Soul Mates! - The Art and Design of Gacha Game Characters!

In this episode, the finale of I.S.Y.S.W.A.S.F.H.S.S. (I scream, you scream, we all scream for Hell Screen summer) we zoom in on the second half of Ryoshu's art, allowing our concepts to be fully incinerated in an endless tragic dance of blur filters and blue and pink light (H.P.) by B.O.T.H.O.S.R. (Blade of the House of Spiders Ryoshu) and adopt the following question: Which Ryoshu, in the end, i...

In this episode, the midpoint of our titular I.S.Y.S.W.A.S.F.H.S.S. (I scream, you scream, we all scream for Hell Screen summer) we zoom in on the expressionist of excrutiation, the modernist of mauling, the romantacist of reaping, the, uhm, art deco-ist of agony, so on and so forth, Ryoshu (or at least, look at the first half of her art, with the rest coming next episode) who, while she might not...

Ryūnosuke Akutagawa (1892-1927), from the age of 22 to his death at 35, wrote over 150 short stories. He is today widely considered the "father of the Japanese short story," and many of his works focus on historical and mythological tales presented through a modern psychological lens. His stories enjoy popularity even now, over a century after they were written, as some of the greatest works of Ja...

In this episode, featuring serious lesbian art analysis (and something else, too!) we zoom in on the slitheringly sensual short-sighted sapphic seductive serpent goddessss Li Yang, who really does need to zoom in because she really, really needs glasses, and ask a question of former United States of America president Barack Obama: Hello sir, could you help me figure out which parts of the woman we...

In this episode, with ash returning fresh out of hell, we zoom in on the blood-coughing bird-loving braniac Sora Ichinose (whose name I mispronounce every time because you live in my world) who keeps accquaintance with some of the best drippy ghosts you've ever met, and ask a gemoetric question: Wait, how do you solve this dang puzzle cube again? You make the white cross, then you pair the edges -...

Bad news, folks: We found out that Ksitigarbha, the patron bodhisattva of Planned Parenthood, already cleared ash out of hell by... Well, you'll see. Along the way we made plenty of friends, though, starting with the bell-ringing bodice-bound bamboo beauty Temptress, who IS wearing a bisexual jacket, a real thing that I will defend to the death, and end by asking a truly enlightened question: If h...

Content warning: Discussion of s▮ic▮de and s▮lf h▮rm after the break. Listener discretion is advised. Bad news, folks: ash has gone to Hell, and it's up to Ivy and May to save them. Guided by our chain-clad cheerless chinese-underworld champion Black Impermanence, we dive into the depth of this year's (the Horse's year) hottest mahjong roguelike, battling buxom babes in tile throwdowns all while a...

In this episode, in which Ivy is tired, we zoom in on our featured Operator and Food, the gloriously garish green and outrageously orange Bryophyta , who you can tell is AMERICAN from his AMERICAN pockets and his AMERICAN, uhm, banh mi, and the  checks notes white, black, cream, yellow, purple, green, red, and black Laba Congee, who's as delicious in the winter as she is underdressed for it, and a...

In this episode, our de-facto intervallo if you will, we look back on all the Limbus Company we've missed in our two years of covering the game, doing a 10 pull of recent art to look at [beep]sucking Heathcliffs and bag toting Rodions, thinking about Pink Shoes and Basilisoup (two things you would hope to find at the function) ultimately asking a question of palette swaps: Is it really a proper mi...

In this episode, featuring multiple members of the LGTPH community, we zoom in on...is that a horse? Is that girl? Both! It's finally time for us to do an Umamusume episode, spurred on by Ivy going to see a movie and the technical issues of an unrelated wiki, we take a look at the characters featured in the film Umamusume: Beginning of a New Era, pondering things like who is Jungle Pocket doing yu...

In this episode, a drift compatible one, we zoom in on our second Saki colab character, the one eye closed two girlfriend on lock Mihoko Fukuji, who you need to really, REALLY be careful with if you bring her to cosplay kareoke, and ash challenges Ivy with a bold question: Will you not admit that this is the best image, possibly in the entire world? Follow along:  https://mahjongsoul.club/characte...

In a world where yuri nap rooms are too bright, where your ghost girlfriend might push you down the stairs at any moment, where your parents dying turns you into a scary doll with too many particle effects, and even catgirls can find redemption... Two podcasters embark on a frantic paced journey to uncover a terrifying secret: Saki in real life. Will they get their Yakuman, or will it all go bust?...

