AnimePodcast.net (あ!PoN)

Season 2 Episode 8: An interview with Yoshiyuki Tomino!

animepodcastnet@gmail.com (animepodcast.net) — Sun, 25 Aug 2013 23:55:00 -0400

Returning to the scene after a very long hiatus, we continue Season 2 with the legendary god of modern giant robots himself, Yoshiyuki Tomino creator of Gundam!

Season 2 Episode 8: An interview with Yoshiyuki Tomino! from Tasayu Tasnaphun on Vimeo.

(Now to find the Odaiba Gundam 2009 Footage ^_^)

Otakon 2012 Vacation!

animepodcastnet@gmail.com (animepodcast.net) — Thu, 26 Jul 2012 13:30:00 -0400

Team A!PoN will be taking a break from Otakon this year to just sit back and relax and get ready to return full form by this winter 2012! Tasayu is done with his Masters, and the rest of the team have settled into their daily lives. So it's with great excitement to announce the return of A!PoN by releasing the rest of Season 2! and Announcing SEASON THREE! Yes our formats haven't changed but we hope to get out as much as possible. So stay tuned for many interviews new and old, as well as photo updates, and just fun side articles. Our team is very small but our ambition is big! The most time is spent in subtitling and volunteers are always welcomed! Just contact us! So coming back online we are bringing you at the end of August, interview with Yoshiyuki Tomino, creator of Gundam (that's right the big robot space opera in Japan, you may have heard of it lol)!

Ready and Prepped to Go!

See you in September 2012!

NEXT STOP? NEW YORK COMICON 2012!

Hideo Kojima at Uniqlo

animepodcastnet@gmail.com (animepodcast.net) — Sat, 9 Jun 2012 12:41:00 -0400

Metal Gear Superstar Hideo Kojima arrives in NYC's 34th Street Uniqlo Flagship store! On hand were hundreds of fans ready to greet Kojima as well as legendary artist Yoji Shinikawa of MGS art fame! The signing was two hours filled with fans with goods ready to be signed, ranging from PS3's to posters! Team A!PoN was there to cover this and bring you some video of the event as well as our own host shaking hands with both Kojima and Shinkawa!

Tasayu With Hideo Kojima Round 2!

Tasayu Thumbs up Yoji Shinkawa's works!

The Otakon Score!!

animepodcastnet@gmail.com (animepodcast.net) — Sat, 30 Jul 2011 12:57:00 -0400

Today Team A!PoN got to sit down with many famous singers, directors and industry people, and I can say proudly we have enough footage now for A!PoN SEASON 3! Yes that's right moving right along with our scheduled interviews today we sneak preview for you interviews coming up once our obligation with the real world frees up. (NOTE: Some members in Team A!PoN are currently getting their MFAs as well as relocating into new cities so we will be on video hiatus for quite some time).

With out further adue, the Otakon Guests we interviewed this year!

Tasayu has Chemistry with Chemistry!

With the lovely Kylee

A wonderful interview with Makoto Shinkai

And chilling with Tom Wayland!

GANTZ Movie! One Night Only!

animepodcastnet@gmail.com (animepodcast.net) — Sat, 8 Jan 2011 01:51:00 -0500

NEW PEOPLE and NCM Fathom are bringing the world premiere of GANTZ to movie theaters nationwide for a one night live event on Thursday, January 20th at 8:00 pm ET/ 7:00 pm CT/ 6:00 pm MT/ 8:30 pm PT (tape delayed).This live-action feature, based upon the popular Japanese manga and anime series, is the ultimate survival game. It will be English over-dubbed exclusively for this big screen event.

Following the feature, the two stars, Kazunari Ninomiya and Kenichi Matsuyama will participate in an exclusive live interview that can only be seen at this event.

Tickets on sale NOW! Enter your zip code to find a theater near you.

Puffy Ami Yumi and Boom Boom Satellites at NYCC!

animepodcastnet@gmail.com (animepodcast.net) — Wed, 27 Oct 2010 13:21:00 -0400

That's right folks, Team A!PoN brings forth a reunion with Puffy Ami Yumi and our own Tasayu, PLUS an interview with Boom Boom Satellites!

A Grand Reunion

Super Levels of PEACEEE!

Signed with Love

Deep Interview about Music and Anime.

Posing with Boom Boom Satellites.

BONUS FLASH BACK PICTURE!

While Touring and Promoting Their Cartoon Network Hey!Hey!Puffy Ami Yumi Show.

Season 2 Episode 7: An interview with Rie Tanaka!

animepodcastnet@gmail.com (animepodcast.net) — Sun, 29 Aug 2010 02:39:00 -0400

Well as promised, we're catching up with our back logs and we bring to you today our fun interview with Rie Tanaka! She happens to be one of Tasayu's favorite guests to date because she was born and raised in Hokkaido! (Sapporo to be more accurate). The chemistry happened pretty quickly to the point where some hilarity ensued, where they actually forgot to.. Ah you'll just have to watch and see in our interview with Rie Tanaka~

Season 2 Episode 7: An interview with Rie Tanaka! from Tasayu Tasnaphun on Vimeo.

Could you believe it they forgot to their greetings lol, other hilarity did ensue but including it would make for too long a show! So lets get to some of our fun footnotes by first leading you to her website (which is in Japanese)!

Rie Rie World !

And if you didn't know aside from voice acting Rie has released several albuns and singles as well you can check them out here:

Finally here is a video of Rie performing live the song that plays at the end of this episode!

Song: Shizukana Yoru Ni (In this Quiet Night), from Mobile Suit Gundam Seed

See you next あ!PoN!

Sad News, Summer Losses...

animepodcastnet@gmail.com (animepodcast.net) — Wed, 25 Aug 2010 21:52:00 -0400

Hey everyone! Tasayu here today with some news both good and bad. 2010 has been a very busy year for us and I know we've rarely posted anything as of late. The reason? James is studying over seas in Japan on his masters! And I have been preparing to go into my Masters this September! We've lost some staff as well, plus we are short a translator, so as you can understand we are quite backlogged! But fear not! I'm working with James to get these episodes out as well as new ones coming this winter. Season Two will close out and we have some very cool ideas with Season 3! I want to thank everyone for understanding why we've been way behind. あ!PoN is only a three man crew with work done on ZERO budget so please bare with us! Oh and if you want to volunteer to help please contact us!

No on too the bad news what prompted me to come and explain this was yesterday Satoshi Kon has passed away. This is a man who was unique in all ways from the moment we met him and started talking to him, he had an energy that no one I've met every shined. And at the age of 46 he has returned to the higher powers to direct in the skies. Even before his passing Satoshi Kon was the story teller to the end writing this beautiful good bye message for everyone to hear, he was a humble man, and a great man. I will miss him, we will miss him. The full translation of his final words can be seen HERE...

I also write this because a while back we did an interview with him and became so busy that we couldn't get his episode out, we thought we had time, but we didn't. And now we couldn't show him what became of that. But we will work on getting out so we can all remember him as soon as we can. I know he will rest in peace and his energy will continue on in many ways.

Another legend loss over the summer was Peter Fernandez the voice of Speed Racer. Peter passed this July 15 at the age of 83. He was also another energized spirt which we were thankful enough to meet. Unlike his friend Corrine Ore (S2E5) we never could catch him for an interview. After all he was Speed! I bumped into him many times and he actually remembered me and signed a book for me as well as on another occasion a Mach5! But our schedules were really hard to sync up, and in the end only through passing conversation we never sat down with Peter. I'm sure his legacy lives on strong, and he's up there doing what he does best, but for us its a big loss and we just want to remember him.

The summer and woke us up on the need to film these legends while they are still around, and even in our busiest hours we will try our best to get to them. Their energy inspires and its that energy we want to bring to everyone. So that we can all be inspired and dream like they dream. They will be missed sadly but the lessons they gave us we can never be more greatful for...

Rest in Peace...

Season 2 Episode 6: An interview with Ai Kawashima!

animepodcastnet@gmail.com (animepodcast.net) — Sun, 17 May 2009 07:45:00 -0400

It's May in NYC and you know what that means (No not Golden Week that's Japan)! Sakura Matsuri at the Brooklyn Botanical Garden and JAPAN DAY 2009 in NYC! Which brings Team あ!PoN to welcome our second J-POP sensation Ai Kawashima! Known in Japan for having an "Angelic Voice" which brings hope and peace with her music. Team あ!PoN was able to catch up with her at Kinokuniya's Flagship store in NYC to have a very fun one on one. So sit back and enjoy both the music and talk with this young and very talented singer named Ai Kawashima~

Season 2 Episode 6: An interview with Ai Kawashima! from Tasayu Tasnaphun on Vimeo.
So as you can see at the age of twenty-three Ai Kawashima has already accomplished so much! Her dreams of world peace has lead her to write books and help established schools for poor countries outside of Japan. Now we know why she has an angelic voice. To learn more about Kawashima Ai visit her website:

Kawashima Ai: My Room Website

And as we heard some of Ai's songs have been used as theme songs for anime and videogames those songs are.

"Zetsubou to Kibou" (絶望と希) is the theme song of Shining Force Neo.
"Compass" was is the theme song of the eighth One Piece movie Episode of Alabasta: The Desert Princess and the Pirates.
"Kimi No Koe" (きみのこえ) is the ending theme song of The Place Promised in Our Early Days.
"Door Crawl", is the theme song of Final Fantasy Fables: Chocobo's Dungeon.

