This Show is Awkward

Henrique Couto
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Michelle and Henrique are friends, and also weirdo artists, and they want to talk about stuff and for once let someone listen in other than the CIA.

  1. 03/03/2025

    Banana Fish Final Discussion with Henrique: Ash, Eiji & the Ending Explained

    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: michelle.a.eem@gmail.com

  2. 17/11/2022

    Chainsaw Man Episode 1 Review: Dog & Chainsaw, Denji and Pochita

    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. Links Email Michelle: Michelle.A.EEM@gmail.com

    Chainsaw Man Episode 1 Review: Dog & Chainsaw, Denji and Pochita

  3. 11/08/2022

    Monthly Spooky Premiere: Centralia Mine Fire, Sharks and Strange News

    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. Links Weekly Spooky Email Monthly Spooky: WeeklySpooky@gmail.com

    Monthly Spooky Premiere: Centralia Mine Fire, Sharks and Strange News

  4. 03/08/2022

    Final Episode: This Show is Awkward Moves to Monthly Spooky

    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. Links Weekly Spooky Email the hosts: ThisShowisAwkward@gmail.com

  5. 27/07/2022

    Chicano’s Vet Update, HVAC Maintenance & Stone Foundations

    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. Links Email the hosts: ThisShowisAwkward@gmail.com

  6. 13/07/2022

    Joe Bob Briggs Jamboree: Memphis Horror, Hotel Trouble & Car Repair

    Michelle is back, and Henrique Couto returns from the Joe Bob Briggs Jamboree in Memphis with two very different road-trip stories. Before the horror celebration, a worsening car noise and warning light had him expecting major brake or rotor work. Henrique says his mechanic instead found a bent metal pan beneath the car touching a rotor, moved it back into place, and reported that the brakes and rotors were fine—a rare repair-shop surprise that preserves the original “my car is fine?!” relief. The Jamboree itself was three days of drive-in movies, music, horror personalities, and Mutant-family energy. Henrique recalls landing in a mosh pit with Jonah Ray while Rock ’n’ Roll High School brought the Ramones to the screen; hearing The Lost Boys saxophonist Tim Cappello perform “I Still Believe” and a version of The Last Drive-In theme; and watching John Brennan’s band Bigfeet anchor loose, gleefully unrehearsed stage appearances. Tom Atkins, Danhausen, Dave Sheridan, and an increasingly unimpressed Elvis impersonator all enter the story. The trip also brought a hotel nightmare. Henrique recounts arriving at a budget hotel that felt unsafe, finding damaged furniture, a dirty room, and a mousetrap, then deciding he did not want to spend four nights there. He relocated to the Hilton hosting the event and describes the extra expense, the relief of feeling secure, and the convenience of being on site. These are Henrique’s first-person impressions of that stay; the notes do not identify the property or treat suspected activity around it as verified fact. Michelle fields home-inspection calls during the live show while the friends detour into vegan sausage, road-food mascots, Memphis barbecue spaghetti, and terrible hotels from their younger years. Henrique also acknowledges the worry he carried about a newly discovered growth on Chicano and thanks the people who made the weekend welcoming. The result is part horror-convention recap, part travel misadventure, and part celebration of unexpectedly good car news. Links Email the hosts: ThisShowisAwkward@gmail.com

  7. 29/06/2022

    Dark ’80s Kids Movies: Mio in the Land of Faraway & More

    Henrique Couto and Michelle look back at kids movies that were darker, stranger, and more willing to endanger young characters than much of today’s family entertainment. Henrique starts with Cloak & Dagger (1984), in which a boy’s imaginary secret-agent adventures collide with real spies, a disguised Atari cartridge, gunfire, and consequences that force him to recognize the difference between a game and real violence. Then Henrique absolutely refuses to stop talking about Mio in the Land of Faraway (1987), the childhood fantasy he knew on VHS as The Land of Faraway. A lonely adopted boy reaches a magical kingdom, learns that he is the king’s long-lost son—and therefore might really be a prince—and sets out with his friend Jum-Jum to confront the knight Kato. Christian Bale plays Jum-Jum, while Christopher Lee gives Kato a genuinely frightening presence. Henrique revisits the flying spirit, white horse, invisible cloak, magic sword, stone hearts, and imprisoned children that made the movie unforgettable to him. Michelle answers with One Magic Christmas, the Mary Steenburgen and Harry Dean Stanton holiday fantasy whose bank robbery, family tragedy, and North Pole journey left a powerful impression. The friends also roam through Home by Christmas with Linda Hamilton, The NeverEnding Story, The Monster Squad, WarGames, and Time Bandits, exploring why melancholy, danger, and odd imagery can make childhood viewing memories stick for decades. As if the movies were not chaotic enough, Gigs attacks Michelle’s keyboard during the live stream, knocking out her audio and briefly taking over the broadcast. Henrique turns the technical failure into play-by-play while the chat declares the cat ready for a starring role. Later detours reach the antiwar holiday slasher Uncle Sam, Return of the Living Dead, and Maximum Overdrive, but the heart of the episode remains a funny, affectionate trip through the unsettling kids movies that helped shape the hosts. Links Email the hosts: ThisShowisAwkward@gmail.com

  8. 22/06/2022

    Heat, SEO Scammers & Fake Scarcity Sales Tactics

    Henrique Couto and Michelle try to beat the heat with cold drinks, air conditioning, and a decisive rematch in the great water-bottle rivalry: after measuring hers by hand, Michelle discovers that both bottles hold forty ounces. The friends compare a brutal recording-era heat wave, humidity, sunburn, and the challenge of staying cool while podcasting. Henrique also gives a personal, encouraging update after Chicano’s veterinary checkups, and the hosts joke about Henwolf policing the space beneath his desk. The main business detour concerns bold SEO scammers and sales calls. Michelle describes callers who claimed a connection to Google, promised first-page placement, and insisted that an opening had to be filled that day. She makes one caller explain the pitch, while Henrique connects it to countdown timers and other fake scarcity sales tactics. Their skepticism is presented as their experience with unsolicited marketing, not as a verified judgment about every SEO service. Michelle also recounts paying for an Angi lead that turned out to be someone seeking a stucco contractor rather than a home inspector. The friends briefly anticipate seeing The Black Phone and discuss how hard Michelle has been working on her website. Because the native transcript ends in the middle of their stucco conversation, these notes cover only the material actually captured and make no inference about the missing remainder. Links Email the hosts: ThisShowisAwkward@gmail.com

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About

Michelle and Henrique are friends, and also weirdo artists, and they want to talk about stuff and for once let someone listen in other than the CIA.

Information

  • Creator
    Henrique Couto
  • Years Active
    2019 - 2025
  • Episodes
    140
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © Copyright Henrique Couto
  • Show Website
    This Show is Awkward