I produce this show out of my own pocket, primarily because of my love of all things anime and Japan. Unfortunately in this down economy, I need as much help as I can get. If you feel so inclined, a small donation to help offset my costs (server, bandwidth, equipment, etc.) would be much appreciated. Either make a purchase through one of our affiliates, bid on our eBay auctions, buy me something on my wish list, or use the handy donation button below.
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(Note: yes, I announced the date of this episode as Monday, September 21. I really did intend to release it on that day, honest! Oh well, better late than never, I suppose!)
Pretty much everybody agrees that we are indeed going through some troubling times, economy wise. Most everyone is feeling the pinch of the global recession, and we’re all looking at cutting our expenses. So how do we feed our need for anime in these lean times, without breaking the bank? I explore this topic in the first of two segments I’m calling “Anime on the Cheap.” We also go through the latest anime news, including – of course – Weird Japan. And I have a few treats for you as well, so be sure and stick around till the very end!
New York Anime Festival will be hitting the Jacob Javits convention center THIS weekend – Friday through Sunday, September 25-27. Special guests include Yoshiyuki Tomino, the director of Mobile Suit Gundam; and Yui Makino, the voice of Sakura in Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle. Film premieres include Gurren Lagann: The Movie – Childhood’s End, Cencoroll, and 20th Century Boys. There’ll also be tons of musical goodness, including the US debut of all-female Japanese theatre/idol supergroup AKB48, and the Far East to East Showcase musical tour, featuring Kokusyoku Sumire, Swinging Popsicle, Echostream, and Gelatine. Of course this barely scratches the surface of the tons of other cool things that’ll be going on at this mega-convention. For more details, check out their website.
Unfortunately New York is a bit of a trip for me, so I won’t be able to go, nor do I have any Evil Henchmen(tm) in the vicinity whom I can order into action. So if you’ll be attending any of the convention or ancillary events, I would really appreciate it if you could type up – or better yet, record – a short review of what you thought of the event. You can send it to me using any of the contact methods listed on the “Contact Us” page. Who knows, I might just use it in the next show, and you’ll be famous 😉 In any case, if you are going, please do enjoy yourself!
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
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!
Psst – are you a fan of the wildly popular Halo video game franchise? Do you get Spike TV on your cable or satellite lineup? Then you might want to set your DVR to record Spike TV’s “GTTV Presents Halo 3: ODST Countdown to Launch” special. Which, at least according to my TV schedule, starts at 9PM on Thursday the 17th. (So for you East Coasters, this is probably Friday morning at midnight. Definitely check your TV listings to be sure!)
Why would you want to do this? Besides the obvious Halo goodness, Spike TV will be teasing us with a preview of some scenes from the “The Babysitter” short, part of the Japanese-animated Halo Legends anthology, animated by BONES, Casio Entertainment, Production I.G., Studio 4C, and Toei. This was of course one of Microsoft’s big announcements at San Diego Comic-Con this year. Shinji Aramaki, who you might know as the creator and director of Appleseed and Appleseed Ex Machina, serves as the project’s creative director. Famed director Mamoru Oshii is also involved.
Halo Legends is a collection of 7 short films based on the Halo universe — a la Animatrix style. The Animatrix parallel is particularly apt for two reasons: Halo Legends expands on the Halo universe, filling in backstory, etc., similar to how The Animatrix expanded on and filled in backstory for the Matrix universe; but also because one of the participants, Studio 4C, was in fact responsible for the Animatrix. Either way, this should be some pretty good stuff.
“The Babysitter,” the short which Spike TV will be showing parts of, follows the Spartan super-soldiers as well as the ODST (Orbital Drop Shock Troops), “when an all-or-nothing opportunity to strike at the heart of Covenant leadership arises.”
Fans can look forward to the DVD and Blu-ray releases of this anime, coming from Warner Bros., sometime in early 2010.
