Hey everyone! So I have a super exciting surprise to share with you today! My magical friend Spencer Hoshino—the author of the Paper Wishes series—and myself have started a Podcast together!
“Magical Girls And Chill”
Today, we’re releasing the first episode: “Harry Potter, Magical Girls, And All Things Witchy!”
I’m sure the titles speaks for itself as to what we ramble on about, but we plan on covering all sorts of interesting and fun topics—ranging from books, thoughts and opinions, pop culture, manga and anime, and anything else that we think of that we wanna chat about!
We’d love it if you decided to check it out— trust me, you don’t want to miss this episode because we make an epic fool of ourselves quite a number of times!
You can listen to/watch the first episode below!
Don’t forget to let us know what you thought using the hashtag #mcagPodcast! Also, there’s a transcript below for your convenience, as well as our show notes for reference to all the fun things we mentioned!
Stay magical!
Show Notes:
Books Mentioned (In order)
- Echo of The Witch, by Jen Wilde
- Queens Of Geek, by Jen Wilde
- The Eva Series, by Jen Wilde
- Harry Potter, by J. K. Rowling
- The Bone Witch, by Rin Chupeco
- Witches of East End, by Melissa De La Cruz
- The Vampire Diaries, by L. J. Smith
- Hex Hall, by Rachel Hawkins
- Spook, by Jinx
- Jinx, by Meg Cabot
- The Black Witch, by Laurie Forest
- The Cahill Witch Chronicles, by Jessica Spotswood
- Life’s A Witch, by Brittany Geragotelis
- Cinder, by Marissa Meyer
- The Hunger Games, by Suzanne Collins
- Twilight, by Stephanie Meyer
TV Shows Mentioned (In order)
Manga & Anime Mentioned (In order)
- Fushigi Yuugi (The Mysterious Play)
- Fushigi Yuugi Genbu Kaiden (The Mysterious Play: Legend of Genbu)
- Puella Magi Madoka Magica (Magical Girl Madoka Magica)
- Sailor Moon
- Mahou Sensei Negima (Magical Teacher Negi)
- Fruits Basket
- Mary and the Witch’s Flower
- Yamato Nadeshiko Shichihenge (Wallflower)
VIEW EPISODE ONE TRANSCRIPT (CLICK):
| Pagan | Hi, I’m Pagan! |
| Spencer | And I’m Spencer! |
| Pagan | And welcome to the Magical Girls [And Chill] Podcast! So, Spe- |
| Spencer | Yaaaaay! |
| Both | *Laughing* |
| Pagan | So, this episode we’re going to be talking about Harry Potter, magical girls, and all things witchy. But first, let’s tell you about who we are.
So, my name is Pagan and this is Spencer and we are both authors, so I write fantasy and romance and I have written…um… the Ryan Rupert Series—ah, only book one, and that’s published—or it’s being re-released, and then I’m also writing The Starlight Chronicles Series which is going to be released next year with The Parliament House. |
| Spencer | Oh my gosh you’re so eloquent! |
| Both | *Laughing* |
| Spencer | Put me to shame! Um, well I’m Spencer, and I write a lot of magical realism, so my book series is called The Magical Girl Series, and… I am SO nervous, this is so weird! |
| Both | *Laughing* |
| Spencer | Um… I… what are words? |
| Pagan | I think you’re doing alright |
| Spencer | Oh my gosh, I’m so nervous this is so awful. Um, okay, so this is why I don’t ever do videos or talking or whatever because I need time to think about what I’m gonna say. |
| Pagan | Oh me too. |
| Pagan | This is our pilot episode so just ignore us if we go off. |
| Spencer | So anyways, aside from writing The Magical Girls Series which is a magical realism series, uh, with a ton of romance and fun stuff and some sad stuff— |
| Pagan | —some very sad stuff. |
| Spencer | —because feel good sad is my aesthetic. I also do a lot of content creation for local businesses, and I write for a video game company but that’s secret squirrel stuff because I signed an NDA. |
| Pagan | Oh! *laughing* now everyone wants to hear more about that. |
| Spencer | *Laughing* |
| Pagan | It’s a fun job though. |
| Spencer | It is its super fun and I love the production team I work with their so nice. |
| Pagan | Okay, let’s move onto topic one which is witchy books. So we’re going to be talking about some of our favorite witchy books, and in case you haven’t read any witchy books you really should because they are frickin fantastic, and they’re one of my favorite things and I know Spencer has a few favorites as well, so to start off Spencer’s gonna talk about her favorite witchy book which is Echo Of The Witch, which I have yet to read and I’m very excited to do so— so tell us more about it. |
| Spencer | Okay so honestly, I won’t be able to do this just this because I read this book about 2 or 3 years ago originally on Swoon Reads and it’s written by Jen Wilde, published through Limited—sorry, Limitless Publishing—ahhh nerves! Okay so Jen Wilde, she’s a pretty famous author. You’ve probably heard of her, she wrote Queens of Geek. |
| Pagan | Yes. Everyone always talks about that. |
| Spencer | Yeah, so I— I’m just obsessed with her writing, she’s just the nicest person. |
| Pagan | She sounds like a really great person. |
| Spencer | *laughing* That’s Echo Of The Witch— so I first read it, I was floored. It’s like… I don’t want anyone to come at me with, like, pitchforks or anything. It’s everything I wanted from Harry Potter. |
| Pagan | Oh yes, we’re going to get into that! |
| Both | *laughing* |
| Spencer | I mean, it’s so good, it’s so touching— um, the main character’s name is Echo, and she’s— |
| Pagan | —that’s such a cool name! |
| Spencer | It is, it’s such a cool name, but I mean Jen’s just really good at coming up with character names that like, connect with people. |
| Pagan | I haven’t actually read Queens Of Geek. |
| Spencer | I haven’t either! But I read her other books— I read the Eva Series which is set in Australia so if you like— |
| Pagan | —oh really? |
| Spencer | —zombies and Australia *laughing* |
| Pagan | I’ll have to pick that up! |
| Spencer | *Laughing* |
