Topics discussed: The Individual vs. Society; Kino’s increasing meddling or involvement in the countries they visit; the optimism or pessimism in the ending of episode 8; pushing against social mores vs. outright violent resistance; the bourgeois consumption of the novel and the cutting off of the revolutionary potential of literature and criticism; solipsism; the problems of the family in liberal society; work and mechanized labor; gender roles and labor; aimlessness, purpose, and purposeful aimlessness; the only appearance of the Master in the entire show; the system of state violence and the personal relationship to violence; the faltering of the handling of the violence of Tatatans; the critique of 21st century warfare and American militarism; gender norms and motherhood in the construction of state violence; the saddest fucking episode of Kino’s Journey; the pain of seeing what your childhood would’ve looked like if it was healthy and normal when you are queer person with childhood trauma; the ambiguous pang of yearning; utopia as fleeting and potentially unsustainable; modeling the process of utopian creation as a shared social goal; the depersonalization of the philosophical mode throughout the series in contrast to Kino’s willingness to give into the personal in the final episode; the positioning of the final episode chronologically early in Kino’s journey but at the end of the show Kino’s Journey; and the most nothing episode of Kino’s Journey that’s like fine, it’s kinda funny.

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, January 13, 2023. (Note: We're still hoping to record Saturday like usual, but it might get moved to Friday so that's the date if you want to play it safe.) You can write into ghostdiverspod@gmail and follow us on Twitter!

The Show: @ghostdiverspod (twitter) or @ghostdivers (cohost)
Niamh: @FoxmomNia (twitter) or @foxmomnia (cohost)
Niamh’s mediamh pile: @mediamh_pile
Connor: @rabbleais (twitter) or @rabbleais (cohost)

Export Audio Network: exportaud.io
Ghost Divers: exportaud.io/ghostdivers
Pondering Pootan: exportaud.io/pootan
Ornate Stairwells: exportaud.io/ornatestairwells
Around the Long Fire: abnormalmapping.com/longfire
Unjust Depths: unjustdepths.com

Check out our official schedule at exportaud.io/divingschedule!

Content Warnings for this Discussion

Unreality / questioning reality
Violence and warfare
Suicide
Massacre and genocide
Transphobia and queerphobia
Childhood trauma
Death
Pandemic and illness
Food

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

Happy New Year! We've made it another full year of the show!

As with last year's special, we start with a self-indulgent look back at the past year of the podcast and rank everything we've watched. We also run tournaments for the OPs and EDs!

We then have our special discussion for the year. That's right, Niamh conned Connor into reading the entirety of NANA! We start talking about the manga at around 1:25:11 and do our best to provide a thorough synopsis before digging into the story's themes and ideas about love embodied by the cast's many different relationships. Also Niamh might con Connor into something else in the process...

As a note, this section is really spoiler heavy. I think even with all the big twists and plot points spoiled for you, the manga is still a fantastic and moving read (I in fact know this is true, because I knew many of the manga's biggest spoilers before I actually read through it in earnest myself). That said, I know many people really balk at spoilers, and so if that's you, please please please do yourself the service of reading NANA sooner rather than later and then coming back to this episode at the end.

If you have any emails to send us about NANA or any of the anime we've covered or will cover, you can write into future Question Buckets at [email protected]. And don’t forget to follow us on Twitter and Cohost!

The Show: @ghostdiverspod (twitter) or @ghostdivers (cohost)
Niamh: @FoxmomNia (twitter) or @foxmomnia (cohost)
Niamh’s mediamh pile: @mediamh_pile
Connor: @rabbleais (twitter) or @rabbleais (cohost)

Export Audio Network: exportaud.io
Ghost Divers: exportaud.io/ghostdivers
Pondering Pootan: exportaud.io/pootan
Ornate Stairwells: exportaud.io/ornatestairwells
Around the Long Fire: abnormalmapping.com/longfire

Free promo for Ina’s podcast, It’s All Stover: @stovercast (twitter)

Check out our official schedule at exportaud.io/divingschedule!

