AWTY 155 - Shamisen King (Those Snow White Notes)

Hello and welcome to our week there yet in exploration and education and anime. I'm your anime idiot, patrick dugan.

I'm an anime expert, D hollander.

And I'm brenda mccullough, your anime Prince Charming that respects boundaries and doesn't kiss sleeping people in the woods.

Thank goodness.

It's weird. Don't do that.

We got sticky standards now. I don't know what happens every day.

Yeah. If you find a woman that's unconscious in the woods, probably don't kiss her before doing anything else.

Yeah, maybe we call a doctor.

I'd probably say, like, top ten things you should do in that situation. kissing is not going to be one of them.

That's eleven.

What if a group of seven small men come up to you and tell you to kiss her?

Pressure.

Oh, God. Yeah. A lot of the stories, you're only thinking, Why? Why do we allow any of this?

Good question.

Well, what anime bullshit are we allowing for that?

Is this tied into anything?

Well, if it's good news or not, I'm not sure. But this has nothing to do with Snow White. Actually, the name of the show is called those Snow White notes. Yeah, I heard about this again from the YouTube channel. Mother's basement. He keeps me up to date.

Thank God someone is, because it's definitely not me or dugan.

Yeah, he makes videos just talking about this season's new anime and stuff like that. He also makes lists, and I forget what year it came out, but the high school prodigies anime was the worst anime of that year. So I trust him.

We can all agree on that.

Cautiously asking, did this one make that list? What are we expecting again?

Since you have the most info, you only watch the bad list videos.

He seems to like it. I know the general plot, and I think it sounds kind of nice. So this is very new. It started in April of 2021 and ended in June, so ooh, fresh. Yeah. So it wasn't a bad list. It was just like, here's what's going on this season list.

Got you. We're going with that cautious optimism we've developed over the course of this podcast.

That'S burned us in the past.

Many times it was recommended, but didn't say either way if it was good or bad. This exists.

You guys find out for yourselves.

But yeah. Brendan, do you keep your thumb on the anime pulse? Is something that was on your radar?

I'm not legally allowed 30ft within the anime pulse. I stay far away. No, I made a Snow White reference at the beginning of this episode because I just knew jack shit about this. I'm assuming you're on the same boat?

Yes. No, I got no clue.

Excellent.

Did it come out after the turn of the millennium? Then I have no idea what it is.

That's new to me.

That's new to me.

Past 20 years. You expected me to in the last two decades to have time to watch anime.

You just reminded me that 2000 was over 20 years ago.

Physically, people who were born in 2000 are able to drink this year. That's pretty crazy.

I know we usually do it, but as we spiral about our age, let's throw to a brakeshirt later. First three episodes, I had to roll.

Down windows in the car. Oh, damn. Look at this grandpa go. He's wailing away on this musical. Oh, he's dead.

Shoot.

Shoot, boy.

I was going to talk about the milf, but yeah, a grandpa.

Which one?

Yeah, what angle do we want to take? funky grandpa that immediately dies or milks.

So this show took both, so it's fine.

So I'm on board for it.

Okay. So episode one, we get some dramatic shots of a snowstorm. Some people are watching an older man play an instrument. It's called a shamisen, and there are little kids peeking through the door. Then we find out he died. The guy who was playing the shami son fast. It was unfortunately kind of funny. It looked like he died because of that.

He went too hard, too metal.

And his grandson is walking through the snow. His name is Setsu, and his older brother calls out to him asking where he's going to go. He says, I'm going to go to Tokyo. And when his grandpa died, his sound died. So he's got to find it again. And now we're in Tokyo, and we see fast travel.

Oh, yeah, those trains real quick.

We see a girl named una. She's on the phone getting a rejection from her agent. But not to worry, she's got another audition soon. It seems like she's working as, like, a hostess. And she's like, I just have to keep smiling through times like this. She checks her phone. She has a text from her boyfriend. And while she's looking at her phone, setsu, he's taking in the sights and lights of Tokyo. And he falls back into her, and she's like, what the heck? And he's like, Sorry, I was intoxicated by the lights. And it was at this point I was like, Shut the fuck up. The bad news is that he doesn't stop talking.

Very flowery poetic with just every line.

Yeah, we can check off unlikable main character.

Okay. I wasn't sure. I was reluctant to do it.

Yeah, I think they want us to like him, but I don't know.

He's artsy and pretentious, but also just straight up a dick, so I think it's unlikable.

Yeah, I won't argue that.

So he's walking away from her, and he runs until some guy and his friends start beating him up. And then una comes to his rescue.

He kicks a dude in the throat wearing high heels. It's fucking awesome.

Yeah, good for her. He has a memory of his grandpa. He's, like, yelling at his grandpa to teach him some song, but his grandpa won't because he won't teach it to anybody. And then he's on his deathbed, and he's like, hey, Setsu, if I die, which may be very shortly, stop playing the Shami Sin.

I'm taking my shamison with me.

The next morning, he wakes up in una's apartment in her jammies. She serves him breakfast, and she sees his case, and she's like, oh, is that a guitar? And he says, no, it's a shami, son. And she's like, oh, my boyfriend plays the guitar. You should play something for me. And he says no. She asks what he's doing in Tokyo, and he says that he had to get away because he felt empty. And this resonates with her. So she says, you can stay with me if you do all the housework. How generous. You just met this kid.

Definitely not serial killer.

We see his brother praying to Grandpa, saying stuff we've already heard. No. Now that Grandpa is gone, Setsu has lost his passion for music. A guy comes up and gives him a letter from Setsu, and he says he lives with a pin up girl. And his brother kanna says he's like, what the fuck? How can that be?

