Purely Academic #29 - The Decimation of Gaming, the Destruction of Hollywood, and the Dawn of Ditto

The news just won’t stop coming, so we once again have an overstuffed Monthly Stuff episode to break it all down, from the reveal of Nvidia’s horrific slop-fueled DLSS 5, to Sony raising prices dramatically on PS5 systems, to the announcement of a new Lord of the Rings movie from Stephen Colbert, and more! Once we’re doing breaking all that down, Jonathan tells us all about his adventures in Pokémon Pokopia, while Sean explains how he spent spring break playing - *checks notes* - 7 different Resident Evil games. And finally, Jonathan is on deck for The Monthly Ten, as Sean tasks him to come up with 10 increasingly ridiculous new acronyms for the State of Texas’ annual standardized tests.  Enjoy! TIME CHART: Intro: 0:00:00 – 0:04:37 Video Game News: 0:04:37 – 1:20:00 Movie News: 1:20:00 – 1:55:31 Anime News: 1:55:31 – 2:01:33 Jonathan’s New Computer Stories: 2:01:33 – 2:17:00 Ultraman Nexus: 2:17:00 – 2:33:50  Pokemon Pokopia: 2:33:50 – 2:50:27 Sean’s Resident Evil Adventures: 2:50:27 – 3:26:23 The Monthly Ten: 3:26:23 – 3:43:57 Read Jonathan Lack’s movie reviews and stay up to date with all our podcast projects at https://www.jonathanlack.comSubscribe to JAPANIMATION STATION, our podcast about the wide and wonderful world of anime: https://www.japanimation-station.com Read Jonathan’s book 200 Reviews in Paperback or on Kindle – https://a.co/d/bLx53vKSubscribe to our YouTube channels! Japanimation Station: https://www.youtube.com/c/japanimationstation  Purely Academic: https://www.youtube.com/@purelyacademicpodcastSupport the show at Ko-fi ☕️ https://ko-fi.com/weeklystuffOriginal Music by Thomas Lack https://www.thomaslack.com/©2012 - Present Jonathan R. Lack & Sean Chapman

There’s very little we enjoy talking about more than Resident Evil here at Purely Academic, as the series has been on one of the most amazing hot streaks in the history of gaming over this past decade. The latest entry, Resident Evil Requiem, is a stirring summation of everything these games have done well as of late, combining the survival horror and bombastic action the series has perfected across Resident Evil 7 and Village and the Resident Evil 2 and 4 remakes all into one incredible package. With a great new protagonist in Grace Ashcroft and a new story for series favorite Leon S. Kennedy, Requiem is as good a time we’ve had playing – or talking about – a game in a very long time.  Enjoy!  TIME CHART: Intro: 0:00:00 – 0:04:36 Jonathan Talks Twin Peaks & Alamo Drafthouse: 0:04:36 – 0:34:46 Sean Talks Nioh 3: 0:34:46 – 0:55:22 Resident Evil Requiem Review: 0:55:22 – 02:43:27 Read Jonathan Lack’s movie reviews and stay up to date with all our podcast projects at https://www.jonathanlack.comSubscribe to JAPANIMATION STATION, our podcast about the wide and wonderful world of anime: https://www.japanimation-station.com Read Jonathan’s book 200 Reviews in Paperback or on Kindle – https://a.co/d/bLx53vKSubscribe to our YouTube channels! Japanimation Station: https://www.youtube.com/c/japanimationstation  Purely Academic: https://www.youtube.com/@purelyacademicpodcastSupport the show at Ko-fi ☕️ https://ko-fi.com/weeklystuffOriginal Music by Thomas Lack https://www.thomaslack.com/©2012 - Present Jonathan R. Lack & Sean Chapman

