Interview with Nicholas Friedman – Editor of Funimation.com

Hello and welcome to GeekCast Radio presents

an interview that will also be syndicated on

AlterGeek and Studio 2009. Steve Megatron here

and I'm your host for this special interview.

Today we have the opportunity to speak with Nicholas

Friedman, the editor of Funimation .com, who's

here to talk with us about anime. Hello, Nick.

Hey, how's it going? Good, good. Glad to have

you. Yeah, glad to be here. So as we get started,

Could you tell our listeners a little bit about

your background and how you came to be at Funimation?

Yeah, you bet. So You know, I've been an anime

fan my whole life Started I think with a lot

of people From from the jet from this generation

with that with tsunami and Dragon Ball Z. Yep

As well as you know Saturday mornings with Pokemon

and Yu -Gi -Oh and and the like But I'm also

you know, I'm a career journalist so I studied

journalism in college after after discovering

it kind of at a really young age and I was always

fascinated with With the research and the information

and the idea of reporting right and bringing

bringing those facts to a to a wider audience

And so I really hit my stride with that in college

Started doing some pop culture reporting on the

side And out of college, I worked for a newspaper

for a few years and an amazing opportunity popped

up at Funimation and I saw it as a call to fate

that drawing those pictures of Goku in my notebook

when I was 12 has finally paid off. And so I

took a chance and they liked me and here I am,

two and a half years later. It's a dream. It

really is That's awesome. Yeah, I too grew up

on that that era of tsunami and funimation on

there with Dragon Ball Z and You know the Pokemon

era I was heavy into Dragon Ball Z I was kind

of the go -to person for information on that

in in school. So I love that Yeah, it was it

was awesome. I actually one of my first websites

was on Dragon Ball Z And yeah back in the Geocities

days, you know, oh man my favorite pokemon chat

rooms and yeah, oh, yeah, yeah, so Yeah, so what

with with being at funimation what are some of

the the Top animes that you can suggest for people

Especially for like this time of year Yeah, so

Halloween is a great time to get into anime if

you are a fan of the supernatural if you're a

fan of Horror if you're a fan of you know psychological

thrillers. I mean there really isn't a better

time of the year I mean honestly any time is

a good time to get an anime based on what you're

interested in but horror anime creates a great

great entryway Some core standouts and core favorites

just off the top of my head like One of my favorites

is Mob Psycho 100. It's a supernatural comedy

show, I guess, if I had to describe it. There's

a little bit of shenan in there. And it is it

is basically the story of this this young kid

who has psychic powers and he basically interns

for a professional psychic who is actually a

con artist and they get thrown into very real

supernatural situations and. You know it's up

to mob the main character to use his psychic

abilities to you know make up for reagan his

mentor not having them except he has no idea

that. That you know his mentor doesn't have the

powers and so it's this is really fun back and

forth get a little buddy cop in there. And you

know the comedy the writing just it hits and

it's great that's that is a more of a light hearted

recommendation. If you want to get a little bit

more cerebral, I'd have to recommend Paranoia

Agent. It's a classic series from legendary director

Satoshi Kon from Perfect Blue and Paprika fame.

