AoY Podcast #80 – Ghost in the Shell 20th Anniversary Review (w/ Gerald Rathkolb)
Also known as: “Because porn doesn’t need plot, never does…”
Download Episode HERE! (Total Time: 1:43:27)
On November 18th, 1995, a certain anime film came out that changed the way we look at anime to this day. As anime fans, we owe it to a particular film for shaping how anime has been distributed and the limits on what it can become. We had to call in one of the big guns of anime podcasting, Gerald Rathkolb of the Anime World Order podcast, to discuss the impact that Ghost in the Shell left on the world since its release 20 years ago…
(0:00 – 16:40) Portrait of an Otaku – Gerald Rathkolb: Before we ever got into discussing Ghost in the Shell, we get to hear the backstory of how Gerald became an anime fan in the Virgin Islands. This brings is to know how much someone can hate windsurfing, what it took to own anime at your local Sam Goody, hating on Hanna-Barbera cartoons, how to FEEL THE ANIME POWER!, how the recorder isn’t a real instrument, and more.
(16:40 – 1:28:35) Review – Ghost in the Shell: Gerald takes us down memory lane going back 20 years at this point, where he explains how Ghost in the Shell affected the anime community at the time, and what brought in people to knowing anime. This of course gets us to talk about the Ghost in the Shell manga and other works by Masamune Shirow, and even say something about all the works of what came after Ghost in the Shell movie under the same name. We to spoil a bit of the film in terms of thematic elements of what Mamoru Oshii was putting into the film, which might actually make watching Ghost in the Shell much easier to watch and understand. Gerald pretty much stole the show, but both host just let Gerald tell his stories of high cyberpunk adventure. We also once again bring back the need for you listener to read Brian Ruh book. This of course gets off topic on the good ol’ days of anime being only sold at brick and mortar stores, discussing bloody Italian movies, how Digimon should be with the rest of the anime titles in your local video store, Mamoru Oshii as a director in general, Rumiko Takahashi is a HACK MANGA AUTHOR! THE TRUTH of Evangelion and Christianity, live action anime talk (here we go again…), Harmony Gold hate, Sci-Fi Channel anime censorship, and so much more…
(1:28:35 – 1:43:27) Closing Remarks: Gerald vents on how great Metal Gear Solid V is, which also led to Konami hate, how free to play games are terrible for you, Chris Chan and his transgender amiibos scam, Dustin getting a wisdom tooth pulled, and Dustin also calling out Gerald on his Giant Gorg review.
We should also note, Dustin was able to post up some Ghost in the Shell related things on the internet recently, where he posted the latest blog post at the Anime of Yesteryear Blog of the Animerica Ghost in the Shell issue, and also did a write up at his new blog The Cyber Funker mentioning briefly the impact of Ghost in the Shell. So check those links out!
Music Selection:
OP – Welcome to Newport City, 2029…
ED – The net is vast and infinite…
This show has:
When you have references in anime from other science fiction shows, it must be good right?
Well played South Park….well played…
This is all you need to know about Mamoru Oshii movies, DON’T GO PAST THIS EVER!!!
THIS IS NOT A REAL INSTRUMENT, GERALD SAID SO!!!
AoY Podcast #75 – Taking on Indiegogo Perks #2 (Patlabor 2: The Movie Review)
Also known as: “If I were a teacher, I would never accept this!”
and also: “That’s my birds closing remarks I guess…”
Download Episode HERE! (Total Time – 1:17:53)
Even though (Pat) Labor day weekend was earlier this month, we made sure to celebrate it the right way here on this podcast. We decided to bring in our other Indiegogo contributor Cody Billings to cover the highlight film of the Patlabor series, Patlabor 2: The Movie.
(0:00 – 49:45) Indiegogo Perk Review – Patlabor 2: The Movie – This was recommended to us by Cody, which couldn’t have happened at a better time during the year. Patlabor 2, depending on how much you like Patlabor, is considered by the few die-hard Patlabor fans out there as one of the best in the series. To even go as far to give its director Mamoru Oshii credit, this might be one of his finest anime movies. You can also listen in on our old review a couple of years back about Patlabor: The Movie from our days at the CyberNauts Cast. Patlabor 2 is able to tackle the social and political troubles of Japan during the early 1990’s by cleverly packaging them into this movie story and plot. Zeonic has used this film as a reference in more than one school project, which he used Brian Ruh book, Stray Dog of Anime: The Films of Mamoru Oshii, in his Contemporary Art class last spring in order to dive into Oshii complex narratives in his films to fully understand what the director is trying to say. This gets us into discussing more of Oshii works, the UNTAC, Khmer Rogue and 2-26 incidents, works of Peter Marinker, Oshii use of biblical scripture, and more.
(49:45 – 1:17:53) Closing Remarks – We all seem to have closing remarks in this segment, even our mascot has something to say. Jonn mentions the latest with Love_That_Goku, Chris(tine) Chan goes to OmegaCon, Zeonic discusses Metal Gear Solid 5, Cwcki bashes an old school project of Zeonic, Cody mentions him coming Straight Outta Compton, more hot air about our backstory episode (and maybe a secret code involved?), the TRUTH behind the Artist of Yaoi Podcast, Cody getting the best edition of Naruto, and much more!!
Music Selection:
OP – Let’s roll out once more SV2…
ED – Chris…. you can’t…. just stop…
This show has:
Just let this conversation mull over in your mind for a while…
The IF YOU BELIEVE IT Fanart Edition of Naruto
The Ultra Rare AoY Podcast “IF YOU BELIEVE IT!” Collectors Edition of Naruto!!!
AoY Podcast #29 – Angel’s Egg Review
Also known as: ” I have a bright yellow suit jacket, It blinds my eyes its amazing!”
Download Episode HERE! (Total Time: 1:05:47 )
This episode is another experiment of Jonn and I both going “hey, there’s anime on youtube, what do you feel like randomly reviewing?” This time I let Jonn be the judge of “pick-a-random-OVA-youtube-video-to-watch-and-let’s-see-what-this-is-about,” only to find that Jonn decided to settle on the most infamous OVA by Mamoru “Ghost-in-the-Shell-and-Patlabor-movies-are-the-better-known-things-I’ve-ever-directed” Oshii. And that most infamous title is none other than Angel’s Egg.
Angel’s Egg, to our interpretation, is one of those visual “artsy-fartsy” moving pictures that can be shown at a film festival and people would try for years to find something deep about it. I have understood this anime for a long time that this was Oshii interpretation of him denouncing his belief in Christianity. After seeing this film, I think he is the only person that can see that, because I sure as hell cannot. This film is full of long shots of landscapes, long shots of girls drinking water, long shots of people staring at nothing, shadow fish being harpooned and long shots of people sleeping… and doing really nothing else.
To our surprise, there have been some reviews about this, the good, the bad, and the deep thinking (I assure you these links go with the correct words). This also causes us to talk more about the directing career of Mamoru Oshii live action movies, as well as anime talk, stupid hipsters who don’t know what to buy, and much more.
I also wanna give a shout-out to the Anime World Order podcast for playing our promo on their most recent episode.
Music Selection
OP – This taps into my inner Oshii creative mind…
ED – You can probably find this anime at the local Japanese Goodwill…
This show has:
This is how I felt as I was watching this anime… (go to 1:20)
The finest anime about water in glass jugs you will ever see…
I did say “shadow fish” were in this…
Daft…. don’t be a jerk and buy them…
jonnjonzz01
zeonicfreak
The Anime of Yesteryear Podcast 