#41.5 First Thoughts on Neru: Way of the Martial Artist

[Transcript by OzyRat]

Jordan  0:00  
Welcome to Shonen Flop Chibi, a first impressions mini episode where we talk about the first chapter of the series we'll be covering in depth next week. I'm Jordan and with me today, as usual, is my co-host, David. Say hi, David. 

David  0:12  
Hi, David. 

Jordan  0:13  
What series we covering this week, David?

David  0:14  
Oh, man, get your karate gear ready because we are covering Neru: Way of the Martial Artist where I definitely almost called it Neru: Way of the House Husband several times while I was writing [Jordan laughs] my notes.

Jordan  0:24  
I really want to call this Neru: Way of the Samurai myself. 

David  0:28  
Yeah. [laughs] Yeah, what kind of martial arts primarily has sword fighting? But [laughing] we can definitely get into that when we get into the plot summary.

Jordan  0:35  
Oh, you know, martial arts is an umbrella term, you know? Could be anything.

David  0:39  
[laughing] He's gonna fight someone that uses an umbrella.

Jordan  0:41  
Maybe it'll be an MMA thing where, like, he's got to fight boxers and people training in, like, krav maga and shit like that.

David  0:48  
He just fights a bear at some point. That's not one of my guesses, but...

Jordan  0:50  
I hope he fights a bear. That'd be cool.

David  0:53  
Ah fuck, there was a game. Shit. Its name is escaping me. It came out on the original XBox-the Xbox 360. And like, I just was watching a really great video, where it's so, like, it's about you, like, you play, like, a detective and you have to fight, like, a ton of, like, drug dealers and homeless people or whatever. And it's-yeah, it's very problematic, sadly.

Jordan  1:09  
Condemned: Criminal Origins? 

David  1:10  
Yeah! You know, in the second one? 

Jordan  1:10  
No, I don't know much about it.

David  1:13  
You encounter a bear. And so I--

Jordan  1:13  
Whoa.

David  1:13  
--was watching an LP. And this guy thought, oh, it's like, you know, it's gonna be, like, a crazy dude wearing a bear, like, mask or something, right? 

Jordan  1:20  
Yeah, no, it's a bear?

David  1:20  
It's a fucking grizzly bear! Just fucking shows up in the middle of this dude's house and starts chasing you. 

Jordan  1:25  
That's awesome. That rules

David  1:27  
It's--

Jordan  1:27  
actually. 

David  1:27  
--definitely the best part of that [laughsing] game.

Jordan  1:28  
[laughs] That's a pretty good part, though. To [laughing] be fair. 

David  1:32  
Oh, yes. Yes. It's, uh, in the upper [laughing] echelons of just fucking crazy ass--[sighs] I wish they'd made a third game actually. That'd be fun. 

Jordan  1:40  
Yeah, eh, [David laughs] I don't know. 

David  1:42  
Nah.

Jordan  1:43  
I don't know. I heard that second game wasn't as, uh, well received.

David  1:46  
It was kind of bear-ren. 

Jordan  1:47  
Ahhh--

David  1:48  
Very grizzly.

Jordan  1:48  
Shut up.

David  1:49  
Alright.

Jordan  1:49  
Oh my god.

David  1:49  
I'll claw-I'll claw--

Jordan  1:50  
Alright.

David  1:50  
--back those jokes. Alright, let's get into what though[Jordan sighs] -Jordan, do you mind telling us a bit more about what we're reading today?

Jordan  1:55  
Yeah, so this is Neru: Way of the Samurai. Oh my god. I fucking did it. [David laughs] Holy shit.

David  1:59  
Way of the--

Jordan  2:00  
This--

David  2:00  
--Househusband, you dumbass.

Jordan  2:01  
Ah, this is Neru, uh, Way of the Martial Artist. It went for 18 chapters and three volumes and it is by Minya Hiraga. 

David  2:10  
Awesome. 

Jordan  2:11  
Yeah. All right. [David laughs] Want me to just go into the fucking plot summary?

