AWTY 111 - Just Slug (Land of the Lustrous)

Oh, definitely gross.

Hello and welcome to our weeds. There yet an exploration and education and anime. I'm your chills, calm, anime idiot, Patrick dugan.

I'm your level headed, logical best friend, dana hollander, and I'm an anime expert. forgot that one.

I am brenda mccullough, your anime sasso, light and apparently stuck in an asmr video. I didn't sign up for this subscribe.

To my asmr channel. That is something that exists.

That is a real thing.

Never mention it because I feel like it's weird.

But we're having a chill vibe, so you might as well subscribe because why not? If you're listening to this on release date, or especially a day after release date, you need to just relax.

We're not going to talk about why.

Yeah, no bad vibes. Leave them at the door, they get.

Them out of here.

Hey, do you have your vip pass? Bad vibes? No. Get the fuck out of here. But no, just very calmly tell all the bad vibes. Hey, fuck off.

I was going to see if we could do this episode without cursing.

It's not that this episode is for children. This one is super chill.

We're talking about very graphic adult topics like hardcore sex and taxes. Just in a very gentle, calming voice. where's my four hundred and one K? Oh, shit.

I love you. We're rewatching panty and stocking.

Oh, no.

I was gonna I was going to say it's laid Back Camp part two.

But hey, that's another direction, but yeah. What do we have going on this week?

This week we're watching one. I knew we would need to pick me up after the spooky season.

We've been through it.

I think we've been through the bringer a bit.

I'll be honest with you, I've been having a rough time lately. Anime has not been treating me well as of late.

No, none of us. It's really just grabbed us by the head and said no and then bashed us into a wall. What are we doing for this week?

I've already established I no longer have any sense of what is good and what is bad within the qualities of anime. And I have absolutely no idea what Duke And likes anymore at this point besides BoJack horseman than buffy the vampire slayer. Instead, I just picked the show I genuinely and earnestly love. It's called Land of the lustrous or has aquino kuni. It is, in my opinion, very good. I don't know if anyone else will like it, but it's widely regarded as the Steven Universe of hanna mae.

Oh, yeah.

Do you have my attention?

I figured that'd be a good jumping end point for all of us.

Yeah, that's pretty much all I know about it. I know that. And I know that the cosplays are usually really cool.

Yeah. So before going into it, all the characters have a uniform. So it's essentially like if you got one character's uniform, just swap out that wig and you got every other character on the show, so it's an easy cosplay to do well.

I'm talking about people get really creative with that hair.

Not hair. Yeah, the hair is really tricky. And then the uniform is simple, so it'll be interesting.

Yeah. So I know nothing about this except it came out 2017 because I looked it up and it's about all the research I did on this one.

We're starting to get paranoid and researching things before.

We are being more diligent.

This was also done by Orange, the animation studio. They are the same studio that do the animation for B Stars. And they're doing B stars, too. And I sure would love Land of the lustrous, too, but I guess we'll have to wait because the furries take priority now.

Wait, sorry. B Stars isn't doing more seasons. They're doing just like a sequel show.

I think it's another season, but it's called B Stars, too, which confused me. The note next to it was like a sequel to the animation. B Stars. I'm like what?

Hey, Netflix, you should know how seasons work by this point.

You really some olive ocean. I was going to say has a gun, but that's not chill. Then I was going to say it's taller, but that's not necessary. He's already very tall.

There are already guns in the first season.

That's true. Yeah. Did you finish that yet? dugan?

So we're watching the first what about ping pong, dugan?

Dugan finished.

So we're watching the first.

I'll cry. I'll ruin the vibes right now.

I'll say kidding with Land of the lustrous. I I'm reading the manga with it, and I'm very engrossed in it. It's a slow burn for the main plot. So I'm like, there's no point in picking the best episode. We're just going to go in with the first three and just take it for what it is. Because the animation, I think, is what really hooked me into the series early on until the story got me. So if the animation doesn't hook you early on, I don't think you'll stick around until the story pays off. So, yeah.

Doomed from the start.

Yeah. Like most of our shows. All right, let's get into it.

All right.

The world is beautiful.

The station at the base of zezak has all the charm of an industrial seaport and the invasiveness of a busy market.

Life is a gift.

The belabored death of a joyful man.

Is an ugly infomit with kind and giving people.

If you push past an angry sailor in gloucester, it's a transgression worthy of a trip to the bridge.

Adventures everywhere you look.

He knew I never strayed far from gloucester and would rather read about the next town over than visit myself and.

Fun around every corner.

If I falled my neck body mangled among the beast.

Would they notice a passenger in there?

So go explore.

I bury my face in the pillow and crush silently asleep. The party continues. Me off.

Make new friends.

She opened the door crack just enough to be face to face, but not to imply a welcome.

Remember old one?

He was the only one welcoming in the starlight on its many mile journey.

And see the beauty the world has to offer.

I'm glad I could share with him this moment and return it to its rightful home.

Echoed Locations a traveler's guide to a solar punk world. A new audio fiction travel show coming soon. And Stephen, it's the prequel show.

It very well could be.

We don't know. Or the sequel. I had a real tough time figuring out what the one after sequel.

It could be that it's, like, years and years into the future, and then the cluster explodes and that's why the Earth gets split into six.

Backstory. This is a world where centine gems exist and there's no humans left on Earth. So it's like, what happened to them? But they're not around anymore. That's all we know.

