What's New in Anime Fansubs Podcast

Sorry , it's a bit late. I just couldn't seem find time to record the damn thing this week. And now I'm behind for next week... sigh It'll be Paradise Kiss, by the way.

Script:

This is What's New in Anime Fansubs show number ten.

Starting this October, Blood+ may or may not be a sequal to the movie and manga that are both called Blood. It uses the same characters but it is not yet clear if it shares any continuity. It takes place on Okinawa, near the American military bases. The version that I watched was subtitled by Live-eviL.

This is a beautifully produced show with wonderful visuals, vibrant colors and subtle sound design. For instance, in an early scene bombers fly overhead (presumably set to land at the military base). The sky is an incredible shade of blue with an accent of clouds. The dull gray of the bombers passing over it is appropriately jarring. The sound design for this scene is similarly effective. There's a subtle everyday background of birds and cars and people talking that's very consciously interrupted by the sound of the bomber.

If I had to classify the style of this show I'd have to say "film". It feels like a very well produced movie. Beyond the excellent sound design and visuals, it's use of its "camera" is effective and engaging. It has lazy, floating point-of-view camera shots with things out of focus due to their brightness.

I actually prefer the visual style of the TV show to the movie. Perhaps because the TV show has more of a "traditionally animated" feel to it (though I make no statements as to wether or not that's the case).

It was produced by Production IG, so it's really no surprise that it's so high quality. Still, I'm impressed. I should mention though: I didn't actually notice the quality on my first viewing. I highly recommend that you make your viewing conditions as good as you can. Laptop speakers and windowed video don't cut it.

The show is about the same Saya as from the Blood movie and manga. You don't need to be acquainted with those to understand or appreciate this show though. Saya's character design is pleasing (unchanged from prior incarnations). The other characters are distinctly not in the same style and lack the flair that she has.

The show opens with black-and-white war footage of monsters attacking a village and ultimately a group of soldiers. Saya is among the attackers.

Opening credits roll and we learn that Saya has been attending high school for a year, ever since she lost her memory. She's staying with a foster family who is being paid by the military to take care of her. Mysterious men appear, monsters make a showing and the episode ends just as Saya begins to vamp-out.

Various sites classify it as horror, vampires, mystery and shounen.

This was What's New in Anime Fansubs show number ten. If you want to comment on the show or read the show notes visit podcast.anime.mikomi­.org.

Script:

This is What's New in Anime Fansubs show number nine.

Starting this past October, Mai-Otome is a pseudo-sequel to last year's Mai-HiME. The fansub that I watched was produced by Static Subs. By pseudo-sequel I mean it uses the same character designs but tells a story taking place in a different universe that does not appear to share any continuity with Mai-HiME.

Mai-HiME was a show that I liked in spite of its surface presentation. I guess my complaint is that superficially it feels like a paint-by-numbers show. School girls: check. Giant machine-beasts: check. Plot to destroy and/or remake the world: check. But unlike other attempts from last season (cough Kannazuki no Miko cough), this one actually produced an entertaining show.

While Mai-HiME uses our world and time as its setting, Mai-Otome uses a fantastical setting. It seems to be kind of a post-apacalyptic kingdom. The world seems to have non-terrestrial biology. They have advanced technology: giant sand barges, monorails, modern cities, etc. There's an implication that this is supposed to be the far future, perhaps on another planet. There is mention of old "Earthen" technology. Clothing is vaguely victorian (only with skimpy womens clothes).

The show starts in the midst of a battle in a city. We see a baby with a distinctive necklace sent down a river in a basket. 14 years later we see a girl with the same necklace making her way toward the same city. She's trying to find her mother. All she knows about her mother was that she was an Otome. She figures that she'll become an Otome herself and in so doing, find clues as to who her mother was.

The bad guys summon mecha known as slaves (the English word). Or maybe they become the mecha. It's not entirely clear. The slave in the first episode bears some resemblance to the mecha in Evangelian. It also has an unfortunate crotch blaster. When the slave is defeated the bad guy dissappears in green sparkles like the Most-Impornant-Peopl­e in My-HiME.

One point of interest: The word "otome" is used as the name of a role in this show. However, the word in ordinary Japanese means "girl" or perhaps "daughter" or maybe "girl-child".

The art, animation, character designs and what not are all unremarkable. Nothing bad but still nothing to write home about.

Various sites classify it as sci-fi, fantasy, school life, action and super power.

This was What's New in Anime Fansubs. If you want to comment on the show or read the show notes visit podcast.anime.mikomi­.org.

Mai Otome @ AnimeSuki.com
anime.mikomi.org: Mai-Otome
AnimeNfo.com : Anime : Mai Otome
Anime News Network - Mai-Otome (TV) ::ANIDB.net:: Anime - Mai-Otome ::

anime.mikomi.org: Kannazuki no Miko

Script:

This is What's New in Anime Fansubs show number eight.

