Nobody touches my tool and my body. Hello and welcome to our weap. There yet an exploration and education in anime. I'm your anime idiot, patrick dugan.

And I'm brenda mccullough, the anime expert.

We're thrown off our rhythm this week. Unfortunately, dana, after last week's episode, talking about yugio, devoted their life and their heart to the cards, so they won't be joining us this week. So instead, we're joined by a guest. You know his work on earwolf podcasts like Scam goddess Freedom and Getting Curious, and the host of the Dark weeb podcast, cody zigler.

Welcome.

Thank you for joining us.

Yeah, thanks for having me. I cannot wait to delve into this truly bizarre anime that you made me launch.

Yeah. This week, we are diving into our four kids aton this is week three. I believe we are getting into the oh, no.

This is week four. We've lost track of track together. Soldiers is wearing on us.

We're two thirds through at this point.

Hopefully, by the end, we'll all be dead.

Only the sweet release of death will save us at this point. Yes. This week, it's also the spooky season. We're in Halloween times, so we got to get on board with these ghosties and watch Shaman King this week.

Oh, yeah. Nothing like taking the undead spirits of our ancestors and enslaving them to our whim. Yeah.

And then just shoving them directly into your chip.

Yeah. You got to fill that hole somehow.

I mean, once you give your heart to the cards, there's an empty cavity that a ghost goes in.

All about that merch. We sell our bodies for merch.

So yeah. zig, we we talk about how we are shamefully into anime.

Yeah.

Can can you give us a rundown? Where was four kids formative for your anime experience? Or what was your entry point for anime?

All right, so this is a two part answer to the question you just asked as far as four kids. Like, when I was watching Shaman Kings, I had this distinct memory of, like, man, this seemed like something I'd watch, like, that I personally wouldn't watch. But I remember seeing this type of dub on Cartoon Network or whatever channel would show it, like Fox kids and then doing some research. I was like, oh, this is the same company that dubbed, like, yugio and all the pokemon and stuff. That's where I'm getting that sense of sort of, like, bizarrely voice dubbed, like, everyone's a little bit too happy. The music doesn't necessarily fit the tone of the show because I'm assuming they just did a new version of the soundtrack. But how I actually got into anime I think the first anime I ever watched was robotech. Back when tunami first came on Cartoon Network, I was like, oh, wow. We have robots and they transform and they're fighting aliens. I'm all aboard. This give me everything I can possibly watch.

Yeah. Robot Tech is a throwback yeah, definitely.

That was the big one. And then after that, I discovered Dragon Ball Z and it was like, just game over. 1000%.

Oh, God. Dragon Ball Z truly is the gateway.

Anime for yeah, I boy, I spent so much money on, like, you know, back when you have to buy the vhses that had like two or three episodes on them per vhs.

Yeah.

Earning $20 every week for three episodes.

I think I went over my cousin tiles not too long ago. And it's just funny seeing his wife who was a teacher and just had a wall of textbooks and different education stuff to greater kids. And then he's just got a huge self of just every Dragon Ball Z vhs tape yet. And I was just like, really? You don't even have a vcr anymore? He's like, I spent the money, man. I can't get rid of it.

So much money on vhs tapes from fy or Sunpack or whatever. Whatever it was selling.

Suncoast.

Suncoast, yeah.

That's the anime fix. When before the Internet was as accessible as it is now.

Yeah, it's funny that you say that because we talked about it a little bit on our show, The Dark weeb, where you would buy I remember buying a kia when I was like 13 or 14 or having my parents buy it, rather. And the previews you'd see before you'd actually watch the movie was like, that's the only way that you could discover or anyway I could discover, like, new TV shows or movies was like the four or 530 2nd clips they put before the movie. Like, oh, my God. Black cat or whatever. I'm going to go watch that apple seed. That sounds rad. I'm going to check this out.

Yeah, and then you're just, like, talking to all your friends trying to figure out, do you know what this is? Have you ever heard of this? I need connections. Yeah.

Do you have anything new? I've watched the same four movies a thousand times now.

Yeah, we're so saturated in trailers and advertising now that we forget that trailers at one point served a function where you had to watch them to learn about new shows.

Yeah, that is funny that you mentioned that. Yeah, like you distinctively had to be like, you know what? I've ran out of things to watch or enjoy. How can I find something else? You're like, oh, here's a trailer for you. It'll interest you in watching a thing as opposed to being like, here's the teaser. Here's their teaser trailer. Here's the actual trailer. Here's trailer number four. You're like, no, I just need the one thing to tell me where to find it. That's all that I need.

Here's the Japanese trailer with 16 extra.

Seconds, three extra shots.

You watch too many trailers now. You know the whole movie, the whole plots are owned for you.

Every joke is now ruined because it's all in the trailer for you.

Yeah. Oh, man, I'm excited. I remember watching shawn mckenna briefly as a kid because we talked about the four kids lineup of the Sunny Morning cartoons where you get you get to the TV too early and you're getting clips, glimpses and clips of, like, a show before the one you want to watch. So I remember that's where I got a lot of shami King, where I never sat down and watched it thoroughly. But I remember getting glimpses here and like, oh, I mean, it's in the title. It's Shamiking. It's like ghost fighting thing. So I'm like, all right. Yeah, I'm on board, and I catch it here and there. But I never got deeply invested in it like I did with all this other garbage that we know as anime.

Yeah, I completely missed this show. I didn't hear about until you guys pitched it to watch. But watching it, it does seem so of the time. It does seem so, like, early 2005 or whatever, where it's like, we're going to put in elements of pokemon, but we got to make it a little bit different, a little bit of, like, the stands from jojo bizarre's Adventure. So you're getting, like, all these amalgamations put into this anime for kids. So you also can't have superviolent things happen.

Yeah, it's like Jojo's, but what if there's a guy who didn't eat a dog's face and spit it in the other face?

What if this was suitable for people under 18 years old?

Yeah, exactly.

Oh, man. And I take it you haven't had.

Any experience with it, patrick no, this show came out. 2001 was the initial release. I can't find if that was the original Japanese or the four kids version or if they paired it up. But yeah, I was a little too young at that point. I was like six or seven as it was airing. So I'm a little baby and missed it. So, yeah, by the time it was in reruns, I guess I found other things to watch. I had sailor Moon to half remember.

To build those foundation memories.

Well, shall we jump in? Shall we?

Oh, please let's.

Yes.

We are going to watch the first three episodes. It's time to go ghost.

God damn it.

We got some spooky friendships.

What a journey on. There's so much to unpack about this dub for someone who just watched it for the first time. I don't know about you guys, but I could not get every time someone said Morty, I just kept wanting Rick Sanchez to pop in.

Morty, come on. The portal. Exactly.

It's such a bizarre move to name this obviously Japanese kid Morty. It's such a weird thing to do.

Well, that's one thing I looked up immediately because I think it starts off no, you don't actually hear his name for a while. But yeah, as soon as I heard Morty, I was like, that's definitely not the real Japanese name. And I looked and he clearly isn't. His real name is manta in the original Japanese. But it's weird because we've seen this before, especially with four kids stuff where they definitely just americanize the names. He's the only one. Everyone else, it seems like they have their original Japanese names. So it's weird that he's the one.

