AWTY 169 - Fleshuro (No Guns Life)

Hello and welcome to our weeb area and exploration and edge education and anime. I'm your anime idiot, patrick dugan.

I am an anime expert, dee hollander.

And I'm brenda mccullough, your anime deputy. Mon. He returns the bull safety fully loaded, ready to go.

Do not kiss this man. Well, hey, I know it's New Year's. Do not give this man a kiss.

Well, I mean, you just got to be really careful.

He does sound like Don rickles.

Does he?

Maybe I forget. All I know. Love digimon. All I know is the dove just wild it out there. They had a lot of characters to fill and they did not give a shit about the quality. Some of those accents. Wow.

That's right. We're going to be talking about digimon in this calendar year as well, friends.

Can you believe it?

We have some time. We have some digimon adjacent content. I guess this is a recommendation from Steven Moore. We're watching? No guns. Life. Yeah, this has been on the list for a while. The title scares me because already it implies like, yeah, this is going to be a shoot them up anime. Good. Bad track record. I mentioned previously that this came recommended from listening to a different non anime podcast. And I was like, oh, if this successful Hollywood writer is talking about how this show is good, I can at least trust it a little bit, right?

I don't trust anybody ever because I'll.

Bring it up again.

Everybody loves panty and stalking and that shit is not good.

True.

So I can't trust anybody. But maybe your guy is good. Who knows?

I feel like that's the most. We've all collectively been gas live by that. So many people we respect and enjoy this year just made me feel so.

Many people we did respect.

Well, my bar is low. Like low. I know what I enjoy.

So yeah. Is this a show that was on either of your radars?

I guess I've heard the title, but I've never really known what it is. When I looked it up, I was surprised. I was surprised that it's relatively new. It's a 2019 show. I, for some reason, would have thought it was older.

Maybe the manga is older.

Yeah.

I was scared by the title because it reminded me of no Game, No Life and that garbage. And I did see this floating around when it came out. Mostly a lot of people saying like, haha, chainsaw man, but Gun because I love Chainsaw Man. So I'm just like, oh, okay. Anyway. And I just kept reading. Chainsaw, man. So I don't I haven't heard anyone talking about this other than just like the promotional images that came out of.

Like gunman men with weapons for heads.

Yeah, that's pretty much all I know about it.

It's a new genre.

Apparently. It's catching on. It's real hot right now.

Again, everything goes back to digimon. So they're just respecting their roots.

Oh, boy. Give me that digitamon. Show that hard boiled detective. Because he's an egg. He's the egg one. I love him.

I'm sorry, listener, to leave you on that note, but we're going to go to a break. We're going to watch the first three episodes.

I need to wash my eyes to scrub my tongue.

Yo. This is just Deputy mod. This is Deputy Mon. That fuck. This is Chad, deputy mont.

This is Deputy Mon, buddy. fucks.

We got one versus urgent deputy.

The yassification is I will date the podcast by saying the yassification of Deputy mont.

Man. Deputy Mon sounds like Don knotts resolver.

I said Don rickles before. Who pick a plot, you know?

I know. No names ever, including real people. Don knots is the nerdier one, right?

I don't know. I know who don rickles.

Yeah. Don rickles is Potato Head. Deputy Mon sounds like Don knots. This resolver. ji zoo sounds like clancy Brown after like smoking for a week. Sounds good.

I'm in love with him. I'll say right now. I love this guy.

We're starting off this. You're thirsty?

Yeah. I didn't want to call you out immediately, but thank you for volunteering that.

Yeah, I'll talk about it more as we go. Man. This is ever shadow.

So starting in episode one. Yeah. This is another show where there's going to just be sporadic, just plot building. So I'll try to put it all together, but there will be multiple instances.

Yeah.

So we start out, we see right off the bat, just a man with a gun for a head.

There he is.

That's the man.

That's it.

I like how it's stylized, though. I was expecting just a gun, but it's alfons elrick from Full Metal alchemist.

X s. Yeah, I was getting a lot of Full Metal alchemist eyes from the show.

Yeah.

This is a very noir centric for all the theming and style is.

He even says dame.

Dame. Big blade Runner vibes as well.

Yeah. Heavy noir cyberpunk stuff going on.

Yeah.

So we see this man with a gun for a head. This is our main character Juzo inui. He is known as the revolver. Get it? It sounds like revolver because he's a revolver.

Wait, hold on.

If you need me to do the math, no, I can pull up the chalkboard.

I was just thinking of roadhouse of Patrick swayze as the cooler.

So yeah, he's in his he's hard boiled detective. He has a shitty office that he does his business out of. You know the type. And we hear a news report about the end of the war, blah, blah, blah, backstory coming soon. So he gets a phone call to go stop a bar fight. Yeah, I'll just go into all the backstory stuff now. So there at some point was a big war that is now over. After the war, this city was really taken over by a big corporation called Buruan Corp. Or whatever the official title is But Buruan. So they're a military tech company, military supplying. So all the military equipment, guns, mechs, all that sort of stuff. They set up shop in the civilian sector where they started giving hey, we got a bunch of guns left over. How can we turn them into, like, arms and shit?

Arms, you say?

Damn. Arms. Arms unintended.

I apologize.

