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We love a future where people can ignore their swords and love cats

I love that Rachel and her grandpa are both into woodworking eventho they're far away from eachother. So sweet!

What I find refreshing in Frieren is how the elves don't have the same temperament as elves in most fantasy settings, like tolkien, the witcher, and even dungeon meshi. It's nice to see the elves as a bit more humble.

Thank you so much for the shoutout!! You have no idea how happy it makes me to hear you like my cover of One Winged Angel so much! I have watched a lot of your videos over the years (Jun's "How I trained my Cats" video I must have seen over a hundred times) so I am floored that you somehow have stumbled upon my channel. I'm working hard to finish my Chrono Cross album and I hope you will like it, Rachel! Thank you so much again - Much love to you both from Sweden ❤

to hear Brennan Lee Mulligan and dropout mentioned here was so unexpected and I've never been happier

The Nagi running in the catwheel transition is the best thing in this video xD

Rachel being a Dropout girlie is the best crossover. This timeline is suddenly so much better. Brennan is a good introduction point, soon enough you'll be familiar Dropout cast. Also PLEASE watch A Court of Fey and Flowers on Dropout, I'm sure you will ABSOLUTELY love it. Regency Jane Austen Magic Fey D&D? Perfection.

As an autistic person there's pretty much nothing I love more than talking about my obsessions and listening to others talk about theirs so BIG YES TO THIS 🙌🙌

That shot of Prince Nagi looking down at us like we're peasant is just 😹

Poki gets a mere whiff of a whisper that a Sakuraco box is about to be unboxed and he's immediately on the case. That boy knows what is good.

The fact that Frieren is able to make every single character have so much depth is what truly amazes me.

Every time you post about your interests I become more convinced we are twins seriously. Board games, DnD, video games, gardening, woodworking, and omg your sense of fashion is impeccable! It may be the parasocial talking but I’m pretty sure we would be best friends irl

I think most Americans have heard the word Shogun and Samurai

To be honest I understand what you mean with boring and repetitive female characters in anime. I too wish there were more magical animes and adventure ones with sympathetic yet unique characters. I would recommend Apothecary Diaries as it is another anime with interesting female lead who is different yet presented well and the plot is quite interesting too.

Rachel is dressed up so nicely, and then Jun is there in his polo tee 😂 couple moment right there

I love your channel the way it is. Low budget does not equal "Low quality". Too many channels get "over produced"

What a wonderful video essay about Frieren. I cried during the show in so many eps. The sour sour grape spell had me sobbing like a baby.

MORE RECOMMENDATIONS PLEASE 💕

The editing on these videos is what makes me stick around for an entire 40 minutes. Sit down video when I don’t normally like sit down videos. The loading symbol being nagi on his cat wheel 100 out of 10 cuteness level. Please never change that.

PLEASE make more “Stuff We Like” videos 😄 I literally made a cup of coffee and hung out with you folks for half an hour. ☕️ I’m definitely checking out Frieren, and can’t wait for Jun’s next factory tour!!

Apothecary is also so good!

I love the loading screen with the catwheel 😭😭 this channel is just too cute

If Rachel loved Frieren then I highly suggest Delicious in Dungeon/Dungeon Meshi. It's also by a woman and starts out as a well-thought out fantasy cooking show, where the heroes have to survive by eating the monsters as they descend the Dungeon with the monsters acting as allegories for real life ingredients. But this is a trick of gradual well-thought out world building and getting us invested in the characters, and exploring our relationship to how we exist in the world. The nature of what it means to eat and survive with the respect we pay that and our own mortality & desires. But the main characters are very autistic-representative, from intense special interests to missed social cues and this drives the story in a very natural way! And with a woman at the helm comes with so many nice flourishes missing from male-dominated works, even down to little details like the female characters will mix up their hairstyles day to day, to the fun of outfits, plus explores what I'd arguably call a neuro-divergent female friendship. Now, it doesn't hit me as hard as Frieren but is still a very good time, and the manga has concluded perfectly with a tight 100 or so chapters (the anime has adapted 50 or so chapters into 24 episodes) where it definitely told the story it wanted to without feeling rushed or too long. Jun might love it for the cooking side too. Also, for the term Shogun, I think it's a weirdly well known title in the West. If it was called Daimyo people would have blank stares, but Shogun seems to have traveled well across the world from video games (Total War Shogun etc) and films. We might not understand what it means to be a Shogun or even be able to name any, but people hear it and think of samurai suits and the idea of a warrior general like a European medieval crusading king. P.S. Love the cat-wheel loading cut.

