Japanimation Station Season 6 - TOMINO-THON!

Considering Japanimation Station started its life in 2019 as Weekly Suit Gundam – which itself started with a six-part podcast miniseries following Sean and Jonathan discussing every aspect of the original Mobile Suit Gundam series from 1979 – it’s safe to say we’ve already reviewed the legendary ‘First Gundam’ on this show. So for today’s episode, we’re doing something a bit different to celebrate the most crucial turning point in the career of Tomino Yoshiyuki: Narrating the history of the series from its conception through the release of the Gundam movie trilogy, which heralded the dawn of a ‘New Anime Era.’ It’s our most scripted episode to date, as we share original research and writing on the creation and historical impact of Gundam, while also making space to discuss how we see the show itself in the light of our ongoing ‘Tomino-thon’ project. Even if you’ve heard us talk about Gundam many times before, this is an episode you won’t want to miss. Enjoy, and come back next week as we look at the original 39 episodes of 1980’s Space Runaway Ideon! Time Chart: Theme Song: 0:00:00 – 0:01:37 The Making of Gundam ‘79: 0:01:37 – 1:39:41 Eyecatch Break: 1:39:41 – 1:40:27 Dawn of the New Anime Era: 1:40:27 – 2:10:38 End Theme: 2:10:38 – 2:12:47 Subscribe to our YouTube channels! Japanimation Station: https://www.youtube.com/c/japanimationstation Purely Academic: https://www.youtube.com/@purelyacademicpodcast Read Jonathan Lack’s movie reviews and stay up to date with all our podcast projects at https://www.jonathanlack.com Subscribe to PURELY ACADEMIC, our monthly variety podcast about movies, video games, TV, and more: https://purelyacademic.simplecast.com Follow Japanimation Station on Instagram and Threads @JapanimationStationPodhttps://www.instagram.com/japanimationstationpod/ Read Jonathan’s book 200 Reviews in Paperback or on Kindle – https://a.co/d/bLx53vK “Tominoson-G Mk. V” – Music by Thomas Lack, Lyrics by Sean Chapman, featuring Hatsune Miku & KAITO. “The World You See” – Music & Lyrics by Thomas Lack, featuring Hatsune Miku. https://www.thomaslack.com

“Exhilaration, humor, and pathos” – these are the three pillars Tomino Yoshiyuki outlined in a pre-production memo for the series that became 1978’s Invincible Steel Man Daitarn 3. And the 40-episode show that followed very much fulfilled those goals, as this blend of super robot and Kamen Rider-style super hero action – also taking copious influence from the worlds of Star Wars and James Bond – is a fun and, in the end, surprisingly impactful series. It’s also the show where Tomino drilled down and learned how to perfect an episodic TV formula, telling a different and distinct story every week. While it gets off to a slow start, Daitarn 3 gets better and better as it goes on, building to a finale that proves to be one of Tomino’s finest directorial efforts, and which signals the full artistic flourishing of the man who would create Gundam. Enjoy, and come back next week as we arrive at the dawn of the new anime era: 1979’s legendary Mobile Suit Gundam! Time Chart: Theme Song: 0:00:00 – 0:01:37 Intro and History: 0:01:37 – 1:27:25 Eyecatch Break: 1:27:25 – 1:28:10 Daitarn 3 Review: 1:28:10 – 2:41:53 End Theme: 2:41:53 – 2:44:02 Subscribe to our YouTube channels! Japanimation Station: https://www.youtube.com/c/japanimationstation Purely Academic: https://www.youtube.com/@purelyacademicpodcast Read Jonathan Lack’s movie reviews and stay up to date with all our podcast projects at https://www.jonathanlack.com Subscribe to PURELY ACADEMIC, our monthly variety podcast about movies, video games, TV, and more: https://purelyacademic.simplecast.com Follow Japanimation Station on Instagram and Threads @JapanimationStationPodhttps://www.instagram.com/japanimationstationpod/ Read Jonathan’s book 200 Reviews in Paperback or on Kindle – https://a.co/d/bLx53vK “Tominoson-G Mk. V” – Music by Thomas Lack, Lyrics by Sean Chapman, featuring Hatsune Miku & KAITO. “The World You See” – Music & Lyrics by Thomas Lack, featuring Hatsune Miku. https://www.thomaslack.com

Our Tomino-thon reaches its first full review of the season with 1977’s Invincible Super Man Zambot 3, the debut series from a newly independent Sunrise, and the first original show directed in full by Tomino Yoshiyuki. Combining fantastical, episodic ‘super robot’ action with traces of the darker, more psychologically dense storytelling Tomino would eventually be known for, Zambot 3 also sees several members of the future Mobile Suit Gundam team working together for the first time, including character designer Yasuhiko Yoshikazu, mechanical designer Okawara Kunio (who drew the Bandok fortress, the series’ most striking design), and musical composers Watanabe Takeo and Matsuyama Yuji. And it’s the show that would, with its legendarily brutal finale, birth the legend of ‘Kill ‘em All’ Tomino. Enjoy, and come back next week as we meet the suave Haran Banjō in Invincible Steel Man Daitarn 3! Time Chart: Theme Song: 0:00:00 – 0:01:37 Intro and History: 0:01:37 – 0:51:57 Eyecatch Break: 0:51:57 – 0:52:41 Zambot 3 Review: 0:52:41 – 2:24:13 End Theme: 2:24:13 – 2:26:22 Subscribe to our YouTube channels! Japanimation Station: https://www.youtube.com/c/japanimationstation Purely Academic: https://www.youtube.com/@purelyacademicpodcast Read Jonathan Lack’s movie reviews and stay up to date with all our podcast projects at https://www.jonathanlack.com Subscribe to PURELY ACADEMIC, our monthly variety podcast about movies, video games, TV, and more: https://purelyacademic.simplecast.com Follow Japanimation Station on Instagram and Threads @JapanimationStationPod https://www.instagram.com/japanimationstationpod/ Read Jonathan’s book 200 Reviews in Paperback or on Kindle – https://a.co/d/bLx53vK “Tominoson-G Mk. V” – Music by Thomas Lack, Lyrics by Sean Chapman, featuring Hatsune Miku & KAITO. “The World You See” – Music & Lyrics by Thomas Lack, featuring Hatsune Miku. https://www.thomaslack.com

Our Tomino-thon kicks off with a history-focused episode exploring the origins of Tomino Yoshiyuki leading up to the creation of his first full original series, Zambot 3 (which we’ll be reviewing next week). Where did this mad creative genius come from, and what was he up to in the years before he earned his ‘Kill ‘em all’ moniker? This episode takes us from the political climate in Japan during Tomino’s college years, to Tomino’s time at Mushi Pro becoming one of the most prolific episode directors on Tezuka Osamu’s Mighty Atom (aka Astro Boy), to his first directorial project, a (very loose) adaptation of Tezuka’s Triton of the Sea manga. We explore how he became known as the anime industry’s ‘wandering storyboard man’ in the 1970s, and end with the creation of the studio that became Sunrise, Tomino’s creative home for the bulk of his career. It’s a very fun, extremely informative episode that lays the foundation for the season to come. Enjoy, and come back next week as we review Invincible Super Man Zambot 3, the show which first earned Tomino his ‘kill ‘em all’ moniker! Time Chart: Theme Song: 0:00:00 – 0:01:37 Intro and Tomino Origins Part 1: 0:01:37 – 0:16:30 Mighty Atom/Astro Boy: 0:16:30 – 0:59:04 Tomino Origins Part 2: 0:59:04 – 1:09:25 Eyecatch Break: 1:09:25 – 1:10:37 Triton of the Sea: 1:10:37 – 1:48:23 Wrap-up: 1:48:23 – 1:54:54 End Theme: 1:54:54 – 1:57:03 Subscribe to our YouTube channels! Japanimation Station: https://www.youtube.com/c/japanimationstation Purely Academic: https://www.youtube.com/@purelyacademicpodcast Read Jonathan Lack’s movie reviews and stay up to date with all our podcast projects at https://www.jonathanlack.com Subscribe to PURELY ACADEMIC, our monthly variety podcast about movies, video games, TV, and more: https://purelyacademic.simplecast.com Follow Japanimation Station on Instagram and Threads @JapanimationStationPodhttps://www.instagram.com/japanimationstationpod/ Read Jonathan’s book 200 Reviews in Paperback or on Kindle – https://a.co/d/bLx53vK “Tominoson-G Mk. V” – Music by Thomas Lack, Lyrics by Sean Chapman, featuring Hatsune Miku & KAITO. “The World You See” – Music & Lyrics by Thomas Lack, featuring Hatsune Miku. https://www.thomaslack.com

Japanimation Station returns on March 15th, 2026 for its 6th season, and it’s one listeners have been demanding for a long time: our Tomino-thon! Throughout 2026, we’ll be peering into the delightfully deranged mind of Tomino Yoshiyuki, creator of Mobile Suit Gundam, which kicked off this entire podcast journey with our ‘Weekly Suit Gundam’ series back in 2019. Now, we’ll be returning to the world of Tomino with deep dives into every TV series and film he’s ever directed. In this special preview episode, we outline the season’s first half, “The New Anime Era,” in which we’ll be analyzing each of Tomino’s shows from 1977’s Invincible Super Man Zambot 3 through 1984’s Heavy Metal L-Gaim. Season 6 Part 1 will run for 12 episodes uninterrupted through May. After a summer break, we’ll then return in the fall for a second half picking up with 1985’s Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam. Will you be able to survive? Enjoy, and we hope to see you here for the season premiere on March 15th. Episodes will premiere on YouTube on Sundays at 6pm CT, and release on Mondays on podcast platforms everywhere. Subscribe to our YouTube channels! Japanimation Station: https://www.youtube.com/c/japanimationstation Purely Academic: https://www.youtube.com/@purelyacademicpodcastRead Jonathan Lack’s movie reviews and stay up to date with all our podcast projects at https://www.jonathanlack.comSubscribe to PURELY ACADEMIC, our monthly variety podcast about movies, video games, TV, and more: https://purelyacademic.simplecast.comRead Jonathan’s book 200 Reviews in Paperback or on Kindle – https://a.co/d/bLx53vK“Welcome to Japanimation Station” – Music by Thomas Lack, Lyrics by Sean Chapman, featuring Hatsune Miku. “Ice” – Music & Lyrics by Thomas Lack, featuring Hatsune Miku. https://www.thomaslack.com

We’re back in Kyoto again to look at another new work from our friends at Kyoto Animation: Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid: A Lonely Dragon Wants To Be Loved, the feature film sequel to the beloved (and bizarre) slice-of-life TV comedy. Originally directed by Takemoto Yasuhiro in its first season before his tragic death in the 2019 arson attack, the series originally returned for a second season directed by KyoAni stalwart Ishihara Tatsuya, who again takes the helm for this film sequel. But with a more focused and bombastic story centering on the character Kanna, with much of the action taking place in the dragon realm, A Lonely Dragon Wants To Be Loved proves an even better fit for Ishihara’s talents than the TV series was, making for a surprisingly exciting and affecting film that delivers astonishing animation and some big emotional reactions. With the film now having screened in the US thanks to Crunchyroll, we break it all down, and look forward to the next era of Kyoto Animation as this one draws to a close. Enjoy! Time Chart:Theme Song: 0:00:00 – 0:01:30Intro and History: 0:01:12 – 0:52:17Eyecatch Break: 0:52:17 – 0:53:01Movie Review: 0:53:01 – 2:04:08End Theme: 2:04:08 – 2:05:09Subscribe to our YouTube channels! Japanimation Station: https://www.youtube.com/c/japanimationstation Purely Academic: https://www.youtube.com/@purelyacademicpodcastRead Jonathan Lack’s movie reviews and stay up to date with all our podcast projects at https://www.jonathanlack.comSubscribe to PURELY ACADEMIC, our monthly variety podcast about movies, video games, TV, and more: https://purelyacademic.simplecast.comRead Jonathan’s book 200 Reviews in Paperback or on Kindle – https://a.co/d/bLx53vK“Welcome to Japanimation Station” – Music by Thomas Lack, Lyrics by Sean Chapman, featuring Hatsune Miku. “Happily Ever After” – Music & Lyrics by Thomas Lack, featuring Hatsune Miku. https://www.thomaslack.com