Secrets.

What year did Steven Universe start?

Before this?

Yeah, I know. It was before I wanted to get a vibe of how much of this was like, yeah, let's do Stephen Universe.

I feel like I might have been, like, a junior in high school when it came out.

Yeah, 2013. Wow. Got you.

Because I was like, if it was, like, 2015, 2016, I know it's not that recent, but it's like, okay, just similar thoughts, but, like, you had, like, five years.

The Land of the lustrous started writing it in October 25, 2012. So came out before Steven Universe.

I'm sure they had to add that note of, like, no, we didn't just do this thing of a more popular show.

Honestly, it's just gems. It's just sentient gems. And that's really the only correlation between it. So it gets compared to it a lot, but story wise, they're very different.

But still, like, the concept.

I mean, the concept of anything when you break it down far enough, whether they're six stories and they're all just variations on those six stories.

Yeah, nothing's original. That's what we've learned.

B stars is just riverdale but furries.

And Lion King is just hamlet but furries anyway.

But yeah, let's get into it.

Episode one. Where are my notes? Already off to that start. No, she'll revive it's good. I had to look something up and I threw off my setup.

Threw off my groove.

Threw off my groove. So episode one opens up. We see a little gym person. Quick description. They're all very weighfish, wearing, like, black uniforms. Got some good short shorts, good ass hugger shorts.

I hate their bodies. I'll just say that their bodies are weird.

They're very slender, like, marbleesque, like, statue.

But then the way, like, their, like, pelvic pelvis, like, goes back and, like, their butts stick out. I hate it.

Yeah, it's a lot of detail for butts, for sentient rock creatures show their.

Waists take like a sharp, like, 90 degree turn.

Yeah, it's definitely the creator being like, I got a design in mine and I'm sticking to it no matter how ludicrous it is. And it's a creature with, like, long red transparent hair and just, like, blobs of silver floating around them. That cinnamon will meet them later, but they stand up and say looks at the moon because of the middle of the night. It's like, all right, time for work. And then it cuts to daytime and it's a big group of gems run around looking for Foss, who is the protagonist. Phosphol. Oh, God.

Phospholite.

Phospholite. They're also a gem. They got, like, teal, like mint green hair, crystal hair. They all got crystal hair. And the easiest way to identify them is the color. So Foss wakes up as a bunch of the gems are running. They're like, oh, we saw some sunspots over there were running there. And it's like, oh, you want me to join in on the battle? No, you're weak as shit. Go home. We had to find you just so you wouldn't be destroyed. Just so we know you're safe. So they tell Foster to go back, and when Foster goes back, they go up and see Master Congo. He's called Master or Sensei, and he's just kind of a typical monk. bald, just big robes.

Bald, bald, bald.

That's all I need to know. And he says he's finally got a job for Foss. All the people gyms. Jim Jim, jems jebs. All the gyms have jobs. Like, they have their own position. They're not all fighters. And Fossil is the only one without a job at this point. And he's like, I finally got a job for you. Finally something for you to do, instead of just lazing around sleeping everywhere. And we cut back to the other group of gyms who are at the Sunspot. And it's not just like a sunspot on the sun. It's like this weird black portal opening up. And it's just this group of just very ornate, like, ghostly white figures coming out of this portal.

I like that they play their own music.

They got their own company band.

Yeah, they have like a very Dark souls angelic, art nouveau style.

A lot of the accessories and gear and weapon they have reminded me a lot of hinduism like idea art symbology and stuff on it, like the style of their outfits and stuff. It's very interesting. I don't know if they ever I mean, they don't ever address it in the show, I would say, but I don't know if the authors ever dealt with the inspiration. Yeah, so, yeah, it's just this army of these, like, white, ghostly people coming out of this black portal in the sky, and yet some of them are playing, like, citar looking instruments, and some of them just have bows and arrows and spears ready. It's like, oh, okay, he's wild. And then we cut back to Master, and he's telling faucet that their new job that their job will be to tell him about wait, what? He's about to tell Foss what their new job will be, and then the lunarians appear and that's what the invading force is that came out of the Black Portal. So right as he was about to tell me, he's like, oh, we're being invaded. Let's go help out the other gems. And as they run back to help out the other gems, goshi and morgana, also gems that we're fighting them are already all kind of fucked up. Wait, no, not yet. Sorry, my nose are everywhere. They're fighting them. And while they're fighting them, they see the luminarians pull out bows and arrows and they see on the tips of the arrows are gems like yellow gems and they're like, oh shit, that's helios that they captured helios last raid and I guess they broke apart helios and used the gems as arrows like arrowheads fucked up using their bodies against them. On the way to the battle, the Masters explained to Foss, like, why they're being attacked and how all the gems have different jobs. As you know, Dave a real info dump here, basically saying Foss is super weak and has a hardness level of like 3.5 and that's not good for fighting, so you're not a fighter. And some of the other gems who aren't good at fighting have other jobs, like carpenter and like, one designs all their outfits and stuff, so they're not all fighters. And he says the luminarians are attacking because they want to turn all the gems into jewelry and as we see, also into weapons, apparently. And as everyone shows up there to see how the battle is going, we see the luminarians have already defeated the two other gems that they were fighting.

And they're I was like kind of shocked at that. Like, I was like, whoa, are they like dead? Dead.

They're so fucking dead. But not really.

Is this like Steven Universe in that? Oh, no, because if they shattered, they die anyway.

