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I swear to God, if we record another podcast that’s as long as this one, I’m going to send it to the trash bin and upload an audio file that’s just an hour of Yakkity Sax on loop. I won’t even be sorry about it. If my life were an animated GIF, this would be the point where sunglasses descended from the sky and landed on my face, causing the words “Deal With It” to magically appear.

Thankfully for you, dear listener, there’s a good chance that will never happen, since a) we’re  done with the Macross movies and are waiting until next season to do more retro reviews, and b) we got so fed up with Guilty Crown that we Galactic Punted it out of the podcast. Yeah, that’s right. We got through all of AnoHana, Fractale and No. 6, but Guilty Crown is what finally broke us. It was the straw the broke the Tachikoma’s back, so to speak.

Please email listener questions to bakacast[at]projectharuhi.net or leave them in the comments below.

Time Index

• 00:11 – OP: Kindan no Elixer (Macross Frontier: The Wings of Goodbye)

What We’ve Been Doing

• 2:55 – Noir
• 7:43 – Rose of Versailles

Reviews et al.

• 15:31 – Penguindrum 21
• 24:47 – Fate/Zero 9
• 33:08 – Chihayafuru 9
• 39:48 – Persona 4 9
• 50:45 – Ben-To 8
• 55:47 – Future Diary 8
• 1:03:13 – Last Exile 7
• 1:10:12 – Guilty Crown 8
• 1:17:12 – Macross Frontier: The Wings of Goodbye
• 1:39:09 – Listener Questions
• 2:16:53 – ED: Niji-iro Kumakuma (Macross Frontier: The Wings of Goodbye)

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Because some of our listeners kept bugging us, we finally got around to watching one of the Macross Frontier movies. And boy are we ever glad we did.

Besides hearing me gush about Macross, this episode also features me gushing about Skyrim. And Scamp gushing about Minecraft. And all of us gushing about Future Diary. The point is, there’s a lot of gushing going on, and as I’m typing this I’m realizing that this is starting to sound a little dirty.

Please email listener questions to bakacast[at]projectharuhi.net or leave them in the comments below.

Time Index

• 00:08 – OP: Pink Monsoon (Macross Frontier: The False Songstress)

What We’ve Been Doing

• 2:38 – Minecraft
• 8:51 – Skyrim
• 15:42 – Eden of the East

Reviews et al.

• 19:46 – Penguindrum 20
• 31:15 – Fate/Zero 8
• 35:07 – Chihayafuru 8
• 38:57 – Persona 4 8
• 47:18 – Ben-To 7
• 52:44 – Future Diary 7
• 1:01:23 – Last Exile 6
• 1:08:40 – Guilty Crown 7
• 1:17:01 – Macross Frontier: The False Songstress
• 1:36:46 – Listener Questions
• 1:50:31 – ED: Universal Bunny (Macross Frontier: The False Songstress)

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This week’s episode is a very special one: it’s the first podcast ever where I’ve been the one to choose the album art. In fact, because of Jon’s new, busy schedule, I took control of ALL of the publishing duties. It feels good to have this power.

Anyway, enough about my newfound superiority complex. You just want to know how many shows we hated this week. The answer is: basically nothing. Yeah, I know. We’re all very surprised. Besides Guilty Crown (which we’ve learned to never expect anything good from), the worst shows this week were just mostly mediocre episodes of Future Diary and Ben-To. Don’t let that deceive you, though. We still find plenty of stuff to nitpick.

Please email listener questions to bakacast[at]projectharuhi.net or leave them in the comments below.

Time Index

• 00:06 – OP: Ningen Nante (the Cromartie High School humming song)

What We’ve Been Doing

• 1:59 – Leeds Film Festival
• 9:43 – Parasite Eve (here’s the Retronauts podcast about Silent Hill I mentioned)
• 15:12 – Cromartie High School

Reviews et al.

• 18:04 – Penguindrum 19
• 25:41 – Fate/Zero 7
• 32:35 – Chihayafuru 7
• 37:30 – Persona 4 7
• 47:54 – Ben-To 6
• 51:17 – Future Diary 6
• 58:04 – Last Exile 5
• 1:06:25 – Guilty Crown 6
• 1:15:49 – Baccano 15 & 16
• 1:27:03 – Listener Questions
• 2:10:36 – ED: Live for Life ~Ookami-tachi no Yoru~ (Ben-To)

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Since both Jon and Karen are officially sitting this season out, we’ve decided to bring Scamp on as a co-host for the rest of the season. Which means that, yes, I did end up watching Guilty Crown even though I said last episode that I was done with the show for good. Because I can’t have Scamp on the podcast without talking to him about Guilty Crown.

