SOTSM x OST Party: Interstella 5555

Pod pals Libby and Joseph generously entertained our proposal for a job tailor-made for The OST Party. They lend their critical ears to a survey of the musical merits accompanying the Daft Punk and Leiji Matsumoto anime collaboration Interstella 5555: The 5tory Of The 5ecret 5tar 5ystem, one of those uncommon cases where the film arrived after the soundtrack. Will this newly-formed podcasting supergroup ever find their way back to their home planet? Drop the needle and listen up to find out!

OH! That's A Baseball Episode #3: FLCL, Samurai Champloo and The Melancholy Of Haruhi Suzumiya

 

The tour heads back Eastwards again for another triple-header of anime athletics, facing a team of 2000s era titles that had the good sense all those decades ago to stick some baseball episodes in and force us to confront our own mortality in the present day... Anyways, FLCL #4 dials down on the robots erupting from heads for a poignant baseball meditation on growing up (and boners~); Samurai Champloo #23 has Team Japan beat the USA at their own (not) game; and The Melancholy Of Haruhi Suzumiya #4/#7 threatens to destroy us all unless they can throw the opening pitch! Stay in your seats folks, it'll all make sense soon!

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Let’s Go! #172 – Let’s Headbutt God!

The God Of High School abandons all pretense of academic advancement and goes all in on apocalyptic encounters between dieties and magical nuclear warheads. A grand spectacle to be sure, but not enough to detract from the respective grand finales of Deca-Dence, Appare-Ranman and The Millionaire Detective, which in their own ways arrive at the shared viewpoint of collaborating with the most unlikely of comrades towards a mutual beneficial goal (also, sticking it to all the old rich bastards wrecking things for everybody!). We're crude but effective!

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Let’s Go! #171 – Let’s Not Put A Screw Pun In The Title!

Deca-Dence takes quite a turn and breaks out the power tools before the hammer comes down on human and cyborg civilisation alike! Fences are mended as BNA closes out, a contractor takes on a lucrative job in The Millionaire Detective, Great Pretender reveals the whole blueprint and we put the screws to The God Of High School! HAH! They didn't say we couldn't put puns in the main body of the text!

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Let’s Go #170 – Let’s Be Superheroes (Forever)

Super Shiro dons the cape one last time before bowing out in suitably heroic fashion (for now, at least.) But who shall rescue us in our hour of need now? An idol concert promises comfort and joy to the denizens of Anima City in BNA, the Appare-Ranman gang steel their resolve before the final battle and two princes kneel before us in Fruits Basket. It's a bird! It's a plane! It's The Let's Go Gang!

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Let’s Go! 169 – Let’s Go To The Movies!

Cinemas may be effectively closed for now but that don't mean you can't get some big screen thrills within the safe confines of your own abode! A daring raid on a secret lab in Deca-Dence; a heart-wrenching cliffhanger in Appare-Ranman; the killer is inside the house in The Millionaire Detective; and a homage to the finest E-list acting talent of years past in The Great Pretender. No booking required!

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Let’s Go #168 – Let’s Tidy Up Our Shabby Hair!

Co-incidentally Niall actually got a haircut just prior to recording (not that you'd know as he broadcasts secretly from a non-extradition country, of course) but you can still see Dwayne and Brian's fabulous faces if you remember to tune into the video stream! Otherwise you can hear us all talking about some other cartoons cleaning up their act, such as Super Shiro doing the laundry, dirty cops getting rinsed in The Millionaire Detective and the gang enjoying some downtime at the public baths in Appare-Ranman. Just a trim please!

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Let’s Go #167 – Let’s Go Rhino!

Everybody's got a fresh look going on this time, whether it be a rhino scientist whose been hitting the gym (and the experimental mutagenic substances) in his spare time in BNA or a fourth magical girl rounding out the team in Healin' Good Pretty Cure. A trio of other main characters endear themselves to the crowd before getting trounced by the actual main characters in God Of High School, and Super Shiro lays down some serious beats (and sound effects, and incidental music). The Great Pretender makes a strong debut also, spinning a yarn of con-artists and cross-cultural crime so convincingly we gotta hope it ain't pulling a fast one on us. Don't take rhi-NO for an answer!

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Let’s Go #166 – Let’s Go To Prison!

Yo fish, what are you in for? Us? Well we're looking at a two hour stretch in the joint for any number of anime related crimes: attempted assassination in The Millionaire Detective, impersonating a known felon in Appare-Ranman, establishing a sham religious organisation for tax evasion purposes in BNA, or posing too many actual quandaries about the nature of existence in Super Shiro. You're going away for a long time pal!

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Let’s Go #165 – Let’s Remember Our Childhood

A wave of nostalgia washes over us as we recall the good old days when you were flung from a cliff as a baby to prove your worth as a warrior. They were hard but fair, and we shall do likewise to our slate of titles, including our most traumatic backstory yet in Fruits Basket, the new DLC for Deca-Dence and two young men punching their feelings into each other in God Of High School (such is the Spartan way!). FYI, if you like white fluffy dogs named Shiro then boy is this recording jam-packed with them!

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Let’s Go #164 – Let’s Pivot To Video

Yeah, let's! What's the worst that could happen? All those independent journalism websites did it and most of them are... now closed down forever?! The sorry state of the internet due to the advertising industry's death grip is not lost upon us in this audio-only instalment of Let's Go, but we won't be resorting to such drastic measures as live-streaming a hostage situation to redress our woes. Nor shall we rig a baseball game, engineer a sham marriage or invade a neighbouring village, or will we~~? Still available on analogue formats in selected counties!

