Mac: 00:01

What up? What up? What up? Anime heads? The crew is back.

Mac: 00:07

Crew is back indeed. And this episode, we're doing something different. Shout out to Jackie for coming up with some some awesome ideas for this one.

Jacci: 00:16

I tried my best.

Mac: 00:18

Your best is-

EJ: 00:19

Good idea.

Mac: 00:20

Your best is amazing over here.

Jacci: 00:22

Yeah.

Mac: 00:22

So what we're gonna do is pretty much, so April just wrapped up and a lot of the things that dropped in April were a lot of the things we were talking about during our past few Put This On Your Radar episodes. So now we kind of have a sample size of these animes we were telling you to take a look at. We have some ratings from some critics on these animes that we told you to look at. We'll look into those and then kind of dabble into what we've been watching. If any of the new ones kind of, you know, grabbed our attention and now we're fully invested in.

Mac: 00:54

And, to wrap it up, you see Jackie's background there, the to be hero x. We'll dive we'll dive. We'll

Jacci: 01:04

We'll delve. We'll a

Mac: 01:06

hick. A hick. We'll we'll delve into that

EJ: 01:10

one. Melvin.

Mac: 01:11

And talk about that and the the blend of different styles of animation that that one's using in. I'll say this right now. It's one of the the anime that I'm tuning into every week based on the story and and the animation. But without further ado, do we hey. Let's take the shot now, because we have a habit of starting the show after the the intro.

Jacci: 01:33

And never taking the So

EJ: 01:37

Or we take it, we just don't announce it. So we're

Mac: 01:40

just being Just random people just alcoholics and people

Jacci: 01:43

should always take it, and then we should

Mac: 01:45

start that

Jacci: 01:45

intro. Should

EJ: 01:46

start doing.

Mac: 01:47

Is it is law.

Jacci: 01:49

Alright. This, doctor pepper zero, this is gas.

Mac: 01:53

Yeah. You put it in your car because you don't drink it. It's trash. Doctor Pepper is like, why is this soda so spicy? Get this out of here.

Jacci: 02:05

You know, I got into an argument with someone one time about how the number of flavors that were in Doctor Pepper. Mhmm. And I told them that Doctor Pepper zero is different.

Mac: 02:14

72.

Jacci: 02:14

And it doesn't have those flavors. And this dude was like, you know, I went to a Doctor Pepper factory in, like, Kansas. And I was like, first of all, why is there fucking that that makes sense actually. And he's like and I tried everything. And I was like, I still don't believe you, so I bet you whatever.

Jacci: 02:30

Well, I lost that bet because I soon found out that it doesn't matter that it's Doctor Pepper zero because it's still Doctor Pepper, and it still has So

EJ: 02:36

we have, 27

Jacci: 02:37

ingredient. 27 flavors or whatever. Yeah. I I was like, okay. What?

EJ: 02:44

Rusty Tender, a one steak sauce. All those flavors are in there.

Mac: 02:49

Yeah. How dare StreamYard sneak this promo into our description? Anyway, I'll fix that in post editing. I'm looking at it on you Facebook, and it's just like, now streaming are looking to level up. Check out StreamYard to get 10%.

Mac: 03:02

Oh my god.

Jacci: 03:03

How dare you StreamYard? You did not get permission to do that. That's rude.

Mac: 03:09

A good. A good star will.

Jacci: 03:12

A churish. It's churish. It's subordinate. It's cherish.

EJ: 03:17

Hey. If they wanna if they wanna, like, toss some some

Mac: 03:20

Some coin.

EJ: 03:21

Yeah. Some cheddar always.

Jacci: 03:23

Yeah. It's free. Hand your witcher some coin.

Mac: 03:27

Yeah. Toss your witcher coin.

Jacci: 03:28

I toss your witcher just some coin. Oh, man. Thank you.

Mac: 03:31

But it's shot time.

Jacci: 03:33

Cheers, you nerds.

Mac: 03:34

Cheers.

EJ: 03:36

Cheers.

Mac: 03:39

Oh, that's the doctor pepper.

EJ: 03:43

The Doctor Pepper.

Mac: 03:44

Anyways, let us roll the intro and we'll get right into it.

Intro: 03:49

The following is a presentation of the Dat Feelin Podcast Network, reminding you to always question the answers.

EJ: 04:13

Right, but let me tell you about the contrast. It's really different. Not an accent from the Comcast. We cover anime today and on the times past. Listen and learn in that order then replay.

EJ: 04:23

Be entertained by Mac, Jackie, and EJ. Three hoes doing way more than the most proven. You can pet a lion, but it's all in the approach. Originals and sequels, the newbies, the Ichigo. The world's up in flames to the ones more peaceful.

EJ: 04:36

The weapons are the shoe toe. Manga na hooten. Monkey D. And

Jacci: 05:18

Always such a great opening.

Mac: 05:20

Always a good time. Always a good time. But like we talked about the cold opening, April, full of full of releases, just to name a few. There was one that was getting a lot of a lot of hype, The Beginning After the End. That was one that dropped.

Mac: 05:38

Windbreaker season two for those that tapped into the first season that dropped as well. Fire Force season three dropped as well. What else we got? Lazarus. Was one of the put this on your radar.

Mac: 05:52

I think you talked about that one, right, EJ?

EJ: 05:54

Yeah. I put out Lazarus. And we offered a I don't know if we're still counting that, but Devil May Cry dropped on Netflix.

Mac: 06:02

Yep. App.

Jacci: 06:03

So Also, My Hero Academia,

Mac: 06:06

Vigilantes.

EJ: 06:07

Vigilantes. Yep.

Mac: 06:09

Yep. So Devil May Cry was on there. There's another one that I remember us talking about.

Jacci: 06:16

I have the picture of it, of everything.

Mac: 06:20

Trying to. There's one that I've been seeing that I've been meaning to to get around to is the from Old Country Bunk in the Master Swordman. I've I've seen clips of that. People were talking about it.

EJ: 06:31

I've seen it. Yeah.

Mac: 06:31

But, of course, Lazarus to be hero x, and then my hero academia vigilantes. And then the last one I know that we talked about, Apocalypse Hotel. That was another one that was on our preview. What's to look for? Go Go Loser Rangers season two, and then, Teogonia, I believe were some of the ones that we've also talked about.

Mac: 06:54

So, a lot of stuff dropping in April, and, we're here to just see what did, what did we dabble in? Anything new? So, we'll start with Jackie. Obviously, we have the the ongoing things that we've been watching or trying to catch up on older seasons or anime that we're trying to catch up on. But anything new that you tapped into this week or this this week, this past month in April?

Jacci: 07:20

Yeah. It was I actually watched a lot of first episodes and not I didn't like continue just based off of like the month with work and time. So one of the ones that I did watch a first episode of, and I did not mention this in the podcast of things to look forward to. So I did try to like think of things that we didn't talk about as well and just make a review on it because there were other things I thought were interesting. Mhmm.

Jacci: 07:46

Oh, yeah. Moonrise, the one that didn't get enough publicity from Netflix that a lot of people are pissed off about. I forgot about that.

EJ: 07:54

Yeah. It's But

Jacci: 07:57

I watched the first episode of Once Upon a Witch's Death. So that one seemed I thought it was gonna be, like, super interesting. And also, like, there's not a lot of anime out there that deals with just, like, witches. And for some reason, this season, like, they dropped a lot of anime that has to do with, like, witches specifically. And two big ones was Witch Watch and Once Upon a Witch's Death.

Mac: 08:20

Yep.

Jacci: 08:21

So Once Upon a Witch's Death, I watched the first episode. I thought it was gonna be more serious. It's not. It's very light hearted. It's about a young girl named Meg Raspberry who's an apprentice witch and she basically finds out on her seventeenth birthday that she has a year left to live.

Jacci: 08:36

And her like reaction to her finding out that she's going to die is like kind of obnoxious and you know, she's just like very outgoing. Her personality is like, what? Oh my god. I'm going to die. You know, like typical like anime facial expressions and just like kinda like you laugh about it but also like, okay.

Jacci: 09:01

So it's way more light hearted than I thought it was gonna be. So now what she gets told is she like has this curse on her though. So she's not actually gonna die if she gathers like a thousand tear joyful tears from people. And she's like, that's impossible. Like, I can't do this.

Jacci: 09:19

And she gets dressed and then she like leaves and goes out to, like, the the city or whatever. And then, of course, like by the way, I watched this first episode while I was at the gym. I was on the treadmill. This is a bad idea because, like, her first interaction with the was with this young girl whose mom passed away recently. Mhmm.

Jacci: 09:39

And she's saying like, yeah. Mommy is just sleeping right now. And I'm like, oh my god. Why am I watching?

Mac: 09:47

Getting emotional in here.

Jacci: 09:49

Yeah. And then, of course, like, she does something really nice for the family and she gets to collect her first tier. And she's like, oh, okay. I can do this kind of thing. So it's a drama supernatural slice of life shonen, and the studio that did it was EMT squared.

Jacci: 10:07

I will say, like, the music for it was actually pretty good. The opening and the closing, I liked it a lot. The Maya Sakamoto, if anyone knows who she is, the actress, I've talked about her previously. She's the voice actress of Aerith on Final Fantasy and lots of other female characters since, like, back in the nineties. Escaflon and then some of Code Geass, Echidna, and Re:Zero, watch Re:Zero.

Jacci: 10:35

But she also sings, which is crazy. I didn't know that she makes music too. It was pretty cool. And then the ending song was by an artist I wasn't familiar with, but has done a lot of songs for Studio Ghibli. It's cute.

Jacci: 10:48

I like it. The animation like, the studio the Studio Sokka, like, all of the animes I wasn't really familiar with. There are a lot of animes that I think are, like, this is way under your radar. Like, you really have to make time to, like, look them up and and watch them. And I think they're very much a place to life, like, not as popular as, like, serious tones, if that makes sense.

Mac: 11:11

Yeah.

Jacci: 11:13

It's cute. I'm probably still gonna watch it because it's one of those light hearted, like, easy to watch kind of anime. See like how it goes. It's probably gonna be a 12 episode or I'm assuming. I didn't really go into detail about like the manga.

Jacci: 11:26

I didn't go any more depth than that except like what I watched with that. But so far, it's just, like, a really cute one. And I like that her name is Meg Raspberry. I thought that was Yeah.

EJ: 11:35

When you said that, I was, like, that can't be serious. Yeah. Because you're like, it's not that serious. Girl's name is Meg Raspberry.

Jacci: 11:40

It isn't. Yeah. I I thought it was gonna be a little bit more serious. It's not. It's very much, like, a slice of life, but I'm I'm a huge sometimes I, like, have a huge crush on, like, slice of life's they kinda oh, they're easy watches.

Jacci: 11:54

So if you wanna watch it, I so far, I think it's it's just a cute easy watch. Not nothing like as serious and that's kinda also like it it can't you can't get teary eyed. So just be prepared for for that. She has to get joyful tears. So if that that tells you anything about some stories that she might have to like interact with or like do or be a part of then.

Jacci: 12:16

It just depends also how emotional you get with some stuff. I I actually thought it was really nice. And the and the actor's not super annoying or sorry. The main character is not as annoying as I thought she was gonna be. She's just very like, yeah, I have powers but I guess I gotta go I think the more the more the story's gonna center more around her relationships and her journey with people and the stories that come out of that rather than, like, the curse is what I that's why

Mac: 12:44

I'm being with the type work.

Jacci: 12:47

Freeway's way better, I think.

EJ: 12:49

Well, yeah. I'm just seeing, like, the same feel of that's what I like about Freeway is the

Jacci: 12:54

Yeah.

EJ: 12:54

You know, the delving into the the relationships and how it's changing her and her growth. I mean, it's not action packed, but I could still sit there and watch it take not stops.

Jacci: 13:04

Yeah. It only got a seven. So I I'm take this with a grain of salt because this is from IMDB. They gave it a 7.1 out of 10. Crunchyroll I wrote this down.

Jacci: 13:16

Hold on.

EJ: 13:17

It's not too bad.

