Get Played - UNLOCKED: Get Anime'd: Cyberpunk: Edgerunners Episodes 1 & 2

Episode Date: January 1, 2024

Heather, Nick and Matt discuss episodes 1 & 2 of Cyberpunk: Edgerunners, "Let You Down" & "Like A Boy". Cyberpunk: Edgerunners is streaming on Netflix.Follow us on Twitter and Instagram @getplayedpod.Check out our Anime watchalong podcast Get Anime'd and our complete Get Played, How Did This Get Played? and Premium DLC back catalogue only on patreon.com/getplayed. Join us on our Discord server here: https://discord.gg/getplayed Wanna leave us a voicemail? Call 616-2-PLAYED (616-275-2933) or write us an email at [e-mail] on Get Played via Gumball.fmSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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and they say there's nothing sexier than confidence, and Blue Chew can help give you confidence where it counts. Blue Chew wants to help you have better sex. Discover your options at bluechew.com. Chew it and do it. And we've got a special deal for our listeners. Try Blue Chew free when you use our promo code GETPLAY to check out. Just pay $5 shipping. That's bluechew.com, promo code GETPLAY to receive your first month free. Visit bluechew.com for more details and important safety information, and we thank Blue Chew for sponsoring the podcast. Welcome to Get Animated, the anime watch-along podcast with the hosts of Get Played. I'm self-proclaimed cyber-psycho, Heather Ann Campbell.

I'm self-proclaimed automated fleshlight, Nick Weiger. And I'm self-proclaimed human but trash, Matt Apodaca. Hello, everyone. Hello, everyone, and welcome back to the premiere anime podcast where this week we are talking about cyberpunk edge runners yes in light celebration of the revamping of the game and also the release of phantom liberty right i and i and i've noticed that this anime has kind of been you know i don't want to say recirculating but it's just just it's kind of back in the zeitgeist, I think, for that reason. And people have been talking about it a little bit. I saw it appearing more than the top of people's algorithms.

And we all watched this when it released, which I felt like was like 2021, but it's actually just last year. Isn't that wild? Really? Does that feel much longer ago? But it's like 2022 when 2022 when the show came out. I watched it on my, I converted an old Mac Classic. Yeah. And watched it on my Mac Classic on Netflix.

And it was, it felt like the most cyberpunk-y thing I could do at the time. Yeah. So this time I'm watching it on televisions and it's fucking gorgeous. Very, very just visually appealing show. Just looks fantastic. I think this might be the autumn of cyberpunk. The autumn of cyberpunk? Because people are revisiting it because of the new release.

And so much of the feedback has been so complimentary. Right. And then this anime is already a classic. A year later, it is... It's a classic, yeah. I sent a poll to you guys from Reddit, like our anime subreddit, and it's like the top 25 sci-fi anime of all time.

And Edgerunners is in the top 5 and it's in the top 5 with shows like Steins Gate and Evangelion like big, big hitters and I don't think it is the recency bias because it's been out long enough now that I don't think that people are like

oh, oh, Cyberpunk, it just came out last week, I love it, I'll put it in the top 5 it's a year. Yeah. Yeah, and it's interesting. And you sent us a thing, too. You maybe said this just now, where people are like, now's a great time to watch it again. Yeah. Well, that's what we're doing.

Yeah, that's what we're doing. We're watching it again. So if you didn't watch it the first time, hey, now hop along. Hop on board. And if you didn't watch it the first time, I encourage you to rewatch it because I think it's a show that benefits from a rewatch, especially knowing the season-long arcs, which we won't spoil in this initial talk-through.

We'll go along this journey as it progresses. We're not going to talk about the endgame until we get there. I never finished it. You never finished it? I never watched it all the way through. Oh, my God, Matt. Oh, my God.

Oh, no, Matt. What a show not to finish. I watched, I think, maybe, I think I maybe watched the first four or something. I don't remember how many I watched. Oh, my God. You got it. It is, you, this show,

and this is not a spoiler. Yeah. This show sticks the fucking landing. Yeah, 100%. Yeah. I'm excited. I'm excited. Look, I'm excited that Cyberpunk's back.

I'm just excited about it. Yeah, I'm realizing when you said the autumn of Cyberpunk, I thought you were talking about kind of the micro genre, the aesthetic, but you specifically mean of Cyberpunk 2077, the property. Yeah. Got it. Because if I say the fall of Cyberpunk, it sounds like, oh, I'm talking about the end of cyberpunk.

Yeah, the Ides of cyberpunk. This is the autumn of cyberpunk. Yeah. And I think it's going to sneak up on people in a way that we weren't expecting because this year has been so fucking stacked with games and anime. Right. So you're going to come into the fall not thinking, oh, everybody's going to be talking about cyberpunk again.

And I think they are. I think so, too. And also, I'll just say, this show was really smart of CG Project Red to make this show, to approach Studio Trigger specifically, to give them the artistic leeway to make what they wanted to make. Because it made, it elevated the entire to your point it elevates the cyberpunk like IP like it makes this seem like cooler it makes the world seem richer it informs what's happening in the game like I know that there's been additional content that has come from the the anime that's been populated into the game world but also like it just makes it all feel bigger and richer

and more lived in in general. I know that I'm wishing for a multiverse that is several universes away from this one, but can you imagine a year where all these games came out and then now that Cyberpunk is at the place where they wanted it to be on release? Right. Three years later.

Three years later. Three years later. Can you imagine if it had been held and this year that version of Cyberpunk 2077 and the anime had dropped at the same time? People would be like, I don't know what game of the year is. Yeah. It's interesting to think about

because it's like, I feel like I've just seen a lot a lot of stuff obviously as of recording the update and the dlc aren't out yet they will be soon yeah they're not quite out yet we're a few days away but everyone's talking about how fucking good it is and how um or at least the the update and how the update really makes it feel like a completely different right but aside from that i'm just seeing people playing the game raw, still playing it without this update, and are loving it, and are showing all this crazy... I saw a combat... You know how when we would watch, or we'd send each other The Last of Us 2 combat encounters,

and just how sick they were? I saw stuff recently from Cyberpunk that I just like had never even occurred to me before. Yes. Unbelievable stuff. Is it jumping over a fence and commanding everyone to blow their own brains out? It's not dissimilar to that.

Yeah, it's definitely, but you know, we'll talk about, I think we'll talk more about the game. Yes. On the podcast about video games, Get Played. That's our sister podcast. Well, actually, this is the sister podcast, isn't it?

They're both sisters. They're sisters. Yuck. Yeah. And the twins. Guys, I can't wait to talk about this anime, and I really can't wait to watch it now that I know that Apodaca hasn't seen the end of it. But before we talk about cyberpunk edge runners,

we normally like to dabble in our own personal watchdowns. Yeah, sure. In a segment called, what's it called again? What We've Been Weaving. Hi, it's me, Ash Ketchum from the hit series Pokemon. I was kicked off the show

for scabbing against my own Pokeunion. And now it stars somebody else. But here I am on Get Played asking you Nick Weiger, what have you been weaving? First off, it is Get Animated, not Get Played. You're not in the main feed, just so you know. What the fuck?

You're behind the paywall. Why do you keep doing this to me? Well, I just want you to be clear. I just don't want you to think, like, I'm going to be in Played. You know, anyone can download it. No, you do have to subscribe. And one's not better than the other. One's not better than the other.

It's still, you know, the show you want to be on. It's a fucking anime show. I hate anime. You hate anime? Yeah, those assholes kick me off my own show. Oh, boy. Yeah, you get some bitterness towards the genre as a result. Well, you know, but I think you have a great legacy.

