The Story They Tell

Another week another podcast this week we are talking all thing Survivor and Big Brother in terms of storytelling and antics behind the scence why both shows have left a big impact on me

Let's go exploring as we talk about weddings, Marvel Movies, and Good Anime on this weeks episode of The Story They Tell

Hello on this week's podcast we will be talking about all things anime. Also talking about a concussion I go on a fourth of July weekend and discuss One Piece.

In this episode, we discuss the strengths and weaknesses of telling a story episodically vs telling a story all in one go.

Why did Harry Potter become huge while Percy Jackson's cult following

What was lost in translation in adaptation to both?

Which story elements work in both and which work in only one.

Massive spoilers ahead for both series but looking forward to the Podcast.

Rebranding of the podcast spent all day yesterday changing all socials and RSS feeds has been quite the process.

Listening back to what I have been talking about and realized I just love storytelling so I wanted this to be more about storytelling in all forms.

Books, video games, and movies

Since I have been making fun of these characters on my Instagram @the_story_they_tell I figure what better episode to kick off the series than Harry Potter Vs Percy Jackson.

Bias I love Percy Jackson more than Harry Potter. Percy Jackson and The Sea of Monsters is what really got me into reading and while I have read all the HP books I will say

Harry as a protagonist really never spoke to me as a character.

Percy very much so is a character who is in over his head and knows it and uses humor to cope with being in a world that is out to literally kill him and that always spoke to me

Harry while also in over his head just felt blander and a character who you were supposed to insert yourself into.

I think both have validity as storytelling mechanics but I'm a protagonist guy if your pro is kinda lame it hinders the series.

But before we move on what is The Story They Tell.

The Story They Tell

Harry Potter is about a boy who discovers he has magical abilities and it tracks his time going to school and growing up with a prophecy.

Percy Jackson is about a boy who discovers he has magical powers and tracks his time growing up and going to a camp where he discovers he has magical abilities.

I would say structurally Percy Jackson on the service borrows quite a bit in structure to Harry Potter.

Even the first three books follow a structure that is similar where one adventure is with side character one and the other with side character two.

The big difference between the two worlds is danger levels.

Percy Jackson's world is constantly threatening PJ. Every book in PJ Has scenes where he is hanging out and having a good time when suddenly a monster.

HP world slowly builds to that being the case and the series ends and HP is mostly safe.

There is danger in Harry's world but it oddly feels mostly constrained to the School and more of an active choice for Harry.

Because of this, the reaction of the world is a lot different.

When Percy learns things he gets upset and snarky cause his world is not fair,

Harry for the most part figures things out with wonder and joy.

There are so many scenes where Harry is amazed at some magic thing where Percy would almost make fun of it or just be like neat.

Helps Harry a lot for younger readers because they are also amazed by things in the world. Sense of wonderment.

Another Key Way Both Are Different is their themes

Percy Jackson is basically about Parenthood and the dangers of neglecting your kids.

Harry Potter is about Love and its the ability to conquer evil.

See this in their villans

Let's look at Voldemort and why he is the pure evil Villain.

Half muggle half wizard and his mom made him by having her father drink a love potion even conceived not out of love

Ends up in an orphanage with a hatred of Muggles

Defeated by the love and...

Join me as I discuss my time spent in Billing Montana as well as discuss the story told In a Court of Thorns and Roses

Now the number one anime recommendation podcast

God gave me too many things to like and so this last week I have been watching a lot of anime films

Specifically two by Mamoru Hosoda

Belle and the other is The Boy and The Beast

We will start with his most recent film that came out in 2021 Belle

The story is about a girl named Suzu Naito whose mother died when she was very young trying to save another girl in a river

Since her mothers death Suzu has taken a step back from the world and even lost her ability to sing

It's not until she is introduced to an online world called "U" where she creates an avatar named Belle that she is able to sing and gain popularity

During one of her performances get's interrupted by another avatar called The Beast and it's up to Belle to figure out who this mysterious figure is

and try and help.

Pros

Animation is very very strong,

A deeper theme of connection and kindness is at the forefront

Songs in this are straight up fire

Been listening to them non-stop

The final performance scene is an all-time great animation scene for me.

Cons

The world of U and worldbuilding is basically non-existent - Avatars just kinda float around and like things talk crap

Which I guess is kinda the internet in general but it could have been a lot more interesting - Maybe the argument is it's like the metaverse now

Wreck it ralph 2 had more worldbuilding and lore about how its world worked.

