WE DON'T UNDERSTAND IDOLS | Trash Taste  

Yandere cosplay is the weeb equivalent of going as Harley Quinn for Halloween.

32:18 As someone who grew up in Australia and is the same age as Joey I'm amazed that he managed to avoid the all-consuming presence of One Direction in the 2010s.

21:23 for someone "talking out if his ass" Connor is actually pretty much right. The culture surrounding k-idols and j-idols is very different in that way

Chainsaw man wasn't a financial failure. The CEO confirmed that it was a financial success. Here is what the CEO actually said - " Financially, it was a complete success. However, I'm still not satisfied with whether it has the same impact as "Jujutsu Kaisen", which I worked on most recently. "

R.I.P to anyone who had a meal prepared for their regularly scheduled episode of trash taste and had to wait an extra 5 hours and 9 minutes

Connor wearing a different shirt for this episode automatically makes this a banger

Connor: was born in 1996 Also Connor: 1995, what a horny year that was.

The Kirby slander is unforgivable.

For those who have pain running: If you have a sharp pain in one or both of your knees, you’re probably overstriding and should try landing on your entire foot instead of heel-toe If you feel a grinding pain in your pelvis, you probably have a muscle imbalance and are overcompensating with one leg and it’s excessively wearing. Focus on you form and try to apply equal force with both feet. Also, you should try to train your hip flexors; there are machines that do this if you have a gym membership, but if not you can look up ways to train them with your body weight on RU-vid. If you have pain or really bad stiffness in your lower back, it could be because you aren’t engaging your core properly. Try to lightly flex your abs and seat your shoulder blades down towards your ribs while trying to stand straight up, which should support your lower back. If that doesn’t work, you could also be dealing with flexibility issues in your glutes, so some leg swings before running could really help (RU-vid is your friend) Finally, if your legs start to burn after a little while, or more specifically: the muscles on your upper leg (quads and hamstrings), and lower leg (calves) slowly start to feel like they’re on fire after like 5-10 minutes, don’t sweat it. As your muscles run out of their immediate energy stores, they begin an enzymatic process that creates a lot of lactic acid as they convert energy stores from the blood into usable forms. You’re probably not used to this so it’s gunna hurt. Fortunately, your body goes through homeostasis, so it will build up a tolerance to lactic acid as you regularly create it, so keep at it and it’ll go away over time. Those are a couple of things I’ve learned as a collegiate athlete, but I wanted to let people know that even if they can’t figure out what’s going on, there is usually a relatively simple solution to fix them, so don’t give up. Btw if one or both of your legs falls asleep while running long distances, take a break please, the aftermath isn’t all that fun. Oh also, long distance running for an hour or more produces the depressant compounds present in sweet sweet ganja. Have fun.

Never realised how much trash taste integrated into my weekly routine until it was delayed

I love that Joey defended Kirby so hard, he is a adorable pink ball of happiness 😂💗

Joey: "You cannot abuse a 2D character." *doujins, doujins everywhere*

I think marketing for Korean idols and Japanese idols are much different. Kpop takes more hints from western culture which is focused on the content released. I’m not super versed with Jpop but it seems like they’re more focused on the parasocial aspect which kind of makes sense if you think about how much Japan promotes the idea of parasocial relationships. Although both fields are heavily reliant on that connection with the fans.

I find it ironic that one of the main topics of this episode was parasocial relationships, and in the comments there are a bunch of people talking about preparing meals to eat while watching this or feel anxiety that they uploaded late. It's eerie in a way.

23:43 I FOUND HIM!! next to the trash taste plushies on the table! i was just literally zoning out staring at that spot, and was like "something is..... off....? is that a little toy?" but then remembered what Mudan said about him putting a tiny image of himself in SOME frame at SOME point in every episode xD

Connor wasn’t too far off with his K-pop point. In second and first gen K-pop, it was much more direct fan interaction based compared to today. Nowadays, there still is SOME focus on close fan interaction, but it makes up a percentage of many, many things Korean idols are expected to focus on. At the risk of offending j-idol fans , K-pop idols are considered the more ‘polished’ of the two, since K-pop idols are essentially ‘perfected’ prior to their debut. This is both unrealistic, and incredibly unethical, though, as this immense pressure is often placed on people as young as 13 years old. Any good K-pop fan will know how harsh and toxic the industry can be, and whilst the j-idol industry is not exempt from that, K-pop arguably breeds this toxicity to a higher degree.

