Cowboy Bebop Rewatch Podcast Session #22: Cowboy Funk

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As Cowboy Bebop has become this evergreen ambassador of anime, we decided to go back and re-watch the show now that is has gotten a beautiful Blu-ray box set. Every week we will share our memories and then re-evaluate these stories with 16 years of experience and distance. Which episodes are just as we remember, which have major flaws, and which have aged like a fine wine. At the same time, we will also look back on the music, cultural references, and holistic connections contained within each episode. Plus, we will judge if there in an appropriate amount of Ein.

Does Cowboy Bebop hold up as a classic or was its reputation all a dream? Let’s rewatch Cowboy Bebop together and find out!

Session #22

Secret Holy Grail Wars

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Fate/Grand Order had a big New Year’s event online event to celebrate the first few months of the game’s release as well as lay out some future developments. But the biggest piece of news was also probably the one that was equally vague. Fate/Grand Order was going to do a collaboration event in February. They did not announce what property they were doing the corssover with but speculation is running rampant. I see a lot of people predicting it will be a crossover with Kantai Collection especially after the 2014 April Fools video with Nero and Tamamo no Mae. But truth be told I know more about Love Live! than I know about KanColle and I know next to nothing about Love Live!

Therefore I thought it would be fun to imagine what Servants would be added to Fate/Grand Order if they crossover with other properties I do know really well. Theoretically the crossovers could be nothing more than some throw away Craft Essence power-ups that don’t do much more than add a little cross promotional art to the game. New servants on the other hand would really shake things up and be memorable. Plus it is more fun to write about that the more mundane reality that is far more likely to happen.

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Anime Mirai 2015: Music, Mothers, and Mulch

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The biggest problem with Anime Mirai is the titles are rarely streaming. What’s the best known short to come out of this project? Little Witch Academia which earned a great deal of critical acclaim, and became an Internet phenomenon and general darling of fandom. It was streaming on Studio Trigger’s YouTube page. And look at how well-known Trigger is now.

Take another project which gained praise and was even turned into a TV series: Death Billiards. Many people had never even seen the original short that turned into the Death Parade TV series.

Exposure for a project like this makes a huge difference and really isn’t that the point of the project?

All the help in the world would not have made Mechanical Fairies or Ryo mega-hits but they might not have slipped into utter obscurity if they had been streaming. And that seems to be the fate of a lot of these shorts. The Anime Mirai 2014 entries were strong enough to be superstars if they only could have been seen by more people.

Sadly, the Anime Mirai 2015 anime are still not streaming anywhere either. Like last years titles we have decided to draw some attention to these anime as they are usually a unique treat for fans looking for self-contained stories, new talent, and experimental ideas.

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