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Episode 230: Our Next Episode (is that an Anime thing?) image

Episode 230: Our Next Episode (is that an Anime thing?)

Goblin Lore Podcast
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134 Plays4 months ago

Welcome back to the Goblin Lore Podcast and our return from our little break in June!! Today Alex and Taya return to the topic of Anime! Taya and Alex use Hobbes’ absence as an excuse to talk anime again, this time focusing on shows they’ve been watching recently. Next week we are planning to be back with Bloomburrow story!

We also finally have a Linktree with all of our discounts/resources

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As promised, we keep Mental Health Links available every episode. But For general Mental Health the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) has great resources for people struggling with mental health concerns as well as their families. We also want to draw attention to this article on stigma from NAMI's site.

If you’re thinking about suicide or just need someone to talk to right now, you can get support from any of the resources below.

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Opening and closing music by Wintergatan (@wintergatan). Logo art by Steven Raffael (@SteveRaffle)

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Transcript

Episode Introduction and Host Details

00:00:03
Speaker
a
00:00:09
Speaker
are
00:00:30
Speaker
Hello Podwalkers and welcome to ah another episode of Goblin Lore podcast. Today it is Alex and I. um Sadly Hobbs cannot make it ah due to a sick child which hope she feels better. um Sick children are always a thing when you're, they' especially when they're that young. I had to deal with that a lot. So Hobbs, hopefully we'll see you next week. Our plan for next week is to record ah an episode discussing the Bloomberg story. ah Hopefully you've all been enjoying that. The last episode was published today. And then they also have the YouTube ah readings of the stories. If you're interested in doing that, that's how I.
00:01:13
Speaker
ah listen to the last episode. But hey, it's already been almost a minute and I haven't even introduced myself. My name's Taya.

Anime Revisited: Legendary Creature Question

00:01:20
Speaker
Pronouns are she, her, they, them. Taya transcends on blue sky. And ah Alex, why don't you introduce yourself? Sure. Alex phoned on Twitter at mill underscore chronicler. My pronouns are he, him. All right. And today we're going to go back to a topic we discussed almost a year ago. It's something that Alex and I bring up a lot in. I'm confound Hobbs with, but we're going to have ah an ah anime discussion because we've got about a year's worth of anime since the last time we talked. And so if you don't like anime, you can tune out now. We're not going to ah feel bad about it or anything, but, no um, or maybe if you're interested, we have, we'll give you some ideas of things to look into. If, if some of the shows we talk about are sound interesting.
00:02:06
Speaker
Yeah, so anyways, the question of the week is going to be which anime character of any anime you'd want to see as a legendary creature. ah And I'm sure if you listen to the other anime episodes or listen to me talk about my custom deck, for me, that's Rimuru from Green Carnival is a Slime. ah You know, I want i wont i want ah him specifically in his demon lord form ah from um the end ah end of season season two, beginning a season in the season three, um where he's pretty powerful but hasn't gotten ridiculously broken powerful like he is at the end of the light novels. ah And I would really enjoy a card for Rimuru that
00:02:53
Speaker
Um, kind of does something to do with the city building aspect or the bringing people together aspect and, uh, you know, uh, a typo card or a Kindred card that works with multiple Kindred, uh, types at the same time. That's a good idea. That's a good idea. That's kind of thing. And this is, you know, like, like we, you and I have actually had an episode in the past where we talk about, uh, legendary creatures who get multiple cards. And it's, it's interesting. Cause one of the thoughts that you're talking about bringing people together and I was like, but could, could, could we be like a band group hug commander maybe?

Anime Season Highlights and 'Reincarnated as a Slime'