Lowkey want a "Sitting down with a real Idol" guest episode

For Attack on Titan, this is just a guess-- but I think part of the success is re-watchability. I recently started walching it with some friends, and it feels just as exciting as my first time because there's clear foreshadowing from the beginning. There are a lot of parts that were kind of confusing or didn't make sense the first time around, but then when you watch it knowing the full story it suddenly makes perfect sense.

I find it funny that the boys don't seem to be aware that male loneliness is part of the reason TT is so big. It's the exact same kind of parasocial relationship that those idol services are pandering to. The only difference is it's more weird is because of it being between people of the opposite sex so there's a sexual/romantic element to the whole thing.

I'm very much a KPop stan and, living in Tokyo, I have been to Shin-Okubo (Koreatown) a lot. I used to see idols perform there, but I kind of got out of it because there are always opportunities after shows to buy merch/polaroids/video messages from the idols. First, they are so expensive (the cheapest being 1,000 yen for a single member's polaroid), but the atmosphere has gotten more toxic, I think. There was a girl who spent about $300 for 3 minutes to talk with one of the members during a signing. I prefer buying 3 versions of the same album to get different photo cards 🤣 Korean marketing is very much more about capitalism and taking advantage of the intellectual property they have.

Every time the podcast uploads late, I always think, "Will this be the one that breaks the streak?" but every time they pull through. I hope the weekly streak goes on forever

29:52 The west does have many idol bands. They just don't openly market themselves as corporate entities. One Direction, N-Sync, Destiny's Child, The Village People etc; were all formed out of the idol system. The list goes up significantly if you count solo artists.

Agree with Connor on weekly anime. For a really good show being able to spend a week thinking about an episode, and then spending all that time with the show makes it stick with me much longer. When I binge a show it loses so much impact. I likw to binge really mid shows, but looove to draw out watching a great show.

Watching weekly is also beneficial to people who are constantly busy. Watching only a 20 mins ep a week is much more efficient than finding a 6hr free time to binge a show. Also, you are updated to the latest episodes so the chance of being spoiled is much lower. And the best part is you can interact with the community every episode as the show progress rather than the overall review of the show after it completely aired

I was so scared for a second that the three long years weekly episode is gonna break. The bois may not be pregnant but they always delivered!

I feel like the problem with chainsaw man was people expecting good things out of s1 when its prologue is arguably the worst part of it, and what comes after being good. The overhype was probably the turnoff for most people . Its hype and marketing probably wasnt justified given they were just gonna adapt the prologue part unlike something like oshi no ko whose hype and marketing was very much justified because its start is insanely strong

I definitely agree with Connor, waiting a a week for an episode is part of the fun, it also helps you process and anticipate the next episode, I find shows I binge watch I find less memorable then ones I watch weekly

Yes i relate Connor, following mob psycho for almost 7 years was such a treat and thanks to that the show will forever be in my heart

I agree with connor. Waiting a week for an episode is part of the fun for me. It kinda gives you a thrill especially if you're watching a show and you a zero idea about it's source material. The same goes when reading a weekly and monthly manga as well

Adding onto the Attack on Titan anomaly point; I think a big reason for its success is that it's a good mix of multiple genres, so it appeals to multiple audience bubbles. Whereas lots of anime will go all in with one genre, like a battle anime, a mystery anime, a romance anime, etc.; Attack on Titan dipped into multiple different genres. You want some survival horror? AOT has that. You're itching for a good thriller mystery? AOT has that. You just wanna enjoy some intense battles? AOT has that. It's just an overall enjoyable package that can satisfy many different wants.

The segment about a show being long and reflecting on life as you watch it is why Pokemon is so important on me and why despite me not as actively watching it now as Im older hearing about Ash's journey ending hit me so hard It was smth that had been me ever since I knew how to walk so it feels like a core part of my identity because of it

I understand exactly how Connor feels about the wait and reflecting on where you were while following something. It's more of an emotional attachment, but it's in a good and nostalgic but happy way. It's hard to explain, but I actually agree with this view a lot. It's funny because I'd expect Garnt or Joey to be more of a sentimental guy, but it's nice Connor is like this! Kinda cool and refreshing, too, but maybe that's just because I really relate to what Connor was saying in this section.

I liked the more serious tone of this episode with hot button issues like younger aged idols being sexualized by older people in the east and west. Its something that gets swept under the rug and its good to know that the boys realize that its sick and wrong. Heavy content to talk about especially on this platform but i certainly appreciate it. Some of these sick "fans" need a reality check.

