Eeeper's Choice Podcast » manga

Manga Movable Feast: To Terra…

eeeper — Sun, 30 May 2010 23:05:53 +0000

To Terra… Vol. 1

By Keiko Takemiya

Written for the May editon of the Manga Movable Feast, hosted this month by www.mangacritic.com

Perception: In the future, humanity, having fled to the stars after wrecking the ecology of Terra (Earth), have created a new social order on other worlds. There, children are born via artificial insemination and placed with foster parents until the Awakening Day, where they will tested by the local colony’s master computer and allowed to rejoin their brothers and sisters on Terra and work for a better society.

Reality: The worlds on which these children live are nothing more than testing grounds to find cogs that will work within the framework of the Master Computer’s (Mother) plan. If, at any point during a child’s Awakening, children are found to have extra-sensory perceptions they are defined as the Mu, an offshoot of humanity whose bodies are deformed in some way but have amazing psychic abilities, and are eliminated by Mother. Those children who escape Mother’s machinations, go on the run with the rest of the Mu, led by Soldier Blue as they search for a way to return to Terra and escape the persecution of Mother and her re-imagined humanity. One such child is Jomy Marcus Shin. If you survive Mother’s tender mercies, you’re put on the track of all gifted children: to lead Terra according to Mother’s plans. One such child is Keith Anyan.

At times social commentary, part sci-fi adventure and all times gripping drama, To Terra… is a title that I had heard about but paid little attention to it. For whose who are not in the know, To Terra…was written by Takemiya in the 70’s at a time when women manga-ka were coming into their own as creators, creating stories both for girls AND boys. Takemiya was part of a group of manga creators called the Year 24 Flower group or sometimes, the Forty-Niners referencing the fact that all the people in the groups were all born in 1949 (despite the fact that Takemiya was born in 1950!). These creators and the stories they tackled broke new ground in terms of content and scope. For the first time, authors took on stories about homosexuality, homophobia and other subjects that were considered too hot to handle by most traditional publishers. Takemiya had already made a name for herself with the publication of In the Sunroom. While writing To Terra… she also overlapped it with Kaze to Ki no Uta (her other great work, originally conceived over nine years before and stalled from publication because the author refused to edit out the more sexual elements in it). This lady knows how her stories should be, make no mistake about it. I know on our site I said we review everything but for some reason I’ve never tried to tackle anything even coming close to To Terra…before. More’s the pity as this is a fantastic read.

The thrust of the story, for me, is about the nature of control. Jomy is a happy child who doesn’t understand that his perfect life will be destroyed by Mother when he goes through his Awakening (though in reality they’re called Maturity Checks). He has no control over this happening. When he is rescued by the Mu, he doesn’t feel in control anymore. The people on the Mu’s ship telepathically gossip behind his back. He feels disconnected from his peer group. If the world he lived in hadn’t been based on a lie, then he should be mixing with kids his own age and with the same abilities as he had. But put into a alien environment, Jomy struggles to understand his place in it. George Lucas explored this kind of dilemma in THX 1138, with Robert Duvall’s THX character has been a good, productive member of the underground society he lives in until he stops taking his medication and his eyes open to the world around him. In the film, once you learn that you’ve been deceived, it is impossible to unlearn it and once learned, would you really want to go back to ignorance? Unfortunately, as in THX’s case, Jomy’s discovery of the “real” world makes him an enemy of the state. The problem for him is that since Mother has done such a good job painting the Mu as terrorists, the humans who are at work within the system don’t give a second thought to trying to kill Jomy. They (at least in this volume) don’t know of the real story of the Mu and as such can only define their reality as being the height of their horizon. If there’s nothing visible above my horizon, then it doesn’t exist. Similar themes were explored in the classic Star Trek episode “For the World is Hollow and I Have Touched the Sky” where questioning the lie is punishable with pain and discovery of the lie is punishable with death. Keith is a good example of the flipside in control: the instrument of the system. If Mother has displayed herself in images around E-1077, the educational space station that Keith is studying on, I’d say we have ourselves a true cult of personality going here but here, rather than Orwell’s 1984 and its all powerful Big Brother, Mother is seen as benevolent and protecting of society from the Mu. Yet, Keith does, deep down, wonder why people born differently to him or that think differently to him have it so bad. He, in this volume, is beginning to suspect that the system is not what he grew up believing it to be but still fights for the system as, to him, it’s the only kind of system that works. The Mu, themselves are all about control. But in their case, it’s the lack of control that consumes them. All they want is to return to Terra and be left alone. But because Mother has declared them enemies of the state, they wander aimlessly searching for a place to call home. At the end of the first volume they set down on a world called Nazca and already they start talking about settling here rather than going on to Terra. They obviously have forgotten the lessons that Native Americans learned after encountering the Old World settlers: once you give an inch, they come back looking for more. Finally, we have Mother and the SD (Superior Domination) system. Herein, we see control in total action. The trick with micro-managing a population (as the Nazis and the Soviets discovered) is that while on the surface people are happy that a lot of life’s uncertainties have been taken off the hands (work, social disorder etc.), it usually comes at a cost to them and it is usually at the expense of another group of people.

