AWTY 199 - Boy 2: Electric Boygaloo (xxxHolic)

Pitchboy, pitch.

Hello and welcome to our weep area in exploration, collaboration and education and anime. I'm your anime idiot, patrick dugan.

I am your anime expert, D hollander.

And I am brenda mccullough. Your anime, betty spaghetti.

Oh, I used to have one of those.

Yeah, I love those.

The old bethany spaghetti.

I feel like that's one of those things. Have you ever heard people say that they used to chew on polly pocket clothes?

No, but I could see it. They were like really proper.

Yeah, I feel like the texture of, like, betty spaghetti's hair is something that I would have done that too. I chewed on pencils as a kid.

I stocked on coins. I probably got a lot of diseases we don't need.

I still love chewing on stuff. We're already in a weird place. It's hot.

We're being blown alive, including our brains.

We're all chewing on the sun.

That was nothing. That was for nobody.

No, this is the exact audience for that.

It's going to be one of those listeners going to be one of those.

Yeah. 12 hours ago, I was grocery shopping to avoid the heat of the world. So 12 hours later, I am here melting in front of you and I am going to butcher a show recommendation from analog Douglas. We're going to limp through watching Triple X holic.

Excellent. I've always said xxx holic, but Triple X holic is much easier to say.

Sorry, vin Diesel. And then second season. It's Ice cube. We don't really explain why, but character. Yeah, I was nervous, like Hunter X Hunter, where you don't say the X, but I do to piss off people that like Hunter hunter and spy family. Spy family. I was also going to say my opening was going to be I'm an Xxholic, which means I'm addicted to either porn or old timey liquor from a western.

Old moonshine.

Old moonshine.

Hilarious.

Yeah. I wanted to continue the trend after last week of a title that seems more sexual than the show implies.

Why?

This recommendation has been sitting high up on the shelf for so long. This came to us a long time ago. I saw the title and I was like, you know me. This is going to see the light of day. And then as you go through life, you have to clean out clean out your old possessions. Nothing gold can stay. And you see an old title, an old friend at this point looking at.

You from your anime, a comfort title.

And you're like, you know what? Let me dust it off. Let me see what this horny show is about. And weirdly, it doesn't seem that horny. At least by synopsis, you went just.

Purely off the xxx.

I mean, it's easy to do. How could you not?

Yeah, I feel like it's the double bluff with anime. If it seems horny, it's not. If it doesn't seem horny, it's extremely horny. Like Dragon pilot doesn't seem horny. It was a lot.

It was horny. It was very horny.

Just make your audience do as much work as possible to actually find the materials that they'll connect with. Is this a show either of you are familiar with?

I think I watched the first episode like a lifetime ago and did not continue because this anime is infamous for its absolutely abominable anatomy. The characters are like string beans and it's extremely unpleasant to look at, I think, and like screenshots and stuff. So I have no idea what it's about. I don't remember what I watched of it. I only remember the.

Body horror.

Yes.

Yeah. I haven't watched any of it. But it is a pretty well known series for one reason or another. I know it's clamps and that's I'm also familiar with the Jack skellington esque physiques of some of the characters. So that's about all I know.

Great.

It might be horny. I'm not saying yeah, we don't know.

Anything about the story. So maybe that's promising.

Yeah. Will these gumby ass chucklefucks entertainers? Let's find out by watching the first three episodes.

Let's do it.

Going in real hostile.

I think that's where we come back.

Okay.

Too deep. seth, to be fair, we are experiencing like the worst heat wave of the year.

I'm going to pretend I'm a rich person doing hot yoga. They chose to be hot.

Oh, yeah. Everyone just pretends you paid for it and then you'll have to enjoy it.

That'Ll fix it.

Don't actually enjoy it, but trick your brain into thinking you have to.

Oh, my God. You have to try it. It's so rejuvenating. You come out of it a completely different person.

I'm sweating out all the toxins for my body. By toxins, I mean any moisture that is retained in there whatsoever.

I'm just going to really lean into the vocal fry on this one.

For the context. My computer isn't depicting the actual temperature. It just has a red triangle with a thermometer and says heat wave. Oh, this is the actual temperature out. It's saying, it's hot as fuck.

It's too hot. I can't think about it. Can't comprehend it.

Mine doesn't have a thermometer on it anymore. Instead, it's a text avery caricature of a cartoon going, oh, go with the eyeballs bulging out. It's just so goddamn hot.

So anime.

Anime just disclaimer the energy we're bringing is not necessarily because of the show.

Correct.

I mean, what better thing to do on a day like today than sit inside in total darkness and watch cartoons?

Yeah, that's my life.

So we start episode one. We find our main character Wadanuki. They just jump right into it. Do we need to know this guy at all? No, he's the main character. So we see a man running through the streets. Everyone else seems to be fine, but he's freaking out because he's getting chased by a cloud of spirits that only he can see. Then they start just beating the shit out of them.

Good.

And he collapses on the ground and accidentally touches his hand to a fence, and they all magically disappear.

