Scanline Talks

"Action Toolkit" is the best phrasing we could come up with, but it's like... you know when you play a game, and you push buttons, and it feels good? Yeah. That. A nice wall jump, a cool counter, a great set of tools that come together to form a playstyle and concept that feel good and engage your brain. Not everything on here is an action game. It does kinda exclude turn-based games, however. The...

It would be wonderful if all that was necessary to make a great work of art was a good idea. Unfortunately, this isn't so, and the road to making an idea into real art is full of pitfalls, and chances for things to go astray. Or perhaps not astray- perhaps these artists made exactly what they meant to, and it's on us for seeing a different, better possibility in them. Whatever the case, these are...

We're starting the Gimmick Awards with one of our most passionate, intensely discussed categories every year: Best Fighting Toolkit. We love fighting games around here, and we love to talk about character designs and movesets. God bless Jen, who is very patient with Kyrie and I every year in this category. The Nominees Are: Monk (DNF Duel) Nen Master (DNF Duel) DIO (Dragon Ball FighterZ) Mr. Satan...

This is the latest sampler for Novel Not New, our patron-only show! Want more like this? For just $5/month over at patreon.com/scanlinemedia , you can get access to monthly episodes of the show, as well as over 50 backlog episodes. All sorts of different games, a wild variety of guests, a bounty of tones and atmospheres. All yours: so check it out! After months of internal discussion, we finally s...

And yet? The Netflix Gundam is still gonna be better than the Legendary Gundam. ...Ah, I really dug myself a hole with this one. I am not talking about the ZGMF-X666S Legend Gundam from Mobile Suit Gundam Seed Destiny. Nor  am I talking about the machine known as "The Legendary Gundam" from a Mobile Suit Gundam AGE spinoff. I am talking about the live action Gundam movie that the movie publis...

And so we come to the close, at least for now. Six expansions in one go?! Yeah... there isn't much to say about most of them, from a lore perspective. Our journey heads to Panda monks, to time-travelling orcs, to legendary weapons, to breaking those magical weapons or Tinker Bell will die, to hell and back, and then to... dragons. What a long, strange journey it's been. And will continue to be goi...

Our journey into WoW Lore continues! With Vanilla behind us, Six and Allen guide Jen on to the early expansions: The Burning Crusade, Wrath of the Lich King, and Cataclysm. Six forget Cataclysm existed until the middle of the recording? Yes! Does it mess things up? ...No not really! Jen cracks the riddle of The Premise of Every WoW Plot, and we can all go home. Buuuut, we're not going to. We'll se...

The latest expansion to World of Warcraft , titled The War Within , is getting rave reviews with critics and fans alike. And yet, in some ways there has never been a worse time to start WoW . Certainly, the game is the most confusing and newbie-unfriendly it's been in ages. They won't even tell you the story of the game, and they actively try to stop you from playing it! We can't imagine what on e...

At Otakon 2024, I spoke with Justin Leach, Katrina Minett, and Christophe Ferreira of Qubic Pictures. We spoke about work in animation and production, perspectives, and bumping into the language barrier.

At Otakon 2024, I sat down with Akihiko Orikasa and Kensuke Yamamoto of Studio Orange. We spoke about the uniqueness, challenges, and misconceptions of 3D anime.

At Otakon 2024, I had the opportunity to speak with Uki Satake. We spoke about her role in crafting anime openings, interest in voice acting, and how to best take care of one's voice.

Well, we always knew this was possible... last week was a disappointing downbeat, with a series of pretty rough episodes. We all knew GT had its reputation as "the worst" for a reason, and with episodes 9 through 12, it... wait. Wait no, this is AWESOME! I mean, you know, ups and downs, but the Para Para Brothers are ALL TIME characters! This RULES! The beat definitely has us with this batch of GT...

It's not all sunshine and rainbows for our viewing. Quite early in, in spite of some refreshing episodes, we have hit our first bump in the road. Pan, Goku, and Trunks fight their way out of Imecka and land in a planet of giants, then deal with marriage obsessed catfishes. We are keeping the faith, but it will be seen if we are rewarded for it.