00:03:30
Speaker
Absolutely. um The deck that I made, the custom deck, I used Moraphon because I wanted a five color shape shifter commander because it feels appropriate. Yeah. ah And then I figured I just ah he could help whatever ah Kindred needed to help at the time. ah So but that deck was awful and it never won a game either. So I'm not saying it was a good way to build a deck completely based on flavor and not whether it's actually good or not. um
00:04:06
Speaker
But yeah, ah that's that's that's cool. i I have had in the back of my head, I've wanted to do something like that for a while, because when I was when i was a kid, um back way before Commander came up, the by we played group magic. My dad, his friends, my friends, like we played big group games. And one of the things that my dad, a friend of his, and I think myself, I think it was just the three of us did, was we all built decks around this same fantasy book series that we had read, which by the way, I was like 14 and far too young to be reading the Xanth books by Piers Anthony. But it was fun to have like the different interpretation all three of us had from from doing that, like pure flavored eggs.
00:04:52
Speaker
which which was a lot of fun. Someone had glacial chasm in the deck because it was perfect for like a feature of the land in this this fantasy world, even though it was like a really, really bad card for the deck to be playing. Oh yeah. I had no cohesion at all. Mine was a legendary creature's deck because of course that's pretty much the whole show is full of legendary, powerful creatures. and Yes. I mean, he literally gives everyone he meets a name. It was like part of the thing that he does Yes, so um it was legendary creatures, but none of them were synergistic together because I just picked the best creature for each character I could find. yeah Yep, that's that's great. I love that. And I don't know if you heard me me laughing a little bit at the beginning or maybe I was muted there, but I realized just a little little peek behind the listeners. like As we were kind of preparing and I wasn't quite ready, so I asked Hayef if she'd go for answer the question first.
00:05:48
Speaker
And it was like, do you have an answer? And you said, yeah, yeah, go ahead and I'll go first. And as soon as you said, I was like, why, why did that not, why didn't I know that of course I knew that I should have known that that would be your answer. It's so perfect. exactly You've talked about for the show you've talked about. I even figured you and I would be spending some time talking about the most recent season because that. is an anime that we both have been watching recently. Yeah, definitely. yeah So what what is ah now that you've stalled enough, what is your your choice? the the The one I came up with, ah because I've recently rewatched one of my favorite shows,
00:06:26
Speaker
um a Full Metal Alchemist, for for folks. our Full Metal Alchemist Brotherhood is really the the better of the two, though. i There's a lot of good stuff in Fullmetal Alchemist. it's It's a whole thing. When we talk about the anime later, I talk about the difference between the two shows, and I may have mentioned it earlier, but um one of the characters, one of my favorite characters in Brotherhood in particular, because um That that show gives more screen time to the side of the side characters within the story. But it's like Roy Mustang, even if I don't. Yeah, I don't know that I'd make a Roy Mustang deck necessarily, but I would love to have a Roy Mustang card.
00:07:08
Speaker
um and And red-white, I don't know what he'd do, but he is very, like in the military part of the order, he's like, I'm going to raise up the ranks so that I can take control of the country and correct a lot of the corruption and issues that are going on. So he has a lot of the white order there, but there's also a lot of red, not just because he uses fire. He is literally called the flame alchemist, but he also is very emotional. at times. like he he He controls it for a while, but there are moments where his emotion gets the better of him and the people around him because he has
00:07:46
Speaker
done the thing that some of the best leaders do is you surround yourself with people who know how to do stuff that you don't know how to do or surround yourself with people who make you better and can keep you in check. And he very specifically has someone in his group who is part of it. He even tells her part of her job is like, you support me. And then if if I go too far and I become someone bad, you need to take me out. That puts you close enough to take me out. ah There's there is a ah moment of tension there where his emotions get a... He almost goes too far. But I... Especially in that show, he is easily my favorite character. Though there's a lot of great characters inn in Brotherhood. Yeah, there are. That was a great series. I haven't watched it in several years. but um That was a good pick. Yeah, that that's that's my pick there. but
00:08:43
Speaker
All right, so if we want to want to get into talking about some anime. Yeah, sure. We might as well start with reincarnate as a slime since we've already discussed it quite a bit. um Season three started about three months ago now. It's been going on for quite a while. We've got a lot of new episodes. that um They already finished the Hinata Arc, and they've moved on to the Festival Arc, ah which were two major parts of the story at this point. I really like where they are at the Festival Arc right now because it's focusing a lot on the interpersonal connections and the city building. And even if you look at the change from the the opening and closing ah animations between the Hinata Arc and this arc,
00:09:33
Speaker
ah It's like super peaceful in the opening and then the closing anime is like, ah what if Shuna had her own slice of life show? Yes. oh god i love it's it's I love music in some of the the openings that that shows do, but there are very few closings that I will watch to the end and that's that's one that I've been watching to the end every episode. Yeah, it's really cute. Yeah. oh But the season has been great. It follows the light novels pretty much exactly. ah You know, I've i've been enjoying um getting to see some of my favorite characters get some more screen time, like Diablo. Diablo is probably my favorite character from the whole series, and he's gotten quite a bit of screen time. ah Yeah, lately. It's a character. It's fun watching what he does when Remer lets him off his leash for a little bit.
00:10:32
Speaker
Yeah. Oh, yeah. And and it's this is um and just for you know a

Exploring Isekai and Anime Trends

00:10:40
Speaker
very quick overview of of the show, this is in the isekai genre. If you're familiar with that term, basically, the main character is killed on Earth, is it is a human, is a person living in Japan, dies, and then is reincarnated into this fantasy world as a slime. That's what the show is called. That time I got reincarnated as a slime. um And of course, he reincarnates with a whole bunch of superpowers because it's in Isakai. Yeah, that's that's just how Isakai works. But one of the things I love about this, and and i've I've watched a bunch of Isakai, I'm not going to by any means try to to talk like an expert because I certainly am not super deeply immersed in in the genre, but I've enjoyed a number of Isakai over the last and decade or so when this has started to become really big, or at least that I've become really aware of this because it has its roots.
00:11:31
Speaker
Honestly, it has its roots in like portal fantasy that go back hundreds of years. There's actually talk to my friend Reinhardt, who's a writer. Yeah, and we talked about this. Yeah, you talked about it with Reinhardt. And we talked about it last time too. I think i don't think we mentioned a non isekai anime.

