Voxels

Non-Profits, Destiny 2, Horizon Forbidden West, and the Spring 2024 Anime Season.

Show Notes:

Mastodon new 501c3:

Destiny 2 Weapon Sunsetting being Un-sunset (Risen?):

Horizon Forbidden West

Anime Pickup Spring 2024:
 Actually Gay:

Classic Trope Shit:

We don’t do this shit in 2024:

Pretty Great:

 Shows I honestly haven’t started:
Chapters:
  • (00:00) - Mastodon Non-Profit
  • (03:49) - Destiny 2 Un-sunsetting
  • (16:22) - Horizon Forbidden West
  • (18:31) - Anime Pickup Spring 2024

Creators & Guests

Host
Cristian Colocho
I like computers, reading science fiction, manga, bad anime, rap music, and making hot takes.
Host
Sadiq Saif

What is Voxels?

A podcast on Art and Culture by Sadiq Saif and Cristian Colocho

Sadiq:

Hi. I'm Sadiq.

Cristian:

And I'm unfortunately not on the Mastodon board. Now I know it is a huge a huge loss to everyone. We petitioned hard, we petitioned strong, and alas, they did not put me on the board. I I understand everyone has mixed feelings about that. I'm Cristian by the way.

Cristian:

I would just want to say that, I, you know, I don't care what they're doing with the money, what they're not doing with the money, you know, Europeans built different, so, you know, return to stolen artifacts first. But Oh. But Okay. We need some baddies on that board. That's all I'm saying.

Sadiq:

Yeah. This is episode, 7 of Voxels. We're ostensibly a culture podcast. And, oh, I mean, Mastodon is culture, so, we gotta we gotta mention it.

Cristian:

I mean, remember, computers are culture. You feel me? And and and all I'm saying is, like, I'm not I'm not trying to be problematic, but I would not vote for AI if I was on the board unless unless it's the kind of AI that gives everyone free HRT. That's all I'm saying. Vote vote vote me 2024 for the Mastodon board.

Sadiq:

Yeah. I mean, at least, I mean, it's it's kinda like did they all did they did they put fucking Biz Stone on the board? Like, did they not, like is is there a sale on, like, washed up tech bros? Like, what's what's going on?

Cristian:

Listen. You know what's actually the most sketchy part about this? You know what? We're we this is a actually don't give a fuck about the non profit. Right?

Cristian:

It's the one sentence mention of we lost our non profit status in Germany. How do you there's I feel like, at least in US and Canada, one does not simply lose nonprofit status.

Sadiq:

I I have many questions about that. I have significant questions about why the fuck Germany, revoked its, revoked the mass of the non profits nonprofit status. I'm extremely curious what happened there. Like, I am we are not getting enough details there. I'm I'm for sure.

Sadiq:

I'm sure we'll

Cristian:

find out. So anyone in in Germany, here's what you're gonna do. Alright? I'm going to assume that most countries have a version of, like, the Freedom Information request that we have in the US. Right?

Cristian:

Someone should just start FO ing, FOI ing, you know, all the documents you're master on.

Sadiq:

I don't know if FOIA's as a concept exist in Germany, but if if if they're, Let's

Cristian:

Google this. Does FOIA exist?

Sadiq:

I mean, they probably have some sort of government transparency stuff happening, but, if there are if you have any German listeners, please, who especially people who understand

Cristian:

Yes. Germany has one. It went into effect on January 1, 2006. I have the German yeah. Federal act governing access to information held by the federal government.

Cristian:

1st and foremost, shout out to the Germans for having this shit available in English. The US ain't got any of their shit available in Spanish, you know, so shout out shout out to the Germans on that. But yeah. So,

Sadiq:

Yeah. I would I would very much like to know, like, I don't care about this new board. Like, I this is just whatever. Like, who gives a shit, honestly? But I mean, people do give a shit, but also at the same time, it's like, does it really matter?

Sadiq:

Like, it does this is actually day to day, like, whatever? Anyway, I'm I'm curious what happened to the old, the the old the the German, nonprofit, there.

Cristian:

Also also, I do I do wanna just say, for anyone who's out there thinking, oh, this is a way for the mass on developers to funnel money. Like, actual jokes aside, it is stupidly difficult to do that in the US of a nonprofit. To be clear to be clear, if if he wanted if Gargon wanted the funnel money, he would have made it a religious nonprofit. Anyways, let's talk about Destiny 2 weapon sunsetting.

Sadiq:

Okay. Yeah. Let's, let's move let's move on straight from that to Destiny, of course. So Destiny 2.

Cristian:

2 bad topics in a row.

Sadiq:

2 bad topics in a row. We got a weapon. Okay. So this is, like, like, kinda big deal. Right?

Sadiq:

This is this is, like, I so Destiny had the Destiny 2 rather had this controversial, let's just say, thing that they did. What was it, like, a couple years ago now? Like, I don't know.

Cristian:

It was, like, 2,000 19. It was before the pandemic. Because that's when you stopped playing, right, when they started doing the whole gear sunsetting thing.

Sadiq:

I like, I don't care about the sunset. Like, it never really bothered me specifically because I never played Destiny 2 enough to care about what the weapons being sunset. I know a lot of people were, pissed off because a lot of their favorite weapons or gear or whatever, was was being subsidized. People felt, I mean, they they felt like they all this time and investment that they had put it into this game just kinda goes away. So there,

Cristian:

And plus 2 content was also sunset too. Remember? That's when they removed all the old content from the game.

Sadiq:

Yeah. Content. Yeah. Yeah. All the all the content, all the sort of the history of the game was sunset in a way.

Sadiq:

That that was kinda, like, a weird thing. If you're, like, if you're, like, new to the game, there's this whole aspect, there's this whole era of the game that's just not available to play. Right? Unless you, like, go and watch people play it on YouTube or whatever. Like, you can't actually experience it for yourself because it's sunset.

Sadiq:

So they're un do they're undoing part of it. Right? They're undoing the weapons. Specifically, they're gonna unsunsense set, because there's no other good way to say that verb, the other way around. Rise no.

