Scanline Talks

You've heard the Best Anime Character (or you should have, go listen!), and so you probably guessed from that name that there's a Best Game Character. Well guess what- you're right. And we're gonna decide who wins it right now. The Nominees Are: Iron Fist Alexander (Elden Ring) Livingway (Final Fantasy XIV: Endwalker) Shez/Arval (Fire Emblem Three Hopes) Bridget (Guilty Gear Strive) Testament (Guilty Gear Strive) Roomerang Host (Jackbox Party Pack 9) Sundown Kid (Live A Live) Andreas (Pentiment) Magdalene (Pentiment) Cyllene (Pokémon Legends: Arceus) Quinn (Potionomics) Deep Cut (Splatoon 3) Jack (Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin) Tewi Inaba (Touhou Mystia's Izakaya) Alice Kuonji (Witch on the Holy Night) Lost Robin Rondo (Witch on the Holy Night) Here's our write-up for the winners! Our intro and outro music for the Gimmick Awards 2022 is Street Food by FASSounds, and our art is a commission from @inkopolis on Twitter.

Time brings wisdom and perspective. Or, that's the theory anyway. My Game of the Year for 2012 was Tokyo Jungle. At the time, I was writing for a site called Press X or Die. Jen wrote for that site too, and while the articles part of that site died years ago, its forums at least are still kicking. (She didn't write a GotY for 2012, though her 2011 was Dead Space 2). And you know, it was only months later that Jen and I were like "we're leaving to make something for ourselves." That's how Scanline started. We've done a lot of growing since then, as people, as critics, as entertainers. And I guess what I'm saying is, if Tokyo Jungle wins again I probably failed to confront my past self honestly =P The Nominees Are: Analogue: A Hate Story Asura's Wrath Dishonored Gravity Rush Journey Long Live the Queen Mark of the Ninja McPixel Persona 4 Arena Skullgirls Sleeping Dogs Sonic and All Stars Racing Transformed Spelunky HD Thirty Flights of Loving Tokyo Jungle XCOM: Enemy Unknown Xenoblade Chronicles ZombiiU

We still think of ourselves as game critics first and foremost here. That's weird, isn't it? We cover anime every week without fail. We've got more than 300 episodes of anime coverage! And yet, the passion that started this site still defines us, if only two ourselves. It has been a gradual process of accepting that we're anime critics, too. And that's important to who we are. Let's talk about the best anime we saw this year. The Nominees Are: Bubblegum Crisis Cyberpunk Edgerunners Darkstalkers OVA Gunsmith Cats Komi Can't Communicate My Little Pony Equestria Girls: Rainbow Rocks MSG: Victory ODDTAXI Red Hood Redline Spy x Family Super Dimension Fortress Macross Ten: Teno-dori no Kaidanji Witch Hat Atelier Ya Boy Kongming! Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou Here's our write-up for the winners! Our intro and outro music for the Gimmick Awards 2022 is Street Food by FASSounds, and our art is a commission from @inkopolis on Twitter.

One of the big projects of 2022 was giving Iris In Audio more love and attention. This has been Kyrie's push to be sure- she's writing up the Winners post for this category, too! For me (Six), it honestly still doesn't come as naturally. Film has never been an important thing to me. I have some movies I like, as does anyone, but I never invested time or effort in the medium. Coming to it later in life, I feel a bit gun-shy. It isn't easy to learn the language of film crit in real time on a podcast. But I couldn't have better friends to do it with. Now let's listen to a podcast where I tell them the movies they like suck. The Nominees Are: Death Note (2017) Kaiji: The Ultimate Gambler Le Samouraï North by Northwest One Cut of the Dead Romeo + Juliet Thief The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent To Wong Foo, Thanks For Everything! Julie Newmar Here's our write-up for the winners! Our intro and outro music for the Gimmick Awards 2022 is Street Food by FASSounds, and our art is a commission from @inko

Anime has tunes too, you know! I don't know why I'm saying this accusatorily- I'm sure YOU knew that. It's us who had to change the category this year because we realized all the things we were leaving out of That's My Jam. And a jam these are indeed. Let's talk anime music. The Nominees Are: BAD CANDY (Girls Frontline) Chikichiki Banban (Ya Boy Kongming!) Kibun Jōjō ↑↑ (Ya Boy Kongming!) Daten (Call of the Night) Fukkatsu no Ideon (Space Runaway Ideon) I Really Wanna Stay At Your House (Cyberpunk Edgerunners) Konya wa Hurricane (Bubblegum Crisis) Mixed Nuts (Spy x Family) Souvenir (Spy x Family) Rainbow Rocks (My Little Pony Equestria Girls: Rainbow Rocks) Sassouto Hashiru Tonegawa-Kun (Middle Management Blues Tonegawa) Shukufuku (Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch from Mercury) Super Driver (The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya) Ugoku Ugoku (Girl's Last Tour) Venus Line (Birdie Wing) Here's our write-up for the winners! Our intro and outro music for the Gimmick Awards 2022 is Street Food by FASSounds, and

