Agitator

Ichi the Killer by Hideo Yamamoto (1998-2001) Ichi the Killer dir. Takashi Miike (2001) We go into a deep dive on the Ichi manga, which was written around the same time that Miike was adapting it into his iconic film. What does the manga do differently from the film? Which is better? In the process of analyzing the work, we discover new insights about the relationship between creator and audience,...

I'm gonna have to figure out a different title for these things, considering Kelby and I aren't on Twitter anymore. Maybe it can still be "FT" but mean something completely different. On this 30-minute episode, I do a deep dive into my oppositional relationship to writing and books. Can you love and hate books at the same time? Will you ever get the acknowledgments that you want? How deep do some...

Yellow line racing! Energy drink shortage! Salad ASMR! Tony Hawk! Yugen Junk Weekly! Rick Rubin! Disappear to find yourself! Gen Z Inferno! Narrator in a blender! Killmonger, Malcolm X, and Tyler Durden present: Methodology vs Ideology! Oh shit, it's the cops! Underwear in the dog bowl! The witch will steal your toes! Squatter house rules! Quit dragging those corpses!

It’s heritage not hate round hurr. We’re stumbling over how to pronounce Japanese names to bring you Hiroyuki Imaishi’s 2004 crude and colorful manic anime Dead Leaves AND Takeshi Koike’s directorial debut in collaboration with Katsuhito Ishii, 2009’s Redline , perhaps the coolest movie ever made. On this episode: audiobook narration, Ren & Stimpy, stained glass animation, throat exercises, th...

Skip this one if you don't want to hear a twenty minute "why I'm quitting social media!" style rant. Just kidding, you should listen. This one has a lot of great expansions on JDO and Kelby's chat in the Ultraman episodes, which was further explored in a phone convo, which JDO then relates here. There are some serious questions: is Twitter an evil demon? Has it been holding people back this whole...

The Sadness (2022) dir. Rob Jabbaz (There’s a bad wind outside for about five minutes, but JDO goes back inside) The soundtracks of our lives, dream messages, Crossed zombies, The Last of Us, the folly of Save the Cat, the pros of video game story mode, watching shows with your spouse, stepdads, different types of wiggers, outgrowing shoes, covidiot movies, fixing the ending, everyone gets covid,...

Shin Ultraman (2022) dir. Shinji Higuchi Cum Town homage, radioactive black superheroes, the motherfuckin ass, mechanic sounds, a whole year of your life on social media, indecent proposals, Hogwarts Legacy, moderation, conservatard Ls, escaping from Twitter, organic growth, emulating Z-Ro, reaching people in real life, our new logo idea, becoming regionally hot, Shin Ultraman, inventing technique...

Damn, this got deep. GUEST STARRING: Wren Collier

We're talking Tsutomu Nihei's 15-volume manga Knights of Sidonia (2009-2015) with fan favorite returning guest star, Wren Collier. The three of us being heavily influenced by Nihei, we take a deep dive into the evolution of his storytelling and art styles and try to get inside the head of the man himself. What is Nihei horny for besides architecture? Where'd all the shadows go, Picasso? How do we...

2LDK  (2003) Aragami  (2003) On this episode, Kelby and I discuss this interesting project from 2003, in which a drunken bet found two directors making two short films in which they utilized one location, two actors, all shot in one week. Hearing your voice auto-transcribed, NAC for OCD, driving on ice, tornadoes, border security, being politically homeless, stealing ideas, it’s worthless to compl...

DFW rapper/Crown member/anime head Kawasaki reunites with the Agitator boys to discuss David Leitch's 2022 film Bullet Train , based on the novel Maria Beetle by Kotaro Isaka. Anime theme songs, Guy Ritchie, Channing Gaytum vs Beef Ledger, serendipity and miscommunication as storytelling mechanics, national identity being the white pill to the appropriation issue, does America have a culture?, bla...

Kelby's back from his adventures in baby delivery to deliver a clasico episode with JDO featuring a two-page manifesto of not giving a shit by Takashi Miike. TOPICS COVERED: Group chat recap, Kelby’s shadow banned, using your position, becoming an “online writer,” albums vs. mixtapes, arranging Napster tracks, Takashi Miike’s afterword to the comic Rakuda Laughs, having no reason, The White Lotus,...

Today we have Ryan from the Mutual Aberration Society podcast ( Patreon here ) on to talk Hiroya Oku's GANTZ. We go from its beginning up through its legendary "mass shooting" arc. We discuss: Getting canceled by aliens, old-school homophobia, Oku’s love of boobs, Larry Clark making The Matrix, the rules of Gantz, black humor, lo-fi grainy nihilism, onion aliens, the interpretation of different me...

For this episode, I invited Broken River pals David Simmons (Ghosts of East Baltimore) and Grant Wamack (Black Gypsies) to talk about David's prison time, Home-Alone style traps, learning how to disregard unimportant things, and hand selling books to anyone who will listen. This is an important episode, as we talk about strategies people can employ to hustle their wares...this is the new normal fo...

Jay texted me today wondering why the free episodes weren't on Patreon too. That is a damn good question. I'll work on getting the backlog on here, but for now I'll start crossposting. In his words, "I only want one Agitator feed in my podcatcher." Makes sense to me! Agitator Z for the week will be along in the next few days. Hope everyone is doing well! Kelby's out this week welcoming a new kid i...

Freestyle writing, being honest with ourselves, Ayashimon , the Shonen Jump app, marketing tips, Gantz , Biomega , The Peripheral , lessons we learned from Zach Langley Chi-Chi, and more. 

Today we have Barrett Avner of the Contain Podcast on. It's JDO's favorite show. Barrett is a cool guy with a lot of interesting things to say. And many of those interesting things are said here. Why is it important to be independent?, ownership over your own time, canceling quitters this year, is finpunk anarchist or post-marxist?, anti-elitist elitism, having a positive vision for the future, wh...

We're talking Eastman and Laird's The Last Ronin , the comic series conclusion to the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles saga, as well as Grant's Christmas tree hustle, Junji Ito elitism, Ninja Turtles as a Daredevil parody, our personal histories with the Turtles, what we loved and what we'd have done differently, past Turtles arcs that went hard, Nick Fuentes impersonations, cringe hip hop heads, writ...

Counter-agent for the avant-garde Adam Lehrer returns as our special guest star to discuss his latest release from Morbid Books, Safety Propaganda: Conceptual Manifesto for Psychological Warfare . We also talk about creative ambition and getting out of the underground ghetto, gladiators, what makes Miike's new series Connect kinda mid, the social climate shift in the entertainment industry, Kanye...

Our dear friend and returning guest star Jack Mason of The Perfume Nationalist joins us to talk Satoshi Kon's final film, 2006's Paprika . We talk watching half-recorded Christmas tapes, the need for a grim children's stories revival, Elsa Gate, AI art, minimalist design, Jack's repulsed reaction to Paprika , In the Mood for Love , cultural authority, snitches, why we're paywalled now, the interne...

Official intro to Agitator Z. This is the most transparent we've ever been on recording. An atmospheric episode, as in kids screaming at us/adhesive spray cans rattling/beer tops popping. Raw and unfiltered view of where we're at and where we're going. 

On the Japanese interior design book IN PRAISE OF SHADOWS