J.R.: [00:00:00] Hello, my lovely listeners, and welcome back to another episode of One Thousand Gurus, where we share the stories and lessons from people of all walks of life, and I'm your host, J.R. Yonocruz.

We have an exciting announcement. We've finally made it to our fourth style or version or format of the show, one that I've been waiting almost two years to host, an episode dedicated solely to anime. Our standard format is a guru-style interview, and then we have the random show interviews with close friends of mine, and the third format is the book highlight episodes.

Since the focus of this show is to learn lessons and principles that we can use in our own lives, an anime edition follows that same ethos in the way that I imagine it, and it combines learning with storytelling, character development, and an artistic medium that I enjoy.

The main holdup of why it took so long to get this format going was I was waiting for, or rather looking for, the right guest to have on the show, someone who is clearly as big of an enthusiast as I am about anime, and arguably, I don't know anyone who is more knowledgeable in anime than my guest, Nikko Cua.

Disclaimer, if it's [00:01:00] not apparent from the title, Nikko had some technical difficulties with this recording, which resulted in his video being cut off at around the thirty-minute mark. But instead of scrapping the entire episode, I kept the half that he was in and left in my one-sided conversation in the second half that I felt had some interesting insights.

But this will be an audio exclusive episode, so no video will exist. However, as of this recording, we've already scheduled a part two where we'll dive into some of Nikko's answers that he didn't get to upload, as well as possibly some new topics.

So without further ado, please enjoy this incomplete, but hopefully still interesting listen to our first anime edition featuring Nikko Cua.

Hello, everyone. Welcome back to One Thousand Gurus. Nikko, welcome to the show. 

Nikko: Hello. Thank you for having me. 

J.R.: Yeah. Thanks for being here, man. Excited to have you jump on because when we hung out a few weeks back and I asked you to be on the show, 'cause I'm always on the lookout for people who seem to be really good with talking, deep conversations and various topics.

But specifically because since the show started, I've [00:02:00] been looking for someone to nerd out with me on anime, and I've had friends on like Travis and some of my other friends who watch anime. But like there is a deeper iceberg that no one can match besides Nikko. Yeah. So I was like, "Ooh, this is like a gold mine."

And so when we were talking and we're hanging out, every anime reference I threw at you, you're like, "Oh yeah, I watched that." I'm like, "Dude, no one has watched everything- ... except probably Nikko." So I'm like, "I need to have you on the show." So- No ... I'm really excited to have you here. 

Nikko: There's still so much I haven't seen, but- 

J.R.: Well, of course.

It's an endless well of content. But so I guess just to, I've already read your bio by this point in the recording, but- 

Nikko: Okay ... 

J.R.: Nikko, AKA Nicholas Kyle Durian, AKA Panoramic King, AKA IZ ONE for All. I just made that up. But yeah. So yeah we dance together and we've both been in like the K-pop cover scene for a while now.

And yeah, if you've ever watched any of Nikko's videos, he is one of my like favorite, like male, like fem iso sort of dancers, choreography, [00:03:00] and like I love his style. And so he's kind of very unique in that sense. I don't know, for any dancers who, or for anyone who's not a dancer, it's kind of hard to conceptualize.

But I really respect Nikko, his like dance skill and his ability. But also if you ever watch his stories, he's so like he, at his work, he organizes like video games and whatnot. And so it's always so gratifying to see all the organizations like before and after. And I'm like, "Ooh, so, it's so nice." And then a pipe bursts and destroys everything overnight.

Yo. The story arc that is Nikko is always fascinating to- ... to follow along. But yeah, any clarifications or anything on your end, like what you've been up to, or just, like, a TLDR of who you are? 

Nikko: Uh, well, I'm Nikko. I don't know. This was, like, the hardest question to answer when we were doing the pre-show questionnaire, and it's funny, 'cause it's a question you wouldn't think is that hard to answer.

It was just like, "Give us an introduction about yourself. Tell us, you know, a couple achievements." And I sat there just [00:04:00] thinking "How would I describe myself? I'm me." 

J.R.: Mm-hmm. 

Nikko: Yeah, I dance. I like anime. 

J.R.: Rhythm, rhythm games, right? You're a rhythm game enthusiast. 

Nikko: Right, an enthusiast. Back in the day, I used to really want to be, like, god tier at rhythm games like esports-type thing.

Mm. I have long since given that up because I kinda don't want carpal tunnel at the ripe age of 30. But- 

J.R.: What? You don't want carpal tunnel? 

Nikko: Yeah, everyone 

J.R.: has it. So you just settle for, you just settle for demi-god status then? 

Nikko: Yeah, yeah. I'll settle for slightly better than average. 

J.R.: There you go. Nice.

Nikko: Yeah. That's- that's about it. That sounds like I'm selling myself short, but I guess in the simplest terms. 

J.R.: Right. No, no, that's fair. I think what I enjoy about the intros of these episodes is that I get to hype up my guests because- ... typically people don't hype themselves up. But okay, so here's how I feel about Nikko.

He- he, to me, he's like this sort of sleeper person where [00:05:00] he's very fun and chill to hang out with, and very kind of like bubbly and quirky and stuff, but like underneath the surface, this dude is a beast at dancing, amazing at rhythm games, really good at work gets along with everyone, and is like unexpectedly very talented in a lot of things that you'd like wouldn't expect for someone so, you know, seems very chill and laid back.

Yeah, it's kinda... So I think I'm just very- I admire you a lot. I'm- I'm very impressed- Oh ... by how good you are at a lot of things, despite like externally not seeming so, in all- like respectfully, not super impressive from the outside, right? Like no one's gonna look- Right ... at you and be like, "Oh my God, he's so imposing."

They're gonna be like, "Oh, Nikko's super fun," and like, you know, super like quirky and stuff. But then once you get to know Nikko, you're like, "Dang, this guy's actually kind of pretty crazy talented at everything." Obviously super smart as well, and so that's why I invited you on this podcast. I'm like this guy has- Thank you

deep thoughts. Yeah. 

Nikko: I was just being humble earlier, but you took the words- Yeah ... right out of my mouth. 

J.R.: Exactly. So he's practiced. He's practiced humility. He's the best- Right ... in the world at [00:06:00] humility, and he'll tell you. 

Nikko: God. 

J.R.: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay. So if noth- nothing else, let's transition now. So again, like I...

Did I mention? This is a special anime edition episode that I've been waiting to do for the last two years literally, since this podcast started. So random show format, what we're gonna do is go back and forth. So I'll start with the question, answer it, then Nikko will go, then after he answers, he'll ask a question, and then I'll answer, and then we'll kinda do that back and forth, and then we'll kinda see where life takes us from there.

Nikko: Yeah. 

J.R.: Yeah, sounds good. Okay. 

Nikko: Ooh, I do wanna preface for anyone watching, I'm so sorry if it looks like I'm looking downwards. I have my camera- Oh, yeah, yeah ... up here, but I'm so used to like looking the person I'm speaking to in the eye. 

J.R.: Yeah, yeah. 

Nikko: So- 

J.R.: Hey, no, no worries, 'cause I'm doing the same thing. Like this is my screen and this is the camera, so I'm gonna be- Right

constantly looking. So I'm just like- 

Nikko: Yeah ... 

J.R.: I'm not looking at you, bro. I'm looking at the screen. 

Nikko: Yeah. Yeah, yeah. But I am kinda looking at you, you know? 

J.R.: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. Okay. I see [00:07:00] it. I feel it. No, actually, it kinda works out now because when you put us side to side, it looks like we're looking at each other slightly.

Nikko: We're doing this. 

J.R.: Right? We're doing this whilst... Actually, that is kind of how, that is actually kind of how in studio what it's like, because the cameras are looking at our sides, right? Right, so you can talk to each other. And then when you kind of put together, we're just looking at each other, and then the audience is, has this third party perspective.

So I think it works out. 

Nikko: Okay 

J.R.: Yeah. It's not so, crazy eye contact at the audience, like, "Listen to me." So yeah. But hopefully people listen to the audio. I'm a big proponent of listening to just chilling and doing whatever and listening to us talk. But if you wanna do video, you'll have to wait till Friday.