Jacci: 13:18

Crunchyroll gave it a why is it not showing the thing? I'm trying to look it up. Crunchy Roll, it looks like so far it has a 4.4. So It it doesn't suck, but it's not like super mind blowing either. So

EJ: 13:43

Is it is Crunchyroll using it? I I can't remember. Is it

Jacci: 13:46

I go with Crunchyroll's reviews. That's usually what I go with. That's like the people who are actually watching the show, like, commenting on it. I don't go with, like, high speed.

EJ: 13:54

Five scale or a 10 scale?

Jacci: 13:56

Oh, it's on a five scale.

EJ: 13:57

Okay. I was gonna say because four point I was like

Jacci: 14:01

But if you look at the other shows that we've ever recommended or talked about that were like, yeah. This is really good. A lot of those are, like, 4.6, four point seven When

EJ: 14:09

you when you look into it, a lot of the reviews, it doesn't take much. If you can have a few naysayers, they can knock it down a lot by just being too harsh for like, one star, I'd give zero if I could. Like, yo, dude. When you make your own anime and kick it out there, sure. Yeah.

EJ: 14:25

Improvements, but you don't need to slam someone.

Jacci: 14:27

Yeah. But I will say that, like, a lot of people it's funny that you said free run though because it did say, like, free run fans must watch this new fantasy anime and they talk about this specifically. And I think it's because of this journey that she's gonna go on and it's very like it's gonna be emotional and it's not so serious of like dark dark there's no dark themes about her death. It's just more lighthearted. Yeah.

Jacci: 14:51

I think it's gonna be a fun watch. I liked the first episode, so we'll see how it goes.

Mac: 14:57

Cool. Nice. What you been into, EJ?

EJ: 15:02

I went with Lazarus. You know, I was excited. I brought it to the table for the, you know, on my radar. Yeah. And I'm like Jackie, I just watched the first.

EJ: 15:11

I can't say just the first. I started the second too, but I watched the first episode as soon as I could because I didn't have access to it at first, I had to wait a little bit, and it was killing me. But I watched the first episode, and the bad thing was I had the reviews first, you know, all the people that could actually see it before me. So I'm like reading into it, doing the research for, you know, when we'd have a show, and I was like, there was a lot of negativity thrown. So but overall, I mean, my opinion my opinion, I'm I'm gonna preface that, that a lot of the negativity is because of some of the underlying current political tones that are kinda connected to this.

EJ: 15:50

You hear people complaining in their reviews about wokeism or being too liberal or whatever. My opinion from watching it, if it just for those who aren't familiar, Lazarus has been it's Wonton Abi's newest deal. Wonton Abi's famous for back with a cowboy bebop, Samurai shampoo. You know? He's he's been a Harold is is one of, you know, legendary anime creators.

EJ: 16:23

Mainly be not for not for the quantity, but the quality. He has a great following because of that. And with his latest iteration, I feel like he didn't miss you know, he he was spot on as he went. Lazarus is set in a dystopian future. Actually, as it opens and from what you see in the very beginning, it's not very dystopian.

EJ: 16:47

I mean, it looks like the future's doing pretty well. Basically, the premise goes around that a medical breakthrough happened about three years ago where a pain medication was created that basically alleviates all suffering. It was created by a Doctor. Skinner. So the story starts off, this incredible doctor creates this drug that knocks out any kind of suffering.

EJ: 17:14

But the problem is people started using it recreationally, not just for medicinal dissonance. So that's where it touches on things that people were like, hey, why are we talking about this is too familiar to the opioid epidemic and all that, where people were very touched. I'm sure it's a touchy subject. If any of those situations touched your family, I'm sure that's an instant emotional red flag for you, but I don't feel that it was meant as in to condemn or whatever. It's just making, a situation that we can all immediately relate to as far as current events.

EJ: 17:58

You know, it's It's not saying that people deserve it or whatever. So when it kicks off and this comes out, a lot of people are using this wonder pain medicine. Think they called it Hapna, Hapna, or It's written on the side of the medicine when you're watching the show, so you'll get it. Basically, the guy creates this, it goes crazy, people will love it. You know, and then it catches on like wildfire like a party drug.

EJ: 18:30

People aren't living in reality anymore. They're living in this new sense. Yeah, there it is, compache brata, hopna. They're living in this different reality where they don't feel any pain, things don't trigger them dramatically or whatever. Anyway, out of nowhere, as the first episode gets going and you're watching this beautiful art unfold, and I'll get to that in a second, but it's revealed that this doctor just disappeared like a year ago.

EJ: 19:05

Nobody could find Doctor Skinner. He seemed like he was a little distraught with the way that his creation was changing the

Mac: 19:12

world.

EJ: 19:13

Then as the story starts and you're watching the episode roll into action and stuff, it becomes where there's a you're watching news, like news reports coming up, kinda like CNN or whatever doing their and it's talking about how the Skinners come back and send a message across all platforms, and as Doctor. Skinner and Professor Skinner, they go back and forth and I have to reference again. He basically lets everyone know that when he created HOPNER, he incorporated a part of the drug that will kill anyone who's used it within three and a half year or three years, which is about the time that he's calling out, so he's like, in about thirty days, the first users will start to die. Alright. While this is all going on in the background and stuff, you're getting introduced to the main characters, but not in any kind of, like, strict format.

EJ: 20:08

It's kinda like you're watching things go on with the news being brought up. And that's one of the things I wanna touch on is one, art doesn't let you down. I mean, course, Wonton Abbey's never been one to let his his art get sloppy. I mean, it's beautiful from opening to, you know, outro. Beautiful.

EJ: 20:26

And the reason I say that is because the melding of two d and three d in this is so seamless. It doesn't affect it. As you're watching it and the one thing that I always bring up, and I took notes on it when I was doing research, is not only is it the movement of the characters and the motion like the action, it's the eyes to me. Their eye contact in conversation and stuff makes it feel more real. The facial expressions seem a little bit more real.

EJ: 20:53

Their faces are less blocky or edgy. So in a way, that allows, in my opinion, for them to share smooth transitions like Mponge said. It allows for you to actually kind of feel more drawn into a world, like it's a fully fleshed out world. The main character, Axel, you're introduced to him right away in the beginning because this in the Lazarus, which is the name of the this, like, organization, a special organization, special investigators or agents, they want this guy acting. You're in a prison in the first episode seeing how Axel's in prison.

EJ: 21:33

They're coming to offer him a, hey. We'll get you out of this if you do this for us. Well, he was planning on getting out anyway. So you watched the whole thing in the first episode. Is giving you the the overall plot, but it's also introducing you into the world, and you get to immediately know in the first fifteen minutes why they're going after Axel, his escape from this maximum security prison after he's been interviewed for this pardon is beautifully done.

EJ: 22:02

I mean, like I said, it's not cowboy bebop, but it doesn't have to be.

Jacci: 22:07

This Yeah. But isn't wasn't it in this isn't it wasn't it confirmed by Watanabe that it to the same universe as Cowboy Bebop?

EJ: 22:15

Way different on the timeline, because this, I would say, is believably within within, you know, a lifetime of our current technology. Therefore, it's not anything extremely far out. Oh yeah, and the fight scenes are beautiful. Like I said, the motion it almost looks like motion capture that it's done so well. You know what I mean?

EJ: 22:39

Where I know they do use that sometimes as far as references for artists, and I know that I think I've actually seen jobs for it where they'll have a model that can the anime artists can look at and work with for the motion. So they can go through the entire motion, and instead of just the computer capturing and going in, it just gives them visual reference. And one note I do like about this is that he never stays static with his viewpoint. It's like a moving camera, like in a cinema. You're actually see the camera transitions during the whole thing, be it conversations, be it action.

EJ: 23:18

So it brings that cinematography feel to an animated movie, you know, or animated show that you're watching. So, like I said, I watched the first episode. I enjoyed it thoroughly. I felt like it was a great intro into it, gave you enough of the major plot and a little bit of the characters. Like I said, there's criticism.

EJ: 23:39

A lot of that has to do with people's, you know, their own interpretations when they watch it, but the art is great, I mean, down to the minute details in the background. So to me, that shows a level of commitment and passion for the heart, for the subject matter. Mean, you see the rust and stuff in the background on the wall, you see worn spots on metal surfaces where you know someone's touched it all the time. Those little things, know it's not that it's not, you know, super important but like I said, it makes you feel like you're actually walking into a really fleshed out world, a really fleshed out idea. You're not just getting thrown out.

EJ: 24:20

Oh, there's trees in the background. There's buildings in the background, or, you know, the generic cityscape. This felt like a a world that he had been developing the whole way. And oh, yeah. Yeah.

EJ: 24:34

Kipachi. Good one, Kipachi. I'm sorry. Yeah. The humor in it is well placed.

EJ: 24:42

Some people have said that the first two episodes, some of the voice acting, the lines are a little bit off, but I felt like

Jacci: 24:48

The dub or the sub?

EJ: 24:50

It's dub. Yeah. The the dub acting is off. I've never I've never it's not off, but they said it's just the lines didn't match up perfect. It's like the actor was getting used to the character.

EJ: 25:02

And as it goes on, you know, they said that it it you don't see it anymore. I didn't even notice it. So, I mean, that's just what other people are saying in reviews is that it could've used a little bit there, it could've used a little bit here, but

Jacci: 25:16

Oh, I haven't why are people analyzing this show so much?

EJ: 25:20

I'm like, wow. All of you guys are anime masters. I did

Jacci: 25:22

What is happening?

Mac: 25:24

But I

Jacci: 25:24

like, when you were talking about when people, like sorry. Because I just wanna talk about the reviews that you said where people are like, this is wokeism. I feel like when people feel like they were personally victimized by something that actually has like no personal relevance to them or like they get personally offended, then their go to is to say like, this is, you know, whatever. They use wokeism as a thing. And I just I think it's so silly.

Jacci: 25:49

I think anyone that has a review that says that, that whole review itself, you just take that and throw it in the trash because it's based off of personal feelings. And at that point, just don't watch the show, dude. Just don't watch it.

EJ: 26:01

You're you're twisting this. You're you're twisting it way there's way too much twisting going on here for you to connect these mental dots. Because, I mean, one, if they even define woke, they're always off. They can never define it. And then two, they use it for anything that they feel uncomfortable with.

Jacci: 26:20

Yeah, dude. That's why that's why, like, anytime that I see a review like that, I never take it seriously. I'm like, I'm

EJ: 26:25

Man, this little underwear was a mistake. Yeah. It's really looking good on your on your junk. It's just, you know, the rule. But no, I mean, a lot of places, pretty much overall from the anime reviews, it stays in the eight category, I mean on a scale of 10.

Jacci: 26:44

Yeah, I saw that.

EJ: 26:45

But like I said, when we were talking, Jackie, with your reviews, all it takes is a couple people. You had a couple people rate it like zero or one star, so of course it's dropped it down. But I think a lot of people are being optimistic, and if they're a fan of the you know, any of those prior projects from once, they'll they'll enjoy this. It's it's a really good really good kickoff so far. So I'm looking forward to it.

EJ: 27:10

What you got, Willie?

Mac: 27:14

I will say the one that I enjoy watching, we'll probably get to it later and talk more in-depth to it, but it's to be hero x, right? Not to get but also for me, if you can see the shirt, fire force, season three part one has started up. And, if you have not caught up with it, it's about to get real, over in the the capital with, station eight and the, the evangelists and and and bro, it's I don't wanna stress like, please go watch it. It's all I'm gonna say. But the two that I will ask you guys questions about, see if you guys dabbled into it or what you guys have heard.

Mac: 27:56

The Beginning After the End, I was excited to watch this one because there are people at my job who have come to my office when we have our our little weekly fifteen minute anime discussions that run to about an hour. Like my door is closed. People are thinking like, oh, shit. There's serious conversations in the shirts office. We're in there talking

EJ: 28:16

about that door.

Mac: 28:17

Talking about anime and shit. It's it's a whole thing.

Jacci: 28:20

Oh, that's awesome. But What a great shirt.

EJ: 28:22

I know.

Mac: 28:23

It it it works out it works out crazy because, you know, I'm working in a cyber unit and, like, the new guys come in and I'm asking them their hobbies. They're just like, you know, I like gaming, anime. And I was just like, bro, here. We're here, bro.