| Pagan | In case— oh, in case listeners didn’t know, Spencer’s from the U.S. and I’m from Australia, so when I hear that there are books from Australia that makes me very excited. *laughing* |
| Spencer | *Laughing* Yes, so um, so Echo is… she want to be, you know, a regular, ordinary, 18 year old girl. She works in a bookstore which is very close to my heart. And there are these creatures called shriekers that— |
| Pagan | —shriekers? |
| Spencer | I… I guess… I don’t wanna… I don’t wanna mess this up because it’s been like 2 years since I read the book, but basically they hunt witches— |
| Pagan | —yeah— |
| Spencer | —or magical creatures— |
| Pagan | —mhmm— |
| Spencer | I… I’m just… bombing here but… |
| Both | *Laughing* |
| Spencer | …but it’s such a good book, like I know I’m doing a terrible job synopsizing it but I cried and it was just so good I mean… the underlying message of love and friendship and sisterhood… it’s more than I could ha— it’s everything! It’s everything! |
| Pagan | It’s everything! |
| Spencer | That’s what it is *laughing* |
| Pagan | So if you—if Harry Potter didn’t do it for you just like, go and read this one instead, or even if Harry Potter did do it for you, this one probably would be better… oh God, they’re gonna come for us. |
| Spencer | Yeah, please, don’t come for us! We’re innocent! |
| Pagan | Oh well, I say give this book a shot, cause I’m going to when I finally get through everything on my TBR—it’s on my TBR, so I can’t wait to read it. |
| Spencer | And it’s only $3.99 as an eBook, so it’s a great deal! |
| Pagan | Oh! That’s a bargain! That’s so good! Alrighty… um, I’m gonna talk about my favorite witchy book, which is The Bone Witch by—I hope I don’t butcher this—um, it’s Rin Chupeco? Like chu-pe-co? I—I’m so sorry. |
| Both | *Laughing* |
| Pagan | I—she’s interacted with me on Twitter so if she ever listens to this I am so sorry! But she—um okay, so first of all, I wanna say that this book got—sort of, it didn’t get bad reviews, but it got a lot of 3-star reviews— so not really great but not really terrible— |
| Spencer | —right. |
| Pagan | —and the reason was very… to some people it was too slow, it was—the worldbuilding was, like, too much and it just dragged on for some people. But I personally thought it was perfect, I didn’t find that to be a problem at all. And when I read it I just really loved the whole worldbuilding thing, I thought it was amazing. So, the main character’s name is Tea—oh Tey-uh—it’s Teyuh, but I call her Tea because that’s how it’s spelt. |
| Both | *Laughing* |
| Pagan | And you can already see why that’s my favorite thing because I love tea. |
| Spencer | Right, right— as soon as I think tea I think Pagan! |
| Pagan | So, The Bone Witch, um—I kind of described it as a South Eastern Skyrim, uh— which if you’ve played Skyrim you’ll know that that’s all medieval and all very fun— but it’s, uh, got these…uh, it’s hard to explain— so like, it’s got people who have a heartglass and the heartglass sort of, um, controls—I can’t remember exactly, it’s like emotions and um… I don’t know it’s sort of something everyone has, and everyone has a different one. And, if they have powers every one looks different, so some people— there is like outcasted, very rare witches who have a, like a, really dark heartglass I think it was I can’t remember—but Tea—or Teyuh—is one of them and she’s like, she can do necromancy and stuff which is like taboo, it’s not looked upon very well but she’s one of— |
| Spencer | —Mhmm— |
| Pagan | —the only people who can, like, save people from these monsters and everyone just looks down on her and puts her down and she’s like, always gone through hardship her whole life as she grows up, which is so sad—and they have these amazing things called these um—oh I hope I don’t butcher this, like these Huas I think they’re called. But they’re like Kimonos, or— not exactly like Kimonos but that’s the best way I can describe them like, Asian clothing. Um, but like really traditional—like really pretty. |
| Spencer | Oh interesting! |
| Pagan | Yeah and everyone has their own style that they get and if you try and copy a style or if you wear someone else’s Hua, then it’s like a really huge offence it’s like really taboo so you can’t do that. And everyone has to look really pretty like—kind of like Geisha, is that how you say it? Like gay-sha, gei-sha? Like those people? |
| Spencer | Um, sounds right to me! *laughing* |
| Pagan | Yeah! So yeah, it’s like that and, yeah it’s just like a really good book and I just got the second one which Rin sent to me because I won it in a giveaway so I’m like really excited to read it but I haven’t done that yet because I’ve been reading other things. |
| Spencer | Yeah I know you flipped out when you were chosen as, um, a recipient— |
| Pagan | *Laughing* |
| Spencer | —and then again when you received it, um, it was like second Christmas. |
| Pagan | *Laughing* I know, it was like oh my gosh I got it and it’s a HARD copy! Cause it’s so expensive to get hardcopies over here in Australia, we don’t even have them in the bookstores unless it’s like a really big book like a John Green book? |
| Spencer | Awww. |
| Pagan | Yeah so, when we get them sent because it’s so expensive it’s like… I definite did not take that lightly, it must have cost her a fortune to send it over here so I’m like really thankful. Oh, and it’s signed! I didn’t even know—I forgot to say that—I didn’t even notice that it was signed, I had it next to me all day and I didn’t think to look inside, and then I went to look inside… and it was signed! And I was like HUAAAAAH!! So it was like again, Christmas! |
| Both | *Laughing* |
