Anime Roundtable

Anime Trending ’s William Moo sits down with Mike to talk about his time on the judging panel for the recent Crunchyroll Anime Awards and the future of anime awards in general. Another angle on the “Physical vs Digital” debate, light novels and manga with respect to anime seasons. And then Mike gives some quick thoughts after seeing the live action version of Five Centimeters Per Second , and the...

We begin day two of our annual Anime North visit by looking back on day two…and the rain. And you know the autographs for the Japanese Guests of Honour would be a story 00:48:10 - We quickly recap the Crunchyroll Anime Awards and give a thought on a brewing discussion about how much it matters 01:08:42 - Assistant Programming Director Norm McEvoy makes his annual appearance and actually answers so...

We begin our annual visit to Anime North by catching up with Lawrence and make our usual initial observations on the grounds, especially the Toronto Congress Centre side. Then talk anime merchandise, streaming on service not called Crunchyroll, and use all of that to look forward to tomorrow Tonight’s Drinking Game: Take a shot when Norm comes in to check in Mike Nicolas, James Austin, Mohamed Sha...

Of course Mike and James had to start with a lot of video game talk (we believe in fandom’s overlap). Then Mike wonders how much AI help would be needed for the socials in the future, and how much video should figure into the podcast side. We come back to Toronto and look ahead to Anime North and beyond to the Toronto Comic Arts Festival , and the Toronto Japanese Film Festival . The first English...

And we start it with a story about Neil and one of his favourite subjects… hentai . And the others give their 20 year reflections of the Roundtable and the Toronto fan community 00:33:10 - We give the latest update to the Pokemon Centre stabbing murder. Along with an overview of shops based on specific IPs 01:06:20 - We finally weigh in on the Shogakukan cover up controversy and wonder about the p...

Mike and James do a space heater for the first time with the wireless mics…and you can hear it. And we start by looking back on 20 years of the Roundtable, and what has changed in terms of how we keep up with any of this (hint: social media and life). And then we look ahead to episode 100 This Week’s Drinking game: Take a shot when you hear Mike taking a TUMS, or use the word “efficency” Mike Nico...

We start the Valentines episode by recapping Mike’s space heater review of Scarlet 00:15:22 - We look at the latest crackdown in manga piracy and t ry and make some sense out of it 00:49:38 - Kodansha expands their Print on Demand program . Of which Crunchyroll is part of? 00:56:00 - We crack the whip on the obligatory Crunchyroll stuff. Let’s start with the store… 01:13:30 - Then the streaming su...

Mike and Moh were talking on the phone the day after the former went out to see Scarlet in IMAX. So the former hit the record button so everyone can know if it's worth seeing in IMAX... Check out our linktr.ee for more all of our links to our blog, channels, and socials, animeroundtable.com

As we settle in and spill a few drinks (this week’s drinking game), we welcome Amy back around the table and get her thoughts on the last number of months 00:12:05 - We start with the Toronto goings on with the official start of the countdown to Anime North , The Artist Alley Shop , local sweets , the follow up to AniRevo Toronto (and what it might overlap with), the predatory nature of the Gaming...

Kevin lives to tell about his experience working retail the day after Christmas (one of the busiest shopping days of the year). Kevin lives to tell about his trip to Asia (which did include Japan). Kevin gives us his takes on the last few Space Heaters (because he was living). Then Kevin wonders what our reading and watching lists say about him and Mike (and tries to survive telling that) It's the...

Mike and Mohamed go on and off topic wondering what was the bigger garbage fire this week. Was it the FIFA World Cup Draw , or Amazon's anime AI Dub attempt? And then we went on and off topic one more time with Netflix/WB and Crunchyroll ending winding down their ad tier . And then we end with our usual "What are we watching and reading" segment. Here's one of Mike's hints: Happy Birthday Mahiru S...

TLDR: It was better than the microphones for this taping…and you can hear it Mike and James give their review on the first Anime Revoution Toronto the previous weekend, and in particular the Japanese guests. With a few thoughts on the Toronto Game Expo which was also the same weekend. With a longer conversation about the convention scene for Toronto. And a throw away thought on Amazon’s AI Dubbing...