After spending a full year chronicling the history of Kyoto Animation in 2024, we’re back for a brief return trip to review CITY: THE ANIMATION, the latest anime series from the renowned studio. Directed by Violet Evergarden helmer Ishidate Taichi and based on the manga Nichijou author Arawi Keiichi, CITY is one of the absolute greatest series KyoAni has produced to date, a return not only to Arawi’s zany comic stylings, but to the bold, experimental spirit of KyoAni’s early work. Seamlessly blending wild, anarchical comedy with heartfelt, shockingly rich storytelling about friendship, nostalgia, and community, CITY isn’t just a triumph: it’s an outright masterpiece, and we couldn’t be happier to talk about it at length on today’s show. Enjoy! Time Chart:Theme Song: 0:00:00 – 0:01:30Intro and History: 0:01:12 – 1:03:52Eyecatch Break: 1:03:52 – 1:04:37City the Animation Review: 1:04:37 – 3:29:08End Theme: 3:29:08 – 3:30:10Subscribe to our YouTube channels! Japanimation Station: https://www.youtube.com/c/japanimationstation Purely Academic: https://www.youtube.com/@purelyacademicpodcastRead Jonathan Lack’s movie reviews and stay up to date with all our podcast projects at https://www.jonathanlack.comSubscribe to PURELY ACADEMIC, our monthly variety podcast about movies, video games, TV, and more: https://purelyacademic.simplecast.comRead Jonathan’s book 200 Reviews in Paperback or on Kindle – https://a.co/d/bLx53vK“Welcome to Japanimation Station” – Music by Thomas Lack, Lyrics by Sean Chapman, featuring Hatsune Miku. “Happily Ever After” – Music & Lyrics by Thomas Lack, featuring Hatsune Miku. https://www.thomaslack.com

Demon Slayer is back in theaters with its second original movie after the record-breaking success of 2020’s Mugen Train, and the latest installment – Part I of the planned Infinity Castle trilogy, adapting the final arc of Gotouge Koyoharu’s manga – is proving every bit as popular, breaking box office records in Japan and now in America. That’s for good reason: Infinity Castle is an incredible film, depicting three major battles across its 155-minute runtime, and executing on all of it at the same insanely high level we’ve come to expect from ufotable over the years. This is a film with some of the most jaw-dropping animated spectacle you’ll ever see in a theater, but as always, its heart is with the characters, their backstories, and their interiority, and this film’s focus on the villain Akaza proves to be some of the most effective material in the life of the entire series. We talk about all of it and more, including the terrific vocal performances and killer soundtrack, as Kimetsu no Yaiba truly kicks off the beginning of the end. Enjoy! We will be back with more special one-off episodes soon, with our next major season – Tomino-thon – currently in the works behind the scenes! Subscribe to our YouTube channels! Japanimation Station: https://www.youtube.com/c/japanimationstation Purely Academic: https://www.youtube.com/@purelyacademicpodcastRead Jonathan Lack’s movie reviews and stay up to date with all our podcast projects at https://www.jonathanlack.comSubscribe to PURELY ACADEMIC, our monthly variety podcast about movies, video games, TV, and more: https://purelyacademic.simplecast.comRead Jonathan’s book 200 Reviews in Paperback or on Kindle – https://a.co/d/bLx53vK“Welcome to Japanimation Station” – Music by Thomas Lack, Lyrics by Sean Chapman, featuring Hatsune Miku. “Rolled Into One” – Music & Lyrics by Thomas Lack, featuring Hatsune Miku. https://www.thomaslack.com

The latest Gundam TV series, Mobile Suit Gundam GQuuuuuuX, wrapped up its 12-episode run this week, which means Weekly Suit Gundam is back to break it all down! A collaboration between Sunrise and the Otaku madmen at Studio Khara – including director Tsurumaki Kazuya, writer Enokido Yoji, and Evangelion creator Anno Hideaki himself – GQuuuuuuX returns to the Universal Century for an alternate-history story in a world where Char Aznable, not Amuro Ray, got in the Gundam; but it’s also a brand new tale about three kids living in the aftermath of this revised history on Side 6. Those two impulses – Gundam fan service and telling an all-new story – don’t always sit naturally together within this short run, and while GQuuuuuuX is an undeniably gorgeous production, with outstanding character designs, animation, music, and action, we’re not sure whether or not it holds together as its own fully realized corner of the Gundam universe. Enjoy, and be sure to join us later this year for the next season of Japanimation Station, where we will be surveying all the works in the career of original Gundam creator Tomino Yoshiyuki! Read Jonathan Lack’s movie reviews and stay up to date with all our podcast projects at https://www.jonathanlack.comSubscribe to PURELY ACADEMIC, our monthly variety podcast about movies, video games, TV, and more: https://purelyacademic.simplecast.comRead Jonathan’s book 200 Reviews in Paperback or on Kindle – https://a.co/d/bLx53vKSubscribe to our YouTube channels! Japanimation Station: https://www.youtube.com/c/japanimationstation Purely Academic: https://www.youtube.com/@purelyacademicpodcastSupport the show at Ko-fi ☕️ https://ko-fi.com/weeklystuffOriginal Music by Thomas Lack https://www.thomaslack.com/

Our Grand Tour comes full circle for its final stop, as we return to the world of Dragon Ball – and the premise of Goku becoming a kid again – for the latest installment in the franchise, and the last supervised by Toriyama Akira himself: Dragon Ball Daima! Like other recent Dragon Ball stories overseen by the original author, Daima revisits concepts from earlier anime-original works – in this case, Dragon Ball GT’s broad premise of Goku being turned into a kid and going on a big journey to reverse it – but now with Toriyama’s authorial touch. In the case of Daima, that means a ton of great character-driven humor, an extremely rich setting in the Demon Realm, and a handful of wonderful new characters. All of it is brought to life with some of the best animation, voice acting, music, and action to ever grace the franchise, from a big group of Dragon Ball veterans and artists new to the series. The result is one of Dragon Ball’s finest hours in animation, and a perfect final tribute to the singular work of Toriyama Akira. Enjoy, thanks for listening throughout this season, and we will see you all again this fall for Season 6! Time Chart:Theme Song: 0:00:00 – 0:01:15Intro and History: 0:01:15 – 1:33:27Eyecatch Break: 1:33:27 – 1:34:07Dragon Ball Daima Review: 1:34:07 – 2:58:43Season 5 Wrap-up: 2:58:43 – 3:19:28Season 6 Preview: 3:19:28 – 3:27:16End Theme: 3:27:16 – 3:29:07Subscribe to our YouTube channels! Japanimation Station: https://www.youtube.com/c/japanimationstation Purely Academic: https://www.youtube.com/@purelyacademicpodcastRead Jonathan Lack’s movie reviews and stay up to date with all our podcast projects at https://www.jonathanlack.comSubscribe to PURELY ACADEMIC, our monthly variety podcast about movies, video games, TV, and more: https://purelyacademic.simplecast.comRead Jonathan’s book 200 Reviews in Paperback or on Kindle – https://a.co/d/bLx53vK“Romantikku Ageru Yo” – Composed by Ike Takeshi, Lyrics by Yoshida Takemi, Original Arrangement by Tanaka Kōhei; cover Arranged and Produced by Thomas Lack, featuring Hatsune Miku. https://www.thomaslack.com

Our Grand Tour finally arrives at one of the most-requested shows in the history of Japanimation Station: the 1997 adaptation of Miura Kentaro’s seminal manga masterpiece, Berserk! Created by OLM – best known for their decades of work on the Pokémon anime – this 25-episode series adapts the Golden Age arc of Miura’s manga, brilliantly employing a ‘limited animation’ style reminiscent of the works of Dezaki Osamu. With outstanding scripts, inspired direction, and some of the best voice acting we’ve ever had the pleasure to discuss, the series is a truly remarkable feat of adaptation, doing Miura’s work justice in so many ways. Enjoy, and come back next week for the final installment of our Grand Tour, as we come full circle back to the world of Toriyama Akira for this year’s incredible DRAGON BALL DAIMA! Time Chart:Theme Song: 0:00:00 – 0:01:15Intro and History: 0:01:15 – 1:52:44Eyecatch Break: 1:52:44 – 1:53:28Berserk Review: 1:53:28 – 3:51:09End Theme: 3:51:09 – 3:52:39Subscribe to our YouTube channels! Japanimation Station: https://www.youtube.com/c/japanimationstation Purely Academic: https://www.youtube.com/@purelyacademicpodcastRead Jonathan Lack’s movie reviews and stay up to date with all our podcast projects at https://www.jonathanlack.comSubscribe to PURELY ACADEMIC, our monthly variety podcast about movies, video games, TV, and more: https://purelyacademic.simplecast.comRead Jonathan’s book 200 Reviews in Paperback or on Kindle – https://a.co/d/bLx53vK“Welcome to Japanimation Station” – Music by Thomas Lack, Lyrics by Sean Chapman, featuring Hatsune Miku. “ice” – Music & Lyrics by Thomas Lack, featuring Hatsune Miku & Megurine Luka. https://www.thomaslack.com

Our dirty pair of Dirty Pair episodes continues this week with a look at the theatrical feature film and cavalcade of OVAs that followed in the wake of the original TV series. Dirty Pair was so popular on the home video market that it got two feature-length OVAs – 1985’s Affair of Nolandia and 1995’s Flight 005 Conspiracy – and an entire ‘second season’ of 10 TV-length episodes, known as Dirty Pair 2. There is some fantastic stuff among these home video releases, but the real highlight today is the 1986 feature film, Project Eden, one of the most spectacularly produced anime of the 1980s that feels a lot more like a feature-length music video than it does a conventional narrative. Whether it truly works as a Dirty Pair story is something we debate, but there’s no disagreement that’s an absolutely eye-popping tour-de-force of synesthesia. Enjoy, and come back next week for something completely different, as we look at the classic 1997 adaptation of Miura Kentaro’s seminal Berserk! At least it is true that podcasters have no control, even over their own will… Time Chart:Theme Song: 0:00:00 – 0:01:15Intro and History: 0:01:15 – 0:18:44Affair of Nolandia OVA: 0:18:44 – 0:44:55 Eyecatch Break: 0:44:55 – 0:45:34Project Eden Movie: 0:45:34 – 2:10:24Dirty Pair 2 OVA: 2:10:24 – 3:11:27Flight 005 Conspiracy OVA: 3:11:27 – 3:29:28End Theme: 3:29:28 – 3:30:29Subscribe to our YouTube channels! Japanimation Station: https://www.youtube.com/c/japanimationstation Purely Academic: https://www.youtube.com/@purelyacademicpodcastRead Jonathan Lack’s movie reviews and stay up to date with all our podcast projects at https://www.jonathanlack.comSubscribe to PURELY ACADEMIC, our monthly variety podcast about movies, video games, TV, and more: https://purelyacademic.simplecast.comRead Jonathan’s book 200 Reviews in Paperback or on Kindle – https://a.co/d/bLx53vK“Welcome to Japanimation Station” – Music by Thomas Lack, Lyrics by Sean Chapman, featuring Hatsune Miku. “Rolled Into One” – Music & Lyrics by Thomas Lack, featuring Hatsune Miku. https://www.thomaslack.com

