My Love Story with Yamada at Lvl999 Discussion & Review | Anime Watch Club

Welcome to Watch Club, a bi-weekly group discussion and review where the hosts of the what do you say anime podcast, nominate and vote on shows either that we haven't seen or shows that will hopefully lead to a great discussion. On todays episode, we will be reviewing the 2023 anime, My Love Story with Yamada at Lv999

Socials/Discord - https://linktr.ee/whatdoyousayanime

0:00 Intro

4:43 Overview & First Impressions

12:40 The Cast

20:06 That Runa Episode

29:59 Game Mechanics

36:46 Akane as an MC & Her Relations w/ Yamada

55:02 Yukari's Arc

59:04 Final Thoughts & Ratings

1:08:50 What We're Watching Next

Episode Transcript

(00:08):
Home me now. I'm.
Finally fulfilled. This is what my heart's been
waiting for. Home me now.
I'm finally. Fulfilled.
Pick me up to dance and pick me up again.
And gentlemen, welcome to anime watch club, a bi weekly group
discussion and reviewer. The host of the way see anime
podcast nominate and vote on shows either we haven't seen our

(00:31):
shows that hopefully to a great discussion on today's episode
the hot E boys of the way see anime podcast will be reviewing
the 2023 anime loving Yamada at level 999.
Let's meet today's tier 3 Pokémon tubs since this game has
a lot of MMORPG elements scattered throughout.
Gentlemen, I want to know what your favorite classes in RPGs

(00:51):
and do you remember what you called your first ever character
Cat? We can start with you.
Oh God, and it'll, it'll help, but I really love like that
lamental stuff. God, what was my first one?
Probably. Or your most recent What was its
name? Scaffonius.

(01:13):
Scaffonius All right, interesting name, Miles I I have
AI have an inkling suspicion of what your answer is, but why
don't you tell the fans? OK, my answer is the Wow
Paladin. Yeah, that's why.
OK, Angel wings go burner. OK, so my first MMO character

(01:37):
was an undead warrior during vanilla.
I don't, I don't exactly remember the name.
The earliest name I can rememberis Sonra SANRA, which was like
my first Alliance tune, which was a night of Druid.

(01:59):
And look, I'm an adult. I like Alliance.
I was mature for my age, you know what I mean?
I don't want to just zugzug, youknow?
All I want to do is zugzug. Yeah, but I once, once Blood
Elves came along, I was like, oh, I can finally play Horde
more seriously because they don't have to be ugly.
And but yeah, that, that's probably my guess.

(02:22):
That's what it would be. And Pat, you get an intro this
time. So do you have a favorite class?
And do you remember your first character's name?
Yeah, I guess this is my my confession.
My confession. I've never been an MO guy at
all. The one time I tried was over
COVID when that what was the? We played New World together.

(02:43):
Yeah, new. World came out so I guess mine
would probably be like a scout or like an or a stealth or like
Ranger. I get, I don't know, like I.
I like a character. Yeah.
Archer Ranger. Yeah.
Well, high mobility, less focus on the arcane or the magical

(03:03):
side, and more like literal warfare.
Legolas. You know I'll be Legolas.
I'm not getting the. Reference from Lord of the
Rings, the Archer guy, the Orlando Blooms character.
I have not see in the Lord of the Rings.
Wow. OK, alright.
I am no. OK, well, so like you know how
like I don't like Game of Thrones.
I have no interest in that at all.

(03:24):
Or like anything fantasy like medieval in any way I have zero
interest in I'm I know I would love the Lord of the Rings, I
just haven't sat down to dedicated dying hours of my life
to it yet. You know, one of these days I
will. No, my fault.
I just assumed everybody has seen Lord of the Rings, so it's
a. Cultural touchstone it is.
It is very similar to not knowing what Batman is or

(03:46):
whatever. I've never played Minecraft, so
like I get it. So that's that's my version.
And then do. You know who Steve is.
Yeah, I've seen the Minecraft movie, but for me, I love
necromancers. And my first ever character, I
thought it was so cool. There was an exit sign in my bus
with the E was out, so it just said Xit.

(04:08):
And so I thought that would be areally cool name to be exit
without the E. But then I was dumb and everyone
just called me Zit. I was like, Oh yeah, that's
right, that X is pronounced as AZ and not an X.
So my first FMO character, I went by Zit and I didn't want to
be called that. So that's my story.
But Pat, I want to toss it to you.
Tell us a little about the show that we are talking about today.

(04:29):
Yeah, my first character name was was Pac-Man Do, by the way,
because that's what my mom called me.
And I didn't know what else to name myself because I'm not
creative, like, at all. So there we go.
Yeah, we're watching My Love Story with Yamada Kund, Level
999, done in spring of 2023 by Studio Matt.
I not realized it was a madhouseshow.

(04:51):
That's very interesting. Known for free Ren hunter hunter
a million different shows sourcefrom a web Bonga genre of
romance theme of video game. Yeah.
Why don't we start with our first impressions and try to
keep it spoiler free. And whether you recommend the
show or not, Miles, start us off, please.
Yeah, so I watched this as it was airing and so I got to

(05:16):
rewatch it and it was an interesting rewatch because I
don't know, it just sort of reinforced how I feel about the
show. I sort of like mixed opinions on
it. I think that there are some
things the show does like reallywell.
And then I think there are some things that the show does like
not great, you know, but like astime had gone on from my initial
thing, I think I sort of like soured on it and getting to re

(05:38):
watch it. There was a lot of things that I
I got to remember, like comedy bits and stuff that I really
liked that I, you know, I thought is what I where I sort
of think the, the strong point of the show is, is, you know,
just in the the fun character interactions and everything.
Would I recommend this? Yeah.

(06:00):
I think like if you're looking for a romance, there are
probably like better places to start and everything.
But like, I think it, this is relatively solid.
So, you know, if you're you know, so yeah, I mean, I think
it's my my very, you know, mileslike recommendation of if you

(06:22):
like, you know, sort of ROM commie type things, this will
probably be a show you would enjoy so.
Yeah, if you like this type of show, then you'll like this
show. Exactly.
There we go. A Miles.
It works crushing it. All right, Kat, what about you?
Yeah, this was so my first impression was the show.

(06:44):
The first time I watched it I was I don't remember what
traumatic thing happened this year but it was directly after
that traumatic thing happened and I was looking for anime to
to kind of distract myself. And this show was a godsend time
because it was just so nice to watch and it felt so like calm

(07:07):
and chill and I like re watchingit.
It kind of just gave all of those feelings back to me and it
it kind of like it made me really, really happy just to be
able to be able to watch this and also be able to talk about

(07:29):
it with you guys because it's one of those this is honestly
become one of my one of my comfort watches this year.
Camp and Nietzsche Joe. So yeah, this I won't say that
the show doesn't have any downsides, but I will say that
this show does have a lot of charm to it and it is to me.

(07:51):
It's really calming in the comedy helps like helps keep you
engaged. So I would definitely recommend
this to most people unless you are a shonen bro.
All righty all. Right, Pete, what about you?
This is my re watch. The first time I watched this.

(08:12):
I really enjoyed it. There's a lot of elements to the
story that I find captivating onmy rewatch.
Kind of like Miles said, I forgot how funny this show is.
I think they do like the visual humor really well and they
started off really early on how they handle that.
What I recommend the show. Yeah, I think so.
For the most part, I think this is a really solid ROM com.
This is one of the better ones that came out in the last couple

(08:33):
of years and I think if you are a fan of this like game culture
or Mmos or something along thoselines and are missing something
like Recovery of an MMO Junkie and shows like that, I think
that this show can sort of alignwith that a little bit more.
I think that there's some elements that that this show
does better and there's some elements of that show that does
worse than some of these other ROM com.

