Bakacast – I Want to Sparkle

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I’m sorry these podcasts keep coming out late, but my spring semester is almost over and the work is piling up. I’ll be editing and posting episodes much quicker after the first week of May. And hopefully Jon will be caught up on anime around that time so he return to his regular hosting duties.

In the meantime, we brought Scamp, writer of the Cart Driver blog, on as a guest host this week. Marvel at his soothing Irish voice as he explains exactly why no one should ever watch Apocalypse Zero. Also, this marks the first week we finally decide to drop some shows. Because watching and talking about over a dozen shows each week is kind of tiring.

We cover:

  • 3:08 Gosick #13
  • 7:11Suite PreCure #10
  • 9:27X-Men #3
  • 14:01Nichijou #3 (dropped)
  • 21:29Tiger & Bunny #3
  • 26:06 Hanasaku Iroha #3
  • 35:59Battle Girls #3
  • 40:39Steins;Gate #3
  • 46:22Sket Dance #3 (dropped)
  • 50:55A-Channel #2
  • 53:20Blue Exorcist #1
  • 59:27Aria of Scarlet Ammo #1 (dropped)
  • 1:10:56AnoHana #1
  • 1:21:05Deadman Wonderland #1
  • 1:30:00 – Listener question

You’ve probably noticed that the second episode of C and the finale of Madoka are not on that list. That’s because those episodes aired after we were done recording (Madoka actually aired a mere two hours after). We’ll talk about them in the next episode, I promise.

If you would like to submit listener questions for a future episode, you can email them to bakacast[at]projectharuhi.net,@reply them to Project Haruhi’s Twitter account using the hashtag #bakacast, or leave them in the comments below.

Bakacast – Punch It in the Gun

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Jon is absent again this week, but that’s okay. We kidnapped Thomas to help us talk about the second week of the spring season, where we still managed to miss a couple shows (Aria of the Scarlet Ammo, for instance, was released by gg two hours before before we started recording).  Somehow, even with over a dozen shows to talk about and a news section, we managed to keep this podcast under two hours. I think we might finally be getting decent at this whole reviewing thing.

We cover:

  • 2:47FUNimation licenses Panty & Stocking
  • 5:03The gg karaoke party (I’m singing on the far left, koda’s right next to me with the mic)
  • 7:47 Gosick #12
  • 14:13Suite PreCure #8 & #9
  • 18:45X-Men #2
  • 23:12 Nichijou #2
  • 28:28Tiger & Bunny #2
  • 32:57Hanasaku Iroha #2
  • 40:12Toriko #2 (dropped)
  • 45: 32Battle Girls #1 & #2
  • 53:03Steins;Gate #2
  • 1:00:45Sket Dance #2
  • 1:06:55A-Channel #1
  • 1:13:54 C: The Money of Soul #1
  • 1:19:59Macross Frontier #23, 24, 25
  • 1:33:56 – Listener question from Jon (you’ll want to click this link for context)

Bakacast – Winter Wrap Up

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Welcome to the last Bakacast of the winter season. It seems like only yesterday that we watched those first episodes, huh?

Jon wasn’t able to join us, so we kicked Fractale out the door, bid fond farewell to Wandering Son and Level E, and hosted our last Star Driver Love Party without him. We then start the first round of spring season reviews with a pretty respectable amount of anime. Expect the list, as always, to be cut in half by the time we figure out which shows we want to stick with.

And which shows we can convince each other to watch.

We cover:

  • 2:19Mass Effect animated film announced
  • 5:04Gosick #11
  • 8:37Level E #13
  • 11:22Fractale #11
  • 17:13Wandering Son #11
  • 22:11Star Driver #25
  • 29:49X-Men #1
  • 34:23Nichijou #1
  • 40:09Tiger and Bunny #1
  • 46:05Hanasaku Iroha #1
  • 54:47Steins;Gate #1
  • 1:00:49Sket Dance
  • 1:09:32Macross Frontier #21 & #22
  • 1:18:06 – Listener questions

All you bronies out there should appreciate the songs I chose for this episode.

It Got Better – Nichijou 1

Nichijou teaches about some of Japan's most famous souvenirs... by dropping them on Yuuko's noggin.

The most terrible thing that can happen to a fan is seeing their object of affection losing its touch. Hipsters cry indie tears when they hear the new ‘mainstream’ album by what used to be their favorite band. Film lovers pull the hair out of their heads when they see the person who used to be a great director releasing one piece of crap after another. And I suppose a lot of Kyoto Animation lovers felt the exact same when the studio wasted another 26 episodes on the Sakura High Light Music Club and dealt the death blow with the terrible abomination that was Nichijou episode 0. But worry not, fellow slice-of-life fans: the actual show makes up for this. Kinda.

