Anime Favourites That Still Hit

Trying to make a top five anime list is all fun and games until you realize you’re really ranking your own values. We sit down as lifelong anime fans and go title by title, from childhood gateway staples like Digimon and Pokémon to modern series that prove animation, music, and writing can still surprise you. Expect strong opinions, a lot of love for bold storytelling, and a few spoilers along the way, so skip around if you’re protecting a watchlist.

We compare two different ways of making an anime recommendations list: the “critical” approach (plot structure, character development, payoff, style, and OST) versus the “vibes” approach (the shows that simply hit you at the right time). That takes us through Ping Pong the Animation as a grounded coming-of-age story, Durarara and Odd Taxi as ensemble storytelling puzzles, and Hunter x Hunter for worldbuilding and the emotional gut punch of the Chimera Ant arc.

Then we go big: Attack on Titan’s twists, soundtrack, and moral weight, Mob Psycho 100’s character arcs, Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood’s consequences and growth, and Orb On the Movements of the Earth as a rare historical anime that wrestles with faith, science, and conviction. We also get into nostalgia and the eternal debate around One Piece, Naruto, and Bleach, plus quick hits on Haikyuu, JoJo, Frieren, and more.

Transcript

Welcome And Why Anime

SPEAKER_00 0:02

Welcome back to another episode of Catch Up with Kai and Cohen. Kai. Here's Cohen. And today we are going to be trying something a little bit different. So in our last episode, I guess we've been trying different stuff for quite a while now. But in our last episode, we talked about doing uh a mini series. And now we're gonna try doing, you know, just whatever we want to do on Thursdays, and on Tuesdays, we'll continue with our mini-series. But since it's Thursday today, we are going to be talking about something that Cohen and I have been pretty passionate about since kind of early in our lives, and that is anime. How do you feel about anime, Cohen?

SPEAKER_05 0:41

Dude, I love anime. Yeah, me too. Um started watching since I was like five, man.

SPEAKER_00 0:46

Really?

SPEAKER_05 0:46

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 0:47

Oh wow.

SPEAKER_05 0:47

Because you'll you gotta take into consideration like Pokemon and Yu-Gi-Oh! that's that's all anime too.

SPEAKER_00 0:53

True. And you were watching that like right when it right when I was on TV.

SPEAKER_05 0:56

Yeah, like Beyblade, Digimon, like when I was when it further first came out, big fan.

SPEAKER_00 1:02

And what kind of shows did you like back then?

SPEAKER_05 1:04

Definitely like the the ones that are geared towards children, the ones with like the toy lines, like um Beyblades. Actually, yeah, Beyblades for sure, but the most impactful for me as a kid was Digimon, like by far. Like Digimon Adventures the first season.

SPEAKER_00 1:19

Even more so than like Pokemon and stuff, eh?

SPEAKER_05 1:21

Actually, the Pokemon anime, I was actually never that into it. Like I watched episodes like bits and pieces of the episodes, really like the movies, but never really followed the entire anime for Pokemon. Whereas for Digimon, the plot is so much better.

SPEAKER_00 1:33

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 1:33

I think Digimon as an anime is so much better.

SPEAKER_00 1:36

All right, so let's get into what we really like today. Do you

Childhood Gateway Anime And Digimon

SPEAKER_00 1:40

have a top five anime? Only five. Maybe you can do some honorable mentions, but yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_05 1:46

I'm gonna name like top five. Is it in order? No, not in order. I'd say top five in my eyes, like my critical objective eyes. Yeah. And then I'll mention top five that's not really like amazing, but has had a very profound impact in my life. And when I say not amazing, like I guess it wouldn't be universally acclaimed like these series. Yeah, so the latter five.

SPEAKER_00 2:14

If you like recommend, you wouldn't be able to like recommend it to everyone because it probably wouldn't hit with everyone, but it really hit with you.

SPEAKER_05 2:19

No, it's more like like more of a critic's eyes. I don't think uh critics would say, oh, these top five actually are the best. But then the the the initial top five I'm gonna mention, I think critics would say, Oh, these are these are pretty good too. Okay, gotcha. So my top five, not in order. Yeah, I would say Full Metal Optimist Brotherhood. Okay. And then Hunter Hunter. Okay. The new one. Yeah. Not the old one. Yeah. 2011, right? Yeah, 2011. And then Bakuman. I don't know if you know. Yeah, I don't know if you know that one. I remember hearing it, but I should have no idea what Bakuman is. It's the same artist and same authors that has the Death Note. It's about two guys making their dream to become manga manga artists. Yeah. That's pretty cool. Bakumon, and then Ping Pong the animation. Okay. And then find the the last one is probably um odd taxi.

SPEAKER_00 3:10

Okay. Damn, those are some really good ones, especially ping pong. And then you recommended Odd Taxi to me a couple of years ago. Yeah, I watched it too, and that's that was uh amazing. My top five, it was very, very hard. I don't know if it was hard for you to narrow it down the top five. Yeah. But for me, it was super hard to narrow it down the top five. Even though I haven't watched uh like a ton of anime, I'm pretty sure you've watched quite a bit more than me. But my top five, also not in order, is Attack on Titan, Orb on the Movements of the Earth, Mob Cycle 100, Durara Ra. Really? Yeah, Durara Ra. Damn it really. Yeah, okay. I really like Durara Ra. Yeah. And then the last one is Hunter Hunter. Okay. And then my honorable mention is Jojo. Because I I got a software from Jojo. Okay. I really like JoJo. Okay. What were your criteria, first of all, for these different oh wait, I guess you mentioned your criteria, didn't you?

SPEAKER_05 4:02

No, no, I didn't. Okay. For me,

Our Top Five Anime Lists

SPEAKER_05 4:04

it's uh it's like plot, like how it resolves, how they build up the plot, how the characters develop in terms of like their personality and how you can see the their values as an audience, and then how the plot culminates and how it resolves. So I think plot is very important. And the character development, I think is very important. Like I don't like it when a character is static.

SPEAKER_03 4:24

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 4:24

Like I want there to be adversity, and from that adversity, I want the characters to learn and develop and grow and mature throughout the entire series. And that's critical as well. I think could be hard in the shorter series, but then that's something I value as well. And then animation is one. It doesn't have to be like pristine, perfect animation, but like the style and the taste on how they try to convey the mood and the atmosphere of the anime. I think style is very important. Music, OST is always important. Yeah. Including the OP and the ending, I think it would be very important as well.

SPEAKER_00 4:57

Are you the type of person to uh listen to every opening and ending or do you skip most of the time? Uh per episode. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 5:04

I I I watch the if there's a new one, I'd I'd watch it. Yeah. But I wouldn't like sit through every single episode.

SPEAKER_00 5:10

Dude, if it's a good one, I sit through it every single time. Yeah. Even the endings and like endings are usually like they they usually hit less than the openings. But yeah, if I like it, I'll I'll sit through the whole thing.

SPEAKER_05 5:20

Yeah. Okay. Okay. I wouldn't say genre is part of my criteria.

SPEAKER_00 5:25

Yeah. Because you got you got a pretty um, I guess like a bit of a wide spectrum of um the genres.

SPEAKER_05 5:31

And I would say like the the impact, I guess, yeah, eat an anime has. Like how how they're able to deliver that final big blow. I guess that kind of comes to the plot aspect of it, but the delivery of the blow in the series.

unknown 5:46

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 5:46

For me, my criteria was pretty much just like vibes. Yeah, like if it made me feel something, something uh profound, I guess, basically made it on the list. And I mean a lot of anime make me feel something, but these five, I guess, made me feel the most. Do you uh do you have specific things from these anime that you really felt passionate about? Something that really stuck with you?

SPEAKER_05 6:13

Like there wasn't something about the anime I was passionate about. It was like the anime itself, I thought it was really impactful, like cool to cool to watch, basically. Like

The Criteria That Actually Matters

SPEAKER_05 6:23

for example, let's say ping pong the animation.

SPEAKER_00 6:25

Yeah. Very different from other anime, like very, very different, in my opinion.

SPEAKER_05 6:30

Yeah, I mean, back then, like the animation style, like they got it, they got kind of shit on. They did? For being unorthodox, yeah. Oh really? Yeah, like being like sketch-like, kind of rough on the edge. But that's kind of like the trend nowadays. I fucking love that. Yeah, like that. Even back then, I love that. It's like the rotoscope kind of like sketchy type, which which is pretty uh popular now. Yeah. But back then it wasn't it wasn't really the trend. But I liked it back then. But anyways, like ping pong, I'm not really into ping pong, but yeah, me neither. The anime itself is technically not too much about ping pong. It's a lot more than that. It's a coming of age story, yeah. How impactful like the characters pico and smile the characters develop, and they're really foils of one another.

SPEAKER_00 7:08

Totally.

SPEAKER_05 7:09

And I thought it was really cool to see how they complement each other. Where smile is like very stoic, doesn't give a shit kind of pacos are kind of arrogant, but then he gets his like ass handed down in one of the matches. Yeah. And then he develops and he grows from that. I thought that was really cool. So I really like the coming of age aspect of these series. That's why ping pong is probably my my one of my favorites. Yeah. And the sound and the oyster OST for that is really good too.

SPEAKER_00 7:35

The soundtrack. Uh Ping Pong also holds a pretty special place in my heart. It's been a long time since I watched it. Uh, have you ever rewatched Ping Pong?

SPEAKER_05 7:43

No.

SPEAKER_00 7:43

Yeah, me neither. No. Which is funny because I've rewatched so many other anime, but even without re-watching it, I remember it so clearly. And it was so impactful on me as well. Seeing specifically smile change so much. He actually smiles. Yeah. Yeah. And then, like, by you know, the the culmination of the anime, the I think it was the final episode or maybe the second last. Or we should probably preface by saying there's gonna be probably gonna be a lot of spoilers in this episode. Oh, yeah, yeah. So if if you hear us mention a specific anime that you were planning on planning on watching in the future, you might want to skip ahead a little bit to the next section or maybe even skip this episode altogether. But yeah, uh the climax of the that anime was so sick and so memorable, that last ping pong match.

SPEAKER_05 8:25

And was it against Smile and Peko? Yeah, yeah. Or was it against the bald guy? It wasn't the bald guy, I think.