EJ: 28:38

Yeah. You're in the right place.

Mac: 28:39

They were they were everybody was talking to me about the beginning after the end, based on a web novel that caught me off guard. I'm thinking it's like a manhwa or like, you know, Japanese. Apparently it was an American web novel that was, serialized. Yep. Over to Webtoons in 2018.

Mac: 28:59

And then, now it's a anime series, produced by Studio ACAT, which doesn't have a strong track record when it comes to animation. So it was kind of a roll of a dice, giving them a chance to work with something that is very beloved and highly rated when it comes to the webtoon. Watching the anime itself, I was very disappointed in it to the point where I watched a couple episodes, came to work, and the people that were gassing this anime up came to my office was like, yo, that wasn't I don't know what that was shirt. Like that that wasn't what we thought.

Jacci: 29:35

I feel them because now I feel like everyone had a Uzumaki moment. Like, this is giving me Uzumaki box right now, man. Because it's like, what happened? What were we expecting?

Mac: 29:47

But I was I was ready to ask them, like, because I haven't I haven't read any of it. Plan was to kinda look at this and then, like, now I wanna read it because the way everybody was gassing it up, it sounds like the story's amazing. Yeah. But the, the visuals, the animation, the stories kind of like your basic isekai, you have a king who mysteriously died. He was like in his mid thirties, died and reincarnated as a kid, but he still has all the memories and knowledge and wisdom as the 30 year old goes out into the world, you know, like the whole basic isekai thing, right?

Mac: 30:21

People are looking at him like this, this prodigy savant, like, how are you so good at life already? You know, and it's because he's but the fights, I was like, Lord Jesus. Now I talked about Bluelock in one of our episodes regarding how it was the biggest sports anime in the 20 game versus the Bluelock guys was like the biggest thing being talked about, and everybody was stoked about it. Then you watch the anime, and it's just a glorified PowerPoint with, like, some some Adobe After Effects. You know?

Mac: 30:53

Like, the ball is spinning, but it's just sitting there, and there's, like, a motion blur thing going on and some flashing lights. And you're just like,

EJ: 31:01

what is lazy.

Mac: 31:02

What is this? Right? And that's exactly what you get in these fight scenes and what the the the cool kids call t bait because they don't like saying the beginning after the end. So, very, very and as Jackie was talking about, it's one of the most watched anime on, Crunchyroll right now, but the rating is 3.8. Now, 3.8 out of five, people are like, well, that doesn't sound bad.

Mac: 31:32

When you look at all the other most watched anime on here, like the lowest one is like four point And that is like, I haven't even seen this one. It's called even given the worthless appraiser class. I'm actually, I'm just like, goddamn, like that one is that one's running around with four point threes. You know what I'm saying? That's running with four point threes.

Mac: 31:55

And then you have other another one that's 4.1. So very rarely do things drop below a four on here.

Jacci: 32:01

If it drops that low, then you know it's it's bad. Yeah.

Mac: 32:05

So, I mean, there are some people trying to keep it going. I guess they're just hoping that things pick up or after the first season, another animation studio will pick it up and run with But for from what I have seen, this is probably something I'd rather read than than watch along the lines of like Black Clover for me. Like the animation was hit or miss. Like, the fight scenes were great. The slice of life, everything in between was not it for me, including the voice actor.

Mac: 32:33

So this may be just a read for me, but I don't know if any of you other any of you two caught any of this this anime and have any thoughts on it? Like but the reviews I've been reading, I'm just like, yeah, it's pretty spot on. Like, people jumped into this thinking it was gonna be great. I think giving it to a studio like ACAT instead of like one of the more established studios heard it. But, you know, six episodes in, we'll we'll see what happens.

Mac: 33:02

But like I said, I watched one and a half episodes and I was like, back to some stuff that I like, you know?

EJ: 33:08

Yeah. I just read stuff on it. I haven't actually watched it, but a lot of the points were the same as yours. Like, they see, like, lackluster battle or fight, you know, and they just felt like it it was just missing that oomph, like anything that really, because everyone was expecting it, like you said, people were gassing up, people were blowing up like, this is gonna be fire, and then it comes out and it's like nothing about series was throwing anything at anyone that they felt like was, you know, pumped up or anything. It didn't didn't have that feel, that action, know, like soul leveling.

EJ: 33:42

When soul leveling gets into it, I mean, those battles alone, you could just watch the battle. Yeah. You know what I mean? So, yeah, it it fell short from everything I've seen. Hope you never know.

EJ: 33:54

Maybe by the sixth you know, fifth and sixth episode will pick up, all you'll get better, but

Mac: 33:59

I mean, it's

EJ: 34:00

it could be off.

Mac: 34:00

Just another show that's based off like a web tune or something because, Tower of God is another one. I watched all of season one of that one. I was not impressed to the point where season two came out, and I didn't even I didn't even queue it up. I'm just like Yeah. One day when I'm bored or, like, deployed somewhere and I just haven't it's on a hard drive, I'm like, let me let me give it a look.

Mac: 34:20

You know? Like, COVID would have to come back again for me to sit down.

EJ: 34:24

T shirts.

Mac: 34:24

And be like, yeah. T three. Yeah. You know, t three up there just, I guess I'll watch this.

EJ: 34:30

Oh god. T three.

Mac: 34:31

But another

Jacci: 34:32

one else going on besides just one aircraft.

Mac: 34:35

Another one that for whatever reason, animation and it is great. The, the, the credentials of the team working on it is great. I'm talking about Moonrise. Yeah. And I, I don't get it.

Mac: 34:53

Like, like I'm looking at Rotten Tomatoes, 50%, audience score, only one review for like the actual critics. You know what I'm saying? And I'm just like, the the one the one legit critic or from digital mafia talkies, visually everything in Moonrise is perfect. However, if your storytelling is not only keeping me from enjoying the animation, but also tiring my mind, then that's a problem I just can't ignore. And they gave it 2.5 out of five.

Jacci: 35:27

Yeah. I so what I read is that some people are on Reddit specifically Yeah. Because that's where I'll kinda go look to see what people are saying. They're saying that it's pacing, disjointed editing, and lack of character development and plot coherence is what's causing them to, like, complain about it. They said that, like, the story's confusing.

Jacci: 35:52

They said the story beats oh, with a sense that the story beats and character dynamics are poorly handled leading to a feeling of wasted potential according to some of the discussions that just regular viewers apparently are having. I don't know. I haven't watched it yet. It's on my, like, to watch. Mhmm.

Jacci: 36:12

But a lot of people are just saying, like, the writing is really bad. A lot doesn't make sense. The pacing is strange and the characters are dumb as rocks. That's really

EJ: 36:22

why don't agree. From what I've watched, I don't I don't see what they're talking about at all.

Jacci: 36:28

I mean

Mac: 36:28

It it's it's built like a a slow burn anime. Like, it's I think what is it? 20 some odd 20 some odd episodes, 22 episodes or something like Yeah. It's not like your standard, you know, 12 episode, bing bang boom, start to finish.

Jacci: 36:47

Yeah. 18.

Mac: 36:48

Yeah. It's so you you gotta watch it. I some people are like, the time jumps from here to there, like episode one is yeah. Go ahead. But

EJ: 36:59

the thing is is if you're watching, okay, people who say that it's hard to follow the plot, it's not. Now the character development, I do agree. That's one area where I feel like they totally missed the mark because when you're watching the the first and second episode, where you should be like identifying with the main character, it's too loose. You're kinda like, okay, I know he's the main character because of the focus, but I don't know anything that's interesting or anything about this dude. But the plot's not that difficult.

EJ: 37:29

Someone gets killed, you know, he wants to know why, he's gonna go find out it's taking place in the moon. It's not like rocket science. I would say, you know, if people are having a hard time following that, they're not paying attention to the basic details of dude's friends and important people got got murked. You know, he wants to go find out who's responsible. The powers that be say it's these rebels that wanna, you know, make their the moon free or whatever the hell they want from them.

EJ: 38:01

Point is it's nothing mind blowing as far as the plot. Yeah, some of the abilities and powers and stuff when they get into fighting isn't fully explained, but you're only I mean, it's 18 episodes long, so they're trying to focus on, I think, more world building before they step in to locate this is how the powers work. This is why there's a rebellion. You're gonna get more depth after you see the world, but they showed you in the very beginning that tech and everything in this in this series is out there. It's beyond anything we have where you can can you know, we don't have energy created weapons in our hands whenever we want them.

EJ: 38:42

That's the kind of shit they're pulling out there, you know, and fighting with. The battle scenes are excellent and they're showing you like, hey, this is some super high-tech that enhances the whole person. Okay? We'll get to that. You know what mean?

EJ: 38:56

If you want it all in a spoon fed to you in the first episode, like this this is everything, just so you can watch some action unfold, there are shows for that. There are shows where you don't have to think, can just sit down and watch them kick each other's ass. This isn't one of those things. If this is too complicated, then you, you know I don't I don't know.

Jacci: 39:16

I wonder if some people are pissed because some people were saying that Netflix did Moonrise dirty because I think Moonrise had a, like, a not a, like, a book, but, like, there was, like, something already written about it. A lot of people are anticipating for this, and they were pissed that Netflix didn't give it the attention that it deserved, like the advertisement. And then finally, because so many people were sharing that complaining about it, people watched it, and now everyone is like, okay. This is weird now. Like Yeah.

Jacci: 39:50

No wonder why Netflix didn't give it the advertisement. So I wonder if Netflix low key was like, hey. We'll put this on here, but Yeah. We think it's okay.

EJ: 40:00

They dropped the ball. You know, in my opinion, it's because it's a full Japanese studio. See, there are other stuff that they're putting out, like Devil May Cry and stuff. It's Japanese studios working with an American studio to produce an American streaming product. It's not Japanese studio created this, and then we're gonna put it up for them.

EJ: 40:21

So, I mean, they didn't advertise it worth anything. They already talked about canceled, but after they haven't even it it just came out, honestly.

Jacci: 40:29

It is.

EJ: 40:30

Oh, Netflix is in my opinion, they're doing their classic, like, oh, people like this, but

Mac: 40:35

It didn't make us enough money.

EJ: 40:38

Didn't make us enough. And you're right. They didn't advertise it. They didn't get the word out. So you still have people that don't have any idea what this is.

EJ: 40:47

They're like, are typing? Moonrise? I mean, look at you just type into Google search. It's not like it blows up with the same stuff like if you typed in devil may cry. May cry right now?

EJ: 40:57

You get, like, you know, all these hits on your search engine, news, everything because they Netflix put them, you know, I don't get shooting. It's like, you get a couple little clips, people say it's beautiful. That's about it. Oh.

Mac: 41:15

You know what I will say though? And this is, like, not not for the anime, but I created a whole segue in a segment to get into anime recap, and I didn't get to use it because we just got right into talking about this thing. But do you guys wanna see it though?

Jacci: 41:33

I do. Okay.

Mac: 41:36

We'll be right back with the anime recap. Obviously, I was

Jacci: 41:51

Hey, guys. We're back again to talk about it. We're gonna start

Mac: 41:57

The whole time I'm talking, I'm looking at the background like, why the fuck? Goddamn it. You're

EJ: 42:03

gonna throw people off with this, plot, Peter.

Mac: 42:06

It's I blame Moonrise.

EJ: 42:09

Moonrise is complicated.

Mac: 42:11

It's making me think too hard. I

Jacci: 42:13

mean shot.

Mac: 42:15

It it's not even people are like, well, they keep introducing new antagonists and new this and new that. I'm like, well, there's a show in anime that is highly regarded when it comes to twist and turns and new this and new that. I remember, like, watching the first watch through of Attack on Titan, and I'm just like, what the the hell is going on out here? Right? This dude is cool.

Mac: 42:39

Oh, this is a bad guy now? Who the fuck is this? Where he come from? What the fuck is it? But you just gotta let stuff like that breathe through.

Mac: 42:47

Now I don't know if Moonrise is season one is a it says season one Moonrise, not just Moonrise like it's a completed story. So I don't know if I haven't watched The Inn, like, I'm only on, like, season or episode six. I don't know if at The Inn, it's conclusion and you have closure or if it leaves it open for more stuff down the line. I'm hoping that it's concluded because the vibes I'm getting and from what I'm reading, Netflix doesn't look like they wanna continue pressing forward with this story.