'Laid Back Camp' and Anime Influences

00:11:46
Speaker
I don't think we did. And so this the whole one of the reasons I love this one and this is I don't know if this is a newer wave thing or if it's just me noticing this in shows but as you say like the character comes into this world with a lot of power but this is one of a handful of shows that I've really liked with that sort of framework where that kind of isn't the point of it because some of the earlier ones that I was seeing like them being overpowered it just meant that they could be overpowered and they that power was then how they did things and so there was
00:12:20
Speaker
I had fun with some of them and some of them can still be a lot of fun, but they were less interesting from a narrative standpoint because there wasn't a lot of consequence necessary, a lot of chances. He just wants to build a peaceful place where he can have a happy life. That's like his whole goal. and and And part of that, and part of how he's doing that, is he very early on, like episode one, like literally, yeah he is on the episode two because yeah because the opposite one is that's right point but dora okay but he like he establishes a village of monsters.
00:12:52
Speaker
And so it's a slime with goblins and dire wolves and more monsters kind of as time goes on. And he builds this village where he's like, A, we're going to work together as opposed to compete and try to to fight each other. And B, like one of his main rules, he sets out in episode two when he takes, he he says he'll protect the goblins. He's like, we aren't going to fight humans. We're going to leave him alone. Or now, I mean, as he goes, he's actually trying to establish, become part of the society, establish relations with humans and work with them. But like a big thing was like, we're not going to just fight them because we're you, we're monsters and they're humans. Mm hmm. And so yeah like you why a group hug deck would be awesome. Yeah. Well, yeah. And and but that's ah like the, the whole type of, you know, looking at different, different kindred, different, all these different creature types is such a perfect
00:13:44
Speaker
thing for him too because that's that's what he does. He's bringing all these different peoples together because like you say ultimately he just wants ah a place where he can live peacefully. But it it then kind of becomes this, he gets, the you know, there's this escalating power level, but it's it's in pursuit of a goal that is harder to defend than just now I'm more, I can punch people harder. And I can go punch the other punchers. Like the whole reason he becomes a demon lord is because some of his people get killed and he finds out he can possibly bring them back from the dead if...
00:14:19
Speaker
ah He becomes a demon lord. Yeah, and yeah, it's it's so like his his pursuit of power is for an end. So A, it it feels, I think it it feels better, more more immersive. it At least for me, the story works better. and I just like it more, of that type of story, but also there's this thing where he has to defend this village and there are different ways for people to threaten this village that aren't just along the lines of, now I'm bigger than you and can hit harder.
00:14:51
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, like a lot of the a lot of the thing has to do with like, even financial play between the kingdoms and, yeah you know, um yeah and and trade routes and things are becoming like important, you know, and and all sorts of other political things that add more texture and add more layers to kind of the story. yeah Yeah, it's there's a reason it's my favorite anime. And I've been super happy with season three. I don't think we're gonna get to meet the other three primordial demons this season. I don't think they're gonna get that far, but I've been really excited when they bring them in because I love the demons all playing together. Yeah, and I was i was happy to see it it move beyond just the the one arc, because like there's another show I've been watching this season, which I get to in a little bit, that just got like the 12 or 13th episode season, and then and now it's done.
00:15:49
Speaker
and so yeah Yeah, I'm glad they don't have a break because the the first two seasons they had a season break between the first and second arc. And this one, they just went directly into the second arc. Yeah. Which is fun. And then as soon as the opening change, it's like, okay, cool. It's going to keep going for yeah like chunk of season. So, um, I realized now that we're talking about this, I forgot to watch it this weekend with everything going on. So I'm an episode behind, which is fun. Yeah. yeah so
00:16:21
Speaker
Yeah, I love this arc and I have not read any of the light novels. I have not read any of the accompanying literature. So I'm just experiencing the story for the first time going through the anime. And I really like this, this arc that they're going into now, like you say they, they ended one that had some more conflict, some more actual like action fighting, based on the factions who were involved. And now we're we're going into this arc where it's like, OK, now we're doing the political game. And he's he's inviting nations to come visit his village to so that he can try to make a good impression. And and some of this this stuff has been a lot of fun to watch. Yeah, I know a lot of people complain about the city building aspect of the show, but for me, that is what makes this show special. Yeah. Yeah, I agree for for me as well.
00:17:10
Speaker
So yeah, what what would your first one you want to discuss be? um So I can talk, I guess the the one I just alluded to, which was ah is another show that has pre-existed, but got another season, um this this last season that just ended. But Laid

Anime Recommendations and Favorites

00:17:25
Speaker
Back Camp is... God, I love this show so much. um Have I talked about this sort of you before you have talked about it before? um I think it might have gotten a brief message mentioned last time But we have we have definitely mentioned it on other episodes not just the enemy episode Yeah, so this in in the basic explanation and like a friend of mine was pressuring me for over a year to watch this show and I finally watched it and now I'm ahead of him because he kind of he never came back for for this most recent season, but this is
00:17:58
Speaker
the slice of life as hell it is it is this the most basic it is the the main characters are just ah a group of high schoolers who go camping and it's just about them having a camping club in their high school and going camping and it is just so lovely it's so nice and they go out like this season is and like time is progressing a little bit slowly so like this season is now because it was winter and the first two and so they were doing winter camping and there was stuff about that and like they went did new year's camping and things which actually there the new year's camping episode like inspired a thing i do in my real life now where the characters decided that they were going to go camping over new year's because it was a they had a break from school and so it was a good stretch of time they could go camping
00:18:50
Speaker
But part of what they did was they went out to a place because they're like, we're going to wake up and we're going to watch the first sunrise of the year. And being a nearly 40-year-old, even when I watched a couple of years ago, is a little younger. But still, I'm like, I don't like staying up till midnight on New Year's anymore. I like to go to bed at 10 or earlier because I get tired. That sounds like a great way to celebrate New Year's to me, to just kind of do the opposite. Go to bed early, wake up early, and watch the first sunrise. So I've done that two years in a row now with with my dad. I go and stay up with them up on Lake Superior, and then he has a little spot. We go park in front of the lake, and we watch the sunrise over the lake. ah It's been fairly cloudy the last two years, but it's been a good time. and so like that But it's that level of show. like This is the thing that they're doing.
00:19:41
Speaker
Uh, this season now spring is kind of coming into Japan. And so there's a whole big chunk of the season that basically it's just been about the cherry blossoms going out to see if the cherry blossoms. They're going to camping or characters are going out on their own but to take pictures before they go camping to view them. That was like the main push for this, this season. And it was, it was delightful. That's great. I'm glad you're enjoying it. I tried watching season one, but it wasn't. Um, it wasn't for me, but you know what, the people that it's for, it, it definitely hits that spot. Oh yeah. That's, that's totally fair. Like it's, it is not a show to watch if you're waiting for really anything. that They're going to spend 10 minutes setting up tents on some episodes. They're going to spend a bunch of time just like making basic camping provisions and the food looks really good.
00:20:36
Speaker
I hate camping. Just I want to say I hate camping so much. Oh my God. I and i like, I love in Minnesota. We have lots of great places to go camp. Washington is the same way. Washington is like hiking and camping are big things, especially hiking. And I'm like, if I want to experience nature, I'm going to do it from my Jeep. Yeah, no, i I closest I want to get is a cabin that is within 15 to 20 minutes of a grocery store, even if it's a small town has running water and electricity and yeah, the closest I want to get like we had a we had a cabin on ah on a lake in Wisconsin when I was growing up and that was perfect. I
00:21:20
Speaker
do not want to go out in the middle of the woods but I watch this show and I'm like damn camping could be fun man I want to do this and it's like no I hate this but this show makes me it makes it look so appealing like genuinely from I guess now that I think about it I read this summer and I didn't actually verify it but from from what I've read This show, increase because it it features like actual locations in Japan, and every location featured in the show like had a marked spike of visit of of tourism in real life. This show genuinely has gotten people to go out and and at least experience places. because a lot of and There's things where it's like, maybe I go to Japan sometime and I visit some of these places, but I don't camp there.
00:22:07
Speaker
but Man, every time I watch it, there's just a voice in the back of my head be like, man, camping would be great. And then you think about the reality of it. Yeah, and then I think about the reality of having to, like, A, get all the things, and then carry all the things, even if it's just a campsite we can drive to, that's still packing and unpacking and putting up a tent. Sleeping on the ground. Oh, yeah. Yeah, my back aches just thinking about it. ah Yep, but I'll just keep watching the show as soon as they make more of it. That's, sounds great. So I think the next one I'm going to actually not mention an isekai either. So this is going to be