If you want to hear more of Ai Kawashima's music before she went solo check out her albums when she was part of the group "I WiSH"!

http://www.sonymusic.co.jp/Music/Info/IWiSH/

Now if you missed her at the Sakura Matsuri Festival on May 2nd, fear not! You can catch her at JAPAN DAY 2009 May 31st in Central Park NYC! For more information on JAPAN DAY 2009 go to there website:

http://japandaynyc.org/

And that wraps up our show notes for あ!PoN Season 2 Episode 6! So come back and check up with us soon cause we'll have plenty more to bring you, it's been a good summer so don't forget to check out also our "TOKYO MIRROR" segments from the "Angry Otaku" bringing us what's hot in Japan for you to hear! Get ready it's gonna be a blast!

Oh yea and if you guys were wondering about "Ainori" here is the link you can check out! Just click on the pink bus!

THIS JUST IN! We just received links from the folks at "SAMURAI BEAT RADIO" who help set up our interview with Ai Kawashima. You can catch their radio interviews in the links below!

Enjoy!!

Tokyo Mirror Episode 1: Tokyo Anime Fair 2009

animepodcastnet@gmail.com (animepodcast.net) — Tue, 12 May 2009 20:24:00 -0400

あ!PoN presents the new series Tokyo Mirror, with our inaugural episode covering the Tokyo Anime Fair of 2009. While not the first TAF that あ!PoN has been to, this time we bring you an overall look at some of the exhibitors and activities at the show itself.

Show notes and other things we couldn't mention on camera:

Production IG is rolling out 3 OVA series based on popular Japanese historical figures, two of which are Miyamoto Musashi and to coincide with the live action movie, Goemon.
The Mame Shiba "Bean Puppies" will be airing an animated series in Japan this October.
SONY and Aniplex own one third of the world.
There are at least 3 reputable universities in the Tokyo area that offer degrees in illustration and animation.
Patrick Macias likes old school Kung Fu.
Ed Chavez of the Mangacast knows what to order at Okinawan eateries.
One half of the Ninja Consultants was the camera operator when the Angry Otaku was on cam.
The ending segment of this piece was cut off due to noise from helicopters. It was also filmed from the Angry Otaku's apartment balcony.

Musical Notes: あ!PoN Tokyo Mirror's opening theme is "COCOLOGAME" and is graciously provided by Okayama’s own hip-hop artist Youth, from label Karass Castle.

(It's the 2nd song of 2 in the whole vid. Starts at 3:48).

Youth, along with artists from High Life Records are worth checking out, and we’ll be bringing you more later on.

あ!PoN gives props where props are due, to the Planet Japan Podcast and Gomyo of the Hoodie Monks for helping us find such talented musical artists.

あ!PoN Tokyo Mirror is a new series of episodes where we take advantage of our prolonged presence in Tokyo and other areas of Japan. Get ready for more interviews, anime news, and video you won't see anywhere else.

In the Hopper:

Interview: Ai Kawashima
Interview: Satoshi Kon
Interview: Rie Tanaka
Interview: Yoshitaka Amano

Special: Life Size Gundam (it's not even up yet, but we'll be there, when it's up!)

Death Note: L, Change the WorLd - Theatrical Release

animepodcastnet@gmail.com (animepodcast.net) — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 01:40:00 -0400

Anime inspired film once again comes to the big screen with the VIZ Pictures theatrical release of Death Note: L, Change the WorLd.

Opening here in New York on April 29, we checked out the first showing of Death Note: L, Change the WorLd at Regal Cinemas in Union Square. The film is both subbed and dubbed in English.

For more information about the Death Note live films, here’s the official site. Also, you can check or interview with Shusuke Kaneko, the director of this film in our archives here.

We’d like to thank VIZ Pictures, Fathom and Regal Cinemas for their help in our coverage of this event!

Death Note: L, Change the WorLd NEWS

animepodcastnet@gmail.com (animepodcast.net) — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 20:23:00 -0400

By popular demand ...Viz Pictures and NCM Fathom partner again to present Death Note: L, change the WorLd Wednesday, April 29 and Thursday, April 30 at 7:30PM local time in a movie theatre near you.

Death Note: L, change the WorLd is the third live action event based on the Death Note Manga franchise. The follow up to Death Note and Death Note II, Death Note: L, change the WorLd will feature Fathom’s first ever subtitled event. The event (in Japanese with English subtitles) will feature exclusive behind-the-scenes footage and interviews of Kenichi Matsuyama (L), Alessandro Juliani (L's English voice actor), and Hideo Nakata (the director).

Tickets go on sale Monday, March 23. Limited availability - buy your tickets early!

Participating Theatres

CLICK HERE to view a list of participating theatres and purchase tickets to the SUBTITLED event on 4/29 (in Japanese with English subtitles.)

CLICK HERE to view a list of participating theatres and purchase tickets to the OVERDUBBED event on 4/30 (overdubbed in English.)

Event Overview

Inspired by the best-selling Manga Death Note, Death Note: L, change the WorLd reveals how the legendary detective "L" spends the final days of his life. Directed by master J-horror filmmaker Hideo Nakata, Kenichi Matsuyama once again stars as L. L has finally solved the "Kira" case in which countless criminals had died under mysterious circumstances, but sacrificed his own life in order to stop Kira, leaving himself with only 23 days left to live. For his final case L goes up against a bio-terrorist group trying to wipe out humanity with a deadly mutated virus ten times more fatal than Ebola. As L tries to formulate an antidote with a scientist, he must also save the lives of two children who have no one else to turn to. Will L be able to save the world before it's too late? Witness the last 23 days of L.

Don't miss your chance to see Death Note: L, change the WorLd larger-than-life on the big screen!

This event is not officially rated but should be treated as equivalent to an "R" rating.

And remember if you see Team あ!PoN there be ready to come and have a chat with us like always! And you never know if we may have any surprises waiting for you! Check out our video past screening events for Deathnote 1 here and Deathnote 2 here.

Season 2 Episode 5: An interview with Corinne Orr!

animepodcastnet@gmail.com (animepodcast.net) — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 00:03:00 -0400

In this episode あ!PoN, we bring you an interview with the talented Corinne Orr, done during her appearance at the New York Anime Festival. Responsible for some of the earliest English voices of anime characters Corrine Orr has been kicking butt in the recording booth and on stage since before most American otaku were ever born (yeah we're talking about you).

Season 2 Episode 5: An interview with Corinne Orr! from Tasayu Tasnaphun on Vimeo. Originally Canadian, Corinne was able to further her early career in New York City, the original capital of anime dubbing. In addition to her celebrated work in Speed Racer, she has also provided voice roles for Fujiko Mine in Lupan III Mystery or Mamo, and of course everyone's fave laundry product spokes-puppet, the Snuggle Bear.

We'd like to thank Corinne for hanging around the press room and talking with us while Peter Fernandez pulled the most ninja of ninja moves and managed to sneak out for a quick nosh on the west side, avoiding our cameras. Our thanks also go out to the New York Anime Festival and Reed Exhibitions for putting on the event, and of course you the viewer, for watching this.

In a bid to maintain our hyperspeed of episode releases, we'll be coming out with 3 more interviews here at あ!PoN Video Magazine. So stay tuned for in-depth talks with:
Rie Tanaka (Actress)
Yoshitaka Amano (Artist)
Satoshi Kon (Director)

And a bonus episode of Tokyo Anime Fair which starts our new series "Tokyo Mirror"!

Season 2 Episode 4: An interview with T.M.Revolution!

animepodcastnet@gmail.com (animepodcast.net) — Tue, 3 Mar 2009 13:05:00 -0500

The long awaited あ!Pon interview with Takanori Makes Revolution, better known to American otaku as T.M.R.! We were granted this interview courtesy of the fine people at SONY Music, The New York Comic Con, and of course Takanori-san himself. This interview took place in March of 2008, and was delayed because of the long drawn-out move our very own Angry Otaku had to make from New York to Tokyo.

Due to the terms set up by the people involved, this will be our first episode that contains an audio only interview, but that doesn’t mean we couldn’t have fun, so make sure you watch the end!

Season 2 Episode 4: An interview with T.M.Revolution! from Tasayu Tasnaphun on Vimeo.
T.M.R. seems to have quite the affinity for Broadway Musicals including Wicked (which is now playing in Japan!), as well as Guitar Hero and Rock Band of all things. He also lists some of his musical tastes and the story of how the name of T.M.Revolution was chosen.

For more information on T.M.R. and his albums go to his official website "HERE"

The good news is that a new episode is coming up, and we'll be gutsy and actually give a date this time. Look for another interview from an Anime Voice Actress coming here on the 2nd!!

The 2009 New York Comic Con

animepodcastnet@gmail.com (animepodcast.net) — Sat, 7 Feb 2009 01:09:00 -0500

It looks like this year’s New York Comic Con is going to be one for the record books. This con is a definite “something for everyone” kind of place with ample gaming demos, over 100 artists in artist’s alley, panels ranging from Diamond Distribution to Guitar Hero, premiere screenings of Wonder Woman and Yatterman, singing catgirls, cosplayers of all sorts, lightsaber demonstrations, exclusive and limited edition figures, the most expensive comic ever, your own picture next to a Marvel Superhero, and an entire galleria section where every bean bag chair in the City of New York has come to die.

Stop by the Marvel booth to get your own picture taken with a Marvel hero for free! Check out our host TT, swingin it with Spider Man.

It would be impossible to list all the things going on here, so check out the NYCC website for some detailed info. The Con book also has an advert for the Bangkok Toy & Comic Convention coming up next year in January... make those reservations now kids.

Anyone in the NYC Area should come down and check the show out for the day. But it looks like most of the badges are sold out!