I did something illegal with a Charizard. Jesus. Like committed a crime together or something to the Charizard? Yes. Oh,izard. Jesus. Something illegal. Like committed a crime together or something to the Charizard. Yes. Oh, boy. Oh. It being vague makes it worse.

It's one of those things. Yeah, yeah, exactly. Can't wait to see that documentary. Use your imagination and then use it again on New Imagination Plus. Then you get an idea of what I did.

The documentary, it should be like one movie, but they're going to make it a six-part series with a lot of filler, a lot of extra interviews. Exactly. We get the story. Why is Brock talking for like 70 minutes? You know when they put somebody in silhouette and they'd make their voice?

We know it's Mewtwo. We know it's Mewtwo. We know it's Mewtwo. It's obvious. Who else is shaped like Mewtwo? Anyway, look forward to that. I'll be checking that out. But what I've been weaving, Ash, to answer your question. Thanks, Nick.

Is Zom 100. I'm continuing to watch that. Their most recent episode, as of this record, is their horniest episode yet, which I was very excited to see. A lot of fun. There's a new character, Beatrix, who is something of a weeb herself. She is a German expat who moved to Japan just as the zombie outbreak occurred, and she came because she is a huge Japanophile. So she is just there like, you know, she steeped in the culture and was very excited to experience it and see the society that she'd fantasized about from afar. But when she arrives, zombies are everywhere menacing everybody.

So she has joined the party. We have our core four now, the four characters. And yeah, it's a it's I think I mentioned the past two episodes got a little bit more meditative, more melancholy, more talking about like what it's like to because the whole thing is about about existing in a corporate world and and, you know, being brought down by capitalism. And so it's kind of a joyous thing when this apocalypse happens, because all these characters are freed from the shackles of having to be a worker uh but and the past two episodes were kind of like really laying it on thick with those themes this one is just full-on like uh it's a party like we're getting an rv we're gonna kill a bunch of zombies uh gonna light them on fire uh and then we're gonna go to a hot spring. So, yeah, it's great. The naked guy has some of his best naked guy stuff yet.

And it's just such a purely fun show. And I don't know if anyone who's listening is watching. I assume a few people are at least. But if you're not and you're looking for something that's just pure fun, I would heartily recommend it. Because I'm laughing out loud watching this thing. It's a blast. I'd love to hear it. And I'm worn out by zombie shit, so I should be skeptical, but it's just so joyous.

What's this naked guy? Well, Matt, you'd love this show. Yeah. But I think I mentioned him before on the podcast. Basically, every episode, he's not normally naked. He's a clothed guy by default, but he has kind of in his back pocket that he will just get completely naked at some point for some purpose. And it's either like he's just so excited or it's like, you know, like, ah, I can create a distraction by using nudity and he'll just get completely naked out of nowhere. And the way this episode does it, the way all the episodes, they always find a way to sneak it in, but in a way that kind of surprises you and catches you off guard.

It's just like a hard cut to him completely naked in some context, and you're kind of figuring out what his plan is. So what are they doing, though? Is it like a black bar situation? Great question. What they actually do is really they draw a squiggle, like a squiggly line over his goods. really, it's, they draw a squiggle, like a squiggly line over, like, his goods. So, like, it's like, you know, it'll be like someone had scratched it out

with a colored pencil over his, like, butthole or penis and balls. What? Wait, but why? That's not how a butt should be. You shouldn't be able to look at a butt and see the hole. Well, it depends on how he's positioned, because sometimes he's, like, kind of leaning over trying to present himself for, you know,

for some purpose I'm just saying if it was just a butt crack they're not going to occlude it but if it's like hole is implied Matt was looking away with disgust

look you asked for the mechanics of what was being covered up trying to give you some details no light in that size here's the thing I got an answer but then Heather's clarification

really really did something you shouldn't be able to see the hole it's well executed But then Heather's clarification really did something. You shouldn't be able to see the hole. It's well executed. That's me. Someone else go. Hey, Heather, it's your turn.

What have you been weaving? Thanks, Ash. I have been weaving Vinland Saga Season 2, which the most recent episode I watched, I don't know what number I'm on, saw the return of some Season 1 characters and sort of like a vision of a would-be Viking afterlife. And it was such an excellent episode and reminded me of all of the things about Vinland

Saga season one that really hooked me on the show um I'll admit I was giving the show a shot because I'm like I loved it so much I'll sit through all the farming episodes I'm fucking tired of farming I I get it I get it guys here you're showing me like the actual drudgery of Viking culture. And I can applaud your accuracy because I am in Viking classes and reading more about Vikings and more fucking science literature than I have ever read in my life. You guys would love to know the dude. You'd love to. Speaking of naked dudes. Do you want to know a Viking fact I learned this week? Yeah, you'd love to speaking of naked dudes do you want to know a viking fact i learned this week yeah i would love to so when they are uh preparing the uh body in a funeral pyre where

they're like putting it on on the ship and they're gonna like set the ship on fire they don't put the ship out to sea they they've set it on fire on land uh and after 10 days of revelry and just like the worst, most fucking disgusting rituals. And that's saying a lot because I'm the one who likes combat. The last thing that happens is that everybody in the village turns away from the boat. And a naked guy walks towards the boat backwards, covering his asshole with his hand. Wow. And a torch in his other hand.

And when he gets up to the boat, without looking at it, Indiana Jones style, he can throw the torch onto the boat, set it on fire, and then everybody else can light the boat on fire. Why is he covering? Because there's some fear that right before they send you away, something might be able

to get in. Oh, interesting. And so everybody looks away from the fucking boat and the guy who lights it on fire has to cover his orifice. Right. His only facing the boat orifice.

Yeah. In order to get over to the boat to light it on fire. Yeah. I would just say like to the boat to light it on fire. Yeah. I would just say, like, why not just wear pants? Because the pants will get cursed. Oh, okay. Got it.

You got to get all the way up to the boat naked, making sure Ghost doesn't get in your bubble. I'll tell you something. If it's pants or my asshole, I'm going with the pants getting cursed. I can get new pants. Yeah, I can going with the pants getting cursed. I can get new pants. Yeah, you can toss those cursed pants. Well, maybe once you get close enough, the pants aren't enough. Oh, you can go through the layers. At that point, you're like, I might as well just be naked.

Yeah. I'm surprised nobody ever put like a stone in there. We don't know. I bet you they did. Yeah, some like wily guys like, guys, I'm not going to touch that. Yeah. Don't worry, guys, I'm not going to touch that. Yeah. Don't worry, guys. I came prepared.

Anyway, watching Vinland Saga to supplement my Viking education. And the more I learn about Viking society, the more shocked I am at the research that went into Vinland Saga. I learn about Viking society, the more shocked I am at the research that went into Vinland Saga. Like, up into and including some of the swords being imports from areas that Vikings

had conquered. So, like, all the swords aren't universally drawn. It's not always the same kind of sword that everybody's holding in Vinland Saga. There's a couple different kinds of swords, and one of those kinds of swords is a reference to an area conquered by Vikings. Wow. It's pretty good, right?

Yeah, very much so. Not something I can bring up in class when everybody's talking about the Viking stuff that they consume that week. I'm like, oh, I'm watching this Japanese anime called Vinland Saga. They'll be like, get out of class. Really, you think so? So here's the thing about an elective Viking class. Yeah.

Most of the people in the class are over the age of 60. Got it. Except my professor. Yeah. And there's one younger woman. Professor's like 400. Yeah. She's simultaneously young and old, dead and alive.

No, she's a young woman. I can't tell anybody's ages anymore. But there's a young woman, and then the rest are like old people. Yes. Who are like, well, I want to learn more about Viking. And also, they're extremely well-educated. I went in like- It's on Zoom, so you could see everybody.