Our Grand Tour takes us back to outer space for the irreverent sci-fi comedy classic Dirty Pair! Produced by the amazing talent at Sunrise and inspired by the light novels by Takachiho Haruka, Dirty Pair chronicles the adventures of Kei and Yuri, two 19-year-old ‘trouble consultants’ for the WWWA, who travel the galaxy solving problems, sometimes so aggressively they create many new ones. The original 26-episode TV series is a model of great episodic storytelling, with a series of stories that are fun, zany, clever, and sometimes even a little bit heartfelt. It’s also one of the most insanely 1980s shows ever made, from the fashion to the music to the animation, and while it bears certain similarities to other caper-driven franchises like Lupin the Third, there’s truly nothing else quite like Dirty Pair! Enjoy, and come back next week as we continue our Dirty Pair adventures with the 1986 film Project Eden, the 1987 OVA series Dirty Pair 2, and more! Time Chart:Theme Song: 0:00:00 – 0:01:15Intro and History: 0:01:15 – 1:24:02Eyecatch Break: 1:24:02 – 1:24:41Dirty Pair Review: 1:24:41 – 3:56:13End Theme: 3:56:13 – 3:57:15Subscribe to our YouTube channels! Japanimation Station: https://www.youtube.com/c/japanimationstation Purely Academic: https://www.youtube.com/@purelyacademicpodcastRead Jonathan Lack’s movie reviews and stay up to date with all our podcast projects at https://www.jonathanlack.comSubscribe to PURELY ACADEMIC, our monthly variety podcast about movies, video games, TV, and more: https://purelyacademic.simplecast.comRead Jonathan’s book 200 Reviews in Paperback or on Kindle – https://a.co/d/bLx53vK“Welcome to Japanimation Station” – Music by Thomas Lack, Lyrics by Sean Chapman, featuring Hatsune Miku. “Happily Ever After” – Music & Lyrics by Thomas Lack, featuring Hatsune Miku. https://www.thomaslack.com

Before Anno Hideaki and the team at Studio Gainax changed the course of anime history with Neon Genesis Evangelion, they produced Gunbuster, aka Aim for the Top!, a 6-episode OVA with some of the era’s most spectacular animation, and an overwhelming amount of personality. A mash-up of sports shows, mecha anime, high-concept sci-fi, and American 80s movies like Top Gun, there’s nothing else quite like Gunbuster, and across its 6 episodes, the series showcases a huge range of ideas, themes, tones, and even styles, with the finale shifting to a truly astounding use of widescreen, black-and-white imagery. Join us as we dive into not only this great series, but the fascinating history of Anno and Gainax up to this point. Enjoy, and come back next week as we begin a two-week journey through the wild and wacky world of the 80s classic DIRTY PAIR! Time Chart:Theme Song: 0:00:00 – 0:01:15Intro and History: 0:01:15 – 1:06:22Eyecatch Break: 1:06:22 – 1:07:07Gunbuster Review: 1:07:07 – 2:14:18End Theme: 2:14:18 – 2:15:49Subscribe to our YouTube channels! Japanimation Station: https://www.youtube.com/c/japanimationstation Purely Academic: https://www.youtube.com/@purelyacademicpodcastRead Jonathan Lack’s movie reviews and stay up to date with all our podcast projects at https://www.jonathanlack.comSubscribe to PURELY ACADEMIC, our monthly variety podcast about movies, video games, TV, and more: https://purelyacademic.simplecast.comRead Jonathan’s book 200 Reviews in Paperback or on Kindle – https://a.co/d/bLx53vK“Welcome to Japanimation Station” – Music by Thomas Lack, Lyrics by Sean Chapman, featuring Hatsune Miku. “ice” – Music & Lyrics by Thomas Lack, featuring Hatsune Miku & Megurine Luka. https://www.thomaslack.com

Our Grand Tour now takes us to the turn of the century, and the dawn of modern comedy anime, with the classic series Azumanga Daioh: The Animation! Based on the celebrated four-panel manga by Azuma Kiyohiko, which has proven itself one of the most influential series to the last 25 years of comedy manga, the TV series is a landmark in its own right, helping to crack the code of how anime can adopt short, gag-driven, mostly plotless comedy manga, and in so doing helping to birth the ‘slice-of-life’ genre now beloved around the world. Historical import aside, the show is also just a ton of fun, with a memorable group of characters we follow throughout their high school years, and a tremendous vocal cast giving consistently hilarious performances. It makes for an episode where we ourselves can’t stop laughing as we talk about the show – and that’s always a good sign. Enjoy, and come back next week as our Grand Tour takes us back out into space for the classic Studio Gainax OVA Gunbuster: Aim for the Top! Time Chart:Theme Song: 0:00:00 – 0:01:15Intro and History: 0:01:15 – 1:01:34Eyecatch Break: 1:01:34 – 1:02:18Azumanga Daioh Review: 1:02:18 – 3:01:13End Theme: 3:01:13 – 3:02:15Subscribe to our YouTube channels! Japanimation Station: https://www.youtube.com/c/japanimationstation Purely Academic: https://www.youtube.com/@purelyacademicpodcastRead Jonathan Lack’s movie reviews and stay up to date with all our podcast projects at https://www.jonathanlack.comSubscribe to PURELY ACADEMIC, our monthly variety podcast about movies, video games, TV, and more: https://purelyacademic.simplecast.comRead Jonathan’s book 200 Reviews in Paperback or on Kindle – https://a.co/d/bLx53vK“Welcome to Japanimation Station” – Music by Thomas Lack, Lyrics by Sean Chapman, featuring Hatsune Miku. “Rolled Into One” – Music & Lyrics by Thomas Lack, featuring Hatsune Miku. https://www.thomaslack.com

Takahashi Kazuki’s Yu-Gi-Oh! is a worldwide phenomenon that needs no introduction, since the anime has been airing in one incarnation or another every week for the past 25 years, and the card game is still going strong. But this week, our Grand Tour takes us to the most mysterious corner of the Yu-Gi-Oh! kingdom, and one many listeners probably haven’t seen before: The original 1998 anime by Toei Animation, which ran for 27 episodes and one short film, adapting the first 7 volumes of Takahashi’s manga. After airing on Japanese TV and releasing on VHS, the series has never been re-released, re-aired, dubbed, or distributed in any form, meaning it only survives through fan preservation efforts. And that preservation is very much worthwhile, because while this Yu-Gi-Oh! is an uneven, aesthetically wonky, and frequently bizarre series, it’s also a deeply endearing one with a lot worth recommending, especially for fans of Takahashi’s original manga and the material that never made it into the second, more famous anime adaptation. It also has an absolutely killer voice cast, both in the main ensemble and for the weekly guest stars, with a line-up of absolutely legendary seiyuu doing fantastic work. Like Yugi himself, this little show packs a whole lot of heart. Time Chart:Theme Song: 0:00:00 – 0:01:15Intro and History: 0:01:15 – 1:42:06Eyecatch Break: 1:42:06 – 1:42:51Welcome to the N.H.K. Review: 1:42:51 – 3:32:41End Theme: 3:32:41 – 3:33:42Enjoy, and come back next week as we return to the dawn of the slice-of-life comedy anime with 2002’s Azumanga Daioh: The Animation! Subscribe to our YouTube channels! Japanimation Station: https://www.youtube.com/c/japanimationstation Purely Academic: https://www.youtube.com/@purelyacademicpodcastRead Jonathan Lack’s movie reviews and stay up to date with all our podcast projects at https://www.jonathanlack.comSubscribe to PURELY ACADEMIC, our monthly variety podcast about movies, video games, TV, and more: https://purelyacademic.simplecast.comRead Jonathan’s book 200 Reviews in Paperback or on Kindle – https://a.co/d/bLx53vK“Welcome to Japanimation Station” – Music by Thomas Lack, Lyrics by Sean Chapman, featuring Hatsune Miku. “Happily Ever After” – Music & Lyrics by Thomas Lack, featuring Hatsune Miku. https://www.thomaslack.com

This week, our Grand Tour takes us to one of the most unique series we’ve ever covered: Gonzo’s 26-episode cult classic Welcome to the N.H.K.! Based on the 2002 novel by Takimoto Tatsuhiko, this 2006 series explores Japan’s hikkikomori (social withdrawal) phenomenon, modern Otaku culture, internet-era suicide pacts, and many more contemporary issues, doing it all with startling clarity, immense empathy, and a whole lot of very wacky humor. It’s a finger-on-the-pulse series for Japan in the mid-2000s, but one with many resonances for viewers all over the globe, leading to a rich and engaging conversation between our hosts. There is no other show out there quite like Welcome to the N.H.K. – it almost feels like a conspiracy…Enjoy, and come back next week as we watch the Yu-Gi-Oh! series The Man doesn’t want you to see: the original 27-episode Toei anime from 1998 (a.k.a. “Season Zero”). Time Chart:Theme Song: 0:00:00 – 0:01:15Intro and History: 0:01:15 – 1:09:15Eyecatch Break: 1:09:15 – 1:10:01Welcome to the N.H.K. Review: 1:10:01 – 3:43:42End Theme: 3:43:42 – 3:45:12Subscribe to our YouTube channels! Japanimation Station: https://www.youtube.com/c/japanimationstation Purely Academic: https://www.youtube.com/@purelyacademicpodcastRead Jonathan Lack’s movie reviews and stay up to date with all our podcast projects at https://www.jonathanlack.comSubscribe to PURELY ACADEMIC, our monthly variety podcast about movies, video games, TV, and more: https://purelyacademic.simplecast.comRead Jonathan’s book 200 Reviews in Paperback or on Kindle – https://a.co/d/bLx53vK“Welcome to Japanimation Station” – Music by Thomas Lack, Lyrics by Sean Chapman, featuring Hatsune Miku. “ice” – Music & Lyrics by Thomas Lack, featuring Hatsune Miku & Megurine Luka. https://www.thomaslack.com

