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Side Effects May Include Possession Mononoke - Anime Club · Anime Club Podcast

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With your fantasies on about repressed women as a teenage boy
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in like Edo, Japan? Probably let's let's talk about.
0:31
And welcome to another episode of Anime Club.
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I did the finger bones and stuff this time.
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Yeah, because you're hosting and you surprised me and I wasn't
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ready. Yeah, but.
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I don't, I don't know why that's still a surprise because I
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should just come in like hyper paranoid that you're going to
0:53
start at any point. You never.
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So a bit behind the scenes stuff and Phoebe only logs under the
1:01
call 3 seconds before recording because she doesn't like talking
1:04
to us in real life. But anyway.
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Suddenly. Are we you different this week,
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Phoebe? All right, like sweet.
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Actually, no, it's not true. I'm actually quite sick.
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I've got a very bunged up nose which makes me sound even more
1:21
nasal than normals, and I've been chained to the pulse of
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worshipping at the porcelain altar for the last 48 hours.
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But today I was able to eat some crumpets, which I think is a
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massive win. Oh.
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What's always a good time? OK, you're going to mock me, but
1:39
in Waitrose they do like toaster ones.
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Which? Are in where?
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Sorry, where's where they? Don't pretend you don't know
1:47
what a Waitrose is. There's there's none.
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Yummy. The newest 1 is about an hour's
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dry. No, actually that's closed
1:55
longer. Didn't get enough business?
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Yeah, the poverty line is real. But anyway, as a treat to
2:06
myself, I took a walk down to the Waitrose.
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Oh. Nice.
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And got myself some rectangle crumpets, which are like normal
2:16
crumpets but perfect for actually sitting in like your
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toaster. I can't.
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Wish I could afford different shaped crumpets.
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Maybe. Maybe if I win the lottery.
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But this week, it's your pick, isn't it, Phoebes?
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It's the. Yeah, because you.
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Lost like, and now I don't even feel bad about how bad I would
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like. So I was earlier today editing.
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We had a quiz where Chris had to guess the voice actor.
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And at one point the clues get real.
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Like it gets real desperate because Chris was doing so badly
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and I was starting editing it. I was starting to feel bad.
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I was like, maybe I was too harsh on him.
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Now I'm like, Oh no, that's fair.
3:00
I will weirdly and I might just bring a quiz on your live later
3:06
on, no? OK should we just do?
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The winner decides the. Well, we've already agreed that
3:15
you did so badly that we're going to watch Tick on King
3:17
Creek next week. The week after is up for grabs.
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Yeah, I might think of a bad quiz.
3:23
A more humiliating 1. But yeah, it's.
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Making me go, yeah, give me all the clues please.
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So many clues. I love pity points.
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Yeah. What are these Northern words?
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I may have made a few of them up, Yes.
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I would be so up for doing a northern slang quiz because
3:48
Molly and Tooney have been teaching me all sorts of
3:50
northern slag over the last couple of months.
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I reckon I'd do all. Right.
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Maybe he's not. Tooney, but better than you
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think I would. This it is Buckle Bari.
3:59
But anyway, doing modern Mononoke, the Phantom in the
4:04
rain, the dodgy umbrella, the the watery weeping ghost.
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So yeah, yeah. What made you pick this?
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So for a while I've wanted to do some animes that have like a
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very different art style. Yeah, yeah.
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And in terms of our like different art styles, I think
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Mononokey is like a really great example.
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So they have very uniquely drawn characters.
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And they also have, as you can kind of see from our background,
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that the way that they colour, shade the characters, it's like
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they've taken it pictures of fabrics and paper and like done
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a collage of animation. It's and I think it's really
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unique. It's really bright and colourful
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and weird. And also I just like ghosts.
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Yeah, that's that's fair. I have done a little bit of
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reading up on this because obviously it's a it's a very,
5:08
very unique the animated anime. I think it's takes a lot of
5:15
inspiration from completely theatre and there is a style,
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art style. I can't remember what it's
5:21
called, I've got too many notes. I kind of find it in there.
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But it do you know the painted silk like the screens, That's
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why most of it looks a bit crumply because it's meant to
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thingy that. But yeah, so the colours are
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meant to symbolize things in specific scenes.
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Oh that's interesting because at one point his hair colour
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changes and stuff as well. Yes, and people's ropes change
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colour. True.
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There's dominant colours and scenes and there's also colour
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shifts and there's also a lot of water, which signifies moods and
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all that kind of stuff. So did you get anything from Red
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Pinky Red? That So here's it.
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Is this part of the quiz or is this just?
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No, no, just just whatever. I mean, you could just say no
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and I'll just tell you. So my get like, I feel like the
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red, because red has is significant in lots of different
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cultures. In some cultures it's good luck.
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In some cultures, it's like danger.
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His hair turns red just at the final moment when he's about to
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exercise a spirit. So I think there's something
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there in terms of like power. Well, according to this, it is
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so it's senior like a senior. Attendance ropes deepen into a
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Crimson tones as jealousy becomes central to the conflict.
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Jealousy thing. There's jealousy that works
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purple. Dominates scene where with a lot
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of authority figures a certain control.
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OK, purple dye was incredibly expensive.
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So again, in lots of, and this is like a kind of like one of
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those weird universal things where it's just about supply and
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demand because is as in like often royalty would be detected
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in purple clothing and portraits in the Renaissance period.
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So it's interesting that it's also similar in Japan, where
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probably the dye was also very expensive to create, like deep
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purple dyes. Yeah, often it becomes like
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associated with royalty because they're the only ones who can
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afford clothing that colour. And blueberry sellers gold
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interiors appear most ornate right before an emotional
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collapse. And see, I'm writing this.
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I didn't. I didn't spot any of this.
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This is just from what I've read.
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But I think now you knew if you would watch it again, like if
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you went back and watched the series, then you might, you
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might be like, oh, some important people have gathered
8:06
here. Yeah.
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And when the mononoke or mononoke fully manifests,
8:13
apparently the black and negative space swallowed the
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pattern backgrounds. Oh yeah, OK, that makes sense.
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Yeah, so there's a lot of like symbolism and stuff.
