Ghost Divers

[S12E4] Mobile Suit Gundam: Iron-Blooded Orphans, eps. 14–19

Topics discussed: An aside for a correction email; the show being cheeky with McGillis’s obvious disguise; Tekkadan’s lack of understanding of their own revolutionary impulses; the show’s nuances in presenting the difficulties of Marxist politics; the narrowness of Kudelia’s default idea of revolution; Tekkadan as revolution as action without a conceptual framework, Kudelia as revolution as a concept without concrete practice, and the need of the two to come together to achieve more; Savarin’s failure to see oppression broadly as its own form of violence; Atra’s heroism and revolution is situated in the interpersonal; the medieval theming of the show’s mechanics; the Dark History; the Earth as a symbol in Gundam; Chocolate Man vs. Prune Boy; the masked man is obviously Char; Carta Issue is a ZZ character; deferring on McGillis again because he’s still too much of a mystery to talk about at this point in the show without Niamh having to just grit faer teeth and remain quiet while Connor speculates; how Atra’s approach to relationships provides a space for mutual support and emotional comfort rather than romantic competition; the themes of faith, trust, and responsibility and their link to ideology; Connor and Niamh write fanfic where we keep teasing a character survived, but only to reveal episodes later that they didn’t; the relation of colonialism, imperialism, and human bodies; Ein as a class traitor; Ein’s sublimation and rage over his oppression into revenge against Crank’s killers; foils for the main characters; the Earth entry scene as a broader Gundam trope and the danger of the Earth’s pull; just a little bit about Mikazuki; Niamh and Connor try to remember what movie Shree Klime is from; explaining what’s happening in SEED Destiny and realizing that everything sounds like it should be great; Connor and Niamh could take ideas from SEED Destiny and create an incredible show; Connor has become bogged down in Victory; G Gundam; there are only six kinds of foxes; what even is a highball; diet sodas and nutrition; a weird argument Niamh got into in high school and still remembers; Niamh takes a break to text Em about Chrono Cross; content warnings for the next batch of episodes (starts at 3:30:00).

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Content Warnings for this Discussion

Violence and death
Massacre
Sacrifice, both willing and unwilling
Alcohol, food, and nutrition (post-ED)

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[S12E5] Mobile Suit Gundam: Iron-Blooded Orphans, eps. 20–25

Topics discussed: Trying to imagine the position of being completely unmoved by anything except Biscuit; spending over a half hour to synopsize three episodes; Connor figured out why he was trudging through Victory; Victory and disgust at the Earth and the ocean; abjection around the Alaya-Vijnana system and cybernetics in general; IBO’s belief in the transformative power of the truth and electoral politics; the tension with Kudelia and the danger that her revolutionary politics can easily be subsumed into the web of capital; McGillis’s ability to manipulate the political systems around him; the desire to find a place of peace amidst war vs. the necessity for continued violent resistance; Yukinojo’s resignation in contrast to Merribit’s active objections against Tekkadan’s drive for violence; the limited choices presented to Tekkadan; Carta Issue thinks she is a master tactician because she read Sun Tsu’s Art of War; Niamh loves Carta Issue because she’s kitsune-themed; Gjallarhorn was doomed from the start; the nuances and complications of the conversation between Mika and Orga; Mika tops from the bottom; the conflation of liberation and violence; the potential necessity of Orga to direct Mika’s violent propulsion towards good ends; Moby Dick and monomania; more synopsizing; the theme of betting and its relation to yakuza; Atra, Kudelia, and the anime trope of the bento box; Graze Ein as a Psycho Gundam; Graze Ein as a warning of a possible future for Mikazuki; Ein’s sadism and derangement; the reduction of Ein to an instrumentalized weapon built out of the contradictions of his character; McGillis’s character and his plans to overturn the regime of Gjallarhorn as a deconstructivist; McGillis’s lack of values in general; McGillis as individual vs Tekkadan as communal; McGillis as a foil to Orga and Kudelia; a satisfying pop; accidentally going to the St. Paddy’s Day parade and getting called the f-slur; Connor’s Ghost Diver’s mug; Niamh teases the fact that fae had a very major thing spoiled about IBO from the beginning, which we still haven’t gotten to. Note: We didn’t do a discreet content warning at the end of this episode solely because it’s just more of the same with regards to violence, death, and gore.

