Are Fun Things Fun?

It's here! The culmination of so much anime watching -- the AFTF Seasonal Roundup and Podcast In-Review! Rankings, ravings, rantings and rambunctious rambling abound inside. A classic "Mallory and Ranka Argue A Lot" episode for true die-hards to enjoy. There's a lot of spoiler segments but I mention them as they come up and I hope that's good enough for you <3 Start to 50m...

Returned once again with another (hopefully) (somewhat) well-known Kirara title to close out the season! Gakkou Gurashi sure turned a lot of heads with its gotcha bait-and-switch when it dropped in 2014, but is it really just all shock value? Did it only turn heads or did it turn Ranka and/or Mallory into zombie revivalist believers? Listen and discover <3 BTW this show has ACTUAL SPOILERS! so...

Several shows just for you!! Wakaba Girl, Komori-san wa Kotowarenai, Ooya-san wa Shishunki, Pan de Peace, Mangirl! and Aiura Wow, that's 6 whole shows!! Wait they're how long? Aw beans!!! Ok well enjoy lol

We return!!!! Thank you all for suffering the long long wait but: AFTF Fridays is back yet again with a bona-fide Kirara! Does Hanayamata stick the landing on its unique blend of SoL and shoujo-esque drama? Any jokes in this one? Anything at all? Do you guys know who the author is on this one? We didn't!! These and many more surprises inside. Enjoy!!

Surprise! It's not Hanayamata! We did a double-recording to tide you over while Ranka is out of town, and we wanted to talk about the latest crop of seasonals before it became even less timely and/or relevant. Hanayamata next episode!! Enjoy!

The legends return with a suitably legendary anime. Yet again fallen off of the Kirara train, here we are talking about perennial favourite Nichijou! You've seen it right? Of course you have. Or at least you've seen the gifs. The much-vaunted Iris joins us for a thoughtful conversation on a show so big no one has bothered to record a podcast about it yet. Lucky us!

We got a REAL LIFE game dev to come on to talk about New Game! was gonna be the pitch for this episode but does New Game even talk about game dev?? A fun chat about mostly yuri and the trials and tribulations of Kirara middery. Enjoy!

Clock in wagies let's get that bread!! A cafe-set romcom sounds like a Slam dunk! Can it Stick the landing? How many S words can we think of? Luckily we brought S-word expert* Mercedes in to help! Enjoy two bonafide food workers bullying Ranka for more or less no good reason. *Not a euphemism just an unfunny rush job Timestamps: Start to 25:00 - Intro & Cast/Crew 25:00 to 57:40 - Show discussi...

AFTF returns with another never-before-seen (by us) Kirara Manga Time anime adaptation! As self-professed experts in the "high octane nonsense yuribait," "comedy jokes," and "idolshit" genres, will Mallory and Ranka find entertainment with the resident artists of Mouse House or will they graduate the entire unit of washed-up losers with extreme prejudice?

Oftentimes, we end up having to do it for ourselves. But what if... that was a good thing? Join us as we discuss a unique studio original from Pine Jam, Do It Yourself!! as well as the remainder of the Fall 2022 anime season as well as the remainder of your mailbag questions! Timestamps: Start to 1:03:50 - Intro and Fall 2022 Discussion 1:05:35 to 1:49:00 - DIY!! Discussion 1:50:30 to End - Mailba...

In our most exciting bout of attention-whore clout-chasing yet, to kick off 2023 we get to discuss a bona-fide Kirara anime which is also relevant in the anime-viewing popular culture!! A true New Year's treat!!  We will be discussing the rest of Winter 2022's shows next episode, as there were a ton of shows people watched (including us). Timestamps: Start to 4:40 - Intro 4:40 to 20:40 - Cast...

It's cold outside, and yet... the podcast still moves! Join us for an extended analysis on a somewhat overlooked Studio Shaft classic, and stay with us for a deep dive into one of the most beloved manga runs of the 21st century, notes on adaptation, and the finest textbook on communication ever printed. Featuring special guest and long-time collaborator, Lianna the Yuripig! Find her works here: ht...

