Rod, Karen and Aaron discuss listener feedback, entertainment, James Gunn going to DC, My Hero Academia movie made money, Last Jedi backlash was political trolling, space elevator, MoviePass uncanceling accounts, Erika Alexander going to Black Lightning, Janelle Monae joining cast of Lady and The Tramp, Buffy reboot, Margot is starring in the Barbie movie, Gareth Evans not doing Deathstroke any more, Titans renewed for season 2, ATT making a streaming service, Dark Phoenix reshoots, Rosie Perez cast in Birds Of Prey, Telltale lays off everyone else, Skybound will finish The Walking Dead, PSN name changes, Lil and Stitch getting live-action film, Universal Soldier reboot, Coogler back for Black Panther 2, Scarjo making more Marvel bread, Rambo 5, Kraven movie, She-Ra, Bryan Singer directing Red Sonja, Shazam, Joker extras locked in subway train, Jamie Lee Curtis gun controversy, Lady Gaga could play Ursula, Stan Lee, Brie Larson signs long term deal, Walking Dead hits ratings low, Amazon AI, John Carpenter on Big Trouble In Little China and John Henry movie.
The Nerd Off: (Protected Content)
Hey Rod, Karen, Aaron, and even that scammer Chris. I just wanted to write in after listening to the Nerd Off this week, and listening to your discussion of anime to chime in.
I just got back from 10 days in Japan (Tokyo and Kyoto), and if you are into anything remotely nerdy, you need to make it your life’s mission to go to Japan. It was a great trip, and as someone who has always wanted to go AND who is a huge fan of anime, I couldn’t be happier. I’ll just mention a couple of highlights and observations.
We went to Akihabara twice. This is the “male” nerd area (I say that cos there’s a “female” nerd area, Ikebukoro that I’ll mention a little bit about as well), and is the area that is filled with maid cafes, arcades, and figure stores. When I say figure stores, I mean literal multi-floor buildings filled with various anime statues, action figures and models. It’s absurd. Animate and Gamers are probably the ones that Westerners are most familiar with, but they tend to sell mostly character goods, not a ton of figures. We went to a place called Anime Liberty that has two locations in Akiba and the selection at just those two stores were ridiculous. The biggest thing in anime over there right now is Fate/Grand Order, and statues and merchandise for that were LITERALLY everywhere. I felt like I was missing something because the Fate series is one I haven’t watched yet.
For the more popular animes like DBZ, Fate, Naruto, and One Piece there is SO MUCH STUFF. There is an entire One Piece Store in Shibuya. One Piece is way more popular in Japan that it is here. The only other anime that has a dedicated store is Evangelion. It used to be in Akiba, but it moved to Ikebukuro. It’s a small store, but they had a lot of cool stuff like stuff signed by Hideaki Anno (the creator) and New Balance x Evangelion sneakers. If you’re a sneaker head that also likes anime, there was a giant display at the New Balance store in Shibuya with Unit 01 and all the shoes have color ways based on the different Evas. It was wild.
I am surprised at my restraint, and the fact that I won’t have to lose my home because I went to Japan and came back with all the things. I did score a complete set of statues of all the Evangelion pilots for about $120. No chance I could have done that in America. Those statues would have easily cost $40 a piece (I know cos I looked). I didn’t get a Shinji, cos he sucks, and instead got a Unit 01 for $51. Once agian, that statue on Amazon was at least double that. I also won a Sword Art Online Figure (Asuna) at the Sega Arcade in Akihabara. You can win figures for most popular animes that are out now so we saw ones for Fate, DBZ, Naruto etc. Surprisingly, my favorite anime of all time is Cowboy Bebop, and in all of Tokyo I found ONE Cowboy Bebop figure and it was one I already owned. That show is not nearly as popular there as it is here.
On a different note, I have traveled abroad as a black woman many times, and Japan was the only place I wasn’t stared at or treated like an outsider. People were overly polite in all of my interactions with them. On the metro, while people don’t respect personal space which I think is just due to the sheer volume of people, no one stared, pointed, or didn’t want to sit next to me because I was black. All of those things have happened to me in Europe and other parts of Asia.
