Dub Talk 197: Stars Align

0:00 pip-pip cheerio spoonful of sugar and whatnot welcome to the final round of the boys soft tennis invitational it's been a smashing good time these past few days literally in some cases so far we've seen doubles teams run back and forth to confuse the other side taking out the strongest player by just refusing to hit the ball in his direction and who can forget that time the short kid with mommy issues broke his racquet over that one guy's head boy that was a jolly good time sorry now normally we don't feel the need to lay down the basic rules but since this tournament has attracted a new crowd of fans we feel compelled to start this final round with the 500 year old rules of soft tennis firstly the following tennis match may contain

0:46 language and profanities from our players that aren't really suitable for younger spectators listener discretion is advised secondly with all the back and forth that's sure to accompany these athletes we can fully expect spoilers for stars aligned and any other media being discussed be warned if the show or something you haven't finished yet is mentioned thirdly the controversial opinions expressed by our lively and quite frankly unrestrained tennis players are those of the individuals and do not necessarily reflect the job talk tense organization as a whole hmm trust me we definitely want to keep our corporate sponsors and of course as a reminder to everyone listening be a good parent or authority figure to the kids in your life any attempt to extort

1:32 money project your failed ambitions onto them or cause any physical or psychological damage will result in being branded a terrible human being by the anime watching community ah I see the four participants have taken their positions and are ready to smack some balls around yes let's begin the match hello one and all welcome to dub talk show where friends get together swing our rackets play a few games and maybe score some aces I'm Meghan and tonight we have a very special episode joining me tonight I have jet this episode is brought to you about a letter S for

2:18 suffering I have Stephanie and I have no clue hello darkness my old friend just just imagine me in the background very plain your record of Bob Marley's everything is gonna be all right except played it like half the speed rocking back and forth your everything's gonna be all right just like they have tech parrots on this show if you're not wrong so if you're wondering how the stars

3:04 aligned to brought this group together tonight tonight we're here to talk about the 2019 anime stars align an original production by director Kazuki Aachen a from studio 8-bit now if that name sounds very familiar to you he is the director of such series as no heed to your other self the vision of escaflowne and birdie the mighty to code and a plot summary of the series is as follows from a n n the boys soft Tennis Club is the joke of the of the middle school doesn't I forget what their [ __ ] middle school is University but I know that's not it oh no I know what it is now the boys off Tennis Club is a joke of Shinji o Minami middle school this is not when

3:50 nearly as much as the girls team its members come off as lazy entitled and it's just generally lame with the notable exception of team captain tahno Sh tell machine Jo he's constantly frustrated by his teammates behavior but things come to a head when the president of the student council announces that clubs with formitz will no longer receive school funding therefore if the boys soft tennis club doesn't won at least one match during the summer tournament their history although the whole team agrees that this is unfair only toma is truly upset and he desperately tries to think of a way to turn things around when a kid for he knew from his childhood Maki moves back to town improves to have grown up to be athletic Toma thinks he's saved Mackey's got his own issues to deal with and even if he agrees to join Thomas club there may be but not be much

4:37 he can do anyway so if you think that this is gonna be a happy if you looked at the art of this show and thought this was gonna be a happy wholesome fun bright anime surprise big honey you got a storm coming the long long awaited you know continuation to the basketball volleyball sub-genre that we love to represent so much on this podcast nothing bad happens it's just that one time okay look at someone who has seen all three of the others that you imagine

5:23 like I feel like I figured I figured going into this it was probably to be pretty dramatic going into this that the sports secretly very surprised with it exactly and I've seen Escalona yeah how do you see you know into I haven't seen all of knowing and I've seen a few episodes I haven't seen the whole thing there is very submersed I've watched for should watch another classic for a show that's about stars in the title there is very little astronomy or science fiction in this which is what you would expect it's just the astronomers Almanac from

6:10 the beginning and that may be a telescope in MA keys from a message that's true there was surprisingly very little space travel in the show this unfortunately this is not a mikoto-chan Khai anime but it is just as heartbreaking look here Makoto Shinkai does not go into space have you seen his movies that's excuse me excuse me production kite is not going to space that's emaii she goes with the weather and some spiritual stuff so okay that's it his face but he made Ted you threw a giant cloud for some reason I see these people have not seen voices of a different story yeah that's alright we'll get we'll get on that after this episode people own voices of a distant

6:56 star thank you that's great have you seen it [ __ ] please yes because you're right does not mean you're correct girls it's so Megan what what part of this show do we want to focus on do we want to focus on the beautiful production design do we want to focus on that this is an original anime with no source material which is very rare for anomie these days or the fact that this show got royally [ __ ] at the finale oh well I was gonna go for all three of them as I'm the host of the show yeah so before

7:41 we get into the actual discussion of any of the because we are going to be talking about the dub of stars line all 12 episodes which are out which I made the call after watching the end of episode 1 that we were going to talk about the whole show smart decision episode 1 goes from 0 to 60 pretty fast [Laughter] again what I saw that episode word was episode of war to end it was witty got to look at a big plate so I forgot okay it's all kind of sci-fi the only gets

8:31 hit in the face let's let's just not make jokes about child abuse please know so before we get into discussing the actual dub of the show which we are gonna discuss other elements of the show obviously as it does have a huge impact on the performances of this I want to start this episode off by talking about something that we normally don't talk about and that is the production aspect of this show in Japan mm-hmm and that is this stars align we should not Tek if stars align had gone the way it had originally we would not be recording this episode as of January 26 2020 I

9:17 know I'm dating this episode and I shouldn't do that but it's on the [ __ ] tidal card and in our episode description we should not have been covering this show right now we should have been caught doing this episode in April or Mark April or May and that is this sometime early last year while this show months before that we would see this hit Airways the production committee of stars aligned went to kotsky Connie and said yeah your episode count is being slashed in half and it was done so late into the production of the show which I think according to Sakura blah the tsakuba blog and people like frog a frog in Japan and Campina show who are all immensely immensely

