It’s been three years since we started our sister series Weekly Suit Gundam, watching just two episodes of the original Mobile Suit Gundam for our first show – and three years later, we’ve watched over 800 episodes of Gundam and reviewed every series in the pantheon. So for this year’s anniversary, we’re not just ranking the shows we reviewed in the past year – though we do that as well – but ranking every Gundam show, with Sean and Jonathan sharing their individual lists before debating and coming to a consensus on an official Weekly Suit Gundam ranking of all 33 Gundam shows/OVAs/movies we’ve covered on this show. It’s the moment you’ve been waiting three whole years for. And if you’re not into Gundam, fear not! We also spend an hour at the top of the show talking Genshin Impact Version 2.7, hear Jonathan’s experiences creating a fan edit of the Star Wars spin-off Book of Boba Fett, and go over some of the gaming news from Not-E3 2022. 

Enjoy, and be sure not to miss our very special 10th Anniversary podcast spectacular this Monday, June 13th, at 10am! It’s the biggest and best episode we’ve ever done – 10 topics over 10 hours – and we hope to see you there.  https://youtu.be/21eM2T-63Vs

Time Chart:

Intro: 0:00:00 – 0:04:42

Genshin Impact: 0:04:42 – 0:26:03

Star Wars: 0:26:03 – 0:34:20

Not-E3 2022 News: 0:34:20 – 0:52:48

Gundam: 0:52:48 – 3:04:11

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Original Music by Thomas Lack https://www.thomaslack.com/

©2012 - Present Jonathan R. Lack & Sean Chapman

Ewan McGregor made his long-awaited return as Obi-Wan Kenobi in this week’s premiere episodes of the aptly titled Obi-Wan Kenobi for Disney+, and we were so enthusiastic about the results we just had to share our thoughts in today’s episode! With a compelling characterization of an Obi-Wan stuck between the despair of his many losses in Episode III and the wise, hopeful mentor of Episode IV, the show finds a smart way into this story, with some much appreciated surprises in store, and a large number of excellent new and returning performances throughout these first two hours. We save that spoiler-filled discussion for the end of the podcast, with Sean talking about his adventures watching the Ultraman series at the beginning, followed by Jonathan’s take on Top Gun Maverick and his initial impressions of Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga. 

Time Chart:

Intro: 0:00:00 – 0:06:09

Ultraman: 0:06:09 – 0:15:17

Top Gun Maverick: 0:15:17 – 0:24:37

Lego Star Wars: 0:24:37 – 0:39:05

Obi-Wan Kenobi: 0:39:05 – 1:42:36

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Read Jonathan’s book 200 Reviews in Paperback or on Kindle – https://a.co/d/bLx53vK

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Japanimation Station: https://www.youtube.com/c/japanimationstation  

Purely Academic: https://www.youtube.com/@purelyacademicpodcast

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Original Music by Thomas Lack https://www.thomaslack.com/

©2012 - Present Jonathan R. Lack & Sean Chapman

Jonathan shares his rankings of all 13 Star Trek films following an inexplicable completist run through all of them, which Sean mocks him roundly for, and then it’s time to settle all Gundam business by reviewing two ONA (original net animation) series that are the last mainline Gundam titles we’ve yet left un-reviewed. Mobile Suit Gundam Thunderbolt, based on the manga by Yasuo Ohtagaki, aired from 2015 to 2017 and was collected into 2 films, December Sky and Bandit Flower, and it’s a fascinating, frequently rousing production, if also one that’s messy and incomplete. With detailed over-the-top action scored to incredible jazz music by Naruyoshi Kikuchi and a series of faux-pop oldies representing rival protagonists Io Fleming and Daryl Lorenz, Thunderbolt is a synesthetic marvel – but it’s also barreling through 7 volumes of manga in a scant 2.5 hours, and with no new episodes in 5 years, it’s an entirely unfinished project. Twilight Axis, on the other hand, is finished – but it’s very slight, a series of short ONA episodes collected into a 26-minute movie, loosely adapting a series of light novels into an impressionistic-at-best, confusing-and-vestigial-at-worst short film. 

Enjoy! 

Time Chart:

Intro & Stuff: 0:00:00 – 0:38:39

Gundam Thunderbolt: 0:38:39 – 2:00:26

Gundam Twilight Axis: 2:00:26 – 2:21:51

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The Weekly Stuff with Jonathan Lack & Sean Chapman is a weekly audio podcast, and if you subscribe on Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts, episodes will be delivered automatically and for free as soon as they are released. Visit www.weeklystuffpodcast.com for a complete archive of streaming and downloadable episodes.  

