anime discussion

Log Time General Podcast #13 | End of Winter 2018 — After the Winter Anime

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I really can’t tell you what happened with this one, but this week on the Log Time Podcast, we lose our collective minds and have a ton of fun with this wrap-up of the Winter 2018 anime season. We unintentionally cover what were this season’s big three shows, get *deep* into a discussion of Violet Evergarden, and get hype about a few other solid picks from the season, such as After the Rain and Hakumei to Mikochi. Among other things, we also (sort of) hold an airing of grievances at the end of the cast, and we try to help Matt pronounce “hnnnnnnng”.

Audio Links: iTunes | SoundCloud

This podcast was recorded on April 6th, 2018.

Log Time Podcast #30 | Mawaru Penguindrum Discussion — Initiate the Survival Strategy

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This week, we talk about some of the craziness of Mawaru Penguindrum.

Join us as we talk about child broilers, the symbolic representation of penguins, how moray eels can represent our inner feelings of fear, and what those subway trains and “95” may actually mean within the show.

Audio Links: iTunes | SoundCloud

UPDATE: We do apologize that the future podcasts will not be in the same detailed video formats as the previous ones. The picture in picture version of the podcast just takes too much time for the time being, and we’ve decided to take a hiatus from doing it this way. We hope you still continue to listen to us and encourage others to do so as well!

This podcast was recorded December 9th, 2017.

Log Time General Podcast #12 | Beginning of Winter 2018 — Winter’s Laid-Back Anime

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We bust out of the beginning of the Winter 2018 season with some ridiculously solid shows to help us start the year out right. We all pretty much melt over the sheer level of comfy coming from shows like Yuru Camp and Hakumei to Mikochi, we get into the fascinating but puzzling A-1/Trigger collaboration Darling in the Franxx, discuss our hopes and fears about Violet Evergarden, and almost pass out because we had so many dang good shows to talk about this season.

Audio Links: iTunes | SoundCloud

This podcast was recorded on January 26th, 2018.

Log Time General Podcast #11 | End of Fall 2017 — The Gems of the Season

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This podcast, we crawl out of the Fall 2017 season battered and bruised from the year behind us, but come up with some heavy-hitters and anime of the year contenders! We go deep into (read as: gush for what seems like hours) Just Because! and its incredible subtleties in storytelling, finally talk about a genuinely good 3DCG show a la Land of the Lustrous, check out a few other solid picks for the season, and we almost kill Matt and end the podcast over an almost-pun.

Audio Links: iTunes | SoundCloud

This podcast was recorded on January 6th, 2018.

Log Time Podcast #29 | Origin: Spirits of the Past Discussion — A Vast, But Empty Land

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This week, in our first cast covering solely a movie, we take a look at Origin: Spirits of the Past. We discuss the fascinating world the film begins but ultimately fails to flesh out in any deep way, the gorgeous animation and feel of it, and how we can’t help but feel like we’ve seen this film’s individual parts elsewhere.

Audio Links: iTunes | SoundCloud

This podcast was recorded on November 9th, 2017.

Log Time General Podcast #10 | Beginning of Fall 2017 — Infinitycast

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This week, we dig into the Fall 2017 season, and the cast went on pretty much forever. Strap in, folks, because we talk about good and bad death game shows, some incredible picks for the season a la Just Because!, Land of the Lustrous, and others, and we do our fair share of dumpster diving with a few choice shows.

Audio Links: iTunes | SoundCloud

This podcast was recorded on October 19th, 2017.

Isekai Shokudo, Shokugeki no Soma, and Rispara: A Three-Course Meal of Food, Character, and Narrative

generaltofu 4 Comments

In my youth, food was always hugely important to my friends and family. Food wasn’t just something you brought to a family reunion or put on the dinner table. It was a way that you connected with one another – a cornerstone of life, physically and socially. Even though I don’t dabble to an intense degree in the cooking arts, it’s because of these early experiences that I’ve always held a vested interest in food and how it connects things and people, and that carried over into my taste in anime. Food holds a solid place in a lot of anime these days (just ask any schoolgirl that’s running late on her first day), but shows that revolve specifically around food aren’t exactly common. That being said, some of the few shows that do focus on food hold a special place in my heart for the fascinating ways that they present food, and for how they give food a central role in their narratives. Here, I’m going to look at just three food-centric shows – Isekai Shokudou, Shokugeki no Soma, and Ristorante Paradiso – and dive into the vastly different ways in which they use food for narrative purposes.

