We are finishing out our discussion of Magic Knight Rayearth Season 2! These are some of Niamh’s favorite episodes of anime ever! Connor and Autumn think they are just good but it’s fine.

In between recording the last episode and this one, Niamh read all of the manga, and so we start with a little discussion about how the manga and anime differ. We also talk about the pacing of season 2 and how it might relate to the unwillingness of the Magic Knights to fight after the tragedy of season 1; why the show can’t really develop Hikaru x Lantis because what it’s more interested in is Hikaru having to confront her need for love from others so that she can ignore her own self-hatred; how Hikaru and Eagle just talking through the problem is actually a sign that both characters are at a place where they can talk openly and in opposition to the Pillar System; an actual discussion of the Asmi ship and why we keep mocking Connor about this; the historical ubiquity of straight readings of old anime and how canonically Hikaru wants to marry her entire polycule (it’s in the fucking manga); Niamh’s updates to the Rayearth car names document for season 2 and also this ad for the car that fake Presea is named after; Hikaru x Nova and how it ties in with the end of season 1; a brief history of modern concepts of sexuality and Niamh finally reading from Cruising Utopia; Cephiro as a “stage” for the imagining of a new queer polyamorous utopia for Hikaru; and “queerbaiting” old anime like Rayearth as a “stage” for the imagining of queer possibilities.

Also, don't forget that we will be recording the Question Bucket soon. The deadline to write into our Question Bucket for this series is Sunday, October 10, 2021. You can write into ghostdiverspod@gmail and follow us on Twitter!

The Show: @ghostdiverspod
Niamh: @FoxmomNia
Connor: @rabbleais
Autumn: @Autumnal_Coffee
Garfield Read Aloud: @GarfReadAloud

Export Audio Network: exportaud.io
Ghost Divers: exportaud.io/ghostdivers
Ornate Stairwells: exportaud.io/ornate stairwells

Works Cited in this Discussion

Connor’s tumblr post

exportaud.io/asmi

The NeoRayearth.net Fan Rants page that Niamh mocks

Cruising Utopia: The Then and There of Queer Futurity by José Esteban Muñoz (esp. chapter 6 "Stages: Queers, Punk, and the Utopian Performative")

Content Warnings for this Discussion

Mental health issues, self-hatred, and suicidality Homophobia / queerphobia Cigarettes Sex Alcohol Drugs

Find out more at https://ghost-divers.pinecast.co

We run a tight ship over here at Ghost, Divers, and Associates LLC. Nobody forgets to open the Google doc. No one accidentally uses their webcam’s mic to record half the episode. And definitely there is no bratty antagonizing of one of the hosts for misremembering a scene from the anime by another one of the hosts. We just focus right in on discussing episodes 31-39 of Magic Knight Rayearth.

We start our discussion with some of the character design elements and uhhh none of us had read the Rayearth 2 manga at this point so we say some wrong things about which characters appeared in the manga as well. We then dive into a lengthy discussion of the series’ bathhouse episode (it’s actually pretty interesting!) and how it relates to queerness and the impositions of straightness in Magic Knight Rayearth; the way Lantis problematizes Hikaru’s relationships with other characters she loves; queerbaiting; what’s going on with Presea and this short motherfucker Clef; the difference in the structure of these episodes compared to earlier in the series; Eagle and Geo and how Eagle clearly isn’t over his ex; the weird extended queerphobic joke around the Djinn Raccoon and Rasheen; the Clemi ship and the possibility that Clef is Umi’s beard; Umi & Chizeta; Fuu & Fahren; and Hikaru & Nova.

Also, here’s the Rayearth car names document for season 2 if you need it again.

Write into our Question Bucket at [email protected] and follow us on Twitter!