Jacci: 43:21

That's crazy that you said Attack on Titan. Sorry. Because it was literally directed by Masashi Koizuka, who's known for his work on Attack on Titan.

Mac: 43:31

The animation studio? Attack on Titan. Right?

Jacci: 43:35

Yeah.

Mac: 43:35

MAPPA.

Jacci: 43:36

Which studio?

Mac: 43:37

The yeah. Or, no. I think the first three seasons were MAPPA.

Jacci: 43:42

And then WIT.

Mac: 43:43

And then WIT picked up after. Yep. So MAPPA, you got the the animation ties to it. You got the, like you said, the director ties to it. The writing, probably not, but I'm just, this is one of those things like you just gotta let new IPs breathe.

Mac: 44:00

Like, Yeah. Maybe maybe linking MAPPA and and and the director and all that to Attack on Titan to this one, they were thinking Attack on Titan in space. I don't know if that were people's expectations walking into this, but

Jacci: 44:13

Maybe.

Mac: 44:14

Yeah. I think it's not anime related, but, like, when Andor came out, Star Wars, you know, kind of spy thriller drama, like, people were like, this shit sucks. Where's the lightsabers? Where's this? And then by the time season one ended, people were like, you know what?

Mac: 44:29

That was a pretty good show. But unfortunately, when it comes to anime, you have toxic fan bases, you know? They're just like, if it's not for them, they go find other like minded people and then they just review bomb or go on Reddit and down talk shit to the point where they nobody wants

Jacci: 44:48

to go check stuff out. Oh.

Mac: 44:50

Reddit is super toxic. Time.

EJ: 44:52

And, I mean, it's a it's fuel it it lets you know, like, I mean, the top ones that are out there that everybody

Jacci: 44:58

Oh, thanks, Kimbachi. We had it backwards.

EJ: 45:01

Yeah. With and then okay. Yep. But you got all these people, you know, I mean, if you're looking at the most popular, especially Shonen, they're not the, you know, wait 18 episodes for the solution. You know what I mean?

EJ: 45:15

They wanna battle the outcome the next one. Battle the outcome the next one. It's kinda the pattern. It's very straightforward, so if you're gonna make it two, it's gonna if you're if they can't be on their phone, you know, swiping left and and, you know, eating a hot dog and watching the movie all at the same time, then, you know, if you gotta pay too much attention.

Mac: 45:40

Yeah. And also, just wanna correct myself. I've been mixing it up. So Wit is on moonrise now.

Jacci: 45:47

Yeah.

Mac: 45:48

MAPPA is Lazarus. So that's why I'm getting a too

Jacci: 45:51

much attention. Yeah. Yeah.

EJ: 45:52

Okay. I I

Mac: 45:54

But still, like like, yeah, like I said, it's it's you got these ties to attack on Titan

Jacci: 45:58

and Well, Napa is, like, two of the really Yeah. Like, big ones.

Mac: 46:02

Yep. So a lot of hype, I guess, based on that. Netflix really did. I saw more advertising and stuff for, Devil May Cry than I did Moonrise. Mhmm.

Mac: 46:11

So I don't know if that's maybe Netflix saw it and they were just like, let's not waste money marketing on this because we don't think it's gonna be great, but we already paid for one So let's just put it out and see what it does. But I feel like as consumers, if we just give it a chance and rate it on the on on the platform, rate it high, give it some views, maybe they'll they'll give it some legs and we can see this thing, get expanded out. Because the world building, like you said, Eric, this has the the the potential to be something very grand. I don't know, like Mhmm. Gundam type grand where you could just span this thing out to multiple sub series and stuff.

Mac: 46:48

But I mean, at least to let this thing breathe so we can see it from beginning to end because I'm pretty sure, it's based on a novel. I haven't read the novel, so I don't know if all of this season

Jacci: 46:59

is Yep.

Mac: 47:02

So I don't know if, like I said, everything in 18 episodes can be wrapped up into this this this this novel, but I'm gonna I'm gonna finish it out. You know, like I said, six episodes in, I would like to see how it ends. I see some reviews saying that the ending is very good. The beginning is good. It's just the middle that turns people that that turns people away from it kind of.

Mac: 47:30

So but I I I like to watch it all and come up with my own opinion on that. But, oh, we got a question real quick. So Kipachi asked me, what do I think about the added fan service in Fire Force this season? I'm not a fan of fan service myself. That was a nice like, because behind the scenes, Jackie did bring this up as far as a lot of anime going to fan service.

Mac: 48:00

And is that a good thing or is that a bad thing? Well, obviously for Kupachi, he's just like, bro, stick with the story. I don't need, you know, the boobies and the panty shots and things like that. Like to me, when it starts taking away from the the overall seriousness of whatever situation the members are in, especially with Fire Force, because this arc right now is not meant to be too too fan service y. You know what I'm saying?

Mac: 48:29

Yeah. But there is the one character that her thing is like this ability. I forget what they call it. Lucky Lucky Lucia or Luci or whatever. Like, things keep happening to her that like, her her pants will fall or her coat will open up and it'll be her bra and panties, and then the bad guys are just like, oh, no.

Mac: 48:48

And then that's her opportunity to, like, attack them or something like that. That's like her little stupid. Yeah. So something like that. But from the four episodes that have been out, four or five, like, is very super heavy on the fan service.

Mac: 49:06

It wasn't so focused on that in the in the the manga, so I don't see why they felt the need to have to you know what I'm saying? Like, it I don't Why yeah.

Jacci: 49:16

Why are they doing that?

Mac: 49:16

Why are they leaning more towards it? Mhmm. Yeah. Kampachi says, I would have liked it better in earlier seasons. They had a more serious tone for this season.

Mac: 49:26

Yeah. But I don't know. I mean, because there are anime that are built for fan service. Your ecchi kind of, like, normally, they're lining But

Jacci: 49:37

that's fine if, like, the

Mac: 49:38

genre straight up

Jacci: 49:39

says, ecchi, harem, like, you know what you're getting yourself into. But, like, for fire force, like, even when I first watched fire force

Mac: 49:49

Yeah.

Jacci: 49:49

Well, Elfin like, we can talk about Elfin lied on a different podcast.

Mac: 49:55

Yeah. We're gonna do a episode dedicated to to breaking down the fan service. And

Jacci: 50:01

Yeah. But, like, because that one's a little bit different.

Mac: 50:03

Mhmm.

Jacci: 50:04

I think, in my personal opinion. But I just for something like Fire Force and you know how deep the story can go

Mac: 50:14

Yeah.

Jacci: 50:15

At that point, it's like, why are you doing this? Like, now you're gonna have to attach that almost onto your genre because if they focus on that so much in one season

EJ: 50:25

They're gonna build

Jacci: 50:25

Now, like, now now what? Like, are you just still not gonna have that on there? Because that's not true because now if you have a whole season with that shit in there, like, you have now created a whole season with ecchi and harem in it.

EJ: 50:37

What is their most I mean, I haven't watched Fire Force except for what, you know, I've seen clips and stuff and what you've shared. But what's its right now, what's its big competitors? Is it like My Hero Academia? Is it, you know, And if those are their main competitors and they're

Mac: 50:57

they're Well, wouldn't

EJ: 50:58

They got more fan service, then, you know, maybe that's they're trying to

Jacci: 51:02

You you go, Willie.

Mac: 51:03

It it's don't say competitor. I guess when it first came out season one, that's when, you know, Demon Slayer was picking up because this this was back when I was at Arizona. So it was about 2019, '20 '20, maybe. What's up, Chris? When it came out, so, you know, standard competition, My Hero was out, Demon Slayer was out, JJK was, was was starting to come out.

Mac: 51:26

So, I mean, the the big heavy Shonen were out already, you know, but Fire Force was still standing on its own feet with its story, the animation, the sound, the the sound design, whoever does that, like, the sound is just amazing, for this thing. The different ways people could use their fire their fire powers, you have a

EJ: 51:48

Yeah. From what you've shown, I've

Mac: 51:49

like it's it the story and the world building is is amazing. And then you tune into this season. And and like you say, if you read if you have read the manga, you're just like, this season, this what they're about to go through right now, this is make or break. That's why they're doing two parts of this final season. And then now all of a sudden it's just, like I said, these first four episodes, maybe, maybe these are outliers.

Mac: 52:12

I don't know. We have to finish watching the season, but from what I'm seeing, I'm just like, like, get it. Like this, this one character is in the, the anime for the, you know, the bra panty stuff. Like, oh, what are you doing? Oh, don't look at me.

Mac: 52:26

Oh, don't look. It's like she's but they're like overdoing it to the point where it's just like, fuck is going on? Like, we get it. You know? She's the cute member of the the team, but this is supposed to be the focus of of this this arc here.

Mac: 52:44

You know? So it's it's not as bothersome. Like, I I know it like like, Capacci's saying it's not for him, and I I get it. Like, I can tough it out. It's not too much where I'm just like, fuck is happening here.

Mac: 53:00

But Chris is like, I have boobies. What shows this? It's fire force, but you got to watch a lot to catch or you just jump into season

EJ: 53:09

three to season three. Fire force is such an original approach. I mean, you know, the whole setting and stuff is very different. Yeah. And I'd hate to see it go off course and lose, you know, lose out.

Mac: 53:21

Like I said, it's just the first, you know, four, I'm trying to think, is it five? Cause I'm caught up to it. I think it's five episodes out now. But yeah, it's just, you know, we'll see where it goes. Like I'm, I'm so invested into it.

Mac: 53:35

I'll watch it all the way through and then give it a final, final, rating. But, I don't think it's detracting too much, especially knowing what's coming down the line where that character is probably not gonna have such a prominent role. Now, if they start forcing her into certain situations, I'll be like, come on now. Like, there's no need for her to be here. But I I don't think they'll do that because I think that would just, you know, detract too much from their their original plot line that the the manga has.

Mac: 54:06

Uh-oh. I heard they were Kupachi says, I heard they were gonna lean more heavily into the fan service this season. It obviously was not a lie. If it was something I knew about ahead of time, okay, but this is third season and then change it. Yeah.

Mac: 54:17

It's it's a

EJ: 54:18

Yeah.

Mac: 54:18

Kind of a I don't know why. I don't know if it's because I will say there's a popular anime I that people didn't think would last this long, KonoSuba. I don't know if you guys heard

Jacci: 54:29

of that one. So, yeah, Steven loves that anime.

Mac: 54:33

That is hilarious.

Jacci: 54:34

All the time. Yeah. He said it's because I I watched the first episode, and I was like, this is stupid. And he's like, that's the point. You have to watch it.

Jacci: 54:42

It's actually, like, a really great anime. And I'm like, okay. Okay. So but he he got me finally watching Rizio, so Konosuba is my next one that I have to watch.

Mac: 54:50

And it and it's meant to be like that. Like, it's it's Yeah. Not something to take seriously. It's funny. Yeah.

Jacci: 54:56

It's supposed to

Mac: 54:56

be is done in a comedic way where it's not just over the top for whatever reason. So maybe they looked at that and just like, hey. Look at the the the traction this one's getting. Maybe if we start incorporating some more fan service in

EJ: 55:12

they were gonna they're trying to follow suit and Yeah.

Jacci: 55:17

losing money or fans? Because I don't think so. I mean, from what I've been talking with people, everyone's still talking about, like, in even Crunchyroll, it's, like, popular series. Like, that is one of the ones. As soon as it came back, it's right there.

Jacci: 55:30

So I'm, like, what are they? If you're not doing anything wrong, are you detract why are you completely like don't do what early two thousands and nineties animes did when people like to create animes that have nothing to do with the freaking manga story, and that's not what people are here for.

Mac: 55:50

Yeah. Chris asked if they did that with Sword Art. Like, Sword Art went way left with that wasn't fan service. That was like, yeah. Am I about to watch a

EJ: 56:00

It's like they wanted to change the game.

Mac: 56:02

Am I about to watch a crime happen?

Jacci: 56:05

Yeah. I thought that they they did that with one season, though, and then they went back, and that was Gun Gale.

