Tuesday, 18 July 2023

Episode 89 - There Are Worse Ways To Spend Twenty Years of Your Life

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.)

Stream directly by clicking the "play" icon above or:
[Direct Download Available on Soundcloud page | Listen on Soundcloud | Listen on YouTube]

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Karl's Twitter: @karlrolson
Karl's Bluesky: @karlrolson.com
Karl's Website: Ultraklystron.com

Twitter: @jbetteridge
Bluesky: @jbetteridge.bsky.social
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, 29 June 2023

Episode 88 - Crying Freeman Exposes the Secret Yakuza Armies of Vancouver



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!)


Stream directly by clicking the "play" icon above or:
[Direct Download Available on Soundcloud page | Listen on Soundcloud | Listen on YouTube]

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Daryl's Twitter: @DarylSurat
Gerald's Twitter: @Gerald_AWO
Gerald's Bluesky: @geraldawo.bsky.social
Anime World Order Podcast: https://www.awopodcast.com/

Twitter: @jbetteridge
Bluesky: @jbetteridge.bsky.social
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.

Wednesday, 31 May 2023

Episode 87 - The Psi Cops Guys Are Here At Last!

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!


Stream directly by clicking the "play" icon above or:
[Direct Download Available on Soundcloud page | Listen on Soundcloud | Listen on YouTube]

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Oddfellows Entertainment: https://oddfellowsent.com/

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.

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.


Stream directly by clicking the "play" icon above or:
[Direct Download Available on Soundcloud page | Listen on Soundcloud | Listen on YouTube]

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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.


Stream directly by clicking the "play" icon above or:
[Direct Download Available on Soundcloud page | Listen on Soundcloud | Listen on YouTube]

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Ed's Twitter: @retrontario
Retrontario: Retrontario
Dez's Twitter: @OmegaDez
Dez's comic: Frivolesque

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.

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?


Stream directly by clicking the "play" icon above or:
[Direct Download Available on Soundcloud page | Listen on Soundcloud]

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Geoff's Twitter: @G0ffThew
Yazy's Twitter: @bestgirlyazy
Geoff's channel: Mother's Basement
Yazy's channel: Best Girl's Basement

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, 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.


Stream directly by clicking the "play" icon above or:
[Direct Download Available on Soundcloud page | Listen on Soundcloud]

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Randy's Twitter: @chandyran

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.