Episode 18 features three reviews of series that you'll have to download the episode to find out what! Our gift to you at the Christmas holiday season and for ringing in the new year is the second installment of our Christmas Craptacular series!

Hosts: Drew Sutton, Richard Hoelsher and Marc Smazik.

In this episode we review - I'm still not telling you, download the episode!. Like our first installment of Christmas Craptacular, there are dissenting opinions over exactly how crappy these shows are, which makes for some excellent podcasting.

If you've got a dissenting opinion or just general comments, please post in the comments section or shoot us an e-mail: akibaren (at) gmail (dot) com!

Finally, three months after the convention, this episode is edited down and is ready for your consumption. Consume!

Podcast Notes:

This episode has two components, the first recorded on Friday, 19 September 2008 when we sat down with a good friend of mine, Keith Daniell. Keith has been staffing with Anime Weekend Atlanta for the past 14 years, save for one year. Jason Brown, Marc Smazik and myself discuss with Keith the origins of Anime Weekend Atlanta from his perspective of working as a groundling and up to the rank of Assistant Director. We also share some of our early memories of the convention and how we've noticed changes at the convention, everything from the growth and the change in attendees (WARNING: There are a few instances in which what we say could probably be followed up with "Get off my lawn!"). Our second part we sit down with some other friends on Saturday evening (20 Sept. '08): Chad Bonin, who writes for Toon Zone and runs the nerd-culture blog, Gaijinside and Scott Laney, another contributor/editor at Gaijinside. Chad gets his Cartoon Network fanboy hat on as we briefly discuss the announcement of the end of the waning Toonami programming block and we chat about events and activities we'd done and went to at the convention as well as some preliminary opinions about how the convention went this year.

Promos:

Our first episode with promos!

OSMcast! - I ended up on the Podcaster's Roundtable with two of the gents from OSMcast!, a podcast all about everything geeky. Generally, these types of podcasts aren't my thing but theirs is truly exceptional.

Anime World Order - The reason why after a curious Google search that I decided maybe there's something to this anime podcasting thing. It's also their fault that I said, I can probably do this, too and gathered my motley crew and created the Akihabara Renditions podcast. This promo's less of a promo, compared to the other one listed on their site, but I feel that it captures the feel of the show more.

Special Thanks:

To our guests Keith Daniell, Chad Bonin, and Scott Laney, all of whom we'd love to work with again!

To Paul Chapman/the Alimighty Gooberzilla of Greatest Movie Ever Podcast and Daryl Surat, Clarissa Graffeo and Gerald Rathkolb all of Anime World Order for not only hosting the podcaster's roundtable at Anime Weekend Atlanta but also inviting podcasters in the audience to join in.

Additional Links of Interest in this Episode:

Anime Weekend Atlanta

And, as always, any comments are welcome, you can use either the comments section or send us an e-mail to akibaren (at) gmail (dot) com!

With Anime Expo 2008 a few weeks away and our last episode several weeks before and the lack of news content in the past several shows, we decided to jump back in the game with some news-oriented discussion.

Hosts: Drew Sutton, Jason Brown, Marc Smazik and Richard Hoelsher.

I'm sure most of the news articles came from this fine site here but if you can't find something we talked about, then you can always check here.

After a brief hiatus and considering a switch to a second "season" (and, deservedly being made fun of for it), Akihabara Renditions is back to touch upon another massively popular and important franchise to Japanese animation fandom.

Hosts: Drew Sutton, Richard Hoelsher, Jason Brown and Marc Smazik.

After our review of Mobile Suit Gundam F-91 back in episode 5 and Marc being confused by it, we go head first into "non-Mecha-Fan-Alienation" and pick up the Mobile Suit Gundam movie trilogy (1981-82). Each episode was recorded after we had watched each segment of the trilogy and all we really talk about is Gundam.

After a brief hiatus and considering a switch to a second "season" (and, deservedly being made fun of for it), Akihabara Renditions is back to touch upon another massively popular and important franchise to Japanese animation fandom.

Hosts: Drew Sutton, Richard Hoelsher, Jason Brown and Marc Smazik.

After our review of Mobile Suit Gundam F-91 back in episode 5 and Marc being confused by it, we go head first into "non-Mecha-Fan-Alienation" and pick up the Mobile Suit Gundam movie trilogy (1981-82). Each episode was recorded after we had watched each segment of the trilogy and all we really talk about is Gundam.

