Last time we were left divided on how we felt about Now and Then, Here and There. Well now on the other side of this show we've found unity. Unfortunately we've unified around how awful this show turned out to be. What we thought might turn out to be a show about the refusal of fascist ideology and the fight for a better future somehow managed to backpedal into pro-life conservative nonsense in it's second half. Despite the show being appalling and bad, we manage to have a pretty good time ripping it apart and getting angry over all the ways in which the show manages to fall apart at the end.   Content warnings for this episode's discussion include death, violence against children, abuse, torture, dehydration and starvation, war, war crimes, child soldiers, rape and sexual assault, attempted forced abortion, and shitty pro-life garbage.  

After a short break, we return to your regularly scheduled programing to talk about the 1999 Isekai Now and Then, Here and There! While Austin and Danny are deeply interested by this show's violent depiction of an apocalyptic world consumed by fascism and what it means for one to have to maneuver within said world, Danielle is rightfully dismayed by the show's handling of it's few women characters and the ways in which this show uses sexual violence against women as a short hand for broader systemic violence.

If you thought all that sounds like a lot, wait until you hear the rest of the episode. This was a dense set of episodes to cover, and it's only half the show! 

Content warnings for this episode include death, violence against children, animal death, abuse, torture, dehydration and starvation, war, war crimes, child soldiers, rape and sexual assault.

It's that spooky time of year, so we watched Mamoru Oshii's moody, atmospheric 1985 OVA, Angel's Egg. We gush all over this one from the music, to the striking direction, to the poetic nature of it's storytelling. This one's an all time classic

We're back to finish Bloom Into You, and since the anime offers no attempt at an ending, we turn towards the manga to see how things turn out in the end for Yuu and Touko. Join us as we compare and contrast that half of the manga the anime adapted and then deep-dive into the half that wasn't adapted.

The curse of incomplete Yuri anime adaptions gets the better of us this episode as we discuss the second half of Bloom Into You. Despite this show not giving us a lot of closure on it's core themes and concerns, we still manage to have a lot to say about just how weird this adaption feels, how it might've ended up that way in the first place, and how we would've done it differently given the chance.

Anime Discussed: Bloom Into You 7-13

Somehow we've done 39 episodes of this podcast without talking about a yuri romance anime. Well, it's Danielle's turn to pick the show, and she's here to fix that with 2018's Bloom Into You. We have much to say about these first six episodes ranging from adaptation choices to genre tropes to messy relationship dynamics (though maybe not messy enough) to our scathing indictment of student council narratives—it's a great episode!

Anime Discussed: Bloom Into You 1-6

Send us your questions! You can email us at [email protected] or DM us on twitter @underthekotatsu.

Well we've made it to the end of The Summer of Wixoss™️ but at what cost... Join us as we pick apart this shows attempt to wrap up its plot, get a rundown on the actual rules of Wixoss courtesy of Danielle, and somehow make even more unfair comparisons to Yu-Gi-Oh!

Anime Discussed: Selector Spread Wixoss 7-12

As The Summer of Wixoss™️ blazes on, we move into Wixoss's second season, Selector Spread Wixoss. Is it any better than the first season? Oh hell no, but it does gives a plenty to chew on from extremely questionable sound design decisions to messy depictions of queerness and abuse. Oh, and it wouldn't be a proper discussion of Wixoss if we didn't spend at least a little time comparing it to gold-standard card game anime, Yu-Gi-Oh!

Content Warning for discussion of emotional abuse and manipulation, particularly centered around a queer relationship.

Anime Discussed: Selector Spread Wixoss 1-6

Next time: Selector Spread Wixoss 7-12

Send us your question! You can email us at [email protected] or DM us on twitter @underthekotatsu.

The Summer of Wixoss™️ rages on as we finish the first season of Selector Wixoss. As more of the world of Wixoss is revealed to us, we're left with even more unanswered questions about the nature of the world, but mostly we're just wondering why our new favorite anime sicko isn't in these episodes as much, though she does a have a sick scar now.

We know you've all been waiting for it. It's time for the Summer of Wixoss™! Join us as we start our journey to figure out just what's up with the 2014 Mari Okada written card battle anime about traumatized teenage girls. A show which dares to ask: what if we never explain the rules of the titular card game?