Production IG's "Abunai Sisters" Footage Released

animepodcastnet@gmail.com (animepodcast.net) — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 17:55:00 -0500

あ!Pon has been kindly provided with the title sequence and a few minutes of footage from the CG animated series "Abunai Sisters" from the studio Production IG. The series is a direct to DVD release featuring 10 short episodes lasting about 3 minutes each. ANN Article here.

The main characters of the series are based on the Kano Sisters Koko and Mika, while the title is being distributed in the U.S.A. by the company Netprice. More information is available (in English) at the official website for the series linked here.

Death Note II: The Last Name - Theatrical Release

animepodcastnet@gmail.com (animepodcast.net) — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 01:40:00 -0400

Anime inspired film once again comes to the big screen with the VIZ Pictures theatrical release of Death Note II, The Last Name.

Opening here in New York on October 15, we checked out the first showing of Death Note II at Regal Cinemas in Union Square. The film is dubbed in English.

For more information about the Death Note live films, here’s the official site. Also, you can check or interview with Shusuke Kaneko, the director of this film in our archives here.

We’d like to thank VIZ and Regal Cinemas for their help in our coverage of this event.

あ!PoN at New York Anime Festival 2008

animepodcastnet@gmail.com (animepodcast.net) — Sun, 28 Sep 2008 01:07:00 -0400

Another year has almost gone by and it’s time for us to bring you the New York Anime Festival once again!

This year there may be some question marks as to the state of the industry, but with the amount of attendees willing and able to make it to the show (in the rain) has grown considerably, which seems to indicate that the fandom itself is going strong.

The NYAF seems to have everything an anime con usually has, video rooms, panels, the press, dealers, industry, and cosplayers up the ying-yang. But in addition to that, NYC has shown its continuing desire not to be outdone by anyone and is hosting some non-traditional guests such as Iron Chef Morimoto, Gaijin Japanese musical act Happy Fun Smile, and the well known Japanese fashion entity Baby the Stars Shine Bright. There were also those Jedi cosplayers, manga artist Rica Takashima made a very incognito appearance on the con floor, and we’re not sure but we can almost swear we saw the lead singer of Jackyl wandering around (you know, that guy who plays the chainsaw as a musical instrument?).

Why does あ!PoN go to these things? Well aside from adding more convention badges to our collection, we show up to interview anime luminaries, and this show does not disappoint. We’ve been able to sit down with:
Artist and designer Yoshitaka Amano, and the Creator of Vampire Hunter D Hideyuki Kikuchi (you’ll be able to listen to them banter together about who’s version of D is the best).
Voice talent Corinne Orr of original Speed Racer fame.

And only our second Japanese female Seiyuu in our interview series, Rie Tanaka.

Look for all these and more coming from the anime video podcast that all the other podcasters watch: あ!PoN. (well most of them anyway).

ANNOUNCEMENT:

Calling all Japanese speakers: You think you can translate spoken Japanese words into English subtitles on the fly like we make the Angry Otaku do for all of these interviews? Think you can help us out in exchange for some free swag, e-points, and the possibility of being an あ!PoN correspondent at upcoming conventions (read: you’ll get in for free)… Then for the love of all things holy contact us and let us know. We’re looking for a few good translators that can help us out with our backlog of interviews that won’t be seen anywhere else.

FYI: robot girl Aiko lives here.

A!Pon @ New York Anime Fest!

animepodcastnet@gmail.com (animepodcast.net) — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 23:14:00 -0400

Hey Folks, just wanted to let everyone know that Tasayu, The Angry Otaku, and the rest of the A!Pon crew will be at New York Anime Fest this weekend!

Keep a look out for us, we will be interviewing folks and running amuck as usual. Or come by and chat with us in Artist Alley with the Ninja Consultants at Table 15. We have buttons to give away!

And possibly a contest with a fabulous prize! Maybe..Dunno...Ahem...

Check us out!!!
~A!Pon

Season 2 Episode 3: Anime voice actor Lisa Ortiz!

animepodcastnet@gmail.com (animepodcast.net) — Fri, 5 Sep 2008 15:32:00 -0400

Welcome to season 2 episode 3 of あ!PoN. We continue to bring you more voice talent in an interview with Lisa Ortiz! Lisa has brought many an anime character with magical powers and pointy ears into the English speaking world since the VHS heydays, and here she sits down with us at 2007’s New York Anime Festival to tell us about it.
Season 2 Episode 3: Anime voice actor Lisa Ortiz! from Tasayu Tasnaphun on Vimeo.

Lisa’s credits go back to the U.S. dub of some titles that helped make the anime market in the US and just some of them include:

Record of Lodoss War
Pokemon
Now and Then, Here and There
Slayers
Berserk
Yu-Gi-Oh!
UtenaAnd has also had roles in Winx and Grand Theft Auto Vice City (with the Jack Thompson seal of approval).

For a full list of her over 73 roles in anime alone, check out the Anime News Network listing here.

Also, Lisa Otriz is the third person for us to interview to have a voice role in Animation Runner Kuromi.

Points of interest in the interview:

The best way to get into this business is to have a relative steal your car.
English Voice Actors are only occasionally given the original Japanese dialogue to listen to, and almost never a whole episode to take in before they have to come in and act read their part.
In New York no one will care if you walk around using that stupid weaboo voice you yell out at the anime cons.
Lisa likes playing the evil ones, much like Rachael.
We get to hear the whole gambit of Lisa’s roles at the end.
Fans don’t come up to Lisa and say “you changed my life” randomly on the street… but that’s a good thing.
Lisa digs the convention scene.
We were chased out of our original filming location by NY State Park Rangers (boy-scouts with inferiority complexes) so our introduction and ending were improvised.

Next Up:

We’ll be bringing out our heavy hitters with interviews with one on one interviews with Japanese anime director Satoshi Kon and international musical star TM Revolution (yes, really). Leave us a comment if you have a preference about which one you’d want to see first.
Also, we’ll be covering the New York Anime Festival coming up, and if anything major happens, we’ll be there.

That’s all for now.

Season 2 Episode 2: Anime voice actor Rachael Lillis!

animepodcastnet@gmail.com (animepodcast.net) — Sat, 19 Jul 2008 16:49:00 -0400

あ!Pon Season two continues. Our latest episode has us sitting down with Rachael Lillis at the New York Anime Festival. Now for those of you too young to remember, The New York Anime Festival happened way back in December of 2007, where America’s largest city hosted the first of what will be undoubtedly many anime events from Reed Exhibitions.

Season 2 Episode 2: Anime voice actor Rachael Lillis! from Tasayu Tasnaphun on Vimeo.

Rachael Lillis is perhaps best known for providing the English voice of “Jessie” (Musashi) and “Misty” (Kasumi) of the famous Pokemon series, as well as characters in English language productions of Slayers, Irresponsible Captain Tyler, KO Century Beast, Kare Kano, and quite a few more. As usual the Anime News Network’s encyclopedia is the perfect resource to check out for a complete list of titles Rachel Lillis has appeared in.

We’d like to thank Rachael for making time for us over that whirlwind weekend of a convention, and answering questions that she may have been asked many times before. She is the first of a one-two punch of local New York City vocal talent we will bring you. Next episode: あ!Pon brings you the multi-talented Lisa Ortiz!

Interestingly enough, both Rachael and Lisa have both had to provide English voices for anime characters that were voiced in original Japanese by the queen of all seiyuu, Megumi Hayashibara.

A New York City あ!Pon interview trifecta is now in play, and you may be surprised what local anime/manga personality we have for our number 3 spot... one hint, they’re not a voice-actor. So keep watching and wait and see.

Special event Satoshi Kon at Lincoln Center

animepodcastnet@gmail.com (animepodcast.net) — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 19:19:00 -0400

Official website link here.

Starting June 27^th and going until July 1st, the Film Society of Lincoln Center is presenting this interesting look at the works of Satoshi Kon and will be screening his works at the Walter Reed Theater. On the programming schedule are showings of Millennium Actress, Paprika, Paranoia Agent, Perfect Blue, and Tokyo Godfathers, as well as a special appearance and Q&A with Satoshi Kon himself.

We caught up with Richard Peña, Program Director of The Film Society of Lincoln Center and asked him what the public can expect from this first such event dealing specifically with anime.

We will be putting up our interview with Satoshi Kon later in the season, so in the mean time, if you are in the New York area, check out at The Film Society of Lincoln Center.

Coming up next:
Hide your Pokemon because we’ve got Rachael Lillis.

Season 2 Episode 1: Kobun Shizuno Returns!

animepodcastnet@gmail.com (animepodcast.net) — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 00:57:00 -0400

Here we are back for the start of season two! We are happy to welcome back the first “repeat” guest we’ve had on the show, Mr. Kobun Shizuno. Shizuno-san has been quite busy since we last spoke to him way back in episode number five. This time we sit down behind the scenes at the New York Anime Festival, where he was the guest of honor.

Season 2 Episode 1: Kobun Shizuno Returns! from Tasayu Tasnaphun on Vimeo.

In addition to Sigma Six, Kobun Shizuno is also involved as a director in some pretty heavy hitting titles (titles that he wasn’t allowed to talk about last time we spoke!).

Of course there’s the Evangelion movie, and the Fist of the North Star Legend of Toki series, but also there’s Armored Core and the very new Cross Climb.

We have it on pretty good authority that Shizuno-san enjoyed his time at the New York Anime Festival, even though he didn’t get much sleep. In this interview we cover not only his more recent projects, but also his thoughts of his first American anime Convention.

Finally, we find out the real reason for his 2006 visit to the USS Intrepid Aircraft Carrier, which you’ll just have to watch and see to find out!

