Key Frames

Episode 134 of Key Frames, a podcast about anime. It's our first non-tween episode without Ben! Time to shame him by knocking out the end of the winter and the beginning of the spring anime seasons in a single go. Hear Jeff briefly FranXX it up about Metallic Rouge, while Duncan insists it's just the first anime written by AI! Wonder at Andy calling Train to the End of the World cringe but not Gushing over Magical Girls! Nod along with Duncan's plea that shows like Weakest Tamer play their fantasy settings straight rather than always through the lens of isekai! It really is a madhouse (and not the Japanese animation studio founded in 1972 by ex–Mushi Pro staff) without a certain someone there, huh? The post 134 – We Have Kamen Rider at Home first appeared on Key Frames.

Episode 133 of Key Frames, a podcast about anime. Well, it finally came to pass: to mark the occasion of the wider release of The Boy and the Heron, our intrepid show is doing a retrospective on Studio Ghibli. Sometimes it can feel like there's not really anything new to be said about such well-loved movies, the only anime productions ever to reach such heights as the Academy Awards, but Ben, Andy, and Duncan sure try! Going through the entire forty five-year history of the studio, which includes some of Miyazaki's pre-Ghibli work, while focusing on personal faves like My Neighbor Totoro, Porco Rosso, and The Tale of Princess Kaguya make for quite an adventurous episode. Listen to see if the hosts end up finding a new strength within themselves, returning to the simpler times of yore, becoming closer to nature, or whatever else happens to protagonists of Studio Ghibli films! The post 133 - Miyazaki's Blackstar first appeared on Key Frames.

Episode 132 of Key Frames, a podcast about anime. Why a beginning-of-the-season episode when we're most of the way towards the end of said season? Well, there's so much anime to watch these days that our schedule got away from us. Besides, time feels kind of awash right now, with hit fantasy manga adaptation Dungeon Meshi coming out while hit fantasy manga adaptation Sousou no Frieren is still in play, not to mention Urusei Yatsura, The Dangers in My Heart, and Burn the Witch all getting new installments. Ben, Andy, Duncan, and Jeff are doing their level best to navigate these crowded waters, and they'll be carrying you along with them as they talk about everything from isekai to romance anime! The post 132 - I Have Killed the Part that Cringes first appeared on Key Frames.

Episode 131 of Key Frames, a podcast about anime. The flickering red light turns a steady yellow, and you reel at your good fortune. The time borehole is actually stable. And they said it couldn't be done! You swiftly dial an uplink into the first satellite that returns your ping and start leeching torrents. Torrents! They weren't as popular in 2024 as they were a decade or so previous, but the temporal range of your borehole is limited, and any year before the fall represents an untold trove of data. The file names flash before your eyes like magic runes set alight: [Darwin-Arwen]_The_Apothecary_Diaries_15_[03EC69E7].mkv, [SubsDontSuck]_Migi_to_Dali_-_09_[F0DA18DD].mkv, [xX.weed.alien.Xx]16bit.Sensation.Another.Layer.02[61B6CFAD].mp4... The last one seems familiar for whatever reason, but no matter. Even if the connection only holds an hour, you're guaranteed the largest anime collection of anyone still alive in the tents! Though the last several years have been hell, absolute hell, you can feel yourself sta

Episode 130 of Key Frames, a podcast about anime. As we gaze back at the receding wreckage of 2023, probably in our tank powered by a cat ghost or something so we don't have to worry about explaining where we get fuel, we're faced with many questions. How many rules have we broken? How many people have we wronged? How many grudges have we held, how many have we caused others to hold? As Ben, Andy, Duncan, and Jeff try to let it go and face 2024 with a pure heart, listen to what they thought were the top shows out of what they watched this year. The post 130 - Bocchi the Cave first appeared on Key Frames.

Episode 129 of Key Frames, a podcast about anime. The works of Osamu Tezuka are often concerned with the human spirit in conditions of extremity, with what remains of a person when malevolent forces or just the vagaries of circumstance have stripped everything else away. Phoenix: Eden17 and Pluto, the anime discussed by Ben, Andy, Duncan, and Jeff in this episode of the podcast, even go so far as to feature synthetic and alien life forms among their casts, as a means of further interrogating the good and bad of what makes each of us human. Anyway, apropos of nothing at all regarding extremity, try to guess which of the hosts was coming doing with a bruiser of a migraine in the short span of recording! The post 129 - Tezuka-Pilled first appeared on Key Frames.

