Key Frames

Episode 83 of Key Frames, a podcast about anime. Winter really is the season for isekai anime, if you think about it. You're stuck inside by the wet and the cold, surrounded by the boring signifiers of your everyday life, so what better to do than imagine that a literal (or figurative) death that enables you to experience a literal (or figurative) rebirth in a strange and exciting new world where the laws of reality are a lot more reasonable for and recognizable to someone who's spent decades playing video games? Ben, Andy, Duncan, and Jeff deal with this deluge of power fantasies in the new season of anime, at least before Ben spends half an hour exploring his feelings about a not-so-historical drama about tea and ceramics but also politics.

Episode 82 of Key Frames, a podcast about anime. None of us did the math when recording and editing this, so we didn't realize that it'd come out well after the holiday season. Just think of it as a brief return to leisure and laughter, as Ben, Andy, and Duncan talk about how the fall season of anime turned out. As is unsurprising for the year 2020, it was a mixed bag! Also, Ben watched what is notionally a harem comedy and tried to convince everyone that it was anything but.

Episode 81 of Key Frames, a podcast about anime. How can we swing an episode where Duncan gets to talk about art and animation, Ben gets to talk about Studio GAINAX, Jeff gets to talk about Studio Shaft, and Andy gets to complain about J.C.Staff? Why, we'll have a discussion about anime studios, with their distinctive genres and styles, and make it last almost an hour! Stay tuned for the second half, though, to hear how Warlords of Sigrdrifa and Love Live! Nijigasaki High School Idol Club are faring with this year's challenges.

Episode 80 of Key Frames, a podcast about anime. You might say that Ben, Andy, and Duncan are experts on spinoffs, having created Key Frames: Inbetweens as a way of giving Ben a break when he's too tired or busy or depressed to host. No one's getting put on an island to live out the rest of their lives in solitude and obscurity, though, so is it really a spinoff? You'll have to listen to the episode and decide for yourself. Also, the movie SaeKano the Movie: Finale, which is the titular ten-out-of-ten anime for Ben, gets discussed, as well as the second season of Great Pretender, which isn't a ten-out-of-ten anime for Ben (but only because he hasn't seen it).

Episode 79 of Key Frames, a podcast about anime. It's the episode about surrealism and absurdism in anime, so you know the drill! Ben, Andy, Duncan, and Jeff talk about Masaaki Yuasa. They talk about Satoshi Kon. They talk about Akiyuki Simbo and Shaft. They talk about Excel Saga and Puni Puni Poemy. They talk about... Mushishi? Huh. They talk about Land of the Lustrous, too. Maybe they went a little off the rails... Well, enjoy Ben ranting about historical accuracy in Hyouge Mono while things get sorted out!

Episode 78 of Key Frames, a podcast about anime. Did you know that Roald Dahl nearly died while flying (or, rather, crashing) a Gloster Gladiator because of its extremely inflammable construction? Did you know that we don't really know the performance capabilities of the Henkel He 100 because most documents at the factory (including the blueprints) were destroyed in Allied bombing raids? Did you know that the Macchi M.C. 72 was the fastest aircraft in existence for five years, until it was surpassed by the He 100, and still holds the world speed record for a piston-engined seaplane? Thanks for listening in on this episode of the podcast Plane Facts. As a bonus, we're releasing a couple of hours of Ben, Andy, Duncan, and Jon talking about new anime from the fall 2020 season. Enjoy!

Episode 77 of Key Frames, a podcast about anime. Come on in, we're making a stew! Hand me the salt, but be careful. The right amount of seasoning is the difference between Kiki's Delivery Service and Howl's Moving Castle. Oh, adaptations? Yeah, I've got lots of thoughts about adaptations. I'll tell you all about them over a steaming bowl of this stuff. We'll leave Library War, Usagi Drop, and Sweetness & Lightning for dessert.

Episode 76 of Key Frames, a podcast about anime. Because of mic issues, Ben's recording this episode with a tin can routed through a concert hall's speakers. Don't worry, it's very safe. He joins Andy, Duncan, and Jeff to wrap up their thoughts on the anime of summer 2020, before talking about Boys Over Flowers for what is hopefully the last time. Dig in!

Episode 75 of Key Frames, a podcast about anime. Yes, we've talked about mothers. Yes, we've talked about families. For a change of pace, though, Ben, Andy, and Duncan are now talking about parents! Specifically, modern anime's tendency towards absent or invisible parents, which somehow involves a digression about the TV sitcom Friends. Don't worry, we eventually get back on topic with conversations about Boy and the Beast, Aggretsuko, and Great Pretender.

Episode 22 of Key Frames: Inbetweens, a mini-podcast about anime. There... Can you hear it? If your soul has not truly given up on Ben, Duncan, and Jeff finishing their Revolutionary Girl Utena rewatch, then you can hear the sound that races through the last fifteen episodes of that series. Come! Come with us and our guest, friend and Utena expert Katie! Follow us to the podcast episode you seek!