Zannen, Canada

We're not done celebration the 20th anniversary of Bionix yet! This time we're looking at the show that effectively marked the end of the block that we loved: Death Note! And we're not only looking at Death Note in the context of YTV, but also for the franchise's many connections to the city of Vancouver largely due to the amazing English dubbing work by Ocean Studios. And yes, we do talk about that other connection it has to Vancouver.

Since I'm pretty much obligated to do something in observance of the 20th anniversary of YTV's Bionix block, Sammy and I are talking about its one debut anime we haven't touched on: Witch Hunter Robin! While it's not a super interesting show on its own, it did offer a lot to chew on as part of a well-curated programming block. We also have what I believe to be an exclusive look at the canceled live action Witch Hunter Robin series, courtesy of showrunner Joe Menosky. (Seriously, he just emailed it to me out of the blue!)

I finally made it to Otakuthon and I already want to go back. My generous Montreal host Chris aka Kurotsuki joins me to talk about pros and cons (mostly pros) of Canada's biggest and best anime convention. We also chat a little about this year's Anime Revolution in Vancouver, and I certainly had some things to say on that.

In a move that is not at all surprising for Bandai, the demand for the long-delayed Gundam SEED FREEDOM film was drastically underestimated in Canada. Originally planned for a one night screening, the film's exhibition was expanded to a 17 day run, as screenings in most major cities frantically sold out. Could this film possibly live up to this level of hype over 15 years after Destiny burned us so badly? And... hey is that Trevor Devall back as Mu La Flaga?!

It's time to look at the first anime series ever set in Canada: the pastoral Quebec tale of Wakakusa No Charlotte (Charlotte of the Young Grass). It's not a World Masterpiece Theatre title, but it's got a little of that flavour, not to mention heaps of retro shoujo melodrama, so I knew that it was time to bring Dawn from the Anime Nostalgia podcast back on the show to take a look at this somewhat obscure series. I gotta tell you... we weren't ready for this at all. You may not believe the things that happen in this show, no matter how hard we scream at you about them for an hour.

Scott Pilgrim means a lot of things to a lot of people. He especially means a lot of things to his creator, Bryan Lee O'Malley, which led to a few surprises in the recent anime series Scott Pilgrim Takes Off. And now that Scott Pilgrim is officially anime... well we've gotta talk about him! Hazel and Bell return to chat about the impact Scott Pilgrim had on their lives, the new show and the possibility that this Canadian folk hero has perhaps lost a bit of his Canadian-ness.

For the first time in three years, Zannen, Canada is back in the holiday spirit, although as usual this episode has less to do with the holidays as it does looking back at our favourite media of the past year. This is in itself may be an activity best left until the beginning of the following year, but let's not worry about that. Hazel and Bell return to the show to discuss their recent work on Electric Bones and Replay Boys and also take the time to teach me that Produce 101 is not an introductory course on buying fruits and vegetables.

Beloved in most of the non-English-speaking world, Heidi: Girl of the Alps is quite possibly the most high profile series to have its French dub produced in Quebec. Isao Takahata's graceful and nuanced adaptation of Johanna Spyri's classic novels was a high point of Radio-Canada's programming and was making an impact a full two years before it would be seen in France. Chris (aka Kurotsuki) joins me to discuss the dub, as well as the legacy of the series and it's admittedly cruel production.

Zannen, Canada is now twenty years old, and we're celebrating with a very classic discussion. Karl and I look back on the history of the blog and podcast going back to 2003, discuss the recent demise of English-language Teletoon and finally find the courage to tackle the impending regulation of streaming services in Canada. (As a side note, I can also confirm that the first two years of the Zannen, Canada blog are completely inaccessible, and I could not be happier because of that.)

The 1995 Crying Freeman movie is notoriously difficult to watch, which means that it has to be the most amazing thing ever right? Well, in addition to being a stellar live action adaptation of a manga, it has a few things going for it: Mark Dacascos in a starring role, well staged and edited action scenes and Vancouver playing Vancouver for once. Daryl and Gerald from the Anime World Order podcast pop by to analyze how well a Japanese crime story transplanted into a Canadian city holds up. (The answer is: pretty well, actually!)

I sit down with Chris Nielsen and Bart Bachelor, the key creatives behind Night Sweats, to discuss their brand new blisteringly fast-paced paranormal comedy, Psi Cops - Adult Swim Canada's first English-language original series! The premiere is Sunday, June 4, 2023 (technically Monday, June 5, 2023) at 12:30am ET, with streaming on StackTV and (I am assuming) the Global app!

It is an interesting coincidence that the imminent death of the Teletoon brand on English-language television lined up with our long-awaited discussion of Cybersix, perhaps their finest program, but I'm more than happy to make this my tribute. A 1999 collaboration between TMS and NOA Network of Animation based on a surprisingly visceral Argentinian comic, I would like to think that this show needs no introduction. Cybersix represents an apex for international animated co-productions that has not been reached before or since. Noted CanCon otaku Zee (pictured) and Discotek wizard Brady Hartel (who brought us that awesome DVD) basically just gush about the show with me for 90 minutes.

