AAA 798: Fall 2026 Selections!

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Welcome! This is the 798th episode of the Anime Addicts Anonymous podcast. My name is Caroline, and I'm terrified for my life! because I'm running the show today. It is new things. It is learning things. It is terrifying things because if this doesn't go well, well, at least it'll be entertaining for you guys, I guess.

but a little embarrassing for me. With me today, as my trusty designated driver, we have Mason. Hello, that's me. My stress response is not singing, but I think we learned something about Caroline today. But I'm doing well. I'm doing great. I'm doing fantastic. I was going to say singing is my stress response.

That's why I like musicals so much. It's really an intense, deep dive into these tumultuous emotions that people are going through. Seriously. Yeah. Nice. But yeah, thanks for joining us today. I'm trying to learn how to run this show so I could be of... Better help to our podcast. And next week, I will be alone with Raggedy Doctor who does not know how to run things. So hopefully this all goes well. And I remember everything I learned this week.

Hopefully so. But yeah, that will be an interesting show for sure. But today we will be just as interesting as always. We are typically live Sundays at 10 p.m. No, 10 a.m. E.D.T. But today we're here at five o'clock. Our used to be time because I was not going to be prepared for a morning show this week. I think next week might also be a little bit later too. Not this late, I don't think, but later morning, early afternoon, probably 11 perhaps. We'll see.

I know, we're just dancing all over the place. It's my fault. I'm sorry. My schedule is kind of wacky. You're just a happening girl in a happening world. Indeed. You can follow us on Twitter or X, on TikTok, on Instagram, on Facebook, on Discord at aaadiscord.com, where we have our anime club that I am a... Classic member of. We meet every other Wednesday at 9 p.m. ET. And October 8th is our next meeting. We're getting into some Halloween type stuff. This meeting will be discussing Ajin.

So that will be interesting for sure. And then the meeting after that, two weeks from then, we'll be having a little watch party. We'll be watching ghost stories. It'll be so much fun. That's a little while from now, though. The next meeting is at... I was on October 8th and we'll be discussing Adjin. But yeah, Mason, would you like to discuss what we have going on on the episode today?

Yeah, it's going to be a big doozy as it's that time of year again. Surprisingly, it always sneaks up on us, but we are doing our fall anime selection. So... We'll get into the specifics later, but we've got a lot to talk about. We're looking ahead into the next season, and we'll see what our horoscope says. Is it going to be good? Is it going to be bad? It might be bad.

But we'll see. We'll see what happens when we get there. No spoilers. And then a review of the summer Hikaru died, fitting with the end of the season. end of season one. Talking about a show that I'm very excited to talk about. And I also kind of spooky in some ways. So very, very topical in many ways, but. Yes, very indeed. So we got a lot to get to. Are we ready for the news then?

Let's do it. It's time for big news of the week. All right, I have a couple things here. One small one, the aforementioned The Summer Hikaru Died. It just got announced a second season will be on the way. I think they just announced this today, actually, so very, very recent news. news other than that no release date or anything like that but it will be continuing and that's a good thing and a secondary piece of news

Crunchyroll manga app will be launching in the US and Canada on October 9th for iOS and Android. It just announced on Thursday that'll be launching a manga app. And it'll be having a browser version as well on October 15th. It'll be an ad-free app and separate from the main Crunchyroll streaming service. Now, if this sounds kind of familiar, Crunchyroll did have a manga.

service before and it ended in december 2023 so hopefully this one sticks um that one i think came with your crunchyroll subscription like you paid for crunchyroll and they're like hey Read some manga for us. And you're like, okay. But now they're taking away the feature, bringing it back, and now making you pay for it separately. Yeah, yeah. Womp womp. I mean, it seems like it's... I think they might have had like a partnership with Kodansha or something before and that just fell apart.

And this one, it's just going to be different with a different partnership, maybe. And, like, just different rules and regulations, so therefore cannot be absolutely free with your membership. But they will have... Hundreds of titles, quote unquote, including One Piece, Jujutsu Kaisen, Diamonds of the Shadow Realm. Never heard of that before. Diamonds. My Dress Up Darling, The Summer Hikaru Died, Licorice Recoil, Delicious...

Dungeon, Sasaki Yamiano, Tsukimichi Moonlit Fantasy, and Maiden of the Dragon Falling for the Demon's Eyes. So, seems like they have quite a big... quite a few titles on there. For pre-existing subscribers to Crunchyroll's Ultimate Fan Subscription Tier, which is $15.99 a month, you will be able to use the service at no additional cost. So yay for you! The fan...

And mega fan tiers will also be able to get access to the app, but for an additional cost of $4 a month. And the fan tier totaling to $11.99. Oh wait, this is confusing. I just copy and paste it. I did not do a full in-depth read of it. And for the fan tier... Oh, geez, this is so confusing. Do you understand what they're trying to say here? Yeah, so essentially, if you're not the ultimate fan, this service will cost you an extra $4 a month. Or $3.50 if you're the mega fan.

But I don't see anything saying like, if you're just a manga reader, like you don't care about anime and you just want Crunchyroll manga, I don't see that as an option. So I don't know if you need to have... a Crenshaw typical account to get into this. Yeah. I wonder if there's like a $5 just manga reader tier, but I would think that if you're that person, you're already subscribed to a much better existing platform.

Yeah, maybe. We'll see. I mean, not ever get the logistics of running a multi-million dollar corporation like Crunchyroll is a little bit different than the podcast, but they can't be as stable and dependable as your good friends of AAA, which keep our bonus content the same price. For decades. Is it because we forgot to upgrade it? Maybe. But it's too late now and we're sticking with it. So, yeah. That's it for that. My news, big news of the week. Really, we knew it was coming.

It's really not news in the sense that it exists, but Jojo Bizarre Adventure Part 7, it's happening. It's coming out. It will be streaming on Netflix. And the big question for me is, is this going to be a weekly release or the batch release that they've been doing for past JoJo's, which has absolutely murdered it in terms of facilitating any sort of discourse or hype or discussion or longevity?

And really, if they go with the batch release, I think it's just kind of dooming the series again to kind of a lukewarm reaction as it did with part six. So hopefully... David Production and the rest of the crew get a good showing from Netflix this time. We did get a teaser trailer and honestly, it looks like...

Jojo for all the good and bad it is because they kind of always look stiff and kind of puppety. The horses do exist. They look fine. They're kind of CG, kind of hand-drawn depending on the shot. So honestly... This is one of the biggest manga adaptations. It's been in the works for forever. Fans have long awaited it. Now that it's here, my expectations are honestly a little touch low because...

I don't think Netflix has proven to be the right environment for the series, but I look forward to be proven wrong, hopefully. And we get that absolute banger of a everything. But as long as the OP is good, that might be enough to save part seven. So.

Jojo people unite. Caroline, are you up to date on your Jojos? No. I assume not. No worries then. Just know that you don't need to watch parts one through six to start here. I know that sounds ludicrous. It sounds even bizarre, you might say, but... You can start the wild ride with part seven if you're interested. So that's all I got for my big news. All right. And I think...

We'll leave it at that for the news and head into the main topic for today, our fall 2026 selections. Just to give people a little background, if they are unfamiliar with how we do things around here, we have each selected. some shows, I think about three shows each person. And we are going to talk about each one eventually as they come out, a few episodes usually per show. Through those few episodes, we are going to select the anime that will be given a full review when it's ready to go.

And so that all starts with today and us talking about what we have selected through a dice roll. Mason, I think you can explain that process a little better than I can. Yeah, so back in the day when we had three hosts, things were not as competitive. But right now we have eight hosts, which means a lot to go with. But essentially each host makes their list of the shows they want to watch the most to the least.

And we roll the dice. We roll a D20. And the hosts that get better rolls get more of their favorite shows selected. Folks like Raggedy, I think, got a D20. So he got all the shows at the top of his list. Folks like Pancake, let's just say she got a one. So she got not very many of the shows at the top of her list. But nonetheless, we put all 21 shows into a big blender.

And we spit out the results. So these are the 21 shows that we here on the podcast will be watching the first couple episodes on and determining, as Caroline said, are they worth a review or not? After we pass six of them. or less depending on how weak the season might be.

