It’s a fun grab-bag style episode this week as we discuss several pieces of recent news, from the results of the One Piece World Top 100 poll to Sega announcing Yakuza spin-off Lost Judgment to Toei finally confirming a new Dragon Ball Super movie for 2022, before moving on to our first, largely spoiler-free impressions of Resident Evil Village. It’s an outstanding game so far, building on what Resident Evil 7 did so well while also harkening back to entries like Resident Evil 4, and proving itself an incredible artistic and technical showcase along the way. We’ll go into spoiler details next week, but for now, our first impressions are extremely positive. And to finish, Jonathan talks about playing Resident Evil 5 in co-op with his brother, and talks about going to see a bunch of movies in the theater now that he has vaccine superpowers. 

TIME CHART:

Intro & Stuff: 0:00:00 – 0:34:12

News: 0:34:12 – 1:13:58

Yakuza: Like a Dragon Chat: 1:13:58 – 1:20:37 

Resident Evil Village Impressions: 1:20:37 – 2:06:34 

Subscribe to our YouTube Channel!

Subscribe to the WEEKLY SUIT GUNDAM Podcast!

Subscribe for free to 'The Weekly Stuff' in Apple Podcasts!

Follow Jonathan Lack on Twitter!

Follow Sean Chapman on Twitter!

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

After a bit of a delay due to Sean and Jonathan being extremely reluctant to watch the actual movie, our ongoing Batman on Film series is back with the last Batman film of the 90s, and one of the worst movies ever made: Joel Schumacher’s Batman & Robin, a flop that’s just as terrible if not worse than Batman Forever in a whole host of ways, while offering a few improvements thanks to Arnold Schwarzenegger and especially Uma Thurman that can’t counteract the awfulness of the main Batman story. It’s an extremely bad movie and a painful, joyless watch, but makes for an entertaining conversation – and the Batman series is definitely looking up from here. We also cover a few pieces of stuff, like Jonathan playing Resident Evil 7 and Sean getting further in Yakuza: Like a Dragon, before paying tribute to the great Shunsuke Kikuchi, composer for Dragon Ball and Dragon Ball Z, who passed away this week at the ripe old age of 89, and leaves behind a timeless legacy of incredible, series-defining music. 

TIME CHART:

Intro: 0:00:00 – 0:04:55

Stuff: 0:04:55 – 0:23:34

News, including Shunsuke Kikuchi: 0:23:34 – 1:01:02

Batman & Robin: 1:01:02 – 2:56:31 

Subscribe to our YouTube Channel!

Subscribe to the WEEKLY SUIT GUNDAM Podcast!

Subscribe for free to 'The Weekly Stuff' in Apple Podcasts!

Follow Jonathan Lack on Twitter!

Follow Sean Chapman on Twitter!

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

After reviewing the first season of the anime in last week’s show, we’re back to review Demon Slayer ~Kimetsu no Yaiba~ The Movie: Mugen Train, the highest-grossing film in the history of Japan, and one that’s already making waves after its debut in North American theaters this weekend. It was both of our first trips back to a movie theater in over a year, since the start of the pandemic, and we couldn’t have picked a better film, because Mugen Train is an outstanding movie, not just as an ongoing part of the Kimetsu no Yaiba story, but on its own merits, and breaking it all down makes for one of the richest movie discussions we’ve ever had. Before that, we also talk about recent updates to The Weekly Stuff Podcast’s new YouTube channel, discuss Marvel’s Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings trailer, and Sean tells us about finally playing Resident Evil VII ahead of the upcoming Resident Evil VILLage. 

TIME CHART:

Intro: 0:00:00 – 0:09:30

Stuff: 0:09:30 – 0:51:58

Mugen Train: 0:51:58 – 3:05:03

Subscribe to our YouTube Channel!

Subscribe to the WEEKLY SUIT GUNDAM Podcast!

Subscribe for free to 'The Weekly Stuff' in Apple Podcasts!

Follow Jonathan Lack on Twitter!

Follow Sean Chapman on Twitter!

