Anime Roundtable

In the final episode of 2020, we give follow up on our thoughts on the Crunchyroll with Moh finally giving his thoughts. Then we talk a little bit about Kent State University’s dispute with some Ohio State lawmakers over a Susan Napier book on their reading lists. Afterwards some thoughts on Discotek’s latest list of pick ups, Kodansha warning would be pirates, and Anime North’s rescheduling for a hopeful 2021 edition

And we end of with a round of Final Insults for the first time in a long time as a way to end of 2020. But check out the announcement at the end

Mike Nicolas, James Austin, Kevin Ng, Mohamed Sharmarke

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Of course the big story this week is the not so surprising acquisition of Crunchyroll by Sony. But before that we’ll talk about goings on at the Japan Foundation in both Toronto and New York. And after that we’ll talk Anime Dallas and the Lupin III manga, among other things

Mike Nicolas, James Austin, Kevin Ng

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We start this week with the COVID news in the Toronto Area, and a COVID movie run for James and Moh to see the latest Fate/Stay Movie. Then we talk a variety of topics. Like the delivery of Angela’s Kickstarter Comic, remembering Kirby, Maradona, and Tony Hsieh, Simon and Schuster being sold to Penguin Random House, Anime Matsuri, online events at the Japan Foundation in both New York and Toronto, and more on the Netflix algorithm and what happened when some of us answered its call along with some recommendations in the aftermath

Mike Nicolas, James Austin, Kevin Ng, Mohamed Sharmarke

Visit our website for more information and links: https://animeroundtable.wordpress.com/2020/12/01/anime-roundtable-v2-0-29-november-28-2020/

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After following up on the pandemic situation in Toronto (which probably sucks as much as it would in your part of the world), and Kevin gives his thoughts on Kat Callahan’s appearance, we talk at length about Netflix’s foray into Anime with Wired’s talk with their chief anime producer. Then we talk about Seven Seas going deeper into light novels, Media Blasters getting out of the DVD on demand business, and a big week in the video game industry concerning hardware, and issues with a big name in it. We’ll then end it off with a look ahead to the online anime calendar this week

Mike Nicolas, James Austin, Kevin Ng

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https://animeroundtable.wordpress.com/2020/11/17/anime-roundtable-v2-0-28-november-14-2020/

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SPOILER ALERT: LOTS OF KIMAGURE ORANGE ROAD ONES IN THIS EPISODE

A special tribute edition commemorating the late Izumi Matsumoto and his most famous work, Kimagure Orange Road

Journalist and writer Kat Callahan shares her memories of Matsumoto and KOR with Mike by doing a deep dive into the story and characters, the impact on both the overseas fandom and domestic industry; spending time with Matsumoto in 2012, and perhaps how his health problems led to an incomplete legacy

Mike Nicolas with guest Kat Callahan

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https://animeroundtable.wordpress.com/2020/11/05/anime-roundtable-special-edition-remembering-izumi-matsumoto-and-kimagure-orange-road-october-30-2020/

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We start the Halloween episode reminiscing about trick or treating past, and the one that isn’t presently happening. Kevin’s downtown shopping trip of various geek places. A preview of the Orange Road special with Kat Callahan. Sony and Crunchyroll looking like a thing. Netflix and Anime being a thing. Amazon responding to a digital downloads lawsuit as the DRM discussion continues. Songs of Tokyo, Retrocrush, and Sean Connery

Mike Nicolas, James Austin, Kevin Ng, Mohamed Sharmarke

Visit our website for more information and links:

https://animeroundtable.wordpress.com/2020/11/02/anime-roundtable-v2-0-27-october-31-2020/

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In between some Toronto related pandemic news (which of course would be of interest to fans), we talk about the death of Izumi Matsumoto and the legacy left by Kimagure Orange Road, and a bullets segment where Evangelion, Haruhi, and Viz manga pick ups are brought up