SPEAKER_00 8:32

Who who sh who beats the bald guy? Was it Peko? I don't know, I forget. Yeah, me too. But the one the fight I remember so clearly, or not fight, the ping pong match. I remember so clearly was the one between Smile and Peko.

SPEAKER_05 8:45

Yeah, because at the end, Smile just becomes a teacher's and then Pico's the one that becomes the ping pong player.

SPEAKER_00 8:50

Yeah, how'd you feel about that? I liked it. Dude, I was kind of heartbroken.

SPEAKER_05 8:54

Really? Yeah. I mean, I feel like everyone was rooting for Smile to become like a world top ping pong player, but I think he found this happiness at the very end.

SPEAKER_00 9:03

Yeah. Maybe that's one of those things where I need to where I need to rewatch to get a second perspective on it because I f I felt quite conflicted by by uh the end. I mean, I really, really enjoy it. And I accepted that ending because that's like so representative of reality, you know.

SPEAKER_05 9:18

Yeah, that's what I liked it too. And it shows like the harshness of sports, like how how tough it is, how competitive it is, and the drive you really need to, you need to excel in that world. Not just ping pong, but sports in general.

SPEAKER_00 9:28

Yeah, I think that's that's actually one of the things that really resonates with me. And showing something in a way that is so like believable, you know, so realistic, I really appreciate that. And even though in a show like ping pong, for me it's a little bit sad. You know, it's it's a different ending than I than like the super happy ending that you could have. But that but since that's like so so realistic, yeah, I really appreciate that kind of stuff.

SPEAKER_05 9:55

Yeah, it's definitely a more mature anime. Yeah, yeah. So why,

Ping Pong Growth And A Real Ending

SPEAKER_05 9:58

why, why Durara? Because I also really like Durara. Oh yeah, dude.

SPEAKER_00 10:02

I fucking love Durara. There's there's so many things I like about Durara specific, but the thing I think I like the most about Durara is the storytelling. How the story is told, yeah. Is that's like a masterclass for me, you know? I agree, I love this kind of storytelling. And when I see this kind of storytelling in other shows or media or like movies, I always like I'm hooked. You know, yeah, that's why I like odd taxi. Yeah, yeah, exactly. Yeah, that's also why I really liked Odd Taxi as well. Kind of random, but I watched a movie, I don't know if I watched it with you, but it was like Weapons, which had like a really, really similar way of telling the story where it's like, you know, go back in the past, then go back in the future, then go in the future again, go back in the past, have like all these different perspectives.

SPEAKER_03 10:42

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 10:42

And I just I just love that so much. So the storytelling for Durrara really like captured me.

SPEAKER_05 10:48

Yeah, that's that's most of the reason why I love it. Durrara, I personally really liked the characters. I think each character was so captivating. And what's unique with what was unique with Durrara was that they probably do it a lot more now in other animes, but each character had its own story. Yeah, it's like an ensemble cast. Yeah. And in the very end, it just culminates into one entire plot, which is super cool. Yeah. And then I just thought that each character had just so much lure and the charisma. So you could be a fan of whatever who's showing up in that specific episode in that specific scene.

SPEAKER_00 11:20

Yeah, and and even though those kids in that anime, they're just kids, they're like high school kids. Yeah, but there's so much depth to those kids. Yeah. And and you know, and I also I I realize I also kind of like like gang type slash espionage type situations or scenarios. And I feel like that was also very prevalent in Durara with all the you know going behind people's backs, being like secretive. So yeah, I I really love those those themes, and that's what what drew me to Durara.

SPEAKER_05 11:48

Yeah, I thought it was so badass because first season there's like three factions, you know what I mean? Like the man character who's who's supposed to be kind of like a scaredy cat. Yeah, and then he gets his like own gang or something. And the one the one with glasses and the sword. The girl. Yeah, and then there's the other guy.

SPEAKER_00 12:03

Yeah, who is also a gang leader, yeah, like original gang leader. They're like all friends, yeah.

SPEAKER_05 12:07

Yeah, but yeah, I thought that was very cool.

SPEAKER_00 12:09

And they they they all basically have these double lives that they're hiding from each other, but they all also kind of know that they all have these double lives. Yeah, or at least like they're like suspicious of these things. And the yeah, gener generally the storytelling, the characters, the the vibe, the environment, everything was so interesting to me. Yeah, it really captured me. Yeah, and it's also it's also kind of like comical too at times. Yeah. I also really like anime that deal with more mature themes, especially nowadays. Like when I was younger, just like you, I really liked those like anime that would come that anime that were basically just anime for the purpose of selling toys. As a kid, I really liked those too. But as I've gotten older, not even like much older, even when I was in my teens, I really started gravitating towards these anime with more mature themes, more like serious stuff, psychological stuff, more violent stuff. And yeah, I I really like these kind of things now. So one that we both like is Hunter Hunter.

SPEAKER_01 13:03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 13:03

Do you want to tell me a little bit about that? Hunter Hunter is a long anime. That's probably the longest one out of all these that we mentioned, right?

SPEAKER_05 13:10

Yeah, I mean it's like a it's a pretty classic Shonen anime, I would say. Yeah. But there's like a nice dark flavor to it. Yeah. But I I like it a lot because the character development is really cool. Like for both Gonan and Kirua. Because they face like something bad, each arc. Yeah. And you can see what type of impact those events had on them throughout the entire series. And I think that's really cool. Did you ever watch the original? No, no, no, no, no.

SPEAKER_00 13:42

I I've seen like YouTube clips. Seems like the animation's pretty sick.

SPEAKER_05 13:46

Yeah. Oh, and and I really like the world building of Hunter Hunter. Like it's so huge and it's so well done. Yeah. Cause yeah, what it starts off as just as hunters in the very beginning, you know that these are people who are, I don't know, like actually, like I don't even know what their jobs are.

SPEAKER_00 13:59

They're supposed to like they just hunt whatever you can hunt, they hunt, I guess.

SPEAKER_05 14:02

Yeah, and then there and then there's layers to that. Yeah. The the strength and the whole NEN system is so well complicatedly described and incorporated within within the abilities. I thought that was really well done. I would say it gets a little bit complex, like the NEN thing.

SPEAKER_00 14:19

Yeah. But I think that's fine. Yeah. Because it's like, you know, it doesn't always if as long as it makes sense a little bit, yeah. It's at the end of the day, it's magic. You know, it's not a part of our world. Whatever the fuck happens, it just happens.

SPEAKER_05 14:31

Yeah. I mean, yeah, I would say that because you know, One Piece, Devil Fruit, pretty it's pretty easy to understand. I know nothing about One Piece. But the Nen is like a little complicated. It's like it's kind of like Juice Kaisen, the whole cursed spirit kind of energy thing. But yeah, but what I really like about Hunter Hunter is the actually the Camaro arc and arc. I think it's the best arc in anime history. Really? How it culminates into Medwim really becoming there's the humanity it develops in him. Yeah. But in contrast to that, Gon loses his humanity. And that foil that I thought it was so well done, it was so impactful to me when Komigi no way no, when Medwim died in Komigi's hands. Yeah. And it was so powerful. Do you ever get emotional watching anime? No. I mean, I mean like yeah, but like not to the point that I I don't think I ever cried. Actually, no, I take that back. The only anime that I cried to was the first Pokemon movie when Ash turned into stone.

SPEAKER_00 15:32

Protecting Pikachu.

SPEAKER_05 15:33

And then Pikachu was like so upset.

SPEAKER_00 15:35

I was like, holy fuck. I remember that. What was that? Pokemon 2000? No, it was the first movie. Isn't it called isn't that called Pokemon the movie 2000? Or is that the second movie?

SPEAKER_05 15:43

2000 is the second movie.

SPEAKER_00 15:44

The one with uh the birds and Lugia. Oh, okay, yeah, yeah. The first one is like Mewtwo goes crazy and shit. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_05 15:51

But anyways, yeah, the Kimaro arc was so good.

SPEAKER_00 15:53

Yeah, it was. Uh and going back to like the earlier parts of Hunter Hunter, it's so interesting. Like every single there's like never downtime, you know? No. And it's amazing to have an anime from because this is from 2011. Back in 2011, it's impossible to find an anime without fillers, really. Especially one that's 170 episodes long.

SPEAKER_05 16:15

Yeah, I guess, yeah, I guess Hunter Hunter didn't really have fillers.

SPEAKER_00 16:18

There's there's there's like no fillers at all in the in the remake. I don't know about the original, but the one in 2011, I'm pretty certain there are no fillers whatsoever. It's just straight 170 episodes, which is like unheard of for the time. That's crazy.

SPEAKER_04 16:33

That's true.

SPEAKER_00 16:34

And every single time they move on to like a new arc, it's like completely different, but so cool at

Durarara And The Art Of Storytelling

SPEAKER_00 16:40

the same time.

SPEAKER_05 16:40

Yeah, like the uh the heavens uh yeah, like I love the Heavens Arena arc. Like the Spider Trip is so cool.

SPEAKER_00 16:46

Yeah, that the New York New City, so fucking sick.

SPEAKER_05 16:49

I I didn't like Green what's called Green Arena. Greed Island? Yeah, really that was okay.

SPEAKER_00 16:54

I I still liked Greed Island. I actually liked all the every single arc. Yeah, yeah. And I I like it so much that I I've gone back and watched only like specific arcs of Hunter Hunter when going back and rewatching. Like I've gone back and watched only the Chimera Ant arc, like probably like five times or something. Really? Yeah, oh my god. Yeah, sometimes I just gotta go back and watch it again.

SPEAKER_05 17:15

Yeah, but the Chimera arc, the the build-up was also really nicely well done, too. I think some people say it's kind of dragon is and can be lengthy, but I I actually thought it was like really well like developed.

SPEAKER_00 17:25

Yeah, it it is lengthy, but it's like you know, who cares? It's really good. It's not like it's like the fucking Naruto Shipudan Great War. That's like 200 episodes of bullshit, you know. This is like 80 episodes of like top tier content. Yeah, amazing fight scenes. Hunter Hunter is so good. There's like nothing to really complain about. The music is fantastic. Oh, music amazing.

SPEAKER_01 17:44

Yeah, it's amazing.

