Reincarnated as Podcasters: an Isekai Podcast Reincarnated as Podcasters

***Spoiler Warning: Severance (2022)***



Three wolves rage inside your breast. One really likes work, the other really likes his dead wife. The third wolf is that devourer of worlds known as Isekai - he lives both without and within us all. Does our discussion of Severance really warrant a spoiler warning? I don't really think so but there you go anyway. Severance asks a question posed very Spike Jonesily: what if the mysterious door transported you not into John Malkovich but your boring office job? Is wage labour actually an isekai? Find out at (15:35), right after our lil Le Guin mantra.



In this episode we discuss:



Episode 12: Return to the Capital (28:48)

Episode 13: Self-Proclaimed Knight Natsuki Subaru (54:43)

Episode 14: The Sickness Called Despair (1:25:57)

Closing Thoughts (1:55:08)



In this, the grand return to form of Reincarnated as podcasters we are introducing some exciting new changes. For one we have embraced a new emerging format we like to call Web 3.0. It works like this: First we briefly recap the three (3) episodes of the anime we're watching, and with this refresher out of the way we are free to create a WEB of interconnected associations, observations and thoughts related to these episodes. Thus we have Web 3.0, pretty neat right? We really look forward to changing the podcast game with this one!

These episodes are weighty but it is made bearable by the generous outpouring of waifus we receive. And not just any waifus, mind you, they're waifus with ideology. Step on me, mommy? No, no. More like crush my windpipe, mommy's belief system! Of course Re:Zero is not satisfied with merely fulfilling a viewer's fantasy of another world as it draws humanity out of its characters, and with it their glaring flaws. Who would have thought that being sucked through a portal into RPG land would not fix the issues that would make you unbearable in any world you ended up in? Both Emilia and Subaru find out the hard way. 

Don't forget, you can follow us on twitter at @ReincarnatedPod

Or email us at reincarnated.podcasters@gmail.com

Lemme just upload this and be done. Show notes to follow. 

I haven't uploaded this because internet issues caused my audio to sound like garbage and editing this ep felt like suffering through Itachi's sharingan genjutsu. So I simply decided not to edit it! Listen to us vape on mic and listen to me struggle to recall the term "cognitive dissonance" for like 5 minutes. 

Anyway, enjoy!

***Spoiler Warning: Warcraft (2016)***



Have you heard about the latest Activision Blizzard scandal? They got a talented indie film director to helm their cinematic vanity project based on the Warcraft IP five years ago. I know, I can't believe it either. And the worst part is... it might be an Isekai! In all seriousness f**k Bobby Kotick, Microsoft and the games industry that sustains itself on violence against workers, women and people of colour. Is it an Isekai starts at (16:51)



In this episode we cover:

Episode 6: The Sound of Chains (29:25)

Episode 7: Natsuki Subaru's Restart (1:01:38)

Episode 8: I Cried, Cried My Lungs Out, and Stopped Crying (1:44:56)

Closing thoughts (2:11:55)



Good anime is always engaged in a balancing act between drawing the viewer in and overdrawing on their suspension of disbelief. In these episodes Re:Zero signals at some moments of strong pathos that I am more than willing to go along with because I am pathetic. My co-hosts however, tread carefully where I leap in headlong. A moment's interrogation reveals the false bottom on this illusion of depth and pops the bubble of this Isekai dream held onto so steadfastly by Subaru and perhaps even some viewers. 

These episodes tease out some multifaceted views from us, and in a sense that is Re:Zero's greatest strength so far. Shout outs once again to Sam for taking this trip with us. We hope you enjoy our discussion! 

Don't forget, you can follow us on twitter at @ReincarnatedPod

Or email us at reincarnated.podcasters@gmail.com

As promised, here's part two of our discussion covering episode 5 as well as our closing thoughts.



Once again, a big shoutout to Sam for joining us on this episode!



We cover:

Episode 5: The Morning of Our Promise Is Still Distant (3:06)

Closing Thoughts at (57:11)



Yep, we went long with this one! These episodes offered a one-two combo of genre and pacing, switching it up on us with alacrity, hitting us with delicate left jabs followed by some rather straightforward, unsubtle rights. While I take it all on the chin and beg for more, Vicki and Sam still manage to duck and weave some of Re:Zero's more halting shift of direction. When the swords and sorcery is put away, it is true that most of Re:Zero's action so far has happened in its conversation. But is it falling into the trap of telling rather than showing? Join us to find out!



