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Podcast / Trash Taste

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"The Worst Anime Podcast Has Arrived"note 
Trash Taste is an ongoing podcast series hosted by The Anime Man (Joey Bizinger), Gigguk (Garnt Maneetapho) and CDawgVA (Connor Colquhoun), anime YouTube influencers affiliated with GeeXPlusnote .

Understandably, the show's topics usually launch from the three hosts' unabashed love of anime, manga, and Japanese popular culture in general. Nevertheless, despite the seeming simplicity of the show's premise (as well as the hosts' highly self-deprecating, sweary and full-on "degenerate" humor), the conversations can get pretty detailed, profound and full of Reality Subtext. It helps that the hosts are pretty open about their personal experiences/years of living in Japan, particularly the significant disconnect between Japan's global popular brand and the realities/pressures of living as migrants in a still-quite exclusive society.

Since its launch in June 2020, Trash Taste's reach and public reception have been pretty widespread (both in its international audiences and domestically in Japan), to the point that the three hosts were reported on by the Foreign Correspondents' Club of Japan (FCCJ), and were even invited on for a press conference on June 17th, 2021.

Podcast episodes are available on YouTube and Spotify. A separate "highlights" channel from the episodes is also available, as well as Trash Taste After Dark, which features Twitch livestreams and other videos.

This podcast and its discussion topics provide examples of:

    open/close all folders 

    A - E 
  • Absurd Phobia: In episode 27 on the topic of drifting, Connor reveals he has a fear of stickers, which makes the practice of drifters slapping stickers on each others' cars rather unsettling for him.
  • Accidentally-Correct Writing: Their discussion on the works of Satoshi Kon praises how very prescient his commentaries on celebrity and new media social relations became—especially relevant to them as online content creators.
  • Achievements in Ignorance: In the Cooking Special, the chefs who mentored the boys were absolutely dumbfounded when they watched the final video and noticed that Joey had properly skinned a fish with a knife that was not designed to do so, despite having no prior cooking experience.
  • Allegedly Free Game:
    • In episode 8, which heavily revolved around video games, the boys weighed in on popular anime-themed/franchise-linked Mobile Phone Games (like Arknights and Fate/Grand Order). They somewhat shamefully admit that because of their patronage of them, they are also losing time for other pastimes (including console-based games).note 
    • Episode 33 featured a lengthy discussion about gacha games, how they can feed into gambling addictions, and the morally/ethically questionable tactics game creators use to keep players invested in them.
  • Alternate Reality Episode: Garnt discusses (in ever-increasing fandom and lore-consistent complexity) the three alternate routes of Fate/stay night—and by extension the expanding Fate Series (something which he has done before). Joey and Connor, who already have their misgivings with complicated timelines, lost it.
  • Author Appeal: While discussed to an extent whenever a certain franchise/set of works becomes the center of discussion, the boys' particular tastes/aesthetic choices definitely reflect in their 'top anime', as revealed in their 3x3 episodes:
  • Bad Boss: Connor recalls his encounters with shitty bosses during his time working at McDonald's. Experiences include being told off for not smiling while working in the kitchen, or being told to continue working despite being scalded by hot oil. In the latter case, a separate manager had the common sense to order him to seek first aid and take a few days off to recover, on top of telling off the one who ordered him to continue working.
  • Berserk Button:
    • Any controversial or bad takes about JoJo's Bizarre Adventure will guarantee to get on the boys' nerves, especially Connor. In episode 16, they are discussing about a video Cr1TiKaL (Charlie) did where he "criticized" videogamedunkey for not liking Final Fantasy VII Remake (really criticizing rabid Final Fantasy fans that have taken Dunkey's video too seriously). Then Charlie uses JoJo fans as an analogy, which upsets Garnt and Connor when he says that he preferred Parts 1 and 2 over Parts 3 and 4.
    • As noted in Serious Business section, even Garnt gets mad over food, especially when the topic of meat is brought up.
  • Big-Lipped Alligator Moment: Invoked in episode 53. The discussion of Kyoushi to Seito to includes the boys going on at length about a chapter in which one of the male protagonist's classmates shows up at his apartment trying to escape his predatory sister, only for the sister to find him there, have her way with him, and then they leave together. All three of them agree that this chapter is jarringly out-of-nowhere in the overall story, but Joey finds this funny while Connor and Garnt find it exasperating. Connor and Garnt are further thrown off by this chapter being all about Brother–Sister Incest; Connor generally hates incest as a hentai theme, while Garnt tends to like it but hates it in this particular instance because of how random and pointless to the overall story it is.
  • Bilingual Backfire: Joey's half-Japanese, so he has plenty of opportunities to inflict this trope on the locals, especially if he hears them talking smack.
  • Biting-the-Hand Humour: Sometimes Played for Laughs, especially during the multiple Enforced Plugs in each episode, where it's rare that they don't throw in at least one sarcastic or off-color joke regarding the product and/or do the read in a parodically over-the-top manner. On the other hand, it's sometimes done pretty seriously, especially when they talk about the challenges of being YouTube content creators and when recalling their administrative woes with the platform. They are pretty lighthearted and very kind about their main sponsor Bookwalker though.
  • Brick Joke: In episode 4, for the boys' shopping contest in Akihabara, they chose paper strips with challenges on them from a little trash can. One of these challenges resulted in Garnt buying an Asuka Funko Pop figure, which they all agreed was trash. Exactly 30 episodes later, 6 to 7 months after the challenge, Joey brings out the same trash can again to choose whose MyAnimeList would be reviewed first. When he reaches into it, he and Garnt crack up when they realise that Connor had put the figure in there. note  Much later on, when the boys are discussing their movie 3x3s, the Asuka figure is again in the little trash can; they note that the instance in the MAL episode was a scripted bit, but this one wasn't, they'd just forgotten to take it out.
  • British Media Tropes: Such tropes/references also tend to color their discussions on film and media, what with Garnt and Connor being UK citizens (and Joey's Australian/Commonwealth background).
  • Broken Pedestal: Garnt becoming an Anituber was partially inspired by Mr. Anime, and he looked up to him as one of the original anime YouTubers. When the latter was arrested for murdering his family, this left Garnt devastated.
