We tear ourselves away from Fire Emblem for a couple of hours to talk about the very good Summer 2026 anime season.
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0:00 Intro where we struggle to not talk about Fire Emblem: Fortune’s Weave
7:29 Smoking Behind the Supermarket with You
20:15 The World is Dancing
33:20 Draw This, Then Die
49:49 Chainsmoker Cat
1:05:22 Young Ladies Don’t Play Fighting Games
1:18:59 Digimon Beatbreak
1:26:28 Daemons of the Shadow Realm
1:36:44 Goodbye, Lara
1:58:37 Jaadugar: A Witch in Mongolia
2:18:34 THE GHOST IN THE SHELL
Jaadugar might have a good story and good characters but it doesn’t have smoking catgirls in it does it. #yaninekoforaoty.
On a more serious note even though I liked Sayonara Lara’s ending from a narrative and thematic perspective your guy’s conversation really shed some light on why others did not take it so well. What always bothered me about this show is that, despite being one of the main characters, Mari never really got much to do or really develop her relationship with Lara throughout the show. Like, she gets 1? Maybe 2 episodes focused on her and then she’s shoved into the background for most of the show. Why?? Looking back, maybe that should’ve been the first sign that something was off, but hindsight is 20/20 after all. The gays really do deserve better.
Did Gee ever find the article he sourced that quote from? I need to know what kind of mental gymnastics the director was trying to pull.
Yeahhh I’m probably #yaninekoforaoty or at least my favorite of the season, despite many red flags and warning signs going off in my anime critic brain. It’s very good.
I think Sayonara Lara could have benefitted from 5-6 more episodes. I know that doesn’t fit the anime season format but I don’t think it needed a full extra season. That would have helped the ending though. Gee did not find the article(s) but he did give us plenty to read on the Mongol empire.
Also, if Ogedei (the fictionalized version. not the real guy) is the Yang-Wenli in this analogy, then clearly Fatima is the Reinhard. She’s got the traumatic backstory like him too. Muhammed would be the Kercheis, for obvious reasons. I’m like imagining a scene where Fatima looks to the stars and wistfully goes, “If only Muhammed were here”