Japanimation Station's Kyoto Vacation

Today we return to the wacky world of Love, Chuunibyo, and Other Delusions for its second season, Heart Throb!

We discussing the next series made by the ladies behind K-ON!, 2013’s Tamako Market!

We are back for Part 5 of our Kyoto Vacation with 2012’s Love, Chuunibyo & Other Delusions!

Akira Toriyama, creator of Dragon Ball, passed away this week at the age of 68, and in this special episode, we look back on his incredible work and influence.

We review the 2012 slice-of-life mystery HYOUKA, which may well be the most beautifully animated show in the history of anime.

We review NICHIJOU, which follows three high-school girls, a genius child inventor, the robot big sister she invents for herself, a talking cat, and many more increasingly strange characters in a very bizarre world of madcap, gorgeously-animated comedy.

We’re finishing our journey with Hokago Tea Time by following the girls to London for an overseas adventure in K-On! The Movie.

We’re discussing the 27-episode second season of K-ON!!, which follows Yui, Ritsu, Mio, and Mugi-chan in their third and final year of high school

We’re reviewing what may be Kyoto Animation’s most popular series to date: K-On!, the musical slice-of-life anime sensation following the girls of the Sakuragaoka High School light music club!

It’s December 25th, and Christmas has finally come to Otaku Town – and with it, the final episode of Part 2 of our Kyoto Vacation. For today’s very special episode, we are finishing our journey through the world of Haruhi Suzumiya with the 2010 film The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya, the nearly-three-hour climactic story in Kyoto Animation’s beloved adaptation of Nagaru Tanigawa’s light novels. It’s an absolute masterpiece of a film, telling its story of Kyon waking up in a world without the SOS Brigade patiently and tenderly, and building to a series of incredibly powerful emotional climaxes. It is also a truly beautiful Christmas movie in the vein of A Christmas Carol or It’s a Wonderful Life, and one of the very best of its kind, making it the perfect film to celebrate the holiday and ring out what has been a very big 2023 for Japanimation Station!  Have a Happy New Year, and we will see all of you in 2024 for Part 3 of our Kyoto Vacation, “Moe Money, Moe Problems: After School Tea Time with the Girls of K-On!”   Time Chart: Theme Song: 0:00:00 – 0:01:31 Intro and History: 0:01:31 – 0:38:17 Eyecatch Break: 0:38:17 – 0:38:54 The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya Review: 0:38:54 – 3:12:20 End Theme: 3:12:20 – 3:13:22 Support the show at Ko-fi ☕️ https://ko-fi.com/weeklystuff Read the book 200 Reviews by Jonathan R. Lack in Paperback or on Kindle – https://a.co/d/bLx53vK Follow The Weekly Stuff Wordcast newsletter for regular updates and extra content! https://weeklystuff.substack.com Subscribe to The Weekly Stuff Podcast on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/TheWeeklyStuffPodcast Visit our website and subscribe to Japanimation Station on all podcast platforms: http://japanimationstation.com/ Subscribe to The Weekly Stuff Podcast on all podcast platforms: http://www.weeklystuffpodcast.com 「コイノMIKUルデンセツ」- Music by Satoru Kosaki, Lyrics by Yutaka Yamamoto, Arranged by Thomas Lack feat. Hatsune Miku  “Happily Ever After” – Original Music & Lyrics by Thomas Lack, featuring Hatsune Miku. https://www.thomaslack.com

Part 2 of our Kyoto Vacation chronicles ‘When Christmas Came to Otaku Town,’ and that holiday is drawing ever nearer with Season 2 of The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya. Aired in 2009, this season collected the 14 episodes originally produced in 2006, re-arranges them in the story’s chronological order, and then intersperses 14 new episodes amidst them, to make for a new 28-episode version of the series. We already talked about 8 of those episodes in last week’s in-depth, extra-long breakdown of the infamous ‘Endless Eight’ arc, and in this episode, we look at the one-off episode “Bamboo Leaf Rhapsody,” the 5-part “Sigh of Haruhi Suzumiya,” and discuss how this series plays viewed in chronological order in this specific 28-episode package. One thing’s for sure: When it comes to Haruhi Suzumiya, nothing happens exactly as expected, and there are surprises around every corner.  Enjoy, and come back next week as we review the final chapter of the Haruhi saga, the 2010 film The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya!  Time Chart: Theme Song: 0:00:00 – 0:01:31 Intro, History, and Bamboo Leaf Rhapsody: 0:01:31 – 0:47:37 Eyecatch Break: 0:47:37 – 0:48:12 The Sigh of Haruhi Suzumiya Review: 0:48:12 – 2:02:40 End Theme: 2:02:40 – 2:03:42  Support the show at Ko-fi ☕️ https://ko-fi.com/weeklystuff Read the book 200 Reviews by Jonathan R. Lack in Paperback or on Kindle – https://a.co/d/bLx53vK Follow The Weekly Stuff Wordcast newsletter for regular updates and extra content! https://weeklystuff.substack.com Subscribe to The Weekly Stuff Podcast on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/TheWeeklyStuffPodcast Visit our website and subscribe to Japanimation Station on all podcast platforms: http://japanimationstation.com/ Subscribe to The Weekly Stuff Podcast on all podcast platforms: http://www.weeklystuffpodcast.com

Part 2 of our Kyoto Vacation chronicles ‘When Christmas Came to Otaku Town,’ and in this episode, we do an extremely deep-dive into the single craziest experiment ever attempted in commercial anime: The infamous ‘Endless Eight’ arc from The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya Season 2. We will be talking about the rest of that show’s second season from 2009 in next week’s episode, but as we worked our way through these episodes, we realized the Endless Eight were something special, and needed a different approach. Often dismissed as “the same episode repeated eight times,” the Endless Eight is actually a collection of Kyoto Animation’s best directors independently tackling the same basic story, but with completely different animation, voice acting, and music, with a constantly varying tonal and thematic approach, and it makes for a fascinating, perspective-altering work of avant-garde art. To do it justice, we recorded once a day for eight days, watching each of the eight episodes individually and then discussing each at length before moving on to the next one. The result is one of the longest episodes we’ve ever recorded, but also one of the best – and if you haven’t dived into the full ‘Endless Eight’ experience before, we hope this episode makes for the perfect viewing companion.  Enjoy, and come back next week as we review the rest of The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya Season 2, in the story’s chronological order! Time Chart: Theme Song: 0:00:00 – 0:01:31 Intro: 0:01:31 – 0:07:29 Endless Eight I: 0:07:29 – 0:23:17 Endless Eight II: 0:23:17 – 0:43:29  Endless Eight III: 0:43:29 – 1:19:20  Eyecatch Break: 1:19:20 – 1:19:57 Endless Eight IV: 1:19:57 – 2:01:10 Endless Eight V: 2:01:10 – 2:41:24 Endless Eight VI: 2:41:24 – 3:10:09 Endless Eight VII: 3:10:09 – 3:40:42 Endless Eight VIII: 3:40:42 – 4:37:14 End Theme: 4:37:14 – 4:38:16  Support the show at Ko-fi ☕️ https://ko-fi.com/weeklystuff Read the book 200 Reviews by Jonathan R. Lack in Paperback or on Kindle – https://a.co/d/bLx53vK Follow The Weekly Stuff Wordcast newsletter for regular updates and extra content!  https://weeklystuff.substack.com Subscribe to The Weekly Stuff Podcast on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/TheWeeklyStuffPodcast Visit our website and subscribe to Japanimation Station on all podcast platforms: http://japanimationstation.com/ Subscribe to The Weekly Stuff Podcast on all podcast platforms: http://www.weeklystuffpodcast.com

Part 2 of our Kyoto Vacation chronicles ‘When Christmas Came to Otaku Town,’ and following the wild success of Haruhi Suzumiya, Kyoto Animation moved on to one of the defining slice-of-life anime comedies, 2007’s Lucky Star! Simultaneously a very dry, down-to-earth ‘atmospheric’ show and an absolutely absurd slice of post-modern anime surrealism, Lucky Star is a singularly entertaining show. Based on the 4-panel manga by Kagami Yoshimizu, Lucky Star in anime form quickly takes on a life of its own as the artists at Kyoto Animation find themselves reacting to the Haruhi Suzumiya phenomenon and the changing shape of anime fandom within the text of the show, and also saw some behind-the-scenes turmoil as original director Yamamoto Yutaka was fired after just 4 episodes. We dive into all of that history, discuss our favorite jokes and characters, and celebrate the delirious insanity that is Lucky Channel on this jam-packed episode!  Enjoy, and come back next week as we review the infamous ‘Endless Eight’ episodes from The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya Season 2! Time Chart: Theme Song: 0:00:00 – 0:01:30  Intro and History: 0:01:30 – 0:38:59 Get F’d Yamamoto Yutaka: 0:38:59 – 1:08:20 Eyecatch Break: 1:08:20 – 1:08:55 Lucky Star Review: 1:08:55 – 3:16:12 End Theme: 3:16:12 – 3:17:14  Support the show at Ko-fi ☕️ https://ko-fi.com/weeklystuff Read the book 200 Reviews by Jonathan R. Lack in Paperback or on Kindle – https://a.co/d/bLx53vK Follow The Weekly Stuff Wordcast newsletter for regular updates and extra content!  https://weeklystuff.substack.com Subscribe to The Weekly Stuff Podcast on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/TheWeeklyStuffPodcast Visit our website and subscribe to Japanimation Station on all podcast platforms: http://japanimationstation.com/ Subscribe to The Weekly Stuff Podcast on all podcast platforms: http://www.weeklystuffpodcast.com “re:CAPTURE” and “Happily Ever After” – Original Music & Lyrics by Thomas Lack, featuring Hatsune Miku. https://www.thomaslack.com

Part 2 of our Kyoto Vacation chronicles ‘When Christmas Came to Otaku Town,’ beginning with a look at the first season of The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya. Based on the light novels by Nagaru Tanigawa, Haruhi is a seminal work of 21st century anime, with the first 14 episodes from 2006 creating an absolute sensation with major impacts on the future of the industry. It’s also an incredible set of episodes, presented in an out-of-chronology ‘shuffle order’ mixing stories from all over the Haruhi timeline in with a 6-part adaptation of the eponymous first light novel. It’s a structure that throws the viewer in the deep end, but also leads to a deeply compelling engagement with these off-beat characters and their very strange world, one that pays emotional dividends by the end. We talk about all of that, the history of the series, and the idea behind ‘moe’ on this very exciting episode!  Enjoy, and come back next week as we review the 2007 ‘slice of life’ comedy Lucky Star!   Time Chart: Theme Song: 0:00:00 – 0:01:31 Intro and History: 0:01:31 – 1:05:34 Eyecatch Break: 1:05:34 – 1:06:12 Haruhi Season 1 Review: 1:06:12 – 3:15:44 End Theme: 3:15:44 – 3:16:46 Support the show at Ko-fi ☕️ https://ko-fi.com/weeklystuff Read the book 200 Reviews by Jonathan R. Lack in Paperback or on Kindle – https://a.co/d/bLx53vK Follow The Weekly Stuff Wordcast newsletter for regular updates and extra content!  https://weeklystuff.substack.com Subscribe to The Weekly Stuff Podcast on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/TheWeeklyStuffPodcast Visit our website and subscribe to Japanimation Station on all podcast platforms: http://japanimationstation.com/ Subscribe to The Weekly Stuff Podcast on all podcast platforms: http://www.weeklystuffpodcast.com

This week marks the 10th anniversary of the first movie based on Persona 3, a game that is one of our all-time favorites here at Japanimation Station. We reviewed each of those films as they released over on The Weekly Stuff Podcast, and hold them in extremely high regard as some of the greatest video game adaptations of all time, in any medium – and an undeniably great work of anime. So this week, as a special Thanksgiving bonus, we’re bringing back our original Persona 3 movie reviews, re-edited and remastered, for Japanimation Station.  That continues today with the fourth and final film, Winter of Rebirth! This conversation was originally recorded on August 21st, 2016. We dive in great depth not only into this final film itself, but also to the series as a whole, and how vastly it has surpassed whatever expectations we initially had. Persona 3 was, is, and shall always be a great game – but this four-part film series has, miraculously, earned a place on the shelf alongside it, something that is a welcome surprise indeed. Enjoy, happy thanksgiving, and we will be back next week to resume our Kyoto Vacation with our review of The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya!   Time Chart: Theme Song: 0:00:00 – 0:01:14 Intro: 0:01:14 – 0:06:04 Eyecatch Break: 0:06:04 – 0:06:40 Persona 3 Movie 4: 0:06:40 – 1:38:22 End Theme: 1:38:22 – 1:39:25 Support the show at Ko-fi ☕️ https://ko-fi.com/weeklystuff Read the book 200 Reviews by Jonathan R. Lack in Paperback or on Kindle – https://a.co/d/bLx53vK Follow The Weekly Stuff Wordcast newsletter for regular updates and extra content! https://weeklystuff.substack.com Subscribe to The Weekly Stuff Podcast on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/TheWeeklyStuffPodcast Visit our website and subscribe to Japanimation Station on all podcast platforms: http://japanimationstation.com/ Subscribe to The Weekly Stuff Podcast on all podcast platforms: http://www.weeklystuffpodcast.com “Welcome to Japanimation Station” Original Music by Thomas Lack, Lyrics by Sean Chapman, featuring Hatsune Miku. “Happily Ever After” Original Music & Lyrics by Thomas Lack, featuring Hatsune Miku. https://www.thomaslack.com

This week marks the 10th anniversary of the first movie based on Persona 3, a game that is one of our all-time favorites here at Japanimation Station. We reviewed each of those films as they released over on The Weekly Stuff Podcast, and hold them in extremely high regard as some of the greatest video game adaptations of all time, in any medium – and an undeniably great work of anime. So this week, as a special Thanksgiving bonus, we’re bringing back our original Persona 3 movie reviews, re-edited and remastered, for Japanimation Station.  That continues today with the third film, Falling Down! This conversation was originally recorded on February 16th, 2016, and it finds our investment in these films only growing deeper, as Falling Down tackles one of the trickier stretches of the game to adapt, and finds an incredibly effective lens through which to view the story via the character of Ryoji. If anything, these movies just keep getting better.  Enjoy, and come back tomorrow for our review of the fourth and final Persona 3 movie, Winter of Rebirth!  Time Chart: Theme Song: 0:00:00 – 0:01:14 Intro: 0:01:14 – 0:04:04 Eyecatch Break: 0:04:04 – 0:04:38 Persona 3 Movie 3: 0:04:38 – 0:52:56 End Theme: 0:52:56 – 0:53:58 Support the show at Ko-fi ☕️ https://ko-fi.com/weeklystuff Read the book 200 Reviews by Jonathan R. Lack in Paperback or on Kindle – https://a.co/d/bLx53vK Follow The Weekly Stuff Wordcast newsletter for regular updates and extra content! https://weeklystuff.substack.com Subscribe to The Weekly Stuff Podcast on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/TheWeeklyStuffPodcast Visit our website and subscribe to Japanimation Station on all podcast platforms: http://japanimationstation.com/ Subscribe to The Weekly Stuff Podcast on all podcast platforms: http://www.weeklystuffpodcast.com “Welcome to Japanimation Station” Original Music by Thomas Lack, Lyrics by Sean Chapman, featuring Hatsune Miku. “Happily Ever After” Original Music & Lyrics by Thomas Lack, featuring Hatsune Miku. https://www.thomaslack.com

This week marks the 10th anniversary of the first movie based on Persona 3, a game that is one of our all-time favorites here at Japanimation Station. We reviewed each of those films as they released over on The Weekly Stuff Podcast, and hold them in extremely high regard as some of the greatest video game adaptations of all time, in any medium – and an undeniably great work of anime. So this week, as a special Thanksgiving bonus, we’re bringing back our original Persona 3 movie reviews, re-edited and remastered, for Japanimation Station.  That continues today with the second film, A Midsummer Knight’s Dream! This conversation was originally recorded on April 11th, 2015, and the movie left us absolutely shaken, both by its pitch-perfect delivery of one of the most devastating moments from the original game, and by the incredible animation and direction throughout. If the first film was surprisingly great, this is where the Persona 3 film series starts to play its hand as a true anime masterpiece.   Enjoy, and come back tomorrow for our review of the third Persona 3 movie, Falling Down!  Time Chart: Theme Song: 0:00:00 – 0:01:14 Intro: 0:01:14 – 0:03:32 Eyecatch Break: 0:03:32 – 0:04:07 Persona 3 Movie 2: 0:04:07 – 1:06:12 End Theme: 1:06:12 – 1:07:14 Support the show at Ko-fi ☕️ https://ko-fi.com/weeklystuff Read the book 200 Reviews by Jonathan R. Lack in Paperback or on Kindle – https://a.co/d/bLx53vK Follow The Weekly Stuff Wordcast newsletter for regular updates and extra content!  https://weeklystuff.substack.com Subscribe to The Weekly Stuff Podcast on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/TheWeeklyStuffPodcast Visit our website and subscribe to Japanimation Station on all podcast platforms: http://japanimationstation.com/ Subscribe to The Weekly Stuff Podcast on all podcast platforms: http://www.weeklystuffpodcast.com “Welcome to Japanimation Station” Original Music by Thomas Lack, Lyrics by Sean Chapman, featuring Hatsune Miku. “Happily Ever After” Original Music & Lyrics by Thomas Lack, featuring Hatsune Miku. https://www.thomaslack.com

