0:00

Hey there and welcome back to rival reviews , I

0:03

guess . First and foremost , I want to start

0:05

off this episode with an apology . I

0:08

know this week I said that I was

0:10

gonna be going over the halfway point of all

0:14

the things playing this week and I Didn't

0:17

watch any anime this week . I

0:20

do have a . Well , I have a good excuse for

0:22

myself maybe not for everybody

0:24

else , but Persona

0:27

3 Reloaded just got released , I

0:29

think like last Friday or the Friday before or whatever

0:32

, and I've been pretty

0:34

much doing nothing but playing that game as

0:37

opposed to , and then , of course , the rest

0:39

of life and everything else . But all of my free

0:41

time has been going towards the game . So

0:44

For that I do

0:46

apologize . I do promise that I

0:48

will have everything watched

0:50

by next week to go over . So what I

0:52

thought that I would do this week is , first

0:55

and foremost , I wanted to give a thank to everybody

0:58

who has been listening . It's

1:00

been really fun and it's

1:03

been different for me , because this is the

1:05

first time I've ever done anything like this before , and

1:08

I think the coolest part was is that so like

1:11

? I use buzzsprout , which

1:13

is like the , the

1:16

hosting site that I use for the

1:18

podcast , and On the site

1:20

. It gives statistics , and some of

1:22

the statistics it actually gives is where

1:25

the listeners are from , like

1:27

what countries and stuff . And what

1:30

I found really cool was is that , you

1:32

know , I thought my , my listenership would just

1:34

be mainly , like you know , friends

1:36

of friends and that's as far as it would go

1:38

, but that doesn't seem to be the case . I

1:40

seem to have quite a decent

1:43

following , which I'm thankful to all of you for

1:45

, and I find it really cool that there are people

1:47

like from Japan

1:49

and the Dominican Republic

1:51

, the states

1:54

. Obviously Canada , from where I'm from

1:56

, nigeria , is

1:58

on there as well . It was

2:00

. It's just very interesting to see that it's

2:02

not just all Encompassed

2:04

by places I've either visited or people that

2:07

I know , because I guarantee

2:09

I do not know anybody in Japan as

2:11

wishful as I wish I did , and

2:14

definitely not Nigeria or Dominican

2:17

Republic . I've never been to any of those places . So

2:19

it's very cool to think that somebody

2:21

you know that I've never

2:23

even met before Actually cares about

2:26

what I'm talking about . So I

2:28

just wanted to say thank you first and foremost . So

2:32

this week , because I forgot to do my homework , I thought

2:36

I would go through I actually

2:38

ended up getting quite a lot of Questions

2:41

sent this week . I'm not sure if somebody

2:43

just decided to , if this is

2:45

a new listener who really likes to know who

2:47

they're , who they're talking to , or whatever , but I got some

2:50

pretty good questions here and

2:52

I thought that , you know , it's

2:55

been a while since . You

2:57

know , I like I've actually gotten a decent

2:59

amount of questions and I figured that , you know , I

3:01

actually had enough that I'd be able to Give

3:04

an episode for and

3:06

, you know , maybe it'll open up the conversation

3:08

even more , which is what I've been trying to do from

3:10

day one . So I

3:13

guess , yeah , let's get into it . So

3:15

I wanted to Actually

3:17

field this question first , because I find it hilarious

3:20

In some of your

3:22

recordings I hear Tapping

3:25

in the background of . Sometimes

3:27

I'm wondering what that is . So

3:30

it's actually my buddy Tucker who

3:32

is my puppy

3:34

. He well

3:36

, I say puppy , he's , he's

3:39

six , but he's a puppy forever

3:41

. And yeah

3:43

, that's him going up and down the hallway doing his rounds

3:46

. To

3:48

be honest , I was . I fully thought that because

3:50

of , like you know , certain Editing I do

3:52

and stuff like that , and I edit the noise gate and stuff

3:54

, I didn't think that that would register on the microphone

3:57

but I was

3:59

completely wrong . But

4:01

at the same time , you know , people have

4:04

also said that it's kind of funny because it it's

4:06