| Pagan | Okay, um, so that’s my favorite witchy book. Um… another thing I wanted to tor—talk about—words *laughing*—to talk about was um—there’s a favorite TV show that I have called Witches of East End! And that’s based on a—on a book series! And it was honestly so good, but they cancelled it before it made it to season three and they left it on this massive cliffhanger so I’m always gonna be mad about that. |
| Spencer | Oh no! |
| Pagan | Yeah! Apparently people say that the TV show is better than the book, which is very rare—but I haven’t read the books, I’ve only seen the TV show—but it was really good, it was just like, uh, there are these two witches, and their mum was a witch, and the mother’s curse was that her children would always die before they reached thirty or something like that, and they would always get reborn. |
| Spencer | That sucks |
| Pagan | So… yeah, it was just a bit—it was good though! And then the Aunt was… she—she can turn into a cat, like she has nine lives. |
| Spencer | Oh, nice! |
| Pagan | Yeah, and then she like used up her ninth life and… I don’t wanna spoil anything but— cause we didn’t get to see what happened because they didn’t…they didn’t… finish the season… |
| Spencer | They didn’t finish it! Aw man, that’s exactly how I felt about Constantine, like I loved the Constantine television show— |
| Pagan | —mhmm? |
| Spencer | And they just didn’t even give it a chance! I don’t even think they finished the first season! |
| Pagan | Oh my gosh! That’s even worse, like at least give us something! |
| Spencer | I know, let’s wrap up the first season, like let me, let me like, close some wounds, you know? |
| Pagan | *Laughing* Oh I hate it when they do that! So, uh, what other witchy books do you like? |
| Spencer | Hmmm… you know, I can’t think of any off hand because for a long time I was really into mystery— |
| Pagan | —oh yep. |
| Spencer | —yep, and then I sort of made this seg into young adult, and I was really into vampire books *Laughing* |
| Pagan | Oh I love vampire books—I’m really into those as well, I read so many vampire books. |
| Spencer | So *laughing* so um, I guess if there are witches in the vampire books then I’m into it, um… |
| Pagan | Yeah! You know the vampire book—sorry—The Vampire Diaries has… um… witches in it, or like— they have a pretty big— |
| Spencer | *gasp* That’s right! |
| Pagan | Yeah! |
| Spencer | Oh my gosh you’re so right! L. J. Smith is just— I know this is gonna sound so generic because I just said this about Jen but L. J Smith is the nicest person ever! |
| Both | *Laughing* |
| Pagan | I love The Vampire Diaries so much— I have watched the whole seven seasons twice now. |
| Spencer | Oh my gosh are you serious? |
| Pagan | Yeah! I was so into it. |
| Spencer | I really, really love the books— I was just so disappointed that they didn’t make the books more of a… well the TV show based more off the books. |
| Pagan | Yeah, well I haven’t read the books, and that’s something I gotta go do |
| Spencer | Oh no, gurl, you have to read the books because the later ones have, like, so much Japanese influence in them! |
| Pagan | Oh really? |
| Spencer | I actually sent her an email like raving about it, I was like I love this so much, I love that you included bi-culture in it thank you so much! And, um— |
| Pagan | That’s amazing! I didn’t know that. |
| Spencer | She actually wrote back to me— which basically I died on the spot. |
| Both | *Laughing* |
| Pagan | As you do. |
| Spencer | But she was so nice about it and she… she basically said that she feels like her inclusion of the Japanese culture was one of the things that her publisher didn’t approve of. |
| Pagan | Oh! Maybe that’s why it wasn’t in the TV series. |
| Spencer | It— I think that might be, um, that might be it, and I also think it was a contributing factor as to why she was replaced with a ghostwriter later on. |
| Pagan | Oh that sucks! |
| Spencer | It does because I really liked it… and at the time when the books came out there weren’t a lot of books if any that I can think of off the top of my head that include a lot of Japanese culture. |
| Pagan | Yeah no I struggle to think of it as well. |
| Spencer | Yeah, so I know she has friends and people who advised her on what she wrote in the book so it’s not like she was just blindly making stuff up or relying on doctor internet. *Laughing* |
| Pagan | Yeah no that’s— |
| Spencer | —YouTube and Google and yeah… |
| Pagan | That’s great like she—we need more writers who do that. I feel like that’s a— that’s, um… what’s the word? It… I feel like it needs more recognition. |
| Spencer | I think so, and she did it with a lot of respect to the culture. |
| Pagan | Yeah… well now I have to go read the books! Because that’s changed everything! |
| Spencer | You do, my gosh—I might just send you mine, like, I just need you to read these. |
| Pagan | I have to read them, especially because I’ve now watched the TV series twice, like I’m hooked. I’m in it. *Laughing* Well I have a list of books that I love that are witchy because I… happen to read a lot of them. *laughing* So, one of my all-time favorites which is by Rachel Hawkins is Hex Hall. That’s… so good. It’s—I don’t think it’s completely about witches, it’s got vampires and other stuff in it. |
| Spencer | Mhmm |
| Pagan | But it’s like about… what I like about it most is that it’s funny, uh, I really like humor books. And it’s like a lighthearted, quick, easy read—I think I read the first two books in one night. And then I read the third book. |
| Spencer | Wow! |
| Pagan | Yeah. I read the third book after that, but the thing is that the third book was really lacking, which I really hated, it was like she was rushed to write it or something, but the first two were really good—so I really like that series, and um… yeah it’s just about this witch who has a lot of bad luck and then she finds out that she’s not really a witch and no spoilers but that’s kind of why. And another book that I like is not… entirely focused around witches but it has witches in it and that is Jinx…um—oh no not Jinx! Oh gosh, it’s Spook by Jinx. |
