It’s that time of year, when all the ghouls dance merrily through the land spreading terror. Election season? No, silly – Halloween! And while you won’t be trick-or-treating or partying this year (we hope) you can at least settle down with Notaku as Enzo and Setsuken share their Halloween anime favorites. Plus, our favorite scary movies and spookiest personal experiences. As usual, we have industry news, listener questions, haiku, and a manga recommendation with a Halloween theme.
This week is a special one for the podcast, because we’ve launched our first listener survey. It shouldn’t take more than 3-5 minutes to complete. We’d be grateful if you share your feedback as we consider the next phase for Notaku.
Timecodes:
Introduction 0:12
Listener Survey 4:05
Feedback 9:30
What We’re Watching 15:35
Industry News 28:58
Halloween and Anime 1:04:25
Manga Recommendation Corner (Shinigami Bocchan to Kuro Maid) 1:45:18
Haiku Challenge 1:54:21
Listener Questions 1:57:49
Sign-off 2:07:40
Yann
October 27, 2020 at 9:56 amAnother great episode!
Just for the record, since it seems you might have misunderstood: I don’t work out 2 hours once a week… I work out every day and listen to the podcast in chunks 😉 So I’d definitely be down with more shorter episodes (I actually still have about 30 mn left on this one…).
Your spooky stories were good but… I got some first hand actual ghost stories. Quite a few actually. It runs in my family. I’m a skeptic, so I tend to think we’re probably just all schizophrenic or something 😛 But we even have some stories that involved friends coming over for dinner etc… Let just say, after what I’ve seen, I’m pretty open minded about this stuff!
I’d forgotten about Ghost Hound… Made me want to re-watch it 🙂
If I could just offer a tiny bit of criticism… Can you puh-leeeeez leave politics out of the podcast? Even if it’s just a little comment here and there, it just instantly brings back this whole shit show that is 2020 front and center in my mind and… It doesn’t feel good I guess. Anime is one of the very few things that takes my mind off of it… Know what I mean? It’s your podcast of course, so just take this as a respectful request 🙂
Guardian Enzo
October 27, 2020 at 10:02 amThe BoJo thing? Yeah, but I mean – Setsuken made that comment, how could I just ignore it? I mean, the initial quip about PMQ was totally non-partisan. As a general rule I always try to keep partisan stuff out of the cast as much as possible. But it’s hard to ignore politics altogether at a time like this, when it’s on everybody’s mind. It’s the elephant in the room.
Yann
October 31, 2020 at 4:33 amI don’t know what BoJo is, sorry 😛
It’s not about partisan stuff. Reps and Dems are 2 different sides of the same problem as far as I’m concerned so it doesn’t matter. I just like my anime politics free… Unless it’s Moriarty! 😉
But I hear you… No worries. Like I said, it’s just a “if possible” kinda thing. If you feel like you should use your platform to tell people to go vote, etc. I get it.
Blastrix
October 27, 2020 at 6:55 pmAs a huge manga reader myself, I will supply with some spoiler-free reccommendations.
For horror manga I would reccommend Junji Itos Uzumaki or Remina. Uzumaki is by far his more popular work, but Remina is that gem that is just as good in my opinion. The way he draws body horror is excellent and creepy. They are quite popular in the western comic fandom, though I will warn that they are not as character/story focused, which the anime fandom tend to like. If you are sold by creepy pictures, and short scary stories, these are excellent. The books are anthologies with a thin thread that connects the stories. They are published by VIZ if anyones interested. A black&white anime of Uzumaki has been ordered for Adult Swim, which could be interesting if the animation is decent, but I have my doubts.
Also Blood on the Tracks by Shuzo Oshimi (The Flowers of Evil mangaka). It is a great thriller manga and a bit of a slow burn. It relies on facial expressions with light dialogue, and you can flip through them at a fast pace. Although it is probably more on the thriller side than horror, it is my favourite ongoing manga at the moment with Beastars having ended. Vertical has 2 english volumes out at the moment. Look up a synopsis if you are not sold. It is just great.
Guardian Enzo
October 27, 2020 at 7:11 pmI’m actually reading Blood on the Tracks, but as usual Oshimi really annoys me despite his obvious talent. I always feel like he’s smirking as he’s writing, congratulating himself on what a genius of a provocateur he is.
Blastrix
October 27, 2020 at 8:05 pmOkay 🙂 I do like Oshimi and would not be as harsh towards his writing. I think he is one of those authors that moves on the acceptable boundaries, which do sometimes fall flat, but to me are more interesting than most. Blood on the Tracks is just one of those stories that works for me. There is this weird tension and edge as you read that story which just sold me from the get-go. The beautiful pencil-sketched look of the story is also great.
Blastrix
October 27, 2020 at 11:51 pmI just took your listener survey and wanted to supplement with a comment as well:
I did not pick a favourite host, because I felt bad choosing. As I view it, both of you belongs to different audiences in the anime sphere which works well. In terms of taste Enzo seems more aligned with an old guard of anime fans, and I think Setsuken is more aligned with the taste of the current anime fandom, which brings about an interesting back-and-forth. You guys might disagree.
To further help abstract what I’m talking about, let me give an example from another 2-person podcast I listen to. It is about western comics, where one of them is a comic newbie and the other is a comic journeyman. While I appreciate the knowledge of the journeyman, the newbie is good at pointing out tired tropes in the medium and critiquing legendary comic runs comparing it to stories in other mediums. Both perspectives bring about discussions which furthers the medium as a whole.
My point is, as a suggestion to your podcast, I would lean into this 2 person dynamic, and tackle contentious issues that arises in the fandom, while still trying to keep the discussions civil. Best of luck with it 🙂
Also you had a question about bias and fairness. I dont find bias to be a negative trait. I kinda expect anime critics to be biased and unfair. So at least my answer in that survey is not meant as a critique
Guardian Enzo
October 28, 2020 at 6:51 amThank you, good input.