Anime World Order Show # 78b - It's Totally Off-Topic, Except Not

Here's the second half of Show 78. This was actually completed and ready to post some time ago.

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Let's News! (0:00 - 42:00)
Perhaps you've noticed that Best Buy has cut down their anime section rather drastically. There were some clearance sales that came and went, but there wasn't much worth picking up anyway...because all the copies of Akira on Blu-Ray were long gone. Riyoko Ikeda, who at some point started getting that extra "i" in her name so she wouldn't just be "Ryoko," got great accolades from France for helping to popularize French culture amidst the Japanese. We think the award is fully deserved due to this car advertisement. If you haven't really gotten into the whole "streaming anime" thing, perhaps you should give it another look because there's a lot of titles coming out for which streaming just might be the only way you'll see a translated English version officially available. There is probably not going to be an official translated English version of the Japanese porn comic with Barack Obama and John McCain. Sorry ladies, but it is not yaoi...YET. More bad news on that front: Sunshine Creation is canceled...again! Fortunately Figma is there to save the day in this time of need.

Review: Heaven Wars Shurato (42:00 - 1:26:22)
Clarissa concludes her reviews of all the "[pretty] boys in armor" anime series with this. Previously--and by that we mean about three years ago--she had reviewed Saint Seiya and Yoroiden Samurai Troopers. If you liked those, then you will probably like this! Probably.

This is a story about reincarnation and fighting godlike beings while wearing cool armor, but also about bros.

Well, until Lady Vishnu decides to show up, anyway.

Then it's off to Tenkuukai, which to be fair is pretty gorgeous.

After that horrible things happen and Shurato is very sad, and kind of pissed off at Gai suddenly being evil. Hmm, I wonder how much of that Kamui and Fuuma nonsense in X derived from CLAMP's love of Shurato...

This is pretty much the gang of major characters for Shurato, with a couple of exceptions. There's something I find very pleasant and "human" about Okuda's character designs that makes it stand out from Saint Seiya (with it's crazily beautiful and exaggerated designs) and Samurai Troopers.

As we mentioned, these shows are largely about cool-looking armor. So here's an idea of what they look like.

Here's Reiga's. Am I the only one who just doesn't think the bird head works as well?

In addition to the show, I highly recommend any of the artbooks with Matsuri Okuda's original illustrations. There are some really beautiful and melodramatic pieces, along with lots of silly stuff. Here's some good samples. BTW, a lot of nice images including the ones here can be found at Arcadia's Shulato Shrine.

Closing (1:26:22 - 1:31:22)
Next time, Gerald is a terrorist straight out of Hell because he's reviewing Chi's Sweet Home, and Clarissa lives a happy, peaceful, lighthearted existence within Detroit Metal City. For a moment we thought we might have those backwards, but no. Definitely not. Daryl's reviewing Queen Millennia: The Movie.

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