like a recurring thing

4:08

. So I saw

4:10

I thought I would solve that mystery and let you

4:12

guys Know the

4:14

truth that that's just my little

4:16

dog , you going up and down the hallway , I'm

4:19

doing his rounds , trying to get comfortable

4:21

, sleeping from one place to another , so on and so

4:23

forth , and yeah

4:25

, his name's Tucker . Now

4:29

to the actually anime and

4:31

or manga related questions . Alright

4:34

, so Are

4:36

there any current trends or themes

4:38

in anime and manga that you

4:41

find particularly interesting

4:43

or noteworthy ? So I kind of put

4:45

this towards this . And

4:47

then another question that actually comes

4:49

up , so

4:52

I guess maybe I'll read that question too . So what are the predictions

4:55

or hopes for the future of of anime and any trends , development

4:59

you'd like to see ? I

5:02

think this kind of goes hand in hand , where I'm

5:04

loving the fact that we're actually

5:07

finally Studios

5:11

and stuff like that seem to be actually finally

5:13

diving into using Monwa

5:15

as well as manga for source

5:18

material , which I find super

5:20

exciting because , like , like you know , case in point

5:22

, we've gotten solo leveling Seventh

5:25

time loop this year around and then , like

5:27

you know , I found that it started . It had a really

5:29

strong start with other ones and cruncher role

5:31

like cruncher role originals did um Noblesse

5:36

, tower of God , king

5:39

of high school . They did all of those

5:41

and then it kind of seemed to go quiet

5:43

for a while and Then

5:47

now it seems to have come back stronger again

5:49

. So I think if anything is

5:51

trending that I want to continue

5:53

to have happen is I find

5:55

that there is a very big pool of of

5:58

Monwa that they can use

6:01

and A lot

6:03

of ones that I think would be really cool

6:05

animated Again

6:08

. I know a lot of people are obviously waiting for solo

6:10

leveling and it's finally happened . I

6:12

think my next big one after solo leveling

6:15

that I think would be really , really cool animated

6:17

would be the beginning , after the end . I

6:20

think that would be a really cool

6:22

one to animate , I think , especially

6:25

because of the . I

6:27

find that it's very reminiscent , at least

6:29

in style of storytelling

6:31

, to the jobless reincarnation , especially

6:35

the way that it begins and the idea

6:37

of the whole reincarnated into

6:40

this world and becoming super strong

6:42

in it . But

6:45

doing a good job in the fantasy aspect of

6:47

things , I Think

6:50

it does a really , really good job and

6:55

and I'm excited because I feel

6:57

as if that the popularity is big enough and if we keep

6:59

going down this road of using Monwa

7:01

and as well as manga , I

7:04

think the beginning after the end will

7:06

be a candidate to get an

7:08

anime adaptation sooner rather than later , and

7:11

that one I would be very excited to watch

7:13

. Share

7:18

your thoughts on the importance of music

7:20

and soundtracks and anime . Do you have a favorite

7:22

anime soundtrack ? It

7:24

kind of makes me feel as if I've , like you know

7:26

, like I go out and buy CDs still , which you know

7:28

I don't think well , I guess , unless

7:30

you're an avid fan or something

7:32

like that . But yeah , no , I think

7:34

in terms of score and everything else like that

7:36

, I think it can make a huge impact . One

7:40

that comes right off the top of my head

7:42

would definitely be fairy

7:44

tale . Just do yourself

7:46

a favor even if you haven't watched fairy tale or you're

7:48

not a fan YouTube fairy

7:51

tale , battle music and tell

7:53

me that you don't get like Amped

7:56

up and

8:00

it's just like all of the music , like even the background

8:02

music , to like serious scenes

8:04

and in In it and

8:06

everything else like that . I feel like it just does a really

8:08

, really good job and

8:11

I don't think there's a single piece

8:13

of Battle music or narrative

8:15

music or , you know , just background

8:18

music , for the sake of it being there , not being

8:20

quiet , I enjoy all of it

8:22

in fairy tale and I Think

8:24

there would be a lot of people that agree with

8:26

me . So , even if you