After a brief hiatus and considering a switch to a second "season" (and, deservedly being made fun of for it), Akihabara Renditions is back to touch upon another massively popular and important franchise to Japanese animation fandom.

Hosts: Drew Sutton, Richard Hoelsher, Jason Brown and Marc Smazik.

After our review of Mobile Suit Gundam F-91 back in episode 5 and Marc being confused by it, we go head first into "non-Mecha-Fan-Alienation" and pick up the Mobile Suit Gundam movie trilogy (1981-82). Each episode was recorded after we had watched each segment of the trilogy and all we really talk about is Gundam.

This is the last episode from 2007! Episode 12 tackles yet another fan classic and we hope we can do it any sort of justice.

Hosts: Drew Sutton, Richard Hoelsher, Jason Brown and Marc Smazik.

We review Superdimension Fortress Macross: Do You Remmeber Love? (1984). Now, for most people, they'll stop there and listen because they know what's up. For those that may not know what it up, beware because THERE IS NO ANIME THAT IS AS GOOD AS THIS FILM. It is a film that speaks on more than a thematic level but a film that encompasses an entire generation of otaku and fanboys and what promise Japanese animation had back then. It is also a crying shame crime that this film is NOT available domestically in North America because of legal issues both in the United States and Japan. So, beg, borrow and steal to watch this movie and then when you sit down to watch the next episode of Toradora or whatever flavor of Moe Moe~ Paradise is running, you should be asking yourselves what Drew does with every new season preview article: What the fuck happened, Japan?

Also, what's a Macross review without considering the most important decision in anime ever: Misa or Minmei?

All that's glitter isn't gold as the saying goes.  And classic Japanese cartoons are no exception. Our gift to you is this delightful episode.

Hosts: Drew Sutton, Marc Smazik, Jason Brown and Richard Hoelsher.

The Akihabara Renditions crew dig through old boxes and closets to find some of the crappiest anime that they can for this special. I guess a testament to our collections is that Jason's submission ended up being crappy in certain areas and Drew didn't even have to touch his Robotech tapes for his crap. What did they review that was such crap? Download to find out!

At this point, all four panellists were all students. And, since we went to different schools, schedules got confused and Richard was accidentally left out of this one as Drew thought he was studying for an upcoming exam.

Hosts: Drew Sutton, Jason Brown and Marc Smazik.

Again leaving out the roundtable to return at a later date, we review two late 1980s science fiction classics, first is GAINAX's Wings of Honneamise (1987), which conveniently gets changed to Wings of Hummas and Mayonaise because that's easier to pronounce. Then we review 1989's Venus Wars.

Episode 9 features a review for a series which has a special place in most older anime fans hearts and probably one of the first series to make them cringe and scream in physical pain after watching it.

Hosts: Drew Sutton, Marc Smazik, Jason Brown and Richard Hoelsher.

So yes, Akihabara Renditions steps up to the plate and offers another take on the 1987 (pseudo-)cyberpunk OAV series, Bubblegum Crisis. Deciding to skip the discussion section, because this episode featured one of our first planned travesties, we move right along into the 1991 sequel Bubblegum Crash.

Episode 8 is up and ready to be downloaded for the first time, for the last time!

Hosts: Drew Sutton, Richard Hoelsher, Marc Smazik and Jason Brown.

Speaking of staples of 1990s-anime-from-Blockuster-Video, we'd realized that we were skipping over probably the most famous of all - AKIRA (1988). Our roundtable discussion is more of story-time as Drew attempts to start a profile-in-fandom piece and talks about the man that fans love to hate, Carl Macek. Finally, we review another little OAV, Dragon Half (1993)  that had captured a generation of fans, particularly AMV creators, with the phrase "What the fuck?!". No, seriously. What the fuck were we thinking of reviewing this?

Episode 7 is now out again!

Hosts: Drew Sutton, Marc Smazik, Jason Brown and Richard Hoelsher.

