Usny, lvlin(Metanorn) and kaidian kenyaboi (Nihon Review) return to talk all about the recent movie Evangelion 3.33: You Can (Not) Redo. We discuss in depth our thoughts on the movie, the direction of the series, and the significance of the franchise. If you didn’t catch on, this is a spoiler-cast!
Also, Oregairu is still awesome.
Don’t forget to leave your questions and comments below!
If you wish to be a guest on future episodes, contact us at FridayAnimePodcast[at]gmail[dot]com
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3 2On the cusp: Chihayafuru 2, Aku no Hana, Kakumeiki Valvrave, Hentai Ouji to Warawanai Neko., Yahari Ore no Seishun Love Come wa Machigatteiru.
Last week’s results about the Anime Power Rankings
Railgun S continues to push Misaka’s backstory related to all the clones, but this week was extra special with Accelerator returning to screw things up for Misaka’s clones! Which means you know who is probab;y going to also appear very soon to punch people in the face after giving a speech about how killing people is bad bro so you should stop at once or something like that…
Foshizzel (Metanorn)
The 5th episode of To Aru Kagaku no Railgun jumps to the top of the Anime Power Rankings this week behind a glorious episode full of what makes the franchise great. We had Misaka faces, world building, and (most importantly) Accelerator. The fact that the show is springing forth into the Sisters arc is an acceptable trade-off to the lack of Kuroko.
You know what? Attack on Titan has a really odd pace. From one action-centric episode we go to one with a flashback, completely leaving behind the awesome feeling. Heck, whatever happened with the Titans this week? Did they go on a vacation or something?
Marow (Anime Viking)
Shingeki no Kyojin dropped out of the top spot for the first time this season, going all the way down to 4th. Yuyushiki barely beat out a weak episode of Chihayafuru to take the final spot on this week’s Anime Power Rankings.
Yuyushiki is pretty much the best slice of life series I’ve seen in a long time. And it’s very good with the subtlety and nuance of relationships on top of it’s impressive comedic timing. For a happy, funny, low-stress series, it’s incredibly thoughtful as well as occasionally depressing in a good way.
Justin (Lost My Thesis)
I am glad that Yuyushiki has consistently found its way into the top 5. It proves that you all have good taste for once.
Yuyushiki continues to top my ballot every week due to its visual and emotional subtlety. Through a narrow focus on the three main girls and their group dynamic, it has specifically rearranged Yukari, Yui, and Yuzuko, framing their individual relationships with each other in different contexts. There are no long, melodramatic moments. The emotions involved are long swells of comfort or small pangs of sadness that give the series a great bittersweet atmosphere. Yuyushiki is by far and away my favorite series of the season.
A stark contrast to this is my number two this week: Aku no Hana, which really hit its stride as it delves deeper into ideas of sex and sexuality. Speaking with a friend about it, he mentioned that the series continues to do an amazing job of portraying how monumental every little action seems when one feels guilt over something. As a reader of the manga prior to watching the series, I’d have to agree. The series has taken these ideas of guilt, sexual frustration, and enforced purity to another level and I love watching every awkward minute of it.
ajthefourth (Atelier Emily)
]]>Dokidoki episode 14 made me drop Chihayafuru legit. I will only enjoy karuta anime if they turn into monsters and throw exploding cards at little girls.
krizzlybear (Baka Laureate)
We dive deep into two overlooked, under-appreciated shows this season. We first discuss the cute, romantic-comedy from J.C. Staff Hentai Ouji to Warawanai Neko and debate about the current direction of the show. In addition, we constantly praise my favorite of the season: Yahari Ore no Seishun Love Come wa Machigatteiru by Brains Base.
Of course, we give our thoughts on a bunch of other shows in this stacked season we call Spring 2013.
Also, expect a surprise treat next week!
