Akihabara Renditions

No clever titles, as Richard and Drew lay down the law and discuss the 1994 OAV, Taihoushichauzo!, AKA, You're Under Arrest. This episode was recorded back shortly after New Year's and before the world went to hell, so we open with some chit-chat about what we were up to closing 2019. We discuss the passing of anime seiyuu Inoue Makio and theatrical showings of Mobile Suit Gundam: Char's Counterattack ahead of the review. Download it you geek!

We're back and happy 2020! Apologies for the delay for our annual tradition; travelling and sickness will do that. Hope everyone had good holidays and a happy new year - because we're here to ruin it. Download it you geek!

Richard and Drew sit down to chat about one of their favorite series in the Gundam franchise, nay, a favorite TV series of all time - 1985's Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam. Zeta has been held highly in the pantheon of Gundam series but went through a long period of harsh criticism.  Unlike a typical review of the series itself, we decided to discuss the series featuring criticisms and critiques of the series and respond to them, which are off-base and which are well reasoned. Download it you geek! Links to our quotes can be found on our blog over at akibaren.net!

Part 2 of our Creator's Profile series for Kawamori Shouji! We pick up in 1994 when he decides what the real sequels to Superdimension Fortress Macross should be and head on up to his more recent works. Download it, you geek!

Drew and Richard are back with another edition of Akihabara Renditions' Creator Profile series! In this episode, we're going to discuss another titan of mecha anime fandom, the professional life of Kawamori Shouji. From his early career, through the success of Superdimension Fortress Macross, and beyond, tune in for our overview of his works! Download this episode, you geek!

In this episode, Drew and Richard talk about a panel they were planned to present at Anime Weekend Atlanta in 2018, the Yoroiden Samurai Troopers 30th Anniversary! We talk about the original TV series and the OAVs that came after. YST is a series that was near and dear to our hearts in our earlier fandom and is still a show we talk about off-air, so it was great to sit down and chat about this series. As you can tell from some background noise early on, we're not the only ones who are down with YST! Download this episode, you geek!

This episode, Drew and Richard sit down to discuss Japanese animation from the modern era that they are watching and talk about why not all new anime is crap. Download this episode, you geek!  

In this episode of Akihabara Renditions, Drew and Richard take a walk on the ~spooky~ side as we review the 1985 OAV Vampire Hunter D and its 2000 sequel, Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust. Thus concludes our inadvertent coverage of the Night of the Vampire Robots! Download it, you geek!

Happy Reiwa, folks! Continuing on with the festivities for the 40th Anniversary of Mobile Suit Gundam, we review the second Thunderbolt movie, Gundam Thunderbolt: Bandit Flower. Download it, you geek!

Japan is preparing for the abdication of its current Emperor, which means the coming of a new era! Actually, this doesn't mean anything except or history and political junkies... doesn't it? Well, not so fast! Drew will explain the significance and brief history of the Imperial Calendar system and Richard confuses monarchies for someplace that elects their figureheads and nominates professional wrestler Jushin Thunder Liger to the post and applies it to pop culture through beloved children's hero, Masked (Kamen) Rider. Then they'll go on to discuss some of the most notable series from the first year of the closing Heisei period. Download it, you geek!

Upon us soon is the 40th Anniversary of the airing of the original Mobile Suit Gundam. A TV series whose original run went from being shortened due to poor ratings to one of the most visible anime franchises. It's success having gone from Japanese Star Trek to Japanese Star Wars. Drew and Richard sit down for a chat and reflect on the franchise's various series, various adaptations and what might be coming next for Gundam.  Download it, you geek!

It's that time of the year again, our annual tradition! The grand-daddy of them all - it's time for Christmas Craptacular! On this, the sixth edition of the Craptacular, we change nothing! We watch some shitty cartoons and report back to you dear listeners! Happy Holidays and Happy New Year! Download this episode, you geek!

