Dub Talk 288: Kageki Shojo!!

0:00 to this theater yet you come of Dubs of talk of what's to come for through this land on the Silver Bridge we have some rules which we must give strong language and situations will be without so if your ears are fragile then get out oh how I will slay these things and make your heart and let them sing for spoilers will abound kageki Shoujo all around other things too you may see or listen if you listen clearly and thus we must say to start our story to its end that we of the film talk

0:47 theater must not pretend that our views are all the same they belong to their actors and they are to blame now let's in here my audience Prime may you Sparkle may you shine and now let's let the curtain rise for it is the dub Talk review time [Applause] good evening gentlemen and ladies and everything in between and welcome to the great dub talk theater the show where our crew gets together and puts on wonderful Musical dance for your pleasure and behind the scenes we have

1:34 our great Academy where we train the latest and greatest in podcasting that's right Beth lift them legs uh tonight I am your host and instructor Miss Megan along with our wonderful musume yasu Gigi oh your oh Joe Sama is here and our wonderful otoyaku Andrew see the thing about ladies is that the reality is they don't actually want a handsome prince or an alpha male no what they want is a [ __ ] dweeb and a door because I can make them smile that's the key people that's what they want to see I want a hot lady

2:19 I mean I also sword yeah I think we all want hot ladies with swords it'll actually just [ __ ] kill us yay have I told you about the wonderful free wonderful MMORPG Final Fantasy 14 which has a free trial of the level up to level 60 including the award-winning happens word expansion foreign would skip class to play Final Fantasy 14. she 100 wouldn't she would 100 be a Red Mage I will take your word for it red Beach is go to the this might rain with maggots Final

3:06 Fantasy 15. I would like to point out that the uh the Red Mage job Master is literally catboy Dante like Devil May Cry catboy Dante I believe it yes anyway back on track tonight we are here to talk about something that I've wanted to talk about for a couple of years at this point now and haven't gotten the time to and now I have finally uh kidnapped these two wonderful friends of mine I mean gently asked them to come talk about this with me uh we are finally going to talk about kekeki Shoujo a wonderful as I actually found out Jose's series by uh by kumikosaki based on her manga that was done over at Studio Pine Jam uh so let me read the back of the first

3:52 volume of the manga or at least the back of Kiki Shojo this Rises which is actually volume one um Watanabe sarasa has always dreamed of being in otokoyaku an actress who plays the male roles in an all-female leader troupe Narita I also has a dream the disgrace former Idol wants to live in a world full of women and not have to deal with men at all when they both get into the competitive all-girls theater School the sage is set for I and Sarasota into the Limelight and take their first step towards stardom so basically what happens when you when you put the most golden retriever of human beings with trauma Eeyore and ask them to put on Romeo and Juliet trauma Eeyore is an image but you're not

4:37 even wrong thanks for noticing me you're up on stage you know what I actually forgot to ask Romeo oh Romeo Romeo so how did all of these players get to finally discuss the subject of today's episode uh I dragged you kicking and screaming into watching this like a woman possessed oh yeah paid for this oh yeah you didn't have to pay me for this but we did anyway so this is because of our wonderful Patron Marissa lenti who is wonderful and awesome and uh may or may

5:23 not have a connection to the dub for the show that we are about to talk about uh yay so let's just just not put on any kids gloves and just jump immediately into uh directing and writing uh this dub was handled over at soundcade in studios and was in fact erected by Marissa lenty with assistant directors of Alexis Tipton Damon Mills Mike haimoto Natalie Van sustina and Steven Foo and was written in combination by Bonnie clinkenbeer Jessica Kavanaugh and Emily Neves I should also point out that the translator for this series Katarina ludonakis was also given a special thanks on the Blu-ray she did the entire localization of the subtitles

6:08 um which and she's also the translator last I checked for the manga still oh nice um so I do have volume not I don't have the newest volley the newest volume comes out tomorrow which is volume uh nine um so I'm not gonna go over all of the assistant directors other works because there are a lot of them uh but to go over what Marissa lenti has done they have done after song connections tribe 9 and the dub for gunbuster that just recently came out as of the time of this recording uh as for writers Bonnie clinkenbeard has done a series such as Arte the boy and the Beast and the escaflone movie Jessica Kavanaugh has worked on series such as asteroid in love Island and soccer request and Emily needs has

6:55 worked on series such as Alice in deadly School uh Geck Idol and because I'd like to make Andrew's brain hurt uh matsumunikun's Revenge that got a second season I can't believe it yeah like five years after the first one in the Blu-ray for season one still isn't out oh my God oh my God I forgot about that yikes for some reason 2023 is just 2017 again but at least we got a new agent Magus bride so I guess I can't complain too much uh just like to say shout out to all the patrons because hello y'all are on my taste level which is amazing and it means you have excellent taste in everything that you choose so chef's kiss to y'all you're great

7:44 y'all are good people thanks for sticking with us I'd apologize we're uh preambling but all of you in particular know what we're about so we're not apologizing to you I gotta pull up my phone so I have all the cool things that I wrote in my notepad the directing and the writing writing first thing I wrote down was [ __ ] yeah there's a frozen reference oh my God so that that was something I I'm embarrassed to admit that was what I picked up on the re-watch was the fact that they threw in just a overt Frozen

8:29 reference yeah I think the differences in this are great I think they specifically throw it out about uh uh if I'm correct uh yes the Regal Ice Queen who sung about letting it go she reminds me of a Regal Ice Queen that's a song about letting it go yeah oh yeah oh yeah that's when uh her uncle and uh the Phantom were literally looking at all the girls coming in it's like whoa I think one of my other favorite things was whoa my ceiling doubles yes those are twins um oh yeah I awarded that one cringe I have to admit because I'm a big girl for y'all that don't know but when oh my God that teacher was like no fatties I [ __ ] lost my [ __ ] [ __ ] that [ __ ]

9:15 it's a very dramatic moment but it does feel very fitting for the context of the school in particular which as far as this show in general this is an interesting Beast of an anime in particular because this is as far as genre and tone wise a little bit of everything yeah it can shift in a way that should feel tonally off but doesn't I don't know how to explain that it's that there's that level of I think my best way of describing the show is that it's really interesting