(08:53):
But I think for the most part this is a solid ROM com and I
think most people would enjoy itif you're a fan of that genre.
I even remember like my brain had blanked on the connection to
recovery of an MMO junkie. Yeah, I know that's that's a
great connection there. But yeah, finally my my
thoughts. I also I think I would recommend

(09:15):
it to people who like ROM com. So again, I'm taking the miles
cop out answer, but it's like, Idon't know, it's like I would
just recommend it in in general.I get.
I agree though, that it's probably not like the best first
one for people to watch, but it's fun enough.
I like the setting. I think the characters are, are
fun. I don't think there's anything
particularly offensive or annoying about it.

(09:36):
I I just, it kept leaving me wanting a little bit more,
though. I, I will say so I, I will yeah,
I, I think it's worth watching, though, you know, there's not
nothing there that I would say like, oh, you're going to hate
this if you like ROM com in any way.
So yeah, I'd overall recommend it.
We'll talk about it during the show.

(09:57):
But I, I thought it was very funny and I don't know if it was
it was more than just funny because of Mmos or like gaming
references and things too. I thought it was just the
characters. Like I, I loved how they had
little text bubbles popping up like of what they're saying
implicitly versus not. It was usually very fresh or
very like clever. And I appreciated that,

(10:21):
especially because it shows characters of a lot of different
ages trying to communicate and be social when they're all all
have their quirks, which I thought was fun, too.
So yeah, I would love more of this.
But I also, I'm like, all right,I'm good.
You know, there's plenty of things that I would also watch
before this. Yeah.
I think 4 general recommends, though, So check this out if you

(10:44):
haven't yet. Spoilers going forward.
And yeah, Miles, you got a little synopsis ready for us.
As I always do right off the Dome and never ripped.
Mostly from my anime list. So yeah.
We follow Akane in this and she has recently been dumped by her

(11:05):
boyfriend who found another girlthat he liked more.
So she is sort of playing an MMOthat he got her into while she's
sad and ends up going to an event with it to sort of like
try to, I don't know, like stunton him or whatever.

(11:28):
You know, dresses up and meets handsome man named Yamada, who
is, I guess, like a professionalgamer, which is a is a detail
about him that occasionally matters.
So through this interaction meeting, she like, asks him to

(11:51):
pretend to be her boyfriend so she can show up her ex.
And then hijinks occur. And as they slowly, you know,
you know, get entangled in each other's lives, they end up being
in the same MMO Guild. Actually, I think they they were
ahead of time. Like there's a lot of people who
all live within very close proximity to each other.
It's Tokyo, baby, who are who are.

(12:14):
Yeah, yeah. It makes it horribly unlikely
actually. But anyways, like we get to meet
the different Guild mates and everything and slowly Akane and
Yamada develop feelings for eachother and that is that is our
premise. So do.

(12:35):
You have miles. Yeah, you.
Got there. Does anyone have a discussion
point that they'd like to start with?
I I could start us off if you wanted.
No one else has anything pressing.
I have some stuff that I would like to talk about, but it's a
little more critical and I like the show, so if anyone has
something like a little more positive to start on, I would
like to do that. We do like a compliment

(12:58):
sandwich. Yeah.
All right, I'll start us off with a compliment with the
compliment part. I one thing I really liked right
away, I almost liked the start of this show better than the
middle and the end in a way. And I like one of the things I
really liked about it was the her first boyfriend isn't just

(13:18):
like maniacally evil or awful, in my opinion.
I think that they handle him very, very well and don't make
him out to just be like, you know, the the worst thing ever.
But he's flawed. But he, you know, he realizes
that what he's doing isn't great, but at least he does it
and is honest rather than like leading her on or, or beating

(13:39):
around the Bush or anything else.
And then from there on to he's pretty respectful of her and
kind and returning things and blah, blah, blah.
You know, like there's a lot of stuff that I think that you
don't often see in shows like this where the which I guess you
also don't ever see people date ever in anime, even in ROM coms.
So, yeah, you know, so maybe there's that aspect of it, too.

(14:02):
But I thought it was really welldone.
I I liked his character a lot. And I liked the way he was being
not just a villain for the sake of being a villain.
He just is the villain in her story, I guess, you know, not,
not not the world. All right, go ahead.
Be critical of it now, Miles, please.

(14:22):
No, that's, I mean, I guess we could like sort of discuss that.
I, I'm going to broaden it a little bit because I think
almost all of the supporting characters on this are like very
well done. You know, the more minor ones,
like the ex-boyfriend, like you said, they humanize him
relatively well. He's not just a plot device.
They use him to characterize Akane.

(14:43):
Like he has a conversation with Yamada where, you know, it
doesn't really seem like he regrets breaking up with her,
but like with past time, he is able to like, communicate like
why he liked her in the 1st place and like what, you know,
that she was good at and broughtto the relationship and
everything. And oddly enough, I think that

(15:04):
sort of helps Yamada formalize his feelings because he's sort
of a computer of a human. And so, you know, I thought he
was good. I think pretty much everyone is
is done well. Like for all the side
characters. Like Aruna is done well and
funny. She's a lot of funny scenes.

(15:24):
I hated her at first. She's.
Well, yeah, you're supposed to just like her at first, I think,
because the first thing she doesis, is set Akane up to like, get
assaulted. Yeah, it's like.
Which is, which is a fucking. Thing.
Yeah, it's not. I didn't like that at all.

(15:45):
I made the heat. Her.
And then even then, I didn't like her beyond that either.
I think it's just the annoying Sundere baca, baca, baca, you
know, kind of character that I do.
The the bit where she she's liketexting her brother and he's
like, oh, it's like like set up like a ROM com scenario and like
she's like imagining all the trails.
I thought that was so. Funny.
So like. She did.

(16:06):
She grew on me eventually. But yeah, the first like first
few episodes I was like, I want to shoot this character into the
sun. I, I completely get that, yeah,
but I, I on rewatch, you sort ofget to know that she's gonna get
there. So it sort of does help.
But like Momo, Momo I think is like great, her friend, I like

(16:28):
that she has a friend who isn't into Mmos.
That's that's really neat and I just think generally like even
someone like the the Guild, likevice manager or whatever, like
the strawberry farmer guy, like he's he's really cool.
I don't know Pete Cat. Any thoughts here on on the side
characters or anything? Yeah.

(16:48):
So even on rewatch for me, Brunowas still kind of hard to was
still kind of hard to like. Like, I think part of it was
that when I, when I was rewatching it, looking at her
and the, and like, especially with like her setting her up to
essentially be assaulted, like it was like it was so

(17:17):
uncomfortable, but it made almost a little bit of sense
where, you know, she was trying to like she watches a lot of
anime and then like some of the main characters like do or a lot
of shojo and like some of the main characters, like as a
moment of catharsis, they'll like try and send somebody away

(17:39):
that they feel is trying to destroy their, their normals or
whatever. And then when like Akane kind of
like talks to Runa and it's a moment of like, Hey, this isn't
a game like that. That felt a little better the
second time around then then thefirst time I watched it so.

(18:00):
I guess in terms of the cast, I think they do like an OK job at
kind of identifying like what isa Guild in an MMO?
Because a a little bit because like normally in MMO and guilds,
it's like you have a accumulation of everybody, like
all different walks of life. I remember like in my wild

(18:21):
Guild, like all the divorced moms were our healers, all the
military dads were our tanks andall the 14 year olds were the
rogues and mages. Like that's how Mmos work.
And so with this, it's like thisGuild is like, or I guess just
for the meet up, you know, it's like four teenagers and like a
strawberry farmer. It's like, I wish they kind of

(18:43):
got like the intricacies of likethe diversity of like a Guild a
little bit better. But like outside of that, I
thought this cast was phenomenal.
And I think each kind of like play their own role.
I like seeing like Yamada, I guess he's not really like a
side character, but like a male Kundra.
It's always like fun to see. I think ETA is a great like

(19:04):
solid stone for like the the Guild in and out of the game and
Ruda. My issue, like what you guys
were talking about, it's actually a scene.
This the the scene I want to talk about, but I don't think
her character is her fault. I think it's the writer's fault
with how that scene was like presented.
So we get to that. I would love to talk about it,

(19:25):
but I really enjoyed the supporting cast.
And like going back to the original part with Pat with the
ex-boyfriend, sort of seeing like the moments where he's
returning all of Akane's, like dishes that he made all the
lunches for or she made all the lunches for him.
And then Yamada being like, she's the type of person that
would do this without, like, I don't have to ask.