Cool. All right. Maybe we'll start off easy- Easy ... uh, and then just in- introduce who we are as people in terms of our anime. So- Okay ... my first question is, what is your favorite anime and why? My- That's- Yeah, so fav- ... a good question ... so favorite means one for everyone. This is my pet peeve. Okay. When [00:08:00] we ask someone their favorite and they give you, like, a top three, I'm like, "Bro, do you know what the word favorite means?"

It means, it means one has to kill the rest of them and only one survives. So, but yeah, mine's easy. My audience knows I'm a huge One Piece fan, and I think for me, there's a lot of reasons why One Piece fans like One Piece, and it's known for being a very long anime, but obviously one of the most successful.

But to me, I think it's the combination of the characters and the world-building. I know the world-building is kind of unparalleled in the sense of when you compare it to other anime. But for me, I think when you combine the plot that has unfolded over the past, like, three decades, combined with the development of the characters and the themes that really resonate with me, so, not every theme will resonate with every person, but I think because it resonates with me, I really enjoy it.

And so also grew up on it, watched it in high school and then up until now. And yeah, I'm just very hardcore One Piece, but also makes it easier because when people ask for gifts and I'm like, "Well, One Piece. Zoro. Just get me anything Zoro- Zoro ... you're fine." And it's, it makes gift-giving easy, so [00:09:00] that is my answer.

So how about you, Nikko? 

Nikko: My favorite of all time. Ooh, I'm picking between two right now, and what I say will be it. Yeah. I think I'm gonna have to go with Ranma 1/2. 

J.R.: Interesting. I did not see that. 

Nikko: Yeah. Yeah, Ranma 1/2 was- Por 

J.R.: que? ... 

Nikko: kind of the same. It's probably a little bit of nostalgic value. It was the thing that put me on anime.

Actually, my mom was watching Ranma 1/2, and she wanted to watch it with someone, so we watched it together when I was really young, which in hindsight is kind of funny because there's definitely a lot of adult themes and risque humor that kind of- Right, right ... flew over my head as a kid. For me, I do think that it kind of struck this really fine balance between really heavy action and cool super adrenaline-pumping scenes, as well as, like, meaningful character arcs and just sheer unfettered silliness.

It's kind of an outlandish humor [00:10:00] that you see in other really successful anime of that kind. Like, Gintama is another one that I really like, and I always think that Ranma kind of set the stage in a way. And for me, I think Ranma also introduced me to how should I say? It introduced a wide cast of characters where not every character was just a throwaway.

So it was the first thing I watched that had that long-running multiple season format, and I feel like they handled multiple plots, multiple characters really well. So yeah, I like that- Mm ... a lot. 

J.R.: Nice. Did you watch the remake, and how do you feel about it? 'Cause I haven't seen it.

Nikko: I am currently watching it. I finished up to where it stopped, and the new episode actually drops, or the new season drops on Netflix today. 

J.R.: Oh, nice. 

Nikko: So fun fact, if you wanna go watch it, now's the best time to do that. 

J.R.: Do you feel like it adapts it really well or redoes it really well? 

Nikko: Yeah. The thing that struck me the most about the remake, at least for me personally, this is subjective, right?

I think that the art [00:11:00] direction, they did a really good job at modernizing the style while still maintaining that distinct '90s look. So, the big poofy hair and the eye- the way they draw the eyes. There's just something very quintessentially late '90s, early 2000s about it. I know that a lot of people were kind of on the fence about the remake because when we think of one-to-one remakes, a lot of people bring up the Sailor Moon one, where I think the art style they went with was very divisive.

J.R.: Mm. 

Nikko: I feel like they were really on the mark with the adaptation for Ranma, so that made me really happy. 

J.R.: Yeah. Nice. Yeah, kinda like that sort of Dragon Ball-esque era or even, like- Yeah ... the Rurouni Kenshin remake. I think that's so interesting. All right, let's see. Do you have a question you would like to pull from the box?

Nikko: From the box? All right. Well, we talked about favorite anime just now. I know who your favorite character is, but I don't know why. Could you tell me why Zoro's your favorite? [00:12:00] 

J.R.: Yeah, absolutely. I think I, what I really res- Okay, so there are multiple types of characters in anime in my conception, and the archetype that I like a lot is the aspirational type, meaning there, there's a lot of value obviously to characters who have to go through that character arc, like they grow, and maybe that's not the right way to say it.

What I mean is they have to go through this hero's journey of failing and coming back, like the Sasuke sort of character, where it's like they kind of go to the dark side, come back, and they have these decisions, or the Zuko type characters. Mm-hmm. But what I like about Zoro is that he's aspirational in his values, which is discipline, hard work, and loyalty, or maybe discipline and hard work's same thing, but discipline, loyalty, and just his conviction that is so...

It inspires me because he's an aspirational sort of character, like a guiding light of what you could be if you adopt or commit or align with those values. And so for him specifically, it's the [00:13:00] conviction to be the best swordsman, discipline above all else, and loyalty as well to his own dream and then the dream of his captain and the rest of his crew.

And so I think I really love that, especially the theme of family, found family, and being there for the people you care about and being stronger so that you can support them. 

Darkside he has to go through a gr- a hero's journey 

He doesn't.

Well, he does, but he goes through a growth journey, but he's not faltering. Like, he's pretty aligned with his values, and he's aspirational in what he believes in, and I think that's what I like about him is 'cause I resonate with that. I think maybe my values are the same, which is discipline, hard work, commitment, loyalty, not...

Self-sacrifice in a sense, but more of improvement for a greater purpose rather than just for yourself, I guess, is what I really love about him. And he's a badass fucking samurai, so, like- ... three swords, one of them in his mouth. So- ... as unique as that is, there's a lot of reasons why I resonate with that, and I think as I get older, I'm just gonna find more reasons to resonate with him.

But it's kinda easy. It's like now that you're married to someone, you're like, "Okay, [00:14:00] now I don't have to think about this whole thing." Like, it's easy, and so I just kind of lean into it, but yeah. 

Nikko: Right. 

J.R.: How about you? Favorite character and why? 

Nikko: My favorite character is ironically not from the series I just said was my favorite.

Oh, that's, that's cool. My favorite character is Nishinoya Yu from Haikyuu! 

J.R.: Mm. 

Nikko: It's definitely for, like... It started as something that wasn't as deep or... Hmm, I guess that's not... I feel like that's also selling it short, but basically, his whole shtick is that he has made a name for himself in their youth circuit as being one of the best liberos, like...

Libero? Libero? I'm... I don't play volleyball, by the way. You're gonna, you're gonna- He's one of the best... Yeah. He's one of the best in the defensive position. It is a very specific position. There's only one person that occupies that space on the team the lineup at a time, and it's really interesting because the first few episodes really hammer in [00:15:00] this idea that sports and volleyball in general is not a place where short people thrive.

I guess you could say that about almost every sport, though. People who are taller have longer limbs. They just naturally have more advantages to such a physically involved activity, and yet he's really good at what he does. That was inspiring to me because when I watched this show and I started reading it in high school, I was going through this athletic slump.

For those of you that don't know, I play hockey, and it is also a sport where I think if you're not six feet tall and have giant shoulders it's kind of a hard time out there. And- The more I watched that his character kind of come to life on the screen, I kinda started seeing parts of myself, not in him, but parts of myself that I wanted to I wanted to become this person, and then there was a character that was basically reflecting that right back at me.

So that was, like, kind of an inspiration. But the more you kind of watch and read along with [00:16:00] Haikyu!, I mean, he's more than just that. He's more than just a defensive player, right? Kind of the same, I'm inspired by people who work really hard. I'm inspired by people who look for challenges.

He's humble. Yeah, so it's kind of silly, but at the time, in that sports league, I was kind of, teetering on a choice between whether or not to continue playing in a club capacity or even travel and play across the country, or if I should just not. I ended up not doing it because I think it would've driven me...

it would've driven me crazy. But, 

J.R.: Mm ... 

Nikko: I still play hockey and love it to this day, and I think that that's mostly thanks to this guy, so. 

J.R.: Mm. Why would it have driven you crazy? 

Nikko: I think at the time that I was doing it, you know, we're kinda young high school kids who are learning about ourselves, and I didn't really know how to compartmentalize my feelings of insecurity at not just my physical stature, but the things I could and couldn't do on the rink.