SO insane that Rachel mentioned Brennan and Dropout literally the same week I’ve been on a Dimension 20 + Brennan Lee Mulligan compilation binge 😂😂

Wow. Surprise Frieren video essay in the middle of a Rachel & Jun vid.. and damn if it didn't present a perspective I hadn't quite heard before from other essays. I actually teared up a bit hearing you describe the themes of the show. Most people focus on the more obvious "it's about spending time with your loved ones because time is short" theme, but you're totally right that it's about change and nostalgia. And man if nostalgia isn't something that hits us all hard in the gut, and change is something we all struggle to accept. Rachel, you have a really insightful take on the story, thank you for sharing your thoughts, and you're right and I should go re-watch it now. edit: omg Rachel got on the BLeeM train with the rest of us. Dropout is amazing. Game Changer and Make Some Noise are getting me through each week lmfao. I love when my fandoms intersect like this.

Love Jun showing us the Sakuraco vendor factories! That's always interesting. The USA factories are so overwhelmingly large and often pure mass production. I've always liked the videos showing off different parts of Japan. I would love for you two to take a trip somewhere. Show us the north in the summer, the south in the winter. I live in the desert (Mohave where it's 120F this week) and I would love to see greenery and water. You could save the video for when it's winter or show us right after your travels.

In American high school history education, we only learn a bit about Japanese history as related to the Perry Expedition, Meiji Restoration and, of course, WW2. Shogun and samurai are pretty much the only words US school children learn because there is no English equivalent.

I can’t believe that kitty was found in the trash, he’s so perfect. I’m so glad he found a loving home

Hey friends! I came across this video because of the Wyrmspan mention (I'm the spouse of the designer, Connie). Thanks for checking out Connie's game and for sharing other things you've been into. Congrats on a very nice score! Connie is actually traveling to Japan this Fall in case you have any tips for a traveler.

1) Re: Boardgame, I love "ROOTS". You play as factions of the forest (cat faction, bird, mice,...) and you're trying to rule the forest :D Though it's a bit complicated to learn at first, I really enjoy the game play and strategizing, cooperating with my friends, and betraying them sometimes lol + the art is super cute. 2) Yay I also love Brennan and Dropout! Such a great subscription :)

I loved your video essay, Rachel! "Impermanence of our human existence" is such a beautiful quote that Frieren encapsulates as a series.

the cat wheel transition is adorable!

ooh rachel maybe youd like mob psycho 100 though..its on netflix, and from the outside it looks a bit like a typical shonen anime but its actually such a kind, beautiful story of self-improvement and friendship with the most gorgeous animation ive seen in a long long time! it finished its third and final season last year, and its not too long (3 season with 12 episodes). the main character, mob, is forever one of my favourite characters in any media ive consumed honestly. i have internally adopted him as my son, and i bet you would too 🤭

Rachel's analysis of Frieren is so on point! I loved this anime and it's just so amazing to see more people see the deep plot points of the anime 👏 ❤

Boardgame Recommendations! Everdell - This is my current favorite boardgame. You play as little forest creatures preparing for winter. The artwork is ADORABLE and it's fairly easy to learn. Mysterium - You play as psychics trying to solve a murder mystery by communicating with a ghost, but the ghost can only communicate using pictures. Scythe - the box is big and it's a little intimidating, but it's made by the same company as Wyrmspan/Wingspan and has REALLY cool minis and artwork.

I highly suggest Dungeon Meshi. It falls in the same line of good as Frieren. It's also very loosly based on DnD and you can see the campaign being built as you watch. It's wonderful. The characters are fantastic, too. I wish I could convey my thoughts well enough, but I struggle. My favorite part is the world building and lore. It's so in depth and intoxicating (well, to me).