After the failure that was Please Save My Earth, we hesitantly pick up another shoujo title. Marc is pleased because he likes shoujo stuff and despite the trap in the series, 1993-96's Koko wa Greenwood OAV goes over fairly well. Our roundtable this episode attempts to discuss the significance of that beast we all love to hate: moe~. Finally, we review a staple of 1990s anime-from-Blockbuster-Video, which all stores were required by law to have - Dominion Tank Police (1988).

Episode 6 of the Akihabara Renditions podcast is now re-released!

Hosts: Drew Sutton, Richard Hoelsher, Marc Smazik and Jason Brown.

We come back to Miyazaki Hayao's work in this episode and pick of the first Studio Ghibli film, 1984's Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind. Jason admits his sacrilidge for not necessarily being a fan of Miyazaki's films. We then discuss piracy in anime fandom and debate the topic as to whether or not fandom can exist without it now. We then wrap it up with a review of a little OAV called Juumu GUNM but is probably better known as Battle Angel/Battle Angel Alita.

Episode 5 is re-released here! This is another episode that Drew is proud of, probably for the exact opposite reasons he's proud of the previous episode.

Hosts: Drew Sutton, Richard Hoelsher, Jason Brown and Marc Smazik.

Following the mixture of hot shit and hot, steaming pile of crap that was our previous episode, Drew feels he has a sure-fire win with 1983's Crusher Joe. It backfires as he is the only member of the cast who truly enjoys the film. We also discuss a current state of broadcast anime and how it's changed since we became fans and whether it's better or not. Finally, with three of us being mecha fans, it was hard for us to avoid something that was Mobile Suit Gundam related, so we decided to pop in Mobile Suit Gundam F-91.

Episode 4 is finally re-released! This is an episode that Drew is particularly proud of because we deal with two very distinct reactions to what we review.

Hosts: Drew Sutton, Marc Smazik, Jason Brown and Richard Hoelsher.

We sit down for two more reviews in this episode after returning from our drunken NERD RAGE over Anime Weekend Atlanta in the previous episode. What we think will end up with two more pleasant reviews to calm us down, Marc ends up requesting us to review something he remembered fondly from high school, Boku no Chikyuu 'o mamotte, also known as Please Save My Earth (1993-'94). Marc's memory of this series is better than the actual series but Jason, Richard and Drew end up tearing into it. We then switch to our roundtable section where we discuss the impact of sub-only DVD releases and their potential impact on the North American Anime Industry. Finally, needing something to lighten the mood we review GAINAX's 1988 OAV Top 'o nerae GunBuster.

Episode 3 is now re-released!

Hosts: Drew Sutton, Marc Smazik, Jason Brown and Richard Hoelsher.

After another year at Anime Weekend Atlanta (Editor's Note: This was AWA XIII from 22 - 24 September 2007), we sit down and review the convention as seen through the eyes of fans and attendees. We of course harp on the biggest change that a lot of other folks jumped on about the weekend, which was the hotel enforcing a more restrictive alcohol policy, due mostly to events which transpired the previous year. This all ends up going back to how fandom used to be and how it's changed as anime has become much more mainstream. WARNING: Segments of this podcast can easily be followed up with "Get off my lawn!"

Links of interest:

Anime Weekend Atlanta

We're back for another exciting episode! Also joining us as another full time panellist is our good friend Richard Hoelsher!

Hosts: Drew Sutton, Marc Smazik, Jason Brown and Richard Hoelsher

We introduce Richard and briefly discuss his adventure through anime fandom and his years staffing Anime Weekend Atlanta. We then get to the meat of the program as we review the oft-overlooked Miyazaki Hayao classic, 1979's Castle of Cagliostro, a Lupin III film and the easiest entry into the space opera metaseries Space Pirate Captain Harlock by taking a look at 1982's  My Youth In Arcadia. We also sit down to discuss the dying fate of anime clubs which were at one time about the only way people could get their anime.

Here is the re-release of episode 1 of the Akihabara Renditions podcast!

Hosts: Drew Sutton, Marc Smazik and Jason Brown.

Jason, Marc and myself introduce ourselves and what the Akihabara Renditions podcast is about and pony up with our fandom CVs to give some air of legitimacy as to why we should be doing a podcast, aside from "we just downloaded Audacity and decided we could do one, too!" We also lay out our first two reviews, 1992's Otaku no Video and 1989's Riding Bean. In between, we have our first roundtable discussion about modern fansubbing and how it's changed over time.