The last couple of review slots go out to a listener choice vote where you get a chance to make your voice heard and force us to watch either the best show that we missed out on or the worst show that you want to watch us suffer through.

or some other variation, however you want to vote. So that's how it goes. But now this is just us scouting ahead, looking at the trailers, looking at the synopsis, trying to make a judgment call on do we think this show might be good and give you a heads up on it.

And because there's only two of us, we're going to keep on trading shows and figuring out how we go. But we're going to start with number 21, aka the show that barely made the list, the one least excited we were to watch it. And what is that one, Caroline?

That would be a pick for me. And it is called Inexpressive Kashiwada and Expressive Ota. No, I think people can kind of guess on the type of show this is. Here's a synopsis. Ota disregards his single-digit test scores and searches for a new source of amusement. He is soon captivated by his classmate, Kashiwada, a mysterious student who consistently wears a blank face. Ota conspires to break her placid...

and through scares and mischievous schemes, though his tactics seem to backfire. He is known as a class clown and is constantly disciplined by his teacher. To no fault of his own, he lacks control of his emotions and facial expressions. Kashiwata, on the other hand, seems perpetually emotionless and unreadable. No one knows what she's thinking. They are complete opposites, but that will not stop a unique relationship from developing between them.

As they realize their feelings for each other, it raises an important question. Do opposites really attract? Yeah, it's just one of those shows. It might be cute. It might be a little bit fun. I'm not expecting, you know. to reinvent the wheel or anything. It just feels a bit one note. I don't think it's going to be much more than that.

Yeah, I can't see this one as turning a lot of heads. It kind of seems like we've seen stuff done to this kind before. It feels very Comey Can't Communicate-esque, but is likely not going to have that same... visual budget behind it to really be a standout or as memorable or have as good as characters. But that's judging a book completely by its cover and something that I discovered recently when I was watching all the trailers for these shows.

is that YouTube has a new feature where they will, when the sound is mostly in Japanese, they will try to dub it with AI. Oh, God. So I'm watching these trailers, and I've complained about dubs in the past, but these are some of the worst-sounding dubs I've ever heard. And I'm like, why would they make this? It's like...

oh my goodness, you are not making me feel very nice today. I'm like, what's going on? There's no way this is actually the show. So make sure if you're watching these trailers, you click on the little cog wheel and you change it from like, english dub attempt to japanese original because otherwise you'll be very confused like i was so uh this one it looks fine but it looks like something that will be easily forgettable but who knows maybe

We're just being a negative Nancy. I would like to add a bit of a spoiler here. That's the vibe for like 99% of the shows that we've picked. Yeah, it's a rough going season. Forgettable. In any other season, all of these would be bottom of the list picks. Yeah, I don't know what it is this year. You may think differently. I don't know. I really don't.

When we were talking about what season was it that we said was like the worst season because it was like off the heels of a really decent one. And then summer was really great. Was it spring or winter? That was not good. I think it was spring. Like that one had little. You know, the Midnights would call them good choices in our Discord. Just things that are niche, that kind of hit a good vibe, but are just not star-studded.

That's fine. None of these seem like that. So I'm hoping that I'm wrong and that there are some good picks. Otherwise, it's going to be a pretty boring review season. Anyway, you want to take it away for the next one? Yeah, I can, starting with one that I'm already going to question the pronunciation of, but it's C-Viz, The Sound of Heroes. This is spelled S-I hyphen V-I-S. And this...

is done by Studio Voln, known for Ushio and Torres, as well as taking over the recent entries in Blue Exorcist from A1 Pictures. This is an original story, very reminiscent of Symphogear. More so that than something like To Be Hero X, but it's like a fusion of superheroes and idols. And really, this is...

just kind of big space battles against CG entities where they're fighting with song and dance, and it feels like it's just there to sell whatever Sony Music Entertainment is trying to push. It will be on Crunchyroll, and it just... feels like one of those very anime animes you know you turn it on you see girls singing these big guns forming out of nowhere just very a lot of colorful entities on screen but really no

soul or character this trailer really did not do much to sell me on the fact that it will be anything other than just a big bombastic show and yeah see viz i I really don't know what to expect. I think this is going to be for people who just want some maybe cool visuals to go with their music. And that's about it. Yeah, maybe.

I believe that was Emery's pick. I wasn't necessarily going to say the names of people because I think people could guess on some of the ones later. But yeah, Lady Emery got that one. Especially because back in the day, we made it so... If you picked it, you had to watch it. But now we kind of all watch the shows as a collective. Yeah. So it helps share the blame in some ways. And it's really fun to be like, oh my goodness, I can't believe you picked this show and made me watch it.

If you want to know right now who picked what, you can access our show notes on one of our subscription tiers. Yeah, that's true. Up next, we have Alma-chan wants to be a family. Oh, boy. Okay, so here's the synopsis. Alma, an autonomous, self-learning robot with advanced combat abilities, was created by two genius scientists. Engie and Suzume, who developed ALMA's artificial intelligence and robotics, respectively.

After being mocked by their former acquaintances, the duo have worked together in order to show their world their true talents. Even though they cooperate in their work, the two scientists cannot seem to get along in their personal lives. However, despite their constant bickering... They develop a glint of mutual affection, feelings that do not go unnoticed by their adorable robotic creation. Now curious, Alma starts to question the true nature of her creative...

relationship. As she learns more about humanity and from those around her, Alma's bonds with Engie and Suzume only go stronger. So, looks like a found family. Like, you know. Surrogate daughter pushing together a couple. Is this just spy family with Robo on you? That's exactly what I was thinking. But I don't know. It could be cute. But it's... I don't know. It doesn't really seem anything all that exciting. Let's see who's doing this. Studio Flat, which is...

Yeah, a lot of banished from the heroes party stuff and not much else. So I don't know. Could be cute. It really comes down to how cute. elma is like how if she can tap into that same vein and uh it all depends on a lot of ai stuff yeah it all comes down to elma and how much of a family she wants to be Not the last show that we're going to talk about with AI-centric story points. Next one we can get to is...

called Wand Dance. This is done by Madhouse and Cyclone Graphics based on a manga, and it will be streaming on Disney Plus and Hulu, according to the website that I'm currently on. It follows this kid named... Kaboku, who is this shy, stuttering kid who starts high school, he's very self-conscious, and he's trying to not draw much attention to himself, just keep his head down, do your own thing, just...

Don't make a scene. And one day he sees this girl named Wanda dancing. Hence, Wan Dance. Wanda. Wan Dance. That's the name of the show. Oh my goodness. Big brain moment there. But he sees her dancing, and he's so inspired by her outgoingness, her lack of care about how people see her, that he is inspired to join the dance club.

And I'm like, oh, that could be kind of engaging and reads to me very much like a dress up darling meets welcome to the ballroom where this outgoing exuberant lady kind of. pulls up this shy demure boy by his bootstraps and lets him out into the world and breathe. And that was kind of unfair to Wandance because with those visual expectations in mind, I watched the trailer and... The second she opens her eyes, I was just blown away by how not good it looks.

The visuals range from stiff to plain and you have very fully CG dance sequences and I feel like this is a show for people who love watching those k-pop dance videos where you just see the whole crew going off and it's really sick if you're not already thrilled by the concept of that i don't know if there's much else to this show

Who knows how the writing and characters and all that will be? It could touch on finding yourself and your voice in high school. Yeah, yeah, we've seen that before. But visually, this did not give the strongest of impressions in its trailer. So once again, that's one dance. And I'll be watching it for sure because it was my pick. Here's the thing. I'm trying to find the next anime. I looked it up and I could only find something of that name from the 80s.

Yeah, so Raggedy went kind of off script with his D20, which is, you know, fair enough. I think there is a... So the original Cat's Eye... It's like a manga from many decades ago. And I think making it like an ONA of it that actually started airing. It's going to be 12 episodes long, but it's going to be in the ONA section.

So it might not be on the MyAnimeList typical thing. So Raggedy, like I said, went off the beaten path. But yeah, this is a new adaptation of the classic Cat's Eye manga that went on for... so many years back in the 80s so I think he's just going with nostalgia but I have not seen the original cat's eye anime from that time period so I have no idea if this will be good or not expect sexy

spy kind of thing going on. Well, I can't even find where it is on my anime list at all. So unless it's just an anime list or something, I cannot find it. 2025 maybe you put that at the end of it either way it doesn't matter that's that's what the show is well let me tell you this Right now, the 2025 remake has an average score of 50% on any list. So it's not off to a great start, it seems. Yeah, I can't find it on Mal. It's not on Mal. That's...

