Welcome to Jeff Jeff Bizarre Adventure, the only anime podcast on the Internet.

To my left, it's Lucy James Games.

Hello, everyone, Good morning, good evening, good night, wherever you're listening from.

To my right, coming at us with all the energy of a thousand exploding universes, it's Jeff Smith.

Hello.

That's right, Jeff Smith is the name that you've come to know, love and remember.

Thank you for having me on the show.

I'm a big fan and I can't wait to talk about Well, there's a lot to talk about.

Perhaps I'll let you introduce everyone else on the podcast.

First.

There John.

Higgins, Walsh, Oh Walsh, Sorry.

Sitting directly across from me.

He's a little sick.

He's a little sad.

It doesn't matter, because we're about to have the greatest podcast episode of all time.

It's to more sane.

Oh guys, fine, It is only fitting that this.

These couple of episodes are the most Corcus heavy episodes in the history.

The Corcus fandom is eating well with these episodes.

Yes, but I have another thing I need to bring to the group.

I have been assaulted through the postal service.

What what listen to this?

Communicate that I received not four days ago.

Okay, it is written in chicken scratch by someone undeserving of having their bullshit red on this fine podcast.

But nevertheless, we will trudge through the sludge.

Hello, Jeff, stop impersonating me?

Or I will kill you?

Did you hear what I said?

I kill you?

And it's signed Corcus?

My god, let us.

All equally, let us all equally shriek in horror, and then then the nerve of this faceless coward to send along a creepy little statuette of Carcus.

That looks very small.

It was unclear on the listing it was that small.

I'm sorry to know more about is that much bigger?

His entire body can come off too?

My god, Wow, are you sure you just haven't broken it?

No, it's just like a little lego piece if it's right in.

Yeah, he's got a ship eating grin on his face there.

Oh yeah, look at that.

That's anyway, if you can play his Corcus in a Band of the Hawk the Berserk Musso game.

I don't know, you must be able to?

We should we should we find that out.

Yeah, there's there's three games, Lucy, and one of them is way better than it has a right to be.

And no, no, no, one's fine.

The PlayStation to one has just a shocking amount of loaf put into it, and it's really fun.

Like the Dreamcast one's interesting because it's a story written by Mura, but it does play like ass a little bit.

I know people are going to push back against that because it is kind of beloved, but come on, guys, it's a little bit ass and there's cool things about it.

Why have we overlooked the fact that somebody has has gotten my mailing address?

The return address says the band of the Hawk.

Does it say there's no way to look that up?

Midland?

It's it's it's Midland, California.

Sometimes, Jeff, Jeff, you gave me your address a long time ago, and for you know, private purposes that people don't need to know.

That's our business.

Yeah, yeah, totally.

Sometimes when people ask me for my address, uh, I don't want to create anmfortable moments, so I give them yours.

Yeah, did you started doing that or is that No, it's been a couple of years.

It's been a couple of years, and I've given it out maybe twenty times, but like not in an unsafe way.

I do email on email lists, so if you've noticed an uptick.

There, then that's on mek.

Hmm, thank you guys.

Yeah, of course what this band of the whole game is still sixty dollars.

It's crazy.

I'd say, at one point in time it went down to twenty and now is back up to sixty.

Yeah, seemed like it.

But yeah, I think, uh, maybe we drop a little content warning here at the start of the episode.

Not playable.

It's not playable.

Storry got fifth cosca Judo's and some characters that we haven't made yet.

Okay, well, understandable.

Apologies thing A're very serious.

That is okay, Tom.

So yeah, Berserk is a heavy series and sometimes it delves into some heavy shit and we encounter some some pretty uncomfortable stuff this episode, namely, you know, kind of sexual salt, lack of consense stuff.

So I just want to give people a warning here going forward, we're going to be discussing that a little bit in the second episode.

So if you are sensitive to that stuff, just pursued with caution.

Okay, stay well, guys, you got to take care of yourselves.

But that is to say, completely unrelated to everything I just said, what a fantastic pair of episodes.

Holy fucking shit, Am I right?

Yep?

Oh, I mean a lot, a lot going on, a lot happening, a.

Lot happening a real like a real sort of like looking under the hood, you know, because I feel like so much is Yeah, like a lot is just changing a short amount of episodical time.

Do you know what I mean?

Might be this might be just first exposure to a classic anime trope or trope I guess, like formatting the time skip, which happens in a lot of anime.

Are you talking about the swords that made the sunrise?

This happens a lot in shown in anime.

Like there's usually a period of time where, for some reason in anime and manga, they decide, all right, we're going to skip forward like five years now, and all the characters get to come back with brand new outfits, looking a little bit older, new style, refresh the merchandise line a little hotter.

But in this case, it's just it doesn't have that same function, but you do get to experience a time skip, which can be jarry.

But I think what's kind of interesting, Jeff is like one of the things I really love over Berserk is you can really divide it into like specific periods and not.

It's not always like time.

Sometimes it's just like who Guts is with, or like what's happening in the world at that moment, and you kind of like I remember watching this for the first time and getting to this point and being like, no, I want Guts to stay with the Band of Hawk, because that's I like that, it's fun, and I like these characters, and I want this to keep going and it's kind of cool because like that's how they feel.

But it's like it's over and it's like that time's kind of gone now and things are very different, and it it feels weird, you know.

Yeah, it's it is a weird time in this sort of story, and you know, I don't know, like I guess I also didn't realize what like we obviously have a thing of like what's next, right like and I and I don't know if I was prepared for like this next chapter.