| Spencer | Oh! Spook! |
| Pagan | Oh I don’t know why I said Jinx! |
| Both | *Laughing* |
| Pagan | But yeah! Because that has witches in it, it has vampires, it has ghosts, it has all your favorite things! |
| Both | *Laughing* |
| Spencer | Okay, now I’m really embarrassed, does this Podcast have to see the light of day? |
| Both | *Laughing* |
| Spencer | Because Gigi is gonna hang me up by my toes for not recognizing her book and the fact that it has witches in it! |
| Pagan | Yeah but we both love that book, so… it’s okay. *Laughing* |
| Spencer | Okay, Gigi if you’re listening I am so sorry! |
| Pagan | *Laughing* |
| Spencer | Please don’t hang me up by my toes! |
| Pagan | *Laughing* Um… and then there are some—oh, well, there is another book called Jinx which is about witches but it’s not… really, um… all that magical—it’s like magical realism. It’s by Meg Cabot. And then there are books on my TBR, which I have to read The Black Witch and I’ve heard lots of bad things about that one but I still want to read it, and also the Cahill Witch Chronicles, I’ve heard lots of good things about that one… and I’ve also read Life’s A Witch, by… I think it’s… |
| Spencer | *Laughing* |
| Pagan | Brittany… Greg…Grego—I don’t know, I can’t remember—I’m so sorry I can’t remember her author… the author’s full name, but all I know is that I didn’t like that one. *Laughing* That was a bad one. So like it wasn’t entirely bad, I just think maybe I was a bit above the, uh, teen drama in it, I don’t know. I had a lot of things— |
| Spencer | —Mhmm— |
| Pagan | —I had a lot of thoughts on it, which I’ve done reviews on it—so if you’re really that interested you can go find those but all I have to say is that there are better books than that series, but you could still go and read it. The other thing is that… I’m pretty sure she was a Wattpad author, and that she self-published… or, or got like a book deal I can’t—I don’t really know but… |
| Spencer | Mhmm. |
| Pagan | Like, the first book—I think the first book was good and then I think it just… didn’t quite… work after that. |
| Spencer | I think it’s really hard when you have like a really strong first book. |
| Pagan | Yeah… and I think that’s one of my biggest fears is that I’ll write a book… that’s really good, and then write a sequel that’s really bad and just turns everyone off it, like that’s happened so many times where I’ve read a sequel and |
| Spencer | Mhmm |
| Pagan | I’ve gone like I don’t know if I wanna keep reading this series, that happened with Cinder—but then I actually really liked book three. |
| Spencer | Mhmm |
| Pagan | And like that second book can really determine whether someone keeps reading or not? So it’s… it’s really hard. |
| Yeah… and I definitely know what you mean because as a reader I always fall in love with the first book— | |
| Pagan | Mhmm |
| Spencer | —and I just feel like I hold all the other books to that standard. |
| Pagan | Yeah… that can make it very hard. |
| Spencer | Definitely. |
| Pagan | Alrighty—do you have anything else to say about this first topic? Which we rambled a bit… *laughing* |
| Spencer | Um… no *laughing* |
| Pagan | Okay—well, I’m gonna finish this first topic with…ah, you can tell us if you’re listening, what’s your favorite witchy book—and then hop on Twitter and use the hashtag: #mgacPodcast—I’ll say it again, m-g-a-c-podcast, it stands for Magical Girls And Chill Podcast, and just tell us what your favorite witchy book is and we will come and… have a look! *Laughing*. |
| Pagan | Alrighty, so let’s move into topic number two, which we’re gonna talk about Harry Potter! And we don’t have very nice things to say about Harry Potter. *Laughing*. |
| Spencer | Wait wait wait! You need to— you need to— |
| Both | *Laughing* |
| Spencer | You can’t just go in like that, they’re gonna come for us! |
| Pagan | *Laughing* Okay, to— okay, let’s just get something out of the way really quickly, I do not have anything against Harry Potter— I even have a Harry Potter fanfiction which is doing really well, so… *laughing* I will say that Harry Potter was one of my favorite childhood series and I loved everything about it, my mum loves it—everyone loves it. It’s… it’s a really good written series. |
| Spencer | Mhmm |
| Pagan | My problem more stems from J. K. Rowling I think. *Laughing* So I have lots of thoughts on J. K. Rowling which I’m gonna get into… um… but first of all let’s talk about the game that recently came out because that’s a bit of a better segway into this. |
| Both | *Laughing* |
| Pagan | So I’ve been playing the game, as I’m sure a lot of you have been and I really like it, I think it’s really good, and… I think there are some ways I think it can be improved but I know it’s still like, just released, so I think it’s pretty good. So… I also play a lot of Kim Kardashian Hollywood and I think that’s a really well developed game, and one of the key differences that I noticed between the two was that they both use the same, like, tap-and-lose-energy kind of thing when you complete missions? And you have to wait for the energy to refill? |
| Spencer | Oh no I hate those games! |
| Pagan | Yeah, but like, in the Harry Potter game you can actually choose whether you want your classes to go for one hour, three hours or eight hours, you’re not stuck having to do eight hour gigs all the time. |
| Spencer | Mhmm |