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A lot of them probably go over my head as well.
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So I thought, I thought I was interested because this week
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Phoebe said, oh, I'm ill, can you host?
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And I was able to pick, though I don't really know much about
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this sad stuff. So I have 1/2 got look you got
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those are notes. Whoa, that is loads of notes.
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Yeah. I'm impressed.
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Go down to the answers for the theatre.
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No, no, that's in the next one for the quiz.
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But but, but now that I went to colours in the tiny bit of
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trivia, not not trivia, but what's it about?
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Toys So Mononoke. So basically Mononoke follows a
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medicine seller. So in the original series, he is
9:16
a medicine seller who kind of like every couple of episodes
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he's dealing with a different issue.
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And we were talking about this before because it is kind of
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similar to my favorite anime of all time, Mushi Sheets, in that
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there's like a travelling medicine seller who rocks up
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this often, some sort of turmoil or personal issue that seems to
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be manifesting in like kind of weird dangerous symptoms, people
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dying in unusual ways or like bad fortune having befallen the
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town. I'm blown.
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So yeah, yeah, the medicine man turns up and he kind of, he has
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to figure out the mystery as to why something became a Mononoki.
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So Mononoki's are ghosts, basically.
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So when you when like people, if you say I'm going to watch
10:03
Mononoki, people will first think of, oh, do you mean the
10:05
Studio Ghibli one with the wolves?
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And Princess Mononoki does mean ghost Princess, basically
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Mononoki Kaguya, I think it's on a Mononoki.
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He May is like ghost Princess, so it's like to dealing with
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spirits and ghosts. So OK, put in for a second
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there. A monologue in Japanese
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mythology is a vengeful spirit phantom or ship shipped in
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monster born from strong negative emotion.
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Emotion. So it is a.
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It's a type of yokai, so these are specific.
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Like demons? Yeah, yeah.
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And the Phantom Rain deals with it follows 2 concubines, 2 young
10:54
women who basically enter the service of the Imperial harem
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and which is known as the the Oku.
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And in the Oku, they encounter this medicine seller who is
11:08
investigating the presence of a spirit.
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He's been called there to investigate the presence of the
11:12
spirit, and it's kind of dealing a lot with like, impressive like
11:19
the oppressive environment of the Oku and the expectations of
11:23
women and repression and inequality power.
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I like identity is a big part of it as well.
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But actually it's also interesting because the Oku is
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also a space where it's, it's supposed to be women only.
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So in order for men to enter it, they have to have like special
11:43
dispensation to enter. But anyway, as the colour story
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unfolds, the medicine seller confronts one of the characters,
11:53
Ayakashi, who is has revealed that like there were women
11:57
trapped within the harem and there and you kind of he goes.
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He starts to uncover some of the darker stories of the women who
12:04
were living there. And it ends like like with every
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like with all the different ghost stories in the series, It
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ends with him kind of discovering the what was it?
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There's the the. Form the.
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Or the to to draw his sword and then.
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Yeah, to draw his sword and. Vanquish or exercise it.
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Yeah. Yeah, I'll just find that.
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I did have it right up to us. And yeah, he's got to find the
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form, the truth, and the reason. Yeah, behind why someone becomes
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a mononokey. And it's usually some someone
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who's experienced like a deep in injustice.
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So you can imagine in this in an environment where women are like
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highly controlled, there's lots of power at play, There's like a
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fair amount of injustice that occurs.
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Yeah. And it's called the Phantom Rain
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because there's some weird water stuff.
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And there's also a sequel which is all about like has the
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opposite. It was all about fire.
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That happens a few years later, which is you've kind of watched
13:13
this all backwards. Yeah.
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My fault because I should have been more specific about what we
13:18
should watch. So obviously there's a series in
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two films out on Netflix at the minute.
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So obviously I picked the second film, which is you can't it
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follows from on from the second one, our first one and the first
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film follows on from the series. So I've watched the last film
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1st and the middle film second. I'm not going to watch a series
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because. By this point, you're confused
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and angry. Yeah, yeah.
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But yeah, so it's kind of, I think it's like part political
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drama, part ghost story is how I would describe it.
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Handmade's tale were ghosts. It's like The Handmaid's Tale of
14:03
Ghosts. Yeah.
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And actually the second film's kind of similar in terms of its
14:07
themes. And there's always, because it's
14:10
you're dealing with like, these vengeful spirits, because you're
14:13
dealing with the ghosts who have to have died in a like a very
14:17
traumatic way. There's always some sort of dark
14:20
secret that someone's trying to hide.
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So really the medicine seller is just there trying to figure out
14:26
what is going on. And the series is good.
14:29
They've got like they've got one in particular, which is about a
14:33
boat, a haunted boat, which is a very compelling couple of
14:36
episodes. And in the end you find that
14:40
because I know you're not going to watch this, it's like the
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highly, highly traumatic, there's a very old, very
14:46
respected priest who is like almost like saintly in terms of
14:50
his like he's considered like this very good, wise old man.
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And what you discover is that like, so there's something has
14:58
been attacking boats and and travels that he's on and he's
15:01
trying to kill and sink the boat that everyone's on.
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And in the end, you discover what happened was he is he had
15:08
fallen in love with his own sister in like a kind of weird
15:12
incestuous thing and had like sealed her inside like a almost
15:21
like a floating coffin type boat and pushed her out to sea
15:24
because he would rather like her die than people know the
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shameful truth that I think. I think she was like carrying
15:31
his baby or something. It's like it get real dark.
15:35
Yeah. So I would say it does it this
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despite the bright colours. This is not a series for
15:41
children by a long shot. Yeah, at.
15:46
Least young children. I think I kind of have some
15:51
opinions on on this film and I can see the feel of it and I
15:58
love the art style. I think the story as a whole is
16:03
good but it is too short for a film I'm not I'm not the biggest
16:10
fan of it. Kind of reminds me of the show
16:15
that I haven't seen one but I've seen clips of IK dramas and
16:18
stuff. Where are you?