SPEAKER_00 17:45

Yeah, even even not even like the the sick battle, like the battle teams are all obviously sick, but like the the quiet, like regular music, like there's this one track that's just like drums and a flute. And I fucking love that track so much. And it's just like really simple, just drums and a flute. And I fucking love listening to it. So many amazing soundtracks. Yeah, the opening's really good too. Oh, yeah, and it it's great because they kept the opening for like the whole show. Yeah, yeah, they changed it. Yeah, it was just crazy. It was just uh they just changed like the opening visuals, yeah. But kept the same song, yeah. They changed the outro though, I think. I actually don't know how the outro goes, to be honest. I'm pretty sure they had two or three outros, but the the opening was the same the whole time. But and then what else was in your top five? Another

Hunter X Hunter Dark Arcs

SPEAKER_00 18:28

one of my top five, Attack on Titan. Okay. Dude, uh Attack on Titan might be my like from a critic's point of view, I think it would be my number one all time.

SPEAKER_05 18:40

I like it a lot, except it got it's a bit too confusing for me, especially in the last couple seasons. Yeah, the whole like the time kind of thing. You know how Aaron's is like connected to all the Titans and everything, yeah, and he was able to like his like old self was in the past and the future. Yeah, that got that part got a bit more confusing. But other than that, yeah, I thought it was really good.

SPEAKER_00 19:08

I thought Attack on Titan was is actually like so genius. The the author, I forgot his name, but dude, some of these guys are like generational talents, and I think this guy is like one of those generational talents. Like, what a story. The the twists and turns in Attack on Titan, like every single time, I was fucking mind blown. Really? You know, yeah, like yeah, me too. What like some like all the all the twists? The most iconic one for me is I think it's in season three, and they're standing on the wall, and Bertholdt and Ryan are like they go crazy, they're like start losing themselves.

SPEAKER_05 19:41

Oh, when they when they reveal themselves, yeah. I think that's season two, wasn't it? Season two. I think season two was somebody.

SPEAKER_00 19:47

Like that moment stuck with me so hard. I was like, holy fucking actually. That was like monumental. Yeah, that was I was like, this is fucking insane.

SPEAKER_05 19:53

What the fuck is going on? Because that's when you find out the whole island was like there's a whole different world on the island, uh island.

SPEAKER_00 20:01

Every single season, there's like a a new grand enemy in Attack on Titan, and your entire worldview of that world like is completely shattered and changes every single season. I thought that was so so crazy.

SPEAKER_05 20:14

And I felt like watching it and reading it, I could like sympathize with Aaron. Yeah, right. You know what I mean? Like, dude, bro's carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders. I mean, not only that, like you you grow up, literally, your fucking family, everyone around you is destroyed by these titans. And you find out these pite titans were like your friends, and then you find out these guys were the one who's responsible for everything. Yeah. Like what like I I I sympathize with the guy.

SPEAKER_00 20:41

Yeah, and from birth, he was like groomed into a certain position by his father. Yeah. Yeah. It's like crazy. Like, bro, never bro never had a choice. Literally, yeah. So I feel so bad for him. Me too, especially with how things end. Yeah. Like, how would you even be able to recover from that? It's heartbreaking. It's a heartbreaking ending. And and once again, not the ending that I would want. What do you want? Like, I want a happy ending. I want to just want like Aaron to be like, yeah, Aaron marries Mikasa, lives happily ever after. You know, they beat the guys in Marley, there's world peace.

SPEAKER_05 21:15

But who but who are the technically who are the enemies in Marley? Like everyone's enemies. Exactly. Is that even possible?

SPEAKER_00 21:20

Yeah, exactly. It's too complicated, you know? And and so that's why I'm totally cool with accepting this ending. I think it's a realistic ending. I think it fits as sad as it is. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 21:29

I would say Taquan Titan has one of the probably the best soundtrack. Like when the first season came out with the iconic intro, like that was that was that was crazy.

SPEAKER_00 21:38

I'm actually a huge fan of the composer. This one, I actually know the uh the guy's name, it's Hiro Yukisawano. And he makes some of the most amazing soundtracks I've ever heard. Dating all the way back to like he used to have you ever uh watched Guilty Crown?

SPEAKER_05 21:50

Yeah, oh yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 21:51

Yeah, like he made a bunch of soundtracks with Guilty Crown.

SPEAKER_05 21:54

I know that's the same guy, bro.

SPEAKER_00 21:55

Yeah, at least I think so. I'm pretty sure. Yeah. If I'm wrong, I'm gonna be very sad, but I'm pretty sure Sure, is Hiro Yuki Sama now. He made like a bunch of Gundam soundtracks too. Guy's a guy's a genius. Yeah. You know, we were talking uh maybe it was last episode or like some other time about like this uh these guys that are like so good at anime and music, and they're like younger than us. Did we talk about that? I think it might have been in private, actually, not on the podcast. Oh yeah, I think this is like another example of um a young ass guy that's just like so good at what he does. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 22:26

The the animation for Attack on Titan is really good too. Yeah. It kind of got downhill. There was a point where it wasn't as good in Chris, but it wasn't still bad, and then it got a lot better too. Do you mean uh when they switched from Madhouse to MAPA?

SPEAKER_00 22:40

Oh, I I thought it was always no, so it was a Madhouse for I think the first three seasons, and then season four onwards was MAPA.

SPEAKER_05 22:49

Oh, I I didn't I don't know that.

SPEAKER_00 22:51

Yeah. And and that's when they started using like the CG and stuff for the Titans. Oh, I see. Is that around? Is around that time when you noticed that you liked the animation less? I have no idea. I forget which season, to be honest. I think it was around season. It was like it's basically when they once they start going to Marley, that's when MAPA takes over. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That makes sense.

SPEAKER_01 23:09

That makes sense. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay.

SPEAKER_00 23:10

But anyways, um But but I still thought it was great, even though it was like the switch from Madhouse to MAPA. I know a lot of people didn't like the CG Titans and you know the new art style, but I was still cool with it.

SPEAKER_05 23:22

Yeah, no, it was good. It just wasn't as good as before. That's what I'm saying. Yeah, agreed. What what else was in your top five?

Attack On Titan Twists And Music

SPEAKER_00 23:28

Another one I have in my top five was Mob Psycho 100.

SPEAKER_05 23:32

Oh yeah, Mob Psycho is so good.

SPEAKER_00 23:34

Yeah, dude, I fucking love Mob Psycho for so many reasons, but I think the biggest reason I love Mob Psycho is because of Reagan.

SPEAKER_05 23:42

Okay, go on. Uh I I also love Reagan, but go on.

SPEAKER_00 23:45

Yeah, the the journey that Reagan goes through from being a kind guy, but piece of shit, mostly a piece of shit. You think he was kind in the beginning? I think he, you know, he was he had a hard life, you know. Because we do learn Did he have a hard life? I think he had he he did struggle because I think it was like he university didn't go well for him, and then like he couldn't find a job, and his passion was something, but his parents kept pushing him to like just do find something stable, you know?

SPEAKER_05 24:15

And I don't yeah, I don't remember his backstory too.

SPEAKER_00 24:17

Yeah, I remember he he he had like depression he was dealing with, yeah. And that basically he basically turned to scamming, yeah. Yeah, and and that became who he was, and by the end of it, well throughout like by the end of every season, Reagan grows a little bit, but then by by by the end of it, once he finally like confesses all his man, that episode was so good.

SPEAKER_05 24:39

The the one where like a mob is like, oh, I know you were a scammer this whole entire time. I was like, holy fuck. Like mob is such a good kid.

SPEAKER_00 24:47

I know, he's such a good kid. I fucking love mob. And you know, it it takes a lot of strength for Reagan to do what he did, uh, even though it's like you know, he's not a real guy, but you could see someone in that position as well doing what Reagan does. And I think that I think I think that was like Reagan truly changing himself, and that's that's so hard.

SPEAKER_05 25:08

Yeah, the all the characters in mob they're actually so good too. Like like Kageo is I think is a really good that's his older brother, younger brother. Oh, young right, younger brother. Yeah, and the guy with the blonde hair, also bald or something like that. Yeah, he's a good character. He's such a nice guy, and then um who's this guy again? Oh dimple. Dimple, yeah. Dimple had a crazy like arc too, which is really good.

SPEAKER_00 25:29

All the characters in mob psycho are just so good. Even the even the like the friends he makes, the the running the jack crew. Oh, yeah, the the running crew, like super cool guys, yeah, the occult club kids. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Also great kids. Yeah, everything about Mob Psycho I love so much. Yeah, the animations is is also super good. Yeah, once it gets to Chris, once you get to like those season finales and you have those big final boss fights, yeah. Whoa. The colors are so good. I know the palette they use is amazing. Yeah, I I love it every single time. It's so uh captivating.

SPEAKER_05 26:03

It's so much better than One Punch Man, because it's the they're the same authors, illustrators.

SPEAKER_00 26:07

Well, I mean not illustrators, but authors, but so since we brought One Punch Man, this year there was so much controversy about One Punch Man. That was this year, right? That was our last year.

SPEAKER_05 26:16

Yeah, but that's not the author or illustrator's fault, though. Right, right. That's just the animation studio. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 26:21

Like I read, I read One Punch Man, it's it's good. But uh, I was gonna say season one of One Punch Man, I've heart and loved it. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But yeah, recent seasons I haven't seen. Okay, and then what's but but you also like Mob Psycho, right? Oh, I love Mob Psycho.

SPEAKER_05 26:34

Was that in your top five? No, it didn't quite make it.

SPEAKER_00 26:37

But it was like it was probably like six actually.

SPEAKER_05 26:39

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 26:39

Yeah, it was it's hard to break it down to five, man. Yeah, especially when you got like some that you're like, this has to be in my top five. What's your last one? My last one. Or is there two more that we didn't talk about? I think there was two more. So I said AOT, Mob Psycho, Hunter Hunter, Hunter Hunter, Durara, and we talked about that. Okay, yeah, yeah. Okay, so my last one is Orb on the movements of the Oh yeah, yeah. Orb's really good.

SPEAKER_05 27:01

So let's talk about another one of yours. What were your five? Mine

Mob Psycho And Reigen’s Change

SPEAKER_05 27:04

was Full Metal Achmas Brotherhood. Okay, let's talk about that. You watched it, right?

SPEAKER_00 27:07

Oh, yeah, of course. I've watched that tons of times. It's so okay. It is so have you seen the the other one? I watched both.

SPEAKER_05 27:13

I watched the original and Brotherhood, which I love both. Me too. I like I love both. Because here's the thing, because the plot is actually different than Brotherhood and very different, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 27:22

And after like episode 10, it's completely different.