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Content Warnings for this Discussion

Violence, death, and gore
Death of enslaved child soldiers
Character death
Suicide and suicide missions
Body modification and potential body horror

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[S12E6] Mobile Suit Gundam: Iron-Blooded Orphans, eps. 26–32

a.k.a. Iron-Blooded Orphans 2, eps. 1–7

Topics discussed: Niamh’s new way of doing synopses; Julieta is the weird girl to Ple’s silly girl, cyber new type vibes all around; Montag goes masked off and just becomes McGillis; the new yakuza motherfucker; the potential identity of the mysterious masked man; the new state of the world and the lack of significant improvements in the wake of Makanai’s election; Tekkadan’s move from an oppositional force to a part of the standing regime; Tekkadan banning the Alaya-Vijnana system; “I sure hope Tekkadan doesn’t repeat anything from Gjallarhorn”; Atra trying to assert a new space for Mika as a farmer if his role as a soldier is no longer needed; this week’s thematic keyword of “trust”; the link of faces, trust, and intention with the new mask and the new masked man; João’s DMs including the medieval and modernity as well as a quote from Frantz Fanon’s The Wretched of the Earth; McGillis is a Char (redux); the difficulty in overthrowing or even destabilizing existing regimes; Mikazuki, disability, and his inability to hold back Atra’s bracelet; Mika, Orga, single vision, and monomania; the drive to move forward and the question of when they can stop; paralleling Julieta with Ein; Chad Chadan, that’s it just the name Chad Chadan; Aston keeps throwing up death flags and then dies; the homoromantic tension between Takaki and Aston; Takaki and Aston as a mirror of Orga and Mika; the potentiality for the manipulation of Tekkadan, as well as the terrifying possibility that Orga is himself a manipulator; Takaki as the first character other than Mikazuki to execute someone with a pistol; a taste test between Asahi and Kirin Ichiban; silly girl sweep; and content warnings for the next 6 episodes (starts at 3:10:43).

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Content Warnings for this Discussion

Violence, death, and gore
Death of enslaved child soldiers
Disability and loss of the use of limbs
Alcohol (post-ED section)

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[S12E7] Mobile Suit Gundam: Iron-Blooded Orphans, eps. 33–38

a.k.a. Iron-Blooded Orphans 2, eps. 8–13

Topics discussed: Iok is a Jerid; Vidar, Gaelio, Ein, and the Norse god of vengeance; the myth of Ragnarök and its significance in Norse mythology; McGillis as a Loki; the patriarchal systems throughout the world of IBO; sacrifice; McGillis’s promise to pass on the colonial apparatus to Orga; an appraisal of Kudelia and the limits of her ability to progress; Atra and Kudelia’s ideas around the end of the conditions that produce child soldiers; Kudelia’s attempts to create the groundwork to support a different future; Tekkadan’s abandonment of Kudelia; McGillis as a groomer; a satisfying amount of Eva to trickle in; they don’t have wheelchairs???; the fumbles in how IBO handles disability; fears over the losing someone to the war; Orga, Atra, and Kudelia all fear losing Mikazuki; Mika moving away from Atra and Kudelia and toward Orga; Mikazuki avoiding grappling with his internal dilemma and unwillingness to give up the power of Barbatos; identification between the pilot and the mech; the contradiction st the heart of Gjallarhorn; the excavating of a past modernity; knights and dragons vs. the terrifying machine of modern war; Gjallarhorn’s role as creator of peace vs. Tekkadan’s threat of total violence and destruction; Hashmal’s destruction of the farm; IBO’s metatextual interest in the repetition of history; the Mobile Armor as humanity’s drive for self-destruction and the religiosity that surrounds that; fox treats for foxes; Gundam F91; Connor’s promised to finish Victory by April 7, 2023; router network configuration; a little more about McGillis as a groomer; content warnings for the next 6 episodes (starts at 3:53:55 — the time stamps for episode 44 are 9:30 to 12:46).

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Content Warnings for this Discussion

Violence, death, and gore
Death of enslaved child soldiers
Grooming, child abuse, and pedophilia (esp. 1:20:25–1:30:45 and 3:48:10–3:51:30)
Disability and loss of the use of limbs
Self-destruction
Food (post-ED section)

