Anivision Podcast – Details, episodes & analysis

On this episode, the guys discuss Sony’s State of Play stream (with Amuro giving impressions of Sons of Sparta), the changes at Xbox, the shutdown of Bluepoint, and talk about what they’re currently playing and watching from the Winter ’26 season.

• Discord (00:35)
• State of Play (5:40)
• Sons of Sparta (Amuro) (25:25)
• Bluepoint Games is shut down (28:50)
• Changes at Xbox: Asha Sharma named new CEO (33:58)
• What are we playing? (42:22)
• Anime Revolver (56:21)
  • You and I Are Polar Opposites
  • Fate Strange Fake
  • Jujutsu Kaisen
  • Journal with Witch
  • Sentenced to Be a Hero
  • In the Clear Moonlit Dusk

The Anivision hosts gather to discuss the latest anime from the Winter 2026 Anime Season. Including Frieren, Jujutsu Kaisen, Oshi no Ko, Sentenced To Be a Hero, Fate/Strange Fake, and much more!

Notes:

1. Jujutsu Kaisen: The Culling Game Pt 1 (3:00)
2. Chained Soldier (10:20)
3. Frieren S2 (12:50)
4. Hell’s Paradise S2 (16:15)
5. Oshi no Ko S3 (18:10)
6. MHA Vigilantes S2 (19:55)
7. Fire Force S3 Pt 2 (20:40)
8. Golden Kamuy Final Season (21:00)
9. Samurai Troopers (23:10)
10. Sentenced To Be a Hero (26:20)
11. Jack-of-All-Trades, Party of None (34:40)
12. Scum of the Brave (37:40)
13. There was a cute girl in the party, so I tried confessing to her (41:00)
14. Champignon Witch (46:30)
15. Isekai Office Worker (51:20)
16. A Gentle Noble’s Vacation Recommendation (58:15)
17. Dark Moon: The Blood Altar (1:03:50)
18. The Holy Grail of Eris (1:05:20)
19. Hana-Kimi (1:12:00)
20. You and I Are Polar Opposites (1:16:40)
21. In the Clear Moonlit Dusk (1:20:30)
22. Tune In to the Midnight Heart (1:25:45)
23. Tamon’s B-Side (1:29:50)
24. You Can’t Be in a Rom-Com with Your Childhood Friends (1:36:45)
25. Playing Death Games to Put Food on the Table (1:42:35)
26. Kaya-chan Isn’t Scary (1:45:50)
27. The Daily Life of a Part-Time Torturer (1:48:50)
28. Wash It All Away (1:49:50)
29. Journal with Witch (1:53:40)
30. Fate/Stange Fake (2:00:00)
31. Overall Thoughts (2:07:05)

This week the Anivision hosts have an in-depth discussion about the latest report from IGN’s Gamer Trends, they give their impressions on Donkey Kong Bananza, and they take a look back at the Rascal Dreams of Bunny Girl Senpai Movies.

• IGN Launches Gamer Trends Platform (Games Industry.biz) (1:30)
  • Reddit Breakdown by Megaapplepie
  • 93% of Gen Alpha prefer playing on mobile, according to IGN’s segmentation study. But preference for mobile is actually growing for Millennials, too, with 32% calling it their preferred device.
  • Daily concurrent user numbers have grown in Roblox from 3.8 million in June 2022 to more than 25 million in June 2025.
  • Over the same period, Fortnite has grown from 1.2 million to 1.77 million concurrents – with occasional blips, like when 15.3 million players logged on for the Marvel Galactus event.
  • Millennials and Gen X tend to be loyal to platforms or genres – now, the younger generations tend to be more loyal to specific experiences. They no longer identify as gamers – they identify as players of a specific game.
    • What game do we identify ourselves as players of or do you see yourself as platform specific?
    • Can we fault companies for pursuing the live service Model when gamers are becoming more loyal to specific games?
  • Every two years, IGN conducts a study into audience attitudes towards older games, and the findings have shown that people are increasingly looking back. Now, 71% agree that they’re feeling more and more nostalgic for franchises that were around when they were kids.
  • Gen Z and Gen Alpha now expect every song and TV show to be available to them instantly, and they expect the same for video games.
• Donkey Kong Bananza Impressions (50:45)
• Rascal Dreams of Bunny Girl Senpai Discussion (1:08:35)