8:29

find , even if you think to yourself that you're not

8:31

really a fan of the anime , that's fine . But

8:33

I do think credit is credit where

8:35

credit is due , that the soundtrack

8:37

is is phenomenal . So

8:41

I would say that that would probably be my favorite anime soundtrack

8:43

, for sure . Merchandise and collectibles

8:46

do you collect

8:48

anime or manga

8:50

merchandise and , if so , what's your most

8:52

prized possession ? Um

8:55

, I Do have

8:57

, obviously some merchandise . I

9:00

have a couple swords that are really cool , like I have

9:02

one of Zoro swords and I have like

9:04

curitoes elucidator

9:06

, which

9:10

are all really cool swords and

9:12

stuff like that . My , obviously I

9:15

have . I have like all the pops

9:17

of all my favorite

9:19

characters . So you know , like I have Zoro

9:22

, future Trunks , kirito , asuna

9:25

, nyuiyausha , matt from

9:27

Digimon , kira

9:29

from Hunter X Hunter

9:31

I

9:34

would say the best , I guess , quote-unquote collection

9:37

I have anime-wise is that I actually have . I

9:40

wouldn't call it like a sleeve , but it does take

9:43

a good part of my arm . I

9:46

have like a collection of anime tattoos and I'm

9:48

like I'm still ever collecting for sure

9:50

. But I have

9:52

, like you

9:54

know , I got the human transportation circle

9:56

, I got the fairytale guild symbol . Just

9:59

recently I got the straw hat

10:02

logo from one piece . I

10:05

have a piece on my arm that is

10:07

, if you have ever watched

10:09

card captors , it's the Thunder

10:11

card , but instead of the beast that

10:14

is that is supposed to represent

10:16

the Thunder card , it's Jolteon from Pokemon

10:18

, so it kind of has like a mix

10:21

right there . And then on

10:23

my forearm I have all eight crests

10:26

from Digimon

10:28

and

10:30

yeah , like I'm still collecting and I'm still

10:32

gonna add to it . So I guess if I had

10:34

to say my most prized collection , I would definitely say

10:36

that it's probably physically attached

10:38

to me on my arm . I've even made the joke

10:40

that , like you know , if obviously

10:43

God forbid if it you know I ever lost my arm

10:45

for whatever reason , everything else I'd be really pissed

10:47

off if it was my left one , because

10:49

like that's where all of my anime

10:51

tattoos are . I know

10:54

that's a really dark joke , but that's just

10:56

anyway . Yeah

10:59

, why , let's

11:01

see . Why do you think anime and

11:03

manga have gained such a broad and

11:06

diverse fan base worldwide ? Wow

11:09

these questions . So

11:11

I would say I

11:14

think , first

11:16

and foremost , I think it's because anime

11:18

is not one thing like

11:20

if you , if you take , for instance , like you you

11:23

know , let's

11:25

just take Doctor who , for example if

11:27

you're not a sci-fi fan , you're

11:30

not gonna like Doctor who , or

11:32

at least you're probably not gonna get into it . Where

11:35

anime , you

11:37

can't say that about anime

11:39

as a whole , because you

11:41

have like any like like movie

11:43

genres . You also have that in anime got

11:45

action , romance , sci-fi

11:48

, fantasy

11:51

, horror , even like . The

11:54

list goes on , and

11:56

I think that that's what anime probably does

11:58

the best is that there I feel like

12:00

in terms of anime and manga

12:03

as well , there is a story for everyone

12:05

, and I think maybe

12:07

that's why it

12:09

has such a broad and diverse fan bases , because

12:11

they're there , even

12:13

if you you , you try to call yourself like

12:16

not an anime fan or you know somebody that's not an anime

12:18

fan and they go oh , enemies

12:20

for these , blah , blah , blah and everything else like that

12:22

. I guarantee you that if you sat

12:24

down and learned about that person's interests , you

12:27

could find an anime that they would

12:29

actually find entertaining or enjoyable

12:31

, and I think that's what

12:33

it does really well is that ? You

12:36

know , you may not love all

12:38

the popular ones , or you may be one of those ones

12:40

that only like the mainstream ones , and

12:43

that's okay . So

12:47

I think that's what it does . Definitely the

12:49

