Episode Notes

"It is a time when, even if nets were to guide all consciousness that had been converted to photons and electrons toward coalescing, standalone individuals have not yet been converted into data to the extent that they can form unique components of a larger complex."

Dive into Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex!

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Episode Notes

Connor and Niamh discuss episodes 1 through 6 of the first season of Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex. We get into some of the core themes of the show, including the dyadic separation of mind and body, the development of AI sapience, gender and the trans resonance of Major Kusanagi, the dystopia underlying the sheen of GitS:SAC's Japan, a peak at the bleakness of the series overall, its thoughts about ...

Episode Notes

This week, we get deep into episodes 7 through 13 of Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex. We try a little harder this time at doing some recaps but Niamh gets distracted getting right into faer bullshit from the beginning. Connor makes his case for episode 10, but if you are trying to avoid this one, which has some of the roughest content of the series, just know we discuss it from approximately 1:24:54 t...

Episode Notes

We decide that this is just going to be podcast with some long ass episodes and really dig into episodes 14 through 19 of Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex. Before we even get into the episodes, we already have a lot to say about the series and how it relates to the current political reality of when we recorded this episode—which was the day news outlets declared Biden the winner of the 2020 American Pr...

Episode Notes

It’s time to finish out our episode discussions with our breakdown of episodes 20 through 26. We get right into this with high energy because we recorded [S0E1] Welcome to Ghost Divers immediately prior to this recording, so Niamh is already fully on one. Thankfully Connor is here to rein fem in.

We start the discussion by trying to put a bow on Niamh’s theory bullshit with Benjamin and Bazin while Connor get...

Episode Notes

Hello and welcome to this very focused and concise Question Bucket episode. We only got two emails, so we definitely didn’t somehow record for four hours straight in a delirious frenzy of topics.

Anyway, we start with an attempt to encapsulate our read on Major Kusanagi and how it relates to our political worldview, bringing in and diverging toward other topics like Iceland’s Nobel Laureate Halldór Laxness, t...

Episode Notes

Dear Listeners Booting Up This Episode On Their Podcast App of Choice:

The guys that appear in this anime are delinquents. So, please do not, under any circumstances, imitate what you see in this anime.

Dive into Sakigake!! Cromartie High School!

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Release Schedule

[S2E1] In...

Episode Notes

Connor and Niamh can’t remember the name of a song that’s stuck in their heads, so they try to distract themselves by discussing episodes 1 through 13 of the first season of Sakigake!! Cromartie High School.

We start out with the first and really only bit of theory bullshit by talking about the yakuza and yankii genre convention of the giri-ninjo conflict and how it relates to the comedy of Cro High, which we...

Episode Notes

Niamh and Niamh’s Cohost discuss episodes 14 through 26 of the first season of Sakigake!! Cromartie High School.

We take a slightly more synopsis-laden approach this time to try to ground ourselves in the rapidly escalating and (d)evolving world of Cro High, bounding off of topics like Cro High’s use of manzai forms, the literalization of the punchline, the stretching and decontextualization of recurring joke...

Episode Notes

In what is most certainly the rowdiest, most chaotic episode yet, the Ghost Divers are joined by special guest and person who is hosting this podcast on their network in the first place so how is Niamh ever going to say no to them, Autumn Blake!

But before Autumn hops on the call, Niamh and Connor start out with just the regular amount of rowdiness and chaos and get right into the Cro High questions. We start...

Episode Notes

“I’m gonna live! And I’ll marry Aina!”

Dive into Mobile Suit Gundam: The 08th MS Team!

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Release Schedule

[S2E1] Intro: March 19, 2021
[S2E2] Eps. 1–6: April 2, 2021
[S2E3] Eps. 7–12 + Miller’s Report: April 16, 2021
[S2E4] Question Bucket: April 30, 2021

Works Cited

We didn’t really cite any wor...

Episode Notes

Connor and Niamh break the Shinigami curse that killed their first attempt at recording this episode and successfully scribe a podcast episode using the new Record Press technology.

We start off by talking about how really we’re just talking about Mobile Suit Gundam: The 08th MS Team in order to let Connor rant about the first Mobile Suit Gundam and then get into what is probably the most we are probably ever...

Episode Notes

Connor and Niamh are under new direction (maybe this joke will land in the description?) but are back to discuss the final half of Mobile Suit Gundam: The 08th MS Team.

We start with a discussion of the show’s hot springs episode, how the change in director may have changed the handling of various aspects of the series, the relationship between Shiro and Aina, Aina’s attempts to assert herself against her abu...

It’s Question Bucket Time!

As always, we start out by wrapping up our series discussion, including some discussion of The 08th MS Team’s reference to the Vietnam War and whether we think there’s anything even there or if US viewers just jump to Vietnam because it is our jungle war but not necessarily Japan’s jungle war, why we chose The 08th MS Team despite knowing a lot of people are down on it, the value of talking about things y...

Do you want to become one with us? To be of one mind and body? It’s a very, very comforting feeling. Email us anytime. Come dive with us into Neon Genesis Evangelion. Just relax and release your soul.

Release Schedule

[S1E1] Intro: April 30, 2020
[S1E2] Eps. 1–6 + manga chs. 1–19 (vols. 1–3): May 14, 2021
[S1E3] Eps. 7–13 + manga chs. 20–26 (vol. 4): May 28, 2021
[S1E4] Eps. 14–20 + manga chs. 27–51 (vols. 5–8)...

Episode Notes

Welp, here we go... I hope you aren’t interested in hearing two people talk a bunch about the lore of Neon Genesis Evangelion because that’s not at all what we’re interested in. But if you’re here for people talking about trauma, the indoctrination of toxic masculinity, and the nature of the fractured self, Connor and Niamh have got you covered.

We start out with Niamh describing the time fae went to pick up ...

Episode Notes

We are back once again with our discussion of episodes 7 through 13 of Neon Genesis Evangelion. These may be what are generally considered the lightest, most slice-of-life/monster-of-the-week episodes of the show, but Niamh and Connor know what this show is and is going to be, so this episode is still plenty dark. Niamh being her most messy Misato when fae recorded this probably didn’t help.

We start our disc...

Episode Notes

We are back again and ready to dive into the back half of Neon Genesis Evangelion with episodes 14 through 20.

We start by looking at what actually turned out to be a fairly interesting clip show episode and use it to spring into a discussion of the shift towards greater interiority and the developing undercurrents in the second half of the series; the growing characterization of Rei; Misato and Kaji as a (no...

Episode Notes

We are joined by our first-ever guest on Ghost Divers, Brad Nelson, to discuss episodes 21 through 26 of Neon Genesis Evangelion! They are the person who first got Niamh into anime, so it’s very poignant and meaningful that they are definitely the first-ever guest on the podcast and didn’t at all get usurped by some brat who just decided to join to talk about Final Fantasy VIII on a complete whim.

We also get...