I’ve always batted around the idea of doing an “essential list” for various podcasts that I follow, and if Extra Hot Great ever becomes available in any form again you can bet I’ll be doing one. Today I’ll be doing the essential Anime World Order.
Allegiance or Death!
Anime World Order was one of the first podcasts I ever got fanatical over. In certain ways, it’s responsible for my internet existence in almost every way. They were responsible for me joining my first forum and starting a twitter account, the two things that started my journey into the deep and dark pit that is the Internet. They opened my mind to new and different anime and, in large part, helped me develop my critical capacities. Needless to say, they’re pretty influential on me.
WHAT’S ANIME WORLD ORDER?
Anime World Order is podcast focusing on Japanese animation and comics. It was started in December of 2005, making it part of what I call the “First Wave” of anime podcasts, along with Anime Pulse, Otaku Generation, Ninja Consultants, and The Weekly Anime Review (now defunct). In fact, most or all of the “Second Wave” of anime podcasts were directly influenced by Anime World Order. It drew attention for the in depth and intellectual reviews, with a specific focus on identifying trends in the creative staffs of the anime they reviewed. In the years that AWO has been running, the style of anime reviews in both the amateur and professional press has shifted towards the style espoused by AWO, making it among of the most influential forces on modern anime criticism. Ed Sizemore of the Manga Out Loud podcast described Anime World Order as “a graduate course in anime for [North] Americans[1]” and I’ve never heard anyone describe AWO so well.
Anime World Order is made up of three regular hosts: Daryl Surat, Gerald Rathkolb and Clarissa Graffeo. Each provide their own independent, but somewhat complementary views on the anime they review. They do a pretty good job of introducing themselves in the first episode I’ve selected.
Anime World Order Show # 50 – Watch Everything We Talk About This Week, Okay?
In this episode, Gerald reviews Megazone 23 pt. 1, Clarissa reviews Princess Tutu, and Daryl reviews Super Dimensional Fortress Macross: Do You Remember Love. Well, I say review, but, as the title indicates, it more accurate to say “recommends” than “reviews.” In any case, these reviews represent some of the best in Anime World Order history. The enthusiasm they have for the titles comes through the reviews, and it’s telling that of all the episodes of Anime World Order, this is one of the only ones in which I have seen each of the three shows they review.
Anime World Order Show # 78a – Look, Mr Takazawa! An AAAAA-NGEL!
Contains Daryl’s best review to date. Daryl often is accused of indulging in needless button pushing and snark at the expense of real analysis, but Daryl proves that he is more than capable of great, substantive reviews. His interpretation of Mamoru Oshii’s Angel’s Egg is a masterpiece, especially considering the opaqueness of the movie itself. Also, he gets some pretty good jokes in at the Americanized version’s expense.
Other Great Daryl Reviews: Phoenix (TV), Angel Cop, Baoh
Anime World Order Show # 86d – Remembering When Gainax Was Special
Contains Gerald’s best review to date. A common theme in the best AWO reviews is the mix of wry sarcasm and insightful analysis. Gerald doesn’t shy away from – let’s not split hairs – THE controversial element of the film and gives a careful explanation of why he feels it is less objectionable than it is often portrayed. As the title indicates, he gets a number of good jabs in at Gainax’s current output and there is a very funny story about a Japanese film critic who took issue with the filmmaker’s choice of utensils.
Other Great Gerald Reviews: Dirty Pair: Project E.D.E.N, Black Lion, Project A-Ko
Anime World Order Show # 84 – Four Year Anniversary With Jason Thompson
It’s often said that a great actor could read from the phone book and make it compelling. I’d like to propose something for critics, something like “She could literally be reviewing gay porn, and I, a straight man, would be interested.” That said, Clarissa isn’t reviewing any yaoi here, but she still brings her A-game to reviewing Junji Ito’s amazingly creepy Uzumaki. I liked the review at first, but I didn’t realize it’s quiet brilliance until I tried to explain the plot of Uzumaki to another human being. Ten minutes of incoherent, unscary blabbing later, I realized the huge amount of insanity that is hidden in the manga, but once you articulate it, it just seems silly. The fact that I was actually getting a little scared during the review itself says something about Clarissa’s ability to effectively evoke the tone of the manga. It’s a great review, and I think it’s her best.
Other Great Clarissa Reviews: Serial Experiments Lain, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex, Black Jack OAV
SPECIALTY EPISODES
Anime World Order Show # 46 – Animated Snuff Film Misogynist Crap
Now, there have been a handful of hentai reviews and at least two numbered shows specifically dedicated to only hentai reviews. I would recommend this one because, first it’s a little shorter than the other one and because it covers a wider range of hentai, from Legend of the Overfiend, to Tezuka produced art-house fare to relatively normal stuff.
Anime World Order Show # 61 – Another All-Mecha Episode To Scare Away Listeners
As the title suggests, this is an all mecha episode. It’s also literally three hours long, easily their longest show to date. While their first mecha episode was a rough around the edges, both technically and in the structure of the reviews, this one is a tour de force of robotic love.
Anime World Order Show # 103 – Bandai Died, HELP COMPUTER
Every so often, AWO will do an episode devoted to a big news event that just happened. These are, by definition, pretty time sensitive, but this one is the exception. The truly great guest hosts translator Neil Nadelman and Anime News Network columnist Mike Toole give great insight into the bad decisions Bandai made or had made for them by their Japanese parent company.
An Last “Important” Note
A “Discipline Reading” is basically a dramatic reading of this terrible ad copy (third from the top, NSFW). Over the years there’s been Discipline Readings from Mike Toole, Solid Snake, two 12-year old sounding girls, a Southern gentleman only referred to as “Max’s Dad” and it’s been turned into a slow make-out jam. If you run into it in any of the episodes you try out, you should know what to expect.
Peter Guilherme 
Clarissa’s best sadly was not on AWO. Her overview of Utena with The Reverse Thieves was stellar.
AWO are at their best when they know what they’re talking about.
And, conversely, at their worst when their members shit on shows they barely watched or even didn’t check out at all, but still like to complain about.