There we go. It's probably not going to make the cut anyway. We'll see if we can even fight on the line. If you do want to watch it, though, it is on Disney Plus and Hulu. So find it there. I think one thing we forgot to mention that I think people will be kind of surprised by if they are new around here is that we are not going to be discussing...

any anime past its second season. So if you're wondering where One Punch Man 3 is, where Spy Family 3 is, where My Hero Academia, the final season, is, where To Your Eternity Season 3 is... We will not be discussing that on the regular show. My Hero Academia probably will be discussed at some point on Shonen Showdown because that's like our spinoff show. Maybe Spy Family. I don't know if that counts. Actually, no, it does. It is.

actually shonen and perhaps one punch man even though it's seinen um it might come up at that point too well i feel like with uh what have we been watching for example like i would guess you're gonna stick with like to your eternity And stuff like that. People will be watching them. They're big name shows. We just figure, why bother reviewing them? At this point, people know about them, have formed their opinions on them, and don't need us.

three seasons deep being like well actually the show is kind of similar to seasons one and two like you get it by now unless it's a huge comeback show it's really not a need so that's why we do it but who knows We'll see what happens. We might be desperate enough this season where we need to reach into that bucket of retro stuff. Who knows? Why is it that the only good stuff are season threes and beyond? It's just so ridiculous.

I mean, who knows if those are even good shows. Moving on, let's go with the next show, Dusk Beyond the End of the World. This was a pancake pick. It's done by Studio PA Works. And this is kind of a big old word jumble salad of what's going on. You got action, romance, sci-fi, post-apocalyptic, AI, dystopian, and... Essentially, this guy takes a bullet for his girlfriend in the midst of like this AI civil unrest going on. And hundreds of years later, after being like.

cryogenically frozen to recover he wakes up in this unfamiliar world which is like a very isekai fantasy-esque medieval setting of huts and low-tech thing but there are still robots as evidenced by the fact that he bonds with this android who is an AI and kind of resembles his girlfriend. So now he has to navigate this technology-infused... post-apocalyptic low technology world like it's it feels like vivi for eyesong but in like a isekai-esque setting it's

It's just a lot. I've really got no pickup of how the show is going to play off besides just maybe perhaps too many ideas in too small of a package. And I think it'll just be... ambitious, but I think it might get too ahead of itself if I'm trying to read the tea leaves. But Dusk Beyond the End of the World, it might be interesting and we'll be watching it. So we'll see how that goes.

All right. Next up, it's Tojima Tanzaburo wants to be a masked writer. Or actually, I think the other translation is Tojima wants to be a common writer, which probably makes a little bit more sense. Tojima Tanzaburo has... Spent his entire life chasing a dream to become Kamen Rider. Now at 40, reality has nearly caught up to him, and he's on the verge of letting go his childhood fantasy. That is until he gets caught up in a crime wave led by the fake shock.

Gang, turning his longtime dream into something far more dangerous. What starts as a pretend hero's journey quickly becomes something real. The ultimate Kamen Rider fantasy is about to begin. Do you know anything about Kamen Rider? Because it's a familiar name. I don't know anything about it, though. It's your Super Sentai masked Japanese hero.

kind of the landmark figure of that it's no surprise andrew picked this one he's our expert in this field and that style really doesn't excite me and i don't know enough common writer to really get those references if there are there, but that's not to say that shows that lean into that archetype such as SSSS, Gridman, or Dynazanon couldn't still yield a great product. So...

Not my jam, not my style of music, but if it plays a good tune, I'm going to listen. I mean, the promo art kind of looks good. Like, a bit retro looking. But I haven't looked at the PV, so I don't know for sure. Yeah. Yeah. I don't know. I mean, it could be something fun. Yeah. Remains to be seen. What's next? Yeah.

Next up is, as obvious as that last pick was an Andrew pick, I think we all know what host picked this one, and that is Don't Touch Kotei Sashi, aka Hands Off, Sawa Ranade Kotei Sashi-kun. Essentially...

It tells the story of Kote Sashi, this kid who has outstanding skills as a masseuse, says the... introductory text and he aspires to be a sports doctor and get a scholarship in the medical field to help pay for his schooling he enters high school and works with the various high school girl athletes with their bodily problems and this is going to be the creepy, ecchy, comedy thing based on a manga where he's gonna go around, feel up their thighs, feel up their arms.

fill up their naughty bits and you're going to have your pick of your volleyball or soccer or basketball or swimming or ping pong girl. And it's just going to be, I don't know if it's even full length episodes. I think it's. My guess is going to be 12-minute episodes where each time he encounters a new girl, feels her out, figures her out, solves an issue, gets her hot and bothered, mostly bothered, and I...

I don't know. It's probably going to be an insta-fail kind of show. But that's how it goes sometimes. You know it. And I don't think this is even streaming anywhere legally at the current moment. So good luck watching that one. It looks icky. Yep. But who knows? It might be positive. No. Massages are a good time. No, it's not going to be positive. It's going to be icky. Yeah, probably. But we'll see. We'll see.

But, yeah. Anyway. Optimistic. Optimism, Caroline. We can do this. We can do this. I'm not optimistic. That's okay. Everything this season is either boring or gross or a third season we can't talk about. We'll find a way. We'll find an excuse. We'll find something. There's always something out there. Is it going to be this next one? Perhaps.

I am digging into my guilty pleasures, but even this one, I'm not sure if it's going to hit the note that I need it to. The name of this show is May I Ask for One Final Thing. It's a very strange title. But here's the synopsis. I'll let you guys figure out what my guilty pleasure is if you haven't figured it out already. In the middle of a ball, Scarlet's fiance, Kyle. suddenly calls off their engagement. She's falsely accused of being a bully and people unfairly call her a villainess.

The aristocrats and noble families all denounce her. For years, she had to put up with his abuse and idioc- idi- idiocy? Yeah, there we go. Idiocy, but she can't take any more of it. At her wit's end, she asks for one last favor. To give him a good fist in the face! So begins Scarlet's story of revenge against Kyle and his cronies.

A fantasy about an elegant yet rebellious fighter who doesn't let anyone take advantage of her. Now, I have to say, a lot of the synopsis are things that you have seen in a... like a dozen villainous anime just right off the bat in the last few years. However, one thing that makes this show stand out in the PB...

She just keeps on pummeling people in the face. She just keeps on punching, punching, punching. It's not just in the first scene where she asks for this one final punch. It is just constant pummeling. So... If there's anything to be gained from this, it's that. Yeah, someone watched a lot of villainous shows, kind of got tired of the premise, and was like, what can we do to spice it up? And someone's like, ah.

I just watched Baki. Let's have some fisticuffs. Sure. Let's do it. And I hope, honestly, we're asking for one thing here. Just a good show. And maybe it's a show that asks for one final thing. Yeah. Bit of a weird title. May I ask for one fine show? Yeah, one decent villainous show. And if she happens to punch the crap out of people, especially named Kyle, I'm not going to object. His name is Kyle!

Why would they do that? Yeah. I'm sorry to all the Kyles out there. It's really nothing personal. Yeah. Not completely. Are you saying? Why do you hesitate? Moving on. Is it personal to you? No. This title, speaking of titles that are...

Not quite the best. And this one is very Kingdom Hearts inspired in many ways. We have Disney Twisted Wonderland, the animation season one episode of Heartslable. Yeah, that's season one, and then it says episode of Hearts Libule. I don't know how to say it. I don't know how to pronounce it. I'm not going to even direct you how to find it because you can figure it out. I'm...

I'm very morbidly curious about this one, to be honest. So this is based on a Disney manga property. It's done by Studios Umeta Company and Graphic... graphinica it's a boys love magical academy sort of thing going on with a little bit of dabbling of reinventing

Disney properties and franchises and villains will be maybe making experiences. I don't know how much Disney you need to watch to watch this show. I'm expecting it to be semi-decent visually with Disney producing and hopefully that level of budget. I'm not expecting much. The teaser was very ornately designed characters but I didn't really get a sense of how good they actually moved. This is...

