We've finished Wish Upon the Pleiades which means we can finally lay Gainax to rest. Was their final produced anime any good? Was it way too straight for our liking? Did it make us want to go out an purchase a Subaru? Listen to find out!Anime Discussed: Wish Upon the Pleiades 7-12Next time: Akira + our year rankingsSend us your questions! You can email us at underthekotatsu.anime@gmail.com or DM us on twitter @underthekotatsu and on bluesky @underthekotatsu.bsky.social

Today's episode is brought to you by your local Subaru dealer! Just kidding, but we are starting the Subaru and Gainax (RIP) co-produced anime Wish Upon the Pleiades. Is this a sleeper hit of a magical girl show or just blatant advertising? Or perhaps something else entirely? Let's find out!Anime Discussed: Wish Upon the Pleiades 1-6Next time: Wish Upon the Pleiades 7-12Send us your questions! You can email us at underthekotatsu.anime@gmail.com or DM us on twitter @underthekotatsu and on bluesky @underthekotatsu.bsky.social

We're finishing off our run on Patlabor with a trio of offerings. First there's the main event, Patlabor WXIII, the last of the theatrical animated films and an often overlooked and underappreciated part of the series. Then there's MiniPato, the short form experimental parody anime, and last (and probably least) there's Patlabor Reboot, the 2016 proof of concept for a modern Patlabor series that's finally going to see its actualization in the upcoming Patlabor EZY.

Anime Discussed: Patlabor the Movie 3, MiniPato, and Patlabor Reboot

Next time: Wish Upon the Pleiades 1-6

Send us your questions! You can email us at underthekotatsu.anime@gmail.com or DM us on twitter @underthekotatsu and on bluesky @underthekotatsu.bsky.social

It was all leading to this. One Patlabor work stands high above the rest: Mamoru Oshii's Patlabor 2. Join us as we talk about the films big thematic ideas, the masterful soundtrack from Kenji Kawaii, both the showy and subtle animation, the historical context the film was released in, and much more. Folks, they really don't make 'em like they used to.Anime Discussed: Patlabor 2: The MovieNext time: WXIII: Patlabor the Movie 3, MiniPato, and Patlabor RebootSend us your questions! You can email us at underthekotatsu.anime@gmail.com or DM us on twitter @underthekotatsu and on bluesky @underthekotatsu.bsky.social

With the OVAS out of the way, it's time to dig into the Patlabor movies, starting with Patlabor: The Movie! This movie has a lot of what the OVAs felt lacking, and then some: a lot more character interactions, intrigue, and action, not to mention it looks and sounds incredible. Join us as we dig into another Mamoru Oshii banger.Anime Discussed: Patlabor: The MovieNext time: Patlabor 2: The MovieSend us your questions! You can email us at underthekotatsu.anime@gmail.com or DM us on twitter @underthekotatsu and on bluesky @underthekotatsu.bsky.social

We're finally scratching a big one off of Austin's personal list, and diving into Patlabor! Unfortunately for Danny and Danielle who haven't seen any Patlabor before, that means doing the prep work of watching the mostly good, but not great OVAs before getting to the real high points of the movies. Fortunately though, there's still much to talk about with the OVAs, including the weird resonances with future Patlabor projects which we'll get to in due time.Anime Discussed: Patlabor OVAs 1-7Next time: Patlabor: The MovieSend us your questions! You can email us at underthekotatsu.anime@gmail.com or DM us on twitter @underthekotatsu and on bluesky @underthekotatsu.bsky.social

We're changing things up a bit for this episode by reading a manga instead of watching an anime! We read the delightful (yet toothless) BL Metamorphosis. A totally nice manga that maybe could've had a bit more depth and drama going on.Anime Discussed: BL MetamorphosisNext time: Patlabor OVAs 1-7Send us your questions! You can email us at underthekotatsu.anime@gmail.com or DM us on twitter @underthekotatsu and on bluesky @underthekotatsu.bsky.social

It's time for another show and tell, and this time we decided to forsake good sense and reason by choosing three different bad isekai anime and checking out their first episodes. All three held up to our general expectations of badness, but one was surprisingly fun in its badness, one was just boring, and the other was boring AND offensive. Join us as we roast some bad anime, consider our feelings on the isekai genre at large, and learn about the mechanics of fantasy pregnancy.Anime Discussed: Show and Tell: Bad Isekai Edition!Next time: BL MetamorphosisSend us your questions! You can email us at underthekotatsu.anime@gmail.com or DM us on twitter @underthekotatsu and on bluesky @underthekotatsu.bsky.social