Index
00:15 – Introductions
00:35 – Hentai Ouji to Warawanai Neko
14:00 – Yahari Ore no Seishun Love Come wa Machigatteiru
35:45 – Most Surprising Shows (so far…)
45:30 – Final Thoughts
Don’t forget to leave your questions and comments below!
If you wish to be a guest on future episodes, contact us at FridayAnimePodcast[at]gmail[dot]com
AIURA is my favorite show to watch this season. It’s not the funniest, nor the most engaging, nor the show I look forward to the most; I just have a really good time when the episode is going.
You see, reader, AIURA is 5 minutes long. The opening and ending are a minute each, giving each episode exactly three minutes of content? What can you accomplish in 180 seconds? Not much, but AIURA neatly fits a small round peg into a small round hole. The 4koma format really fits the slice of life genre well, and the structure translates well into the anime. Each episode is little more than two or three scenes total. There are no punchlines; AIURA merely exists, and ends before you really get a chance to take it all in.
I still do not understand what this show has to do with crabs or Steve Jobs
The immediate draw to AIURA is the seemingly indecipherable opening. It features a cute story of Kanaka reuniting with a chibi crab along with … Steve Jobs and random pop-culture references about seafood. I love how bubbly and catchy the song is. The opening is definitely the distinguishing characteristic of the show, and it fits the show’s personality perfectly.
For some reason, three-girl skits are the rage this season, so I confuse this show with Yuyushiki a bit too often. Kanaka and Saki make up the boke and tsukkomi pair, while Ayuko is the slightly aloof middle ground. Kanaka is so good. She’s ridiculously cute and I love the work her voice actress is doing. I also have a thing for black kneesocks with schoolgirl uniforms.
Three cheers for minute anime (see what I did there). Sometimes we don’t have 20 minutes to dedicate to a full episode. All in all, this show rules. Watch it. The most you have to lose is the 20 minutes it takes to get caught up to the current episode.
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LONDON — Two months after tainted hamburger meat was discovered by Food Safety Authority of Ireland, Europe-wide tests of beef products have found that nearly 5% of samples contained MISAKA DNA. This DNA originates from Tokiwadai Middle School student Misaka Mikoto, whose genetic code was used for the Radio Noise Project. Scientists have found 200 positive samples in approximately 5,000 tested.
The findings shed light into the complex and often convoluted supply chains involved in European meat distribution. The MISAKA meat originates from Higuchi Pharmacology in Academy City, Japan as part of the Level 6 Shift project. The corpses were sent to a disposal facility in western Tokyo, which shipped the meat to a rendering plant in Romania. At various points, the meat moves through warehouses in Germany, Greece, Slovenia, and Italy, owned by different firms and processing plants. In positive samples, “beef” hamburger patties ranged from 2% to 100% MISAKA meat.
The Sisters scandal has been an especially major issue for religious groups. Human meat is forbidden to Jews and Muslims, no matter how moe. Additionally, the slaughtering process of simultaneously destroying hordes of MISAKA clones via blunt trauma renders the meat non-Halal.
This is not the first time the European meat packaging industry has come into scrutiny. Last spring, inspectors in Spain found that many cases of packaged meat instead contained pictures of Kashiwazaki Sena.
“There are no inherent health risks to eating MISAKA flesh,” said EU health inspector Mario Carmazzi, noting that besides the multiple mortal injuries MISAKA sisters are perfectly healthy girls.
European Union health commissioner Tonio Borg has confirmed that the scandal is a matter of food fraud rather than food safety. Prosecutors from across Europe are preparing litigation against offending distributors while various European national food safety departments are scrambling to analyse the breadth of the scandal.
Since the scandal erupted, sales of frozen hamburger meat has fallen by 57% in the United Kingdom and 49% in France. However, sale of labeled MISAKA meat has risen 24% since March. The MISAKA meat is high in protein and low in fat.
Carmazzi reiterated that the contamination does not pose a significant public health danger, as cloned esper tissue is safe for consumption. He then abruptly ended the press conference, stating that it was lunch time and his microwave casserole was done.