The Show: @ghostdiverspod
Niamh: @FoxmomNia
Connor: @rabbleais
Autumn: @Autumnal_Coffee
Garfield Read Aloud: @GarfReadAloud

Export Audio Network: exportaud.io
Ghost Divers: exportaud.io/ghostdivers
Ornate Stairwells: exportaud.io/ornate stairwells

Works Cited in this Discussion

"Deviant Male Identities in Japanese RPGs: Heterosexual Heroes, Gay Villains" by Juan F. Belmonte, presented at the 2016 Different Games Conference

Content Warnings for this Discussion

Ethnic stereotypes
Sexuality and discussions around women’s bodies
Queerphobia
Self-hatred, self-harm, and suicidality

Find out more at https://ghost-divers.pinecast.co

Niamh keeps saying fae’s Nova and we’ve all just been waiting for this stupid brat to finally show up. We’re discussing episodes 21–30 of Magic Knight Rayearth!

We start the conversation with Niamh reading through this document fae made on the origins of the new character’s names for season two, then dive into topics such as the uneasiness around the way the girls immediately take on the role of magic knights again; how Rayearth is finally really a mech show; the problem of straightness vs. queerness in season two and Hikaru as a polyamorous character; the pacing of season two; how the series is further developing the themes of the show around patriarchal systems and the inability of people to conceive of themselves outside of the systems in which they live; how the show is setting up themes of relationships, jealousy, guilt, and the impositions of heteronormative culture; and finally some stuff around Hikaru, Nova, and the Pillar System that has been signaled pretty heavily in these first 10 episdes but maybe some viewers would miss. Sorry if that last bit kind of feels like spoilers,episodes but it’s all in there and we ended up thinking it’s better if we can just acknowledge that these things are happening so we can talk about them more!

Anyway, write into our Question Bucket at [email protected] and follow us on Twitter!

The Show: @ghostdiverspod
Niamh: @FoxmomNia
Connor: @rabbleais
Autumn: @Autumnal_Coffee
Garfield Read Aloud: @GarfReadAloud

Export Audio Network: exportaud.io
Ghost Divers: exportaud.io/ghostdivers
Ornate Stairwells: exportaud.io/ornate stairwells

Content Warnings for this Discussion

Possession & brainwashing
Abusive relationships
Blood
Sexuality
Beer & cocktail talk

Find out more at https://ghost-divers.pinecast.co

Connor, Niamh, and Honorary Third Ghost Diver Autumn are back again to discuss the second half of the first season of Magic Knight Rayearth. It’s a mech show now?

We get into the gradual tonal shift as the series progresses and grows darker; the color coding of characters around red, blue, green, white, and purple/black; Caldina’s character as another mode of femininity and as a person swayed by the love of the Magic Knights; Hikaru and blood and its thematic resonance for the show as a whole; the recurring themes around free will, possession, and mind control; the themes of love and the limits of love to protect you from harm; the queer-coding of Inouva; Connor’s attempt to stop being so mean to Niamh’s beloved dumb bishie, Ferio; the metaphorical usage of the Pillar system of Cephiro to talk about gendered expectations in patriarchal cisheteronormativity; and the tragedy of Princess Emeraude and Lord Zagato and how it ties together all the themes so far and also leaves open the door for far, far more in need of exploration in season 2.

Join us next time, for the first ten episodes of season 2 of Magic Knight Rayearth, episodes 21–30!

As a note, the post-ED backmatter for this podcast episode includes some Madoka Magica spoilers.

Anyway, here’s the Rayearth car names document for season 1 if you need it again.

Write into our Question Bucket at [email protected] and follow us on Twitter!

The Show: @ghostdiverspod
Niamh: @FoxmomNia
Connor: @rabbleais
Autumn: @Autumnal_Coffee
Garfield Read Aloud: @GarfReadAloud

Export Audio Network: exportaud.io
Ghost Divers: exportaud.io/ghostdivers
Ornate Stairwells: exportaud.io/ornate stairwells

Content Warnings for this Discussion

Sexualization of women
Mind control / Possession
Illusions / Unreality
Mention of violence against a child
Blood
Queerphobia
Suicide
Abusive relationships
Discussion of beer and vomit in the post-ED section

Find out more at https://ghost-divers.pinecast.co

This podcast is named after the Rolls-Royce Ghost Diver.