Yeah, I went in like hoity-toity about like, oh, I'm a smart person. I'm going to fucking rock this class. And they're asking questions like, do you think that in, say, let's talk about the Battle of 673 and the archaeological evidence from Hastings. And she'll be like, yes, yes, yes, that paper, that paper. Like, it's like. Wow. I'm like, yes, yes, yes. That paper, that paper. Like, it's like. Wow. I'm like, holy shit. And Vikings are supplementary education to these people whose primary form of education seems to be medieval history.

Sure. Interesting. It's fucking intense. There's this meme going around on TikTok right now where women ask their male partners how much they think about the Roman Empire. So Mary got me on that fucking meme without me knowing what the meme was. She texted me

how often do you think about the Roman Empire? And I answered honestly and earnestly once a week. And she was like holy shit, what? And I was like what? and she's like what are you thinking about? and I'm like

I mean recently it's been about like whether or not the fall of an empire is visible to the citizens or if it is an invisible process and suddenly you aren't able to be on the road anymore

because I feel like it is pertinent to say current situations on planet earth yes and she's like aren't able to be on the road anymore. Because I feel like it is pertinent to say, current situations on planet Earth. Yes. And she's like, what? What else do you think?

And we talk about Roman Empire for a bit. And then days later, I was on TikTok and saw the meme, and I was like, son of a bitch. It got me. I'm going to make this promise. Yeah. I'll never think about the Roman Empire. I'll get you to. No.

I'll get you to. I don't want to think about it. I don't want to know a goddamn thing about it, okay? I'll get you to. I'll tell you something about it. What? They had like lavatories, like communal lavatories, and their equivalent of toilet paper were sponges that were set there on sticks.

On sticks. And everyone used them. But they dip them in like vinegar and shit. Yeah, they dip them, they dip them, but they pull it out. At least they're covered in vinegar. The cleanest substance on earth. Well, what's crazy about a communal shitter is that it means that people are like chatting. Yes, yeah.

It was an open room with multiple toilets and you'd sit around talking to people while you shit yeah that's not that's alien to me that's like you might as well be from a different planet to describe that to me yeah it's horrific yeah and and it wasn't like it was flushable no though they do they did like this is one of those things where every detail about it is worse than the thing you just heard. It's really bad. They did have... I mean, they had running water, which is crazy. Yeah, aqueducts are wild.

So maybe there was a river underneath the shitters. Maybe. It's no wonder they fell. Um, well, it's no wonder they fell. I, um, I like it. It is disgusting and it's weird to think about, but I think there's two, like, first off, like light, like people bring it back. People were just like dirty and disgusting. Like hygiene was on a completely different level.

Totally wrong. Not true. That that's, is the Roman thing. People were not like, people were hygienic i think that is an enlightenment uh era way of making older cultures seem more disgusting and like now we are we are beyond yes because like we know for a fact vikings which came significantly after the romans a day of the week was named about bathing. And all of their contemporaries who wrote about Vikings were like, these guys are so clean.

Like they are so well-groomed and so bathed. But like the Romans were clean. Like people bathed. People did bathe. So I guess- But they scrubbed their asses with the fucking dirty shit. That's what I was going to say. It's like more what I'm talking about is this specific context. It's like so it's so disgusting in terms of how we and so on.

And again, it versus what we think of as using the bathroom. Like there was not the idea of like I'm going to go to a hand washing station and scrub up with soap and hot water. But but but beyond that, it's just like life was so fucking boring. You have shit to do like there was no you were lucky if you were literate and then had access to any reading material but probably you had to like go like watch like a court musician or a fucking uh go to the theater and watch an orator uh for any sort of entertainment so all you had to do was like sit and talk and like fuck and stuff like you had nothing to do and then

also everyone was drunk all the time so i think that's the other layer of like i think if you're just like shit face then the idea of going to take a dump next to your buddy and having a conversation is like a little bit less weird take me back you know my new year's resolution is to cut back on sugar and add more protein to my diet and stay on track with my fitness goals. And Magic Spoon makes that easier and more delicious than ever. Growing up, cereal is one of the best parts of being a kid. But as I got older, I had to watch out for sugar and empty carbs. And boy, let me tell you, I love cereal.

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And the other notable hit, Studio Trigger's made a bunch of shows, but Kill La Kill, I think, is their most notable other project. So I'm going to go through a bunch of Polish and Japanese names. So I apologize if there's any mangling here. It was created by Rafal Jaki, and the screen story is credited to Bartosz Stajbor. The script is Masahiko Otsuka and Yoshiki Usa.

And I mentioned Imaishi is the director. Let's start here. What was everyone's reaction to this the first time upon release? And Matt, I know you didn't finish it, but you're watching however many episodes you did. What were you thinking when you were watching this initially? I just remember being, you know, I think we were sort of lukewarm to positive on the game.

We were like, the game is kind of dumb, but it's good. You platinumed it, Heather. I know that you really liked it. Yeah, I mean, game is kind of dumb, but it's good. You platinumed it, Heather. I know that you really liked it. I mean, I finished it. We all finished it. I did really enjoy that game, despite it's a real warts and all situation in its initial release.

It was very buggy, and a lot of it was unfun, but the narrative design was so strong. Yes. So going into this, I remember being like, I think the world is interesting enough to like see other things about it

and if we're not gonna get more story in the game right now I'm happy to see more stories in Night City told elsewhere

and I remember thinking that this like these first two in particular being like these are great these are interesting

and they really set up what you what the next bit of it is. It's a good table setting, I think, these first two episodes of the season. Yeah. Heather, and you watched it, obviously, in your own setup. What was your reaction watching this the first time? So my first response was the opening scene is everything I want in an anime. It's it's the one of the most violent things that I'd seen in a long time. Oh, yeah.

So I was like, OK, I went in with a bias and that bias was there's no way this is going to be good. Like there's no fucking way it's going to feel like as good as like the Animatrix was, it wasn't great. Like you weren't like, oh shit, the Animatrix years later. Like a lot of these sort of tie in anime projects. Like I never even watched the Blade Runner anime. Black Lotus. Yeah, I never I never watched Black Lotus because you're like, these are just sort of like. Is that what it's called? There's a show called White Lotus. Yeah, I never watched Black Lotus because you're like, these are just sort of like... Is that what it was called?

There's a show called White Lotus. Is that what you're thinking of? No, I think it's Black Lotus. Did they do a White Lotus anime? Jennifer Coolidge making like really funny faces in the anime. Oh, you guys. Oh, no.

Oh, no. Oh, no. So I went in low. Yeah. Low hopes, curiosity. And then somewhere around the midpoint, I started saying to my wife, my then fiancé, now wife, I think this show is great. Yeah. And I don't know how it's great.

And then the final couple episodes, I was like, oh, this is like a tier one anime. And I can't believe that it's cyberpunk. Yeah. My reactions paralleled yours. I think it was a little bit less skeptical going in just because I'd heard it was good. I think word of mouth had spread at that point. And I think this one and League of Legends Arcane, those two anime kind of came out around the well that's not i guess not an anime but i mean like those two animated series real realizations of video game properties came out around the same

time frame and they were both like critically well regarded and both of them i think people were like huh okay uh and this one i people can people can listen to our plate episode where we covered this on initial release uh if they want to dig that up through the archives to hear our actual reactions. But what I remember being is like, wow, this is shockingly good. And then, yes, having a point by the end where I was like, wow, this is just like an incredibly well-crafted season of television. I can't believe they pulled this off. And I think the big thing that the things that I remember from this that I retained on this watch through is, first off, every episode feels consequential to Matt's point. Like every episode, there's something happening where it's like, oh, shit, that's really going to advance the plot. And the thing is, it's just a triumph of aesthetics.

