G&C Podcast - Episode 210: Anime Swap #14: The Apothecary Diaries Vs Frieren!

[00:00:00] Hey everybody! On this episode of Gaming and Collecting, me and Alex are returning to our ongoing Anime Swap series, this time covering some relatively newer animes, including The Apothecary Diaries and Freeren. So anyways guys, on with the episode.

[00:00:33] So how you been? Uh, I can finally breathe again without coughing every five seconds. Yeah, you don't have to plague anymore. Well, I'm still coughing a little bit. Um, but I'm over it for the most part. Yeah, I got really sick and it like took a lot out of me. Um, well, I also, I got news. I quit my job. Um, it was getting to the point where, you know, like, you wanna kill yourself. No, I'm just kidding.

[00:01:03] Uh, I'm kidding. No, no, no. You don't, you don't go there. You just do like me and want to drive off the road. Yeah, it really was though getting to that point where I really had to prioritize my mental health over a company that just has, uh, unrealistic standards. Um, no idea what's happening, uh, wants to do everything but doesn't want to do anything at the same time. And it was time for me to just walk away. I just couldn't take it anymore.

[00:01:30] So, I am unemployed starting tomorrow. Uh, well, starting Friday, technically. Uh, not too worried. A couple interviews lined up, but it's a little bit scary, but I had to do it. Uh, I literally hated my life, quit everything that I enjoyed doing, and, uh, was getting really depressed. So, I needed to change. Uh, Dingledoo is behind me. She looks... She sure is.

[00:02:02] She looks concerned. It's been, it's been a rough couple of weeks because it's been, we've been sick. Yeah, I quit my job. The weather, it fucking snowed. Oh, my windshield cracked too, which sucks. Yeah. They also use so much fucking salt up here, it is so fucking disgusting. Oh, my God. Uh, but the company that I no longer, well, I won't work at starting Friday.

[00:02:30] They, every time they salt, they pay $2,000. Every time they come, just salt like barely any parking lot. It's been $2,000. I love that because my, my old job, they were so fucking cheap that they literally just bought a bucket and they just found the lowest guy of the totem pole and said go salt the parking lot. Oh, my God. No, they pay for like a truck to come and do it. That's dumb. Just get a guy with a bucket. That's all you need.

[00:02:59] Well, the best part is, so they also have salt buckets to do like the steps and stuff because they have a truck that comes in and drops it. And, uh, I had lunch with two of my coworkers on Tuesday and we're coming in the building and then we just looked down at the salt bucket. So just put their fucking banana peel in there. Yeah. Yeah. It's like anytime, like you see one of those things that's not a trash can, but it looks like a trash can and of course someone will inevitably throw trash in it. Yeah.

[00:03:27] I still think the best was not, not at Callaway, but, um, my, uh, previous job. Um, it snowed so bad that there was, there was so much snow on the roof that they actually were, they had people up on the roof, shoveling the snow off the roof. And they were like, they asked me if I would go help. And I looked at them like, I ain't going on the fucking roof. I'm like, yeah, honestly, like don't blame you for that. I'm like, I ain't in my fucking job description.

[00:03:55] And I was, and I'm like, if you guys have a problem with it, I'll fucking call OSHA. They immediately did not say a word after that. I was like, yeah, I'm like, yeah, don't give me shit about this. You didn't turn your sign on. We're not going to do the video for this one. Your glowing sign. Well, I don't know. It's fun. I have Dingle behind me. Yeah. I'm sorry. I just like, I was thinking about keeping my makeup on, but then it was much more appealing to take it off when I got home.

[00:04:24] So I took it off. I've been watching Dragon Ball Z. Yeah. I'm getting your play by play and it is hilarious. My favorite moments are when you ask a question like Alex, you've seen super, you know what happens. I know. I still got questions. My favorite is like, is Dende. And you were like, who's the tiny Nemeckian? I'm like, Alex, he's in super. Well, no, the best part is I said, why is Toru Honda? Like, why is Toru?

[00:04:51] No, you said, why does this Nemeckian sound like Toru? I'm like, well, maybe because it's the same voice. It's just weird. All the voices are weird. Like I prefer, like I prefer Frieza's voice currently versus the grandma voice. Yeah. Well, Frieza was originally Linda Young, which I am convinced is because they took one look at his character design and saw the lipstick and just assumed female. Yeah. Chris Ayers, before he passed away, did a much better job.

[00:05:20] And then Damon Mills does a pretty good job as well. Yeah, I prefer those voices. But I finished the Frieza arc. I finished up to the Frieza arc. And then I started watching the Garlic Jr. arc. And then I fell asleep during it because it was really boring. And, you know, I went to go back and rewatch the episodes today.

[00:05:46] And then I said, nah, that's just because the episode I left off on when I fell asleep was a Krillin proposing, not proposing to Marin. Oh, yeah. His his his his bimbo ex-girlfriend who has the same name as his daughter. Yeah, that's really weird. Krillin. That's weird. Um, I finished that episode and I was like, I don't need to go. Did you get to the scene where she calls? Did you get to the scene where she calls Chi Chi and Bulma old ladies?

[00:06:15] Yeah, I did. I saw that. I love that episode so much. You know, I watched them half awake. The Garlic Jr. arc. And I think I'm fine with that. It wasn't canon. So I don't give a shit. I'm not going back and rewatching it. My favorite part is when she leaves with Kilda. She's like, bye grandmas. Yeah, she was very bimbo-y though. And also like Chi Chi kind of sucks. Like she's really mean to go home.

[00:06:42] The anime, the anime, early, early Z does her very dirty. They make her, I mean, cause honestly I'm watching and I'm like, I don't like you. You're really mean to your son. Like she had that tutor who's like abusive. Yeah, but she at least gets her comeuppance. Like she does actually be a mom at the end of it. Well, I hope so because like right now she's in the dumb bitch category. She's in the dumb bitch category and I don't like Chi Chi.

[00:07:11] I didn't really like her from the beginning of the series either. She just seemed mean to her son. She's a mom. She's a mom living with this insane family. Yeah, but she signed up for it and she just has to deal. No, Alex, she did not sign up for it. She did not know she was, she did not know she was marrying an alien. She married Goku, the crazy fighter man. Yeah, but he wasn't that bad until the alien, until he found out he was an alien and then it all went to hell.

[00:07:39] Well, there's a thing is called divorce. She should look into it. Cause she sucks. I don't like her. She gets better towards the end. Also. I hope so. Cause right now I think she's a bitch. She's worse than super. Yeah, I didn't like her in super either. I just don't like Chi Chi. She just sucks. Her best, her best, her best incarnation is from the end of the original Dragon Ball, the wedding dress arc.

[00:08:06] And then the end of Z like right after Goku. No, I won't spoil towards the end. Towards the end of Z she's, she gets a lot better. And then super regresses her back to her Z personality. And I'm like, great. Yeah. Oh, and I, I finished up where the last episode I finished off. Uh, Frieza was back and I was like, fuck, I thought he was dead, but he's alive and they've rebuilt him. Um, but then trunks appeared.

[00:08:36] I was like, oh, okay. So it's true. I'm assuming trunks is going to kick Frieza's ass. Cause Goku's not there yet. Most likely. Yeah, I believe so. Um, yeah. Goku just like heals every, all of his fucking villains. And like he's, he does, he's still doing this in the super manga. I'm just going to point that out. So, uh, it doesn't surprise. I mean, it's part of his character. He did get dropped on his head. That is actually canonical.

[00:09:04] Like the reason why Goku's the way he is is because he got brain damage as a baby. Yeah. No, they went over it when, uh, like, uh, Raditz was back and he's like, did you fall on your fucking head or something? Yeah. Also miss Dingles jumped off the bed, but now she's on the ground and she's demanding pets. She's demanding them. So another manga ended yesterday. Which one? Komi. Oh, it's crazy. How many of these?

[00:09:33] It was about time. That one really sucks. To be, to, to, to be fair. It did go on too long. Um, there were periods where the fandom was like, this is just being drawn out now. But now that it's over, they're like, no, we have. That's always how it works. Like, oh, oh, not blurry anymore. Not like they could see. But, uh, I feel like that's always how it's working. You don't know what you have until it's gone.

[00:09:57] Well, as Lincoln Park says, the problem is like in, in the Komi manga spoilers for anyone who hasn't read it, but it's pretty fucking obvious. After her and Todd no get together, it's kind of like the, that plots kind of been achieved. So what's left? And then it's just mostly like her getting her friends. Yes. She doesn't deserve any friends. She sucks. Komi's the worst. No. You've never read it. Did you hear that?

[00:10:26] Yeah, everyone heard that. Uh. That was Bill farting. That was Bill shitting himself. Not me squeezing a stress ball. See, that's the best part about not having a video. They'll never know. Except they know you and your perpetually. No, they don't. No, they don't. They don't know me. They don't know me. No one knows me. Hello. Oh, she's just she's gone to the other side.

[00:10:56] She really wants pets right now. Oh my goodness. She's so needy. She's so needy. Uh, yeah. Any other, any collecting? I haven't collected anything because I'm saving money since I will be unemployed. Yeah. Um, not, not really collecting. I have been watching anime though. I started watching ghost stories and, uh, yes. Yes. I said jump. You know, it's funny. They, they kind of followed the plot for like the first two episodes. And then after that, they just said, fuck it.

[00:11:26] And just. It, you think it's a gag dub, but it's not. It's real. It's legitimate dub. I said jump. I said jump. Why is that character so good? Well, in when the rabbit talks, when she's like. Touch me. He whispered such. Touch me. Touch me. No, he wouldn't like. Touch me. Touch me. There's so many amazing quotes in that show. And I can't say any of them on the podcast. Yes, you can.

[00:11:56] Oh, no, you can't. No, you can't. There was a lot in that. My favorite is the little brother. They also just straight up made him special. And I'm like, why? I don't think I don't. I still assume. Have you got to the episode where he's like training for something? I got to the episode where he's doing the school like sports thing and then his ghost buddy's there. Yeah.

[00:12:26] Yeah, we'll do. We're going to do a full episode on ghost stories once I finish it. But holy fuck. My favorite episode is the bunny one with the jump. I said jump. I said jump and touch me. Touch me harder. The laugh of like, oh, like. Also, the whole it's like you wouldn't hurt me. You're my friend. You bitch. Yep. I'm going to try and mute myself when I'm coughing for the most part. But sometimes I can't.

[00:12:56] I can't hold it. Cough break. It's fine. I've already done so many episodes. Oh, yeah. Alex, you know what? I so we were doing 3D last night and I discovered something for the episode that I thought was great. What? I found this. Is that a CD case? It's the binder from the old Hot Wheels PC. Oh, and it still has all the edutainment games in it. Oh, my God. Wait, we got to see them.

[00:13:25] Well, they can't see them. I got to see them. It's Arthur's teacher trouble, Alex. Oh, can you play any of these or no? No, I need to get a like old PC. You got some jumpstart spelling. The Zambu, the Zubinis. Zubinis! We talked about that. Shit ton of Hot Wheels games, racing games, math, Oregon Trail 3rd edition. Nice. I didn't know we had that. I had it.

[00:13:54] I didn't know how to play it back in the day. I had no idea. Also, I got a free trial of Mavis Beacon, Teaches Typing 10. Oh, nice. That's good stuff. Just some national degree. They threw so much shit in here that was like useless. But the main reason is because Myst was in here because I did play Myst as a child. Because we covered Myst last night on 3DO. Speaking of old PC games, I saw the article you sent me regarding The Sims in Sims 2.

[00:14:24] Holy fuck. Supposedly it's true. Is it going on like Steam? Supposedly it's Friday. That's the rumor. I joked with Thrak last night. I was like, if that happens, we're not going to see Alex for a month. No, Sims 2 was my favorite of The Sims. It's Sims.

[00:14:44] So for people who don't know, supposedly coming out is a, they're re-releasing Sims 1 and 2 on PC again. The complete with all the DLC, like expansions included. They're going to make so much money from all the people who love Sims 2. Sims 1 and 2. Because Sims 1 has a lot of nostalgia too. Yeah. If they sold them for 20 each, that's a fair price.

[00:15:12] And they will probably make, they will sell so many copies. Honestly, even if it's more expensive, they'll probably still sell a shit ton. Because people have been begging for that. Like, I will find a way to buy that. And that's what I will be doing. Oh my god. I also got this Thomas the Tank Engine game. Nice. But yeah, I found this because I was looking for it just because- Do you have any living books? Do you have any living books games? The Arthur Teach a Trouble one. Oh, okay. That one was one. Okay.

