Episode #0080 of the podcast is available for download! We had to delay the so-called “Manga Review of Awesomeness (Vol. 5)” by a week due to… err… Mario Party 8 “special circumstances”. Fear not! You’ll hear it next week. In the meantime, we took a look this week at all the big news (which you can read about in the updates below), and then had a great discussion about (exclusively American?) fandom and its invented meaning and use of the Japanese word “ZENKAI” to refer to the power-up a Saiya-jin receives after recovering from near-death. Needless to say, this term appears nowhere in the original Japanese version (or reference materials, for that matter) in this type of context. We did a little explaining about the actual Japanese meanings of the word, and went from there. Definitely check it out.

SHOW DESCRIPTION:
Episode #0080! VegettoEX, Meri, and Julian discuss the various items of news from the previous week, ranging from the death of ZARD, to the fusion dance featured in the new Zune commercial, to video game news, and more. We also discussed the use of the word “ZENKAI” and fandom’s “invented meaning” for the word, which we’ve seen used incorrectly for years. June’s releases and your e-mails round out the episode.

REFERENCED SITES:

• “DragonBall AF” Figures Discussion @ Daizenshuu EX
• DBZ Season 2 “Remastered” Screens @ Daizenshuu EX
• Izumi Sakai / ZARD Death Story @ Kyodo News
• Izumi Sakai / ZARD Death Discussion @ Daizenshuu EX
• ZARD @ Wikipedia
• Izumi Sakai @ Wikipedia
• “This Is Why I Rock” Zune Commercial @ YouTube
• “Shin Budokai” ($14.99; PSP) @ EBGames.com
• “Supersonic Warriors 2” ($14.99; NDS) @ EBGames.com
• “Detekoi Tobikiri ZENKAI Pawâ!” Lyrics @ Daizenshuu EX
• “DBZ: Harukanaru Densetsu” (NDS) @ EBGames.com
• DB DVD Vols. 7, 8, & 9 @ Amazon Japan
• “DBZ: Shin Budokai 2” (PSP; JP) @ Play-Asia
• French Movie Boxset Discussion @ Daizenshuu EX