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.


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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.

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.


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

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.


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Mike's Twitter: @MichaelToole
Dez's Twitter: @OmegaDez
Dez's Webcomic: 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.

Wednesday 30 June 2021

Episode 79 - Canadian Tezuka Dubs: The Legal and Not-So-Legal

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.


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Mike's Twitter: @MichaelToole

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.

Monday 24 May 2021

Episode 78 - Cathy Weseluck From Shampoo to Yuma

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.


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Cathy's Twitter: @cathyweseluck
Cathy's Instagram: @cathy_weseluck
Cathy's Website: http://www.cathyweseluck.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.

Thursday 15 April 2021

Episode 77 - Cardcaptors and the Siren Curse of Froggy Mix

To say that opinions are divided on Cardcaptors would be an understatement. To those who were more attuned to anime fandom in 2000, Nelvana's incredibly loose adaptation of Cardcaptor Sakura was living evidence of why Canadian companies should not be allowed to wholly license and distribute anime. To the kids who didn't listen to weird adults on the internet, however, Teletoon's extended run of the show was a childhood landmark. Eryn and Rin-taichou (Rin-senpai at the time of this recording) join me to discuss the highs, the lows and the mysterious Europop connections of Cardcaptors, because I don't think anyone else will!


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Eryn's Twitter: @eryncerise
Eryn's YouTube Channel: ErynCerise
Rin's Twitter: @rintaichou
Rin's Twitch: RinTaichou

Rin's Twitter: Twitter | 
YouTube Channel

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 25 February 2021

Episode 76 - An Evening with Cole Howard


From currently unlicensed Bandai Entertainment dubs from the mid-2000s, to My Little Pony to Dragon Prine and Zoids WILD, Cole Howard has spent years mastering the intricate art behind voice acting wide-eyed teenage protagonists. Evidently, it's worked out rather well for him. Cole joins us to talk about his work on titles like Mai-HiME and Law of Ueki in Alberta, what brought him to Vancouver, and the psychological (if not logistical) challenges that COVID-19 has brought to the voice acting field.

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Cole's Twitter: @colemfhoward

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.

Friday 29 January 2021

Episode 75 - If the Women Don't Find You Handsome...


Karl and I cautiously enter the unpredictable realm of 2021 by lamenting the lack of a theatrical review episode this year (sorry Randy!), but celebrate the two big nominations for Vancouver animator and former Zannen, Canada guest Genice Chan in Crunchyroll's Anime Awards - a distinction that probably holds more weight than the actual award winners. We do a bit of a deep dive into the currently tabled (but little discussed) proposed streaming regulations and whether or not Sony's upcoming amalgamation of Funimation of Crunchyroll may be big enough to get the attention of Canadian watchdogs. We also talk about that infernal No Frills ad and how terrible Loblaws actually is and give a brief overview of what new shows we've been watching this season.

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Karl's Twitter: @karlrolson
Karl's Website: Ultraklystron.com
Law Bytes Podcast by Michael Geist: Episode 73 - The Broadcasting Act Blunder

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.