Podcastle in the Sky

Travel with us to the last days of the Palace of Versailles as we discuss two works about the (first) end of the French monarchy: the classic 1970s anime The Rose of Versailles and the 2006 film Marie Antoinette. In the anime we follow a young swordswoman brought up as a man as she first … Continue reading Episode 26: Rose of Versailles and Marie Antoinette

Duck and cover! In this month’s episode of Podcastle in the Sky the crew steps back in time into the shadow of a Cold War on the verge of going hot with the 1982 techno-thrillers Future War 198X and Clint Eastwood’s Firefox. In a world teetering on the precipice of nuclear annihilation, these controversial time … Continue reading Episode 25: Future War 198X and Firefox

In this episode we discuss the classic anime series Revolutionary Girl Utena and the more recent Netflix reboot She-Ra and the Princesses of Power. Mostly we talk about magic duels, Italian giallo movies, the performance of gender, and binge watching versus the weekly watch. If you’ve ever wished more podcasts started with a five minute … Continue reading Episode 24: Revolutionary Girl Utena and She-Ra and the Princesses of Power

Spend the holidays the traditional way: by listening to us talk about half-naked muscular men pummeling each other senseless. Yes, the Podcastle in the Sky gang discusses the recent Netflix series Baki along with the 1988 classic Bloodsport. We talk about mixed martial arts, Kowloon Walled City, bro science, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting … Continue reading Episode 23: Baki and Bloodsport

Join us as we chat about The Secret World of Arrietty and the novel it was adapted from, The Borrowers. Childhood fantasies, British colonialism, the state of the working class, Ghibli movies that weren’t made by Miyazaki or Takahata – we cover it all. Check it out pronto!

In the grim darkness of the 17th century, there is only war! Don your armor and sally into the fray alongside the Podcastle in the Sky Crew as we discuss two works suffused with blood and battle: the 2012 trilogy adaptation of Kentaro Miura’s dark-medieval fantasy series Berserk and James Clavell’s 1971 cinematic epic of … Continue reading Episode 21: Berserk – The Golden Age Arc and The Last Valley

Turn your 2020 frown upside down with some opera – the space kind and the regular kind. In 1995, Operavox created a half-hour cartoon about Richard Wagner’s Rhinegold. Four years later, Leiji Matsumoto created an anime miniseries about the same opera, added some space pirates into the mix, and called it Harlock Saga. How do … Continue reading Episode 20: Harlock Saga and Rhinegold

We return from our hiatus to discuss two works about Westerns, indigenous representation, serial killers, and bloody violence. Yes, episode 19 is all about season 1 and 2 of Golden Kamuy and the 2015 horror-Western movie Bone Tomahawk! PodCastle in the Sky is here to provide some easy listening in your time of quarantine. You’re … Continue reading Episode 19: Golden Kamuy and Bone Tomahawk

Get out your neon-tinged sunglasses and jack into our latest podcast about the cyberpunk worlds of Ergo Proxy and Neuromancer. Remember when anime was nothing but shows about mopey people dressed in black leather? Remember when Japan was the future and dead channels on TV showed grey static? We talk about all this and more … Continue reading Episode 18: Ergo Proxy and Neuromancer

Join us on this month’s episode for a blast from the distant past! The Podcastle crew sets out to learn the meaning of true friendship through two retellings of a classic tale from Greek antiquity about two best bros and the bond of trust they forge together in the face of tyrannical adversity; first in … Continue reading Episode 17: Hashire Melos and Die Bürgschaft

We spend our 16th episode pissing and moaning about a terrible movie we watched. We also spend it praising a fun movie we enjoyed. One of the films is Miss Hokusai and the other is Artemisia. They’re both historical films about female artists – the first is set in the 19th century Edo period of Japan, … Continue reading Episode 16: Miss Hokusai and Artemisia

In this month’s episode the PodCastle crew looks back at the humble origins of two iconic science fiction mega-franchises with 1977’s ripping space opera Star Wars and the three film theatrical compilation of Yoshiyuki Tomino’s 1979 television mecha series Mobile Suit Gundam. In the years subsequent to their release, the aesthetic and narrative conventions of … Continue reading Episode 15: Mobile Suit Gundam and Star Wars