Fact: The submarine you see in the opening is the USS Growler, which at the time was parked just up the water from the absolutely massive RMS QM 2. If you’re wondering what the QM2 has to do with anime, take a look at Red Shield’s flagship in Blood+.

And here is the Trailer for Cross Climb!

Viz Pictures Death Note Premiere!

animepodcastnet@gmail.com (animepodcast.net) — Fri, 23 May 2008 01:57:00 -0400

Viz Pictures was nice enough to hook us up with some free passes to the premiere screening of Death Note: The live-action movie. So we decided to take our camera's and find out what people think of the film!

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VIZ has released the first of the two Death Note live action films in theaters throughout the U.S., in what appears to be the start of a new regular treatment for high profile movies they will release, as they also have plans for a similar theatrical release of Bleach.

This English language theatrical premiere of Death Note was held in New York’s Chelsea Cinemas (a great theater by the way) and played to an almost capacity crowd.

Both Death Note films were directed by Japanese Kaiju heavyweight Shusuke Kaneko (Gamera 2, Gamera 3, and Godzilla, Mothra, King Ghidorah: Daikaiju Sogougeki), with whom we sat down and talked to last year for the Japanese language premiere of Death Note. You can check out our interview with him here.

Stay tuned for more coverage of on-the-spot anime and manga happenings as A!PON launches into season two.

NY Comic Con VIZ Exclusive Story with Stan Lee

animepodcastnet@gmail.com (animepodcast.net) — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 16:00:00 -0400

A special episode of あ!PoN coming to you from the New York Comic Convention where VIZ has just made a major announcement regarding upcoming publishing plans.

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In attendance were none other than the one and only Stan Lee, the closest thing to a living national treasure us Americans will ever have, who announced and showed off the upcoming Ultimo publication, talking about its production history, and giving away signed copies for those lucky enough to get one. If you live anywhere near a Kinokunia, then we suggest you pick this thing up as soon as you possibly can.

Next up was an exclusive announcement, one that you will only hear and see here first! It has to do with Viz, Shonen Jump, and simultaneous publishing. Think you know? Then watch this episode!

(C)2008 by Stan Lee - POW! Entertainment / Dream Ranch, Hiroyuki Takei / Shueisha Inc.

Is is just me or does it look like Stan is gonna commit せっぷく here? -TAO

Watch this space for more items from the New York Comic Con, and pop-culture brought to you by あ!PoN!

Episode Twelve Part 2: Paul Gravett

animepodcastnet@gmail.com (animepodcast.net) — Mon, 7 Apr 2008 02:55:00 -0400

Hey there! Here is the last episode of our 1st season! We continue our interview with Paul Gravett author of Manga: 20 Years of Japanese Comics.
Also in honor of this episode we get a short lesson in manga genres by Taz.

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SHOW NOTES:
Here's a bit more infomation on the different genres:

Doujinshi
This type of manga translates as "fan-work" (literally "same-person-writing") Doujinshi is unofficial manga that is made and produced by fans of an original series, or a self-published manga.

Gekiga
Gekiga means "dramatic pictures". This type of manga is more experimental or literary.

Shōjo
Shōjo (literally "girl") is manga aimed at young females up to the age 18. These series tend to focus on romance and relationships from a young female's point of view.

Shōnen
This is almost the same as shojo except it is mostly action, sports or romance for males up to age 18. It translates literally as "boy".

Kodomo
This kind of manga is for little children that are just learning to read. Kodomo translates literally as "child".

If you want to read about even more genre's check out the great wiki where we got it all from.

More show notes to come.

We will be back soon with season two of AnimePodcast.net!
Stay tuned!

~A!Pon Crew

February's Flashback Fridays FINALE!

animepodcastnet@gmail.com (animepodcast.net) — Fri, 22 Feb 2008 00:00:00 -0500

Well here we are! The final flashback of the Tokyo Reporter Series! A found day of singing, interviews, and KARAOKE! Let's get rolling!

Well folks as you can see they saved the best for last for me! Tokyo Tower! This was really cool and some of the pics I got from here were amazing! A definite hotspot when your in Japan! The night view was beautiful! I interviewed many cool people here and a few Thai ones as well! There was this one family that actually came up the stairs to the top of the Tower and was all sweaty, it was really cute and we had him on interview as well! So after the edutainment part of the segment we went down to the tourist lobby had some McDonalds and then tried to film their wax museum, which was not at all like Madame Tassauds ! But still quite grand and cool, what we didn't show you was at the exit of the wax gallery there was a really kick ass house of the dead game booth that was full enclosure and motion reactive! Kinda creepy but we were already off to:

Shibuya! Looking for a place to show off some Karaoke fun! Luckily after a few interviews and some awkward moments we found the place Bill Murray did his Karaoke scene in Lost in Translation! Awesome!! Cameras were prohibited but thanks to Euralis Weeks, I had my own Taz Cam to film the insides of the place. Now what you didn't see was, I actually did two takes one with "Ready Steady Go!" and another with "Living La Vida Loca" which was insane and a bit to embarrassing to put up! LOL. So before I run here are some lovely Japan Pics from the last day:
A very confused Tokyo Crowd (Me with the orange bag) lol:

And a very special Thanks for all who watched from the entire crew!!

Well folks that's it for me for Flash Back Fridays! If you want to see more head over to the TOKYO REPORTER BLOG HERE! But stay tuned tho' when we find out who the winner is we'll post it right here! Good luck to whoever becomes the next TOKYO REPORTER!

Stay tuned our regularly broadcasted shows will return back on schedule as soon as we figure out what that schedule is! We are spread so thin right now that it seem we cant keep up with all our content! Ahhh! Bare with us we promise you Gravett will be up soon so we can finally launch season 2 of ANIMEPODCAST.NET!

February's Flashback Fridays Part III

animepodcastnet@gmail.com (animepodcast.net) — Fri, 15 Feb 2008 00:00:00 -0500

An I'm back, and we are traveling back to day three of my Tokyo Adventures, I know part two of our season finale has yet to air, but there is a good reason! A very good reason and that's cause our Team A has been swamped with a ton of need attention projects (remember they also have other work)! So hopefully they'll be back sooner than later, but until then let's continue with our nostalgic "Flashback Fridays"!

So as you can see this was the day that we hit TAF (Tokyo International Anime Fair)! and boy o boy was it a blast! Aside from all the great shwag I walked away with it was really fun interviewing random people from all over the world! Canada, France, Korea, Thailand, Spain everyone was here! And man was it large, we got to hang in the press room where we got to hand with actual press (weird cause I kept forgetting that I was press as well lol). We did get to shoot this in the press room. The set ups were great and the floor was wide open with some of the best new anime which by now you have probably seen already! So after a few hours there it was back on the van to:

Studio Gonzo! Which btw was a two and half hour van ride from Tokyo to a modest building front that looked more like a paper warehouse then a top animation studio. Talk about stealth, it was pretty much located right in the middle of a regular rural neighborhood. So after a tour within Gonzo I got to interview the president of Gonzo himself Shin Ishikawa, which hopefully we will air here soon enough! He speaks amazing English and has this suave Hugh Grant vibe. He let us in on the ins and outs of the industry and where Gonzo was going in the future which for now is hush hush.

That pretty much was our work hours but of course we decided an early day means early partying in Shinjuku! Hell yea we hit up some kaiten sushi and then went off to drink and karaoke, tis great times when you do a hard day of work, cause you know your gonna play twice as hard lol (shhh)... Here are two pics from the aftermath, you can go to the site to see some of the fun videos I caught with my camera. Tee hee... 1st the crew having some nummy Kaiten Sushi and Sake!

and of course KARAOKE a prelude of day four's work!

Oh wait one more before I go~ Our awesome camera guy taking pictures with some "Center Guys" in Shinjuku! (Kind of like Hosts)!

So that's the crazy for this week's Flashback Friday, hope everyone has a safe weekend! Until next week!

February's Flashback Fridays Part II

animepodcastnet@gmail.com (animepodcast.net) — Fri, 8 Feb 2008 00:00:00 -0500

Welcome back to Part 2 of Flashback Friday! The journey to the past now continues so check it out. (Apologies for not having the second part of Gravett up we have been so busy this week).

Well this was interesting, going to check out the Tokyo Metro Building and seeing all the fun things up there it was sweet! I got to interview two graduates and they were in full kimonos really cool! click HERE for pic of the tower. The inside of the Tokyo Metro was really really huge and going up popped my ears! The view was amazing and seeing how the city was laid out was really neat. I saw Bill Murry's hotel from "Lost in Translation" and it's cool, but the next stop after that was:

Sanrio Puroland! Hello Kitty and Badbadz they were all there! It's so pink it made me sick lol, Imagine Disneyland but like smaller and old. Hehe we had food in Hello Kitty Land's Swedish Cafe and man o man the buffet was awesome. And by the end of the trip I met with:

Hello Kitty at Hello Kitty's house, man was she cute but after that insanity the good folks of Anime Selects took me to the:

Sawanoi Sake Place! This place was phenomenally old and i meant +200 years old! And smelled of sweet sake, we went on a whole tour and learned on the greatness of Sake making and then at the end of it all we drank SAKE! To the point of us getting sick! That was pretty much day two!

REMEMBER: There is still a chance for you to become this year's TOKYO REPORTER! for Anime Selects! To participate get your videos ready and go HERE to see how to enter! Time's ticking deadline is FEBRUARY 15,2008!