Yeah, we see the luminarians kind of picking up pieces of the broken gem bodies, like one of those flowing up with the leg and be like, we're going to be able to use this. And we see the rest of the gem bodies, like, scattered on the ground in different shards and pieces. And Master shows up and kind of just waves his hand and all the luminarians just, like, disappear and like, dissolve. So they go around and start picking up the pieces of all the gems that were broken and were fighting. And I don't really know why he does this. The Master kind of shouts, and I wasn't sure if he was shouting at the luminarians after they were already defeated or at the gems themselves.

Yeah, I don't know.

I didn't write down what he said, I forget. But he kind of just like shouts something real quick. And False is right next to him because False is running with them. And because Foss is so brittle, just him shouting shatters Foss. So just the force of his voice alone stuff to break them.

I mean, that happens to me on the inside when I get Foster starts.

Screaming, and he says, if Foss ever wants to be a fighter like they do, they're going to have to be stronger than the master himself, which will never happen. So it's kind of like, yeah, you're weak, you're not a fighter. Tough shit. And while they're picking up all the pieces, they're putting them in like, a bag. faucet is still conscious, even though they're like shattered and stuff and broken up. They're putting fossils in the bag, and they're like, oh yeah, your job, your job is to make an encyclopedia and to just find information we don't know and just put it all into a book. And Fossil is like, freaking out in the bag, and everyone should have put them back in, like, stop moving. You're losing more pieces. And then we get back to the base, we see gosh and morgana. The two that we're fighting are being put back together by the scientist. Jim I got some of that.

I just kept calling them doctor. I don't know that.

Doctor. Scientist. Yeah, but yeah, Doctor jim and they were able to save a bunch of the pieces of helio as well. And they asked like, oh, we got a lot of the pieces of helio. Not all of them, but a lot of them. Would we be able to get them back together and piece them back? And doctors like, yes, we can piece them back as much as we can, but they're not we need so many pieces to essentially bring them back to life. So until we have all of the pieces, we won't be able to bring them back fully. And we have a little info dump of like, oh, yeah, there's like, microorganisms within all the gems. That's what heals the gems. So they're still inorganic beings, but they have like a healing factor sort of thing.

All those glue bugs in their body.

Yeah, it's the mediclorian. We're in Star Wars.

Yeah.

Don't worry about it too much.

Don't think about it too much. And then False asked guest repair as well, and asked, like, take me out of the field with you. I hate my job. And it's like, you didn't even do your job. You just got your job. What do you finally got one. Why are you complaining about it? And they're like, well, we already know the stuff we know, so why don't you go out and catalog the stuff we don't know?

Hey, you know that's not how encyclopedias work, right? You write everything down and not like, hey, find something new.

And one of them says, like, hey, why don't you go ask Cinnabar? False is like what? Who's that I've never met them. It's like, oh, Cinnabar is on the night patrol. They're the one we saw earlier with the red transparent hair. It's like they're always off on their own on night patrol, and we never get attacked at night. So they must have seen a lot of weird stuff that we just aren't aware of during the day. fossil's like, all right, I guess. And then one of them calls, like, Fossil the Master Scholar, like, as a joke, but then that's enough to motivate him because Foss is an idiot. And I look, yeah, all right, I am the master scholar.

I think their job is super cool, but I understand why they don't think that, because they are just stupid. Yeah, but, like, in a cute way.

Most of the time, in an endearing, like dumb puppy way. Yeah, yeah. So, like, the other two leave and False. Ask Dr. Jim again, what should I do about my job? Go ask cinebar. We already went over this.

I told you what to do.

I don't know anything about cinema. What's their deal? Like, why are they night patrol? And they're like, oh, Cinnabar secrets this weird silver poison, which is mercury. And they're able to function at night because the mercury is able to absorb some of the moonlight and give them energy. We find here that gems also absorb sunlight, and that's how they're able to function during the day. And that's why no one really goes out at night, because they can't. Solar powered, pretty much, yeah. And doctor also says, like, if you get the mercury on you, that'll taint your gem, and then you won't be able to absorb sunlight, and then it'll effectively kill you. So it's poisonous to everyone, even us inorganic creatures. So Cinnabar is kind of off on their own, on night patrol, isolated from everyone, because just riddled with poison. And the doctor also says if you get piece mercury on you, you have to scrape off pieces of that, like, tainted gem. And then any piece of gem you lose, you'll lose part of your memory that's tied to that piece. So that's a big component later on in the series. And we see Foss goes around and tries to get information about Cinnabar, goes to their room and see if it's just covered in poison. And the person that lives next to them is like, oh, yeah, we haven't seen Cinnabar in, like, years because they're all gems and they don't age. Time is very fluid in the show where it's like one episode has just been 500 years from the last episode.

That's cool.

But nothing changes because they're gems. They don't age. So then where is it? False goes out looking for Cinnabar and just keeps going to different places and can't find anything. And it's like, I hate this. I hate the encyclopedia of shit. And then right at sunset, they're like a cliffside, and the Luminarians attack, like, right at sunset at their last chance. And right as the arrows coming to get Foss, cinnabar appears with just this huge wave of mercury to stop all the attacks and is able to control it all and just create this huge wave and just push the whole wave of poison back on the luminarians and fight them off. So successful to stop the luminarians attack, but they almost push the wave over and their body goes with it. And then once the luminaries are defeated, they start falling off the cliffside. So they misjudged their jump. And we see fauce dives out to reach out with the clipboard to try and help Cinderbar grab onto something. And we see fossils covered in the mercury now because they dove through it. And right as Sinovar grabs the clipboard, we see foss's arms just snap off entirely because of how brittle they are.

