This Show is Awkward

Full spoiler and content warning: this Banana Fish reunion discussion covers child sexual abuse, sexual violence, exploitation, trauma, murder and death. Michelle and Henrique Couto examine the complete anime and its tragic ending, so finish the series before listening if you want to experience Ash Lynx and Eiji Okumura’s story unspoiled.Michelle drops this almost-reunion onto the This Show is Awkward feed after, by her own cheerful admission, essentially forcing her human friend Henrique to watch Banana Fish. His deliberately brutal summary—"TLDR: glad Ash is dead"—is only the starting point for a much more compassionate argument about why Ash’s fate feels both devastating and, to Henrique, merciful.Together they unpack whether Ash and Eiji’s bond is romantic, platonic or intentionally difficult to label; how Ash’s history of abuse shapes his ideas about trust and intimacy; and whether someone trained to survive through violence could ever imagine a peaceful life. The conversation also revisits Dino Golzine’s control, Blanca’s compromised mentorship, Sing’s place in Eiji’s future, the hosts’ tragic-hero reading and Michelle’s account of creator Akimi Yoshida’s comments about consequences. Along the way, Henrique connects Banana Fish to New York crime stories such as Serpico, Mean Streets and Taxi Driver, while Michelle tests his reading against the manga and the 2018 anime adaptation.This is still Michelle and Henrique, so a serious character study can become an HBO Oz comparison or a joke without warning. They return to Michelle’s vivid image of concrete being poured over the garden of Ash’s spirit, then preserve the original announcement that 86 [Eighty-Six] would be their next anime discussion. It is a thoughtful, argumentative and very personal farewell to Banana Fish.Links Email Michelle: [email protected]

Full spoiler and content warning: Michelle recaps Chainsaw Man Episode 1, "Dog & Chainsaw," from its opening hallway to Makima’s final offer. Expect discussion of blood, dismemberment, body horror, exploitation and zombie violence in this sampler for Michelle Explains Anime, Poorly.Denji is buried under impossible Yakuza debt, selling pieces of his body and hunting devils with Pochita just to keep a roof over his head. Michelle follows his miserable routine through the Tomato Devil job, the cigarette stunt, his coughing fit and the all-important slice of white bread he shares with his chainsaw-dog companion. She also asks the practical question the anime refuses to answer: how is that lonely shack connected to public utilities? Her cat, meanwhile, is sleeping upstairs and contributing exactly nothing.The story turns brutal when the Yakuza betray Denji and reveal their contract with the Zombie Devil. Michelle walks through the stabbing, the dumpster reunion, Pochita and Denji’s new contract and the first full Chainsaw Man transformation. The recap ends with Makima recognizing that Denji is not an ordinary devil and offering him a choice that is caring, controlling and extremely Makima.This is also an animation review. Michelle examines MAPPA’s CG hallway, cars and chainsaw work; the opening theme "KICK BACK" by Kenshi Yonezu; and the ending song "CHAINSAW BLOOD" by Vaundy. She singles out Shinsaku Kozuma and Moaang among the episode’s animators, compares the production with Jujutsu Kaisen and Bocchi the Rock!, and gives the premiere the painstaking, funny scene-by-scene treatment promised in the original notes.LinksEmail Michelle: [email protected]

