AWTY 184 - Disc-horse (The Ancient Magus Bride with Abby Salcido)

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

I am an anime expert, dee hollander.

And I'm brenda mccullough. Your anime primordial eldritch horror in a bolo tie and birthday boy.

Oh, no. The scarier thing.

It's that time of year again. That wonderful, glorious, horrible, feared time of year again.

Truly.

And I it's the time we all wonder how possibly can he make us watch the digimon movie again?

Listen, bell was out. Same director. I considered it. It was very possible.

It's possible.

But instead I realized something different. Instead of force feeding my friend's bad anime, at least in their opinion, it's not mine. I can instead hold them hostage and force feed them good anime that they all refuse to watch, even though I've recommended for years. And that's what we're doing today. I brought abby back. I'm forcing her into this shit too.

Hello, I'm abby.

This is payback from bleach for making you talk about bleach, isn't it?

It is.

Sorry you got roped into this. This is truly a time where we try to absorb the impact of such a devastating holiday and protect the world from the destruction that comes from it. But we are so sorry you're caught in the collateral damage.

It's okay. Every year on brendan's birthday, there's like 78 injured and four dead.

To be fair, this is kind of your fault for knowing me. Like you only have your fault to blame. I'm never at fault. I'm the golden boy. It's my birthday.

Every single one of us could have cut our losses and ran, but we did.

We did not fault for existing. It's our fault for coming in contact.

He's like the elephant's foot in chernobyl. We got a little too close and now we're marked for life.

Everyone else would stay away and you're just like, yeah, but it's kind of weird looking. And be like, yeah, there's a reason it's kind of weird looking. It's radiated.

The four dead will be us, including Brendan.

Oh, my God. Perfect number. I didn't even plan that.

So this week, like I said, we're watching something good this time, but it's something no one ever watches on my recommendation. And I don't know why. I feel like I've burned some bridges and it's backfired on me.

It's almost like we can't trust your ocky.

Can instinct is art.

Oh, no, don't do that one.

I was going to say the butt battle anime. That one's actually good. I still defend that one.

See, that's one you actually like.

You don't actually like no akikan garbage. But instead we're watching something I do actually like and for once isn't digimon or disguised as digimon or gantt. That was a fun one last year. Instead, we're going to be watching the Ancient maggots Bride. Have any of you heard about it? I know abby has. I won't shut up to her about it.

I've definitely heard of it and we've discussed it. Seems like it's my type of thing, but I just haven't watched it. So I am excited to finally watch it, but it makes me cautious and it's per your recommendation.

Fair. Yeah.

I'm in the same boat where I've only heard about it through you and your constant recommendations, which they no longer have any weight in my mind.

It's better than bad weight. Fair.

I have in the olden days when I used to go outside, seen some really amazing cosplays of this series at cons, particularly the the main, like, mage character with the, like, skull head, like, really, really good stuff. And so when you said, like, oh, that's the character from the series that I've been trying to make you watch for years, I was like, sorry, seems kind of interesting.

I might want to get into it. Oh, this series that I've told you about. Okay, if that's the series, I won't get into it.

I'm glad Brendan can take this, because if I was in his position, I'd be crying weakly.

I've given off. I've realized no one ever watches anything I say, good or bad, anime or otherwise. And I've learned that it's not a personal attack on my taste. It's just a personal attack on my character, which is fair. I've done it to myself. I have no one else to blame on me.

Oh, my gosh. I came really close to saying, well, you are from the midwest. And then I remembered where once again, you're not from the midwest. Happy birthday.

Happy birthday. You were never born in the midwest.

I don't know American geography. It's very embarrassing. And I did once say that he was from the midwest, and it did make him mad.

Somewhere. Sam is just fuming sorry, Sam.

The midwest is fine.

Anytime I want to get back in abby for anything, I just send her a map of the United States. I say just guess. Just guess any of them.

Honestly, get my ass. I deserve it.

Oh, my God. Once again, this is just going to be Brendan and abby roasting each other, which is a gift to all.

Taking the pressure off.

Yes. Perfect. This is great, having my own day over here. So please just continue combat and I will take a nap and happy birthday to me, I guess.

Happy birthday. Birthday to us. Happy birthdays.

Let's go this day.

Yay.

Yay.

Well, shall we watch the first three episodes less?

Brendan, this man has a horse face.

He does?

I thought you hated horses.

It's kind of like a gazelle.

It's got horns, I suppose, but it's vaguely horse shaped or horse adjacent. I thought about it the whole time.

Is this why you hate horses? Do horses never live up to your ideal horse, which is this man a.

Hornet horse, but not a unicorn, and.

Also not torrin from elden Ring. Another box we cannot open here today.

It is weird. I do very much enjoy deer, especially now that I don't live around a thousand of them who destroy my car on a yearly basis. Not a fan of horses, though, deer. Okay. I think it's the gross parasitic relationship horses have with society, and people are too comfortable with them. Deer are still kind of you got to be cautious around wow.

To say that horses have a parasitic.

Anxiety mooching off Pete now we fundamentally change their evolution to a different unnatural trajectory, and they are fucked beyond all repair.

One day they'll realize and they'll come for us. They'll come back anyway.

Trying to take me away from my horse discourse.

Big Wing, the disc horse, if you will.

You can leave.

Okay.

Hangs up.

Discord.

Anyway, episode one. Let's get into this. I'm going to apologize ahead of time. I took a lot of notes. I got feelings about this show. It's one of my fur. Episode one starts off with the opening because that's what we do in this house. We start off with good openings that slap hard. We got that Spanish guitar, we got castanet.

Let's fuck.

You go.

It'll definitely set the vibe.

I love that song. It hits hard, opens very pretty, and then just kind of montages into different clips like from the show. So kind of a nice opening. But that song hits and we open up on a girl signing a piece of paper. We see that paper she's signing. Her name is hatori chise, and she's talking to a suited man, and he's asking her if she'll regret her decision now, when someone ever signed a paper in a backfire, this is fine.

This is fine.

Also, how can you be like, hey, I know you're about to make a decision, but you don't know how it's going to go, but don't regret it.

Now you're a second away from locking in for life. You're sure about this? Why now, man? Why say that now? And she signs the contract. It is finalized. And then the man in the suit says, great, we're all set. And it puts a chain around her neck. And then we see two other men come out and handcuff her. I'm going to start.

Yeah, that made me a little nervous. Not going to lie. Like, I know this is a serious scene, and my first note was that she had main character hair, but then I saw like, the collar, the cuffs. I was just like, huh? And wrote a bunch of question marks on my page. What is about to happen to this girl?