10:05 talented people and resources that if you were interested in this in this medium especially anime please check their work out they're fantastic people and they are very trustworthy sources had been going on for two years and basically months before showtime they for some reason cut the production committee cut the episodes of this in half to the point that cause of he a kanay could not pivot the show he could not cut things out he could not dig fix the show end of 12 episodes and in some ways I don't think he wanted to oh no I don't think this man this man would not compromise on his vision which thank God like there was amazing there's some old articles about like how he didn't want

10:52 to do that anyway like he didn't he wanted the story to like that he fully fleshed-out was as he intended and he didn't want to take shortcuts on it yeah and this is a show that just does not take shortcuts on anything no this is a show that that if you like I said if you looked at the poster of the show and think it is one thing it is very far from that and it comes with like I think even for the disclaimer of this which at the time of this recording I don't know what'll be but I plan on doing it I think I am going to mention a Content warning for just just talking about child abuse in all honesty I just in all honesty I imagine like a Content morning in general because there's a lot of heavy subjects not just child abuse being involved in here not abused but child abuse being one of the biggest

11:39 ones it is and it's very very graphic on-screen depictions of it um but like Hockaday himself has said in some way shape and form he's going to continue the story we just don't know how yet mm-hmm so going into that we will be justjust please know that this is how we're doing your review on half of a show that we should be doing more of but that's not the fault of like Funimation or us just saying oh well we're gonna do 12 episodes it's no like this was Japan's mandate it kind of [ __ ] sucks yeah but yet you were saying something and you got cut off I was like oh I know wasn't it big it wasn't anything too important and I

12:25 wasn't that this is that this is not the first time something like this happened a classic yak today right well I say supposedly because in Trufant Canada did blank four years every word kind of a soup that's good fluid it was supposed to be 39 episodes but it was always supposed to be 26 and I guess people kind of a kid's hand of getting that to cut your - for some reason no no no that's weird if we're gonna talk about actual curse - Connie shows that's just clearly Bertie the mighty decode I really like the mighty the code just I love that show but it [ __ ] falls apart halfway oh yeah the second the second season of that show just died oh yeah I love that too but yeah I do

13:13 recall the animation of the second half a very it's not very good I also want to point out that like even when the show is airing it got [ __ ] cursed I got delayed two separate times for other sporting events in Japan probably that was so funny though no like it did it was bait you know baseball I think was baseball and soccer events baseball and rugby yeah there's baseball soccer which what does it be what does a being soccer is kind of ironic catch a break yeah this show could not this show like could not catch a break and I feel because 29 yeah I'm gonna take a hot

14:03 take this was one of the best shows of 2019 and it had half its episodes cut out yeah yeah this was better than like a lot of other shows I watched last year so and not saying something so let's talk about why it was so great yeah let's talk about why it was so great and one of the things that was great about it was that it got a single dog so tonight we are going to be talking about the sun'll dub of stars line which for the sake of time because there are a lot of characters we won't be doing any predictions we were just doing a straight review which we were just gonna talk about the cast and characters of this but first two if you're gonna if you're gonna have a dub you need a director and some writers so being the

14:49 main director of the show is Jerry Juhl he was assisted directed by ophea you Damon Mills for Episode six and Mike McFarland for Episode seven the head writer of the show was Jared green he was assisted by Jessica Cavanaugh for episode one Howard Wang for episode eight Jessica Cavanaugh not assistant Jessica Cavanaugh wrote episode 1 and Howard Wang wrote episodes 811 in 12 Geri Jewell you'll knows director series such as Kojak II Kamisama kiss and orange another heavy drama show you'll know for her assistant hurt yeah [ __ ] really off you you'll know as the director of assassinate the assistant director of assassination classroom season 1 going on to fully direct assassination classroom season 2 the

15:35 quintessential quintuplets and classroom with the elite Damien Mills has done some direct assistant directing work on actor song connection in ensemble stars and Mike MacFarlane you'll know as the director of series such as attack on Titan Barack Aman and Hioki Jared green fun fact this was one of the two shows that Jared green did as his first time writing yep full-time at Funimation the other one being Case Files to to one kabukicho and ensemble stars he did do an episode of that Jessica Kavanagh you will know those the writer of golden comely special 7 in Rambo heat on game of lapis Howard Wang we'll know for any series of Funimation such as nichijou he did an episode of SSS grid man and a did an episode of mixed may say story so jet

16:22 why don't you start us off okay um so like I said a bucket okay episode Terry do what the director for me can sometimes range but I'm doing really great word tube stuff that's like a little bit of the road for me as far as this goes though I'd say it's definitely on a stronger end since a lot of the local directors put issue kind of allowed for a lot of very natural and grounded performances and which is definitely what you needed for this kind of series that I have really appreciated but I thought that's about all the actors did really well on that end so it's maybe one person will get you later and I've thought all the casting choices were very solid I also really liked Gary agreed to the camp and I and Howard wags work on the scripts I thought they all did a really great job of striking a

17:07 balance between being faithful to the material and all the themes it was going for and while also got a loosening up the dialogue a big that the characters could kind of talk like actual teenagers and you know and we got some bits of swag like scrub or clap back without you know deciding really forward I wrote those down specifically when I heard those I'm like god dammit yeah that kind of thing could be really tricky for the depth and to pull off Wow and I definitely seed a lot of dogs that rats and bird tried to be that sort of thing I mean I so haven't gotten over the many many horrors of the future diary Deb so let that sort of think it's done well with the word giving props ooh and I think they did a very excellent job here I wouldn't say everything's perfect but