  • Call-Back: Very frequently, the podcast will make a reference to a relevant comment or joke from a past episode. Jokes that get referenced enough times turn into Running Gags or memes.
  • Caught with Your Pants Down: While the topic of masturbation has come up multiple times in multiple episodes, in episode 35, Joey talks about the time his father walked in on him doing the deed to Kanojo x Kanojo x Kanojo and being disappointed that Joey was doing it to a hentai instead of real porn.
  • Chekhov's Gun:
  • Childhood Friends: Joey happened to go to the same Japanese school in Australia as seiyuu Shuu Uchida, and this very serendipitous connection (i.e., both of them working in Japan) allowed for them to host her in episode 58.
  • Commonality Connection: The trio's love for anything anime or Japanese culture-related. Some of their favorites or hobbies also overlap.
  • Cool Teacher: Both their first guests (Chris Broad of Abroad In Japan and Kaho Shibuya) worked as English teachers—which also informed their subsequent media careers to some extent. Everyone also notes how teaching English (via Japan's JET Programme) is one of the more accessible ways of finding a job placement if one ever dreams of living/working in Japan.
  • Cosplay: Being currently a cosplayer herself, Kaho Shibuya discusses the positive/creative challenges of engaging in it. The usual issues faced by cosplay models in many anime conventions were also brought up—particularly unwelcome photographers with No Sense of Personal Space or just full-on creeps/perverts. Being con veterans, the three hosts also called out this inappropriate behavior.
  • Critical Dissonance: Sometimes brought up when they discuss how/why certain kinds of anime appeal or don't appeal to a global audience:
    • Their discussion on NisiOIsiN's works highlight how it's surprising that despite its linguistic barriers, Bakemonogatari appeals more than the more mainstream-themed Katanagatari.
    • Humorously, all three are in significant disagreement about the actual quality of School Days, with Joey taking the most heat for not hating it as much as Connor and especially Garnt do and for initially giving it a 10 on his My Anime List page.
  • Culture Clash:
    • Downplayed in episode 12 as Connor and Garnt state they are not really used to how social and friendly Americans are compared to the average British person, but they also state they do like how friendly Americans can be.
    • Episode 14 has them say how drinking isn't as ingrained in American culture compared to British and Australian cultures where nearly everyone drinks.
  • Cultural Cringe:
    • In episode 12, all three state that they don't understand why Americans like their home countries' accents. Connor says 90% of English accents are disgusting, while Joey states the only reason people like Australian accents is because of Chris Hemsworth and that most are just terrible.
    • Connor is pretty adamant of how boring Wales is despite being Welsh. He also doesn't like British food.
  • Dark and Troubled Past: Episode 10 gives us two examples:
    • Downplayed case: The episode highlighted how all three had to deal with "being closeted" about their anime fandom due to it being niche (and their high schools' penchant for fostering bullying and cliques). Connor in particular seems to have had to punch his way through a series of bullies and belligerent classmates.
    • Straighter (and more unfortunate) example: Garnt and Connor had worked with YouTubers who were subsequently found guilty of serious crimes: Mr. Anime and CielStar.
  • Dark Horse Victory: During the Akihabara shopping challenge, Joey tries to stick to his objectives as much as possible; Connor lucks out and gets a bunch of easy-to-fulfill challenges; and Garnt has a hard time resisting the call of his groin, blows nearly half his money on a sexy figure of Rias, and spends the rest of his shopping spree desperately trying not to go over budget. So of course, he ends up winning when in true Mario Party fashion, the Rias figure scores him a ton of bonus objective points (including "buy a hentai figure" when he finds in the box an alternate chest piece with fully detailed nipples).
  • Devil's Advocate: Connor has stated on various episodes that he hates podcasts where all the hosts agree on a topic and don't say anything besides their agreement, and thus he always takes an opposing position if need be to have an interesting discussion.
  • Didn't Think This Through:
    • Garnt recalls one moment where he went camping with his friends in Shizuoka, and he made preparations by purchasing a portable charger, choosing one large enough to last the two days he'll be out. What he didn't notice was the charge capacity of the device he ordered, and he had nothing to gauge its physical size. When the charger arrived at his doorstep, he was taken aback completely by its actual size and weight, and that it was way larger than what would be normal for regular use. To rub salt in the wound, the camp site had a power outlet, so purchasing the portable charger was All for Nothing.
    • The boys point out how Japan's government bungled the response to the COVID-19 pandemic. To combat the massive loss of income in the tourism sector, they lowered the prices of public transport and hotels, while also handing out coupons giving large discounts...in the middle of the quarantine, when people were recommended to stay home, which ended up causing the number of COVID cases to go up.
  • Digital Piracy Is Evil: Discussed at length in Episode 13, in the aftermath of the shutdown of pirate anime/manga streaming site Kissanime. Despite officially being in business with the anime/manga industry big streamers like Crunchyroll and Netflix Anime, the hosts (as well as their guest, their producer Meilyne Tran from Bookwalker), they are surprisingly balanced and nuanced in their approach to the topic.
    • On the for-piracy side: they noted (as a Hypocrisy Nod) that most anime/manga fans started out pirating content if it was not readily nor legally available in their country. Therefore, it would be unfair (and a case of elitist gatekeeping) to merely shame those who consume anime and manga via such pirate sites.
    • On the anti-piracy side: ironically consistent with above, their major complaint with Kissanime wasn't its active pirating activities, but more its horrible, ad-infested website interface, as well as trying to break into merchandise production that veered very close to violating fair use and copyright (far more than they already were).
  • Dirty Old Monk: Heavily subverted for Garnt, who had spent a month as a Buddhist monk. While monkhood is not an automatic life-long commitment (i.e., most Thai men participate temporarily for religious/devotional reasons), Garnt also took it as an opportunity to reflect, mentally dexotify, genuinely detach from past attachments (as Buddhism teaches) and reorganize his life plans. This supposedly contributes to his relative chill as a person (when he's not spazzing out over anime of course).
  • Dissonant Serenity: In episode 9, Joey recounted when an earthquake hit when they were in their hotel during AX 2019. He also notes that Connor calmly continued to eat his chicken nuggets as a category 7 hit.