It's just such a gorgeous show. The character designer is Yo Yoshinari. And I think just like the just the character designs in particular are so cool. Like like they all look so great. The palette is is awesome. Everything is just soaked in neon. Both day looks and night looks are just so, you know, those those Miami Vice sort of palettes. You know, it's just, it's, and there's so much yellow used, which shouldn't work, but it's such a great dominant color.

Mary came in while I was re-watching the show, and she was like, why has everything kind of got to look like Blade Runner? Yeah. And I was like, yeah, it sort of set the tone for generations of cyberpunk stories on screen. I do think what sets apart cyberpunk is the color yellow, which you never see a non-neon standard yellow used as like a motif. And it's used so,

it proliferates through the opening credits and it's also in David's jacket. Like it is a visual, like the visual iconography of cyberpunk. The subway cars, I believe, are bright yellow. And it really fucking works. Yeah, it's awesome. It's a great looking show.

It feels good. Yeah. And there is this little bit, speaking of the character design, I just, I feel like at some point I wanted to get this information out. I might as well do it now. But this was a quote you maybe saw.

The site was Anime Senpai where I found this. But this is talking about the character of Rebecca, who is like the, you know, she comes about not in these first two episodes, I don't think, but she is like a presence throughout the series. The child bodied. Yes.

Character. Yes. And this I'll just read this quote. Rebecca's character concept was sent to CD Projekt Red initially, and they said she is a lolly. There are no lollies in Night City. She doesn't look like a cyberpunk 2077 character. However, Trigger's reply was shortened to the point. No, the lolly must stay. So they just kind of

put their foot down. I don't know. I mean, I think it was a great decision because I think it is a really cool character design and I think it kind of like fits her sort of spark plug sort of personality. But I think that also just kind of generally speaks to the autonomy

that Studio Trigger seems to have been granted the trust that cd project red had to be like okay you know take our property and do what you want with it uh and also it that it's it's not even of course their property to begin with uh which will uh you know which is another thing um but yeah i i and i'll also just say that i watched the subtitles the first time through. I watched them all subbed. For this one, I'm kind of doing something where I'm alternating. So Heather and I are going to trade off which episodes we're driving.

And so I'm watching the dub for episodes I'm driving for ease of note-taking and then subs for episodes where I'm not doing that, which is also an interesting experience. But I don't know. I think both audio tracks are really good. I think the English acting is great. That's good to know. I will never – I'll never know that. But I'm glad to know that it's good. I think a lot of people will probably watch it in dubs.

And so I do think it is a – I think it is a – yeah, it absolutely honors the original version. All right. First episode, episode one, Let let you down unless anyone else has any thoughts before we go in let's let her rip or doc Matt that was good let you down is the first episode

so we start with a squad of cops making small talk in the rain and then a cyber psycho walks up and absolutely just fucking head pops a cop with a fucking point blank, just head exploding round. And then we get into this thing that Heather talked about, this Verhoeven level bloody shootout that is just so awesome. It's just such a great cold open because it just sort of immediately entrenches you into this world of just like it is merciless. It is brutal.

Cops are going to get fucking just killed by the dozen. I love the moment where we see the Sendevistan, which is the cyber implant sheer, the sheer, you know, intense brutality of this. I just I think it's I think it's awesome. But I like the way you see what a cyberpsycho looks like in Edge Runners. Yes. Which is this, like, their eyes are multiple planes of 2D eyes that are sort of, like, shifting all around their sockets. And, like, that's the designation for cyberpsycho. And I don't think that was in the game. And it's great. Yeah, there are cyberpsychos in the game that you encounter. But, yeah, I don't think it's rendered in the same sort of way.

It is awesome. You're right. It's a great visual representation of that. So we have this sequence. We transition to David is watching this. David is our protagonist, is watching this as a brain dance, sort of a VR recreation of this. A Strange Days style. A very Strange Days, yeah, yeah.

Strange Days, Catherine Bigelow, James Cameron movie that Nick and I were just talking about right before this. Holds up. Holds up. I mean, it's fucking gnarly. Yeah. But it holds up. Okay, so in terms of choices, aesthetic choices of this game, I really like that they just rep— Anime.

This anime. But I said game because—I misspoke and said game because I was thinking about the game UX, which is just rendered as part of the animation. Yes. And they do that for the voice and the video calls, and it works really well. Yes. And I don't know how much of that came from CD Projekt Red or not, but it's just like—it's really effectively integrated. Yeah. No notes.

Excellent work. Also, it's been a couple of years since I've played cyberpunk. So hearing those audio cues felt warm and fuzzy nostalgic to me. Like I was like, oh, when I hear that phone ring, I'm like, oh, it's that thing. Yeah. Yeah. There are a couple of things like that where I was like, oh, yeah. Oh, yeah.

That's nice. I also want to say that this show is, the soundtrack, the vocal soundtrack for this show is the music that plays on the radios in Cyberpunk 2077. And the songs in the game are largely forgettable, but once they're repurposed by edge runners, they take on meaning. And when you hear them in the game, after you've watched ed runner edge runners, you're like,

Oh, Oh God. Oh no, no, no, no, no. And that's,

that's a really cool redefining of, of the, um, sort of diegetic music of the game. I should mention a name real quick that I should have mentioned earlier, which is Mike Pondsmith, who created the cyberpunk role-playing PNP game that is the basis for 2077 and this anime and seems to be an interesting and very creative dude. Okay, so after this that, yeah, he's watching this, he's talking to a Ripper doc who has sent him this brain dance and he's talking to him through the

in-game voice chat system. The Ripper doc sends him a really quick explicit porno clip that he watches as a brain dance. Again, just like, does a good job of just plunging you into the deep of like, this is what you're going to get in this show. You're going to get file to get new. Yeah, exactly. I love things like and I think this is the kind of thing where the anime does a better job of the commentary that the game is attempting.

But like David not being able to afford the washing machine in his own home. That's paywalled is just like oh yeah that's the thing they are going to do at a certain point it's going to be a pay per use in the dishwasher and my rental and if I don't have enough money then that I'm not going to be able to that's already the case like you if you don't own your laundry machine you have to pay money

in order to use it and if you run out of quarters and your fucking shit's not dry you're fucked right but there's a difference when it's like in your own home yes right like this isn't like a laundromat he's going to or a shared laundry room. A subscription service to your own laundry machine. Exactly, yes, yeah, yeah. Bring it, bring it.

Let's ride it out for these last nine years. I do want to just point out, nine? You can, a lot of those shared laundry units, they have these boxes on them that have a keyhole on them. You can buy that key. I love that. Just so you know, you can buy that key anywhere. I think I've told this story on the pod before.

There was a kid at my school who got a color copier when color copiers were not a thing yet. color copiers were not a thing yet. And he started color copying dollar bills, cutting them, bringing them to the laundromat, feeding them into the quarter exchange, getting quarters so that he could do his laundry. Amazing, that worked. And it worked because it was so early.

Yeah, yeah. And then was eventually arrested. Wow. But for a while, he was like running a scheme so that he could get his laundry done. Look, don't even. This is the last I'm going to say about this. Laundry should be free. You're already paying fucking rent. Anyway, that's that's that's my take. So he so David's mom is on sleeping on the couch. He's talking to her. She is actually the uh, attack has been reported on the news and she is on TV as part of the medevac crew, uh, that cleaned up after the cyber psycho attack. And so we're just getting a lot of info here up top. Um, but it, it, it's all, you know, it's, I, I think it's pretty efficiently and effectively conveyed.