Our Grand Tour reaches one of its strangest destinations this week as we complete our trilogy of Tezuka Osamu-themed episodes with a look at the Animerama Trilogy, a collection of three experimental animated films for adults created by Mushi Productions between 1969 and 1973. Coinciding with the Japanese New Wave movement and the rise of ‘Pink Films,’ these movies are stylistically anarchic, occasionally graphic, and range from irreverent and immature to startlingly sophisticated. Consisting of 1969’s A Thousand & One Nights, 1970’s Cleopatra, and 1973’s Belladonna of Sadness, all directed by Yamamoto Eiichi, these films were part of a global wave of efforts to make elaborate feature animation aimed squarely at adults, and while none were successful enough to pull Mushi Pro out of bankruptcy, they have endured as a fascinating experiment from a time when anime was still finding itself – and the last film, Belladonna of Sadness, is absolutely a masterpiece within its own right. Enjoy, and come back next week as we put on our tin-foil hats, get paranoid, and watch the classic 2006 anime Welcome to the N.H.K.! Time Chart:Theme Song: 0:00:00 – 0:01:15Intro and History: 0:01:15 – 0:31:21A Thousand & One Nights Review: 0:31:21 – 1:26:29Eyecatch Break 1: 1:26:29 – 1:27:14Cleopatra Review: 1:27:14 – 2:09:43Eyecatch Break 2: 2:09:43 – 2:09:59Belladonna of Sadness Review: 2:09:59 – 3:25:21End Theme: 3:25:21 – 3:26:22Subscribe to our YouTube channels! Japanimation Station: https://www.youtube.com/c/japanimationstation Purely Academic: https://www.youtube.com/@purelyacademicpodcastRead Jonathan Lack’s movie reviews and stay up to date with all our podcast projects at https://www.jonathanlack.comSubscribe to PURELY ACADEMIC, our monthly variety podcast about movies, video games, TV, and more: https://purelyacademic.simplecast.comRead Jonathan’s book 200 Reviews in Paperback or on Kindle – https://a.co/d/bLx53vK“Welcome to Japanimation Station” – Music by Thomas Lack, Lyrics by Sean Chapman, featuring Hatsune Miku. “Rolled Into One” – Music & Lyrics by Thomas Lack, featuring Hatsune Miku. https://www.thomaslack.com

Fifty years after the original Dororo aired on TV, MAPPA brought Tezuka Osamu’s Dororo roaring into the 21st century with a radically different take – and it’s the next stop on our exciting Grand Tour! With a reimagined conception of Hyakkimaru, expanded roles for characters like Daigo Kagemitsu and Tahomaru, and a striking modern animation style, MAPPA’s Dororo is a worthy reinterpretation of a classic, and a fascinating point of comparison to the original. While our hosts disagree slightly on how effective they found the series’ overall approach, it comes highly recommended from both, and we enjoyed breaking it all down on today’s episode. Enjoy, and come back next week as look at one of the strangest corners of Tezuka Osamu’s empire, and of anime in general: The Animerama film trilogy, consisting of 1969’s A Thousand & One Nights, 1970’s Cleopatra, and 1973’s Belladonna of Sadness. Time Chart:Theme Song: 0:00:00 – 0:01:16Intro and History: 0:01:16 – 1:12:03Eyecatch Break: 1:12:03 – 1:12:50Dororo 2019 Review: 1:12:50 – 3:06:10End Theme: 3:06:10 – 3:07:11Subscribe to our YouTube channels! Japanimation Station: https://www.youtube.com/c/japanimationstation Purely Academic: https://www.youtube.com/@purelyacademicpodcastRead Jonathan Lack’s movie reviews and stay up to date with all our podcast projects at https://www.jonathanlack.comSubscribe to PURELY ACADEMIC, our monthly variety podcast about movies, video games, TV, and more: https://purelyacademic.simplecast.comRead Jonathan’s book 200 Reviews in Paperback or on Kindle – https://a.co/d/bLx53vK“Welcome to Japanimation Station” – Music by Thomas Lack, Lyrics by Sean Chapman, featuring Hatsune Miku. “Happily Ever After” – Music & Lyrics by Thomas Lack, featuring Hatsune Miku. https://www.thomaslack.com

Our Grand Tour now takes us back to the first decade of anime, and to the work of the ‘God of Manga’ himself, the one and only Tezuka Osamu! The creator of series like Mighty Atom, Black Jack, and Princess Knight, Tezuka’s Mushi Productions pioneered TV anime as we know it today, and Dororo is one of the towering achievements of their 1960s output. Based on the unfinished manga by Tezuka, and directed by the great Sugii Gizaburō, Dororo is a singular samurai drama about a wandering swordsman, Hyakkimaru, who battles demons to restore the 48 missing parts of his body sacrificed by his warlord father. Along the way, he meets a young thief named Dororo, and their many adventures make for some of the earliest manga and anime to directly engage with adult themes and imagery. Like the manga, Dororo on TV had some production shake-ups, essentially changing directions halfway through when Sugii departed the series amidst disagreements with Tezuka, but make no mistake: this is one anime you do not want to miss. Enjoy, and come back next week as we leap 50 years ahead to 2019 to talk about MAPPA’s recent re-interpretation of Dororo! Time Chart:Theme Song: 0:00:00 – 0:01:15Intro to Tezuka Osamu: 0:01:15 – 0:55:24Eyecatch Break: 0:55:24 – 0:56:09Dororo History & Review: 0:56:09 – 3:32:24End Theme: 3:32:24 – 3:33:54Subscribe to our YouTube channels! Japanimation Station: https://www.youtube.com/c/japanimationstation Purely Academic: https://www.youtube.com/@purelyacademicpodcastRead Jonathan Lack’s movie reviews and stay up to date with all our podcast projects at https://www.jonathanlack.comSubscribe to PURELY ACADEMIC, our monthly variety podcast about movies, video games, TV, and more: https://purelyacademic.simplecast.comRead Jonathan’s book 200 Reviews in Paperback or on Kindle – https://a.co/d/bLx53vK“Welcome to Japanimation Station” – Music by Thomas Lack, Lyrics by Sean Chapman, featuring Hatsune Miku. “ice” – Music & Lyrics by Thomas Lack, featuring Hatsune Miku & Megurine Luka. https://www.thomaslack.com

Our Grand Tour continues with the second half of Dragon Ball GT, which marked the end of the 18-year ‘Toriyama Block’ on Fuji TV, and the end of new Dragon Ball stories on TV until Dragon Ball Super nearly 20 years later. The first few episodes here cover the ‘Super Android 17’ Arc, which is probably the very worst bit of Dragon Ball ever created, but the ‘Shadow Dragons’ Saga has always had more mixed reception, including some vocal defenders. What do Sean and Jonathan make of it? Well, we aren’t so hot on that one either, despite some good ideas and individual strong moments throughout. Still, diagnosing what ails Dragon Ball GT continues to make for a fascinating and fun conversation.Enjoy, and come back next week as we return to the dawn of anime with one of the great works by Japan’s ‘God of Manga,’ Tezuka Osamu, and the 1969 series Dororo! Time Chart:Theme Song: 0:00:00 – 0:01:16Intro and History: 0:01:16 – 0:51:03Eyecatch Break: 0:51:03 – 0:51:50Dragon Ball GT Review: 0:51:50 – 2:53:33End Theme: 2:53:33 – 2:54:34Subscribe to our YouTube channels! Japanimation Station: https://www.youtube.com/c/japanimationstation Purely Academic: https://www.youtube.com/@purelyacademicpodcastRead Jonathan Lack’s movie reviews and stay up to date with all our podcast projects at https://www.jonathanlack.comSubscribe to PURELY ACADEMIC, our monthly variety podcast about movies, video games, TV, and more: https://purelyacademic.simplecast.comRead Jonathan’s book 200 Reviews in Paperback or on Kindle – https://a.co/d/bLx53vK“Welcome to Japanimation Station” – Music by Thomas Lack, Lyrics by Sean Chapman, featuring Hatsune Miku. “Rolled Into One” – Music & Lyrics by Thomas Lack, featuring Hatsune Miku. https://www.thomaslack.com

Our new season begins with a blast from the past, as we return to the 90s for an in-depth look at Dragon Ball GT, the 64-episode, anime-only extension of Toriyama Akira’s classic series. While GT has always proven divisive among Dragon Ball fans, Sean and Jonathan have never made it all the way through – and doing so turns out to be a bit of a challenge, because as much as we both love all things Dragon Ball, this particular entryis not our cup of tea. Despite the regularly fantastic vocal cast, strong animation including character designs from the great Nakatsuru Katsuyoshi, and a promising premise with a miniaturized Son Goku travelling the universe in search of Dragon Balls, the series is a creative mess, with frequently threadbare storytelling, terrible background music, and disappointing action. In this first episode, we discuss the Black Star Dragon Ball and Baby Arcs, which takes us through a few creative high points on our way to Super Saiyan 4 – but this is not, suffice it to say, our favorite stop on our Grand Tour. Enjoy, and come back next week as we review the rest of Dragon Ball GT with episodes 41-64 and the Super 17 and Shadow Dragon Sagas.Time Chart:Theme Song: 0:00:00 – 0:01:12Intro and History: 0:01:12 – 1:33:34Eyecatch Break: 1:33:34 – 1:34:19Dragon Ball GT Review: 1:34:19 – 3:53:18End Theme: 3:13:54 – 3:54:21Subscribe to our YouTube channels! Japanimation Station: https://www.youtube.com/c/japanimationstation Purely Academic: https://www.youtube.com/@purelyacademicpodcastRead Jonathan Lack’s movie reviews and stay up to date with all our podcast projects at https://www.jonathanlack.comSubscribe to PURELY ACADEMIC, our monthly variety podcast about movies, video games, TV, and more: https://purelyacademic.simplecast.comRead Jonathan’s book 200 Reviews in Paperback or on Kindle – https://a.co/d/bLx53vK“Welcome to Japanimation Station” – Music by Thomas Lack, Lyrics by Sean Chapman, featuring Hatsune Miku. “Happily Ever After” – Music & Lyrics by Thomas Lack, featuring Hatsune Miku. https://www.thomaslack.com

Gundam is back, which means Weekly Suit Gundam returns once more, thanks to this weekend’s release of Mobile Suit Gundam GQuuuuuuX -Beginning- in American theaters. The film, which collects the first few episodes of the upcoming GQuuuuuuX TV series, is the result of an exciting, long-awaited collaboration behind the Otaku madmen at Studio Khara, including Neon Genesis Evangelion creator Anno Hideaki and Gainax veterans Tsurumaki Kazuya and Enokido Yoji. The result is every bit as exciting as one would expect, a spectacular production that radically reworks Gundam history even as it forges a bold new path for the franchise. -Beginning- is a fantastic theatrical experience that bodes very well for the show to come, and after seeing these 80 minutes, we are extremely excited to see more in April. Enjoy, and be sure to join us for Season 5 of Japanimation Station, our anime ‘Grand Tour,’ when it premieres on March 16th, 2025! Read Jonathan Lack’s movie reviews and stay up to date with all our podcast projects at https://www.jonathanlack.comSubscribe to PURELY ACADEMIC, our monthly variety podcast about movies, video games, TV, and more: https://purelyacademic.simplecast.comRead Jonathan’s book 200 Reviews in Paperback or on Kindle – https://a.co/d/bLx53vKSubscribe to our YouTube channels! Japanimation Station: https://www.youtube.com/c/japanimationstation Purely Academic: https://www.youtube.com/@purelyacademicpodcastSupport the show at Ko-fi ☕️ https://ko-fi.com/weeklystuffOriginal Music by Thomas Lack https://www.thomaslack.com/