And so much time is spent leading up to where the Band of the Hawk was at the beginning of these two episodes, and it seems like an incredible, you know, an incredible amount of development has transpired where it's like, oh, now it's something else that you didn't even think about.

It's this is a whole other thing.

Now it's cool, It's it's really really interesting.

I again, like the last four episodes have kept me engaged in a way that I was not expecting.

There's some real, real impressive drama here.

Yeah, it's it's fantastic.

But I guess before like we get into everything, we kind of got to start at the beginning here.

And basically this is just after that Kaska has stopped Guts walking away and she brings him back to a bar, and we get more caucus than you could ever ever hope for.

I think this is more caucus than we've seen so far.

Just in one situation, my man at the.

Bar, he's he's risen up a lady.

Yes, it's it's just so much.

I he almost It's just I was embarrassed for him.

Let's just say that I didn't he had to shut up.

You know, you know what you got to do, buddy.

I'm honestly ashamed.

I don't think.

You received a note.

He received a note, So.

I received a note as well.

My life has been threatened, so.

I'll dedicate if you can't let them win, you can't let them win, you're right if you're right.

If I do that, if they start kow telling to demands nail.

For you know, it will be doing a series on one piece.

Oh.

I guess what upsets me is is the nerve that he demonstrates.

It's thinking that Gods is just some chump.

Where does he find that?

Where does he get get off?

So he comes in a little bit.

But I guess one detail I really love is when Judo's kind of like, well, you know, Corcus used to be a leader too.

Yeah, that's like fuck, okay, wow, that that is interesting.

And it's like I can't imagine Corcus leading his own little banded crew.

Now I feel like he maybe wasn't popular.

Oh, also, hang on, we kind of went past it.

So I was watching this one with the English dub.

It's for a little change, And there was a point where Judo sounds irish and then is never irish again, like the bit where yeah, the bit in the when they're outside and you know, Caucus, Judo and Guts go to the bar and they leave Cascio behind.

Judo says something and it's fully with an Irish accent, and then I feel like the actor.

The actor is just like, well, I'm not doing that again.

You know that was that was a little one That was a little one off.

Okay.

And then because the whole time I was like.

Huh interesting, Okay, I'm watching the scene now.

Yeah, it's what he says, like, come on.

Or something, Guys, I've checked the footage and Lucy is one hundred percent right.

Judo goes Irish for two lines randomly in episode nineteen for some reason, and then never does it again, never ever again.

It was so slight.

Well it's not slight, actually, I think my brain just didn't pick up on it because it's just those two lines and then it's gone.

So he comes into the scene and he goes, oh, which I you know, I mean if I've lost count of how many times I've said away to you three right, I.

Don't know if you've done it to me.

Well, well I guess well, you know you.

You hide your your your culture when you're around me.

This is what I mean.

Then he says the line, well, Jeff, that that's massively insulting.

But moving on, he says, to be fair, Corcus is being a piece of shit at this point, right, he's he's, he's just sort of like you over there.

Just just to close the loop on the Irish Judo, because I'm really fascinated here.

He says, please give us your company for just a moment, just so people know I was doing an accent there.

That wasn't just me talking.

It's pretty good.

You're good at that.

Yeah, your Irish actor is pretty solid, thank you.

Yeah.

I think if I did an actual Irish accent, most people wouldn't understand what I was saying.

Well, it's sort of like the Lucy thing where Lucy this whole time is putting it on you know, she went right, like when you speak in your normal dialect, it's indecipherable, right, it's just sort of some Yeah, It's just it's like, who is this person?

Yeah, fake Judo's sort of doing a similar thing maybe, and uh, in a time of weakness and vulnerability it came out, which is understandable.

We've been hearing his podcast right his telephone.

You've got it.

You've got it exactly, Jeff.

When I when I'm like doing my impression of you to Michelle, I really like lean into the kind of New Jersey aspect of it.

When you do an impression of me to Michelle, Oh, yeah, what does it sound like?

It's kind of like it's kind of like, hey, my name's Jeff.

What's going on?

Everybody?

That is uncanny?

Holy shi?

It was that Jeff talking was like vent.

To the listener.

That was me talking, not Jeff.

Did you see vent qui?

Yeah, the ventrilo queen or what is the ventriloquism?

Yeah, I don't know.

Brilliant, brilliant, tam.

Do you have anything you'd like me to say in Jeff's voice, like anything I wanted to hear from him?

Can you say I love cats more than dogs.

Hey, it's me Jeff Bakala, and I love cats more than dogs.

That was like it was seamless.

I really like the hand movements, like you're moving both hands up and down like you're juggling.

Yeah, well you know the way Jeff kind of Okay, let's gesticulate.

Imagine when Jeff talks, he kind of talks like he's a puppet and the people have strings attached to his wrists and they kind of yeah, yeah.

A bit of a marionette complex I have.

The muppet.

Would you be, Jeff.

There is a glass case for lot of figures that look like anime figures.

No, only one of them's anime.

Okay, what else is in there?

I got a couple nineteen eighty nine Batman things.

I don't care about that.

I thought you were spikes eagle an Yeah, I said, only when the No, Yeah, okay, I'm here, Not there, idiot, Jesus Corcus.

I'm sorry going for the throat there.

I just I'm.

Embarrassed to do him because he's such a womanizer.

He's just like I only have thirst for women.

Now that battle is over, it's just so bad and fuck you guts one trick pony, bitch.

You just need not telling you not to do this, and you're still.