Yeah, I'm glad the brother realizes how insane is like, I bumped into a stranger and now I live with her. It's. Like what?

Una introduces Setsu to her friends, and well, it's her boyfriend and his band, and he sucks. He's cocky and he's an asshole. And he calls his bandmates supporting characters. And they're eating dinner, and this is, like, all on yuna. It's her treat. And Setsu is thinking about how it's been a week since he played the Shami Sin. And then una's boyfriend asks her for money for studio rent also. And Setsu stops her from giving him the money. And she's like, I'm just supporting him. And he's like, shouldn't it be enough that you just support him by being there for him? He's like, do you actually want to give him money? And does not look like it. So setsu leaves. He's like, I don't like these people. He's running through the streets. He's like, Tokyo is too noisy. And again, he remembers his grandpa telling him to stop imitating his sound. But he's like, I just want to sound like you, Grandpa. And he's like, but you've got to find your own sound, kid. Just don't play until you find your own sound. Pretty much copying me. And he wants to play this piece that his grandpa took forever to perfect. Then back at the restaurant, yuna tells her boyfriend that she failed another audition. And he tells her to keep trying. Then she's like, Are you free to come to my place after dinner? He's like, no, I'm actually going to go write some music. And I was like, great. He's cheating on her.

Why would he cheat on her?

I don't know. She's cute and silly.

He can't be bogged down by one financial patron. Go out there, see the world.

She's not his girlfriend. She's the sugar mama. He gets tail somewhere else.

So una is walking home when she sees Setsu playing his shamisen. He just sat down on a riverbank. So she listens to him play and she's like, entranced by it. And then we see a flashback of a meeting with her agent where he suggests that she does an adult film. So she says no and throws water in his face. And then he yells at her saying the agency is just waiting for her to quit. And I was like, Damn, that sucks. That's really rough. gee, I like una. I sure hope there's more of her in this television program.

Do we tell them?

Don't find out soon enough. So she's like, I won't be defeated. And then she goes to her boyfriend's apartment and finds him sleeping with another girl. And she's like, you can see him? Shocking.

He seems like such a great guy.

Yeah.

And then we see that Setsu played through the night. And he goes back to the apartment the next morning and una is just laying in bed. He apologizes to her for getting involved last night with the money. And she says that she heard him playing. And she's like, I invited you to stay here because I thought you had nothing going for you. But it's clear that you're like, talented.

You're just being you being emo.

Yeah. So she says she's jealous and then says she's going to go away for a while and that he should leave. When he's leaving her apartment, he runs into una's ex boyfriend. He asks where she is, and then Setsu goes with him to their gig. And her ex boyfriend is like, she won't answer my texts or my calls. And it's like, of course not, you fuck head. Jesus Christ. And then Setsu gets mad at him and he's like, you know, works so hard and you do this like you suck. And then he punches Setsu in the face. And then her ex boyfriend is telling the bandmates to improve his mood because he's the one that the fans are waiting for. And then he threatens to break setsu's arm. And then una shows up and kicks him to the floor. And then he's like, well, no, I don't want to play no more.

Shit.

Fuck you. I hate you. And then una asks Setsu if he'll stick around a bit longer. And she has him go out and play for the audience. And as he's playing, he thinks of his grandpa. He's talking about why he loves spring. He's talking about, like, the movements of the music and what they mean. una says the music is making her heart hurt. And then the ex boyfriend comes out to the wings of the stage and sees that the audience is captivated. There's more grandpa musings about winter and spring. He sets you what kind of sound he'll have. He's just really rocking out. Everybody loves it. And when he's finished the audience goes wild.

The hardest to believe part of this show is just going imagine you go to a concert you are looking forward to because a very popular man is going to play. But then they're late, you're waiting. And then surprise opener, a single guy with a banjo comes out and is like, let me just fucking riff real quick. Can you imagine that? And being like, fuck, yes. This is better than the main act.

Oh, man.

Could I imagine me doing that? Yes. Could I imagine everyone at the concert doing it? No, not at all.

Man. A teenage boy, nonetheless.

I don't know. There's that one kid that was yodeling in a walmart. I was pretty impressed. I don't know.

Don't bring him into this.

That's pretty equivalent.

So ex boyfriend gets all dramatic and says no one needs him. And he's like, una, baby, are we really over? And she's like, yeah. And he's like, damn, lost a good woman. And I'm just like, you, you've lost a woman? Why do you want to rip my hair out?

You can't be wistful in this moment. Hey, you broke up with me. But for real, though, it's been like 24 hours. But like, for real, though, the man.

Just clinging in this show are garbage.

Everyone sucks. No one is worth rooting for.

Anyway, later, it's no longer snowy, so time has progressed. Setsu feels like he's hit a wall. He's been staying at una's apartment and ex boyfriend is there for some reason. I don't know. Doesn't live there.

Yeah, my name is like, great. This dude, she's going to be like a reoccurring character. I thought we were done. I was like, yeah, he's out of the picture, moving on, and he's here again.

I was like, well, after this episode, who knows if he comes back?

Who knows?

And he asks Setsu what he's going to do after the lease on this apartment is up. And we see a flashback of Setsu going with una as she's leaving on a train. She hasn't decided when she's going to come back, but it'll be a while. And she tells him that she quit her agency. And he asks her if she has any regrets. And she says no, because she's always felt empty. The depression, babe. The train comes and she gives him a little smooch before getting on the train. And you know, I was like, ooh, wow, a fleeting romance. And then the next episode, we find out he's in high school and she's 22. And I was just like, damn, what? Because before that, I was like, oh, yeah, he's probably like 20 something.