Sadiq:

I and let's let's not let's not do that. So the unsungsiding all weapons, is okay. At this point, in Destiny 2's sort of create sort of state, like, how much does this actually matter? Like, does it I know this sounds like this is a big I mean, it's a big deal, but also like at the same time, like like we are we are approaching what appears to

Cristian:

be the end of Destiny 2's, like Current iteration. Yeah. Okay. So it's weird because we I don't think anyone knows how this is gonna play out until it goes live in the game. And the reason I say this is, is a God Roll gun that I was playing with back in 2017 still good with current content?

Cristian:

I don't know. Right? We don't know if it will be or not and the main reason is there have been new weapon perks, right, new weapon abilities. So all these guns are just getting updated to the current level so you can still use them and actually deal damage. And they're getting current weapon tuning, but they're not getting current weapon building.

Cristian:

Right? And there's a and so in Destiny you have 2 things. Right? You have, like, how the guns actually shoot right, you know, how recoil is, how reload speeds are, that kind of stuff. But you also have perks on guns.

Cristian:

So these are not gonna get you're not gonna get a new roll of it with additional perks. You're gonna get the original perks, and they've added new perks to the game since. So that that's the question mark that everyone has, is, like, are these still going to be viable? That'd be fun to mess around with. Like, I I have a bunch of stuff in my vault I'm gonna take out, you know, I'm a play around with, see how it how it how it plays, but is this actually going to shuffle the meta?

Cristian:

I don't think so, and I think that's why Bungie did it. He is probably looking at it now being like, this is an easy move. It'll make a lot of people happy, but I it wouldn't it's probably not going to break the meta since all the new perks are, like, the things that the game is balanced for and a gun having, like, a really fast reload perk when another one has, like, a precision damage perk that isn't even available to that current that iteration of the weapon you're using, you're going to be outgunned regardless. However, though, I I still think it's important because it is so funny seeing people on x, Twitter, whatever it's called, mast it on Reddit. You know what people did.

Cristian:

Right?

Sadiq:

They they broke down all their stuff at the vault. Right? Yeah. Yeah. They emptied all

Cristian:

their vaults out of all their favorite guns. And people are in shambles right now, bro. People are in shambles. Because they never they didn't think they're gonna get their god rolls back and now they did. And I I am just, like, I'm in my villain phase right now.

Cristian:

I am just drinking these tears.

Sadiq:

That's yeah. That's both funny and, like, yeah. I can understand why people might just be, like, okay. That's that's unfortunate. Like, it's

Cristian:

There's some other good moves, though, in in this blog post. I know it's on the Polygon post, but something else to bring into final shape, I think is super important, is something called fireteam power. So let's say I'm high level because I play Destiny all the time because I don't know how to play other games. I literally do not know what another video game is. But you want to join in, but you haven't leveled up in forever.

Cristian:

So what it's gonna be doing now is because you're in my, team, it's going to raise your your power so we're more balanced.

Sadiq:

Oh, so this so this okay. That's actually good because it it sort of, makes the the whole problem of, like, people who haven't played in a while coming back to the game, and then then they can't participate in, like, group stuff because they are massively underleveled. Right? Right. I I think that's this is a good idea.

Sadiq:

I think this is a smart smart move.

Cristian:

Yeah. So they're they're just trying to do more ways to get people back into Destiny, I think, with, with with all of these changes. Like, they're redoing power difficulty, so it's really only a 40 level or 40 power difference from final shape stuff to endgame stuff. So they're kind of honestly, what I think they're doing is they're trying to phase out, I think, power and have set difficulty for activities, but they it's probably gonna be a huge game rework, right, texture with the values. So they're either trying to standardize power between things to make it, just more of, like, a difficulty selector versus a, a a grind.

Cristian:

Since I think a lot of people what was the seasonal model? Right? GSP? You your power gets reset. You grind back up.

Cristian:

The next season, it resets. And I think a lot of people really fell off that that hamster wheel. Because it is just it's a grind. It's a slog, and it's not fun.

Sadiq:

It's a grind. It's a it's a real it's a real slog, because every every season, it's just, like, you get back into it, and you're just, like, doing the activities all over again. And it's just, like, and then he just gets reset over and over again, and it just feels bad. Like, it doesn't feel good. Right?

Sadiq:

You don't you don't feel like you've actually made any progress in the video game. Right? So

Cristian:

Yeah. And and the nice thing too is with, the final shape is they're so like I said, they're they're sort of compressing it. It used to be a 150 levels for each season. It's only gonna be 40 from the expansion, and then there's they're not raising the cap for the whole year. So you that's per I think that's basically if you beat the the campaign on legendary, you actually get a set of gear at the top of that level.

Cristian:

So if you just want to not grind, you just do the campaign on hard mode and then you're good. They're also doing account wide power too. So if you have different characters, you don't have to regrind shit on your different characters. So you can Oh, that's Yeah. So I think, let's I don't think Bungie is gonna with this expansion, I don't think they're gonna get anyone back, but what I see there what what I see what they're doing is, they're trying to think lay the the groundworks to for eventually when the reset happens, right, to make a game that's far more welcoming for newer players.

Sadiq:

Yeah. Yeah. I yeah. There it I'm seeing a lot of, like yeah. Like, a lot of the building blocks of, like, a completely new a redone, like, sort of progression curve and like progression system, perks, class.

Sadiq:

They're doing multi classing, right? They're gonna do multi classing. So they're, like, basically reworking a lot of the fundamental, like, fit like game mechanics and frameworks that are that are here. So, and I'm not, like, personally interested in this right now. Like, I Destiny, I'm out.

Sadiq:

Like, I've I've been out for a minute, so I am not gonna come back for the final shape. It doesn't make sense, really. Like, honestly, I don't like, nothing nothing is gonna bring me back here because, like, story stuff I've I've been disconnected for a long ass time. So it's it's there's nothing here. But, you know, if this is the kind of game that they're making going forward, like, the next iteration of Destiny, Destiny 3, whatever they're gonna call it, like, I I I'll give it a shot.

Sadiq:

Sure.

Cristian:

Also, they're they're they're working on the crucible. They're introducing one new mode that I think you actually might enjoy.

Sadiq:

Oh, no. Oh, no. What is that?

Cristian:

Gun game. It's called hardware. No abilities. Just gun and grenades.