Rachel, your outfit is absolutely on point! Suits you so well

Since Jun, was asking about Japanese history being taught in the U.S. I thought I’d share what California’s curriculum is like for that. If I remember correctly, in middle school world history we spent an entire semester on Asian history, and one of the units covered Feudal Japan. We learned about samurai, shogun, Oda Nobunaga, etc. We also briefly covered Japanese art from that period. I also remember learning about haikus and the Tale of Genji in English class, since those are both major touchstones of world literature. I doubt this is typical throughout the rest of the U.S. but I figured you guys might find it interesting!

I'm sure this got mentioned somewhere else in the comments but yes, Blackthorne is based on a real person! His name was William Adams and there's actually a memorial to where his house was in Nihonbashi in Tokyo. It's even on a tiny sidestreet called "Anjin Dori" after him. I read the book years and years ago myself as a teenager and made sure to visit it when I visited Tokyo before the pandemic.

I have been watching Rachel and Jun for years and I will say I can watch any video from them. I just love their content and their personalities so much. I always feel so good after seeing a video from them!

Honestly, I’ve always adored your channel because it’s so down to earth and chill-I love the random cat cameos and just seeing you two go about your daily lives! I think this is the only RU-vid channel where I watch every video that comes out, because it just feels like a nice, warm hug :)

I'm also obsessed with Dimension 20 and Brennan! And Chrono Cross!! Definitely will check out that orchestration once it drops. You also convinced me to watch Frieren. Thank you for all the recs!

I want to like Shogun, but when they started showing someone being boiled alive, I was like, "OK, this is not for me right now haha"

I hope you consider making a more full length video essay on Frieren! I enjoyed the anime so much as well and I am so curious on your examinations of the show and its characters! I know it's not EXACTLY what we see on this channel but I would definitely watch it if you ever decide to make it!

I LOVE THE NAGI LOADING SCREENS!!!!

If you guys like cooperative board games like spirit island, I recommend The Loop which has you and your friends battling a time traveling mastermind

Frieren is a masterclass in character-driven storytelling! Ahh the way it made me emotional with its quiet moments (Frieren patting Heiter's head, etc.), subtle yet hard-hitting dialogues ("so that you won't be alone in the future", "And you were always there in those beautiful memories"). And the way, in episode 1, it already made me feel such a deep nostalgia for characters I've known for less than 5 minutes. Love love Frieren

Frieren was such a breath of fresh air, not just as an anime but as a fantasy show. As a dnd player i loved the little details that are part of so many rpg fantasy tabletop games, as well as the concept of focusing on how the main character goes on with her life after the big adventure ends and not while it is on going, which is the usual approach. It's so nostalgic and sad but also full of life and the characters are truly awesome!

Ooooooh i think you both would love Dungeon Meshi! Also a wonderfully crafted fantasy world with cooking as the main theme! It's a very cool look into what it means to be alive and eating, and how if monsters are evil because the kill humans to eat, are humans also then not just as evil because we also kill to eat? But also hilarious shenanigans of an adventuring party traveling in a dungeon and having to survive and make meals off dungeon monsters haha

transition screen Nagi is so perfect lol. and re: production quality stuff with youtube, I honestly really love the more "homespun"(? i guess? for lack of better term) feel of your videos. so many youtube channels are pushing more high budget production stuff these days and it can be harder to find stuff that feels more natural and cozy. Your videos hit that natural and cozy vibe perfectly ^-^ also i know everybody else has already said it but along the lines of Frieren, Dungeon Meshi/Delicious In Dungeon is so good - it's basically D&D x Cooking/Food and its delightful and all the characters are so fun. also also - the Bechdel Test! (Pronounced like beckh-dell for the curious). Some fun facts about it - it was originally coined relating to wlw representation in media, as the individuals who coined it - Alison Bechdel and Liz Wallace - are both LGBT+ and were using it to discuss a lack of lesbians in media. Alison Bechdel actually also has a whole musical written about her life called Fun Home!