But they have started giving augmentations to people. Just your standard cyborg cyberpunk augmentation stuff. And these people are called the extended.

I love that. Yeah, that is I think that's a good name.

So that's the backstory bit for now. We see a resolver break up, a bar fight, and the woman that calls him is the owner of the bar and is like, thank you, big strong man. Can I touch the trigger of your head? And he's like, no, that's my one weakness. My one weakness apart from humidity in kids.

It does blow my mind that the man that you would even have a trigger for a gun for it.

Yeah, that's pretty crazy.

It feels weird. That feels like a very much an aesthetic choice. And then they wrote the story around it afterwards.

Yeah. How can we justify this handle? He cannot physically reach.

Yeah, my elbows.

Okay. So she's trying to be all flirty, like a big strong man. I'll buy you a drink. Thank you for saving me. But he stays distant. He's like, no, I can't let the dames get me down. But she gives him a little kiss and leaves. And we get our first instance of him getting all flustered. His face turns into, like, the cheebe gun form, which is just very smooth, very no details. Like, oh, no. I'm embarrassed.

He's such a sweetie.

I adore him the phrase cheebie gun form if you didn't know his anime. There you go.

So, yeah, we get a little more information. So he is a fixer specifically for extended related jobs. Either clientele being extended because there is some discrimination stuff. There is sort of like a separate class for them. It's not like they're looked down upon, but they have some troubles that they need someone, like resolver to fix. But, yeah, he sees a crime scene as he's leaving here and sees a nun talking to the police. Suspicious. What would she have to do with the crime, being all religious and shit?

Never any crime tied to a religious organization.

No, never unheard of. So he returns home and his landlady comes out and is like, oh, you're out here. I was hearing noises coming from inside. And this was strange, seeing a trans land lady and it's not commented on or treated as a shitty joke.

Hey, we got one.

We got one, we got one.

I'll say not in the episodes we watched. I wouldn't hold my breath.

Yeah, but unfortunately there are several mentions of her, and no one has to bring it up.

Yeah, true. christina and she's a she and that's it. And that's great.

That's all you need.

We love it. The bar is in hell.

It's so low.

Yeah, they play her up as sort of like a skeezy landlord and that's about it. So cool. Especially for a show that is about augmentation and cyberpunk stuff, it sort of needs to be addressed. Like, are you just going to ignore the trans issue? Because that is like a big part of this sort of thing that no one talks about because no one wants actual trans representation. Okay, cool. Sorry. Off my soapbox. And back into this basement office.

Okay.

So he goes in and sees that his window is broken and someone's there, oh no, it's another extended. Oh no, there's a kid with him who's all passed out. So the extended who broke in is super scared that crime scene outside was a result of something this extended did, but he swears he had nothing to do with it, no actual involvement. They got them all wrong.

They got the wrong guy.

So he asks resolver for help. He's like, no, you got to help me. I got nowhere else to turn, please. And at that moment, police open up.

Wow. The foley work.

We're evolving this year. So he goes and meets the police at the door and they're like, hey, we're looking for this guy. Let us in. And resolver is like, oh no, couldn't be here. I'm renovating. See all the broken shit in my office? Yeah, it sucks. That's why I'm fixing it. And you can't come in. Goodbye. And the police, they try to intimidate him, try to put on the pressure of be a shame of your renovation permit got taken away, blah, blah, blah, all that sort of stuff. But he doesn't give in and he they eventually leave him alone. But it's pretty clear they're still staking out the office because it's pretty clear if an extended got in trouble, they would go see the extended fixer like a block away. So the police are gone and the extended, it's like, hey, thank you so much for covering for me, but what happens to me doesn't really matter. You gotta take care of this kid. This kid is more important than anything. Just keep him safe and we'll figure out what to do. Immediately. Got a job with a kid. That's the one weakness he had, remember?

Ah, man, he already established it.

So the extended jumps out the window and leads the police away because again, they were staking it out. So they just immediately start following him. And resolver calls his colleague Mary to help bring this kid to a hideout. You know the one, the one from the thing in our past week. So he takes this kid who is still passed out throughout all of this, just goes to a sewer entrance, and we need a nun who is going to help take care of this child. Perfect. So wholesome. So he meets the nun, and she's like, oh, yes, I recognize this kid. This is one of the missing orphans from our orphanage. This is tetsuro. So she's like, oh, yeah, just hand them over. I'll keep him safe. And something's not quite right here. This nun is a little too comfortable meeting a man with a gun with a head in a sewer and isn't batting an eye.

I mean, it's Thursday, so he's like.

I'm very clearly a threat in the eyes of a harmless, defenseless nun who is definitely working alone. Right? So why aren't you scared? And starts questioning, like, who's actually doing the abducting here? Is it whoever's trying to get this kid, or are you the person trying to get this kid? Because using his flawless detective skills, he's like, yeah, this kid, he's all wounded. He's got lacerations on the back of his ankles. That would be something you would do if you didn't want him to run away. So why would I return him to this orphanage if it's as safe as you're telling me? And then the nun is like, fuck it, and just takes off her habit and sexy assassin. Here we go. Now it's an anime. And she's like, you saw through my roofs and attacks. She's like, I only need the kid's head to be safe, so I'll take you both down and just start shooting. So he hides behind a pillar and recognizes oh, her aim is very good. Not good enough to hit me, of course, but it's so good. She must have augmentations. She's also extended, so she also recognizes him as a very specific type of extended. When you get too much work done, you're overextended.