Uh, and we are also getting that the cyber psycho had this military grade implant that has disappeared. And as this is happening, Gloria gets a scrambled call from some unknown hooligan. And that's that's after out of this scene. Then we get just like and I think this is part of what's what's fun about this anime is just like it has great walking around in the same way that what's, know the game i think is pretty pretty good about this like the moments where you just kind of get to walk around and explore night city it certainly got better with the updates but it does a good job of just representing this fully realized world just how nasty it is i love the move he does where he steps off he's just walking and just kind of moonwalks off the edge of a of a little uh uh lift and then falls into a trash pile, like just steps into a

bunch of garbage things and they break his fall. Yeah. Just so cool. I like that the backgrounds in the anime are actual locations from the game. Yes. It's like- Really cool. It's like if you were watching an anime- Here's a deep cut.

Gunsmith Cats is one of the few anime that takes place in Chicago. And whenever I would recognize a location, I'd be like, oh shit, wow. And the same feeling applies here where I'm like, oh, I know where that is. I know that building. I know that bar in Cyberpunk.

What's the premise of Gunsmith Cats? I know that bar in Cyberpunk. What's the premise of Gunsmith Cats? It is a group of scantily clad Chicago girls who are obsessed with guns, who are like bounty hunters for low-level crimes in Chicago. I'm not going to watch that. Don't. Sounds too ribald for me.

Don't tell me anything about that. It has an excellent action sequence or two in it. Like truly great and a really good car chase too. Did you watch it because it was set in Chicago? I think it was one of those anime where so few things were available when it came out. Got it. That I was like, oh, this fucking show. But it was a very lushly animated OVA. So like it holds up.

It's gorgeous. Wow, okay. Yeah, I'm looking at some images from there. It looks like Da Bears guys are in it. Ditka, get Ditka in there. He'll stop the gunsmith cats. So, okay. So, David is walking around the town.

Great walking around. I love just people using drugs, you know, using the fleshlights, puking in public. It's so fucking nasty. It's like Roman Empire shit. Yeah, I wouldn't want to live there. No, you absolutely don't want to live there because that's the thing. It's like they make it look cool, but they also make it look fucking gnarly. And you understand why people want to get the fuck out of there. European cities. So like the feeling of cyberpunk is the feeling of Los Angeles or San Francisco or New York. Like it does not really work if you're like in Berlin. Well, and I imagine also like in,

you know, in a Japanese city, too. This is in. And this was a Japanese studio that made this. I think Mike Pondsmith is American, so that would make sense. How many autojackers would you have to see on the street before you guys would be comfortable walking down the street with an autojacker on? I just don't think I could do it. I don't even want to clip my toenails in public. I don't think I'd walk around with a visible autojacker. Not that I'd be above using an autojacker in private,

but I think in public, that's just a bridge too far. Like, what if it became like- Yeah, if any autojackers want to sponsor the show or something. In your lifetime, though, like, if it was like a thing that people just did in coffee shops, you don't think- like, if it- I have no threshold for what this would be like, so I don't know. That would be the- I mean, the thing that would have to come first

is that like shitting your pants in public is acceptable. Like, you know what I mean? Like, it's not like we're not going to jump straight to jacking off. Well, like I've seen people look at like pornography like on a plane or like at a library. You know, I've seen that move, but that still is not like,

that's not an invitation for me to look at porno. Like I'm still not comfortable even looking at porno in public. This guy's doing it. Yeah, exactly. And so if that became more standardized, I think I'd still be just a little bit squeamish about it. Yeah, I don't know. Those toilets that... They have these public toilets that are...

They look like... When you're inside of them, it looks like they're glass and you can see out. Oh, yeah. I know what you mean. That's horrific. Yeah. Those are unnerving. Because you know that on the outside, they can't see you.

Yeah. But you don't really know that. Yeah. It breaks your brain a little bit. Okay. So there's a bunch of that going on. But everyone's very comfortable with that in Night City. But everyone's very comfortable with that Night City. And're going to basically, you know, Microsoft High School.

And so he's being indoctrinated in all this corporate shit. This other kid, Katsuo, calls him in class. And at first maybe seems like he's his friend, but then you learn that he's kind of his bully. He's taunting him for modifying his dated rig. And David's headset, which he has kind of tweaked because it little bit older ends up frying the entire class's uh i guess like in-person zoom call whatever the fuck they're doing yeah uh and that leads to david being in the principal's office with his mom and effectively he's told he's fucking busted which is every kid's nightmare you don't want

no that's like the last thing yeah you could ever ever wish for You don't want to be busted. No, that's like the last thing you could ever, ever wish for. You would never want to be busted ever. No, I would hate it. And my mom's there. Whenever my mom got called, I was like, kill me instead. Do me a favor. Do us both a favor and just kill me, dog. You know how many dead kids there would be if they were like,

here's a 45. I can pick up this phone and call your mom, or I kids there would be if they were like, here's a.45. I can pick up this phone and call your mom or I can shoot you. Yeah, I mean, here's the thing. These arguments for giving teachers guns are like, listen, they're shooting me first. The teachers, I would have been dead. I remember one

time I got called into the principal's office and the principal was like, we're going to call your mom right now. But I did something good. She's like like, we're going to call your mom right now. But I did something good. Yeah. She's like, but we're going to call your mom and we're going to make it seem like you did something bad. And we proceeded with this little prank.

Yeah. My mom got so fucking mad. And the principal was like, we're just kidding. We're just kidding. Why are you calling me? I'm at work. I was like, I just did a good job.

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No. They're in charge of schools, and they're just like, I don't know. This has helped me a lot recently. This is their first time living, too. Yeah, sure. I think about me a lot recently. This is their first time living too. Yeah, sure. I think about that a lot. Then there's people that don't deserve that grace, right?

Because they fuck up and they're dipshits their entire life. I won't give that same grace to Ted Cruz or something. Sure. But when my mom says something or my stepdad says something, they're like, oh, they don't fucking know. Yeah. They have no idea. Uh,

so, uh, speaking of moms, David is getting scolded by his mom, Gloria, as he's going home for going to a ripper dock behind her back. Uh, David's like,

I'm going to go, I'm going to drop out. We're, we're fucking broke. You can't afford this. You're working your ass off trying to pay for the school. I know you can't afford it. And she's like,

she's breaking her ass. She's trying to give him a fighting chance know you can't afford it and she's like she's breaking her ass she's trying to give him a fighting chance and all as this is happening as this heart to heart is happening a van pulls up and just starts blasting into their car so fucking violent uh and the van is it's like an unrelated thing this is the thing it's just like a kind of a random crime this is just how plagued with uh you know this urban environment is, where they're just caught in the crossfire of this van trying to shoot up this limo. And David wakes up, and their car is flipped. Gloria is knocked out in the street. A trauma team shows up, and they don't have insurance, so they're just abandoned there, which, again, is just better commentary than anything in the game.

Oh, yeah. Anyway, then they're in a shitty ER, like a public ER or a pay-for-service ER. I can't really tell exactly what the facility is, but it's just like when you don't have insurance, this is where you end up. It's fucking disgusting. It looks like a Roman lavatory, and they're in there, and they tell David his mom is going to be OK, but they have to keep her overnight. They give him a box of all of her possessions.

David goes home. His apartment's locked off because of nonpayment of rent. And it's like digitally, like there's like a UI element that's blocking his entrance. So he has to crawl in through a window. And he's going through all of her possessions, and he sees some cyberware. And he sees this, like, the spine that was part of the cyber psycho. And that leads him to

call the Ripper doc and ask, how much for this? He gets a lowball offer, but he's looking at this cyber, this fucking cyberware, and he's like, this is fucking hardcore. Like, you can tell this Sandevistan is pretty Sandevastating, that it actually has some real value. Was that in your notes, or did you do that just on the fly just then?