2:00 I LOVE THE CAT WHEEL TRANSITION!!! OMG THATS SO CUTE IM ABOUT TO DIIIIIEEE!!! TT-TT

I read that book. It was a TV series in the 1970's. I read the book in my early 20's and I learned a little bit of the Japanese language, because Marikosan painstakingly teaches Blackthorn Japanese. It is the best book I have ever read. And yes. It was brutal, but understandable in context. The whole world was brutal at that time like you mentioned. The first series was a miniseries. The costuming is stunning. It aired on Television. Richard Chamberlain and Toshiro Mifune were so powerful. Yoko Shimada learned english as she learned the script for this series. Her enunciation of english sounded like she was thinking about what she said before she spoke, and yet her enunciation was literally flswless. Absolutely perfect for the character Mariko. Interestingly enough, it was difficult for me to judge who was a bad guy or who was not, given the severe Japanese traditions and their societal expectations and unbelievable pressures. Those people....all of them, no matter how powerful they were, were struggling to survive. When I read the book I struggeled to understand a culture so different in it's thinking and it's philosophy and it challanged me to expand my thinking as a person. Shogun was beautiful, brutal, wonderful, heart breaking, loving, frustrating, inspiring, and funny. Really, in their own way everyone was so brave....if you can read it outloud to Jun. Read it together. You two will have amazing conversations...❤❤❤❤❤

frieren video essay was not something i expected but something i needed and explains so much about anime burnout

i haven’t watched you guys in ages 😭 i’m so happy to see both of you still making content, y’all’s video are so calming to me! ❤

Re: Shogun and the old fashioned Japanese language... You might have seen already, but the script was written originally in English, then professionally translated to Japanese, then "translated" *again* (from Japanese to Japanese) by Japanese writers who specifically have experience writing historical Japanese dramas. This is a very special, slow and expensive process that most shows are not able to do and pretty cool I think.

I love how you 2 communicate. You listen so well with true awareness & love towards each other. Such great wood work you’re doing Miss Rachel ❤

I also loved Fuji-san! The best girl ever! And Mariko was insanely cool and beautiful.

First of all, I love that you kept the Nagi transition! Second of all, my roommate is really into board games, so I have 2 recommendations. Betrayal at Baldur's Gate is a DND-inspired, dungeon crawler-esque co-op game where you can work together to explore and build out a map. Eventually, one of the players becomes and traitor that you have to team up to defeat. Everdell is a really cute card game where you build a community with an assortment of cool buildings and cute woodland creatures. Both are a lot of fun because they're not super competitive and are easy to learn (as someone who struggles to understand most boardgame rules).

I personally don't even watch the D&D on Dropout and It is still 1000% worth the money. I can't believe the effort and creativity each episode of each show has. Love to hear you talking about it!

I like that a fantasy OG like Rachel enjoys Frieren. Ages ago I remember she made a video recommending Malazan Book of the Fallen and Brandon Sanderson. Normally a lot of readers can be snobby towards other media, so this is really refreshing.

Rachel was kinda the push I needed to get into DIY; but now I need m0AR SAWs! Unironically though, I didn't realise that I could just...build things, to make my living space better. So thank you!

Shogun is popular, very popular. The word itself is well known too.

Yes, shogun is well known in the USA, but I am old - 73 yr. I read the book when it was new and loved it. My heart breaks that I never made it to Japan. We’ve been enjoying the show, as well. I love this channel and have been following your channels for years. Keep up your good work. 🙏🏻🇺🇸❤️