I have to applaud Takemiya-sempai as she has created a story that can be viewed multiple ways. I’m sure if you pick this story up, you’ll see themes of racial tension, brotherhood, eugenics, war, state vs. individual and so on. Point is, I read it and came up with the above. I might be wrong about the nature of the story but the author has engaged me as a reader and has successfully made me question the structure and motives of the book in an attempt to understand what she’s trying to say with it. Now I want to know what happens next. And that can’t be a bad thing, surely?

Takemiya’s artwork is lovely and graceful without being austere. There are some moments of levity and they help break up the pace of the book so that we have enough time to come back up for air. Looking at the structure of the story I can understand why the Forty-Niners were such a system shock to Japanese readers in the 1970’s. And now that their work is, finally, starting to become available in the English-speaking market, we are in for one too.

For more information about Keiko Takemiya or the Year 24 group check the wikipedia article about them. For Takemiya’s other English published work Andromeda Stories, check out the Vertical (publisher of both titles) site And for an awesome inside look at the beginnings of the group, check out About.com manga guide, Deb Aoki’s interview with Keiko Takemiya and Matt Horne’s blog and his interview with fellow Forty-Niner, Moto Hagio.

You sit there, and I’ll bring the manga

eeeper — Sat, 20 Feb 2010 19:47:01 +0000

Hello all. On this show, I discuss our absence, and review Translucent, Densha Otoko (1-3) and Manic Road (1-3).

Direct Download

Promos:
Upapaddle (I’m back now Kent, tremble before me!)
Lathers Blather
Anime World Order
Ninja Consultants

Explicit language warning!

Finally, once again I’m sorry for the wait.

Now, we’re back.

Capsule Review – The Quest for the Missing Girl

eeeper — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 02:12:21 +0000

Tonight from Eeeper’s Choice: a capsule review of The Quest for the Missing Girl by Jiro Taniguchi from Fanfare / Pontent Mon.

This review originally appeared online at Otakunews.com and can be found here. If you guys and girls liked this type of review let me know. Normal reviews and shows will resume shortly.

We’re baacccckkk……

Direct download

Download audio file (ECP_capsule_quest_for_missing_girl.mp3)

Fighting will get you the girl. Or stuffing her in a barrel. Whichever works for you.

eeeper — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 23:24:36 +0000

This time round we are looking at the classic manga Apollo’s Song by Osamu Tezuka. and the Super Sentai anime Assemble Insert

Reviews

Apollo’s Song

What’s an Apollo’s song? In a shell an Osamu Tezuka story full of deep inner meaning, self denial and oddly placed humour. Shogo (Apollo) is cursed by the goddess of love, Aphrodite, as a penance towards his cruel and cold hearted approach to love. Shogo is given a couple of chances, during various times thorough human history, to experience real love but because of the curse is destined to lose that love every single time. The story its self is well crafted and enjoyable apart from the unusually placed “fourth wall” comedy moments. If you find it, add it to your collection , it does appeal to a broader audience then most current publications.
>Oni

Assemble Insert

Promos:

Direct Download

Download audio file (ECP_show_14_B.mp3)

Eeeper’s Choice Show 14 – The I-Want-Tom-Cody! Show

eeeper — Sun, 23 Mar 2008 04:22:44 +0000

Hello all, we have finally returned! To all who were worried, it’s all right now. To those who weren’t, you shall feel my hyper beam dammit! On this weeks show we talk Ninjas and their consultants and the fact that they are getting engaged to one another.

