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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)

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The beginning of the Fall 2011 season of anime also marks my return to pulling double-duty on this podcast as editor and cat wrangler main host. Unfortunately, my happiness over re-taking my rightful place as podcast king is tempered by a pretty lackluster week for anime. The quality of the finale of Hanasku Iroha is pretty typical of the show in general, Dantalian no Shoka doesn’t really have an ending, the second season of Squid Girl has us wondering what they did to the show we loved, and Fate/Zero really, really likes exposition dumps given to us by generic-looking protagonists standing in mostly vacant rooms. Exciting! At least we have the highly entertaining Baccano! and My Little Pony: Rescue from Midnight Castle (which was fun for all the wrong reasons) to fall back on.

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

Time Stamps

• 00:00 – OP: Gun’s&Roses by Paradise Lunch (Baccano! OP)

Reviews et al.

• 2:41 – Hanasaku Iroha 26 (END)
• 14:04 – Dantalian no Shoka 12 (END)
• 24:04 – Mawaru Penguindrum 12
• 35:34 – Squid Girl S2 1
• 42:30 – Fate/Zero 1
• 51:56 – Baccano 1 & 2
• 1:04:29 – MLP: Rescue from Midnight Castle (and yes, the FiM episode DID reference Generation 1 Twilight)
• 1:20:22 – Listener Questions
• 1:52:21 – ED: Cras Numquam Scire by Yucca (Dantalian no Shoka OP)