Episode 133 of Key Frames, a podcast about anime. Well, it finally came to pass: to mark the occasion of the wider release of The Boy and the Heron, our intrepid show is doing a retrospective on Studio Ghibli. Sometimes it can feel like there's not really anything new to be said about such well-loved movies, the only anime productions ever to reach…

Episode 132 of Key Frames, a podcast about anime. Why a beginning-of-the-season episode when we're most of the way towards the end of said season? Well, there's so much anime to watch these days that our schedule got away from us. Besides, time feels kind of awash right now, with hit fantasy manga adaptation Dungeon Meshi coming out while hit fanta…

Episode 131 of Key Frames, a podcast about anime. The flickering red light turns a steady yellow, and you reel at your good fortune. The time borehole is actually stable. And they said it couldn't be done! You swiftly dial an uplink into the first satellite that returns your ping and start leeching torrents. Torrents! They weren't as popular in 202…

Episode 130 of Key Frames, a podcast about anime. As we gaze back at the receding wreckage of 2023, probably in our tank powered by a cat ghost or something so we don't have to worry about explaining where we get fuel, we're faced with many questions. How many rules have we broken? How many people have we wronged? How many grudges have we held, how…

Episode 129 of Key Frames, a podcast about anime. The works of Osamu Tezuka are often concerned with the human spirit in conditions of extremity, with what remains of a person when malevolent forces or just the vagaries of circumstance have stripped everything else away. Phoenix: Eden17 and Pluto, the anime discussed by Ben, Andy, Duncan, and Jeff …

Episode 128 of Key Frames, a podcast about anime. "Now they've really jumped the shark," you're thinking to yourself. "I could stand them talking about manga, since you can kind of flip through the pages quickly and pretend that it's animated, but live-action TV and movies?" Well, I'm here to tell you that every podcast runs out of ideas, so we nee…

Episode 127 of Key Frames, a podcast about anime. I'm sure everyone's experienced it: some of your friends happen to throw a party or something while you're out of town, and when you get back you realize that they seem to have had so much fun without you that you can't help but... I don't know, question yourself? "Am I the problem?" you wonder. "Is…

Episode 126 of Key Frames, a podcast about anime. How are you really supposed to decide which to watch first, though, in a duology where there is no canonical order? I feel like it's a personality test that never gives me the result, unless the result is my enjoyment. I guess that makes a kind of sense? Anyway, tune in to hear Ben, Andy, Duncan, an…

Episode 125 of Key Frames, a podcast about anime. Interpersonal politics are intense in the cloistered complex of the harem. Ben, the would-be intellectual, knows only disdain for the latest season of Rent-a-Girlfriend and, though Andy is his ally in that regard, there are darker paths that he walks alone. Yohane the Parhelion? Perish the thought. …

Episode 124 of Key Frames, a podcast about anime. Sometimes, while writing the post for an episode, I have to remember to add a content warning when an anime dabbles in the medium's darker tendencies, like depictions of self-harm and sexual assault. This time, I get to do it for two different things in two different shows! Oh boy. Still, you should…

Episode 32 of Key Frames: Inbetweens, a mini-podcast about anime. It's time to rock out with Masaaki Yuasa's latest movie, Inu-Oh! Not to spoil, but everyone loves it. What all do they like? Is it the real-life talent behind this medieval Japanese rock opera? Is it the wonderful celebration of difference? Is it the opportunity to bring up Heike Mon…

Episode 123 of Key Frames, a podcast about anime. What follows is a list of podcast HR violations in this episode, as reported by a certain B. Halliburton: Andy talked about the new iDOLM@STER show for over five minutes; Duncan brought up Trigun Stampede unprompted, for the purpose of causing emotional distress; Andy refused to concede that the new…

Episode 122 of Key Frames, a podcast about anime. Yes, Ben got way too mad about Trigun Stampede, but he also has such nice things to say about the second seasons of Tsurune and Vinland Saga. Yes, Duncan's watched some skeevy shows, but he's dropped most of them and is willing to hold Andy to account (or maybe vice versa) on Onimai, at least? Yes, …