I'm kinda surprised that they didn't know that most of the hate chainsaw man was facing came from the japanese fans, they didn't like the direction, voice actors, cgi etc and the BluRay DVD also didn't sell quite well. Some of them even started a small petition to remake the whole season.

I like the weekly releases more than binging, it’s hard to wait, but it’s part of the experience! Watching a show for a longer period of time makes me get more attached and I also notice more details and I have more time to digest and think about the story and characters. Discussing an episode with people every week, reading opinions and theories is the most fun part. I also like looking back to the journey.

Before I also always binge watched shows, but now I agree with Connor on the one episode a week thing. It gives me time to reflect on what happened in the episode and makes me appreciate it more while also discussing it with the community. I also end up retaining more on what the story is about as compared to finishing a show in one sitting.

The whole idea behind AKB was to make their members more accessible like underground idols but do that in the mainstream. Having tons of members makes sense in that context because it gives fans the experience and feel of being "the special few" who support a certain idol while also making mainstream money (or at least the people pulling the strings do).

I was concerned for a second that we finally missed one.

That shawl/shirt thing Joey's wearing looks amazing, would love to to get something with a pattern like that

My introduction of j-idols was through watching idol Dramas in my teens. I feel like the groups were that large because it wasn’t about their singing or dancing, but their looks and charm. Kind of like Joey’s hot take on vtubers. Once you have a favorite (or oshi), it’s honestly kind of fun to follow their journey to improve their craft. The looks is what gets you but their persona or ability to entertain is what keeps people a fan. As long as fans don’t become overly obsessive and negatively parasocial, I see no harm on fixating on someone. I used to find idol fan chants to be super cringe, but I went to a CON once where a bunch of fans were totally going all out with their light sticks (like Garnt described) and the energy in that room was soo hot and cool. The fans who were that confident and nonchalant about how others viewed them and only focused on having fun… in that moment I thought they were cool. I still would never do it but it changed my perspective on j-idols and their fans.

MAPPA should have done more than 12 episodes for Chainsaw Man, but like Connor said maybe it's too weird compared to Demon Slayer or Jujutsu Kaisen. Either way it's really popular worldwide and in Japan, the MAPPA CEO was saying that because Japanese fans didn't buy much Blu-Ray DVDs.

I think the boys forgot the existence of One Direction lol. Even someone like me who weren’t even into modern pop songs or boybands or singing groups, but used to be a fan of Westlife when I was a kid, thought of One Direction first when their topic was about recently famous western boyband/groups. 😂 I mean, they’re not in the same vein of kpop groups, but their fame at their peak was probably closer to BTS right. I love how their collective example immediately was Backstreet Boys and NSYNC tho. 😂

Love the videos and thank you editors for the pop up video style information.

I’m with Conner with watching weekly, I used to hate waiting weekly until I started working and as your time becomes limited you can treat yourself to an episode or 2 if you’ve been really busy and it’s nice since you don’t feel sluggish after binging.

The panic was unreal for this week

Predicting that the AX Trash Taste booth would have by far THE longest line out of those other Anime related booths combined lol.

Wild to me the lads talking about idol culture and male loneliness when all of them stream. Like y’all’s entire business is built on parasocial relationships 😂 love y’all

Agree with that no litering thing. I was fortunate enough to go to Blarefest in Nagoya this year. Cleanest festival experience ive ever been at!

Despite how horrendous and infamous sometimes the idol industries are, Im still a major fan of jpop idols and anime idols. Especially Love Live since I basically grew up listening to their music and loving the characters.

37:28 As a kpop fan I can say that a lot of companies also promote brands more then the idols. There are company stans who will only like groups from a certain company. Up until recently, it was only three companies that could guarantee their idols success because of their company names. Kind of like nepotism babies some of these idols being blackpink, Exo, Twice, and anyone under the big three labels. The only group able to beat these idols were BTS who became the first idols not under the big three to win a big award. It's very interesting.

1:35:15 100% agree with Connor, I love weekly releases because every release day is something exciting to look forward to. Just spending time talking about it with friends while waiting and all of us going "it's finally (X anime) episode day!!!" when a new episode is about to release adds a lot to the experience

Them gaslighting Joey with Kirby was soo funny

I agree with what Garnt said about the week-by-week release schedule being tolerable only if episodes are like 40 minutes. I remember in 2022 when I would wait for the s4 part 2 episodes of AoT every week...holy fuck it was the worst part of my year. The damn show was all I could think about and I felt like I had no life lmfao

Puts oshi no ko in thumbnail. Doesn't talk about oshi no ko. Gotta love it.

