AWTY 212 - Lil Burgz (Toradora)

Don't ask.

Hello and welcome to are we there yet? Moderation and education and anime. I'm your anime idiot, patrick dugan.

I'm an anime expert, dee hollander gonzalez.

And I'm brenda mccullough. Your anime inability to communicate for the.

Sake of the plot did Brendan just say something? I thought I heard him talk, but I didn't hear anything.

Are we doing tropes?

I built a radio to coconuts, but I can't fix the hole in the boat again. My references are 50 years old.

I'm just I don't know. I'm sorry. I can't think of any romantic comedy tropes right now. Can you believe.

Dating twins? I dated the other twins.

I can't be in love. I'm too busy with business.

What do you mean? I have to go to my precious hometown for Christmas.

God, I hope a big, buff, burly man doesn't teach me the meaning of family and Christmas and I fall in love.

That would just be awful.

Terrible.

Anyway.

It'S a late night record if the energy is all P. M. But hey, married, happy holly miss to everyone. It's the holiday season where our brains are off for the rest of the year. Sorry, you got us in the off season.

You got the mushy brains.

My balls are going to be pissed. I just like to work for two more weeks. That brain is gone, though.

Yeah, but where? Hey, we know we've been bottom of the Christmas barrel forever. We blasted through all of our options in year one, being very optimistic at what the media landscape would provide for.

Us, and then did one by accident.

Oops, yeah. Those always hurt the most.

I like that. This episode is going to be a lot of, hey, come here for a second. Let me be real. That energy.

I'm just like, listen, peek behind the curtain.

We recommended a show because there was, like, a Christmas arc that we are going to get to at some point because it was like, episode 16 through 18, and we were like, hey, what if we didn't jump right into it.

When we bited our time? What if we slow burned into it?

What if we set up a 2030 Christmas episode?

That's genius.

Actually, I'm not against it.

I didn't even think of it that way when you suggested this show, but that's a genius.

But, hey, we're talking romance and anime. We're talking slow burns. Let's give you a slow burn. We're watching toradora.

Yeah, I are real slow burn.

But, yeah, this beyond the Christmas arc that was recommended later on. This is not quite a girls do nothing show, but romance do nothing show.

I guess it's a it's a slice of life, I believe is what you're going for there.

Yeah. God.

See, I'm just living their lives.

I forgot one of them. One of the two main categories. Are they fighting or are they just walking around in a school?

There's only two options and sometimes there's both even galleon's a mess.

Oh, you hawkey show. Those boys are in love. I don't care what you say, they're kidding.

But do you know this show? Anyone have this on the radar?

I've never watched it, but it was popular with one of my friends when I was 13 maybe. And we're talking about peek behind the curtain. I dubbed a scene from this on my old YouTube channel that I will not say the name of.

Hell. Yeah.

So I know that one scene.

Hope that branding has changed or else that'll be easy to find at the end of the show.

I did. Yeah. I will never say the name of that show.

We all have dark secrets.

Yeah. This is one I've actually watched all of. So I was able to predict, like, yeah, that Christmas episode is going to be a hot minute, so I was able to give us a heads up with that. So I have experience with the show already.

Nice. Well, please guide us through D. You can take over when we get to that one scene, but let's jump in the first three nights of Chris chronica. We're watching this show.

What's?

That's it, baby. We're back.

We're back. Welcome back, folks. Everybody just put it on dugan this time. Got you.

Oh, boy, you got me. I'm doing bad guys.

I just thought you were sighing because you couldn't think of a bit.

No, that is the reason. My relationship with sleep for the past week has been very estranged. So I'm coming to you with half a brain cell. But I have text in front of me that tells me the words I need to say, so that's going to get me through it.

Thank you.

Pass, pat. Okay.

Dugan'S got an insomnia. dee's got a little tummy trouble. I don't have any skis. I'm just like this.

Yeah, well, we'll all get through it somehow.

I'm playing the fun La game of is that gunshot?

We love that game.

Love it. Oh, you can hear them. Those are very questionable.

You can hear it.

I'm going to say fireworks. Unless they got some sort of semi automatic.

Frightening.

I was playing dnc one time and there was a very loud explosion.

Wonderful.

Everyone heard on my mic, what the hell was that? I was like, fuck if I know. I'm not going outside for two more days. Now sitting in front of a wooden.

And I'd close those.

Close the curtains, baby.

We're cutting this out.

I'm assuming this is more interesting than.

My people need to know the reality of living in a marriage.

Baby.

Hey, you're getting a live demonstration of our dystopia dato.

Yeah, baby.

Oh, I missed that. That was a fun game.

And I need the listener to know if this does stay in. I'm laughing because I'm worried, not because I think it's funny.

I'm not worried. I used to live right around there, but I moved, so I guess I dodged that book.

Bad joke. I had to lean back for that one.

I was about to get real loud.