I do want to say up top, yes, he does actually look like Jack Skallington, proportion wise. Like, this is slenderman, the anime to the extreme. He is actually taller than the fence he touched in this first scene. He's actually towering over it. He's so stretched out.

Yeah. Truly, the way they're animated makes backgrounds almost inconsequential. Is you're like, I have no relevance of scam whatsoever.

Yeah.

I'll be honest, though. I didn't hate it. I'm just like, this is a weird style, but it is a style.

In the beginning, I was like, yeah, this is pretty bad. And then by the third episode, I was like, yeah, I don't even really think about it, so that's good.

Yeah. So in true second grader story, we open and immediately main character finds a spooky house and has to go in ooh, spooky story. So he's like, I don't want to walk in, but I'm drawn in magic. So two girls pop out, and they're like, ooh, let's take them to the mistress.

Ooh.

So they take them inside, and she's like, ooh. The meeting was inevitable. It was destiny that you came here. It is really, again, for a reason. No, you would find your way to me one day.

I will say it is kind of speeding through the plot and forcing it along on rails. I kind of appreciate that more than if they try and really popped and circumstanced it. You know what?

You're here. Yeah. They tossed you in there. And it's just like, sure, okay, fine.

Yeah.

It just plays out so quickly of this is the main character, who is I protest every time. So put upon I am a genius and what. They sort of use that to their advantage. So whatever he's complaining about, he immediately accepts that that is the reality as long as he can bitch and moan about it the entire time.

He's that character from weaver Bears that Griffin mcelroy played. Oh, I hate that. But I accept it as part of the Internet, which is I do have to do quite often.

What is it? Yeah, he looks like a lima bean. Yeah, morbid.

But yeah. So he's drawn in, and he's like, I didn't even want to be here. I'm leaving.

Go.

Leave me alone, you crazy people. And he's like, and mistress, this is yuko. And the two girls we meet are moro and maru. And yeah. She's like, oh, yeah. Hey, sailor, what's that in your pocket?

Are you excited to see me?

But he pulls out a gold pocket watch and shows it to her. She's like, oh, what's your name? What's your birthday? He gives it he fights it. There is some fun with the dialogue here that I do enjoy, where.

He.

Has a moment where he talks to the camera, like being like, oh, can you believe this lady? And then she also turns around and says, like, I'm fucking with this kid. Whatever. So there are fun moments like that. But it is very first episode of oh, yeah, I'm a magical person who doesn't need to explain anything. And you are now in my debt because I'm a wish granter. You're in my wish granting. Shop is a loose word because we never see that. It is truly just me talking to people in this living room.

It's a very empty, spacious room and.

A kitchen therapist office.

Yes, very much so. All of these people actually need therapy. This is a terrible waste of this.

I fully wouldn't be surprised if they were like, squatting in here. Like a real estate agent came by like, hey, what are you doing in my open house? You're like, oh, shit.

Run.

Because it's smoke bomb.

It's just so empty.

Squatters are back. So basically she does deals where she can grant any wish. But typically she has to steal the person's soul. But that's so taboo. That's yucky. So she just takes a price of equal, exchange it's up to the person and their wish. So she's like, hey, you see ghosts, right? That must suck. Do you want to not see ghosts? And he's like, yeah, cool. So you work for me now. Here your duties. Whatever I tell you, don't worry about it. Don't worry. You're pretty little ed. So your first task, we got to throw a party for the new guy. Throw yourself a welcoming party.

He's essentially an unpaid intern.

Throws you back those words.

We we can't we are in a.

Not a general state to navigate.

Too hot.

I got it done twice to me. I ain't going back.

Anyway, so I lost my notes.

Quick, quick, before grocery shopping. Grocery shopping.

Terrible. Oh, no, that brings me back too.

Little talking.

He has to go to a warehouse and get one of his guests. We needed to introduce a little fuzzy animal sidekick. So let's do that now. And then they go shopping. So Mochina is the little furby chinchilla.

It is a digimon.

It's literally a digimon.

It's a digimon.

So of course he's all self conscious being with a cute little thing. Oh, gross vulnerability. Why wasn't my guess for the party? A monster truck.

There is like a crowd shop where a woman is like, oh, look at that. He's got a little plush animal. That's cute. He looks like a girl. I just feel like, hey, lady. What the fucking mind your own business, lady. Shit. Shut up.

A weird shit going on in this town. And this isn't the weirdest thing. I bet you see.

Yeah, we're in an anime. It's going to get a lot weirder.

So they're at a grocery store. They're checking out. But his wish, it didn't come true because he sees a spirit following him. What is it? So he leaves. He's being followed by the spirit. He's trying to get away from it. But he starts to overhear some schoolgirls talking. And one of them is like, oh, you don't you don't understand what it's like.

The bird and I bear other girls.

I'm the interesting one. We don't need to talk about britney's dance recital. I'm dealing with a ghost thing. So she is clearly hinting that she has ghost powers. And he is following them, taking it all in, being like, I was that lonely. I was that vulnerable and scared. I need to give her some words of encouragement. So he walks up and he's like, hey, smile.