David  2:13  
Yeah, man. 

Jordan  2:14  
I guess there's nothing else say about [David laughs] that stuff.

David  2:15  
Yeah, but we're gonna have a lot to say about this plot summary.

Jordan  2:18  
Oh boy. Neruma "Neru" Isami is a boy in middle school who doesn't have time for fun or schoolwork because the only thing he cares about is training. Raised in a remote cabin in the woods, Neru spent most of his life being trained by his grandpa in the ways of martial arts. Now that his grandpa mysteriously disappeared, Neru trains by reading from an ancient manual that the old man gave him. Neru and his friend, Okata, rescue a beautiful high school girl named Akebi. Nero runs off but not before accidentally dropping his fighting manual. Popcorn, David. 

David  2:51  
Akebi goes to Neru's home to give it back to him but discovers him rewriting the book from memory on rocks. She attacks him, which Jordan neglected to mention are with fucking swords despite the name of the series being Way of the Martial Art, and they spar, thrilling Neru who hasn't had anyone to train with since his grandpa disappeared two days later. No, wouldn't it be two days prior cuz it would--

Jordan  3:10  
No--

David  3:10  
--later.

Jordan  3:10  
--two days later. Two days after that, Akebi and Neru run to a-the martial arts dojo. That's happens afterward.

David  3:15  
Oh, I'm sorry. I'm sorry. You're-sorry. I missed the period. My bad. That's why I was wondering why two was capitalized. Okay. [Jordan laughs and David starts to laugh] Two days-that's-I legitimately thought [Jordan laughs] you were saying that grandpa disappeared two days prior. And I was like, that doesn't, hmm.

Jordan  3:17  
It was three years prior. 

David  3:28  
Yeah. Yes. Okay. Two days later, Akebi and Neru run to her martial arts dojo, where Neru can finally meet other people who like martial arts like he does. [laughs] Jordan, this is-this is kinda reminding me of Beast Children to go into first impressions where the dude just kind of wanted to tackle someone all the time. And this dude's just like, I just want to fight someone.

Jordan  3:45  
It's so funny that you have that reaction because I actually like this chapter. I mean, I kind of disagree. I mean, for one thing, yeah, he did just want to fight someone, but, like, he actually then fought someone. 

David  3:57  
[laughing] That's true. 

Jordan  3:58  
And, like, he didn't suck at it. If the kid from Beast Children-like, wasn't that whole thing that he actually fucking sucked at rugby and had never done it before?

David  4:07  
Yeah, he was complete horseshit. It was really just a metaphor for his repressed homosexuality. 

Jordan  4:11  
[laughs] That's what it felt like at least. Yeah. 

David  4:13  
Oh, it definitely had a humongous homosexuality metaphor in that--

Jordan  4:17  
Yeah. 

David  4:17  
--series. [laughing] And I just remember they didn't play rugby till, like, chapter 12 or something. 

Jordan  4:20  
At least we fight in the first chapter of this one. 

David  4:22  
That's fair, [laughing] though not really of martial arts.  

Jordan  4:25  
Well, again, you know y-martial arts includes stuff that you do with the sword. 

David  4:28  
Ehh. Fine. 

Jordan  4:30  
You know? I mean, martial arts just means, like, a way to fight, I guess, and y-it often has different kinds of weapons, David. Come on. 

David  4:37  
Fine. 

Jordan  4:37  
Are-aren't you some kind of, like, martial arts expert like, what the fuck? 

David  4:41  
Just because I own eight katanas. [Jordan laughs]

Jordan  4:44  
[David laughs] You got the cool rainbow katana?

David  4:46  
I do. Yes. But after battle it only shows one color, red.

Jordan  4:50  
Nice. Nice.

David  4:52  
Rachel, please, for my birthday, don't get me a bunch of katanas. This is a joke.

Jordan  4:55  
Rachel, this is me, Jordan. Get David a bunch of katanas, please.

