You can now listen to my podcasts directly from this blog via this flash player:

Or you can still download it from here or from iTunes. (16.8 MB)

You can also download or add my podcast-only RSS feed to your favorite reader:

http://www.joshsanimeblog.com/podcast/podcast.rss

Finally, for those who don’t want to transcribe the link to the Business Week URL, here it is: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17757604/

Enjoy!

If that isn’t the case, there is the possibility of recording and posting the podcast from downtown Baltimore since they apparently have good wi-fi coverage. However, I can’t seem to clear up whether it’s free or pay (and how would I pay for it?).

If the worst case scenario occurs and I can’t get internet anywhere outside of an internet cafe, I’ll probably just post a podcast after I get back, but I’m hoping to post things from the convention.

March 27, 2007
Basilisk – Volume 6
Bleach – Volume 3
Burst Angel – Box Set
Coyote Ragtime Show – Volume 2
Ergo Proxy – Volume 3
GaoGaiGar – Volume 4
Hikaru no Go – Volume 7
Kidou Shinsengumi Moeyo Ken – Volume 2
Naruto – Dub Volume 10
Rumbling Hearts – Volume 3
Samurai 7 – Box Set
Tactics – Volume 4
Zipang – Volume 4

Manga

March 27, 2007
Kurogane – Volume 4
School Rumble – Volume 5
The Wallflower – Volume 11

March 28, 2007
Berserk – Volume 16
Solfege

March 29, 2007
Junk: Record of Last Hero – Volume 2

March 31, 2007
Emma – Volume 3
Maburaho – Volume 2
Moon Child – Volume 6
Neon Genesis Evangelion: Angelic Days – Volume 4
Oyayubihime Infinity – Volume 4
Pieces of a Spiral – Volume 7
Seimaden – Volume 8
Tower of the Future – Volume 6
Witchblade – Volume 3

April 1, 2007
Challengers – Volume 4

Name: Girls Bravo
Genre: Comedy, Romance
Episodes: 24 (11 in season 1, 13 is season 2)
Released: July 5, 2004 – September 27, 2004 (season 1), January 27, 2005 – April 21, 2005 (season 2)
Based On: Girls Bravo manga y Mario Kaneda
Director: Ei Aoki
Produced By: Fuji TV, Kadokawa Shoten
US Distribution By: Geneon

Major Japanese Cast

Yukinari Sasaki: Mamiko Noto
Miharu: Ayako Kawasumi
Kirie Kojima: Chiwa Saito
Kazuharu Fukuyama: Ryotaro Okiayu
Koyomi: Masayo Kurata
Tomoka: Ayaka Saito
Lisa Fukuyama: Yuki Matsuoka

Major English Cast

Yukinari Sasaki: Yuri Lowenthal
Miharu: Michelle Ruff
Kirie Kojima: Jennifer Sekiguchi
Kazuharu Fukuyama: Liam O’Brien
Koyomi: Carrie Savage
Tomoka: J-Ray
Lisa Fukuyama: Hunter MacKenzie Austin

Scores

Animation: 7/10 (x 4 = 28 pts)
Story: 5/10 (x 4 = 20 pts)
Music: 7/10 (x 4 = 28 pts)
Coherence/Story Arc: 5/10 (x2 = 10 pts)
English Dubs: 7/10 (x 1 = 7 pts)
Gut Score: 4/10 (x 5 = 20 pts)

Total: 113/200 (56.5%)

Review

Girls Bravo is a show about a boy named Yukinari who gets hives whenever girls get near him. This was caused by girls making fun of him when he was little. Out of fear of his outbrek, Yukinari keeps him away from girls as much as he can. He gets this rash around all girls, even his childhood friend Kirie.

However, this changes one day when he was pulled through a portal into the bathtub of Miharu on the planet of Seiren, a planet made up of about 90% women. After being chased around by a bunch of man-starved women, including Miharu’s older sister, Yukinari is eventually able to escape, but brings Miharu with him back to earth. From that point on, Miharu lives with Yukinari, which is good for him since he doesn’t get a rash whenever he is around Miharu. The story then follows their adventures living together, as well as the adventures of two more girls from Seiren – Koyomi and Tomoka – as they try to find a husband for Miharu’s sister. However, things aren’t nearly that easy as sex-crazed Fukuyama and his sister Lisa, who is pursuing Yukinari, do their best to get what they want from Yukinari and company.

There appears to be one, and only one reason for this series to exist: fan service. Not only does this series have fan service, but it comes in excessively copious amounts which would probably be considered to be straight up pornography if it were in almost any other medium. In fact, the Geneon DVDs of the series explicitly say that the series has the equivalent of an NC-17 rating. Each episode seems dedicated to putting the female characters into situations where they can become naked.

This gets to be ridiculous, not only because the likelihood that the characters would be put into so many such situations is ridiculously low, but because the characters seem to stupidly walk into the situations like they haven’t learned anything from all the episodes that came before it. If Fukuyama’s plan yesterday and the day before and the day before that and the day before that all resulted in the girls ending up naked, or in some other type of sexual situation, it’s likely that his plan for tomorrow and the day after tomorrow will as well. However, the main characters, not even Kirie, despite how aware she is of Fukuyama’s fetishes, seem to learn this.

The problem established at the beginning of the series appears to be the dynamic in the Yukinari/Miharu relationship as well as what the dots on Miharu’s forehead are. While the series does sort of follow the two character’s relationship, it is hardly the center of the story (the before-mentioned fan service is the center). Meanwhile, the strange dots on Miharu’s forehead aren’t even addressed until the last 3 or 4 episodes of the series.

While the series does have average to good animation and music, in the end it is little more than a mindless collection of fan service moments.

First Watched: May 2006 – February 2007
Do I Own: No
Do I Recommend: No