Just pure comedy.

Oh, yum, I'll save you.

Snap.

There is a surprising amount of slapstick comedy in the show that I really enjoy because, yeah, they're not like, smart, so it's not witty jokes, it's just real physical, dumb, you know, breaking gem humor. But Cinnabar falls and then gets back, like, gets up from the beach and climbs the cliffside again and sees Foss there on the cliff side. I was like, oh, you made it back up. That's great. I'm covered in poison. Now I'm going to fall asleep and starts drifting back.

I got to go.

And Foster is about to fall off the cliff themselves and Cinnabar grabs them and pulls them back. But when Cinnabar grabs and pulls them back, cinnabar arms breaks off and Cinnabar says, like, oh, yeah, by the way, I'm the weakest gem there is. I got a hardness of two and Foss has a weakness of 2.5. If you're any weaker than this, you just don't even function. So then once they're back at the base, foss gets all the contaminated parts of them scraped off and we see like, little patches of them of the gem glowing out. And while they're scraping off, the doctors, like, asking them, like, do you remember who I am? Do you remember who you are? Like, doing like, a memory test, because they had to take off parts of them. And then Foster saying they remember everything and they're going to remember that fight for a long time. And the doctor is like, yeah, everyone's going to remember that fight for a long time. There's a shit load of poison everywhere now, and that whole area is like, tainted for years, like a few hundred years easily. That's why Cinnabar was kind of forced into that job, to keep them away from everyone else. And the doctor says, like, oh, maybe faucet's major discovery for the encyclopedia can be a place for Cinnabar, like, something better than night patrol and essentially exile. And then as False is leaving, they run into diamonds. It was like, very sparkly diamond.

Beautiful.

Yeah, the pretty girl in class. And I was like, Be careful out there next time. I was like, oh, okay. Next day, False goes back to the cliffside, looking at everything and looking at the devastation after all the poison got out during the fight. And Cinema appears again where False says, like, why are you hanging out here anyway? This is, like, the most dangerous place on the island. This is where we lost Helio. This is where they got captured by the Lumearians.

This is murder rock.

Why do you want to be basically and cinemar says they've been waiting to be taken like Helio was they want to be taken. But they say, despite all the time I've been out here, luminarians never showed up, ever. And then the one day you show up, they appear immediately. And Cinema is like, must be nice to be desired by literally anyone, even your enemies. Cool. He kind of walks away, like, kind of pouting. So much angst in this little gem.

I mean, she is literally the most hated gem. She will kill anyone that comes close.

Yeah, not by their choice. And, yeah, cinemar says, like, oh, by the way, there's, like, three unnamed butterfly species over here. There's, like, two over there. Like, one over there. One of the other gems told me that you're looking for me because I might know stuff for your encyclopedia that's not documenting it. I know a bunch of the animals because I do night patrol.

They're my only friends.

So they basically say, like, here are the unnamed species. Write them down in your book. Leave me the fuck alone very sooner. And Foss says they'll find something better for Cinnabar to do than night patrol if that will make them stop wishing they'll get kidnapped by Luminarians and go to the moon with them. So basically, I'll find a job for you to do if you're just stop being suicidal. And Foss goes back to wondering what they can do for cinemar. And then we see back at the base, and then we cut to Cinema out on the cliffside again, finding foss's notepad, and we see them looking at being like, god, it's terrible writing. And the drawings are awful. Why is this person in charge of writing anything down? And when the wind blows through the notepad, you see a silvery handprint on the last page where cinemar grabbed it as they were falling off the cliff side. And it kind of reminded them of, like, no, you don't want to be taken away. You tried to survive. If you wanted to die, you would have just crashed into the ground and shattered into 1000 pieces. But it was, like, reminder of, like, no, you still want to live. You're just very lonely. Yeah, that's episode one. And then we get the ending, which, as an anime triggers, is actually the opening. Yeah.

It'S a good song, but it is arithmetic at the top, and it kind of stressed me out. Once it got going, I was like, all right, this is a bop. But when it started out, I'm like jazz.

Oh, no. Yeah, it's definitely got, like a little bill to it where it's like, what's happening here? And then it kicks in.

But yeah. Picking up episode two, we get a little history lesson at the top. So all of this came to be because the planet was hit by six asteroids that made all life retreat back into the oceans. And it formed six moons around the planet and down deep in the murky water. I guess gems were like, the only life formed to really thrive. So they returned back to the land.

The rocks became sentient.

Well, they were kind of saying the microorganisms that heal them came out from the ocean and just like, infused with the rocks, I guess. And that's what came out.

Yeah.

So there's a big gemstone meeting. It ends. We see jade, who is running it, who's like, the third in charge or whatever. They're ranked based on how tough they are. But there's more to it. We find out in this episode. So she's important. I didn't get the name of the half blue, half gray.

Euclace.

Euclace.

Thank you.

You're welcome. I love rocks.

So you Clace is like, all right, you should brief sensei about all this. And jade is like, oh, no, he's meditating right now. I've tried to talk to him in the past. He's in so deep, I could punch him in the face and he wouldn't notice. So not going to go for it.