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Animated Ambien – Nichijou 0

 

Warning: Action speedlines not indicative of actual content.

Talk about a disappointment. Kyoto Animation’s Nichijou, an adaptation of the 4-koma manga that ran in Shonen Ace, originally interested me because most sources described it as a mix between Azumanga Daioh and Cromartie High School. Both of those shows would make my top 10 anime list. Episode 0, however, contains entirely original content not found in the manga, and it doesn’t exactly speak well for the competence of the staff.

Simply put, Nichijou is one of the worst things I’ve ever watched.
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Bakacast – Sparking!!

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This week on Bakacast, we try something new for our opening segment and talk about what we’ve been playing and/or watching during the past week. Which means that I finally get to talk about video games on my anime podcast. Glorious freedom!

Anyway, Madoka didn’t air and Gosick wasn’t subbed in time, so we took the opportunity to catch up with Break Blade, fall asleep during Nichijou and discuss a K-On! doujin (yes, really). In other news, the Fractale hate train keeps rolling, the Star Driver love party returns and we give our advice for how you–YES, YOU!–can be Internet-famous podcasters (DISCLAIMER: May not actually make you Internet-famous).

We cover:

  • 2:27 – What we’ve been watching/playing
  • 15:27 – FUNimation backpedals
  • 21:22 – Deconstructing K-On!
  • 29:18Nichijou #0
  • 35:25Break Blade #4
  • 43:12Level E #11
  • 47:43 Fractale #9
  • 53:07 Wandering Son #9
  • 59:01Star Driver #23
  • 1:07:01Suite PreCure #6
  • 1:11:06Macross Frontier #17 & #18
  • 1:20:12 – Listener questions

4koma War Opening Shots – Nichijou Trailer

War. War never changes.

There is tension in the air. The plebeians are dishing out the latest Puella Magi Madoka Magica speculation as their voices are muffled by the silence before the storm. The otaku fandom is anticipating the spring season, the new shows it will bring…

But war never changes.

Every war starts with a spark. Every war starts with mere taunts. The 4koma war is no different.

It’s a battle to the death between A Channel and Nichijou, two upcoming slice-of-life shows competing for the same 4koma-style comedy slot in the hearts of otaku. But will it be a brutal melee of moe, comedy and death… or a mere skirmish, soon forgotten by the ever-fickle anime fandom?

To state it bluntly, this doesn’t look like it will be much of a war. The people at Studio Gokumi have nothing but Koe De Oshigoto! (an anime about a high school girl becoming an eroge voice actress) to back them up. They must be out of their minds to try and challenge the anime juggernaut that is Kyoto Animation, or have a lot of confidence in the A Channel franchise. All things considered, they don’t stand a ghost of a chance.

Nevertheless, when Gokumi launched its first rocket in the direction of Kyoto, the men and women (but mostly men) behind The Melancholy Of Haruhi Suzumiya and K-ON! responded with a new trailer for what will undoubtedly be their newest cash cow franchise to rule them all. Let’s take a look, shall we?

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It’s Never Too Early to Talk About Spring Anime!

Even though the winter anime season has just begun, the intertubes are already ablaze with anticipation for the upcoming spring season, fueled largely by the charts released by The Cart Driver and Cowboy Bimbop. Since anticipation makes the heart grow fonder, I’ve decided to speculate on which shows will catch my fancy this spring. Of course, since all I have to go on is a thumbnail and plot summary, everything I say here is little more than an educated guess… so don’t take it TOO seriously. I’m sure I’ll be adding and dropping shows to this list once I see the actual trailers.

My picks are below the break. Tell me yours in the comment section!

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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.

    Nichijou Episode 0 Trailer Revealed

    A PV for Kyoani’s newest project Nichijou (Everyday in English) has been released. This trailer is for “Episode 0,” an OAD that will be bundled with the sixth volume of the manga which goes on sale in March. A full television series directed by the prolific Tatsuya Ishihara is scheduled for some undisclosed point in the future.

    As I suspected earlier, this anime looks a lot like Azumanga Diaoh mixed with Lucky Star. Under Kyoani’s tutelage, this odd combination just might prove to be a successful one.

    Nichijou’s plot sypnopsis:

    While the title suggests a story of simple, everyday school life, the content is more the opposite. The setting is a strange school where you may see the principal wrestle a deer or a robot’s arm hide a rollcake. However there are still normal stories, like making a card castle or taking a test you didn’t study for. The art style is cute but mixes with extreme expressions and action sequences for surprising comedy bits.

    Via Moetron