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!
  • 29:18 – Nichijou #0
  • 35:25 – Break Blade #4
  • 43:12 – Level E #11
  • 47:43 – Fractale #9
  • 53:07 – Wandering Son #9
  • 59:01 – Star Driver #23
  • 1:07:01 – Suite PreCure #6
  • 1:11:06 – Macross Frontier #17 & #18
  • 1:20:12 – Listener questions

Deconstructing K-ON! – The Takotsuboya Doujin Trilogy

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Be a sadist. No matter how sweet and innocent your leading characters, make awful things happen to them—in order that the reader may see what they are made of.

-Kurt Vonnegut

The super-saccharine moeblob slice-of-life genre received a lot of attention, both positive and negative, during the run of K-ON!. This show is the archetypal example of that genre, easily outclassing any of KyoAni’s previous works in popularity. However, despite its immense celebrity and polarizing effect on the anime fandom, I have yet to see K-ON! receive a proper deconstruction. With Madoka making literary analysis of old genres cool again, as well as the recent announcement of a “K-ON! in college” manga, I feel like this is the perfect time for moe as a genre to be scorched and refined in the crucible of deconstruction.

Alas, the only media I’ve come across that comes close to accomplishing this is the infamous Takotsuboya K-ON! doujin trilogy. From a storytelling perspective, these doujins could not be considered good. They contain the requisite awkwardly-placed sex scenes and out-of-place pervertedness that is characteristic of doujins, making suspension of disbelief impossible. But they also contain several ingenious, even brilliant insights into how the HTT girls would fit into the real world. Many of these insights are gleaned from the author’s experience as a failed mangaka who repeatedly tried anything and everything to get his work published.

Dusty and Glen believe that these doujins treated the girls too harshly, replacing the fluffy, idealistic world of the show with an equally brutal and vindictive antithesis. I, on the other hand, think any good deconstruction has to put its characters through hell, in order to scour away their veneer and reveal their true quality. But I want your opinion, friend reader. In order to spare you the ordeal of reading this admittedly substandard doujin, I will describe the fate of each character below. You tell me whether you think it represents an accurate character interpretation, or an overly grim attempt by the author to soil these much-beloved moeblobs.

More after the break.

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Old vs. New: Dragon Ball

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During my recent re-watching of Lucky Star, I couldn’t help but smile when Konata sang the classic Dragon Ball Z OP “Cha-La Head-Cha-La.” But then I remembered the new Dragon Ball Kai OP “Dragon Soul,” which is sung by one of my favorite GAR artists of all time, Takayoshi Tanimoto. Now I can’t decide which song is better. Help me decide, friend reader, and I’ll stick the winning song in the next episode of Bakacast!

[yframe url=’http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QhJwOx1LXmA’]

[yframe url=’http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9-7pzJRwplk’]

[poll id=”23″]

Bakacast – NOT THE BEES!

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I want you all to know that I waited to play Dragon Age 2 so I could get the podcast edited immediately. You see the sacrifices I make for you people?

Anyway, we’re a little lighter on reviews and heavier on news because of the terrible one-two punch of natural disasters that recently hit Japan. If you’d like to help out, the link on the top of the sidebar will take you to a list of large and trustworthy organizations (such as the Red Cross and Salvation Army) that you can donate to. Since plenty of news organizations have covered the disaster better than we can, we instead focus on what it might mean for the short-term future of the anime industry. And on a lighter subject, we discuss FUNimation’s HorribleSubs gaffe. After our typical review segment (minus the Star Driver love party, sadly), we go off on some of our wildest tangents to date thanks to your seemingly straightforward listener questions.

