Anime Roundtable

We begin this week’s Roundtable by talking our Toronto Area roots and the death of former Mississauga mayor Hazel McCallion (Anime North takes place very close to the Toronto/Mississauga border)

11:30 - James gives his thoughts on last episode, and his recent video gaming

27:12 - It’s Awards Season!!! And anime is no exception (within itself), so we look at both the Reddit and Crunchyroll awards and how they’re trying to take the exercise a little more seriously

01:06:25 - James and Kevin talk at length about delayed anime productions and how an almost perfect storm (pandemic, Lunar New Year, studio workloads) has impacted that

01:23:45 - Kevin did a field trip this week. He watched the “Reincarnated as Slime” movie and went manga hunting uptown

01:27:20 - Mike also took a field trip this week. And visited his old university anime club and the location where the first epsiodes of Roundtable were recorded. And wonders about the future relavance of anime clubs and their place in the current fandom

01:41:45 - And finally the Anime Community Calendar featuring online presentations by the Japan Society and Discotek (both featuring Mike Toole). And the next Sword Art Online movie too and lets look forward to TCAF

This Week’s Drinking Game: Take a shot whenever sleep is mentioned (chances are it’ll knock you out)

Mike Nicolas, James Austin, Kevin Ng

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

Visit our website for more information and links:

Website: animeroundtable.com

Twitter and IG: @animeroundtable

Email: [email protected] 

Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/animeroundtable

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC5U1yZNlQ1VYFH_fV26bYwA

Discord: https://discord.gg/Dg38nRm3 

Editor’s Note: This episode was taped before other developments in the stories mentioned happened

As we settle in, Amy gets caught up on last week’s episode before we talk about this week’s stuff

38:58 - We fill in our duty as an Official Podcast of Anime North for the first time in 2023, by talking about the opening of hotels and registrations…and the headaches involved. So we walk through the timeline of events this week

01:16:04 - Kodansha USA pulling digital simulpubs from other services. Kevin puts on his manga hat and goes into detail. And of course we take our guesses as to what’s next

01:41:19 - What’s on Amy’s list. And isn’t it cool to relate to younger fans?

This weeks Drinking Game: Take a shot whenver you get the sense there’s a reality check

Mike Nicolas, Kevin Ng, Mohamed Sharmarke, Amy-Lynn Greig

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

Visit our website for more information and links:

Website: animeroundtable.com

Twitter and IG: @animeroundtable

Email: [email protected] 

Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/animeroundtable

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC5U1yZNlQ1VYFH_fV26bYwA

Discord: https://discord.gg/Dg38nRm3 

We begin the first episode of 2023 by looking back on the last episode of 2022, with the talk about the Pokemon anime

14:55 - Mike remembers Pele’s contribution to North American pop culture

Then we start on the things that have caught our attention as 2023 begins

23:50 - James brings up Media Blasters founder John Sirabella’s YouTube Channel

33:17 - Then James brings up Shinchosha’s experiment into an AI drawn manga

38:05 - Moh and Kevin talk Bleach and Chainsaw Man with a conversation about pacing an anime in relation to its source material

52:50 - A Wired article in the aftermath of the Netflix cancellation of 1899 caught Mike’s attention on the streamer’s ongoing content pivot, and tries to relate the questions from this article to Anime

01:02:40 - And Miyazaki is coming out with something new. And a talk about Romantic Killer and how Viz is promoting the manga

01:23:00 - So what are we enjoying as of late?