Yeah, she's got mid length, shaggy bob haircut with red hair and green eyes. So, you know, kind of looks like knuckles from sonic.

I just saw sonic too, and I loved it.

Anyway, we'll talk after.

While that's happening, we're getting intermittently spliced with shots of a man, well dressed man, walking around London with a cane. So we don't really get to see the upper half of them, but we see him traveling. And then we cut back to the girl, she say, and she's getting a veil placed over her as the man in the suit leads her out into a hallway where it's filled with a bunch of various monsters and creatures all chained up or in tubes or cages and a bunch of hooded people. Once again, not a great start. And we see the man who's walking through London. We see him arrive in a very ornate theater hall with a lot of the same people in hoods and wearing masks, so it seems like it's in the same building. And then we come back to seeing chisi still in handcuffs in the chains, up on stage in front of a huge audience in an amphitheater. And the guy in the suit auctioning her off. He's looking for prices. We got human trafficking start.

What I would expect immediately from your favorite anime.

Fair.

I really was like, Brendan, we've got to talk. Listen, you would have to get better.

Can't judge a book by its cover. I've watched the most garbage on this podcast, and I continued after we were done the episode, so I know how bad it gets. And then we see, while they're auctioning Cheese Day off, the doors in the back throw open, and we see the man from earlier walking in, and he struts right up on stage as a few different people are bidding, like, 150,000, 200,000, 250,000. And he steps right up on stage and says, 5 million. Just, yeah, buddy, fuck you all.

He's rich, ladies.

Look out.

And also dumb. He could probably go for a cheaper price, but he didn't go for, like.

2.5 mil and save the other half and still probably could have gotten it. Just saying. And he walks up on stage, and we see as he bends down, he's a very tall man and grabs Cheese by the collar and kind of pulls her forward. And we see the hood that was on his face float back a bit. And, yeah, man's got a big horse skull with horns, with antlers. Not a specific animal, but very horse esque. And, yeah, he pulls her closer, saying he'll make her his apprentice. And then he cut to the auctioneer on the side with another one being like, what the hell? He can't just walk up west. They'd be like, he just dropped five mil. Get him a private room. We'll talk to him.

Can I interject something? Maybe a little messed up? I didn't realize at first that they were in England and they were talking pounds, the British pound. I thought they were talking in yen. And I was like, ¥5 million is not that much for a person. I got a twisted at first, but now I'm there. I get it.

Yeah, they're in England. Especially for you, abby, because you watched all the subs she said is Japanese, but all of it takes place in England. So if you're watching it in Japanese, there's like, a few comments where it's like, oh, you're from Japan. Interesting. They say in Japanese. And I was like, what? Yeah, weird.

I caught that in, like, I think, episode two. I was like, oh, okay, well, it's anime. What are you going to do?

It's like, in great potential words, like, I'm American. And they say in the English, Dublin, it's like, what? It just feels weird.

Well, hey, okay, I worked on that dub, and I have to say, in our defense, I liked what we did with episode one of the English dub being in Japanese until they leave Japan. Okay, I defend that decision.

Yes.

Everybody clapped for Abbey. I loved it.

It wasn't my sole decision, but it was a team.

No, you said you worked on it. We have to show the approval. No, I'm just saying, like, the context of a show made in a country and then being translated into the language it's set in, and it just kind of feels weird when they acknowledge like, ah, your Japanese is so well, it's like they're speaking in English. It's.

Like what?

Just that stuff? But yeah. So while the man is leading chisi out of the room or out of the auction hall, she hears a few people over talking, and she hears a few of them say, like, he got the sleigh beggy. It's like, lucky him. Makes sense, it went for that much, being a sleigh beggy. And even Chiefay is like, what the hell is a sleigh beggy?

What is that?

They say it a few times and they end up going back to a private room. And elias introduces himself. He is the big titular magi. Maggus. magi is different thing. Maggus with the horse head. And he reaches his hand out to Chicago to introduce himself, like, shake hands, and he says, oh, she has the site. She noticed some of the little creatures floating around in the air.

She's got the shining.

And he says, like, that's fortunate that you have the site. And when he says that, she say gets a little flashbacks, you know, trauma. And she pulls her hand away from him, saying like, no, I've never been fortunate in my life. Like, I've never I've never been fortunate. And elias says, like, oh, don't worry, we'll change that. And he says, Some people might be endeared by your pessimistic nature, but I didn't buy a doll, I bought an apprentice. So hold your head up high like you're someone who should be respected and worth looking at. And he summons while they're talking, he summons a bunch of thorns and they slowly wrap around them and then just cover the black out the light in the whole room. And as they disappear, we get a flash boom. They're an old English countryside, nice homestead, very rustic. Cottage corps.

Cottage corps, baby.

I also cottage corps.

Yeah, this is what I signed up for.

And she's shocked. She's like, oh, we're in England. What? And elias is like, yeah, I live out here in the countryside. You'll be living with me. Oh, let's get rid of these. And touches the chain and handcuffs around her. And poof. They just disappear. They just evaporate. And he says, yeah, we don't need those now that you're going to be my apprentice, my maggie's apprentice. And then we cut to them inside with elias. And she's in the bathroom. And elias is like, all right, you got to take a bath. You're all stinky from the auction house. Let me help you out with that. And she's like, no, I'm good.

I could really do this with myself, man.

I don't know. You're young and naive. I don't know how it's not clear here. It's a little obvious in other episodes later. elias just does not know how people work since he isn't one. So it's kind of like, you're young. Do you know how to feed yourself? Sort of thing.

I was wondering about that because I watched the subs because I'm a bad dub creator. And in the subs, it was like he was asking tse if she knew how to use the tub. Like he fully believed she didn't know how to use indoor plumbing. So I was like, oh, that's going on. Okay, so it's not necessarily as bad as it looks, per se.

Now he just has that disconnect of like, how do these people work? How do people work, period?

Yeah, just fun for the audience to be like, kind man. Oh, I'm not going to treat you like property. anyways, let me disrobe you.

Get in the tub. He shifts her down, throws her in a tub. And she's like curled up in there being like he saw everything. And he says, like, all right, I'll leave you to it then. Come down when you're done and we can talk further. And while she's in the tub, she remembers meeting the auctioneer. And she was on, like an overpass. And he came up to her being like, well, if you're going to just throw away your life, why not try and give it to somebody, see if they can make a use for it. ah, weird. And while she's relaxing in the tub, a few fairies flying through the window. And she's like, oh, you're actual fairies? Well, fairies is a human term for us. You can just call us like your neighbors. And they say, oh, you're you're a sleigh beggy. And once again, she say and both us, the audience, are like, the fuck does that mean? And they're like, oh, don't worry, little Robin. We'll take care of you. We will be your best friends. And they kiss her on the cheek and then fly off.