Ayu subtitled episode one of Jigoku Shoujo on October 13th. It's a horror show not unlike Vampire Princess Miyu. The plot of the first episode is centered around a girl, Mayumi, who is being bullied at school. She uses a website called Hell Correspondence to request revenge upon her tormenter. The website is only visible at midnight. It's said that if you enter someone's name on the site, they'll be taken straight to hell. In return, you pledge your own soul to hell.

The series itself appears to be about Enma Ai who is known as Jigoku Shoujo (which would translate as Hell Girl). We learn little in the first episode and only get to see her and her cohort take Mayumi's bully to hell.

It's currently showing in Japan. 26 episodes are planned.

This was What's New in Anime Fansubs. If you want to comment on the show or read the show notes visit podcast.anime.mikomi­.org.

This marks the end of the actual content. The remainder of this show is me talking about the show itself, so if you're not interested in that, you can stop here.

This segment was recorded with my shiny new microphone. I had been using a Logitech USB headset. It worked okay, but wasn't great. I've sense upgraded to an actual microphone. It has much better directionality— this results in less background noise. Additionally it seems to more accurately record sound. It's the Logitech USB microphone intended for the PS2 and Karaoke Revolution, but it works great on my Mac.

I just want to take a moment to mention one of my favorite manga series of all time. Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou (or Record of a Yokohama Shopping Trip) is a long running, slow paced, thoughtful and nostalgia inducing manga. It's been scanlated at ykk.misago.org for many years now but those stopped in 2004. Since then cafealpha.org has picked up the slack.

I can't recommend this series enough. It evokes the evokes the awareness of the impermanence of things and the sadness of their passing (or mono no aware) as well as any work I've encountered.

Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou Translation [ykk.misago.org]
YKK Manga Translations [cafealpha.org]
↗Yokohama Kaidashi Kikō [wikipedia.org]
↗Mono no aware [wikipedia.org]

Determining subscription numbers is a tricky thing. All of my numbers are by unique IP. (It's rare to get session cookies back from aggregators).

The first way is to look at requests for the RSS feed. These could be called "subscribers".

The past few days I've been seeing 70 to 100 requests per day. Last week I had 249 requests, 231 the week before that. In October I had 644.

Another way is to look at downloads of the episodes. These could be called "listeners".

On a daily basis I've been seeing between 15 and 40 listeners per day. I had 70 last week and 109 the week before. In October I had 327 listeners.

Script:

This is What's New in Anime Fansubs show number seven.

A whole bunch of different folks have released Final Fantasy VII: Last Order. I used AnimeOne's October 7th release. This show is a one shot OVA that was included in the box set of the movie Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children. While the movie will be released in the US, currently there are no plans to release this OVA here. The OVA was published in Japan in September of this year.

It probably won't be interesting to anyone who hasn't played the Final Fantasy VII game, as it's just the fleshing out of scenes from the game.

It retells what happened in Nibelheim with Zack, Tifa, Cloud and Sephiroth. In the game this was all told as a playable flash-back. In the OVA it's told as a series of flash-backs. In the present Zack and Cloud are trying to escape Shinra. In the past we see them confronting Sephiroth.

This was What's New in Anime Fansubs. If you want to comment on the show or read the show notes visit podcast.anime.mikomi­.org that's p-o-d-c-a-s-t-dot-a-­n-i-m-e-dot-m-i-k-o-­m-i-dot-o-r-g.

This marks the end of the actual content. The remainder of this show is me talking about the show itself and other random things, so if you're not interested in that, you can stop here.

Thus far I've been using Animesuki exclusively to find new shows. Not long ago, Animesuki finally started including the torrents associated with each show as enclosures in their RSS feeds. I really appreciate this as it makes my life easier-- I don't have to click through to the fansubber's site and find the torrent.

Recently I came across a link to Tokyo Toshokan and since they too have an RSS feed, I've started monitoring them as well. They have a lot of overlap with Animesuki but both have shows the other doesn't. They don't provide enclosures but they use a link to the torrent as the link in the RSS item, so I don't mind. Links and enclosures look pretty much the same in my RSS reader.

anime.mikomi.org: Final Fantasy VII - Last Order
Final Fantasy VII: Last Order @ AnimeSuki.com
Anime News Network - Last Order Final Fantasy VII (OAV)
::ANIDB.net:: Anime - Last Order: Final Fantasy VII ::
Final Fantasy VII: Last Order - Anime Recommendations Database

AnimeSuki
Tokyo Toshokan

Script:

This is What's New in Anime Fansubs show number six.

Anime-Keep released episode one of Doki Doki Densetsu Mahoujin Guru Guru on September 24th. It is a parody of fantasy role-playing games. All of the characters are drawn in a semi-deformed style and so everyone looks really young. The main characters are two children, Kukuri the magic user and Nike the fighter. (One site calls them "young teens" but I can't see that.)

