A3K Radio - November 03, 2010

Written by Sean Russell

In this episode of A3K Radio, we have new releases for the week, an article from Brian Ruh and ANN, a company profile on Studio Bones and a Snap Judgment on The World God Only Knows. If you have something you want featured on the show, send us an email at contact@anime3000.com or give us a call at (954) 780-6201.

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NEW RELEASES
Here are the new releases for Tuesday. You can support A3K and purchase these items from us on our Amazon store.
http://astore.amazon.com/anime3000-20

BRAIN DIVING: A LOVELY ANGEL
Brian Ruh who is a good friend to the site released a new Brain Diving column on Anime News Network where he talks about Dirty Pair. He was kind enough to mention our site and Mike Dent's Audio Book the premiered on an episode of the Bonus Round. If you haven't heard it yet, you need to check out our show notes for the link. You should also read Brian Ruh's column. Brian previously appeared on an episode of the A3K Panel where he discussed the work of Mamoru Oshii, having authored Stray Dog of Anime: The Films of Mamoru Oshii.

Brain Diving on ANN
http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/brain-diving/a-lovely-angel/2010-11-02
Bonus Round Dirty Pair Audio Book:
http://www.anime3000.com/a3k-network/bonus-round/602-bonus-round-81210-dirty-pair-the-audio-book-podcast.html
A3K Panel on Mamoru Oshii
http://www.anime3000.com/a3k-network/anime3000-panel/516-anime-3000-panel-s03e04-the-wonderful-world-of-mamoru-oshii.html


COMPANY PROFILE: STUDIO BONES
Studio Bones was founded in October of 1998 by Sunrise staff members. Masahiko Minami, Hiroshi Ōsaka and Toshihiro Kawamoto's first project was collaborating with Sunrise on the Cowboy Bebop Movie, Knocking on Heaven's Door. Some of the studio's well known releases include: Fullmetal Alchemist, Eureka 7, Ouran High School Host Club, Darker Than Black, Soul Eater, Heroman, RahXephon, Angelic Layer, Wolf's Rain, Tokyo Magnitude 8.0 and the more recent Star Driver: Jagayaju no Takuto.

In 2007, the studio suffered a tremendous loss when one of its founding members, Hiroshi Osaka died after battling cancer at the age of 44. Makoto Watanabe and Takahiro Komori would later be named to their distinguished board of directors. Studio Bones is currently headquartered in Igusa, Suginami, Tokyo.

In 2008, the studio teamed with Stan Lee to produce the Heroman series. A promotional movie for the series originally aired at Tokyo International Anime Fair in 08 and has since aired on Japanese television in the Spring of 2010. The story revolves around an American kids named Joey that finds a toy robot that he uses to fight evil.


SNAP JUDGEMENT: THE WORLD GOD ONLY KNOWS
Keima Katsuragi is an avid gamer who is obsessed with conquering the hearts of fictional women. Completely devoid of all reality, it takes a contract from the devil to force his hand at interacting with members of the opposite sex. His online handle is the Conquering God because of his ability to completely own on dating sims. After he unknowingly accepts the contract from the demon, he is forced to assist Elcea in her mission to collect fallen souls. But the only way to actually capture these souls is to conquer the hearts of the women they inhabit. So basically, Katuragi has to put his video game skills to the test.

What I liked about The World God Only Knows is the pacing, humor and overall packaging of the series. Nothing seems too over the top and helps to keep the story flowing in a singular and focused direction. In this first episode, you get enough information about the characters without too much exposition. Here's the situation and run with it. The sight gags are actually comical because they don't rely on overly cute character designs or obnoxious voice acting. Akio Watanabe, who also worked on Bakemonogatari and Soul Taker adapted the original designs of mangaka, Tamiki Wakaki. At the helm of this series is Shigehito Takayangi, who's previously directed Galaxy Angel A, S and X, Kanamemo and Panyo Panyo Di Gi Charat.

As of October 12, The World God Only Knows is the most popular series of the Fall 2010 season according to Crunchyroll. While I have high praise for the series, it does remind me of past series that started off with promise, but quickly became more mediocre with each new episode. Triple A's To Love Ru instantly comes to mind. Since this is a Snap Judgement, I can only give you my recommendation based on part of this series and from what I've seen, I will "Sit Through Another Episode".

TWITTER QUESTIONS
In our continued effort to change and improve, we are changing our Twitter Love into our Twitter Question segment. If you have a question about Anime3000.com or anime and manga, send it to us via Twitter. We will pick a question and answer it on the show. I'm not expecting a flood of questions, but I will continue to mention this segment until we start to get some. So if you're listening to this show, humor us.

COMMENTS FEEDBACK OR SUGGESTIONS
If you have any comments feedback or suggestions about today's show, send them to contact@anime3000.com. You can also call us at (954) 780-6201. We would love to hear from you.

MEDIA AND SUPPORTING MATERIALS
Monogatari by Hearts Grow