SPEAKER_05 27:24

And the seven deadly sins are also different. Yeah. Like it's like greed is wait, I think greed is greed.

SPEAKER_00 27:29

I think uh no, greed is not greed. No, greed is in the original because in Brotherhood, Greed is like the Yang Lap Ling Yao, something like that. But in in oh right, in the original, Greed is fucking Bradley. Yeah. Yeah. Or no, is he pride? I think it's pride. Who's Greed in the original?

SPEAKER_05 27:51

It's it's some other guy. Maybe it's oh oh it's his kid. No, it's because I think Wrath is the is the kid in the original. And then Wrath is the annoying one in the brotherhood.

SPEAKER_00 28:02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 28:02

And then Lust is also different, I think.

SPEAKER_00 28:05

Was Lust different?

SPEAKER_05 28:06

The girl. Are they are this?

SPEAKER_00 28:07

No, I think lust was the same. Okay, anyways. Envy was different.

SPEAKER_05 28:10

Oh, yeah, yeah. Anyways, but back to the point. Both really good. It's it's like the classic series where my criteria for character development is like the most prominent. Like quite literally, you can see them grow up in Brotherhood. Like they literally get taller, which is really cool to see. And then yeah, each character just is so good. Yeah. Like, oh my.

SPEAKER_00 28:32

Dude, so I watched what did you watch first? Brotherhood or the original? Original. Yeah, me too. And when I first watched the original, man, that's a sad ending. Did you watch the movie? I I did Shambala.

SPEAKER_01 28:42

I did watch the movie. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 28:44

But but still, it's a the anime, that's a like super sad ending.

SPEAKER_05 28:47

Yeah, it's like heartbreaking, man. But then but then that's but then the shamala is like a direct sequel to the original.

SPEAKER_00 28:53

Is is is Shambhala the one where they're in the other world? Yeah. Okay. They're like in like Germany and there's Nazis there. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. But it's but still, it's like that's not that's not Alphons, you know. That's not Alphonse and over.

SPEAKER_05 29:02

That's like yeah, it's just heartbreaking. But yeah, Brotherhood is yeah, amazing. Opening is so good. The fight sequences are so like the the Thai, I mean I don't want to call it Taijutsu, like the martial, the martial art sequences are so crisp and they're well, they're so well, it's so well animated for as time back then. Even now it holds up like really nicely.

SPEAKER_00 29:24

And Mustang was scene when he destroys dude just fucking snapping his fingers over and over.

SPEAKER_05 29:30

And I I think I have to say, like, Brotherhood is one of the one series where I where I actually preferred the dub over sub. Oh, really? Yeah. I thought I thought the voices were really done like well done, especially for Mustang, too.

SPEAKER_00 29:43

I think I also watched, I think I have seen it in dubbed, but like originally in subbed.

SPEAKER_05 29:47

Yeah. And you feel you just feel so much for the seven deadly sins, like each one of them. Actually, not all of them. Not not um gluttony, but like in what way?

SPEAKER_00 29:56

Like you feel bad for them?

SPEAKER_05 29:57

Yeah, especially in the original, actually. Uh more so in the original. More so in the original, actually. Yeah, like their story is it's like heart-wrenching, kind of.

SPEAKER_00 30:04

Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 30:05

And scar too. Like scars. Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 30:08

But that that poor guy had like had it some of the worst. And it's it's nice seeing um you know themes like racism be included in uh in a show like that.

SPEAKER_05 30:18

But and then it it just shows the gravity of like the sacrifice you kind of had to make for a for a wish. Yeah. Kind of basically a wish. Yeah, for alchemy. Yeah. And it really shows you the consequence of it, which is pretty jarring. You know, the scene with like the Camara, like which is like the most dramatic scene. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Yeah, it shows it really shows the evil natures of humanity, yeah, which I thought they really could did a good job capturing.

SPEAKER_00 30:44

Yeah, and then but if you like go into the minds of you know the specific thing you're talking about where the the guy fuses a dog with his daughter, yeah. You know, if you go into his mind, he's probably like thinking like he's probably doing this as like out of like altruism or something like that, you know? Because I think the original his original intent was like to bring his wife back or something like that. I actually don't I actually don't remember. Something like that. But another but one thing I really, really, really liked about Brotherhood. I was so glad it came out after Full Mile Alchemist because it had a ha much happier ending. Yeah. But one thing I really liked about it was although Edward and Elric like grow up so much, they they hold on to that goal, that original goal so hard all the way to the end. What was the goal again? To to bring Elphons back, you know? Was there more was it more than that? I mean they were searching for their dad too, but I think the primary goal was to, for Edward at least, was to bring Elphons back. And like everything he does, no matter how hard anything is, like it's it it could have been easy to give up or take shortcuts, but they stick on that route uh throughout.

SPEAKER_05 31:45

And and and brotherhood, like Mustang is at the at the end of it, he's so OP. Like he's the only one how to that knows how to do the flame alchemy. Yeah, and he can do now alchemy without transportation circles because he saw the gate, yeah. He got his eyesight back.

SPEAKER_00 32:01

Yeah. So he just he just that doesn't really make sense. He's like the guy. Yeah, he just he just he wins out, like there was no equivalent exchange there.

SPEAKER_05 32:10

Yeah. I mean, technically he lost his eyes, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 32:12

But then he got it out.

SPEAKER_05 32:13

Yeah, he got a problem.

SPEAKER_00 32:14

But he still gets to like keep his fucking shit.

SPEAKER_05 32:16

Yeah, which is crazy, actually. Yeah, was it what was your last

Fullmetal Alchemist And Hard Consequences

SPEAKER_05 32:19

one? My last one was Orb on the movements of the biggest. Oh, yes, yes, yes, yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 32:22

Yeah, I know you like that one too. It's one of the ones that I recommend it to you, but this is this currently my favorite anime, and I love it so fucking much. Like, I don't yeah, I don't know if I've resonated with an anime as much as I do this one. This this anime, or at least most of this anime, really encapsulates what I want out of anime. And I think it does a really good job of communicating humanity and the human spirit and human drive and collectivism and stuff like that.

SPEAKER_05 32:48

What do you mean?

SPEAKER_00 32:49

And so in Orb, it's a a big thing, is like a big theme is self-track self-sacrifice for the greater good. You know, giving up whatever you can for what you believe in, standing for your beliefs. But is that for the greater good? Well, if you believe it's for the greater good, you know. Oh, what is the greater good? It's really what you believe in.

SPEAKER_05 33:09

I I I perceived it as more like what the what it would take for like your own convictions, like you would be willing to sacrifice your life to be able to achieve or obtain what you dreamed of. Like that's that's kind of the one of the big thing themes I got.

SPEAKER_00 33:28

And I think that's beautiful. Yeah, I think that's I think that is so powerful that resonates with me so much. I think it's the the ultimate form of the human spirit, it's the culmination of those the entire lives of those characters, you know, and putting it all into one moment, one belief to believe in the human spirit and that someone will pick up where you left off. I think that I think that is so powerful.

SPEAKER_05 33:55

And and that's probably what literally happened in history. I mean, it technically is what really happened, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 34:00

I mean, it's not like a one-to-one accurate retelling of stories because you know it is just a story, but yeah, orb I also like because um it represents how strong of a foothold religion had back in the days.

SPEAKER_05 34:12

Like paganism and as like the whole the amount of power just religion had over people's lives, yeah, and how strong of a conviction they had to God and how that counteracts and foils the conviction towards science, which I thought was fascinating, how they could coexist at that time, which is kind of weird.

SPEAKER_00 34:30

Yeah, it to the point where theology was a branch of science, which is insane nowadays, yeah, but uh totally normal back then. And what I what I really liked is it was I I think I have a a profound love for like realistic or historical anime or show because Orb is like the setting of Orb is a parallel to real-world Poland in the 1600s, I believe, or 1400s something like that.

SPEAKER_05 34:56

1500s, nearing 1600s, I believe.

SPEAKER_00 34:57

Yeah, something like that. It's it's a parallel of Poland. And I mean I've never been to Poland, but uh, I assume it's like a fair recreation of it.

SPEAKER_05 35:05

I mean the it's a reflection, it's a reflection of I don't think it's um North Galileo, the guy before, but Copernicus? Yeah, or was it even Copernicus Copernicus? I think it was.

SPEAKER_00 35:17

Okay, anyways, yeah. Or maybe not. But you you get the point. And another thing I really, really liked about Orb was how it's pretty much completely grounded in reality. You know, there's no no special powers, it's it's just whatever we can do in our world, they're doing in their world. And when you when there's like a lack of the supernatural, humans matter more in the story, and I really like that.

SPEAKER_05 35:44

Yeah, yeah. Like humanity matters quite a bit. Yeah, there's a lot of focus on what you what what it means to be human.

SPEAKER_00 35:50

Yeah, yeah. There's a ton of dialogue in this, and you know, throughout watching uh Orb, I I asked myself a ton of questions. You know, it made me question things that I believed in and what convictions I had, and how much I really, really believed in those convictions. So really, really enjoyed Orb. Highly recommend, it's so good. Yeah, yeah. I mean, I would say like maybe again, maybe the ending could be a little bit better.

SPEAKER_05 36:14

The last two episodes I'd say was kind of weird compared to the such an impactful first half. Like the first episode is crazy. Yeah, like first two episodes, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 36:23

Yeah, yeah. Like the dude, I think the whole thing is like up until the end, I think the whole thing is like fucking crazy. I mean, like the the villain is so good, yeah. Like meeting Novak and then his his like moment of realization all the way at the end. Holy shit.

SPEAKER_05 36:39

It's crazy because like I could actually sympathize with Novak. Me too. Because imagine being in his shoes, religion is so powerful, it dominates your life. Like, what else are you supposed to believe? It was just ignorant, yeah, exactly.

SPEAKER_00 36:50

Yeah, he was just ignorant, and you know, you can't really be faulted for being ignorant, because of especially at a at a time like that. Exactly. Yeah, because everyone was ignorant.

SPEAKER_05 36:58

Yeah, and that was his job to act to like terminate those who were opposing the foundation of life.

