Bakacast – Lolverine

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It’s time once again to dive headfirst into another season of anime. And it seems our initial fears of a sparse winter will prove false, since we review ten–yes, ten!–shows. And not everything has aired yet! So to keep things from going way too long, we skip the news and only answer one Twitter question.

The anime we cover (in order of their air dates) are:

Although we only covered one Twitter question, it was a bit of an in-depth one. If you can’t remember all the suggestions Larry and I made, click the jump to get the full list.

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Bakacast – Wattsman!!

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Because the winter season shows didn’t air in time for our normal recording schedule (Tuesday nights, in case you’re curious), each Bakacast host picked something they wanted to discuss on the podcast. I chose Digital: A Love Story, a visual novel about 1988 cyberpunk romance (seriously). Glen picked out Voices of a Distant Star, an interesting short film by Makoto Shinkai, one of the rising stars among animated-movie directors. Jon was pretty excited about finally getting all of us to check out The Girl Who Leapt Through Time. And Thomas–who’s probably tied with Jon as the biggest Dirty Pair fan we know–chose an OVA he recently reviewed on his own blog: Dirty Pair: Project Eden.

We also take a moment at the end of the show to list the winter shows we’re planning on checking out.

If you have questions you’d like to hear answered on a future episode, please @reply them to Project Haruhi’s Twitter account, using the hashtag #bakacast.

Bakacast – We Are Not Spinal Tap

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On this episode of Bakacast, we bid a semi-fond farewell to the Fall 2010 season and share what we’re looking forward to (or dreading) in the coming winter. But first, I guess there might be more Lucky Star in our future? Who knows! And, more to the point, who cares? Frankly, we’re more interested in the recent Disappearance of Haruhi Suzimiya movie, which kicks off our review segment.

Ever wanted to hear me lose my temper? Well, you’ll get your chance when Jon and I battle it out during the Panty & Stocking discussion (though at least we can all agree that the soundtrack is fantastic). And to make sure this episode was extra special, we captured Thomas from Stepping Up to the Anime Plate so he could give us his thoughts on MM!

We cover:

  • The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya
  • Panty & Stocking #13
  • Otome Youkai Zakuro #13
  • Squid Girl #12
  • Iron Man #12
  • MM!
  • Star Driver #13

Since the winter season’s shows won’t debut before our normal podcast recording time, we’ll be doing things a little differently next week. How different? Well, you’ll just have to wait and see…

Bakacast – Chizuru vs Grizzly Bear

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Bakacast is back from our holiday vacation, and we hope you guys had a good holiday too! I got The Secret of Kells on Blu-ray, so you can expect me to review that sometime in the future.

In any case, we send off OreImo with tempered praise. This won’t be our last discussion of the series, though. We’re pretty much guaranteed to talk about the OVA’s when they come out (I’m crossing my fingers for a “nice boat” ending). After that, Glen and I lament how far Zakuro has fallen, Glen and Larry’s rant on Samurai Girls justifies my decision to drop it by the fifth episode, Glen confesses his love for Kanako of Star Driver fame, and I come up with a surefire way for Squid Girl to get a coveted 6 out of 5 Picards.

We cover:

  • OreImo #12 (finale)
  • Panty & Stocking #12
  • Otome Youkai Zakuro #12
  • Samurai Girls #12 (finale)
  • Squid Girl #11
  • Star Driver #12

We’ll officially say goodbye to the fall season on the next episode and start bracing ourselves for winter. But until then, why don’t we gather around the yule log and enjoy the soothing strains of the Panty & Stocking soundtrack?

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 #11: Starting an Anime Podcast

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

    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