Best Seat on the Couch

At long last, the gang arrives in the current day with 2025's fourth and most recent season of Love, Death & Robots ❤️❌🤖, and y'know, maybe it's gonna be the last one. After Marcus's near transcendent experience with season 3's finale Jibaro, for Tim Miller to immediately follow that up with Can't Stop...let me say this: at the very least, we're able to find 4 separate episodes to talk about as unique favorites in this 10-episode season. And the gang does have some fun picking apart the weaker episodes, pointedly noting that we've got a lot of cats and a healthy serving of Christianity in this season as well. The gang will wait with baited breath to see if a season 5 is on the horizon, and if not, then at least there's Secret Level season 2 to look forward to. Right? Content warning: SPOILERS, strong language.

In this episode, the gang (who collectively doesn't listen to k-pop) attempts to understand the nuances of ~i d o l c u l t u r e~ as we tackle 2025's KPop Demon Hunters, from the same Sony Animation Studios that brought us the Spider-Verse series and The Mitchells vs. the Machines. Perhaps the most notable aspect of this film is the music, which is currently charting over actual albums from actual musicians (not to say that TWICE ain't a real musical group), and with a number of us being music theory nerds we get deep in the nitty-gritty of just how well this film/musical comes together. It's a fun film that isn't perfect but very effectively earworms its way into the audience's heads, and I'm sure we can all agree: this is what cinema sounds like. Content warning: SPOILERS, strong language.

As far as slice-of-life animes go, Frieren completely shatters the mold with a brand new premise in the fantasy-DnD-adjacent genre and a level of quality (in terms of adapting a manga) that really hasn't been matched before or since its 2023 release. With the eponymous main character experiencing the passage of time so differently than the peers of her past and of the present, it's incredible how well this show treats flashback scenes, the passage of time within the world and its evolution, and the effect of the past affecting characters in the present. It's also gorgeously animated, has a charming soundtrack, and presents its narrative at an unusually relaxing pace, even during scenes where magic is flying across the screen. One thing we can all agree on—this is a one of a kind show that cannot be missed. Content warning: SPOILERS, strong language.

Nestled at the tail end of the legendary series of films within the Disney Renaissance, Hercules is both a musical fantasy reimagining and kid-friendly family film that paints the traditional story of Heracles from Greek mythology in a brand new light. It's a bold film that cashes in on some of its bold choices (the Muses are such an excellent edition both tonally and musically) but perhaps encounters missteps on other choices (Zeus is decidedly not a standup dad). And we can't have a discussion about this film without absolutely gassing up James Woods' portrayal of Hades and a couple of excellent songs that have stood the test of time nearly three decades later. Plus, Iris brings a long overdue Trivia Corner that really tests the gang's knowledge (and Marcus' faith in himself) on Greek mythology. Content warning: SPOILERS, strong language.

As promised in our discussion of Love, Death & Robots ❤️❌🤖 Season 1, the following two seasons received higher critical acclaim but needed to tweak the formula a bit, toning down the nudity and gore from the first season but also having to traverse the difficulties introduced by the COVID-19 pandemic. And while we all have our favorite episodes and notable stinkers like with Season 1, Marcus posits that Season 3 might possibly be the mythical anthology series season where every single episode is rock solid to absolutely mind-meltingly amazing. That's probably debatable (so let's debate it then!) but the gang can definitely agree that Love, Death & Robots has really found its stride in these seasons, losing a bit of shock value from the more traditionally "adult" themes but gaining a reputation in visual storytelling, short-form narratives, and really thought provoking pieces of genuine art. Content warning: SPOILERS, strong language.

Disney/Pixar's slate of films in their "Disney+ streaming era" as it was post-COVID-19 pandemic, to put it shortly, might have been a bit forgettable: the gang has discussed Soul and certainly enjoyed its mellow vibe, but Onward got dumpstered in March 2020 and Luca appears to have completely fallen out of the cultural headspace. 2022's Turning Red, on the other hand, was actually a film brought to our April Fool's special episode that year, and now we get to seriously discuss its impressive portrayals of the middle school experience, Asian heritage, the cultural hallmarks of the 90s, and a genuine coming-of-age narrative. We all agree that it's a bit underrated these days in the Disney/Pixar pantheon, and there's a ton of impressive emotional payoff and strong messages packed into a neat little 2-hour runtime. Content warning: SPOILERS, strong language.Editor's note: I think it's hilarious that this episode is Episode 4 of Season 18. It's like poetry.

While many kids our age orbited around Pokémon and Yu-Gi-Oh in the late 90's/early 2000's, a small subset of children—our host Alex included—built their childhood personas around Digimon, starting with 1999's Digimon Adventure and the strange "film" released a year later to cap off the series. And as Alex introduces the show and draws his line in the sand, he braces himself for a nearly relentless onslaught of criticism from the rest of the gang, Iris and Marcus especially. Now let me make this clear: we love Alex on this podcast. He is a gem of a human being. But if this show's generally poor animation, subpar English dub voice acting, wild pacing, disappointing final villains, and utterly baffling collection of Digimon weren't enough, Alex caps this episode off with one of the Trivia Corners of all time. While Digimon Adventure has a few—a few—redeeming qualities, including some satisfying narrative and character moments, I think we on the Couch can all agree that this one is going the way of Aladdin 3. Content warning: the Digi-Rap, strong language.

