The Life N Times Network
Born from the unexpected friendship of two college freshmen from different worlds, The Life N Times Network has matured into a multifaceted podcast that delves deep into the nuances of modern life. Hosts Natheer Brunson Jr. and Aaron Salada navigate the complexities of their 20s, offering listeners a blend of introspection, humor, and cultural commentary.
From the introspective discussions in "Of Music & Men," where Dre and Natheer dissect contemporary music and its cultural implications, to the candid reflections in episodes like "Healthy Habits," the podcast offers a raw and authentic look into personal growth and societal observations. Whether it's the spirited debates in "The Fight" series or the laid-back vibes of "Smoke Sessions," each episode invites listeners into a space of genuine conversation and shared experiences.
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The Life N Times Network
LNT Anime Ep 1
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Remember keeping your anime obsession quiet after a wild Toonami weekend? We’ve been there. We open up about how that secret love turned into a cultural engine, tracing the path from dorm debates to packed cons, from whispered Dragon Ball takes to hip‑hop name‑drops on the timeline. Along the way we revisit the shows that shaped us—Dragon Ball’s messy magic, the tournament grit of Yu Yu Hakusho, the moral weight of Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood—and why those stories still hit harder than nostalgia alone.
It's uh Lee in LA. This is Life Into Network Episode One of Anime. I've been wanting to get into this since the podcast started. First of all, since the podcast started, Carlos has been a supporter, the first guest, and now a host. Let's go, Carlos. How you feeling, bro?
SPEAKER_00:Man, I'm feeling great, man. I'm feeling great. I got you guys won't be able to see this, but I got a Chelsea kit on right now. Chelsea are Club World Cup champions. The inaugural Club World Cup champions of this new format. 32 teams, Chelsea on top. We're world champions, and I'm on top of the world right now, man. I'm not gonna lie to you.
SPEAKER_01:Man, I knew I felt some spiritual pressure coming from somewhere.
SPEAKER_00:It was awesome like Jinwoo right now, brother.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, you feel like Jinwoo over there, bruh. It's been good to uh to catch up with you to see you, man. It's good to get into these podcasts into these different spaces. Like anime is probably like one of the big things out there now, and a lot of people are like actually participating in it. Yeah, like you see RDC, you see DreamCon. I recently talked to my boy, he went out there when that whole DDG shit went down. So, like it was uh it's great to see all these spaces, you know.
SPEAKER_00:It really is, and especially like you know, when when we were in college, it was still up and coming, you know, being that being black and being into anime, and we're kind of uh yeah, man, and you know what's crazy, it's kind of ironic. We are of the life and time of when anime wasn't cool before it was cool, bro. I remember that and you had yeah, and you had to hide it, you remember you had to hide it, bro.
SPEAKER_01:That shit was like taboo, bro. That shit was like older board's name and early Harry Potter, bro. You couldn't say it, bro. People are like, what the fuck? That was like an automatic dismissal, like socially, it was crazy, bro. Oh, yeah, it faded instantly, and now we got Megan the Stallion, we got all these people participating in anime culture, like making it more and more mainstream. I mean, I'm glad, but yeah, I remember those dark times, man.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, it was it was definitely dark. It was dark, it was a little lonely. It's like you know, when you saw a hype episode on Tunami the past weekend, you want to go, you want to go to school first day Monday morning. Like, yo, did you see that episode of Dragon Ball Z? Did you see Goku turns super saiyan? Did you see Yu-Yu Haka Show? Did you see Samurai Champlu, Inu Yasha? Like all those, all those dope, like tsunami, tunami adult swim animes, man. Like at a time where it was dark.
SPEAKER_01:Bro, Iuasha was like insane to watch and then go back to school, bro. Like 100%. It was the like it was the Demon Slayer before Demon Slayer. Yo, it really was. It really was, bro. 100%. And like Kagome wasn't like a weak female character or anything like that. They did the strong female characters like way before anything, you know. It's crazy. I mean, you see the same thing on uh cowboy bebop as well. Yeah, classic, by the way. Classic, classic, classic, bro. Let's talk about classics, bro. Like, what's your favorite anime? Like, what's a classic to you? What and we can do uh new gen versus old gen, you know what I'm saying?
