Episode 135 - Trash Gacha Friends (Goddess of Victory: NIKKE)

Five years! Yes, that's right, we've made it to Trashtacular Tournament Arc-V, as for the fifth time we pit all the mangas, webtoons and whatever So Pure So Flirtatious was into the tournament arc to end all tournament arcs. In this first half, we'll find which of our 25 series survive the group stages and make it to the Last 16, and which are on the fast track to being the Trashest Manga, Friends. ~ 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. Each fortnight, our trio of Sean, Mike and Phil read the first two volumes (or equivalent) of a manga, webtoon, manhua or manhwa, analysing every little detail to discuss what's good, what's bad, and what's trash. And believe us, half a decade in, there's a lot of trash to discuss. So come listen to our book club slash neverending existential nightmare! ~ Follow us on social media! Links to all platforms on our site - https://trashmangafriends.carrd.co/ Sean, foreeeeveeeer host, is on Bluesky & Twitch - https://bsky.app/profile/slazo.bsky.social ~ https://www.twitch.tv/slazoking Mike, speedrunner and streamer extraordinaire, is everywhere @Bersekrer - https://bersekrer.carrd.co/ Phil, arbiter of trash, is on Twitter @PheNaxKian - https://twitter.com/PheNaxKian ~ Support the official releases! I Think Our Son Is Gay is licensed by Square Enix - https://squareenixmangaandbooks.square-enix-games.com/en-us Girl Friends, Plus-Sized Elf, 365 Days To The Wedding, I Got Married to the Girl I Hate Most in Class and The Too-Perfect Saint: Tossed Aside by My Fiancé and Sold to Another Kingdom are licensed by Seven Seas Entertainment - https://sevenseasentertainment.com/ K-On! and Girls' Last Tour are licensed by Yen Press - https://yenpress.com/ Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint is licensed by Naver Webtoon - https://www.webtoons.com/en/ Battle Vixens is licensed by Tokyopop - https://tokyopop.com/ Naruto, Magilumiere Magical Girls Inc, Pokémon Adventures and Boys Over Flowers are licensed by Viz - https://www.viz.com/ Metamorphosis is licensed by Fakku - https://www.fakku.net/ Don't Mind Me, Sensei! Give Yourself A Hand! is licensed by Tentai Books - https://tentaibooks.com/en/ So Pure, So Flirtatious is licensed by Webnovel - https://www.webnovel.com/ Revenge of the Baskerville Bloodhound is licensed by Tapas - https://tapas.io/ Battle in 5 Seconds is licensed by Comikey - https://comikey.com/

For our final Year 5 series, Mike has dived into his childhood once more, to pick the award winning, best selling, shoujo megahit Boys Over Flowers! Can this classic reverse harem of a poor girl in a rich person's school overcoming bullying, making friends and finding romance end the year with a beautiful bouquet, or wilt under our scorn? ~ 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. Each fortnight, our trio of Sean, Mike and Phil read the first two volumes (or equivalent) of a manga, webtoon, manhua or manhwa, analysing every little detail to discuss what's good, what's bad, and what's trash. And believe us, half a decade in, there's a lot of trash to discuss. So come listen to our book club slash neverending existential nightmare! ~ Follow us on social media! Links to all platforms on our site - https://trashmangafriends.carrd.co/ Sean, foreeeeveeeer host, is on Bluesky & Twitch - https://bsky.app/profile/slazo.bsky.social ~ https://www.twitch.tv/slazoking Mike, speedrunner and streamer extraordinaire, is everywhere @Bersekrer - https://bersekrer.carrd.co/ Phil, arbiter of trash, is on Twitter @PheNaxKian - https://twitter.com/PheNaxKian ~ Support the official release! Boys Over Flowers is licensed by Viz - https://www.viz.com/boys-over-flowers Want to check out the anime? It's available via via Crunchyroll - https://www.crunchyroll.com/series/GYW4W70M6/hana-yori-dango-boys-over-flowers

Five seconds was more than enough for us to decide the fate of Battle in 5 Seconds, a good ol' action manga where everyone gets wacky abilities and must fight to survive in the ultimate death game! Well, except there's not really any death. Or winning. Or losing. Confused? 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. Each fortnight, our trio of Sean, Mike and Phil read the first two volumes (or equivalent) of a manga, webtoon, manhua or manhwa, analysing every little detail to discuss what's good, what's bad, and what's trash. And believe us, half a decade in, there's a lot of trash to discuss. So come listen to our book club slash neverending existential nightmare! ~ Follow us on social media! Links to all platforms on our site - https://trashmangafriends.carrd.co/ Sean, foreeeeveeeer host, is on Bluesky & Twitch - https://bsky.app/profile/slazo.bsky.social ~ https://www.twitch.tv/slazoking Mike, speedrunner and streamer extraordinaire, is everywhere @Bersekrer - https://bersekrer.carrd.co/ Phil, arbiter of trash, is on Twitter @PheNaxKian - https://twitter.com/PheNaxKian ~ Support the official release! Battle in 5 Seconds is licensed by Comikey - https://comikey.com/comics/battle-in-5-seconds-manga/33/ Want to check out the anime? It's available via via Crunchyroll - https://www.crunchyroll.com/series/G8DHV7DG7/battle-game-in-5-seconds