Content Warnings for this Discussion

Rape
Grooming, child abuse, and pedophilia
Emotional abuse and abusive relationships
Descriptions of trauma responses and panic attacks
Internalize homophobia and compulsory heterosexuality
Sexism and misogyny
Cheating
Self-harm
Alcohol use
Drug abuse and addiction
Car accident and death

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

Topics discussed: Kino and Hermes are funny little guys; the philosophical allegorical mode of Kino's Journey; Kino's shifting and poorly-maintained position as an observer who does not intercede; Kino as a stateless, detachged party; Kino's gun rituals; the philosophy of altruism and society; Niamh's proposal for a NANA Festival; the Land of Sad Bangers; the functions of religion in society; the melodramatic humor of Kino's Journey; Gender Is Happening; Kino's ring of keys moment; Kino's gender as one aspect of their intentional taking on of the role of the Other; the constructed worldviews of societies and Kino's potential position as a corrective perspective; humans' relationships to work; fully-automated capitalism; the concept of utopia in Kino's Journey; the two-episode tournament arch; Shizu, the older sword twink Kino; Samurai Jack; Niamh just doesn't care about fight scenes in manga and anime and that's why fae thinks Berserk is kinda mid; envisioniong the fighting tournament arch of NANA; the Midwestern fine and the British quite; a sixth kind of animal; and safe-for-work Sasuke.

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

The Show: @ghostdiverspod (twitter) or @ghostdivers (cohost)
Niamh: @FoxmomNia (twitter) or @foxmomnia (cohost)
Niamh’s mediamh pile: @mediamh_pile
Connor: @rabbleais (twitter) or @rabbleais (cohost)

Export Audio Network: exportaud.io
Ghost Divers: exportaud.io/ghostdivers
Pondering Pootan: exportaud.io/pootan
Ornate Stairwells: exportaud.io/ornatestairwells
Around the Long Fire: abnormalmapping.com/longfire
Unjust Depths: unjustdepths.com

Check out our official schedule at exportaud.io/divingschedule!

Content Warnings for this Discussion

Animal death
Slavery and cannibalism
Suicide
Transphobia and childhood trauma
Violence

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

“Someone once told me that watching anime made them want to record a podcast.”

Dive into Kino’s Journey —the Beautiful World— (2003)!

The Show: @ghostdiverspod (twitter) or @ghostdivers (cohost)
Niamh: @FoxmomNia (twitter) or @foxmomnia (cohost)
Niamh’s mediamh pile: @mediamh_pile
Connor: @rabbleais (twitter) or @rabbleais (cohost)

Export Audio Network: exportaud.io
Ghost Divers: exportaud.io/ghostdivers
Pondering Pootan: exportaud.io/pootan
Ornate Stairwells: exportaud.io/ornatestairwells
Around the Long Fire: abnormalmapping.com/longfire
Unjust Depths: unjustdepths.com

Check out our official schedule at exportaud.io/divingschedule!

Release Schedule

[S11E1] Intro to Kino's Journey: December 9, 2022
[S11E2] Kino's Journey, eps. 1–7: December 23, 2022
[S11E3] Kino's Journey, eps. 8–13 + ep. 0: January 6, 2023
[S11E4] Question Bucket: January 20, 2023

Content Warnings for the Anime

Violence and gore
Suicide
Slavery
Cannibalism
Genocide / massacre
Animal death
Misgendering

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

Topics discussed: Once Again, Shōnen Bat is a Stand Alone Complex; Someone Actually Asks Niamh to Talk About NANA; The Forbidden Sixth Route in the Five Kinds of Animal You Can Date Otome; We Have A Very Broad Definition of “Game Show”; The Thematic Pairing of Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots and Jackass Forever; The Teleological Fallacy of Pizza; Niamh Desperately Trying to Get the Podcast Back on Track; and Connor’s Disgusting Recipe for Fast Tea.

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

The Show: @ghostdiverspod (twitter) or @ghostdivers (cohost)
Niamh: @FoxmomNia (twitter) or @foxmomnia (cohost)
Niamh’s mediamh pile: @mediamh_pile
Connor: @rabbleais (twitter) or @rabbleais (cohost)
Josh: @amonns
Swimfans: @swimfanspod

Export Audio Network: exportaud.io
Ghost Divers: exportaud.io/ghostdivers
Pondering Pootan: exportaud.io/pootan
Ornate Stairwells: exportaud.io/ornatestairwells
Around the Long Fire: abnormalmapping.com/longfire
Swimfans: swimfanspod.com

Check out our official schedule at exportaud.io/divingschedule!

