participating, so keep an eye on the Otaku no Podcast site to see which series I end up reviewing. This should be… interesting! (And fun!)

J-List is a peaceful island of Japanese pop culture for you

The State of the Podcast: October 2009 Edition

Donald Burr — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 20:48:44 +0000

I just wanted to post a quick note to let you know what’s going on re: the lack of updates recently. Unfortunately I’m currently involved in several large projects which are occupying the majority of my waking hours, so I haven’t had much time to prepare a podcast or even do a blog post. I’ll be busy with this for another week or so, after which things should calm down significantly at work.

Also, later this month, I’ll be off attending the BlogWorld and New Media Expo, a big conference for bloggers and podcasters which is held in Las Vegas. (I’ll be the clueless looking guy wandering around handing out Otaku no Podcast cards/flyers, so if you see me, be sure and say hi ).

I’ll have a day or three between the end of my work projects and the time I leave for BlogWorld, so I’ll try and get an episode out during that time, but I make no promises (you know how busy things can get when you’re getting ready for a trip…). I will, however, try and get the occasional blog post out during all this.

Thanks for your understanding, and for continuing to subscribe and visit the website.

J-List is a peaceful island of Japanese pop culture for you

Otaku no Podcast server is back online after an unknown amount of downtime

Donald Burr — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 01:37:34 +0000

If you were having trouble downloading the podcast or accessing the website this weekend, I apologize. For an unknown amount of time this weekend, the Otaku no Podcast website was down due to a server crash. (Not a bad one, no data was lost thankfully) Anyway I’ve restarted things and we’re back online now. Thanks [...]

J-List is a peaceful island of Japanese pop culture for you

FUNimation Announces New “Anime at the Palace” event, where you can watch anime on the big screen!

Donald Burr — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 09:53:46 +0000

OK, I know I”ve been promising a new episode for… weeks now. Let’s just say that Fate has been conspiring against me, assaulting me with everything from a massive heatwave to massive computer failure (which caused me to lose an episode I had already recorded more than half of). Arrgh. Anyway I’m re-recording now (and making TONS of backups!) so hope to have something for you later today. But I wanted to get this one particular tidbit of news out there quickly, hence this blog posting.

If you are in the Syracuse, NY area, then you’ll want to check out Anime at the Palace, a joint venture between FUNimation and Anime Syracuse. Starting today, September 21, and running every third Monday of the month, you will be able to enjoy some good anime with your fellow anime fans – on the BIG SCREEN! Yes, even bigger than the huge screens you find in anime convention screening rooms – I’m talking movie theater sized. The show begins at 7 PM sharp, and they will be running several episodes of various series, with breaks between. There will also be representatives from FUNimation handing out schwag! But I’ve saved the best for last – this event is COMPLETELY FREE and open to the public!

Tonight’s titles include Nabari no Ou and Sgt. Frog. Future showings will include Blassreiter, Romeo x Juliet, Bamboo Blade, and Spice & Wolf.

So if you live in the Syracuse, NY area, definitely check it out! The event is being held at:

The Palace Theater 2384 James Street Syracuse, NY 13206 315-463-9240

For more information, contact the theater or check out Anime Syracuse’ website.

If you’re a Texan and are feeling a bit left out, don’t worry! You can also partake in the anime goodness, thanks to Anime at the Alamo! (…Remember the Alamo…) With locations in both Houston and San Antonio to serve your anime needs!

J-List is a peaceful island of Japanese pop culture for you

Captchas implemented for new account registration and anonymous comment posting

Donald Burr — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 02:13:09 +0000

Unfortunately, Otaku no Podcast has been hit with a rash of spambot attacks. Fortunately the wonderful Akismet plugin has caught most of the spam comments, but the site has been hit with a rash of new account creations that appear to be spammers. In an attempt to prevent future problems, I have implemented captchas – those little graphics phrases that you have to type – for all new account creations and anonymous posts.

I’m using the reCAPTCHA system to handle these. This system, run by the folks at Carnegie Mellon University School of Computer Science, has the added benefit of helping develop OCR (optical character recognition) technology. It’s really cool, and they have a great page on their website that explains how it works. (It’s also accessible to the disabled – if you are unable to read the captcha, an audio captcha is presented; and in this case, you are actually helping to improve computer-based recognition of speech, by listening to snippets from old-time radio shows and identifying the words that were spoken. Again, really cool stuff.)

Sorry for the (IMHO minor) inconvenience this may cause to you, but I am doing this to keep the site spam-free, which I am sure you will agree is a worthwhile goal.

J-List is a peaceful island of Japanese pop culture for you

No related posts.

Check out my TWO new groups on Crunchyroll

Donald Burr — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 04:46:58 +0000

I’m a total fan of Crunchyroll… and to think, I only heard about it a few months ago! And I still am amazed at the thought that generally well-subbed anime hits the Crunchyroll feeds just 1 day after they are aired in Japan – it’s just too cool, I can’t hardly get my brain wrapped around the concept. And when I discovered that Crunchyroll also has forums… and groups… and how you could actually create your own groups… well, that was it. (I can tell you’ve figured out where this is going) Yes, I’ve created a fan group on Crunchyroll. Join it today! Your mighty overlord commands it!

BUT WAIT – THERE’S MORE!! (I’ve always wanted to say that.) If you too are an anime/manga podcaster, rejoice, for I have also created a group for anime podcasters! (Actually, I was honestly quite surprised that one didn’t exist already, which is why I created it.)

Gothic & Lolita Products, magazine subscriptions from Japan

There might be a slight delay in getting out the next episode…

Donald Burr — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 05:48:31 +0000

It’s been a busier than usual work week for me, and this weekend is shaping up to be even busier still. So it is highly likely that the next episode won’t come out until mid next week, at the very earliest… probably more like next weekend, realistically speaking. If a miracle happens and my weekend schedule frees itself (unlikely but anything can happen) of course I’ll get to it sooner. But I thought I should warn you folks just in case!