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

We’re talking about anime again this week, but for once, it’s not Gundam! It’s Kimetsu no Yaiba, also known as Demon Slayer, the most popular anime/manga franchise in Japan right now, and increasingly one of the most discussed around the world. With the record-breaking movie, Mugen Train, making its way to North American theaters next week, we go in-depth with the first season of the anime from Ufotable, based on the first 6 volumes of Koyoharu Gotouge’s best-selling manga. It’s a spectacular 26 episodes, one of the most perfect seasons of Shonen anime imaginable, featuring not just terrific storytelling, characters, and acting, but significant technical breakthroughs and breathtaking filmmaking that feel like they’re pushing the entire medium of anime forward. We also touch on the news that Gundam is getting a live-action film from Legendary Pictures and Netflix, and Jonathan tells you all about the exciting things happening on The Weekly Stuff Podcast’s brand new YouTube channel!

Enjoy, and come back next week for our review of the Kimetsu film, Mugen Train!

TIME CHART:

Intro: 0:00:00 – 0:16:17

Stuff: 0:16:17 – 0:31:30

News: 0:31:30 – 0:44:18

Kimetsu no Yaiba: 0:44:18 – 3:44:41 

Subscribe to our YouTube Channel!

Subscribe to the WEEKLY SUIT GUNDAM Podcast!

Subscribe for free to 'The Weekly Stuff' in Apple Podcasts!

Follow Jonathan Lack on Twitter!

Follow Sean Chapman on Twitter!

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

After touching base on the games we’ve been playing – including the original Diablo and 2016’s Ratchet & Clank remake – and discussing this week’s Bloomberg report about a Last of Us PS5 remake and the state of Sony’s development priorities, we move on to another Weekly Suit Gundam topic, rounding out our triptych of Gundam 00 reviews with Mobile Suit Gundam 00 the Movie: A Wakening of the Trailblazer, the 2010 feature-film follow-up/finale that brings a close to the world of Gundam 00 and introduces the world of Gundam to extraterrestrial life for the first time. It’s a wild, strange, defiantly singular movie, and one of the stranger corners of the Gundam universe – but also one of the most rewarding, especially when you break it down in a long-form conversation as we do here. Gundam 00 has been one of our favorite series to discuss so far, and the film is no exception. 

Enjoy, and come back next week for our review of Season 1 of Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba, ahead of the North American debut of the new film, Mugen Train, in theaters!

TIME CHART:

Intro & Stuff: 0:00:00 – 0:17:50

News: 0:17:50 – 0:38:50

Gundam 00 the Movie: 0:38:50 – 2:57:46

Subscribe to the WEEKLY SUIT GUNDAM Podcast!

Subscribe to our YouTube Channel!

Subscribe for free to 'The Weekly Stuff' in Apple Podcasts!

Follow Jonathan Lack on Twitter!

Follow Sean Chapman on Twitter!

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

The great Kaiju showdown of our time has arrived in Legendary Pictures’ Godzilla vs Kong, the fourth film and grand culmination in their ongoing ‘MonsterVerse,’ and to celebrate, we’re not just reviewing this movie – we’re also going back to Round 1 of this particular match-up, discussing the original Toho King Kong vs Godzilla from 1962! And that’s not all! We also dive into the other Legendary Pictures monster movies to recap our thoughts on the entire series, and we discuss the original Toho Godzilla vs Mechagodzilla for reasons that should be apparent to anyone who’s seen Godzilla vs Kong! It’s a grand old time talking about these wonderful monster icons, a chance to not only review this surprisingly great new movie, but to do the kind of big Kaiju celebration we haven’t done in a while on this podcast.

Enjoy, and listen to all our past Godzilla episodes as well if you’re interested! 

Episode #162 – Godzilla Retrospective Spectacular!

Episode #163 – Shin Godzilla Review

Episode #86 – Godzilla 2014 Review

Episode #287 – Godzilla: King of the Monsters Review

TIME CHART:

Intro & Stuff: 0:00:00 – 0:23:20

King Kong vs Godzilla (and other Toho movies): 0:23:20 – 1:20:22

Godzilla vs Kong (and other Legendary movies): 1:20:22 – 2:38:31

Subscribe to the WEEKLY SUIT GUNDAM Podcast!

Subscribe to our YouTube Channel!

Subscribe for free to 'The Weekly Stuff' in Apple Podcasts!

Follow Jonathan Lack on Twitter!

Follow Sean Chapman on Twitter!