  • Does Not Like Spam: Garnt rather infamously has a distaste for pizza crusts. He either refuses to eat them, or eats them first to get it over with.
  • Does This Remind You of Anything?: In Episode 10 as Joey describes his attempts to get one of his high school friends into anime, both Garnt and Connor point out how similar his story sounds to a coming out story. It also doesn't help that apart from getting his friend into classics like Neon Genesis Evangelion and Death Note, he would later rope him into trashier fare like Kiss X Sis—and that friend's younger brother walked in on them watching it.
  • Early-Installment Weirdness:
    • The boys sometimes joke around the fact that it is no longer an anime podcast as they originally intended, to the point that this has become one of the show's Running Gags.
    • As acknowledged by the boys in Episode 50. The first episode was quite different compared to the later episodes, with the boys being more awkward and considerate to each other compared to how they'll act in later episodes. This was acknowledged again in the second anime figure special, where they comment on how more considerate they were towards each other in the first special compared to the second, as well as Garnt having become more confident since the first special.
    • Besides the fact that the podcast is set in an entirely different and smaller studio in season 1. The studio itself also looks incredibly barren and empty in the first episode compared to how it appears from episode 2 and onwards.
  • Easter Egg: In every episode after episode 18, their editor Mudan has hidden a small PNG of himself in either the background or foreground of a shot.
  • End of an Era:
    • Discussed in Episode 10 with regards to Podtaku and how anime content on YouTube changed after its end, especially with regards to monetization.
    • Internally to the podcast, their production history could be divided between their first studio period (Episodes 1-54) and their second studio period (the PC building special and Episode 55 onwards).
    • Understandably, they hail the passing of Kentaro Miura and the limbo it leaves Berserk in as one as well, if only because of the near-ubiquitous influence it has on 21st-century Japanese pop culture.
  • Everyone Has Standards: Episode 20 reveals even degenerates like Garnt, Joey and Sydney can't get into eroguro (essentially erotic gorn). The boys have also mentioned at various points that none of them are into netorarenote  at all, and Garnt has to deal with the NTR-themed hentai that Sydney consumes.
  • Everything is Big in Texas: In episode 12, they discuss their astonishment at the size of the food portions in America (and especially Texas).
  • Eye Scream:
    • One of Garnt's earliest memories involves him getting stung by a bee in his eyeball. Surprisingly, he did not go blind from that, but it did give him a phobia of bees.
    • Across episode 20, Joey brings up "eye penetration" in reference to one of Sydney's videos where she talked about unusual orifices being used in hentai.
  • Fan Dumb: Discussed from time to time.
    • The second half of episode 16 is about various fandoms that have annoyed the three of them due to the outbursts of their more extreme factions. They talk especially of the fandoms of Dragon Ball, My Hero Academia, and JoJo's Bizarre Adventure.
    • Episode 64 is where the boys discuss various aspects of the online communities they've experienced, including their own fans, and especially the poorly-behaved ones.

    F - J 
  • Follow the Leader: They discuss the effects of this trope in light novels and anime from time to time.
    • In episode 14, Connor tries to describe the premise of Trinity Seven, but his vague description matches so many light novels like A Certain Magical Index or Infinite Stratos that the other two are flabbergasted at how little it's narrowed things down. He tries again regarding the premise of a power fantasy, and while they work out that he's talking about The Irregular at Magic High School for this one, it was still not the first thing he was trying to talk about despite fitting his description.
      Connor: What was that one from a few years ago, where they were all wizards and you had the one guy who could counter magic and it was fucking awful...
      Garnt: You just described, like, fuckin' 90% of most magic high school harems...
      Connor: And it'll be, like, eight girls, and they all have one personality trait, and that's it, and it was the most boring shit...
      ...
      Garnt: *laughing* I just like that these shows are so generic that trying to distinguish them has become an impossible task...
      Connor: *exasperated* IT'S FUCKING IMPOSSIBLE!
    • In episode 75, they express that new anime series bore them because a lot of new shows are recycling premises and characters, especially in the isekai genre. Joey elaborates that he can predict a lot of story beats and tropes simply based on a synopsis, and that a lot of light novel titles look like spinoffs of each other. Garnt describes it like "content you consume" instead of just a "show you watch".
  • Freakier Than Fiction: Connor's career as a competitive chess player was covered in the tail-end of Episode 6—with all the attendant drama, twists and coincidences worthy of it becoming its own sports anime.note 
  • Funny Foreigner: All three discuss the risks of them being seen as one, plus the stigma this can in fact cause amongst native Japanese (for failing to observe daily urban customs). That said, they also said there are certain instances wherein one can in fact invoke the "gaijin card" as an excuse for unintentionally violating said norms. At the same time, their episode with Chris Broad also highlighted that there will still be actions that cannot be excused, either because they're pretty self-evident or violate common sense and taste, specifically noting the infamous antics of Logan Paul.
  • Go Mad from the Revelation: Pretty much Connor and Joey's reactions when Garnt attempts to explain how to navigate the Fate Series in episode 8. Connor even starts screaming at the various numbers of expies the franchise has when he asks how many Rins Fate has and Garnt can't answer right away.
  • Going Native: An issue for all three of them (even with Joey, who is half-Japanese/half-Australian); while they do significant work to blend in with Japanese society, all three of them still have issues with certain social aspects (as well as low-key discrimination). That said, the most blatant person they know to do this (with full "weeb"/"otaku" card on display) isn't even any of them, but Garnt's wife Sydney/@Sydsnap—who sang the theme song of Anohana: The Flower We Saw That Day in karaoke with Japanese media executives.
  • Groin Attack:
    • A chilling version of one gets brought up when discussing near-death experiences: Garnt was in a snowball fight in uni, and was hit square in the groin by a snowball...only it was actually an "iceball" as he described it (packed, hard-frozen snow with a little bit of powdery snow on the outside). While he was reeling from the pain, he stumbled onto the road, into the path of an oncoming bus, and he only survived due to a friend noticing and pulling him away in the nick of time.
    • In the same conversation, Joey talks about a time when he and his dad were playing with a rugby ball, kicking it high into the air and trying to catch it. For one catch, the ball went through his arms and the tip clipped him in the junk as it spun, dropping him instantly.