February's Flashback Fridays Starts Now!

animepodcastnet@gmail.com (animepodcast.net) — Fri, 1 Feb 2008 00:00:00 -0500

Now before the grand finale of the spectacular first season of AnimePodcast.net or あ!PoN as it has fondly become, we present to you with Flashback Friday! For those of you who remembered, last year our own Tasayu Tasnaphun had travel on assignment to Tokyo, Japan to report on the many happenings from the far east. Luckily for those who didn't have the Anime Selects channel we have been cleared to show you what happened during those mysterious 4 days of missions and adventure! So here begins the 1st installment of February's Flashback Friday, starting with day one of the Tokyo Adventure and with special behind the scenes commentary by Tasayu himself! (Which would be where our show notes are after the vid)!

Hey all Taz here! So even tho this is an overview of what happened I let you in on a few inside fun so bare with me as I unravel the behind the scenes of Tokyo Day 1! Starting with:

@Home Maid Cafe (Site in Japanese): So they started me right of in the heart of Akihabara land of the Otaku! And the current (even now) trend of the MAID CAFE! Now I must say this was a trip having chocolate bear cake for breakfast, and playing a game with a maid! Totally innocent and safe but pure heaven for the otaku men. They had me dress up like a butler as well and I see the only reason for having butlers? They act like bouncers for the all male clientel. A pic of me in butler mode and with camera crew can be found here! Now onto some real food at~

Asakusa Shrine: This was truly awesome although some parts were being renovated the crowd was immense! I got to learn how to drink from the purifying fountain (which incidentally pigeons were swimming in lol). And learn to see what my fortune was which was BAD! (don't worry we went back near the end and I got big fortune so yay)! The classic food was amazing and I highly recommend the Takoyaki (which as in the video I really BURNED my tongue! So remember kids, octopus balls are HOT)! The people were great to talk to and the oh so many random "gaijin"! The crew at the shine pic is here! Oh yea I also burned my tongue on the hot sweet sakura sake as well, man I need to slow down. But there was plenty of time to recover as I headed to~

Shibuya: This won't be my first time here but, man looking for "Engrish" there is like shooting fish in a barrel some hilarious fines! You can see my list of what I found here! This was relatively a first day mission thing so they kept it light and my work was mostly me being me. Although I must say one cool thing in Japan? It's a lot like New York no one really gets surprised by a bunch of foreigners with cameras on a train as you can see in the pict below (you just have to love cities)!

Well that about wraps up some of the things from Day 1, check back next Friday for day two of this fun flashback series! We'll be back next week with the season finale episode with Paul Gravett Pt.2 !

REMEMBER: There is still a chance for you to become this year's TOKYO REPORTER! for Anime Selects! To participate get your videos ready and go HERE to see how to enter! Time's ticking deadline is FEBRUARY 15,2008!

Episode Twelve Part 1: Paul Gravett

animepodcastnet@gmail.com (animepodcast.net) — Tue, 1 Jan 2008 01:00:00 -0500

We interrupt the NY Anime Festival coverage to bring you the first of our 2-part final episode from our first season; an interview with Paul Gravett, author of MANGA: 60 YEARS OF JAPANESE COMICS.

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A while back Mr. Gravett was in our neck of the woods speaking at a MOCCA and we were lucky enough to get a chance to sit down with him and talk about his book. Manga fans should not miss this one, as we cover everything from manga’s origin and history, to its impact on the world today, and where it’s headed in the future.

If it sounds like Taz is whispering, that’s because we filmed these segments in the newly opened 6^th Avenue location of Kinokuniya Books in New York, and we couldn’t help but feel like we were in a library!

Our very own Manga Café.

Paul Gravett had a lot to say, so stay tuned for the second of this two-part interview here at www.animepodcast.net as well as much more from the NY Anime Festival.

NYAF 07 AFTERMATH: UDON

animepodcastnet@gmail.com (animepodcast.net) — Thu, 27 Dec 2007 12:34:00 -0500

Check it out!
Here's our chat with the folks from UDON! These guys have done some great work in just about every medium out there! They are most well known for the work they have done for Capcom's Street Fighter series.

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If you haven't had enough of these guys fabulous art check out OMAR's and JOE's Deviant Art Pages! (Oh yea and don't forget UDONCREW's page as well)!
During a quick break at the con we ran in to the folks from nycmoviescreenings.com and challenged Taz to a most deadly game of...dice?

UPDATE: After viewing the Sweeny Todd Movie Taz highly recommends people go and see it, it was just plain amazing!

Note: Audio issues with UDON clip should be fixed now, thanks!

NYAF 07 Day Three

animepodcastnet@gmail.com (animepodcast.net) — Mon, 10 Dec 2007 13:32:00 -0500

SUNDAY SUNDAY SUNDAY!!!!
It's the last day of the festival. Here are a few highlights of the last day events and people's thoughts on the festival in general!

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DAY THREE Dec 9, 2007

Wow was that something. We were lucky enough to get the captain of the entire ship aside for a moment, Mr. John McGeary of Reed Exhibitions and get the real scoop on how things were going, and what next year’s plans are. They’re currently deciding about next year’s date as you can see, so if you have some input you'd like to give them, now is the time to let them know.

Talking to even the most negative of anime fandom pundits yielded some words of approval and encouragement, so if even AWO’s resident grumpy Otaku has a good thing to say about the show, then they must have done something right.

There is a disturbingly surprising amount of people of all ages out there that are quite adept at the Haruhi SOS dance as we saw it performed en masse all day in front of the Bandai table.

We gave the microphone to The Angry Otaku and let him lose. We’re not sure if that was a good idea or not, but there haven’t been any police reports filed so we’re thinking everything’s ok.

Our tree is bigger than yours.

Don’t go too far, as we’ll have plenty of content coming up as soon as we recover from the lack of sleep! We'll have full reports on the New York Anime Festival coming to you soon!

NYAF 07 Day Two

animepodcastnet@gmail.com (animepodcast.net) — Sun, 9 Dec 2007 01:16:00 -0500

The E cam is back! And I have a funny sampling of Saturday's going ons.

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DAY TWO Dec 8, 2007.

And what a difference a day makes. The NY Anime Festival was able to handle a large influx of attendees so fast, that before we knew it, the floor was packed with the Otaku masses, sporting some of the most intense cosplay sostumes we’ve seen in quite a while (and we were left to wonder; did they wear that on the Subway on their way here?).

The face of あ!PON is who you'll be graded against when you're trying out for Comcast's Tokyo Reporter 2008. Our very own T.T. wishes everyone the best of luck, and says the most important thing is to not be afraid and just be yourself! 皆さん、がんばるしよ！

John O’Donnell of Central Park Media reminded us that while it’s been a while, the NY Anime Festival was not the first anime convention in New York City, and that the way things are looking the NY Anime Festival is going to be around for quite a while. Remember to support the show and pick up your t-shirt, or our personal favorite item, the saké set.

Cosplay: SERIOUS BUSINESS.
Although somewhat controversial if you ask cosplay.com, the World Cosplay Summit contest was a popular event at here, and that’s probably because the winners are going to get a free trip to Japan to represent the USA in the World Cosplay finals. Good luck to the winners.

NYAF 07 Day One

animepodcastnet@gmail.com (animepodcast.net) — Sat, 8 Dec 2007 02:30:00 -0500

DAY ONE HIGHLIGHTS!
E here! It's been a long but fun day! We got tons of great interviews. Here's a short peek of what's to come...

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DAY ONE was Dec 7, 2007. Luckily there was no need for “infamy” regarding the NY Anime Festival, as the event got underway and proceeded without a hitch from the standpoint of the attendees. Friday being open only to professionals for the first part of the day, gave anime business some much needed breathing space to try and get a few things done before the large crowds showed up. Hopefully in the future we’ll start hearing announcements about anime co-productions that have been worked here in New York at the event itself.

We’ve got some great interviews lined up for you, including our second interview with none other than the Convention’s guest of honor Kobun Shizuno. Watchers of this program may remember we talked to Shizuno-san last time he was in our area, back in 2006.

The NY Anime Festival knows what it’s doing, and everything that an anime convention should have is here, along with plenty of helpful staff, ample printed programs, great con merchandise, and lots more to come.

Friday was a blast, and things are just getting warmed up.

NYAF 07 Day Zero

animepodcastnet@gmail.com (animepodcast.net) — Fri, 7 Dec 2007 03:45:00 -0500

Hey Folks!
Take a look at our Thursday coverage of the festival!
More to come tomorrow!

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Some Show Notes:

DAY ZERO was, December 6, 2007. In addition to the show’s general setup and early badge pickup, Day Zero was also the day of the ICv2 Conference on Anime and Manga.

ICv2 hosted a presentation followed by moderated panel discussions of industry professionals, covering a range of topics specific to the anime and manga markets here in the U.S. Topics covered were:

-ICv2 Whitepaper; Anime and Manga (general overview of the market)

-Marketing to the Otaku Generation

-Girls, the “Other Half” of the Otaku Generation

-Technology and the Otaku; The New Media Frontier

These events had the aim of educating industry professionals, retailers, and institutions the varied ways in which the anime and manga industry function, how the market reacts to certain things, and what to expect in the future. Some major points that were made known were:

Tokyo Pop is working on developing a method of manga content delivery to cell phones and other hand-held devices, but it will be a long time before print is dead.
Japanese studios are still looking to begin co-productions from the ground up in an effort to both finance production as well as release properties simultaneously in different regions in order to avoid the loss of revenue that comes from anime downloads which happen in the long window between release in Japan and release in the U.S. (We could have told you that years ago).
Manga is doing well while anime DVD sales have steadily declined.
Downloading of anime fansubs by fans is a problem because it makes the market look bigger than it really is. (We don’t like to hear that any more than you do, but prove us wrong).
One Piece turned out the way it did because of the FCC, much as Otaku would like to think otherwise.
The way to get girls to buy manga and anime is basically to just put Sessho Maru on the cover with his shirt off. But some think that panel was total crap. You'll find out later.
Don’t ever eat the cookies at the Javits Center.