I never trust the fay.

Good.

Yeah. I don't know.

Can I get any privacy in this bathroom?

No.

I don't know what they sounded like. In the English dub, but the Japanese dub had I think one of them come in. Like I was like, how I that immediate character trope. I was like, oh, I know exactly who this is.

Exactly. So she say finishes up and it goes downstairs and is given some food by elias's maid. We get her name later. She essentially looks like a pastel doll from bloodborne. Great aesthetic.

Yeah, there's a lot of subtle bloodborne stuff going on here, which I appreciate.

That's just England.

That's just what England is.

Like, you've never been.

London. I you got Big Ben, you got the Celtic beast, cleric beast. Which one? And, yeah, when she comes down the stairs, she has a bit of food and elias says like, all right, feel free to eat what you want and we can go over some questions you have because I assume you have a lot of questions. And she's like, yeah, there's like, neighbors that came in upstairs. Like, ah, yes, the aerials. They're attracted to shiny new things. They're kind of annoying, but they're faye. They come around and when he says that, an empty bird's cage on the table in front of them opens up and we just see this, like, firebird. It looks like a small phoenix, like, appear on elias's hands. And he goes like he says, don't worry, you're a slave beggy. So they'll love you and find out they address it. She says, like, the fuck is a slave baggy? Everyone keeps saying that. And elias says, well, you were kind of like a queen bee for magic. Specifically for fake creatures like the like the aerials above or, you know, like this phoenix creature. You attract them. You just emanate a presence that they are drawn to both good and bad. Because sometimes the fay are little shits, so you got to be careful around them. So sometimes it's not great. And it's fortunate that you have the site and can actually see them because sometimes people have our slay baggies but don't have the site. So they just feel like they're cursed or something because they can't see the faye that are messing around them. But he says, Because you're a slave beggy, because they'll always be drawn to you, you'll never be without their assistance. So they can be a great help to you if you choose to become a mage. But elias is like, I won't force you to down that path, though. You don't have to become a magic if you don't want to. And she's like, oh, you bought me, but I can still decide what I want to do. Like, I don't have to listen to everything you say. And he kind of laughs. He says, no, that's not right. But basically he says, I'm just being polite a little bit. But he says, I won't force you down that path. You have many routes ahead of you. And now that you're in my homestead, I see you as part of my family, so I won't force that onto you if you don't want it. And elias also puts a necklace around her that has, like, this big green circle stone on it. And he says, Keep that on you. that'll keep you safe. Keep it on you at all times. And then he calls in his maid. He introduces her. Her name's Silver. She's a silky, so that's her species of creature. Silver escorts she say to her bedroom. And as soon as she say lays down, she passes out immediately. understandably? A big day happens and she's having a dream where she's in, like, an open field and she hears someone calling her name. And she wakes up and sees one of the aerials from earlier that day floating in her window as the English countryside, no one ever closes a window. They don't know what screens are.

She opened it for them. That's why I was like, that's a mistake, baby.

Don't let them in the house.

It knocked on the window and she opened it.

That's a vampire. Don't invite them inside.

I think a recurring theme, at least in these first three episodes, is she say does not seem to have very much of a survival instinct. No, she is ready to piece out at any second.

Yeah, you learn why. A little lady. Yeah. So she opens up the window, lets ariel in, and ariel's like, hey, why don't we go on outside, go for a minute stroll. It'll tie her out. You'll get familiar with your new homestead and see what's around. And she says, like, I don't know. She's like, okay, fine. Goes out with her. And when they run off, we see elias in the window putting on his coat, being like, well, foolish move, but it'll be a good lesson for her to learn. And we see him start heading out after, and we see she's walking through the forest and see a bunch of sparkles in it. She's like, oh, that's the trail us fairies leap behind. Like, while we're floating around, I do want to point out the aerials be like, hey, don't call us ferries. That's a human term. And then later says, Come to the ferry kingdom. It's like, but that's what wait a minute. They're like, we leave little bit trails behind. So your site is going up where you can actually see that? That's impressive. You're you're very, you know, gifted with the site. And they're allowed like, oh, what about your family, Chief say, like, you know, did you move out here with her family? Was your family kind to you? And she say says, like, Well, I wouldn't say they were exactly kind. And if I love them, I wouldn't necessarily be out here away from them. And she's like, oh, shit, we kind of walked far. How far are we? We should probably start heading back. And the aerial is like, nah, don't worry about it. We have to worry about going back because you're not going back. You're coming with us to the fairy kingdom forever. It's like of course, the fey this bullshit. And she says you have to worry about elias, like you don't have to go back to that weird gross skull man and said you can just come with us in the fairy kingdom, rad. It'll be super cool, it's all fun and warm and as we're only going.

To steal a little bit of your blood, it's fine.

And as they're saying that, they're leading her into a clearing when it has a bunch of stones in it. And we see like a big stone gateway that's glowing. There it is. That's right through there. And we'll be back in the fairy kingdom. And they're saying like, oh, why even bother going back? You just said to yourself, you don't have family back there. Like you don't have anyone to return to and no one that loves you. Come with us. What do you got to lose? And she starts getting spirited away and she's thinking we see more kind of spirits appear behind her, like pulling on her arm and pushing her in the back further in. And she's kind of thinking to herself like, yeah you know what, you got a point. I got nothing to lose here. I've only been here like 4 hours so it's not like I've settled down. And then as she's being pulled in, she pulls her arm back and the camera turns and we see her clutching her own arm with her other hand to the point where she's even drawing blood, holding her hand back. And she says elias was the first person that's ever made her feel welcome in her entire life. And if she's going to be his plaything and he's going to use her for a few years, do whatever he wants and then throw her aside like a broken toy, that might happen. But he's at least said she was part of his family and that's more than anyone else has ever done for her. So she wants to repay his kindness a little bit and not just abandon him right away.

Yes. I like this precedent they're setting of her being self sufficient. And he's not the one who literally came and pulled her away and was like you're so dumb, why would you do that? She did it herself.