A meat head with a sword on't you?

All you do is kill well I can rise.

Oh God, Corcus.

Maybe maybe character that I nevernue I wanted but I need more of.

Maybe Carcus is the bad guy all along.

I don't know, Jeff, I think you need to do what me and Lucy do.

I think like Jeff, Bacolar is kind of your your indoor persona, and Riz Corcus is the new you.

Yeah, No, I can't I can't be Riz Cork.

That's the only thing limiting you.

Look, just okay, do me a favorite, Jeff joined to me one little favor.

I'll do you a big favor.

When you're at dinner with the fan tonight.

Just just bust it out.

Just go into it and see if see if, see how they gore and.

Film it, film it.

They will not care.

They will be like dad's doing dumb ship again.

Let's keep watching gravity falls.

That's what the That's what they'll say.

So Corcus here is like he's pissed at goods, but he's pisted goods for like a very specific reason in that he's like, hey, this is good enough for me.

I have risen higher than I ever should be able to.

And you're harsh.

We heard it, we all heard it.

Immediately regretted the choice.

They're gonna They're gonna descend on this like vultures on a carcass and I had left myself open.

I can't deny how good that wordplay was.

It's pretty good.

And it's nine o'clock in the morning.

You know, imagine what is going to come out of me?

Ten am.

I can't even well, I've just had a coffee, so I think you can.

And Guts is kind of like, hey, listen, I just want to find my own fucking dream.

I don't want to be part of someone else's.

We then get an extremely beautiful painted illustration of Griffith.

I think the person who does these is the same person does the background art.

God damn.

Yeah, probably like a master of their craft, like Jesus.

Yeah.

Oh.

So the thing is is that I was watching.

Another thing that God says at this point is like he wants to see He wants to be by Griffith's side, he wants to be as equal.

I was watching The Queer Ultimatum.

Recently one of the couples broke up because one of them was like, she makes all the money, she bought the house, and I want to be her equal, so I'm gonna not marry her.

Oh was that the most recent?

Yeah?

Yeah, yeah, me and Michelle watched that.

Yeah, she was That couple was strange.

There's one or two couples on that that.

I was like, oh, something about these two makes me like scared they shouldn't.

We were watching, we were watching Jen and I and we were just yelling break up at every single couple.

And then like they all got married.

Like people don't know what to do with their lives whatever.

For the most part, people are stupid.

We all know this, right, Come.

On, you've never tried to solve a romantic problem like going on a reality TV show.

Chef, a reality TV show where you break up and then you have a live in marriage with another person for three weeks.

Many many times they'll sleep together and then they get back together with their original.

Partners and see if they want to get married.

But this is my point.

My point is if you have the ability to air out your life and turn it into a farce like that, I just can't take you seriously and I don't care what happens to you.

Damn whoa wow, do you know what I mean?

Like you've decided to, you know, lease out your personal life as content in that in the farcical manner in which those shows portrayed.

They don't call them shows, Jeff, they call them experiments.

Yeah.

Yeah, a lot of science, a lot of science happening there.

Like he is you.

You have wheeled your life into clown territory.

Yeah, okay, he's just the clown.

You're caucus, Yeah, you are caucus.

You're me exactly.

I'm a jest.

Everyone knows it.

Character lot.

Also, Jelly just jumped up on my knee, so.

I swear to god.

There's another Judo line here, and it starts irish and he gives up about three words in heb for me I've always liked.

But yeah, but sweet little moment with your Judo and Goods.

I like those guys a lot.

Yeah, And then all of a sudden, Corcus, of course, is just like, Hey, I'm tired, I'm going to bed later, I'm ditching this place yourself.

But everything about his body language implies.

You know, what we didn't comment on is the like the very nice pat that Judo gives Casco when she's upset and he walks past her and he like really reassuring.

Yeah, you're right, I noticed that too.

They spent some animation there, Yeah, spent.

There's also a moment which is really nice where Caucus is walking away.

Not really nice, but it's like a good bit of characterization where Caucus is walking outside in the snow and there's a beggar there, and the beggar like puts this plate towards him as if cap and Caucus waves his hand away, and it's like, oh he was just the transition from like someone with no money, fighting Foster vival every day to nobility has been instant for this guy.

Like he he reveals how she he is.

I feel like on some level, like Corcus has always waited, been waiting to become this person.

Yeah.

Do you think any other podcast has talked about Carcus as much as US?

No?

I think you gotta imagine Fucus Weekly.

I mean I really enjoyed that podcast.

Yeah, it's called The Daily Caucus.

I know my my inner monologue is now in his accent.

If that tells you anything, maybe what a cool thing that is.

Have you ever done have you ever done the Caucus voice to your wife or child?

Yeah?

They you know, they're they're not impressed.

They you know, they're they're just like, oh, Jeff's dad are doing dumbass voice again another day in this hell hole.

You know, But now you have the figure to be like, look, look.

It's coming out of the stupidly I left that note on the kitchen counter.

Oh but but with the Corcus statue on top of it to sort of like lighten the move.

Yeah.

Nevertheless, Dylan saw it and he was sort of like, hey, what's with uh, you know the death threat on the kitchen, someone.

Gonna kill your dad.

He's like your life, uh, your life in danger and.

The wheels also out right, Yeah we all good with it.

Yeah, I.

Turning into like a child's play chucky situation where you're just being terrorized by a very tiny figure of caucus for the rest of your life.

Yeah, maybe this one goes in the fireplace.

We'll see.

It's like it has been there already.

