theanimeeffect

So just in general, my just animation journey, I felt was weird. You brought up numerous times that we talked. So when I was like, yeah, Dragon Ball, the original Dragon Ball was my first one.

It was pun intended, chasing the dragon. Because I found it on whatever channel it was on. I could never find it again.

And then a tsunami happens on Cartoon Network. And I’m immediately ingrained in the culture. And it’s crazy, because a lot of people won’t remember this.

When tsunami first started, it was Multar from Space Ghost that was running tsunami before Tom was created to run tsunami. And Tom has been running tsunami since then. But when tsunami first started, it was all the old Hanna-Barbera action cartoons, Galaxy Trio and Space Ghost and Birdman and Johnny Quest.

Transformers would come on off and on and Thundercats. So I was watching all of that in the interim of kind of tiptoeing into the anime thing. And then when tsunami as we know it in its current iteration happened, that’s when everything popped off, right?

Like racing home to watch Dragon Ball at 3.30. Cause you know, like on the dot, Tom was going to be like, now for Dragon Ball Z. And you’re like, oh my God.

The other side of this was, was a huge Power Rangers kid growing up. I still say was, still am. Just now a Power Rangers Tokusatsu adult.

But like just the fact of like, just a live Japanese production being remade for the American audience was something that was so intriguing to me.

It was so new at the time too.

It was so new. And then it just got worse as I got older because you’re like, wait, there’s more that we don’t have. So it just evolved into the chorus and tie series and then Common Rider and Godzilla and Ultraman.

And that’s when my superhero action kind of giant robots and monsters thing kind of formed on top of the fact of collecting comic books as a kid. Cause that’s how I learned how to read actually. Like I hated reading as a kid.

And my dad was like, look, as long as the kid is reading, it doesn’t matter. So he like, went and got me some comic books, which I still have to this day. One of the ones he got me was like one of the first original issues of Black Lightning from DC.

I’ve read that comic so much, just in the interim that I’ve like, the pages are worn, bro. Like the pages are dead.

They crumble to dust as they turn.

But that’s where just my love for physical media comes from that as well too. So it’s like, for the stuff that I really like, it’s like, okay, I have to have these. Which also kind of devolved into my action figure collection and my video game collection.

It’s like looking in a mirror, man.

I know, man. It’s weird. But yeah, that’s kind of where I started.

It just kind of like, I guess keeps evolving after that, because now like I’m working on a lot of like, Shoujo and like Slice of Life titles and I’m like, my world is changing. So I have like this whole other like set of genres that I’m into now.

Hey man, Slice of Life is where it’s at.

Yeah, don’t underestimate the Slice of Life.

Speaking of Slice of Life.

Oh, no.

You got to go now, there’s only so much I can talk.

So I can kind of relate to you guys. Like I was a Pokemon watcher, you know, I grew up with like staying up super late to watch Adult Swim because they used to put like a bunch of anime on Adult Swim. And I was like the only place I could get it.

Like my parents were a little stricter with like what they let me watch. And so I used to like sneak late at night to go watch it and it felt so good. I was like, oh.

Cause like I was always like so fascinated with it. Like there was just something where immediately when I bought my first volume of manga, like after saving up and saving up, I was like, I have to pick out one that my mom will let me get. So I’m going to pick a sports one.

And so I picked out a basketball one and it still plagues me to this day. And I was even looking for it this morning, but I cannot remember what it was.

So you don’t have the volume anymore?

No, like it got lost in the move.

So what sport is it you said?

Basketball.

So is it Kuroko’s?

It’s not Kuroko’s. It’s not Slam Dunk. And I can’t figure out what it is.

There is one more that I can’t put my finger on it.

There’s another one out there I can’t think of.

I looked through so many and I cannot find it. And I’ve been scouring the internet and maybe one day in 10 years, I’ll be in a used bookstore and I’ll see it. My life will be complete or something.