| Pagan | So I really like that option because it means like if you have to go out you can complete something immediately, or if you know that you’re gonna come back at a certain time of the day you can come back and check on it. So that’s good. And, I like that, um, it has a really good story that you can progress through, and… I don’t like the clothing options but, again, it’s only just been released so maybe they’ll improve those… um, but overall I think it’s really well done, so if you haven’t checked that out, you definitely should because I think it’s definitely worthwhile. Um… but this also leads into my other point, is where I think the problem where—the… the stem of my problem with Harry Potter is that I feel like it’s very overhyped and I feel like J. K. Rowling really takes advantage of this. So, looking at this from an author’s standpoint, and maybe even from a reader’s standpoint because I… uh, to give you an example if you go on BookTube and you look at…um… like really hyped up books and like booktubers doing reviews on really hyped up books, you’ll notice that, like, half of them will be for the book and they’ll be raving about it and getting everyone excited and then the other half will like immediately add it to a list that they’re never gonna read because they get so sick of hearing about it. |
| Spencer | Mhmm |
| Pagan | And I feel like Harry Potter is so overhyped— |
| Spencer | *Ahem* |
| Pagan | —that I’m at a point where I don’t wanna hear about it anymore. And it’s more because of the fact that, like, as an author—and as someone who loves to find new books, I always see stuff about Harry Potter— if I jump onto Instagram and I look through, like, bookish accounts I’ll always see, um, like Harry Potter— |
| Spencer | *Ahem* |
| Pagan | —thoughts, or anything— you okay? |
| Spencer | Yeah, I’m sorry, I have a frog in my throat! |
| Both | *Laughing* |
| Spencer | I’m like dying here I’m so nervous! |
| Pagan | *Laughing* So yeah, like, I’ll jump on Twitter and I’ll see tweets about Harry Potter and I’ll jump on anywhere and I just always see merch and just like— |
| Spencer | Mhmm |
| Pagan | —things about it and then like… and then, J. K. Rowling will jump on the bandwagon and she’ll suddenly reveal something like oh, the—the ‘t’ in Voldermort is silent! And then everyone will just go crazy— |
| Spencer | —Oh, that! |
| Pagan | And then like all these articles come out it’s just like—you’ve had all your years of fame and now they’re doing it again with the Fantastic Beasts Series I feel like, they just don’t know when to… to sort of… let something… die? Or, not die, but— |
| Yeah! | |
| But Harry Potter will always be a classic. But it’s just like they go on and on about it and they don’t allow room for other authors to emerge and grow the way that they could if you didn’t always hype up Harry Potter and just like always cut in— I feel like she had seven books to do all of her explaining… | |
| Spencer | Mhmm |
| Pagan | …and she really, just… this is all of course my own opinion, I’m not saying she can’t go on Twitter and say the ‘t’ is silent! But like, really? |
| Spencer | *Laughing* |
| Pagan | You when—what kind of person are you to reveal something like that after the whole seven books have come out and people have been saying it the whole time it’s like—it’s like— |
| Spencer | I think it—I think it’s worse because it was in the movies too! |
| Pagan | Yeah! And it’s just—it just seems ridiculous, but that’s where I feel about it, I just feel like it’s very overhyped… what are your thoughts? *Laughing* |
| Spencer | Oh no! The pitchforks are pointing at me now! |
| Both | *Laughing* |
| Spencer | Um… I think for the most part we share the same sentiment. |
| Pagan | Mhmm |
| I really liked Harry Potter growing up—it wasn’t my favorite, um… I think in all honesty I can’t call myself a Potterhead cause I’m not super hardcore. | |
| Pagan | Yeah. |
| Spencer | But, it is something I enjoy, I went to the midnight release movies with my friends, and we had a blast! |
| Pagan | I wish I could have done that. There were no midnight release things here. |
| Spencer | Oh my gosh! It was so much fun! I think—I think it was only fun because my friends were there, and they’re hardcore Potterheads, so… we’re like right at the front of the line! We’re the first and second people in line! |
| Pagan | *Laughing* |
| They bought snacks! They bought butterbeer! *Laughing* They had chairs and blankets… | |
| Pagan | *Laughing* They had everything! |
| Spencer | …It was crazy! |
| Pagan | *Laughing* Yeah… |
| Spencer | But uh, yeah, I feel like—I feel conflicted because there are times where I’m reading my own book and I’m like darn it! Why didn’t I include that? Or Oh, this would have been a really good idea, so I understand why she sort of does these things, you know when she does it for Pottermore or on Twitter, or as a blog post or whatever, but it does after some point, all seem like they’re afterthoughts, and maybe not as planned out as she might like us to think. |
| Pagan | Yeah. And like… I don’t… |
| Spencer | Yeah… |
| Pagan | I’m not like trying to hate on Harry Potter at all, because like I said, it’s really well done and it’s definitely—it deserves it’s place as a classic. |
| Spencer | Oh, absolutely, yes! |
| Pagan | It’s just that, when I see other amazing authors out in the world, and I’m not just talking about you and I trying to, like, you know, become published authors—I’m talking about everyone else, there are so many authors that I know I just think deserve a bit of a boost and they just don’t because people don’t wanna… it’s always the classics, it’s always like The Hunger Games and Twilight, and like you have to read all the classics first before you even expand if you’re like a new author—oh no, not a new author—a new reader. It’s like… |
| Spencer | Yeah. |
| Pagan | But like, they don’t give anyone else a chance, that’s kind of where… it all stems from. And the other thing that I hate—sorry! |
| Spencer | —I think—I think that this— oh no, no… um… just real quick—I also don’t like how, um… all these classic books like Harry Potter have sort of become the standard? |
| Pagan | Yeah! |