(19:47):
She's just like that type of person and that that's awesome
to see. So it was like, it was a great
mixture of like showing his character and showing Akane and
Yamada start getting like a light bulb switch.
So just how they all just interacted with each other
flowed and meshed really well. I was a big fan of the cast.
Even the, the guy who the date that we're talking about get set

(20:08):
up with them. Yeah, I obviously they, they
played into the bit for a littlebit at first where they're like,
Oh my God, something bad's aboutto happen to Akane.
And even he wasn't even a bad person either, right?
Like he was just like a genuine,earnest person and, you know,
socially awkward salary men, right.
Like, I thought that that was fun too, that he wasn't
actually. I actually have major I have

(20:29):
major issues with that scene like.
Yeah, I guess like, yeah, I so Iagree with Pat saying like
that's how he's characterized, right.
Like they definitely characterize him as like an
awkward guy as opposed to like someone who is trying to break
into the restroom. Like an actual monster.
Yeah, that's more what I'm saying.

(20:50):
Like, I like that he wasn't justautomatically characterized that
way. I guess I thought it was
interesting. To me, it's like you can't have
him do that. And then the whole scene to me
is a little bit whiplashy because it's like a very scary
thing that happens, but then like the aftermath of it is

(21:10):
less. It just doesn't feel like what
would happen if that were to happen.
You know what I mean? Can I take team off of this?
OK, because OK, because I have so, so much like experience with
like Mmos and guilds and meetingpeople offline that you met

(21:30):
online. And what this show does great is
like, you know, like the game that they actually play really
felt like they just like took time and played MapleStory for
like 30 hours and got like the resume to understand how to
build like an MMO and a manga. Like I thought like the details
of that game that they did was awesome.
Like they put their work into that.

(21:52):
This just felt like a scene where it's just like we just
need to make a a creepy nerd. I've never experienced meeting
these people or meeting like online friends offline.
I need to like over exaggerate what I think like a creepy nerd
would be or like a socially awkward salary man would be.
And it felt so out of place because that's like it.

(22:13):
It's like an experience that's like so unlikely to happen that
it felt so forced and unnatural to like the sphere of being in
like a Guild and meeting your guildies and meeting these
online friends in real life. It was just so unrealistic and
creepy and weird that not sayingthat there aren't creepy people
and Guild, but like how it just they formatted the episode to

(22:37):
sort of tone shift from being playful and bubbly.
I would say for the most part tolike, OK, Akani's like maybe
about to be like sexually assaulted.
And it's just like they went from like zero to 100 way too
fast to get the point across. Yeah.
And then back to zero. And it's just like the point was
like like trying to like scare her, but like, it felt like so

(23:01):
wrong for the analogy that they're trying to present to us.
I think if you just had him be aguy who is weird and like a
little bit creepy and couldn't take a hint and didn't try to
barge in, yeah, to the bathroom,that it would have achieved the
same thing. They did like the pushy college
guys just fine. Like those those elements of

(23:23):
those characters were great and like it wasn't exaggerated.
It wasn't like over the top. It was just like, these guys are
just douches and you got that. This was like, I'm a creepy
Sally man. Let me see your panties.
It's like, Jesus Christ, old man.
Like it was way too much, way too fast.
And, and normally this would be one of those things like, OK,

(23:43):
it, this is a manga spoiler, butsomething similar to this tone
shift happens in the manga is why I dropped the manga.
Like it seems like the right scenarios that they have like no
idea what they're talking about.And it's so exaggerated.
It pulls me out of it. I guess if you've like never
experienced that type of stuff, it's like a whatever.

(24:03):
Like maybe this is how it goes down.
But like somebody who has met a bunch of people and heard a
gazillion stories, like something like this is just like
so far out of left field. It just kind of took me out of
it. And I I really just removed that
episode and this, this show is way better.
The it's not just that it's the start of it where it like it

(24:25):
feels off. It's that if something were to
happen where it goes from, OK, this dude's creepy, I'm going to
go and try and go to the bathroom and then he barges in.
It doesn't typically end with, oh, you know, everything's fine.
We were just doing whatever, whatever.
Oh, everything's fine. We were just doing whatever,
whatever it typically ends. Really, really really.

(24:48):
Badly, which is like that, like I don't I don't want sexual
assault in my anime, but like itdefinitely felt like, oh, this
is a this is a point of convenience, which is kind of
awful. I guess my point is like don't

(25:09):
use don't use sexual assault as a as a plot vehicle if the plot
vehicle is going to be going to feel kind of half baked.
Yeah, I still liked again thoughthat he wasn't what do you what
it was I I also agree that it didn't need to happen and did

(25:32):
feel very tone shifty out of nowhere.
It it come comes completely out of left field the scene and and
like the setup to it. I just, yeah, I liked him
because he wasn't turned into the monster that is always the
stereotype of like, like you said, meeting in person, where

(25:54):
like I have people that I've played video games with since
literally high school that are now like some of my closest
friends was literally at their grad graduation party last month
or this past weekend, you know, like that.
I've never had an experience like that meeting up with
someone either. But at the same time, I don't
know. We're not exactly the people

(26:16):
that usually have that experience is either As for men,
you know, so I, I don't know, I,I thought it was.
Yeah, so like, I don't know, I guess my just a final thoughts
on it and then we we can move onto whatever.
It's like I I agree with you that I I like that the intent

(26:37):
and portrayal was that he was just kind of a weird, socially
awkward guy that can make someone feel uncomfortable, but
not inherently dangerous. What I don't like is that the
author seemed to put in a situation where he would very
easily be perceived as dangerousand then and then sort of just

(27:00):
ignored that that have their ownscene, the scene that they wrote
right. And like, and I think Pete might
agree with this. I don't know anyone else.
I think Akane, the fact that, you know, this was escalated so
much sort of makes it weird how quickly she forgave Runa where

(27:23):
it wasn't just like Runa set herup with like an awkward guy.
And it was just weird. It was like, oh, I thought this
dude was going to break into thebathroom and assault me.
And you know, those are those are different things, you know.
And you know, Kane is obviously like a St. and 1/2 for dealing.

(27:43):
Was that the way she did? But it also, from like the
audience perspective, I think, sort of turns you against Runa a
little bit more than the intent.You know, because everyone else
is on. You know, because her and Connie
become friends 37 seconds later.It's so absurd to be I.
That's part of the reason why I didn't like Runa so much for

(28:04):
sure. Like no.
Doubt, right? And so like, I think it becomes
easier if that guy doesn't try to barge into the bath. 100%
forgive her for that. You know what I mean?
Like because it's a less scary moment for Akane.
It just seems, I don't know it it was it was a weird scene.
I think we all agree it's a weird.
Scene there, there's like a difference between like hating a

(28:25):
character and then like wanting her arrested like I wanted Runa
arrested after what went down. I mean along with the creepy
dude too, don't get me wrong, but like it didn't it's it's
like it's not like for like wrestling terms.
It's not like I'm like he's the heel or something like that.
Like I'm supposed to not like this person.
It's like, no, like this is justa bad character.

(28:46):
It's not like it's but it's not Runa's fault.
I think it's just how the scene portrays her as her that
character to make it so it's just way over what you need to
be for a bad person or the the the roadblock or the conflict.
It's just like way too much and you could do that vice versa

(29:07):
where like if the main characteris like way too positive, way
too bubbly, blah, blah, blah. Like it's it's you can do it on
like both sides, whereas you just like pulls you out of like
the realness that the show is portraying.
That just seemed like way. I'm not saying like people there
aren't creepy people who like meet up with girls and stuff
like that, but it's like how it was just portrayed in the show.

(29:30):
It felt so out of place. Anyways, let's move on to other
things because, you know, again,we all dislike that scene.
I think it's good to discuss that scene because especially as
it was airing, that was a big talking point because it's it
was just sort of a weird thing. But you know, there's more more

(29:51):
to the show than just that scene.
How do how did we like, because I think this is a hit or miss
thing, but I think it it overallfor like the constraints of the
show, it does a pretty good job with the games and like how the
game works and everything. You know, Pete had said like,
oh, I sort of wish that you knowit.
It's shown a Guild more accurately, right.

(30:13):
And like your guild's normally going to be more than four
people and everything. But you know, you also can't you
know, you have a manga about a couple of people.
You know you can't really fit in60 characters sort of have.
Introduced you to log. Horizon I was going to say you
can't really structure a a ROM com the same way you structure

(30:34):
Log Horizon Your your scope justisn't there.
True. That's a good point.
Yeah. You know, I guess it would be
nice to see some more backgroundthings happening or whatever.
And it it, it annoyed me a little bit while watching how
how bad Akane was in a world where you could Google.

(30:55):
Things. You can just Google Paladin.
Well, like, she doesn't know that though.
Of whatever. How do you not know that?
How do you not know? She's this is her first MMO.
She doesn't know what if thoughtbot exists or whatever it's
called from old school wow like.I guess.
I I think it's very reasonable to not to to not understand
resources when you're new to a game I.

(31:18):
Think it is a very good idea forus to conduct an experiment?
Hey Pat, how, how about you try and learn how to play at MMO
that you've never played before?Well.
How would know he's like a MOBA king?
Well, like. Even just a MOBA.
Well, no, I've just I've been playing games my whole life.
So when I don't know something, I grew up before you could look

(31:41):
everything up on the Internet too, right?
Like all of it. Not that we didn't, but, you
know, just like thinking out loud here.
I grew up in a time where, oh, Iused to have to buy a game guide
from GameStop to find all the secrets.
Yeah, I remember that. Then I also learned, oh, you can
look stuff up on YouTube. You can look stuff up on
whatever. You can literally anything on
TikTok. Now I don't use it, but I just
know anytime I ask Ashley something, instead of going to

(32:03):
Google Now, she goes to TikTok and it's like I'm like, I need
to, we need to change that for one.
But two, like, like, we'll, you know, like that's bad.
But like also though, it's fair because like all the answers are
online. I do think it is pretty silly.
But I also didn't even really think of this as like a a
sticking point for me. It was more I think she's just,
yeah, she's never played a game before.

(32:23):
So like, I understand how to play games.
I'd like. I've never played a MOBA or not
MOBA, Sorry. I definitely played a MOBA and
and MMO thank you other than newworld.
But when I was starting to try and learn new world, I would
look up stuff online. I'd be like looking up guides
and things like that. But again, that's because I
understand that they exist and I've used them for every other

(32:46):
game that I've ever played before like since that became a
thing, you know? So like I, I think it's
reasonable for her to not just know to look things up,
especially who knows how niche this game is.
I mean they had a Guild of four people.
Maybe this is like some niche little.
There was a. There was a public.
Festival thing. I, I, I said it and then I
thought about it. You were right.

(33:07):
So it isn't that niche. You're right.
That's why Miles forgot. Miles the episode before said he
doesn't remember Akani getting drunk in the show and I think
she doesn't remember that. I think she can talk like 6
times. I remember specifically thinking
that, like, after episode 2, I'mlike, oh, she must just stop
getting yeah, right. No, she does not.
She drinks a lot and I love thatfor her.

(33:31):
Kane is just my alter ego. He's based as hell, that's for
sure. I really liked Kane just to
like, I guess to piggyback off of that or, or am I
transitioning too early from thetopic of I guess like, I don't
know. I don't think it was that weird
for her not to Google it, but I can also see why it's
frustrating that she didn't you.Know she's like.
You or someone would tell her, right?

(33:52):
Like someone would be like, oh, you can find builds online.
You can look at this and then she seems like the type of
person as studious as she was apparently and like, you know,
hard working to literally working yourself into sickness
at one point in the show. And that being a big plot point.
Like she feels like someone thatwould have gone and learned all
that rather than being like, oh,I'm an airhead now all of a
sudden about it, you know, so I,I can.

(34:14):
Yeah, you know, I, I guess like,I don't know, my counter to
Pete's point would be like, there's a lot of things I've
never done and when I need to learn how to do them, I, I look
it up. I agree, but I think it's I
think it's very normal if this is your first ever MMO to be

(34:34):
like, I didn't know there was anentire online resource for like
every quest in the game. Like I think it's very usable to
think a new player doesn't understand that that exists.
OK yeah. Like if my mom started playing
Wow she would fucking know what to Google like.
But she would ask you, and then you would tell her what?

(34:54):
Google it, but you'd have to askme first.
Like Connie's never asked that question.
Connie. Never asked any of the seven
people she knows. Yeah, exactly.
She. She figures it out later though,
like when she like yes, when shelike puts the wrong items in the
OR the crappy items in the chestbecause she's trying to like

(35:15):
help out the Guild, but everyone's like, you're
literally just like literally donating like garbage to us.
And then 4 episodes later we learned she's equipping in gear
as a palette and. Which is fine, they use mana
like I don't know. Not in this game, no.
Which is a primary attribute. It's they're they're con based
on this. They're vitality based.

(35:35):
Yeah, well, you know, whatever. The costing is should you D&D
third wrong game in. Another language.
I'm. Just I'm.
Just going to. Ignore focus on health and not
mana and their game. Yeah, it's like what their their
abilities scale off of or whatever.
That that that's much more MOBA friendly for me.
Yeah, There you go. The.
Scaling, yeah. But I, I just, I just want to

(35:57):
point this out. You are on a podcast with
somebody who's writing a fantasynovel.
Yeah, I hate fantasy. I.
Think it's so dumb? I think it's so dumb.
I do I know. I'm sorry guys.
I hate to be that guy, but I do.I really do hate fantasy worlds.
I find them so boring and I justit's.
All good. All good, baby.
No. I'm not I'm not.

(36:17):
I like my life. I like where the life I live and
the things and this world and this planet.
And I think you're wasting paperon it right now because that's
that's bad for the environment. So they're bam got them.
That's why I hate fantasy. Totally not because I'm just,
it's not my style. I was trying to shave you.
I just thought that it was just kind of funny.

(36:38):
I I do look forward to it from what I've heard from you though,
Kat, I do. That was all love.
Can I can I, can I talk about another character like contrast
here? Please, please.
I love, I love a Kane as a character, I think.
She's I'm a bigger Kane fan. And I think she's awesome and
like, OK, yeah, I think the showreally hangs up for me because I

(37:00):
don't really care about Yamada that much.
I I'm not very attached to him at all.
And I think he's boring and likehe's, he's like, if you were
writing a ROM com as a lonely, boring, ugly person, you would
write yourself as Yamada where it's like all the girls think
he's hot even though he does nothing and, and doesn't show

(37:22):
personality and all this stuff. And it's like it, it feels very
like this. If this, if if he was, if he was
named Kurito, he would have beengetting a lot of shit online.
You know, that's all I'm saying.It felt very same.
It's similar to that, like the, the edginess to him and I, I
don't think he's the worst example of this ever.
I I don't think he's like unlikable because I do think

(37:43):
they've worked together and I liked their interactions.
I just think that it was like soon the nose well with me and I
think that it also I I just wantthem to get together.
But but like by the third episode, I thought that that's
why the show would kind of drag for me too.
I was like, Oh my God, why are we milking this?
Like they clearly both like eachother.
Let's they're adults or they're essentially adults.

(38:03):
Let's move it along, you know, like but but that that's, that's
a whole other, I guess knock on the show that I have, which is
too bad 'cause again, I do like,I like the show.
I enjoyed it but like. I 12 episodes is to get together
is more or less a is a speed runfor anime.
Yeah. I know, and that's annoying.
World record. 13 episodes, by the way, it was 12 1/2.

(38:27):
I guess that because they 12 2/3maybe.
I don't know. Yeah, like, but they were basic
and they were practically together too.
The whole I think that's what annoyed me too.
They were practically like dating for like the most of the
second-half of the show. They just weren't actually, you
know, and the and of course practically only counts in
horseshoes and hand grenades or whatever, but like, come on, you

(38:51):
know, like. That's the.
Thing I kind of. Want to like be what I'm just
saying I. I I like, I like completely
disagree on essentially everything.
Like we had so much background to Yamada of why he has the
issues that he has with girls. Like it is like he the when the
girl like essentially was like, you need to do this for me or

(39:13):
like we have to be together forever.
And like he's just like he doesn't know how to handle these
situations. I thought that was pretty clear
why he had like these issues with girls the entire time.
And then also with him being thejunior, I think it would be kind
of intimidating going after a senior girl and trying to be the
one to make the first move. Because a lot of times in those

(39:33):
situations, the older person is more of the on like on the
prowl, which Akani is when she'sdrinking.
But when she's sober, it's she'svery like, oh, he's just a nice
guy. Oh, he just does this to
everybody type of thing. And it really takes her friend
Momo to be like, well, what if he actually has other
intentions? You don't know until you find
out. So like I thought the how they

(39:56):
handled like if you're going to handle a character like Yamada,
how would you do it? I would do it like this in the
show. Like I I think it was handled
really well. And if you do it in terms of
like a manga, this is like the the main couple got together in
like 13 chapters. Like that's incredible.
Like blue box, it took up like 115 chapters.

(40:17):
If you thought this was slow, read any shown in romance
though. Was that a chapter per episode?
No, but I'm just like, I guess it's just in terms of like, you
know what I'm trying to get at where it's like this is so much
faster than everything, including diving into the
problems Yamada had with like essentially going past the next,

(40:40):
the next step past a friend. He had so many issues and it was
dealt with throughout the show. You even brought it up like the
ex-boyfriend with like him questioning like his feelings
towards Akane and sort of that'sthose situations like
solidifying that this is more than just I think she's cool.
It's like, I really genuinely amimpressed by this person and I

(41:01):
want to be with them more. And so I just thought how the
show handled all of that together was done really well.
OK, I I disagree with. What?
Both and here's. Why Mother?
And here's why. Because I didn't want them to
get together 'cause I can't make.
That. I just, I just, I don't think

(41:22):
they're that good of a couple. I don't, I don't get it.
I don't understand, frankly, what she sees in him.
He's hot. He is hot.
He has his. Own players.
That's probably concerning because he's a he's in high
school. Yeah, but he's like about to
graduate. He's about to graduate.

(41:43):
Yeah, yeah. Cool, cool, cool.
Yeah. I I lived at my parents' house
until I was 23 or something. I mean, the same, but yeah.
But like, I don't know, like, OK, so the one I think the show
overdoes the shojo moments. Like, OK, you have like you're
like Doki Doki, zoom out, background fades, flower petals

(42:08):
go romantic thing, right? And like love that big fan of
that whole effect. This happened when Yamada
breathed like, you know, you'd be like, Oh, thank you, that was
nice of you. And then it would be like, and
she's like, Oh my God, he talkedto me.

(42:29):
And it does like the whole JoJo thing.
And it's like, OK. Like is is there never, no one
ever thanked you before Akane Yamada?
Has. Like, yeah, maybe, yeah, maybe
he maybe he got to her by like nagging her and then switching
on her like that. But like, I, you know, I don't.

(42:53):
And there were like a lot of things where she was like, oh,
like, it's really nice that he did like XY or Z and like 80% of
the time it was just like, ETA being like, you should do this.
Yeah, like. He's teaching them.
That's a fairpoint I guess. Maybe I I don't.
Like them as a couple. I just was rooting for it
because I like Akane and she wanted him.

(43:14):
That's. Fair that like so like that's a
fairpoint like so I, I guess I rescind to my take that I like
them as a couple because you're right, they like what do they
have in common too? But that's the thing.
What do they have in honestly? What do we know about Yamada?
What does Yamada like to do? Play video games.
Do we honestly? Does he?

(43:35):
Pro gamer, but that's it. Yeah, Yeah.
But like he sort of seems kind of over it in in especially like
the FPS thing, right? Like like what are?
When you're playing with, when you're screaming with Kim every
day, I'd go crazy too. Black Aqua.
Like I I just finally realized where their names were from by I

(43:58):
was like what is this? What is this reference that I'm
missing like? Very very tiny reference to the
show. It's like 1 post credits scene.
But like, I guess that's my problem.
OK. Like we, we know a lot about
like Akane. Akane likes playing the game.
She likes to go out drinking with Momo.

(44:20):
She likes to, you know, hang outwith Runa and, like, help her
with problems and like being a mentor there.
And she's studious and, you know, XY and Z and Yamana feels
like he hates everything, like even the things he likes, you

(44:40):
know? And I don't know, to me, I've
just never liked that type of character.
I guess. Like, you know, like it it just
be interested in things because that's cool.
I like people who like things and like Yamada feels like he

(45:04):
doesn't. He's Ray from Evangelion, yeah.
Yeah, except for. Except for Ray.
It's like a whole deconstructionof that concept.
A literal soulless puppet who is, you know, but regardless,
well, he's. He's right, then.

(45:25):
Yeah, yeah, yeah. So he's right, you know.
I I, I don't know, because, like, because like, people
really like Yamada, so I wish I got it, you know, and like to
compare this to like a similarlyaired timed shojo sign of
affection. What's his name?
Itzami. Yeah, OK.

(45:46):
Eats me, loves traveling, loves learning languages, you know,
likes to go out and like drink with his friends and stuff, has
a bunch of hobbies, is like really into a bunch of stuff and
is the hottest guy of all time. Right.
So like, I get that. I just I don't get why Akane

(46:09):
likes him other than he's hot. Mysterious girls like
mysterious. He's nice to her.
He is nice to hurt you. I'll give him credit and he is a
very nice. Person, bad guy or anything.
I'm not like trying to like do Ijust, I guess to me I need
someone who is like excited about.

(46:31):
You want extroverted. They don't need, you don't need
to be extroverted. You just need to have a hobby.
Yeah, you know, to be like, oh, I really like fucking the
movies. Here are my favorite movies and
I also really like. I just see.
I feel like you're describing a a character that's not that

(46:53):
character though. Like you just don't like the
character because like. I the type of character I I
guess, like when I think about every all all of these
characters right, are pretty well fleshed out in my opinion,
as far as like what they like todo.
Like Momo really likes fashion and like nails and she really

(47:14):
like is lonely and wants to findsomeone who likes her.
And she also, you know, likes hanging out with Akane and
getting drunk and Runa, you know, we know that she, you
know, is like, you know, she's getting.
We just know more about all these side characters like Runa
really likes gothic Lolita fashion.
We know that, you know, she likewhat how she plays the game and

(47:37):
we know about, you know, like her, her own like neurosis or
whatever where they had that entire episode that was like
narrated by her in the same way we have like the Yamada one.
But like I, I guess my, my thought is like I, I can imagine
all of these characters outside of the context we see them in
their show. I think they're all great in

(48:00):
that aspect, right? Like we know what they do and
what they like and like, you know, could you see an episode
where like Momo and Runa go shopping with Akane and they're
fighting over like what type of clothing they want Akane to like
wear because they both like slightly different, you know,
sorts of things. And like, but then they're both

(48:22):
trying to get her to wear some makeup or something.
Like I can like perfectly imagine and I can imagine ETA
just sort of being like, like the entire time, you know?
And like, but I can't Like what what do?
What do Yamada and Natha do whenthey hang out?
Probably just play video games. Yeah, I mean, I don't know,
that's that's the thing, you know what I mean?
Like, I guess what, you know, like we all like anime, but we

(48:44):
all also have other like, you know, Pat really likes history,
Cat really likes romanticy stuff, you know?
You know, Pete, you play in likea softball league and you got a
big forehead. God damn, done.
I just stopped you there, you know.
I mean, it's not a hard target to hit.

(49:06):
Yeah, and I, you know, I like totake care of my childhood and go
to sleep and and I guess like that is sort of my issue with
Yamada and like it, it just sortof seems like, you know, he has
these hang ups with the romance.And I agree with you, Pete.
They do a pretty good job with daddy had a friend.

(49:28):
She was romantically interested in him.
He really wasn't. And that sort of like dissolved
that whole thing. So now he's like worried about
taking that step because he doesn't want to like ruin what's
there. And he already has like a hard
time. You know, he's very introverted.
He doesn't have a ton of friendsand stuff.
Get all that big fan of that good characterization there.
But like, I just have a hard time thinking about what he

(49:49):
does. No, I think it would be really
funny. Like, what if he just like,
opened his closet and he had like, one shirt and like one
pair of shorts and one pair of socks?
And he'd be like, you know what?I totally get his character now.
Like something like that would be like, all right, I get it.
No, I I I completely get what you're saying, especially with

(50:09):
how fleshed out the other characters are.
It's weird that there's not likeYamada likes banana pudding or
something like that. Like something stupid like it.
It could be like, yeah, 100%. So like because he helps repair
the computer and so like maybe if they got into like him liking
like what if he helped her realize you should probably use

(50:31):
a fucking mouse when you're playing an FMO and not your
touch pad. You know what I mean?
Like you could you could add a couple of scenes where he like,
because it would make sense thathe would care about his like
peripherals and all of that, right?
Like is this? Is this the show that mentions
DPI at one point? Yeah, he sits there in one of
the scenes. He's messing with his DPI, Yeah.

(50:51):
Yeah. OK.
So maybe it's there and just notlike expanded upon enough.
And you know, I'd just like to see more of it then, I guess.
Because like I remember being impressed that they mentioned
DPI in this because that's like a relatively deep gamer cut,
right? Like, but that's something FPS
characters are really going to care or players are really going

(51:13):
to care about, right? They also said PM instead of DM
and I was like yo-yo. That was like a yeah.
I don't know. I guess I'm like the only person
that's not like super great at video games, so I don't know.
It's basically your mouse sensitivity.
Like view it as. Like no not DPII mean DM versus

(51:36):
PM. Oh, private message versus
direct message. That's the.
Oh, OK, yeah. It's how the gamers say DMS in
games. I'll send you APM instead of I
must slide into your DF type of thing.
I say DM because it's usually discord message.
Oh yeah, I say DF all time now. Well, yeah.

(51:56):
Yeah. That form of social media you
would PM someone. Yeah, here's a better example.
Like do you say E sports or do you say E sports?
And then like, you know. There's one, correct?
One yeah, E porteos. Whatever Electronics.
Wagos Electronic. Wagos, Wagos.
Wagos electronicos, by the way, because it's an adjective.

(52:19):
So yeah, I was definitely tryingto be accurate to the language,
but yeah, OK, what else do we want to talk about here?
Pretty show is pretty. I liked it.
I like the so like I know you were complaining about all the
show Joe moments like you said, and I agree they were great.

(52:40):
They were yeah, they were great.I love the little like chibi
defying of their characters. Moments like that was very fun
and I thought like most of theirsetups or their their background
art, everything looked good. It was a fun, well done show in
that regard. Not that there was a lot for
them to mess up here either because they were very static,

(53:01):
but there is there. Is like a a Madhouse Sakuka
moment though, when I forget whyshe's trying to kick him, but
she's trying to kick him and he's like dodging it like super
like fluidly and like the kicks are all like really like, you
know, and it's like 5 seconds. But you know, I feel like they
had to pick a scene to to flex alittle bit because, you know,

(53:24):
again, it's not like a particularly Sokuga Phil show or
anything, but it looks nice for what it is.
In the moments where they can dothat, they don't skimp out on
which is, which is really nice. Yeah, the art style is
fantastic. Madhouse is one of the goats for
a reason, and I think that they solidified the like using the
color palettes that they use thedirections they use the chibi

(53:47):
when they do it for the visual comedy gags.
All on point. Could I I thought they killed
it. It's also like the type of show
it doesn't need soccer like it, but like I don't know how they
do their. Best a little bit it.
Does though for sure. There's like a scene where like
Yamada's, I'm sorry, Akane is bringing back the umbrella and
they do like a panning shot, butit never switches like the

(54:09):
angle. It's just like 1 fluid motion.
Normally that's done in like CG and not 2D, but it was, it was
all 2D, but it was like like Miles said it was like 2
seconds. So it was like I said, like a oh
damn, like one of those things like, oh, that was good.
I didn't realize Kane was R.E.M., Itzky from Quince and

(54:32):
Hestia from the wherever. That how to train your dungeon
or whatever so. How the pick up girls?
Then how to train your dungeon? How to train your dungeon.
The duh. He's a guy.
How to pick? Up girls in a dungeon or is it
wrong to pick up girls in a dungeon or.
That one, that one, yeah. Yes.
She's Shoko as well from Bunny Girl Senpai.

(54:53):
There you go. Wow, this very accomplished
voice. Actor Their cast is really good,
like acclaimed voice actors in this entire series.
I have if. If anyone else has a topic let
me know and if not I have one sort of final thing to discuss.
Run it. I think that's it.
Yeah, because we're at an hour, right.
So let's. Do it.

(55:14):
Yeah, OK, so I guess really quickly I'd I'd ask everyone
what their opinion on the Yukariarc is and like, does it do
anything for the plot? Because Galaxy brought this up

(55:34):
to me. It does like manga.
Cool, cool, cool. OK, so it's currently it's just
set up and then OK, 'cause like in this, it sort of feels fine,
but very self-contained and unimportant in the grand scheme
of everything, OK. She becomes like a core member
of like their guilt and. Stuff, I would assume so, yeah.
It is like she is she over Yamada or does that come back up

(55:59):
or? Secret.
Quite quiet. OK, cool, cool, cool.
I was. I was about to count to your
question with the question of wenever even see resolution for
Yamada's problem with the original girl or whatever.
And it's very heavily implied that she's that convenience
store clerk, which it's pretty funny that both girls, he's or
two of the three girls that are interested in him and like tied

(56:20):
to in some way are working at a convenience store.
No, the convenience store girl'snot her.
See I thought I thought that on my first watch too, but it
basically. Who is she?
Why did they give her a face, anactual face instead of just a
background character? I thought convenience store girl
was going to matter because she had a face and then Akane
started working at a conveniencestore and so it Pete.

(56:42):
Does she show up ever again in the manga?
I, I don't know, I, I, I droppedthe manga so.
Surely that girl is the originalgirl that he broke the heart of,
or not even broke the heart of, but.
Like she like moves away though in the story so that's why it
makes me think like it's not her.
And then like, he would have known he he wouldn't have been
as weirded out by the like, what's your name?
Yeah, she asked for her name. I thought he would just was like

(57:06):
so in his own world that he didn't realize it was her.
And I guess and it wasn't like it.
Has she? Would have asked the.
Right, because she would have known.
Well, the maybe or she's like, oh, it looks like older Yamada,
you know, like that's the way I looked at it was like, oh, they,
they were childhood friends. She got bullied.
She's like, Oh my God. Wait, did I just meet my
childhood friend again? Who, you know, years later,

(57:28):
probably isn't even thinking about me, even though he clearly
is. You know, like that whole thing.
I, I just I that I saw I was thequestion I was encounter with
was like, we didn't see that getresolved.
I think Yukari, it's clear. Yeah, she still has feelings,
whatever. And I'm sure that will come back
up later and be used as a plot device.
I thought that that arc, though,specifically, I, I, I do like
the oh, she confessed to him because she took her glass or

(57:50):
didn't wear her glasses to the confession so that she could
like not see him and have an easier time confessing to him.
I thought that was pretty clever.
But it is very self-contained, like you said, like the fact
that what's her name, Kanye doesn't even know about it.
So it is kind of irrelevant to the grand story.
But I guess it also kind of gives Yamada a like a, a kick in

(58:13):
the butt, you know, to realize, you know, and that that's like
the purpose is he's like, Oh no,I can't actually accept your
feelings or return your feelings, whatever the I guess
it's. Good that he gets to reject
someone and not feel like a hugeDick about it.
Like sort of gets to redo that moment he regrets a little bit
with Yukari. Yeah, that's that's that's good

(58:38):
reasoning. I think it's fine.
I think it's fine. It just sort of felt a little
isolated compared to like, like he's sort of dealing with that
independent of the Akane thing. It does come in a little bit
with ETA thinking that he confessed our Akane confessed to
him, but then ultimately that mix up doesn't matter.

(59:00):
It's just sort of like a joke. So all.
Right, let's do the closing onesthen.
Miles, why don't you start us off with your closing thoughts
and your final score for Yamba to the level 99?
So, you know, on now this is a romance and like not a comedy,
but honestly, I think that this show sort of excels at the
comedy bit more than the the ROMbit of ROM com.

(59:25):
I think the romance is like sortof fine.
I like that it proceeds relatively quickly, right?
We don't need to worry about if they're going to get together
for the next seven seasons or whatever.
But ultimately I think it's likea little bland and not
particularly like I wasn't dyingfor them to get together or

(59:45):
anything. Like I am essentially like, you
just really want the couple to get together.
And this was, you know, I was sort of fine with, it's like,
OK, I think there are some vignettes at the end of the
episodes. I think those are all really
funny. The Midnight Butterfly Momoko 1
is my favorite. And I just sort of had a good

(01:00:06):
time with the show. I think the cast is good.
I think their interactions with each other are really good.
They feel like a group of friends.
They do a good job of sort of spanning.
Different age grad as like a middle-aged person.
There's a middle schooler, there's some college kids,
there's a couple high school kids and they're they're bonding
over this game. And I think they do a good job
with that and keeping those relationships as they would be

(01:00:29):
in there. You know, like a Kane is like a
sort of a mentor Taruna, you know, and then the strawberry
farmer guy like takes them out and the sort of like a father to
the group, you know. So I think I think that was done
pretty well. Anyways, I gave this an 8 out of
10 and it's an 8 out of 10 for. Me way higher than I thought.
I thought you're giving this A6.I thought I was.

(01:00:51):
I thought like your first impressions and everything
that's. The thing is like too like,
yeah. Yeah, I well, The thing is OK,
so like I guess the way that we talked about it, I like, I think
the show is is funny. I enjoy all of the character
interactions and stuff. The the reason for like the
first impression thing is like Ihave a hard time recommending it

(01:01:14):
like as a romance, I guess, which is like what it is.
And that's that was why the weird thing there.
You know what I mean? Like I liked, I don't know, to
me it's like 8 out of 10, maybe a little lower.
It's sort of like AB if I was giving a letter score BB minus,

(01:01:34):
but it all the supporting stuff,right?
The the comedy, the atmosphere, the animation, the side
characters and all of that is done really, really well.
And I sort of think the centerpiece is a little
lackluster. It's not bad.
It's just fine, you know, and sothat that's where that comes in.
It also helps that when I originally watched this we were

(01:01:56):
doing like watch parties with like Trent and Galaxy and stuff
and watching as a group which isalways very fun too so probably
helped my enjoyment a little bitbut.
All righty, Kat, what about you?Yeah, this was this was such an
enjoyable rewatch for me. I had a ton of fun rewatching

(01:02:18):
this with barely. All I'm really going to say is
that I loved the, I loved Cometawith the, the older man because
of like his readiness to, to like tear up the rules of the
road for Yamada. And I, I, I really loved the

(01:02:47):
love the way that this, that this show gives a general
atmosphere of like calmness and being chill and having a found
family. And it's, it's it like cuz found
family is one of my favorite tropes in media period.
And it's just, this is just one of those shows that makes me,
that hits that itch perfectly. So.

(01:03:11):
And, and yeah, Miles is right. Like it's not really a romance,
but like Mal's wrong sometimes and I'm, and I'm OK with that.
I I would. How is this not a romance
compared to every other romance you've ever seen?
It is a romance. I just think the romance is like
the weakest aspect of the show. It is also the main aspect.

(01:03:36):
Of the show, unfortunately. I don't know it's.
I, I kind of view it more as a, as a slice of life, so I don't
know. And maybe that's just me kind of
adjusting my perception of the show to make it feel a little
bit more comfortable for me, butI don't know.

(01:03:58):
Yeah, but for me, this show is aknot.
I can't believe how high we are on this.
Wow, I was expecting a little lower.
Pete, what about you? I I will just say for I I agree
with Miles, I think that the romance is like secondary.
However, later on it is they arethey are a fantastic couple fan

(01:04:19):
fantastic couple. Yamada really starts to open up
later and show sides to him oncehe sort of gets comfortable with
Akane. So I would definitely check out
the manga if you want to see more of them, because my
problems with the show aren't orwith the manga aren't them.
It's the the other stuff is whatis to why I dropped it.

(01:04:41):
But in terms of the anime, I think the show is so funny, kind
of like with Katz, a little bit of slice of life.
He where I'm just chilling and vibing with the with the Guild.
Like I I think that they do a great job with the visual comedy
and some of the dialogue that they used.
I thought the cast was fantastic.
Eagle mentioned this about the lofi in the OST and I miss it

(01:05:01):
the first time around. There's so many lofi songs in
this. It did actually kind of seem out
of place. Like, I don't remember the last
time I remember listening to an OST just being like, this is a
weird sound choice for this particular scene because it's
not every insert song is lo fi. Some of them are just like
normal insert songs that you would expect.

(01:05:24):
And sometimes they're like lo fibeats.
I'm like, oh, OK. So definitely just like a weird
production choice. I thought in terms of what are
you? Going to listen to when you're
playing an MMO. What?
What do I? I listen to something very
different. But Lo Fi is probably a very
good actor. That's what I say.
Like it's like, it's like a. No, I agree, like but like the

(01:05:46):
the situations that they use thelo Fi beats in it weren't like
game sometimes sometimes they were game moments, but sometimes
it's like real life interaction moments and the lo fi beat is
playing while they're walking. I'm just like interesting.
The last time that they showed ascene that where they were
walking, they weren't using lo fi, they're using like a normal
insert song. So it's just, it just seems a

(01:06:06):
little like, huh, not that it was like bad, it was just like
different than what I would expect from like an OST.
It's like, I don't know if you were listening to a fantasy OST
and they were playing with like a harp and a ukulele or
something like that, and then all of a sudden there's an
electric guitar. You'd be like, huh, like what?
Like it's, it's something like that.
But I, I thoroughly enjoyed this, this anime.

(01:06:28):
I I think it's beautiful. Madhouse killed it 8 out of 10
all. Righty and yeah I enjoyed this
as well I even with like some ofthe complaints, I don't think it
was I ever was like man, I don'twant to watch this anymore I
really did enjoy it I do think it dragged a little though I
liked how it started a lot more than it finished I think for a

(01:06:52):
lot of the reasons people have already said like the romance.
I do hope it gets better. I believe that it does,
especially like, yeah, again, give like what we talked about,
give Yamada some more characterization and I think
that it improves it immensely. I'm going to go with a 7 out of

(01:07:13):
10. That's where I started.
I think it's where I'm finished as well.
But that's a high 7 or like A-75at, you know, like I, I don't, I
don't know, it could go off if there's more, which I assume
there's going to be more, right?Surely.
I doubt it. Really.
I mean, it's a show Joe so I doubt it.

(01:07:34):
It's really hard to get sequels for Show Joe.
I even labeled a show Joe on theon Mal.
Oh, it's a show, Joe. Didn't know that.
That's cool. Yeah.
Shout out to the my favorite character, Strawberry Guy.
It was awesome. Yeah, he was dull.
Yep, Giga Chad as hell. I love him.

(01:07:55):
But yeah, so that that adds up our total score to a 32, which
means we average out to an 8.0 right on the dot.
Makes my math life very easy here, which is 7.77 on Mal, So a
little higher than Mal. I think we were miles.
We could have been almost exactly on the Mal score if you

(01:08:16):
didn't completely usurp our expectations, but here we are.
My apologies. SMH my head you know just very
very rude of you, you know with.With our limited talking points
that this happens sometimes where we get surprised by each
other's scores True, it's usually cat but what do you do

(01:08:39):
I. Was about to say, it's like I
think it's one of us gets surprises us normally, but yeah,
no, it's fine. But yeah, that wraps up
Yamatokun. Miles, what are we watching next
week or for the next few weeks? Yeah, let me tell you, people
voted and in 3rd place we had Lazarus.

(01:09:00):
It's earning its second legacy point.
In second place we had Kamisama Kiss which is earning its first
legacy point and in first place we have K Pop Demon Let's.
Go baby. So that is what we will be
watching. Fuck yeah, I can't wait.
I can unfortunately, I'm excitedthat's a movie at least, but all

(01:09:24):
right, all right, I'm going to ruin this movie for you guys
before you even watch it. What these the character, the
animation looks just like this the the Grubhub ads from like
last year. Do you guys remember them?
Why with the with the dancing people and everything?
No, I it almost, it's so replicable that it, that that's

(01:09:46):
why that was the first thought that popped into my head when I
saw like people tweeting gifts and like, especially because
there's the one where the she's like sniffing the sushi roll or
whatever, like I was. Just like, yeah, it's like.
Made in the same studio breath like that's what it feels like
it's crazy I don't know well I just wanted you guys to suffer

(01:10:07):
through it like with me as well so yeah everyone's sending the
gifts and reaction already to our.
People are excited. I can't.
Wait, people are excited. I hope it's fun or I hope I have
fun with it still. I just looking at it, it's going
to hurt my head on you guys remember what size my TV is too
9 because so close Yeah, you're shorten me two inches here,

(01:10:30):
Pete. Oops.
A lot. No, you're shorten yourself 2
inches fat. It's that's a lot of it.
So, you know, it's a huge portion of it, so.
Bum club baby. All right, yeah, that's enough
Dick in you. I know jokes there.

(01:10:51):
Let's move on. So we are watching K pop Demon
hunters. What are we nominating for a
couple weeks from now? What are we voting on?
Miles? What have you got for us for be
watching it August 25th and there's no holidays in August
because it's the worst month of the year.
So what? Well.
February has entered chat. February has like, Ash Wednesday

(01:11:15):
and like. Wow, what an exciting.
Holiday. Well, you get days off.
No, February is much better thanAugust.
August 0 days off is February. You get days off for Ash
Wednesday. In school you did.
I did at least. Yeah, man, it ain't school
anymore. I don't know, I just realize how
old. Everybody's short as hell too.
I don't know. And it's actually like a a

(01:11:36):
tolerable temperature outside, not unlike.
August Sky in Minnesota Crazy. It's still 80° out here right
now where I am in Connecticut and it's Joel.
It's 9:30 at night. Like what is going on?
I I hate this and it's only going to get worse for another
month. For the rest of our lives.

(01:11:58):
Yeah, well, actually, this is not true.
Welcome. Welcome to the coolest summer
for the rest. Of the hot the hot summer of
your life so far. So the the thing about where I'm
living right now is it it is as hot as Texas right now.
I mean, you live in the South. It's like, it's not that crazy.

(01:12:21):
It's thousands of miles between Texas and where, Yeah.
But it's like you live at the South, hey?
You're on this same latitude. Yeah, like that's like,
Georgia's hot. What are we watching?
What are we dominating? Yeah, I'm going to, I'm going to
just get on my like, extremely long, what will be months long

(01:12:43):
grind of the portrait of Petit Cosette.
Good luck. This is mostly so by the time
October rolls around and we havea horror nomination and it'll
have accumulated enough legacy points potentially to win.
So we're playing the long game. Hell yeah there.
We go all right, Cat, what aboutyou?
I'm. Going to re up comedy so I'm a

(01:13:05):
kiss. OK, Pete, what about you?
Yep, I'm just at the point whereI am just nominating shows that
our discord wants to, so if you want me to nominate a show just
let me know since I've seen everything.
I'm going to nominate Mei Bashi witches.
Oh OK, yeah, I'm interested in that.
Based on the Secret Santa discussion, Yep, agreed.

(01:13:27):
Can you nominate and nominate Lazarus next please?
No, I hate talking about shows Ihate.
I don't know if you hate it yet you dropped it so.
You can't. No, I no, I hate that show.
No, I do. We'll.
Find out, we'll find. Out.
I do not need to finish the showto know that I hate it.
I'm nominating Lazarus. Hell yeah.

(01:13:47):
I want to watch it, so that would be cool.
Make me watch it, please, because you know.
I can never spell Lazarus I I I just learned but it's the second
AI always do AU and it doesn't correct for me.
Felt that. Azurus.

(01:14:08):
Lazurus. OK, we're done.
We're done. OK yeah, we are done.
We're definitely done. Yeah, no, that's.
I was just waiting to see if Miles was saying so sorry.
I'm really near toss it over. God, All right, that's, that's
all your nominations, Pete, takeit away.

(01:14:28):
If you have made this far and you want to support us, the best
way to do so like, comment, subscribe, leave a review
whatever platform you're watching us on, or give me a
Tier 2 YouTube sub. Only $499 a month.
That is a hell of a deal. You get priority access on
comments next week. I think this is going to be our

(01:14:48):
well, I know this is going to beour Shark Tank.
The discussion of all the shows in manga that we had to read.
Probably going to be the last time we ever do Shark Tank so
well. Without.
Without, well, we can refigure it as to limit deals and such.
Maybe we've learned. We learned lessons.
Yeah. Apparently I've made a mistake.

(01:15:09):
Apparently nine months is not enough time to finish four
shows, so we will be getting to that next week.
So hopefully people finish everything that they were
supposed to finish. My guess is most people are not
going to, so I'll look for that.We'll be talking Girarra,
Sorzan, Maidoro, a revolutionarygirl.
Una Miles is talking Berserk. We got Black Cat or Black Torch,

(01:15:33):
Bungee Call, talking about a whole bunch of different stuff.
So there's somebody wrapped up in there.
Rick and Morty anime. Rick and Morty anime?
I forgot that that was the thing.
Yeah. So we'll be talking a lot of
really good and really bad mangaand shows next week, so tune
into that. Otherwise, if you are here for
Watch Club, we will see you in two weeks for K Pop Demon

(01:15:55):
Hunters. Thanks and we'll see you next
time. Bye.
Bye. Bye bye.
Bye bye, bye, bye, bye bye.