Under the Kotatsu

It's time to exorcise some evil spirits as we begin Mononoke! A show with tons of visual style, and a fun Agatha Christie-esque structure. We have a great time working to uncover the truth, reason, and form of this anime. CW: Abortion and Miscarriage Anime Discussed: Mononoke 1-6Next time: Mononoke 7-12Send us your questions! You can email us at underthekotatsu.anime@gmail.com or DM us on twit...

It's episode 100! To mark the occasion we've invited our friend Tyler back on the podcast to once again discuss Bleach, Naruto, and One Piece with us. Since this is episode 100 of the podcast, we jumped ahead to episode 100 of these three long running Shonen anime. Surely a big, significant number like 100 means all three are action packed, emotional episodes right? Right??? Well either wa...

In this special (not actually special) Kotatsu after dark episode, we finish Scorching Ping Pong Girls! While it suffers from some unavoidable consequences of adaptation, we managed to have a fun time with this one. Though that doesn't stop us from making some unfair comparisons to Ping Pong the Animation. Anime Discussed: Scorching Ping Pong Girls 7-12Next time: Episode 100!Send us your questions...

Given our history with ping pong anime, it was only a matter of time before we watched one of the only other ping pong related shows besides Ping Pong The Animation, Scorching Ping Pong Girls! Or as I like to call it, Flaming Ping Pong Girls cuz these girls sure are gay. Oh, and the ping pong is pretty cool too. Anime Discussed: Scorching Ping Pong Girls 1-6Next time: Scorching Ping Pong Girls 7-1...

Last time, two of us foolishly held on to the hope that the second half of Dual would really lock in on some interesting ideas, themes, character arcs, etc., but one of us correctly predicted that nothing interesting would happen. Somehow they made a science fiction harem show that manages to miss the mark on both fronts. Join us as we air are greviences about this disappointing relic of the post-...

Going in we knew Dual! would be an Evangelion inspired anime, but we did not know it would be a harem anime or that it was created by the Tenchi Muyo guy. However, it does have some interesting sci-fi ideas when it's not being a harem show. Here's hoping the ratio of those things works out in our favor by the end of the show...Anime Discussed: Dual! Parallel Trouble Adventure 1-7Next time:...

Our old friend Toh EnJoe has done it again. He made a show with some interesting ideas that got bogged down by BS pseudoscience and bad writing, but hey, at least Jet Jaguar, Godzilla, and Pero 2 are all here to give us something to enjoy. We're going to have to send this podcast back in time to prevent the Catastrophe of us watching it. Anime Discussed: Godzilla Singular Point 7-13Next time:...

Hope you're read up on your Cryptochemistry and Algebraic Cosmology because we're covering the Toh EnJoe (he of the two worst Space Dandy episodes) written Godzilla S.P, a show with some cool kaiju and nonsense pseudo-science, but with way too many characters with little to do. None of that matters though because we're here for our boy Jet Jaguar. Anime Discussed: Godzilla Singular Poi...

It's time for another show and tell! We've got an interesting mix of older anime to talk about, from an iconic Ikuhara show from the 90s to two OVA from 1989 with very different tones. It's also our 4 year anniversary, so you know that means: time for each of us to attempt to put all of the anime we've watched over the last 4 years into ranked lists. Our number one picks honestly won't surprise an...

We've reach the end of our time with Milky Holmes! Unfortunately for us the back half of this season is much more dense with plot that the first half, and features an unlikely (and unliked) side character become the final boss for reasons? Anyway, there's still enough trademark Milky Holmes stupidity for us to enjoy. Make sure to join us next time for another show and tell and to celebrate...

If you thought season 1 was stupid, wait to you get a load of season 2! Join us as we delight in just how head-empty and nonsensical Milky Holmes season 2 gets. Anime Discussed: Milky Holmes Season 2 1-6 Next time: Milky Holmes Season 2 7-12 Send us your questions! You can email us at underthekotatsu.anime@gmail.com or DM us on twitter @underthekotatsu and on bluesky @underthekotatsu.bsky.social

Merry Christmas! We're celebrating the holiday by watching two very dumb and fun special episodes of Milky Holmes including the Christmas Special! Not much too say about these, but we had fun celebrating the holidays with our favorite incompetent detectives! Anime Discussed: Milky Holmes Season 1 Special + Christmas Special! Next time: Milky Holmes Season 2 1-6 Send us your questions! You can emai...

We've reached the end of the first season of Milky Holmes! Do the girls finally get their Toys back? Does the plot make any sense? Just how important are these boob jokes? Answers will be revealed! Anime Discussed: Milky Holmes 7-12 Next time: Milky Holmes Season 1 Special + Christmas Special! Send us your questions! You can email us at underthekotatsu.anime@gmail.com or DM us on twitter @underthe...