Read Jonathan Lack’s movie reviews and stay up to date with all our podcast projects at https://www.jonathanlack.com

Subscribe to JAPANIMATION STATION, our podcast about the wide and wonderful world of anime: https://japanimationstation.com

Read Jonathan’s book 200 Reviews in Paperback or on Kindle – https://a.co/d/bLx53vK

Subscribe to our YouTube channels! 

Japanimation Station: https://www.youtube.com/c/japanimationstation  

Purely Academic: https://www.youtube.com/@purelyacademicpodcast

Support the show at Ko-fi ☕️ https://ko-fi.com/weeklystuff

Original Music by Thomas Lack https://www.thomaslack.com/

©2012 - Present Jonathan R. Lack & Sean Chapman

Before ‘diving’ into this week’s Gundam discussion – yes, it’s still a pun – Sean talks about finally upgrading to a new smartphone (after being on the iPhone 6S for over half the life of this show), asks Jonathan why he’s inexplicably watching through all the Star Trek movies including the very bad ones, and Jonathan gives impressions of the excellent indie adventure Tunic on Xbox. Then it’s time to talk about Gundam Build Divers Re:RISE, the most pleasantly surprising qualitative whiplash we’ve ever seen. Following the franchise low-point of Gundam Build Divers, Re:RISE is a stunningly smart, soulful, exciting, and all-around excellent anime that is nearly as great as the original show is bad. Following a new group of characters – the BUILD DiVERS, distinguished by one lowercase ‘i’ – Re:RISE immediately distinguishes itself with a deeply human and compelling protagonist, Hiroto Kuga, and a fantastic group of supporting characters, all on a wild adventure that combines the video game isekai tropes the first show tried but failed at, a more traditional fantasy isekai journey to another world, and even dashes of other non-Build Gundam shows with heroes, villains, and major life-and-death stakes. It’s the last full Gundam show made to date, and we couldn’t ask for much more of the series that catches this podcast up to the franchise’s present day. 

Time Chart:

Intro & Stuff: 0:00:00 – 0:33:01

Gundam Re:RISE: 0:33:01 – 3:05:31

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Read Jonathan Lack’s movie reviews and stay up to date with all our podcast projects at https://www.jonathanlack.com

Subscribe to JAPANIMATION STATION, our podcast about the wide and wonderful world of anime: https://japanimationstation.com

Read Jonathan’s book 200 Reviews in Paperback or on Kindle – https://a.co/d/bLx53vK

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Japanimation Station: https://www.youtube.com/c/japanimationstation  

Purely Academic: https://www.youtube.com/@purelyacademicpodcast

Support the show at Ko-fi ☕️ https://ko-fi.com/weeklystuff

Original Music by Thomas Lack https://www.thomaslack.com/

©2012 - Present Jonathan R. Lack & Sean Chapman

It’s a very ‘strange’ podcast this week – haha, get it? – as we review the latest entry in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness! Directed by the great Sam Raimi – and featuring WAY more of his characteristic humor, scares, distorted camera work, and cartoon violence than we expected – it’s one of the most unique, imaginative, and downright fun films Marvel has made so far. To put it simply, the film kicks ass. We also got news this weekend about the casting of the 14th Doctor on Doctor Who, to be played by 29-year-old Ncuti Gatwa, who will become the first black actor to play the iconic part, and discussion of this exciting announcement rounds out the episode. 

And finally, in recognition of the overwhelming threat to reproductive rights bearing down on the United States this week after it became clear the Supreme Court was poised to overturn Roe v Wade, we are encouraging listeners to make donations, if able, to local abortion funds in their area. Jonathan will be donating to the Iowa Abortion Access Fund in Iowa, and Sean to the Lilith Fundin Texas, but we encourage you to donate wherever will do the most good in your community. 

Enjoy! 

