197 - Youkoso, Youkoso!! Let's get to the anime! Today we're covering five shows currently airing during the summer season or cour for you Otaku nerds out there. Lindsay has a quick update on "Reborn as a Vending Machine, I Now Wander the Dungeon", "The Girl I Like Forgot Her Glasses", "The Masterful Cat Is Depressed Again, Today", "Saint Cecilia and Pastor Lawrence", "Jujutsu Kaisen" season 2 and the movie and lastly "Sugar Apple Fairy".
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Let's Movie 135 - The Portable Door
135 - Welcome back to Let's Movie. This week we've found a movie flying under the radar in the form of The Portable Door! A movie based on a book that was bought up by Sky and MGM+. One of us loved it, one of us, not so much! And don't forget to vote in the poll.
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Review: Kali
By Dustin Cabeal
“Kali” is a title I read and sat on for review because it left a bittersweet taste in my mouth. Revenge stories aren’t supposed to have a happy ending, which is true of “Kali’s” ending, but they typically have a main character that you care for. Kali the character is never likable. There’s no sympathy for her plight and frankly the story moves too fast for you to feel anything other than violence. While I liked the comic, I found myself drawn to the visuals more than I was the story.
The story beings with Kali on a chain gang, that is instantly cooler because of her. The rest of the soldiers looked worn out and shitty but not Kali. She has a fucking knife sticking out of her shoulder, black leather chaps on her tight ass jeans and a rib cage skeleton shirt. She’s cool as ice as none of the kids say. For some reason, these captured prisoners of war are being interviewed to join the army that captured them. This is where Kali becomes unlikable as she rattles off a slew of exposition that stops being relevant to the story. The second she sees her former gang members. The ones that betrayed and left her for dead. Cue the beautiful violence.
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Let's Anime 196 - Dispenses Hot Water
196 - Youkoso, Youkoso!! On this episode, we're covering a total of four shows! Lindsay finally watches that infamous vending machine show, which means we all get to hear about "That Time I Was Reincarnated as a Vending Machine" or "Reincarnated as a Vending Machine in Another World"... none of those are quite right, but they're so close. It's actually "Reborn as a Vending Machine, I Now Wander the Dungeon," and she also covers "ZOM 100: Bucket List of the Dead." Meanwhile, Dustin watches a few more episodes of the painful series "Synduality Noir" and has a lengthy rant about Part 1 of "Baki Hanma" Season 2.
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Review: Cat Fight #1
By Dustin Cabeal
I wasn’t expecting a lot from “Cat Fight” when I started reading it. Based on the silly name, the extremely busy cover and the sheer number of actual cats illustrated, I began by lowering my expectations. Which was probably the right move considering it ended up impressing me in the end. I will say that the cat gimmick is heavy handed so if you can’t stomach what’s on the cover, then you will not make it through this first issue.
The story follows a thief as he’s lifting a very expensive ruby and being chased by some Italian police. He is in Venice after all. He then jets straight over to a fancy dinner party to hand off the jewel. We’re given the information that the fencer is his ex-girlfriend, the cops chasing him were not actually Italian or cops and that he comes from a rich family that’s he’s been kicked out of. It’s a lot of exposition and there was very little reason to inform the audience of the fake Italian cops. It seems likely that they’ll return to the story in some capacity or another, but otherwise it was just there to show that our main criminal character is smart. Not getting caught at all also shows us that they’re smart. A slew of cat themed thieves from DC and Marvel how shown us that much.
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Review: The Ribbon Queen #1 and 2
By Dustin Cabeal
One can only imagine what the toxic side of the comic fanbase describes this Garth Ennis story as when complaining that “he’s lost a step” or some such crap. I’m sure “woke” and “broke” are thrown around, but I have no personal interest in tracking down what people are saying about comics and stories. I’m here to put out my thoughts on the lure and see what I can reel back in. That and otherwise, I would spend this entire review fighting against some opinion I saw somewhere instead of reviewing the comic.
The Ribbon Queen is a socially aware story. It’s not unusual for Garth Ennis to write a story like this; it’s just that so many people have been lost in his ultra-violent stories that they forget the underlying connection to the world events at the time of the stories' release. It’s something that he’s done throughout his entire career, be it with mixed results of course. No one nails it 100% of the time. In the case of The Ribbon Queen, a great deal of time is spent including these real-world events and subjects that have populated the news, social media, and society at large for the past several years. The main problem being that it’s not attempting to answer or solve any of these problems/subjects; it’s just stating them and using them to dive into fantasy horror.
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Let's Movie 134 - Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem
134 - Welcome, welcome! Join Dustin and Justin as they run through the new TMNT movie from Seth Rogan and Nickelodeon Films. You'll want to watch the film first or if you have zero interest in ever seeing it, we might just convince you to give it a shot because much like the other TMNT movies this one is all about family... no wait, ninjas... no, it's about living with a suffocating parent that's disconnected from reality. Just kidding, it's an hour and a half origin story for Splinter!
