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PODCAST

Best Seat on the Couch

Alex, Iris, Marcus, and Michael

A podcast where 4 close friends discuss their favorite animated movies and TV shows together. Come for the intelligent discourse, stay for the lighthearted humor, and follow for the hottest takes.

leisure animation & manga

All Episodes

01:09:53

105 | JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Stardust Crusaders

Best Seat on the Couch ·

2022/12/27

A few weeks ago the gang was thrust into Parts 1 and 2 of JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, the legendary 1987 anime series, and learned everything there is to know about the Joestars, the evil vampire Dio, the enigma that is Speedwagon, the Pillar Men, and Hamon. So anyways, literally none of that is relevant anymore, as Stardust Crusaders elevates the series to heights never seen before, with the introduction of... ゴゴゴ「ＳＴＡＮＤＳ」ゴゴゴ. It's more fun, more interesting, more hilarious, more memeable, and

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00:58:24

104 | Peanuts Television Specials

Best Seat on the Couch ·

2022/12/20

Right on time for the holiday season, the gang puts on a couple of the best known Peanuts specials - It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown, A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving, A Charlie Brown Christmas, and You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown - for some leisurely viewing. A cornerstone of all our childhoods, this 1940's comicstrip character loses more often than he wins, but when he wins it warms the heart, and he's surrounded by a lovable cast of friends as well as Snoopy and Woodstock. Join

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01:10:29

103 | Cyberpunk: Edgerunners

Best Seat on the Couch ·

2022/11/29

Cyberpunk: Edgerunners is the love child of Studio Trigger's animation reputation (see our previous episodes on Kill la Kill and Little Witch Academia) and video game studio CD PROJECT RED's longstanding success from The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt and Cyberpunk: 2077, and also it's on Netflix so I guess it's a bit of a triangle. But even if you were disgusted by Kill la Kill's...showmanship...or disappointed with 2077's excessively buggy gameplay on launch, you will be blown away

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01:03:57

102 | Despicable Me

Best Seat on the Couch ·

2022/11/22

It's always nice to come into a movie that appears to be about supervillains, spycraft, action scenes and whimsical gadgets and ends up being about the beauty of family. Despicable Me features Steve Carell's excellent dubious Eastern European accent (as well as an impressive voice cast overall), three lovable little girls that steal your heart, weirdly prominent marine life, Kingpin from Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, and of course, the Minions - though they are somewhat more tame in this movie,

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01:08:35

101 | JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Phantom Blood and...

Best Seat on the Couch ·

2022/11/08

Our first post-centennial episode comes with an introduction to an absolute classic in the anime sphere, originating all the way back in 1987, with JoJo's Bizarre Adventure. We start with Parts 1 and 2 for this week's episode, following the stoic Jonathan Joestar in Phantom Blood as he faces off against the evil Dio, and then continuing with his grandson Joseph in Battle Tendency as he fights the Pillar Men, named after cool American bands! The show's reputation precedes it, as Iris and Michael

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01:43:52

100 | Anniversary Episode: The Couchcast Retrospective

Best Seat on the Couch ·

2022/10/25

Over 2 years and 4 months ago, the four of us came together with a pandemic-era idea to simply record ourselves talking about TV shows - and in that moment, Best Seat on the Couch was born. Humor us now as we come together for our momentous 100th episode, as we take a look back on how far we've come, our favorite moments together, and some of our opinions on where we'll see this show go in the future. And what better way to cap off this episode with our biggest and brainiest Trivia Corner yet

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01:00:51

99 | Toy Story

Best Seat on the Couch ·

2022/10/18

Toy Story is the first completely computer generated movie from start to finish, and is therefore the grandfather of all animated children's movies that came after it, cementing its legendary status both in pop culture and in the National Film Registry's archive of preservation. But how does a CGI movie from 1995 hold up over 25 years later? Honestly pretty well - Tom Hanks and Tim Allen steal the show in the lead roles, there's great character progression, humor for both kids and adults, and at its

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01:08:48

98 | DOTA: Dragon’s Blood (Seasons 2-3)

Best Seat on the Couch ·

2022/10/04

Today is a momentous occasion on the Couch, as for the first time ever we are revisiting a show we previously discussed on the podcast over a year ago, DOTA: Dragon's Blood. Now bolstered with a second and third season, the show continues to suffer for its ludicrously erratic pacing and increasingly this-is-getting-out-of-hand plot but also introduces new characters, hype fight scenes, politics, plot twists, and classically anime stakes. Stick around to hear Alex apologize constantly for

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01:07:55

97 | Baccano!

Best Seat on the Couch ·

2022/09/20

Baccano! is an electrifying and boisterous 2007 anime series that Alex and Michael consider a "gateway" anime - there's a fantastic English dub, it's set in Prohibition-era America chock full of gangsters, gambling, and guns, and the story is told is a unique way that we've never seen on the Couch before. And while the twists and turns and constant time shifts can confuse the hell out of you and leave you lost, once you're in the seat and getting the hang of the ride you won't be able to get off

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01:07:16

96 | Ghost in the Shell

Best Seat on the Couch ·

2022/09/13

On January 18th, 2021, the gang brought Akira to the podcast, a legendary pillar of Japanese animated media and the cyberpunk genre today, though as a film itself is flawed somewhat. But there is another: 1995's Ghost in the Shell feels deeper, more introspective, and more ethereal, and it demands multiple rewatches to fully understand - and appreciate - how important this movie is to future blockbusters like The Matrix and Ex Machina. It's beautifully animated, takes its time to be metaphorical and

