Lots of assholes in this one. :P

Giving it a download now. In advance, I'll just say I'm on the side of whoever in the group thought that Love Hina was awful and set a negative precedent for the way romance shows were made for years after.

Now to give it a listen and find out exactly who it is I'm siding with. :P

1. Fuck Ganguro Rei.
2. Ladies vs. Butlers is the best show of the season AND YOU KNOW IT.

I still don't know why you guys like Funimation so much

@ROMaster2: Because we're on their payroll, obviously.

ittoujuu: I'm with you on siding with whoever doesn't praise LH as a good show, but I don't think the show was awful at all. The thing was, the show was so average that it was mind blowing how much fanfare it received. Aside from having likable female characters, the show did nothing new, ground breaking, or even funny. I'm guessing people don't count cliches against the show is because it was the most predominant show to which people starting anime with and thus based their idea of "cliche" upon. The most offensive thing the show does was basically the cliche I hate most which is that god damn "first girl you meet" rule. Like in Tokimeki Memorial, True Tears, Zero no Tsukaima, Pastel, and quite a few series who's names elude me at the moment, the series in question basically shoots itself in the foot within the first episode or chapter. The protagonist will run into a particular female early on, and the ending becomes obvious. I've watched/read these series in hopes of something changing, but sadly all I've received for my trouble are done to death gags, drama that inspires anger instead of intrigue, and the ending I had more or less predicted. So far to my immediate knowledge, there are 2 series to which managed to not fall into the trappings of this crutch, one being Shuffle and the other being DNAngel. Why oh why is it so hard for them to change one equation in the formula? (Well, I know why since it's been selling for years, why would anyone want to turn away an entire demographic that has come to accept it, but still I had to ask)

Hey, I will have you know that metaphor started out innocently. We were just comparing the industry to someone in a freefall!

THEN he hit the ground and burst into flames.

I never much liked harem anime, myself. Perhaps I'm not qualified to make that judgement, since I haven't watched very many, but the concept of the genre doesn't appeal to me.

Strey: I totally agree with you on the "shooting itself in the foot early on" with harem shows. One example that always sticks out in my mind is Ai Yori Aoshi. I had rented two DVDs of that, and started watching, and I was thinking, "Wow, this could be pretty good! An anime that deals with themes like pre-arranged marriage and social class barriers!" But then, three or four episodes in, the guy ends up in a boarding house with his checklist of stereotypical girls to romp in and be zany in their totally predictable ways. I was so disappointed I didn't bother watching any more of the show after that - it took something that had actual potential and threw it in the rubbish heap by aping Love Hina.

And about that...now that I've listened to the whole podcast, I wanted to comment on something from that part of the show. The issue came up of whether the whole "girls throwing their tits in the guy's face" is a staple of harem anime. I think it kind of is now, but it didn't USED to be, which is what really kills me. Romance series have always had some smutty physical comedy in them, and that’s part of what I liked about them. But I think it’s none other than Love Hina we have to thank for making the complete over-spamming of crass, physical comedy a staple of the harem genre, where tits get shoved – voluntarily or involuntarily – in the protagonist’s face. The thing that drives me up a wall was how well Love Hina was received, such that after it, every studio looked at it and said, "Wow, let's make all our shows be more like that one!" Love Hina kind of resurrected the romance genre that had been in cryo-stasis for years, but in doing so, set a fresh precedent that warped a lot of "romance" series into "harem" series with those sorts of elements, and as a result, we get titillation that's substandard because there's no emotional investment there.

Damn, I should just take this rant to a blog or something.

not even if we pay?

You guys are so good to me, releasing Japanator AM every single time I have an essay to write.

I'm out of town for the week so I'll listen to this Friday on my way back home.

Oh yes....

JAPANATOR AM IS GO!!!!!!!!!!

OH BOY GANGURO

i haven't had the chance to listen to the podcast yet, BUT i await with bated breath!

PS I want to be a gust on the show!

WHAT HAS BEEN SEEN CANNOT BE UNSEEN.

Ganguro Rei \o/

Anime recession is lol wut.

Ladies x Butler roxxx BOOOBSSS

Harem: the amusing thing is how the girls liked some of the good harem shows, and the guys doesn't. So stereotypical American!

I like Armed Librarian, because it's actually got great character/plot/story/setting. It's fine if you don't like it, but it has that stereotypical problem with adaptation of complicated, fantasy setting from a series of novels. I mean, if you want transhumanism, it even covers that in a couple of the story arcs.

Katanagatari is great, but it's a matter of if you can handle the Nisioisin dialog flooding.

GARTender FTW. He is an exemplary transhumanist!

@Karen: I agree with the Major's outfit. They tried to fix it with the leather jacket, so your complaints are well-received.