The rhythm is going to get you. It's only a matter of time. We had some serious bops in 2022, but which is the boppiest? Jen, Kyrie and I (Six) are here to tell you what makes music good. Boy, I hardly feel qualified to do this. The Nominees Are: Mirror of the World (Baiken's Theme) - Guilty Gear Strive Like A Weed, Naturally, As A Matter Of Course (Testament's Theme) - Guilty Gear Strive The Town Inside Me (Brisket's Theme) - GGST Anarchy Rainbow (Splatfest Main Theme) - Splatoon 3 Till Depth Do Us Part - Splatoon 3 Calimari Inkantation 3MIX - Splatoon 3 Miracle Works (Ktisis Hyperboreia) - Final Fantasy XIV: Endwalker Carrots of Happiness (Smileton) - Final Fantasy XIV: Endwalker The Nautilus Knoweth (Old Sharlayan Night) - Final Fantasy XIV: Endwalker Roomerang Final Round - Jackbox Party Pack 9 Megalomania - Live A Live GO! GO! BURIKI-DAIOH! - Live A Live Shenlin Park - Freedom Planet 2 Battle! vs Origin Palkia/Dialga - Pokémon Legends: Arceus Determination -STAGE 1- - Drainus Great Cat's Villiage R (N

We watch a lot of anime, every year. At the time of this writing, we've covered 280 anime so far in Oops All Anime's history. Naturally we've also watched a lot of anime on our own time. Add all that together, and we have some THOUGHTS. We also have a huge database to compare new anime characters against. But, y'know? Sometimes a good tsundere just works. Let's decide the Best Anime Character of 2022. The Nominees Are: Anya Forger (Spy x Family) Cucuruz Doan (Mobile Suit Gundam: Cucuruz Doan's Island) Gamma 1+2 (Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero) Pan (Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero) Inari Fushimi (Inari Kon Kon) Kongming (Ya Boy Kongming!) Miorine Rembran (Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch From Mercury) Suletta Mercury (Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch From Mercury) Nazuna Nanakusa (Call of the Night) Priscilla Asagiri (Bubblegum Crisis) Rebecca (Cyberpunk Edgerunners) Sorawo Kamikoshi (Otherside Picnic) Sunset Shimmer (My Little Pony: Equestria Girls) Wolf Bete (Miss Kuroitsu From the Monster Development Department)

Stop the presses- we got one wrong. This is unprecedented, but we have to change a category's winner. We wouldn't go back because we played more and felt differently, or because we rolled the arguments around in our heads and decided we made the wrong call. No, we're going back because a friend pointed out that in the Biggest Disappointment category, we were arguing based on incorrect information. And that doesn't feel quite fair. So here we are. Our intro and outro music for the Gimmick Awards 2022 is Street Food by FASSounds, and our art is a commission from @inkopolis on Twitter.

One of our traditions over here at the Gimmick Awards is this category, in its various incarnations. The name might confuse, but it's a straightforward idea: in any variety of action game, moves and tools are given to specific characters. Which character has the most interesting and fun overall toolset? When this category started, our focus was purely on fighting games, but over the years we've broadened it to character action games, shooters, MOBAs, and more. And with so many of these being live service games, a lot of effort is made to lovingly add new friends to their respective game's roster, with an associated movelist. The Nominees Are: Pale Rider (Gundam Evolution) Sazabi (Gundam Evolution) Unicorn (Gundam Evolution) Dozle Zaku (Gundam Evolution) Omega Rugal (The King of Fighters XV) Athena (The King of Fighters XV) Shez (Fire Emblem: Three Hopes) NecoArc (Melty Blood Type Lumina) Edmund Dantes, the Count of Monte Cristo (Melty Blood Type Lumina) Lab Coat 21 (Dragon Ball FighterZ) Baiken (Guilty Gea

Games are really hard to make. Simply getting one out the door is always an achievement, something to be proud of. And these awards started as a celebration purely of games, though they've elevated to being one of more types of media. But we can't be all smiles. Sometimes choices are made with games that are just... disappointing, you know? We get our hopes up, and seeing them be destroyed stings. And so despite everything, we need to talk about the Biggest Disappointment of 2022. The Nominees Are: AI: The Somnium Files - nirvanA Initiative Bayonetta 3/Babylon's Fall The Callisto Protocol CrossfireX Danganronpa S DNF Duel Gundam Evolution JJBA All Star Battle R Marvel Snap Mobile Suit Gundam Battle Operation 2 PC Beta Pokèmon Scarlet/Violet Shenmue 3 Shadows of Rose DLC SQEX/SEGA Blockchain Initiatives Wordle World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King Classic Our last award for the week is Friday, with Best Movelist- a category celebrating the sets of options various action games give their characters. I

Welcome to the start of Scanline Media's game of the year celebration, our Gimmick Awards 2022! Over the course of four weeks, we'll be publishing thirteen categories, each its own podcast and paired write-up on the site for winners. We're opening the year on a staple- Best Surprise! At the ripe old age of 33, I am harder to surprise than I used to be, but the delight of the unexpected still hits you sometimes. Please enjoy Jen, Kyrie, and Six (that's me) debating and deciding the Best Surprise of 2022. The Nominees Are: Anno: Mutationem The Centennial Case: A Shijima Story Chained Echoes Chrono Cross: The Radical Dreamers Edition DNF Duel Drainus Fire Emblem Warriors: Three Hopes Gran Turismo 7 Live A Live Need for Speed Unbound Pentiment Pokèmon Legends: Arceus Potionomics Signalis Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin Touhou Mystia's Izakaya Coming up on Wednesday, we'll be doing the dark mirror of Best Surprise- Biggest Disappointment. It's our only negative category, because making games is

And that's a season (nee cours)! After 12 episodes, The Witch from Mercury is going on break until the next season, and so are we... if we come back at all? Join Allen and Six as we talk about the season as it's been, and how 12 turns a lot of that on its head, for good or for ill. Though, I don't need to be too coy- as you will discover quickly, we're mostly of the opinion "for ill."

The second-to-last episode of the cours! Shaddiq holds his breath, Suletta catches her breath, Vim curses under his breath, and Delling doesn't waste his breath. Step aside, Type-Moon, there are TWO witches on this holy night. And is that an Aerial upgrade I spy? Damn, gang- this episode's good, so was the last, and I think the next will be great as well. I'm just hoping the break between cours doesn't kill this momentum.

We're all hustling and bustling as the year winds down, but you KNOW we're never too busy for you! Sit down with us as we talk games- Jen says the Callisto Protocol is as much Punch-Out!! as it is Dead Space, Six has come around on Spelunky 2 after initial crushing disappointment, and Kyrie has sold out... her potion stock in Potionomics. In chronological order, our music is 8bit23 by Koichi Morita, The Callisto Protocol Main Theme by Finishing Move Inc. (Brian Trifon and Brian Lee White), Dwelling by Eirik Suhrke from Spelunky 2, the Potionomics Main Theme by Greg Nicolett, and then a reprise of 8bit23 by Koichi Morita. You can find us on Twitter at @jbu3 for Jen, @KyrieAPage for Kyrie, and @sixdettmar for Six.

Oh boy, we sure are winding up for a mid-season, end-of-cours finale. Can you feel it? Schemes, misunderstandings, unfortunate coincidences… and into all of it, we're gonna toss a few new witches and their gundams and see what happens. I uh… I have a guess. I think it's gonna end badly for our pals.

On this episode, a turning point, as Allen listens with polite bemusement as Six lays out a theory as to what exactly is going on in this show. We get our first team duel, we see the triumph of the GUND format over the technology that almost killed it, and Miorine has already forgotten she's trying to start a medical company. Three episodes left, gang. It's about to start poppin', for real. And Six's theory will be put to the test right quick.

G-Witch. Listen. Listen listen listen. You gotta stop writing checks. Do you HAVE a bank account? These are going to bounce! No one can cash these! Settle down, build a foundation, follow through. THEN write checks. But stop touching a dozen interesting issues with no commitment to truly engaging with them, and a clumsy handling of what little you try! Please. I'm begging you.

It's time for a talkie episode. I like talkie episodes, Allen is less a fan, but either way, the thing about talkie eps is, you have to talk a lot. And G-Witch? Not great at the talking. So, here we are, an episode that's a blessing and a curse, but might free the show from the Curse of Gundam, in more ways than one. Even if it's sloppy, if this fixes the trap they built for themselves in the plot, I'm all for it.

They put out another Call of Duty. Its politics suck. Some things never change. But they might be worse in this one than you think... and yet, the campaign is also probably more interesting than you think? They made another Modern Warfare, and they couldn't decide if they wanted it to be a tribute to MW2 or a pointed note about everything wrong with that game. It's a mess, and it's (sigh) really fun. You can find Six on Twitter at @sixdettmar. You cannot find Harri. He's unknowable. The intro and outro music are the Main Menu and Ending Credits from Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II by Sarah Schachner.

Refresh Rate returns with another episode of Jen, Kyrie and Six recounting standout media and experiences from the past month. After bouncing off Sonic Frontiers hard, Six has fallen into Freedom Planet and its sequel, finding there what they couldn't in the series that inspired it. Jen is braving the season of death in Harvestella, and finding there's less harvesting than you'd expect given the name? And Kyrie is here to report back from a year where she finally felt safe returning to conventions, and the experience of doing so as press for the first time. This link is a folder of images we reference during the pod, in chronological order. Also in chronological order, our music is 8bit23 by Koichi Morita, the Freedom Planet Main Theme by Woofle and Strife from Freedom Planet, Those Who Resist Destiny from Harvestella by Go Shiina, Saria's Song from Ocarina of Time by Gamer of the Winds (@GameroftheWinds) and Mary of the Maryland Accordion Club (Facebook) live at Otakon 2022, and then a reprise of 8bit2