It's just such a weirdly striking presentation and having no idea what it's actually going to consist of. But I think if you just like the Magical Academy. genre this is a fair entry we'll see how it goes and of course because it's Disney it'll be on Disney Plus so you can watch it there if you have the same curiosities that I do but yeah Disney Twisted Wonderland the animation

Interesting. Get excited. All right. Next up is hero without a class who even needs skills. All right. Let's just get this over with. classes are given at the age of 10, and the presence or absence of skills greatly affects life. Errol, the son of Sword Princess Pharah, And Magic King Leon have been branded as, er, this kid, Errol, has been branded as classless. You can hear my, my...

My air quotes going on, right? But even without a job or skills, Errol believes he can persevere through effort. That's it. That's the synopsis Mel gives. Which is probably way...

More than we even need. That's all. You can fill in the rest, I bet. Because there's a cute girl in the art. No, there's one cute girl, one... less cute but probably older girl and a guy with black hair with a hand behind his head acting cool in the background you can know who he is and you know who these girls are and you know how he's going to act

Pretty much all the way through. And that's Hero Without a Class. It's a light novel, and it's going to do light novel things. I really wish we weren't so gosh darn negative about this. I'm trying to be positive, but like... Look at these shows. Look at what these shows are offering us. And it's hard to not feel a little bit like. These are the shows that are in people's top three this season.

our collective top threes. This is, this isn't our top three. This is what we get. This is what we get for having summer though. Summer was such a good season. Summer had so many bangers and like every show we passed. I'm like, yes. Yeah, I can dig it. I don't know. I don't know. We got spoiled. We got spoiled, Caroline, and now we're reaping what we sowed. Next up, we can keep these moving.

My Awkward Senpai, this is going to be good because it has adults working in the office. And that's usually something we ask for a lot in the what would we change about anime? Hey, more adults. More adults going through adult things and adult problems and adult turmoils and give us that perspective. And that's why the show is going to be good. The cons are that this is not going to be a good show. It's done by Studio L, who hasn't done anything decent.

watching the trailer these people very much feel like they just might as well be high schoolers like they just are high schoolers working and that's adult as they come these days if you are really into the office romance trope if you like the the whoa decoys ice guy and cool girl i have a crush at work like maybe this is worth checking out just for that but i don't know if it's going to capture the same level of gravitas and

personalities we had in those shows obviously we'll watch it we'll see how it goes i could be surprised we don't get a sense of how these things are actually written in a trailer so here's to being wrong but my awkward senpai Very low expectations off the bat. All right. Once again, I was having difficulties trying to find this next pick.

And of course, it has no information I didn't really give. But this anime is, I believe it's an OVA or ONA or whatever. Oh, and yeah, it's an O-N-A called Tatsuki Fujimoto 1726. And I just pulled it up on Mel. In the synopsis, it looks like a list of episode titles, maybe? Yeah, so this is Raggedy, once again, going off the script. So Tatsuko Fujimoto, you know him for doing Chainsaw Man.

and other great manga. And this is just a collection of his one shots and smaller works kind of episodically presented. Haven't really looked into. exactly how this adaptation will go down, if it's different studios, if it's different length episodes or what. But it's a peek into some of his lesser known works that are short and I'm very excited for it.

loved pretty much everything this guy has come out with so far. With a great adaptation, I don't see why this couldn't be any different. All right. Thank you for that background information. Otherwise, I'd be completely... Yeah, no worries. Raggedy made it hard for you. His next one and last one will be easier for you. But now we can move to this monster wants to eat me. And this is...

Essentially, the best way I can describe it is the summer Hikaru died just with Yuri. It's just girls who love each other and want to kiss each other and want to kind of destroy and consume and eat one another. But this is done by the Yuri Master Studio, Studio Lings, who did Yuri is My Job and the Yuri Yuri spinoff movies Omuruke. So essentially I just did Yuri more in this one little blurb than I have all year, and I think I've...

Met my quota for the year. It's cute girls who love each other getting into summer hijinks. There's probably mystical elements at play and various darkness with... murder or intent to kill, and I don't know. The monster wants to eat me. I don't know if that's just a sexual innuendo or deeper than that, but there you go. If you like Yuri, that's the show you gotta be watching. All right. Next up is Digimon Beat Break. Quote, unquote, E-Pulse.

which is generated by human thoughts and emotions, was used as the energy source for the AI support device, Sapotama. From the shadows of this remarkable development, terrifying monsters appear. Digimon are living beings that evolve by consuming e-pulse. Tomorrow, Tenma is drawn into an extraordinary experience after meeting Gekkomon, who...

suddenly appears from his sapotama. While living together with Kyo... I don't know who these people are. Kyo Sawashiro and other members of the bounty hunting team Golden Dawn... Tomorrow renews his resolve. What new future will be forged by humans and Digimon? Okay, another show that I really can't comment on because I've never seen Digimon.

Looks like it's being done by Toei Animation. I don't know if they usually do Digimon. They may or may not. Yeah, that's their thing. Yeah, okay. Other than that, I don't really have much info for this show. It's Digimon in 2025. I watched a bit of it as a kid. I had some of the action figures growing up. It definitely was just the not Pokemon version of my childhood.

Japanese experience of, you know, collecting cool monsters and stuff, but the movies are pretty dope. I'm down to check out a Digimon, see how it holds up. I... once again refer to andrew's expertise in this field to let me know any backstory i need but sure why not throw it on the pile so now we are getting into our top six shows of the season

Number six being Ramah one-half, 2024, second season. Yes, the thing coming out in 2025 is called 2024 because it's the second half. Don't ask questions. Listener, just watch. And honestly, at this point, it's the second season of a remake. You know what it is at this point. It's still Studio Mappa. It's still that Rumiko Takahashi's content and humor and style. If you liked it...

Good for you. I don't remember when we reviewed season one. Obviously, it was in 2024, I assume. Episode 770. We gave it a three and a half. People loved it. That's a good score. So, Rama one half. It's coming back. Watch it if you want to. That's really all there is at that point. All right. Next up is my number one pick for this season called Shabake. It is based on a novel.

It's produced by Aniplex, but done by Bandai. And here's the synopsis. It is the Edo period. Ichitaro, the young master of Nagasaki... Kia, one of the largest stores in Nihonbashi, has been in poor health since birth and is unable to go out. However, Ichitaro is always protected by demons. Diamonds!

Such as Shirasawa and Inugami who serve him. One night, Ichitaro goes out secretly and witnesses a murder. From that day on, bizarre murders begin to occur one after another in Edo. With the help of daemons, Ichitaro's... search for the culprit begins so if you uh if anybody has like looked up this show it looks a little funny because they are being very accurate to ridiculous hairdos of the Edo period um

And that sells me because then I know that they're not in this to make cute anime boys and cute anime girls and be silly and funny. And maybe there is a little bit of comedy to this. I don't know. But its genres are mystery, supernatural. And I think that could be a good sign. And it looks fairly decent. It's definitely one of the better shows this season from just on the outset.

And it should be decent. And that's all I ask. That's not what I should be asking for my number one pick of the season, but that's all I ask. Caroline, how dare you have the audacity to expect a modicum of hope this season. So, so privileged, expecting you might get maybe an okay show. You're right, Mason. Disgusting. You're right. I've been selfish. Well, we'll see how it goes. I have this high on my list, but I'm glad that you got it. Next up, we have the number four highest rated show.

Lady Emery coming in with Let's Play. And this one is interesting because it is based not on a manga, not on a light novel, not an original, but an Eisner-nominated and Amazon best-selling webcomic. This comes from an American. So we get a different flavor and style of story. Follows Sam Young, a developer of video games in LA who just published her first video game.

But a popular streamer comes online, gives it a scathing review. Everyone hates on it. Well, not everyone, just because of this jerkwad online. She's, you know, feeling down in the dumps. Turns out this jerkwad...

is her new neighbor. And, oh, I'm guessing romantic hijinks and comedy things will ensue. It's on the best studio OLM, who are kind of all over the place visually, and this kind of is no... exception kind of looks good in some shots it's kind of subpar in others it's on crunchyroll and this one honestly has a lingering of potential as well i would say it kind of has a nice

touch on like someone's perpetually online presence and how negativity online and reviews of one's own, you know, artistic works could probably impact you how navigating the. game industry or professional industry and kind of, I don't know, these characters feel a thousand times more adult and mature and going through life more than a show like My Awkward Senpai. Obviously...