01:25:00 - Vinland Saga and Trigun Stampede has James’ attention. The latter of which sparks a discussion about the recent trend of going back to older titles

01:33:07 - James also recommends Buddy Daddies and his playing of Witch of the Holy Night (with a look ahead to uFotable’s next feature)

01:41:10 - Moh’s choice is Salaryman’s Club. Then Kevin mentions Bocci The Rock, and how its popularity was a little much for its creator at the recent Comiket. Gagant as well

02:01:48 - Mike’s read, Kaguya-Sama (with thoughts about going to the library). And he’s still behind on the anime he has been watching in the past. And he’s been playing Hot Wheels Unleashed

02:05:50 - We start to look ahead to Anime North with registration beginning on Jan 13. And New Years resolutions for the Roundtable in 2023

This Week’s Drinking Game: Take a shot for Mike forgetting to properly hook up his microphone to his MacBook

Mike Nicolas, James Austin, Kevin Ng, Mohamed Sharmarke

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

Visit our website for more information and links:

Website: animeroundtable.com

Twitter, IG, and TikTok: @animeroundtable

Email: [email protected] 

Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/animeroundtable

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC5U1yZNlQ1VYFH_fV26bYwA

Discord: https://discord.gg/Dg38nRm3 

Really we only talk about two (and a half) things this time around

You knew we were going to talk Blue Lock with the FIFA World Cup ending a few hours before. So Mike gives Amy and Kevin a quick synopsis of Blue Lock, and how sometimes anime and manga can both imitate real life, and question it

32:50 - Mike gives an update on the Hana Kimura story

34:50 - We digest on the news of the ending of the Ash and Pikachu story in the Pokemon anime, and the end of an era in our fandom. With Amy giving a quick history of how the anime has “evolved”

This weeks drinking game: Take a shot when you realize we will have to explain Blue Lock again…

Mike Nicolas, Kevin Ng, Amy-Lynn Greig

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

Visit our website for more information and links:

Website: animeroundtable.com

Twitter/IG/TikTok: @animeroundtable

Email: [email protected] 

Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/animeroundtable

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC5U1yZNlQ1VYFH_fV26bYwA

Discord: https://discord.gg/Dg38nRm3 

Please note that we talked a little World Cup before the Sunday games happened. We’re pretty sure after those games, some brackets were broken. So you knew that Mike and Moh had to give some first impressions of Blue Lock

23:55 - What stuck out from Anime NYC…and how we got it confused with New York Comic Con and Big Apple Anime Fest, the different ways titles get licensed, and the tweaks coming to J-Novel Club

50:10 - In talking J-Novel Club, Mike talks about one of the recent anime adaptations of one of the titles and wonders if the dynamic of the media mix is changing

1:00:02 - What stuck out in the interview with Christopher MacDonald, the CEO and Publisher of Anime News Network

1:07:35 - James and Kevin talks about the issues with the new Pokemon games. They still sold well

1:21:50 - Netflix stuff, Cooking for the Maiko House trailer, and NHK’s issues with the advertising tier

1:28:45 - The blocking of the Simon and Shuster and Penguin RandomHouse merger, and looking ahead to the arguements concerning Microsoft and Blizzard

1:36:45 - Some thoughts on the passings of Kevin Lillard and Jason David Frank (this week’s toasts are to them)

Mike Nicolas, James Austin, Mohamed Sharmarke, and Kevin Ng (eventually)

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

Visit our website for more information and links:

Website: animeroundtable.com

Twitter, IG, and TikTok: @animeroundtable

Email: [email protected] 

Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/animeroundtable

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC5U1yZNlQ1VYFH_fV26bYwA

Discord: https://discord.gg/Dg38nRm3 

The Kadokawa acquisition of Anime News Network is no doubt the big news of the week. So we take a long look at it, and the potential that sits there. Along with a few asides like Canadians getting their notice on Crunchyroll’s price increase, and James’ take on the Discotek presentation a few weeks back

Mike Nicolas, James Austin, Kevin Ng, Amy Lynn Greig

Visit our website for more information and links:

Website: animeroundtable.com

Twitter, IG, and TikTok: @animeroundtable

Email: [email protected] 

Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/animeroundtable

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC5U1yZNlQ1VYFH_fV26bYwA

Discord: https://discord.gg/Dg38nRm3 

We settle in as championship week in three major e-sports begins (DOTA2, LOL, and Overwatch)

7:40 - Kevin went to the Anime North Halloween Event at the Japanese Canadian Cultural Centre and does a quick recap, with a version of the Nominoichi (obviously his specialty)

30:10 - Looking back at the Discotek presentation and what caught our attention there

