Episode 162 - Witch Hat Atelier (Tongari Boushi no Atelier)

Happy April Fools! For you, definitely not for us, as for 2026, it's the turn of cartoons in the spotlight. And if you thought animation couldn't get worse than Sword Art Online, my friends, you have no idea. So enjoy, as the Trash Cartoon Friends discuss Stargate Infinity, the cartoon spin-off of the beloved scifi franchise that two of our trio grew up with. I'm so, so sorry. ~ Welcome to That Time I Started A Podcast To Watch Trash Cartoons With My Friends And Answer Is Teen Titans An Anime Or Not! Or The Trash Cartoon Friends Podcast, for short. New episodes drop every fortnight, where our trio of Sean, Mike and Phil watch a season of a cartoon, analysing every little thing to discuss what's good, what's bad, but mostly, what's trash. Five years in, we're just getting started, as trash never ends, and neither do we. So please, come join us and listen to our toon club slash never-ending existential nightmare! ~ Follow us on social media! Links to all platforms on our site - https://trashmangafriends.carrd.co/ Sean, our forever host, is on Bluesky & Twitch - https://bsky.app/profile/slazo.bsky.social ~ https://www.twitch.tv/slazoking Mike, our streamer extraordinaire, is everywhere @Bersekrer - https://bersekrer.carrd.co/ Phil, our trash overlord, is on Twitter @PheNaxKian - https://twitter.com/PheNaxKian ~ Support the official release! Startgate Infinity is available via Amazon Prime - https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/video/detail/B09R4GNR5K

We've got a spring in our step for our Spring anime season tie-in, since one of the most anticipated anime adaptations has arrived! Yes, we're reading the award winning and critically acclaimed Witch Hat Atelier! Will the story of a normal girl stumbling into the world of magic resonate with our trio, or is one superfan about to have a horrible awakening... ~ Welcome to That Time I Started A Podcast To Read Trash Manga With My Friends And Actually Most Of Them Were Trash But Some Of Them Weren't! Or The Trash Manga Friends Podcast, for short. New episodes drop every fortnight, where our trio of Sean, Mike and Phil read the first two volumes (or equivalent) of a manga, webtoon, manhua or manhwa, analysing every little thing to discuss what's good, what's bad, but mostly, what's trash. Five years in, we're just getting started, as trash never ends, and neither do we. So please, come join us and listen to our book club slash never-ending existential nightmare! ~ Follow us on social media! Links to all platforms on our site - https://trashmangafriends.carrd.co/ Sean, our forever host, is on Bluesky & Twitch - https://bsky.app/profile/slazo.bsky.social ~ https://www.twitch.tv/slazoking Mike, our streamer extraordinaire, is everywhere @Bersekrer - https://bersekrer.carrd.co/ Phil, our trash overlord, is on Twitter @PheNaxKian - https://twitter.com/PheNaxKian ~ Support the official release! Witch Hat Atelier is licensed by Kodansha - https://kodansha.us/series/witch-hat-atelier/ Want to check out the anime? It's available via Crunchyroll - https://www.crunchyroll.com/news/latest/2026/2/20/witch-hat-atelier-anime-april-6-premiere-new-trailer-visual

We're back in Mike's childhood once more. But this time, after the Tokyo Underground's and Boys Over Flowers's, we're guaranteed to have a banger, as we tackle the iconic Trigun. The anime might've been one of the pillars of Adult Swim, but how fares the original manga? Yeah, about that... ~ Welcome to That Time I Started A Podcast To Read Trash Manga With My Friends And Actually Most Of Them Were Trash But Some Of Them Weren't! Or The Trash Manga Friends Podcast, for short. New episodes drop every fortnight, where our trio of Sean, Mike and Phil read the first two volumes (or equivalent) of a manga, webtoon, manhua or manhwa, analysing every little thing to discuss what's good, what's bad, but mostly, what's trash. Five years in, we're just getting started, as trash never ends, and neither do we. So please, come join us and listen to our book club slash never-ending existential nightmare! ~ Follow us on social media! Links to all platforms on our site - https://trashmangafriends.carrd.co/ Sean, our forever host, is on Bluesky & Twitch - https://bsky.app/profile/slazo.bsky.social ~ https://www.twitch.tv/slazoking Mike, our streamer extraordinaire, is everywhere @Bersekrer - https://bersekrer.carrd.co/ Phil, our trash overlord, is on Twitter @PheNaxKian - https://twitter.com/PheNaxKian ~ Support the official release! Trigun is licensed by Dark Horse - https://www.darkhorse.com/search/browse/trigun/ Want to check out the anime? It's available via Crunchyroll - https://www.crunchyroll.com/series/GYP58QMMY/trigun