Yeah, it's yeah, it's been forged.

This where Judo is doing a nice little trick with a very small knife.

Yeah, I don't know that.

It used to be in the circus.

Oh raise a little, yeah, circus break right, right right.

Jeff is also holding a knife.

Yeah, Jeff, it's a letter opener, but you could fox someone.

Up with that.

I mean, Jeff played on it.

Yeah.

I just want to know what that knife that Judo is playing with it is, because it's too small to be a cutting utensil for food.

Is that it's a little little little stabbor knife baby.

Like the hill the hill on It is like the size of a thing.

Go, that's crazy.

Yeah, it's funny that I didn't like when he flipped it and he landed on his finger.

That was stupid.

That looked stupid.

Because he tried that.

But it looks stupid and you couldn't.

I'm not trying no sense, no sense at all there.

How could you?

How could anyone do that?

Because he's cool, he's cool.

Judo's cool.

Judo.

Yeah, but you know, I also we don't know Judo enough.

He's had like four lines this entire time.

I don't know style.

He's laid back, he's the very gots the fairy dust.

He's he's very grateful that he's in Griffith's army.

He's like, don't worry.

He was the first person who was like, don't worry, Goods, you'll like it here.

And that's what happened.

And now now Judo, the fucking goat, the cool, the cool little dude is like, hey, Goods, listen, you should you and casc just which I mean, they should, they should come on.

I'm rooting for them.

I'm shipping them in my own mind.

Yes it okay.

First I was like, wait, where's Jeff heard the term ship?

And then I was like, well, that has to be this podcast.

I was introduced to it.

Yeah, Very Online show, Tim and Lucy explained shipping to me.

And then it got real weird.

Person time that that show has returned into this conversation.

Some hap, and then they like they like brought me to the doorway of a portal and they opened it up so that I could see the worst possible thing imaginable for myself and then close the door and they were like, don't worry about it.

Did someone ship you with someone?

Not talking about that?

Okay, Jeff, we should start a support group.

Well, I'm sure you get it a lot more than I do, buddy, But yeah, I just saw some ship I can un see and I'm gonna live my life.

Hey, look, my attitude towards it is like whatever people need to do to get through the day is okay by me.

Please don't bring that through my front door.

Yeah.

Sorry, this is another tangent, but I just was on the Very Online Show the last episode and the comment is this comment, the one two punch of this is incredible and it's like everything we hope for.

This is the best show of our inte literacy.

I appreciate the good work.

Bring it back.

Same person replied a few minutes later, I just got to the piper popping bit.

I retract my statement.

That's great, we'll play all right, yep, so Judo is so, Judo's basically walk with Goots.

Everything's cool, but then Judo leads Goods I guess into an emotional ambush.

The band of Hawk roll there.

Corcus is leaning against a tree.

It feels like there's about another three minutes of Corcus calling got some motherfucker.

Yeah, I thought you were going to sleep, bitch, you know.

I just got to comment on Casky's little hat here.

Phenomenal.

It just looks like iconic, like a Russian skier.

You know, she really does, and it's it's working.

It's absolutely working for her.

Ye.

Pippen is there.

His function seems to be to block out Griffith, because Griffith steps out from pip.

You didn't expect to see me here, did you.

Not?

You know, it's just like what I'm doing.

I didn't try and do it.

Griffith voice.

Jeff's done, Griffith.

Griffith is kind of like griff Jeff's Griffith voice is kind of like his corcous voice on volume.

So it's kind of yeah, yeah, it's me.

It's me.

Griffith didn't see me there, did you?

Even though, and not to not to expose the show, but if we look at this shot, m this shot, no one has a face, No, it's there's no Griffith behind Pippin.

I think for there's so the animators should have kind of drawn Griffith like kind of like solid snaking.

Is that the shadow, like there's a slight shadow.

Yeah, you could say like an inference of Griffith.

Yeah, yeah, I think behind How do we know that Pippen has not been against a tree?

Oh?

Behind behind, behind the tree.

So viewer or listener, what we're watching is basically a shot from the opposite angle where and there is no Griffith behind Pippen.

Maybe he's hiding up his jacket.

I'm just gonna say, maybe Pippen is Griffith in a big trench.

Cup Griffith in the same room at the same time.

No, no, no, I haven't never has Pippin ever said anything ever?

Yes, no, one time correctly.

Yeah.

Anyway, it is pretty sick how Griffith just sort of like materializes and it's just like.

What did you say?

He could be fair, he's very like white in terms of esthetic he could be laying in the snow and no one could see him.

Yeah, that is true.

That is also an option.

Griffith is basically like, how fucking dare you?

He's upset all his plans are falling apart.

And he's basically like, hey, listen, motherfucker, I beat your ass three years ago and you became mine in a completely non homo erotic way.

Yeah, I don't all of this.

I'm starting as this unfolded.

As this unraveled, I began to drift.

Okay, okay, stand did you watch it.

In the morning?

Yeah?

What do you mean by drift?

Drift and not like dozing off?

Drifting?

Meaning I did not you know, Griffith's like position of like, yo, I realize you're like the best fighter mid the land's midlands?

Is that what it is?

It is has ever seen And you're real impressive and you're pretty much the only reason I've been promoted to the position I'm in.

But I also own the entirety of your ass, Like I just couldn't believe what's that specifically his ass personally, I was I couldn't believe that he was so he had such ease in sliding back into that position of when they first met all those years back, Like I was like, oh, he didn't earn any good grace over the You.