Mike Nicolas, James Austin, Kevin Ng, Mohamed Sharmarke

Visit our website for full show summary and links:

https://animeroundtable.wordpress.com/2020/10/19/anime-roundtable-v2-0-26-october-16-2020/

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Zannen Canada host Jesse Betteridge joins us to talk about Sailor Moon’s appearance on Canadian streaming service Crave, and the business dealings behind the scenes that led to the pick up. After catching our breath from that conversation, we talk about the ghost towns that are movie theatres (with Moh risking his life having gone to see Akira in 4k), and movie adaptations of video games. That and the usual to-do items on our lists

Mike Nicolas, James Austin, Kevin Ng, with Jesse Betteridge and Mohamed Sharmarke

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https://animeroundtable.wordpress.com/2020/10/03/anime-roundtable-v2-0-25-october-1-2020/

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First, a quick Raptors thought (and a little schattenfreude towards the Clippers and Bucks). Then we continue our Zoom-tastic journey with thoughts of Crunchyroll Expo (7:09), and CR’s various partnerships (8:52), Media Blasters showing some life on blue ray (13:05), Right Stuf thoughts and the status of their adult label and special editions (15:13), which ultimately leads to a conversation about North American licensors and titles so directly tied to them (20:58), Bartender, Planetes, Violette Evergarden (26:15), and Discotek’s Primetime Monday presentation (30:19) with a follow up to the digest from the week before (32:15), with some memories of seeing many of these titles the original time (35:45)

In the second segment, Moh talks a little bit TIFF@Home and seeing “Under the Open Sky” (54:54), and more specifically the odd experience of watching it at home and how it was handled as opposed to the in person experience both emotionally and logistically (58:42), and the movie world going forward (1:07:20). Then we pause for a moment to reflect on the sunset of the Nintendo 3DS and the handheld video game console era (1:12:23), and the dawn of the PS5 with their showcase this week and individual takeaways from it (1:26:24). Mike joins the arguement that the success of Ghosts of Tsushima will strengthen the calls for an English release of the Yakuza samura era spinoffs (1:42:05). We finish by giving a recommendation to watch the Anime Sway panel put on by the Japan-America Society of Dallas and Fort Worth (1:43:56)

Mike Nicolas, James Austin, Kevin Ng, Mohamed Sharmarke

Visit our website for more information and links: https://animeroundtable.wordpress.com/2020/09/21/6ixtalk-anime-roundtable-v2-0-24-september-18-2020/

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With it being the 19th anniversary of 9/11, Mike begins the episode by telling the story of a close friend’s close call.

Kevin asked Mike to do his version of a masterclass on the fine art of selling second hand anime and manga merchandise (6:51). And Mike, needing some selling tips, readily agrees. So here’s a quick rundown of the points in his lesson

12:50 - Patience

13:55 - Do an annual or semi-annual “spark joy” inventory

15:25 - Using cloud services like google drive to both catalog and advertise

17:20 - Take all your merchandise photos at once

20:35 - Consider Reddit as well as eBay as a place to sell

24:05 - Is a rerelease of the title forthcoming? Use that to maximize value

27:50 - Other online sites

31:35 - PayPal and currency conversions

36:58 - It’s overwhelming starting off, but just do it and learn along the way

42:35 - On selling mulitple volumes of the same title

47:55 - Shipping, both conventional and alternative methods

55:12 - Conclusion

Eventually towards the end of the class, we go off on a tangent on how productively we have spent the pandemic, with Mike saying he’s completely wasted it (50:19)

Then we look back on Angela’s return and look ahead to future episodes on things like this year’s virtual edition of the Toronto International Film Festival (1:00:49), and memories of Ready Player One (1:10:10)

Also points for any listener who can make out Kevin’s niece in the background

Mike Nicolas, Kevin Ng, and Mohamed Sharmarke

Visit our website for more information and links:

https://animeroundtable.wordpress.com/2020/09/12/anime-roundtable-v2-0-digest-6-september-11-2020/

Website: animeroundtable.com

Twitter and IG: @animeroundtable

Email: [email protected]