In this month’s episode, the Podcastle in the Sky crew take a journey back to an era when alt-rock ruled the world and ennui was in by watching two cult favorites, Gainax’s sci-fi infused coming of age story FLCL and the 1995 film adaptation of Tank Girl. Does FLCL stand the test of time as a classic piece of animation, does Tank Girl’s box office failure mask a hidden gem? Listen in and all will be revealed!
movies
Episode 6: Fist of the North Star and The Road Warrior
It’s Mad Max and the Musclemen on this month’s post-apocalyptic podcast! In this episode, the PodCastle crew takes a look at two of the 1980s’ most extravagant pieces of end-times fiction with George Miller’s 1981 sequel The Road Warrior and the 1986 anime movie adaptation of Tetsuo Hara’s manga, Fist of the North Star. The narrative mysteries of spontaneously exploding tables, spooky men on stilts, and so much more are explored, so find a parking space for your skull-laden Doom-Buggy and listen along.
Episode 5: Puella Magi Madoka Magica and Chronicle
Tune in for our greatest accomplishment in anime podcasting – we talk about Puella Magi Madoka Magica without once using the word “deconstruction”. Also we talk about the 2012 movie Chronicle and about teenagers with superpowers, then we kind of meander to a bunch of other topics. So stop, collaborate and listen to PodCastle in the Sky’s latest episode. Excelsior!
Episode 4: Golgo 13 and Octopussy
In this episode PodCastle looks back to 1983, a year of dueling James Bond movies – and picks one of the movies (Octopussy, the ‘official’ one) and compares it to another product of 1983, Golgo 13: The Professional, the first anime adaptation of a character inspired by Ian Fleming’s spy. Confident killers, wonky geopolitics, male power fantasies and more!
Episode 3: Diabolik Lovers and Twilight
We return from the dead to discuss the undead! Diabolik Lovers and Twilight – hot or not? Whether you’re Team Edward, Team Jacob, or Team Shoot Yourself in the Head, listen and be enlightened. Are possessive boyfriends sexy if they’re a hot vampire? Does the firmament rip in twain as we compare these works to Russian literature? Do we emerge unscathed from watching these franchises? Tune in and find out!
And if you ever find yourself wondering what the hell we’re talking about, check out our expanded Anime Fan to English dictionary.
Episode 2: The Untouchables and Baccano!
Immortality is the theme of our second episode as we compare the 2007 anime series Baccano with its inspiration, the 1987 Brian De Palma gangster flick The Untouchables. We’ve got a cops and robbers story on the one hand and a gangsters versus alchemists story on the other. Tune in as we discuss the enduring legend of the gangster.
FYI for the confused: the Mister Tea referred to in the recording is the husband of our podcaster TeaRex and not the pro wrestler who starred in The A-Team.