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Review: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles vs. Street Fighter #1
By Dustin Cabeal
I fucking hate hero versus hero titles. The one and only time that it was enjoyable was DC vs Marvel (flip it, I don’t care), and even then, it was a mess of shit. That’s what made it charming – seeing the rage of the fanbases and concessions that each company had to make to keep certain characters powerful and protected. Otherwise, it’s pretty much the same dumb storyline of one or both sides of heroes being mistaken as villains and fighting each other, meanwhile the actual villains are agreeable, cordial, and already working with each other. I’ve lost track of how many of these franchises versus franchises IDW has made, but they're just to sell covers. Go ahead, ask how many covers they have for this first issue.
Thirty-one.
They cutely put “Collect them all” at the back of the issue before showing you thirty-one covers. Kudos to all the artists who got paid for the covers – get that money – but to the poor soul who felt they needed all the covers and spent God knows how many hundreds of dollars to get all the store exclusives… I wish you wouldn’t have. That purchase behavior is irresponsible and damaging to the industry as they focus on sales of covers rather than telling a story worth reading.
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Review: Venba
By Dustin Cabeal
"Venba" is perhaps one of the simplest games that I have ever played. Its controls and directions are so straightforward that anyone could pick up the controller and easily finish the short two-to-three-hour game. By no means is that a negative aspect of the game; there is an intentional reason for the straightforward controls and simplicity. That’s because it’s an equal part video game and interactive story. It’s just that both of those things are viewed as dirty words. “Interactive story” is not a game, some would say, while book enthusiasts would similarly say “Moving pictures” are not a book. I’m of the mindset that a good story is a good story, and I love to see new and interesting ways for stories to be told. At the end of the day, all forms of media are just stories being told, and the one that "Venba" is telling resonated with me long after I finished playing it.
I played it twice, and I won’t sugarcoat it; it was to unlock all the achievements. Frankly, it’s an easy 1,000 if you’re looking for them. But on that journey to complete it, I discovered that by selecting the opposite answers than I had picked the first time, I got a very different story. It was a better story than my first playthrough, which caught me off guard. I tend to pick the answers that align with my view of the world. So, to have these alternative answers presented and to answer "what if I had chosen differently," well, it was a marvelous discovery that made the replay feel fresh and different. Again, it was very unexpected and left me delighted.
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Review: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem
By Dustin Cabeal
As a lifelong fan of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, most people expect me to be tired of the franchise or, worse yet, hate every new iteration of the franchise. And while I have been that person for other franchises, I have found it to be a waste of energy and passion. There is, in fact, only one iteration of the TMNT that I have not enjoyed or consumed, and that was the terrible Michael Bay live-action films. There was no greater joy for me than the sequel succeeding in ending the live-action reboot. The one lasting effect that the Bay live-action films have had is the infusion of hip-hop into the franchise, or rather, a more mainstream approach to hip-hop/rap, having moved away from songs about the Turtles or Ninjas… for the most part.
To get it out of the way, I just love the Ninja Turtles. I love seeing what they’ll do with them, how they’ll tweak them and change them, and for some reason, it doesn't corrupt my childhood memories of the animated series and pretending to be Donatello with my three friends making out the rest of the Turtles. It was an amazing feeling to watch this new version with my sons and see them enjoy what’s already their second Ninja Turtle franchise.
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Let's Anime 195 - Suzume
195 - Youkoso, Youkoso!! This week we're covering a movie and it's Suzume. It's about a chair and a cat... I think a girl is involved and doors. Doors to the heart, the head, the motherfucking afterlife, or some shit. Anyway, we've been jamming out episodes during the summer, but we'll be going back to our actual schedule of bi-weekly going forward. Anyway, hope you watched the movie because we're going to spoil the hell out of it.
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Review: Strange Planet – S1E01 – The Flying Machine
By Dustin Cabeal
If you've been on any kind of social media or meme factory, then you've likely seen Nathan Pyle's relatable webcomic featuring blue Allenesque beings that overly explain and yet simplify all the same things we humans do.
The first episode's title and storyline highlight this contradiction: "The Flying Machine." Of course, it's an airplane, but that is Pyle's brilliance – he takes something like alcohol and refers to it as a "Mild Poison." He's factually correct, but does anyone want to call it that while consuming it? No, but it's hilarious in this setting. And I don't really know what to call that overly complicated explanation that's somehow more direct and simplified than the word itself. I'm sure there's a simpler term for it, but I'm going to have to stick with the longer explanation that my rambling self has created.