Hey. We said, this is going to be a weird episode. Internally, before yesterday, before the day of before the vibes of this instance are happening, we knew it was going to be a weird one.

So we said, let's do the Christmas episode during the week, at night, nothing weird gets going to happen.

It's the only time we could and we're back.

Might get all that in. I don't know.

Yeah. So anime.

Yeah. So two teens fallen in love.

Kind of.

Two apparent jerks, but also jerks. So we see this boy doing some heavy cleaning. He's messing with his hair. And we see a girl waking up in bed, but she's sneezing. Oh, no interest. And they're both talking about this hidden thing in the world. That the world's always hiding this thing.

So anyways, Monday comes around.

Boy, ryu takasu, he goes out and sees his mom sleeping in the living room. His mom is just a party animal drunk, and he's the responsible one while she goes out. So he's starting his first day of school. So he's like, mom, I can't do all the chores. I got a doe. And they're talking about how a new apartment building was built right next to their window, so it blocks all their sunlight. And he keeps having to deal with all the mold and extra cleaning. That's why he was so stressed out earlier. And his mom says, like, oh, look at you when you get mad. You look like your dad when you're mad.

No, fuck you.

Fuck you. Fuck you.

I'm not my dad.

Because his dad's not around, and he's apparently a piece of shit. So he's like, oh, shit.

That's up. If your main identifiable feature is, hey, you're most recognizable when you're angry. You got some shit to work out.

Yeah. So that's his whole issue is everyone takes one look at them, and they see those mean eyes, and they're like, OOH intimidating. Ooh a bully. Ooh a criminal. And he's like, no, I just got jeans from a jerk. So he's walking down the streets. He runs into some classmates, and we get a little example. They just like, bump into him. And they're like, oh, my god, please, mugas, take our money. And he's like, no, I want to go to school. I want to learn. So he's walking down the street, and he runs into his friend kitamura, his glasses friend. He got ida in the name.

Hey, look at that.

So he reassures him, hey, not everyone thinks you're a jerk because I'm your friend. And we see takai. God, takasu.

It's like, Takaisu, welcome to my world.

Takasu'S crush, Kushiata, the redhead, red hair.

Like, you read my notes. Glasses boy and redhead.

And she's like, oh, my god, I'm in the class too. And he's in a lot. So walking down a hallway to class, takasu accidentally bumps into a tiny girl. And everyone all around them is like, oh my God.

Oh, my God.

Clash of the titans. It's palm top tiger. And he's like, what?

It's a weird bad nickname.

Yeah, but but it's because she's so tiny. But she's fierce like a tiger. And she punches him out. Cool. Good. Violent.

Small but mighty.

And we learned this as isaaca tiger Girl. Sure, but she was a sneezing girl from the beginning. Do you remember?

Yes, of course.

It's a contradiction. Yeah, you can't hit and sneeze. It's not possible.

So she is friends with Red haired Girl and there are rumors about I said there are rumors about them. I remember writing that note and being like, that's not quite it. I'll remember it to be able to clarify later. Sorry, Listener. I failed you. In this moment. There's gossip about them being mean, but also everyone's in love with each other. So other stuff too. So after class, takasu goes into a classroom and sees just the desks explode all over as usaca is in a locker and just like, slides out onto the ground. He's like, all right, weird cool. Get my bag and go home. So he goes to get his bag and she's like, no, you can't. And tries to take it away from him, but she freezes up, realizing something's off, calls him a dumb ass and leaves.

Classic.

What is happening? This feels like a romance anime, because I'm confused over how that could even be an interaction. So he goes home and he sees a picture of his dad, who is a scumbag, and again curses him for giving him his mean face. But he has to do his homework. But he notices an envelope in his bag that wasn't there before. It shouldn't be there.

What could this be?

He's no postman, but he sees it. It was an envelope for Glass's Friend, but it was empty. He can see right through it.

Guests will never know what that's about.

Yeah. Next day. So his homework was really tough. He goes to bed and he wakes up in the middle of the night when he hears a noise.

Mommatic.

He gets up and the window is open. And I used to kind of jumps up and attacks him. And they fight. And he turns on the light and sees her. And she keeps attacking even though her identity is revealed. And she's like, hey, you must have seen the letter. You need to die. There could be no witnesses. I condemn you to hell. But he's like, hey, no, you're dumb in two ways. You put it in the wrong bed, but you also didn't actually put a letter in there. And she's extra embarrassed by that too. Of not only did she try to be vulnerable, but she was bad at being vulnerable.

Hey, we've all been there.

Someone else attacked him over your own mistake.

Yeah, that one.

That's less embarrassing to admit. So yeah, true. So he's like, all right, little burglar. Come here, little burgs, little burgs. So he makes her some food. She's always eating out of convenience stores, she says. So she goes nuts for a home cooked meal, but she's still embarrassed. And he's like, hey, you've done nothing but call me an asshole and beat me up in public and all that and do actual crimes in my home. But come here. I feel bad for you. Let me show you some of my bad romance poetry and all the playlists I've made for girls, but I've never sent them. You're actually braver than me. You're braver than the troops, so be confident with that. And she's like, wow, thank you. Fuck you. That's still nothing. And she sees in one of them that he accidentally wrote the girl's name and it's her red headed friend. So she's like, oh, you have a crush on my friend? Weird. I have a crush on your friend. And she's like, oh, don't worry. She's out of your league. You don't have anything to worry about. And then we're just introduced to their weird parrot that can almost talk.

I hate this bird.

It serves no purpose.

Yeah, truly. Like, not even, like, a fun animal sidekick. It's just offputting.

Yeah, it's pretty nasty.

It's one of those, like, isn't it funny? Because it's nasty. It's like, no, this thing should be euthanized. It's nasty. Like, this thing sucks. Get it out of my face.

Put it out of its misery.

So the next morning, he gets a phone call. And oh, sorry. We can't skip the most important part of all of this because it would be wild if we did. So he's like, all right, it is the middle of the night. Please leave. And she doesn't want to. And he's like, hey, I promise to do whatever it takes to get you out of my home. And she's like, anything? He's like, yes, please leave. She's like, you'll even obey my any command, like a dog? And he's like, yeah, whatever. It's 332 in the morning. Go away. And she's like, all right. I'll hold you to it forever and whatever. So the next morning, he gets a phone call, and she says, hey, dog slave, get over here to the balcony. So he opens it up, and wouldn't you know it, that new apartment building that was built right next door. Her window faces directly into their home.

Wouldn't you know it?

I love clothes. That explains it all.

So she commands him to come over, and he brings breakfast, and he's like, OOH, this real fancy building. But he gets inside and he's like, it smells like ass in here.

Verbatim. Love. Love that.

They're eating ass in here.

No.

But he goes inside and he just sees the mess. And we get a truly, like, pixelated blurred out the dubious food in zelda. Just the nastiest sink. And he's like, oh, my God, girl, you live like this.

Damn, girl.

So he goes into her bedroom and she fell asleep in, like, the three minutes it took for him to walk over. He's like, all right, well, I guess I'll clean. So he does. Then she wakes up and she sees everything's clean, and she's like, hey, fuck you. I didn't tell you to clean dog. He's like, great. Cool. Love this. Real cute stuff.

Love what we're doing here.

Hope it continues for 30 more episodes.

Yay.

But she also smells the home cooked meal and is like, okay, food. All right. And he notices that her sniffles are gone because it's actually clean in there now, but she can't say thanks because she's too proud. That's where we end episode one. She is a literal feral cat.

Yes. Okay.

It might be because we just watched kobe Kane communicate. I'm curious why you have to obey me. Like, a dog is such a common trope and theme in high school anime specifically.

That's exactly what Paul was saying. He watched episodes two and three with me. Yeah, he just mentioned it. He was like, is that like a regular thing in Japanese high schools? Is that a joke people do? And I was like, I don't know.

It'S specifically high school anima. There's other shows where it would have made sense in some degree, but all the high schools are very strange.

Yeah, it is a common plot thing in even, like, American youth shows of like, you're my servant. We've gotten away from actually saying slavery now, but just being like, oh, you have to be my servant for a day. And I get that's, like a dynamic you can explore, but specifically, dog acts like a dog.

Woof woof.

Furry vibes. Much more common than handmade.

Yeah, well, so in episode two, Riyuji is I called them Riyuji and tyga because we're familiar like that.

I'm calling them boy and little birds also.

Very good. I'm here to burgle your turtle. Okay?

Please don't dox me like this.

So rigi is feeding Tiger breakfast, and his mom is there now, too, and he wonders why this is happening. And his mom is just okay with it. She's just like, going with the flow. She was like, there's a small girl here. Cool. tyga asks for more rice, but there's none left. And she may be small, but she's a big eater. And there are cherry blossoms everywhere.

Jack it's.

Yep. tyga calls the parrot ugly, and Riyuji doesn't like it. They banter. You know how it is. narrator riyuji says that tyga now comes to his house for every meal. tyga reminds Riyuji that he has to help her get close to Glasses Boy. They run into Redhead Girl, and she's surprised to see the two of them walking to school together. And she thinks that they're like an item. How could that be? But Riyuji tries to emphasize that they're not. But she ignores him. And listens to tyga when she's like, no, no, we're not together. And the two of them walk away together, and ryuji realizes he has to help tyga first before she helps him get close to Redhead Girl. Later, they're in gym class, and he pairs up with tyga for basketball. Their plan is to hurt whoever Glasses Boy pairs up with, so then ryuji can insist on taking them to the nurse, so then tyga can be with Glasses Boy instead. And that's admittedly a pretty okay plan.

Except for someone else at collateral Damage.

Assaulting someone else with a basketball. But he pairs up with a girl. So ryuji is like, I don't want to hurt a girl. And taiga, of course, wants to stick to the plan and accuses ryuji of being sexist for not wanting to hit a girl. Good one, everybody's practicing passes. tyga stands close to the girl that Glasses Boy is paired with, so ryuji can throw the ball at the girl, but, oops, he hits tygo with it instead. They bake cookies in their cooking class, and she's going to give them to Glasses Boy, but she's all nervous, and he's, like, talking her up. He's like, Come on, you can do it. They open the door to the classroom, but he's not in there. And they see him running down the hallway. So they go after him. And as they're chasing him, they run up some stairs, and she slips. She loses the cookies, but he catches her. Wow. Romance is alive. Do they know that? No. After school at sunset, he's sitting in their classroom. tyga comes in all quiet, and he says, did you find the cookies? And she nods, and he says, Were they, like, okay? And she shook her head because they were all ruined. She goes up to the window and laments about how clumsy she is and how nothing is going according to plan. And ryuji goes over to her and tries one of the cookies that she made. She's worried that they're no good, but he says they're great. He, like, tips the bag into his mouth, and it's too bad that Glasses Boy didn't get to try any, so they'll just have to make more. And I will say this doesn't stick around, but I like how vulnerable tyga is so quickly, because from what I knew of the show and what we see in episode three, she's very much not what's the word? Soon deray. That's the one. Yeah, but I like, at least in this one, she's very open about how she's feeling, and I think that's neat for when it happens.

Yeah, you're right. I'm surprised it happens as early as it does. But then again, when a guy comes in and sees the absolute squalor you live in and cleans your shit up, I guess you shouldn't have too much pride.

And then they hear someone at the door, so someone saw them, like, sitting on the floor together. Eating the cookies, and now people are spreading rumors about them. Everybody's gossiping, and they get to class the next day together, of course, because they walk to school together and everybody is staring at them. And then outside in the hallway, redhead Girl asks if they have a minute. So they go up to the rooftop. Check. And she tells ryuji to take good care of tyga because they're good friends and she deserves the best. Glasses Boy is also there and says that he's happy for them and oh, no, the two people that they, like, think that they're a couple. Who could have ever seen this coming? yikes shucks book. That night, they're at johnny's, which is clearly meant to be denny's from the logo.

Yeah, check.

Wow.

Like a similar brand name.

We're really doing it.

It's a pretty full card.

So they're both moping about their situation. tyga says that she's sorry because she feels like it's her fault for spending so much time at his house, but she likes it there because it's homey. She says that she doesn't really have a relationship with her parents, and when she said she wanted to move out, they just, like, gave her this apartment. So at least she explains why she lives alone. Hey.

I still don't fully know if this is high school or middle school. Either way, bad parenting.

Yeah. Not good, obviously, by the way she was living.

Yeah.

So they're walking home that night. She says she knows that the cookies were gross, like, he didn't have to lie to her when he finished them. And she asks if he gets nervous when he thinks about Redhead Girl, and he says that he does, and she wonders why no one understands them and why no one can just see that they're too nervous kids and not these, like, tough guys that everybody thinks they are. So she gets really mad and starts, like, punching and kicking an electrical pole. And she says that everybody's pissing her off. And there was something about I watched the English dub, and there was something about the way she said I'm not okay, that I was just like, oh, that's sad. I feel like you never hear somebody in anime say that. So there was something about it that.

Hit me just very general of, like, shit is not going well, rather than one specific problem they're working on. Just like, there's a lot bad yeah.

I feel like this show in particular for these, like, I have a bad home life. I'm so upset. This does a good job of being like, no, this is a traumatized child just lashing out and being angry. And you get those moments of, like.

Sweetie, yeah, I put sad faces a lot in my own. And she's just saying that nobody understands her, like, not even Redhead Girl, and that's, like, her best friend. And then ryuji joins her in kicking and punching at the pole, and he starts yelling, and they're taking out their teenage anger, and they do it enough that they tilt the pole, and that makes her really happy.

How come everyone thinks we're super violent and aggressive in the telephone pole? I don't know. I can get an idea why they think that you did destroy the classroom twice now.

That's true. So she decides that tomorrow she's going to tell Glassesboy how she feels, and then ryuji doesn't have to be her dog anymore. He doesn't have to have anything to do with her. And I was like, why can't you still be friends?

No. We're done. Dead to me.

When we make eye contact when you're in your bedroom and I'm in my living room, we'll just pretend we don't know each other.

There are no gray areas between friend and lover or not knowing each other and lover, because friend is the gray area.

We call that gray area the friend zone does exist.

So the next morning, tyga isn't at breakfast at their apartment, and mom asks if they got in a fight. And he says no. And she's like, it's boring without her. Have we mentioned that his mom's hot? Did we say that yet? I think maybe I did, but he didn't.

I didn't mention it.

His mom's hot.

I'm not 100% sure. I think she's, like a hostess at a club or something. So she works at nights, and her job is to go out and party and come back home placard.