One of the latest buzzwords in mobile technology these days is augmented reality. It’s the combination of a live (real-time) view of the world that is overlaid – or augmented – with computer-generated imagery that somehow builds on what you are seeing and enhances it. Probably the most well-known example of this is a heads-up display, where the computers in an aircraft display projections on the windshield that assist pilots in navigating or firing on enemy planes or whatever. This technology is beginning to see widespread adoption, at least in an experimental stage, in both the commercial and military sectors.
This technology is now starting to see its way onto the so-called smartphones many people are now carrying in their pockets. Phones based on the Google Android OS have had this capability for a while, and now with the recent releases of the iPhone 3Gs and iPhone OS 3.1, that device is starting to see applications of augmented reality technology as well.
Tokyo Underground (iTunes App Store link, $0.99) is one such app that recently came on the scene. It’s a pretty useful travel companion, featuring all sorts of maps, guides to the various rail and subway lines in Tokyo, and a trip planner. But if you hold the phone up (so that the camera is facing where you’re looking) and activate the “Your New Eye” feature – new in version 3.0 of this app – you will see a view of whatever you’re looking at, overlaid with icons to various user-selectable Points of Interest (POI’s). Looking for a nice place to eat? Choose the type of restaurant you want (Japanese? Western-style? etc.), activate “Your New Eye,” and wherever you point your phone, if a restaurant that fits your criteria is within 1 km from where you are (determined by the iPhone’s built-in GPS and compass), you’ll see an icon on your screen representing where you should go. You can get more detailed directions if you need them, and the display updates in real-time — so as you walk toward it, you can see how far you have to go, or if you manage to drift off-course.
This is pretty cool stuff. Granted, it’s not quite on the level of something like a VISOR or Borg implants, but it’s still pretty neat, and will definitely come in handy especially if you’ve never been to Japan before.
The app is available now for purchase in the iTunes App Store for $0.99. While the rest of the features (mapping, route planning, etc.) will work on any iPhone (or even an iPod touch), the fancy Augmented Reality features are only available if you have the latest model iPhone, the iPhone 3GS.
More information on this app can be found at the iTunes App Store as well as the developer’s website.
The fine folks over at TJX – The Japan Xperience bring us yet another episode of their fine show. This time around, they talk a very important subject — well, important if you ever want to visit one of Japan’s famous hot springs – Onsen Etiquette. (I wish I had this information back when I visited an onsen – it would have helped smooth over some, er, rather awkward moments.) They also talk on several other travel-related topics, as well as the latest music releases to look forward to. Give it a listen today!
Thanks for visiting my humble podcast and website. Your visit is much appreciated.
I’m still pretty new at this podcasting stuff, so your feedback and suggestions are greatly appreciated. You’ll find all the various methods of contacting me on the “Contact Us” page.
I’m trying to get an episode out every two weeks or so. The past year and half have been pretty rough on me – a lot of things happened in my life, most of them not very good – so I haven’t been able to make this goal lately. But I hope to do so going forward from now.
(Speaking of which, I’m wrapping up production on the next episode, so it should be out and hitting the feeds within the next day.)
In between episodes, though, I definitely plan on updating the website with whatever tidbits of anime-related news or trivia I find while prowling the Internets. So definitely keep us in your bookmarks list or RSS reader.
Again, thanks for visiting, and please enjoy your stay!
At first blush, the recent announcement that ADV Films is shutting its doors, sounds dire indeed. All across the Intarwebs there has been the expected wailing and gnashing of teeth among anime fans, and comparisons to other grisly anime company implosions such as Geneon and Central Park Media.
But let’s take a deeper look at things…
According to ADV’s press release, they recently concluded a flurry of transfers of various bits of ADV’s business to other companies: AEsir Holdings, LLC (“Aesir”) acquired a “subordinated interest” in selected bits of ADV’s film library, along with various intellectual properties; while SXION 23, LLC, dba “Section23 Films,” a home video distribution company, will apparently take over distribution of DVDs and other physical media; and Valkyrie Media Partners, LLC (“Valkyrie”) has acquired ADV’s Anime Network television channel. Seraphim Studios, LLC acquired Amusement Park Media, the production unit of A.D.Vision, Inc. And Sentai Filmworks also has assumed distribution of some of ADV’s titles recently as well. In their press release, ADV promises that these acquisitions and transactions will result in a “seamless delivery of home video products and television programming to customers.”
