The Nine Hells of Anime Episode 56: Outbreak Company

On rainy days, a student and an adult meet underneath a park gazebo to escape the troubles of their real lives.  While they initially find comfort in conversation, their relationship becomes strained as they learn more about each other’s circumstances.

Taking a step away from the mediocrity of Children Who Chase Lost Voices, director Makoto Shinkai draws elements from the romances of his more successful distance trilogy in order to shore up Garden of Words.  Has he learned anything from the experience or will Garden of Words simply become the fourth distance film?

Kyousougiga is a very strange tale loosely based off Alice in Wonderland that follows a peculiar family in its trials and tribulations in a techno-magical version of Kyoto.  In their musings, conflicts, and interactions with an interdimensional traveler named Koto, these siblings must come to terms with their own life desires and the transgressions of their parents.  At the time of its release, Kyousougiga may have been overshadowed by Kill la Kill, but its distinct visuals made it one of the more notable anime of Fall 2013.

Cutie Honey meets Gurren Lagann as Studio Trigger explodes onto the television anime scene with the fan favorite Kill la Kill, which has even inspired the usual round of talk about saving anime with its combination of kickass music, charismatic eyebrows, and pink-haired meme machines.  But does this high profile show live up to the hype or do its superpowered costumes come apart at the seams?  

Fino and Ace use this glorified plastic model commercial as an excuse to reminisce about the old and new of Gundam.  While Gunpla Builders Beginning G amounts to little more than a warmup for the far superior Gundam Build Fighters, it does deserve credit for being the origin of the world’s most dangerous Mobile Suit: The Bearguy.

Humankind comes under attack by seaworthy CG waifu boats and with civilization on the brink of collapse, it's up to a boy and a rogue waifu submarine to save the world from the forces of these Vocaloid sailors.

Also known by the far lengthier title of My Mental Choices are Completely Interfering with my School Romantic Comedy, Noucome is the story of a boy plagued with random, preposterous visual novel style choices.  Just when he thought he'd be stuck choosing between reading porno mags in the park and smelling them deeply, he's given a chance to rid himself of this curse.  The catch? The cure is just as bad as the disease.

Back in Anime Elimination 3, Fino hyped up Outbreak Company, the story of a nerd who is sent to a fantasy world to teach its inhabitants about anime as a form of cultural exchange. Did it ultimately live up to Fino's expectations as a metaphor about the 2000's anime boom or did it crash and burn? Perhaps the answer lies somewhere in between and Moon steps in to give some much-needed guidance.

Two bounty hunters/illegal gun shop owners are blackmailed by a loose cannon cop into investigating a gun-running ring.  In their snooping, they fight hardened thugs, corrupt politicians, and even a psychotic Russian assassin.  If you think this sounds like an 80’s action flick, then you’ve hit the nail on the head.  Now we get to find out how Gunsmith Cats’ depiction of Chicago fares against Mad Bull 34’s version of New York.

Back in the third quarter of 2013, Fino and Moon recorded a monster of a podcast that up until now went unedited. Even with the full set of edits, this final version comes out to a terrifying 1.5 hours, and rest assured that time is filled to the brim with criticism on the dystopian cop drama Psycho-Pass.  What happens to Japanese society when everything is run by computers that can read a person’s mental state and even calculate their propensity for crime?  The answer may surprise you.

This episode, we delve into the avant-garde with Masaaki Yuasa’s cult film Mind Game.  Its story of regret and possibility takes full advantage of its unorthodox and loose art style and plot structure to create an experience that nearly defies description, but is the end result pretentious nonsense or an expertly written oddball?