Yeah, we don't know how old he is.

But then in the next episode, they're like, high school.

And I'm like, it's like year one too. He's like 16 or four. Yeah.

Disgusting.

You're establishing so many goddamn things. It takes until episode two to be like, oh, yeah, you're a literal child, right?

So after that little memory. Back in the apartment, ex boyfriend asks seth if he had any goals and that if he loves playing the shami Sin, that world is going to take him. And he's like, nah, but I don't want to play by anybody's rules. I just want to play my shamison how I want to.

Yeah, he's a teenager.

That should have been our first hint.

Yeah.

Then someone knocks on the door yelling for Setsu. And Setsu seems to know who it is. She bursts in and she says, mommy is here to collect. And I said, Hell, yeah.

Ma'Am.

And that's episode one.

Swat team. The last, like, two minutes of this episode just really fucked me up.

Yeah, just dramatic shift right at the end.

Just a lot changing. It's like, all right, that's episode one. Now for something completely different with episode.

Two real quick, because yeah, una is gone. She's not in the next two episodes, she just leaves. So I just love that. The pilot of this show features a woman who's like, yes, I'm here in Tokyo ready to have my acting dream come true. Then she meets one talented child. Time to move back home, I guess. Pack it up.

Time to do a special retreat back into the mountains.

I like uni enough that I would defend her by saying, well, it's the build up of all these rejections and also being asked to do porn when she didn't want to. So, like, good for uni. If this is the end of her story, fine. I love her. Great. I only care about her.

Yeah, she is good.

She deserves more than being like, fuck that kid. Fucking shreds, I guess. Throw my life that I established.

I mean, if there's just, like a spin off series, if this unit opens up, like a small inn in the mountain somewhere, like a bed and breakfast, and it's just one of those real chill slice of life five shows.

Let'S write a letter.

Occasionally she kicks guys in the throat wearing high heels. Just very impressive. So, yeah, episode two starts off. We get a recap of the last episode. They want it fresh in your mind because it has nothing to do with anything you're about to see. And then after the recap, we get a flashback to Setsu in grade school getting yelled at by one of his classmates, basically saying, like, how am I supposed to beat it if he never entered competitions? Aren't you going to join the school competition? He's like, nah, I don't really feel like it. She's like, bitch and slaps him across the face. And then we cut back to present day with swati. mami holding his setsu's head down. He's holding his she's holding his head, and he's in a new place. She goes, you're finally awake. I go, I'm on board for this. And then we cut to the other.

I can't wait for her to also be a very firmly established character has.

A big presence in the show, and we see a lot of her.

Each adult woman gets one episode.

Oh, no, the teacher, she's gone. So we get the opening. It's a pretty standard visual of the opening, just like montage the characters stuff. But the music surprising. It's a music show. The music is pretty good. And then there's just a big old fat cat in the opening. And I really want to know about that cat. I always get attached to the pets. They're just living life. They just do.

Winston love it.

So we come back to set to in the room with this lady, and she's all dolled up. She's got all this makeup on, long white hair. Does it get like a purple tint at the end? I forget.

Yeah, she's clear.

I love her style. I find out. This is, Umako satu's mom. So this is when I went back and erased the Dead Parent Club off the bingo card.

Dead grandpa club.

Yeah, I was a grandpa. And she said she pulled him out of there and she has her, like, two bodyguards with him because she heard that he was in Tokyo and she wanted to see him. And she basically him and her talk for a bit. And she basically meant like, yeah, I kind of dropped you and your brother off at your grandpa's in the country, and she kind of fucked up to Tokyo. Oh, well, she doesn't seem remorseful about it. It's like, yes, I'm establishing what happened. I'm not apologizing for it, though. And she basically kind of chastising of like, you're wasting your potential. Like, what the hell are you doing? Like, you should be out there getting shows and shit. She tells them. She throws the shamison at him. It's like play, but God help you if you're shitty playing even close to dampering by singing out on the street with you. So he starts playing and his windows open. They're on, like, the second floor, right by a busy street. So as he starts playing, she starts singing and people start looking up and they're hearing it, and there's a back out again. Clearly, that's where my mind is in the show.

See, this is another thing where if this happened in real life, they're in, like, a small town. But if this happened in real life, I would not stop. I would say, that's weird, and then keep going.

As someone who lives next to a banquet hall and had a good old fashioned hound going on last night till three in a goddamn morning, yeehaw. I would not enjoy this. I'd say, shut the fuck up and throw a shoe through the window.

Yeah, their neighbors should be banging on the wall.

Yeah, they are still in Tokyo. It's not like downtown, but they are in a major city. So just like just turn your radio down. I don't need to hear what you're listening to in your car stop.

Even if it's good, it's like, oh, they're very talented. I'd be like, yo, I'm trying to do something. I'm trying to record a podcast. I don't need the xiaomi sid playing in the back, actually. I would love that. Shami sing like background music. Just a low hum throat. Yeah. So they're playing and they start drawing attention of everyone around. And as he plays, we get different shots of, like, scenery and nature and different, like, seasons, like fall and winter. And we get shots of all the supporting characters outside listening. Because they're in the opening, I'm assuming they're going to be reoccurring. And it seems like it becomes like a battle between setsu and his mom because his mom's voice is overpowering him and he's trying to keep up with it. So it seems like he's really struggling with it. Right as he gets to the end of it, he's finishing the song and the string breaks. His mom just sort of grabs him by the collar like, you peace. I shit. You broke a string. Like, right at the finale, we're supposed to finish it. Like, have a tight finish. Should knock this song out of the park and you fucked it up. But everyone out on the street. It's like cheering, clapping. And suddenly one of the food vendors out there was like, hey, come on down. I got some free crow catchphrase. It's like, come play at my boarding house. It's like, we love you. It's like, weird.

