Transcribers: Xumbra, Cherrie, Isabel ________________ VERDANT: Hey everyone! Welcome to the mid-summer RC podcast. I’m your usual host verdant and we have a new host joining us for this time too: our very own Stilts. STILTS: It-it’s not like want to say hello or anything...baka! (chuckles) VERDANT: we have a wonderful show for you today, discussing some of our favorite shows this summer season. And we’ve got a great debate on what shows to introduce to first-time anime viewers too. But first, let’s get on with the introductions, shall we? Host number two, you wanna take it away? STILTS: Sure! He said my name is Stilts. This season, I’m doing Lagrange and Kyoukai Senjou no Horizon, and for our introduction question for this week we’re going to give the seiyuu of the opposite sex that we want to voice us. For me I picked Shizuka Itou, she voiced Hinagiku, Wilhelmina, and Haruka. Wow! VERDANT: That’s a pretty good selection you’ve got there. Next up, Zephyr, you wanna introduce yourself? ZEPHYR: Hey, I’m Zephyr. This season I’m covering Hagure Yuusha no Estetica, Muv Luv: Total Eclipse, Tari Tari, and the Naruto manga. The voice actor I picked this time around was Saitou Chiwa. Of course, her most notable role is Senjougahara Hitagi from Bakemonogatari, and y’know just pretty much nothing more I need to say about one. VERDANT: Alright, sounds good. unlisted? UNLISTED: This is unlisted. I’m blogging Boku H right now, and for my opposite sex voice actor I chose KugiRie, and she’s known for the four tsundere characters: Taiga, Shana, Louise, and Nagi. But I wouldn’t mind being voiced by Stilts’s version of tsundere. STILTS: Aw c’mon, you gotta give it a try too. UNLISTED: (chuckle) No, definitely not. VERDANT: I think you should do a whole show in that voice sometime. STILTS: Don’t tempt me. VERDANT: Alright, next: Guardian Enzo. ENZO: Hey guys, it’s Enzo. This season I’m doing Jinrui wa Suitaishimashita, the best show of the season, and the second cour of Eureka 7, and on occasion, Hunter x Hunter post when the time allows. And the seiyuu I picked was Romi Paku, who did Edward Elric is probably her most famous role, also did Kenshin and Sengoku no Basara and a ton of other roles. VERDANT: Sounds good, I like her. Moomba? MOOMBA: I’m Moomba. I’m covering Sword Art Online and Space Bros this season, and the seiyuu I pick for this podcast is Koshimizu Ami, who’s probably most notable for Kallen in Code Geese and—well it’s either Geese or Geass, I never actually figured out which one we’re supposed to be using in English— STILTS: Meh, whatever you want, I guess. MOOMBA: She’s most noticeable for that, and also currently Leo in Dog Days Dash. That’s actually an apostrophe but called a dash for some reason. VERDANT: I’ll never understand punctuation. Stereoman was slated to be on, but she couldn’t make it. But she wanted us to tell everyone that she would like to be voiced by Kakihara Tetsuya. STILTS: And anyone need to guess why? I mean I could say the series it’s from, but it’s really quite obvious. VERDANT: Basically Natsu. She’s currently blogging Famiglia and Fairy Tail. Mochi can’t make it either, but she wanted to be here. STILTS: I wanted to take a minute and go over why all the other writers couldn’t be here either, but instead of having the actual reasons why they couldn’t be here, I decided for fun to make a bunch up so— VERDANT: They’re actually real reasons. STILTS: Yeah, these were totally [not] fake, absolutely real reasons. First off, Asobi: he couldn’t be here because he’s doing secret ninja training deep in the mountains. Cherrie is defending the world against killer insect robots that run on Nutella and Vegemite. Takaii, he’s gone back in time to challenge Cortez to a duel for the right to Cortez’s beard. Prooof is undercover, freelance detective currently working for Interpol (Lupin III is rumored to be involved). Stereoman is right around the corner watching you, right now. (Don’t turn around, she’ll disappear.) Zanibas is actually a magical girl, who’s defending the world from French-speaking tentacle monsters who are trying to take over the world and turn it into one giant reality tv show. And Divine has better things to do than talk to us. There you go, that’s where everybody is. VERDANT: Huh, we have an all star cast of people doing ridiculous things on our site. I didn’t know that. STILTS: That’s how we roll. VERDANT: We’ve got to interview all these people sometime, you know that right? STILTS: Only if we can catch them. They’re busy. VERDANT: Before I forget, I forgot to introduce myself. STILTS: Oh yeah, I forgot about you! VERDANT: I’m verdant. I’m blogging Natsuyuki Rendezvous right now and I’ve taken over Hyouka for the month of August since Takaii is on a hiatus. And I would like to be voiced by Sawashiro Miyuki. She’s Celty from Durarara, Kanbaru from Bakemonogatari, and Dalian from Dantalian no Shoka. She basically has a really awesome voice, and it’s better than any seiyuu you guys chose. STILTS: I don’t know about that. Doesn’t she also do Serika from Space Bros? VERDANT: She does, and she also does the kid version of Mutta too, I think. ENZO: And the baby, Kenji’s baby too. MOOMBA: And the dog. ENZO: And the dog! VERDANT: See? That’s why she’s just so awesome. STILTS: I can’t really argue much too much about that one. ZEPHYR: Yeah, she is one of my favorite actors. VERDANT: Alright, so— MOOMBA: She’s not great with English though. VERDANT: I’ve heard that she— ZEPHYR: That’s true. VERDANT: I’ve heard she could be, but we’ll see. VERDANT: Alright, so let’s shift over to our main course of the day which is the mid-season retrospective where we’re going to talk about our favorite shows of the summer season. So Stilts, wanna take us away? STILTS: This season we decided to take six different shows, picked by how much we thought we had to say about them, and the first one we’re gonna start off with is Muv Luv. Zephyr, would you like to take us away? ZEPHYR: Looking before the season, Muv Luv Alternative: Total Eclipse was one of the more hyped shows because people loved the VN and visual novel, and it’s like the number one rated visual novel in both English and Japanese sites in ways, so it was one of those shows where everyone wanted to watch for one reason or another. The sad part is that for now it’s ended up pretty average, there’s quite a few reasons for that, but it seems that I’m hoping that they’ll recover from the start of this episode as they start a new arc. But the sad part is the anime original, the first two episodes for the most part, skewered the whole impression of show because in a way Total Eclipse was never about the BETA until later on because the original premise of show was just based on Yui and Bridges and their interactions with one another, and also to purely sell figures. But they realized that afterwards that the figures were pretty much selling off the coop, and they added a whole another chapter, which is what we’re actually seeing coming up now. And so, y’know, just saying to all those people who are there sitting around about to drop it and stuff, just hold on a bit, and the better part of the series are yet to come. It won’t be better than the Muv Luv Alternative VN, no matter how you look at it, but it’s still worth watching either way. MOOMBA: I just want to quickly interject with the fact that it’s actually more accurate to say that it’s the number one translated VN as opposed to the most popular of all time, since there are actually several of the series that are considered more popular in Japan. ZEPHYR: Ah, yeah. STILTS: Such as? ZEPHYR: I just means ranking-wise in terms of English, I think it’s top five in Japan on their sites in terms of ratings anyway. STILTS: What are some of the other ones that are more popular out of curiosity? ...no ideas? (awkward silence) MOOMBA: Awkward! STILTS: Did not do your research that well! ZEPHYR: I’m pretty sure Clannad was one of them in the top five somewhere around there, and the other other couple elude me at the moment, but I know there’s other stuff like Saya no Uta was pretty high up too. STILTS: Well, you’ll have to find some way to do some VN posts about those later on. But unlisted, you were talking about this earlier. UNLISTED: I totally agree that the first two episodes twisted my expectations a little bit. Being the anime original, I haven’t actually played any of the visual novels, it’s just pretty interesting to learn. But yeah, the pace set by episode two to where they all pretty much get thrown away was pretty amazing. But I don’t know what I was expecting because I already knew it was a visual novel, which is totally about character interaction, and yeah, I’m going to stick with it, obviously and they’ve done a great job of making me hate Yuya over these last few episodes. STILTS: Is that somebody you should be hating? Or is that totally accidental? UNLISTED: Uh...I don’t know, I think the first two episodes made me kinda sympathize with Yui more and just his arrogant attitude toward her during the last three eps or so just haven’t helped his character much. STILTS: Fair enough. Personally—I’ve planned on starting it but have not—to somebody like me who’s still thinking about watching it, would...how many of you suggest that I start, and if so, why? UNLISTED: I would start it now, we’re just about to get into another arc. Judging from last week’s episode it’s about to get interesting, at least the preview title anyway. ZEPHYR: Yeah but in the end if you really have the time and really want to get into the Muv Luv universe, you’re probably better off playing the visual novels first, or just if you have time. The visual novels take awhile. STILTS: Yeah, I hope those don’t take like 50 hours each or something like that. ZEPHYR: Yeah, it’s around 10 hrs for Extra, another 10 hours for Unlimited, and like 50 hours for Alternative. STILTS: Okay, that’s not as bad as I thought, but still pretty bad. Er, long. Not bad, if that’s your thing. Does anyone else have anything to say about Muv Luv? Yes? No? No? Yes? Then I guess let’s skip onto the next one. Verdant? VERDANT: Let’s talk about Tari Tari. Who wants to lead us off for that? Stilts, I think you should. STILTS: Sure, I can do that. So, Tari Tari, first of all I should say that it’s an original show which first makes it something that I’m going to be watching practically off the bat. I love certain adaptations, but ones that will actually go out there and bring something that was just designed for the screen, it’s fantastic to behold. The other thing is that Tari Tari is one of the shows that can really evoke some feelings from me, and as an American male that doesn’t happen very often, mainly it’s just rage and determination. But how they’ve talked about music and other stuff has been really evocative, and I remember a scene late in episode four especially, it was really evocative how they talked about music and what it meant to them. That really sunk its teeth into me right there. VERDANT: Alright, go ahead, Enzo. ENZO: Yeah I like this show [for] some of the same reasons, it’s the only original for anime shown this season. I like it a lot, I think it’s kind of interesting to compare it with Hyouka and Kokoro Connect, which I know we’ll be talking about in a little bit. I look at those as kinda like a Three Bears scenario where Kokoro is very plot heavy with a lot of drama and deep character stuff, and Hyouka is very much about being quirky and time wasting, and they do have plots, especially the last arc, but it’s really more about atmosphere. And Tari Tari tries to be Goldilocks, y’know, it’s just right, it splits the difference right down the middle. It has just enough plot to be interesting, but it’s also very wistful and relaxing, that it does have that great P.A. Works look to it, not as great as some of their best work, but it still looks great. I think it’s a good show. The only downside I have about it—and I actually did a little piece about this—is that really marketed as an ensemble show, and they basically ignored the two male members of the cast as far as I’m concerned, they’ve had very little to do. And they’re sort of treated like second class citizens in the club. They’re sorta treated like second class citizens on the show, and by the writers I think, which is a downside for me. I think that it’s interesting a show like this which, if any show should be an ensemble show—shows like this and Kokoro Connect— both have taken this approach of giving most of the character development to the girls, which I think is an interesting social phenomenon in anime at the moment. That’s really the only complaint I have against it. I especially thought that the Wakana arc that ended with her mother and dad stepping up and having a great role in that, that was some of the best shows this season, so I think it’s a really good show. ZEPHYR: Yeah, I really have to agree overall that this is pretty much one of the best shows of this season. I remember one thing that really disappointed me about Tari Tari before this season was pretty much how people assumed it was going to be similar to Hanasaku Iroha a couple of seasons back, and as a result they really lowered their expectations a bit to point where some people avoided watching the show altogether. I was really disappointed because it felt like to me this was going to be the surprise of the season, and from what I’ve watched, right now I’m pretty sure it is the surprise of the season. It’s really rare to have show where I get to the end and I’m bawling or tearing up in some semblance or form, but Tari Tari manages to do it within mere six episodes, and we’re only halfway there. It’s pretty amazing. STILTS: The first two episodes, I don’t know if I call it bad or off-kilter or whatever, but it seemed...I remember the ending of the second episode of the season, the odd note they left off on. I guess by the four one I was totally hooked. I also said this about Kokoro. They didn’t start off maybe as strong as it got but they’re definitely really, really strong. Oh, a few episodes ago, definitely. VERDANT: Sounds good. Anything else have anything to say about Tari Tari? ENZO: Only that Zephyr is exactly right, it’s nothing like Hanasaku Iroha, which I still see people comparing it with, which kinda drives me crazy because I think they’re—apart from a little similarity in the character designs—they don’t look anything alike, and I kinda thought that going into the season too, and so I own up to that, I was wrong about that in that respect, but forget, stop comparing it. The shows are nothing alike. VERDANT: Sounds like a show everyone needs to watch. STILTS: I can’t speak on that. I would say that I hope they give more spotlight to Tanaka, because those guys are pretty entertaining, like their morning practice and a bunch of other stuff really makes me laugh. And the white rhinoceros. ENZO: Oh god. Poor Wien. STILTS: Girls are scary, man. ENZO: Girls are scary. ZEPHYR: That’s true. STILTS: I feel like we shouldn’t say that in this sausage fest of [a] podcast, but OH WELL. ZEPHYR: We said nothing. VERDANT: Too late! STILTS: We’ll edit that out later, we’ll edit that out right? Damn. MOOMBA: You’re gonna get killed. STILTS: Wouldn’t be the first time. VERDANT: Next show? STILTS: We’re going to go into Natsuyuki Rendezvous. Enzo, do you want to start this? ENZO: Sure, this is...for my money this is probably the show I look most forward to every week of the new series after Jinrui, I get into it maybe too much, I troll a lot of the message boards, just curious to see how people react, and I’ve kinda been disappointed that this show doesn’t seem to be getting more love than it is because I think it’s really interesting and complex, but what I sense about this show is that it doesn’t make it easy to really love the characters because they don’t really fit with any character tropes we’re used to in anime romances, even from shoujo ones or...and so I think, y’know...I like the fact that the guys in this show are not the most lovable, but that they’re very real. Hazuki is kind of a lost boy, he’s in his early twenties, he’s adrift in his life, he meets this older woman who has been married and is now