We start out with Niamh reading through this nice little document fae created before diving into the discussion of the episodes. We touch on topics including the comedic tone of the early episodes and its use of JRPG tropes; how the girls are gay; the triangulation of Hikaru, Umi, and Fuu onto class distinctions, forms of femininity, and also the three hosts of this very podcast; Hikaru’s need for unconditional love, Umi’s fraught relationship with her parents, and Fuu’s struggle with self-hatred; the nature of Cephiro as a world of will and how it relates to themes of wish fulfillment and destiny in magical girl anime; the transition of girlhood to womanhood as a core theme of Rayearth; stories about getting high; the construction of types of masculinity in Rayearth; images of motherhood; and the core conflicts being set up for the three girls.

Write into our Question Bucket at [email protected] and follow us on Twitter!

The Show: @ghostdiverspod
Niamh: @FoxmomNia
Connor: @rabbleais
Autumn: @Autumnal_Coffee
Garfield Read Aloud: @GarfReadAloud

Export Audio Network: exportaud.io
Ghost Divers: exportaud.io/ghostdivers
Ornate Stairwells: exportaud.io/ornate stairwells

Works Cited

Autumn’s Happy Pride tweet

Niamh’s Ultimate Combination AMV

Content Warnings for this Discussion

Mind control / possession
Discussion of drug and alcohol use

Find out more at https://ghost-divers.pinecast.co

Hold on to that dream
Tomorrow knows, where and when
It’s true, what you believe
Don’t let go, the podcast will never end…

Dive into Magic Knight Rayearth!

The Show: @ghostdiverspod
Niamh: @FoxmomNia
Connor: @rabbleais
Autumn: @Autumnal_Coffee
Garfield Read Aloud: @GarfReadAloud

Export Audio Network: exportaud.io
Ghost Divers: exportaud.io/ghostdivers
Ornate Stairwells: exportaud.io/ornate stairwells

Release Schedule

[S1E1] Intro: July 23, 2021
[S1E2] Eps. 1–10: August 6, 2021
[S1E3] Eps. 11–20: August 20, 2021
[S1E4] Eps. 21–30: September 3, 2021
[S1E5] Eps. 31–39: September 17, 2021
[S1E6] Eps. 40–49: October 1, 2021
[S1E7] Question Bucket: October 15, 2021

Works Cited

"Deviant Male Identities in Japanese RPGs: Heterosexual Heroes, Gay Villains" by Juan F. Belmonte, presented at the 2016 Different Games Conference

Cruising Utopia: The Then and There of Queer Futurity by José Esteban Muñoz, especially chapter 6 "Stages: Queers, Punk, and the Utopian Performative"

Content Warnings for the Anime

Violence
Blood
Depression, self-harm, and suicide
Abusive relationships
Sexuality & partial nudity
Plurality
Homophobia / queerphobia
Racist caricatures
Flashing lights
Mind control / possession

Find out more at https://ghost-divers.pinecast.co

Episode Notes

Welcome to Ghost Divers, a true crime podcast or something I guess.

We start by looking back a little at our long journey with Neon Genesis Evangelion and talk a little about how our personal experiences informed our readings of the show and, especially, the movie. We then answer questions about reading Eva through Anno’s life, our least favorite Eva spinoffs, dismemberment and abjection, Toji’s hair color in the show vs. the manga, what astrology signs image meme Eva characters would create, kissing the homies goodnight (redux), Asuka as a Twitch streamer, how Gendo should just fuck off actually, and experiencing media too young.

For our non-anime things, Niamh brings When the Pawn… by Fiona Apple and we talk a little about it, but honestly also talk a lot about critical approaches to media in general. We then move on to Connor’s pick of A Brighter Summer Day and talk a little about how the film constructs space in relation to history and politics.

You can write into future Question Buckets at [email protected] and don’t forget to follow us on Twitter!