[00:15:42] Wasn't sure there was any other one. One reader rabbit game. My god. Oh, did you hear that? What was that? Did you pop another stress ball? No, no, no, I didn't. It just made a fart noise. I don't know how I did it. But I somehow did it. But- Oh, did you hear that? You're going to break another stress ball. Alex, stop farting. No, it's a stress ball. Sure it is.

[00:16:12] Wait, what are you drinking, Bill? Uh, same thing I drink every episode in one of those sparkling ice things. Give us some facts. And play the music. Oh yeah, we have music for this segment now. Yes. Yeah! Um... It's fruit punch flavored. What else? It's got a QR code.

[00:16:41] Bubbles with benefits. Ooh! What the fuck does that mean? What are the benefits? Full flavored fun with so much extra. It's a thing. What are the calories? 15. Because it's basically water. 15. What is the sugar? You're not getting any more out of me. You're lucky you got that. Me!

[00:17:10] Alright, we're slowly getting... What would you rate your beverage? On a scale of... 10 Psyducks... What would you rate it? Out of 10 Psyducks. 3 Wobbifeds. Alright, so you don't really like it. No, I just felt like saying that. Oh. Well... That doesn't make any sense.

[00:17:41] Does anything? What are you drinking, Alex? I am drinking... From my water bottle! So... I don't have any nutritional facts. But I do have a sticker that says... You tried. Which... A bunch of the people from the floor... Gave me that sticker and they said... You really did try. And we appreciate it. And I said... That's really nice. So I got a sticker. Um...

[00:18:10] But... Don't worry. I know how much everyone loves my facts. So I just looked up some facts about regular old water. So... There is the same amount of water on Earth... As there was when Earth was formed. The water from your faucet could contain molecules... That dinosaurs drank. That... That's a cool fact. Uh... What else? 75% of human...

[00:18:39] Of the human brain... Is water. And 75% of a living tree... Is water. Our brains equal trees. Our brains are in soup. That's why when you fucking smash your head... You get a concussion... Because the soup just goes... Oh... Alright, one more. The average total home water use... For each person in the US... Is about 50 gallons... A day. Yep. And when water...

[00:19:07] Water expands by 9% when it freezes... Frozen water ice... You said one more. Which is why... Ice floats in water. Alright, one more. No, no. A person can live about a month without food... But only about a week without water. Yeah, well you go a day without water... And you feel like shit, so... Water regulates earth's temperature... It also regulates... We're over now. You say one more and you get muted. ...wearing nutrients...

[00:19:36] Oxygen to cells... Cushion joints... Protect organs and tissues... You're wasting your material. Waste. What? What do you mean? Well, no. I'll just come up with something else. But those are my water facts... Since I'm drinking just... Regular water... From a water bottle... That was from a... A fountain. Lovely. But you tried water. Yeah. But yeah, so we're...

[00:20:05] We have a topic for today's episode. No, we don't. Yes, we do. We're returning... That was it, guys. 20 minutes. Let's go! So we're returning... To the first of the year... Anime swap. It's back. Because we didn't do enough last season... And we want to keep this series going. Yes. Well, I watched a ton of anime... And Bill didn't watch enough. I watched 49 shows last year. I watched 115. Yeah, but you tried. You were being... You were full try-hard mode.

[00:20:34] Yeah, I'm not gonna be in full try-hard mode this year. Especially because Dragon Ball is taking a lot out of me. Well, you have to get it off the list so you can finally say you've done it. Honestly, all Dragon Ball is making me just want to watch Super. I won't lie. Nothing has convinced me that Dragon Ball is better... Dragon Ball Z is better than Super. There's nothing. Super is better. Maybe the cell arc will change, but... I prefer Dragon Ball Super.

[00:21:02] Most people agree that OG Dragon Ball is better than Z, so that's not really that controversial statement. Oh, okay. Well, it's kind of boring. It's junk food the anime. It just takes so long to do anything. Well, yeah, I know. That's part of... Alex, you watch One Piece. No, that does not take that long to do everything. That is a perfect show. There's nothing wrong with One Piece. One Piece is perfection.

[00:21:31] You take that out of your mouth. Anyways... And you shove it up. Anyways, so... You can convert or shurbet. No one cares. So... For this... For this anime swap... Excuse me. We're doing... This one was kind of impromptu.

[00:21:59] Mostly because I was really sick. And I had nothing... Oh, you've unmuted me. I was just paying attention to Pooh until you would unmute me. She's really needy. Oh my god. Eh, it happens, but... Yeah, so I was... Basically... Touched the hole. Good. So we... The two shows we're covering for this one... Are both shows that Alex picked. So this is the most impromptu I think we've ever done. One of these.

[00:22:28] And that's just because when I was sick with the plague... I had a lot of time on my hands and I watched both of them in a weekend. So... For this episode, we are covering two relatively new shows. Like they're only about a year or so old. Yeah. We're doing Freeran, Journey to the End. Yep. And the Apocathary Diaries. Two... You know what I found very interesting? Two 24, 28 episodes.

[00:22:59] Not like the typical 12ers that we've been getting lately. Mm-hmm. Which is kind of refreshing because you actually get time to actually tell a story and you don't get... You know, they don't just give you this tiny slice and then you have to wait a year for another slice. Yeah. Which we're doing now with a whole bunch of different shows currently. But yeah, it was an impromptu watch session because Alex had watched both of these last year and was like, you need to watch these. You need to watch these. You need to watch these, as she said.

[00:23:27] Well, yeah, because I have made good choices. Well, I planned on watching both of them. I just couldn't squeeze them in at the end of the year last year because they were both 20... In the 20 episoders and that would have taken a lot of effort. Yes. But... As we've done in the past, Anime Swap is not a comparison show. It is simply we both pick a show or in this case, Alex picks two and I just claim one.

[00:23:54] Where we pick two shows and then we just discuss them and then kind of give our thoughts on each at the end. The whole versus thing, it's not actually a competition. There's no comparison. We could literally do any two shows that have nothing... Unless it's One Piece and then it would be versus because One Piece is always superior. The thing about One Piece is that... Well, A, we technically did One Piece in the first Anime Swap, but that was before we had established a formula for this. That was technically three anime films too. Well, yeah, that's before we established two separate...

[00:24:23] Well, it's technically like six anime films, right? Four. We watched two Dragon Balls and two... We watched two One Pieces and two Inuyashas. That being said, those two shows are... We've kind of established any anime that's over 100 episodes. We'll probably just get... Black Clover and Yu Yu Hakusho were the only one where we're probably gonna do that. Unless it's like a... We commit to it and then like do it at the end of the year or something.

[00:24:49] Well, we've changed our mind on that now where if it's 100 episode plus-er, we'll probably just do a retrospective of it. Yeah. Like we will eventually do for Dragon Ball. For Dragon Ball, for a certain other show I'm going to be watching soon. Oh, Attack on what now? Yeah. You have to start watching it because I started my end. I said after Ghost Stories and I have like eight more episodes of Ghost Stories to go.

[00:25:19] So it's gonna happen. Then we can plan that too, which I can't wait. Yeah, it's gonna happen in February. I'll start watching... I said jump. I'll start watching AOT finally and... Maybe I'll troll Slade some more and I'll just like watch like one episode a day for like... For a couple days just to mess with them. Or just subtly drop it and then bring it back. Or you should like set it to like 50 and then just start decreasing it instead. Just go reverse.

[00:25:49] It doesn't pop up like that on any list so it wouldn't work that way. Boo! But yeah, so anime swaps for going forward are gonna be mostly shorter series and they're gonna be... Whatever we come up with. And this one was very impromptu because I watched both so... Yes. We decided I'm gonna take Free Rin because Alex really likes the Apocatary Diaries. Well, I really like both of them but I don't know.

[00:26:18] You were hyping Apocatary Diaries way more than you were hyping... Well, did it live up to the hype? They both did. Good. For different reasons. So I guess we'll start with Free Rin. Free Rin is an interesting one because it kind of came out of nowhere. Yeah. And it took over the fucking internet. Yeah, like... I feel like a good way of measuring it is when like...

[00:26:42] It gets close to like Full Metal Alchemist and like all the FMA fans like start freaking out. Yeah. And start spamming a show. That's when you know it's really good. Yeah, when the Full Metal Alchemist Brotherhood fans start having a fucking cry panic attack on Mal, that's when you know a show is pretty good. Yes. No offense to any fans of Full Metal Alchemist Brotherhood, I'm just saying the people on Mal are fucking psychotic. That's part of the reason I don't really use that site anymore. What?

[00:27:11] But yeah, so Free Rin is interesting. The manga by... Written by Kein Hito Yamada and drawn by... I'm gonna screw this up. To Kaza Ab. Started in 2020 and currently has 13 volumes. It's ongoing. And then it got an anime adaption last year and 20... Actually two years ago. Well, about a year ago. Let's be real. 2025 just started.

[00:27:41] Yeah. It started late 2023. Got 28 episodes and it already has a second season confirmed. Yeah, the show legit took over the internet like to the point where like non anime fans were posting memes of it. Yes. It was turning non anime fans into anime fans. And it's very interesting because the show itself is very chill. Yes.

[00:28:08] Like it's not a super flashy over the top anime. It's very... It's very down to earth. Like I really love the idea of... It's a story that takes... It's literally a story that takes place after the main story has already happened basically. Yeah. Um, cause the show really starts with... Well, I think... I think you gotta just kinda talk about the main character Free Rin for a bit.

[00:28:31] Because her character really centers around what the story is and why it starts like it does. Like the journey... I mean, in the title it's Free Rin's Beyond Journey's End. Um, so technically like in the beginning her journey ended. Uh, but she is a elf. And elves live almost forever. In this mythology they live pretty much forever.

[00:28:57] And because of that, Free Rin has a very weird sense of time. Yeah. Like there's many times in the show where she will make a comment like, Okay, let's spend three weeks here. And they're like, no. And she's like, Oh, is that too long? Cause she doesn't think it's that long. Yeah. Cause her sense of time is like three weeks is like a day to her basically. Yeah. Um... Not even. I mean... And elves are a very interesting race in a, um...

[00:29:27] This universe where like they don't really have a... Like their emotions are very limited. Like they... They don't even really like... They're kind of like an endangered species cause they don't really procreate that often. Because they just don't really have sense of... A sense of affection. Yeah. Well I think a lot of that stems from the same thing of like the lack of time. It almost leads them to...

[00:29:51] It's almost like a safety mechanism to not, you know, make these connections because you might lose them. Which is... Kind of leads into a lot of like, Freeran's character. Because... Right at the start of the series we see the end of... Yeah. She was a part of this, uh, hero's party led by the, uh, character named Himmel. Yeah. Who's literally known as Himmel the Hero. Cause he's the hero of this world. Yeah. Um... And she's...

[00:30:20] She's basically the main mage of their party. And they literally defeat the... Isn't it like the Demon King or something? Or... Uh... I believe it's the Demon King. Uh... They... The Demon Lord. The Demon Lord. No, the Demon King is from Kunisoba. Yes. This is the Demon Lord. No. They defeat the Demon Lord and it's Himmel the Hero, uh, Heiter the Priest, and then, uh, Isin? Or Isin? Isin, I believe. Uh, the Dwarf Warrior.

[00:30:48] And what's very interesting is because of where it ends, we don't really see at that point any of their adventures, but it's implied they've had a lot of adventures. Yes. And Freeran kind of goes off on her own to learn magic and explore the world. And she comes back to this village like 50 years later, I believe it is. Well, I believe, like, yeah. They... She keeps a promise with them to meet up in 50 years. Uh...

[00:31:14] And there's a very crazy, like, one of the most impactful scenes that really highlights Freeran's lack of a sense of time is when she returns to the village, she hears... She gets called out by Himmel, um, who runs into her. And she turns around and he's a very old man now. Yeah. And she is shocked because she didn't think that much time had passed. Yeah.

[00:31:38] Well, Himmel and Hyder were both, um, were both in their much... Were both elderly at that point. And even, uh, Eason was middle-aged at that point. Because though the dwarfs live longer than people, they still, um, age, um, faster than a Freeran does. Hmm. And it's kind of interesting because, like, they end up going on one last journey.

[00:32:05] And what I found very interesting was, despite being, like, 70 years old or, like, 80 years old, Himmel's still pretty spry for an old man. Like, he's very much into the thing. But eventually it cuts again to another... There's another time skip and it's Himmel's funeral. Yeah. Because he had succumbed of old age. And his death kind of changes Freeran a bit. And she kind of starts actually wanting to make connections with people. Well, and I think one of the things that...

[00:32:35] Like, that was the scene that kind of hooked me onto the show. Was when Freeran starts crying over Himmel. Like, that was probably one of the most impactful scenes. Because I think it finally, like, hit her that, like, though my life is so long, life is so short. And I didn't fully make those connections that I wish I had. Like, they were her friends, but she never... She never fully let her guard down. Like, and she never really connected.

