The Human Instrumentality Podcast Season 2 Episode 1: From Hokkaido With Love

My anime podcast is back, covering the work of director Satoshi Kon

Good morning!

I am still on the road, currently writing to you from a friend’s couch in Minnesota, however today I am not writing about music or touring. Instead, I’m proud to announce that my anime podcast The Human Instrumentality Podcast has returned! Today we published the first episode of our second season, and new episodes will continue to drop every Wednesday for the next few months.

If you’re new to this project, our first season covered the seminal 90s anime TV show Neon Genesis Evangelion as well the film franchise that followed in the show’s wake. Originally my cohost Joseph Schafer and I thought that we’d be broadcasting to only a few of our friends, but the audience quickly expanded far beyond our most optimistic expectations. We even convinced legitimately smart people like Emily Yoshida, Justin Charity, and Eric Thurm to join us as guests.

The first season went so swimmingly that we decided to return for a second go around. This time, instead of focusing on a single franchise, we wanted to zoom in on a particular director. After I browbeat Joseph into submission, we decided to focus on the surreal filmography of Satoshi Kon. Before tragically dying of cancer on August 24th, 2010 Kon directed four feature length films and one cult classic TV series. Throughout his work, Kon blurred the lines between reality and dreams, fact and fiction, hope and delusion, pushing the capabilities of animation to their limit through lightning fast editing and hyper detailed background illustration.

But before we can talk about his art, Joseph and I need to lay the groundwork for who Kon was and where he came from. That’s where episode one comes in. Join us as we tell you about Kon’s childhood, his rise through the anime and manga industry, and our own personal histories with his work.

Listen to Episode 1 here, or on your podcast application of choice.

Thanks for listening, and until next week sweet dreams.