Blade Licking Thieves - An Anime, Kaiju, And Asian Movie Podcast

The regular crew has been too busy to record a "normal" episode, but thankfully BLT Team B are here to fill the void with a review of the little known or remembered movie Dreamscape about a psychic dream walker, played by Dennis Quaid, who, in order to prevent nuclear Armageddon, must battle a giant snake man inside the dreams of the President of the United States - really, that's what happens.

Crazy.  It's our 50th episode.  A big thanks goes out to all of our listeners new and old.  Truly.  We've been thrilled by all of your feedback, comments, and responses -- please keep them coming -- but, more than that, knowing that quite a few of you actually track down and watch the weird, obscure, and sometimes crazy films we discuss here on the show before tuning in to each episode, frankly, means the world to us.  Thank you. Anyways. Grant wanted to do something big for our 50th episode, and, well, Katsuhiro Otomo's AKIRA was and is a big freakin' deal.  For a certain generation of anime fans, this film was the anime equivalent of the Empire Strikes Back, which is to say, it blew our minds and quickly achieved legendary status.  Honestly, there's no way our episode about it can measure up, but that didn't stop us from rambling on and on about the film for well over two hours anyways.  Hope you enjoy the show!  Intro (00:00) Review (28:51) Twitter Questions (2:18:14)

The romance genre goes art house in Chungking Express, Wong Kar Wai's two part riff on loneliness, yearning, and the comforts of late night take-out, featuring the talented Tony Leung, Faye Wong, Brigette Lin, and Takeshi Kaneshiro.  Timestamps: Intro + News (00:00) Review (30:41) Twitter Questions (1:47:59)

Grant is joined by Cerealsensei of the Dojo Talk Podcast, CallmeDJM of Anime Podcast of Some Sort, and SentaiFive of Build Casters for a chat about the martial arts cult classic The Last Dragon (1985).

Donnie Yen stars as the self-effacing, Wing Chun master of Foshan, Ip Man (2008) in this award winning martial arts drama, loosely based on the early life of Bruce Lee's famous teacher.  Intro (00:00) Review (42:48) Twitter Questions (1:49:13)

After appearing as the overpowered, screaming meathead of villainy -- and enduring power fantasy of twelve year old boys worldwide -- in not one, not two, but three (count'em) previous Dragon Ball films, Toei producers, through either massive payments of undisclosed cash or a nefarious, undisclosed blackmail scheme, have finally forced series creator Akira Toriyama to officially recognize their most divisive creation with the arrival of the new film Dragon Ball Super: Broly. Did Toriyama spin a decent yarn?  Did One Piece: Film Z and Dragon Ball Super series director Tatsuya Nagamine bring the goods?  Did Toei animation finally remember how to draw the characters from one of their most enduring and popular franchises ever?  Does wearing a DBZ shirt to the theater amplify your power levels or merely strengthen your body odor?  The BLT crew is back from the theater with all the answers! Intro (00:00) Review (14:56) Twitter Questions (1:00:55)

We jump head first into the wild world of 1970s Japanese cinema with the second installment of the preeminent chambara film series of the decade: Lone Wolf and Cub: Baby Cart at the River Styx! Intro (00:00) Review (35:09) Twitter Questions (1:42:32)

Bah weep gragnah weep nini bong?  Bah weep gragnah weep nini bong! Intro (00:00) Review (22:39) Twitter Questions (1:37:23)

We review Angel Cop, infamous schlock fest and towering pillar of the 'not kids stuff' OVA era, and discover that the true villain was Ichiro Itano all along!   Timestamps: Intro (00:00) Review (11:57) Twitter Questions (1:17:50)

Daryl Surat from the essential Anime World Order podcast joins Grant for a chat about wrestling, anime, the surprising connections between the two fandoms, and your twitter questions.

We review Gintama (2017) the live action film based on the popular, long-running, gag manga by Hideaki Sorachi. Timestamps: Intro + News (00:00) Review (34:40) Twitter Questions (1:38:50)

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! Timestamps: Intro + News (00:00) Review (40:40) Twitter Questions (1:28:32)

Here it is. Because you, the people, demanded it, we review Face/Off (1997) --John Woo's absurdly over-the-top American thriller featuring off-the-charts Cage factor, hundreds of avian extras, and a dual wielding John Travolta in slow-motion. Timestamps: Intro + News (00:00) Review (28:24) Twitter Questions (1:22:05)

Dawn from the Anime Nostalgia podcast and PatzPrime from The Cockpit podcast join Grant for a talk about Gundam Build Fighters + nearly an hour and a half of your Gundam related twitter questions! Timestamps: Introductions (00:00) Gundam Build Fighters (17:05) Twitter questions (36:38)

The orderly, rigid code of bushido smashes up against human feeling in Masaki Kobayashi's Harakiri (1962), a stunningly trenchant piece of subversive film-making --written by Rashoman and Seven Samurai scribe Shinobu Hashimoto, and starring the great Tatsuya Nakadai -- that threatens to demolish the foundational ethos all of samurai cinema is built upon. Timestamps: Intro + News (00:00) Review (31:25) Twitter Questions (1:46:05)

There's action packed. And then there's Hard Boiled (1992) -- John Woo's final spectacular outing with superstar Chow Yun-Fat in which gun-toting, rough and tumble detective, Tequila (Yun-Fat) partners with undercover officer Alan (Tony Leung) to take on a villainous gang of gun-running triads. Tune in for the full review! Timestamps: Intro + News (00:00) Review (33:45) Twitter Questions (1:59:52)

We review a classic that requires no introduction -- though, we'll do that anyway -- Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind (1984) from director / writer Hayao Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli (sort of). Timestamps: Intro + News (00:00) Review (35:32) Twitter Questions (1:55:11)

We review Takashi Miike's 100th film, Blade of the Immortal, a bloody, over the top, chambara romp, starring Takuya Kimura, Hana Sugisaki, and Sota Fukushi, based on the manga by Hiroaki Samura. Timestamps: Intro+News (00:00) Review (40:05) Twitter Questions (1:41:35)

The Thieves take a look at Jackie Chan’s Who Am I, his last film with Golden Harvest and nearly his last film ever (after a few of these stunts). Timestamps: What we've been watching (00:00) Listener Mail (45:45) News (49:32) Review (57:34) Twitter Questions (2:07:08)

Our Shaw Brothers training regimen continues with the bloody saga of Fang Cheng aka the One-Armed Swordsman, a seminal work of wuxia film-making from prolific director Chang Cheh. Timestamps: What we've been watching (00:00) Listener mail (39:12) News (49:53) Review (1:08:35)