We'll see how it actually is when it plays out. But this one, I'm definitely going to keep an eye on it. I think this might be okay. And I'm interested to see what happens. So let's play. Let's watch. All right.

Next up, we have a show that was being fought for a little bit between Otaku and Raggedy, but Otaku won out. It's Uma Musume, Cinderella Gray, part two. He lost out only in that Raggedy. one other show, but yeah. Right. I don't know anything about Uma Musume except Horse Girls. Uh, and this particular, like, part two on Mind and Millist does not have anything in this synopsis except for it's the part two of Cinderella Grey. Uh, but yeah. Oops. OBS disconnected. Awesome.

um carrying on yeah horse girls one has bad knees one is very confident the one with bad knees wants to race and the confident girl sees that and now his her confidence is shaken and Hopefully, girl with bad knees can do it. That is my assumption of what this show is about, from just skimming through the first part's synopsis.

Yeah, Uma Musume. It's more of the same. You already know what it is at this point. At least the show will look good. We know that much. The number two highest rated show and my most anticipated show on the list is... Yano-kun's Ordinary Days. This is done by studio Ajiodo. They've done A Sign of Affection, Kimono Jihen, Kakushi Goto, a bunch of good-looking shows. It's based on a manga. And this gives me...

big skipping low for vibes, which I loved. That was a great show. This follows an overanxious class representative who finds herself kind of worrying and carrying over. Yano, this boy who comes to school constantly covered in scratches and bruises and bumps. And it's just a romantic comedy between this anxious girl and a boy who's always injured. And it just looks so gosh darn adorable.

And I think if you're into these high school rom-coms like Skip and Lover, like Insomniacs after school, I think there might be a lot to like here. Obviously, it all comes down to the characters, how endearing they are, how... much they speak to your soul but yano kun's ordinary days it's got me it's got me hoping it's got me hoping that it's going to be better than ordinary i don't know if it will be

The optimism. I'm saving it all for a couple shows here on the back end. And they can't let me down, right? They can't let me down. Anyway. Right. Final show of the season. What do we got? Yeah, they could totally let you down. They're definitely going to let me down. All right, final show. Final show. This one is called Sanda. It is being... done by Science Saru. So obviously it looks interesting.

could look good as well. The story starts with Sanda, a second year middle school student getting attacked with a kitchen knife by his classmate Fuyu Mura. While Sanda couldn't make sense of the situation at first, he gradually becomes to believe... or gradually came to believe that Fuyumura's actions were just mean acts stemming off of the latter having a peculiar puberty phase. What the hell?

But that was all misunderstanding. Fuyamura is seriously questioning if Sanda is actually the descendant of a certain family. Doesn't make much sense to me, but hopefully it will when the show comes out. Yeah, I mean, it's very much like Santa and a super mixed expectations for me. On one hand, it's done by Paro Itagaki, the mangaka who did most famously Beastars. So it's going to be zany and wacky and hopefully fun.

done by Saiyan Saru, coming out with a bunch of great shows. But Saiyan Saru has not been the same Saiyan Saru that I've loved over these past couple years. Directed by the same guy who did Yuri Deco, which wasn't great. Obviously not all his fault, but that show looked like hot doo-doo. And while I'm hoping the best for Sonda and want it to be...

Awesome and eccentric and all the ways that I think both these creative forces could come together and make something great I'm reserving my hype and my hope and my optimism for this one But I think Sanda could be a ton of fun, especially with it kind of finishing its airing around the time of Christmas, which I think is where it's going to be headed towards, based on a finished manga, so they know exactly where the end is in sight, and I hope it's good. All right.

Well, I am now connected to my hotspot on my phone, so hopefully that works better. But just goes to show you that even though I haven't had a major issue with streaming in a long time. Now, you know, the issue is not fixed. It is just being hidden right now. Yes, that's really annoying. But hopefully now that I'm connected to my hotspot, it won't be doing that anymore. But.

That also means I don't think I can run this show nearly as much as you and Mitz do. No worries. No worries. Well, in good news, chat is saying Thug Nasty. They're not saying Thug Nasty. Thug Nasty in the chat is saying that the prologue episode for Dusk Beyond the End of the World, one of the earlier ones that Pancake picked, had a pretty good prologue episode and could be promising. So, hey.

Maybe, maybe our negativity is all misplaced. And here's to hoping it continues on that good streak. All right. Well, I think now it's time to be heading into the trivia question. And I added a little bit to our trivia question that you had written down. Yeah. So if you want to go ahead and tell people what it is. Yeah.

What was the original Hikaru's favorite food in the summer that Hikaru died? And bonus points, what is the current Hikaru's favorite food? We'll let you know the answer to both after the news break. Stick around. Thank you.

Welcome into the news break for episode 798. We have a not so surprising sequel news. We have a bit of a surprising sequel news. And we have news regarding a streaming service upping their subscription price. First of all, for fans, for haters, for people in the middle who just have a really bad sunk cost fallacy, Season 5 of The Rising of the Shield Hero has been announced.

and is paired with the announcement that a global game project for PC and smartphones will also be coming out. No news yet on the release date for either, but now you know. The next piece of news regards everyone's favorite 2024 angsty girl band anime, Girls Band Cry. While we've already known that the anime will be getting a two-film compilation, releasing in October and November respectively,

The official website announced that production on a brand new film has been greenlit. And I'm excited. I thought the show looked and sounded great, and I'm excited to see where a movie production budget gets it. You probably won't see it for quite some time, but hey, I can wait.

And finally, for those of you who still have Disney+, know that the monthly subscription price will be raising beginning in October. It will be a $2 price increase for the Basic tier, which is the one with ads, from $10 to $12 a month. while the ad-free tier is actually increasing $3, from $16 a month to $19. And for those who have it bundled with things like Hulu or ESPN, know that all of those will be increasing as well by $2 to $3, so check those news if that's important to you.

And with that pretty short news break, let's get back to the podcast. The Anime Addicts Anonymous Podcast presents How Does Chiaki Play the Good Cop? I don't care how important what you are saying is in real life, in anime, in any media. I don't care. how touching the music is, or how the character relations are being developed. If you have a shot...

While this discussion or this meaning is being delivered or is taking place, and in the foreground of this shot, I have a bikini girl's ass in my face. It doesn't matter. It doesn't matter. It stops mattering. So if you want to have your message, have your message. If you want to have your bikinis, have your bikinis. But bikinis trump.

She's still working on it. She really can't. You can't play good cop at all. Back to the show. All right. After that little long news break for the actual content that we had. But if it got cut out, then nobody knows what I'm talking about and nobody knows why I'm pissed off. No worries. All this will be edited. I messed up again. So your rage will be... Unfounded. No, it's fine. I can't imagine how next week is gonna go because I won't have you designated driving It's okay for now

We will focus on the In Show Weekly trivia question, which was, what was the original Hikaru's favorite food in the summer Hikaru died? And then for bonus points, what is the current Hikaru's favorite food? hikaroos was watermelon. And as was confirmed in the final episode, the current hikaroos food is not watermelon anymore. It is actually ice cream. Give yourself a pat on the back if you knew that one.

Yeah. I think that was a little bit tough, though. I think for people who've seen it, they'd know. If you know, you know. Yes, yes, yes. And with that, let's head into our mailbags, shall we? Let's do it. It's time for an almighty anime mailbag. Anime. Anime. Anime. M-M-Mailbag. If you would like to leave a mailbag, head on over to aapodcast.com and click on the button at the top to leave your question, thought, whatever you want. We'll read it and answer it on the show.

This week's mailbag comes to us from Grandpapa. Grandpapapa. Grandpapapa. I was talking to a friend about Cyril Ashley in Secrets of the Silent Witch. I was about to describe him as a sundere. but paused because I realized I didn't know if this was a term that could be used for men and boys. An internet search says it's a gender-neutral term, but is this how it's used? What do the addicts think? Caroline, can boys be soons?