The Show: @ghostdiverspod
Niamh: @FoxmomNia
Connor: @rabbleais
Garfield Read Aloud: @GarfReadAloud

Export Audio Network: exportaud.io
Ghost Divers: exportaud.io/ghostdivers
Ornate Stairwells: exportaud.io/ornate stairwells

Content Warnings for this Discussion

Abusive relationships
Pain / blood kink
Dismemberment
Mention of rape / sexual abuse
Bipolar disorder
Violence & death

Find out more at https://ghost-divers.pinecast.co

Episode Notes

What's done is done, it feels so bad. What once was happy now is sad. We’ll never record again, our podcast’s ending. I wish that I could turn back time, ‘cause now the guilt is all mine for ever suggesting we’d do Evangelion.

Okay, so Connor and Niamh like to joke about how we get into a big fight about End of Evangelion because we are never going to fully agree on this film. Specifically, we both have the same basic read on what the film is trying to do, but will always be divided on our final read of the film. But like, we actually are still friends and we’re both really looking forward to you all watching Magic Knight Rayearth with us and listening to those episodes.

In our discussion, we focus in particular on the beginning and the end of End of Evangelion and the manga and how these two endings to the series figure separation and otherness in different ways and reach different conclusions about the possibility for human connection and touch on topics like the potential figuring of a bioessentialist view in the show and movie of the fundamental divide between men and women as the core of the human condition in the show and movie versus the manga, how the manga employs the image of hands to differently figure the relationship between humans in a way that touches less on heteronormative understandings of human relationships, the Buddhist and daoist interpretations of Eva, the ending of the movie and its parallels with Adam and Eve and the related myth of Líf and Lífþrasir emerging from the world tree after ragnarök to repopulate the earth, how necessary the intense extremes of the movie are for the message, a diversion into discussions around content warnings, our frustrations with the depiction of Misato in End of Eva, differences between the movie and the manga around Gendo and Shinji’s ability to meet the expectations of the heroic shōnen protagonist, some of the weird differences between the printed tankōban volumes of the manga in the US and the scanlations on genesis-evangelion.com, how not everyone in a story should necessarily be redeemed (and perhaps some characters should not be redeemed), and our final readings on Rei and her breaking from Gendo’s abuse.

Also, don't forget that we will be recording the Question Bucket soon. The deadline to write into our Question Bucket for this series is Friday, July 16, 2021. You can write into ghostdiverspod@gmail and follow us on Twitter!

The Show: @ghostdiverspod
Niamh: @FoxmomNia
Connor: @rabbleais
Garfield Read Aloud: @GarfReadAloud

Lastly, if you want to listen to Niamh talk about movies for generally less time then fae spent talking about this one, check out faer newish podcast Ornate Stairwells at exportaud.io/ornatestairwells.

Works Cited in this Discussion

Powers of Horror: An Essay on Abjection by Julia Kristeva

Content Warnings for this Discussion

Alcohol
Masturbating over an unconscious body
Violence
Pedophilia
Loss of ego / melding of consciousness
Sexism & misogyny
Semen, blood, other bodily fluids
Dismemberment & disembowelment
Cannibalism
Strangulation
Decapitation
Nudity & sexuality
Bioessentialism
Abuse (both romantic and familial)
Homophobia
Slut-shaming
Depression & suicide
Cancer

Find out more at https://ghost-divers.pinecast.co

Episode Notes

We are joined by our first-ever guest on Ghost Divers, Brad Nelson, to discuss episodes 21 through 26 of Neon Genesis Evangelion! They are the person who first got Niamh into anime, so it’s very poignant and meaningful that they are definitely the first-ever guest on the podcast and didn’t at all get usurped by some brat who just decided to join to talk about Final Fantasy VIII on a complete whim.