17:52 Idaho I think that they recommend 24 December very spot-on good job you've reminded me the pain that is future diary for that that Jo wasn't even salvageable with the non slangy tub that was just a curse show to begin with okay okay it was the curse you had to begin with but like the dev script that I made it worse I don't I feel tried to have fun with it you didn't quite work I mean it's a show that reminds me a lot of high school of the dead and the dub follow suit and that kind of fits with how awful all the characters are so maybe just didn't bug me because the show itself is also okay I mean I guess it kind of bugged me because I guy was attached to the material at one point so I think that's a good point that well under this show

18:40 which is there are tend to be there's two types of high school anime I think that most of us are familiar with there's the kyo a nice slice of life sitting around drinking tea kind of high school show which is not meant to reflect the actual struggles of high school it's meant to reflect the the lackadaisical carefree youth sides of it and those are fun shows though those can be a good time waster a good relaxer once in a while stars align is not that kind of high school show it is the the high schoolers who are actually trying to accomplish something and we see them fail and pick themselves back up again to try to succeed again so with the direction on this Jerry and his team they gave some of the characters slightly cartoonish voices they they do all sound young

19:25 enough to be in high school like some of them sound like they're pitching their voice up a little bit to fit the tenor range but because those parts are all I mean there's some that are I think the the higher-pitched ones are the ones who are supposed to be a little bit on the Meeker side anyway and then the lower voiced ones are the ones who are like you know that the tougher kind but for the actual acting goes Jerry directed them to have a very but ground is a good word for it so yeah they're grounded portrayal of what they are but they like what they don't like and some of them don't quite know what they want to be a lot of them are kind of discovering who they are as they go along there's there's one character who's not even on the team who will talk about who's definitely going through that but that variety that they were given to work with lends lends itself to a great

20:11 ensemble cast and Jerry and his team directed that really well especially for a show that was a simulcast because there was a good chance that they you know they didn't quite know where the show was going which we know is true cuz again this was a simulcast with no source material they couldn't even read a monk or a light novel to find out where the show was going so that that especially deserves a high praise with the writing itself that's also something where that this is one of the times where slang in a high school show is not played super for Laughs it's it's meant to be loose it's meant to be believably non-artificial which is hard to do sometimes and dubbing it comes up pretty well I can't really point to any like one thing that sounded out of place with the high schoolers and then we got to talk about the adults because oh man the adults in this show a lot of them are

20:58 very horrible a lot of them are very supportive and a couple of them are just the worst things in the world and all of them have variety there's a lot of range in how awful the characters are there's you know dads who are low and gruff and there's dads who are non understanding there are moms who are not understanding there are homophobic ones there are controlling ones there are and then they're good moms just all-around really good and the writing complements them all really well to the point that I don't think I got and even confused with each other listening to them which is the best thing you can do in an ensemble cast we're gonna talk about all the individual ones as we go along but for ya for writing in direction these guys brought their a game to this tennis match soft tennis match soft tennis is interesting because it's a softball it's

21:44 not a hard green ball it's like squishy I can still hurt you but the say it'll still hurt like a son of a [ __ ] that softball is also a lie cuz the wall is also a lie it's also very true oh I don't even know where to start with this I mean I have to agree with what you guys have been saying so far the performances are definitely very grounded in reality and realism especially considering oh sweet lord there is a lot of heavy subject material in this show we mentioned a few things already briefly already we mentioned like child abuse both physically and to an extent there's like psychological and mental child abuse for one of the characters well there's the where's one

22:35 in particular I'm thinking of um there's also there's also themes of gender identity there's also friggin there's not living up to your siblings expectation yeah parents expectations there is oh sweet Lord adoption is a thing in here too there's a there's a lot of things like it's a lot of heavy subjects all thrown in together into a single show and it's very it would be if in the wrong hands both on the Japanese side of things but also on the English stuff if you don't find that balance it could fall apart because you're just like over saturating the show with a

23:21 bunch of dark things but not only does the show in general handle this very very well and I commend the director on the Japanese side for this but I also commend Jerry Juhl in the in the trio of assistant directors on this too especially with Jerry Juhl because he has tackled some shows with serious subject matter I'm glad Megan brought up orange because of us that is a show with some very dark material that that you just don't necessarily see on the surface level of it this is just like magnified to an extent like holy crap it's it's a very hard task to pull off directing actors in

24:08 these different situations especially like especially if it's a very very heavy tough subject like thee there's one odd thing that I'm very curious to know it's the only not necessarily a flaw but I think it's only because there was no information at that time when this was done the casting of Kyle Phillips a show because we meet show as a friend of Maki and his mom's at the beginning of the series but and it he's voiced by Kyle Phelps but we find out later on that show actually is a female-to-male transperson so more than

24:56 likely that was just information that wasn't given to the English side until much later they still stuck with Kailah show by the end of it but I'm curious to know what's gonna happen with the home video release on this that's probably the one flaw of the show that I can see but that's only because that information wasn't given to them at the time so that's me in I don't think it's in any way Jerry's fault and all honestly it just seems like lack of information I have - oh boy I really can't see them recasting that in any way because not not only is it not so it doesn't make a big impact on the overall plot to have the character of show like sound more feminine just because they were born female but also that they make a point

25:42 in the show to say that no one even like realizes that like they pass for male out in society so to give them a voice that gives them away as it were would be kind of redundant I guess that may be true but like even then it's still still a little bit difficult to say and I mean because we have an incomplete story who knows what shows impact could be on the rest of the story - you know what I mean show might have a larger impact and could become a larger character we don't know so it's a very weird is a very odd situation on that one I am gonna say this the true MVP of one of the true

26:27 MVPs of this damn show is Jared green like Bar None he is one of the true MVPs of the show like not just because this is his first season as like a full-time writer with Funimation but because he had to write this show as one of his first full-time projects like holy mother of God like in some ways I think he was lucky that there was no original source material because he didn't he didn't have anything he didn't have to worry about like staying true to the original source which is a great learning experience but he still has to write about these heavy subjects and I can imagine that's not an easy task and an easy feat to make it cohesive and