We’re gonna solve this now. Everybody watching and listening, please write into the show, help us out. LeAle will be eternally grateful.

The protagonist had black hair.

Early 2000s basketball manga, that isn’t Kuroko’s slam dunk.

It was still coming out when it was like early 1000s, like maybe 2000.

Well, yeah, no, you guys help us out with this because I’m sure we’re missing something. But seriously, this is your first official test from us. Do this, please.

Yeah, it’s like-

That’s right. The show’s interactive.

But yeah, so essentially like anime and manga to me was something like that was sort of out of reach, but whenever I came in contact with it, I knew that it was just something I loved. And eventually I was able to like start collecting some volumes. I was like reading like Kimi ni Todoke and like really like slice of life-y fun things, but I also read like Rosario Vampire.

And the funniest thing is like what I love about anime and manga is really the community that comes from it because when I got into middle school, I was kind of like an outcast kid, kind of friends with everybody, you know, but kind of a weird theater kid, you know. I don’t know if you can sense it.

You know what, I feel like it’s a huge part of all of our origin stories.

But the coolest thing was I somehow was able to find people at my school who were also super interested in manga. And the crazy thing about it is they were from like every walk of life. Like there was like in this friend group, we had theater kids, we had jocks, we had like outcasts, like we had like the breakfast anime club.

And we kind of formed our little unofficial like Genshiken. And each person would be like, hey, I bought this at Undisclosed Bookstore. And we would like just have a book club and pass them around and talk about them.

And I think that was like super formative for me because like it didn’t matter how different we were. We had this shared interest that we all really loved. And it brought together this like really genuine, cool friendship that is hard to come across.

I was going to say like, one, I wish we were friends in school because I feel like my journey with anime growing up was really singular. Like it was like I didn’t have like a club at school or my friends weren’t really into it. So it was kind of an experience I had by myself.

And so like getting older and joining the anime industry obviously has made me realize like how incredible that community is and how much I wish that I had that more when I was younger.

Yeah, and the sad part is, and it’s so bittersweet, but like eventually that group kind of faded apart. And I don’t know, I feel like I kind of got bullied out of anime and manga for a little bit. And then I kind of decided at a point where I’m just gonna like love what I love.

Like I’m gonna be the weird kid that just wants to talk about anime and manga all the time. And I think that was like a cool lesson that I had to learn.

I think I had a mixture of you guys’ two experiences because like for me, like it felt very singular, like as I was, you know, growing up. But then like when I got to my latter middle school years, my friend Dom, who I still, we still talk like now, we would, when I say racing home, like to go watch Dragon Ball at 3.30, so the bus stop was right in front of his house. So he would be like, bro, I’m gonna go drop my stuff in the house, I’m gonna run to your house and I’ll be there before the OP ends, like clockwork.

I turn on the TV, five seconds later, he rings the doorbell, he’s like, I’m here. And this was an everyday thing. And then when I got to high school, I don’t know how it happened, it just kind of happened organically.

Everybody would just be crowding around my locker, like all of the underground, like anime kids, like the jocks, the nerds, the outsiders, whoever, because we all kind of had our lockers next to each other. And we were just like, oh, y’all see Dragon Ball Z, blah, blah, blah, blah. And then we just break.

And then you would like, throughout the school day, you’d be like, I don’t know who that is.

Like we’re all friends because we all like, we have a shared interest. It’s so weird.

We were so close back then to all being happy.

To world peace.

And then the Fire Nation attacked.

Well, thanks for sharing everybody. That was great. I think it’s really cool to just learn how you got here.

And as anime is becoming more and more a thing that people like, it’s awesome to continue having that community with people. And I think that we’re a testament to that. We come from all different walks of life, but we love this thing and it brings us together and we’re all living our dreams out.

It’s a lot easier now. I feel like now it’s a lot easier to kind of be in the conversation and be a part of it.