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Let’s Go! 163 – Let’s Tune Our Engines

What's that moving up from the rear of the pack? Why it's Appare-Ranman! Back from an extended pit stop over the Summer and getting right up to speed with our other wacky racers. God Of High School jostles for supremacy in the middle of the ranks, Deca-Dence and their superior steering maintain a formidable lead and One Piece pulls out some surprising tricks in the final lap. It's all the high speed thrills you're guaranteed at the LGGP!

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Let’s Go #162 – Let’s Enjoy Oxyone With Friends

It's the cool refreshing taste of a new week of anime episodes, and refreshing story developments as Deca-Dence pulls the rug out from under many collective feet. Gibiate's time travelling samurai join the slate, complementing Zoro's situation in One Piece as he gets into a surprisingly well animated duel with a monk over a priceless sword. Head on over to the Youtube stream if you want to see Brian and Dwayne's faces for whatever personal reason you may have! It's the choice of a new generation!

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Let’s Go #161 – Let’s GOH!

It's the biggest roster we've had for a while now as some powerful new challengers enter the arena. In the red corner we have God Of High School, the second of Crunchyroll's collaborations with Webtoon that reunites us with Garo: Vanishing Line director Sung Hoo Park who comes out swinging. In the blue corner stands Deca-Dence, an original creation from Hiroshi Seko and Yuzuru Tachikawa who also have a history with us as the writing & directing team behind Mob Psycho 100, though by the time you hear this that'll all be swept aside by the furore over its second episode. And undermining the foundations of the ring is Japan Sinks 2020, Science Saru and Masaaki Yuasa's adaptation of the earthquake disaster novel that looks to already be on shaky ground. How will they fare against our established series, and which will come out on top? In the brutal world of Let's Go there can be only one! Or about eight to ten, whatever we could fit in this week!

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Let's Go #156 - 160: Let's Put 'Em All Up At Once!

Yet more belated recordings have escaped from Brian's editing suite and rather than spam your RSS feed with multiple alerts you can get all the good stuff in one tastefully presented package right here!

Let's Go #156 was a no nonsense affair as the intellectual investigators of Woodpecker Detective's Office confronted their own mortality, Echo met the devil at the crossroads in Listeners and the Wacky TV Nanana crew were waylaid by pirates!

#157 had us questioning our own existences as the true identity of the Sohma family head was unmistakenly confirmed in Fruits Basket, while Mu may never have been a real person to begin with in Listeners. Much like Minare in Wave, Listen To Me we fervently wish to reincarnate as Scandinavians in our next life...

#158 was getting to the very back of the cupboard as both Wave, Listen To Me and Listeners played themselves out with aplomb but left us with a sizeable gap on our slate, with Tower Of God not far behind. Starvation seemed imminent, unless...

#159 came to the rescue with Extra Olympia Kyklos and One Piece returning to the air and back into our welcome embrace. Kamen Rider Zero One, Kiramager and Healin' Good Precure swept in alongside them to bring jump kicks back to your Sunday afternoon viewing.

and #160 gets us right up to date with the first new arrival for the Summer season in BNA: Brand New Animal, with which we shall exercise some restraint and savour week to week rather than cram it all in over a weekend in a vain attempt to get timely but half-baked reaction posts up on the web.

That's a lot of cartoons! And if you'd like to listen to us LIVE and without a safety net then be sure to stay subcribed to the Let's Go streaming channel, with all the gaffes and malapropisms that don't get edited out of the final cut anyways! There's even the possible threat of being to not only hear us but SEE us also. A bright and terrifying future awaits!

Let’s Go #155 – Let’s Turn Garbage Into Art

A self-deprecating quip about our taste in anime? Hardly! We are seekers of quality in all things, much like Super Shiro's fine job upcycling the debris in a polluted pond into a civic cultural site. Mu rocks the house all the way down in Listeners, Minare takes in the sights with her ex in Wave, Listen To Me and the crew of Wacky TV Nanana show us the finer points of carrier pigeon communication. We belong in a museum!

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Let’s Go #154 – Let’s Get Action!

 

Who are you? A loyal follower of the show we pray! Especially as we soldier on with a reduced but still substantial slate of anime deserving of discussion. Mu discovers her true identity, or at least the role the dubiously charming Tommy has cast her for in Listeners, Minare learns the secret origins of her own name in Wave, Listen To Me!, and the cast of Super Shiro reveal hitherto unknown talents in the Show-Off Sing-Off. Always be yourself kids!

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Let’s Go #153 – Let’s Put On The Show Right Here!

Right here, right now, weeks after the fact! Brian's podcast proliferation PC is finally tuned up so we can liberate these recordings from a short while ago when not quite everything had been postponed. Think of it as a little reminder of what you've missed that's due to return soon, including but not limited to Gal & Dino demonstrating some parlour games, Extra Olympia Kyklos showcasing their alternative Olympics and Super Shiro illustrating which mushrooms are safe to eat. We'll be right back after these messages from our sponsors!

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Let’s Go! #152 – Let’s Get Some Exorcise

Minare's flair for the strange and macabre on the radio comes back to haunt her as a terrifying fax initiates an investigation into the supernatural that could make for ratings gold. Can she add "ghostbuster" to her array of surprising talents? Or should she just stick to the day job? Strange stories of the high tower, dinosaur DVDs and the ancient spirits of prog rock portend our most spine-chilling instalment yet! THE POWER OF ANIME COMPELS YOU!

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Let’s Go! #151 – Let’s Go Crazy

An episode of Listeners that made even the most indifferent of observers stop and exclaim ''hold up: was that Prince?'' Not quite! But his legally distinct doppleganger is here to indulge in enough shameless musical references to put Hirohiko Araki to blushing. Nudity, 'nanas and New Year's Eve complete a fitting tribute to His Purple Highness. We're the kind you pick up in a secondhand store!

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