We also get the most into the manga so far around our discussion of Kaworu, so buckle up for a deeper dive into manga chapters 52–74

We start our discussion with a look at the way the series often employs lore dumps to create more questions than answers, how incredibly gay Ritsuko is for Misato, the discrepancies in how various characters perceive and understand each other and how the narrative itself becomes unreliably tied to specific perspectives, suffering in Evangelion and the tensions between Buddhism and daoism and how Niamh’s worldview has changed since fae first watched the show, Asuka as an unwilling school idol, the elevator scene and how it draws out the tensions between Asuka and Rei and their inability to connect over their shared struggles, how Misato continues to offer physical touch as comfort because it’s what she herself needs when she is hurting, Gendo’s grooming of Rei and her attempts to break from his abuse, the romantic and sexual connection between Shinji and Kaworu, the differences between Kaworu’s depiction in the show vs. the manga, our varying reads on the differing depictions of Kaworu’s death and what it means for Shinji, the stylistic presentation of the final two episode of Evangelion, the misogyny of Anno and his potential gendered trauma, and of course Connor and Niamh continuing to duke it out over End of Evangelion.

Speaking of, just is next time for our discussion of End of Evangelion and the conclusion of the manga!

As a note, the audio bleed on Connor’s headphones was really bad this episode and Niamh had to do a lot to try to eliminate it, so sorry for the dip in audio quality on this one. At least you don’t have to endure it for nearly 5 hours…

Write into our Question Bucket at [email protected] and follow us on Twitter!

The Show: @ghostdiverspod
Niamh: @FoxmomNia
Connor: @rabbleais
Garfield Read Aloud: @GarfReadAloud

You can also check out Brad’s newsletter at http://hologramofthesenses.substack.com

Works Cited in this Discussion

“Misora Hibari and the Girl Star in Postwar Japanese Cinema” by Deborah Shamoon, published in Signs vol. 35 no. 1

Powers of Horror: An Essay on Abjection by Julia Kristeva

Content Warnings for this Discussion

Death of a child
Sex & sexuality
Sexual abuse & rape
Depression, suicide, & self-harm
Mental invasion
Pedophilia & grooming
Assisted suicide
Slut shaming

Find out more at https://ghost-divers.pinecast.co

Episode Notes

We are back again and ready to dive into the back half of Neon Genesis Evangelion with episodes 14 through 20.

We start by looking at what actually turned out to be a fairly interesting clip show episode and use it to spring into a discussion of the shift towards greater interiority and the developing undercurrents in the second half of the series; the growing characterization of Rei; Misato and Kaji as a (not always well handled) brat4brat relationship and how it factors into our read of Misato as well as Asuka as a “female impersonator” of Misato; our read on Kaji as an interesting but often creepy character; Eva’s ongoing construction of divided subjects; the psychoanalytic elements of the series and Connor’s theory bullshit about Kristeva’s ideas about abjection; the abjection of queerness; the role of ego in sync rate and pilot performance; the solidification of the show’s thematic elements in order to develop further in the finale; the misdirected desire for comfort that must be resisted to reassert selfhood and allow the potential for further life; our continuing kicking of the Mimesis can down the Ghost Divers road; and an extended discussion of one of our favorite sparsely animated scenes.

Next time we will be joined by guest Brad Nelson to talk about episodes 21 through 26!

Write into our Question Bucket at [email protected] and follow us on Twitter!

The Show: @ghostdiverspod
Niamh: @FoxmomNia
Connor: @rabbleais
Garfield Read Aloud: @GarfReadAloud

Also as a fun note: About a week before this episode was released, Connor finally subscribed to the Patreon in order to listen to Niamh’s new movie podcast with Autumn called Ornate Stairwells! You can check out the public feed for Ornate Stairwells at exportaud.io/ornatestairwells or listen to the episodes early by becoming a patron yourself at exportaud.io.

I mean, not episodes of Ghost Divers early, just episodes of Ornate Stairwells early. I’m not putting any more pressure on myself to edit stuff early, and I think this podcast works best if you know exactly when to expect new episodes.

Works Cited in this Discussion

Powers of Horror: An Essay on Abjection by Julia Kristeva

Content Warnings for this Discussion

Discussion of grooming and sexual abuse
Sexism & misogyny
Blood, gore, dismemberment, strangulation, & death
The trauma of childbirth
Ego destruction or death
Bodily fluids & kink
Bodily corruption & invasion
Cannibalism
Sex and sexuality

Find out more at https://ghost-divers.pinecast.co