We're closing in on the end of Year 5, so let's get back to something we're all comfortable with. No, not more yanderes, we're returning to streaming with our lord and VTuber Saviour ✟ Messiah-chan! Was this a religious Live2D experience? Or should we have stuck with that one satanic VTuber Mike actually remembers... ~ 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. Each fortnight, our trio of Sean, Mike and Phil read the first two volumes (or equivalent) of a manga, webtoon, manhua or manhwa, analysing every little detail to discuss what's good, what's bad, and what's trash. And believe us, half a decade in, there's a lot of trash to discuss. So come listen to our book club slash neverending existential nightmare! ~ Follow us on social media! Links to all platforms on our site - https://trashmangafriends.carrd.co/ Sean, foreeeeveeeer host, is on Bluesky & Twitch - https://bsky.app/profile/slazo.bsky.social ~ https://www.twitch.tv/slazoking Mike, speedrunner and streamer extraordinaire, is everywhere @Bersekrer - https://bersekrer.carrd.co/ Phil, arbiter of trash, is on Twitter @PheNaxKian - https://twitter.com/PheNaxKian

Is it our fifth April Fools special already? For 2025, we've dived into the world of rate-ups and infinite currencies known as gacha games, and taken aim at one of the genre's bigger recent successes, Goddess of Victory: NIKKE! Was this an SSR pull? Or just another title we'll set to aut-burn? ~ Welcome to That Time I Started A Podcast To Play Trash Gacha With My Friends And Whoops There Goes My Life Savings But At Least I Have This Jpeg! Or The Trash Gacha Friends Podcast, for short. Each fortnight, our trio of Sean, Mike and Phil download and play a gacha game, analysing every little detail to discuss what's good, what's bad, and what's trash. And believe us, half a decade in, there's a lot of trash to discuss. So come listen to our book club slash neverending existential nightmare! ~ Follow us on social media! Links to all platforms on our site - https://trashmangafriends.carrd.co/ Sean, foreeeeveeeer host, is on Bluesky & Twitch - https://bsky.app/profile/slazo.bsky.social ~ https://www.twitch.tv/slazoking Mike, speedrunner and streamer extraordinaire, is everywhere @Bersekrer - https://bersekrer.carrd.co/ Phil, arbiter of trash, is on Twitter @PheNaxKian - https://twitter.com/PheNaxKian ~ Support the official release! Goddess of Victory: NIKKE is available to play on iOS, Android and Windows - https://nikke-en.com/

The light at the end of the tunnel, it's healing vibes for our latest anime tie-in special, as we discuss The Too-Perfect Saint! Will we enjoy this fantasy series about escaping your abusers and being inundated with positive affirmations, or defy all odds and still find something to complain about? ~ 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. Each fortnight, our trio of Sean, Mike and Phil read the first two volumes (or equivalent) of a manga, webtoon, manhua or manhwa, analysing every little detail to discuss what's good, what's bad, and what's trash. And believe us, half a decade in, there's a lot of trash to discuss. So come listen to our book club slash neverending existential nightmare! ~ Follow us on social media! Links to all platforms on our site - https://trashmangafriends.carrd.co/ Sean, foreeeeveeeer host, is on Bluesky & Twitch - https://bsky.app/profile/slazo.bsky.social ~ https://www.twitch.tv/slazoking Mike, speedrunner and streamer extraordinaire, is everywhere @Bersekrer - https://bersekrer.carrd.co/ Phil, arbiter of trash, is on Twitter @PheNaxKian - https://twitter.com/PheNaxKian ~ Support the official release! The Too-Perfect Saint: Tossed Aside by My Finacé and Sold to Another Kingdom is licensed by Seven Seas Entertainment - https://sevenseasentertainment.com/series/the-too-perfect-saint-tossed-aside-by-my-fiance-and-sold-to-another-kingdom-manga/ Want to check out the anime? It's available via via Crunchyroll - https://www.crunchyroll.com/

Fun's over, we're back to abject misery, as we cover Ijousha no Ai, aka An Abnormal Person's Love. And by abnormal, we mean yandere. And by yandere, we don't mean happy go lucky streaming antics or Yuno Gasai facial expressions, we mean oh god help us. Did we find joy in the darkness, or just yet more despair? ~ 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. Each fortnight, our trio of Sean, Mike and Phil read the first two volumes (or equivalent) of a manga, webtoon, manhua or manhwa, analysing every little detail to discuss what's good, what's bad, and what's trash. And believe us, half a decade in, there's a lot of trash to discuss. So come listen to our book club slash neverending existential nightmare! ~ Follow us on social media! Links to all platforms on our site - https://trashmangafriends.carrd.co/ Sean, foreeeeveeeer host, is on Bluesky & Twitch - https://bsky.app/profile/slazo.bsky.social ~ https://www.twitch.tv/slazoking Mike, speedrunner and streamer extraordinaire, is everywhere @Bersekrer - https://bersekrer.carrd.co/ Phil, arbiter of trash, is on Twitter @PheNaxKian - https://twitter.com/PheNaxKian

Happy Pokémon Day! Finally the stars have aligned and we get to talk about the #1 franchise of all time, Pocket Monsters! We discuss all three volumes of the Red Green Blue arc of Pokémon Adventures aka Special, alongside plenty of games chat and memories as we reflect on the greatest of 'em all, and why it was Sean's destiny to be a Pokémaniac. ~ 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. Each fortnight, our trio of Sean, Mike and Phil read the first two volumes (or equivalent) of a manga, webtoon, manhua or manhwa, analysing every little detail to discuss what's good, what's bad, and what's trash. And believe us, half a decade in, there's a lot of trash to discuss. So come listen to our book club slash neverending existential nightmare! ~ Follow us on social media! Links to all platforms on our site - https://trashmangafriends.carrd.co/ Sean, foreeeeveeeer host, is on Bluesky & Twitch - https://bsky.app/profile/slazo.bsky.social ~ https://www.twitch.tv/slazoking Mike, speedrunner and streamer extraordinaire, is everywhere @Bersekrer - https://bersekrer.carrd.co/ Phil, arbiter of trash, is on Twitter @PheNaxKian - https://twitter.com/PheNaxKian ~ Support the official release! Pokémon Adventures is licensed by Viz - https://www.viz.com/pokemon Want to check out the anime? It's available e v e r y w h e r e - https://www.pokemon.com/uk/animation/where-to-watch-pokemon-episodes-movies

You want another romcom for our Valentines special? It's like we read your mind! Which is exactly the theme of the manga this time, a 4koma where our hapless heroine can hear everyone's thoughts, including those of our very horny, very into her lead. Did we love it? Or did National Singles Awareness Day win out once again. ~ 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. Each fortnight, our trio of Sean, Mike and Phil read the first two volumes (or equivalent) of a manga, webtoon, manhua or manhwa, analysing every little detail to discuss what's good, what's bad, and what's trash. And believe us, half a decade in, there's a lot of trash to discuss. So come listen to our book club slash neverending existential nightmare! ~ Follow us on social media! Links to all platforms on our site - https://trashmangafriends.carrd.co/ Sean, foreeeeveeeer host, is on Bluesky & Twitch - https://bsky.app/profile/slazo.bsky.social ~ https://www.twitch.tv/slazoking Mike, speedrunner and streamer extraordinaire, is everywhere @Bersekrer - https://bersekrer.carrd.co/ Phil, arbiter of trash, is on Twitter @PheNaxKian - https://twitter.com/PheNaxKian

Back to back webtoons? Well I never! This time it's Revenge of the Baskerville Bloodhound, a series that has nothing really to do with Sherlock Holmes or bloodhounds. But it is a, and stop me if you've heard this before, power trip fantasy series with art by Redice Studio! Was it another regression for this well worn genre, or could this count itself among the Solo Leveling's of the 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. Each fortnight, our trio of Sean, Mike and Phil read the first two volumes (or equivalent) of a manga, webtoon, manhua or manhwa, analysing every little detail to discuss what's good, what's bad, and what's trash. And believe us, half a decade in, there's a lot of trash to discuss. So come listen to our book club slash neverending existential nightmare! ~ Follow us on social media! Links to all platforms on our site - https://trashmangafriends.carrd.co/ Sean, foreeeeveeeer host, is on Bluesky & Twitch - https://bsky.app/profile/slazo.bsky.social ~ https://www.twitch.tv/slazoking Mike, speedrunner and streamer extraordinaire, is everywhere @Bersekrer - https://bersekrer.carrd.co/ Phil, arbiter of trash, is on Twitter @PheNaxKian - https://twitter.com/PheNaxKian ~ Support the official release! Revenge of the Baskerville Bloodhound is licensed by Tapas - https://tapas.io/series/revenge-of-the-baskerville-bloodhound/info