This week marks the 10th anniversary of the first movie based on Persona 3, a game that is one of our all-time favorites here at Japanimation Station. We reviewed each of those films as they released over on The Weekly Stuff Podcast, and hold them in extremely high regard as some of the greatest video game adaptations of all time, in any medium – and an undeniably great work of anime. So this week, as a special Thanksgiving bonus, we’re bringing back our original Persona 3 movie reviews, re-edited and remastered, for Japanimation Station.  That begins today with the first film, Spring of Birth, originally released this week 10 years ago! This conversation was originally recorded on May 22nd, 2014, and as you’ll hear, the movie took both of us by surprise for just how strong its adaptational choices, animation, and direction were across the board, setting the stage for a 4-part film series that punches far above its weight.  Enjoy, and come back tomorrow for our review of the second Persona 3 movie, A Midsummer Knight’s Dream!  Time Chart: Theme Song: 0:00:00 – 0:01:14 Intro: 0:01:14 – 0:07:15  Eyecatch Break: 0:07:15 – 0:07:49  Persona 3 Movie 1: 0:07:49 – 1:02:38 End Theme: 1:02:38 – 1:03:40  Support the show at Ko-fi ☕️ https://ko-fi.com/weeklystuff Read the book 200 Reviews by Jonathan R. Lack in Paperback or on Kindle – https://a.co/d/bLx53vK Follow The Weekly Stuff Wordcast newsletter for regular updates and extra content!  https://weeklystuff.substack.com Subscribe to The Weekly Stuff Podcast on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/TheWeeklyStuffPodcast Visit our website and subscribe to Japanimation Station on all podcast platforms: http://japanimationstation.com/ Subscribe to The Weekly Stuff Podcast on all podcast platforms: http://www.weeklystuffpodcast.com “Welcome to Japanimation Station” Original Music by Thomas Lack, Lyrics by Sean Chapman, featuring Hatsune Miku. “Happily Ever After” Original Music & Lyrics by Thomas Lack, featuring Hatsune Miku. https://www.thomaslack.com

Part 1 of our Kyoto Vacation, ‘Crying is the Key to Happiness,’ comes to a close with Clannad After Story, the second and final season based on the legendary visual novel by Key VisualArts. And after speaking for 3.5 hours about the first season, we somehow go even longer on the second, which follows Tomoya and Nagisa progressing into adulthood and becomes an ever-deeper, richer, and more emotionally impactful experience as it goes along. These are, simply put, some of the finest episodes of anime ever made, from storytelling through all aspects of the production, and it takes a full four-hour podcast to really start sinking our teeth into all of it.   Enjoy! We will be off next week for Thanksgiving, and returning on November 28th for Part 2 of our Kyoto Vacation with our review of The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya Season 1 in its original ‘shuffle’ broadcast order!  Time Chart: Theme Song: 0:00:00 – 0:01:30  Intro and Review Part 1: 0:01:30 – 1:09:16 Eyecatch Break: 1:09:16 – 1:09:52 Review Continued: 1:09:52 – 3:48:02 End Theme: 3:48:02 – 3:49:04  Support the show at Ko-fi ☕️ https://ko-fi.com/weeklystuff Read the book 200 Reviews by Jonathan R. Lack in Paperback or on Kindle – https://a.co/d/bLx53vK Follow The Weekly Stuff Wordcast newsletter for regular updates and extra content! https://weeklystuff.substack.com Subscribe to The Weekly Stuff Podcast on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/TheWeeklyStuffPodcast Visit our website and subscribe to Japanimation Station on all podcast platforms: http://japanimationstation.com/ Subscribe to The Weekly Stuff Podcast on all podcast platforms: http://www.weeklystuffpodcast.com “re:CAPTURE” and “Happily Ever After” – Original Music & Lyrics by Thomas Lack, featuring Hatsune Miku https://www.thomaslack.com

Part 1 of our Kyoto Vacation, ‘Crying is the Key to Happiness,’ continues with 2007’s Clannad, the first entry in a two-series journey adapting the legendary visual novel by Key VisualArts. And it is, immediately, a major artistic leap for Kyoto Animation, a stunningly animated, beautifully written, alternatingly hilarious and poignant portrait of high school friendship and romance. Before we even arrive at the darker, bolder narrative turns of the second season, Clannad After Story, the series’ first half has us wondering if we’re watching one of the greatest anime ever made. This one is the complete package, and we break it all down in detail, sharing the history behind the visual novel and the team at Kyoto Animation behind the anime, breaking down the story, characters, and animation, and generally gushing about a truly incredible work of art.  Enjoy, and come back next week as we review the second half of the Clannad saga with Clannad After Story!  Time Chart: Theme Song: 0:00:00 – 0:01:30  Intro and History: 0:01:30 – 0:50:11 Eyecatch Break: 0:50:11 – 0:50:48 Clannad Review: 0:50:48 – 3:33:36 End Theme: 3:33:36 – 3:34:38 Support the show at Ko-fi ☕️ https://ko-fi.com/weeklystuff Read the book 200 Reviews by Jonathan R. Lack in Paperback or on Kindle – https://a.co/d/bLx53vK Follow The Weekly Stuff Wordcast newsletter for regular updates and extra content! https://weeklystuff.substack.com Subscribe to The Weekly Stuff Podcast on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/TheWeeklyStuffPodcast Visit our website and subscribe to Japanimation Station on all podcast platforms: http://japanimationstation.com/ Subscribe to The Weekly Stuff Podcast on all podcast platforms: http://www.weeklystuffpodcast.com “re:CAPTURE” and “Happily Ever After” – Original Music & Lyrics by Thomas Lack, featuring Hatsune Miku. https://www.thomaslack.com

Part 1 of our Kyoto Vacation, ‘Crying is the Key to Happiness,’ continues with our review of Kanon, a fascinating snapshot of two groups of storytellers finding their way: The team at Key VisualArts, for whom Kanon was their first original visual novel, and the artists at Kyoto Animation, who had already made Air the year before, and were now working with double the episode order and an even more confident sense of style. Sean and Jonathan disagree on exactly how effectively it all comes together, but there’s no doubt there’s a lot of artistry and passion on display, and that Kanon is – pardon the pun – a key stepping stone in the Kyoto Animation legend.  Enjoy, and come back next week as we review the first season of Clannad, one of the most beloved anime of all time!  Time Chart: Theme Song: 0:00:00 – 0:01:30 Intro and History: 0:01:30 – 0:52:13 Eyecatch Break: 0:52:13 – 0:52:47 Kanon Review: 0:52:47 – 3:14:09 End Theme: 3:14:09 – 3:15:11  Support the show at Ko-fi ☕️ https://ko-fi.com/weeklystuff Read the book 200 Reviews by Jonathan R. Lack in Paperback or on Kindle – https://a.co/d/bLx53vK Follow The Weekly Stuff Wordcast newsletter for regular updates and extra content! https://weeklystuff.substack.com Subscribe to The Weekly Stuff Podcast on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/TheWeeklyStuffPodcast Visit our website and subscribe to Japanimation Station on all podcast platforms: http://japanimationstation.com/ Subscribe to The Weekly Stuff Podcast on all podcast platforms: http://www.weeklystuffpodcast.com “re:CAPTURE” and “Happily Ever After” – Original Music & Lyrics by Thomas Lack, featuring Hatsune Miku. https://www.thomaslack.com

Part 1 of our Kyoto Vacation kicks off with ‘Crying is the Key to Happiness,’ a series of episodes on Kyoto Animation’s adaptations of the acclaimed visual novels by Key VisualArts. We begin with 2005’s Air, the strange, sad, and surprising tale of a wandering boy, a girl obsessed with dinosaurs, an empathetic crow, and a winged girl in the sky. Air is a hard show to describe, but it’s a powerful watch, adapting the hit visual novel into 12 episodes (and 2 OVAs) that put Kyoto Animation firmly on the map. We discuss the history of Key VisualArts leading up to the creation of Air and tell you all about the KyoAni staff that created the show before diving deep into one of the weirdest, most beautiful, and most devastating shows we’ve ever reviewed.  Enjoy, and come back next week as we review Kanon, the 24-episode series based on Key’s first visual novel! Time Chart: Theme Song: 0:00:00 – 0:01:30 Intro and History: 0:01:30 –  Eyecatch Break: 0:56:43 – 0:57:19  Air Review: 0:57:19 – 3:08:40  End Theme: 3:08:40 – 3:09:42  Support the show at Ko-fi ☕️ https://ko-fi.com/weeklystuff Read the book 200 Reviews by Jonathan R. Lack in Paperback or on Kindle – https://a.co/d/bLx53vK Follow The Weekly Stuff Wordcast newsletter for regular updates and extra content! https://weeklystuff.substack.com Subscribe to The Weekly Stuff Podcast on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/TheWeeklyStuffPodcast Visit our website and subscribe to Japanimation Station on all podcast platforms: http://japanimationstation.com/ Subscribe to The Weekly Stuff Podcast on all podcast platforms: http://www.weeklystuffpodcast.com “re:CAPTURE” and “Happily Ever After” – Original Music & Lyrics by Thomas Lack, featuring Hatsune Miku. https://www.thomaslack.com

Welcome to Japanimation Station’s Kyoto Vacation, the fourth season of our podcast and our biggest adventure yet! We are taking a journey through the works of Kyoto Animation, one of the most respected and beloved anime studios in Japan, reviewing shows like Clannad, The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, K-On!, Nichijou, Sound! Euphonium, Violet Evergarden, and much more. But before we talk about any specific works, we wanted to take a step back and discuss the history of Kyoto Animation itself, because it’s a fascinating story stretching back to the earliest days of anime, and one that explains a lot about how the studio came to have the style and structure it is known and respected for. Even if you’ve never watched one of these shows before, this is a story you’ll definitely want to hear, and a great way to kick off our Kyoto Vacation.  Enjoy, and come back next week as we review Kyoto Animation’s first original, solo production, 2005’s Air!  Time Chart: Theme Song: 0:00:00 – 0:01:29 Intro and Preview to Season: 0:01:29 – 0:37:35 Eyecatch Break: 0:37:35 – 0:38:11 The History of Kyoto Animation: 0:38:11 – 1:54:12 End Theme: 1:54:12 – 1:55:15 Support the show at Ko-fi ☕️ https://ko-fi.com/weeklystuff Read the book 200 Reviews by Jonathan R. Lack in Paperback or on Kindle – https://a.co/d/bLx53vK Follow The Weekly Stuff Wordcast newsletter for regular updates and extra content! https://weeklystuff.substack.com Subscribe to The Weekly Stuff Podcast on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/TheWeeklyStuffPodcast Visit our website and subscribe to Japanimation Station on all podcast platforms: http://japanimationstation.com/ Subscribe to The Weekly Stuff Podcast on all podcast platforms: http://www.weeklystuffpodcast.com “re:CAPTURE” and “Happily Ever After” – Original Music & Lyrics by Thomas Lack, featuring Hatsune Miku. https://www.thomaslack.com

“Leave it to my psychokinesis.”    The third season of Japanimation Station comes to a close with the jam-packed final installment of The Classic Adventures of Lupin the 3rd! We start by taking a look at Lupin’s first live-action adventure, 1974’s Strange Psychokinetic Strategy. This is one of the earliest Lupin adaptations period, created between the first and second anime before the franchise had become enduringly popular, and it’s a surprisingly creative, if narratively scattershot, madcap comedy, putting Lupin in a white jacket and throwing him into a series of increasingly ludicrous scenarios. Then, Jonathan gives us an exhaustive (maybe even obsessive) guide to the best Lupin the 3rd soundtrack albums and the wide world of Yuji Ohno’s Lupin the 3rd Jazz releases. And finally, Sean and Jonathan play a game drafting all our favorite Lupin characters for a hypothetical heist!    Thanks so much for listening to Season 3 of Japanimation Station. We’ll see you later this fall for the debut of Season 4, Japanimation Station’s Kyoto Vacation, where we’ll be looking at the output of one of anime’s greatest studios, Kyoto Animation!    Time Chart: Theme Song: 0:00:00 – 0:01:20 Strange Psychokinetic Strategy: 0:01:20 – 1:09:05 Eyecatch Break 1: 1:09:05 – 1:09:38 Jonathan’s Guide to Lupin Music: 1:09:38 – 1:50:51  Eyecatch Break 2: 1:50:51 – 1:51:22 Season 3 Wrap-up: 1:51:22 – 2:12:21 Eyecatch Break 3: 2:12:21 – 2:12:49 Lupin Family Draft: 2:12:49 – 2:35:17 Season 4 Preview: 2:35:17 – 2:39:49  End Theme: 2:39:49 – 2:41:04    Support the show at Ko-fi ☕️ https://ko-fi.com/weeklystuff   Subscribe to The Weekly Stuff Podcast on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/TheWeeklyStuffPodcast   Follow The Weekly Stuff Wordcast newsletter for regular updates and extra content!  https://weeklystuff.substack.com   Visit our website and subscribe to Japanimation Station on all podcast platforms: http://japanimationstation.com/   Subscribe to The Weekly Stuff Podcast on all podcast platforms: http://www.weeklystuffpodcast.com   “Welcome to Japanimation Station!” Lyrics by Sean Chapman, Music by Thomas Lack, featuring Hatsune Miku. https://www.thomaslack.com

“I guess we do battle tonight, Pops!”   For the penultimate episode of Japanimation Station Season 3, we’re looking at a selection of Lupin the 3rdfilms and specials from the brink of the new millennium! Starting with 1996’s Dead or Alive, a theatrical feature directed by Lupin creator Monkey Punch himself, which sees our favorite thief embroiled in a narratively messy but visually stunning adventure on a very strange island. 1997’s Island of Assassins is a lesser Lupin special, weirdly violent but without any particular bite, while 1998’s Tokyo Crisis is one of our absolute favorites, a Zenigata-led, uproariously funny comedy with fantastic guest performances by Megumi Hayashibara and Kōichi Yamadera. And finally, we end our examination of Lupin the 3rd anime with 2002’s Episode 0: The First Contact, an origin story caper for the entire Lupin gang that sees the franchise taking its early steps into digital animation, with mixed results.      Enjoy, and come back next week for our season 3 finale, where we’ll be reviewing the 1974 live-action Lupin adaptation, Strange Psychokinetic Strategy, and celebrating all this season’s Lupintic adventures!     Time Chart: Theme Song: 0:00:00 – 0:01:20 Intro: 0:01:20 – 0:15:04 Dead or Alive: 0:15:04 – 1:15:59  Eyecatch Break 1: 1:15:59 – 1:16:33  Island of Assassins: 1:16:33 – 1:45:56 Eyecatch Break 2: 1:45:56 – 1:46:18  Tokyo Crisis: 1:46:18 – 2:32:12  Eyecatch Break 3: 2:32:12 – 2:32:37 Episode 0 First Contact: 2:32:37 – 3:08:44 End Theme: 3:08:44 – 3:09:59    Support the show at Ko-fi ☕️ https://ko-fi.com/weeklystuff   Subscribe to The Weekly Stuff Podcast on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/TheWeeklyStuffPodcast   Follow The Weekly Stuff Wordcast newsletter for regular updates and extra content!  https://weeklystuff.substack.com   Visit our website and subscribe to Japanimation Station on all podcast platforms: http://japanimationstation.com/   Subscribe to The Weekly Stuff Podcast on all podcast platforms: http://www.weeklystuffpodcast.com   “Welcome to Japanimation Station!” Lyrics by Sean Chapman, Music by Thomas Lack, featuring Hatsune Miku. https://www.thomaslack.com

“I can’t just ignore a lovely lady with a big Diamond.”   As Lupin the 3rd rounded the corner of the 1980s into the 1990s, the character and the series was in a period of transition. The 1987 OVA film The Fuma Conspiracy featured some of the franchise’s greatest animation, but also had a completely different voice cast than Japanese fans had come to know and love. The series went back to the tone and style of Part II for the 1989 Osamu Dezaki-directed TV special Bye Bye Lady Liberty, with Yasuo Yamada, the original voice cast, and the red jacket in tow, and it was a huge success, creatively and commercially, kicking off an annual string of feature-length TV specials that continued through 2013, including 1993’s Voyage to Danger, which saw the one-time-only return of Part I director Masaaki Osumi to the franchise. Sadly, Yasuo Yamada grew ill and passed away in 1995, just before the release of the first theatrical film in 10 years, Farewell to Nostradamus, with Kanichi Kurita stepping into those impossibly large shoes as his replacement, and doing such an amazing job that he continues to voice Lupin to this day! We cover all 4 of these feature-length Lupin experiences in today’s episode, analyzing a period where everything is in flux for Lupin III, and the possibilities are endless!    Enjoy, and come back next week as we look at Lupin’s adventures on the brink of the new millennium with a selection of films and specials from 1996 to 2002 – Dead or Alive, Island of Assassins, Tokyo Crisis and Episode 0: First Contact!    Time Chart: Theme Song: 0:00:00 – 0:01:20 Intro: 0:01:20 – 0:06:57  The Fuma Conspiracy: 0:06:57 – 0:49:06 Eyecatch Break 1: 0:49:06 – 0:49:38 Bye Bye Lady Liberty: 0:49:38 – 1:51:46 Eyecatch Break 2: 1:51:46 – 1:52:10 Voyage to Danger: 1:52:10 – 2:35:28 Eyecatch Break 3: 2:35:28 – 2:35:54 Farewell to Nostradamus: 2:35:54 – 3:27:49  End Theme: 3:27:49 – 3:29:04    Support the show at Ko-fi ☕️ https://ko-fi.com/weeklystuff   Subscribe to The Weekly Stuff Podcast on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/TheWeeklyStuffPodcast   Follow The Weekly Stuff Wordcast newsletter for regular updates and extra content!  https://weeklystuff.substack.com   Visit our website and subscribe to Japanimation Station on all podcast platforms: http://japanimationstation.com/   Subscribe to The Weekly Stuff Podcast on all podcast platforms: http://www.weeklystuffpodcast.com   “Welcome to Japanimation Station!” Lyrics by Sean Chapman, Music by Thomas Lack, featuring Hatsune Miku. https://www.thomaslack.com

