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Bakacast, hasshin!

We start off this episode by debating the role of ‘liberated sexuality’ versus feminism in American comics, then we take advantage of the lull in between seasons to get a couple of extra reviews in. First we discuss the psuedo-cyberpunk film Mardock Scramble: The First Compression, then the live-action adaptation of Space Battleship Yamato. After our regular anime reviews Dusty and Glen fangirl over the finale to My Little Pony‘s first season. Finally, a listener question from somebody named Instant Milk sparks off a discussion about the merits of flat chests versus jiggly boobs.

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

Note: I originally intended to use the Madoka Rap as the OP, but its lyrics are a bit too NSFW for the podcast. Listen to it here instead.

Time Index

• 00:00 – OP: TAKE9 by Yoko Kanno

News

• 02:22 – The Big Sexy Problem with Superheroines and Their ‘Liberated Sexuality’

Reviews et al.

• 14:24 – Mardock Scramble: The First Compression
• 31:27 – Ikoku Meuru no Croisee 12 (END)
• 39:10 – Hanasaku Iroha 25
• 46:03 – Dantalian no Shoka 11
• 53:32 – Mawaru Penguindrum 11
• 1:02:48 – My Little Pony 25-26 (END)
• 1:15:03 – Space Battleship Yamato
• 1:29:56 – Listener Questions
• 2:06:20 – ED: Shinryaku no Susume

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Y’know, as the end of each anime season rolls around, I grow a little wistful. While editing this podcast, I reflected on the many happy memories this season has brought me, mainly in the form of Bunny Drop. It’s certainly appropriate that a show so steeped in mono no aware would bring a tear to my eye at the prospect of its passing.

Anyway, on this episode of Bakacast, we bid a fond farewell to Steins;Gate and Bunny Drop, as well as a not-so-fond farewell to No. 6. Dusty tells us about his latest gaming experience, Deus Ex: Human Revolution, and I shamelessly plug Game of Thrones and the Rebuild of Evangelion films. We also all have a good laugh at the total stupidity of Hot Topic’s shameful attempts at cosplay.

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

Time Index

• 00:12 – OP: Game of Thrones Main Theme

News

• 02:34 – Hot Topic’s Sailor Moon
• 05:14 – Kyubey Hugging Pillow
• 06:39 – Pokemon returns to theaters

What We’ve Been Doing

• 9:00 – Deus Ex: Human Revolution
• 12:30 – Game of Thrones
• 15:25 – Rebuild of Evangelion

Reviews et al.

• 18:00 – Hanasaku Iroha 24
• 21:51 – Steins:Gate 24 (END)
• 27:57 – Ikoku Meuru no Croisee 11
• 30:54 – Bunny Drop 11 (END)
• 32:55 – No. 6 11 (END)
• 38:03 – Dantalian no Shoka 10
• 44:19 – Mawaru Penguindrum 10
• 49:24 – My Little Pony 23-24
• 57:27 – Listener Questions
• 1:18:18 – ED: Fly Me to the Moon – 2007 Mix (Evangelion 1.0 OST)

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Jon is once again absent for this episode, which means it’s the perfect time for all of us to praise Dantalian no Shoka and finally give it perfect scores. Other than that, it’s business as usual, with Hanasku making no sense, Steins;Gate leaving Larry utterly confused, Croisee and Bunny Drop being their cute selves, and No. 6 constantly being heavy-handed and dumb. Also, Penguindrum finally takes our advice and gives us an episode that’s entirely free of Ringo.

Thank God.

Finally, after our listener questions, I blatantly rip off War Rocket Ajax and introduce a very special segment called “Big Ups to All My Haters,” where I preform a dramatic reading of the comment of someone who got very mad about my final Highschool of the Dead review that is over a year old.