Those are some you may have heard of. But it

is just this truly thought -provoking thriller

that has its moments that are almost like Hitchcock

-esque murder. moments, but the core of it is

really around the people whose lives are affected

by this mystery and then the detectives looking

to solve it. And it's wrapped in this anime unique

style that one, you can only get from anime,

but two, you can really get from Satoshi Kon

and his amazing body of work. That is a great

option. That's a fairly quick watch that I think

is perfect for getting in the mood of all things

spooky and scary. Nice, nice. I'm not very well

versed in the horror genre of anime, but I have

seen quite a few just regular anime. What are

some of the... What are some of the main ones

that you see people gravitate towards, even outside

of this time of year? For sure. I mean, you know,

one big one that you've probably heard of that's

that's been that's been a big hit in the last

few years has been My Hero Academia. You know,

it's it is the story of Deku, a young. Boy in

a world where almost everyone has superpowers

known as quirks, but he doesn't he is corkless

And like all of us with big dreams. He hopes

to become the number one hero that is always

the that is the soapbox I give for that series

because you just you got to watch it to experience

it and if if you're a fan of superhero popcorn

here everything from Marvel movies to comic books

to You know your your your classics like my hero

is a great option and it's a it's a great option

for a first anime I have seen so many people

join the community through my here academia in

the last few years and from there it is it is

a deep dive because it it brings across all of

the things that make anime so unique while still

being incredibly approachable and Those are my

that's those are my favorite types of series

because they they bring so many new New people

into the fandom and the anime fandom is already

just so incredibly diverse and I love when shows

make it easy to celebrate that Yeah, that's good

to know cuz I I've heard of it over the years

and I've always been like a huge like Dragon

Ball Z fan I've been a fan of various like DC

and Marvel and things like that. But I've never

heard it. This particular series explained that

way to gauge my interest in it, which now that

you've said all that, I actually have interest

in it. I mean, in a lot of ways it is it is this

generation's Dragon Ball in a lot of ways. And

I, you know, I hate to make that comparison because

they are different. But it is it is a show that

is capturing the moment right. I think Dragon

Ball Z captured the moment in the West for a

lot of reasons. But one of those reasons was,

you know, this was at a time when, you know,

late 90s, early 2000s action movies were where

they were. Oh, yeah. And so, you know, you could

get your Matrix Mission Impossible fixed through

something like Dragon Ball Z every week. And,

you know, with the zeitgeist around Marvel movies

and the MCU, like It was the perfect time for

a series like My Hero Academia to come onto the

scene and introduce a whole new generation to

it. Similar to, you know, this happened earlier

in the 2010s with Attack on Titan, capturing

an audience that may have been watching like

the beginnings of Game of Thrones at the time,

or the end of Harry Potter, where it's like this

big sprawling fantasy epic that has adult themes

in it. I mean, especially Attack on Titan, which

is a very gory... There's a lot of body horror,

that kind of stuff, but it did so much to bring

new fans in, and it's like, the people who are

watching Attack on Titan, when it aired, you

know, maybe following seasonally now, and it's

easier than ever to do that, like, to follow

it, you know, and Funimation, like, our seasonal

lineup is just, it's always packed, and there's

just always, I mean, I know for me, my watch

list is like 10 to 15 shows a season, and...

Oh wow. And I make it a priority even though

I'm also juggling playing video games and reading

comic books because the content is just so good

and it's just coming at such a rate that there's

not enough time to explore it all and so it's

like you want to prioritize it and really dig

deep into it. So what are a couple of your specifically

favorite shows right now? Yeah, so one of my

favorites from Well this year and this year the

second season aired but the first season aired

a couple years ago called kagisama love is war

It is a romantic comedy series which I know doesn't

exactly get people in the Halloween mood, but

It is I like to describe it as like Like traditional

rom -com meets Death Note if you're familiar

with Death Note It is a battle anime about two

teenagers who are top students who are hopelessly

in love with each other, but refuse to admit

to one another. And so they try and get each

other into scenarios where the other will confess

their love first. And it is it is written so

smartly. It's based on a manga of the same name,

where there's a narrator that that plays out

the scenarios. And at the end of every little

vignette, they they call a winner, you know,

winner. It's so funny and it's so smart. One

of my favorite things in anime is when they can

capture the reality of relationships. Not just

romantic, but even between friends. Kaguya is

one of those series that I think does a great

job at showing what it was like to be a kid in

high school and have a crush and have friends.

and be a part of that high school experience

and it's a hilarious show. First season is available

subtitled on Funimation. The second season is

actually currently being dubbed by Funimation

as well as the simulcast, the subtitled version

and both of those parts of season two are streaming

exclusively on Funimation. And you know, I watched

all of season one in like three days because

I was hooked and I had no idea that romantic

comedy anime would become one of my favorite

genres. But now it is. It's actually funny because

a lot of the time they capture some of the things

that regular shows don't know that there's a

little bit of more of a realism, even though

some of it might be a little bit over exaggerated,

but it's still it kind of touches on those bases

that you feel naturally when you're in the moment

of those scenarios. Exactly. It's. It's funny

you bring up like the over -exaggerated thing

because while it may not have been how it was,

it's how it felt. Yes. That I think is a great

call out. So how can people learn more about

anime and also stream thousands of titles? Yeah,

so obvious answer. Funimation .com. No, it's...

I always like to call Funimation like a destination

for anime because like we do, we have such an

immense library of shows and they cover, like

I said, just generations, everything from Speed

Racer and Astro Boy and Kimba the White Lion

to Cowboy Bebop, Yu Yu Hakusho to, like I said,

Attack on Titan, My Hero Academia, and then the

currently airing stuff that's in season like

Shout Out Fire Force, which is a great supernatural

entry that's just It just kicks all kinds of

ass that's airing right now. But we've also got

everything else that you might need for your

anime journey. So if you're a super fan and you've

got to get apparel or a figure for your shelf

like me who has too many figures on my shelf,

or you want to buy the home video, you've got

the Funimation shop right there on the website.

And then another one, you know, another kind

of pillar of that is the Funimation blog, which,

you know, we have an amazing team of writers

from all around the world that are just anime

super fans. And we write guides and features

and deep dives into into anime. So great example

is one of my favorite series that we run is a

mom's guide to anime. And it is about, you know,

a younger mom who who grew up on, you know, the

same stuff that we grew up on. She has a kid

and she not only wants to get him into anime

the right way the appropriate way but wants to

use anime as a as a teaching tool to interesting

help with parts of life like you know going through

puberty or You know experiencing heartbreak for

the first time and and she has this just this

awesome perspective on on that and Like I think

that's a really good snapshot of like how we

can use content outside of just the anime to

really show people what it's all about. And we've

got guides, and if you're a big watcher and you

want to rewatch anime, we've got guides for that.

So yeah, Funimation .com is like, it's your destination

for anime. Wherever you are in your journey with

anime, there is a way for you to jump in through

Funimation and make that your home, basically.

Awesome. Awesome. Yeah. And as you heard it in

the interview, everyone, that is your place to

go if you would like more information. I know

for one, I need to be updated on a lot of stuff.

So that's probably where I should be going. My

info is a little dated, so I'm still catching

up on Dragon Ball Super and things like that.

So yeah, thank you Nicholas for joining us on

this this chat on geek cast radio presents interview

Is there anything else you'd like to plug before

we go? No, I mean just you know, if you're if

you're not an anime give it a chance It is it

is one of the the coolest art forms out there.

It is It is absolutely worth your time, and Funimation

is the place to do it. And if you want me to

yell at you about all the amazing shows you can

watch, you can follow me on Twitter. Awesome.

So thank you again, and this concludes this interview

on Geek KS Radio Presents. Until next time.