In-depth Look at 'Free Run'

00:22:50
Speaker
unusual for me, I guess, because I'm kind of an isekai junkie, but um dungeon mesh or delicious and dungeon was ah wrapped up ah about a month ago, but that was an absolutely fantastic show on Netflix.
00:23:05
Speaker
That is like the most me show I have not yet watched. I need to watch that show. So I'm not going to go into the details or too much then, but the general idea is this broke adventuring group is trying to rescue there're um the the party leader's little sister that was eaten by a dragon and get to her before she's fully digested. um But they have no money for supplies or anything. So they go through the dungeon eating the monsters they kill along the way.
00:23:37
Speaker
And it's like almost like a cooking show. Like you mentioned, ah you mentioned that, uh, other universe restaurant or whatever last time. Yes. Uh, it's like, that I mean, they have the scenes of the food being cooked up and then they have the presentation picture with the title and everything. And just like that. Uh, but that's everything they make, they make from the monsters they kill. Yeah. Well, you it's just, it's got the, it's got the food anime thing, which I've just like fallen down a weird hole because there was restaurant to another world. Like you said, I talked about last time. I think there was, I must've talked about, um, my, in another, like cook a campfire cooking is overpowered in another, with my ability in the other world or something like that. That's another like major cooking isekai one, that one. Yeah. Um, yeah. the That was a.
00:24:30
Speaker
Another good one. But yeah, so the show is fantastic. It starts off mostly humorous and kind of being really funny, but it gets darker as it goes on and does kind of cover some pretty hard topics. ah But it's it was a really good show. I enjoyed it greatly. um I highly recommend people watching it.
00:24:54
Speaker
I know that like the the local queer books book comic book store that I go to has been like selling out of the manga every time they restock it. ah So it's kind of become super popular. ah But yeah, it's ah it's really a great show, and yeah, that is definitely a you show that you need to watch, Alex. Yeah, and and we can we can then, I guess, transition to my next one with another recommendation I got from you last time that I've watched that has become one of my favorite shows now, Free Red.
00:25:27
Speaker
Free Run was great, yeah. Yeah, Free Run was beyond Journey's End, I think is the subtitle. I burned through that whole show and I just recently got the first four volumes of the manga. Because it's like, I need more of this now. It's like, the from what I can tell from the descriptions of the manga, it's somewhere around it like seven is when it starts to get to material past the show and there's, I think, time to love it out now. So it's like, OK, I'm i' yeah, I was I was definitely pushing free run in the anime channel on the Discord because ah I I just fell for that show hard. Yeah. And you mentioned it. i Honestly, I think it was the last time we talked about anime the last episode, because I remember we were talking or maybe it was a different up episode, but, you know, yeah yeah, we might have talked about it because I don't think it was out last time we met last time we did an anime episode.
00:26:22
Speaker
It was, I remember when it was, it was when we were talking about outlaws of Thunder Junction, because I was talking about Rakdos, how much I enjoyed Rakdos and that set. A character that I'll be honest, I've never really cared for. I've never had an issue with him, but Arachdos has never been a character that like I enjoyed in in the fiction or anything. But I really liked him and in Outlaws of Thunder Junction because it's kind of the whole immortal storyline of, well, I live forever, but now like but that gets boring. I need to find something to do. And you recommended Freerun after that. because it it
00:26:58
Speaker
that is one of the things it examines too is this this idea of a character who the main character is an elf named Freyrin who is the very very first episode it starts right after they have finished the journey they have ended they have finished their 10-year quest the demon lord who has terrorized the land has been killed now the story that we're watching is what happens next And Freerin being an elf who has already lived for over a thousand years, it's like this 10 years was a blink of an eye. And so there's a lot of examination of that. What is it like to live this long when basically everyone you know doesn't? um And God, I love that joke. But then also- Yeah, it was so good. Oh, it's so good. And- A Freerin card would be pretty awesome too.
00:27:50
Speaker
Yes, a free win card would be awesome. But like this this this show like hit me hard. I don't know if I even mentioned this to you. I know I've talked to some folks about this. um My D and&D group um started, we finished a campaign like right at the end of last year and then we took a long break because our DM had some stuff going on. And so we just started playing again and in June within the last month or two, like my character is inspired by Freeride. Part of our setup for this campaign is he's like, okay, we all ah yeah all of the player characters are in this small village. He's like, based on the story that we're trying to tell, I want everyone to have been like born here, this is your home village. and I'm like, what if my character just moved here hundreds of years ago and has been here for a while? He's like, okay, we can make that work so that my my character basically
00:28:43
Speaker
finished an adventure, said, only in my version, it's a little more traumatic ending than theirs, said, I need to be somewhere else and just like planted, planted themselves somewhere. yeah the Kind of grew around this person, but I love this show. And I thank you so much for the recommendation. it's It's great. I highly recommend anybody watch it. The first half of the season I thought was stronger than the second half, but I still really enjoyed it. and ah Yeah, the so second half, one of the things that's so interesting about the show is the time scale, again, kind of fitting into the character, is so wild. Like the first, literally within the first episode, the first 20, 30 minute episode,
00:29:29
Speaker
80 years go by. yeah Because that's that is how it is for this character. And that is is such a cool um there's a there's a fancy fix you know There's a fancy writer term for it, probably. But I just think of it as like some of the Malthus appreciation things that that we have for stories. Like I love that idea that do you make the viewers sort of experience time in the same way by not really tracking it the same way characters would in other shows.
00:30:01
Speaker
And there's, there's a lot of big action that happens in some parts of the show, but also a lot of it is super mellow slice of life. You might, one episode might span a day, one episode might span 80 years. Like it just, the pace of it, each episode is the pace that it needs to be for the story. And it keeps flashing back to her journey with the, the hero's party because. That's part of what really, you know, the story is that she's lived this whole life, but this, you know, that short period of time for her 10 years really changed how she viewed the world in a lot of ways. And she didn't realize, it took her 80 years to realize that.

