ACCA 13 Discussion & Review | Anime Watch Club - What Do You Say Anime!?

Episode Transcript
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(00:23):
Now, ladies and gentlemen, welcome to Anime Watch Club, a
bi weekly group discussion and review.
We're the host of the Wasting Anime Podcast.
Nominate and vote on shows either we haven't seen or
hopefully lead to a great discussion.
Today's episode the bread boys of the Way You Say Anime Podcast
will be reviewing the 2017 animeAKA 13.
Let's me say secret pure bloodedRoyals.
First up, he was promoted due tohis hatred of Pupernickel bread.

(00:45):
We got JJ how's it going? Oh and wow, honestly really
enjoyed the show. An ironic hidden gem in my
opinion. Awesome to hear.
Next up, inspired by AKA, a landthat named itself after an
extinct bird, he named his 3D printing company Enron 2.
We got cat cat. How's it going?

(01:10):
That's. Funny as hell.
Thank you. I was happy by that one.
I'm doing great. I actually just started a second
company underneath our three printing company where I do CAD
design. Gotta call it Edron Three.
Yeah. Oh God, that'd be a funny day.
It would. Be That was one of your better
jokes, Pete. Thank you Ranchos you've ever
done. That was really good.

(01:30):
Thank you, I'm very proud of. That was really funny.
Thank you. Our first moderator tonight, he
has a conspiracy theory that Gene is also best genius from my
hero. We got Miles.
Miles, how's it going? I don't know what that means.
You don't know who best genius is, no.
Oh, you should Google them real quick.

(01:51):
OK, best. And then come up with a
conspiracy theory how they're the same person in the next like
5 seconds. OK, oh best genius.
Genius like like a pair of jeans.
Oh, is this the jeans guy? Yeah.
OK, yeah, I I guess I know who that I'm not gonna.
They both have the same hair. I just wish you'd do his name at

(02:15):
the beginning. But it's all good.
And we got Pat. Yeah, Pat, there we go in a new
spot. We're making it work.
Yep. And welcome back to Watch Club,
where we watched ACA 13 Territory Inspection Department.
It was a 2017 winter 2017 specifically anime done by
Studio Madhouse, sourced from a manga, genres of drama and

(02:39):
mystery and themes of adult castand detective.
And it is a sign in. I get that.
Makes sense actually, when I think about it.
Just like Rosen made it. Yeah, sure.
Yeah, they're basically the sameshow.
You know, my, my rating will reflect that too, I'm sure.
But yeah, let's, let's get rightinto our first impressions.
It's a pretty spoiler heavy show, so let's try and keep it

(03:01):
out of that realm for now. But Miles, why don't you start
with your first impressions and would you recommend this show?
Yeah, I would recommend the show.
I think it is a good show. I think that at the beginning I
was pretty intrigued by everything going on.
I think it was a good job of setting up the general espionage
flavor that it's going for, right?

(03:22):
Like I think the main character is a pretty charismatic
character in a pretty unique way.
I sort of find where throughout the whole time, and especially
the beginning, the characters and myself, we're never quite
sure how much he knew and like how much he didn't know.

(03:45):
Because there were signs that maybe he, you know, could be
like masterminding some stuff inthe background versus maybe
people are like pulling puppet strings on him.
So I like that whole dynamic. I, I thought it was fun.
Then I, I'd recommend it. I think I think it's an
enjoyable show all around. All righty Cat, what about you?

(04:07):
Yeah, so my first introduction to this show was when I first
started watching anime. I went through Crunchyroll and I
just started adding a bunch of shows that I thought I would
like to my watch list and I watched about an eighth of them
and then I removed most of them.The One Show that I didn't
remove from my watch list never watched.
The One Show I didn't remove wasMacha 13.

(04:30):
And I was like, it just looks sogood.
It looks like it's a good show. And then I never touched it.
And then somebody nommed it and I was like, oh, yeah, yeah, I'm
gonna watch it. And then it won.
And I'm very excited. I'm very happy that we that we
watch it because this is a really, really good show.

(04:50):
I really enjoyed it. I would absolutely like, right.
I would absolutely recommend it.I would say and this babe, just
because I like mysteries, but I would say that this is honestly
like, I don't think it's completely up there with what's
it odd? Taxi.
Yes, Odd Taxi. I don't think it's up there with

(05:12):
Odd Taxi, but I think it is very, very good and I think a
lot of people would really enjoyit.
All righty cool Jay, what about you?
Yeah, I would say as far as likefirst impressions go, I don't
think that the mystery aspect ofthe show is really what jumped

(05:32):
out at me at first. I think that in terms of what
really did, it was sort of like the more visual and sound
aspects of the show. I think that is a very distinct
look to it in terms of characterdesign and environmental
storytelling with the different districts.
And then the soundtrack and sound design in general is just

(05:52):
top notch in my opinion. Like whenever he he, you know,
smokes a cigarette or something,they're getting like the click
in and all the and that sort of thing.
Or whenever they're walking in the snow, you can very much tell
they're walking in the snow, that sort of thing.
Yeah. I also agree with Miles about
Gene being a very charismatic guy.

(06:13):
At first I was like, he's kind of quiet and not really doing a
whole lot. But then it was like, oh, holy
shit, actually, this guy is likeyou.
He keeps you guessing the whole time about what his end goals
are and if he even has any. And I really like a protagonist
that can keep you on your toes like that.
So yeah, if you're somebody who likes sort of like slow burn

(06:37):
mysteries, I would definitely recommend this.
All righty, Pete, what about you?
Yeah, I think everybody has saidpretty much what I would agree
with. If you're fans of shows that do
like a one season bigger mysterypicture instead of like multiple
mini mysteries, I think this this show is really good.
Like stuff like Astral Loss in Space or Odd Taxi, where like

(07:01):
the core structure is like there's one bigger mystery
behind like the whole thing that's going on in the story.
Miles gave me a look. I don't care what you say.
I just have to go lower astral loss in space score again.
I just, I just remembered that it the entire thing was
contingent on everyone in the world keeping a secret.
Sorry. Please, please continue.

(07:21):
Very true, but it was fun like like I think like the world
building was awesome in this show, like showcasing different
territories that they had like go to and sort of get an
understanding of like what this world was.
I thought was really interesting, kind of behind of
like what, what does it mean to be like a territory inspector
and kind of breaking that down. And then to find out like the

(07:44):
bigger picture of the story was awesome to see.
Yeah. This is just like a really fun
show. I would definitely recommend it
if you're a fan of mysteries. Yeah, just like mysteries in
general. There you go.
All right. And I also would recommend this.
So I think that's five recommends right across the
board and I really like the show.
I will say that it starts very, very slow.

(08:06):
I think even for a slow burn show, I wouldn't say I didn't
enjoy the first few episodes, but I definitely wasn't.
I think Jay kind of said it likeI wasn't as hooked or wasn't
really playing into that final arc of the show as as much as I
wish it was, but it was still really cool.
It was. I really liked seeing the inner

(08:26):
workings of the politics of the of the fictional state.
And I think that the idea of howthey coexisted and work together
is it was pretty cool, like it was.
We'll dive deeper into that. But I think that is one of the
the world building is one of thestronger parts of the show in
terms of the politics at least. And I think that that's really

(08:47):
cool. And yeah, my little history
brain was on full full throttle for most of the show, which I
thought was really fun. So it almost resembles the
United States in a way, I would say in a very, very similar way,
just not maybe not an execution,but but yeah.
And I also think that the show asks a very good question at the
end of the show that we'll get into later as well.

(09:08):
So so yeah, I guess that the five recommends from us and
we're going to get into spoilersfor it.
And again, this is a very spoiler heavy show.
There's a lot of stuff around like episodes 7 to 9 where
things kind of change significantly and then the
ending. The show is a big spoiler as
well, so be warned. And yeah, let's get right into

(09:29):
it. Miles, do you have a little
synopsis or a pre planned thing at the beginning I.
I have a the the most important talking point to start off with.
OK, sure, we could get into a synopsis of the show so that our
audience is grounded, but more important than that, the country
looks like a bird. Are we pro or anti this Pro,
Pro. Pro Pro.
Pro. It's.

(09:50):
Never going. To be.
It this is just. It's fun.
But it's dumb. Yeah, I, I, I think I'm also
pro, but I think the little leafin its mouth is too much for me.
I think. I think that's the the only
immersion breaking part for me personally.
I I think. Sorry, where?
Do you get off? Picking a bird that's extinct is

(10:14):
also like a choice. It's like saying that like your
country is an extinct bird. Like, is that where your
country's headed? I thought that was like the
biggest thing to take away from it.
Like you can name a bunch of birds.
Yeah. Why you think you?
Saying the the island itself wasshaped like the bird, right?