The latest film from Kyoto Animation veteran Yamada Naoko – known for K-On!, A Silent Voice, and Tamako Market – arrived in American theaters courtesy GKids this weekend, and both Sean and Jonathan made trips to the theater to check it out. Now working with Science SARU, Yamada’s voice is as singular as ever, and while The Colors Within returns to some familiar narrative territory for the director – high-school students forming a band – the way this story is told is singular. It’s an aggressively low-key, gentle narrative about quiet but profound emotions, and it builds to a musical climax that is an absolute knockout – one we couldn’t resist recording a podcast about. Enjoy! And please look forward to Season 5 of Japanimation Station, our ‘Grand Tour’ of anime, which we are excited to announce will be premiering Sunday, March 16th, 2025! Read Jonathan Lack’s movie reviews and stay up to date with all our podcast projects at https://www.jonathanlack.comSubscribe to PURELY ACADEMIC, our monthly variety podcast about movies, video games, TV, and more: https://purelyacademic.simplecast.comRead Jonathan’s book 200 Reviews in Paperback or on Kindle – https://a.co/d/bLx53vKSubscribe to our YouTube channels! Japanimation Station: https://www.youtube.com/c/japanimationstationPurely Academic: https://www.youtube.com/@purelyacademicpodcastSupport the show at Ko-fi ☕️ https://ko-fi.com/weeklystuff“Welcome to Japanimation Station” – Original Music by Thomas Lack, Lyrics by Thomas Lack and Sean Chapman, featuring Hatsune Miku; “ICE” – Original Music & Lyrics by Thomas Lack, featuring Hatsune Miku. https://www.thomaslack.com

The fourth and potentially final TV season of the hit anime Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba aired its fourth season this summer, adapting and expanding on the “Hashira Training Arc” of Koyoharu Gotouge’s manga. We weren’t able to review this season right when it finished due to work on our massive Kyoto Animation project, but now that we’re between seasons we thought it was time to talk once more about one of our favorite ongoing anime. These episodes adapt a very short slice of the manga, expanding on it in really wonderful ways to give us a final stretch of in-depth character development before the chaos of the Infinity Castle Arc, which will be produced as a film trilogy in the coming years. As always, ufotable’s adaptational choices are really smart and interesting to talk about, and it all builds to a season finale that’s one of the best episodes in the show’s history. Enjoy! We’ll be going on a bit of a hiatus for now as we work on SEASON 5 of Japanimation Station, our ‘Grand Tour’ through a variety of anime, which will be premiering later this winter. Time Chart:Theme Song: 0:00:00 – 0:01:15Hashira Training Arc Review Part 1: 0:01:15 – 1:06:24 Eyecatch Break: 1:06:24 – 1:06:47Hashira Training Arc Review Part 2: 1:06:47 – 2:19:08End Theme: 2:19:08 – 2:20:09Read Jonathan Lack’s movie reviews and stay up to date with all our podcast projects at https://www.jonathanlack.comSubscribe to PURELY ACADEMIC, our monthly variety podcast about movies, video games, TV, and more: https://purelyacademic.simplecast.comRead Jonathan’s book 200 Reviews in Paperback or on Kindle – https://a.co/d/bLx53vKSubscribe to our YouTube channels! Japanimation Station: https://www.youtube.com/c/japanimationstationPurely Academic: https://www.youtube.com/@purelyacademicpodcastSupport the show at Ko-fi ☕️ https://ko-fi.com/weeklystuff“Welcome to Japanimation Station” – Original Music by Thomas Lack, Lyrics by Thomas Lack and Sean Chapman, featuring Hatsune Miku; “Rolled Into One” – Original Music & Lyrics by Thomas Lack, featuring Hatsune Miku. https://www.thomaslack.com

Weekly Suit Gundam makes its triumphant return to review the long-awaited Mobile Suit Gundam SEED FREEDOM, the film sequel to the first Gundam anime of the 21st century: Gundam SEED and Gundam SEED Destiny. We are big fans of the original SEED on this podcast, and were driven slightly insane by Destiny, so seeing director Mitsuo Fukuda and the original cast and crew come back together for a final adventure, based on story material left behind by the late Chiaki Morosawa, is extremely cathartic, especially since the film they made is so astonishingly great. Now that it’s finally dropped in the US on Netflix (albeit in a strange dub-only release – we would encourage listeners to, uh, *search elsewhere* for the original Japanese), we’re free to talk about the film at length, diving into the incredible action, surprisingly potent storytelling, and how the movie finally does right by Kira, Lacus, Shinn, and all the other great characters left in tatters by Destiny. Enjoy, and join us next week for another bonus episode of Japanimation Station, where we’ll be reviewing the Hashira Training Arc season of Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba. Read Jonathan Lack’s movie reviews and stay up to date with all our podcast projects at https://www.jonathanlack.comSubscribe to PURELY ACADEMIC, our monthly variety podcast about movies, video games, TV, and more: https://purelyacademic.simplecast.comRead Jonathan’s book 200 Reviews in Paperback or on Kindle – https://a.co/d/bLx53vKSubscribe to our YouTube channels! Japanimation Station: https://www.youtube.com/c/japanimationstationPurely Academic: https://www.youtube.com/@purelyacademicpodcastSupport the show at Ko-fi ☕️ https://ko-fi.com/weeklystuff

It’s the final episode of our Kyoto Vacation season, an incredibly, unexpectedly long journey that’s lasted almost a full year! For this Season Finale, we thought we’d take stock of all the incredible anime we’ve seen from the incredible artists at Kyoto Animation. We make a Tier List of all the TV series and movies we watched this season, create a KyoAni drinking game based on the most common visuals and tropes we noticed across the studio’s work, and declare our favorite shows, characters, episodes, and more. And at the end of the episode, we announce not one, but two new seasons of Japanimation Station: Season 5, premiering this winter, and Season 6, premiering in 2025. What will they be? You’ll have to listen to find out! Enjoy, and come back next week for the long-awaited, one-week-only return of Weekly Suit Gundam, as we finally review MOBILE SUIT GUNDAM SEED FREEDOM! Time Chart:Theme Song: 0:00:00 – 0:01:30 Reflections: 0:01:30 – 0:31:14Tier List: 0:31:14 – 1:02:53Picking Favorites & KyoAni Drinking Game: 1:02:53 – 1:52:50Season 5 Announcement: 1:52:50 – 2:05:38Season 6 Announcement: 2:05:38 – 2:07:55End Theme: 2:07:55 – 2:09:09Make your own Kyoto Animation Tier List here https://tiermaker.com/create/japanimation-stations-kyoto-vacation-17327185 Support the show at Ko-fi ☕️ https://ko-fi.com/weeklystuffRead the book 200 Reviews by Jonathan R. Lack in Paperback or on Kindle – https://a.co/d/bLx53vKFollow The Weekly Stuff Wordcast newsletter for regular updates and extra content! https://www.jonathanlack.comSubscribe to The Weekly Stuff Podcast on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/TheWeeklyStuffPodcastVisit our website and subscribe to Japanimation Station on all podcast platforms: http://japanimationstation.com/Subscribe to The Weekly Stuff Podcast on all podcast platforms: http://www.weeklystuffpodcast.com“re:CAPTURE” and “Welcome to Japanimation Station” – Original Music by Thomas Lack, Lyrics by Thomas Lack and Sean Chapman, featuring Hatsune Miku. https://www.thomaslack.com

It’s the penultimate episode of our Kyoto Vacation season, and while we wait to board the plane back to America, we’ve got one last show to review: Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid, which aired two seasons in 2017 and 2021. A delightfully silly and surprisingly sweet slice-of-life comedy an office worker and the extra-dimensional dragon who’s infatuated with her, the first season was directed by the great Yasuhiro Takemoto, before his tragic death in the 2019 arson attack that took the lives of so many Kyoto Animation artists. The second season, Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid S, was finished by the studio’s other stalwart veteran director, Tatsuya Ishihara, as the first series the studio had back on the air after the attack. It’s a great show in both incarnations, different in some notable ways based on the personalities of the two directors, but more than anything, the series attests to the artistry and humanity of Kyoto Animation, and their resilience in continuing to create in the wake of such overwhelming loss. Enjoy, and come back next week for the FINAL episode of the season, as we take a look back at our entire Kyoto Vacation, create a tier list of KyoAni shows, and announce Seasons 5 and 6 of Japanimation Station! Time Chart:Theme Song: 0:00:00 – 0:01:30 Intro & History: 0:01:30 – 0:44:12Eyecatch Break: 0:44:12 – 0:44:49Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid Review: 0:44:49 – 2:34:28End Theme: 2:34:28 – 2:35:59Support the show at Ko-fi ☕️ https://ko-fi.com/weeklystuffRead the book 200 Reviews by Jonathan R. Lack in Paperback or on Kindle – https://a.co/d/bLx53vKFollow The Weekly Stuff Wordcast newsletter for regular updates and extra content! https://www.jonathanlack.comSubscribe to The Weekly Stuff Podcast on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/TheWeeklyStuffPodcastVisit our website and subscribe to Japanimation Station on all podcast platforms: http://japanimationstation.com/Subscribe to The Weekly Stuff Podcast on all podcast platforms: http://www.weeklystuffpodcast.com “re:CAPTURE” and “ice” – Original Music & Lyrics by Thomas Lack, featuring Hatsune Miku & Megurine Luka. https://www.thomaslack.com

The 7th and final part of our epic Kyoto Vacation is titled“Through Rain or Shine: The Life and Times of Violet Evergarden,” and in today’s episode we reach the end of that story with Violet Evergarden: The Movie. And what a movie it is. Here is a film that made at least one of our hosts ugly cry, and deeply affected both of us. An outstanding masterpiece of a movie on its own terms, and a tremendous conclusion to the Violet Evergarden story, director Taichi Ishidate and screenwriter Reiko Yoshida both outdo themselves here, telling a tale about guilt, death, love, and acceptance, and doing it with nearly unparalleled artistry. It is as profound a work as Kyoto Animation has ever created, and one of the best animated films we’ve had the pleasure of reviewing on this show. Enjoy, and come back next week for the penultimate episode of the season, where we’ll be discussing Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid, the other major KyoAni series that straddles the horrific arson attack that devastated the studio. Time Chart:Theme Song: 0:00:00 – 0:01:30 Intro & History: 0:01:30 – 0:57:45Eyecatch Break: 0:57:45 – 0:58:23Violet Evergarden The Movie Review: 0:58:23 – 3:29:57End Theme: 3:29:57 – 3:31:26Support the show at Ko-fi ☕️ https://ko-fi.com/weeklystuffRead the book 200 Reviews by Jonathan R. Lack in Paperback or on Kindle – https://a.co/d/bLx53vKFollow The Weekly Stuff Wordcast newsletter for regular updates and extra content! https://www.jonathanlack.comSubscribe to The Weekly Stuff Podcast on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/TheWeeklyStuffPodcastVisit our website and subscribe to Japanimation Station on all podcast platforms: http://japanimationstation.com/Subscribe to The Weekly Stuff Podcast on all podcast platforms: http://www.weeklystuffpodcast.com“re:CAPTURE” and “ice” – Original Music & Lyrics by Thomas Lack, featuring Hatsune Miku & Megurine Luka. https://www.thomaslack.com

