Zannen, Canada

For years it's felt like we've been asking the rest of the world to take our word for it that Sailor Moon was a Canadian cultural phenomenon, but at long last we have seen a distinct example of that in practice with Sailor Moon's launch on Crave last month. Karl and Kyle join me to talk about why this launch led to an explosion on social media, despite the fact that the show has been available on Tubi for years! We also discuss some other recent news stories such as Viz's new partnership with Funimation and AT&T's apparent desire to sell off Crunchyroll. We also take a look at the outrageous prices of Sentai Filmworks titles on Amazon.ca to underline what a terrible decision Crunchyroll made by choosing them to handle their home video distribution. What was your reaction to Sailor Moon appearing on Crave? If they get more anime, is there anything specific you think they should grab next? If so, I'd love to hear from you! Share your thoughts at zannencanada@gmail.com.

Michelle Clough served as a Script Adapter for multiple Ocean Studios projects including Death Note, Pretty Cure, My Otome and The Story of Saiunkoku. She joins me to talk about working for Ocean during what was possibly both their heyday and the beginning of their slump in the realm of anime dubbing in the late 2000s. We also talk about the exciting world of closed captioning and reveal a few details about the upcoming streaming debut of the Sailor Moon uncut dub on Crave!

The Calgary-produced dub of the original Futari wa Pretty Cure hit the airwaves on YTV right as anime was reaching its decline on the station. Many had hoped the series would be a hit and bring about a second wind, but few were surprised that this didn't happened. Even fewer were surprised that this dub hasn't seen the light of day since. But should we really write it off as a failure? Mahou Shoujo experts Eryn and Pike, as well as Will Wood, the voice of Ferguson/FujiP from the series, bring a wild array of perspectives on this great dub, its impact as well as the Pretty Cure franchise as a whole. Did YTV's airing of Pretty Cure have a big impact for you? If so, I'd love to hear from you! Share your story at zannencanada@gmail.com.

Raj Ramayya joins me from quarantine in Saskatchewan to talk about his work and what he's been up to since his last appearance on the podcast. Best known as a vocalist for Cowboy Bebop, Wolf's Rain and Made in Abyss, Raj is a frequent collaborator with Yoko Kanno and Kevin Penkin. He talks about his recent work on Tower of God, the strengths of the Canadian music industry, the ways in which the Japanese music industry has (and hasn't) changed over the past 20 years and the ever prevalent specter of Tommy Lee Jones in Japanese advertising.

Genice Chan is an illustrator and animator from Vancouver, BC who recently provided concept art and directed the ending credit sequence for the Netflix anime BNA (Brand New Animal) from Studio Trigger. She joins me to talk about the process of working with Trigger, how she enlisted Giant Ant Studios for animating the ED as well as her thoughts on localizing tanukis into raccoons.

Ashley joins me to complete our exploration of late night anime on Teletoon in the late nineties with a laid back chat about Macross Plus. We talk about its accessibility, connections to Cowboy Bebop, alternate Bryan Cranston-free dubs and the legal nightmare that has now consumed this classic OVA series.

Minifée, the Montreal-produced dub of the original Sally the Witch, may not at first seem terribly notable. However, it doesn't take a lot of digging to find out that it one of the most crucial, overlooked productions in the history of anime in North America. Not only was it the first anime dub ever produced in Canada, it was the first anime ever produced in the French language. With Bernadette Morin, mother of notable Francophone singer Amélie Morin, at the helm, it is... possibly the first anime dub ever produced by a woman? It's a little hard to nail that one down, but mahou shoujo expert Eryn Dearden joins me to explore the series a little deeper. Special thanks to Vincent Bergeron for his assistance in researching for this episode!

March 18, 2020 marks the 5th anniversary of the Zannen, Canada podcast. Ko-Fi: ko-fi.com/zannencanada Twitter: @jbetteridge Podcast Twitter: @zannencanada Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/zannencanada/ E-mail: zannencanada@gmail.com

Will Studio Ghibli films ever become available to stream in Canada? You might not want to put your money on that one. Will Crunchyroll have to produce Canadian Content to comply with possible future regulations? Probably not a good bet. Karl and I tend to be really bad at predicting things, so we discuss some current news items that will likely have an impact this coming year and try to put every possibility we can think of out on the table.

UK theatre chain Cineworld (owners of Regal Cinemas in the US) has purchased Cineplex, meaning that our movie media monopoly is no longer even Canadian! What does this mean for anime? Almost certainly nothing, but it's crucial to know what's at work behind the scenes! Randy and I share our thoughts on all of the anime films released in Canada in 2019, evaluate the improvements over the previous year and speculate on what we can expect in 2021.

Forty years ago, the entire non-English speaking world was captivated by Candy Candy, the chronicles of the endless tragedies befalling an spunky and adorable freckled orphan. This shoujo classic was a staple of Radio-Canada's anime line-up throughout the 70s and 80s, but was scrubbed off the face of the earth in the 90s amid legal turmoil. Join Dave, Shaindle, Chris and myself to find out why so many people continue to spread the good word of Candy despite the ongoing effort to erase her from public consciousness! Big thanks to Vincent Bergeron for his help compiling information for this episode!