[00:33:05] Because we'll learn as the series goes on that there'll be occasional flashbacks to events, like, from the past. And we'll learn a lot of things about Freeran and Himmel in particular that he starts to learn. Well, yeah. Because a lot of it is based around, like, Freeran is technically, like, a historical figure. Like, she's technically, like... She was part of the hero's party that defeated the demon lord. So for many areas, like, there's statues of them, there's pictures of them.

[00:33:34] Like, they're everywhere. What's really funny, though, is... And then the time she sees those, remembers those connections. What's really funny, though, is, like, everybody remembers Himmel. But, like, no one ever seems to remember Freeran was in that party. Yeah. It was like, oh, yeah, the party. They had this really powerful mage. And, like, Freeran's, like, right there. And she's like, oh, yeah. Yeah. But it's... I feel like, for most of them, they're... It's probably the same of, like, they don't think that she's probably alive at that point. Like, they probably didn't realize she was an elf. You know what's really funny, though, about it?

[00:34:05] Like, when you first watch... Like, so when you go into the series, if you've only seen the memes, you think that Freeran is, like, this over-the-top goofball character. Which... I mean, she was so... Not. She's... She is a goofball. Yes. But in different... Not in the way the memes make it think. Because, like, when you first hear her talk, her voice is a lot deeper than you'd expect. And she's very... Got a lot of wisdom to her. Yeah. Well, she's very flat. Like, she's not very expressive.

[00:34:33] She's very straight to the point when she talks. She is very flat. Oh, alright, alright, alright. They make the joke, goddammit, multiple times. I know, I'm kidding. Yeah. But I think, like, right after... Well, after the death, I think part of it, like, she ended up going back and visiting Hyder. I think about, like... It was, like, a couple years later. But she ends up going to visit him. And when she...

[00:35:02] When she does, that's where she meets Fern. Best character in the damn show. Yes, we love Fern. Um... So I will say, um... Free Wren's English voice actor is, uh... Mallory Rodick. I don't think I know her from anything else, but she does a phenomenal job with the character. I think she's done a couple other things that I've seen. I couldn't name them off the top, but... I recognized her voice when she talks.

[00:35:29] She's a newer voice actress, though, I believe. Yeah. Um... But yeah, we get this whole segment, though, because... Basically, we end up seeing... When we first meet Fern, she's only a little girl. Yeah. And then we end up getting... But she's very talented. She is. And there's a whole thing about... She's trying to hit this target across the thing, but she can never reach it. And basically, we get a whole training montage. But the way it's portrayed is that not a...

[00:35:57] It's portrayed through Freer in Zyze, where you don't think a lot of time passes. But then you suddenly start noticing Heider's getting older and older, and Fern's getting progressively taller and older at the same time, until you realize, oh, a lot of time's actually passed. Yeah. And eventually, Heider succumbs to his older age, and... Does he pass away, or does he... Um... I think... It was kind of vague about it. I think... So, Heider does pass away.

[00:36:27] Okay. It was very vague how they... It was like... So, Fern... So, Freer in had, um... Basically assigned, um, Fern a spell that she needed to master. And if she mastered, I think it was... She said she would take her with her to learn more. Um... But she had to master the basics. Because one thing that is, um... That Freer in stresses is that you don't need to learn all these fancy spells.

[00:36:53] You need to learn the basics of magic, and then you can do everything. Um... Because that's something that ends up popping up a lot in a lot. And Fern struggles with that, because she wants to learn the creative stuff. But... Freer in, as you'll learn, is such a free spirit. Like, she doesn't care about powerful spells. She more cares about, like, unique ones, and like, silly ones. Like, I think one of the ones that comes up is, um... A spell that can actually create, like, just a lot of flowers.

[00:37:22] Like, create a field of flowers. And... I think at one point someone says, like, why would you want a silly spell like that? But for her, that spell was important because it could make the flowers that Himmel loved. Yep. And like, that just shows, like, the kind of person Freer in is. Like, she's not really about being strong, even though she is incredibly strong. She's more about doing things that kind of speak to her. And she really follows her own path.

[00:37:51] And I think Fern is originally very frustrated with Freer in. Well... But once she really starts to understand her, um... She then kind of wants to follow that same path. It's understandable, though, because Freer is kind of a complicated character. No, she's a very complicated character. Well, because she's... The biggest thing is, like, that no one around her could truly understand her.

[00:38:18] Because no one will be able to live as long as she has. And no one will probably experience death the way she has. You know, where she's made these connections and then has to say goodbye to them. And she still lives on. And that's kind of a major thing with, like, her character arc through the show. Is she's gaining these connections with Fern and then some of the later party members that join. And it's very sad when you realize eventually they're gonna die and she'll still be around.

[00:38:46] Well, and that was also one of the things, like, himma was really pushing Freer in to help tutor her. And Freer didn't want to at first. And a lot of it was leaning down to the fact that she didn't want to make more connections just to lose them. Which is completely understandable. Yeah.

[00:39:29] Mm-hmm. And then we, once she starts traveling with Fern, we realize she's a horrible sleeper. Yeah. Like, she can't stay on her bed for more than three seconds. Yeah. Um, she's impossible to get up in the morning, which I relate to because, like, relate. Um, and she's, she's kind of frustrating. Like, one of her running gags is she'll run into chests all the time. Yeah.

[00:39:55] And she'll scan, she'll, like, check the chest with, like, magic to see if they have, if they're actually a fake, like, a mimic. Yep. And almost every time it's like 90% chance this is fake. But she's like, but that 10% chance. That 10% might be. It could be something great. And then the running gag is she's always trapped in mimics. Like, you will see her hanging out of a mimic multiple times throughout the series. Yep. Um, which is hilarious to the point that they actually made a figure of it, which I kind of want. Yeah. Um.

[00:40:25] And then one of the other things, too, that they keep running into is, you know, they keep struggling with Free Wren's lack of understanding of time. Yes. Because that's, it frustrates Fern. Because Fern, like, I want to keep going, I want to keep going. And Free Wren's like, nah, like, six months is fine. Like that. That's like barely any time. But for Fern, that's half a year. Yeah. And what's cool is eventually Free Wren runs into, um, what was the name of her? The, the, the dwarf.

[00:40:55] Isen there, was it? Yes. Eventually. That's not for a while though. Well, we don't have to go deep into every detail. Yeah. Well, she does. Um. Well, one of the things I wanted to bring up though, before that, um, cause she runs into them before is, um, Free Wren ends up running, like facing like an old enemy that she faced once before while she was traveling with the party. They sealed the enemy. Um, and she basically. Oh, right. Yeah.

[00:41:24] The steel had broken. Um, and part of it was like, that's where Fern really learned that like, you don't need all these crazy spells. Just following the basics will get you to get you your results and probably get it faster. Um, so that scene like where, um, K'Wall they're fighting K'Wall. Um, and he had spent years making this one attack that was designed to kill humans. Yeah.

[00:41:50] And what's funny is by the, when he wakes up, he finds out that that spell has been mastered by humans and now is nothing more than a trivial little thing to the point where they actually use the spell against him to kill them for once and for all. But that's also like the first time, like, cause your assumption is that free run is very strong, but this is one of the first times where like free run just easily kills K'Wall. Yeah. And that's also where Fern gains a lot more respect for free run.

[00:42:19] Cause at this point, like she's mostly going with freely one cause she wants to travel, but two also because, um, uh, Hider is dead. Yeah. So she kind of doesn't have a place to go. Um, but this is where she really starts to like gain a lot more respect for free run and gain more understanding of her. Yeah. Cause like one of the main things that they always bring up throughout the thing is like, it's like, it's always implied free run is strong, but the more you go through

[00:42:47] the series, the more you realize she's like the strongest person on the fucking planet. Like she is extremely powerful. She's incredible. Like to the point where we'll get to it later, but there is an encounter where it, that it showcases her strength and it's actually kind of scary. Yeah. Um, but yeah, they, they kind of, the whole, the gist of the plot is they kind of just journey from place to place and cause free, free run's ultimate goal is she's trying to find heaven. Um, yeah.

[00:43:17] Um, and along the way to like, she'll do like silly tasks in order to get grimoires that like most people wouldn't find valuable, but she will. Um, cause a lot of the times they'll do like things in exchange for things. Cause I think the next arc, like they're cleaning the beach and when she finally do, and she gets the grimoire, they find out it's a fake, but she was okay with that. Like she did it because she wanted to help. It was a good way to train Fern as well.

[00:43:47] Yeah. Um, eventually though we do get another party member. We get, um, Stark, I think his name, right? Yes. Stark's great. Stark, poor Stark. Well, I, I love him because he is now another form of frustration for Fern. Yes. Like legit everything in this show frustrates Fern. And I love it because she is so adorable. Yeah. Fern is a very cute character. Like, um, they did really well.

[00:44:16] I mean, with her design, with her and like her just actions and stuff or pout, like she's a very cute character. Like you know what? You can immediately love Fern. You know what her perfect cat, like characterization is? She is like the perfect poster child of just silent rage. Yes. She is always raging. She's how I feel sometimes. Like anytime, like half the time Stark doesn't even do anything like really that bad. And she just blames Stark. Stark. She's just punching him repeatedly with that pout. And I'm just like, I love this character.

[00:44:47] Yeah. He is adorable. Um, but yeah, eventually they recruit Stark and Stark's, he's like their typical sword. He's essentially their Himmel of this group, the hero. Yeah. But he's also a little cowardly. Like when they first meet him, he was like a little scared, like a scared to kind of do anything. But, um, by traveling with them, it kind of pushes him to kind of go beyond plus ultra. Just kidding. Like, my heroine. Yeah. Yeah.

[00:45:15] Um, but eventually we find out he was actually a student of Eisen and they had kind of a bad falling out. Um, because reasons it's, I'm sure it'll get more explained later in the series, but like one of his like things is like, he's always trying to make up the fact that like, he kind of failed as a student and they kind of, we're kind of jumping around, but they go, like, eventually from village to village and eventually they do get a fourth party member.

[00:45:46] Um, in the funniest way possible because Stark gets bit by a venomous snake. Um, right after this, this priest warns them, be careful of the snakes. They're deadly. And then Stark immediately gets bit and they go to the, uh, the, the, the local church and the, uh, the priest there's like, he's going to die. Like his brain's going to melt. And they're all like, he's like, and then the, the priest that they had met who had warned them literally walks in. He's like, he's like, what did I just tell you?

[00:46:14] And he like, he'll start within like three seconds. He's like, all right, don't do it again. And then wanders off. Yeah. And we find out that this guy is his entire deal is that he essentially was supposed to good. Join his friend on this journey, but he didn't because he was afraid to leave his brother. Yeah. Um, and we find understandable why it makes sense. Yes. But we later find out that like his brother, and we know you're farting over there.

[00:46:43] Um, it's the stress ball. We, we find when you break that one, I'm going to laugh so hard. Um, I will not break the peep, but yeah, we find out that, um, he gave up on this journey and he's just kind of reluctantly staying cause they keep trying to get him to join their party. And one of my favorite things is, um, there's a point where he's like, okay, I'll join the party. If you have a sexy older lady with you. And they are like, here I am. Yeah. Free ridd does this thing.

[00:47:11] It's like, it's like her like sexy magic. And he's just like, he's like, I said old, like hot old lady, not that basically. Um, and what's hilarious is then they cut the star conferred and they're both infatuated. They're like, that's dangerous. That's dangerous. Miss free. Cause they get, they love free. Well, the joke is that the, the joke is that he's only into like older women kind of thing. And that he, because free run is kind of, uh, eternally youthful. She doesn't come off as an older woman.

[00:47:41] Yes. Despite being like thousands of years old. Um, I just love how, like how lame her attempt at being sexy is where she's like, hello. And it's like, so free run. She is. Yeah. It's pretty funny. Like one of the things though, that you like, you did skip over that happened before this is when they do fight the demons. Right. Right. Yeah. Cause that's a big arc too, because like, that's where she literally just annihilates someone.

[00:48:10] Oh, she, oh, like, especially with the famous lot, like with the not famous, but well. Yeah. So there, I had mentioned it earlier there. One of the main, there's a whole bunch of these recurring demons. Cause in this world, demons are very interesting in this world because they're, they have this kind of thing where they are, they're like sentient, like in almost human, like, but their whole thing is like, they're, they're just constantly evil. And they like, anytime humanity tries, cause there's a great scene where there's a young

[00:48:39] demon boy and this village like decides to, they're going to kill him. And this village decides to like, give him a second chance. Yeah. Um, and predictably the kid acts nice at the start and then immediately kills the, uh, the person that brought him in. Yeah. Well, and like, this is one of the scenes too, where like Freeran is telling them like, no, you can't, no matter what, you can't trust them. And it was because, and that was kind of a flashback for her.