I think because he is like the kid's surrogate character. They were like, yeah, all the American kids, they won't care about amanta. That's not a name. We got to go with the classic child, mortimer Morty.

I think we all know a couple of mortimers. My friends are named mortimer speaking. I think someone just mentioned the idea of the child surrogate working for the story. I've only seen the three episodes that we watched, but I am curious to know what the original structure was. I'm assuming this is based off like a manga that Morty kid seems so tacked on because we don't see anything about his home life or his family or what he does. He's almost just there to give narration around the yo guy. The show is called Shaman King and yo is the shaman. Almost seems like he's the main character, but Morty is just sort of there to drive the story. I don't know. It's very bizarre. I don't know if they talk about that more later on in the series or like what the original comic books were like. But the character of mortimer seems so out of place in his actual storyline wise, because he's like shaman's yo is doing are you doing all the fighting? He's the one that's like capturing the actual spirits and stuff. Yeah, it's very interesting just thinking about that.

Yeah, I think it is mostly just to get the introduction of, like, who is this mysterious stranger? Since we're going with the spooky supernatural aspect to it, where you can't be like, hey, I'm the new kid. I am mysterious and strange. Because as soon as you say that in the first person, everyone's like, okay, goff kids. No one wants to deal with you.

We get a kid.

Yeah, we've seen it in a few other series too. I think it allows them to still have someone in the plot, someone still, like, worried about what's going to happen is definitely the audience surrogate. But then yeah, it also adds the, like, mystery element to the main character without the being the main character being the audience's, like eyes. So like, we can't be like, oh, he disappeared and left for a week. I wonder what he did. And then you get to speculate, but if you're with him the whole time, it's like, oh, he was just like picking his ass and like eating Burger King for like a week. It's like, oh, that kind of destroys the illusion of this cool, mysterious main character.

Yeah, with his huge cuffs pants.

Oh, God, this is.

Yeah, let's get into the meat. Starting episode one we see a boy miss the last train home from school. This is our mordy. Our sweet, very baby sized mortimer.

Yeah, he's like 3ft tall. It's kind of distracting, I think.

Even smaller than that. His body is as big as the handbags they carry to school. Like, he is super itty bitty.

Yeah, he's all head.

Yeah, just a lot.

His head is about the same size as the rest of his torso and legs combined.

You know what it's like if a South Park character met a character from any other show.

Yeah, exactly.

Just giant head goes up to the waist of everyone else who are supposed to be the same age, I guess.

Yeah, I was wondering that. They are the same age, but Warner is just so stunted that he looks like an alien compared to everyone else.

So he's a big horror story fiend. He loves English class at school, so he's sort of the loner dorky kid. And he's walking home. He takes a cut shortcut through a graveyard where he sees a boy talking with ghosts. And this is our mysterious main character.

Yo, which is great because anytime he says that, he's just yo. And it just also sounds like they're trying to feel like, hey, I know youth slang. Kids say yo now all the time. But it is his name. But it still comes off so picturing.

Like, yo and Morty. I think the first episode was called, like, yo, Morty. I was like, yo, Morty.

Yeah, they had to get some sort of hip slang if they weren't going the rapper out this time.

Yeah.

So speaking of the music, we get our opening here, which is just some delicious four kids.

We can, like, rag on some of the dialogue or some of the writing choices. I genuinely enjoy all the opening songs we've seen of four kids shows so far. This has a real, like, Eye of the Tiger, Phil Collins vibe to it. And I am the singer is just.

Corny and, like, just cheesy enough to really, like, sell it earnestly. You're like, oh, you know what? This song objectively sounds insane, but I can listen to him. Listen to him screaming Shaman King all day.

Yeah, because if this pops up on the radio, you're like, what is this? This is garbage. But if you throw it over some anime just like, scenes of people transforming and ghosts attacking people, it just pairs so well so far.

What's been your favorite four Kids intro?

Oh, God. I think it would have to at least for me, it would have to be the ultimate muscle one because it's so bonkers and it changes from R and B to country twang to pseudo rap like rhythm to it. It's insane.

I'll watch that one.

Yeah, I think Tokyo Meumu just because it was so purely, like, early 2000s. Yeah. Girl power.

Yeah, that was really good too. They're all so good. But we cut back from the opening.

Yeah, we cut back. Morty is at school the next day trying to convince all his friends that he saw a bunch of ghosts in the graveyard. And of course they don't believe him because he's the weird kid who loves horror stories. So his imagination just got the best of him. But oh, surprise, surprise. A new kid is joining the class.

We got off the bingo card.

We got a new kid. This is yo, the boy he saw in the graveyard. So when he takes a seat, Morty confronts him and is like, hey, we met yesterday. You were hanging out with ghosts. Back me up. And so cold.

Shoulder thing.

No, I don't know who you are. Sorry, kid.

I couldn't tell if he actually didn't know Morty or if he was just like, really high last night because he's definitely got, like the surfer bro aesthetic. Like the open shirt. He's got, like, sharp tooth necklace.

Yeah, the sharp tooth pook, a shell necklace headphones on, constantly listening to, like, Beach Boys.

It's like it he's just listening to New Kids on the Block. Just not cool at all.

He says he doesn't, but he's the biggest fan.

Yeah, he's being moody in the graveyard listening to 90s pop.

No one understands me. My dad loves The Who.

All the lame music like that.

So Morty follows yo around, convinced that he's going to watch him and follow him back because you don't just hang out with ghosts once. You do it all the time. So he's going to catch him in the act. So he follows yo, where he's just sitting on a bridge. yo knows he's being watched, so he's like, I'll just hang out here all day. And Morty freaks out, blows his cover and slips away. So he goes back to the graveyard that night to get a camera and catch him in the act with ghosts.

Foolproof plan, by the way.

Yeah, ghosts are known for being very photogenic.

Yeah, I thought about that. I was like, is that a special camera or is that just like a polaroid? And morty's an idiot.

Yeah, I guess Morty just didn't take this plan out too far. That's what I'm guessing.

He's supposed to be like the little nerdy character, but he's also dumb. So you're just the little character?

Yeah, I forget the kid's name, but I was getting strong invader zim vibes from this kid, the neighbor who always tries to catch zim.

Yeah, dim.

Dim. Yeah, just strong. Like, I'm going to catch you and prove that you're not supposed to be here.

I want to get you this time.

He dedicates his life to it, but he also still sucks at that thing.

That's such a funny idea. Like, mortimer is like, he's really going to try to catch these ghosts, but he's just so inhaled, even though he's put years and years until he can't pull his shit together.

40 years down the road. He rents out a small closet where he runs his business out of. So camping out at the graveyard, Morty sees a gang meeting is happening. Here one of my favorite characters.

Yes.

We get the gang leader, Rio, who has an Italian accent, a big ol, like the Japanese pompadour that points straight.

Out forward for, like, two solid feet of hair.

He is a jojo character.

