Otakon 2009 - Booth R12

I only made a few of these. You can get 'em at Booth R12 in Otakon's Artist Alley. I'm making buttons that say the same thing as well.

All our panels got rejected :( but I might be on the "Review Anime the Right Way" panel tentatively scheduled for Saturday at 7 PM, with other Otaku USA writers.

Show #70 - 20th Century Boys

Show #069Direct Download:
OP and ED: "20th Century Boy"" by T. Rex in reference to 20th Century Boys by Naoki Urasawa

We totally saw these two movies. And the Korean Antique Bakery movie.

Check our wedding website for all the videos we're talking about.

Thanks to everyone who donated towards our wedding!!

No, we haven't retired from podcasting!

We've just been too busy, you know, appearing on Adult Swim and stuff:



More info on our wedding website.

News: Ninja Consultants At Anime Boston 2009

Noah and I will be at Anime Boston but we won't have an artist alley table this year. You might be able to find us bumming around ali_wildgoose's table. Erin will be on both of the following panels, but Noah is only on the Manga Genre Madness panel.

Even if you've attended my Manga Genre Panel before at AnimeNext or MangaNext, you should go again this time because I've added new content about political mahjong manga Legend of Koizumi, more manga about cats, more scans from Drops of God, and Chloe will help us translate the weird foods of Kishoku Hunter (Junk Food Hunter).

Please Save My Manga! Friday 10:00:00 AM - 11:00 AM in Panel Room 202

Underloved? Overrated? Or just plain out of print? Join a crack team of PopCultureShock.com reviewers as they discuss everything manga, from classics and favorites to overlooked gems and over-read failures. (Disclaimer: starry-eyed abandon, the occasional mean right hook may ensue.)

Manga Genre Madness 5:00 to 6:30 PM on Saturday in Panel Room 202

Manga covers every genre imaginable - and unimaginable! Thanks to the importing of manga you can read veterinarian manga, salaryman manga, fishing manga, manga about economics, and manga about baking bread! Erin and Noah from the Ninja Consultant podcast and special guest Chloe from PopCultureShock.com present the absolutely most insane manga titles available in English - and a few titles which won't be translated anytime soon (wine connoisseur manga, for example).

Show #69 - The Wedding Episode

Show #069Direct Download:

OP: Major Tom (Coming Home) by Peter Schilling
ED: Paul Simon sings Scarborough Fair on the muppet show (featuring Miss Piggy), and the relevant excerpt of Scarborough Affair by Scooter

This episode does not have anything to do with:

• Ghost in the Shell: Stand-Alone Complex, Terrorism and Radicalization

• Black Lagoon, piracy and the decline of the state.

But those shows are on their way.

• Erin went to Japan!
• Remember when we got engaged??? That was over a year ago!  Well, now we're getting married... in Zero-G.
• But it's not like some impossible task, like in the song Scarborough Fair...
• We will be the first couple to get married in zero gravity!
  • ...or one of two couples if the Canadians go up with us.
• Right now it looks as if our wedding will be JUNE 13 JUNE 20th, 2009!

Which we have been planning, which is why Erin went to Japan...

to get this dress from Eri Matsui:

• Erin also went to Tokyo Anime Fair
• Hung out with Anime News Network peeps.
  • and, of course, Ed Chavez.
• Meanwhile, Erin will NOT work on the TMNT 25th anniversary thing... which will probably be awesome.
• Who cares though??? BEAN DOGS!!! Or mameshiba - here's the official site and some of the commercials.
  • Neither a bean, nor a dog. Liminal. Kind of like natto.

• Noah has no facebook account, although there is a Friends of Noah facebook group.
• Soon we will be married in space. Well... Zero gravity... Well... SIMULATED zero gravity.
• Erin had a good experience working with Eri Matsui!

How does the zero-g work?
Look at this:



It's like a roller coaster!



As seen here:



We are selling things! But first --

We pitched Whose Wedding is it Anyway? On the Style network. But... they turned us down.

So. We are selling things. Like these things:

• iPod Touch
• Kindle II
• Yaoi
• "Disappointing" (non-pornographic) Code Geas dojinshi

Do you want to come to our wedding? If you want to, maybe you can!

Or, if you want to give us a wedding gift -- you can do it here.