SPEAKER_00:So I'm like oh man, I probably have yeah, like so so old gen, old gen, I would have to like this would be my starting five three to five. I probably would say. I'm a huge Dragon Ball Z fan, just Dragon Ball fan in general. Like, you I've you've known that since college. I love Dragon Ball, I love everything they do with it. Is it convoluted? Is there retcons? Of course there is, but it's just that nostalgia of Dragon Ball, man. Like seeing Goku from a kid grow up to a teenager to a grown man. That was just that was that was peak television. And Dragon Ball is held in a very high number two with Uh man. I'm not gonna lie to you. Those are those are two animes, like two short animes that are very, that are very critical, like my character, because I think there's a lot of similarities. There's there's tournament again, tournaments are like the peak of any part of both of those animes. And I think Vegeta and He are just two are two amazing like archetypes of characters, man. I just I love it. I know I said I would do five, but those are like the big two, those are the big two, you hawk show and dragon ball. No, I give you one big two from the old gen.
SPEAKER_01:From the old gen, at least for me, four uh full metal occupants brotherhood is like my favorite anime like like dark. I it it was just so dark, but like it was like I like sentence more than like showings. Like the older I've gotten, the more I like sentences, yeah. So like but it still showed like the show and the ability and shit like that, like far as the fights and everything like that. So it was really good to see that. And then as far as my second one, I'll have to say like it's either you, Hakushu, right? Or yeah, Kanishi, the mightiest disciple.
SPEAKER_02:Those are like my two, and then I'd say uh Hajimi no Ippo as well.
SPEAKER_01:Like Hajimi no Ippo like made me throw jabs, like that was like insane for me. So I gotta say those two. And I think and I think that's interesting, like he's underrated, bro.
SPEAKER_00:Very underrated, but it's up and coming, though. I would say it's definitely up and coming. But uh going back to full metal alchemist, brotherhood. I think that's interesting for you specifically, because again, like you are always into poetry to write. I think I think the science aspect also of a full metal alchemist, I also think is is pretty safe. Like that, that all change of equal exchange. It's like to get something, you have to give something of equal value and type of thing. And again, those episodes, I was watching that as like a toddler, and those episodes were dark. The philosopher's stone and all that type that shit got serious. It got serious, like dude, dude was messing with his own daughter's soul, and next thing you know, put it in like this homunguide dog, wolf, lion type of situation that couldn't speak or wasn't supposed to. That was that was very heavy to digest as a child. Like, I got nightmares from full metal, both whether it was the original or brotherhood.
SPEAKER_01:Bro, that shit fucked me up for a good minute, bro. I'm not gonna lie, it definitely did like anime when you were younger, like at like you know, 10-11. Like, I'll watch like a certain human shit. I'm like, I gotta turn the TV off. This is too much.
SPEAKER_00:Like, dude, it was it was crazy, and mind you, Raku, like you remember like people love talking about aura nowadays, two characters that had insane aura in Inuyasha, Sashomaru and Naraku, yo insane aura.
SPEAKER_01:Sashomro pulled up just to flex some niggas, bro. Like, he's just here, just to flex the fit, yeah.
SPEAKER_00:He's just like, y'all, but like when I pull up, make sure y'all see my fit.
SPEAKER_01:He said you don't deserve your sword, you don't deserve your charity, bro. Like weak, you're half blood, and then he leave.
SPEAKER_00:And then he would just leave, and he would just straight up be like, You're not straight. If we really fade, even though my sword can't cut, you still can't fuck with me.
SPEAKER_01:Not even a little bit, bro.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, not even a little bit. He's like, brother, I'm full-fledged demon, you're only half blood. Like, you really don't want to do this, bro.
SPEAKER_01:He was really into Itai, if you think about it. Like, he was really honestly, he was coming.
SPEAKER_00:But he was an actual hater. He he was, he was in the Satoma was an actual hater, like Itachi was was cosplaying a hater. So Tomor was actually a hater for the love of the game.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, no, he just didn't like him. Like, even after the series, like he still didn't fuck with him. Like, yeah, he's like the plot may be over, but I still don't like him. Yeah, it's in the AU. I still got problems with you, like um, I understand. But like, yeah, so shout outs like goaded, bro. He he's one of the best, man. He just came and did shit, like save people. He's like, I ain't really want to save you. Like, what's up with him? Oh man, but like, do you see like the gatekeeping that's happening in their culture? Like, certain people can't do this, certain people can't do that. The intersection that's happening online, I feel like anime is like interacting with a lot of different narratives now, and it used to be like people are their own separation, like a case system almost. Like, you and your guys do it there, and we do it here, but we never talk to each other, but now it's like all interconnected, yeah.