10:01 also be that we're talking about the show given another show that is airing this season that proclaims itself to be social commentary on a facet of the entertainment industry while this is also that but I think this is a show that actually works better about it because I would also argue they have different goals but they have different goals but I feel like kind of tied into your thing of like this is a bunch of different genres and yet they work is that I feel like all the different genres here feel more natural or at least like all the different tones feel more natural because this is a show about a bunch of like 16 to 19 year old girls remember they're not all 16 some of them are older yeah so but in the same class because you can spend your high school years trying to get into

10:48 coca which is the school to be part of um it's not called that in the show but that's what it's based off of it is very much based off that yeah yeah for those of you who don't know what the taco taco review is it is a off it is like an all-female drama musical troupe where the men even the male roles are played by women and it dates back like hundreds of years and they do all of these Musical shows it's super highly popular with women and it's actually starting to get streamed over here now yeah I just saw they just finally like subtitled and like yeah aired a production uh was it 007 I think it was double yeah they just did a 007 show

11:35 um it was very funny sorry no this is tangent it's very funny looking into the takarazuka review because I discovered there was a Death Note Musical and I found out the guy who wrote that is an American that's buried to a takarazuka review actress you didn't know there was a Death Note musical I didn't know there was a death note music okay there's also a hunter hunter Musical [ __ ] everything okay here's the thing the Death Note musical wasn't done in Japan it was done in England okay yes there is it's also called coca the theater is also called cocoa yeah yeah see I know there's a bunch of anime musicals but most of those don't matter because they're just in Japanese but when I hear a English concept album for

12:20 the Death Note musical is a real thing and the guy playing L sounds like he could be in rent that [ __ ] with your head a little oh God we are so off track from somebody who went to art school for acting and music uh yes and no to how this like equates to real life yeah no like I feel like it's like obviously there's stuff that's exaggerated but I feel like sometimes like just the idea of like they take a lot of the stuff that seems really mundane super seriously in the show about acting but yet there are also times when like the teenage girls actually act like you know [ __ ] teenage girls like I believe that kids

13:05 would act like this or be silly or traumatized but trying to make friends like it's very dramatic so you kind of have to separate the drama in the vocals from when the characters are actually acting as opposed to when they're in their personal lives so like when sarsa is acting completely different vocal tones completely different mannerisms and quirks in the voice as opposed to when Sarasota is just talking and they're just like this normal perky girl it's so funny every actor puts on a different face yeah and I think and that

13:52 is a very tricky thing to do well when you are an actor and you are acting in a show about acting and making that convincing without losing yourself and yeah I think I think every character in this especially like our main group of characters that we've all throughout the show are all very realized people but also very realized actors in their own right as well and the dub doesn't excellent job doing all that in particular the show tackles a lot but the production at the helm of it tackles it and then some with with Incredible skill and the equally incredible ambition

14:38 the casting in this is phenomenal because you're not only casting for one set of characters you're casting for a second set of characters depending on who they're auditioning for a third set of characters if they're gonna sing or not which by the way there are dub songs in this and they're pretty good they're good they're good dub songs the singing in this is really quite good um oh yeah no this has some of the best dub singing in it yes like it's just fantastic and on top of all of that you have a script that is both intentionally and unintentionally funny and will also like rip your [ __ ] heart into shreds

15:26 to go to my personal favorite lines is you've never been in a relationship and I've never killed anybody before I would hope you had it there's just there's just this very genuine uh some of these characters I think that's what I love about like a main character in a show like this where everybody is on edge and it's like why do we have to be Rivals why do we have to be enemies I just want to be Buds and play by part it's like in in real life like sometimes actors are very very catty depending on how much they want to work and what they want out of their profession and that bleeds into their personal life uh but you know in another part of the world

16:12 they're all just like let's just be friends with one another and whoever gets the job is the best one for the job I feel like there's both of that in this show um oh go ahead sorry oh also the fact that they're all kind of guaranteed work at the end of their stay at the school kind of helps in that area right because they're all guaranteed they're all guaranteed right they're all guaranteed to go into the troop but you're not guaranteed the good parts or yeah you're not really one you're never guaranteed to become the top star or worse it's a certain position that you want or um the manga kind of goes into it later about certain other things but that's a spoiler for stuff that happens

16:59 in like I think literally legitimately like right after with the anime ends um they start going to a lot of the stuff that some of the second years that are there with them because remember you only go to school there for two years and it has a I think they said it's got a lower rate of acceptance than Tokyo you out of like 400 girls only 40 get in um and if if you don't get into there by like the time you're 20 you're you're Sil your [ __ ] out of luck so do you think I think the thing that really works about the direction in this show is that it's like GG said like you're casting these these character these actors for two people but you're also casting a bunch of people who very

17:45 clearly know how to act as characters who don't know how to act in this very specific way and in some cases they have prior training to a lot of them uh one of the girls has been a Balor was a prima ballerina um one of the girl I was a former Idol um sarsa grew in and grew up in a world of Kabuki a predominantly male space that she could never break into or and then you have uh characters like ayaka who have nothing special about them from where they came from but they have to build on their natural talents so you have to have all of these actors who fairly clearly know how to act but you

18:31 have to have them be able to portray that these girls that may have the good base route to act but there are different quirks that they're not thinking of thinking of how like Karu uh is super intent on only looking at their teacher as opposed to how sadasa projects her voice and looks up towards the entire crowd and it's like little things like that that make this dub so technically impressive and the other thing I really want to talk about is holy [ __ ] this cast is like super inclusive um yes there's a lot of non-binary and transactors in this dub I think all of the top stars of the Coca troops because there's four troops based off the fourth

19:18 season I think every one of them is played by a gender non-conforming performer you would be correct that is uh which is really cool for if you think about it for otoko yakuz who are women played or women who play men I actually did learn something about that courtesy of uh and little up and coming vtuber in the spear known as uh Vixen uh they managed to get a little information actually and told me that the majority of the female characters who play the otonayakus with like a few exceptions notably uh I forget the character's name but the one who sings but with the