He'll look prettier when he's smile.

Truly, he's going up. His intention is like, hey, everything's going to be okay. But he's like, they're not going to hurt you. Don't worry. Truly. Like, it's all in your head, you idiot. So she rightfully is like, hey, dude, what the fuck do you know? Get the fuck out of here, you stranger. Coming up to me on the street trying to tell me how it will live in my life, you piece of shit. So he gets cussed out and they're all like, yeah, creep. What are you doing? And at any point he could be like, oh, no, I heard you talking about ghosts. I have ghosts and he doesn't.

But that was my thing. I didn't feel like what he said was especially terrible because he was just like, hey, they're not with you. Don't worry about it. And then they blow up at him. That's what bothered me is that he was never at any point like, oh, I should tell them I can see spirits and I don't see any around her.

Clear communication in my anime. Never. I won't alone ever. Not once.

Because yeah, clearly he's trying to be like, hey, you're not alone in this situation. I'm dealing with this too. And he's like, hey, you're dealing with this by yourself, apparently. But it's not that bad. Looking from the outside. It can't be that bad.

Could always be worse. No, dude, come on.

Do one decent thing in the show. But again, this whiplashes back and forth between this is some trophy shit and this is actually cool and good. So as she is telling him off, he's just standing there frozen. And I kind of got why he wasn't reacting for a SEC because he is just covered in this spirit. And he's realizing in that moment, oh, you don't see spirits. You're lying for attention.

My favorite is when he starts talking to them. One of her friends goes, are you blind? Can't you see she's special? Just like, okay, that's how this is going.

But as he's going to leave, he bumps into her. And suddenly she seems more grounded, not as dramatic about the ghost. And he feels that spirit leave him and latch on to her. So weird. Immediately she got what she wanted and was like, oh, this actually sucks. God, I'm not going to do, like, a buffy role play right now. So he goes back to you go and is like, hey, what's up? And she's like, well, people wish for lots of stuff, even stuff that isn't good. You wanted this to be taken away from you. Equivalent exchange. She wanted it, so I just passed it along to her. So two birds, 1 st. But yeah. And then, yeah, it's destiny.

You're here.

And then they end by him going back a different day, being like, I'm not staying a full day.

No.

And credits roll.

I don't want to be here. I just happen to be passing by. Yeah, I marked him off as soon dairy on the bingo card. Also unlikable. I gave him three episodes. He sucks.

Yeah, that's fair.

So in episode two, we start off, he's cooking. I didn't get any of their names, so you're welcome. It's Boy. Boy is making a three course meal for lady. The creepy twins and the digimon are watching him. They warn him that a pot is boiling over, and he gets mad at them for not telling him, even though they did. Lady shows up and says, you're taking such a long time. Can you get me another drink?

I feel like we're not addressing the seductive in the room of lady. Just the full open robe, like, foot draped over in the doorway, like, dangling her socket. I'm like this woman.

Here's how I feel about her. I really like that she is, like, sexy, but not like she doesn't do anything in the show that's gross. And nothing is done to her that is gross. It's just, like, who she is. It's just how she looks. But he's not like and she's not, like, shoving his titties in her face.

Yeah, it is a sexual self confidence, almost. Instead of like this is interaction dependent on X person in the scene. It's always like, no, I'm sexy and hot and I run this show.

It's?

Yeah, I'm your boss. So there's also a little bit of, like, a domination element. That's all the sexiness we need.

God.

Really is, isn't there?

What's that?

Good shit. Big fan.

Ten out of ten. Love the show.

Love the graduate.

So she, like, tastes something that he's cooking, and he yells at her for ruining her appetite and disrespecting the chef. And she turns away and she says, we have a customer. And we see that a woman is at the door. And she says, I just wandered in here. I didn't even mean to. And lady, welcomes her in. She sits her down and says, I can grant you a wish, Boy. And the twins are, like, watching from behind a door. And the woman says that her pinky finger feels weird, like, it feels heavy. But she went to the doctor and they said nothing is wrong. So lady asks if the woman has any bad habits. And she's like, nothing that could affect my health. And lady is like, are you sure?

Well, I am in a pinky wrestling tournament.

Why is that relevant?

And Boy can see a loop of dark smoke around her pinky. So lady gives her a ring and tells her to put it on that finger. And she says, it may help, but it's not going to get rid of your problem. We see boy at school? None of this matters except to introduce a couple of characters. So we are introduced to Girl. They engage in small talk about gym class. He clearly has a crush on her. She's like the most beautiful girl in school. It was at this point I put in my notes. Why are their bodies like that?

Yeah, because we're seeing people his age. Like, because the the twins are, like, smaller than him. And lady is, like, much older than him and taller. So we're seeing people his age, and it's like, god, they're all gangly teens, aren't they?