  • Heroic Self-Deprecation: Connor is fine with Joey and Garnt calling him a monkey brain and has joked with them about how bizarre his brain can act.
  • Hentai: An inevitable topic when anything remotely degenerate comes up.
    • Since Kaho Shibuya was a JAV actress for a while, the topic inevitably was broached during her guest appearance.
    • Part of the discussion in episode 8 is about Garnt and Joey's first exposure to eroge being through the adult section of Newgrounds, and the trials and tribulations of trying to download multi-gigabyte games one RAR file at a time, with the possibility of the entire effort being ruined by one file being corrupted.
    • During the conversation about Uzaki-chan Wants to Hang Out! in episode 14, they all agreed that it's very clear when a manga or anime's primary purpose is to fuel the doujinshi market.
    • Episode 20 has Garnt's wife sydsnap/Sydney guest star which inevitably caused them to talk about hentai and eroge since Sydney's YouTube channel focuses on such content.
    • Three episodes, to date, have been dedicated to hentai. They discuss various hentai shows which were recommended between them in Episode 25. In episode 53, they get Connor's thoughts on various doujins recommended to him to read. Episode 144 revolves around "cursed" hentai works and their disturbing material. Naturally, the YouTube versions of these episodes use almost no content from the works (and what content is shown is either clean or heavily edited); the Patreon-exclusive versions feature uncensored clips and pages from the doujins.
  • Hidden Depths: Garnt turns out to be a movie buff in episode 60, having seen a large catalogue of different films. He also mentioned that some of the lines he has delivered in his videos were based off movie quotes.
  • Hopeless with Tech: When speaking with guest Mori Calliope, they talked a bit about the technical difficulties that that they have to go through as content creators. Garnt and Connor called out Joey for streaming and editing on a single monitor setup and installing a graphics card but never removing the plastic cap to actually put it to use, instead having hooked up his monitor directly into the motherboard and using the onboard GPU. Calli's manager, who was off-camera, was noted to give Joey a look of complete disbelief.
  • Horrible Housing: Although it's downplayed, this is the cited reason for Trash Taste moving to a new studio, which got sneak previews in some ad reads and the computer building stream and officially debuted in episode #55. The original studio was functional, but was so lacking in space due to both the set pieces and the setup for the cameras and sound equipment that it was very difficult to move around in. Garnt mentions that trying to get to the left side of the set, where the host and guest sit, was a genuine tripping hazard, and Reina Scully even asked if the guests had to crawl under the table to get to their seat. The fourth Trash Taste After Dark video, which was a tour of the old studio and part of the setup in the new studio, showed in detail how cramped the old studio was.
  • invoked Hype Aversion: They are all too familiar with how zealous the JoJo's Bizarre Adventure fandom is, as Connor was previously obsessed with it. They also highlight how pushy JoJo fans are with recommending the series and why this paints a poor impression of the fandom.
  • invoked Hype Backlash: Discussed at the tail end of episode 18, using Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba as an example. Connor starts with his experience over how hyped its 19th episode was, and how it's left him unimpressed with the spectacle in the prior episodes. Joey deliberately avoided watching Demon Slayer to prevent the hype from influencing his expectations.
  • Insistent Terminology: The phrase "monkey brain", which was originally used to describe Connor's more uncultured tendencies, has since been used to describe a simpler state of mind where people just enjoy what's in front of them without thinking too much.
  • Jerks Use Body Spray: In episode 20, a discussion of things the guys saw at anime conventions that weirded them out started with the inherent wrongness of glomping, then segued into the creepiness of people offering "free hugs".
    Joey: It's 2019, who does this?! [...] It just looks really rapey to me!
    Connor: I mean, I'm like in the one meter radius and I can smell the Axe body spray, I don't need this!

    K - O 
  • Kicked Upstairs: The trope comes up in the middle of a conversation about "employees for life" in the Japanese workforce and the difficulty in firing them. One story goes that a company, in order to get one such employee to quit, promoted him to a meaningless position where they couldn't get any work done, essentially demoralizing him to force him to resign.
  • Large Ham: Crossdressing, pro-wrestling, heavy metal idol Ladybeard, a guest who has a very energetic and loud persona. As pointed out by Garnt, they don't need to put as much focus on him as they normally would with other guests, since he already does so himself. Connor also found it a little unsettling when Ladybeard used a calmer tone of voice.
  • Likes Older Women: Joey reveals that Connor really likes MILFs in episode 18, which Connor fully agrees with. Connor's preferences are made more explicit by Episode 25 — he's admitted to jerking off to scenes from some of the shows discussed solely because an older woman was involved, while ignoring all the other poorly-done elements that have kept Joey and Garnt from enjoying the hentai normally.
  • Live-Action Adaptation: Their discussion on the topic seems to highlight how very few anime transition well into live-action, with the notable exceptions of Gintama and Edge of Tomorrow.note  Alita: Battle Angel, despite its generally favorable reviews, seems to split them as well. invoked
  • LOL69:
    • Finally achieved in their appropriately-titled 69th episode, "Nice." Ironically, the episode tackles a number of more grown-up topics, such as dealing with Misplaced Nationalism, immigration woes, as well as a number of survival skills—albeit more light-hearted than others.
    • Episode 79, where they go shopping for figurines, includes challenges of purchasing figurines that cost exactly 6900 yen or 42000 yen.
  • Lolicon and Shotacon: Discussed:
    • Connor has said in multiple episodes that he hates the presence of lolis. He frequently ribs Joey over this, as Joey is much more forgiving of the topic, and any such character will automatically knock points off his overall rating of the work in question, sometimes even ruining his enjoyment of it.
    • During episode 53, Connor and Garnt both mention their hate of shotacon, although Connor does make a rare exception for the second part of Seikatsu Shuukan. Garnt laments how it's very hard to find MILF hentai that has an adult male as the protagonist instead of a shota.
  • Loveable Sex Maniac: All of the three have stripes of these (especially with their unabashed living up to the "waifu-worshipping"/"degenerate" aspect of most otaku):
    • Joey apparently tends to be the person who the other two (and by extension, their friends) are most likely to see hentai from in their Twitter feeds.