Like it and right as she says that, elias appears behind her being like good job, you passed the first test. But he says like good work. You were able to resist their charm and pull yourself back. And they're like oh shit, how do lies find you? He's like, oh the bell on your collar was ringing really loud. And holds up the stone around her neck and he's like, I was able to find you with that. But when he gets her, he puts his arm around, she's saying be like, all right ariels, I'll forgive you. This one time, but you're on thin fucking eye. I will ruin you. And as they all fly off through the portal, they like, extend like a fucking old thorn mage. Just here. Get out of here. Let's get out of here. Cheese. Say, though, offers open anytime you want to swing by the fairy kingdom. We're super down. Offers still standing. And elias pats her on the head and says, all right, good work there. This is a good lesson for you. Be wary of fake creatures. Like I said, they're drawn to you because you're slay beggy. But their intentions aren't always good, so be cautious of them. And then he hugs her, saying and he also apologizes, saying he's her teacher now. He should have prepped her for that. So even though she kind of, like, passed this lesson, he should have brought it to our attention and said this was a possibility.

Incredible, a man taking responsibility for something.

Even though love absolutely had the chance. And it was like, no, she should.

Figure this out by yourself.

I think dee and I are going to have competing themes because I was going to be like, yes, another continuing theme we'll see in the next episode. And dee is like, ready on the elias defense squad.

And yeah, he admits he should have taught her better than that. And he'll take that information going forward as her teacher. And while she's talking, she's like, oh, he's warm, but also kind of tense. And she's like, it's kind of hard to gauge how he's ever feeling because when he talks, his mouth doesn't move in response to what he's saying. It just kind of opens and closes sometimes. And she's like, it's hard to gauge his emotions with a skull. And elias picks her up and carries her back home. He's like, yeah, you're tired. I'll carry you back. And once we get back home, we'll have silver patch up your arm and don't want my future bride having scars. She's like, all right, cool. Cool. What? Well, it's the last party who analyzed was like, oh, sorry, I didn't cover that properly when I bought you. I intended for you to be my apprentice, and I still have that intention in mind. I'll teach you how to do magic and stuff, but you're also going to be my bride. Ancient maggots Bride.

Like, it's the name of the show. So weird.

Yeah. I don't get the opening, which is a good song, but it's just a montage of scenes from the episodes of So. Not as eventful, but still pretty tune.

So in episode two, we open, there's a woman with long red hair. You know what that means? And there's a voice saying that she wishes someone was never born again. Who could that be? Then we see Chief Say on a plane with the guy who, like, sold her. He's the one who approached her and was like, why don't you sell yourself since. You don't want to be here anyway. And she asks him what might happen to her. And he says she'll be okay because she's special. So she's in bed in the cottage. Silver brings her some clothes and takes her down to elias. He asks her how she slept. Chief asks who the mate is. He says she's more like a landlady who takes care of the house. He's like, I just got to let her do whatever. And then he was writing a note. He turns it into a bird and sends it off. Magic. And she thinks about why she's here, both as an apprentice and a bride. He invites her to sit down and eat and says that she's been asleep for two days. And she's like, hello, plummet. And she's like, well, he wants to take good care of me. So, like, how bad can he be? And then he asks that they should prepare for their honeymoon. And I think he just doesn't know what a honeymoon is. Again, establishing his just complete naivety when it comes to humans. And then she's made of honey, of course. She's like, okay, he's nice, but he's weird. And then we see her getting off a train and the two of them are in London. And it's very interesting. This takes place in, like, modern day based on the cityscape.

They're really hammering home that this is the English. Like, the breakfast they eat was literally just a full English breakfast.

Full English breakfast.

I wrote full English in my notes and all caps because I was hungry.

Delicious cartoon food. Check. Silver puts in the work. She's hustling.

She doesn't say much, but, God, she can cook.

I made a note of it later because we get a little bit more of it later. Yeah. Silver doesn't talk ever. But she has a very strong personality. Despite not never, like, talking, she's very, like, emotive. And I really enjoy that aspect.

So they're walking through London. elias explains that he wants to introduce Chief to a friend. And again, she's thinking about how hard it is to tell what he's feeling with his bone face. But then she looks up and he's done some magic. And he's a human looking he's very handsome and I love him.

He's turned into a blonde twunk.

Yeah.

And he like, puts her hands on his face and he's like, how do you like it? Is it believable? And she's like, well, you look fake. And he's like, what? How dare you do it?

I also love the chibi forms when you respond to he's like, tiny and rounder.

Oh, yeah. When his horse head is like, cheebified.

It's very cheap.

It's friend shaped.

Yes, immensely. And then they go into a store with a bunch of books. And she's like, it seems kind of empty. And he's like, this is just a front. Don't worry about it.

It's a drug dealer. What?

And we hear him go toward the back he's talking with a woman, and he introduces Chief Say to her, and she's surprised that elias has an apprentice. She sits cheese down, gives her a drink, asks elias how he got her. And he's like, I went through all the proper channels when I bought her. And she's like, what the fuck is wrong with you? What do you mean you bought her?

I like, that. He says the money he paid for her was clean, implying that elias knows what dirty money is and it is partial to crime.

He knows what dirty money is, but he doesn't know what a honeymoon is.

No, not at all.

He has his priorities straight.

Absolutely.

I love that this shopkeep is the very first individual who is properly concerned for cheese a situation. I was like I hoped that she I'm showing my hand here as an unabashed lesbian. I was like, I hope she's hot. And then she was hot and kind. I was like, we're giving the people what they want, thank God.

Kind to chisay, but a little mean to elias. And that's what he means. So she asks Chase if he's tried anything funny. And she's like, well, he forced me into a bath and proposed to me. Is that weird? And I'm like, good for you. I'm glad that she wasn't just like, no.

When she asked, she say that elias was, like, right behind her. You got to be quicker to deny that.

This is the part where you say, I haven't done anything wrong. And she's like, whoa. And then the woman hits him and kicks him out. And then we see a bunch of cute little creatures like fade in, and they're crawling around. And there's one that's like a little salmander. I love him. He's like an axolotl. Like newt sal. I can't even fucking son I love this boy.

This is one of the best boys that have ever existed or graced my eyesight. I love this little lad so fucking much.

And then this woman finally like finally I meant formally. She formally introduces herself to chisa. Her name is Angelica, and she is also a mage. And she's an artifice of maggots crafts and chise. Like, what is that? And she explains that there are tools that are powered using magic. And then she's also a mother. I kind of love it.

Oh, my God. Look alert. I'm sorry. With all due respect, I lost my mind. Okay, keep going. Keep going.

But her daughter comes into the room and shows Angelica a little crystal that's shaped like a flower. And she's like, Listen, I got to do this right now. We'll train later. And her daughter's like and runs away. And Angelica says, yeah, my daughter has mage talent, but I'd prefer if later in her life she got a more practical job. And it's time to explain magic a little bit. So she talks about how there's alchemy and magic and they both manipulate reality but Mages twist reality to their whim, and it's difficult to control. So Chase has to be careful. And she oh, I hated this. She shows her that she has angelica has, like, crystal embedded into her skin I love that. No thank you. From doing something that was beyond her magical skill level. So she's like, if you do something wrong, like, shit like this can happen. Isn't that gross?