We cover:

• 4:20 – Hanasaku Iroha 23
• 10:34 – Steins;Gate 23
• 17:29 – Ikoku Meiru no Croisee 10
• 23:43 – Bunny Drop 10
• 33:14 – No. 6 10
• 39:13 – Dantalian no Shoka 9
• 43:42 – Mawaru Penguindrum 9
• 50:47 – My Little Pony 21 & 22
• 1:04:45 – Listener questions
• Here’s the tumblr that collects Facebook people taking Onion articles seriously
• And here’s the podcast you should check out if you like hearing people talk about computer hardware

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

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Karen wasn’t able to appear on this podcast, as she was off bravely challenging the Hurricane Lord to a battle of wits and martial strength. As a result, we delayed our Redline review by one week. It will be on the next podcast, we promise! To make up for it, we cover a couple of mecha-related news stories and give an impromptu preview of what we’re looking forward to in the fall season. And, now that I’m back, I inevitably get in an argument with Dustin about Dalian’s merits (or lack therof) as a character.

• 2:03 – News Segment (Tomino announcement and new Eva Rebuild trailer)
• 7:18 – Watcha Been Doing?
• 15:03 – Hanasaku Iroha #21
• 18:58 – Steins;Gate #21
• 24:26 – Bunny Drop #8
• 32:34 – No. 6 #8
• 39:14 – Dantalian no Shoka #7
• 46:34 – Mawaru Penguindrum #7
• 53:10 – My Little Pony #17 & 18
• 59:08 – Upcoming season (based on Scamp’s preview)
• 1:10:35 – Listener questions

As always, 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.

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I apologize for the occasional audio glitches in this episode. Jon was too tired from his job to record, and I was at my parents’ house, so I had to use a five-year-old laptop to record this week’s podcast. I’ve done this a couple times before, but I guess the laptop chose this time to turn into cybernetic molasses. I was able to fix the desync issues that appeared, but there was nothing I could do about the “clipping” of sentences.

Anyway, we have a pretty normal review segment this week, with Hanasaku Iroha continuing to be a bizarre mixture of bad and good, Steins;Gate stumbling toward its ending, Sacred Seven defeating even my tolerance for Sunrise stupidity, Bunny Drop being amazing, No. 6 finally going somewhere with its plot, Dantalian having troubling implications about gender, and Penguindrum convincing some of my co-hosts to come over to my Anti-Ringo brigade.

Also we discuss the scientific method in relation to My Little Pony. Seriously.

We cover:

• 2:51 – Hanasku Iroha #20
• 7:06 – Steins;Gate #20
• 14:38 – Sacred Seven #7
• 18:57 – Ikoku Meiru no Croisee #7
• 26:17 – Bunny Drop #7
• 35:19 – No. 6 #7
• 42:59 – Dantalian no Shoka #5 & 6
• 51:27 – Mawaru Penguindrum #6
• 58:22 – My Little Pony #15 & 16
• 1:12:38 – Listener questions

I actually did miss one listener question, so I’ll be sure to get to it on the next episode. Speaking of the next podcast, we’ll be reviewing the Madhouse film everyone’s been hyped for: Redline. So look forward to that.

As always, 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.

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Jon is, unfortunately, still missing on this episode of Bakacast, probably due to ninja kidnapping. And before you say something, yes, I’m almost certain I’ve used that joke before. I just don’t care.

Speaking of things I don’t care about, you can consider Blade officially dropped, because none of us felt like catching up with the recent episodes. Yeah, that’s right. We’re so apathetic about the Marvel adaptations that we can’t even be bothered to mention we’ve quit watching them on the podcast. We do, however, discuss the morality of Steins;Gate, admire the grit it takes to take a sword through your arm in Sacred Seven and not scream like a little girl, wonder when the suffering will start in Bunny Drop, explain why No. 6 completely fails at building a decent dystopia, and are again reminded that being an Earth pony in Friendship is Magic really sucks. Also, I briefly recommend watching Double J #7, just because it’s bizarre.