David  4:59  
My mom called me. She's like, David, I know you-you want a new camera for your birthday. What camera? I'm like, no, you really don't want to know how much it would cost to get a camera-the camera I want.

Jordan  5:07  
No. 

David  5:07  
Just don't worry about it. [both laugh]

Jordan  5:13  
David, I knew you wanted a new katana for your birthday.

David  5:16  
I gotta protect my virginity somehow.

Jordan  5:18  
I need the sword of Sephiroth, please.

David  5:20  
I guess I do have a wall long enough for it. [Jordan laughs] I just looked up and I was like, ehhh, I guess I have a spot. Actually, I could pu--

Jordan  5:26  
Ehhhh.

David  5:25  
-- I actually do have [Jordan laughs] a pretty good spot. I could put up a sword on my apartment. Uh, any-[laughing] anyway, though, Jordan, I feel like this is gonna be an i tell c where we disagree on the quality of the series. Because yeah.

Jordan  5:33  
Yeah.

David  5:34  
I was not a [laughing] fan. But why don't you tell us why you liked it so much. 

Jordan  5:38  
I actually really enjoyed the art for a lot of it. I mean, it-it was iffy. There's definitely some panels where, like, yeah, that looks weird. I think the way that he draws Akebi is kind of weird in a lot of places. But I also think that the lines are extremely energetic when they're actually moving and fighting. I really like, uh, the poses he has there. I really liked how he draws action actually.

David  5:59  
Really? I completely disagree. I thought the action was not well drawn. And sometimes it was just confusing. Like, third or fourth page when he's kicking a guy. I couldn't tell if he was kicking him multiple times or he was doing, like, a-like, a roundhouse kick. And it just wasn't drawn very well.

Jordan  6:12  
Oh, I-I thought it-he was just doing a roundhouse kick. But I-I mean, I-I see it. 

David  6:17  
You can see it looks like his foot is connecting on multiple parts of that dude's body. 

Jordan  6:20  
No, I see why you felt that way. Yeah, I also just-I think it's really funny how, uh, the first thing that happens is that, uh, Neru is supposed to fill out a "What I want to be in the future" test. And he's like, well, I just want to get strong. 

David  6:33  
Mmhm.

Jordan  6:34  
I just want to train and stuff. 

David  6:35  
Yeah. 

Jordan  6:36  
I-I felt like the series didn't really waste much time. It moves pretty quickly, is where I'm-where I'm going with that.

David  6:42  
Yeah, I mean, yeah, it knows what the series wants to be about. But I mean, like, [sighs] I just didn't find it that interesting. Like, plenty of other shonen series where combat's a big part of it, but they actually have, like, an interesting story. Well, this is just going to be a filler plot to make people fight.

Jordan  6:54  
I don't know, I don't think that's true. I mean, I think it's kind of interesting. You have this character who he's been completely isolated from everyone around him because he's just so obsessed with fighting. And his grandpa, who he-who has been training him, who he looks up to. Who-because he's just so strong, has, uh, he just mysteriously vanished. So now he's just kind of all alone in this world where, like, nobody understands him. And nobody connects with him because he's just, like, doing his own thing or whatever. And then finally, he meets this girl who, they fight together, and they're having a great time during the fight, too. I-it's very much like there's a lot of, uh, like, romantic kind of subtext there. 

David  7:32  
Mmhm.

Jordan  7:32  
Where, like, he's like, oh, wow, finally, this is somebody that I can actually connect with. And you're telling me that there's more people like you? That's amazing. So I don't know, I kind of found that to be somewhat of, like, an interesting character motivation.

David  7:47  
I guess. But I-I don't know. I just found, like, nothing about this series, like, really just caught my attention. Like, I-I-I don't know. Like, I thought the art was just okay, the plot wasn't that interesting. And I actually-I thought the arc was kind of bad at times. Like, you've seen the proportions of the female character. And [laughs] we're already chapter one having upshots. 

Jordan  8:06  
Oh, yeah. 

David  8:07  
They could have added a lot more to this first chapter to really grab my attention because, like, it's all set up to the interesting part. But why would I keep reading then? If there wasn't anything in the first chapter that was even interesting?

