ABC 1 | Kickoff

Two brand-new series; two totally different kinds of tension. We’re launching our anime book club by watching the first two episodes of Witch Hat Atelier and Nippon Sangoku and then going beat by beat through what actually worked, what felt mid, and what made us instantly want more.

Witch Hat Atelier pulls us in with storybook visuals, pop-up-book transitions, and a rules-based magic system where spells are literally drawn. We talk about Coco’s kindness, her mom’s harsh shutdowns, and why that tension feels so real. Nippon Sangoku swings hard in the opposite direction: post-collapse Japan split into three factions, modern references layered over old-world politics, and a grim opening that doesn’t wait to hurt you. 

Transcript

Welcome And Book Club Launch

SPEAKER_00 0:02

Hi everyone, welcome back to Catch Up with Kyle and Cohen. This is Kai, and I'm here with Cohen. And today we're starting off our anime book club. This is episode one. What did we choose to watch, Cohen?

SPEAKER_01 0:15

Actually, I forgot to mention something. You know how we introduced this last week? Yeah. We forgot to mention that this is our Thursday series. Oh. So just in case that people were looking forward to Tuesday.

SPEAKER_00 0:28

We could put it on Tuesday.

SPEAKER_01 0:29

I mean, this one's going on Thursday. Oh, yeah. Might as well might as well keep it. Okay, until Thursday.

SPEAKER_00 0:33

So Thursdays will be recurring book club day.

SPEAKER_01 0:36

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 0:36

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 0:37

Okay. Yeah. But anyways, we decided last week on two anime. So we were watching two episodes per anime. The first one we chose was it was Witch Hat Atelier. Atelier. And then the second one was Nippon Sangoku. Yeah. So we we watched two episodes of each, the first two episodes. And then I think we'll start off with Witch High. How's that sound?

SPEAKER_00 1:00

Okay, sure.

SPEAKER_01 1:01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:01

So that's that's reverse order for me. I watched Nippon Songoku first. Oh, really? Okay, okay.

SPEAKER_01 1:06

That'll be interesting because uh maybe like you did it the other way, watch it first.

Choosing Two Series And A Format

SPEAKER_01 1:10

Maybe I'll be biased towards some sort of way and you'll be biased. But yeah, I'll let's start with Witch Hat and see how it goes. The general format we were actually talking about kinda is that we'll try to take it pretty chronologically, like both the way we watched it and like the timeline, for example, talking about each episode, like one first and then second, talking about the intro and how it progresses to the episodes, the outro, and how it transitions to the subsequent episodes and just our general thoughts on it.

SPEAKER_00 1:37

Yeah. So we'll try our best to keep it in order. Maybe some details will scatter around here and there. But do you wanna Are we gonna talk about what we liked more right now? Or say that to the end? Okay, okay, okay.

SPEAKER_01 1:47

So I can start. Um the Witch Hat, so the intro, I thought it was mid.

SPEAKER_00 1:51

Yeah, you thought the intro was mid? I I gave a numbered rating to all of the intros and endings.

SPEAKER_01 1:57

Okay. What was what was this what was the rating for the for this one?

SPEAKER_00 2:00

For the opening for Witch Hat, I gave it a seven out of ten.

SPEAKER_01 2:03

Well, I guess to be fair, actually, I don't think they played the opening in the first episode. No, they didn't. It was the second episode. Yeah, but we can comment on it. You gave it a seven, I give it a five. A five. Yeah. For me personally, it wasn't there w there wasn't like a catchy chorus or hook. You know, it was uh yeah, it was a little bit mundane, it was a bit boring for me.

SPEAKER_00 2:20

Yeah, so I specifically decided to did you write down your uh ratings? No, but I can just come up with that. Okay, so I I specifically wrote them down because maybe it's because I've only seen two episodes so far, but I actually didn't find any of the songs. Well, I guess like spoiler, but I didn't find any of the songs to be particularly like memorable.

SPEAKER_01 2:38

Yeah, in which chat?

SPEAKER_00 2:39

Yeah,

Witch Hat Opening And Ending Ratings

SPEAKER_00 2:40

yeah. So yeah, I give it a seven. Like it wasn't horrible. Yeah, no, it wasn't oh, but I was gonna ask, how how harsh are you in your in your rating systems? Because I think I'm like for me, a five is like truly average. You know, I I think for a lot of people like a seven is kind of average. So what do you think? Like, is five like actually?

SPEAKER_01 2:56

This was like really average for me.

SPEAKER_00 2:58

Oh, okay. Yeah. So so you're you're like honest about it.

SPEAKER_01 3:00

Yeah, like nothing really stood out for me personally. I really like melodies. Personally, the melody for this opening was I thought it was pretty mid. Like this is something that I would skip on subsequent episodes.

SPEAKER_00 3:12

Fair enough. Did you did you listen to just the intro, or like did you go on YouTube and listen to the full version? No, just the just the intro. But sometimes like the the full version is true, like a hidden banger, you know.

SPEAKER_01 3:22

But you you you gave it a seven.

SPEAKER_00 3:24

Yeah, I give it a seven. And since I thought it was better than average. Well, the thing is, yes, I did think it was better than average, but I'm realizing that I might have been like comparing it to the other intros that I listened to. Like it's or specifically comparing it to the Nippon Song Goku opening and ending that I had listened to already before listening to the Witch Hat opening. So I think subconsciously I was actually comparing it to those two instead of giving it like a truly, truly like unbiased rating.

SPEAKER_01 3:51

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 3:52

But for now, I was sick, I was sick by that seven for now.

SPEAKER_01 3:54

Okay, okay, that's fair. That's fair. Would you would you skip now the opening subsequent episodes, or would you continue to uh listen to the openings?

SPEAKER_00 4:03

I'm gonna continue to listen to it just in case it like grows on me a little bit, you know. That's fair.

SPEAKER_01 4:08

That could that could definitely happen. Yeah, like I think that happened to me for a lot of openings, actually.

SPEAKER_00 4:13

Yeah.

unknown 4:13

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 4:13

Okay, anyways.

Witch Hat Episode One Fairy Tale Feel

SPEAKER_01 4:15

Now going into the actual first episode, a few thoughts I had. I thought it was amazing. Me too. Really pretty art. You know how it's like, I don't know the actual art term for it, but it's like very traditional European medieval folklore type of like drawing vibe, which I really, really enjoy. And uh what one of my favorite parts throughout the episode was like the book scenes. You know how when they open the book and then it comes to like 3D depiction? Yeah, I thought that was really cool.

SPEAKER_00 4:48

It's like uh it's like a scene from like Cinderella, the old scene. Exactly.

SPEAKER_01 4:52

Yeah, I thought that was really sick. Yeah, and they did that for quite a lot of the transitions actually. And I thought that was really cool, like the animation art.

SPEAKER_00 4:58

Not just the art, but the those pop-up books as well.

SPEAKER_01 5:00

Yeah, yeah, yeah. The pop-up book, yeah, yeah, yeah. So I thought that was really neat. And then it was a very gentle introduction, but yet still like inquisitive. Like it's it makes you curious about this witch world. Yeah. What are you? What are your thoughts?

SPEAKER_00 5:14

I personally loved the introduction to Coco, our main character. Yeah. I thought she's such a cute little girl, she's so sweet, gentle. The opening scene with the deer, hesitant with the with the water pool, and she's like kindly, calmly talks to the deer, reassures it. Um I mean, I don't know if the deer can understand. Maybe it's like a magic deer, maybe it isn't, but it reassures the deer that you know it's a magic pool and it'll it'll turn back to normal soon.

SPEAKER_01 5:36

It's very whimsical in the beginning.

SPEAKER_00 5:38

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 5:39

Um I mean, I guess even throughout the entire episode, it's very whimsical, very light. And I I I liked seeing Coco's passion towards magic. Yeah, yeah. Like I really like passion, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 5:49

It's super endearing. Yeah. And uh I also thought the OST was super lovely. Oh, yeah. Um all the like calm soundtracks while they're while she's walking back home through the forest or just in her home. I really enjoyed the the calm OST. I thought it was great. It was it's a good time for me when when music is so good. That's true. The early episodes of an anime.