Then they talk about another boy who was like the goalie on the other team during gym class. And she thinks he was good. And he walks by and he's Cool Boy. He's sassy and aloof. Doesn't matter right now. Boy tells Girl about the job with lady. Lady, she asks where it is, and he says, oh, it's like a consultation agency.

He's making it sound like a prostitution house.

She says, oh, that must be interesting. And I'm like, does it? Is it? So after school, he's so happy that he talks to her. And he's like skipping to work. He's so happy. He arrives. And Ladies like, there's something wrong with your face. And he's like, you know, I was having such a good day until you said that. And she's like, I don't mean that you're ugly. I mean that you're I'm just like reading your emotions, and something feels different. Something went wrong, she says. And he's like, well, that's not it's.

Not your physical face. It's your soul. You're a shitty person.

That's a problem. She said something went wrong. But he's like, that's not true. I got to talk to Girl. And she says, talking with someone can change your fate, whether it's good or bad. Did you talk to anybody else? And he's like, I did talk to Cool Boy. And lady recognizes his name. And she kind of suggests that he should get to know him. And he's like, no, he's such a fucking jerk. And she's like, hey, cool it. You literally know nothing about him. The woman with the pinky issues returns. Lady is like, I expected to see you here again. She's still wearing the ring, and we can see that she doesn't have the smoke around her finger. And then lady starts asking her questions, and the smoke returns every time she answers. I wonder what this bad habit is that lady alluded to earlier.

I'm really stumped. I wish we could spend about ten more minutes of this episode figuring out.

What it could be and doing a very long montage of just seeing what it is.

I don't know. Lost was able to do it for, like, a good five seasons with the Smoke Monster. I still don't know what the problem with that one was.

So lady again asked them about her bad habits, and she points to the woman's mouth and her heart, and she says, these are your bad habits. The woman says her whole arm feels strange now. And lady says, you better work your shit out, or you're going to lose your ability to use your hand. So get it together.

I get that it's like magic and works in weird ways, and she can't directly but it's also just like, yes. Lady was just kind of like, you got to figure this shit out now. That doesn't help anybody.

I mean, I get it by the end where she's like, you have to figure out your own problems.

First steps of medicaid.

So we see a close up of the ring, and now it's all, like, cracked and dirty, and the woman is still like, I can't think of any bad habits. What is happening? Lady offers her tea, but she says she can't stay. She's got to go meet her boyfriend. The smoke intensifies as she describes him. Boy says that there's a terrible smell too. She's just farting up the storm stinky ass. The twins escort the woman out, and lady says we probably won't see her again. And Boy talks to lady about the smoke. She says it's the reason for the woman's issues. And Boy is like, hey, can I dip out for a bit? And she's like, if you want to go after her, don't. And he's like, she says she needs to handle it on her own. Don't go after her. And boy is like, no. And then he leaves anyway.

I'm pretty sure I know better than you.

Pretty sure? Me?

What do you know about wishes, genie?

Pretty sure. Me a 15 year old boy who can barely talk to a girl should go help this woman. So he chases after her, and he finds her leaving, like, an office to pick up some food or something for what seemed to be her coworkers. And he stands there and hears her coworkers talking about her as she walks away, and surprise. Everything she says is a lie. So, like, when she was talking to the lady, she said she was 21, but she's actually 27. Of course she doesn't have a boyfriend. All that stuff.

I trusted this show.

Just going to sit here and lie to my face.

So he runs after her and like, I alluded to before alluded again. I love that word. Today. I guess there's, like, an extended sequence of us just, like, watching her lie to people, and I was like, this didn't need to happen. But I guess they needed to fill time.

You got to fill that time.

So she's just, like, completely covered by the black smoke. She says her neck is super stiff.

You know the show is fantasy based because someone asked her, hey, would you stop for a survey? And the woman said, yes and talk to the survey taker.

I'd love to.

I love lying. My favorite part is right now. She, like, stops in the middle of a fucking crosswalk to talk to somebody, and she's still standing there when that person walks away. And she's like, oh, my ring is dirty. I should take it off and polish it right now in the middle of this crosswalk. So she does so, and the smoke cloud grows so big that she can't move. And because she's in the middle of the street, she gets hit by a truck. And boy love that. Boy didn't do the normal main character thing of, like, running and pushing somebody out of the way of a movie.

I was expecting it.

Yeah, he just let it happen. He just stood on the side of the road and was like.

I didn't follow you to help. I just wanted to see it for myself.

You misunderstand. I'm still not a good person.

This was his Yuhaka show. If he never saved that child, it's.

An alternate timeline, but at least use K is like, cool.

Use Case. Great. Yeah, this guy sucks.

This guy sucks. usk's. Got. So cool. So Boy goes back to shop and lady is like, oh, you didn't need to come back today. We also find out that he went with the woman to the hospital because she's got no one with her, I guess, ever, no family. And he asked lady why she didn't just tell the woman to stop lying if she knew it would happen. And she said it wouldn't have made a difference. Like, she was just lying for herself, and she wouldn't have wanted to stop if I had told her to, so there was no point in me saying anything. Boy asks if she still has a chance, and lady says that she does, but she needs to help herself. So this is lady being like, she should have gone to therapy is what she should have done. So we see the woman in the hospital, and there's a nurse that tells her that the boy was waiting with her while she was out, like, fainted asleep. And she has the opportunity to lie and say that she knows him, but she doesn't take it.