I know.

Like, if your entire head is a gun now and clocks him as being part of a particular soldier unit in the war called the Gun Slave unit, and mentions, like, he can't actually shoot his head gun without someone else pulling the trigger because his Augmentations were designed for, like, team based combat maneuvers. So immediately is trying to just get him mad by bringing up his past and saying all this stuff.

What is design choice for gunhead? Yeah, I was kind of disappointed when hearing this. I was hoping he would, like, sneeze in one episode and, like, blow a hole table.

Come on, give the people what they want.

It's right there.

But yeah. So she's saying he's like, company property and all that sort of dehumanizing stuff to get him mad, and when he comes out, shoots him, and I believe she tries to shoot him, but at this point, the other extended finally comes back and takes the bullet. It was a little bit unclear in this moment for me, but this is where we get the return of the other extended person who grapples her and holds her down, but she's able to get the upper hand again and goes to throw this extended over a cliff into the sewer water. But resolver goes and grabs him and stops him. But in doing so, he is now vulnerable to the assassin. Sorry, I don't know why that was so complicated in my head, but here we are. Obviously, the assassin has the upper hand, so resolver is like, all right, you can take the kid. You win this round, but I'm going to get him back. Don't even worry about it. And she's like, unlikely, and shoots him and kicks him over the cliff.

Yeah. I don't know why he thought she wouldn't do that once she got the thing she wanted.

Yeah, pretty dumb move. But it's episode one, he'll get smarter. So we see him wake up again. ah, he we thought he was dead, but no, the other extended took most of that bullet hit for him and patched him up a bit. And we get more information that this extended was a prisoner of the Baruan company, who in secret is running this orphanage as a cover. This is their secret military hq. Yeah. There is a special secret extended augmentation that they're working on called Harmony, which will allow someone to take control of other extended people and just getting all this information controlling the extended bodies. It is revealed that this extended is not actually an actual person. This is tetsuro controlling the body of this extended. And that kid is actually in control. Oh, he's not passed out like we thought.

What a twist. I love this, actually, though, this is amazing.

Yeah, this is cool. So Tetzro is in control and he's like, yeah. When I control and extended, my human body just goes limp for the most part. I can get sort of feelings. I feel vibration. So I'm in some sort of vehicle right now, but I don't actually know where my body was taken. So they mentioned that, yeah, the Harmony works when the person has, like, an extra desire to, like, move and have freedom. So that's why they cut my tendons, they removed my vocal cords. They just made me my human body so disabled that it just urged to have freedom by taking over another body. So he's like, no matter what you do, this body is dying. I'm going to leave it. You've got to find actual human flesh, tetsuro, and this extended body dies flesh. Or, if you will, flesh hero flesh. Yeah. So we then see the assassin took flesh on a train, prepping him for a procedure. But then we see that resolver tracked down the train, is standing on the train tracks and just stands in there and punches the train off the tracks. Good stuff.

What is it?

Very strong.

What?

He's got it. Don't worry about it.

Don't think about it too hard. And that's where we end episode one.

Yeah. So in episode two, we pick up where we left off and we see that he's kind of, like, flipped the train off the tracks. A bunch of guys come out to shoot at him, and he's like, don't you think you're overreacting? I'm just a single, unarmed man. And I thought that was very funny, because he's got a gun for a head.

But on the bright side, he is single.

Hey.

Keep that in your back pocket.

And then we see inside the train someone who, you know, works for the company tells the assassin girl. I think her name is Karen. He tells Karen. Yeah. He tells her that they should ask for backup, but she says no. And then I just kept calling him Gunman.

Yeah, totally fine.

Yeah. So Gunman comes into the train car they're in, and he says, I'm here to pick up the kid. And she's like, well, it's my job to make sure that he gets back to the corporation. And she shoots at him, but the bullets don't pierce his gun head. And she's like, what the fuck? These are anti extended bullets. And then we don't really hear much about that. Yeah, she just says it, and then we don't really hear about it after that.

He's a robot killing bullet.

What?

It's just armor piercing. And we say that, but it is fine.

So he walks up to real tetsuro kind of just hanging there. They just have him chilling, and he yells at him, and he says, you're giving up right now. You should wake up and fight. And he does. He wakes up and opens his mouth and emits this wave, like, sonic wave, and he puts himself in that extended guy that was talking to Karen before, and he tells Gunman to save him. And Gunman is like, that's more like it, kid. Karen tries shooting at Gunman again, but still doesn't work. He walks past her, and as he walks past her, he, like, somehow messes with her extended stuff, and she faints. Like, it's short circuits, and she faints. And then he takes tetsuro. yay. Mission accomplished.

How did he lose tetsuro the first? He punched a train, and she shot him this time, and it didn't work. How did he lose the first time?

He got smarter already. He wasn't working at his full capacity. It wasn't his final form.

Yeah, it is very hard to establish, like, okay, we got to raise the stakes. So immediately we establish he can withstand the blast of a train hitting him at full speed with no damage. Okay. But he gets shot a couple of times, and that does.