SPEAKER_01 6:10

Yeah, and and I I think in this scene in the first episode in the first episode, like um I forgot what her ex exact line of work is, like with her mom, but they're they make like pos, right? Yeah, yeah. Yeah. And then the scene where she's like a master at making the doing the tailoring for kefiry, I thought that was really, really graceful.

SPEAKER_00 6:28

Yeah, really interesting and like a slight foreshadowing as well. Yeah, exactly.

SPEAKER_01 6:32

Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 6:32

And what did you think of Keefri when you first made him?

SPEAKER_01 6:35

I mean, like he's I guess he's cool. I mean that I think I think it was a cop out a little bit, design-wise, like cool-wise. I mean, it's like you know, Gojo, Kashi, yeah, ish. Oh yeah. Like he's very cool, like no doubt about it.

SPEAKER_00 6:47

But you know, to be honest, he's not that cool. No, no, I'm talking about the design. Oh, okay. Yeah, even that, I mean Oh really? Oh, yeah, I don't think he's that cool. I I I think uh one complaint I already have about this anime is something that I kind of alluded to in our like episode zero where we were just talking about book club, which is although the characters in Witch Cat are so adorable, they're also like like kids. And and as an extension, Keefry also looks like very young to me, yeah, even though he's I'm I'm sure he's like an adult. But he looks he looks young, like a teenage boy kind of. So he doesn't come across like as badass to me as someone like Kakashi. Yeah, like like he's he doesn't look like like a warrior or something, you know, like a battled hardened guy. Yeah, but he is but there's a scene um in episode, I don't know if we'll get to in a bit, but that scene in episode I think it was episode one, right? Why the the scene where he like starts doing magic, yeah, like cool magic and stuff.

SPEAKER_01 7:41

Yeah, actually, I I have to say so far he's he's pretty boring. Yeah. Like nothing really about him, to be honest.

SPEAKER_00 7:49

Yeah, exactly. You can't even really tell if he's like some like crazy, crazy, super strong guy, like like a Gojo character. Because so far he's been completely unassuming, hasn't really even when you look at him, he's just he's just got like a normal ass pointy party hat, you know, for a witch hat.

SPEAKER_01 8:05

Yeah. Maybe that is like the author's intention to make him kind of like unassuming, like you don't know what's gonna happen. Yeah. If it did, if it were, because I thought he was like somewhat boring, like kind of cool but boring at the same time.

SPEAKER_00 8:18

I would say I'm a a little unimpressed uh at the start.

SPEAKER_01 8:21

Yeah, that's fair. A little bland, obviously. Yeah. And then what'd you think about like the the witch clothes like Kifri had?

SPEAKER_00 8:28

Oh, they're pretty cool. It reminds me of like shows like like like you said, like European shows, like uh Vinland saga where they had like similar kind of clothes like that. I thought it was pretty nice, pretty cool. It didn't particularly stand out to me though. Yeah, me too. Oh you you've you've seen a lot of black clover, right? And in that is like really magic-y.

SPEAKER_01 8:46

Yeah, I mean, to be honest, in Black Clover. Yeah, it was it was it was not bad, but it wasn't like exceptionally cool, the the character design in Black Clover.

SPEAKER_00 8:57

But uh magic's like a big theme in Black Clover, right? Yeah, do they have like anything unique or particularly eye-catching in terms of character designs?

SPEAKER_01 9:05

Well, in Black Clover, they have what's called like Frim Frame Wars, right? Right, right, yeah, yeah. Where uh I watched like 30 episodes or something. The magic's the magic that they encast in Black Clover itself is really cool. Like I mean, we haven't seen too much in Witch Hat, but in Black Clover, I think the the animation and the art surrounding the magic is super cool. Yeah, but yeah, so then in the first episode, we got the scene, Coco who's really into magic for some reason, which she later tells that she met this kind of suspicious guy who just gave her like a book and wasn't a girl.

SPEAKER_00 9:35

Was it a girl? I think it was a lady witch, old lady witch.

SPEAKER_01 9:38

Okay, okay.

SPEAKER_00 9:39

Oh, but but uh yeah, around that time I I began well, actually from the very beginning, the interactions between Coco and her mom. Did you notice how like quick Coco's mom is to instantly shut down Coco's passion for magic? I noticed that, and it happened that basically every single opportunity she had to shut down Coco's love and passion for magic, she did so. And I thought, you know, why why is mom so mean? I'm I mean, I know, you know, being an adult, I'm I'm sure she has a reason.

SPEAKER_01 10:06

She did say that she lost her husband. Like, yeah, but she didn't say it was it was too much. But not specific to magic, right? Yeah, I'm pretty sure she said to illness. To illness. But then we never know. Like maybe maybe her dad was like a witch or something. But yeah, mom wasn't too encouraging of her passion for magic, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 10:23

Yeah, that that made me a little sad. Again, I'm I'm sure there that the mom has some kind of reason uh for this attitude, but still make it still made me a little sad to not see a parent uh support

Magic Rules, Memory Wipes, Forbidden Spells

SPEAKER_00 10:35

a child who clearly loves something so much.

SPEAKER_01 10:37

Yeah, and then it's it's in the first episode where we get introduced to how magic works in this world. Like it's not like you cast something as you you say something, you like wiggle around a wand, you draw like a circle. I thought that was really cool.

SPEAKER_00 10:52

I did too. I I specifically like it because the so they draw the magic, and when you first see it, you start kind of asking questions like, okay, hold on. If they're like having to draw these like transmutation circles from full metal alchemists, that's that's what literally reminded me of. Yeah, they're like drawing transmutation circles in a fight, that takes fucking long, you know. Yeah, like even in full metal alchemists, they did a decent job of of the transmutation circles, like quickly drawing it onto the ground, and then you know, you're able to shoot long-range magic. But then in this show, it seems uh well, the first scene that you see magic is him very complicatingly repairing a carriage. Yeah. But but when I saw that, I started thinking like, how are they how exactly are they gonna be using this to do like complex other complex things? Because it took him so long to, or at least it seems like it took him so long to draw that complex magical pattern. But I kind of like it.

SPEAKER_01 11:40

I kind of like it. Like I feel like if you have this as a baseline, like you can't just come up with a very broken power system being like, oh, I can just cast anything I want. Maybe, maybe, but then for now it's like you gotta build on it.

SPEAKER_00 11:56

So I like it because this scene I think was specifically set up to subvert our expectations, set our expectations low because to skip a little bit ahead to the end of the episode, there's a scene where we get to see because at this point I think like, okay, this magic is kind of slow, you know, there's a lot of setup involved, it's uh pretty complex. But then near the end of the episode, we get to see Keyfree kind of show the the limits of magic, you know, without having to draw a bunch of circles, being able to do all this magic.

SPEAKER_01 12:25

Yeah. So I like the fact that it's like in a way a little bit realistic. Like it's not it's not like this power that can solve every single problem in the world, that has its limitations, that has its rules, almost like once again, full metal alchemist brotherhood or the original like transportation circle, and just alchemy itself, there's like a give and take exchange, and then this is kinda a little bit. I see here.

SPEAKER_00 12:47

Well, there is one hole that I see, and it's that so far it appears that magic doesn't actually not require any kind of resource, yeah, except for the ink, the magical ink. So a person, like presumably a child, could endlessly just keep making doing magic over and over as long as they had some ink. I hope there's something else actually develops to explain that it's not just like freebies, because at this point it kind of does seem like freebies if you can just you know conjure whatever you want and it doesn't drain any of your own like power or energy or anything like that.

SPEAKER_02 13:18

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 13:19

So I'm hoping and I'm also a little bit expecting that magic won't be so free in this world.

SPEAKER_01 13:25

Yeah. I mean, that's one thing I kind of had that was my issue about it, because you know, in the first episode, Coco casts this horror like forbidden magic, basically. And then Keefri explains how I guess a little bit later on, you know, like this is kind of one of the reasons why magic was cast away from the general public because it's pretty accessible. But then my in my thinking was that when this was happening is you know, when if this is so dangerous and this is so accessible, like Kefrey just kind of told Coco to not to bother him while he was drawing massic. So that made it seem like it was very fickle and frivolous. Like, it sounded like dating her? No, it was more it's almost like you know, if this was something that could like sh turn the world around, I would have taken this more seriously, like like completing magic to repair this wagon instead of just asking some kid to you know look be a lookout so that no one peeks. You know what I mean? Yeah, but then yeah, but then Coach has fallen. She's like, Oh, you just you should try it, and then that's really how it worked.