He has this white leisure suit with, like, huge lapels. He's got a giant wooden sword for no reason. I've heard that he doesn't seem to know how to use as you say, he has an Italian accent. But I couldn't get over how the guy that does his voice is also the voice for goku. I just could not get out of my head. Like, goku doing an entire accent in a graveyard.

Mama me. I got to find the Dragon Balls.

I'm walking over here.

The more I watched of the show, like, the more jojo vibes, especially part four, the one we watched earlier with joske. So Joskey's got the pompadour very, like, stylish suit. He's got the little friend companion that does nothing. They fight with these big ghost spirits that are just stands. Like, you pointed that out. That's exactly what they are. And I'm like, did Jojo's part four just copy shop mccain, which came first?

Yeah, because the manga for jojo is much older. The manga for this came out in 98, so I'm sure that storyline was already written at that point.

Yeah, probably.

That's funny.

So we have Rio talking about how that this graveyard, Monument Hill is their new hangout, their gang headquarters. And they're going to catch that kid who keeps hanging out there.

Damn kids. Get off my dead yard.

Get out of here. We're trying to do gang stuff.

This is where we squat. So to prove how big and tough he is, he kicks over a gravestone. And one of his henchmen is like, boss, don't you know that's the cursed gravestone of the ancient samurai?

Yeah, you don't want to be disrespectful of a boss.

Please send a mentality is big around here.

I love that they're in this badass gang, but everyone is very like, hey, we should not be desecrating graves.

Yeah.

We have been respectful of this ancient samurai.

It's also weird to me. I mean, maybe just because we're in La. And like, six years is old for out here, but like, the idea of, like, oh, yeah, there's just this 600 year old, like, tombstone in the middle of the 7th Circuit. No big deal. Like, what? Lose my fucking mind if there was just something 600 years old just casually.

Sitting there, just chilling just as you squat over, eating your taco Bell.

Yeah, yeah. Just asking to be knocked in half and broken into.

But yeah, this is the grave of Amitamaru, who was a cursed samurai. And the stone was supposed to keep his soul in place. And morty seeing this is like, I don't want to mess with these tough guys, and backs away and kicks over a classic cartoon tin can.

I also like that someone who comes to this 600 year old grave site, eats a can of beans and leaves.

It just this one thing right around here.

I was also expecting a license plate, a half eaten boot, and a goat.

Yeah, right.

No, perfect apple core. Just so this alerts Rio and the gang, and they chase him out of the graveyard. We don't see it, but he falls down a hill. And I don't know if this is the Americans trying to be like, no, he didn't get his ass kicked. He just fell down a hill.

I'm going to put money on it and say that they actually did beat the crap out of him, but they cut it from the American release.

Yeah.

These adults wouldn't hurt a child.

It's fine. But to be fair, this child is also going to school with other full grown adults because one of his classmates is like six, seven and a full on bodybuilder.

Yeah, with his shirt completely unbuttoned all the way.

Once again, a jojo's character.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Honestly, if you told me Rio was 14, that's a theme, because all of the giant muscular wrestlers and ultimate muscle are 14, apparently.

God, it's so weird.

He's back at school. He got his ass kicked. The classmates tell him, hey, idiot, don't go back to the graveyard because they're going to kick your ass again. But yo, hearing this, realizes that he sort of set him up for getting beat up and is like, hey, now that we're in private, I'll admit, yeah, ghosts are real. I definitely saw you. I just didn't want to draw attention to myself since I'm the new kid. And I definitely threw you under the bus.

I just screwed you over because I didn't want anyone to know that I could see ghosts. But it's cool now.

I'm the new kid. I didn't want to stand out with my puka shells and giant headphones.

I'm trying to blend in by not following the dress code. So he confirms that he's a shaman and can see ghosts and that not everyone can, and it's special that Morty can. So it's sort of just them, too. And they can't rope anyone else in. Convenient way to exclude the other classmates. So they go back to the graveyard. yo ties Morty to a tree so he can't escape.

Foolproof plan again.

Fantastic.

Great start to a great friendship. Lies and just restraining kidnapping. So the gang arrives. yo confronts them and summons the ghost of Amitamaru. And we see him use his shaman powers to confront the gang and get his turf back.

Yeah. What I loved about this scene is that I came in thinking, like I said, we've been talking about the jojo vibe, so I thought it was just going to be like a stand, it'll be like, yo and the giant ghost samurai of Amadamaru, and he's going to do all the actions. But when he calls his power forth and makes a little ball of red energy that has the face of the samurai face yeah, and then shoves it into his chest, I was like, oh, wow. This is completely defying all expectations I had of how these fight scenes were going to play out, especially when they.

Go through all the effort to make these very cool ghost designs. And they're like, hey, let me just ball you up. Let me just take this beautiful painting, crumple it up into a little newspaper ball, and then put it in my chest.

Yeah, but it is weird because they do, like, that Dragon Ball Z fusion thing where they both talk at the same time, and there's, like, an overlay of the spirit over yo. So you're like, oh, so we still see them, but all the actions are happening through a little kid. But I will say my favorite thing about this action sequence is that he's fighting in your riu, and his ultimate samurai move is just to parry his attack and then cut off his giant pompador.

Yeah, yeah.

He he lobs off the, like, 2ft of overhang over his face, and that's enough to scare him away.

Yeah.

To be fair, though, if I was, like, a character designer on the show, and I made this very elaborate, detailed samurai ghost character, I was like, There, there's amino maru. And they're like, cool. Now make him fight and be like, what's that? No, I'm not making him move. I'm condensing him into a ball, and I'm just drawing the kid again. Yeah, yeah.

I'm not putting all the work into actual motion. I've already drove the character. That's all you got to do.

Did you see the cascading arm pulsions.

That I gave him?

No, I'm not making that move.

It's like, bullshit.

Yeah.

Turning him into a little energy ball we can sell as cheeby plush balls.

Merchandise it, and scaring away the gang. Morty is like, wow, that was rad as hell. We're best friends now. Teach me how to fight and talk to ghosts, please.

Yeah, I like that exchange where he's like, can you teach me how to be a shami? Maybe tomorrow is like, can you teach me how to fight also? Maybe tomorrow, please?

I am so tired. It takes so much energy to have another human being take over my soul. So, yeah, we start the next episode.

They do fix amino mara's gravestone. They glue it back together and prop it back up.

Oh, yes. Thank you.

Yeah.

They are respectful to ghosts because it's hard to not be on friendly terms when you absorb someone into your body.

When they possess you.

So, yeah, the next episode, being a giant nerd, morty just dives into shaman history trying to study at the graveyard. We get the backstory of a bunch of different cultures, talk to spirits in different ways, but it all comes down to there being a shaman who is powerful enough to talk to ghosts and see them and all that stuff. So, yo, we sort of get his whole plan and mission for the series. We establish that he's looking for the spirit of his destiny, and he needs to build a ghost team to become the shaman king pokemon.

I got it. Yeah.

All right, you got to collect them all. I got you.

Cool.

Get your merchandising set up in episode two.

There you go.

I'm sure there's some sort of card or video game based off this. Just, like, collect them all style.