    • Garnt (especially in the post-Akihabara shopping episode [Episode 4]) became notorious for buying the lewdest merchandise, such as a nude Saki dakimakura and his prized possession, a pole-dancing Rias Gremory figurine.
    • Connor, who usually comes off as the more level-headed of the three, openly admits to "doing the deed" with hentai and tends to do more daring material/topics in his videos.
    • Meilyne, the podcast's producer, says she owns around 50 dakimakura and the body sprays that make them smell like the character to go along with them. Most of her favorite anime can also be considered yaoi-bait.
    • Sydney guest starred in Episode 20 and proved to be as big of a degenerate as the hosts, if not more. Connor hung a huge lampshade on the episode's overall degeneracy near its end.
      Connor: How is the Shibuya Kaho episode, like, ten times more wholesome than this?
  • Madonna-Whore Complex: Discussed during Episode 101, where Emily brings up that female streamers get split into two categories: "wholesome" or "whore", with no in-between. She used to be placed in the first category because she used to be a grade school teacher, so she had to keep her content tame in case her students came across it when they were online, while Garnt brings up that Sydney struggled with being in the opposite side of the dichotomy.
  • Mood Whiplash:
    • In ep. 64, during the discussion about reading fan mail, Connor talked about one letter where a fan went on at length talking about how his content had helped her, including mentioning a couple of support dogs she'd gotten, and then suddenly ended the letter talking about how the dogs had been run over and she was struggling to get past this. The tonal shift left Connor completely poleaxed.
    • In episode 144, the boys discuss how they were all completely thrown off by the night-and-day difference between the two episodes of Sleepless: A Midsummer Night's Dream. The first episode contains high-quality MILF-focused material, but the second features extremely off-putting and grotesque material and ends with the protagonist getting his penis surgically replaced with a much larger penis from a black man. The boys are all squicked out, and Connor says that he's never felt more betrayed by a hentai in his life.
  • My Friends... and Zoidberg: When they (finally) start talking about anime again in episode 34, Gigguk describes themselves as "anime youtubers, and Connor".
  • My God, What Have I Done?: Episode 16 reveals that Connor became the huge JoJo fan that he is today because Garnt mentioned it in one of his videos. Garnt outright states he created a monster when he realizes this because Connor used to be such a passionate fan that he never stopped referencing the series, driving Garnt insane.
  • invoked Never Live It Down: Lampshaded and discussed in episode 64 in which the boys talk about how sometimes people will take one single line (that might not even be related to the theme of the video they're making) and ignore everything else. Joey even mentions that some people sees him as "that guy who really hates Sword Art Online", even though he only made a single video about the show.
  • "No. Just… No" Reaction: Garnt's reaction whenever the subject of Connor's "monkey brain" comes up. In episode 9, he's so frustrated by Connor that he actually jumps from his seat and walks around a bit.
  • No Social Skills: Discussed in Episode 20, where they all talk about interactions they've had with fans that were lacking in social skills.
  • Noodle Incident: Ultimately averted by the boys when reacting to Ladybeard mentioning that he went from crossdresser to crossdressing pro-wrestler to crossdressing pro-wrestler heavy metal singer. After hearing this, they demanded an explanation.
  • Nostalgia Filter: The show in part runs on this, especially as all three are YouTubers who were kids discovering anime during the 90s and the early 2000s. That said, being long-time anime viewers, they are also well-versed on which of the stuff they've watched has aged well and which hasn't—except maybe School Days.
  • Not What It Looks Like: As told by Garnt, after deciding to go home and watch anime, he did so with his pants off, because he found this comfortable. Then a fellow student walks into the room, right as the anime he’s watching is showing two girls naked.note 
  • Now, Buy the Merchandise: The podcast's first official piece of merchandise is a ceramic mug resembling a trash can, complete with lid; the boys plugged it as heavily as anything plugged in their sponsor bits.
  • Old Media Playing Catch-Up: Usually brought up when discussing the evolution of the Japanese popular culture industry:
    • Episode 13's discussion on anime/manga media piracy suggests this is what is really at play: that traditional business metrics of a show/series' success (i.e., DVD sales and merchandising) are slowly becoming less accurate. Hence, pirate streaming might indeed cause the spread and awareness of a show, but it may not automatically translate to sales (which is what matters). However, such a divide causes a massive wedge between anime production companies, legal streamers (like paywalled Netflix and Crunchyroll) and international anime communities.
    • In turn, it is precisely companies who try to provide accessible yet legal alternatives online (such as Kadokawa through Bookwalker—for manga at least) who are managing to bridge this gap.
  • Old Shame: invoked Defied by guest Kaho Shibuya. When asked about her previous career as a JAV actress (after starting out as a teacher and journalist), she says she isn't ashamed of her stint in the industry and is pretty open/comfortable about her work (unlike many unfortunately exploited/neglected ex-porn stars all over). She does, however, engage in newer, more significantly creative work (such as cosplay and writing) to rebrand herself.
  • Only Sane Man: Connor and Joey are the ones who tend to fulfill this role depending on the situation; Connor usually comes off as the most level-headed of the three, and Joey is usually the most chill whenever they get into a heated argument.
  • Overused Copycat Character: When talking about the Fate Series in episode 8, they inevitably bring up the fact that Saber/Artoria has an insane amount of alternative versions as well as other characters that resemble her for some reason. The conversation leaves Connor flabbergasted.

    P - T 
  • Periphery Demographic: Factors in a lot of their conversations on how certain anime trends/fandoms evolved:
    • The old Digimon Adventure vs. Pokémon divide in the early 2000s was discussed, and how despite Digimon actually having more consistent story arcs, the near-ubiquity of Pokemon meant "nobody wanted to be the Digimon kid."
    • Humorously, Connor's nickname "the 93%", for having (previously) that proportion of female viewers compared to male viewers.
    • Later, the three agree that Connor's experience is in fact becoming the ideal way to approach becoming an anime YouTuber, in that original and unique content will better attract people towards taking part in the anime fandom than parroting/riffing off classic content (such as The Abridged Series and anime reviews).