[00:49:07] Um, and like the others are just like, what do you mean? Like you have to like, Cause there's that, there's that great scene where after like the demon boy betrays them. Um, she's like about to kill him. And she looks at him and goes, you're not going to stop me again. And he just doesn't say anything. Yeah. Cause he's basically like, I get it now. Um, yeah, that's because. Go through that same struggle during like her current life with Furn. Hmm. Because there's once again, they find this, like.

[00:49:35] It was these demons were taking basically taking over the town, but they were putting on a charade that they were kind of being like diplomatic about it, but you're really, they were going to betray them the whole time. Um, yeah. I think at one point they like kidnap Furn or Freen? No, Freen gets imprisoned because they know who she is. Yeah. And there's an amazing scene where one of the demons goes rogue. Cause he thinks he can take Freen out on his own. And gets fucking destroyed. Yes. Freen kills him in like three seconds.

[00:50:05] Yes. And there's like a great scene where like she walks out of the jail cell after she kills the demon and sees the guard that the demon killed. She's like, well, this is just unfortunate. Cause now she's like, how am I going to explain this? Yeah. She's like, fuck, I look bad. Um, but eventually they do defeat the demons there because they actually like Furn ends up, uh, injuring one of them by taking them by surprise. Cause they didn't realize how powerful she was. Yeah.

[00:50:30] Um, but eventually they find their leader who is this very older demon that, um, Freen knew personally from back in the day. Yeah. And the way she gets defeated is one of the most insane moments in the show. Cause or, so it was like, or the guillotine was who it was. Yes. And she has a magical artifact called the scales of obedience. And basically like she could basically control whoever it was.

[00:50:59] And that's kind of how she was gaining power. Yep. And she tried to do it to free range. That's the thing. The scales. If, if her soul is more powerful than the other person's. Yes. She gains control, but the scales have one drawback. And is that is if the other person's soul is more powerful, they take control of you. Yes. And she does this, the free run and because free run kind of hides how powerful she is. Yeah. That, and that's like a big scene too, is like, she's actually hiding her soul.

[00:51:29] And then she just lets, she's like, all right. She lets it out. And then the other one goes, holy shit. Who did I mess with? Cause free run basically hides. I mean, we've said it multiple times, but she hides who like her ability. Yeah. She kind of like, she represses her man. She represses her magical ability. Which later gets discovered. That's actually one of her only weaknesses is that there's like a brief period when she does a spell where her mana gets like exposed. Yep.

[00:51:59] Um, but because she hides that the, she ends up taking over, uh, Aurora and the demon is so terrified because she doesn't know what to do. And one of the most savage moments in this entire show is free free run gives her this like reason you suck speech. And then literally walks away and her, all she says is by the way, kill yourself. And just like basically forces Aurora to kill herself. And it is, it is a savage and dark scene.

[00:52:27] And it's like, it's one of the reason, moments to where you realize free run does not give a fuck when it comes to demons. Like she does not care for these people at all. Cause she knows like in this show, like there's no romance. Like Yasha, these demons are unredeemable. Like it's a different universe. I know I'm just, which is hilarious. Cause watching solo loving elves are evil as fucking solo leveling.

[00:52:50] So most of the, well, anyone who's not human is evil, but you'll, you'll, you'll see why it's just, it's a fun. It's just a funny dynamic regardless. But I'm going back now, like eventually they, when they're recruiting their fourth party member, he ends up eventually joining them after his brother basically tells him, no, I don't want you to waste your life here. Go out and adventure. Yeah. Well, part of it too, though, was like, I don't know.

[00:53:17] I don't remember if you mentioned it, but part of the reason why he also stayed was cause it was kind of in hopes that his friend would almost come back. Cause he had a friend growing up that wanted to basically go and travel. Um, and like, he was going to go join him, but he left cause of his brother. So part of him also stays behind in hopes that he comes back. But then I think eventually what pushes him is like, his brother's like, I'll be fine. But also like, you need to go find your friend.

[00:53:46] And I don't, it's not shown in the show if he found his friend, but maybe we'll learn later on. Yeah. It's, it's so we'll get to why, but eventually they go off to the, they end up going to this village, which is just a, an older village that free word knows. Um, this dwarf that, uh, guards it. And he's been there for pretty much ever. He's like, he's so old to the point where he should have been dead, but he like kind of just lives because he's too stubborn to die.

[00:54:15] And he's so old to the point where like, he doesn't, it's, it's shown that he had a wife who passed away. Yeah. And he's so, he, he is so old that he doesn't remember what she looked like, but he still remembers her. Um, that, and I think that was also one, like this show like put you through an emotional rollercoaster. Yeah.

[00:54:35] It was honestly just the thought of like someone growing that old, like, and I think also that scene hurt free rent because she was like, that could be me. Well, because they also imply, cause there's a point too, where like, um, Stark gives Fern this, like, uh, it's like a necklace that has like a symbol on it. And that symbol is like, oh yeah. And in most cultures, this is like a marriage. Well, it was her birthday. Right. Yeah. Cause she, oh yeah.

[00:55:03] Cause she was all mad that no one got her a birthday present. She was all pouty about it. So he was going around to find her one the whole time. Yeah. But, um, Stark ends up getting her this bracelet because that she liked and it finds out that it was actually in, it basically meant it was a marriage proposal kind of thing, but which is both played mostly for laughs at Stark's expense. But there's actually a subtle thing there. Cause we find out. Free reign has a ring with that same symbol on it. Yeah. That him all had given her.

[00:55:32] And it's, it's kind of implied that he kind of proposed to her, but she was too oblivious to notice. She just didn't get it. Yeah. And it's one of those things where once she kind of realizes that she, it, it kind of, it bothers her a little bit cause she didn't know. Well, I think too, I think in hindsight, she did kind of know the hidden meaning because he did put it like, there is like a, I believe he basically, he basically, he basically proposes to her. Yeah.

[00:56:01] Um, which is a sweet scene, but it's also kind of tragic at the same time. No. Yeah. It's really like, there's this underlying love story between free reign and Himmel. And it's just like, it's tragic because like, you'll know it can never, like, you're just looking at these flashbacks. Cause the whole time you're like, Himmel, Himmel's dead. Like long dead. No. Yeah. And he's not coming back. Like every episode starts with a timeframe and it says so-and-so years after Himmel, the hero died.

[00:56:30] And it's like, it's like, damn, which is interesting too. Cause then she, she kind of lives vicariously through Fern and Stark who it's very obvious that they like each other, but it's one of those, like, it's one of those things where like to the point where the, where the, the, the priest is like, why won't these two kids just fucking kiss? Yes. He's the narrator. He's the narrator. He becomes the narrator from Kaguya. So yeah, he just gets so frustrated by it because they're just being, they're being teenagers essentially.

[00:56:58] Um, but there's also a point where they discovered this like statue that they have to clean for this village cause they're helping this old lady out. And, uh, they noticed that one of the statues of these two characters, one of them being this elf that they encounter in a cabin randomly earlier in the series. Yeah. And I love that scene though, when they go into the cabin and he's just working out to stay warm. And Fern's like, Fern shuts her. She's like, we can't go in there. There's a pervert in there. And he's like, no, I'm just trying to stay warm. It's cold. It's cold out.

[00:57:28] And the whole time Fern's like, right. Yeah. Well, she's also forgetting that elves are elves. Yeah. They don't. Yeah. They're, they're an interesting species in this universe.

[00:57:40] Um, eventually though, we kind of there eventually because of, um, where their paths converge the pre the priest guy, I forget his name, but he, um, goes off on his own cause he finds out where his friend went and it's in the complete opposite direction from where the party's going. Yes. And because of that, basically they go their separate ways.

[00:58:09] And it's really funny because it's like, wow, we got this cool party member and he's already gone. Yeah. Uh, but it's, it's subtly implied. He'll be back. Yeah. No, I definitely think he'll be back. Um, don't expect him in this season though. No. Oh yeah. And then like the rest. So the, the next like kind of quest is like, they end up, uh, I believe they end up just running into like a, like, it was like a city with a king and his son had passed away.

[00:58:39] But Stark kind of looked familiar. Like, oh, right. Yeah. Like it. So Stark ends up kind of filling in as the print just to kind of help give closure to like the city because his death was too, the son who died. His death was too tragic. This is a great scene too, because it's implied that the king is from the same place where Stark is from. And it's where Stark, it comes from is like this very ambiguous thing that we don't know in the enemy yet.

[00:59:09] We're probably going to learn in season two and cause I know the, I I've, I've, I've been slightly spoiled, but not enough to know exactly why that we find out about his backstory later in the manga. Yeah. Um, but it's implied that they came from the same air, but like region. Yeah. But it's implied that like Stark did not have a good relationship with his family. Yeah. Um, and the way he's being treated by the king is kind of off-putting to him because it's kind of giving him these weird flashbacks.

[00:59:36] Like there's a, there's a point where the king had another son who he comments isn't as powerful and he's not very talented like his brother was. Hmm. Which Stark immediately gets kind of these PTSD flashbacks. Yeah. But then the king says, but you know what? We're still going to let him train.

[00:59:58] Cause at some point he's going to be the, he'll be the, the, the air and he's going to need, and he will basically, he basically implies that he's like, no matter how much he might not be the same as his brother. We're still gonna, he's still my son and I still care. Yeah. Um, which is something that you can easily imply that Stark didn't get to experience. Well, it's kind of implied that Stark is basically the second child in that same situation. Yeah. But he was basically not treated the same way.

[01:00:26] Like this goes. Yeah. Like that, like, that's the thing is like, even like the really, the smaller arcs, they get deep. Like, and they get, like, they're really powerful and like, they make you like feel a lot of emotions. Well, there's a great scene too. We're like, cause so Stark's going through all this training to be a, uh, basically to act as the prince temporarily. And Freeran's off doing whatever at this point.

[01:00:55] She's kind of off on her doing her own thing. But Fern is learning how to dance. Well, at first Fern is just chilling. And then she find they're like, oh yeah, you, you need to learn how to dance and be, be a lady. And she's like, what? And they're like, well, he needs to have someone to dance with. And I'm assuming you don't want him to dance with anyone else here. And she's like, damn it. But there's a great scene where like, Fern's learning and it's a fucking disaster. Like she fucking face plants at one point. Yeah. For Fern. But it's, it's very her.

[01:01:23] Um, but the thing ends up going very well. And then it ends up all going to plan and then Freeran gets a look. Well, and it's also, it's nice too, because he kind of Stark gets a little bit of closure at the end of it. Because I think it's also applying that part of the reason why he had a falling out with it. Eisen was kind of for, um, or, Eisen, I, um, was kind of for similar reasons.

[01:01:50] And like at the end of it, he's actually says, you know, I want to go back to him and tell him about my adventure. Which is like good that he got kind of what he needed. Um, which is good. Yes. Um, but, um, yeah, it's, it's like one of those things where, um, where, uh, it's a very heartwarming thing.

[01:02:16] And it goes right into the next arc, which is essentially the final arc of the, of the first season. Yes. Where they have to get to this, there's essentially like a mountain thing. Um, and. Well, they're trying to get to heaven. Yeah. And the only way to get to where they think heaven is. Cause I don't know if it's necessarily going to be heaven. Like I, I feel like I'm, I'm not completely sold on if that is actually what's going to happen.

[01:02:43] But in order to get there, you need to have a mage that's at a certain level to get through there. And, uh, Freerent has not ever taken a test. She has. She's got, she's got a thingy that like, everyone's like, what the fuck is that? Well, except for the people who do know about it and they go, what? Like, well, yeah, yeah. There's the people who know what it is, but like every time she brings it up, she's like, well, she's like, well, I'm so. I, I live so long that they change this thing every couple of weeks. So I'm always like, why bother?

[01:03:13] She's like, I got this thing. And everyone's like, what the hell is that? And she's like, I don't know, but it's a thing. Um, so they end up having to take, they need to be a first class mage. That's what they're calling it. Uh, so they end up going and they have to take a test. Uh, well, they have to take multiple tests and they get put into teams and Fern and Freerent don't get put on the same team. And Freerent gets put with, um, two younger mages who she has. Who hate each other. Who hate each other.

[01:03:42] No, they hate, but love each other. And she ends up kind of coaching them the whole time. Yeah, she ends up being their mom basically. It was real cute. Um, and then Fern kind of ends up with a couple. I, she ends up with, I believe the green haired girl. Yeah. The, the, the psychotic green haired girl and the, uh, the guy who just teleports or no, he makes clones. Yes. She ends up with those. Uh, and their first task is to get a, um, Get a bird. Get a bird and survive.