Oh, yeah. I just googled shaman king card, and there are tons of this stuff.

Yeah, there's, like, two or three video games. Yes. All checks out.

There we go. Four kids. Marketing geniuses.

Got it.

So, yeah, they're looking for the ultimate spirit, and he asks the samurai spirit amitamaru, but he refuses because he has unfinished business and cannot leave the graveyard at Monument Hill. So as they leave, morty's, like, I don't know why you want to pair up with that guy anyways. Because the legend behind him is that he served the king but betrayed him and killed 50 of his friends or whatever.

Yeah.

Killed 50 of the elite guard to the king before being murdered. So he was a bad guy. And yo is like, no, there's two sides to every story. He has to be a good guy. This was 600 years ago. I'm sure some details got lost in the mud.

Are you trying to mess this up for me, mory? Let me have this.

Let me have this. Do this. One thing, Morty.

I need to align myself to this supposedly serial killer that I met last night.

What did your ghost do, Morty? Oh, what's that? You don't have to shut up.

Get a cool, nice ghost friend that's good at murder and then come talk to me.

I like his logic of, like, well, he helped us out last night, so he was good last night. He must have been good 600 years ago. That's like? Well, John Wayne gacy had a puppy. That doesn't doesn't quite check out, but okay.

Putting all your ghost eggs in one evil basket.

I see.

So we see Rio walking down the street. He's getting mocked by a bunch of kids because his hair is all whack now. And the story that he was beaten by two kids has gotten out. So he looks at his reflection in a store and vows vengeance for dramatic shame. The perfect line of, no one touches my hair except for me and my barber.

Got to specify and barber.

There's one exception in his name sal. So they are looking at more history. They find that a museum in town has the sword that the samurai used 600 years ago, and they want to. See if they can get to the bottom of what actually happened. They get to the museum right as it closed. It's a very dinky rundown museum where.

They seemingly only one attraction, which is just the sort that's what it seems like.

Yeah.

The curator is about to leave and it's like, oh, let me show you inside, my young friends. You're the last people to visit in at least a week.

The museum hours were ten to 02:00 p.m.. And God, if I could get a full time job getting paying all my bills with just 4 hours of work a day. The dream.

I would love to have a job at a museum no one came to.

Exactly. I get so much sleep caught up.

On, oh, yeah, just hanging out, looking at that sword. Then not then dozen. Back off.

Still there? Yeah. Okay.

Make sure no one steals these things that no one even wants us to pay to come see.

Oh, no, someone didn't steal our broken rusty sword. Let me go right back to sleep.

I got to trick out my yugio deck for my tournament this weekend. So they get inside, they see the sword, and it's the legendary crying sword. Because after it was accepted into the museum, every night, the sound of crying can be heard coming from it and salty tears are left on the ground outside the display.

Every morning now I get the non appeal of just like an old museum no one goes to anymore. And it's full of stuffy maybe they don't care about. But shouldn't someone be like, hey, every night tears appear around this sword and no one has a logical explanation? What the fuck?

Every time I come in, there's bodily fluids around the thing. The only attractive that we have and excuse me, maybe we have like, leaky ducks. I was like, no matter how leaky your egg conditioning is, it's not going to have human tears.

Yeah.

Especially if it's only at night as.

Well, accompanied by the sound of cries.

Yeah, right.

Because like he talked about earlier, someone came to the museum thinking it was a museum of mystery and he was all disappointed. And you have a legitimate haunted artifact and that guy wasn't immediately enthralled.

If anything, you're the wacker because you do have one legitimate mystery, which is tears that appear every single night.

You could be marketing the shit out of this. And you're like, well, I guess I'll just leave and go home.

I guess we're going to keep going. Not having any business at this place. See you later, morty.

Got to write the great Japanese novel. So they they talk to the curator and he agrees to lock these two schoolchildren in the museum overnight so they can see it for themselves.

What could go wrong?

He is so desperate for attention. He's like, oh, two visitors. Yeah, you can move in.

That's funny. I know that's, but I completely missed that this old ass dude just locked in two fucking kids in the museum because they asked him to. Okay, sure, yeah, we have mysterious water that appears every night, but yeah, we can lock you in here.

Yeah, that's fine.

Yeah, it's all good.

Please. There's no admission here, so it's not like you're giving us extra money, but yeah, just hang out. It's good to know. I'm needed you've given me purpose for at least another year on this Earth.

I always want to be a daycare operator.

So they wait out the night. We get some great localization where Yo is like, oh, I'm hungry. I could go for a double cheeseburger right now.

Get it, america, you get it.

I love that. He also got one for his ghost.

Yeah, later I said he'll buy food for him.

I know you're, you don't have a stomach or any type of indecisive, but here, I went ahead and got you a burger anyway.

Be considerate. Yes.

It's all that counts. I guess he's trying to bond with his spirit. I respect that. I shouldn't duck on him for doing that.

I need you to have a right of first refusal. So they wait out the night, and finally they see water start to appear. And then they look up and they see a ghost.

Crying ghost.

Sad guy. This is mosuke. He is the ghost that is linked to the sword. And this is where I'm going to pass it over to Brendan.

We find out this is the swordsmith that made the sword. And it was also like childhood friends for who amenamaro. Yeah, the more I say that name it, the harder it's going to get for me. And they're like, childhood buddies. And they're like, oh, we heard that amidamaru died trying to steal the Sword of Light. And he's like, what? No, the fuck told you that? And he's like, whoa, okay. And he's like, no, I'll tell you what happened. I didn't kill him, Minamaru, but I destroyed him. And we find out. Minimaru and matsuki were so good as Sam Ryan swordsmith, the king wanted them for himself. And he's like, I'll pay you guys just to work for me. And they're like, Fuck, yeah. Easy gig. And then at one point, the king asked amidamaru to come see him, and he's like, hey, your buddy made me, like, the best sword in the country by far, and I don't want him possibly making swords for anyone else, even though I have no reason to suspect he would. So could you kill him? Like, I could get anyone else to kill him, but could you kill him? Yeah.

Hey, could you go ahead and murk your best friend that I know you guys have a relationship with?

Such a specific request that ends up like, biting the king in the ass. And there's this whole ordeal where it's like, samurai have to do what their lord tells them, but minimal is just like, no, why would I do that?

I've known you for, like, two days now.

And he tells misuki, and misuki is like, fuck, well, if you got to kill me at that time, it's got.

To be, wow, he's a stand up guy. I got to say. He really was holding I'm in amaru down. He was like, I'll do whatever you need of me.

Yeah, I'll die for you, man. Kill me.

Okay, sure. Whatever you got to do.

I'm fine with you. masoki is the original millennial, just praying.

For death, praying, please give me the sweet release.

He got a good job out of college, but it's not enough to pay.