  • Picky Eater: Meilyne appears to be one, especially with her previous side-hobby of writing Google Maps reviews of food establishments and her very specific preferences (i.e. liking a $90 coffee and near-avoiding pizza). At the same time, she also has some instances of Bizarre Taste in Food (i.e., actually liking cooled-down french fries).
  • Pixellation: Anything visual that would run afoul of YouTube's content rules, such as the lewd figurines purchased by the boys in those respective episodes, gets blurred out in editing. In these cases, they point out that the uncensored versions of the videos are available on Patreon.
  • Politeness Judo: In episode 52, while discussing school lunches, Connor notes that he learned from another student that schmoozing the cafeteria ladies would get you better meals, and successfully put this into practice.
  • Pop-Culture Isolation: A running theme when discussing how the state of anime's relative mainstream acceptability is brought up.
  • Porn with Plot: In Episode 20, when Sydney was asked about how she got into hentai and eroge, she admitted that at first she started watching out of curiosity due to her lacking sex education, and only started to be a fan when she found some hentai that had good plots. Garnt also revealed that he enjoys porn more if he can get emotionally invested in it, and says that doujins with a long lead-up (10 consecutive pages without any sex) usually have a good plot to them. The latter point comes up in episode 53, where both Garnt and Connor are impressed with Kyoushi to Seito to running for 40 pages before anything lewd happens.
  • Power Fantasy:
    • Discussed in episode 14, with the three agreeing that everyone had a power fantasy stage while growing up and some people never fully outgrow them. Joey and Garnt also admit that they enjoy harems due to the power fantasy aspects of the concept.
    • Their main gripe with the isekai genre is that it's become a blatant power fantasy with the occasional harem, and any motivation to return to one's home world is no longer central to the plot. The fact that the protagonist is from another world would have little bearing on modern works of this genre. Stories such as Now and Then, Here and There or The Vision of Escaflowne are fondly remembered by the cast as they predated the common isekai trappings of the modern day.
  • Prematurely Bald: Discussed in episode 41. Connor admits that he's resigned himself to his thinning hair, noting that he was basically doomed by family genetics and having hemophilia means that surgical hair restoration isn't an option. Garnt also notes that the men in his family started losing their hair relatively early.
  • Product Placement:
    • Most episodes will feature at least one Smash Cut to the boys doing an ad read for one of that episode's sponsors, which will then announce a transition back to the podcast at the moment it was interrupted. With the hosts also primarily sponsored by Bookwalker, they also tend to feature/promote their services. They also riffed on this when they did a promotion invoking the classic Japanese show commercial acknowledgment:
    この番組は、Bookwalker のスポンサーの提供で送りします。 (Kono bangumi wa, Bookwalker no suponsaa no teikyou de okuri shimasu.)
    This program is brought to you by our sponsor, Bookwalker.
    • Episode #189 features the podcast's first sponsored segment, as Atlus paid them to promote the release of Persona 3 Reload. Joey, already a huge Persona fan, savored the chance to wax eloquent about the game, and between him and Garnt, Connor expressed an interest in getting into it. Their discussion lasted for almost 25 minutes, well past the time that they'd needed to take for the sponsorship.
  • Professional Wrestling: Brought up by Kaho Shibuya as one of her earlier fandoms/interests (as a follower of the WWE during the Attitude Era). The hosts did note how much of the tropes of wrestling (even New Japan Pro-Wrestling) can be read as "live-action anime" in their over-the-top aesthetics.
  • Real Life Writes the Plot: As the boys were traveling to America, their expensive recording equipment was lost by the flight service and they had to go through an extensive effort to reclaim itnote . There's a reason why episode 105 takes place in their pre-trip studio (it's pre-recorded). The whole experience is detailed in episode 107.
  • Real Men Wear Pink: As exemplified by the guest Ladybeard, a buff pro wrestler in a pink dress and sporting pigtails.
  • Right Through the Wall: Mentioned in episode 12:
    • Due to his messed up sleep schedule, Connor would record videos at 2 a.m. When asked how his neighbours felt about that, he replied "fuck 'em". He then went on to state that they would also loudly play Peppa Pig at 4 a.m. themselves.
    • Garnt experienced the usual route this trope takes, with his next-door neighbours having a lot of long, loud sex, with loud, ugly-sounding orgasms. They would do this whenever he would start recording for his videos, causing him to believe they were trying to get back at him.
  • Roger Rabbit Effect: The podcast pulls this off with their VTuber guests Mori Calliope and kson.
  • The Rule of First Adopters:
    • Discussed in episode 19. Garnt recalls a school project where his group had to build a system that sends data wirelessly. After a day's worth of effort they get it to transmit "Hello world", and the next thing they think about was "Let's send ASCII porn." Then came the revelation of "wait, that was exactly how porn was started."
    • Discussed in episode 164 when on talking about the Apple Vision Pro — you can expect new innovations to be used for porn first, and even PornHub uses new features in video streaming before it gets ported to YouTube.
  • Running Gag: Usually from Joey and Garnt:
    • Joey has taken to using this intro format whenever he's hosting: "What's up you [insert Added Alliterative Appeal-themed Shout-Out to the audience]".
    • Garnt has also tended to use the lead-up "Question to you/you guys then", as well as describing something he likes as "hit[ting] different", bordering on Catchphrase. The latter phrase would also be used by the other boys on occasion.
    • Whenever they have a guest star, Garnt is the one hosting the episode. Garnt reveals it's purely accidental and he's actually pretty annoyed by it since he has to share the usually vacant side of the table the host gets.
    • When the podcast is talking about a topic that Connor dislikes or he feels is uncomfortable, he'll jokingly stand up and try to leave.
    • Connor disagreeing with the others or having an unpopular opinion, at which his co-hosts usually cringe, or get in an argument with him over it. Garnt has also pulled this off in some occasions, the most noticeable one being the pizza crust discussion.
    • The word "optimize" has found its way into the boys' vocabulary and gets used more often than the average person would. It frequently gets used whenever they discuss the refinement of... any process in life they've encountered.
    • Connor uses "peasants" now and then ever since he came to know a snobbish dorm-mate at university.
    • Various things get called "X with attitude" as a deliberately poor description.