best is that , because

12:53

of all the other stories that you can , that

12:55

it has and everything else like that , no

12:57

matter what , I don't think

12:59

that you could find somebody that actively

13:01

hate , could hate every

13:04

anime or manga in existence . I just I don't

13:07

think that that would be possible . So

13:10

I think that's why I hope that answers

13:12

your question . Can

13:17

you share a particularly memorable

13:19

or impactful scene from an anime

13:21

or manga that has stayed with you , who

13:24

? I'm not sure if I can lead

13:27

it to just one like

13:31

? The first one that comes to mind is the , and

13:34

again , I think this

13:36

should be like a spoiler frame for okay

13:38

. So I guess , just if you want to skip ahead , this

13:40

is gonna be a spoiler for something in

13:43

one piece . So if

13:45

you again

13:48

, it's it's fairly old

13:50

, so like if you're caught up , it's

13:52

, it's not like a or like

13:55

if you're close to the end , it's not a spoiler . But anyway

13:57

, you've been warned and other spoilers ahead

13:59

from probably other things that

14:02

I'm gonna talk about right now . So if you

14:04

want to skip this question , go ahead and do it now

14:06

. So the first

14:08

one that comes up in my mind is the

14:10

nothing scene

14:12

from Zoro or

14:15

sorry , zoro

14:17

is the one that says it from one piece , just

14:22

the , you know . So basically fight

14:24

just happens , basically Luffy

14:27

gets like obviously the

14:29

straw hats win , but like Luffy is really

14:31

hurt and everything else like that , and Kuma

14:33

takes all of , makes it

14:36

basically a deal with Zoro that he'll

14:38

take all of his pain , but Zoro has to take

14:40

it for him . And

14:44

I think this is the first time that made me really respect

14:46

him as a character because , like you

14:48

know , he comes to standoffish and that he

14:50

doesn't care and everything else like that . But at the end of

14:52

the day , like he is their first captain

14:54

and he is I

14:57

I could argue that he was probably the

14:59

most loyalist straw

15:02

hat crew member in regards

15:04

to his

15:06

care for the captain Luffy

15:09

. And then so he like spends

15:11

all night basically getting completely

15:15

destroyed by all of the pain

15:17

that Kuma had

15:19

taken from Luffy and everything else so he could survive

15:21

. And Sanji

15:23

comes up and , like you know , zoro is like standing

15:26

there arms crossed , he's bleeding

15:28

profusely , you know , if he does

15:30

that like basically there's no life

15:33

in his eyes and everything else like that , because he's been basically

15:35

just torn apart and

15:38

Sanji asks what happened to

15:40

you ? And all Zoro

15:43

says is nothing happened and

15:45

it was just like . It was like this , this

15:47

half badass half , oh

15:50

my god like , and it was like the end

15:52

of the , you know the , the

15:55

chapter of , of , like that arc

15:57

and everything else , and it was just . It was just

15:59

really cool and

16:02

that has always stayed with me . So that's

16:04

a big one . And then like

16:06

ones that are just

16:08

cool , like if you're caught up

16:10

on Dragon Ball Super , the

16:13

part where I can't

16:15

remember her name , but

16:17

Goku is fighting like the

16:19

female Super Saiyan and

16:21

she she shoots us like

16:23

a beam at him and he surfs

16:26

it essentially is the best way that I can put it with

16:29

the start of his kamehameha

16:31

and he's powering it up . As he's

16:33

surfing up this power beam and

16:35

then like , does this front flip and

16:38

then just unleashes the kamehameha

16:40

right in her face and it

16:43

was . But like everybody talks about , how

16:45

like ultra is instinct was the scene that

16:47

like broke the internet and everything else like that . And

16:49

not to say that that wasn't cool , but

16:52

just he like

16:54

I , I'm getting so excited just

16:56

talking about it but like he literally surfed

16:58

the power beam and then just like

17:00

destroyed her right in her face . It was , it was

17:02

a phenomenal fight and it was a crazy

17:05

ending to that fight too . I thought

17:08

that that was so cool