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[S12E8] Mobile Suit Gundam: Iron-Blooded Orphans, eps. 39–44

a.k.a. Iron-Blooded Orphans 2, eps. 14–19

Topics discussed: Revealed Intentions; the people making IBO love Victory Gundam; how to say Dáinsleif; someone really needed to warn all these characters about death flagging; Iok Kujan continues to survive out of pure stupidity; Hush’s anime rival to gofer lackey arc; the Dáinsleif as an escalation of medieval warfare into modern weaponry; Gjallarhorn’s relationship to myth and history and the original stopping on history and arresting of society into a static structure; the Old Norse legend of Dáinsleif; Orga’s struggles with choices and his acquiescing to others who will make the decision for him; Orga’s lack of control over Tekkadan’s violence; thematic elements of the Reginlaze Julia and the dehumanization of the mech into more of a weapon; Barbatos and Mika’s tail/umbilical cord; gender happens; babies, motherhood, umbilical cords, wombs, and the need for life beyond this moment; Atra’s attitudes and relationships to sex and sexuality; Lafter, Amida, and polyamory; the limited forms of families available and their blending with military organizations; Connor has the worst hair in IBO; masks on masks on masks; McGillis is an iron-blooded orphan; parallels between McGillis and the Legend of Agnika Kaieru and Kudelia and the History of Revolution; McGillis has misunderstood and overestimated the true pillars of Gjallarhorn; Rustal is a materialist; McGillis’s grooming of Almiria and her genuine feelings; McGillis approaches all relationships as dominance and submissions; eyes, monovision, and the potential tension of Mika closing his left eye; “How far should I go?” and Mika’s own conflict around the death march of violence; Mika fighting to end to Atra’s tears; parallels between season one and season two of IBO; Niamh has to make the bed; Irn-Bruded Orphans; content warnings for the last six episodes (start at 3:33:45).

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Content Warnings for this Discussion

Major character death
Suicide and self-sacrifice
Sex and sexuality
Child sexual abuse and pedophilia
Child abuse, grooming, violence, and attempted suicide (esp. 2:24:00 to 2:37:44)
Alcohol and food mentioned in post-ED

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[S12E9] Mobile Suit Gundam: Iron-Blooded Orphans, eps. 45–50

a.k.a. Iron-Blooded Orphans 2, eps. 20–25

Topics discussed: Once again Niamh has not been able to finish the notes in time. Expect them sometime this weekend. Sorry!

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Content Warnings for this Discussion

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[S12E10] Question Bucket: There's a lot of porn of Lucario and I think Naze is down with that

Our bucket is overflowing with questions this week! Thank you to everyone who wrote in. We try to get right to the emails... but end up talking about overall feelings on the show for a while first...

Anyway, we have a good mix of serious questions and jokey ones and have fun bouncing between discussions about the pain of childhood and jokes about Pokémon.

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The Show: @ghostdiverspod (twitter) or @ghostdivers (cohost)
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[S13E1] Intro to Psycho-Pass

Dive into Psycho-Pass!

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Release Schedule

[S1E1] Intro to Psycho-Pass: June 23, 2023 [S1E2] Psycho-Pass, eps. 1–8: July 7, 2023 [S1E3] Psycho-Pass, eps. 9–16: July 21, 2023 [S1E4] Psycho-Pass, eps. 17–22: August 4, 2023 [S1E5] Psycho-Pass: The Movie: August 18, 2023 [S1E6] Question Bucket: September 1, 2023

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[S13E2] Psycho-Pass, eps. 1–8

00:22:41: Discussion for episodes 1–3

01:20:18: Discussion for episodes 4 & 5

02:11:26: Discussion for episodes 6–8

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Works Cited in this Discussion

Angelis, Eugenio. (2019). Beyond the Screen: Terayama. Spectatorship. Intermediality. Annali di Ca’ Foscari. Serie orientale. 55. 10.30687/AnnOr/2385-3042/2019/01/019. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/334673210_Beyond_the_Screen_Terayama_Spectatorship_Intermediality

Content Warnings for this Discussion

Body horror and exploding bodies
Rape
Police violence and brutality
Murder
Dismemberment and display of corpses
Serial killer
Horror
Gun violence
Alcohol
Mental illness and mental health crises

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[S13E3] Psycho-Pass, eps. 9–16

00:23:57: Discussion for episodes 9–11

01:14:08: Discussion for episodes 12 & 13

01:53:12: Discussion for episodes 14–16

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Works Cited in this Discussion

Hegel, Georg Wilhelm Friedrich. The Phenomenology of Spirit (1807).

Zoubek, Wolfgang. "Terayama Shûji: Japanese avant-garde theater from the 1970s reviewed four decades later." 富山大学人文学部紀要= Journal of the Faculty of Humanities, University of Toyama 68 (2018): 281-326. https://www.hmt.u-toyama.ac.jp/uploads/zoubek68.pdf

Terayama, Shuji. "Manifesto by Shuji Terayama." The Drama Review 19, no. 4 (1975): 84-87.

Content Warnings for this Discussion

Body horror and exploding bodies
Police violence and brutality
Murder
Hunting humans
Reliving trauma as memory
Violent obsession and stalking
Horror
Gun violence
Alcohol
Mental illness and mental health crises

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