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01:03:44

95 | Kubo and the Two Strings

Best Seat on the Couch ·

2022/09/06

Kubo and the Two Strings had a bit of a muted release in August 2016, but its beautiful stop-motion animation and interesting feudal Japanese setting were enough for us to bring it to the Couch this week to discuss. Broadly this movie suffers a bit from "spectacle-itis" as Michael dubs it, as it's got wondrous professional stop-motion animation, gorgeous frames and fight scenes (the Sisters are actually sick) but suffers for a lacking story, unmemorable main characters, and weird pacing and

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01:07:28

94 | Soul

Best Seat on the Couch ·

2022/08/30

Soul is the first Disney/Pixar installment delivered direct-to-Disney+ as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, which is why, for a lot of us, this movie kind of missed us in the buzz of animated movies of the last few years. It feels a little different than Pixar's award-winning formula, with heavier emphasis on the existential and ethereal quality of life after (and also before) death, and it's fascinating to discuss this movie's musical inspiration and undertones, deep emotional moments, and unique

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00:54:57

93 | Ponyo

Best Seat on the Couch ·

2022/08/23

It's been a long time since we've touched on another Miyazaki + Ghibli work on the Couch here - and there aren't many left to discuss - but Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea is a charming movie, perhaps directed towards a younger audience, full of the trademark magic and gorgeous animation that's a hallmark of the movies in this pantheon. But how does this film hold up to Miyazaki's other works? It's got a vibe like Porco Rosso, a deep love for the ocean, excellent characters in Lisa and Sousuke, and

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00:58:25

92 | Tom and Jerry

Best Seat on the Couch ·

2022/08/09

Back in the day, when existence was only in black and white and our parents rode horses to work, Tom and Jerry was an American TV series of short films that was just nonstop hijinks between a house cat and a scheming mouse (and their friends!), and that simple premise became a legendary forefather of animation. In this episode, you'll find out who thinks Jerry did nothing wrong, whether or not Quibi was a worthwhile business venture, and our favorite Tom and Jerry memes. And no discussion of the

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01:28:18

91 | The Owl House

Best Seat on the Couch ·

2022/08/02

Steven Universe crawled so Gravity Falls could walk so She-Ra could run so The Owl House could fly like a weird owl-beast-harpy creature, and dare we say that this is probably the most polished and well-constructed children's animated TV show that we've ever seen. All of the characters, especially our main protagonist Luz, are wonderful and have excellent growth through two seasons, it's animated very well, it's got some wonderful LGBTQ+ representation, and ended on a pretty wild

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01:12:12

90 | Pacific Rim: The Black

Best Seat on the Couch ·

2022/07/26

Another line in the sand has been drawn, and this time, Iris and Michael show off their d r i f t c o m p a t i b i l i t y as they face off against Marcus and Alex's love for the live action 2013 film Pacific Rim. But unlike its progenitor, the Netflix anime series Pacific Rim: The Black is an entirely different beast, with similar emphasis on the Kaiju and Jaegers but with a more serious tone and emphasis on characters and plot compared to the original. We also highlight this show's use of the

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01:01:32

89 | Inside Out

Best Seat on the Couch ·

2022/07/19

On this episode of Best Seat on the Couch, the gang asks: what if feelings had feelings? One of Pixar's top works of the 2010s, Inside Out brings out the emotions in us all, including a couple of our scarily deep-rooted thoughts of depression and existential dread. Nah I'm just kidding, we're all very excited to talk about this movie, so much so that we invite our #1 fan Sarah back onto the podcast to discuss this movie's wonderful emotion-characters, emotional intelligence,

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01:15:41

88 | Kirby: Right Back at Ya!

Best Seat on the Couch ·

2022/07/05

It's Alex's turn on the carousel of...not great shows...this week, and Alex's childhood love for Kirby the Ninteldritch horror and the early Kirby video games brings us to Japanese anime TV series Kirby: Right Back at Ya!, which was dubbed for Western audiences in 2002. The dub is amazing, with voice acting performances from King Dedede and Meta Knight as the highlights, and the 5-episode finale does get kinda hype towards the end, but other than that this show is basically a fever dream. Alex caps

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01:01:56

87 | Aladdin and the King of Thieves

Best Seat on the Couch ·

2022/06/28

The height of the Disney Renaissance made the Mouse fabulously wealthy, and so alongside powerhouse films like Aladdin came many direct-to-video sequels like Aladdin 3, or Aladdin and the King of Thieves. Iris's childhood nostalgia notwithstanding, the gang is pretty whelmed by this film overall, and in this episode we discuss the hard hitting questions like: what makes a sequel worth making? Has Robin Williams' Genie simply gone too far? Are Jasmine's eyeballs okay? Does Aladdin actually make an

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01:01:55

86 | Osmosis Jones

Best Seat on the Couch ·

2022/06/21

Osmosis Jones is the first movie that the gang - even Marcus, who brought this film for discussion - unanimously dislikes. Split between live-action sequences of Bill Murray's truly abhorrent mid-life crisis lifestyle and an animated TV series buddy cop back-and-forth, we can begin by completely disregarding the live-action half of this movie as irredeemable. Ozzy and Drix's camaraderie, Fishburne's performance and construction of Thrax as a character and villain, and the clever medical jokes and

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208 results

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