Witchcraft is the name of the game in our latest episode as we cover Studio Trigger’s  Little Witch Academia and the 2017 CBBC/ZDF children’s TV show The Worst Witch – two contemporary throwbacks to a simpler time in the media landscape. Do you remember getting up early on Saturday mornings to watch cartoons and running home after school … Continue reading Episode 14: Little Witch Academia and The Worst Witch

We go beyond good and evil as we discuss two superhero comedies: the anime One-Punch Man and the 2017 live action Amazon series The Tick. The nature of heroism, the ungratefulness of the common man, and the underemployment of Millennials are all things we cover as we solve all of Japan’s social and economic problems in episode … Continue reading Episode 13: One Punch Man and The Tick

For the 99th anniversary of the Armistice that ended World War I, Podcastle in the Sky looks at two fantastical versions of that war from this year – the feature film Wonder Woman and the anime series The Saga of Tanya the Evil. Women with supernatural abilities, godlike beings engineering conflict, pop culture memory of a war … Continue reading Episode 12: The Saga of Tanya the Evil and Wonder Woman

We test our fortitude by watching two legendary works of fantasy crapitude: the 1996 OVA series Garzey’s Wing and the 1982 movie schlockfest The Sword and The Sorcerer. Incoherent writing, awful acting, and incoherent writing abound in both of the items we review. Can we actually find anything nice to say about either work of fiction? Is there … Continue reading Episode 11: Garzey’s Wing and The Sword and the Sorcerer

In this episode we discuss urban planning and transformative pubescent experiences. Also we talk about the movies Jin-Roh: The Wolf Brigade and The Company of Wolves. Both adapt the story of Red Riding Hood, with the former being about an alternate history fascist Japan and the latter being a magical realist feminist take on the … Continue reading Episode 10: Jin-Roh – The Wolf Brigade and The Company of Wolves

In this month’s episode, the Podcastle in the Sky crew take a journey back to an era when alt-rock ruled the world and ennui was in by watching two cult favorites, Gainax’s sci-fi infused coming of age story FLCL and the 1995 film adaptation of Tank Girl. Does FLCL stand the test of time as … Continue reading Episode 9: FLCL and Tank Girl

This time Podcastle In The Sky looks at two works of fictional sumptuous epics set in the shadow of a developing landscape and dealing with indigenous groups – The Last of the Mohicans having Native Americans, and Princess Mononoke having the Emishi, a now vanished people believed to be related to the Ainu.

Celebrate Halloween the PodCastle in the Sky way – by watching Ayakashi: Samurai Horror Tales and reading Tales of the Dead. We discuss the two horror anthologies but also talk about horror in general, what scares people in the age of Twitter, and Steve Urkel (a.k.a., the greatest horror villain in fiction). Turn on, tune in, … Continue reading Episode 7: Ayakashi – Samurai Horror Tales and Tales of the Dead

It’s Mad Max and the Musclemen on this month’s post-apocalyptic podcast! In this episode, the PodCastle crew takes a look at two of the 1980s’ most extravagant pieces of end-times fiction with George Miller’s 1981 sequel The Road Warrior and the 1986 anime movie adaptation of Tetsuo Hara’s manga, Fist of the North Star. The narrative … Continue reading Episode 6: Fist of the North Star and The Road Warrior

Tune in for our greatest accomplishment in anime podcasting – we talk about Puella Magi Madoka Magica without once using the word “deconstruction”. Also we talk about the 2012 movie Chronicle and about teenagers with superpowers, then we kind of meander to a bunch of other topics. So stop, collaborate and listen to PodCastle in the … Continue reading Episode 5: Puella Magi Madoka Magica and Chronicle

In this episode PodCastle looks back to 1983, a year of dueling James Bond movies – and picks one of the movies (Octopussy, the ‘official’ one) and compares it to another product of 1983, Golgo 13: The Professional, the first anime adaptation of a character inspired by Ian Fleming’s spy. Confident killers, wonky geopolitics, male … Continue reading Episode 4: Golgo 13 and Octopussy

We return from the dead to discuss the undead! Diabolik Lovers and Twilight – hot or not? Whether you’re Team Edward, Team Jacob, or Team Shoot Yourself in the Head, listen and be enlightened. Are possessive boyfriends sexy if they’re a hot vampire? Does the firmament rip in twain as we compare these works to … Continue reading Episode 3: Diabolik Lovers and Twilight