We cover:

• 2:26 – Hanasku Iroha #19
• 7:46 – Steins;Gate #19
• 17:28 – Sacred Seven #6
• 22:09 – Ikoku Meiru no Croisee #6
• 27:07 – Bunny Drop #6
• 34:20 – No. 6 #6
• 45:16 – Dantalian no Shoka #4
• 54:28 – My Little Pony #13 & 14
• 1:08:19 – Listener questions

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.

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I’m finally back from my exile in Minnesota and watched three weeks worth of anime in just a few days, all so I could argue with Jon. Unfortunately, he had to be responsible and go to a job interview; so he’s escaped my vengeance this time. But soon, Jon. Soon, I will destroy you.

Karen’s back too, and we start off the podcast by giving her a chance to talk about her Otakon adventure, which was a bit of a mixed bag. Then we lead off the review segment by ripping the disappointing final Break Blade episode to shreds. As for our regularly scheduled reviews, Steins;Gate continues to not act like Steins;Gate, Double J botches its last chance, our predictions for Sacred Seven‘s trainwreck potential end up being scarily accurate, No. 6 completely wastes an episode, and I finally get the chance to release my pent up rage toward Ringo of Penguindrum.

We cover:

• 2:11 – Otakon
• 17:19 – Break Blade #6
• 32:12 – Steins;Gate #18
• 40:58 – Double J #5
• 45:28 – Sacred Seven #5
• 52:48 – Ikoku Meiru no Croisee #5
• 59:43 – Bunny Drop #5
• 1:06:04 – No. 6 #5
• 1:10:50 – Mawaru Penguindrum #5
• 1:19:47 – My Little Pony #11 & 12
• 1:29:55 – Listener questions

Unfortunately, we didn’t have time to get through all the questions this time. So if we didn’t answer your question this episode, don’t worry. We’ll get to it eventually.

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.

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It’s the Bakacast Comeback Tour!

Any rumors of our death are grossly exaggerated. After going on hiatus last week due to most of our staff being on vacation, we’re back this week with a vengeance! Well, half a vengeance anyway, since Karen and Dustin were still unavailable. But Joris (aka Aquagaze) filled in for them, so that brings us up to a solid three-fourths of a vengeance… and I’m pretty sure the album art makes up for the rest.

1:15 – Steins;Gate 16 & 17
7:58 – Hanasku Iroha 16 & 17
13:43 – Double J 3 & 4
16:09 – Sacred Seven 3 & 4
22:26 – Ikoku Meiru no Croisee 3 & 4
30:34 – Nyanpire 3 & 4 (DROPPED)
34:54 – Bunny Drop 3 & 4
42:53 – No. 6 3 & 4
49:43 – Mawaru Penguindrum 3 & 4
58:17 – Dantalion no Shoka 1-3
1:09:51 – Listener questions

Click to see the song by John Gibson.

[spoiler]

It’s been seven hours and fifteen days (ten days but who is counting)
Since you took your podcast away
I go out every night and sleep all day
Since you took your podcast away
Since you been gone I can do whatever I want
I can see whomever I choose
I can watch my anime on a fancy tv
But nothing
I said nothing can take away these blues
`Cause nothing compares
Nothing compares to you

It’s been so lonely without you here
Like a bird without a song
Nothing can stop these lonely tears from falling
Tell me baby where did I go wrong
I could load my Ipod with every podcast I see
But they’d only remind me of you
I went to the doctor n’guess what he told me
Guess what he told me
He said you should watch HOTD and Fractale too
But he’s a fool
`Cause nothing compares
Nothing compares to you

All the flowers that you planted, mama
In the back yard
All died when you went away
I know that listening to you baby was sometimes hard
But I’m willing to give it another try

Nothing compares
Nothing compares to you
Nothing compares
Nothing compares to you
Nothing compares
Nothing compares to you
[/spoiler]

Sorry I didn’t get to all the listener questions this week, but I felt the ones involving My Little Pony should be saved until Dustin and Karen returned.

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.

Bonus Trivia: This episode of Bakacast was exactly 1:44:44 long. I’m sure that means something. Somebody call a numerologist!