17:10

. Another shout out obviously

17:12

is the entrance to

17:14

the mixed fairy tale

17:17

team in the grand magic

17:19

games , when like

17:21

so basically , if you haven't watched it against

17:23

spoilers but in the grand magic

17:25

games they they had put two teams

17:28

forward

17:30

, basically and then due

17:33

to like I

17:35

think it was like like a regulation , but

17:37

like also there was like people

17:40

hurt and stuff like that , like injuries

17:42

and stuff like that . So then they basically combined

17:44

the team into like the five strongest

17:47

members of the fairy tale guild and

17:49

they did this like slow mo , like in

17:52

the shadow , walking up the hallway entrance

17:54

with this , with the music , like I was talking

17:56

about earlier , the music going in the background and

17:58

it was just epic . So

18:00

that one definitely . And the last one I want

18:02

to bring up is definitely the revenge

18:05

scene is the best way that I can put . It is

18:07

like the anger scene between mustang and

18:09

envy in full malachimist brotherhood , when

18:12

mustang has essentially

18:14

just snapped and

18:17

he is just like

18:19

Annihilating

18:22

and we , over and

18:25

over and over again , to the point that basically

18:27

, and

18:29

we just loses like their

18:31

physical shape and

18:33

it's just like he's

18:35

just he's so angry

18:37

and it's just dark and

18:39

it's just awesome . So

18:43

if I had to , those would be the ones that I

18:45

would give for , probably the most memorable ones

18:47

. And Last

18:50

question that I have here that I wanted to field . So

18:54

anime often tells into philosophical

18:57

and existential questions . Are

18:59

there any anime , series or movies

19:02

that have made you contemplate

19:04

your own morals or ethics ? This

19:06

is a a

19:09

crazy question I

19:12

Think

19:14

I

19:16

would probably have to give this to too funny enough that are

19:18

actually written by the same person . So

19:22

the creator of Death Note

19:24

is Also the creator

19:26

of an anime called Platinum and Both

19:30

, in my mind , fit this

19:32

criteria really well . Death

19:34

note for obvious reasons and I'm sorry if you haven't read

19:36

it in their spoilers it's been out forever . If

19:39

you haven't watched it at this point You're

19:41

on your own , but essentially

19:43

it kind of gives that like . So

19:46

, for those who don't know , he

19:48

picks up a notebook and basically he's he'd determine

19:51

like deterrent that finds out that if you

19:53

write the name in the notebook . You

19:56

can . Later in the series he finds out , you know

19:59

, he can write like the way that they die and how long

20:01

it'll take , and blah , blah , blah . But essentially the

20:03

grand scheme of things is he finds a

20:05

notebook and he learns

20:07

that whatever's named , whoever's name is written in it , dies

20:09

, and

20:12

he kind of turns into this like I

20:16

Don't know . He calls himself

20:18

basically like a god , because

20:21

at first he starts , like you know

20:23

, he only kills people that are , like you know

20:25

, you know , you know so too many entries

20:27

in Like

20:29

really bad people , like people

20:31

that you maybe

20:33

would have the thought of , yeah

20:36

, they probably deserved it . Again

20:39

, I do think that obviously you can make the argument

20:42

that he definitely took his power too far , especially

20:44

when he starts like self-declaring that

20:47

he's a god . Like you know , at one point

20:49

somebody just thinks and starts

20:51

calling him God themselves , and that's one

20:53

thing , but to self-declared

20:55

is kind of a whole other

20:57

thing . But

21:01

, yeah , I would say that that one definitely

21:03

Kind of makes you question your own

21:05

ethics , just due to the fact that , like you know , I

21:07

think we've kind of all had that thought that you know , like , maybe

21:10

, like you know , people

21:12

that commit like heinous

21:14

crimes like I'm talking like the , the

21:16

big bad stuff like you know , like

21:19

serial killers and things like that , and you , you

21:21

know , you can come , you can have your own thought . I'm not