I just did it on the fly. It's excellent work. Well, thank you. Anyway, so David is being bullied outside of his academy. He's being roasted by his classmates, the asshole blue-haired kid. What the fuck's his name? Katsuo is, like is fucking going after him. They're asking how much how his mommy pays his way and planting and implying she's a sex worker, which sex work is work.

But they're not progressive enough to understand that. Go off, King. Yeah, they are trying to say it's some sort of some sort of insult, some sort of ignoble profession, although that is not in fact what what she's doing. As we learn. They're taunting him. David tries to fight back, but the rich kid has too much cyberware and kicks his ass. And this feels like a very, you know, again,

just a very pointed sort of... There's kind of a real-world equivalent of this, right? Like the kid in the yacht club who's beating up the poor kid. But here it can be actualized in the sense of you just have a better physique. I guess the idea is that

there it would be like, oh, someone is better nourished and physically larger and more muscular because they have access to better resources so they can beat someone up. But here it's just actually like, I have better implants in my body so I can beat the up. But here it's just actually like I have better implants in my body

so I can beat the shit out of you. Want to try me again? I suggest you pack some serious chrome. And David is getting his ass kicked, getting the shit beaten out of him. And as this happens, when it rains, it pours. He gets a call from the ER. They tell him he gets to the ER. They tell him the discount package he had with that level of insurance.

They couldn't save her. His mom's dead. They hand him a tablet with a generic mortuary service video that he watches just so grim just like hello grieving customer we understand you've experienced a loss just like a generic template that he is watching i know that a lot of this is all like ground that has been tread in dystopian stuff before right Right. But the way it folds in on itself in this show is so satisfying. Yeah, it's very effective. Like him getting that tablet and then the hard cut to what is essentially a crematorium vending machine. Yes, yeah.

Where he gets a capsule with his mother in it. It's so fucking great and awful. And then he's walking home, and as this is happening, there's an audio montage of calls he's getting about being expelled. He's, you know, being threatened with eviction. There's a great song playing here that I don't have pulled up. And, you know, he's carrying his mom in like a really, you know, the most generic base level urn.

It looks like a protein powder container. Yeah, right, yes. So he's carrying his mom in that. And he gets, by the way, it's just another thing where I remember the initial watch, I was like, I knew the mom was probably going to die because I just figured that's what was going to happen.

But just like, they just do it in episode one. They do it so brutally. Yeah. And like. And offhandedly. Immediately. Immediately. Yeah.

Done. Yeah. This show doesn't waste any time. Anyway, as this is happening, he David calls the Ripper doc. He's like, like, hey, can I sell this implant? Now that he's offering even less. Katsuo is calling him and bullying him about his mom dying, which is just like fucking what a piece. What a fucking piece of shit. And then he and he and David's like trying to decide what to do.

He shows up. The Ripper Doc is watching an XBD. He's watching, you know, another scenario where he's like some some hardcore sex thing. And he walks in and David's like, I want this thing installed. And he's got the Sandevistan. And he has the line, high time I chrome the fuck up. And there we go. And then we get into the end credits. And the first time we hit the end credits, we get the end credit song, which is This Fire by Franz Ferdinand. Which is the opening credits.

Which becomes the opening credits song in subsequent episodes. And great song. Great song. I love hearing it every time. It's, I most closely associated with Burnout, the video game, to me. So seeing it in another video game anime property was, I was like, oh man, I love it. Somebody one time. We're straight in this context.

I was out with some friends drinking and dancing. Oh, nice. This song came out, I was the only one that was fucking going nuts. I was like, I love, this is rules. Everybody was like, why are they playing this? Playing Katy Perry or something. Oh boy. It's a good song.

It's also not the only time that Franz Ferdinand has done the opening theme to an anime. They also did one to a show called Paradise Kiss, I think. Wow. Long time ago. I just realized that's the only Archduke I can name. Can you think of another Archduke? No. There are not enough bands named after him.

You give me a mid-2000s band, you better be named after an Archduke or I'm not listening. Archduke Modest Mouse. Archduke Pearl Jam. Any other thoughts on episode one? No, it just fucking slapped. Great pilot. It's just fucking great. And I like just the, this is a very, this is not the normal end credits here, but just the end credit scroll is just, it just still has the aesthetic as part of it.

It still has the same font. And yeah, I just, I love that they extended that to the end of the show. Episode two is like a boy. Picks up right where it left off, including the line, high time I chrome the fuck up. The Ripper Doc says he shouldn't install it. He goes back to getting sucked off by his motorized flashlight. But the Ripper Doc ultimately, and I don't quite understand what the flip is. I think he maybe just thinks about it for a second or maybe fucking busts.

And then he agrees that he's going to do it. He swaps out his arms, which I love that shit. Give me all that you got. Give me an arm swap. He swaps out his own arms so we can start cutting into David. And then we get the OP. The opening to the show is, you know,

again, we've got the, the, this fire song, which is playing, but the opening is so stylish. And we talked about what a dominant element yellow is, but it's just,

it's so cool looking. It's, it's, it's excellent. And it's also, uh, David slowly falling apart. Yes. Yeah. Which is great. Yeah. It's excellent, and it's also David slowly falling apart. Yes, yeah.

Which is great. Yeah, it's really cool. After this, we're at the Arasaka Academy. David shows up in street clothes, and he walks up, and he just starts fighting Katsuo. Because he's got the Sandevistan installed now. So it lets him, by the way, a very bloody install. It seems like there's no sort of painkillers or anything. He's just going in raw. And so he's got this thing in him and now he can matrix around Katsuo and beat the shit out of him. As he leaves Katsuo in like a drooling,

bloody heap, he's saying like, my dad is an Arasaka executive. You'll pay for this. Throwing that after him, which we'll tie in later. Now David's walking outside in his bloodstained jacket, and back at the apartment, he looks at his mom's urn. So that leads to the aforementioned Arasaka executive, who's watching the footage of his son getting his ass kicked. And I like that he just has a moment where he talks to the offscreen president. He's like, why are you showing me this? And it's like, why are you showing me this? But the underling who is off screen tells him that clearly this kid is using the stolen Sandevistan, the stolen military hardware we heard about in the news report in the previous episode and doesn't seem to be experiencing any side effects. So he may be a good candidate for testing, testing this thing out. As this is happening, David gets a call from the academy.

He hangs it up. He's ignoring it. And this is the moment where we should talk about how, in a lot of ways, this show is upsetting for many reasons. But one of them is that David is 17. I think about how young he is based on, like, in concert with how bad his life is. Yeah, his life is fucking awful. Life sucks. His life sucks. Just absolutely miserable.

So he's walking around outside after this, after his shower, and again, more guys puking and cyberjacking off. The Skytrain, I'm such a train guy. The Skytrains are so cool in this show. It's also a feature of the anime that was not in the game. Yes, right, feature of the anime that was not in the game. Yes, right, yeah.

Like, it was supposed to be in the game and wasn't. And it's, like, such a highlight of the anime that it's like, ugh, some of this was storyboarded before they couldn't execute. Yeah, I wish I could take this hanging train. It's fucking awesome. He seems to have another vision of the woman

from before, from the previous episode. And now he actually sees her and sees she is pick-socketing in the show's parlance. She is going around to the implants, the USB port that everyone has underneath their ear, which is, I know this is not, this is the opposite message of the show, but I'm just, I'm like, give me one of them.

I want that USB port. I do. Having played some of the game again recently, I need that. Yeah. Back when the vaccine was new and they thought that we were getting microchipped, I was like, yeah, great. Give me all you got. I'll take a microchip in my fucking temple. I don't give a shit. I'll take a microchip in my fucking temple.