• There will be receptions in NY and Michigan (and Boston Florida, for that matter).
• Horrible Michigan Traditions, some of which are wedding-related:
  • Chicken dance
  • Dollar dance
  • Glumkis
  • Punchkis
    • As featured in Deer Hunter.
• Hey! Weekly Anime Review People! You are totally invited to our Michigan reception!
• Glumki sounds gross. Pierogi sounds delicious.
• Goulash... is ok, maybe. Bigos is pretty good.

Wedding stuff email address: noahanderin@gmail.com

...and, in Japan, Erin also bought 24 cologne for Dave Riley.

"Take risk! Be sexy!"

Wrong Number?

Ugh! The wrong voicemail number was listed in our sidebar for months! Our current voicemail is: 206-338-3790.

Also I think skype voicemail is working again. We are "ninjaconsultant" on skype.

Well, I'm off to Tokyo for my wedding dress and to go to TAF. Read about it at noahanderin.com when I get around to blogging.

Posted via LiveJournal.app.

Manga Recon Show #009: Schedule of a Weekly MangaKa

Direct Download:

OP & ED: Theme from Blazing Transfer Student, "Blazing Transfer Student" by Toshihiko Seki.


View Larger

Manga Adaptations Discussion:
- Haruhi Suzumiya
- InuKami
- .hack//XXXX
- Gurren Lagan

- Family Complex has a great description of eye surgery, couched in a very boring regular story. Here's my review.

- Peach Pit was hospitalized recently
- Who is Kazuo Koike?

( more images under the cut )
Burning Pen! Screaming Pen! Blue Flame!
by Kazuhiko Shimamoto
http://users.skynet.be/mangaguide/au1729.html</center>

Blog post about the horizontal gutters being wider than the vertical gutters in manga.

I was talking about good and bad paneling examples from One Pound Gospel and S.A.. I can't find the S.A. example, but here's a nice sequence from One Pound Gospel:

( more images under the cut )

Mr. X talks about Mampu

( more images under the cut )
Hikaru No Go paneling where the "camera" is placed below the board. In this sequence, Akira is playing Go on the internet.</center>

I mention the School of Visual Arts. (Pratt is also good.)

Unimpressive art in an autobiographical comic that made all the critics' top ten lists:
( more images under the cut )

In Japan, a bad run is a circulation of 50,000. In the U.S. a great circulation for manga is 5,000 - even though we've got four times the population.

The Yasha Craig Ape is from Grappler Baki.

Link to AWO's coverage of Lady Snowblood. It's at 37:28 - 57:52 in their show.

Kochikame has been around forever!

What are ikimen?

Bakuman

Show #69 - Coming Soon. I mean this isn't it.

Not really a show. Direct Download:

OP & ED: "Chocolate Disco" by Perfume

Not so much a show as an announcement and an apology?

Show #68 - SITACon 2008 Podcasters Unite - Part 2 - Otaku Shame

Show #068Direct Download:

OP: "Fushigi Purupuru Pururin Rin!" by Shishido Rumi from the Welcome to the NHK OST
ED: The first Welcome to the NHK end theme, "Odoru Akachan Ningen" by Kenji Ohtsuki and Fumihiko Kitsutaka

This show might count as explicit. But maybe not? Let's call this episode "OT," for "older teen," 14+. Part 3 will be explicit. I mean we literally discuss hentai in part 3.

Hi this is Alain from the anime blog Reverse Thieves. As a regular listener to your podcast I was wondering if you could do us a favor and mention a project we are currently recruiting for. If you find our project interesting could you mention the Otaku Diaries on your next podcast and/or post our project information and contact information on your website.

We at Reverse Thieves are looking to do something a little different.

We are proposing a project called the Otaku Diaries. We are looking for people who consider themselves otaku to participate in an anonymous survey. It will be profiling the lives, loves, and losses of these individuals and how their hobby has related to shaping them. We will also be looking for patterns as well as differences in the cases. We are looking for diverse people who are not afraid to get personal, questions will include topics like prior relationships, profession, and sexuality.

If you are interested here is how it is going to work. Send us an email at otakudiary@gmail.com with a brief description of yourself include your age, sex, and location. No names need be exchanged and your anonymity will be protected, create a separate e-mail account just for this survey if you wish. If you are selected to participate, you will be given a case # to which all your answers will be attributed. After all the data is collected we will be doing several blog posts about the results.