I really like the scene of jade trying to wake him up, like, hitting him in the head, and then jade's hand snaps off. It's like, fuck my hand.

Yeah, I love that. Aside comedy, I wasn't expecting it.

Yeah, there is a very strong tone to the show, but when they drop it for the comedy, it's so nice. It's just a quick little breath of fresh air.

Yeah.

They're all just very silly gems.

Yes. They're all children, basically.

So they see Foss just sitting on the side of a pond. Can't think of what Cinnabar can do. Instead of night patrol, the doctor comes out and tests some of their higher up toughness and just wrestles a little bit more slap, sticky stuff. But jade mentions that diamond is working on a new fighting technique, and that could be something to put into the encyclopedia, basically like, hey, stop moping around. Be productive. God damn it, you waste of space.

Get out of my site.

Voss goes out to find diamond on patrol. She sees her out in the fields and is like, hey, so you're pretty and amazing, and you're the best because you're diamond and you have the toughest hardness rating. So I'm in love with you, but I'm having a problem. I can't give you any details, but I can't think of new ideas and diamonds like that's. Vague, but I guess you should just do things you don't normally do and get like a new perspective and that may give you new ideas. And of course, this is where the solar attack well, technically a Moon attack, whatever, they're Moon people, but they're very fun.

There's three types of people here. We got Master, we got the gems, and we got the Moon Peace.

But yeah, well, first off, we learned that diamonds partner Bort I know Bort is an actual stone thing, but I can't not think of The simpsons.

Whenever I did Fort, it's all I hear when I looked it up, bort is apparently like a diamond. That's like the hardest quality of diamonds, but it's like the ugliest, so it's not used for anything.

Diamond fights off the moon, people attack and she's like, okay, I'm trying out my new system, where she just takes her sword and just baseball bat, hits all of their spears back at them.

Wrecked.

Yeah, starts cracking her sword, but it's working out. But eventually they knock the sword out of her hand and she just throws foss for some reason to get false.

On the way back.

Yeah, but just like out of the blue, just grabs her and yates her. It looks like they're about to get overrun, but Bort finally swoops in and saves the day.

The way station is like bort bort borton.

Yes, there's an elegant battle between the Moon Folk and Bort. So Bort is able to fight them all off and is so pissed at everyone and everything because she's the strongest and the most superior and very elitist.

Why can't everyone be like me Bort?

I was going to say if my name was born, I'd be pretty pissed off at everything, too.

It's fair. But you wouldn't have a superiority complex. No, the other way around.

That's what's weird. foss. We say foss because it's Fossil Light and it's just a nickname. Board is just bored. There's no bigger name, it's just bored. Sorry. It never gets old.

So, yeah, at this point, foss is like, oh, wow, two diamonds working in sync. You're a great team, right? And diamond is like, well, no, Bort is like, yeah, we're both diamonds, but Bort is stronger than me. So me, diamond, the second biggest and toughest, also have a big inferiority complex because Bort is like, yeah, stand back, I'm stronger, I'll fight everything. You weak, pathetic, almost as strong as me person. So she can't fight as much and always gets sidelined. So fossil is like, oh, I sense a similarity here.

I think we're going to be friends.

Diamond says that they are very strong, hardness wise, but they're fragile to impact damage, like, specific type of damage, and that's what their new fighting technique was. They were blocking the shots and shooting them back, but the impact of the arrows hitting their sword was causing their arm to break, and that's what eventually fractured it off. Yeah.

Bort'S mad about the new style and putting everyone in danger. Bort was going to just full on shatter phosphor getting in the way, put it back together, because diamond was like, no, it's not her fault. She just needed a new idea. And bort's like, here's an idea. Smash. But right before she goes and stabs her in the face, a giant new enemy flies right past them, which doesn't happen. So they're like, I'm sorry, what? It didn't try to steal us, but it's going straight for the school. And this is where I learned that they call it a school.

And I was like, okay, sense school. There's no real reason for it.

Yeah, I was just like, okay, weird. So new enemy goes straight to it, and they're like, oh, yes. And so he will take care of it. It's fine. Oh, wait, no, he's meditating. We can't wake him up. Oh, no. We have to stop it. So they all run back to fight the enemy boards like, fuck you too. I'll take care of this, I guess. And jumps up to fight the big enemy. But a giant nautilus shell gets thrown into the school. It's just an empty shell. And everyone's like, oh, that's weird. Okay, well, we deal with this attack. foss, you're a dip shit that doesn't do anything. Study that snail shell. She's like, all right, fucking just give me the weak shit. But as she goes to investigate, a snail pops out of it and absorbs her munch. Delicious.

Is vora on the bingo card? I'd be surprised if it is.

It's not.

No.

I feel like it doesn't come up often, but when it does come up in a show, it comes up often in that show. Specific.

Yes. So eatzer. And all the other gems are like, holy shit. What's this thing? We have one enemy, and it's the moon sun people. So what's going on here? So as they try to fight it, they learn that its body is dissolving them. It's melting them. It's not chipping them away where they can get repaired later. It's just eating them up, murdering. So foss, who was absorbed, is just fully dissolving inside this thing. It's like, oh, fuck. Someone saved me. Hey, quick.

Someone saved me.

Hey, can someone save me real quick?

I know you all hate me, but.

Please, I'm literally dying. Yeah.