Calm down.

It will never happen.

And then everybody cleft.

And then literally everyone clapped. So his mom says she'll be his legal guardian. She specified that I'll be a legal guardian. You're living in this apartment by yourself. I am your mother. I will just keep you barely alive. I'm not a parent. I'm not going to care for you.

You're welcome.

You're welcome.

Bye.

But she says this is when we find out he's still a teenager. He has to go to high school. And she's like, I don't like dumb men. So you're going to go get an education. Well, it feels like a bad reason, but she's right to do so. She's right to put it back in school.

This is the moment where it felt like to me. The anime police barged into the after the pilot was completed, and they were like, oh, I'm sorry. We heard you had a protagonist that is high school age that isn't going to school. Sorry. This is now a school.

Answer.

Is in the first episode. There's no indication that he's a teenager. So it's like, maybe he I don't even know, you know?

Yeah. Like, going into it, I was like, oh, yeah, carolyn Tuesday. It's going to be like a musician finding their place in the city. And they're like, no, it's school club town.

You misunderstand. He is for a child.

Yeah. It caught me off guard. And I was like, well, all right. There's a reason half our bingo card is just school tropes because it's just every anime peek behind the curtain. I went back home and visited my parents for a week, and my dad was getting it to anime. And I tried showing him stuff, and he's just like, why is it always about high school? I was like, that's the demographic, dad. Unfortunately. Yeah. So she said she's got to go to school, and that next morning, his brother is going to come by and take him to his first day of school, both to support him and to make sure he doesn't run off, get into more trouble. So we see the next day, brother's there. He's at the boarding house where the guy said, come and play at my boarding house. I guess that's just where it sets. He's playing or living now, and they're having breakfast in the morning. What did I write? His mom says, also, like, if you don't like these rules, you just go back to the country with your dead grandpa if you, you know, don't want to deal with it. So the ultimatum. So, yeah, the next morning, Wakana is there, his brother. They're having breakfast, but it's very tense. And Wakana's like, why don't you start up a conversation? And says he's like, why don't you start up a conversation? And the Boardhouse innkeeper and his daughter are just like, damn, these two are cold blooded. And while they're trying to force each other to start a conversation, they interrupted by their mom on TV in a commercial showing, like, the skincare product and just being very dramatic and over the top. And the innkeeper is like, wow, that's their mom. That's what a celebrity must be like. And we kind of like, no, she's just like so I like the idea. It's not because she's a famous singer or something and doing commercials. Like, she would be doing this in the countryside as well. This is just who she is. It's like, I love her. Want her?

Yeah, she was a theater kid. You're never going to get the dramatics out of her no matter what she does.

The show keeps teasing me with these great women and then throwing them in the garbage.

Let me see them. Yeah. This is also the last time we see the mom in these three of those. Yeah.

Goodbye.

Goodbye. The interesting characters. All right.

He immediately killed off Grandpa. We said unaway on a train. The mom now just lives in a commercial, I guess.

Who's next? Who's the next cool female leader we're going to just boot away into God knows where? So we see them walk into school and they're talking about, like, Wakana is so serious and Sets, who's too casual about stuff, like doing his own way. He's a moody teenager. It makes sense. Wakana says he came in third in the national shamisen tournament that was held back in the countryside. And he's like, third is not bad, especially for a national tournament, but the guys that beat me blew me out of the water so much, I don't think I'll ever get to their level. So I think I've kind of never recover from this. I can never financially recover. But he's basically saying, like, I'm not bad, but I'm not innately talented of what they have, so I'll never be able to reach their level. And he's mostly just complaining, I'm good.

But not perfect, therefore I must throw it away completely.

Why do I even exist? And he says, like, oh, that girl that slapped you in the face in grade school, she won the women's division, so everyone's keeping up with us and everyone's doing good except for you, who thinks he's too good for tournaments and competition, pisses everyone else off. And he says, Chief still remembers him. And then we cut to school. Once again, I don't know what age Wakana is. He goes to the school with him, but he doesn't stay in school. So, like, college.

Said he was 18 when he did that performance, so I think that was like his big senior year thing. And then he was like, okay, it's not for me, I won't pursue it. So I think he's an adult, just not adult adult. He's probably like, early college.

He's just going there to drop him off and meet the people at the school and be like, this is my younger brother.

Yeah, but with the show, I wouldn't be surprised. He's a year older than me. He's also 17, but has a beard. Okay.

This show gives you so many details and it's never the thing you actually know.

Yeah, so he drops that too off at school, and then he talks with the school administration. And it's too, like, I guess the principal and vice principal talking like, oh, we heard the story of Setsu taking care for his ailing grandfather and when he died, and it's clearly the story his mom made up of just like, really hamming it up, making it seem this overdramatic story. And then she also made a very generous donation to the school as well. I think it was basically like, hey, take my kid in the middle of the school year and don't ask questions. Fair enough. So it's kind of like, what the fuck? What did she tell them? What's happening here? He caught up in all her trauma and says he talks to one of the teachers after school. He gets introduced to the class and like, ooh, a transfer student check. So everyone's all buzz with the new kid and then we cut that after class. He's just talking to one of the teachers like, hey, make sure these forms are filled out correctly, make sure your contact information is correct and just, you're new here, so follow procedure. And then a girl walks in. I didn't write her name down. I just assume she's the love interest. She seems like plucky bobbed. Haircut, you know, go get her. Trying to get into the shami scent. So I assume that's the love interest for this shit. But she walks in asking the teacher, like, hey, I found this old shami sand in the music room. Can I use it for my club? The shamisan appreciation club. How convenient.