SPEAKER_00:And it's and it's kind of interesting because again, going back to that pocket of time between like the 20 2015 to 2020, it was like you remember every anime kind of had their own hive. It was like there was the dragon ball, there was the dragon ball hive, but the over arc like the big umbrella under that over that was the shonen. Like you were a shonen guy, and then there were certain people who were isekai kind of people, and then there were people that were just slice of life anime kind of people. Like, I don't I'm not really into the action stuff, like give me a slice of life anime where we're just yeah, like we're in school or in college, like bro, and and they like had the superiority too, like yo, I don't watch like you can't watch it showed it a real like I don't get that that's so weird, bro.
SPEAKER_01:Oh, we we all turned over the same gateway drug that's is DBZ, the OG showed it.
SPEAKER_00:So come on, we all started, yeah. We all started on the same block, and then what became and then there was the anime versus manga people, you know. Oh my god, that was crazy. That was crazy. I'm sorry I don't got the book. Like it's like, dude, when I was a kid, books cost money, and it's like I have the money to buy these mangas, like, and there was you know, it would always leave on a cliffhanger, so it's it's crazy how many like 20 bucks, and you got a cliffhanger, bro. That's crazy, dog 20 for 50 pages that get you sucked right in and then leave you like, oh man, I don't know what's gonna happen next. Not even not even a drop of what's gonna happen next, bro.
SPEAKER_01:I remember going to the library and getting all the showed jumps. Dog that used to be crazy, bro. Yeah, you gotta go ahead and win, yeah, yeah. Good fucking times. How where do you land as far as like subculture and anime? Sub versus dub.
SPEAKER_00:I'll be honest. So majority of the animes that I've watched, I've watched sub the only the only two anime, the three animes that I've I've only seen Dragon Ball in English in its entirety, like from Dragon Ball, from Dragon Ball to Dragon Ball Z, I've seen Dubbed and Sub, but Super, I watched all sub. Yu Yu Haka Show, I watched, I watched it in its entirety in both. Andu Yashaball, I watched dubbed. So it's like I am I I do prefer sub just because I feel like the the dialogue is a little more genuine and and kind of less exaggerated, I guess you can say, but again, I'm very much in the middle. I'm not gonna be like, oh man, why are you watching the dub? Then again, there are certain English voices. I'm just like, I don't necessarily like his voice in English, like you know, so I'm very in the I'm very in a gray area, but I I do prefer dub, I'll be real.
SPEAKER_01:I only like dub when the voice actors give a fuck.
SPEAKER_00:Like, yeah, like we all know who Sean Shimmel is. We all know who Sean Shimmel is.
SPEAKER_01:So if I hear that, I'm like, all right, I can deal with it. But like if you give me some dude don't give a fuck, and he's just getting a paycheck, he's like, oh man, like some weak shit. I can't deal with that, man. That's disrespectful. Japanese uh voice actors are insane. I like insane, and I think the amount of emotion you can feel from their range, and then like you know, like when you bro, you're watching like Hunter X Hunter or something, and they're like talking, but they're a villain, you can feel the you know, the animosity and the danger, right?
SPEAKER_00:Like they're really talented as far as their tonality, and I think it says a lot about the culture when you know certain voice actors' names, like Masakota Zawa, like the voice of Gohan, Goten, and Goku. Like, she's done the impact she has on the culture of just of me is is insane. Again, Sean Schimmel for the English dub who does Goku and Vegeta, I believe. Like, he again, we all we know we say their first and last names as if you know we see them on the block like all the time, and I think that's that goes to show how big of an impact. Yeah, like that goes to show the impact they have on our childhoods, on nostalgia, on the culture, like on all levels.
SPEAKER_01:Even the English dub of uh Avatar is like so good that we know all the voice actors from that, and they can always make money from that. Like, I saw I didn't even know, but the chick that does Tough does like a bunch of other people too, bro. That's crazy.
SPEAKER_00:And you know what's funny? I find it funny in hindsight, how everyone kind of loves these undercover animes, but don't want to admit that they're animes, like Avatar the Less Airbender. That's an anime. Let's be real. That's an anime, let's be real. That's an anime. You guys they're just hiding behind the cartoon signal, yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Man, what American Dragon is an anime. Yeah, American Dragon is an anime, bro.