27:13 make it just flow naturally and keep this show grounded in reality so I do have to commend Jared for that 100% and honestly I'm excited to see what he could you could come up with next as a writer and this in seasons to come but in general like directing and writing wise I think it's rather it's rather strong there are small things here and there but in general it's a great ensemble piece it's a great show it tackles so much heavy material and I think it does it so well to make that it doesn't like beat it into your head or just play it lightly it takes the material very seriously and I can really appreciate that so yeah

28:01 this is a show that I remember watching the first episode of it and and you were like oh my god the ending of episode one I was like okay and I was I was already gonna watch it because hey I like sports anime I like sports a to me a lot and I like birdie the mighty decode that's one of those like what am I like baby like mm like early talent ends like Megan likes show because of reasons Scott it may or may not have had my favorite voice one of my favorite voice actors of all time in it so um surprised but that being said surprise um that being said I think that the top of this show is really good and if it wasn't for a couple of other

28:46 stronger pieces that had come out during the year I think this would have gotten up a lot higher for me I think that the stub is is great I think that it's probably one of Jerry's stronger dubs of last year I would say that it's it's to me it's up there with coach Jackie is his underrated work of last year mostly because Jerry did have to do two different seasons of the rail decks franchise last year oh boy god bless his soul practically three poor poor Jerry is tied to that behemoth of a thing but for me I think that he did a really good job casting the boys I think that the main core of the team is incredibly well

29:33 casted and it's a mix of a mix of really established actors well typically everybody on the team is an established actor at this point but it's it's not a combination of care male actors I think that you would see normally yeah nonetheless you were doing a huge ma'bud show and anybody who knows me knows that those are some of my favorite dubs to watch not because they are necessarily like ten out of ten flawless masterpieces is the next cowboy bebop productions but because they are very very good introductory pieces to voice actors who are established but are going to be on your Toonami stuff unless you you Poe a fire force which is important

30:22 for later Bob yes but the thing I really want to compliment is especially Jared great Jared Greene's writing on this I think it does a flawless or at least semi flawless adaptation of what do teenage boys sound like while keeping the spirit of the show intact because stars wine is not an easy show I would I would think to direct right or act this is a show that is incredibly living and dying on the emotionality that's presented before you whether it be visually music through visuals audios or character dialogue there are a lot of moments in here that are done through very much subtle reaction noises it's

31:10 the way that someone responds to something or the way that like someone is someone like says something under their breath and that's some of my favorite parts of stars line is the way that the voice respond to things under their breath they are very some of them are very very smart me like I think one of my favorite lines is yeah they get along both of them only have half a brain even the or even his dog looks with rich or no even as dog looks expensive they have such a animal mind and and here's the thing I I really do wish that this ensemble of characters or these

31:57 actors got to be together more often in shows because I think that they play off each other really well and yeah I think everybody kind of summed that up so now that we're done with directing and writing let's move on to two supporting characters they're not a member of the team there but one of them I think kind of makes himself part of the heart and soul and the other one is what put the team here in the first place they are Arashi og arashi is the ace of a middle school that the team I'm sorry I'm like also eating a snack but the team goes against he's hot-headed he's arrogant he thinks he's the best that he thinks he is God's gift to tennis and frankly he is kind of the needed comic relief of the show then there is a keen yokosuka

32:46 she is the student council president who has a weird history of her own at home where her mother and her grandmother fight over her name and she doesn't really want to be called either of them and honestly if the show was not cut in half by its production company we would have figured out what the hell was up with her so playing Auto she is Austin Tyndall and playing Kineo is Tia Ballard Austin Tindall you'll know his character such as Ruth in the ancient Magus bride Yozo OVA and human lost and kaneki Ken in Tokyo wolf Tia Bala Jono as Sami Akashi Mona and Alison's Oroku east beast in black butler book of circus and ryo you Aida in orange more orange reference cool I

33:37 mean I guess it's been a while since I've heard acetate oh and like any major role so for some reason I didn't immediately recognize it was him so a but everybody was I definitely having a lot of fun with this one he did a really great job of making your our cheese had you know very haughty evolved himself and and again every bet that he uses the term scrubs a lot which is the unsung member of TLC Ian or no holds that band that song I don't want no scrubs it's TLC you're right no hot god to this one anyway I thought he did a really

34:35 great job you know Becky guarantees sound very fun and very much like the kind of comic relief is so definitely needed and definitely a lot a lot of visitor X with Maki where he kind of go from you know being very hostile towards him towards there's a fan towards being completely dear to it once he finds out Maki could cook just taking full advantage of that to get animals the way to the way to a man's heart is through his noodles dye mean his stomach we don't get to learn too much about his home life compared to the rest of these kids but he's definitely very clearly he very clearly dug for money so I guess oh

35:21 definitely would have been something interesting there and we got bored the show but I guess speaking of characters you come for a buddy we also have T of our Dazz definitely a very interesting character I appreciate that even though jean has a very plus-sized design at no point do the show ever like really draw attention to it and I thought that was kind of nice yeah and of course it helps that she gets the best part of the ending song even if it is kind of Kurt's in hindsight yeah we didn't yeah we did god I forgot to bring that okay no I didn't bring it up but in addition to this show miss Betty was there was a bit of an

36:07 issue with the ending sug where the ending animation where they ripped it off where they they stole the the moves from some real-life idols and they were made to apologize and they were later credit oh I didn't know that there's a difference between homage and straight-up stealing the content and it is when the boondocks steals a little bit of cowboy bebop spike choreography for one Episode people usually know it's an homage when you steal the dance choreography from idols for the ending of your tennis show not everyone's going to know that unless you say it yeah and so up so yeah go right back into the performance I thought to you about it just did a really great job making cuticle you know sound very refined and