21:23

trying to make the debate of capital punishment or anything

21:25

else like that , but it does make you seriously

21:28

question like well , you know , those people were

21:30

really really bad guys , so like maybe this

21:32

isn't a terrible thing that they're dead . You

21:34

know , you can kind of make that argument . But then of course

21:37

, like the more and more he

21:39

goes deeper down that rabbit

21:41

hole , he , he

21:43

becomes obviously a crazed lunatic

21:45

and kind of Gets

21:48

what he deserves in the end . I don't know personally , the

21:50

ending , kind of it

21:53

was an ending to for me , but again

21:55

I would say that that definitely could make you question

21:58

your ethics and your morals

22:00

and stuff like that . And then on the flip

22:02

side , again by the same writers , platinum

22:04

end . That one's crazy

22:06

in the sense that essentially it takes

22:08

the idea of like so

22:12

again , trigger warning for

22:14

order , this one , this one go kind of goes a bit darker

22:16

, but trigger warning for like suicide

22:18

and stuff , obviously for this one . But

22:22

essentially this one follows a

22:24

Character , kakahashi

22:27

, and essentially he you

22:31

could say , contemplate suicide , I guess , but like

22:33

, he actually does attempt it , but

22:36

then he gets saved by an angel and then

22:38

this angel basically gives him

22:40

powers when

22:44

he can then compete with other

22:46

people that have been saved by angels or , I

22:49

guess , sought out by angels or anything else like that

22:51

, and they're essentially making a competition

22:53

to find the person that fits to be

22:55

the next God . And

23:00

it questions a

23:02

lot of stuff . It like it like

23:04

it makes you think about life , death , your

23:07

own morality , the consequences

23:10

of using the extraordinary powers that they

23:12

were given , like the

23:15

responsibilities and the ethical dilemmas

23:17

that would be associated with becoming a God

23:20

, and it

23:23

just it really makes you think about you

23:26

know , like and again , it depends , but I would definitely

23:28

not say that this is like a lounge

23:30

and watch it . It was definitely one of those ones that , like

23:33

, makes you think , and

23:35

what I think about this one too , is that this one

23:37

kind of like death note it as well

23:39

has its own crazy

23:42

twists and I , in my opinion

23:44

, has some really cool character development

23:46

and it

23:49

just does , I think , a really good job at

23:51

like , diving

23:53

into the complexities of human nature and the

23:56

choices , individual that , like

23:58

, each of the individuals , would make if they

24:01

were given the power of God . And then

24:03

it kind of makes you think well , you know , it

24:05

makes you have that argument Well , like maybe it should be this person

24:07

and it definitely shouldn't be this person , and yeah

24:09

, it just goes from there

24:11

. So I would say that if I had to pick a couple of anime

24:14

that make you think like that and , funny

24:16

enough , same writers . So

24:18

hats off to you know

24:20

, oba and obata , the

24:23

people that wrote both of those , because they're they're

24:26

crazy and they really , in

24:28

my opinion , I think they do really make you think about

24:30

morals and ethics . And

24:33

that's all the questions I had . I had a really fun time

24:35

actually going through these questions . So

24:38

if you guys have more , please send them my way . I

24:41

really do Appreciate it and I

24:43

love talking to you guys about what you guys want to talk

24:46

about and

24:48

, yeah , so hope . I'm hoping to have more episodes

24:50

like this in the future and , like I said , I do apologize . I

24:52

know that I was said that I was gonna talk about the

24:56

halfway point of the anime's . I swear I will catch up this week and

24:59

I will make sure that I'm ready for next week

25:01

. So , that

25:04

said , rival X reviews on all your

25:06

social medias , share

25:09

the , the podcast with other anime

25:11

fan friends and everything else like that . I

25:13

would greatly appreciate that and I'll

25:16

see you guys next week . Bye , bye

25:18

.