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

After covering a few pieces of recent news – including the trailer for James Gunn’s The Suicide Squad and reports that Sony might be sunsetting digital game sales for PS3 and PS Vita – we dive right into our latest Weekly Suit Gundam discussion, this time on the second season of the fantastic Mobile Suit Gundam 00. The show has a lot to live up to in its back half, and we find it more than rises to the challenge with an incredibly smart, exciting, affecting, and entertaining second season, bringing the TV portion of this Gundam experience to a rousing close. With amazing animation, outstanding mobile suit designs and action, tremendous characters, and one of the best voice casts the franchise has ever assembled – including the very surprising return of one of Gundam’s most iconic voice actors – Gundam 00 truly is one of the franchise’s finest hours, and we had even more fun talking about it the second time. 

TIME CHART:

Intro: 0:00:00 – 0:01:24

Stuff: 0:01:24 – 0:17:02

News: 0:17:02 – 0:38:25

Gundam 00 Season 2: 0:38:25 – 3:24:51 

Subscribe to our YouTube Channel!

Subscribe for free to 'The Weekly Stuff' in Apple Podcasts!

Follow Jonathan Lack on Twitter!

Follow Sean Chapman on Twitter!

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

Better late than never, this week is our annual ‘Year in Preview’ episode, where we look over all the video games and movies coming in 2021 and assess what looks good (New Pokemon Snap, yay!), what looks bad (oh God, Disney’s Cruella movie is real), what baffles us (who the hell thought Six Days in Fallujah was a good idea?), and what’s likely to even come out (is Halo: Infinite ever gonna be a thing?). Before all that, we also give some quick updates on Genshin Impact and Yakuza: Like a Dragon, puzzle over the weirdest video-game tie-in Pringles ever, and Jonathan gives some thoughts on Zack Snyder’s Justice League – which he also has a full written review of you can read right now!

TIME CHART:

Intro: 0:00:00 – 0:03:12

Stuff: 0:03:12 – 0:17:32

Justice League: 0:17:32 – 0:29:23 

2021 Year in Preview: 0:29:23 – 1:57:21 

Subscribe to our YouTube Channel!

Subscribe for free to 'The Weekly Stuff' in Apple Podcasts!

Follow Jonathan Lack on Twitter!

Follow Sean Chapman on Twitter!

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

After a little break, we’re back with an episode full of exciting topics, from first impressions on the outstanding Yakuza: Like a Dragon (now out on PS5, and which we’ll definitely do a full episode on soon), thoughts on the demise of Anthem at Bioware, and most importantly, another Weekly Suit Gundam discussion, this time on Mobile Suit Gundam 00, the series that brought Gundam into the era of HD, widescreen, and 21st century geopolitics. It’s a terrific show that’s wickedly smart, wildly exciting, and features some of the best characters and world-building of the entire franchise. It’s also the first Gundam series to split itself into seasons, so on today’s episode we’re covering Season 1 – Episodes 1-25 – which work pretty splendidly on their own, as the story of the rise and fall of Celestial Being, a stateless military organization aiming to eradicate war through armed intervention. We discuss the story, world, themes, characters, and so much more, including the incredible production values and remarkable batch of theme songs, for a Gundam show that’s definitely worth the deep dive treatment. 

TIME CHART:

Intro: 0:00:00 – 0:05:00

Stuff: 0:05:00 – 0:17:22

Yakuza: Like a Dragon: 0:17:22 – 0:30:52

Gundam 00 Season 1: 0:30:52 – 2:42:11 

Subscribe to our YouTube Channel!

Subscribe for free to 'The Weekly Stuff' in Apple Podcasts!

Follow Jonathan Lack on Twitter!

Follow Sean Chapman on Twitter!

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

Sean couldn’t be here this week, so Jonathan gets on mic and answers some listener mail, talking about his favorite recent music and most anticipated upcoming games and movies, giving recommendations for getting into classical Japanese cinema, and reflecting on Ang Lee’s 2003 Hulk by reading/making fun of a review he wrote in 2008 at age 15. There’s also a bevy of Gundam-related questions at the end, and a little bit of chat on the recent Pokemon announcements on the top of the show, all to tide listeners over before we’re back with regular episodes next week. 

Subscribe to our YouTube Channel!

Subscribe for free to 'The Weekly Stuff' in Apple Podcasts!

Follow Jonathan Lack on Twitter!

Follow Sean Chapman on Twitter!

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