Bort tries to deal with it after dealing with the main enemy and get singed and is like, this piece of shit. Just leave this gem to die. My hair has a slight chip in it. That's inexcusable. So as we see, foss literally dissolving into just eyeballs and just very melty green goo in the pink. Goo is lots of goo.

Lot of goo.

This show, we haven't really touched it on it. It is very beautiful, but it's also very gross.

Yeah, I love it. It's all done in the 3d style, like bsrs for anyone who isn't familiar with it. It's a 3d cgi show that really caught my attention when I saw it because I typically am not a fan of it. I was like, this is done very well.

Yeah. When I was looking it up, it was like, oh, yeah. This is sort of the argument that anime can do 3d stuff because we can have these big fun action sequences and make it beautiful and not just blocky 3d model punch. Okay. But yeah, it just has that there's some yucky elements in sort of like a natural like, this is the real world. This is how nature works. It's gross sometimes, but also it's beautiful when it happens. So it's sort of hitting that like, I can't look away, but squirm.

So my favorite. Yeah.

But as foss is dissolving and being like, hey, someone should save me eventually, right? Episode ends. And that's where we end episode two.

Yeah. So Fox is dead, not the protagonist.

Did the old switcheroo on you?

So in episode three, we're back. foss is still melting in the big snail. Bort leaps to attack, but diamond stops them. And they see foss's gem stuff on the outside and they think that they are signaling to the rest of them to be like, this is where you should attack. And then the snail attacks. It has, like, some slimy tendrils that it reaches out with. And then diamond calls out to foss and the snail attacks them again. And then there's a fight scene. Diamond runs towards the snail and they get to the shell and they manage to crack it with just their foot. They just kick it.

Kick it.

Yeah. And then the snail falls down and Bort reprimands diamond. I guess I just wrote her.

Yeah, diamond.

Great. And then I thought this was funny. I don't know why people just, like, popped their heads out the windows, being like, oh, what's going on? Did something happen? I didn't even notice.

He's still fighting.

God, weird.

Sorry we missed it.

All these fucking superior defense force being like, yes, we're the ultimate warriors. And something's attacking them at home. And they're like, what? I can't be bothered.

I think it's because we see a lot of the fighter gems, but there's like they say there's 28 of them total, so there's like a good half of them are just inside, never fighting, ever. So they're just like indoor kids.

That would be me.

Why can't foss just hang out with them?

They're nerves. They're lame.

Yeah. foss is always with the courier, and it's like, hey, go hang out with calc up there.

So the snail and the shell fell into the pond that's out there. And I guess it's saltwater. So the snail shrank, and now it's a slug, no shell. And then Bort gets mad that it was, like, so simple that they could have just pushed it into the pond, I guess. And then they blame foss for making it difficult and then diamond is like, hey, we should give foss some credit for signaling to us where the snail shell was weak. And then Bort is like, no, she gets stuck. So Bort, Jade and euclase go into the pond to find foss bits, but they don't find anything. And then when they come back out dia. dia. dia. It would be dia. Fun fact, my witch sona was named dia anyway, so that's how I read it. But it's dia. They call her dia because diamond, they have the slug in a bowl and it's, like, squeaking and wiggling around. And then one of them suggests that foss is in the slug and it jumps around and diamond is like, Are you in there?

Can you hear me?

And the body language of the slug suggests that foss is now the slug. So we see the doctor laying down for arrest, but then the three of them, plus slug, Russian, four of them. And they're like, oh, please help. This is what happened. And then the doctor is like, that's funny. That's a joke, right? Good one. And then the doctor is like, well, if it is actually foss, we should be able to cut into this slug and it would open be fine, because we can put it back together. But the slug is really nervous. It's like cowering. And diamond is like, hey, maybe let's not do that. Because what if foss is in there, but it still has organic life form bits? I don't want foss to die.

The only one that doesn't want Foster die.

And then Jade explains death and rotting away. And Bort is like, man, organic life forms suck ass. True. And then Bort leaves in a huff and Jade gives diamonds their forearm back. I feel like we kind of glossed over that. Diamond lost their forearm in that battle. They didn't just fracture their arm. It fell off.

Yeah, the whole thing broke off.

I thought in that scene that Bort was the one who was, like, pulling their arm off. I was like, holy shit. But no, it just fell off and diamond was trying to hide it.

Yeah. Some of them wear, like, stockings and gloves. So diamond has, like, very long elbow length gloves and Bort pulled the glove off and showed the whole arm had broken off. It was being just held inside.

Yeah. So because they can't do anything, jade and you, Clay, are like, oh, let's just leave foss with the doctor. And then the doctor puts diamond's arm back on, and diamond gets so nervous about leaving foss with the doctor that they take them.

Let the doctor cut someone open.

No. And diamond feels bad about the situation, blaming themself for, like, telling foss to change, like, change up their routine and do something different.

Change everything about me and be a slug.

Okay? Yeah, I got it.

Got it.

And they are like, Is that what happened? And then slug foss nods yes, it's your fault.

You give me an idea.

And then diamond takes around the slug in a bowl, asking everyone if, like, they could help. My favorite one is like, this one gem that's making a costume. And they're like, oh, yeah, I can help it. They just put a bow on it. They put a bow on this slug.

It's pretty.

I love it. morganite is just like, oh, let's just leave foss like that. Whatever. Who gives this shit? And Slug attacks them. And like, all of the gems that diamond talks to, there's like a montage. Like, none of it is important. They pretty much all say, I don't know what to do, and I don't really care.