Sadiq:

That's sure. I I've I've never big been a huge fan of the gun game mode type in first person shooters personally, but it sure. That's I'm glad that

Cristian:

I mean, people have been wanting that forever. Right? Because that's, like, the more halo you can get, I think, where it's, like, you don't you don't do specific builds, right? It's just, you know, start off with a gun and then, you know, you have you could pick up ammo crates on certain time frames and that's it. I'm I think this is gonna probably be Destiny's, like, most popular multiplayer mode since, honestly, I I don't like abilities in competitive shooters that are not objective based.

Cristian:

Right? Overwatch has its problems, but I think Overwatch kind of, like, it they used to have it. Right? Like, a deathmatch move in Overwatch. It wasn't absolute trash.

Sadiq:

No. I mean, Overwatch is designed fully with abilities in mind. Right? Like, it's a game, like, from the ground up, like the p it's a PVP game from the ground up. Right?

Sadiq:

First of all. And it's not like a hybrid of, like, PVP and PVE. Like, yeah, they're trying to do more PVE stuff, but, like, Overwatch at the at the core of its, like, gameplay is is PVP and it's balanced for abilities. So abilities feel better to use in a p like, in in Overwatch than they do in in Destiny, Crucible. Right?

Sadiq:

Because it it just feels it it's in Destiny Crucible also always felt like I'm just getting fucking bombarded with abilities all the time. And it's just like, hey, what's the point of having a good weapon? It it just feels kinda like, it's not it's not fun. Like, the Destiny Crucible is not fun. Like, it hasn't been fun for for a long time.

Sadiq:

I don't know if it's gotten better recently, but, from what I hear, it's it's kinda kinda been kinda been mid for a minute. So, is there anything else? I think, the multi classic stuff. Well, that's not that's a whole other discussion, so we probably just leave that there.

Cristian:

I think I think once the final shape comes out, we can talk about how it's implemented. P is, it is coming out soon enough, and, like, I'm thankfully, I don't think Bungie is going well, assuming somebody doesn't shut it down. I think the plan, at least at Bungie, from what they're doing, is to lay the the groundwork, like I said, for something new and kind of like a reset. And, yeah, I'm I'm excited for the future of Destiny. It looks like the current leadership seems to be taking a lot of the feedback that people have been giving over the years and actually trying to implement it.

Cristian:

Or maybe they just ran out of money and everyone's like, fuck, what do we do? And someone finally pulled up the poster that said, give them what they fucking want you dumbasses.

Sadiq:

Yeah. Yeah. Exactly. I think this all this feels very, like, hey. We're we're we're gonna try all this shit now because, you know, we gotta we gotta prepare ourselves for the next iteration.

Sadiq:

And who knows if the next generation is actually gonna happen? Nothing is set in stone. This kind of shit. Who knows what Sony is thinking, because that's it's all very contingent on Sony willing to fund, development of, another iteration of this game. So

Cristian:

It worked for Halo Infinite though. Like, why is Halo Infinite good? They just brought back the old maps. They they broke the glass in case of emergency. Sure.

Sadiq:

I mean, I I I don't know. I but it's not I mean, I I don't think they care if it's good. I I think they care if it's popular. Like, if it makes it has a strong user base that makes money, for Sony. I mean, I'm not I'm not talking about ourselves.

Sadiq:

I'm talking about Sony. So I'm very curious if they if they wanna keep investing in Destiny. I I hope they do because I I think it would be a shame to just have Destiny kind of end it like that. Like, it's it's it's not. What

Cristian:

game would I play? Like, I can't play Overwatch. The fuck?

Sadiq:

Yeah. What the you gotta play, Final Fantasy 14.

Cristian:

It does have Xbox support now.

Sadiq:

That's true.

Cristian:

I could.

Sadiq:

Yeah. You could. You could get into. Anyways, I finished, I finished this thing up later, game, without Horizon Forbidden West, which came out earlier. Oh, it came out, like, late last month, and I started playing it this month.

Sadiq:

Finished the base game. There's I'm still going through the DLC. The base game took me about 80, 80 hours with doing all the side quests and stuff, and and all the sort of activities, a lot of activity stuff that that is in the game. So it took me 80 hours. I personally, I think this is, like, Horizon Forbidden West is just, like, overall, just like a better game in any every way that the that the first game in the that Horizon 0.9.

Sadiq:

It looks amazing. It the story is interesting. It has, like, good characters. And it's, it's good. It's it's it's it's it's it's it's what I wanted.

Sadiq:

It's it's the open world bullshit, that I needed. So that's, that's all there's not much to say about it without spoiling the game. So I'm just gonna say that the ending of this main story, is interesting. I wonder what's gonna happen. I no wonder what the plan is with this franchise, because it the the ending of the of this game sort of left things up for for grabs.

Sadiq:

So, that's Horizon Forbidden West. Now

Cristian:

RIP Lance Reddick on Destiny and on Horizon.

Sadiq:

Yeah. I absolutely, that's that's the one thing that's good to mention is that Lance Reddick played a role, in in Horizon 0 dawn and also in Horizon Forbidden West. And I imagine this was one of his last, last roles of these wild video games go. So yeah. It's it's it's, yeah, it's it's it like, he his character looks like hit himself in the real world, so it's, like, kinda weird.

Sadiq:

But, yeah, it's it's it's it's sad to see that we're not gonna get any more performances, from Lance. So now we get to the, what we are here all here for, I think, the anime pickup of spring 2024, and

Cristian:

Delayed but here and ready to go with more shows than, just a lot. I didn't even count. Oh my god. Let me count this real quick. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27 ish.

Cristian:

27 shows. Let's get it and Alright. So listeners and Sadik, I have a challenge for y'all. One of these shows is funded by Japan's train system. Guess you're gonna guess which one it is And at the end, I will I'm not telling you which one of these shows is, but I'm just gonna go through it.

Sadiq:

I I think I I think

Cristian:

I can guess with these titles. Titles don't titles don't matter. Wait until you hear the descriptions. But okay. So we're gonna start with the actually gay category.

Cristian:

The reason is, these are, as the title implies, actually gay, where there's like actual, you know, it's not because it used to have, like, that shit. Right? You remember, like, back in the day where it would be, like, technically a Yuri or, like, a Poise Love kind of, genre tag? But it was just baiting the entire time. Like that geisha never happened, it actually happened in these.

