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Oh man I cried like 3 times in that final episode. It was amazing. God damnit I love that anime so much. Best sports anime ever? I think so.

It honestly might be my favorite. I really really really loved it.

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Basically my attitude about a community podcast is this:

 

We have a really nice group of fairly articulate and open minded to discussion people from a reasonable mix of backgrounds and locations (although like so many things on the net it would be great to have more women's voices) but i don't think leaping straight from that to a in one step podcast will work

 

Imo possibly the best sort of template to work from if we really want to make this work is something like the GWJ Conference Call. It's somewhere in between the general ramblings of the thumbs and the focused discussion of 3MA. 

They have a couple of people who can sit in the host seat on any given week, and bring other people on week by week if that weeks topic interests someone, normally leaving the podcast's size somewhere between 3-5.

Their format is based on the typical "what you been playing/watching" section and then followed by the topic discussion, and I think that's perfect for a group like this forum who might have some people who might feel really passionate about one show or genre but not necessarily always be watching the latest on air stuff. With something like that we could 

My suggestion is perhaps we make a list of all those who might be interested in being regulars see what effect timezone etc have on possible recording times and then organise a skype/mumble/whatever conference call and do one (or maybe a couple) of "off air shows" just so people can get to know each other a bit people and can work out technical glitches, discuss things like the exact format/length, update schedule, future topics, & pick a podcast name etc. 

 

Picking one person to act as overall/primary host would also be something wed probably have to make a decision on.

I've suggested to Gorm before that I think he'd be a good choice for that for a number of reasons (primarily but not limited to: the fact that he already critically writes about anime occasionally, he's one of the most active posters and seems to get on with most people on here) but fact is once we get talking on air it may be that someone else is better fit for the group for any number of reasons.

 

We also need to know who has audio editing experience because just as it's good to have backup host's it good to have backup editors when none of us is a professional (I used to be fairly competent with Audacity, but I'm out of practice but i was planning of doing a few short form monologue/audioblogs to get back into practice in the next few weeks anyway so hopefully that's one name into the hat for that particular job).

 

So yeah I'm up for doing this but I do think we need to give ourselves a solid but adaptable and above all realistic framework to operate around. I know that's not the most exciting part of the idea of doing a show but its a big old chunk of the reality of any cooperative creation.

 

Sidenote: Although a lot of you guys seem to like it I have more than a few gripes with Shirobako (although i'm only half way through atm) so maybe that's something we could try as a practice/opening topic since it's still fairly current.  

 

You sound like you've really thought this through, Codicier. I usually tend towards the logistical end of things, but I have no experience whatsoever with telecom or audio tech, so I'm willing to defer to you or to whomever else is willing to put in the labor there. I'm also happy to be the "lead" host, if that's something that we agree is needful, although I worry (as ever) that I lack the charisma and talent to helm a podcast.

 

Anyway, I've got a Snowball mic sitting in my Amazon shopping cart, so if we have enough people in this thread (and in this forum) willing to be part of a pool of hosts, I say we move forward. We can start a separate thread where people can voice their interest and their contributions, decide on mics and software, and fine-tune the subject and themes. I don't mind having a "Whatcha watchin'" segment followed by a panel discussion of an up-to-date (or classic) anime as a whole, but I worry that other people, who rightfully do not watch as much anime as me (generally, half a cour a week), will not be able to contribute to that format in the way they'd prefer. Anyway, it's definitely up for discussion.

 

There are probably things wrong with Shirobako, but I really can't see them, because for the last few months I've been stewing in a perfect mix of Japanese media about the Japanese media industry, by watching ShirobakoOtaku no Video, Aoi HonooBakuman, and Kantoku Fuyuki Todoki and by reading The Notenki Memoirs. It's a niche subgenre that doesn't really exist in the West and I totally love it, because it's a straight procedural about an obscure subject with which I'm already well acquainted and that's really rare.

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I have a yeti microphone that I bought while drunk and probably will never use that I am willing to sell/donate to this incredibly nerdy cause.

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Man Death Parade's OP is so good.

Is there an anime about dancing? Well there's all those idol anime I guess, but what about like ballroom dancing? I bet I'd dig that.