And I was having a hard time dealing with that because in my [00:17:00] head I had thought of it as "Oh, well everyone on this team should be an ace because, you know, oh, the weakest link will bring us down, and you should be good at everything" kind of thing. And he's a perfect example of someone who doesn't excel at everything, but he excels really, really greatly at the things he does do, and it makes all the difference.

J.R.: Mm. 

Nikko: But yeah, at the time I think I was just a little too immature to be in competitive sports. 

J.R.: That makes sense. I also like that I resonate with that theme as well of leaning into what you're good at, 'cause that's also a big thing about my favorite, some of my favorite anime like One Piece or My Hero Academia or-

Dr. Stone, which is that e- even someone like Luffy, the captain of the Straw Hat Pirates, he's not good at everything. In fact, he's not really good at anything. But he does have a few key things that make him a good leader and captain that people want to follow, and people like Zoro, Sanji, everyone on the, the crew has a role.

And I think that's inspiring to me because everyone who know... And it's like X-Men as well, right? Everyone knows [00:18:00] that no one is gonna be good at everything, and the, the most inspiring thing about a team is that we lean into each other's strengths and support each other's weaknesses through our own strengths.

And that's what I really love about some anime like that, which is it inspires us to accept that we have flaws and drawbacks, but within a team, and we- when we build that team together our strengths come together to form something even better, and that's also a reason why I like One Piece. So, right.

Cool. Thanks for that. Uh- Yeah ... also too, that character very much looks like you. He looks like an anime version of you, at least from this angle. It's like you just drew- ... yourself as an anime character. 

Nikko: I used to actually have the blonde streak. I think I had met you at that time when I already had that in my hair.

J.R.: Mm. 

Nikko: I did it because I really wanted to dress up for Anime Expo. And then a week after, I was supposed to just dye it back to black, but I was so hung up on it. I was like, "That's kind of a look," so I kept it around. And then I think for two years or [00:19:00] so... No, three years, I just had a blonde streak going down the middle of my hair.

J.R.: Nice. It was wild. I think you're- yeah, you're one of the people who is really good at changing their look. Or at least, you know, your hair, and I feel like it's cool because it marks... F- I, I'm always jealous of people who do that 'cause it, I feel like it marks different eras. You know, people who color their hair a lot, you're like, "Oh, yeah, this is my blue hair era, or my blonde era, or, like- Yeah

my whatever hair era." I'm like, "It's cool," 'cause you get to look back on photos, and you kind of mark it in time of, you know, when it was. 

Nikko: Right. Right. Oh, that's a really good way of putting it, actually. I think I do subconsciously find myself doing that when I'm trying to find old photos or old videos.

I'll just think back to the time where, oh- Yeah ... I had, I had pink hair during this time. I remember what I was doing at that point in my life because I had pink hair. 

J.R.: Ah, yeah, it's, exactly. Okay, cool. Next question. Maybe we'll still be on the lighter side. But I wanna ask favorite anime recommendations.

I know we're both pretty anime enthusiasts, but do you have favorite anime recommendations, let's say a top, I don't know, three to five, and then sleeper anime recommendations- Sleeper ... maybe the same amount. Okay. So, like, both, [00:20:00] like, maybe, I wanna say mainstream or maybe, maybe it depends on the audience, right?

Right. So if you are not really an anime watcher, you'd be like, "Oh, I recommend these three," right? "As some of my favorites I think you'll love." Or if someone's already into anime and you're like, "Here are some sleeper recommendations." 

Nikko: Okay. Okay. 

J.R.: Yeah, yeah. So I guess I'll... Oh, shoot, I have to go first. Okay, well, aside from the obvious One Piece, and I guess I already mentioned My Hero, well, I'm g- just gonna go with my top three, I guess, which is also Dr. Stone is also one of my favorite ones. Okay, so I guess sleeper ones we me- we talked about this, but Buddy Daddies was a I really enjoyed that one, and I don't know if it's necessarily mainstream or whatnot.

Code Geass, I saw it on an anime list once before. I think people who like Code Geass will really love it. Some people, maybe not so much. But it came out a while back, but it's very short, concise. It's had movies here and there, but I really like how densely it has all the elements that I enjoy about really good anime into two seasons, and then it just, it's done.

And [00:21:00] then there's some continuation sort of stories here and there, but I think I just like how perfectly packaged it is. Let's see. Let's see. Let's see. One of my favorite new ones that I've watched is Eminence in Shadow. Yeah, that one. Where it blew my mind. I was like, "Dang, this is kinda crazy."

I mean, it has some elements that maybe not as appealing to everyone, but I think on the theme of characters or plots or stories or themes that really resonate with you, I'm like, ooh, I like this guy. I like that subtle behind-the-scenes background sort of low-key person, not the flashy in-the-front person, but then they work on their craft, and then when they do pop out, like the Sung Jin-woo Solo Leveling-type person, where you're like, "Where the heck did this guy come from?"

But he's totally overpowering everyone else. I love that character. That's like my aspirational sort of character. Yeah, those are mine. How about yours? 

Nikko: Dang. So top three, is it like a top three personal or... Sorry I was kind of- Yeah ... processing the question in, like top three personal, or is it, like top three you would recommend to someone who's never watched anime?

J.R.: That's a good question. I don't [00:22:00] know. Whichever one you think would be better 'cause I think we- Mm-hmm ... we know each other's top anime, number one, and then character. But if you wanna give like- Mm-hmm ... top recommendations maybe we do, like how I was trying to say, which is you would recommend to someone who's fairly new, and you're like, "Yeah- Mm-hmm

you should definitely get into these," like the gateway drugs of anime, top three, that you also obviously really enjoy. Right. And then maybe more sleeper anime. 

Nikko: Okay. The top three that I've enjoyed and I would recommend to someone trying to get into anime, I think the first one is The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, specifically only the first season.

I think second season you can choose whether or not you wanna continue. But- Mm ... first season is a nice, concise 13-episode package. It's really well animated, but I also think that it goes into a little bit of like supernatural elements that play really well together. Mm. And the character dynamics, it's like fun and it's quirky.

There are stakes, but there's a really nice balance between like a slice of life, even a little bit of romance as like kinda the [00:23:00] overarching thing. So it doesn't, like necessarily feel extremely heavy, Mm ... even though the premise in a nutshell can seem kind of heavy. I would recommend Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya.

It's like, it's eye candy. It's great storytelling. It's also like- Which is like- Oh, what's up? Go 

J.R.: ahead. Go ahead. 

Nikko: Oh, I was gonna say, it's also kinda like the cornerstone of a lot of early anime pop culture. When it was becoming really popular in the mid-2000s a lot of fan spaces would just reference the crap out of it.

So- 

J.R.: Mm ... 

Nikko: I think by watching it you'll just appreciate that a little bit more. 

J.R.: Mm, I see. That's, so that's one of your top rec animes for like gateway drugs. 

Nikko: Yeah. 

J.R.: Gotcha. 

Nikko: For like a gateway drug to the to the... the second one, man, I feel like I could do the easy thing and say Haikyu!! because I just talked about it, so please- Mm

go watch Haikyu!!. But I would also recommend, I had it in my head, and then I even had it in notes. Hold on. What was I gonna talk about? What are my favorite [00:24:00] animes? 

J.R.: Yeah, I have my, uh- You know- ... my list pulled up. 

Nikko: Your My L- Do you use a MyAnimeList, by the way? 

J.R.: Or did you just like- I do, just to track it. I started using it like a couple years back just to track.

Nikko: Right. 

J.R.: Um, 'cause it just seems like a more efficient tracking tool, and then I started- Yeah ... adding like actual dates. So like I, when I first started throwing in all the anime, I'm like, "Damn, I have like hundreds if not thousands of hours of anime watched." But I didn't have any dates on them. I didn't know I watched it.

And so now I'm like actually putting dates on when I finished. But anyways, yeah. 

Nikko: Oh, okay. I knew what I was gonna talk about. 

J.R.: Yeah. 

Nikko: We actually spoke about it when we met up, but I would also recommend Sousou no Frieren. I know that name gets thrown around a lot, so it's pretty in the mainstream now.

It's set in a high fantasy world, and I think that- predisposes you into expecting high octane action, right? You kinda walk into it thinking it's gonna be like another Naruto or something like that. Yeah. But it's surprisingly slow in the best of ways. I think it [00:25:00] makes you appreciate the concept of time as being finite, and kind of stopping to smell the roses.

