That was one of the strangest explorations of sexuality that I’ve ever seen in anime. Or, at least, it beats maid robots and right-hand girlfriends.

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In which Michael fails to talk objectively and fairly about this refreshed version of the anime which started his fandom, and which gave him his first anime crush hero: Hideaki Anno, who is still the writer and director.
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Lelouch is a complete dick and no one knows about it but him.

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Plenty, since it’s about a big breasted teenage girl getting her life messed up by some warrior guy who’s acting as a servant/maid…”My service has nothing to do with your condition (needs)!”

In this episodes, she loses all her dignity as her secret longing for love becomes public as maid guy reveals all her magazines and books on how to seek love; as maid guy constructing a secret chamber of love so Naeka can be with her secret admirer – a meganeko…

YURI! YURI! YURI for Men to watch!

I almost pissed my pants laughing at every discovery that the maid guy takes of Naeka and as Naeka’s privacy and her dignity passes away.

Forget not intruding, how about being absolutely intrusive and even rushing the process?

You gotta love the maid guy character; he can fight, he’s stealthy, he can cook up a witch’s brew, he can construct a love shack (and a gorgeous and luxurious shack at that)…

And he can wash a teenage girl’s titanic bra and make it clean.

I’m perfectly sure in the doujin artists’ creative imaginations, Naeka has had sex with maid guy (with whatever devices imaginable and unimaginable available) a gadzillion times. Scary. But the show is funny.

Ku ku ku…Let me serve you, master…

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Ray couldn’t quite put his finger on it. I confess that I still can’t quite, either–though here’s an attempt to try to figure out what makes this odd comic drama stand out not just this season, but in anime in general.
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Our bodies, and not ourselves? This most unusual anime–if it can even be called that in the usual sense–is certainly intriguing, but it’s also far too early to tell what to make of it.
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The place where Jesus Christ was crucified was called “Golgotha” in Aramaic (Hebrew).

The symbol for Golgo 13 is a skeleton with a strange, thorn-like crown on its head.

This probably means nothing, just like Eva’s imageries.

In this episode, once again, we get to learn how much god-like DUKE is.

(Has anyone noticed that a lot of dogs have the same name?)

Good ol’ DUKE, taking the guy out with one single shot with wind blowing across, from an impossibly far away building.

You know, if he were an American football player he’d kick the winning field goal, with the wind blowing side ways.

The stoic bastard doesn’t react like what criminals do in CSI!

I’d love to see him go against Grison from CSI. After all, I used to watch that, and now here’s DUKE Togo, who can snipe someone from more than 500 meters away, with the wind blowing side ways, with the scope not even showing the forehead of the target clearly…and well, you know.

He’s a sniper god.

There really isn’t much of acting on his part, since he has the sour expression of Steven Segal all the time.

Nice show. Kind of boring, through.

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I can see why Aya-chan wants to challenge this show.

She has to act in a young, and yet pretty intelligent voice (which she kind of does) and then she’d have to act smart, sexy and grown up. That, I can’t wait.

In this episode, Chizuko learns to be part of the gang, wards off an attempt of a bounty hunter trying to catch the Nijou-Mensou, and grows up a little bit.

I felt the character is smart and strong, though not quite standing out, but at least her voice isn’t like your usual Hirano Aya voices. Quite a tough girl, too.

Not a complaining bitch, not a spoiled brat, does whatever work she can find, and eats salty crappy rice soup. I kind of like a girl who doesn’t bitch and whine too much.

She’s rather talented as she seems to learn how to throw a knife quickly.

Now, here’s something I really despise – once again, like how most anime portray the Chinese – treacherous, cheesy, weasel-like – this fucking show does exactly the same, oh and don’t forget, the Chinese in here wears that Qing dynasty garbage, just like all stereotypical old, ’20s American movies.

Here’s a tip to all these dumb animators:

take a tip from the Macross series, or actually, don’t. Take a tip from real life and stop portraying the Chinese as traitors while your Imperial Army raped and killed a lot in the past; but your textbook mentioned very little of that.

I’d love to see these ’80s Taiwanese soaps that portrays the Japanese in the 1940’s like who they were – murderers that treated everyone else in Asia like dogshit.

Let’s see how you like that. Stereotyping isn’t cool. Don’t you get it? Nah, you wouldn’t, because it’s Japan.

Other than that, it’s a decent show to watch. I would have to say that I’m not particularly impressed but I think the acting is decent.

Let’s see what happens next. Go Aya-chan!

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The twistiest show on Earth.

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 Anime Diet Radio Episode L (AAC) [62:35m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (842)

 

 Anime Diet Radio Episode L (MP3) [62:35m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (715)

As promised, this is the infamous unreleased version of Anime Diet Radio episode 19. It was a great episode, truth be told, easily standing up to any of our previous ones. Even if it was recorded on February 17…which makes the three news sections about the Claymore licensing, Gainax hiring (deadline: Feb 29), and Akihabara English maps very, very out of date. You might still enjoy the roundtable discussions about Mnemosyne and Strait-Jacket, which as OVAs were not as subject to the sentence of obsolescence compared to their TV counterparts. It was still very Winter 2008 season when this was recorded.

As a “lost” episode, this was not as heavily edited as some previous episodes, so it is lighter on the music and sound effects–which turned out well for the main roundtable discussion, actually. But enjoy the true rawness that is as fresh as a survivor crawling out of a plane on a suspiciously deserted island.

We should be back on track with a regular release schedule for audio content very soon, now that the site is stable once more. See you soon!

Show Order

• (00:00–02:07) Ira Glass explains it all
• (02:08–06:22) Real introduction
• (06:23–15:45) News 1: Claymore licensed by Funimation
• (15:46–22:50) News 2: Gainax hiring for new project
• (22:50–33:47) News 3: English Akiba map
• (33:48–End) Roundtable on Strait Jacket and Mnemosyne; Conclusion

Show Notes

• –The “Ira Glass” introduction is mostly a joke for all one or two of you out there who also listen to “This American Life,” (1) which in my opinion is the best show on National Public Radio (2). I tried to imitate host Ira Glass’s nasal voice by literally pinching my nose while talking. BGM: “Magnolia Theme” by Jon Brion, which is used many times in the actual TAL radio programs.
• –ED: “Dango Daikazoku” (ED for Clannad: because a show devoted to sexiness and pimps needs to end on a kid’s song)
• –Funimation’s page for Claymore does not appear to be working on their website. However, you can read about the news here at ANN (3).
• –Gainax is no longer hiring, as the deadline for applications was Feb. 29th. A description of what they were looking for was on ANN as well (4).
• –You can download the English Akiba map here (5).

Link References for iTunes Listeners

• (1) http://www.thislife.org
• (2) http://www.npr.org
• (3) http://tinyurl.com/3gon3r
• (4) http://tinyurl.com/442qbh
• (5) http://www.akiba-ch.com/?p=416

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