The 7th and final part of our epic Kyoto Vacation continues with the first Violet Evergarden film, Eternity and the Auto-Memory Doll! It is a ‘Gaiden’ side-story that plays like a longer, lusher episode of the TV series, where Violet comes into a client’s life and not only helps them write the perfect letter, but in so doing helps them make a major personal breakthrough. And this time, she does it twice, as the film takes the surprising step of resetting halfway through with a major time jump, and the flipside of the story we see in the first half. It’s a remarkable film, boldly and beautifully directed by Haruka Fujita in her feature directorial debut, and the first KyoAni production animated in 2.35:1 widescreen, making for one of the most overwhelmingly gorgeous things we’ve reviewed so far.Enjoy, and come back next week for our review of the final piece of the Violet Evergarden saga, the aptly but confusingly named second film Violet Evergarden: The Movie! Time Chart:Theme Song: 0:00:00 – 0:01:30 Intro & History: 0:01:30 – 0:34:57Eyecatch Break: 0:34:57 – 0:35:34Violet Evergarden Gaiden Review: 0:35:34 – 2:35:27End Theme: 2:35:27 – 2:36:58Support the show at Ko-fi ☕️ https://ko-fi.com/weeklystuffRead the book 200 Reviews by Jonathan R. Lack in Paperback or on Kindle – https://a.co/d/bLx53vKFollow The Weekly Stuff Wordcast newsletter for regular updates and extra content! https://www.jonathanlack.comSubscribe to The Weekly Stuff Podcast on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/TheWeeklyStuffPodcastVisit our website and subscribe to Japanimation Station on all podcast platforms: http://japanimationstation.com/Subscribe to The Weekly Stuff Podcast on all podcast platforms: http://www.weeklystuffpodcast.com“re:CAPTURE” and “ice” – Original Music & Lyrics by Thomas Lack, featuring Hatsune Miku & Megurine Luka. https://www.thomaslack.com

The 7th and final part of our epic Kyoto Vacation is titled“Through Rain or Shine: The Life and Times of Violet Evergarden,” which means we finally get to dive into an anime we’ve wanted to review for years: Violet Evergarden, the 2018 series based on the acclaimed novels by Akiko Takase. It is, as you’ve probably heard, a masterpiece, a departure in setting and storytelling from many KyoAni works, but tonally and emotionally something a return to their early Key adaptations like Air and Clannad. A mix of anthological storytelling about different characters in need of letter-writing and a serialized narrative about the eponymous child soldier turned auto-memory doll, Violet Evergarden is a powerful, profound, and stupendously beautiful triumph that leads to one of our longest episodes ever – but if any series deserves this much discussion, it’s this one. Enjoy, and come back next week for our review of the first Violet Evergarden movie, Eternity and the Auto-Memory Doll! Time Chart:Theme Song: 0:00:00 – 0:01:30 Intro & History: 0:01:30 – 1:26:03Eyecatch Break: 1:26:03 – 1:26:41Violet Evergarden Review: 1:26:41 – 4:17:08End Theme: 4:17:08 – 4:18:39Support the show at Ko-fi ☕️ https://ko-fi.com/weeklystuffRead the book 200 Reviews by Jonathan R. Lack in Paperback or on Kindle – https://a.co/d/bLx53vKFollow The Weekly Stuff Wordcast newsletter for regular updates and extra content! https://www.jonathanlack.comSubscribe to The Weekly Stuff Podcast on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/TheWeeklyStuffPodcastVisit our website and subscribe to Japanimation Station on all podcast platforms: http://japanimationstation.com/Subscribe to The Weekly Stuff Podcast on all podcast platforms: http://www.weeklystuffpodcast.com“re:CAPTURE” and “ice” – Original Music & Lyrics by Thomas Lack, featuring Hatsune Miku & Megurine Luka. https://www.thomaslack.com

Part 6 of our Kyoto Vacation comes to an end today with the third and final season of Sound! Euphonium, which also happens to be the most recent production from Kyoto Animation, having finished airing just a few weeks ago! This season (and the accompanying Ensemble Contest OVA) tells the story of Kumiko’s final year in High School and the Kitauji Band’s last shot at taking the Gold at Nationals, and it proves to be a divisive set of episodes amongst our hosts. Sean loved it just as much if not more than the previous seasons, finding it a thoughtful and touching portrait of the cyclical realities of high school life as a teacher, while Jonathan found it mostly frustrating in its thematic gaps, narrative repetition, and lack of focus on the music or performance. Our in-house composer and musical expert Thomas Lack joins to help moderate, and it makes for a really engaging, deep discussion that goes beyond just talking about the anime itself. Enjoy, and come back on August 4th for the premiere of the seventh and final part of our Kyoto Vacation, “Through Rain or Shine: The Life and Times of Violet Evergarden,” the last set of episodes for this season of the podcast.Time Chart:Theme Song: 0:00:00 – 0:01:30 Intro, History, and Ensemble Contest OVA: 0:01:30 – 0:43:32Eyecatch Break: 0:43:32– 0:44:09Sound! Euphonim the Movie Review: 0:44:09 – 2:44:36End Theme: 2:44:36 – 2:46:06Support the show at Ko-fi ☕️ https://ko-fi.com/weeklystuffRead the book 200 Reviews by Jonathan R. Lack in Paperback or on Kindle – https://a.co/d/bLx53vKFollow The Weekly Stuff Wordcast newsletter for regular updates and extra content! https://www.jonathanlack.comSubscribe to The Weekly Stuff Podcast on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/TheWeeklyStuffPodcastVisit our website and subscribe to Japanimation Station on all podcast platforms: http://japanimationstation.com/Subscribe to The Weekly Stuff Podcast on all podcast platforms: http://www.weeklystuffpodcast.com“re:CAPTURE” and “ice” – Original Music & Lyrics by Thomas Lack, featuring Hatsune Miku & Megurine Luka. https://www.thomaslack.com

Part 6 of our Kyoto Vacation continues with the second Sound! Euphonium movie, and the one that directly follows on the events of the TV show to continue the story of Kumiko in her 2nd year at Kitauji. And it may be the most divisive episode of the season so far, as although Sean loved the film and found it a compelling exploration of Kumiko moving into her role as senpai to a new group of first-years, Jonathan was mostly unmoved, finding the film narratively insubstantial and awkwardly structured. But it makes for a really great conversation that helps us arrive at what the core of Sound! Euphonium is, the differences between the source material and Kyoto Animation’s adaptation, and what exactly it is we do – or don’t – respond to in this series. Enjoy, and come back next week for the final episode of Part 6, as we review the just-completed Sound! Euphonium season 3, including the Ensemble Contest OVA. Time Chart:Theme Song: 0:00:00 – 0:01:30 Intro & History: 0:01:30 – 0:21:33Eyecatch Break: 0:21:33– 0:22:09Sound! Euphonim the Movie Review: 0:22:09 – 2:00:54End Theme: 2:00:54 – 2:02:25Support the show at Ko-fi ☕️ https://ko-fi.com/weeklystuffRead the book 200 Reviews by Jonathan R. Lack in Paperback or on Kindle – https://a.co/d/bLx53vKFollow The Weekly Stuff Wordcast newsletter for regular updates and extra content! https://www.jonathanlack.comVisit our website and subscribe to Japanimation Station on all podcast platforms: http://japanimationstation.com/“re:CAPTURE” and “ice” – Original Music & Lyrics by Thomas Lack, featuring Hatsune Miku & Megurine Luka. https://www.thomaslack.com

Part 6 of our Kyoto Vacation is titled ‘Yamada Naoko Strikes Back; or, I Have no Voice and I Must Sound! Euphonium,’ and in this week’s episode, both halves of that title meet, and then some. We are discussing the 2018 film Liz and the Blue Bird, a spin-off/side story to the main Sound! Euphonium narrative, focusing on the oboe and flute players Mizore and Nozomi as they navigate their unusual, fraught friendship while rehearsing a major solo for the Kansai competition. With an entirely different visual aesthetic and Yamada Naoko’s unmistakable voice shining through in every frame, Liz and the Blue Bird stands tall all on its own as a singular masterpiece, and to fully break down just how great the film is, we’ve brought in Jonathan’s concert-band-veteran brother, Thomas – also Japanimation Station’s in-house composer – as a guest on today’s episode. Enjoy, and come back next week as we dive into Kumiko’s second year at Kitauji High with the awkwardly titled 2019 film Sound! Euphonium: The Movie – Our Promise: A Brand New Day. Time Chart:Theme Song: 0:00:00 – 0:01:30 Intro & History: 0:01:30 – 0:47:16Eyecatch Break: 0:47:16– 0:47:52Liz and the Blue Bird Review: 0:47:52 – 3:06:29End Theme: 3:06:29 – 3:07:59Support the show at Ko-fi ☕️ https://ko-fi.com/weeklystuffRead the book 200 Reviews by Jonathan R. Lack in Paperback or on Kindle – https://a.co/d/bLx53vKFollow The Weekly Stuff Wordcast newsletter for regular updates and extra content! https://www.jonathanlack.comSubscribe to The Weekly Stuff Podcast on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/TheWeeklyStuffPodcastVisit our website and subscribe to Japanimation Station on all podcast platforms: http://japanimationstation.com/Subscribe to The Weekly Stuff Podcast on all podcast platforms: http://www.weeklystuffpodcast.com“re:CAPTURE” and “ice” – Original Music & Lyrics by Thomas Lack, featuring Hatsune Miku & Megurine Luka. https://www.thomaslack.com

Part 6 of our Kyoto Vacation continues with Sound! Euphonium 2, the aptly titled second season of Kyoto Animation’s beloved adaptation of Takeda Ayano’s novels. This batch of episodes picks up right where the first left off, with the students of the Kitauji High Concert Band working hard to make it to Nationals, but this time working through a lot more interpersonal drama. Where the first season focused on protagonist Kumiko’s relationship with trumpet prodigy Reina, Season 2 follows Kumiko’s encounters with estranged oboe and flute players Mizore and Nozomi, and the fraught journey of the mysterious third-year Euphonium player Asuka. It’s another great set of episodes, and while Jonathan was very slightly less impressed than Sean, his concert band veteran brother Thomas writes in with a sternly-worded letter to set him straight. Enjoy, and come back next week for our review of the Sound! Euphonium spin-off film, Naoko Yamada’s Liz and the Blue Bird!Time Chart:Theme Song: 0:00:00 – 0:01:30 Intro & Review Part 1: 0:01:30 – 0:44:32Eyecatch Break: 0:44:32 – 0:45:10Sound! Euphonium 2 Review: 0:45:10 – 3:03:40End Theme: 3:03:40 – 3:05:10Support the show at Ko-fi ☕️ https://ko-fi.com/weeklystuffRead the book 200 Reviews by Jonathan R. Lack in Paperback or on Kindle – https://a.co/d/bLx53vKFollow The Weekly Stuff Wordcast newsletter for regular updates and extra content! https://www.jonathanlack.comSubscribe to The Weekly Stuff Podcast on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/TheWeeklyStuffPodcastVisit our website and subscribe to Japanimation Station on all podcast platforms: http://japanimationstation.com/Subscribe to The Weekly Stuff Podcast on all podcast platforms: http://www.weeklystuffpodcast.com“re:CAPTURE” and “ice” – Original Music & Lyrics by Thomas Lack, featuring Hatsune Miku & Megurine Luka. https://www.thomaslack.com