Jordan  8:19  
I guess it really just depends on, uh, do you enjoy the fighting? And I enjoyed the fighting and you didn't.

David  8:25  
Fighting just wasn't drawn very well to make it seem exciting.

Jordan  8:27  
I just disagree with that. I mean, I think, umm, there's a lot of dynamism to how these characters move.

David  8:33  
Also, one thing I thought was a little weird is he complains about no one wants to fight him but why couldn't he just join, like, a martial arts club at his school?

Jordan  8:39  
Well, clearly, he's way too strong. And maybe there isn't one. I don't know. [laughs] Yeah, I don't know.

David  8:44  
That's a pretty standard club at Japanese schools. So they could have at least shown him like--

Jordan  8:49  
I mean, he seems like somebody who's just completely disconnected from everyone around him. 

David  8:53  
Yeah, but he has his friend. His friend who seems to be a normally adjusted person kind of--

Jordan  8:57  
I mean, David, how would he not know that there was a Japanese dojo anywhere? It's Japan. 

David  9:02  
That's true. 

Jordan  9:03  
It seems like he's just somebody who is so in his own world that he's completely oblivious to absolutely everything around him.

David  9:12  
 Then I would say that's lazy writing. That's just an excuse plot for them to say [indecipherable]

Jordan  9:14  
Is that lazy writing? 

David  9:15  
Yeah [indecipherable]

Jordan  9:15  
I don't know. I think that-I think that fits the character though.

David  9:18  
It means the character was, I would say, abnormally too stupid and the fact that he has a friend, though, that could have pointed this out. They also don't explain that why didn't his friend take him to a dojo? Like, they could have had a-just a simple thing where they show him getting, like, banned from a dojo cuz he was, like, too strong or something. Like, Ayashimon did that. Where it's the same idea where a character's too strong to fight normal people but they literally show him go into a gym, breaking equipment because he's too strong or breaking someone's arm in, like, a boxing match and getting banned from a boxing gym. It's the same idea. They could have just shown that, and then that explains, oh, why didn't he go to x, y, and z to try and find someone to fight?

I guess. I mean, you know, you only have so many pages to work through.

Yeah, but this was bloated anyway. Like, his friend didn't even really need to be introduced because it brings up these questions. He could have just found the girl being beaten up by bullies and saved her instead of his friend telling him. That's easily two or three pages that they could have gotten back in this pilot.

Jordan  10:05  
I see your points. I think that they make sense. I just, um, they didn't really bother me as much when I was reading it because I-I was more interested in, like, the-the character interactions and stuff but no, you-you make some good points here. 

David  10:17  
Thank you. 

Jordan  10:17  
Yeah.

David  10:18  
Yeah. [laughs]

Jordan  10:19  
Uh, I also-I really did think this was cool where, umm, you know, the whole thing with his grandpa because the-the idea that it starts out with is that, like, even though his grandpa is getting older, he's still getting stronger. 

David  10:21  
Yeah. 

Jordan  10:25  
Which is why Neru is so interested in that. Which I don't know. I-I thought that was kind of interesting. 

David  10:36  
Oh yeah, I loved his Grandpa. Grandpa's best character.

Jordan  10:37  
His Grandpa's great. Well, also they gave him a, uhh, basically just a how-to manual. Like, how to learn martial arts essentially, which--

David  10:45  
Mmhm.

Jordan  10:45  
--a part of it that I really liked. That kind of was really interesting to me was that like, it looks like it's covered in text. But actually, that text is little drawings of the form that you are supposed to take--

David  10:45  
Yeah.

Jordan  10:45  
--when you're doing martial arts. I thought that was so cool because it also-it explained o-because they mentioned, like, his grandpa couldn't read. So it was like, it made sense to me like, oh, okay, that's how you can learn from it.

David  11:10  
Yeah, uhh, by the way if we didn't mention it, his grandpa's blind. 