Mac: 56:12

Are you talking about, like, the one where what's our boy? Is it Kyrico?

Jacci: 56:19

I don't what the second season was. I thought it was the worst season

Mac: 56:22

ever before. That had who was who was about to, like, take advantage of Oh, yeah. Yep. That shit where he was like, his tongue was all about to start. He's, like, ripping her shirt off.

Mac: 56:34

I'm just like Yes. And, like, this is this is like me and my kids are watching it because we're watching the whole final, you know,

Jacci: 56:40

the It's sore eyesore. Like, at that level of

Mac: 56:42

And then all of a sudden, shit just went way left, and I'm sitting there like, y'all might have to get out this room and not see the ending of this season because I don't know how I feel about. Like, I'm a grown ass man feeling uncomfortable watching this. You know, the sun's up, birds are singing outside. I'm like, this isn't this isn't the right time of day to be watching. Like, there's never a right time of day to watch what's about to happen, but

Jacci: 57:05

but if I know I'm about to watch a sign in or a mature anime where I know that might be the case, but it's not, like, gonna go too far. It's just a part of, like, the mature audience aspect that's different. But if I'm watching Sword Art Online

EJ: 57:17

You're not expecting it at

Mac: 57:21

Yeah. TV fourteen, and all of a sudden, I'm like, TVMA real quick. Like Yeah. Parental discretion advice. You

EJ: 57:28

know? Cinemax in, like, two minutes. What's going on?

Mac: 57:34

But, yeah, I don't I don't know why why fire force kinda went the way it did, but, Asuna is her name. The the wife of, Kirito. So

Mac: 57:48

Because she Yeah. He had her, like whatever. Yeah. Had her, like, tied up with some vines and Yeah. Kirito, like because he was the game master.

Mac: 57:54

He made the sword stab. Kirito Yeah. He was, like, stuck on the ground. And he's like, now you get to watch me do what I want with your girl. And I'm just like Yeah.

Mac: 58:01

Oh my god.

Jacci: 58:03

Dude, remember I was like, oh, is this, like, one of is this becoming now? Like Yeah. Okay.

Mac: 58:10

Yeah. So, I mean yeah. But not to get too much into that. We will tie have a episode based on fan service to talk about the impact, how it was just inserted into some anime that didn't have it, or the animes that were based around and knew that they were gonna use it to a point, probably have better success than just random anime that are just like, and fan service out of nowhere, because, you know Yeah. Your audience isn't here for that.

Mac: 58:34

You know? But it is what it is. Now, are you guys ready to talk to be hero x? Yes. Alright.

Mac: 58:44

I don't have a segment for that because we're always doing the recap. So Oh, cool. Cool. Yep. Jackie, are you caught up?

Mac: 58:51

Is everybody caught up to where it's at now?

Jacci: 58:53

I'm caught up.

EJ: 58:54

I'm not, but I'm good. I'll get there. Okay. I'm following. I just

Jacci: 58:59

Well, it's still relatively new anyways, so

Mac: 59:01

I Yeah. Think they only have five episodes in.

Jacci: 59:03

Yeah. I don't wanna spoil anything anyways for especially people that haven't watched

Mac: 59:06

it yet. We'll just talk about

Jacci: 59:07

The only time we don't give a shit is if something's been out for, like, ten years. Yeah. Like

Mac: 59:11

Yeah. Yeah. If we're talking, Naruto and you're just like, no, guys like Brochill.

EJ: 59:16

This is And that's on his bid.

Jacci: 59:17

Watch it. Skip. Let's skip the

Mac: 59:20

Let's skip the episode. But, from what you've seen, EJ, I know it was one of the things you talked about, in your forecasted, anime that you wanted to watch. What are your thoughts about it so far? What you've been seeing as far as, reviews and and the reception of it?

EJ: 59:36

Well, what I'm gonna say visually, I'm impressed, no doubt. I mean, from the get go, and like I said, that's what caught my eye for that segment of On Radar. It caught my eye during the research, then I went and delved into it a little bit. And I I mean, anyone who's watched it can tell you the action sequences that they capture in there, very fluid. It's it's it's it's outstanding to watch.

EJ: 01:00:04

So visually, I'm definitely, you know, kudos. They put in the time and effort with that. I love the color, and this is another one where the two d and three d, they're getting good at blending They're blending it to where it feels less forced or just open like that. I feel like the action in that and the whole story premise behind how power works, it reflects in the action to me. Because I don't I know we don't wanna get into too much details, spoil it for anyone.

EJ: 01:00:41

But in this, as far as it's it's it's got a lot of it's superheroes or characters, but the way in which their power works is a faith based kinda sis or a trust based and pop almost popularity like system. So I feel like that that's conveyed well here. Like, I don't know how to put it. Almost like when you're, you know, not gladiatorial only, but, like, how you see when you're watching a sporting event or you're watching your fame favorite, you know, how the rise of the fans or the, you know, just, I don't know, empowers them. They convey that well.

EJ: 01:01:18

If and I can't put into words as well, but they convey that well of the the the standings. I have negatives that I I wanna get everybody else's first.

Mac: 01:01:31

What do you think, Jackie?

Jacci: 01:01:34

Are we so is this our, like, also introduction in a Chinese anime and then what we think about it as well? Or do we just wanna focus on Tibero X and then go into the here's other Chinese animes and and things that we're seeing and whatever.

EJ: 01:01:48

Yeah. We'll focus on the show,

Mac: 01:01:50

then we'll we'll we'll flow into the Chinese animations.

Jacci: 01:01:56

Yeah. So I did a lot of research on this one only because like, I was quite shocked at how good it was. And I was telling Steven like long time ago, hey, there's this like Chinese anime that I found. It's pretty good. And he's like, yeah.

Jacci: 01:02:12

I'm good with that. And then I would say again, like, I found another one. He's like, yeah. I'm good with that. And I'll talk later on, like, probably why, like, some people are not as interested into which, by the way, it's not called Chinese anime.

Jacci: 01:02:24

It's called dongwa. Dongwa. I looked that up. In in China, like, there's no word for anime. So it's just dongwa is, like, their way of saying, like, anime, basically.

Jacci: 01:02:35

Whereas Japan, it's anime, which we had that conversation before.

EJ: 01:02:39

Duel, isn't it? It's Chinese and Japanese working on this

Jacci: 01:02:44

particular Yes. Which I think helped it, which I like that they changed. So when I saw the animation, was like, this kinda reminds me of it's like Spider Man to the Spider Verse, like, then you got oh my gosh. I'm blanking right now with Vi and crap. What's her face?

Jacci: 01:03:11

From the game League of Legends.

EJ: 01:03:13

Oh, Arcane.

Jacci: 01:03:16

Yeah. Arcane, a little bit of Blue Samurai, like, all of that. It kinda looked like that, but then I could see a little bit of, like, the computer base. So if you see, like, some Chinese based, like, CGI, if you will, compared to, like, Japanese CGI is, like, very different. They're very three d and very, like, kinda cartoony CGI looking.

Jacci: 01:03:44

I can't explain it. So I didn't know how I would have liked it with that. But when we were watching it, I was like, oh, this is actually pretty cool. Like, this animation's actually not bad. I don't hate it like I thought I was going to.

Jacci: 01:03:55

This is great. And then, like, the the idea of, like like you said, the faith, them needing, like, faith in order to be stronger, I thought was really cool concept to have. Like, you need the people's, like, trust in you in order to have these powers so you you don't just get these powers and get to have this, like, power trip or whatever. I like the main character. I think that he's really likable.

Jacci: 01:04:26

I I do see how they do some of, like, the it's not fan service, but it is, like, video not video game. Yeah. Kinda like video game where you have to choose your own story or path where he's like, ah, and it like zooms in on him and they make like this kick fun cartoony like expression Mhmm. Kind of. But it's not on his face.

Jacci: 01:04:49

It's just, like, the the, like, that it does for it. So I didn't know how I was gonna like that the more it happened, but, actually, I think it goes well with the story.

EJ: 01:04:59

Yeah.

Jacci: 01:05:00

Some of the characters that they're bringing into it and their story background, I was very surprised that they're going into, like I could see that's where the Japanese influence is coming in of, like, storytelling. Yeah. And I like that when they go into fights and stuff and how they do stuff, they change animation. And I think that's so cool. I've never seen that before.

Jacci: 01:05:21

Like, I think that's such a cool concept. Like, I'm I'm digging this. And Steven, like, after the first episode, Steven was like, okay. Let's watch the second one. I was like, okay.

Jacci: 01:05:30

So because but we do watch it in dub. We do not watch it in Chinese sub. I will say, like, other Chinese, I do watch in Chinese sub. Took me a minute to get used to it just because, like, the Chinese language is different than Japanese language than what I'm used to, but I, like, I don't think it's, that big of a deal. Like, I I think it sounds fine.

Jacci: 01:05:54

But we listened to the dub and the dub is great. Again, like there are you will hear me very few times ever, like, at least nowadays, because I think some dubs nowadays is like, oh, I'm gonna be there for my friends. It's like, oh my god.

EJ: 01:06:11

It's way over the top. It's like you're almost doing it on purpose.

Jacci: 01:06:14

It's just getting so secondhand embarrassment that I can't deal with it. But, no, this is like this is a really good dub. I I really like it. The creator, Lee Howlin, is their name. I did not look up if that's a female or male, so I cannot tell you who that is.

Jacci: 01:06:31

But it is a co production between Bee Dream, which is a studio in China that came out or that was created in 02/2018. And then it's on the Bilibili, which is Chinese network out there for like their Donggua. And then Aniplex, which you name an anime, Aniplex probably had some part in it. Yep. There's so many.

Jacci: 01:06:52

But if you don't know, like, some of the ones, it's like Fate, Blood Plus, Gurren Lagann, Kill la Kill, Naruto, Boruto, like Yep.

Mac: 01:06:58

You'll see the the intro, the little Aniplex. You're just like, oh, it's about to be

EJ: 01:07:02

a good one.

Mac: 01:07:03

This is about to be Dude,

Jacci: 01:07:07

the freaking opening and the ending for this anime, I was like, yo, this is and that's how I also knew that solo leveling creators were a part of this because the person that made the opening is Sawano Hiroyuki, who literally did not only music for Attack on Titan, but also the music for solo leveling because it was very much similar to that. I was like, I freaking called it. Mhmm. And then the people who did the end, which I was not familiar with this band, but they did the end ending for Bleach, Thousand Year Blood War.

Mac: 01:07:41

Yep.

Jacci: 01:07:42

And the ending's really great too. So you have great music. You have great anime. You have two different countries working on this that Japan's giving like, hey, this is good. It sounds like like, hey, you should add this on here.

Jacci: 01:07:54

China's putting like their take on it, especially this animation style. I I it's super fun. It the like, we talk about colors. Like, this is what I got in the background. This is it right here.

Jacci: 01:08:04

Like, I don't even know who some of these characters are yet because they haven't introduced them unless you've watched the the manhwa, which I also learned that in for China and Korea, it looks the same, but Korean manga is manhwa with, like, an h, and then, like, Chinese manga is manhwa. And, like so it's very similar, but they're just, like, pronounced just a little bit different. Mhmm. So, apparently, it's also really good. I I'm loving it.

Jacci: 01:08:31

And, actually, Steven likes it. And this is I I don't know of how if he's ever watched any other Chinese anime, but he's like, yeah. I'm actually really liking this. So

Mac: 01:08:39

Yep. I'm on board with it too. Biggest thing for me visually, I know we always give we the like, we always go back to referring to this anime when we talk about three d CGI stuff. We always talk about Berserk 2016. Right?

Mac: 01:08:54

And we're just like, Jesus Christ, this is the worst of the worst. Right? Then you you move forward. You got, anime like Beastars that do it better. Right?

Mac: 01:09:03

And then so on and so on. They they figure out how to merge the little three d with the two d kind of realm. I think to be hero x is the best we've seen when it comes to that. The transition where every time an action scene would start up, they go seamlessly into the two d animation. So you can have those vivid effects, the comic book

Jacci: 01:09:25

It's so cool.