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I just finished When Marnie Was There by Ghibli. I liked it, and I cried a bit, though I'm pretty disappointed by how it was directed. I've complained in this thread before about how Studio Ghibli films almost always telegraph their plot points and overindicate, which are mostly silly complaints because these are kid's movies, but this one was just ridiculous. The main character won't stop talking to herself in a way that's unnatural and explicitly expresses her feelings. This annoys me because it doesn't commit to the non diagetic narration like Only Yesterday does, and it doesn't attempt to express the characters' feelings through any other means, like visual cues or character dynamics. It feels like it wants to tell a layered, emotional story but present it as straightforward and milquetoast as possible. It's kind of like it has none of the Miyazaki visual and temporal flair and creativity, none of Takahata's subtlety and edge. It's just weirdly straightforwardly presented for a psychological ghost story. I guess I wanted it to jump around like the Wind Rises did (Miyazaki made a biographical story feel dreamy while Yonebayashi made a dreamy story feel biographical). That said I really like how the story unfolded itself and how it focused tightly on the main character and didn't indulge in the potential lore, and also

how it had a little twist at the end. It's NOT a ghost story and it's all in Anna's suppressed memory. Also how it all ended up being about this sort of generational curse of loneliness and misfortune

IDK cartoons are dumb and hard to make.

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Having looked at a complete list of spring 2015 anime, I actually am interested in a few, although none completely unironically. The Ghost in the Shell ARISE series will get a hate watch or an actual watch based on what parts of the OVA it builds itself around, moving forward. The Melancholy of Nagato Yuki-chan will get a hate watch because I love the characters and the franchise but not the toxic moe shit that this spinoff is all about. Teekyuu and Robot Girls Z+ have both had good seasons, but they're too short to be an actual commitment, so they don't really count as something to which I'm looking forward.

 

Even though I want to care, I really can't make myself, not about Trigger's new anime. Every time I look at the art and read the synopsis, my heart just drops to rock bottom.

 

I have a yeti microphone that I bought while drunk and probably will never use that I am willing to sell/donate to this incredibly nerdy cause.

 

I might take you up on that, although a small part of me would love to have you on the putative show instead. Not everyone needs to have spent hours training their ears to recognize voice actors, and you just did a great job summarizing what's disappointing about When Marnie Was There (and everything else Yonebayashi's directed, which is just The Secret World of Arietty, although I can't be surprised that his works are psychologically simplistic when he's a longtime key animator suddenly promoted to director for a major studio at an incredibly young age). 

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Despite not watching terrible much anime (except for Yurikumaaaaaa arashi!), I'd be up for joining in on the podcast every once in a while, if I can add something meaningful to that episode's topic. I have podcasting experience through my own (Dutch) geek podcast that's been running for almost a year now, though I can't help with the editing. I mean, I have the technical skills in Audacity, just not the time.

 

Arietty was a frustrating experience. The world was - visually - delightful, but the consideration ended there. I think a topical flaw in the movie is right there in the front: it makes a big deal of Arietty gaining a pin to use as a makeshift sword, but then it's never used again except for slaying poor Chekhovs gun. The film is full of loose strands like that - things that are set up and then forgotten or not used to do anything interesting. I didn't know Yonebayashi was behind this and what that might mean in relation to Marnie, but it was super obvious this was not the expected Ghibli quality.

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I suspect problems with Arietty feeling untidy might just have to do with the abundance of source material in the Borrowers, and not knowing how to integrate and edit those elements.

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I believe Marnie was also adapted from a book, so that might explain a lot about how it was executed.

I really enjoyed Arietty, though! I had a stronger opinion of it before. I remember thinking that it was pretty layered, that it did the classic Ghibli thing of melding environmental themes, a coming of age story, and a things-might-not-work-out-in-the-end-but-life-goes-on message in way that was more taut and more effective than, say, Nausicaa. But I have to rewatch it to supply specific mechanics of what it did well.

