Japanimation Station #07 – Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero Movie Review

Welcome to Japanimation Station, an anime podcast brought to you by the folks at The Weekly Stuff Podcast. We are here to dive into the wide and wacky world of anime, and you can subscribe on all platforms at JapanimationStation.Com. 

Nearly 4 years after Broly, Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero – the 21^st Dragon Ball film overall, and 4^th of the modern era – opened this weekend in North American theaters, playing in both English and Japanese for the first time in franchise history, and with the widest opening for an anime film ever in the United States, playing on nearly 4,000 screens! It’s also the first Dragon Ball film to be produced completely in 3D CGI, with a new team led by director Tetsuro Kodama bringing Akira Toriyama’s script to life in a very different style than we’ve seen before. And the movie turned out to be well worth the wait and the hype, telling a compelling character-driven story centered on Piccolo, Gohan, and Pan, with several wonderful new characters, a lot of incredible action, plenty of big laughs, and even a few surprisingly touching pay-offs at the end! It’s a great Dragon Ball movie, and a big step forward for CGI anime, and it makes for an incredible fun discussion between Sean and Jonathan. 

 

Enjoy, and come back next time for Part 1 of our Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood review, where we’ll be covering Episodes 1-32 of the 2009 anime!

 

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The Weekly Stuff Podcast #441 – Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero Movie Review

It’s time for another episode of The Weekly Stuff Podcast with Jonathan Lack & Sean Chapman, a weekly audio show that explores the worlds of film, television, and video games. You can subscribe for free in Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. 

Nearly 4 years after Broly, Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero – the 21^st Dragon Ball film overall, and 4^th of the modern era – opened this weekend in North American theaters, playing in both English and Japanese for the first time in franchise history, and with the widest opening for an anime film ever in the United States, playing on nearly 4,000 screens! It’s also the first Dragon Ball film to be produced completely in 3D CGI, with a new team led by director Tetsuro Kodama bringing Akira Toriyama’s script to life in a very different style than we’ve seen before. And the movie turned out to be well worth the wait and the hype, telling a compelling character-driven story centered on Piccolo, Gohan, and Pan, with several wonderful new characters, a lot of incredible action, plenty of big laughs, and even a few surprisingly touching pay-offs at the end! It’s a great Dragon Ball movie, and a big step forward for CGI anime, and it makes for an incredible fun discussion between Sean and Jonathan. 

 

Enjoy!

 

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Subscribe to the WEEKLY SUIT GUNDAM Podcast!

 

Subscribe for free to 'The Weekly Stuff' in Apple Podcasts!

 

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Follow Sean Chapman on Twitter!

 

The Weekly Stuff with Jonathan Lack & Sean Chapman is a weekly audio podcast, and if you subscribe on Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts, episodes will be delivered automatically and for free as soon as they are released. Visit www.weeklystuffpodcast.com for a complete archive of streaming and downloadable episodes.  

Japanimation Station #03 – Fullmetal Alchemist the Movie: Conqueror of Shamballa (2005) Review & Discussion

Welcome to Japanimation Station, an anime podcast brought to you by the folks at The Weekly Stuff Podcast. We are here to dive into the wide and wacky world of anime, and you can subscribe on all platforms at JapanimationStation.Com. 

The first Fullmetal Alchemist anime comes to its ultimate conclusion in the 2005 feature film Conqueror of Shamballa, a narratively messy but beautifully made movie that showcases the best and the worst that this ‘alternate’ version of Fullmetal Alchemist has to offer. With Edward Elric lost in ‘our’ world on the other side of the gate, Conqueror of Shamballa is set primarily in 1923 Germany on the eve of the Nazi Party’s ‘Beer Hall Putsch,’ with Ed navigating a society on the brink of collapse into genocidal fascism. It’s a fascinating and often quite effective setting, while the action back in Amestris – where Alphonse Elric, back in his human body, is searching for a way to get back to his brother – feels pretty threadbare. The worlds eventually collide, and we see how Seiji Mizushima and company bring this version of the story to a close, with Sean and Jonathan giving their final thoughts on how the 2003 version of Fullmetal Alchemist stands the test of time nearly 20 years later. 

 

Enjoy, and come back throughout the week for a series of Dragon Ball bonus episodes leading up to the American release – and our review of – the new film Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero!  

 

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The Weekly Stuff Podcast #440 – The FULLMETAL ALCHEMIST Episode(s) Part 2: The Movie, “Conqueror of Shamballa”

It’s time for another episode of The Weekly Stuff Podcast with Jonathan Lack & Sean Chapman, a weekly audio show that explores the worlds of film, television, and video games. You can subscribe for free in Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. 

Before continuing our journey through Fullmetal Alchemist, Jonathan and Sean catch up with a very loopy opening segment in which Jonathan asks many increasingly silly questions about Sean’s experience teaching in Texas; Sean reviews the game Sifu for PS5; and Jonathan talks about his impromptu deep dive into the works of Orson Welles. And then it’s back to the world of Fullmetal Alchemist for the 2005 feature film Conqueror of Shamballa, a narratively messy but beautifully made movie that showcases the best and the worst that this ‘alternate’ version of the series to offer. We see how Seiji Mizushima and company bring this version of the story to a close, with Sean and Jonathan giving their final thoughts on how the 2003 version of Fullmetal Alchemist stands the test of time nearly 20 years later. 

 

Enjoy!

