A debatably triumphant return to the world of podcasting for Ben and Mike! We date ourselves poorly by discussing the imminent release of Tears of the Kingdom and struggling to remember the name of 'Starfield'. As we hadn't chatted for a while, we try to get through our thoughts on everything of note that we had watched or played in recent times... Timestamps below as ever!

0:00 Intro and depressing preamble (aka "everything sucks")

5:15 Kimetsu no Yaiba / Demon Slayer: Swordsmith Village Arc

7:50 Mashle: Magic and Muscles

9:00 Dr Stone: New World

12:10 My Home Hero

14:54 Jigokuraku / Hell's Paradise

17:53 Vinland Saga Season 2

20:44 Skip and Loafer

25:10 Xenoblade Chronicles Series

32:09 Golden Kamuy Season 3

36:21 Spy X Family

42:40 Ace Attorney & The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles

48:00 BLUELOCK

55:08 Hikari no Ou / The Fire Hunter

59:05 Honkai Star Rail

1:05:02 Fire Emblem Engage

1:12:07 Ben's Retro Games Corner

1:17:00 Shiroi Suna no Aquatope / The Aquatope on White Sand

1:19:00 Ben's Anime Lightning Round

1:21:10 Microsoft Game Pass + Yakuza: Like a Dragon

Intro song: Pursuit - A Great Turnabout - Yasumasa Kitagawa, from The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles

Outro song: Dai Zero Kan - 10-FEET, from THE FIRST SLAM DUNK (Mike just watched this in the cinema and it's great)

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Our final archived episode! It even includes several references to the fact our archives will never be uploaded. What riveting content. But this one isn't just a rundown of a ton of shows we've watched! After a brief chat about shows we'd been watching recently - and a not so brief diversion into all things Fire Emblem: Three Houses - we deep dive into an age old question... Can the main character of an anime be 'best guy' in said anime? The discussion centres around a bunch of examples we bring to the table where this is the case, so the answer is fairly clear, but it's about the journey not the destination. Timestamps below:

0:00 Intro

2:34 Recent shenanigans

2:43 Dr Stone

7:08 Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba

12:43 Carole & Tuesday

15:07 Too many isekai shows (Not heard THAT from us before)

19:59 Fire Emblem: Three Houses

46:32 Can the main character be 'best guy'?

54:03 Ben's best guys (but actually a joint list)

1:17:34 Mike's best guys (the one's Ben doesn't know about)

1:19:29 Does it make the show better if MC=BG?

The examples we talk about:

Kamado Tanjiro - Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba

Sawamura Eijun - Diamond no Ace

Kaburagi T. Kotetsu / Wild Tiger - Tiger & Bunny

Katsuragi Keima - The World God Only Knows

Kuroba Kaito - Magic Kaito 1412

Sakamoto-kun - Sakamoto desu ga?

Honda-san - Skull-face Bookseller Honda-san

Handa Seishuu - Barakamon

Spike Spiegel - Cowboy Bebop

Nanba Mutta - Space Brothers

Kawachi Daikichi - Usagi Drop

Hitoyoshi Zenkichi - Medaka box

Intro song: HEROES - GLAY, from Diamond no Ace Season 2

Outro song: Anata ga ireba OK! - Serena, from Space Brothers

Both phenomenal shows. In case that wasn't clear yet.

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Another one from the archives, cementing this as an annual podcast! This one possibly never saw the light of day in any form in the past due to us failing to tackle the timestamping of Stuff #4... The format will be very familiar as we run through the anime of the year in something resembling alphabetical order, but this time we put time pressure on ourselves - hurrah! Timestamps below. Spoilers: we still haven't figured out what our email address is.

0:00 Intro

2:21 Games we've been playing and stuff (Into the Spider-Verse shout out)

6:20 A.I.C.O.: Incarnation

6:40 Angolmois

7:10 Baki

7:52 Banana Fish

11:23 Rascal Does Not Dream of Bunny Girl Senpai (up here because we listed it as 'Bunny Girl Senpai')

14:53 Caligula

15:02 Cardcaptor Sakura: Clear Card-hen

17:22 Dorei-ku The Animation

17:28 Double Decker! Doug & Kirill

19:23 Darling in the FranXX (it's here because 'Franx')

22:30 Fumikiri Jikan (Crossing Time)

23:42 Gaikotsu Shotenin Honda-san (Skull-faced bookseller Honda-san)

25:02 Goblin Slayer (Ben blows his nose loudly here. Heads up.)

26:05 Golden Kamuy

29:33 Grancrest Senki

29:59 Grand Blue

31:35 Gurazeni: Money Pitch

33:38 Hanebado!

