Yoroshiku-ne!

This is a translation of M. LaMoe’s earlier Japanese article. –Mike

Ah, Yumina-oneechan! Ah, how wonderful! How pure and beautiful, graceful, modest, gentle, refined, sweet, humble, with honest poverty, a saint with kindly words, smile, and full of affection! 和顔愛語(The proverb: Kind facial expression, kindly words), she is the embodiment of it. A holy girl of the holy path is picking up a T-shirt of Bosozoku(motorcycle gangsters) who are on the evil path. What fashion sense! Yumina-oneechan, full of humor. LOL.

The Japanese language is dead nowadays, and its phonographs were Chinese character, which are now ideograms. And those are the hierographs of Yumina-oneechan’s religion. Just like Catholics use Latin, Buddhists use Sanskrit. And “Yoroshiku(best regards)” is written in Chinese character phonetically, “夜露死苦(Night, dew, death, pain)”. It’s surprising that these kind of ideograms are still alive, even though they are regarded by some as “sacred letters.”

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All your artwork are belong to us --Tite Kubo

 

 Anime Diet Radio 48 (AAC) [56:15m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (163)

 

 Anime Diet Radio 48 (MP3) [56:15m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (47)

 

 Uncut Random Conversation (Ray + Mike) [32:17m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (38)

Full disclosure: Anime Diet Radio was inspired first by the format of the old Anime Nano Podcast…but we can’t say we did what Nick Simmons did to Bleach! Our podcast, unlike his comic, is an homage (pronounced oh-MAHJ) and a tribute of that fine podcast from 2006. That, of course, is one of the topics of the news on this 48th episode of Anime Diet Radio, along with the usual news items about a possible island full of eromanga and a Korean man who just can’t get enough of his dakimakura.

The Roundtable is a little different this time around; due to technical and scheduling conflicts, it’s instead an excerpt of a fruitful conversation between Ray and Mike about the upcoming spring season. The full conversation is also available as a bonus xtra, downloadable on the website–includes all the awkward pauses and scroll wheel sounds you never usually hear on our productions! It’s a raw look at the kind of talks that gave birth to this podcast all those years ago.

You probably noticed that the podcasts have been coming out at about a monthly clip in the middle of the month. That’s on purpose–expect new episodes around this time every month from now on. We are striving to be, as they say, regular in these releases. Yell loudly if we’re late!

Show Order

• (00:00) – Introduction
• (03:33) – News 1: A Korean man and his Fate pillow
• (11:50) – News 2: Eromanga Island is Real
• (20:37) – News 3: Nick Simmons’ Big Rip Off
• (30:19) – Mailbag
• (44:10) – Roundtable: Next Season
• (55:10) – Conclusion

Show Notes

• –OP: “Meiya Kadenrou (冥夜花伝廊)” by Minami Kuribayashi (from Katanagatari)
• –ED: “Refulgence” by Shoujobyo (from Katanagatari)
• –The story about the Korean man and his Fate pillow was reported in multiple sources. Here’s one from Metro UK, which names the lucky groom as one Lee Jin-gyu [http://www.metro.co.uk/weird/816601-man-marries-pillow]. Sankaku Complex has more pictures (NSFW) [http://www.sankakucomplex.com/2010/03/05/korean-otaku-marries-fate-testarossa-dakimakura/].
• –This, of course, recalls previous ADR episodes about the guy who married a Love Plus character [http://animediet.net/podcasts/anime-diet-radio-episode-45-the-late-makenai-holiday-show], and our epic episode about the petition to marry 2d women [http://animediet.net/podcasts/anime-diet-radio-episode-28-love-and-marriage]. See also our article which first broke the Love Plus marriage story and predicted it would become an ADR item.
• –Eromanga Island is real! At least according to the news at Pink Tentacle [http://pinktentacle.com/2010/02/eromanga-island-has-disappeared/], which supplies a map to prove it.
• –The Nick Simmons scandal has been widely reported from many sources. See some comparison shots on a lengthy Livejournal page [http://community.livejournal.com/bleachness/446299.html]. ANN has Simmons’ statement [http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2010-03-01/incarnate-simmons-addresses-alleged-bleach-copying] and an explanatory story [http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2010-02-25/nick-simmons-incarnate-halted-over-alleged-bleach-plagiarism]. Our own moritheil also reported on it on our site [http://animediet.net/commentary/great-artists-steal], to much comment.
• –The game site that is doing a contest to propose a Western-friendly romance game is Gamasutra. Here’s their challenge [http://gamecareerguide.com/features/831/game_design_challenge_.php], whose results will be posted on Tuesday.
• –Ray and I used Borderline Hikkikomori’s [http://cjblackwing.wordpress.com/2010/03/07/spring-2010-season-preview/] and THAT Anime Blog’s [http://www.thatanimeblog.com/index.php/2010/03/t-h-a-t-spring-2010-anime-preview/] spring season previews for our discussion. Props to y’all.