The highlight of the programming was as is know widely known, the statements of 4Kidz CEO Al Kahn regarding the relevancy of Japan as a major entertainment exporter, and his plan to distance 4Kidz from their current position regarding Japanese properties.

ICv2 Has released some written coverage of this event which can be found here and here.

For those of you out there that feel left out, look forward to audio coverage of the presentations and panel discussions coming soon from the Ninja Consultants.

This was the first anime convention ever to be held at the Jacob Javits Center in New York, which is one of the few facilities in the city capable of handling a show like this. The Javits Center union wouldn’t let us on the floor of the convention during setup, but we ended up sneaking in (sans giant camera) anyway. The Javits center is a massive complex which was able to hold an ongoing World Championship of Magic the Gathering next to the NY Anime Festival and still look really empty. Also, it has many clearly marked exits.

A!Pon @ New York Anime Fest!

animepodcastnet@gmail.com (animepodcast.net) — Thu, 6 Dec 2007 02:58:00 -0500

Hey, Hey! The entire A!Pon crew is going to be at the New York Anime Fest and we can't wait to tell you all about it!

Check back here all weekend for reports on all the events!
Later!

~E

Episode Eleven: Shusuke Kaneko

animepodcastnet@gmail.com (animepodcast.net) — Tue, 9 Oct 2007 00:39:00 -0400

We tracked down legendary kaiju movie director Shusuke Kaneko at the Japan Society. Mr. Kaneko recently directed the two live-action Death Note movies.

Episode Eleven: Shusuke Kaneko from Tasayu Tasnaphun on Vimeo.

We were lucky to sit down with him for a bit and talk about directing Death Note and Death Note 2, as well as his background in Kaiju films (Japanese monster movies).

Shusuke Kaneko also worked on some anime titles early in his career, and was in a college club with none other than anime director Mamoru Oshii (we'll try to interview him as well).

This interview was conducted in conjunction with PopCultureShock and with special thanks to Subway Cinema.

To see the interview there, check out www.popcultureshock.com, because we told them they could post it first (aren't we nice?).

Death Note: The Anime, is about to hit US airwaves on Cartoon Network's Adult Swim and Cananda's YTV. Check you local listings!

Coming up next, is a sit-down discussion with the author of the new book: MANGA: Sixty Years of Japanese Comics, Paul Gravett.

Do you have comments about the Death Note live action films, or other anime subjects in general?
Send the good bad and ugly to animepodcastnet@gmail.com and we'll try to respond to them in an upcoming episode!

Later!

Be careful if someone comes up to you asking you your name!

Episode Ten: Rinatro Part 2

animepodcastnet@gmail.com (animepodcast.net) — Tue, 21 Aug 2007 12:27:00 -0400

This is the second part of our interview with Japanese director Rintaro, filmed when he appeared at the Anime Next convention in New Jersey. In this episode, Rintaro tells us how he builds an idea for a film by starting with the music and sound and working onward from there.
Episode Ten: Rinatro Part 2 from Tasayu Tasnaphun on Vimeo.
Off camera, Rintaro mentioned the film "Brazil" as an influence in "Metropolis" cityscapes.

"Bitter Rice" is in fact, an Italian film ("Riso Amaro"), and from the original poster, we get a good idea what Rintaro-san is talking about.

Yona Yona Penguin is still going strong, and apparently the French have got their hands on some design images.

And so there you have it folks, the final part of our Rintaro interview. We'd like to thank the people at Anime Next for helping to set this up.

Next episode continues with Kaiju director Shusuke Kaneko, the director of both live-action Death Note movies.

Episode Ten: Rintaro Part 1

animepodcastnet@gmail.com (animepodcast.net) — Mon, 30 Jul 2007 22:44:00 -0400

あ!PON Episode 10: Rintaro, Director of X1999, Galaxy Express 999, and Yona Yona Penguin.

Episode Ten: Rintaro Part 1 from Tasayu Tasnaphun on Vimeo.

Yes yes, it has been a while once again. Today we bring you something that’s been rattling around in the vaults for some time now but that we just got around to translating. There are many theories as to why we take so long, but one day we will know for certain.

In an effort to make this a bit more interesting, we have some interstitial programming in here. We hope you enjoy it or at least just don’t get bored and wander off.

This episode is a two-parter, but don’t freak out, because part two is actually done and will be coming out 1 or 2 weeks from this episode.

Notes on the video:

This interview was conducted at Anime Next on the same day as our episode # 8 interview with Beck creator Sakuishi-san. You may notice that they are both wearing shirts with red roses on them. ...We don’t know why.

Rintaro cites growing up exposed to international cinema of the 1940’s and 1950’s as a key influence in the development of his skills as a director, and mentions specifically the films of American director John Ford.

His first job in animation was at the Osamu Tezuka founded, Mushi Productions (or simply “Mushi-Puro”) as a director and animator. That’s getting in on the ground floor and then some.

We use the word Gestalt. We’re sorry.

Rintaro is sitting next to Masao Maruyama, of Studio Mad House. If you don’t know who he is, check out our first episode.

Trivia you may not know:
Rintaro has done a few storyboards for Tenjou Tengei, and animation for Ninja Scroll.

Rintaro was born in Japan, in 1941 to a father who was an army barber.
News Flash!
Watchers of the show may remember Kobun Shizuno, from episode # 5. Well it turns out that not only is he directing a Fist of the North Star production, but is also helping to direct the new Evangelion movie. It looks like that was why he was at the Intrepid Museum with Koichi Ohata, checking out the military hardware. So when you see some new Eva footage, look for ...aircraft carriers.

You can meet Kobun Shizuno at this years New York Anime Festival.

-あ!Pon out.

Episode Nine: Kimio Ikeda (1934-2007)

animepodcastnet@gmail.com (animepodcast.net) — Tue, 22 May 2007 11:35:00 -0400

In memory of Kimio Ikeda.

Episode Nine: Kimio Ikeda (1934-2007) from Tasayu Tasnaphun on Vimeo.

Long before our own T.T. was Comcast’s Anime Selects Tokyo Reporter, he could be seen milling around at the very first Tokyo Anime Fair with the likes of Anime Producer Kimio Ikeda as part of the Shiden production and design team. In 2004 TT interviewed the great Ikeda-san at Tokyo Bigsite where the start of production on his latest anime title was announced.

It is our sad duty to report however, that Mr. Kimio Ikeda, has passed away at the age of 73. As his dream of producing his final work “Shiden” continues, and as the world of anime he helped create spreads far beyond Japan, we bring you his last on-camera interview, direct from the Tokyo Anime Fair.

Before you dismiss anything about what we have brought you here today, perhaps you should read about Ikeda-san’s contributions to anime as he writes in his own words (check out 1963… you’ll be surprised):

1934: Born in Kohriyama City, Fukushima Prefecture, Japan. Graduated from Meiji University, Tokyo.

1957: Immediately hired by Toho Co. (Advertising Dept.) Current CEO of Toho Co., Isao Matsuoka, entered the Company at the same time. While at Meiji University, I played college baseball, and played Shigeo Nagashima's, Rikkyo University many times. Nagashima and I are very close friends. He is known in Japan as "Mister Baseball", and is the teacher of Shigeki Matsui, (currently with the New York Yankees).

1958: As Toho Co. was ordered to re-organize by the Allied Forces, occupying Japan at that time, the new company, Shin-Toho CO. was born. At this time, I was chosen as the 3rd Assistant Director for Akira Kurosawa. The 3rd AD is the youngest rookie, actually an errand-boy who does all kinds of errands for the filming crew.

1959: One day, Kurosawa told me to go to the work shop Of Ryuzo Kikushima, one of the most celebrated scenario writers at that time in Japan, to discuss changes of one scene that Kurosawa wanted, and needed to have Kikushima's approval. Ever since this meeting with Kikushima, I began to get acquainted with many other famous people involved in film-making. Kurosawa used to tell us rookies: "With a D-class scenario, you cannot expect a good film even by a genius director. But with an A-class scenario, an average director can make an excellent film." Kurosawa wanted to teach us how important the original scenario is for film-making.

1960: Appointed by Shin-Toho Co. to work as a staff-producer of special-effect films. I was involved in making of great works such as "Battleship Yamato", "Yukino-Yo-Henge" , "Super Giants", and a mega-budget film entitled "Emperor Meiji and Japan-Russo War". Later in this year, I was requested to work with Eiji Tsuburaya, Japan's great special-effect maker, and involved in the making of his first "Gojira".

1961: Introduced and recommended by Dentsu Co., now the world's largest advertising agency, I was sent to the Arthur Rank Studio in New York for 3 months, to work in the project "Pinocchio", 5-minute puppet acted stories of 104 episodes, and assisted the actual filming, editing, and sound-effects in this series. The Rank Organization then put me in a cartoon-making school where I became acquainted with Steve Yusaku Makagawa, who later became the key animator for Disney Productions. I also learned the techniques of cartoon-making from Mike Webster, who was the supervisor of Disney Animation Production at that time.

1963: I returned to Japan from New York and was immediately requested by Osamu Tezuka to help work on his first animation film, “Tetsuwan Atomu.” With Tezuka, we sat at the round table every day and night to come up with the best way to make a high-quality animation series of 30 minutes each for 52 weeks. There was not enough funding, time, or resources which Disney had plenty of!