They can absolutely be Soons. Though I think in Cyril's case, he's more of a coup d'ere, like maybe a little bit cool. Although, I don't know, I could be wrong. Because, you know, there are so many different d'eres, it's hard to keep track. But yeah, certainly there are male tsundere's, just not as many. And they possibly act a little bit differently than female tsundere's.

You have quite a few examples, but one example you did not name that I could at least think of was Bakugo from My Hero Academia. He's pretty soon-y. Yeah, he's got definitely elements of the soon. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But still, not... As often, but there are still some obvious examples, which you can take it away with. Yeah, examples I had was Psyche K's grandfather, Kyo from Fruits Basket, Vegeta from Dragon Ball Z, as well as Chika from Kono Oto Tamare. So, they exist.

Definitely not as common, but I think you could use it in polite conversation and no one would be like, oh, how dare you call him a tsundere? How dare you? So yeah, grandpa, you're good to go. Use it as you wish. Just be careful with it. You know, there's a lot of Dure types out there, as Caroline alluded to, and you don't want to miss Dure someone. You don't. You don't.

That's a bad deed and that's a grievous offense in an animated community. But that's enough about Darius. Let's move on to the big dog review. The summer that Hikaru died. You want to take it away?

All right. Summer of Hikaru Died is available for viewing on Netflix. It is about two best friends living in a rural Japanese village named Yoshiki and Hikaru. Growing up together, they were inseparable until the day Higri came back from the mountains and was no longer himself. Something has taken over his body. It's directed by Ryohei Takashita and done by studio Psy Games Pictures based on a manga. So, Mason, what were you expecting going into this?

This was my number one pick. Number one on my list for the summer 2025 selections. We did all those months ago. And I just kind of... felt like I was gonna vibe with it. I had never read the manga, but I had heard about it before, and it just seemed like something that had potential. After watching...

Episode one, when we did our impressions, I knew this was an instant pass for me. It felt so tastefully artistic, but silly enough with some great gags, the sound, the diegetic music, just the... juxtaposition between the world and the life within it and the decay that simultaneously went with it, it just felt so solid and I was so hyped for more and I'm glad that I finally got around to watching it and that I get to be on this review because I...

I'm excited. And that's how I felt going into this thing. Yeah. Yeah, I think I also had this at the top of my list for this season. It definitely looked like a good show. And I really liked... Summertime Rendering, which kind of has a similar type premise and a similar vibe, you know, similar genre. And Summertime Rendering was a fun show. It was not a great show. Did not stick the landing.

And I was ready for this one to stick the landing. So I was excited to get into it. And I'm a little disappointed that there are not that many people on this review. That's fine. That's fine. Well, you need them. Our opinions are the only ones that matter, Caroline. Us true blue anime fanatics, they don't need anyone's opinions. That's only us. You only need us, folks. But yeah, you're bringing up of Summertime Render.

Definitely is a good direct correlation in a lot of ways. Yeah. Mason, you want to take away for the spoiler-free recommendation? I would definitely recommend The Summer That Hikaru Died. Now, it's not... going to be quite as fun and full of action and fast in a lot of ways as Summertime rendered. This is a much slower show that is all about

interpersonal relationships, struggling with decisions, and the pendulum of choice going back and forth of should I, shouldn't I. There's a little more romantic expressions. It's a lot more... people just talking and while it shows signs of oh there's going to be a big detective thing or a big monster hunt or things that are really going to get your blood boiling it's really not about that so if you're coming expecting for that big popcorn munching summertime fest

This isn't going to deliver it, but I thought it was very well executed, extremely well directed, and just was an interesting ride, even though I didn't know where it was going up until the very end. As Caroline alluded to, season two did get announced.

This does kind of leave off on a good enough point where while it does leave a lot of questions unanswered, it's pretty satisfying. So I'd say, yeah, if you want to give it a shot, watch it now. It's a good time. It's a good show. What do you got? Yeah. Yeah, so I definitely would recommend this as well. I thought the first half was especially good because it allows for a lot of...

inner turmoil moments in the first half. It's sufficiently creepy. The music is good. It looks pretty good. The premise is interesting. There are a couple things that I didn't love. um that we can get into in the spoiler section but if you haven't seen it yet and you are considering it, this anime is spooky and eerie enough to be good for October. So I think this is the perfect time of year to get into it. Season two is announced. You know it's continuing.

So either you can wait for that to happen, which could take a year or two, or enjoy it for your spooky season viewing. And with that being said, I think we are ready to head into spoilers. Wouldn't you say, Mason? I'd say so. Spoilers are coming!

Oh my God. All right. Yeah. So this show is kind of interesting in that the vibes work both for, as you said, spooky time, October and summer. Like it is. Very much takes place in the summer. The watermelon, the fireworks, the things we often see in the summertime anime. But also just with enough spookiness and the decline of summer to...

feel very autumnal in so many ways. And it just strikes that balance very nicely, I thought. Is it like, I just kind of thought about it. I guess spooky time in Japan is more summer than fall. You don't have time to be scared when you're back in school. So summer is when you got to get all your fun out. And that's where all the scary stuff happens, I guess. I don't know. Well.

The entirety of this season occurs in the last month or so of school for them before summer starts. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, so this show, I think, started off very good. Kind of lost me along the middle, but definitely brought it together by the end. But one thing I did like is, as the show itself spoils in the title, Hikaru has died.

And our main character, Yoshiki, like, recognizes that he's been replaced by some other entity kind of puppeting his body. The very first conversation in episode one. Like... That easily could have been a promised Neverland-esque end of episode one ending reveal where everyone's like, oh, Hikaru. Oh, it's Hikaru. And at the very end, he's like, I died. It doesn't waste any time.

about making you solve a mystery or do this cat and mouse game. It's just, it invites you as the audience to be like, hey, there's a secret. This isn't Hikaru. and you have to help keep that secret so you're kind of like part of their little you know duo as this person like how do i feel about the fact that hikaru is not hikaru i haven't even met real hikaru and already i'm just like caught up in their little

deceit. And I thought that was really interesting. Yeah. Like you said earlier that it's not as fast as summertime rendering. But I kind of disagree with that because I think a lot that happens in the first few episodes of this show could have taken up the whole season. You know, like they they definitely like not in a bad way. They it's not like it feels.

too fast like where they're pacing it too much it's just that they're hitting a lot of the points that you want them to hit and they're hitting it without drawing it out or like making you you like take your time with it Because these are obvious things that would go through a person's mind the minute that they realize that their best friend is dead and possessed by something possibly dangerous.

And it's not linear, which makes it, that's what makes it really good, is that it's not a slow coming to terms with the truth of the matter. But it's... It's Yoshiki going back and forth between accepting. And then mourning and then having to act like nothing's wrong. And then seeing his best friend and he's almost his best friend, but not really. And then going back into acceptance and then fear and then mourning again.

it's like a cyclical thing for the first few episodes, which some people might think is... I feel like some people may think that it's too much, depending on your tastes. But for me... They kept it interesting with a large amount of symbolism and different situations that they find themselves in that makes him rethink his opinion on the matter.

And it's really interesting. Yeah. So for those who haven't seen it, there's essentially two concurrent things going on. One, as Caroline mentioned, is the Yoshiki, our main character. bangs over his eyes, kind of sullen and hidden from the world, trying to come to grips with the death of his friend, but his friend is still living in so many ways. And the show deals with those themes of living and the boundaries of yourself.