Reviews

For the review this week I’m taking on Kenichi Sonoda’s hyper violent manga Gunsmith Cats. Nasty, quick and dangerous to know this title has what I describe as an unhealthy disrespect for life in general. That and 17 year olds passing for 13 year olds, their pedo explosive expert boyfriends(!?!), something I call the “Phantom Dick” and of course this man. Of course I’d never suggest that you watch copyrighted material with other companies music put in with it. No way, not at all.

Download Show 14 here

Next week: Osamu Tezuka’s Apollo’s Song and Masami Yuki’s Assemble Insert.

Promos: Played: PodCamp Philly
Destroy All Podcasts DX
Download audio file (ECP_show_14.mp3)

Eeeper’s Choice Show 12B – The From-Here-On-In-It’s-For-Real Show

eeeper — Wed, 24 Oct 2007 23:57:59 +0000

On this weeks show we review Negima by Ken Akumatsu of Love Hina fame. I really think that Oni’s grasp has exceeded his reach on this one but make up your own misinformed opinion. Having said that, my OWN review of Denno Coil sounds less researched then his so he probably wins out in this one. We also start what I hope is a semi-regular column with Kendra supplying said content.

Download Episode 12B

News

The news is always old on our show. Always. But nevertheless here’s what we covered this week:

Geneon is officially out of making and selling anime. Here’s the original article from ANN concerning Geneon’s announcement. Say what you will, but maybe there’s weight to the argument that the current business model for selling anime in North America is seriously f*&ked up. Geneon was one of the biggest producers in the US, so for them to go under is bad news. For more informed discussion check out here.

A list of the licences Geneon controls/controlled.

Mysterious Cities Of Gold is coming to DVD. After giving up on the English right ever being sorted out Fabulous Films UK comes to the rescue. Maybe they might include the Japanese opening. Though I doubt anyone is looking forward to the sequel commissioned by a French crowd. Check out this translated version of a French fansite. From what I can tell, there are two projects ongoing. One, the “official” sequel simple titled MCOG2, headed up by French producer Jean Chalopin, the original producer of the first series, will continue the story with Estaban, Zia and Tao. It looks exactly like the original show. They are, apparently, are waiting to find a studio in Japan to do the animation. In the second instance “The Adventures Of Esteban & Zia”, from the video on this fansite for the French DVD release, I’d rather claw my own eyes out with barbecue skewers than watch this again. But if you’re a glutton for punishment, then go ahead . Me, I’ll leave you with a youtube video of better times:

Finally, Toshiba And Fixstars are offering a user translated manga service, MangaNovel, where users pay about $4-5 for a digital copy of a tankobon to keep for yourself. If you feel like translating an tankobon that hasn’t been claimed by anyone else, then you get royalties from any subsequent sales! Don’t know any more than you do, so check it out and let me know.

Reviews

Negima

Ken Akumatsu’s Harry Potter style harem manga, I’ve only got so much time for him and that only includes the copies of Love Hina that I own. But Oni says that it’s a pretty good story, decent characters(if you can keep track of 40+ characters) and great artwork. Just don’t expect Shakespeare.

Denno Coil

Mitsuo Iso‘s brilliant little show that no-one in anime licensing is talking about has me thinking. I read about this show when NHK were putting out promotional material out for it back in April. This is a show that looks like one thing but that I suspect will turn out to be something else. Given Iso’s work on RaXephon and Evangelion, that’s hardly surprising. I’m just glad that he decided to do something other than an imitation of said same series.

Email

We get our third EVER listener email. Thanks to Richard for that. We cover all aspects of the email and I hope that we did our best to answer and didn’t go over time to do it.

Games and Wrap Up

Kendra from her wordpress blog, gives us some food for thought in the form of Dead Space. I hope Kendra will appear more as our first freelance contributor but we’ll have to see.

Next time Oni will be taking the God Of Manga, Ozamu Tezuka! This will be the greatest cage match ever. Oni, with his shoulder mounted merculite rockets and Nullifying field or Tezuka with his 100,000+ printing press launcher and nitro powered beret slingshot! Read your Astro Boy quick, FOR TONIGHT WE DINE IN HELL!

