Hey everyone, it'sa me! Gia!

So Brad and I are yucking it up at Anime Next with any number of people, including reader KuronoK, AnimeAlmanac's Scott, Ani-Gamers' Vampt Vo, Anime Next staffer Trisha, and anyone else who can stand us long enough to hang out. We've hung out with Del Rey Manga's Dallas Middaugh too (here's my writeup at giapet.net, and Brad's as well)-- but he skipped town before we could try to drag him into the podcast.

But anyway, Brad and I have been tasked with recording a Podtoid-san here, for which we'll try and accumulate as many of the aforementioned people (and anyone else we come up with). We'll talk about Del Rey's guide to busting into the OEL manga world, we'll speculate on what, if anything, ADV's presence with a booth (but no panel) means, and we'll dish on the cosplay and other drama we've been seeing.

We're recording it sometime tomorrow (Saturday), and seeing as I'm too lazy to do any actual editing, it's entirely plausible that it'll get posted before 62 does. HAPPY BIRTHDAY! Or something.

But as always, we want your comments, questions, flames, praise, etc! So, do you think Del Rey should delve further into the OEL world? What do you think ADV is up to these days?

And hey, since he's running Media Blasters' panel at this con-- what do you think of Jon Sirabella's hints that something major is coming to hit the US anime industry?

So John just got in touch with me to let him know that he's more or less dead for the foreseeable future (his actual words were, in fact, that Dallas had raped him, which just BEGS for some "Debbie Does Dallas"-related jests-- feel free to post any you come up with in lieu of a question if you so choose).

As such, I have moved forward on my next step towards Total World Conquest (which starts with Total Japanator Conquest) and agreed to host the podcast this week. Our agenda involves porn, rape whistles, porn, seiyuus, porn, Animate and Broccoli, porn, FUNimation, porn, Kadokawa and YouTube, sex, and probably a bit more porn. With some luck we'll also have Zero-chan on to talk about more figures (hopefully the pornographic kind).

As always, leave your questions, comments, concerns, flames, links to homemade porn, requests for relationship advice, and/or anything else you might want to chat about in the comments for this post or on the forum thread.

And here we are, already at the end of our little jaunt through January and February's anime offerings. As you read this, I am probably driving through blizzards and ice (…well, okay, snow flurries) to get back home to Portland. So you guys double up on the cocoa and blankets for me, eh?

This last chunk features Shigofumi through one of my most anticipated series, Zoku Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei. Parts one and two can be viewed here and here, and I have also posted a little printable cheat sheet over at a geek by any other name. I hope you enjoyed the preview, and that you enjoy whatever you decide to watch!

Welcome back to part two of the 2008 winter anime season preview! I am (still) your guest host gia, of a geek by any other name, and if you missed the first batch-- ARIA through Minamike ~okawari~, you can still see it right here. Part three is now here!

This chunk features the sci-fi horror Mnemosyne through the much-anticipated supernatural comedy Rosario to Vampire. Ikou!

Welcome to the 2008 Winter Anime Season Preview! I'm your guest star host gia, of a geek by any other name, and I'm going to guide you through the upcoming winter season of anime, featuring 23 shows that will begin in January and February.

This is part one of three, and I'll tell you about ARIA the Origination through Minamike ~okawari~. Yoroshiku onegaishimasu, and let's get going! As always, the shows are in alphabetical order by their original Japanese name. (Psst, part two is here and part three is here.)

So if you've used the BitTorrent program Azureus, you may have attempted to upgrade it only to find that it has evolved inot the digital video on demand service VUZE.

I just spent some time chatting with VUZE's Manager of Business Development, Erik Koland, about the company's plans for anime. The big news is that they're now offering an anime called Neko Rahmen for free, subtitled directly from the Japanese company THINK Corporation-- oh, and did I mention that it's totally DRM-free, too?

Neko Rahmen is a series of 13 three-minute episodes. Each episode is directed by a different creator with a different take-- so the first episode is fairly typical, in Japanese, etc. But the second episode is spoken entirely in cat language (you know, meow meow). And the third episode has a completely different art style from the first and second. It's all in its original language(s) and subtitled in English by VUZE.

The company already has a bunch of anime from Geneon, Media Blasters, Central Park Media, and others. Everything is download-to-own (not streaming), and the majority of it is ad-supported but with DRM, with some pay-per download. VUZE hopes to continue leaning more and more towards the ad-supported, free, DRM-less model. Koland is also well-versed in the recent fansub controversies, including the Sevakis editorial, and hopes that by offering a full package of subtitling and release that they will prove their worth to Japanese companies like THINK Corp. They also plan to continue offering content from other U.S. licensors as well, though.

And a hint to those licensors: they're happy to host trailers for anime series, even ones that they don't host the actual episodes of.

As for the rest of us, Koland describes VUZE as an open entertainment platform. Users can release their own (non-pirated-type) content to the entire VUZE community, whether it's a home video or a Flash cartoon.

Around the end of the discussion Koland notes that the company is aware that Neko Rahmen is a small title and that its free DRM-less release is merely a baby step in the grand scheme of things. But he hopes that it will open doors for VUZE and the industry as a whole to serve us fans better. How'm I supposed to argue with that?

So on Friday I happened to hear about a maid cafe that runs on Saturdays at a toys and collectibles shop in San Jose, California. As it happened, that same day I was planning to fly to San Jose for a family event. So, do you guys think I would spend the weekend devoted to my family, particularly my brother, whose graduation party was the event I was there for? Or do you think that I would sneak out of the house to check out the first maid cafe I've heard of in the United States (outside of a convention)?

If you guessed "A," that I would hang around with my family...well, you don't know me very well, do you? Hit the jump for a few more photos (including the maid on duty, Jamie) and details!

Ready for part two of our fall 2007 anime preview? Excellent, because here it is: Kidou Senshi Gundam 00 through Myself;Yourself. In case you missed it, here's part one. And don't forget to check back in tomorrow for the rousing finale!

It's now firmly the middle of September, and autumn is upon us. Now that we're all settled back into school or work, it's time to focus once more on the important things in life: the next anime season.

Fall will see mostly comedies like Bamboo Blade and Moyashimon. Not unlike the American entertainment world, it will see a few sequels-- D.C.II, Genshiken 2, Shakugan no Shana II, and the return of Taiho Shichauzo (also known as You're Under Arrest). Adaptations of games and visual novels run rampant as usual, with Kyoto Animation's Clannad leading the pack and KimiKiss and ef - a tale of memories not far behind. There are only a few action/drama types this season, but one of them is by Fullmetal Alchemist creator Hiromu Arakawa-- Jyuushin Enbu, also known as Hero Tales. Not to mention, of course, the newest Gundam franchise: Kidou Senshi Gundam 00.

So, let's get this show on the road! Part I includes Bamboo Blade through Jyuushin Enbu. Want more? Stay tuned tomorrow for part two, Kidou Senshi Gundam 00 through Myself;Yourself, and Sunday for part III, a.k.a. "the rest of 'em." (Okay, it's Night Wizard through Tobaku Mokushiroku Kaiji.)