SPEAKER_00 37:04

Yeah, to not be ignorant meant meant death. Yeah, you know, so totally understandable why he was the way he was, but and and you know, he seems like a fucking heartless cold villain for most of the time, yeah, torturing people and stuff. But in those final moments, that glove scene, yeah. Yeah, in that final in those final moments where you like see him break down, yeah, and you you see that this man also has humanity in him, you know, just like everyone else. Uh I think that's like so powerful.

SPEAKER_03 37:31

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 37:32

Oh man. Stuff like that sticks with me so much. Yeah. You know, like I like Noviak is just a fucking a villain in an anime I watched like last year or something. But I still think about this guy.

SPEAKER_05 37:42

Yeah. Damn. Damn. Anyways, my my last two.

Orb Faith Science And Sacrifice

SPEAKER_05 37:47

So Bakuman. Yeah, you gotta tell me about that because I know nothing about Bakuman. So Bakuman is about these two, I guess it starts off when he's in like junior high. It's a coming of age, kind of is shown in two. Like they grow up until they get married. But, anyways, these two guys who have a dream of becoming a manga artist.

unknown 38:03

Okay.

SPEAKER_05 38:03

And then they put in all their effort, eventually succeed, and then they be they become like successful manga artists. I put in my top five because for me, it was incredibly inspirational. Every summer I'd actually watch it. There's three seasons. Yeah. When when did this come out? Oh, a long time ago. I mean, not I mean, not that long ago, but like were you were you a kid when you watched this? The first time? No, I was in high school. I think but it's it's like it's definitely it was in the 2010s, like it was after Death Note. But I I found it super inspirational. The amount of hard work that they put in to become manga car artists, yeah. And it shows how much effort and how much dedication, how much obsession you needed to become someone that great. Yeah. Which I just found so inspiring. And the amount of sacrifice they made to become manga artists was super cool. And once again, there was a big development aspect because it quite literally they age, they grow up, they get married, and everything like that. And it was amazing to see like the friendship that they developed between the two. Which because one's one's the writer and one's the artist. So they it's like a joint duo, and then they become like the number one. And there's they have a rival who's like a genius manga artist, and and I just thought it was super cool to show the side of that industry.

SPEAKER_00 39:09

Yeah, that sounds super interesting because it sounds like there's no like a classic shonen bullshit where things just conveniently happen, you know? Yeah, no, like no convenient powers.

SPEAKER_05 39:18

Yeah. It's like um you think it's like, oh, they're geniuses, which kind of like they kind of are. Like he's really good at art, he's really good at drawing, but even then, this shows how much talent and how much effort, how much like time you need to put in to become someone great. Yeah. And I thought that was really, really cool.

SPEAKER_00 39:35

Have you uh gone back? Oh yeah, you have rewatched it. What was your what was your other last one? Odd Taxi. Oh, yeah. Odd Taxi is fucking awesome.

SPEAKER_05 39:43

Number one, it's because it's like the RR. Like each each character has their own story and it's columnmates to the very end. And I thought the this whole anime depiction was so interesting. Yeah, it was. Like, why do you think they used animals?

SPEAKER_00 39:56

Oh, wait, we know why they use animals. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Right, right, right.

SPEAKER_05 39:58

Which which I think is super fascinating.

SPEAKER_00 40:01

Yeah, you don't find out until the very end.

SPEAKER_05 40:02

Yeah, you kind of suspect it as it builds up, but you got this like Walrus who's kind of like dumb going away. Yeah, but there's a charm to him with his dumbness.

SPEAKER_00 40:12

He's like uh laid back, chill, slow, yeah, lethargic, stuff like that.

SPEAKER_05 40:19

And then um it's like it's not like a you know how oh man, it's not like a show where they depict how animals are supposed to behave, like beast stars. Yeah, like they in beast stars they depict in animals of how they should be. Like, for example, a wolf it should be a carnivore or whatever, just progressive. But in hot taxi, it's just like nothing like that. Yeah, they're just straight up animal representations, which you later find out, which is like the big reveal of why he thinks that way. Yeah, which I would which is really cool, I thought. Yeah, it was really cool. I thought that was well delivered, which is one of my which was one of my criteria, how the whole impact was delivered throughout the end. But yeah, it was just so well nicely meshed in, like a puzz like a puzzle piece, bring bringing it all together. So I would one of the more recent ones that I uh what I put in in my top five, but yeah.

SPEAKER_00 41:08

Also, the opening for autoxy is so good. So good. So nice, so chill. Yeah. I also have one honorable mention.

SPEAKER_05 41:15

Okay, wait, wait, wait. Okay. So then, because we said our top five. Yeah. Then let's let's talk about our other top. Okay, I mean, because Oh, yeah, you have another list. Because you said you have honorable mentions, but I have my other other list. Yeah, yeah, I got you.

SPEAKER_00 41:26

You do your other list first.

SPEAKER_05 41:27

Mine, so

Bakuman And Odd Taxi Payoffs

SPEAKER_05 41:28

this other list is not really based on like critic bacteria, but how much of nostalgia or like this is your vibes, yeah, like my vibes. Like One Piece, okay, Naruto, okay, Inuyashka. Damn, Digimon. Okay, and then Gundam Seed.

SPEAKER_00 41:44

Okay, so this is pure nostalgia because this is like everything from 2000 is only, but it still has a very significant impact on my life. Out of those, I've seen half of Digimon, and I have not seen I forgot one of them that I've seen Gundam Seed, I've seen Inu Yasha, I've seen half of Digimon, and I've seen One Piece? No. Oh yeah, One Piece is the one that I haven't seen.

SPEAKER_05 42:06

But you only saw half of Digimon, like the first season?

SPEAKER_00 42:08

Yeah, I think so. I because I watched it on TV. Yeah. So it was like whenever it was on, and then I never like went back and like went through in order all of the Digimon episodes. I mean, similar to like Pokemon. I've never like actually gone and watched like every episode of Pokemon. Yeah, me too. It was just like when I was on TV. But One Piece is so fucking popular nowadays. Yeah. Like apparently everyone is a One Piece fan. What do you think of One Piece? Because I I haven't seen one piece. I've seen One Piece. I watched it when I was on TV.

SPEAKER_01 42:36

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 42:36

I got up to the part where it was like Usopp joins the crew.

SPEAKER_01 42:39

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 42:39

And then I was like, this is dumb as fuck.

SPEAKER_05 42:41

Yeah. I mean, I I think One Piece is the best series ever created. Really? But not the anime, right? I want to say I wouldn't say anime. And and this is coming for someone. I watched the entire anime once. And I read and I read the manga seven times.

SPEAKER_00 42:58

Seven times? Whoa.

SPEAKER_05 42:59

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 43:00

How how long does OneRead take?

SPEAKER_05 43:02

If I just invest all my time to it, like probably like a probably like a few weeks to a month. Like every every summer I'd read read I'd reread it. Like how many hours are we talking here? Like multiple hour hours a day.

SPEAKER_00 43:14

Like in total, is this like a 50-hour venture? Probably longer.

SPEAKER_05 43:18

Longer. Like way longer, actually. Damn, dude. Yeah, but anyways, the anime, like recently it got really good. Like the animation is like insane. The storytelling is insane. But I would say, like, as a whole, it's definitely not I wouldn't say it's like a top 10 anime. Yeah, so objectively. How many episodes are there in One Piece? That's like a thousand, what, like a thousand hundred something? Okay, how about with no fillers? Actually, One Piece is one of those series that actually doesn't have that many fillers. No way. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 43:43

A thousand episodes of Canon?

SPEAKER_05 43:45

Or like probably maybe like 800. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Most of it. 800 episodes of Canon or something. And the filler that they have is actually really good.

SPEAKER_00 43:51

Are you serious? No, I'm I'm dead ass. Okay. So I've I've like tried to go back and watch One Piece a couple times. I've tried One Pace. I I think I got up to like episode 150 or something. Yeah. Back then. Or m maybe not even 150, maybe like 100 or 98 or something like that.

SPEAKER_02 44:06

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 44:07

It's it's tough, man.

SPEAKER_05 44:09

I mean it's it's it's daunting. But man, I think the world building is also the best ever. The storytelling is one of the best. I'm definitely biased by the way, but anyways, storytelling's the best. The characters are the best.

SPEAKER_00 44:19

I think how do you feel about the foreshadowing is the best. How do you feel about the animation style? Because that is one thing that really turned me off in the phase.

SPEAKER_05 44:26

No. Oh. I actually like both old and recent animation styles of anime. I think there's a charm for each. I think in the beginning phases of One Piece, there's a lot of uh comedy to it. And just like the old style of One Piece, it just has its own charm.

SPEAKER_00 44:42

Like very exaggerated bodies and stuff like that.

SPEAKER_05 44:45

The more recent ones, I think they're still good. It doesn't have that charm as it did from before, but the animation is like really crisp. Um the color palette is sewn out nice, and the design and the animation itself is really nice as well. So each each has its pros and cons. But how compelling is the story?

SPEAKER_00 45:02

Oh, I think it's amazing. Oh, right.

SPEAKER_05 45:04

I think it's the best story ever. Wow.

SPEAKER_00 45:06

Yeah. I've heard that so many times. I mean, pretty much every One Piece fan I talk to, which are which are so many, like they're real I think I've met more One Piece fans than any other anime fan. Like all other anime fans combined, I've met less than One Piece fans, I think. But maybe that's just because like even though people like other animes, they like love One Piece too.

SPEAKER_01 45:26

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 45:27

And uh so many people have told me, like, yo, just stick with it once you get past a certain point, it's like really good. Yeah. And I've tried a couple times.

SPEAKER_05 45:34

I mean, it's hard to watch it as an anime. That's why, that's why I would always reread it. I can't I couldn't re-watch it from the get-go from the beginning. I tried it, it didn't work out, but definitely reading it, it's it's really good. But yeah, I just think like it's so goofy at times, which is which is a big charm as well. It's bizarre, but at the same time, it works. Yeah, and and the plot is just so good.

SPEAKER_00 45:55

So the the general theme for One Piece is like pirates, right? Yeah. Is is did that have did that play a part in like hooking you into the anime?

SPEAKER_05 46:05

Not at all. Not at all. Actually, when I was younger, I was way more into Inuyasha and Inuyasha was the foundation for my love for anime. Really? Like I mentioned like Beyblade, Digimon, and Pokemon, but that was more kind of like the toy stuff, right? I m with exception of Digimon, I also really like the anime, but Inu Yasha was like the anime that hooked me in.