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Let's Movie 133 - Bullet Train
133 - Welcome, welcome to the return of Let's Movie! Join hosts Justin and Dustin as they put too much "ustin" into the movie Bullet Train! Is it new? No, did you already watch it on your Red Eye flight? Probably. But did you read the 500-page book right before watching the movie like Justin did? I doubt it. Let's set off some fireworks and howl like a wolf for the newest episode of Let's Movie!
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Let's Anime 194 - He's Not a Good Horse
194 - Youkoso, Youkoso!! We actually had so much fun last week that we recorded two episodes and delayed one for you today. Dustin tells a story that will make him look like a monster so just brace for that. As for shows and movies we cover Rent-A-Girl Friend, Teasing Master Takagi-san The Movie, My Happy Marriage, Helck and Saint Cecilia and Pastor Lawrence.
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Let's Anime 193 - I'm A Sprinter!
193 - Youkoso, Youkoso!! We have a jammed packed episode for you. We were so caught up we didn't know how much to cover and what to save. Lindsay has a great story about Anime in the wild, while Dustin bores you with some behind the scenes podcast talk. As for shows, we cover The Gene of AI, Sugar Apple Fairy, AYAKA and Masamune-kun's Revenge R.
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Review: Cyborg #1
By Dustin Cabeal
You might be wondering why I'm reviewing a three-month-old comic... maybe four months, I can never tell. Well, recently, Xbox gave away a subscription to the poorly named DC Infinite, and I decided to see what DC was up to. First and foremost, there is nothing "infinite" about the app. If you want to read new books, you'll need the Ultra upgrade, which allows you to read the digital version a month after its release. So, why am I reading the first issue of a comic that's likely already on its fourth issue? That's why, that's why.
Cyborg #1 follows a familiar formula for first-issue superhero comics starring long-established supporting characters now focused on as main characters. Don't get me wrong; I like Cyborg, and I understand that he's someone's favorite superhero, and that's great. Every character is someone's favorite, but not every character is meant to be a main character. It's something that's often forgotten in comics. Editors, I assume, or even corporate overlords, decide to highlight a character and try to "make them a star," I can imagine some suit saying. Will it work? I kind of doubt it with this iteration of Cyborg. He's a great supporting character, but when you move a supporting character to the main role, you open the question of "who supports the supporting character?"
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Summer First Episodes Part 2 - Did You Have Your Way With This Robot?
By Dustin Cabeal and Lindsay Mallard
192 - Youkoso, Youkoso!! Again, we recorded for five hours. Your guess is as good as mine on what ended up covered on this episode, but it was a lot of first episodes! What made your cut? What do you agree or disagree with us on this season? Did you watch the seven or so episodes we didn't watch? Also follow us on Threads because that's a thing no one can stop talking about.
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Let's Anime 191 - Summer First Episodes Part 1 - Sunshine in the Mirror
By Dustin Cabeal and Lindsay Mallard
191 - Youkoso, Youkoso!! Summer is here and it's hot as fuck! But that doesn't stop us from covering damn near every first episode that was released this season. I'm talking single digits, that's how many episodes we covered. We once again, split the episode in two so that you were have a tolerable listening experience, but in total we recorded for five hours so who knows what the hell we covered on this episode or the next. Listen and find out, and please for the love of anime tell us what you liked and didn't liked.
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Let's Anime 190 - Spring 2023 Wrap - Part 2 - Her Life Flashes Before His Eyes
Dustin Cabeal and Lindsay Mallard
Youkoso, Youkoso!! Here we go with part 2 of our Spring season wrap episode. I won't lie to you... we save our favorite shows for last and we spoil everything! Please, for the love of god, tell us what you watched, what you liked, what you didn't like and if you enjoy our terrible rating scale.
Covered on this half of the show: The Dangers in My Heart, Demon Slayer, Hell's Paradise, The Legendary Hero Is Dead, Mashle: Magic and Muscle (this might have been last episode), My Love Story With Yamada at Lvl: 999, Oshi no Ko and Tengoku Daimakyo aka Heavenly Delusion.
We'll see you with our summer first episodes and in ten more episodes Dustin and Lindsay switch responsibilities as we close in on our 200th episode.
Let's Anime 189 - Spring 2023 Wrap - Part 1 - Doubled Over On A Toilet
Dustin Cabeal and Lindsay Mallard
Youkoso, Youkoso!! We ended up ranting for almost five hours while wrapping up the shows we watched this spring that we thought it would be a little more bearable to listen to in to parts. We'll post the second part in a few days so that you have time to listen and not end up fast forwarding through everything.
This probably covered on this episode: The Café Terrace and It's Goddesses, I Got A Cheat Skill in Another World and Become Unrivaled in the Real World Too, My Home Hero, My One-Hit Kill Sister, Rokudo's Bad Girls, Summoned to Another World for a Second Time, Yuri Is My Job! KamiKatsu: Working for God in a Godless World.