Check the shit out.

I have the opposite reaction. I wrote she had a sick ass crystal arm, but she made it sound like a bad thing, but never elaborated why it's bad.

Yeah. She says it was like an accident gone wrong. So not intended to have just crystals embedded into your forearm forever, but, you.

Know, yeah, it was the result of something gone wrong.

I also love when she's explaining all this. Chicago picks up the salamander boy and puts him in his lap. And he's just sitting there like a little kid, or like a really fat cat. He's just flopped over him. I love this guy.

I want to pet him.

He's so good.

Absolutely brilliant on this show's part to be like, hey, can we just have a bunch of fun little guys that only the main character can see sometimes? So it won't interrupt the narrative flow. But you got something cute to look at.

Yeah.

Sometimes they're just hanging out.

If you're bored with a plot, here's some jingly keys to look at.

And you're like, oh, I did put right now, my next note was chise hanging out with a little lizard guy. It's very cute. So now they're going to see if she can do magic. So Angelica calls on hugo, who is a little like, water spirit, and he shows up and he's like, Hello, I'm her familiar. And Angelica gives chise a crystal to start practicing. And she says, you have to will it to change shape. So you have to have the will strong enough, and you have to picture it in your mind that it's happening. So Chief Say closes her eyes and the crystal starts glowing and growing. And then we see in her mind she's remembering a field of flowers with her mom, poppies. And elias snaps her out of the memory. He's like, holding her face and he's like, hey, this is my apprentice. Don't be teaching. I know I haven't taught her anything yet, but why? Who said you could? And so we see the crystal grew a little out of control. It's all over the floor, and some of it is shaped like poppies. So Angelica tells elias to tell her what she is. And at this point, I thought he said she was a slave. And I was like, what does that have to do with anything? But I realized now he probably said slay, slay queen. So yes.

David elias. Got yassified before.

Oh my gosh.

And he tells who does he tell? Whatever. It's probably not important. He tells someone not to look worried. I don't know, it doesn't matter. And then she apologizes for making a mess. Angelica says it's fine. It's elias's fault. And Angelica says, there is a hammer and a broom. Go grab it. And she says, elias, I'm charging you extra for this. And she gives Chief Say a few magical equipment items. We see a quick clip of her watching Angelica make something with hugo. And there's like, water droplets in the air. And she's like, taking thread from the water droplets. It's cool. And then she takes her stuff and they head off. They take the train back to the countryside. They're walking back to the house. He asks her if she likes poppies. She says she's not sure if she likes them or if she just had that memory. He asks where her parents are, if they're dead or if they left her. And she's like, wow, you really are just like, cutting to the chase. And he's like, Well, I mean, that's your past. What matters right now is that you're here with me, and that doesn't change anything. So she says, I don't know about my dad. I don't know if he's alive or dead, but my mom is dead and she died in front of me long time ago. Smile. And it's like casual.

Bring in the dancing lobsters, we have ourselves a dead parent.

Check it out.

Oh, no, sorry. No, that's okay. That's great. We should say that more often.

You weren't expecting an Amanda Show reference in 24 years?

Brendan and I are friends for a reason. Although I reference things that are a good 20 years or later than what he references, but still not really relevant.

That's okay. At least we'll get them.

I'm the ancient magus in our relationship. I am dust.

So they get back to the cottage and there's a man waiting outside. He complains that he's been stuck outside because Silver does not let him in. vampire.

Stop. Don't let him in. All the signs are there.

Silver knows the rules.

Yeah. And he introduces himself to Chase. His name's Simon, and he's here for a favor. And elias explains that he's a local priest and that she doesn't need to be nervous around him because he's a coward. So it's clear that Simon and elias do not like each other.

Sorry, I think that it was I wrote down. I, first of all, did not get this guy's name. Simon. Got it. Second of all I wrote down is this dude Protatholic, because he's described by elias as both a pastor and a priest.

He reads from both or whatever. He's unfaithful to faith.

I mean, he's also chilling with like I can only assume would be considered an affront to God according to the Catholic Church. So he's not super strict.

Yeah, I got the catholics and the protestants and the pagans, so it's all fine.

All my bases are covered. The little lizard has followed her back. So that's nice. And Simon is like, you can come visit me at the church if you ever get tired of this guy. And then elias is like, Catch to the point, ma'am. And he puts out three envelopes and says the church can't deal with whatever these things are. And elias is like three things. And he says it's payback for elias's behavior being that he got an apprentice and didn't tell anyone. And at this point, I'm like, even though he's not connected to the church, the church cares for some reason about what this guy does. This skull, man.

Yeah, it's kind of like they let him operate as he is as long as he keeps to himself. But now they spring in a human intuit. It's like, well, now you're kind of certain shit up here, buddy.

Got it.

I also loving the scene that while they're talking in, like, the sitting room, silver comes in and gives chisek a sandwich and then just wraps her arms around cheese.

Yeah, she just simon like, tilts her away from him, even.

Yeah, she's just like, fuck that guy. Here's a sandwich hunting. You look hungry. Thank you, mom.

So Chief Say asks if she's causing trouble by being there, and Simon says, no, it's just something that they have to work out. Before he leaves, elias gives him some medicine. He says it's the best medicine because mage medicine is both effective and gentle. And Chase is surprised that he respects it. Like, as a man of the cloth.

As a man of elias.

He has a scarf. elias says that mages are an important part of life there. And he says since they'll be traveling, they can fit their honeymoon in. And it was at this point I was like, I don't think this man knows what a honeymoon is. And then they're in iceland. It's beautiful. Thought of bang, they're there.

Honeymoon already. Wow.

Can't believe it.

Be nice to the birthday boy.

I forgot. That was so funny, Brendan.

That's worse.

You don't like that?

No. Go back to the other one.

Okay. So elias says he was asked to check in on the dragons. And she says, like, dragons? And then one grabs her and there's a pretty boy writing it. And he says he's going to take her to the last home of the dragons. And that's episode two.

It should have ended on that. Like we'll be right back, Eric. Andre, bite.

The phrase frame.

I was just thinking, like, jojo's roundabouts of the dragon are picking her up.

Just like to be continued.

What's a dragon?

Now you got nothing to worry about.

I will say, after episode one and two, I was a little on the fence about the series because I know brendan's like, oh, no, everyone's going to hate it just because I put my stank on it. Well, I turned no, I know you.

