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Vermonia Vol. 1 Manga Review

It's been a long time since we've reviewed anything--manga or anime--here at theOtaku.com. But a new manga just released called "Vermonia" and after seeing their banners on our site and downloading the free preview, I requested a copy of volume one from the powers-at-be to share my thoughts.

How does it stack up?

Vermonia can best be described as one part Inuyasha and one part Power Rangers. Instead of an awkward girl ending up in a fantasy world filled with interesting people and monsters you have a group of four skateboarding, band-member teens who end up in said fantasy world. Each teen was chosen at birth and has an animal-like familiar waiting to train them against a much bigger evil. (The catch is that each of the familiars are already captured by the time they arrive!)

I happily breezed through the book's 200 pages in one sitting. It's a light and easy read with an emphasis on action. It's also very apparent from the first volume that they're setting out to create a big world. There's a lot of people, places, and mythology introduced.

My favorite part of the experience was at the very end when the series' next villain is revealed. Rather than having the villain suddenly appear, they recount her tragic backstory first. Makes knowing who to root for a little tough.

If Vermonia sounds to your liking, check out the free preview.

theOtaku.com Anime Podcast IX - Ep. 2

"...and it's got a picture from Japan and it's just a picture of a guy going 'Rwoo!'..."

I hope you guys enjoy that segment of the podcast as much as I did. I also know at least one of you will definitely like that segment of the podcast far more than another part of the podcast, which I will again remind everyone is done not by direct theOtaku.com crew and staff, but by beloved affiliates with their own wonderful shows and their own policies of how directly they will interact with their listeners. Just sayin'. Good times.

Music - God only knows by Elisa from Kami nomi zo shiru sekai (The World God Only Knows)

The following podcast may contain some coarse language that may offend some listeners. Discretion is advised.

For a link to Anime Pulse's theOtaku.com World, go here.
For a link to The Watercooler World, go here.

And finally, you can find Ichigo's travel log over at the Anime Pulse website (under the "features" tab). He's gettin' some crazy adventures over there. Go read. Right after the podcast.

Obligatory Instructions:

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http://theotaku.libsyn.com/rss

Once subscribed, you'll get each week's episode automatically delivered, whether you visit us or not.

So let's start! To listen to our podcast, click the play button above. You can also download the mp3 directly by clicking here.

Caption Battle: A Pound Of Cure...

"It's that time again..."
"To heal our Black Friday scars?"
"To upgrade our siege tanks?"
"No... it's time for this week's caption battle!"

But first, last week's winners:

In third place, for referencing my obsession from this month (and yes, I can be that fickle): wolf of sorrow!

I guess that's why you should check your parachute before jumping off the Colosseum of Rome.

In second place, for knowing apparently more about Yu-Gi-Oh! than I ever will: thedragonlordd!

Jun Manjoume was at lost for words when he found out his name was legally to Chazz Princton by 4kids.

And in the coveted first place, because I have recorded reaction videos before... FaithlessFighter!

Apparently they've just watched "Two Girls and one Duel Disk".

Congratulations, you three... and for the dozen or two of you who all inexplicably wrote Harry Potter captions... the hell did that all come from?

This week's screencap comes courtesy of Hisaishi and features the series Cowboy Bebop. The man up front is Spike Spiegel; the other two may or may not be named Ryan and Esposito. You know the rest:

You know the drill: type up the funniest, wittiest, most original caption you can think of for the screencap above in the comments below. Also, if any of you would like some tips on writing a great caption, you can find those here.

And like always, theOtaku is open to all submissions and suggestions for weekly feature content. You have a screencap you want used, you can PM me and we can do somethin' about it. So good luck, and remember: Thomas Edison was a Templar.

OtakuBoards Podcast Is Live!

Throwin' some cross-site plugs out for our buddies busy at the boards.

Were you guys aware that OtakuBoards has a podcast? I was totally unaware that Otakuboards had a podcast. This is intriguing to me!

As mentioned on their site, "brought to you by your hosts Korey and Boo, the Podcast is about anything slightly related to OtakuBoards." Who doesn't love podcasts?

So yes. They're trying to keep it weekly, and you might hear some familiar voices of people you've seen here or there around the sites. They're up to their third episode today, so if you're not already listening to those weirdos (or if you just really, really love Dutch accents), you may find it good for grins to check them out:

http://otakuboards.podbean.com/

For sake of phenomenal convenience, you can also subscribe to their feed here!

I have never known so much about Sinterklaas as I have right now. I'm calling it: this podcast totally has intrinsic value.

theOtaku.com Anime Podcast IX - Ep. 1

We're onto a ninth season of this podcast. How the hell? Also, people who are not myself or Kei: WE NEED NEWS LINKS!!!

Music - Moon Signal by Sphere from Otome Youkai Zakuro