It look cool as hell. But it raises the question of how does he ever lose?

Yeah, so takes him, but he's got to stop and buy some cigarettes before anything else, and they don't have his brand liberated, so he buys something else, and he's, like, talking to himself. He's like, I took too many bullets. I need to rest. But I'm glad I saved the kid. And then they hear a story on the news about the train being derailed. And the news is saying that it was probably terrorists from this competing corporation. And the news broadcast also says that this corporation is responsible for the kidnapping of tetsu Row, who is the eldest son of the Burn CEO. And it was at this point that I paused the show. I was alone in my apartment and said out loud, this is absolutely fucked because I was already into the storyline of this poor kid being mutilated and used for a company. But the fact that it's the ceo's eldest son totally fucked. It just establishes this no one's safe kind of thing. Like, we don't give a fuck about human life kind of thing. I don't know, I just had a moment where I was like, whoa, no.

Cost is too high for the bidding of this company.

Yeah, exactly.

He was born in the company and now he's part of the company.

Elsewhere we see a girl who was given robot arms and a robot leg and she's freaking out on an operating table. Her stuff is malfunctioning, so she got a faulty extension surgery. And we find out that it's a father and a daughter, and he's the one who took her to get this surgery. And a blonde girl, Mary, the Mary that he was speaking to before, she's going to make it better because she's like a back alley extended doctor. So she takes this girl apart and she tells them this is just like, establishing her character. Like, she just says, if you want extended surgery, talk to me next time. I have better parts than I do. It for cheaper.

Don't go to mafia to get shitty parts.

Yeah, and then Gunman and tetsuo were hiding out in a closet in there. She lets them out. Gunman is flustered again because the girl on the operating table was in her bron panties and he accidentally saw her. He's an adult man. He just respects women.

We all know how bashful Guns can be.

I don't know if he blindfolded himself or if someone else did, but she was like, that's not even where you see out of it. Doesn't matter.

Yeah, I just love the running joke that no one knows where his eyes are.

Yeah. So he wants Mary to keep tessera safe and she's down especially to check out this Harmony thing. Gunman asks what it is and she literally says extended were created during the war, as you know. So this information dump really, like, fried my brain for the rest of the episode. So I found it very difficult to follow exactly what was happening. So I'm sorry if things get messed up.

Yeah, it was a lot here and when it was done, that could have been simplified really quickly.

Yeah, but so the extended stuff was meant to boost the strength of soldiers during the war. And they're essentially extra brains that operate the robot parts. And she's like, how do you not know that you are an extended. And he's like.

I'm human. I got a lot of shit in me I don't understand.

Yeah. And so then she explains I had to listen to this part like three times. She says they're like a vehicle. The sub brain is the driver's seat and the extended will is the driver. So if the sub brain dies, the extended can't work anymore.

See, that's bad because the driver's seat doesn't do shit with a steering wheel. That would be better.

Yeah. So then she remarks on Gunman having an internal sub brain while others are on the outside. They're like this little piece on the back of people's necks. She says, where's yours? He says he doesn't know. And she's like, okay, well, when you die, I'm going to dissect you. And he's like, okay, why? And then she explains that Harmony is a way for someone to force themselves into another driver's seat. She then explains that you need three authentication authentic. I was like, what does this matter? Why does this part matter?

It's a remote control. That's all you had to say it was?

Yeah. So she explains that Harmony is like a master key to bypass these codes. But then she says this Harmony thing, if it gets out there, could destroy Beruvin Corp. So why would they even make it? Gunman asks if she can safely remove it from tessera. She says because it's attached to his mandula oblongata. Which they have her say too many times.

Yeah, I don't think they know what that really is.

No, it just needs a fun science word.

Yeah. She says it might leave him with permanent brain damage. So because of that, she can tell that whoever put it in him didn't care if he lived or died. And she's like, maybe he's an orphan, but we know that's not true. She laughs at he's like upset for a moment, the gunman. And she laughs because he's upset that the drugstore didn't have his brand of cigarettes. He said drugstore? They sell cigarettes at drugstores. Whatever. Sure, yeah, like a convenient store. She thought that she might have some, and he gets really excited, and she's like, I threw them out yesterday. And he's like, why would you do that? And he gets all pissy. And then she changes the subjects. And she says, I can install limb and vocal extensions for tetrah, but not until he wakes up. So he like, turns to leave. He's like, okay, let me know when that happens. And she asks him why he's sticking with this kid and asks if he's going to make tetzero his partner, since, as we learned before, Gun, slaves need to work in teams of two, which I feel like is a weird assumption. I feel like that's a weird conclusion to jump to, but I don't know.

Hey, you found this beat up, beat down kid who was being hunted by people. You're going to make him your adopted son, aren't you?

Yeah, but, like, the guy die.

I have a heart.

So Gunman just tells her to take care of it, and he leaves. He's off being angsty in the street. He remembers Tetsaro saying that he's not a tool for the corporation to use. And then he remembers someone telling him that he's not a tool. And then he gets upset about the cigarettes again.

Too weak.

And then he sees a vending machine in an alleyway that has his brand. So he goes over and puts money in it, but it's stuck. So he punches a machine and rattles it around. And then they fall out. And then some cops come, and they're like, you stole those. And they drag him away. But that's not actually why they drag him away. It's because they take him to a weirdo in a purple suit. This guy says a lot of shit that I also just couldn't comprehend.

So much.

Way too much detail here.

Yeah. So he's looking for him. This guy is looking for Gunman. He knows a lot about him. He dumps this info about him that we mostly already know, except for the fact that he has no family or memories from before his extension. So that's some new information. We know about gunman. For whatever reason, Gunman immediately asks him about tetrah. I guess he just assumes that he works for the berin Company. And this guy cunningham says he's here to negotiate. They want tetsuro back. So he reveals that they bought up all of gunman's favorite cigarettes around the city to trade for the boy back. So they have them all in this cardboard box. And then cunningham talks about all this stuff, about how people who are extended, there's too much pressure on their nervous system, so a lot of them self medicate. So these cigarettes have something in them that help. So whatever this is gunman's choice.

Yeah, when they were explaining all this, because I made a note, I'm like, man, he's smoking a cigarette in, like, every scene. Not like the same cigarette, like a new cigarette. Every scene we see him. And I was like that's a lot. Even if you don't have lungs. I don't know how he works. But I was like, that is like I'm seeing it a lot. And I'm like and then when they get to this scene, I'm like, oh, it's not aesthetic. It's medicine for him. He actually needs it. And then they're like, nah, it's just aesthetic. I was like, okay, smoking cool.

Yeah, too many reversals here.

Why bother then?

Yeah, I don't know. So cunningham's guards surround Gunman, bring him down. They're like, oh, you're weak because you don't have your smokes. If you don't give us the boy, then we'll destroy all the cigarettes. Gunman asks why Tetsaro is being used as a guinea pig, and cunningham says, it doesn't matter. He's just another cog in the machine. Doesn't matter that he's the. Ceo's son. And then gunman is like, you missed something while you were studying me. And then he does some wax shit with his back. It like, opens up and it's all metal and weird. Don't know what that is. They don't really say, yeah, it kind.

Of exploded and knocks the guys away from him. But they're just like metal flanges. They're not like blades. They're not like swords or something. So I'm just like, what?

Yeah. I don't know.

But I was built out of spare airplane flaps on the wing.

It seems like it, but so this is when he's like, I don't smoke that brand because it helps me. I smoke them because I like them. I never get weak.

Yeah, this was just such a this was kind of like this was a cool action moment. But the actual text of what he's saying is like, you thought I was weak. I just like the flavor. Is that the big, badass point you're going for?

He can do other things, just establish. And we didn't really need to turns out we really didn't need to establish.

It because it's just bad.

What?

We confused you for no reason. Yeah. And he's like, Tetsaro isn't your tool. He's not your property. Stop wasting my time. And he's like, damn, I'm losing control. Guess I can't go easy on you. And I'm like, the way he said that was very good. Like, oh, I'm losing control. I was like, oh my come on, man.

I'll add this to a voice memo for later.

Write down the time. There it is.

So he takes down all of the guards. Mary also showed up and got rid of a sniper who was there. And cunningham slips away telling gunman he better watch his back because now bunch of people are going to be after him. And then after all that, he's smoking some cigarettes that Mary made for him. He's like, all these taste bad. And she's like, yeah, but they have the same stuff in them as your favorite cigarettes. And I don't know how cigarettes are supposed to taste because smokers are jokers. And she's like, wearing a panda mask. And he's like, why are you wearing that? And she's like, to hide my identity so I don't get mixed up in your mess. And he's like, well, you're all up in it now. And she tells him that she called him earlier, but he didn't pick up, so she went to find him. And the reason she called is because tetsuo woke up. And that's the end of episode two.

Some of us are able to wear a mask because we don't have guns. For heads, it's easier. Damn, I didn't make a note. It must be really nice dubbing this especially for a resolver. The mouth doesn't move, so it's just like, yeah, we don't have to match up the lip flaps at all. I was like, oh, that must be very nice.

Yeah, I can guarantee you. Some producer was just like, fuck yes.

Thank God.

The happiest, they've been on any project for so long.

And I mean, the guy I didn't look up who plays him, but he's easily, like, the best voice actor in the show. And that's probably why. Because he doesn't have the pressure of having to match up the mouth flaps or anything. He can take his time with some of his lines.

Yeah, they just have to get the good read. It doesn't have to sync wise. Match up. Chris Ryan is. The crew plays resolver.

Wow. You're very talented. I love you. Call me. Just kidding. I'm engaged.

Back off. What are you doing?

Sorry.

Grow a gun for a head and then we'll talk.

So episode three starts off with resolver making breakfast. Tetziro's resting, but he can't talk because of harmony because they cut his vocal cords. So it brings out like a mannequin, like a robot mannequin head. And he's like, you'll talk through this. You'll use the harmony and to talk through this. But while tetcher is waking up, he gets a flashback of a girl that helped him escape from the lab. As all the guys are chasing after him, and Mary brings him some breakfasts, trying to get him to eat and then helping him eat. And while she's helping him, he gets, like, the flashback and gets, like, a hard look on his face. She's like, ooh, why do you get that face is because the beautiful girl is feeding you. And the resolver comes in, like, slots down. He's so traumatized.

Why would you even joke?

Then we get the opening. Opening. He got a good beat to it. It's got a little pop to it. And then while they're eating breakfast, we got some, like, mafia goons knocking at that door. And I believe this is Resolver's apartment.

No, because this was bad. He had a shitty apartment. This one was all right.

Mary's apartment. Yeah, because they kind of make a threat about it while they're talking. But yeah. So some mavi guys show up. One of them is just wearing a mask. One of them has, like, a big metal jaw. So he's an extender as well. And they're like, hey, we came here to make you an offer on behalf of the so and so family. I didn't bother with the name. And they're like, we got some trouble on our turf, and we need you to resolve it. quink and they say that there's a bunch of kids that are having their arms and legs extensions ripped off, and then the severed blimps are being hanged around the area, kind of like showcasing and stuff. None of our guys can figure out who it is. Like, we haven't gotten back any information. And, yeah, they're ripping legs off kids and arms, and it's like, it's fucked up. We got to stop it. So we want you to help. We think the culprit we think that they're showcasing all the limbs. We think it's, like, political, and it might be that anti extend terrorist group that was mentioned in the last episode. resolvers like, oh, interesting. No, not for me.

But kids are his weakness.

Well, he doesn't like kids. No kids.

Oh, I thought he meant.

Yeah, I couldn't tell if there was no kids, because there his weakness were no kids because he hates dealing with them. Because he also says in the first episode of tessera, he's like, tessera is too obedient, and, like, keeps himself quiet. He goes, I hate kids like that the most. I was like, what? See? Like, loud, obnoxious kids. I fight you all. Wait, what? This man is a mystery to me. Not because I'm not a real gremlin child on my side.

My mind is an enigma.

I mean, to be fair, I also love the gremlin children and shows, but the enforcer that's with the Mafia guy is like, what are you doing? He can't turn us down. This is our turf. I'll blow you away. It's like, don't threaten gunman. He's got a gun for a head and a hand and punched a train. And he says again, no one turned down an offer from this gang. And his boss is kind of like, how about if you do this, we'll solve stuff over with the big corporate you got some troubles with them. We'll smooth stuff out for and resolvers like, oh, that's an interesting still no. Why would I do this? No. Mind your own business. And he's making some coffee and finishing up breakfast. He's like you're a gang. This is your turf. If you can't defend your turf, why are you a gang? Basically like, he's got a point.

Fair enough. All right, if we retire, if we.

Have to outsource our enforcing, what are we? Good? Are we? He's like, you got a point there. But before he says that, he threatens to resolve her a little more and stares him down, and he goes, you're a mean son of a gun. I was like, ha. Gun. And he's like, I'll admit, though, it's hard to stare someone down when I don't know where their eyes are.

The hits keep coming.

Get in line, pal. I don't know either.

And he mentions he's like, yeah. You want to be careful, though. If you're hiding something valuable here, you might not want to be stern of trouble. wink and heads out. resolver comes back in and talks to Mary, pretty much indicating, like, hey, you're hiding someone in the back that you want to take care of, so watch your ass. And after they leave, resolver goes back, talks to Mary, says that the attacks that are happening are probably from the corporation, not the terrorist group, and they're trying to send a message to try and lure out Tetsro. And that's when we see tessera in the bed. And he's got the arms and legs augmented and the vocal cord augmentations that Mary did for him now that he woke up. And he tries to get out of bed, but he's still weak, so he falls over and starts talking through the machine head. They got him saying, like, I don't want people getting hurt on my behalf, so if kids are out there getting hurt, I want to go out there and stop it and try and save them. He says he already can't help save other people. Kind of hinting at the flashback we saw with the girl being captured as he was escaping. And he says he has no memories of his life before the lab and the experiments. He also has no memory of where the lab is. He just escaped, so no memories from anyone. We're going in blank here, but he wants to try and find where that lab is and save her for everyone else that was being experimented and then tested. Says he wants to hire resolver again to help him find the lab and rescue.

How does he keep hiring him if he's just a kid with no money?

He hasn't paid him for the first job yet.

Yeah, he's in debt now, and if he doesn't know that he's the son of a CEO, maybe it's just, like, a subconscious thing where it's just like, my daddy will give you some money.

I think it's more of, like, resolvers, the gruff, hard, loyal detective is like, you won't do anything unless I pay you, and if I pay you, you're obligated. Kind of people treat like the witcher and stuff. It's like, no, they're softies. They'll help out kids anyway, but they got to have that gross exterior. They got to see me. And resolver says, like, how about this? How about you protect yourself first, and then you can protect others? Because you can't protect others if you can't protect yourself, so do that first. And he also says, I can't be held responsible for complete strangers alluding to the kids that are in the lab that are being experiments on. And yet he's protecting tessera, a complete stranger.

But you don't understand. A different complete stranger asked him to.

So therefore, I don't care about the other kids because they don't have crazy remote control powers. I don't think he's that jaded, but it was, like, an immediate contradiction of, like, hey, Edo kid, you got to get big and strong. Also, I don't care about other people. It's. Like what? All right. And resolver says and I already said that oh, no. Yeah. He says, Focus on taking care of himself and for others, and starts walking away. And as he's walking away, tetra uses harmony on him to take control of Resolver's body.

I can't believe I didn't see this coming. Like, he did it. And I was like, oh, right, of course.

I I figured it was coming. I didn't figure it it'd be this soon, like, while he's still recovering and weak in bed and against resolvers will. I thought they'd be like, we got to team up and strong body, strong mind, sort of stuff. But yeah, he takes over. Mary sees, like, them react. It's kind of like, hey, what happened? And then resolver gets them. Hey, I'm going to go off for a minute. Don't worry about it. Until leaves. And she looks at Tetra passed out. She's like, beans.

He used a thing.

Like, I can't stop him. So she lets them go. So while they're walking around, he goes just like a back alley and finds like a bag of potatoes and puts tessera's body in the bag of potatoes and then puts it in a basket so he can walk around them within a backpack. Very demon slayer. And so, yeah, tessera is walking around in Resolver's body. He goes to like, a merchant being like, hey, what's going on with the kids getting their arms ripped off and shit? And the merchant's like, ah, kids get attacked all the time. Even back in my day, my brother and sister got attacking. It's like, that bad. What? Like, he's very flipping about just children being assaulted in the neighborhood.

Just because it's always happened doesn't mean it's normal.

Yeah. And while he's talking to me, he's like, hey, you got a pretty cool build there. Mind if I disassemble you and kill you? And a big group of guys show up behind Resolver's body. And they try to take them apart, but they run away. That's what what kind of fucking world? And while he's running away, tessera is like, all right, I got to hide. I got to hide my identity, people. It's too recognizable with a big gun head. So he gets like a burlap bag and puts it over his head. He's also commenting, like, oh, I'm having trouble controlling Resolver's body because he's got a whole bunch of shit in here that I'm like, weird shit that's not in other extents, like hands. Say he puts a bag over set and starts walking around. He can still see through it for some reason. Once again, what are eyes fogs walking around? tessera sees two girls run by and they see a dude with blade arms running after him saying, well, I got to stop this. Let me step in here and fight this guy. As the guy charges at him, resolvers body, like, reacts on instinct. omos and just uppercuts and dude into a ceiling above him definitely kills. And then he goes to talk to the two girls of like, oh, hey, are you okay? You were being chased by that guy. And the girls were overheard saying they need to finish their job before they can return to Norm. When he starts talking to them, they say anyone that sees them has to die. And as soon as he says that, one of the girls starts transforming into a big robot machine spider. And it's wild looking.

It's gnarly and I love it.

Some HR geeker is that his name? That sort of stuff. It is wild. And they say they have no need for adults. Why did I write that line? Anyway, yeah, the girl transforms the one girl transforms into a big Gnarly Spider Machine and starts shooting at Tetra to resolve her's body. And he says he knows they were also tet subjects. He was also in that lab, and he says he wants to save them. And the girl that didn't transform says, oh, we weren't captives. We weren't being held against our will. That places our home ah, stuck home syndrome. oops. And the crazy Spider Girl starts shooting bullets at him. And as he's running away, resolver's body once again reacts on its own and blocks some of the bullets before it hits the basket with his own body in it. Turns out those bullets are laced with poison and knock them out. That's what he speculates in, getting all the kids so they can be knocked out and have their arms. So, yeah, sure enough, tessera passes out. But then as the Spider Girls chasing after him, she starts going berserk and starts freaking out and crashes through, like, a restaurant wall. And everyone runs at scatters. And then the other girl runs up and, like, calms her down and, like, no, I'm here. Relax. You got this. And she transforms back into normal looking girl, and she drags a knockout out girl to the what? The one girl that didn't transform, who, like, calm her down, takes the girl who did transform. She's passed out now, and she drags him back to the corporate guys. Turns out it's cutting him there's, asshole. But he's got the old dinky hood over him, as if that hides us.

They're hiding their identities with some cult hoods.

Yeah, and his bodyguards are, like, 8ft tall with, like, crazy robot faces. We know. What are you doing here? And cunningham tells them exactly what they're he tells once again, info dumps. Apparently, that's all this guy does, but basically confirms that, yes, these were the two people that were attacking all of the kids and that they did their job. They did that to specifically lower out tessero, which is what happened, but he does it in a very rambling, and he goes, but you two ran away from him, and you didn't bring us back his body, so you failed. Because you failed, you're going to be sent back to the lab to be retired. wink. And that's when we see tessera Resolver's body fly out of nowhere and knock out the guards around them, screaming their children, not solist gears. That's episode three.

Wowie. zowie.

Here we go.

That sure was a lot of information to take in.

It was. But also, once it's done and we digest it, I was like, you could have really streamlined that. There's a lot you could have condensed.

Yeah, I feel like I was enjoying this while watching it. But I feel like as we were going over, as we sometimes do in these recaps, is when you like, just say it out loud. You're like, wait, that that made less sense than when I was watching it. Because there is an element of like, yeah, the plot is continuing, so naturally this must work. But when you have to recite it back, you're like, yeah, there's inconsistencies here.

We've also had the opposite where once we say it out loud, we're like, oh, it does make sense now. But yeah, this is one where just episodes two and three, both had large fucking cunningham. Both have large chunks where it's like, this could have been like a two minute dialogue and not an eight minute monologue.