I don't give a shit. What's both frustrating and also extremely on point for the topic is that there's only one company that seems to be like pursuing this technology and it's Elon Musk's. Yeah. Which of course, like, of course, the people who would be doing this to our brains are the people we don't want doing it to our brains. I'll in on the next one. Once somebody else figures it out or sees what they did and is like, oh, we can do that too. Once Apple's doing it, I'm in. I think the day that I come in wearing the Apple Vision Pro, though, you guys are not going to stop making fun of me. It's just like when I walked around with a Google Glass.

You don't understand how afraid of you we are. I can't wait to get in an Uber with that shit on my face. Yeah. For them to be like uh, and I'd be like, drive. Yeah. I mentioned before, maybe on this show, but maybe on Played, but my buddy Van, who I think

we all know, he has, he was wearing, he was a Google Glass, like one of those. What were they called, the Google Pioneers? Yeah, they were Google Pilots. He was one of those people. I was, too. He was walking around with Google Glass, and he said one of his experiences with Google Glass, he walked into a bar, and a waitress turned to him and just immediately flipped him off. and a waitress turned to him and just immediately flipped him off.

Anyway, so he sees what she's doing and he grabs her and he's like, I see what you're doing. You're trying to steal from people. And she turns things around on him, gets the nanowire weapon, which is like a cyber garret on him. Is that how you say it?

Garret? Garote? How do you say that? I don't fucking know. Whatever that is. It's like the wire. I've never heard that word. It's the wire that you use to strangle people.

But this is like the cyberpunk version of it. You don't know the name of the thing used to strangle people? The skinny rope. I don't know. Anyway, so he's got one of those. She's got one of those on him. It is Garote Wire.

Garote? Is that how you say it? I don't know. It's how it's spelled. Garote? Garrett? Whatever it is. She notices his chrome and is like, okay, we should team up.

And she's like, I only target Arasaka. And they negotiate an arrangement. And she introduces herself as Lucy, one of the main characters of this show. So later on the train, they're working their game. David is using the San Devastan to rob sockets from an array of customers and passing them off to Lucy. They're kind of working in tandem. And then this is successful. And later off the platform, they're discussing money.

And as this is happening, David gets a nosebleed and passes the fuck out. And he just passes the fuck out. He is just like. He passes out face forward on a flight of stairs. Yeah. He's just out of it. And slides face forward on the stairs. Yes.

Just absolutely wrecked. So they're in an ambulance with a doc. A doc is like, wait, you haven't been taking any precautions. You don't have insurance. You're not taking any immunosuppressants. You're just using this thing, you know, like raw, like as it is. And this person who is in their ambulance, and I can't tell if she has a previous relationship with Lucy or not. It kind of seems like she does.

But she sees what's happening. She's going to rob them and steal David's implant because it's too valuable in the black market. Lucy kicks the shit out of her. And then they skate backward on the gurney out of the ambulance. And this is one of those things where it's like, I don't think Lucy's character is ever quite at this intensity again. Like maybe I'm wrong and maybe we'll revisit something where, you know, we'll see her. But I feel like here she's kind of like a little bit more manic and intense than she is, where she seems like kind of an even presence through most of the series, at least in my memory

and at least in these first couple episodes. I think she's putting on a show. You think she's putting on a show? Yeah. Got it. Well, that would tie in with what happens later. Because I do think that when you get that shot, when they're on the gurney flying down the highway,

and she's backlit with all the neon, and you see David falling for her, when they're on the gurney flying down the highway. Yes, yes, skating backwards. And she's backlit with all the neon, and you see David falling for her. I think that that's all a fucking act. Got it. For his benefit. That tracks. And then David is, you know,

he's covered in his own puke inside of his oxygen mask. It's fucking nasty. He has to go to the Ripper doc, where he takes her, where she takes him, rather, at the Ripper doc. The Ripper doc's like, I can't believe you fired this up eight times in one day. Like you can't you're not supposed to do this more than twice in a day.

If maybe three times or else you're going to go cyber psycho. They tell him he needs fancy immunosuppressants. Lucy takes all the chips they stole and is able to buy him two days worth of meds with all the work that they did. And so he at least has something to fight against to counter the devastation he's wreaking on his body through use of using this device over and over again. Outside, Lucy calls it a day and says, like, again, only use that thing when you've got no other choice and we're going to keep working together tomorrow. And she invites him back to her place.

And he's like, wait, I thought we were going. I thought like that was for work. And she's like, it's not for work. And he's like, oh, here we go. So they're there. They have beers and she smokes. It seems to be his first time drinking or at least like he says it's not. But it kind of seems like it is.

He didn't like it. He doesn't like it. He doesn't like carbonation, which is a running thing. I think that's kind of fun, actually. He doesn't like carbonation? He doesn't like carbonation. He doesn't like a little bubble. I a running thing. I think that's kind of fun, actually. That he doesn't like carbonation? He doesn't like carbonation. He doesn't like a little bubble. I don't know.

You think that's fun? It's cute. I don't mind it. It's cute. I didn't think about it for a single second for some reason. I was just sort of like, just drink the beer, dude. She puts on his jacket and kind of digitally projects the Edgerunners logo onto it, explains what Edgerunners are. They're just another word for cyberpunk and what they do.

His jacket, which is a med team jacket that he stole. Yes, right. Yeah, good thing to point out. And he notices Lucy's got this poster about the moon, and he's like, ah, the fucking moon. Who gives a shit about this fucking thing? Can I say something about the jacket also? Please. I saw Jowan, the Bollywood film.

Yeah. And the opening sequence is about sort of like a, well, the second sequence. The cold open is not related. But the second sequence of the film, I think, I think is an Edgerunner's reference. That's fucking awesome. I think is an Edgerunner's reference

that's fucking awesome because all of the hackers yeah are wearing bright yellow

high-collared jackets with reflective stripes on them that makes me want to see it more so okay

so he he's saying like basically he's skeptical of the moon the fucking moon she's like

I love the moon he talks about his mom worked hard to let him go to the Arasaka

Academy but he never really belonged and she's like well that's not your dream that's your mom's dream like you gotta have your own the moon uh he talks about his mom worked hard to let him go to the arasaka academy but he never really belonged and she's like well that's not your dream that's your mom's dream like you gotta have your own dream and lucy's like my dream is to get as far away from night city as possible i want to get away from this fucking puke covered um auto jacker town and she takes him into a vr moon experience which looks fucking great that's another that's another thing. It was just like, let me have that VR moon experience. I would like to cue the song that I sent to the group.

Please. Because this is, I think, the iconic song of Edgerunners. Yes. This was the song that went viral on TikTok and was being used over and over and over again in so many different clips last year. And hearing it again, it made me really emotional. Yeah, it hits really hard. They're just bopping around in low Gs in this VR moon.

She's taking his hand. They're hopping in a moon rover, and this is playing. I couldn't wait for you to come and clear the cupboard This is a song that plays on the car radio in the game and is completely ignorable. Yes. And now it gives you all the feels. Yeah, recontextualize and you kind of realize what a good song it is. Very churches.

Oh, yeah. Yeah. This is one where if you look at the YouTube for this song, all the comments are like, great, now my day is ruined. Or like, oh, thanks for making me feel this again. I was just over the show. My childhood.

Yeah, a lot of my childhoods. From this song from last year. And anyway, so she takes him onto a crater. They're dangling their legs over a crater, looking back at the earth. Lucy's like, this is the first time I've shown anyone this. This is the first time I've opened up to anyone like this. And she's got the feeling they're going to make a pretty good team. And that cuts to Mask being ripped off.