Jordan  11:12  
Was he or do they just not draw his eyes? 

David  11:14  
I'm pretty sure that was how they were supposed to show that he didn't have eyes. [Jordan laughs]

Jordan  11:18  
I thought that was just hiding his, uh, hiding his identity.

David  11:21  
Oh no, I thought it was like-he like-he just didn't have eyes.

Jordan  11:24  
Oh, I don't know. 

David  11:25  
Imagine if he, like, wrote it in Braille and someone's like, bro, this is, like, in Braille you can, like, just-just read it.

Jordan  11:31  
I don't know. I kinda-I kind of took it as, like, uh, a metaphorical or thing where he just didn't have eyes but... 

David  11:37  
Understandable.

Jordan  11:37  
Oh, I also really like how Neru is, like, so in his head that, like, he's obsessed with fighting and everything to do with weapons that, like, he saves that girl without even, like, being aware that he saved her. He basically nerds out when one of the bullies fighting her pulls out, like, this, uhh, ninja knife or whatever. 

David  11:57  
Yeah.

Jordan  11:57  
And Neru takes it and is like, oh my god! This is so cool you have this! And, like, him nerding out about it freaked the bullies out so much that, like, they basically left. Like, I thought that was cool. And I think that that ties into his character, and shows, and demonstrates, David, that he is somebody who does not pay attention to his surroundings and is completely in his own head and misses obvious things. Like wow, this girl is currently under attack from these two bullies that I should help her fight. But instead, no, he-I'm just focused instead on this tiny, minute detail. Completely ignoring all the context around it. 

David  12:29  
That's one interpretation. But I just feel like the surrounding elements just like, yeah, there are some okay parts but it really sacrifices a lot of logic and things that could have been interesting about the series to have those kind of ideals.

Jordan  12:39  
It just doesn't bother me in, like, a shonen manga. Like, a lot of this is kind of, like, a setup is similar to DBZ. Like hi-or Dragon Ball. Like, his, um, his life-his early life is very similar to Goku's early life where he was, like, raised in the woo-I mean, I'm sure that this character is literally based on Son Goku--

David  12:40  
Oh. Yeah. 

Jordan  12:40  
--in some way, you know? 

David  12:58  
I mean, he-here's the thing. This feels like a product of, like, the mid 2000s. And the standards are just way, way too high for shonen nowadays for that to be fine. You're right. If in, like, a Dragonball Z era world, this would have been a fine excuse plot. But nowadays, there's a lot more critical thinking that people really challenged the ideas of series.

Jordan  13:16  
Right. You got things like PPPPPP. And, uh, yeah.

David  13:20  
Yeah. 

Jordan  13:21  
You got to compete with that shit.

David  13:22  
You got to comp-p-p-p-p-pete with that.

Jordan  13:24  
Yeah. [David laughs] 

David  13:25  
All right. So Jordan, though altogether, you would read another 10 chapters of it? 

Jordan  13:29  
Yeah. 

David  13:29  
Yeah, uhh, I think you know what my [laughing] answer is so do you want to go into a-a hu-guesses? [Jordan laughs] Oh, actually, I just realized we did this order wrong but whatever.

Jordan  13:38  
Whatever it doesn't matter.

David  13:39  
Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's like jazz. 

Jordan  13:40  
Yeah. It's about the segments you don't do. [David laughs]

David  13:42  
[laughing] Yes. So Jordan, though? What are your guesses? 

Jordan  13:46  
Uh, well, my guess is I think that Akebi and Neru get romantically involved. 

David  13:50  
Mmhm.

Jordan  13:50  
I think that's pretty heavily foreshadowed here. I don't think that Neru will get along with most of the people at the dojo.

David  13:58  
Mmhm.

Jordan  13:58  
Uhh, he thinks that he will, and I-I don't think so. I think there's going to be some, uh, clashing there. And the last one is, I think that the grandpa's immortal.

David  14:06  
Mmmm.

Jordan  14:06  
Grandpa might be Buddha.