So I really like the contrast between that expectation and what you're shown. You still get action, but- Mm ... the main point of the anime is really, you know, about learning to appreciate the things around you. So I like that a lot. 

J.R.: Yeah. That's a beautiful theme as well. It's top of my list, like I mentioned.

Nikko: Yeah, you gotta watch it. I think- Yeah ... okay, once you watch it, we gotta yap about it. 

J.R.: Oh, of course, yeah. A whole episode on just yapping about- For real ... a specific anime. I don't doubt that I could, honestly. 

Nikko: The last thing I'd recommend for someone who is looking for gateway drug into anime is I'm just gonna go with Haikyu!,

honestly. 

J.R.: Nice. It's a good one. 

Nikko: Yeah it's solid. There's a lot of the whole power of my friends, the importance of teamwork. But I think everyone has a growth arc, which is really nice. The characters do feel like high schoolers, for better and for [00:26:00] worse, but I think that's good because they are high schoolers.

And so you kind of get to watch them grow up, and I think there's a lot of value in that. Sometimes I watch anime and the characters are, like, 17 and they talk like they're 80. And I'm like, "You're so wise beyond your years that I can't suspend my disbelief." But Haikyu! You wanna root for the kiddos, you know?

Also, I do think of the sports anime out there, it does a really good job at setting up an underdog story that actually works. 

J.R.: Mm. 

Nikko: It's not like an Ash Ketchum moment. You don't win everything. And I think- ... some of the best moments in the series are when the people you love lose. 

So I would recommend Haikyu!.

It's 

J.R.: like real life. Yeah. Nice. I like that. 

Nikko: And then- Okay ... three sleeper picks, you said? 

J.R.: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yes, yes. 

Nikko: Okay. 

J.R.: Maybe more niche- Sleeper pick ... for people who already watch anime. Maybe. 

Nikko: Hmm. Zenshu. Zenshu's a huge one. It's isekai, but it is... I know some people got really tired of isekai, 'cause that was, like, the trend.

I think it's [00:27:00] just so creative. It's amazing. What's, what's it 

J.R.: about? 

Nikko: Zenshu is about this ma- Not, she's not a mangaka, she's like an animator. She's a key animator at this anime studio. She's like a art prodigy, and she gets yoinked into her favorite anime. She gets... She dies, and gets yoinked into- ... her favorite anime.

It's really interesting because it's made very clear that her favorite anime in that version of Japan is considered to be a commercial failure. For all intents and purposes, it's just not a great show But, you know, she has a lot of sentimental value towards it, and it's the thing that inspired her.

So it's kinda nice to see oh, you can find beauty and love in things even if they're not well liked by other people. Mm. But action and comedy, so good. 

J.R.: S- this is a, this is an anime she didn't... 'Cause you said she's a mangaka, so she's... This isn't she made it. It sh- it was just inspired, she was inspired by it.

Nikko: Yeah. Okay. So the main character, she was inspired by the anime that she gets isekai'd into. 

J.R.: Oh, okay, okay, okay. You know, I realize, okay, going [00:28:00] back when we say an anime, I feel like we should kinda give a TLDR of like what's the premise of it, and then we'll go into it. 'Cause I'm like, wait, I realize that when I was speaking, like people probably don't know what One Piece or-

the other ones are about. So I'm like, oh, I should probably do that. So I apologize, audience. We'll do that moving forward. 'Cause they're just like twaddling on. Okay, I will also disclaimer, I'll put in links or maybe like a list of the anime that we mentioned after I edit it and stuff, so you can just kinda click and see.

But we'll give a TLDR of okay, this is what it's about, and then we'll talk about it. So. 

Nikko: Yeah. 

J.R.: Uh, sorry, continue. 

Nikko: The other one I'm... I really enjoyed. It's actually very recent, but I've recommended it to every single one of my friends, is Ganbare Nakamura-kun. This is a slice of life comedy. It's really cute.

It's one of my favorite BL, like one-off series. But they've done a really great job at also like kinda emulating that '90s look. So the art style is really great. But I think like the storytelling is just, it's really heartwarming. Mm. So a little cute, a little slower paced, [00:29:00] but also pretty funny. 

J.R.: Yeah.

Nikko: And then the last thing I would recommend is Bakuten or Backflip. 

J.R.: Okay. 

Nikko: Kind of the same sports anime feel as Haikyuu. The underdog story thing, all that jazz. I would say it's a- they don't get the benefit of having four seasons and a movie, so it- the feeling of wanting to root for an underdog, it's there, but it's not as fleshed out.

But the animation and what they do manage to do with 12 episodes, the storytelling, is really good. It was something that I really skimmed over when it came out, and then I recently watched it last year, and I fell in love with it, so. Backflip is really good. 

J.R.: Wait, what's the premise? Did you mention?

Did I miss it? 

Nikko: Oh, I didn't. I'm so sorry. 

J.R.: No, it's all right. 

Nikko: We just talked about this. We just talked about talking about what the anime is. So it's about this guy he's high school kid. Kinda not really down on himself, but he is becoming very aware that he is [00:30:00] painfully average. Like, he's average- That's really wrong.

Yeah. No, don't do that to yourself. He's average in school, he's average in sports. He's jumped between sports clubs. He's never made it to starting line. Yeah, and he kinda just wants to take m- his high school years and find something that he can really turn into his own. He stumbles across their high school's...

Or the high school he ends up going to, he stumbles across their rhythmic gymnastics team for men, and it just opens up this whole new world for him. Mainly because it's such a niche sport to begin with. But yeah, it's really cool. The animation sequences are fire. But, Mm ... the characters are all very endearing, so.

J.R.: Nice. Cool. Yeah. That was it, right? I think... Was that my question? 

Nikko: That was yours, yeah. You asked- Okay ... what my top three and my top three sleeper. 

J.R.: Yeah, yeah. All right. Your question. Which one would you like to pick? 

Nikko: All right. Hmm. Let's talk about epic moments of all time. 

J.R.: Oh, dang. Okay, hold on. Now I'm gonna [00:31:00] start looking around.

Nikko: I saw this, well, like we talked about this, right? When we- Yeah, yeah ... hung out. And I realized that there are just so many great moments- 

J.R.: Of course ... 

Nikko: and so many great anime. 

J.R.: I th- I think a good anime will at least have one or two or a handful of peak moments, right? 'Cause they need to punctuate it and get you, especially like in the first three episodes.

Oh, yeah. So I feel like really good anime will do that. 

Nikko: I ask the question, but I'm like, I'm also trying to think- Yeah ... what would 

J.R.: my answer to 

Nikko: this be? 

J.R.: Maybe, maybe, maybe we can go back and forth just to make it a little bit easier, 'cause I'm also skimming a lot of ones. Okay. So I think I, I mentioned to you when we hu- hung out, but I watched, I went to this My Hero Academia concert where they played peak moments of the anime, and they had like a live orchestra sort of situation, and some, some vocalists.

Ooh. But what was insane about it was when you go to a concert it, it kinda ebbs and flows with the artist's songs, and kind of like the peaks and valleys, and there's like costume changes and dance breaks and stuff. With this concert, it was basically two hours [00:32:00] straight, plus like a little intermission, of just the peak moments of My Hero, all seven-ish seasons, packed into one.

So you barely had a chance to breathe before the next peak moment started playing on the screen- ... and then the orchestra started going. So I was like on this rollercoaster of just drop after drop of like, "Oh my God, this is like such an amazing part." And I think they got 90% of the peak moments of the entire anime, minus maybe like two scenes that I feel like they should've added, and two that I wa- I was like, "Why did you guys add those ones?

Those are kind of weird." But yeah, there's so many peak moments, and so then I kind of skimmed through all of my favorite moments of My Hero after that. And oh man, that moment where, I think it was season seven, where My Hero Academia for anyone, you should know if you're listening to this, but it's about like a superhero like school, where these students are training to become superheroes, and the teachers are actual, like professional superheroes.

And there's this, it follows this guy named Deku, who is, has no powers, but he eventually gets mentored by the greatest superhero, and then the next, the whole [00:33:00] story's about him becoming the greatest hero of all time. So in season seven they're finally fighting the bad guy. Oh, sorry, spoiler alert for anyone listening to this ep- this, this episode.

