The X-Men anime is closing in on its series finale, and in this penultimate episode, Takeo goes full kaiju and takes revenge on Mastermind (but not on his mother, to our disappointment). Before Mastermind gets his comeuppance, he puts on the Dark Phoenix cosplay one more time and tricks Scott into believing he's the cause of mutantkind's destruction. The brainwashing of Scott works weirdly well, up until the real Jean (?!?) shows up to save him. In the background, Beast and Wolverine are creeping out Neuron with their commitment to torture-play.

Next week's episode: "Destiny - Bond," X-Men (Marvel Anime)

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Who's the worse villain: Mastermind, or Dr. Yui Sasaki? Maddy and Ryan have to keep re-evaluating that question every week, because the revelations about the extent of their evil have us shocked (and the X-Men, too). Apparently, Dr. Sasaki worked with the U-Men (!!!) in order to develop her mutant "cure," and she was doing it all for her poor son Takeo, who's been living in a glass tube in the basement all these years. Mastermind found that out, so he's been manipulating Takeo secretly on his own time. To quote Logan in this episode: "What the hell???"

Next week's episode: "Revenge - End," X-Men (Marvel Anime)

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We aren't sure how Mastermind would describe himself (bisexual? gay? queer?) but after this week's episode, we're certain he's somewhere on the rainbow spectrum. That's not much of a "revelation" (or even a surprise), but this queer-coded super-villain does have plenty to reveal to Emma Frost in this episode, and it's not just fun facts about how much he loves her diamond stilettos. Meanwhile, Beast politely owns Dr. Sasaki several more times, and Logan continues to be the dumbass we love best.

Next week's episode: "Countdown - Truth," X-Men (Marvel Anime)

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Despite the repeated pleas from the X-Men, and the fact that it's very obvious something horrible is going on at the Sasaki Institute, Dr. Yui Sasaki adamantly refuses to tell anybody what's going on. It's also becoming very obvious that she's involved with whatever it is, because in this episode of the X-Men anime, two of her lab assistants turn into terrifying monsters. The X-Men manage to take them down, but by the time they get to monster #2, everybody is fed up with Dr. Sasaki's lies. Elsewhere, Professor X falls into a portal to hell. Truly, we cannot wait for next week's ep.

Next week's episode: "Revelations," X-Men (Marvel Anime)

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Todd rejoins Maddy and Ryan this week as the X-Men anime kicks its plot into high gear. Tons of new characters show up, and we finally learn the identity of the strange little boy that Professor Xavier has been seeing in his mind palace/nightmare realm. It's Takeo, the son of the mysterious and suspicious Yui Sasaki ... and his dad is Xavier! In other words, Dr. Sasaki is basically a rewrite of Moira MacTaggart, and Takeo seems like a cross between Proteus and Legion, which might explain all of the weird shit happening in Dr. Sasaki's lab. Because SHE'S not going to explain any of it.

Next week's episode: "Lost - Signs," X-Men (Marvel Anime)

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The X-Men anime finally gives us a big splashy fight scene for Sublime in which he shows off all of the data he's collected on the X-Men across multiple episodes... just in time for the X-Men to kill him. But is he really dead? And what's up with Yui Sasaki, the mysterious redhead who shows up at the very end of this week's episode? Maddy and Ryan are having a lot of fun with this show, because it's pretty hard to predict how all of the threads of this mystery could tie up.

Next week's episode: "Betrayal - Shock," X-Men (Marvel Anime)

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The X-Men anime has some truly stellar writing for Scott Summers, which is to say, he is a massive dick in this episode and it's totally in-character. Instead of engaging with his anger towards Emma Frost (as well as his attraction towards her), Scott decides to take it out on poor little Hisako in the Danger Room. Meanwhile, Hisako comes to terms with her mutant identity after a pep talk from Ororo and Emma, after which Emma decides to use Xavier's telepathy to prove Scott wrong. Not much actually happens in this episode, but it's still satisfying to see the character drama play out.

Next week's episode: "Conflict - Contested," X-Men (Marvel Anime)

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Emma Frost discovers her diamond powers as a secondary mutation at the outset of the fourth episode of the X-Men anime, and it causes quite a stir. Beast convinces Emma that she must return with him to the Xavier Institute so that he can run tests on her, and Hisako comes along, after getting permission from her parents. Wolverine then fights a mutant on top of the Blackbird, and we have no idea what's going on there. Also we talk about Sonic the Hedgehog characters a lot in this week's episode. That's just the kind of day we were having.

Next week's episode: "Power - Unity," X-Men (Marvel Anime)

[Watch along with us on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/show/SCKI-YJqasV8rmWSelhmkPBg?season=1&sbp=CgEx]

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Maddy and Ryan invite Todd Harper back onto the show for the introduction of Emma Frost on the X-Men anime. We talk about her outfit, her boobs, the boob window on her outfit, and so much more (as it relates to Emma's boobs). Scott and Logan continue their sexual tension, and Scott tries to convince everybody else that Emma can't be trusted. This works fairly well until Hisako wakes up and makes it clear that Emma is her favorite person ever, at which point the X-Men realize they're all going to have to work together if they want to save Hisako and escape the U-Men.

Next week's episode: "Transformation - Secondary Mutation," X-Men (Marvel Anime)

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After the first episode of the X-Men anime, Maddy and Ryan didn't think they'd be doing much political analysis of what mutants represent in this world, but the second episode introduces anti-mutant bigotry once again. The show's main villains are the U-Men, a group of mutant-hating cyborgs who have been kidnapping mutant kids from a small town in Northern Japan. The X-Men head overseas to investigate, and along the way, there are a lot of anime villains who giggle ominously. (Also, we forgot to do the "who's gay" section, for some reason. It'll be back next week, we promise.)

Next week's episode: "Armor - Awakening," X-Men (Marvel Anime)

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