16:21
You'll see like Dolton Abbey or Upstairs Downstairs kind of kind
16:27
of drama. It's not my thing and this kind
16:30
of is what it feels like. I know there's a lot of like
16:33
themes behind it, like repressed, repressed women and
16:38
political stuff. But you would just shut off
16:42
about it and get back in the harem.
16:44
Actually, I wish you'd just get back, do the job and bring out
16:48
the ghosts, no. I just think it is a bit cave
16:56
drummery and I kind of, but again, I'm like, because it's I
17:00
think because it deals with like personal stories, right.
17:03
So yeah, it's not, it's not very action-packed.
17:07
It's and it's none of the stakes feel very big because it's all
17:11
like, like in one episode they've got like haunted dolls
17:14
that are like the dead souls of babies which have been unfairly
17:18
aborted. Like it's all like kind of like
17:21
these small personal tragedies. Yeah.
17:25
So I can kind of see what you mean about it not feeling like
17:27
epic enough to be a film. But I think if you like those
17:31
kind of more soap drama Y type storylines, I think this this
17:35
would have definitely appeal and I do personally love those.
17:40
In in this film, the the vengeful spirit is Caracasa,
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which is a phantom umbrella, and this was born from vengeful
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sport of women that have died who have been in the on the
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staff of the Owoku, which is like that could be handmaids,
17:59
that could be a harem, that could be anything but that were
18:03
there not particularly against the will, but the word bound to
18:07
not be themselves Judy etiquette or formality and stuff.
18:11
So there couldn't be actual people.
18:13
These people, when you see them first go into the OQ, they give
18:16
away all of the personal possessions like it could be
18:20
their their favorite blanket or pillow or in in this one, one of
18:25
them gives the the food that the grandma gave them for the road
18:28
to share out everyone and a lucky calm stuff out and that it
18:34
it it could have been a lot bigger in my head and that's why
18:41
I'm like, I don't know why at the end with some kind of
18:45
massive Akira monster going round with a grand grandmother's
18:49
comb stuck in its head and one of the.
18:52
You wanted to see a big battle at the end and that would have
18:55
made it feel worthwhile. Kind of.
18:57
I don't know if it would have the action in this is very
19:01
little, but it does look good when it happens.
19:04
But it almost feels like the transformation scene in Sailor
19:10
Moon if you don't. Like, I love how you like and I
19:16
think that's a bad thing and I'm like.
19:18
Yeah, it does. Oh no, I'm, I'm, I'm not saying
19:23
it's bad, I'm just saying that that's how I saw it and I wasn't
19:27
like, it's not your. Cup of tea.
19:29
Let's say he's OK. Like we're all allowed to like
19:31
different things. Yeah.
19:34
Because I think there's something about.
19:36
So I actually prefer the second film to the first film because
19:40
I. Oh, the little state.
19:42
The mice, the rat, the rat. Again because you see people
19:48
turning the ash while like screaming in pain walking
19:52
through the halls. That part had his gripped.
19:54
I was. Oh yeah, this is more of this
19:56
please. Yeah, and I think this is where
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not to bring it back to Mushishi, but all things that
20:02
you come back to Mushishi, in Mushishi, you get a lot of that
20:05
kind of like horror moments where you're like, oh fuck, make
20:09
this stop. This is creepy.
20:11
We've we've just been walking through a beautiful forest.
20:13
Why are snails growing out of that boys?
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But the but I think with this you you do get those moments,
20:25
but they are a lot like interspersed with these human
20:29
bits. I also wonder if like of all the
20:32
countries to watch this anime talking about personal
20:36
repression and like a having a public facade.
20:39
The Brits have like I think they I think we culturally are very
20:43
similar to Japan in a lot of respects when it comes to like a
20:49
maybe manifest differently. But I like like I would say that
20:53
that kind of idea of like the stiff upper lip or like like
20:57
etiquette is still a thing plays out.
21:01
So what you? Call it.
21:03
Yeah. And I think because of that.
21:07
Like maybe it also doesn't feel like.
21:10
Maybe in some in some ways it feels more horrible and in other
21:14
ways it just feels like, oh, that's no reason to be
21:17
traumatized. If that was the case, we'd be a
21:19
nation of traumatized people. And maybe we are.
21:21
But you know, no need to cry about it one and OK.
21:27
Do you know what I mean? Yeah, you got to find what are
21:31
you complaining about? Yeah.
21:33
So for that, I'm like, oh, none of us get to be our whole selves
21:36
all the time. And that's, you know, Eddie,
21:41
Yeah. That's fair.
21:43
Eddie gets to be himself wholesale all the time.
21:48
My dog. So what did you think of the
21:52
characters then? Your favorites?
21:54
Least favorites? Yeah, well, obviously I like,
21:58
you're supposed to like the medicine seller and you're
22:00
supposed to root for him, right? I kind of, I really liked.
22:06
Who's the young girl? Is it ASA?
22:09
Is it the the naive one or the the weirdly good one?
22:15
Both of them. I kind of like those two girls
22:17
and I like the friendship that they form.
22:22
Asa's the clumsy 1 isn't you. Yeah.
22:28
She's like, she's like the anchor, isn't she?
22:30
And. I kind of, I think she's
22:33
probably my favorite, but I think Kame is a good foil for
22:37
that as well, who's kind of a bit more elegant and falls into
22:41
it a bit more naturally. But you still see that she is
22:43
also struggling with it. And again, there's that thing
22:45
is, you know, like we're all struggling to fit in, but we
22:51
just think other people are better at it than us.
22:55
Fair. Fair.
22:57
Yeah. So I think there's elements of
23:00
that in it as well. Yeah.
23:04
Yeah. Yeah, I probably agree.
23:08
The only thing I'll add to that is the one, the one character I
23:12
didn't like was the was the bigger 1.
23:18
You know, the she bosses the girls around.
23:23
It's yeah, I want pictures like teeth in that.
23:25
Yeah. Yeah.
23:27
Won a big fan. Like you don't actually see any
23:29
like like you see like two men in this.
23:33
Yeah, no, I mean not supposed to because that it's obviously a a
23:36
female only spades. I mean, the the gods are male
23:41
though. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
23:45
I just didn't I. Don't think you've seen more men
23:47
in the second film, don't you? Because it's that's about like
23:50
people's families and stuff as well.