As one of your older viewers, I can tell you that when the book Shogun came out, it was a big seller in the US. The author wrote a series that was loosely connected from book to book, in different time periods. Anyway, I read Shogun in the 80s, iirc, and I LOVED it. I already loved Japanese art, but I learned so much about Japanese history and culture, and even a few phrases, from reading Shogun. I saw the old version of the TV series when it came out, and I thought the acting was fantastic, although the American actor who starred as Blackthorne/Anjin-san, wasn't the way I pictured the character. I loved Toshiro Mifune as Toranaga-sama; many of us were familiar with him as an actor from other movies. A master! In the 80s, when Japan was having an economic boom, Japanese culture was a fad in the US -- for some of us -- and I had a Japanese friend who taught me a lot. We also got to see a lot of the Japanese films in revival theaters. Remember, there was no internet then, no way to look up the history or culture apart from books or magazines and newspapers. Still, it was a fun time! Where I lived, in New York City, there's a great Japanese garden and an esplanade of huge cherry trees that were a gift from the Japanese government. Every year the garden would host a Sakura Matsuri, and we'd watch taiko drummers, eat Japanese food, etc. I believe they still hold the festival every year. So to answer your question: in my age group, many of us know about the word shogun, have eaten a lot of Japanese food, etc. But other generations may see it differently. My brother traveled to Japan as a tourist a few years ago, so he's watched the current Shogun series (he also read the book). He liked it! It's too graphic for me, though. And I understand why Rachel didn't get past a certain scene that happens early in the book. It's pretty gruesome. But it's really a good read.

I love seeing all the projects y’all have for the kitties

I love these kinds of videos where it's just super cozy to listen to R&J talk :3 Looking forward to the next video where we see what Rachel was working on! Also, can we talk about Rachel's FABULOUS outfit??? She looks so princess-y and beautiful ♡

What an excellent essay on Frieren! Thank you so much for editing it in, Rachel! ❤❤

I loved the mini video essay within this video, what a pleasant surprise! This video was the final push I needed to start watching Frieren, thank you Rachel!

Yeeesss, the Nagi Wheel of Loading is back! And with variants!

I dont know how to word this, but im so incredibly proud of you rachel, as a successful neurodivergent adult, gives me hope about my future as a neurodivergent young person, because alot of the things you do i'm afraid i'll never get too. Thank you rachel, for being such an inspiration for me..! Keep being you're awesome self!

I didn't know what a Shogun was until I took an art history class in college. The class was about Japanese woodblock printing, and a good part of that class was about some of the history and culture of Japan. That information really helped with understanding the art pieces that we were looking at.

1. Love the Nagi Loading screen! 2. Shogun was great, love Senada-san. As an American who grew up in the midwest most of my friends etc did know the word Shogun from anime and gaming and we knew what it meant. 3. Jun being an Freiren OG makes me happy.

Yoooo, the surprise video essay on Frieren was so well done! Loved the video and the surprise inclusion of dropout but that video essay really stood out! Kudos!

Whenever I wake up to a new video from y'all it makes my morning! My family is also bilingual, and I love hearing the way you think in the way you speak if that makes sense? I.e. exclamations in one language, switching back and forth, because I do that too in English and French. Much love from Virginia (USA)!!

Jun's factory videos are some of my favourite youtube videos ever! I gasped out loud when you mentioned it, I'm so excited! My S/O and I will be watching it together as soon as it comes out!

Thanks for the recommendations! I did not know many of these things and will check them out now!

I feel like you guys would love playing Parks! It’s a game where you play as travelers/hikers that are trying to go to as many US national parks as possible; the art is amazing, and it’s a nice, chill, multiplayer game!

very nice opening scene. automatic 10/10 video

Ngl id love to see more video essays from rachel 💖 She's so well spoken and explained a lotta reasons why I love Frieren

The frieren essay was so beautifully crafted and you pointed out so many nuances that I had not registered consciously but felt them in my soul!

I am so old that I remember the first Shogun series with Richard Chamberlin. I wish i could afford to se the Disney one but alas. Also William Adems was the first Englishman the real Anjinsan. There is a stone plack in Tokyo in the area he resided. Close to Nihonboshi Bridge.

As someone with quite strong autism, I can recognise a lot of Frieren. Her character is very autistically coded. The way time works differently for her, although that's more due to her elf nature. The way she is not very emotional until suddenly she gets overwhelmed with pent up emotions that she wasn't aware of before. Very recognisable.

I'm glad you've stayed true to yourselves and haven't decided to make your channel bigger by adding an editing/creative/whatever team of people, and that you keep making your own content by yourselves. I've been watching you guys for a loooong time, since back when I'd watch youtube all the time rather than binging it once every few weeks (months?). The only reason I keep getting back to your channel and watching your new videos is because they have the same honest, slow-paced, calm and relaxing feel as back then. Thanks for that!

