#81: The Mighty Peking Man

Download (right click and save as) | Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts | Stitcher | E-mail | Twitter 

On today’s episode of the Blade Licking Thieves, we talk about our hopes for the recently announced continuation of the Berserk manga (sans its creator) and the potential pitfalls facing the creative team; discuss the long awaited and finally realized North American Macross licensing deal; briefly touch on the recent anime series I’m Quitting Heroing; and, finally, we review Shaw Brother Studio’s 1977 King Kong rip-off and certified so bad it’s good cult classic: The Mighty Peking Man.

Timestamps:

• [00:00] Intro, Berserk, Macross, I’m Quitting Heroing
• [39:25] The Mighty Peking Man Review
• [1:46:50] Twitter Questions

If you have questions or comments about the show, please feel free to shoot us an Email or leave a comment below.

Thanks for listening!

#68: Pacific Rim

Download (right click and save as) iTunes | Google Play Music | Stitcher | E-mail | Twitter

We’re kicking off our series of listener requests with Guillermo Del Toro’s love letter to the Kaiju and Mecha genres: Pacific Rim – so, tune in, enter the drift with us, and let’s cancel the apocalypse!

Review (17:14)

Twitter Questions (1:42:05 )

If you have questions or comments about the show, please feel free to shoot us an Email or leave a comment below.

Thanks for listening!

#52: Godzilla: King of the Monsters

Download (right click and save as) iTunes | Google Play Music | Stitcher | E-mail | Twitter

The Blade Licking Thieves romp, stomp, and skreeonk our way to the box office to check out Legendary Picture’s Godzilla: King of the Monsters.  Tune in to find out whether Hollywood has finally given Goji and friends the justice they deserve!

• Review (00:00)
• Twitter Questions (1:05:20)

If you have questions or comments about the show, please feel free to shoot us an Email or leave a comment below.

Thanks for listening!

#42: King Kong vs Godzilla

Download (right click and save as) iTunes | Google Play Music | Stitcher | E-mail | Twitter

In 1962, before Alien vs Predator, before Freddy vs Jason, before the inevitable Goku vs Superman of future year 2032, Toho studios released the mega-sized, trans pacific, crossover event to crush them all: King Kong vs Godzilla!

• What We’ve Been Watching + News (00:00)
• Review (40:40)
• Twitter Questions (1:28:32)

If you have questions or comments about the show, please feel free to shoot us an Email or leave a comment below.

Thanks for listening!

#33: Devilman Crybaby / Godzilla: Monster Planet

Download (right click and save as) iTunes | Google Play Music | Stitcher | E-mail | Twitter

It’s a Netflix Double Feature, as the Blade Licking Thieves review Devilman Crybaby AND Godzilla: Monster Planet – in one episode!

• Devilman Crybaby Review (00:00) ; Twitter Questions (1:20:24)
• Godzilla: Monster Planet Review (1:26:24) ; Twitter Questions (2:02:20)

Links:

• Blade Licking Thieves Podcast #29 – Mind Game
• Blade Licking Thieves Podcast #25 – Shin Godzilla
• Blade Licking Thieves Podcast #13 – Godzilla vs. Biollante

If you have questions or comments about the show, please feel free to shoot us an Email or leave a comment below.

Thanks for listening!

#25: Shin Godzilla

Download (right click and save as) iTunes | Google Play Music | Stitcher | E-mail | Twitter

Introduction + News (0:00)

• We talk about Netflix’s Castlevania.
• The depressing news of Godzilla suit actor Haruo Nakajima’s death.

Review (20:40):

Released in 2016 (a full twelve years after Godzilla: Final Wars), Shin Godzilla marks the third reboot of the franchise as the eponymous lizard stomps his way across modern Japan with the Japanese government racing to stop him.  It’s a well worn plot by this point, yet the film’s almost singular focus on the tumultuous bureaucratic response to the crisis — rather than, say, around a few core characters — makes for something that feels fresh and new, while also giving writer and director Hideaki Anno ample time to take aim at the bureaucratic morass that is Japanese government.  As for Godzilla himself — courtesy of veteran VFX director Shinji Higuchi and a new design by Mahiro Maeda — probably not since his original outing in Gojira (1954) has the creature looked so terrifyingly monstrous.

