Story x Story #200: The Double Centurion Jass Club (Blue Giant)

This week, Nigel and Tazziii celebrate reaching 200 episodes of the podcast as they dive deep into the anime feature film Blue Giant (starting at 36:23). Joining them is special guest Lao K—not only the other mayamada co-founder but the person responsible for the podcast starting in the first place! As we enter the double centurion club, we explore the creative journey of the film's three protagonists and how their perspectives on artistic talent weave into a tightly built wound narrative. The story gives us deeper insights about pursuing your dreams in the face of heavy resistance and some self-doubt. Its optimistic approach to creative obsession gives us a chance to debate views on success and storytelling in Eastern versus Western media. There are themes aplenty to examine, and we get quite philosophical doing just that! This week's storytelling tip explores using underdog narrative beats in stories beyond sports dramas. This episode was made possible thanks to All the Anime, who provided review copies of Blue Giant. Other stories we're enjoying include: Dragon Ball Super (Crunchyroll), One Piece (BBC iPlayer), Monster Hunter: World (PC/Console), Foundation (Apple TV+), Holiday in Handcuffs (Disney+), Nutcracker (Disney+), So I'm a Spider, So What? (Crunchyroll), Gosick (Crunchyroll), In Another World with My Smartphone (Crunchyroll), Parallel World Pharmacy (Crunchyroll), Drug Store in Another World (Crunchyroll), If It's for My Daughter, I'd Even Defeat a Demon Lord (Crunchyroll), Kakuriyo: Bed & Breakfast for Spirits (Crunchyroll), The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom (Nintendo Switch), Joker: Folie à Deux (Cinema), Arcane Season 1 & 2 (Netflix), Gladiator 2 (Cinema), The Wild Robot (Cinema)