SPEAKER_00 14:26

I guess maybe his thinking was be because you know, mages are able to erase memories. Maybe maybe that's why they're a little bit nonchalant about this, because what happens with Coco is I'm sure for him, it's like such an unrealistic scenario that who would even think about it. Because so it develops that there's like some kind of evil organization of evil mages, and they might have had this like book with forbidden spells, and supposedly they had been handing those, uh distributing those books with forbidden spells. And what are the odds that this girl that was spying on Keefree learns how to do this magic and then also is in possession of this book with forbidden magic, and then she decides to do the forbidden magic. You know, I'm sure he thought, like, even if someone catches me doing magic and they find out how to do magic, I'll just go wiped our memories and it's all good.

SPEAKER_01 15:15

Yeah, you know. So then what do you think about the interaction at the very end of episode one where she casts this, and then Kiefer's like, Well, I'm out to fucking wipe your memories, but she's like, No, please, I've I don't I remember the the whatever, whatever, and then he basically lets her keep the memories. Like, what'd you think of that kind of device?

SPEAKER_00 15:35

And the I think it was a I think it was a good plot device, the specific thing of Coco having this personal quest now to save her mom, and that being the reason that Key Free lets her keep her memories, because it's very human, and it's exactly the kind of situation where I think humans make exceptions. And so he ends up making that exception and allowing her to keep her memories and study magic. I thought it was pretty well done. Usually for situations like this, when someone's going on like a hero's journey, I fe I sometimes feel like it's a bit like fabricated, literally just to or obviously it's always fabricated, it's a story, but in a lot of other contexts, I feel like they don't put as much effort into giving a good reason for the hero being able to start this journey. Right. Right. And I feel like Coco does have a quite a good reason for being able to go on this journey.

SPEAKER_01 16:26

Yeah, I think they built it up like nice on the episode. Like you know, there's like a clear goal, a clear motive. And then sometimes like I guess people don't like that as much. They're like, oh, they want to kind of figure out what it could be. But I think so far for me, I I enjoyed how they set up the premise in episode one. And just overall, like with the animation very being pretty, arts being pretty, it felt like I was reading like a fairy tale. So which which I which I really liked as well.

SPEAKER_00 16:50

I thought the animation of Witch Hat, I'm just gonna say, I think it's like 9.5 or 10 out of 10. It's so fucking good.

SPEAKER_01 16:57

For me, it's uh it's it's nine. Yeah. I won't give it a nine. I didn't give like a full 10. It's a little basic, I think, personally. Like I mean, I mean the animation is like very crisp, it's amazing. Like it's very clean. But I think you're trying to say the art style is basic. Yeah, the art style.

SPEAKER_00 17:14

But I actually prefer this this art style, to be honest. I've been liking it a lot. I know before we started or last episode, when we were looking at the which anime to watch and we were looking at the different art styles, Nippon Sangoku looked really good. But actually, after watching the two, I prefer which hats art style and animation.

SPEAKER_01 17:34

Okay. I have a lot to talk about the animation style in the post and request, but I'll talk about that later. But I mean I still enjoy the animation and animation.

SPEAKER_00 17:41

I mean, I thought that I brought it up a little earlier, but that scene where Kifry kind of fly like is saving uh Coco and he's like flying around the air and doing all this magic with presumably no circles. Yeah. I thought that was that was that was a fantastic scene. It looks it looks so fucking cool. Yeah. The animation was super sick, and it showed it showed me the limits of this kind of the magic in this world. And I thought that was great because all of a sudden all of a sudden my expectations were subverted. I thought they had to do all these circles and take super long to do some cool stuff, but turns out there's like levels to this shit, which is pretty cool.

SPEAKER_01 18:13

And it kind of reminded I don't know if you watched this, but it kind of reminded me of Howells Wolf and Castle, like the studio Ghibli movie. I haven't seen any studio Ghibli movies. Oh really? Yeah, none. Okay. But um, yeah, there's like this one scene where Howell, these like weird-looking spirits kind of chase Howell. But um, yeah, yeah, I I really like that.

SPEAKER_00 18:28

Yep.

SPEAKER_01 18:29

So then overall, once you give the first episode a rating.

SPEAKER_00 18:32

I thought it was a great episode. I even if we weren't doing this book club, if I if I had seen this first episode, I would continue watching for sure. Yeah, I thought I thought it was super, super good. Turns out this is right up my alley. Really, eh? Yeah. Even though the even though it's like kid characters, and for me, it would be so much cooler if instead of they were it's instead of being like children in school, it would be much cooler for me if they were adults in university or on the job force. Me too, yeah. If they were like learning magic as adults, that would be cooler to me. And also like for some reason, I don't know, just for me personally, stakes feel higher when it's an adult cast. Yeah. And I really like that. But that aside, I I really, really liked episode one. I give it a seven out of ten. Oh, fair enough. What'd you give it? Actually, I don't know if I don't know what I would give it in isolation because I watched the two episodes back to back, like right back to back. So in my mind, even the events of the first episode are a little muddied with the second episode.

SPEAKER_01 19:28

Okay, okay.

SPEAKER_00 19:28

Yeah, but I I know I did really enjoy the first episode.

SPEAKER_01 19:31

Okay, what'd you think about the ending? The uh the no the uh the outro.

SPEAKER_00 19:36

Oh, for the outro, I gave it an eight.

SPEAKER_01 19:39

I also gave an outro five.

SPEAKER_00 19:41

This we gave it a five.

SPEAKER_01 19:43

Yeah, it was very average for me, to be honest.

SPEAKER_00 19:44

I I I liked this outro. I liked it more than the intro. It was like a cool acoustic song, thought it was great.

SPEAKER_01 19:50

For me, once again, like melody is what I really look for. It didn't really hit for me, to be honest.

SPEAKER_00 19:57

Fair enough.

SPEAKER_01 19:57

I mean, you're much more musically sophisticated than I am as well. But you're gonna eight. I mean, that's that's still good. Like that I mean, that's really good actually. You enjoyed it, hey, yeah, quite a

Episode Two Training, Classmates, Power System

SPEAKER_01 20:05

bit. I did. Okay, okay. And then so now going on to episode two. I liked episode two more actually.

SPEAKER_00 20:10

Yeah. I think I probably did two.

SPEAKER_01 20:12

Um the biggest reason why is that we got to see more of the development of the magic circles. Like, you know, do you remember that scene where Coco was drawing that water water circle? Yeah. And then that T was like longer than the other side, and that showed the projection of the water to a different direction to the incorrect symmetry and the offbalance of the pressures. I think that just gives you so much opportunity to expand on the magic capabilities based on the drawings. Like you could alter something tiny and then you could do something unimaginable. So I think that's that's like a really cool genius way to introduce the abilities.

SPEAKER_00 20:45

Yeah, I agree. I think it's a really cool way to play with this power system. And it it makes sense. And I like when power systems make sense, you know, when the when the spells react in like now that we've been educated on how these kind of like the physics of the spells, we have like expectations of how these spells will react. And that feels nicer than something as simple as like kamehameha just cuz. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 21:10

Like they're actually working towards your ability. And then when you and like the effort isn't like you're fucking working out or like you're like training, you're cutting down trees, you're like, you're drawing. Yeah. Which uh which is the foreshadow you mentioned before, Kai, for you know, because in the very first episode, she's like very masterful at the precision and the stability of her hands and doing the tailoring, which I could clearly see that's going to be translist like transferred to the magic skills, I think.

SPEAKER_00 21:37

It was super interesting to see how she's so confident in her abilities as a tailor while she's cutting up that piece of fabric for the ma the mage uh Keefri. And then all of a sudden what she's doing and and you know, this should be quite a stressful moment for her. I don't know if she actually realized that Keefy was watching her there while she was cutting. I don't think she did, right? Well, I think I remember she like kind of drew it.

