Anime Roundtable

This week we start to look at how the second summer convention season in pandemic times is shaping up. Then we take a brief look at Olympic promotions; the latest on Gundam, Robotech, and Evangelion on various streaming services; Rumiko Takahashi’s work habits as an anniversary comes for one of her earlier titles, Hikaru Utada, and some manga items in brief

Mike Nicolas, James Austin, Kevin Ng, Mohamed Sharmarke, Geoff Greig

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We wanted to do just an episode full of Bullet headlines, but it got cannonballed by a thread of Demon Slayer headlines, anchored by an article by Friend of the Show Matt Alt on the phenomenon and how it can shake things up in the future. When we finally got off the Demon Slayer train, we talked about another manga digital service, and the sex drives of both fictional comic book/animation characters, and the people who voice them

Mike Nicolas, James Austin, Kevin Ng, Mohamed Sharmarke, Geoff Greig

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https://animeroundtable.wordpress.com/2021/06/22/anime-roundtable-v2-0-45-june-20-2021/

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We stick with a music theme in our Anime North hangover episode. We talk about what was on Mike’s mind a few days back with his story about Kozo Murashita and his 1983 pop classic Hatsukoi. Then try to help Mike understand Hatsune Miku. Then we quickly talk Yoko Kanno, the Kenshin movies on Netflix, and Discotek’s presentation on Twitch. Before ending off recaping the community calendar

Like I said, a music theme with six degrees of separation from it

Mike Nicolas, James Austin, Kevin Ng, Mohamed Sharmarke, Geoff Greig

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https://animeroundtable.wordpress.com/2021/06/14/anime-roundtable-v2-0-44-june-12-2021/

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Mike makes a guarantee that by the end of this, he’ll make you sick of one specific song. This time he tells the story of that song, its appearance in multiple anime titles (and how it got him to watch one of them), its original artist from almost 40 years ago, and how another song he performed was in one of the most beloved anime love stories from back then

In many ways its the story of how one song can adapt and ultimately stand the test of time, a holy grail for any pop song and perhaps the only one to accomplish it in anisong form

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https://animeroundtable.wordpress.com/2021/06/10/on-mikes-mind-june-9-2021/

Website: animeroundtable.com

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The Knights of the Anime Roundtable made its live stream debut as part of the recent Anime North Stay at Home Edition. So in the 70 or so minutes we were given, we looked back on the legacy of the late Kentaro Miura and wonder what’s to become of his beloved title Berzerk. Then we play a full edition of Yes or No, with thoughts on Yasuke, Miyazaki, Demon Slayer, and Macross. Before winding it down with a little streaming news and a final story about a common tie between Anime Roundtable and Anime North’s past

Mike Nicolas, James Austin, Kevin Ng, Mohamed Sharmarke, Geoff Greig with introduction by Andrew Kaidaj

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https://animeroundtable.wordpress.com/2021/06/08/anime-roundtable-v2-0-43-may-29-2021-the-anime-north-stay-at-home-edition/

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In the final episode before the live edition at the Anime North Stay at Home Edition, we look back on last week’s Space Heater Chat by recaping TCAF and trying to explain Canadian Parliament Bill C-10 in fifteen minutes or less (big fail), then we do some bullet headlines on what Japanese want in terms of live actions, what Yen Press wants in terms of audio books, what Studio Kiara and Hideki Anno want after recieving threats over Evangelion (which is to be left alone), and what a BL title looks like near the top of Amazon’s popular lists. Then we look ahead to the things the pandemic hasn’t cancelled in Toronto

Mike Nicolas, James Austin, Kevin Ng, Mohamed Sharmarke, Geoff Greig

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https://animeroundtable.wordpress.com/2021/05/17/anime-roundtable-v2-0-42-may-15-2021/

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Mike and James return in another unvarnished and unedited talk. We tried to rush this in mainly because Mike wanted to get back to watching the final of the first Overwatch League tournament of the season. But you know that’s wishful thinking

We come back to the Sony and their backtrack on their decision to close their legacy Playstation Stores with further thoughts on archiving and remastering and how that trend seems to be coming to video games after having similar moments with TV and movies (of course anime too). Then we talked about the other things Sony’s video game side has been dragged into. Like the Epic/Apple conflict, and selling specific games through cards

Then we talk about Yakuza, more specifically the next game in the Judgement series, its same time worldwide release (a first for a Yakuza universe game), and the move to keep the main Yakuza series a more turn based RPG format

After, our attention goes to two Kickstarters. Wit Studio’s Girl From the Other Side feature and Animeigo’s Maddox 01 Blu Ray (and the story of both that and an upcoming Discotek re-release)

As we finish up, Mike and James save a world for things they were watching over the last week, Megazone 23, the Animerama trilogy (A Thousand and One Nights, Cleopatra, Belladonna of Sadness), and Yasuke. With a final acknowledgement of other headlines we missed and may talk about in the future

This weeks Drinking Game: Take a shot everytime the word “posterity” is said

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https://animeroundtable.wordpress.com/2021/05/12/anime-roundtable-v2-0-space-heater-chat-may-edition-may-8-2021/

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This week, after looking back on some lingering thoughts between fan and industry convention post pandemic, we look at the latest Asian battle lines in the evolving competition between video streaming services at length. Then in brief we talk the North American Box Office, WWE getting into the anime game, J-Novel Club having a new majority owner, the chase to make a live action version of one of Ghibli’s most famous works, and the passing of a key person from 80s past. Before ending as we continue to look ahead in May

Mike Nicolas, James Austin, Kevin Ng, Mohamed Sharmarke, Geoff Greig

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https://animeroundtable.wordpress.com/2021/05/03/anime-roundtable-v2-0-41-may-5-2021/

Website: animeroundtable.com

Twitter and IG: @animeroundtable

Email: [email protected]

JP from Anime Lockdown pays the Roundtable a visit to talk at length about the future of the online convention one year later and how things have changed in that time.

Then he sits in on the bullets, where we talk about company moves on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean, and manga print runs in Japan during the pandemic

That’s the quick summary, of course it’s more detailed than that. We encourage digging?

Mike Nicolas, James Austin, Kevin Ng, with guest JP from Anime Lockdown

Visit our website for more information and links:

https://animeroundtable.wordpress.com/2021/04/19/anime-roundtable-v2-0-40-the-lockdown-return-april-18-2021/

Website: animeroundtable.com

Twitter and IG: @animeroundtable

Email: [email protected]

We start this week by talking Anime North with Social Media Coordinator Chris Nebelsky as he helps peel back the curtain a little bit behind the scenes. We talk about the move away from in person conventions during the pandemic, to the online versions that took place last year and the upcoming one in May

Then the rest of the Roundtable gathers with reactions to Nebelsky’s appearance and last week’s Space Heater Chat before a round of bullets. In the bullets, Macross, Netflix, and Sony (naturally). Along with the latest entries in the Anime Community Calendar

Mike Nicolas, James Austin, Kevin Ng, Mohamed Sharmarke, Geoff Greig, with guest Chris Nebelsky

Visit our website for more information and links:

https://animeroundtable.wordpress.com/2021/04/12/anime-roundtable-v2-0-39-april-10-2021/

Website: animeroundtable.com

Twitter and IG: @animeroundtable

Email: [email protected]