So growth just like getting hit by a fucking truck.

Yeah. So Boy asks lady if she knew what was going to happen from the first time the woman came to the shop and if she knows what will happen now. Does she know the future? Do you know my future? And she says, I have guesses, but I don't know if I'm right about you. Like, that woman was easy to read because of her habits. But your future is harder to tell. And I love she says, we all only have one past, but the future has infinite possibilities. And there was something about that I really loved. I don't know.

Just like that I said, like that. She said, I can't predict the future. You're all just very basic and easy to read.

Yeah. So she says she's hungry and it's time for dinner, time for him to cook. He complains about being underappreciated and hijinks and sue again, and she's talking to herself about how hard it is to find good help. But Boy is going to do great, and the world is what he makes of it, and he'll have any future he wants. But she doesn't say any of that to him. She says it to herself, very cryptically.

Never to him.

No, of course not. She's like, he doesn't deserve for me to be nice to him yet.

To be fair, she's right.

Yeah. That's episode two.

A good dom knows how to be with a woman.

It's edging. It's emotional edging.

I mean, put her on my list, guys.

It's at that point.

My dmd groups calling me out on shit, too. Now everyone knows I got it, but yeah, black bellowing Smoke appearing when you're lying. I guess that explains all the smog in La. Am I right? This is what I want. This is why I wrote that down. Episode three starts with I wrote the name down. I'm probably going to just default the Boy because what an okay?

It's fine.

Yeah, what an okay?

Because I did it.

It's okay when you do it.

It's bad.

Just kidding. I'm kidding.

I'm on episode three. My brain tells her melting starts with Boy asking if yoko I remember her name. I respect her as a person.

It's yuko, actually.

Lady starts with Boy asking if lady is sure about this. And she says yes. Give it to her. And then he throws the baseball in it. She wax it and knocks it out of the fucking park. We love a jot queen. She fucking hit that ball real far. He's more athletic than I am. And we hear the ball fly off and crack a window. And Boy is like, great, now I got to go get the ball. And probably get yelled at by the window owner, which is exactly what happens. So he comes back saying, like, yeah, I got to yell at because of your mistake. And while he's talking, we see hamawari, aka Girl, and she meets up with them as they plan to talk at the park. So they're talking for a bit, and she actually came here to talk to lady because she is wildly more interesting. And it turns out Girl has a friend at another school who's been playing this game with some of her friends at school, but it's causing some problems, and she wants lady to help out with it. Because she thinks it's weird mysticism. So it turns out the game is called angel, and it's a type of fortune telling game. We ended up seeing it. It's just a ouija board, essentially. Yeah. And they say that the school has kind of been strange ever since some of the kids started playing it at the school. So lady accepts the request for help, but says she's not going to do it herself because if she has to do the job, she'll have to take the payment. Same thing she did with Boy. So instead she assigns Boy to do it for her offloading her work to the unpaid intern. That where we heard we can't. We can't.

We're dangerously close.

We're reaching maximum capacity.

There's always someone off to the side with the lifesaver raft to pull two of us back in when we start drifting to the dynamic of the show. But yeah, so bully will have to go off and do this. So they go back to the shop, and lady says, yeah, she says she can't do it, otherwise she would have to accept the payment. So to circumvent this loophole, Boy would do this. And she says he'll need some help. Not the twins, not the digimon. Who else do we know? Yes. Boy. Two Cool.

Boy. Two Cool Boy the Sequel.

Electric Boycoloo.

Good joke. Thank you.

That makes up for my mengon.

I'm okay.

So she assigns him his study buddy, his partner in crime, to go to the school after hours to sort out the spirit issue. And Boy is excited to help his crush, but hates working with Electric Boy Galoo because he's cool and has only.

Been nice because I'll laugh every time.

He hates Cool Boy because Cool Boy has only been cool to literally everyone and nice to literally everyone. There's objectively no reason to not like Cool Boy.

He's just chilling.

He's just vivian.

Yeah, he's a better person than me. So obviously he's my enemy because people like him more.

It really shows how shitty what an OK is in this episode. So he gets there to the school, and we see him walking up and he's slouching it all glib. And we see lady is like, hey, you're going to go, but you're going to need some extra help because you suck. So here's a tool to help you. And we see as he walks up to Domaky or Coolboy that he's wearing headphones, but like Chobit headphones. Like those weird Chobit ear things. They sure are for anyone who doesn't know. They're like cat ears, but they're on the side of the head instead of the top, basically. And boys like, I feel dumb wearing these. And when he meets up with Coolboy, he goes, what? You're not going to say anything? And Cool Boy is like, no, man, you do. You wear whatever you're comfortable with. And then he starts yelling, why aren't you making fun of it? You should be making it. It's like, God, you suck. No one ever wins with this guy.