(10:36):
Like that has to be why they named it that.
No, 100%, but like, it's a, it'sa, it's like what's like, it's
like naming the United States ofAmerica, like the dodo.
It's just like we're we're naming ourselves.
It's just say America looked like the dodo bird.
Even if it did, it's an extinct bird.
And it's like you're you're naming yourself after something
that no longer exists. To me seems like a bad naming

(10:59):
convention for a country. 1776 though however, yeah, I.
It's the answer to 1984, yeah. There we go.
I, I, you know, I don't know, I,I, I do see that it is also a
peace symbol, though, so maybe that's what they were going for.
Maybe it's still like build thattension.
What if they? Terraformed it.

(11:19):
What if the the people from Astro lost in space are actually
in there? And before they left, they
terraformed it into the shape ofa bird.
And then that's the new generation.
The This is actually just one ofthe the island nations in Attack
on Titan that's. They weren't nearly racist

(11:40):
enough to. Yeah, so like no one else?
No, no one else interacts with him.
That's why they're just. Like a single ghetto shown.
Yeah, so true. OK, now for like an actual.
I guess maybe the les mis place I was.
About to say there literally were ghetto shown.
Yeah, but we learned how much they like that so or how happy

(12:03):
the people are or whatever. They don't have a cell phone.
Imagine how cool that would be. We follow a guy named Gene who
works for AKA, which is like a State Department thing, and they
go around. If you will.
Almost. Yeah, he's almost like I.
Don't know if I was. I don't think he has the
authority to arrest. OK, so he works.

(12:26):
Sorry to continue the Attack on Titan, Judge, but sorry.
No, it's not that level, but still, yeah.
He works for Doge OK. And that's.
Crazy. That's arguably worse than what
Pat said. That's also true.
I was about to say that I gotta.Say it is closer to his job,
though his job seems to be more effective.

(12:47):
Anyways, he goes around to the different places and does
inspections and meets with the people to make sure that
everything's been being run. Shipshape.
They're also in a monarchy, but there are like 13 states as
well. It's a pretty interesting like
sort of socio political climate.A thing of note is that the king
is 99 this year I believe, and he has kind of a shitty bratty

(13:12):
grandson who is next in the lineof succession for for reasons.
I guess I did we figure out why.What happened to?
His parents, because all of his,all of the people in the lineage
were woman. OK, so it was his mom was a
woman, OK. Yeah, so.

(13:33):
His mom was a woman. That's very progressive, you
Miles. Thank you.
Happy basically it's just all the the only people that can
actually rule the throne are people that are blood
descendants of the king. And if you don't have that as
well. OK and you I guess you need to
it's like patriarchal or whatever.
They don't like England. OK.

(13:54):
And so he there's like that sortof thing going on as Jean, who's
our our main character, goes to the different territories to
investigate. You get the sense that some sort
of conspiracy is brewing. People seem to think that Jean

(14:15):
is at the center of a coup d'etat plan to overthrow the air
of the country who isn't in power but will be eventually, so
I to install a new air. So he seems not aware of this,
but aware that he is at the center of these rumors.

(14:37):
And it's pretty interesting in my opinion, on these early
episodes because I think when you're watching this, you could
kind of go either way on if Geneis part of this plan actively or
not. You get some internal monologue
that would suggest no. But you also have moments like,

(14:57):
ah, when his friend Nino is likein a fucking like on a
mountaintop using binoculars to,like, spying on him.
And he just sort of looks at himand then like goes into like
where he's going. So my question would be for
everyone, this early characterization we get of Gene

(15:18):
of the World and stuff, what didyou think was initially going
on? What was the initial conspiracy
you had in mind? Did you think he was involved?
Did you think he was not involved?
In which we'll get entangled, You know, what do we think
there? Jay looks like he wants to start
us off, so let's have him do it.I just thought, OK, so I've been
spending some time at bars, and I'm not really a smoker, but I

(15:42):
smoke whenever there's hot gay people around.
And what one thing I've noticed is that if you give people
cigarettes, they fucking like you.
They will like you if you give them cigarettes.
And I just thought that he was just the wizard when it came to
having cigarettes and being, like, a fine connoisseur of
cigarettes. Like, I imagine he would smoke
like, American Spirit blacks or something like that, like

(16:04):
something pretty harsh that normies wouldn't understand.
And yeah, I just, I thought thatpeople just thought, hey, this
guy smokes cigarettes. He looks cool.
He's got Rez and has a high up. He's already high up in the
chain so, but I didn't actually think he was a part of it.
I thought that they were just like kind of using him as like a
symbol, which I guess they sort of were spoilers.

(16:29):
Have you ever seen the usual suspect?
At some point in my life. I.
Haven't. OK, I almost spoiled the movie.
The usual suspect for everybody.I'm going to take the headphones
out but I already know who did it but I'm still taking the
headphones. So how I thought that this was
going to work was and the usual suspects, it's like 5 goonies or
whatever lackeys and they're kind of like, you know, they're

(16:52):
dumb, you pay them money, whatever, and they'll they'll go
whack a guy for it. And then at the end of the Usual
Suspects, one of the five lackeys was actually like the
mastermind the whole time. And it's like, got you.
So that when I saw like the fiveGen. or like what, what they
call them like the five heads ofAKA.
And they are all sort of like, they're all sort of like

(17:13):
gravitating towards Gene in these like audits that he's
doing. Like, like the, the five heads
all knew about like the coup like sort of happening and
everything. And Gene was the one.
So I thought it was going to be something along the lines of
like, you know, these 5 heads are trying to get into like
Gene's pocket so they can sign. So Gene would like side with

(17:35):
them that way they have like an insider on this guy who goes
everywhere. But then like the twist at the
end was Gene was actually sort of running the behind the scenes
the whole time. And that's where I thought it
was going to go. But most pleasantly happy with
like sort of like the outcome ofhow did.
You get an element of. That a little, a little bit, but
it's not like this in. The five chiefs, right?

(17:58):
There's one who seems most subservient.
And at the end he's like, hey, Iwasn't.
Yeah, a little bit for sure. I guess.
It's like how was in my mind wasn't the same as how it played
out, but like it was similar. Yeah, yeah.
I understand, Jay. You were.
You were. No, I wasn't doing anything
else. Oh, I thought.
I thought you were. I did.

(18:18):
Say I did No, I was listening atthe oh, OK, but I did want to
say yeah, Pete, you would know about 5 heads.
That's. Just that's just mean.
That's pretty good. Speaking of that, they do have
massive foreheads in the show, don't they?
It's kind of crazy. But no, because I also have a
pretty big forehead. Mouth has.

(18:39):
I gotta say, I think they do have big foreheads, but also
just sort of like elongated skulls.
Yeah, I don't know. Like scale wise, it's not, but
like when you if their heads, you know how there's that the
famous meme of it's like, what are you?
Why are you running? This is what you wanted or
whatever. And it's like the angry girls
with like the big like if these were humanoid like or real

(19:02):
people, their their heads would literally be like the size of
like like, I don't know, like Jorge the jalapeno from that
Jeff Dunham guy. Like I'm I don't know who else
to reference, but like that's how elongated it would be on a
stique. By the way, God, I love Jeff
Dunham. 2 baddies come out as a kind of guys.
Yeah, so it's the people you most.