  • 2:04 – Earthquake aftermath
  • 13:07 – FUNimation uses HorribleSubs
  • 20:15 – Madoka Magic #10
  • 25:03 – Gosick #10
  • 31:25 – Level E #10
  • 38:26 – Fractale #8
  • 47:13 – Wandering Son #8
  • 56:16 – Macross Frontier #15 & #16
  • 1:11:00 – Listener questions

I reference a couple things during the listener questions segment that you might like to check out. Fast Karate for the Gentlemen ripped apart both the anime and live-action versions of Blood: The Last Vampire (be warned that, unlike Bakacast, they use explicit language). As for the “Cage Rage” podcasts I mentioned, you can find every single one by clicking these handy links. Consider them your course materials for Nic Cage 101. There will be a test. It will not be open book.

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.

SHAFT Postpones Release of Madoka

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My translation of this article:

2011/3/15 Volume 1 BD/DVD Postponement Notice

We offer our heartfelt sympathy to everyone affected in the Touhoku Pacific region.
Because of the earthquake, there are power shortages and issues with distribution. We were planning to release Puella Magi Madoka Magica Vol. 1 on March 30th. Because of the situation, we have decided to postpone its release.

We deeply apologize for the large amount of trouble this will cause everyone, but we ask that you please understand and cooperate with us. Please check Aniplex’s official site from now on for updates regarding the release date.

You’ve probably already heard about the devastating earthquake and tsunami in Japan. It’s obvious things like this would happen, since frankly there are much better things to allocate limited power and resources to than manufacturing and shipping anime DVD’s. Madoka’s preorder statistics indicate that it could end up becoming the best selling anime series of all time, so I can only imagine how tough this decision must have been for SHAFT. This news is disappointing to say the least, but it’s great that they have their priorities so well established.

If you’d like to join SHAFT and do your part to help Japan recover, follow the link under Japan Earthquake and Tsunami at the top of our sidebar.

FUNimation’s Hypocrisy Revealed

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Video in Funimation’s dubbing room as seen in America’s Greatest Otaku

Remember FUNimation, the moralist anime production company that tried to sue 1337 anonymous bittorrent users for downloading a One Piece fansub? Well, it turns out that for all their bloviating about piracy, they are nothing more than a bunch of filthy hypocrites.

The screenshot above is taken from the latest episode of America’s Greatest Otaku, Tokyopop’s attempt to emulate reality television with an anime spin. It shows a monitor in FUNimation’s dubbing studio, with episode 3 of Sora no Otoshimono playing for the benefit of the dub actors.

Keen eyes on the ANN forums quickly noticed something strange about the subtitle font being used. Turns out it’s from HorribleSub’s illegal rip of CrunchyRoll’s stream.

Sora No Otashimono, Episode 3, 08:42

The evidence here is irrefutable. Unless FUNimation went to great lengths to replicate HorribleSub’s unique font in Aegisub, there is no question that they are using illegal rips for their dubbing work. This is particularly damaging after they made such a grand show of suing thousands of people whose only offense was WATCHING FANSUBS. No question about it, FUNimation has had their ethical soapbox shattered.

More after the break.

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Bakacast – Brought to You by Morning Rescue

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Yo! I know Dustin usually does these things, but I decided to try my hand at editing the podcast this week just for the experience. Naturally, given my predilection towards batsh*t insanity, I did something totally silly and nerdy with the sound design. If you can guess the anime I’m parodying, you win 100 Baka Points.

This week, we start of by discussing Jake Adelstein’s recent fight with National Geographic over their Gangland Tokyo documentary. You should really go read his blog post on the subject, which paints a disturbing picture of NatGeo’s flippant attitude towards journalistic integrity. After that we plow straight through our regular reviewing regime. Dusty even gets a chance to share his thoughts on my favorite guilty pleasure show of the season, Suite PreCure! Finally, we answer a couple of in-depth e-mail questions about our ratings scale and the upcoming live-action Akira adaptation, before finishing off with the usual onslaught of silly Twitter questions.

  • 3:10 – Jake Adelstein vs NatGeo
  • 12:19 – Madoka Magica #9
  • 20:24 – Gosick #9
  • 28:27 – Level E #9
  • 34:40 – Fractale #7
  • 40:47 – MORNING RESCUE!
  • 41:14 – Wandering Son #7
  • 48:55 – Star Driver #22
  • 53:54 – Suite PreCure #5 (with special commentary by Dustin)
  • 1:01:30 – Macross Frontier #13 & #14
  • 1:11:00 – Listener Questions (Here is the 10-point scale John Crichton submitted.)