[01:04:11] They call it a style, or a stiller style. Uh, and these birds are like hard to catch because they're very sensitive to like sound and stuff. Yeah. So they can basically hear you coming and when they do fly away, it creates like a sonic boom too. Yeah. And basically we, we kind of jumped through the things where like people keep failing, but eventually they do get them. But then other people are trying to steal them from others. Well, yeah. So that's kind of like what's happening is some of the teams, like they went and actually tried to catch them.

[01:04:40] But some of the other teams are like, I'm just going to wait for them to catch them. And then I'm going to steal them. But the, also part of the task is, is that your whole team, you have to, you have to live. So people fucking die. No. Yeah. Like there's like, I, I think that was like one of the first, I mean, we saw like the demon die and we saw people die of natural causes, but this is the first time you saw just people like fucking killing each other in the show. And it was like, what, well, what's happening?

[01:05:09] And what's funny is there the whole time they're in this like force field, which kind of protects them from the elements. And the whole time they're going like, because the guy proctoring the exam, he he's, he's very full of himself. And he's just kind of sitting there going like, and no one can break my barrier. Like they're all weak. No one can do it. And someone goes, do you know who that random elf is? And eventually they realize it's free or he's like, no, they can't, no one could break my barrier. And then free or just fuck the barrier. Just can.

[01:05:40] And there he's like, they broke my barrier. What do we do? And the person who's like the, the head age, who is another elf that we've learned is like stronger, like the, I believe she's the strongest person on the planet. Yes. Arguably. Cause we don't really know free runs true power. It's, it's very ambiguous, but she's like, but she has this love hate relationship with free run cause free run annoys her. Yeah. Well, cause free run.

[01:06:07] Well, also we have brought her up, but there was another mage that free run was taught under. And I believe free run had a flam flam flam flamel. Something like that. Yes. Um, I'm trying to see if it has the pronunciation thing, but basically she was, she was a great mage, but she was a human. Mm.

[01:06:33] And free run learned from her, but free run also got a lot of her quirks from her, like her. Yes. Like where, where, um, I'm trying to remember her name. What the, the L, uh, Sarah or Siri where Siri wants to be strong. Flamel or flip. I don't know how to say her name. I can't remember her name. Orange girl. Just orange girl.

[01:07:02] She just loves the joy of magic. Yeah. Yeah. It's not really about getting strong. It's more about just enjoying the gift that you have. And that's where free run gets a lot of her like traits is that that's why she goes after grimoires that were, you know, maybe they have like really silly things just in order to get something that, you know, might be a little silly, but it'll make her happy.

[01:07:26] Um, and that's where, um, the elf who doesn't like, um, doesn't like free run gets frustrated because she knows how strong free run is, but free run just kind of like does her own thing. I think a lot of it is, I think she knows free run might be more powerful than her, but free run, the way free run is, she'll never actually use it the same way that she does. I think she knows the truth is that free run probably could is the strongest elf in the world, but she's choosing not to be.

[01:07:56] Yeah, because free run is free runs is very different. That's the best way to explain a very complex character. Um, going back to the, uh, the, the, the challenge, the exam, they end up finishing this task. Um, free run, Fern, um, and basically all the characters that mattered pass. Yes. Because there's a bunch that really didn't matter who die, um, or just fail.

[01:08:22] Um, and then we go to the next exam, but it's funny because in between each exam, there are these little, um, moments where we see what Stark's up to because he's not here. He's, he's getting started doing his own thing, wasting his money. And Fern is very unimpressed. Yes. But, um, they go to the next exam and that is, um, it's like this, like, it's essentially a dungeon that they have to go through. Yes.

[01:08:52] And there are, like, shadow doppelgangers of all the characters. Yes. And the proctor of this exam is one of the most sadistic characters in the series because she acts all innocent and weird, but then you find out she's actually one of the most deadly, like, mages. Um, but that's also, I think, why you kind of really like her because, like, well, she immediately goes with Freerind and Fern. Well, cause she's like, this is going to be fun. Um, which is great.

[01:09:22] Cause Freerind then finds a mimic and gets stuck in said mimic. And she's like, I think I went with the wrong group. But no, she didn't. Um, but yeah, it really is. And so part of the thing too, is that like, in the first test, they did not care if anyone died, but in this one, they care if people die on this one, like a golem. On this one, they care basically, you get one chance. Yeah. If you don't use your one chance and you die. Oh, well.

[01:09:52] That was your decision. But what's funny is like, they all kind of go off in their own different random directions. A lot of them aren't really being team players. Some of them are. And they start encountering these like shadow doppelgangers of each character. And eventually the main group runs into Freerind's doppelganger. And they're just like, fuck, because it's basically like, they're like, well, we can't get past this.

[01:10:15] Cause I think like, um, it was Denkin, uh, Denkin, who was like the short guy with the monocle. The guy who you hate at first and then really like by the end. Yeah. Like, I think he goes, it's like, they sure gave us a final boss, like at the end, like where he's like, this just isn't even fair. Which is funny because the Freerind doppelganger isn't even the one that's scary. It's the, uh, the one of the proctor. Yes. Cause you find out what she's hiding. Yeah.

[01:10:45] How strong she is. I felt really bad that, um, But that, and then it's also, that's why she went into it. Like that's why she also joined them in the, um, in the labyrinth because she knew that they were gonna have to fight her. Oh yeah. What, what's funny too is like, at first you think there's just one of each, but then you find out, no, they respawn. Like they come back. Um, yeah, it's, it's crazy.

[01:11:13] Like I think at one point, like the silver haired girl that was part of the Freerind's team in the first thing she ends up getting having to leave because she gets like stabbed and you feel really bad because you, you ended up liking her by this point. Yeah. Um, also the other guy who was part of, um, that made the, the major with the monocles group. Yep. Um, he gets taken out there. Also, I love the fact that he just basically adopts the girl that was in his party. Yes. He's just like, come here, come here. Give me a granddaughter. Yes.

[01:11:42] I also like how it's implied that he probably should have been an S rank, but he just never really bothered. Yeah. He just was like, I got, he's like, I'm fine. I got money. I'm good. Yeah. It doesn't also apply that the whole, no, the reason, the reason he's was the one who wasn't even taking the test. Like he wasn't even there the whole time. Well, yeah, he was the one that's we'll, we'll get to that. But, um, we find out that, uh, the guy with the, the monocle, what's his name again? Uh, Denkin. Denkin.

[01:12:10] We find out that his, his reasoning for why he's doing this is actually really nice. It's because he has a friend on the other side that he wants to visit like family on the other side. That's the only reason he really is doing it. Um, but it's kind of like similar to, I mean, rearing. Hmm. But eventually they end up completing the task. And one of the big things that happens after that is they realize, um, the, uh, the, the head elf is very mad because she's like too many people survived.

[01:12:39] Like too many people passed. Like, well, yeah, it's not even that they survived. It's more of just that they passed. I don't know. She implied it. The way she sounded like she's like too many people lived. Oh yeah. Oh. She's a sadist. She's so sadistic. But I also get it too. Cause in her, in her mindset, S rank, like the, the first class mages are the best of the best. Hmm. And you need to actually be the best of the best.

[01:13:06] And one of the things that bothered her too, is she believed that free reign carried a bunch of those people through. Which she did. Which she did. So that's why she was upset. Oh, and then. Also, one thing we, we didn't bring up was, uh, it, one of the, in the final attack that won them that challenge Fern's staff gets destroyed. Yes.

[01:13:28] And it's a very emotional scene because it, it, it shows that free reign as much as she's developed still doesn't really understand emotions yet. Yeah. Cause free reigns basically just tells Fern, just get a new one. Who cares? And Fern, Fern, it matters to her cause that she was given that staff by, um, Hyder Hyder. And it means a lot to her. And she's all, she's basically pissed off at free reign and, uh, starts like she takes it out on Stark.

[01:13:57] Cause of course she does. Um, but we find out then like, well, well Fern's basically. Pouting and having a tantrum justifiably cause free reign did kind of hurt her feelings. Yeah. Uh, free reign ends up going to the guy from that group that, uh, got knocked out. Cause he's actually a staff maker and repair. Yep. Conveniently. And she brings him Fern's staff and basically says, can you do it? And he's all like, I'm not wasting my time. And then she's like, all right, fine. I'll find someone else then.

[01:14:27] And he's like, he's like, I didn't say I wouldn't. I just said it's a waste of my time. Um, and he ends up fixing it the whole time. He's like, you know, this is actually a very impressive staff. Yeah. Um, but it's nice. Cause like after she gets it fixed, uh, Fern goes back to her room and sees it on her bed. And free reigns already asleep at this point. I'll fall off her bed because of course she is. Um, and you can tell it, it meant a lot to her. Yeah.

[01:14:54] No, there's sometimes too, where I think free reign almost, it takes her longer to process things. Well, cause we, in her mind, like she kind of follows her usual thought process, but she has to put herself in everyone else's shoes. Well, cause there's a great moment of development for her early on that we didn't talk about where like they're moving, they're helping someone move a cart. And in the process of it, she ends up losing the ring that Himmel gave her. Yeah.

[01:15:21] And she ends up helping these people out and they give her a spell that will allow her to find one item. And they bring up the fact that like, she doesn't have to go find that ring. It really doesn't mean anything, but it matters to her and she wants to find it. So she ends up getting it back. Um, but going into the final real thing that happens in the anime is they go to the final test, which was originally gonna be part of the game. So she's like, I'm going to be proctored by this other guy, but instead the head elf takes over. Cause she's like, no, I'm doing this my way.

[01:15:51] Well, cause basically she knows that some people pass when they shouldn't have. Yeah. And it's great because her, the, basically the test is they go into a room where she's chilling and she just assesses them. And there's a great gag where like the, all the, the no namers who like really didn't matter. She's like, you fit, you fit. Well, and some of it too is just, she judges them based on like, just how they approach. Like one of them, like, um, I believe Kana, which was one of the, um, girls. Yeah.

[01:16:21] The redheaded girl that Freeran was in a party with. She ends up failing her cause she's too weak. Well, she won't make it. And part of what she's doing is to protect them. Cause in her way, like it seems malicious, but two at the same time, she knows that first class mages get sent out for first class message. And, and I'm sorry, but those two, they would die. They would not make it. Oh yeah. Cause they wouldn't have passed the first round without Freeran.

[01:16:50] Well, that's why, well that the other girl didn't make it cause she got stabbed. Um, yeah. Yeah. But, um, eventually she gets to a free room. Only three people pass too. No, like five do. Well, it's only, it's only the ones that have stronger wills because we know that the green haired girl who's a little crazy. She passes. She passes. It was, I believe it was. Uh, Belle. That's the green haired girl.

[01:17:17] Duncan passes because he, because he just flat out tells her like what she wants to hear. And she's like, okay, you pass. Um, I think Werble passes, which is the one who had the fluffy coat. Yes. I believe. Yeah. The guy who was kind of a dick, but then you find out he actually is not a bad guy. Um, there's also that one really tall, awkward lady who like goes in and is just kind of like, uh, you're, you're, you're pretty or something like that. And she goes, you pass. Just cause I don't like it. Yeah. Isn't it like method? Like, yeah.

[01:17:47] Like blonde hair. Yeah. Yeah. The taller one. Who's just kind of awkward. But really like, not a lot of them pass. Nah. Like the, the funniest one is the blonde guy with the clones because she's like, he's like, Hey, you can enter in. And, uh, cause he has a clone and he's in the door. He's like, he's like, he's like, what? You don't trust me? And he's like, I'm just keeping my distance. He then walks in and she's like, no, really? Where are you? And it shows that he's chilling miles away in his house, drinking coffee. He wasn't even there for the entire exam. No. Yeah.

[01:18:15] And you think that, um, she's going to be pissed about it, but instead she goes, you know, I like your moxie. You pass. You pass. He honestly deserved it. Cause that's pretty bad ass to take the exam from home. While drinking coffee and not giving a fuck. Um, and then, um, finally she gets the free run and free run. And free run. She just kind of like, she just kind of gives free run the run around and then goes, you fail. Because I hate you. Like she doesn't even give free run a chance. No. She just basically is like, I don't like you. You fail.

[01:18:44] Well, and one of the things too, is like, she questions how free run was able to defeat the demon king. And like free run responds. Well, I did it with my allies. I did it with my friends. Well, cause this person doesn't understand that humans are getting stronger and evolving. Yes. And he free run's final thing after she fails. Cause free run. The main thing is free run didn't want to pass this thing. She didn't really give a shit. Well, that's why Fern was doing it. You know, she wanted Fern to pass.