Episode 128 of Key Frames, a podcast about anime. "Now they've really jumped the shark," you're thinking to yourself. "I could stand them talking about manga, since you can kind of flip through the pages quickly and pretend that it's animated, but live-action TV and movies?" Well, I'm here to tell you that every podcast runs out of ideas, so we need to start laying the groundwork for the hosts to be able to complain about Ahsoka and Doom Patrol. Kidding! But also Ben, Andy, Duncan, and Jeff discover that they've watched more live-action adaptations than they might have thought, when this topic was first pitched, and that they have some hot takes on them, too! The post 128 - The 100 Girlfriends Who Really, Really, Really, Really, Really Love to Twerk first appeared on Key Frames.

Episode 127 of Key Frames, a podcast about anime. I'm sure everyone's experienced it: some of your friends happen to throw a party or something while you're out of town, and when you get back you realize that they seem to have had so much fun without you that you can't help but... I don't know, question yourself? "Am I the problem?" you wonder. "Is my constant fixation on production pedigree and overintellectualized themes dragging down the conversation, rather than elevating it? Would everyone be better off without me?" Well, Ben doesn't feel that way at all, on the first mainline Key Frames episode that he's not on. Andy, Duncan, and Jeff handle the task of running down the list of anime from the summer 2023 season just fine! Except for that "cheesy chips" bit. The post 127 - The Joe Rogan of Manga first appeared on Key Frames.

Episode 126 of Key Frames, a podcast about anime. How are you really supposed to decide which to watch first, though, in a duology where there is no canonical order? I feel like it's a personality test that never gives me the result, unless the result is my enjoyment. I guess that makes a kind of sense? Anyway, tune in to hear Ben, Andy, Duncan, and Jeff take the quiz that is To Every You I've Loved Before and To Me, the One Who Loved You, plus some other shows that they've been watching lately. There are no few surprises, let me tell you. The post 126 - Hime Cut and a Sundress first appeared on Key Frames.

Episode 125 of Key Frames, a podcast about anime. Interpersonal politics are intense in the cloistered complex of the harem. Ben, the would-be intellectual, knows only disdain for the latest season of Rent-a-Girlfriend and, though Andy is his ally in that regard, there are darker paths that he walks alone. Yohane the Parhelion? Perish the thought. Meanwhile, Duncan has unearthed a piece of Fate/stay night media that he thinks will change everything, but will it win the shogun's favor or doom them all? Only someone as well-versed in the new Ooku anime as they are could say. The post 125 - Sweating and Beating Off Constantly first appeared on Key Frames.

Episode 124 of Key Frames, a podcast about anime. Sometimes, while writing the post for an episode, I have to remember to add a content warning when an anime dabbles in the medium's darker tendencies, like depictions of self-harm and sexual assault. This time, I get to do it for two different things in two different shows! Oh boy. Still, you should tune in to hear Ben, Andy, and Duncan talk about Oshi no Ko and Tengoku Daimakyo, along with the rest of the highlights of the spring anime season, because there was some good stuff there. Ben even liked more than one show! No, not either of the aforementioned ones. The post 124 - Child Idol, Child Soldier first appeared on Key Frames.

Episode 32 of Key Frames: Inbetweens, a mini-podcast about anime. It's time to rock out with Masaaki Yuasa's latest movie, Inu-Oh! Not to spoil, but everyone loves it. What all do they like? Is it the real-life talent behind this medieval Japanese rock opera? Is it the wonderful celebration of difference? Is it the opportunity to bring up Heike Monogatari as much as humanly possible? Listen and you're certain to find out. The post Inbetween 32 - Ballet on the Water (Inu-Oh) first appeared on Key Frames.

Episode 123 of Key Frames, a podcast about anime. What follows is a list of podcast HR violations in this episode, as reported by a certain B. Halliburton: Andy talked about the new iDOLM@STER show for over ten minutes; Duncan brought up Trigun Stampede unprompted, for the purpose of causing emotional distress; Andy refused to concede that the new KonoSuba spinoff is unfunny; Andy willfully misinterpreted the boomers in Bubblegum Crisis to be senior citizens; Duncan and Andy scoffed at the spring 2023 anime season being described as "slow"; and Duncan needlessly sexualized the casts of Tsurune, Yuri on Ice, and Free. Disciplinary action is forthcoming. We at Key Frames appreciate your patience and understanding during this difficult time. The post 123 - Married to Mamiko Noto first appeared on Key Frames.

Episode 122 of Key Frames, a podcast about anime. Yes, Ben got way too mad about Trigun Stampede, but he also has such nice things to say about the second seasons of Tsurune and Vinland Saga. Yes, Duncan's watched some skeevy shows, but he's dropped most of them and is willing to hold Andy to account (or maybe vice versa) on Onimai, at least? Yes, it was a lean season, leaner than most, but there's still a lot of stuff to talk about. It's not like we get paid, but it's still our job, so tune in! The post 122 - The Wages of Podcasting first appeared on Key Frames.

Episode 31 of Key Frames: Inbetweens, a mini-podcast about anime. It is we who plowed the prairies, built the cities where they trade / Dug the mines and built the workshops, endless miles of railroad laid / Now we stand outcast and starving midst the wonders we have made / But the union makes us strong! Come listen to Ben, Andy, and Duncan express their solidarity with a red panda and a hyena as they muse on the end of Netflix's Aggretsuko. The post Inbetween 31 - Melon Orange Cola (Aggretsuko 5th Season) first appeared on Key Frames.

Episode 121 of Key Frames, a podcast about anime. You know, someday we're going to find a way to get through the beginnings and ends of anime seasons in an efficient manner. We've tried pre-prep, agendas, a timekeeper, hand signals, a rota system, and plan ol' talking over each other. Nothing works! You get deep in the weeds talking about the wonky pacing of Urusei Yatsura remake or the dramatic stakes of Chainsaw Man and suddenly ten minutes have flown by. You let that happen a dozen times and suddenly you've got a movie-length podcast about all the crap Ben, Andy, Duncan, Jeff, and Jon watched for the fall 2022 and winter 2023 anime seasons. Oh right, Jon's back, too! See how the disorganization creeps up on you? We'll do better. We always do better. The post 121 - Imouto-fied first appeared on Key Frames.

Episode 120 of Key Frames, a podcast about anime. There's always something left over at the end of the year, isn't there? Andy has some awards to hand out, many of them to manga and live-action films. Duncan wanted one more look back on the changing face of the anime industry, and Ben has eight shows (maybe more) that he hasn't gotten to talk about yet. Jeff just needs to finish Akiba Maid War! As the uncomfortable immediacy of this episode description prompts you to reflect on your own unfinished business, why don't you put us on? You can zone out to ninety-odd minutes of freeform discussion about almost everything, with a hearty side of holiday cheer. Look forward to what 2023 holds! The post 120 - Serious Experiments Lain first appeared on Key Frames.

Episode 30 of Key Frames: Inbetweens, a mini-podcast about anime. Revue Starlight is a story of podcast hosts guided by the sureness of their opinions. They agree and disagree. They make good points even as they miss the overall picture. However, eventually the episode ends, never to be revisited again. It is a somber experience... but the story of those nine girls hopelessly captivates Ben and Duncan. Knowing all that they face, the tragedy that shall someday come, will you still choose to join them on stage? I understand. The post Inbetween 30 - Best Girlism (Revue Starlight the Movie) first appeared on Key Frames.

Episode 119 of Key Frames, a podcast about anime. A slice-of-life show about building and repairing things by yourself? Too much work. A high-budget reboot of a storied anime from the eighties? Maybe your grandpa cares. A new installment of Gundam? I ought to check out the original series first. A thrilling action-comedy about mid-century spies? I'm not bothering with it if the source manga doesn't have an ending. Chainsaw Man? Chainsaw Man. There are so many reasons out there not to watch anime, but this episode is full of Ben, Andy, Duncan, and Jeff telling you why you should... well, unless it's something Ben doesn't feel like watching, we aren't responsible for him. The post 119 - Spamily first appeared on Key Frames.

Episode 118 of Key Frames, a podcast about anime. Apologies are in order for this episode. Apologies that it's taken us four years since our episode on The Night Is Short, Walk on Girl to talk about the anime that started it all, The Tatami Galaxy. Apologies that two of the shows we discuss in our end-of-season wrap-up, Overlord IV and Call of the Night, weren't even done airing when we recorded this. Apologies for lifting this episode's title from an excellent review of Rent-a-Girlfriend 2nd Season by Nicholas Dupree. And, most of all, apologies that we recorded this while Ben thought he had ragweed allergies but was actually coming down with a bruiser of a cold. It doesn't affect the energy that much, we promise! The post 118 - The Girlfriend Terminator first appeared on Key Frames.