Episode 31 of Key Frames: Inbetweens, a mini-podcast about anime. It is we who plowed the prairies, built the cities where they trade / Dug the mines and built the workshops, endless miles of railroad laid / Now we stand outcast and starving midst the wonders we have made / But the union makes us strong! Come listen to Ben, Andy, and Duncan express…

Episode 121 of Key Frames, a podcast about anime. You know, someday we're going to find a way to get through the beginnings and ends of anime seasons in an efficient manner. We've tried pre-prep, agendas, a timekeeper, hand signals, a rota system, and plan ol' talking over each other. Nothing works! You get deep in the weeds talking about the wonky…

Episode 120 of Key Frames, a podcast about anime. There's always something left over at the end of the year, isn't there? Andy has some awards to hand out, many of them to manga and live-action films. Duncan wanted one more look back on the changing face of the anime industry, and Ben has eight shows (maybe more) that he hasn't gotten to talk about…

Episode 30 of Key Frames: Inbetweens, a mini-podcast about anime. Revue Starlight is a story of podcast hosts guided by the sureness of their opinions. They agree and disagree. They make good points even as they miss the overall picture. However, eventually the episode ends, never to be revisited again. It is a somber experience... but the story of…

Episode 119 of Key Frames, a podcast about anime. A slice-of-life show about building and repairing things by yourself? Too much work. A high-budget reboot of a storied anime from the eighties? Maybe your grandpa cares. A new installment of Gundam? I ought to check out the original series first. A thrilling action-comedy about mid-century spies? I'…

Episode 118 of Key Frames, a podcast about anime. Apologies are in order for this episode. Apologies that it's taken us four years since our episode on The Night Is Short, Walk on Girl to talk about the anime that started it all, The Tatami Galaxy. Apologies that two of the shows we discuss in our end-of-season wrap-up, Overlord IV and Call of the …

Episode 117 of Key Frames, a podcast about anime. Well, now that Ben has watched Vision of Escaflowne and Magic Knight Rayearth, he's decided that he likes isekai anime, so in this episode he joins Duncan to dive into the development of the genre. What nuggets of wisdom will they unearth from the distant eighties and nineties? Will Ben discover tha…

Episode 116 of Key Frames, a podcast about anime. Nine out of ten doctors agree, it's best to get one's excitement or disappointment over new anime out at the very beginning of the season. Accordingly, in the interests of good health, Ben declares war on the latest season of Rent-a-Girlfriend, shocking absolutely no one, while Jeff has nothing but …

Episode 115 of Key Frames, a podcast about anime. That's right, it's another discussion of everyone's favorite cyberpunk franchise! It's been barely a month since Ben and Duncan cautiously praised the first few episodes of the second season of Ghost in the Shell: SAC_2045, but now they're back to say that the caution was warranted and that the seri…

Episode 114 of Key Frames, a podcast about anime. What's the biggest surprise in this episode? Is it that Jeff managed to watch eight love comedies, in whole or in part, and found none of them to be particularly great? Is it that Ben expressed disappointment about two of the spring anime season's biggest hits after claiming repeatedly to be jaded a…

Episode 29 of Key Frames: Inbetweens, a mini-podcast about anime. We just did a tween on Mobile Suit Gundam, one of the defining franchises of anime, so why not another? Jeff and Duncan drink deeply of the original Ghost in the Shell movie, which they praise for asking questions more than giving answers, and they ponder how it pointed the way forwa…

Episode 113 of Key Frames, a podcast about anime. Isn't it strange sometimes how things can have opposite meanings in different contexts? If I call something "magic," depending on the tone of my voice, I could be saying either that it's a beautiful spectacle of otherworldly mystery or that it's complete bullshit that doesn't explain anything and me…