In this episode of Akihabara Renditions, Drew and Richard sit down and talk about a film that was seemingly everywhere in an earlier time of fandom but has conspicuously disappeared - 1987's Twilight of the Cockroaches! Take a trip down memory lane as we revisit a film  we're seeing for the first time in two decades! As we mentioned in the show, the movie was aired as a one-off movie night on Cartoon Network on Night of the Vampire Robots, and someone uploaded the whole broadcast to YouTube. Download this episode, you geek!

Hey everyone - if you're reading this then it means Drew is up late putting together a podcast because him and Richard are  putting together panels for an anime convention! Which, just so happens to be the topic of our show!  We'll be at Anime Weekend Atlanta presenting the following panels, so if you're also there, we'd love to meet the listeners! Ten Years Ten Anime: 2000s Head-to-Head - FRI 9:45 PM CGC 108 Nue Kids On The Block: A Profile of Studio Nue - SAT 2:15 PM CGC 108 Suit (of Armor) Up! 30 Years of Ronin Warriors - SAT 7:15 PM CGC 108 Don't Talk About The War: Militarism and Pacifism in Japanese Animation - SUN 11:30 AM CGC 107   Download it, you geek!

Drew and Richard are back for another exciting episode of Akihabara Renditions! We get back to our roots and have a good, old-fashioned review episode about old Japanese cartoons. We're headed back to the heyday of the Bubble Economy era by reviewing two OAVs - Robot Carnival (1987) and Record of Lodoss War (1991). Download it you geek!

In this exciting episode of Akihabara Renditions, Drew takes to stealing content from Twitter to get some discussion going for the podcast topic. First, Drew and Richard discuss the hashtag #FilmstruckFour and each select 4 anime that have shaped their overall taste in anime fandom. Then we turn the tables around and discuss something we hate about a show we love and something we love about a show we hate. Nice quick episode here, so hope you enjoy! Again, leave us feedback on iTunes, Stitcher and wherever you get your podcasts and hit us up on Twitter, Facebook and email! Download it, you geek!

On this episode, Richard and Drew sit down with Basil and Kevin from the OSMCast about SeishunCon - Atlanta's Winter Anime Convention! We chat a little bit about programming and history of the convention, in the hopes of a longer recording about the show more in general - and guess what? When you're busy as a panelist and totally free-form your show, you don't demand that people sit down with you to talk about cartoon conventions. For full disclosure, this is a convention that is near to Richard and Drew, as they are founders of the show, though they are not active in its organization or operation now. They return as panelists and hit the social circuit (and they way we like it). SeishunCon is a growing and fun show with a little something for everyone. Download this episode, you geek!

This episode has been in the can for a couple of months now. Back at the end of September at Anime Weekend Atlanta, Drew sat down with Basil of our Podcast Superfriends, the OSMcast, and discussed various anime streaming services and their state from a consumer perspective. Basil has some great analysis and theorizes that with the number of services available, we might be on the verge of a bubble not much unlike what we saw in the mid-2000s. Have a listen and see if you agree or disagree! Funny enough: Just last week, Amazon announced that they were cancelling their separate Anime Strike service and made all of their anime available with a standard Prime membership. Hosts: Drew & Basil (of the OSMcast!) Download this episode, you geek!

Returning to our roots for a true, Akihabara Renditions tradition! Join Richard and Drew as we first subject ourselves to the pain of terrible Japanese cartoons then review and discuss them all for your listening, uh, pleasure? We've alerted the authorities and have sent the Kraumpus to Japan for the production crews responsible. Be warned, we've got some real coal for your stockings this year. Hosts: Drew and Richard Download this episode, you geek!

Richard and Drew sit down and have a very brief discussion about Mobile Suit Gundam Thunderbolt: December Sky. A little bit of podcast rust and remnant tryptophan from the holidays, we'd mistaken Side 5 (Texas Colony) for Side 4 (Moore's Colony) when discussing this piece. Just the quality you'd expect from Akihabara Renditions! Hosts: Drew & Richard Download this episode, you geek!