Here’s a Japanese to English translation of the article:

Warning: broken English as crappy as Arnold.

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And to the faithful, death the gate of life. - John Milton

WARNING: This spiel contains potential spoilers for Superdimension Fortress Macross, as well as IDEON.

Okay. Fess up time. I love brevity in storytelling. Some creations go on far too long for my taste, despite the public’s often endless rabble-rousing for more. There’s just something to me that speaks greater volumes by leaving the viewer/reader with the faintest hint of more outside the page/frame. More often than not, the delivery of more tends to leave me disapointed, and more convinced that things would have been better off left behind, while new mythologies formed. That said, I am a big fan of when characters exit in the most dramatic way possible. That’s right. I love it when characters die. And die well. Call it sadistic, call it what you will. There’s just no way to describe the value of a good, wrenching character exit to throw the protagonists’ future into greater uncertainty.

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The recent theft of costumes and props from an AKB48 set highlights an interesting behavioral pattern. Viewed in a harsh light, it might be seen as a kind of voodoo, a ritual shamanism: obtaining relics of important people so as to be nearer to them and draw upon their power.

Mainichi Japan concludes its article on the incident with a tell-tale quote: “We intended to sell the items after getting tired of looking at them.” At once the frivolity of the exercise is laid bare: having no practical use for girls’ clothing or specially made signboards, all the boys really could do is look at the objects.

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さて、『バカとテストの召還獣』で木下秀吉が大人気のようです。

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Why am I talking about this game on this website? Well, as I wrote previously, Final Fantasy VII played a large role in getting me into the anime scene. The JRPG, especially the Final Fantasy series, is an integral part of otakudom. Plus, I’ve been waiting for this game for months and haven’t been excited to play something for a long time. So I felt it was appropriate to write about this, the first new FF on a new platform, and see how the first few hours stack up thus far.

This article is, by the way, spoiler-free. Enjoy!

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Show notes:

Losers of the week:

Funimation putting out censored DVDs for Vampire Bund – they’re afraid of their corporate asses get hauled in jail. But in any event, a light loser rating from me because I can understand the cause of making money.

College Students protesting about cutting in funding: http://www.examiner.com/examiner/x-5445-Politics-in-Education-Examiner~y2010m3d4-Students-passionately-protest-cuts-in-education-funding?cid=sharing_twitter:5445

Some women in New Jersey got caulk injection in the butt for rear enhancement

Winners of the Week:

Anime Expo – invited key people such as Nabeshin and Asakawa Yuu – they’re making inroads but with a corporate guy running everything, I’m giving it a light winner rating.

Funimation – streaming Baka to Test to Shoukanjuu (AKA Baka and Test — Summon the Beasts) – great choice.

Gorillaz – Plastic Beach – fun and great for chilling, even chilling in the green room, which I’ve never been!

Warning: crass caulk jokes and bad accents

 

 Tsundere Banana 11 - Got Ass? [10:17m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (179)

 

 Tsundere Banana 11 - Got Ass? [10:17m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (39)

I read the 4-coma and I found it quite funny. Maybe it’s the concept of a wacky family restaurant, maybe it’s just everything is just so out of ordinary when presented in manga form. The characters are interesting and the quick delivery of the punchline really works for me. In other words, short and sweet.

I was mildly amused by the pre-run episode because they set up the atmosphere in such a relaxing way, which made me less in a mood to laugh. Frankly, I got bored. I had a hard time laughing like when I read the manga. Somehow, with so much more detail in front of me, I was unable to laugh out a loud. I’ve seen funnier anime in many places and this one gets a smile out of me but nothing more. Maybe it’s because I know all the punchlines from the manga, but even with that, this one was a mildly amusing experience at best.

Oh, and it’s pace is slow, even for an ordinary-life-based comedy show. The music doesn’t help, after all.

It’s no big secret that I am a Haruhi Suzumiya fan. I think I have watched the first season no less then five times all the way through, sometimes in chronological order, sometimes in broadcast order.  I have the soundtrack, I sing along to the words of the songs while driving despite not being able to speak Japanese, and I even helped direct and edit a short parody of the Hare Hare Yukai dance for my local anime club…

So why is it I have yet to finish watching the second season?

It’s not because I’m some purest who thinks it is inferior and unwatchable.  Not at all.  It’s not that I am pissed off because of the whole “Endless Eight” fiasco.  Nope.  When I do actually sit down to view it, I enjoy it quite a bit.  It’s just there have been a series of unfortunate events that have so far prevented me for being able to finish it.  Which we will now examine.

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