[S3E4] Question Bucket: Magical Realist Tokusatsu

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 you have mixed feelings about and debating with someone else about different reads, more homie kissing, what kind of albums each member of the 08th MS Team would press. Also, Niamh manages to talk about Icelandic sagas for a bit because fae is extremely that bitch.

We then talk about Connor’s non-anime thing, The Commercial Album by the Residents. We talk a bit about trying to engage with music even when it doesn’t come to you quickly, the history of the Residents as a band and art collective, the racist ethnography of Nanook of the North, the tension between conceptual foundation for an album and the actual experiential quality of listening to an album, Niamh being a bit of an asshole, and the possible influence that the Residents might have had on music that came after.

After that, we discuss Niamh’s non-anime thing, Attack of the Friday Monsters! A Tokyo Tale, but then kinda just be bummers about how neither of us can identify with this sweet and idyllic portrayal of childhood, but also the ways this game still rings true to some of our experiences with media and card games as kids. We also talk about the differences between sugar-coated, gritty, and bittersweet.

We also quickly answer a few questions about tokusatsu (we hate it), magical realism (we love it), and what recent anime we would send through a wormhole to the ‘90s to change anime discourse forever.

You can write into future Question Buckets at [e-mail] and don’t forget to follow us on Twitter!

The Show: @ghostdiverspod
Niamh: @FoxmomNia
Connor: @rabbleais
Garfield Read Aloud: @GarfReadAloud

Works Cited in this Discussion

Brennu-Njál’s saga (a.k.a. Njála)

Hrafnkels saga Freysgoða

Nanook of the North

Suicide by Suicide

“Monster Mash” by Bobby "Boris" Pickett & the Crypt-Kickers

“Come On Feet” by Quasimoto

Silent Shout by the Knife

My Father’s Arms are a Boat by Stein Erik Lunde and Øyvind Torseter

Moonstone: The Boy Who Never Was by Sjón

Danzig Trilogy: The Tin Drum, Cat and Mouse, and Dog Years by Günter Grass

Content Warnings for this Discussion

Mention of abusive relationships and child abuse
Discussion of the difficulties of childhood, neglect, and trauma
Mention of alcohol in the post-ED section

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