A high quality animation requires 24 cell pictures per second. A solid 25-minute episode must have 36,000 pictures. This was far too many for Tezuka’s team to cope with. One day, Tezuka came running to join our brain storming session with a great idea. He made only 8 cells and each cell was triplicated by the camera. This generated exactly 24 cells per second! Until that time, our mind was fixed to an idea of drawing all 24 individual cells per second! In order to come to this innovative idea, Tezuka had studied day and night using his knowledge about human visual perceptions and how to trick the eye into seeing things. Because he majored at the Osaka University Medical School, he was able to have insight that other people did not. With his new idea, we were all very encouraged, and started to make the "Atom" series. This new method called "The Limited Animation" later became the main stream of animation-making both in Japan and in the USA.

1964: The year of Tokyo Olympics Games. Japan had made a tremendous progress in communication, transportation and in construction of roads and buildings. The "Tetsuwan Atomu" series went on air through Fuji TV Channel 8 at 7PM on a daily basis. This was the first Japan-made animation for TV. In the course of weekly on-air for 3 years, the average rate was 23% with the highest record o f amazing 52.8%. The revenue from merchandising and toys was astronomical.

1965-1975: As the "Atomu" series getting the high reputation and popularity, I was invited by Tatsuo Yoshida, then CEO of Tatsunoko Production, to work with him on a new project. That new project was "Mach Go! Go! GO!" (that’s SPEED RACER to you US fans). This program went on air as one of the first all-color animation ever to be televised in Japan. W dealt with Yomiuri Advertising Corp., and the program went on air on Nippon TV Channel 4.
After the debut of "Mach Go! Go! Go!" on Channel 4, I went on producing "Orphan Hutch" "Gatchaman", "Aakushon Dai-Maoh" , "Time Boccan", and some others. I also produced, and made my own short programs of animations for TV and magazines.

1976: The co-production of the 10 minute episodic animation series “The Kid Power" started. It went on to 104 episodes, and went on air on ABC-New York. ABC would also go on to air various family animation series such as "Red Baron", "20,000 Miles Under the Sea", "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer", "Jack and Beanstalk" "The Willie Mays Story", and "Cinderella". I was fortunate to study the makings of American animation and be involved in these famous productions.
During the years 1976 through 1984, the Japanese animation industry was still depending on the low labor cost to draw in business and sustain itself. Osamu Tezuka and myself were involved in setting up a training program in South Korea, which was sponsored and subsidized by the South Korean Government. When that began, the cost for producing anime in Korea was 10% of the same production in Japan as far as the labor costs went, and the style and quality was the same.
It was actually a great opportunity for many anime producers such as myself, because this meant we could make more anime with the same amount of money by farming out the work to Korea. I remained in Seoul for 6 months teaching animation techniques and setting up production studios. It is a pity that the South Korean Government is now agitating its own public to protest Japan on many issues of economics and trade such as that which I helped create.

1985: I founded my own production company, Jin Production Inc in Tokyo. It was a big risk to do so. Here are some of my original productions:

“Mega Mafon” 1989
Original Story by Tetsu Kariya
Telecasted'by Tokyo Broadcasing Systems (TBS).
Produced by Kimio Ikeda

"X-Bomber" 1991
Original Story by Kimio Ikeda & Goh Magai
A special-effect series of 26 episodes.
Telecasted by Fuji TV.
Produced by Kimio Ikeda

"Techno Voyager" 1993
Original Story by Kimio Ikeda
Action animation of 26 episodes.
Telecasted by Euji TV.
Produced by Kimio Ikeda

"The Glorious Number 3" 1994
Original Story by Shigeo Nagashima,Mister Baseball of Japan.
A one-hour-movie.
Combination of animation and actual ball game footage.
Televised by Nippon TV.
Produced by Kimio Ikeda

"The Legend on Kentauros" 1996
An anime movie.
Original Story by Makoto' Ohtake
Illustration by Hiromi Gyochu
Opened at Tokyu Theaters in Japan,
Produced by Kimio Ikeda

"Eto Rangers"
Original Story by Kimio Ikeda
Coordinator by Masayori Sekishima
Character Design by Takanori Suzuki
Produced by Kimio Ikeda

From 1996-2002 I Produced various TV commercials and created many cartoons and animation for magazines mainly for the Shoujou (small girls) market.

2004- ? I will be Producing "Shiden," a 26 episode series of my own design, which will be launched in Japan and USA at the same time to young audiences.

Translated on 5/05/05
By Kaye Tokunaga

Mr. Kaye (Keisuke) Tokunaga is the person sitting next to Mr. Ikeda in this video interview, and was instrumental in making this piece possible. He’s also the school sempai of former Prime Minister of Japan, Junichiro Koizumi and has the ability to (and often does) call him Jun-Chan… in public.
Yeah, you only wish you were that cool.

So across the board, all you old-schoolers and you neotaku alike out there may not instantly recognize the name “Kimio Ikeda,” but rest assured you owe him a lot. The anime industry you know it today would not even be here in this country if not for the efforts of this great man.

AnimePodCast.net is proud to bring you the last recorded interview with Kimio Ikeda and we are committed to seeing his final animation project Shiden, become a reality.

Links:

Article about Shiden in Anime Insider.

Shiden Website (Construction halted).

~J.V.

A!PoN NEWS! T going Tokyo Anime Fair!

animepodcastnet@gmail.com (animepodcast.net) — Fri, 16 Mar 2007 16:08:00 -0400

In our renewed and deep rooted need within us to prove that we are more otaku than you, we have our own Tasayu landing a sweet gig covering the Tokyo Anime Fair for Anime Selects!

While in Tokyo he's going to get the skinny on every bit of anime gossip one needs to know, along with taking some awesome side adventures around the city!
Check out the Anime Select's site and show Taz love, anime style! (what that is I don't really wanna know. LOL!)
Good Luck Tasayu!
We'll be checking in on you to see how you fair!
...and bring me one of those good luck cats!

~A!PoN Crew

Episode Eight: Harold Sakuishi

animepodcastnet@gmail.com (animepodcast.net) — Mon, 27 Nov 2006 03:04:00 -0500

We are taking a step back to where many anime's come from, Manga! We got a chance to speak to Beck "Manga-ka" (term for manga creator in Japanese) Harold Sakuishi.

Episode Eight: Harold Sakuishi from Tasayu Tasnaphun on Vimeo.
Beck was first published in 1999 by Kodansha and is distributed in the US by TOKYOPOP. The Anime BECK: Mongolian Chop Squad aired in in Japan in 2004 and has been licensed by Funimation in the US to be released in 2007 on DVD.
Links
Wiki Entry
Funimation site for US release
Music he mentions Rage Against the Machine, Led Zeppelin, Red Hot Chili Peppers, and hip hop artist Common.

Beck Fansite

Our thanks to AnimeNext, Harold Sakuishi, Kodansha Weekely, Midori Maejima for this interview.
Coming up next is part one or a two part interview with Rintaro!
Stay Tuned!

If I played guitar I'd be Jimmy Page, the girlies I like are... welll actually no, but we're being musical today.

Episode Seven: あ!PoN Presents The Angry Otaku!

animepodcastnet@gmail.com (animepodcast.net) — Tue, 17 Oct 2006 11:03:00 -0400

Hey folks, So yes we're alive and kicking! This time around we want to try something a little different. Our resident otaku has a few things he would like to say. So let's just dive in, shall we?
Episode Seven: あ!PoN Presents The Angry Otaku! from Tasayu Tasnaphun on Vimeo.

Feel free to leave comment, your own opinion, or just angry hate mail to theangryotaku@yahoo.com!
Note: Opinions expressed in this Podcast are the sole opinions of the person or persons making the statement and does not reflect the other members of this website and podcast. Thank you.

Coming very soon:
Harold Sakuishi

Episode Six: Robotech Returns! A talk with Tommy Yune.

animepodcastnet@gmail.com (animepodcast.net) — Sat, 16 Sep 2006 00:42:00 -0400

Brought to you a week early, because we just can’t keep this one under wraps any longer. Bringing old school back to live, is Mr.Tommy Yune, the director of the new production Robotech: The Shadow Chronicles.

Episode Six: Robotech Returns! A talk with Tommy Yune. from Tasayu Tasnaphun on Vimeo.

Robotech was one of the first titles to bring you into anime way back there in the era that paleontologists call "the 1980's", then you probably noticed that it looked a little disjointed, and that was because what we all knew of as “Robotech” was actually a few separate Japanese series (called Macross) edited together to make a completely separate story line. Now if the name Carl Macek doesn't ring any bells for better or worse, and you get a confused look on your face when someone humms "Robotech, to the Rescue!" then here is your chance to stop feeling left out.

Links:
• Robotech.com

• Tommy Yune co-directed Robotech The Shadow Chronicles along with Dong-Wok Lee of DR Movie.

• Harmony Gold

• The Korea Society in New York.

• Mr. Yune mentions he’s a fan of the Masamune Shirow anime Black Magic M66. (An anime which we love here at あ!PoN as well!)

• Tommy Yune official site.

Our thanks to Mr. Tommy Yune and Mr. Kevin McKeever of Harmony Gold, and to the staff of The Korea Society, who were gracious enough to allow us the extra time to conduct this interview.

Come back in two weeks for more anime news and interviews and send us your comments in the mean time.

Until then, don’t take any wooden yen, and avoid the expired sushi.

Episode Five: Kobun Shizuno!

animepodcastnet@gmail.com (animepodcast.net) — Mon, 11 Sep 2006 02:16:00 -0400

あ!PoN Episode Five! And so another Monday is here, and with our vacation at an end (they never seem long enough), the あ!PoN crew is back sacrificing our free time to bring you, the very best in exclusive video interviews with anime luminaries. It’s time once again to get regular with a healthy dose of inside dirt!