I will tackle Kenichi Sonoda’s out and out insane, gun porn, semi auto graphical manga, Gunsmith Cats. If you never knew anything about guns before, reading this will be information overload.
EDIT: Also I will be tackling Masami Yuuki’s sentai/robot/idol parody Assemble Insert

Finally, Oni and myself will regale you all with our first collectively enjoyed Retro Choice:

Two words:

CROSS FIGHT!!

me: eeeper – at – eeeperschoice.com
him: oni – at – eeeperschoice.com
show email: eeeperschoice – at – gmail.com
or use the Frappr/Contact Us tab on the website.

We are now back on Podcast Pickle again! Add us to your favourites on PP and other podcast catching software. Fare thee well, my friends! The spaceways beckon!

Download audio file (ECP_show_12b.mp3)

Eeeper’s Choice Show 12 – The Non-Licensing Post Con Season Show

eeeper — Thu, 02 Aug 2007 03:28:34 +0000

Welcome to our new site! Take a look around. Do you like what you see? Let us know.

This week I review Town of Evening Calm, Country of Cherry Blossoms, Oni pops up to help with our second ever email and also where and how to find anime. I glance over the new licenses announced at Anime Expo and Otakon.

Click here to download.

Anywho if you need to contact us with hints, questions, comments, requests for reviews and anything else then drop us a line @

Eeeper or Oni
Also at GoogleTalk Voicemail @ eeeperschoice- at -gmail.com
The MyChingo flash voicemail box in the sidebar
Send me an Odeo in the sidebar
Snapvine Voicemail (US)+1-641-985-7800 then press * then 1723766

News

Eeeper only lists the announced licenses from Anime Expo and Otakon 2007 including ADV and Moonlight Mile
, Funimation and Darker than Black, Ouran High School Host Club and Bandai with Toward The Terra.

Reviews

Town of Evening Calm, Country of Cherry Blossoms

This title was one of the most compiling mangas that I’ve read this year. With simple artwork and great characters, this story will open your eyes to the true victims of war, that people continue to suffer even after wars are won or lost and that the human spirit is remarkably resilient. Fumiyo Kouno presents this amzing story so I’d ask that you at least see if your local library can order this in.

Emails

Here we talk about Chip who sent us in an email asking us where our favourite haunts for manga in Dublin are. SubCity is one good place. Forbidden Planet is another. We also explain why Easons sucks royally

We also talk about BitTorrent, AnimeSuki.com(I sure as hell not linking to it, google it your own damn self) and online websites such as Rightstuf, Anime Corner Store, and Amazon.com and why ordinary shops and stores like Tower are only good for sales and not much else. Here I illustrate the price differences between Ireland and the States:

Ireland

USA

Promos

Finally here are the links to Tales From Earthsea at Yesasia.com: Hong Kong Version and Japanese version. Remember the Hong Kong Versions has the competition for the statue but the Japanese version has the English dub that I talked about.

Next time: Oni finally will talk about Negima?! and I’ll be looking at Secret of Cerulean Sand. We’ll talk about that the licenses announced this year mean for us.

Plus: next time we’ll be starting an experiment into what does the average 12 year old think about anime? Be here or be a Cosmic String Fragment

Download audio file (ECP_show_12.mp3)

Eeeper’s Choice Show 11 – The Beaten, Bloodied but Unbowed Show

eeeper — Fri, 22 Jun 2007 00:49:00 +0000

This week we review Air Gear the manga, They Were Eleven and Birdy The Mighty OVA. Also we talk incessantly throughout the news section. Oh well. You’re not listening to this show for the intellectual quota. Oni talks about furries (I think), I talk about Bandai Visual USA (I’m sure) and we both talk about Miller and Baileys(I’m certain).

Anywho if you need to contact me with hints, questions, comments, requests for reviews and anything else then drop me a line @

eeeperschoice- at -gmail.com
Also at GoogleTalk Voicemail @ eeeperschoice- at -gmail.com
The MyChingo flash voicemail box in the sidebar
Send me an Odeo in the sidebar
Snapvine Voicemail (US)+1-641-985-7800 then press * then 1723766

Direct Download Here

News

In the news this(last months) week:

Leiji Matsumoto’s Great Yamato #0 which is a sequel to the original series has started streaming the first 45 minute episode for free. With no restriction on location the only thing stopping you is your internet connection! Woot! [Link]

Bandai have announced their new Mobile Suit Gundam series. As the first Gundam to be set in “our” calender this should be good. So long as it doesn’t suck worse than Seed Destiny. [Link]

