Canuck Otaku

Original record date: First week of December. After a lengthy hiatus that included a babies, career changes, and a slew of other events, we are back! In this episode, we recap what has been going on in our lives, specifically Chris' new job as a high school music teacher and the direction for the podcast moving forward. 

We are long overdue, but we've got valid reasons for it! On the contrary, something in Luigi's life arrived under due and we talk about the birth of his first child on this episode! More importantly (or not), Chris shares his experience in Calgary's first Otafest since the start of the pandemic, his journey taking part in the convention's singing contest and how it felt to be a...

One of our hosts is a Slice of Life lover, so the upcoming Spring 2022 season is going to be magical. In this episode, Chris gives a rare 10/10 rating, the AoT final season has multiple seasons, bad shows keep on getting sequels, and Chris shares his stories of being a geeky teacher. Timestamps: (8:00) - Takagi-san is a perfect series  (15:30) - AoT Final Season: Part 999  (26:35) - Why do bad sho...

Hello everyone, in the spirit of the Oscar weekend, we dive into movie and award-related topics. In this episode, Luigi sees his first anime movie in theaters, which prompts a PSA on personal hygiene and etiquette when attending public events. We talk about recent changes to the Oscars that included a popularity contest, and we criticize the Crunchyroll Awards (again). We also take a sneak peek in...

Chris and Luigi back in studio with some big news! A lot of things have been happening in our personal lives and we share a little bit about where we are headed in the near future. For one of us, it's nerding out as a teacher; for the other, it's preparing for a life of fatherhood! Chris also announces his entry into "The Ota Factor" which will be a part of Otafest 2022 and we...

Hi everyone, Chris here. Welcome to 2022! In this episode, I explain our absence over the past months and dive into a reflection over the past 2 years of COVID, my mental burnout towards life and anime, and the shows that have helped to bring me back.  I hope that everyone is doing well and I hope that my sharing of my personal life can spark you to take action in some way, whether reaching out to...

We are finally back to a committed schedule and have some awesome topics lined up for the near future! In this episode, we discuss the shows that we have graced with our attention. We also talk of news of the ending and continuation of some big names in the industry. Chris also shares a short and sweet manga which will lead into a future episode!  - End of Kaguya-sama & the Return of Nichijou...

A mixture of summer vacation and one of our co-hosts getting married put us on hold for a few months but we are happy to be back! In this episode, we recap some of the summer shows we were able to watch, including Iruma S2, Kobayashi S2, and Great Jahy. We take a quick look at what's to come in the near future, which includes more Komi-san bashing, and Takagi S3 goodness.  Keeping things in l...

Hello! We are finally back from our summer vacation and are really looking forward to an awesome 2nd half of 2021! In this episode, we start off by talking about what we have been doing since we disappeared 1 month ago. We then discuss the news regarding the anime adaptation of Komi-san, including our grievances with the storyline and writing. We also talk a bit about some new shows that are airin...

In this episode, we discuss a recent article detailing how many watchers are viewing shows at 1.5x in order to get through their backlog, which begs the questions, are too many shows coming out every season to the point that it becomes overwhelming for us, and why do we feel obligated to treat this hobby like a series of checkmarks? Chris also talks a bit about his recent (6th) playthrough of Mass...

Links to album and social media located below! This episode is our chat with Natalie London and Taylor Plecity of the indie rock duo, Hey, King! Along with being anime fans, they're also musicians and Natalie is a fellow Canuck so we knew that they'd fit in perfectly! We discuss the band's newest album which was released on April 2nd, including the creation process and their inspira...

Episodes 29 and 30 are all about Spring 2021! Listen to our grievances with Moriarty, Luigi trying to explain the plot of 86, us trying to avoid the wrath of Tokyo Revengers manga readers, Chris lamenting the identity struggles of artists, and our complete amazement of To Your Eternity. In this episode, we discuss out general thoughts on some of the shows running this season. The shows in this par...