“Nobody said I’m not in. We’re just out of cognac.”    With Lupin the 3rd Part III, Lupin officially the enters the 1980s and he’s got a new attitude, a new look, and a new jacket – a pink one! The Pink Jacket Adventures, as this series has come to be known, is one of the weirder and wilder chapters in Lupin history, with Yuzo Aoki leading a talented team of animators to create a take on Lupin that’s both uniquely stylish and highly varied, with character designs shifting from episode to episode and sometimes scene to scene, and the series’ second half employing a particularly cartoon-y, Looney Tunes-esque approach to motion and mayhem. Meanwhile, iconic Japanese New Wave director Seijun Suzuki wrote one of the boldest and most bonkers Lupin episodes of all time, and co-directed The Legend of the Gold of Babylon, the Part III film released in 1985, which we also discuss on today’s show alongside 20 episodes from Part III (see the full list below). It’s one of the most memorable periods for Lupin the 3rd, and also one of the most rewarding.    Enjoy, and come back next week as we look at a transitionary period in the history of Lupin with a selection of films and specials from 1987 to 1995 – The Fuma Conspiracy, Bye-Bye Lady Liberty, Voyage to Danger, and Farewell to Nostradamus!     Time Chart: Theme Song: 0:00:00 – 0:01:20 Intro & History: 0:01:20 – 0:10:44 Lupin VIII: 0:10:44 – 0:22:46 History Continued: 0:22:46 – 0:50:06 Eyecatch Break 1: 0:50:06 – 0:50:38  Episode-by-episode Review: 0:50:38 – 3:01:47 Eyecatch Break 2: 3:01:47 – 3:02:14 The Legend of the Gold of Babylon: 3:02:14 – 3:52:09  End Credits: 3:52:09 – 3:53:24   Support the show at Ko-fi ☕️ https://ko-fi.com/weeklystuff   Subscribe to The Weekly Stuff Podcast on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/TheWeeklyStuffPodcast   Follow The Weekly Stuff Wordcast newsletter for regular updates and extra content!  https://weeklystuff.substack.com   Visit our website and subscribe to Japanimation Station on all podcast platforms: http://japanimationstation.com/   Subscribe to The Weekly Stuff Podcast on all podcast platforms: http://www.weeklystuffpodcast.com   “Welcome to Japanimation Station!” Lyrics by Sean Chapman, Music by Thomas Lack, featuring Hatsune Miku. https://www.thomaslack.com   Full list of episodes watched:    1 - "The Gold Is Beckoning Lupin" 3 - Greetings to Hell’s Angel  7 - The Man Called Death Gurve  11 - The Ruby Sheds Bloody Tears 13 - Variations on Getting Carried Away 18 - Showtime Reeks of Death  23 - Operation: Beirut Mobile Bank Robbery 24 - Sleep Peacefully, Friend 27 - Codename: Star of Alaska 28 - The Star of Alaska is a One-way Ticket to Hell 30 - A Cocktail Named Revenge 31 - A Turnabout, a Comeback, and a Reversal 34 - "Manhattan Crisis" 37 - "Pops Boils over with Rage" 38 - Leticia who Loved Lupin 40 - A Lotto Ticket to Riot 44 - "Our Papa’s a Thief" 46 - Soaring on Scrap Wings 49 - The Day Pops Got Adopted  50 - "Orders to Destroy the Atomic Sub Ivanov"

“Believe in the power of the thief.”    Before he left the world of Lupin behind and went off to change the course of anime history forever with Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind, Hayao Miyazaki returned to TMS for a final set of Lupin the 3rd projects that have become iconic anime classics: The 1979 feature film The Castle of Cagliostro, and episodes 145 and 155 of Part II, “Albatross – Wings of Death” and “Farewell, O Dearest Lupin!”, distributed in the US in the 1990s as Lupin III’s Greatest Capers. These were the first pieces of Lupin media commercially available in America, and Cagliostro in particular is the most frequent entry point for Lupin newcomers. While Miyazaki’s more heroic, chivalric vision of the character is a bit of an outlier, there’s a reason Cagliostro has such magnetic appeal, as it’s one of the single greatest animated films ever made, a perfectly paced action adventure fueled by some of the most virtuosic animation to ever grace the silver screen. An influence for all sorts of movies all around the world, it’s a true classic, and so are Miyazaki’s two episodes of Part II, with “Albatross” in particular taking the director’s love of airplanes to astonishing new heights, and setting an impossibly high bar for how good TV animation can be.    Enjoy, and come back next week as we enter the Pink Jacket era and review Lupin the 3rd Part III and the 1985 film The Legend of the Gold of Babylon!    Time Chart: Theme Song: 0:00:00 – 0:01:20 Intro: 0:01:20 – 0:11:32 Eyecatch Break 1: 0:11:32 – 0:12:03 The Castle of Cagliostro: 0:12:03 – 2:27:07 Eyecatch Break 2: 2:27:07 – 2:27:39 Greatest Capers Episodes: 2:27:39 – 3:16:35 End Theme: 3:16:35 – 3:17:50    Support the show at Ko-fi ☕️ https://ko-fi.com/weeklystuff   Subscribe to The Weekly Stuff Podcast on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/TheWeeklyStuffPodcast   Follow The Weekly Stuff Wordcast newsletter for regular updates and extra content!  https://weeklystuff.substack.com   Visit our website and subscribe to Japanimation Station on all podcast platforms: http://japanimationstation.com/   Subscribe to The Weekly Stuff Podcast on all podcast platforms: http://www.weeklystuffpodcast.com   “Welcome to Japanimation Station!” Lyrics by Sean Chapman, Music by Thomas Lack, featuring Hatsune Miku. https://www.thomaslack.com

“Lupin, our manly drama ends today!”    Airing from 1977 to 1980, the second Lupin the 3rd TV anime – retroactively titled “Part II” – produced a whopping 155 episodes, and with the iconic red jacket and the entire five-person crew (Lupin, Jigen, Fujiko, Goemon, and Zenigata) in tow for every adventure, this is the series that firmly cemented Lupin III as an enduring anime icon, and set the tone for many of his future capers. For today’s episode, we watched a selection of 27 episodes – see the full list below – and experienced a wide range of adventures, from Lupin and company stealing a vintage bottle of wine on Christmas, to Jigen helping a ballerina defect to the West, to ‘Pops’ Zenigata springing a daring trap for Lupin on the highway, to Goemon surviving a shockingly violent bout of torture, to two whole episodes devoted to an extremely surprising (and very funny) alternate history of Jesus Christ himself! Part II is truly a wild ride, with some absolute masterpiece episodes displaying some of the greatest animation in TV history, and almost always providing a big dose of fun.    Enjoy, and come back next week as we review Lupin’s most famous adventure with Hayao Miyazaki’s 1979 classic The Castle of Cagliostro, and look at the two episodes Miyazaki directed for Part II, Albatross – Wings of Death and Farewell, O Dearest Lupin!    Time Chart: Theme Song: 0:00:00 – 0:01:20 Intro, History, and Part II Overview: 0:01:20 – 0:57:57  Eyecatch Break 1: 0:57:57 – 0:58:30  Episode-by-episode review, part 1: 0:58:30 – 2:22:00  Eyecatch Break 2: 2:22:00 – 2:22:29  Episode-by-episode review, part 2: 2:22:29 – 3:45:25 End Theme: 3:45:25 – 3:46:40    Support the show at Ko-fi ☕️ https://ko-fi.com/weeklystuff   Subscribe to The Weekly Stuff Podcast on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/TheWeeklyStuffPodcast   Follow The Weekly Stuff Wordcast newsletter for regular updates and extra content!  https://weeklystuff.substack.com “Welcome to Japanimation Station!” Lyrics by Sean Chapman, Music by Thomas Lack, featuring Hatsune Miku. https://www.thomaslack.com   Full list of episodes watched (Japanese title/English title)    1 - "Lupin the Third's Gallant Appearance" / "The Return of Lupin the 3rd" 12 - "A Gift for the President" / "The Sleight Before Christmas" 13 - "The Great Chase in San Francisco" / "I Left My Mind in San Francisco" 20 - "Cornered Lupin" / "Hell Toupee" 21 - "Goemon's Revenge" / "The Last Mastery" 25 - "Encounter With the Deadly Iron Lizard" / "The Lair of the Land-Shark" 26 - "A Rose and a Pistol" / "Shot Through the Heart" 27 - "Where Did the Cinderella Stamp Go?" / "The Little Princess of Darkness" 30 - "The Wind in Morocco is Hot" / "Morocco Horror Picture Show" 32 - "Lupin Dies Twice" / "Lupin the Interred" 34 - "Lupin Who Turned Into a Vampire" / "But your Brother was Such a Nice Guy" 36 - "Uncover the Secret of Tsukikage Castle" / "The Riddle of Tsukikage Castle" 38 - "The Sweet Trap of ICPO" / "Happy Betrayals to You" 48 - "Lupin Laughs at the Alarm Bell" / "Vault Assault" 57 - "Computer or Lupin?" / "Alter-Ego Maniac" 58 - "The Face of Goodbye at the National Border" / "Gettin' Jigen with It" 66 - "Order: Shoot to Kill!!" / "Beauty and the Deceased" 69 - "The Woman Pops Fell in Love With" / "Zenigata Getcha into My Life" 85 - "The ICPO's Secret Plan" / "The Secret Order of ICPO" 94 - "Lupin vs. Superman" / "Lupin Vs. Superman" 97 - "Find Lupin the First's Treasure" / "Searching for Lupin I's Treasure" 99 - "The Scattered Magnum" / "Fighting Jigen" 112 - "Goemon's Close Call" / "Danger! Goemon" 114 - "The Secret of the First Supper" / "The Secret of the First Supper" 129 - "In Jigen, I Saw the Gentleness of a Man's Soul" / "The Kindness Of Jigen is Seen" 148 - "The Target Is 555 Meters" / "The Target is Five Hundred and Fifty Five Meters Away" 151 - "The Arrest Lupin Highway Operation" / "To Arrest Lupin, the Mission at Highway"

“Wherever he goes, he’ll be chased. That is his destiny.”    In 1978, Lupin the 3rd made the leap to the big screen with his first animated feature film, and while the second Lupin movie, 1979’s Hayao Miyazaki-directed The Castle of Cagliostro, is the more famous film, The Mystery of Mamo is arguably the single piece of Lupin animation that cuts closest to the heart of the character and the tone, humor, and storytelling style that makes Lupin the 3rd so enduring. It’s a globetrotting adventure that takes the audience all around the world, makes fantastic use of all five regular characters, has a wonderfully anarchic sense of humor, and is spectacularly animated from start-to-finish, a virtuosic feat from franchise stalwarts like Yuzo Aoki and Yasuo Otsuka. And it even has a thoughtful thematic core saying something surprisingly profound about Lupin as a character and the way he moves through the world, making for a movie that isn’t just uproariously funny and consistently surprising, but actually kind of poignant. It’s an absolute classic, and one that’s a delight to discuss on today’s episode.    Enjoy, and come back next week as we dive into Lupin’s longest-running and most successful anime, Lupin the 3rd Part II.    Time Chart: Theme Song: 0:00:00 – 0:01:20 Intro, History, and Review Part 1: 0:01:20 – 0:57:23  Eyecatch Break: 0:57:23 – 0:58:08 Review Part 2: 0:58:08 – 2:26:58  End Theme: 2:26:58 – 2:28:13   Support the show at Ko-fi ☕️ https://ko-fi.com/weeklystuff   Subscribe to The Weekly Stuff Podcast on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/TheWeeklyStuffPodcast   Follow The Weekly Stuff Wordcast newsletter for regular updates and extra content!  https://weeklystuff.substack.com   Visit our website and subscribe to Japanimation Station on all podcast platforms: http://japanimationstation.com/   Subscribe to The Weekly Stuff Podcast on all podcast platforms: http://www.weeklystuffpodcast.com   “Welcome to Japanimation Station!” Lyrics by Sean Chapman, Music by Thomas Lack, featuring Hatsune Miku. https://www.thomaslack.com

“I’m a greedy person. There’s so much I want to do with Mom and all of you.”    Weekly Suit Gundam is back to review the second and final season of Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch From Mercury, which brings the story to a close with a rousing, jam-packed set of episodes that’s darker, richer, and more action-filled than the first season. This is the first mainline Gundam series besides Reconguista in G to tell its story in just 2 cours, but that doesn’t mean it’s a thinner or less complicated show, as our super-sized conversation in today’s episode attests to. With so many amazing characters, stellar animation and music, and a story that revisits classic Gundam scenarios and iconography while also challenging and moving beyond them, Witch From Mercury is a show with a lot on its mind, and a lot to break down.     Enjoy, and be sure to tune in for Japanimation Station Season 3, “The Classic Adventures of Lupin the 3rd,” airing Tuesday nights at 7pm CT on YouTube!    Subscribe to The Weekly Stuff Podcast on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/TheWeeklyStuffPodcast   Visit our website and subscribe to Japanimation Station on all podcast platforms: http://japanimationstation.com/ Subscribe to The Weekly Stuff Podcast on all podcast platforms: http://www.weeklystuffpodcast.com Follow The Weekly Stuff Wordcast newsletter for regular updates and extra content!  https://weeklystuff.substack.com “Tobe! Gundam” performed by the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force Band in Shinjuku, Tokyo, February 2016. Originally composed by Takeo Watanabe with lyrics by Rin Iogi and performed by Koh Ikeda.  “Gundam Stands its Ground” originally composed by Takeo Watanabe & Yushi Matsuyama. “Mobile Suit Gundam” Arcade (1993) arrangement composed by Nadya Doi.

“Lupin. He’s a nice man. But he’s cool.”  Welcome to Season 3 of Japanimation Station: The Classic Adventures of Lupin the 3rd! This season, we will be exploring the countless capers of one of the most enduring icons of anime from his very first animated appearance in 1969 up through the dawn of the 21st century. In today’s season premiere, we go through the history of Monkey Punch’s original Lupin the 3rd manga, the creation of the 1969 pilot film, and finally do a deep dive on Lupin’s first anime TV series, 1971’s Lupin the 3rd, retroactively referred to as Part I. It is one of the most fascinating, unique, and compelling shows we’ve ever seen, a series essentially divided in half between early episodes helmed by Masaaki Osumi, which are more adult and irreverent a la Monkey Punch’s manga, and the later caper-centric episodes directed by the men who would go on to found Studio Ghibli, Isao Takahata and Hayao Miyazaki! Both visions of the series are equally accomplished, and the series sees a wide range of animation giants pass through its doors – including Yasuo Otsuka and Osamu Dezaki – and by the end, Lupin the 3rd has started to settle on a template that will serve it well for decades to come.  Enjoy, and come back next week as we review Lupin’s first animated theatrical film, the 1978 classic The Mystery of Mamo!    Time Chart: Theme Song: 0:00:00 – 0:01:20 Intro to Season and History of Lupin: 0:01:20 – 0:42:14 Lupin the 3rd Part 1 History and Review: 0:42:14 – 2:06:15  Eyecatch Break: 2:06:15 – 2:07:03  Episode-by-episode Review: 2:07:03 – 3:22:59  End Theme: 3:22:59 – 3:24:14    Support the show at Ko-fi ☕️ https://ko-fi.com/weeklystuff   Subscribe to The Weekly Stuff Podcast on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/TheWeeklyStuffPodcast   Follow The Weekly Stuff Wordcast newsletter for regular updates and extra content!  https://weeklystuff.substack.com   Visit our website and subscribe to Japanimation Station on all podcast platforms: http://japanimationstation.com/   Subscribe to The Weekly Stuff Podcast on all podcast platforms: http://www.weeklystuffpodcast.com   “Welcome to Japanimation Station!” Lyrics by Sean Chapman, Music by Thomas Lack, featuring Hatsune Miku. https://www.thomaslack.com

“For the sake of someone other than yourself, you can exert infinite strength.”   The third season of the hit anime Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba recently wrapped up its hotly anticipated third season, adapting the “Swordsmith Village Arc” of Koyoharu Gotouge’s manga, and as big fans of the series who have reviewed all the prior arcs, we’re here for a deep dive with another amazing season. This set of episodes introduces us to a cast of largely new (or previously briefly seen) characters, including two Hashira with Tokito Muichiro and Mitsuri Kanroji, a mysterious demon slayer named Genya, and two ferocious upper rank demons; it’s also where the story fully starts to lay out some of its biggest themes and ideas, before arriving at a pivotal turning point leading to the start of the series’ endgame. It’s a great season of television, and it produces what is easily our most in-depth, interesting conversation about this series so far.    Enjoy, and we’ll see you again soon for Japanimation Station Season 3: The Classic Adventures of Lupin the 3rd, premiering July 4th!    Time Chart: Theme Song: 0:00:00 – 0:01:14 Swordsmith Village Review Part 1: 0:01:14 – 0:43:34  Eyecatch Break: 0:43:34 – 0:44:03 Swordsmith Village Review Part 2: 0:44:03 – 2:37:18 End Theme: 2:37:18 – 2:38:33   Support the show at Ko-fi ☕️ https://ko-fi.com/weeklystuff   Subscribe to The Weekly Stuff Podcast on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/TheWeeklyStuffPodcast   Follow The Weekly Stuff Wordcast newsletter for regular updates and extra content!  https://weeklystuff.substack.com   Visit our website and subscribe to Japanimation Station on all podcast platforms: http://japanimationstation.com/   Subscribe to The Weekly Stuff Podcast on all podcast platforms: http://www.weeklystuffpodcast.com   “Welcome to Japanimation Station!” Lyrics by Sean Chapman, Music by Thomas Lack, featuring Hatsune Miku. https://www.thomaslack.com