Bandai Entertainment, at A-Kon, has said they are to distribute the next in the Galaxy Angel series, Galaxy Angel X and its spinoff S special. And no, unlike Bandai Visual, Bandai Ent. won’t be charging 7,431 Yen for each episode. [As Bandai Visual: Expensive is Better!] [Link]

The live action Speed racer movie project has released images of the Mach 5 car from said film. Yay! Everyone leap for joy! Seriously though, the Wachowski brothers have already succeeded at Sci-Fi illusionist bollocks. Why can they succeed with family film illusionist bollocks as well? [Link]

LiveJournal and it’s parent company, Six Apart are going to unsuspend some user accounts which had been suspended due to LJ owners feeling that some users who had lolicon and Shotacon themed LJ accounts were violating the terms of service required by LiveJournal. As a result the owners of LJ are in process of restoring about 250 accounts. My take: if you’re into that aspect of culture, fine. But if what you’re doing violates your TOS with the blog service, tough. You signed your soul away when you joined up. Now it’s time to pay the price. [Link]

And finally Geneon Entertainment US has announced that they are to distribute select titles from their catalogue on Azureus’ Vuze Bit Torrent service. Great. If you live in the US, that is. [Link]

Reviews

Air Gear

This manga by Tenjho Tenge creator Oh!Great is great if you’re a big reader of PlayBoy and I don’t mean for the articles. It’s trying to tell some kind of BIGGER STORY but honestly I don’t think that it matters. All you need to know is that Ikki, the protagonist, is a TOUGH guy! And he skates! And finds women, who he likes, naked!. A lot. Seriously, it’s a good waste of time but no more than that.

Link to Wiki Page on Air Gear [Link]
Link to ANN page on Air Gear [Link]
Link to Del Ray’s page [Link]

They Were Eleven

This section is noticebly bare bones mostly because I’ve left Oni to write it up. Needlessly to say this is not one title that he was excited about. Despite my attempts, Oni would only agree that it’s something you should watch if you have the time but don’t go out of your way buy this.

Wiki page on the movie [Link]
ANN page for the movie [Link]
Frigging excellent interview with Moto Hagio! All fans of Shoujo or 70′s era manga should read this! [Link]

Birdy The Mighty

I freakin’ love this OVA! Great crisp animation, nice self deprecating humour and a surprising choice for director. After waiting for under ten years to finally watch this, I wasn’t disappointed. The manga has never been published in English but scanalations are around. Chikan Manga are currently translating the remake manga also by Birdy creator Masami Yuuki. I’m looking forward to the remake anime which should be out around the end of the year. If you can find the original OVA on Amazon or eBay well and good if not then hope the fact that it’s a Bandai Visual title might mean they could re-release it themselves. Then again, I’m still waiting for them to release Dangioh so finger’s crossed, huh?

ANN page on Birdy the anime [Link]
ANN page on Birdy the original manga [Link]
Wikpedia page on the entire franchise [Link]
eBay page for Birdy the Mighty stuff WARNING! Just because someone lists something for sale on eBay doesn’t make it so. Always check the seller history before buying [Link]
Amazon.com search for Birdy The Mighty OAV [Link]

Promos

Edit: Apologies to all who checked in and found the enclosure broken. Thanks to Anonymous for the warning! Despite me reloading the file twice I can’t fix the “slow” robot voice at the start of the podcast. Also I’ve reached the limit of free space on Podomatic so next week we’ll try switching to a new paid web host service. Bear with us again. Thanks to the Root Beer King and Anime Pacific for leaving comments on the site.

Speaking of next week, what are we reviewing? Next week, Oni has said that he wants to tackle Ken Akumatsu’s Negima manga. Hey watch me tear into him over this title. It’s going to get ugly. Me, I’ll be tackling the utter fantastic one shot manga, Town of Evening Calm, Country of Cherry Blossoms by Fumiyo Kouno. Stay tuned. It’s only getting better from here.

As always, I’m constantly checking in the Animejump, Otaku USA, Moonmasters, Fast Karate and GMEP forums. If you spot me, send me a PM.