SPEAKER_00 46:24

Did you watch Inuyasha before you watched like Dragon Ball and Naruto One Piece?

SPEAKER_05 46:29

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 46:29

Really? Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 46:30

Oh, did you watch Bleach? Yeah, I also watched Bleach. I mean, Bleach is really good too.

SPEAKER_00 46:33

Yeah, Bleach is awesome. Yeah. I think out of out of those like old anime, I think the one I liked, I I like the most is probably Bleach. Really? Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 46:40

TV on, I mean, like, and because those those are the big three. Yeah. Undisputable, I think. It's it's Naruto, One Piece, and Bleach. Like I I looked this up in forums when I was younger. And people were debating it, like, oh, what's the new like big three? What was the old big three? And some people say, like, some people would put Dragon Ball in there, but that that doesn't make sense.

SPEAKER_00 47:00

Dragon Ball is like way old, man.

SPEAKER_05 47:01

Yeah, and and it doesn't make sense because Naruto, One Piece, and Bleach were like the top three running series back then on Shonen Jump with television series. Yeah. So it's it's undisputable. Those are the top three. Anyways.

One Piece Bias And The Big Three

SPEAKER_00 47:14

In terms of popularity, yeah.

SPEAKER_05 47:15

Yeah. When I was a kid, I liked Naruto the best. And then Bleach, and then actually One Piece last as a kid. One Piece, I my love for it grew up when I was when I was getting older, when I was in like junior high, high school. But as a kid, it was just Naruto, Bleach, One Piece. What made you like Naruto and Bleach more? Definitely when I was younger, it was the shonen aspect of it. Like the more intense. Yeah, more intense. Like when I wore I remember watching the first episode of Narto, actually. The whole arc, I mean not the arc, but what was it?

SPEAKER_00 47:43

The the Hidden Mist Village?

SPEAKER_05 47:45

No, no, no, no. I mean, uh before that, the first episode where uh I forgot, oh it was Mizuki's name is where he makes the Arto steal the scroll the scroll. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 47:53

I I think you're right. I think it was Mizuki.

SPEAKER_05 47:55

And then Yoruka gets hit with the big giant short. I was like, that's very powerful. This is fucking sick. And when Naruto uses Shadowclone Jitsu in the very end, I was like, holy fuck. Yeah. And then the Haku arc was was insane.

SPEAKER_00 48:09

Yeah, that's that's intense. Crazy to for a kid's show, to be honest.

SPEAKER_05 48:13

Like I would say, like the original Naruto, I think it's way better than Chuputin.

SPEAKER_00 48:18

Way better. I mean, if it if it got like a visual lift, I would totally agree with you.

SPEAKER_05 48:22

Like there was nothing bad about original Naruto. Like aside from the fillers. Yeah, yeah, like like first episode, so impactful, Haku episode, Zabuza so intense. Chunin exams was fucking wild. Yeah. And then the whole tsunami arc was also insane. Yeah. And then the Sasuke retrieval arc is fucking crazy.

SPEAKER_00 48:43

What was your favorite? I think for me it was probably tuning exam.

SPEAKER_05 48:46

It was uh Chunin and then Zabza and then probably Sasuke Retrieval. Like, do you remember the scene where Choji bought fought the fucking one of the guys, the sound the sound of four? Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 48:58

Where they all like split up and fight the yeah. That was insane. Yeah, it is insane. Do you remember the fucking obviously you do, but like that last fight between Naruto and Sasuke? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Dude, seeing that fight is like that's so ahead of its time. I agree. Yeah, like the the quality of that animation, so ahead of its time. Yeah, it's so so fucking cool, so intense. Wow, so it's so okay. Dude, but my one problem with Naruto is like once you get to episode like 120 or something, yeah, it's 90 straight episodes of filler.

SPEAKER_04 49:26

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 49:27

And then the last episode, like dry comes, picks him up, and then it's off to Shibu.

SPEAKER_05 49:30

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Of the Shibuda.

SPEAKER_00 49:31

Yeah, yeah, I remember. I remember. That was the that was the one thing that I remember as a kid even being like annoyed with because I was I didn't even realize like we're watching fillers. I mean, or rather, I didn't realize I didn't know what fillers were.

SPEAKER_01 49:42

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 49:42

I I think maybe I did, but I was like, yo, where's the fillers are the worst actually? Yeah, they were so fucking bad. Yeah, I was like, where's the where's the story, man? Like, let's let's keep going. I'm into this.

SPEAKER_05 49:53

You mentioned Bleach. But why why did you like Bleach the most? Dude, easy answer. The characters look so cool. Honestly, it has the they have the best design by far. Like Tite Kubo is so good at art and the design.

SPEAKER_00 50:06

Intros, the music. Number one is probably my favorite song. Uh you know the song? Yeah, like the intro, yeah, yeah, yeah. Or like Ichigo's theme, you know, number one. Oh, yeah. If you want to see some, yeah, that's probably like my favorite song ever to come out of anime. I fucking love number one so much. Yeah. And and then with the Thousand Year Blood War Blood War arc, they uh remastered number one. It's just like so sick. Yeah. Yeah. I think the biggest thing that drew me to a couple things drew me to bleach. One of them being the characters look badass. The characters are so cool. Yeah. I and another thing I really liked is they looked older to me, the characters. Yeah, like Ichigo was like fucking 15 in the series. Yeah. They're also like six foot five, which they look so fucking Chad. A character named Chad. But yeah, I really liked the I liked everything about Bleach, the aesthetic, the hollows. The aesthetic is so cool. Yeah, it does.

SPEAKER_04 50:58

Like the Orancars are so sick. Yeah, everyone or Kiora is it's so cool.

SPEAKER_00 51:02

Bleach is like the definition of cool. Yeah. You know, like everything about Bleach is just so fucking cool. Ichigo is like a cool guy who doesn't give a shit. Yeah, he doesn't even want to like save the world. Yeah, he's just like he's just chilling, you know. He'll he'll he'll save the world if he has to. If he has to save his friends, he'll do it, but he doesn't really want to. Yeah.

unknown 51:19

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 51:19

Everything about Bleach was just the fight scenes are so badass, the transformations. Yeah, Bob Kaizer is super cool. Dude, Bleach has got some of the coolest villains ever. Like Isa is like Isa got like crazy aura. This guy's like so sick.

SPEAKER_05 51:32

Like when when when Ichigo did Final Gets Gaten show, I was like, I was like, holy fuck.

SPEAKER_00 51:37

Dude, is everything about Bleach is like so the the Ulkiora fights, Grimjaw, you know, all the all the bad guys.

SPEAKER_05 51:44

Urukiora fight was that that was so good. Dude, I fucking hate that guy so much.

SPEAKER_00 51:48

Really? Yeah, I fucking hate. Did you feel for him though? No, not at all. He's trying to steal Orihime. No, but like yo, fuck that guy. He's trying to steal Ichigo's girl. That guy can get fucked. Damn. Yeah, I fucking hate that guy.

SPEAKER_05 51:59

But there was like a little bit of humanity in Urukiora, which I really like. Stay away from my girl, man. Go do that shit somewhere else. Then I'll feel sorry for you. Damn. Yeah, no. Stay dead, bitch. So the one thing I I didn't like about Bleach is that you know how in Naruto and One Piece there's an overarching plot. Like, you know, like One Piece, the end goal is to become pirate, like the King of the Pirates and find One Piece. Naruto to become Hokage, blah blah blah. But in Bleach, it's like fuck the fuck's the the main plot.

SPEAKER_00 52:28

Like I think uh yeah, but I think the the the point is like Ichigo's like uh or at least he was supposed to just be like a normal guy, you know. Never really wanted this life. He just wanted to be like a sad boy, going to school, live a normal life. He wasn't like sad boy though.

SPEAKER_05 52:44

He was kind of sad like he like there's some fun in Ichigo.

SPEAKER_00 52:47

There is, yeah. But I remember he uh he seemed pretty depressed early in the series because like constantly thinking about stuff with his mom.

SPEAKER_05 52:53

Because at that point he you remember Grandfisher, like yeah, he he thought he thought he uh killed his own mom and stuff like that. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 53:00

It's definitely darker than Naruto in One Piece. Oh yeah. I mean it like directly deals with death right away. I and like in such a gruesome way, too. Yeah because I remember in the early episodes of Bleach, there's like that one uh one arc with like a oh yeah, because Bleach at the start was like it was it was like a monster of the week. It was it didn't have like a main story.

SPEAKER_05 53:21

They were just hunting yeah, for like a good like quite a bit, and then it was the Rukia arc where they tried to get around.

SPEAKER_00 53:28

I think like for the first 20 episodes, they were just like hunting random ass monsters.

SPEAKER_05 53:31

I thought that was kind of boring to be honest.

SPEAKER_00 53:33

Yeah, yeah. Well, I liked it because there were there's some intense shit that happens. Like there's that one little arc where it's like a T TV show personality in bleach, and he's like exercising evil spirits, but he's actually like improperly, like you know, there's like those spirits that haven't gone to the to the spirit realm yet, and he's kind of like torturing them, yeah, and it was like really gruesome and seemed like like a real torture, you know.

SPEAKER_05 53:58

Actually, yeah, like I there was that episode with Orihimi's brother. Yeah, that was pretty dark, man. Super dark. I was like, damn.

SPEAKER_00 54:05

I was like grade six when I was watching this. Yeah, but that stuff was uh really captured me back then. Yeah, One Piece not at all, man. I thought it was like too goofy for me. I thought it was like it really, really seemed like it was more like like some of the cartoons that I would see on TV rather than an anime. Like it felt it felt more like uh like SpongeBob.

SPEAKER_05 54:26

Yeah, that it's it's interesting because yeah, I wasn't that into it when I was a kid. Like I still watched it, but I like Naruto and Bleach way more than One Piece. But I as I grew up, I got more into One Piece, which is kind of fascinating. But Naruto was your favorite, right? Growing up, yeah, by by far. I mean, well, Inu Yasha number one, and then right, right, right. What got you into Inu Yasha? I actually have no idea. It must have been just because it was on like YTV. It was definitely because it was on Bionics at 11 p.m. Right, right. And then I thought it was so cool. Like Inuyasha was so cool. I was yelling out his like like move names. Yeah, what was it? Like Winscar, yeah, fuck what was it called? Like it was called Winscar. Oh, right, Winscar, yeah. Iron Reaver something, Iron Creaver, uh something like that. And then Blades of Blade Blessed Blade in his I thought I thought Sashomaru was the most badass guy ever.