Well, to be who you want to be without having to like apologize for it ever, because that community piece you’re talking about, like even with social media, you find those people immediately. You don’t have to go looking. That makes sense.

You can just start talking about the things you love and that crowd, you know, they care who you are now. It’s cool. Yeah, it’s unlike anything else.

Well, thanks guys. For those of you listening or watching, if you want to share your anime origin stories with us, leave a five-star review on Apple Podcasts.

And if you can think of that basketball anime, please, or manga, please. It may have an anime now. I don’t know.

No, but seriously, we’re working on getting kind of a setup for you guys to like write in and ask questions and stuff. But if you want to let us know your origins in the meantime, you can type them into those reviews as well. And we will, I mean, I’ll read every single one of them.

Next up, we are sharing our current anime and gaming recommendations that we think you will like. You, specifically you.

Right there, in this camera over here.

Which camera?

This camera, this camera, this camera. All of them.

Every week, we’re gonna give you some recommendations. They might be anime. There’ll probably be some anime thrown in there.

But games, music, movies, TV.

Whatever.

Comic books.

Whatever.

Brands of vacuum cleaners. Now, probably not unless someone pays us for it. What’s the Venn diagram between people who listen to this show and people who are in the market to purchase a new vacuum?

I’m in the market to purchase a new vacuum.

Those that love anime that are cleaning their house and listen to podcasts, this is a big circle. All right, this week, I brought two.

Okay.

I started and finished a game in the last week called Grand Blue Fantasy Relink.

Oh dude, how is it? I just played the demo before I went out of town. I’m so amped to pick it up.

It was great. I really didn’t know much at all about the Grand Blue Universe because there was like a mobile game that came out in Japan only.

My boy Mike has been trying to get me to play it for years.

Really?

Hold on bro.

And then there was the fighting game, Grand Blue Fantasy Versus.

Which they’re re-releasing or got re-released.

Yeah. It’s great. The animation that always looked great, but I checked out the demo for this RPG.

It’s got former Final Fantasy staff. They got Uematsu who did music for Final Fantasy. I thought it was great.

It’s like a really tight like 15 hour action RPG.

Oh wow, I expected it to be a lot longer probably because I’m still in the middle of playing the Last Hales game.

Oh yeah, that’s like 385 hours, which is great if that’s what you’re looking for, but for me, my gaming time can be limited. So yeah, definitely recommend that. Check it out.

And then my anime rec for the week is, I don’t know if y’all are watching this, but Metallic Rouge.

Yes, dude.

It’s essentially a tokusatsu show. Yes, I’m watching it.

I knew you were gonna say that because you loved cyberpunk.

Yeah, it’s just the vibes are really solid. It’s got such a really great atmosphere to it. It’s also Bones, the studio, who brought you Mob Psycho, My Hero, Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood.

This is their 25th anniversary project, which if you haven’t heard, Crunchyroll, I think, dropped the first part of a documentary series about the 25 years of Bones.

So when you guys listen to this, you’ll be able to watch that first episode.

But Metallic Rouge feels like such a celebration of what they’re so skilled at.

It really is, it really is.

So if you like Mecha, if you like Tokusatsu, like you said, if you like anything that Bones has done in the past, which you probably do.

You probably like at least one’s Bones title in your life.

Then definitely, definitely check out Metallic Rouge.

Yeah, for sure.

It reminds me a lot of that game Dex. Did you ever play that game Dex? It’s kind of like a futuristic, like who heard the main character?

It was on PlayStation, right?

Yeah, but I played it on Switch recently. I flipped it. Did you guys used to say that?

I flipped it like when you finish a game? Like a console game? You didn’t say flipped it?

If you said flipped it, go ahead and leave a five star review on the Apple Podcast and say if you flipped it or not. But my recommendations, I am currently, and I have been for a little bit, playing through the entirety of Ace Attorney, like every single game.

Which one are you on? I guess the newer ones too?