Cristian:

So we have Todaima Okuri. I'm terrible at pronouncing Japanese words. So this is, I got baited with this one in a way I didn't think. So this is basically, you know, a Slice of Life show where, 2 husbands are taking care of their kid and just, like, living life, and I'm like, hell yeah, you know what, that's the shit I'm here for, right? I don't want no love story.

Cristian:

Just just, you know, shows that don't even acknowledge it in a way where they make it a plot point or whatever, right, just it's a normal relationship. We need more of that representation. That's what I'm here for. Unfortunately, it's in the omegaverse. Oh, boy.

Cristian:

And I never thought I would link to Wattpad in, one of our show notes, but I have a Wattpad link here explaining what this shit is. So so so so for those of you who have been blessed to never run into the oh my fucking god. Oh, no. I know I'm looking I'm looking at the fucking recommendations on the side. There's a 50 shades of Eriere which is like an attack on Titan 50 shades of gray fan fiction.

Cristian:

Jesus Christ. Oh, no.

Sadiq:

Yeah. Welcome to

Cristian:

what's that? Back.

Sadiq:

Welcome to Wattpad. Yeah.

Cristian:

Let's go back to anyways, I'll do this great explanation on wattpad.com by Vilhayami. So, okay. Basically, in this world, there are 3 types of people, alpha, beta, and omega. And peep and when alphas and omegas date, you can be discriminated against. Really what you want to think about this is basically it's, alphas are tops and omegas are bottoms and anything in between are like switches and shit, and I guess in this world to have 2 tops makes sense, but not a top and a bottom.

Cristian:

When you if you really think about it, 2 tops is just like an unfinished sandwich. So I don't really know how that works. But

Sadiq:

That's a okay. Sure. This is going great. I love this.

Cristian:

Okay. That that is what the show is about. And as a lot of the the plot, there's a side plot of like them facing discrimination for 1 being a top and one being a bottom, even and not, I mean, I guess it's just better than like, some, like, really bad plot about, like, their sexuality, but, yeah. This is, I don't wanna actually judge. I I am kinda memeing on this, but I I am so uninformed on all of this that it could really be, like, a great narrative device.

Cristian:

Right? I just don't know.

Sadiq:

Sure. I am. I just yeah. I I'm I'm, like, vaguely this is also, like, though, mangaverse fiction has also made its way to, like, publish books nowadays. It's a thing that's happening.

Sadiq:

For some reason, I don't know why now, of all times because the manga versus the thing has been around for a bit. So it's not a new it's not a new thing. It's it's been around.

Cristian:

So I thought when I when I read this is omega verse, I legit thought it was like some mech shit.

Sadiq:

No. It's, well, no. But I could see mech Something

Cristian:

in here.

Sadiq:

Mex Mex being involved, for sure. I am sure he could write a Gundam show in the Omega first. So what's, is the show good? Like, is it is it, like, so far, like, like, is it is it, like, are you enjoying the show so far or is it is it decent?

Cristian:

As you can imagine, the parts of the show that are just slice of life things of 2 husbands taking care of their kid is fantastic, and the rest of it is kinda wack. Honestly, if someone put on YouTube just a cut of each episode with a slice of life shit and nothing else, I'd be happy. I would pay money for that.

Sadiq:

Yeah. Well, okay. That that that just seems like they somebody wanted to write, like, an Obagaverse stick, but, like, they didn't really have, like, an actual plot, like, beyond, like, the slice of life stuff, which seems kinda kinda unfortunate, like, a lot of possibilities, left on the table. Whisper Me a Love Song. This one is surprisingly one of the only high dive links on this one, which seems, out of place, but,

Cristian:

Pause. I'm sorry. No. We gotta step back a moment. I'm reading the fucking Wikipedia page of Omegaverse.

Cristian:

This shit originated in Star Trek. What the fuck?

Sadiq:

What? What?

Cristian:

I'm sorry. We we just gotta, like, open the link I just put in the show notes.

Sadiq:

Oh, no. Oh, no.

Cristian:

And you wanna go to the origins part, tropes origins. So the concept of mating and heat cycles among humans is popularized by a 1960 7 episode, Amok Time, of the American television series Star Trek.

Sadiq:

Oh, Pon Farr. Oh my god. Oh, the Vulcan stuff. Fucking nerds, bro. I swear to god.

Sadiq:

Don't wanna like, I'm not look. I'm not I'm not I'm not like, this is this I'll be sure. Oh, what this is interesting, but, that's, I I don't know if that is the origin like, if it's just the origin of the trope or the origin of Omegaverse. Like, I think it's sort of like Omegaverse as a thing, or it just it just means that Omegaverse is like a subset of of this kind of trope. Right?

Cristian:

What a what a great sentence in Wikipedia. The first works were, recognized as ABO, were published in mid 2010. That year in May, a writing prompt was shared on a LiveJournal community dedicated to Supernatural, mentioning alpha males having knots on their, and bitch males without the knots. Inspiring user Ted dirtiest sock to write I ain't no lady but you'd be the tramp. Jesus.

Cristian:

A real person in fiction work. So

Sadiq:

Yeah. There's there's a lot happening here. This this

Cristian:

Let me let me I want I want everyone listening to firstly, if you're still listening, thank you. But secondly, please understand we're not dunking on fan fiction. Fan fiction is, like, a legit ramp to, like, actually get into writing. There's a lot of great stuff on Wattpad and LiveJournal and all of that. What I am mostly dunking on is how exquisite of a narrative device this is to just talk about tops and pans.

Sadiq:

Yeah. It's it's a lot it's it's it's a lot. There's there's a lot happening here. I feel like we could do an entire series, podcast series on the mega bars, and it's

Cristian:

I really don't. I really don't. I would not. I I Yeah.

Sadiq:

I mean, we we we're not us, but I feel somebody could, somebody. There's definitely a audience for this. A group of people or 2 people who could record a podcast about the history of this and sort of the how the so the fandom on this has sort of evolved over the years, because it's a new not a new thing as I mentioned. It's been around for a minute.

Cristian:

Since Star Trek in the sixties, man. Alright. We got we gotta keep this rolling. If you have a megaverse recommendations, please send them to at packetcat10photo.social. Anyways, the next show is Whisper Me a Love Song.

Cristian:

Now this one's cute. It's also the only one in High Dive. I I think you we could just look at this list and, yeah. Sony has oh, choose this 2 on Highdive. Sorry.