20:03 exception of that character in particular almost all of the otonoyaku characters are played by trans non-binary or gender fluid actors in the whole dub okay Jojo um that's a cool detail I genuinely did not know about until I found out that's a very cool thing to learn so overall I think like this is probably like one of the better written and directed dubs that have come out in the last couple years um not biased not like I gave this best direction or uh double the year at one point um also something that I want to point out is there was a little bit of room for improvisation in the hair like I do remember that the first time I watched

20:50 kikeki's Shojo I was tweeting out my reactions as I always do and I said is that sarsa humming the Rosa Versailles theme and it was and that was like an improvisation so I think it's always awesome when directors allow their cast members to do that in the booth sometimes the coolest little Easter eggy things come out when you let your actors improvise so whenever there's a chance to do that like I get really happy it's very tricky to even do that in dubbing so let having the freedom to work that in when it does work is like that's really cool I also wanted to shout out one other thing because I remembered hearing about this back then but I feel like it's a thing I want to give in regards to the script and the translation in particular

21:36 so they play Shakespeare and in Japanese they did not really worry about writing Shakespeare they kind of did they just kind of wrote it as is but in the translation which is reflected in the dub it's actually translated back into English with the actual like English text of Romeo and Juliet even in regards to the song that is sung in episode 12. oh wow so that in itself is a particularly impressive thing because something that I feel like would have just gotten foregone in the original they actually took the extra time to make it equivalence to The Shakespearean script

22:21 which I think that's really goddamn cool and impressive on their parts it sometimes it's always hard to have a discussion when it's like everything about this is a tour de force and just really [ __ ] good and guess the [ __ ] what this whole production is a tour de force and really [ __ ] good and we're going to continue to gush about it all night so yeah that's where that's what you're here for my cat has come over hello baby hi shinya shinya is going to hear us gush about this dub yes shinier soft butt she her fur is so soft that's why yeah you have a soft booty

23:06 you know what level are here why do they call them short hair there's cat there's a cat hair everywhere even on the short hair ones Jesus Christ all right are you guys ready to move on to start talking about our first set of actors let's go I would like awesome I would like to see the baby it would be pretty good all right so our first set of uh search to the characters are kind of very like minor characters who come in and out in some cases they are also uh one-off characters they are miyaka Mikaya kits Jiro they are a a shut-in nerd who was the guy that I called a a ugly

23:52 like awful like person for shaking her hand and it caused her to get ousted from uh jpx 47 basically it's it's basically supposed to be a very thinly veiled reference to um akb48 which is a very popular Idol group in Japan oh I never actually got that yeah that's that it's a very obvious reference um I don't follow the title stuff so yeah okay yeah you're not a [ __ ] weirdo who likes love life like me um but he essentially kind of comes back to try to apologize to I for making her lose her career um then there is rikito tsuji he is a a guy that Karu meets back in her hometown

24:39 in her backstory about uh her and her feelings and she had fallen in love with him however due to their differing views on life and family Legacy they she just kind of ran away blocked him and never wanted to do anything with him again and he posted a mysterious letter to her in the bus stop that they met at and now it's like some Urban myth thing and everyone's like oh how romantic then there is tatsumu onodera the best teacher to ever exist in all of Coca um he is the music teacher who teaches them all how to sing he is very very overtly gay um he says he doesn't play favorites but it's very clear who he's favorite is uh

25:26 he also has one of the other best lines which is I'm a Coca girl at heart um he's he's he's he is he is objectively the best teacher in the show and I love him and then there is say sotomy who is the uh new top star of the winter coca troupe who keeps kind of uh Crossing saras's path uh you find out that they are the she is the first top star that was picked and kind of cultivated by their homeroom teacher uh Mr Ando and she kind of has uh the same eyes for sarasa and her her growth in the future uh as he does so playing uh Kita joji is keston Howard

26:13 playing uh suji is Mark Allen Jr playing Mr anodera is David Wald and playing uh say satomy is Kaylee McKee uh Kiest keston Howard this is like his first really big named kind of role uh but Mark Allen Jr you'll know his characters such as Yasha and children of Kamari month wataru kunan in blue lock and ukio sayonji and Dr Stone uh everybody knows our good friend Mr David Wald who's played characters such as uh Hans an attack on Titan Mrs Hudson in case File 221 Kabuki Joe and uh on the opposite end of Mr onodera her mom Louise and curly the animation there are two wolves inside of you

26:58 her lawn Luis is the character that onodera would say oh my God he's so hot he [ __ ] would okay and Kaylee McKee you'll know his characters such as peanut and B Stars uh kikunanjo uh Kiku just just say Kiku just Kiku yeah Kiku in one piece and Joan of Arc and Requiem of the Rose king um so I think the the two easiest ones to kind of get out of the way first are keston and Mark uh poor this poor [ __ ] nerd so they they pretty much established uh this nerd and your your first thought is oh oh this is a really creepy shitty little stalker guy oh this is gonna be

27:45 terrible oh this is going to be awful and then he's just kind of a sad guy who just got unlucky you like I I was inspired by her smile I really wanted to get to meet her listen creep let go of me and then that's rough buddy yeah but a show is fun it really just is as simple as guys doing his best he just did an account for trauma [ __ ] [ __ ] Tai Chi's like yeah it's not your fault uh we'll get to that we will but yeah cause it's not as it's not as it's not as happy I felt conflicted

28:33 listening to him honestly because I was just kind of like I know I'm like supposed to feel hatred for him because of what happened with I but at the same time then he's like doing that weirdo dance with sarsa and I'm just kind of like what I I think I don't think you're supposed to hate him as a person you're you're supposed to hate the the eyes the idol industry I think in that it's it's less that he's a bad person he's just a dude who who wanted to who put I think a little bit too much of a parasocial relationship in with I right and I I get I get that and I get that

29:18 through the the vocal performance like like we're not really supposed to feel what i is feeling but in a different sense like just the way that he is and the way that his voice sounds and he sounds you know apologetic for everything that happened to her so he's just kind of a weird little guy that's got handed a raw deal but genuinely does feel bad and kind of feels like he is the reason she is no longer the idol she wants to be without really well no she never really wanted to be an idol but he himself doesn't actually know that yeah but I think keston does a good job sounding very like apologetic while also sounding very dorky delivering some