(19:25):
Suspect. Yeah, I.
Mean he reeked of it. But he's still funny sometimes.
At least it. Happens, I mean, but with the
whole, the whole I, I kill you. Bit sort of you could have
guessed one time, so I understand sometimes you know,
broken clocks etcetera. Peanuts a good character too, at

(19:47):
least. But but yeah, no, the to get
away from that point though, theforehead point, I I didn't
really know where it was going to go.
Honestly, I was kind of just enjoying the ride.
I wasn't really trying to for a show that is definitely like a
mystery. I feel like I do this a lot
though, with mystery shows. I kind of just ride, go with the
ride and I don't sit there and go, oh, I think it's like who

(20:08):
done it? I don't care about that at all.
I kind of just want to see how it unfolds especially, but
again, especially in those firstfew episodes, there wasn't a lot
to follow specifically, at leastfor me, that I didn't pick up
on. I kind of just enjoyed him going
from place to place and learninghow each state operates within
the, the geopolitical climate. And I, I was just like, it felt

(20:31):
very like Violet Evergaard and ask just because that's what
first comes to mind where it's like you got this piece of the,
of a story and then this piece and then genes going around and
filling in the blanks or findingthe blanks or finding the errors
and things like that. I thought that that was really
cool. And then obviously, though, that
second-half of the show, it really heats up when the

(20:52):
initial, you know, the ball is dropped, so to speak, that he's
a the, you know, the grandson ofthe king.
Like I think that that's really where it took off for me in
terms of mystery and trying to figure it out.
But even then I didn't really know.
I was kind of just like, I have no idea where they're going to
go with this. Is he going to live?
Is is there going to be a randomlike gunshot and he's dead kind

(21:15):
of thing? You know, like, like I really.
Or was Lilliam going to try and come in and snake his way
through something else there? There was a lot of potential for
backstabbing and I don't know ifI really felt that that much.
Jay and Cat both had something to say.
I think Jay indicated first. So Jay, what?
What do you have? Have you you've watched seasonal
anime? Like obviously you don't watch a

(21:37):
ton, but mysteries watching thatweek to week, do you think that
works better for you to questionthe mystery or are you still
somebody just along for the rideif you're not binge watching a
show? That's a good question.
Actually. I, I don't know if I've ever,
yeah. 'Cause like in the discord.
Join the Discord, by the way. Everybody loves discussing like

(21:58):
The Apothecary Diaries week to week, and I don't think it would
be quite the same if The Apothecary Diaries was like a
Netflix show or whatever that dropped all at once.
Like, there's obviously be a huge surge, but a big part of
what is fun about following something like The Apothecary
Diaries is discussing it week toweek.
That's so interesting because I never, it never came off to me

(22:20):
like that. That's how that show would be,
you know, like, and I avoid all the spoilers because I know I'm
eventually going to watch it because of how good it is.
But I've just never sat there and been like, oh, it's there's
a mystery element to it too, which I guess speaks to how well
I've avoided all of the spoilers.
I just thought it was about Mao Mao be being a gremlin, robbed

(22:40):
of gremlin of the year, by the way.
Or did she win? Either way, Mao Mao.
The whole discussion to have there.
Sorry, Cat, cat out of court. Is currently looking.
Yeah, well, the Supreme Court better vote correctly either
way. Yeah, but Cat, go ahead.
So I honestly like when it comesto mysteries, it's just I hate

(23:08):
having to wait for like a good mystery.
It's why I never like get to theend of like, like when Burley is
like really, really excited to Burley is my wife.
By the way, if Burley is really,really excited to watch
Apothecary Diaries and we binge all the rest of it, she is very

(23:29):
sad when we finish and there's not more and the season isn't
over. So we just wait.
I do like discussing with the rest of you, but to be honest I
would rather just wait in lieu of discussion because I like
discussing at the end of the show and just be like wow that
was a really good show. That's valid.

(23:51):
Yeah. I so I guess the further answer
Jay's question, I don't really know which I would prefer
because I I'm trying to think oflike what mysteries I watched
seasonally, like week to week. I guess Bunny Girl Senpai's
first season I did, although that wasn't really episode to
episode mystery. I guess there was like within
the arcs, like what's gonna happen?
That's also not like solvable. Right.

(24:11):
Like in the same way that something like Odd Taxi or this
or Apothecary Diaries is like, or yeah, sure, sure man.
You can be like, oh let me let me get my own cups and see how
many it takes to make hot chocolate bro you.

(24:32):
What would on what would? How is this solvable though?
I wouldn't. I would argue that the show, to
me at least, other than like sitting there and like.
I, I guess my thought is that this is more, more solvable than
something like Bunny girl Senpaior like Montegat 3, which is
like supernatural in a way that is not particularly predictable
in the, you know what I mean? It's like, oh, like.

(24:55):
I suppose. You know what I mean?
You could be like, oh, I think these people are doing the coup
because of like XY and Z and youcan like kind of get some of the
way there. Whereas it's like, oh, this lady
has we are, we're in a time loopnow.
And like you can like kind of solve that, but it, it makes it
harder. And especially with like how
it's like serialized, like you have like 2 episodes to do it.

(25:16):
There's not like a ton of information being given in like
buddy gross. I'm not like trying.
I know that I'm normally like, oh, buddy gross, I'm not trying
to do that. I'm just saying it's like.
No, I know. Structurally sufficiently
different that I think it's. Yeah, I, I understand what
you're saying now. Yeah, I I'm sure watching it
week to week with yeah, then make it a little more likely on

(25:37):
my end, But the same time I didn't I can't remember like
between episodes, at least consistently.
I was kind of just like, oh, I just want to watch the next one.
I I I really don't know where it's going, but I'm excited to
see where how it gets there. You know, like every I I guess
it was a surprise that he was a descendant of the king.
I think I clicked on a spoiler in a Mal thing that like the

(25:59):
first line said that and I was like, damn it.
That was like like why did I click on that?
Yeah, I well, I don't I try not to.
I try not to normally, but the end of the show felt I I guess
do we want to talk about that now?
Just cause like, like why not like like how we got or the
final resolution we got to or. Yeah, I suppose we could do.
There's some other topics that are more vibe of the show

(26:20):
because I think the end of the show might be where we have the
most disagreements. Oh, then perfect.
Yeah, let's let's start out elsewhere then.
OK, it so like another thing I want to talk about, and I think
multiple people sort of reference this, but someone
thought of a show that was like the first show setting lies that
came to mind, which is Violet Evergarden.
But like there are a lot of anime that take place in like

(26:41):
vaguely post World War Europe and those are different, you
know, like this has more modern technology than Violet
Evergarden, except for the like top tier prosthetics that Violet
has. But I thought out of all the
anime that I've seen that are vaguely post World War whatever
Europe, this felt the most distinct to me.

(27:05):
I feel like they did a good job of making it feel like vaguely
different host war Europe and that the regions felt like they
were different enough. Like they were, they were not
incredibly different mind you, but they were different enough
that it made me happy. But like, even stuff with like,

(27:26):
bread and like the different flowers that were in different
locations and stuff, I think they just did a good job of like
expanding that. So what do we think about the
general setting of this country?Because there's a lot of
imaginary European countries andanime.
And sometimes I feel like they can feel a bit samey.
And this one was samey but had enough garnish on it for me to

(27:49):
be like, I like this place. What did everyone else think?
I I didn't feel the exactly the post World War Europe vibe
mainly 'cause I had like cell phones and other like modern
technology I guess but. Technically after the World War,
but yes, no, you're correct there.
It is definitely like more technology.
You got me, You got me. Well, I what I, Yeah, I think

(28:10):
the world building is the strongest part of the show
personally, 'cause I I got frustrated with how many
characters there were and their names and everything, like
trying to keep track of it in myhead.
I mean, that's probably why I had that character sheet up the
entire time because I had to keep like looking every time
they'd say a name or like, remind myself who who was.
But I think the like you said, every region felt very different

(28:33):
and it felt it is a different pop culture reference than we
necessarily want to bring up because this might be some
debate too. But like, I think it's one of
the strengths of The Hunger Games as well, or that series is
the the 13 districts. I think it's pretty damn cool
how they took the 13 the United States and split it into 13

(28:53):
theoretical districts that all have their strengths.
You know, the lumber, fishing, electricity, mining, whatever,
all those, all those things. I thought that that was very
similar to what this show did almost in a literal sense
because there's 13 city states or, or states, whatever, each
within their with with their ownspecialty that contributes to

(29:14):
the wealth and the well-being ofthe of the country.
But I thought that they, like you said, established them very
well with different sceneries. You know, you had the snowy land
that does lumber and the different breads that they have
was a cool way to like tie in aninterest level within him and
his family. And it was, I guess.
I suppose it was also a little, what do you call it?

(29:35):
Nod to the fact that, oh, she really loved sweets and the,
the, the king himself, her grandfather also loved sweets.
You know, I thought maybe that was like a a hint, so to speak,
of, of how they were related. I, I never really clicked for me
until I just said that now. But yeah, I, I really thought
the world, world building, like with the technology was cool.
And it also showed, I don't think the show in particular

(29:58):
took a big stance on it, but I it did show the inequalities of
the different districts and whatthey what they had, such as that
very historical one that, you know, saw a cell phone was like,
what the heck is this? Oh my God, that's crazy.
You know, weren't allowed to interact with commoners.
You know, then there was the desert one, There was the
gambling friendly one, Pete's favorite one probably.

(30:20):
You know, like, I thought it wasreally cool.
Like, again, it didn't take likea pro or anti stance on the
existence of the OR or the way things are set up, but I thought
it was really cool how they'd established it extremely well
too. But yeah, Kat, what about you?
Had something else on this? Yeah, so I really enjoyed the
setting because while I was watching a lot of my, yeah, a

(30:45):
lot of relations that I had fromthis world to like existing
places and the real world. I thought about how I kind of
thought about America and not like early like post like 1950s
America, but more like 19, eighties, 1990s.

(31:07):
Mainly because not just the cellphones and computers, but also
like with the inequality of likehow things are being run.
It reminded me of about how likethe existence of, of different
technologies and how slowly and how prohibitedly some of the

(31:32):
technologies have spread throughout the have spread
throughout the country. Because I grew up in a very like
a very secluded place, like I like it was 30 to 45 minutes to
the nearest like hospital type of thing.
And. How long it took for Appalachia
to get like, Internet and all that, right?

(31:52):
Like exactly. Like it's, it's thinking about
all of that and thinking about how like the different, the
different countries kind of represent different areas of
America and how they and how they interact with each other.
And how the people that have themost that do a lot of the most

(32:17):
like grunt, quote UN quote, brain dead work of the people
that have the most to say about the inequality in the system
currently, because they are being they are feeling that the
most. And seeing that in this world, I
think is actually a stance on that and seeing like there needs

(32:39):
to be a there needs to be an actual effort to put that
forward. And I think they did take a
stance with how like with how everyone talked about the person
that runs that like district they.
Did that. Country.
Did they though, because they kind of also had those districts
where they were like, oh, we're poor and we're simple, but we

(33:01):
like it. You know, we're very happy with
it. Like, you know, I would almost
say that it took the opposite stance to what you're saying Cat
the show did, which is one of the things that I was going to
eventually criticize it on towards the end or just in our
general more controversial part.But like I and I guess that
that's what kind of what I was trying to get at too earlier, is
that it was like, it was cool tosee them coexisting, but it also

(33:21):
kind of had that weird moment where it was like, Oh yeah, you
know, the people that don't havecell phones but are like
literally a, a state's border away from the capital that live
like they're 200 years older than than we are.
Yeah. But they're really happy though,
and they want it that way. And it's like is that?
You know who it reminds me of? It reminds me of the Amish.

(33:43):
Like they're aware of everythingthat's going on, they just
choose that lifestyle. However, in Akka, it's like
they're based off their region. They're forced to, but that it
just kind of remind me of the Amish.
That's a fairpoint, I guess I I just was thinking like, like you
said, like specifically in the show, they're like, Oh yeah, but
we're really happy and it's like.
Are you? Guys were like, but you guys

(34:04):
were like literally like salivating over the cell phone
and the existence of a cigarette.
You know, like how? How good is that?
For them, like they're just seeing some weird stuff to them,
you know? But they're they don't know what
it is, so. Yeah, it's just novel to
actually see if it's like if yousaw like a helicopter or some

(34:26):
shit near your house. That's a good point.
I got to say, like my copter Outback.
Yeah, exactly the the miles. Cop was solely yes.
Yo, pick me up tomorrow. I was gonna say, Pat, if you're
a fan of like this border possible war territory thing, if
that's like something that tickles your fancy, you should
really watch full Male AlchemistBrotherhood because that's what

(34:47):
this this the Akamapp and all that stuff that went into it
reminded me of two things. It reminded me of like post
Yugoslavia with all that. And then full Male Alchemist
Brotherhood, like sort of just like how the territories are
very like you're not only does this show make an effort to
expand on the world, I feel likeit does a good job at giving the

(35:07):
territories that it wants to cover the time it needs.
And so that's something that I want to give props to with this
show that, you know, when you talk about like this is like a
different form of world building.
And they took a lot of detail and a lot of effort and time.
They took like full ass episodesto explain to us what some of
these territories like mean to the country.

(35:29):
And I could see that being like a positive and a negative
depending on like, you know, like, come on, let's get through
this. Like, I get it.
But like, if you find like the territories interesting, I think
it's like an incredible additionto this type of show, especially
with like the political side of it where like we want to
understand why these different countries are doing coups and

(35:49):
they're different, like, like why how they're set up and then
why they're all sort of rebelling at the same time for
like, kind of different reasons.But I thought, like, that aspect
of the show was like, awesome. Loved it.
I agree with everything except for the full metal aquas part
surely? That bro, you wouldn't.
Love that show. You would love that show.

(36:13):
Absolutely. 70 episodes too long. 70 episodes too long or
so. No, I'm kidding.
Obviously. I'll, I'll get to it someday.
Ashley's actually. Watching it before I have, it's
funny, since I didn't look out, you've been saying that.
Look how long it's taken me to watch End of Evangelion.
I mean, can you that's just one movie.
Can you imagine how long it would take me to finish a a 70

(36:33):
episode show at this point? Like, Oh no, no, I'll watch it
one. Episode it's.
Like 50 something. I had a 60 something.
It feels like 70. In my head, so many things that
Pat would just fucking love and he just refuses to watch it.
Like this is like a huge thing in Full Metal.
It's like the territories. It's 64 and it takes place in

(36:54):
vaguely post warrior. Yep.
Which is a cool setting. It is.
It's an objectively cool setting, Yeah.
You know, well, we can't can't all say we've watched
everything, you know, and. Can I?
Can I be a bit controversial? OK.
Because I might be the most controversial person on this.
I don't know. So we've started talking about

(37:17):
how the the the show's pacing issort of slow at the beginning.
Duh, duh, duh, duh. I want to make the the claim.
Here's my claim. The show's pacing is slow
throughout the entire thing. Nothing happens in this show.

(37:37):
That is my claim. My claim is that I liked the
show. I thought a lot of the things
was interesting or a lot of things that happened were
interesting. And then also nothing happens.
Like I know there was a scene and the scene was like, we're
going to maintain the status quoand we're going to like

(37:59):
reorganize our internal structure for this one
department. But like, I don't know, maybe
it's just that I'm an older man now and my company does a reorg
every other year, but it just felt like it could have been an
e-mail. I, I see where you're coming

(38:20):
from with this though, too, because like I, I, I had the
same feeling like when I finished the show, my initial
reaction was like, really nothing like catastrophic
happened. Everything that they said was
going to happen in the show happened.
You know, they kind of establisheverything as it continues on.
There was no real massive twist that I like.
And then I, I kept reading to make sure I didn't miss
anything. And I, I, I shouldn't say

(38:41):
nothing happened either, of course, too at the end, like
there's the big twist that, Oh, everyone was aware that Lilliam
was planning a coup of the coup or like, you know, like to, to
gain more power be through the coup, even though everyone else
was kind of just playing along and trying to keep the status
quo. I thought that the, I guess the
resolution with them ending up as a separate state or, or

(39:04):
succeeding A seceding state was interesting, especially because
it, I believe, correct me if I'mwrong, but I'm pretty sure the
train accident happens on that on their border, correct.
So it it brings it brings in a question too, whether they were
involved in the initial train accident that ended up killing
specific people, not William themselves, but their action or

(39:26):
whatever their faction, their family, their House of you know,
like I'm pretty sure that that'swhere it happened.
I don't know. I had to have a map, the map
open in another tab when I was watching this show every time
too, to try and make it. But.
You put in more effort than I did, so perhaps you were correct
there. I don't know.
I look, I've been reading Rosa Forsy.
OK, So anytime the solution is like, let's keep the Royals and

(39:51):
just like continue being a monarchy, I'm like, Boo, kill
him. Kill that kid.
Kill him. It wasn't really that they
continued in, I guess they were still in power, just they
changed the kids mind into beinglike yeah no you're in power,
but in name only I guess. Yeah, it it was like, you better
wash the fuck out, you little brat.

(40:12):
Like that's what it was and theyshould have just killed him.
That's my take. It would be fun.
It would have been like the second time we see someone die
in the show or at least get shotlike for, for, for a show that
like feels like it's gonna be dangerous.
It only had the one gunshot right that I can remember, which
of course was Nino taking the shot for for Gene like that it

(40:35):
was. Like high tension and no like
release valve for like a large period of time.
Pete, you had some thoughts here.
Well, I'll add on to your hot takes and some maybe some
controversial stuff along with this because while I was just
talking about how I loved how they took the time to showcase
these different territories to really bring the world to life.

(40:56):
I think there were some that like didn't matter in the grand
scheme of things. And I think that the show was
too long. And they do this in the show
itself where I think if you wanted to, I think the flow of
the pace would have been better in like a movie format if you
gave us hints through like news,because they do it in the show
where like you see like a news broadcast for like a couple

(41:18):
seconds. And then that way we get some
ideas about the the other territories.
If we had that with like news segments or like newspaper
articles or stuff like that to like that way it could also
build the world, but like not take full episodes to like
showcase some territories. I think that this show could
have flown a little bit better, but that was like my biggest.

(41:38):
It's like I loved what they did and I also hated it at the same
time. So I'm in the same boat as same
boat as miles were like things were happening, but like also
I'll some things like weren't happening.
It was. I'm sorry.
Go ahead. No, I was going to say just
slice of like feet not liking the I was I was going.
To bring it, I was going to mention the fact that like
people will watch slice of lifesand someone will make a sandwich

(42:01):
and they'll be like nothing happened and I'll be like, holy
shit, they made a sandwich. It's like it's it's like to each
their own type of thing. We're like I I get that things
are happening, but like I kind of wish that they weren't or
showcase in a different manner. Go ahead, Jay.
But you know, the the Prince is your guy, Pete, really quick.

(42:26):
Schwab Oh yeah, I'm gonna keep abeat with you, Bob.
Ruth's kind of not been hitting for me this year, so.
OK, well. I'll be honest with you, I
didn't even notice it was him. I watched the dub.
I also watched the dub so that also helps why I didn't notice
it was him I. Was gonna say you probably
didn't. Yeah, that was Damon.
We can't. Let that one slide.

(42:47):
We can't let Damon. Slide I didn't notice that the I
didn't notice. So true.
Yeah. No, he's technically correct.
It's the best kind of correct. Jay, you have thoughts here?
Yeah, I agree that the show was a little bit too long.
I think first of all, the assassination plots were
literally meaningless. Nothing happened from them.
And even the guy who did get shot was just all right

(43:08):
afterwards. And I think instead it should
have just been like ACA 6 and then spend 12 episodes, give
each like sector like 2 episodesand really dig into like the
culture and that sort of thing. They.
Literally had them in the cars. With the assassins and then they
said. No, we won't just kill him

(43:30):
there. We're going to drive away and
get caught in traffic. I thought that was.
Really dumb there. There was also a guy there, like
that's why they stopped, becausethe guy who's a fun character,
he's like, you know. Mustache man.
Yeah, Mustache man, who like hasinteractions with the sister,
who's like a whole character whohas like, major plot points that
we've just not even touched upon.

(43:51):
Well, the fact that he's, he's the other guy, they reveal it at
the end, right? Yeah, you.
You. He's Nino's boss as well.
Yeah, but that's like he shows up.
They could have just what? What?
Oh, someone saw it. Just shoot him and shoot the
other guy and drive away. I don't know, use the guns.
Jay is making a good point. Here, that's my point.

(44:12):
I agree. With you really dumb I.
Think we all killed themselves afterwards, remember.
Yes, yeah, the. Other they said they killed
themselves. They could have taken another
shot while he was like good, like, no, no, it's like sitting
there on his knees. Shoot him again.
Like oh fuck. And I guess this sort of like

(44:34):
another encapsulation of like, my general issue with this show
is that even when things happen,the end result maintains the
status quo relatively heavily. Like even at the end, like, OK,
they've reorganized. Sorry to interrupt, but if it
does help, there is an OVA set ayear after.

(44:54):
I would love to see that, maybe that'll help because.
That might help. You know, I, I was just like
reading a synopsis of the final episode to like get a thing.
And it's like, oh, like this place, you know, they succeed,
but it actually didn't impact anything because they found the
resources that they like. Nothing happens.
It's like you're just shuffle, shuffling around the pieces on

(45:16):
the board, but nothing's happened.
Just sort of like. How unique of an ending of a
show, though at the same time, in a way where it was like, oh,
by the way, not like their wholegoal.
The whole show was, like you said, maintain the status quo,
keep things the same. And then the fact that they kept
saying that near the end of the show, over and over and over

(45:38):
again, every single chief deputy, whatever, the fact that
they kept saying that made me think that they weren't going to
do that, You know, like that. There's no way the status quo
maintains the same. And again, guess technically not
because the 13th state secedes, but like then they retcon that
at the last line of the show as well, where it's like, Oh yeah,

(45:58):
no, they found the resource. So, so there you go.
Like it. So like, what was the point?
I guess it's bold and cool that they won and succeeded in
keeping the status quo. But then also what's the point
of the message or what happened?Again, I I do agree that new OV
that OVA must have more to it, right?
You don't. Think it no, no, it doesn't have
to because like again, and you know, I don't I don't know cat,

(46:21):
do you have any thoughts on this?
Because you you like you said you like really enjoyed this
show, which I think we all likedthis show, but like did you what
did you think about this aspect of it?
Because it seems like the rest of us are kind of in agreement
that like, I don't, I don't knowwhat it is.
It's like the vibe and like atmosphere of the show is like

(46:41):
really good and you're just sortof there.
But then like also, it's not that big of a historical moment
in this country, I feel like. So my, so part of the reason why
I enjoy the show is because it's, it was a way for me to for

(47:05):
me to point at something that's in media and go, hey, this is
American politics, weirdly enough, because like.
The. The thing is that them trying to
continue the status quo is like oh this is going to hurt.

(47:25):
This hurts me saying it but it made me enjoy it.
The the son or the grandson? The not gene, the other blonde
haired kid he is. Yeah, the Prince Schwan.
Yeah, Prince Schwan is kind of like Trump, and it's I.

(47:46):
I can't. I'm sorry, I didn't I I was
wondering where you're going to go with this and I just don't
see it at all. It's.
Not even close. And all like maintaining the
status quo neither of them like like the the entire democratic
like if out of the two parties in our.
System. Yeah, he he literally was the
one doing the coup with Gen. 6. Like I, I don't know, like this

(48:07):
is where I'm like, I'm not seeing the analogy here.
I'll let you go. There's an argument to my.
Disagrees that Trump was doing acoup on January.
Yeah, I think that that was completely justified, no.
Clip it. OK, you too.
Short right there. Oh fuck, I got a gun.
My dad will be proud of me if I what I to make a comparison to

(48:34):
Prince Schwann and Donald Trump,which I am going to defend.
Cat and I don't do this very often.
Cat has some ideas. I usually find them to be pretty
far out there, but they both didtry to assassinate someone that
would in theory be a threat to their successorship, be it the

(48:56):
next democratically elected president, or be it someone who
is actually higher up on the aira line of succession than they
are in order to maintain power. Was it not the aunt or the the
daughter whatever of the the thesister of I?
Think they? Both do it.

(49:16):
I thought it was her twice. I don't know so.
I think she does Jean and he does, what's her name, the
sister Lotta. I thought he lusts for her at
first. I.
Don't even know. Are you thinking a Bullhead guy
who's different than the Prince?No, Schwann, doesn't he say, oh,
I took an interest in her because he finds her.

(49:37):
I don't know he. Blushes me.
Oh yeah, he notices her at like the party or whatever, but then
he puts together and this is thepart where he's not like Trump,
right, because he's like actually able to to like do some
basic detective reasoning despite not being that smart.
But like, yeah, he I'm pretty sure he attempts to assassinate

(49:57):
these people like he is one of the aunt does.
And then does he not do any sortof like, hey, kill people to
anyone? You just sit there.
He's just like, that sucks that this is going to happen.
I feel like he tries doing something.

(50:17):
Well, he doesn't know it's goingto happen, doesn't he?
He learns. About it pretty midway through
the not the coup that just the fact that this guy exists,
right? Just the fact that he's alive
and is higher up on the line of succession, if you're going like

(50:38):
purely by birth order and not accounting for like people who
have like renounced their titlesand stuff like that.
All right, because he has the photo removed of the Princess.
Yeah. Although that's the mom, not her
he. Didn't have it removed, he just
put his next to it. No, no, they literally switched

(50:58):
it. That was the whole he was like,
oh, it replaced it or whatever in that spot, I thought.
Yeah, because that's where he sits.
Yeah. But yeah, so like he realizes
through talking to his aunt and the photo and the her and like
lot of being at the party or whatever that and then also his

(51:19):
assistant who's actually workingwith our team kind of but
explains that like the other sister could have had a son and
that would be a threat to you because they would be higher in
the line of succession than you are.

(51:40):
I feel I don't maybe I'm fantasming this.
I remember him being semi activein the assassination plot.
I, I can't remember and I just watched it today, so you're not
at fault here. I can't.
I do, I do vaguely. I feel like you might be right
and. OK, man, no harm, no foul.

(52:02):
Like they failed so it's fine, whatever.
That is, that is. A plot point that is a plot.
Point He threatens to have me assassinated all the time.
Literally all the time. Yeah, but he keeps trying to
send me and I'm like, I'm not trying to die.
So I guess we got to the the broader point that I was trying

(52:24):
going to try to make at the beginning of our discussion.
That was like, what do we think about the ending of this show
and the fact that it ends the way it does, you know, without
anything really happening. Obviously something happening,
but so like I, I want to make sure I fully understand it.
The five, the district or the the council of five vanishes,

(52:44):
right? And then they get dissolved or
sent back to their districts to focus on them.
And now Mauve is just in power, right?
Like she's just the replacing all of them.
Essentially. Start a dictatorship like, you
know, like like that's what I'm trying to pick 'cause I was

(53:06):
trying to piece together like how does it make sense to
dissolve the council and then put one person in charge?
I guess they all supported her, but at the same time, like
that's not very democratic or representative of they are a.
Monarchy. Yeah, I'd say they don't care
that's. A monarchy.
But yeah, that's fair because. They do.

(53:26):
The way that I viewed it, it's like this is the Magna Carta of
this country, right? Where the not exactly like the
royal line, but whatever the like House of Lords would be
basically flexes their power to the nobility and like solidifies

(53:52):
that they are that right. Like because the the king guy
was trying to dissolve them because he viewed them as a
threat to his power or the Prince.
He's not even in charge yet. What does the 99 year old king
think of it? You know what?
It doesn't matter. He thought of it as a symbol of
peace, like it started because of the as a way of calming down

(54:16):
the unrest in the 13 countries. And then he said, this is I've
kept you around because you are a symbol of peace, because like
this you have helped keep. Is this Yeah.
So you know how in licorice recoil, OK, there's a secret
organization or a not so secret organization that sort of does a

(54:38):
like a soft fascism thing. Is that that's just sort of
what's happening here, huh? Yeah.
Soft fascism isn't so bad. As long as I agree.
With me, Yeah, yeah, yeah, exactly.
Are you with you with me on the January 6th thing?
Were you not? I I feel I can't say something

(54:58):
controversial at this moment. OK, you're going to tank the
stock even more bro. You can't do that.
Here's my here's here's the cliplet.
Let let me find out tomorrow if I have a job or not, and if I
don't, you know I'm going to full right wing grifter.
That's what. I was gonna say I'm saying TV

(55:19):
reviews. It's it's.
Easy money it's. So easy buddy.
That's the sad thing. Dumb people are making more
money than me and that makes me sad.
One of them is president. You know, it's crazy.
Yeah, the start. Of the deal baby.
But the, IT, this show does almost feel like to me with the

(55:41):
like you said, the Lords essentially just like being sort
of dictators in a way. Like it's like very much like,
oh, if everyone just listened tome, everything that was wrong in
the world would be right or fixed or whatever.
Like it's that classic like middle school train of thought
that you that you might have where it's like, oh man, I have
all the answers. And if everyone just listened,

(56:02):
we wouldn't have any problems. And it's like, and I don't know,
maybe in this 13 country state thing, it works.
Maybe the US should do that. Maybe we should make like New
England or the Northeast one state and Midwest one state and
then everything would be better.Hell no.
No, no, no. I I think they're going to be in

(56:23):
the same state. Well the population wise it
would make sense. I mean the northeast alone being
one state would be kind of crazy.
Like think about. Like so stinky.
It gives you your cheese though.It gives you the cheese.
Though cows in Minnesota. I'm just saying it could work or
in theory, like when you think about like the way that this is

(56:45):
set up, it would be the solutionthat it's proposing for us as a
country. And then each part would
actually be accurately, I guess,represented by those Lords,
assuming they are all not corrupt.
Which I guess was also a weird thing about this show, the fact
that there's 13 like Lords, so to speak, 'cause we're, I, I

(57:08):
can't remember what they were called district chairs or
whatever. And not a single one of them was
like truly corrupt or maniacal or evil.
And that's not, that might be the most unrealistic part of the
show, right? Other than, I guess William was
technically kind of. They were like soft evil though.
I think he was really that evil.They're like lawful evil, Yeah,
the self-serve. They're lawful evil, not like

(57:30):
chaotic or because like I, I don't know, I mean even like
self-serving evil in this case, like like William is
self-serving in the sense that he wants for his people to be in
power rather than or, or hit. Well, so him directly, but like
his people that have the most important voice rather than an
equal voice to the other 12 districts, districts, country or

(57:52):
whatever. The versus like in real life,
like we sit here and we see senators or politicians like
constantly, you know, like literally the lamb doesn't vote
debate, you know, and the whole Electoral College, like we,
that's what we see in our country and we and it's just,
there's no resolution. It's not like all of them are
good or bad. It's like, just like I, I don't

(58:12):
know. Why did we start?
Talking about politics, Who brought that up?
What idiot? That would be me.
Oh no, it was me. I thought I was joking.
That was me. But yeah, fair enough, Cat, you
did bring it. Up It's a heavily political
show. It's hard to draw analogies.
Yeah. It's not like we haven't talked
in 2017. It's on the podcast before.
Right. Never.
Never once have we done it. And don't listen.

(58:33):
To. I listened to the I finally
listened to the High School of the Dead, and I was surprised to
learn that all of you are libertarians.
No, no, no, no. No, no, no when?
It comes to boobies, absolutely.Yeah, I'm.
I'm very libertarian about them.There you go take with that and

(58:55):
form whatever bonk conclusion you want Bonk yeah, thank you.
In 2017, though, being the timing of the show's airing I
mean they're can't be a well, maybe there's a coincidence who
knows when the mongo is written but yeah, maybe there's some
similarities I mean they the 13 things, though the 13 states
definitely resemble the United States more than almost any
other country in the world otherthan I guess you could say like

(59:15):
Europe as a continent, but really it.
Was more than 13 countries. Well, thanks.
Miles, the US has more than 13. States, you know at the start.
Fair enough. I thought that's what you were
getting at. No, no, I'm saying.
Like. Just like the different climates
and all of them having to work together and like, you know,

(59:36):
like, like what does a person from freaking Connecticut have
in common with some random Iowanother than liking anime?
You know, apparently like myselfand another member in our
Discord, You know, I mean like, like that's where I, I just
don't, I, I see it as like a, a broader representation or
analogy for the US or for Europein the same way that like

(59:57):
clearly Williams meant to be theItalians versus the ruling party
being the English, I guess, or something.
I, I don't know, But we should get on the final thoughts
anyways because we are running long.
But that's not always a bad thing.
It means we had a good discussion.
So let's get on to those final thoughts.
So Miles, what is your final score as well as first your
final thoughts on? ACA 13.

(01:00:19):
Yeah, I enjoyed a lot of this. I think the cast was a pretty
strong point of this that we didn't necessarily get to talk
about as much because there was so much intrigue going on.
Jean and Lada had like a pretty nice relationship, and they
contrasted each other pretty well.
This is the brother and sister. I thought that was nice.
Nino was like a cool character and you weren't always exactly

(01:00:42):
sure where he stood, but like you learned that he was like a
really good guy like later on, which is nice.
And it's not like a he redeemed himself you just because it's a
spy thing. You couldn't figure that out.
And like he had a good flashbackepisode.
I'm usually not a big flashback episode fan, but I thought that
one was pretty good where you learn more about the royal
heritage and how all of this is coming out.

(01:01:03):
And that episode is pretty good for letting me piece together
future things and how everythingwas fitting in place.
As we sort of talked about the ending of this, I think is like
underwhelming, honestly. I they do a lot of build up and
for like a secret counter coup to happen.
It it's at the end and it's likeit makes sense for what the show

(01:01:25):
is, but I, I just found it underwhelming and like not
particularly satisfying, which Iguess is a bit redundant, but
what do you do? I'm going to give us a seven.
I enjoyed it though. It was a good seven. 7 All
righty cat, what about you? Yeah, other than the existential

(01:01:46):
dread that this has given me because of because of the
current climate of our collective country and the way
that things are going right now,I really enjoyed the show.
It gave me a a bit of a reprievefrom from, as I said, the
existential grid and it has helped me find a little bit of

(01:02:10):
relief from the anxiety that I'mhaving that I'm having right
now. So maybe it's the timing of when
the show came and I watched, butI, I really enjoyed the show and
even though like, I do agree that there's that it is kind of
underwhelming with the ending. I really enjoyed that there was

(01:02:35):
a bit of, you know, a trying to return to normalcy and
everything going back to the status quo.
Even though the status quo in myopinion is not good, it's still
better than anarchy, which is what I, which is what I
desperately don't want. So I, I really, really did enjoy

(01:03:00):
this show and it definitely feltlike a really nice bit of
escapism for me. So for me, I'm going to give
this A9. Marking it.
Down a nine. Wow.
All righty, Jay, what about you?Yeah, I thought that this show
was pretty good. I thought that it had really

(01:03:21):
interesting world building. I just wish that they would have
kind of dove into it a bit more.I think that the themes that
were presented were really interesting, particularly the
sort of conflict of order versusindividuality.
I also am not a huge fan of the ending.
I think that it was underwhelming in a lot of ways,
but I also did like that it was,it kind of ended like I like

(01:03:44):
that it was underwhelming and this sounds like a bad thing to
say, but I like that it ended with a whimper.
I like that it was a bloodless sort of not even coup, but
change of the I. I would even argue that the SAS
quo did change quite a bit because obviously Maav and AKA
came out ahead of the sort of situation whereas like.

(01:04:06):
AKA status quo definitely changed right?
More so than the countries I guess. 100% I really really
enjoyed the music for this. I think that the direction in
general was really solid. The soundtrack or not
soundtrack. The subtitles were pretty funny
in the at the ending, it always kept saying that the opening
line was Mario Lemieux, who was a famous hockey player known as

(01:04:30):
the Magnificent is what I. Learned he's the best.
He's arguably the best player ever too.
If he wasn't so injury prone he would have been better.
People old dad say that he wouldhave been better than Gretzky if
he just didn't get injured and had the people protecting him
like Gretzky did. I see.
Well all that to say that I did enjoy the show quite a bit.

(01:04:52):
I just wish that it was maybe a little bit shorter or perhaps A2
core or something like that to really give the mystery time to
like develop and go even slower burn with it.
Even though I was complaining that it felt like it was too
long, I think if the pacing was a bit different I could have
gone for two cores of it. For me this is an 8 an. 8 and I

(01:05:13):
I'd be curious too about the again, source from a manga
right? So like what would be the did it
rush over chapters? Did it extend to them like
pretty? Short, there's only 37 chapters.
Yeah, it's probably pretty beat for beat, yeah.
It sounds yeah, I was going to say that seems like it would be
pretty, pretty close to the pacethat they chose, like 3 chapters
or so per episode. So very interesting.

(01:05:37):
Or I wonder how many of those chapters are in the Ovas as
well. Makes you wonder I'm.
Gonna get 0 since it's an OVA. Which is an original video
animation. That means completely original
from the manga too. Normally the the O stands for
original, yeah? I don't think so actually

(01:05:58):
because the Golden Conway Ovas are all stuff that was from the
manga but was cut so. That's what I thought most.
We we can get to it later. I was just saying, well the
original video just means it's never been made before.
No, in theory. Ovas are normally not Canon and
not. That's fair.

(01:06:18):
Source or if there's it's lightly like touched on or it's
like the inspiration, but. I feel like there are two usage
of Ovas. 1 is like the Konosuba ones right?
Where everything is just like horny and stupid and fun, and
then there's ones where it's like we've finished the story.
Oh fuck. Here's the thing, you know, like

(01:06:39):
real life, you know right where like the OV, as in real life are
like literally what happens nextin the it's like in lieu of a
second season, here you go. All right.
But either way, no, that's fair enough.
Well done. All right, Pete, you have your
turn now. Did anybody watch this subbed by
any chance? I didn't think so.

(01:06:59):
So I've I've actually have one bigger complaint and it's when
Grosular is more into the story is that the entire time they
call Mauve Mauve until he shows up and then they start calling
her move. And I hated that.
It drove me crazy. I was like, you've been calling
her Mauve for 8 episodes and nowshe's move.

(01:07:20):
OK, I move. This is like a show where it's
like at no point was I like really bored, but I also like
wasn't like thoroughly entertained.
Like I was happy with what I watched and I'm glad I watched
it. But if you asked me if I ever
wanted to watch this show again,probably not.
Like I think this was like a really fun one time watch.

(01:07:43):
It was fun to talk to you guys about it.
I don't really have any like interest in like diving into
more of this stuff. It was just like a really solid
12 episode show that I liked watching and talking with my
friends about. I'm trying to think because like
I I do think like the sound design and soundtrack is like
the best feature of this which is a good or bad thing.

(01:08:06):
Gene was cool as shit. I I just love his character from
like episode 1 to 12 was such like a cool transition and just
sort of seeing the flow of his character for Pat his sister
reminded me a lot of the girl from Tadaku.
Never falls in love. Looks exactly like her so maybe.
She's the secret Princess of a vaguely European country.

(01:08:28):
Yes. Yes she is.
Yes. Literally.
Yes. Have we ever seen them in the
same room? I'm.
Just saying, if there's a rainbow Shogun commercial at
some point in the show, that'd be super fun.
Just this would be like wink, wink nudge nudge type of thing.
But yeah, I mean, this is a it'san enjoyable show.
I think the payoff was like kindof like mild, but I enjoyed it.
I'm gonna give it a seven. I I think it was it was a fun a

(01:08:49):
fun good show. God forbid you make my math
easy, Pete. How dare you.
My bad. It's still relatively easy
'cause we're dividing by 5, so no.
Word. I also have a calculator.
I did the. Calculator, right, Mr. Texas
Instruments over there. Fucking bird.
It's actually just a spreadsheet.
It's. Nerd.
It is a calculator I. Don't.
It is a calculator. Yeah, no, no worries.

(01:09:10):
Let me get my Abacus. Out.
Yeah, I meant to say this earlier, but Jay, loving the
earring and shirt combo today. That is phenomenal.
I was also about to add that this is perfect for podcast
content, but however, we do havea video component on YouTube and
Spotify, I believe, right? So why not come check it out,

(01:09:33):
Give us a like and a sub and a comment if you're feeling so
bold. But yeah, my final thoughts.
I had a couple notes written down.
I'm glad Miles, you touched on it that the cast was very good,
like or well, that's what I wrote down.
I should say I wrote down the cast is very good, albeit a bit
bloated and in the end, bloated in the sense that there was just
so many figures that it was hardto keep track of, especially in

(01:09:55):
a, you know, 13 episode show. Maybe like what I'm thinking
about it, like you imagine like a Gundam show, but that's
because there's like 20 different Gundam shows with all
of their cast interconnected andintertwined in some way.
But it also did add to the add to the show and add to the
character's depth that they are all interconnected in a

(01:10:15):
different way too. So I don't know.
My complaint is also a compliment to the show.
The cast themselves, though, their interactions were really
fun. I thought a lot of the
characters were cool. Their designs were pretty
unique, but at least they all reflected where they were meant
to be from and or or their personalities in some way.
I thought that that was pretty well done as well.
You know, some visual storytelling combined with their

(01:10:36):
personalities And I the only other note I wrote down was like
everyone else has said, the ending felt underwhelming in
terms of its execution, Althoughit is also kind of just how
politics also work at the same time, when you think about it in
throughout history, most of the time, if it's not a literal war,

(01:10:56):
you know, like what happens to coups, they either succeed or
they don't. And they don't usually end up in
a blood in, in like a crazy war,at least in especially in modern
days. You know, it's like you either
know you're fucked or you know you're going to get you're going
to win one way or the other, right when the the gun drops, so
to speak, or the the shoe falls.So I wrote down good guys win.

(01:11:17):
Or do they? And I guess that that's more of
an ethical or think, you know, thought out question there that
we won't know the answers to. I guess that that's kind of the
intention of the show as well. And do you watch the OVA?
Yeah, I, I'm tempted to, I really am because I, I like
Pete. I would say I wasn't like
falling out of my seat ready to watch the next episode of this

(01:11:38):
show, but I also enjoyed it the whole time too.
I don't think it like those first few episodes were a bit
slow, but I, it, it was enjoyable enough that I wasn't
dreading putting on the next one.
And I don't think I would ever reach that point with this show.
I thought that the, the, the political interactions were
really, really cool to see and really well done.
So I gave the show an 8 out of 10 Final score, final answer.

(01:12:00):
Pretty satisfied with it. I, I'm pleasantly surprised
because I had no idea what to expect coming in.
So I'm very, very happy with it.But yeah, that brings our total
aggregate score to a 7.88, whichis .22 or 7.8 flat.
Pardon me. Thank you, Miles.
I could sense your breath from however many miles away that.

(01:12:21):
One brings it. Maybe a little more pretty
closer. I did move closer to you, so
there is a. Mile now.
I'm coming 000, literally. Oh yeah, you're coming for me.
Oh wow, that's very scary. Your your whole house is coming
too. Yes, this is.
This isn't a green screen and I'm running with it behind me.

(01:12:42):
That'd be crazy. That'd be like.
Yeah, it's a lot of effort. But but ACA 13 on Mal has a
7.66. So we're pretty in lockstep with
with Mal on this one. And yeah, I guess that wraps up
our discussion on ACA 13 territory inspection department.
Miles, you know what, one for our next episode, what would

(01:13:06):
that be? Yes, and I spoiled it for
everyone. However.
Except for cat. Let's tell.
Nope, he demanded. I'd tell him.
So I spoiled it for him too. I figured he might as well be
the only person who doesn't. You know, I would.
I wouldn't do that to Cat. In 3rd place we have
Interspecies Reviewer gaining a fifth and ever looming higher

(01:13:27):
score of Legacy points, and 2nd we have Mind Games with a very
strong debut performance. And in first place we have
Scum's Wish by like a lot, whichis nice.
So we will be watching that. And I want everyone here to

(01:13:47):
remember that this is I'm, I'm even to put Cat's name next to
the nomination when I do it because he had all of the power
in the world to not make this happen.
And he chose to. And I have succeeded and he has
to watch it. Again.
So. I can choose not to be on the.
Yeah, you don't have to show up.You don't have to show up.

(01:14:07):
It's so true. Pete famously says.
What are we nominating? And more specifically, yeah,
that's what we're watching Scum Swish.
Sorry, I was waiting to see if you had more to say.
We are watching Scum Swish for our next episode now in honor of
Pride Month, which started yesterday.

(01:14:29):
As of the time we're recording, we are going to nominate shows
that have to do with Pride in some different way, whether
that's LGBTQIA plus characters or discussions around those
plot, their lives, or things involving them.
It'll make a lot of sense once we're done nominating.
But Miles, do you have one readyto off the RIP like you normally

(01:14:49):
do or like? Like I do every time and never
once have I not I do. I'm going to be nominating.
I'm in love with the villainous in the.
Trying to split the Veronica vote.
Yeah, I'm splitting the Veronicavote, unfortunately.
Yeah, because I we all, well, we'll find out what Jay is
nominating here, but it will in fact, split the Veronica vote.

(01:15:11):
But I've read these light novels, a couple of them, and I
like them and I want to watch the show.
There you go. That's usually a good reason to
nominate. I also want to make sure no
matter what we fucking nominate and wins that we get to discuss.
That's why I dropped the show. There you go.

(01:15:33):
All right, Cat, what have you got?
Yeah, it's probably a fairly cliche choice, but I'm going to
nominate given. It's a banger I love Given
Never. Seen it so.
And if you like music, what was really good music in given?
Was it a show in a movie or a movie in a show?

(01:15:55):
Are you it's are you doing the movie 2?
Seasons now? No, the movie is like the third
season. Oh, OK then it's the show.
Yep. Yeah.
That was worn by a question. Thank you.
There we go. All right.
No. Worries we got there.
Jay, what have you got? Oh, I'm not meeting.
Citrus about this Pete Citrus probably has way more incest
than I'm in love with the villain.

(01:16:16):
It does not actually. It actually has infinitely less
incest. Oh yeah, I forgot you don't care
about the actual ethical quandaries that it presents.
That, that that wasn't the question.
You said. You said it had incest.
It does not. Does it have?
Does it have, does it have moralquestions that probably should

(01:16:39):
be talked about? Yeah.
Yeah, it does. You don't.
Need to be blood related for it to be incest.
I mean based off my knowledge you do, but fuck if that's the.
Norm. You don't like at least per
Massachusetts block. OK, whatever.
I learned this as I was getting.Married Miles is the type of guy
who knows like the age of consent in different.

(01:16:59):
States and this reminds me of one of my favorite community
endings where there's like an episode where two cousins get
married and like this guy is just like, I'm like whatever.
And they said I can make this episode as long as I get on
after and say I wrote the incestepisode of community.
He just like, has to like completely sell himself out.
Miles, I will also say, do you know what the incest law is in

(01:17:24):
North Carolina as we're? Not let's, not let's.
Not none of the shows have it. Then who's next?
Yeah, all. Right, Pete, what have you got?
What are you? Guys thoughts on pirating
because the show? We're gonna have to pirate scums
wish because it's apparently offof everything so.

(01:17:45):
Then wow. Because apparently Crunchyroll.
Apparently Crunchyroll got rid of Wandering Sun and it was
there last year, I thought, But it's not there this year, so.
Look, we live in a capitalist hellscape.
Let's take some stuff back. Let's take a stand against
pirating if it is available. However, it is not available, so
they're. Yeah, I'm gonna cover all the
bases. We got lesbian, we got gay.

(01:18:06):
I'm gonna do trans. I'm gonna nominate Wandering
Sun. Ethical pirating, right?
There you go. I like it.
Hey. Crunchyroll got rid of Wandering
Sun. That's transphobic, so therefore
I'm actually doing the society alike a a good by pirating it.
Not just any society, the. Society.
The Society. Yeah, perfect, Sony, what do you

(01:18:27):
expect? Even though I think it got
removed before the but Sony bought it.
Yeah. I was going to say at least
before the acquisition was fine,you know.
Oh yeah, 100%. That's why I protested by not
getting a Sony television for myliving room.
Instead I got a. What did I get?
VCL. Who owns VCL?
Google. Google, the less evil

(01:18:47):
corporation of OH. Yes, Gulf of America.
Hell yeah, baby. What are we?
What are we doing? All right, my show.
I thought about doing like Zombieland Saga 'cause I thought
it would be fun. And Lily, one of the characters,
is very specifically trans, and I think that they do it in a
very like, good way, but also ina way where it doesn't even

(01:19:14):
acknowledge it. It kind of just acts as if it's
normal without like questioning it, which I thought was really
cool. However, yeah, I think it's done
exceptionally well. Not that I guess my opinion as a
straight white male matters thatmuch.
But instead, then I sat there and I went.
Let's. Do something I haven't watched,
or that most of us haven't watched too.
I'm gonna do a Whisper Me a LoveSong 'cause I think that that

(01:19:36):
sounded interesting and it's newand it looks pretty, animated
wise at least. Like, oh, you were, you were not
around when this was airing, were you?
I was probably intentionally avoiding it 'cause this is not
usually my cup of tea, but. Yeah, it got delayed like 5
months to finish. The cover art is beautiful.

(01:19:57):
Oh, it is. Yeah.
Yeah. A really great PowerPoint.
Oh, is it? Oh I love.
Him. Because I'm an ally.
Got my Whispering Me a love songmanga right here.
Should I? Should I nominate something
else? Then no, no, it's a fine show.
It's, it's perfectly fine, Yeah.Just when you said it looks
lovely, like animated or whatever, you don't.
Care about animation. I understand, he said.

(01:20:19):
Pat said. It looks like it's lovely
animated, so I did the oh along with you because I know it's
not. It's it's not.
It's fine. We agree it's fine, OK.
Just nominate it. All right, yeah, because I was
going to say it's also like I just kind of went down the girls

(01:20:40):
love category and I was like, what would like?
What are ones that didn't look problematic or ones that I did
not enjoy without? I watched myself already and it
took me a while of scrolling to get to 1 but I did find that
one. I was like that looks
interesting. You should.
Have just two birds, one stone and done that show you have to

(01:21:01):
watch. Oh, gushing over magical gush.
Yeah, I thought about it. I did think about it, but I
thought that that would be cheating.
No, you can do that. You can do that if you want to.
Well, no, I'm not gonna do that.I.
Purposely skipped seasonal so wecould do it here so that it's
one last show I have to watch, though I get I do it all the
time. Yeah, no, I'm good.
I I will watch that on my own and suffer and I'm on my own for

(01:21:23):
your guys's sake. I'll watch with you.
I won't. OK.
Yeah, you shouldn't watch it with me.
It's just funny that this is allsame category including foodaboo
as well. Apparently, according to now is.
That a hentai. Yes, it is literally a hentai
and for some reason it's categorized that's.
Allowed on Mao. Yeah, hentai's on Mao not.

(01:21:44):
By the way. Oh it is interesting.
Good to know. Not that I wouldn't know what
hentai is. I know.
Also could have been nominated for this.
There's a gay romance in it. All true in what?
Scott Pilgrim takes off. Oh yeah, that would have been
fun. Shall we end this all right?

(01:22:07):
I don't know. Should we?
Yeah. No, that'll be a nomination.
Yeah. No, that's it.
But yeah, that's Watch Club. Thank you so much.
And Pete, take it away. If you have made this far and
you want to support us, the bestway to do so like, comment,
subscribe, leave a review on whatever platform you're
watching or listening to us on. Next week is the fan favorite My
Anime List game Volume 8 coming back with a vengeance.
I think it's been like seven months since we've done a Mal

(01:22:27):
game, so we'll be doing that next week.
Otherwise, if you were here for Watch Club, we will see you in
two weeks or Scum's Wish, Thanksand we'll see you next time.
Bye bye, bye, bye, bye. Bye bye, bye bye bye bye, bye,
bye, bye, bye bye.

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