Hosts Sean Chapman and Jonathan Lack give you a special look at Season 3 of Japanimation Station, THE CLASSIC ADVENTURES OF LUPIN THE 3RD, premiering July 4th, 2023! In this 8-episode season, we will be surveying 30 years of anime history through the exploits of the infamous thief Lupin III and his friends Daisuke Jigen, Fujiko Mine, Goemon Ishikawa, and Inspector Zenigata! From the original anime in 1971 to the “Episode 0” origin-story special in 2002, we’re looking at many of Lupin’s biggest, best, weirdest, and most memorable heists, learning and laughing a lot along the way. In this preview, we give you the details on everything we’re watching and where exactly you can find it! Season 3 premieres July 4th, 2023, and will air Tuesday nights at 7pm CT for 8 uninterrupted weeks.  Visit our website and subscribe to Japanimation Station on all podcast platforms: http://japanimationstation.com/ Support the show at Ko-fi ☕️ https://ko-fi.com/weeklystuff Subscribe to The Weekly Stuff Podcast on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/TheWeeklyStuffPodcast Subscribe to The Weekly Stuff Podcast on all podcast platforms: http://www.weeklystuffpodcast.com Follow The Weekly Stuff Wordcast newsletter for regular updates and extra content!  https://weeklystuff.substack.com “Welcome to Japanimation Station!” Lyrics by Sean Chapman, Music by Thomas Lack, featuring Hatsune Miku. https://www.thomaslack.com Season 3 Viewing Guide:  Lupin the 3rd Part I (1971) – All 23 episodes – Available on Blu-ray from Discotek, streaming on HiDive (better quality) and Crunchyroll  The Mystery of Mamo (1978) – Film – Available on Blu-ray from Discotek  Lupin the 3rd Part II (1977) – Episodes 1, 12, 13, 20, 21, 25, 26, 27, 30, 32, 34, 36, 38, 48, 57, 58, 66, 69, 85, 94, 97, 99, 112, 114, 129, 145, 148, 151, 155 – Available on DVD from Discotek, streaming on HiDive (better quality) and Crunchyroll  The Castle of Cagliostro (1979) – Film – Available on Blu-ray from Discotek, and to rent/buy on digital platforms like Amazon, Apple, YouTube, Vudu, etc.  Lupin the 3rd Part III (1984) – Episodes 1, 3, 7, 11, 13, 18, 23, 24, 27, 28, 30, 31, 34, 37, 38, 40, 44, 46, 49, 50 - Available on Blu-ray from Discotek, streaming on HiDive (better quality) and Crunchyroll  The Legend of the Gold of Babylon (1985) – Film – Available on Blu-ray from Discotek, streaming free (English dub only) on Amazon’s Freevee, Tubi, and the Roku Channel The Fuma Conspiracy (1987) – Film – Out of print. See Carvioso + Jet Force torrent release for best available version  Bye Bye Lady Liberty (1989) – TV Special - Available on Blu-ray from Discotek, streaming free (Japanese with subtitles) on Amazon’s Freevee  Voyage to Danger (aka Orders to Assassinate Lupin, 1993) – TV Special – Available on Blu-ray from Discotek,streaming free (Japanese with subtitles) on Amazon’s Freevee, Tubi, and Pluto TV Farewell to Nostradamus (1995) – Film – Available on Blu-ray from Discotek Dead or Alive (1996) – Film – Available on Blu-ray from Discotek Island of Assassins (aka Walther P-38, 1997) – TV Special – Blu-ray out-of-print, streaming free (English dub only) on Tubi; available to rent or buy (English dub only) on Amazon Prime Video Tokyo Crisis (1998) – TV Special – Available on Blu-ray from Discotek, streaming free (English dub only) on Tubi; available to rent or buy (English dub only) on Amazon Prime Video Episode 0: First Contact (2002) – TV Special – Available on Blu-ray from Discotek, streaming free (Japanese with subtitles) on Tubi  Strange Psychokinetic Strategy (1974) – Live-action movie – Sail the high seas for this one…

“Getting to know someone is all about little moments like that, wouldn’t you agree?” In this super-sized season finale of Japanimation Station, we close out ufotable/Moon Works with two reviews: First, we discuss Today’s Menu for the Emiya Family, the 2018 original net animation spin-off of Fate/stay night that sees Shirou and all his friends making food and enjoying each other’s company. Animated by Ufotable and based on the manga by TAa, it’s a delightful and remarkably well-produced slice-of-life alternative to the action of Fate/stay night, but one that sacrifices none of the sharp characterization that makes this cast so wonderful. Second, we dive deep with Witch on the Holy Night (aka Mahoutsukai no Yoru), the visual novel based on Kinoko Nasu’s first unpublished novel, originally released in Japan in 2012 and released worldwide in a 2022 remake. The remake landed right as we started recording ufotable/Moon Works, and we wound up making references to the visual novel throughout the season, as Witch on the Holy Night is something of a ‘Rosetta Stone’ for the Nasu-verse, featuring all of his character types and major themes in a single, smaller-scale story, and we felt we had to devote some extra time to it here at the end of the season. And since ufotable will in fact be animating the story for an upcoming feature film, it will soon be another ufotable/Moon work! Thanks for listening to Season 2 of Japanimation Station, and be sure to listen through to the end of the episode to hear first details about the next two seasons, both premiering in 2023! Time Chart: Theme Song: 0:00:00 – 0:01:14 Intro: 0:01:14 – 0:03:36 Today’s Menu for the Emiya Family Review: 0:03:36 – 1:18:46 Eyecatch 1: 1:18:46 – 1:18:56 Witch on the Holy Night Review: 1:18:56 – 3:00:02 Eyecatch 2: 3:00:02 – 3:00:16 Closing Thoughts: 3:00:16 – 3:07:16 Season 3 and 4 Reveal: 3:07:16 – 3:14:49 End Credits: 3:14:49 – 3:16:04 Subscribe to The Weekly Stuff Podcast on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/TheWeeklyStuffPodcast Visit our website and subscribe to Japanimation Station on all podcast platforms: http://japanimationstation.com/ Subscribe to The Weekly Stuff Podcast on all podcast platforms: http://www.weeklystuffpodcast.com Follow The Weekly Stuff Wordcast newsletter for regular updates and extra content! https://weeklystuff.substack.com “Welcome to Japanimation Station!” Lyrics by Sean Chapman, Music by Thomas Lack, featuring Hatsune Miku. https://www.thomaslack.com

“I’ll show you a miracle.” The journey of Fate/stay night comes to a close with the third and final chapter of the Heaven’s Feel trilogy, Spring Song, and Sean and Jonathan are both in absolute awe at what this film achieves. Bringing the stories of Shirou, Sakura, Rin, Ilya, and the other surviving characters to a surprising, incredibly emotional conclusion, this final film is a true tour-de-force, with the full weight of ufotable’s animation abilities brought to bear on some of Kinoko Nasu’s best storytelling. Few stories close with as immense a sense of pay-off as Heaven’s Feel, bringing us circling back not only to prior Fate/Zero and Fate/stay night discussions, but also The Garden of Sinners – all of it was leading to this point. Add in some jaw-dropping fight scenes, more incredible music by Yuki Kajiura and Aimer, and a heaping helping of everybody’s favorite evil priest, Kirei Kotomine, and you’ve got an animated masterpiece for the ages. Enjoy, and come back next week for our Season 2 finale, as we dive deep with the recently re-released visual novel Witch on the Holy Night, aka Mahoutsukai no Yoru, and head on over to Shirou’s house for a tasty meal with the anime mini-series Today’s Menu for the Emiya Family! Time Chart: Theme Song: 0:00:00 – 0:01:14 Heaven’s Feel III Review: 0:01:14 – 1:13:23 Eyecatch: 1:13:23 – 1:13:37 Heaven’s Feel III Review (Cont.): 1:13:37 – 3:02:14 End Credits: 3:02:14 – 3:03:30 Subscribe to The Weekly Stuff Podcast on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/TheWeeklyStuffPodcast Visit our website and subscribe to Japanimation Station on all podcast platforms: http://japanimationstation.com/ Subscribe to The Weekly Stuff Podcast on all podcast platforms: http://www.weeklystuffpodcast.com Follow The Weekly Stuff Wordcast newsletter for regular updates and extra content! https://weeklystuff.substack.com “Welcome to Japanimation Station!” Lyrics by Sean Chapman, Music by Thomas Lack, featuring Hatsune Miku. https://www.thomaslack.com

“She’s all I want to protect.” The dark saga that is Heaven’s Feel enters its especially dark middle chapter with Lost Butterfly, the second film in the trilogy, and one that delivers an enormous, eventful, complicated slice of movie for us to break down. Filled to the brim with surprising revelations, major plot turns, and huge character moments, the film sees Shirou and Sakura becoming more and more entwined in each others’ lives, and presents the viewer with a bracing, challenging depiction of abuse and the cycles of violence and pain it creates. It also sees ufotable at the top of their production game, with some of the most stunning animation ever committed to film, not just in the bravura action sequences, but in intense character moments that are rendered here so beautifully and powerfully that it’s hard to imagine anyone making it through this film without a tear or two. It’s another outstanding movie, and one that leaves us on the edge of our seats to finish the entire Fate/stay night project next week. Enjoy, and come back next week as we review the third and final film in the Fate/stay night: Heaven’s Feel trilogy, Spring Song! Time Chart: Theme Song: 0:00:00 – 0:01:14 Heaven’s Feel II Review: 0:01:14 – 1:23:40 Eyecatch: 1:23:40 – 1:23:50 Heaven’s Feel II Review (Cont.): 1:23:50 – 2:32:19 End Credits: 2:32:19 – 2:33:34 Subscribe to The Weekly Stuff Podcast on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/TheWeeklyStuffPodcast Visit our website and subscribe to Japanimation Station on all podcast platforms: http://japanimationstation.com/ Subscribe to The Weekly Stuff Podcast on all podcast platforms: http://www.weeklystuffpodcast.com Follow The Weekly Stuff Wordcast newsletter for regular updates and extra content! https://weeklystuff.substack.com “Welcome to Japanimation Station!” Lyrics by Sean Chapman, Music by Thomas Lack, featuring Hatsune Miku. https://www.thomaslack.com

“If I ever did something bad, would you forgive me?” We enter the final phase of ufotable/Moon Works with the first part of the Fate/stay night: Heaven’s Feel trilogy, Presage Flower, the first of three films adapting the third and final route of the original Fate/stay night visual novel. And whether you’re experiencing the story in its original visual novel setting or coming to it through ufotable’s anime adaptations, Heaven’s Feel is meticulously designed to throw you off balance, with a Holy Grail War that quickly becomes corrupted by dark forces unlike anything we’ve seen before, and a violent, horror-tinged tone more reminiscent of The Garden of Sinners than Fate/Zero or Unlimited Blade Works. This time around, the story focuses on Shirou Emiya’s relationship with Sakura Matou, an extremely different character than Rin Tohsaka, and one whose mysterious, trauma-filled past brings out new shadings in our would-be hero. It’s a terrific film, boasting ufotable’s finest production values thus far and a tremendous score by Yuki Kajiura, and it’s only the tip of the iceberg, as we still have two films to go. Enjoy, and come back next week as we review the second film in the Fate/stay night: Heaven’s Feel trilogy, Lost Butterfly! Time Chart: Theme Song: 0:00:00 – 0:01:14 Heaven’s Feel I Review: 0:01:14 – 1:12:25 Eyecatch: 1:12:25 – 1:12:42 Heaven's Feel I Review (Cont.): 1:12:42 – 2:16:11 End Credits: 2:16:11 – 2:17:26 Subscribe to The Weekly Stuff Podcast on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/TheWeeklyStuffPodcast Visit our website and subscribe to Japanimation Station on all podcast platforms: http://japanimationstation.com/ Subscribe to The Weekly Stuff Podcast on all podcast platforms: http://www.weeklystuffpodcast.com Follow The Weekly Stuff Wordcast newsletter for regular updates and extra content! https://weeklystuff.substack.com “Welcome to Japanimation Station!” Lyrics by Sean Chapman, Music by Thomas Lack, featuring Hatsune Miku. https://www.thomaslack.com

“That’s Hell you’re walking into.” Where the first season of Unlimited Blade Works provided a lot of essential character work, the second season – episodes 13 through 25 – is where the plot kicks into high gear, and there’s a lot to break down on this episode, as the show doles out revelations about Archer and Shirou, brings Gilgamesh and his monstrous narcissism into the fray, and delivers twists, betrayals, and surprise alliances aplenty. It’s a terrific, instant-classic stretch of anime that’s left a major impact on pop culture, and offers us plenty to discuss as we cut to the heart of Fate/stay night and what Kinoko Nasu’s story is doing with the many intertwined themes and characters. And as always, it’s a magnificent production from ufotable, as the studio continues to hone its craft and forge its identity as one of Japan’s most accomplished and cutting-edge anime studios. Enjoy, and come back next week as we review the first film in the Fate/stay night: Heaven’s Feel trilogy, Presage Flower! Time Chart: Theme Song: 0:00:00 – 0:01:52 Unlimited Blade Works Season 2 Review: 0:01:54 – 1:41:59 Eyecatch: 1:41:59 – 1:42:12 Unlimited Blade Works Season 2 Review (Cont.): 1:42:12 – 2:41:36 End Credits: 2:41:36 – 2:42:51 Subscribe to The Weekly Stuff Podcast on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/TheWeeklyStuffPodcast Visit our website and subscribe to Japanimation Station on all podcast platforms: http://japanimationstation.com/ Subscribe to The Weekly Stuff Podcast on all podcast platforms: http://www.weeklystuffpodcast.com Follow The Weekly Stuff Wordcast newsletter for regular updates and extra content! https://weeklystuff.substack.com “Welcome to Japanimation Station!” Lyrics by Sean Chapman, Music by Thomas Lack, featuring Hatsune Miku. https://www.thomaslack.com Additional music by Thomas Lack, from the album Foundations.https://music.apple.com/us/album/foundations-a-journey-original-score-ep/1652362921

“Starting now, things are gonna get real flashy!”     The premiere of the Swordsmith Village Arc is just two days away – on April 9th – and we’re finishing out our reviews of Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba, ufotable’s extraordinary anime adaptation of Kyoharu Gotouge’s hit manga, with a look at the show’s singular second season. Fresh off the unprecedented success of the Mugen Train film, Season 2 is shaped unlike just about any other anime season out there: An original episode with fan favorite Kyojuro Rengoku, then a 6-episode TV edit of Mugen Train complete with a new theme song and end credits, and finally an all new 11-episode adaptation of the manga’s Entertainment District Arc, featuring a double-length premiere and a 1.5x length finale. It’s all fantastic, of course, particularly the new material of the Entertainment District Arc, the point in the manga where Gotouge’s sense of staging action really comes into focus, giving ufotable more than enough to craft some of the most incredible images ever aired on television. With sound hashira Tengen Uzui, his three wives, and an upper-rank demon split across two separate bodies along for the ride, the Entertainment District Arc is an edge-of-your-seat adventure, and more than worthy of another look ahead of Season 3.    We will be back to review the entire Swordsmith Village arc when it finishes airing this summer, and be sure to continue listening to Japanimation Station Season 2 – ufotable/Moon Works – premiering every Tuesday night at 7pm CT on YouTube!    Time Chart: Theme Song: 0:00:00 – 0:01:14 Intro: 0:01:14 – 0:03:48 Eyecatch 1: 0:03:48 – 0:03:56 Mugen Train Arc: 0:03:56 – 0:23:45 Eyecatch 2: 0:23:45 – 0:23:55 Entertainment District Arc: 0:23:55 – 2:28:30  End Credits: 2:28:30 – 2:29:45    Support the show at Ko-fi ☕️ https://ko-fi.com/weeklystuff   Subscribe to The Weekly Stuff Podcast on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/TheWeeklyStuffPodcast   Visit our website and subscribe to Japanimation Station on all podcast platforms: http://japanimationstation.com/   Subscribe to The Weekly Stuff Podcast on all podcast platforms: http://www.weeklystuffpodcast.com   Follow The Weekly Stuff Wordcast newsletter for regular updates and extra content!  https://weeklystuff.substack.com   “Welcome to Japanimation Station!” Lyrics by Sean Chapman, Music by Thomas Lack, featuring Hatsune Miku. https://www.thomaslack.com

“I am the bone of my sword.” After the breakout success of Fate/Zero, ufotable returned in 2014 with an adaptation of the second route in the Fate/stay night visual novel: Unlimited Blade Works. And it’s a big series, released in two seasons, with the first including three hour-long episodes, and the entire production showcasing some of the highest-quality animation ever featured on television. It’s a spectacular show, and while ufotable did not adapt the first route of the visual novel, we find that Unlimited Blade Works operates surprisingly perfectly as a direct sequel to Fate/Zero. Today’s podcast discusses the first season, from the ‘0th’ episode on through episode 12, as we break down all the major characters like Shirou Emiya and Rin Tohsaka, the featured Servants including Archer, Saber, Caster, and Lancer, and the incredible direction and production values on display throughout. Enjoy, and come back next week as we review the second season of Fate/stay night: Unlimited Blade Works, episodes 13 through 25! Time Chart: Theme Song: 0:00:00 – 0:01:54 Unlimited Blade Works Season 1 Review: 0:01:54 – 1:28:37 Eyecatch: 1:28:37 – 1:28:50 Unlimited Blade Works Season 1 Review (Cont.): 1:28:50 – 2:45:54 End Credits: 2:45:54 – 2:47:10 Subscribe to The Weekly Stuff Podcast on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/TheWeeklyStuffPodcast Visit our website and subscribe to Japanimation Station on all podcast platforms: http://japanimationstation.com/ Subscribe to The Weekly Stuff Podcast on all podcast platforms: http://www.weeklystuffpodcast.com Follow The Weekly Stuff Wordcast newsletter for regular updates and extra content! https://weeklystuff.substack.com “Welcome to Japanimation Station!” Lyrics by Sean Chapman, Music by Thomas Lack, featuring Hatsune Miku. https://www.thomaslack.com Additional music by Thomas Lack, from the album Foundations.https://music.apple.com/us/album/foundations-a-journey-original-score-ep/1652362921

“Set your heart ablaze.”    Ahead of the premiere of the Swordsmith Village Arc on April 9th, we’re revisiting a series of reviews of Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba, ufotable’s extraordinary anime adaptation of Kyoharu Gotouge’s hit manga. This time, we’re talking all about the 2020 feature film sensation Mugen Train, which set historic box-office records in Japan and around the world – and is just an utterly stupendous film all around. Taking one of the shorter arcs of the manga and crafting it into a well-rounded, hard-hitting, tragic film adventure, Mugen Train features some of ufotable’s finest animation to date, boasts a killer score by Yuki Kajiura and Go Shiina, and turned Kyujuro Rengoku into a worldwide anime icon. This is just about as good as it gets.    Come back next Friday for our last Demon Slayer review before Season 3, with our thoughts on Season 2’s Entertainment District Arc! And be sure to continue listening to Japanimation Station Season 2 – ufotable/Moon Works – premiering every Tuesday night at 7pm CT on YouTube!    Time Chart: Theme Song: 0:00:00 – 0:01:14 Intro: 0:01:14 – 0:03:39  Eyecatch: 0:03:39 – 0:03:48  Mugen Train Review: 0:03:48 – 2:05:00 End Credits: 2:05:00 – 2:06:15    Support the show at Ko-fi ☕️ https://ko-fi.com/weeklystuff   Subscribe to The Weekly Stuff Podcast on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/TheWeeklyStuffPodcast   Visit our website and subscribe to Japanimation Station on all podcast platforms: http://japanimationstation.com/   Subscribe to The Weekly Stuff Podcast on all podcast platforms: http://www.weeklystuffpodcast.com   Follow The Weekly Stuff Wordcast newsletter for regular updates and extra content!  https://weeklystuff.substack.com   “Welcome to Japanimation Station!” Lyrics by Sean Chapman, Music by Thomas Lack, featuring Hatsune Miku. https://www.thomaslack.com