| Spencer | So… well, anytime anything else comes out it’s like oh, it’s the new Harry Potter! No it’s not! It’s not the same genre, it’s a totally different author, this person—this writer is a totally different person and has a completely fresh set of ideas! So it’s a little bit insulting to both authors, to be compared that way. |
| Pagan | Exactly—I know that’s like classic marketing, but that’s saying—yeah, it is insulting. And… the other thing that I hate as an author—I’m sure there are at least handful of other authors who can agree with me on this, where… I know when you’re not an author you don’t think—you don’t have many examples to go off but when people say oh keep trying, you know that J. K. Rowling got rejected so many times and now she’s a millionaire—I hate it when people tell me that, that’s the only thing anyone can ever tell me— |
| Spencer | Mhmm |
| Pagan | —to give me advice when I’m trying to get to some place with my writing, it’s like, is that the only—the only idea that you can, like, come up with, or the only advice that you can give me? Because… there are so many other authors who have walked different paths and have different success stories, and they like… could have—they could have advice that could actually be more beneficial to what I’m trying to do? And it’s like, I just hate that that’s the only example that people can give me |
| Yeah, I think that—I think that people are just so wowed by her | |
| Pagan | —Yeah— |
| Spencer | — her Cinderella story, where she was the single mom, writing things on a napkin in a café—wait, I don’t know—I don’t know if that’s exactly her story so if I got that wrong… *Laughing* You know, but I mean, to go from that to being… you know, one of the richest… writers in the world. |
| Pagan | Yeah, it’s definitely an achievement. Yeah… but anyway, that’s my thoughts on Harry Potter, and I know that we are definitely going to get some haters from that, but— |
| Spencer | Wait, I hope not! I hope people understand where we’re coming from, because it’s not malicious! |
| Pagan | Yeah, well I hope they understand! *Laughing* |
| Spencer | Um, yeah, I mean I have nothing but respect for her fans and… the series itself was something that made an impact on a lot of people and I think it’s great! |
| Pagan | Yeah—and like I said I definitely read the books and I like them and I have my own Ha—like, fanfiction, so I’m not saying like oh, you can never, like… oh, I don’t even know where I’m going with that. |
| Both | *Laughing* |
| Spencer | I’m rubbing—I’m rubbing off on you! |
| Pagan | Well anyway, tell us what you think of Harry Potter using the same hashtag on Twitter, that’s— #mgacPodcast |
| *Laughing* | |
| Pagan | And tell us if you agree or disagree with us and why, because I would love to hear what you have to think, and I would especially love to hear if you agree, I’m sure that we’re not the only ones. |
| Spencer | And—if you—if you’re mad at us, please—go easy! We’re people. |
| Pagan | Yeah, I promise we’re not going to be always hating on people! |
| Both | *Laughing* |
| Pagan | But anyway, that’s just my… opinion. And— |
| Spencer | Right, right! |
| Pagan | Yeah! And then our last topic is… magical manga! So we’re going to be talking about some manga that we love. Alright, so, um—so Spencer, do you have any magical manga that you love? |
| Spencer | I do! Um… it’s sort of difficult to narrow them down because I know that you know I was doing a few anime related blogs— |
| Pagan | —Yeah!— |
| Spencer | —over the last couple of months and I was just… in awe, I guess, of how much anime I’ve watched in my life. |
| Pagan | Oh yeah, there is a lot. |
| Spencer | Um… maybe the manga I haven’t read as much, but I definitely have my favorites, so… I would have to say my number one favorite—and I’m not exactly sure if this counts, so I hope people give me some leeway here, but my absolute favorite is, um, called “Fushigi Yuugi”—I always get nervous when I have to say that— |
| Pagan | *Laughing* |
| Spencer | —because it’s not something I say every day, and… um… but yeah, so Fushigi Yuugi is also known as “The Mysterious Play”— |
| Pagan | —Ooooh! |
| Spencer | —and it’s written by… uh, Watase Yuu— |
| Pagan | —Wow! |
| Spencer | —And… yeah! It’s about a girl— |
| Pagan | —A girl… |
| Spencer | —And… I think she’s sixteen years old, her name is Miaka Yuuki. |
| Pagan | Mhmm |
| Spencer | And she gets sucked into a book *laughing* |
| Pagan | Yeah? |
| Spencer | And sent to ancient China! |
| Pagan | Wow! That’s like amazing! |
| Spencer | It is! It’s really cool, and she becomes their—uh—oh my gosh, it’s been like ten years since I read it— *laughing* But she becomes their like, priestess—their Miko— |
| Pagan | —Oh wow! |
| Spencer | And—yeah! And she basically is what they’re all pinning their hopes on. |
| Pagan | —Oh wow! I love it when they come up with these crazy ideas and storylines like that! And they just go a little bit out of the norm? and you always find that in manga? |
| Spencer | Well it’s definitely…um… there are a lot of really great messages in this series— |
| Pagan | —Yeah… |
| Spencer | —because her best friend Yui also gets sucked into the book with her—I feel so weird saying that! Sucked into the book— so they get transported into the book and… they actually end up on opposite sides? Of— |
| Pagan | Oh wow! |
| Spencer | —Right! So, these two countries are sort of at war, and, the main character, she ends up on the good side of course, and her best friend ends up on the air quotes “evil” side, which— |
| Pagan | —Conflict! |
| Spencer | —yeah! Um… there are a lot of really deep side stories— it’s not just the main story, each character has their own story that’s super deep, and I don’t want to spoil it for anyone because I really encourage you, if you haven’t heard of it, to either go out and read the manga, or to watch the anime online, or buy the box sets! |