So, if you ever get the chance, go to Japan. It was amazing. It is such a weird country of contrasts, but also so much history. We did do a lot of cultural stuff, but we did SO MUCH NERD SHIT. The best sushi. The best ramen. The best weird candy. I don’t wanna take up all your time. We are already planning going back next year cos we had such an amazing time. It also made me revise the list of anime I should be watching, cos man, there’s a lot of that and I want to be prepared for when I go back. Keep up the amazing work, and I can’t wait to listen to the next show!
-Brea (Broove)
What’s up y’all? Checking in with a question about gaming for the crew. Any of y’all play Telltale’s Batman Season 2? I recently purchased the season and it’s so good I might even let the slave labor and abrupt closure of the studio slide lol but no really they even put a jazz version of a Michael Jackson song in episode 1. Maybe Nerd Con Orgy Game Studio can produce season 3? Just a thought.
Dear Karen and Rod and guests,
I am concerned! Every little white girl I know is going as the Doctor for Halloween and every little black girl I know is going as Shuri. We might see a live Nerd-Off in these streets.
Here’s hoping they reach detente over jelly babies and Wakanda jollof rice.
Lauren
What’s up Nerd Off Crew!
Let me start off by saying this is probably my favorite podcast in your premium line-up. I’m not sure when I started listening to TBGWT, it’s been a good while now, but I made the decision to go premium so I could hear your Infinity War spoiled movie review, and I have not regretted that decision. I enjoy all your content, but as a wannabe nerd, The Nerd Off keeps me up to date on all the nerdy things I’m into. Hopefully one day I can be a fully committed nerd…lol!
The reason for my comment…you guys were talking about Lady Gaga playing Ursula and the idea of Ursula possibly being played by a black woman. I’m not sure if any of you are familiar with the Disney Descendants series and the live action adaptation that aired on the Disney channel. I personally have 2 young daughters who are fans of the series. But, in that series Ursula’s daughter was played by a black girl. China McClain, who I believe is also on Black Lightening, plays her daughter so I think it’s safe to say even at Disney the idea of Ursula being a black woman is not that far fetched.
I just wanted to share that in case you guys weren’t aware, but keep up the great work and continued success!
-Gary (aka gb8200)
Hi Rod and Karen,
The Sims is my jam and hearing Karen run down her Sims activities made me remember my times with the first game on the Mac. I had many of the expansions and customised the sound files so that the TV stations played actual sound from TV shows. Bullwinkle was on the kids channel and Eddie Murphy was on comedy. Apparently the sound files and all my downloaded custom stuff took too much storage on my dad’s first generation iMac. One day he came up to me and told me I have to erase some stuff to make room. Next day I go in to do that and he had already uninstalled all the expansions, the core game and the sound files, and the GAME FILES. My town was no more. I was crushed. I guess that was his revenge for when I overwrote his Final Fantasy 1 game on the NES years prior.
Thanks for the shows, thanks for the laughs, and thanks for other stuff I can’t think of.
Thomas W. aka @tommydeeelive aka TJ from Pittsburgh aka I need to consolidate my names
P.S.: In terms of Ursula being a woman of color, I didn’t really think about it as I was firmly in adulthood when Little Mermaid came out. However, over the years, I’ve read many personal essays online about why and how Ursula was not only a black woman but a black feminist icon! Finally, there was a Disney ad campaign a few years ago where actors and actresses dressed up as their favorite Disney movie characters and Queen Latifah was Ursula. It was in that image that it clicked in my mind that Ursula could be a black woman and only Queen Latifah should star in the live action version. (For pictures, see this link: http://animatedfilmreviews.filminspector.com/2014/01/queen-latifah-as-ursula-from-little.html)
Dear Nerd-Off Crew: As usual, a great episode. In regards to James Gunn, as soon as I saw the headline to the story I shouted “No one gets cancelled.” I remember when the story broke about him getting fired, you all joked that his old tweets were leaked by DC to get James Gunn. Imagine? Political trolling via pop culture critics and fandoms? Russia are the evil genuises that Cold War-tainted American History classes taught us. :-/