Episode 112 of Key Frames, a podcast about anime. I know we talk a lot about sex on this podcast but, to be fair, anime is extremely horny. As fans of it, we have to apologize for (or at least tolerate) jiggling boobs, panty shots, and more or less everything about the "harem" subgenre. That's why it's kind of a relief to talk about adult relations…

Episode 28 of Key Frames: Inbetweens, a mini-podcast about anime. The creeping obsession with Mobile Suit Gundam shared by Ben, Duncan, and Jeff gains another toehold in the podcast with this tween on the celebrated 1989 OVA written by none other than Hiroyuki Yamaga of Studio GAINAX fame. Hear our hosts talk about being anti-war in an anime design…

Episode 111 of Key Frames, a podcast about anime. You'd think that Ben and Andy couldn't hold down a podcast by themselves, but you'd be wrong. These hosts are two great tastes that taste great together, and they even agree on some anime! Hear them heap praise on Ya Boy Kongming! and Spy x Family, two of the big winners at the outset of the spring …

Episode 110 of Key Frames, a podcast about anime. What do you do when recapping an anime season almost entirely dominated by two or three shows? Why, you have an end-of-season episode where every anime gets a full five to fifteen minutes of discussion, for once! My Dress-Up Darling and The Case Study of Vanitas are the clear winners, in terms of ti…

Episode 27 of Key Frames: Inbetweens, a mini-podcast about anime. It's time for a rematch on whether Violet Evergarden is profoundly moving or manipulatively sappy! Duncan, Andy, and Jeff square up over the sequel movie that was released two years ago in Japan and last year worldwide, but don't worry, it's not Violet-loving Andy vs. the world this …

Episode 109 of Key Frames, a podcast about anime. If you thought that last episode's dissection of a particular host's taste in anime girls was a good time, you're really in for a treat! It's the topic now, although Duncan dresses it up by making it about how off-putting fan service in anime can be. Listen to how everyone loves tsundere characters,…

Episode 108 of Key Frames, a podcast about anime. Once upon a time, Andy bought Ben a couple of video games as gifts, but Ben didn't make the time to play them, so Andy made Ben feel really bad about that fact on a podcast to which dozens of people listen. This is now the final episode, because Ben's going into hiding. Kidding! We are talking about…

Episode 107 of Key Frames, a podcast about anime. I hope you're prepared to hear Ben, Andy, and Duncan say, "I don't know," a lot! Turns out, there are a lot of different ways to come at depictions of religion in anime, from its function in society to the nature of divinity. Don't worry, all of the hosts find plenty of opportunities to bring up cyb…

Episode 106 of Key Frames, a podcast about anime. The thing about writing blurbs for the podcast is that sometimes your present self gets mad at your past self for squandering ideas. Like, sure, last episode's end-of-season coverage was barren enough to joke about, especially without Jon's contributions, but it was like a lush, fertile field compar…

Episode 105 of Key Frames, a podcast about anime. After an entire season of complaining that there weren't many shows worth talking about, can Ben, Andy, Duncan, and Jeff fill up almost two hours with conversation anyway? What are you talking about, of course they can! They have Komi Can't Communicate and the fourth season of Aggretsuko to wrestle …

Episode 26 of Key Frames: Inbetweens, a mini-podcast about anime. Six years and a hundred and twenty-three episodes ago, in an earlier era of the podcast, Ben pitched an episode spotlighting the film adaptation of Clamp's apocalyptic manga. Instead, everyone picked Natsuyuki Rendezvous, an anime that Ben hated. Now he'll have his revenge! Duncan an…

Episode 104 of Key Frames, a podcast about anime. These anime are short, but so are our attention spans! Whenever they manage to stay on the topic of short-form anime, you'll get to hear Ben talk about anthology movies, Duncan about the Japan Animator Expo, and Andy about music videos (and a very randy robot). Also, tune in for the scoop on the new…

Episode 103 of Key Frames, a podcast about anime. You thought we covered maids in episode 41, the one about And Yet the Town Moves, but the joke's on you! Ben, Duncan, and Jeff barely talk about that anime at all this time, preferring instead to wallow in garbage like Mahoromatic and He Is My Master. After the break, at least, they class things up …