David  14:07  
That's pretty cool. Those are some good takes, uh, especially the romantic one. I think that was a good call. So mine are I think the grandpa is going to be the final boss. I think his best friend is never going to get good at fighting. So he'll just be, like, a cheerleader the whole time. And I think they're going to introduce, like, a really dumb power system.

Jordan  14:21  
I think those are all good guesses. I don't know if they're--

David  14:24  
Awwww, thank you.

Jordan  14:24  
--gonna do-you're welcome. I don't know if they're gonna do, like, a power system though. Ummm, shit they fucking might. So David, what is your Power Word?

David  14:32  
My Power Word is thin. 

Jordan  14:33  
Thin. Really? 

David  14:34  
Yeah. Because all the characters are drawn, like, really weirdly, thinly proportioned. And the plot is is also very thin. [Jordan laughs] I-yeah, I thought that was a good [laughing] power word. How about you, Jordan?

Jordan  14:43  
Uh, mine is energetic because I felt like the action scenes were very energetic and, like, the series itself has, like, this energy. Uh, Neru has this, like, ner-this, like, energy to him that, you know, is very shonen.

David  14:56  
You know what? That's fair. And we'll see, though it definitely has a chance to improve. 

Jordan  14:59  
Yeah. 

David  14:59  
And we'll see. I'm looking forward to recording our main episode with Dylan on Wednesday.

Jordan  15:02  
Absolutely 

David  15:03  
Okay, cool. And then you're ready to go to Q&A? 

Jordan  15:05  
Yeah. 

David  15:05  
All right, first of all, Jordan, we got a question from, you know, legendary fan, Victor, who says--

Jordan  15:10  
Victor! 

David  15:11  
--do some canceled Shonen Jump characters sometimes have Christmas parties?

Jordan  15:14  
Golem Hearts does not.

David  15:16  
Golem Hearts or the guy from Red [laughing] Sprite. 

Jordan  15:18  
Exactly. They do not. [laughs]

David  15:19  
I think the lady from i tell c is the most likely Shonen Jump protagonist to ho-host a Christmas party.

Jordan  15:25  
The main character? 

David  15:26  
Yeah. 

Jordan  15:26  
Yeah, absolutely. And she, like-she gets everybody, like, presents that they wanted. But in order to know a-to know that [David laughs] they wanted, she had to do, like, extreme, deep, like, stalking to just discover what they were looking for.

David  15:39  
Yeah.

Jordan  15:39  
 And it really-it actually creeps them out. 

David  15:41  
Yeah, it's like, uh, she wiretapped that conversation with my mom. So she knew what type of camera I [laughing] wanted.

Jordan  15:46  
Ex-exactly, yeah. [both laugh] Yeah, I really like i tell c.

David  15:52  
Yeah, it's a fun idea. Um, I actually in-when I went through the Shonen Jump list, that author has another series that we could cover. 

Jordan  15:58  
Ooh.

David  15:59  
So we can definitely-yeah, uh, when we get through that list, we can talk about some potential series that we'll definitely cover in 2022. Next question is from sekhon_44. Which plot protagonist would be the strangest addition to Fortnite, which I interpret as which character would be the worst at dabbing. 

Jordan  16:14  
Hmm, I don't know enough about Fortnite. I mean, it's one of those games about, like-it's like-it's like Minecraft plus PUBG? 

David  16:22  
Yeah. Kind of, I think. 

Jordan  16:23  
I think? Then they dance.

David  16:25  
There's a lot of dancing.

Jordan  16:26  
So I guess it would have to be somebody who can't dance, can't build, anything and...

David  16:33  
Oh, so I know exactly who. 

Jordan  16:34  
Oh, Build King. 

David  16:35  
Yeah, [Jordan laughing] the [laughing] characters from Build King. 

Jordan  16:38  
Yeah.

David  16:39  
Though, yeah, strangest, not worst addition. So what sh-maybe... [sighs] 

Jordan  16:43  
Ummm.

David  16:44  
I'm trying to think, man.