So at school, the two of them bump into each other. He says hi, but she ignores him. And then he goes into the classroom, and the desks are all donked up, and everybody else in the class is cowering in a corner. And they apologize to him for spreading rumors about the two of them. And they're like, yeah, tyga came in here. She got so mad at us. And she also got mad that we all call you a delinquent. Sorry. And then Redhead girl apologizes also. What does this say? Hold on 1 minute. We got she says that taiga told her she wouldn't date him. I guess I don't know who the her and the she is. Oh, no.

Redhead was telling taiga that because she thinks tyga likes him, she wouldn't date him, but she's not a threat to her tiger's relationship with him.

Got you. Okay, so while that's happening, I think I misunderstood it because I was focused on the visual, which is we see tyga stopping Glasses Boy in the stairwell, like, to take him aside and tell him her feelings. So ryuji wonders why she's even thinking about him instead of telling Glasses Boy how she feels. And he, like, walks out onto a balcony outside, and he sees her trying to confess her love to Glasses Boy. So he kind of stands there. He lurks and riyuji, wonders why she's doing this in the morning, because the rest of the day could be awkward. If he rejects her, which is a great point. I've never thought about why people confess their feelings in anime at sunset doing.

A nice to you. Well, it doesn't work. And he just sleep for 8 hours.

Yes. So before she can confess, glasses boy stops her and asks for clarification on her relationship with ryuji. And she says, we're just neighbors, nothing more. I don't like him like that. He's like, oh, okay, so you hate him.

And she's like, no, no, in between.

And she's like, well, he was there for me when no one else was, and he made me really good fried rice. And it's thanks to him that I've gotten to this point where I can tell you that I have feelings for you. And she has no hesitation. She has that moment where she's like, yeah, he's really nice to me, but I like you. And then glass's boy says, I think I get it. And Paul and I both busted up laughing because I was like, I fucking hope so. She just straight up told you how she felt. And he, of course doesn't get it.

Narrator'S note he's an idiot.

He may have glasses, but that doesn't make him smart. So he asks if she remembers what happened last year. Something vague we don't know. And then he says that when she's with Riyuji, she seems happier. So he just completely ignores her confession and cares more about how she feels about ryuji. So he feels like he's seeing into her soul.

I know you better than you know yourself.

Remember last year when you asked me out and I said no, feel sorry. Maybe date this other guy you clearly like?

So yes. He says that the two of them can be good friends, her and him. Tiger and Glasses boy will just be good buddies. So she's disappointed, of course. And then the bell rings and he's like, well, better go to home room. And she's just left standing there. And then ryuji comes down the stairs and he's like, I thought you were going to cry. And she's like, I'm just going to go home. And he says, well, I'll make you something to eat since you probably didn't eat anything last night or this morning. And then she gets mad because she's like, you're not my dog anymore. Like, I told him how I feel. You can leave me alone. And he's like, I was so hoping he would just say, no, I'm not a dog. I'm your friend. But no, he says, I'm not a dog. I'm a dragon. Because dragons are the only thing that can stand up with tigers. And I'm going to be strong enough to stand by you, tiger. And he says her first name. And then she kicks him and says he better prove himself. And then while she's walking away, she smiles, excited that he used her first name. And she definitely doesn't like him. Not at all.

No way. Get out of cooty's.

Gross.

And that's episode three. Two. Two. Sorry, we're not done yet.

All right, I'm done. bye, guys.

It's episode two.

Episode three starts off, I'll try to say his name. I will struggle and eventually switch to boy. Until then, I'm going to be calling him Takasu and little burgs because I like that a lot better. Takasu and little burgs are walking to school. He's lecturing her about how she has to prepare her clothes before laundry, like taking out the tissues out of the pockets and separating the colors and the whites. So he's doing her laundry. What? He's doing her laundry for her. That's it. And she starts complaining, saying he's nagging her too much because he does nothing but take care of her. And she just constantly assaults him and parades him. And on the way there, they overhear a baseball game with the redhead playing in it because she's the baseball team captain for the girls team. So they got a big chance going on, and they're playing a game, I guess, at the beginning of school. And once they get up there, Takasu is just ogling his crush. He's looking at redhead and all lovey dovey watching her play. And little bird catches him gawking at her and hits them again. That's the show. And then as the game is wrapping up, we see EDA come over. Apparently, he's captain of the boys baseball team.

It's almost like those two might have a lot in common.

No, that can't be it.

It's got to be a pentagonal crossover.

It's got to be convoluted.

But he comes over saying, like, hey, boys team is going to do practice, and we want to do practice with the girls team. And like a cross practice sort of thing. Yeah, that'd be great. And then they both turn over and see Takasu and little burgs fighting as they do. Then we cut to later. We see class ending, and we see little burgs is watching redhead decorating cell phones. Like, just bedazzling the shit out of a bunch of cell phones.

I love it. Girl boss.