Cristian:

Sony has an anime monopoly. Look at all the current Eric shows that are only on Crunchyroll. So this was actually pretty fantastic. It genuinely is really cutesy. Basically, a first day of high school ends up going to a concert, falls in love with how that person's singing, and then tells that person, the band, that they love their singing and she states it in the way that the singer interprets it to mean that she's actually in love with her, and that person starts crushing on her, and it's just like a QT dating story.

Sadiq:

Sure. This sounds it does does look cute, but I love the cover art here with the guitar. So how how is how is it so far? I think there's, like, 2 episodes.

Cristian:

Music's good, and it's basic it it it, like, has a confession and all that the first few episodes, which I appreciate. This is not really spoiling anything, but you're not gonna be waiting until the end of the season to, to actually have a confession. It happens in the first few episodes, which I I I'm here for it. I'm here for it. It.

Cristian:

And I can already tell there's gonna be, like, another girl who has a crush on them, who's gonna be in the middle of them, and some good drama coming, but at least, like, they're already partnered up, and and that's what I'm here for. So I respect it. Like I said, this is why it's in the actual gay category.

Sadiq:

Yeah. That sounds good. That sounds good. Many sides of voice Actor Radio. I'm guessing this this is like an industry, like, their show, like, talking about a radio program?

Cristian:

Yeah. Yeah. So basically, it's 2, the 2 2 girls who were in a the same high school class. They are both voice actors, like street idols. They do voice acting for anime, performance stuff, all that kind of stuff, right, and they get a radio show.

Cristian:

And it's how they meet each other, and they initially don't like each other. So this one is honestly, I I we didn't have enough to put in the kinda gay category, but really this one's like kind of, because this is Tag de Zuri, but all the stuff is Japanese only. None of it's been translated, so I wasn't able to spoil the show to see if it actually got, like, out of the bait category. But what I see they're setting up is, like, they end up falling for each other while they initially don't like each other through their work.

Sadiq:

Right. It's it's a enemies to lovers thing, a trope, which yeah. Okay.

Cristian:

And because they both are playing different personas. Right? Like, who they are while they're being actors and and doing the the the radio stuff is different than their actual personality, so you have that gap rate, and then them trying to navigate their own personas while navigating each other. The drama has been well written so far, and the the character is really human, where, like, they have flaws, their arms are not their flaws, a lot of the devices are making mistakes and trying to learn from it through each other. So even if it never gets to the point where it goes like full gay, I'm I'm actually pretty happy with with what's been presented so far.

Cristian:

And if it just developed sort of, like, friendship and stuff like that, I'd be pretty alright with it. Because there's not much baiting in it. You know?

Sadiq:

Yeah. Classic we got some tropes. Classic tropes.

Cristian:

Classic trope shit. Yeah. Alright. So we got a new gate. So Isekai and VR MMO

Sadiq:

put together Oh my god.

Cristian:

Let's fuck use this for time travel.

Sadiq:

Oh, lord. Of course.

Cristian:

Dude gets stuck in a VR MMO that's a death game. And then he beats the final boss and wakes up in the that virtual world 500 years later.

Sadiq:

Sure. Okay. So so it's like a Shonen anime, I guess, so far? Or is it, like, kinda like,

Cristian:

Yeah. Yeah. It's like a Shonen stuff. It's it is a it is a trope done well, so it's like a good popcorn anime. Right?

Cristian:

It it it's honest about what it's gonna give you and it delivers and that's what I'm here for. You know, this is not genre pushing. This is, you know, more metro booming than alchemist.

Sadiq:

Okay. Sure. That's a analogy. I get it. I understand.

Sadiq:

It's it's it's, okay. The studio apartment this is a great title. Studio Apartment, Good Lighting, Angel Included. Great title. What is this one about?

Cristian:

One of the few harem animes of the season. The declining popularity. It's all hesekai trashing nowadays. But alright. So studio apartment, good lighting, age included.

Cristian:

Dude is an awkward high schooler. We're we're at Eton. He wakes up one day and there's a literal angel sleeping on his balcony and moves in with him. And then he starts meeting other misspoke girls to add to his harem.

Sadiq:

How problematic is this one? Is it problematic at all, so far?

Cristian:

One girl causes a blizzard because he sees her changing. Like, that's probably the most problematic it's gotten. Like, actually causes a blizzard because she her magical power is that she's, like, a snow person.

Sadiq:

Okay. Alright. Sure.

Cristian:

I feel like if if I had adlibs on the board, I'd put, like, a push of t after the snuff person thing. Jesus. Anyways, yeah. It's, it's a hot garbage. It's absolute hot garbage.

Cristian:

It's very honest about it. Okay. Unnamed memory. This one could be good. It could be bad.

Cristian:

We're not. It depends on if they do time travel. In what it is, what unnamed memory is, basically he is a prince, the main character, and he had a curse placed on him that he cannot have a child. So he climbs a tower where a witch can grant any wish, and the wish is to, you know, make it so he can have children, but he does it clever by saying, you should live with me for a year. So it's kind of their story as he lives as a witch, and it's mostly been exploring, like, the world so far, doing world building, her relationship, his relationship, his, you know, just running the the castle, all that kind of stuff.

Cristian:

And the reason that it could be wack is there's been a few like hints of time travel, and I don't if it ends up being a time travel story, I'm a just drop it. But everything about like the whole witchcraft and curses and, like, this mystical world stuff, I'm here for

Sadiq:

it. Okay. Yeah. What okay. What is what are these titles, bro?

Sadiq:

A salad bowl of eccetrics.

Cristian:

Okay. So this one is an Isekai in a different direction where someone from Mystical World comes to our world.

Sadiq:

I see. Okay. Reversesaka. Okay. Reversesaka.

Cristian:

This the the subgenre. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Garage punk.

Cristian:

Yeah. But yeah. So basically, a princess from another world comes to our world and works of a detective. And it's kind of a slice of life thing. I I think what holds it is it's just strong characters, but it is very much a a gag show.

Cristian:

Right?

Sadiq:

Oh, like it's like just comedy, like it's it's doing,

Cristian:

Yeah. It's more of a comedy show playing on the tropes than that. It's a it's a fun watch. I I'm I'm here for it. Not there's honestly not in a lot of gag shows where the gags are not based off of, like, just incompetent man does dumb thing.