]]> 1 1 20 1On the cusp: Kakumeiki Valvrave, Yuyushiki, Ginga Kikoutai Majestic Prince, Aku no Hana, Ore no Imouto ga Konnani Kawaii Wake ga Nai 2, Aiura
Last week’s results about the Anime Power Rankings
Basically the opposite of last week’s shitfest. Wow. Attack on Titan brought the intensity this week with the battle against the Titans and lots of ridiculous sequences of soldiers swinging around. More of this, please. Maou-sama was lots of fun, with an entertaining battle and self-awareness that’s amusing but not smug. Valvrave is fucking ridiculous, as usual. Dokidoki! Precure has Alice unleashing her martial arts skills again. Aku no Hana has Nakamura making Kasuga’s life miserable.
Truly a wonderful week for anime.
Shinmaru (The Cart Driver)
After Chihayafuru came out of its recap episode, the show returns seamlessly to its former glory, topping out to 4th place in this week’s Anime Power Rankings. I was really impressed with Hataraku Maou-sama! this week. I have some doubts if the show should be going this direction, but I enjoyed the Scary Movie-esque satire of fantasy action anime that Hataraku Maou-sama! relies on to keep the show watchable. As long as we get more of Chiho’s succulent loli curves and Emi’s delish legs, this show will do just fine.
Hataraku Maou-sama gloriously proved that it can remain hilarious while elaborating it’s fantasy plot. In fact, it probably benfited from it. The “fish out of water” opening was fine, but it was self-evident. But a generic flasy fantasy fight inside an urban time bubble, is spiced up to something special with general skipping a few minutes to put on his badass cape, or a Dark Lord moaning about how he got the worst part.
Now the only challenge in front of it is Light Novel Fatigue, as the second volume is coming and the writer has to prove whether he had anything in mind for a long-term plot.
Alterego (Anime September)
I am in awe of this week’s Hataraku Maou-sama. They were able to fill most of the episode with a badass shounen-y showdown and still not miss a beat in their comedic timing. Infinite respect for the craftsmanship on display there.
Sun Tzu (Sun Tzu Anime Blog)
I felt compelled to include the voting distribution for once this week, just to provide some information on how close 5th place was.
97 points is only good enough for third, making Suisei no Gargantia the highest scoring third place show (breaking the record of 79 Hataraku Maou-sama! set earlier this season). This season is unusually top-heavy, comparable to Spring 2012, with 4 shows dominating the top 4 spots every week. The 5-10 slots, however, are extremely packed.
Call Me Moses cause Valvrave once again establishes itself as “Point Break: The Anime” with some of the campiest plot development and dialogue I’ve seen in the medium
HybridBloodsZak (HybridAnime)
Although many people came very close, ahelo from Traveler on Revenge hit APR bingo this week. Congrats!
]]> 3 3On the cusp: Aku no Hana, Kakumeiki Valvrave, Hentai Ouji to Warawanai Neko., RDG: Red Data Girl, Dokidoki! Precure
Last week’s results about the Anime Power Rankings
Yuyushiki is unquestionably this season’s best show. I completely doubt the taste of anyone who thinks otherwise. Anyone who says Titan or Gargantia is really suppressing their real desire to vote for Yuyushiki. It’s okay people, you can vote for it safely. Don’t be afraid of voting how you really feel.
Emperor J (Lower Mid-Table)
Yuyushiki makes it’s first appearance on the APR top 5 this week. It’s interesting to see a show like Yuyushiki make it’s way into the APR, even if it just barely makes it to the number five spot. If the show is able to make another appearance in the APR top 5 then I may be inclined to pick the show back up even though I couldn’t bring myself to finish the first episode. Something about the character design and the bland humor of episode 1 turned me off of the show. But apparently there is some quality to Yuyushiki if it’s able to land a spot at number 5. Maybe I was too quick to judge.
