This year’s Anime Expo, although not nearly as exciting as last year’s all star guest appearances by Halko Momoi, Ishikawa Chiaki, Nagahama Hiroshi, and Hirano Aya & Co., has nevertheless been as crazily entertaining as ever. From guest discussion panels to anime music videos to wacky cosplayers lined up in the halls doing Carmelldansen, there’s no shortage of fun and frenetic activity to be found.

Anime Expo 2008’s Guest of Honor roster can’t touch last year’s amazing guests, but it seems they managed to get together a great guest roster nevertheless.

(click the photos for larger versions)

From the left: Toshihiko Seki, Masahiro Ando, Masamitsu Hidaka, Hiromi Kato, Takada Akemi, Dewa and Manami of Jyukai, Nakagawa Shoko (Shokotan), and finally David Hayter, a.k.a. Solid Snake. I think he got as much of a crowd reaction as all of the other guests combined, especially when he did his Snake voice. =P Read the rest of this entry »

It was the most epic of times, it was the worst of times. Indeed, despite our greatest aspirations to the contrary the blog has somewhat fallen into disrepair as real life continues to rear its ugly head. At least, that’s my story, and I’m sticking to it.

The truth is, Guff, in his infinite optimism and caffeine driven confidence, ditched me and hopped the nearest plane to Japan. Life and work has been kind of rocking me recently, and without my faithful co-conspirator I’ve been in a bit of bind as to how to carry on the torch, as it were, here at Epic Win.

The good news is that a number of new posts should be forthcoming over the course of the next couple of weeks. The bad news is that it won’t be our usual tongue-in-cheek, trend-bucking anime analysis for the most part. Rather, Guff has been writing up tales of his various and sundry experiences across the pond in Hokkaido, where he currently resides (more details on all that to come!).

In addition, with the upcoming Anime Expo convention a mere stone’s throw away from me here in Los Angeles, I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to drop by the convention for my usual routine of relentlessly snacking on deliciously unhealthy Japanese confectionaries, photographing cute cosplayers, and making fun of Zac Bertschy at every possible opportunity.

Anime Expo 2007 was a great time all around ^_^

And let’s not forget the excellent opportunity to see Sorairo Days performed live by Shokotan, a show I certainly have no intentions of missing out on. Considering the overwhelming clamor that the con usually entails, posts might not be quite in real time, but I hope to keep you all updated with lots of photos and tales of adventure. Oh yeah, and somewhere in the middle there I’ll be sure to squeeze in some of the posts Guff is writing up.

Given that the two of us are now on opposite sides of the ocean, I don’t know if we’ll be able to continue our tag-team blogging style. Nevertheless, we will aim to pick up where we left off and bring you as much irreverent and witty commentary as we can possibly muster. I still have lots of things I want to say about some of the new anime airing, so as soon as I can muster the energy I’ll be banging out a few treatises more in line with our traditional fare.

For those of you who still have the feed subscribed, thanks for your encouraging words and e-mails and for continuing to stick around. Hopefully we’ll be able to respond in kind and give you all something worth sticking around for!

~ 0rion

I enjoy a narrative when it doesn’t feel compelled to proclaim itself. I feel sort of molly coddled at best and annoyed at worst when a story lays out the plot like some kind of Lego instructional manual. Just let me put the pieces together on my own, all right? I can make the pirate ship without you holding my hand.

It is for this very reason that I’m particularly excited about Kurenai. Right from the get-go the characters are in motion and the wheels are turning. Other than the fact that main character, Kurenai, is a dispute mediator and works for Juusawa Benika, you don’t know much. You feel almost thrown into the world, yet at the same time the narrative remains cohesive and slowly fills in the details piece by piece. Read the rest of this entry »

Breaking news! The sudden disappearance of superstar bloggers 0rion and Guff over two months ago had left the anime blogosphere in a state of shock, and theories abounded regarding the whereabouts of the former tag team blogging duo.

Today we bring you breaking headline news to report on the status of Epic Win with a live interview with none other than the previously MIA, thought deceased writers themselves. Read the rest of this entry »

Porororon poro roro roporon ron!

“This episode is full of kanji and makes me tired.”

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Cha chiri chiririn, docchudocchurin!

“Yes, I agree heartily, good sir.”

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Miri kiriri rururin mirurun mirakuru mikurunrun!

“It also contained many obscure puns that most English speaking viewers won’t understand at all!”

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Sumomomo momomo!

“Not to mention incoherent rambling from every character for the first 12 minutes of the episode!” Read the rest of this entry »

It’s been a while since our last humorous entry, and we haven’t talked about Japan much since our post about Junky Healthy Taco Rice and other fun Engrish stuff, so we thought a good way to kill two birds with one stone would be to show you guys some of the funny Engrish-style T-shirts those crazy Japanese have cooked up.

Dental hygiene is of extremely great in portance in Japan. Whilst I was perusing the various and sundry clothing shops scattered throughout Harajuku, I came upon this incredible shirt. It’s awfully rare to find a T-shirt that so unilaterally implores others to follow societal mores, really. Come to think of it, I think teeth are often undervalued in our society…well, or maybe that’s just England?

Nevertheless, it serves as a good reminder. Also, check out that bad tooth - do all cavities have such a huge bite taken out of them? Thankfully, they provided three standard teeth to allow for comparison. Gosh, I love this shirt so much. Read the rest of this entry »

OK, time to nitpick. Having read the first of the Ookami to Koushinryou novels, as well as read a bit of the manga, it is now my contractual obligation to tell you how the anime sucks and is nothing like the original, which is of course a paragon of excellence, prosaic and beautiful in ways this adaptation can never be!

Just kidding, of course. The Spice and Wolf anime has thus far been excellent, and I continue to look forward to each new episode. That said, I feel it has several distinct shortcomings. Read the rest of this entry »

Aria banzai! Donuts banzai!

Like pie and ice cream, like Alicia and “Ara ara”, like Akari and embarrassing comments, the gentle strains of Makino Yui’s beautiful singing go together perfectly with the beginning of an Aria episode.

The whole concept of the “OP-that’s-not-an-OP” is wonderfully fitting for the series, as the song complements the gorgeous scenery of the opening shots, helping to soothe the soul and get you in the right mood to enjoy what’s to come. It’s almost like an insert song for every episode, in a sense. Read the rest of this entry »

How I’ve missed Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei! The winter anime season doesn’t look like it’s going to be very strong on comedy shows, and Hayate no Gotoku has been kind of going downhill recently, so I’m extremely pleased that I’ll once again have the ever despairing Itoshiki-sensei and his twisted harem to tickle my funnybone. Read the rest of this entry »

Oh my God, is that a woman in a Kaiji episode?! What has the world come to?? Up is down, left is right, J.C. Staff is KyoAni!!

Hmm, well at least I think that’s supposed to be a woman, anyway…I dunno, Guff? What’s your expert opinion?

While the skirt and sweater vest may seem indicative of the female gender on first glance, look carefully at the nose.

Stand by…now magnifying… Read the rest of this entry »