And dugan are going to hate it. This was mostly for D.

I turned around, but at first I was a little put off by the constant repetition of, like, how special she say is, and now she's a sleigh beggy without ever really telling us why it's called sleigh baggy. Which I'm sure gets addressed later. But no, wait, what?

It's just old English Irish terms. It's a lot of names for a lot of things.

Okay, yeah, I was just thrown off by the repetition of your special she's special. She's special because we see that so often. So I think my like attuned anime brain was like, I've seen this before, I do not like it. Next. But episode three got me, I'll admit it.

Yes, this is a sweet r1 quick, I'll say, with episode two, I really enjoyed both Angelica and Simon both telling Cheese say like, no, this isn't your fault. Stop worrying about it.

Like, stop, this man is incompetent. Don't blame yourself.

Both times. She's like, oh, I'm sorry. They're like, stop apologizing, it's not your fault. And it's a huge reoccurring theme. You see what she say where it's just like, you're a child, relax. And I very much enjoyed it because we get so much like, shown in being like, I'm twelve and I'm going to save the world and it's like, Christ, kid.

Oh, that makes me think of mob psycho 100. Damn. Stop. endearing this series.

To me, the show can be good if you're just not jaded and pushing it off after two episodes.

Yeah, dude.

Oh my God. Yeah, it is very nice that like the dynamic we're introduced with is like, oh, yes, I am the master of this domain. I am a master magician and all that, but every other character is like, this fucking dip shit. Don't listen to him, he's so incompetent.

Calls him like, a shithead. And he's like, what? Don't call me a shithead on my magnet. He's like, stop acting like a shithead. I'll stop calling you a shit head. Like, it's very sibling like bickering.

Yeah, the number of times I wrote get his ass in the episode two notes. Very good.

So we start out episode three. Tuesday has just been picked up by the dragon and flying into some deep canyons in iceland. And yeah, we get a weird little flashback like immediately before essentially what just happened in the last episode of like, yes, as humans are growing up in the world and dragons are dying out, they're all hiding out in iceland because it's remote. Yeah, that's where dragons are. You've heard of iceland, right? Yeah, you get it.

An iceland truth, sir.

So this thief kidney snapper welcomes her to the last land of the dragons. And it's definitely not the land before time. Not at all.

This had absolute land before time vibes and I could not explain it absolutely.

I, at this point was like, yes, this is land before time, because it's just an untouched beautiful paradise with large dinosaur like creatures, but then we see like, character designs later on in the episode and it's like, yeah, no, you're just ready for a Japanese Land Before Time reboot.

I mean, land before time is the Great valley. This is a pretty great valley, but.

I think we'd be remiss to mention the dragon guy that has scooped her up. I don't know his name yet, so I think I've just been calling him Dragon Twink.

That's good enough. Yeah, absolutely, I know his name, but it's gone now.

Yes. His name is Twink. Yes.

I will not introduce his actual name because we found a better one. So they land and twink's dragon just tosses her into a pond and you're like, Fun gag. And then she just keeps sinking and she's like, I feel so heavy, what is happening? And then eventually she surfaces, but just long enough to be like, she's dead. Yeah, she's dead.

Okay.

So she surfaces, gets a big deep breath, and is immediately in the face of a giant old dragon. And this dragon sniffs her out and is like, yes, a major deep dragon voice. And we are introduced that this is an elder dragon named nevin, who is essentially the parent dragon god of the forest and is like destined to perpetuate forests, as we'll see in a minute, while she is I got a little lost my notes, sorry. She is like, oh, big dragon friend. Okay. And Twink boy comes over and is like, well, elias, I see you made it. And chise looks down at her shadow and elias just forms from it, dope, but creepy. And he's like, oh, what did this fucking buffoon do to you? You're drenched, let me warm you up. And does some quick fire magic to warm her up and dry her up. So we're introduced to Twinkboy again, omitting his name, because Twink is better and Twinkboy is the dragon caretaker. He is protecting the dragons, keeping humans away because they're dying out. They need some extra protection. And he is also a mage. They keep saying like, yeah, mages are dying out anyways. Every character we're meeting is also a mage.

Yeah, there's like a second part of the series much later. It's not animated yet in the manga, but yeah, that's where you see a lot more wizards. And everyone, they contact us like, oh, you're a mage? Oh, that's weird. But yeah, there's like first half like, yeah, you meet like five or seven mages, like, right away.

Yeah. So after he's introduced, a bunch of young dragons come up and are like, let's play. I'm definitely not knock off land before time. Characters. Straight down. I forget the big quiet one that just eats that spike. Spike. Thank you. Yes.

There is a drag voice by Ralph paulson for song.

There is one dragon that is just straight up spike. It's pretty blatant. And elias and Twink are like, yes, let's go talk business. Can you watch the kids for a second.

She's a.

Sorry you broke up for a second there. I'm going to interject something that is basically pain to Brendan. Happy birthday.

You keep saying these things.

Everything with me goes back to Yokotado because I'm sick and twisted. And immediately I actually did not connect us to Land before time at all. I actually have never seen land before time. But as soon as we saw the baby dragons this is such a niche cut that nobody listening to this is going to know, probably, but all of the baby dragons have the same energy as the baby dragon from Dragon Guard Three. And he's like huge. And his name is mikhail, but he talks with the exact same voices that these baby dragons have. And that was like all I could think. And I messaged Brendan and was like, this is like dragon guard three. And he got so mad.

I didn't get mad. It's just like everything's like dragon card 3d.

Yeah. So dragon Guard. The Dragon Guard. Three. There are three of them. This is their new collective name.

You got the tank, you got the sprinter, you got the flyer. Yes.

So the flying dragon is like, oh, let's play. I know. Let's go up on top of that very tall cliff and jump off and practice gliding. Humans can fly, right? Sorry. Well, we can do literally anything else. We get a quick little montage where they're running around chasing each other, just playing, being real cute and adorable. So the kids are all tuckered out after this playing, and Cheese starts going over to the old dragon, nevin, and he's sleeping. And she goes up and just starts inspecting him because he doesn't seem well off. But nevin wakes and is like, oh, yes, I can tell you're checking me out, but not in that way. Sorry. I framed Go weird guilt well for some good deals. So he's like, yeah, well, I'm not long for this world. It's about that time I turn into a tree or whatever.

Of course, tree time, it all day comes for all of us.

Yeah, the tree inning. Are you ready for your tree inning, dude?

That's what eldon rings about, right?

Yeah, I haven't finished it. Yeah, if you go to the base of the big tree, it's a big glowing dragon.

