It’s a loose and freewheelin’ show this week, as we recover from the madness (and boredom) of E3 2019 with some additional reactions on reports from the show floor and swap some stories about anime and movies before diving into our main topics, each of which has left one of our two hosts beleaguered. For Jonathan, it’s trying to get into Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, the most recent game by FromSoftware, which is so difficult it’s making him question every life decision he’s ever made; for Sean, it’s finally watching Game of Thrones, and finding the most popular show on the planet a lot less…well, good than its success would have one believe.

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

©2012 - Present Jonathan R. Lack & Sean Chapman

It’s that time of year again! E3 2019 is upon us, and as is long-standing custom on this podcast, we break down every major press conference in excruciating detail, from the “throwing s*** at the wall to see what sticks” approach of Microsoft, to the “kill time for an hour until we show off Doom Eternal” approach of Bethesda, to the “we had one cool game to show but we’re spending 90 minutes here anyway” strategy from Ubisoft, to the “totally nail the reveal of Final Fantasy VII Remake but then somehow bungle the unveiling of the Avengers game” vibe of Square Enix, to the “we actually have games to show and they’re coming soon” day-saving sanity of Nintendo. We cover every reveal, every trailer, every disappointment, every excitement, and what few surprises there were, in a very strange, fairly dull, but altogether fascinating E3.

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

©2012 - Present Jonathan R. Lack & Sean Chapman

In the 40 years since its 1979 debut in Japan, Mobile Suit Gundam has grown into one of the most pervasive and beloved franchises in anime history – and this summer, we’re taking a look back at the series that started it all, by watching, reviewing, and discussing in depth all 43 episodes of the original Mobile Suit Gundam (aka Gundam 0079). Sean has been a big Gundam fan for years, but Jonathan’s never seen a single episode before, giving us two unique perspectives on the series as we set out on this journey. This week, we go into the history of both Gundam itself and the Mecha genre at large, before diving into the first 2 episodes of the anime, one of the most confident and compelling introductions we’ve ever seen to a TV series. And over the next four parts of this podcast miniseries, we’ll continue through to the end of the series.

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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

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 E3 2019 on the horizon, we make predictions for all the big shows – Microsoft, Nintendo, Ubisoft, and more – before our full annual coverage next week. With the current generation winding down and Sony sitting this one out, what do we expect from this year’s conferences? We also talk about the latest, craziest trailer for Hideo Kojima’s Death Stranding, the reveal of the confusingly-titled Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, and Jonathan’s newfound love for Dark Souls after many years of Sean and our listeners telling him to play it. Finally, we review Godzilla: King of the Monsters, the latest American Kaiju movie, and one of the zanier blockbusters in recent memory.

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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

What do we talk about this week? What don’t we talk about? We catch up on a trio of movies from the month of May, from the fantastic John Wick Chapter 3: Parabellum, to the depressing live-action Aladdin remake, to the totally okay Detective Pikachu. We also go over the Game of Thrones series finale, and what a muted, unengaged ending it provided. But that’s not all, because we’ve also been playing some video games, like Team Sonic Racing, and the Alpha test for this year’s upcoming Nioh II. Throw in some news about Star Trek, Terminator, Call of Duty, and more, and you’ve got a jam-packed, loopy, and altogether fun podcast that’s bursting at the brim with topics.

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Stream The Weekly Stuff Podcast Episode #286

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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 fun catch-up kind of episode this week, as we cover some big news from the past two weeks, including the reported casting of Robert Pattinson as Batman, HBO’s Watchmen teaser, Disney’s terrifying decade-long release schedule, Nintendo’s Super Mario Maker 2 Direct, and more! Jonathan talks about his delightful descent into masochism playing Cuphead on Nintendo Switch, and works through his feelings on the last two very bad episodes of Game of Thrones before this week’s series finale. And finally, Sean recaps a wonderfully weird mecha anime from the 80s, Armored Trooper VOTOMS, because it’s just too awesomely strange not to share with the world.

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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

Next week, Detective Pikachu arrives in theatres, sure to become the biggest video game movie of all time. Twenty years ago, Pokemon: The First Movie took the United States by storm in a very different way, arriving at the height of the original Pokemon boom and bringing anime mainstream in the West in a way it had never been before. On this week’s show, we revisit that film – in both its English adaptation and original Japanese form – looking back on Pokemon’s theatrical debut before Hollywood takes the reins next week. We also talk about the abject horror of the Sonic the Hedgehog movie trailer, pay tribute to the great Peter Mayhew, and rant about last week’s very bad episode of Game of Thrones.

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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

Marvel’s Avengers: Endgame is the biggest movie in the world right now, and we dive deep with this culmination of a series we’ve been discussing on this podcast since the earliest days of our show! It’s an amazing film in so many ways – on its own terms, but also as a cultural experience – and more than worthy of a long, in-depth talk about all the characters, set pieces, and the surprisingly cathartic sense of finality the film builds to in its closing act. Jonathan also talks about his experiences playing The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild in Nintendo’s Labo VR, and we go over the reveal of Persona 5 The Royal and Persona 5 Scramble, and why Atlus teased a Switch port for so long only to pull away the football with these announcements.

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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

We catch up on two weeks’ worth of news, from the first trailers for Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker and the video game Jedi Fallen Order, to the unveiling of the Disney Plus streaming service, to the confusing reveal of the Xbox One SAD edition. We also talk about the addition of Persona 5’s Joker to Super Smash Bros, and Jonathan gives first impressions of the oddity that is Nintendo’s Labo VR. And for our main topic, we dive in to the first official details of the PlayStation 5, and talk about how the next generation of consoles is shaping up – what’s the strategy, what’s working, and what seems confusing?

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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 packed show this week, as we give impressions of Super Dragon Ball Heroes: World Mission, the first English localization of the Japanese card battle sensation, discuss Kotaku’s bombshell report on the troubled development of Bioware’s Anthem, break down all the problems with Funimation’s dubious new Dragon Ball Z 30th Anniversary Blu-ray set, and weigh in on the very stupid controversies currently miring the video game discourse – namely, whether games like Sekiro should have difficulty options, and what effect the Epic Games Store is having on the PC market. We also reach peak bafflement in our ongoing confusion over the existence and content of the musical Cats, go over some strange Nintendo rumors, and much more.

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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