Prime Time Geek

 

 PTG Episode 40: Anime Festival Orlando X Edition [53:52m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (2)

PTG Episode 40 is brought to you by the Kronos Corporation. Don’t know who they are, you say? You must not, then, have been a fan of The Guyver, Takaya Yoshiki’s long-running and oft-adapted manga series. Kronos, you see, is in the business (secretly, of course–you won’t tell anyone, will you?) of turning humans into monstrously powerful beasts they call “Zoanoids.” They’d also VERY much like to get their hands on a little item called “The Guyver” which … well, if I told you, then you wouldn’t go read the manga or watch any of the television or straight-to-video adaptations, now would you?

Anime is very much like a long, lost friend to me. It’s that guy or girl from grade school or high school that you swear up and down was your best friend back then, the one you hung out with every day, shared countless laughs and good memories with, and you can’t, in fact, imagine what that part of your life would have been like without them … BUT when you see them again after 20 years you both have changed so much that you can’t even hold a conversation with the person unless you’re talking about “the good ol’ days.” It really is sad to me that my relationship with this genre is in such a sad state, and I’d do just about anything to revive it, but it’s just a matter of knowing where to start. It’s the great paradox of anime in North America, in my humble opinion: so many people LOVE it, and there’s so much of it out there on video and on the web, but it’s all so homogeneous, and so few properties stand out from the crowd, that actually ACCESSING all of that content in a meaningful way on your own, without an expert guide at your side to steer you toward the good stuff and away from the bad, is damn near impossible. Others with a greater sense of adventure (and perhaps more free time on their hands to spend on an anime title they know nothing about that could be soul-shatteringly bad) may not have this problem, but it’s certainly one that I understand quite well.

Episode 40 focuses on, in addition to more on the topic briefly introduced above, Anime Festival Orlando 10 (AFO X)–a good part of the hour is spent on what I saw and experienced, walking around the convention and immersing myself in the world of contemporary anime … or at least trying to. I’m fairly certain that because a) I wasn’t wearing a costume; and b) I had a camera around my neck and a laptop bag slung over my shoulder all morning long, that I looked like a tourist, a stranger in a foreign land, and trust me, that’s EXACTLY how I felt. There’s no small irony in that, and you’ll find out why when you listen to the podcast. But still, all things considered, I enjoyed myself, and one event at AFO this year that I particularly enjoyed I didn’t get a chance to talk about on the air, so I want to give it some space here: the “Whack-a-Nerd” Charity Event, hosted by Sleeping Samurai.

Seriously, wouldn't YOU get in line and pay money to hit THIS guy?

This, of course, reminded me very much of Barbarian Battles, and the show that the late, great Jim Gasser would put on at conventions across the country. But what AFO and Sleeping Samurai have going on here is unique just because … well, just look at the incentive they offer to convention goers to pick up a padded sword and get in the ring! And the meager sum of money you must fork over for the opportunity goes to charity! The whole time this event ran on Sunday, there were people lined up and even more people watching from inside the room or out in the corridor. I’m sure it’s right up there with the Swords of Orlandia LARP in terms of the most memorable parts of the weekend.

Speaking of Swords of Orlandia, many thanks to “Gamalon, Necromancer of the Shadowfowl Army” and “Corens Lissossa, general of the Anarchs Army”, the two gents in charge of the game mechanics aspect of SoA, for their time and participation in an interview Saturday morning that provided much of the information that I talk about during this episode. They were a lot of fun to talk to and I hope the rest of weekend’s SoA activities went well for them. Here’s a pic of Gamalon and Corens:

The Necromancer and the General

To see all the rest of PTG’s pics from AFO, click on the Picasa album below. Enjoy!

AFO 10 (2009)