Right?

Well, anyway, so essentially they're setting up like, yeah, dragons there. They return to the Earth. That's part of their life cycle. As she looks around and sees, a lot of the features in this valley are just vaguely dragon shaped. And it's like, oh, this place is mostly dragon corpses. Okay, cool. Good to know. But we get some dragon lore where they're like, yeah, dragons don't fear death because they live their life to the fullest. So automatically, dragons don't die with regrets. If they did, they are very shitty dragons who didn't actually live as a dragon. That's dope as hell. You have no problems. You got to embrace your dragon privilege. He can tell that she's upset and she asks, Are you in any pain? He's like, oh, you are so kind. I literally told you this is chill as hell. But you're still worried about me. How sweet. But there's no need to grieve. And we see her start to break down and starts crying and gets a flashback. And we see her go back into her memories of being in school, but feeling so alone and just a very sad, traumatic childhood. Then we see her in the obligatory I don't know if we want to count it here, but being on the roof of the school, that sort of trope is there, but very nicely handled, I will say. Going into this next section, where as she's going down this memory lane, he is like, I can see what you're going through. Sorry, it's a little rude that I am looking in your memories. That's a human social more that I didn't quite pick up on. But yeah, it's good that you didn't. I know you shouldn't envy the dead. We know humans can't fly, so it's for the best that you didn't try just very nicely and in not blatant terms, talking about what they're talking about, which is extremely refreshing for a dove and for an anime.

Yeah.

But he's like, I understand this is painful and difficult for you. I looked into your memories. It's only fair. I will give you my memories of Flight. And allows her to view his memories and just goes on like a beautiful, soaring dream where she has his perspective and just gets to fly and experience the joy that dragons feel having flight.

Nevin'S got me fucked up.

Fucking old man Evans. The realist og. Fucking what a guy. Yeah.

So lindell and elias return. And who's lindell? Sorry, Twink.

Twink. Fuck. Oh, no, sorry, I didn't hear panic there.

It was just static. That was so weird. How did you do that with your mouth?

Edit point.

So Twink and elias return and they witness this sharing of his final memory. And they discuss dragons dying and humans growing. Sort of just reiterating, yeah, this is turning into the human's world. So magical creatures are sort of falling out and needing to hide away and die out. And similarly, this is likely the last generation of Mages with cheese may cheese. A not cheese may cheese may. They're like, oh, yes, my last memory, my last moments on this Earth. I'm so glad I got to fly again. Thank you for that. And they warned about the responsibility of teaching and protecting chise as elias's apprentice. So nevin tells her that she must soar in order to live. And she wakes up and sees a big old tree growing from his back. And he's like, thank you for giving me one last flight, Twink.

Oh, no, it descends.

I can't this very beautiful moment say the Twink put a seed in my back.

You did it, abby.

Oh, no, I didn't think about that. whoops.

See, I tried to correct it by saying his actual name, and everyone shouted me down.

Hasn't even occurred to me.

Sometimes a twink sharing his seat can be a beautiful accident of itself.

Oh, my God. It's a cycle of life.

Oh, no. And I just realized the next sentence I have to say, too. Okay.

Yeah.

So the twink put a seed in the old man's back, and the old man says, eventually you'll need a staff. I need you to come and get my staff.

Did they say staff in the English dub?

Yeah, they say wand and then wand staff interchangeably.

But either way, yeah, because wand is.

At least less bad sounding than staff. But maybe it's not. Maybe that's grasping at straws.

That's also not great either.

So sorry. So much of this last couple of minutes has not in the show. It's a real, truly a beautiful moment of a beautiful character's death. And we're like, hey, boners. anyways, so what he's actually saying is, yes, this tree is a sign that the forest will live on. One day you're going to be a mage. You'll need a wand staff for your magic. I would be honored if you returned here. You gave me a gift of a flying memory being my laugh. I want to give you a gift of building your wand from my tree.

And screaming, crying, growing up, rolling on.

The floor, pissing shitting in the clothes.

It was it's hard to get me going, but I was, like, a little misty eyed. I was a little misty eyed.

Yeah, because especially immediately after elias is like, it is super rare for a dragon to share a memory like that. And he comforts her and says that this is nature. This is all what happens. And she gets dizzy and passes out and she says, I want the peace that I felt when he got Death. And then the episode ends.

Yes, the peace she felt.

The peace she's like, I know he said not to, but it's kind of hard not to envy the piece he was at because it's something she's never had. Are we there yet? Within those three episodes? Remember, it's my birthday. Hold it against you personally.

Yeah. Just as revenge for the last couple of years. I'll say no. I heard you talk about how good it is. I heard you talk about yes. Very peaceful vibes, very loving father, husband figure.

Sure.

Okay, big question. There still has to be a Brendan caveat, so at least all right. Yeah.

But yeah, this thought my caviar was a little guy.

Yeah, this is beautiful. Very reminiscent of other, let's say, British fantasy series we don't need to name, but yeah, hitting all the immaculate vibes I look for in anime. This is delightful.

Yes. This is my cottage corps monsterfucker fantasy.

Right.

And I really. Enjoyed it, loved it very much. We'll definitely be continuing on. I did. Message. Brendan. This is very hades persephone. Very Beauty and the Beast. And granted, hades has had, like, a soft boyification in the last, like, five years, which is I have lots of sociological thoughts about that I won't get.

Into he deserves a win every now.

And then, but I really, really like this. It is the only she's fucking 15, and they literally didn't have to say that. Like, it's in, like a throwaway sentence, like, happening in the background while she's thinking about something else. And it's like you literally just never had to say her age and it would have been fine. So I hate that. But I also really enjoy everything else about it.

Yeah. My caveat with that will be is the bride aspect really does not come up in this show a lot. It's really, I think, more of a misunderstanding from eliza standpoint, of being like, two people that want to spend time together for the rest of our lives together are husband and wife. So I need a wife sort of thing. I think it's more of a misunderstanding of human relationships because they really don't spotlight it too much throughout even the rest of the series or even the manga. So it's not that bad. It's still not great. I'll acknowledge that part, but it's not like he's planning what they'll do with their kids and they'll name their kids and no, it really feels like he just crucially does not understand how humans work. And this is a part, so it's not too bad. It's also in the title.

Yeah, it feels bad on the audience's perspective, but just absolutely zero horny energy coming from this man. Especially for being, like, an anime character that is so refreshing, especially being the owner of a child bride is like, okay, how can you do this? Well, you've managed to do it well. Okay.

Wow.

Very surprised.

Yeah.