And we see accept you as you are. Again, really enforcing that. I am the best person.

I've achieved enlightenment at 15. What do you expect? And we see a quick flashback of lady giving him the headphones, basically saying they're like walkie talkies. They can communicate through it, but only the person wearing them can hear. And he's like, well, if they're walkie talkies, why didn't you just get walkie talkies? She's like, yeah, these are funnier, Lincoln. I want to see you wearing them. It's like, love a good time, and delightful delicious. We stand because I have a humiliation cake. What do you expect? She makes him wear the silly headphones, and she ends up talking. She ends up making Boy talk to Cool Boy on her behalf of like, if we're working together, it'd be rude if I didn't introduce myself. Now. Tell him I say all these things. And they have just a very polite conversation through Boy, who's begrudgingly doing it all. And she ends up making Boy being like, oh, by the way, Boy thinks you're very cool and is glad that you're working. He's like, hey, wait a minute. I don't think that. And tricks him again.

She's just like, I'm just trying to get you a friend because you have zero.

You walked into a ran a magical shop and are working here for a strange lady into your whole life. But you got to expand that social circle, bud. So while they're there on assignment, we scared a shot back of a lady back at her shop drinking and playing chess with the digimon. And as any good anime, they have custom chess pieces of the digimon character. You got to get your own merchandise in a show. And as the boys are climbing into the schoolyard, they get over the fence, and Boy is able to see a big, dark spirit. It just looks like a cloud, but it's circling around the whole school. And he's like, oh, that's the biggest one I've ever seen. But Cool Boy can't see it because he can't see spirits, right, cool Boy? He's like, I'm just here to help. I don't know why you're doing this. And as they get inside, we see, like, the purple haze everywhere. And Boy is like, oh, it stinks. Do you not smell it? And Cool Boy is like, no, again, I don't see spirits. I'm just here to help and do what I'm told. So lady is back saying that this angel game is causing severe damage to the school, and then they have to go to the source to try and break out of it. And Boy says it's strange that he's sensing the presence of all these spears, but he's not seeing the spirits since they're usually attracted to him and swarming him. So it's strange to see the presence of the strong but no actual spirits. And lady says it's because of Cool Boy. And when she's explaining that a bit, boy gets begrudging and belligerent and starts, like, tuning it out. It's like, oh, yeah, if he's so cool, how about this? And turns around and makes a face at Coalboy. And Cobboy is just like, oh, did lady tell you to do that? Is that something we should be doing? He's like, no, you're supposed to get mad. I'm teasing you. And it's like, all right, cool.

Thank you.

Great. Let's do the job. So they get up to the rooftop, where the source of the spirit energy is because of course it is rooftop. Check it off. And once up there, they get out to the roof and Boy starts getting jumped by these weird spirit blobs that just like, dogpile on him and then leave and are gone. So I don't know what they were. And as they're up there, he hears someone crying. And he sees, like, this purple haze off to the side. It's Jimmy hendrix. We love a good modern reference. And they go to the center of the source, and he sees three girls standing around a table crying. Two of them have their hands on, like, a pencil together. And another one's just standing up to the side. And they're playing angel, which again is just the ouija board, essentially. And they're crying, saying that angel won't let them leave and says it's the most frightening thing they've experienced. And Angels getting more aggressive and scarier since they've been here. And they say if the boy is like, all right, just let go of the pencil. And they're like, no, we can't. Angel said it'll curse us if we let go of it. And as they say that, we see the pencil start moving around the sheet of paper, circling some answers. And it says that they're all going to stay here until they die. The one girl that's not holding the pencil goes up to Boy and sees his headphones, like, what is that? What are you I forget why, but she tries to take them from him. And as they're fighting her with the headphones, angel starts moving the other girl's hands. And they start freaking out, screaming. And they say they can't take their hands off the pencil or also die. So boy's first instinct is, I'm going to go up there and physically remove your hands from that pencil.

I'm going to curb murder.

Yeah, I know the circumstances. I know the rules. I defy them.

I hate women. It's time.

And so he goes up and says as he's pulling the hands apart from the girls, he yells over to Cool Boy. He's like, hey, I could use some help here. I'm finding off three girls right now freaking out about a curse. And cool boy standing up to this. I'd be like, I don't know what you're talking about. You've been talking to yourself for five minutes now. And Boy goes and we see the girls that he was fending off. They all get this creepy smile on their face saying that they warned him, and then they push him off the roof. Thank God it's what he deserves.

Series credits roll.

We're focusing on Cool Boys, and the.

Rest of the series keeps going, which is what makes it even better.

Ten out of the tens, Cool Boy and digimon.

We love it.

Now he gets pushed off the roof. And we see Coolboy catches him at the last second, is holding onto his hand over the roof edge. We see as he's holding him on again, Cool Boy can't see the spirits, so he doesn't see the 30 girls behind them turn into this big, weird, slime spirit behind him as it's approaching them. And we hear the spirit say that they'll both stay here until they die. As it grabs onto Cool Boy, we see, like, I forget if it's like, blood or like a sizzle coming off. We see the spear touching him and clone it's, hurting him. And it starts attacking Coolboy as he's holding on to Boy. And the whole time, Boy is like, freaking out as he's dangling off the rooftop. The whole time, Cool Boys just like, hey, if you could just climb back up here, we could move on. We could progress. It's like five minutes of Boy not helping or pulling himself up at all. And it's like, God, this Cool Boy has got the patience of a saint. I wouldn't just dropped his ass. And we hear through the headphones a lady saying that the spirits aren't human spirits. And typically this sort of game summons, like, simple spirits. But after a while, the players of the game get bored, and they're like, oh. They answer like yes or no questions, and they wish stuff was more exciting and maybe even more dangerous, whether they're aware of that wish or not. Similar to the first episode where the girl wished she could see spirits, so they wish it was more exciting. And the game gets more exciting by the spirits getting more violent and dangerous. And that's what happened here with angel as the spirits mutated into this evil spirit. And while boys hanging off the edge, we see the dark clouds that were circling the school earlier. We see the big dark spirit form, and it's a giant snake. And we see it just slither on top and just eats the angel spirit, the slime spirit. And it's like, oh, rad. That took care of itself convenient. And Cool Boy was able to pull up Lame Boy, and they're like, all right.

He's been demoted from boy to lame boy.

I'm just saying Boy a lot, and I'm sure it's not easy.

Cool Boy is so good that we had to change the modifier for regular.

Coboy'S not getting promoted. Everyone else is getting demoed. So they're standing up there and they're like, oh, wow. I guess the angels taken care of and the snake is just, like, slithering around, eyeing them up, and they're just like, this probably isn't great. And the giant snake spirit starts chasing the boys around the rooftop again. COVID can't see it, so he's like, his arm is hurt now, so he's like, holding it. He's like you're looking up. So I guess there's something big above us. I guess I'm going to just start running with you. I like how Very much? He's like, I can't see what's happening. I'm just along for the ride. And while they're running, Lame Boys headphones fall off and they're on the ground and ladies talking through the headphones to the snake spirit, saying, I will offer myself at a sacrifice. You can eat me and leave these boys alone. So the snake eats the headphones and goes off on its way.

Another loophole.

Technically not her, but the snake doesn't know what modern technology is. Convenient. And lamboy says laneboy says the coolboy doesn't believe him about everything that happened with the spirits. Like, you don't have to I know what happened. You don't have to believe me. I know what I saw with my own eyes. And cool boys. Like I've never said I don't believe you. Why would I be here if I didn't believe you and go through all.

This shit spreading lies?

I am actively injured by something.

Yeah, I know something bit my arm and it wasn't you. So chances are something's here. Late Boys just so aggro all the time. And Cool Boys like, it is a shame that you lost the headphones, though, because it did make you look funny. And lame boys like I am mad. Next day, they go to the park. They meet up with everyone, including Girl, and they're celebrating with Boy, cooking for everybody. And we see Cool Boys like, Arm is in a sling and is all banched atop. She thanks them for helping her friend. Her friends been better ever since they did whatever they did. And lady says, the snake, I think Lame Boy says, like, oh, the snake was there and did everything we could have. Just we didn't have to intervene at all. And lady says the snake had no real intentions itself. It's just a spirit, like, bound to that place. So it was protecting its territory. But it never would have appeared without Lame boy's presence to egg it on and attract it to that point where.

The this was your fault.

It was less his fault, but more of like, I used you as bait to draw the bigger spirit out, to attack the small spirit.

And I know I know this snake guy. He fucking hates annoying kids.

So I knew the perfect space. I was like, I need the most annoying one I can think of and also a competent one. So I sent my homeboy here. Cool boy. But she said, yeah, Cool Boy has this natural presence where even though he can't see the spirits. He's able to, like, ward them off. Like, he's got, like, a strong constitution for it and stuff. So they make a good pairing even though they got a weird dynamic of, like, can see spirits and attract spirits and can't see spirits and deter spirits. She's like, lameboy. And Cool Boy might make a good boy combo. And Lame Boy is like, oh, I'm pissy and angry. And this is really where I checked off the unlikable bank character while he's pissing and ranting about just everything in the middle of it. Cool Boys like, hey, thanks for the food. Would you like to have some? And Lame Boy is like, no, I don't need your leftovers. What do you do when offering me food that I cooked? How dare you? And just bitching and bitching. Then they talk for a bit, and then at the very end of it, Cool Boys like, hey, can I get seconds? And Lame Boy says, what are you doing asking for seconds? I haven't even eaten yet. And I'm like he offered you foo. fuck this guy. fuck you, slender man. And it just really set in. Just like, there's no redeeming qualities. This guy just sucks. Yeah. And yeah, that's pretty much it. We kind of set the party dynamic because in the opening, standard opening, but we see both Girl and Cool Boy also there. So it seems like this is going to be the motley crew of spirit detectives.