Personal Reflections on Anime Genres

00:30:43
Speaker
Yeah, because it like the the end of the first basically the end of the first episode is that 80 year span leads to the death of the hero and the rest of the group comes together and she realizes like it hits her. I could have spent more time getting to know him and I didn't. because of kind of my perception of time and how it's different for humans. yeah And I said we we discussed this before the show that we would, you know, at some point we want to do a um colors, magic colors of anime characters. And we we will do that in the future. We want to have more time to think about it. But I do have to say I'm pretty sure Freerin is absolutely is it because she wants to she wants to find all the spells and all the knowledge she can. But she just
00:31:29
Speaker
get so, you know, she gets so wrapped up in the moment. Yeah, in in the moments of that, which is a weird dichotomy. But yeah, with with how long like the time spans where she'll get like wrapped up in this moment, but then 10 years will go by and not she won't really register it. But, you know, that kind of, that still kind of tracks, because it's, it yeah, that's that's a great. that's great
00:32:04
Speaker
yeah but um So, yeah, the next one I am going to mention in Isekai now, because of course i I had to talk about more than one, but yeah one of the funniest animates I've seen in a while was ah um last season, ah the wrong way to use healing magic. Oh, I've heard of this. I have not watched it it. It ended up being really good. This is one where um my partner and I watch an anime review show where they go through all the new animes at the beginning of the season. And initially the reviewer said that, you know, they base it on like watching the first two two or three episodes of the anime. ah And then they
00:32:44
Speaker
They kind of gave it a lower score or just said it's gonna be another run of the mill isekai and then they actually the the reviewer at the end of the season actually released like an apology episode for underestimating how good that show was. And the general the the general thing about it is. um This guy accidentally gets Issachied with two, like the top two people in his class, but he's just a nobody. And he just was too close to the summoning portal when it went off. ah And he doesn't have the superpowers that the other heroes do, but he turned out to have an aptitude for healing magic.
00:33:27
Speaker
And there's not many healers in the kingdom and the person who's in charge of the healers is basically the psychotic lady um who ah pretty much works people to death and then has them use their healing magic to overcome their weaknesses and stuff. So she um does like super hardcore training on them. ah And then in order to for them to make use of their healing magic, like making them run a whole day and just heal themselves to keep running. and other things like that. So she she's she's kind of nuts, but ah she's a really fun character too. um And she obviously really cares for the people working around her, but she's doing it because she needs you know someone to be able to be strong and heal people on the battlefield. And so she's training them to basically run so you can outrun your enemies on the battlefield and be able to lift things so you can carry wounded people. And she's she's doing all these super harsh trainings, but they all have purposes behind them.
00:34:30
Speaker
and And then that the whole premise really is that just you're, you you know, he's a healer, the main character who is using his magic completely unlike any like healing you would usually see in an anime or fantasy setting where it's used offensively or, ah you know, almost like a In one point it is used offensively, ah but it was a really funny show and and I definitely recommend it. It had a great sense of humor ah and it was ah it was a very enjoyable watch. I've watched it with a few people now where I've been like, you got to watch this and we've sat and watched it together. So I've seen it. I've seen the the one season a couple of times at this point. Nice.
00:35:15
Speaker
That's cool. that's That's on my list now. and so um Yeah, I guess my next one is another slice of life because that's kind of that's the thing I do a lot of. um This is one that just again, just Well, it didn't get any season, but it has a movie that I missed in the theaters, but I'm sure it'll show up somewhere else so I can watch it. So I have recently rewatched the whole show. Haikyuu, have you watched any Haikyuu? I have not watched Haikyuu. I'm not familiar with it. I don't know. This is ah the high school volleyball anime. Okay, yeah, but that's not my thing. Sports animes are not my thing at all. Totally fair. i There are not
00:35:59
Speaker
i it is I don't know why i know why I started watching it. That is normally not a thing that I watch much of. um I started watching it because... of some AMV or somebody just took, there's some famous, I don't even know where the audio came from, but some like joke sort of comedian thing talking, I think it was about soccer or someone just kept hi getting hit in the face. And this this whole thing where the announcers, there's this some whole bit where the announcers keep talking about this this one guy continuously getting hit in the face and it just like winning the game for his team. um And then one of their lines was something like,
00:36:33
Speaker
When, you know, when the apocalypse comes, I want to live in a bunker made out of that man's face, like this sort of little announcer, ridiculousness. Well, someone took that and then just put it to like a bunch of clips of the show, Haikyuu, because that sort of happens to the main character a little bit too, where he just gets hit in the face a bunch and it helps his team out. But so I'm like, okay, that's really goofy. I want to just try watching this show. I just fell in love with it. Again, it's this slice of life sort of thing. Now this is a sports anime, so they're They're competing, they're they're working hard and training and fighting. and But um somebody on Twitter, and i I encapsulated this really well for me. like One of the things they're like, one and I think they were talking about Haikyuu, but they said sort of sports anime in general, is something that they love because it has it still has a lot of the same like action over-the-top fighting ah things as tropes and and things as some fighting anime.
00:37:29
Speaker
But like no one's really being hurt because they're just playing a sport. um Some of them are way more over the top than this one. and This one isn't super over the top, though it certainly some. It's anime. But it's also oddly taught me a lot about volleyball. like the actual rules of volleyball because I didn't understand like almost any of it and what the different roles are and for some reason I just like learning random things and so that was a fun. um I don't know I just really and i' I've been tempted based on the how much I enjoy this show to try to go watch other sports anime because there's several that I've heard are really good
00:38:09
Speaker
become recommended, especially for people who enjoy, like, Haikyuu. But there's just this little, like, I get this this little niggle in the back of my head that, like, yeah, but what if I don't like those? What if it's not as special? Because, like, this is so special for me because it's so kind of out of nowhere. But some of it's the characters. And I'm, like, sure they might have some of the same themes and things, but they won't have these same characters who I now love somehow. I mean, I guess that's any story, any any medium that you know, fiction that you get into, you can you can fall in love with these