As always, you can follow us on twitter at @ReincarnatedPod

Or email us at reincarnated.podcasters@gmail.com

A big thank you to Sam, who guests on this episode! 



** This one went a bit long so I decided to split it up into two chunks. It's pretty much a standard ep, but we only discuss episodes 3 and 4. Our discussion on episode 5 and our closing thoughts will be uploaded some time next week. Sorry if you are inconvenienced by this, but it does help get it out on time and keeps the eps from being massive. **



We've all been hate watching Netflix's Cowboy Bebop and stirring up the vitriol within our souls all week just to get it out for all of the internet to hear. We spend a little extra time in "What Have You Been Watching" (segment name pending), tearing this awful remake to shreds and praising the original (or at least our memory of it). The segment starts at (6:34)



Isekai, the final frontier. This is the voyage of 3 podcasters as they discuss whether Star Trek: Voyager is an isekai or not. We also finally answer the age old question of who cleans out all the splooge from the holodeck. No real spoilers are discussed here! Is it an isekai starts at (24:56)



On this episode we cover:

Episode 3: Starting Life from Zero in Another World

Episode 4: The Happy Roswaal Mansion Family

Episode 5 and our closing thoughts to be uploaded soon!



Subaru is a gamer, in these episodes he's also a hero. But most importantly, he's the hero of this story. Or so it seems. While Subaru plays out the JRPG he finds himself transported to, does he have the wherewithal to recognise he's not the only one playing a game here? In these episodes we meet characters who are more than meets the eye, with ambitions that may just dwarf Subaru's isekai dreams. Or perhaps they simply thrive in being unnoticed. A humble servant in a familiar and comforting hierarchy. We bring a variety of perspectives to the table for this episode. We hope you enjoy hearin them!

Don't forget, you can follow us on twitter at @ReincarnatedPod

Or email us at reincarnated.podcasters@gmail.com 

***Spoiler Warning: Cube (1997)***

Colonel, come in. This is Snake. Kept you waiting, huh? Laurens was feeling a bit under the weather so he asked me, Solid Snake (as voiced by David Hayter), to sub for him. He also asked me to make my voice extra gravelly. I'm not sure even a veteran of stealth operations, such as myself, could survive in the cube from the 1997 indie sci-fi horror Cube. Luckily that's not what we debate in this weeks "Is It an Isekai" segment. Instead we wonder how does the claustrophobia and existential horror of Cube relate to Isekai? We get into all of it at (25:25)

I'm afraid I had to tactically dispose of the "Otaku Glossary" segment for this week. Our research pieces will be moved to their own episode down the line in the interest of keeping these episode sleek and streamlined, like my sneaking suit which needlessly accentuates my dump truck ass. So yeah, look forward to that... the research pieces, not my ass.

In this episode we cover:
Episode 1: The End of the Beginning and the Beginning of the End (36:05)
Episode 2: Reunion with the Witch (1:32:51)
Closing thoughts at (1:52:50)

Episode one is actually a 50 minute double episode, hence us covering just two episodes this time. As we find out, this show absolutely needs 50 minutes to lay out the elaborate clockwork of this new isekai world, perhaps even more. The vistas are dense with finely crafted detail, the designs are eye-catchingly elegant and the worldbuilding is woven into the plot with a naturalistic ease. But it is the sheer amount of character banter that makes up the glut of these runtimes. These new personages talk and talk with Sorkin-esque loquaciousness and verve. But does it serve the story and our understanding of these new characters? Or is it all just complicated airflow? I happen to think it's very enriching, but that might be because I - Solid Snake - have already seen the entirety of this anime before (so has Laurens by the way). 
We find that Re:Zero is interested in the little games that people play, the subtle transactions that occur between people all the time without us noticing. Our protag, Subaru, gets to put his internal worldview to the test in another world. Only he might find that world more hostile to his intentions than he first imagined. Luckily he gets a do-over, but at what price?
 
Thanks for joining us on another isekai journey. Don't forget, you can follow us on twitter at @ReincarnatedPod
Or email us at reincarnated.podcasters@gmail.com