Well, the thing is, I think I’m on the third game right now because the-

Of the original trilogy.

Yes. So because the arc with the, when they went to the like medium village, it took forever. That arc took forever.

So that’s always gonna be in the background. I’m gonna be playing it for the next couple of weeks.

There’s like 80 games.

Yeah, there’s a ton. But as far as anime, Nick stole mine. I was gonna say Metallic Rouge.

I think it’s so cool. Like that first battle.

The very first one.

Yeah.

Now, let me tell you, cause this will probably just be my anime rec too, and I don’t even have the one this week. The music in this show is absolutely incredible. So my two for this week, so video game wise, the last month or so, like I’ve been so locked in on Marvel Snap, and I have no idea why.

This season, this current season is The Black Order, and it’s like one of my favorite contingent of Marvel villains. It’s like Thanos and all of his cronies, and they’re all equally crazy.

If you’ve seen Infinity War and Endgame, it’s his cabal.

Yeah, and it’s crazy, cause like Thanos, even though he is like the big bad, like all the rest of them are equally as big bad as their own, right?

They’re all equally scary.

Like Proxima Midnight, like, oh, scary.

But it’s been so fun. And then my other rec for the week, super old school, and I always go back and watch the show. And I’m like, man, I don’t really have anything to watch.

I’m gonna go back and watch it. The Disney animated show Gargoyles is one of my absolute favorite pieces of animated anything on this planet. It’s an absolute like-

You just unlocked something in my brain.

You want some Shakespeare, you got it. Are you a fan of Star Trek Next Generation? We got some of that in there for you too, because half of that cast from Next Generation is in Gargoyles.

But then it tells a really good story about revenge and redemption and forgiveness. As a kid, you’re watching this, and it’s like, oh man, these are just guys that fly around and beat up people. But then you grow up and you watch it, and the perspective is so different from just the main character, Goliath, just the Shakespearean trauma that he goes through.

Being joint out of his time period and being put in to modern New York City at the time. Basically, yeah. Basically, it is an Isekai.

Do we have an Isekai button?

But yeah, that show is definitely worth a watch.

Well, I’ve never seen all of it, so I’m gonna go back and watch it. Thanks for the recs this week, guys. If you’re at home, check out one of our recs.

Let us know what you think.

Please, I wanna, seriously, if you guys have never seen Gargoyles and you start watching it, I really wanna know what you guys think, seriously.

All right.

Tune in next week for the Gargoyles episode.

Once we all go home and watch it, we’re always gonna do that Gargoyles effect. No, but seriously, if you guys like some of the stuff that we’re saying and you wanna hear more of it, just let us know. We’d love to hear from you.

And we did actually get some fan questions this week.

Is this our first fan questions?

On Instagram. Let’s get into those now. You wanna head over to the mail bag, y’all.

All right, welcome to this week’s Mailbag. Every week on the show, we will take a couple, a handful of fan questions and answer them on the show. Our first question comes from Queen Phoenix on Instagram.

Their question is. Their question is, how many anime genres can you name off the top of your head?

Shoujo, Shounen. I guess horror would be one, with like, Ito.

Slice of Life. Mecha.

Mecha, yeah.

Etchi.

Cut the cameras.

Cut it, just we’re done.

Cut the cameras.

We’re done. I’m gonna say Tokusatsu, cause I’m that guy. Cause it is a genre, yeah.

Sports. Sports.

Sports. How can we forget sports?

And we just had this whole like.

I know.

Romance.

Comedy.

Romcom. Yeah, there’s pretty much the same genres that you can find in like any anime. You’ll find some, if you like some weird niche thing, it probably exists.

It definitely exists. And music is another genre. It’s another genre.

And gaming.

Music make you lose control.

No, LeAlec, I think you bring up a good point. Not that point about music making you lose control. It does, it definitely does.