In this episode, we interview emerging Director Kobun Shizuno

Episode Five: Kobun Shizuno! from Tasayu Tasnaphun on Vimeo.
Most known for his directing the GI Joe Sigma 6 Series. Mr. Shizuno has also worked and is currently working on a number of other projects under a pseudonym and so we can not reveal what they are at this time. It just shows ta’ go ya, that the anime business makes you pay your dues and then some, no matter who you are or where you’re going.

SHOW NOTES:

Mr. Shizuno has previously worked under the mentoring of Director Koichi Ohata.
Mr. Shizuno listed the works of Hayao Miyazaki, and Macross, among his artistic influences.
Both Mr. Shizuno and Mr. Ohata were in New York to check out the Intrepid Museum for references to military and aeronautic machinery. They also made a quick stop at the twice annual Chiller Theatre convention in New Jersey.

We hope you are enjoying our interview series, and please join us again in two weeks where we will bring you an exclusive video interview with Tommy Yune, director of ROBOTECH: The Shadow Chronicles. Plus a special rant-supplement by あ!PoN’s own Angry Otaku.

Other upcoming interviews:
Harold Sakuishi
Rintaro

Episode Four: Koichi Ohata!

animepodcastnet@gmail.com (animepodcast.net) — Mon, 24 Jul 2006 23:23:00 -0400

あ!PoN Episode Four! In this episode we bring you an exclusive interview with mecha designer and anime directorKoichi Ohata.

Episode Four: Koichi Ohata! from Tasayu Tasnaphun on Vimeo.
Large cities are odd places indeed, and just the other day one of our team was at Virgin Mega-store when who do they bump into but Mr. Koichi Ohata, who was kind enough to volunteer some of his time for this exclusive interview.

Here are just a few of the Productions that Mr. Ohata has worked on:

Bakuretsu Tenshi (Burst Angel Movie) : Director
Burst Angel (TV) : Director
Blue Gender The Warrior : Director
Cybernetics Guardian : Director & Mecha design
Genocyber (OAV) : Director
Macross II: Mechanical design
Yamato Takeru (TV) : Character Design, Mecha design
M.D. Geist (U.S. manga): Original creator
Ninja Robots: Character Design, Mecha design
G.I. Joe Sigma Six: Mechanical design

In addition to all of that, Mr. Ohata was the Mecha designer of both the Gunbuster anime and manga (we’re all about the old school here!).

You can see Mr. Ohata’s full credits here.

Show notes:
Kim’s Video is a chain of home media stores in NYC, made infamous in a 2005 anti-piracy raid. (And you thought that “FBI warning” was just for show…). Don’t worry, they’re still there.

Mr. Ohata was traveling with Mr. Kobun Shizuno, Series Director of G.I. Joe Sigma Six. An up and coming talented director, and the subject of our next interview.

Mr. Ohata worked together with Gunbuster director Hideaki Anno. Anno who would later direct Evangelion , Kare Kano, and the live action Cutie Honey among others.

Yes there really is a King Kong animated series.

Links
Five Star Stories
G.I. Joe Sigma Six
Bakuratsu Tenshi / Burst Angel
Gunbuster Toy from Gainax site. (in Japanese only)
Gunbuster : Perfect Change figure at yesasia.com

This interview was conducted by the あ!PoN crew, at our base of operations in New York City.
Next Update in August! Interview with Mr. Kobun Shizuno.
Our thanks to Mr. Koichi Ohata and Mr. Shizuno.

Episode Three: A conversation with Reiko Yasuhara

animepodcastnet@gmail.com (animepodcast.net) — Mon, 10 Jul 2006 09:46:00 -0400

あ!PoN Episode three! Our interview series continues with Japanese anime voice actress Reiko Yasuhara!
Episode Three: A conversation with Reiko Yasuhara from Tasayu Tasnaphun on Vimeo.

Also, check out our bonus video of the Anime Next 2005 Chambara show with Reiko Yasuhara and Akitaro Daichi.

SHOW NOTES:

Voice actor on titles Fruits Basket, Jubei-Chan, Animation Runner Kuromi, and Tsukikage Ran.
She was the voice of:

Tsumura Mikage in Jubei-Chan & Jubei-Chan 2
Tsukikage Ran in Tsukikage Ran
Saki Hanajima and Kyoko Honda in Fruits Basket
Hamako Shihonmatsu in Animation Runner Kuromi and Animation Runner Kuromi 2
Narrator in Grrl Power (OAV)

You can see a full list of her credits here.

Before Reiko Yasuhara was a voice actress, she was a pop-star and the face of the band Shoujo Tai.
Reiko Yasuhara has often worked with Akitaro Daichi on both animation and live action projects.
She really kicks ass with a sword!

Her website can be found here here. (in Japanese)
This interview was conducted during AnimeNEXT 2005

Bonus clip!
The Chambara show by Reiko Yasuhara and Akitaro Daichi from animeNext!
You can directly download it here!

Episode One Special: Chambara Exhibition with Reiko Yasuhara and Akitaro Daichi from Tasayu Tasnaphun on Vimeo.

(あ!PoN) Announcements
Next episode continues our interview series with an exclusive interview with anime director and mecha designer Koichi Ohata.

New version of our episode one interview with Studio Mad House’s Masao Maruyama with FULL SUBTITLES. OUT NOW!

Our thanks to Reiko Yasuhara, Anime Next, our staff of dedicated volunteers, and to everyone who’s been with us from the beginning.

BEHOLD! Yes we are on time! Even though we have had the day of us Yanks celebrating our glorious American independence from the colonial rule of the third dynasty of the Santovasku Empire …or the British. Not sure which manga we got that info from, and we will be consulting Wikipedia later.

Episode Two: A conversation with Akitaro Daichi

animepodcastnet@gmail.com (animepodcast.net) — Mon, 26 Jun 2006 05:26:00 -0400

Welcome to the first regular bimonthly (as in twice a month, yeah every 2 weeks!) episode of (あ!PoN), and the 2nd in our interview series. This time we got a one on one sit-down with the great Akitaro Daichi!

Episode Two: A conversation with Akitaro Daichi from Tasayu Tasnaphun on Vimeo. Director of such great anime titles as Fruits Basket, Jubei-Chan, Animation Runner Kuromi, and a bunch of stuff you may have never heard of like Ojarumaru. Don’t believe us? Well then go check those dudes over at that other other anime website. You always believe them, right?

So check out what’s inside the head of a guy who’s made quite a career of directing anime for a living. Maybe you’ll find out something you never expected. Maybe you’ll see a ninja? (if any of these come true, don’t e-mail us… we already know).

His other credits include:
Creator & Director: Now & Then, Here & There
Director : Jubei-Chan & Jubei-Chan 2
Writer/Director : Tsukikage Ran
Director : Sugoiyo Masaru-san
Director : Kodomo no Omocha
Director : Nurse Angel Ririka
Director : Fairy Princess Ren
Director : Grrl Power (OAV)

For a full listing of Akitaro Daichi projects check out his IMDB and Anime News Network Listings.
His website can be found here HERE. (in Japanese)

This interview was conducted during AnimeNEXT 2005

SHOW NOTES:
The children's show Daichi worked on is Ojarumaru
What is Chambara?
Some of the other shows mentioned during the podcast are Urusei Yatsura
Lupin the III
Ganman no Hou Ken
Dokonjo Gaeru
Popeye
Heckle & Jeckle
Tom and Jerry

(あ!PoN) Announcements:
Well hey there. You still reading down here? Well this is the first of a new section at the end of each update where we provide information to you about what is the happening here at あ!PoN. Things change around here faster than removable parts on last year’s boomers at a scrap metal sale, so check back often.
First: Next episode continues our interview series with voice actress Reiko Yasuhara, who has a mysterious past… will we kiss and tell? …no. but you should still watch anyway. She does things with swords!
Second: Our gallery is up! Check it out to see what we’ve been up to, convention photos, and other bits of visual anime good-ness.
Third: There is no Dana only Zuul!

And as always, our thanks go out to Mr. Akitaro Daichi, our crew, the staff of Anime Next, and you our viewer. We know you’ll never get these 5 or so minutes back, and you chose to use them up on this anyway. …need a hug? We didn’t think so.

Episode One: Masao Maruyama founder of Mad House Inc.

animepodcastnet@gmail.com (animepodcast.net) — Tue, 30 May 2006 11:46:00 -0400

Here's the 1st Official (あ!PoN) Podcast! Hope you enjoy the first of our many in progress podcasts~ Yoroshiku!
Episode One: Interview with Masao Maruyama founder of Mad House Inc. from Tasayu Tasnaphun on Vimeo.

We sat down with founder of MAD HOUSE Inc., Masao Maruyama.
Who has had a hand in the Japanese animation industry for almost 40 years.
Since MAD HOUSE 's inception, Mr. Maruyama has produced an amazing catalogue of animation including: Barefoot Gen, Dagger of Kamui, Record of Lodoss War, Urusei Yatsura, Vampire Hunter D, Ninja Scroll, Cardcaptor Sakura, Trigun, Perfect Blue and many others. Some of his latest work can be found in series such as X, Boogiepop Phantom, Chobits, PitaTen, Magical Shopping Arcade Abenobashi, Monster, and the OVA Last Order: Final Fantasy VII.
For a full listing of Masao Maruyama projects check out his IMDB Listing.

This interview was conducted during Otakon 2005
Coming soon in our future podcasts for(あ!PoN) an interview with Akitaro Daichi and Reiko Yasuhara from from Fruits Basket!!! So until then everybody jump up and scream (あ!PoN)!!!!