What a niche.

It's so specific.

What a hamfisted thing that needs to be introduced after that first episode?

And, yeah, the teacher cracks it open. They look at it like, oh, why is it all in pieces? It's big enough to fit in this case by itself. I don't know why it's separated. And Setsuit this is the point where I could see Setsu being the unlikable main character. Because he sees them open it. He sees it and he goes, if you don't know anything about it, you shouldn't touch something this, like, special and good. It's like, all right, fucking relax.

If you don't abandoned trumpet. That's been in the band 30 years. Shut the fuck up.

But Louis Armstrong used it when he went to school here. How would I know that? I'm a teacher who's been here for a year. The fuck is this if I don't know what it is, I don't know how special it is. So not to touch it. This is definitely the form. I was like, that tastes kind of a dick. But so they open it and they're like, well, can you help us assemble it since you know so much about it? Prodigy Child once again, I didn't hate this show. But as we talk about it, I'm getting madder and madder.

It's just him.

It's just him. Yeah, it's just him. So he helps them assemble it and they're like, yeah, it's got this, like, red sandalwood. It's a gorgeous instrument. It's very good. But the base of it, where it's got the skin wrapped around it, it's got a big rip it. And they're like, oh, that sucks. He's like, yeah, it's a beautiful instrument. It definitely would be really good to play on. Well, maybe we can get repaired. He's like, yeah, that'll be, like, four or $5,000. It's like, okay. So he leaves, and the girl thanks him, and the brothers meet up on their way back from school. wakana gives him a case for Hashami Sin instead of just, like, the bag that he's been keeping it in. So here's, like, a real fine case. This guy's like, nice wood, too. He's all fascinated by it. And wakana says he's starting to understand why Setsu left after his grandpa's death. How he can't play the meat, he can't hear the sounds anymore. And he's like, I think I kind of get what you're feeling. After I got my ass kicked out of Torn, I think I see where you're coming. And says, sue. This is one of the moments where cesu tries to be nice, where he tries to reassure his brother. It's like a weird analogy, though. Like, out of 50 50,000 penguins, a penguin is able to always tell what another penguin's call is or something. Like, where the fuck is going with this? I'm I'm not great with analogies, but and I guess he's I guess he's trying to reassure his brother, like, you don't think you're good enough, but you definitely have a unique style to it that is good. Like Duke and Joke, you're not perfect, but that doesn't mean you're garbage. So you could still play the xiaomi Sin and not be the master, but walking out kind of like brushes off, like, I get what you're trying to say, and walks away. And we kind of see Sets. It like, no, that's not he didn't get my message. So he's not great to communicate, which is clear. And the next day we see his brother leaves, and before he leaves Sets, he runs out like, hey, let's jam one more time. Let's get a jam session. So they go to a nearby shrine and they go, what should we play? Should we play that song? Should we play the song? He goes, no, no, let's be more vague and cryptic. Let's play that song.

Like that one, the one that'll summon a demon. That's when the show gets interesting.

That's when it ran himself at the episode three.

In the third episode, we need to change what's going on in the show. Once again, it's about demons and fighting monsters with banches.

Got you. It's shaman King. We got you, shamanson King Damn. So they end up playing a nameless piece that they made together as kids, and they never gave it, but it's one that only they know how to. So as they're playing it, it's very good. And we see flashbacks of them as kids. We always see the older brother leading the way and he's the older one, he's paving the path. And we see setsu. He's kind of overtaking him now. He's kind of passing them with the shamison playing. Now you'll be and it finishes with them playing at the shrine. And then we get an aftercredit scene, which anime seem to be doing this a lot frequently, and very inconsistently even within shows. And it's fucking me up.

I did not make it that far.

I'm not going to watch the credits every time. But sometimes they have like, thankfully, this one is just the girl from the teachers lounge earlier who had the old shamison, like put together for her. It's just her walking with her friend, being saying like, oh, yeah, we found an old shamison. Now it's telling me about we were able to assemble it and that's the new transfer kit was able to help me. It turns out he knows a thing or two about xiaomi Sin. And the friend she's telling her about is like, oh, this character, you say? She's like, oh, boy, I hope he joins the shamison club because it's only me. So it's not a club. It's just me.

It's just one person with a hobby sin.

Yeah.

I'm sorry. Are you telling me this is an anime about an underpopulated club that doesn't get to form until they find the right number of people?

All right, which one are we replacing? We got to replace something.

Well, you know what's wild is that it seems like it's already a club.

But it's just seems like it's already glove. Yeah, we could take the dead parent club or child living alone. Those overlap too often. But yeah, we got to do club that needs three or four members to be officially a club. Because, goddamn, it is every show. That's episode two.

Yeah, episode three. We start shari's walking to school. She's listening to something on headphones, and her friend yui comes up. And there's so much this is a very dense episode. I'm going to breeze through this stuff because I got less than halfway through the episode and three quarters of the way through my notebook. And I was like, I can't go.

With this face real quick. I'll establish right off the bat because we might skip over all of it. yui is sneaky and clever and a bona fide idiot. And I love that she is another good one. She instantly became one of my favorite garbage. She did that, like, sneaky. Like, I know something you don't know. Laugh. And I was like, that's my character trope. That's the one I love every time.