| Pagan | —yeah! |
| Spencer | —because it’s just so good and so well done. |
| Pagan | I’m going to! |
| Spencer | And there’s a spin off too! There’s a newer manga series it’s “Fushigi Yuugi Genbu Kaiden” which is actually… even though it’s a spin off… it’s like a prequel. |
| Pagan | Oh wow! |
| Spencer | So you find out what happens like 50 years before the other girl that’s sucked into the book! |
| Pagan | Oh that’s so cool! I love it when they do stuff like that! |
| Spencer | Yeah, so it’s really gorgeous, the artwork is gorgeous, the story—um, it’s gonna touch your heart, it’s gonna make you cry, have Kleenex! |
| Pagan | *Laughing* |
| Spencer | It’s magical and wonderful and I’m just blabbering now because I’m just so in love with this artist! Like, I would say— |
| Pagan | —that’s the best, though, when you find an artist and you’re like— |
| Spencer | —She act—she actually—she was one of the reasons that I wanted to be like a creator, so somebody who does like art or storylines. |
| Pagan | Mhmm |
| Spencer | Yeah, she’s like a huge inspiration to me. |
| Pagan | That’s amazing. That sounds like such a good series, I’ll have to go read that. |
| Spencer | It’s so good, I wish that I had extras that I could send you! |
| Pagan | *Laughing* I’ll find it. So… I’ll talk about my met—my favorite magical manga—oh wait, unless you had another one? |
| Spencer | Oh well, all the standard ones, you know, I love Madoka and Sailor Moon. |
| Pagan | Yeah I love those too, they are amazing! |
| Spencer | Yeah—but like, Fushigi Yuugi is my favorite, I can just rant—I don’t know, rant is the wrong word, it’s too negative— |
| Pagan | Rave. |
| Spencer | I could talk about it—yeah, rave! I can rave about it for hours and just say absolutely nothing while saying everything! |
| Pagan | That’s amazing. I definitely have to go read that. So my favorite magical manga is— oh, and I always say this wrong— it’s Negima, I think, but I used to call it Ne-ji-ma so that’s etched into my head. |
| Both | *Laughing*. |
| Pagan | Um, well the full title I think is “Mahou Sensei Negima”— and it’s like, uh—Magical Teacher… I think. Yeah, and so—yeah! Magical Teacher Negi! And it’s, uh—I love this book—so, funnily enough, um, I had this friend in high school and we had two mangas at the time at our local library, so like, only two to choose from, and it was Fruits Basket which I also love, and it was Negima! And so she was reading Fruits Basket, that was what she picked up, and then I picked up Negima, and after a time— we were friends since primary school—that’s like um, it’s like the first kind of school, I think it’s different over in the U.S. but, um, after we graduated, we found out that we both liked to read manga, which we didn’t realize beforehand and we both realized that we were both reading these manga series from the library. And so what we did was that we switched manga series and then we ended up falling in love with the other one as well, so we were both reading them together! Uh, but anyway— the first one that I picked was Negima, and it’s about, um, a child teacher. So he’s ten years old, and he, um, is in the magical world, and they tell him oh you have a mission to become, like, a proper wizard, and you have to go teach at this all girls school, and that’s your mission. And he goes oh okay! And he’s only ten years old and he’s gotta like, teach a class of like 30 year o— uh, like, 30 girls. And so, he goes— oh and all the girls are older than him, they’re all like sixteen or something, and so he goes there and he has like a mentor that’s there with him, and he um, basically has to keep the fact that he’s wizard a secret or else he’ll um, get exposed and um, lose all of his credentials and all that. So, of course, the first day he’s there he exposes himself to this girl, and um, luckily she keeps his secret and, as the year goes on, everyone eventually finds out that he’s a wizard, one way or another and they end up going to this magical battle and to the magical world, which is on Mars, and— they like go there and they all have this really cool thing where they—when you make a pact, or like a pacto with this wizard, you like—uh, you get like a special power, and so he can use the girls to like fight for him, and they all have these magical powers that they can use! And so like, the whole… the best thing about reading through was finding out what each unique girl’s power was gonna be because she doesn’t get to choose, it just sort of happens based on their personality, which was really cool. Like there was this one girl and she had this, like, encyclopedia and she could look up anything in this book— this magical book that she had and I thought that was so cool. And so yeah that’s like my favorite series—it’s like very fun, and humorous, and magical, and like, where they go with all the magic stuff is just—so fun! Like, they do all sorts of cool stuff! So, yeah, I highly recommend that one, and it’s quite long, it’s like— |
| Spencer | —That was good! |
| Pagan | It’s good, it’s really good. And my favorite part is probably the fact that the writing style—or the art style, it’s gets way better as the series progresses! As manga artists usually get better. So… |
| Spencer | Right. |
| Pagan | Like, but, by the time you reach the end it’s improved so much it just looks amazing. So yeah! That’s… that’s like my recommendation. And… |
| Spencer | —I’m sorry, not to interrupt but— |
| Pagan | —Oh no, it’s okay— |
| Spencer | —I haven’t watched it myself, but based on your description of, um, Negima, I think that you would really like Mary and the Witch’s Flower. |
| Oh okay! | |
| Spencer | Yeah! It’s a movie—it just came out… when did they release it? They released it in the U.S. this January. |
| Pagan | Okay! |