33:59 Hataraku Saibou (Cells At Work)

35:27 Hinamatsuri

37:05 Hinomaruzumou

38:02 Hisone to Maso-tan

39:36 Irozuku Sekai no Ashita kara (Iroduku: The World in Colors)

41:23 Isekai Izakaya

41:56 Karakuri Circus

42:28 Kyoto no Holmes

42:36 Legend of the Galactic Heroes: Die Neue These

43:31 Mahou Shoujo Ore

44:05 Mahouka Koukou no Rettousei Movie: Hoshi wo Yobu Shoujo (The Irregular at Magic High School The Movie - The Girl Who Summons The Stars)

45:50 Megalo Box

48:25 Mirai

49:01 My Hero Academia Season 3

49:34 Rokuhouhou Yotsuiro Biyori

49:52 Run With The Wind

51:15 Sword Art Online Movie: Ordinal Scale

51:48 Sword Art Online Alternative: Gun Gale Online

53:30 Sword Art Online: Alicization

54:54 Shingeki no Kyojin Season 3 (Attack on Titan Season 3)

55:43 That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime ('Slime')

57:01 Space Battleship Tiramisu (Uchuu Senkan Tiramisù)

57:52 SSSS.Gridman

58:55 Steins;Gate 0

1:00:32 Tada Never Falls In Love (Tada-kun wa Koi wo Shinai)

1:01:16 Thunderbolt Fantasy movie - The Sword of Life and Death + Thunderbolt Fantasy season 2

1:01:48 Violet Evergarden

1:03:41 Wotaku ni Koi wa Muzukashii (Wotakoi: Love is Hard for Otaku)

1:05:04 Yowamushi Pedal: Glory Line

1:07:38 Zombie Land Saga

1:12:05 Top picks from the year

Intro song: Merigo - Cypress Ueno to Robert Yoshino ft. Sky-Hi, from Gurazeni: Money Pitch

Outro song: WHITE of CRIME - REVALCY, from Magic Kaito 1412 (Ben, why did you put this in?)

Definitely check out Magic Kaito 1412.

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Welcome back to our most timely podcast episode to date! This time on Stuff Ben & Mike Like we cover off the shows we watched from the Spring 2021 anime season - the highs, the lows and the disagreements. We also have a bit of a chat about this year's E3 and our experiences watching the Demon Slayer movie in cinemas. Timestamps below! (Mike would also like to remind you that you should watch Thunderbolt Fantasy, even though we don't discuss it here)

0:00 Intro

1:28 E3 2021

6:35 Monster Hunter Stories 2 demo

10:40 Xenoblade Chronicles Definitive Edition

11:42 Wolfstride demo

14:04 Dynasty Warriors Netflix movie

15:34 Demon Slayer -Kimetsu no Yaiba- The Movie: Mugen Train

26:41 Rating the anime of Spring 2021

30:20 86

33:50 Bakuten!!

41:04 Gokushufudo (The Way of the Househusband)

44:17 Mashiro no Oto (Those Snow White Notes)

54:33 Nomad: Megalo Box season 2

1:03:21 ODDTAXI

1:14:22 SSSS.Dynazenon

1:20:28 To Your Eternity

1:29:03 Tokyo Revengers

1:33:37 Vivy: Fluorite Eye's Song

1:51:41 Yuukoku no Moriarty Season 2

1:54:51 Zombie Land Saga Revenge

2:03:26 Some shows that we dropped

2:08:21 Ben's Funimation app rant

2:11:30 Upcoming season picks

Intro song: Taiga yo Tomo ni Naite Kure - FranChouChou, the OP from Zombie Land Saga Revenge

Outro song: Victory Jubilee -DW S2h Mix-, from the Dynasty Warriors series by Omega Force and KOEI Tecmo

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What a slick intro! Think that'll be sticking around? Think again! In this episode we talk incredibly quickly about a lot of shows as we try to cover a year and a bit of the anime calendar. There are some gems buried in here though, trust us! Naturally another one from the archives. Timestamps below.

0:00 Intro

5:53 A Place Further Than The Universe

13:09 A Silent Voice

14:58 ACCA

16:30 Alice to Zoroku

19:32 Ancient Magus Bride

29:02 B: The Beginning

32:09 Ballroom e Youkoso

32:43 Children of Ether

33:14 Children of the Whales

38:02 Classroom of the Elite

43:11 Code Geass Initiation

45:37 Devilman Crybaby

47:13 Darling in the Franxx

54:41 Fairy Tail Dragon Cry

54:46 Fastest Finger First

58:04 Fate Grand Order

58:27 Fate/Apocrypha

59:32 Gamers!

1:01:39 Garo: Vanishing Line

1:04:28 Genocidal Organ

1:05:02 Godzilla: Planet of the Monsters

1:06:23 Granblue Fantasy

1:07:10 Grancrest War

1:09:37 Gundam Thunderbolt December Sky

1:11:40 Hakata Tonkotsu Ramens

1:17:18 Hoozuki no Reitetsu Season 2

1:18:06 How to Keep a Mummy

1:20:50 Ikemen Sengoku

1:21:37 In this corner of the world

1:22:21 Juuni Taisen

1:25:47 Kado: The Right Answer

1:27:42 Kakegurui

1:29:40 Katsugeki Touken Ranbu

1:31:37 Kino's Journey -The Beautiful World-

1:36:05 Kekkai Sensen & Beyond

1:38:38 Knight’s & Magic

1:42:10 Koi to Uso

1:43:18 Konosuba Season 2

1:43:46 Kuroko no Basuke Last Game

1:45:05 Kuroshitsuji Book of the Atlantic

1:45:25 Love After the Rain

1:47:22 Made in Abyss

1:50:28 Masamune Kun’s Revenge

1:52:20 My Hero Academia Season 2

1:53:45 Napping Princess

1:53:52 Neo Yokio

1:58:32 Net-juu no Susume

2:00:50 Osake wa fuufu ni natte kara (Love is like a cocktail)