I was like, oh, she's got, like, a little hobby. She's like, nah, this is a job. This is a side hustle. I'm getting paid. Damn. Good for you. But yeah. So she pulls out, like, a box of cell phones, and she offers Takasu if he wants her to do it. What? I'm struggling tonight.

You're in good company.

She offers to decorate his cell phone too, and he gets all flustered at the idea of it, but says no, because god forbid he interacts with her. And then we see a bunch of other girls come up to redhead and be like, oh, I want it. She's like, oh, cool. What's the price? Or what's your price range? What color do you want? What theme do you want? I'm like, damn, she's got this lock down. Like, she's got it figured out as.

Someone who has too many decoden phone cases. That's exactly how it is.

And then we go back home, and we see. Takasu is making dinner, thinking about Redhead getting all lovey dovey, and Tag is there waiting for dinner, asking if she can have his mom share. She won't be back in time. And Tigers, who keeps asking, do you think I was weird in front of Redhead today? She knew my name. She said my first name, which is cool. I think we're getting closer. Sorry. Excuse me. I misspoke earlier. Little burgs headset.

Excuse me. Use her God given Christian name.

My apologies, Ms. bergs.

Please. Ms. bergs is my mother.

Call me lil. So he's just gushing about Redhead, and Little Burgs hits them again, and while they're fighting, they notice, like, hey, how come dinner's taking so long? The rice cooker is broken. The rice can't be done. Well, time to go out to johnny's.

Hey, everybody's favorite local joy.

I do like that. Takisu does point out he's like, hey, the rice cooker broke, but there's other food. I was still making dinner. I was like, It has a good point. But so they go out to johnny's, and while they're waiting, it turns out redheads the waitress there, and she brought in the Little Burgs ice cream special. It's like a big strawberry parfait looking thing.

Yeah.

And she's like, don't worry. I got it on the house. wink. It's like you want fries. I can get you fries. I'll get you extra fries. I'm just like, you're stealing from your job? Hell, yeah.

Good for her.

That's what you do in retail. And little birds ask her, like, hey, you got a job here. You got the phone job, or, you got a lot of jobs. What else you got going on? Are you saving up for something? And Redhead list all the other part time jobs she has.

It's like and Redhead said, Rise and grind, gamers.

Yeah. Little birds ask her, Are you saving up something with all these jobs? And Redhead actually says, no, but if you have time, you should grind it out. And I just can't fathom that mindset in any way.

It's funny. Like I said, Paul was watching this with me, and at this point, he was like, I don't think I like her anymore.

She's a fun, quirky character who loves capitalism.

If you pull yourself up by your bootstraps and really get to it, every.

Bill, they're in a business studies class. They're an econ 101.

Having watched the show, I already know where it all goes with the character growth and stuff. I do like the Redhead character. She is fun. She would be incredibly insufferable as an actual person, but she's fun and a show, because I've known someone like this in real life, and she sucked. But Redhead says, like, oh, you guys look cute together. All right, I got to go by and runs off. So again, just pushing these two together. And while they're there, yeah, Takasu is looking at her. She runs off, and Little Birds gets mad and pokes him in the eyes. Just constant abuse. On the way home, he asks, maybe Redhead really needs that money. She didn't tell us, but she might be embarrassed, or she might be saving him for a sick family member or something. She might have her own reasons for working on those jobs. And Little Burgs calls him out, and he's like, don't jump to conclusions. Don't start making up stories about her. You don't know her like the way I do. So if she says she's fine, I know she's fine. She's fine. Let it be. And he continues to be like, well, what about and again, the camera pants away. We hear a hit noise. Back home, Takasu has a black eye and feeding his nasty ass bird. Next day, they don't have school. It's an off day. So Takasu and little Burgs is like, let's go to johnny's again. We love johnny's. The rice cooker is still broken, and Takasu is just really hoping to see Redhead again. He's even wearing, like, nicer clothes. And on the way there, Little Burgs calls him out for wearing nicer clothes. And he's like, that's not going to impress her. And he's like, let's go back and change. But as they're walking, they run into a balding man. This man fucking sucks.

Yeah, this is weird and bad.

This guy grows as hell. Turns out he is one of the regular customers of Takasu's mom at the bar. And he's like, oh, you're so and so's kid. And he calls her by a different name because that's the name she uses at work. So creepy ass guys like this don't know who she actually is or where she lives. It's a smart move on her part. And he says, quote, if I can't feel up your mom, I'll feel up her DNA. And grabs Takasu's ass.

Why?

Literally nothing about that makes sense or was justified in any way. Casual sexual assault. It sucks.

Check.