[01:19:14] Well, cause when, before she gets, before she even gets there, like she actually like finds out she can't even apply without a license at all. Yeah. And there's a great scene where she's like, you're on your own Fern. She walks away. She's like, but yeah, but she kind of implies, she's like, you know what? The next person. And like, she's like, you're going to see humanity is the future, which implies she's talking about Fern. Yeah. And then Fern comes in and immediately she wants to fail her.

[01:19:42] But then Fern kind of like, he sees what Fern is and Fern is extremely powerful. Yeah. Not free run levels of powerful, but she has this like spark to her that it's like, it's implied she's going to be something. And she actually asked Fern to be her student. And Fern says no, because free run's your teacher. Yeah. And I think that actually is partially what gets her the pass because she's like, I get it. Yeah.

[01:20:10] Well, she couldn't turn away such a promising mage. Yeah. Um. And I think too, like one of the things that for each person who passes, they get to actually take a spell. Like Siri has a ton of extra spells and stuff. And they each get to bring one. Oh, no. Siri just popped up on my iPad. When I said that. Um, they each get to take a spell.

[01:20:38] And I believe the spell that, um, Fern ends up walking away with. It's, it's to do laundry. Yeah. It's like such the simplest thing. And like, I think when that happened, that also told, um, Siri that, yeah, she is, um, she is Fern. She's Fern. She's Fern's student, all right?

[01:21:13] She's Fern's student. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

[01:21:43] Um, but yeah. So, I think I'm going to find him all. Like, see him all again. Yeah. Um, so it is a very nice ending. Yeah. But yeah. So now onto the Apothecary Diary. Well, thoughts. You're going to talk about your thoughts. We do that at the end. Well, I feel like it's going to take a while. Well, yeah, we do it at the end. Okay. Uh, yeah. So the Apothecary Diary. So I think both of these.

[01:22:10] So I was initially intrigued by the show just because. I saw clips of it and it looked pretty interesting. And like, I saw a lot of people, um, said if you like my happy marriage, you might like the show too. It kind of has similar vibe. Not completely. There's no magic in this one, but this one I kind of like, cause it's more science based. Um, it's more science, like because the main character is in the Apothecary.

[01:22:36] Um, so the premise it's sent in, uh, Imperial China. So you'll notice a lot of the characters have more Chinese names versus Japanese names. Um, and it follows the main character, Ma-Ma. She's a young girl who's working at, as an Apothecary in the red light district. Um, and she also sort of works at a process works at a brothel. Well, yeah, that's part of the red light district. Um, and she has ties to that specific brothel.

[01:23:04] Um, and she works with her father, her father. Uh, you find out it's an adoptive father. Uh, but eventually basically the main premise is she happened to run into the wrong people, gets kidnapped and is now being, she was sold to the Imperial palace and she now works there. Right after her, her adopted father said, be careful not to get kidnapped. Yes. And her response is just, ah, shit. Yeah.

[01:23:33] What you'll learn that Ma-Ma is a very interesting, she is not your usual main character. Uh, she's very herself. Like she's very true to herself. She doesn't try and be a beautiful, pretty lady. She's just, she's Ma-Ma. And she's going to follow her own path. Ma-Ma has big, no fucks given energy. Yes. So when she first gets sold to the, um, to the Imperial palace, she ends up just kind of doing laundry, kind of doing a lot of different chores.

[01:24:03] Uh, but eventually what happens is, uh, she soon encounters two of the emperor's concubines fighting. Uh, and what are they fighting about? Well, one of them, um, was pregnant. Well, both of them were pregnant. One of their children had passed, was very sick. uh well actually i think both of them were very sick and i believe that one of them um who at the

[01:24:27] time uh she had i can't remember her name was it uh she had blue haired concubine and then there's red hair or peach peach is that right orange orange hair uh actually let me look it up there is oh see that's the problem is i i'm not i'm gonna butcher all of these names uh and lihu so blue

[01:24:55] hair and pink hair we're gonna say pink hair um we're fighting because both of their babies were sick but she was kind of blaming the other one on it but as mao mao is listening to the alleged symptoms she's kind of as a pocketberry she's kind of figuring out what's happening so she actually ends up leaving a note um because what it is is that the face powder that they're using at the time was a lead-based face powder which was making the babies sick and not only making the baby sick but

[01:25:24] also making the mother sick so she leaves the notes um liha li liha ignores the message well no if you look closely that's one of her uh ladies in waiting sees it and just kind of shoves it away yeah because their ladies in waiting are incompetent yes but uh yoko uh she reads the message and uh

[01:25:50] she heeds the warning and guess what uh liha's son dies and uh yoko's daughter lives and the biggest tension between them is that one is a son and one is a daughter and in imperial china at the time guess what you have the first son you're you are the main concubine because you have the crown prince but

[01:26:15] yep which unfortunately though the whole the implication is that uh liha was always the second favorite compared to um well it gets even deeper when you get into the later ones but these are the main two and the orange one is the favorite yoko um so jishi is a eunuch very attractive eunuch as

[01:26:38] jinshi jinshi sorry i don't know i can't i can't think uh and eventually he knows that someone said something because he sees the note and he says i'm gonna figure out who it was also mama wasn't subtle about it yeah mama's not very subtle but you know she tries uh because what mama did actually was she cut part of her dress off and use the fabric to write the note because she didn't have any paper

[01:27:03] all she had was her servants clothes so eventually uh jinshi brings all the servants in and then puts up a like holds up a paper or something that has the words on it and uh it basically says stay in this room and no one could read it but mama mama was the only one that could read because

[01:27:29] again feudal china not everyone can read at this point uh reading is something that is given to the privileged so uh jinshi ends up introducing meow meow to uh gyoku and she ends up becoming a lady in waiting and a poison tester yes so she ends up becoming a poison tester and then that kind of

[01:27:54] leads to like kind of the rest of the series um a lot of times it's meow meow just like trying to help them out like it's a mystery like yeah it's it's weird there's a whole like there's this whole kind of slice of life plot and then it's like mystery every there's like a different ongoing mystery every couple of episodes yes because the first mystery is that um soldiers in an outside village were trying

[01:28:18] to like we're trying to pacify a village and they all got poisoned while they were eating so jinshi ends up asking mama to help them out and then mama finds out the reasons why um so she ends up like getting kind of her name out there as like this really good pocket fairy um and like it's basically just jinshi is asking her tasks and stuff and she's kind of doing them at the same time at one point i

[01:28:45] believe she has to make like a aphrodisiac for the king uh and she does um the emperor really likes mama not not in that way just like the fact that like she's like well she's very helpful and then like the next arc well then his favorite like really likes her too so yes the next arc ends up being like it's it's short stories some of them are longer than others but it's like there's a really great joke where like once mama starts working as a lady in waiting they're like oh yeah half your

[01:29:15] funds what your uh wages will go to uh they go to the slave like the traffickers that kidnapped you and they're like oh how are we gonna get you out of this and this one the head lady in waiting grabs this vase and just drops it on the floor and goes oh no you broke a very expensive vase that's gonna come out of your pay which is gonna then get charged back to the traffickers and then she's like oh yeah by the way you get your separate payment here for your other tests yes for the poison testing

[01:29:43] well it's like um what do they call it's like severance pay like or like incident pay just in case because you're taking that risk um i one of the next stories is um like there ends up being these rumors of a ghost um which ends up being like this woman ends up going out and dancing at night and basically what's happening is like momo tries to figure out what's going on but she soon really

[01:30:08] quickly realizes that it's not a medical thing the girl was actually doing it on purpose because she the girl basically was in line to potentially become a concubine of the emperor but she was in love with someone else so she ended up making herself appear crazy and appear like something was wrong with her so that she would be sold off to someone else but they find out that that someone else ended up being

[01:30:32] the general that she had loved her whole time so mama like tries to kind of solve the case but she tells gg she's like listen there's nothing wrong with her she's just in love um which is also kind of nice um and then the next big thing that happens is that um lady leha gets very sick she's like deathly sick no yeah she's like on the way and the emperor says you gotta make sure she doesn't die

[01:31:02] and mama was like oh god because at first like mama's doing everything right she's trying to give her a special diet she's trying to help her but she told them you cannot use the makeup on her and the ladies in waiting why bill calls them incompetent will not let her help at all we find out later why they're so incompetent but the reason that right now they're just really bad um they don't listen to anything mama says they continue to just do stuff that's actively killing

[01:31:30] lady lehao um and every time when you're sick like think about when you're sick what do you eat you eat soup you eat light meals you can't eat anything heavy because like you can't keep it down half the time yeah and that's what's happening late like they're like giving her all these like extravagant meals and now i was like are you fucking stupid um and every i love every time mama gets kicked out because she just falls out of the room and goes but eventually it gets to this point that like

[01:31:59] mama snaps snaps well she goes well what happens is the empress's face and sees the the makeup and she's like wait a minute why are you still using this you're killing her this is the first time we see fucking angry mama and angry mama is a different character where she basically like he's like this is illegal like why are you still using this and she's not only that like she emphasizes to the fact that

[01:32:27] you are killing her with the same poison that killed her son yeah and like it literally shook that girl to the core well like the girl who was doing it well also like mama bitch slaps her and then grabs the finds the the makeup in the drawer and then shoves it in the girl's mouth um yeah and then after like she's done she's like go wash out your mouth and then she just takes charge from there well so the

[01:32:54] lead lady in waiting who was the one who was doing it she gets basically uh removed from her post for the time being um it's amazing she didn't get killed because you like this happens later in the series and they usually ends with them being murdered yeah um but she ends up she's able to treat lady leha and she ends up fully recovering um and it's also one of the funniest scenes where well because we

[01:33:22] learned um well we learned that lady leha is actually really nice like yes she's actually just as nice as the other lady she's just a little more serious she's most and kind of awkward yeah we learned but there's a great scene where she's all like well the emperor's never gonna come see me again and mama's like i was like he he sent me personally to make sure you survive what makes you say that she's like well he hasn't come to see me if you know what i mean and mama then goes up to her he's like i learned

[01:33:50] some things in this in the brothel that'll help you and she's basically like bitch you got giant tits he'll come he'll come back yes um yeah that happens though and i love the fact that like the emperor does end up coming to visit her but he ends up kind of giving her um you know time to rest too well yeah because she just almost died yes um but it's there's a funny running joke now though where anytime mama

[01:34:18] runs into the uh her ladies and waiting again they're terrified of her and it should be um well because there's that great scene at the festival because there's the whole festival thing that comes up where the garden party yeah and they discover that mama like her freckles are fake yes well that's what yeah that kind of leads to the next thing is uh the garden party and they're all trying to do her makeup and then they realize to cover her freckles and then they realize she never had

[01:34:47] freckles at all because mama actively tries to make herself unattractive well and like the sad part is she's explaining why to them and like she basically says you know i'd make myself look ugly because the uglier i look the less likely i will be assaulted kidnapped or killed which is really sad but it's very true you also realize that's why she got kidnapped because she was actually the reason when she was out looking for things she was actually trying to find stuff to make her freckles

[01:35:16] because her freckles had wiped off by that point um and then so one of the things though before she they go into the garden party is uh gyoko gives each of her handmaidens like a gift uh and they're basically like marks each of them as like they they are part of my group like i'm protecting them

[01:35:40] they are under my protection uh but before um before she leaves they end up running into jinxi and uh jinxi is just so in i mean i think you can add from the beginning you can tell that jinxi really likes mao mao and that it will eventually become in some sort of relationship well it's it's very important like mao mao is a very anti-romance character but like jinxi gets under

[01:36:07] her skin in a way that you can clearly see there's something going on there there's something special that will go on between them but jinxi ends up giving her a hairpin uh it actually makes gyoko pretty mad because she's like ahem that she's she's no longer because each it's now implying that she's no longer just hers she's also the jinxi's uh and then the garden party begins and what's funny is because mao mao is all dolled up none of the uh the ladies in waiting recognize

[01:36:35] her at first yeah they're being rude to her again and then mao all of a sudden kind of like covers her face and they see her and they go oh no and they run away screaming because they're like it's her yeah but then this also kind of goes through kind of the um they call it like the proxy wars between the consorts and even though there really isn't that many like for the most part the consorts themselves are pretty fine with each other and it's more of the lady of waitings that cause problems

[01:37:03] well because we get introduced to the other two consorts one of them which is a like 14 year old which is you um well so in each of the consorts has their own name i can't remember what the other ones were but um there is the virtuous concert which and then the pure consort the pure consort is um the younger one and the virtuous one is the older one no no uh uh li shu's the virtuous one