This week on the Couch, the gang enshrines some well-received fan mail from the mythical Josh, who provided us with our topic for this discussion this episode, The Mitchells vs. the Machines. Released during the COVID-19 pandemic from a number of the same people who brought us Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, this film definitely feels like it was created in (and marketed around) the cultural sphere of the late 20teens/early 2020's, which is especially evident in the humor and the breakneck pace. And in the same way that Spider-Verse felt like a love letter/complete visual re-imagining of comic book media on the silver screen, Mitchells feels like it tries to do the same with amateurish home videos—but does it succeed? Tune into our discussion on the film's emotional strengths, narrative weaknesses, and impressive animation. Content warning: SPOILERS, strong language.

Earlier this year, the gang discussed Tim Miller's Secret Level on Amazon Prime, an anthology series designed to highlight various animation studios' chops as they created short films centered around a variety of video games. But before Secret Level, Tim Miller fought through 11 years of development hell to create Love, Death & Robots ❤️❌🤖, an anthology series designed to highlight various animation studios' chops as they created short films centered around...a slightly more broad thematic throughline, I guess. As with most of Marcus' anthology series offerings, there are hits and there are misses, but the hits did hit well enough for the show to win an Emmy! Join us as we deep dive through a couple of our favorite moments and episodes from Season 1, discuss the fear of an AI out-evolving humanity through the lens of sentient yogurt, and dunk on the robot trash dog. Content warning: SPOILERS, strong language.

Though not technically a Miyazaki film, the gang believes that 2010's Arrietty belongs in his pantheon of works with Studio Ghibli nestled in between Ponyo and The Wind Rises, with thematic and artistic similarities to Miyazaki's more carefree films like My Neighbor Totoro. It's a film that leans heavily on Ghibli's masterful work with scenery, colors, and the whimsy of Arrietty's mini-world, but falters somewhat without a strong main (human) character in Shō (or Shawn) or a particularly strong emotional throughline. If you're like Marcus and enjoy a movie paced like a relaxed afternoon walk, then look no further than this magical Secret World. Content warning: SPOILERS, strong language.

Alex, tapping into his memories of the future, assembles the gang one final time and masterfully MC's our discussion on this legendary anime series, Hajime Isayama's Attack on Titan. While a couple of us had some doubts coming out of Season 4, Part 1 given its lack of Titan-on-Titan action, more slow-paced and methodical storytelling, and animation studio change, the show sticks its landing and has a couple of moments that feel powerful to the point of being genre-defining. Join us as Iris spearheads an interesting discussion about the show's message and whether the hope for humanity comes through in the series finale, Marcus loses his mind over wibbly-wobbly timey-wimey stuff, and Michael gets C O O K I N with his discussion on the final scene between Armin and Eren. To conclude our 2.5 hour marathon of an episode, Alex tallies up the gang's individual correct and incorrect theories through each of the previous episodes' Theory Walls with a scoring system that ensures a suspenseful finish regardless of who's crowned the winner. Content warning: SPOILERS, strong language.

Hot off the heels of our discussion on Kung Fu Panda 2, the gang comes to you with the final film in what may be Dreamworks Studios' finest animated trilogy...if you simply pretend 2024's Kung Fu Panda 4 doesn't exist. It's got multiple dads, several more pandas, another villain voiced by another banger voice actor (hi J.K. Simmons!), and yet another really solid character arc for Po which continues to blow us away considering that the name of this film is literally Kung Fu Panda. And while Marcus dunks on Kai a bit like Michael dunked on Lord Shen in our previous episode, the gang unanimously agrees that the film most certainly earned its "Everybody was kung fu fighting" moment at the end. Will we move on to our review on Kung Fu Panda 4 next? No, we don't think we will. Content warning: SPOILERS, strong language.

In a film that crosses two very distinct fandoms in a manner like oil and water, Kenji Kamiyama's War of the Rohirrim is the world's first Lord of the Rings content since Amazon's The Rings of Power and perhaps the only LotR media that truly puts a woman at the forefront of the action! That's nice. It also reimagines a story out of J.R.R. Tolkien's own work and feels like it fits very well—maybe too well, considering the callbacks to The Two Towers—in the existing live-action LotR universe as well as the overall vibe of the series. All that said, it was a box office bomb at the end of the day, and there's a couple of aspects of the film's writing and unique animation style that feel like swings and misses. Stick around to hear the gang's opinions on the man who can kill another man in one punch, or fanservice, or 9/11. Content warning: SPOILERS, strong language.