SPEAKER_01 22:00

Like within herself, like she was shy.

SPEAKER_00 22:01

Oh no, I mean the I mean the the the fabric. Oh yeah she's cutting the fabric. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 22:06

I feel like that would be because she was so focused into the thing.

SPEAKER_00 22:08

Yeah, and I feel like that would be like a really stressful moment for her because it's like her job, you know? Yeah, yeah. It's like her family business.

SPEAKER_01 22:13

And one thing I liked is that like in my mind, I was like, oh man, are they just gonna make her OP? Like she's gonna draw like a perfect magic circle, but she didn't, which I which I liked. I thought that was a good move.

SPEAKER_00 22:24

Yeah, and then she moved on to drawing these magic circles, and you know, the the poise is not there whatsoever. She's she's clearly super nervous, is not able to remember her, I'm sure, like hours and hours, like hundreds of hours of training at this point, working as a as a tailor, doing something very similar to drawing magic circles, drawing on the fabrics, and she's incapable of doing it just because of her her anxiety and fear, and thought it was really well done. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 22:49

Would you um what'd you think about the power puff uh the power puff girls?

SPEAKER_00 22:53

Oh you're talking about her c her classmates, right? Yeah, yeah. So first in my notes, I wrote Agoth's a little shit. Uh the purple. Yeah, the purple hair girl.

SPEAKER_01 23:03

But she wasn't that bad to be honest, like compared to other people.

SPEAKER_00 23:05

In the beginning, I was a little spooked. I thought, like, oh fuck, don't let this like be a bully. I don't want to see like fucking bully this little kid girl get bullied by some other kid girl. So uh it doesn't seem like Agott's actually a bully, the purple hair girl. Seems like she's just like very serious. Like Sasuke, you know? Yeah. Pretty much. Yeah. Yeah. Maybe even like a little nicer than Sasuke.

SPEAKER_01 23:26

Yeah, I guess Sasuke wasn't really a bully either, to be honest. He was just like super edgy.

SPEAKER_00 23:29

Yeah, he was just like angry all the time. Yeah, yeah. You know, because of Itaki and stuff. It was, I guess, like his finger from the colour. I'm sure I'm sure Agot has a has a similar story, you know, like a tragic backstory or something like that.

SPEAKER_01 23:42

I wonder actually, yeah, that's a good point because the the Powerpuff girls, like their reaction was kind of like, oh shit, like you're the girl who uses magic. So I wonder if like they got especially has had a bad experience with normal, quote unquote normal people using magic when they shouldn't have been.

SPEAKER_00 24:01

Or or I I had a little thought, maybe Agot has a very similar story to Coco.

SPEAKER_01 24:06

Ah, yeah, that'd be like that.

SPEAKER_00 24:08

She was like a commoner and accidentally used magic or something like that. And now she's trying to master magic to right whatever wrong she did or something like that.

SPEAKER_01 24:16

Yeah. And then yeah, that got me curious, you know, because they mentioned it in the second episode that people who use magic versus normal people. But then it's technically like that's just based on status, right? Like they're not born with special abilities.

SPEAKER_00 24:28

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 24:28

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 24:28

Yeah. So I think it was episode I can't remember. I think it was episode one, actually, where they tell us the story of magic and how everyone was it episode one or two?

SPEAKER_01 24:37

And two. I think Keyfree kind of talks about why magic was forbidden for the general public.

SPEAKER_00 24:41

Right. So he tells us how everyone was able to use magic and it was commonplace, and then it inevitably led to war, which is understandable. You know, when you have with great power comes great responsibility. Yeah, for sure. As always. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 24:52

And that's literally what what my wife said.

SPEAKER_00 24:54

Yeah. Well, because we watched the things. Yeah, and you know, it makes sense. Not every human in the world, in in any world, presumably, is kind-hearted and rational. So it led to bad spells being created and wars and stuff like that. And because of this, as as a reaction to this, those in power, or it was it was a bunch of mages that took an oath, which seems a little fishy. Yeah, you know, very fishy actually. But the story is that these mages took an oath to keep magic a secret and not let the commoners have access to it because to prevent something from this happening again, which first of all makes me question okay, you took this little fucking oath with you, but then what'd you do with everyone that didn't take that oath?

SPEAKER_01 25:38

Oh, that's that's a good point.

SPEAKER_00 25:40

Yeah, because everyone knew magic. There's probably like a group of exact wishes. Like not only that, it's if there aren't, you had to get rid of them.

SPEAKER_01 25:47

Yeah. And I wonder, like, there's like probably some some element of like authoritarian, like dictator, like the wizard government versus this other government who wishes to not be like repressed and like revolutionary.

SPEAKER_00 26:00

I I definitely smell genocide here.

SPEAKER_01 26:02

Yeah. And I smell like the differences in ideologies. Probably people who would think magic should be there for everyone because it will benefit humanity versus magic should be preserved for the only people who are deemed responsible.

SPEAKER_00 26:13

Yes. And the the there's a clear, like huge problem here with you know taking away magic from all the people. And it's that magic was not the problem, you know. The problem with the fucking ink. Like that ink should be regulated. It should be hard to have to get access to that ink. It shouldn't be that magic should be taken away from all humans.

SPEAKER_01 26:32

Yeah, and I actually now just now you say that in the first episode, Keefri was like, when he first interacted with Coco, she was like, Oh, you're so like enthralled with magic. And he's like, Magic. He's basically like, Oh, magic's not that great. So I wonder, you know, there's probably so much history behind behind this magic thing.

SPEAKER_00 26:48

Yeah. Maybe he maybe mages just say that though, to try to make other people less curious about it.

SPEAKER_01 26:54

Could be. Yeah. And then in the second episode, Keefri was also like, you kind of saw that um he had ulterior motives though, right? Like from taking in Coco because he talked to someone.

SPEAKER_00 27:03

He's like, Yeah. Well, I don't know if that would be ulterior motives. I thought maybe he was just covering for her. Well, actually, no, you're right, because clearly they're trying to.

SPEAKER_01 27:14

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 27:14

I mean, and and that was the selling point of Coco being able to keep her memories since she said that she has memorized certain pages of the book. And that's that's pretty much the only reason why Keefri Well, actually, no, it's not the only reason why. I'm sure I'm sure her her mother's situation played a certain role in it. Yeah. His decision to let Coco keep her memories and become a mage. But the book definitely helps push uh the point across, that's for sure.

SPEAKER_01 27:39

So uh what do you think's gonna happen?

SPEAKER_00 27:42

Where do we go from here? Yeah. So there was that one scene with the the window, the revolving window. Do you remember?

SPEAKER_01 27:48

Yes, yes, yeah, like a door, like the uh and it opens with like a different portal, yeah. Which is also kind of similar in How's Woving Castle, by the way. But anyways, anyway, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 27:55

Yeah, once I saw that, I thought that was super fucking cool because that kind of painted a picture of me for what's to come. I'm sure that that castle, that castle library, that's that's gonna be the future for Coco, something that she's gonna have to conquer. Yeah. And seeing that scene made me super excited. It looked really cool, looked like a really fun adventure. I'm sure some crazy shit's gonna go down.

SPEAKER_01 28:16

Do you think there's do you think the next episode is gonna be like Coco just trying like proving her worth A got?

SPEAKER_00 28:23

Yeah, so how episode two ends was Agot basically challenging to prove herself, basically. Yeah, so I'm guessing, yeah, the next episode or two at least will be you know, a bunch of character development and fresh friendship development between, like you said, PowerPuff girls and Coco. And Keefri said he'll be gone for a couple days, as Gojo Satoru always does.

SPEAKER_01 28:46

Yeah. So I hope they uh I hope we see like what he's up to.

SPEAKER_00 28:49

Yeah, I I really hope that he doesn't just disappear from the story. I hope we get to see, I hope it like cuts in and out, you know, gives us little updates on exactly what Keefri is up to.

SPEAKER_01 28:58

Yeah. Who do you think that like that weird witch is, like the one who gave the book? Like, what do you think their vibe is?

SPEAKER_00 29:05

The one that gave it to Coco?

