King Of The What Now?: Recent Episodes

Joel & Kat

This is a show all about pirates- anime pirates that is! Join two obsessive fans of the hit anime One Piece and their less knowledgeable friend as they make their way through every episode of the series.

Timestamps

1:52    Discussion Question
8:41    Succinct Summaries
15:52    Happiness Charge 10
21:24    Soaring Sky 18
1:18:53 Calls to Adventure

Discussion Question

After a long time away, we simply talk about what we've been watching lately

Happiness Charge

Megumi and Hime ponder Cure Honey's banger of a song, and Hoshiwa has her cutest outfit yet! We also find out that Cure Honey.... is Yuko?!? We never would have guessed!

Soaring Sky

Though we spent a lot of time talking about the specifics of Cure Butterfly's debut episode, we also consider all the episodes since we last recorded. How do we feel about Elle? Have our thoughts on Tsubasa changed? What do we think of Battemonda?

Well folks, we're sad to say, but this will be our last regular episode for a while. We're taking a break in an effort to recharge our batteries. Thank you for your support and we hope to see you again in the future!

Timestamps

2:03 Joel's Movie Recommendation 5:04 News & Announcements 9:07 Discussion Question 18:53 Succinct Summaries 28:47 A really quick Soaring Sky Thought 30:21 Splash Star 8 & 9 40:37 Happiness Charge 7 & 8 1:03:57 Soaring Sky 8 & 9 1:18:53 Calls to Adventure

Discussion Question

What is your favorite henshin of these 3 seasons? And, more broadly, what makes a good henshin sequence?

Splash Star

We get an episode about Minori being a terrible little goblin, leading to friction between Mai and Saki. But more importantly, it's time to Salsa, baby! Moerumba is here! And he's going to show you a good time, señoritas! Then we also get an episode with sock puppets, a lame class representative, and bread in the shape of foxes and pandas.

Happiness Charge

The girls go to a festival that celebrates the time god fell in love with a girl- Blue WHAT DID YOU DO!?!? but they receive a bad fortune! and then Oresky shows up, he's here!! He's finally here! Just when all hope is lost, Cure Fortune appears to save the day and leave an onimous message for Megumi. Then, thinking they are too weak, the girls decide to take up karate. It's not enough to beat Oresky again and this time theyre saved by a new Cure, Cure Honey?? Who is she, and why is her song so great?!? Also, we meet some international cures and we ponder if they're respectful or not.

Soaring Sky

Bird Watch, 2023- where's the bird? But more importantly, WHO is bird? Oh, his name is Tsubasa and he's also a boy who can become a bird and a bird that can become a boy! He wants to fly but can't, so instead he's decided to study aerodynamics. When Kabaton attacks, the boy who is a bird who is also a boy must go to Elle's aid, and in doing so, the boy who is a bird who once was a boy also becomes a PreCure- Cure Wing to be exact. And the day is saved! By the.... By the bird boy... boy bird? Boy band? Cure Wing saves the day!

Cure of the WHAT Now S3E7: Exploding Purple! Let's Bake a Cake!

Timestamps1:44 News/Announcements 4:11 Discussion Question 12:36 Succinct Summaries 14:58 Splash Star 6 23:19 All Stars New Stage 3: Forever Friends 37:31 Soaring Sky 6 46:18 Calls to Adventure 56:03 Looking Ahead/Crack Theories

Discussion QuestionFor this week we want to know: Since it's an anniversary season, what sort of reference or cameo do you most want to see in Soaring Sky PreCure? And if you could only have one character or team cameo, who would you pick?

Splash Star 6 Mai thinks Saki's parents are neat, and Saki (and little sister Minori) thinks Mai's parents are neat. And in the end all three of them were right. And Goya floats around like he's a helium balloon.

All Stars New Stage 3: Forever Friends An overprotective fairy mother decides to kidnap human children in order to help her child and for this reason the PreCure are called upon to go into the dream realm and save the children. We also get closure for Cure Echo, Gureru and Enen's sotry arcs (from the previous All Stars New Stage movies). We also get to see Nozomi as a teacher, Mana as prime minister, and several other characters as adults.

Soaring Sky 6In what may be the most "These girls are married" episode yet, Mashiro goes to work/school, and Sora remains at the house to take care of the baby and do the chores. But Sora realizes- with some help from Ageha and make up that gives her some tropica-shiny courage- that she wants to always be with Mashiro and Sora agrees! An then Kabaton eats an entire ice cream sundae and Sora is enrolled in school. The enrollment is unrelated to the sundae, apologies for any confusion

Timestamps 2:34 News/Announcements 4:35 Discussion Question 16:23 Succinct Summaries 19:22 Splash Star 23:16 Happiness Charge 32:12 Soaring Sky 50:49 Calls to Adventure 1:15:40 Closing Thoughts/Crack Theories

Discussion QuestionWhat Unique or relatively rare powers would our listeners give their own PreCure or like to see in upcoming seasons?

Splash Star 5 Splash Star asks the question: Who does Saki like better, her dweeby best friend or the hot older brother of her other best friend? The answer may surprise you

Happiness Charge 6 Hime is being a selfish brat, causing her and Ribbon to fight! But then Yuu Yuu comes in and teaches Hime the joy of cooking and then they best the bad guy with relaxing hula dancing and everyone makes up in the end.

Soaring Sky 5Sora is having a rough time, fearing for Mashir's safety and unwilling to open up to her girlfriend about her concerns. But then Kabaton summons an evil train, Ellee-chan gets a magic flying baby boat, and the pair unleash their new combo attack: ALIEN ABDUCTION and save the day.

Timestamps 2:17 Stuff we're reading/watching 8:29 Discussion Question 16:03 Succinct Summaries 21:43 Splash Star 4 30:26 Happiness Charge 4 & 5 47:34 Soaring Sky 4 1:01:11 Calls to Adventure 1:07:04 Looking Ahead

Discussion QuestionWe ask ourselves and our listeners what other uses could the sky crystals have?

Splash Star Mai decides to try and draw the springtime and learns about cabbage farming, while Saki attempts to outmaneuver Karehan in the woods.

Happiness Charge 4 & 5 We first get Erika's fight with social anxiety as she begins attending school, and then we get the girls doing good for goodness's sake. Also we see a ton of new outfits within these 2 episodes, and they're all great!

Soaring Sky 4 It's Mashiro's time to shine as she steps up after Sora falls victim to a super obvious trap. We also meet Mashiro's childhood friend, Ageha who is a delight and threatens to beat up the bad guys with a metal bat. So you know who our favorite is this season.

Timestamps

3:56 News/Announcements 5:02 Link to new channel 8:21 Link to Bloopers, Extras video 10:12 Discussion Question: Future Soaring Sky Generals? 18:54 Succinct Summaries 26:55 Splash Star 3 36:23 Happiness Charge 2 44:21 Soaring Sky 3 57:48 Calls to Adventure 1:10:55 Looking Ahead

Discussion Question

We speculate about upcoming generals in Soaring Sky- will they all be animals? Will they all summon robots?

Splash Star

In Splash Star we get to watch a game of softball, and Mai's drawing skills help teach them an important lesson about how to win a game of softball.

Happiness Charge

God hooks the girls up with magic phones, Megumi tries not to reveal her PreCure secret but it gets out almost immediately, AND we meet a new general.

Soaring Sky

Yoyo reveals her secrets (or some of them, at least. We've got our eyes on you, witch grandma), and Mashiro and Sora have to find magic crystals.... located conveniently in Yoyo's back yard. It was a cutsey almost date-like episode, and we learn that Sora has kung fu powers. The show did not specifically call attention to whether these skills were magical but.... the girl punched a boulder in half. Seems magic may be involved at some step

Timestamps 3:11 News/Announcements 4:38 Discussion Question 14:49 Should We Try to Catch up on All PreCure? 17:01 Succinct Summaries 21:47 Splash Star 29:03 Happiness Charge 40:41 Soaring Sky 53:23 Calls to Adventure 56:00 Looking Ahead

Discussion Question

There's some Kabaton discourse, and we're here to weigh in- is the pig man hot?

Splash Star

Saki decides to throw a party for Mai, who turns out gets super engrossed in drawing. Meanwhile, Karehaan is sassy and he serves.... some kind of evil artichoke?

Happiness Charge PreCure

We discover that Megumi's PreCure transformation and powers aren't enough to defeat the Terribad, causing Hime to decide they must run away. Hime is sad for a bit, Megumi gets a costume change (complete with special abilities!), Megumi and Yuko separately cheer our girl up, and in the end they are victorious. A good start to the duo's teamwork! Also there may or may not be an evil mirror god assisting the bad guys, a dark reflection of the good mirror good assisting Hime. What could it mean?!?

Soaring Sky PreCure

Sora and Mashiro are dating, that's it, no further questions at this time, please. After the defeat of the ramborg, the two have to flee the police and then Sora meets Mashiro's mysterious grandma- who is way too calm about this whole situation, what are you hiding?!? But then the two girls name the baby, and then go shopping together and we get Sora's backstory. Definitely a great start to a beautiful friendship. And nothing else. Wink.

This week we're joined by special guest Melissa, regular co-host of Destructo Discourse and Piece Meal! She is also a major fan of Sailor Moon.

Please also check out our PreCure Sample Platter Bonus Episode if you'd like, where we do cover our first impressions of both Splash Star and Happiness Charge.

Timestamp

3:06 News/Announcements 4:17 Discussion Question 12:03 Succinct Summaries 20:59 Soaring Sky PreCure 40:38 Splash Star 52:20 A Quick Sailor Moon Aside 1:01:01 Happiness Charge PreCure 1:17:21 Calls to Adventure 1:27:00 Looking Ahead

Discussion Question

With a guest, we decide the best course is to interview her and learn about her PreCure journey. Where did Melissa start? What is her favorite season? Her favorite villain?

Soaring Sky PreCure

The new season is here and we enjoy watching My Hero Academia fan Sora go to fight the evil farty pig man and save the flying baby. We're excited for where this season will go, and we love the matador-like cape!

Splash Star

Splash Star is definitely not a repeat of Futari Wa and Futari Wa Max Heart, but it could be mistaken for Futari Wa wearing a fake mustache as a disguise. We get two friends who had a fateful encounter 5 years ago and come together to save two very squishy fairies tormented by an evil plant man.

Happiness Charge PreCure

This season is an earlier anniversary season with a fairly head-empty pink lead and a somewhat cowardly blue cure (who we're fairly certain caused the apocalypse or set it into motion) with unique animation. Also the blue girl chooses her friend by chucking a stone, which has a 100% success rate. Probably.

Timestamps

2:23 News/Announcements 3:38 Succinct Summaries 8:58 Delicious Party movie 26:27 Delicious Party Finale 39:52 Doki Doki Love Letters 44:35 PreCure Awards!

46:24 Most Valuable PreCure
50:36 Favorite Season covered in CotWN Season 2
51:46 Best Outfit
55:09 Favorite General
56:01 Biggest Goblin
56:59 Biggest DILF or GILF
58:58 Most Imperious Child
1:00:42 Best Wife Guy
1:01:35 Who is Most Baby
1:04:16 Yui's Superlative
1:05:54 Kokone's Superlative
1:06:52 Ran's Superlatives
1:07:40 Amane's Superlatives
1:08:26 Takumi's Superlative
1:10:24 Nagisa's Superlative
1:11:12 Honoka's Superlative
1:12:16 Hikari's Superlative
1:12:49 Hibikis Superlatives
1:13:32 Kanade's Superlative
1:14:21 Ellen's Superlative
1:14:47 Ako's Superlative
1:15:30 Mana's Superlatives
1:15:52 Rikka's Superlative
1:16:39 Alice's Superlative
1:18:19 Makoto's Superlative
1:19:11 Aguri's Superlatives
1:20:40 Cutest Moment
1:21:13 Biggest Heartbreak
1:22:41 Best Girl
1:23:53 Best Boy
1:24:51 Favorite Delicious Party Couple/Polycule
1:25:47 Cutest Max Heart Couple/Polycule
1:26:22 Favorite Suite Couple/Polycule
1:27:12 Cutest Doki Doki Couple/Polycule
1:28:25 How Did You Like Delicious Party?
1:29:37 Are You Looking Forward to Hirogaru Sky PreCure?

Delicious Party Movie

The girls (and Takumi) are invited to a mysterious theme park which only allows children to enter, and Kome Kome desperately wants to grow up. Cait Sith, the genius inventor who created the park, wants to... destroy all adults, basically?!? So it's up to the girls (and Takumi) to defeat them, and we learn a valuable lesson about the strength of a child's convictions and Kome Kome becomes a hero!

Delicious Party final episode

We don't have much to say about the final episode, it's fairly standard "and they all live happily ever after," with a discussion of prison labor in the CooKingdom and a tearful goodbye as the energy fairies must remain in the CooKingdom and Yui and the others cannot return to the world where enchiladas grow on trees. Except they actually could, at like, any time? But anyways we also discuss the series as a whole and our feelings on where it shone brightly and where it stumbled.

2023 CotWN Awards!

We asked our listeners to weigh in on some of the most important questions for each of the 4 seasons we covered this past year: Futari Wa Max Heart, Suite, Doki Doki, and Delicious Party. Who will be voted most baby? Who was our resident criminal? What were the most popular ships? There's only one way to find out!

Timestamps

1:07 Discussion Question 7:25 Succinct Summaries 18:53 Doki Doki 45:12 Delicious Party 50:39 Closing Thoughts

Doki Doki

We come to the end of our Doki Doki journey, in which Mana finally wins Regina to her side, the Selfish generals discover the citizens of Earth are actually kind and caring for one another, and Ira continues to converse with Rikka! Also, Alice summons a giant Lance (much cuter in the original japanese audio than in the Glitter Force version), the girls get VORED, Mana does a super cool slow-motion ballerina kick, Rikka performs a FRIGGEN CHIAOTZU (don't worry, she's fine), and Bel gets shrunk to the size of a mouse.

Delicious Party

We also get the final battle of Delicious Party. In which we get some incredible fight choreography for Mari & Finale versus Godatz, the miraculous power of the lucky cats, and Godatz turns into a... well, some kind of animal. Secretoru seems to have hit it off with Kokone's mom, and Narcistoru actually helps the PreCure team. He can learn!

Timestamps

1:35 Joel's Minecraft Update 3:23 Discussion Question: Luck-based PreCure 11:56 Succinct Summaries 24:30 Delicious Party 43:09 Doki Doki 52:39 Love Letters 1:01:52 Next PreCure Season Discussion

Delicious Party

In episode 42 of Delicious Party PreCure, we discover Godatz's backstory, seething jealousy, and self-centeredness. Godatz, unsurprisingly, abandons Secretoru and meanwhile only Yui, Takumi, and Mari are able to give chase. Takumi is out for blood, but Yui stops him, praying for mercy- which allows Godatz to sucker punch the boy! They just barely get out, but Kome Kome is drained of energy in the process, oh no! Episode 43 is Yui's mandated despair episode, but Takumi and Kome Kome are able to raise her spirits, and Yui's name brings the riceballs back to Oishina town, and she's off to give Godatz the ole friendship punch!

Doki Doki

Doki Doki 45 concerns a duel between Regina and Aguri. Things get intense until Mana arrives and threatens to make the two wear their get-along shirt. Aguri reasons that they have to battle to the death because they're two halves of Princess Ann! We get a bunch of exposition, and it looks like Regina might turn good but she decides to ally herself with her dad, the Selfish King! It's nearly time to Doki our last Doki, folks.

Timestamps 3:45 News/Announcements 5:47 Discussion Question 18:03 Succinct Summaries 20:56 Doki Doki PreCure 29:24 Looking Ahead/Final Thoughts

Doki DokiIn episode 43, we discover Aguri is highly qualified to either join the drama club or the gymnastics team given how many hoops she can jump through to justify running away from home. But in the end Aguri realizes she loves her grandma and a bit more of her backstory is revealed. Then, in episode 44 we get Doki Doki's Christmas episode, and it may be the most women-loving-women vibes in all of Doki Doki. Rikka and Mana are married, and Mana and Regina love each other. You can tell the finale is on the horizon because Joe comes back, and he's looking slicker than ever

Timestamps 2:14 News/Announcements 5:39 Discussion Question 13:03 Succinct Summaries 18:18 Doki Doki 28:24 Delicious Party 40:55 Love Letters & Looking Ahead

Doki Doki

In episode 41 of Doki Doki, Reina returns to once again antagonize Alice in the least subtle way possible. But then they form a beautiful friendship, in spaaaaace!! And it turns out they can be friends and Reina has only been acting out of jealousy! Then, in episode 42 we find out Aguri is adopted, and this is treated as a shocking twist. Also Makoto is an orphan, but that's treated as less of a shock. But once she tries the "phantom treat" that is birthday cake, and the day is saved.

Delicious Party

In episode 40 of Delicious Party, Black Pepper turns in his stone to his dad and is no longer a cook warrior. But then by the end of the episode, he transforms in front of Yui and saves the day! And makes Yui cry and annoys Amane. But then he gives her a rice ball and all is forgiven. Episode 41 doubles as both a Christmas episode (yay!) and a reveal of Fennel as Godatz (boo!). We're in the delicious end game now, Yui.

Timestamps0:46 News/Announcements 5:52 Discussion Question: Famous Trios 10:46 Succinct Summaries 14:37 Delicious Party 37 - 39 29:17 Doki Doki Movie 45:31 Doki Doki Love Messages

Delicious Party PreCureThis week we get a triple helping of Delicious Party! With Narcistoru's escape from prison, time travel hijinks, and Yui learning to improve upon her grandma's advice, there's a lot to chew on, but they were great for both character moments and mysteries that will be solved as the series comes to a close.

Doki Doki PreCure We talk about what may be the worst PreCure movie ever! The plot is alright, but they make us watch a dog die, twice! But also it's about Mana getting married, maybe, and her grandma who became a fairy upon her passing, wow!

Timestamps2:38 News/Announcements 3:27 Succinct Summaries 12:19 Delicious Party 35 & 36 24:23 Doki Doki 39 & 40 36:48 Love Letters

Delicious Party PreCureWe first get an episode about Kokone potentially moving- which sparks an interesting question about whether a PreCure can leave the team and whether that team can handle themselves without their full fighting force, but luckily this question is largely avoided. Then we get Ran's dreams of being an influencer and finding her courage to keep trying even when she messes up. It's good fun for everyone.

Doki Doki PreCure Regina is back! And, thinking he has one last chance to best the PreCure, Bel tries to go undercover as Joe! It looks like the girls are about to claim the second sacred treasure- the Miracle Dragon Glaive, but it's actually Regina's love that's pure enough to draw the weapon?!? Oh no! Then in the next episode Makoto shines by writing a song about how much they love Regina and the girls unlock an angel wing power up! Incredible.

Timestamps1:42 Discussion Question: Cosplayer PreCure
6:31 Succinct Summaries
11:49 Doki Doki 35-38
34:20 Love Letters

Discussion Question
We pitch a season in which the PreCure are also cosplayers!

Doki DokiWe cover 4 episodes this week, 2 of which are about Makoto and Aguri facing their fears: the dentist and carrots, respectively. We also get an episode about what a dork Raquel is, and then finally, we get an episode with a... gangster Ai and a Super Grandpa?? What?!? And finger puppets are the key to Bel's evil schemes??

Timestamps3:31 Discussion Question
7:34 Succinct Summaries
13:30 Delicious Party
21:23 Doki Doki
31:59 Love Letters
35:00 Looking Ahead

Discussion QuestionWe pitch a season in which the lead has a twin sister who works for the bad guys! And also discuss dark reflections in PreCure

Delicious Party
Someone asked Delicious Party to tell them a story about baseball and we got a story about... loss, and our limited time in this world

Doki DokiThese episodes are all about parents! First we meet Alice's dad and get a baby Alice flashback origin story. Then, it turns out Rikka is a good mom, and Ai's crying can.... power up the Distains?!? Oh no!

Timestamps3:31 Discussion Question
7:34 Succinct Summaries
13:30 Delicious Party
21:23 Doki Doki
31:59 Love Letters
35:00 Looking Ahead

Discussion QuestionWe pitch a season in which the lead has a twin sister who works for the bad guys! And also discuss dark reflections in PreCure

Delicious Party
Someone asked Delicious Party to tell them a story about baseball and we got a story about... loss, and our limited time in this world

Doki DokiThese episodes are all about parents! First we meet Alice's dad and get a baby Alice flashback origin story. Then, it turns out Rikka is a good mom, and Ai's crying can.... power up the Distains?!? Oh no!

Timestamps
2:20 Discussion Question
8:24 Succinct Summaries
15:40 Star Twinkle Quick Thoughts
20:03 Delicious Party
32:47 Doki Doki
44:07 Love Letters
47:00 Crack Theories/Looking Ahead

Lead in DiscussionWe theoretically talk about PreCure crossed with Romantic Killer, but also we get distracted talking about Gundam in general

Star Twinkle
Kat has finished her watch of Star Twinkle and she gives her thoughts.

Delicious PartyIn the first of the two episodes, a noodle recepipi has gone missing and the group must find it before the noodle festival is ruined! And also Mem mem can... use noodles to see the future? Um.... Alright. Moving on, the Halloween themed episode is about Amane's catholic guilt for the naughty thoughts she tries not to think.

Doki DokiThere's a lot happening across these four episodes- First the fairies are able to take on human forms and are overall adorable. Then, we get some lore and the girls have to fight... a DRAGON!?! In order to retrieve a powerful mirror artifact. Then they must contend with Gula and Leva's most evil plan yet. And finally, Ira is equipped with a power up ring and almost ruins the school festival, but Aguri has learned an important lesson about how great Mana is.

Timestamps
2:20 Discussion Question
8:24 Succinct Summaries
15:40 Star Twinkle Quick Thoughts
20:03 Delicious Party
32:47 Doki Doki
44:07 Love Letters
47:00 Crack Theories/Looking Ahead

Lead in DiscussionWe theoretically talk about PreCure crossed with Romantic Killer, but also we get distracted talking about Gundam in general

Star Twinkle
Kat has finished her watch of Star Twinkle and she gives her thoughts.

Delicious PartyIn the first of the two episodes, a noodle recepipi has gone missing and the group must find it before the noodle festival is ruined! And also Mem mem can... use noodles to see the future? Um.... Alright. Moving on, the Halloween themed episode is about Amane's catholic guilt for the naughty thoughts she tries not to think.

Doki DokiThere's a lot happening across these four episodes- First the fairies are able to take on human forms and are overall adorable. Then, we get some lore and the girls have to fight... a DRAGON!?! In order to retrieve a powerful mirror artifact. Then they must contend with Gula and Leva's most evil plan yet. And finally, Ira is equipped with a power up ring and almost ruins the school festival, but Aguri has learned an important lesson about how great Mana is.

Timestamps
1:50 Discussion Question: Vessel & Spirit PreCure
5:47 Succinct Summaries
11:58 Doki Doki 27 & 28
34:38 Delicious Party 31
42:34 Love Letters
45:06 Looking Ahead

Lead in Discussion
We ponder a PreCure season in which middle school girl and the PreCure are two separate identities, perhaps spanning across time

Doki DokiIt's time to learn about Aguri- specifically that she lives with her grandma, she can only transform into Cure Ace for 5 minutes at a time, that she has no friends at school and (in the Glitter Force version) she's not from Earth?!? Also Gula and Leva are now married and we wish them all the best.

Delicious PartyYui and a princess from a nearby nation decide to reenact Barbie's Princess and the Pauper. Yui is super adorable, Takumi is once again left out of the hijinx, and Cure Precious thwarts a kidnapping attempt?!?

Timestamps4:54 Discussion Question: PreCure Boarding School
10:44 Succinct Summaries
15:42 Doki Doki
43:06 Delicious Party
1:02:41 Heartfelt Messages
1:07:24 Looking Ahead

Lead in Discussion
We ponder a PreCure boarding School, optionally divided into houses, much like the Young Adult Series: Percy Jackson

Doki DokiAlice and RIkka get their turns on the growth wheel! Alice wonders how she can protect people and decides to do so by protecting people, but the episode is REALLY about Sebastian being incredible and having more sides to his personality. Rikka, on the other hand, cares for an amnesia stricken Ira and the two... start to form a romance, potentially?!? We were not expecting that.

Delicious Party
It's festival time, baby! Mari takes on the central role as they compete with another couple to see who will produce the best fried noodles! Also Secretoru has space time powers... maybe?!? What's that all about?

Timestamps
4:10 Lead In Discussion
10:25 Succinct Summaries
18:39 Doki Doki 23/24
47:20 Delicious Party 29
54:45 Heartfelt Messages
58:45 Looking Ahead

Lead in Discussion
We pitch a season themed around podcasts, how topical!

Doki Doki
Two new baddies roll up, and one gives us yikes vibes for the wrong reasons, but we don't sense any malice from the show runners. We also meet Ace's civillian form and ask ourselves, who is this? What does this child want? Why is she so RUDE? Then both Mana and Makoto discover what it means to love, and Ai Freaking Brain-parasites herself into Mana's Mom's Mind. Momma Mia!

Delicious PartyDelicious party also rolls out a new character, an enby icon, and secretoru does a thing! Sadly, Narcistoru's buddy cop adventure with Mari seems to be but a forgotten dream.

Timestamps2:43 News/Announcements
3:19 Lead in Discussion
7:28 Succinct Summaries
13:20 Delicious Party
22:50 Doki Doki PreCure
41:19 Doki Doki Love Letters
45:00 Looking Ahead/Crack Theories

Check out Magical Girl Ayu's tweet calling for questions/comments about the Delicious Party movie!

Lead in Discussion
Well, we don't really talk about PreCure seasons in this one- we just recommend the Locked Tomb Series by Tamsyn Muir, a book about lesbian space necromancers in the future with lots of Catholic imagery.

Delicious Party
Narcistoru has one last chance to impress his boss and he teases the PreCure for being weak, only for Kome Kome to awaken the power inside of her (it's love, alright?) and they capture the handsome boy, inspiring a new ship in Kathryn's heart

Doki DokiThe Doki Doki girls (+ Joe) have to go to the Trump Kingdom to save Regina and the Princess, teaching Regina what love is along the way and converting her to the side of good. Then, we get a beach episode in which Regina is immediately converted back to the side of evil and the girls are almost defeated, until a mysterious fifth cure appears!

itter.com/magicalgirlayu/status/1573099575417753600?s=20&t=YRpBgiUAsaT7AyanxSVVJw

https://twDitter.com/magicalgirlayu/status/1573099575417753600?s=20&t=YRpBgiUAsaT7AyanxSVVJw

Timestamps2:43 News/Announcements
3:19 Lead in Discussion
7:28 Succinct Summaries
13:20 Delicious Party
22:50 Doki Doki PreCure
41:19 Doki Doki Love Letters
45:00 Looking Ahead/Crack Theories

Check out Magical Girl Ayu's tweet calling for questions/comments about the Delicious Party movie!

Lead in Discussion
Well, we don't really talk about PreCure seasons in this one- we just recommend the Locked Tomb Series by Tamsyn Muir, a book about lesbian space necromancers in the future with lots of Catholic imagery.

Delicious Party
Narcistoru has one last chance to impress his boss and he teases the PreCure for being weak, only for Kome Kome to awaken the power inside of her (it's love, alright?) and they capture the handsome boy, inspiring a new ship in Kathryn's heart

Doki DokiThe Doki Doki girls (+ Joe) have to go to the Trump Kingdom to save Regina and the Princess, teaching Regina what love is along the way and converting her to the side of good. Then, we get a beach episode in which Regina is immediately converted back to the side of evil and the girls are almost defeated, until a mysterious fifth cure appears!

itter.com/magicalgirlayu/status/1573099575417753600?s=20&t=YRpBgiUAsaT7AyanxSVVJw

https://twDitter.com/magicalgirlayu/status/1573099575417753600?s=20&t=YRpBgiUAsaT7AyanxSVVJw

Timestamps
3:24 Lead in Discussion
8:08 Succinct Summaries
13:07 Delicious Party 27
24:58 Doki Doki 19 & 20
37:48 Doki Doki Love Letters
39:25 Looking Ahead

Lead In Discussion

We try to plan a season based around weddings, and come up with wedding planning, funnily enough.

Delicious Party

Kome Kome feels like a freak for having the cutest ears and tail in the world. Also Ran invents a candy bubble wand. Also Narcistoru... killed Spiritoru? Also also, there was a Kome Kome I? A Kome Kome prime, if you will? Very interesting.

Doki Doki

We get a sports themed episode in which Regina cheats- of course she does- and Mana and co. have to overcome these obstacles with the power of friendship. The second episode involves a trek up the mountain, Regina's evil is purged from her system, and the Queen is found- but then Regina and the Queen are taken by the Mercenares. What a rollercoaster of emotions!

Timestamps
3:24 Lead in Discussion
8:08 Succinct Summaries
13:07 Delicious Party 27
24:58 Doki Doki 19 & 20
37:48 Doki Doki Love Letters
39:25 Looking Ahead

Lead In Discussion

We try to plan a season based around weddings, and come up with wedding planning, funnily enough.

Delicious Party

Kome Kome feels like a freak for having the cutest ears and tail in the world. Also Ran invents a candy bubble wand. Also Narcistoru... killed Spiritoru? Also also, there was a Kome Kome I? A Kome Kome prime, if you will? Very interesting.

Doki Doki

We get a sports themed episode in which Regina cheats- of course she does- and Mana and co. have to overcome these obstacles with the power of friendship. The second episode involves a trek up the mountain, Regina's evil is purged from her system, and the Queen is found- but then Regina and the Queen are taken by the Mercenares. What a rollercoaster of emotions!

Timestamps5:28 Succinct Summaries
11:08 Delicious Party 26
26:15 Doki Doki 17 & 18
41:58 Doki Doki Love Letters
46:53 Looking Ahead

Delicious Party PreCure

Kokone and Kome Kome try to enjoy green peppers, and then a monster attacks. There isn't much more to say, other than we really liked the comedy in this episode, and hooray! Takumi was actually included in group activities!

Doki Doki PreCure

Regina continues to try to learn what friendship could be, but seems to be possessed.... by the red royal crystal? Or becomes evil while admiring it? Anyways, she has gone full greedy, and Joe Okada has secretly been a knight of the Trump Kingdom this whole time! And then the Doki Doki girls go on a train ride, learn about the Princess, and then Mana fights a train and wins.

Timestamps5:28 Succinct Summaries
11:08 Delicious Party 26
26:15 Doki Doki 17 & 18
41:58 Doki Doki Love Letters
46:53 Looking Ahead

Delicious Party PreCure

Kokone and Kome Kome try to enjoy green peppers, and then a monster attacks. There isn't much more to say, other than we really liked the comedy in this episode, and hooray! Takumi was actually included in group activities!

Doki Doki PreCure

Regina continues to try to learn what friendship could be, but seems to be possessed.... by the red royal crystal? Or becomes evil while admiring it? Anyways, she has gone full greedy, and Joe Okada has secretly been a knight of the Trump Kingdom this whole time! And then the Doki Doki girls go on a train ride, learn about the Princess, and then Mana fights a train and wins.

Timestamps01:55 Discussion Question
07:12 Succinct Summaries
16:11 Max Heart 41-47 Finale!
21:36 Doki Doki 15 & 16
36:35 Delicious Party
44:50 Heartfelt Messages
51:44 Looking Ahead

Lead-In Discussion

We ask ourselves, "How can we bring the identity formula of Ladybug & Cat Noir to PreCure." And stumble upon releasing 2 seasons of PreCure in parallel. We can all dream.

Max Heart

With the conclusion of Max Heart, we focus more on the final battle. As you may have guessed, Joel was lukewarm on the finale, but Kat had more compliments to throw its way.

Doki Doki PreCure

Doki Doki's first episode is about Makoto acting in a play, and it was alright. But then, in the second episode we watched this week, Regina the goblin offers to be Mana's friend, and hijinx ensue! We here at Cure of the WHAT Now?! love Regina. Long may she reign.

Delicious Party PreCure

This week's villain is a robot that is mistaken momentarily for a ghost? I guess there goes Joel's theory about a werewolf Narcistoru, but it's a cute little episode.

Timestamps01:55 Discussion Question
07:12 Succinct Summaries
16:11 Max Heart 41-47 Finale!
21:36 Doki Doki 15 & 16
36:35 Delicious Party
44:50 Heartfelt Messages
51:44 Looking Ahead

Lead-In Discussion

We ask ourselves, "How can we bring the identity formula of Ladybug & Cat Noir to PreCure." And stumble upon releasing 2 seasons of PreCure in parallel. We can all dream.

Max Heart

With the conclusion of Max Heart, we focus more on the final battle. As you may have guessed, Joel was lukewarm on the finale, but Kat had more compliments to throw its way.

Doki Doki PreCure

Doki Doki's first episode is about Makoto acting in a play, and it was alright. But then, in the second episode we watched this week, Regina the goblin offers to be Mana's friend, and hijinx ensue! We here at Cure of the WHAT Now?! love Regina. Long may she reign.

Delicious Party PreCure

This week's villain is a robot that is mistaken momentarily for a ghost? I guess there goes Joel's theory about a werewolf Narcistoru, but it's a cute little episode.

Timestamps2:45 News/Announcements
7:28 Discussion Question
13:05 Succinct Summaries
24:25 Max Heart Movie 2
32:45 Doki Doki 13/14, Glitter Force 10
47:17 Delicious Party 24
51:42 Doki Doki Love Letters
57:33 Looking Ahead

Lead In Discussion

Kat asks how we would try to write a Max Heart movie, and your hosts decide a focus on Hikari would be great

Max Heart Movie 2

This movie had everything: PreCure fighting PreCure, rejected Jojo's villains, and the world's hottest chicken!

Doki Doki/Glitter Force

Alice and Rikka each get an episode dedicated to them, and we love every minute of it. Alice proves that the power of friendship is incredible and she's a serious heavy hitter as she smacks Marmo around. Then, Rikka has discovered a new hobby: Magic the Gathering! And we talk about creative Distain fights

Delicious Party PreCure

Kome Kome and Pam Pam have a falling out, but more importantly Yui and Ran struggle to find a single brain cell, Amane tries to bust a cap in Narcistoru, and he has a mullet?!?

Timestamps2:45 News/Announcements
7:28 Discussion Question
13:05 Succinct Summaries
24:25 Max Heart Movie 2
32:45 Doki Doki 13/14, Glitter Force 10
47:17 Delicious Party 24
51:42 Doki Doki Love Letters
57:33 Looking Ahead

Lead In Discussion

Kat asks how we would try to write a Max Heart movie, and your hosts decide a focus on Hikari would be great

Max Heart Movie 2

This movie had everything: PreCure fighting PreCure, rejected Jojo's villains, and the world's hottest chicken!

Doki Doki/Glitter Force

Alice and Rikka each get an episode dedicated to them, and we love every minute of it. Alice proves that the power of friendship is incredible and she's a serious heavy hitter as she smacks Marmo around. Then, Rikka has discovered a new hobby: Magic the Gathering! And we talk about creative Distain fights

Delicious Party PreCure

Kome Kome and Pam Pam have a falling out, but more importantly Yui and Ran struggle to find a single brain cell, Amane tries to bust a cap in Narcistoru, and he has a mullet?!?

Timestamps
2:31 Discussion Question
6:28 Succinct Summaries
10:23 Delicious Party 23
19:46 Doki Doki 11/12
38:36 Max Heart 30-40
49:23 Looking Ahead

Lead In Discussion

We attempt to cross the worlds of One Piece and PreCure, firmly deciding Chopper is the fairy of the season.

Delicious Party PreCure

Kokone's harrowing backstory is revealed, and boy do we have opinions about her parents!

Doki Doki/Glitter Force

Bel turns into a cell phone, and Ira into an elephant in these episodes! But also, Makoto learns a bit about friendship, Mana continues to be a super woman, Glitter Force erases Rikka's gay vibes, and a mysterious woman appears! Kat predicts she'll be a total b, and is already rooting for the mysterious girl.

Max Heart

Joel sacrifices his life energy to go through 11 episodes of Max Heart. We can't cover all the material with our short time, but Hikari and the anti-Christ have another meeting and some people mutter about secrets- we learn Nagisa loves Period dramas, there's a pear-shaped heartiel, and! Both Nagisa and Ryota learn to Enjoy Sports in separate episodes

Timestamps
1:33 News/Announcements
3:52 Discussion Question
9:03 Succinct Summaries
16:10 Max Heart 27-29
19:38 Delicious Party 22
27:06 Doki Doki 9/10
38:44 Looking Ahead

Lead In Discussion

Kat ponders how we would integrate technology or robots into PreCure. Would we utilize technology vs. nature, or something else?

Max Heart

Nagisa learns the value of hard work while gathering pears, and it is the most character development she's ever displayed. And then Joel faces a new nemesis in a fairy even smaller than Pollun and just as annoying as he was when he first showed up.

Delicious Party PreCure

Takumi is going to quit being black pepper, but not really, and also he's assured he isn't a loser! Also Kome Kome evolves again but we almost didn't even notice.

Doki Doki/Glitter Force

Makoto has transfered to Mana's school, and Rikka gets jealous. Also, the wlw vibes are on full display as Raquel, Mana, and Sharuru ponder Rikka being Mana's wife! Oh, and the school was haunted by a baby in a bucket, but Rikka x Mana, let's goooo gamers!

Timestamps
1:45 News/Announcements
3:26 Lead In Discussion
9:02 Succinct Summaries
20:50 Doki Doki 7 & 8
37:49 Max Heart 24-26
40:00 Delicious Party PreCure 20
49:24 Looking Ahead

Lead In Discussion

Joel pitches a season in which the two cures are opposites, and one is loosely themed around fire and the other ice, and Kat helps strengthen the themes

Doki Doki/Glitter Force

We learn Makoto's backstory and see the Doki Doki girls face off against Bel in an exciting battle! Then, the girls suddenly find themselves the unexpected mothers to a mysterious egg fairy baby! This also has one of our favorite distain fights yet: Sleepy sheep!

Max Heart

These episodes are a blast from the past as Joel relives Futari Wa episodes: Honoka's grandma is relevant again as Hikari wonders if she's useless, the girls go to a festival as Nagisa is depressed about the future, and Fuka sempai returns to wonder what friendship could be. Also Nosferatu may or may not be dead.

Delicious Party PreCure

It's Ran's turn to bond with Amane and... Joel didn't really jive with the message, but Kat liked it just fine! Also, we talk about the musical Hadestown

Timestamps
1:56 News/Announcements
5:34 Lead In Discussion
13:12 Succinct Summaries
22:53 Delicious Party PreCure 20
32:29 Doki Doki 5 & 6, Glitter Force Doki Doki 2-4
49:17 Max Heart 22 & 23
53:04 Doki Doki Heartfelt Messages
56:28 Looking Ahead

Lead In Discussion

We discuss a PreCure season based on Race Cars, and Kathryn's love of Kamen Rider Drive zooms into the podcast.

Delicious Party PreCure

It's official. Amane x Kokone is the new ship. Also pretty dresses just dropped, and we wonder if Narcistoru will be fired soon.

Doki Doki/Glitter Force

The girls try to solve who the mysterious Cure Sword could be, and they figure it out immediately. But first, they have to win the tsundere to their side with the power of friendship, and also keep Makoto away from any eggs for their safety. And then, surprise! The girls are sent to hell by Daddio.

Max Heart

These episodes finally produce a plot! Joel briefly wakes up from his stupor and gives even a little bit of a care for the series. Also, buy the new PreCure Sparkle Bracelets merch!

Having recently finished the entirety of the season of Suite PreCure, we take a look at the work as a whole, including what we liked, what we thought could be improved, favorite cures and favorite villains.

Timestamps:

2:09 Succinct Summary of the series
5:28 Did You Like This Season?
14:17 What Could Be Improved?
22:30 Favorite Cures
35:16 Favorite Villain
41:03 Roomate, Coworker, Acquaintance, Banish
46:33 Favorite Episodes or Arcs
50:39 Suite Sound Bites

Timestamps
2:16 Joel's Minecraft Update
3:54 Lead In Discussion
9:55 Succinct Summaries
17:39 Max Heart 20 & 21
24:30 Delicious Party PreCure 19
37:55 Doki Doki 3 & 4
54:21 Star Twinkle Movie Quickie
57:32 Doki Doki Heartfelt Messages
1:05:56 Looking Ahead

Lead In Discussion

Kat tries to pitch a Chopped style challenge at the Delicious Party cast, and Joel is unable to meet her challenge.

Max Heart

the ad-libbing continues, and your hosts aren't a fan of the latest heartiel. However, there was a cute raccoon dog, so that's fun

Delicious Party PreCure

This episode gives us more time with Amane's siblings and a cake baking competition, sort of. Plus, Mari tries to investigate the mystery of Cinnamon's relationship with Black Pepper

Doki Doki/Glitter Force

In these back-to-back episodes, we get back-to-back cures to join the squad! Alice is (not-so-secretly) Batman, the creepy guy is still creepy, and Kat has a crush on the distinguished older Selfish general. Also, there's an incel character in our PreCure??

Star Twinkle Movie

Though not a full review, Kat does a quick overview of what worked for her about this movie. Joel's favorite baddie was the fire guy to no one's surprise, and Kat's was the shark woman- equally shocking, we know.

Timestamps
3:48 News/Announcements
6:13 Lead In Discussion
9:29 Succinct Summaries
24:08 Doki Doki 1 & 2/Glitter Force Doki Doki 1
50:11 Delicious Party PreCure 18
57:50 Max Heart 18 & 19
1:01:12 Doki doki Sound Bites
1:03:00 Looking Ahead

Lead In Discussion

We come up with a Spy x Family version of PreCure

Doki Doki/Glitter Force

This season is off to a great start with fun visuals and the unstoppable Mana!

Delicious Party PreCure

Amane must confront the feelings inside of her and help the girls defeat Narcistoru's ubazao, and we appreciate Amane's brothers some more.

Max Heart

Your hosts implement command and conquer and each separately tackle an episode. Kat watched episode 18, which is a camping trip and one of her favorites so far. Joel seeks to make his episode more interesting by turning it into an ad lib

Timestamps
1:35 News/Announcements
13:53 Lead In Discussion
20:15 Succinct Summaries
26:24 Max Heart 16 & 17
33:59 Delicious Party PreCure 17
44:33 Suite 46-48
51:00 Wrap Up
52:15 Looking Ahead

Announcements

Be sure to check out Sparkle Side Chats, a podcast covering all things magical girls!

Lead In Discussion

We try to write a season in which the three evil generals are based on the land, sky, and sea!

Max Heart

Joel discusses his feelings on Nagisa & Honoka, Kat doesn't understand Uraganos, and we meet the next heartiel, intelligen

Delicious Party PreCure

Episode 17 sees the return of Amane, and a special recipipi- we don't have a ton to say about this episode, though it does seem we're quickly approaching the fourth cure of the season with a crystalized hoka hoka heart.

Suite PreCure

With Suite wrapping up, we largely discuss the theme of sadness and happiness represented by Noise. We love the Cures's combo attacks, and we appreciate the way this season handled its final episode

Timestamps
1:56 News/Announcements
7:37 Lead In Discussion
11:02 Max Heart 15
19:16 Suite 44/45
29:18 Delicious Party PreCure 15/16
43:38 Sweet Sound Bites
47:58 Looking Ahead

Lead In Discussion

We ponder the Delicious Party girls in 4th of July themed outfits. Also which energy fairy is the one carrying the roman candle and scaring the rest of the cast?

Max Heart

This episode introduces a one-off character voiced by none other than Mizusawa Fumie, the voice of Erika Kurumi! This alone makes the episode mention worthy

Suite

We cover episodes 44 & 45 this week. 44 is a Christmas episode that re-visits the "everyone is here!" energy from a few weeks ago. Meanwhile, in 45, Otokichi unveils his Pipe Organ Laser Cannon, do we need to say anything else? We say nay! Oh, but Otokichi and Crscendo Tone are Han-solo'd, things are getting tense as we approach the final episodes

Delicious Party PreCure

Episodes 15 & 16 give us more time with Kokone and Ran, respectively. Kokone is popular and daydreams of her girlfriends, and Ran is weird but that's okay! She spies on another member of the Yu Yu Hakusho cast eating stew and perhaps a ramen noodle mech is on its way?

Timestamps
5:02 Lead In Discussion
14:52 Max Heart 14
21:09 Delicious Party PreCure 14
47:01 Suite 42/43
1:09:01 Looking Ahead
1:11:43 Crack Theory

Lead In Discussion

Kat tries to convince Joel that Dragon Ball Z is a magical girl anime in disguise, and Joel reminisces about the series

Max Heart

Joel's seriously at his limit with Max Heart, and he is quite frustrated that this episode treats a new Heartiel like it's a commonplace occurance

Delicious Party PreCure

Episode 14 Introduces us to Black Pepper, a CooKingdom warrior! But more importantly, a girl named Tomoe who falls in love with Takeda's condiment choices. Amane is still in a coma, and Joel wonders if Yui might be asexual and/or aromantic.
Suite

Episodes 42 & 43 involve some Road Runner & Wil E. Coyote shenanigans, the potential redemption of Bassdrum and Barritone (but NOT falsetto, okay, we know which one is Mephisto's least favorite), and a plot to... KILL Aphrodite?!? And Mephisto tries to make a heroic sacrifice? We're nearing the end game now, folks. Please note that Joel got confused and proclaimed we'd finish Suite next episode, but that will be in 2 week's time.

Timestamps
2:03 Lead In Discussion
13:08 Delicious Party PreCure 13
27:10 Max Heart 13
27:50 Suite 40/41
45:52 Sweet Sound Bites

Lead In Discussion

How would we construct a season where the PreCure are tasked with protecting the Underworld? We also revisit last week's discussion with some feedback from reddit.

Max Heart

This episode reveals the next heartiel

Suite

Episodes 40 & 41 is when the girls realize Pii-chan is Noise, and Ako... loves Otokichi? Something we thought had been established already, but oh well. And episode 41 involves all of Kanon Town trying to thwart the Minor Trio, and we absolutely loved it.

Delicious Party PreCure

Episode 13 features Yusuke Urameshi (Takeda)'s dad, who is a secret agent of the CooKingdom! Plus Takeda has a delicious stone and has decided to use it to save the girls from the always-pretty vampire Narcistoru.

Timestamps
1:46 Lead In Discussion
7:58 Succinct Summaries & Next week's watchlist
12:26 Delicious Party PreCure 12
29:33 Max Heart 12
32:20 Suite 38/39
42:20 Crack Theories

Lead In Discussion

What kind of season would we write where the Cures can switch powers and/or costumes with each other like in ToQger?

Max Heart

This episode contains a baby goat!

Suite

Episodes 38 & 39 first gives us Ako being a party pooper and not wanting to sing, only to realize the Cures are also her family. Then, we get a note-catching episode with Ako being adorable, and the return of Ako's boots!

Delicious Party PreCure

Episode 12 features Yui using the power of friendship to break Amane free of mind control! Plus, Takumi may impact the plot soon!

Timestamps
2:30 Announcements
3:42 Lead In Discussion
9:35 Succinct Summaries & Next week's watchlist
16:18 Max Heart 11
22:47 Suite 36/37 & Movie
36:43 Delicious Party PreCure 11
46:58 Sweet Sound Bites

Lead In Discussion

Joel tries to "sneak" another series into PreCure, will Kat correctly guess- and yup, there she goes. Wow she's good!

Max Heart

In this episode, everyone is holding hands! Plus, the girls receive a new item: the Buy Our Merch-iel!

Suite

In episode 36, the truth of Ako's past is revealed, and the girls are able to purify his soul! This leads into the movie in which Aphrodite is possessed by Evil and Mephisto is a wife guy?!? Yeah, it gets crazy. And finally in 37, it turns out Falsetto was the evilest of the Minor Trio all along! Also it's a Halloween episode. Also Baritone cries and we all feel bad for the guy.

Delicious Party PreCure

Episode 11 features Ran and Yui being totally head empty. Meanwhile, Yusuke/Takumi is catching onto Mari, and the girls realize Gentlu was President Amane! Looks like the next episode will be intense

Timestamps
3:28 Movie Time! (Succinct Summaries)
9:57 All Stars DX3
14:38 Max Heart Movie
25:55 Pete's Ad Space
29:02 Succinct Summary for the Shows
38:47 Max Heart 10
42:05 Suite 34 & 35
54:42 Delicious Party PreCure 10
1:01:28 Sweet Sound Bites

All Stars DX3

It's a flash from the past as we're reunited with the PreCure of the first 7 seasons, as well as movie-exclusive enemies! We love the jokes, we love seeing Erika Kurumi again, and also it's whacking time!

Max Heart Movie

The first ever precure movie sees the precure face off against Izma, and we also meet a sentai team of frogs, one of whom is Goku and one is Sasuke!

Max Heart

In episode 10, Nagisa bakes a cake. We also talk about whether anything happens in this show. We do appreciate the humor of the evil generals and Kat misses Wisdom.

Suite

Our theories have finally paid off! We discover the truth of Mephisto's mental state, the true identity of Cure Muse, and secret familial bonds! Also the negatones are looking super cool with Mephisto's influence

Delicious Party PreCure

Episode 10 gives us more Amane/Gentle inner struggles, and the Delicious Party girls are now ARMED. Plus, we have a new theory about Godatz's identity

Timestamps
1:28 Lead-in Discussion
9:00 Suite 30
22:51 Suite 31
26:16 Delicious Party PreCure
35:47 Max Heart
36:29 Looking Ahead

Lead-in Discussion

We pitch our own Multiverse of Madness, but as a PreCure season.

Suite PreCure

We watched episodes 32 and 33. The first of which is about a flea market and the Minor Trio dressing as women to steal the Healing Chest! Joel notes the true villain may fear the chest's power. In 33, Hibiki must face her performance anxieties, and Ellen realizes what her dream is! And it looks like Mephisto himself will be facing the PreCure girls next episode...

Delicious Party PreCure

in episode 9, Ran and Kokone have a bit of a fight, but we love how emotive Ran is. We meet a new general and speculate what hte future holds for Gentle. Oh, and Kome Kome evolved once more

Max Heart

episode 9 introduces a new enemy general and an unnamed heartiel, but other than that? We got nothing

Timestamps
1:11 Pre-Show/Announcements
3:02 Lead-in Discussion
10:32 Delicious Party
21:53 Max Heart
25:24 Suite PreCure
53:54 Sweet Sound Bites

Lead-in Discussion

We pitch a season centered around moms and motherhood, in honor of Mother's Day

Delicious Party PreCure

This week we cover episode 8 of Delicious Party, in which Ran decides to quit social media! Also, Yui is simply not attuned to Yusuke Urameshi's feelings. Also we surprise even ourselves with a segment on Kamen Rider Drive

Max Heart

episode 8 was a nothing burger, but your hosts discuss if the story would work better without the monster of the week business.

Suite PreCure

We cover episodes 30 and 31, the first of which is Joel's favorite episode of PreCure ever. Hibiki didn't study for a test, Waon is actually Epona from Legend of Zelda, and the Negatone is actually a quiz show style monster. It's great! And in 31, the girls head to the mountain for a training montage while the Minor Trio decide true power comes from calories! Have they been watching Delicious Party PreCure perchance?

Timestamps
1:41 Pre-Show/Announcements
6:41 Lead-in Discussion
11:51 Delicious Party
24:27 Max Heart
25:01 Suite PreCure
39:00 Thoughts From the Crew

Delicious Party PreCure

This week we cover episode 7 of Delicious Party, in which Ran and Mem Mem join the party! With the Bundurou Gang targetting restaurants that appear on the social media feed of one Chururin, the girls investigate. The Student Council President is still sus as heck, and we wonder when that will come to a head.

Max Heart

In Max Heart episode 7, Shiny Luminous can generate strength enhancing rainbows Suite PreCure

We cover episodes 28 and 29, which involve Ellen going to school and being adorable, and then a trip to Major Land where the girls go super saiyan to fight some buff Easter Island heads.

Timestamps
3:14 Pre-Show/Announcements
7:51 Delicious Party
30:24 Max Heart
33:59 Suite PreCure
43:12 Thoughts From the Crew

Delicious Party PreCure

Delicious Party is back with episode 6! Kokone is still adjusting to having and making friends, and Pam Pam starts a rumor that the school's haunted!

Max Heart

New villain dropped- we have a pirate looking demon man, but other than that we don't have much to say, but hey, next episode we'll get another heartiel. Suite PreCure

We cover episodes 26 & 27, which focus a lot on the fairy tones! It's super cute and we love it. Plus... the bad guys get their own henshin sequence??? These are high quality episodes, and also Hibiki appears to be hearing voices- uh oh!

Timestamps
1:45 Announcements
4:19 Lead-in Discussion
12:02 Suite PreCure
43:12 Sound Bites

Lead-in Discussion

We pitch a PreCure season themed around video games!

Suite PreCure

This episode covers episodes 22-25! We have the "former villain is unsure if they can be redeemed" arc, which feels quite reminiscent of Eas from Fresh PreCure, but at least we get plenty of cute Hummy, and Siren's new human identity as Ellen, and the official reveal of her cure name, Cure Beat! Joel's predictions come true as Ellen is both trapped in human form AND her finishing move is straight up just a gun!

The last two episodes are the state-mandated beach and festival episodes, and they are more adorable than a litter of piglets putting on a play! Ellen is scared of monsters, she still has the hots for Ouji, and she's a wonderful actress. Plus, they build a shrine to Hummy's greatness at the beach.

Timestamps
2:14 Announcements
5:06 Lead-in Discussion
10:42 Suite episodes 18 & 19
23:05 Suite episodes 20 & 21
39:15 Sound Bites

Lead-in Discussion

We pitch a PreCure season themed around holidays!

Suite PreCure

We watched episodes 18-21, which range from an adorable note catching spree (as well as Cure Muse's top 10 anime betrayals), to Siren separating the girls with magic which is thwarted with friendship, as well as Siren pretending to be Hummy's friend (which is her top 10 anime betrayal, of the many times she has tricked the girls), but it's all resolved when she actually is Hummy's friend and she becomes a PreCure! But then she just sort of leaves.

Timestamps
1:32 Lead-in Discussion
11:19 Suite episodes 14 & 15
25:04 Suite episodes 16 & 17
47:31 Sound Bites

Lead-in Discussion We pitch a PreCure season in which the girls are secret agents!

Suite PreCure

We watched episodes 14-17, which range from more Cure Muse investigation, more Siren trickery, Hibiki and Kanade switching places, and Hibiki's mom being the only person who would protect her if the whole world turned on her, a very specific statement with a very specific method to test it.

Let's also appreciate Siren x Ouji, and we also briefly talk headcanons for Ouji and Hibiki.

Timestamps
2:00 Lead-in Discussion
8:10 Max Heart
17:27 Suite

Lead-in Discussion

We pitch a PreCure season in which the girls work in a small town government building, inspired by Parks & Rec

Max Heart

We cover episode 5, which introduces Hikari's transformation into Shiny Luminous, and then a lot of pondering if Hikari could be the Queen's Light. The answer seems to be yes.

Suite PreCure

We cover episodes 11-13 of Suite PreCure, which focuses primarily on a new, mysterious figure named Cure Muse and who she could be, as well as the growing divide between Siren and the Minor Trio.

Timestamps
3:16 Lead-in Discussion
7:40 Max Heart
12:42 Suite
33:22 Star Twinkle

Lead-in Discussion

We pitch a PreCure season focused on animals and kindness

Max Heart

We cover episode 4, and spend most of the time talking about Nagisa's art skills and how mean everyone is to her. Also, it seems Hikari is closing in on the secret of PreCure.

Suite PreCure

We cover episodes 9 & 10, focusing on Kanade trying to imitate Hibiki (and bribe Hummy) to get her own Belltier. Then, the pair teach some kindergartners by becoming gorillas! Oh, and Siren discovers what warmth is and develops a crush. And is also a bad boss.

Star Twinkle PreCure

Kat has watched up to episode 21, which introduces the season's mid-season cure. We discuss how much she's liked it so far, favorite characters, as well as potential weaknesses of the season.

Timestamps
1:26 Max Heart
4:09 Suite PreCure
34:12 Delicious Thoughts

Max Heart

We briefly cover episode 3 of Max Heart, though we realize that nothing happened. We also eventually compare Pollun with other fairies, including Kururun, long may they reign.

Suite PreCure

Covering episodes 5 - 8, we have a lot to talk about! Kanade and Hibiki have a falling out but are able to recover, Kanade is an angry older sister to her little brother, Souta (who also has a jerk of a friend, gosh she's rude!), a leprechaun lives in the old music hall, taking the guise of an old man, and finally Siren learns what friendship feels like by trying to become Hibiki's friend and drive her away from Kanade

Timestamps
2:57 Lead In Discussion
7:31 Tropical Rouge Movie
16:31 Delicious Party PreCure
40:01 Delicious Thoughts
47:19 Looking Ahead

Lead In Discussion

Let's Pitch a PreCure season focused on stage magic

Tropical Rouge Movie

We watched "The Snow Princess and the Miraculous Ring!" and found it lovely to revisit both the Tropical Rouge and Heartcatch girls. Erika Kurumi and Laura make for the best pair of goblins! And our deepest apologies for not talking about the movie's version of PreCure Giant Lady. We can and will do better.

Delicious Party PreCure

We cover both episodes 4 and 5- Which we dub the Kokone Fuwa Power Hour! Kokone is new to friends, but Yui barges into her heart and demands they become best friends, and it works out for both parties. Plus, we discuss the all-important power of rectangles!

Timestamps
1:54 Lead In Discussion
9:17 Delicious Party PreCure 2
25:50 Delicious Party PreCure 3
48:33 Max Heart 2
53:17 Suite PreCure 3
59:57 Suite PreCure 4
1:07:36 Delicious Thoughts
1:15:38 Looking Ahead

Discussion Question

We pitch a PreCure season themed around mechs!

Delicious Party PreCure

We cover both episodes 2 and 3- in which Mari breaks up with Yui for her own good, and we meet the second energy fairy Pam Pam! We also discuss the heartbreaking framing of Kome Kome's desire to be appreciated.

Max Heart PreCure

The second episode of Max Heart formally introduced Hikari Kujou, the mysterious girl. And a new villain in the form of Dracula!

Suite PreCure

Covering episodes 3 and 4, we see Hibiki's troubled relationship with her dad and music, and kanade's cakes! No one knows Kanade's cakes better than Hibiki. Why are you giggling?

Timestamps
4:45 Call to Action
9:56 Delicious Party PreCure
35:43 Max Heart 1
42:37 Suite PreCure 1 & 2
54:22 Delicious Thoughts
58:01 Looking Ahead

Discussion Question

We pitch a PreCure season themed around bugs!

Delicious Party PreCure

With a new season comes a new cure, a new mentor figure, a new fairy, and new villains! Did this show serve a premium first bite of deliciousness, or did it leave a funny taste in our mouths? We loved every minute of it, and especially Yui and Kome Kome for their adorableness. Itadakimasu

Max Heart PreCure

We watched the first episode of Max Heart, and found it was much what we expected- not a ton happened, but we liked the visuals and are intrigued by the mysterious new girl... whoever could she be?

Suite PreCure

We review episodes 1 & 2 of Suite, and are absolutely delighted by our lead cures, and we don't find Hummy suspicious at all! We try to decide which of us is Hibiki and which is Kanade, and who has the better outfit as a PreCure.

Timestamps
1:38 Tropical Rouge Retrospective
16:26 1st Annual CotWN Award Show!
46:45 Tropical Rouge 46 Discussion
1:01:08 Fresh Discussion
1:12:20 Tropica Thought In this final episode we reflect on Tropical Rouge's ending (and the journey so far), as well as the final episodes of Fresh PreCure. We spend time deliberating on awards to give to various characters and other related PreCure things- who did we decide was best girl? Who was "Most Likely to get Kicked Out of an AppleBee's" ?

Timestamps
0:55 Call to Action
4:49 Tropical Rouge Discussion
17:57 Fresh 45
26:58 Fresh 46
33:29 Fresh 47
40:42 Tweets in a Bottle
43:53 Looking Ahead

Call to Action Next week we'll be hosting an award show for Tropical Rouge, and we're looking for your nominations! What superlative would you give the girls (e.g. "Most likely to be banned from a McDonald's" or "Most likely to star in a kung-fu action movie")

Tropical Rouge

Episode 45 gives us the intense final battle with Butler, the return of PreCure Giant Lady (Tropical edition), and Laura must make a choice. It's looking like next episode will be really emotional, and we're not ready.

Fresh PreCure

We cover episodes 45-47, which involves the PreCure revealing their identities to their family, a cute moment between Love and Daisuke, the dreaded DELETE HOLE, a donut revolution, and the final battles against Westar, Soular, and Northa. We also must bid farewell to Westar and Soular, who are lost to the delete hole- a tragic end that sounds far funnier than the scene actually was.

Timestamps
2:23 Last week's discussion question
6:14 Discussion Question
11:54 Futari Wa Finale/Retrospective
28:47 Tropical Rouge PreCure
40:34 Fresh PreCure
56:04 Tweets in a Bottle
1:00:11 Looking Ahead

Discussion Question

If Tropical Rouge PreCure had given each girl a personal fairy (a la Futari Wa, Heartcatch, or Healin' Good), what would their designs and personalities be?

Futari Wa PreCure

Having finished episodes 48 and 49, our time with Futari Wa PreCure has come to an end. We not only talk about the final battle(s), but look back on the first season- what worked for us and what didn't?

Tropical Rouge

Episode 44 is another lore-heavy episode, detailing the Witch of Destruction's past and reveals the legendary PreCure's name! All hope seems lost as the witch begins to rampage but then Manatsu saves the day with kindness! Tune in next week to see how the team will defeat the true final boss: Big Butler! Who may or may not count as a dragon

Fresh PreCure

We cover episodes 42-44. the first two are basically a two parter which pits the PreCure against Labyrinth's sorrow gauge and Northa's devious plans. Setsuna tries to sacrifice herself and then the girls get sprayed with scarecow gas before Chiffon uses a spirit bomb to save the day. 44 is about a dance competition and Daisuke trying to make the PreCure's defeat about his bad day. Now's not the time, Daisuke!

Timestamps
2:24 News/Announcements
4:07 Discussion Question
10:44 Tropical Rouge
19:46 Futari Wa
25:35 Fresh episode 40
30:56 Fresh episode 41
36:53 Tweets in a Bottle
41:30 Next Season Talk

Discussion Question

What is the signature dish of the tropical club girls?

Main Discussion

In episode 43 of Tropical Rouge, we're heading into the end game, where Laura learns the Mermaid Queen once went to the human world, and Manatsu decides to just ask the Witch of Delays what her deal is. Oh, and the Fool's Casket will kill all life on earth and Butler turns Chongi-re into a yarane-da. Yeah. It's that kind of episode

Futari Wa PreCure

We cover episodes 46 & 47, which are also the beginning of the end game - the Evil seeds have taken the power of the stones and now the girls must face the ultimate goo monster in the Dokutsu zone

Fresh PreCure

We cover episodes 40 and 41, which focus on Setsuna's relationship with Love's family and Buki being on a boat, respectively. We also give props to episode 40 for being genuinely creepy with an evil doppleganger of Ayumi Momozona

Timestamps
2:04 Discussion Question
14:34 Futari Wa 44
18:43 Futari Wa 45
22:49 Fresh Movie
36:44 Tweets in a Bottle, Sorta

Discussion Question

What New Years resolutions would the Fresh PreCure girls make?

Futari Wa PreCure

This week we're covering episodes 44 and 45, which are a Christmas episode and an episode about a singing competition. Joel really liked the singing competition, and Kiriya also made a brief appearance- what could it mean?

Fresh PreCure

This week we watched the Fresh movie, "The Kingdom of Toys has Lots of Secrets!?" in which we go to toy land to save children from having their toys taken away! Setsuna has her best outfit yet, Love fights a kung fu mannequinn, AND Love takes on a new form!

Timestamps
2:00 Announcements/Pre Show
5:11 Discussion Question
13:07 Tropical Rouge 42
24:55 Futari Wa 43
34:02 Fresh PreCure 37
43:50 Fresh PreCure 38
49:08 Fresh PreCure 39
54:55 Tweets in a Bottle
58:55 Looking Ahead

Discussion Question

If the Tropical Club had Stands like Jojo's Bizarre Adventure characters, what would be their names and abilities?

Main Discussion

Episode 42 is more preparation for Tro-fest and a look back on other clubs from throughout the series. Laura is troubled by what may happen when it is time to return to the Gran Ocean, Minori is struggling to find the perfect ending, and- oh yeah- Manatsu gets eaten by a whale. We're in the end game now, PreCure fans.

Also check out this hilarious Jojo's video that we reference throughout today's episode: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bC6C-GrAO2U

Futari Wa PreCure

Episode 43 is the first episode to give Fuji P and Nagisa a real interaction, and once again we are asking Nagisa to try and take any action whatsoever. Really, though, this episode shows us what an excellent partner Honoka is to Nagisa.

Fresh PreCure

We cover episodes 37-39, which involve a training facility and a shallow falling out between the Fresh girls, Miki giving a small child the Clover Box and losing it (surprising no one), and a trip to Okinawa for Love and her class, giving us Love and Daisuke moments. And we continue to love Westar who is the Best... star

Timestamps
5:21 Announcements/Pre Show
8:24 Just Nonsense, Honestly
13:26 Real Discussion Question
21:47 Tropical Rouge episode 41 Discussion
30:29 Futari Wa episode 42 Discussion
36:03 Fresh PreCure episode 35 Discussion
43:55 Fresh PreCure episode 36 Discussion
52:54 Papaya Thoughts
57:37 Tweets in a Bottle
58:29 Looking Ahead

Discussion Question

What humorous situation has ended each Tropical Club member on Santa's naughty list?

Main Discussion

Episode 41 is mostly a clip show, so we don't have much to discuss. However, Minori does give us an insight into her OC and goes a bit intense. Also for the love of all things good and pure, someone listen to what Kururun has to say!

Futari Wa PreCure

Episode 42 of Futari Wa asks if Honoka and Nagisa can function without each other, and it turns out this builds Nagisa's character and brings the two closer together.

Fresh PreCure

Covering both episodes 35 and 36, we get some backstory on Chiffon AKA Infinity, plus the most powerful general appears. We also take a moment to be disgusted by the general appearance of the liquid in the sorrow gauge. It's best not to think about.

Papaya Thoughts

Ode to the Papaya

O Papaya, how sweet is your nectar.
Allow your taste to dance across my tongue.
O Papaya, how generous is your color,
May your splendor be renowned around the world
O Papaya, how frightening your power
Thy strength shakes me to the bones

Timestamps
1:22 Discussion Question
4:44 Tropical Rouge episode 40 Discussion
20:17 Futari Wa episode 41 Discussion
33:30 Fresh PreCure episode 33 Discussion
40:55 Fresh PreCure episode 34 Discussion
41:57 Tweets in a Bottle & Looking Ahead

Discussion Question

What method would we use to fill the despair gauge if we served Labyrinth?

Main Discussion

Episode 40 is all about papayas! Minori wants to write but can't because she's never tasted a papaya- a powerful metaphor.

Futari Wa PreCure

Episode 41 of Futari Wa tells two unrelated stories: One about the lacrosse championships, and one about the power of annihilation, which is apparently eating the evil generals!

Fresh PreCure

episode 33 focuses on Miki and Setsuna's relationship, and the deep terror of octupi. episode 34 is... well, it wouldn't be inaccurate to compare it to a "mess." The bad guys stop time, but not in a fun or interesting way

Timestamps
1:48 Discussion Question
12:17 Main Discussion
26:21 Futari Wa Discussion
32:44 Fresh PreCure Discussion
41:57 Tweets in a Bottle
43:55 Looking Ahead

Discussion Question

How would Brandon Sanderson write a PreCure series? Also Joel talks about the Tropical Club in Minecraft a little.

Main Discussion

Episode 39 is a certified cute Sango episode! She learns a new attack, and Laura continues to be befuddled by mountains. We also get one of the cutest scenes between Manatsu and Sango.

Futari Wa PreCure

Episode 40 of Futari Wa is a sleepover episode, with strange dreams and lewd hand holding for our two girls.

Fresh PreCure

We watched episodes 31 and 32. 31 was about Love and Daisuke's relationship, and an intense and amazing game of baseball. We loved it. This was followed by a visit to the sweets kingdom in which we learn Tarte is a prince and he has a cute squirrel fiancee!

Timestamps
2:40 Discussion Question
5:17 Main Discussion
17:56 Futari Wa Discussion
23:23 Tweets in a Bottle

Discussion Question

How would we try to enter the prestigious Phoenix Academy?

Main Discussion

We cover Tropical Rouge episode 38, which centers on Asuka's tennis career and her relationship with Yuriko. Will they or won't they end up in a relationship? Additionally, we ponder the philosophical nature of Chongi-re controlling a crab yarane-da.

Futari Wa PreCure

Episode 39 is about a wedding, and a quilt with which Joel formed an emotional connection. It was cute, but didn't have much meat to it.

Timestamps
1:02 Pre Show
4:32 Discussion Question
7:23 Main Discussion
25:37 Futari Wa Discussion
29:39 Fresh PreCure Discussion
47:17 Looking Ahead

Discussion Question

How would we have tried to keep the Marine Ring from our enemies?

Main Discussion

With episode 37 comes some revelations. Manatsu and Laura met as kids?? The Witch of Delays wants immortality? And the Butler is sus, as always.

Futari Wa PreCure

Episode 38 is all about Nagisa's relationship with her little bro, who may or may not be transforming into a frogman as we speak.

Fresh PreCure

We cover episodes 27-30, covering a guest Manzai duo, a trip into Momozona Love's memories, Tarte almost dying of a tummy ache, and secret agent Karou. We have a lot to talk about.

Timestamps
1:35 Pre Show
6:27 Discussion Question
9:31 Main Discussion
21:38 Futari Wa Discussion
29:30 Fresh PreCure Discussion
37:53 Tweets in a Bottle/Closing Thoughts

Discussion Question

What Gran Ocean character would we create?

Main Discussion

With episode 36 comes a visit to the Gran Ocean! The girls search for the Marine Ring, Kururun gets lost in the sauce, and... the citizens of the Gran Ocean are revealed to be illusions! This is a two-parter, and a bit of a downer, but at least Minori was cute!

Futari Wa PreCure

Episode 37 tackles Romeo and Juliet, and is about how Nagisa can't act. Also some of their classmates have a few speaking lines. But perhaps an evil plot is in the works at the Bad Guy Mansion.

Fresh PreCure

We cover episodes 25 and 26, which Joel dubs the Setsuna power hour. She decides she can make up for past sins in the first and has some cute moments with Buki in the second. Also we appreciate Westar, predict what North may be like, and talk about the coincidence of the Cures always being wherever the villains are in some seasons

Timestamps
1:18 Discussion Question
5:45 Main Discussion
23:05 Futari Wa Discussion
28:40 Fresh PreCure Discussion
34:25 Closing Thoughts

Discussion Question

What movie-only character would we create for the Tropical Rouge movie?

Main Discussion

We cover the Pretty Cure Dream Stars movie, featuring the Kira Kira, Maho Tsukai, and Go Princess girls! We found the jokes quite good, we're happy to see some of our favorite girls again, though the special outfits the teams received left us underwhelmed.

Futari Wa PreCure

We cover an episode that felt both like filler and one of the few that actually seemed to cover plot- but then it fell flat in the end. We also talk about how originally the PreCure season was planned to end with the first defeat of the Dark King

Fresh PreCure

It's time to introduce Setsuna to the concept of happiness! She and Love go out to dinner, and Westar seems to miss his former ally. We also speculate on where the story may go from here.

Timestamps
1:07 Announcements
5:50 Discussion Question
10:11 Main Discussion
24:20 Futari Wa Discussion
31:58 Kira Kira PreCure A La Mode Discussion
52:37 Tweets in a Bottle
56:46 Closing Thoughts/Breaking Leak News

Pre-Show

Be sure to check out the Puppy Face video featuring Haruka from Go! Princess

Discussion Question

What other PreCure characters would the Tropical Club dress up as?

Main Discussion

It's a Halloween episode with cute outfits, and Manatsu struggles to conjure a second braincell! Also, we're carving... pineapples? We suppose that could be a thing.

Futari Wa PreCure

This week we play the Futari Wa game in reverse: Kat watched it and Joel has to guess the plot! It turns out it was an episode about dating, and despite featuring Nagisa, helps highlight how great Honoka is.

Kira Kira PreCure A La Mode

Having watched episodes 47-49, the main Kira Kira series is now done. Cure Pekorin is born, Cure Yell makes her first animated appearance, Elysio literally vores the Kira Pati girls, and his final boss design is perfect.

Timestamps
2:29 Discussion Question
10:12 Main Discussion
23:56 Futari Wa Discussion
28:43 Kira Kira PreCure A La Mode Discussion
55:19 Tweets in a Bottle/Closing Thoughts

Discussion Question

What Halloween costumes do we predict for the girls?

Main Discussion

It's time to contemplate the future and being a grown up! Manatsu and Elda struggle to picture their futures, Manatsu's parents are delightful, and Buff Kururun is here!

Futari Wa PreCure

We play a fun game in which only Joel watched episode 34 of Futari Wa, and he pitches three possible synopses of the episode to Kat who has to guess which actually occurred in canon. The actual episode is about a relay race and Nagisa being hungry, if you can believe it.

Kira Kira PreCure A La Mode

Joel covers episodes 43-46, which includes a great deal of content. Akira's sister is literally kidnapped in the darkest moment in the series- perhaps all of PreCure, Yukari is leaving the country in search of new entertainment and also it's a Christmas episode and Elysio is definitely Noir's Nobody. Ichika must face their combined (Somebody) form and then everything goes to heck leading into the final 3 episodes of the season.

Timestamps
2:30 Discussion Question
4:28 Main Discussion
15:01 Futari Wa Discussion
18:50 Kira Kira PreCure A La Mode Discussion
29:34 Tweets in a Bottle/Closing Thoughts

Discussion Question

What shorts would we have pitched to include in this episode?

Main Discussion

This week's PreCure episode is a series of charming shorts with different animation styles from the regular episodes. We talk about which made us laugh and why they were so brilliant. Plus, we get cameos from the HeartCatch PreCure team!

Futari Wa PreCure

To be frank there isn't much to this episode, but it does involve Lacrosse drama

Kira Kira PreCure A La Mode

Joel watched episodes 41-43, which focus on Ciel & Rio, Aoi, and Himari specifically. And Elysio is taking on different forms, just like armor digivolution?!? We agree that Aoi's episode is the best, and most impactful, though Himari is cute and the idea of the townspeople not trusting Rio is an interesting topic.

Timestamps
2:50 Discussion Question
7:26 Main Discussion
16:13 Futari Wa Discussion
18:22 Kira Kira PreCure A La Mode Discussion
32:18 Tweets in a Bottle/Closing Thoughts

Discussion Question

What carnival/arcade games would each of the girls play obsessively?

Main Discussion

It's an honest-to-gosh character episode for Sango! Kat feels this might be a step back for Sango's character, and Joel once again feels the character plot and the episode plot don't exactly get along. But we still loved it and the Yareneda Mannequins were top tier.

Kira Kira PreCure A La Mode

Joel watched episodes 39 & 40, covering a zombie-fied Ichigozaka and Grave's final form. Plus, the birth of Cure Waffle! Plus, the cat and fairy alliance is plotually relevant?!?

Timestamps
3:23 Discussion Question
10:06 Main Discussion
20:54 (brief) Fresh PreCure Discussion
23:33 Futari Wa Discussion
25:46 Kira Kira PreCure A La Mode Discussion
39:00 Tweets in a Bottle
47:56 Future Predictions

Discussion Question

Where would the Tropical Club members wish to go if they could go anywhere in the world?

Main Discussion

This episode contains copious amounts of Laura at her most goblin-y and most kind, and features Asuka's backstory and relationship with Shiratori. We absolutely love it. And learned Shiratori's name. It was a great episode and we're thankful to be focusing on the other characters.

Kira Kira PreCure A La Mode

It's time to head to France and face a ghost child! Also, we get messed up animal forms for our entertainment! Being a panda is fine, actually. Plus, they destroy the Eiffel tower (briefly) and we debate whether Jean Pierre is extraordinary, or simply a big goof. ¿Por qué no los dos?

Timestamps
1:18 Announcements
4:17 Discussion Question
10:55 Main Discussion
10:52 Kira Kira PreCure A La Mode Discussion
38:16 Futari Wa Discussion
41:48 Tweets in a Bottle/Closing Thoughts

Announcements

October will bring us the second annual KotWNtober! See the KotWN's twitter account for the official prompt list

Discussion Question

What are our current rankings of the Tropical club girls and why? What would help us like our bottom pick better?

Main Discussion

Laura has decided to run for president! The episode wasn't very exciting, but may be foreshadowing for the season finale. Plus, we get some more Asuka backstory, perhaps that will come into play soon.

Kira Kira PreCure A La Mode

Joel covers episodes 36-38, which involves detective Ichika, a surprisingly hot wolf man, a Halloween episode- complete with a MILF- and the stuff of nightmares human pekorin!

Futari Wa

Pollun goes super saiyan! And really we have nothing else to say on the matter.

Timestamps
2:29 Announcements
3:13 Discussion Question
6:33 Main Discussion
28:04 Futari Wa Discussion
37:57 Kira Kira PreCure A La Mode Discussion
48:38 Tweets in a Bottle/Closing Thoughts

Announcements

Check out our Sly Bonus Episode, which just released if you like!

Discussion Question

What weapons would we acquire as our mid season power up?

Main Discussion

We have a great episode of Tropical Rouge this week- we have great humor, we have excellent cinematography, and we have the strong friendship between Laura and Manatsu highlighted. We're confused by the pink elephant in the room and, we're excited to have some plot with the legendary Palm Tree, or rather, the legendary PreCure! Also, what are those mysterious scratching sounds in the background? It's definitely not a puppy chewing on a bone, it probably has something to do with the butler's evil plot!

Futari Wa

The third and final Dark Seed has appeared, and he summoned a robot!

Kira Kira PreCure A La Mode

We cover episodes 34 and 35, which we both amazing. In the first, Yukari is transformed into a cat! No context is needed, and that's the only takeaway you need from it. Then, we get Aoi and Himari being adorable and either good friends or shippable, depending on your viewpoint.

We hop in a time machine and go back in time to revisit the Sly Cooper games with special guest @SherpaWhale. We talk about how the games gets its claws into your brain, we talk about what makes them great, and most importantly- we press the circle button to enter the vault code. We divide the conversation into the original trilogy, Sly 4, and any ideas we'd love to see if a Sly 5 is ever produced. Also, which of Sly's ancestors is the hottest and why?

Timestamps

13:57 - Original Trilogy Discussion
53:04 - Sly 4
1:39:23 - Sly 5 Ideas

Timestamps
1:36 Announcements
3:30 Discussion Question
7:50 Main Discussion
25:25 Futari Wa Discussion
35:52 Kira Kira PreCure A La Mode Discussion
49:54 Crack Theory

Discussion Question

What types of stories would the Tropical Club write?

Main Discussion

The School festival is here, and we love Chongi-re! But Minori also gets to Tropica shine in this story as the club wonders why she left the literary club? We also discuss the validity of critiquing something which has not yet been fully delivered

Futari Wa

We get the second seed of evil and a bit of a heavier story, covering both the events of World War 2 and... the failing economy? But at least Honoka and Nagisa have some great facial expressions to make up for it.

Kira Kira PreCure A La Mode

It's the Bibury appreciation hour, also there's a bad wolf running around creating a conflict that's solved too easily, in our opinions.

Timestamps
1:16 Announcements
2:58 Discussion Question
9:39 Main Discussion
22:49 Futari Wa Discussion
30:05 Kira Kira PreCure A La Mode Discussion
40:54 Tweets in a Bottle

Discussion Question

What amazing super powers would we want to give each Tropical Club member?

Main Discussion

It's aquarium time, with a focus on jellyfish (and Minori's apparent love of poisons), Manatees (and Laura's twin), and dolphins (and radical dolphin surfing). We also discuss whether the Fool's Casket will ever be filled, and whether or not the Tropical Club girls can have their motivation powers stolen again in the future.

Futari Wa

New villain just dropped- and the camera's focus on his crotch distracts us with talk of David Bowie, who may or may not have made a woman on Tumblr into a lesbian.

Kira Kira PreCure A La Mode

Joel tackles 3 more episodes this time, covering Elysio's judgment of Akira, Ichika's suppressed feelings, and time travel! We discover the lumpiest rabbit ever, as well, and perhaps Bibury has become a good guy?

Timestamps
3:54 Discussion Question
11:28 Main Discussion
23:42 Futari Wa Discussion
31:47 Kira Kira PreCure A La Mode Discussion
44:52 Tweets in a Bottle

Discussion Question

How would the Tropical Club do on the Amazing Race?

Main Discussion

This week we cover two episodes of Tropical Rouge, in which we first spend some time with Miss Sakuragawa and then watch a meteor shower! We're disappointed that these episodes are stalling, but they were cute! Please also check out Lola Sebastian's Why Are Disney Adults video essay, which compares Studio Ghibli and Disney and media for children.

Futari Wa

It's the final battle against Ilkubo in these episodes, and we meet the O.G. PreCure Giant Lady! These episodes feel like the series finale, and we honestly have no idea where the plot is going next.

Kira Kira PreCure A La Mode

Joel tackles 3 episodes at once, perhaps to win an award or a title. Each focuses on a different character: Himari's love of science and teaching, Aoi's love of rocking out, and Yukari's battle with depression. Joel is loving Himari even more than he had expected, and all of these episodes were great.

This episode covers episodes 490 - 496 of One Piece, as well as episode 1 of Toriko.

Timestamps
2:44 Chatting with the Hosts
13:4 Main discussion

Chatting with the Hosts

This time it's Joel's turn to read and review Leigh Bardugo's Shadow & Bone Trilogy. He liked it quite a bit, and he jokes that his favorite character is Oncat, a cat from the third book named "cat" in a fictional language of the universe
Joel watched Hulu’s M.O.D.O.K.- He felt it had a slow start, but enjoyed it as he kept watching. He especially liked episode 6 "Tales from the Great Bar Mitzvah War!"
Dorohedero – Another show Kat mostly watched on her own. It's got a lot of wacky hijinks and, best of all, a caiman man!
Beastars Season 2- Kat really enjoyed this series, and felt it better fleshed out the world from the first season. Though Joel didn't watch every episode, he felt the show added much more gay subtext between two of the primary characters. Main Discussion

We talk about the aftermath of the marine ford war, including the cat man on Hawkins' ship, Moria's apparent death at the hands of Doflamingo, and the reveal of the final Yonko's name! Plus, you may be surprised to find out which supernova has caught Kat's eye!
After that, we get a flash back to Luffy's childhood, in which baby Ace is a big ball of anger, and we meet... Luffy's secret second brother?? But where the heck could he be in present canon, if he, Ace, and Luffy were so close? We do also talk about the Toriko crossover and whether we're excited to start that series in our free time. Related- if you have a preference between the anime or manga and their diverting endings, let us know!

Timestamps
1:26 Discussion Question
6:12 Main Discussion
13:31 Kira Kira PreCure A La Mode Discussion
21:04 Futari Wa Discussion
25:28 Tweets in a Bottle
28:09 Crack Theories

Discussion Question

What wishes would other PreCure characters make at the festival?

Main Discussion

It's festival time at Minamino, and everyone gets to make a wish! This leads to some excellent Laura faces as she tries to hide her most embarrassing wish. We also talk about festival episodes!

Kira Kira PreCure A La Mode

Your hosts watched perhaps the most wlw episode ever, in which there is absolutely no subtext at all. No, Cure Parfait holding Bibury in what one might call "bridal style" just means that they are good friends.

Futari Wa

It's a summer camp episode, and there's an awful lot of talk about a mountain god that goes... nowhere, sadly. But then Evil Piccolo appears and kidnaps Wisdom, oh no!

Timestamps
1:34 Discussion Question
4:53 Main Discussion
15:14 Futari Wa Discussion
23:27 Tweets in a Bottle

Discussion Question

What wacky quiz shows would the Tropical Club members host?

Main Discussion

It's a quiz show episode that sadly doesn't develop much between Asuka and Yuriko, but it does involve Laura falling in some mud and the diabolical banana peel!

Futari Wa

Evil Piccolo gives the girls a tough fight, and honestly we're underwhelmed by the choreography in the fight. And then we meet Pollun, the only fairy more annoying than Mepple.

Timestamps
1:58 Discussion Question
6:59 Main Discussion
23:09 Kira Kira PreCure A La Mode Discussion
34:42 Tweets in a Bottle
40:00 Crack Theories

Discussion Question

What Olympic sports would each girl participate in?

Main Discussion

This episode gives Laura a gun, much to our dismay! But we also get a cup full of motivation power and potential hints of backstory and lore? Who could the mysterious mermaid be, and is there a greater significance to all the stars in this episode?

Kira Kira PreCure A La Mode

We once again tackle 2 episodes: 24 and 25, introducing us to Glaive (or Grave), and Elysio, the self-declared "empty shell of a clown," which segues into the Hot Clown Conspiracy. The Akira/Yukari ship grows that much stronger, and Ciel learns to rely on others.

Timestamps
2:14 Discussion Question
5:17 Main Discussion
17:53 Futari Wa Discussion
22:22 Kira Kira PreCure A La Mode Discussion
33:19 Tweets in a Bottle

Discussion Question

What would our animal fairy companions be in the Healin' Good canon?

Main Discussion

With no Tropical Rouge episode this week, we watch the Healin' Good solo movie: Healin' Good Pretty Cure: GoGo! Big Transformation! The Town of Dreams. We wonder why the Yes Precure 5 girls were even included, but otherwise we really liked it. Plus, it has a hot scientist mom and a cute moon-fairy child and a goofy villain.

Futari Wa PreCure

Episode 22 is about... talking dogs, and motherhood? It was a strange turn of events, but it was still good.

Kira Kira PreCure A La Mode

Joel watched both episodes 22 and 23, which covers Julio's tragic backstory, his defeat, and the secret to happiness: waffles! Plus, Ciel makes her debut as a PreCure as Cure Parfait!

This podcast episode covers the special "Infiltrate! Thousand Sunny" and the movie "One Piece 3D: Straw Hat Chase"

Timestamps
5:01 Chatting with the Hosts
10:27 Main discussion

Chatting with the Hosts

Joel has been playing Crash 4 again, hoping to unlock all the costumes. It's tough but fun

Both hosts are re-reading Words of Radiance by Brandon Sanderson in preparation for our November bonus episode. It's got a lot of interesting developments, and intense fight scenes.

Kat is reading the King of Scars duology by Leigh Bardugo, more books in the Grishaverse. She is excited for Joel to start the series, and thinks this book would appeal to fans of soft magic.

Main Discussion

We don't have much to say about this 3-D animated movie. Its visual format didn't help us enjoy the story any better and the old man was a boring character- but at least there was a fat dog. So instead we also focus on what the potential repercussions of the Marineford War, both on Luffy and the One Piece canon as a whole.

Timestamps
2:34 Discussion Question
9:27 Main Discussion
26:57 Futari Wa Discussion
34:27 Kira Kira PreCure A La Mode Discussion
41:11 Tweets in a Bottle

Discussion Question

What books would Minori recommend to the other Tropical CLub members?

Main Discussion

Joel really liked this episode despite its episodic nature, owing to how much each character tropical shined. We ponder what secrets may lie in the "Cave of Foreshadowing," and we ponder if there may have been legendary PreCure earlier in the Tropical Rouge Timeline.

Futari Wa PreCure

We really liked episode 21 of Futari Wa, which had a truly dramatic and touching finale as we say goodbye to Kiriya.

Kira Kira PreCure A La Mode

Secrets are revealed as Ciel learns of the group's precure status, and they learn she is a fairy! We talk about how well the story arcs feed into each other, and Joel is excited to see where Julio's story will go next.

Timestamps
1:25 Discussion Question
7:12 Main Discussion
19:58 Futari Wa Discussion
26:38 Kira Kira PreCure A La Mode Discussion
30:11 Fresh PreCure Discussion
32:17 Wrap Up/Looking ahead

Discussion Question

What D&D class fits each of the girls?

Main Discussion

In this episode, we find two reasons to bring up ToQger, which is only tangential to the central plot of stolen melon pan! Which of the club members is a thief, and how will the team get over this betrayal?

Futari Wa PreCure

In episode 20 of Futari Wa PreCure, the girls commit a murder. We ponder what is in store for future episodes, with only 2 generals left and more than half the season to go.

Kira Kira PreCure A La Mode

This episode brought to you by adorable bear pancakes, and we love Ciel. Joel appreciates the chemistry between Ciel and Ichika.

Fresh PreCure

We appreciate Westar as the ultimate himbo, and Berry/Miki’s motherly bond with Chiffon is adorable

Part 2 of "KotWN's First Day at Middle School! Another PreCure Adventure Begins!" explores what we feel makes a good season start, or what might cause them to stumble. We discuss favorite cures, favorite fairies, and favorite baddies from each of these seasons. And we also unveil our official rankings of each season and ponder the commonalities in our votes, or the discrepancies.

In Part 1, we discuss the first episode of 8 PreCure seasons: Splash Star, Yes PreCure 5, Fresh, Suite, Smile, Doki doki, Happiness Charge, and Hugtto

Timestamps

Splash Star 6:10
Yes! PreCure 5 16:38
Fresh 30:12
Suite 44:40
Smile 51:22
Doki Doki 57:59
Happiness Charge 1:04:31
Hugtto 1:12:15

Main Discussion

We talk first impressions, how excited we are to watch more of the series, what we liked or maybe what fell flat. But the most important Takeaway is that Hummy is not suspicious.

We also have notes from friend of the podcast Desi, who watched the episodes with us in our Discord

Timestamps
Discussion Question 4:07
Main Discussion 7:25
Futari Wa Discussion 23:57
Kira Kira PreCure A La Mode Discussion 27:21
Wrap Up/Looking ahead 32:07

Discussion Question

How would the Tropical Club react to a visible ghost appearing before them?

Main DiscussionThis episode gave us some more depth to Manatsu's character, and we contemplate Elda's future character arc. We also ponder what other weaknesses the characters may display in future episodes.

Kira Kira PreCure A La Mode

Ciel has arrived, and she's both fantastic and somewhat dumb- unable to connect Ichika to Cure Whip.

Futari Wa PreCure

The duo is attacked by piccolo's doppleganger, who can steal souls? Also, the fairies almost got a divorce.

This podcast episode covers episodes 481 - 489

For this episode, we're joined by Franz of @ParameciaCast, who you can also find on youtube. We loved having them on, and we've done cross overs with their podcast before- check out our first collaboration as we build an unholy chart of One Piece characters

Timestamps3:44 Franz's Introduction11:05 Chatting with the Hosts
23:53 Main discussion

Franz's introduction
Who is Franz's favorite Straw Hat and Why? You'll be Suuuuper surprised to find out!

Chatting with the Hosts

Franz has been going through Star Wars, and we discuss the impacts those films had, typically through the lens of memes.
Kat and Franz have both been enjoying the new album Ordinary Life” by We Are the Union, which addresses trans issues as experienced by their vocalist Reade Wolcott.
Joel has been watching Jay Exci on Youtube, and enjoys the long form critiques of various movies and TV shows, especially his "The Fall of Doctor Who"
Also, surprising no one, Joel enjoys another nerdcore song from Rustage- this time the Sports anime rap cypher Main Discussion

This stretch of episodes truly mark the end of an era in the show, and your hosts are thrilled to talk about it. Whitebeard and Ace both perish, and the first like an absolute boss. Shanks makes a surprise appearance and we love his sexy crew. Plus, does Ivan have access to catboy hormones? We talk about the sheesh meme as well, it's a strange time on the podcast.

Timestamps
Discussion Question 5:33
Main Discussion 11:20
Kira Kira PreCure A La Mode Discussion 21:58
Futari Wa Discussion 26:32
Tweets in a Bottle 33:14

Discussion Question

What would the crew do if they suddenly had mini Manatsus to look after?

Main DiscussionLaura is going to school! She's full of confidence, ready to rule, and the swim team is coming to recruit her! Well, it doesn't go as planned, but we love the return of gremlin Laura.

Kira Kira PreCure A La Mode

Bibury is here! With her vore puppet Joel will continue to call Kermit, no matter how much the show insists his name is Ill (or Iru).

Futari Wa PreCure

Kat loves the "kicky jump" - if there's an official term for this, please let Kat know! Also this episode is about Kiriya and... love letters?

This podcast episode covers episodes 474 - 480

For this episode, we're joined by John of @ParameciaCast, who you can also find on youtube. We loved having him on, and we've done cross overs with their podcast before- check out our first collaboration as we build an unholy chart of One Piece characters

Timestamps3:02 John's Introduction
12:19 Chatting with the Hosts
24:22 Main discussion
1:34:45 Thoughts From the Crew

John's introduction
Who is John's favorite Straw Hat and Why? Surprise, it's Sanji!

Chatting with the HostsJohn's been playing Monster Hunter Rise, and has run out of things to do while he waits for more content! We also pick his brain for which monster is his favorite. He cheats and picks two.

Joel really enjoyed Hbomberguy’s deep dive into the history of the anti-vax movement in Vaccines A Measured Response, it's long but very in-depth and informative.

Kat has been watching dog-training videos, and has fallen in love with Frankie to the Moon

Main DiscussionThis episode gets a little weird with the introduction of Joel-saw, who will place you in a deathtrap, and the only chance for escape is to answer obscure One Piece trivia. But that aside, we have Luffy getting the top shelf hormones, a love of Crocodile and Mr. 1, and a discussion of conqueror's haki. We all love this series and bond over how incredible this story is and only continues to be into the future.

Thoughts From the Crew

We mostly talk about Gremlins, something which our podcast has been sorely missing, and John turns out to have an endless wealth of information on the subject.

Timestamps
Discussion Question 1:36
Main Discussion 6:46
Futari Wa Discussion 19:20
Kira Kira PreCure A La Mode Discussion 25:04
Cure La Mer's Feet (more Tropical Rouge talk) 29:33
Looking Ahead/Predictions 38:47
Tweets in a Bottle 43:53
Crack Theories 54:35

Discussion Question

What mythical creatures would we turn the PreCure into?

Main DiscussionWe got our fifth PreCure of the season, Cure La Mer! There are elements of the story that we didn't like, but overall she has a good design! We predict how she might fit into the school in future episodes, of course

Futari Wa PreCure

Honoka is both an excellent wingman and a good big sister. Nagisa, on the otherhand, demonstrates how not to try and court someone.

Kira Kira PreCure A La Mode

Rio has been defeated and Ichika is a great lead cure. Joel really liked this episode, and Kat is a big Bibury fan.

This podcast episode covers episodes 466 - 473

Timestamps
X:XX Chatting with the Hosts
X:XX Main discussion
X:XX Thoughts From the Crew

Chatting with the Hosts

Main Discussion

Timestamps
Discussion Question 5:10
Main Discussion 11:33
Futari Wa Discussion 37:10
Kira Kira PreCure A La Mode Discussion 39:39
Crack Theories 43:42

Discussion Question

What Toppings do the Girls like on their pizza?

Main DiscussionWe discover that Laura is a food thief, and the PreCure can breathe underwater! Beyond that, though, we discuss inclusion in PreCure, and the criticism that it should "do more to appeal to boys/men." And more discussion of Laura's big decision she'll have to make next episode. We can't wait to see how it plays out!

Kira Kira PreCure A La Mode

Yukari is the best, and Rio is seriously trying to seem creepy and evil around the girls. This is how you get your cover blown, Rio!

This podcast episode covers episodes 459-465

Timestamps
2:58 Chatting with the Hosts
21:14 Main discussion

Chatting with the Hosts

We're super excited to talk more PreCure in our June Bonus Episode, and we loved the episodes we got to watch!

We finished Kamen Rider Drive. It's Kat's favorite Kamen Rider season she's seen, though both your hosts were a little disappointed by some elements of the finale. Joel finished Invincible, and though he liked the world building and many of the characters, he found the violence a little too much to bear and probably won't watch season 2. Kat is continuing to read Six of Crows, and thinks it's a near-perfect heist story. You should absolutely check this out. Main Discussion

Well folks, the Marineford Arc is off to a turbo-charged start! You have Whitebeard's devil fruit alongside Marco's, Jozu's, and Akainu's. You have admirals and captains facing each other in battle, and the descendant of Oars himself on the battle field. It's high octane, and we get more from Doffy's complex moral character in this one. This arc is just getting started and the anime won't be taking its foot off the gas any time soon.

Timestamps
Announcements 2:25
Discussion Question 4:18
Main Discussion 8:38
Futari Wa Discussion 21:30
Crack Theory 27:30

Discussion Question

To continue last week's discussion- which PreCure characters from other seasons would the Tropical Club cosplay as?

Main DiscussionWe've got body switching shenanigans, featuring Minori and Laura. We appreciate how this develops Laura's character, and we ponder what other swaps we might want to see. In addition to swapping places, we discuss why Minori and Laura work well as a pair for the series.

This podcast episode covers episodes 453 - 458

Timestamps
1:55 Chatting with the Hosts
13:08 Main discussion
27:19 Retrospective/Theory Crafting
28:20 Luffy discussion
34:16 Zoro discussion
20:41 Usopp discussion
45:38 Sanji discussion
50:00 Nami discussion
54:31 Final Thoughts

Chatting with the Hosts

Kat is still re-reading through Leigh Bargugo's Shadow & Bone Trilogy, and finds the first book to be the weakest, and is enjoying all of the books in this re-read.
Joel has started Invincible. He thinks the world is super interesting, but the action and gore is a little over the top for his tastes.
Also Joel has been playing Crash 4. If you liked previous Crash games, you'll like this one as well, but it can be a fairly difficult platformer if you feel the need to 100% it. Main Discussion

For this part of the episode we very briefly talk about the episodes in question- but find them incredibly lacking in content. So instead we quickly shift over to our own look back on the series as well as into the future

Retrospective/Theory Crafting We discuss this segment in sections, more or less asking "what will this characters journey look like at the end of the series, and how will they achieve their goals?"

Timestamps

2:07 Announcements
2:55 Discussion Question
10:53 Main Discussion
20:43 Kira Kira Discussion
22:50 Futari Wa Discussion
26:04 Tweets in a Bottle

Discussion Question

Which characters would the Tropical Club cosplay as if they went to a convention?

Main Discussion

Joel's patience is running thin on the episodic nature of Tropical Rouge, but this episode was still fun! Sango and Laura had great moments and Laura's leadership is especially on display. Also, we're feeling sorry for Elda, won't someone play with her?

Tweets in a Bottle

We demand a kururun plushie, and Asuka's confusion in the bib is amazing

This podcast episode covers episodes 447 - 452

Timestamps
1:55 Chatting with the Hosts
15:39 Main discussion

Chatting with the Hosts

Shadow and Bone- both a Book and a Netflix series. Leigh Bardugo does solid World Building, it’s based off of Russia which is neat, and her magic system is pretty unique

Vivy -Fluorite Eye's Song- a story with time travel and an AI Idol - why would we need to say more?

Pretty Boy Detective Club – Nice and fluffy, pretty to look at, good jokes. Kat wonders if the main character may be trans? But it hasn’t come up yet in the series where she’s seen

Zombie Land Saga – Season 2 has a weird start, but we both enjoyed the first season. Not discussed in the episode, but we have enjoyed the season as it has gone on.

Monster Hunter Rise – Joel found the Thunder Serpent Narwa fight the most interesting, but the game isn't suited to his tastes

Main Discussion

Luffy and company finally make their escape from the great prison! Mr. 2 proves he is above and beyond the MVP of this entire arc, and he will be missed. Buggy and Mr. 3 were actually semi useful, which comes as a surprise, and we love Jinbe! We speculate about what awakened devil fruits could be- is it Zoan specifically? Will Chopper awaken? And a final, special shoutout to Crocodile, so ruthless a mob boss even after all this time.

Timestamps
4:20 Discussion Question
13:38 Main Discussion
26:43 Tweets in a Bottle

Discussion Question

What Dinosaurs do we associate with each member of the Tropical Club? Thanks to trillionbones on Reddit for the submission!

Main Discussion

(Real quick link to Monopoly Mermaid Monday, for which Joel is willing to give thanks and praise)

This episode is about podbroadcasting, and that takes up the majority of our discussion. Also, please do stick around after our outro for a sweet surprise!

Tweets in a Bottle

Once again from trillionbones, we talk about Hana's introduction in Hugtto PreCure and how it's a perfect way to meet the main character and grasp her character.

This podcast episode covers episodes 441 - 446

Timestamps
2:09 Chatting with the Hosts
12:12 Main discussion

Chatting with the Hosts

Jade War by Fonda Lee: Wuxia fantasy series about two gangs at war with each other. Kat likes the character who murders, which she assures Joel is very specifically one character and not many.

Fruits Basket Season 3 – Joel doesn’t necessarily think all villains need be redeemed, but is interested to see where the story goes.

Elantris by Brandon Sanderson – A story about mortals becoming gods, until the magic turns from a blessing to a curse. Our May 2021 bonus episode will cover an in-depth review, but it's good! We always find something to appreciate about Brandon's works

Monster Hunter Rise – Joel doesn’t think it’s new-player friendly, but if you like Monster Hunter or have some friends to play with it's a good time killer.

Main Discussion

This episode is all about the characters! Blackbeard represents the Dark side of Freedom, which contrasts nicely with Luffy. We discuss Crocodile’s past and his secret, and we also ponder what we think of Jimbei, as well as the proper spelling of his name

Timestamps
2:36 Discussion Question
7:25 Main Discussion
27:38 Crack Theories

Discussion Question

We talk what pokemon the Tropical Club members would raise.

Main Discussion

We discuss the Tropical Club facing the Disciplinary Committee, as well as Laura's rawest line she's delivered so far! We were also intrigued by Futari Wa PreCure's 12th episode, though the execution could have been even better. Plus, a brief discussion of the Sukeban (girl delinquent) movement and the Bancho character archetype. Will the Tropical Club break bad later in the season?

This podcast episode covers episodes 433 - 440

Timestamps
2:31 Chatting with the Hosts
14:15 Main discussion
49:50 Thoughts From the Crew

Chatting with the Hosts

We finished Re:Zero, the ending wasn't as crisp as season 1, but that could be because the season was split in half. It's still a great show.

If you haven't heard of the debacle that was Promised Neverland Season 2, please know you should probably skip it.

Check out Jazzy Guns on Youtube, it's how Joel experienced the later Danganronpa games second hand. Speaking of, Joel also watched the Danganronpa anime- and he really liked the ending, and it ties the first 2 games together very well

Joel has also been listening to a lot of Cam Steady on youtube lately- and he recommends the Eevee rap cypher, the Pokemon Trainer cypher, and the Among Us Airship battle

We also have more Youtube recommendations from Aunty Donna (occasional strong language warning from them)! Joel loves Chuffed and Chop Chop, and Kat recommends Morning Brown

Main Discussion

We meet the four demon guards and discuss which we like best. Bon-Chan is the GOAT, no questions asked, and we discuss how we feel about Paradise and its representation of cross dressers and members of the LBGT community?

We ponder if Luffy will lose an arm later in the series, and which of the Straw Hats could take Magellan in a fight

Timestamps
1:39 Discussion Question
5:55 Main Discussion
26:37 Crack Theories

Discussion Question

Who is the standout character so far? Or perhaps we should have asked, who Tropica-shines the most?

Main Discussion

We largely focus on the broad question of whether we like the episodic nature of Tropical Rouge, and whether that makes each episode forgettable, or more interesting. We also take a moment to contemplate what we might have guessed the Tropical Club's sand castle would look like.

covering episodes 426-429, One Piece Film: Strong World, and the spin-off special Strong World Episode 0 1:53 Chatting with the Hosts Black Clover – Kat really likes the mysterious fangy boy- whatever could this sexy character want? We recommend you check out The Weekly Planet Podcast (also available on any podcatcher)- they cover comic books and movies- and the ocassional game as well. Kat has been getting into cake decoration and baking, and recommends The Preppy Kitchen and The Icing Artist, but specifically the older videos- their new style isn't her favorite. Joel continues to toil away on a giant ice generator in Minecraft. And if you want to join him, you could consider supporting The Full Spectrum on Patreon, whose rewards include access to their discord. 9:54 Main Episode 11:09 We Discuss episodes 426-429 The filler episodes are not our jam at all. Very dull. Boring villains, forgettable child character We also discuss the question of "Are all the arcs in One Piece the same?" and whether that is a valid criticism 20:29 We Discuss Strong World and Episode 0 Young Sengoku, Young Garp, Luffy in a suit- this movie and special have the drip! And we appreciate the walk scene, arguably our favorite in all of One Piece. We also take a moment to love and appreciate Ian Sinclair's voice work as Brook and his debut in a One Piece dubbing role. Lastly, we dive into the sexualization of the women in One Piece, mostly focused on the outfits of this movie.

3:42 Discussion Question- What other seasons of PreCure suit the Tropical Club members?

9:26 Main Episode, in which we cover Manatsu having a hard time studying, losing her motivation, and then the victorious reclamation! We love the strong Laura and Manatsu vibes in this episode, the pair has really come a long way! Plus, we get a new finisher attack, and we love the energy in Mix Tropical.

36:09 we finish the episode with theories, one more serious than the other

Covering episodes 422-425 & 430-432 3:06- Chatting with the Hosts * Joel is still playing Minecraft- melons, pumpkins, and an ice farm! * Re Zero * We make a solemn promise to watch more Black Clover before the next episode- or else we’ll be subjected to terrible isekai suggestions. Will we succeed? More importantly, what's your least favorite isekai?

8:55 Main Episode We get a ton of new characters in these episodes, and our reactions range from terrified to appreciative to confused. Plus, we discuss the adorable tiny hippo friend, and the amazing world building of One Piece. Plus, which level was our favorite? And we celebrate the return of everyone's favorite sandy man, Crocodile! 1:09:30 Thoughts From the Crew This arc is good and the battles/time limit are very tense, and some people are happy Buggy is back.

2:21 Discussion Question- what movies do we think suit each of the Tropical Club Members? Who is into romance, and who is pulling off the perfect heist?

10:50 Actual Episode, which covers the Tropical Club working as extras in a movie! We ponder Sango as a character and the theme of change, as well as whether this show's motifs are more focused on make up or tropica shine. We of course try to predict where future episodes will take us, and whether the apparent lack of a plot bothers us.

30:34 Tweets in a Bottle- we mostly focus on Papaya as a character, as well as the humor of PreCure and if that's the secret sauce for a successful season.

36:29 Crack Theories- we can all agree the Butler is pretty suspicious, right? But beyond that, we contemplate the existence of 2 things in this season: mechs and dragons.

What an incredible journey we've been on so far! We've made a lot of good friends, made a ton of great memories, and we promise to keep doing our best to bring the jokes and discussions for our listeners. We are especially thankful to our patrons- your help is always appreciated

Chatting with the Hosts starts at 14:32

The Body Keeps the Score - Kat is learning more about psychology and how to work with adults as part of her new job. It's not the most fun thing she's read, but it's highly informative!

Thought Slime’s 200K subscriber video - Joel found the personal monologue at the beginning of the video highly relatable, though the rest is left-leaning politics that may or may not be your speed

Super Eyepatch Wolf - Joel doesn't actually say much about this channel in this episode, but you should check out this youtuber if you haven't already- deep analysis videos on all manner of topics, mostly anime.

Action Button's review of Toimeki memorial - A funny video game reviewer with a long, long form video essay (seriously, it's 6 hours) on a japanese only dating sim. It's quite the incredible watch, and conveniently broken into chapters. But if it's too long, Joel will understand.

Quintessential Quintuplets - Joel and Kat finished the manga series and were super enthusiastic about it! You should give this a shot if you haven't, and look forward to our eventual bonus episode covering the series in its entirety.

Kat makes a solemn promise to watch more Black Clover before next episode- will she do it, or shall she hang her head in shame next week? Tune in to find out!

Main Episode starts at 25:28

This episode covers episodes 415-421 of the anime.

A few shoutouts as we release our 100th episode:
The Full Spectrum Podcast - We've talked about them at length, we've had Trey, one of their hosts, onto a few of our bonus episodes- they're good folk and good friends.

Paramecia Fancast - A One Piece podcast covering the most recent chapters- these are more good folks who shall one day become the rulers of the memes! We've also done some crossover work with them and we're happy to call them our nakama.

Grant The Thief (of the blade licking variety) on Twitter - he's a seriously chill guy, supportive of those around him, and a delight to talk to. We're happy to shout him out.

We talk about Fisher Tiger, the legend himself spoken of by Boa Hancock. He seems like an amazing figure in the One Piece world, and it leads us into a discussion about the D initial- could it stand for "Dawn?" We think it's a strong possibility, but we do consider other likely candidates. Joel draws a connection between Tequila Wolf and Dante's Divine Comedy, and we discuss the various islands that house the various straw hat members- which was our favorite? We also spend a while talking about Sanji's island in particular. It's a sensitive topic, and we aren't the best qualified to speak about it, but we do try to explain our take on Oda's depiction of this group of people. Joel brings up Lindsay Ellis's video on transphobia in pop culture, which you can check out here. He also knows that ContraPoints has done several videos about trans issues and the concept of passing and whether that's an integral part of the experience. Again, we know just enough to know we don't really have any expertise on the issue, and we defer to those whose lives are directly impacted by Peachy Island.

Thoughts From the Crew starts at 1:12:16

5:14 - Discussion Question and Announcements. We introduce our listeners to Pete the Triceratops, a joke Joel will either run into the ground or Kat will keep from ever being mentioned again! For the actual discussion question, we talk PreCure evil generals, and what makes them enjoyable. Julio from KiraKira, Tenjou from Star Twinkle, and Close from Go Princess are among our favorites.

17:15 - Main episode starts. Honestly, we've lost out minds a bit. We even, at one point, contemplate whether a dino nugget counts as a "creature." We also talk about siblings in PreCure, from Asuka to Akira and Nagisa. Plus, family representation as a whole. Also, Joel is fully on board with Futari Wa Precure's dynamic between Nagisa and Honoka after seeing its 8th episode.

56:59 - Tweets in a Bottle starts. Largely we focus on Laura being a tax evader, and not quite paying her workers. This all tracks.

Please do also check out PreCure Podcast Engage, a podcast covering PreCure from the very beginning (and also Ben 10, apparently).

Chatting with the Hosts starts at 1:54 The Body Keeps the Score - not exactly a fun read, but something Kat has been reading to better her skills as a Counselor We binge watched The Boys- it was very good, and not as gorey as we had feared! Good characters and realistic relationships. It's not all dark-and-gritty realism (though there is that), some high tension and good humor in places. Check out the farming sim Littlewood - some day we'll upload our footage of playing the first few days in game. It's very relaxing, plus it has bird and cat people! And whirlybugs! Joel continues to play minecraft, including taming every cat breed in the game and building a villager breeder. If you want to play on the same server, you can check out The Full Spectrum Podcast on Patreon- whose discord is available to patrons of any level. Or, you can check out their server tour playlist on Youtube. You'll even spot a familiar landmark from One Piece in their world! Related to Minecraft, Joel has been enjoying content from Wattles, a very chill Youtuber. Main Episode starts at 12:47 This podcast episode covers episodes 408 - 414 of the anime, and introduces us to Momonga, a badass with a funny sounding name. We also meet a whole island of characters, including the cutie Alephandra, Boa Hancock- Warlord of the Sea, and her sisters! We also are given some insights into Luffy's character, including his incredible charisma and its effect on Marguerite, among others. Plus, these episodes confirm Luffy’s asexuality. Plus, we get some more information on Haki, and we see Luffy use it as well! We contemplate how it might work in the story going forward and how it might affect the story.

1:44 Announcements start, in which Kat's Curesona name is revealed!

3:32 We start with a discussion question - why does PreCure appeal to Joel and Kat more than Tokusatsu? While we like the expressiveness of anime, you should still check out ToQger and Kamen Rider Drive

9:38 we discuss Kira Kira Pre Cure A La Mode and what makes it so good

13:43 we discuss Futari Wa PreCure episode 7, and why we really appreciated the episode. The growing relationship between Nagisa and Honoka really sold us

17:40 our main discussion begins. We really liked the Minori focused episode and the chance to give the shy girl time to shine. We also meet Kururun, whom we love! They're just a cute lil Pokemon, who we suspect may evolve later in the series. Perhaps into... hot Kururun? We also love Elde’s childishness, and the representation of the existential horror of adulthood.

45:19 Crack Theories

Chatting with the Hosts starts at 2:14
Boy we tackle a long list of things we've been watching this week.
Great British Bake Off - A nice relaxing show for Kat to watch. Plus it gives her ideas on what to try baking next.
Kamen Rider Drive – Kat loves it! It's her favorite Kamen Rider season, and she loves all the cars. And Heart is quite the Heart throb.
Heart Catch PreCure - A show which has perhaps our favorite PreCure character ever in the form of Erica. Plus, it has the legendary Kumojacky, the fabulous Cobraja, and they get capes! It's wonderful
Quintissential Quintuplets - Your hosts are absolutely in love with this series about love. Season 2 was pretty great, and we've since bought the entire manga and tore through it in record time.
Re:Zero Part 2 - We already loved the first season, and second season has more witches. Give it a watch.
Promised Neverland Season 2 was a.... well, it was a hot mess. But we were watching it, and we had yet to realize how bad it would get.
Minecraft - Do we really need to link this? You've probably played Minecraft if it's up your jam. But we'll probably add some videos onto the Youtube channel in the future so Joel can show off his creations.
The Game Grumps playing Danganronpa - Joel normally wouldn't go for this kind of game, but the Grump and not-so-grump duo add the perfect amount of levity to draw him in.
Main Episode starts at 16:24 We cover episodes 397-405 in this episode of the podcast. And we have a lot to discuss We love how tense everything has gotten. We see teamwork, and an army of cyborgs! We even get a lore dump in between intense action beats. We ponder how Kuma’s powers work, and how well Vegapunk can replicate devil fruits. And speaking of fruits, it appears all of the Supernova have some version of them, which merits a discussion. We compare and contrast Kizaru and Aokiji- who is the bigger threat, and who has the scarier power. Also, we recognize and respect Sentomaru as the perfect One Piece character for nonbinary representation

We take a moment to plug our previous magical girl episodes, including our HeartCatch PreCure episode, Our Madoka Magica episode, and our spectacular crossover with Trey of The Full Spectrum Podcast as we all covered the PreCure Miracle Universe movie. Honestly we're quite proud of ourselves and are happy to continue covering more Magical Girl media.

The Discussion Question is posed at 4:22, "what aspects of Easter appeal to each of the Tropical Club members?" You just know Manatsu is going to be sprinting around looking for eggs.

The main episode starts at 12:02, in which we discuss Asuka and Laura at length, Manatsu's efforts to get her club officially accepted, and a search for the penguin statue from last episode! We also talk about My Little Pony quite a bit more than in previous episodes. Also, is Tropical Rouge PreCure "On Acid?" Or shall we have to rebuke whoever had levied such foul accusations? Plus, Joel makes a promise from His Heart to Yours to watch more Kira Kira before episode 8 of the podcast- will he succeed?

We share our Crack Theories at 38:08 to end the episode. We shall not spoil them, of course, but we are always excited to hear your silly ideas

We cover episodes 390-396 in this episode.

Chatting with the hosts starts at 2:52. We discuss all manner of stuff.

Rhythm of War by Brandon Sanderson- it's really good! The Worldbuilding, as usual, knocks it out of the park. Fantasy Die Hard in a magic tower? Heck yes.
Jade City by Fonda Lee- magic plus gangsters, be sure to check that out. Kat doesn't go into much details about what she loves about it, but she loved it a lot.
Re:Zero – Joel fell for the series HARD. He knows its overhyped, but he likes it anyways. There are memorable characters, both lovable and detestable, the character does get some great growth. Don't believe you should watch it? Here's a video essay about how it's brilliant
Zyuden Sentai Kyoryuger – it's a Sentai season about dinosaurs. It's a lot of fun, though Joel feels it starts off slowly, but the ending more than makes it worth the wait
Kamen Rider Drive - a Kamen Rider season with perhaps the best opening ever.

The regular episode starts at 15:08, and we met a parade of new characters. Silvers Rayleigh wins the world's sexiest grandpa award, and we meet 9 other rookie pirates with exceptionally high bounties known as the eleven supernova. We don't get a lot of time with them, but they have larger than life personalities and seem like they'll stick around. And then, we have to discuss fishman racism, and how the world didn't even consider them sentient for a long time. The Dark themes rear their ugly heads in this one.

HeartCatch PreCure is the 7th PreCure season, and it centers around the theme of "a new you," and uses flower and fashion motifs. You've got the shy but good-hearted Tsubomi (Cure Blossom), the little gremlin with a big heart Erika (Cure Marine), the popular, beautiful, strong Itsuki who both protecc and attacc (Cure Sunshine), and the glasses wearing upperclassman Yuri (Cure Moonlight). They mainly face off against the three Desert Apostles: Kumojacky- the strength-obsessed captain Harlock lookalike, Cobraja- the beauty-obsessed blue one, and Sasorina- the girl one.

TL;DR we really liked this season, and it was Erika that sold us on it! We also reviewed the standalone movie "HeartCatch PreCure! the Movie: Fashion Show in the Flower Capital... Really?!" and we enjoyed that werewolf child and his phantom of the opera father.

Our "Living Our Ninja Way" segment starts at 1:33, and involves cats, running, writing, and podcasting!

Main episode starts at 2:59, where we discuss episodes 159-165 of Naruto Shippuden. Pain continues his attack on the Leaf village, and we are saddened to see Kakashi dead and Tsunade likely to join him soon. We talk about Konohamaru's glow up and character growth, as well as Naruto's own growth and what it truly means to be hokage. Kakashi's ability to send objects to hell amuses us to no end, and we talk a lot about Pain, unsurprisingly. He seems to be both singularly driven by a tragic past, as well as someone suffering from Ninja Cancer, the most dangerous disease in the world of shinobi.

We start the episode off with the good news that the OG PreCure has been updated on Crunchyroll to have higher audio quality, and we're stoked!

at 3:04 we start today's Discussion Question: What differentiates the cute fairies from the annoying ones, and informally rank those we love and those we disliked.

The main episode starts at 6:31, and it's largely about Asuka! What did we think of her introduction, how will she get along with Laura and what might her future arc be? We also briefly consider her in the Kira Kira PreCure A La Mode canon.

at 28:51, to end the episode, we discuss potential crack theories for this series- maybe this will be a recurring bit, maybe it won't, but we had fun with it this time around for sure

Chatting with the Hosts starts at 3:31 Umbrella Academy Check out this series, superheroes in a wacky, zany world. We love Five! (That's the character's name, not a number that we enjoy, though it is a great number) Great Pretender Heist show! Heist show! And the animation is gorgeous God of High School Are you looking for sick fight choreography? Because this show has tons of sick fight choreography! Witchy PreCure We loved this series of PreCure from the start. Who doesn't love a good story about witches, and this series has not one but two adorable fairies. Thought Slime Thought slime mostly tackles politics on their channel, so the content isn't for everyone, but they look at capitalism with skepticism and advocates for progressive policies. Gideon the Ninth If you're not onboard with "space necromancer lesbians" we don't know what to tell you- this is one of Kat's favorites of recent memory. Way of Kings Hey, we did a bonus episode on this book. It's long, but oh so good. Crab dragons. magic armor, divine visions, and the best opening line ever "Szeth-son-son-Vallano, Truthless of Shinovar, wore white on the day he was to kill a king." Main Episode starts at 13:06 We briefly cover the latest Zipang filler. We’re not super interested- but the speedo bit was good. We discuss whether or not there are politics in One Piece, which there definitely is. This also takes on the radical take that "Human Trafficking is bad, actually." We discuss what it was Luffy did to defeat Duval's bull without using his primary weapons (his fists), as well as Zoro's psychology. Oh hey, and shoutout to Dragonov_, one of the biggest Usopp fans on the twittersphere. Give them a follow, you know you want to!

The Discussion Question starts at 1:39, as we contemplate a brand-sponsored CureSona and what they might look like.

At 7:50 we explain our inside joke regarding Erika and Tsubomi, may they live on forever in our hearts. This also unveils our unofficial mascot: gremlin Erika holding up a giant dorito chip, a representation of her decadence

Next, at 12:10, Joel and Kat give updates on their curesonas, including information about their fairies and potential catchphrases.

The discussion of the main episode starts at 20:16. We meet Minori Ichinose and see her journey to becoming Cure Payapa, and talk about her character, the design, what works about her and what didn't work so well.

We also bring up the subject of subtext in PreCure, and extend the conversation to media as a hole, especially with relationships that could be perceived as homosexual. We briefly ponder a Magical Girl show written by Studio Trigger and continue with our watch of Futari Wa PreCure where Joel highlights where the series falls flat, but then we discuss what's great about that first season.

And of course we finish with predictions of how Cure Flamingo might appear in the next episode, and how her story might evolve.

Also, for your viewing pleasure, we mentioned Jo Jo's Bizarre Adventure But Really Fast and we hope you enjoy it.

Our Discussion topic for this episode is characters from different PreCure seasons we wish would interact with each other. We love Sango and Cure Coral, and we compare her depiction to that of Cure Summer. And a rather long discussion of cures with disabilities. We wrap up contemplating future episodes- both how Cure Papaya might be introduced and if Laura and Manatsu might find themselves at odds

We start this episode with a discussion of our Cure Sonas and the seasons of PreCure we've already watched. And a new theme song and logo! If you want to see more of Kat's art you can browse here.

For the actual episode of Tropical Rouge, this episode is all about Laura and Manatsu and their blossoming friendship. We're excited for Sango's episode we expect will arrive next week. Oh, and we talk about the fairies of other series and decide we are not fans of Mipple and Mepple from the original Futari Wa PreCure. We also recommend you give Pike's blog a look, which is focused on Futari Wa.

It's a brand new review series that will run alongside our One Piece review. Join your hosts as they tackle Tropical Rouge PreCure one episode at a time!

In this first episode we discuss the OP and ED of the series, first impressions, and our love of the two main characters. It's a season with lots of bright colors, mermaids, two enthusiastic dorks, and most importantly, punching!

Prepare yourself for a five-host crossover event! For your convenience, we have a few timestamps: 10:50- Joel's pitch for One Piece x Supergiant's Hades 29:15- John's pitch for One Piece x Demon Slayer 54:54- Trey's pitch for One Piece x Super Sentai 1:16:19- Franz's pitch for One Piece x Jim Henson's various works 1:33:47- Kat's pitch for One Piece x PreCure 2:02:22- Final thoughts began And of course, here's how you can follow our guests: On Twitter The Full Spectrum account (the podcast and youtube channel with which Trey is a host): @Th3FullSpectrum Paramecia Fancast's account: @ParameciaCast Trey's personal account: @Raptorianxd John's personal account: @BBS_MexicanKing Franz's personal account: @theythembo Other Places The Full Spectrum's Youtube channel and Twitch channel (where they stream weekly at 7 pm CT). They also have their own patreon, which gives access to their Discord, which is a ton of fun- though we are biased, of course. Paramecia Fancast's libsyn page, though their episodes are also available through any pod catcher.

It's time to dive into Black Clover! Many deride it for being such a cliche story, but actually, we really really love it, and deeply defend this shonen series. We love the Black Bulls, Asta is great in a specific Asta way (he respects elders, he views life as a gift and says so, he believes in pretty much everyone!), and we all want Yami to be our cool uncle, and maybe JULIUS NOVACHRONO can be our dad. Finral is great, Vanessa is cute, Charmy is hilarious and adorable, Gray is hilarious, Gordon is picked on, Magma is a MAN! Luck is great, and Gauche.... Well, we don't really talk about Gauche. Or Klaus. Whoever that is.

We highly recommend you try to give the Yami vs. Licht fight (episodes 34/35), and Asta/Finral/Vanessa vs. Vetto fight (episodes 47 - 49) a try, even if you're uncertain about the series. One things for sure: We're going to come back to this series, especially if it means paying due respect to Mereoleona, the queen

For the August Bonus episode, Kat and Joel watched different seasons of Pretty Cure, producing an episode of bonus content for each stretch of 7 episodes. Joel watched Star Twinkle PreCure, and Kat watched KiraKira PreCure A La Mode. This is the 8th and final installment of that series, in which we watched PreCure Miracle Universe, and had @Raptorianxd join us to add some much needed perspective on HUGtto precure!

We had a really good time with our second guest, even if the movie wasn't everything we'd expected. Perhaps the most interesting points was the duck fairy... thing we christened "Squakwalk" and another segment we referred to as "Lesbian Island."

Be sure to check out https://www.patreon.com/TheFullSpectrum, where the full audio of the three of us watching the movie is available, as well as a supercut.

Chatting with the Hosts starts at 2:31 Joel is Drawing again! Well, we say that, but he made it through a total of one drawing before breaking his streak again. But check out his art account on Twitter if you want to see him trying to practice. We're still riding the PreCure train. And we'll never disembark! We're currently watching Go Princess PreCure (oh my gosh the girls- and especially Pafu the fairy dog- are so cute!) on our own and streaming episodes of Maho Girls PreCure or "Witchy Pre Cure" on the discord – Fire powers are the best powers (and costumes)! Plus, Mofurun has quickly become a chat favorite. We checked out Brand New Animal Now that it's hit Netflix in America. It can feel like it's meandering a little in the early episodes, but we really like it. Though it suffers yet another poor attempt at symbolism of racial issues. Even if it's not your cup of tea, we can't stop listening to the theme song God of High School. Do you like kung fu? And slap stick comedy? Don't answer that we've already attempted to karate chop our recording table in half. Hiyaaaah! Main Episode starts at 21:38 These episodes deal with reliving Chopper's backstory, Foxy's return (again), Brook trying too hard to fit in, and a girl who doesn't like pirates but eventually learns to like pirates after meeting Luffy (woah, Déjà vu). To be honest, we weren't impressed with much of the content. Nukky for MVP just based on his cuteness alone. But Robin and Franky in Drum Kingdom didn't add much? So instead we focus on retroactively adding crew members to past arcs, and retconning new family members for One Piece characters! Thoughts From the Crew starts at 1:07:11 There once was a tale of legendary pasta. It was said that whoever ate it would gain ultimate power over carbs! Yes, that's right, this tale centers on a certain curly-browed love cook. He had to kick his way to the top of the Golden Tower of Kicky Folk. He had to face a man on stilts, and a woman in heels, and a man in platform shoes, and a spider with eight legs! He endured it all, he overcame the obstacles- including stealing the heel-wearing woman's heels to deprive her of her attack power- until he arrived at the one hundredth floor. And there he discovered... the pasta had already been eaten! But it was not about the destination atop the sparkling, glittering tower. It was about the friends Sanji made along the way, and the powerful kicks he and his foes exchanged in their attempts to become the best kicky folk in all the realm.

Chatting with the Hosts starts at 3:47

Chainsaw Man You want fast paced action? You want a head-empty teenager main character who acts like a teenage? Check it out, it's great. Power is best girl, obviously.

Kamen Rider Drive- Kat really really really likes it! The costume is great, and it's pretty much Super Sentai meets Hot Wheels.

Some More News It's a left-leaning news-ish comedy show, but if that's your thing it's both funny and poignant.

Keep Your Hands off Eizoken Our main takeaway is that the visuals are stunning and that intro song is amazing. Only 12 episodes, and definitely worth a watch.

Main Episode starts at 21:48

There's a lot to unpack this episode, from Kuma's attack, to the revelation that Kuma is a robot, to Zoro's sacrifice, to more of Brook's backstory. We find out Kaido is one of the emperors, and Ace's very life might be in danger! Also, be warned, this episode does venture into some spoiler territory from about 43:48 - 44:46. Kat doesn't go into too many specifics, but we wanted to warn you ahead of time.

Thoughts From the Crew starts at 1:07:48

Here's King of the What Now's top 5 rejected theories for what the D initial could stand for:

Data-This would mean all of One Piece is a computer program, and we just couldn't advocate for that. Though that could mean that there's an executable Buggy.exe. That part is believeable.
Defenstration- We're all for throwing people out of windows if it's for comedy, and it's a great word. But we have to ask... if that was the case, wouldn't we have more examples of people being thrown out of windows? Especially the bad apples of One Piece.
Dandy or Dapper- no one is arguing that Luffy doesn't know how to dress. But he's no Sanji, Doflamingo, Crocodile, etc. We'd expect the different D's to dress better, if this was the root of their power or their heritage.
Dichotomy- Look, whoever submitted this was clearly trying to impress their English teacher. Yes, there's a lot of dichotomy in One Piece, from Pirates and Marines, to ne'er do wells and... e'er do wells, dichotomy between Luffy and Buggy, or Luffy and Blackbeard... But do you really expect Ace, Garp, Luffy, Dragon, and Saul to know the word Dichotomy? I don't think so.
It's supposed to be an O but someone wrote it down wrong and now it looks like a D- this would be an excellent move for Oda to pull, and would prevent many from outright guessing the ending of the series. But surely Someone would have noticed, right? Especially since this universe seems to rely more on oral history. I don't expect someone to mishear an "O" as a "D." Just saying.

Chatting with the Hosts starts at 2:03:

My Next Life as a Villainess - This show instantly captured Joel's heart, and all of the characters are so cute! The first season has completed and we'd recommend it.

Fruits Basket - a remake of a Shōjo anime, with transforming animal people? It's more likely than you think! If you want a relaxed-pace slice of life, this might be for you.

Full Spectrum Podcast Stream: Streaming every Tuesday at 7 PM CDT, it's a pretty chill hang out, it's mostly discussions about video games and occasionally sports.

Main Episode starts at 7:05.5

Shadow Luffy, Engorged Moria, and Big Emperor- it's an episode of intense transformations and... philosophy, actually. We discuss shadows and their relations to souls and willpower. Plus, there's a lot of badassery between Straw Hat combo attacks and Moria's declaration that he doesn't fear death.

Thoughts From the Crew starts at 53:40

Madoka Magica is famous for its subversion of the Magical Girl genre. It explores themes of hope and despair, and delves a little deeper into these themes. It also had a sequel movie and a spin off gatcha game that's recently been adapted into an anime!

The important time stamps:

33:24- Our discussion of the Madoka Magica Movie
1:00:40- Our discussion of Magia Record

We discuss all three, why we love the original series, and whether the movie and spin off are improvements for the series or disappointing. Other topics discussed (spoiler warning):

Is Kyubey Evil?
Is this series a love letter to the Magical Girl genre, or is it an argument against the genre?
Can selflessness actually be selfish?
Did the Rebellion movie change the characterization of Homura, or was it consistent
What would OUR spin off look like, or where else would we want the series to go?

Other links that may interest you: * The legendary Big Cake song from the Rebellion movie. * A video on the Sympathetic Characterization in Madoka Magica (and how that contrasts with the show Magical Girl Site) by Youtuber ExplanationPoint * A video on Homura's characterization in Rebellion, by youtuber pawndidater

Chatting with the Hosts starts at 2:12.5

Kaguya Sama Season 2 If you enjoy a good laugh, this just might be the show for you. It's gut-busting good, and the laughs only hit harder in season 2.

Pre Cure - Pre Cure is really great! Watch Pre Cure, and be sure to support the legally available Healin' Good Pre Cure on Crunchyroll. We love, love, love Star Twinkle Pre Cure and Kira Kira Pre Cure A La Mode. We've since started Go Princess PreCure and Witchy PreCure, and they are great.

The Couple Next Door Another thriller/mystery recommended for those who enjoyed Gone Girl- Kat didn't like it as much, and she's always hunting for more recommendations.

Main Episode starts at 6:22.5

We're excited to start the main attack on Thriller Bark! Sanji vs. Absalom, Chopper and Robin vs. Hogback and Cindry, Zoro vs. Ryuma, Usopp vs. Perona. And of course.. Luffy fighting shadows.

We love and appreciate Usopp's secret weapon: he's imperverious to Perona's hollows? What a brilliant twist! Plus, Sogeking appears mid battle and aids our nervous sniper! We're also not shy in our hatred for Hogback, and we talk about Oda's use of violence against women to demonstrate a character is evil. We do not care for that pattern at all. And on a lighter note, we wonder how exactly Hogback came to live on Thriller Bark.

Thoughts From the Crew starts at 52:58.5

Hello? Hello, can anyone hear me? I was just running to school (I slept in late again, whoops!) with a piece of toast in my mouth when suddenly I was abducted by aliens! This episode description is the only way I can communicate with the world outside the spaceship. I think they want to turn me into some kind of alien super soldier to fight some incoming invasion!

Hello fellow adventurers, welcome to KotWN's return to the Pokemon world! We share our thoughts on Gen 8, including new favorite pokemon, new favorite gym leaders, favorite aspects of the game and more! We do also touch on the Dexit controversy and our thoughts on it. We even do a little head-canon fanfiction exercise on what our perfect pokemon games could look like.

At around 57:39 we wrap up our discussion of Sword and Shield and switch to speculation on a One Piece Pokemon crossover, including what type of pokemon Cropper, Vivi, Robin, and Franky might use, as well as the antagonists. It turns out the main antagonists are easy to define, as are the straw hats, but we come up a little short when discussing the supporting antagonists.

Also mentioned during the episode are the Lockstin & Gnoggin Youtube channel, with extensive videos on pokemon theories and origin of their designs, as well as JelloApocalypse's excellent Let's Make a Pokemon Game, both of which we highly recommend

Chatting with the Hosts starts at 2:20.5

The Secret Commonwealth - That's right, Phillip Pullman's His Dark Materials series is back with a second trilogy! And this one has fairies and spies!

Pre Cure - please, we're begging you. Watch Pre Cure, and be sure to support the legally available Healin' Good Pre Cure on Crunchyroll. We love, love, love Star Twinkle Pre Cure and Kira Kira Pre Cure A La Mode. We'll be tackling other shows in the series soon, we're sure.

Luckiest Girl Alive - Recommended for those who like Gyllian Flynn's Gone Girl. It's a mystery/thriller, but Kat is unsure where it's going as she's still early in it.

Main Episode starts at 5:42.5

Covering episodes 345-354, the Straw Hats begin to learn about Thriller Bark, and we actually love Moria's group of misfits. We learn more about Brook, from a promise he made to a familiar whale-shaped face, and we discuss how he and Zoro will get along as two swordsmen. We also ponder if Brook can build strength without any muscles- yohoho! Lola's introduction also causes us to reflect on Absalom and the wider topic of Oda's treatment of female characters. Oh also we have to plug Bill Wurtz’s History of Japan if you haven't watched it, please do so.

Thoughts From the Crew starts at 57:01.5

Joel was thinking of drawing a picture entitled "leggy bois," and it would clearly include Sanji, Doflamingo, and Ao Kiji, but who else might be a good fit? He thinks Eggman/Robotnik would fit too, and of course you could throw Cinderace in there. But there must be other good leggy bois out there.

Chatting with the Hosts starts at 2:42

Gyllian Flynn’s Gone Girl- a very well written psychological thriller. Kat did not care for the movie adaptation, but it does exist if you prefer a movie to a book.

Is It Wrong To Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon?- Not Joel's favorite, but he did appreciate one particularly memorable scene near the end of the first season.

Paramecia Cast- we were invited on as guests for an episode with these fine folks! Give them a listen if you're hungry for more One Piece content. Even better, they're discussing the latest chapters so you need no fear spoilers!

JoJo Part 6: Stone Ocean. We're still early on in the reading, but it hasn't quite gripped us yet.

New Shonen Jump manga! Guardian of the Witch, Mashle: Magic and Muscles, Moriking, and Bone Collector. Joel would really highly recommend Mashle and Moriking. Between recording this episode and uploading it, Guardian of the Witch was prematurely cancelled- so we'll also plug Magu-chan: God of Destruction, which only has one chapter at the moment, but it is very funny and we highly recommend it.

Black Clover- Joel is loving the current arc, and is excited to talk about the show in depth in a later bonus episode.

We'll also be talking about Pre Cure not just in this episode but fairly often these next few episodes. Kat is watching Kira Kira Pre Cure A La Mode, while Joel is checking out Star Twinkle Pre Cure. And we both love what we're seeing so far.

Main Episode starts at 20:40

Oh boy, we are excited for this arc to begin! We geek out about Ian Sinclair's voice acting as the talking, humming skeleton Brook! We love the comedy throughout these episodes and the amazing theming. There's also a handful of residents of Thriller Bark we can discuss. Although the talk does become serious as we talk about Absalom's assault on Nami and Robin, and how we feel about it. We also ask ourselves the age old question: "What's up with all these ghosts?"

Thoughts From the Crew starts at 1:23:00.5

Seriously, what should we put here? Movie Reviews? WHat we had for lunch? We had chicken alfredo for dinner, and it was delicious! We have to eat gluten free, but we've honestly forgotten what "normal" noodles taste like, and it's great. That's one great thing about celebrities getting into the fad, it means more companies are investing into options that are healthy for those with Celiac's Disease.

It's the first episode of season 5, and boy do we have a lot to cover! It contains our first ever commissioned piece of music- which has become our first musical outro, Chatting with the Hosts starts at 00:06:14.5: Mashin Sentai Kiramager- heck yeah, it's good! Unfortunately there aren't any legal streaming services through which one can watch this show in the United States. Joel especially enjoys the use of gems- he's always been a sucker for that motif.
Magia Record: Puella Magi Madoka Magica Side Story - The first season of a spin-off series of Madoka Magica, based on a phone game. We liked some of the strange rumor-based powers, but found there were a few too many characters introduced in too short a period for us to completely love it. The Full Spectrum Podcast - A podcast with 3 nerdy hosts, livestreaming every Tuesday around 7:00 PM CDT. They talk a lot of games and tokusatsu, and we love hanging out with them!

Scott Pilgrim Comic Books - They're great. Please read Scott Pilgrim, and feel free to shout some quotes at Joel on Twitter any time, any day.

One Punch Man Manga - You want good laughs? You want amazing art? You want great heroes? This manga is great. You simply have to see the panel art to believe it. Also Genos best girl, you heard it here folks.
Main Episode starts at 15:17 The crew find themselves in the sinister grips of an evil bounty-hunting family... and also, we get more Chopperman fighting a climactic battle against Usodaba. Very thrilling stuff. As always with filler, we ask ourselves how well it was handled, and we ultimately decide.... yeah, Puzzle isn't our favorite filler character. You know what rocks, on the other hand? The Franky Shogun robot, and the dreadful... fanged penguin! The fabled enemy of pirates all around the world. We also got a new opening, so we discuss Jungle P. Thoughts From the Crew starts at 42:30 Should we put any content in this section? Should we shout people out for asking questions, maybe just post the general topics? Or is this area our playground, a place where we can write anything we want? Well, we have been secretly working on a Sanji x Princess Rosalina fanfic, set in the future. "Oh, My sweet, darling Prince," Rosalina said as she sank into the arms of the strong cook, his clothes smelling of spaghetti....

With everything that is happening right now, we just wanted to inject some humor into the world. Stay safe, fellow adventurers, from both the COVID19 pandemic, as well as from any danger arising in your area related to the protests against police brutality.

Black Lives Matter, and the best way we'll make it through this is together, watching each others' backs.

Chatting with the hosts starts at 3:24

We've been enjoying the latest season of Pretty Cure: Healin' Good Precure! We love it, we love the designs and the adorable animal fairies.

Also we recommend Galavant, a musical satire of the knight's journey.

Main episode starts at 8:06

This episode covers a lot of ground! Er... Sea. We learn about the Four Emperors, some government secrets, the New World, Revolutionaries, and some guy named Dr. Vegapunk! Tune in as we attempt to unpack all of that. Although we do speculate a little about what the other emperors may be like.

Oh! And Franky joins the crew! And builds the new ship for the crew. And Usopp apologizes and rejoins the crew. Oh, and we have new bounties for the crew.

We also talk at length about Blackbeard and, surprisingly Shanks. What's Blackbeard planning? How does his fruit work? What does his battle with Ace mean for the world?

Chatting with the Hosts Starts at 2:49.

Haikyuu – Kat really likes it. Joel is lukewarm, so far, but they'll continue to watch

No Game No Life – too much fanservice for some, but good world building. It's interesting to see how the heroes win their battles.

The Overly Cautious Hero – Isekai parody series. It's laugh out loud good!

Main episode starts up at 11:42

We bid goodbye to Merry, the Straw Hat crew's faithful ship with a tearful funeral procession, and we look back at Enies Lobby, including the battles, what makes it so great, and we speculate how Lucci and Crocodile would battle each other.

We also take a casual stroll down memory lane with the 8th movie, which is literally just the final battle in Alabasta. We talk Mr. 2's power, pell's sacrifice, and oh yeah, we briefly talk about Subs and Dubs. On that note, we suggest watching Explanation Point's videos on how translations can subtly change a character. He's also broached the subject in regards to Else in the original Frozen.

Chatting with the host starts at 2:35

Joel and Kathryn have started Tokusatsu. Though they're lukewarm on Kamen Rider Ex Aid, they love Ressha Sentai ToQger. So all aboard as they gush about that! We also talk The Subtle Knife, second book in the His Dark Materials Trilogy. Joel also talks about his love for JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Battle Tendency, as young Joeseph Joestar has and always will be his favorite Joestar. ALso, some exciting news, Joel is attempting to learn to draw! Follow his second account Joel_Can't_Draw if you want to see his creations

Main episode starts at 20:53

These episodes are an emotional rollercoaster for all involved! Gasp in surprise as we learn Kokoro is a mermaid, gasp in horror as one of Zoro's swords is destroyed, and whoop as Usopp- former heart of the crew- shows us why he's so good and Luffy finishes his battle! We also ponder if Zoro is cheating by using the three sword style, as well as what makes Lucci the most special CP9 agent.

Chatting With the Hosts starts at 9:13

What sort of shows are we planning on watching? Kathryn is interested in Haikyuu, as she has never gotten into sports, and Joel wants to start Gintama, having heard great things. We also talk about Cautious Hero, which plays off of the tropes of Isekai ("Trapped in Another World") genre, and Madoka Magica, which plays off of the tropes of the magical girl genre.

Main episode starts at 13:51
We start off with a discussion of Jipang, and the surprise appearance of best Davey Back themed villain Foxy! We also discuss what a satisfying arc in this world might be, and a certain former Warlord of the sea is mentioned.

We also discuss romance- as in, who we ship with Robin. Lucci is, of course, a hot topic of discussion, and his martial arts seem to be doing more and more impossible things. But also, Luffy is inflating at an alarming rate! Don't worry, it's all part of his plan, probably.

Chatting With the Hosts starts at 3:48

We talk Promare, The Magicians, Parks and Rec, and Ressha Sentai ToQger

The main episode begins at 22:23

This episode is Zoro and Sanji loving hours, and they bust out new techniques! We discuss who had the cooler power up scene, and how Zoro's Asura technique works. We also see Luffy's Second Gear technique and Lucci officially enters his leopard form. Things are really heating up now!

Chatting With the Hosts starts at 2:26

We talk the stunningly beautiful Tale of Princess Kaguya, the film Lupin the III and the Castle of Caligrosto, the intense feelings inspired by Anohana and the Flower We Saw that Day, and Joel talks a bit about Black Clover again.

The main episode begins at 12:44

This episode mainly focuses on Kalifa and Nami, and we discuss new powers on both sides of the battlefield! We discuss whether the power of soap and the power of being slippery are at all related, and we celebrate Nami coming into her own weather witch powers! Also featured is Chopper's Monster Point and a discussion of where it will pop up in the future, as well as the philosophy of justice. Eventually we use it to hate on Spandam some more

Chatting with the hosts starts at 2:04

We talk Hazbin Hotel, and are absolutely in love with Alastor the Radio Demon. Joel has continued to watch Black Clover and loves 2 new characters: Mereoleona Vermillion and Zora Ideale. We also discussing plans to be more focused and get more running done!

Regular episode resumes at 20:39

The Succinct Summary Rap is at 21:22 - 22:31

Franky gets a lot of focus this episode, given his was the main fight and also because his fuel affects his personality, apparently?? Chopper uses the forbidden technique despite his sensei's warnings, and we suspect Kalifa is trying to woo Nami. Plus, Usopp becomes a sword, and we wonder who really should have been handcuffed together for maximum hilarity. Also, who (besides Spandam) is the stupidest member of CP9?

We have a mega sized episode to finish out 12 days of KotWN bonus episode! We talk about previous bonus episodes, we talk about Christmas and how some of its ideas might lend themselves to the One Piece world, and we talk about looking ahead to future episodes and our New Years Resolutions!

But perhaps most importantly is our charity fundraiser to help find a cure for Type 1 Diabetes. Donation page is here

Talking about past episodes starts at 4:27
Talking about One Piece Christmas starts at 21:12
Talking about future episodes or specials starts at 1:03:47
Talking about tips for New Years Resolution starts at 1:22:29

A few other discussion points brought up:

Passion is what's important to us as we podcast. We'll be focusing on series that get us excited moving forward, and we'll look for it in any guests we invite on in the future.
Pokemon is one of our favorite series and it is highly probable that it will come up on the show again. Same with author Brandon Sanderson.
Who is the Grinch of the OP universe? Who is the Scrooge?
How does Zeff show his love for Sanji or his chefs near the holidays?
Which Straw Hats believe in Santa?
What would Santa be like in the OP universe?
What other series might we want to talk about? What genres or creators are interesting to us?
We want to be more positive! We want to create better content! More guests!
Remember, for new goals, it's best if they are S.M.A.R.T
Don't get discouraged if you don't stick to your goals 100% every moment of every day- change is hard, set backs happen. What's important is planning on how to deal wish such setbacks.
Small steps are important when working towards big goals
We personally recommend calories in vs. calories out as the most effective diet. But hey, we aren't certified experts

From everyone at King of the What Now to all of our wonderful listeners, happy holidays, thank you for your support, and see you next year! We're grateful for every listen and any time we can help spread smiles and laughter

This bonus episode takes a wider look at shonen battle anime, of which One Piece is just a single (and arguably best) series. We talk Dragon Ball Z, Naruto, Fairy Tail, History's Strongest Disciple, Bleach, My Hero.

We discuss the tropes we enjoy from these series, as well as what makes the best rival and antagonist characters. So take off those training weights, prepare the forbidden technique your master warned you against using recklessly, and let's head into battle with someone who has our exact same abilities but even stronger, and better hair!

Join us for our first ever guest appearance from none other than the internet's Grant, host of both the Super Sentai Podcast as well as the Blade Licking Thieves podcast. We don't have a specific topic of conversation, so we chat about lots of things: Tokusatsu, isekai anime trends, Evangelion (which is, definitively, not a mecha anime), Fruits Basket as well as Full Moon Wo Sagashite. We're thrilled by his positivity, and we discuss what it means to be an oldtaku.

Other series we discuss or recommendations from our hosts:

Deadly Seven Sins Season 2
Kakuranger
Gigguk's Evangelion Abridged
Kamen Rider Build
Madoka Magica Puella

In the last bonus episode with Curtis, we tackle the 4 novella science fiction series The Murderbot Chronicles by Martha Wells. It stars an introverted security bot (sec unit) that discovers it may care more about its human companions than it had once believed. And corporations are too big to fail and are putting the lives of their employees at risk. It's a story of directly exploring emotions, and we love it. Also, we talk about the difference of fantasy and science fiction

It's time to power up with this SUPER episode that finally gives Joel what he's wanted all along: canonical Gogeta! Kat's out sick so it's up to Joel and Curtis to power up and face this challenge. The Dragon Ball Super folks attempt to make Broly more interesting in his canonical debut, Freeza is back for shenanigans, and, you know, we have an action packed movie that's 70% movie and 5000% Hype. HIIII-YAAAAAAAAAH!!

Gosh do we have a lot to talk about, which makes sense considering we're covering 2 movies, wow! We discuss Thanos as a villain, whether or not Thor is an interesting character, and how we might integrate One Piece into various elements of the MCU.

The youtube video mentioned can be found here

If you enjoyed our discussion of the first season of the Expanse, then gosh do we have good news for you! This season includes more space Zombies and increased stakes as tension continues to climb! Sadly, it does not seem that Miller and Holden have developed super powers from the radiation... yet.

Chatting with the Hosts starts at 2:41

We briefly discuss our plans for NaNoWriMo (sadly, neither of your hosts made much progress this year)

We're making progress on reading Paul Kreuger's Steel Crow Saga

The final season of Bojack Horseman has started, and we're looking forward to the closure it may bring for the characters, and the depiction of self-improvement as work.

Briefly mentioned is the His Dark Materials Trilogy, which is both a book series and a TV show on HBO

Regular Episode Starts at 12:52.5

We suffer through some flashback episodes in this one, folks. However, as if in reward for our suffering, we also get 5 utterly bizarre omakes, so at least it's not completely treading water. Then, we get to the real fun as Luffy and crew crash into the Tower of Law! We discover the secret of Funkfried the elephant, and Kaku's devil fruit ability. It's a regular menagerie over here!

This episode will take you to Whole New Worlds, so please, Be Our Guest, and remember, you Ain't Never Had a Podcast Like Us. Actually, we make far fewer Disney puns in this episode, but we do discuss Kingdom Hearts 3, and once more Joel is the closest to a well-read fan, while Curtis has played without following the story too closely and Kat has never played but enjoys the story. Lot of fanfiction moments in this episode, folks!

For this episode, we're bringing you discussion of not 1, but 3 rom-com shows with different levels of comedy and fan-service. Though To-Love-Ru almost killed us, we found a way to persevere. THe other 2 series: The World God Only Knows and Ouran High School Host club. In addition to discussing what we liked or didn't from each series, we bring in discussion of One Piece. What would their host-club personalities be like?

It's time for Kat's pick for a bonus episode, and we chose the second Equestria Girls movie! We try and see if Curtis (completely removed from this series) can name the mane 6 characters and their elements of friendship/harmony, and Joel has a fanfic moment about "Shadow Luffy"- or would it be... Luffy Black? Nega Luffy? Anti Luffy? Yfful?

So join us for some great laughter (and, we suppose, generosity, kindness, honesty, loyalty, and magic)!

Curtis takes the space-helm in this episode, and this time Joel is the newbie! It's also our first science fiction based bonus episodes, and it turns out Joel is a larger fan of fantasy, while this is Curtis's bread and butter. We discuss how drab and hopeless the future seems to be, moral relativity, and racial tensions, the old stable of speculative fiction. Joel predicts space Hulks and space Cthulu in future seasons. Plus, Holden and Miller should kiss.

Welcome to the very first bonus episode we ever recorded. We apologize if the audio is not what you expect- it's something of a time capsule for our old set up. But more importantly, pokemon! It's a huge series with which your hosts each have some familiarity- some strong, some not as much. So enjoy as we talk cross overs and whether this long running series could work well with the other long running series near and dear to our hearts. Pocket Pirates? Pirate Monsters? Either way it'll be a blast!

Chatting with the Hosts starts at 2:19

We have a lot to talk about this week!

We're both big fans of Stephen King's Needful Things, though we do wonder if perhaps Mr. King is insane, as one does.

We enjoy Pretty Cure alright, but are a little worried it's too episodic, which isn't always our favorite style of story telling.

My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic has had its end, which had been a large part of Kathryn's life for a time.

And Lastly, Joel has continued his watch-through of Black Clover, and has made it to the arc with the Witch Queen- he's a huge fan of how those episodes play out.

Regular episode resumes at 21:21

And boy, there's a lot of information to be had! Robin's backstory plays out, delivering world building, more moral viewpoints to consider, and we see first hand the tragedy of the buster call. We also meet Saul, who is notably the first Giant with the D initial, and the first Giant in the marines proper. We also ponder the use of the word "devil" or "demon" throughout One Piece, and we talk about the importance of flags.

Chatting with the Hosts starts at 2:27
We discuss: the Black Clover anime, Paul Kreuger's Steel Crow Saga, and Kat's first step on her Inuyasha journey.

Regular episode resumes at 17:36

Luffy has evolved one step further in this episode. We also celebrate the greatness of Sodom, Gamorrah, Sogeking, and Franky being a feral biter! Plus, we get plenty of stuff to speculate, such as what devil fruit powers Kaku and Kalifa will get, what's inside Devil Fruits, and if Zoro is manifesting a new power!

We introduce a new segment, "Chatting with the Hosts" and will use time stamps moving forward.

Chatting with the Hosts starts at 9:46
We discuss: the Black Clover anime, Futari wa Pretty Cure, Pierce Brown's Iron Gold (and the Red Rising series in general), Paul Kreuger's Steel Crow Saga and Last Call at the Nightshade Lounge, and Rustage's Straw Hat Pirates Rap Cypher

Regular episode resumes at 25:58
This episode has 3 headed-judges, flying trains, giants, and the moment for Water 7 and Franky Family having their moment to shine. Also, the 3 members of CP9 we meet this episode are weird. Like, REALLY Weird. And One Piece has... Power Levels??

In a break from our typical format, we discuss the fourteenth One Piece movie: Stampede, and we allow ourselves to break our no-spoilers rule, so if you're not caught up on the series, maybe give this one a pass. This was a celebration of 20 years of the One Piece anime, and we take a deep dive into everything we loved, and things we felt held it back. So strap in and enjoy this special episode

The show bids farewell to its One Piece Casual. Though the crew is now smaller, we shall continue to sail towards the horizon

Everyone's on trains in this episode: Good guys, bad guys, main characters, support characters. Among the many wonderful new faces is one that bears a striking resemblance to a former crew member. Just who IS Sogeking, and WHERE is Sniper Island?? We also discuss Wanze (the rollerblading noodle chef who shoots ramen from his nose) and his stupid face, Nero (The "Sea Weasel") and what is wrong with his face, and we discuss whether friendship lasers are believable or not. And we discuss Zoro's many moments to shine. Strap in, folks, this episode might come with some sea turbulence.

We explore yet another One Piece movie and the New Years special that sees the Straw Hats in an Alternate Universe! We generally like Chief Luffy, but are a bit more critical of the adventure on Mecha Island. We talk about... Turtle Cloacas, bad mysteries, TAKING OVER THE WORLD.... with a Turtle, and Jiggle Physics. Yes, we're fine, why are you asking?

It's a jam packed episode this week, folks. Luffy and Zoro reclaim their confidence when they hear of Robin's true motives, Zoro seems to be developing a sixth sense for cursed blades, and we're reunited with the chef with the twirly eyebrows. We also ponder nautical terms, and wonder Geese can be classified as boats. Also, Jimmy Neutron and Fairy Tail references this week.

It's time for another trip to flash back land, where we meet two new characters. Join us as we come to the realize that weapons... can be used as weapons, and even more government corruption is revealed, what a shocker! Also, we predict Usopp will return as a martial arts master, allowing Luffy to win the tournament!

At long last, we get to see the faces behind the masks of the CP9, and they're familiar to a lot of us! We discover what Iceberg has, and whether or not it's Robin's soul in a jar, and we get super amazing kung fu powers! The action is really ramping up, and the building is going to blow in just a few more minutes!

Joel and Kat attended Kuro Neko Con, and talked about what makes One Piece so great, and why it has remained so popular after 20+ years of publication. They also talk spoilers, end-of-series theories, and take audience questions. Warning, here there be spoilers for the entire series, not just what had been previously covered.

This episode has a lot of silliness from the three hosts, including speculation about Mayoral Murder groups, and a badly sung opening. But really, that's just to offset all the unease that's going around town. Iceberg was almost murdered, and the Straw Hats are taking the heat for it! Plus, Franky is a Cyborg??

This is an emotional episode for all involved, lovely readers. Usopp has even more violence incited upon him! TH=he Monster Trio and special guest Chopper break the Franky family! Usopp and Luffy duke it out!

But this episode isn't all somber reflection and tears, we also briefly consider whether Franky is made out of Spinach, and whether Iceburg may have Robin's soul in a jar! Things are getting intense, but you can count on us to grit and bear it and muck it all up with bad jokes!

This episode is something of a double header, combining our thoughts on the sixth One Piece Movie (Baron Omatsuri's Secret Island), as well as our introduction to Water 7. We meet lots of colorful new characters, including a pigeon that controls the minds of men, and a... bunny... cat? Curtis weaves a tale of the Capulets and the Romulans, we uncover a secret society of nine celestial ponies, and Joel discovers Venice in the real world was based off of the fictional city of Water 7. Wow!

If you want to hear our longer, original discussion of One Piece movie 6. please do visit our Patreon and consider supporting us.

This episode of the podcast is brought to you by pheasants. Yes, pheasants. We realize we know nothing about them, and also we're getting sick of Foxy. The good news is he isn't here for long, and we can instead talk about admiral Aokiji. We play the prediction game of what the admirals will be like, and we get some hints about Robin's past. And Luffy's strangely enough. Did you know he had a grandpa? We sure didn't

We cover a whole filler arc, the Ocean's Dream Arc, and we struggle to find anything nice to say about it, honestly. Joel's disbelief can no longer be suspended, and Curtis accidentally stumbles upon a great new segment: "Buggy Time!" We also later stumble upon the idea of a One Piece centered talk show. In fact, perhaps we should combine those two ideas into one. Buggy Time airing on Primetime television this Winter! Plus, could Robin and Chopper be the ultimate shonen duo?

Just when you thought the Davy Back had concluded, Luffy agrees to 3 more rounds! We get 2 wacky games: Dodgeball and Red Light, Green Light, but then we get to the heart of these episodes: A Mano y Mano Captain versus Captain battle, and Luffy unlocks his inner wildness with a new outfit! We spend a lot of time head canon-ing our own ideas, but not before we give these episodes their proper respect.

We witness 2 more rounds of the Davy Back Fight, and then Luffy... saves a horse. Although this moment is filler, Joel defends it as an interesting reflection of Luffy's character. We also talk about a gamified devil fruit, and the use of time magic by the Straw Hats. Curtis notices that something feels off about that third match, and Joel gushes about that Zoro Sanji team up. ANTI MANNER... KICKA COUUURSE!

A new arc brings a new villain and a new form of pirate battle: The Davy Back fight! We talk about the new opening and closing songs for these episodes, as well as our impressions of how the Davy Back Fights might play out, and how well we think Chopper and Zoro handled their upsetting loss in the first round!

In this episode, we tackle a filler arc in its entirety in one episode! Plus, it's the longest, and potentially, greatest One Piece filler ever! We talk Robin being a clever woman, we talk Luffy and Zoro being sidelined, we talk Sanji reaching peak levels of being annoying, and we talk Chopper's career as an actor! We love Vice Admiral Jonathan, and we also welcome the strongest member of the Straw Hat pirates aboard the crew: Condoriano!

We close out the Skypeia arc with discussion of Eneru as a villain, our thoughts on Jaya/Skypeia as a whole, theories about space and Poseidon! Curtis is unhappy with the warrior giants we saw near the beginning of the series, and we also have tangents aplenty- some focused on mustaches.

Before we can see how the Skypeia arc will end, first it's time for some flash backs! However, we find Calgura and Montblanc Noland to be incredibly interesting. Actually, they're both pretty good looking people, and we agree that Calgura has "Big Bowser" energy. Ho boy, even 400 years ago we have ourselves a grand adventure!

There's a lot to discuss in this episode, and the Straw Hats are managing to just barely keep one step ahead of Eneru! Usopp and Nami show courage, Sanji demonstrates a play, and then we spend some time talking about the time the Straw Hats were in a play. And to top it all off, we compare the cool factor of Zoro and Sanji

We take a break from Sky Island's climactic final battle to watch the sixth one piece movie, ostensibly centering on Zoro... Except it isn't, really. We discuss what worked well about this film, but mostly on where it fell flat. And, of course, we can't discuss non-canon material without once more trying to pitch our own versions of the movie or alternate realities we'd like to see.

Yes, it's time for the final, epic showdown between Luffy and Eneru! Except... it gets cut short, but not before we get TAAAAAKO HAAAANABI! Joel loses his mind, and Curtis briefly considers the possibility of Aisa being a super powerful witch. Conis has a super badass moment, and we also discuss Logias and their natural weaknesses.

The action is really picking up now! The Survival game enters its final round, Zoro and Wyper have gone absolutely crazy in Upper Yard, and Nami and Robin somehow finds themselves among a group of far more blood-thirsty and battle-tested warriors. But it's all okay, because Wyper seems to have KILLED Eneru? Incredible! Also, before his defeat, we see him ranting like a madman- he has entered his second form!

This episode gives Robin her first canonical chance to shine as a Strawhat in combat, giving us a few hints as to this "void century" she's always hinting at. But mostly we just hate on Gedatsu, easily the most useless of Eneru's priests. We also go into which fights we've found the most entertaining thus far, being particularly grateful that the less fight-oriented members of the crew have been holding their own.

This thrilling episode brings you a heated 3 way death battle in God's land! Eneru predicts that the fighters will be reduced to just 5 members in 3 hours time, and also he has GOAT PEOPLE under his command??? What nonsense is this! We also talk about the new opening and closing songs, and we discuss whether Buggy and Alvida are the Team Rocket of One Piece.

Oh! And Zoro totally gets a long range attack. With his swords. Yup, just another day in anime pirate land.

The battle with Satori rages and reaches its conclusion. Plus, Nami makes a startling discovery about the so-called "vearth" up in Skypeia. What all could it mean?!? But more importantly than that, we have a mother-flippin' WOLF PARTY on our hands! Will Nami meet the wolf man of her dreams? What sort of things would we put in our surprise balls? How would the Straw Hats serve Luffy if he were bestowed the title of god and they were his priests? All this and more in this week's episode!

In this episode Luffy, Usopp and Sanji attempt to fight an opponent who appears to be psychic?? We speculate about a viable strategy to defeat this opponent, and Curtis is asked to predict how similar the other 3 priests will be to Satori. We also cleverly deduce Eneru is nothing more than a rogue AI controlling an orbital satellite, and we talk about Straw Hat crew member fusions.

We've made it to the skies in this episode, a place that has masked warriors, a sky night and his terrifying bird-horse, and... angels? Worry not folks, we're fairlycertain the crew didn't die on the trip up the knock up stream, but you never know. Plus, the straw hat crew are already criminals on the sky island? That totally changes... nothing for the crew, really. Oh, and did we mention god might be the Big Bad for this arc?! Holy smokes, potentially literally!

We have so much to talk about this episode. "Pirate Santa" is revealed to be none other than Marshal; D. Teach, AKA Blackbeard! A villainous D? Say it ain't so! And all those other Jaya weirdos are all part of his crew! We talk Whitebeard's first appearance, we talk Blackbeard's crew and their aesthetic, we talk about the Shichibukai/Seven Warlords, the Gorosei/Five Elder Stars, and Fleet Admiral Sengoku! So much "stuff" to discuss!

Before we can continue our journey towards the Sky Island, we first must embark on the fourth One Piece movie! We see a glimmer of hope lost in the writing, pacing, and characterization, but we have fun imagining what this movie could have been in an alternate reality. So get ready to listen to us spend too much time talking about furnaces, and just bashing pretty much everything in this movie except the concept!

We've managed to escape the terror filled waters that is the Filler Ocean, and get to meet a bunch of brand new characters for our 50th episode! We've got Pirate Santa, someone who calls himself Bellamy the Hyena, a luchador, you name it! Plus, we play some extra exciting trivia games with Curtis.

Thank you for joining us for 50 episodes. Truly, our listeners were our greatest treasure this whole time.

Before the real season 3 content can start, our podcasters first must endure one final trial of filler. We have robot suits, time travel, and a rainbow mist, and we have more criticisms than we do praise. Plus, we discover filler names are hard to remember, Plus we talk a little more about Kingdom Hearts.

Look, the actual anime had a plot with an old man and some goats. The goats were cute and Zenny is fine- neither great nor awful. So once again, we get distracted by other topics!

We discuss the series "best girl" so far, we get distracted by Kingdom Hearts for a fair bit, and then focus on who Coby's rival could be, as well as reflecting on Luffy's personality and whether it's a good fit for the role of Pirate King.

Oh, and Kathryn finds us the shadiest of sponsors. We're just going to ignore that

We could dwell on 5 less-than-stellar filler episodes to end the Alabasta saga, or we could discuss the bigger narrative picture. We discuss the importance of children in One Piece, we speculate about future crew members and the state of the Warlords of the Sea, and Vivi's role in the series going forward.

Lastly, if you wish to donate to Joel's Bridgade and help us in our fight against Type 1 Diabetes, please visit https://www2.jdrf.org/site/TR?fr_id=7684&pg=team&team_id=277419

It is, sadly, time to depart from Alabasta, but not before Mr. 2 Bon Clay makes a surprising return! Curtis speculates about future Warlords of the Sea the crew may encounter, and the marines get a lot of focus. Tashigi gets some character growth and Smoker's best friend Hina shows up, along with 2 familiar faces! Get ready folks, Season 2 is quickly coming to an end!

Yes, that's right, the vile Bastard Man (TM) has been bested! Not only that, but we get some major developments. We talk about Tashigi and Smoker's sense of justice, and how their viewpoints might be changing. We discuss Robin's past briefly and then focus on the tantalizing mystery of the poneglyphs. And it's pretty much unanimous that the final Luffy/Crocodile showdown was the best one yet!

The battle for Alabasta continues, and we get a major level-up moment for Zoro, and our favorite rubber man is back on the front line! We discuss Crocodile's showboating nature, the tragedy of Kohza's rebellion, what it means to be a swordsman, and the lengths to which Nami will go to protect Princess Vivi.

The battles for Alabasta are underway, and we have a good time discussing a new intro that reveals... SPOILERS?? What kind of a world is this! Sanji, Chopper, and Usopp get their moments to shine, and we find out that the Alabasta Palace is 4000 years old (incredible!). Curtis thinks he knows what Pluton is, and it might lead to skeleton rave parties. Glowsticks not included in this episode

The stage is set and the battle begins between Luffy and Crocodile! And.... ends with the protagonist... defeated!? Not only is there a dramatic battle, but we also have ducks being the best gosh darn animal companions they can be. This leads into discussions of One Piece animals at large, talk of the deeper lore surrounding devil fruits, and Curtis plays a clever trick when asked to theorize.

For this week's episode, we return to the main canon of One Piece, and most of the straw hats have been captured! We talk a lot about Miss All Sunday, including the strange name of her devil fruit, and the mysterious origin of her bounty. Things in Alabasta are really heating up and we're about to start the climax of the arc!

Chopper becomes king of the animals in the third One Piece movie, and Curtis laments the fact that our furry anime friend didn't get to do much despite it being his movie! Then we move on to talking about soccer and curling, and which villain would be most likely to play tennis? All that and more in this week's episode of King of the What Now!

A lot of philosophy in this episode. Luffy tries to teach Vivi a lesson with his fists, Zoro talks about what teamwork is, Vivi talks about the "shape of a country," And we mostly focus on Crocodile's first real appearance and Toto, the old man with a dream of a prosperous Yuba.

We've done it, folks! The gang has reached 100 episodes of this wacky adventure anime. Not only do we have 4 episodes to discuss- most of which which smell an awful lot like filler, but we also discuss Curtis's journey so far and play a fun little trivia game! Strap in, folks, and prepare for more wild adventures ahead, this is where the podcast REALLY starts

Welcome folks, to the self-proclaimed "Ace Power Hour!" Spend some time with the man we've discovered is Luffy's older brother! And our hosts are having a strange set of deja-vu, but luckily that won't affect the jokes, nor the quality. Also, as a fun little reference joke, we discuss whether devil fruits are physical too!

Our time on drum island comes to a close, and a new chapter begins on the way to Alabasta! We discover the shocking truth of the REAL name of the pirate king, and we spend some time discussing Kathryn's favorite anime husbands from the series- will our three hosts find love among these candidates? Only one way to find out!

Also, it's that special time of year again, Happy 25th of Thanksgiving everyone, from our podcasting family to yours

Chopper debuts his fighting style in this episode, with a 7 form transformation drug! Plus, Wapol shows off some... unusual powers, such as fusing two people into one?? We also ask ourselves, albeit briefly, whether Dr. Kureha could have been a Disney princess in her youth.

This episode focuses on Chopper's character and backstory, and we also discuss the Zoan devil fruit type! Our crew makes it through the thrilling climax of Drum Island, and we discuss Dr. Hiruluk, a fascinating father figure in the One Piece universe

The podcasting crew take the time to appreciate a new arc in the anime, bringing our favorite pirates to a winter island with only one doctor, known to the villages as a witch. We talk shapeshifters, 139 year old witches, and an OC named "Doctor Robot," so it's safe to say we have a little bit of everything in this episode.

The Little Garden arc comes to a dramatic close, and your three co hosts discuss these climactic battles, with some more respect for the giants and Karoo. Plus, our longest-to-date summary, despite Joel's protests that he wants them succinct. What other adventures await us in the future, and what do these three think of the "Spear or Elbaf" utilized by the two giants? Only one way to find out!

Get ready for One Piece's wackiest setting yet: an island with giants and dinosaurs! Oh my! Luffy and Vivi go on an adventure, and our hosts are super proud of Usopp for getting some more character development. We're in love with this arc so far, and the duel definitely dominates the conversation!

The action just continues to ramp up! Luffy and Zoro exchange blows, we meet a mysterious cowgirl, and we even check in with Coby and Helmeppo, who meet a rather eccentric and unforgettable marine vice-admiral, Garp!

We've got ourselves a double header in this episode of the podcast, sorta. We spend some time with Crocus, an old lighthouse keeper and learn the tragic tale of a whale that was seemingly abandoned by its friends. And of course shonen anime hilarity ensues. Then we travel to Whiskey Peak, a town that welcomes pirates?? But there may be more to this welcoming village than one suspects, and soon we're swept up in a mysterious plot involving a princess and secret code names!

This episode covers two specials for the price of one! However, "Jango's Dance Carnival" only lasts for five minutes, leaving your hosts with little to say. More time is spent discussing "Clockwork Island Adventure" which pits the Straw Hat pirates and 2 new characters against the Trump pirates. Your hosts don't really understand the leader's devil fruit, question the aesthetic of one of the minions, and spend a lot of time talking about butts! Just another day on the show, honestly

Every step along the journey known as the East Blue Saga has been leading to this. Reverse mountain looms in the distance, Luffy and his crew are meant to traverse... upwards on a canal that defies all logic. We look forward to what the Grand Line may hold, we look back on the journey and discuss our "rankings" of the current crew members. There's also the Apis and millennial dragon stuff to talk about, but that doesn't feel as exciting as the adventure that awaits.

Before the Straw Hats can make it to the Grand Line, they have to help a little girl who doesn't like pirates- a brand new concept to the One Piece series. We discuss whether Eric is an appropriate name for a villain, and Luffy is apparently capable of understanding dragons. Where could the story possibly go next? Only one way to find out

It's time for another adventure that is not, strictly speaking, from the One Piece anime TV show. Instead, Joel and Curtis explore the special "Adventure in the Ocean's naval." It's got an ancient treasure of the gods, it's got a talking bat, and best of all, it has a pirate whose name is Captain Joke! This episode raises more questions than it can possibly answer, but it's still a fun ride anyways

A lot happens in these episodes of One Piece, so be prepared to be on the edge of your seat. We find out the identity of Sara Hamm, we get a confrontation between Luffy and Buggy, Luffy and Smoker, Zoro and Tashigi, and the appearance of the character with the coolest character name ever! Also diving intervention, screaming tea, and Curtis theorizes about the five categories of devil fruits.

Ah yes, what better way to usher in a new arc than with episodes that feel like filler and focus not on the protagonists, but the miniature version of a clown villain from a couple arcs ago?

Luffy draws ever closer to the Grand Line, our ideas and speculations get even wackier, and we have a special guest co-host this week! Plus, who could the mysterious "Sara Ham" be? Only one way to find out!

The epic conclusion to the arc where One Piece "really begins!" We explore how the Luffy Arlong battle was awesome despite it basically lacking choreography or complexity one sometimes expects from a shonen battle anime. Plus, is Along even more of a broken record than previous enemies? We certainly think so!

The battle at Arlong Park begins, and Luffy gets himself into trouble because of course he does! Amidst the discussion of whether Sanji's battle was the hardest to believe we also ponder what sort of monsters the straw hat crew members would be. You don't want to miss a second of this action!

We've never seen Joel this excited! Is it because we're entering the climax of this arc, or is it simply the power of 4 protagonists walking in unison to a song he finds particularly invigorating? Tune in to find out, and learn about his particular criteria used to describe someone as a witch, and Curtis comes up with a pretty in-depth theory!

The straw hats are drawing ever closer to the Grand Line, and the show is beginning to ramp up the strange factor! Join us as we discuss sea cows, fish men, Nami's sister, Nami's betrayal, and pinwheels! Oh, and Usopp's death, but that's not nearly as interesting as the possbility of a sentient pinwheel, apparently

This episode features Luffy's toughest challenge yet, but more importantly than that, Joel performs a ritual to summon the mysterious ghost he claims to have heard during editing previous episodes, and he lifts the ban on references to other franchises. Let the pop culture nerdery commence!

It doesn't take long for the situation to go from bad to worse at the Baratie! The ruthless Pirate Commodore Don Kreig appears and threatens to take the Baratie from the chefs! We also get some important backstory for Sanji, but more importantly, the "certain man" Zoro has been searching appears! Plus, Nami betrays the crew?? You won't want to miss these unforgettable moments!

The new adventure begins with a flash back! We meet several figures from Zoro's past, including a hint as to the man he seeks. What kind of trouble will they get into as they travel to the sea-faring restaurant, Baratie? who knows, but you can bet it will end in some sweet punching action, or perhaps some tasty eats!

Curtis and Joel reach another milestone in their one piece review adventure: The first movie of the series! Join the straw hats as they attempt to findd the legendary pirate Woonan, who was said to have collected a third of the world's treasures! We discover that to some people, there are things in life worth more than gold, and maybe that's okay. The cold open is a special one, brought to us by the secret third co-host of the series

The thrilling battle against the Black Cat pirates is here! Kuro continues to show off fancy foot work, Usopp strikes a decisive blow, and the Usopp pirates even manage to help out! We discuss whether Kuro himself is a cat, and the Straw Hats even get a new ship, and we get some backstory for Usopp

Welcome to the new format of the show! Covering episodes 12-14, the fight against the black cat pirates have begun! Usopp is taken out, Zoro loses some prized possessions, and hypnotism is far more useful than one could imagine. The journey will only get more exciting as we push forward with adventure in our hearts!

In this episode nobody seems to believe Usopp (and its no wonder why), so he decides to do the impossible: stop the pirates so that his declaration that pirates are coming will turn out to be a lie after all. We decide it might be best for Usopp to perform a face-heel turn, and discuss the soundtrack song "overtaken", perhaps Joel's favorite in the series

Luffy and Usopp discover the pompous butler is actually a bad guy, who could have guessed! Jango the hypnotist is introduced, and we discuss his many character traits. We discuss whether this episode had a lot of exposition or a lot of exhibition, or maybe both, and pay special attention to a particular crab, and predict crabaggedeon.

The start of a new arc brings new characters! We meet a long-nosed liar, three children named after food, a young lady, a snooty butler, and a moon-walking character is foreshadowed for next episode. We also discuss Luffy's inability to understand lying, and Curtis doesn't know his favorite flavor of cookies, apparently.

We take a break from the main canon of the series and travel back in time... to the first One Piece OVA, which predates the anime itself! Meet the Pirate General Ganzack, who is definitely not a crab! Learn more about Curtis's musical tastes, and observe the most emotional moment yet between everyone's favorite crew of two.

We've reached the conclusion of the Buggy Arc! Tune in to discover how Luffy manages to win this battle. Also, both of your hosts decide to try and flex their ability to write impromptu fanfiction. Joel tells a tragic tale involving One Piece cancer, while Curtis starts with a pun and ends up with a full character arc for someone who will be appearing next episode!

Also, Curtis wants as many utterances of the phrase "Buggy Balls" as possible. His wish shall be granted. Flashy Buggy Balls.

What's the next logical step after defeating a beast tamer? An acrobat swordsman unicyclist, obviously! Zoro gets his time to shine, and we spend some time confused by the fact that a "good" pirate may be a pirate that is a good person, or also a pirate that is good at what they do. Curtis makes a very bad pun. And also escapes, oh no!

Please Note: The audio might sound a little different this episode as we experienced some issues recording. The next episode will be back to our regular quality

This episode still has Luffy in a cage, Zoro wounded from a knife wound... how will the protagonists make it out of this one? We also meet the best MVP to have ever appeared in One Piece: Chou chou the dog! Oh, and Mohji the beasttamer and Richie the Lion, but you're forgetting the most important thing... dog!

In this episode we finally get a name for the mysterious girl- Nami, and we meet the terrible Buggy the Immortal, who may be the flashiest villain yet. We also discuss the currency of the One Piece world and the morality of killing in One Piece.

Joel also goes on a weird tangent about Joe the Family Diner Man, coming out in 2045. We hope you love him despite his odd tangents.

Yet the most important question remains: How Will Luffy and Zoro defeat the new foe?

We meet the Red-haired pirate that inspired Luffy's adventure all those years ago. Plus, if you listen closely, you can hear Curtis’s obnoxious grin in the audio itself of this episode. Tune in to see if you can tell what he’s so pleased about.

We take a moment to preview upcoming changes to our format and ways we hope to improve.

The exciting conclusion to the Zoro arc- and we finally get to see the man in action. The future may be uncertain, but you're certainly welcome to join Joel and Curtis on their adventure!

A new island brings new adventures, and new characters! Joel and Curtis continue their adventure of archiving every episode of One Piece, and Curtis picks a new favorite character!

The journey begins- Joel and Curtis have broken out the audio equipment, and now we get to see what pirating is all about in the world of Echiro Oda's One Piece. Will Monkey D. Luffy be able to defeat Alvida, and will Joel and Curtis be able to strike up a captivating conversation? Only one way to find out!

Two hosts are about to start a new adventure- discussing the anime One Piece- starting all the way at the beginning. Meet the duo who will be running the show, and be sure to tune in next time when we'll be discussing "I'm Luffy! The Man Who Will Be King of the Pirates!"