The plot of the show, for what its worth, is that Kukuri and Nike have to find things that will give sufficient power to defeat the demon king Giri Giri. The focus of the show is on its childish humor. For instance, one character has a name that translates as "dog-dick".

It's the followup to an earlier series. Apparently the first series was not entirely faithful to the manga and this one is.

It was originally broadcast between April and December of 2000. There are 38 episodes.

This was What's New in Anime Fansubs. If you want to comment on the show or read the show notes visit podcast.anime.mikomi­.org that's p-o-d-c-a-s-t-dot-a-­n-i-m-e-dot-m-i-k-o-­m-i-dot-o-r-g.

This marks the end of the actual content. The remainder of this show is me talking about the show itself and other random things, so if you're not interested in that, you can stop here.

I can be pretty sure when I say this will be followed up with more podcasts soon, as I've already recorded them and they just have to be assembled and posted.

The weekend before last I was at Onna. It was, as anticipated, great. I was on the IT staff and, as such, at the convention I was basically a gofer. May Young, the Onna podcaster, recorded some interviews there-- we should have those up soon. While those were being recorded I met Erin from the Ninja Consultant podcast. It's been a while since I've looked in on any of the any related podcasts, so I hadn't really seen them spring up. I've listened to a couple of shows and they seem pretty good.

You can check out the Onna podcast by going to www.onnafest.com and clicking on the podcast link. That's o-n-n-a-f-e-s-t-dot-­c-o-m.

You can check out the Ninja Consultant podcast by going to www.ninjaconsultant.­com.

anime.mikomi.org: Mahoujin Guruguru Doki Doki Legend
Mahoujin Guruguru Doki Doki Legend @ AnimeSuki.com
AnimeNfo.Com : Anime : Mahoujin Guru Guru II
Anime News Network - Doki Doki Densetsu Mahoujin Guru Guru (TV)
::ANIDB.net:: Anime - Mahoujin Guru Guru II ::

Ninja Consultant
Onnacast

Transcription:

Welcome to What's New in Anime Fansubs for July 23, 2005.

On July 20th Nihongo Anime released Koi Koi Seven.

Koi Koi Seven is the new harem comedy from the creator of Hanaukyo Maid Tai. It's based on his manga. Subtle, it isn't. Honestly, it's so over the top I kept on expecting it to turn in to parody, and yet, in my opinion, it didn't. The episode is made up of a combination of Project A-Ko style mecha fights mixed with random fan-service. The plot can be summed up as: Boy transfers to a new school. School turns out to be an all-girls school. Girl gangs fight over boy.

My summary: More drivel in the harem comedy paint-by-numbers genre.

The music is a bit too loud, I think. Also it pushes up to full volume a little too soon and ends up drowning me out. I also realized that I should probably give out the URL in the bumper, seeing as people who've subscribed via a directory service (like the ones in iPodder, iTunes, etc) won't know about the associated site.

Transcription:

This is the What's New in Fansubs podcast. Hi folks. This is just a little update about the podcast itself. I had no updates for a while there… this was caused by a combination of my own laziness, my broadband breaking down, followed by my laptop breaking down. Fortunately all of these have been fixed now so I expect to be doing more of these.

One new thing: I'm changing my format a bit. I'm going to move to a super short format where I cover one or two shows per podcast. This will also mean that I'll be doing more podcasts– probably several a week.

New Fansubs
Tsubasa Chronicle	torrents
Gakuen Tokusou Hikaruon (AniDB)	torrents, Guyver: Bio-Booster Armor
Nurse Angel Ririka SOS (Doi)	torrents
Anime Promos
Ichigo Mashimaro (Okazu manga review)
Elfen Lied - Special
Monster
Anime podcasts
World of Anime on Podcast	"Your weekly podcast for anime news reviews and much much more!"
Anime Inside	"An(sic) podcast radio show on anime news, reviews, interviews, Japanese popular culture and all-around anime fandom."

New Fansubs
Zipang (JASCII)	torrents, The Philadelphia Experiment
Tenkuu Danzai Skelter Heaven OVA (AniDB)	torrents, Mahou Tsukai Tai!
Space Runaway Ideon (AniDB)	torrents, Shin Seiki Evangelion
He is My Master	torrents
Trinity Blood	torrents, Show #1
Bleach	torrents
Anime Promos
He is Master Promo
Saikano OVA Web Promo 1	OVA continuation of Saishu Heiki Kanojo
Saikano OVA Web Promo 2
Anime Related Podcasts
Amazing Baka	"The only Anime and Otaku podcast with a fresh lemony scent."
J!-ENT RADIO	"A podcast about Japanese and Asian entertainment and Pop Culture"
Intro music
The opening/intro music to the podcast was "yellahest" by "Eustachian". You can get it from the Internet Archive, here