Part 6 of our Kyoto Vacation is titled ‘Yamada Naoko Strikes Back; or, I Have no Voice and I Must Sound! Euphonium.’ And from here on, we’re looking at the second half of that title, as we review Kyoto Animation’s beloved adaptation of Takeda Ayano’s Sound! Euphonium novels (co-directed, of course, by the one and only Yamada Naoko). In today’s episode, we’re looking at the 13 episodes (and 1 OVA) of the show’s first season, from 2015, a spectacular stretch of television that sees KyoAni taking on perhaps its biggest animation challenge yet: Meticulously, lovingly, and accurately drawing an entire concert band’s worth of instruments as they are practiced and performed. They rise to the challenge, of course, while also delivering a huge ensemble of characters with an extremely intense relationship at the show’s core, making for a very special season of TV indeed. Enjoy, and come back next week as we make our way to Nationals with the second season of Sound! Euphonium!Time Chart:Theme Song: 0:00:00 – 0:01:30 Intro & History: 0:01:30 – 1:10:15Eyecatch Break: 1:10:15 – 1:10:52Sound! Euphonium Review: 1:10:52 – 2:46:59End Theme: 2:46:59 – 2:48:29Support the show at Ko-fi ☕️ https://ko-fi.com/weeklystuffRead the book 200 Reviews by Jonathan R. Lack in Paperback or on Kindle – https://a.co/d/bLx53vKFollow The Weekly Stuff Wordcast newsletter for regular updates and extra content! https://www.jonathanlack.comSubscribe to The Weekly Stuff Podcast on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/TheWeeklyStuffPodcastVisit our website and subscribe to Japanimation Station on all podcast platforms: http://japanimationstation.com/Subscribe to The Weekly Stuff Podcast on all podcast platforms: http://www.weeklystuffpodcast.com“re:CAPTURE” and “ice” – Original Music & Lyrics by Thomas Lack, featuring Hatsune Miku & Megurine Luka. https://www.thomaslack.com

Welcome back for Part 6 of our Kyoto Vacation, entitled ‘Yamada Naoko Strikes Back; or, I Have no Voice and I Must Sound! Euphonium.’ And while most of this part will deal with the second half of that title, today’s subject is all about the aforementioned Yamada Naoko, the Kyoto Animation wunderkind behind K-On! and Tamako Market, and the director of what might well be the best thing we’ve watched all season: The 2016 movie A Silent Voice – aka The Shape of Voice – based on the manga by Ōima Yoshitoki. It’s an absolute masterpiece, a stunningly animated story tackling some very intense subject matter – including bullying and suicidal ideation – with incredible amounts of empathy, sensitivity, humor, and humanity.Enjoy, and come back next week for our review of the first season of Sound! Euphonium.Time Chart:Theme Song: 0:00:00 – 0:01:30 Intro & History: 0:01:30 – 0:54:31Eyecatch Break: 0:54:31 – 0:55:09A Silent Voice Review: 0:55:09 – 3:24:29End Theme: 3:24:29 – 3:25:59Support the show at Ko-fi ☕️ https://ko-fi.com/weeklystuffRead the book 200 Reviews by Jonathan R. Lack in Paperback or on Kindle – https://a.co/d/bLx53vKFollow The Weekly Stuff Wordcast newsletter for regular updates and extra content! https://www.jonathanlack.comSubscribe to The Weekly Stuff Podcast on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/TheWeeklyStuffPodcastVisit our website and subscribe to Japanimation Station on all podcast platforms: http://japanimationstation.com/Subscribe to The Weekly Stuff Podcast on all podcast platforms: http://www.weeklystuffpodcast.com“re:CAPTURE” and “ice” – Original Music & Lyrics by Thomas Lack, featuring Hatsune Miku & Megurine Luka. https://www.thomaslack.com

Part 5 of our Kyoto Vacation, “Kyoto Animation’s Splendid Isolation,” comes to a close with one last adventure with the characters of Love, Chuunibyo, and Other Delusions, in their 2018 movie, Take on Me! The film finds Rikka and Yuta off on a journey across Japan as they ‘elope’ after Rikka’s big sister Toka plans to move her to Italy for her final year of high school. Many hijinks ensue, and while Sean and Jonathan are again slightly divided on how effective the storytelling is, as they were with season 2, we enjoy celebrating just what a funny, lively production the film is, and the strong ending it delivers this great group of characters. Enjoy, and come back in June for the premiere of Part 6 of our Kyoto Vacation, where we’ll be reviewing the film A Silent Voice before leaping into the world of Sound! Euphonium. Time Chart:Theme Song: 0:00:00 – 0:01:30 Review Part 1: 0:37:18Eyecatch Break: 0:37:18 – 0:37:55Review Part 2: 0:37:55 – 1:53:47End Theme: 1:53:47 – 1:54:48 Support the show at Ko-fi ☕️ https://ko-fi.com/weeklystuffRead the book 200 Reviews by Jonathan R. Lack in Paperback or on Kindle – https://a.co/d/bLx53vKFollow The Weekly Stuff Wordcast newsletter for regular updates and extra content! https://www.jonathanlack.comSubscribe to The Weekly Stuff Podcast on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/TheWeeklyStuffPodcastVisit our website and subscribe to Japanimation Station on all podcast platforms: http://japanimationstation.com/Subscribe to The Weekly Stuff Podcast on all podcast platforms: http://www.weeklystuffpodcast.com“re:CAPTURE” and “Rolled Into One” – Original Music & Lyrics by Thomas Lack, featuring Hatsune Miku. https://www.thomaslack.com

We are back for a particularly ‘colorful’ episode of Part 5 of our Kyoto Vacation, “Kyoto Animation’s Splendid Isolation,” with our review of 2016’s Myriad Colors Phantom World. While this series isn’t one of KyoAni’s ‘masterpiece’ shows, it might just be their most underrated. A madcap comedy packed with wall-to-wall creativity, vivid characters, and a smarter and more emotionally engaging structure than viewers might first realize, Myriad Colors is a consistent delight, with its second half in particular delivering one great episode after another. Sadly, the show flopped upon release and has been unfairly dismissed as a major creative misfire, meaning it’s due a real re-evaluation, which we hope today’s show kicks off! Enjoy, and come back next week for the end of Part 5 with our review of the Love, Chuunibyo, and Other Delusions ‘finale’ movie, Take On Me! Time Chart:Theme Song: 0:00:00 – 0:01:30 Intro and History: 0:01:30 – 0:44:54Eyecatch Break: 0:44:54 – 0:45:32Myriad Colors Phantom World Review: 0:45:32 – 2:58:15End Theme: 2:58:15 – 2:59:16 Support the show at Ko-fi ☕️ https://ko-fi.com/weeklystuffRead the book 200 Reviews by Jonathan R. Lack in Paperback or on Kindle – https://a.co/d/bLx53vKFollow The Weekly Stuff Wordcast newsletter for regular updates and extra content! https://www.jonathanlack.comSubscribe to The Weekly Stuff Podcast on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/TheWeeklyStuffPodcastVisit our website and subscribe to Japanimation Station on all podcast platforms: http://japanimationstation.com/Subscribe to The Weekly Stuff Podcast on all podcast platforms: http://www.weeklystuffpodcast.com“re:CAPTURE” and “Rolled Into One” – Original Music & Lyrics by Thomas Lack, featuring Hatsune Miku. https://www.thomaslack.com

We are back for Part 5 of our Kyoto Vacation, “Kyoto Animation’s Splendid Isolation,” and today we return to the wacky world of Love, Chuunibyo, and Other Delusions for its second season, Heart Throb! This second batch of episodes sees Rikka and Yuta struggling with what it means to be a couple when another chuunibyo friend from Yuta’s past enters the picture, and while both Sean and Jonathan agree it’s an extremely funny, well-directed set of episodes with plenty of laughs and memorable moments, there’s a bit of a divide between how effective we think the core plotline is, with Jonathan loving it all the way through and Sean finding it lacking. Either way, this remains a delightful show, and a very enjoyable one to talk about. Enjoy, and come back next week for our review of all 13 episodes of Myriad Colors Phantom World!Time Chart:Theme Song: 0:00:00 – 0:01:30 Intro, History, and Rikka’s Version Movie: 0:01:30 – 0:40:01Eyecatch Break: 0:40:01 – 0:40:39Chuunibyo Season 2 Review: 0:40:39 – 2:45:53End Theme: 2:46:53 – 2:46:53 Support the show at Ko-fi ☕️ https://ko-fi.com/weeklystuffRead the book 200 Reviews by Jonathan R. Lack in Paperback or on Kindle – https://a.co/d/bLx53vKFollow The Weekly Stuff Wordcast newsletter for regular updates and extra content! https://www.jonathanlack.comSubscribe to The Weekly Stuff Podcast on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/TheWeeklyStuffPodcastVisit our website and subscribe to Japanimation Station on all podcast platforms: http://japanimationstation.com/Subscribe to The Weekly Stuff Podcast on all podcast platforms: http://www.weeklystuffpodcast.com“re:CAPTURE” and “Rolled Into One” – Original Music & Lyrics by Thomas Lack, featuring Hatsune Miku. https://www.thomaslack.com

We are back for Part 5 of our Kyoto Vacation, entitled “Kyoto Animation’s Splendid Isolation,” and today we’re discussing what might be the worst series the fine folks at KyoAni have ever made: 2013’s Beyond the Boundary, a show that is as beautifully animated as anything the studio has ever produced, but suffers from generic (and sometimes incoherent) storytelling, flat characters, and a frustratingly repetitive and off-putting sense of ‘comedy.’ It also has a feature film follow-up, 2015’s I’ll Be Here, which is even more stunningly animated, but also somehow even more maddening as a piece of storytelling. It’s a strange show, but a fascinating one to talk about. Enjoy, and come back next week for our review of the second season of Love, Chuunibyo, and Other Delusions – Heart Throb! Time Chart:Theme Song: 0:00:00 – 0:01:30 Beyond the Boundary Review: 0:01:30 – 1:30:13Eyecatch Break: 1:30:13 – 1:30:51I’ll Be Here Movie Review: 1:30:51 – 2:23:26End Theme: 2:23:26 – 2:24:28Support the show at Ko-fi ☕️ https://ko-fi.com/weeklystuffRead the book 200 Reviews by Jonathan R. Lack in Paperback or on Kindle – https://a.co/d/bLx53vKFollow The Weekly Stuff Wordcast newsletter for regular updates and extra content! https://www.jonathanlack.comSubscribe to The Weekly Stuff Podcast on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/TheWeeklyStuffPodcastVisit our website and subscribe to Japanimation Station on all podcast platforms: http://japanimationstation.com/Subscribe to The Weekly Stuff Podcast on all podcast platforms: http://www.weeklystuffpodcast.com“re:CAPTURE” and “Rolled Into One” – Original Music & Lyrics by Thomas Lack, featuring Hatsune Miku. https://www.thomaslack.com

We are back for Part 5 of our Kyoto Vacation, entitled “Kyoto Animation’s Splendid Isolation,” and today we’re discussing the next series made by the ladies behind K-ON!, 2013’s Tamako Market! An entirely original creation by Naoko Yamada and Reiko Yoshida, Tamako Market is a strange, singular, and sweet slice-of-life series about the daughter of a mochi-shop owner and the many oddballs she encounters in daily life, including a talking bird from a mysterious island kingdom named Dera. Sean and Jonathan are split on just how effective the TV show itself is – Sean loves it, while Jonathan found it a little hit-or-miss – but we are in complete agreement about the 2014 film follow-up, Tamako Love Story, which adopts a slightly different tone and focus and delivers a true directorial tour-de-force from Naoko Yamada. It’s one of the best things we’ve watched this season, and that’s saying something. Enjoy, and come back next week for our review of 2013’s Beyond the Boundary and its feature film sequel, I’ll Be Here! Time Chart:Theme Song: 0:00:00 – 0:01:30 Tamako Market Review: 0:01:30 – 1:43:36Eyecatch Break: 1:43:36 – 1:44:14Tamako Love Story Review: 1:44:14 – 3:07:45End Theme: 3:07:45 – 3:08:46 Support the show at Ko-fi ☕️ https://ko-fi.com/weeklystuffRead the book 200 Reviews by Jonathan R. Lack in Paperback or on Kindle – https://a.co/d/bLx53vKFollow The Weekly Stuff Wordcast newsletter for regular updates and extra content! https://www.jonathanlack.comSubscribe to The Weekly Stuff Podcast on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/TheWeeklyStuffPodcastVisit our website and subscribe to Japanimation Station on all podcast platforms: http://japanimationstation.com/Subscribe to The Weekly Stuff Podcast on all podcast platforms: http://www.weeklystuffpodcast.com“re:CAPTURE” and “Happily Ever After” – Original Music & Lyrics by Thomas Lack, featuring Hatsune Miku. https://www.thomaslack.com