Yuyushiki has really come into its own as a comedic slice of life series. The series has been consistent and show its expert comedic timing over and over again. Not to mention the regular praise it gets for its layouts. But for Yuyushiki, we find that the sum of the parts is greater than the whole. The chemistry of the three members of the Data Processing club cannot be denied, whether they HooYa!ing random things, or are on their own away from the computers. It simply looks great, it’s funny, and it’s charming and always leaves me wanting more.
And really, what is water?
Justin (Lost My Thesis)
I have a strong feeling that the top three for APR this Spring season will remain unchanged in terms of what three shows will hold those top spots. Suisei no Gargantia, Shingeki no Kyojin, and Hataraku no Maou-sama remain the crowd favorites for a second consecutive week. At this point it feels like those three shows will become the default top choices for APR while everything else will switch spots in a battle for the bottom two. The only show in this season that I feel can break this trio up is Chihayafuru. But with the way Chihayafuru has been switching from great episodes to just OK episodes, that may happen less frequently than Gargantia or Maou-sama bumping Shingeki no Kyojin from the top spot.
This week’s shows, on average, was just a lot less interesting than last week’s shows. Railgun and Maou-sama both infodumped us, taking away the comedic scene that made the shows good.
FNZNA (FNZNA Side Dish)
Even though this season feels well rounded in the sense that it has something for everyone, there really isn’t that one show that stands out from the crowd and asserts it’s dominance as the best of the season. Sure Shingeki no Kyojin has remained in the top three for the past three weeks, but I feel it’s only a matter of time before the other shows dethrone it from it’s APR dominance. Granted this is all coming from the guy who isn’t caught up on anything currently airing outside of Hunter X Hunter, so everything I’m saying could be utter nonsense and not mean a damn thing.
I’m really liking Photo Kano. The characters are developing nicely and there’s more focus in the story. While there is still more flash than substance, I honestly admire the show’s charm and humor. I wish people would see beyond the negatives and at least give it a chance. It definitely needs more exposure.
Aeroblip (Desu ex Machina)
I bet the rest of you are just KILLING THE INDUSTRY by STEALING
Pop quiz: this episode of Ore no Imouto ga Konnani Kawaii Wake ga Nai 2 was good because
a) No Kuroneko
b) All of the above
Kuroneko fans’ faces when they realize their character is trash
Kyousuke summed up the key point of this episode well: it’s refreshing to see Kirino acting like a big sister. She does it the way she’s used to doing it: by getting assmad at every situation that Kyousuke has the bad luck of getting into. I think the reason I like Kirino and Ayase is because I find it hilarious when they raise their voices and get mad. It’s almost comical.
I don’t really know what to say about this show’s depiction of Ria Hagry. As an American I will just assume it is deeply racist and pretend to be offended.
The second season is shaping up well. J.C. Staff is gradually building up the characters — a useful one this time, unlike last week’s episode — but there is still ample material to make us laugh. I would talk about how we’re really seeing new sides of characters and exploring the dynamics of the sibling relationship between Kirino and Kousaka but no one gives a fuck and we know that J.C. Staff does that stuff just about every show they make anyway. I wouldn’t really call them “jokes”, but I do find OreImo to be funny. It has this strange goofy air of satire to it that makes it entertaining. Also, this episode’s ending. Goddammit. This will be a great season.
Show dropped for all eternity
We kickoff our podcast with a discussion of the 2013 Anime Mirai (aka. Young Animator Training Project). We praise Little Witch Academia by Studio Trigger and Death Billiards by Madhouse. We also ponder why we are all watching Oreimo and whether the rotoscoping in Aku no Hana.
Index
00:15 – Introductions
01:00 – Little Witch Academia (Watch it on Youtube)
09:15 – Death Billiards
16:45 – Oreimo S2 Episode 3
23:55 – Kevo Being Kevo
24:45 – Aku no Hana
35:00 – Favorite Shows (so far…)