“Glory lies beyond the horizon.” After covering just the double-length first episode last week, we’re back to discuss the full run of Fate/Zero, the Fate/stay night prequel that became a breakout anime hit all over the world, and given the run-time of today’s podcast, you can probably guess our thoughts on it. This is a tremendous show, whether you’re seeing it for the first time (like Jonathan) or the fifth time (like Sean), working equally well as either a prequel or the first chapter of the larger Fate story, with a giant ensemble of rich, compelling characters, a ridiculously deep bench of vocal talent, some stellar music and animation, and a tragic storyline that barrels towards its wrenching conclusion with unstoppable momentum. There is an almost endless well of amazing material to talk about here, and it leaves us more excited than ever to get into Fate/stay night itself in the weeks to come. Enjoy, and come back next week as we review the first season of Fate/stay night: Unlimited Blade Works, episodes 0 through 12. Time Chart: Theme Song: 0:00:00 – 0:01:14 Fate/Zero Review: 0:01:14 – 1:40:18 Eyecatch: 1:40:18 – 1:40:29 Fate/Zero Review (Cont.): 1:40:29 – 3:20:12 End Credits: 3:20:12 – 3:21:27 Subscribe to The Weekly Stuff Podcast on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/TheWeeklyStuffPodcast Visit our website and subscribe to Japanimation Station on all podcast platforms: http://japanimationstation.com/ Subscribe to The Weekly Stuff Podcast on all podcast platforms: http://www.weeklystuffpodcast.com Follow The Weekly Stuff Wordcast newsletter for regular updates and extra content! https://weeklystuff.substack.com “Welcome to Japanimation Station!” Lyrics by Sean Chapman, Music by Thomas Lack, featuring Hatsune Miku. https://www.thomaslack.com

“The bond between Nezuko and me can’t be severed by anyone.”  With Season 3’s Swordsmith Village Arc of Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba right around the corner – it premieres April 9th – we are re-releasing a series of episodes from our sister series, The Weekly Stuff Podcast, in which Sean and Jonathan review all of ufotable’s extraordinary anime adaptation of Kyoharu Gotouge’s hit manga up to now. In this first episode, we break down the first season of Demon Slayer, episodes 1 through 26, now known as the Unwavering Resolve Arc. From Tanjiro discovering his family slain and sister Nezuko turned into a demon, to training with Urokadaki and taking on the Final Selection, to the adventures in Asakusa and at the Tsuzumi Mansion, to the incredible, instant-classic battle with Rui on Mount Natagumo, this is the season that started at all, and cemented ufotable’s status as one of the most popular and beloved anime studios all around the world.  Come back next Friday for our review of Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba The Movie: Mugen Train, and continue listening to Season 2 – ufotable/Moon Works – premiering every Tuesday night at 7pm CT on YouTube!    Time Chart: Theme Song: 0:00:00 – 0:01:14 Intro: 0:01:14 – 0:04:23 Eyecatch: 0:04:23 – 0:04:32 Season 1 Review: 0:04:32 – 3:04:43 End Credits: 3:04:43 – 3:05:58    Support the show at Ko-fi ☕️ https://ko-fi.com/weeklystuff   Subscribe to The Weekly Stuff Podcast on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/TheWeeklyStuffPodcast   Visit our website and subscribe to Japanimation Station on all podcast platforms: http://japanimationstation.com/   Subscribe to The Weekly Stuff Podcast on all podcast platforms: http://www.weeklystuffpodcast.com   Follow The Weekly Stuff Wordcast newsletter for regular updates and extra content!  https://weeklystuff.substack.com   “Welcome to Japanimation Station!” Lyrics by Sean Chapman, Music by Thomas Lack, featuring Hatsune Miku. https://www.thomaslack.com

“The Holy Grail will save you.” After finishing up The Garden of Sinners last week, we are taking our first steps into the larger world of Fate/stay night, the most iconic of Kinoko Nasu and Type-Moon’s creations, with Fate/Zero, the prequel anime based on the light novel series by Gen Urobuchi. On today’s episode, Sean gives us an in-depth introduction to the original Fate/stay night visual novel, all the ways it’s been adapted over the years, and tells us how Fate/Zero came about and where it fits into things. Then we discuss the first, double-length episode of the anime, and find that it’s not just a great hour of TV, but an excellent stand-alone introduction for anyone (like Jonathan!) who hasn’t previously experienced Fate/stay night. Enjoy, and come back next week as we review the rest of Fate/Zero, episodes 2 through 25! Time Chart: Theme Song: 0:00:00 – 0:01:14 Intro to Fate/stay night: 0:01:14 – 0:27:17 Eyecatch: 0:27:17 – 0:27:26 Fate/Zero Episode 1 Review: 0:27:26 – 1:16:12 End Credits: 1:16:12 – 1:17:27 Subscribe to The Weekly Stuff Podcast on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/TheWeeklyStuffPodcast Visit our website and subscribe to Japanimation Station on all podcast platforms: http://japanimationstation.com/ Subscribe to The Weekly Stuff Podcast on all podcast platforms: http://www.weeklystuffpodcast.com Follow The Weekly Stuff Wordcast newsletter for regular updates and extra content! https://weeklystuff.substack.com “Welcome to Japanimation Station!” Lyrics by Sean Chapman, Music by Thomas Lack, featuring Hatsune Miku. https://www.thomaslack.com

“Your dream will live on.” After adapting the original seven chapters of Kara no Kyoukai, ufotable returned in 2011 to animate the novel’s Epilogue chapter as a half-hour short, and in 2013 for Future Gospel (also known as Recalled Out Summer), based on an additional chapter Kinoko Nasu wrote in 2008, 10 years after the original serialization. Both turn out to be essential parts of the experience, with the Epilogue complicating and adding depth to the major themes of the series – alongside the most stunning imagery in the entire production – and Future Gospel offering a nostalgic, thought-provoking set of stories that works both as a Garden of Sinners reunion and a pitch-perfect coda. We also discuss the OVA released alongside Future Gospel – Extra Chorus – which adapts three manga chapters telling small one-off stories, and look back on the entire experience of watching and reviewing this incredible magnum opus. Enjoy, and come back next week as we dive into the world of Fate/stay night and review the first episode of Fate/Zero! Time Chart: Theme Song: 0:00:00 – 0:01:14 Intro: 0:01:14 – 0:07:20 Epilogue: 0:07:20 – 1:02:26 Eyecatch: 1:02:26 – 1:02:40 Part 8 – Future Gospel: 1:02:40 – 1:50:14 Extra Chorus: 1:50:14 – 2:03:32 End Credits: 2:03:32 – 2:04:47 Subscribe to The Weekly Stuff Podcast on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/TheWeeklyStuffPodcast Visit our website and subscribe to Japanimation Station on all podcast platforms: http://japanimationstation.com/ Subscribe to The Weekly Stuff Podcast on all podcast platforms: http://www.weeklystuffpodcast.com Follow The Weekly Stuff Wordcast newsletter for regular updates and extra content! https://weeklystuff.substack.com “Welcome to Japanimation Station!” Lyrics by Sean Chapman, Music by Thomas Lack, featuring Hatsune Miku. https://www.thomaslack.com

“I won’t let you go, as long as I live.” The original 7-part run of The Garden of Sinners comes to an end with these last two installments, Oblivion Recording and A Study in Murder: Part 2, the former providing a lighter, more comical one-off case where Shiki teams up with Touko’s apprentice (and Kokutou’s little sister) Azaka, while the decidedly-not-light latter chapter returns us to the mystery of the serial killings that first brought Shiki and Kokutou together. Oblivion Recording is a joy in its own way, and a welcome eye-in-the-storm between the series’ two longest, densest installments, but A Study in Murder II is the star here, as we learn the truth about Shiki, cut to the heart of who Kokutou is underneath his still exterior, and find out what these two characters mean to one another, and what choices they will make in the face of death. Enjoy, and come back next week as we review the final pieces of The Garden of Sinners – the Epilogue short film, the eighth film, Future Gospel (aka Recalled Out Summer) and the Extra Chorus OVA. Time Chart: Theme Song: 0:00:00 – 0:01:14 Intro: 0:01:14 – 0:06:34 Part 6 – Oblivion Recording: 0:06:34 – 1:06:05 Eyecatch: 1:06:05 – 1:06:19 Part 7 – A Study in Murder II: 1:06:19 – 2:47:21 End Credits: 2:47:21 – 2:48:36 Subscribe to The Weekly Stuff Podcast on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/TheWeeklyStuffPodcast Visit our website and subscribe to Japanimation Station on all podcast platforms: http://japanimationstation.com/ Subscribe to The Weekly Stuff Podcast on all podcast platforms: http://www.weeklystuffpodcast.com Follow The Weekly Stuff Wordcast newsletter for regular updates and extra content! https://weeklystuff.substack.com “Welcome to Japanimation Station!” Lyrics by Sean Chapman, Music by Thomas Lack, featuring Hatsune Miku. https://www.thomaslack.com

“You know, high rises are strange.” We are only reviewing one installment of The Garden of Sinners this week, but since that installment is Paradox Spiral, we basically have no choice, and it’s not even because this is one of the only Kara no Kyoukai films that runs a full two hours. It’s because Paradox Spiral is one of the best and most artistically audacious things we’ve ever reviewed in our many years of podcasting, a dense and complicated story told in even more dense and intricate fashion by Ufotable, with stunning animation, disturbing and provocative imagery, and maybe the most complex editorial schema we’ve ever seen in a commercial feature, animated or live-action. And it’s all in service of an incredibly powerful story arranged around themes of duality, of division and reflection, that builds to one of the single most impactful endings in the history of the medium. Enjoy, and come back next week as we review the end of the original Kara no Kyoukai story with Parts 6 and 7– Oblivion Recording and A Study in Murder: Part 2. Time Chart: Theme Song: 0:00:00 – 0:01:14 Part 5 – Paradox Spiral: 0:01:14 – 1:19:44 Eyecatch: 1:19:44 – 1:20:04 Part 5 – Paradox Spiral (Cont.): 1:20:04 – 2:32:48 End Credits: 2:32:48 – 2:34:03 Subscribe to The Weekly Stuff Podcast on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/TheWeeklyStuffPodcast Visit our website and subscribe to Japanimation Station on all podcast platforms: http://japanimationstation.com/ Subscribe to The Weekly Stuff Podcast on all podcast platforms: http://www.weeklystuffpodcast.com Follow The Weekly Stuff Wordcast newsletter for regular updates and extra content! https://weeklystuff.substack.com “Welcome to Japanimation Station!” Lyrics by Sean Chapman, Music by Thomas Lack, featuring Hatsune Miku. https://www.thomaslack.com

“My eyes allow me to see death.” Our journey through The Garden of Sinners continues with the third and fourth installments – Remaining Sense of Pain and The Hollow Shrine – as we learn (most of) the story behind Shiki, their powers, and how they, Kokutou, and Touko all came together. Remaining Sense of Pain sees the trio tackle one of the darkest cases in the series with the abused Fujino Asagami – and a content warning is definitely in order for this one, given the episode’s depiction of sexual assault – while The Hollow Shrine gives us a full tour through Shiki’s recovery and their mastery of the Mystic Eyes of Death Perception. It’s a striking, challenging set of films that ultimately leave us with a firmer understanding of this universe and its stakes, as we head into the series’ home stretch in the weeks ahead. Enjoy, and come back next week as we review the landmark 5th part of The Garden of Sinners – Paradox Spiral. Time Chart: Theme Song: 0:00:00 – 0:01:14 Intro: 0:01:14 – 0:05:09 Part 3 – Remaining Sense of Pain: 0:05:09 – 0:53:44 Eyecatch: 0:53:44 – 0:54:00 Part 4 – The Hollow Shrine: 0:54:00 – 1:33:22 End Credits: 1:33:22 – 1:34:37 Subscribe to The Weekly Stuff Podcast on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/TheWeeklyStuffPodcast Visit our website and subscribe to Japanimation Station on all podcast platforms: http://japanimationstation.com/ Subscribe to The Weekly Stuff Podcast on all podcast platforms: http://www.weeklystuffpodcast.com Follow The Weekly Stuff Wordcast newsletter for regular updates and extra content! https://weeklystuff.substack.com “Welcome to Japanimation Station!” Lyrics by Sean Chapman, Music by Thomas Lack, featuring Hatsune Miku. https://www.thomaslack.com

“The overlooking view is a breathtaking sight.” For Season 2 of Japanimation Station – ufotable/Moon Works – we will be discussing all of the animated adaptations of Type-Moon’s books and visual novels produced by renowned studio ufotable. The best-known of these are related to Kinoko Nasu’s groundbreaking visual novel Fate/stay night, but the story of ufotable and Type-Moon’s creative partnership actually starts with an earlier work: Kara no Kyoukai, known in English as The Garden of Sinners, a light novel written by Nasu in 1998, and adapted into a series of films by Ufotable starting in 2007. We’ll be spending the first five episodes of this season working through these films, starting today with the first two installments: Overlooking View and A Study in Murder: Part 1. It’s a dense, intentionally confusing, and immediately gripping introduction to the world of Kara no Kyoukai and the Nasu-verse in general, with Sean coming in as a long-standing Type-Moon veteran and Jonathan as a newcomer to all of this. As we quickly learn, The Garden of Sinners is nothing if not a powerful conversation starter, and there is an almost endless well of things to talk about, both here and in the weeks to come. Enjoy, and come back next week as we review parts 3 and 4 of The Garden of Sinners – Remaining Sense of Pain and The Hollow Shrine! Time Chart: Theme Song: 0:00:00 – 0:01:14 Intro to Season and Nasu-Verse: 0:01:14 – 0:42:31 Eyecatch: 0:42:31 – 0:42:41 Part 1 – Overlooking View: 0:42:41 – 1:47:30 Part 2 – A Study in Murder I: 1:47:30 – 2:26:46 End Credits: 2:26:46 – 2:28:01 Subscribe to The Weekly Stuff Podcast on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/TheWeeklyStuffPodcast Visit our website and subscribe to Japanimation Station on all podcast platforms: http://japanimationstation.com/ Subscribe to The Weekly Stuff Podcast on all podcast platforms: http://www.weeklystuffpodcast.com Follow The Weekly Stuff Wordcast newsletter for regular updates and extra content! https://weeklystuff.substack.com “Welcome to Japanimation Station!” Lyrics by Sean Chapman, Music by Thomas Lack, featuring Hatsune Miku. https://www.thomaslack.com

Hosts Sean Chapman and Jonathan Lack give you a special look at Season 2 of Japanimation Station, premiering Valentine's Day 2023. This season is called UFOTABLE/MOON WORKS, and we'll be reviewing all of anime studio extraordinaire Ufotable's adaptations of Type-Moon stories, including Fate/Stay Night and The Garden of Sinners (and in this preview, we tell you where you can watch everything we're reviewing!). The new season, which will run 13 episodes uninterrupted, begins February 14th, 2023.  Visit our website and subscribe to Japanimation Station on all podcast platforms: http://japanimationstation.com/  Subscribe to The Weekly Stuff Podcast on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/TheWeeklyStuffPodcast  Subscribe to The Weekly Stuff Podcast on all podcast platforms: http://www.weeklystuffpodcast.com  Follow The Weekly Stuff Wordcast newsletter for regular updates and extra content! https://weeklystuff.substack.com  “Welcome to Japanimation Station!” Lyrics by Sean Chapman, Music by Thomas Lack, featuring Hatsune Miku. https://www.thomaslack.com

“Nice to meet you, my groom.” Weekly Suit Gundam makes its triumphant return as Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch From Mercury has wrapped up its fantastic 12-episode 1st season, and we’re here to dive deep on every facet of this so-far wonderful show: from our first female Gundam protagonist in Suletta Mercury, to the complex and seemingly sinister motivations of her mother/resident Char-clone Lady Prospera, to Suletta’s surprise fiancée Miorine Rembran and all the characters she meets at the Asticassia School of Technology, to the big questions like how in the world Chuatury Panlunch – aka ChuChu – fits those crazy hair globes in her pilot’s helmet. Even with just these first 12 episodes to work with, The Witch From Mercury delivers a huge amount of plot, big ideas, and stand-out moments, giving us more than enough to work with as we wait for Season 2, starting in April. Enjoy, and be sure to tune in for Japanimation Station Season 2 – ufotable/Moon Works – premiering February 14th, Valentine’s Day! Time Chart: Theme Song: 0:00:00 – 0:58:13 Intro & Spoiler-Free Thoughts: 0:58:13 – 0:20:55 Eyecatch 1: 0:20:55 – 0:21:03 Spoiler Review Part 1: 0:21:03 – 1:48:44 Eyecatch 2: 1:48:44 – 1:48:50 Spoielr Review Part 2: 1:48:50 – 3:06:49 Will You Be Able to Survive? 3:06:49 – 3:07:11 Subscribe to The Weekly Stuff Podcast on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/TheWeeklyStuffPodcast Visit our website and subscribe to Japanimation Station on all podcast platforms: http://japanimationstation.com/ Subscribe to The Weekly Stuff Podcast on all podcast platforms: http://www.weeklystuffpodcast.com Follow The Weekly Stuff Wordcast newsletter for regular updates and extra content! https://weeklystuff.substack.com “Tobe! Gundam” performed by the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force Band in Shinjuku, Tokyo, February 2016. Originally composed by Takeo Watanabe with lyrics by Rin Iogi and performed by Koh Ikeda. “Gundam Stands its Ground” originally composed by Takeo Watanabe & Yushi Matsuyama. “Mobile Suit Gundam” Arcade (1993) arrangement composed by Nadya Doi.