SPEAKER_00 55:14

I thought he was so sick, so cool. Yeah, yeah. I watched a lot of uh Inuyasha too when I was a kid. Uh y'all so you your like second list was Inuyasha, Gundam Seed. What what else was on there?

SPEAKER_05 55:26

Digimon, Digimon, One Piece, and then Naruto. Yeah. Yeah. Gundam Seed was sick.

SPEAKER_00 55:32

Yeah, I watched that too. Um I've I also loved Gundam Seed, and I think Gundam Seed was uh there was there was uh Gundam before Gundam Seed, right?

SPEAKER_05 55:40

I don't think it was quite a bit, I think.

SPEAKER_00 55:43

No, no, no, but like that same story. But but no, there wasn't one. And there was Destiny. Yeah, Gundam Seed and then Gundam Seed Destiny. But Destiny wasn't that good though. Yeah. But I still watched it because it was a continuation of Gundam Seed. Yeah. But but but Kira wasn't the main character though. No, he wasn't. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 55:58

Which I didn't really like.

SPEAKER_00 55:59

But he was still in it. Yeah, yeah, he was still in it. But yeah, I think Gundam Seed was like my first foray into Gundam as well. It was my first Gundam series. Yeah. Have you watched more Gundam series? No, I actually don't really like Gundam series. I watched another one a couple years back. It was The Witch from Mercury. And it was not bad. The the gun the animation was pretty sick. But yeah, I only watched one season. There's a couple seasons.

SPEAKER_05 56:21

The intro, I think it was the intro with the ending for Gundam Seed is really good.

SPEAKER_00 56:24

I don't remember it. Yeah. What do you what do you remember about Gundam Seed? What did you like about? There's actually a lot of racism.

SPEAKER_05 56:30

Yeah, a ton of racism. Yeah, because like the whole premise is that like they're they're of different like genetics, right?

SPEAKER_00 56:37

Like they're they're like from different planets.

SPEAKER_05 56:39

Yeah, they're like kind of aliens.

SPEAKER_00 56:41

Yeah. And then they're still humans, but it's like humanity has explored these other these other places, and yeah, you know, the I can't remember if it was like the earth earth beings were like the low beings or something like that. But yeah, it's a it's uh I think that's a common theme actually in Gundam.

SPEAKER_05 56:57

Makes sense if they're if they have robots that can fucking go around space and I can show it up. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 57:03

It's nice to see like things topics like racism being.

SPEAKER_05 57:07

Yeah, I mean back then I didn't get it. Really? Yeah, I I got it. I mean I I watched that when I was in like grade three. Oh actually, maybe I didn't get it. I I searched it up after when I got older. I was like, oh damn, this this is what it's about. Yeah. And what was your last uh Digimon. Digimon. Yeah. What are what are your some um honorable mentions?

Honorable Mentions And What’s Next

SPEAKER_00 57:28

I don't have a lot. I tried to condense it, but one that I really, really want okay. Actually, I'll just I'll just say a couple. One of them I think you like as well is Eminence and Shadow.

SPEAKER_04 57:37

Oh, really? Yeah, really? I really enjoy that. It's dude, it's so funny. Yeah, I think it's really, really funny.

SPEAKER_00 57:42

Uh purely as like from like a comedy perspective. I think the main character I actually read it.

SPEAKER_05 57:47

I didn't really watch it, but I read the entire thing. I mean, up up until day. The music is also awesome in The Eminence in Shadow. And so the one thing I actually like about Eminence and Shadow is that the MC is like he doesn't like care about girls, he's just like trying to get money.

SPEAKER_00 58:02

Yeah, exactly. He's just trying to be like a fucking like a demon, basically, like a Chad, like as strong as possible. And that's also what I love about Eminence and Shadow. This guy does not give a shit about the people around him.

SPEAKER_05 58:13

Because the whole goal for him is that he's just trying to get fucking Japanese.

SPEAKER_00 58:16

Yeah, he's just trying to, he's just trying to be atomic, you know. He wants to be he wants to be able to defeat a nuclear blast, and that's like his only goal. That's so funny. Yeah, and there's like a ton of women around him, and he just does not give a shit about it at all. Because even before he died, he was just getting super yoke, right? Yeah, he he killed himself.

SPEAKER_05 58:34

I mean, not intentionally. Wasn't it intentionally? No, I think he was trying to like no, it definitely wasn't intentional.

SPEAKER_00 58:39

Because it was like he was like in the forest and he's like slamming his head against a tree, and then he ran out in front of a truck. Because in the in like our world, in the human world, he has reached the upper limit of a man.

SPEAKER_01 58:50

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 58:51

Which is like he's as strong as he could possibly be.

SPEAKER_01 58:54

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 58:54

But he can't get stronger. So like if a nuclear bomb falls on him, yeah, he would lose. And he hates that. He wants to be able to overcome the nuclear bomb.

SPEAKER_04 59:03

Oh, I see.

SPEAKER_00 59:04

But he realizes in this human world, since he has reached the the limit of you know, a human, he can't do that. I think that's what happens. I don't know.

SPEAKER_05 59:14

I don't I kind of doubt that.

SPEAKER_00 59:16

Okay, maybe maybe I'm wrong, but I I think that's what happens. But, anyways, the point is how he like just you know, he's he's just doing himself. Yeah, he's just all about himself. And I think the next season is coming out soon. And I'm so excited for this next season. Because I because yeah, because he's coming back to the human world. Oh, yeah, he does. He does go back to the human world, yeah. Which uh I want to bring this up real quick. So you read a lot of manga. I don't read manga basically at all. All right, should we say that for our later?

SPEAKER_05 59:40

Yeah, let's be able to do that. Okay, okay. But let's talk about your honorable mention, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 59:43

Yeah, so I fucking love eminence and shadow. And you know, when I see a character like this, that's like so motivating to me. Why? Because I'm like, I want to be like this guy, like I don't want to give a fuck about anything else. I just want to hyper focus on well, which is like can be toxic sometimes, but you know, to be to be able to be so like focused on your goal, it that that's like I I know it's like comedy anime, but in some ways it's like quite inspirational, you know, to be able to to be that kind of person. And he's like such a cool guy, such a badass guy. He's a very badass guy, yeah. And uh I really love his his whole mantra of like trying not to stand out. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I I fucking love that, and yeah, I think it's great. I think I think I think this show is like actually genius. Oh wow, yeah. I didn't think that was gonna be in your honorable mentions. Yeah, definitely in my honorable mentions. Another one I have is Haiku. Oh yeah, haiku's really good. Kind of obvious. I love volleyball. Yeah, you love volleyball too. And since you mentioned what what was it that you were like, I think this is like one of the best arcs in anime? Was it the camera? Yeah, yeah. Wild toss here from left field, but I think in haiku, the season where they go against Hira Torizawa, I think that's like one of the best seasons in anime. I mean it's it's good. But I think it is very specific because it's like volleyball, you know, and you kind of gotta be into volleyball to So you look you like that better than them playing Neko uh yeah.

SPEAKER_05 1:01:09

Yeah, because I uh we watched the movie. They they definitely did it better in the manga than the movie, I think.

SPEAKER_00 1:01:14

I believe that. Yeah. I I actually rewatched the movie like three days ago.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:19

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:01:19

Yeah. Cause I was like, because I had only seen it in theaters, and then usually when I see like an anime movie, I'll see it in theaters, but then I also want to watch it at home because I think it's I like watching it at home more. Uh so I watched it at home, and yeah, I gotta say, I like the I like the Shiro Tori's all yeah uh matchups.

SPEAKER_05 1:01:34

I mean it's way more impactful, I think, when Suki blocks the block.

SPEAKER_00 1:01:38

Yeah, that's like so fucking sick, man. Yeah, and uh all of the action shots, the people fucking you know, spiking, blocking, serving, everything looks so sick. When they do like that, like a really like hard like painting calligraphy, yeah, the calligraphy style. It uh really reminds me of like, you know, I I've always been like a really big Street Fighter fan. Like a video game Street Fighter.

SPEAKER_05 1:01:58

It is basically Street Fighter, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:01:59

And they, you know, Street Fighter does a lot of that when people do like their finisher moves, and you know, seeing that in Haiku, I was like, so cool. Yeah, dude. Haiku is like it's kind of shaped, yeah, it's definitely had an impact on my life because I think it's uh what I think it was it really helped uh push me towards volleyball, which is something I I only really did in my adult life.

SPEAKER_05 1:02:19

But that's probably happening. That's like I feel like haiku popularized volleyball. Totally. No, I mean I wouldn't say worldwide, but like me, like in Japan, it probably like really made it big.

SPEAKER_00 1:02:28

I mean, dude, I bet you because in our city, there's a thriving volleyball scene now. Is there? I think well, yeah, I think there is. The the center we play at people play there like like four days a week. But is it always has it always been thriving, or do you think it's so I've been playing there for I don't know if this I think it was my third year playing there. And yeah, it's always been full. Yeah. Like like pretty much every every uh season, all the slots get filled up.

SPEAKER_03 1:02:52

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:02:52

For for the teams in league. But yeah, Haiku is uh Haiku is fucking awesome. And yeah, I rewatched the the match against Nekoma recently. And I think well, I know why I like it less. It's like the the match ends like extremely suddenly, you know? Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_05 1:03:09

It's the the climax isn't there. I just wish they would have like reminisced a little bit more and made those scenes impactful. And I wish they made the the scene where they kind of lost more impactful. Yeah. Because I think in the manga they do it better. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:03:23

But I did appreciate how it it was actually quite realistic. Yeah. In that sense, where you know, plenty of times when you're in a volleyball match and you're like it's like an if it's like a really intense match, you're really close in skill with your opponents and you really want to win, usually in like playoffs or something, and you're just like giving it your fucking all. And you there are times where you will like completely lose track of the score, you'll lose track of how close the game really is, and how you are just one one point away from losing the game, and all of a sudden it happens, and you're like, Oh, the match is over. And it's like a sudden realization, and it's kind of daunting, but and that and that happens in the movie, but it's realistic, you know? Yeah, and I I appreciate that, even though it was it obviously was not as an imp as impactful of a climax as the uh the match against Shira Torizawa. I still appreciated it and I still like it. But I do like the match against Shira Torizawa more. Yeah, that's fair. That's fair. How much do you like Iiku? It's probably my favorite sports anime. Oh, okay. I mean that that's not that's not really a big uh you know, there aren't a ton of sports animes.