There's gonna be a ton of spoilers in this, but I'll mention in the beginning. So season seven, they're fighting two of the ma- main bad guys. Okay. So they're fighting the two bad guys. Deku is f- is holding off one of them. The other one is, like killing All Might, right? And so Bakugo, who's like the main character's rival in a sense, but also a fellow student, like wakes up from being dead, and they look at each other and they realize they have to do something to save their hero idol.

And so they like, there's this intense moment where the music and the animation just come together in the storytelling, where they like, they fly to each other and then Deku whips around Bakugo and like launches him towards, All For One and who's holding All Might, so it's like he's about to kill him.

Bakugo just shoots at light speed through and then just saves him, and it changes the destiny that, like, All Might was supposed to die a graphic [00:34:00] death, but I guess One For All and the power of friendship and love and courage and whatnot changes destiny, and it's such a peak moment that you just can't help, at least I couldn't help, but not only hold my breath and be like , but also just this explosion of emotion of "Oh my God."

So I definitely teared up and/or cried incessantly at that, and then I kept re-watching it just to fuck with myself. But it... That was definitely one of the peak moments of the entire arc of the story because it shows that they surpassed the hero that inspired them to become the greatest heroes, and it was also kind of redemption for Bakugo, and then them just relying on each other that to surpass the previous generation they need to lean into each other's strengths and believe in each other and whatnot.

So that was a peak moment for me. Yeah. I think even when I went to that concert and there's people dressing up, there's a lot of Bakugos, and I think it's... He's so beloved because there is a slight...

There's a character arc obviously, but you know that underneath the exterior of being so, rough around the edges and unnecessarily aggressive, [00:35:00] that he does care about people. He is inspired by All Might, and first and foremost, he wants to help and save people. And so despite his shortcomings of his personality, he still, I guess, aligns with that value of heroism and having the courage to sacrifice yourself.

'Cause there are no shortage of moments where the heroes sacri- Like, they- they're willing to die to help other people, and that's what really gets to me. 

Now I realize there's a lot of good anime that I didn't call out as my favorite, and I'm like, "Crap." So I'll come back to it. I'll, I'll tease it out with some of these answers. But so not this one, but Demon Slayer obviously very mainstream, very good, very visual, aesthetic, et cetera. But the moment that sticks out to me is the moment where...

Oh, sorry, Demon Slayer is about this dude in a world where there's like freaking like demon sort of vampire-esque creature, or demons that are ruling the world. But then there's these samurai dudes, like this police force, underground secret police force that like go around killing the demons and saving humanity.

So this dude, his, this kid, his whole family gets slaughtered except for his sister, one of his sisters, [00:36:00] and she turns into a demon as well. But somehow she can suppress her appetite for humans. And so he's training to be the... what's the organization called that he's training under? The s- the, like the something.

Not Survey Corps. Oh, Demon Slayer Corps. Okay. So the Demon Slayer Corps, right? And so he's training to become a Hashira or whatever, which is like the top ranking and whatnot, and kill the main bad guy, Muzan, I believe. So anyway, so his sister is like the only demon who doesn't eat other people, and she can control her appetite, but then sh- every, all demons will die by like getting their head cut off or like the sun or something like that.

And so this moment in, I forgot which season, one of the mid-seasons, where Tanjiro, the main character, and Nezuko, his sister, like the sun's coming up, but they're trying to chase down one of these demons and This demon is about to kill these innocent people and he has to run, but then she's getting exposed to the sun and she's about to die and he covers her.

And so he has to choose between saving those people from the demon or saving his sister who is like his number one priority. Like the whole show is revolving around him trying to turn her back into a [00:37:00] human and he fights and goes through all this pain and struggle just to protect her but also to save her and save other people.

And so he has to make this impo- literally impossible decision to save his sister and watch them die or save the people. And so what she does as the sun's rising is she kicks him off and so she's basically telling him to go save the people while she starts to burn. And so... Oh, I'm getting emotional. So, so he's now, he doesn't even make the decision.

He was going to save her, but now he has to go save them while she's burning and dying in the back which is like the whole reason for his whole sh- his whole story. And so he saves them and he's like crying and stuff, kills the demon, et cetera, and realizes that his sister is dead. But then you find out that she actually is immune to the sun which is a huge revelation but also a s- huge relief because this whole time he's been trying to protect her in the shadows, keep her in this box, et cetera.

But then she sacrifices herself for them because even though she has the cognitive functions of a little kid, like she can't really speak she still knows right and wrong and she knows not to kill people and she wants to help [00:38:00] people just like her brother. And he obviously would never give up her for anything in the world but then he also has to.

So one of the most peak moments of the entire anime. The, the anime does a good job at highlighting those peak moments and visually, aesthetically as well. But that was definitely one of my favorites. Yeah. Dude, I cried so hard man. And I watched it again and I cried again. I'm like just I'm a masochist.

 Assassination Classroom, also one of my top five anime of all time. Yeah, I forgot to call this when I was one of my favorites, but for the audience, Assassination Classroom, only two seasons, very concise, but also pound for pound, one of my favorite animes per s- per runtime. It's about this alien-looking squid yellow creature teacher who is a professional assassin, and he's training these, f- not flunky, but D-level class students to kill him.

So they're teaching him the skill, literally skills on how to assassinate him. So he's like, "By the end of the semester, if you don't kill me, I'm gonna blow up the world," or something like that, 'cause he has some sort of condition, right? Where he's an alien that can blow up the [00:39:00] world, but he's choosing to train and teach these students, in academics as well, but also assassination, on how to kill him.

He also has godly speed, like mach something speed. So like it's... You can... It's impossible to just shoot him, so they have to find creative ways to learn from him but also kill him. But over the course of the season you find out that he obviously cares for the students more than anything else and they learn to love him as well, but ultimately,they have to kill him.

And so you see them evolve and change and grow from D-level students to becoming the best students in the world or just very good at what they do. I think they're, like, middle school or something, or maybe first years. But they, at the end, they have to kill him, and so the whole culmination of this teacher who who's poured into you, who has helped you grow into people you didn't expect that you would be and really pulls out their strengths and helps teach them teamwork and assassination skills you know, the physical and the mental side of it, now he has to let them kill him.

And when they do it, you know, it's like the end of that arc, but they become such better people. And what I love about that theme is the... [00:40:00] What makes it a peak moment for me is it really, it's a capstone to the theme of really pouring into the younger generation, really passing on that wisdom and knowledge and really self-sacrifice, which really always gets to me, but also seeing people grow through their strengths.

And it's kinda like, classroom of the Elite, where it's like people have their different strengths. Also one of my favorites for the same reasons, right? But they had to really lean into that in order to accomplish the goal, and I think Assassination Classroom does one of the best jobs of that.

And that, that moment of them just finally achieving their goal and graduating by killing their teacher who they love and loves them a lot was just peak. And that's why I'm like how did I go through my whole life without watching this anime for such a long time?" 

It's one of those ones where I'm like, I wish it were longer just because I want the journey to keep going, but it was like perfect the way it was, Yes, I love that so much, where it's like people believing in you, like teachers, mentors, et cetera, parents, older siblings, like believing in you and helping you become the, a greater person that you know you wanna be.

Oh, that just hits so hard.

 Actually, really [00:41:00] quick, I wanna go on like the soundtracks, opening and ending theme songs, 'cause I feel like, I don't know, maybe you and I, we just resonate with this, but I...

For me, I feel like that really, it really adds so much to the experience when you really love a song that goes with the anime because it really locks in the experience for you. So I'm a huge fan obviously of the One Piece soundtrack songs, and some of them were like TVXQ songs, which happen to be my top 10 songs of all time.

I love them, TVXQ, because They were One Piece opener songs and a closer song, and obviously they're like a K-pop, J-pop sort of group and amazing. 

 So for example, maybe some ones I can bring up is, Lisa Sword Art? Crossing Field. my hot take is Crossing Field is way better than the Demon Slayer one. I forgot. It's just the I don't know, the, the rhythm, the flow, the climax of that song just like hits when it drops the chorus.

I was like, oh, I'm about to like run a mile or something. I'm really big on Recently there's this artist called Aina The End, and she sings not only One Piece's more recent [00:42:00] opening, but she also sings Dandadan's, one of the songs too. On The Way, the... Oh my God, dude, the ac- the acoustic version that she sang collabed with some artist on YouTube- was like my song of 2025, and it's still my number one song for 2026.