In our 1st-season finale, we conclude our series of Fullmetal Alchemist reviews by rounding up the remaining theatrical feature films. First, there’s 2011’s The Sacred Star of Milos, an animated spin-off of Brotherhood made by the same crew, but with entirely different creative leadership, leading to a radically different aesthetic and the best animation Fullmetal Alchemist has ever seen. It’s a bit narratively messy in integrating Hiromu Arakawa’s characters into an otherwise original and unrelated story, but it’s also an entertaining and memorably weird experience that’s an essential watch. The live-action Fullmetal Alchemist trilogy is entertaining in its own way, but far less essential. With three films – 2017’s Fullmetal Alchemist and this year’s The Revenge of Scar and The Final Alchemy, all streaming worldwide on Netflix – this series, directed by Fumihiko Sori and starring Ryosuke Yamada as Ed, is a surprisingly faithful recreation of the manga (maybe too much so at times). Bouncing between hilarious B-movie oddity, boring recitation of the original story, and a few genuinely affecting performances and scenes, these movies are uneven but extremely interesting, and more than worth taking the time to discuss here. Enjoy, and come back next year for Season 2 of Japanimation Station, where we will be reviewing Ufotable’s Type-Moon adaptations, including their Garden of Sinners and Fate/stay Night series! Subscribe to our YouTube Channel! Follow us on Twitter @JapanimationPod Follow Jonathan Lack on Twitter @JonathanLack  Follow Sean Chapman on Twitter @SeantheChapman  JapanimationStation.Com WeeklySuitGundam.Com WeeklyStuffPodcast.Com

Our journey through Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood comes to an end with the second half of the second anime, now in fully uncharted territory as it adapts the final stretch of Hiromu Arakawa’s original manga. Diving deep into the Briggs and Promised Day story arcs that conclude the series, we discuss all the many ups and occasional downs of this last run. The manga is probably at its most uneven during this portion, but Brotherhood fully comes into its own as an anime, its pacing finally relaxed enough to fully tell the story, its ludicrously stacked voice cast fully in place, and its animation and aesthetics frequently on point as it approaches the end. As we go through the good, the bad, and everything in between, we find no shortage of topics worth discussing, and Brotherhood proves extremely rewarding to talk about all the way up to its all-time great ending. Enjoy, and come back next time for our first season finale, as we wrap up all things Fullmetal Alchemist with reviews of the 2011 animated movie The Sacred Star of Milos and the live-action film trilogy currently streaming on Netflix! Follow us on Twitter @JapanimationPod Follow Jonathan Lack on Twitter @JonathanLack  Follow Sean Chapman on Twitter @SeantheChapman  JapanimationStation.Com WeeklySuitGundam.Com WeeklyStuffPodcast.Com

Our Fullmetal Alchemist series enters its ultimate phase as we review Brotherhood, the 2009 anime that starts fresh to adapt Hiromu Arakawa’s original manga in full. With a new crew, a new animation style, many new cast members, and a largely new story, Brotherhood is extremely different than the 2003 anime – and in many ways, it’s also a different beast than the manga, especially in this first half. While the show has come to be canonized as one of the very best anime ever made by Western fans, initial reception was more mixed, and this first half certainly shows some growing pains, with some poor structural and adaptational decisions and inconsistent animations. But it also has one of the best voice casts ever assembled, with A-list Seiyuu from top to bottom, and while it fumbles in some moments, it soars quite high indeed in others, and even in this first half delivers several iconic episodes that have already proven to stand the test of time. It’s a lot to talk about, and with a whole half of the series left to go, we’re only just scratching the surface. Enjoy, and come back next time for Part 2 of our Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood review, where we’ll finish the 2009 anime with episodes 33 – 64! Subscribe to our YouTube Channel! Follow us on Twitter @JapanimationPod Follow Jonathan Lack on Twitter @JonathanLack  Follow Sean Chapman on Twitter @SeantheChapman  JapanimationStation.Com WeeklySuitGundam.Com WeeklyStuffPodcast.Com

The Witch From Mercury, the first mainline Gundam show since Iron-Blooded Orphans ended in 2017 is premiering this October, but Sunrise has given us all quite the treat with a full episode-length Prologue special, now available worldwide on YouTube. Sean & Jonathan dust off the Weekly Suit Gundam mobile to discuss this outstanding first look at the new series, which introduces some fascinating and unique world-building combining certain elements from prior Gundamclassics and introducing many new ones, while simultaneously telling a tragic character-driven story culminating in an instant-classic Gundam death. With gorgeous animation and impressive voice acting, this Prologue has us more excited for The Witch From Mercury than ever – it looks like Gundam is in very good hands, and we look forward to reviewing the full show when the time comes! Enjoy! Subscribe to The Weekly Stuff Podcast! Subscribe to our YouTube Channel! Follow Jonathan Lack on Twitter @JonathanLack  Follow Sean Chapman on Twitter @SeantheChapman  WeeklySuitGundam.Com http://weeklystuffpodcast.com

Nearly 4 years after Broly, Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero – the 21st Dragon Ball film overall, and 4th of the modern era – opened this weekend in North American theaters, playing in both English and Japanese for the first time in franchise history, and with the widest opening for an anime film ever in the United States, playing on nearly 4,000 screens! It’s also the first Dragon Ball film to be produced completely in 3D CGI, with a new team led by director Tetsuro Kodama bringing Akira Toriyama’s script to life in a very different style than we’ve seen before. And the movie turned out to be well worth the wait and the hype, telling a compelling character-driven story centered on Piccolo, Gohan, and Pan, with several wonderful new characters, a lot of incredible action, plenty of big laughs, and even a few surprisingly touching pay-offs at the end! It’s a great Dragon Ball movie, and a big step forward for CGI anime, and it makes for an incredible fun discussion between Sean and Jonathan. Enjoy, and come back next time for Part 1 of our Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood review, where we’ll be covering Episodes 1-32 of the 2009 anime! Follow us on Twitter @JapanimationPod Follow Jonathan Lack on Twitter @JonathanLack  Follow Sean Chapman on Twitter @SeantheChapman  JapanimationStation.Com WeeklySuitGundam.Com WeeklyStuffPodcast.Com

Ahead of the release of Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero in North American theaters this Friday, we’re bringing you three special bonus episodes all about Dragon Ball, originally recorded in 2019 for The Weekly Stuff Podcast. In today’s episode, we review the spectacular 2018 film Dragon Ball Super: Broly, which saw Akira Toriyama taking all the most popular ‘non-canonical’ pieces from various Dragon Ball movies and TV specials – Broly, Bardock, and Gogeta – and reinvent each into a shockingly compelling new package. Brilliantly directed by Tatsuya Nagamine and with a gorgeous new animation style from Naohiro Shintani, Broly is an aesthetic tour-de-force, with the best production values the franchise has ever seen – all of which gave Sean and Jonathan a lot to gush about on this episode. And we’re glad to resurrect this review of the last Dragon Ball Super movie just as the new one opens today in theaters across North America! Enjoy, and come back Monday for our next all-new episode where we’ll be reviewing the latest Dragon Ball film, Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero! Follow us on Twitter @JapanimationPod Follow Jonathan Lack on Twitter @JonathanLack  Follow Sean Chapman on Twitter @SeantheChapman  JapanimationStation.Com WeeklySuitGundam.Com WeeklyStuffPodcast.Com

Ahead of the release of Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero in North American theaters this Friday, we’re bringing you three special bonus episodes all about Dragon Ball, originally recorded in 2019 for The Weekly Stuff Podcast. In today’s episode, we look back on the three Dragon Ball Z movies from the 90s that introduced the iconic – if not always entertaining – character Broly, the legendary Super Saiyan. Before he was successfully reinvented by Akira Toriyama himself for the 2018 Dragon Ball Super film, Broly was a monosyllabic buff dude who mostly shouted “KAKAROTTO!!” and punched things before being beaten in an 11th-hour deus ex machina, and his films – DBZ Movies 8, 10, and 11 – are mostly duds, albeit ones that are very entertaining to talk about. It’s a conversation we very much enjoyed having back in the day, before we knew how much we’d love Broly coming out of the Dragon Ball Super film, and we’re happy to share it with Japanimation Station listeners today. Enjoy, and come back tomorrow for our final Dragon Ball bonus as we review the Dragon Ball Super: Broly film and see how Broly got his groove back! Follow us on Twitter @JapanimationPod Follow Jonathan Lack on Twitter @JonathanLack  Follow Sean Chapman on Twitter @SeantheChapman  JapanimationStation.Com WeeklySuitGundam.Com WeeklyStuffPodcast.Com

Ahead of the release of Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero in North American theaters this Friday, we’re bringing you three special bonus episodes all about Dragon Ball, originally recorded in 2019 for The Weekly Stuff Podcast. In today’s episode, we’re talking all about Dragon Ball Super, the TV series that aired between 2015 and 2018, building off the Battle of Gods and Resurrection ‘F’ films to expand the world of Dragon Ball into whole new Universes! In this podcast, Sean and Jonathan break down all the major Super arcs, from the rough early episodes retelling the prior films, to the big three anime-original arcs: the Universe 6 vs Universe 7 tournament, the Future Trunks arc, and the giant ‘Universe Survival’ arc that pitted all 12 universe’s best fighters against one another in a crazy battle royale. It’s an imperfect series, but one we really enjoyed, especially in its outstanding second half, and it’s such a blast to talk about. Follow us on Twitter @JapanimationPod Follow Jonathan Lack on Twitter @JonathanLack  Follow Sean Chapman on Twitter @SeantheChapman  JapanimationStation.Com WeeklySuitGundam.Com WeeklyStuffPodcast.Com

This is the last episode of JAPANIMATION STATION we'll be sharing in the Weekly Suit Gundam feed for now, so be sure to SUBSCRIBE to the new podcast feed on your platform of choice. All links can be found at JapanimationStation.Com or by searching in your favorite podcast app. Thanks for listening! The first Fullmetal Alchemist anime comes to its ultimate conclusion in the 2005 feature film Conqueror of Shamballa, a narratively messy but beautifully made movie that showcases the best and the worst that this ‘alternate’ version of Fullmetal Alchemist has to offer. With Edward Elric lost in ‘our’ world on the other side of the gate, Conqueror of Shamballa is set primarily in 1923 Germany on the eve of the Nazi Party’s ‘Beer Hall Putsch,’ with Ed navigating a society on the brink of collapse into genocidal fascism. It’s a fascinating and often quite effective setting, while the action back in Amestris – where Alphonse Elric, back in his human body, is searching for a way to get back to his brother – feels pretty threadbare. The worlds eventually collide, and we see how Seiji Mizushima and company bring this version of the story to a close, with Sean and Jonathan giving their final thoughts on how the 2003 version of Fullmetal Alchemist stands the test of time nearly 20 years later. Enjoy, and come back throughout the week for a series of Dragon Ball bonus episodes leading up to the American release – and our review of – the new film Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero! Subscribe to our YouTube Channel! Follow us on Twitter @JapanimationPod Follow Jonathan Lack on Twitter @JonathanLack  Follow Sean Chapman on Twitter @SeantheChapman  JapanimationStation.Com WeeklySuitGundam.Com WeeklyStuffPodcast.Com

We're sharing the first few episodes of JAPANIMATION STATION here in the Weekly Suit Gundam feed, but be sure to subscribe to the new podcast feed on your platform of choice. All links can be found at JapanimationStation.Com or by searching in your favorite podcast app. Thanks for listening!  For our first anime subject, we’re diving into the world of Hiromu Arakawa’s Fullmetal Alchemist, starting with the 2003 anime that partially adapted the then-young manga before branching off into an increasingly divergent anime-original story. While it was a huge and acclaimed hit, in Japan and abroad, at the time of release, the show has a more controversial reputation now, years after Arakawa’s manga was completed and faithfully re-adapted as Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood. Sean and Jonathan are coming at the 2003 series from wildly different directions – Jonathan a lifelong fan who started with this anime as a kid, and Sean only recently having read the manga without ever seeing either anime – so our perspectives inherently diverge. But if there’s one thing we clearly agree on, it’s that this is a fascinating show very much worth talking about. Whether one loves it or hates it, it’s clearly more than an outdated curio, and we think you, like us, will come away from this conversation with a greater appreciation for all versions of Fullmetal Alchemist. Enjoy, and come back next week as our journey through Amestris continues with our review of the Fullmetal Alchemist movie sequel, Conqueror of Shamballa! Subscribe to our YouTube Channel! Follow us on Twitter @JapanimationPod Follow Jonathan Lack on Twitter @JonathanLack  Follow Sean Chapman on Twitter @SeantheChapman  JapanimationStation.Com WeeklySuitGundam.Com WeeklyStuffPodcast.Com

For the debut episode of Japanimation Station, Sean Chapman and Jonathan Lack introduce themselves and host a spirited discussion about how they got into anime, how their fandoms and interests have evolved over the years, what makes animation special in the first place, and why anime in particular is the thing we find so interesting we had to make a whole podcast about it. You’ll learn about our backgrounds, our philosophies, our anime likes and dislikes, and much more as we introduce you to the foundational ideas of our show! And at the end, we share which 5 anime we would each take to a desert island if such a strange fate were to befall us. Enjoy, and come back next week for our first anime review with Fullmetal Alchemist, the original 2003 anime based on Hiromu Arakawa’s classic manga! Subscribe at JapanimationStation.Com to make sure you don’t miss a single episode! Subscribe to our YouTube Channel! Follow us on Twitter @JapanimationPod Follow Jonathan Lack on Twitter @JonathanLack  Follow Sean Chapman on Twitter @SeantheChapman  JapanimationStation.Com WeeklySuitGundam.Com WeeklyStuffPodcast.Com

Jonathan Lack and Sean Chapman, hosts of the upcoming anime podcast Japanimation Station, speak with musician Thomas Lack, composer of the original theme song to Japanimation Station! Subscribe on all podcast platforms at http://JapanimationStation.Com Follow Japanimation Station on Twitter: https://twitter.com/JapanimationPod Follow Jonathan Lack on Twitter: https://twitter.com/JonathanLack Follow Sean Chapman on Twitter: https://twitter.com/SeanTheChapman Subscribe to The Weekly Stuff Podcast on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/theweeklystuffpodcast Visit our website and subscribe to Japanimation Station on all podcast platforms: http://japanimationstation.com Subscribe to The Weekly Stuff Podcast on all podcast platforms: http://www.weeklystuffpodcast.com Original Music composed and produced by Thomas Lack

Both Gundam as a franchise and Weekly Suit Gundam as a podcast come full circle this week by returning to the world of First Gundam, with the brand-new movie set in the timeline of the original show, Mobile Suit Gundam: Cucuruz Doan’s Island! A remake of the infamous 15th episode of Mobile Suit Gundam – an episode with such a troubled production that creator Yoshiyuki Tomino has never allowed it to be distributed outside Japan – original Gundam character designer and animation supervisor Yoshikazu Yasuhiko returns as director to redeem this story of a Zeon deserter protecting war orphans on a deserted island. It’s an absolutely wonderful movie, as beautifully animated as one would expect from the great Yasuhiko, but also incredibly smart and soulful in its themes and storytelling, finding a particularly compelling story for original Gundam protagonist Amuro Ray, played again here – possibly for the last time – by a never-better Tōru Furuya. This is a great movie, and an absolute pleasure to discuss for our final Weekly Suit Gundam before the launch of Japanimation Station. Enjoy, and we’ll see you on the other side with the premiere of Japanimation Station on August 1st. Be sure to subscribe at http://japanimationstation.com Subscribe to The Weekly Stuff Podcast! Subscribe to our YouTube Channel! Follow Jonathan Lack on Twitter @JonathanLack  Follow Sean Chapman on Twitter @SeantheChapman  WeeklySuitGundam.Com http://weeklystuffpodcast.com

Hosts Jonathan Lack and Sean Chapman introduce you to the world of JAPANIMATION STATION, a new anime podcast from the creators of Weekly Suit Gundam and The Weekly Stuff Podcast.    Subscribe on all podcast platforms at JapanimationStation.Com Follow us on Twitter @JapanimationStation Subscribe to The Weekly Stuff Podcast! Subscribe to our YouTube Channel! Follow Jonathan Lack on Twitter @JonathanLack  Follow Sean Chapman on Twitter @SeantheChapman  http://weeklystuffpodcast.com

When our other, ‘mothership’ podcast, The Weekly Stuff, turned 10 years old last month, we celebrated with a whopping 10-hour podcast celebration, each hour devoted to a different topic we’ve covered over the years. One of those, of course, was Gundam, and we wanted to share that segment with Weekly Suit Gundam listeners as a standalone episode, because it’s a very fun conversation about a corner of the Gundam world we’ve never discussed before: SD Gundam! That’s right – on today’s show, we’re talking all about the super-deformed world of chibi Gundam comedy by looking at the original theatrical shorts from the late 80s and early 90s, including SD Gundam Mk. 1, Mk. 2, Mk. 4, and SD Gundam Counterattack! Do they hold up 30 years later? Are they funny? Are they weirdly offensive? Are they kind of boring and annoying? It depends! We talk all about it before finishing up the episode with a look at the insanely surreal FMV cutscenes from Gundam 0079: The War for Earth, an obscure but also kind of iconic ‘video game’ from 1996. Enjoy, and come back next week for our review of the new Gundam movie, Cucuruz Doan’s Island! Time Chart: Intro: 0:00:00 – 0:02:31 SD Gundam Mk. 1: 0:02:31 – 0:18:41 SD Gundam Mk. 2: 0:18:41 – 0:28:51 SD Gundam Counterattack: 0:28:51 – 0:33:07 SD Gundam Mk. 4: 0:33:07 – 0:45:39 Gundam 0079 – The War for Earth: 0:45:39 – 1:03:11 Subscribe to The Weekly Stuff Podcast! Subscribe to our YouTube Channel! Follow Jonathan Lack on Twitter @JonathanLack  Follow Sean Chapman on Twitter @SeantheChapman  WeeklySuitGundam.Com http://weeklystuffpodcast.com

