kaiserbeamz

Boogiepop Phantom: Unsung and Unnerving | KYOTO VIDEO

Happy Halloween! I bring you a much-loved yet still under-discussed psychological horror masterpiece.

Puppet Princess | KYOTO VIDEO

Manga legend Kazuhiro Fujita once wrote a series of short stories and somehow, one of those got animated. Tune in with KB to see how an anime with an odd premise and some skin-crawling plot beats turns out to actually be pretty dang good.

RG Veda: Clamp's Dazzling Debut | KYOTO VIDEO

The possum gets around to talking about the four ladies of Clamp and the obscure OVA of their debut manga that helped launch the shojo anime renaissance of the 90s. It's an important anime, even if it is just kinda okay.

Grenadier | KYOTO VIDEO

The Cockpit: Leiji Matsumoto's WWII Anthology | KYOTO VIDEO

80 years after America's victory in Europe and the Pacific, no doubt many heroic tales have been written about the victors. But what about that war's losers? What are their stories? Well, Leiji Matsumoto's here to tell you war stories from the perspective of the Axis Powers and they... are a lot more critical than you would think.

KYOTO VIDEO 2025 Quarterly Report (Aug - Oct)

The Cockpit - August 15th:

VJ day is turning 80 this August. 80 years since the end of World War II. The perfect opportunity to talk about Leiji Matsumoto’s The Cockpit. A 1993 OVA trilogy that tells sobering war stories about pilots and their missions, all told from an Axis powers point of view. A pretty hard sell to say the least, but does it work?  

Grenadier - August 30th:

It’s been awhile since we’ve done a good “g...

Battle Arena Toshinden | KYOTO VIDEO

A toy company makes a shockingly innovative 3D fighter. Said fighter is an immediate success. Said company proceeds to milk the franchise dry, but not before bankrolling an anime so boringly terrible, that not even Masami Obari could salvage it.

Ninja Cadets | KYOTO VIDEO

Today, we look at Ninja Cadets, an anime OVA that has a surprising amount of technical craftsmanship. But unfortunately, is let down by the state of both ninja anime and the OVA format in 1996.

Lost Universe: Slayers' Forgotten Sci-Fi Spinoff | KYOTO VIDEO

It's 1998. The anime landscape is rapidly changing but Slayers is still white hot. So hot that it was decided that Hajime Kanzaka's sci-fi "spin-off" series should get an anime. Did it turn okay? The answer can be summed up in two words: coconut crabs.

Assemble Insert | KYOTO VIDEO

With anime culture developing fully in the 80s, so did the anime parody. And here's where we find the 1989 OVA comedy Assemble Insert, an anime parody that's quite granular to a fault.

Hand Maid May | KYOTO VIDEO

At the turn of the new millennium, anime production began to move towards the otaku crowd, specifically the growing maid craze. And one newfound company, TNK, went off the beaten track immediately by asking "what if you had a robot maid who was small enough to fit in the palm of your hand?"

KYOTO VIDEO 2025 Quarterly Report (May - Jul)

May 16th: Hand Maid May

The year is 2000. Humanity has passed into a new millennium. And the anime industry has found itself in the throes of maid robots. Out of that mini-craze, we’ll be discussing a special one. One that not only asks “what would you do if had a robot maid to clean up after you?” But also, “what would you do if said maid was only a foot tall and could easily fit in the palm of you hand?”

May 31st: Assemble Insert

Crying Freeman | KYOTO VIDEO

Kazuo Koike is a legend and pioneer in the field of seinen manga, but you wouldn't know that from the less-than-stellar anime adaptations of his work. Can Toei's big budget OVA adaptation of his and Ryoichi Ikegami's work Crying Freeman prove the haters wrong? Find out today!

Hyper Speed Grandoll | KYOTO VIDEO

CW: flashing imagery

OVAs may be dying but the late 90s can still produce inspired concepts like "what if Superman was a bespectacled anime schoolgirl?" Is the concept bulletproof or is it just a pile of cliched kryptonite?

The Star of Cottonland: Anime's First Catgirl | KYOTO VIDEO

The archetypal anime catgirl is a more recent invention than you would expect. But did you know that it came from a shōjo manga by a Year 24 Group author? And said manga got adapted into a pretty good anime film? This is a video about The Star of Cottonland and it's star Chibi-neko: anime's first true catgirl.

Lupin III - The Legend of the Gold of Babylon | KYOTO VIDEO

We're back with Lupin and we're taking on the wild era of the 80s "Pink Jacket" era. See how the most divisive era of Lupin III is exemplified by its most divisive film.

Original Dirty Pair | KYOTO VIDEO

We see the long-awaited return of the Lovely Angels as we delve into their OVA series/second season. And after the missteps of Project Eden and Nolandia, does this one have what it takes to be a worthy continuation of Kei and Yuri's adventures?

KYOTO VIDEO 2025 Quarterly Report (Feb - Apr)

Original Dirty Pair - February 22nd

‘Bout time we caught up on what the Lovely Angels have been up to. Frankly, it’s been too long. Especially now that we are talking about Original Dirty Pair or Dirty Pair 2, the official sequel? to the television series. See how Kei and Yuri remix the rules and break everything in the process as they do their episodic adventures with zero broadcast standards and regulations.

Lupin III: The Secret Go...