Gateway to Anime

Episode 48 - Winter 2023 Season Hype-Up

We're back for our first podcast of the year and we're talking all things Winter 2023! This is a very busy season with some absolute gems at the top, a bunch of mid and some diamonds in the rough.

 

Graeme talks through the "feudal airtasker show" Revenger as well as the CGI Kaina of the Great Snow Sea. Charlie examines the controversy surrounding the Trigun Remake Stampede (hint, more CGI) as well as the brilliantly titled Ice Guy and his Cool Female Colleague.

 

Sam speaks about some video game adaptations of varying degrees of quality in Nier: Automata and The Legend of Heroes: Trials of Cold Steel - Northern War.

 

We also discuss some heavy hitting returning anime in Vinland saga, Tokyo Revengers and The Misfit of the Demon Academy as well as several others which have caught our attention this season. 

Episode 49 - The two best anime you’ve (probably) never seen with Gerald Lillywhite

Sam and Charlie convinced long time friend and frequent guest Gerald to watch two of their favorite shows in all of anime. 

 

(One of) Sam's "undisputed kings of anime" the epic space opera Legend of the Galactic Heroes and Charlie's genre subverting "hard sell" Fruits Basket. 

 

While these shows both have fervent and dedicated followings and are renowned in the community, they aren't necessarily widely watched.

 

Gerald brings his measured thoughts and opinions of these epic shows which leads to a deep dive of analytical discussion about what makes these shows so special. 

Episode 50 - Fandom: Do Our Opinions Matter?

Everyone is a fan of something. But can a fanbase actually influence the thing they love? We explore what it means to be an anime fan and the fascinating nature of fandom. Brett rejoins us to discuss his first impressions of the anime community while Charlie and Sam talk about how anime fandom has changed over the years. 

Episode 51 - Winter 2023 Verdict

Here is our latest episode: Winter 2023 season verdict.
We're changing the way we do our seasonal round-ups moving forward.

This is our verdict on the winter 2023 season that has just finished and we'll be following this up with our hype-up for the currently airing Spring season. That will be an early preview of the hyped upcoming shows for the season and our first impressions of the few shows that have aired an episode or 2 at the time of recording.

This will be followed up by our verdict episode at the end of the season and we will continue in this manner moving forward.

Tune in for our verdicts on Vinland Saga, Bluelock, Tomo-Chan is a Girl, Stampede, Revenger, The Ice Guy and His Cool Female Colleague, Nier; Automata and The Legend of Heroes: Trials of Cold Steel. 

Episode 52 - Spring 2023 Season Hype-Up

We preview the Spring 2023 anime season and talk about the shows we're excited about and what the community at large is talking about.

 

These are all very early impressions of the spring season shows, some of which only had their first episodes air at the time of recording and some hadn't even aired at all.

At the end of the season we'll be back with our verdicts on these shows.

 

Sam previews a reverse isekai entitled: Dead Mount Death Play, as well as Heavenly Delusion and the Ranking of Kings OVA.

Greame talks about Hell's Paradise (the final of the "Dark Trio" to get an adaptation) as well as the ludicrous Harry Potter meets Physical 100 Mashle and the returning isekai Konosuba.

Charlie gets hyped about a litany of Romcoms like My Love Story with Yamada-Kun at Lv 999 as well as a "Breaking Bad meets Ozark" style show in My Home Hero.

Demon Slayer Season 3 is the heavy hitter as well as the 2nd cour of Vinland Saga with Dr Stone S3 the other (lesser) returning popular show.

Episode 53 - Spring 2023 Mid Season Check-In

We're back to check-in with how the Spring 2023 anime season is tracking. 

What are the heroes and what are the howlers? 

Sam regrets misreading a synopsis of a show in the hype-up episode that ended up being terrible. 

The big hitters are still hitting and the Rom-coms are at an all time high (much to Charlie's happiness). 

There's also a highly controversial and popular show which stokes a very interesting discussion amongst the group in Oshi no Ko. 

 

Listen to our mid season check-in now! 

Episode 54 - The Dark Trio: Jujutsu Kaisen, Chainsaw Man & Hell’s Pardise

This week the gang get together to talk about the "Dark Trio" of shonen anime; Jujutsu Kaisen, Chainsaw Man and Hell's paradise. 

We speak about the similarities (or lack thereof) between the "Dark Trio" and the original "Big Three" of animanga, break down what these shows are all about, which are our individual favorites and how anime and shonen are evolving. 

Episode 55 - Spring Season Round Up & Summer Hype-Up

The gang get together to round-up their hits and misses from the anime winter season and then predict their future hit and misses of the now airing summer season.

The season just gone became a bit of a surprise hit with everyone and the next season has big shoes to fill.

It's a season of huge sequels (Bleach, Jujutsu Kaisen, Mushoku Tensei) with some hidden gems to accompany them (Zom 100, Reincarnated As a Vending Machine, Alone I Wonder The Dungeon). 

Episode 56 - Detective Anime: Death Note, Psycho-Pass and Stand Alone Complex

This week the gang gets together to talk all things mystery with the wide genre of detective anime. 

Sam talks through the history of detective fiction in Japan and the decidedly Sci-Fi flavor that tends to accompany these kinds of stories in Japanese storytelling. 

Sam and Charlie then go over some old ground with a couple of classic shows from our earliest episodes in Death Note and Psycho pass (we figured we've improved a bit since we first spoke about those shows in our early days).

Graeme talks through Ghost in The Shell: Stand Alone Complex and how influential it was on modern detective/Sci-Fi animanga. 

We also learn about the third highest selling manga of all time in Detective Conan, which turned out to be a huge blind spot in all our knowledge. 

Episode 57 - The Power of Nostalgia in Anime: Naruto, Bleach & more

What anime are you nostalgic for? This week the team take a trip down memory lane to discuss the anime that makes them most nostalgic. Is nostalgia the death of art? Do we need another remake/reboot of our childhood favourites? Will we ever be able to recreate the highs of Rock Lee dropping his weights? Join the debate and be ready to defend your favourite nostalgic anime!