In this episode, a markedly dissociative one, we zoom in on our featured Food and Operator, the red hooded white robed yellow...leafed Sekihan, who will soon not be with us as she ascends to the heavens, and the fantastically flowery fuscia floutist Hibiscus the Purifyer, a normal girl with a very abnormal instrument, and we sing a lyrical question: If you've travelled down the road and back again...

In this episode, and don't ask me why it's named that, we zoom in on the maidenly maid who might maintain martial arts mastery Riu Kujou, who's chest is definitely one solid piece that isn't clipped together like a doll, and ask a playful question: Can YOU spot the maid? Can you reach the Maid Unlocked State? Follow along:  https://mahjongsoul.club/character/RiuKujou Support the show:  https://ko-...

In this episode, carrying on our tradition of our Christmas episode being delayed a week, we zoom in on the beautiful, bountiful, bootlickable boss of Bamboo Cloud Fuuka Minami, famously fair with her rewards (stepping on you) and her punishments (stepping on you) and ask a spring-heeled question: Can exposure to Louboutins at a young age turn you gay? Or does it just make you inclined to secretar...

In this episode, the analectical finale of our Dream of the Red December, we zoom in on the second half of Xhulong---er, Hong Lu's art, including the teardrop tarnished tyrant himself... hey guys, it's evil Confucius (aka Lord of Hongyuan) and we ask a question that sheds Light on an underdiscussed topic: When you think about it, isn't Limbus Company just the same thing as Kingdom Hearts? Heathcli...

We've been doing Soul Mates! for two years! Incredible! Thank you so much to everyone who's listened in to join us on this journey. For our anniversary this year we're taking it easy, racking up some tiles with prior guests of the show Kit and May while we answer YOUR questions! What's our least and most popular episodes of the show? Given the opportunity, is there anything we would do different?...

In this episode, the midpoint of our Dream of the Red December (look, we didn't come up with a good one for this one, okay?),  we zoom in on the affluent, the adorable, the always-staring-into-the-middle-distance appreciable perfect object Hong Lu (or at least, look at the first half of his art, with the rest coming next episode) and ask a question about one of his favorite topics, girls: So, when...

120 chapters. 2,500 pages. 800,000 words. The least accessible of the great Chinese novels, Dream of the Red Chamber. Sound daunting? Not to us. We read it. And like a celestial stone at the foot of Greensickness Peak etched with tales of the Realm of Illusions, we'd like to fill you in. So hop in your palanquin, open up the gate, and the other gate, and the other gate, and join us for a wild ride...

In this episode, our last Season 3 episode of the year, we zoom in on our featured Operator and Food, the two test tube toting thigh-high touting Silcence, who's exact number of arms and wings remains a true mystery, and the science-scared silken softie Vanilla Muffin, who is definitely NOT a horse and NOT from Umamusume, and we fixate on a translation question: Why is he called vanilla muffin? Wh...

In this episode, a platonically ideal one, we zoom in on the mystifyingly mischevious mammal-manipulating magician Ryan, a teenage boy who is also an adult woman who is also an object summoned from a hyperdimentional realm but OMG he has cute bunnies, ahem, and ask a question to Marketing: Sorry, who exactly is this for? What huh huh what what huh? Please reach out to us via the YouTube or Tumblr...

In this episode... yaaawn, a sleepy one, we zoom in on another Blue Archive colab character, the lazing laxidasical loligagger Hoshino, who's old man schtick is done ABSOLUTELY no justice whatsoever, and ask an adaptive question: If you're gonna pull in characters from other games, why change their art style for literally no reason? Just to make them look worse? Support us streaming for Extralife...

In this episode, alternatively titled "The New Player [CENSORED] Experience", we zoom in on our featured Food and Operator, the magnificiently mousey mediterranian Cheese, who is specifically greek despite cheese's complex origin, and the sultry sarkaz se...er, host Midnight, who one can't help but be prejudiced against, and Ivy asks a question of Google: Show me dark electronic music? Show me dar...

In this episode, a juicy one, we zoom in on our first look at the Noctchill—er, rather, the THE IDOLM@STER SHINY COLORS colab charaters, the "happy" Hinana Ichikawa, a being who appears to subsist entirely on liquid drawn in through her funnel-shaped mouth, and as a measured question: Exactly how much juice does she actually have? I'm talking mililetres here. Follow along:  https://mahjongsoul.clu...

In this episode, the filial impiety finale of our Sancho September, we zoom in on the second half of Don Quixote, including the boldly blasphemous, bodaciously blood-drenched, bad-hair-day blonde big sister Manager of La Manchaland Don Quixote, who is somehow sad despite having a very cool lance, and ask a question that's a matter of degrees: Why isn't she straight? No I don't mean in her personal...