It’s been a big – and depressing – few weeks of news in the entertainment industry, so we’re back for the March ‘Monthly Stuff’ episode to break it all down. First up we have Sony’s sudden (and infuriating) closure of Bluepoint, the studio behind many top-of-the-line remakes and remasters including 2020’s Demon Souls, which prompts a broader discussion about the issues Sony has had during the PS5 generation. Then we have the news of Phil Spencer’s retirement at Xbox, and the installation of one of Microsoft’s AI executives into the job. And then there’s the matter of Netflix bowing out of their proposed acquisition of Warner Bros., leaving the road open for Paramount (and the Ellison family) to gobble up Hollywood’s oldest, most storied institution. With all that terrible news, we needed a pick-me-up at the end, which comes in the form of a very silly Monthly Ten, in which Sean imagines 10 games that steal the premise of Pokémon Pokopia by putting a Ditto front and center in the middle of the action.  TIME CHART: Intro: 0:00:00 – 0:05:22 Bluepoint & PlayStation News: 0:05:22 – 1:01:12 Xbox News: 1:01:12 – 1:33:31 Video Game News: 1:33:31 – 1:57:52 Anime News: 1:57:52 – 2:10:20 Hollywood News: 2:10:20 – 2:28:45 Monthly Ten: 2:28:45 – 2:51:16 Read Jonathan Lack’s movie reviews and stay up to date with all our podcast projects at https://www.jonathanlack.comSubscribe to JAPANIMATION STATION, our podcast about the wide and wonderful world of anime: https://www.japanimation-station.com Read Jonathan’s book 200 Reviews in Paperback or on Kindle – https://a.co/d/bLx53vKSubscribe to our YouTube channels! Japanimation Station: https://www.youtube.com/c/japanimationstation  Purely Academic: https://www.youtube.com/@purelyacademicpodcastSupport the show at Ko-fi ☕️ https://ko-fi.com/weeklystuffOriginal Music by Thomas Lack https://www.thomaslack.com/©2012 - Present Jonathan R. Lack & Sean Chapman

In a very video game-centric episode of the podcast, we talk all the news out of this month’s Nintendo Direct Partner Showcase and Sony State of Play, including the announcement of a God of War trilogy remake, a new Castlevania game from the Dead Cells team, and more! Sean fills us in on the controversies surrounding Yakuza Kiwami 3, and we commiserate over the continued desecration of the video game market due to AI gobbling up the RAM supply. Jonathan talks about playing through Dragon Quest IV and Dragon Quest V, the latter for the first time – if you haven’t heard, it’s a masterpiece – while Sean tells us about his adventures going to San Antonio for a conference. And finally, for The Monthly Ten, Jonathan pitches Capcom on 10 increasingly silly ideas for Resident Evil crossovers and spin-offs, in honor of next week’s release of Resident Evil Requiem.  Enjoy!  TIME CHART: Intro: 0:00:00 – 0:09:45 Lucasfilm/Star Wars News: 0:09:45 – 0:32:50 Assorted Video Game News: 0:32:50 – 1:11:22 Nintendo Direct: 1:11:22 – 1:25:00 Sony State of Play: 1:25:00 – 2:09:25  Sean’s Conference Adventures: 2:09:25 – 2:42:02 Jonathan’s Dragon Quest Adventures: 2:42:02 – 3:09:17 The Monthly Ten: 3:09:17 – 3:34:44  Read Jonathan Lack’s movie reviews and stay up to date with all our podcast projects at https://www.jonathanlack.comSubscribe to JAPANIMATION STATION, our podcast about the wide and wonderful world of anime: https://www.japanimation-station.com Read Jonathan’s book 200 Reviews in Paperback or on Kindle – https://a.co/d/bLx53vKSubscribe to our YouTube channels! Japanimation Station: https://www.youtube.com/c/japanimationstation  Purely Academic: https://www.youtube.com/@purelyacademicpodcastSupport the show at Ko-fi ☕️ https://ko-fi.com/weeklystuffOriginal Music by Thomas Lack https://www.thomaslack.com/©2012 - Present Jonathan R. Lack & Sean Chapman

Our sister podcast, the anime history and review show Japanimation Station, returns on March 15th, 2026 for its 6th season, and it’s one listeners have been demanding for a long time: our Tomino-thon! Throughout 2026, we’ll be peering into the delightfully deranged mind of Tomino Yoshiyuki, creator of Mobile Suit Gundam, which kicked off our entire anime podcasting journey with our ‘Weekly Suit Gundam’ series back in 2019. Now, we’ll be returning to the world of Tomino with deep dives into every TV series and film he’s ever directed. In this special preview episode, we outline the season’s first half, “The New Anime Era,” in which we’ll be analyzing each of Tomino’s shows from 1977’s Invincible Super Man Zambot 3 through 1984’s Heavy Metal L-Gaim. Season 6 Part 1 will run for 12 episodes uninterrupted through May. After a summer break, we’ll then return in the fall for a second half picking up with 1985’s Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam. Will you be able to survive?   Read Jonathan Lack’s movie reviews and stay up to date with all our podcast projects at https://www.jonathanlack.comSubscribe to JAPANIMATION STATION, our podcast about the wide and wonderful world of anime: https://www.japanimation-station.com Read Jonathan’s book 200 Reviews in Paperback or on Kindle – https://a.co/d/bLx53vKSubscribe to our YouTube channels! Japanimation Station: https://www.youtube.com/c/japanimationstation  Purely Academic: https://www.youtube.com/@purelyacademicpodcastSupport the show at Ko-fi ☕️ https://ko-fi.com/weeklystuffOriginal Music by Thomas Lack https://www.thomaslack.com/©2012 - Present Jonathan R. Lack & Sean Chapman

