Dreaming Machine / Keyframe | An Animation & Anime Podcast

Massive Robots Fights Are All You Need The Hollywood adaptation of Yukito Kishiro’s hit manga Battle Angel Alita (Gunnm), is out in cinemas, and by all reports it’s doing some decent business. Join Tucky and Rob as they discuss the film that James Cameron and Robert Rodriguez have created, the implications of the film’s success, and some possible titles that could be adapted in the future.  After...

After School Goth Club This week it’s anime all the way as Tucky, Mark and Rob get several shows out of their systems, and kicking things off is series two of the show that’s basically catering porn - Food Wars! The Second Plate.  After that it’s time for some painfully secret high school experiments (and other stuff), in Kiznaiver, and a dive into the dark fantasy world of Overlord II to watch so...

Somewhere Over The Redub Subs versus dubs.  It’s the oldest continuing debate in anime, and with a variety of arguments for and against one or the other, it doesn’t look like ending any time soon. But there is one particular aspect of the debate that’s often overlooked - songs - and with that in mind, Andrew, Tucky and Rob decide to investigate whether songs in anime should be redubbed into Englis...

Bardock's Geordie Genes Computer graphics have become the norm in animation thanks to their versatility and efficiency, but there are certain types of CG animation that some people just don't like. With that in mind, Rob and Andrew investigate cel-shaded CG animation and some of the possible reasons why it divides opinion.  After that it's business as usual with our usual look at what we've been w...

It’s a new year, so we decided to out some of the more notable titles scheduled for release in 2019, which for some reason leads Tucky and Rob on to a discussion about judging things too soon or based on little evidence (also know as a knee-jerk reaction). After that we return to Hinamizawa for more Groundhog Day-style psycho-children adventures with the Higurashi: When Cicadas Cry Kai (season 2),...

Now that we’ve got all of the bad stuff from the last year of animation out of our system it’s time for the Keyframe gang to talk about the good things that were released during 2018.  With that in mind, gather round fellow fans as we take a long and somewhat complicated look back over the previous year. Also this is not a “top ten” as we absolutely definitely have a lot more than ten titles, and...

It’s the end of another year in animation, so join Tucky and Rob as they cast their collective nostalgic gazes back over the medium of animation during 2018 … Just kidding. That show is next week.   This episode is dedicated to all of the things in animation that tried to make their mark, but failed for one reason or another. With a selection of pithy-sounding awards, welcome to the bad side of an...

Beyblade: The Japanese Conkers Live-action/animation crossovers have been a part of film for since the advent of The Enchanted Drawing back in 1900, and with Pokémon: Detective Pikachu due for release in 2019, Tucky, Andrew and Producer Rob discuss the new addition to the franchise - which leads to a discussion about the history of live-action/animation crossovers in film. After that it’s time to...

Gangs of Akihabara So Goku makes an appearance at the Macy’s Day Parade. Is it really big news as some reports suggest, or is it merely another sop to fans? Join the Keyframe gang for an interesting and divisive discussion about very large balloons before they leave the parade grounds to find out what’s been happening in the ongoing “divorce” between Funimation and Crunchyroll.  After that it’s ti...

Those Goofy Cave People On this episode of Keyframe, Tucky and Producer Rob attempt to unpick the Academy’s “For Your Consideration” list of animated feature films that are in the running to receive a nomination for an Oscar. Join them as they get wax cynical about the awards, lament the fact that great movies like The Breadwinner and A Silent Voice didn’t get the attention they deserved because D...

Muffin-Topping Into Mainstream My Hero Academia has been a huge success as a series, but it’s the remarkable success of the Two Heroes movie that has Tucky and Producer Rob thinking about the changing perception of animated feature films in the West. This naturally leads to an interesting discussion about anime movies in general, live-action adaptations in the west, and our suggestions for titles...

Dragon Ball's Time Trunks We’ve got a packed episode this week as Producer Rob kicks things off with One Piece Uncut - Collection 19 (episodes 446 to 468), which fans will know is the end of the Impel Down Arc and the beginning of the Marineford Arc (also known as the Paramount War). After that it’s over to our resident DB correspondent Andrew who has Dragon Ball Super parts 3, 4 and 5 before Tuck...

The Weird Faces of Matt Gurning This week Tucky and Producer Rob forego the usual niceties and get right down to business, and leading the animation charge is the surprisingly decent magical girl series Matoi The Sacred Slayer. After that it’s the turn of Disenchantment - Matt Groening’s new Netflix series - to be put under the microscope before we end with the bluray release of the seminal anime...