30:05 pretty fun lines I love how he it is moment of the cool guy hero moment he just flings himself like he's a [ __ ] E Honda Main and then just like eat [ __ ] on the floor I will say I like that he's an overweight guy that doesn't have the stupid fat dude voice thank you Jesus thank you yeah but definitely the Highlight for sure is uh the dance off just the weird little dance that him and SARS are just bonding over and just doing can you do this Idol dance and then he's like hey that's impressive bet you can't do this as he just like kind of tries to do a matrix and just like is backs giving out

30:51 he's like see you can't do that and then sarsa is just [ __ ] flexible I can do it like a h every every 90s person just felt their bones just felt them in that moment where like he just goes down barely a little bit you could you could tell uh you could tell the end of avatar The Last Airbender hit him hard because he too could relate to losing his bending foreign he genuinely does do a really good job and is a pretty standout performance and I love it when new people do so well like it just makes me happy it kind of

31:37 like Rings true to the theme of this anime also but I'll talk more about that later in the episode it is cool to see new people get to play big roles as well as underappreciated actors getting to play standout roles loved Mark Allen Jr in this I fell in love with the baseball boy on the bus also I'm a sucker for romance and tragedies at Bittersweet endings episode is like genuinely one of the best and I can't wait to talk about karu's actor that's my favorite episode not gonna lie it is genuinely one of the best episodes of the show uh but Mark really works so well in turn with uh

32:24 katu's actress but I think the thing that I like about it most is that the performance between them both feels so effortlessly natural that and it's just such a very deeply like telling episode in a very genuine interesting take to have because it's an episode about Legacy and want in that they are both in this position where somebody else in their family is giving them unrealistic expectations well no it's not giving them it's it's they are stars and because they are this well-known thing everybody around them keeps putting these expectations on them and in uh them you get his name in uh

33:12 suji's case he wants to back away from that he doesn't think that he he wants to do that and he even has to put up with people who come up to him to use him to get closer to his brother and that part where he gets the letter from the girl you can tell that he's trying his nice to be super like his best to be super polite about it but you can hear the kind of like Angry vial like in his voice about this my brother doesn't accept this I'm not my brother meanwhile you have Karu who is on the opposite end where she wants to live up to her family's Legacy because her mom

33:58 and her grandmother were both in the Coca troupe especially her grandmother being a very famous a very famous Musa mayaku I think she was called Spring Snow White they said yeah spring Snow White was her grandma and the moment that really seals the episode for me in Mark's performance is when they're sitting out under the fireworks and he goes you know you don't have to keep pushing yourself to get into coca just because your family wants you to and that's when she leaves him because he never took into account that even though they had this similar Place her wanting to get into Coco wasn't a well I guess I have to do because everybody thinks I should it's I genuinely want

34:45 this why do you all of you people keep not thinking that I want this I think it's also the frustration that even her own grandma was like you don't have to feel pressured to go down the same path you can find something else to do and yeah and he was just kind of the one who also said it after that and he kind of got the brunt of it but I think also it it hurt her more because she allowed herself to be vulnerable with this person and when you're like she's like 18. so she's one of the older girls in the class to Claudio so it's got It's got the extra pressure of this is your last shot kind of too yeah and I have to imagine as a teenage girl that opening up to this Stranger in

35:30 a town that also doesn't like her very much yeah everybody just kind of thinks she's just like a weird porcelain [ __ ] basically yeah and granted out of the the class when we get there Karu is very much the kind of [ __ ] one uh but it's less [ __ ] and more that she's the one who's willing to be the bad guy in a sense but like nobody else in the town really likes her except for suji and you can tell that he's genuinely hurt when he puts the the letter up and you can tell how much he's like I know I can't get this back but I'm still thinking of you if I have to use a single word to describe Mark's

36:18 performance tender especially his Dynamic with Karu is that there's just this level of tenderness in regards to their interactions the way he plays this performance and it's just so absolutely Charming and you could tell that he's just kind of like an awkward kid that's just trying to Fumble about and figure out what he wants but he really does like her quite a lot and you can tell she's falling too man just straight up says I think you'd look good in a mustache and it's like Ah that's a very very smooth Play My Guy

37:03 I just had to look up who he plays in blue lock because he doesn't play one of the dudes that I'm like biased over God damn what a range God he can play baseball and sports what an actor wow Sports oh my God [ __ ] no we're done here I'm not gonna simp over this performance anymore it was really good are you here to simp over our rainbow Overlord is Mr onodera so David Wald playing himself was really crazy yes okay yeah so that's

37:50 that is David wall that's not even acting that's not a that is uh what was what was the phrase I learned recently uh ink suit acting ink suit acting was something I learned very recently I never heard that term before what does that mean it means you basically cast somebody who looks like their character or basically is their character oh yeah Mr David wall does not look like this Corona Dara but he is literally [ __ ] strong the vibe I get from David Wald in the interactions I've had with him is that he is basically the nicest gayest music teacher you've ever God damn did dud scene and God onodera is delightful

38:45 but yeah you know he majored in music right yes I did know that I I've talked to uh I remember talking to uh Jesse greal about uh Stranger by the shore and she had mentioned that he directs very musically when it comes to performances and having them match the performance as well as resonating with all the other actors so a lot of musicality in his directing so him being the music teacher in this is extremely fitting and God damn it this in a world that is as Cut Throat as acting and performance is and especially in an environment that is so Cutthroat

39:31 make or break and judgy as it is like where the teachers are are judging about your performance and your looks especially yeah no fatties over there how could you like God he is so right to [ __ ] yell at her right at a touchy that's uh he yells at tachibana who's played by Jessica Peterson who uh if you don't know is uh characters like she's a female narrator from Goblin Slayer uh anime and Lucifer in the biscuit hammer and uh Nene in uh Yamada and the Seven witches and God would kill me if I didn't mention the fact that she was Francisca of our Karma Ace Attorney but like I love how I love how he's just