23:52
Yeah, and and they have things with a harem anyway, and yeah,
23:59
whole. Load of things.
24:00
With the with the like art style being so different or so that's
24:07
it. No, I was just thinking, I just
24:09
had this thought that this is like we always said, we never
24:12
would do a harem anime and we kind of have done now.
24:15
Yeah, yeah. But they are of age, maybe,
24:20
hopefully. They are his age and this isn't
24:24
like a Haram and I mean in the sense that it's necessarily like
24:29
like the harem is a historical place rather than a teenage boy
24:35
fantasy. OK.
24:42
And. Well, your practice is all about
24:46
repressed women as a teenage boy in like Edo, Japan.
24:51
Let's not, let's not talk about no, I'm just going to just
24:57
confirm the notes in. It's not down there.
24:59
Remember Chris to put that in? Really.
25:03
Seriously. Put that in.
25:05
Well, and the other thing so so with the art being buried, do
25:13
you have like a favorite moment or a favorite different thing
25:16
than than not a normal anime style?
25:18
I really like the way that they animate the box and the sword at
25:22
the menace of man carries and the way the eyes kind of roll
25:25
around. They also have like I they
25:29
offset like because a lot of the time the patterns are spinning
25:33
and things, but sometimes and they offset movement in the
25:37
patterns with very still scenes. But then suddenly what will
25:41
happen is when there's like a key moment just before, like
25:45
something like something ratchet, like the tension
25:47
ratchets apple like the mononokey manifests.
25:51
There's like the sound of a bell, like a spirit bell rings
25:55
and everything just freezes for a moment before suddenly like it
25:59
was like becomes very vivid and stark again and very dynamic.
26:06
And I really like the way that they play.
26:08
Use pattern in the actual scene to play with speed and dynamics.
26:19
See, my my favorite thing is also my worst, least favorite
26:23
thing as well. So in in it, I think the
26:28
characters in this aren't highlighted, highlighted because
26:32
I think the backgrounds, there's that much going on.
26:35
I don't think you physically can highlight a character in that.
26:39
So it just has to happen. But it draws the eye to
26:42
everywhere and the character at the same time.
26:45
So you'll be watching the the spoke flowing through the scene
26:48
or you'll be watching if you've noticed the art on the walls,
26:52
the eyes move quite a lot in it as well.
26:55
Yeah, yeah. So they'll be like, obviously.
26:57
It's the big thing with like gays, there's lots of like there
27:01
are lots of eyes like hidden in the background and in pictures
27:05
and or like all over the place and in objects as well.
27:08
So like his sword and his box have eyes that kind of focus on
27:11
stuff. And.
27:13
And I they, and I often think they use that to try and draw
27:16
your attention because you're right, there is a lot going on.
27:20
So they have to use like movement and like, yeah, line to
27:27
kind of like force your attention to a certain part of
27:30
the screen. Yeah, so that's why it's me
27:33
favorite because the the scenes in the backgrounds are amazing.
27:37
It takes, I mean, you could pause the, the film at any
27:43
single scene and you would have a painting.
27:46
It would look amazing. But the, the characters are
27:51
sometimes offset as well. So if you've got a, if you've
27:55
got a character on screen where they're talking to each other,
27:59
normally you'd you'd expect them to be left and right or centre.
28:05
They're not the the up here or the down here or sometimes the
28:09
behind things as well, the behind the screen where you can
28:12
see them. Bowing at the same time with
28:14
like, really strange, the camera angles on the faces as well.
28:18
So features often become very distorted.
28:21
And you see it like you often see like this point of view
28:24
that's like from above down on a character as they're trying to,
28:28
like, struggle with something. Yeah.
28:31
Yeah, it's it's like that. Oh, what's that TikTok called?
28:35
Who does the trains show? He has the camera up here and he
28:37
sees them straight on there. Hello.
28:40
Yeah, there's also like so actually in the in the series.
28:45
The series is so good and I I should have made you watch that
28:49
instead of. The I wish we'll watch that
28:50
instead. But each kind of story has its
28:54
own like feel and I don't know how they do it, but maybe it's a
28:59
bit about colour. Right.
29:02
Where you feel like each story has its kind of own like visual
29:07
identity. In a way and.
29:12
The last story is, oh, it's set on a train, like a modern day
29:17
train with modern day people and it's really incongruous.
29:22
And it's the patterns are used like a lot more sparingly.
29:26
The the colour palette is a lot more grey, less kind of bright
29:30
and panny. You still get some of that, but
29:33
it's it's it's interesting and I this is one of the reasons why I
29:37
kind of want you to still watch the series even if you didn't
29:40
enjoy the films. I think you should just go and
29:42
just watch those last those last episodes.
29:45
Yeah, they're cool. I mean I think if I was watching
29:48
the series, it would get better, but at the minute, because I
29:51
went in from watching them Hell's Paradise and maybe he's
29:58
one piece to to an extent, but I've been watching that and I'm
30:02
on them thriller bulk, which is like a scary spooky island or a
30:06
ship spoiler, But I'm going from that and it's kind of like, do
30:11
you know on fallout when he first comes out of the vault and
30:13
the sun first gets his eyes and he's like it's kind of like
30:17
that. I'm in the dark depressing N
30:22
watching scary anime and then my eyes are.
30:26
Gaze upon this, bright garish patterns clashing everywhere.
30:32
And yeah. High contrast and.
30:34
Yeah, and I find myself fascinated by like the design of
30:38
things like the drink from a cup every morning.
30:42
Why would you, why would you make a triangle cup?
30:45
There's no mouthfeel on that. It's weird.
30:49
And you get, you get the little, the little M It's the same for
30:53
the well when they bring down the water.
30:55
And I'm like, it'd be great for pouring, but not against your
30:57
lips. The flat edge, you've got bits
31:00
of water going down the back. If you've got the triangle edge,
31:02
you've got a little spike in your bottom.