Just, I could listen to that song straight for like an hour. And then like the Inuyasha era when I was super big into Inuyasha and all of like Boa was an artist who sang an Inuyasha theme song. And I think when I listen to the songs, it reminds me of the anime, but it enhances both the song and the anime because it, it like really locks in that experience and kinda like what you were saying, where there's like, in, in One Piece, there are those moments that'll happen and then the theme song just starts playing and it just hits even harder and you're like, damn.

This is part of the experience that really makes it more than just, there's conversations about like manga versus anime, obviously they're different mediums, but the anime has the benefit and obviously sometimes detriment to have good voice actors, good music, good like animation, and all this other stuff that will [00:43:00] add to the story of the manga, and obviously the manga can do a great job, but I think that's such an underrated element.

Maybe it's not underrated, but to me, I think it's a very important element is the music that goes with the anime. 

I would say arguably my favorite song of all time is Chain by Back On. And I think I first heard of the song and I found out it was an anime opening.

Chain by Back On was like a, it was on... I used to be really big into tricking, martial arts tricking, like stunt sort of stuff. And so, someone made like a sampler video with that song. And so I love tricking and I heard that song. I love the song. And then I found out it's part of an anime, so I watched the anime called Air Gear.

It's basically like... Yeah, s- 2006 apparently is what Google says. But I watched it. It was fine. It was like, I don't know, I forgot the story, but basically like you have these like skates and they're like crazy, overpowered skates. And I forgot what the whole point of the show was, but it's like it fits the song of the, the crescendo and you're just flying through the sky, not holding you down and breaking through those chains.

It was like a reverse. [00:44:00] Like I heard the song first and then I watched the anime. The anime is okay, but like I, I think that was a... Now I really resonate with the meaning of the song and how it's juxtaposed or placed within the anime, like the themes of the anime. Yeah, love, love, love, love that song.

 yeah, that was definitely high school and I remember I was like, "Oh, this is cool." But I'm like, dude, this song is like, I don't know, like it's been my top two songs of all time since then. I don't think it's changed.

I think it's still probably top one, if not a One Piece song. For some reason, my top 10 songs of all time, 90% of them are like Japanese like rock, rap, or like pop or anime songs. I don't know why. 

 one thing too that I learned somewhere on the internet is, so Japanese as a language is very conducive to rapping because of how the consonants and vowels are formulated or the structure of the sentences and how you speak. So rapping in Japanese, you can go a lot faster and it's a little bit more, I don't know the right terminology, but it's more like da, da, da, da, da, da, da.

Whereas if you try to do it a [00:45:00] language like English or one that's a little bit harder on the mouth or the tongue to pronounce these words and make it flow apparently Japanese is one of the best languages for rapping because it has a, i- it's an easier flow progression. I think Korean might be the same in that sense because of how the language is and how it's formulated through your mouth.

So some of the fastest rappers in the world or songs is Japanese. So I thought that was interesting.

Yeah, that's what I mean. It's like there's those sounds where you have to it kind of stretches your the sound or your tongue a little bit, whereas the consonants and vowels in Japanese or let's say Korean is very, like, easier to be succinct and to string it together in a long, fast sentence or something like that.

I'm not a linguist, but that's just what I heard, so if it's fake news, whatever. Yeah, I don't speak anything. Yeah, but it's, it feels right in my heart, so. 

So mine, I think I'll cheat a little bit, so it's one moment, but it links into two, which is, so now let's go back to One Piece 'cause I have to.

It's when, huge spoiler, when Ace, Luffy, the main character, Luffy, his brother [00:46:00] dies, Ace, and he's an adoptive brother, but brother for all intents and purposes, and the f- entire arc leading up to the end of the first half of One Piece is him trying to save his brother, who is sch- scheduled for an execution, and long story short, he saves his brother from the execution platform, and then they're trying to escape.

And as they're escaping, some admiral, like a very powerful, quote, unquote, "bad guy" tries to kill Luffy, but then, and threaten him, but then Ace turns around and defends... Well, I don't know if that's the right sequence, but basically Ace turns around, tries to fight the admiral, Akainu, and, is not really successful.

But then Akainu, the, the admiral is about to kill Luffy, and then that's when Ace jumps in and sacrifices himself and dies for Luffy. And the reason why that moment, sure, a brother sacrificing for his little brother, very peak, very sad, but the reason why it's, it hits harder is because when you realize the context of Ace, his whole life, he was the son of the former Pirate King.

And so everyone, quote, unquote, hated Gold Roger", [00:47:00] his dad, for being the Pirate King, and so he was looked at as this spawn of Satan sort of thing. And so his grandfather hid him away for a long time, and so he was carrying around this shame of being the son of the most wanted man in the world.

And So basically not being loved, and then Luffy was the first person, his little brother, to accept him and love him as he is, which is heartfelt. And then Ace finds his own family with the Whitebeard Pirates of Whitebeard being his adoptive father and his whole- the whole crew adopting him as like their beloved brother in arms.

And so they all fight the Navy in order to save Ace, and so his arc comes to a conclusion where he finds out that he actually is loved and a lot of people would die for him, even despite growing up thinking that no one wanted him around. so Luffy comes to save him. His whole crew comes to save him, and so he's like happy to sacrifice his life for his brother because he's like, "You know, you proved that my life was worth living."

And it's like, sorry, I'm gonna cry.

But yeah, yeah. But yeah, I love, yeah, I love that moment because he dies with like a [00:48:00] smile on his face, and Luffy obviously goes through his whole trauma of having his like older brother who he loves get killed in front of him, 'cause up until this point, Luffy has never lost a battle really, and he's never lost anything, and so losing his brother was like the most, the biggest thing he could lose.

So linking it to the second moment is now he's going through this sort of depression/denial phase, and his future crewmate, Jimbei, a fish man, shakes him and is like, "Why are you so like crying and upset and like angry and destroying rocks?" And stuff like that. "Don't focus on what you've lost.

Focus on what, what you still have." And so he's counting his fingers of his crew who still, loves him. And he's like, "Oh, I still have my crew." So he has to come back to them and be stronger for them. And so that was, like, a peak moment where he loses something he loves, Ace's character moment finishes, but now Luffy has to be, grateful for what he has, and then having to get stronger to protect the rest of his crew.

So I think that it capsulates a lot of what I love about One Piece, is Ace's moment. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, no, if I keep talking about it, I'll probably start crying. But, um, i- if I talk about Garp as well, like his [00:49:00] grandpa, their grandpa, oh, I will for sure start crying. Like, I was walking around the park with Blessie and telling her about Garp just Garp, and I just started crying.

I was like, what the heck I'm just walking, we're just walking outside and there's, we're in public, Yeah, yeah, it's crazy. 

I always talk about this in movies, in writing, in stories in general, but whenever we watch a movie in theaters, I can predict with almost 100% accuracy who's going to die, because the biggest sign is when a character has a complete character arc meaning they're a perfect character in that they have no more development that they need.

So usually this is like a mother or a father who who is perfect and supportive and everything in every way, and you're like, "That person's gonna die for sure," because you are just the stepping stone for the character to have their progression, because you don't have any more growth to be had because you're perfect.

You already are a complete person.

I talked about this with Travis, yeah, mother with the braids that goes on one side, that mom is always gonna die the next scene because she's a perfect character. Or the mentor, the wise, old mentor who looks after the Shonen protagonist who, [00:50:00] has gone through his c- hero's journey and is now just giving, you're gonna die for sure because you're already a perfect character.

And this character needs to grow, so you need to die in order for them to grow. 

 how anime has changed over time, OG versus newer anime, which also ties into weekly versus seasonal releases, and movies. I feel like those are all sort of similar topics, 

Yeah, so the reason why I kind of linked them together is because I think a big shift in how the older generation of anime versus new generation of anime, obviously it's a commercialized thing, right? But moving from the weekly releases of the One Pieces and the Dragon Balls and the, the Bleaches, right, or the Narutos into the more seasonal, which you have season one, season two, et cetera, and having that sort of break.