36:53 proper without getting like cheaper cartoony with it as the ng sucker and he's got the right balance between you know being there being kind of hottie and a little over so far also you know that's seeming a little reasonable like yeah between separately he's being like maybe a little bead spirited about this and she kind of recognizes that which I kind of like but at the same time I guess he is kind of well-intentioned at us and since he does sort of things he's doing this with a greater did and hey hey heard is that a good don't gotta help with those boys of the James I get to work out that's a bit of contentious point in that she thinks she's doing the right thing because I do think she thinks she's doing the right thing but it's it's not like the kind of person

37:39 who's good intentioned about it she's not using time okay yeah okay yeah she's not like well intended about it no she has a very clear worldview that I guess okay that I guess might have gotten some pretty bad we got bored the show but again we can only speculate a gasps yeah which is it's refreshing in a high school show because I don't know very many high schoolers at least in my reality who live by the rule of meritocracy or the idea that only the most qualified and the best acting people should get the good parts and society like you would think a president would be like everyone should be equally entitled to you know the resources the money but no she's like no we need to

38:25 give our money to the teams that are doing the best so that they can continue to succeed and if you're not up to snuff then GTFO oh yeah basically comes add to that and i thought to his performance was really good i definitely like the Bittner episode where we got a little bit of our home life and that's a whole content it over like what her actual day was supposed to be again I definitely am kind of curious to learn what the story is there but I suppose if we never get more of it what we did get was pretty interesting so there's always that yeah her I imagine her build was meant to kind of offset the usual rich high school girl we usually get cuz usually if you have a stereotype and anime is

39:10 you have a rich girl who like goes to tea ceremonies she's supposed to be raised to be like a primer proper wife kind of character like she's a bride team you out is basically playing to take over the world she is to use a quote that's been thrown around a bit this year a girl boss and she's kind of like biding her time waiting for her to get for her parents to like kind of like raise her up to get the top spot like rule the school and again that's kind of refreshing it's not it's not the kind of thing that like we should be encouraging like I don't want kids to watch this and think yes I will use my resources to basically create a proletariat society where only the wealthy and good resource will survive and the rest will squander but again

39:57 that that's kind of like gets the ball rolling in our show and T it does a good job on this she's got a calm composure but she's got that snob eNOS to her that really could only come from someone who thinks that her [ __ ] don't stink so good job T huh I really do wish this character got more screen time because I think she could have been the source of a lot more conflict throughout the show while still being a likeable antagonist I came to call her a villain she's just an antagonist and but but speaking of protagonists or she is just a fun guy to have around like I see this character I think the term extrovert is the only thing it could apply to him and Austin just sounds like he's having a lot of fun like you have all these characters who have broken homes lack of aspiration

40:43 or no money or whatever the problem is and it's it's refreshing to also have a character who has no problems in the world like I get the good feeling this guy could easily go about life just kind of coasting on his energy and not have to really work for the rest of his life that being said Austin does get a couple moments where he has to be dramatic there's a scene near the end where the team is asking him how do we beat these twins and he drops his noodles which you know it's serious cuz he drops the noodles and he basically says you can't you I don't even want to get your hopes up that there's a possibility because they're just that good and his is extroverted personality doesn't die doesn't go down in that situation at all but it's still nice to see that he's got it he's got a serious side to him as

41:29 well so yeah from both these characters very good way to show the well-roundedness of the cast not everyone is a totally broken individual with horrible parents some of them are just good-natured individuals with a hell a lot of money so Odyssey and Costigan are as I lovingly liked the column [ __ ] gremlin and prissy [ __ ] wait which is which [Laughter] [Music] book just yes Noah I'm gonna start with T s Kosuke Jamie because Kasich doesn't seem to

42:15 have this prim proper kind of attitude to her and Tia just brings that out of the character very very well you can tell that she also has something going on at home she is one of those kids that has something going on at home we just don't get to explore it that much because she doesn't because like Megan says she doesn't want to be called by the name but she was actually given or the name her mom actually wants to call her I want to be County my name I want to be County that's my name but she can't do that so it's very interesting and if we had more of the show we probably would understand why I like how Noah refers to as an antagonist and not a villain because that's really the closest thing

43:02 you can describe her as an antagonist because she's just antagonistic in terms of plot relevancy like moving the plot forward for this off tennis club for the boys right yes she's not actually trying to hurt anybody no but she can't hurt her actions are deemed more antagonistic but I imagine she'd be more sympathetic to then there's Austin as Odyssey oh I love you you little [ __ ] gremlin Odyssey is a [ __ ] gremlin he thinks he's better he thinks he's the [ __ ] like as Megan described him he's God's gift to tennis or at least he thinks so

43:50 he thinks he's God's gift to soft tendencies gods give a soft tennis I think I think one of my favorite wines in the show that he has is he runs as their shopping and Austin's and he Austin's delivery on this is per often turns into like a [ __ ] crackhead for Okinawa noodles and he goes and he's going on about how he just wants Maki to come over and make them because his his housekeeper do it as well and he goes and Maki just kind of goes like in this very kind of annoyed sense he goes why don't I just give you the recipe and you just cook it yourself and he just goes I

44:35 have to focus all my energy into being amazing at tennis I don't have time to cook I don't have the energy to cook yep accurate like Austin goes from cocky cocky [ __ ] little [ __ ] when we first meet him to full-fledged crackhead for these noodles but he's also a fun and interesting support for the boys as well and it's interesting to see that as a different kind of dynamic granted he's really only around the voice because of the [ __ ] noodles but I wouldn't say that like it's a catalyst but he actually goes out of his way to like help them and he's a good moral support for noodles yes okay fine you can buy a

45:22 man with noodles that came out wrong there is nothing wrong with being a [ __ ] for noodles there are much worse things you could be a [ __ ] for it is a different and interesting balance and dynamic with the cast of characters considering this is a pretty large cast and I like that Megan described him as the comic relief when the show really needs it cuz it's true Austin gets to play the [ __ ] gremlin comic relief he really does and it helps a lot given how dark the show can get but I do enjoy both of these performances with Austin being such a [ __ ] grumbling