As a One Piece fan reading/watching weekly since 2008: Yes it is cool!! Throughout both good and bad times in my life, the one constant thing I can rely on has been my weekly One Piece chapter and/or episode (except on breaks). And since One Piece is about a grand journey, I do feel like I am making that journey with Luffy and the Strawhats. I can definitely say the time I've spent following the story has made it stick in my heart way more compared to say if I binged it in a few months.

On Connor's point about watching a long show weekly, I recently had that experience watching Dragon Quest: Dai's Adventure (2020). I started it in October 2020 when we were all in lockdown and finished it (100 eps) in October 2022 when I then had a baby. Never would have guessed how much my life would have changed in those 2 years. Plus watching the characters evolve and change over 2 years was a rewarding experience.

What did Kirby do to deserve such slander, don't bully my precious boi 😢

The male loneliness thing needs to be talked about more... like I can't even imagine how is it like if you don't even have friends. Much less a gf..

With the Vinland Saga farm simulator: Friend of mine was disappointed for a bit and asked me if I was keeping up and what my thoughts were and I told him to completely change his expectations, the constant fighting and and stuff was basically gone. Few weeks later he got back to me and said that now he's enjoying it a lot more. I think people just need their expectations to be in the correct place.

Also Ellen lied Op “Lilium” is iconic the visuals tooo omg

Holy shit. The Idol48 experience is universal. I watched JKT48 last weekend because they happen to be on a con I'm at and the experience is pretty much the same.

Idol culture in japan is fascinating af, its old, since 1962, theres so many scandals and literal crimes, theres only few doing it right, but the music when it hit, it hit hard especially on the lyrics part

Fun fact: one way or another, People try a way to satisfy their frustrations and loneliness. And there will always be people trying to milk this in a way. Idols (especially junior idols) are a worse one but everything from BIG POP IDOLS to tiktok and Instagram reel kids are part of this

Didn’t hear about the Johnny’s case until MissMangoButt did a full video on it on her rotten mango channel, it’s so messed up what happened to those idols😢

Finally! The idol episode. The extra wait definitely built up the suspense.

I'm a distance runner, currently training for a Half Marathon logging in about 51.2km weekly mileage right now, I'm always curious and more intrigued to listen in whenever the boys talk about exercise. I want to see a big training arc for Joey and Garnt, perhaps even the whole gang. But that's just me. Japan has a big running culture (competing and placing in the top 10 and even winning a major Boston Marathon at the international level) and I don't think Trash Taste has ever talked much about it. I hope they discover the beauty of running, especially being in Japan, but I think Connor would say that's for poor people as one of his jokes.

Thank you for another great episode of the podcast!

Always fun to watch you guys, im chilling in my hotel room in Tokyo atm watching you. Hopefully i run into one of you in the next week or so.

I really hope Joey does a video on Oshi no Ko since he's already done an interview with a Japanese idol on his channel and the story is interesting.

Garnt being like AI idols is only a matter of time... Vocaloids... dude

Having two episodes to watch is a treat

I actually agree or seeee what Connor was trying to say regarding the difference with kpop. they definitely seem to market themselves more as real artists (now we all know not all kpop idols produce write etc) but they do cater themselves to TRY to be the hardest dancer the coolest rapper etc. Whereas the massive idol groups in Japan are definitely more yes we will do these cute n simpler dances and chanty songs and perform for YOU. however, I do think there are many Japanese idol groups who so have intense choreo and vocals and rapping and who are involved in creative production. but what I think what Connor was saying is that kpop groups do SEEM to come across as more like musical artists rather than just performers

Bocchi the Rock anime used stories of the indie days of a famous Japanese band (who is in their 40s), and the members publicly praised how precise the show is about the indie scene at that time(00s-early 10s). I can imagine many early fans of the band or indie band lovers around that time would love the show, which are probably in late 30s to 40s.

This episode was basically Bocchi the Roast. But wow I can’t believe the Patreon wall has gotten so big you now have 5 columns of patrons to list.

1:42:20 The thing with Eva is that it came just in the right moment, with a concept that blew audiences minds with a few shows to compete. Its a shame that CSM hasn't been able to do the same. Specially on how the theme could resonate with gen z, and people that like movies. Fujimoto is a cinephile, and it is no surprise the show is that succesful in the west. But it wont get enough time to get to the better parts (S3 probably)

The screenshot of Trash Taste in the corner while they're surrounded by big brand names made me laugh so hard. It's amazing lmao

i wonder if there would ever be an episode where they have a ex-idol as a guest to speak on their experiences as a japanese idol and how thats affecting them till this day kinda thing

I used to follow an idol group. I’d watch their YT channel and buy their CDs. Didn’t get into idol culture deeply, I was just a casual enjoyer. Cute music videos and cute songs. I’m here haha (I’m a girl btw)

This episode felt different. I don't know why but it did and I LOVE IT!

