Naw. I'm surprised though, since it's moe as fuck. It seems perfect for a Sentai release... but the actual MJ might kill it.
I don't mind those quick timeskips. I mean, they jump from being elementary/middle school kids to being high school kids, much like what happens in Chihayafuru. The first episode is basically a "prequel" for the rest of the series.
The problem with (English) anime podcasts is that it becomes strictly reviews. The ANNCast has an "advantage" in that they are big enough to get people who work in the English side of the industry to come on and talk about things, but other than that, what else can you do?
Anime3k or whatever it's called recently ripped off the TAL format in an interview, so at least people are "experimenting" (by cribbing
), but ultimately you're kind of stuck. You can never get any of the talent on, because unless you find animators who are a) willing to speak to the media and b) fluent in English, you're kind of stuck. Even reporting on stuff that happens in Japan requires someone who is fluent in Japanese to be able to suffer through 2ch and the like to get news... but at that point, you might as well be reading the front page of ANN.