I should have taken that off the bingo card. So they start walking together, and yeah, Takisu and Little Birds is like, let's get out of here. And Redhead pops out, and it's like, hey, it's early in the morning. You two are probably hungry. Here's some protein bars or something. I don't really know what she said. She doesn't offer some food. And it turns out the gross guy that grabbed Takasu's ass runs a liquor store. And she's working there part time on the weekends, one of her million jobs. And he asked Little Burgs if she wants to help out. He doesn't ask Takasu because he's his mom's son. He doesn't need to work. He's good. I felt his ass. He's fine. And Takisu instead volunteers himself. And Little Burgs saying, like, yeah, we can both work for you. It'll be great just being an excuse to hang out with the Redhead. More. And we see him like a quick little montage of the gross creepy boss, giving little Burgs way more work and not giving Takasu any. And we see he's got a delivery for her. Little bugs has got to go on a delivery. He's got a bike set up with a bunch of beaker and liquor. And little burg struggles with a bit of stalls. That's when Takasu realizes, oh, little Burgs doesn't know how to ride a bike.

The silence was very funny of her just standing there. And I was like, she can't ride a bike.

I'm not going to ride a bike till after high school either.

Hey, you know what? We're being vulnerable. I'll be vulnerable for Paul. He can't ride a bike.

We're all indoor kids. That's a skill. That's an outside default.

People always say you can't forget how to ride a bike. If I got on a bike now, I would probably fall over.

I'd struggle a bit. It's been a while.

Yeah.

And of course, her natural reaction to anything is to scream and throw a hissy fit. So she runs with the bike, not riding it, but alongside it, which honestly is still better than caring. So it's not the worst thing you could do. And as she runs off, Redhead Takasu, she leaves Takasu and Redhead together. He gets all flustered, saying he can offer to help her with some work. And she's like, yeah, I'll be great. We get little clips of little Birds running around with the bike, screaming, and cut back to Redhead and tucksuit in like an old storage shed behind the store. And they're going through doing inventory and there's like, oh, man, it sure would be weird if this door shut and locked and then we'd be in real trouble. Right on queue, the creepy old boss man walks by, shuts the door and locks it. And he mutters to himself, like, little briggs must have left it open, just blaming her for everything.

Ah, shit.

And we see Takisu tries to call out to him, yelling and banging on the door. And Redhead says, this is the perfect time for their school anthem. So do schools even have it? I mean, I guess maybe Japanese schools do.

My school didn't my school, like, had one, but we, like, didn't sing it. And I only knew we had one because I was in band, so we would, you know, play it at football games and whatever.

Yeah, I think we technically had one, but it wasn't like, yeah, we all know this. We all sing this.

Yeah, we all have school pride. And we see little Birds finishing up the deliveries. And she's walking back with the bike that's now empty. And she gets the side of the river and just lays down with the bike. And she's muttering like, what am I doing? How do I get myself in this situation? And while she is laying there, right on queue, EDA shows up.

Yay.

He said he was nearby training, I guess baseball or something else. And he's like, oh, little birds, is that your bike? And she's like, yeah. He's like, oh, nice. You finally learned how to ride a bike. She's like, what? How did you know I couldn't ride a bike? He says, like, oh, most of the last year I was keeping an eye on you. bye.

And just leave again. While watching this with Paul, my husband forgot to mention that for any of you that don't know, he was like he's like an npc. He walked up and was like, bikes are cool. You should learn how to ride one by press a to ride your bike. See you later.

Repeated the dialogue.

Shit.

Shit. He it's very strange. Yes, he's a very odd character. So she picks up the bike, tears in her eyes. She tries to ride, keeps falling over, but she keeps trying. And she like mutters herself like, why am I even bothering? He does not even here to see me try. And we see little Burgs finally gets back, crashes the bike into the store, and that's where the others are. And he's like, oh, you know what? I haven't seen him in a while. And she's like, God, you suck. And she's right. And she runs out looking for Takisu and Redhead. And we cut back to them still locked in the storeroom, like hours later. It's like dusk now, and they've been singing their school anthem nonstop, hoping that their boss would hear him. And redhead's like, yeah, he usually listens to the horse races on the radio. It's like he's a gambler as well. Garbage man. And they say, like, oh, it's getting a little cold. And takis is like, oh, if you want, you can wear mine. She's like baseball. Let's play baseball. To warm up and just cuts them off right away. So taku grabs, like, a wine bottle, and she's like a ball of, like, tape or something, and she's getting ready to pitch him while she's, like, winding up to pitch, she's doing this chant, saying, like, pitcher is scared, but she's the pitcher, so it's weird. She's trying to psych herself out. But as she's like, singing that chant, takis, who notices her hand holding the ball, shaking a bit, realizing she is actually scared. And she throws the ball and swings, misses. So they trade sides. And when he calls her out on being scared, she's like, Ed, it doesn't matter. Being scared is not going to help us in this situation. Why put more thought into it than my body already is? And while they're getting ready for the next serve, they notice a window very high up, like two stories up in the storage shed that they didn't see before. That might be our way out of here. So they start stacking boxes to try and build, like, a little pyramid to get out. And right around that time, little burgs is outside and hears them talking. She knows they're in there. And as they're stacking boxes, one of them falls and hits Redhead in the nose, giving her a nosebleed check.