widowed, and she’s at a very different place in her life, and they don’t gloss over that maturity difference between of them, but it’s sorta charming to me the way they bond in spite of it. And then Atsushi...they asked a very interesting question last episode: who’s the main character? And I kinda think that’s the key question of this whole series. And in many ways I think even though he’s dead, he is the main character because they’re all sorta dancing to his tune. And I see a lot of people [say] “Oh I don’t really like the show because I hate him. He’s so selfish, blah blah blah, he doe this, he does that...” And listen, that’s all true but when you’ve been through what this guy has been through, and now he’s a disembodied spirit who’s stuck in this living hell, I think you have to have empathy, and empathy is a big part of show for me. You sorta have to put yourself in their place and feel what the characters are feeling. And I can honestly say [now] that we’re halfway through, I have no idea where this show is going to end, and I think that’s really interesting. And that’s really it. I think it’s a difficult show, and it’s very atypical for anime, even for the timeslot it’s in—the noitaminA timeslot—it’s a tough show, but I think it really rewards you if you open yourself up to it and give it a chance. STILTS: Fair enough. Unlisted, do you have anything to add? UNLISTED: Damn you, you pretty much covered everything. These last few episodes just watching Hazuki and his actions is pretty cringeworthy, because as you said they are pretty real, just his naivete going into this whole relationship is just cringeworthy. You see yourself doing something different. And for Shimao, kinda wowed by the fact that he helps and he hurts Hazuki’s chance of—yeah, the ghost—how he hurts and helps his chances of getting together with Rokka. That’s it, pretty much. STILTS: Well I, from what it sounds like—and maybe Moomba can interject something here—sounds like Natsuyuki has same kind of problem—if it is a problem—as Space Bros (Uchuu Kyoudai): it doesn’t really fit in the typical high school romance anime mold, so it’s not getting as much traction. I dunno, do you think that’s true, Enzo? ENZO: I just wanna say I think this actually even a bigger problem with this show because at least with Space Bros you’ve got a main character who’s really, really likeable, and someone you can sorta of instantly bond to, and there’s really nobody like that in Natsuyuki, and I think that makes it an even tougher sell for a general audience because not only is it all the things you said, it also doesn’t really have that humor that Space Bros has, and it doesn’t really have that identifiable, loveable main char either. UNLISTED: I also think that this show is aiming towards a differemt audience, where Space Bros is aiming towards a more younger audience. Natsuyuki feels little more grown up in the way it approaches these relationships. ENZO: It’s definitely grown up, no doubt about it. STILTS: Do you agree with that? Other thoughts? Verdant, you’re blogging this, you should have a few things to say. VERDANT: I already talked about this show at length during the last podcast, and I’m blogging it too. But yeah, what everyone else said. (laughter) STILTS: Fair enough. “What they said!” VERDANT: I really like the artwork still, even if the story itself wasn’t something to write home about. I would think I would still watch it for the artwork, especially the sequences when Hazuki and Thumbelina, or Little Mermaid, are in the storybook world, the fairy tale world. I just love the way it feels hand drawn. It’s something I feel I want to see more of in anime and animation in general, but it’s probably really hard to just do a pastel or colored pencil drawing in every single show. I wouldn’t mind seeing less cel shading and more typical art, I guess. STILTS: So what you’re saying is that it went a little Kingdom Hearts in the middle, started visiting Disney princesses? VERDANT: Disney princesses? These are like Hans Christian Andersen princesses. STILTS: Oh god, now I’m even more interested. VERDANT: This is the original stuff, man! But other than that, yeah, a lot of people I’ve heard have dropped it because they didn’t like some of the characters. I think it’s sad if you’ve dropped it because you just didn’t like character because [of] the emotions or stuff you’re not gonna get in anime very often. But other than that, watch it, it’s good. I really like it. Read my post, please. (laughter) STILTS: I see your ulterior motives there. UNLISTED: Self-promotion (fake cough) VERDANT: And we’re going to jump right into Koi Choco. Choco. I don’t know, chocolate? Chocolate? ZEPHYR: (with English accent) Koi to Senkyo to Chocolate! VERDANT: Yeah, whatever it’s called. Stilts, wanna start us off? STILTS: Sure, and I do prefer Koichoco because it sounds a lot cuter. So Koichoco is a dating sim adaptation and has everything you would expect from that. The main character tends to run into all these girls and randomly starts having conversations, they start liking each other more, yadda yadda, etc. etc. But there are hints at something a little darker, perhaps more serious in lot of the episodes. There’s some bullying, there’s a lot of politics—I especially love the politics—that really makes it maybe still kinda typical but also has that little extra hook that keeps me coming back. Also lots of cute girls. Let’s see, Enzo? ENZO: Alright, I notice that with these dating sims that the adaptations, even the ones I end up really liking, I don’t like at first. They take a couple episodes to get cranked up for whatever reason. And the last one I liked was Mashiroiro Symphony, which I thought ended up being one of best shows of 2011, maybe on my top 15, but I was kinda bored with it at first. It really grew on me, and I kinda feel same way about this. I would’ve given the first episode about a C+ maybe, but what’s really interesting about this is that I was not that interested in the characters for quite a while, really maybe until fifth episode. But plot was so compelling that it really grabbed me and pulled me in. And I was a [Political Science] major, I’m very interested in politics, I’ve been watching election coverage on TV since I was five years old in Chicago. And this is the first anime I’ve seen in a long time, you can tell somebody behind the scenes is a political geek because they get a lot of political stuff really right. And I also agree completely, the politics one of the big reasons I like this series, it really gets into the issue of the struggle for independence against the established parties with more money, more organization, and fundraising, and spoilers, stalking horse candidate, all that stuff which is a real part to politics. But most anime that do touch on politics, they only really use it as a plot device so get somewhere else, they don’t do politics for its own sake. And in this show, it’s actually a really important part of the whole equation, which is interesting when you consider that it’s romance oriented, so you figure that relationships at some point become front and center—the love part of the title—but it hasn’t really happened yet, but I’m starting to get interested in that too. Like many of its type, even the good ones, for me it just took awhile to get up and running, but now that it’s going I’m definitely hooked. ZEPHYR: Yeah, Koichoco was one of those shows where I wasn’t really sure what to expect when I came in. It felt kinda average, like something was going to come out pretty cliche in some ways, but I’m actually pretty glad that I picked it up. Enzo and Stilts mentioned the whole part about politics already, but there’s actually one other part that I’m surprised we haven’t mentioned is that it takes whole student council thing and adds another layer to it because the school being used as a background is one that’s actually run by students themselves. The students pick the teachers, and they really have a large amount of say in what they do. And that flips a lot of the original foundations a bit because usually while the