We hope to start at the end of February, depending on the number of responses.

Thanks!

- Hisui (Alain)
www.reversethieves.com
reversethieves@gmail.com

Promo: Happy House of Hentai

We talk about nerd shame, how to extra XP by turning Noah red, and reviews of:

• Bondage Game (a hentai)
• Negima
• Fate/Stay Night
• Lunar Legend Tsukihime
• Genshiken
• Welcome to the NHK
• Ressentiment
• Densha Otoko gets another mention

- The strip Noah mentions is from Chugworth Academy http://www.chugworth.com/ , and not Short Cuts, as we suspected.
- Noah makes sweeping generalizations about Japan

Show #67 - SITACon 2008 Podcasters Unite - Part 1 - Trivia

Show #067Direct Download:
OP: Black Lagoon OP
ED: Ghost in the Shell; Stand Alone Complex OP

Maybe Noah will add some links later! Also, this show might count as explicit. But maybe not? Let's call this episode "OT," for "older teen," 14+.

Podcasters Present:
Anime World Order
R5 Central
Happy House of Hentai
Ninja Consultants

This podcast is about:
( More images under the cut )

Podcasters We Mentioned:
- Ed from the MangaCast
- Dave and Joel

Promo: Ani-Gamers podcast. Here is a picture of Evan:

Show #66 - Christmas Episode 2008 Part 1

Show #066Direct Download:
OP: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_7Y6--DjMKg
Music: ??
ED: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=afIZapZNh_Q Denki Groove "Shonen Young"

Poll #1320825 What show do you want to hear next?
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All

Which episode of the Ninja Consultants do you want to hear next?

Come back later for more show notes!!

4Kids cuts Staff
http://www.icv2.com/articles/news/13943.html

My post on ANN
http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/bbs/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?p=671137#671137

Show #65 - NYAF 2008 OtakuUSA Magazine Panel

Show #065Direct Download:

Music: OtakuUSA Magazine theme song by Marxy

Recorded live at New York Anime Festival 2008. My computer crashed mid-way through our already short panel.

MangaNext 2008 Panels!!

MangaNext 3 is this weekend! Noah and I won't have a table, but we might be hanging out at Alison Wilgus's Artist Alley table on Saturday. Actually Noah won't be there Saturday at all. If you want to hang out, email ninjaconsultant (at) gmail.com.

Our panels are:

Culinary Manga Sunday, Panel 1, 11:00 AM
Crazy Manga Genres Sunday, Panel 1, 1:00 PM

If you went to AnimeNext this year, and attended our panels - I've added to the Crazy Manga Genres and spun off food manga into it's own panel! It's slightly improved content!

Show #64 - Guin Saga Roundtable

Show #064Direct Download:

Music: Conan the Barbarian theme by Basil Poledouris, Berserk music "Forces (God-Hand Remix)".

• Vertical has published the first 5 novels of the Guin Saga, the 120+ volume fantasy series that inspired Berserk and other Japanese fantasy in a Tolkien-esque way (that is to say, Kaoru Kurimoto inspired Japanese fantasy as much as Tolkien inspired the genre in the West, but Guin Saga is not in itself Tolkien-esque).
• 3-4 Guin Saga volumes come out every year in Japan
• The author also publishes a few other books, cleans the house, and is a regular on a quiz show (Specifically Hinto de Pinto). And she's a literary critic. And she's a composer. And she composed a musical based on the Guin Saga that has been performed in Tokyo.
• Kurimoto-san married the editor of the sci-fi magazine that first published Guin Saga.
• Noah vocab: Phatic. "A Phatic Experience."
• Guin Saga is the "Mother of Light Novels," along with the Vampire Hunter D novels.

• What is a light novel anyway?
  • Short and Fast read
  • Has illustrations
  • Usually "genre" but not always
  • There's often a psychic
  • "Feats of the imagination"

• Guin Saga is soon to be an anime series from Aniplex
• Guin Saga is translated by Harvard graduate and fantasy fan Alexander O. Smith (who probably edits his wikipedia page about himself retracted, see below).
• We're all glad about the Viz Big editions of Vagabond.
• Yoshitaka Amano got famous in part for his Guin Saga covers!
• Noah and I recommend King Naresuan 1 & 2 (but mostly 2). We're looking forward to part 3.
• Finally at about one hour and 17 minutes Dungeons and Dragons comes up. That's one hour and 15 minutes longer than it usually takes for Noah to start talking D&D!
• Is the leopard headed fighter in Tekken a Guin reference? Or a Tiger Mask reference?
  • UPDATE: Since Guin was first published in 1979, it post-dates Tiger Mask by 11 years. HOWEVER, as it turns out, before Tiger Mask was a Japanese pro-wrestler, it was actually a MANGA! Who knew???

News: SITACon 2008

We're leaving in the morning for SITACon 2008, where we are guests!

Here are some panels we'll be on! (Schedule not final.)

Friday, October 10^th
6:30 PM to 7:30 PM – Opening Ceremonies
11:00 PM to 12:00 AM – Japanese Commercial Apocalypse!

 

Saturday, October 11^th
12:00 PM to 1:00 PM – Manga You Should Read (with Gerald, and Clarissa)
2:00 PM to 4:00 PM – Podcasters Unite (with R5, Gerald, and Clarissa)
5:00 PM to 6:00 PM – Manga Madness
7:00 PM to 8:00 PM – Comiket Survival

 

Sunday, October 12^th
10:30 AM to 12:00 PM – Ninja Consultant Live Podcast

News: New York Anime Festival 2008

Noah and I will be at NYAF in the Artist's Alley, table number 15!

I will be on the OtakuUSA Magazine panel at 3 PM on Friday!

We're sharing the table with the folks from the A!Pon vidcast, Chaotic Unicorn, this guy named Taz, and maybe even Dookie Poo. The Angry Otaku, whom we've had on our show in the past, will also be there.



A slight word of warning: Although I will be at the con on Friday, Noah will not, and I won't be at the table much. Your best bet is to try to catch us on Saturday or mid-day on Sunday.

The T-shirts we have left are all Youth or XXL.

Manga Recon Show #008: YaoiCast #002 [Explicit 18+]

Direct Download:

OP: "Lookin' Cute / Feelin' Cute" by Gay Pimp
ED: "Fa***ty Attention" by Adam Joseph

This entry is cross-posted is cross-posted to the mangacast.

0:55-8:15 - Picnic as reviewed by Kate
8:15-9:58 - Can't Win With You - excerpt read by Gina
9:58-13:55 - Same Cell Organism as reviewed by Kari
13:55-14:28 - Brief mention of Little Crybaby by me
14:28-25:30 - Say Please reviewed as reviewed by Alison, with a discussion of rape in manga



All of these titles are recommended, except Little Crybaby, which was terrible.

Show #63 - Otakon 2008 Podcasting Party [Explicit]

Show #063 Explicit! Direct Download:

Music: JAM Project singing the Soul Taker Theme, Cha-La Head Cha La, and Wesley Willis's "I Wupped Batman's Ass" as well as "Stabbing Westward"

Featuring:

Mike Toole, of Anime News Network
Daryl Surat and Gerald Rathkolb of Anime World Order
David Riley of Dave and Joel's Fast Karate for the Gentleman
Mike Dent of R5 Central (all of the above are Otaku USA writers as well)
Tyler is the Rangercast
James the Angry Otaku of the Ah!Pon vidcast

Links and cleaned-up show notes coming soon!

Wherein we discuss who the Kano sisters are, and what they were doing at Otakon.
We review the JAM Project concert.
Note to first time concert goers:
- Don't wear the band's T-shirt to their concert, you will be "that guy."
- If the band leaves after their "final number" and the house lights don't turn on, there's going to be an encore. Don't leave!!
- Dave Riley never stops talking!
- Yoshiki Fukuyama's (Fukuyama was the time traveling cowboy with Sam Hagar's hair) role models:
1. Gegege No Kitaro
2. Japanese author Osamu Dazai
3. Basaru Nekki
Masaaki Endoh - A member of Poison or Foghat who traveled through time, and became Japanese in the process.

Most violent songs ever created:
- Cha La, Head Cha La
- Violence of the Flame

Gerald points out that we're mostly Irish.

Dave may have killed Ed Chavez last December.

Birth is worth "exactly $5". Not plus shipping, just $5 over the counter.

Venus vs. Virus is not Innocent Venus

Chris Oarr might be Dave's adopted father.

Kigurumi make a showing at Otakon this year

Mike Dent cosplaying as Wesley Willis?

Aren't you jealous of my Satoshi Kon sketch!?

Tyler is sadly too young to remember the deceased Wesley Willis, known for his song "I Wupped Batman's Ass"

Noah's best thing about Otakon: The Akira Baby

Gerald's favorite: Kappei Yamaguchi's hair

My Fav: The Anime is Serious Business panel

Mike Toole has seen the Pyongyang animation: Cordo Maltese, there's a big budget movie Corto Maltese

A three ring binder of badly drawn penises was outselling us in Artist's Alley (get photo from Gerald)

Mike Dent reveals the last line of his Greatest Movie Ever fanfic.

( more images under the cut!! )

I still need images of the Akira baby and the crudely drawn penis notebook.

At the very end: Gossip about Paul Chapman and Dave's girlfriend!

Manga Recon Show #008: YaoiCast #001 [Explicit 18+]

Direct Download:

This entry is cross-posted is cross-posted to the mangacast.

0-10:25 - "Only the Ring Finger Knows" - the manga, reviewed by Clio
10:25-14:00 - uke and seme types
14:00- "Desire" reviewed by Gina
16:20 - More BL terms
19:41 - "Rising Storm" reviewed by Z.

( Covers below the cut )

BL terms:

Bobuge = BL game
Chikiku Seme = demonic seme (very violent)
DiveIn = well thats self explanitory
GataiUke = replacement uke (a narcissistic uke who wants to replace anoher uke. they often have similar features to the uke they are rivals with).
JKin = characters that look like those from Johnny's boys bands
Kemoshota = animals with little boys
Kentauros = dogboys/catboys/rabbit-boys...
Nyotaika = characters that obviously look like women
Riba = role reversal manga (uke and seme switch)
RoboYaoi = sci-fi BL with mecha
SasoiUke = an uke from a normal background that captures the heart of a superior seme
Souke / Souseme = ideal uke/seme or obviously one or the other
Yaora = yaoi lover (doesn't read BL sticks to doujinshi)

Promo #5 - Otakon 2008

Promo #5 Direct Download:

We're sharing tables with the Geek Nights people somewhere between F5 and F10 in the Otakon Artist's Alley selling T-shirts and buttons. If you want to stop by, Noah says he's not going to any panels this year (or something). All our panels got denied, but I felt less bad about it when Aurora Publishing couldn't get a panel either.

Other podcasters will be there!! Including Anime World Order, Fast Karate for the Gentleman, Geek Nights, R5 Central, and the Rangercast! That's like, half of the Otaku USA writers! I wonder if Joseph Luster will be there?!

Feel free to use my lame phone call promo on your own podcast in the next week!

Hax0red!!

The domain I share kind of got hacked by Nigerians, so we're sort of down at the moment. I don't have a new show ready yet anyway.

Thanks to everyone who showed up at our panels at AnimeNext! They were a huge hit!

Otaku USA issue seven comes out real soon, and I have two reviews and a bio in it, so be sure to check out my "Otaku Top Five"!

Bonus Episode - Dungeons & Dragons

Bonus Episode Direct Download:

OP: "Dungeons and Dragons" skit by the Dead Alewives, from the out of print album Take Down the Grand Master
ED: "Dungeons and Dragons part II" also by the Dead Alewives. Perhaps it was never on an album.

The Ninja Consultants will be appearing at the AnimeNext convention at the Meadowlands Expo Center in New Jersey, on Sunday, June 22nd 2008.

Erin and Noah will present two panels, one at 10 AM (the worst possible time slot) and one at 3 PM, (the second worst possible time slot). These times are subject to change without much notice. Look for signs outside the panel room for updates.

The 10 AM panel is "Japanese Commercial Apocalypse" and the 3:00 PM panel is "Manga Madness".

I assume we'll be running these panels again at SITACon at the very least, where we'll be guests. I applied to do the same manga panel at Otakon but I was *definitely officially* rejected.

- Quote of the week: "Kulshedra! I've been spelling it wrong forever!!"