31:04
Bump your lip. One of my siblings, I'm not
31:07
going to say which one in case they would be genuinely
31:09
embarrassed by this story, went to Japan, came back, brought
31:13
some very nice sake to share with everyone and a traditional
31:17
little box cup that you're supposed to drink from for this
31:20
particular type of sake. Sorry.
31:23
Watch watching them try and drink it in the garden on a
31:27
sunny like sunny summers afternoon after we've all had a
31:31
few a few drinks anyway. Like just to this day it still
31:36
makes me want to howl with laughter because it was just
31:38
like Saki everywhere. I think more of it went down
31:41
them than it went in them. Is that what the traditional
31:44
cups look like? I don't know if it's for
31:47
everyone, but for some reason it came with this this box that
31:50
you're supposed to drink, drink it in.
31:52
And it's like this little box cup.
31:54
And it was just, I was just like, I don't know.
31:56
And I think maybe it's about like sipping and being delicate
32:01
because then you're you don't spill it and stuff.
32:03
I don't know if it's. I don't believe.
32:05
In that, but that's very counter to like give me a Stein.
32:10
Yeah. It's like, oh, what are them?
32:14
What are them cups called? There's a name for them where if
32:16
you, if you, if you neck them, it spills wine on you.
32:20
Oh. I don't know.
32:22
It's got the. Tube in the middle and.
32:24
Yeah, yeah. I've also been looking at
32:27
Victorian puzzle jugs, but they, like, you have to like, hold
32:32
them in a certain way in order for the water to come out.
32:35
Yeah. Like there's some weird stuff in
32:37
the world. I've got a couple of the the
32:40
weird. Do you know the boxes where they
32:42
have the hidden slides and stuff and you open them that?
32:44
Way puzzle boxes, Yeah. Yeah, I love them.
32:48
Yeah, I love supply out though, but don't put it on a drink
32:52
because I like drinking. Like if there's something in a
32:54
box, I wouldn't put anything valuable because it's like it's
32:58
a puzzle box to play puzzles with.
33:02
But no, don't mess about with people's food.
33:05
Don't play with food. Sorry that was such a full on
33:09
look. So if if you were in Asa's
33:23
position, do you think, yeah, do you think you would survive?
33:28
Would you drop all your stuff? Would you drop Eddie down the
33:31
well? No.
33:34
Never, Eddie. Would I drop?
33:38
Actually, maybe. How can you swim?
33:43
No, I think it's more the tall. I think I would drop the stuff.
33:48
Fine, I don't. Think I could drop a living
33:50
creature down the well? That seems particularly cruel
33:52
and unusual. A question to ask.
33:56
I also. But here's the thing, Chris,
33:57
this might surprise you. Don't see Eddie as part of my
33:59
identity. So no, he's he is my landlord.
34:05
Fair, fair and. I owe him money.
34:08
That's the that's our dynamic. But that that doesn't shape my
34:13
sense of self. Fair so I've I was thinking
34:19
before if I was I know I couldn't because I'm a male but
34:24
if I if I went into for some reason when they dropped all my
34:27
stuff down the well did that the whole pullover.
34:30
The point where I would have said fuck off was when they
34:33
tried to make his next Ming in water and everyone else was just
34:37
accepting it. But I'm not doing this every
34:39
day. That bit I would be less fun
34:41
with. I also think all of yeah.
34:44
So like I think I'd be OK letting go of stuff.
34:46
But. And again, I don't, I don't
34:48
think that would. I don't think I see my
34:50
possessions as like somehow tethering my sense of self to
34:53
this world. Do you know what I mean?
34:57
And again, I go back to that thing of repression.
34:59
Like I think it's like, I think it's normal.
35:03
And I don't know if this is saying more about me than I
35:06
should share. I think it's normal for people
35:08
to have a public face and a private sense of self.
35:12
And if anything, I think that's healthy.
35:14
And society requires it of us in order for us to be able to
35:17
function. Because imagine if you said
35:19
everything that came into your head when you were like at work.
35:23
It doesn't, it doesn't fly. So I'm like, I can imagine that
35:27
being very, very difficult if you're in a world where that's
35:32
required of you all the time, nearly all the time.
35:35
And I think that's the thing about the OKU is that your, your
35:40
work becomes your life, like you're you.
35:42
It's a purpose rather than a job.
35:45
So I think that environment would be tough for that reason
35:48
in that you always have to be in service to something.
35:52
So you would be the main person that creates them on an OK.
35:56
This is literally how they were formed from.
36:02
Yeah, maybe I think I talked myself into yes, that actually
36:06
would Maybe it would be a problem.
36:08
I don't know. I but would I survive?
36:12
I I wouldn't ever bet on me in in a kind of in a Hollywood
36:18
style like in an apocalypse, wouldn't battle me in a in an
36:24
action film wouldn't battle me. I mean, because these these
36:29
women, they're not like they're not in the harem.
36:34
They are literally when the first start they, they are MIT
36:39
they are hot, but one of them gets prone to a handmade.
36:42
But like they make they're waking up to make 2000 people's
36:47
breakfasts a day. And it's just like, we'll start
36:50
you off with 100 and then you'll go to 200, then 300, then we'll
36:54
then we'll see where you are from there.
36:56
And that's a kindly big task. It is, isn't it?
37:00
And that's, do you know what? I think that's almost like what
37:03
it must be like to cater for the military.
37:08
There's more than two people that do it though.
37:11
That's true. Yeah, yeah.
37:13
And they and they. That's because they're mostly
37:15
men, I assume. So they need more people, yeah.
37:19
Obviously, and it's buffet style, you just, you just get
37:24
what you want and put it on your plate.
37:26
Is it always buffet style? Yeah, they don't get table
37:29
service, don't have waiters in the hobby.
37:32
No, but I just also assumed it might just be like you get like
37:36
every like you don't get to choose.
37:37
You just get whatever's given to you.
37:40
Oh no, it'd be like through imagine slightly better school
37:44
dinners. OK, yeah, I mean, it's not bad.
37:49
I I would fuck with this like as a child hated it.
37:52
As an adult I would fuck with the school dinner.
37:56
Yeah, after, after like a month, you're like give us something
38:00
different. And you don't get like the nice
38:04
custard with the skin on top or but a semolina or pink cake you
38:08
get like. Our school cake, yeah.
