Ultra Podcast Z - A-to-J Connections

Ultra Podcast Z 184 (Hao-lloween w/ Hao) Trick or Treating, Horror Movies, Twilight Zone, More!

10/7/2022

Live Broadcast:
October 4, 2022 6:00 PM PDT

Hosts:
Manuel
Hao

Description:
Ultra Podcast Z is back on its Halloween bs and this is an interesting episode as we were originally going to have a completely different JD-centric episode due to some schedule nonsense and put together this episode just hours before go-time. This isn't TOO far from the usual UPZ nonsense, but it is interesting that we got Hao onto the show for the first time, thus completing his trifecta of appearing on every main A-to-J show we have! In the older days of our October episodes we used to cover the same topics with new hosts so we SORT OF did that here and went over some trick or treating memories and horror media stuff, but we kinda lost that plot about midway in. That was fine though as we had more than enough to talk about and even though Hao apparently isn't a big consumer of horror media that doesn't come in the form of movies (he REALLY needs to get on that horror musical thing though!) we still managed to talk a LOT about Twilight Zone towards the end. It's almost as if we had a Twilight Zone themed episode and kind of wasted it on the last segment here. That's fine though, maybe we'll have one in the future complete with monologue and us mouthing the theme. Would that be interesting or just ridiculous? We shall see! Keep watching in October though as we have more Halloween nonsense planned! As always, take care of yourselves and each other in these trying times and stay healthy and safe! If you want to watch Ultra Podcast Z live then check out our twitch channel: twitch.tv/atojplays We are live every Tuesday at 6 PM PST!

Ultra Podcast Z 183 (Welcome to Gamestop w/ Nestor) Gacha Games, "Girl" Games, Inflation, More!

9/23/2022

Live Broadcast:
September 20, 2022 6:00 PM PDT

Hosts:
Manuel
Nestor

Description:
Ultra Podcast Z is back! Well, we never left this time but there was a lot of nonsense lately that almost made this episode a bit of a lost one as we didn't have a host lined up in light of all the recent stuff going on (such as being busy with PMX and other cons coming up) but Nestor came in clutch at pretty much the eleventh hour. We didn't really mention it live, though it was referenced in the podcast title, but Nestor works at Gamestop and it was an idea that we'd have another gaming topic episode where we covered things like microtransactions / loot boxes / gacha games and other nonsense along with maybe a smattering of retail stories. We kind of went into this without the biggest of ideas of what we were going to talk about but we also had both a fun time and a random time. Excuse all the jumping around, but we did get to most of the key topics we wanted to but only touched on some of the recent Rings of Power & House of The Dragon updates since it turns out that Nestor hasn't watched either, so keep an eye out for that in an upcoming episode. Somehow we even tackled the idea of "girl games" and "gamer girls" without coming off crazy controversial! ... maybe! Anyway, we're all nerds here so just have fun with us for a bit even if this is quite the random episode. Also, Genshin Impact-ing my bank account! Let's go! As always, take care of yourselves and each other in these trying times and stay healthy and safe! If you want to watch Ultra Podcast Z live then check out our twitch channel: twitch.tv/atojplays We are live every Tuesday at 6 PM PST!

Ultra Podcast Z 182 (Nonsense w/ Badman) Nintendo Direct, House of The Dragon, Rings of Power, More!

9/16/2022

Live Broadcast:
September 13, 2022 6:00 PM PDT

Hosts:
Manuel
Badman

Description:
Ultra Podcast Z had an accidentally long break with both JD and co-host issues causing us to skip about three weeks of shows. We return however with the topic we planned to cover the week before: New fantasy TV in the form of "Rings of Power" and "House of The Dragon", continuations of the "Lord of The Rings" and "Game of Thrones" franchises respectively. During our break a Nintendo Direct was announced and took place the morning before the show so we also covered some bits of that before really diving into things. We didn't really cover all the fantasy stuff we probably intended too since we got some of the hotter takes out of our system before we went live, mainly so we wouldn't add to some nonsense already circling around these new shows. With that said, we had our critiques but they were far more than the "why did they cast THEM!" that you have probably heard in other takedowns of the show. Spoiler Alert: We weren't that harsh on them and we couldn't help but point out that we're comparing them mainly due to the timing of their launch and overall genre, but there really isn't much that you can compare here in general. Also, towards the end of the show we talked about our upcoming appearance at Pacific Media Expo and we wanted to point out that it is taking place at the San Gabriel SHERATON, not the Hilton. You can check out that convention's website below. Also, we missed the UPZ fifth anniversary, so maybe we'll cover that next week. We shall see... As always, take care of yourselves and each other in these trying times and stay healthy and safe! If you want to watch Ultra Podcast Z live then check out our twitch channel: twitch.tv/atojplays We are live every Tuesday at 6 PM PST!

Ultra Podcast Z 181 (Bread & More w/ Jessie & Adam) AMVs, Making Anpan, Pusheen Box Opening, More!

8/19/2022

Live Broadcast:
August 16, 2022 6:00 PM PDT

Hosts:
Manuel
Jessie
Adam

Description:
Ultra Podcast Z has been carrying on without Nyaru for the past few weeks (she will be back soon!) and this week we saw TWO guests! Adam & Jessie are friends of our mod JD, and are also associated with Tora-con, and we had a lot of topics to talk about with them. There was a little bit of confusion on WHAT the topic would be and rather than talk about paneling at anime conventions (what Manuel thought) we discussed the topics that they paneled on. This took us to some interesting places though as an episode on cheap Japan travel, Japanese bread, and AMVs are really interesting topics and we all stayed mostly on point, and active, throughout the entire run time. We honestly could've talked JUST about our experiences travelling in Japan as there was clearly a lot more we all had to say and all the hosts clearly had very different takes on what made up a good trip to Japan. There was even a time lapse bread breaking video towards the end which is crazy when you remember the entire "Boomer Hates Bread" UPZ thing from 2020. Oh, and there is even a Pusheen unboxing to randomly round things out at the end! We hope to have Jessie & Adam back at some point in the future as this was a really fun episode and we think you'll find it so as well! As always, take care of yourselves and each other in these trying times and stay healthy and safe! If you want to watch Ultra Podcast Z live then check out our twitch channel: twitch.tv/atojplays We are live every Tuesday at 6 PM PST!

Ultra Podcast Z 180 (Mahjong Madness w/ Janette) Mahjong Soul, Riichi Mahjong, Anime Cons, More!

8/12/2022

Live Broadcast:
August 9, 2022 6:00 PM PDT

Hosts:
Manuel
Janette

Description:
Ultra Podcast Z took a week off for random nonsense and came back with a special episode that was supposed to feature Pleiades hosting and Janette on as a guest. As you can probably see from the finished product, only half of that equation came to pass. Thankfully JD was still available to host and this somewhat last minute episode went forward. We were originally going to do a trifecta of con discussion as the three hosts had all been to recent conventions in different parts of the country, but that wasn't to be so most of this show was about mahjong. What started as a thought about how Manuel had got a new mahjong set for his birthday turned into a discussion about the differences between Chinese, Japanese, and American Mahjong, and lots more. What was definitely decided was that we have a lot of strong views on mahjong and probably will be going forward with our mahjong gaming nights that we've been toying around with for the past couple months. When we do, will it be riichi though? Anyway, if anyone has any suggestions on easy ways to play Chinese mahjong online, please let us know in the comments below as that is something we are very interested in. Oh, and we talked a BIT about other stuff, but you can all just consider this the "Mahjong Episode". As always, take care of yourselves and each other in these trying times and stay healthy and safe! If you want to watch Ultra Podcast Z live then check out our twitch channel: twitch.tv/atojplays We are live every Tuesday at 6 PM PST!

Ultra Podcast Z 179 (SDCC News w/ Badman) The Rings of Power, MCU Phase 6, Eighth Anniversary, More!

7/29/2022

Live Broadcast:
July 26, 2022 6:00 PM PDT

Hosts:
Manuel
Badman

Description:
Ultra Podcast Z returns from its recent one week break (where we actually had NO streams) and we were joined by Badman again as Nyaru sat this one out for reasons we teased live but we definitely aren't going to get into in-depth. We were supposed to talk all sorts of news and stuff that came out at SDCC and this basically became a "Rings of Power" and MCU discussion as that is what we spent most of the show talking about. We talked about recent stuff we've watched on streaming, and briefly covered A-to-J's eighth anniversary towards the end, but that was the big (accidental) focus of the show. It was fun stopping everything to check how long it took Frodo to get to Mount Doom and to rant almost non-stop about how MCU is missing opportunities left and right to bring Warlock into things, but maybe we're in a minority there. This was a bit of a hastily put together show as it was originally going to be ALL anniversary talk with Nyaru and guest, so maybe we'll just have to save that episode for November when we have our REAL anniversary. Yeah, we have two anniversaries because nothing at A-to-J can ever be simple. As always, take care of yourselves and each other in these trying times and stay healthy and safe! If you want to watch Ultra Podcast Z live then check out our twitch channel: twitch.tv/atojplays We are live every Tuesday at 6 PM PST!

Ultra Podcast Z 178 (Anime Expo Recap) AX 2022, Summer Conventions, Elon Musk, Ken Akamatsu, More!

7/15/2022

Live Broadcast:
July 12, 2022 6:00 PM PDT

Hosts:
Manuel
Badman

Description:
Ultra Podcast Z returns from its AX break with an episode that doesn't feature Nyaru as she unfortunately got the big C over at AX and has been taking it easy following the con. Warren joined and we all recapped the con a bit with some news and nonsense sprinkled in. The opening segment took a bit longer than we intended as we ended up talking a lot about shows we've been watching recently from Stranger Things 4, Marco Polo, The Boys, and Man In The High Castle just to name a few. We then talked a LOT about AX without really covering stuff that HAPPENED at AX. Weird when you think about it, but we are also a lot about the hanging out, the partying, and just experiences overall. Will you be going to AX Ontario and other summer conventions since everything seems in full swing again? Let us know below! We then moved on and talked about some other news topics briefly, like Elon Musk's Twitter deal falling through, the Shinzo Abe incident, and Kem Akamatsu (of Love Hina fame) now becoming a politician? There was a lot there even if we didn't give everything as much time as we probably should have. We're just warming up to a regular stream schedule though as we've had about six weeks of messiness so just keep an eye on us until next week! As always, take care of yourselves and each other in these trying times and stay healthy and safe! If you want to watch Ultra Podcast Z live then check out our twitch channel: twitch.tv/atojplays We are live every Tuesday at 6 PM PST!

Ultra Podcast Z 177 (Anime Expo Pre-Roll) Reunion Recap, Anime Expo Prep & Convention Plans, More!

6/30/2022

Live Broadcast:
June 28, 2022 6:00 PM PDT

Hosts:
Manuel
Nyaru

Description:
Ultra Podcast Z returns with its original cast just in time for a pre-AX episode! Nyaru and Manuel are both back and talked about what they're looking forward to at Anime Expo since it is days away, as of this episode's YouTube posting everyone should already be on site! Nyaru had a lot of event plans while Manuel was just looking forward to the parties, but is any of that really surprising? There was a lot of discussion here, food plans, past AX recollections, and even dipping our toes a bit into an Anime Expo bingo thing (that didn't really pan out the way we intended). We normally don't do episodes this close to a big convention but seeing as we didn't have a lot of personal projects at AX that we had to prep for, and seeing as we had to cancel a bunch of "normal" episodes recently, we decided to go through with this one, so keep that in mind while we are all fairly tired. That said, it was a pretty on night and we are all excited in our own way for Anime Expo. If you're going to be going to AX this weekend then have fun and be sure to stay safe and hydrated! We'll see everyone in two weeks as we are already sure that the next episode will be skipped as it's so close to the end of AX, but we will be back! As always, take care of yourselves and each other in these trying times and stay healthy and safe! If you want to watch Ultra Podcast Z live then check out our twitch channel: twitch.tv/atojplays We are live every Tuesday at 6 PM PST!

Ultra Podcast Z 176 (Running A Con w/ Donald) Gaming & Anime News, Tora-Con Info & Stories, More!

6/24/2022

Live Broadcast:
June 21, 2022 6:00 PM PDT

Hosts:
JD
Donald

Description:
Ultra Podcast Z had another weird week. The end of the no-host period is wrapping up now, but it's been interesting to see how UPZ can continue on. This week JD actually contacted a friend of his, Donald, the chair of Tora-Con, to be his co-host. Tora-Con is a local anime convention held at the Rochester Institute of Technology (link below) in Rochester, New York and, while that was a the main topic here, there was a lot covered. It's definitely interesting to get someone behind the scenes when it comes to running a convention as we've (surprisingly) have not really tried this kind of topic before even though we all have more than our share of convention runner friends. Besides Tora-Con talk there was news, anime, and video game talk all throughout and there was a lot of storytime and event talk when it came to Tora-Con itself. It's a little weird watching UPZ with such a different cast but it's been an unique ride that's for sure! Anyhow, be sure to check out this episode, check out Tora-Con if you can, and keep watching UPZ! Maybe we'll have Donald on again in the future as both him and Photaku, not to mention JD himself, did a good job making up for some unforeseen circumstances. Next week both Manuel and Nyaru should be back talking about some pre-Anime Expo stuff so let's see if things jump back to normal after that! As always, take care of yourselves and each other in these trying times and stay healthy and safe! If you want to watch Ultra Podcast Z live then check out our twitch channel: twitch.tv/atojplays We are live every Tuesday at 6 PM PST!

Ultra Podcast Z 175 (No Manuel, No Cry w/ Photaku) Video Game Updates, Netflix, Conventions, More!

6/16/2022

Live Broadcast:
June 14, 2022 6:00 PM PDT

Hosts:
JD
Photaku

Description:
Ultra Podcast Z had a really weird week. Manuel was indisposed because of a lot of personal irl nonsense and Nyaru was going to take the week off. Normally, either of these things (especially Manuel not being able to make it), would mean that the episode would be cancelled but JD, our mod who has been on every episode for about year now as our mod, decided that he could get a show together on his own and got Photaku, who himself has replaced Nyaru many times recently, to join him as co-host. We had some ideas of what we were going to talk about this summer but JD decided to focus on a more topical idea: E3 game news since there won't be any sort of E3 this year at all. There was a lot of game talk, a lot of random talk and then things moved to Netflix news and the old standby: anime conventions. More talk about updates and a lot about JD's recent trip to Anime Boston closed what was a very unique show. It's unknown if this kinda format will ever happen again, but it's interesting that the show can indeed go on without either of its hosts. Also, if you look at the chat, Manuel was in the show a lot actually but only in spirit! Anyway, hopefully next week will see Manuel and Nyaru return, and if not, we know that the should CAN still go on! As always, take care of yourselves and each other in these trying times and stay healthy and safe! If you want to watch Ultra Podcast Z live then check out our twitch channel: twitch.tv/atojplays We are live every Tuesday at 6 PM PST!