Off his not enough all the loans. And so Minimaro is just like, no, I'm not going to do that. And masuki is like, cool, I'm going to make you the best sword, and we're going to get the hell out of dodge. He's like, so meet me up tomorrow night when you're supposed to kill me. And the next night, Amidamaro goes to meet up with him, but masuki's late because he's putting an extra polish on that sword. He's making it real nice. And because of that, amidamaru meets up at Monument Hill or too early and gets caught by all the guards. And that's when he kills the 50 bodyguards for the King and tries to kill the King himself. And that's when he dies fighting them all. So that's where that legend comes from. He's a bad guy. He was an assassin going after the King because he was actually yeah, it's so funny.

That was the one time he couldn't be like, a little bit more on top of ties. Like, you really just take it around and like, add an extra polish that sword.

But yeah, like, if we're leaving town, you can polish it later. We're both leaving. Yeah, it's not that big of a deal.

He wanted to make a better sword than the one he gave the king, but it could be equally as fine. He's not fighting the King right now. Just take care of the guards and then do that polish it's. Like, just make it functional, dude.

Yeah.

Also, I doubt the King can fight. He can't fight. He'll be fine.

He's a real pampered, like, rich guy. He's got the even the voice of the rich king. So yeah, it doesn't take much. You could just kill the King and take that sword.

Here's a rock. Go bead over there with that.

Yeah.

If someone handed me like, a $10,000 guitar, that doesn't mean I'm going to start shredding it's like, yeah, just give me something functional.

I left the King alone in a room with a piece of string. Honestly, he'll probably kill himself in an hour. We'll just wait it out. He's so defenseless. So when misuki finally comes with the sort of light, he finds out a minimum is already dead. And then they kill misuki and then that's how their souls are still trapped on Earth, because they have, like, the unfinished business. And that's when Yo goes up to him, is like, oh, that's all cool. What if you just possessed my body, and then we fix this sword up and give it to him in amaru? And then you can finish your business and mask. He's like, oh, fuck. You can do that.

Yeah, I'm a shaman, baby.

I'm a shaman.

Got you, man.

And so Yo possesses them, crunches them up into a ball, slams them in the chest hole, just straight up steals an ancient artifact from a museum. Just straight let him stay for free. So not only did he get out of the museum even though it was locked up, he also steals from it.

Technically, they avoided a breaking and entering charge since they were already inside.

They were fixed the mysterious water. So that's gone. No more changes. They got that done.

If your curator is just like, yeah, I left these kids in my museum, and they fixed all my air ducks. I don't know what happened. The leaks gone. So Yo takes a sword, repairs it somehow in like seconds, minutes, very quickly is able to renew this old, ancient, rusted ass sword. And they go to Monument Hill and give it to Emanamaru. And he's like, oh, where's misuki? It's like, oh, he didn't want to come because he's embarrassed. You died because of him. So he wanted to give you the sword and redeem himself, but he didn't want to see you.

I guess he was too embarrassed.

Embarrassment is weird for not seeing your friend you killed 600 years ago. I feel like you can get over that. But I guess Basooky's weird.

Yeah. Especially after waiting 600 years to be freed, being it's all the way across town. I don't have enough money for an Uber right now.

Yo is his Uber. So they give him the sword, and I guess Emitamaru is like, that's his unfinished business. So they're like, here you go. We're even now. And Yo and mortimer walk away, and we see Emidamaru going up with this white beam of light, I guess ascending into heaven. They don't really mention that, but it's just like, happening. Yeah, it seems like he's on his way out. It seems like he's set. And then while Yo and mortimer are leaving the graveyard, they bump into Rio. And he's like, hey, thought you'd be here. Guess what? I'm going to beat you now. I'm going to beat your ass. And now that amino Mario isn't possessing Yo, he can't fight as well.

So I love how long it's taking him to send to Heaven.

It's real slow.

Yeah, it takes a really long time.

Yeah. I mean, he could probably just jump and get there faster. It's a slow, gradual ascension. But during that ascension, he sees Rio attacking and mortimer. And it's just like, all right, I guess I got to do everything down here. quits on heaven. eternal salvation is cool and all, but like these little kids, I need to.

Help this boy be up, this Italian.

This full ass adult. So he leaves and possesses Yo again, who just catches the sword, the wind sword. Rio swinging at him and just kind of throws him to the side. And I guess that's enough to scare Rio again. And he goes running off. Like he doesn't actually fight Rio. He just kind of scares him. So a man of early Pause Time is like, yeah, I guess I'll join your team. I'll help you out. I've already been here for 600 years. How old are you? 14. Like, I can probably wait another 50. You'll probably be fit by that.

To this point, it's just a couple and it's like nothing to me.

Yeah, he sees him meeting the Double Cheeseburger and he's like, all right, make that like 35 years. So they also go back and minimize like, well, my business here is done. I don't actually need the sword since I am a ghost and can't hold physical things. So he's like, I guess we'll just return to the sword we should have stole from that old man and museum. And they return it all nicely polished and fixed up and crossed out the crying sword of a minimaru and just write the sort of light and I'm sure that old man came back. He's like, what the fuck?

What? They stole my sword. Put a new one here, and they vandalized my little display.

I'm an old man. It took me weeks to type that up in words.

I don't understand computers.

I just kept thinking of the pawn shop stories of someone having an antique, polishing it up and being like, ruining it. You ruined all the age that made it known to be an antique. So it's garbage now. And they just cleaned up this 600 year old sword and just made it worthless.

You ruined it, kind.

Who restored the sword? Was it Kevin? Or was it Jake? Because there were only two ones in the city who were skilled enough to restore antique sword. What's that? It was some little shit middle schooler. It's done. The sword ruins.

We're closing down this branch of the museum.

Finally, I'm free.

To be fair, if someone said like, hey, old man, you're a shit museum curator. And they're right. He let two kids sleep in their museum and steal their shit.

Yeah, you got me.

The spin off series we need is him turning to a life of crime. After two kids ruined his livelihood.

He steals more artifacts and becomes the antagonist in a later season. So then we jump ahead to episode three. And it opens with more and more reading, more books about shaman stuff because that's all he's good for. And he hears just a voice in his head saying, come to the graveyard. Which is always a good sign and he just sees some kids standing up on top of a pagoda. And the random voice pops in his head again. And it's British for some reason. This is some of those four kid unnecessary accents that we love so much. And he says, tell your friend his days are numbered. And he looks right at mourner. So it's just kind of like I'm talking to you.

You mean me?

Yeah, you the only other person in this graveyard.

Also, most of this sequence is reused footage from the pilot.

Yes, it's St. mormon walking to the graveyard. Like, a lot of those scenes are the same. We got like a red tint of the moon, but that's about it.

Also, this kid definitely has like it felt like they were sort of ripping off freezer. Like they had definitely freezer energy.

Yeah, the voice. Yeah, I could definitely see that. And it seems like he's setting up to be an antagonist. We saw him in the opening, but in a different outfit. So I guess he sticks around longer and eventually maybe becomes a friend. That's just what I take from the openings that explain way too much of the series. Yeah, and we see mortimer goes to school the next day and tells Yo, like, hey, this kid threatened you. And Yo is like, I don't know, maybe it's not me. He's like, what do you mean maybe it's not you? It was another kid standing on top of a building with a giant ass glaze talking to me telepathically. Who the hell else would he be talking about? After school, it cuts them just in a park and there's a heat wave. And mortimer is like, sitting on a bench, like, fanning himself, while Yo is just like, dancing and exercising, saying, you have to literally beat the heat. You have to beat the heat out of you.