There's like a single moment of what I would even consider fan service throughout this whole series. And it's a side character that is weird to say, kind of has plot relevant fan service. It's a magical creature. It's a magical creature that seduces people. That's part of their lore, but even that is played very sweetly and very, like, melancholyesque and very well done. But that's like, maybe there's two moments of that, especially for anime. It's like, oh, it's just not horny for once. Great.

Yeah. And another aspect of the show that I really like is the narrative is so simple and character focused that it kind of has the feeling of, like, a young adult fiction sort of narrative where it's like, this episode, we're going to go talk to one person. We're going to have a conversation with an elder nature god that's going to impose on you wisdom and courage and all that stuff. It's like, yes, this is a chapter of a young adult fantasy. We don't need anime fights. We're not jumping from a million locations per episode.

It's just five gentle, a focused narrative, I think. Yeah. And I definitely can't get on brendan's case too much about the whole bride aspect of this, because I literally invoked the name of Draching. Guard earlier, so I'm not about to throw a stone here. No, I thought it was great. I was very delighted, especially because the tree that nevin turns into is, like, a real tree. And I got really nerdy about, like, oh, I recognize zack because I'm into gardening, so they were like weird little rabbit holes for me to go down.

Like a specific flower.

Also, I wanted to mention because the only other show we've watched in recent memory that discusses suicide is noragami. Is that what it was called? And that was terrible. Really did not like how they handled it in that one. So this one was, like, so refreshing. And I was like, oh, my God, this is so good. So glad that there's a better discussion of something like that in anime somewhere else.

Yeah.

It astounds me that so many pieces of media don't realize, hey, you can have nuance. You don't need to explicitly say, hey, we're talking about blank now. And you can just literally I'm kind of speechless because I'm like, I had no hope that you could handle something like that well. And you said two sentences in the dub. You translated it well, and it was perfect. And it's like, okay, yeah, this is kind of a standard storytelling standard you should hold.

Yes. I mean, it's clear that she says in distress, like, from the moment we first see her, and I think because elias is not familiar with humans and their emotions and what is, like, quote unquote, normal. I hate using that word for it, but the baseline of a mentally healthy person, he is not familiar with. So I think it was great to have that moment with nevin when he is recognizing her pain and addressing it.

Yeah, sometimes you got to go out and do an acid trip with an old grandpa dragon and it's the best thing you could do for your mental health.

He'll tell you some kind words and you'll cry.

Yeah, we all do it. Yeah. With this abby message, me being like, chise needs therapy. I'm like, oh, that's the whole show. That's the entire story. Yeah, there's a lot of baggage to unpack. They hint at a good amount of it early on. And, yeah, it's weird for me being the one who loves digibon and fucking Satchbell and dump shit. They handle it very respectfully and tastefully and tactfully. And I won't lie when I say this probably hit me at the right frame of mind and the right point in my life. But it would not be under exaggeration to say this series fundamentally helped me mature emotionally and helped my well being. Reading it after what I think I watched the ovn and I read the manga and then I watched the series, but reading it, I felt like an adrenaline rush, but of serotonin. It just was like pure peace coursing through my body reading it because everything is done so well. And I know it might not be the best series of all time, but I know it checks off nearly every one of the boxes of my favorite things, whether it's the monster fucking, the weird, the tactfully handled trauma, the old English don't trust, the faye bullshit, the spells that are a paragraph long of just adjectives. There's so much of it that just checks off so many points in my brain of like, this is my shit. And it's why it's easily one of my favorite, if not one of my favorite series. And that's why I kept hammering it home to people like, I know I haven't earned your trust. I know I betrayed it countless times, but it is actually good.

That was so vulnerable of you, and I loved it. Brendan.

Yes.

Thank you for sharing another beautiful sentiment that was ruined by monsterfuckery.

I will also say real quick, this show might not be horny, but I'll bring the horny because I would smash a lie. I get it easily.

And jelka went on that simplest real fast for me.

Yes.

Oh, my God.

She's a mother, she's a father.

I'll also say, I know abby didn't watch it, but for the dub, we talked about it a bit before we started recording. I think the voices they got for elias both in the original Japanese and the English dub, good. Very spot on. Very similar.

Very.

But what she said, I believe she's voiced by Danny Chambers, who I think does an impeccable job, as she say, because there's a hint of naivete within her voice in the dub, but also kind of this moral hollowness where she kind of just seems like it sounds like she's kind of drifting through life unaffected and detached from everything. And I feel like that carries over even just within the voice. And I think that is a spot on characteristic for chisi. And it does done very well.

Yeah, we talked before about how those kinds of characters in anime never translate well into English because it's just not a voice type that a lot of English voice actors can do. But she does a very good job. She says, a little more emotional than the character type we were talking about, but at the root she's pretty much that.

Yeah, I think it was very well done. So I enjoy it. It's got two ovas. One that's kind of a prequel, one that's kind of a sequel that's still ongoing and it's getting a second season of the anime, but for quite a while because this is 24 episodes of a season of the first season and it caught up to the mango pretty quick, so it's got time to flesh itself out. But, yeah, it's one of my favorites for a reason, and I'm glad you all didn't shit on it. relentlessly Brandon.

Yay, Brandon.

Birthday boy.

Birthday boy. Although we did ruin that one moment with a twink bit. But everything else is great.

Yeah, we emphasized how great it was, so it's okay.

Yeah. I am truly stunned that we made it to the end of a birthday episode and no one is in pain, anguishing, throwing up, crying. Well, what do we have going on next week?

Next week we're getting gay. I decided to get gay. We're watching sasaki and miyano.

Wait, is this newer one?

Yes.

I think I might have seen it. Okay. It looked kind of gay, so I'm glad it is gay. Okay.

If you have a gay anime to recommend, please hey, we burned through many. Please give them to us. You can send those gay recommendations to ourweed there yet@gmail.com, or you can reach out to us on Twitter or Instagram at Areweed There Yet? On both. abby, where can people find you online?

Well, you can find me hiding in a cave in real life, but online, you can also find me kind of maybe tweeting once a month at chiquita tonta on Twitter.

You can find me on Instagram and TikTok at honeyd or on Twitter at honey. D eight and honey d art. And Honey is spelled H-U-N-N-I-E. You can.

Find me somewhere at the one tree that is in Los Angeles reminiscing about old man nevin and just contemplating life, because that's where I'll be for the next two months.

That motherfucker got me his path to the priesthood. pastorhood he's going to be a dual priest as well. A dual wielding priest. Thank you to camille ruley for her artwork, and thank you to Louisong for theme 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.

Now everyone knows I'm a monster. fucker. Also own daddy we knew.