Once the highest-grossing animated film of all time and certainly a cultural phenomenon that revived Disney with a hefty almost "re-renaissance" as Michael puts it, 2013's Frozen is a trope-subverting musical-movie that had the entire world belting "LET IT GOOOOOOOO" in both appropriate and inappropriate social settings...so why did it take us 185 episodes to finally bring it to the couch? The movie is good, and has a pretty wild twist that was novel for its time, but it isn't a perfect movie either, and experiences some missteps in its villian, consistency, and narrative that newer musical-movie entries like Moana and Encanto deftly avoid. Does this film stand the test of time? Should the gang see Disney on Ice? Does Olaf get worse or better in Frozen 2? Guess you'll have to listen to our discussion to find out. Content warning: strong language.

Fear not, dear listeners—we are almost at the finish line. Hajime Isayama's Attack on Titan endures a little bit of a shakeup for Season 4, Part 1, with studio MAPPA replacing studio Wit on the animation front while a brand new cast of Marleyan characters take center stage as opposed to the familiar Eren, Armin, and Mikasa. This final season has impressively lofty thematic goals that are powerful and gripping, but definitely changes the vibe from the absolute PEAK high-action scouts-vs-titans combat scenes from the return to Shiganshina in Season 3 in favor of more cerebral, slow-paced, human-vs-human conflicts, for better or for worst. One more Theory Wall rounds out this week's episode; one final chance to call our shots before all is revealed in Attack on Titan: The Final Part Specials 1 & 2. Content warning: SPOILERS, strong language.

It's been a very long time since the gang discussed the original Kung Fu Panda, a film that we universally praised for its completeness, excellent performances from Dustin Hoffman and Jack Black, and impressive animation. And somewhat surprisingly, not since Shrek 2 have we seen such an impressive sequel! The animation is fresh with 2D animated storytelling interspersed with the impressive 3D fight scenes and set pieces, Po's personal journey is emotionally rich for a kids' movie, and we get an absolute banger voice performance from Gary Oldman as main antagonist Shen. Tune in to find out if the gang can achieve I N N E R P E A C E. Content warning: SPOILERS, strong language.

With the season finale having premiered just a few weeks ago, the gang's discussion on Season 3 of Amazon Prime's Invincible is hot off the presses, and we're pleased to announce that we enjoyed it quite a bit more than Season 2. Mark's got a rapidly aging alien little brother, an increasingly strained relationship with Cecil, a hot new superhero gf, and like 18 other alternate selves who really hate his guts to deal with this season, and it feels like the emotional center of this show has finally found balance with the high-octane action and fight scenes that keep our butts glued to our seats. On the other hand, has Invincible lost a little bit of that magic that made Season 1 such a gut-punch to comic book animated media? Guess you're gonna have to give it a listen to find out! Content warning: SPOILERS, strong language.

This week's episode presents a chance for Michael, Trekkie of the Couch, to show his quality. Star Trek: Lower Decks is an animated 5-season series from Mike McMahan and heavily channels the vibe of McMahan's previous work on Rick and Morty, while also crafting a narrative about Star Trek's lesser known non-bridge crew that's funny, whimsical, and chock full of nerdy references for Trekkies far and wide. Alex and Marcus learn about the intricacies of Star Trek lore (and how crazy it really gets) and Michael and Iris call back to plenty of traditional Star Trek television of old during our discussions on favorite moments, favorite characters, and Michael's Star Trek-themed Trivia Corner. Content warning: SPOILERS, strong language.

Hajime Isayama's Attack on Titan has, through the previous two seasons, provided broadly more questions than answers. But fear not, dear listeners! If you've stuck with us thus far, then you'll be proud to hear that Season 3 is the undeniably euphoric catharsis the gang has been waiting for. The pieces of the puzzle are coming together! Flashbacks galore! A return to Shiganshina! MANIFEST DESTINY! The development team, Studio Wit, and my boy Hiroyuki Sawano have come together and delivered an absolute masterclass in Season 3, expanding the story around Eren, Armin, and Mikasa to build the world like never before, with key focus on Eren's father, the Ackerman bloodline, the true history of the world and the ramifications of that history on the current royal family. Come for all of that, and stay for our end-of-episode Theory Wall Sina, where all three of Iris, Marcus, and Michael get some previous theories validated as we look forward to Season 4. Content warning: SPOILERS, strong language.

Iris takes a page out of Alex's playbook and proves that sequel episodes here on the Couch aren't just reserved for award-winning animes: following our previous episode on 2001's Justice League, today the gang presents to you 2004's Justice League Unlimited, the eighth and final series of the DC Animated Universe and cherished childhood Saturday morning cartoon for everyone here not named Michael. We can confidently say that this is the best superhero cartoon out there, with immense narrative range, superb voice acting, fun fight scenes, and great messages for children and adults alike. Plus, there's more heroes, more villains, more interpersonal banter, and even some Batman Beyond baby! It's so impressive for a show to have aged so gracefully and proved that not only did it improve upon every series that preceded it, but it became so much more than just a sendoff for the DCAU. Content warning: SPOILERS, strong language.