Know, my read on that would be very, very different, Jeff.

At this point, I don't think Griffith thinks is a better fighter than him.

No, he does.

Yeah, I buy that.

I buy that a little bit.

But certainly he has to realize how reliable and sick he is, right, come on, well he does.

REALI that, and that is a part of what he wants to keep him because and I don't think I also need He might need him, but I don't think Griffith sees it like I need this one person to succeed.

I think there's deeper shit going on here.

Sure that's fair.

I think Griffith is kind of in love with Goots, and the idea of him leaving kills him.

Yeah, sure, sure, Yeah, there's obviously I mean, yes, we learned very quickly, but yes, proceed.

So it's it's this like kind of thing, and this is like a consistent thing across like all this part of berserk Goods is the only thing that makes Griffith like kind of veer from the path a little bit.

Griffith is always so calculating, he's always so smart, but when Goots gets in danger, he risks military shit for Goots.

He puts Guts ahead of his own advancements.

And I think you can read this moment as that again, where like he's not even thinking about it.

He's like, I'm going to beat the fuck out of Guts and he's going to keep working for me.

He's going to keep being at my side because I want my little person here beside me.

But Guts is the only one who truly is able to rattle him.

Yeah, he keeps his smooth demeanor throughout all the other personal interactions he has.

He's just like, fuck, this guy is silk right, He's a smooth operator.

But Guts is the only guy who can rattle him.

And this is everything that Cosca has been like responding to everything that she knows, all.

Of this right, Yeah, and she kind of like part of her dislike for Goots comes from this, well, all of her dislike for Goods, because she wants to be that person to Griffith, but she's not.

So.

Yeah, I really feel that this moment is very earned.

Like, I think this is this is legit.

This is good.

Yeah.

Yeah, they fight.

Barely.

Griffith loses badly, gets his ship chopped.

It's rocked.

Ye well, and his his face is like.

Lisa Simpson, Lisa Simpson meme, whether she's like right.

Like he just swallowed the battery or something.

He's like, oh, and uh, I love Guts.

He's just like, I'm out of here, fuckers.

That's it.

Peace out and that's that.

And like for the first time, like you see Griffith kind of crumble here.

He's not upset.

He doesn't know how to process this.

He doesn't he can't accept the idea that someone has surpassed him in some.

Way with barely any effort.

I mean, it was a one strike man.

And it's also like I think Guts is just so stoic about it.

He just done out the way, leave me alone.

I'm out of here.

Yeah.

And they but we forgot theirs.

Their swords did make the sunrise and the seasons change.

It is now it is now spring.

It's a beautiful moment, Jeff.

It's a visual metaphor.

I just want everyone to know very clearly that their swords made the sunrise.

Ye, so surely Griffith.

You know, he'll learn from this, he'll kind of grow, he'll become a better person.

Yeah, in the next see anything Unreasonable.

Yep, this is kind of you know, where the content warning from earlier comes in.

He basically visits the Princess of Midlands, who's you know, been pretty sweet on Griffith this whole time, and.

Just take just takes advantage of her.

Yeah, it's a shitty thing to do.

I would say this is a censored isn't the right word?

This is a highly truncated of this scene.

Yeah.

In the manga no you do not, it is quite something like it's a.

Multi page.

In the films as well.

It also is intense.

You know, I'm cool with the shorter version.

The one thing that I can kind of think is missing, though, is when this is happening.

When when when Griffith is like with this very young girl, he's imagining guts, he's thinking of goots.

Flashes of goots keep kind of hitting his mind.

This is the scene I point to when people are like, no, it's not it's not not a not a gay thing.

It's it's because it's like I don't know about come on.

Yeah, it's also just a sign of Griffith, Like it gets mentioned earlier in the episode that Princess Charlotte is like is the key right, and so he he wants more and more and more and Casko is not going to help him get there.

It will be Charlotte, and she has been involved in his machination since day one, like the way that he throws himself in front of her, chases her down when her horse gets spooked, like that kind of stuff, like he was laying the groundwork, and Guts has rattled him to the point where he is just being a careless when it comes to his plan.

And then yeah, just cruel because yeah, he does sexually assault her.

She says no multiple times and she is a very young girl, and he's yeah, he's this is like the unraveling.

I think, Yeah, it's like Griffith has jumped ahead ten steps of his plan and now basically destroyed everything he's built up, because we see right at the end here one of the chambermaids sees them together, calls the guards, and the episode ends with them arresting Grid that and it's like I guess you talked about like the kind of how much changes in these episodes, Jeff.

And it's like, at the start of this episode, Griffith is literally on top of the world.

He's a hero of Midland, all the hawks or nobles, and in one episode, because of one thing, he pisses it all away.

Yeah, he's the he got rattled.

Like I said, he's the only guy who really can raddle him in this way, and he out goes and does the worst possible thing you can do.

And uh, I yeah, you know, I think this episode.

Brings like removes the god.

Sort of tear from him right where you're just sort of like this infallible, an angelic man.

We've seen him be.

Ruthly yes to his own goals before, you know, like when he was sleeping with the old dude.

I think even with that though, he was like it was a calculation in control, you know.

And to Jeff's point, there's like a pristin nous to Griffith that's gone now, like he's fucked up.

Yeah, this is a this is a first moment of reckless Yeah, move making.

Next episode one of.

The next two, one of them must be a confession, right, confessions.

This is episode twenty is the next episode.

Yeah, this is Sparks, right, yeah, yeah.

And oh sorry, I thought we were done with the end of the two that we watched.