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Country Roads, Take Me Home – Sakura Quest and Making Home Where You Are

generaltofu 5 Comments

As the Spring 2017 season comes to a close, Sakura Quest continues through into the Summer season, I could not be more pleased with any other shows this season getting this chance. As the spiritual successor to P.A. Works’ prior working shows Hanasaku Iroha and Shirobako, it feels pretty strongly as though it is living up to that legacy, with a stunning cast of characters and the endearing town of Manoyama. While I love the journey that the show has taken us on thus far, something that has really struck me about the show is its treatment of employment in urban and rural spheres, and how an unstable job market and idealized perceptions of the city and the country affect these employment opportunities. Yoshino’s perspective initially is quite simple: she was, by all accounts, born and raised in a rural town, and as soon as she could, she shot off to Tokyo, the land of big dreams, in search of that certain something that rural towns just couldn’t quite do. Even at the risk of not having a job, Yoshino is of the mind that she will never go back to her hometown, even if she were to have a stable, guaranteed job there. The country just doesn’t have the same spark as the city, or there aren’t the kind of job opportunities that someone like Yoshino in her generation would want to take on for a career. In many ways, these ideas that Yoshino has, as well as being a student fresh out of college that can’t seem to find a job for the life of her, speak to me as a reflection of a several-years-younger General Tofu.

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SukaSuka Episode 2 – Lambs Willingly Led

Selie 5 Comments

(After publishing edit:  After reading, be sure to check out the comments below as there are some corrections about characters’ ages that should be considered.)

Well, with an intro as damn good as that last episode was, I dove into this episode head first, ready to devour any and all that it could give me.  I just couldn’t stop drooling over that teaser for the end of the series that had my jaw drop back in episode one.  The show is definitely still keeping its tone and wonderfully paced story and as things slowly unravel about this world, I’m enjoying the characters more and more.

Picking up right were the last episode left off, our main character, Willem, ponders how these children could be weapons as he begins to acclimate to his new job.  Not an easy thing to do when all the kids are scared of you as the new adult in town but luckily, as has been hinted at before, our protagonist has worked with kids before and knows a thing or two about winning them over.  i. e. The fastest way to a child’s heart is through their stomach.

[HorribleSubs] Shuumatsu Nani Shitemasuka Isogashii Desuka Sukutte Moratte Ii Desuka - 02 [1080p].mkv_snapshot_05.19_[2017.04.19_03.33.31]

I know he won me over with his Giga Pudding.

There’s a decent amount of time spent in this first half showcasing Willem working with the kids and watching over them, very quickly adopting the role as their guardian.  Meanwhile, the teenagers are together making fun of Ctholly because she seems to be crushing hard on Willem.  All light-hearted antics and fun so far, though hints have continuously been dropped that there’s more than meets the eye when it comes to these girls.  While no single kid really sticks out besides the three teenagers, the group as a whole feels very much like an adopted family, all very cute and happy.  So it’s all the more dramatic when this suddenly and twistedly changes in a single moment.

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SukaSuka Episode 1 – Hopes as High as Sky Islands

generaltofu 9 Comments

A brief note – I have gone into this show completely blind. I have not even read a summary of the show’s main plot. Everything I relate in this post should be taken as such.

This Spring anime season, there’s a surprising number of shows that at least look pretty promising – though as we all probably know by this point, there are a lot of series that look and seem fantastic from their PVs, which show off cool animation sequences, try to entice you with their (hopefully) endearing characters, attempt to seem like they could bring something new to the table, or some combination of the above. There’s a lot to wade through, so let me pitch a show to you for this season. It’s a LN adaptation set in a fantasy world with- hey wait, stop, I’m not done yet! Let me finish!

For those who may not know and need a strongly-paraphrased summation of the show’s premise, Shuumatsu Nani Shitemasu ka? Isogashii desu ka? Sukutte Moratte Ii desu ka?, or as the anime community at large has mercifully deemed it, SukaSuka, is a fantasy/sci-fi Light Novel adaptation taking place in a world of sky islands, where humanity was wiped from existence. In this story, we follow young Willem Kmetsch, who has taken on the job of being a military caretaker for a warehouse of advanced weaponry. What he doesn’t know, however, is that the weapons are, in fact, young girls. While the show might sound on the surface to be a groan-fest of typical fantasy isekai trappings and other tropes that tend to make shows less-than-enjoyable experiences, SukaSuka actually delivers in its first episode a surprising amount of good reasons to give it a chance – and by god, do I have high hopes for this one.

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