But yeah. So they see Setsu going to school, and shuri runs up and says, thank you for help fixing the shamanson. And he's like, oh, since you two are interested, why don't you join the club? And he's like, Fuck you, and leave as he is. Want to do so in class? Setsu is wondering, like, why is sherry so into the shamison? And, oh, also, real quick, brother not in this episode. So Bob, he's in the garbage too.

I wrote his name down, and I remembered it for nothing.

All gone to waste.

I got, like, two brain cells, man. I can't be using them up on this.

So he's like, what? Why? What's her motive? And we see what she's listening to in her headphones. And it's her grandma. She's humming a shamison song that she can't quite remember anymore from her youth. And oh.

What?

What's going on? The teacher comes over and is like, ah, recess is over. Put your headphones away. Are you texting on recess? That's been over for a minute. How dare you?

That was a real tech.

Yeah, just asshole comes in way too hot.

Give me that phone.

You can get this after class. And as he takes it, it unplugs the headphones and plays the the melody to the class. And oh, no. Setsu recognizes it. It's his grandpa's famous song. But but it's not. It's a version of it. So he recognizes it, but doesn't recognize fucking God.

The piece of the song is called an impromptu. And he says, it changes every time. I'm like, then that's not the same song.

Yeah, it's sort of like a jazzy thing of like, yeah, the bass song is the same, but you're going to go on riffs and solos and all that sort of stuff. So it's different every time. But that means there is, like a bass song to it.

You can copy part of it. Yeah. Also, when we got the review here, I was like, oh, no. This is the only way she can connect with her grandma is through the song. Oh, no, it's going to get set. Wait, that's literally the beginning of the show. That's literally how this whole show starts.

Also, Grandma is presumably still alive.

I don't know. She might be a cool character. She might not be safe.

She will be around for half an episode, and then she has to go to the moon.

My people need me.

But yeah. So we see yui later on. Finds the video of him playing the show for the shitty band guy. He finds that, I don't know, viral video or whatever, and she's like, aha, I have a secret, secret talents.

She's great.

Then we see another boy come in. I didn't give a shit about his name.

Boy? He's Boy?

Yeah, Boy. He comes in looking for shiri and you he just fucking goes off on him. And he's like, no, shiri fucking hates men. You're just into her because you have a crush on her. You're trying to be predatory. Fuck you, dude. He's like, yo, what the fuck? Yeah, I have a crush on her. I'm a high schooler chill. Why is that so bad?

Okay, why does she hate me? It's like, well, you bullied her all of middle school. Why wouldn't she?

That's the wildest shit. Is that you? He's like, you're the reason she hates men. And he's like, But I like her now.

Just more shit we don't need. Okay, so, yeah, this next scene takes up a solid quarter of my notes. Three minutes. So let's get through this. So Setsu is looking for sherry after class. She had to go pick up her phone. So he's looking for the teacher office, and he finds her in the hall and is like, hey, that song that played, how do you know it? And she's like, oh, well, my grandma heard it when she was evacuated as a child and was in the country. So Setsu was like, oh, yes. When my grandpa was a roving musician back in the day, she just happened to be at a show. What a coincidence. sherry is like, my grandma's memory is getting bad, so she can't really remember the whole song. So I'm taking it upon myself to find this song so I can play it for her and we can connect and have a good family dynamic. I know you are unfamiliar Setsu with this song, but I care about my family. So yui and the boy find them, and he setsu tries walking off. He's like, oh, she doesn't know. It's a partially improvised song, and her grandma will never hear it. It's a feudal adventure. But as he walks away and is like, no, this song can't be played. You don't have the artful skills. UE is like, hey, fuck you. You're in this club now. I am, too. I can't fuck up. Character dewey so forces him to join the club. And at that second, the Advisor teacher rounds the corner is like, oh, I hear there's club members. I just have relevant info I can dump on you. So we found that the shamison that was fixed was owned by a former student and current shamison prodigy. If this is common knowledge, I feel like should have been known already. This famous player, he has a show coming up. I'm going to take this newly formed club as of 30 seconds ago on a field trip.

Cool.

All right.

Cool. Also, this club advisor yeah, also, this.

Famous player had two names. I wrote down one name, and at the very end, she's like, oh, by the way, he goes by another fucking name. I'm like, why? It does not matter.

This really got me confused at this part. So I just stopped taking notes. Yeah.

So sarayu, that was his name. Who cares about the other one? So we see sarau. He's in he's in Satsu's hometown of amori, and practicing with, I guess, his dad. I don't know.

He's just a teacher.

I don't know, teacher. I couldn't figure out what was up. And because he's like, oh, yes, the master from this family of, like, legendary shamison players. So I was like, oh, so this is, like, the descendant. This is like Grandpa's Son, who also is a master shamison player and wasn't mentioned up to this point. I don't know.

Got real confusing. Yeah.

So the girl classmate from the last episode in the hometown, I thought it was setsu's sister. I'm still unclear about that.

That was the girl that slapped him in grade school in the flashback.

Yes. But I thought here they established this was setsu's sister. Because I thought she was like, oh, yeah, you should play with my brother.

Her brother is the one that won the competition.

That beats that's his brother.

But I also thought that this guy when they introduced this guy, I thought that was him. So I'm like, what?

But anyway, there's so many people then they have no established dynamics. So Seriyu is like, oh, I got a show in Tokyo tomorrow. I can't meet this famous guy. I got to go meet him in Tokyo. So we see all the club members, they're meeting the teacher to go to the show. Who's. She's in her sexy out of work clothes. More milfs. Got it.

That's why when he said Mills, I was like, which? Because I immediately thought of the t shirt. Yeah.

