Show #130: Ushio & Tora (2015)

It's a special Halloween episode of a different stripe as we go yokai-busting with the horrifying but heartful Ushio & Tora!

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A more complete version of a previously adapted 90s manga, this series came along at a time when it seemed like its version of storytelling was old hat. To the surprise of many Ushio & Tora proved its classic sense of values and style can resonate with an audience of the modern era with supposedly more sophisticated taste, bringing a potent blend of visceral action, heart-rending drama and one of the most sinister antagonists in any brand of fiction in decades.

THE SHORT VERSION

Soft-hearted heroes

Fearsome yokai

Ultimate evil

Show #129: Rock and Rule

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An obscure B-side from the early days of Nelvana Animation, Rock and Rule lives up to about thirty percent of its title. Not rocking like one would expect from a post-apocalytic movie involving demon summoning, neither does it rule in the characterisation or plotting areas. The design, animation and atmosphere all make a good showing but feel like they would be better employed in service of a more consistent movie that had a firmer idea of the audience it wished to court.

THE SHORT VERSION

Super rockers

Super slackers

Super heroes

Let’s Go JoJo! Episode 29 – Highway Star (Part 2)

Josuke races to outrun the ravenous Highway Star and find it's user before it drains the very life from him. Will he make it in time? And will Koichi get to walk the dog? Anime old and new are also discussed with plenty of stylised  historical figures, fairy tales and kids cartoons putting everything else to shame.

• Jojo's Bizarre Adventure: Diamond Is Unbreakable #29
• Dragon Ball Super #61
• Ninja Girl and Samurai Master #2
• Shonen Ashibe Go Go Goma-chan #18
• Bono Bono #14
• Flip Flappers #2
• Time Bokan 24 #2
• Yuri On Ice #2
• Drifters #1
• Classicaloid #1

Listen up!

Let’s Go JoJo! Episode 28 – Highway Star (Part 1)

It's a Jojo of two halves this week as Josuke and Rohan finish up their deceptive dice game before getting on a bus and running into some real trouble. We also watched nearly every new show worth talking about this season, too many to list in fact! What will make the cut going forward? To find out you'll just have to listen up!

Show #128: The Adventures of Tintin - The Secret of the Unicorn (2011)

Originally slated for a now aborted theme but it's always a good time to have Anthony Askew on to talk about The Adventures of Tintin!

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Herge's roving reporter Tintin had been adapted for animation and the big screen many a time before receiving the blockbuster treatment courtesy of Steven Spielberg and Peter Jackson. Away go the fanciful comic doodles and in come high resolution motion capture models of terrifying unrealism. What doesn't get left behind is the pulp adventure spirit of the original stories, delivering energetic action set pieces at a steady pace without derailing the plot, coming strangely full circle seeing as the director of Indiana Jones is at the helm of a film about one of its key inspirations. Give them a couple of years and we may even get those planned sequels!

THE SHORT VERSION

Amazing likenesses

Heroic sea captains

Improbable action

Let’s Go! Autumn Anime Preview!

Summer is over but the anime keeps a-comin', so we would be remiss in our duties to you, the non-crazy person, to put you in the know about all the hits & misses from the past season and what awaits in the bumper harvest of brand new cartoons. Historical figures are re-imagined, handsome boys on and off the ice, cats both fluffy and fierce, and the sports anime that will have Niall glued to the screen. It's all in here, so listen up!

Let’s Go JoJo! Episode 27 – I’m An Alien

An illegal alien! An Englishman in Morioh! Our newest character is probably neither of those things, but he does claim to be from outer space and has the strange powers to prove it! Or at least prove he may be some manner of Stand user. More otherworldly arrivals come with cardboard cats and monster girls, criminals meet with justice and some children get a stern talking to.

• Jojo's Bizarre Adventure: Diamond Is Unbreakable #27
• Dragon Ball Super #59
• Heybot #2
• Bananya #13
• Bono Bono #12
• Nyanbo #1
• Kaiju Girls #1
• Shonen Ashibe Go Go Goma-chan #17
• 91 Days #12
• Mob Psycho 100 #12

Listen up!

Let’s Go JoJo! Episode 26 – Here Comes Janken Boy!

There's important crime solving to be done, but enough of that for now. Let's enjoy twenty or so minutes of Rohan playing Rock Paper Scissors with a small boy FOR KEEPS. On the subject of annoying children an evil presence arrives in the form of Heybot and Reigen attempts to reason with some developmentally arrested supervillains before it gets all serious again in 91 Days. Oh, and a torrent of Thunderbolt Fantasy talk that broke the Internet!

• Jojo's Bizarre Adventure: Diamond Is Unbreakable #26
• Heybot #1
• Bananya #12
• Bono Bono #11
• Shonen Ashibe Go Go Goma-chan #16
• Thunderbolt Fantasy #8-12
• 91 Days #11
• Mob Psycho 100 #11

Listen up!

Let’s Go JoJo! Episode 25 – Atom Heart Father

Psychic Boy Detective Club convenes to get some leads on the fugitive Yoshikage Kira at his former homestead. Little do they know that somebody else wants the gang out of the picture! More mysteries are pondered regarding the motivations of a renegade demi-god, the sadistic neighbourhood cats, curing the common cold and one secret is revealed as an elusive letter writer shows themselves at last!

• Jojo's Bizarre Adventure: Diamond Is Unbreakable #25
• Dragon Ball Super #58
• Bananya #11
• Bono Bono #10
• Shonen Ashibe Go Go Goma-chan #15
• 91 Days #10
• Mob Psycho 100 #10

Listen up!