Unique Isekai Storylines

00:38:42
Speaker
characters. But I don't know. I have really enjoyed this show. And there's two movies they're doing that finish the story of the manga then. um And I can't wait to watch the one that just came out. And there's the the the other one is in the next year or two is being worked on right now. Thanks. Yeah.
00:39:05
Speaker
um
00:39:07
Speaker
I guess that would be one way to get me into sports anime if I saw something like that, but I don't know if I'd stick around. Um, so I'm going to go with yet another Isakai, but this one takes a different approach than most of them do. This is another super long Isakai title. It's as a reincarnated, uh, aristocrat, I'll use my appraisal skill to rise in the world long title. Um, basically tells you everything about the show or the. the The reborn, you know reincarnated a hero character is just a kid in most of it. ah
00:39:42
Speaker
And he he isn't super special himself. He doesn't have any super abilities or anything, but he has an appraisal skill, which lets him look at other people's stats. So that lets him find like people that are completely overlooked by others because of their race or their being street urchins and stuff and see that they have a lot of potential and recruit them. So he has no strength, but he surrounds himself with a bunch of super powerful people. Nice. and uh and it's basically about uh there's a lot of politics in this one um it's uh kind of dealing with a lot of this one does not have a dub so i i watched this when i was on my trip because uh i can't watch sub anime with my partner uh but i really enjoyed this one because it was a
00:40:36
Speaker
different take at the Isekai where the main character does not have the superpowers. They just have one unique, your one unique ability that lets them find people that are powerful. Yeah, I like that. That's similar, but different from the the one I mentioned earlier about the like campfire cooking is overpowered with my other. That yeah that one ends with this person who is really his only ability is he has access to Amazon. Yeah, he has access to Amazon, essentially, yeah in this fantasy world. But that allows that attracts the attention of a demigod or something. yeah He's like, basically yeah I'm so familiar now. And now he has this like force of nature that's just... That has to feed 50 pounds of meat to everything. Yes. And so he has... like There's this... Nothing can really hurt him.
00:41:31
Speaker
physically, but he has to like navigate the world with this incredibly overpowered like force of nature that sometimes just wants to go hunt dragons. Nothing can hurt him physically because of the demigod wants to protect his food source. Yes, but it's like, but he has the shield on him. Yeah. How to navigate the, you know, he goes into a city and if they, the guards are holding things up, it's like, should I, should I destroy the city? It's like, no, stop, stop calm down. Yeah. You got to mention that the demigod is a dog. It is Fenrir, a bull wolf. Uh, but, uh, and he definitely acts like it. Uh, yeah. Yeah. The, uh,
00:42:12
Speaker
Yeah, it is ah it was a really fun show too. I enjoyed it. He eventually gets the attention of the actual gods who also want them to start sending him candy and stuff like that.
00:42:28
Speaker
that he's the only person who can provide them in this world because of his weird random skill that is not good for adventuring, like good for going out and slaying monsters. And he was happy to get out of the, yeah you know, when he got summoned in a praise, then they said, oh, you're useless. He was like, good, I don't have to. He's like, cool, I can live a nice quiet life in the countryside. Like that was his goal, yeah did not happen.
00:42:53
Speaker
Yeah, that's that's cool. So that yeah my appraisal skill, you have the rest of the title here. Oh, as a reincarnated aristocrat, I'll use my appraisal skill to rise in the world. Rise in the world, okay. um um Yeah. It had some cute animation too, but ah that was... um I enjoy the Isekai's where the character isn't super powerful. um Like, cotton you know, just to mention, also, Konosuba got a new season this year where, I don't know if you've watched Konosuba before, but the the main character it is Isekai and is practically useless for anything. ah You may have mentioned that in our last