I also watched Kaguyahime recently and I love it to death. It had bits where it had to verbally address plot points to catch up to its exposition taking way too long, like

the fact that she came from the moon, and that she's a reincarnation of a goddess/spirit, are both just explained by her

and that's disappointing considering how subtle and communicative the rest of the film is. I feel like its trying to keep the presentation linear is messing with its storytelling since

the story itself is significant in that it's cyclical, where a goddess reincarnates to escape heaven but is ironically trapped when man tries to create for her a perverse heaven on earth with all of the suffering of earth and none of the pleasure of heaven, then is recommitted to heaven.

It isn't that big of an issue on balance though.

I don't know how much of my experience is affected by my not knowing the folktale before watching it, and I expect that it's a lot. It feels like a fleshed out version of a well known folktale, almost as if you took, say, Cinderella and gave her agency, thoughts, and feelings.

Still it's so good. My favorite cinematic touch Takahata gave was the repeated orthogonal sequences of Kaguya running and escaping.

I'm really happy that they used the classic Ghibli flying through the sky sequence in a way that was incredibly sad. It's this cruel, beautiful dream of freedom that gets yanked away and ends in a crash down to earth, rather than a generic feelgood victory dance at the end of a movie. I liked Arietty's ending for that reason too.

I also laughed when Literal Buddha, with his punch perm, appeared on a cloud. Buddhism in the post-classical world is so morphed.

Concerning the podcast: I'd actually be kind of interested in being on if I'm not dragging down discussion due to lack of literacy. Gorm, if you can afford it, I would recommend the Yeti over the Snowball (I bought mine refurb for about 80 bucks). If not, pm me about my mic.

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Concerning the podcast: I'd actually be kind of interested in being on if I'm not dragging down discussion due to lack of literacy. Gorm, if you can afford it, I would recommend the Yeti over the Snowball (I bought mine refurb for about 80 bucks). If not, pm me about my mic.

As a Yeti owner I can 100% recommend it as a lovely peice of kit but the snowball gets great reviews as well

As for worries about you lacking 'literacy' for any perspective podcast discussion as I said above I think part of the strength of this thread (or any podcast it might spawn) is its good mix of knowledge levels. Having someone like you who is new to all the stuff people who've been watching anime for a long time take for granted or have grudgingly accepted and don't notice anymore is a positive rather than a negative.

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Microphone talk: I have a very decent Samson C01U USB mic and it's excellent for Skype podcasting. Audio quality is very good, it's a cinch to set up and only cost around 80-100 euro moneys.

 

Yesterday I saw The Wind Rises and just flat out loved it. I've got tons to say about it, which I'll reserve for the Filmadeus review, but I adored the mature themes, the subtle evolution from Taisho to Showa era Japan and the wonderful way the planes were animated. (Also the magical salad German.)

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I would listen to this prospective podcast, granted you all aren't boring. I know nothing about anime, so it might be interesting. You should definitely do a least one practice podcast just to figure out the ropes. Beyond that, don't underestimate the difficulty of actually scheduling times that work for everyone. It was hard enough for me and two other people who consistently recorded weekly, let alone a randomized group of people that potentially live on other sides of the world. Also, definitely use some kind of video conferencing like Google Hangouts or Skype while recording (granted people are comfortable with it), just seeing others facial expressions adds a lot of necessary context.

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I've never heard a Skype recording that didn't make my ears bleed. ):

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I've never heard a Skype recording that didn't make my ears bleed. ):

 

My memory isn't rock solid, but I do recall you saying in the other podcasts thread that you listened to MBMBAM and didn't comment either way on if your ears were bleeding while listening to it (so I assumed that they didn't bleed).

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Yeah, I listened years ago and don't really remember. I just know that whenever I use Skype, people sound wayyy worse than when I use Mumble with those same people. And they say the same about me. Some people just don't care, but it bothers the fuck out of me. And as for actual recorded content, I've had lots of issues that I can't name because I have a terrible memory, but let me assure you - I'VE HAD ISSUES!!!!!

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Oh, I was just talking about using Skype for video purposes. Seeing each other talk, if even slightly delayed due to internet stuff, results in a much more realistic, organic sounding conversation than if it's audio-only.