Mac: 01:09:27

Comic book style, you know, lighting and the sound and and on all of that stuff. It it it is it is amazing. And I know you haven't seen it, but the episode where I think it's episode four where, the dude playing nice, fights a god eye. And Mhmm. Like you said, EJ, the whole premise of the heroes being created based on people's faith in them to be heroes.

Mac: 01:09:55

Right? Yeah. Because you just start out as a as a regular dude, then people are just like, you they start rooting for you and believing in you, and then that's where your power comes from. I feel personally, I was watching it, and I'm like, I like this premise about heroes more than the whole you're born with the quirk stuff from from My Hero, you know. Not to say My Heroes, but I love My Hero, but, you know, hey.

Mac: 01:10:19

You're either born with powers or you're not. And this one is just use do something heroic. Because you've seen the last episode. Right, Jackie? And not to spoil anything, but The one where

Jacci: 01:10:30

Is it the one that just came

Mac: 01:10:31

out of book? The

Jacci: 01:10:32

yeah. Oh, with the kid. Yes. And the statue?

Mac: 01:10:35

Yep. Yep. Yep.

Jacci: 01:10:36

Yep.

Mac: 01:10:37

So not that one. That with the the dude that holds up stuff. What do they call him? Like, I forget his the

Jacci: 01:10:43

name of the No. No.

Mac: 01:10:44

Stan man or something?

Jacci: 01:10:46

I don't know. It's it's actually something very, like, literal. It's very literal.

Mac: 01:10:50

Firm firm man is what they call him. Firm man, which is wild. But

Jacci: 01:10:56

Yeah. Yeah. I thought that was funny.

Mac: 01:10:57

But it's the one

Jacci: 01:11:01

I don't know if we watched the most recent.

Mac: 01:11:02

Alright. Yeah. But, you know, this dude goes up like, it's always people that are, like, going above and beyond, knowing they don't have that power, but going out doing the right thing even though they know they are about to get messed up. They're Yeah. Outnumbered.

Mac: 01:11:20

The the the bad guys got weapons. They're getting beat up, and they're they're like, this is the right thing to do. And then somebody sees them and they start rooting for them. Like, you got this. Get up.

Mac: 01:11:31

Fight back. And they put faith into them and it gives them that strength. That's the

Jacci: 01:11:35

best stuff Oh, yes. Have seen it recently. Sorry. The young kid. Yeah.

Jacci: 01:11:38

Yeah. Yeah. Got it. Got it. Yep.

Jacci: 01:11:39

I remember.

Mac: 01:11:40

Yep. So I'm just like quick. Oh, I love this stuff. Like, I love that aspect of it. And then, like, as I was doing research, apparently this is the third part of, like, an anthology.

Jacci: 01:11:52

Yeah. Yes.

Jacci: 01:11:55

and second one apparently are, like, okay, but they're, like, completely separate from this one.

Mac: 01:12:00

Right. So there's to be hero, and then there's to be heroin. Right? Not the drug,

EJ: 01:12:07

but Better pregnancy.

Mac: 01:12:08

Yeah. Female heroes. To be heroin. Where do

Jacci: 01:12:12

who have seen it, they said that it's it's okay. Like, it's fine, but this is, like, the best that they've done with it so far. And and the fact that it because I was nervous when I read this was a third iteration. Shit. Do I have to go back?

Jacci: 01:12:25

But then I guess it's kinda like how fate series doesn't ever, like

Mac: 01:12:28

Yep.

Jacci: 01:12:28

Fall in with each other. You can watch one and it's okay.

Mac: 01:12:30

They're just taking in their own separate Yeah.

EJ: 01:12:32

It's not yeah. It's not immediate continuous. It's just

Jacci: 01:12:35

Yeah. You don't have to, like, watch the first and second one.

Mac: 01:12:37

But I will say I'm I'm interested. I you know, I'll I'll give them a watch just to see. But They

EJ: 01:12:41

kick out. Yeah. They kick out with creepy stuff. Yeah. It's not watching.

Mac: 01:12:45

But no. %. I'm a fan of it, and and I can't wait to see where they go from here. But, talking about, Chinese animation or Chinese anime, for lack of better term, Danhua.

Jacci: 01:13:02

Dong. Dong.

Mac: 01:13:03

Dong. Yeah. Dong. Yeah.

Jacci: 01:13:05

O d o n g and the o has, like, a line over it. So it's Dong. Dong. And then Hwa.

Mac: 01:13:11

Some of these Trying to give the people what

Jacci: 01:13:15

they deserve. I'm not

EJ: 01:13:17

I'm not here butchering stuff all the time. So that's all good.

Mac: 01:13:21

I will say the one that I I've watched probably, and and I'm a big fan of it. It's it's on Netflix. Scissor seven is, is one. And

Jacci: 01:13:33

k.

Mac: 01:13:33

It is pretty good. It's it's done more in a cartoony way. Okay. But the animation, when it gets to the fights, like, it's so weird because it'll be so almost given the vise of like, adventure time, like with the if they're not fighting the camaraderie between the main character and his little best friend sidekick, you know, it's just a joking thing. Then when the plot starts picking up because, like, some of the fights are between silly characters and stuff.

Mac: 01:14:02

He's an assassin trying to climb the ranks of assassins, but he's, the lowest level and all he has is, like, a pair of scissors to start. And then he just it just gets he the more and more of his backstory gets revealed, and he finds out he's, like, a better assassin than he thinks he is, like, the spirit of yeah. Not to ruin it, but he becomes a pretty competent fighter. Right? And he's fighting some pretty badass people throughout it.

Mac: 01:14:30

So you're watching it and you're just like, this is a funny, you know, regular show, adventure time, gumball type thing. Then when shit starts hitting the fan, you're like, oh shit, animation is on point. Like they really don't fuck around with these fights. And then another one that I want to bring up, and I think it has some of the best animated fights ever. And all I could at first, all I could do is just catch clips of it on YouTube.

Mac: 01:14:58

It's called the fog hill of five elements. I don't Okay. I wanna bring oh, I I wanna bring it up. No.

Jacci: 01:15:07

They're gonna yell at us.

Mac: 01:15:08

I will oh my god. It's stupid. They're gonna yell at us.

Jacci: 01:15:11

I have to a I'm going on a tangent right now because one like, I just there was a One Piece episode that came out in April. And by the way, it's like, oh, it's so good. And I love watching reaction videos to crazy ass episodes. I don't know why, but I just think it's so funny and fun to watch other people's reactions to see if everyone else had the same reaction as me. Uh-huh.

Jacci: 01:15:31

And they and it's two people sometimes or a group of people and they'll have like a little circle at the bottom of their video of them watching the show and commenting on it, making statements. But the whole show is going. I'm like, how are they doing this and not getting in trouble? I don't understand.

Mac: 01:15:47

I feel like we can't even play the trailer. With no sound. With no sound. Without them coming for our neck.

Jacci: 01:15:55

I wanna know they're paying. They have to be either paying or something like because, like, come on, man. Like, what are you guys and I always I like, I wanted to reach out to this one couple and be like,

Mac: 01:16:05

are

Mac: 01:16:05

you

Mac: 01:16:05

doing

Jacci: 01:16:05

What's

Mac: 01:16:05

the sauce? Give me the sauce.

Jacci: 01:16:08

Like, I'm not trying to steal your shit. I just want, sometimes we want to play some openings. Like, that's it. Like, it's not even a show. It's just a fucking opening.

Mac: 01:16:15

That's all we want to do. But just, this is two and I'm not even gonna play the full two minutes. Just enough for you guys to kinda see what's going on here.

Jacci: 01:16:23

Oh, this is cool looking.

EJ: 01:16:26

Yeah. It's I watched this. I didn't know what it was called. I watched it on it must have been TikTok.

Jacci: 01:16:33

Oh, this gives me Samurai Jack vibes.

EJ: 01:16:35

It's it's dope. I mean, the just the the style for the the movement is is don't know.

Jacci: 01:16:42

Look at

Mac: 01:16:42

that shit. Look at that shit. Alright. That's enough. That's enough.

Mac: 01:16:45

That's enough. Leave us alone, YouTube. Leave us alone. Yeah.

EJ: 01:16:50

But the thing is, it's so funny between what Jackie just said and the fact that I've watched almost that entire episode Yeah. On TikTok or something. It's like

Jacci: 01:17:00

That's insane. Like, I'll be like, no way with it.

EJ: 01:17:04

I didn't know it was called. I was so fucking What are we doing wrong? Vibing it. And I'm like, you know, it sounds just like what I just watched and put it up. I was like, sure enough.

EJ: 01:17:11

And then I watched the whole thing in a way that we would get busted.

Jacci: 01:17:14

Listen. Anyone out there that's listening

Jacci: 01:17:16

to this, if you have the answer, you have the answer. I have the answer. Okay. There's this guy there's this guy named his name is Chaplain Ansa. He was be like, hello.

Jacci: 01:17:27

I'm Chaplain.

Mac: 01:17:27

Oh, you can watch it.

Jacci: 01:17:29

Have the answer.

Mac: 01:17:29

You can watch

Jacci: 01:17:30

All the time.

Mac: 01:17:31

The whole show on this free streaming thing called Plex. I guess that's like.

EJ: 01:17:36

Plex, okay.

Mac: 01:17:37

Zoobie, yeah. So you can watch all seven episodes for the free on Plex.

Jacci: 01:17:42

Oh, then I'll check it out.

Mac: 01:17:43

But yeah, there's different fights. Like if you YouTube Fog Heal of Five Element fights, every fight that I've seen, and, like, I'm just like, this is hand drawn? Like, get I know. Get out.

Jacci: 01:17:55

That's crazy. I wonder how long that took them then to do that.

EJ: 01:17:58

Some of it just I mean, you wouldn't believe that it's even drawn. You're just like, the motion. I mean, just the motion of the fight. Like Jesus. The exchange of blows or the like, so close encountering.

EJ: 01:18:13

It was just, you're like, wow, dude.

Jacci: 01:18:15

Yeah. So I I've done some research and a lot of Reddit research Yeah. Just because I wanna see what the public opinion and everything is. But I wanna ask you guys, like, Chinese dongua has been out for a really long time. Like, it's not new.

Jacci: 01:18:27

It's it's same thing like when Japan came out in anime back in the fifties. Like, China also had their own thing. Why do you guys think that, like, I don't know, the past year, two years now, Like

Mac: 01:18:41

Good pick and patchy.

Jacci: 01:18:42

It seems like now Chinese dong was getting, like, the popularity that maybe it deserves or just that it's getting. And why do you think everyone's now like, hey. If you haven't hopped on this now, like, you should do this. And now even Japan is like, hey. We'll help you all out now too.

Mac: 01:19:03

Well, I would say not even because, like, South Korea is getting involved, like all of the countries there, they're just coming together and just producing a level of animation that maybe because we're over here in the West, a lot of our animation has been watered down to pretty simple, the easiest design, silliest stuff. Look at teen titans go regular show, gumball, things like that, where you're just like, it's funny. It's like, you know, shut your brain off, watch it, you know, it's it's it's funny. It's easy. It's low cost, high profit, no effort put in.

Mac: 01:19:38

You look at most adult cartoons like a a Family Guy, Simpsons, like not a lot of effort put in the character design and stuff like that. So when you see something that's different, you're just, oh, shit. This is this must be it. Like, a % when Castlevania comes over on Netflix. Right?

Mac: 01:19:58

Automatic. Oh, this must be anime. It's it's not, but it you know what I'm saying? It's not, but it is. Like, it's it's a western studio that does it, but you're you're outsourcing the anime.

Mac: 01:20:11

Like, I would even say Boondocks. Right? When Boondocks was around, that animation was outsourced to Korean animation company. That's why when they would do the fights and it's, like, very, like, kung fu when Huey would fight somebody, you're just like, damn. This is pretty dope.

Mac: 01:20:28

And it's Well, that We're not drawing that shit. Like, we're not drawing that here in America. Like, not saying that there's people in America that can't provide

Jacci: 01:20:35

We have MMA. That's what we Yeah. We

EJ: 01:20:39

we have not valued that avenue Yeah. Except for children's entertainment. But

Mac: 01:20:44

the time and the effort and the quality and the level of care and the animation that they put in over there, it comes over here, we appreciate it that much more. And Campachi is on point, and I was gonna bring this up is I think the anime boom that we had post COVID or during COVID now is opening the door to a lot more animation studios over in the East to now display their stuff over here. Now Netflix and Hulu and and all these other streaming services that predominantly put out western animation and western programming are now looking at them and be like, hey, what do you got? This may be the next big thing. We'll pay you this much to have it stream on our platform.