 

Time Chart: 

Intro & Stuff: 0:00:00 – 0:12:28 

Sean Talks Sifu: 0:12:28 – 0:24:05

Jonathan Talks Orson Welles: 0:24:05 – 0:39:23

Fullmetal Alchemist: 0:39:23 – 2:17:29

 

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Subscribe to the WEEKLY SUIT GUNDAM Podcast!

 

Subscribe for free to 'The Weekly Stuff' in Apple Podcasts!

 

Follow Jonathan Lack on Twitter!

 

Follow Sean Chapman on Twitter!

 

The Weekly Stuff with Jonathan Lack & Sean Chapman is a weekly audio podcast, and if you subscribe on Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts, episodes will be delivered automatically and for free as soon as they are released. Visit www.weeklystuffpodcast.com for a complete archive of streaming and downloadable episodes.  

Japanimation Station #02 – FULLMETAL ALCHEMIST (2003) Review & Discussion

Welcome to Japanimation Station, an anime podcast brought to you by the folks at The Weekly Stuff Podcast. We are here to dive into the wide and wacky world of anime, and you can subscribe on all platforms at JapanimationStation.Com. 

For our first anime subject, we’re diving into the world of Hiromu Arakawa’s Fullmetal Alchemist, starting with the 2003 anime that partially adapted the then-young manga before branching off into an increasingly divergent anime-original story. While it was a huge and acclaimed hit, in Japan and abroad, at the time of release, the show has a more controversial reputation now, years after Arakawa’s manga was completed and faithfully re-adapted as Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood. Sean and Jonathan are coming at the 2003 series from wildly different directions – Jonathan a lifelong fan who started with this anime as a kid, and Sean only recently having read the manga without ever seeing either anime – so our perspectives inherently diverge. But if there’s one thing we clearly agree on, it’s that this is a fascinating show very much worth talking about. Whether one loves it or hates it, it’s clearly more than an outdated curio, and we think you, like us, will come away from this conversation with a greater appreciation for all versions of Fullmetal Alchemist. 

 

Enjoy, and come back next week as our journey through Amestris continues with our review of the Fullmetal Alchemist movie sequel, Conqueror of Shamballa! 

 

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The Weekly Stuff Podcast #439 – The FULLMETAL ALCHEMIST Episode(s) Part 1: The 2003 Anime

It’s time for another episode of The Weekly Stuff Podcast with Jonathan Lack & Sean Chapman, a weekly audio show that explores the worlds of film, television, and video games. You can subscribe for free in Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. 

This week’s show starts off with the baffling news about the newly-merged Warner Bros. Discovery shelving a completed Batgirl film for a tax write-down, and then continues into the first big topic from our new anime podcast, Japanimation Station, where we’re diving into the world of Hiromu Arakawa’s Fullmetal Alchemist, starting today with the 2003 anime that partially adapted the then-young manga before branching off into an increasingly divergent anime-original story. While it was a huge and acclaimed hit, in Japan and abroad, at the time of release, the show has a more controversial reputation now, years after Arakawa’s manga was completed and faithfully re-adapted as Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood. Sean and Jonathan are coming at the 2003 series from wildly different directions – Jonathan a lifelong fan who started with this anime as a kid, and Sean only recently having read the manga without ever seeing either anime – so our perspectives inherently diverge. But if there’s one thing we clearly agree on, it’s that this is a fascinating show very much worth talking about. Whether one loves it or hates it, it’s clearly more than an outdated curio, and we think you, like us, will come away from this conversation with a greater appreciation for all versions of Fullmetal Alchemist. 

 

Enjoy!

 

Time Chart: 

Intro & News: 0:00:00 – 0:24:34 

Fullmetal Alchemist: 0:24:34 – 3:41:16

 

Subscribe to our YouTube Channel!

 

Subscribe to the WEEKLY SUIT GUNDAM Podcast!

 

Subscribe for free to 'The Weekly Stuff' in Apple Podcasts!

 

Follow Jonathan Lack on Twitter!

 

Follow Sean Chapman on Twitter!

 

The Weekly Stuff with Jonathan Lack & Sean Chapman is a weekly audio podcast, and if you subscribe on Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts, episodes will be delivered automatically and for free as soon as they are released. Visit www.weeklystuffpodcast.com for a complete archive of streaming and downloadable episodes.  

Japanimation Station #01 – Welcome to Japanimation Station! Our Anime History & 5 Desert Island Favorites!

Welcome to Japanimation Station, an anime podcast brought to you by the folks at The Weekly Stuff Podcast. We are here to dive into the wide and wacky world of anime, and you can subscribe on all platforms at JapanimationStation.Com.

For the debut episode of Japanimation Station, Sean Chapman and Jonathan Lack introduce themselves and host a spirited discussion about how they got into anime, how their fandoms and interests have evolved over the years, what makes animation special in the first place, and why anime in particular is the thing we find so interesting we had to make a whole podcast about it. You’ll learn about our backgrounds, our philosophies, our anime likes and dislikes, and much more as we introduce you to the foundational ideas of our show! And at the end, we share which 5 anime we would each take to a desert island if such a strange fate were to befall us.

 

Enjoy, and come back next week for our first anime review with Fullmetal Alchemist, the original 2003 anime based on Hiromu Arakawa’s classic manga! Subscribe at JapanimationStation.Com to make sure you don’t miss a single episode! 

 

Subscribe to our YouTube Channel!

 

Subscribe for free in Apple Podcasts!

 

Follow Japanimation Station on Twitter!

 

Follow Jonathan Lack on Twitter!

 

Follow Sean Chapman on Twitter!