Well, they get to the show, they see the guy play, and everyone's amazed. Setsu is like, oh, such clear tones. I didn't know you could get such clarity from this instrument. So they go meet him backstage and as always, Setsu is being a dick. Just being like, everyone soaks but me. I'm the moody outcast. I only cared periodically about things. And sherry is like, hey, I'm so nervous to meet you, but we found this. Jonathan, is this yours? And he's like, oh, yeah. I was really interested in just leaving it for future shamison generations. I didn't need it anymore. I just left it. And Setsu is like, oh, so you're just going to let them throw away this priceless instrument? You goddamn idiot. You monster. Just leaving this abandoned. And guy is like, hey, who the fuck are you?

What if it got thrown away? He's like, it happens. There's one line of particular reason I don't understand your logic here. And the guy just responds with, that's fine. It's not about you. Fucking relax.

Yeah, I don't owe you shit as a freshman student just accosting me after I shredded this shit out of the.

Show, try to kill it on stage.

But like, the way Setsu was talking about the instrument sort of clues series, you to be like, he seems to know more than he's letting on. So he's like, hey, how about you fucking play for me then? shithead, shut up.

Or shut up. Yeah.

So he has him play and he's playing. This is the first time the rest of the club except for UE, who has seen the video, even just explaining how this guy's playing an instrument, it requires like backstory and stuff. So everyone is amazed he's playing but you. He's like, hey, I've seen you play in that video where you play a lot fucking better than this. Why are you holding back? So sarayu also gets that vibe of like, oh, yeah, he's not as good as he thinks. So he's like, oh, I guess you're pretty good for a freshman. And then Sets, you like, storms off because he was so dishonored to the guy he was being an asshole to 2 seconds ago. You didn't see this coming? You didn't see him not appreciating that at his show. So he leaves and talks to a shopkeep. Have we seen this character? I have no fucking clue. I think this is like the shop he lives above. But this is not a character I've known to be established. I was like, what the hell is happening here?

Forget about this part.

So we see. Sorry. Yeah, UE tracks him down and he's like, hey, why didn't you play as good? And he's like, I wasn't properly inspired. I didn't know what he wanted from me. So I didn't know I couldn't play good because I didn't play good.

There's a lot of like, I'm not in the right head space. So my emotions couldn't be conveyed through to the inch. And he just says, if you know how to play a song, just play the fucking song. It doesn't matter what your mood is at the time if you just hit the chords correct. I was like, yeah, he was right. She might be onto something here.

Did Grandpa teach you that you can play, like, Set songs and it doesn't need to be fucking improvised every time, because that seems to be a fundamental thing he does not grasp.

Grandpa was just a crazy jazz musician outlet. Contrary, silent. I don't know any chords. I just feel it and just give him nodsmith.

Yeah, grandpa can't read music, so he wants to play a song in his life.

So far that could be true, because we only know Grandpa for doing those impromptu songs. That changes every time he plays. It sounds like he just doesn't know what a song is.

Yeah.

But the next day, Setsu sees shari trying to play and is, like, giving her tips, and he's like, would it be okay if if your grandma hears a different song? Is it all right if I don't play exactly what you're looking for? And she's like, yeah, the lead I have is my grandma going, anything is better than that. He's like, all right, bring your grandma. I'm going to blow her mind.

I'm going to knock your grandma's socks off.

And that's where we end episode three. And God, there's just so much going on.

There's so much.

They want to do everything with the show and do none of it. Well, they do some things. I'll give it that.

That's what I was going to say. But I was going to wait for.

Brendan to ask or we've there yet?

Sorry.

Just having to take this much notes for so much information. That doesn't matter. I was personally attacked by this.

Yeah, obviously, I've said it. I like a lot of the women characters in this. They're great.

Real great.

And then, I don't know, like, thinking about the moment where he was playing with his brother, and his brother realizing that he's coming to his own, like, that was a really nice moment. And it has nice moments. I even liked after they left, the prodigy guy, he took his shamisen back, and in his head, he was like, how fucking dare he play that terribly? I don't know. It has its moments. But for the most part, I guess it's just because Setsu sucks.

All our problems seem to stem just like every scene without Setsu fantastic. And anything with him. And it's like, there's this weird thing I don't like about this scene.

I think it's a protagonist thinking back on it. Honestly, it's so weird that the first episode is so different from the episodes two and three.

Even like, in the start of episode two, I'm like, okay, cool. Great. And then mom is like, all right, get to school. buddy, and it's like, oh, cool. Let's just put away all the fun stuff we established. Because, like, episode one, you're like, yeah, he's getting established in a new city. He's a young adult just trying to figure out a musical family dynamic that's really interesting. But then they're like, okay, but also go to school and teach this high schooler how to play and have, like, weird rival band dynamics. There's a lot of, like, weird jealousy and stuff going on between every musician.

Yeah. They got to hit the quota of school uniforms per anime. They weren't going to hit it with this one, so they threw them in school. But I think it was D. When you were doing your recap, there was a character who's, like, with wakana with his brother all the time. And even when the grandpa dies, he's there crying at the funeral. We never get told who that character is. Either his name or his relation to anyone. I'm assuming it's the brother's boyfriend.

Yeah, that's what I was going to say.

Because they give us nothing to work with. A bad guy who shows up multiple times and has dialogue. And I was like, who are you?

Until we're told differently, it is Wakana's longtime partner.

Yeah, until they give us anything else. But yeah, same with one other show, tweet with a future diary. With the episode I recapped, I took the notes. Everything else, I kind of checked. I was like, yeah, I'm having the right time and recapping. It's kind of getting me mad. It's getting my blood.

Future diary is so much worse, though.