Bra: http://video.google.com/videosearch?q=how+to+put+on+bra&oe=utf-8&ei=lp1pS7afGIKY8AbFqcDABw&sa=X&oi=video_result_group&ct=title&resnum=1&ved=0CBgQqwQwAA#

What no Durarara discussion? It's a good show!!! ... so far, but this headless maiden thing could end up failing me... hmmm

About Love Hina: I think some people may make the mistake of blaming Love Hina for what its many, many imitators choose to copy. Sure, Love Hina had the crass fanservice angle, but it also had episodes that were really heartwarming and well-done, like Colette pointed out on the podcast. The imitators copied the crassness and ignored most everything else- obviously because that was the cheapest, easiest thing to do- thus killing the balance that existed in the original show.

Don't get me wrong, I'm bored of all the stereotypical harem anime that have borrowed the LH approach to fanservice as well, but that's not all the original show was; I think the fact that both I and Colette like LH about 50,000 times more than any of these more recent harem shows is indicative of the fact that there was just a lot more going on in LH.

With the whole "the first girl always gets the guy" thing, I agree that it's over-used, but it doesn't necessarily bother me- for me it's not like a whodunnit, I don't have to be kept guessing about who "the one" is going to be. I read a quote once "Every love story is ultimately a mystery", which I take to mean that even if you know who the couple is, how they change because of one another is the X-factor that you can't predict.

@Jeff: The Major's outfits in Season 2 are SOOO MUCH BETTER! Like I said, I don't care if she wants to wear something sexy, just give her proper pants and I'm happy.

@RomMaster2: You should know EXACTLY why I love Funimation now:).

@Girl Who Leapt Through Time:
No one wants to discuss it. Sad face.
WE'LL GO FORM A DURARARA!! CLUB, OKAY.

And Celty is my waifu now. Just claiming her now, k?

I don't know why anyone wouldn't be watching Durarara!! this season. It was one of the few shows with any real pedigree and we're now at the point where everything else has proved to be either average or awful.

And while I don't write about anime I would say that this season has proved to be exceptionally terrible. Usually there's at least 3-4 shows that get my interest and then there's one or two I'll pick up when I have spare time. This season all I care about is Durarara!! and I have absolutely no interest in anything else.

Also, saying a show is bad if it doesn't intensely grab you within 4-5 episodes is something only an industry person can say fairly. If you're doing it for work then you don't have time to wait things out and ideally, all great shows should start off great but there's plenty of great stuff that starts with a slow burn. The best example is Twelve Kingdom. The first ten episodes or so are rather slow and hard to get through and after that it turns into by far the best fantasy anime I've ever seen. If 10 episodes of a 26 episode anime aren't good then that's a serious proportion but especially with longer series, you need to be able to cut some slack.

@Mad March Harris: I can appreciate the 'slow burn' approach, but there's a difference between the first episodes merely being okay, and the first episodes being outright terrible. Captain Obvious-ville I suppose, but I try not to confuse those two.

Oh yeah, if they're outright bad then it's unfortunate and entirely understandable. I just get the feeling that most people that pass on short series with rocky starts try and fudge the distance between opening episodes being rocky and being atrocious.

O_O...I put on a bra with my hands going to the back to fasten it...New Yorker here! =D

@Ben Huber - No one wants to discuss it... really?? *double sad face*

pshh common guys you could at least discuss why the show's not in the discussion? I really don't think it'll be a complete waste of time... seeing as that time is already being wasted to discuss various methods a put on a bra... *ahem*

:/ @myself wow totally messed up the last part in my previous post *AHEM* correction: '...various methods of putting on a bra..'

agreeing with some previous comments here, discuss Durarara more,its the best show this season.

unless Hanamaru kindergarten goes space opera.

Another interesting listen with this week's podcast. A couple things came to mind as I was listening though:

Is there a reason for that pointless Naruto/bleach commentary? It wasn't funny or entertaining.

Umm... the nipponichi games end when you want them to..... it's only if you are a crazy completionist or OCD that you'd play the game well beyond the main plot(with some smart grinding the games last around 20-30ish hours).

I can agree that anime aren't very good these days, but manga has been fine. Though when a good or at least popular manga series comes out, it tends to stay seated for 2-3 years where as an anime's fate would be decided after a season.

Has anyone realized that in Love Hina, the majority of the events result in people running away from their problems until they have no choice but to confront them and it somehow works out fine? What the hell was with that? The only reason for liking the show comes back to what I've said before about it having likable female characters. I don't know who said "It should have been Motoko", but high five sir. Also, Lisa Hayes FTW!

About Negima, the series actually got so much better when it became straight up shounen. The writing has been on the wall sadly, despite what the fan polls say and how much time he's given other characters, Naru is getting the guy again. And yes I said Naru because Asuna is Naru down to the fricking trait of cooking food that looks horrible but tastes good. If it weren't for the shounen turn, the series would have been trash a.k.a. Love Hina 2.0. Hell, despite what I'm hoping, it will very likely end as Love Hina 2.0.

Oh, and Ladies vs. Butler isn't a bad show. I'm pretty sure there's some serious bias going into the judgement of the series. It tells a very simple story and mixes a good dose of fan service in. The show does it's job of entertaining as long as it suits your tastes. The current situation is like saying white bread is bad for sandwiches cause wheat tastes better to you. Unless the said white bread has non-edible parts in it, they both make sandwiches just fine.