That one doesn't check out, man. I don't know if you can exercise being hot.

No, I'd love to see the research you did on that.

Yo, I need to see the receipt for this one, buddy.

And then it immediately cuts to Yo, like passing out from heat stroke. And then mortimer dragging them into this little beach hut. It's like a hot tile hut you would see on a beach that sells shaved ice. And for some reason it's just in the middle of the city. And they're like, oh, boy, ice cream. It's very clearly shaved ice. This is just like one of those unnecessary translation issues. Yeah, and we see them get shaved ice and Yo gets two cups of it and he breaks out this little tombstone totem thing he makes. And mortimers like, the fuck is that? He's like, oh, it's a little, like, idle thing I made for amidamaru so he can come along with me. And then we see a midamaru just appear behind him and just like, oh, shh I guess he's just pocket size now.

Yeah, he's just constantly there now.

Yeah, he's just always with him.

He's in my pokeball. I mean, talisman.

I mean, you can buy it at your local game store. And the one thing that called me was yoshi's. Oh, I made it in shop class. And I was like, did Japanese schools have woodshop? I've never thought about that. But I've also never seen one.

Yeah, I don't think I've ever seen an anime where they're like, they're in shop class. Yeah, I'm sure they do. But I think of all the enemies I've watched that takes place in high school, I've never been like, all right, guys, I be June 3, period. And shop.

Yeah, you never see you hawkisho where the bully is like an idiot in a terrible class. But then he gets all of his powerful or angry energy out in a creative outlet where he can use his hands. And it's like, oh, now he actually has something to put that energy into. He's not an asshole anymore. And it worked.

That'D be such a funny pitch for how to resolve a conflict in an anime. Take all my aggression out in my shop class. I'll see you at 03:00. Nerd.

Whoever builds the best clock, whoever does.

The best look in the Busar wins the tournament.

The main character trying to save the world from some villain who's going to, like, collapse it into the shadow realm. He's like, man, I got a fucking lack of my cabinet today. I got to get on the third day to get that dark coat on. Like, what the fuck? Yeah, don't give me sports anime anymore. Give me woodshop anime. Give me metal shop animes.

If you did, like a wood anime, like a shop anime, I would watch the hell out.

That'D be amazing.

Oh, no, I left my crying sword on it. Now there's water damage.

Oh, no, it warped. So a minimum pops up, and he also says, like, yeah, me and Yo been hanging out a lot more. He taught me how to play basketball. And I wrote down the code of yo taught me how to go to the hole and throw it down and then say, in your face, turkey. I'm glad this is what a samurai is learning about our culture.

I so want to know what the original scene was said in that. Like, if they still had, like, a sports thing that they were doing or if they actually use basketball. That seems so insane to me.

I just love the phrase in your face, turkey that applied in the for a hot year in 98 and no other time period. So Yo is talking about how helpful a minamaru is and like, helping him in his daily life, like scaring away bullies and thugs and also just using him as an alarm clock to wake him up in the morning. And we get a shot of Yo sleeping in bed. And a minimar is like, I guess trying to whisper in his ear to wake him up, but it just looks like he's spooning them.

It's very creepy.

It's very sensual. And it's just like that means that.

He'S constantly there when he's like taking a shower or taking a drop in number two, he's like, am I tomorrow? Can I just get like five minutes? That's all that I need.

Takes a little, like headstone he made just throws out the window. Just get out of here.

Fetch, boy.

He just ties into a dog collar and it's like I'll see him in a week.

He'll make his way back.

At some point, he'll possess my body and see the shit. Later that night, we see more and more thinking and he's like, oh, maybe I'll be a shaman someday. It's like, no, you're like 2ft Tall Man character.

Learn your place.

Learn your place. Stay in your lane. And as he's walking home, he hears the voice again in his head from a British kid. And then as he's on the street corner, the British kid walks up right next to him. And he's like talking to a bit. He's like, oh, God. Like you're a shaman. He's not British. He's like, definitely Chinese. But once again british accent And the kid just starts walking into the middle of the street. Morning is like, hey, hold up, it's red. And the kid says, maybe for you. It's like, no, it's still rejective.

That's a good if you want, but it doesn't change per person.

And when he says that, we see just a truck hurling Adam going like mach Ten or something. Like you just flying at him down the street. And the kid just summons his giant Chinese warrior spirit and cuts the truck in half. And it's just like that and it explodes.

Like you can see it like they do a shot where like an aerial shot, you can see it from like blocks away, this huge explosion. And no one does anything. It's just these two kids and the driver like, oh my God, what happened?

My boss is going to kill me. Runs off.

I have a question on our anime trope bingo card. Does this count for saving a boy from traffic?

Yes, I marked that off because technically there's a boy in traffic and the spirit saved them. So I checked it off for that.

Okay.

I just needed to clarify and yeah, he could have showed his power any other way. He could have just summoned the spirit and been like, I'm also shaman, what up? Instead he ruins a truck, causes an explosion and almost kills a guy. So this kid's an asshole and we find out his name is len and he's from the tao family and he also aims to become Shaman King, which is the title of the show.

Terminate Arc. You guys.

Yeah, yeah. He talks about the tournament and like, mortimers just like, I don't I don't know what's happening here, man. Like, I know a shaman, but that's it. I'm not on board with the shit. And so he accepts. mormon accepts. He won't be Shaun in one day. And he goes to Yo about it saying like, hey, he threatened you again? And like, shit's real now. And he was like, aaa, baloney. This ain't so big.

It hasn't personally affected me yet, so it's fine.

It's Pete cutting my truck in half.

Kept like Yo going home and his uncle's just like, what the fuck? Some kid just caught my so Yo isn't as worried, but he's like, oh, he did mention the tournament, showing that Yo also knows about the tournament, but we still don't.

Again, he's the mysterious kid.

Yeah. And minimal. Is there kind of like Chinese warrior spirit? A I met a few of those back in my time. I'm curious to know what dynasties he's from. And she's like, hey guys, the dude cut a truck in half.

Yeah, you feed up every dust. Very good at cutting shit and happy from that one.

I think our power levels are a little concerning because he has telepathy and a giant ass glaive. You have a wooden stick you stole from a bully. And then we see if only you.

Kept the giant super powerful sword that.

We had last episode, The Sword of Light, which may come into later episodes, hopefully. And we get a shot of len standing over traffic saying like, all these idiots going to work, not doing anything. I'll prove them all by ruling over them. And it's just like, I don't know what the Shaman King Tournament is, but you're like, twelve. Let's reign it in, small child. Because we didn't describe him either. Everyone else, Yo is kind of exaggerated. He's got the big headphones, a pop shirt, and like big rolled cufflinks on his pants and stuff. So he's like kind of like strange but not too outrageous. yin is just like he's got just like alfalfa to the umpteenth degree. Like just this needle hair over this bull cut. And then he's wearing like a yellow business suit, like jacket. And then just like short shorts, just like these little kid shorts.

