Anime World Order Show # 24 - Ronin Warriors, 80s Sci-Fi, and...Audio Problems

The sound quality on this is pretty bad. We did the best we could to amplify this sufficiently so that people could hear it, but the levels are all over the place and we apologize in advance. This week, Gerald reviews one of his all-time favorites Crusher Joe, Daryl reviews the Often Overlooked Prefectural Earth Defense Force, and Clarissa continues her "pretty boys in armor" overview by telling about Ronin Warriors aka Yoroiden Samurai Troopers.

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This episode was ALMOST on time since we missed our self imposed deadline by a mere 22 hours or so!

Introduction (0:00 - 30:00)
Man, David Williams is one tough-sounding dude. He and Reggie Fils-Aime should duke it out some day. So, the war for rankings supremacy rages on over at Podcast Pickle, with Anime Pulse having unseated the Weekly Anime Review's top spot. We're thinking "now is the time to get nothing but anime podcasts in the Top 10." Along with Vespaholic's Anime101 podcast (which might actually be teaching people how to be the type of fans that Daryl hates), we're pretty close to breaking into the Top 10. So register over at Podcast Pickle and adding us to your favorites list. We don't have pocky or yaoi fanart to give away. We're just trying to commit a grand Internet prank.

Oh yeah, we answer emails too! Here's some relevant links. We've been forgetting to put relevant links for the intro segment where it's most important, but it's not like we've received complaints. We're guessing that people just scratch their heads at what we're talking about and stop listening.

• Our Podcast Pickle page
• Lawrence Eng's Daicon III and IV page - yep, he's not just a Lain expert; this guy's so going to take us to the cleaners at Otakon
• Jan-Scott Frazier - go here and get hit over the head with the guitar of enlightenment regarding what it takes to work in the anime industry as a foreigner
• Anime News Network's page on Makoto Shinkai
• AnimeCons.com - go here to find out when and where all the anime cons are happening
• AMV Hell - contains download links for all of them, hope you like Azumanga Daioh jokes and the only scene from My Sexual Harassment that anyone ever remembers it for

From this point on, the microphones start going haywire and the audio levels fluctuate A LOT. The audio will get really low in places, then jump up again. You have been warned.

Let's News! (30:00 - 40:58)
Geneon has licensed Zipang, which we reviewed back in Show #11. This somehow leads to us whining about the cost and manner of release of Hajime no Ippo. Gainax is planning to release a compilation movie for both Gunbuster and its sequ...er...follow-up, Daibuster, and Tohru Furuya is going to be a guest at Anime Expo. If only we could get our Mobile Suit Gundam boxes autographed. HEY, MAYBE WE COULD ASK THESE PEOPLE TO DO IT FOR US!

• The Official Fighting Spirit/Hajime no Ippo Home Page
• ANN's Page on Gunbuster
• ANN's Page on the S-s-s-s-s-Spawn of Satan to Gunbuster
• Hitoshi Doi's Page on Tohru Furuya

Promo: Brace For Impact (40:58 - 41:55)
Daryl is pretty sure that he's discovered the secret appeal of Apocalypse Dowell and Mick Aloha, and that's this thing which is what they publicize the most. It's an audiobook, which means that it's all written out in advance, THEN recorded. This does wonders for keeping things moving along. The villain is a heel wrestling promoter!

Review: Crusher Joe (41:55 - 59:59)
Gerald tells us all about this one, his all-time favorite sci-fi action space opera anime. Gerald would like to make it clear that Crusher Joe is nothing like The Chronicles of Riddick or The Transporter, regardless of what Daryl is saying or the fact that he's trying to sabotage my segment. He also doesn't seem to realize that no one reads the text on the feed aggregators and if they read anything they read the home page notes, and even if they did, the home page is what matters. And Daryl needs to stop messing around and leave Gerald's section alone, and stop comparing an awesome movie like Crusher Joe to crap like Riddick or The Transporter.

Often Overlooked: Prefectural Earth Defense Force (1:00:00 - 1:15:39)
If you couldn't tell from the theme song, this is science fiction. Daryl tells us about this 45 minute OAV that's sure to appeal to the people who dig Mel Brooks movies...er, from back when Mel Brooks was still funny. And Zucker Brothers movies...er, before they started doing those Scary Movie sequels. It's screwball comedy a la Excel Saga or most of Akitaro Daichi's work. Make sure to have the Pause key ready because the gags are constant. Oh by the way, this is only available through online retailers. Oh, and also: how well this sells will determine whether ADV will license other obscure but good anime titles and sell them subtitled only and cheap. So buy it, ya pencil-necked geeks!

• ADV's PEDF store link - originally the only place anywhere you could order it; note that it's sold out as of the time of this writing
• DVD Pacific (where we got it), Amazon (sort of has it), Robert's Anime Corner Store, and Right Stuf all stock it
• ANN's PEDF page - notice how many times ADV got PEDF mentioned in the news thanks to the manufactured controversy

Review: Yoroiden Samurai Troopers aka Ronin Warriors ( 1:15:39 - 1:33:58)
At this point, the audio levels get unbearable and our heroes are pushed to the limit. QUAKE WITH FEAR! Clarissa's microphone and PC is particularly haywire at this point, but she continues on the "armored hero" anime beat which started with her Saint Seiya review in Show #21 by talking about the show that people in America are the most likely to be familiar with since it aired relatively unedited on US television and has been available on DVD for some time.

• ANN entry for Ronin Warriors
• Ronin Warriors Wikipedia entry
• Fansite with summaries of Samurai Troopers audio dramas and listings/notes about the bajillion novels/manga released
• DVD Pacific here has the series for about $9 a disc

Promo: Otaku Generation (1:33:58 - 1:34:20)
Did you see how Daryl was the first to get the OG Clap in their recent one year anniversary episode? That's right, you'd better recognize. Wait, they gave him the clap?! Those bastards! Wait, that joke's been used every single time "the OG Clap" has been mentioned? Those BASTARDS!

Closing (1:34:20 - 1:38:24)
Note to selves: invest in a USB mixer and three USB preamps. But man, do we really want to spend $550 on audio equipment that we don't actually know how to USE? Next week, it's a special CATFIGHT! CATFIGHT! episode, as we talk about anime titles centered around girls beating each other up. Gerald's going to talk about Project A-Ko, which got a lot of play on Sci-Fi Channel back in the day and is coming up on its 20th anniversary. Clarissa will be discussing Air Master, which was the number one anime show in Japan when it came out on account that it's a show about people being KICKED RIGHT IN THE FREAKING FACE, but it never caught on here since people didn't like the artwork and the R1 DVD release was utter trash. Finally, Daryl's going to tell us all about the Shadow Skill OAVs, which is an anime devoted to girls who kick things and have pretty radical fights amidst a sort of Slayers-ish fantasy setting.

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