The Anivision hosts gather to discuss the latest anime from the 2025 Anime season. Including Kaiju No. 8, Dandadan, My Dress-Up Darling, New Panty & Stocking wit Garterbelt, Secrets of the Silent Witch, City the Animation, and much more!

Notes:

1. The Sequels:
   • Sakamoto Days Part 2 (2:11)
   • Rascal Does Not Dream of Santa Claus (4:40) 
   • Kaiju No. 8 Season 2 (7:20) 
   • Grand Blue Season 2 (10:15)
   • Dandadan 2nd Season (13:00)
   • Call of the Night Season 2 (14:40)
   • My Dress-Up Darling Season 2 (17:30)
   • I Was Reincarnated as the 7th Prince so I Can Take My Time Perfecting My Magical Ability Season 2 (19:55)
   • Mr. Osomatsu 4th Season (22:55)
   • The Rising of the Shield Hero Season 4 (24:15)
   • Dr. Stone: Science Future Part 2 (25:55)
2. New Panty & Stocking with Garterbelt (27:00)
3. Clevatess (31:25)
4. New Saga (34:10) 
5. Welcome to the Outcast’s Restaurant! (41:30)
6. Secrets of the Silent Witch (45:00)
7. The Shy Hero and the Assassin Princesses (50:24)
8. Apocalypse Bringer Mynoghra: World Conquest Starts with the Civilization of Ruin (53:30)
9. Scooped Up by an S-Ranked Adventurer (55:00)
10. The Water Magician (57:10)
11. Uglymug, Epic Fighter (1:03:30) 
12. Betrothed to My Sister’s Ex (1:09:50)
13. Watari-kun’s XX Is about to Collapse (1:14:00)
14. Dealing with Mikadono Sisters Is a Breeze (1:20:25)
15. “mild days” by Hitsujibungaku (Secrets of the Silent Witch)
16. Detectives These Days Are Crazy! (1:25:10)
17. City The Animation (1:29:48)
18. Lord of Mysteries (1:31:30)
19. Gachiakuta (1:34:00)
20. Ruri Rocks (1:40:45)
21. Turkey! (1:46:05)
22. Solo Camping for Two (1:49:40)
23. Nyaight of the Living Cat (1:53:30)
24. Cultural Exchange With a Game Centre Girl (1:55:00) 
25. See You Tomorrow at the Food Court (1:59:25)
26. With You and the Rain (2:01:24)
27. The Summer Hikaru Died (2:05:20)
28. Takopi’s Original Sin (2:10:50)
29. Overall Thoughts ()
30. 2: “Tomoshibi” by DUSTCELL (Gachiakuta)

The crew talks about the Microsoft layoffs, Jrow talks Death Standing 2 and South of Midnight, and Amuro/steev wrap up the Spring ’25 season with thoughts on Gundam, MHA Vigilantes, Kowloon and more shows!

• Anime Expo news (02:30)
• Xbox layoffs (08:05)
• Game impressions (13:02) 
  • Death Stranding 2: On the Beach (Jrow) 
  • South of Midnight (Jrow) 
• Spring 2025 Anime Wrap-up (22:55)
  • Mobile Suit Gundam: GQuuuuuuX
  • My Hero Academia Vigilantes
  • Can A Boy Girl Friendship Survive?
  • Kowloon Generic Romance
  • The Too-Perfect Saint: Tossed Aside by My Fiancé and Sold to Another Kingdom
  • Evil Overlord Intergalactic Empire
  • Go! Go! Loser Ranger! Season 2
  • A Ninja and an Assassin Under One Roof
  • Mono
  • Brilliant Hero’s New Life in the Shadows
  • To Be Hero X

This week the Anivision hosts gather to discuss the latest news and biggest reveals from the PlayStation State of Play, Summer Games Showcase, Future Games Show, and the Xbox Games Showcase.