Hey, it's hot. You got to keep those legs nice and breathe.

Nice and breathe. They're comfy shorts. And it's just like he's an odd looking character.

It is a very bizarre character design that they've given, frankly. Everyone, but mainly this kid, they make a lot of choices. A lot of strong choices are made.

It's hard to be intimidating while wearing daisy dukes. And then we see a shot of Yo and mortimer walking, talking, and they're at a street corner. And as they're crossing the street, they bump into Yen. standoff and fight.

And I am the best one ever.

Basically. He immediately insults them and he's just like, you're slobby looking shaman. Like, you can't be taken respectfully. And he goes like, oh, well, Minimum is my buddy here. And he's like, buddy and lasts for like a minute.

He lasts for almost the entire episode.

Just like the solid super villain, like evil laugh. Like, we get it. This guy's bad.

Oh, we have so much time to fill. We had to cut things out.

And then he had just walked away. And he's like, meet me in the graveyard. We'll rumble tonight more and we're freaking out. Like, the fuck? We'll probably be in the graveyard anyway. No big deal. So he's trying to play it off casually.

Yeah.

And that's when a minimaru pops out and says like, oh, I noticed his spirit is from the kubla Khan group of warriors. So just legit. He's not like mahatma Gandhi. The sassy knows how to fight.

Yeah. And I also love that minimal. ru has seemed to have fought for every dynasty, every great dynasty of the time period.

Yeah, he's very learned for being trapped on a hill for 600 years and just being a samurai in a small town, as far as we know.

Oh, he was buried next to a history teacher. That's why he's so up to date.

Buried next to someone who was really into hardcore history podcasts.

Now I'm just imagining like all these ghosts hanging out in the graveyard and someone's teaching like a pilgrim. Like, yeah. So it's called a Game Boy. It's this little square and you just pop trying to teach other ghosts about your time period and being like, what the fuck is that? So then while they're talking, I guess more and more goes home and Yo and a minimar go off into a park and grab some more burgers. He gets a minimaru one. Being respectful and minimal is like, hey, we're going to fight this guy. It's going to be worse than like the nerd we fought before. He's got an actual spear. We're going to be on par. And Yo says, it's hard to take someone serious. And there's shorts. And exactly what I said. Very fair. And CEO says like, no, I just joke when I'm nervous. Like, I am worried about this. We'll try and think of a strategy. He's like, don't worry though. We'll head over there and we'll kick their ass. And while they're heading over to Monument Hill, they bump into mortimer. And it's like, well, time to do this. And the gang is getting all together. And then we cut to we see the dead enders. The gang that Rio is leading talking about, like, I guess they're walking into the graveyard. They're not at the hill yet. And they're talking about like they're not going to be able to go to their usual spot anymore. Now they got kicked out like twice. And then rita says if he sees Yo again, he'll beat him up. Like he still wants revenge even though he got his ass kicked twice now. And while they're talking, Lynn shows up and he tells them, like, get out of here. It's. Your only warning. And it's like, oh, this little kid wants to fight. Sure. And he kicks over their motorcycles.

Am I going to be disquieted?

Basically? And he tells them, like, leave before you get all beat up. And they're like, all right, fine. We'll beat you up. And he pulls out. Or he beat no. Yeah. limp beats all of them up. And sort of the nerd of Dragon Ball Z style, where it's just like he disappears and beats them all so quick. And it appears in the center of them as they all fall. Just like real Bible. Real Bible.

Must be the worst gang in all of that town. They get their ass constantly kicked by, like, children.

Yeah, it's just like I think it.

Really we saw the kids on the street making fun of them. We miss that. They always make fun of them because those kids are their own gang that also beat up Rio.

Those kids have rulers with pushpins taped to the end of it. And they fight Rio, and they beat his ass every day. That's the real gang in the bookstore.

Hey, Rio, give me your lunch money, nerd.

Shit. It's little Jeffrey. Get out of here. So we see him pull out his full ass glad, which is like, I know he's small, so everything looks big compared to them, but this glaze is like 12ft long. It's massive.

It's massive.

No one can reasonably carry this besides guan yu himself.

Also, I love that he hid it in his pocket.

And it's collapsible. Yeah. And it makes me wonder how strong is the integrity of that weapon? If it's collapsible, you can't be that good. It's totally hollow. Yeah. And so we see him go about to just stab Rio. Just like, all right, I'll just kill you in this graveyard. And I'm twelve. And that's when yo shows up and crabs the end of it. It's like, hold up, Rio. Get the fuck out of here. And Rio like, crab runs away. Like runs away on his back leg.

Didn't make me laugh. I will say that particular little bad made me all right. That's really funny.

It's a little scary. And Linda is like, I know all about your family, yo. And your father and grandfather were both legendary shaman. I'm going to put you to the test to see how good you are at this. So they both saw them in their spirits, compact them into little balls, slam them in the chest.

I have to say, you just want to see two giant ghosts fight. But when they turn them into little balls and Lynn was like, a little cute version. Yeah, man, just show them a fighting, like stands.

Yeah. So it's weird. It's not like pokemon where the trainers sit by the sidelines and the actual creatures fight. It's not the spirits just fighting each other. But it is kind of like we do see Lynn and yo clash and then we see their spirits do the same thing. So we don't know if the spirits are just copying, like, mimicking them or if they're actually also fighting, or if it's just the two shaman are fighting, but just with their power, or if it's just a visual thing. Like it's just stylized. So it's not super clear. But they start fighting for a bit and it's something you have to see. It's very boring to describe a fight scene. lin says his family's been preparing for generations, I think for 500 years, he says, for the Shaman tournament. So I guess the Shaman tournament doesn't happen all the time. It's not an annual thing. So clearly his family has been training and, like, well, knowledgeable about all of this. Where yo was saying, like, yeah, I just kind of started taking this shaman stuff seriously recently. So up to this point, he hasn't really given a shit about it.

Yeah, it comes around every 500 years, but I'm going to wing it.

Yeah, I do a cramp session the night before.

I learn by doing. I'll get on the job trainer.

I don't need to write this down. I'll remember it later. The biggest lie I've told myself in school, never remember. So the gang sees these two kids fighting and they're just like, oh, shit. These kids are kind of going at it. And Rio is starting to kind of see he's like, there's something above these kids, or, there's something above these kids.

God, there's like a little bit of ghost over here.

So he's kind of seeing the spears himself. So it's like, oh, maybe he'll be overturning character. And we see yo stops lynn's attack and he goes into an overdrive mode. And yo is able to, like instead of, like, avoiding it, he just attacks him straight on and counters the attack. And we see the blade go past him and just like, a wind, cuts the motorcycle behind him in half. So it's like legit. A big ass glaze versus just a wooden sword.

Yeah. He's not playing around. Like, he's definitely out there to, like, murk some kids.

Yeah, exactly. And lin goes into like 100% mode or 100% control of his spirit mode or whatever, and throws yo against, like, a tombstone and cracks it in half. It's kind of like, oh, he went like Super saiyan or full throttle serious mode.