But who owns these companies? (“Follow the money…”) When you look at it this way, things get… interesting.
You see, Seraphim Studios, Valkyrie Media Partners and SXION 23 are all owned by the same guy – Griffin D. Vance IV, who was ADV’s senior vice president of business and legal affairs. And, according to word on the street, most of ADV’s employees have been hired on by these various businesses. (With the noticeable absence of ADV President John Ledford, interestingly enough…)
Clever financial reorganization? Upper echelon power struggle? Sneaky plot to oust the CEO? Who knows? Whatever the case may be, many people on the Intarwebs are calling this “ADV 2.0” (as for me, I’m calling it “ADV: Death and Rebirth“) and are reaffirming ADV’s own statement that these acquisitions and business transfers shouldn’t affect the “seamless delivery of home video products and television programming to customers.”
We do indeed live in… interesting… times. (in the Chinese proverb sense of the word!)
Still working on the next episode. We’ve had a bit of a heat wave lately, which has made recording impossible (unless you happen to like the sound of a loud air conditioner droning on in the background while I’m talking…) Fortunately it’s cooled down this weekend, plus we have a holiday on Monday (so no work, yay!) so I should be able to get something out soon. In the meantime, if you’re a Eureka Seven fan, you might want to pay attention to this little tidbit of news I picked up off the wire!
Bandai and NCM Fathom announced that, on September 24 at 7:30pm, they will be screening the new Eureka Seven movie, “Eureka Seven – Good Night, Sleep Tight, Young Lovers,” in various locations across the States. Tickets are currently on sale at Fathom Events’ website as well as the ticket offices of the theatres showing the film. A list of theatres participating in this event is available on Fathom Events’ website.
Not only will you get to see the film at this screening, but they also promise a special “behind the scenes” peek at how the film was made, as well as never-before-seen interviews with some of the English voice cast and crew.
Not too familiar with the Eureka Seven storyline, or did you fall behind in the series and need to catch up quickly? No worries – Crunchyroll has all 50 episodes available for streaming – in both sub AND dub versions! Now that’s what I call service! (No, not that kind of service…)
Sorry for the lack of updates, folks. Work has been crazy busy this past month… which, of course, gets in the way of non-work activities such as anime and podcasting. But since the money that it generates goes towards paying for said anime and podcasting gear, well, it’s a necessary evil that must be endured, I suppose. 🙂
Anyway, I should have some time this week to record. But in the meantime, I found something amazingly cool to help tide you over until I release the next episode.
K-ON!, which I wrote about earlier, is taking the Internet world by storm. If you haven’t watched it yet, you really oughtta. It’s fun, plain and simple, and there are some decent musical pieces in the show. What’s even cooler is that, if anecdotal reports and forum postings are to be believed, it’s helping to spur a movement among the youth in Japan (and perhaps the rest of the world as well) to take up music. Which, in a word, is awesome. This is partially helped by the fact that certain of the various K-ON! soundtracks include songbooks with the CD, as well as versions of certain songs minus guitar/bass/drum/etc. tracks (so, in other words, making it easier to play along with the songs using your instrument of choice). Anyway, a quick search of the YouTubes will net you quite a few amateur performers looking to show off their mad leet musical skillz. Obviously their talent level (or lack thereof) will vary wildly. And caution is advised for other reasons as well — let’s just say that, in some (many?) of these videos, all is not what it appears (or, in the slang that the cool kids use these days, “It’s a trap!“).
One video that definitely does NOT fall into any of the above caution categories is this video from Senri Kawaguchi, a 12 year old(!!!) Japanese drummer. (Jeez, think back to when you were 12… what were you doing? Kinda makes you feel lame doesn’t it?) Anyway here in this video she does a fantastic rendition of the drum part to the K-ON! ED “Don’t say ‘lazy’.” I doubt Ritsu herself could have done any better. (And if you don’t know who that is — dude, you’ve gotta watch K-ON!)
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