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.

Heavenly Legs – Which Grade of Zettai Ryouiki Is Best?

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Natsuru displaying Grade B zettai ryouiki.

As every otaku knows, the true pinnacle of anime fashion (and Japan’s most popular fetish) is that heavenly bit of flesh between the top of a girl’s kneesocks and the bottom of her skirt… the absolute territory, better known as zettai ryouiki. Now, the power of SCIENCE tells us that the ultimate ratio of length of skirt : zettai ryouiki : length of socks above knee is 4:1:2.5 ±25％. However, I say TO HELL WITH SCIENCE! Zettai ryouiki is all about passion, not mere mathematics. The very notion that certain “grades” of kneesock length are superior strikes me as far too absolutist. Each grade has its own strengths, its own appeal!

The question I pose to you, dear readers, is which grade of zettai ryouiki do you find the most appealing? Do you agree with the conventional wisdom that Grade A is the true “golden ratio,” or do you prefer a more exposed leg? Using the chart I’ve provided, cast your vote in the poll below. Don’t hesitate to leave your opinion in the comments below as well. This is one of the most pressing issues facing otakudom today, so now is your chance to let your voice be heard!

Click to expand.

[poll id=”22″]

 

For Better or Worse? Two New K-ON! Manga Announced

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To the surprise of absolutely no one, the upcoming issue of Manga Time Kirara will announce two new K-ON! spinoff manga, both of which will premiere next month. As far as we know, these two manga share the K-ON! title, but cover different subject matter . The first, which begins on April 9th in Manga Time Kirara, will focus on the continuing adventures of Ritsu, Mio, Yui and Mugi as they go to college. The second, which begins on April 28th in sister magazine Manga Time Kirara Carat, will follow the light music club at Sakuragaoka Girls’ High School, now manned by Azusa, Ui and Jun.

And thus, the inevitable slow decline of the K-ON! franchise begins. They won’t stop milking this cow until its dry, utterly dehydrated and comatose.

I’ve seen it happen dozens (if not hundreds) of times before. At first, K-ON! was a fun but vapid slice-of-life series, an enjoyable diversion that kept us amused with short skirts and pop music. Sadly, as the manga stretched on and the anime plowed through its second season, creative bankruptcy began to set in. The jokes got stale. The plots became repetitious. Even the much-vaunted music lost its luster. K-ON! was winding down, and everybody knew it.

More after the break.

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Bakacast – Kirino’s Comeuppance

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Thanks to a sudden onset of responsibility that’s more surprising than any episode of Madoka Magica, I’ve managed to edit and post this episode of Bakacast a mere two days after we recorded it. Now to reward myself by totally slacking off again.

Sadly, Jon is absent from this episode on account of being kidnapped by ninjas. While we wait for him to escape their clutches, we happily accept the newest ending of OreImo as the best ending,  somehow relate Dick Cheney to Gosick, give our first unanimous perfect score to Wandering Son, and tell Star Driver to go sit in the corner until it’s thought about what it’s done. Also, we discuss Jon’s Anime Oscar picks while Glen informs me of all the awesome stuff I missed this season.

We cover:

  • 3:10 – OreImo #12 [True Route]
  • 10:48 – Madoka Magica #8
  • 23:59 – Gosick #8
  • 34:45 – Level E #8
  • 41:22 – Fractale #6
  • 46:00 – Wandering Son #6
  • 53:04 – Star Driver #21
  • 1:04:11 – Suite PreCure #4
  • 1:08:57 – Macross Frontier #11 & #12
  • 1:15:39 – Anime Oscars discussion

[That fabulous Star Driver comic is based on this comic by Kate Beaton. You should read her stuff, because she’s awesome.]