46:08 crackhead I can't even describe it like Oh God but yeah these boats are fun performances oh I'll talk about to you first what are things like jet I really do want to appreciate is that not only did the show go out of its way not to make Kino who is a larger body female character one not a slob - not a joke three she literally is the most athletic one according to the ending like out of everybody doing the dance at the end she's the only person to not be out of breath by the end of it Toma is [ __ ] dying by the end of that very end to that song but not Kineo the

46:55 second thing I want to appreciate is that in Tia's performance they don't give her the fat voice yeah that's true it's the Kamisama kiss argument it's the fat voice it's specifically it's the Kamisama kiss / in my case because Jett and Noah were on that the little witch academia which incident and two credits to the Japanese they don't give her that voice in the sub either that we know of know that okay yeah no they don't because I've watched uh [ __ ] kiss him not me and they give it to her in that yeah so I meant for this this show they didn't yeah I know I'm saying I I was like I can't tell if they didn't the Japanese and that I said oh wait yeah they didn't do it because I've watched the Japanese of kiss him not me were if

47:42 you for those of you who have never seen kiss him not me the main care the joke could kiss him not me is that the main character is a giant fat fujiyoshi and her favorite character dies and she suddenly gets very skinny and now all these guys think she's hot so she's fat in the very beginning of it and they gave her like the big fat slow whale voice like that's gonna be a Yank for me coach if I read about the UT that really in hindsight is like no inquisitive boy that's what he wins yeah that's the best part of kiss him not me as the actual best boy wins just like how I know the ending of a

48:29 harem show that came out recently and with actual best girl winning but I really wish that we would have gotten to seen more of keno cuz I think T it does a really good job of making her have the Oh Jo sama voice without doing the stereotypical og Osama voice but man Austin Tindall steals whatever scene he's in as a rock he is so energetic and so extra and his neck supportiveness but he still doesn't feel out of place in the show he doesn't feel like he's doing an episode of high Q or an episode of like or like an episode of korra goes which doesn't have a job but snow you know what I mean he still fits into this

49:15 and I think that his slang use is really good I really like that just the [ __ ] it's just just like how do I can't cook I gotta save my energy for being awesome like I'm so great I also love in the last episode where the twins are taking on Mach and Toma and he comes in like the entire team kind of like looks at him like what the [ __ ] buddy side like he literally just keep showing up and that's what I really like that about the character I think that Odyssey is so it's so endearing and I like that he

50:01 plays kind of a foil to Toma where they both clearly take this game very seriously but where it's home as an introvert and doesn't really know how to how to interact with others and he gets jealous Arashi is very easily able to slip in there and yet they both suck at hyping up their teammates Oh episode 5 the ending of episode 5 it's a goddamn trip either way I believe all these performances so are we good to move on to the next pair yes switch sides switch side so let's talk about the first two members of the Shinji Minami middle school soft and the loudest ones of the bunch and the two

50:49 loving I can lovely we describe them as the other ones missing brain cell they are Shingo Takeuchi and Tsubasa sugah Shino is a redhead very loud kind of aggressive guy on the team who used to be paired I think with Taiyo he used to be paired with tayo and he kind of just grabs onto poor tayo and like beats it they're kind of like beats on him in a loving way he's also got a little sister named on who goes missing at one point but we'll get to that in the next segment cuz boy howdy boy and then there honey and then there's Tsubasa sugah Tsubasa is also loud but he's a little bit the B's kind of the mellow or one and the smarter one he's the smarter one

51:37 of the two of them Shingo is the biggest idiot on the team but he find out that Tsubasa is the youngest of three brothers the youngest of three a set of three brothers and he's the only one that doesn't play soccer anymore which kind of upsets their dad because their dad is an act soccer player and he won't let go of his glory days and this results in Tsubasa storming off at one point calling his dad an [ __ ] and his dad smacks him Eddie falls down the stairs and breaks his wrists for two months Tsubasa is also theorized to have the single most [ __ ] up reference to any other piece of Japanese media and the entire show being that his dad really likes soccer and if you know anything about Japanese manga

52:23 a very famous soccer manga is called Captain Tsubasa if they had a simulcast a new series but uh thanks for nothing you pieces of [ __ ] but yeah so that's Tsubasa and in yeah yeah I think so boss is original partner when we set us up yeah he's original partner was read that off so playing Shingo is Adam Gibbs and playing Tsubasa is Rico Fajardo item Gibbs you will know a lot for his work at signs high but over at Funimation he is Michiko higashikata uh he gosta in a certain scientific accelerator toka toka

53:10 toka in ensemble stars in kooky you day in tobu da - da da is still the single the other single most characters such as dar youn in the heroic legend of Arslan me Rio Takata in my hero academia and Daisuke Shima in Space Battleship Yamato 2199 in Space Battleship excuse me Yamato 2200 - okay yeah so these two work has a burst dudebro each of the boys away it's simply very fitting that rico Fajardo dad up gives give them the deepest voices of the group and i definitely have to do a live to kind of stand out a little bit compared to everyone else I will say though that

53:57 even though I cut anybody I like these two when how have Enrico played them personality-wise they felt like they were talking about interchangeable of the made pairs for both issue and they came off of being kind of silly branch and obnoxious towards and now entire so I mean even though you know they could be a little ignorant to them every now and then and so for a while I had a little bit of trouble like distinguishing them but I could tell who was who obviously but yeah personality-wise for and the early parts of the show but definitely thankfully they do get that it was a little more later on now what do you learn a little bit more about their family dynamics yeah they're pretty rough Chico definitely comes off as you know being a little bit more carefree than Tsubasa