Though our review segment will remain the same, we unfortunately had to skip Fate/Zero and Ben-To this week, since we’re now recording on Saturday, and those two shows get fansubbed either late into Saturday or early on Sunday. That proved to be a blessing in disguise, though, as we still managed to talk for over two hours. Clearly, if we can do anything well at Project Haruhi, it’s blowing enough hot air to fill a zeppelin.

Please email listener questions to bakacast[at]projectharuhi.net or leave them in the comments below.

Time Index

• 00:11 – OP: Starboard (Last Exile Fam)

News

• 3:11 – Madoka Magica film trilogy

Reviews et al.

• 10:32 – Penguindrum 18
• 20:24 – Working S2 6 [DROPPED]
• 22:00 – Chihayafuru 6
• 29:20 – Persona 4 6
• 43:06 – Future Diary 5
• 54:26 – Last Exile 4
• 1:06:02 – Guilty Crown 5
• 1:21:17 – Baccano 13 & 14
• 1:38:06 – Listener Questions
• 2:12:24 – ED: Primal Eyes (Parasite Eve)

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Oh dear God, this episode is over two hours again, which simply strengthens my belief that this season is trying to slowly drive me insane. Or, perhaps more accurately, drive me into rage and despair, as no less than two of my scores sharply diverge from Glen and Larry’s more positive opinions. Also I’ve stopped watching Squid Girl, but this time the rest of the Bakacast crew actually thinks its justified.

In addition to our normal reviews, we talk about our ideas for original anime, I give my thoughts on Catherine now that I’ve finally finished it, and we spend a whole hell of a lot of time giving advice about college in the listener questions segment.

Please email listener questions to bakacast[at]projectharuhi.net or leave them in the comments below.

Time Index

• 00:06 – OP: Oath Sign (Fate/Zero)

News

• 2:14 – The Japanese want to build another Tokyo

What We’ve Been Doing

• 5:41 – Catherine
• 13:43 – Gundam Unicorn

Reviews et al.

• 15:42 – Penguindrum 17
• 25:05 – Squid Girl S2 5
• 32:19 – Working S2 5
• 36:41 – Fate/Zero 6
• 46:22 – Chihayafuru 5
• 52:58 – Persona 4 5
• 58:17 – Ben-To 5
• 1:07:03 – Future Diary 4
• 1:14:53 – Last Exile 3
• 1:20:00 – Guilty Crown 4
• 1:30:58 – Baccano 11 & 12
• 1:37:47 – Listener Questions
• 2:11:37 – ED: Kuusou Mesorogiwi (Mirai Nikki)

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I apologize for the audio skipping in this episode. It occasionally cuts out a quarter of a second of speech, which rarely hinders intelligibility, but it’s embarrassing all the same. The lesson here is that we should never use iFree Skype Recorder ever again. Which reminds me, we’re currently trying to find alternatives to Skype, because ever since Microsoft bought it it’s been even more finicky and annoying than it was originally. So if you have any suggestions, let us know in the comment section or by sending us an e-mail. Remember, it needs to a) be free, b) work on Windows, c) be able to do conference calls and d) have some sort of audio recording option either built in or by using third-party software. Being able to text chat with people in the call would also be very nice, but not necessary.

Anyway, it doesn’t seem like we’ll be dropping more shows anytime soon, since Penguindrum just earned itself a second chance, Chihayafuru finally switched to the interesting versions of its characters, and we’re so desperate for Guilty Crown to make good on its potential that we’ll probably give it a couple more episodes. At least Squid Girl skipped a week and gave us a slight relief from the many shows we’re covering. Oh well, better a flood than a drought, I suppose. To paraphrase a certain penguin-owning badass, “We shall not be crushed.”

Please email listener questions to bakacast[at]projectharuhi.net or leave them in the comments below.

Time Index

• 00:17 – OP: Sky’s the Limit (Persona 4)

What We’ve Been Doing

• 3:10 – Ever 17: The Out of Infinity

Reviews et al.

• 6:06 – Penguindrum 16
• 11:11 – Working S2 4
• 15:07 – Fate/Zero 5
• 22:22 – Chihayafuru 4
• 27:40 – Persona 4 4
• 35:19 – Ben-To 4
• 41:25 – Future Diary 3
• 46:53 – Last Exile 2
• 51:21 – Guilty Crown 3
• 58:27 – Baccano 9 & 10
• 1:10:41 – Listener Questions
• 1:46:50 – ED: Innocent Blue ~version de l’apprivoiser~ (Star Driver)

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In an effort to prevent more episodes that are over two hours, we’re starting to unceremoniously drop shows that just haven’t been entertaining enough. This week, Hunter X Hunter, Phi Brain, BokuTomo and Un-Go got the axe. And based on this week’s reviews, Penguindrum and Guilty Crown may be joining them.