Mac: 01:21:27

So now it's easier for us to access it because like we talked about life before Crunchyroll, like, you're ordering DVDs or you're you're going to pirate bay to pirate these things and whatever. Now you can just

Jacci: 01:21:40

Or just YouTube. Like, like, I just Google it, I can find, like, literally a thousand different sites that had it. Like, Kiss Anime was one of them. And they're like GoGo Anime. Like, there's so many, like, websites that you could just watch that shit for free at, like, 07:20 p.

Jacci: 01:21:54

And that was, like, a godsend if you could find it at 07:20 p.

Mac: 01:21:57

So I think the the anime boom post COVID, because Crunchyroll was out before then, but I don't think they had as many subscribers as they have now.

Jacci: 01:22:06

Crunchyroll's been out since, like, I think, at least 02/2012.

EJ: 01:22:09

Crunchyroll meat. Probably That's it. I wanna know.

Mac: 01:22:13

Almost Crunchyroll. And I make that assumption based on the fact Crunchyroll was just like, you pay us $7 a month, you get all of this Now now they're just like, you gotta be a premium member to get it. I'm just like, crunchy roll. No. Don't do it.

Jacci: 01:22:28

You gotta be that top fan. You gotta be that top fan.

Mac: 01:22:33

You gotta get the shade. You don't have the shades, Dave. Fuck it with you.

Jacci: 01:22:37

Yeah. You gotta get that bag that I got. I got a cool bag with some stickers and shit.

Mac: 01:22:41

Yeah. But, yeah, I think, compache hit it on the head, but I I don't know. It's crazy they have their own distinct style, I guess.

Jacci: 01:22:50

You know? So what I wanted to bring up is when I was watching so one of the ones that I watched a while ago, it's called Psychic Princess. Heaven's Official Blessing is another one that's on Netflix and also, I think, Country Roll. And then Link Click, which is actually a webtoon.

Mac: 01:23:11

Yeah. That one's on here too.

Jacci: 01:23:12

A Chinese dong wall, which I did not realize. Psychic Princess though is about like a female who's like in the back of this palace that like has these psychic powers that's supposed to help the like prince that's in this castle, but then she also is, like, a ninja, basically. Like, she has, like, all these different, like, strengths and whatever and she's, I don't know. It it was really cool and and it was a good, like and I actually watched that one in Chinese sub and I liked it a lot. But it only has one season and I'm wondering when the next one's gonna come out.

Jacci: 01:23:53

But I liked that one and that was my first, not my first one. I can't remember my first one was, it was a long time ago, but that one I thought was interesting. But one thing I noticed when I watched others though, and I watched one episode, a lot of it and a lot of the themes was like, there was some type of hierarchy or power, the way the interactions went with people and sometimes how they spoke to each other was very much like, I'm higher than you, so you should respect me. And if you don't, like, that's crazy. And, like, something would happen.

Jacci: 01:24:32

And sometimes the way they would treat females was a little weird and it wasn't, like, the same as, like, what you would see in Japanese anime. I love it's very overdramatized. Like, I compare that to Korean dramas. Like, some when you see some Korean specific anime, not solo leveling, and that's not even anime, but, like, with the manga, like, I'm talking about, like, just like the the romance is just so overdramatized relationships or just like a lot of it's men in power too that I noticed with like some of them. So I I that's why I think some for some people, it wasn't as attractive to watch that.

Jacci: 01:25:11

Other things which I didn't know is that some of the dong laws are because of the Chinese government itself, They will have a lot of involvement with the production of and they'll put, like, different things in it. So a lot of people say that there might be some propaganda involved with the CCP. Some of it is very political based, like, without you realizing it. Like, it might be a romance, but then there's, like, underlying political things on purpose. I guess there was an anime that came or a dunk ball that came out called hold on.

Jacci: 01:25:51

I'm looking it up right now. I wrote it down. Sorry. Oh, it's called The Leader. It came out in 02/2019.

Jacci: 01:25:58

It was actually commissioned by the CCP, and it focuses on the life of Karl Marx and aims to promote his ideology among young people. Oh. And that was seen as a form of propaganda by a lot of Western media sources. But I guess despite its bent though, it opened up a surprising space for discussion on Marxism and even labor rights in China. So maybe good for China, but everyone else is just like, yeah.

Jacci: 01:26:24

We'll pass. Cup of tea. We're not really about that. It's such good.

EJ: 01:26:29

Imagining, like, Karl Marx and, like, that seems sort of Dragon Ball z situation. Like, what

Jacci: 01:26:36

I haven't I haven't watched it. Apparently, it's a little bit of a romance. I'd I was, like, looking into it a little bit. And a part of me was like, I should stop, you know, researching this. I feel like the government's gonna come after me.

Mac: 01:26:47

I mean, you are an aggressor now. So Exactly. This is for my job.

Jacci: 01:26:54

I'm just trying to learn.

Mac: 01:26:55

Leave me alone.

EJ: 01:26:57

Was gonna say, I think that you that that that's I believe it's a societal thing in our ability or the time period for which we are now much more globalized trade wise is when China started to come up on our radar. I don't think it's because the lack of their their talent or time, because they've been around just as long, or close to just as long, and they obviously have the talent when we see it. I think though, one is culture. Until the two cultures really started sharing in the 2000s, and they've been behind for a long time, so now that tech wise, they're getting up there, now they also, with the broader market, I know this is going in uncool anime stuff, but with the broader market, now that we're trading more stuff, we were able to trade entertainment, like Lionsgate. Lionsgate film production is Chinese, Okay?

EJ: 01:28:00

Or part of it. So with those

Jacci: 01:28:03

deals I did not know that. That's crazy. I did not know that.

EJ: 01:28:05

Yeah. With those deals and I think it bursts, you know, whatever. We got some of the, probably, exchanges as far as their donghua being able to be shared here, and then also the influence from us coming then. That's why you were saying the interactions seem weird. Their societal interactions are probably very different due to their law and their culture has been their culture has been so isolated.

Jacci: 01:28:32

So Yeah. That's what I've that's what I've been reading too with Reddit is like and actually, the Reddit forum I was reading was there was a a lot of people from Japan commenting about how they felt about the Chinese animation that's been coming. And a lot of them are very biased. They're like like this one thing that I read and she's like, I'm Japanese and, like, my thing is, like, why am I gonna watch Chinese, like, animation when I can just watch it in Japanese? Like, there's no point in me, like, watching that.

Jacci: 01:29:06

But, like, you guys talked about it's different in, like Western audiences. Like for us, like it's all different. It's all new. Like, so we're all gonna watch it no matter what because we can watch in different subtitles. But I at least from this one person that talked about, she's like, but I'm Japanese.

Jacci: 01:29:21

Like, I don't need to watch that because I'm just gonna watch what I think is in it's in Japanese. So like, I'm just gonna watch this. There's no point in me like even like watching that. And I thought that was an interesting take. I I didn't think about that in that way, I guess.

Jacci: 01:29:34

Mhmm. And then this one person, which I did not know how I felt about this comment, but it was from an American. And he was like, it's so refreshing to see protagonists that are always respectful towards their peers and considerate of how their actions affect other people around them. And I was like, I was like, what what are you talking about here? Because it sounds a little you sound a little weird right now.

Jacci: 01:30:01

I there's like way more into that, but I was he's like, like here over in America, like, people are arrogant, disrespectful asshats that are constantly yelling at and insulting their peers. I'm like, oh, you don't like when people question some things that people do? Is that what you don't like? And you like where in China, like you can't question, you just respect no matter what. Is that what you're saying?

Jacci: 01:30:22

Because that's what it sounds like. So I I don't know. Like, that that's just like one dude, by the way, like or girl. I don't know who it is. I don't know if it's a man or a woman, but just like some things.

Jacci: 01:30:33

And then someone else said, I thought was interesting, as they said, it's just an attempt at their own version of anime. Like, their work, like, Chinese painting moving pictures in the eighties and slowly mimicking towards successful formula of anime. They were talk because I looked up, like, what do they feel about the competition? Like, do they think it's a competition? Do they think that, like, Chinese Dongguan now is gonna, like that too, like, just that and that's not, like, going away.

Jacci: 01:31:01

Like, that's racial tension is still very much there, and it's still very prominent between specifically Japan, Korea, and Yeah. China. And just being in Korea, like, I still even saw it in Korea when I was there just, what, 2000 Well, they '17.

Mac: 01:31:15

They have the I forget the official name, but people are just calling it, oh, that's the I hate Japan museum. You know, when they went through an occupied Korea, know, it's like their Korea war thing. And then you go in there, you're just like, well, damn. Like, they do hate Japan, you know?

Jacci: 01:31:33

Yeah. I mean, but you if you know history, or again, it's not getting away from anime. But if you know history, you can understand.

Mac: 01:31:39

Yeah. Valid.

Jacci: 01:31:39

You can be like, yeah.

Mac: 01:31:40

Valid. You know?

Jacci: 01:31:42

You get it. But I think now this new generation that's coming up though, where they like kinda never experienced that though. Like they're just like, oh, like different people but, you know, whatever and different animation styles. I think eventually that maybe that systemic like racism will kinda diminish a little bit. And I think it'll always be there a little, but I think it's not gonna be as strong as it might still be right now.

Jacci: 01:32:11

Especially with just the fact that the countries are working together on so many different projects already and coming out and producing this out to, like, the world. To prove

EJ: 01:32:21

anything, cash rules everything around me. So they're helping because they're going to make lots of money. That's why they're helping.

Jacci: 01:32:31

That too. But yeah. I don't I don't know. But I also see, like, China's, like even, like, to be hero x, I don't see any, at least yet. I don't know.

Jacci: 01:32:40

I don't see any propaganda. I don't see, like, any underlying political things. I I yet. I mean, I haven't really focused much except like the animation, all this other stuff super cool. I know that Kenpachi gave us like a buttload of different animes to watch like Hitori no Shita, The Outcast, The King's Avatar, Yao Ren, Blades of the Guardian, Super Cube.

Jacci: 01:33:03

Those are some of the few that Kenpachi told us about that were really great and that he was surprised like Sugar Cube specifically, he said was he was really shocked was really good. So like, I think it's so worthwhile if China's able to continue to create shows that doesn't have CCP involvement and doesn't have a higher agenda to it. I think that they will continue to produce really great shows that will bring in not even just Western audiences, but even like European and more audiences to continue to watch their things as long as it's a really great story.

Mac: 01:33:36

Yeah. I'm sitting here looking in South Korea officially lifted restrictions on Japanese animation to be played in their country in 02/2006. Yeah. Oh. So like That's

Jacci: 01:33:46

why is this so recent?

Mac: 01:33:48

Like that's Nineteen years ago. They're like

Jacci: 01:33:49

Ten years?

Mac: 01:33:50

They're like, here's some anime. People are like I mean, because they were creating their own anime over there. Right? You know? Which good for them.

Mac: 01:33:58

They were they were trying. They would see what Japanese were doing, and then they would, like, make the I don't wanna say the great value version of it, but they would try to do their version of it, their Dragon Ball, I don't know. Their version of Dragon Ball is so hilarious. You're just like

Jacci: 01:34:14

I haven't seen it, now I don't wanna watch it.

Mac: 01:34:17

It's so hilarious. You're just like, I see why they were just like, we could let a couple shows through. Like, we hey, man. It's just not catching fire like like it is over there in The States. Like, they're probably watching us in America like, Super Saiyan two, Freeza Piccolo.

Mac: 01:34:35

They're like, hey. We gotta get in on this guy. Like, let's go ahead and lift this. Because they were pirating that stuff in. It was, like, illegal.

Mac: 01:34:44

They were willing to

Jacci: 01:34:45

Yeah.

