Author Archives: Dustin

About Dustin

Dustin (aka Stilts) enjoys playing and yelling at video games, especially RPGs. He also likes super robot shows... the more outrageous the plot, the better!

12 Days of Anime #5: Super Robot Revival

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This will probably seem strange to those of you who know me as the super-robot apologist on Bakacast, but I didn’t watch Gurren Lagann until this year. Well, to be precise, I watched a couple episodes soon after it finished, but I never got farther until early in 2010. That was when I realized the entire series was on Hulu, so I plowed through it in a few days. Despite a few problems I had with certain aspects of the story, I enjoyed it quite a bit.

Unfortunately, watching Gurren Lagann made me realize how rare it is to find any super-robot shows–much less good ones–being made today. It just isn’t the popular genre that it was once (that honor now belongs to slice-of-life). But, lo and behold, a new challenger approached: Star Driver. Both the series description and the first episode promised all the fabulousness of Code Geass with none of the angst. I was immediately intrigued. And while Star Driver has certainly had its low points, I’ve had a lot of fun watching it anyway.

But I’ve recently realized something. With a few notable episodes to serve as exceptions, I didn’t end up sticking with either of the shows for the robot fights. They became a secondary or even tertiary concern. A nice bonus, if you will. What really makes both Gurren Lagann and Star Driver shine like glittering stars are their characters.

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Bakacast – My Motorcycle Can’t Be This Sexy

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On this episode of Bakacast, we praise yet another one of Hasbro’s new TV shows, Transformers: Prime. But before that, we all discuss the details of the content-restriction bill that the Tokyo Metropolitan Government passed recently, also known as the “anime ban.” Not because we think we think we’re breaking the news, but because we’d like to help calm down all the people positing end-of-the-anime-world scenarios.

After that, we go to our normal reviews, which contain more rants than usual thanks to Kirino’s absurd “apology,” Samurai Girl‘s hilarious thoughts on love, and Iron Man‘s writing staff proving they have no idea how a plot is supposed to work. Oh, and I guess we answer a Twitter question wherein we reveal how terrible we are at casting live-action adaptations of anime.

We cover:

  • Transformers: Prime #1-5
  • OreImo #11
  • Panty & Stocking #11
  • Iron Man #11
  • Squid Girl #10
  • Otome Youkai Zakuro #11
  • Star Driver #11

[This album art brought to you by ka-ju, who is very talented at drawing giant robots.]

12 Days of Anime #9: Weird Japanese Games

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I may not be the biggest fan of the recent crop of games from Japan, but that doesn’t mean there weren’t any awesome ones that came out this year. In fact, I can think of at least three off the top of my head: Bayonetta, Vanquish and Nier. Now, there are two things I realized when I came up with those three games. First, thank God for Platinum Games. And second, all three of them are unashamedly bizarre.

Seriously, they are. Bayonetta brainstorms the craziest action scenes ever, and then finds ways to make them crazier. Vanquish gives you a gun that transforms into all your guns and lets you press one button that makes your character do a rocket-leg power slide. And Nier? Nier is a secret sequel to Drakengard—one of the most insane games ever made–that manages to be almost as crazy as its predecessor. That is the level of weird we’re dealing with here, and I love all three of them for it. I’ll break down exactly why after the jump.

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12 Days of Anime #11: Starting an Anime Podcast

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When I think back on my favorite anime memories of the year, the most significant one isn’t even an anime: it’s the first episode of Bakacast, which has become a constant fixture of my life for the past few months. Anyone who cares about reading past that first sentence probably heard me talk about the history of Bakacast on the episode where we got that Twitter question about it, but maybe some of you haven’t listened to it yet. And maybe I can present a better explanation now that I can actually plan out my thoughts.

I had wanted to start my own podcast since 2007. In 2006, my parents had given me an iPod as a high school graduation present. After loading it up with all my music, I noticed a “Podcast” option in the iTunes store. One of the first I tried was the Anime World Order, and before long I subscribed to around a dozen podcasts. Unfortunately, none of my friends even listened to to podcasts, much less wanted to start their own. And I certainly wasn’t going to be the only host. I don’t think I’m very interesting unless I have someone to play off of. So I decided to set my idea aside indefinitely.