That tea is called "genmaicha matcha iri", and it's damn delicious! You can make it really easily. Get your preferred genmaicha, and matcha, take a small amount of the matcha and mix it into your genmaicha blend so it's entirely coated (but not overloaded). Brew for 1-3 minutes at 70-75 degrees celsius.

Love Dropout and everything they make! happy that you are enjoying it as well! :D

You two are so cute in you age that you grew up. You don't remember or have seen that Shogun is actually a remake. It was a made for TV series of 11 hours total that starred Richard Chamberlain and Toshiro Mifune. In 1980 when it was released it was a HUGE event and many people watched it. So to answer your question many Americans from that time do know what Shogun is directly from that TV series that presented. That is where they were exposed to the word. Its probably more fair to say they have an Americanized 1980 version of what the word means.

Rachel and Jun upload whoooo

really loving rachel's video essay, both because of how informative it was and how relatable it is as a fellow neurodivergent fellow :]

They’re back 🙌🏻

In Australian, we were taught about feudal Japan in high school as a topic (well, when I was in high school). So, very much know the term Shogūn! 🤓

Woodworking!!! I'm in the process of re-organizing my home to make more room for plants. Last week I decided my hoya needs a new spot. I have designed the plant stand I want for it, but since I'm terrible at drawing I made a VERY rough model. I like putting things like bookcases together, but I've never built anything that came out of my brain. I'm a bit nervous, but I'm looking forward to it! I love how your videos are done! I love playing board games, but none of my friends do. When I'm with family, we always end up doing something else...like being entertained by my 6 year-old grandson.

your taste in shows is SO GOOD, I've also gotten tired of the same tropes in anime its nice to know more people feel the same

Aw heck yeah cozy content 🎉 Rachel the Frieren part was wonderful I haven’t watched it yet I tend to be pretty hesitant to watch the popular shows but I think I’ll give it a go thank you! Ok one last edit a series I highly recommend would be Aria the Animation if I got into why I love it I’d write a multi page essay but it’s wonderfully character driven and chill and I love how it writes a coming of age story in more of a workplace situation then just ina school setting.

Baldur's Gate 3! Board games! Frieren! Dropout! Welcome to the clubs! A few recommendations: Hanabi (Board Game) - A coop board game where players work together to build fireworks, but you don't know what resources you personally have. Communication is important as you need to tell other players what they have without outright saying it, while you yourself try to interoperate what your friends are trying to tell you about your own resources. Saboteur (Board Game) - Another coop board where you play as dwarves working together to mine for gold. Except, sometimes, there is a saboteur (but only SOMETIMES). So you have to work together while trying to figure out if anyone is trying to betray the group. Which there might not be... but you never know! Dungeon Meshi (Anime) - The name doesn't do it justice, as it's not just eating food in a dungeon. Think D&D like in Baldur's Gate 3 or Dimension 20, but with food gathered from the ecology of the dungeon, which the show explores and expends on a lot. Also one of the main characters is so incredibly autistic coded, I love him so much. Witch Hat Atelier (Anime, coming next year) - One of the best fantasy series in recent years, up there with Frieren in storytelling. A few other D&D show suggestions if you are interested, though I'm sure you might have heard of them already: Critical Role, High Rollers, World of Io, Dungeon Daddies And finally, a cool TTRPG system that is kinda like D&D, except with MECHA! It's called Lancer, and it's really cool. You should check it out!

Please keep making videos like these they're so fun and relatable

Some board game suggestions, in no particular order: - Gloomhaven Jaws of the Lion (co-op fantasy rpg) - Dorasure (Japan-exclusive short co-op rpg) - Root (asymmetrical game about woodland creatures with amazing art) - Nemesis (mostly co-op, based on the Alien movies) - Magic Maze (co-op "party" game)

Boardgames are cool! I'll check Frieren too, sounds nice.

I've read the book, and saw the og show with Richard Chamberlain in the 80s. There's a series of books all based in Asia, and ends up in Hong Kong, written by James Clavell.

I’d love an entire video essay on Frieren! The thoughts you’ve already shared have piqued my curiosity