38:12
Or do you? Do you?
38:13
We also used to have this like weird chocolate tart thing which
38:16
had like a kind of condensed milk caramel layer under like a
38:21
bit of chocolate. Kind of like a just.
38:23
Melted chocolate sprinkles. Kind of like a fake sticky
38:28
toffee pudding without the. But with a pastry paste.
38:32
Yeah, yeah, I vaguely remember them.
38:36
I don't know what it was and to this day, like I've never been
38:40
like the closest is a millionaire shortbread, but
38:42
there's too fancy. And what I want is to find the
38:45
recipe for that particular tart because it was it was the best.
38:50
If you saw that was on the on the school dinner that day, you
38:52
were like today is a good day. I I just loved it when it was a
38:56
rice pudding day. I love rice pudding.
38:58
Oh. I was never into the rice
39:00
pudding. I turned down the rice pudding.
39:03
Yeah, more for me. And I was a chunky, chunky adult
39:06
chunky child. I was, well, I was quite fat
39:11
when I was, I've only realized because one day because my
39:19
grandma was like a massive feeder.
39:21
If you go around and like if you didn't have food in your mouth,
39:23
you'd like act as if you like stabbing her and and she one day
39:30
she turned around. She went, you actually are quite
39:33
fat, aren't you? I'm saying, was that OK?
39:38
The day I realized I was overweight was I went to I went
39:44
to my I have a great aunt in Belgium who is and I went to.
39:51
We went to her house and she greeted me by going oh you've
39:55
grown and you've grown and then grabbed my tummy and jiggled it.
40:02
And and then she'd, for about an hour, talked about Weight
40:04
Watchers. Nice, nice and.
40:07
That kind of like, you know how like I don't know, like there's
40:12
nothing quite like a European matriarch who just says whatever
40:16
they're they're thinking. She would have she'd have like
40:19
fucked right off out of the Oku and she'd have been like, Nah,
40:21
you can all do one. I'll keep the comb.
40:26
Walk out while cool when I hear. And she would say things like,
40:34
so I've learned to Weight Watchers that you're not going
40:37
to give. You shouldn't force feed people.
40:39
And then in the next, like the next breath, she'd be like, eat
40:41
the cake. Well, I'm getting confused.
40:48
Yeah, yeah. But it's do as I say, not as I
40:51
do. Very much that.
40:56
Phoebe. Yeah.
40:58
Chika, which I call a quiz. Yeah, go on then.
41:03
Right. So since Mononoke is it's a type
41:11
of yokai, I did. I'm going to list 123 potential
41:19
yokai and you need to tell me if these are real or if I just made
41:25
them up. OK, that sounds fun.
41:28
I'm into that. Good, because we're doing it
41:31
Shit. We just went that's shit, OK.
41:35
Oh, really? OK, that's I guess that's really
41:39
how you want to spend your time. This is how I'm going to start
41:42
the episode with that, yeah. You should.
41:51
Right. So I don't know how do you want
41:55
us to tell you the the name that I've got for them?
41:58
And then I'll, I'll go through what they're what they're about
42:01
and then I'll reveal if it's true or false.
42:04
So they'll be the rules. Well, I guess and.
42:05
Then you reveal. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
42:07
OK, let's go. Right so well first one is
42:12
called Funa Yuray and they are ghosts that have died at sea.
42:19
They appear at night asking for a ladle from sailors.
42:23
If the sailor gives them a ladle, they use it to scoop
42:27
water on your boat to sink it. Sailors carried bottomless
42:31
ladles, as in ladles with holes in to trick them.
42:37
I think that's true, because I think I've heard about a ladle
42:41
with a hole in it before. Final answer.
42:45
Yeah. It is true, and there's a little
42:49
picture of them that's a real picture.
42:53
Amazing. Real life.
42:55
Picture a real life picture from yokai.com.
43:02
Appearing on the medicine man's hands.
43:04
Yeah, it looks like he's kind of holding them.
43:06
That's cool. Question 2 of yokai #2 Akinami.
43:16
The name liberally means filth liquor.
43:21
It's a goblin like creature that sneaks in the bathrooms at night
43:25
to lick grime and soap scum. It's got long tongue, red face
43:30
and clawed hands set up here in dirty bath houses as a warning
43:34
to clean it up. It's not dangerous, just a bit
43:38
weird. Gross and creepy.
43:41
Yeah, I think that's real. Are you sure?
43:48
I think. It's real.
43:49
Yeah, I think it's real. And it's real.
43:54
Yeah, it feels. Real.
43:57
There's something about Japanese yokai are so specific.
44:01
Yeah. About what they do and don't do.
44:05
For Christmas, Ben, my boyfriend got me.
44:12
Oh, got me some Japanese yokai tarot cards and each one of them
44:18
has like a little Japanese yokai on it and I've just been like
44:22
occasionally dipping in and having a look at them.
44:24
There's one which is like the demon of a woman whose husband
44:28
didn't feed her enough so she grows another mouth on the back
44:32
of her neck that is like all consuming and reliable hair.
44:39
Molly feeds you fine. Explain the mouth neck.
44:49
Well, also you've you've because quite possibly you heard of them
44:52
also. I just realised that in my
44:54
discretion I said long tongue, red face, clothed hands and that
44:58
has two out of three. That is of quite obviously a
45:01
green little guy or a blue guy. Maybe they come in different
45:05
colours? Maybe I'll just say that.
45:07
Why not? I'll make my own law.
45:10
Yeah. So yokai #3, you ready for this?
45:16
You're 2 for two. Got one more?
45:19
The prize is nothing. So this one is called Aisha Rai
45:27
Yashiki, and it's a giant disembodied foot that crashes
45:35
through ceilings and demands to be washed.
45:38
If you wash it politely, it leaves.
45:41
If you refuse, it stomps around and destroys your house.
45:46
I fully think that's real. You sure?
45:48
Yeah. I think that's real.
45:51
I think that's a real 1:00. AM I right?
45:55
You're right, it's real. That's what I mean.
45:59
It's. The yokai is so I'm not.