Time Chart:

Intro & Stuff: 0:00:00 – 0:21:29

Doctor Who News: 0:21:29 – 0:32:32

Doctor Strange 2 Review: 0:32:32 – 1:50:21

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Japanimation Station: https://www.youtube.com/c/japanimationstation  

Purely Academic: https://www.youtube.com/@purelyacademicpodcast

Support the show at Ko-fi ☕️ https://ko-fi.com/weeklystuff

Original Music by Thomas Lack https://www.thomaslack.com/

©2012 - Present Jonathan R. Lack & Sean Chapman

After a bit of a break from the giant fighting robots, we’re diving back into Gundam this week, jumping all the way down to the bottom of the barrel to review 2018’s Gundam Build Divers. Capitalizing on the Sword Art Online-inspired Isekai craze of the 2010s, Gundam Build Divers takes the Gunpla action out of the real world and into a very boring virtual reality, without really understanding what makes Isekai shows or the prior Build Fighters series fun in the first place. With amazingly low stakes, wildly inconsistent world building, nary an interesting character in sight, and a final arc that goes from zero to bananas in record time (and not in a good way), Gundam Build Divers is the nadir of animated Gundam. And before eviscerating this terrible series, Sean also talks about playing Horizon: Forbidden West, and Jonathan discusses catching up on recent happenings in Genshin Impact. 

Time Chart:

Intro & Stuff: 0:00:00 – 0:26:39

Gundam Build Divers: 0:26:39 – 2:31:44

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Read Jonathan Lack’s movie reviews and stay up to date with all our podcast projects at https://www.jonathanlack.com

Subscribe to JAPANIMATION STATION, our podcast about the wide and wonderful world of anime: https://japanimationstation.com

Read Jonathan’s book 200 Reviews in Paperback or on Kindle – https://a.co/d/bLx53vK

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Japanimation Station: https://www.youtube.com/c/japanimationstation  

Purely Academic: https://www.youtube.com/@purelyacademicpodcast

Support the show at Ko-fi ☕️ https://ko-fi.com/weeklystuff

Original Music by Thomas Lack https://www.thomaslack.com/

©2012 - Present Jonathan R. Lack & Sean Chapman

After hundreds of hours, countless deaths, millions of runes collected and dozens of demigods slain, Sean and Jonathan are both finally finished with FromSoftware’s incredible open-world RPG masterpiece Elden Ring, and that means it is, at last, time for our in-depth spoiler-filled review and discussion. After discussing the game in bits and pieces along the way over the past two months, we dive deep with the surprisingly rich storytelling and mythology, the many fabulous boss fights, the seemingly endless assortment of dense, surprising areas and images, and so much more. Before the spoiler chat begins, Sean also talks about reading through the Fullmetal Alchemist manga for the first time, Jonathan review Robert Eggers’ outstanding new Viking epic The Northman, and we collectively take a look at the upcoming ‘second season’ of Halo Infinite, and why the game is in such a bafflingly miserable state. 

Time Chart:

Intro: 0:00:00 – 0:02:33

Fullmetal Alchemist: 0:02:33 – 0:16:52

The Northman: 0:16:52 – 0:25:00

Halo Infinite Is a Mess: 0:25:00 – 0:52:22

Elden Ring: 0:52:22 – 2:44:33

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Subscribe to JAPANIMATION STATION, our podcast about the wide and wonderful world of anime: https://japanimationstation.com

Read Jonathan’s book 200 Reviews in Paperback or on Kindle – https://a.co/d/bLx53vK

Subscribe to our YouTube channels! 

Japanimation Station: https://www.youtube.com/c/japanimationstation  

Purely Academic: https://www.youtube.com/@purelyacademicpodcast

Support the show at Ko-fi ☕️ https://ko-fi.com/weeklystuff

Original Music by Thomas Lack https://www.thomaslack.com/

©2012 - Present Jonathan R. Lack & Sean Chapman

It’s a loose and free-wheeling episode this week as we dive into a big bag of listener mail, answering your questions on anime, video games, Gundam, our most anticipated movies of the next year, and much more! Listeners answered the call with a bunch of fun questions that hopefully led to some entertaining and/or enlightening answers. We also talk some more about Elden Ring, which Jonathan is slowly inching towards the finish line on, and discuss the recent Inazuma festival content in Genshin Impact, which has been a blast. 

Time Chart:

Intro & Stuff: 0:00:00 – 0:16:38

Elden Ring: 0:16:38 – 0:26:34

Genshin Impact: 0:26:34 – 0:39:19

More Stuff: 0:39:19 – 0:50:50

Listener Mail: 0:50:50 – 1:59:38

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Read Jonathan Lack’s movie reviews and stay up to date with all our podcast projects at https://www.jonathanlack.com

Subscribe to JAPANIMATION STATION, our podcast about the wide and wonderful world of anime: https://japanimationstation.com

Read Jonathan’s book 200 Reviews in Paperback or on Kindle – https://a.co/d/bLx53vK

Subscribe to our YouTube channels! 