The next two episodes are all about Spring 2021! In this episode, we discuss our general thoughts on some of the shows running this season. The shows in this part are mainly continuations, comedies, and romcoms, including (with time stamps):  - Iruma-kun Season 2 (19:20)  - MHA S5 (22:00)  - Koikomo (25:00)  - Osamake, (33:40)  - Nagatoro-san (56:50) Check out Episode 30 for our thoughts on the he...

How much weight do you put on the visual aspects of a show? To what extent do the visuals and animation affect your enjoyment of a show? In part 1 of our Spring 2021 preview, we reveal which shows we are watching this season, which will be discussed in our next episode. This episode revolves around Gokushufudou: The Way of the Househusband, which has been one of our favourite shows of the season!...

Message from Chris: Apologies for the wacky audio. I was doing audio tests with RTX Voice and forgot to turn it off when I recorded the episode :( This episode is all about Iruma-kun! We start off by talking about our experiences with the first season, especially when used for a watch party before talking about what Season 2 will have in store (mild but inconsequential spoilers discussed!). Chris...

In this episode, we discuss the recent news about a second season being announced for The Devil is a Part-Timer, which segued nicely into a talk about why so many series seem to have horrible endings and finales. It also segued nicely into part 1 of our discussion on Iruma-kun, including things we love about the show and going a bit into the lore of the demonology on which many of the characters a...

In this episode, we talk about the pressures faced when talking about the "big" shows in anime and Luigi discusses his hopes for the remainder of Attack on Titan (SPOILER FREE). We also discuss the absolute disaster that is Redo of Healer, the issues around its content and how it could have negative lasting effects before revealing and talking about what shows we have been watching from...

Can you trust the public with objective decision making? Is it alright to force objectivity on a very subjective field? Is it alright to pit the creations of artists against each other? Does "favorite" necessarily mean "good"? While we're doing our preparations for our Winter 2021 preview, we decided to focus this episode on the Crunchyroll Awards, the problems with awards...

Happy New Year, everyone! What started out as a covid-19 hobby turned into something we never could have imagined and we are so excited to be entering our second season of the podcast. Thank you so much to our listeners for making this possible! This episode is a bit of a reflection on the past year, including what we've learned along the way and what you can expect in the coming months. Of c...

Merry Christmas, everyone! This is by far our longest and most in-depth episode that we honestly spent way too much time, but there was a lot to be said about this classic show that Chris considers "not a romantic comedy." In this episode, we do an analysis on the characters and some of the main themes of the show. Chris compiled our characters into specific roles specified below in our...

Hashire sori yo..... In this episode, our hosts give some suggestions on how to get into the Christmas spirit, with both anime and non-anime names being thrown on the table. .....padoru padoru!!!

In this shorter Mundane Morning episode, Luigi gives his grievances with Hunter x Hunter, Chris is ecstatic over recent Iruma-kun OTP relationships before diving into some of his favorite series with short heroes/tall heroines. They finish up with a short talk on cosplaying, including some of Chris' past attempts.

Come join our hosts on a chill Monday(ne) Morning! In this episode, Luigi talks about Formula One before the two give their updates on how their fall season picks are doing, including Wandering Witch/Kino's Journey and Moriarty the Patriot. Chris tries to get Luigi to pick up Avatar and Iruma-kun, and then they give their grievances towards Funimation's questionable user interface.

Part 2 of our Fall 2020 preview is a mini deep-dive into two of our favorite shows from the season. In the first half, we discuss Wandering Witch, including Elaina's character motivation and the show's central themes. We then do a full 180 and talk about Tonikaku Cawaii's charm and Chris includes his own personal theories on the origins of one of its main characters.

Our Fall 2020 preview is divided into two parts. In this episode, we discuss our general thoughts on some of the shows running this season. Luigi watched a lot and his shows include Jujutsu Kaisen, Noblesse, Our Last Crusade, and Yuukoku no Moriarty, while Chris talks Yashahime while complaining about the original Inuyasha series and sports anime. Part 2 will be a full length discussion on Wanderi...