2:02:15 Our love is always 10cm apart + The Moment You Fall In Love

2:03:22 Princess Principal

2:05:35 Rakugo Season 2 (Shōwa Genroku Rakugo Shinjū)

2:08:20 Re:Creators

2:14:32 ReLIFE OVA

2:15:55 Restaurant to Another World

2:18:10 Saga of Tanya the Evil

2:22:04 Sakura Quest

2:26:10 Sanrio Danshi

2:26:50 Shingeki no Bahamut: Virgin Soul

2:30:52 Shingeki no Kyojin S2

2:33:44 The Royal Tutor

2:34:11 Thunderbolt Fantasy movie - The sword of life and death

2:34:43 Tsuredere Children

2:35:11 Vatican Kiseki Chousakan

2:36:19 Violet Evergarden

2:40:36 WorldEnd

2:42:25 Youkai Apartment

2:45:50 Yowamushi Pedal: New Generation & GLORY LINE

2:49:59 Yuru Camp

2:53:35 Favourite shows?

Intro song: Shiny Days - Asaka, from Yuru Camp

Outro song: Freesia - (K)NoW_NAME, from Sakura Quest

Both great shows with great music!

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You know what they say about best laid plans. We incredibly optimistically thought we might squeeze our top 5 games lists into the previous episode with our top 5 anime, and what fools we were! So we're back with an entirely gaming flavoured pod. Once again we're pulling this from the archives so this was recorded a very long time ago and might not reflect our current favourites! Though these lists are probably far more accurate than our favourite anime ones... Timestamps below. (Mike belatedly remembered he was supposed to talk about Discworld Noir. Man.)

0:00 Intro

1:52 Mike's Anime Hot or Not

7:32 Shows Ben May Have Watched

14:33 Ben's current games

18:10 Mike's current games

23:37 List Intro

30:34 Super Mario Galaxy

37:01 Tales of Symphonia

45:46 Lylat Wars (Star Fox 64)

53:26 KotOR

1:02:23 Breath of Fire III

1:09:55 Final Fantasy VIII

1:23:48 Half-Life 2

1:30:12 Beyond Good & Evil

1:37:13 Chrono Trigger

1:44:24 Mass Effect 3

1:47:22 The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker

1:49:51 The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask

1:52:09 Assorted games

Intro song: Robo's Theme - Yasunori Mitsuda, from Chrono Trigger. As always, check out the game and the soundtrack! Ben will be sad if you don't.

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Already phoning it in on (archive) episode 2 with a list episode! What better way to make the internet angry at us than to declare what we think are our favourite shows ever. Even bigger disclaimer than usual here with episodes from the archive: both of our lists would be DRAMATICALLY different if we were to record this episode today! Timestamps (and spoilers, I guess) below.

0:00 Intro

2:20 Games we've been playing recently

10:49 Anime we've been watching recently

16:16 Top 5 lists

19:45 Shirobako

25:51 Angel Beats

32:59 Cardcaptor Sakura

38:17 The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya

45:25 Star Driver

53:16 Durarara

1:01:19 Rinne no Lagrange

1:05:49 Kuroko no Basuke

1:17:18 The Irregular At Magic High School

1:22:30 Samurai Flamenco

1:30:40 Honourable mentions - Pacific Rim, Magic Kaito 1412, Tiger & Bunny, Polar Bear Cafe, Bunny Drop

Intro song: ORETACHI FLAMENGER! -SAMURAI SENTAI FLAMENGER NO THEME- from Samurai Flamenco. Check out the show (which is still one of Mike's favourites)!

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In an unprecedented turn of events, Ben and Mike get back together for a new episode to talk games and anime before a whole year has passed! With our fingers very nearly on the pulse, today we discuss season 4 of Netflix's Castlevania for a long time. Ben also regales us with tales of his time in Xenoblade Chronicles 2 on Switch, Mike lets us know how he's getting on with Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc on PC and we talk a bit about the inherent difficulties of making a "good dub". Timestamps below. (Sorry for Mike's audio quality during this episode. This will be remedied for next time!)

2:59 Castlevania

55:05 Xenoblade Chronicles 2

1:24:35 Danganronpa

1:39:28 Dubs are almost never good... but why?

1:52:35 Our recommendations for the Spring 2021 anime season (watch along with Ben & Mike!)

Intro song: Beginning - H Maezawa, Jun Funahashi & Yukie Morimoto, from Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse

Outro song: Our Eternal Land - ANÚNA & Yasunori Mitsuda, from Xenoblade Chronicles 2

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