#2: The House, And The New Accommodations Of Stop-Motion Animation

 

Who would live in a house like this? An international team of talented stop-motion animators of course, bringing their skills to bear in a macabre anthology piece about the home renovation from hell. Laborious, time-consuming and requiring considerable skill & patience, this naturally prompts a discussion about the surprisingly healthy state of stop-motion animation in a modern industry where shortcuts are relentlessly sought out. It's busted; it's dangerous; but it's ours! Come on in, take off your shoes, put your feet up and let your soul reside here forever!

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Show #202: Love, Death & Robots Volume 2

Brian Smith is the vital component in our merciless machine that plows a furrow of destruction into more Love, Death & Robots. A trimmed down continuation of the Netflix adult animation anthology this batch of shorts still delivers everything we've come to expect: future dystopias, literary adaptations and just how wide or narrow some folks' understanding of Adult Animation really is! Another exciting game of Did This Really Need To Be A Cartoon? is played, we once again all reach for the diamond in the rough, and the reward of a Post-Podcast Repaste fit for the Post-Robocalypse awaits the survivors!

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SOTSM x Christmas Creeps: Klaus

Christmas may have only just come and gone scarcely a month ago but cartoons are for the whole year round! Niall and Dwayne had a cosy get-together with Joseph Wade to melt all over Sergio Pablos' paean to traditional animation about the world's worst postman birthing the myth of Santa Claus and inadvertently spreading kindness, compassion and goodwill to a world sorely in need of it. The irony of altruism arising only as a result of nakedly materialistic motivations is not lost on us while discussing this Netflix-backed venture, but if it leads to more opportunities to uplift the medium of animation like this then it's a feat of mental gymnastics we're willing to perform!

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Show #178: Love, Death & Robots

Brian Smith roves out with us upon the barren media landscape of the near future, sorting through the charred fragments of the amorous android anthology they called Love, Death & Robots!

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Noted directors and Netflix darlings David Fincher and Tim Miller present their latest outing on the ubiquitous streaming service, a collection of animated science fiction shorts for adult audiences of varying content and quality all ostensibly united under one or more of the themes mentioned in its title. Is it fertile ground for an interrogation of complex ideas relating to artificial intelligence, the purpose of existence and the nature of the soul? Or is it carte blanche to let animators' libidos run wild in the shallowest interpretation of "mature" possible? Famous authors, faithful renderings of genitalia and the recurring ratio problems with anthology works may just guide us to the answer!

Show #173: Castlevania Season 2

It's a new age of terror as those young upstarts at Powerhouse Animation consort with dark powers to summon another, even larger apparition of Castlevania!

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To the surprise of many familiar with the less-than-stellar track record of video games adapted to other media the first instalment of Netflix's animated series based on the classic video game franchise turned out to be quite a solid if rough hewn affair. Emboldened by this praise Sam & Adam Deats, Warren Ellis, Spencer Wan and company strive for ever greater heights with twice the amount of episodes and plenty of ideas to fill them with. Will they absolutely slay it? Or will this castle prove a hassle? Sad monsters, vampiric socio-economic affairs and an appropriate level of swearing lurk behind a hidden wall! (or just beyond the link above!)

Show #170: Disenchantment

A wizened old wizard dusts of his tomes so that the world may know him once more! Matt Groening emerges from the mists to relate his sordid tale of Disenchantment!

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Besides serving as a prominent reminder of just how long ago Futurama was on television, Matt Groening's latest original offering for Netflix had others taken aback for different reasons and wondering if this adult animated sitcom had anything new to offer in an increasingly crowded field. But does Disenchantment have a trick up its sleeve for the end of this season and beyond? Inaccurate comparisons, a predictable investigation of artistic references and probably far too much use of the high-pitched cautiously optimistic voice await you at the end of your quest!

Show #153: Castlevania

Halloween in August! We make use of the service Niall questions continually paying for to take in the long awaited Castlevania!

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Video game adaptations of any sort are a shaky proposition and this held true for Castlevania, so imagine our surprise when it came out fairly okay! However does it stand out for its own merits or merely look favourable in comparison to the more notorious game shows that preceded it? Fluffy capes, bad accents and a lightheaded podcast host await!

THE SHORT VERSION

Boozy Belmonts

Sad Dracula

Vandalism

Show #48: Oh No! Not The Bakery!

Niall and Dwayne explore the terrifying prospects of a world where magic is real in 2007 OVA Strait Jacket!

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Based on the novels of the same name by Ichiro Sakaki this OVA adaptation excels in world building and illustrating the mechanics of it's magical industries with great economy of cinema. The story manages a bit of pathos for the characters but ultimately falls flat and leaves the viewer wanting, which on the other hand could entice some to delve into the source material and learn more about the series' quite interesting setting. Listen in to find out just how interesting it all is, along with some discussion of Boy's Love adaptations of Micheal Collins

THE SHORT VERSION

Magic Iron Man

Magic FBI

Magic gone wrong