It's so much worse. But I didn't have hard opinions about this show until recapping. I was like, yes, session does kind of suck, now that you mention it. You piece it together.

Yeah.

There were a lot of characters they just threw away after one he's. Yeah. Wait a minute.

Yeah.

So I was kind of like, that's.

Kind of the nature of this podcast, though, is like, we have to we have to watch it. We have to take notes. And for shows like this, it's hard. And then when we talk about it again, it's like, oh, damn. All of this stuff is like because.

There'S so much notes you just have to write, right. You're not really processing what's happening in the show. And then once we come back and talk about it yeah.

If you're just sitting there watching it, maybe this feels better. Like, setsu would still suck. Like, I would still feel that way, but I wouldn't hone in on so many things. There are still things that wouldn't be great, but you know what I mean.

Yeah.

Taking notes on the third episode, I did get the luxury of just being able to watch the first two uninterrupted as a show and still didn't like it. Still thought satsu sucked.

Yeah, because I fucking love the xiaomi. All the music. I was like, this is great. It's actually mind boggling how many different notes and stuff you can get of an instrument with three strings. It fucking racks my brain. And I loved watching him play because it's not a big action show. There's not big explosions, there's not combat. So all the money for, like, the really detailed animation and those shots go into them playing it. So you see them playing it. It's very impressive.

Yeah.

And I did enjoy listening to it. And like, some of the psychiatrists, like I said multiple times, love uni. She's great. She's just not putting it with anyone's shit and just kind of an idiot in her own right. I like the teacher. I like the mop. We like all the female characters. But, yeah, it's definitely something. I'll probably just shut my brain off and continue watching it because it's good music and I don't care about sets, but I would really love to see any of the characters reprise their role as their characters. I'd like to see anyone reoccur.

Yeah. Not excellent. But hey, I could see it wasn't terrible. Like, I could see why it's popular, why other people might like it.

Yeah, we also got just problems with protagonists on this podcast. We just see the same one over and fucking over again. This guy, this kid, this fucking guy.

Yeah, one of the shows where it's like, you have a lot that you want to do, but you don't know how to formulate it into a show, so none of it succeeds. Yeah, you can like the elements, but as a narrative, this is just not great.

Yeah.

It's like a weird mishmash salad. It's like, I like all the ingredients, but then you put it together. I don't know why you thought coke and hot dogs would go well in a salad. And it's like, well, here we are.

I have a feeling it'll come down to the competition stuff.

But yeah, I was actually thinking about taking the unlikeable main character off the bingo card because I'm like, Hold on.

I just had an idea. What if this show so what if they stuck with, like, the plot of the first episode? And he was actually, like, in his 20s, whatever, and he's like, in order to get the fucking passion back, he starts doing competitions because that was something that he never wanted to do. I fixed it. You're welcome.

There. There you go.

Skip the high school bullshit.

Yeah, I think that might probably happen in later episodes. But yeah, the sharp turn, the high school really bad.

Wet blanket.

Yeah. Because we get a really good establishment of like yeah, he does not click with Tokyo musicians because we got that shitty guitarist in the intro or intro in the first episode. And it's like, oh, yeah. If he just gets into the battle of the band scene where everyone else is like a rock band. But he's just like, yeah, let me shred the shamison, but he still rules. That would be great if everyone is like, he's not playing songs. He's just shredding. How does this compare?

He's just riffing. In hindsight. That's kind of why I, like, given so much, because they're high schoolers, but the high school is just like the setting sometimes, like the background. Most of the actual story takes place in the studio. They're practicing or out in the city somewhere. Not in high school, anyway. I think it's a no from us collectively. But like we said, we like the parts of it, but the execution was.

Not yeah, the show is not greater than the sum of its parts. Well, what protagonist will we not like next week? Brendan?

Well, I feel like we've been going a little chill, going a little song with the shows lately.

Yeah. Out of necessity. Brendan, what are you about to do? This is all I can handle.

No, it's fine. So I figured let's keep that going with the show. I know a little bit about that's. My way of prefacing when everyone hates it and yells at me.

That's it.

I know a little bit about this show. So we're going to be watching pillow boys.

Love it. Love the title. Can't wait to watch something that has nothing to do with the title.

I'm sure it's a mech show. It's a power rangers battleneck.

Is this where I'm going to learn about body pillows for real? If there's a show you want us to know for educational purposes or for chill purposes, you can send those to our email arwibaria@gmail.com. Or you can reach out to us on twitter or instagram at rweebaria on both. You can find me on twitter and instagram at mrpatrick. dugan.

You can find me on instagram at honey d, on twitter at honey d eight and honey dart or on twitch at honeyunderscored d. And honey is spelled H-U-N-N-I-E-I fucked up.

It's like the pillowboys. And it's four minute episodes. We might be changing it. Stay tuned. You'll see what it is next week. I just looked it up and I.

Was like, I know this.

Wait.

Why don't you, the listener, consult our social media fees, instagram to find out?

Keep up to date.

Find me on Twitter aBTS Brandon and that's it. Twitter handle. I might do I don't know what to change it to. What do we do? awt. Y yeah.

Make this your brand now, baby.

Yeah. rebranding, baby. I got nothing else.

Sorry. That threw me drastic changes.

This is my identity now, dug. It has to keep going. Nothing else.

Oh, no. Go to rip. Brendan on Twitter now. Thank you to camille ruley for our artwork. And thank you to Louis zong for our theme song stories. You can find all of louie's music at louisong bandcamp.com. Thank you, and we hope you'll join us next week as we learn to live with anime.

You should just watch. Kubo and the two strings.

Yo, we're giving. I've got uncle's boyfriend. Yeah.