Episode 148: Carl Macek and Robotech

Posted on April 20, 2014 by Mr.Neil

Lynn Minmay

Yep, we’re back with a do-over episode. Many months ago, we produced an episode in which we were to talk about Carl Macek. Somehow, we went almost the entire episode without even so much as mentioning him; a fact which perturbed me for some time.

Well, this has been amended. Sometimes revered, other times reviled, Carl Macek left behind an incredible legacy of work and undoubtedly paved the way for the anime market that came after Robotech.

Here we have the somewhat complete story of the amazing career of Carl Macek, though we did skip over some things, such as his time at DiC and Spumco. We talk about his rise with Harmony Gold, the rise and fall of Streamline Pictures, and his time at ADV.

We also tread through the Robotech saga again, this time a bit more in detail. And if any of this is at all confusing, don’t worry. You’re running about average. Truth be told, Robotech shows its seams, and even with additional animated content made to bridge the three separate sagas, it still is an obvious hodgepodge of content.

I still very much recommend ADV’s dub of Macross, IF you can still find it.

Robotech – The Macross Saga

Dirty Pair – Flight 005 Conspiracy

The Professional: Golgo 13

Episode 124: Obscure 80s Anime

Posted on July 5, 2013 by Mr.Neil

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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.

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

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!

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

Episode 116: Genndy Tartakovsky

Posted on March 18, 2013 by Mr.Neil

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This is awesome!

Tonight, we’re joined by Pablo to talk about animation great, Genndy Tartakovsky!

Discussed:
Dexter’s Lab
Powerpuff Girls
Samurai Jack
Sym-Bionic Titan
…and more!

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

Posted on October 20, 2012 by Mr.Neil

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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

A mystery is solved

Episode 97: Virtua Fighter

Posted on September 26, 2012 by Mr.Neil

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The Virtua Fighter anime logo. Adjust your expectations downward from here.

Kittyhawk is back this week, and we’re talking about the Virtua Fighter anime. Yes, we can’t get enough of cartoons based on fighting games. We really only watched this for one scene, but we discovered several more that made us laugh just as hard.

After four episodes, we had enough, so we decided to sit down and talk about the show. Our opinions were mixed. Some of us were genuinely entertained, but somehow this is a series unfitting of Virtua Fighter.

Our review is a bit short, so after the break, we come back with our review of Saint Warrior Girl Valkyrie, a Japanese live action rip-off of Kittyhawk’s own Sparkling Generation Valkyrie Yuuki! It’s a show so terrible that it bankrupted the company that made it.

Please, please don’t watch it, but you can listen to us groan about how terrible it was. We’ll forgo any screen shots, because we’re just not that cruel.

Topics:
Zoning out
How old is Pai?
Smile Steak
“Herroooo! Deribery guy!”
Run away!
A boy hanging from a tree
A classic cartoon trap