Mac: 01:34:46

Pirate this stuff in. Kinda like how China's just like you know, North Korea's like, don't bring this shit over here. Koreas were just like, bro, I need to get in on this Dragon Ball shit. You know? So to officially lift the ban in 2006 but, as of 2018, you know, obviously, seven years ago, there are still several laws restricting certain broadcasting of Japanese media in South Korea.

Mac: 01:35:08

So it's not all buddy buddy good times, but they are slowly, you know, getting to that getting to that space.

Jacci: 01:35:16

Yeah.

EJ: 01:35:18

A lot of it did.

Jacci: 01:35:19

Right. Yeah. So what Kampachi is saying, 100% correct. I don't know about the different names because the names are very are still Korean in the anime.

Mac: 01:35:32

Will say, could tell you could tell like it's a Korean story because, you know, when they send the Japanese s rank hunt you know, s rank hunters over there, like, the Korean one is, like, the best. You know, they're just like, oh, man, the Japanese ones got washed, you know, obviously, because it's a Korean driven thing, but, you know, go figure. Right?

EJ: 01:35:53

That was a fun year, you know, living. Because they, you know, I got in cool with, like, I don't know if you when you went, if people were still going down to the store bar down in Sonata. So but I got cool with those those bartenders, and they would have me just hang out behind the bar or whatever, Sona and Jay. But, yeah, they'd be like, so you're you're Japanese? I was like, yeah.

Mac: 01:36:25

The record scratches.

EJ: 01:36:27

I'm a in a in a hostile land, because there's all these, like, memorials. Yeah. And, oh, they just they're you know, anytime that it comes every year, they they demand an apology from Japan. So even today Crazy.

Jacci: 01:36:45

That's Yeah.

EJ: 01:36:46

I mean, at least at least Japan apologized.

Jacci: 01:36:50

You know?

EJ: 01:36:51

I'd try at some point, I'd be like, yo, man. I apologized, you know, for fifty some odd years. Leave me alone.

Jacci: 01:37:01

That's like that's like Japan oh, god. Never mind. I'm not even gonna say what I was gonna say. It's getting a little political.

EJ: 01:37:08

I think a lot of it and it'll get better, but you're always gonna have that standoffish between the originators of the practice or the ones who made it become popular. Look at good example for me is football. The United States made, you know, made football, and everyone

Jacci: 01:37:25

And look how popular it

Jacci: 01:37:26

is now. It's like now they're doing games in London and Germany, and, like, everyone people are, like, getting so like, everywhere around the world, they're getting so into American football now.

EJ: 01:37:35

Yeah. Anyone else who gets into any of our sports, though, they're just for a prime example is, like, basketball. K? Doesn't matter that certain years in the Olympics, we've had foreign teams that give us a run for money if not beat us out. It's been rare, but it's gotten more.

EJ: 01:37:55

But I'm just saying, we will never just like Japan looks at Chinese animation, it's the same way that we would look at Czechoslovakia's basketball team. No matter how good they are, they could whoop our butt, but we're still gonna be like, you're not up to our love. They'll never no one will ever be because we made it first. You know? So that's the way I feel like Japan's looking at that, and it's it's sad in a way because it it could affect future endeavors like this to be hero six, I mean x, we could lose out on the next great thing like that if people's attitudes and opinions continue like that.

EJ: 01:38:39

But there's a market for it with us now in the West. It even if it has to bypass again, it's good to come because

Mac: 01:38:47

it's fun.

Jacci: 01:38:49

Oh, that's funny.

Mac: 01:38:54

Oh, man. Good size. But, yeah, that's a good discussion. That's a good topic, Jackie, looking into that. I will say based on, you know, you brought that up in the chat and I was looking at all the different Chinese, you know, animation and stuff.

Mac: 01:39:09

I was like, you know, let me go ahead and, let me go ahead and dabble and and and check these out, you know? Because super cube, obviously, I wanna check that out, you know, because Capacci rarely steers me wrong, but what was

Jacci: 01:39:22

the Capacci was on it. He was like, y'all gotta watch this shit. He gave a list. I was like, oh, okay. Add, add, add.

Mac: 01:39:29

That's see, that's the stuff I wanna do when I finally retire. I just wanna take a year. Don't do any work. Just just tell my wife, you know, tag. You're in.

Mac: 01:39:40

Like, it's it's on you to work now. You I'll I'll bring in my little retirement thing and whatever disability I get, and and you go because I gotta I got stuff to catch up on.

Jacci: 01:39:51

Yeah. There's just so much. Now you're bringing other countries into it. It's like I know. Never gonna I'm never

Mac: 01:39:57

gonna catch anything. And at the end of the day, when I die, the sad part is, like, I will never be caught up on one piece.

Jacci: 01:40:05

Shut up.

Mac: 01:40:06

I I mean, you are. I won't.

Jacci: 01:40:09

It's it is gonna end at least the next five years.

Mac: 01:40:13

I think. So it'll be at what? 2,000 episodes or what?

EJ: 01:40:16

See, that's one that I think we should we should talk about and have, like, you viewers weigh in is, like, I've heard it. It's been brought up before, and I know there's discussions on it all the time on, you know, different threads, but has one p is one p piece making itself hurt?

Mac: 01:40:37

Jackie's ready to bounce. Is one piece what? Is one piece what? Look at Jackie.

EJ: 01:40:43

You know, like, is it is some you know, should they end it?

Jacci: 01:40:48

Are they gonna be here? Know, you wanna know something? I heard this from I don't know how true this is. It was someone's make See, told you. Thank you, Kim Potts.

Jacci: 01:41:01

See, I don't speak shit out of my ass.

Mac: 01:41:05

K? Literally I know things.

Jacci: 01:41:08

I I do my research. Oda's like, hey. Thank you for sticking around for the past twenty years. You got five more years left.

Mac: 01:41:16

He's been writing

Jacci: 01:41:17

I feel bad for the people that started this show when they were 50.

Mac: 01:41:20

Bro, he has been writing

Jacci: 01:41:21

70, and they're like, god.

Mac: 01:41:22

He has been writing this story longer than, like, generals and shit have been serving in the military.

Jacci: 01:41:28

Know? Crazy.

Mac: 01:41:29

Full military service.

Jacci: 01:41:31

And and by the way, we should talk about, like, detective Conan. Like, let's talk about that. Like, that shit is why is it one piece makes sense why this shit's going on for as long it's

Mac: 01:41:41

Case closed will go on forever.

Jacci: 01:41:42

Detective Conan got going on. Like, how many fucking

EJ: 01:41:46

Case close throw in others.

Mac: 01:41:48

Case close forever. D b z has d

EJ: 01:41:50

b z done too much?

Jacci: 01:41:51

The case has never

Mac: 01:41:52

closed. One closes

Jacci: 01:41:55

to me.

Mac: 01:41:56

When one closes, the next one opens. It's like doors. It's fine. It's fine. And, I mean, as long as the story's good and the the audience is is still there for it, keep it going.

Mac: 01:42:10

You know?

Jacci: 01:42:11

Well, it's because the story is so freaking good. This dude's a genius and everything he's doing. And now because, like, the animation has, like, skyrocketed. Just obviously, it's been twenty years, so animation is gonna get way better. And it's just if you were there since day one, which I wasn't, so, like, I I don't like but I watched it from, like, episode one before they reanimated it.

Jacci: 01:42:31

So I had to go through that grueling process before the animation got better. So I've seen how it has progressed to now what it is. And they finally, like, got off hiatus and they have come back with new episodes now. And I have not watched the manga, so there's other people that know other stuff, like, way ahead of me. And I was looking up, like, some stuff on Reddit earlier, and it was just about the most recent episode.

Jacci: 01:42:55

Not the most recent, but one of the episodes that was like really crazy. And I accidentally like saw Reddit post. I'm like, this is why I can't look shit up about One Piece because people start talking and it's about the manga. So I had to exit out of it immediately because thankfully, though, people since One Piece isn't like I don't like solo leveling. Like, solo leveling fans are assholes, man.

Jacci: 01:43:16

Like, they just they are so ready to post shit and say stuff. But One Piece, everyone's like, it's been out for a while. It's like, we know better kind of. Like, you know not to, like, look up. Mhmm.

Jacci: 01:43:27

Except when one specific thing happened in One Piece and everyone was raving about it. I was like, this is cool. I haven't even fucking seen this. This is pissing me off. But but I just like I I love it.

Jacci: 01:43:41

It's so good. It's I I didn't think a story could go this long and still be as engaging as it was the first one hundred episodes. You would think that you would get tired of eventually and be like, what the hell? But it just keeps you, like, going without it losing its, like

Mac: 01:43:58

Oh, I'm just gonna

Jacci: 01:43:59

Not flake I can't talk. I don't know English. Not flavor, but, like, it's whatever grabs your attention. Like, it just it just keeps it there. Like, you are so engaged.

Jacci: 01:44:09

It's don't know. I I can go on in one piece for, like, the long that's all we're here, though. We're here for Chinese anime. Like, what are we talking about?

Mac: 01:44:18

Like, long running anime episode, you know, series like Jintama. Like, that's run for as long as it has, and nobody really talks about it.

EJ: 01:44:27

Yeah.

Mac: 01:44:27

Yeah. True. You know, it's like a it's like a connoisseur's animator just like, well, if you wanna talk about long running great stories, Jintama. And I'm just like, I tried Jintama, and it 20 episodes in, I'm just like, it's probably not for me. Yeah.

Mac: 01:44:42

Wait till you get the I'm just like, I don't wanna get to that episode. So but, you know, we could talk about that on a future episode, but Yeah. We'll go ahead and wrap this one up. We're at a hour forty four minutes. Not bad.

Mac: 01:44:54

Seeing how our last one was three hours. You know?

Jacci: 01:44:56

So Yeah. Oh, yeah.

Mac: 01:44:58

We'll go ahead and, return to our regularly scheduled programming and, see if anybody has any parting shots for us. Hey. Alright. Thanks you guys for tuning in. Very educational slash fun show that we just had.

Mac: 01:45:30

A lot of anime we were putting people on or talking about breezing over. If you've seen any of the anime we were talking about, or is there any anime that premiered in April that you've seen and you're just like, guys didn't mention this one or you're missing out on this or you may not have been tracking this, let us know, throw it in the comments, you know, we'll check it out. Like we said, we'll just all three of us has a watch list that is continually growing. And one of these days one of these days, we will checks check them off. But, EJ, any parting shots for the folks before we call it a night?

EJ: 01:46:08

No. Actually, I think we covered everything.

Mac: 01:46:12

What about you, Jack? You got anything?

Jacci: 01:46:17

I think my parting shot is watch one piece. No. Also not kidding.

Mac: 01:46:27

Kidding

Jacci: 01:46:27

but not I think Chinese dong la is worth it. I think that we should into the things that we talked about especially that Kampachi recommended and I look forward to like when we do watch that, like talking about that in the future and hopefully some of y'all like have watched some of that and can also comment on it and we can see like what we think about some of these new shows shows that have actually existed because some of them, Kipachi said, were made, like, eight to ten years ago.

Mac: 01:46:57

Yep.

Jacci: 01:47:00

And discussions on those.

Mac: 01:47:02

I don't either. I don't have anything, but, I do know, we have some amazing topics to get into for, our next show, which will be two weeks from now. We'll let you know if anything changes. But what's two weeks from now? For the twenty second?

Jacci: 01:47:18

May no. Not twenty second. Wait. What is May? Yeah.

Jacci: 01:47:22

May 22.

Mac: 01:47:24

Look at you. Lying.

Jacci: 01:47:25

My calendar.

Mac: 01:47:27

Lying to us.

Jacci: 01:47:28

Can't look my calendar. It's not letting me.

Mac: 01:47:30

May 22. And we'll let you know if we gotta flex left or right because, you know, life happens. But, again, great show. Thank you guys for tuning in. Awesome discussion.

Mac: 01:47:40

Awesome recommendations. So if you got something for us, let us know. We'll check it out. Until the next time. Y'all be easy peas.

Mac: 01:47:47

Bye. Go watch some, What is it? Go watch

Jacci: 01:47:51

Bye, Anora.

Mac: 01:47:52

Some great don don't don't. Don't. Don't. You guys take care. Peace.