[01:37:33] oh wait no no no no no no i'm confusing mixing shit up uh so oh i mix them up the work gikyo is the precious consort li hugh is the wise consort um uh li shu is the virtuous consuit

[01:37:57] yeah consort and then audu is the pure consort yes um and we find out that uh li shu is very young yeah and audu is very old she's like in her 30s um she's the oldest of the consorts yeah um and we find out that it was there's like a whole explanation that the previous cons that um

[01:38:21] the previous uh emperor had a consort that the current emperor his son inherited and at first mao mao thinks it's audu because that would make sense but then we find out that the previous emperor is kind of a freak um yes and it was li shu who was like which mao mao is horrified by we also find out that uh the emperor the current emperor was with audu before he became emperor and it's implied

[01:38:47] that she was kind of his first love yeah um there's a lot of implications around audu that have not been confirmed in the anime yet but they're it's kind of in your face in a lot of ways if you really look at it yes um but yeah it's funny is because those two really like each other but they're uh they're ladies-in-waiting hate each other yeah and one thing you find out is um poor um li shu

[01:39:12] her lady-in-waiting are setting her up like yeah they hate they hate her and they go out of their way to make her miserable because she doesn't do anything and like well part of it leads to one of the big events that happens but two of the other things that happens is that mao mao ends up getting two more hairpins yeah one from a random soldier well one from a soldier who comes back quite often but also another one from lady li who um because li who and mao like they just kind of

[01:39:39] create a bond because well she saved her life so she's just she loves mao mao um and she gives her one of those she wants her to come to her crew but you know she probably won't get you uh she won't steal it from kyoko but what ends up happening next is that uh it's a garden party and there is meals associated with it and uh one of the meals uh is poisoned yeah but it ends up being a whole mystery

[01:40:06] too because it mao mao notices certain things while she's eating and that scene where she just randomly gets that like slasher smile and goes this is poison yeah but it turns out that the poison wasn't actually meant for gyoku it was actually meant for lishu um because one of the things that happened is the food that lishu got was supposed to be special so everyone was eating like some sort of

[01:40:34] fish um and lishu had a special dish because she has an allergy allergic to it and that is the dish that ended up going to to mao mao to take that was going to gyokyo because the person who poisoned it isn't revealed yet but we find out the reason it got switched is because lishu's ladies in waiting were just fucking with her yeah which is hilarious because they ended up saving her life

[01:41:01] no yeah well and they probably ended up saving the poison tester's life yeah truthfully i mean poison is meant to kill someone yes mao mao's a freak yeah um who likes poison because i remember like jinxi ends up chasing after she leaves because the poison jinxi's like he's like are you okay and i was like yeah i'm fine and he's like no you ate poison what's wrong with you yeah and then mama throws up

[01:41:27] because like there's just a constant running gag of throwing up well no they make her throw up like they give her like a drug that makes her throw up yeah that just is a running joke that's funny um but mama has to rest after that uh but eventually it leads into figuring out okay like the next big thing is who did it like who's the one who poisoned it which leads into one of the bigger sagas um well

[01:41:53] i think one of the bigger stories which is they find out you know we might know about the history between lishu and um and al do but also the history between their ladies in waiting and kind of what was happening um yeah because we find out because mama ends up going to help out at al do's um compound and she meets all her ladies in waiting who are pretty nice uh which is a kind of a change compared to um

[01:42:19] the previous interactions with ladies in waiting yes but i actually al do's entire group is like the most competent at first glance we find out some things about them later um but it's we learned that al do was pregnant early on with the emperor's child well it was the previous emperors well no no i'll do it was with the current emperor the previous no no no it was the oh yeah no no because they

[01:42:47] they swan because there's it's confusing like this entire thing doesn't really get addressed it's very complicated it's heavily implied um but it's also very much of the time period like shit like this would definitely happen so basically what happened was she was pregnant but so was the previous empress yeah who is still alive by this point by the way and is like they make jokes about how she looks like just as young as everyone else yeah um but what happened is because they were both

[01:43:17] giving birth at the same time the uh the doctor that came to deliver them who was actually mamma's stepdad um he basically was prior had to prioritize the empress and not al do at the time yeah and it was kind of a struggle for al do to the point where she's now infertile because of it um but both babies are born and then it's we find out that one of them dies one of them dies because the lady in waiting

[01:43:44] basically feeds him nothing but honey which you find out earlier you found out that um uh lee who lee shu has a um aversion to honey because she almost died as a kid for the same reason yeah um and that kind of tips mamma off to this and then she finds out that the lady in waiting accidentally murdered um al do's child yeah um and is what she's doing to lady lishu like with the

[01:44:12] bullying and the harassment is out of guilt over what happened to lady aldu's child yes because she feels she well she was responsible she didn't know what she was doing was bad but she did lead to the actions that killed also made spoiler warning here i mean we're spoiling everything yeah it's also

[01:44:35] implied we find out that the child that the empress had is actually jinshi yes and we also then find out here jinshi's not actually a uh a unit unit uh he's pretending to be one yeah um taking these he's basically taking like drugs to suppress his testosterone it's old-timey stuff but um yeah we

[01:44:58] find out that but then there's another wrench in that whole thing where basically babies might have been switched yeah there's an implication that the babies were might have been swapped at birth and it's kind of it hasn't been confirmed anime wise i have not read the manga can't say anything there yeah but um it's kind of implied because there's a scene where later where the two of them

[01:45:24] are talking and mamau mentions jinshi looks a lot like aldu yeah um i think it's implying that uh jinshi might actually be aldu's yeah son which also means he's not actually the emperor's brother he's actually the emperor's son so he's technically the prince yes technically be next in line for the throne yes technically which i think also implies that they know some of this because there's an event

[01:45:53] that occurs later on where jinshi is performing a ceremony and it's not like something a normal eunuch would do no well there's also it's shown earlier too where he has a special hairpin in that mamau doesn't realize what it means but it's like he has his like loyal hairpin and his little helper is like hey you might want to take that out um before someone notices yes but um yeah the conclusion

[01:46:22] here though is eventually mamau discovers that aldu is actually stepping down because she's kind of old and can no longer bear children yep um so she's stepping down and that's why her ladies in waiting were basically trying to do anything to keep her there and mamau essentially at this point she didn't want to we find out that it was already a foregone thing it was it was her choice yeah um

[01:46:48] but in the end uh her lady in waiting gets um executed well what happens is that mamau basically confronts her and says look i know the truth you can either turn yourself in or i will turn you in and she did chose to turn herself in yeah which did lead to her death but regardless she was gonna die like and she knew that so she took the more peaceful way out yeah turning herself in and then we get this

[01:47:16] wonderful scene where after everything's kind of cleaned up and uh aldu steps down there's a point where mamau's chilling up on the wall and then albis just joins her she's like you want to drink yeah and mamau likes alcohol yeah to the point when they propose what oh i was just gonna say it makes me sad i wish we got to see more of lady aldu um because she gets written out really fast i think

[01:47:43] she comes back in the manga i think it's implied i hope so well especially if it's implied that she is gg like she'll definitely be back well also it's it's subtly implied that she was the emperor's true love but because she's infertile um she can't really be his main wife but also like one of the things too that we forgot to highlight is um lady aldu's and lady lishu's relationship well of mother and daughter

[01:48:11] and like how when she finally they finally reunite when aldu is leaving and it's like so heartwarming like the hug in the moment of like them being like they missed each other like it was very heartwarming sad the circumstances but happy that they both kind of got the closure they needed yep and then the show takes a complete 180 on us um where because of all the people involved with this basically

[01:48:40] they were all had to be fired and we find out that mamau technically because her stepdad was there technically was involved and had to be fired which jinshi basically goes um mama's like am i gonna be fired and she's like do you want to be fired and he she's like not really and she's like well then you're fired and everyone's like jinshi what the fuck like yeah um basically like all like the ladies

[01:49:05] are like you fucked up like bad like here but you know mama finally home she ends up kind of helping out a little bit at home ends up helping with one of the brothels which is hilarious because there's a there's a running joke where the old lady who runs the brothel is just waiting for mao mao to pay off her debts so that she can sell her off to somebody mama's like no yeah i was like i ain't gonna

[01:49:30] be no brothel lady um but i think they end up helping like another like she ends up helping another brothel because there's that little girl now like that one was fine it wasn't that interesting yeah well what eventually happens is jinshi comes she runs into she's basically working as well she ends up yeah she ends up working doing a event for the brothel that she kind of was raised in um and jinshi

[01:49:57] happens to go up and jinshi's like wait a minute you're hot what's going on here he's like what um but eventually jinshi essentially buys mao mao um in a sense to be his um servant yeah well with the

[01:50:16] goal of that eventually she would become um she would become what's it called like a member a lady of the court but mama doesn't want to do tests so mama said no thank you and chose not to and failed basically what's funny though is she ends up essentially working for jinshi and she has to

[01:50:43] readapt to everything because now she's like up in the main complex and not the rear complex yeah um and she's she basically finds out yeah she can't she doesn't get to have as much fun back here up here anymore um but eventually she's brought back to the rear complex because she has to teach all the uh the consorts about sex yeah she does like a little workshop well she was very sexual by the way before before you do that they introduced the new pure concert

[01:51:13] yes because that leads into that so i feel like she's a lot deeper than we've seen uh she and she's called uh the new pro conference and why uh oh wait i can't remember her name i can't find it um she's much she oh is it low low down low land low down yes low land um she she's much younger

[01:51:42] um yes but not as young as the um oh yeah she's she's she's of age um but uh at least at the time um but she ends up that i think she's actually i think she's mao mao's age i think that's what it was yes but the new concert gets um introduced and then mama has to teach them about mama has to teach

[01:52:06] them about sex but then it also leads into the next big mystery which becomes like she ends up going through these small events that all start to interconnect and what it ends up turning into is a plot to kill murder someone um which is really intense because like the first one is like there was

[01:52:28] a um one of the storage rooms got broken into yeah got blown up and a bunch of the old materials that they use for fests like certain ceremonies got destroyed so it leads to the next thing which happens to be that they have to remake them and suddenly the the um the professional artisan who does that had passed away mysteriously and then now has to go to his house and solve a mystery with his kids that

[01:52:57] because he left behind this whole thing and there's also this mysterious soldier who takes an odd liking to mamao and we he keeps peer appearing well he's uh i think he's a government official like yeah he's he's a government official he's a high he's a high-ranking person in but one of the things with the artisans though is that now because the father arson black is gone they had to make new ones and

[01:53:25] they gave them new drawings to make these items suspiciously um you are introduced to this new character um what was his name again uh i have it up here uh lakin or lock it yeah i think it's late and he's he's he comes off as very creepy but that's actually an act uh we find out later but he keeps appearing around mamao and he takes a really weird liking to mamao and at first you're

[01:53:52] like this is creepy and then you you find out later though it's not as creepy um but eventually it comes to this point where mama discovers there's a murder plot and yeah well she realizes other events that late like because i don't want to mess around some of the other stuff like there is um mamao ends up helping jinxi um become ugly so he can go and not get approached but it also leads to mamao like they end up

[01:54:21] separating and um but before they leave because jinxi was talking to raken and raken's basically brought up there's one way to end a um end a working like a courtesan's contract and jinxi and he says you should

[01:54:44] ask mamao now now i will know the answer so jinxi ends up asking mamao and for mamao this is a very painful subject so when he asked her that it's kind of like a stab in the heart um yeah well because it's basically basically mamao tells him like the only way for them to get two ways um losing your purity and then pregnancy yeah well because they basically become worthless when they're pregnant

[01:55:14] yeah and jinxi is kind of left shock and then and because earlier in also in the series we had seen mao mao taking care of this prostitute essentially that was pretty pretty far gone yeah um so and that's kind of what leads to the next thing too is that like mama doesn't accompany jinxi the rest of the way which kind of understandable um and she ends up returning back home and then she ends up

[01:55:39] returning to the brothel where she does encounter the woman who they keep her in the annex building because she's actually syphilis yeah which at the time it was not something that could well they they imply that if they at the time if they had if they knew what they knew now when she discovered it they could have saved her but at the time she got it it was too late yeah but uh what's what's sad what's interesting is the second you see her and you see her hair color you immediately go

[01:56:09] huh because it's very um yeah it's very familiar it's very similar and mama got really upset about the pregnancy thing i wonder why yes yeah so it's kind of implied what's going on there um mama also has nightmares of this woman cutting her pink pink fingertip off with a knife yes which which does actually happen well yeah it's it's a it's a whole thing and it's kind of like you'll find

