8 Great Podcasts for Anime Fans

Anime good.

I’m not here to sell you on anime. Odds are if you clicked on this article, you’re already in deep. If you’re in as deep as I am, then you might be interested in checking out some of these podcasts

One of the biggest appeals for podcasts about anime for me is that they are podcasts hosted by anime fans. I know that seems redundant, but there is something refreshing about hearing a conversation about anime from people who are fans, but are also not Weird About It. To be fair, most of the podcasts I listen to are hosted by anime fans, even if they don’t talk about anime. 

A majority of these shows are rewatch shows, which is unavoidable when it comes to podcasts about media. I’ve thrown in some other types of anime podcasts to mix things up, such as improv or, because I have to stay on brand, actual play. Some of these shows are clearly about anime, while others bare their anime influences on their sleeves. 

1. Anime Out Of Context

The healthiest thing an anime fan can do is admit that yes, while anime is great and all when it’s working at it’s best, it can also be weird and downright bad at it’s worse. Not every show can be like My Hero Academia and have almost all of its worst anime traits boiled down into a terrible pervert grape baby. Anime Out of Context is a show where seasoned weeb Shaun introduces anime to Remington, who doesn’t watch anime.

The thing that ties this show together is that Remington really comes in with an open enough mind to not just rail on everything (although we can all admit that some shows deserve a takedown) and that Shawn is a genuinely enthusiastic fan. It’s just as fun hearing them talk about a genuinely good anime as it is hearing them talk about a bad one that Shaun knowing made Remington go through. 

The best way to start listening to this show would be to look through their back catalog and find an episode about a show you know about, be it one you love or one you don’t. 

Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts | Pocket Casts | Podchaser | Stitcher | Website | RSS

2. Kame House Party

If The Algorithm took everything I was interested in and created a podcast, it would probably look like Kame House Party, a Dragon Ball recap improv comedy podcast. Every week hosts Vince and Aaron go through an episode of Dragon Ball with the audience and do improvised scenes while they recap it.

While it is a watch-along podcast, you can jump in at any time with the weekly one minute recaps of the entire series. I really love the improv chemistry the hosts have. The improv bits are fun little detours based on the content of the episode. 

The show has already gone through the entirety of the original Dragon Ball and is currently on the Namek arc of Dragon Ball Z. Most anime fans are probably familiar with the beats of Dragon Ball Z, which makes this show a fun walk down memory lane. If you were a fan of TeamFourStar’s Dragon Ball Z Abridged, check this show out! 

Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts | Pocket Casts | Podchaser | Stitcher | Website | RSS

3. SuperIdols! RPG

SuperIdols! RPG is a Magical Girl actual play podcast set in a world full of super powered pop idols.  The show uses the Masks: The Next Generation system to tell a story about a high school pop idol cub going up against rivals and trying to make it in the high stakes world of the super-powered music industry.  Game Master ErynCerise leads her crew of players through the triumph and defeats, the epic highs and lows of high school idol competitions. 

The show wears it’s anime influences on it’s sleeve. The cast and creators are fans of magic girl anime and make sure that it’s influence can be seen in every nook and cranny of the show. They also avoid a lot of the more problematic tropes these shows tend to fall into, including having the idols be more gender diverse and making the queer subtext of the genre the text. 

If you have even just a passing familiarity with magic girl/ pop idol stories or even western high school shows (High School Musical pops to mind), you’ll have a fun time with this show! 

Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts | Pocket Casts | Podchaser | Stitcher | Website | RSS | Transcripts

4. Shonen Flop

Just about all of your favorite anime started out as manga, and the majority of those got their start in the influential serialized manga magazine Shonen Jump. But they can’t all be winners, right? For every Naruto, there’s some other poor story about a kid trying to prove himself, or find love, or some other anime protagonist driving cause. 

Shonen Flop is dedicated to checking in on these stories that fell through the cracks. This may sound like How Did This Get Made for manga, but not all of these series are bad.

Each episode, hosts David Weinberger and Jordan pick a short lived manga from days past and talk through the story beats, highlighting the manga’s strengths and really digging into the weaknesses. I really like how they take time to try and figure out what it was that held the project back, and what they might do to try and improve it. It’s a great show for people who love just thinking about manga and anime, even when they’re at their worst. 

Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts | Pocket Casts | Podchaser | Stitcher | RSS

5. Deck of Friendship

It’s one thing for an anime to be based off of an actual sport or game, but there’s also a popular genre of anime based off of original games, such as Bakugo, Yu-Gi-Oh, Digimon and others. Deck of Friendship celebrates and criticises these anime and their associated tropes through fun and chaotic improv. 

The high energy chemistry between hosts Marble, Ray, and Jupiter keeps things incredibly entertaining. They understand the best and worst parts of shonen anime and find the fun even when the actual anime episode is a bit of a stinker. 

The show has covered Yu-Gi-Oh, Fighting Foodons, Log Horizon, and a handful of other shows.  If you’re looking for a serious analysis of these shows, this might not be the place, but if you want to listen to some friends use the excuse of an episode of a game anime to goof off, this might just be the show for you. 

Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts | Pocket Casts | Podchaser | RSS

6. Friends at the Table

Friends at the Table is a show that I have maybe mentioned a few times before, but I promise it is also an anime show. This long-running show is an actual play podcast focused on critical world building, smart characterization, and fun interactions between good friends. The games are run by Austin Walker of Waypoint fame, who lays the playing field for all of the cast members to tell amazing stories with their characters. 

The Seasons of Hieron are amazing and have hints of anime stylings mixed into the post-post apocalypse fantasy setting, but the main reason Friends at the Table is an anime podcast is the Divine Universe, the setting of the COUNTER/weight (set in a space cyberpunk war), Twilight Mirage (a post cyberpunk spaceship fleet deconstructing the idea of utopia), and PARTIZAN (a terrible moon full of war criminals) seasons of the show. 

This setting is a love letter to mech anime such as the Gundam series. Each season dives into the complex politics of space warfare, gritty action of mech combat, and the occasional doses of weird space magic. If you think war is bad and also robots are cool, settle into this cornerstone of actual play!

Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts | Pocket Casts | Podchaser | Website | RSS | Transcripts

7. We Are! (Watching One Piece)

One Piece is a juggernaut of anime, following the adventures of the Straw Hat Pirates as they sail from island to island in the Grand Line in search of that fabled treasure, One Piece. It somehow becomes more complicated and remains that simple as the show goes on. 

We Are! (Watching One Piece) is a One Piece rewatch podcast where Jo, a seasoned veteran fan of the show (and, as a host of the wonderful Kingdom Hearts/The World Ends With You/ Final Fantasy X/X2 recap podcast Got It Memorized?, no stranger to convoluted plotlines) guides newcomer Jory through the wonderful world of magical devil fruit and sad backstories. 

The show is great for both newcomers and fans alike. Jory provides a fresh outlook on ideas that long time fans might be used to, while Jo highlights things in the episodes that might not have seemed important but have longer lasting implications down the line. They also lightly touch upon filler episodes, not dedicating whole episodes to them but giving you a general idea of any important information that might have come out of them. If you’re thinking of sailing into one of the biggest anime of all time, We Are (Watching One Piece) is there to be your log post through the dangerous currents.

Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts | Pocket Casts | Podchaser | Website | RSS

8. Anime Sickos

Cards on the table: one of the main reasons I’m writing this list is because of how much I need people to listen to this show. Anime Sickos has quickly become one of my favorite podcasts in the last few months. 

Every week geniuses Joe and Tom sit down and contemplate the four pillars of modern misery: Anime, Gaming, Posting and Jobs. This show is about anime, but it is mainly a show about getting through life in late-stage capitalism. 

Even when they aren’t talking about anime, anime is lurking the shadows of every conversation. A prime intentional example of this is the Fruit Annihilation tournament, in which the Sickos rank fruit in a tournament bracket, with the drama and flare of an actual anime tournament arc. It’s incredibly silly and I’m very invested. 

I’m currently working my way through the back catalog of this show, which is like a gold star level compliment to give a “two white guys chatting” show. I was worried that I would have to go through some rough episodes toward the beginning of their run, but they’ve all been hits so far. You should be able to jump in at any point but I recommend looking through the back catalog for one with a guest you recognize or an episode about an anime you like to get a taste of the show. 

Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts | Pocket Casts | Podchaser | Stitcher | Website | RSS

Anime has become more normal to talk about then it has in the past. I’m not saying this in a “nerds are cool now” kind of way. I’m not trying to sell you Diet Coke or Arby’s. It’s just nice to be able to hear other people’s opinions about anime, or be able to talk about it in a way where you aren’t also defending the fact that you like it. 

There are definitely other amazing anime podcasts out there that aren’t on this list, and if you know any, shout them out!