PC dating-sim games @ J-List

No related posts.

Anime Expo 2009 photos on Flickr

Donald Burr — Sun, 26 Jul 2009 10:53:38 +0000

Friend of the show Beep has set up a Flickr group to share your photos from Anime Expo 2009. A few of us have already started posting pictures there. If you’ve got pix from AX’09 you are welcome to share them as well. Or just click the link and check out all the cool cosplay.

Hentai PC dating-sim games at J-List

Photos from Comic-Con

Donald Burr — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 06:36:35 +0000

Friend of the show Dave “Paradox” Fayram (no, he hasn’t been on the show yet, but he is still a friend of it) is attending San Diego Comic-Con and has started putting up his pictures. Check them out on his San Diego Comic-Con Flickr set. Looks like he’ll try and upload new ones every day, [...]

PC dating-sim games @ J-List

Run away! Run away!!!

Donald Burr — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 09:22:55 +0000

This is a public service announcement to all Tokyo residents. If you were planning on visiting Tokyo’s Cafe & Bar DiCE! on July 25th 2009, from 10am to 4pm… STAY AWAY. STAY VERY FAR AWAY. For on this day, this normally mild-mannered maid cafe (disclaimer: as I have never been to this place, nor can I find it anywhere on Google, I don’t know if it is either mild-mannered or a maid cafe) will be turned into a place of absolute terror – for it will become the Kigurumi cosplay cafe Aokazetei.

In case you didn’t know (and count yourself among the lucky few if not), “kigurumi” cosplay is a particular subgenre of cosplay, which can best be described as “mascot cosplay.” Basically, the cosplayer dresses up in a full bodysuit styled after their favorite anime character or whatever — including a fully-detailed, properly proportioned (according to the given character’s design) character mask. Yes, a mask. With huge, non-moving anime eyes. And when the guy (for it will undoubtedly be a guy wearing these costumes) speaks, his (doubtless high and squeaky) otaku voice will be coming, somewhat muffled, from behind this huge character mask with the dead eyes.

shudder

If you are morbidly curious (or have a sado-massochistic complex), check out the above links for some truly disturbing pictures.

Fortunately this subgenre is not very popular especially here in the States. Of all the anime conventions I’ve been to, I only saw one kigurumi cosplayer, at last year’s Anime Los Angeles. (I did not see that person again this year, though that doesn’t necessarily mean that he wasn’t there at all.)

Basically my advice to you would be this: RUN AWAY, RUN AWAY!!!

This has been a public service announcement brought to you by Otaku no Podcast. We now return you to your regularly scheduled programming.

No related posts.

San Diego Comic-Con is Here!

Donald Burr — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 04:03:14 +0000

I can’t believe that it’s that time already. Yes, that awesomely huge comic convention, Comic-Con, is set to rock the San Diego Convention Center this Thursday through Sunday, July 23-26, with a special Preview Night on Wednesday, July 22. But if you’ve procrastinated up till now hoping that you could get in at the last minute – sorry! You’re out of luck. All memberships are sold out. WOW! This year’s attendance is going to be epic!

Our intrepid reporter Danny Barer will be there and we will be talking with him after he has come back (and has had a chance to decompress) about all that went on at Comic-Con. Look for that episode sometime next week. (I just learned that one of my other friends is going as well, so I’ll try and wrangle him onto the podcast as well).

For more information, check out the Comic-Con website.

Otaku Call to Action: Become Our Fan on Facebook

Donald Burr — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 01:51:54 +0000

Attention all otaku – we need YOU!!

I’ve set up a Facebook “fan page” for our podcast. The problem is, it has one of those gnarly long Facebook numeric URLs. In order for us to get one of those cool guy (and much easier to type/remember) Facebook “vanity urls”, we need at least 100 “fans” (that means you) to follow us on Facebook. (At least 100 is a lot easier of a goal to reach than 30,000…)

Got a Facebook account? (If not, would you be willing to set one up to help us out – it’s free!) If so, then head over to our fan page on Facebook and become a fan. Please. We thank you for your support. Soon, with your help, we can become human, and avenge our father’s murder. Oh wait…

J-List is a peaceful island of Japanese pop culture for you

New Feature: Photo Gallery

Donald Burr — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 04:22:08 +0000

The server oompa-loompas here at Otaku no Podcast have been busy. Their latest achievement: a new Photo Gallery section on the website, where I will post pictures from the various anime conventions and events I have attended. I’ve already started uploading some pictures from FanimeCon 2009, and will shortly upload my Anime Expo 2009 pics as well (as soon as I have finished going through them, fixing white balance, etc., which could take a few days). I’ll also upload older pics as I find them. So definitely check this section often!

J-List is a peaceful island of Japanese pop culture for you

On the way to AX

Donald Burr — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 16:23:56 +0000

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. Click for J-List now!Related posts: Anime Expo 2009 photos on Flickr Otaku no Podcast is proud to announce that we are now a Friend of JList! ChibiCast #0021 – Random-Updates-a-Gogo

Hentai PC dating-sim games at J-List

Anime Convention Alert: Anime Expo is THIS Weekend!

Donald Burr — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 04:20:34 +0000

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 State of the Podcast

Donald Burr — Sun, 12 Apr 2009 20:27:17 +0000

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).

Gothic & Lolita Products, magazine subscriptions from Japan

Ad-blocks disabled temporarily

Donald Burr — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 00:06:26 +0000

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.

Click for J-List now!

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Otaku no Podcast 2.0: Relaunch imminent

Donald Burr — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 19:07:09 +0000

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.

Hentai PC dating-sim games at J-List