• State of Play (Gamespot)
• Summer Games Showcase (Polygon)
• Future Games Show (Games Radar)
• Xbox Games Showcase (Xbox Wire)
  • Xbox ROG Ally (Xbox Wire) (The Verge)
    • Partnership with Asus
    • Handheld
    • Loads Xbox App on top of a slimmed down Windows
    • Plays games natively, remote (PC/Xbox), and cloud
    • Will run 3rd party PC Game Stores/Libraries
      • Steam, Epic, Battlenet, etc
    • 2 Versions (Ally and Ally X)
    • No price, but likely around $800 as other ROG Ally units cost

On this episode, the crew discusses the recent price hikes for Xbox consoles, they give impressions on Clair Obscur and Assassin’s Creed Shadows, and updated impressions on Spring ’25 anime like Lazarus, Kowloon Generic Romance and many more shows!

• Xbox Series system gets price increases (00:37)
• What are we playing? (15:19)
• Spring 2025 Anime updated impressions (43:34)
  • Lazarus
  • Kowloon Generic Romance
  • Mono / Food for the Soul
  • Country Bumpkin
  • A Ninja and an Assassin Under One Roof
  • Can A Boy Girl Friendship Survive?
  • I’m the Evil Overlord of an Intergalactic Empire!
  • To Be Hero X
  • Shiunji Family Children
  • The Brilliant Healer’s New Life in the Shadows
  • GQuuuuuuX

The Anivision Hosts gather to give talk about their favorite anime and video games of 2025. They also discuss some of the major stories and events in the Anime and gaming worlds.

Notes:

Anime

• Notable stories & events (0:01:30)
  • My Hero Academia anime ends
  • One Piece Season 1 ends
  • Demon Slayer and Chainsaw Man do well at theaters
  • Japan’s Fair Trade Commission takes administrative action against Visa
    • Trump’s FTC backs it
• Favorites of 2025
  • Amuro: Worst Thing You Watched to Completion (0:19:20)
  • Jrow: Best animation (0:25:15)
  • steev: Best Supporting Character (0:27:00)
• Top 10 Anime (0:31:00

Special Segment

• Waifu of 2025 (1:20:00)
• Husbando of 2025 (1:23:20)

Games

• Notable stories & events (1:26:30)
  • Nintendo Switch 2 released in June
  • Consoles increase in price
  • AI usage a big subject in game development
  • Collective Shout and pressuring credit card processors to have Steam/Itch.io remove adult-themed games
  • EA agrees to sell to Saudi PIF for $55 billion
  • Steam hardware announced (Machine, Controller, Frame)
  • RAM Crisis
• Favorites of 2025
  • steev: Best Switch 2 Exclusive. (1:45:15)
  • Amuro: Best Game You Played This Year not from this year (1:51:20)
  • Jrow: Favorite playable character (1:56:00)
• Top 5+1 Games (2:00:10)

With the Xbox Series and Playstation 5 consoles having been out for 5 years, and the Nintendo Switch beginning the Switch 2, the guys discuss their thoughts on this generation of console gaming from the library to pricing and more, and they also think back on where we’ve been with past generations and where we’re heading with future consoles.

On this episode, the guys discuss the Steam announcements of the Controller/Machine/Frame, Amuro reviews Dispath while steev reviews Hyrule Warriors: Age of Imprisonment, and the guys issue a challenge to themselves by seeing if an anime from yesteryears still holds up after a re-watch.

• Steam hardware reveals (1:10)
• Dispatch (Amuro) (28:25)
• Hyrule Warriors: Age of Imprisonment (steev) (41:15)
• Anivision Challenge: Revisting an old and loved anime series (52:32)