Anime Roundtable

Mike and James go unvarnished and unedited again, with the thinking that this will now be a regular feature

We start by talking the latest in the local COVID fight (spoiler: on the ropes, with a possible TKO coming), which leads into Canadian movie theatre plans for things like the upcoming Violet Evergarden and Demon Slayer movie runs. With a thought on Violet Evergarden being a tribute to those lost in the Kyoto Animation tragedy back in 2018.

Then our attention turns to Sony and how the closings of their legacy video game stores are consistent with their announced ending of movie and TV show downloads. And wonder if there’s a future for legacy titles after the store closures that wouldn’t require the original consoles themselves, and how third party publishers might be convering themselves in all of this. Then we turn to the untimely passing of Mario…or the sealing of his past adventures into a Disney like vault. And a brief chat about the evolution of formats during the history of video games

Mike revisits the Hana Kimura story and the conviction of one of her bullies who was sentenced…to a small fine. And what about Terrace House now?

Finally Mike tells the story of his best friend asking if it’s okay for his two tween daughters to watch Promised Neverland, and asks for James’ opinion. In the process gives a thought on the merits of a good opening theme song

Happy second pandemic Easter!!

Visit our website for more information and links:

https://animeroundtable.wordpress.com/2021/04/07/anime-roundtable-v2-0-space-heater-chat-easter-edition-april-3-2021/

Website: animeroundtable.com

Twitter and IG: @animeroundtable

Email: [email protected]

After acknowledging both Atlanta and COVID, we talk about Canadian movie theatres preparing to sell tickets for the Violet Evergarden and Demon Slayer movies this week. Then we talk about the US DOJ wanting to take an extended anti trust investigation into the Sony/Crunchyroll deal. Then we talk at length about the Japan America Society of Dallas/Fort Worth’s online discussion on Japanese Pop Culture in the pandemic before ending it off with some headlines in brief

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

Visit our website for more information and links:

https://animeroundtable.wordpress.com/2021/03/30/anime-roundtable-v2-0-38-march-27-2021/

Website: animeroundtable.com

Twitter and IG: @animeroundtable

Email: [email protected]

We seriously begin by looking back on both the tenth anniversary of the Great East Japan Earthquake and the verdict in the deadly Yonge Street Van Attack before asking the others to look back on the podcast’s 15th anniversary

When we finally start talking anime, we end up talking Discotek, take aways from Icv2’s manga week interviews, Playstation Network ending download to own movies, some items in the Anime Community Calendar worth checking out, and trailers before the usual “what we’re watching” ending in what might be the longest episode since the 2018 return…you’ve been warned

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

Visit our website for more information and links:

https://animeroundtable.wordpress.com/2021/03/16/anime-roundtable-v2-0-37-march-13-2021/

Website: animeroundtable.com

Twitter and IG: @animeroundtable

Email: [email protected]

There have been many people who have been in and out sitting around the Anime Roundtable throught the years, but two guys have remained a constant

Mike Nicolas and James Austin sit down and reminisce on the Roundtable’s fifteen year journey. From its beginnings at a university anime club, to the highs of Official Status at Anime North, to the lows of the eight year hiatus. Returning to a very different landscape a few years ago. And having to relearn old things, and learn new ones in order to navigate the changed podcast world

Listen in as the two talk about where the podcast has been, and what they’re thinking as the podcast moves forward into the future in this honest, unvarnished, unedited special edition

Visit our website for more information and links:

Website: animeroundtable.com

Twitter and IG: @animeroundtable

Email: [email protected]

We didn’t realize that this would be the 15th anniversary episode until we were almost done taping it. But we do celebrate like we always have. First we reserve some kind words for My Hero Academia translator Caleb Cook, who’s been receiving some backlash for reaching a breaking point with certain segments of its English fandom. Then we talk Anime North being postponed again this year in favour of an online edition, an eSports stadium in Toronto and how it may shape things entertainment wise in the long term, Awards Season Crunchyroll and Reddit Style, and the queues. Then we’ll end off talking a little bit about some anniversaries to come in the next few weeks

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

Visit our website for more information and links:

https://animeroundtable.wordpress.com/2021/03/02/anime-roundtable-v2-0-36-february-27-2021/

Website: animeroundtable.com

Twitter and IG: @animeroundtable

Email: [email protected]

In our Valentine’s/Lunar New Year special, we look back on the Japan Foundation’s Japan Film Festival Plus on the final weekend of its Canadian leg, the World Premier of the Memories english dub the weekend before, and headlines in brief about copyright, censorship, animation schools, and collections

Nothing says I love you or Gong Hai Fat Choy than another lockdown pandemic edition of the Anime Roundtable

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

Visit our website for more information and links:

https://animeroundtable.wordpress.com/2021/02/16/anime-roundtable-v2-0-35-february-13-2021/

Website: animeroundtable.com

Twitter and IG: @animeroundtable

Email: [email protected]

In an episode befitting of Groundhog Day. We present an episode taped over two days, and presented in the reverse from the order they were recorded…oh technology

In the first half (which had to be retaped on the Sunday) we look at the predictions of industry analysts and journalists in terms of what they think will happen for the rest of 2021. In the second half (taped on the Saturday), we do a bullets segment about censored items, industry discrimination, politicians behaving badly in the pandemic, and an upcoming seiyuu memoir of note. Then we end it off with the community calendar and a list of items worth checking out online

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

Visit our website for more information and links:

https://animeroundtable.wordpress.com/2021/02/02/anime-roundtable-v2-0-34-january-30-2021/

Website: animeroundtable.com

Twitter and IG: @animeroundtable

Email: [email protected]

This week, with five around the table, we talk for a little bit about Toronto owned fan fiction app Wattpad being sold to Korean based Naver, the group behind the LINE and Webtoon apps. Then a few other thoughts on the fallout from the Shuesha copyright call controversy, Studio Ghibli’s first CG feature, and Anime leaving Amazon Prime. Along with other follow ups on stories we’ve mentioned in the the recent past

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

Visit our website for more information and links:

https://animeroundtable.wordpress.com/2021/01/26/anime-roundtable-v2-0-33-january-23-2021/

Website: animeroundtable.com

Twitter and IG: @animeroundtable

Email: [email protected]

We start the New Year with an old face returning. In it we start looking back on Mike and James’ conversation with Matt Alt and the things that stuck out to the others. Then we do a Bullets Segment with items seemingly tied to Japan’s newly inacted copyright laws. Mike then finishes it off with a couple of modest proposals

Mike Nicolas, Kevin Ng, Geoff Greig

Visit our website for more information and links:

https://animeroundtable.wordpress.com/2021/01/12/anime-roundtable-v2-0-32-january-9-2021/

Website: animeroundtable.com

Twitter and IG: @animeroundtable

Email: [email protected]

Author and translator Matt Alt honours us with his presence to come by and talk about his TV work on NHK World, his formative years learning Japanese, reading the works of Frederick Schodt, how being a nerd became cool, and the recent developments concerning the topics of his latest book “Pure Invention: How Japan’s Pop Culture Conquered the World”

Mike Nicolas, James Austin, with Special Guest Matt Alt

Visit our website for more information and links:

https://animeroundtable.wordpress.com/2021/01/03/anime-roundtable-special-edition-a-conversation-with-matt-alt-december-28-2020/

Website: animeroundtable.com

Twitter and IG: @animeroundtable

Email: [email protected]