[01:56:38] out later but we can't talk about that yet um well eventually though she does go back to the the uh the the palace and well and this is where she starts piecing everything together like not everything is something's wrong and then she finds out that jinji is performing a purification ritual and then she finds out that all of these mysterious circumstances are leading to this purification

[01:57:07] ritual so what does she do she goes i gotta stop this so she ends up going stop it gets the shit beaten out she gets to this one one fucking meathead guard who won't let her in no matter what and he fucking clubs her in the face with a mat like a fucking oh yeah and she keeps going yeah she's like fucked up but she still won't stop and locken shows up and he's basically like let her go

[01:57:35] are you gonna really beat up a woman here like yeah like what's the matter with you uh we find out later why he's so why he showed up particularly well and this ends up really affecting him too at what happens because mama ends up basically breaking into the ceremony stopping it pushes jinxi out of the way as he is mere seconds we don't realize it's jinxi at first she pushes the person out of the way and

[01:58:03] then immediately sees it's actually jinxi and mamao is so delirious and out of it because not only is her face fucked up she fucked her leg up yeah well because she got impaled by something um also just was hurt from before uh but probably concussed yeah also concussed um and though she's shocked

[01:58:27] she's relieved but she falls unconscious into his arms and then there's the scene which is probably one of the most like probably powerful scenes in the show of when jinxi carries her out unconscious into his arms and all of the guards that like didn't want to let her through are shocked because they're like something happened and then locken is like paralyzed like he doesn't know what to do

[01:58:55] because he's looking at his daughter who like well we don't know that is also yeah oh yeah sorry well spoiler uh he's looking at her and like she's also bleeding out as they're walking away because as you're seeing it music is playing and there's just a trail of blood following them and it is like like i remember watching that scene and kind of getting chills like it was definitely

[01:59:19] one of the ones where you're like oh my god um but thankfully mama mama's okay she wakes up the next morning she's not feeling great but she ends up explaining to them what happened um explaining how all the things are connected and uh she we didn't mention it but at one point she ran into this girl who worked in the court and was like a a medicine person uh and it found out that she was mixed in with it

[01:59:46] and she actually uses a drug to make her appear dead and she escaped which is wild i don't know if that's real but she there is i think drugs that can make your up the resurrection medicine but um she played she played that poor store owner like a fiddle too yeah but um eventually mama does get better and we

[02:00:11] eventually find out that um uh gyakyo is actually pregnant again yes and mama needs to go back to the rear castle basically mama gets mama basically gets free reign now at this point she just goes where yeah um yeah but what's kind of cool is um there's one scene before that where like jinshi kind of mentions maybe you should ask uh lock in about something about some of this stuff and the death glare mama gives jinshi is like one of the most iconic scenes in the show

[02:00:40] because it literally it's it's a blinker you miss it moment yeah where the the it when he says that it just goes silent for a few minutes and you're like what's going on and then it just cuts to this like close-up of mama's face where she looks pissed and then it like flashes her eyes real quick and then it goes away and jinshi's like i've never seen her look at me like that before yeah well

[02:01:05] and then like the next thing that happens is that like she ends up going to lock in at one point uh but then he kind of gives her a challenge well um i will say before this happened the whole time i was like it's like i was like because i was piecing it together because it doesn't you don't know at this point i'm like why is he so attached to her like blah blah blah and i'm like is he her dad and then immediately mama's like hello father i'm like okay all right that answers that um

[02:01:34] but yeah she ends up getting this challenge it's like this it's like chess mixed with go mixed with everything no no no it's the blue roses first oh that happens after so he ends up challenging her to basically at one point in the castle it was decorated with blue roses and before it's like this um another part garden party is coming up but it's like in the winter and stuff so it's colder

[02:01:59] it's coming up and she needs to have blue roses from then so basically one roses aren't in season right now and two blue is not something that is easily made so you see the process of like mao mao and um her friend that she i can't remember her name but she sorry the other red initially yeah well she

[02:02:23] worked with her initially before she got moved to be part of the um moved to the um back of the palace with the concerts um so they end up actually going and they make the roses and they actually end up do making the multi-colored roses they don't bloom all the way just because of the season but at the garden party they do have the things decorated i do i also love the fact that like when she's explaining how she did it um she goes oh yeah the emperor knows i showed him the trick and he thought it was great

[02:02:52] yeah which is really fun the emperor really likes mao mao which is but not in a weird way yeah he likes mao because mao mao is competent yeah i think he also must know a little bit that gene she got some feels um but they end up doing she ends up completing her task and she also ends up helping all of her all the ladies and waiting that are her friends by giving them like tools to survive the

[02:03:17] cold um which is also nice uh and she also starts the new trend of ladies having manicures yeah everyone's like everyone's like what is that what's on your hand but after the challenge after she succeeds the challenge she ends up going to see locken again and he challenges her to a game of chinese chess like you were saying yeah um and then there was the option of like the loser has to drink a spiked liquor or

[02:03:46] something um and at one point gg thinks that locken is losing on purpose or um but then it turns out that like he didn't get sick from the poison he just can't handle his liquor yeah he gets he gets fucked by the liquor and then basically mao mao sends him off to the uh the brothel and then we get one of the biggest plot dumps in this entire series yeah um where we find out that you find out his

[02:04:14] backstory in his connect like why he's not part of mao's life it honestly it's like you feel for the guy well yeah because i remember i texted you i was like is the creepy guy mao mao's dad and then a few no yeah like it's a very heartbreaking story of like he was going to um well because he and

[02:04:39] mao's mother were actually truly in love like isn't it like fox lana or something or it's a like faux chan so i think it's something it's like pronounced like a faux something um but i'm just gonna call her mao's mom um like mao's mom was a special consort because she was like the nicest one at the time well it wasn't even that it was more of like where the other ones were more flirtatious

[02:05:05] and she was more smart and saying yes she was more knowledgeable and she actually played um chinese chess which i think is go um yeah they played like she was a champion go player and so many people would come just to challenge her just in a game of go and i think it's implied that she was she was one of the cheaper ones at first and then after like it was discovered this like she became kind of expensive

[02:05:28] yeah she became one of the most like elusive ones and lock in fell for her like because like he was actually a really good go player too and he lost well also the thing with lock in too is it's implied that he has really bad eyesight and he they do that cool anime thing where like they i don't even think it's like really bad eyesight it's more of just like the way i implied it they implied it was it's like

[02:05:54] it's a metaphorical thing but he also has bad eyesight like he doesn't see things the same way as other things well i i think it's also like just a mental thing like i i think it truly came down to he's never connected with a human being before and the first person he ever did was mao mao's mom and then yeah now well because he never really saw people as people it's shown that everyone just has like blank faces yeah um but like he when he sees mao mao's mom he goes a face like what is this yeah

[02:06:23] no yeah it's like the first time and he falls for her um but what ends up happening is that he um his father actually ends up making him work overseas and he could happens first though is he spends one last night with her and it's implied that she had manipulated things to get pregnant because she knew her value would plummet if she did well and i think it was like implying that someone was

[02:06:47] about to buy her contract and he couldn't afford it yeah um so she had done that to kind of manipulate but then he gets sent away he's trying to contact her but he can't and she was trying to contact him she has the baby she loses her value which leads to the whole um part of the reason why mao had that very

[02:07:13] terrifying dream of her yeah finger getting cut off is she was sending it almost as a curse it was like yeah curse to him well because he eventually comes back and finds out that she's gone because she had to sell herself on the market that's how she got the syphilis yeah um but it's shown that she had sent all these letters and then the final thing was the finger and it basically it's a tragic thing where he she's got he thinks she's gone and then mao mao he doesn't know what happened to mao mao

[02:07:39] um at the time and it's implied also why he's not part of her life and why mama has no interest in him yeah but um eventually though he once he wakes up he's in the brothel and he basically the old lady who runs it's like ah mama says you're gonna buy one of my girls yeah um and he lines them all up and he's like kind of debating which one he ends up going wanting at one point he's gonna go for the nice one that was like

[02:08:05] may may may may may who basically raised now now yeah but and it's implied that that's the way i i read it was mama was like it ended up working out the way mama intended but at the same time she really wanted him to buy may may just to get her out of there yeah um but may may is also um one of the things we missed to talk about is one of the hairpins um mamma gets is from a soldier and he ends up coming back and he actually ends up falling in love with

[02:08:34] may may so i believe it's implied that he's i thought he liked the one with giant i thought he liked the one with the giant boobs i thought the one was maybe oh maybe it's not no yeah you're right it was a different one never mind um but maybe maybe mama have a very close close relationship well i think it also implied that may may um when mama was born uh her mom couldn't feed her and i thought that may may actually fed i thought i thought that was also the one with the giant oh

[02:09:03] was it david yeah i don't think i think maybe it's just friends with her i think that's really all well i think she has a relationship with i think all of them are like mothers to her all the main big three are all like mothers to her um but this ends up leading to like the really powerful scene of lock in basically forces his way to mama opens may may kind of opens the door and she's like and says go

[02:09:28] and then he ends up just basically forcing like because the owner of the brothel is trying to make him stop uh but then it ends up being a very good thing where he ends up buying her and then you're cut to the scene where may may ends up sending mao mao a dress yeah um because part of what the courtesans do is that when someone is bought out they perform a dance yeah uh and mao mao has to

[02:09:56] perform this dance because this dance is for her mother so she actually ends up performing the dance on the roof of the castle and then she sneaks up on her and she almost falls off the roof yes she almost does she's like what are you doing yes and um she they end up like and it kind of just ends um it ends similar to free room where it's like it's ending you know there will be there's a season two which

[02:10:21] there currently is and i'm currently watching it um yes well and um i think it ends with gene she coming and saying the jade pavilion has another case for mao mao and then that's gonna lead into season two yes so final thoughts i liked both these series a lot yay so can we confirm that all of my recommendations

[02:10:45] have been great so far yeah i mean they have i live we're at the point where both of my records this podcast is just both of my recommendations which is hilarious this was literally a case where i watched two similarly like that shows and i was like let's just do these no yeah i really liked freer in freer in was well i like both of them for different reasons but also kind of similar reasons well they both have very deep like complex stories but they do it in very different ways like

[02:11:15] apocular diaries is a lot more comedic yes um and kind of very sexual it's a very sexual show but it's also like i love like i feel like there hasn't been like a good mystery show in a while it was really refreshing to just have a really good mystery but i was always like so like i was like hooked on all of the stories like whenever mama was figuring something out i was in like i loved it

[02:11:42] like oh yeah but then freer in had so like i tried watching freer in it was a very unique take on the whole uh coming of age kind of like storyline where it's it's literally it's that story but it's like what happens after it's literally the new game plus of anime where it's literally a what happens after the

[02:12:04] victory like this is like what goes on but also like just freer in's character is just so well written yeah and you your heart breaks for her at times like you are feeling her emotions and you're feeling some like it's like you're with a person who's struggling to like really truthfully connect to

[02:12:28] her emotions like it it's just like oh it was like a gut punch like i cried so much watching that show and i had moments in the apocatory diaries but both of these were just like such great stories that left you wanting more yeah you would always like where is this going and it all in both twists and turns like yeah i did not expect them to go the directions they did oh yeah and they have very likable

[02:12:52] characters great dubs like the dubs are very well done and honestly i'm excited for more i mean i'm already watching season two of apocatory diaries as it comes out so i'm glad i got you hooked yeah no they were good i enjoyed both and yeah yeah both really great also just like very different stories for the majority of stuff that's been coming like for me i know i have been

[02:13:17] more attracted to like the fighting the shonen shows and i haven't really connected with a lot of like the shojos in a while slower shows with more story character definitely ones that like i'm so glad it came out because i'm like i do really like those genres too there just hasn't been a story that has really grasped me as much as these two uh and there's other ones too because i put like my happy

[02:13:42] marriage up there as well in terms of like great story and also romance but like there's like it's great to have some really different stories like there's nothing like those two shows out there no there really isn't they are so unique and i feel like anything that would try to copy it just will not do well because they're just so special as the kids would say we're eating good right now

[02:14:10] yeah yeah the kids say where is my child but i think we've no he wandered off probably but anyways i think we've gone on this is our longest episode in quite some time damn damn i to be honest i really have to pee so i'm going to end this now once again guys thank you for joining us on the gaming and collecting podcast uh gaming collecting podcast can be found on all

[02:14:37] the major podcasting platforms particularly apple podcast and spotify i listen on spotify nice what do you listen on i listen on superpod network.com oh um which is an awesome an awesome an awesome site with a whole bunch of great shows videos and blogs normally i would go through all of them but this has gone on very long and i actually really have to pee so once again guys

[02:15:07] i running water running water anyways guys once again thank you for joining us on the gaming collecting podcast and we will see you all later on you be bitch how fucking dare you you