• D&D 4th Edition, To which Noah believes 2nd Edition is superior
• Wizards of The Coast
• No Sword Blog entry on D&D
• JapaneseWikipedia Entry on D&D
• D&D Inspired Anime Titles
• Bastard!! -- "DARK SCHNEIDER!!!"
• Record of Lodoss Wars (Ep. 1 & 2 = good)
• Allegedly based on an actual game. Deedlit was apparently played by a dude.
• Replay Books
• MoccaFest
• BookHunter (Read or Die meets Dirty Harry) by Jason Shiga

===4TH EDITION COMMERCIAL===

We're really sorry about this everybody! It's all Erin's fault!

• Tycho's post on the tabletop RPG business model.
• YouTube 4th Edition demos:
• D&D 4th Edition Part I
• D&D 4th Edition Part II
• D&D 4th Edition Part III
• D&D 4th Edition Part IV

===ENOUGH OF THAT===

• A well-known medieval travelougue: The Letter of Prester John by the (likely fictitious) John Mandeville
• Some things one might find in a medieval travelogue:
• Dudes with mouths in their stomachs
• Giant ants collecting gold
• Dudes with one giant foot
• Like Kino's Journey with cooler monsters
• Ron Edwards and the Forge
• (Warning = read *A* *LOT* of Forge posts before posting if you are going to post. They hate repeating themselves and the site is carefully moderated.)
• Gamism
• Narrativism
• Simulationism
• ...and then there's the gregarious player who just shows up to hang out.
• GNS and Other Matters of Role-playing Theory (artice outlining the GNS Model)
• Joseph Campbell's Hero with a Thousand Faces
• Tolkein's The Hobbit
• The Song of the Niebelung
• (the stories in which were adapted, of course, into an opera, comic and who knows how many other media. Here is the Radio Lab podcast episode dealing with the opera.)
• What is a lich? Pray you never find out...
• Little known fact: the Classical and Medieval residents of Antioch were sarcastic jerks! <-- I can't find a good link, so you'll have to take our word for it!
• You want to learn about the lives of saints? Look here!
• Norse Mythology: Here!
• How about Indian Mythology?
• Balkan Mythology? Super-weird!
• Albanian Mythology! Full of disgusting monsters!
• For instance, the Kulshedra!

Show #62 - Fujoshi Wave Discussion Post Anime Boston 2008

Show #62 - Fujoshi Wave Discussion Post Anime Boston 2008

Show #062 Direct Download:

OP: Dr. Zeus song from the Simpsons
ED: Incidental Music from Oguie's fantasies in Genshiken 2

Notes to be completed later.

Show #61 - '70's Shojo Manga Panel, Part 2

Show #061 Direct Download:

OP: "Ace wo Nerae!" by Kumiko Ohsugi, Opening theme of Aim for the Ace
ED: "Glass no Kamen" by Mariko Ashibe, Opening theme of Glass Mask (1984)

Part two of two of Dr. Weeaboo's '70's Shojo Manga panel from Anime Boston 2008.

Notes (to be completed later):

Ace Wo Narea (Aim for the Ace)
The Forest of Cinderella
Oke No Monso? (time traveling, Egypt, has pharaohs, ongoing? siblings in love, Sister's name: Isis)
From Eroica with Love is being published by CMX, and besides Swan and Emma, it's their best title.
Glass Mask
The Showa 24 Group (Nijûyonen Gumi)
No Play about the Crimson Goddess
What is No Theater?
Kaze to Ki no Uta - The Song of the Wind and Trees
Naomi
Otome Chikku manga
The Swaying of the Flower Swing
Manganovel.com free translation stuff and it's legit
Moyoko Anno is recommended - Flowers and Bees, Happy Mania, Hataraki Man

Show #60 - '70's Shojo Manga Panel, Part 1

Show #060 Direct Download:

OP: "Candy Candy" by Mitsuko Horie Opening theme of Candy Candy
ED: "Ai no Hikari to Kage" by Hiroko Suzuki End theme of Rose of Versailles

Dr. Weeaboo's '70's Shojo Manga panel from Anime Boston 2008. We edited it a little to make her sound even smarter. Thanks Dr. Weeaboo! We think you are awesome!

This is the second video featured in the panel: