For the occasion of the live-action adaptation of GHOST IN THE SHELL, I knew that an ordinary one-on-one discussion would not suffice: I had to gather a squad. Joining me to dissect the gleaming CGI prosthesis of Rupert Sanders' vision are David Sims (The Atlantic,) Alison Willmore (Buzzfeed,) Kevin Nguyen (GQ) and Jus... more
In 1985, Mamoru Oshii and Yoshitaka Amano, with the help of a seemingly infinite budget, made a haunting and singular video animation feature called ANGEL'S EGG, and this week I made former animephobe Molly Lambert (MTV News) watch it and talk about it with me. Good news: she's not scared of anime anymore! Bad news: We... more
I am back from an unintentional hiatus caused by a combination of work, leisure, and apparently daunting viewing assignments! But I'm ready to kick off my miniseries on Puella Magi Madoka Magica, a meta-magical girl series that blew everyone's minds in 2011 and continues to do so today. Eric Thurm (GQ, Esquire, Drunk T... more
For our final week of Yuri On Ice, I'm bringing on a very special guest, David Rees, who has secretly been watching this show with me the whole time! David is about as much of an anime novice as one can be, so we discuss what it was about YOI that reeled him in, including some stylistic flourishes and storytelling meth... more
We are reaching peak emotional content, with the most romantic anime I saw in 2001 (Whisper of the Heart, Yoshifumi Kondo, 1995)and the most romantic anime I saw in 2017 (Yuri On Ice episodes 9 and 10, Sayo Yamamoto.) First I bring Justin Charity back to talk about Whisper of the Heart, the final film in our Ghibli mum... more
I'm back from Tokyo with a boatload of Yuri On Ice merchandise and a weird flu-like thing. Which means it's a perfect time to bask in some chill nostalgia and continue my mini-tour of the Ghibli Mumblecore years, talking about Isao Takahata's Only Yesterday (1991) with David Sims of The Atlantic and the Blank Check pod... more
Molly Lambert returns to discuss more Yuri!!! On Ice ... or rather, CHRIS ON ICE!!! Chris. On. Ice. We have a very rambly discussion that goes from foggy childhood memories of a dub of Unico, to Tonya vs. Nancy, to homosexuality in Japanese fiction. We got it all!But before that: I discuss what I was up to during the... more
It's the final official week of our current reality, but I'm ready to kick off the torrent of garbage early by attempting to explain the An*me R*ght with my guest, The Ringer's Justin Charity. But first, I discuss Tomomi Mochizuki's 1993 Studio Ghibli TV movie Ocean Waves (I Can Hear The Ocean,)which just got a remaste... more
It's the first episode of It's Cool To Like Anime! I'm kicking things off in rousing fashion, discussing such pressing topics as how to make a pop screen out of a pair of tights and a hanger and whether or not otaku learn things. Then I'm joined by Molly Lambert (MTV News) to begin our series discussion of the wildly p... more