Because I think One Piece was one of the last r- relics of that sort of continuous weekly sort of schedule. But also combining that with, you have these big mainstream animes having their movie adaptations, or not adaptations, but movie releases. So, like, the Demon Slayers or the My Hero [00:51:00] or One Piece.

I guess there's those non-canon sort of movies that kind of just give more content for them to make money off of, but then you also have Demon Slayer, which incorporates those movies into the canon. Or just... Or a Chainsaw Man, which is instead of adapting a season, they'll just create a movie, like the Reze arc or something like that, where...

Reze arc or Mugen Train or, you know, these other ones where it's like, okay, this isn't just a non-canon movie, it's actually part of it. And I'm sure, and this is just me speaking from my own brain, that there's a commercial aspect of that, meaning they probably make a lot more money when they release it in theaters and it has a theatrical release as a movie as opposed to releasing it as a season or whatnot.

But also moving from the weekly releases to the seasonal, I think my thoughts are that- I think it's a good thing you're moving to seasonal because w- when I've watched a lot of these commentators online, they say that it's because it'll help with quality in a sense of you have the One Piece or the Naruto problem where there's so much filler because they're trying to slow down or keep up or whatnot [00:52:00] with the manga, which can only release at a certain schedule.

And so you have lower quality anime or let's say, two chap- two or three chapters converting into one episode of anime, and if it's a one-to-one, like One, One Piece has gotten to, then you have a really shitty 20 minutes of just running and just dialogue and flashbacks, and you're like, "What the heck?"

But when you have seasonal, now you can actually have 10 or 12 high-quality episodes that is mostly just story and not so much fluff. So I personally think that's a really good thing moving to seasonal. And the movie thing, I think it's good, too. Maybe it's a personal choice, but I get the commercial side of it.

But I think having it all as a conducive story is different because the Reze arc I think did a really good job of okay, well, this arc felt like a cohesive story, so as a movie it worked well. Whereas I think some of my friends, and myself included, with the Infinity Castle for Demon Slayer, because it was like it felt like one-third of a full season, it wasn't a f- it felt like a weird movie.

It was more just like three or four episodes just shoved into one movie, and it doesn't [00:53:00] really have that continuity that keeps going that you wouldn't get if you just watched the whole season, right? So and I think that's just a function of older anime and now shifting into newer, this newer era of commercialization and being mainstream and needing to make money off of it, et cetera and pacing, I guess.

So I don't know if you had thoughts on that.

Isn't that what happened with the first Fullmetal Alchemist where they kinda just were like, "All right. Well, we caught up, so now we're just gonna make a whole new story"? And then that didn't turn out well, and then they just redid the anime, and you're like, "Guys, come on."

 Do you have an example of what makes good filler or an example that was like, okay, this is a filler that was done well? Like, why would someone say, "Oh, this was a good filler episode"?

So these fillers show kinda like the behind-the-scenes of some of these characters sometimes when there's a random filler arc or they're just doing some weird thing, and you're like, "Oh, I see this character eating now. I've never seen them eat" or something. 

It's like extra content. DLC sort of stuff. That makes a lot of sense I guess to add onto your point, let's say One Piece. There's obviously a bunch of filler episodes [00:54:00] and arcs, the biggest hurdle is like, "Oh, One Piece is super long.

I don't think I can get through all of it," and then you realize that there's a handful of filler. But what happens is when you become a hardcore One Piece fan, When you catch up, you wish there were more episodes, and so then you appreciate the filler, and you're like, "Yeah, this, this filler episode or arc is not canon," but to your point, it still has the spirit of the characters and the story.

It doesn't deviate from that, and even if it's not the official story that's happening, like the main plot, it does color the characters in a different light or have behind-the-scenes or those humanized moments or the extra characters like you said. And some of these filler episodes can be really good 'cause you're like, "Wow, I get to spend more time with these characters that I love," and you appreciate that.

And so I agree, and so you're right. If they're a weekly release, you will get those fillers, but if they're seasonal release, it's just 100% canon, no fillers. So you're right. There's, I think there's pros and cons.

Sometimes when I go back to an anime that's you know, I put it down, and it doesn't come back for another year, and then I pick it back up like Classroom of [00:55:00] the Elite, I just watch a recap on YouTube 'cause there's just abundance of those.

I'm like, "Oh yeah, that's what happened. Oh yeah, there's that character." 'Cause if I jump into it cold, and I'll do the last couple episodes of the previous season just to kind of re-sync it up just to transition. But then I'm like, "Okay, let me just do a recap," and then I'm like, "Oh yeah, all that stuff happened," and then I kinda wanna rewatch it again.

 I think that's the benefit of the older anime of like I like having those ones where I can kinda just kind of, I can drip through it. Whereas sometimes I just wanna watch a one-off, one season, 12 episode anime that's just more recent.

I'm like, "Okay, I can just invest two or three days into this and then just forget about it," until it turns into a really good anime and I'm like, "Oh crap, now I gotta wait for the second season," which has happened a lot actually. I thought Classroom of the Elite was one season 'cause I saw it on I saw a reel, watched the first season, realized there was like four seasons. Like, God damn it, like I I was trying to do a one-off. But yeah. And now I'm super locked in. 

So going back to like I like aspirational characters, characters who are competent, chara- characters who have a [00:56:00] reason to like them. And for Rent-a-Girlfriend, the main dude, like for the first two seasons straight, like 24 episodes, he is not likable, competent, or have, has any game, and the girls outshine him exponentially, especially the main girl.

And so I'm like, "Why are you even here? Why are you a main character? And why are all these girls fawning over you? Because you don't... You just have y- not plot armor, you have like plot charm." And it kind of annoyed me, but I was already invested 'cause I already watched this. I'm like, "Okay, might as well."

But I think that one was like, I don't know if it's overrated, but I don't know, I kind of had mixed feelings on that. Same thing with JJK, Jujutsu Kaisen fighting battle shonen anime about fighting curses. And I think it got a lot of hype because of the action sequences and like the power system, which is fine, but plot-wise, when you get to the end, 'cause I think they're animating the last season or arc or so, I think the manga has such a dumb ending and it is very unsatisfying and they also have they kind of, it felt like one of those stories where like a s- a writer's telling a [00:57:00] good story, and then they just Game of Thrones it in the last part of it, and you're like, "Wait, what are you... You had all these threads that you left open. You didn't close them off, and you didn't, and you, it felt like you rushed through it, and in the last few episodes, all you did, or the last few chapters, you told a random other story without wrapping up the ones that we were invested in."

And then you're like, "Why the hell did you do that?" And then it kind of ends in a stupid way. And then you're like, "Okay, that was it?" And I guess in Medulo, the continuation, they kind of fix it, but I'm like, "But what was the whole point of ending in a shitty way to begin with when you had all this potential?"

I think I feel the same about Attack on Titan, where it's like, okay, that was a dumb ending. Some people might have liked it. I guess you wanna, if you wanna go with the Shakespearean tragedy, then sure, but then when you get to like the ending ending and you're like, oh, and it all loops around again and e- and everyone's fucked, and there was no point in all of this drama.

And I'm like, for me, those... Exactly. Those stories for me are very unsatisfying, and so I guess those are my not hot takes or maybe just kinda like I think overrated or maybe I think it needs to be called out as, okay, those aren't really that good, which [00:58:00] is, yeah, JJK, Attack on Titan, those two endings. I think My Hero, some people felt the same way, but I think they ended the anime really well, so I'm, I have no complaints.

 it's unsatisfying when you set up these rules and then you just break them, and you're like, "Okay, well then what was the point for that," right? It feels like You didn't work for that payoff when it happens. 

 Same thing with One Punch Man. The whole point of the anime is, it's like a, it's a, what's it called, satire of that sort of okay, well, there's no tension. There's... Yeah, there's no tension in his growth, 'cause he's already at 100% completion peak rate.

It's now just seeing how he moves through this world and kind of gets into weird situations. Or same thing with Mashle. I actually love Mashle. Top 10 for sure. I think we talked about this. But yeah, again, he is already OP, but it, I think it's cool to see because he's not written as completely OP.

He's more of he has his disadvantage. I think that's the, those are the kind of characters that I like. Mashle is about, it's a wizard world, and [00:59:00] Mash is He has no wizard magic powers, but since birth he's been training. 

he's just a meathead, so he's just super strong, like super One Punch Manny, like strong. And so he, what he does is he uses his physical strength to compensate for his lack of magic, kind of like The Rock Lee sort of thing, but then in sort of weird, comical quirky ways. And even though he never really loses a fight he does have to be creative in how he does it, because it's still a disadvantage.