Cristian:

Right? Or woman does, like, slightly lewd thing. It's just a comedy show. And you know what? We need more of that in our lives.

Sadiq:

Oh, this title is is I love this title. I'm gonna read this one. As a reincarnated aristocrat, I'll use my appraisal skill to rise up the world. Oh, god. This is I guess, this is a this is a isekai in a way, or is it like a like a, okay.

Sadiq:

Isekai. Yeah.

Cristian:

Yep. Yes. One of the Isekai's. So basically, he dies in our world, wakes up in another world, and he has the appraisal skill that no one else has in his magical world, where he can appraise people off of their values. The only reason this didn't get put into the we don't do this shit in 2000 24 category, spoiler alert, the next category, is this show handles slavery in a way that is nice, which is to free them.

Sadiq:

Oh, okay. That's progress.

Cristian:

When slavery is spent in the physical world, freeing them is the only only solution provided.

Sadiq:

That's, that's good. That's, that's I mean, it's a low bar apparently, for for us to. But okay. Is it is the show so far, this I've seen there's, like, 4 episodes.

Cristian:

It's basically about, like, a a child, like, playing, Tower Sims, what are the games where you just get like resources and people and you would just delegate them to do things? Like a grand strategy game. It's kind of like watching someone do a grand strategy game of just like finding people who are like broke, but actually would be really good like builders or fighters or whatever, and then putting them in those roles. It's a really weird sentence to say out loud now that I'm saying it out loud. But, alright, we got the next one here.

Sadiq:

Chilling in another world with level 2 super cheat powers. This this

Cristian:

Honestly, the best part about this is just having you read all these names out.

Sadiq:

Yeah. These titles, I swear, are so good. Honestly, I love these.

Cristian:

So this is a a double Isekai.

Sadiq:

Oh god. Okay.

Cristian:

Guy in one magical world gets Isekai to another magical world. Yeah. Why do I like this show? Honestly, it's basically because he does not like, his entire thing is he got sent to this new world. They left him out to die because they didn't think he was powerful.

Cristian:

Turns out he's powerful. Dude just, like, wants to have a house in the woods and relax.

Sadiq:

Relatable relatable content.

Cristian:

And people keep trying to fuck with him up and and trying to, like, fuck with him while he's doing that. And his entire goal is, like, to not fight the demon army or whatever, but just to vibe out. Also, too, this one, there's actually it handles, once again, slavery in a progressive way.

Sadiq:

Okay. Sure.

Cristian:

The everyone keeps recommending that he, uses a spell to bind or, what's there's another word for, like, enslaving, but basically like that. Right? And he's, like, he just tells everyone no and he has, like, a whole speech on why he can't do that.

Sadiq:

Yeah. Alright. I I'm glad we're moving out of the face of Adamib with slavery just, like

Cristian:

yeah. Alright. We have the next category. We don't do this shit in 2024.

Sadiq:

Okay. So do we got slavery? Or is this what

Cristian:

Yep. That's what this one is. This is why this one got dropped.

Sadiq:

Oh, and okay. Let me read this one. An arc demon's dilemma, how to love your elf bride. Oh, boy.

Cristian:

He bought the elf bride. Anyways, we got the next show. There's nothing else to say about this one. There's really nothing else to say about it.

Sadiq:

Okay. First of all, no. No. No. No.

Sadiq:

Before you move on, this shit has, like, 5 stars on Crunchyroll, bro. Like, I are anime nerds okay? Like, what's what's going

Cristian:

on? She's a cute elf girl that he bought, and no one wants to address the fact that he basically forcibly coerced her into this loving, relationship.

Sadiq:

Okay. Let's well, what this one, Nijeon animation.

Cristian:

It's love live. And ever since I showed the gacha game, we don't do that shit no more. That's why it's in that category.

Sadiq:

Oh, that's, okay. Alright. We got pretty great shows. I'm I'm curious. These these are the ones I'm curious about.

Sadiq:

Grandpa and grandma turn young again. Is this like a reverse?

Cristian:

So it's a it's a slice of life comedy where they eat a golden apple and they revert back to their twenties, but it's only for a few years until they eventually pass. So it just kind of, you know, goes if you were in your seventies or eighties and had the body of a 20 year old, how would you live your life? It's funny. It's a heartwarming watch. You know, I I you can't you could fuck up a premise like this, but they thankfully didn't, and I've been enjoying every episode.

Cristian:

There's not maybe much substance per se, but you don't need that sometimes.

Sadiq:

A train to the end of the world.

Cristian:

Alright. So when 7 g is deployed into Japan, the world ends. And this show, they one of the girl these 5 girls, one of them loses their friend during the 7 g incident and they ride a train or

Sadiq:

By 7 g, do you mean like cellular technology?

Cristian:

Yes. Cellular technology. 7 g. Yes. That's what I'm referring to.

Cristian:

So after 7 g is deployed,

Sadiq:

we use

Cristian:

one of their friends, and they're trying to take a train around Japan to find their friend. And each, like, town in Japan has been, like, ruined in different ways. In the town that they live in, everyone turns into an animal once they turn 21. There's another town where everyone turned into a goat person. One town where everyone has mushrooms on their head and they'll eventually die due to the fungus infections.

Cristian:

Sure.

Sadiq:

Great premise. I okay. Is it so it so it's it's, so you like this one. So that's is is it's pretty good then.

Cristian:

You gotta listen to the opening song. Actually, you know what? We're gonna I'm gonna link this shit to you right now because you're gonna you're gonna listen. We're gonna basically I'm gonna cut this so it gets like, you know, you know, you know, actually like, linked out or, you know, it's not 20 minutes of you listen to a song, but I think this is the let me open it up first. Is this it?

Cristian:

Yes, it is. Alright. Listen to this track. Oh, I gotta find the the DJ drop tag for it. Please listen to it and then tell me

Sadiq:

what you think of it. It's it's so dissonant for the themes of the show. Right? Like, the, like, the song, the the visuals of this look like very, like, movie esque visuals, like girl cute girls doing good things on on a train vibe. Like, that's the vibe I'm getting from the opening.

Sadiq:

But, so it's is is that the is that what you wanted to, like?

Cristian:

Yeah. This one this is this one's genuinely a great show. There's no manga behind it. As we said earlier, as y'all could probably imagine, this is the one funded by Japan's public train agency.