We've convened to discuss one of the dumbest (non-derogatory) shows we've watched for the podcast: Milky Holmes. Despite being about a group of detectives, there's not a lot of mysteries being solved, but there is a lot of fun and dumb comedy, even if some of it has aged liked vinegar. Anime Discussed: Milky Holmes 1-6 Next time: Milky Holmes 7-12 Send us your questions! You can email us at undert...

It's time to talk about the power of friendship and senshado as we discuss the second half of Girls und Panzer, a show that on paper has not right being as good as it is. This podcast too was senshado the whole time. Anime Discussed: Girls und Panzer 7-12 Next time: Milky Holmes 1-6 Send us your questions! You can email us at underthekotatsu.anime@gmail.com or DM us on twitter @underthekotatsu.

Panzer vor! We're beginning our foray into the world of Senshado with the first six episodes of Girls und Panzer. Despite some weirdness around the edges with this show's usage of World War II iconography, we had a really fun time with this silly yet well made show. Anime Discussed: Girls und Panzer 1-6 Next time: Girls und Panzer 7-12 Send us your questions! You can email us at underthekotatsu.an...

Unfortunately, we can't say that Ex-Arm betrayed the hype. It truly is the worst anime we have watched for this show, and that's really saying something. Join us as we close the book on this awful series, and try not to talk too much about Metal Gear Solid 4 along the way. Anime Discussed: EX-ARM 7-12 Next time: Girls und Panzer 1-6 Send us your questions! You can email us at underthekotat...

We've been watching too many good shows recently, so we decided to test ourselves by watching the infamously bad, Crunchyroll produced EX-ARM. We were prepared for bad CGI animation, but we were not prepared for everything else about it being equal bad. Turns out it's hard to make a good anime when almost everyone involved has never worked on an anime before! Anime Discussed: EX-ARM 1-6 Ne...

We've reached the end of the line on our OVA train, so it's time to wrap things up with a one-off episode on Gunsmith Cats! Apart from the last few episodes of Bubblegum Crisis, we missed out on the 90s in our recent round of OVA picks, and boy, do we get a healthy dosage of 90s anime action in this series. Join us as we discuss the hijinks of gun nut Rally, and grenade girl Minnie as they...

Since the OVA was an incomplete adaptation, we've done our due diligence and have read the Alien 9 manga. All of it! Unfortunately that means we read it's two sequels: Emulators and Next, which kinda step all over the interesting parts of the original manga. But hey, we still have a good time picking apart the manga and thinking fondly of the anime. Anime Discussed: Alien 9 Manga (Includin...

Next up on our current round of OVA coverage is Alien 9! Despite being an incomplete adaption of it's original manga (which we'll be covering next episode), we managed to have a great time discussing this stylistic strong, Evangelion influence OVA from the early 2000s. And Discotek, if you're reading this, please put this one out on blu-ray. Anime Discussed: Alien 9 Next time: Alien 9...

Continuing our run of anime OVA coverage, we watched Dallos, which on top of being the first ever OVA might also be one of the most overtly political. We've got all kinds of great revolutionary imagery and themes to talk through as we discuss a truly one of a kind anime from our boy Mamoru Oshii. Anime Discussed: Dallos Next time: Alien 9 Send us your questions! You can email us at underthekot...

We finished Bubblegum Crisis! But does Bubblegum crisis really finish? Not really. These last few episodes are a messy and definitely doesn't offer a satisfying conclusion, but hey it does have some sick stuff like more orbital lasers and a spider mech. Anime Discussed: Bubblegum Crisis 5-8 Next time: Dallos Send us your questions! You can email us at underthekotatsu.anime@gmail.com or DM us o...

We're diving into more 80s OVA goodness with Bubblegum Crisis, a series that has way more style than plot, but hey, who needs plot when you've got style and the budget of an 80s OVA. Join us as we talk about the first few adventures of the Knight Sabers as they fight against *checks notes* Boomers? Anime Discussed: Bubblegum Crisis 1-4 Next time: Bubblegum Crisis 5-8 Send us your questions...

What started off as an excuse for us to pay tribute to the late, great Akira Toriyama somehow turned into us reliving the entire 1989 Toei Manga Matsuri movie lineup. So join as we have a great time with Dragon Ball Z: Dead Zone and Mobile Cop Jiban: Great Explosion at the Monster Factory of Fear, and then have an alright time with the Akko-Chan and Akuma-Kun movies. Anime Discussed: Dragon Ball Z...