This 2022 crossover preserves the handoff from This Show is Awkward to Monthly Spooky. Henrique Couto and Michelle thank the Awkward listeners, settle into the crypt and introduce a longer mix of bizarre headlines, horror talk and dark history. It is the first Monthly Spooky episode shared on this feed, not a newly launched show today.The strange-news round begins with a monster-hunting kit assembled by a six-year-old, complete with defenses against vampires, werewolves and witches. Michelle and Henrique also investigate whether spiders fear other spiders, revisit a cluster of sand tiger shark encounters near Long Island, descend into the story of an ancient forest found inside a giant sinkhole in China and meet Nala, the lost dog who slipped into a Tennessee couple’s house and climbed into bed during a storm. These stories are discussed as headlines from the original recording.Centralia, Pennsylvania, supplies the main event. The hosts trace the underground coal-mine fire, competing accounts of how it began, evacuations and eminent-domain battles that emptied most of the town. They remember their own visit to Centralia several years earlier, its cemeteries and the abandoned stretch of Route 61 known as the Graffiti Highway. The episode also explores Centralia’s popular association with Silent Hill without treating that familiar comparison as a settled statement about the game’s single real-world inspiration.There is even more tucked inside: Michelle introduces her WEBTOON Canvas zombie comic At the End of Everything; the hosts react to Rob Zombie’s The Munsters trailer and Jordan Peele’s Nope; and a Reddit "glitch in the matrix" story about a strangely groomed feral cat opens questions about memory, carbon monoxide and parallel worlds. Sharks, vampires, spiders, a town burning belowground and two friends making each other laugh—this is Monthly Spooky finding its voice.LinksWeekly Spooky Email Monthly Spooky: [email protected]

This is the final episode of This Show is Awkward, but it is not the end of Michelle and Henrique Couto podcasting together. After nearly three years and more than one hundred conversations, they explain why the weekly show is closing and look back at the odd little community that gathered around it during quarantine. The original 2022 announcement introduces Monthly Spooky as their next shared format on Weekly Spooky.Before the farewell gets too dignified, real life barges in. Michelle describes the slow process of seeking a Philadelphia home-inspection license, while Henrique shares an update as he waits for Chicano’s veterinary surgery. They talk about exhaustion, work and the practical value of changing a demanding weekly routine into a planned monthly conversation. It is candid without pretending that either host has suddenly become organized.Then the finale takes the only sensible route: an extended detour through shark movies. Henrique tries to convince Michelle to watch Jaws, celebrates the glorious problems of Jaws: The Revenge and sorts out a listener’s confusion between The Last Shark and Burt Reynolds’ Sharky’s Machine. The live chat expands the debate to Sharknado, Alligator and Piranha II: The Spawning, along with a James Cameron and Roger Corman tangent. Swimming pools, freshwater fears, sewers and increasingly questionable survival plans all join the conversation.The ending returns to what matters. Henrique thanks Michelle for sitting down with him more than one hundred times, and both hosts thank the listeners who wrote, chatted and made the show part of their lives. This archived finale preserves a warm goodbye to one title and the beginning of Monthly Spooky—not a breakup, just Michelle and Henrique finding a roomier crypt for the same friendship.LinksWeekly Spooky Email the hosts: [email protected]

Henrique Couto opens with a personal vet update about Chicano, whose new skin tumor had been identified as cancerous. He explains that it appeared on the dog’s leg rather than at the site of an earlier tumor and shares the cautious, encouraging information his veterinarian had given him before a scheduled removal. The update is explicitly Henrique’s experience at the time of recording, not veterinary guidance or a statement about Chicano’s present health. Meanwhile, Michelle tries a new microphone and reacts with exactly the discomfort the original notes promised.From there, the conversation turns to HVAC maintenance. Henrique recounts having his central air cleaned, learning that a dual capacitor might eventually need attention, and planning a furnace check before winter. He and Michelle compare frustrating experiences with service contracts, missed appointments, expensive filters, local repair companies, and the awkward realities of choosing someone to work on a home. Their stories remain first-person anecdotes rather than repair advice.Michelle brings home-inspection stories of her own, including a sandstone foundation that seemed to crumble like sand in her hand. That launches a characteristically winding discussion of basements, split-level houses, flooding, and the wonderfully strange “Pittsburgh toilet”—a toilet sitting openly in a basement. Listener comments keep the detour moving while Michelle and Henrique joke about imaginary lollipop foundations.The lighter sidebars range from the mannequin horror film Tourist Trap and Joe Bob Briggs on Shudder to Danhausen, AEW, new microphones, and the hosts’ pets. Henrique also looks back on Weekly Spooky joining Spreaker Prime and previews ideas that were in development then, including Terrifying and True. It is an unusually candid episode about worrying for a beloved dog, maintaining a house, running small businesses, and leaning on a best friend when the week gets heavy.LinksEmail the hosts: [email protected]