The time has come, once again: Sean and Jonathan are here to count down the Top 10 Video Games of 2025. It was an undeniably weird year for the medium, with some exciting developments – like the launch of Nintendo’s Switch 2 and a strong first year of exclusive – marred by a lot of depressing industry upheaval, and the AAA space was largely pretty thin. We go quite a bit off the beaten path this year discussing our favorites, and while you’ve heard us talk about some of these before, there are a lot of surprises along the way. And this is the only Game of the Year podcast where you won’t hear anyone talk about Clair Obscur, because we simply didn’t play it. If nothing else, our lists are very unique. TIME CHART:Intro: 0:00:00 – 0:15:27#10: 0:15:27 – 0:32:00#9: 0:32:00 – 0:48:23#8: 0:48:23 – 1:03:48#7: 1:03:48 – 1:20:06#6: 1:20:06 – 1:44:22#5: 1:44:22 – 2:07:28#4: 2:07:28 – 2:21:02#3: 2:21:02 – 2:39:17#2: 2:39:17 – 3:06:48#1 GOTY Picks: 3:06:48 – 3:39:40  Read Jonathan Lack’s movie reviews and stay up to date with all our podcast projects at https://www.jonathanlack.comSubscribe to JAPANIMATION STATION, our podcast about the wide and wonderful world of anime: https://www.japanimation-station.com Read Jonathan’s book 200 Reviews in Paperback or on Kindle – https://a.co/d/bLx53vKSubscribe to our YouTube channels! Japanimation Station: https://www.youtube.com/c/japanimationstation  Purely Academic: https://www.youtube.com/@purelyacademicpodcastSupport the show at Ko-fi ☕️ https://ko-fi.com/weeklystuffOriginal Music by Thomas Lack https://www.thomaslack.com/©2012 - Present Jonathan R. Lack & Sean Chapman

For our first show of 2026, we look back on the best movies of 2025, as Jonathan talks us through his list of the 20 best films to come out last year, from undisputed favorites like Paul Thomas Anderson’s One Battle After Another, to anime stunners like the Chainsaw Man and Kimetsu no Yaiba movies, to some weirder, smaller, and more personal picks. Then, Sean talks us through his busy winter vacation spent in the world of Digimon, reviewing the latest Digimon Story game, Time Stranger, alongside the 2021 Digimon anime Digimon Ghost Game and the first cours of the brand new Digimon Beatbreak. Finally, we round out the episode with a very depressing Monthly Ten where Sean is tasked with imagining ten ways we could sell our souls to become more popular podcasters.Enjoy, and come back next week for our Top 10 Video Games of 2025 episode! TIME CHART:Intro: 0:00:00 – 0:08:33News: 0:08:33 – 0:40:16 Jonathan’s Favorite Films of 2025: 0:40:16 – 1:58:40 Sean’s Digimon Adventures: 1:58:40 – 2:58:38The Monthly Ten: 2:58:38 – 3:27:20  Read Jonathan Lack’s movie reviews and stay up to date with all our podcast projects at https://www.jonathanlack.comSubscribe to JAPANIMATION STATION, our podcast about the wide and wonderful world of anime: https://www.japanimation-station.com Read Jonathan’s book 200 Reviews in Paperback or on Kindle – https://a.co/d/bLx53vKSubscribe to our YouTube channels! Japanimation Station: https://www.youtube.com/c/japanimationstation  Purely Academic: https://www.youtube.com/@purelyacademicpodcastSupport the show at Ko-fi ☕️ https://ko-fi.com/weeklystuffOriginal Music by Thomas Lack https://www.thomaslack.com/©2012 - Present Jonathan R. Lack & Sean Chapman

Fair warning: this month’s episode starts out as a major bummer, what with news of the Netflix/WB merger and the pricing madness around RAM spelling doom for both Hollywood and the gaming industry, topics we dive deep on to make ourselves extremely sad. But once you get past all that, we start having some fun, as Jonathan reviews the flawed but extremely fun Metroid Prime 4: Beyond on Nintendo Switch and Sean talks at length about falling down the Super Robot Wars rabbit hole, which is an absolutely amazing segment. Then we finish things off with a very misanthropic – but very funny – Monthly Ten segment in which Jonathan lists 10 ways to improve Christmas in 2025, most of which involve taking aim at traditions people love. Pa rum pa pum pum. Enjoy! TIME CHART:Intro: 0:00:00 – 0:08:50Netflix/WB Merger: 0:08:50 – 0:26:50Star Wars News: 0:26:50 – 0:35:45Steam Machines: 0:35:45 – 0:51:42RAM Madness: 0:51:42 – 1:14:38Call of Duty and Game Award News: 1:14:38 – 1:54:35Metroid Prime 4: 1:54:35 – 2:38:02Ultraman Cosmos: 2:38:02 – 2:55:00Super Robot Wars: 2:55:00 – 3:24:04Monthly Ten: 3:24:04 – 3:52:10 Read Jonathan Lack’s movie reviews and stay up to date with all our podcast projects at https://www.jonathanlack.comSubscribe to JAPANIMATION STATION, our podcast about the wide and wonderful world of anime: https://www.japanimation-station.com Read Jonathan’s book 200 Reviews in Paperback or on Kindle – https://a.co/d/bLx53vKSubscribe to our YouTube channels! Japanimation Station: https://www.youtube.com/c/japanimationstation  Purely Academic: https://www.youtube.com/@purelyacademicpodcastSupport the show at Ko-fi ☕️ https://ko-fi.com/weeklystuffOriginal Music by Thomas Lack https://www.thomaslack.com/©2012 - Present Jonathan R. Lack & Sean Chapman