Jordan  16:47  
Iwa-I was gonna say Orpheus but no, Orpheus would fit perfectly--

David  16:50  
Yeah.

Jordan  16:50  
-- in fortnite. Ummm...[David laughs]

David  16:52  
Oh, the girls from Monster [laughing] Tamer Girls.

Jordan  16:53  
[laughing] Yeah.

David  16:55  
Just 12 year-olds using machine guns. 

Jordan  16:57  
Yeah. 

David  16:58  
Umm, okay, next question, uh, is from T Root. Would you review Burn the Witch? So, uhh--

Jordan  17:04  
[indicpherable] Sure. [laughs] 

David  17:04  
--this isn't really a flop. It's a little thing so maybe as Patreon bonus content. Stay tuned. We'll see if people are--

Jordan  17:06  
Maybe.

David  17:06  
--interested in that. Next question is also from T Root cuz I knew that was gonna be a quick question. Are there any series you would say in the first 10 or so podcast episodes you'd re-review and see if they are still bad or better compared to recent topics?

Jordan  17:19  
I really want to revisit Golem Hearts.

David  17:21  
Yes, though we actually-that's already on our schedule. We will be covering Golem Hearts for our two-year anniversary. I like the Stephen Colbert method where every year anniversary he does, like, a plus one and then he has the, like, the first guest, second guest, you know, two years later and has [Jordan laughs] an [indecipherable]. So that's what the thought is. Every year we'll progress and then-so we'll do Golem Hearts next year. We'll do, uhh, what was it? Robot x LaserBeam the year after that. And then after that, it would be Guardian of the Witch. So [Jordan laughs] we'll see how that goes. 

Jordan  17:47  
Yeah.

David  17:47  
Which flop protagonists would be the most likely to get involved with NFTs asks Scott.

Jordan  17:53  
Jin Naruto.

David  17:54  
 No, no, actually the dude from ne0;lation.

Jordan  17:55  
Yeah, actually. [laughs]

David  17:56  
That's literally his whole shtick. [laughs]

Jordan  17:58  
Yeah, yeah. Him or the guy from Phantom Seer cuz I-he just seems like the type of guy who would be a douchebag about [David laughs] how he likes NFTs. But no, no, you're also right. So does the guy from ne0;lation actually. Yeah, no, I think that that is the correct call here. I think that what-oh, yeah. His name was literally Neo. Yeah, yeah.

David  18:14  
Yeah.

Jordan  18:15  
So...

David  18:15  
He probably invented NFTs and that's what the N stands for. [both laugh] Neo-fungible tokens. [both laugh]

Jordan  18:23  
[laughing] Neo-fungible tokens. That's his name.

David  18:24  
[laughing] Yeah, this is--

Jordan  18:25  
[laughing] Neo tokens. 

David  18:26  
Oh, God, these are some good questions. All right. Last one is from Adam aka Aqua who asked would you ever cover a flop anime? So the question I guess is just how you would define an anime as being a flop and then also that is a much larger time sink. So I don't know, Jordan. What do you think?

Jordan  18:47  
It depends because, like, there are anime series like Mars of Destruction where they've literally only put out one episode because it just got so fucking panned. 

David  18:58  
Yeah.

Jordan  18:58  
And that's just, like, one 30 minute episode, so it's not necessarily a huge time sink. But if you're talking about a series that, like, ran for say, I don't know, like-yeah, like, even like 10 episodes. Yeah, that's--

David  19:10  
Like Ex-Arm.

Jordan  19:10  
--yeah, like that's-that's a significantly different thing. 

David  19:12  
Mmhm.

Jordan  19:12  
Like, I wouldn't be against doing-reviewing, like, maybe a shitty OVA. Like, I wou-I would love to talk about M.D. Geist any time, but--

David  19:20  
Mmhm.

Jordan  19:20  
--although that was actually weirdly successful. But yeah, no, I mean, uhh, I'm not against it. It just has to be, like, a specific scenario.

David  19:26  
I mean, yeah and I think that sounds like something that would be fun Patreon content.