46:02
I swear to God I haven't heard of that before, but as you were
46:05
describing it, do you know what I thought of the heads in the
46:09
Studio Ghibli in Spirited Away? You know, the heads that are
46:12
like. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
46:15
And I was like, it's not that big a stretch to think that
46:19
there is a real life yokai that's.
46:21
Just sofa. So do you know what I was
46:25
thinking? I was thinking, oh, I'll make a
46:27
couple of like funny ones up or stupid ones like I'm sure I
46:31
thought of 1 where there's a yokai event.
46:36
What was it? Underpants with tongue that if
46:41
you don't wipe your bum properly, it'll lick it off.
46:43
But that that was what I thought of.
46:45
And I was just like, I cannot out weird these because they're
46:48
already so weird, so I may as well just do three that I've
46:51
found. Just do the real weirdness.
46:54
Yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah.
46:57
And saying that there is probably some kind of toilet
46:59
paper or bidet yokai somewhere probably do.
47:05
You think that's why the Japanese have invented the
47:07
greatest toilets of all time? I want a toilet that things to
47:10
me when it washes my bum. So I've never tried a bidet.
47:15
The closest I've came to when I was in India that had a watering
47:19
car. Tried a bidet?
47:20
No, not proper one. Have you ever used a bum gun?
47:24
They're different though. They're not bidets.
47:25
No, no. But have but they're basically
47:27
so bidet is like it feels like a bum gun but stationary and in a
47:31
lot of ways much easier to use because of that reason.
47:34
But you can just kind of back or like scooch onto it.
47:39
Well, they had a watering can where I went.
47:43
They they took the what's it called the end with all the
47:46
holes in. They took that out.
47:49
So it was just like A1 stream that didn't put on sprinkle
47:52
setting unless you have like a massive arse or something but
47:55
the sprinkle. Settings for Valentine's Day and
47:57
Valentine's Day only. Treat yourself.
48:04
Treat yourself to a sprinkle setting.
48:09
Yeah, so 3 for three. You cracked me.
48:13
Quiz couldn't fool you. Thanks.
48:16
I've just read a lot of weird Japanese ghost stories and I
48:20
like if you had come in with something super normal, I'd have
48:23
been like, that's fake. But like we said, I've heard
48:27
about the old neck mouth. You've got the guys who bow what
48:32
they called the Kappa. They're the ones in the in the
48:37
river, aren't the. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I suppose.
48:42
I mean, there's got to be normal ones in there as well.
48:44
Like I mean, isn't the thing where off is it a Shinto thing
48:50
where everything has like a spirit where you can't don't
48:55
kick the table because it's missed a table.
48:58
You can't do that. You've got a tree of respect and
49:00
look after it so. That's a slight.
49:01
It's everything that is kind of born of nature.
49:04
It's so like a mountain, a forest, a tree, like sometimes
49:08
like a specific tree, a river would have a spirit.
49:14
The things that you make in your home is I think.
49:17
I don't think so much. I don't know because if you made
49:20
your own. Do you think table when you make
49:24
something, you imbue it with part of your spirit I.
49:28
Hope not. Also have loads of horribly
49:31
deformed kids around the world from stuff I've made.
49:35
Not, not not the other way. Father, Father, why have you
49:39
welded me such what? All your lighters in the
49:45
background just screaming? Also, do you have an open flame
49:49
right next to all your lighter collection?
49:51
Yeah, yeah. Yeah, bold.
49:54
Also I've got an MI just realized as well there's an M.
49:57
There's a really hydrating cream that M.
50:02
My son got a freeze bomb for some sort of rush hydramol.
50:06
OK. And so I've been putting that on
50:08
my my little ghost tower that I've just got and that is
50:11
extremely flammable. Like extremely.
50:15
How do you know it's flammable? Because it says all over it
50:19
warning flammable and, and obviously the part I've worked
50:25
with them old people who use it a lot and they can't smoke.
50:29
They're not encouraged to smoke when they have it.
50:32
I mean, they're not encouraged to smoke anywhere.
50:33
He's had to go cold Turkey while his bum rash was healing.
50:36
I know it's horrible, he's got wood swings the lot, but no,
50:43
obviously I've been wearing it while welding and not smoking
50:48
and doing whatever. One day, Chris, but you're going
50:53
to be that friend that dies in like some horrible accident and
50:56
we'll all be sitting there going was only a matter of time, but
51:00
it's a tragic. No, after my death I want people
51:04
to go. How?
51:05
How the fuck did he do that? I will, but we'll know because
51:10
it'll be. He slipped while scratching
51:12
himself with a knife down the stairs that were on fire because
51:17
no one also smoking while having a hydro.
51:20
We'll we'll know maybe that's if something happens, it won't be a
51:24
surprise. What would be a surprise is if
51:26
it's like, oh, he died peacefully in his sleep.
51:31
I want like you ever see the IT crow where the guy where the the
51:36
the woman's parents die at a fire in SeaWorld and he gets
51:40
obsessed with it? It's like, how did this happen?
51:44
I want people to do that. Internet sleuths everywhere be
51:48
like, how did he do this? But yeah, Mononokey.
51:55
All right, Eddie. Just needs a bit of soothing.
51:58
No, it's fine. It's bad.
51:59
It's like you're burping him. Because he's been like, he's
52:02
been very annoying this evening. What what did you think in the
52:09
end and. Yeah, I thought he was all
52:12
right. They resolved stuff.
52:15
It. Felt open-ended enough that the
52:16
story went could go on. I think that's kind of normal.
52:20
I think a lot of Japanese films end that way.
52:23
Like just like live action Japanese films end where you're
52:26
like, but what happened to the characters?
52:28
There's no like neat and they live happily ever after it.
52:31
It's just like and they were given the tools to succeed or
52:34
fail, and you can decide if they did either of those.
52:39
See I I took it. It is a we hadn't.
52:43
So obviously this the Mononoke was slain or banished or
52:48
exercised and nothing changed. The characters are still stuck
52:53
being repressed. They still have to go through a
52:55
cycle of given up their previous lives.
52:58
They still can't express themselves, they're still under
53:01
servitude, and it's caught in the etiquette and stuff like
53:05
that, in the horribly rigid structure.