For all intents and purposes, he is like a, he's disabled in this magic world. He, he has, like, a disability, but he overcomes it through obviously strength, discipline, courage, et cetera, and being a good person, obviously. But I really like that because it's not just a quick instant win. It's a he has to really figure out creative ways to overcome these situations 

 it doesn't just give you that payoff at the end of each challenge. It's not just, okay, one punch and he's dead. It's like a, okay, he has to now figure out how to do this thing, and he legitimately does have to figure it out. Those, those [01:00:00] Tanjiro moments where it's like, okay, let's try to be creative, or the Deku moments where it's I can't just brute force my way through this.

Sometimes he does, but sometimes it is, he has to figure it out. Actually, I, on the topic that you mentioned, like newer anime, and so here's what I really enjoy about newer anime is it's always harder and harder to do something new or fresh and original, so I get that.

It's like an uphill battle, but I think there's a few that I wanted to call out that do a good job at kind of refreshing the same shonen punch fighting sort of thing. But the way they refresh it is more newer, updated characters that don't play on the old traditional Japanese anime tropes of oh, there's like a pervy guy and then there's like, this sort of like du- like ditzy girl and then there's this like naive, strong like young man who just wants to destroy the world or save humanity or whatever, right?

So the two I want to call out were Gachiakuta and Hell's Paradise, two of my favorite newer anime. And so Gachiakuta is set in like this dystopian future where I think with [01:01:00] your attachment to physical objects, you can create powers or have power. And so the main character is like a, just a pent up angry kid who just wants to destroy everything and he has his family taken away, he feels worthless, et cetera.

But I think what they do well in this new era is that they have more mentally healthy themes and characters surround him to help nurture him into a better person because his default natural state is just anger and rage and violence, but he gets- paired with this group of people who are also trying to fight these demons and the bad guys that really are there for him and show what a healthy support system is and how to deal with your emotions.

And I think Hell's Paradise is a similar sort of thing. Hell's Paradise is like this dude who's like a, he's like a ninja and he's an, like the best assassin in his village, and he's convicted as a criminal and is sent to this island, which is a suicide island that has these monsters that kills everyone.

And he has to survive with this sort of like [01:02:00] samurai girl, and he just wants to get back to his wife. And so you think that he's just a monster killer, but he actually has humanity in him. But I think being surrounded and having a purpose and kind of brings out the better side of him with like those more updated characters.

 normally you would see those tropes and it's like, okay, that's quirky and fun, but it feels more of like a mental health focused, really support system updated storyline. And Kaiju Number Eight is another one too where it's not a young shonen, it's like a 30-year-old man who is like trying to you know, achieve his dream of becoming in sort of this, this army that protects people from Kaiju, and then he turns into a Kaiju himself, and he has this like secret power he's trying to hide.

But I think it's the healthy themes of like still finding purpose, and you don't need to be young to do that, but also the people around him are believing in him and he's supporting them, and it's like a more positive updated time period as opposed to when you go to older era where it's like the same sort of problematic themes in today's standards, right?

And how those different [01:03:00] mixes of unique characters blend and play off each other to advance the plot within this world that you've built, and that's where you can get the uniqueness or the freshness of it. Because, yeah, every story's ever been told. You go back to Shakespeare or you go back to the Bible and all these themes, tropes, narratives have already been played out, so you can't really redo a hero's journey.

It's all the same. The fundamental question of who am I is always gonna come up and the finding love or parents or finding your purpose or, I don't know, good versus evil. But the anime that really snap to me in this new age is always the ones where the characters are more unique and interesting because the dynamics are different, the themes are different, and then how they blend with the other characters that the author chooses to juxtapose them with I think does a good job.

So the ones that I mentioned I think are some of my favorite examples.okay, so now one of my, one of my favorite anime, Konosuba, which is an isekai, and it completely leans into every single trope you would expect from an isekai on purpose intentionally, like, unironically.

And it's about this [01:04:00] dude who gets recar- reincarnated. He's a, he's like a like a video game NEET or whatever. And so he is surrounded by his party, like these girls, who are completely useless in all intents and purposes, completely useless. His only thing is that he's really lucky and he's good at thinking, like strategy.

But They somehow make it through all these challenges just haphazardly by the s- by the skin of their teeth or whatever. And it's funny I saw someone comment on this on YouTube, but they were... He was like, "It's funny because everything is as expected, but they have such fun comedic moments that, for me, I really enjoy.

Like, this is so stupid, but it's so funny, I can't stop watching." But also I forgot the main character's name, but he never gets what he wants. He wants women, and he wants fame and riches and all this other stuff, but then he never gets it. But he does save the world and kind of help people, just haphazardly.

And his party, they're all these useless girls who have no real strengths on the surface, but for some [01:05:00] reason, their skills just happen to be what they need for these challenges. And you're like, "Okay, that's so stupid, but, like, it's kinda funny." So you get this weird mix of yeah, you don't... 

 you don't expect them to make it through, but of course they do, but in a very unique way. So I think the writing is really good, and then the character dynamics are very, sitcom-y, in your face sort of humor, really, really dumb. But I think they do it so well that it's fine that they're just leaning into those tropes.

 I guess to answer your question absolutely not. I would not, definitely not be able to learn functional Japanese through anime. I think I would definitely need some sort of, intentional instruction that had sort of progression and context and maybe at least conversationally. But obviously, when you listen to or watch as much anime as we do, or, or at least as much as I do, you can hear and expect and know the phrases that come up a lot.

When it's just typical characters talking, acknowledging, saying things that you're like, "Oh, yeah, that was great," or, "Let's go," or "Oh, that's gross," or just just those like sort of punctuation phrases. You're like, okay, I get what they're saying. they're trying to go here.

They're [01:06:00] doing this. She's questioning why. He's saying where. Not that I can regurgitate that on the spot, 'cause that's-- speaking is completely different. But when I'm listening to it, I'm like, okay, I can generally follow along, and then obviously the captions are confirming what my brain is saying of like what they're saying.

So I think it helps me to listen and watch anime more efficiently because I don't need to rely on the captions, but speaking it, probably not

But I do pre- I do pretend like I can speak sometimes, when I'll just be like, "Ramen, sushi," and then they're like, "That's racist." I'm like, "That's all I know, okay?"

If I can get to a conversational functional level of Japanese where I can like navigate through the world and have basic conversations with people, I'd be happy, and then I can start to learn to read and stuff like that. But I feel like that natural progression is also how kids and babies would learn how to speak anyways, so why would that not make the most sense?

No, I think that was good. Yeah, we're coming in at 2:20 now. Yeah. I guess I'll just say that. It, I really enjoyed this. I'm looking forward to part two and part infinity after this, and the special, [01:07:00] special, special anime edition, One Piece edition, 10 hours straight, no breaks, marathon, talking about it.

But yeah, I'm looking forward to that. 

If this entire episode has not evangelized you to at least pick up some gateway drug anime and to drink the Kool-Aid and join us, yeah, then I don't know what will be. Clearly we're both very passionate about it, and it's very formative to us. So if you don't like One Piece, you just watch the next episode, and then if you don't like that one, you just keep going, and then maybe 500 episodes in you'll be hooked.

So it's just persistence, just dedication, man. You just gotta do it. For the audience. 

Nikko, where can we find you if people wanna check out what you're up to or connect and whatnot? I recommend Nikko's stories and ramblings. They're usually very fun to watch and experience through his eyes, so cool. All right. That is it, so thank you, Nikko, for your time.

I appreciate it. This was a lovely conversation. I really thoroughly enjoyed it. Hope you did, too. And so I'll do my final sign-off for the audience. So thank you guys for being here. This is where the music starts playing. Please be sure to like, subscribe, [01:08:00] follow, leave five stars on whatever platform you're listening to.

Leave us love in the comments, especially leave love for Nikko in the comments. Reminder to always be kind to other people, especially yourself. Remember to watch anime, watch One Piece, and remember that you can always learn something from someone if you take the time to listen or watch a really good anime, because you will definitely learn some stuff.

So thank you guys for tuning in.