On a brighter note, Glen finally watched an episode of Persona 4 that he enjoyed, Ben-To defied all expectations and managed to get a unanimous five, Future Diary is making me a very happy fanboy by being one of the best shows this season, and Baccano shows off two of its best episodes back-to-back. Could this be yet another season where noitaminA block utterly fails us and the best shows are the ones that came out of left field?

Please email listener questions to bakacast[at]projectharuhi.net or leave them in the comments below.

Time Index

• 00:09 – OP: Cloud Age Symphony (Last Exile)

News

• 02:39 – More Akira movie details surface

What We’ve Been Doing

• 8:16 – Batman: Arkham City
• 12:12 – Last Exile marathon

Reviews et al.

• 14:48 – Penguindrum 15
• 20:43 – Squid Girl S2 4
• 26:45 – Working S2 3
• 30:32 – Fate/Zero 4
• 37:10 – Chihayafuru 3
• 41:33 – Persona 4 3
• 49:02 – Ben-To 3
• 55:37 – Future Diary 2
• 1:02:02 – Last Exile 1 & 2
• 1:07:39 – Guilty Crown 2
• 1:13:52 – Baccano 7 & 8
• 1:22:36 – Listener Questions
• 1:38:34 – ED: Imagine (John Lennon)

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Jon and Karen were both too busy dealing with real life this week, so we brought Scamp–who writes one of our favorite blogs–to fill in for them. While this may seem like a daunting task, his soothing accent practically counts as one co-host all on its own.

Unfortunately, we weren’t able to prepare for Glen’s internet provider to make his life a living hell. As I mention in the intro, if some reviews seem a little rushed or disjointed, that’s because Glen’s internet kept dropping him from the call, which made  keeping a coherent discussion going kind of difficult. Thankfully, we were able to reconvene on Wednesday to have a trouble-free recording of the Baccano and listener questions segments.

As for the anime this week, it’s a very good time to be me, since Baccano, Fate/Zero and Un-Go all featured women in suits. I’m glad that anime directors these days are accounting for my very specific tastes.

Please email listener questions to bakacast[at]projectharuhi.net or leave them in the comments below.

Time Stamps

• 00:00 – OP: Pursuing My True  Self (Persona 4 OP)

News Story

• 2:32 – AnoHana was originally a completely different story

Reviews et al.

• 6:19 – Mawaru Penguindrum 14
• 14:47 – Squid Girl S2 3
• 20:27 – Working S2 2
• 25:59 – Fate/Zero 3
• 32:31 – Hunter X Hunter 2
• 40:33 – Phi Brain 2
• 45:56 – Chihayafuru 2
• 53:38 – Persona 4 2
• 1:05:15 – BokuTomo 2
• 1:09:13 – Ben-To 2
• 1:19:53 – Future Diary 1
• 1:27:25 – Un-Go 1
• 1:33:28 – Guilty Crown 1
• 1:42:18 – Baccano 5 & 6
• 1:58:31 – Listener Questions
• 2:29:35 – ED: GLaDOS talks about Garfield (Portal 2)

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Oh dear God, someone save us from all these shows. We review so many of these blasted things that we skip every other extra segment (except our beloved listener questions) and speed through the reviews; yet we still get within a hair’s breadth of breaking the two-hour mark. And to add to our pain, almost none of them are particularly good. Though I suppose that’s our job, isn’t it? We suffer so you don’t have to.

Normally this is where I’d come up with some clever way to summarize the reviews we do, but I’d rather not create a run-on sentence that’s a whole paragraph. So have fun with all these timestamps, guys!

Please email listener questions to bakacast[at]projectharuhi.net or leave them in the comments below.

Time Stamps

• 00:00 – OP: Durarara Off Your Shoulder Kids (mashup by nakinyko)

Reviews et al.

• 2:29 – Mawaru Penguindrum 13)
• 5:36 – Squid Girl S2 2
• 12:13 – C Cubed 1
• 14:23 – Working S2 1
• 16:50 – Fate/Zero 2
• 22:54 – Hunter X Hunter 1
• 29:18 – Phi Brain 1
• 34:08 – Kimi to Boku 1
• 40:52 – Chihayafuru 1
• 48:15 – Persona 4 1
• 1:00:51 – BokuTomo 1
• 1:07:24 – Ben-To 1
• 1:12:54 – Gundam Age 1
• 1:21:41 – Baccano 3 & 4
• 1:30:37 – Listener Questions
• 1:55:31 – ED: Akiiro no Aria ~Version de l’apprivoiser~ (Star Driver insert)