Akira Toriyama's Dragon Ball franchise is one of the most beloved in the world. Three great shows, a lot of video games of varying quality but with a huge fanbase all the same, and... then a black sheep. Even in a series where the missteps are treasured, there is one thing the community rejects: Dragon Ball GT. Aired immediately after the end of Z, GT was made by the animation team for the anime,...

The unknown journey ends, and reveals that there wasn't much mystery there at all, really. Jen, Kyrie, and Six slump in their chairs and marvel at how hard this game has flopped, and to what degree it's poisoned what came before, for them. Is Rufus the hero of this game? Do you ever see a dog and decide it must mean you're in a different dimension? Why is Zack on the cover of this game when litera...

The penultimate episode is here, and things just keep turning for the worse for our hosts. We deal with some very contrived plots, ponder over the nature of meta-narratives and it's failings, and gripe about the side missions. It's almost over, so it can't get much worse... right? A huge thank you to Jackson ( @headfallsoff ) for helping us with a chapter breakdown for this series, and giving us c...

After a slight upturn in quality at Gongaga, Chapter 10 breaks everyone's spirits as the gang makes their way into Cosmo Canyon. It also happens to be the most racist chapter in the whole game! Fun!! A huge thank you to Jackson ( @headfallsoff ) for helping us with a chapter breakdown for this series, and giving us clear stopping points!

We tackle only one chapter in this episode, but boy is it a DOOZY. We travel to Gongaga, encounter too many bosses, and Tifa finds herself in the belly of the whale. Not like metaphorically like in the Hero's Journey, like a big damn whale monster. This chapter is weird. A huge thank you to Jackson ( @headfallsoff ) for helping us with a chapter breakdown for this series, and giving us clear stopp...

Our podcasters finally arrive in chapter 6. Jen and Six call for some time off for some fun in the sun. Kyrie disapproves, but is outvoted. A lot of minigames later, a boss fight happens. Chapter 7 happens. Our podcasters arrive in chapter 8. Jen and Six call for some time fun in the Gold Saucer. Kyrie disapproves, but is outvoted. A lot of minigames later, a bo- A huge thank you to Jackson ( @hea...

After defeating a giant snake, the gang finds themselves deep in some mines, spilling out into the Junon area. We face off with some Turks, explore the world, and get into one big confusing parade. This game is certainly making... choices. A huge thank you to Jackson ( @headfallsoff ) for helping us with a chapter breakdown for this series, and giving us clear stopping points!

Six and Kyrie are back to settle it. One number was never enough, so we have come back to scour the Dragonball Xenoverse 2 cast to try and stump the mighty dragon Shenron. Things get a little silly. Recorded in honor of Akira Toriyama's 69th birthday.

One of the most eagerly anticipated releases of the year, Final Fantasy VII Rebirth cast a long shadow over the release schedule. Not only that, but our coverage plans, too: with press getting early copies, dropping reviews day-and-date with the launch, what merit was there to us crunching and rushing to release a podcast about it a week later (and making ourselves miserable in the process)? But w...

Six took some time to go to the movies! Attending the LA Premiere, Six was able to see the US release of Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Freedom! Kyrie and Six hash it out about what is, all told, a pretty strange and fascinating movie. We talk about cool robots, bad wars, and the experience of attending the premiere. This was supported by our patrons over on the Scanline Media Patreon! Be sure to check t...

Take a breath, y'all! Dragon's Dogma 2 released a few hours ago, so we're good! No more big video game releases for 2024, we can all go home! And hey, while you're at home, chillin, why don't you listen to what we've been up to? Kyrie has been digging Vanillaware's latest, the strategy RPG Unicorn Overlord . Jen has answered the siren call of prestige TV with Shogun . Six has been nostalgizing wit...

It all comes down to this: Best Game. Game of the Year. Call it what you like. We play a lot of games, and every year we make ourselves pick an overall winner. And people keep telling me 2023 was an incredible year for games, so surely this is gonna be a really hard list to cut down! The Nominees Are: The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom Paranormasight: The Seven Mysteries of Honjo Street Fig...