We are back for Part 5 of our Kyoto Vacation, entitled “Kyoto Animation’s Splendid Isolation,” where we will be looking at the period in the 2010s when KyoAni took complete control of their source material and began creating anime based on light novels they themselves published! That effort began with 2012’s Love, Chuunibyo & Other Delusions!, a series that starts out as a very funny, very silly odd-couple comedy between a boy trying to leave his youthful obsessions behind and a girl still embroiled in playing pretend, before gradually becoming a startlingly rich, incredibly touching story about how fiction and fantasy help us process grief. It’s another Kyoto Animation home run, one that sneaks up on the viewer but lands its punches with startling power. We discuss the 12-episode first season from 2012 in today’s episode, but will be back later in Part 5 to discuss the show’s second season and movie sequel. Enjoy, and come back next week for our review of Tamako Market and its feature film follow-up, Tamako Love Story!Time Chart:Theme Song: 0:00:00 – 0:01:30 Intro and History: 0:01:30 – 0:45:52Eyecatch Break: 0:45:52 – 0:46:29Chuunibyo Season 1 Review: 0:46:29 – 2:40:53End Theme: 2:40:53 – 2:41:55 Support the show at Ko-fi ☕️ https://ko-fi.com/weeklystuffRead the book 200 Reviews by Jonathan R. Lack in Paperback or on Kindle – https://a.co/d/bLx53vKFollow The Weekly Stuff Wordcast newsletter for regular updates and extra content! https://www.jonathanlack.comSubscribe to The Weekly Stuff Podcast on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/TheWeeklyStuffPodcastVisit our website and subscribe to Japanimation Station on all podcast platforms: http://japanimationstation.com/Subscribe to The Weekly Stuff Podcast on all podcast platforms: http://www.weeklystuffpodcast.com“re:CAPTURE” and “Happily Ever After” – Original Music & Lyrics by Thomas Lack, featuring Hatsune Miku. https://www.thomaslack.com

Akira Toriyama, creator of Dragon Ball and Dr. Slump, and illustrator of the Dragon Quest franchise, passed away this week at the age of 68. His influence on our lives, like those of millions around the world, has been incalculable, so we’re devoting today’s entire show to discussing his incredible body of work and the way it changed anime, manga, video games, and global popular culture. We discuss how we first discovered Dragon Ball, why he was such a peerless mangaka, read some of the statements that have poured in from other manga authors and Dragon Ball collaborators, and respond to some listener comments. And after that, we bring back a segment from 2022 in which Sean and Jonathan rank all the story arcs in the Dragon Ball franchise, giving us a chance to dive into and celebrate his most famous work. Enjoy. Time Chart (JS)Theme Song: 0:00:00 – 0:01:15Remembering Akira Toriyama: 0:01:15 – 2:12:41 Ranking Dragon Ball Story Arcs: 2:12:41 – 3:12:07 Support the show at Ko-fi ☕️ https://ko-fi.com/weeklystuffRead the book 200 Reviews by Jonathan R. Lack in Paperback or on Kindle – https://a.co/d/bLx53vKSubscribe to JAPANIMATION STATION, our sister series about the wide, wacky world of anime: https://www.youtube.com/c/japanimationstation Explore our archives and subscribe to The Weekly Stuff Podcast on all podcasting platforms:https://weeklystuffpodcast.comFollow The Weekly Stuff Wordcast newsletter for regular updates and extra content! https://weeklystuff.substack.comMusic by Thomas Lack https://www.thomaslack.com/

Part 4 of our Kyoto Vacation is called “My Ordinary Life is a Mystery to be Lived,” and today’s second part tackles the ‘Mystery’ part of that title with 2012’s singular slice-of-life mystery anime HYOUKA! Adapted from the ‘Classic Literature Club’ novels by Honobu Yonezawa, Hyouka follows ‘energy conservationist’ Hotaro Oreki as he tries to glide through high school without giving anything much effort, only to be drawn into the orbit of the perpetually curious Eru Chitanda, with whom he begins solving low-stakes mysteries left and right. It’s an amazing and very unique story, and it’s brought to life with perhaps the most beautiful animation in the history of TV anime – which sounds like hyperbole until one lays eyes on this amazing series, which is another certified masterpiece from Kyoto Animation. Enjoy, and come back in two weeks on March 10th for Part 5 of the season, and our review of the 2012 anime Love, Chunibyo, and Other Delusions! Time Chart:Theme Song: 0:00:00 – 0:01:30 Intro and History: 0:01:30 – 0:49:30Eyecatch Break: 0:49:30 – 0:50:08Hyouka Review: 0:50:08 – 3:26:51End Theme: 3:26:51 – 3:27:53 Support the show at Ko-fi ☕️ https://ko-fi.com/weeklystuffRead the book 200 Reviews by Jonathan R. Lack in Paperback or on Kindle – https://a.co/d/bLx53vKFollow The Weekly Stuff Wordcast newsletter for regular updates and extra content! https://www.jonathanlack.comSubscribe to The Weekly Stuff Podcast on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/TheWeeklyStuffPodcastVisit our website and subscribe to Japanimation Station on all podcast platforms: http://japanimationstation.com/Subscribe to The Weekly Stuff Podcast on all podcast platforms: http://www.weeklystuffpodcast.com“re:CAPTURE” and “Happily Ever After” – Original Music & Lyrics by Thomas Lack, featuring Hatsune Miku. https://www.thomaslack.com

Part 4 of our Kyoto Vacation is called “My Ordinary Life is a Mystery to be Lived,” and we begin with one of Kyoto Animation’s most beloved cult classics, and also perhaps the weirdest show ever made: Nichijou, based on the manga by Keiichi Arawi, which follows three high-school girls, a genius child inventor, the robot big sister she invents for herself, a talking cat, and many more increasingly strange characters in a very bizarre world of madcap, gorgeously-animated comedy. Nichijou is purely gag-focused, more than any show we’ve reviewed here before, but it's also incredibly creative and wildly accomplished as an animation production, and gives us a ton to talk about. We go over the show’s history, discuss what makes it so special, and each count down our Top 10 Favorite Nichijou Segments! Enjoy, and come back next week for our review of Hyouka, the equally-singular slice-of-life mystery show from 2012!Time Chart:Theme Song: 0:00:00 – 0:01:30 Intro and History: 0:01:30 – 0:46:47Eyecatch Break: 0:46:47 – 0:47:22Nichijou Review: 0:47:22 – 1:43:44Top 10 Nichijou Segments: 1:43:44 – 3:00:22End Theme: 3:00:22 – 3:01:24 Support the show at Ko-fi ☕️ https://ko-fi.com/weeklystuffRead the book 200 Reviews by Jonathan R. Lack in Paperback or on Kindle – https://a.co/d/bLx53vKFollow The Weekly Stuff Wordcast newsletter for regular updates and extra content! https://www.jonathanlack.comSubscribe to The Weekly Stuff Podcast on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/TheWeeklyStuffPodcastVisit our website and subscribe to Japanimation Station on all podcast platforms: http://japanimationstation.com/Subscribe to The Weekly Stuff Podcast on all podcast platforms: http://www.weeklystuffpodcast.com“re:CAPTURE” and “Happily Ever After” – Original Music & Lyrics by Thomas Lack, featuring Hatsune Miku. https://www.thomaslack.com

Part 3 of our Kyoto Vacation is‘Moe Money, Moe Problems: After School Tea-Time with the Girls of K-On!’ And today, we’re finishing our journey with Hokago Tea Time by following the girls to London for an overseas adventure in K-On! The Movie. Released in 2011 to more or less unprecedented success for this type of anime, the feature film continuation of the series is one of the franchise’s finest hours, lushly animated, absolutely hilarious, and incredibly heartfelt, revisiting the events of the series finale to deepen the perspective of the original four club members – Yui, Ritsu, Mio, and Mugi-chan – on a bigger scale than we ever saw in the TV series. It's a fantastic movie, and a great way to close our After School Tea Time adventures.Enjoy, and come back on February 11th for the start of Part 4 of our Kyoto Vacation, with our review of the comedy classic Nichijou: My Ordinary Life! Time Chart:Theme Song: 0:00:00 – 0:01:30 Intro and History: 0:01:30 – 0:35:47Eyecatch Break: 0:35:47 – 0:36:22K-On! The Movie Review: 0:36:22 – 2:28:28End Theme: 2:28:28 – 2:29:29Support the show at Ko-fi ☕️ https://ko-fi.com/weeklystuffRead the book 200 Reviews by Jonathan R. Lack in Paperback or on Kindle – https://a.co/d/bLx53vKFollow The Weekly Stuff Wordcast newsletter for regular updates and extra content! https://www.jonathanlack.comSubscribe to The Weekly Stuff Podcast on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/TheWeeklyStuffPodcastVisit our website and subscribe to Japanimation Station on all podcast platforms: http://japanimationstation.com/Subscribe to The Weekly Stuff Podcast on all podcast platforms: http://www.weeklystuffpodcast.com“re:CAPTURE” and “Happily Ever After” – Original Music & Lyrics by Thomas Lack, featuring Hatsune Miku. https://www.thomaslack.com

Part 3 of our Kyoto Vacation is‘Moe Money, Moe Problems: After School Tea-Time with the Girls of K-On!’ And today, we’re discussing the 27-episode second season from 2010, which follows Yui, Ritsu, Mio, and Mugi-chan in their third and final year of high school, with second-year Azusa facing the prospect of being left behind after they all graduate. It’s an incredible season of TV, filled not only with outstanding episodes, but telling a deeply-felt, beautifully observed story about the transitional moment that is graduation, and how people balance becoming adults while maintaining childhood friendships and passions. Enjoy, and come back next week as we say goodbye to the light music club with our review of the feature film, K-On! The Movie. Time Chart:Theme Song: 0:00:00 – 0:01:30 Intro and History: 0:01:30 – 0:57:38Eyecatch Break: 0:57:38 – 0:58:15K-On!! Review: 0:58:15 – 3:06:28End Theme: 3:06:28 – 3:07:30Support the show at Ko-fi ☕️ https://ko-fi.com/weeklystuffRead the book 200 Reviews by Jonathan R. Lack in Paperback or on Kindle – https://a.co/d/bLx53vKFollow The Weekly Stuff Wordcast newsletter for regular updates and extra content! https://www.jonathanlack.comSubscribe to The Weekly Stuff Podcast on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/TheWeeklyStuffPodcastVisit our website and subscribe to Japanimation Station on all podcast platforms: http://japanimationstation.com/Subscribe to The Weekly Stuff Podcast on all podcast platforms: http://www.weeklystuffpodcast.com“re:CAPTURE” and “Happily Ever After” – Original Music & Lyrics by Thomas Lack, featuring Hatsune Miku. https://www.thomaslack.com