Yeah.

And Link dives at him with the glaze and we just get like a still frame shot. We see the sword or yo sword, he cut in half. And then we see his shoulder spray out blood.

Yeah. You can tell they tried to cut around there, but they couldn't get all of it. Yeah, when I saw that, I was like, oh, shit. This is like an actual serious show.

Yeah. There's plenty of times in the anime where in the original Japanese, they'll have, like, red scuff marks on them, like, oh, they got cut like that's blood. And then in the four kids one, they just turned it to brown. So it's like, oh, he got dirty. It's not blood. No one got hurt.

Oh, mud fight.

Got a mud boy.

And then yeah, we see the blood spray out and it says to be continue. So we're left on a cliffhanger.

I really want to know how to fight, how the fight concludes. I mean, I'm sure I know that the eo is going to win, but I am curious to see what happens.

Yeah, it'd be very anticolimatic if the main character dies in like episode four.

I'm sure this is going to be the I need to take things seriously now. I can't find one cool samurai and call it a day.

I have to break back into the museum and steal back to real ass sword. So yeah, that's what we got. A sham, mccain.

Wow. I can't believe this is only three episodes.

Yeah, there's 61 after that.

So have either of you watched the entire series?

No, this is honestly, it's probably the most I've watched of it.

Oh, wow. Okay. Yeah. I can't get over how they're combining pokemon with jojo's bizarre Adventure, and how they make the choice to take these badass ghost spirits and turn them into like little cute things is such a funny thing to do.

Scrunch them up and turn in a little cheeky versions and they shove them into their chest.

That's such a wild way to do that.

I'm amazed there's not some sort of accessory like a chess piece or like a gauntlet with a hole in it where you could buy it as a toy and then get the little spear orbs and pop them in and out yourself. That seems like it'd be an easy strategy. Yeah, because I know yugio definitely had the dual disc and before you just played cards. And then there was the dual disc where you could attach it to your arm and it's just a fucking platform. Yeah. And it's like, God, that's so impractical. But it's just so that they can A in the show play yugio wherever, but it also be something they can merchandise the shit out of because I knew some people that had it and it was dumb as hell. Because if I'm playing against somebody, like playing yugio against someone at a table, and I'm throwing my cards out on the table and I have to stand up and walk around and angle myself to see what he's got on his arm, I'm not playing that guy anymore.

I use pot of Greek. Have you guys seen that video, that YouTube video?

No.

There is this yugio online VR game, and there is this guy that was just trolling a bunch of people because the game was really buggy. It was really crappy and there was hardly anyone in the game. But there is this really funny video of this guy of just trolling various people where he's just calling out random cards and not going against the rules, but he's performing it as if he was in the anime. So he's like, I draw pot of greed, and because of that, I could do this. And then, who, he's ballet is like, you can't do that, man. That's not against the rules. False. It is actually with the rules.

It's very funny.

It's one of the funniest videos I've seen. It's very funny.

Yeah, I see that. That sounds great. I mean, we just watched EU last episode, and within those first three episodes, they immediately break their own rules of the card game. So maybe the show is not best to learn from.

Yeah, exactly.

Are we there yet? Would you continue watching the show if.

You were 14 again and boy, no, I don't think I would. You know what? I think I would probably give the Japanese subtitle version a shot. Like, if I was watching that. The four kids version makes so many wild choices as far as editing and characters. There's constant narration where I know that there would be there's not narration, like, just guessing. But you know what? Here's what I'll say. I would watch the Japanese version subtitled, but they would have to keep ryo with his attack.

Yes. That is the only way that character works.

It took my motorcycle.

Yeah, I agree. I feel like since they are it is half pokemon, half jojo. I would rather honestly just watch pokemon or jojo.

Yeah.

The mechanics of it. I feel like once we get into the actual tournament that they're talking about and we get past the set dressing that they're trying to do and get into the meat of the show, it gets more engaging. But right now it's, hey, let's help this ghost out.

Cool. I was kind of really hoping we skipped over it, but there's a part where yo talks to Emanamaro and Eminemario declines his invite. And then there's just like a judo karate ghost that pops up later and is just screaming at a minimaro, like, Why didn't you go? But he only screamed at full volume all the time.

Yes, I totally glossed over it. He was 90% teeth.

How did I feel? One teeth.

He was all chin and teeth. Yeah.

I was kind of hoping mormon would actually become a shaman and that would be his spirit. The only spirit he gets are kind of the shitty one, super aggro. Or to go to the Shaman King Tournament and it's like, you have to fight. My samurai spirit of minimal was like, you have to fight my grandma. She died last month. I wanted to help her out.

She has a powerless win.

And even with, like, we get some fun accent changes, but we don't get any of the truly wild stuff like the Tokyo mew mew, like renaming people from lettuce and strawberry into zoe and stuff.

Or the sailor Moon of just, like, oh, I guess my friend's from Brooklyn now.

Not her entire family.

Just her. Just her. Oh, God. Yeah. It's ultimate muscle. Like, two ACO really colored my perspective on the rest of the four kids. And they went so hard with just so much weird and some casual racist and child abuse choices. It's hard to beat that. And it's just like I don't think the show is bad, necessarily, but especially now as adults, I don't know if it would keep our interest as much.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

This was definitely made for early 2000s kids without any regard for how it would hold up.

Yeah, 100% very of the time. So, hey, it was a good time, though. A good hour and a half.

I've watched worse shows than this.

I'll continue to watch worse shows, but I'm a masochist.

Well, thank you for joining us. We keep forgetting to do this. So I'll remember this week. Brendan, do you know what we're watching next week?

Yes, next week we are in the wind down of our four kids a thon. We're wrapping it up soon. Oh, we also forgot to do this in the beginning. Thank you, Roman barga. He also recommended Shaman King to us, and it fit nicely inside with Halloween and our four kids a thon. Thank you.

The thing you specifically messaged me before to remember to do, and I immediately pushed out of my brain.

We'Re down a host. It's an off week for us. That's my excuse, but yes, next week, we're winding things down to four kids a thon, and we're watching kirby. Right back at you. Nothing says anime like kirby. Yes.

Get the Nintendo angle in as well.

Oh, yeah.

Well, thank you for joining us, zig. Thanks for swearing me.

This is very fun.

Where can people find you online?

They can find me if they want to find me at yay for zig across all social media platforms. And they can find the Dark weed podcast, which is, as you mentioned, the we podcast we do. We talk about anime and comic books and manga and all sorts of stuff. That's at darkweepod on Twitter and Instagram.

And if there's a show you would like us to watch, you can send your recommendations to us at areweebetheryet@gmail.com or on Twitter and Instagram at are we there yet? You can find me on Twitter and Instagram at mrpatrick. dugan.

You can find me on Twitter at abtsbrandon. It stands for Almost Better Than Silence, which is a video game podcast I also do.

And thank you to camille ruley for our artwork. And thank you to Louis zong for the use of our theme song stories off the album Beats. You can find all of Louis music at Louisong bangcamp.com. Thank you, and we hope you'll join us next week as we learn to live with anime.