KAMPAY! Podcast Abby Pasion

Part 2 of the KAMPAY! Podcast season finale is finally here! Host Abby Pasion continues to chat with content creators Adrian Apolonio and Curt Richy (Crunchyroll, Beyond The Bot) about the elements of "bad" anime, and the "trashy" titles that are still worth checking out!

The spectrum of anime is a vast one. Who is to dictate which series reign supreme while others find themselves on the bottom tier? Well apparently...WE do! In this first half of the KAMPAY! Season 1 Finale, host Abby Pasion chats with content creators Adrian Apolonio and Curt Richy (Crunchyroll, Beyond The Bot) about the elements of "bad" anime, and what make some of these "trashy" titles still worth checking out!

Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood (2009) is considered one of the most iconic shonen anime series of all time, but is this classic story really worth the hype? In this episode, we bring on FMA expert Justin McDaniels as a guest host to chat with Abby about her raw and candid reactions to the series, from the perspective of a first-time viewer.

If there's anything anime has taught us, it's that LOVE is HARD. From indirect kisses to troublesome love triangles, anime has shown us how challenging it can be to navigate these flustering feelings...but also how beautiful, fun, and genuine love can be when you're surrounded by the right people. In this episode, host Abby Pasion chats with friend, artist, and fellow weeb Kenya Dobashi Reutin to explore how anime has impacted their personal love lives, challenges to dating as an anime fan, and the influences anime tropes can have on our perception of love and relationships in the real world.

Okay okay, we know ATLA is NOT an anime—but we just couldn't talk about mental health and comfort shows without honoring Uncle Iroh (the therapist in all of our lives that we never knew we had)! But whether it's ATLA or anime, these shows can mean so much more to the fans who adore them. In this episode, we chat with Filipino Studies scholar (and Uncle Iroh-in-training himself), Wayne Jopanda, about our personal mental health journeys and the series that helped us get through tougher days.

Is the anime genre really nothing more than entertainment created for our mindless viewing pleasure? In this house, we say HELL NO. On this week’s episode, local Filipina-American cosplayer and fellow nerd Marybeth Roboca-Vu joins host Abby Pasion to discuss the political roots and messaging of the many anime series we love and cherish. Is it possible to both love AND be critical of the things we love? Is it even our place, especially as foreign fans, to be critical? Tune in to find out!