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Reuniting for the annual Anime Secret Santa project, Jared and Ink stuff your stocking with opinions about 2004's Planetes via a special episode of Oldtaku no Radio. Thank you, Santa!!! The choices originally presented to Ink were Stars Align, Planetes, Godzilla Singular Point, and Project Blue Earth SOS. When Ink told Jared Planetes was gifted, the stars aligned, and both hosts, who previously only read the manga, decided they needed to watch and talk about the anime, which had been on their radar for years. Since Planetes takes place in space, we've formatted our review in line with our other Oldtaku in Space episodes (available to $5/month Ani-Gamers Patreon subscribers here). See the show notes below if you don't care to hear about the real world and just want to get to the anime hot takes.

Jared, Ink, and Phillip continue their dive into Satoshi Kon's anime career with Millennium Actress. Joined by the movie's number one superfan, Evan "Vampt Vo" Minto, the hosts discuss this movie of movies about movies and memory: those who make them, those who love them, and how both nations and individuals are changed by them.

In Primal, a caveman and dinosaur travel alongside one another through the unrelenting nature of prehistory. Director Genndy Tartakovsky (Samurai Jack), in a true return to form, ups his minimal dialog ante by almost completely eliminating it and leverages his visual storytelling expertise to evolve the bonds between the travel companions as they face omnipresent threats both natural and supernatural. Along with Genndy Tartakovsky Correspondent Kate from the Reverse Thieves, Jared and Ink discuss the highs and lows of the series and speculate about where Season 2 might lead.

Oldtaku no Radio's celebrating Halloween a little early this year with Lily C.A.T. Gather around a campfire or point a lit flashlight up towards your chin as Jared and Ink pick apart this 1987 OVA from Hisayuki Toriumi and Studio Pierrot about impostors, aliens, and rot.

For this episode, Jared and Ink talk about Kaiji - the anime about a hapless loser with a heart of gold (and a gambling problem). This anime from 2007, which adapts part of Nobuyuki Fukumoto's original manga, is competitive gaming like you've never seen before and still stands out visually and thematically among its peers. So listen in and find out all that's to love about the first season of Kaiji!

Inspired and made possible by the magic of Pili's glove puppetry as well as the bloodthirsty mind of Gen Urobuchi, Thunderbolt Fantasy is a wuxia tale about sword keepers, wandering swordsmen, tricksters, assassins, demons, and just about everything else you could ever want as a fantasy fanatic. Listen in as Jared, Ink, and special guest Grant Jones (of Blade Licking Thieves infamy) discuss what may just be the bloodiest and most elegant puppet theater we have reviewed to date.

We’re going way, way, way back to live in the present by talking about something set in the future: Space Battleship Yamato 2199. Leading us on this journey of appreciation and learning regarding all things Star Blazers are experts Tim Eldred and Dave Merrill. Strap in for a ton of knowledge and quite possibly the fastest “Actually...” ever recorded on this episode about a reboot of a classic show, where it came from, how it’s changed, and why it’s worth watching. And when you’re done listening to all of us gab, take a gander over at CosmoDNA (ourstarblazers.com) for an endless and constantly updated gravity well of Yamato articles, interviews, and more.

What better to follow our episode about a formative sitcom than a genre satire? This month, Jared and Ink focus on Monthly Girls' Nozaki-kun, which adapts some of the 4-koma by Izumi Tsubaki. Comedy runs high, and romance can't seem to find a foothold in these tales about a high school mangaka, the girl who adores him, and the loons that surround them.

Oldtaku's digging into an '80s classic with the Kimagure Orange Road TV series, which stars an incredible array of talent across the board. Jared and Ink are pleased as punch to welcome back Dawn of the Anime Nostalgia Podcast for some class, in-depth insight, and a whole lot of giggles. Listen in and hear for yourself why this anime, based off of the original manga by Izumi Matsumoto, has been so influential. We mainly talk about the TV series, but there is some discussion of the OVAs and movie as well.

Eight years and a ton of effort went into this re-telling of an ancient tale about a bamboo cutter who finds a thumb-sized princess inside a bamboo stalk one day. Join Jared and Ink as they discuss The Tale of Princess Kaguya, the final movie directed by the late Isao Takahata of Studio Ghibli, and why this monogatari is still so powerful.

After an economic bubble burst in Japan, the Tennouzu Group buys a city and a nation by catering to its leaders’ perversions. The underground (literally) club that serves the basest desires of the rich and powerful is only open to those willing and able to pay lifelong yearly dues to the tune of ¥24,000,000 … ¥120,000,000 if they want to see others of the same tier face death or monstrous transformation by kissing a mesmerized “goddess.” But everything starts to crumble when a celebrated war photographer with a heart of gold disrupts the ritual and runs off with its centerpiece. Listen in on a vaguely spoiler-ish discussion hashing out the road buddy monster movie that is Speed Grapher.

Three bums talk about three homeless people who find a baby. For our second installment of our Satoshi Kon episodes, Phillip rejoins us to talk about the Christmas (should-be) classic: Tokyo Godfathers. We were a little giddy with holiday spirit, so please forgive us our mania.