SPEAKER_00:Sleepers, sleeper anime uh another one, Team Titans, Team Titans, Team Titans. That's an anime, brother.
SPEAKER_01:That's an anime.
SPEAKER_00:That's an anime, brother.
SPEAKER_01:A lot of art like some real interludes in that shit, bro. My man Robin like caught a body the last episode, like the last movie.
SPEAKER_00:Like, we never talked about cute Robin and Teen Titans was ready to box on site, on site, bro.
SPEAKER_01:I still like how they did all the characters on Teen Titans. This is a classic show. I can always go back and watch that. That's like Batman Beyond as well. Batman Beyond's the fucking one, man.
SPEAKER_00:Anime, dude. Anime, young justice, too. Young Justice is a here's the thing. I'll have you watched all the new seasons. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I watched Young Justice a couple of times. I'll be real, because I think I honestly think Chef's kissed. I'll be honest. There's nothing negative you can tell me about Young Justice.
SPEAKER_01:No, if you're a comic fan, and and this one won't do anime, we'll do comics, it all interjects. It's the same world, at least to me. I feel like comics and manga are like cousins. Um yeah, but if you follow the comics, bro, like young justice is really fucking good, bro. Like, like the way it's really everything, like it's crazy.
SPEAKER_00:Oh man, I just saw Superman, dude.
SPEAKER_01:Oh, how do you like it? I haven't seen it yet. Haven't seen it yet? It's good. I'll tell you that. I'll tell you it's good.
SPEAKER_00:Uh-huh.
SPEAKER_01:You should go see it.
SPEAKER_00:And I'll and I will take your word for it. And I will take your word for it. I will take your word for it. Because I am again, I'm upset at how many times DC has had to scrap and start over, but this was a title that I was very excited for because the trailers moved me, I'll be real.
SPEAKER_01:Hey man, it it's it's a good movie. You'll leave with that hope. Like, yo, Superman, like that vibe of Superman, he has it. It's kind of like when Robert Dana Judy did Iron Man. He's like, oh, this guy's Iron Man. Like, I believe he's Iron Man. I believe this guy who just did Superman is Superman. I'm not gonna lie, he did a little bit better than uh what you call it, Henry Cavill. Yeah, I mean, listen, I'm just talking about the hope aspect. Yeah, I hear it. No, I hear it. I hear it. I think Cravel was serious and he matched the tone of his DC universe, but he didn't match the tone of Superman. Okay, that's all I'm gonna say, man.
SPEAKER_00:Oh, I like that. That was a bar. That was a bar.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, I that's why I let it go like that. You see that, you know?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, that was a bar. I'll be real, that was a bar.
SPEAKER_01:I'll be buying, bro.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, you're good, yeah, yeah, yeah. No, trust. I've been tapping, I've been tapping, bro.
SPEAKER_01:Remember Naruto on GameCube, bro?
SPEAKER_00:Ultimate ninja, dude. The ultimate ninja and clashing ninja series. Oh, let's start with ultimate ninja, man. Yeah, changed that changed everything, bro. Naruto ultimate ninja changed everything.
SPEAKER_01:Life was different, bro. That's one of the games you stayed up with your cousins to beat the whole game, like fantastic series. It's kind of like the Ten Kaiichi fucking Naruto, bro. I was just gonna say that it was kind of Naruto, bro.
SPEAKER_00:It's on the Mount Rushmore of anime fighting games, like for a series. Like, there's Ten Kaiichi, there's Ultimate Ninja. Like, there those are two titles that have to be on the Mount Rushmore of anime fighting games, because I really felt like I was I was taking the tuning exam, dude.
SPEAKER_01:Yo, that actually felt like a problem. Like, Orochi Maru was a problem for me in life, like that 500 feels special, bro. Especially if you pay Naruto, like now you now you trash for a minute.
SPEAKER_00:And we were talking about Aura. Dude, you remember when Orochi Maru first pulled up? We're like, whoa, yo, pull up.
SPEAKER_01:How do what do we do about this guy? Bro, he hold Kakashi, he holds Naruto in the demon form, he holds Sasuke, but this is holding people all around. Coming, Mark the third Hokage lose his arms and shit.