Long before foreign TV shows were neatly catalogued and sourced on streaming sites and Wikipedia pages, they were haphazardly dumped onto the schedules of provincial educational broadcasters such as TVO and Knowledge Network and aired as a continuous fever dream with little context or reasoning. One such show was Fables of the Green Forest, the proto-World Masterpiece Theatre anime based on the works of Thornton W. Burgess that aired in its entirety only in certain Canadian provinces. It may also be the anime series most deeply engraved into the minds of Gen X Ontarians due to its excessive overplay on TVO in the 1980s. The Quebecois dub, aired on Radio-Canada, also had a very unique localized flavour that wasn't found in other shows. Awesome guests Ed Conroy (creator of Retrontario) and Etienne Desilets-Trempe (writer of Frivolesque) try to illustrate the dark, vintage madness that characterizes this series for so many.

In what will hopefully be my last news roundup episode ever, Geoff and Yazy return to discuss all of the explosive anime industry news of the last few months, although we spend most of the time talking about how Sony buying out RightStuf will make it a lot harder to import hentai into Canada. We also talk about Uzumaki's constantly delayed Adult Swim Canada airing, and how somebody really, REALLY needs to stream the rest of Inuyasha in this country. I mean, come on, what are they waiting for?

If Gundam is a franchise known for its fun references and connections to Canada, then the live-action direct-to-TV movie G-Saviour is certainly the least amusing of them all. Made to celebrate Gundam's 20th anniversary in 1999 (and missing that mark by more than a full year with a release in 2000), G-Saviour was filmed entirely in Vancouver, BC and revels in all of the local film community's least flattering characteristics. Randy joins me to explore questions absolutely nobody asked about the production and purpose of this memory holed failure, and take a closer look at its inextricable ties to other Vancouver productions like Battlestar Galactica and Stargate SG-1.

If you're anything like me, Blade Runner: Black Lotus may have made you a bit nostalgic for the last time a Corus-owned station ran a cyberpunk anime directed by Kenji Kamiyama every week at midnight. Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex was a stand-out title on YTV's Bionix block for many reasons, not the least of which include the international notoriety the broadcast gained from having an entire episode banned in Canada... although not really, since it aired a couple of weeks later. Randy joins me to look back on the series and how it holds up with its dense storytelling and (relative) lack of questionable CGI.

Corus is set to premiere an adult-targeted anime on one of their broadcast stations for the first time in over a decade on November 13, 2021 - Blade Runner: Black Lotus on Adult Swim Canada. Excited? Well, Warner and their awkwardly synergized partners sure hope you are! But wait, does this mean we're getting Toonami? And shouldn't they have run that other Adult Swim co-production, Fena: Pirate Princess, by now? Well, I sure hope you didn't set your expectations that high! Karl Olson joins me to take a look at that whole situation, as well as the upcoming Vancouver-produced dub of Future Boy Conan, the current streaming situation with Crave and those anime titles set to debut on Disney+ Star. I also relinquish my credibility as I reveal that I had forgotten to mention one rather interesting Canadian-dubbed Osamu Tezuka anime back in episode 79.

The success of Star Wars drove children's entertainment to do a lot of dumb things in the late 70s and early 80s, but throwing the characters and basic concept of HOMER'S Odyssey into space in the 31st century was definitely not one of them. While Ulysses 31 is cherished almost entirely by a small segment of GenXers who managed to catch it on TV during its very short run in the 1980s, this co-production between DiC and TMS packs a surprising psychedelic punch, and was a staple of French language Radio-Canada programming. Mike Toole and Dez join me to share their memories of this underrated classic.

While many tend to associate franchises like Dragon Ball and Gundam with their historical ties to Canadian dubbing, the works of the godfather of anime, Osamu Tezuka, have a surprising hidden history within that designation as well. From the first anime ever aired on television in France, to the OTHER 80s Astro Boy dub, to a Kimba the White Lion dub produced under extremely unscrupulous circumstances, to more recent productions funded by the Japan Foundation, we've seen a number of work produced by Canadian studios. Mike Toole joins me to chronicle these largely obscure dubs in a way that will hopefully make you angry the next time a Tezuka property is sent to a dubbing studio in Miami instead of Vancouver.

Cathy Weseluck is widely known as a prolific character actor who has provided the voices of Shampoo from Ranma 1/2, Spike in My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Yuma in World Trigger and Cybersix, to list only a scant few. However, there's a very good chance that you've heard her in commercials, documentaries or other narration without even realizing it. Cathy joins me to talk about her background in voice acting, as well as her methods.