40:17 like what the hell is wrong with you man what it is it is very much a Cutthroat environment and you can tell throughout the show because she is the the lowest ranker of the cast every other girl dunks on her and shits on her because they feel better and Superior too hard no they don't they don't [ __ ] on her for it they yell at her herself a lot her friends her friends do I think I specifically think of the final episode where uh she got the role and everybody was like oh that little failure did it I wonder if she had to like bribe the teacher or something oh yeah that part that's kind of what I was thinking of well but David Wald is her

41:05 biggest cheerleader and quite frankly like if he played the music teacher at my school I would be like well we're besties now like like it's like lunchy was like hey my dude do you want to show up today and make some union rates like just come in the booth and talk like you'll be fine just talk about anything it'll be great and like he showed up and just like was himself and got a check and I'm all about that [ __ ] so David David oh sorry I just love when when ayak is kind of having this moment where she's she's like she's thinking about quitting and going back to her sister her family

41:51 um he she's just like he's just like he breaks into the girl's territory and the door of Maidens like sirona Dara you know that only you know that only um only girls are allowed at the door loud in here in the dorms and he just David Waltz I'm a Coca girl at heart that is so good it's so real the noise that goes along with it the [ __ ] noise is what kills me well that's like the just like that but that but that's it in particular is just the general everybody needs somebody like that in their Corner when the chips are down and you are not everyone meets everyone

42:38 needs a Mr odera everybody needs a David walls to be your encouraging cheerleader and tell you you can do it you're doing great you don't give up don't lose sight of your dreams you can do this You're Gonna Go Far Kid what I'm saying is David Wald if you got into the ASMR business you'd make a killing Sir uh uh take my money anyway who else are we talking about and then finally we gotta talk about Kaylee McKee and say sultame AKA if you aren't a lesbian if you are an at least bisexual now yes it's hot oh my God so there's that scene where they what are they called

43:26 yeah where all of them are like in that room together and like the little sparkles go off and they're like it's like okay I'm a lesbian now it's fine which if you want to know why you put all my types in one room which if you want to know the other top Stars alongside uh say are played by uh Kaden Jensen Mellie Grant and Anjali kuna panini I just Melly Grant I think is the summer one right I I do not remember I just we fight for all all but remember summer team won the 100th the 100th anniversary of uh only uh only due to a technicality Melody

44:11 yeah just just totally the part we're safe basically cabin on sarsa on the ground no he uh no she uh copied onto her in the back hallway and I'm just like if you came out of Coca if you came out of Coca straight I want to know what went wrong right but yeah no say say is very much a talented actress in her own right but it's also very clear that even even being the top up top of the class or like being the top star you could tell she is still a very nurturing person that is trying to be there for people and sarsa is kind of dealt a rough hand and is basically suddenly forced in a situation where she might stand out or might take away from

44:57 the experience where she's kind of like having a freakout attack because she trips over satime at the race and she's just kind of like oh God what do I do and then it's like sorry sorry because it's basically oh it's not about me helping her it's about her helping me so she's just giving her what is basically the actor's equivalent of come on do the [ __ ] thing oh we will we will get yeah I think the great part about say and the great part about Kaylee's performance of her is that Kaylee plays her very humble and she is a top star like shines

45:46 brighter than all the rest of them but you can hear like the humbleness in Kaylee's voice but also like I don't want to say commanding or commandeering but there's like a confidence behind it oh she knows she's good she knows she's good but she doesn't have to oh Joe Sama it up like she's severed you know and I sound like that it's like more bowling good we'll get to the kind of I think the opposite of her character in the next segment but I think the thing that really works about Kaylee's performance is that there's also such a net I think it's not only that she's got the confidence it's a natural confidence yes it's not somebody who's like screaming and pounding their chest that they're like the top star and like they're the best it's uh not only is she very humble

46:32 but it's very clear that she has very much had her mentorship rub off onto her um because she was the first girl like her the top star the first top star that the Phantom had like kind of molded into that and I think in a sense that she kind of sees potentially some of herself in sarasa um because I think say said that they just suddenly shot up in height when they were in Coca [Music] um but no I just really like all Kaylee's performance it's super good so good oh yeah no she she does a great job and is very clear she's got the confidence and is able to do the whole heartthrob thing too while also being a

47:19 big uh supportive uh big sister type nice but also just whenever she needs to you can tell oh yeah she's gonna make some people swoon there are light reads where it's like oh this this is to make people Swoon but I also do enjoy her hanging out with the other top stars and you could tell they're all friends but there's like that petty rivalry Brewing it's it's definitely a [ __ ] affectionate okay it's okay I know Andrew's probably seen it but it's uh have you ever seen the pro ZD skit it's like new acquaintances versus old friends it's like new acquaintances hello there oh yes it's so nice to meet you we are the

48:05 best of friends such great charms hey what's up you Scooby-Dooby dick accurate yeah it's it's the letter it's the what's up you remember BattleBots or something I think is that like anyways it's like that uh Kaylee's grades all right so are we all good to move on to the next section so we are going on from you [ __ ] affectionate to you [ __ ] you [ __ ] laughs don't you [ __ ] derogatory um so let's start from the adults and work our way down to the teens so let's start with sarasa's or let's start from

48:50 far away and get closer so first off there is cozaboro shirakawa and Akia shirakawa they are uh I think they're like distant cousins with each other is like the easiest way to put it but they are part of the she uh the shirakawa family which is this Great Kabuki family um and ayaka I I akaya the younger the younger one Akia uh Akia duh Akia is next in line to take over the legacy of being the um oh my God I gotta look this up sorry I feel really bad for not having all my tabs up in my manga next to me um the big Kabuki guy yes there's a title

49:36 that's why there is definitely a title but it is also just easier to say the big cheese yeah he's The Heir Apparent to the 15th generation Kabuki actor suo shikawa um played by Frank Daddario yeah and uh kosaboro is uh apparently Sada says illegitimate father uh he's married and had an affair outside of marriage but if sarasa had been made been born a boy they probably would have looked past it and made her the next pseudo shirakawa therefore uh pushing Akia out of the way uh then there is mamaru Ando who is their homeroom teacher and the um