53:08
They still have to make breakfast in the morning.
53:10
They still have to serve the emperor.
53:12
It is the emperor, isn't it in the Ouichi that anyway soft
53:16
earth? In the Oku, it's the.
53:19
It's the concubines. No, no.
53:21
But they have to serve the serve the Emperor.
53:25
They're the IT is Emperor, isn't it?
53:28
Oh, yeah, there's in Japan. It's an emperor.
53:30
Yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah.
53:32
They still have to continue on with their lives.
53:35
And it leaves it so another another Mononoke kids come back
53:41
tomorrow. Yeah.
53:46
So he he solved the issue but not the problem.
53:50
Yeah. That's what I got.
53:53
But how do you? But how do you solve a systemic
53:56
social injustice? Do you know what I mean?
53:58
It's. Everyone dies.
54:01
Everyone becomes a monodokey. Everyone becomes a yokai.
54:04
Someone becomes a was it? Oh no, one of those but one of
54:12
them seat sailors and a Bigfoot. A couple of them not on a boat.
54:18
A couple of toilet gremlins and everyone has a broken old time.
54:23
They'll open a path house and they start bringing in gods in
54:26
and then Spirited Away happens. So do you and you don't think
54:32
that that's an OK and that's that's the ending you would want
54:35
is Spirited Away. But in this style.
54:43
Oh, and then that would. Be insane that the spirited
54:47
weight is a lot to look at as well in certain scenes.
54:50
Like if you added in the Mononoke style it would be
54:54
crazy. Could you?
54:56
Could you imagine? Seeing the the parents getting
54:58
turned into pigs in this animation style, That would be
55:02
cool. Can you imagine the giant baby
55:05
in the pillow room in this animation?
55:07
Style. No, no, that'd be weird.
55:16
And one of my favorite things in spirit in a way, is that the
55:19
giant baby gets turned into a hamster and then just chooses to
55:23
stay as a, oh, no, it's a fat mouse because it has a tail.
55:27
And then at the end, it's like, can you turn the baby back?
55:30
And it's like they could have turned back anytime you wanted
55:32
to. And he's just decided to be a
55:34
fat mouse instead of a giant baby.
55:36
And I love that's one of my favorite things.
55:38
It's so silly. I like the the weird fat guy
55:47
that was in the lift. He's the same.
55:50
Oh, the radish spirit. Yeah.
55:53
Yeah. You're going up.
55:54
Oh, like a Mr. Bean. But horror, I also like what's
56:00
his name? He was in the basement, the
56:02
boiler man. Oh yes, with the suit sprites,
56:06
yes. I can't remember his name
56:08
either. Yeah, yeah, he's like a big
56:10
spider man. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
56:13
Yeah, I. Think you've hit enough first
56:15
Ghibli? Film.
56:19
Ghibli. Starts and it all comes back to
56:20
Mushi Shi or Ghibli. Pretty much unless.
56:24
Unless we talk about Cajun or something, yeah.
56:27
Yeah, that too. Would would you like to have a
56:32
different end to this? I don't, no, I'm, I think I'm OK
56:37
with the ending. I don't think it's about because
56:42
it's it's, it's so for all that it's about ghosts and you may or
56:47
may not believe in them. I would say it was AB story.
56:50
At the core, at the core of the story, it's about humans.
56:54
And sometimes big problems don't change.
56:57
It's but our perspective on them does.
57:00
And that's how we cope with them.
57:03
It's like, you know, yeah. I get that.
57:10
So what I took from that is Phoebes is totally OK with the
57:13
harems and the repressed women. So would you recommend this to
57:17
someone who's never seen Anabe before or someone who has seen
57:21
Anabe before like. Me, I would recommend.
57:24
I would recommend this to people.
57:26
I'd say watch the series first. I think is what we've learned.
57:29
Don't watch the film until you've seen the series, like
57:33
give the Series A go and if if it's your cup of tea, because I
57:36
think this because it is so unusual a style of animation,
57:40
it's really not going to be everyone for everyone.
57:43
So before you invest a lot of time, just watch one episode of
57:47
the series and decide if you can cope with all the swirly bright
57:50
colours and the like slight kind of travel sickness of the like
57:57
constant movement and spinning. I wasn't even bothered about
58:02
that. It's just yeah, Anyway, yeah.
58:07
So I think, I think, of course I.
58:09
Think everyone should give it a go, because it is.
58:11
It's unusual and weird and that's always fun to to try.
58:16
Yeah, I mean, that's basically my thing for I'm glad to give it
58:21
a shot and watched it and experienced it.
58:25
I know that it's not my cup of tea, but I know I really like
58:29
this visual style and it was just the the story that didn't.
58:35
So you would happily watch something else unusual and
58:38
strange. Yeah, yeah.
58:41
That's good because next week what we are going to be doing is
58:46
a film called Tekonking Crete, which is about concrete
58:51
Tekonking Crete. It's really, it's like a very,
58:56
very stylized animation style and in a kind of similar vein to
59:02
Paprika, has this kind of like warped reality storyline.
59:07
So it gets real weird and twisty and I think you'll like it or
59:11
hate it and but we'll have an interesting conversation about
59:14
it. But it's another unusual style
59:17
of animation because I've just wanted something that's a bit of
59:19
a break from normal anime. Yeah, that's fair.
59:26
Obviously we're doing this to watch new things and I've never
59:29
watched these. That's it.
59:32
Cool, so till next week, where can you fight with fibs?
59:37
You can find us over on Instagram and on Facebook as
59:40
well as TikTok. Come like, comment, subscribe,
59:45
hit that little bell and find out when we're going on doing
59:49
live and stuff. We've also got our own YouTube
59:51
channel now at Anime Club, but we're still hanging around with
59:56
Nerdy Up North. We still love them dearly.
59:58
We're going to be doing some other stuff with them that we're
1:00:00
filming in March, and we'll talk more about that when it's ready
1:00:05
to go. So keep an eye out for both
1:00:08
Nerdy Up North and Anime Club Fun times.
1:00:11
Beer till next week, bye bye.