Bloodsport awesome movie.... The Gate was a bad horror movie but I loved it!

Oh damn, forgot to mention ridiculously stupid movies.

Animated: Garzey's Wing. Google it and look up the ANN "Buried Garbage" article on it and then buy it off eBay for 99 cents from whoever is desperately trying to unload it.

Live-action: Lethal Ninja. It requires watching to explain just how terrible it is. I'll just say, there's a guy named Saint Elmo in it. His first name is Saint and his last name is Elmo. He's also black.

Hah! And I thought Battlefield Earth was epic. Another great show guys.

@Ittoujou: I think the point of the Shonen commentary is kind of self-explanatory- if it wasn't good this time, it's probably my fault for springing it on our correspondent basically at the last minute. I love the idea of Jtor AM having our own foreign war correspondent though- we're like CNN that way.

I'm not sure what you mean about the LH characters running away from their problems, I'm sure they do to an extent but the important thing is that they solve them- Naru and Keitarou study hard and get into Toudai, etc. I haven't see it in a while though, so maybe I'm just not remembering what you're referring to.

I am SO ignorant about movies ><

I never know when you guys record so I never got a question in will listen to this tomorrow! :D

Hey Aiya:)

We've decided that we're going to do listener questions episodes every five shows or so, so all questions received will be saved for ep. five...probably. Still working out the details, lol.

It's been a while since a read the series, but to my memory, I believe keitaro runs away at the following points:

after failing a practice test
second time failing the entrance exam (kyoto?)
when finds out Naru like that old man looking guy (Seta?)
when he thinks he failed the entrance exam the third time around

And the one that sticks to my mind the most, when fricking Naru runs away because she didn't want to find out if she wasn't the girl he made a promise to. WTF was up with that? After everything that god damn happened, all the good damn trips, knowing that other girls were passed up for her, she runs.

Oh and I think Motoko at one point ran away when her sister found out she was actually doing poorly on her practice exams?

There could be more, but I really don't want to goto Borders and read the series again.

I've been hating that there's been absolutley nothing about Nodame Cantabile: Finale in any episode. Is no one watching that?

Also, I don't think I've said this yet, but I hate the opening soundbite you have going here. I know the words "raping my ears" are a bit hyperbole, but it's really the best description for how it sounds.

On retrospect, I sound really bitchy here. Forgive me.

@Strey

I hear what you're saying, I think I took those as examples of age-appropriate immaturity that the series' documents them growing out of; I think it's implied that at the conclusion of the show, both Naru and Keitarou get much better about taking responsibility for their own lives- certainly Keitarou must have learned how to stick to his guns since he actually got in to Todai!

@Marlin Clock:

I do want to see Nodame Cantabile:Finale, but I don't think there's a point to seeing it until I've seen the prequel. It's the same reason I'm not watching the new Hidamari Sketch:(.

The soundbite was picked because about four people on the podcast wanted it, so majority rules, lol. If I find something that I think is really great I may change it at some point, but I'm sorry your ears are being raped:(. That doesn't sound too pleasant.

Sorry for responding a bit late, but I've only just started to catch up with my podcast backlog.

First of all, my thoughts on harem shows are...not kind. The typical plot progression works like a shounen show. In shounen action, you want the show to go on as long as possible, so you constantly introduce more powerful villains. In harem, you want the show to go on as long as possible, so you constantly introduce more complications that delay the main character from getting together with someone. While a certain amount of complications is inevitable (relationships are all about two or more people finding ways to dealing with their differences and finding common ground), but it gets ridiculous after a certain point. Love Hina would have been far more enjoyable for me if Keitaro had started dating Naru halfway through, and the rest of the show had been about them dealing with the complications of being in a relationship.

Now, on to a more technical note. I really like listening to the podcast, but the lack of ID3 tags makes putting the thing in my library (and on my iPod) a bit of a chore. No title, no artist, no genre (well, this one was labeled as "Blues," but you get my point), no album name and no description. It's not a huge deal; but since the show itself has good production values, it seems strange that the ID3 tags would be ignored.

@Stilts: shoot, you know I was so concerned about the audio levels that that whole issue totally slipped my mind. Thanks for bringing it up.

After listening to this episode i wanted to start watching ghost in a shell again but.....what viewing order is recommended?

Great podcast. I love Harem animes like Love Hina and Negima (My first loves). A quick Question, What was that you mentioned (one man attending a all girl school ?)

Collette you must love harmem animes as much I do.

Was there a ever a harem that did end the way it wasn't "supposed" to? You guys made a good point; know that I think about it, even romance series ended with the first character that appeared to have a fling with the protagonist.
Then again, it's that trill you get when you think, "oh, they might not actually hook up at the end!". Well, there is -one- series that kind of ended like that, but the manga (original story) kind of nullifies it, mainly because it actually HAD an ending for the story.