IT'S HERE!!!! WE RANKED EM SO YOU DON'T HAVE TO!!! COUNT TO 12 BACKWARDS WITH US!!! Mailbag starts at 1:13:45

Time for our quarterly report! We discuss everything we saw last season and dig into Lycoris Recoil in particular. Lotsa stuff!  I should probably timestamp all this but I won't. Lycoris Recoil discussion starts at 1:16:20, everything before then is every other Summer show we watched. There's a spoiler alert at like 50 minutes in when we talk about Cyberpunk. Have fun!

Season 2 of AFTF comes to a close as Mallory and Ranka finally visit one of Kirara's most popular properties in recent memory, GochiUsa! WIll this magical-realism ambiguously European slice-of-life deliver the right drinks (jokes and a fun time) to the right table (our brave hosts) or do the cafe wenches of Rabbit House need some extra sessions with the Demon Trainer? Pour yourself a hot cup of AF...

The rarest of Kirara rarities: a hetero romance. It is absolutely the first thing, but is it at all the second thing? Let alone, is it even a fun thing?? Enjoy as Ranka and I try our hardest to make a compliment sandwich for Acchi Kocchi, and then settle on a compliment tartine, or maybe more of an hors d'oeuvre, or a canape. I'm having a turkey sandwich right now; very underrated deli meat. Such...

That Kirara show about video games? Yeah you know the one. No not that one. It's Stella no Mahou!! In one of our most heartfelt and intellectual conversations thus far (for real), we gush over Stella's love and attention to the doujin creation and doujin market scenes while waxing nostalgic on our own convention experiences. Genuinely one of my favourite episodes we've done yet, please enjoy! Thre...

The pod returns. Azumanga returns. You asked one billion questions. We answered all of them. Just under 2 hours. Have a grerat time It's all mailbag so no timestamps. There's a break at like 1:05:00 or something

It's finally here! Our actual, for realsies, biggest episode to date! We tackle the legendary comedy of the modern era, Azumanga Daioh! Aurora (@request_healing) and G (@no_stunts) come in as our pinch hitters to discuss the legacy and cultural impact of one of the most enduring comedy animes of all time. Part 1 covers our entire show discussion, whereas Part 2 will reach your feeds shortly, with...

Another season passed! Time to talk about upwards of a dozen shows we watched. That's so many!! Don't worry, one of them is Machikado Mazoku Season 2!! And another one of them is Tomodachi Game!? Discover the rest inside <3 Mwah This episode is huge, here's a bunch of timestamps so you can skip around: Timestamps: Start to 54m -- Seasonals discussion 54m to 1h14m -- Healer Girl discussion 1h14m...

A very special episode, dedicated to all of you who have been clamouring for us to discuss a long-forgotten shounen series that randomly happens to fall within our Manga Time Kirara purview! Yes, that's right, it's finally here, Dream Eater Merry! The inexplicably Kirara-published battle series packs a visual punch and mild dramatic/romantic intrigue, but is that enough for us to actually like it...

It's finally here, for real this time! Mallory and Ranka argue incessantly over what might be the #1 yuri-anime-you've-seen-people-post ever, Sakura Trick! Who liked it and who hated it? Who is this show for? How off-topic can the mailbag possibly get? All this and more, right behind the play button!

An anime about manga? What the hell are they going to think up next... Kirara's stab at the shockingly autobiographical leaves Mallory and Ranka with mixed reactions and a lot of hilarious material to talk about. Thank god for that, cause I think we're about to get audited... Longer one, so it's been broken into 3 segments! Enjoy!

Not much to say about this one! Hope you like kino, kuso, and kusokinography!  IMPORTANT INFO: We are not only returning to the bi-weekly Friday uploads, we ALSO are delaying Sakura Trick temporarily, thus next episode on June 3rd will be on Comic Girls instead! Please wait warmly!! I love you<3

We talk a lot about the yuri elements of the SoL genre and of Kirara-published manga, but what if a series both leaned into and away from this at the same time? Enter Koisuru Asteroid (Asteroid In Love), a more recent entry into the catalogue that brings with it a heaping pile of ambition crammed into just one cour of televised anime. Does Doga Kobo pull off such an aggressive adaptation? Or does...