Episode 124: Obscure 80s Anime


Welcome  to the 80s

from Megazone 23. Yes, this is what passed for aerobics wear in the 80s. It was indeed a magical time.

Kittyhawk is back this week, and we’re talking about obscure 80s anime. This is the stuff that made us fall in love with anime back in the early 90s, when we used to call it “Japanimation.” We say “early 90s” because most of this stuff wasn’t even available in American in the decade that they were created. We had to wait around for Streamline Pictures and Central Park Media to bring this stuff to us.

The 80s was a special time. It was a time of leotards and legwarmers. Leather jackets and torn jeans. And everyone had a boombox with high-speed dubbing.

But there is nothing so aggressively 80s as the anime of the era. Come join us for this brief journey into some of our obscure favorites, and tell us some of yours.

Project A-Ko - Possibly the most iconic anime of the era.

Project A-Ko – Possibly the most iconic anime of the era.


Riding Bean is what came before Gunsmith Cats.  Gunsmith Cats is better, but if you want more guns and cars in an 80s car chase scenario, you might want to check out Riding Bean.

Riding Bean is what came before Gunsmith Cats. Gunsmith Cats is better, but if you want more guns and cars in an 80s car chase scenario, you might want to check out Riding Bean.

Doraemon

Doraemon

This is what you would get if you took the Force out of Star Wars.  You'd have Han Solo: The Movie. ...aka Crusher Joe.

This is what you would get if you took the Force out of Star Wars. You’d have Han Solo: The Movie. …aka Crusher Joe.

Listen to the show to hear about the rare localized Harlock cartoon.  Possibly the most obscure of them all!

Listen to the show to hear about the rare localized Harlock cartoon. Possibly the most obscure of them all!

Girl in school uniform versus girl in one-piece bathing suit/battle uniform.  Need I explain why I love Project A-Ko?

Girl in school uniform versus girl in one-piece bathing suit/battle uniform. Need I explain why I love Project A-Ko?

Episode 100, Part 2: Slayers TV


Slayers TV

Slayers TV

At long last, it’s the second part of our Slayers special! Joining us tonight is The Chu. We talk about the Slayers TV series, which spans an epic 104 episodes! Three back-to-back seasons were made back in the 90s, and then an extra series of episodes were released in the 2000s, several years after the original series.

We also have an extrended pre-show, in which we talk about time lines and story chronology, and we talk about why some people don’t understand that trying to make everything fit together ruins the story more than it helps. Somehow, we resisted bringing up Star Wars.

Topics covered:
The Slayers (TV series)
Slayers Next
Slayers Try
Slayers Revolution
Slayers Evolution-R
Slayers Royal
Lost Universe


Episode 100, Part 1: The Slayers – OVAs and Movies


The Slayers

The Slayers

Ladies and gentlemen, there are only a few anime series I would recommend to the non-anime fan. Slayers is one of them.

The Slayers series is so extensive and huge that we had to split it up into two halves. This week, we’ll be talking about the movies and OVAs. Returning to the show is the Chu as well as Lina Inverse herself, Cynthia Martinez. Even after hearing us spoil the hell out of this series, you’re going to want to track down these DVDs and share them with everyone you know.

Slayers is one of the funniest anime series ever made.

Discussed:
Slayers The Motion Picture
Slayers Special
Slayers Return
Slayers Great
Slayers Gorgeous
Slayers Excellent
Slayers Premium

World's Least Frightening Vampire

World’s Least Frightening Vampire


Naga?

A mystery is solved

Episode 79: Akira and Ghost In The Shell


Ghost In The Shell

oh shit...

Ben and I were indecisive as whether to do Ghost In The Shell or Akira…so because we’re masochists, we decided to do both. At long last, we’ve decided to take on the two more pretentious anime movies ever made!

To be fair, our gripe with Akira is mostly directed at how overhyped it is. Yes, we know the animation is absolutely gorgeous, but the story itself is nothing particularly special. Oh, and it’s also way too long. It’s padded out with pseudo-philosophical mumbo-jumbo that nobody can follow, because it makes no damn sense. It’s fun watching gorgeous animation of a city getting torn to bits, but I shouldn’t have to sit through 100 minutes of nonsense about ameoba children in order to get to that part.

And then there’s Ghost In The Shell. Finally, you guys get to hear why I hate this movie and everything it inspires. Get ready for a smackdown on the existential crisis genre of anime, because I lay the hate down on this film. It’s not even animated as well as Akira. It’s slow, boring, and had me fidgeting in my seat, despite being 40 minutes shorter. Ghost In The Shell might be the king of pretentious anime.

This episode is about:
The star child
Ninja Turtles and Power Rangers
“Get your ass to Mars!”
“Kakarot!!! I mean…Kaneda!!!”
Ooshi must be stopped, no matter the cost.
Fuck both of these films; watch Roujin Z
Watch Dominion Tank Police, too.

Oh, here’s something that drives me crazy. I wouldn’t hate Ghost In The Shell half as much if I didn’t know so many people who make the exact following argument.

"It's different when it's my favorite anime!"

If you've ever made this argument, do the world a favor and kindly get over yourself.

As someone who enjoys shit like Dirty Pair, Slayers, or Tenchi, I at least have the candidness to tell you that I like it because of the sexy girls. Anyone who tries to tell you that there’s a deeper meaning to Kusanagi wearing a thong is a condescending prick.

I'm sure these are all just coincidences

I'm sure these are all just coincidences


Kaneda on his bike

Yeeeeeaaaaah....

Shit we forgot to mention:

Kid Kusanagi

Kid Kusanagi

Episode 39: Localization (Defending Carl Macek)

Roy!!!!!

Pineapple salad cannot kill Roy!

Today, we were joined by Kittyhawk and voice actor Brett Weaver to talk about the fine art of localization. We also talk about Carl Macek a bit, but not as much as we had planned. Maybe we can return to Carl at a later date.

As for today’s episode, you have 100 minutes to look forward to of us rambling about why the anime snobs of the 90s were all wrong.

Topics discussed:
Streamline Pictures
Tomato soup
Ninja consultants
Averting archaic internet memes based on bad localizations
Random falling H’s
“No” DOES mean “Yes”!
Making fun of Sandy Fox
Singing… IN JAPANESE!!!
The white Richard Roundtree
“FUCK YOU, BEN!”

Ninja Consultant

Fortress Maximus meets with Ninja Consultant Six Shot to balance his budget... IN STEALTH!!!


Nabeshin

"He's a bad mother..." "Shut your mouth!" "I'm just talkin' about Nabeshin!"


Jenny Stigile - Singer of the "Magic Knight Rayearth" Saturn theme

Once again, we agree that Jenny Stigile is the superior MKR singer to Sandy Fox.