54:42 his family seems a little happier and I well again we do get some hints that it really stupid visit the best and actually might resent it because he apparently caused a pre-brief relationship we don't know that for sure but that's definitely the application either way out of gives that police knows there was what Oh awkward votes attention really well while you know also being able to put up a brave front that I definitely like it slippery Derrida seed where he's where she goes comforting Tsubasa at the park and it's up be the most gentle the character never really gets us out that I got had a handle that really well and speaking of she go he definitely has quite a bit going on of his family has both his father and brothers played soccer and bands we met sit before his dad that

55:27 played series ended birth quitting to play tennis and and as someone who's had a milder but a definitely a milder but kind of similar experience where I got since I was a burly but super sports guy and my dad definitely was they weren't too happy about that since my brother was I can relate to that at least a little bit and I definitely appreciated how Roberts performance felt it both the scene where he kind of lost his head of his dad for talking down to him and what he's gonna park about how much he feels like his dad doesn't care about him and there's been simply resonated with me and it really helped to win me over on Tsubasa so I'm really glad Rico stepped up to the plate here and I thought both these performances were rock-solid I can't disagree with that the mostly I

56:15 can't disagree about you saying that they were excited interchangeable because I also had a bit of a hard time differentiating the two and it's not because Adam and Rico sound exactly alike to each other but it is because they have a very similar aggressive voice to them Adam more so because his um his size and his facial animation gives the idea that he would he'd be almost like a bully character and he kind of is - um - Maki near the beginning like he's the one who's the most standoffish against Maki joining the team he parades him he almost feel like he's ready to uh you know throw hands at one point but easy kind of softens up a little bit more as they they become more of pals and that strength become that aggression becomes more of an asset because they become a

57:01 really cop Adam Enrico become a comparable doubles team throughout the show it doesn't really have I don't think either Adam or Rika have like vocal affectations that are like to stand out ish especially compared to some of their high school students will talk about probably because they are going for the lower voice they're trying to sound closer to young males and even though I believe both of them are out of a high school now I could be wrong but I think they are they still sound believable enough as animate high school boys there's such a shame that we can get actual high school boys in this cast but no but what you gonna do they're in middles middle I can't tell the day hi Paula Joyce yeah but we could even say it's middle school no I how can you not tell the difference because with

57:46 these two their voices are you know they're they don't sound like mostly I went to middle school once and I'm pretty sure that none of the students I went to school with sounded quite this low it there's this thing called puberty and there is a thing where it can hit kind of early for people there's also this thing called anime where characters don't always sound eh as opposed to thank you jet that's much more in life kids Kujo and there's Giorno Giovanna Rico speaking of having a dream Rico's entire arc in this is uh pretty much everyone's gonna remember this for his confrontation with his dad and I like

58:33 the fact that the kind of the archetypes of this kind of character who's got a bad relationship with their father is that their dad is just kind of non confrontational in the way that they they just ignore their kid entirely this is the one where the data is more more like an actual soccer dad and I can say that as someone whose kid has actually been in soccer before who dad who pushes their son to be the best because they view their kids as a reflection of themselves and so that that the way that Rico had to both be an outgoing individual but then be dragged back into his issues with his dad in that episode uh was uh was kind of a bit of a mood mood switch

59:18 like a whiplash but Rico handled it pretty well and he's got more of a youthful energy than uh I think that Adam does so with that being said yeah these two may be a bit moronic dude bros but they definitely bring a lot of energy that is welcomed in a show that I think these two may have some of the yeah probably have something like the the best internal friendship of the the team I say that with so much love because I love these two are you um Megan I'm sorry Steph Hart are you one more on sexual immoral

1:00:03 sexual and that answer I know what this joke is going so I'm gonna just fill in the blanks for people yes have you met my boyfriend I could I knew where this job is going yes oh there we go Oh be I starts ripping clothes oh my god you are such a [ __ ] oh that's my personal favorite one that's my personal favorite anyway good where do I even

1:00:50 start with these um yeah so these so Shinjo and sugah these two obviously are the biggest loudmouth of the entire team they are rowdy they're rambunctious and at first they are both absolute [ __ ] especially when Maki joins the team they are absolute [ __ ] but once they kind of start working together as a pair because originally there they had different partners and then they were paired together to try and find a more compatible pairing to make to have people like not stuck there that you say let's try this there's I

1:01:36 think it's actually so much fun I think one of my favorites is their practice match against um what was a Misaki Academy yeah that's where that's that's right that's why she's from Misaki yes that was probably one of my favorite points because like so what do we know about our opponents oh absolutely nothing they're just very very hard okay here's our approach this is our shot yeah like baby's knee problem we see your war face like you have Adam in the bag like super strong smashing Pam and then it cracked me up

1:02:25 the first time I heard it and then I rewatched the entire show today they do drinking like there's some crackhead energy or something going on here like it's great I just love it they awesome the two of them do similar to Austin's atashi they do have their moments of comedic relief which is very much needed in the show but they also are pretty much a huge moral support system especially when sugah sprains damages his wrist and he's not he gets a break it breaks his wrist and he can't play so effectively him and Shingle Shinjo are out pichincha won't play in the tournament without without

1:03:11 sugah which is very sweet honestly I'm like ah [ __ ] no I'm doing this with my partner but he's not doing it so I'm out to like stand by your man but they are also very they're also very mmm they're very much a huge moral support especially for now and taisho when we get to them because the two of them are probably the most meek members of the club meek and quiet not as confident with their abilities so it's a very interesting combination to see you're such a great pair I love them they're probably are my favorite pairs of the whole show because they work off

1:03:57 of each other so well inhale it does help out they are similar in personality and I do kind of see what Jett was saying about like because they're so similar in personality can be a little bit tough to distinguish it like which personality is belonging to which actual character so I can understand that but like she and Joe is just this happy-go-lucky carefree kind of guy he's one he and Ty Joe or the two we don't have a lot of like deep story with and I would imagine if we did have a second half of the show we would get that because they're the only two members of the team I think that don't really have that much of a personal story attached