Sadiq:

Oh. Oh. Hence the train. Okay. That's that's cool.

Cristian:

The entire point of the show, I'm pretty sure, is to convince people to ride trains to rural areas. Because they're going from rural town to rural town, which are probably the least, used train lines. Yeah. Tracks.

Sadiq:

Travel routes. Yeah. The travel yeah. That's, I mean, the concept whoever came up with the story concept about the 7 g, I just I just wanna say great idea. Like, honestly

Cristian:

Especially because that person works with a fucking train agency.

Sadiq:

Yeah. That's so good. That's that's cool. That's cute.

Cristian:

You know, so whoever whoever wrote works for the train agency was like, fiber optic is the way to go. Stop fucking doing wireless technologies. Hardline shit together.

Sadiq:

Yeah. Yeah. So the next one we have, Konosuba, god's blessing on this wonderful world.

Cristian:

This is the, 3rd season of this show. This is an Isekai that I mean, you've you've not it's super huge. You've you've not watched it, but the entire point of it is that it just shit talks other yousekai guys. Like, it's a parody of all of it.

Sadiq:

Oh, I see. Okay. Okay.

Cristian:

And it's very funny. It's it's it's because every every character is a shit character and they're all playing into it. Like, they're all shitty people.

Sadiq:

And so it's satire. It's, like, trying to trying to satirize, like, piece of guys. Okay. Okay. This one, I next one, this one, Spice and Wolf, Merchant Meets the Wise Wolf.

Sadiq:

So I'm a little confused about this. Is this, like, a remake of the first season of Spice of the World?

Cristian:

Of it.

Sadiq:

Oh, okay. Of all of it. Okay. I have watched Spice of the World. This was a long, long time ago, like, when I was a teenager at this place.

Sadiq:

It was, like, 10, 15 years ago. So, I'm curious. The do you did you watch the original Spice and Wolf?

Cristian:

When I was, like, 11 or I haven't seen it since. So my thing is I don't remember what happened in Spice of Wolf. It's been so long.

Sadiq:

I don't I vaguely remember what happens, but I don't remember the details. I know there's the the wolf girl and the merchant. Right? I know that much, but I don't remember, like, more than that.

Cristian:

Yeah. This one's more faithful, though, to the books than the anime was. So think of this is the Fullmetal, Alchemist. Brotherhood Alchemist to the Fullmetal Alchemist.

Sadiq:

Mhmm. Mhmm.

Cristian:

You know, I've always wondered, why did they remake it to be Brotherhood? Brotherhood's better. But I've actually I need to look into that. Why why did they remake it? Also, this is I post on Mass on Yote, extra hard to search for old stuff on Google.

Cristian:

I was trying to find, like, blog posts and forum posts from

Sadiq:

How much did you originally was originally airing. Yeah. Yeah.

Cristian:

It is so hard to find results that go that back. I'm not even talking about dead links. Like, even if you force it, you can do, like, a site, you know, before, modifier on Google to to only do a a year before results, you still get almost nothing in the index.

Sadiq:

Yeah. I mean, if you want, like, all the reviews, you probably need to go to, like, places like buy animal list or whatever and look at the look at the user reviews there. But it's that's not gonna yeah.

Cristian:

Yeah. That's probably it. Because even Reddit, like trying to search Reddit for 2,008. When did Spice Wolf air? Spice and Wolf.

Cristian:

Was it 2,008? It was 2,006. Spice and Wolf aired okay. We're gonna go to my anime list. Winter 2008.

Cristian:

Yeah. So it aired the same seas the same year as Clannad.

Sadiq:

Wow. What a year. That's a that's a hell of a year. I mean, 2008 apparently a great year for anime. Could not end Spice of Wolf.

Sadiq:

Yeah. Spice Wolf.

Cristian:

Dang Spice Wolf is only 8 on on my anime. So do you think it'd be a 9? Dang, do

Sadiq:

you think it'd be a 9? Dang, do you think it'd be a 9? I I think it's it's one of the shows that if you if you're, like, not down with the concept, like, it it can feel a little bit, like, you know, not kind of boring maybe, but I I personally, this is a long time. I don't even know if I would enjoy it now, thinking about it, like, nowadays, if I would enjoy a show like this. But, how how how are you finding it so far?

Sadiq:

Like, watching this.

Cristian:

I mean, it's a fun show about a wolf girl and a merchant going around. That's really all that we've had so far. And, you know, for any for all the furries out there, like, I know this is this is this is it for y'all, you know, like, y'all are eating right now. Paws up. I get it.

Sadiq:

Yeah. It's true. Yeah. Yep. The Spice and Wolf is one of the, it's it's like the Lion King of anime, basically, because, you know, it's it's like there's so much furry shit in there.

Sadiq:

So Haijun number 8. Is this like a Godzilla thing, or is this like

Cristian:

This is like a a shonen show. So basically, this is this is a hard battle anime. So lives in a world where there's monsters that attack Japan all the time. Right? And there's a defense force.

Cristian:

And this guy and his best friend both promised his kids to join the defense force. Xi is in the most elite squad. He is a fucking janitor. Okay. So he's in his thirties now, and he's feeling washed out.

Cristian:

Until one day, he gets, like, subjected to some experiment and can randomly turn into a kaiju and decides to go join the defense force to fight the monsters as a monster. It's good. It's actually really good. It's really the animation is great. The world building's great.

Cristian:

The characters are great. I this is the number one manga in Shonen Jump right now, I think, for the past few years.

Sadiq:

Oh, that's I wow. That's interesting. Okay. Danger in my heart, another another high dive anime.

Cristian:

So so this one technically aired last season, but I forgot to put it in the wrap up, so I'm sneaking it in here. Okay. Okay. This is, one of the best, romance stories I have seen in almost a decade. It is about a socially awkward boy and a girl who is a model and them, like, falling in love with each other.

Cristian:

And the amount of character growth for both of them is fantastic.

Sadiq:

Okay. Seems cute. It goes

Cristian:

from edgy teenager to, like, soft and caring guy by the end of it, and it's just fucking just chef's kiss. Fantastic. Watch it.

Sadiq:

Now we've got a I don't know if you wanna go through these, but we got a whole list of shows that you haven't started because there's so many of these, so many shows this.