 

Most well produced remote podcasts (but not all, I'm looking at you Not a Game Podcast) use Garageband or Audacity to make local audio recordings and subsequently mix together the separate recordings for the final product. Gorg/Codi/someone referenced doing that, so I didn't mention it.

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If the position hasn't been filled yet, I probably have enough time to put together the cast if we're doing that recording remotely thing.

 

If we're not, I'm still up for attempting to save Twig's ears.

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Oh, I was just talking about using Skype for video purposes. Seeing each other talk, if even slightly delayed due to internet stuff, results in a much more realistic, organic sounding conversation than if it's audio-only.

 

Most well produced remote podcasts (but not all, I'm looking at you Not a Game Podcast) use Garageband or Audacity to make local audio recordings and subsequently mix together the separate recordings for the final product. Gorg/Codi/someone referenced doing that, so I didn't mention it.

Oh yeah I agree video is kind of a necessity. And yeah the local audio recordings would alleviate any software issues (barring weird shit).

 

I just want to make sure no one uses Skype to do the recording for them. D:

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So as it turns out, Death Parade is super good. It can be a bit heavy-handed, but for the most part it's really just good. I'm watching the last episode now.

 

I guess this is my Number One New Thing (so far) from Winter 2015. I've still got The Rolling Girls, Yatterman Night, and Yuri Kuma Arashi to go, but what I've seen of those (the first couple episodes) doesn't make me think they'll trump this.

 

EDIT: Yep, and the ending held together pretty damn well.

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So as it turns out, Death Parade is super good. It can be a bit heavy-handed, but for the most part it's really just good. I'm watching the last episode now.

I guess this is my Number One New Thing (so far) from Winter 2015. I've still got The Rolling Girls, Yatterman Night, and Yuri Kuma Arashi to go, but what I've seen of those (the first couple episodes) doesn't make me think they'll trump this.

EDIT: Yep, and the ending held together pretty damn well.

Death Parade started off feeling pretty contrived and as you say was heavy handed at quite a few points but I feel hit it's stride around the mid point and ended up handling the conclusions to some of its arcs with if not subtly, then certainly confidence.

the ice skating sequence was super great & knowing twig I can only assume he would now do bad bad things for a ice skating club sports anime done to the same standard

I also ended up sadly underwhelmed by Yurikuma Arashi, but then again I like Penguindrum but disliked Utena & the critical consensus was pretty much the other was round so what do I know :P

I'm weirdly optimistic about the comming season btw, the last few seasons have all had hidden gems that I really didn't expect anything much from(specifically: The Eccentric Family, Rage of Bahumat, & Death Parade) but then enjoyed a lot so I'm sure there will be something good lurking out there everyone will probably just has to watch a few duds before finding the show that clicks with them each season.

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Death Parade started off feeling pretty contrived and as you say was heavy handed at quite a few points but I feel hit it's stride around the mid point and ended up handling the conclusions to some of its arcs with if not subtly, then certainly confidence.

the ice skating sequence was super great & knowing twig I can only assume he would now do bad bad things for a ice skating club sports anime done to the same standard

hell yes i would murder for that anime and that exact thought ran through my head

 

oh man oh man

 

Part of what brought Death Parade up for me is, admittedly, the amazing animation and consistently great style to the whole thing. So even when the story beats were a little less than stellar, I still had something really pretty to stare at the whole time. And, hell, even when it was being heavy-handed and melodramatic, it still worked for me. I knew I was being emotionally manipulated, but heck if I didn't feel it anyway!

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I'm partly jealous that you guys watch so much anime and partly glad that I don't XD

 

Is Death Parade 'good' as in execution wise or was it a surprise good (I read through all the episode synopsis on wiki (this is just something I do with everything))?

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I guess it was a surprise that it was good in that everything is a surprise to me? I don't usually look into stuff before I watch it, because I'm willing to dump it if I don't like it in the first couple episodes.

 

It was good. I dunno.

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I haven't seen Death Parade yet, but the original Death Billiards short felt downright Satoshi Kon-esque.

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I haven't seen Death Parade yet, but the original Death Billiards short felt downright Satoshi Kon-esque.

 

*gasp*

 

*cursor hovers over torrent client*

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