At least most of that group is.

Tolerable it's just the protein. The twins are weird, but you don't see them a lot.

That's our weeb there yet overall, no, we're not. There are those cool elements of like, okay, it's not completely hitting every trope. There are actual moments of like, oh, this is like a fun turn on a scene, but, God, I hate this kid.

I want to punch out so much.

Very much so, as you were just saying, just argues with whatever is the last thing that is stated, even if he contradicts himself from his previous angry rant a minute before. So, yeah, it is annoying, but yeah, definitely glad it was not horny.

Let's be clear.

Tastefully horny. I don't know how to phrase this.

I don't know I don't know necessarily if the show was horny or if I was just horny for a lady, because goddamn that lady.

She is the best character. I enjoyed her very, very much. And I don't know, I like that she's not an especially the Boy is really the only one who's, like, an over the top caricature of trope. But, yeah, I love that she's just, like, cool and seemingly cares about people, like, the people that she's helping. And I think the foil of Cool Boy is neat, where he can't see the spirits, but just somehow has this presence that wards them off. I think that's kind of interesting, but yeah, I mean, it's just like a monster of the week fun. Reminds me of, like, juju Tukayson and yu hawk show and those kinds of things.

But not as good as he thought.

But still. Yeah, I don't know. I won't keep watching it, but I thought it was fine. He didn't bother me so much because I've seen so many anime that I'm just like, Whatever. And I like ladies so much. I'm like, it's fine, she's, whatever.

I think it's the same with a lot of with a pervy character trope, but it's seeing so much of it. Either it either gets on your nerves much faster or you become so jaded and desensitized to it. And it's a real I think for us, it's a real role at the dice of which one will annoy us and which one will be nothing to us, because I think we've all had character for it. This guy sucks. I don't know. This guy's nothing to me. But we've all been on both sides. Yeah, I agree.

I think a lot of the times when I see, like, this unlikable protagonist, I see all of the DNA of, oh, this is where anime fan expectations come from. So seeing these characters, I'm like, and someone is basing their entire personality on someone we can all see as a giant piece of shit. And that is another con ruin for 50,000 people.

I think I said it while we were actually talking about the show, and not during the break. That like by the third episode, the anatomy thing, it's still weird, but it's just kind of like yeah, it's just how it is, I guess. Whatever. That's fine. You just kind of stop thinking about that part of it.

Yeah. For me, with the show, it is pretty trophy, and it is pretty monster of the week. We looked it up. I think the anime started 2006. So this is prime time for that type of show. At the time, it's still probably pretty trophy, but especially in hindsight, 16 years later, very trophy, which is 16 years 2016.

You're right.

I just can't believe it.

It just sucks me here. Jesus Christ.

Surely you had to have made an error, right?

Retina?

Right. Brendan, look me in the eye. Right?

I pulled my back out, like, five years ago. I've been 50 for a while now. I am old, but yeah, I think it's one of those things where it's like of the time it would have been enjoyable, but now it's very trophy, which isn't bad. But if you are annoyed by those tropes, they are very glaring. Like I said, for lady, for yuko, I will cross heaven and earth. I will move the continent in wherever she wants. I'll do whatever she wants. I am a little snippy boy, but for the rest of the show, protag fucking sucks ass. Girl is just very bland. I don't think we've gotten any of her personality real yet. She seems nice, but that's bland as hell.

I'm vaguely interested in her because I feel like lady kind of implied that she's, like, not as good of a person as she seems.

Yeah, she's got something going on.

We have yet to see that.

So, yeah. Cool boy's.

Cool.

He's just a very down to earth, grounded, mature character. The twins and the digimon really don't see them enough to be annoying, so it's like they're wacky, they're fun. Yeah, I prefer well, no, let me propose that I don't prefer the style, but I'm glad that this show has a unique style where you can immediately recognize the characters and aren't just one of the million, just generic, almost gentrified anime characters that are all from the same mold. So I would rather a show take a wild, insane style choice than just be by the books.

Yeah.

So I enjoyed the style, watching it, but, yeah, I enjoyed my time with it. I don't think I'll keep watching it because I feel like I know how the show goes. But, yeah, it was more pleasant than I expected.

Yeah.

Goodbye to grumpy. noodle boys. If there's a show you would like us to watch, you can send those recommendations to our email arwibriet@gmail.com or you can reach out to us on Twitter or Instagram or TikTok at are we there yet on all three? I'm going slow so I can try to commit this to memory. Z already mess up.

You can find me on Instagram and TikTok at honey. Period d or on Twitter at honey d eight and honey d art. Honey is spelled hunnie. And I never say this, but D is not the letter. It's de. You haven't been able to find me.

That's a good point. You can find me melting into a puddle. It's too god of damn hot. I don't have plugs.

Thank you to camille ruley for her artwork. And thank you to Louisong 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.

Brendan will never top Electric boygaloo.

I think it's all downhill from here.

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