SPEAKER_00:Like, yeah, his body count was crazy, but ultimately, what a what a great. Series of games, dude. And you know the length that I used to go to play that game in college. So a little a little uh gem drop. There was five ultimate ninjas, right? Naruto Ultimate Ninja 5, I believe, only went up until they rescued Gara from uh from Datara. And then they released another Ultimate Ninja, I think it was Ultimate Ninja 6, that was only released in Japan, but it continued after they rescued Gara and went up till they found uh Sasuke for the first time in Shipuden. And you know how cold Sasuke's character design was in Shipin. He had MRI vibe kind of going on. Like, you know, his hair was longer, he had the little Roshimara robe, he had a sword now. Oh man, it's crazy. So I used to get an emulator, I got an emulator in college, a PlayStation 2 emulator, and you could change the bio to Japan, change the region of it so I just so I could play Ultimate Ninja 6, bro. Ultimate Ninja 5 or 6. I think it was five almost thing, but that was the lengths that I would go just to play Ultimate Ninja, dude.
SPEAKER_01:Bro, when you pull out that emulator, when you get in front of that laptop, you start searching that shit up, it gets serious. And I understand I completed a lot of games that had coming up as an adult, and it's a totally different feel because like I'm way better at Simpsons Road Rage than when I was when I was 10. Like I'm way better.
SPEAKER_02:Remember that? Simpson's Road Rage, dude.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, dude. That was like Simpson's GTA, dude. Yo, crazy.
SPEAKER_01:And unlocking all the cards and the specials and all that shit was wild. It's some OG games like uh bully that play over, and I'm just like, this is just a good time.
SPEAKER_00:Oh bully, man.
SPEAKER_01:They should make a bully too.
SPEAKER_00:They really should or remaster. They I think they remastered it. Yeah. Bro, like I get so annoyed with game companies because I feel like there's so much, there's so much money and backward compatibility. And like I understand that, like, yeah, you have to get the rights for a lot of these games and all this, that and the third, but come on, man, give the people what they want. Like, be able to play Marvel Ultimate Alliance on PS5.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, I mean, it's just a little silly. Like, this remaster the classics, we are gonna pay for it. You have guaranteed money. Like, come on, just work with me. I will give you my money. Yeah, like that's like young justice season six. Get I'll give you the money. Like, come on. That's like any anime that's chance. Have you ever watched that anime Air Gear? It only has I haven't. Yeah, it's fire, it only has one season, but like the mom has fired, but like they needed another one.
SPEAKER_00:I know, I know an anime like that. It was wise man's grandchild only that one season, and it was so fire. And I remember I think it was only about 12 or 13 episodes, and the last episode you would think that following season the plot was gonna thicken in ways never heard of, and they just never came back, man. Shit. It is sad. It's it really makes me feel like it makes me feel like like, do you did y'all did y'all just not love me? Like, what's going on?
SPEAKER_01:Like, yo, I mean you really don't yo, before I found out that there was a manga that contains the story most of the time, I thought it was over for me. Like, I thought when soon shit went off, it was a wreck. Like, I didn't know what I was gonna do after that shit. Like, uh in Sony anime that cancelled like that. Like Parasite. Like, I wouldn't mind, I wouldn't mind a second season of that.
SPEAKER_00:Um yeah, the streets definitely need parasite to come back.
SPEAKER_01:How do you feel about like you know, anime and hip-hop are starting to merge now? Like, we're getting more and more anime references in our main artists and stuff like that. I think it's uh I think it's long time come.
SPEAKER_00:I do too. I think it's I honestly I'm kind of of the opinion that I think it's overdue. Because again, like as we've been naming off all these classes, all these heavy hitter animes, it's like we all grew up on Toonami. Like, like no matter, no matter how you think about it, we all grew up on we all grew up on Yu Yu Hansha, we all grew up on Naruto, we all know who these characters are, whether we wanted to admit it at that time or not, we all knew, like everyone knows who Killua is, you know. So I mean they should I I mean I yeah, I think it's dope. Oh, I think it's dope that a lot of these characters are being referenced, and again, I think it's just the long legacy of anime, man. Like, it's it's in our history.
SPEAKER_01:I think Drake should do like a big old inspired anime, like like uh album or some shit, bro. Because like the premise of how do you think that'd be what you think gotta be digested? I don't know. I think it's gonna it's Drake, they're gonna be mad and they're gonna be they're gonna like it. It's out of two ways. That's not true, bro. Like, people either like it or they don't with Drake now, and that hey, fuck it. But I would like to see like because they all get him out of you know, a natural theme, and then big o is kind of like his own lifestyle, like the main character is fucking rich as fuck, we fights monsters and a big ass robot.