SPEAKER_01 29:07

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 29:07

I don't know. I'm torn between it's either going to be like an old, old lady like grandma witch, or it's gonna be like some classic anime baddie under that uh.

SPEAKER_01 29:20

I hope they don't go with uh like the baddie in the route.

SPEAKER_00 29:23

Like that's I I hope it's uh it's something that makes sense for the story. Yeah, but were you asking about like that or if I think much about like what my thoughts are about that person's like organization or something?

SPEAKER_01 29:34

Yeah, yeah. Yeah, I mean I guess like motive. I guess I guess maybe the motive was that maybe that person is of the ideology that magic should be given to everyone. Yeah, but but then they give like fucking forbidden magic.

SPEAKER_00 29:48

Yeah, because that book had so when Coco was playing around with that book, she did some basic spells, right? At first she started off with like what fire, water, whatever the heck. Yeah, uh they were pretty good too. Yeah, and and it was and it it went fine, everything was fine up until she randomly decided to go for that one forbidden spell. And I'm just curious why this like crazy forbidden spell would be seemingly on just like a random page of this book alongside all these basic spells. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 30:14

Yeah, good point. Uh yeah, I don't think we we have anything too much to really make any predictions, but those are someone ideas. Yeah. So then for you, you you couldn't really give me your rating after the first episode. So then overall.

SPEAKER_00 30:28

There's there's another thing. I know that you really like food scenes. I thought the animation is a good one. Oh yes, I completely forgot about that. Yeah, I thought it was fucking it was crazy.

SPEAKER_01 30:36

It was super good. The bread, the stew, it was like it's super simple. Yeah. It looked, it looked really good.

SPEAKER_00 30:41

Yeah, I the animation in general for Witch Hat I thought was actually top tier.

SPEAKER_01 30:44

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 30:45

Feels like they it reminded me a lot of like Free Run, where sure you won't see like a ton of crazy stuff going on, but the scenes that mattered, well, actually, not even just the scenes that matter. I feel like every scene in Witch Hat was animated quite well. And I'm sure once we do get to the fight scenes, it's gonna look it's gonna look amazing. So what's your rating? For if I'm can I read it together? Yeah, I'll take it. Yeah, I would give it like a like 8.5, I think. Yeah. Okay.

SPEAKER_01 31:09

Mine's a mine's a seven, I'd say. Like it's like I it's got me interested to continue watching, but it wasn't like it wasn't like mind-blowing for me, to be honest.

SPEAKER_00 31:17

Yeah, I really liked it. And maybe I maybe I liked it so much because there is massive contrast between the vibe

Predictions, Spoiler Synopses, Switching Shows

SPEAKER_00 31:25

of Witch Hat and the Wi-Fi, the vibe of the Nipponsangoku.

SPEAKER_01 31:28

Yeah. Should we move on to Nippon's Hangoku?

SPEAKER_00 31:31

Yeah, I think so. Do you want to give okay? So I think we should do like a little prediction thing. Do you want to do that at the end of each anime or at the end altogether?

SPEAKER_01 31:39

We already did, don't we, for Witch Hat?

SPEAKER_00 31:41

No, like uh like a like the 90%, 50%, 10% thing that I was telling you about. Like something that you think is 90% likely, a prediction that you think 90% likely, a prediction you think is 50% likely, and a prediction you think is 10% likely.

SPEAKER_01 31:53

Oh, I think I mean I kind of said it. 90% is gonna be the kind of like a prove yourself arc friendship development, and then what key is gonna be up to. 50% the I think the the Powerpuff girls are gonna backstab Coco. Yeah, and then 10% Coco's gonna lose her memories.

SPEAKER_00 32:11

Okay. I said for 90%, I I think Coco's gonna save her mom. For 50%, I actually couldn't think of one. But I really like your thing for the Powerpuff girls, stab her in the back, or at least one. Yeah, but I'll I'll pull my 50% as like I got has a very similar tragic story to Coco. And then my 10% hot take is Kifree's gonna die. Oh, that's a good one, actually. Yeah, that is a good one. I feel like someone's gonna die. Or or or I think he's a bad guy. Oh, I got one last thing to say about Witchhead. Bro, fuck the fuck the guy or whoever the fuck it was that did the synopsis on my anime list. Because the dead ass just spoils like absolutely. Oh, I completely forgot about it. It wasn't even in my head, yeah. It was it was like fucking, oh no, I'm not I'm not saying you did anything wrong. Just whoever wrote that synopsis, like dude, they spoil the mom's death or like the tragic thing with the mom uh in the synopsis, and it happens like that's that's not like a huge thing though. I think yeah, but I was like expecting it the whole time now. Oh yeah, like I was like, okay,

Nippon Sangoku Premise And Episode One Shock

SPEAKER_00 33:10

end of episode one, this mom is gonna get like fucked over, you know.

SPEAKER_01 33:13

Yeah, okay. Yeah, that was my last complaint. Okay, Nippon Sangoku fucking love the first two episodes. Oh, yeah, it's crazy.

SPEAKER_00 33:20

It was intense, that's for sure.

SPEAKER_01 33:22

Dude, I love it. I think for me, actually, just to give a general preface of episode one now. The big thing for me, I I love the art style and animation. I'll talk about it more later, but I think that's probably right now, 80% of the reason why I really like the anime. Yeah, interesting. I also love the opening. Yeah, opening's so good. I give it a probably give it an 8.5 out of 10. Okay. The hook is so good, it's so in your face, the melody's so catchy. I would listen to it over and over again.

SPEAKER_00 33:49

This opening, I actually give my lowest rating. Damn. Yeah, not to say it was bad. Again, I I was pretty focused on, or I'm realizing I think I was comparing the two a lot. And if I remember correctly, I don't remember any of the openings or endings too well, but if I remember correctly, the vibe for the opening of Nippon's Nippon Sangoku was a bit more dreary, was it?

SPEAKER_01 34:15

I thought it was actually no, I want to say dreary.

SPEAKER_00 34:17

Okay, I don't remember what the opening sounds like, but I did give it a 6.5. Okay, that's fair.

SPEAKER_01 34:21

Like that, yeah, like I'll continue to listen to the opening over and over again.

SPEAKER_00 34:25

I'm gonna listen to it again too, anyways. Yeah. Uh just because that's what I usually do. But yeah, it could grow on me. I really like the premise. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 34:34

Now the Rewa era is over. It's like a combination of everything that culminated into the downfall of Japan, which is like nuclear wars, pandemics, earthquakes, civil wars, and then now we got this era. I think which is a really, really good plot device because I'll probably say this multiple times throughout the episode, but the juxtaposition is so nice between now how they're in a modern state versus they're yet, but they're still kind of living in the like the Meiji era back then. For example, the main character is only 15 years old, but he's like hacking darts, you know what I mean? Like and then the maturity is already different. Like he seems super mature to an actual 15-year-old because probably of the life events that's happened in that era. Like there's lots of wars, there's like it's kind of an authoritarian dictatorship as well, divided by the three factions. So I really like the setup for for this.

SPEAKER_00 35:25

Yeah, I know one thing I noticed was that it's quite normalized in the in this world. Yeah. Uh because we see in certain scenes, I won't give it away already, but it's like in certain scenes, there's like a small time skip, very not very long at all, only a couple days, and all of a sudden, like people are dead. And everyone else is just going on with their life because they have to.

SPEAKER_01 35:42

And that's something I really like because they allude to our time, like our current time, almost as if like death isn't supposed to be normal. But then in the first episode, it's pretty up in your face, like very nonchalant. It happens right away. Yeah, and they're pretty upfront about it. And the tone when they give that first death, which is some person, it's it's not delivered very heavy heavily, actually. It's kind of like the tone overall is kind of comical, to be honest. Yeah, I mean the way it's animated.

SPEAKER_00 36:10

For me, it was like freaky, surreal.

SPEAKER_01 36:11

Yeah, yeah. But that's why, once again, the juxtaposition, death. Yet the the music that's used is a little bit not that heavy. It's like a little bit enlightening, actually, like a little bit light. And then the the faxo, the fatso is also laughing around with it as well. So it was able to portray something so severe yet grim in a very nonchalant way, which is something I thought was really cool. And once again, in the very beginning, the juxtaposition is already there. They're in a post-apocalyptic era, but they allude to these current era themes.