50:23 he's the homero teacher and his nickname is the Phantom because he used to be a stage actor who played The Phantom of the Opera but due to a tragic accident where he fell into the orchestra he became injured and unable to perform on stage anymore uh no they did not take him out so that they could fit bad Cinderella in Japan topical uh then we have taiji Naruto who is the ballet teacher at uh the Koka Academy he's also I's Uncle he is a genuinely very nice guy also he's gay too yay um I'm still not over the way they drop that information the way that they the way that they drop the information is that at a funeral that I her mother and

51:08 uh Tai Chi are at the mom mentions that uh the people are spreading rumors about how the Naruto siblings are the biggest [ __ ] in town uh who have slept with every man and there's only two of them and I'm like that's the dude that is a wild way to just drop that information loved it and then we have the uh the senpais uh of the the second class you kind of each have a girl in the first class that they take under there is tomue take she is also the class president which makes her um Saga sui Saga sugimoto's senpai then there is Risa night uh Nakayama who is uh sarasa Senpai she is a Sarasota

51:54 describes her as a Latin Beauty uh she uh gets told that she would be great playing villainous female roles uh and she is she kind of is annoyed by sadasa at first but she kind of warms up to see the person who sadasa is this kind of Sada says biggest champion and Defender from the other second years and then there's this [ __ ] no she is uh eyes Senpai she is a beautiful mutsumeaku candidate who essentially has been described as like one of the top candidates in the second the second year class she is an absolute [ __ ] pudding oh my God she is very two-faced she

52:40 likes to stir trouble with uh everybody to get what she wants and then act like she's never done anything wrong in her life so playing uh kozaburo is Jonah Scott playing I Akia is Caleb Yen playing uh the Phantom or Mr Ando is River kanoff playing Tai Chi is Aaron Campbell playing top uh tamomi ishara Kirby playing Risa is Terry Doty and playing hiderius for an April Jonah Scott who's playing Jonah Scott in this anime uh has played characters such as Ryden Suga in 86 akihito kaiji Kaji and given and Tatsu in way of the slideshow I mean house husband uh Caleb yeah and you'll know his characters such as June dojima in the gymnastics Samurai Fred portlock and

53:25 Moriarty the Patriot and tetsuri uh ARA babaki arabaki in no gun's life uh River kanath has played fias in sheer knuckle Shear Neko project dear Chronicle uh Aaron Campbell is jigan uh Jingo raichi and blue lock uh nakano and the health uh nakano in the help of foxenko-san and rhizo korima and Revenger Chara Kirby you'll knew his uh Kareen asika in love live nichigasaki girls high school Rio in taisho otome fairy tale in Lucky in Tokyo 24th Ward Terry Duty you'll notice here such as uh hirara hazama an assassination classroom ume ihara and citrus in Kumi joro and

54:12 takashigoto and burned April you'll notice characters such as ritsun assassination classroom Miku and darling in the Franks and I'm Mizuno and Zombieland Saga good job where do we even start okay so this was something that Steph brought to my attention when I was going through this and I she's 100 right Jonah Scott as Koza Boro is just Sugar Ray Salma again except for Chicago okay I know that but this is kozoburo is Jonah very specifically is Jonah but kozaburo is sugaring in that he is hot he is suave and he's he's a

55:03 manipulative little [ __ ] he's kind of a manipulative little [ __ ] in the especially in the regards that he just steals akia's Twitter conquered that frog that's like one of my favorite Islands Jonah Scott playing the dad yeah she's playing she plays he she okay you know the guy the older guy kozaburo that keeps stealing uh Aki is Twitter that's Jonah Scott that's John Scott's a good change some say it's a bad change Jonah Scott yes but yeah sorry Gigi's like Gigi's kind of having that woman that that one that one meme of the woman trying to like put the math

55:50 equation together interact with this and here's the thing I really do like Jonah as kosaboro because he just has this very um nonchalant he's got this idea that he is naturally talented and you can tell he knows he's naturally talented but not in like the way that like say is he feels a little more he does not like to be a passive Observer he likes to be an active Observer he is an active shitsterer he's an active participant it is very clear that like heat I do believe he really does care

56:35 for Sarah so Watanabe and I genuinely do believe that like in some regards he potentially would have preferred her overakia being in the positions where they are now and I think that and I think that in itself creates this interesting little tension between kosaboro and Akia that I think really comes across where it's like you can tell they're kind of bugging each other but you can definitely tell they're a little uncomfortable because there's that sort of level of they both recognize this girl is so much better at you and would have been better than you but because of how [ __ ] sexist this culture is you're lucky I also think on some level

57:23 um one of the really big like episodes that really gives you insight into uh sardis's life is when you see from akia's perspective uh them growing up doing things when he when I find him in the room and that's when Aki is being played as a child by offie at you but um I part of me wonders if kozaburu is as tense as he is and pushy as he is because kozaburo also says you need to date her uh and Sada said hears it um one of the things it basically says it in in the backstory is at the time Akia didn't realize what was going to

58:08 happen but Akia through a a a younger than him sarasa under the bus to his biological Grant to what I'm going to assume is um not Kosovo Rose mom because I think it's implied kozaburo married into the family and took the family name there's definitely God that brings a little bit of the Soma family lineage into this uh Kabuki family it is that he is kozaburo is just Sugar Ray my he's maybe less transparently nefarious at least right now has not [ __ ] Cyrus's mom oh God wait

58:54 well [ __ ] no [ __ ] wait yes he did [ __ ] SARS oh my God okay that's how Cyrus's mom that's how sarsa would be there we needed to get off of these tree branches we do not know where these branches lead let me what I was sorry oh go ahead no you go ahead no I have a question to pose but was that no Megan I'm gonna finish yours but no I think one of the things that you can really really uh Akia in in kosburo which is besides Aki is just general annoyance at Kosovo you know being kosaboro because kozepuro is very very relaxed and stuff part of me wonders if kosaboro figured out it was akia's reasoning why sadasa basically got told by the the grandmother because remember

59:40 she isn't told very nicely to like stop doing Kabuki and stuff with Akia she's yelled at she is basically yelled at and her Grandpa is like how dare you [ __ ] yell at my daughter like to the point where to the point where cozaboro has to beg forgiveness from her Grandpa Ken to even to even like see um sarasa and I think it's implied that I don't think kozaburo is actually allowed to see her anymore because the way that he interacts with sarsa is you never see them genuinely except for when she's a child talk about talk to her it's always through it's always through Akia in his