SPEAKER_00:Like does a bunch of little I remember the first time I heard about Meg. The first time I heard about Meg was I think I saw a clip on Twitter, and she had like the Todoroki and the dude going on, the half half blonde, half red. Yeah, yeah. And that was before I even knew who she was, or before I even knew I was even thinking about that.
SPEAKER_01:Yo, if he did something like that, he would blow up in Japan. Like, like that's a cross-market. I mean, I think artists should do that just to cross market. Like, I imagine you know, you know what's crazy? Like, rap is so weird, it's only a couple people were like up there, so I gotta say, like J. Cole, like what if J. Cole did an anime, and that would be fire, by the way. I think J.
SPEAKER_00:Cole is I've seen I've seen all this. I remember because of course another undercover anime like Boondocks that everyone grew up on.
SPEAKER_01:Classic.
SPEAKER_00:And and mind you, I've seen a like on Twitter, I've seen a bunch of people do like concept art of J. Cole and Dave East. Like, this is what I thought Riley and Huey would look like as if they got older. I'm not gonna lie, I'm invested in that. If they did a live action boondock, like they got older, they got J. Cole as Huey, and they got Dave East as Riley.
SPEAKER_01:That's that would be bad, bro. You know, I never thought about live action boondocks, but like that would actually be cool as fuck, right? Because like that will actually work, like shooting people and shit, and we got Huey karate kicking motherfuckers and shit. That would be actually lit, bro. Like it's a TV show, like they could actually be like in somebody's universe, like Marvel or some shit.
SPEAKER_00:I think that would go so hard.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, I would love if they did like an anime that focused on like well, they do, but it's always translated in something metal physical, like an alien or like some type of creature, some different species. But like, I'm talking about like a you know, an anime that's focused on the culture, like this, like boys in the hood, but it's like an anime, bro. That'd be crazy.
SPEAKER_00:You you know what? We kind of missed one that's the kind of anime. What static shock? Oh, for sure. Static shock is for the culture, brother. Bro, static shock is his hero outfit, but he's up here.
SPEAKER_01:Static shock's a fair. I got him over Spider-Man, like far as like when I was coming up, like far as like who I like Static Shock was over Spider-Man for me. He's like my first and then on Spider-Man, but like Static Shock is cool as fuck, bro. I actually like I can always watch that show. Like, I just started over from episode one. 100%.
SPEAKER_00:That's a classic. I thought was interesting about static shock, like they tackle real life issues, like you know, drug abuse, right um, broken homes, racism, bullying, you know, they tackled some real heavy stuff when we were kids, you know.
SPEAKER_01:And we're just you know, there's preppedness for the real life, to be honest. Yeah, especially like you know, kids that look like us. Speaking of kids that look like us, how do you feel like the reception to blurb into these quote unquote white spaces far as comic books, far as anime, far as these things that it's not known for black people to be into?
SPEAKER_00:That's a good question. That's a loaded question, too. I think you know, yeah. I mean, I think it shows itself in a lot of different ways because you know, you know, black people we're we're real diverse. We're there's a lot of different archetypes for us, you know, and we've really blended anything, so I think it's another it's like another platform. Anime is another platform for just another space for us to be creative, really. Yeah, and what I what was cool about in a bunch of animes is that you know, black, I feel like black characters in animes always have the coolest characters. Like going back to Naruto, the hidden cloud village, that was just that was that was super that was super ins.
SPEAKER_01:They didn't know what to do with killer bee, like he whole sasuke, bro. That shit was what type of that's a crazy introduction, bro.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, mind you, and Sasuke, like Sasuke had had some buffs at that point in time, and killer bee was just rapping and whooping his ass.
SPEAKER_01:This one Sasuke didn't give a fuck. This one he told Naruto to go get stronger, like he was on some shit.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, he was talking, he he was he was talking with his chest out, and then again, like in Dragon Ball Z, Mecchians, dude, the Meccans were definitely black people. I think the Mekians and Sans were kind of were black people to be honest.
SPEAKER_01:I mean, look at Oob though, like even the Earthling version of it, it's cool as well. I would love some like yeah, dude, Oob was cool. Can we get it?
SPEAKER_00:Can we get an Oob series? He was the and the only dude with a Mohawk, too.