Laters,
Eeeper.
Download audio file (ECP_show_11.mp3)

Eeeper’s Choice Show 10 – Our Evil Spreads Show!

eeeper — Sun, 25 Feb 2007 16:57:00 +0000

This week Eeeper reviews, for the retro choice corner, Project A-Ko while Oni reviews Ninja Scroll! Yes I’ve got a co-host now in the form of Oni. Who is he? Well, you’ll just have to listen and find out. He’s been waiting to join the show for a while but only recently could he do so. The tone of the show is going downhill from here on in.

Direct Download

Anywho if you need to contact me with hints, questions, comments, requests for reviews and anything else then drop me a line @

eeeperschoice- at -gmail.com
Also at GoogleTalk Voicemail @ eeeperschoice- at -gmail.com
The MyChingo flash voicemail box in the sidebar
Send me an Odeo in the sidebar
Snapvine Voicemail (US)+1-641-985-7800 then press * then 1723766

Please note that all images (excluding Show Artwork included in the mp3) unless otherwise stated are the respective copyright and trademark of their respective owners and licensers. No copyright infringement is meant or implied.

News

The Melancholy Of Haruhi Suzumiya is set for a May release in both standard and vol 1+artbox versions courtesy of Bandai Entertainment. Yes, the hardest working Internet launched anime in history is coming Here’s hoping this doesn’t turn out to be another Azumanga Daioh…[Link]

Also on 25th January just under 1/4 of a million people viewed the special ending of Haruhi from volume 7 of the Japanese DVD when it was posted up on YouTube. A quarter of a million people!?! Have these people no real lives!? Oh, wait. Sorry, wrong person to ask that question…
[Link]

Mushishi is being courted for a release of it’s l;ive action version. God, I must have missed this when it first came out. So, on the podcast no offense was meant to Mushishi fans at all. Betcha one of parties interested in the film was ADV and another was Harmony Gold. I mean without any new licences, they only have Robotech to fall back on for profit. Right? Right!? RIGHT!?! Oh here’s that link to Jo Odagiri’s ANN page. [Link]

Funimation announced they have the rights to Mushishi the anime, Ragnarok The Animation and Suzuka. OK, let’s just hope they finally fix their subtitle problems this year….YEAH, RIGHT!!!Christ, I can’t escape from Mushishi! And it’s been given one of the worst re-titles for this year. BugMaster! (As Weevil Underwood(English Version)): Oh no, you’ve broken my Great Moth! We hate that voice actors take on Underwood.

Also Funimation expand their programming block on their Funimation Channel. Now we can watch more DragonBall then ever before! [Link]

Bandai Visual USA have said they will release Gunbuster 2[Link]

Manga Entertainment have announced that they will release the Ghost In The Shell:SAC movie Solid State Society in July. Apparently they weren’t brave enough to release it on Blu-Ray [Link]

I’ve tried to find the article on Anime News Service about Blu-Ray outselling HD-DVD in Japan but as of the time of my writing this, I’ve had no luck…Any one who read it can email me the link at the usual address.

YouTube and Google reps met with members of the The Japanese Society of Rights of Authors and Composers (JASRAC) and The National Association of Commercial Broadcasters in Japan. With literally hundreds of thousands of copyrighted clips of anime available on YouTube, JASRAC is starting to get nervous. What!?! They’re only getting nervous now?!?

The GITS DVD we were talking about can be found here but is now out of print. You might be able to find it on Yahoo.co.jp Auctions but it’s up to you.

And finally, as I promised here is the Wiki Entry on Pentacost

Reviews

Air Gear

Huh? Where’s the review? Sorry the section with Oni ran long so it’s going to be next week before you can listen to Eeeper review this.

Project A-Ko

This amazing movie from 1986 remains one of Eeeper’s favourite anime of all time and set a benchmark for parodies of anime and manga to come. Captain Harlock, Maison Ikkoku and Fist of the North Star are some of the titles that get poked to death in this treat. Eeeper goes all over the world for sport in this review before actually getting to the PLOT. Try and stay with him on this one, it does pay off. Central Park Media released this movie along with the OVA sequels comprising of the DVD volumes Love and Robots and Uncivil Wars. Oni watched Uncivil Wars but Eeeper didn’t so only the first film and part of the OVA’s are covered. This film was one of three VHS available to rent from 24-Hour Video in Eeep’s hometown (the other two being Giant Robo Part One of the OVA and StreetFighter II: The Animated Movie) so it got serious playtime in the Eeep household.