Links:

• Podcast #13 – Godzilla vs. Biollante
• Podcast #7 – Return of Godzilla
• Last we checked Shinji Higuchi’s Gamera Trilogy is available on Blu-ray for a ridiculously low price.  We reviewed all three Gamera films on previous episodes of the show: Gamera: Guardian of the Universe |  Gamera 2: Attack of Legion | Gamera 3: The Revenge of Iris.
• Hideaki Anno’s short: Giant God Warrior Appears in Tokyo.

If you have questions or comments about the show, please feel free to shoot us an Email or leave a comment below.

Thanks for listening!

Spotlight #3: Kaijumax with Zander Cannon

 

Download Link – Spotlight #3 – Kaijumax with Zander Cannon

Apologies in advance for some of this episode’s audio issues.

Subscribe to the Blade Licking Thieves podcast on iTunes!

Drop us an Email.  Find Grant on Twitter.

We recently had the special privilege of talking with American cartoonist, and Eisner award winning comic author and artist, Zander Cannon about his wonderful series Kaijumax.  A uniquely original prison drama about life on the inside, where the inmates just so happen to be giant monsters a.k.a. Kaiju, Kaijumax is an insanely hilarious comic mashup that’s absurd, gross, hilarious, heartfelt, and filled with enough parodies, homages, and references to please and amuse everyone from battle hardened fans of Kaiju and Tokusatsu to relative newbies alike.

Our conversation together covers Kaijumax, drawing and writing comics, favorite Kaiju films, and a whole heapin’ lot of Toku talk:

00:00 – KaijuMax
32:03 – On creating your own comic
37:52 – What’s next for KaijuMax
41:37 – Tokusatsu discussion
1:17:45 – Twitter questions

You can read a preview of Kaijumax #1 here.

Digital versions are available at Oni-Press and Comixology. Print versions can be found at your local comic shop or available in trade paperback: Kaijumax Season 1 and Kaijumax Season 2. You can find Zander’s other work, including Double Barrel and Heck, over at Top Shelf Comix.

Major thanks again to Zander for being on the show.

If you have questions or comments about the show, please feel free to shoot us an Email or leave a comment below.

Thanks for listening!

 

#13: Godzilla vs. Biollante

Download Link – Episode 13: Godzilla vs Biollante

Subscribe to the Blade Licking Thieves podcast on iTunes!

Drop us an Email.  Find Grant on Twitter.

Intro and News (00:00):

Lamentations on the Winter 2017 anime season, Netflix, and Amazon’s Anime Strike.

Review (34:00):

Two monsters, created by science gone awry, go head to head in the second Godzilla film of the Heisei era: Godzilla vs Biolante.  This follow up to Return of Godzilla or Godzilla 1984, which we reviewed in episode 7, arrived five years after the release of the previous film had under-performed at the box office.  Looking for fresh ideas to revitalize the somewhat moribund franchise, producers at Toho held a public contest in search of a script.  The winning entry, written by a dentist named Shinichiro Kobayashi with a script that largely sidelined the franchise’s typical anti-nuclear bent in favor of a new focus on the emerging threat posed from bio-technology, was heavily rewritten by Director Kazuki Omori to include spies, assassins, and corporate espionage.  The resulting film is a truly a bizarre mishmash of ideas: espionage, deadly assassins, fictional middle eastern countries, mad science, ESPers, military super weapons, and, of course, awesome Kaiju action — it’s a hell of a ride!

Links:

• Blade Licking Thieves Podcast #25 – Shin Godzilla
• Blade Licking Thieves Podcast #7 – Return of Godzilla

If you have questions or comments about the show, please feel free to shoot us an Email or leave a comment below.

Thanks for listening!