SPEAKER_01:Like, oh man, the Mohawk was early, bro. That was like that was new, like that was different, bro. I never even thought I could see that. I thought it was like kind of like a Mr. T moment for the anime community.
SPEAKER_00:It really was, yeah. But I there's there's so many iconic. I think black in anime is like one of the most iconic things, honestly. Like when we first saw Killer B, when we first saw uh Darwi, the the uh the the Rai Kage's like secondhand man, like he was sick, just toothpick, eye covered with the blonde hair.
SPEAKER_01:He was he was tough, yo, and he was cold with it too. Like, you know, he was getting it in, bro. Like during the fifth ninja war, bro, he was putting in some work, bro. Yeah, I like the war. I like the war. The war was good in Naruto. That was a good time. That was like I think Naruto like finished out before he can get trash, you know, because like they were scaling up to that level. They were they were scaling up.
SPEAKER_00:Like they really were, they definitely were.
SPEAKER_01:I like how they're building things up because like with one punch man, where is he gonna go? Like his ceiling is like, you know, like I I gotta have some stakes.
SPEAKER_00:Like I know what you mean. I'm kinda I'm getting there with one piece. Like, where where do where are we going? It's it's been going on for a while now. Okay, I mean, I love I love one piece. Yeah, I'm I'm and the thing is I love One Piece, man. I do, and I really do think it'll go down uh as the goaded anime because for the reason being uh One Piece is the closest thing we have to like comic book like anime to where it's just this this fleshed out story of just of of events of pivotal canon events throughout throughout the entire plot throughout the entire plot. And but the thing is it's just like it's such an investment. Like if you're if you're invested this deep, like you can't give up now.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, I gotta I'm here until we get the one piece, dog. I don't care if I'm 40 or 50, whenever it hits, I have to. I'm 1100 episodes in. Like it's not for the week, bro. I told somebody it was like it was really not. Should I get into one piece? I'm like, what type of spirit do you have? You know, exact honesty.
SPEAKER_00:I always my hot my hot take is if if you're someone who is just now getting into anime, one piece is not the anime for you. It really is so behind, you're so behind. It's too much.
SPEAKER_01:You gotta start unless unless you bro. I tell people start a demon slayer or some shit, you know what I'm saying? Yeah, yeah. Something like that's easy, easy to get into. Oh, they getting into it, like they don't got a fleshed out power system, it's alright, and then you work your way up to Hunter X Hunter. I would love another like bro, you know the manga's still going. Yeah, you can drop one chapter in like three months.
SPEAKER_00:As an anime fan for Hunter X Hunter, you're you're just starved, you've been starved for years.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, very anorexic. It is what it is. Nothing you can do.
SPEAKER_00:Like bleach just started getting fed within the what three to four years or so.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, bro. Bleach is goaded, bro. It's still fire. I was watching it recently. I was like, oh, this still this is still dope as fuck. Like, like the concept of bleach is still fire, it's still one of the big three farts like conceptually being massive in the anime community. I do like that, like Ichigo is not being compared to like Luffy or Goku anymore, he's just his own guy, you know.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, yeah. And he deserves that. Again, I again I think there's different tiers of anime. Like, there's there's like the goaded ones that are on the rush mirrors, then there's like your sleeper animes, there's the ones that are like if you know you know type type of business going on, like samurai champ blue or like a roadie kenshin.
SPEAKER_01:Classics, yeah, yeah, yeah. Classics, bro. Those are like I always just wanted to be like, I mean, and then we get Afro Samurai, which is a combination of that energy and black culture, right? That was insane for me, bro. My first Xbox, I got it for free, right? The dude got pissed off in line. He's like, Yo, I'm not, he wasn't getting his money back and shades got pissed off. So I gotta walk through Philly with this fucking Xbox. But my first game I bought was Afro Samurai, bro. And I remember playing that shit and watching movie, bro. That was big for me, and getting into anime in itself, but like yo, Afro Samurai's fire, like both movies, yeah, dude.
SPEAKER_00:Shout out Afro Samurai, man. That was that was that was huge for the culture.
SPEAKER_01:That was huge for the culture, that was huge, bro. Great fucking series, great fucking uh introduction to it, especially where it crosses over into the culture. Just in closing, man, it's great to have you on here. We're gonna start talking about like whatever animes are popping, what's trending, people getting mad about this, or that this is episode one of Life Atops Network Anime.
SPEAKER_00:Just the beginning. Just the beginning tapping in.