student council has some influence in typical show, it’s never actually had something to this extent, and it really adds a nice, unique touch to what otherwise was pretty normal. It seems like it’s anything but. And there’s definitely more people [that] should be watching this. STILTS: Yeah, they do take the absurdly powerful student council trope to a very big extreme. It’s really interesting though because it does become a microcosm for how most politics does work. I mean though what I always remember was the fundraising stuff, which is obviously huuuuge thing for politicians in real life. I do have to say one thing that—I’m aiming a lot of this towards Verdant because I don’t think you’re watching and I think you should be for this one character—the future [feature?] sensei who is over their club installed a kegerator in club room and operates it with her breasts! (laughter) You should be watching this, sir. VERDANT: Is there a screencap for this? UNLISTED: I think I remember this from the first episode. ZEPHYR: Yeah, first episode. STILTS: It’s my wallpaper. VERDANT: That doesn’t seem hygienic, but...okay. STILTS: Well anyway, I’m going to go with that. VERDANT: So it sounds like not a lot of people are watching this show, so if you guys could have quick sentence or two about why people should watch it, you wanna go ahead? ZEPHYR: I mean it’s just different, anything but what you thought of your initial expectations. It’s politics, a really powerful student council to say the least, and it takes a lot of tropes and throws them on side a little bit. STILTS: Enzo? ENZO: I guess if I could say any one thing, it’s because just like show itself, all characters in the show have something about them that’s not what it seems, which I think is really interesting. And the show’s like that too, it’s not what you think it is, and you really have to get into it to understand that, so watch it. STILTS: I have to say it’s politics, a little dark, cars running over people, stuff like that. That was a big shock to me. All that stuff that takes the normal dating sim adaptation and twists it a little bit. So it’s interesting. VERDANT: It’s definitely a misleading title. I thought it would be all about chocolate. (chuckles) STILTS: Yeah, there is a little bit. ENZO: We’ll get there. ZEPHYR: There’s a lot of chocolate involved. VERDANT: Oh really? STILTS: That’ll probably become important soon. But I do have to take one quick diversion. Enzo, Mashiro, however you pronounce that, love that one too. ENZO: Great show. STILTS: Did not expect that ending. VERDANT: What show? ENZO: I loved the ending and did not expect it. Yeah. STILTS: Yeah, I like being wrong sometimes. VERDANT: What show is this? ENZO: Mashiroiro Symphony, however you pronounce that. VERDANT: Oh, I watched that. I liked because that the person you don’t expect is the winner. ENZO: Exactly. And she’s the right one! VERDANT: She’s my favorite too. STILTS: Yeah, definitely. VERDANT: But that’s a topic for different— UNLISTED: SPOILERS! (laughter) STILTS: Okay, that depends on who you expect. Not that one! VERDANT: Yeah, there’s a lot of choice you could go with, it’s not just two girls, so you don’t know which other girl it is. Basically, any last words on Choco? ZEPHYR: Watch it! VERDANT: For a more aptly named show, we’re going to talk about Sword Art Online. Unlisted, do you wanna start us off? UNLISTED: Y’know, having read, let’s see now, 5 or 6 volumes, I didn’t actually like one of the episodes following the premiere, but I think it pretty much gives off what I think Sword Art would have been, and it’s not anywhere near as good as the book I think, or the light novel, it does it justice. But one thing I do have to say is that I had to open with the book—c’mon now—one thing I do have to say is that Kirito actually...he’s one lucky bastard! He runs into all these women, and you would think in an MMO that there would be [fewer] women, especially in one where you’d be locked up for two years or so or whatever, but...yeah. (chuckle) STILTS: I dunno, Moomba, you wanna respond to that one? MOOMBA: I guess I’m also a light novel reader, but I have not really had most of the problems as most other light novel readers seem to have. But I think A-1 has done a good job of adapting it. It’s not like the light novel is perfectly suited to be an anime and sacrifices have to be made to make sure the anime works correctly. Most of the stuff that’s being cut from adaptations is stuff that’s actually revealed later on in the main storyline, and because the side stories that’s added retroactively, they include these revelations, and if they kept them in the anime things aren’t gonna work quite as well because everything has its place. If you reveal that a certain person will be the winner, if you want to call it that, and if you reveal that right at the start just because this side story was written after the main story, then it’s gonna spoil the whole point of the correct reveal that was in the main story, if that makes any sense whatsoever. VERDANT: I think I understand what you’re saying. So basically, you have to view the show from perspective of the fact that the light novel was never intended to be an anime, so with that perspective in mind, you can better understand the limitations of the show itself. MOOMBA: I would actually say that show works fine without the light novels. I know a lot of people who say that if you don’t read the light novels, you’re missing out on a much amount of stuff, there’s no point in actually watching anime unless you’ve read the light novels, but I don’t really see that. Perhaps someone who hasn’t read the light novels can chime in and say how they’re finding the anime so far without the context of the light novel to support whether they think it’s actually worth watching. STILTS: I might go all hairy on this, so let’s get some Enzo in here first ENZO: Okay again, I can’t jump in as someone, who [has] absolutely no experience with this before the anime, and I also wanna say that I was the loud defender of SAO in the beginning when it was getting what I thought was a ton of unfair hate and criticism, mostly from people who did seem to be LN readers. And I think it’s a good show, I have to qualify—I know that’s an uh-oh moment—I do like it, it’s a good show. My issue with the way they’ve adapted it, and I don’t know exactly how this fits in context of...I think Moomba is absolutely right: a light novel is not an anime, and you have to treat them as very different identities. But for a new reader or a new viewer, I don’t know if it was a good decision to pretty much kick off and go this “movie of the week” format pretty much for seven straight episodes. I know these basically are side stories from what I’ve been told, but I would’ve liked a little more investment in main storyline out of the gate to give some connection to see what was happening, because these things...the quality of these “girl of the week” stories that they’ve been doing has been generally good, some better than others, but generally good, but I feel sorta detachment from them, because I don’t really have any grounding in either Kirito as a main character or in the overall story. I think premiere got me really interested in the premise, and then it’s like, “Oh we’ll get to the premise in seven episodes”, and I’m not sure if that was the right choice speaking for one anime-only viewer only just for myself. I would’ve liked a little more canon stuff right out of the bat because I think I would be more invested in characters and in what was happening if they chosen that route. MOOMBA: To be slightly controversial here, I would actually prefer it if they hadn’t adapted the short stories at all because I’ve never particularly felt that they were necessary to the story. I know, I’m going to get a lot of hate for that now, but— UNLISTED: I share that same view. MOOMBA: I always felt that the original light novel, the first volume was entirely an enclosed story, it didn’t really need anything built on top of that. And everything that comes after it essentially retroactively