I just can’t seem to concentrate on anime any more. Like I’m trying to catch my breath and it’s not working. I look at other podcasters and bloggers and see that they put time away to watch shows and then hand in reviews. So that’s what I’m going to do.

As always I’m on Twitter.

And why the picture of Kenshiro on the top of the post? Why the hell not?

Today, we tackle Sumomomo Momomo: The Strongest Bride on Earth Shinobu Ohtaka. A fun little diversion, nevertheless the slight ick factor could threaten to destroy what is otherwise a good manga. Also, I’ve now discovered the best Japanese tongue twister by researching this title. Click on the download link for more info. As always, click on the post image to buy volume 1 from Amazon US. Or follow the text links below for the volumes I’ve covered so far.

Download audio file (ECP_Season_3_number_2.mp3)

Direct Download

Amazon US links:

• Sumomomo, Momomo, Vol. 1: The Strongest Bride on Earth (v. 1)
• Sumomomo, Momomo, Vol. 2: The Strongest Bride on Earth (v. 2)

Amazon UK links:

• Sumomomo, Momomo: v. 1
• Sumomomo, Momomo: v. 2

A small capsule review of Kaoru Mori’s A Bride’s Story here. I liked this story and I would say that if you’re tired of the usual fare in manga, this is a welcome change of pace. Volume one can be ordered from Amazon by clicking on the post image above and volume two can be preordered by clicking here.

UPDATE: Volume three is now up on Amazon for preorder for March 2012. Here’s the link.

Download audio file (ECP_Season_3_number_huh.mp3)

Direct Download

Thanks to Ed Sizemore and Johanna Draper Carlson for tackling the manga on their sites. Thanks to Kate Dacey over at Manga Critic for reviewing Bride’s Story and also to David Welsh and lastly to Deb Aoki and Melinda Beasi for putting me on the title in the first place.

Hi all!

I’m back from Otakon and it was great.  Saw the new Shinkai film and attended a bunch of panels. I’ll be doing some podcasts about it later this week so hopefully you’ll get to hear about it soon.

Laters!

New podcast next month (see below). I’m kinda getting itchy to go back to recording. If there’s a series, movie or manga that you want covered let us know via email.

More written reviews next week. I’m enjoying doing written pieces on otakunews and MMF and I’m looking forward to expanding stuff into our site as well.

I’m going to Otakon next week. If you want to swing by and say hi, hit me up on Twitter. Check out our site or Otakunews.com for any info out of the con.

That’s it. Talk with you all next week.

Anywhos, this is a hard post for me to write. For the past four years, I’ve trundled on with the podcast despite all the things that life has thrown at me. Most podcasts don’t survive after about 8 to 9 episodes. People just run out of steam. But despite all the threat of podfade, I’ve never put the show on hiatus. Until today.

Due to circumstances beyond my control, I’m currently dealing with a situation that demands more time on my part than I currently have. I’m not going any further into an explanation as it’s a purely personal matter. I don’t want to have to deal with the given situation but I’m needed so you do what you’ve gotta do. So, for the time being, I’m suspending the show. Oni only contributes to the show, he doesn’t edit it as he doesn’t have time himself, hence the show going on hiatus. I’ll still be doing blog posts, reviews when I can and hopefully will have something for the MMF for ARIA. I’m not going THAT far away.

If anyone needs to speak to me regarding this post, you can hit me up on my email address. Thanks for the understanding bump, everyone.

Not much else to say except THIS!

Second up. Where does the site go from here, this year? Well, I did travel to New York Anime Festival in October and it was fun. The con, not so much but meeting all my podcast and blogging friends was awesome. I stayed with Erin and Noah and they were the most awesome hosts a guy could ask for. The only thing that I had a problem was, after I left I realised I never got them a thank you present!!!! I’m so sorry, guys! I’ve got Christmas presents for you, and they should be posted off as soon as I can find the time! Oh, yeah, the con. The anime section was a bit of a wash out but I didn’t mind I’d never been to an American con so I had no yardstick to measure it by. But, Kate, Alain, Patrick, Joe, Xan, Ed, Ed (Chavez), Erica, Erin and Noah made it really special and awesome.

With this in mind, I can tell you that I will be coming to Otakon this year and I will be bring friends with me. Not Oni as he can’t travel at that time. But awesome friends, nevertheless. If you want to meet up during the con, please email me in the run up to the con and we’ll square away details.

The site continues to grow and we always like hanging out online with more listeners, readers and friends. We’re going to try blogging more as I write for OtakuNews and I’m doing the MMF on a semi-regular basis these days. Oni tries to contribute as much as possible but his job keeps him busy. He’ll be around.

As always, I and he are always around. We’re on Twitter more these days. I’m here and he’s here. I’ll have some more stuff up this week for reviews and stuff. Laters!

So here are the ground rules:

• No hentai.
• Nothing overly moe.
• 52+ series are out

He’s got far-reaching tastes so don’t be put off by “Well, maybe he won’t like what I suggest, so I won’t vote.” So now is the time to introduce him to a great new series or one-shot! Or punish him with a terrible show. It’s up to you! Want to vote? Just head over to http://twtpoll.com/ros960 and cast your vote using your twitter account. The vote closes at the end of May but I know my listeners will help me out before then.

This is just to say that if you’re leaving comments on the site from now on, you’ll notice the comments pages are powered by IntenseDebate. If you still want to leave comments in the normal way, cool. But ID users can now leave comments for me, and I can respond quicker.

That’s all.

Yep……

Oh, I’ll just say this: Next week, OK? Something, OK?