But yeah, there’s a genre for everyone when it comes to anime. So thanks for the question, Queen Phoenix. Queen.

And this next question comes from Jazz S1994, who says, what makes the perfect first episode to bring in people who have no knowledge of a series?

This is hard because I’m of the school of three episodes. You need to get a three episode rule. So, however, I like one that doesn’t, that ends the first episode with a little bit of mystery.

Yeah, like a promised Neverland moment. Where it’s like, oh my God. Like, it doesn’t have to be quite so Shyamalan, but something that leaves you like wanting to, you can’t wait to click the next episode.

Which they’re not hard to come by. We’ve had a lot in the past couple of seasons for sure.

I feel like for me, it comes down to, I don’t want to use the word vibe again, because I feel like I’ve said vibe like a hundred times, but it’s really atmosphere of a show. So like one of the genres that I really like is kind of slice of life and just like ways that anime makes you feel nostalgic about real life. So shows like Laid Back Camp, which has that like very like childhood feeling of like hanging out with your friends and going on an adventure, but it’s just super chill.

Do It Yourself, which is about a group of kids who are in like a do it yourself club at school and their goal is to build a tree house, but that first episode is so like just like slice of life. Just like, I remember what it was like to be a kid in school, but even shows like Insomniacs After School or Call of the Night, which both of those shows, their atmosphere from episode one has this like kickoff. It’s 4 a.m.

you’re 14 years old, somehow you’re still awake because you’ve been playing Halo 3 all night.

Yeah, and you’re too jazzed around.

But you’re just like, you’re thinking about your crush and like just that feeling of nighttime in the middle of the night as a kid. And so yeah, atmosphere and vibe is probably the thing that will really draw me in on a first episode.

I’m just gonna say the first episode of Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood. Like I feel, because it doesn’t pull any punches, it just drives you right in. And they’re chasing this fugitive and you’re like, you have no idea what’s happening.

Like just stuff is just popping off and you’re like, oh, it’s alchemy. And then-

But it doesn’t stop the need to explain it. It’s like this confidence.

Yeah, exactly. It doesn’t sit, it doesn’t stop to babysit you and be like, oh, hey, by the way, this is what this is.

And then- And shout out female writers.

When you see Edward and Alphonse for the first time, you automatically know that they’re those dudes.

Shows that are so confident in what they’re doing to your point without having to hold your hand. But what do you think makes the perfect episode one? Let us know.

For sure. Guys, I think that’s the end of our first episode.

Is that it? That’s all.

Did we do it?

Is that a wrap?

Did we do it?

Thank you everyone for joining us for the first episode. Everybody grab your poppers and your champagne bottles.

Did you have fun?

Whatever else you gotta do. Yeah.

Did you have fun? Did you have fun?

Yeah, seriously, no. I’m super stoked. I know I said this before, but I’m super stoked to be sitting here with you guys every week to be doing this because we’re gonna talk about some really cool stuff.

Yeah, we got some really awesome guests coming up.

Cool, I’m so excited.

There’s a lot in store.

I’m so excited. Thank you everyone for joining us for the first episode of The Anime Effect brought to you by Crunchyroll and the folks over at Sony Music. Please be sure to subscribe so you never miss an episode.

Smash that like button.

Crunchyroll Presents The Anime Effect is hosted by me, Nick Friedman, LeAlec Murray and Leah President. We are executive produced by Jonathan Hirsch, Shara Morris and also me. Our lead producer is Kyla Carnero, Patrick Amiel edited and mixed this episode’s audio and Tyler Lucas filmed and edited the video.

Our head of production is Sammy Allison. Special thanks to Tamika Balance-Kalasny and Lauren Moore.

We’ll be back next week with even more anime. Can you believe it?

There’s nothing you can do about it.

We’re still here. We’re an unstoppable train. We’re the Moogah train.

See you next week, guys.

Later, guys.

Let’s see how powerful the effect on it.

Whoa!

You were this close!