What makes you you? Is it your memories? Is it the fact that you've experienced these things? And how do you move on from someone who has died when they are right there with you and next to you and laughing with you? And that's a very interesting thing. As Caroline said, pendulums between this is a monster. I need to kill him and stab him through the heart and, you know, end this person's life, this creature's life. And I'm going to stay with this person because I still like.

who they are in so many ways and that's he kind of goes back and forth on what he does and has to figure it out but on the side thing they are as a collective trying to figure out

the mysterious happenings afflicting the town and the towns around them and curses, malevolent gods, evil spirits, that kind of thing. So there's really these two things that progress onwards. And really by the end of the season... we're kind of where we started like they are getting close to maybe figuring out these mysteries but they haven't got there and the hikaru hasn't died again and still is existing by being controlled by this creature with yoshiki

And they're kind of more committed to their friendship relationship more than ever. So it's a very unique duality of what's going on. And it's slow in that you don't make a lot of progress, but there's a lot of... inner emotional progress being made and that's where i think yeah there's no like physical representation of their progress but by a character standpoint there is progress so um

One thing that some people might pick up on in the first couple episodes is that there's a little bit of, you know, an insinuation going on here that Yoshiki and Hikaru... their relationship might be a little bit more than just friendship, or at least, like, in their minds, possibly. I was expecting them to just keep it vague like that, but to my surprise, they actually do kind of spell it out for you by the midpoint of the show.

which is good. I would say a lot of this show is very, not repetitive, but heavy-handed in how it expresses things. It makes sure that you understand. They are in a very sexual relationship in some ways. They feel this. Characters very much have to spell out how they are feeling. And it feels a little like, okay, I...

I'm not a child. I get the metaphors and references and all the good symbolism, but it doesn't hurt that you make sure people understand and follow along what's going on. But yeah, it's very boys love homoerotic. And in a very good way, like a very well-presented way. I would say. Yeah. The problem is, is that if they don't spell it out, then it is, it does feel like just boys love, like not boys love. I can't remember. I can't tell what the specific definitions are. Yeah.

Like, they're giving off that, you know, that insinuation, but they're not... Following through on it. They're still not in a relationship, kind of. It's one of those things where, at least with this, the outright say it. They're not just fooling around to get people like, ooh, ah, kind of thing. It's the kind of show where... They don't kiss or present love in a more typical way, but, like, you have him, like, feeling up the insides of him as he's like, I'm coming. Like, it's very...

That's where it lost me. That's where it got weird. I don't need him sticking his hand into his body, feeling around on his insides and making it a sexual thing. If you want to...

It's just new. It was unique. I like how they did it. It was interesting. It made you think about how it might be to be in that sort of... It was good. It was good. And how they treated... the quote-unquote disease of being homosexual in the small town and like kind of going against the grain like it just it felt very grounded and it was a relationship that wasn't oh let's make them

gay because that'll be cool like it's very vital to how they are how they treat each other how their story progresses like it was the way that it was and it didn't feel like tacked on or artificial it felt like their feelings were genuine

And we don't get that in a lot of relationships in anime. So for it to be so well done, on top of all the stellar directing, the symbolism that you mentioned from the red lights of... police cars or scanners or train crossing lights to the spiderweb cicadas and darters of nature like the the show was just rich in so many

ways that they presented the world. And so many anime looks good for episode one, but they just fall into the typical or blase. And I felt like every week or every episode, I should say. This anime just continued to try and gave a damn and presented engaging, well realized, well utilized ways of showing the world, whether it be use of shadow, whether it be use of POV, whether it be use of CG, which was...

You know, mostly decently done. And it just looked at all together. They had real world like camera usages in there in some of their trips. They changed the ED when he got his head lopped off. Like it did so many little things. I was just like, ah.

I enjoy watching this show, even if it got a little repetitive in the midsection of, oh, we gotta talk to this person about the mystery. Oh, we actually gotta talk to this person about the mystery. Actually, I gotta talk to my dad about the mystery. Like... Yeah. I don't know if I wanted more or less of that, but the presentation did enough to keep me engaged the whole time. Yeah, that actually reminded me of something I forgot to write down, is that...

There are some moments here that just scream, well, that was convenient. You know, like, oh, this man mentioned something, like Hikaru's grandpa. Like, he mentioned something about their lore, their family lore. And Hikaru responds with something, like a question mark. But he should...

He should definitely know what this means. He's been told about this. And then Grandpa is like, instead of acting a little strangely like, oh, hey, Gru, why are you acting like you don't know this? We literally tell you this all the time. He falls asleep while sitting.

while he's taking off his shoes after work. I'm like, that was convenient. And then the granddaddy of the conveniences is Hikaru's memory because he has a biological, like biographical, sorry, memory of... moments of Hikaru's life, of loving watermelon, of everything that he did with Yoshiki as kids, with all the names of his family members, all the names of his friends, etc.

And yet, he conveniently doesn't remember anything about the family lore. Conveniently doesn't remember anything about taking over Hikaru's body. Conveniently. He remembers some of these things eventually, when it's convenient.

And then some things he doesn't remember because that's not convenient. And then eventually he kind of does remember them. So it's obvious that the whole gaining back memories thing and the memories that he does remember are purely to... serve the plot and help it move along when they wanted to exactly like it's one of those things where yes they could make an argument like oh things tied to the mysticism might have been i don't know outside their purview of the memories but like

It'd be like if the murder weapon was in the backyard. They're like, oh, the shed. Oh, yeah, where I hid all the bodies. Oh, it was there the whole time. And I just forgot the most important thing about my family and everything that's been working to for the past couple generations. Oopsies.

Yeah, it's a little, like you said, convenient in a way that just makes the plot feel like a more drawn out mystery than what it needed to be. But at the end of the day, the show was not... about that mystery like it's there it's exciting i want to see where it goes i could see season two kind of picking up the the stakes as they have to actually figure out how to solve and deal with the mystery

When season two comes out, I'm definitely going to be watching it. But there were just enough moments, whether it be the waffling of Yoshiki or Hikaru's memory to solve the thing that we're... irritating me enough where i'm just like yeah this i could have done it a little bit better but it's more slight edits or notes more than oh this needs to completely be rewritten i think the show had a lot going for it yeah across the board like the mystery

is interesting like you'll learn that this village is quite has quite a dark history and then conveniently the the villages make a shape of a human body and they drop off human body pieces in the conveniently place locations of these villages. Like, the right hand goes where the right-handed village is and that kind of thing. Yeah. Sorry if that's a spoiler, but this is a spoiler section. Like, the monsters... Ew, it looks creepy. The monsters were all, like...

Head related because of where they were located on the map. I mean, I think the most viscerally gruesome thing I've probably ever seen depicted in. a very abstract way in anime, which is this guy who shows up nude to a high school, just like chants out and like chops his neck. That's brutal. Like kids are watching that. That's a real thing. Like, yeah. And that's not a ghost.

I totally forgot about that. No, it just happened. And they'd just kind of be like, oh yeah, that was messed up. That was weird? It was kind of weird on how quickly... It was like unaffected. Kids were kind of okay by it. I totally forgot about it. That's kind of an issue that you kind of forget about something major like that. So why did it happen? I mean...

The guy got possessed. It's all going back to monsters and stuff. But they do the horror much better than most shows. It doesn't feel like a scary show. I feel like... If you're not really into horror, you could watch it and be kind of okay. But it does do it just enough to be like, yeah, this was horror done about as well as you get in anime these days.

Like the one ghost when they're going through the forest with like the giraffe long neck and it's swinging back and forth as they're walking through the forest. It feels almost like copy pasta stories at times, but... They're just well animated and just short enough. They don't over say they're welcome. I think a lot of scary movies or anime or whatever, they want to keep the scary stuff on screen because that's what you're here for. But that's where you...

Or around that. If you see that scary giraffe looking monster for long enough. It doesn't sound creepy when I say it, but it is freaking creepy. It also helps with the sound effects, the editing, just the general presentation was razor sharp. impactful and it was good just a generally well done show good production just yeah just the opening for netflix's like like produced by netflix or whatever it says like that opening

thing, and there's nothing visually interesting about it, but the sound effects are so wet and gross and icky. It's like the sound that they would put when you're... Like when Yoshiki puts his hand through Hikaru's body and they make it so freaking gross, that's the sound that they kind of use. And they do it at the beginning of every episode. yes that's it that's it um so getting back to like the whole like town lore stuff like it's an interest it's interesting lore it's creepy it's dark

It was a bit confusing to me. That might just be a me thing. It just felt like I should be writing down notes like Yoshiki is throughout. And I don't know if that's a good thing to some people, but it didn't... It felt like I wasn't completely understanding what was going on and who they were talking to and why would they know this and how does one thought lead to the next thought kind of thing. I was kind of missing that.

And that's why I kind of don't love the second half as much as the first. It felt a little bit... The first felt consistently good. The second half felt a little bit more jagged.