Then Moh finally gets into the conversation

34:11 - Netflix changes their anime focus, and how that clashes with the culture of fandom both past and present

54:50 - Some social media thoughts and what’s been in our queues

1:07:08 - Kevin and Moh look back on James’s last appearance in last week’s Space Heater Chat and we update it

1:13:26 - Finally we talk Halloween, first on the Simpsons, then the tragic events in the Itaewon district of Seoul and revisit Halloween in East Asia again

This Week’s Drinking Game: Take a shot when someone says the word “charming”. And take another when it’s Mike who says it

Mike Nicolas, Kevin Ng, Mohamed Sharmarke

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

Visit our website for more information and links:

Website: animeroundtable.com

Twitter and IG: @animeroundtable

Email: [email protected] 

Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/animeroundtable

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC5U1yZNlQ1VYFH_fV26bYwA

Discord: https://discord.gg/Dg38nRm3 

James returns to the table and chats with Mike as they update the Bayonetta voice controversy. Plus James gives a few thoughts on Bleach and Disney+ from a business standpoint

Mike Nicolas and James Austin

Visit our website for more information and links:

Website: animeroundtable.com

Twitter and IG: @animeroundtable

Email: [email protected] 

Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/animeroundtable

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC5U1yZNlQ1VYFH_fV26bYwA

Discord: https://discord.gg/Dg38nRm3 

Amy returns and sparks a discussion about her grade nine students being fans of a show that came out before any of them were born, and similar benchmarks in recent fandom history, and the key things that facilitated those benchmarks

16:58 - Disney gets the streaming rights for Bleach for Disney+ and Hulu, and Urusei Yatsura on HiDive

26:25 - What have we been watching lately

39:29 - We revist the Kyle McCarley story and get Amy’s take on it with some follow up details

1:23:33 - The Bullets. Some Hunter x Hunter and Card Captor manga news. Tokyo Olympics bribary scandal

1:26:44 - Hey someone put out a list of “Starter Anime”

1:54:05 - A final kind word for the late Kazuki Takahashi, the creator of Yu-Gi-Oh

This Week’s Drinking Game: Take a shot when you realize that the word Mike was looking for was “acrimony”, or confused both Bleach and Naruto

Mike Nicolas, Amy-Lynn Greig, Kevin Ng, Mohamed Sharmarke

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

Visit our website for more information and links:

Website: animeroundtable.com

Twitter and IG: @animeroundtable

Email: [email protected] 

Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/animeroundtable

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC5U1yZNlQ1VYFH_fV26bYwA

Discord: https://discord.gg/Dg38nRm3 

Moh returns to the table and we start with his thoughts from last episode. Especially on upselling out of print, hard to find manga, Japanese guests at FanExpo, Moh’s movie watching, and Kevin, James, and Shin Megami Tensei

39:52 - We talk at length about the Kyle McCarley situation concerning losing his role in Mob Psycho 100 and try to read between the lines with Crunchyroll’s movements in it

In the bullets segment

1:11:55 - What caught our attention from Aniplex Fest. Mainly Urusei Yatsura’s North American streaming rights going to Sentai and HiDive, Chainsaw Man, and the Rurouni Kenshin anime

1:24:09 - Netflix…TaDummmmm. And how Cyberpunk Edgerunner gives a new angle to the industry’s media mix

1:32:00 - Is there any Nippon TV stuff on Disney+ in Canada? Mike wants to get that return on his $2 investment (or about $1.50 US)

1:37:10 - What’s Kevin reading in a new segment we will call, “Kevin’s Culture Corner”. And finally what’s in all our queues

This Week’s Drinking Game: Take a sip whenever we hint Wu Tang CREAM, then a shot when we do

Mike Nicolas, James Austin, Kevin Ng, Mohamed Sharmarke

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

Visit our website for more information and links:

Website: animeroundtable.com

Twitter and IG: @animeroundtable

Email: [email protected] 

Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/animeroundtable

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC5U1yZNlQ1VYFH_fV26bYwA

Discord: https://discord.gg/Dg38nRm3