This is when on the bank of card, I checked off unlikable main character because I like faust, but it's clear not many.

God, what a fucking rotten team. Where anyone with a hardness ranking below you is just garbage in your eye.

It's not bad. It's not like a superiority, like hierarchy or anything. It's just false is just a nuisance and a pain in the ad. Always getting into trouble and breaking somewhere, and they have to go pick up the pieces.

But still, the two lowest ranked people are Sinovar and foss. And they treat them both like shit, giving them the worst jobs just to be like, get out of our face. We don't need you.

Foss is because they get into trouble on their own. It's Cinnabar is because they're oozing poison. uncontrollably.

I know, but still, it's not like, hey, we'll find something. It's like, just get out of our fucking face. Never come back to our house.

And this summer, I think they probably look for a reason to not like foss. I think in cinnabar's case it is a little different, but they also literally exiled them. And no one speaks to them, no one tried. So we see diamonds sitting on the beach saying, like, oh, foss, maybe you should try to get along with others. And it's like, I don't think it's foss's fault that people don't like them. And then foss eats some grass and just immediately, like, poops it out. And diamond gets mad, and they're like, if you eat grass, you'll dirtier inside.

Where was diamond last night when I got carl's Jr.

And then diamond is like, do you even want to change back? Or are you, like, happy this way? Because, like, this slug, it curls up into a ball like a cat in the ball. I love this little thing.

Hey, slicks don't need jobs. Slicks don't have to write encyclopedias.

Yeah, I wish I was a slug driving in the rain.

The dream. No taxes, no stress.

Just Slug. Just slime.

I wrote Ozamaki. I don't want to think about slugs anymore.

So diamond thinks about the fight earlier when Bort had to rescue them, and they're like, oh, well, foss, now you don't have to be jealous or compare yourself to anyone else. Maybe you're just happier as a slug. And then diamond is like, let's just ask around one more time, see if anyone can help. And it's nighttime, which means that it's time for cinnabar's patrol. Every time we've said patrol, I've been thinking about SpongeBob patrol. Come on. Patrol. cinebar is definitely SpongeBob hall monitor, just.

Causing damage in the slum.

So Cinnabar is wandering around thinking about foss gay. And then they see something on the horizon, something really bright, and they start leaking their mercury, thinking that it's the lunarians sweat. And they like, release tendrils of it, but it's just diamond shining in the night because they fell asleep.

Crazy Shining Diamond.

And then Cinnabar is like, what are you doing here? Leave. And then diamond is like, okay, get out of this one. where's foss? They like, diamond can't find slug. And diamond, like, asks Cinnabar to help, and they're like, no, I don't care. I don't care about foss.

What are you talking about?

And then they hear a rustle in the bushes. And then there they are, slug foss. And diamond shows the slug to Cinnabar, and diamond explains what happened. And Cinnabar is like, is that even possible? And then they ask if when they were fighting, they broke the shell. And diamond is like, yeah, we made, like, a hole or two. And then Cinnabar turns to leave, and diamond begs them to help, and they're like, do you think foss is better off this way? And Cinnabar is like, yeah, probably because foss is useless and all up in everyone's business. I mean, they're super cute and they really want to help me, but like, what? No.

Yeah, they're so nice to me and want me to not work the night shift that I hate. But fuck them.

I hate them so much, they're making me feel something other than indifference.

Diamond even kind of calls it out of, like, oh, you talk about false. You're in a romantic relationship with them. At this point. I was like, if it's not super obvious, false. And Cinnabar is a very popular, if not the only prominent ship out of this series. And it wasn't until, like, rewatching it, I was like, god, cinebar really is just gay as hell, aren't they?

Yeah.

I didn't realize it the first time I watched this, but I was just like, wow, just so dear gay.

Honestly, I got it.

I didn't know where this show is going the first time I saw it. Now my eyes are open now.

So after diamond is like, you know foss likes you, cinnabar changes the subject. And they're like, did you know that snails eat rocks to get their shells back?

Anything.

Just change the top.

Oh, yeah, it's it's so weird when that rock is in that snail.

Oh, fuck.

I'm thinking about the fossils again.

Shit.

And then that's when, like, it clicks for diamond that faucet is in the shell. They're not in the slug. They're in the shell. In the shell. So diamond launches into action. They run off, and then Cinnabar acts like they don't care, but they definitely do.

They make a little faucet out of mercury.

Yeah. And then diamond is running off. And as they're running, they remember their conversation with foss about changing themselves and feeling guilty. And when they get back to the school, Bort is waiting. They're like, on patrol. And like, the rest of them, they're all on patrol all the time. And diamond is like, hey, I found a way to fix foss. And then diamond runs through the building calling out for everybody to come help get the big shell out of the pond. And they do, and they get all the pieces. And then the Doctor puts foss back together and there's like a magical girl sequence of foss's body, like, getting put back together. Reminds me of advil liquid gel.

They get the same thing. It's foss's body, like, reforming in, like, a liquid state. So I think it's like their mind reforming as their body's being actually pieced together back in real life.

Yeah. And everyone is there when they wake up and the slug is still there. Hello, slug.

We have a new mascot, animal sidekick, that off.

And then foss attacks it and it manages to get back into the bowl. And diamond is like, okay, are you ready? And then it squeaks along with diamond, as diamond says, I'm really sorry. And it boughs. And I love it. I love this.