SPEAKER_00 36:44

Not post-apocalyptic, post-collapse.

SPEAKER_01 36:46

Post-collapse, yeah. Because they mentioned that thing about the wedding dress, which the wife doesn't know the beginning of the wedding dress, but they still kind of use it. So that's uh it's all interwoven in their current society as well, which I think is really, really cool.

SPEAKER_00 36:59

Yeah, I I also really, really love the premise, like you said, of the three warring nations in Japan going back to the Sangoku period. Yeah, I thought it was I thought I also thought it was super cool how they're fighting for territory. I played a lot of video games with similar themes where you have warring factions fighting for like territory on a map. And I always love that kind of stuff. I think it's so fun. So this premise is like super, super cool to me as well. I guess like the only one thing that I might have a gripe with is they have guns, and I wish it was like all swords and bows instead. Just because guns are like so fucking like it's like someone's got a gun, it's fucking over, you know.

SPEAKER_01 37:32

Can't do much. But they do use use swords too, though.

SPEAKER_00 37:35

Yeah, they do. But then I'm just thinking like if if you got one guy with a sword, one guy with a gun, sword guy's got no chance, you know. Sword guy's just fucked.

SPEAKER_01 37:41

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 37:42

So just just for that alone, just for that alone, I I don't like guns too much, but you can kind of tell that action isn't exactly a main focal point of this, anyways.

SPEAKER_01 37:52

What'd you think about the main character?

SPEAKER_00 37:54

I like him. Yeah, I I I really like the main character. I mean, he has his flaws, of course, as his as his wife points out, but but still I think he's uh he's a really smart guy. I I like him a lot more than I do a lot of other characters. Yeah. Actually, I really, really like this main character.

SPEAKER_01 38:08

He's super interesting. Yeah. Man, that last scene of the first episode where his wife got beheaded and he just kind of fucking clocks in. It's like, oh man, I thought. I mean, like, unrealistic to be honest, like 15-year-old, but maybe it is actually in that in that state of state of society. But then he was able to get that like right away. And the and that scene, the animation was so so so cool. Like when they kind of revert the time back and he's thinking throughout his thoughts, and he's like, I gotta be collective, I gotta be calm, and then he's able to kind of refute back to that fat so.

SPEAKER_00 38:40

Do you think you'd be able to do that? No, no way, not. I don't mean either.

SPEAKER_01 38:43

I wish I could, but I don't think I would and then that was foiled by him literally breaking down and breaking apart, like he was crying his heart out.

SPEAKER_00 38:49

Man, what a what a tragic fucking thing, and I fucking hate fucking hate when this shit happens. Like just last week, I was or maybe like two weeks ago, I was complaining about how I my grievances with Katana Gatri and Garen Lagan because these characters that are you know so lovable and yeah, just just such likable characters getting killed off. I hate it. I fucking hate this shit.

SPEAKER_01 39:11

I like it because like it's harsh, it's realistic, like in a true authoritarian state, like probably literally, even on curr in their current society, you make comments like that to such a political figure, you you're probably gone, like you get shot, you get beheaded. This is very real. So I like that they delivered it, like not without being being able to make it like too heavy in terms of the tone delivery, but it was still like once again, the style of animation and the music that they used didn't make it really that that like despairing.

SPEAKER_00 39:37

For me, it was still quite heavy, still quite despairing, just because it's such a young couple, and like I said, his wife was so lovable. It was his wife was like his truly his second half, you know, saying things like giving him coverage. They grew up together, yeah. Yeah, and the last thing that she parts him with, it's it's like he really takes that to heart to heart, you know. He loses he loses a part of himself, but in some sense he kind of becomes more whole.

SPEAKER_01 39:59

You guess the courage that he talks about the very end.

SPEAKER_00 40:01

Yeah, almost like he inherits her courage. And man, when I saw when I first saw that scene of her standing up to the fucking asshole, I knew I knew what was gonna come. Yeah, I knew it was over. I knew what was coming, and I just you know, I'm in I'm totally cheering for her. I'm on her side, like fuck yeah, stick it to the man, fuck that bitch, get yours.

SPEAKER_01 40:24

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 40:24

Or like give him his comeuppance, but yeah, it's just heartbreaking.

SPEAKER_01 40:27

Yeah, I agree. I agree. It is it is pretty heartbreaking, and but yeah, but I like the advancement of of how he kind of like trusts the triumph of with that drama.

SPEAKER_00 40:38

I'm I'm glad that we didn't have to see too much of Alteru despairing. I'm glad he uh it it quickly moves on to him being able to hold on to himself and still and continue on with his life and find new motivation and yeah, that's find meaning in in the in the rest of his life.

SPEAKER_01 40:54

So for me, like I I mentioned this before, like I love the art style. Yeah. This like gritty kind of like realism, it's not your conventional style of anime.

SPEAKER_02 41:02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 41:02

The edges and the outlines are really dark compared to like one in Witch Hat, which I really enjoy. Which it's it reminds me of uh I'm not I'm not sure if you know this, but like the traditional Japanese illustrations, like it's called like Yu-Kiyo. Like you have you seen like the tsunami picture by like traditional ones, it's like kind of like that style as well. And it seems it seems like you're reading like a like a comic book, like not a manga, but like a comic book. You see like the captions, like the sound effects literally in Japanese words, like some, which is like really cool.

SPEAKER_00 41:31

Yeah, I I think I seen it a lot in like Junji Ido stuff.

SPEAKER_01 41:35

Yeah, yeah, exactly. And then their transitions with the dramatic animations are are sick. Like once again, the first episode when he's breaking down and he relives like the moment of what he should do to make that the right say the right words to the fatso. And they have these, they do this quite a lot, but the frequent zoom-ins to their facial expressions, especially to their eyes, and it's like very sparkly at times. You can see the blush, I think it's super, super well done, and it dramatizes the expressions of the characters. And I really like the contrast in first episodes. All the colors are muted in the snow, it's black and white and grayscale, but blood it's but some there's like some warm tones that makes it a little bit pop up, like the blush of the wife, the eye color sometimes, and then finally the blood, which transition later on as the main character kind of gets over this trauma or quote unquote get on and then moves on to go to Osaka. The colors kind of come back alive, which I think was super, super cool.

SPEAKER_00 42:29

Yeah, I thought it was cool too, but I will say that specific color palette is when I see that I can tell that this is gonna be a bit more of a of a of an intense and dreary and emotional story. Reminding me a lot, to be honest, of like ping pong, because ping pong is like just black and white the whole time.

SPEAKER_01 42:48

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 42:48

And and that first episode felt a lot like that to me as well.

SPEAKER_01 42:51

Yeah, and the movements are not as like fluid in Witch Ad. It's like almost like I don't know, like 10 FPS, like a little bit janged, which something I really, really like as well.

SPEAKER_00 42:58

Yeah, the animation is beautiful. The soundtrack is also it's it's not as you know, in your face, but it's nice. There's actually it seems like there's a fair amount of comedy in Nippon Sangoku. Exactly.

SPEAKER_01 43:09

What do you think of that? Well, I mean, I've been mentioning it throughout this entire podcast, but like it's a nice um contrast and juxtaposition to the delivery of the heavy themes, but they still yet to make it pretty somewhat comical and lighthearted, which is something something can be hard to do, but then they they're doing it pretty well right now.

SPEAKER_00 43:24

To be honest, not all the comedy bits have landed with me. Actually, most of them haven't landed with me. And I think the reason for that specifically is because I'm affected so much by the the negatives so far in the story. But I think um after a couple episodes, could because this is exactly how I felt about ping pong as well, I can feel like something like building, you know, something like like tension constantly. But then once you get to once you get to the ending, you you know, I'm sure I'm gonna love the show. But I still feel a lot of tension right now.

SPEAKER_01 43:52

Yeah, you know, watching the show. Same, same, same. Yeah. I love the outro, the ending, by the way. Oh yeah. So I like the outro more than the opening as well. I give this give this episode a rating of like nine out of ten.

SPEAKER_00 44:20

Oh, like like together, right? Both together?