SPEAKER_05 1:04:28

Well, I mean I really like slam dunk.

SPEAKER_00 1:04:30

Yeah, but that's like don't they have special powers in that? No. Oh, right. You're talking about Croken Basket. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay, I haven't seen Slam Dunk, but Slam Dunk's really good.

SPEAKER_05 1:04:38

But no, Haiku is probably up there. I I would say like top top 20. It's all time. Yeah, for me.

SPEAKER_00 1:04:45

Not sports only though, right?

SPEAKER_05 1:04:46

Yeah, just like all time.

SPEAKER_00 1:04:47

Gotcha, gosh.

unknown 1:04:48

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 1:04:49

Maybe even like top 10, actually. I think it's in my top 10. Any other honorable mentions?

SPEAKER_00 1:04:53

Oh yeah, man. I got a couple. Another one that I really, really liked is Jojo.

SPEAKER_05 1:04:59

I actually can't say too much about Jojo because I only watched a season and a half. Which one? The first one? The very first one, and then the second one up to Joseph. Yeah, his name was Joseph. Yeah. Yeah. And I watched a little bit about Joe'ske.

SPEAKER_00 1:05:12

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 1:05:13

So you skipped Joe Taro, basically. No, no, nevermind. Never mind. I I watched a bit of Joe Taro. Oh, okay. Okay.

SPEAKER_00 1:05:18

So you didn't get to Joskey. Joe's game is actually my favorite season. Oh, really? Yeah. Yeah. I I love JoJo. I love I love all the Jojo's. For the for well, I mean, whoever's listening to this, they probably know about JoJo. So I won't explain it too much, but yeah, there's like a new Jojo every season, and every Jojo is like quite unique. Jojo being the main character. It's like first name Joe, last name Joe star. And yeah, it's every season of Jojo is so fresh and different and new to me. And it's there's so many funny moments in it that I fucking love JoJo. Like I love the first Jojo, who is Jonathan, because he's like a really, really good guy. Like he has a heart of gold. Yeah. You know, at every at every opportunity, he does. Does the right thing at every fork in the road? He does the he he travels the path less traveled.

SPEAKER_05 1:06:06

I mean Joseph only comes in the first season, right? Comes out in the first season.

SPEAKER_00 1:06:09

Joseph is after Jonathan. Oh, oh, okay. Yeah. Did I say Joseph? No, no, you said you said Joseph. Oh, I meant Jonathan. Because Jonathan is the first one. Oh, okay, okay. Yeah, Jonathan's like a really good guy. You know, he's really kind. He has his fucking stepbrother Dio, who does like terrible shit to him all the time, and he always like overcomes it. And even like at the very end, he still he still loves his adoptive brother, which is like so so amazing when his adoptive brother is like literally the mo the biggest menace ever. He's like a he's like a deep he's like the devil. He's so funny, but he's so he's a fucking asshole, man. He he kills his fucking dog in like episode one. Yeah, yeah, I remember. Holy shit, bro. Yeah, which is like a common theme in Chojo, and I fucking hate it, man. Like killing dogs? Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 1:06:52

Oh, really?

SPEAKER_00 1:06:53

Like every single season, a dog dies in Jojo. Which I mean, it's like a it's like a ploy to make you hate the the villain. And like I get it, but I hate seeing dogs die. Yeah. But yeah, Jonathan's like a really good guy. And then you know, Jonathan dies, and then we go out on to Joseph, who's like completely opposite of Jonathan. Yeah, he's like a he's he's a fucking uh he's like a scammer, you know? He's Joseph? Yeah, Joseph. He's like a little weasel, he uh cracks a lot of jokes, he's not a gentleman at all, which which Jonathan really was. And and the style just it it evolves like every single time. After Joseph, there's Jotaro who's like again completely opposite of Joseph. Joseph is like a really loud, charismatic, and then John uh Jotaro, also charismatic in his own way, but he's like much more reserved and quiet and like angry and stuff like that. And then and then you go on to Joske, who's you know, the the anime just really transforms every season. Josuke is so different from Joe Taro, and then after that you have Jiorno, and then you know it just keeps going on and on, and uh the new season is coming out too soon. But yeah, I love Jojo. I think I think it's I think it's hilarious. I really like the powers. I think stands are super cool. Yeah, I think I think it's probably like one of I think it's the first manga to use stands, right? There's more mangas with stands? Yeah, yeah. Nowadays, like so many things use stands. Like what? Good question. I don't have any on this off the top of my head, but even in uh even in video games, I see like so many things using stands nowadays. Oh, right. But like and a spirit, you know, the Alps here or whatever. Oh, I see. Yeah, so I was a big fan of Jojo, and then the last one that I have is Freerun. Oh, okay, yeah, yeah. Yeah, I I like Free Run a lot. I've only seen the first season, haven't seen the second season yet. But really nice. It's very chill watch, I would say. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 1:08:36

I think it's it does a really good job of portraying life too. Yeah, it does. I mean it's it is a slice of life kind of mixed with fantasy.

SPEAKER_00 1:08:44

Yeah. It's uh it's really about stopping and smelling the roses, which is which is a common theme. But I think no matter how often it's repeated, I think people forget it so easily.

SPEAKER_05 1:08:53

Yeah, I really like it because there's a huge focus on mindfulness, yeah, which is what you said. Like you take in the bits, bits and pieces of life as you go on.

SPEAKER_03 1:09:03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 1:09:04

You try to experience and really take really absorb the moment at time.

SPEAKER_03 1:09:09

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 1:09:09

Which Hemel really tried to emphasize for Freerin. Yeah. Because Freerin's like a very old character, because she's an elf, and Hemel's a human. But then humans, Hemel really lives life to his fullest and tries to enjoy every aspect of it, which Freeren learns from that, and she tries to take value in that as well, which is really cool.

SPEAKER_00 1:09:26

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 1:09:27

And the animation is sick.

SPEAKER_00 1:09:29

Yeah, and then once we once we once the story starts, you know, the the bulk of what happens in Freeran happened before the show. And we're seeing like the after the journey after, and you know, you we see Freeren like profoundly dealing with grief because she lives so much longer than all of her contemporaries since she's you know a special elf being.

SPEAKER_05 1:09:48

And it's it's interesting because in the beginning it's like grief, but then throughout the series, you quickly catch on, it's like, wow, that was a good time. Like for free. Like what Freerin' thinking, like, wow, that's like a really fond memory for me. Which is which is really nice because Freerin is initially depicted as a kind of like a cold or elf. Yeah, kind of aloof, just really into spells and magic. Yeah. But you can quite evidently tell that the group of that the party that she was with had a quite an impactful.

SPEAKER_00 1:10:17

Yeah, they really changed her. Yeah, helped her, helped her grow a ton. Yeah. Um and yeah, seeing seeing Freen have like, you know, even though after after a while it turns from grief to gratitude.

SPEAKER_05 1:10:29

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Gratitude.

SPEAKER_00 1:10:31

You can still see that she she has missed out on some stuff, you know, because she wasn't present in those moments and she's reliving them through her memories and coming to this this gratitude later on. But it's it's still interesting to see someone have that kind of someone that didn't stop and smell the s the roses and how their life is going afterwards, you know, thinking about those moments and things that could have maybe could have been different if she did things different. Yeah, yeah. I think I think we're out of time. So really, dude. I I've I've gone through like 10% of the things that I wanted to go through. But if we're out of time, we're out of time.

SPEAKER_05 1:11:07

Yeah, I guess we're out of time, but we can we'll we'll actually continue on then for for next week. Yeah, yeah, why not? Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:11:14

This won't be like the the mini-series, but I mean this is stuff that we really like talking about. So might as well keep talking about it.

SPEAKER_05 1:11:22

I still read manga and webtoons actually.

SPEAKER_00 1:11:24

Yeah, what do you what are you uh reading and watching nowadays?

SPEAKER_05 1:11:26

Anything? I mean, anime there there's a lot of anime I want to watch. I just don't have enough time. I know, me too. But uh I'm not reading reading any manga, but I'm reading a lot of webtoons now.

SPEAKER_00 1:11:37

Yeah, I have I haven't but I I've like never really got into reading manga.

SPEAKER_05 1:11:41

Yeah, I yeah, I've I've been into that since Did you ever did you ever read like comics?

SPEAKER_00 1:11:46

Like Bones? The Garden. Oh yeah, like anything, yeah, like that. Oh, you did? Yeah, maybe that's what got you into manga because I was never into those either. No, I was definitely into manga first. Oh, okay. Yeah, I I I only ever was into like actual books, not like never picture books. I didn't like comics. Oh I think even like reading manga nowadays, I'm like, I don't really I don't really get it. Actually, Dragon Ball was what got me into manga. Oh really? Yeah. Oh dude, we didn't even talk about Dragon Ball, but we can talk about this this next next week. Yeah, that's probably Dragon Ball and Dragon Ball Zoo are probably some of the most impactful. Actually, me too.

SPEAKER_05 1:12:14

Fuck, I forgot to mention that.

SPEAKER_00 1:12:15

Yeah, even though it's not in like my top five.

SPEAKER_05 1:12:17

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:12:17

Yeah, I would say it's not in my top five. Yeah, but just because it's like it's from a different time.

SPEAKER_05 1:12:21

It's like the it's like the yeah, like it's the godfather.

SPEAKER_00 1:12:24

Yeah, if Dragon Ball like started at all. Yeah, whatever you're watching, you're watching it because of Dragon Ball.

SPEAKER_05 1:12:29

Yeah. But that's that's all the time we have for today. I hope if there's any anime lovers out there and you enjoyed listening in of our passion, our interest and towards anime.

SPEAKER_00 1:12:43

But yeah, I mean, I really like talking about this. I still have so much more to talk about, but I hope I hope it was a decent enough listen. I don't know if it was, but even if it wasn't, I want to keep talking about this next time.

SPEAKER_05 1:12:53

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Me too. But that's all for today. Thank you for tuning in. This was Catch Up with Kai and Cohen, and we'll you guys will hear from us soon.

SPEAKER_00 1:13:04

Thank you very much. Bye bye.