Jordan  19:29  
Hear that, listeners? You should probably subscribe. 

David  19:32  
We're so close to doing the MO special. 

Jordan  19:34  
Yeah, you don't wanna miss that. 

David  19:36  
I'm excited. 

Jordan  19:36  
Yeah.

David  19:37  
And that is, uh, all the questions we had for today. Thank you everyone who submitted. If you want to submit questions, you can always come on the Shonen Flop discord and submit something to the Q&A thread or the Q&A channel. And as always, our prioritization is if you're King of the Forest above, if you've never asked a question before, and if we haven't answered one of your questions in the last five or six or so episodes. 

Jordan  19:56  
Yeah.

David  19:57  
Jordan, you're ready to go shout outs? 

Jordan  19:58  
Yeah, I'm fucking ready, man.

David  19:59  
Let's fucking do it. Well, Jordan, then, first thing I want to say is thank you so much for all of your hard work editing the chibi episodes and also helping do that final pass on the main eps. 

Jordan  20:07  
You're so welcome. 

David  20:08  
I also want to thank Tucker for assistance with pronunciation, translation, other miscellaneous research. He's also helping us now figure out what series to cover, helping us with some research of what's a spicy series, and if they're translated or not. So that's gonna be a really big help in the future. I also want to thank Nicole for helping with social media and Luke for being our community producer. And on that note, about the Shonen Flop discord, be sure to join it. Come hang out with us and talk about anime, games, or whatever else is on your mind. We also have a book club and do regular movie nights you can find a link to it in the show notes. And if you've been enjoying the podcast and want to help us keep going, consider subscribing to our Patreon. We have a ton of awesome perks ranging from exclusive mini episodes, deleted scenes and you can even help us pick what series we're going to cover next. Find that patreon.com/shonenflop and in terms of--

Jordan  20:08  
Yeah.

David  20:08  
--Oh, see. Yeah, yeah, and then in terms of giving shout outs to our patrons, we first want to give a shout out to Pterodactyl Ghost for being a Chainsaw Man level patron and--

Jordan  20:55  
What's up my man? Pterodactyl Ghost. 

David  20:57  
Fuckin absolute Chad legend and then, uh, we want to give thanks to Gabe, Marty, Mark, TWolfwood, Matt, OverratedApples and Manjie Knights for being King of the Forest.

Jordan  21:06  
And, ironically, that is not Totally Not Mark.

David  21:09  
Aww.

Jordan  21:10  
A different guy named Mark-- 

David  21:11  
I feel so bad for him now.

Jordan  21:11  
--who's also called-yeah.

David  21:13  
Totally Not Mark is very based. 

Jordan  21:14  
And Mark is even more based.

David  21:16  
And then, uh, you know who else is also based? Is Tristan Dena, Mara Bara, Hydra, Dylan, Alexander Zorak, ShingoSekimoto, Trevor Schechter, Silly Rookie, Yaji_Black, Mike Carpenter, and BS for being Galactic Ball Federation Officers.

Jordan  21:31  
Yes, thank you very much for your service.

David  21:33  
And if you're not ready for a regular commitment, consider buying some merch. We have a ton of awesome designs, including the much requested Gomez Moon shirt, Mashle Punching Harry Potter shirt, along with cover art from each of our episodes, and a portion of the proceeds goes to the original artist. And no worries though, if you can't help the show financially, if you can just recommend the show to a friend. It really means a ton to us. We've seen a lot of terrific growth and we wouldn't have gotten where we are without people telling their friends about the show. You can find us on Twitter: @shonenflopcast and our website shonenflop.com. Jordan is hard at work making a brand new website so we're super excited--

Jordan  22:01  
Oh, yes.

David  22:02  
--about that. And you can find us on Spotify, iTunes and YouTube or wherever else you get your podcast. 

Jordan  22:06  
And with that, David. Say it.

David  22:09  
Keep on flopping, floppers! 

Jordan  22:10  
Bye! 

David  22:11  
Bye.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai