Episodes

  • Pluto 0: The Greatest Robot on Earth
    Jan 9 2024

    And we're back! 2024 is off to a rip-roaring start with the first episode of Season Two of URASAWA BOYS! This time, we're covering Pluto, but before we dig into the main attraction, we take a look back at the original arc of Astro Boy that inspired Urasawa's one of a kind cyberpunk murder mystery manga. Join Matt and Quinn as they dig into "The Greatest Robot on Earth" and go long on this influential chunk of a classic manga, ponder on how best to make adaptive moves, talk about Dragon Ball, and generally just have an absolutely great time doing the dang thing. Folks - it's a good one!

    Material Covered: Astro Boy - The Greatest Robot on Earth

    Next Time: Pluto (Chapter 1-7)

    Urasawa Boys is a podcast hosted by S. Quinn Morris and Matt Fennell covering the collected works of Naoki Urasawa. You can follow the show on BlueSky and support us on Patreon. The theme music for this season is the track "Clues to the Truth" from the official soundtrack to the anime, composed by Yugo Kanno. Thanks for listening!

    CONTENT WARNINGS

    We're currently reading Pluto, which contains scenes of gore, violence, bodily fluids, racism, terrorism, death, suicide, weapons/guns, war and war related trauma. Please proceed with caution!

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    2 hrs and 29 mins
  • Monster 19: Wrap-Up
    Oct 17 2023

    We did it! This is the end! No reading this time, just some light fun discussion of what's going on in our lives, our thoughts on MONSTER a few weeks removed from reading the finale, and then a bunch of fun segments! We do some fancasting, tier-rank our favorite readings, imagine some AUs, take a handful of very fun listener questions, and then talk about a Reddit post (very bad) and a blog post (very good!). Thanks for joining us on this inaugural season of URASAWA BOYS - we're so excited to get into Master Keaton next!

    Oh yeah, almost forgot - folks, it's a good one!

    Material Covered: Monster - Wrap-up / Listener Questions / Final Discussion

    Next Time: Master Keaton (Chapter 1 - 12)

    Urasawa Boys is a podcast hosted by S. Quinn Morris and Matt Fennell covering the collected works of Naoki Urasawa. You can follow the show on Twitter and support us on Patreon. Thanks for listening!

    CONTENT WARNINGS

    We're currently reading Monster, which contains scenes of gore, violence, bodily fluids, child abuse, gaslighting/emotional abuse, racism, Nazis, terrorism, death, suicide, hospitals/surgery, alcoholism, drug abuse, weapons/guns, and transphobia. Please proceed with caution!

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    2 hrs and 9 mins
  • Monster 18: Great Physician Tenma
    Oct 3 2023

    This is the end. Rain drums against the roof, and in between the low rolls of thunder, you hear something that you could have sworn was a gunshot. Outside, fear alone animates the hearts of those still stuck out on the streets - the devil has come to town.

    Woah, hey, who let Matt write self-indulgent prose again? Sorry about that. Arriving not late, but exactly when it intended to is the FINAL READING of Urasawa Boy's inaugural season on Monster.

    Across a new "record-breaking" number of recordings (2 each), Matt and Quinn update you on everything that's going on for them, and then spend almost three and a half hours talking about rain, atonement, micro-expressions, death-flags, guilt, history, consequences, metaphors, cutaways, psychic powers, illustration and interpretation, Stephen King, The Bible, 90s Action Movies, 90s Spider-Man comics, 90s Batman comics, and just about everything else we've gone nuts over while reading this finale.

    Join us for showdown after showdown as the cast of Monster converges on Ruhenheim to finally experience Johan's vision of the end. Thank you for listening, and for waiting - folks; it's a good one.

    Material Covered: Monster (Chapter 152 - 162)

    Next Time: Monster - Wrap-up / Listener Questions / Final Discussion

    Urasawa Boys is a podcast hosted by S. Quinn Morris and Matt Fennell covering the collected works of Naoki Urasawa. You can follow the show on Twitter and support us on Patreon. Thanks for listening!

    CONTENT WARNINGS

    We're currently reading Monster, which contains scenes of gore, violence, bodily fluids, child abuse, gaslighting/emotional abuse, racism, Nazis, terrorism, death, suicide, hospitals/surgery, alcoholism, drug abuse, weapons/guns, and transphobia. Please proceed with caution!

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    3 hrs and 24 mins
  • Monster 17: Wasteland, Tenma!
    Sep 12 2023

    Coming to you a few hours late, edited LIVE somewhere in the swamps of New Jersey, it's the penultimate episode of Urasawa Boy's inaugural season on MONSTER! Join Matt and Quinn on the rollercoaster once again as we round the corner and begin barreling down the hill into a peaceful and unsuspecting town somewhere in the mountains of southern Germany. We dig into what it was that Johan saw, and what that means for him, and all of our other favorite characters that have gotten caught in the black hole that swirls around him.

    Aside from that, all of your favorite things are here - long digressions to talk about other podcasts and media consumption habits, the two of us saying "we'll probably speed through the rest of these chapters," an hour into the podcast, Quinn providing context about which locations are actually real, and Matt making wildly big conceptual and narrative swings and then hedging those bets with plot ignorance. Folks, it's a good one!

    If you have questions, or topics of discussion that you think would be fun for our wrap up episode, please send them to urasawaboys@gmail.com!

    Material Covered: Monster (Chapter 142 - 151)

    Next Time: Monster (Chapter 152 - 162) - FINAL READING!

    Urasawa Boys is a podcast hosted by S. Quinn Morris and Matt Fennell covering the collected works of Naoki Urasawa. You can follow the show on Twitter and support us on Patreon. Thanks for listening!

    CONTENT WARNINGS

    We're currently reading Monster, which contains scenes of gore, violence, bodily fluids, child abuse, gaslighting/emotional abuse, racism, Nazis, terrorism, death, suicide, hospitals/surgery, alcoholism, drug abuse, weapons/guns, and transphobia. Please proceed with caution!

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    2 hrs and 31 mins
  • Monster 16: Airplane Engineer Tenma
    Aug 29 2023

    A tragic assassination attempt; a stunning piece of detective work; three heroes racing against time to stop a horrible plan - but whose plan is it really? The rollercoaster stalls for a second, before entering free-fall, as all is revealed. MONSTER is loading the last of its narrative bullets into Chekov's gun, and aiming directly at a shocking conclusion. This week's episode of Urasawa Boys (which also features a long discussion of Quinn's ambitious mech decorating project in Armored Core VI, and a fun "what's Matt wearing" segment) is not to be missed!! Folks, it's a good one!

    Material Covered: Monster (Chapter 132 - 141)

    Next Time: Monster (Chapter 142 - 151)

    Urasawa Boys is a podcast hosted by S. Quinn Morris and Matt Fennell covering the collected works of Naoki Urasawa. You can follow the show on Twitter and support us on Patreon. Thanks for listening!

    CONTENT WARNINGS

    We're currently reading Monster, which contains scenes of gore, violence, bodily fluids, child abuse, gaslighting/emotional abuse, racism, Nazis, terrorism, death, suicide, hospitals/surgery, alcoholism, drug abuse, weapons/guns, and transphobia. Please proceed with caution!

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    2 hrs and 12 mins
  • Monster 15: NPC Tenma
    Aug 15 2023

    Folks, we are in the small dip that the rollercoaster does before it crests back up the hill and climbs for the final breathtaking scramble - this is Monster at its most exciting, locking into place for a nailbiting conclusion. Join us this week as Martin becomes the main character, and then watch along as Nina's tragic flashbacks sum up all of the subtext from the past couple of readings. We're heading back to the scene of the crime in more way than one, as we draw on some long forgotten (and cut) theories about what this all means. Matt and Quinn have a grand old time puzzling through what the devil is and how he works, y'all - this is a good one!

    Material Covered: Monster (Chapter 123 - 131)

    Next Time: Monster (Chapter 132 - 141)

    Urasawa Boys is a podcast hosted by S. Quinn Morris and Matt Fennell covering the collected works of Naoki Urasawa. You can follow the show on Twitter and support us on Patreon. Thanks for listening!

    CONTENT WARNINGS

    We're currently reading Monster, which contains scenes of gore, violence, bodily fluids, child abuse, gaslighting/emotional abuse, racism, Nazis, terrorism, death, suicide, hospitals/surgery, alcoholism, drug abuse, weapons/guns, and transphobia. Please proceed with caution!

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    1 hr and 43 mins
  • Monster 14: Tenma (With a Gun (In a Car))
    Aug 3 2023

    Another late episode? Couldn't be URASAWA BOYS, your favorite podcast covering the collected works of Naoki Urasawa. (Thanks for your patience with this one, Matt and Quinn were both on the road for a few weeks.) Anyways - this is a killer section. We do some all time media analysis, and then do some media analysis about media analysis; there's some incredible reveals, some more very scary picture books, incredible spreads, ridiculously late title cards, and the coolest bad dude to ever exist. Monster is working it's way up the big bad rollercoaster hill that will soon have us barreling into some sick-ass loops and twists and turns in what's shaping up to be an all-time ending. Folks, it's a good one.

    Material Covered: Monster (Chapter 114 - 122)

    Next Time: Monster (Chapter 123 - 131)

    Urasawa Boys is a podcast hosted by S. Quinn Morris and Matt Fennell covering the collected works of Naoki Urasawa. You can follow the show on Twitter and support us on Patreon. Thanks for listening!

    CONTENT WARNINGS

    We're currently reading Monster, which contains scenes of gore, violence, bodily fluids, child abuse, gaslighting/emotional abuse, racism, Nazis, terrorism, death, suicide, hospitals/surgery, alcoholism, drug abuse, weapons/guns, and transphobia. Please proceed with caution!

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    2 hrs and 2 mins
  • Monster 13: Prison Break Tenma
    Jul 18 2023

    Lucky Number 13!! Matt and Quinn had to record this episode twice, because the original recording was annihilated, and hoo-boy; what an episode to have to redo, because this reading was not very good! We spend some time trying to figure out what makes this chunk feel over-stuffed and rushed; simultaneously spreading the stuff we like too thick and too thin. After that, we work our way through Tenma's time in prison as he deals with with a master escapee, a wunderkind lawyer, and the return of a trusted friend! This one ends with two absolute goobers and a hell of a bang, and maybe just for that, I can return to our constant refrain - folks, it's a good one!

    Material Covered: Monster (Chapter 105 - 113)

    Next Time: Monster (Chapter 114 - 122)

    Urasawa Boys is a podcast hosted by S. Quinn Morris and Matt Fennell covering the collected works of Naoki Urasawa. You can follow the show on Twitter and support us on Patreon. Thanks for listening!

    CONTENT WARNINGS

    We're currently reading Monster, which contains scenes of gore, violence, bodily fluids, child abuse, gaslighting/emotional abuse, racism, Nazis, terrorism, death, suicide, hospitals/surgery, alcoholism, drug abuse, weapons/guns, and transphobia. Please proceed with caution!

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    1 hr and 50 mins