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

Topics discussed: There Needs to be More Maromi Merchandizing; the Shockwaves of the First 7 Episodes; Collective Narratives of Shared Truth; the Hell of Animation Production; Overcoming Modernity; the Conservativism of Paranoia Agent; the Return for Traditional Japanese Values with Misae as a Traditional Japanese Mother; the Cyclical Nature of Paranoia Agent; the Power of Ideas and Their Emergence from the Social Consciousness; the Balance of Maromi and Shōnen Bat; the Double-Edged Sword of Modernity; the Restoration of the Traditional Passing Down from Mother to Daughter; the Resolution of Sagi Tsukiko’s Trauma but not the Mass Trauma of Society; Tempering Our Reading of the Series with Communism; the Animation Episode; the Full Deconstruction of the Animation of the Show; Hating on Persona 4 Golden; Fiction, Cycles, and the Constructions and Articulations of Ideas and Identities; the Suicide Episode; Detective Fiction as a Mode of Existentialist Fiction; Questions About Tokyo Godfathers are Banned; and the Five Kinds of Animals.

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 Saturday, November 19, 2022. You can write into ghostdiverspod@gmail and follow us on Twitter!

The Show: @ghostdiverspod (twitter) or @ghostdivers (cohost)
Niamh: @FoxmomNia (twitter) or @foxmomnia (cohost)
Niamh’s mediamh pile: @mediamh_pile
Connor: @rabbleais (twitter) or @rabbleais (cohost)
Josh: @amonns
Swimfans: @swimfanspod

Export Audio Network: exportaud.io
Ghost Divers: exportaud.io/ghostdivers
Pondering Pootan: exportaud.io/pootan
Ornate Stairwells: exportaud.io/ornatestairwells
Around the Long Fire: abnormalmapping.com/longfire
Swimfans: swimfanspod.com

Check out our official schedule at exportaud.io/divingschedule!

Works Cited in this Discussion

Excerpt on “Detoxifying Culture” by the prominent literary critic Kamei Katsuichiro from the Overcoming Modernity Symposium of July 1942 organized by Kamei and two other major literary critics, Kawakami Tetsutarō and Kobayashi Hideo, published in Japanese Philosophy: A Sourcebook edited by James W. Heisig, Thomas P. Kasulis, and John C. Maraldo, 2011

Quote from “On ‘Overcoming Modernity’” by Odagiri Hideo originally published in Bungaku (Literature), April 1958, quoted in the chapter “Overcoming Modernity” published in What Is Modernity? Writings of Takeuchi Yoshimi, edited and translated by Richard F. Calichman, 2005

Content Warnings for this Discussion

Mental health crises, self-harm, and suicide
Unreality
Sex and sexuality
Fascism
Alcohol (post-ED section)

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

Topics discussed: Breaking the Pattern of Paranoia Agent in Episode 7; Repression and Alienation; It’s ‘Cause You Be On That Phone; The Tsunami as Lil Slugger; Issues of Victimhood; Shōnen Bat is a Stand Alone Complex; Harumi and Maria; Niamh is Still NANA Brained; Announcement of Our Next New Year’s Special; Josh Says the Wildest Thing About Tokyo Godfathers; Crises of Childhood, Femininity, and Masculinity; The Worsening Effects of the Sluggings; The Animated Being of Maromi; Lil Slugger as Another Mascot Character; The Existentialism of the Detective Fiction Framing; The OP and the ED; and Critiquing Maromi Plushes.

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

The Show: @ghostdiverspod (twitter) or @ghostdivers (cohost)
Niamh: @FoxmomNia (twitter) or @foxmomnia (cohost)
Niamh’s mediamh pile: @mediamh_pile
Connor: @rabbleais (twitter) or @rabbleais (cohost)
Josh: @amonns
Swimfans: @swimfanspod

Export Audio Network: exportaud.io
Ghost Divers: exportaud.io/ghostdivers
Pondering Pootan: exportaud.io/pootan
Ornate Stairwells: exportaud.io/ornatestairwells
Swimfans: swimfanspod.com

Check out our official schedule at exportaud.io/divingschedule!

Content Warnings for this Discussion

Mental health crises, self-harm, and suicide
Dissociative identity disorder
Stalking, sexual assault
Child sex abuse, invasion of privacy, suggestion of pedophilia
Sex and sex work
Sexism and patriarchal roles
Violence, home invasion
Fatphobia
Alcohol

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

“To begin, a rabbit jumps behind the moon. What is it that the black rabbit sees on the horizon with his big red eyes? A fish on the land has trouble when he is stepped on by cows. The playful palace where the butterfly dances vanishes away. At twilight, the cows starts it by chance and the goodness continues. The golden fox grins at you. And then…”

Dive into Paranoia Agent!