In the 3rd and final part of our 3rd Anniversary ranking celebration, we’re ranking…well, almost everything! We start by listing our Top 10 favorite Mobile Suits from the last year’s worth of shows, our Top 10 Mobile Suits overall, our Top 10 favorite characters from across the franchise – and then it’s party time, as we deliver all the rankings requested by YOU, the listeners, including the best Gundam Boys, the best Captains, the best Char clones, the best Haros, the best deaths, and so much more! It’s a veritable cornucopia of Gundam rankings, and a great way to celebrate and close out 3 fantastic years of Weekly Suit Gundam. Enjoy, and listen to the end to hear exciting details about the future of Weekly Suit Gundam and our big plans for covering even more anime in the years to come! Subscribe to The Weekly Stuff Podcast! Subscribe to our YouTube Channel! Follow Jonathan Lack on Twitter @JonathanLack  Follow Sean Chapman on Twitter @SeantheChapman  WeeklySuitGundam.Com http://weeklystuffpodcast.com

In Part 2 of our 3rd Anniversary ranking celebration, we’re diving deep into the amazingly rich waters of Gundam music! The songs and soundtracks for Gundam have always been one of our favorite parts of this franchise, and a ubiquitous topic of conversation with every show we cover, and having reviewed all the Gundam, it’s time to rank all the music! First we count down our Top 10 favorite Gundam Soundtracks – the scores, or background music, composed for the various shows and movies – and then it’s time to talk about songs. We rank our Top 10 favorite songs from the shows we reviewed over the last year, and then update our list of all-time favorite Gundam songs with our own individual Top 40 Songs lists! (Which we have made playlists of on YouTube, so you can listen to our lists like we’ve DJ’d our own Gundam radio stations!) Enjoy, and come back soon for Part 3, where we’ll be ranking the best Mobile Suits, characters, and MUCH more, including fun and silly lists suggested by YOU the listeners! Jonathan’s Top 40 Gundam Songs – https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLk08eaY2eGd991aJ6BmqzsYIDEnUba-ZM Sean’s Top 40 Gundam Songs – https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLk08eaY2eGd9UwNYWBVQOMh4pS2HpDFL1 Subscribe to The Weekly Stuff Podcast! Subscribe to our YouTube Channel! Follow Jonathan Lack on Twitter @JonathanLack  Follow Sean Chapman on Twitter @SeantheChapman  WeeklySuitGundam.Com http://weeklystuffpodcast.com

It’s been three whole years since we started this podcast, watching just two episodes of the original Mobile Suit Gundam for our first show – and three years later, we’ve watched over 800 episodes of Gundam and reviewed every series in the pantheon. So for this year’s celebration, we’re not just ranking the shows we reviewed in the past year – though we do that as well – but ranking every Gundam show, with Sean and Jonathan sharing their individual lists before debating and coming to a consensus on an official Weekly Suit Gundam ranking of all 33 Gundam shows/OVAs/movies we’ve covered on this show. It’s the moment you’ve been waiting three whole years for. What’s the best Gundam show? What’s the worst? By the end of today’s podcast, you’ll have the definitive answers on these questions and more! Enjoy, and come back soon for Parts 2 and 3 of our 3rd anniversary festivities, where we’ll be ranking the best Gundam songs, soundtracks, Mobile Suits, characters, and MUCH more, including fun and silly lists suggested by YOU the listeners! And be sure to check out the very special 10th anniversary special of our other long-running podcast, The Weekly Stuff, which is premiering Monday, June 13th at 10:00 am and has a special Gundam component! https://youtu.be/21eM2T-63Vs Subscribe to The Weekly Stuff Podcast! Subscribe to our YouTube Channel! Follow Jonathan Lack on Twitter @JonathanLack  Follow Sean Chapman on Twitter @SeantheChapman  WeeklySuitGundam.Com http://weeklystuffpodcast.com

Today we settle all Gundam business by reviewing two ONA (original net animation) series that are the last mainline Gundam titles we’ve yet left un-reviewed. Mobile Suit Gundam Thunderbolt, based on the manga by Yasuo Ohtagaki, aired from 2015 to 2017 and was collected into 2 films, December Sky and Bandit Flower, and it’s a fascinating, frequently rousing production, if also one that’s messy and incomplete. With detailed over-the-top action scored to incredible jazz music by Naruyoshi Kikuchi and a series of faux-pop oldies representing rival protagonists Io Fleming and Daryl Lorenz, Thunderbolt is a synesthetic marvel – but it’s also barreling through 7 volumes of manga in a scant 2.5 hours, and with no new episodes in 5 years, it’s an entirely unfinished project. Twilight Axis, on the other hand, is finished – but it’s very slight, a series of short ONA episodes collected into a 26-minute movie, loosely adapting a series of light novels into an impressionistic-at-best, confusing-and-vestigial-at-worst short film. Enjoy, and come back on June 10th for our Weekly Suit Gundam 3rd Anniversary celebration, where we’ll be ranking ALL the shows in the Gundam franchise. Subscribe to The Weekly Stuff Podcast! Subscribe to our YouTube Channel! Follow Jonathan Lack on Twitter @JonathanLack  Follow Sean Chapman on Twitter @SeantheChapman  WeeklySuitGundam.Com http://weeklystuffpodcast.com

In the most pleasantly surprising qualitative whiplash we’ve ever seen, Gundam Build Divers Re:RISE follows the franchise low-point of Gundam Build Divers with a smart, soulful, exciting, and all-around excellent anime that is nearly as great as the original show is bad. Following a new group of characters – the BUILD DiVERS, distinguished by one lowercase ‘i’ – Re:RISE immediately distinguishes itself with a deeply human and compelling protagonist, Hiroto Kuga, and a fantastic group of supporting characters, all on a wild adventure that combines the video game isekai tropes the first show tried but failed at, a more traditional fantasy isekai journey to another world, and even dashes of other non-Build Gundam shows with heroes, villains, and major life-and-death stakes. Along the way, it tackles issues of grief, trauma, identity, and how we mediate relationships and experiences between the virtual and ‘real’ worlds, all in a handsome package that is equal parts entertaining and moving. Re:RISE is the last full Gundam show made to date, and we couldn’t ask for much more of the series that catches this podcast up to the franchise’s present day. Enjoy, and come back next week for our review of the Mobile Suit Gundam Thunderbolt anime with the movies December Sky and Bandit Flower! Subscribe to The Weekly Stuff Podcast! Subscribe to our YouTube Channel! Follow Jonathan Lack on Twitter @JonathanLack  Follow Sean Chapman on Twitter @SeantheChapman  WeeklySuitGundam.Com http://weeklystuffpodcast.com

After the highs of Gundam: The Origin, we’re going very far in the opposite direction to scrape the bottom of the Gundam barrel with 2018’s Gundam Build Divers, in contention with G-Saviour as the worst thing we’ve yet discussed on Weekly Suit Gundam. Capitalizing on the Sword Art Online-inspired Isekai craze of the 2010s, Gundam Build Divers takes the Gunpla action out of the real world and into a very boring virtual reality, without really understanding what makes Isekai shows or the prior Build Fighters series fun in the first place. With amazingly low stakes, wildly inconsistent world building, nary an interesting character in sight, and a final arc that goes from zero to bananas in record time (and not in a good way), Gundam Build Divers is the nadir of animated Gundam. It’s a show you absolutely shouldn’t watch, but it makes for a fun podcast you should listen to even if you haven’t. Enjoy, and come back in two weeks for our review of the follow-up series – which you’ve all promised us is better – Gundam Build Divers Re:Rise. Subscribe to The Weekly Stuff Podcast! Subscribe to our YouTube Channel! Follow Jonathan Lack on Twitter @JonathanLack  Follow Sean Chapman on Twitter @SeantheChapman  WeeklySuitGundam.Com http://weeklystuffpodcast.com

After breaking down all six episodes of the Mobile Suit Gundam: The Origin OVA series, we’re back for one more Origin discussion to talk all about the manga by the legendary Yoshikazu Yasuhiko. Serialized over a full decade, Yasuhiko’s manga is a virtuoso ‘comicalization’ of the original Gundam anime, realized in loving detail with some of the most incredible art one will ever lay eyes on. The ‘flashback arc’ from the middle of the manga was adapted for the OVA, but there’s much more material here, and for this episode, we talk about how Yasuhiko’s telling compares to the original TV series, what changes we like or dislike, and why Yasuhiko’s heavily ‘decompressed’ style is so immersive and involving. This manga is one of the best and most singular corners of the entire Gundam universe, and is more than deserving than the episode we devote to it here. Enjoy, and come back in April as we journey forth to the next Gundam TV series, Gundam Build Divers! Subscribe to The Weekly Stuff Podcast! Subscribe to our YouTube Channel! Follow Jonathan Lack on Twitter @JonathanLack  Follow Sean Chapman on Twitter @SeantheChapman  WeeklySuitGundam.Com http://weeklystuffpodcast.com

With the hotly anticipated Season 2 of Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba having drawn to a close in Japan two weeks ago, we finally caught up with the astonishing run of episodes comprising the series’ “Entertainment District” Arc, which may just be the most impressively produced set of TV animation episodes we’ve ever seen. We spend a good long time gushing over the animation, the direction, the music, the voice acting, the characters, and everything else we can think to discuss about one of the best Shōnen anime ever made. Subscribe to The Weekly Stuff Podcast! Subscribe to our YouTube Channel! Follow Jonathan Lack on Twitter @JonathanLack  Follow Sean Chapman on Twitter @SeantheChapman  WeeklySuitGundam.Com http://weeklystuffpodcast.com

Gundam: The Origin comes to a spectacular end with its sixth and final installment, “Rise of the Red Comet,” in which Zeon decimates the Earth Federation at the Battle of Loum, Char Aznable becomes a legend, and General Johann Ibrahim Revil delivers a speech that will change the course of human history. It’s a great episode, one part space naval epic, another part political espionage thriller, with a rousing closing act that brings us right to the doorstep of the original Mobile Suit Gundam with unforgettable aplomb. And along the way, there’s plenty to discuss, debate, and gush over as we bring our journey through this outstanding OVA series to a close. Enjoy, and come back next week for one more Gundam The Origin chat, as we discuss our thoughts on the rest of the Yoshikazu Yasuhiko manga! Subscribe to The Weekly Stuff Podcast! Subscribe to our YouTube Channel! Follow Jonathan Lack on Twitter @JonathanLack  Follow Sean Chapman on Twitter @SeantheChapman  WeeklySuitGundam.Com http://weeklystuffpodcast.com

With Part V of Mobile Suit Gundam: The Origin – Clash at Loum – this outstanding OVA delivers not only its finest episode, but one of the single most memorable and powerful installments in the 40-year history of Gundam. Dramatizing Zeon’s disastrous colony drop operation, Sayla Mass making a stand at Side 5, Ramba Ral and Crowley Hamon bemoaning the loss of a world that’s passed them by, and Char Aznable taking the final, ultimate step towards becoming the legendary Red Comet, this episode is absolutely overflowing with pantheon-level sequences that are among the greatest Gundam has ever given us, all combining to paint a deeply affecting portrait of a world spun entirely out of control. This is as good as it gets. Enjoy, and come back next week for the dramatic conclusion to Mobile Suit Gundam The Origin – Rise of the Red Comet! Subscribe to The Weekly Stuff Podcast! Subscribe to our YouTube Channel! Follow Jonathan Lack on Twitter @JonathanLack  Follow Sean Chapman on Twitter @SeantheChapman  WeeklySuitGundam.Com http://weeklystuffpodcast.com

Eve of Destiny, Part IV of Mobile Suit Gundam: The Origin, is a messier installment than others in this series, failing to find as clear or compelling a through-line as prior or upcoming episodes, and taking a weird jump in the middle that feels like a key piece of story is missing. That said, it’s still a highly entertaining part of this terrific series, featuring the first meeting between Char and Lalah, a powerful ending scene with Amuro and Fraw Bow, and an absolutely dynamite centerpiece action sequence on the moon, where mobile suits go into combat for the first time in the history of the Universal Century. There’s more than enough here to discuss and enjoy, even if it’s all something of a stepping stone to some of The Origin’s best material yet to come. Enjoy, and come back next week for Part V of The Origin, Clash at Loum! Subscribe to The Weekly Stuff Podcast! Subscribe to our YouTube Channel! Follow Jonathan Lack on Twitter @JonathanLack  Follow Sean Chapman on Twitter @SeantheChapman  WeeklySuitGundam.Com http://weeklystuffpodcast.com

A legend is born in Part III of Mobile Suit Gundam: The Origin – Dawn of Rebellion, which sees Casval Rem Deikun adopt – er, violently steal – the identity of Char Aznable, and gradually develop the colorful, calculating persona made so iconic in Gundam ’79. It’s one of the most entertaining episodes in the history of Gundam, an archetypal military academy story built on the foundation of Char’s twisted friendship with Garma Zabi, and all leading inexorably towards the horrors of the One-Year War. This is an hour full of moments we’ve been waiting literal years to talk about, and it couldn’t be more satisfying to finally discuss the installment in which Gundam’s greatest character fully steps into his own destined role in history. Enjoy, and come back next week for Part IV of The Origin, Eve of Destiny! Subscribe to The Weekly Stuff Podcast! Subscribe to our YouTube Channel! Follow Jonathan Lack on Twitter @JonathanLack  Follow Sean Chapman on Twitter @SeantheChapman  WeeklySuitGundam.Com http://weeklystuffpodcast.com

Our journey through the past of the Universal Century continues with Part II of Mobile Suit Gundam: The Origin – Artesia’s Sorrow. Picking up three years after Casval and Artesia fled their homeland of Munzo, the action picks up on Earth in 0071, where a young Edouard and Sayla Mass live peacefully with Don Teabolo Mass and Jimba Ral…for a time. Events conspire to rip peace away from the siblings time and again, and Sayla watches her brother harden into a cold man with the demeanor of a drawn knife. One of the most heart-wrenching installments in the Origin OVA series, Artesia’s Sorrow is a fantastic hour with more than enough to make it worth the full podcast treatment, and we once again find countless things to talk about breaking it down. Enjoy, and come back next week for Part III of The Origin, Dawn of Rebellion! Subscribe to The Weekly Stuff Podcast! Subscribe to our YouTube Channel! Follow Jonathan Lack on Twitter @JonathanLack  Follow Sean Chapman on Twitter @SeantheChapman  WeeklySuitGundam.Com http://weeklystuffpodcast.com

To kick off 2022, we’re starting our journey through Mobile Suit Gundam: The Origin, the 6-part theatrical OVA created between 2015 and 2018, based on Yoshikazu Yasuhiko’s manga of the same name. And to give this great series the royal treatment it deserves, we’re covering it one episode at a time! For this week, we’re discussing Part I: Blue-Eyed Casval, where we return to Universal Century 0068 in the Republic of Munzo, where a young Casval Rem Deikun and his sister Artesia see the world thrown into chaos after the death of their father, the revolutionary leader Zeon Zum Deikun. With the scheming Zabi family angling for power, the Deikun children are taken in by Jimba Ral and his son Ramba, and Casval’s journey to become the Red Comet, Char Aznable, begins. It’s a great debut episode for one of the best prequel stories ever told, and a really fun way to kick off another year of Gundam podcasts. Enjoy, and come back next week for Part II of The Origin, Artesia’s Sorrow! Subscribe to The Weekly Stuff Podcast! Subscribe to our YouTube Channel! Follow Jonathan Lack on Twitter @JonathanLack  Follow Sean Chapman on Twitter @SeantheChapman  WeeklySuitGundam.Com http://weeklystuffpodcast.com

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to one and all! At The Weekly Stuff Podcast, we have an ongoing tradition of extremely silly Christmas special episodes – from reviewing the hilariously terrible Pokemon Christmas Bash album in 2018 to performing an entire Western-themed Evangelical Christian rendering of A Christmas Carol in 2019 – and this year, we’re bringing that tradition to Weekly Suit Gundam! To celebrate the season, Jonathan has found several pieces (out of a surprisingly large sea of options) of Christmas-themed Mobile Suit Gundam fanfiction, set in the worlds of Gundam Wing, Gundam SEED, and Mobile Fighter G Gundam, and he surprises Sean on air by inviting him to read them out loud. A festive, flabbergasted, and altogether confusing time is had by all. Enjoy, have a very happy holiday, and come back in the new year as we begin our next voyage through the fantastic OVA Mobile Suit Gundam The Origin, one episode at a time! Subscribe to The Weekly Stuff Podcast! Subscribe to our YouTube Channel! Follow Jonathan Lack on Twitter @JonathanLack  Follow Sean Chapman on Twitter @SeantheChapman  WeeklySuitGundam.Com http://weeklystuffpodcast.com

It’s safe to say we were big fans of the first season of Iron-Blooded Orphans here at Weekly Suit Gundam, and as the length of this podcast can attest, we are even more invested in the big thematic, narrative, and emotional swings the show takes in its second and final season. As it traces the fall of Tekkadan, Iron-Blooded Orphans challenges its characters and audience with a story that’s richer, more complicated, and intentionally structured very differently than the first season, with an absolutely knockout set of final episodes that cross many lines Gundam has never ventured past before, and somehow comes out on the other side seeing more hope in the world than the franchise has seen in its darkest hours. It’s an all-time great finish to a truly tremendous show, and even with an extra-long 4-hour podcast, there’s still so much that could be said about this modern masterpiece. Enjoy, and come back in the new year as we begin our next voyage through the fantastic OVA Mobile Suit Gundam The Origin, one episode at a time! Subscribe to The Weekly Stuff Podcast! Subscribe to our YouTube Channel! Follow Jonathan Lack on Twitter @JonathanLack  Follow Sean Chapman on Twitter @SeantheChapman  WeeklySuitGundam.Com http://weeklystuffpodcast.com

