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 co ..read more

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 ..read more

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 ..read more

We’re back with a jam-packed episode covering lots of games, anime, and more! Sean and Jonathan have finally finished the massive 100-hour JRPGs both have been playing – Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth and Persona 3 Reload – and give final reports on both of those. But we also discuss the leaked specs for Sony’s upcoming PS5 Pro, discuss the new Sand Land anime based on the manga by Akira Toriyama, hear travel stories from Jonathan about a recent trip to Boston, and get details from Sean on his latest Ultraman adventures!  Enjoy!  Time Chart: Into & Housekeeping: 0:00:00 – 0:06:27 ..read more

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 collab ..read more

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 ..read more

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 ..read more

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 ..read more

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 c ..read more

It’s December 25th, and Christmas has finally come to Otaku Town – and with it, the final episode of Part 2 of our Kyoto Vacation. For today’s very special episode, we are finishing our journey through the world of Haruhi Suzumiya with the 2010 film The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya, the nearly-three-hour climactic story in Kyoto Animation’s beloved adaptation of Nagaru Tanigawa’s light novels. It’s an absolute masterpiece of a film, telling its story of Kyon waking up in a world without the SOS Brigade patiently and tenderly, and building to a series of incred ..read more