Then, in 2010, Jon joined the rest of the Japanator crew (he was an intern for them at the time) on their new podcast*. I’ll admit, I was a little jealous.

…

Okay, maybe really jealous.

After he finished recording with them, I asked, “Hey, I had wanted to do an anime podcast and you turned me down. What’s up with this?”

And Jon, being far less moody than me, replied, “Well, do you want to do a podcast right now?”

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Bakacast – My Little Panty

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On this belated episode of Bakacast, Jon, Larry and I take a quick diversion to share our thoughts on My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic. For those of you hoping to avoid diabetes, don’t worry; we’ll balance out the sugary sweetness next week when we tackle giant, transforming robots with a penchant for violence.

With our equestrian evaluation complete, we gallop on to our normal stuff (except for Zakuro, which was skipped because Glen was absent). Then we hit the Twitter questions, which, as usual, takes a turn for the bizarre. Will our listeners ever get sick of asking us about hentai and eroge?

Probably not.

We cover:

  • My Little Pony #1 & 2
  • OreImo #10
  • Panty & Stocking #10
  • Samurai Girls #9
  • Iron Man #10
  • Squid Girl #9
  • Star Driver #10

While you wait for the podcast to download, why not check out My Little Pony for yourself? You can find the pilot on YouTube in four parts.

Or check out Jon’s gender-swapped image of me, which actually gets mentioned on the podcast. See? I told you Twitter questions get weird.

Bakacast – Panty & Stocking with Top Gun

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Well, another episode of Bakacast is complete, but now is not a time for celebration. Jon is missing, and the only clue I have is a ransom note left under one of his Rei figurines. I’ll transcribe the whole thing here, so maybe you listeners can help us get him back.

To the pitiful human degenerates calling themselves Project Haruhi,

My dear sister, Kneesocks, and I have taken your leader hostage. Seeing as your minds are likely too clogged with filth to process why this has happened–a trait you share with certain angels I’m unfortunately acquainted with–I’ll explain in the simplest terms possible.

You are liars. You’ve repeatedly called me and my sister “villains” with no evidence to back up such claims. In fact, there’s far more evidence to suggest Panty and Stocking, the two “heroes” that so many brain-dead humans like yourselves slobber over, are the ones in the wrong. Wherever they go, they leave chaos and sewage in their wake. Their vulgar habits and language obliterate what little beauty was mercifully granted to them. And, worst of all, they flagrantly disregard the rrrrrrules of elegant society.

This is not the first time you’ve proven yourselves incapable of intelligent thought. First, we only lost our beach volleyball battle because the referee was biased toward the blonde bimbo, which was such a gross violation of the rrrrrrules that any sensible person would say we won by default. Second the characters in Iron Man shouldn’t be mocked for their idiocy, since they’re accurately mimicking how all humans behave. The fact that Squid Girl so easily entertained you with a story about a child playing with an umbrella proves it. Third, you created the word “bro-bath” out of wholecloth simply to describe the perceived homosexual undertones of Star Driver; our more refined minds, however, can tell you such things only exist within the confines of your perverted imaginations.

In fact, as Kneesocks and I thought about the podcast you just recorded (your communications were laughably easy to bug, by the way), we realized the only thing any of you got right was calling our theme song the best one on the upcoming Panty & Stocking soundtrack.

If you want your friend back, you will retract your false statements about me and my sister and publicly apologize for your insolence. Don’t worry, he’ll be kept safe until you inevitably accede to our request. Unlike those fallen angels, we care about our reputation.

~Scanty

While we figure out a way to save Jon, maybe you’d like to find out first-hand what we said about:

  • OreImo #9
  • Panty & Stocking #9
  • Otome Youkai Zakuro #9
  • Iron Man #9
  • Squid Girl #8
  • Star Driver #9

You can find our written reviews of these shows here.

