Zannen, Canada

Sunday, 26 February 2023

Episode 86 - Cybersix: Finding Perfection in Teletoon Co-Production Chaos

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.

Zannen, Canada · Ep.86 - Cybersix: Finding Perfection In Teleton Co - Production Chaos

Zee's Twitter: @zeekayart

Zee's Game: Frantic Fanfic

Brady's Twitter: @BradyHartel

Twitter: @jbetteridge
Podcast Twitter: @zannencanada
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/zannencanada/
E-mail: zannencanada@gmail.com

Theme song by Karl Olson. Check out Packet Flood, the album all of this show's music is taken from, on his Bandcamp.

Thursday, 26 January 2023

Episode 85 - Fables of the Green Forest and Other TVO Hallucinations

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.

Zannen, Canada · Ep.85 - Fables Of The Green Forest And Other TVO Hallucinations

Ed's Twitter: @retrontario

Retrontario: Retrontario

Dez's Twitter: @OmegaDez

Dez's comic: Frivolesque

Saturday, 27 August 2022

Episode 84 - Pornography and Inuyasha: The Most Pressing Matters of Our Time

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?

Zannen, Canada · Ep.84 - Pornography and Inuyasha: The Most Pressing Matters of Our Time

Geoff's Twitter: @G0ffThew

Yazy's Twitter: @bestgirlyazy

Geoff's channel: Mother's Basement

Yazy's channel: Best Girl's Basement

Thursday, 17 March 2022

Episode 83 - G-Saviour: A Part of Our Heritage

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.

Zannen, Canada · Ep.83 - G-Saviour: A Part of Our Heritage

Randy's Twitter: @chandyran

Thursday, 30 December 2021

Episode 82 - Tachikomas Will Make You Love Dystopian Military Robotics

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.

Zannen, Canada · Ep.82 - Tachikomas Will Make You Love Dystopian Military Robotics

Randy's Twitter: @chandyran

Thursday, 28 October 2021

Episode 81 - Let's Not Get Too Optimistic, Now

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.

Zannen, Canada · Ep.81 - Let's Not Get Too Optimistic, Now

Karl's Twitter: @karlrolson

Karl's Website: Ultraklystron.com

Friday, 24 September 2021

Episode 80 - The Lonely Disco Space Journey of Ulysses 31

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.

Zannen, Canada · Ep.80 - The Lonely Disco Space Journey of Ulysses 31

Mike's Twitter: @MichaelToole

Dez's Twitter: @OmegaDez

Dez's Webcomic: Frivolesque