Mike and James finally go back to the podcast mics. And James talks watching Virgin Punk in theatres, XSEED , and Crunchyroll subtitles . Mike talks his first impressions of using the Manga UP service. We look ahead to Anime Revolution Toronto. And end with a tribute to an Anime North original Visit our linktree for more information and links: animeroundtable.com

Our first regular episode since Anime North begins by looking back on the Demon Slayer movie talk in last week’s Space Heater. And a question about how much Sony’s recent form has been a win 00:31:40 - Crunchyroll announces an opening for their returning manga service . And there is an extra charge for it and… Mike seeks therapy after going anime window shopping visit to Chinatown for the first ti...

Taped after the successful opening weekend of Demon Slayer: Infinity Castle in North American theatres. Mike hasn’t seen it, but Kevin and Moh have. So we talk about that and “a few” things surrounding it Visit our launch page for more links: animeroundtable.com

The short answer is yes...as James catches up with the Mike. Gives his view last week's chat on the VShojo controversy , his thoughts on manga, light novels, and how they roll into anime. And then he talks about what caught his attention, namely the Animeigo and Discotek panels at Otakon and how they're a throwback to anime announcements from a by gone time Visit our launch page for links: animero...

Mike finally returns on the podcast side and catches up with Kevin for a talk around the space heater. We get Kevin's take on recent manga announcements from Anime Expo and San Diego, as well as his take on Mike's recent thoughts on manga and light novels. Then, Kevin did see BlackPink when they were in Toronto a few weeks back. So we get his thoughts on that and the Ado concert which took place l...

Day two from Anime North always starts with impressions of it. Especially the weather and cosplay, what we saw in the TCC, and the panels seen and even done 0:49:40 - We talked about Matt Alt’s article about the resilience of the popularity of Japanese Pop Culture in comparison to Western …perhaps it’s a focus issue. And maybe the west’s influence in Asian Pop Culture 1:20:55 - Anime North Assista...

We look back on Day 1 of AN. We talk initial impressions, how the AN compound looks, the weather, then some thoughts on the foreign film tariffs and wonder how this either ties into anime in North America and how it makes any sense Then we look ahead to Day 2, and Mike's special presentation before the evening taping Mike Nicolas, James Austin, Mohamed Sharmarke, Lawrence Black Visit our launch pa...

Editors Note: This was taped just before Switch 2 preorders were also delayed in Canada. Which means a chunk of this aged about as well as milk... A very long conversation about the ongoing Ghibli/ChatGPT controversy, the Switch 2 Nintendo Direct, and V-Tuber Mint Fantome speaks as herself to explain her world to the rest of it Mike Nicolas, James Austin, Kevin Ng Opening Theme: Fubuki - Snowstorm...

James finally gets a little time away from work again to visit Mike for a Space Heater. After a quick overview of shopping options in Toronto, they decided to talk about the Animeigo documentary series “The Anime Business”, the upcoming Anne of Green Gables anime and the hopes for it in Canada, and James’ thoughts on Assassin’s Creed: Shadows and how he feels it’s not enough to save Ubisoft Mike N...

We start with Mike looking back on 19 years (on and off) of the Roundtable. And then current events with the Oscars, a followup to Space Heater and Ontario politics (with the election earlier in the week) 18:25 - Everyone around the table tonight has seen Gundam GQuuuux Beginning in theatres. And we have thoughts from Gundam watchers, and newcomers 57:12 - On the anniersary of Akira Toriyama’s pas...

Kevin gives a Mike quick lecture to Mike as feedback on the first gaming stream. Then we talk Japanese Music with his thoughts on seeing Nano and MADKID in concert, Cloud Nine CEO Takuya Chigira’s thoughts on the state of JPOP internationally . How the downfall of a former member of SMAP is proving to be an issue for the TV network he was an anchor of, and some possible ramifications . Then we unw...

Mike and Moh sat down for a space heater. We started by looking back on the first gaming stream on Twitch the night before, and the ongoing Playstation Network outage , which at the time of taping had gotten to 25 hours. But at the heart of the matter, Mike and Moh wanted to talk about The Colors Within , and why you should check it out in theatres before its run likely ends in less than a week Mi...

We just had to talk about the reveal of the Switch 2 and take a quick trip down recent Nintendo history and how it rebounded from the Wii U almost 15 years ago. And wonder about the future of the handheld gaming console world as a whole. Then we dive into some anime headline with Diamond Distributor's Chapter 11 , Discotek's latest reveals , Crunchyroll's latest issue (add it to the pile please),...