1:00:25 his Twitter and all that fun stuff um so part of me wonders if he knows that Akia was inadvertently the cause of sarsa being kicked away from the family and that's why there's some tension between them do you think he forced that he pushed the relationship because he effectively needed it in to have a relationship with sarza that or he did it as a way to psychologically punish and [ __ ] with Akia honestly both are extremely valid very likely options how very sugary of him Kosovo is great and Jonah Scott anyway I'm not gonna carp on it it's just exactly what I look at it he looks like Sugar Ray he acts like Sugar Ray but he sounds like Jonah Scott which means he sounds very hot and very Suave

1:01:12 and he does a great job at it so Gigi what was your question so sort of like leading into that was I was kind of hoping to get some kind of context clues from Caleb Yen's performance as to the answer to this question and I'm still totally mystified because I I don't know if it's just a mystery because it hasn't been done in the manga yet or maybe they're there just is no answer but I was really kind of hoping that I would get some vocal cues from this do we think that Akia actually likes sarsa or is this just I don't gonna blow up in their faces I I think they genuinely don't want to date each other that's why I think too and I

1:01:59 didn't because no I remember 100 they I think they think they they kind of feel like the straight couple of the queer kids that are staying together to get their parents who don't understand off their backs if that makes sense I mean that's what I was thinking because I was thinking that they were both gay and they're like stay together for the kids whatever I think it's less that and I think it's more the other one is jealous of the other one sarasa is jealous of Akia because Aki will always get to be everything that she wanted to as a child please remember she didn't really want

1:02:45 to be I don't think she wanted to be um lady Oscar as a child she wanted to be um in Kabuki yeah she wanted to be sukiroku as a child I think that they're both jealous of each other for different reasons too and I was just I was kind of hoping and this is my only like actual criticism I have of any performance in this really I was just kind of hoping for Caleb to kind of like get behind it one way or the other so I could make my decision because I made my decision when sarsa said I think we should date or I think like you should be my boyfriend or something like that and in that moment I

1:03:30 kind of knew that she wasn't really into it but I was just kind of hoping like that Caleb's performance would like sway me one way or the other to tell whether or not he was into sarsa and it just it didn't do that for me I and there's nothing against him it's just I really was kind of hoping for that personally and I didn't I didn't catch it either way I think there's a different interpretation but I think to me Caleb's performance is still really strong as Akia and I think it does convey that there is this very complicated relationship and I think it's very clear it is a relationship that is not built on genuine like emotion for each other it's not built on love and it's not even

1:04:16 built completely on hey you've I I wouldn't even say it's hate it's me it's a to me it's a to me it's a a relationship based off of in some way mutual respect for the other one's Ambitions but it's also at least from from sawdust's end it's I think in a sense she's the one who asks Kim out before because she overhears uh not only does she ask him out because kozaburo uh says you need to ask sarsa out remember she also overhears kozaburo threaten yeah about his position in as the as the the next

1:05:03 in line to be uh this head of the family he outright says I may not be the person who does it but you damn well know that your grandfather takes my word into account well it's kind of good it's kind of like a marriage of convenience for that's exactly what it that's exactly what I was trying to get at because um now her Daddy can talk to her all the time through like Sarah knowing through Akia and you know she God that's such a great reference to Sarah no one especially given when we talk in the next session about another like famous theatrical play Slash movie that they taught they actually bring up that I thought was a very interesting uh reference to make for a a shows a uh

1:05:50 Jose manga that got an anime that's kind of aimed at like that came out in like 2020 did this come out 2021 or 2020 uh uh I don't know yes one of those I really like it it's it's essentially it references a movie that is at least 30 to 40 years old um I'm saying that Caleb didn't give a strong performance because he did I just wanted this one you wanted it to come out clearer to you yes there was this like dislike and I didn't taste I did it I will say one thing the manga throws another wrench into that and I'm not saying okay good don't tell me don't don't tell me I don't don't [ __ ] tell me I'm you know I'm buying the second season of this anime that's never coming

1:06:36 again please but uh no one of the things I really want to talk about that I think is in Caleb's performance is this genuine sense of guilt because because if you think about it remember everything sados are getting pushed away from something that she loves was his fault indirectly and I think the thing that really kind of sells you on that moment it's not something that Caleb does it's what afia does it's when Grandpa Ken is leaving after yelling at kozaburo and he stops and talks to Akia and says hey I'm so sorry to scare you sadasa won't be coming over as much anymore but you can always come visit her and it's like he doesn't know that it

1:07:23 was akia's fault that that uh he got pushed away that she's out now that that happened so I guess that there's this sense of guilt and gel it's it's Kayla's performance and I think kind of their whole relationship carries this weird mix of genuine respect guilt uh hate a little bit of hate and jealousy and it's just very interesting to play off and we've been talking about this for a while so let's talk about the two teachers uh so so talking about the two teachers we have I think the one that kind of has like the most really parts to do is actually uh Mr Mr Ando AKA The Phantom so I'm gonna talk about Tai Chi first I genuinely like Aaron's

1:08:09 performance as this very kind of calming effect to I he's a rock and God God [ __ ] [ __ ] eyes Mom [ __ ] eyes mom so much without mentioning her but she's played by Caitlyn Elizabeth and she does a very good job at playing very snooty indifference he's the indifferent chain smoking wine mom perfectly um but uh Tai Chi's is very gentle type of performance which I'm not super used to hearing Aaron Campbell be um I'm very much used to him being a little bit more Gruff um I really liked it I genuinely I want

1:08:57 to talk about him more but I also want to wait until we get to actually talking about I to talk about kind of their big episode uh I kind of like how he has this more youthful and bright look on things also wow am I seeing double yes those are twins um and then at the beginning just oh no it looks like your little cousins caught by the cherry tree I know and then there's Mr Ando who by the way in the Japanese is playing in the most ink site that is their ink that is their ink suit casting in Japan was getting Mr honor to be played by Miss Jenny she's too um he also [ __ ] looks like him but man River Connor really impressed me