Japanimation Station: https://www.youtube.com/c/japanimationstation  

Purely Academic: https://www.youtube.com/@purelyacademicpodcast

Support the show at Ko-fi ☕️ https://ko-fi.com/weeklystuff

Original Music by Thomas Lack https://www.thomaslack.com/

©2012 - Present Jonathan R. Lack & Sean Chapman

With Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (the movie) currently atop the box office in theaters, we thought it would be a perfect time to take a look back at Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (the 1992 video game). Sonic 2 is one of the all-time great video game sequels, a landmark 2D platformer with some of the best graphics, art direction, sound, and music of the 16-bit era, all built atop wildly creative labyrinthine level design. The game was a major cultural event when it released 30 years ago – the same year we were born! Oh god! We’re so old! – and it more than holds up today as one of the greatest games ever made. We also talk a little bit about the new movie, which is a delightful treat for Sonic fans, discuss the (inevitably confusing) announcement of Kingdom Hearts IV, and Jonathan sings the praises of the Daniels’ Everything Everywhere All at Once, the outstanding new film starring Michelle Yeoh that everybody needs to see as soon as possible. 

Time Chart:

Intro: 0:00:00 – 0:03:15

Kingdom Hearts IV News: 0:03:15 – 0:13:29

Stuff: 0:13:29 – 0:48:21

Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (The Game): 0:48:21 – 2:05:44

Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (The Movie): 2:05:44 – 2:24:49

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Read Jonathan Lack’s movie reviews and stay up to date with all our podcast projects at https://www.jonathanlack.com

Subscribe to JAPANIMATION STATION, our podcast about the wide and wonderful world of anime: https://japanimationstation.com

Read Jonathan’s book 200 Reviews in Paperback or on Kindle – https://a.co/d/bLx53vK

Subscribe to our YouTube channels! 

Japanimation Station: https://www.youtube.com/c/japanimationstation  

Purely Academic: https://www.youtube.com/@purelyacademicpodcast

Support the show at Ko-fi ☕️ https://ko-fi.com/weeklystuff

Original Music by Thomas Lack https://www.thomaslack.com/

©2012 - Present Jonathan R. Lack & Sean Chapman

It’s a stuff-heavy episode this week as Sean and Jonathan talk about the latest Genshin Impact update, talk about anime they’ve been watching – including the news that Attack on Titan is continuing its ‘Final Season’ to a third and actually final part next year – and discuss the news that PlayStation Plus and PlayStation Now will soon be combining into three separate, confusingly-named tiers, the upside of which is finally getting backwards compatible games on PS5. Sean also sings the praises of indie sensation Vampire Survivors on PC, and Jonathan shares a talk he gave at this year’s Society for Cinema and Media Studies conference on how save mechanics in video games can be used to enhance player immersion. It’s academic, but hopefully of interest to podcast listeners. 

Time Chart:

Intro: 0:00:00 – 0:07:00

Attack on Titan (no spoilers): 0:07:00 – 0:12:31

Genshin Impact: 0:12:31 – 0:24:20

Little Witch Academia: 0:24:20 – 0:47:30

Vampire Survivors: 0:47:30 – 0:58:58

PS Plus News: 0:58:58 – 1:22:08

Jonathan Talks Save Mechanics in Games: 1:22:08 – 1:47:23 

Subscribe to our YouTube Channel!

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Follow Jonathan Lack on Twitter!

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Read Jonathan Lack’s movie reviews and stay up to date with all our podcast projects at https://www.jonathanlack.com

Subscribe to JAPANIMATION STATION, our podcast about the wide and wonderful world of anime: https://japanimationstation.com

Read Jonathan’s book 200 Reviews in Paperback or on Kindle – https://a.co/d/bLx53vK

Subscribe to our YouTube channels! 

Japanimation Station: https://www.youtube.com/c/japanimationstation  

Purely Academic: https://www.youtube.com/@purelyacademicpodcast

Support the show at Ko-fi ☕️ https://ko-fi.com/weeklystuff

Original Music by Thomas Lack https://www.thomaslack.com/

©2012 - Present Jonathan R. Lack & Sean Chapman