Yeah, I was scared that the first episode, I was scared to bring the first Brendan show of the year. And when we started this, I was afraid of that. I was like, oh, no. Hard boiled detective stuff. Crime syndicates. Oh, no. This is a very Brendan show. At least Brendan will find a show to watch. Now.

I love darker than black.

Yeah. But especially in that first episode, I feel like it is presented very well. It was very like we mentioned, there's a lot of info dumping, but in that first episode, it didn't feel daunting to immediately go, I'm not going to retain any of this. Just shut the brain off. Don't even try. Just let the info dumps glance off of you. But yeah, going through it, I was enjoying myself more than I thought I was going to in the very first opening. Oh, yeah, we also forgot to mention the opening and closing music slap both in different regards. The opening is just a true jam.

Yeah.

But yeah, I enjoyed this. And then I'm getting a little bit more distance in the recap as we go. Yeah, there's inconsistencies here.

Yeah.

I am mainly interested in the fucked up experimentation party gunman. I love him, but that's obvious because I love stuff like that. So I'd be very interested in watching more just to hopefully get more information about that kind of stuff. But I don't know how much they would get into it. If there was a spin off show just about these poor kids at this facility, I'd be so down. But yeah, that's the most interesting part of it to me. But I do like big gunman.

He can stick around for the spin off.

Blade Runner is one of my favorite stories. Movie and book are both very good. So this definitely caught my interest just with that. But it is also very Blade runnery. So I'm just like but with this, I think Darker and Black is actually a good comparison. I think with this info dump and storytelling, it maybe have caught your interest more dugan. Because Darker Than Black got a lot of weird shit in it that they have to explain. But for all intents and purposes, it's effectively modern day. Whereas this one is very visually different. Like, you can see the difference in these where darker and black is like, they're just people with powers. This is like, they're big robot people and you can see the differences. It definitely was losing me in some of the info dump, though because, boy, howdy that whole second brain discussion. You could have just said, hey, you got the human brain and you got the robot brain so it doesn't burn out the human brain.

Yeah.

And this kid can control the robot part of the brain. That's it. That's the whole discussion.

That streamlined.

I will say I enjoyed the opening music, opening visuals. I checked off titties immediately because every female character has got just the titties out. And, like, especially in the opening, there's characters, we don't even know who they are, but they're hanging at this.

They just want to make their main character as uncomfortable as possible.

It had, like, Metal Gear Solid vibes to it with silence for anyone who knows that character words. Yes, she's a sniper in the desert, but what if she wore a bikini and stockings? It's like, why?

It makes perfect sense.

Yeah. It just dawned on me that, of course, this anime was like, yeah, what if we made a gun horny? It's like, yes, anime, you've done it again.

Hey.

I've definitely brought probably some of the horniest shows to this podcast. I want the night bad. But this one is just, like, every female character there's Shot and Mary and the bar owner from the first episode. We didn't even get her name, but in the opening credit is them jumping into, like, a pool in their bikinis. And it's like, I don't know why this is here other than just excessive fan service.

Yeah.

But, yeah, there are definitely parts I enjoyed. But, yeah, there's parts of this. I think it goes for 22 episodes or something, which kind of surprised me. There's. There's more episodes than I thought. So part of me is like when you say Blade Runner and full of monogamous you'd think I'd be bored immediately. But there were just parts of her I'm like, I don't man, I don't care. But I'd also be lying if I said there wasn't part of Blood Block Brigade vibes with the kid having the special power of harmony, controlling everything like vibes from that show. This show is leaps and bounds better than that show, so I won't compare them too much.

Didn't you finish that one?

Yeah, I did. Just to see what was happening. And, boy, howdy it was nothing. It was fucking absolutely nothing. That show sucks ass. Once again, great opening, though. The songs bob like hell, but that story is garvicked. I will hear no conjecture. But, yeah, this one just had a lot going on. I am still interested enough to maybe watch a few episodes but I don't know, it's excessive. Also, the animation style reminded me a lot of jojo.

Yeah.

A lot of the characters.

Yeah, definitely. Heavy influence from jojo character design.

Yeah. So there was a lot going on. I'm like, maybe I'll maybe give it two more episodes to see where I'm feeling with it.

Yeah.

Sort of like all the elements will scratch the itch, but sort of the sum of its parts is not greater. So, yeah, I enjoyed my time with this more than I thought I was going to, but probably will not continue.

It's a solid, which is better than we can say for most of our wrecks. Sorry. listener.

Yeah. What wreck are we going to watch next week?

Only assume it's sort of a recommendation because it's another one I heard about from Mother's Basement. Of course, we're going to watch kageki shojo, which translates to Opera Girl.

If you have a sophisticated fine art animation, you can send your recommendations to us. Our email is arwibariat@gmail.com, or you can reach out to us on Twitter or Instagram at arwibariat on both.

You can find me on Instagram at honeyperiod or on Twitter at honey. D eight and honey dart. And honey is spelled H-U-N-N-I-E. You can.

Find me on Twitter, but I genuinely don't recommend it. Instead, watch Blade Runner or Android Stream of Electric Sheep. Don't watch the new Blade Runner anime. That's also garbage.

Thank you to camille ruley for our artwork. And thank you to Louis zong for 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.

I just love big men.

Gun Daddy.

Gun Daddy.