The mystery of who is the beast is not handled in a super interesting way

Weird cause the reveal was actually really great

The movie retreads some ground we have seen before but I think it's a great intro to anime

Again the songs and animation are fire but I don't think it's Mamoru Hosoda's best work

That's because his best work is "The Boy and The Beast" Boom look at that smooth transition

The Boy and The Beast is about a boy named Ren who after running away from home discovers an entire secrete beast world - Everyone is an animal who walks around

There he is taken on as a pupil by Kamatesue a bear who is training to fight in a tournament against his rival Jozen to become Lord of this world

Kamatesue is training the boy but Kamatesue is also very flawed and there relationship and mentor-student relationship get's blurred

To me, the real heart of this story is the relationship between Kamatesue and Ren as they start off as begrudging mentors and study but it becomes more of a story of a father and son

I've had a very strained relationship with my dad who was often militant so I related to Ren in this film quite a bit.

The film goes further to explore trauma which really heats up with the third act and again this film is beautifully animated.

What I think this film does better than Belle by far is pacing there is never a scene when watching at home where I felt like I needed to check my phone

Some really great fight sequences.

There are flaws with it some plot points where you say hey wait for a minute but overall the film is such a breeze to watch that it's hard for me to complain.

Anyway I hope I convinced you to check out some of Mamoru Hosoda work he has a pretty deep filmography up to this point and I would love if more people heard about him

I got a new Instagram hgsf_podcast where you can like and follow I think I might start posting reels asking for episode suggestions

Been on a couple of

David shire

How it's Going So Far

Talk about two things

Dangenrompa

The Owl House

What is Dangenrompa

Makoto who goes to a school full of ultimate students

Makoto then gets hit with the realization that someone is gonna murder someone and the students are F'd like in a game of amoung us.

The thing about the first game of the series is it's not super great.

The concept of the game is but in execution it can be lacking

Because I am an idiot I was able to enjoy the early chapters missing some key information - Bad issue with the translation

All the characters are pretty stupid in their own unique way

20 hours of gameplay.

Recommend watching a playthrough game grumps but it's also free on Xbox

I'm gonna gush about The Owl House.

The Owl House is a show about a human named Luz Noceda

She finds her way to a magical realm called The Boiling Ilse

Mets Eda and her cute fuzzy companion King

Eda is a wild witch who practices all forms of magic in a world where witches are only allowed to choose a coven.

With Luz's help, they will uncover the secrets of the Boiling Isles as well as train Luz to be a witch

The show is said to be aimed at children but also the show was clearly made for an adult audience

Luz's personality is described as the laughter of a newborn baby and I think it's super accurate.

Eda is just everything I love in chaotic type characters

King is the most adorable thing I have ever seen in my life.

The first season is really a slice-of-life adventure series that makes fun of fantasy tropes in interesting and clever ways.

Favorite examples are a game they play called grudgebe which is clearly making fun of Harry Potter.

Even early on the show does an excellent job introducing characters and then blending them in interesting ways.

Once you get to the end of season one going into season two the narrative and plot really pick up and I have to say it may be one of my favorite shows ever

Because of some higher-ups in Disney, the show is only getting three 45 min long episodes to conclude its story because it "Doesn't represent the Disney brand."

To be honest that's a good thing. This show has some of the best LGBTQ + representation I have seen from Disney it's such a kind show and so fun.

I just finished the last episode of season two and it hurts knowing I have to wait and knowing season three is gonna be reduced.

At the same time, I am so happy a show can make me feel this way that I can't help but want to talk about it more

This is why one day with a good co-host I hope to do a new show called Weirdos and Hexes all about The Owl House.

Time for a smooth transition

If you want to follow me on social I created a new Instagram where I try and post a new reel per day.

I also release this show every Wednesday so be on the lookout for that.

If you want to support the show or just me as a creator I have a Patreon called "How it's going so far" if you subscribe I will give a shoutout on this podcast.

Thanks my name is David and that's How it's going so far.

It's time for me to open up a bit more about my life and to tell you all my dating secrets. To be honest, seeing as my longest relationship has been about a year I wouldn't say I have the best advice but I do have some funny stories. Also can you believe we made it to 20 episodes ahhhhhhhhh/