For our November topic – coming just in time for the start of December – we celebrate the release of Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein with a three-part retrospective on one of the most famous stories in the English language. First, we take a look at the original 1818 novel by Mary Shelley – which has been one of Sean’s favorite books, but was new to Jonathan – and celebrate its tremendous accomplishments, all of which still feel revelatory today. Then we talk about the classic 1931 Universal movie, directed by James Whale and starring Boris Karloff, which doesn’t take much from the book, but establishes much of the story’s endearing iconography. And finally, we give a full review of the brand new version, directed by the inimitable Guillermo del Toro, who leave his own original stamp on the material in ways that are very much worth discussing. Enjoy! TIME CHART:Intro: 0:00:00 – 0:19:29The Novel: 0:19:29 – 1:27:22The 1931 Film: 1:27:22 – 1:56:35The 2025 Film: 1:56:35 – 3:12:26  Read Jonathan Lack’s movie reviews and stay up to date with all our podcast projects at https://www.jonathanlack.comSubscribe to JAPANIMATION STATION, our podcast about the wide and wonderful world of anime: https://www.japanimation-station.com Read Jonathan’s book 200 Reviews in Paperback or on Kindle – https://a.co/d/bLx53vKSubscribe to our YouTube channels! Japanimation Station: https://www.youtube.com/c/japanimationstation  Purely Academic: https://www.youtube.com/@purelyacademicpodcastSupport the show at Ko-fi ☕️ https://ko-fi.com/weeklystuffOriginal Music by Thomas Lack https://www.thomaslack.com/©2012 - Present Jonathan R. Lack & Sean Chapman

In one of our most absolutely jam-packed Monthly Stuff installments to date, we live up to our moniker with a long discussion of teaching stories and curriculum planning (but it’s fun, we promise) before moving on to talk about the avalanche of games we’ve playing recently, including Ghost of Yōtei, Pokémon Legends Z-A, Hades II, Super Robot Wars Y, and the Dragon Quest I & II HD-2D Remake. Before all that, we discuss some recent news, including updates on Doctor Who, Halo, and One Piece, and we end the show with perhaps our best Monthly Ten segment to date, in which Sean Chapman, who had never listened to a Taylor Swift song before this month, imagines 10 future Taylor Swift songs based on dark and upsetting plot points in William Shakespeare plays. It’s a blast. Enjoy! TIME CHART:Intro: 0:00:00 – 0:04:48News: 0:04:48 – 0:54:29School Stories: 0:54:29 – 1:51:30Robert Eggers’ Nosferatu: 1:51:30 – 2:07:45Plur1bus: 2:07:45 – 2:14:40Ghost of Yōtei: 2:14:40 – 2:27:04Hades II: 2:27:04 – 2:35:35Pokémon Legends ZA: 2:35:35 – 2:54:30Super Robot Wars Y: 2:54:30 – 3:01:25Dragon Quest I & II HD-2D Remake: 3:01:25 – 3:07:14The Monthly Ten: 3:07:14 – 3:31:16 Read Jonathan Lack’s movie reviews and stay up to date with all our podcast projects at https://www.jonathanlack.comSubscribe to JAPANIMATION STATION, our podcast about the wide and wonderful world of anime: https://www.japanimation-station.com Read Jonathan’s book 200 Reviews in Paperback or on Kindle – https://a.co/d/bLx53vKSubscribe to our YouTube channels! Japanimation Station: https://www.youtube.com/c/japanimationstation  Purely Academic: https://www.youtube.com/@purelyacademicpodcastSupport the show at Ko-fi ☕️ https://ko-fi.com/weeklystuffOriginal Music by Thomas Lack https://www.thomaslack.com/©2012 - Present Jonathan R. Lack & Sean Chapman