The annual Zannen, Canada holiday special has arrived! This year, voice actors Caitlyn Bairstow, Ian Hanlin, Brian Doe and Disney-approved Spider-Man actor Cole Howard join me live from GGRP Studios in Vancouver to share their favourite media from 2019 including Seiss Manos, Alita, The Dragon Prince, O Maidens in Your Savage Season, and a whole lot of independent films such as Gemini, Shuttlecock, Tokyo Lovers and Puppet Killer.

The year is 1997. After years of careful planning, Canadian broadcasting consortiums have unleashed upon the public an assortment of new cable channels, all of which are wildly experimental in their attempts to gain your attention. Among these channels is Teletoon, although it is very different from the Teletoon we know today. It is bold, it is ambitious, and it is so determined to get the attention of adult audiences that it is willing to harness the raw power of Manga Entertainment with Late Night Anime. Ashley joins me once again to talk about the four movies that were central to this effort: Ninja Scroll, Royal Space Force: The Wings of Honneamise, Patlabor: The Movie and Patlabor 2: The Movie. What an age it was.

This episode is all about Animethon, Canada's oldest anime convention, despite denying being an anime convention for a significant portion of that time. Eryn Cerise, Ian Horner and Brendan "Beej" Dery help paint a picture of how what started as a membership booster for an Edmonton anime club grew into one of the epicentres of anime fandom in Western Canada - not to mention the increasingly crowded anime improv scene.

In 1997, CBC's Undercurrents ran a legendary exposé on otaku as obsessive collectors of data. It featured William Gibson, Hitoshi Doi, as well as a charming fellow with an overzealous fixation on Sailor Mercury. That fellow was Gregory Taylor, and he joins me in this episode to talk about the segment, as well Sailor Moon chat groups in the 1990s, rogue anime screenings at the University of Waterloo, anthropomorphized math concepts and his own cataloged experiences in the world of Sailor Moon online roleplaying. In a separate segment, I also talk about Anime Revolution 2019, and the unfortunate controversy surrounding the event this year. Full Undercurrents Otaku Segment: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KcczGPlbrYQ Music Video featuring Greg: Alex Lacasse - "Like This, Like That" - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ekMLv7ITH4 Greg's Website: Occasional Homepage of Gregory Taylor - http://web.ncf.ca/cz159/ Greg's Twitter: @mathtans Anime News Network article on AniRevo 2019: Victims Speak Out After Canada'

Information on donating to Kyoto Animation directly: https://www.crunchyroll.com/anime-news/2019/07/24-1/kyoto-animation-officially-starts-accepting-donations-through-bank-transfer GoFundMe donations through Sentai Filmworks: https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-kyoani-heal Karl and Corey share their thoughts on the horrific arson attack at Kyoto Animation. We also discuss the surprising prospects of Toonami on Adult Swim Canada, and why it may not have the content you want! We also go predictably in-depth about Warner's recent announcement of HBO Max and how it has possibly destroyed any reasonable expectation we had for their streaming strategy.

Ashley Hakker joins me to talk about the remarkable, unstoppable life-form that is Anime North. All of the planning in the world could never have prepared me to properly absorb this convention in one go, and together we talk about its history and the exact ingredients that caused it to become the giant glorious mess that it is today.

Not to be confused with the Margaret Atwood novel, Cat's Eye (or "Signé Cat's Eyes") aired in French on Radio-Canada in the late 80s and early 90s, and oh boy did it stick out like a sore thumb on that line-up. Chris joins me once again to share his own experiences watching the show. Dawn from the Anime Nostalgia Podcast also appears to give her own perspective on how well this show really holds up. We touch on many important points such as Club Dorothée, the connections to Nicky Larson (sometimes referred to as "City Hunter") and what it must be like to discover classic anime through Citypop and Vaporwave videos as opposed to just being old.

With little notice, Corus launched the world's first ever 24/7 Adult Swim network, and the good certainly seems to outweigh the bad... at least if you ignore the lack of streaming options! Sketch from the Toonami Faithful Podcast, as well as Karl, help me take a close look at what this new channel does right, what it does wrong, and what it still needs to do to truly capture the Adult Swim voice. The channel's launch also raises many questions, such as: will this stuff ever appear online again? What is the future of CanCon on this station? WILL WE EVER SEE TOONAMI? We do not have answers to these questions, but we certainly have plenty of speculation. You like speculation, right?

With nine different voice actors for Goku and a LOT of bad theme songs, the Dragon Ball franchise has been an odd patchwork in Canada, but not one that has derailed its success in any way. Geoff and Yazy join me to talk about discovering and following Dragon Ball/Z/GT through all its different dubs, and try our best to clear up some misconceptions on why so may different versions hit the airwaves. We have so much fun that we completely forgot to mention that Dragon Ball Evolution aired on YTV at one point.