Yeah, it doesn't help that the mystery, as you said, starts getting bigger. It starts going about all these towns that are interrelated and all these characters within the town that might have a role to play, but we really don't spend... a ton of time with them getting their stories getting their personalities they're all kind of on the fringe like they say oh there's a town off to the right that they found someone's arm but like

that's not really enough to cement it in my memory when they bring it up two episodes later. It feels all kind of abstract and disconnected. And maybe speaking Japanese would have gone a long way in helping to... nail down those concepts but it was a little bit getting ahead of itself yeah and um something that they weren't getting ahead of enough, in my opinion, was Tanaka, the investigator. And I had to look up his name, because literally, I don't...

I cannot remember his name, and that's the problem. Because he didn't feel like he was there enough to feel like a real memorable character, even though he's supposed to be kind of... I wouldn't say specifically an antagonist, but an antagonist to... What's his face? He grew. He's supposed to be the one trying to figure out what's going on. He's a possible threat.

And I think he becomes a much greater threat as it goes on. But he's barely there. And when he is there, they're talking about things you don't understand yet. And you're not around them enough to kind of piece it together yourself. So it's just forgettable. And I still don't know what his deal is. And he kind of disappears for episodes at a time.

So I feel like the mystery is going to take the forefront of this in season two. And I feel like Tanaka will kind of be the inciting factor for making that next step. But the issue is he was introduced like episode one. Like, he's brought in so early. And you're like, oh, this is the guy that's gonna be the wild card. How's he gonna react? This is plot B. This is the B plot. He's not the B plot. Like you said, they bring him in, and then...

He pops in every now and then. You're like, oh, yeah, the weird hamster toting detective guy is here. When is that going to happen? The high school chorus concert is the B plot. Yeah, exactly. So.

We have characters like Tanaka or Rie, the housewife who kind of has that spiritual detecting essence to her. She's barely there either. And they kind of dabble with them a bit. We get a little bit more with Rie, but it just feels like... Oh, right, right. The house... wife yes i missed i got her mixed up with his assistant never mind yeah no i actually i really liked her like even though she wasn't in a ton i can see her purpose and i'm glad that there's a character

Kind of bridging a gap for Yoshiki and Hikaru here in this story. Yeah, it just feels like we're bringing in these characters who might be antagonists and they haven't really fulfilled that role. So the only antagonists left we have are these.

creatures these spirits but they're really we haven't got any answers on them yet we just kind of know oh because Hikaru exists in this town he's kind of acting like a lightning rod bringing in these negative impurities into the world but that's really as far as we've gotten with it like we really need more of those answers to justify why this has all happened and while i

don't really need that answer to get the fulfillment from their relationship or the emotional side of things that the show did so well, it still is the big hanging thread that's like, okay, what about everything else going on? It just feels like I want to watch season two now, please. Thank you very much. Why is it not in front of my eyeballs right this second? So I don't know. It feels...

like a weird show to review because it's very vibe based. It looks great, but has so many hanging threads in the supernatural department that I'm kind of like, it wasn't a waste of time. I'm glad I watched it. Good ideas, good presentation, but I don't know how to feel. This should have been a two-core show. Yeah, I mean, it should have done the summertime render, but we know how that worked out. Not so great in the second half, so I want to know what the second half is like.

Yeah. I did not have enough time to in my note taking process to write down specific prose I had about the show. If I sound negative, it's just because it's far easier to remember the stuff you didn't like than the stuff that you did when it's a fairly decent show.

But believe me, it's a good show. And I probably do have more to say, but nothing that I wrote down that I can remember off the top of my head. Yeah, no worries. I mean, the show literally finished up today. So this was like a last second. We woke up the morning. I was watching it right before I started.

Started my show prep, like the hour before we started Hobby Addicts. And guess what? No huge spoilers, but the big finale episode, the one that's going to wrap up all these answers, really just consisted of two dudes talking. At the beach. Letting each other know how they feel.

Some super slick abstract animation when they fell in the water. A cute little adorable inflatable salamander. Like, that's what the big finale was. It felt very almost Shoshiman-esque of just, you're here for the discussion and dialogue. And the mystery is a nice bonus. But to me, this just didn't hit those Shoshiman highs. And I just wanted to see more characters. Like, I'm so torn on this show. Yeah. I want more of Asako.

And her ability, because she was so cool. And, like, she just, she could see ghosts or hear the ghosts or something. And that, these ghosts help, like, help her avoid danger. Like, they tell her when the train is coming, so she stops before the train. Like, that's cool. That could be a whole show. And then her ear gets busted, and I don't know if that means she can't.

I don't know if she can sense these things anymore. And I need to know the answer to that. Yeah, there's just there's a lot left to uncover. I feel like I'm going to give this show a touch of a lower score. than I might if this was a standalone. And I'll just need to wait to see how season two comes together. It feels almost in a lot of ways, not quite the same, but Rakugo Shinju. where season one ended with kind of a, not a wet blanket, but an ending that you're like, really?

That's how it ends. You wanted more from that. But then season two tells you like, oh, you thought season one was the ending? You dumb loser. That was all... I'm not going to spoil anything. All a ruse. Season two retroactively... ramped up season one's quality. Not that season one of this needs to be ramped up, but I think it could be. I feel like this is the show you just experienced. It's a lot of vibes, a lot of talking, but if you're down for that, there's a lot to like here, so.

I think I'm ready to score it. Yeah, me too. I think you should go first. Oof. Oof. Okay. I thought the show did a lot good. And just enough... that i wouldn't say was bad but enough that i'm like hesitant on really ramping it up i'm gonna give or the summer hikaru died three and a half hamsters

out of five but know that this could easily go up to a four with a season two that met the same quality and kind of closed up some of the ends so i'm giving it a very strong three and a half almost a four Yeah, I went a little bit back and forth on this because while I did love the first half, the second half just didn't hit the same highs that the first half did for me. However...

It was a very good show. Very interesting. Hit the spooky vibes in a way that anime have trouble doing. Absolutely. So I'm going to give this show four...

Giraffe-necked ghost swinging back and forth as he walked through the forest out of five. Good. I'm glad you gave it that because similar to you, the first definitely four episodes. I'm like, this is... easy for easy for material easy definitely no doubt about it and then as it went on it just was less of a four until the fact where i'm like i did so yeah we'll give this it'll average out to a four

Because we'll round up. And The Summer Hero, good show. Check it out, people. It's worth your time, worth the watch. And that's it. We did the episode. All right.

We made it to the end of this kind of sputtering boat that I am driving right now. We're here. We made it, though. We're in the promised land. Get us out of here. All right. If you'd like to follow us, go ahead on to Twitter, Facebook, Discord, and TikTok. And another reminder for our Discord, if you'd like to join... Some clubs, we have watch parties every Saturday. We have anime club every other Wednesday at 9 p.m. Eastern time. Next club is...

Oops, did not change that one on the notes. Whoopsie. Next club is October 8th, and we'll be discussing Audgen, which is also on Netflix. Also kind of spooky. Maybe a little bit weirder looking. It is spooky. That's why we chose it for Anime Club in October. The CGI might turn some people away. It's actually not bad. It's actually not bad. It looks alright.

It's been so long since I watched it, and it wasn't bad when I watched it. However, it has been a while. We've gotten some pretty decent CGI anime. I might have to change my mind about that. But believe it or not, it won the poll.

pretty decisively, if I might add. So, people wanted it. And people also wanted the review next week to be Hero X. uh that'll be with me and raggedy because nobody else wanted to review it i guess but honestly guys you're all missing out because it's a fucking good show and you can write that down and put it in your book because people say

It's not good, but it is good. So watch it and meet with us again next week. We don't know what time exactly. It won't be a regular time, that's for sure, because... Keep your eyes out on the social, on the YouTube, on the Twitch. We'll put it up there and hopefully you can join us live. It's always a good time when it doesn't crash.

It will probably most definitely crash again. Not going to lie. Anarchy. It is what it is. It is what it is. Oh, I remember. Yes, I have to play the song. Playing the song now. Ooh, lovely. There's the song. Should have started that a little while ago. That's our cue. Thanks for joining us. Please join us again next week. It's been a joy. And we'll see you guys later. Bye-bye. Bye-bye.