Episode 102 of Key Frames, a podcast about anime. What, again, is the taxonomy of school anime? First, This School Is Real, where school is depicted realistically and features teachers, classes, and grades. Second, We Have Clubs, I Guess, where school exists only insofar as clubs and their requisite activities exist. Third, School Is Just a Place, …

Episode 101 of Key Frames, a podcast about anime. Is the party over? Has the band stopped playing? Have the guests all left? Good, now we can go back to phoning it in, and what better way to do that than to combine our end-of-season and beginning-of-season coverage into one big omnibus episode! Tune in to hear Ben, Andy, Duncan, and Jeff talk about…

Episode 100 of Key Frames, a podcast about anime. For our hundredth episode, we've pulled out all the stops! There are dramatic readings, quiz games, and lots of navel-gazing about how our relationship with anime has evolved over six years of podcasting. Experience the thrills of Ben finally watching Revue Starlight, the chills of Jeff managing to …

Episode 25 of Key Frames: Inbetweens, a mini-podcast about anime. It's finally here, the moment where we get to talk about tanks as much as we want—as opposed to every other episode of this podcast, where Ben just talks about tanks until everyone else makes him stop! Duncan and Jeff join him now to chat about Girls und Panzer, a 2012 anime by Tsuto…

Episode 99 of Key Frames, a podcast about anime. So here I am, writing a recap of our podcast episode on anime recaps, and you better believe that the irony does not escape me. Although Ben, Andy, and Duncan make great points about the logistical and commercial pressures that have brought about recap episodes and compilation movies, none of that wi…

Episode 98 of Key Frames, a podcast about anime. The sun, cold and distant, crests the rim of the crater in which you're taking shelter. You raise your hand as you squint against it, the ghost of a reflex from before you lived on the moon, then go back to eating your Nissin Cup Noodles. Sure, you miss the hills and fields of Earth, the blues and gr…

Episode 24 of Key Frames: Inbetweens, a mini-podcast about anime. What even is a metaphor? Is it meant to be a comparison between every aspect of two objects, or just one between their most salient features? Is there value in unsuited metaphors, ones mischaracterizing the nature or intent of one object (or both), or is there an intellectual and eve…

Episode 97 of Key Frames, a podcast about anime. Jon got chased away again because Ben, Andy, Duncan, and Jeff are talking about love! How interested is anime in romance for the sake of romance versus romance for the sake of comedy? Do the tropes make the genre or the genre make the tropes? How long until Ben brings up His & Her Circumstances again…

Episode 96 of Key Frames, a podcast about anime. Hey, guess what? Jon's back! It's only a limited-time engagement, of course, but for now let's enjoy him running through his massive list of anime for the summer 2021 season. Kageki Shoujo!!, Miss Kobayashi's Dragon Maid S, and Sonny Boy are all highlights, but isekai fans shouldn't worry, because th…

Episode 95 of Key Frames, a podcast about anime. Oh boy, a podcast full of white guys talking about depictions of race and foreign culture in anime! Believe me, we understand how it looks, but I think we manage to acquit ourselves decently, covering everything from Japan's love of stereotypes and caricatures to the role of colonialism and imperiali…

Episode 94 of Key Frames, a podcast about anime. Hello and welcome to Hot Anime Summer! We're excited to kick off the new shows that are starting to air right now, but first we've got to clean our plate of spring's leftovers. Hear Jeff groan and cringe about Higehiro! Hear Duncan express mixed feelings about Vivy! Hear Ben say, "I don't have much t…

Episode 93 of Key Frames, a podcast about anime. No goofing around this time! Okay... Well, some goofing around? Just a little. Ben and Andy have as a guest Van Paugam, a Chicago-based DJ whose work has contributed to the meteoric rise of city pop as a genre over the past several years. We discuss old anime (something Ben loves) and old music (some…