So in my mind, like I have the manga running, so I know exactly what is coming next, But in terms of the anime, I'm just like, wait, where are we have two again?

Have two again?

Oh?

Carry on?

So get this episode of Sparks, Yes, and we caught and a time skip has happened.

It is one year later, and Guts is wandering the Midland by himself, and we get this little sequence of him basically entering a tournaments, being a cool fucking dude and beating some schmoke.

Yeah.

Yeah, he's just you know, he's torn.

He's like doing his happy Gilmore thing.

Yeah, He's like, I can drive a ball further than anyone else, so I might as well just go to the driver and he who wants to try and beat me.

He does that at this carnival.

I really like, I know, I don't know why that popped in my head, but I think I think it plays.

I really like the Lord in this scene because he kind of has that that voice.

Like hello, got same quite the sword on my boy.

Like he's that character.

And I really enjoy him, but yeah, it's fun, it's not a whole lot necessarily.

And then we find out that guts well.

He returns home to a blacksmith and the blacksmith's granddaughter, and I gotta say, I really like this kid.

I don't like kid.

She's really sweet.

I love how much she loves guts and she just wants to be a blacksmith herself.

Yeah, she's super sweet.

Who doesn't like this this this girl, she's she's a lot of fun to listen to, and she's compassionate, she's sweet, she loves guts.

It's very nice.

Yeah, she's good.

We didn't meet one of the characters in Brazik who I feel like he doesn't have a lot of lines, but goddamn, some of them hit so hard.

He was he was very early, right like in the first episode good dough.

God wasn't good dough like forging shit in the first episode.

I want to say, like maybe the very first scene there was something about seeing him slap in some steel where I was like, I feel like this was very early on.

I don't know.

Maybe you're right.

Maybe they splice the scene of him into the anime.

I can't remember at this point.

Let me let me have a little scrub through here.

He's right, He's right, you are right.

First scene, Jeff, this guy.

Look at me.

Good for one thing?

Well oh wait wait wait, now that I look back at it, there's way more going on in that scene than initially I remembered.

Yeah, oh well, I'm not going to go back because I don't want to spoil myself.

But John, are you looking at it?

Yeah?

I'm going to actually packed a lot into that scene.

I did not realize how much.

I guess you take it for advantage.

Like, but what Got is outfitted with is a big kind of foreshadowing.

Interesting, but yeah, so Goodzou has a quote I really really like from this and they kind of paraphrase it a little in the door, and I'm about to paraphrase it again, but essentially, like Gots asks him, did you how did you know you want to be a blacksmith?

And it's kind of like, I want to be a blacksmith, and he's like, well, I picked up my hammer and I swung it, and I wanted to make the best sword I could, and then I kept trying to do that, and then one day I looked up and I was an old man and it's fuck.

You know, it's kind of.

Sort of like video game controller.

But I guess I kind of liked that idea.

That's like, hey, listen, you just you just always make the next obvious step and you can try and control it as much as you want, but ultimately it's kind of like, you know, the ship that you are drawn to naturally is going to serve as the thing that guides you.

And like, when you think of Guts, it's like that's that's sword plate to him, you know, that's like, that's that's what gets him excited totally, and it's it's cool, it's really really cool.

There's other kind of philosophical machinations.

There's lots of scenes of Guts training.

I think maybe he could find a more efficient way of training than the waterfall logs.

Oh my god, and and and twice.

Like that seems like such a hellish setup.

I can't believe the poor girls meant to kind of like, I don't know, she cuts the rope that releases the pointy logs, but certainly seems like a dangerous practice, right, Like.

I think there's probably a safer way.

There's probably a safer way.

To do this.

Yeah, does Guts ever take part in any battles that are considered safe, Like he's always just in the most absurd odds, right, No, I.

Really meant more for the girls safety.

Like I just like, yeah, this seems terrible.

You know, he's got trees falling on him, He's got pointy logs fall like it's just it's I mean, it's almost cartoonishly stupid.

He's under the care of a blacksmith, so I imagine she's seen some ship at a time.

And yeah, and she wants to be on.

Yeah, and she's a little more world weary and capable than.

Most would really Okay, I take it back, Uh, but things kick off again when this another I don't know what you'd call him.

He's like a I guess he's a lord to maybe I don't know.

But he comes he's like, hey, blacksmith, can you get me some swords?

There's some people I want to kill?

Yeah, this is this is as God says about to leave as well.

Yeah, he's he's done for he's been there for a year and he's like, I'm out.

And we discover that the people he's talking about are the Band of Hawks.

Somehow, well we kind of know how since Got's left, uh, they have become gone from nobles to outlaws and they're it kind of it's it's horrible because it's like, but you see them fall back down the ladder that they've climbed, you know, it's like, God, damn it.

It sucks.

But at least Corkus has to live through it.

At least cork has got a taste of the sweet life only to have it snatched from him.

And I'm sure what was a very dramatic fashion where he was just sort of like, oh, you've got to be fucking kidding and that's it.

Okay, then, led by Cask, can we do a little improv here please?

Yeah?

I think so.

Okay, Okay, I'm going to I'm going to be the character explaining to Carcus that he's not a noble anymore.

Okay, yes, you what is it?

Wasting my time?

Can you hear the knock on the door?

No?

Come in, please come in, Hey Corcus, listen, who are you?

Oh buddy, I'm a messenger from uh from from from Judo.

I don't have a name.

Out with it already wasting my time?

You are?