    Also, I should thank MLPnox (who was not, as I suggest in the episode, a Twitter account made up by Jon in the spur of the moment) for the My Little Pony question. Because of you, I managed to convince Glen and Larry to review the pilot episode with me on the next Bakacast.

    You’ve done well, my friend.

    Bakacast – For Science!

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    In this delayed-by-Thanksgiving episode of Bakacast, Jon gets buried by an avalanche of homework and reluctantly hands hosting duties to me again. As usual, rambling ensues. There’s a reason Jon’s the regular host, and I’m the adorable mascot.

    So, despite having no news story or Twitter questions, we still manage to go slightly over an hour. How? Well, mostly by voicing our unanimous frustration with Kirino’s life-counseling, reminding each other of pretty much every joke we thought was funny in Panty & Stocking, wondering why the hell Tony Stark doesn’t have Professor Xavier on speed dial, explaining the premise of my new Half-Life/Squid Girl crossover fanfiction (Gordon x Cindy OTP), and comparing the end of Star Driver to Family Guy.

    We cover:

    • OreImo #8
    • Panty & Stocking #8
    • Otome Youkai Zakuro #8
    • Iron Man #8
    • Squid Girl #7
    • Star Driver #8

    East Meets West Part 2: What Mario Can Learn From America

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    In the first part of my East Meets West series, I talked about the advantages and disadvantages of the current trends in comic books and manga. I tried to make it fairly balanced, since I honestly believe America and Japan are putting out very different but entertaining products. It would be nice to see more melding from both sides, but they’re doing quite well so far. This second part, however, will be about video games, and you’ll see that I won’t be so kind this time around.

    Why?

    Because I believe that, on some level, BioWare is right when they say the JRPG market is stagnant, even if they couch their argument in marketing for their own game. I’ll explain in detail after the jump.

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    Bakacast – Live From Cybertron

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    In this robot-tastic episode of Bakacast, me and my team of podcasters-in-disguise bring back the news segment to praise Ken Akamatsu’s new online manga initiative and express our concerns for its viability. Then we move our convoy on to the reviews, where the good shows are suddenly bad, the bad shows are suddenly really good, and Squid Girl continues to be the most consistently fun show of the season.

    Go figure.

    Oh, yeah, and I guess there are some Twitter questions where I admit to writing Final Fantasy fanfiction, Jon accidentally encourages me to imagine myself as part of an incestuous relationship between video game characters, and we unanimously decide that Evangeline A.K. McDowell is awesome.

    The anime we cover are:

    • OreImo #7
    • Panty & Stocking #7
    • Otome Youkai Zakuro #7
    • Samurai Girls #7
    • Iron Man #6 & 7
    • Squid Girl #6
    • Star Driver #7

    The ending song for this episode is brought to you by JAM Project being awesome.

    Obligatory Links
    Larry’s Fanfiction
    Mor3ndo’s Blog

    Bakacast – Long Walks on the Minecraft Beach

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    “What!” you exclaim. “The next Bakacast is already out?”

    Yes, it’s true, dear listener. Frankly, it was embarrassing to me that I was taking a week to get each episode out, so I pushed it to the limit and finished my editing a mere two days after recording. Sadly, Jon’s mic was unusually quiet during recording, which meant I had to futz with everyone’s levels in post-production. So if our audio quality sounds a little off, that’s why. One step forward, one step back, I guess.

    Oh, and guess what else?

    IT’S OUR 25TH EPISODE! WOOOOOO!

    We didn’t notice when we were recording, since we don’t number the podcasts anymore; but according to iTunes, we’ve done 25 of these things. No wonder my hard drive was filling up so fast.

    Anyway, we celebrate this momentous occasion by…doing what we always do. We give you reviews of:

    • OreImo #6
    • Panty & Stocking #6
    • Otome Youkai Zakuro #6
    • Star Driver #6
    • Squid Girl #5

    And, of course, we answer your Twitter questions about pervy grandparents, Mudkips and Harrison Ford at the end.