I finally got around to editing and uploading this. As I said before there were some recording problems but I edited around the problem and made it ok.
This first episode was mainly introductions and beginning as an anime fan. We also talked about this season’s anime and our thoughts on it.
Hope you have a listen to this.
So the past weekend I finally had the time to record the podcast I’ve been wanting to do for a while and had a couple of weeks to plan it and gather people to record it with. So I held the podcast over skype and recorded it.
I had a few problems initially, the program I used to record one on one skype calls did not work with a group call however I managed to find a suitable one and we began. Another problem I had, which I will fix for later podcasts, is that my voice (due to skype settings) was lower than my panels’ voices. So next time I will change my settings accordingly.
The topics we talked about were on the basis that this was an introductory pilot episode of the podcast, relating to anime. So we talked about our favourites in this culture in regards to anime, manga and video games and how that has affected our lives so far. We also tackled how this anime culture is slowly getting more accepted and integrated into ‘normal’ society. And finally we rounded off with talking about anime this season and our initial impressions over the first few episodes. In the end the podcast is roughly an hour and a bit long.
So I have the files here ready to be edited and I guess I’ve been lazy to edit them. I’ve decided I’ll upload it to youtube and soundcloud which I’ll do a post on when they are uploaded.
Overall, I am glad with how the podcast went and hope to continue this by a 6-8 week schedule, from which I upload a podcast every 6-8 weeks in which between the times I collect topics/material to talk about.
So after inquiring to a few people at RMIT at my club GM@S (Games, Manga and Anime Society) I had positive feedback with my pitch to them on what I want to achieve in this podcast. The pitch I gave them is as follows:
This is just an inquiry if you guys are interested. I am planning to record a podcast on anime/manga and games and our interests in it on different levels and how/where that puts us in society socially. I plan on making this a more professional style of podcast where I host and we take turns in talking about the topic rather than it being a shout-fest. As for the topics I will plan them and send you guys the topics so you guys have an idea what to talk about before we start.
So I spent the next couple hours planning topics, wording them in a style of a host + panel. I had questions in the first podcast to be quite broad so I can appeal to a wider audience. Generally to those anime fans who are shy to admit they are fans and that there are people (like me) who were the same but have long since overcome. I chose the cast members carefully because we each come from different stances and backgrounds in terms with being a fan of anime and hearing different opinions of them would attract a wider audience. From the complete newbie to the seasoned veteran.
I’ll keep posts about my podcast updated as I close on a date where I will be recording this and finally posting it. Most likely a youtube video with the audio separately on soundcloud.
I’m going to talk about each anime I watched this season, give a brief synopsis and give my thoughts and finally give a rating out of 10. No spoilers
Erased (Boku dake ga Inai Machi) – One of the best of the season, an anime about a man who travels his consciousness back through time. He goes back to his 11 year old self to prevent a serial kidnapper/murderer from starting his spree. For me however it felt over hyped by the community. 7.5/10
Dagashi Kashi – A slice of life, about a girl Hotaru trying to convince a boy Kokonotsu to take over his father’s candy shop so his father can work for her father’s major candy company.
I really enjoyed this one, even though the ‘plot’ of it wasn’t really apparent it was the interactions between the characters that really was amazing. Plenty of banter to laugh about. 8.5/10
Gate (season 2) – Imagine if the current military force can travel to a fantasy world with its technology only as advanced as medieval times, it follows the protagonist Itami as he tries to make peace with the locals and slay the local dragon.
I enjoyed this anime, the soundtrack was amazing, the OP for both the 1st and 2nd season were amazing. It was really interesting to see the interactions with the military force and the locals. 8/10
Ajin – A story about a boy who finds out he is immortal the hard way, these are called ‘Ajins’ and they are secretly experimented on by the government. It follows his struggle as he tries to escape the government.
This anime tried a different route with its animation, rather than the usual drawing based, they used CGI to animate this, which is what pulled me in to watch it. It feels really similar to previous works like Tokyo Ghoul and Parasyte however. It felt like I’ve seen this story before and the CGI sometimes works but most of the time it deters from the story. 6/10
Prince of Stride (my personal favourite this season) – It’s about a high school club about running. Yep running. Well it’s much more than that.
For me, it really connected with me. I used to run a lot but cannot however (see my post about footy) and the characters within this anime all joined the club for different reasons. It really goes well with the themes of friendship and comradery and the characters do make me feel like I could run again. 9/10
Shoujo-tachi – An anime about a group of high school kids creating a game. Dealing with what its like to create a story, recruit members to contribute and in the end following through with the product.
This was up and down, it felt like a slice of life but other times it was trying to be other things. Trying to spruce up with drama or romance but never really followed through and really deterred from the story. Some bits were enjoyable but it seemed like this anime missed its point. 6/10
Haikyuu!! – a sports anime, about volleyball. Its second season
I never really was interested in volleyball before watching this anime but it really is a great anime. The way it humanises the characters is great, and the final rally in the 2nd last episode was exceptional. However there were some characters that I just did not like on screen, probably because they weren’t putting their 100% on the field, which is what my background of an athlete was. 7/10
God Eater – God Eater finally returned to deliver its final 4 episodes and I decided to watch it because I watched the previous episodes and felt wasted if I didn’t finish it. This ones difficult to describe as it is based off a video game ‘God Eater’
Anyway this anime wasn’t all that enjoyable, all the characters felt bland besides the main character, we didn’t get to see their motivation for their actions. However the action scenes were cool I guess. Ufotable should stick to Type-Moon stuff. 5/10
So there it is, the few anime anime I watched besides the big ones I follow (mainly Gintama) which I will do a separate blog post for. My brief thoughts, rating and synopsis of each one. Thanks for reading.