The Show: @ghostdiverspod (twitter) or @ghostdivers (cohost)
Niamh: @FoxmomNia (twitter) or @foxmomnia (cohost)
Niamh’s mediamh pile: @mediamh_pile
Connor: @rabbleais (twitter) or @rabbleais (cohost)
Josh: @amonns
Craig: craigneeson.com
Swimfans: @swimfanspod

Export Audio Network: exportaud.io
Ghost Divers: exportaud.io/ghostdivers
Pondering Pootan: exportaud.io/pootan
Ornate Stairwells: exportaud.io/ornatestairwells
Swimfans: swimfanspod.com

Check out our official schedule at exportaud.io/divingschedule!

Release Schedule

[S10E1] Intro to Paranoia Agent: October 14, 2022 [S10E2] Paranoia Agent ep. 1–7: October 28, 2022 [S10E3] Paranoia Agent ep. 8–13: November 11, 2022 [S10E4] Question Bucket: November 25, 2022

Works Cited

Excerpt on “Detoxifying Culture” by the prominent literary critic Kamei Katsuichiro from the Overcoming Modernity Symposium of July 1942 organized by Kamei and two other major literary critics, Kawakami Tetsutarō and Kobayashi Hideo, published in Japanese Philosophy: A Sourcebook edited by James W. Heisig, Thomas P. Kasulis, and John C. Maraldo, 2011

Quote from “On ‘Overcoming Modernity’” by Odagiri Hideo originally published in Bungaku (Literature), April 1958, quoted in the chapter “Overcoming Modernity” published in What Is Modernity? Writings of Takeuchi Yoshimi, edited and translated by Richard F. Calichman, 2005

Content Warnings for the Anime

Depiction of mental health crises
Self-harm and suicide
Stalking, sexual assault, rape, child abuse
Blood, violence, murder, and death
Sexuality and sex work
Fatphobia
Depiction of an animal death

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

“Most games are mid.”

Topics discussed: The Wired vs. Kingdom Hearts; The Ricola Incident; Forever Anime; Things That Are Mid; Kissing and/or Tucking; Coffee Orders; Super Bowl Commercials; Gamer Moded Opinions; and Coffee In General.

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

The Show: @ghostdiverspod (twitter) or @ghostdivers (cohost)
Niamh: @FoxmomNia (twitter) or @foxmomnia (cohost)
Connor: @rabbleais (twitter) or @rabbleais (cohost)
Autumn: @Autumnal_Coffee (twitter) or @autumnal (cohost)
Niamh’s mediamh pile: @mediamh_pile

Export Audio Network: exportaud.io
Ghost Divers: exportaud.io/ghostdivers
Ornate Stairwells: exportaud.io/ornatestairwells
Pondering Pootan: exportaud.io/pootan

Check out our official schedule at exportaud.io/divingschedule!

Content Warnings for this Discussion

Alcohol
Food

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

Topics discussed: Connor Gaslights Niamh; Connor and Autumn Call Lain Mid; Lain and Alice Enjoy Some Eggo Waffles; Digging Into the Ending of Lain; Comparing Serial Experiments Lain with Neon Genesis Evangelion; The Suicidal Reading of the Ending of Lain; How Lain Tempers Its Bleakness with Love; Connor Brain Dumps His Reading of the Series as a Whole; Is Lain a God, a Little Girl, or a Yokai?; Comparing Serial Experiments Lain with Akira; Tremors is a Libertarian Wet Dream Movie; The Horror of Right-Wing Radicalization Online vs. the Affirmation of Positive Identities Online; Why Does Batou Criticize the Major for Going Diving?; Lain Game Dot Net; Autumn and Niamh Record a 40-Minute Podcast About Manga and Chrono Cross Where They Get Quieter and Quieter as They Talk; Searching Tongue on Eat Out.

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, September 23, 2022. You can write into ghostdiverspod@gmail and follow us on Twitter!

The Show: @ghostdiverspod (twitter) or @ghostdivers (cohost)
Niamh: @FoxmomNia (twitter) or @foxmomnia (cohost)
Connor: @rabbleais (twitter) or @rabbleais (cohost)
Autumn: @Autumnal_Coffee (twitter) or @autumnal (cohost)
Niamh’s mediamh pile: @mediamh_pile

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

Check out our official schedule at exportaud.io/divingschedule!

Content Warnings for this Discussion

Suicide
Sex and sexuality
Depiction of a young girl fantasizing about an adult teacher
Childhood estrangement
Queerphobia
Public shootings
Food

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