She says, A nosebleed is just your heart sweating. And I said, what? I don't think that's how that works.

There's so much wrong with that sentence.

Sweats so much it makes its way up north to your nose.

I'm a doctor.

My body has a water cycle inside of it and the blood is evaporating up to my brain and then raining back out of my nose. And Takisu reflects on how pretty Redhead is and how she's always finding the optimistic stuff. And her personality is literally glowing. And he's very lovey dovey in this. But he finally stacks enough boxes up to the window. He pulls himself up. The window has these wooden bars on it so people can't break in like they're trying to do. And as he gets up to the window, little Birds is there. She got a ladder. Ladder from outside. And she's face to face with Takasu. And she does the only thing she knows how to do. She kicks him in the face and he falls back into the sword shed and she lands on his face. And they're like, cool. Little burgs is here. That means she got in, which means we can use the ladder to get on out. She's like, about that, I kicked the ladder over when I was kicking him in the face. So now all three of us are trapped in here. And that's episode three. I presume they died in there.

Two things. One, why didn't she open the door? Two, I was really worried that episode four would still be about this. So I just watched the first, like, 5 seconds of episode four just to be like, this doesn't keep happening, does it?

And it doesn't bullshit.

So right there place in that shed.

It turns into a weird survival horror show.

You've all read Lord of the Flies. What if it was three people in a shed? So are we there yet?

Yeah. This had its cute moments. As I mentioned earlier, they do slightly better than other shows that are like, hey, this is a jerk. But they're a jerk for good reasons. This you can sort of see where they're getting at, where it's like, oh, she's putting up a defense, she's scared and stuff. But my favorite type of tropes is the miscommunications.

Love it.

And, oh, let me punch you in the face because you did a nice thing for me. I beat you up. And that's what you get for saving my life.

It's not abuse. I'm so dairy.

That gets grating. Yeah, not my cup of tea. But I can see why it is more popular than other shows who just go through the regular motions.

Yeah. I appreciate both characters vulnerability, and I think their relationship is cute when they're both you know in it. And neither of them are being stupid.

They got some bad news for you.

Yeah, well, I know this show is.

25 episodes, three ovas and three ovas. It just keeps going.

So it's like, I can't keep watching them do that. Give me like a compilation of all their sweet little moments and that'll do it.

It's going to be a hot 15 minutes video on YouTube somewhere.

But, yeah, the good parts were good, but not good enough to make me want to watch 25 episodes of this and three ovas.

Thank you. Thank you. Yeah, I kind of have to echo the same sentiment, especially since I have watched it already. So I do know where it goes and I do know where the characters lead. I will give them credit. There is a good amount of character growth and interactions throughout the series. It is like 28 episodes and three ovas, so it's drawn out. We saw in the opening there's five main characters, so we don't even have the fifth character yet. She gets introduced later. She's fun. She's like a semi pop idol rich girl who also likes Takasu and just becomes like a love rival for little birds. She's fun because she like the sound.

Of that, but she's glad I tapped out already.

She's fun because she's shitty and stirs stuff up and I find that entertaining. But there are genuinely touching moments with all the characters and with dynamics between them. But it is that shitty dynamic of we like each other's friends, we hook each other up, everyone thinks we're dating now. Wait, our friends like us back, but we can't get with them white. And it is a lot of force fabricated situations to just continue misunderstandings. So, yeah, it does have cute moments. It does get there eventually. It does really drag its feet getting there. And yeah, just the blatant, constant berating and attacking of Takisu really just annoying. I watched it years ago when I was younger. I don't have the patience for this shit anymore. It's just like, he cooks your meals, he does your laundry. fuck off. Yeah, it's not a quirky character trait anymore. It's just a shitty person. So I already watched it. But yeah, well, we got seven more years of it because we got to get to that Christmas episode.

Hey, yeah, well, will they ever break out of the shed? We'll find out this time next year.

Tune in next year.

And folks, we hope you all have a good next year. We know statistically the odds aren't great, but we really hope that things go your way. May the odds be ever in your favor.

I love The Hunger Games.

Let's talk about The Hunger Games.

If you would like to talk to us about The Hunger Games, you can email us. Our email is arwibariat@gmail.com. Or you can reach out to us on TikTok and tumblr yet on both. Be very careful not to mention the other one, or else we'll shut our podcast down.

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H-U-N-N-I-E. You can find me in the deepest, darkest recesses of the Internet, big on heathen. Or instead, you can go to YouTube and watch Ordinary Sausage, which is a YouTube channel about a guy making sausage set of weird shit. And it's just a good time, in my opinion. Cool. He made one out of crayons recently.

Thank you to camille ruley for artwork, and thank you to Louis zong for themed song stories. You can find all of louie's music at Louisong Vancamp.com. Thank you, and we hope you'll join us next week as we learn to live with anime.

Look on the bright side. It's chainsaw man. Tuesday.

Yo. Have a holiday.