    • Episode 20 has Joey repeatedly referencing "eye penetration" at (in)appropriate moments.
    • Theres almost always going to be a mention of poop each episode. This often gets lampshaded, and the second Trash Taste Awardw even has a "Best Poop Moment" award.
    • "This says a lot about society" is uttered within the first minutes of episode 75 and keeps worming its way into the rest of the podcast. See here for a compilation!
    • "You know who [X]? Our patrons." or "But hey, look at all these patrons!" *cue Patreon patron scroll*
  • School Is for Losers: Downplayed. While all three members of the podcast are college educated (with Gigguk holding a Masters in electric engineering), they all express disappointment and regret over how much college just wasn't for them in the end. Episode 12 suggests the insane level of immaturity of their college schoolmates they have to put up with (some of which they also took part in) probably played a part in this as well.
  • Serious Business:
    • When Connor was recounting his experiences with professional chess, he recalled that higher-level players would extensively study the moves, openings and their past games, while teenage Connor was more concerned about unwinding in between matches and just went with his innate talent. He also notes that the kids who are good at chess essentially built their lives around the game, theorizing that their parents forced it upon them as it promises better future prospects. The amount of stress he was subject to at the professional scene turned him off from the game for some time.
      Connor: When I would do an opening move I always did the same ones because I liked it, and it was nice and symmetrical. And [the other players] would always say things like "Why didn't you use the Indian Prince move of 1764?" and I was like "What is that? I just like how the bishop goes 'boop!'"
    • Some of their most passionate discussions and debates on the podcast are on the subject of food. One memorable section in episode 17 has Connor stating there isn't a point to eating only the hamburger patty which Garnt and Joey enjoy. During the conversation, Connor brings up steak; Joey reveals he feels it's overrated, which offends Connor and Garnt. They also lampshade this in episode 30 when they start debating about the ideal food to go with different types of alcohol.
      Garnt: Chris, this is what happens whenever we talk about food on the podcast, okay? Whenever food is brought up we turn into a bunch of fuckin' apes, I swear to god...
  • Sex Sells:
    • As episode 25 is entirely about hentai, they cannot use as many clips as they'd like to demonstrate their topic of discussion without running afoul of YouTube's rules, and the few clips they do use are heavily edited. However, they lay out at the start of the episode that the uncensored version, complete with unedited clips, is available through their Patreon. Within a day, their patron count and income nearly tripled. This did not go unnoticed — in the outro of episode 29note  they express their bewilderment at the sheer number of people who've jumped in for the sake of porn clips.
      Garnt: Shout out to all the fucking degenerates — We are filming this just after the burst from the hentai episode — What the fuck?! What the fuck did you guys do?
      Joey: That was the definition of "stonks"!
    • Connor's experience with Japanese TikTok gets him a recommendations page filled with videos of buxom young women barely "dancing" to music and essentially showing off their cleavage. Such videos trying to exploit the trope are called "sleazebaiting". The boys come to the conclusion that these videos are being upvoted by horny male teens, influencing the algorithm to gravitate to this by default.
  • The Sixth Ranger: Trash Taste's fans largely consider Chris Broad to be "the secret fourth member" due to being close to the boys, helping them with the specials, and (as of November 2022) being invited to the podcast as a guest five times.
  • Sleep Deprivation: Garnt mentions in episode 12 how he would stay up till 4 a.m. to talk with American friends, only to have to get up at 8 a.m. for his job at the BBC.
  • Small Reference Pools: Usually raised when it comes to certain types of anime, manga or literature they pretty like but have near-zero reach to a mainstream audience.
    • Joey noted how even regular Japanese people would be less well-versed in anime than most otaku worldwide, with many having likely only watched basic TV fare like Doraemon or Sazae-san.
    • This was particularly noticeable with Dazai Osamu, the author of No Longer Human (who is probably better known as a character in Bungo Stray Dogs).
  • Smart People Play Chess:
    • The main topic of the tail-end of episode 6, with a discussion on why anime specifically about chess (comparable to Hikaru no Go) don't exist yet. This segued into Connor's own competitive chess-filled early life.
    • This, in turn, led to a surprising invoked Defictionalization: an actual Chess "Tournament Arc" involving the 3 hosts and their network of friendly YouTubers.
  • So Bad, It's Good: Discussed.
  • The Social Expert: Meilyne Tran (the show producer and the hosts' de facto overseer at Bookwalker) notes how she had to develop these skills (apart from Japanese fluency and business acumen) to make it into her position at Kadokawa, as well as noting that anyone who dreams of working in the anime industry has to break out of the Hikkikomori stereotype to get in.
  • So Unfunny, It's Funny: Came up in the "You laugh, you lose" segment of their 24 hour stream. At one point, the boys and Chris Broad were shown a video of Sakura Miko's singing that failed to elicit any laughter. However, because the content of the video was still absurd, it created a stark dissonance with their stone-faced expressions, something Garnt ended up catching onto.
  • Sporting Event: Episode 11 had a significant digression into a discussion/comparison of the rules and fandoms of baseball and cricket (rooting from Kaho Shibuya's experience covering Japanese baseball, as well as the three hosts' cricket background from the UK and Australia).
  • Story to Gameplay Ratio: At the heart of the discussion of Episode 8, i.e. how much gameplay and story/cutscenes interactive media (such as Video Games and/or Visual Novels) should have. Hilariously, Connor is pretty adamant and unapologetic at prioritizing gameplay (to the point of skipping cutscenes, as well as explaining his indifference to the visual novel format), which leads to him being labelled "monkey brain" by the other two.
  • Subcultures in Japan: Touched upon to some extent, what with a number of them overlapping with the general otaku/anime fandoms the hosts are part of. Drifting, however, has had two episodes devoted to it: one special episode (where the boys tried their hand at the sport, with hilarious results), and Episode 27, when they invited foremost drifting/Japanese car culture YouTuber noriyaro.
  • Sucky School: Episode 12, appropriately enough, opened with a discussion on their respective universities' horror stories, ineffective management and Wacky Fratboy Hijinx the three hosts had to endure from their peers. Appropriately enough, their chosen YouTube thumbnail for this episode involves Iori from Grand Blue about to puke.