We finally arrive at the most recent mainline Gundam TV series – 2015’s global smash hit Iron-Blooded Orphans, created by the “Super Peace Busters” team of director Tatsuyuki Nagai and writer Mari Okada. Tackling the theme of child soldiers more directly than Gundam ever had before, Iron-Blooded Orphans is one of Gundam’s darkest and most violent hours, but also one of its richest and most rewarding, a unique blend of daily life coming-of-age storytelling with hard-edged military fiction that leaves a huge impact. Season 1, which we’re discussing today, follows the formation of the child-mercenary group Tekkadan – the eponymous Orphans with Iron in their Blood – and their journey to bring Martian independence activist Kudelia Aina Bernstein to Earth. It’s a stupendous season of television with tons to talk about, and a pleasure to finally reach and discuss on Weekly Suit Gundam. Enjoy, and come back in two weeks for our review of Iron-Blooded Orphans Season 2! Subscribe to The Weekly Stuff Podcast! Subscribe to our YouTube Channel! Follow Jonathan Lack on Twitter @JonathanLack  Follow Sean Chapman on Twitter @SeantheChapman  WeeklySuitGundam.Com http://weeklystuffpodcast.com

For the 35th anniversary of Mobile Suit Gundam, franchise creator Yoshiyuki Tomino returned for what is, as of now, his latest installment in the series: Reconguista in G, perhaps the strangest and unquestionably the most formally daring of all Gundam series. Dense, complicated, wildly fast-paced, and persistently challenging, Reconguista is a divisive entry among the global Gundam fandom, but here at Weekly Suit Gundam, we are in awe of it. There is simply nothing quite like Reconguista in G, which sees Tomino turning up all his thematic and stylistic interests to 11, resulting in one of the purest auteur statements in modern mainstream media. With the best action sequences in the history of Gundam, arguably franchise-best TV animation, amazing and vibrant characters, and a structure that practically re-invents the language of anime before your eyes, Reconguista in G is an endlessly rewarding artistic gauntlet, and one of the very finest shows we’ve had the pleasure of discussing in 40 episodes of Weekly Suit Gundam. Enjoy, and come back next time for Season 1 of the global hit Iron-Blooded Orphans! Subscribe to The Weekly Stuff Podcast! Subscribe to our YouTube Channel! Follow Jonathan Lack on Twitter @JonathanLack  Follow Sean Chapman on Twitter @SeantheChapman  WeeklySuitGundam.Com http://weeklystuffpodcast.com

After reviewing the original Gundam Build Fighters and its sequel series Gundam Build Fighters Try on our last two episodes, it’s time to round out the original Build Fighters run by rounding-up the many OVAs related to this corner of the franchise. We begin with Model Suit Gunpla Builders Beginning G, the 2010 OVA that first introduced the concept of a Gunpla Battle-based anime, and holds up surprisingly well on its own, with great animation and mecha designs and a whole lot of heart. Then there’s the 5 Battlogue episodes, providing quick bite stories set in the Build Fighters world, and apart from one memorable episode involving Bearguys getting crucified, there’s not much to talk about. Finally, Build Fighters Try gets a 30-minute sequel in Island Wars, and the original Build Fighters gets its own half-hour follow-up in GM’s Counterattack, which is an absolute delight. Discussing all of these and more makes for a very fun capper to our Build Fighters journey. Enjoy, and come back next time for the return of original Gundam creator Yoshiyuki Tomino to the franchise with Reconguista in G! Subscribe to The Weekly Stuff Podcast! Subscribe to our YouTube Channel! Follow Jonathan Lack on Twitter @JonathanLack  Follow Sean Chapman on Twitter @SeantheChapman  WeeklySuitGundam.Com http://weeklystuffpodcast.com

After the huge success of the original Gundam Build Fighters, Sunrise turned around and produced a sequel in just six months – Gundam Build Fighters Try, set 7 years after the original with a new cast of Gunpla battlers. It’s a divisive show in the Gundam fandom, and on this podcast! Jonathan loves it, though not without some reservations, and Sean is mostly unmoved by it, despite liking certain things quite a bit. It makes for an interesting and dynamic discussion, as we break down the ways the show doesn’t live up to its predecessor and fails to follow through on its own interesting ideas, while also celebrating what’s genuinely good here. We also give our thoughts on the recent announcement of both the first new mainline Gundam series since Iron-Blooded Orphans, The Witch from Mercury, and a new film by original Gundam character designer Yoshikazu Yasuhiko, Cucuruz Doan’s Island, both of which ensure the Weekly Suit Gundam train won’t be stopping anytime soon. Enjoy, and come back next week when we review all the Gundam Build Fighters OVAs: Model Suit Gunpla Builders Beginning G, Try Island Wars, GM’s Counterattack, and Battlogue! Subscribe to The Weekly Stuff Podcast! Subscribe to our YouTube Channel! Follow Jonathan Lack on Twitter @JonathanLack  Follow Sean Chapman on Twitter @SeantheChapman  WeeklySuitGundam.Com http://weeklystuffpodcast.com

With 2013’s Gundam Build Fighters, Gundam leaves the world of life-and-death warfare and science-fiction (mostly) behind, and instead settles in for a slice-of-life sports anime centered around the Gunpla plastic models that have long been one of the most beloved and popular parts of the franchise’s legacy. And in a wonderful surprise, it winds up being one of the franchise’s finest hours, a practically perfect 25-episode series chock full of great, vibrant characters, big laughs, awesome Gunpla designs, and truly rousing, get-on-your-feet-and-cheer caliber mobile suit duels. Whether you’re a Gundam novice or a grizzled veteran, Gundam Build Fighters has something for everyone. It’s as entertaining an anime as you’re likely to find, and maybe the most crowd-pleasing installment in the franchise’s stories history – and because of that, it’s a real treat to get to talk about here. Enjoy, and come back in two weeks for Gundam Build Fighters Try! Subscribe to The Weekly Stuff Podcast! Subscribe to our YouTube Channel! Follow Jonathan Lack on Twitter @JonathanLack  Follow Sean Chapman on Twitter @SeantheChapman  WeeklySuitGundam.Com http://weeklystuffpodcast.com

Almost two years ago, we took a little detour from Gundam to review Neon Genesis Evangelion upon its Netflix streaming debut, and promised that we’d come back to discuss Eva again if and when the 4-film Rebuild of Evangelion project was ever finished. And with the final film in Hideaki Anno’s lifelong passion project, Evangelion 3.0 + 1.0: Thrice Upon a Time, now streaming worldwide (alongside the first three films) on Amazon Prime, we’re keeping our word and then some, with our longest Weekly Suit Gundam episode to date! We discuss all four films in the Rebuild project, diving deep into how these masterpieces fully realize the magic that was always there in Evangelion, but for us at least was held beneath the surface by frustrating and limiting creative choices in the original series. These are great, beautifully told, stunningly animated productions that give Shinji, Asuka, Rei, Misato, and everyone else the fully realized character arcs they’ve always deserved, and ends in a place that feels like Evangelion has finally found the conclusion it was always searching for. And that’s more than enough to fill a super-sized podcast. Enjoy, and come back in two weeks for GUNDAM BUILD FIGHTERS! Subscribe to The Weekly Stuff Podcast! Subscribe to our YouTube Channel! Follow Jonathan Lack on Twitter @JonathanLack  Follow Sean Chapman on Twitter @SeantheChapman  WeeklySuitGundam.Com http://weeklystuffpodcast.com

It’s the end of an Age on today’s show as we finish reviewing Mobile Suit Gundam AGE, covering the 3rdand 4th arcs and episodes 29 through 49 of this severely underrated gem. This half of the show sees another jump to a new generation, as we join young Kio Asuno on his journey to learn the true nature of the Vegan and their world, reunite with his pirate father, and to bring his grandfather Flit back from the brink of his vengeful vendetta. It all builds to an outstanding conclusion, with a truly terrific set of final episodes that brings the series full circle in powerful fashion, and along the way we have all sorts of fun and interesting things to talk about, making for a great discussion about a Gundam series that deserves a much better reputation than it’s previously enjoyed. Enjoy, and come back in two weeks for a detour back to the world of Neon Genesis Evangelion as we review all 4 Rebuild of Evangelion movies! Subscribe to The Weekly Stuff Podcast! Subscribe to our YouTube Channel! Follow Jonathan Lack on Twitter @JonathanLack  Follow Sean Chapman on Twitter @SeantheChapman  WeeklySuitGundam.Com http://weeklystuffpodcast.com

Continuing on to the next full-length Gundam series, we reach Mobile Suit Gundam AGE, Sunrise’s 2011 collaboration with video game giant Level-5, whose lead creative Akihiro Hino conceived of and wrote this child-friendly Gundam series that spans 3 protagonists over 3 successive generations in a century-long space conflict. AGE did poorly upon its initial airing in Japan, and has suffered a quiet and often negative reputation in years since. But we don’t think that reputation is deserved – through its first two arcs, at least, AGE is an imperfect but extremely compelling show, with a really cool central narrative conceit, great characters, and some really interesting ideas that take Gundam to places it had never been before. At the very least, it’s a show worth giving a serious shot, and in this first part, covering Arcs 1 & 2 and episodes 1 through 28, we aim to do just that. Enjoy, and come back in two weeks for Part 2 of Mobile Suit Gundam AGE, with episodes 29 – 49! Subscribe to The Weekly Stuff Podcast! Subscribe to our YouTube Channel! Follow Jonathan Lack on Twitter @JonathanLack  Follow Sean Chapman on Twitter @SeantheChapman  WeeklySuitGundam.Com http://weeklystuffpodcast.com

Premiering worldwide on Netflix this week after its debut in Japanese theaters last month, Mobile Suit Gundam: Hathaway’s Flash is the first film in a planned trilogy adapting original Gundam creator Yoshiyuki Tomino’s trio of novels from 1989-1990, following the exploits of Hathaway Noa 12 years after the events of Char’s Counterattack. And it’s a terrific start to this new film series, offering some of the best animation, music, set pieces, and writing in the history of the franchise. From Tomino’s characteristically rich writing to the complex and nuanced vocal performances to how this story fits into the larger cycle of Tomino’s original Gundam saga, Hathaway’s Flash offers so many rich avenues for discussion, making for a podcast that’s an hour longer than the film itself, and could have gone on much longer still. Enjoy, and come back in two weeks for Part 1 of our Mobile Suit Gundam AGE review, where we’ll cover Episodes 1 – 28! Subscribe to The Weekly Stuff Podcast! Subscribe to our YouTube Channel! Follow Jonathan Lack on Twitter @JonathanLack  Follow Sean Chapman on Twitter @SeantheChapman  WeeklySuitGundam.Com http://weeklystuffpodcast.com

Two years ago today, Weekly Suit Gundam was born, and what a wild ride it’s been! Just as we did on its first anniversary, we’re using the show’s birthday to take stock of everything we’ve reviewed up to now. With a particular focus on the “Year Two” shows – namely G Saviour, 0080: War in the Pocket, 0083: Stardust Memory, The 08thMS Team, Gundam SEED, Gundam SEED Destiny, Gundam 00, and MS IGLOO – we rank the best mobile suits and best songs from the series we reviewed this year, and adjust our master rankings for those topics from last year’s anniversary show. For the main event, we each rank all 21 Gundam shows and movies we’ve reviewed these past two years, and then come together to create our complete, unified, official Weekly Suit Gundam series rankings thus far. With listener feedback, lots of reflections on the show’s second year, and a roadmap for year 3, today’s episode is a really fun trip down memory lane and a great start to the next, climactic phase of the series, as we inch closer to Gundam’s present day. Enjoy, and come back Monday, July 5thfor our review of Mobile Suit Gundam: Hathaway after it’s July 1st debut on Netflix! Subscribe to The Weekly Stuff Podcast! Subscribe to our YouTube Channel! Follow Jonathan Lack on Twitter @JonathanLack  Follow Sean Chapman on Twitter @SeantheChapman  WeeklySuitGundam.Com http://weeklystuffpodcast.com

This week, we have a quick little bonus episode for you, with an excerpt from this week’s Weekly Stuff Podcast, where we talked about two major pieces of Gundam news from the past few weeks: The announcement that Mobile Suit Gundam: Hathaway will be debuting worldwide on Netflix very soon, on July 1st, and the reveal of a brand new Gundam SEED movie coming from the original creative team. We knew both of these items would be of interest to listeners, so we thought we’d throw this excerpt in the podcast feed for those who don’t listen to the mothership show.  And just to clarify the schedule for the immediate future, our next episode of Weekly Suit Gundam will be on Thursday, June 24th, and it’ll be our 2nd Anniversary Spectacular episode, where we’ll be adding all the shows we reviewed this part year to our official ongoing rankings, and list some of our favorite songs and mobile suits and more. It’ll be a lot of fun. And then the next episode after that will be our review of the Hathaway movie, which will come out on Monday, July 5th. And after that, we’re moving on to Gundam AGE. So lots of good stuff to come – and we hope to see you there for all of it. Enjoy! Subscribe to The Weekly Stuff Podcast! Subscribe to our YouTube Channel! Follow Jonathan Lack on Twitter @JonathanLack  Follow Sean Chapman on Twitter @SeantheChapman  WeeklySuitGundam.Com http://weeklystuffpodcast.com

This time, we’re taking a detour into one of the most obscure corners of Gundam animation, with the 6-episode CGI OVA MS IGLOO and its 3-episode sequel series MS IGLOO 2: Gravity Well. Originally produced for the Bandai museum in Japan, the first series suffers from repetitive storytelling, thin plotting, and some of the worst 3D CGI animation the early 2000s had to offer, and on its own, there’s not a ton worth saying about it. But the sequel series, produced in 2008, isn’t just a huge step forward in the quality of the CGI production – it’s also a wonderfully unique, compellingly told set of ground-level war stories that make for essential viewing for anyone interested in the One-Year War period of Universal Century Gundam, and is a lot of fun to talk about. Enjoy, and come back in June for our 2-year anniversary podcast celebration! Subscribe to our YouTube Channel! Subscribe for free to 'The Weekly Stuff' in Apple Podcasts! Follow Jonathan Lack on Twitter! Follow Sean Chapman on Twitter!

Continuing from last week’s special bonus episode, we’ve got another extra podcast for you this week! After reviewing the first season of the anime in last week’s bonus episode, we’re back with another extra installment to review Demon Slayer ~Kimetsu no Yaiba~ The Movie: Mugen Train, the highest-grossing film in the history of Japan, and one that’s already making waves after its debut in North American theaters this weekend. It was both of our first trips back to a movie theater in over a year, since the start of the pandemic, and we couldn’t have picked a better film, because Mugen Train is an outstanding movie, not just as an ongoing part of the Kimetsu no Yaiba story, but on its own merits, and breaking it all down makes for one of the richest movie discussions we’ve ever had. Enjoy, and we’ll be back with regular episodes of Weekly Suit Gundam soon, starting with MS Igloo up next! Subscribe to The Weekly Stuff Podcast! Subscribe to our YouTube Channel! Follow Jonathan Lack on Twitter @JonathanLack  Follow Sean Chapman on Twitter @SeantheChapman  WeeklySuitGundam.Com http://weeklystuffpodcast.com

In this special BONUS episode, we’re bringing you an installment of the mothership show, The Weekly Stuff Podcast, where we’re talking all about Kimetsu no Yaiba, aka Demon Slayer, the most popular anime/manga franchise in Japan right now, and increasingly one of the most discussed around the world. With the record-breaking movie, Mugen Train, making its way to North American theaters next week, we go in-depth with the first season of the anime from Ufotable, based on the first 6 volumes of Koyoharu Gotouge’s best-selling manga. It’s a spectacular 26 episodes, one of the most perfect seasons of Shonen anime imaginable, featuring not just terrific storytelling, characters, and acting, but significant technical breakthroughs and breathtaking filmmaking that feel like they’re pushing the entire medium of anime forward. We thought this topic would be of interest to Gundam listeners, especially since we also touch on the news that Gundam is getting a live-action film from Legendary Pictures and Netflix! Jonathan also tells you all about the exciting things happening on The Weekly Stuff Podcast’s brand new YouTube channel, which you should definitely check out! Enjoy, and come back next week for another bonus episode with our review of Mugen Train! TIME CHART: Intro: 0:00:00 – 0:04:15 Weekly Stuff Intro: 0:04:15 – 0:19:56 Stuff: 0:19:56 – 0:35:08 News: 0:35:08 – 0:47:57 Kimetsu no Yaiba: 0:47:57 – 3:49:16 Subscribe to The Weekly Stuff Podcast! Subscribe to our YouTube Channel! Follow Jonathan Lack on Twitter @JonathanLack  Follow Sean Chapman on Twitter @SeantheChapman  WeeklySuitGundam.Com http://weeklystuffpodcast.com

With both seasons of Mobile Suit Gundam 00 reviewed, it’s time for the third and final piece of the 00 tapestry: Mobile Suit Gundam 00 the Movie: A Wakening of the Trailblazer, the 2010 feature-film follow-up/finale that brings a close to the world of Gundam 00 and introduces the world of Gundam to extraterrestrial life for the first time. It’s a wild, strange, defiantly singular movie, and one of the stranger corners of the Gundam universe – but also one of the most rewarding, especially when you break it down in a long-form conversation as we do here. Operating on the levels of symbolism, metaphor, and myth-making, A Wakening of the Trailblazer isn’t quite like any other piece of Gundam, and it isn’t quite like anything we’ve discussed before; but it’s got a lot of fascinating, rich ideas on its mind, some of the most startling imagery in the entire franchise, and brings the Gundam 00 saga to an unexpected but wholly satisfying close. Gundam 00 has been one of our favorite series to discuss so far, and the film is no exception. Enjoy, and come back next time for the CGI OVA series, MS Igloo! Follow Jonathan Lack on Twitter: https://twitter.com/JonathanLack Follow Sean Chapman on Twitter: https://twitter.com/SeanTheChapman Subscribe to Weekly Suit Gundam: https://anchor.fm/weeklysuitgundam Subscribe to The Weekly Stuff Podcast: http://www.weeklystuffpodcast.com Visit our website at http://weeklysuitgundam.com