1:09:42 as Mr authors who who is he he's done I think a lot more writing for video games and stuff I think he's just like writing and directing he's done a lot more background stuff but he's he's really [ __ ] good I thought it was [ __ ] Chris weight Camp the whole time and then I was like no but this is like a different kind of tingle than the Chris wakeham tingle so I'm like who are you this guy River kanov plays him as somebody who I would believe has played The Phantom of the Opera is it I think it's can off actually I'm not an address I'm sure you know whatever the dude could have easily played the Phantom I think the thing I love about River in particular is that he's just this incredibly this is a teacher this is a guy who's

1:10:32 very tired he has put a lot of work in but you can tell he gives a [ __ ] about his kids oh yeah like that's what he he very I think they said he's been there for like what like eight years ten years at this point about 10 years yeah yeah that um he very clearly still has a passion for acting it's just that his body cannot anymore because of his accident and that really [ __ ] him up for a while but I think the thing that I like about him is is that he's always willing to push the girls but never be outright malicious to them at least intentionally because he does [ __ ] with sadasa at one point by saying that she'll never be the top star

1:11:17 because she can't act she's a mimic it's basically just a general like he is a harsh person but he is fair he is harsh in that he will tell you the weaknesses that you don't know you have and he will give you the clue for how to actively change and work towards fixing that weakness it is a general level of fair and constructive criticism in a way that is meant to nurture you to grow instead of giving you a [ __ ] eating disorder yeah there's a difference between um you're a mimic and no fatties and I can tell you from 100 personal experience that Mr it's Mr Ando right yes yes or

1:12:06 the fans didn't call me there he's the teacher that you want to have or your acting coach that you want to have who will give you constructive criticism with room to change but also room to express yourself in the material that you're given as opposed to the ballet teacher who's like [ __ ] no fatties get out and like personal experience so I think like in the way that his voice is portrayed here you know eight to ten years of teaching that's enough time to lose your [ __ ] soul but when your soul when your soul is really in acting and is in is technically in doing something else but you can do that sort of along with nurturing other people I'm not saying that he's gonna live vicariously through

1:12:53 these girls because I don't believe that's the case but I think he's definitely not that much right I think it's clear he's not bitter because of the life he lost but I think he has found new joy in the lives he will nurture but teaching is hard everyone still lose your soul instead of all of the teachers it was under his influence that she got in him in another thing that she got in she was quote unquote unconventional and you can I think in the comments with say the talks would say he actively says that he wants to make I a star I am not I uh star but uh the thing that I like about him too is that and I want to compliment all of the teachers actors is that when

1:13:40 they're doing their auditions in the last three episodes of the show that it definitely does not feel like [ __ ] talk no Jutsu when they're curving them their critiqued and talking about things it feels like a genuine like the way that they they're directed to act and speak feels like a genuine going through your mind and I don't know audition as opposed to I'm gonna sit here and explain to you why this is yeah yeah and why you're this is this and I think the thing that I really really want to compliment is when he decides to go up and be uh Romeo I love that part so much and every all the other girls really freak out except for sarsa and then the comp the conversation after the auditions go up that he has with

1:14:27 um oh god what the hell's her name uh sugimoto yeah with Sawa where they they talk about the movie and I just love his delivery of his well this is a whole lot better than you coming in and crying on me does do they do that I mean they do but this is much more productive reflective uh and it's just like this very matter-of-fact thing and he doesn't really hold back uh and then we have are you guys am I good to certainly in the conversation elsewhere yes I didn't even get to talk about Aaron okay oh whoops oh yeah you I talked about him but you guys did kind of tingle for Mr Anjo playing Romeo I I really like I do really like River in particular I think he does he's probably one of the biggest surprises of

1:15:13 this dub but I also really want to shout out Aaron as uh as Uncle Naruto because he's just a very genuinely helpful kind supportive Rock in eyes genuinely tragic traumatic life and just but there's this level of like unconditional love that you can tell he absolutely has for her in a way that you can absolutely tell that like it comes through it is Sweet It Is Earnest but it's also still like family in that I could tell he would probably ease there for her but he would probably bust her chops a little bit if ever given a chance to

1:16:00 and also just being there and basically just straight up being the most emotional thing you can do to somebody who is traumatized is to give them the key which is an incredibly powerful thing if you're ever feeling unwell if you're ever feeling unsafe this is a spare key to my house my doors are always open so yeah I think Aaron in particular is just a very sweet performance but also a lot of fun and very interesting too so yeah we could talk we could talk about the senpai Muslim senpai's I'm going to start with uh

1:16:46 with uh uh yeah unfortunately tamomi doesn't really get the most to do but I've genuinely enjoyed uh shara's work in things I've seen I genuinely really like this kind of Heart to Heart moment she has with Sawa at the last episode when they're out by the sign of the school and they're kind of having this moment where it's like yeah you're always going to be the class president you're always going to be the rock you're going to have to be the person who holds it together but you're gonna have somebody in your life who says all the [ __ ] you can't say because they're given that opportunity there's no shame in you being this you're always going to be remembered and I really like that part of her character and how she's very nice but she's not

1:17:32 really there as much as the other two correct I agree yeah she because she is like has a lot of responsibility and she's doing her best but she herself is still a nice person in general and then yeah and then and then there's there's Terry's Rika who I really enjoy that Terry Doty gets to play a character like this because I feel like Terry is really few and far he's between I love racing she's great yeah I I love Risa in the sense that she's she's also one of the older girls that got gets into Coke I think she's also probably near her 20s she's maybe like 20 21 or something like that I don't know I think yeah I think she says she's like 20. which is interesting because I think

1:18:18 she's she's not only a lot more mature physically she's a lot more mature emotionally and she's the one who kind of realizes that sadasa isn't as much as of a troublemaker as she thinks she is she's just very boisterous and passionate and she's kind of the first person who I think starts to see past Cyrus's very golden retriever exterior to that there's something [ __ ] going on under there and Terry plays her with this very sense of like she's a little bit annoyed by Cyrus's constant Antics and giving up and issues but it's very much that friend of yours

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