Anime Diet Radio Episode 39 – Losing Weight and Losing Cred

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Apparently, for this 39th episode of Anime Diet Radio, we have a lot of stories about otakus themselves: otakus losing weight, pulling stunts with stars, and getting ruder by the minute! Because we all love to make fools of ourselves, right? But yes, those are the contents of our news items for this episode: the Otaking writing a diet book, an otaku blogger drinking Minorin’s bottle, and a roundtable about whether otaku have gotten less considerate in recent years. Oh, and there’s a story about how some Buddhists in Japan are using moe to draw new converts, a mixing of tradition and, uh, a study of modern visual culture if there was one.

We also have a slightly different mailbag this time–we had only received one comment on the previous episode when this was recorded (yes, this was late–Comic Con got in the way), and so we not only answer that but also some comments from our Indecent Otaku Comedy Hour panel at Anime Expo. Thanks for coming out and seeing us there! For the ones that got away we’ll answer your mail in the next episode.

We’re also proud to note that we are finalists for the Parsec Awards for “best anime podcast”! The Parsec Awards are given for the best speculative fiction (sf/fantasy/horror/etc) podcasts in various categories and is sponsored by the big SF convention in Atlanta, DragonCon. Thanks for listening and supporting us for the 2.5 half years we’ve been on the air and for helping make this one of the best anime podcasts on the net! If we win the big prize, we’ll be sure to thank you all.

Show Order

  • –00:00 – Intro
  • –02:56 – News 1: The Otaking’s Diet Book
  • –11:18 – News 2: Buddhism + moe = Epic Win?
  • –19:34 – News 3: Blogger Steals Minorin’s Water Bottle
  • –29:13 – Mailbag
  • –36:48 – Roundtable: Otaku Devolution?
  • –54:07 – Conclusion

Show Notes

  • –OP: “Super Noisy Nova” by Sphere (OP to Sora no Manimani)
  • –ED: “Kimi no Uta (キミノウタ)” by abingdon boys school (OP to Tokyo Magnitude 8.0)
  • –The original story about the Otaking’s diet book can be found at ANN [http://tinyurl.com/mjatst]. You can buy the book from Amazon here! [http://tinyurl.com/nnm5ln]
  • –Sankaku Complex carries the story about the moeficatin of Buddhism here [http://www.sankakucomplex.com/2009/07/16/moe-buddhism-draws-otaku-converts/].
  • –The drama about Minori’s water bottle all begins over here [http://www.atalude.net/2009/07/13/daicon-the-minori-ty-report/].
  • –Missed our panel, the Indecent Otaku Comedy Hour? Watch the video in HD here! [https://animediet.net/conventions/indecent-otaku-comedy-hour-official-video]

Author: gendomike

Michael lives in the Los Angeles area, and has been into anime since he saw Neon Genesis Evangelion in 1999. Some of his favorite shows include Full Metal Alchemist, Honey and Clover, and Welcome to the NHK!. Since 2003 he has gone to at least one anime convention every year. A public radio junkie, which naturally led to podcasting, he now holds a seminary degree and is looking to become Dr. Rev. Otaku Bible Man any day now. Michael can be reached at mike.huang@animediet.net. You can also find his Twitter account at @gendomike.

4 thoughts on “Anime Diet Radio Episode 39 – Losing Weight and Losing Cred

  1. Looking for an anime about Buddhism? You can always start with “Amanaideyo!” It’s a harem comedy about a Buddhist monk, and a guilty pleasure at best.

    Looking for a game about Buddhism? “Come See Me Tonight 2” is an H game about shrine maidens… which is a concept from Shintoism, but at least it’s kinda close. Animetric.com  reviewed the game, and like me, they think it’s average.

    In the vintage RPG series Ultima, the lead character is almost always striving to become a paragon of virtue. That means no stealing from treasure chests! It’s not moe at all, sorry.

  2. The great secret to weight loss is “eat less”. Still think that the Otaking will be as weak as an 11 year old girl, though.

    This Minorin thing is so idiotic. It’s just a water bottle. Who cares? I was laughing at all the rage the whole time, so at least I got something out of it.

  3. I agree with Ray about the loss of respect among otaku culture, and that culture in general has degenerated.  While otaku once were happy to experience new works and absorb whatever else was available that related to their interests it seems that, more and more, the true purpose of otaku culture is to whine about the actions of specific seiyu, or to expect “Show B” to be exactly like “Show A,” and also be the second coming of Christ, simply because both series were produced by the same studio, or to act foolish whenever it is possible that any non-otaku audience is watching.  It’s pretty sad.

    Sure, I’ve had arguments with friends and annoying forum regulars about the stuff I like, and while I’ve made numerous mistakes I’ve learned a lot from them.  First of all, I’ve learned to avoid forums, as they are hives of scum and villainy or ridiculous and absurd fan devotion.  Second of all, I’ve learned that many fans out there really don’t want to think on a higher level about anything they come across, and that these people are not worth my time.  Thirdly, I’ve learned that the most important thing a fan can do is respect the creators of their most prized works.  Respect isn’t about heaping glorious praise upon a creator, but it’s about understanding.  It’s about understanding the work, investigating any possible inspirations for that work, and, most of all, respecting the humanity of those who toiled to make the work possible.

    I don’t consider the given example of a used water bottle taken by a fan to be representative of a lack of respect for the seiyu/singer in question.  However, I do think that it’s disrespectful for the blog writer  to have written about taking the water bottle on his blog and photographed himself with the water bottle in his possession as if it was some great trophy.  It was really unkind and it’s representative of the kind of disrespect that we’re seeing more and more of in the otaku culture.  And, unfortunately, the anonymity of online conversation exacerbates this problem.

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