So I guess I just want you to prepare yourself a little here, maybe maybe take a seat.

I have some unfortunate news.

This physical core go on, This is my this is my associate, Tam, and this other associate.

Something wrong with my crypto coint.

So the good news, the good news, Lord's Caucus, is that your crypto coin is actually quite actually doing quite well.

To the moon.

I say very good yes.

To the moon, sir.

That's right, that's right.

I guess the bad news is out with it.

Please.

Oh well, how much do you like being a.

Noble, nameless messenger?

It is the thing I cherish the very most.

It's a bit of honesty for you in this moment.

Okay, so there's no gentle way to say this, but well, last night, Lord Griffith made made a poor decision.

He had a lapse in judgment and he did something he shouldn't have.

It couldn't have been that bad.

What do you mean, oh buddy, Oh man, I'm pretty we're actually the police.

Yeah, sorry, here's my identification.

This is Midland cops.

Okay, okay, you're no longer you're no longer a noble.

You are an outlaw and company to run I'm what shall I do with my magnificent chambers?

The chamber is no longer yours?

What the fuck is happening?

What you mean?

What is am I?

You can't do this to me?

Do you know who I am?

Do you know how little I've had to do to get to where I am today?

I'm not going to have that flushed down the latrine by some freak angelic ghost head freak Griffith Corcus.

In a couple of days, you are going to be begging for a latrine Yeah, oh no, scene la trening days are over.

I'll bring my bidet.

That sucks.

Yep, poor poor Corcus.

I'm back sympathizing for him.

Well, you know, maybe maybe things will end up okay from we'll see.

We'll see quickly.

Doesn't look like it.

I was gonna say, can I interrupt for some breaking anime news that's going to date the ring of this podcast?

Oh no, is it about me again?

Get a spin off?

You?

I'm back, baby, Shut.

Up all of you.

Andrew lid Webber is turning Phantom of the Opera into an anime epic.

This is huge for teenage me, and that's very tuxedo mask, very listener, we made it.

We made a joke almost eight years ago that has finally come all the way around.

We started we pitched an anime show, and one of the jokes was Andrew Lloyd Weber.

Oh my god, that's pretty good.

We're back.

And also Andrew Weber sucks as a human being.

Just to be clear, however, I didn't know that he was living in New York.

Some thinking, and he flew all the way back to the UK on his private jet just to vote for things to be taken away from lesser well off people.

So well, he lives in New York.

Yeah, but he's like a lord.

It didn't infect him.

Well that's the thing that's what makes some piece of shit.

Anyway, back, just so you know, listener, while the three of us are deeply engaged into the recording of this podcast, Lucy now her mind as else.

I got no someone texted me to tell me.

Someone texted me yeah in my phone during that.

Never I would never leave a podcast recording for twenty five minutes and then come back.

Oh my, I know now I said it.

I was like, I'm bad geez.

Anyway, anyway, anyway, well, you know, Jeff left for twenty five years, but Gods has been gone for an entire year.

How do you think the Band of hawk.

Field twenty five years versus one year?

Ye?

Tom, I am desperately trying to pull this car back onto the tracks.

Okay, hey, listen.

In the next scene, there's those two people who are like getting ready to attack the Band of hawk and they are wearing the most insane helmets.

I love that ever seen in my life.

Like one of us wear little glass two little eye helmets.

They're like Middland steampunkers.

It's so weird.

What one of them is wearing a helmet which is like connected to his nose.

It is like pressing down on his nose.

If he gets bunked on the head, he is dead.

It's so weird.

I don't know what their names are.

We should really, I don't know.

Like I'm gonna go for Tommy Elephants and uh little Precipitous Jones.

It's a lot wow.

Healthy names.

Yeah yeahs Cask is having a tough time.

We get a beautiful shot of her sitting at a desk and she's just looking great, but she's looking very tired, and she has assumed the leadership of the hawk and look, it's been rough.

I don't know what to tell you.

She's struggling.

Yeah, I mean heavy Herby is the head that best of the crown, you know.

Absolutely.

She then gets a visit from Jeff's least favorite character.

For some reason, Judo is my least I just think I want a little more at it.

What is the what is the level of Irish that Judo is coming coming in with?

Let me let me do, let me let me I Irish Bride.

It's just, oh, lucy, I'd say we're we're at maybe like twelve percent contamination.

Okay, it's very low, very low.

He's fine, he's doing great, but you knows, like, hey, listen, dude, you gotta rest.

And she's like that's a good idea.

And then she falls asleep at her desk eating.

You know, we get we.

Get a little little, little.

Little little scene aor in the campfire with the boys, little Rickerts got his little arm broken.

Yeah, kind of just kind of just doing Pippin.

He's he looks exactly like he normally does, and that Corcus Corcus is losing faith.

Guy Caucus is immediately the most defeated human being.

I feel like, it doesn't take much.

I feel like if he stubs his toe, that's his whole year ruined.

Yeah, the noble days are long gone funny and he's like, what fuck?

I hate to see it, but he basically.

It's jove for everyone over Jova Arrow starts spraying from the darkness and the band of Hawk are under attack.

Can't catch your break, not at all our girl.

Caska takes down like four people before being taken down herself.

My feeling is that she's just not on our game here.

She fell asleep in soup.

Yeah, she's all over her lap, you know.

But then the most predictable thing ever in this in this anime.

Happened and then shockingly good saves her.

Yeah, because of the coolest way possible.

He like the front rolled the dude who's about to kick kill Kaska into a fire.