adding new things that don’t necessarily need to be there. I think Stilts actually wrote an entire topic on this for his Stilts Out Loud corner at one point. STILTS: Yeah, I wish I could go append some Sword Art Online stuff to that, but eh, you guys can check it out in the archives. Enzo, you were saying? ENZO: Yeah, just briefly loop back to this, because I was going to mention it but I didn’t, one of the suspension of disbelief things for me is this...we’ve got an MMO here which is almost entirely populated by moe girls, and that’s a little different than my perception of what that world has been like when I’ve touched it. Maybe that’s an area where I think it’s kind of a stretch, but I understand that this is an anime—and it wasn’t originally an anime of course—but I think that’s kinda funny. It doesn’t bother so much but I do find it kinda funny. And Accel World is the same way. STILTS: It’s surprising that he runs into the three of the five girls that play this game, and they all fall for him. UNLISTED: Exactly, exactly. (chuckle) STILTS: Moomba? MOOMBA: Yeah, that’s pretty much the [entirety] of the suspension of disbelief thing there. [In] the first episode, we saw loads of female characters immediately become male once the mirrors reveal people's’ true colors, so I guess it’s not so much the game contains loads of moe female characters as the story is written in such a way that Kirito only runs into moe female characters. ZEPHYR: Going in as someone who actually didn’t read any of the novels at all, I pretty much feel what Enzo said was pretty much on the mark in that, I’m sitting here, the first episode was pretty darn interesting. It had everything I loved about a regular show, especially the beginning, fluid animation, pretty good detail and intro to the story, and really it was a pretty darn good intro, but suddenly afterwards the next seven episodes or so it turned into some kind of “story of the week” format where there was a lot of time skipping, [and] suddenly it goes up like thirty floors in span of one episode. And it felt to me like either it should’ve been inserted in between during random story segments of the main plot, or like Moomba said, eliminated completely because at this point, there’s a lot of people who haven’t read it who are pretty much on the brink or already did possibly drop it because there’s just not enough patience there for typical wait for eight episodes of the story to kick in. STILTS: Makes sense. Enzo? ENZO: Yeah, question, maybe Moomba, maybe you can answer this, I’m completely agreeing with what Zephyr said. Why do you think they chose to include all the side stories in beginning? What do you think the thinking was on anyone’s part in doing that? Was it because they were playing mainly to people who knew the property already? Or did they think this is what would really work for new viewers? MOOMBA: Chronological order. That’s pretty much the entirely the thing. The original novel had a huge time skipping start, and all these side stories take place within that time skip. So we’re not actually going out toward here, it’s all chronological. STILTS: Aww...interesting. Well I have to say this show...I’m not really fond of how it started off, the...well, I mean lemme take that back. The first and second episode I really enjoyed, and the world itself I find extremely interesting. I mean, that’s really its biggest selling point for a lot of us who have played an MMO before, so it’s a lot shorter of a leap to imagine ourselves in a fantasy MMO than it is to imagine ourselves in a fantasy world. So that can suck you in really quickly. However, maybe up until—what are we on, seven—episode six I was okayish. The Sachi episode and Silica episode I felt were kinda pointless. The other two episodes, the kind with mystery, that was kinda cool actually. But this latest one I’m like, “Okay, so every girl just falls in love with him for no apparent reason, seriously?” Now...I don’t know, it’s starting to get slightly annoying about that, and the fact that Kirito only seems to want to save all the cute girls, another thing entirely that annoys me, but y’know that might be author self-insert, I’m not sure. Either way I hope they get to the actual plot soon, because when I glimpsed at that in episode 1 or 2, that was really interesting, it really was. I just want to get to that. MOOMBA: Just quickly going over that, on the plus side we actually have the main plot kicking next week, and we shouldn’t really be having any more female characters abruptly appearing and falling for Kirito. STILTS: Good. (chuckles) MOOMBA: So we’re good on that front. VERDANT: That’s interesting because there’s another black swordsman that has a sorta parallel with Kirito in that in Berserk, the first like three volumes or whatever are a side story, and it’s used to introduce the main character and why he’s so badass. So I guess maybe that’s what they’re trying to do with Sword Art Online? Then, they’re using these side stories to build the fact that he’s this badass guy and then they’ll get into the meat of the story. STILTS: If so, I don’t know if they’re doing particularly well. VERDANT: I don’t know if they’re doing well either because we haven’t really seen him be the black swordsman all that much. But I guess that’s what I immediately thought of as a plausible reason why they’re doing this. Start off with side story, set up the main character as being really awesome, then get into the epic story that makes up the whole thing. STILTS: To take the other side of that, I think the reasons are slightly more cynical. I think that they have these side stories and you know, a lot of people read the light novels and enjoyed them, and they realize they got to jam them in somewhere. Moomba said this was chronological order, so we might as well just get it over with. All the animated viewers love a lot of the girls to fall in love with them, right? So they just kinda jammed them in wherever willy-nilly. I think there wasn’t really [a] storytelling, character-building reason for it. I think they just had them and had to put them somewhere. VERDANT: Oh. ZEPHYR: They didn’t really have to put them anywhere. But, anyway— STILTS: Yeah, you’re right. ZEPHYR: But, yeah, I watch this show for Asuna and that’s all. STILTS: (chuckles) VERDANT: Really? Huh? STILTS: Hey, Haruka Tomatsu? Always a good thing. (chuckles) VERDANT: I really like Sachi. STILTS: Oh yeah? VERDANT: There’s this good video that someone made where they had a different song playing instead of— MOOMBA: You’re not...I hope you’re not planning on bringing up the Linkin Park version right now. VERDANT: No it’s not. It’s definitely not the Linkin Park version. (laughter) VERDANT: It’s Sachi’s...Her seiyuu’s the same one in Ano Natsu...no, Ano Hana. So they played the ending song from that show instead. And the lyrics, they really match up really well. You guys should check it out. ZEPHYR: Crawling in my skin. (chuckles) VERDANT: No. STILTS: Zephyr? ZEPHYR: But, back to a more serious topic, now that I actually heard Moomba say why the side stories could be theoretically not have been included in the first place. Now that he actually says that, I kinda realized why they put the side story. Well at least I can understand why, because otherwise if you didn’t include the side story to fill in the gap between everything, it would suddenly go from the first episode, then suddenly the second episode there’s like a 50 floor upcrawl and people are going to wonder what the... what happened there. At least I guess I could understand putting a few episodes of the side story in between but- STILTS: We still felt the jump. It was still really abrupt. ZEPHYR: Yeah. There was really a pretty abrupt jump either way. STILTS. Yeah. Enzo? You have something to say? ENZO: Just quickly, if either of those theories about why they put all the side stories at the beginning are accurate, I think that was a questionable decision, because the first episodes are the most important, by far, because if you don’t hook people in in the first few episodes...Everybody knows about the 3-episode rule. But, I mean, you can’t afford to say we got to put them in somewhere, so let’s just put them in in the beginning. Because I think that’s the surest way that you’ll never going to get your audience hooked. And, whatever the reasons were, if either of the theories is right and they may very well be, I think that amounts to a poor decision by the production committee on this show. I think those episodes would have been fine if they’ve been scattered later or left out even at all as Moomba said. But to actually just stack them all up in the beginning, it defers the real story far too long in my opinion. VERDANT: Yeah, you never get a sense that they’re really trying that hard to get out of this world anymore. Everyone kinda feels like they’ve just accepted it and are just enjoying it for the ride now. There’s no...The sense of permadeath— STILTS: Urgency. VERDANT: Is gone. Yeah, the urgency. The sense of “oh my god, permadeath is a real thing in this world” is just not there anymore. MOOMBA: To be fair, that’s probably true for some of them. I mean, they’ve been there for a year or so now. I can’t remember the exact amount of time but I imagine a lot of them would have given up on hope of escaping and started settling in, seeing it as their own new reality. UNLISTED: That feeling kind of parallels my thoughts for Muv Luv. STILTS: I don’t get the link. What now? UNLISTED: Anyway, you know how, the first two episodes were done pretty quickly. Just the latter half of it they kinda threw on the thrusters and totally braked to a stop on any sort of development other than just developing character interaction. STILTS: Well, I don’t know if any of that made sense, but I haven’t started Muv Luv, so I probably should. UNLISTED: That was just an aside. STILTS: Fair enough. Hopefully Zeph here or somebody who watched it would get what you’re talking about. Zephy, you want to interject there? ZEPHYR: Well, the whole thing about the Muv Luv..The change of pace was mostly because of the anime original, but the whole difference in pace is actually pretty prevailing in the Muv Luv universe itself because they like doing things like lulling you in and then kicking your ass with moments from the first two episodes. In this case, they did the opposite way, which is why personally I found it slightly lacking and pretty poor choice on their part to put the killing first to get the people in. STILTS: They doped a rope instead of roped a dope. Is that what you’re talking about? ZEPHYR: Yeah, pretty much. I mean,if you’re going to put the killing like...you put the BETA in the beginning and then there’s no real BETA until a little bit later, then you killed the impact. But if you put in an early test session and just messing around with BETA stuff and then you put the BETA afterwards, then you get the full impact. You know? VERDANT: Full impact. An Important thing for TV shows. Anything else, anyone else have anything to say about Sword Art Online? STILTS: No, I think that was a beautiful concluding statement, so— VERDANT: Thank you. VERDANT: Now for a show that Stilts has watched, Kokoro Connect, you want to lead us off? STILTS: I can do that. So Kokoro Connect, going into it, I thought, as I said in our last major podcast, you know, it was going to be about guys and girls switching bodies and all the fun things that could happen therein. But, by a few episodes in, they got the drama pretty nicely and all the characters are very likable, so I started to get sucked into it and then episode 5 happened, which as an episode, it’s one of those episodes I don’t think I will forget for a long time. It really, despite the fact that I either knew or should’ve known what was probably going to happen. They sold it so well, that it sucked me in and by the time the end of the episode was coming along I was gripping my chair and just not breathing or doing a whole lot, just waiting for what was going to happen. It was one of those ones that really gripped me. It’s what an anime or a movie or anything like that where you can’t control how fast the story goes past can really do, can do really well, that can just grip you and drag you along until you are just spent. VERDANT: Poor baby... STILTS: Anyway, I’m enjoying it a lot. They’re going into a new arc now, but they’re showing some very nice potentials. ZEPHYR: Ya prior to this season, body switching, it was like I figured there are only so many ways you can go with it to make it a really good anime or something to attach people. So I actually avoided watching [KC] for a bit, until recently where - especially that certain screenshot popped up with the whole masturbation, so I was like what kind of show is this? So I ended up watching it anyway and I caught up and it ended up being so good that I caught up on the 5 episodes that were there in like an hour. But ya, even though episode 5, the big emotional impact, I didn’t get as much because I kind of expected what was going to happen but even so it’s a pretty decent show, compared to what I thought. And it’s nice to see [Miyuki], Verdant’s favorite actor, taking the role of Inaban, and really kicking ass. ENZO: Well I’ll jump in, I like this show a lot. I think in some ways, it reminds me a little bit of Symphogear. I think it’s better than Symphogear, but I like Symphogear because even though it was a little awkward and the writing a little clumsy sometimes, it was emotionally very honest and very powerful because it was very raw. And I think that this show has that same raw emotional quality to it and comparing it again to Tari Tari and Hyouka, this is not as sophisticated show, I don’t think the writing is very polished, it takes more chances than any other show of its kind, it really does go for serious drama without apologizing for it and I like that about it. I think it takes real guts to do that. I again wish that the male characters would get that same kind of complex development as the female characters have. They have been presented a little bit more, especially Aoki, who is basically the Clannad best friend character at this point. But generally speaking, Taichi is the main character, but he’s still sort of a avatar, other than the masturbation thing, we haven’t gotten to the psychological grounding for why the guys do the things that they do, which we have for the girls. And I’m hoping that that’s going to come in the next 10 episodes, of which 4 will be DVD but that’s okay. I hope that happens, but apart from that, I just like the fact that the show is not afraid to really shoot for the moon to use the Symphogear analogy and sometimes it fails but I give them credit for always trying even though they don’t always succeed. Which is more than I can say for a lot of shows and I think it’s a very interesting, it’s a very different show, a lot different than you would expect. And I like the current arc that they just started, I won’t spill what it is, but the current arc to me is more interesting than the first arc because it’s more revealing about the characters because they don’t have the ability to hide behind anything this time. So I think there are a lot of interesting places where we could go from here. STILTS: Yeah, I’d have to...I do agree with that on this current arc that’s starting. I’ve heard a lot of people say that there’s a lot of erecting that’s going on most of the time, and now they’re doing it even more so. But I don’t really mind that, because like you said they go unabashedly for the drama angle, and more often than not they get it. It really works. So it’s fine with me. I do feel like this new arc is going to be more interesting because the first one was kinda fun in a way. It was only certain characters’ character traits that really made it so potentially devastating. But this one is just downright frightening from the beginning. I mean, you have to imagine what it’s like if all the things you say in your head suddenly just came out. And I don’t know about you guys, but there’s shit that goes on in my head that I don’t want to [come] out. I know you guys would probably take that as a joke, and it partially is, but you know, other stuff. But I do have to take issue with Taichi. I think he does get a good amount of character development and insight into why he acts the way he does. Aoki not as much. Hopefully not yet, but not as much. We do get a good sense of maybe why Taichi...or maybe not why Taichi does what he does, what made him like that, but at least his major malfunction. Aoki doesn’t really have that yet. I’m sure you’ll respond to that, Enzo. ENZO: Well yeah, I agree, we have definitely not gotten that from Aoki, and we know what his major malfunction is, but unlike Nagase and Inaban and Yui, we don’t know why. And that’s the difference. I think that— STILTS: Do we not? ENZO: This show more so than...well, I’m more so than with Tari Tari because of the nature of what this show is, I at least hope that we’re going to get to that point with him, because it almosts seems like you can’t avoid it, because he is at the center of everything that’s happening, and he’s still acting as an avatar, an audience avatar in a way. I think it is true that we know what his major character trait is that’s the focus of the show. We don’t know yet what in his past, what made him develop that character trait, made him the way he is. I think that’s a very interesting question. It seems to me that sooner or later they have to answer it. I don’t know that they will, but I would certainly be disappointed in the series if they don’t. I think they will. They may be saving that for a grand finale with the fireworks display because we already even get a little taste of it. This thing with Taichi, the one thing I will say that’s interesting about it is it’s a double-edged sword. Most people would look at it and say, “Oh, it’s great, he really wants to help other people and blah blah blah”, but in this latest, with this new twist that Heartseed has pulled on the kids, you can see that there’s very much a dark side to that way of the world, and it represents that there’s something kinda broken in him. And that’s what I want to get more into is, we know why Yui is broken, we know why Nagase is broken, and we know why Inaban is broken. Now why is Taichi broken? We know pretty much that he is, but we don’t know why. And at some point I hope we get to know why. That’s really all I’m saying. STILTS: I would say that...I mean, before this last episode, I would have thought that was kind of what they’ll hint at all the way through will build up to, but this last episode makes me think we might find out pretty soon. Because you’re right— ENZO: I hope— STILTS: This is kinda leading into some dark territory. ENZO: Yup, it is. STILTS: But compared to Tari Tari, I mean, I would like them to go more into the male characters in Tari Tari as well. But I think it is pretty much inevitable in this. They can get away without going to Aoki, but it would diminish it, but they can’t get away without going into Taichi. That just has to happen. VERDANT: Sounds good. Does anyone have any last things to say about Kokoro Connect? I guess it’s a good time for the mid-show theme, which has been chosen by Enzo. It’s called Yume no Naka wa...whoa, whoa. (chuckles) STILTS: Try again! VERDANT: Hold on! Yume no Naka...whoa. No no. (laughter) STILTS: Okay, third time’s a charm! ENZO: Want me to take that? VERDANT: Yeah, go ahead. This is uh... ENZO: “Yume no Naka no Watashi no Yume”. (laughter) VERDANT: And it’s from the show... ENZO: Jinrui wa Suitai Shimashita. VERDANT: Alright, sounds good, enjoy! VERDANT: Alright, so now that we’re done talking about our favorite shows of the summer season, or I guess the ones that we wanted to talk about the most at least, not our favorites, we’re going to go into our bonus section. For our first topic of this bonus section, we’re going to be talking about an idea that was introduced by Enzo, which is if we could show a non-anime fan one show to get them interested in anime, what would that show be? Who’d like to start us off? MOOMBA: Alright, well I’ve always thought that a good anime to act as a gateway that’s not something simple like Pokemon or Naruto or the usual ones that a lot of the young people watch would be Full Metal Alchemist or Brotherhood. Both work equally as well. My reasons for that is it’s entertaining, that’s undeniable, and it showcases some of the best things about anime over its course and at the same time it’s easily digestible but not ridiculously simple. STILTS: Yeah I can agree with most of that. I’ve always thought it was obviously... from a marketing speaking point of view, it was always a fairly Western show without being too much so, which makes it an easier transition to make, but still it’s got a lot of really anime qualities to it and a lot of it done really really well. I agree. VERDANT: I agree too. It’s definitely....Even if, I know young kids watch it and they have no interest in anime whatsoever but they see it on Cartoon Network and they love it. It’s just got a lot of action, fun characters, got a little bit of everything, a little bit of romance, a little bit of action, a little bit of history, lots of memorable characters, and the subject matter, I think, isn’t too weird, too over-the-top that non-anime people would be scared away by it. It’s not too edgy either, right? At all? STILTS: Yeah, not too much. ENZO: A little. STILTS: Well, occasionally. But, hey, what is? Or what isn’t? Well, I was originally going to pick Full Metal Alchemist but I’ll pick Death Note. This one I can mostly speak to, having worked before. I showed a few shows to one of my friends and got them on Death Note while it was airing and [they] gobbled that up, which probably tells me something frightening about them, but I don’t know. It’s really interesting....It has that shounen quality without being all, you know, people punching each other. So it has that interesting shounen part, maybe a little cerebral quality to it, but it apparently worked! So that would be one I’m going [with]. Zephy, you wanna go? ZEPHYR: I actually have two picks, depends on if you’re a younger or older audience, but for the younger guys, Mobile Suit Gundam Wing would be my pick because pretty much it was the show that got me into anime in the first place. It’s not really a complex plot, shu bang, things blowing up. It’s one of those shows a younger audience can get used to, really just get into something- STILTS: Also a lot of pretty boys. ZEPHYR: Yeah. Older audience, definitely Ghost in the Shell. It’s one of the more complex shows for the most part out there and it really has all these philosophical elements, these great characters, complex world, pretty good anime for older people looking for a deeper experience. STILTS: Makes sense. Enzo? ENZO: Actually, just popped into my head, Outlaw Star would be great, but my original thought was Last Exile because it’s a great looking anime. I think people would get really hooked by the look of it. It has that steampunk thing going, and it has an adventurous feel to it. Really indelible characters, great music, and....I just think that’s the sort of anime that isn’t too intimidating to a non-anime fan but still gives them an idea of what anime is capable of. And, then if it were for younger kids, I would say maybe Gakuen Alice which got something for adults. The humor is sophisticated and clever enough that I think adults would get more out of it, but I also think it’s really appealing for kids. It’s got a great energy to it. It’s got lots of stupid puns that everyone will laugh at, and it’s got really interesting stories around the characters that I think would be relatable to pretty much anyone 8-80, as they say. So, those would be two picks for me. STILTS: Cool. Not bad. Unlisted? UNLISTED: For my first show, I’d go with Pokemon for a younger audience, because it’s loved by young people and older people alike. If you have younger people watching these newer shows, I’m sure you can bond with older first gen Pokemon fans. We’re all in our 20s now and we all know what Pokemon is. There’s a ton of games and the universe is huge and it’s still pretty popular. For an older audience, I’d go with Zephyr’s recommendation because I think it’s incredibly well-written. I’m talking about Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex. It’s incredibly well paced. That’s it. STILTS: Gotta catch em all. Sorry, I had to say that. UNLISTED: Ash is caught in a time loop. STILTS: Yeah, he is. VERDANT: Woah spoilers. STILTS: Eh, whatever. Who do we have left? Verdant? VERDANT: I’m cheating with my choice. I’m going with Cowboy Bebop. STILTS: Yeah, you are. VERDANT: I mean, after all, it was already shown on Cartoon Network, right? So a lot of people probably just turned it in and was like woah, what is this awesome show. I always think it’s a good idea to start off with a masterpiece. It’s definitely one that’s easily accessible to Western audiences too. I always think introduce people on something that’s a high note then they’ll think everything will be just as good. STILTS: And then get them into the normal stuff. They’re just like oh man, what have I gotten myself into? VERDANT: Maybe. MOOMBA: What if you accidentally created one of those people who refuses to watch anything beyond 80s and 90s anime? VERDANT: Those people exist? STILTS: No, I’ve done this before. Showed somebody Cowboy Bebop and Samurai Champloo, and they’re like no masterpiece has been made since then! And I do a lot of crying. VERDANT: I guess I’ll use some of your suggestions then. STILTS: There’s a rest of it. That’s all we’re saying. UNLISTED: Cowboy Bebop might be a masterpiece, but Ash is a pokemon master, or he will be I think. STILTS: He will be the very best. Like no one has before. UNLISTED: Exactly. VERDANT: Sounds good. STILTS: Should we go into the last section? STILTS: This one was made by none other than me, because normally during these things, we try to say hey, you should watch this, hey you should watch this, so I thought we’d have a section at the end that basically says one show you want to watch in a short twitter-like pitch or reason why people should be watching that. So that means if you go beyond a sentence or two, we’re going to start yelling at you to stop. But, I’ll go ahead and start it off with Rinne no Lagrange. My pitch is subtle storytelling, loveable characters, an interesting sci-fi plot, definitely mix serious and silly in ways that will always pleasantly surprise. Also, there’s yuri. VERDANT: That’s why you’re watching, huh? Yuri? STILTS: Also all that stuff before it! UNLISTED: But mainly yuri. MOOMBA: Yuri’s always good. STILTS: That’s like a cherry on top. VERDANT: That’s an unfortunate choice of words. STILTS: Yeah, kind of was. Alright, Zephyr, you wanna go? ZEPHYR: For my pick, I picked Eureka 7: Astral Ocean, because it’s pretty hard to top Eureka 7 original in my book, but Astral Ocean’s been able to do it and it’s barely ⅔rd done. The second half of Astral Ocean blows your mind to the point where you go wow and it looks like we’re in for a great ending. STILTS: Cool. Verdant? VERDANT: I’m going to go with Uta Koi and Kuroko no Basuke. Uta Koi because it’s poetry, romance, fun characters, good humor, and a slice of history too. I really dig the art style. And Kuroko no Basuke because it seems like a pretty well-written show and Mochi’s got some great blog posts about it. STILTS: Also you like pretty boys. VERDANT: That too. I was paid to say that by the way. STILTS: I thought so. Moomba? MOOMBA: I have it down as Joshiraku, which I know a lot of people aren’t actually watching because of the complex humor, but I have written down clever, relevant humor with an edge of cynicism in a way only Kumeta can provide. Cute girls too and (coddlewars?). STILTS: So, mainly for the cute girls. Gotcha. (laughter) STILTS: Hey you guys did it to me. VERDANT: I really like the ending song. STILTS: Oh man, the ending. That’s just addictive. VERDANT: Unlisted? UNLISTED: Alright. Drop all your shows! I’m just joking. But seriously, Oda Nobuna no Yabuo because it has a lot of historical references, there’s girls and I just want to shout out here, Katsuie does a chest pound, and she’s supposedly wearing metal armor, but it kinda moves. VERDANT: Wait, so explain that? UNLISTED: It jiggles. How does plating jiggle? I don’t understand. MOOMBA: Anime physics. UNLISTED: Anime physics, exactly. STILTS: Magic. Shut up. VERDANT: [Is there] a gif of this? UNLISTED: I’m gonna make a gif. We’ll add it to the post for sure. VERDANT: Enzo? STILTS: Enzo? ENZO: This is assuming everyone is watching Hunter x Hunter and shame on you if you’re not. My pick is Ginga e Kickoff!!. I guess my tweet would be “because automatically avoiding shows because they’re about kids is just being close-minded and because it’s the best sports anime since Giant Killing. VERDANT: So it’s a giant sports anime killer? ENZO: Exactly. (chuckles) VERDANT: Alright, I guess we’re done then. Anything else? You guys want to add any other shout outs left? STILTS: Yeah, I got nothing. VERDANT: We can just talk about something until it gets awkward. STILTS: Oh yes, I’d like to make a shout out to the awkward turtle. Anybody who doesn’t get this needs to listen to the last podcast. ZEPHYR: Awkward turtle! VERDANT: I do miss awkward turtle. No other shout outs, huh? STILTS: We apparently don’t like people. VERDANT: Alright. MOOMBA: Someone should shout out to the female writers who have decided not to show up this time. UNLISTED: They were out saving the world. STILTS: Hey, yeah, we went over it. They’re saving people- ZEPHYR: They’re out saving our world from the sausage fest. STILTS: We’re on the internet. That can’t be saved. VERDANT: Well, I’ll give a shout out to all the METANORN people, because they’re the ones who helped me with starting up this podcast. I’ll give a shout to Xumbra because he’s the one recording, and probably transcribing, and basically all the cool things we need to be done with the site. So much love to him. :3 STILTS: He’s basically the one who does all the hard stuff while we just screw around and talk about stuff. VERDANT: He’s the robot behind the scenes. UNLISTED: I thought Divine was the robot behind the....Yeah, exactly. VERDANT: We can have two robots. We’re cool like that. UNLISTED: We can’t have two robots! VERDANT: Well, one of them will be a mecha, and then one of them will be a robot. UNLISTED: So Xum is the mecha, eh? STILTS: Wait, isn’t Divine an android? VERDANT: That’s....Yeah, so one’s an android and one’s a mecha? STILTS: Sounds like they will rule the world. VERDANT: Rule the world while the girls are saving it, right? STILTS: Yes, exactly. Cherrie’s supposed to be finding them‘ but apparently they’re supposed to be running on Nutella and Vegemite. (laughter) VERDANT: That sounds like it’s over 9000 calories of goodness. STILTS: (laughs) It does. VERDANT: Alright, so thanks for listening, everyone. To end things off, we have a theme chosen by Unlisted. It’s from the Persona 4 soundtrack called Electronica in Velvet Room by Shouji Meguro. Enjoy! -Bloopers- (humming from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8N_tupPBtWQ) ENZO: I’m having flashbacks. You need to stop that...Make the music stop! UNLISTED: And it’s never gonna go away. ENZO: Nope. MOOMBA: It’s going to be stuck in my head for the rest of this podcast now. UNLISTED: Last song syndrome. STILTS: Just partly bashing a little bit talking about, it’s Sword Art Online, it’s.... (laughter) UNLISTED: You want to sound like a crazy person. STILTS: Got a new one, and it sucked more so I ended up returning it. I think this one works well as long it’s literally like groping my mouth. Like it has to be halfway in my mouth. UNLISTED: Awesome. I got a weird visualization. VERDANT: Me too. STILTS: It’s getting a little wet and sticky in here. I’m not going to lie. VERDANT: Uh... UNLISTED: Alright, everything we just said was on record! (laughter) VERDANT: It’s funny because every time I want to say host, I kinda want to say horse, because it’s— UNLISTED: Way to go, Stereo. VERDANT: Because it’s...yeah, Stilts. STILTS: Don’t introduce me as horse. Come on. VERDANT: I need to get more food soon too. STILTS: But we have to do more bloopers.