Bishounen Mutants Things get a bit contentious this week because Tucky went to see Teen Titans Go! To The Movies, and now he’s got to convince Producer Rob - who is notorious for his hatred of things like Teen Titans Go! And Ready Player One - to give the animated film a fair chance. After that argumentative start it’s time for all things anime with The Asterisk War, Flip Flappers (seriously, who...

The Hokage of Middle Management Anime is serious business (allegedly), and as if to highlight this point, Tucky joins fellow anime/animation nerd Producer Rob for an extended conversation about the trials and tribulations of voice acting, the future of the U.S. dub of One Piece, and what could be done to ensure the successful future of Western voice acting for anime. After that it’s time to find o...

Hot Kaiju on Kaiju Action We’re short a few people short, but you can always rely on Tucky and Producer Rob to fill the airwaves with all sorts of animation-related anecdotes. This week we kick things off with our featured anime - Netflix’s Godzilla: City On The Edge Of Battle and a whole lot of One Piece (collections 17 and 18 to be exact). That nicely leads us into an interesting topic that star...

A Natural Born Lever-Puller So the World Cup happened, and although it’s ostensibly a football event but given all the drinking that goes on it may as well be related to tea, coffee or any other beverage you’d care to mention. Because of that there wasn’t much happening in the world of animation - unless Japan’s successful run and the self-appointed Commissioner of Football’s reference to Captain...

The Power of Friendship Compels You! Kicking things off this week is the news that Disney and Pixar are facing another copyright lawsuit involving Inside Out. Aside from that it’s time for us to recommend some titles from the Spring 2018 season of anime, which include Golden Kamuy, Megalo Box, Uma Musume: Pretty Derby, Wotakoi: Love is Hard for Otaku, Hinamatsuri and Comic Girls. Our featured anim...

Giant Robot Punch-Up in Space Once upon a time there was a goose that laid golden eggs …  China and the wider South-East Asian region has their own literal version of that famous goose in the form of The Monkey King, and there are numerous movies, TV shows, books, songs, comics, video games, manga and anime that have found inspiration in classic tales like Journey To The West.   Now it’s the turn...

Fujoshi, And Proud! In his ongoing quest to have everyone eat healthy, celebrity chef Jamie Oliver has declared war on … cartoon characters? It actually makes more sense when you know the facts so moving swiftly on, Grr Martin’s 1980 children’s book The Ice Dragon is getting an animated feature film, Disney Princesses will be in force in Wreck-It-Ralph 2: Ralph Breaks The Internet, and Teddy Ruxpi...

Elmo Joins A Gang Apparently there was a big wedding somewhere and shockingly, none of us were invited. This meant we had to stay in the study and browse the animation news, which led us to some disturbing discoveries like Thundercats Roar (which has the potential to be some kind of physical release ... pun very much intended), physical releases of anime in the U.K., and the rather spectacular tra...

A Psychedelic Night In So aside from Producer Rob confusing his Sarahs (it should be Sarah Michelle Gellar and not Sarah Jessica Parker), Peter Rabbit gets a sequel, Netflix and Viz Media announce an original martial arts anime series set in Mexico, and Christiano Ronaldo gets animated. After that we’ve got kids versus cats for the attention of the parents (even though the cats really wouldn’t car...

Death Metal Trash Panda It’s a sparse week in animation as not much of interest happened, except for the trailer for Teen Titans Go! To The Movies and the English language summary of The Association of Japanese Animation’s industry report for 2017. The trailer splits opinions between Tucky and Producer Rob, but all is well as they get to nerd-out with facts and figures related to anime. After that...

Giant Furry Space Hoppers Guillermo Del Toro has signed a multi-film deal with Dreamworks Animation to create “family” movies - which basically means that anything that they churn out that has his name on it is definitely getting watched by us (even if it’s Boss Baby 73: Where Does It All Come From?). In other news, Aardman take everyone by surprise with the announcement of a sequel to Chicken Run...

Curing The Dubstep Flu It’s the dynamic duo of Tucky and Producer Rob at the helm this week, but don’t worry as we’re absolutely sure we know that we’ve got the good ship Keyframe pointing in the right(ish) direction. Before we get into the serious stuff we discover that Dreamworks Animation have announced a second series of Kung Fu Panda, and in a very surprising and confusing move, the return of...