You fell over the edge, punk. And there's a gang lording over him saying that chrome's mine and we see lucy in profile next to him just smoking casually looking cool as shit she fucking fucking totally scammed she iced him she iced him out big time and there we go and that's that episode fuck god i love this show it's great great i'm so happy we're covering it i i'll i'll admit admit you were like we should cover cyberpunk and I was like

I kind of want to watch a new thing but I'm so happy to be back in this world I'm glad you're having a good experience because I am too

I really really enjoyed revisiting and knowing that our boy our boy hasn't seen the end I haven't seen the end I already know

I mean I already just I can I don already know. I mean I already just I don't know. I'm nervous about finishing it this time because you know it doesn't seem like it's going to end well for our boy David but we'll get

there when we get there. Satisfying as fuck. That's all I'll say. Hey those were our... Any other thoughts on this one? No, I'm just happy we're watching it, and I'm glad we're in the autumn of cyberpunk. Yeah. The autumn of cyberpunk. Well, those

were our thoughts on episodes one and two of Cyberpunk Edgerunners. Let you down, and like a boy. Let's hear what these chooms have to say about it next week. Let's hear what you chooms have to say about it next week. Let's hear what you chooms have to say. It's time for... Well, right now we're going to talk about

FLCL, though. Oh, that's right. That's right. I'm just queuing them up to give us their thoughts about Cyberpunk Edge. They have nothing to react to yet, because right now it's still time for us to wrap up our foodie cootie thoughts or your foodie cootie thoughts in Yuri Cootie, the chain reactions of Harui Suzumiya, Blue Talk. Blue Talk.

Blue Talk. Blue Talk. So the episodes we covered were Brittle Bullet, Episode 5, and FLCL IMAX, which was the finale. That's right. And here are your thoughts on those episodes. This first one is from Nolan M. Wall. Hi, Nolan.

What's up, Nolan? Hello, Nolan. Such a satisfying rewatch. A show that is both indefensible and undeniable. Two great words. Yeah. Really good uh great review there that's that's that's i i am i mean and obviously heather's are you watching this but i just i am i am interested in the re-watchers how this is because i especially people are revisiting this after 20 years it's it's really

interesting to hear that most for the most part of it's been pretty positive you know there was talk on the on the discord about like why we watched all the shows that we watched. And one of, one of the pieces of feedback was, and they watched FLCL because you know, it's so important to Heather. And I just want to say this show is not important to me. I mean,

I'm, I'm happy. I'm happy that we rewatched it and I did enjoy it when it came out and I watched it a bunch. Yes. But it's not important to me. Right. Like, if I never saw FLCL again, I'd be like, oh, okay.

Yeah. Didn't we watch it because of a poll? Yeah. Yeah. We asked people what to watch. Yeah. And a lot of people said we should watch this one. Yeah.

And we did. So I just want to, you know, on the record, like, this isn't what, like, if we were going to watch Naruto, that would be my fault. But if we're watching FLCL, not my fault. No, not your fault at all. High school DXD, Weiger's fault. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Prison school, Weiger's fault.

Any series where the first part of the title is Pokemon, Matt's fault. Here we go. This next one is from Callum. Hi, Matt's fault. Here we go. This next one is from Callum. Hi, Callum. Hi, Callum. Callum writes, Rivers Cuomo really missed an opportunity to call his Japanese language band Weeber. That's a great pitch.

That's really good. Excellent work. Really, really good. Thank you, Callum. Thank you, Callum. That changed my life. Retweet. I'll retweet that. Thank you, Callum, for that. That changed my life. Retweet. I'll retweet that. Yeah, if you tweet that, consider that an instant repost on X. This next one's from- Is that what they're called now, repost?

Yeah. They're taking out all the branding. It's just a good idea. This next one's from John Stevenson. What's up, Johnson what's up John I wrote a new synopsis for FLCL for FLCL feel free to send it on to

Funimation slash Crunchyroll and here it is an uncomfortably horny sci-fi anime where a narcissist's father, a psychopath alien on a scooter, and a 17 year old with a borderline personality disorder battle to see who can fuck up a 12-year-old boy the most. That rocks.

Very good. This next one is from Richard Glass. Do you think it's Mr. Glass? I was going to ask if it was Mr. Glass. I hope not. I hope it's Mr. Glass. I hope not. I hope it's not. Yeah. I don't want any supervillains listening to the show.

I think Glass is a common enough surname where we can assume it's not Mr. Glass. Yeah. But if you are, watch yourself. You better watch it because guess what? I know your weakness, bitch. Yeah, Unbreakable is going to get your ass. Yeah. Richard Glass writes,

I've re-watched Fooly Cooly multiple times over the years and always come away with a different take. My perspective on the themes, characters, motivations, and the whole steez of it have changed every time. The only constant stance I have, the soundtrack is an all-timer. I found it on yellow and blue vinyl, and my life feels a little more complete. Wow.

Wow. The soundtrack is very good. Yeah, it is really good. It's excellent. It's an excellent soundtrack. No, I'd be a fan of the pillows, yeah. I think the pillows, as far as pillows in my life, I'm gonna go ahead and say number two. What's your number

one? Pillow I sleep on. Would you call that my pillow? I'd say my pillow. And it's not lumpy. This next one is from Mortal Comment, MK. What's up, MK?

For all its aliens, robots, and general batshit nonsense, the show still feels incredibly human to me. It's funny and sad, chaotic and serene. It's gross and it's beautiful. I love this show. Wow. Nice.

It really does hit those moments of humanity really effectively. I think we talked about that. And it is just like a credit to just storytelling. Yeah. Just so much of it is just nonsense, but it still has some emotional resonance. We're hearing from a lot of friends today. This one's from Dean Loud and Clear.

What's up, Dean Loud and Clear? Hi, Dean. Glad this was only six episodes. I think I'd rather suffer through the endless eight again than watch any more of this nonsense. Wow! I love this. I love this kind of coming in loud and clear with a hot take. That's a hot take. Hot take.

I love it. Hot takedown. That was excellent. Imagine, I mean, I don't have to imagine, Dean does think this. Yeah. Endless Eight over and over again instead of six of FLCL? I think I like this more than the Endless Eight. I mean, think I like this more than the endless say I mean I did like

this more than the endless state although I didn't like did not like this overall series as much as Haruhi Suzumiya but it is always it I think partly is just like a fan of animation and

an admirer of the craft I think it is always gives you something interesting to look at even if sometimes what you're looking at is grotesque but that's that's interesting. I'm sure the show has a lot of detractors.

And finally, this one's from Bradley R. Jackson. Hi, Bradley. Hello, Bradley. Hello, Bradley. May I call you Brad? Give that a try. Brad writes, at my school in second grade, we were taught how to use chopsticks picking up kernels of popped popcorn. That's cool.

Wow. Because, yeah, there was a, in the episode where they're learning how to use chopsticks, we were sort of like, what, like, they teach you how to do that. But I guess in some schools they do. Yeah, I wonder which country this was, and I wonder if this was a public or private school. Popcorn, one of the great snacks. I know that you're a popcorn skeptic. I'm a bit of a popcorn skeptic, but I have no quarrels with those who are popcorn fans.

It sounds like you're furious, but... At my school in second grade, we were taught that Christ hung on the cross for six hours. Hmm. That's a long time. A little too long. They could have got him off. Yeah, that's enough.

All right, we made our point. Let's get back to work. And that's it for the Chain Reactions. Thank you guys so much for writing in, and I can't wait to hear what y'all have to say about Cyberpunk Edgerunners. Yeah, send those in next time, and we will talk about the first two episodes,

your reaction to the first two episodes, as we discuss the third and the fourth episodes of Cyberpunk Edgerunners. If you're watching along with us, the series is on Netflix. Well, guys, good episode. Great episode, and I think, I don't think anybody got played today.

I think we got, nobody got played, I'll tell you that. Nobody got animated either. I think we got chromed. Nice. Wow.