Anime Roundtable

Kevin lives to tell about his experience working retail the day after Christmas (one of the busiest shopping days of the year). Kevin lives to tell about his trip to Asia (which did include Japan). Kevin gives us his takes on the last few Space Heaters (because he was living). Then Kevin wonders what our reading and watching lists say about him and Mike (and tries to survive telling that)

It's the final podcast recording of 2025. Hope you like it

*more links to be added*

Mike Nicolas and Kevin Ng

Check out our Linktr.ee for more details and the socials: animeroundtable.com

Mike and Mohamed go on and off topic wondering what was the bigger garbage fire this week. Was it the FIFA World Cup Draw, or Amazon's anime AI Dub attempt? And then we went on and off topic one more time with Netflix/WB and Crunchyroll ending winding down their ad tier.

And then we end with our usual "What are we watching and reading" segment. Here's one of Mike's hints: Happy Birthday Mahiru Shiina!!

This Week's Drinking Game: Take a shot for Mike when he realizes Moh got disconnected...

Mike Nicolas and Mohamed Sharmarke

Check out our Linktr.ee for more details and the socials: animeroundtable.com

TLDR: It was better than the microphones for this taping…and you can hear it

Mike and James give their review on the first Anime Revoution Toronto the previous weekend, and in particular the Japanese guests. With a few thoughts on the Toronto Game Expo which was also the same weekend. With a longer conversation about the convention scene for Toronto. And a throw away thought on Amazon’s AI Dubbing attempt

Remind Mike to do a mic check next time

Mike Nicolas and James Austin

Check out our linktr.ee for more information: animeroundtable.com

Mike and James finally go back to the podcast mics. And James talks watching Virgin Punk in theatres, XSEED, and Crunchyroll subtitles. Mike talks his first impressions of using the Manga UP service. We look ahead to Anime Revolution Toronto. And end with a tribute to an Anime North original

Visit our linktree for more information and links: animeroundtable.com

Our first regular episode since Anime North begins by looking back on the Demon Slayer movie talk in last week’s Space Heater. And a question about how much Sony’s recent form has been a win

00:31:40 - Crunchyroll announces an opening for their returning manga service. And there is an extra charge for it and…

Mike seeks therapy after going anime window shopping visit to Chinatown for the first time in years

01:09:20 - The AnimeMen youtube channel has made some news lately

01:34:50 - Kevin went down to AnimeNYC

01:53:00 - The Toronto Community calendar. Anime Revolution Toronto, and Anime Festa

This week’s Drinking Game: Take a shot everytime you hear Mike tapping his pen

Mike Nicolas, James Austin, Kevin Ng, Amy-Lynn Greig, and Mohamed Sharmarke (eventually)

Opening Theme: “FUBUKI - Snowstorm” performed by Pico Masaki

——

Visit our linktree for more information and links: animeroundtable.com

Taped after the successful opening weekend of Demon Slayer: Infinity Castle in North American theatres. Mike hasn’t seen it, but Kevin and Moh have. So we talk about that and “a few” things surrounding it

Visit our launch page for more links: animeroundtable.com

The short answer is yes...as James catches up with the Mike. Gives his view last week's chat on the VShojo controversy, his thoughts on manga, light novels, and how they roll into anime. And then he talks about what caught his attention, namely the Animeigo and Discotek panels at Otakon and how they're a throwback to anime announcements from a by gone time

Visit our launch page for links: animeroundtable.com

Mike finally returns on the podcast side and catches up with Kevin for a talk around the space heater. We get Kevin's take on recent manga announcements from Anime Expo and San Diego, as well as his take on Mike's recent thoughts on manga and light novels. Then, Kevin did see BlackPink when they were in Toronto a few weeks back. So we get his thoughts on that and the Ado concert which took place last night. And finally under the "What the hell man?" heading, VShojo...

Visit our launch page for links: animeroundtable.com

Day two from Anime North always starts with impressions of it. Especially the weather and cosplay, what we saw in the TCC, and the panels seen and even done

0:49:40 - We talked about Matt Alt’s article about the resilience of the popularity of Japanese Pop Culture in comparison to Western…perhaps it’s a focus issue. And maybe the west’s influence in Asian Pop Culture

1:20:55 - Anime North Assistant Program Director Norm McEvoy makes his annual walk on with his thoughts on the convention so far

1:32:20 - Headlines in brief. Crunchyroll now at 17M subscribers. Anne Shirley’s all American cast. And watching 1100 One Piece episodes in 24hr??!

1:52:28 - What’s on our reading and watch lists (Beastars, Blue Box, The Makani, Summer Pockets, Kowloon Generic Romance, Anne Shirley, Apothicary Diaries, Catch Me at the Ballpark, Gundam GQuuuax, Pikman 4, Haganai, Vigilantes MHA, Dr Stone, Red Ranger Isikai)

2:03:10 - Mike’s Final Insult

Mike Nicolas, James Austin, Kevin Ng, Amy Lynn Greig, with Norm McEvoy

Opening Theme: “FUBUKI - Snowstorm” performed by Pico Masaki

Visit our launch page for links: animeroundtable.com

We look back on Day 1 of AN. We talk initial impressions, how the AN compound looks, the weather, then some thoughts on the foreign film tariffs and wonder how this either ties into anime in North America and how it makes any sense

Then we look ahead to Day 2, and Mike's special presentation before the evening taping

Mike Nicolas, James Austin, Mohamed Sharmarke, Lawrence Black

Visit our launch page for links: animeroundtable.com