If in doubt, shounen will never let you down, right? So was it a bloodbath when we read the classic blood power series Tougen Anki: Legend of the Cursed Blood? After all, if you're drawing inspirations from every big name shounen manga past and present, you've got to be able to channel something interesting... right? ~ Welcome to That Time I Started A Podcast To Read Trash Manga With My Friends And Actually Most Of Them Were Trash But Some Of Them Weren't! Or The Trash Manga Friends Podcast, for short. New episodes drop every fortnight, where our trio of Sean, Mike and Phil read the first two volumes (or equivalent) of a manga, webtoon, manhua or manhwa, analysing every little thing to discuss what's good, what's bad, but mostly, what's trash. Five years in, we're just getting started, as trash never ends, and neither do we. So please, come join us and listen to our book club slash never-ending existential nightmare! ~ Follow us on social media! Links to all platforms on our site - https://trashmangafriends.carrd.co/ Sean, our forever host, is on Bluesky & Twitch - https://bsky.app/profile/slazo.bsky.social ~ https://www.twitch.tv/slazoking Mike, our streamer extraordinaire, is everywhere @Bersekrer - https://bersekrer.carrd.co/ Phil, our trash overlord, is on Twitter @PheNaxKian - https://twitter.com/PheNaxKian ~ Support the official release! Tougen Anki: Legend of the Cursed Blood is licensed by Yen Press - https://yenpress.com/series/tougen-anki-legend-of-the-cursed-blood Want to check out the anime? It's available via Crunchyroll - https://www.crunchyroll.com/series/GP5HJ84D2/tougen-anki

Another year, another Valentine's, which can only mean yet another romcom. But this time we've looked to the bard for inspiration, to find Boarding School Juliet, inspired by Shakespeare's own Romeo and Juliet! Surely a romcom based off this all time iconic work in this season of love and romance couldn't enrage our trio? ~ Welcome to That Time I Started A Podcast To Read Trash Manga With My Friends And Actually Most Of Them Were Trash But Some Of Them Weren't! Or The Trash Manga Friends Podcast, for short. New episodes drop every fortnight, where our trio of Sean, Mike and Phil read the first two volumes (or equivalent) of a manga, webtoon, manhua or manhwa, analysing every little thing to discuss what's good, what's bad, but mostly, what's trash. Five years in, we're just getting started, as trash never ends, and neither do we. So please, come join us and listen to our book club slash never-ending existential nightmare! ~ Follow us on social media! Links to all platforms on our site - https://trashmangafriends.carrd.co/ Sean, our forever host, is on Bluesky & Twitch - https://bsky.app/profile/slazo.bsky.social ~ https://www.twitch.tv/slazoking Mike, our streamer extraordinaire, is everywhere @Bersekrer - https://bersekrer.carrd.co/ Phil, our trash overlord, is on Twitter @PheNaxKian - https://twitter.com/PheNaxKian ~ Support the official release! Boarding School Juliet is licensed by Kodansha - https://kodansha.us/series/boarding-school-juliet/

Our first webtoon of 2026, and it's all about mixed martial arts fighting! Surely with an ex-martial artist, a wrestling stan and a shounen fan amongst our trio, Guard Pass must have been set to go down a treat. It's even got a female lead kicking butt and an atypical mountain of a male protagonist! There's no way we would hard pass on Guard Pass, right? ~ Welcome to That Time I Started A Podcast To Read Trash Manga With My Friends And Actually Most Of Them Were Trash But Some Of Them Weren't! Or The Trash Manga Friends Podcast, for short. New episodes drop every fortnight, where our trio of Sean, Mike and Phil read the first two volumes (or equivalent) of a manga, webtoon, manhua or manhwa, analysing every little thing to discuss what's good, what's bad, but mostly, what's trash. Five years in, we're just getting started, as trash never ends, and neither do we. So please, come join us and listen to our book club slash never-ending existential nightmare! ~ Follow us on social media! Links to all platforms on our site - https://trashmangafriends.carrd.co/ Sean, our forever host, is on Bluesky & Twitch - https://bsky.app/profile/slazo.bsky.social ~ https://www.twitch.tv/slazoking Mike, our streamer extraordinaire, is everywhere @Bersekrer - https://bersekrer.carrd.co/ Phil, our trash overlord, is on Twitter @PheNaxKian - https://twitter.com/PheNaxKian ~ Support the official release! Guard Pass is licensed by Tapas - https://tapas.io/series/guard-pass/info

Now that 2026 has well and truly begun, we can start another of our traditions, the seasonal anime tie-in! And for the first time in a long time we're drawing inspiration from the villainess trope, as we let The Holy Grail of Eris bring out the worst in us! But was that a good thing? Or just more slop to animate two frames of and stick an AI sub or dub onto... ~ Welcome to That Time I Started A Podcast To Read Trash Manga With My Friends And Actually Most Of Them Were Trash But Some Of Them Weren't! Or The Trash Manga Friends Podcast, for short. New episodes drop every fortnight, where our trio of Sean, Mike and Phil read the first two volumes (or equivalent) of a manga, webtoon, manhua or manhwa, analysing every little thing to discuss what's good, what's bad, but mostly, what's trash. Five years in, we're just getting started, as trash never ends, and neither do we. So please, come join us and listen to our book club slash never-ending existential nightmare! ~ Follow us on social media! Links to all platforms on our site - https://trashmangafriends.carrd.co/ Sean, our forever host, is on Bluesky & Twitch - https://bsky.app/profile/slazo.bsky.social ~ https://www.twitch.tv/slazoking Mike, our streamer extraordinaire, is everywhere @Bersekrer - https://bersekrer.carrd.co/ Phil, our trash overlord, is on Twitter @PheNaxKian - https://twitter.com/PheNaxKian ~ Support the official release! The Holy Grail of Eris is licensed by Yen Press - https://yenpress.com/series/the-holy-grail-of-eris-manga Want to check out the anime? It's available via Crunchyroll - https://www.crunchyroll.com/news/seasonal-lineup/2025/12/16/winter-anime-2026-crunchyroll

Happy New Year! For the first time ever, our fortnightly episode falls on January 1st, so we scoured high and low to find a manga related to the new year! And we failed. So here's the next best thing when you need a series on new beginnings - isekai! But not just any isekai, an onsen isekai! ...No, not that onsen isekai (yes there's multiple), but Reincarnated as a Hot Spring in an Alternate World! ~ Welcome to That Time I Started A Podcast To Read Trash Manga With My Friends And Actually Most Of Them Were Trash But Some Of Them Weren't! Or The Trash Manga Friends Podcast, for short. New episodes drop every fortnight, where our trio of Sean, Mike and Phil read the first two volumes (or equivalent) of a manga, webtoon, manhua or manhwa, analysing every little thing to discuss what's good, what's bad, but mostly, what's trash. Five years in, we're just getting started, as trash never ends, and neither do we. So please, come join us and listen to our book club slash never-ending existential nightmare! ~ Follow us on social media! Links to all platforms on our site - https://trashmangafriends.carrd.co/ Sean, our forever host, is on Bluesky & Twitch - https://bsky.app/profile/slazo.bsky.social ~ https://www.twitch.tv/slazoking Mike, our streamer extraordinaire, is everywhere @Bersekrer - https://bersekrer.carrd.co/ Phil, our trash overlord, is on Twitter @PheNaxKian - https://twitter.com/PheNaxKian

It's Chriiisssstmaaaas! And this year, more than any other, we're on brand, as we discuss Sanda! No, I've not misspelt that, it's the seasonal tale of a boy called Sanda who has the power to turn into Santa Claus. Set in a world where Christmas doesn't exist anymore and the kids can do literally no wrong. All done by the Beastars mangaka. Intrigued? So were we... ~ Welcome to That Time I Started A Podcast To Read Trash Manga With My Friends And Actually Most Of Them Were Trash But Some Of Them Weren't! Or The Trash Manga Friends Podcast, for short. New episodes drop every fortnight, where our trio of Sean, Mike and Phil read the first two volumes (or equivalent) of a manga, webtoon, manhua or manhwa, analysing every little thing to discuss what's good, what's bad, but mostly, what's trash. Five years in, we're just getting started, as trash never ends, and neither do we. So please, come join us and listen to our book club slash never-ending existential nightmare! ~ Follow us on social media! Links to all platforms on our site - https://trashmangafriends.carrd.co/ Sean, our forever host, is on Bluesky & Twitch - https://bsky.app/profile/slazo.bsky.social ~ https://www.twitch.tv/slazoking Mike, our streamer extraordinaire, is everywhere @Bersekrer - https://bersekrer.carrd.co/ Phil, our trash overlord, is on Twitter @PheNaxKian - https://twitter.com/PheNaxKian ~ Support the official release! Sanda is licensed by Titan Comics - https://titan-comics.com/c/2292-sanda/ Want to check out the anime? It's available via Amazon Prime! - https://www.amazon.co.uk/SANDA/dp/B0FMYV57N6

We've had a time as of late, but is now when our trio finally gets on the same page? Kemono Jihen is up to the plate in this episode, a supernatural mystery shounen involving tanukis, kitsunes, vampires and more besides! Can this series that's sold millions and has an anime finally be something we all consider good, or another foul spirit to be banished to the shadow realm? ~ Welcome to That Time I Started A Podcast To Read Trash Manga With My Friends And Actually Most Of Them Were Trash But Some Of Them Weren't! Or The Trash Manga Friends Podcast, for short. New episodes drop every fortnight, where our trio of Sean, Mike and Phil read the first two volumes (or equivalent) of a manga, webtoon, manhua or manhwa, analysing every little thing to discuss what's good, what's bad, but mostly, what's trash. Five years in, we're just getting started, as trash never ends, and neither do we. So please, come join us and listen to our book club slash never-ending existential nightmare! ~ Follow us on social media! Links to all platforms on our site - https://trashmangafriends.carrd.co/ Sean, our forever host, is on Bluesky & Twitch - https://bsky.app/profile/slazo.bsky.social ~ https://www.twitch.tv/slazoking Mike, our streamer extraordinaire, is everywhere @Bersekrer - https://bersekrer.carrd.co/ Phil, our trash overlord, is on Twitter @PheNaxKian - https://twitter.com/PheNaxKian ~ Support the official release! Kemono Jihen is licensed by Viz - https://sevenseasentertainment.com/series/kemono-jihen/ Want to check out the anime? It's available via Crunchyroll! - https://www.crunchyroll.com/series/GKEH2G492/kemono-jihen