Cristian:

Yeah. I'm, like, I was already at 20. I couldn't really like, the last 7 because I'm also trying to beat Tears of the Kingdom right now and, like, Destiny and do other things except to watch anime. So yeah, the there's some shows here. I haven't seen any of them.

Cristian:

Do any of them stand out to you? Actually, the one is Tonari no Yoko I said, I think is actually one that I do wanna check out when I get some time. This is about someone where, like, it's a slice of life where people live in a town where, ghosts also exist. Yokai is right. Supernatural beings.

Cristian:

And it's just sort of like a a slice of life with that.

Sadiq:

Okay. That does seem kinda kinda cool. So which one out of out of these ones, if you had to, like, say, one an one anime that you recommend people try, this season, which one would it be?

Cristian:

Oh, actually, wait. The studio that's doing my toga, Tonari no Yokai san is affiliated with Studio Ghibli?

Sadiq:

And that's that's that makes sense because it's a very Ghibli esque concept. This is basically, like, one of the Ghibli movies, which

Cristian:

one? Voice video Linden, this is a is it Chinese one or a Swiss I don't know. It I don't think it's a maybe it's not. I'm just really going off Crunchyroll reviews, and I don't sorry to anyone who reviews shows on Crunchyroll. I don't trust your journalistic integrity.

Sadiq:

Jesus Christ. Yeah. It it it's very much seems like My Neighbor Totoro are like a like based off like that sort of concept where it's it's like a magical realism anime, basically, where, you know, you live in a world where it's, like, youkai and, like, magical beings exist. But it's, like, otherwise, like, the the a normal world, you know? Yeah.

Sadiq:

That's a that's a concept that's been around for a minute.

Cristian:

But you're you're asking if people chose people should watch. Kaiju number 8, watch that. Dangers in the Heart. Train to the End of the World just for that bopping theme song.

Sadiq:

Yeah. It's it's it's good. Yeah. And if you like trains, I guess.

Cristian:

I know I know there are people who really love trains, maybe. The trainspotting in Mastodon, like, listen, that's the Venn diagram of fuck yeah, sign me up. It's all about of eccentric, I would also watch that, and Whisper Me a Love Song. If I had to give it, like, 5 that will respect your time, those are the ones I I would say go for.

Sadiq:

Which one do you think you're gonna drop? With so far, like, if if there's, like, the which ones do you think are, like you feel like maybe are not gonna work, and you're just gonna

Cristian:

I think the ones are probably gonna drop just because I don't I don't I'm probably watching it for nostalgia only, Spice and Wolf. Like, I don't know if I'm gonna finish it.

Sadiq:

And that's fair. I I think that's fair. Honestly, I don't think Spice and Wolf needed to be remade. Like, personally, like, in my in my honest opinion, I think the original still works. Like, if if you wanna watch that happen

Cristian:

finished it though. I thought they never finished, like, the the full story.

Sadiq:

I don't I don't.

Cristian:

So what do you do? A season 2 or a full remake of all the books. Right? Like

Sadiq:

I I guess, I'm I'm like, either way, I'm not really bothered. Like, it's sort of like like, I'm like, I I I remember watching both seasons of season festival back when back when they, back when they came out. And I didn't feel the need for more. And I just still don't really, but that's I guess people feel differently about this. I know Spice and Wolf is, like, a beloved anime, and I I imagine people a lot of nostalgia coming into this.

Sadiq:

At this point, people who have watched Spice and Wolf when it aired are now, like, 30 like I am. So they're like, you know, give me some of that stuff from my teenage years nostalgia going on. So I don't know. I'm not personally, I'm not really interested, I guess. Like, it's fine.

Sadiq:

Like, sure. I'm glad we're getting a remake, but it's not it's either way I'm not. I'm not really particularly pretty intrigued by it. Kaiju number 8 sounds interesting, and and and the romance anime seems kinda cool. I like especially the dangers in my heart and was for me a love song, especially seem my question about High Dive, how like, is it is it is the service reasonably good, or is it just, like, kinda, like, the average streaming service shit going on?

Cristian:

HiDive doesn't track watch history. What? Why? It it fails to track watch What? It's almost It it's like I watch an episode.

Cristian:

I was been rewatching Clannad as as one does. Clannad is only on Hidive right now. So basically, I wanna go and, you know, watch an episode. What do you do? You go to click on the show and it shows none of your watch progress.

Sadiq:

So it does it doesn't like, if you click play audio, does it just start from the beginning again? Like, what what happens?

Cristian:

That is correct. From the beginning of the series. And the watch list is you find the watch list under account settings. And this is the best part is they just redesigned the entire fucking app. It used to be worse.

Sadiq:

I how do you not have watch history? Like, that's, like, the most basic feature of a streaming service. Like, I I'm confused, honestly. What is this? Like, I like, I I don't want sody to be, like, the fucking monopoly here.

Cristian:

Listen, I don't support monopolies, but if if they just bought HYDIVE just so you can have your control interface for it, like, I'm not I'm not in support of this.

Sadiq:

I don't know what monopoly is not good, but if this is the kind of competition we're getting, like, what what is happening?

Cristian:

Lina Khan, let them have it.

Sadiq:

Jesus Christ, dude. Okay. Let's wrap up, this episode of, Voxels episode 7, which is a weird episode. We talk about Mastodon. We talk about Destiny.

Sadiq:

How about Horizon Forbidden West? Are we talking about a bunch of anime? Good show. You can find us as always, on voxels.fm. The show notes are gonna be there.

Sadiq:

You can find me on Mastodon at packetcat@inforward.socialandonmywebsite, saldixafe.com. Christian, where do people find you on the world wide web?

Cristian:

Yeah. You can find me discoursing, actually, I'm I'm post discourse now because I use Beeper. I don't use fuck chat apps, I use just one app for all, on mastodon@loficarrotsmstdn.plus. You can also find me on my website, chosefind. Website.

Cristian:

And, yeah, until next time. Once again, Gargan, yeah, hit me up. You got my number. Come through. You know, I I slide in.

Cristian:

I slide in. I I'll defend I'll defend everyone at Mastodon from the ops. I really don't know what I'm saying right now.

Sadiq:

Yeah. Let's let's let's let's wrap this up. Let's just thank you everyone for listening. Bye. Bye.