1:04:42 them though she and Joe's does get hinted out a little bit and then you have then you have Rico a sugah Porto Rico he just wants to do something he likes he just wants to do his own thing and not be judged for it his dad's an [ __ ] that's the theme of this episode parents are [ __ ] ladies and gentlemen know you cared so much ah yes I love you too you [ __ ] I want my Christmas present back now okay fine I'll put in the mail tomorrow wow that that's what do you really think I was gonna be

1:05:28 what you want you really think I was gonna fight against it I gotta keep this bit going Noah just apologize to say not oh my gosh tech not all parents fine not all parents they're [ __ ] just a lot of the parents in the show there you go that's a good way to say it not all parents are [ __ ] ladies and gentlemen just most of the parents in this show are yeah suga's dad is [ __ ] like you there's a lot of expectation and you guys are right like he's just stuck in the glory days and he wants his children to experience that and he's not accepting sugah just like not wanting to do soccer yeah these two are similar in

1:06:14 personality and they have great moments like frickin yelling and screaming at the top of the damn lungs but if they play I think they play off of each other very very well given the circumstances and I would love because suga's is a small glimpse keynote has is like a small small small like speck of a glimpse I would love to know more story more of the story of these two in all honesty but both Adam and Rico are so much fun like I think they're among some of my favorite performances of the show because they're just too good there too much fun to me I will agree that I don't think that you were trying to attack any parents on that and the show does have very realistically awful parents that's

1:06:59 what makes it so potent is that these aren't these aren't Saturday morning cartoon villains these are human beings who had children and grew up and grew up to have very warped ideas about how to raise their kids yeah it's like it's unfortunate to say this and in some cases they exploit the Japanese legal that's dog yeah yeah it's unfortunate to say this I think that's one of the reasons why this show is so grounded because they don't sugarcoat it and they give these adults realistic perspectives and these terms of trauma and the turmoil that these kids go through it's unfortunately is it's not something you can just sugarcoat and I'm actually really glad that they took this very seriously honestly uh

1:07:46 yeah this is entirely unrelated because yeah but it is something I I like mentioned I've lied before yeah in hindsight it is kind of unfortunate this came out in the same year that after lots of space there because they both have very similar things in that regard except this year was kind of except Astra is more like you know you know a little more high-spirited kind of Barry Trinity about it and this is this is a lot more like broad crowded so it is kind of every night I mean I still like Oscar a lot but it is kind of like yet is unfortunate these year yeah they both handle the subject matter in different ways and I don't think either series is wrong for the way they go about like give a given given the kind of material

1:08:33 at both of them are like the two different genres anyway so it yeah okay course I want to talk sorry if I could go into jets point lake I want to talk about a series that also deals with this but they do it in like the [ __ ] worst way possible and I had a genuine discussion with someone who I'm like I don't know why and it's it's it's fitting because one of the character that I'm about to bring up is played by Rico Fajardo it's very weird to watch something like both Ostra and stars aligned that very much go out of their way to say no that this this type of abuse this emotional controlling or like grooming your kids to be a certain way so that you can control them are bad and like that type of [ __ ] is bad but like and I don't I know Jets not

1:09:21 there and this is a full spoiler for anybody who's not there but it's so interesting in how tone deaf black clover is about child abuse in regards to the Silva family okay like I have read the comic so I dunno what you're talking about if we can talk about just genuinely very quickly black clover has a very tone-deaf way about going about what the Silva's did to know oh yeah okay yeah like and people like oh well no well gets that moment where she beats the [ __ ] out of solid and she gets that moment in front of everybody and I'm like yeah but you know what the show also does you know what the show also does tries to

1:10:07 romanticize out knows L was protecting her and be like oh I was doing it because you reminded me so much of our dead mom and and in that show some of the things I'd like to describe to you that black clover has a the Silva family do to Noel goes beyond one ostracizing her in a society that looks down on people for their ability to use magic and to not use it they break her toys um and like they're they physically hit her around they they embarrass her at any they embarrass and talk down to her any function in at any moment they can and to me the the

1:10:57 absolute worst one is I believe knows L himself says you should have died when we you were born instead of your mom dying and eventually the show was like oh he was doing it to protect her isn't that great isn't he such a noble character he was just doing it all to protect her the whole time child abuse haha well was that wipe it under the rug everybody shown and shown in rug wiping you know just like how Tosca is allowed back in the village yes yeah so my thoughts now as soon as I take this large gulp of water in the style of a hermit drinking

1:11:42 his tea as a boy I'd let it sit here pretty weak you ever say you're always putting me the awkward position of saying like so skis no that's life he's still a goddamn terrorist doesn't rot you Maru but yet we had to let Neji stay dead granted Neji wasn't the shiny most shining light to begin with but at least he got a [ __ ] kicked in and he got batter up into the credit of the show I think that Adam Gibbs and Rico do a really good job as their characters I actually can't tell she going now and uh

1:12:27 zoom out so apart I can tell why their personalities were like Tsubasa was kind of a dick but he wasn't Shingo Shingo was she knew was the second most antagonistic person to him on the team Sansa eats ki like he tries to legitimately kill this yes try some knockoff monkeys head oh yes Iggy another is more or less the guy who's just trying to bust your balls and it is a little weird that he's a little physically violent with he's a little physical with some of the people knowing that Maki gets beat by his dad um but I

1:13:17 think that Adam brings this like kind of gruff growler Adam gives like you get Adam gives for specific things I don't think I've ever heard Adam Gibbs kind of be this loud obnoxious kid that I can remember usually Adam gives us very much the stoic like you're you're leans in Hioki and like what's his nuts from devil ons eye from Devils line to which I still will never get over Noah learning that Lucy Christian was in that show Oh Lucy's that you leave that footage forever it's on the internet already compared to Rico s tsubasa who is a little bit more mellow he's kind of loud but I think he's cut he is the smart one of the two of them

1:14:03 and you can kind of hear it in his

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