Ninja Scroll 10th Anniversary Edition

Yeah! This kick ass movie from 1993 has it’s flaws (no character devolpment for secondary characters for one thing) but it’s getting the Manliest award from us. It may be replaced soon ( Mazinger Z and Getter Robo are on order) but for now bask in the glory of it’s testosterone! The plot doesn’t matter! After all it is a public safety service announcement from Yoshiaki Kawajiri. Oni has never tried to review anything before this so his review should be taken in the spirit in which it was approached. Which is the Spirit Of Vengeance. Go Ghost Rider!

Competition Time plus other stuff

Yep, it’s our first give away and up for grabs is the first volume plus artbox of Fafner! Yeah I know it’s an Evangelion rip-off but it’s brainless, entertaining stuff anyway. The competition is open to all regardless of location. Only stipulation is that you must be able to play Region ! DVD’s . That’s it. To win you’ll have to listen in.

Open Request to all podcasters! If you have a podcast promo that you think we can play on our show send them in, please!

Also speaking of podcasts, we are now on Digg, Technorati, Podcast Pickle and also Podcast Alley. Please add us to them! We need all of your help! Don’t make us beg! It’ll be embarrassing and sticky….

Promos

Next Week: Oni will be reviewing the classic shoujo sci-fi film, They Were Eleven. While Eeeper will tackle another Kawajiri title from 1995, Birdy The Mighty plus the late review of the manga Air Gear by Oh!Great. Just in time for the anime from ADV.
Download audio file (ECP_show_10.mp3)

Eeeper’s Choice Show 09 – The-Giant-Robo-Strike!-Show

eeeper — Fri, 12 Jan 2007 16:05:00 +0000

This week I review the manga’a Infinite Ryvius by SUNRISE and Legal Drug by CLAMP and the retro choice anime OVA Giant Robo! Woo-hoo! Free nuclear-powered robots for everybody!

This week’s show has NO news as I haven’t had time to check the news. Yeah I heard that Haruhi Suzumiya got licensed. The whole of the anime related internet has heard. If you want to know my opinion on Haruhi check out show 03. Normal news service will be resumed next show.

Direct Download

Anywho if you need to contact me with hints, questions, comments, requests for reviews and anything else then drop me a line @:

eeeperschoice- at -gmail.com
Also at GoogleTalk Voicemail @ eeeperschoice- at -gmail.com
The MyChingo flash voicemail box in the sidebar
Send me an Odeo in the sidebar
Snapvine Voicemail (US)+1-641-985-7800 then press * then 1723766

News

No news this week

Reviews

Infinite Ryvius

This manga created by original creators Hajime Yatate(insider joke: look up on google who actually is Hajime Yatate) and Yousuke Kuroda(original scriptwriter) with art from Shinsuke Kurihashi. This is published in two volumes by the now-defunct Comics-One and it’s successor DRMaster. Told from the perspective of Aoi Housen, and her roommates Kozue Izumi and Reiko Ichikawa and while it’s not following the plot exactly it’s excellent. Full of tension and all that good stuff, it’s a nice addition on your shelf next to the DVD of the original show. WARNING: UNLESS YOU WANT THE SERIES SPOLIED FOR YOU, WATCH THE ANIME FIRST

Legal Drug

CLAMP always do great stories even if sometimes the actual plot makes no sense. That is true for Legal Drug, a three volume manga originally in Japan by Kadokawa Shoten and in the US/UK by TokyoPop. This follows the adventures of two psychics Kazahaya and Reiko who work for Kakei at the GreenDrug Store pharmacy. As well as doing regular jobs, the two boys have to do “special” deliveries for Kakei that utilise their mental skills. Only complaint I have is that CLAMP haven’t finished this story, as they are currently working on other projects.

Giant Robo: The Day The Earth Stood Still

I’ve been promising myself I’d get round to this title sooner or later. This is the best title that I’ve seen in the last year and that’s all there is to it. Listen to my review for more info and why I think this.

Well we come to the end of another terrible show, folks. Next show, I might have a surprise for you. Metacarpals crossed! Next show I’ll be reviewing the manga Air Gear, the anime Ninja Scroll(Yosh!) and in the Retro Choice section I have the classic anime, Project A-ko! Wooo-Hooo!
Download audio file (ECP_show_09.mp3)