SPEAKER_01 44:23

No, for me, this just single episode.

SPEAKER_00 44:24

Oh, just the first episode. Yeah. Oh, yeah, because we haven't even talked about the second episode yet. Or very much. Yeah. It's hard for me to give it a fair rating to be honest. I I know it was very good, but just makes me sad when his wife dies. But I think I'm happy with giving it an eight. Yeah? Yeah. Okay. That's good. That's good. But I I I think I did enjoy Witch Hat more. But

Osaka, Gangsters, The Exam Challenge

SPEAKER_00 44:45

interesting. But still, it's just because Witch Hat is like I feel safer there. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 44:49

Like I like, if I have to be honest, I like Nippon Sangoku like significantly better than Witch Hat.

SPEAKER_00 44:54

I can see Nippon Sangoku being a much more comp not a much more compelling story, but by the end, a more compelling story. And I do like the setting of Nippon Sangaku actually more than I do Witch Hat.

SPEAKER_01 45:05

What did you think of the second episode?

SPEAKER_00 45:07

Where so in the second episode he makes it to Osaka and then he is searching for a hotel, and that's where he meets, I'm guessing, the second most important character coming along in this story. So it's like he's in like a hotel with uh a bunch of gangsters.

SPEAKER_02 45:22

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 45:23

And they have like a little conversation. And actually, I really loved this conversation that that they built up to between Alteru and I don't remember the blondies. I think blonde guy, right? Or do you have black hair?

SPEAKER_01 45:34

I don't think I remember seeing a blonde guy.

SPEAKER_00 45:36

Whatever, it's like shoulder cut, you know, you know the guy I'm talking about, sword guy.

SPEAKER_01 45:39

Oh, you mean oh you mean like the secondary character? Yeah, the secondary character, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 45:42

Yeah, black hair guy. Yeah, and they have this big big conversation between the two. And I really, really liked once Alteru started talking back.

SPEAKER_01 45:50

Like you could you could feel his sincerity, to be honest.

SPEAKER_00 45:54

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 45:54

Like, and the guy thought he was just like fucking around, he's like joking.

SPEAKER_00 45:56

Yeah, but like I was like, oh, this guy's like Yeah, the the line that I loved the most from Auteru was and it was such a banger. He's he just tells the whole crowd, once they're like heckling him, basically trying to force him to respect their leader. And Outeru just says, like, what's all this peer pressure? You know, and you know, totally makes sense. Like, bro, why are you guys trying to pressure me into liking this guy? If he's such a badass, then I'll fucking like him, you know.

SPEAKER_01 46:20

Yeah, he reminds me of a character from Mob Psycho. Oh, really? Who? Yeah, no, just like he fits in a vibe of mob psycho. Yeah, I could see it. Yeah, yeah. And yeah, he's like this narcissist who's like who needs to be admired, who needs to be like in the center of attention. And then the main character comes comes through and he's like, oh fuck. He's kind of he's kind of taken over.

SPEAKER_00 46:40

Yeah, I mean, he's like he gets shown up, you know. He's met someone that is not his int not a match in terms of intelligence, but basically a superior, you know. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 46:50

I would say match to intelligence, actually.

SPEAKER_00 46:52

Probably probably not like martial arts prowess, but definitely I would say outer is superior to the new guy. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's what I'm saying. Oh, yeah, that's what I'm saying. So I'm saying like the the gangster, he has finally met someone that is not only a match, but a superior to him in terms of intelligence. You know, someone that he can't just overcome by being flashy.

SPEAKER_01 47:11

Yeah, and once again, I I I mentioned this for, but they always kind of allude to the R like the previous modern era. Like, for example, him saying how, oh, like just because you say these fancy words doesn't mean they think you're like always smart. Like they might like simpler words, and that's not actually how it was referred to as back then. So they always like mention these things throughout the story, which I think is which really nice to see.

SPEAKER_00 47:34

One thing I really, really like about Ataro, it's something that we see in all these like 10 situations, is he is he comes across as someone that is so sure of himself. When but but doesn't he? In the beginning, no, not at all. Oh no, I mean like post his wife's death.

SPEAKER_01 47:49

I actually don't get that too much from him.

SPEAKER_00 47:51

Oh, really? You don't think so?

SPEAKER_01 47:52

I think there's a part of him that's like a facade, yeah. Like so far, a little bit.

SPEAKER_00 47:56

Yeah, maybe it is a facade, but in those 10 situations, at least to me, Alteru seems so sure of himself, even though we we kind of know that he's not really capable physically, you know. Physically, yeah. Yeah, he's not really capable. Yeah, yet he is still able to so confidently like navigate the situations where he is totally in danger, you know. Like if he if he says the wrong thing, he could just fucking k die. You know, someone could just kill him, which we already saw. You know, multiple people get get murdered for like literally no reason, yeah. Already. And and yet he's still he's still standing ten toes down.

SPEAKER_01 48:29

Exactly. And and then in this episode, like I'm completely biased here. I really liked it because it was like an exam arc, which is like I'm a killer for it, like a shooting exam or stuff like that, and they're writing some sort of exam to more so like the build-up. Yeah, like the being like the retainer of that general. I really liked it. And I also really liked how they showed Osaka, which is basically current Osaka, a little bit run down. Me being into Osaka, like I think that was a really nice touch and to nice to see. And then once again, they mentioned like the previous era where you'd wait like three hours in line for a ride, and then they kind of compare it to the current situation where they're waiting.

SPEAKER_00 49:03

They're like talking about like Disney rides. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 49:06

So I always like these like kind of references to the previous era to the current era, which is a nice touch to see.

SPEAKER_00 49:12

You know, one thing I noticed was uh jumping back to the intro of the anime where they talk about the problems in the world that led to the post-collapse Japan. I thought it was hilarious how the things that they're mentioning are literally happening in the world right now. Yeah, the the disparity of wealth, you know?

SPEAKER_01 49:31

Yeah, and the pandemic, I guess, like yeah, the COVID kind of true, and basically like a combination of all of the natural, I mean natural disasters and the man-made disasters that just happened. What do you think of the that last maybe five minutes of the exam scene where there people are trying to kneel down that general?

SPEAKER_00 49:48

Yeah, so obviously this is like a uh not a physical problem, this is like a mental problem, you know, trying to figure out how to get the guy to his knees. And I I couldn't figure it out. I thought about it. What was the solution? And our genius friend, Altair's genius friend, decides at the end of the episode to try to take out his knees with a sword.

SPEAKER_01 50:06

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 50:06

How do you think that's gonna go? You think do you think someone's gonna stop him?

SPEAKER_01 50:10

No, I think I think he's just gonna jump, to be honest. Really? Like the general? Yeah, he's gonna be like, whoop.

SPEAKER_00 50:15

Yeah, because I guess he didn't even he didn't say he was uh not gonna move. He just said like get me to my knees. Yeah. But how do you get this guy to his knees? I don't know.

SPEAKER_01 50:23

But the but the whole scene was so sick, like the jazz music rundown was so fucking sick. And then as the time was going by, I really like how they like animate the their ancillary thoughts, like their inner monologues. For example, when both the main character and their friend they're thinking about how to like a solution to this. Like there was a scene where the clock is ticking and their heads are kind of moving along as well. Oh man, I thought I thought those scenes are so sick.

SPEAKER_00 50:46

Yeah, that was also my favorite scene from the two episodes that we saw with the border of the screen basically like getting smaller and smaller until it's only their eyes. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I thought that was super well done as well. Clearly, there's a lot of there's going to be a ton of like fantastic cinematography in Nippon Sandoku. Reminds me a little bit of, I don't know if you've seen any of the Monogatari series.

SPEAKER_01 51:06

I watched the first one. Yeah, okay. Well, actually, no, not the first one I can't say the first one. I watched Baki Monogatari.

SPEAKER_00 51:11

Yeah, so in that they use- Actually, you know what? It does kind of remind me of the Monogatari series. Yeah, because in that they use like a lot of still scenes and title cards and really, really like vibrant, vibrant color pilot still scenes. Oh, yeah. I don't know exactly. What were you what did you say? Color pilot?