  • Swapped Roles: Connor and Garnt briefly swap it when talking about why they like Gears of War. Connor (who as mentioned above completly ignores the story in videogames) mentioned it as one of the few games where he actually paid attention to the story, while Garnt (who sees the story as a huge selling point in a videogame and as a huge reason to continue playing it) didn't really care about the story and just liked it because it's a fun game (and because "chainsaw goes brr").
    Connor: Are we swapping roles now?!
  • Tempting Fate: During their chess tournament, Dee misses a forced mate in two, but takes comfort in his board advantage and that "[he hasn't] fucked up royally." Joey checkmates him on the very next move.
  • This Is Reality: Many conversations deal with either deconstructing/smashing some myths and assumptions about content creation and life in Japan in general.
    • Episode 2 goes into extensive detail on how much the tourist/fictional depiction of Japanese life and actually living in Japan differ.
    • Chris Broad (of Abroad In Japan) admitted in a guest appearance that his initial idea of releasing videos daily while doing kilometers of bicycle treks was ruinous to his health.
    • Episode 6 discusses how learning Japanese through anime will most certainly not be helpful unless you're also actually practicing using and listening to the language.
    • For the tail-end of Episode 10, Garnt goes open with the subsequent withering away of Podtaku, citing creative differences and sustainability issues that prevented the collaborators from continuing their passion project. Ironically, this happened during the rise of monetization opportunities within YouTube and content creation.
  • Thousand-Yard Stare: When Connor states that "everyone wanks", Sydney momentarily adopts this look. Note that she's the only girl in a group full of boys (though no less degenerate).
  • Title Drop: The podcast's name is liberally invoked in most episodes, especially when they're dissing productions that didn't age well or when they openly admit to Guilty Pleasure watches/products.
  • Toilet Humour: Sometimes pops up in the most inappropriate contexts, but a significant amount appears in Episode 12's first half in Garnt and Connor's college stories. It even bled into their Product Placement for the Mobile Phone Game One-Punch Man: Road to Hero. Additionally, episode 32 made it clear with the title "We Don't Know How to Poop", and featured an extended discussion about bidets, with Joey and Connor clowning on Garnt for his hangups about the intricacies of bidet use.
  • Troll: Episode 68 revolves around Chris Chan, and the discussion frequently mentions how she was manipulated and tormented for many years by near-constant trolling and cyberbullying. Her actions aren't excused, but everyone is to some degree sympathetic and expresses disgust and loathing for the things that the trolls would convince her to say and do and the lengths they would sometimes go to to get dirt on her.

    U - Z 
  • Unaffected by Spice:
    • Episode 17 reveals that Garnt and Connor love spicy food, and they both complain about how little spicenote  is in Japanese food. In comparison Joey can barely handle spicy food, although he's proud of himself for having worked up to the level 3 spiciness at a curry restaurant that they all eat at. Garnt and Connor just laugh, as Garnt is used to fiery Thai cuisine and Connor regularly gets the level 10 curries from the same restaurant. Garnt also notes that Sydney, as a result of eating his mother's cooking, has built up enough of a spice tolerance that she can eat dishes that even he can't handle.
    • One of their favorite Thai places frequently has its spice level calibrated to Japanese standards, which disappoints Garnt as it doesn't exactly hit the spot for him no matter how frequently he keeps asking for his food to be spicy. Then, one day, he tries typing his special request in Thai. The result was a dish that had more chili than rice, much to his satisfaction.
  • Unfortunate Names: Downplayed with Joey's YouTube handle, The Anime Man, simply because Joey joined YouTube a year after Mr. Anime was arrested, leading many people to think Joey was the same person. Joey didn't know about that incident and only learned about it after too much time had passed to change his handle.
  • Villains Act, Heroes React: One episode has them discussing how, despite his arrogant demeanor, Pokémon's Gary Oak did look to be on better track becoming a Pokémon Trainer Master compared to Ash, who is engaged in so many distracting side-quests.
  • Virtual YouTuber:
    • Episode 18 touches on the VTuber boom, with Garnt and Joey being fans while Connor is someone who is interested but not fully invested at least yet. They discuss the appeal, how easy it is to get addicted, the amount of VTubers at the time of recording and potential darker aspects of the industry.
    • Episode 23 has Mori Calliope appear as a guest on the podcast, sharing her personal experiences as one. She returns as a guest on episode 74, about 1 year later.
    • Episode 83 has Kson.
    • After discussing it a few times, Ironmouse is able to finally make it on as a call in guest for the After Dark 24hr Charity Stream.
  • Whole-Plot Reference: The second special (where the boys engage in basic training for drifting and interacted with long-time drift drivers) may be aesthetically themed akin to Initial D, but the beats of the episode are more akin to 2000s-era Top Gear and its Spiritual Successor show, The Grand Tour. The fact that it involves the three in full Vitriolic Best Buds mode and was filmed with the help of Chris Broad just pushes it home further.
  • Willing Suspension of Disbelief: When discussing the invoked Self-Insert Fic aspects of porn in episode 25, they have different thresholds to the amount of fantasy they can tolerate before it becomes too ridiculous to enjoy. Connor personally prefers some tinge of realism to a scenario so that he can enjoy it, while Garnt's gripe with harems is that too many members makes for logistical difficulty.
  • Worth It: After the chess tournament arc, Garnt pulls out two canned drinks with the letter "G" on each can, while exclaiming: "And I have just one thing to say: (shows cans) GG, baby, let's go!".note  He then admits that he bought these drinks purely for that joke and that they actually taste pretty bad, but that it was worth it for the joke.
  • Yaoi Fangirl: The show's producer Meilyne also took part in the boys' 3x3 anime challenge, and she floored them by revealing that most of her choices involved so many Bishōnen. She also admitted she has (as of last count) 50 anime character body pillows (mostly from Hakuouki).
  • Your Approval Fills Me with Shame: During Connor's time in professional chess as a teenager, he recalled receiving praise not for winning, but for putting up a stressful fight for the opponent even when he's long realized he's lost. He disliked receiving praise for forcing an unsatisfying stalemate after a grueling match that lasted hours.

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