Bot a fire and it is so rad his the sound from that guy is pretty good though.

As he enters the flames, he's just sort of.

Like, well, this is mad, Like it's not.

It isn't even like it's very middle Brooks.

It's crazy.

When he goes, oh no, not for fire, it's just like I laughed, I did out loud.

It was great, and get a floor to ceiling panning shot of Guts, which is incredible.

Yeah, it feels good, and.

A really beautifully drawn Guts enturns into an even more beautiful painting.

And the painting is a thing I've seen everywhere.

Like that thing, I've seen every real I.

Think it gets it gets used in different contexts like that it's like triumphant return, but in like meme reaction world, it's like holy ship, you know, like it's like staring off into into the the void is happening.

I can I've seen it.

I've seen it as in the same way as like this person has entered the.

Battle kind of thing.

Oh yeah, cool, guys.

That's brings these episodes to a close.

I think those are two fantastic episodes.

Strong, very strong, and I love for better or worse.

My man Cork is Finally the limelight is mine.

Plenty of plenty of lines in the script for your Boy.

You know, I'm looking back.

I'm looking back at this moment where it shows Got's face and then transitions into the painting, and it is incredible how different the two odds styles are.

Yeah, like it.

Goes from because this episode has like a very different hostile compared to all the other episodes.

It's a little more anime.

And then when it does the freeze frame into the painting, it's old guts, it goes, he looks, he goes from young to like super old looking in an instant.

It's so weird.

Yeah, his eyes get bigger as well.

It's bizarre looking.

It is weird.

It is.

I yeah, no, I'm with you, John, I I really, I really dig it.

I feel like there's just so few apps left here.

So I'm actually looking at the episodes here, and we have five episodes left, and the way we have traditionally done this is basically done a special three episode.

Yeah, Ali like probably the right call?

Yeah three all right?

Well yeah yeah yeah, a Tuesday and a three, so we'll have two more apps of Jeff jeffs for this.

Do we have four or five left?

Five?

Okay?

Cool?

So five?

Yeah, all right, it all comes down to these last five.

This is it.

This is it.

But yeah, exciting times, absolutely so.

Guys, Lucy, where can People Find You?

You find me everywhere at Lucy James Games.

Two more scene where can People Find.

I Am Everywhere?

To more h I probably worth saying we'll be back soonish.

We're gonna all be traveling, or a few of us are going to be traveling for a little bit for various events and cons and such, such and such, So it might be a bit of a delay in the next episode, but wait, endeavor to get back to it as soon as possible.

Yeah, Jeff Smith, where can people find you?

You could find me Jeff Smith on all social platforms.

Yeah, just Jeff, I changed everything.

It's been hard, but I did know.

My name is Jeff Higgins, like I said, And what I would really love for you to do is go go read the comic web comic that I'm working on.

It's called whis been optioned for a movie.

Yes, exciting, Yes, Oh my god.

I just made that.

Shut up and everyone, okay, okay.

I was like this, I like, this feels like a tim bit.

But then, okay, here's the biggest compliments I can give you, Jeff.

Yeah, Tom said that, and I was like.

No, one that makes sense?

Yeah exactly, yeah, no one knows.

Was like, no, that's not happen.

Well, that feels good.

I guess comical pinball guy, no way, the pin Man.

Yeah, go read it go to belowthelilies dot com.

We're starting the second half of the first season here and shit's popping off, like I I love this.

I'm so happy to tell this the second half of the story.

It's really where shit pops off, not just not just blowing smoke.

Okay, so yeah, check that out.

Let me know what you think.

Thank you so much.

So for my shed out.

I would like to just say that I recently launched a book pre order and that preorder has ended.

So if you didn't order your book, that's on you.

I don't want you to go anywhere.

I just want you to think about this missed opportunity and maybe next time I have something for you, you'll take me fucking seriously.

Okay, Okay, I got my Jeff's comic.

Thank you, Lucy.

I think I didn't get a sign one from John.

I didn't get us what I didn't get a sign one though, John's.

The next time I see you, I will have you sign it please.

I will absolutely say, but you have.

To like make it real good, like really personalize it.

I'm I plan on can I can I tell you guys a little little uh pull the curtain back here?

We sold more special orders than we thought we would, and so now I have to go to Luca and sign a thousand books.

Yeah, a thousand that's not pretty good.

I mean at the same time, I've got a tiny violin over here with your name on it.

Maybe you could sign it, I wonder.

I'm curious, can you?

Can you start?

I'm serious.

I want to know how long it takes you to do it.

But I want to know how long because I don't think it's going to be as bad as you think.

I think you would get cramp in your hand though, like legit, I don't want to get but no, no.

Also, when we were doing the signing question, the giant bomb post is like we like the markers.

Right now, you're going to need a whole box.

Okay, you need a team.

You genuinely you need someone opening into the right page passing it to you.

Because the cover or is it the cover?

Like the first page, what is it?

I think it's a prince?

So yeah, I think I signed the print.

Oh you mean the easiest thing possible.

But still no, no, no, still have podcast have someone do the convey about.

I'm not getting any sympathy and I don't appreciate it.

I think I think it'll if you're just signing prints and they're going right in front of you, I think I think you'll be done in two hours.

Can you time lapse it?

Can you film it and time lapse it?

Yeah, I think that'd be good hashtag content.

Maybe I'll stream while I do it.

Yeah, that's a nice idea.

Also a good idea.

Actually yeah, okay, but yeah that sounds good.

Guys, We will see you next episode.

Bye bye.