Deep Dive into 'Fullmetal Alchemist'

00:43:39
Speaker
episode. I think I did mention it, yeah. The new season, ah it's like the first new season in five years, so it's kind of an unusual case where an anime got picked up again after it hadn't gotten us
00:43:51
Speaker
season for a while. Yeah, ah that's cool. I think the season's been a little bit weaker than the previous two, but it's still an enjoyable show. And that's cool. Yeah, yeah I'm pretty sure I didn't mention it. But that that is a season three is running or just wrapped up. Okay. I guess one of the other last shows at least that I've been watching recently, um it's in a similar place. this it's It's almost like we planned it, but of course,
00:44:24
Speaker
for goblins, we don't plan all that much. um Similar to Konosuba, Sound Euphonium is a is another slice of life that I've been watching. um This is a show about a high school band this time. um But it also got a new season recently. And the last one was quite a while ago. I can't remember exactly, but at least, I'd say at least four or five years. And so now I actually haven't watched any of the new season because it's been so long. So I'm rewatching the the previous two seasons. So I'm still in the in the middle of that. But ah again, it's just another nice slice of life people.
00:45:08
Speaker
going through life and finding things they enjoy and having character arcs and stuff like that, that's just nice and calm and not terribly stressful, which is what I kind of need right now, and especially in the last few years. Yeah. ah That is some good anime. I am looking for the title of one right now that I want to close out. the Um, okay. If you need to look, I can yeah just you want briefly hit, I guess I can talk a little bit about Full Metal Alchemist that, um, yeah, you mentioned that go for it. So it's, it's a show from quite a while ago now, um, that is, is hi brotherhood has probably been my number one on and off for quite a while. But the first show just as a, as a quick explanation for, for folks who may not be familiar, um,
00:46:00
Speaker
It's a roughly European in sort of just posts around industrial revolution. There's trains, there's some steam tech. um And but there's like alchemy is just this sort of magic that sort of exists But it's it's alchemy a little bit in the old like earth's context of trying to make gold from iron It's it's transmuting the properties of of physical things. So it's not pulling in magical energies from the aether it is
00:46:32
Speaker
repairing things if you use the correct symbols to pull all their energy back together and stuff like that. um the The original show started while the manga was running, like a lot of anime does. But when they hit like the end of the material that existed, rather than just do a bunch of filler arcs to try to wait for the manga to catch up, they decided to like basically fan fiction the rest of the way through the show, which was really interesting. like Watching both shows, it's it's super interesting to see those threads that the creators of the first show had from the manga that had been out and then how they sort of just made explanations. Because a lot of the the first half of that show and a little less than the first half of Brotherhood, because they ah kind of accelerate things in Brotherhood to get through that period, are like the same events.
00:47:29
Speaker
But then, like a lot of the the events in this show, especially in the beginning, there's just some weird, mysterious things going on. There are homunculi who are artificial humans sort of operating and doing stuff, and the characters don't know why. um You have the main characters who, in the first episode, try to, there their kids and their mother dies and they try to use alchemy to bring her back. One of the big rules of alchemy is no human transmutation. It's forbidden. You can't do it well.
00:48:02
Speaker
they find out why because it didn't work. It backfired and one lost an arm or lost a leg and the other lost his whole body. And then the older brother sacrificed his arm to bring his brother's soul

Anime Storytelling Techniques

00:48:15
Speaker
back. So one kid has lost two limbs and the other kid is a soul in a bot in a suit of armor. And so it's these characters like trying to go through the world, trying to learn more and and understand more to figure out how to get their bodies back. And then there's a whole bunch of other stuff that happens. And so there's a lot of mysteries in like how the the writers of the original show figured out to you know how they sort of tied these threads together in a very different way was super interesting. But then the second show came out years later after the manga finished. And it's pretty pretty close to the to the actual books. um Full Metal Alchemist Brotherhood.
00:48:56
Speaker
I've actually subsequently bought the whole run of the manga and read it as well. and so i just the Both shows are really interesting, and especially if you get into them, I think it's worth watching both. But Brotherhood is is just my favorite. it has I think it does better with supporting cast. The first show very much is about the two brothers and they're great, but it doesn't give a lot of screen time to some of the other great characters. And it was interesting. I heard somebody on Twitter um got it. It's one of these I wish I could remember who it was, but I know ah i believe I believe this was
00:49:41
Speaker
I have no idea who it was, but I know somebody was talking about Full Metal Alchemist is in um and juxtaposition with like Avatar, The Last Airbender, is an interesting juxtaposition because you have Avatar is an American show created as sort of like an Asian fantasy. right Whereas Full Metal Alchemist is a Japanese show created as a European fantasy. And so yeah there's there's an interesting conversation there, two shows that I love. And so I think that helps too, where I kind of have that
00:50:22
Speaker
that idea in my head. All right. So I found the one I was looking for. Um, I couldn't remember the name, but this was one that was recommended by someone on the discord and I watched it and it was wonderful. I'm going to, my, my last show is not an Isekai. So, uh, that's a surprise, but, uh, the show is a sign of affection. And, uh, this was a romantic comedy show. Um, which has an average rating of 4.9 with 58,000 ratings. give you know And it's about a deaf girl who meets a slightly older man, like a year or two older on the train who helps her out of a situation where she's not able to communicate what's going on.
00:51:11
Speaker
ah They both go to the same college, but I think he's a year or two ahead of her. um And it's just basically, you know, he learns how to communicate with her and she learns how to, you know, kind of get out of her little world that she's been in by herself because of her language barrier. um Her parents don't even know sign, which is something that sadly happens to deaf kids sometimes, or their parents don't even put in the effort to learn sign. And so that kind of led to her having a really closed off life. um And it's just a really wonderful show. It's super cute. It's really a romantic slice of life show.

Conclusion and Future Plans

00:52:00
Speaker
um
00:52:02
Speaker
And ah yeah, I recommend it if you're you're just looking for a good story that isn't ah action focused and just has a lot to say about how communication develops between people. that That's cool. I got that on my list too. That sounds like a good one. Um, I, I haven't watched this recently. That, that made me think of, of one I, I'll, I'll interrupt for me. Just sort of related to that a little bit. Um, I've talked to you about my love story. Is that just one you're familiar with?
00:52:36
Speaker
Um, I've heard of it, but um I haven't seen it. I watched it years ago. Um, but it's a romantic comedy. Sounds like a vaguely similar. Start with a, um, the teenagers. Yeah. I think they're in high school and this, uh, girl is getting just a little bit of harassment on, on the train. And this dude who is just a massive brick, like just a massive person, like steps in. The, the himbo type. Yeah, yeah, I have Beau, but also just like huge and intimidating. Like, like most people are just afraid of him on there, on just seeing him, but though he's a very gentle person, but he has a, he has a frightful visage. And ultimately it is the thing that struck me, A, I think it's just a nice fun show, but what really struck me about it was in their life, like he has a friend who is much more
00:53:33
Speaker
outgoing social understanding of of people and situations. And he he plays a pivotal role in these two kind of getting out of their own ways and actually understanding that they're interested in each other and to give it a shot and and go on some dates and see how it goes. And he becomes like a really important part of their friendship. And while none of the individuals in this map, even close, the relationship these three have is like exactly the same relationship I have with my best friend and his wife. So it was super for me like that was a super cool
00:54:10
Speaker
thing, like relationship to see represented because like there's even a point where he like the friend is trying to like, you know, no, give them but those two time. They're like, no, no, you are important part of our relationship. You have mentioned this before. Okay, okay. So I know I thought I brought it up, but I couldn't remember. But yeah, yeah, yeah, I love that. But so ah that is my love story. And then I have, like I said, I wrote a sign of affection down because I need to I need to check that one out. I must have missed that. um When when someone was talking about it on the Discord. Yeah, um they said it was you know not my usual thing, but I'd probably like it and they're absolutely right. I don't remember who made the recommendation, but ah you know I could look that up right now because Discord has a search function so I can think of them.
00:55:15
Speaker
Yeah, this is all the dead air. Draco Lucian was the one who recommended it.
00:55:21
Speaker
ah So yeah, this was from the ah winter season. So thank you, Draco. That was a really great show, and I definitely enjoyed it. Cool. And thanks, everyone, who stuck around and listened to us talk about anime, um if you are. Yeah, it's not our normal thing, but, ah you know, Sometimes ah Alex and I just geek out when Hobbs is here and can't stop us. Oh, yeah. Yeah. And if you are interested in talking anime, as Taylor mentioned, we have an anime channel and our Discord. Our Discord is free for for folks who want to join. We need to do some time. We need to play a game with Hobbs where we make up a bunch of titles and go, is it an anime or not? It's it's like two truths and a lie on these just anime titles. Yeah. Yeah.
00:56:13
Speaker
Because he's always like, I you know was like i can't believe this. yeah Well, and the names are getting more and more. And more ridiculous, yes. so But that would be a fun game to play with Hobbs sometime. If we ever get him on an anime episode. Yep. All right. Good. goodbye And that's our show for today. You can find all of the hosts on Twitter for now. Hobbs can be found at HobbsQ, Tay can be found at Tayatransends, and Alex can be found at Mel underscore Chronicler. Feel free to send us any questions, comments, thoughts, hopes, and dreams to the Goblin Lord pod on Twitter, or email us at goblinlordpodcast at gmail.com.
00:56:57
Speaker
If you would like to support your friendly neighborhood Gob's Hugs, our link tree can be found on our Twitter account and in the description of today's show. This has everything from various discount codes to the link for our Patreon. The music for today's show was by Wintergotten, who can be found at vintergotten at bandcamp dot.com. The art was done by Steven Raphael, who can be found at stevereffel on Twitter. Gob and Lore is proud to be presented by Hipsters of the Coast as part of their growing forthos content. Check them out on Twitter at hipsters MTG or online at hipstersofthecoast.com. Thank you for listening and remember goblins like snowflakes are only dangerous in numbers.