Slug, quickest, turn around for oh, this shit's gross. And I love this. This is my favorite character.

I love, like, ugly, cute stuff. So this is my shit. It reminds me it just occurred to me. It reminds me a lot of water bears. Like microorganisms tetracars tetracar. Yeah, something like that. But foss is still mad, even though it apologized. But diamond is, like, holding onto it. And foss is having, like, a full argument with the Slug, like, as if it knows what it's saying, but everyone else is just hearing it squeak. And diamond is like, who are you talking to? And then foss is like, you can't hear what it's saying? And diamond is like, no. And that's where episode three ends.

So if you want to talk to an animal, just get eaten by it.

Jasper, no.

Just eat one of my toes.

My finger. Yeah.

Wouldn't that be worth it?

Honestly, for me, I would love to talk to jasper.

Maybe a cat. Definitely not my dogs. I knew what my dogs were all thinking. Sleeping food. That's it. I don't need to know what they're thinking.

Yeah, they don't play koi.

Yeah, they was it promote or I can't think of words anymore. I'm done. I'm thinking about anime gems.

That's fine.

Anyway, broadcast.

They don't broadcast their thoughts really well.

Yeah.

First three episodes. Are we there yet?

I like this show. It's definitely visuals over story, which is fine because they do the visuals so well. It's not like some other animes that are like, okay, we want this to be pretty and who cares about the story? But it's also not that pretty because it just looks like other anime. This being three D and having that sort of formative of we are doing 3d anime, right. For the first time. It's like, okay, you got me on board. Yeah, it just has this very bright, solar punk, art nouveau sort of aesthetic. And it's just very pleasant, very gentle. There is action to keep it interesting, but it's not like constant or the sole focus. So I liked it.

Yeah, I am definitely intrigued. I like the characters, I like the way it looks. And I do like that because I'm not an action person. I like that there are fights, but they don't last too long.

Yeah, one of the benefits of a lot of the gems being very brutal, it's just like they get a good few hits in on the lunars. Lunarians, but the lunarians just take one good shot at them and they're shattered. They're done. So it's like kind of like an all or nothing fight.

I really love when they fought the band. The lumines.

The luminaries. Get the hey. Get the ho. Yeah, that's what hooked me into this show. Because when I watched it back when it came out, I knew nothing about it. Like, you guys and yeah, the 3d animation and just the style to the show itself is kind of what hooked me until the story was able to sink its fangs into me and I was able to see where the story was actually going. Because there is a big point, I think. But the next episode, we'll get to where it's like, oh, that's kind of a hint of where it's going. And then it's not until like, episode I don't want to dissuade you guys, but it's later where it's like, you see where the story is going, but it takes its time. But it's enjoyable the whole time up to that point. But it's not that main plot.

I would watch it mainly because it is only 13 episodes, so it's not like you have to wait until episode 20 for it to get interesting.

Yeah, there's not many. God, I wish there was more episodes, but the manga, I think, is only on chapter, like 97 or so, and it's been going since we said, like, 2012. So it's like a monthly manga with plenty of breaks in between. But like, God, is it worth a fit? Because, like, no spoilers, but where do the manga is right now? Is list just drama. It satiates me for eons, but good to know it. It fucking goes places and it's wild. And it's very quickly become one of my favorite series.

Neat. Well, I'd say this went pretty well. Oh, I really liked the music in it, too.

It's good music.

Yeah, it was very Kingdom heartsy.

I'll forgive you for saying that, but, yes, I agree.

Kingdom Hearts has good music. Whether you like the games or not, it has good music.

No, you're right. Yeah, that's fair.

But thank you, Brendan, for bringing something refreshing. I was so scared. I was so afraid once you said.

Refreshing, that reminded me. They say foss's color is like green or is like mint. It's a mint color. And it immediately made me think, how do they know what mint is? What do they know about mint?

They don't eat plot hole.

This whole show is terrible now.

Yeah. Let's just find everything wrong with this.

One out of ten.

There's not enough of it. That's my biggest complaint.

Anyway, what are we doing next week?

So similar to this week? It's going to be recorded before this episode comes out. So we're still in the anxiety time.

We still need good vibes. Yeah.

You the listener may. I certainly hope you're in a better place, but we'll see specifically on the other side of this hill. So we're going to keep the good vibes going where I specifically googled what's the chillest vibe we already did laid back camp. We can't just do that again as much as we want to, but I found another slice of life.

We're watching chaon yay for cute girls making music.

Yeah.

So, yeah, if there's a chill show that you want to calm us down.

Stressful.

Listener, can you send us your best? Like, after work? I just need a bubble bath of an anime. You can send those recommendations to us. Our email is are weebtherette@gmail.com or you can reach out to us on Twitter or Instagram. Are we there yet on both? You can find me on Twitter and Instagram at mrpatrick. dugan.

You can find me on Instagram at queen. Period. Weebu and on Twitter at queen underscore weebu. And I did mention it earlier. I haven't talked about it before. I have an ASMR channel on YouTube. It's dana sweetie. So if you want to watch me play I Spice spooky Mansion that's on there.

Topical.

I mean, if you find dana, at most times they're playing I Spy spooky mansion.

Mansion. You can find me on Twitter. abts brendan stands for Almost Better Than Silence, which is a video game podcast I do. And sometimes I stream on Rweeve on twitch on our own twitch handle.

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.

Be the Stephen you want to see in the world.

Be bored.