Another thing that made me laugh, that I don't like real life idols, but hooked up with some idol multimedia projects, and one of my favourite has 18 characters and I love almost ALL of tbem lol. So I kinda see how ppl who are interested in 3D may keep in mind many idols. Though 48 is still a bit too much lol

I heard Chainsaw Man anime did not do well in Japan because a lot of the fans of the manga in Japan really disliked the anime adaptation. There were lots of complaints about it and Blu Ray sales ended up being mediocre.

I was panicking when i didn’t see a new TT episode all day and now it’s 9 pm lol. Worth the wait!

I have been caught up with one piece since 2015. It is really crazy to think that I was in highschool at the time and now I am almost done with university. It definitely is something I look forward to every Sunday

I came home very drunk after djing and this helped sober me up for a good nights rest, thank you fellas shit goes too hard

Disappointed that Oshi no ko was put in the thumbnail but wasn't even covered (even though I know some of the boys already talked about the manga). :( It's my favorite.

What I do love about Trash Taste is that they grew up with different cultures, so they notice the differences, between the cultures.

My opinion on those animes that didnt get the hype that was expected is exactly the fact that they were only 12 episodes like you were saying. They needed to be on air during more time for people to be remembered that it existed.

I will always stand by Pokémon. Some of my best memories are playing the games and helping my brothers collect the game cards. Pokémon Black Version 2 is my #1 nostalgia game and last year I came to find out that someone had stolen it from my collection. I've been looking for one on the market ever since with no luck because people are either selling fake cartridges or are so expensive that I could never financially recover. Heartbreaking.

This isnt the first time they've discussed idols on the podcast but I always like watching Trash Taste ever since 2020 so its okay

You guys really had me in the first half there, I won’t lie, well done 🎉

I'm watching this episode the day after I first watched perfect blue, and the whole idol thing is giving me a weird vibe now

I agree with Connor with the weekly shows. You can watch it along with your friends, discuss it, and then next week the goes on again. I like that much better than binging a show in one sitting then just forgetting it.

I'm an idol fan, a BABYMETAL fan I just like to sing, scream loudly, chant and all that kind a thing And they guess it right. Cause it hard to talk to parents in SEA. It's hard to open up to them. Sometimes I just angry of how hard it is and I tend to vent it with listening the song, and scream. Also Moa-metal is cute Su-metal is cute Momo is cool

This will be a moment in history only people who felt the delay of the episode will understand

I agree with connors take on watching anime weekly is better than binging it. Personally i like how each week i look forward to something i like, its like if you're having a bad week but get over it cause the latest episode of one piece is almost near and that excitement overcomes that sadness. Binging a series is good but i can't get the same enjoyment i had with weekly watching it.

Big agree with connor on the weekly model. You stay invested in the show for a much longer period of time so it sticks with you longer

Once Garnt and Connor know about how creepy and dark the Kirby world can get, they'll change their minds on him.

For some people is interesting to watch someone growing and experiencing hardship towards theirs objectives, specially when the goal is humble or move the hearts of people. Maybe for most of fans, spending money in idols is more a sponsorship than paying for entertainment.

I was kinda amazed by this aspect of Japanse culture myself and I just didn't understand it either, so I did some research into it some years ago and what I gathered was: 48 became a thing because it's a music group set up as a show. So every night you can just go to the theater and see your Idols. And having a group of underage girls working 7 nights a week is kinda not allowed. So they just made multiple "teams" which did the same songs every night like a show at an amusement parks that is like every 2 hours. But then they became more a thing about finding your idol and following them. I also think that there are only true Nintendo fans as it's kinda the only console/game company out there. Like their are good games on the Playstation and the Xbox. But there is no the Sony franchise. or the Xbox franchise. Every one says "I'm a god of war fan"or "I'm a gears of war fan." While people who are Mario, Kirby, Pokémon fan identify as a Nintendo fan. Also because all the big Nintendo games are kinda aiming towards the same feeling... the Nintendo feeling.

Rowing is like the absolute best cardio. It is cardio WHILE you work out all your core muscles, and have less strain on the joints than running for example.