SPEAKER_01 51:24

No, it's not, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 51:25

Yeah, and it's like most of Monogatry is like quite like not bland, but the color is like washed out. But then in once you have like those title screens, they're always like really, really vibrant color, like a deep purple or like a deep red. And then once I guess like the fight scenes, you then the color comes alive and stuff. Yeah. And yeah, it reminds me a little bit of monogatry in that sense.

SPEAKER_01 51:45

One thing, like if I had to pinpoint something that I didn't really, I mean, like I didn't like too much was I thought the pacing was a little bit jagged. Like maybe that's their intention.

SPEAKER_00 51:56

I kind of expected it to be honest. It only being 12 episodes. Yeah, I feel like because right now the story is still so I mean we're only two episodes in, but I assume there's like a ton of story left to go, you know. So I think they're probably just gonna be fast tracking this early part. Like like I expect that these two guys are going to make it onto the the Border Patrol or whatever the fuck it is. Yeah. And um, and I feel like that's when like the adventure is really gonna begin.

SPEAKER_01 52:19

Yeah, because it it it's it is apparently a book, like a novel series, not a manga series. Really? I wonder like that has to do something with it.

SPEAKER_00 52:25

Damn, dude. If this is something that's gonna be like four seasons, yeah, that's gonna suck. Really? You think so? Well, if it's like four seasons, well, even if it's like two seasons, it's not like next season is gonna be next year, you know.

SPEAKER_01 52:36

Yeah, that's true. So what do you think is gonna happen? In the future? No, like for the subsequent episodes.

SPEAKER_00 52:42

Yeah, I think I think where we're gonna go from here is I can't figure out at all how that how he's gonna get this guy to his knees. You know what would be a crazy twist? Alteru doesn't pass.

SPEAKER_01 52:52

Oh yeah. Yeah, that might happen actually.

SPEAKER_00 52:55

Yeah, because up to up till now we've been thinking we've been operating under the premise that he's just gonna be successful. You know, he's gonna pass this and then he's gonna join the thing and then he's gonna save Japan and reunite Japan. But would be interesting if he actually doesn't isn't able to pass. Yeah. Because then what the fuck does he do? Because like he's not gonna, he's not just gonna give up, you know. Is that your 90%?

SPEAKER_01 53:17

Is that your 50%? Is that your 10%?

SPEAKER_00 53:19

Oh, my my predictions. But do you want to hear them? Yeah, I mean, yeah, yeah. That's probably good right now. My 90%, I don't have anything yet, but I'll think of one.

SPEAKER_01 53:27

But my 50% I think for me, 90% is he's gonna pass. He's gonna come up with something.

SPEAKER_00 53:31

Yeah, I mean, yeah, 90% probably. I don't know. I tried to pick like some stuff that maybe wasn't too obvious, but yeah, we I'll say like maybe he's gonna pass, I guess. But my 50% is that Outero is gonna die by the end.

SPEAKER_01 53:43

I think there's I feel like I feel like that's my 10%.

SPEAKER_00 53:46

Really? Yeah. I actually think there's a 50, at least right now.

SPEAKER_01 53:49

My 50% is that the friends are gonna die. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 53:52

Yeah, I could see that.

SPEAKER_01 53:52

But then my the only reason why I say that is because the main character is literally the the title character on the poster series.

SPEAKER_00 54:00

Yeah, but has has there been anime where the main character, like actually the main character dies? Oh yeah, they're gonna be. But I could I could totally see Auteru dying, man. This this story just gave me the gives me the blast. No, not X episode. I mean by the end. I'm talking about like Oh, well, these 9050-20 uh 90-50-10. I'm saying it for like just like general predictions, you know.

SPEAKER_01 54:20

Oh, well 90% they're gonna reunite in the whole like the whole like all Japan like he'll succeed. Yeah, like 50%. I still think the friend's gonna die.

SPEAKER_00 54:29

I think Arthur is gonna die. 50%.

SPEAKER_01 54:31

I think 10% out like the main character is just gonna run a dictatorship on his own.

SPEAKER_00 54:36

Oh, really? Yeah, he just becomes uh Aaron. Yeah, basically. Basically, my 10% is that it's gonna be an ending that I'll actually be happy with. Oh, yeah. Yeah, I think there's only only a 10% chance that I'll actually be like, watch the final episode and be like, I'm really happy with that ending. Not to say that I think it's gonna be a bad ending, I think it's just gonna be a heartbreaking ending.

SPEAKER_01 54:57

Actually, you know what? Like, I think actually there's a there's a high chance that he's gonna die.

SPEAKER_00 55:01

Yeah, that's why I put it at 50%. Yeah, I could totally see this guy dying so tragically. And I don't even know if that would make for a good story. Personally,

90 50 10 Predictions And Next Watch

SPEAKER_00 55:10

I would want I want him to succeed, but I kind of want like everyone in their stories to succeed. And I know that that doesn't always make for the best story.

SPEAKER_01 55:19

Yeah, yeah, I agree.

SPEAKER_00 55:21

But in such in such a dreary world, I would really like for the good guys to get a dub.

SPEAKER_01 55:27

Yeah, I wonder though, if he actually doesn't mind dying, you know, at the love of his life, fucking copyheaded.

SPEAKER_00 55:32

I mean, he was almost resigned to dying, if you remember in episode one, yeah because he did not instantly think about negotiating. His first thought instantly was to start trying to kill them. And he said he was going to take out a couple, but then he's gonna die right there. Like he can't take them all out. He'll take out the Oh, actually, yeah. That's like he was like that's true, that's true. He was like, first I'll take out this guy, then I'll take out this guy, then I'll kill Fatso, but then the other two will be able to kill me, and then I'll die here. Yeah. So he was, you know, he was almost ready to die.

SPEAKER_01 55:58

Yeah, that's true, that's true.

SPEAKER_00 55:59

Until the until something kicked in.

SPEAKER_01 56:01

So for me, my overall rating for the first two episodes of the Upon San Goku is nine out of ten. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 56:09

For me, I think I give it overall. The first two episodes, I didn't enjoy them that much, but I'm really looking forward to the future. Well not that I didn't enjoy them that much. I did enjoy them. I didn't think they were like super, super amazing, but I'm really looking forward to the future. So I will give what did you give? Nine. I think I give an eight.

SPEAKER_01 56:30

Isn't that what you gave Witch Hat though?

SPEAKER_00 56:32

Really?

SPEAKER_01 56:32

I think so.

SPEAKER_00 56:33

Oh. Then I'll give it a 7.5. Okay. Okay. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 56:40

Good to know. Uh, interesting.

SPEAKER_00 56:42

But a lot of that is just because of like my taste, you know.

SPEAKER_01 56:43

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm more scared to get hurt. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 56:51

What are we at for time?

SPEAKER_01 56:52

We're an hour.

SPEAKER_00 56:53

Oh, okay. Great. Yeah. Fantastic.

SPEAKER_01 56:54

Yeah. Cool. So we'll watch the episode three, four for each. It's a good thing that these episodes, I mean, these animes are done, so we can we don't have to wait like forever to wait.

SPEAKER_00 57:06

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 57:06

But I mean, so far I'm having a good time. Me too. But yeah, we'll see what happens.

SPEAKER_00 57:11

Yeah, I'm excited for the future. I think these these first two episodes will probably be the slowest, and then I'm expecting it to pick up quite a bit. I mean, we're already seeing like our heroes are about to face their first big chic challenge, both with Coco and her test with Eggot, and now Auteru taking his exam to try to get into the exactly. Yeah.

unknown 57:30

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 57:31

So things are things are finally starting to shit starting to go down, and I'm excited.

SPEAKER_01 57:35

Yeah, yeah. Well, that's it for today. Thanks for tuning in with tuning in. Is that tuning?

SPEAKER_00 57:43

Yeah, tuning. Yeah, I don't know.

SPEAKER_01 57:45

We'll catch up with kind coming.

SPEAKER_00 57:47

Yeah. Make sure you watch episode three and four in preparation for next Thursday's episode. Yes. And we will. You got anything else to say?

SPEAKER_01 57:56

No. That's pretty much it.

SPEAKER_00 57:57

We will catch you in the next one.