| Spencer | Yeah, but it’s um, it’s an anime, and it’s about this girl who she follows a cat into the forest— |
| Pagan | —Ooooh, there’s a cat? |
| Spencer | —and there’s a broomstick and a rare flower that blossoms a once every seven years… and, um, from what I gather it sort of takes her off to this witch school? |
| Pagan | Oh wow! That is so cool. |
| Spencer | Yeah! I mean I— like I said, I haven’t watched it, but I watched the trailer, and I’ve read the synopsis because I do wanna watch it! |
| Pagan | Mhmm |
| Spencer | But it wasn’t available for rent when I went for it. So… |
| Pagan | Oh yeah. I’m gonna watch it! That sounds like, really good. |
| Spencer | Yeah I think you’ll really like it! |
| Pagan | Mmm— and another side note real quick is that, with Negima, if you’re gonna read it, like, I highly recommend reading the manga and not watching the anime I’ve watched—there’s a few different types of the anime, like they’d done it a few different ways, a few different times, and I’ve watched most of them… and I just… I do not think that they live up to the books. I think that they tend to go off the original storyline and they’re not very good and the art style doesn’t do it justice—I just think the books are way better but that’s just me. |
| Spencer | Okay. |
| Pagan | Yeah. So my other question which I thought we could talk about was—does manga actually count as literature? Which, in my opinion yes, but I’m sure a lot of people would disagree, like no, it’s like a comic book! So what do you think? |
| Spencer | I—I think it does, because… the manga artists, they write the story themselves, they do a lot of work, a lot of planning goes into it. |
| Pagan | Yeah. |
| Spencer | And… *Laughing* I’m gonna sound so embarrassing but back when I was in eighth grade I actually fought to do a book report on a manga. |
| Pagan | Oh yeah. |
| Spencer | Yeah, so I don’t know if my teacher went for that, but he was a really cool guy, and if I’m not mistaken he let me do it as extra credit. |
| Pagan | Oh that’s good *Laughing* |
| Spencer | Yeah, so I definitely think it counts as literature because they actually, I feel, do more work than the standard author— |
| Pagan | Yeah |
| Spencer | —because they’re also doing the artwork… and… it’s just… I know that they work under really tight deadlines. |
| Pagan | Oh yeah, they definitely do. Yeah I actually wanted to be a Mangaka when I was in high school, for a little bit, because I like to draw—but I was nowhere… I was not that good, so…that, quickly, did not… work. *Laughing* |
| Spencer | Well I don’t know, I mean, I don’t think that the drawing skill is a big deal, I mean, well again, nobody come for me— |
| Both | *Laughing* |
| Spencer | But there’s this one manga, and it was my favorite, and—that’s awful because I can’t remember what it’s called right now holy crap— |
| Pagan | *Laughing* |
| Spencer | I’ve been so nervous throughout this whole thing! I have this frog in my throat, and my brain’s stopped working. |
| Pagan | Well you’re doing great for your first episode. |
| Spencer | I—yeah, I hope I get better, as we continue to record, so that I don’t say like and um and then start choking on my saliva. |
| Pagan | *Laughing* I’ve said like so many times you’re probably so sick of hearing it! |
| Spencer | *Laughing* But, I—okay, unless I’m confused, the manga I’m thinking of, it’s called Wallflower in English… |
| Pagan | Mhmm |
| Spencer | In Japanese, it’s “Yamato Nadeshiko Shichihenge” |
| Pagan | Oh wow—that’s a mouthful. *Laughing* |
| Spencer | And *laughing* and… it’s… it’s sort of like… I guess it’s a romance but it’s also like kind of a horror because she’s spooky and she likes spooky things like skeletons and ghosts and horror movies and blood… |
| Pagan | Oh my gosh that sounds so cool! |
| Spencer | It is! Um, and, the story is so good, I mean when I first read it, and I’m ashamed to admit this but I was actually put off by the artwork. |
| Pagan | That’s happened to me a few times! That’s actually why I didn’t read Fruits Basket—because at the start the artwork did not look very good but it got better. |
| Spencer | Story, right? It really—the story is everything, and, so—one of my friends said, you know, this is my favorite manga, I really want you to read it—here you go! |
| Pagan | *Laughing* |
| Spencer | I—I just burned through her set, I mean… the story was so phenomenal and… it sort of speaks to like self-love and confidence and… being true to yourself. |
| Pagan | Yeah. |
| Spencer | And at the time I was also into horror stuff, so… I felt really close to the character in my heart. |
| Pagan | Yep. |
| Spencer | Um, the artwork is not fabulous, it doesn’t really get any better throughout the series… and I, I think, the author… the mangaka… the manga artist—oh my God I’m so flustered—the artist, she actually makes notes like my editor rejected this so many times and said I have to improve on my artwork. |
| Pagan | Wow! |
| Spencer | Yeah, but even though her drawing style is maybe a little bit rough, it always perfectly communicates what she’s trying to get across to the reader. |
| Pagan | Well that’s—that’s like a good thing, I think that actually was a great example because it really, like illustrates that the story does carry a lot more merit than the artwork—like they’re obviously both equally important but, because the storyline is the story and it serves, it probably does like, validate the argument that manga is literature. |
| Podcast | *10 seconds of silence* |
| Spencer | So! Tell us what you think! *Laughing* |
| Pagan | Yeah! Tell us what you think! Yeah—using the hashtag #mgacPodcast *Laughing*—oh gosh, one day we’re gonna get that and it’s gonna sound way better. Alright! So, um, I think that was all we had to talk about today… don’t come for us. |
| Spencer | Yes, please, don’t ‘at’ us—if it’s anything, I agree. |
| Pagan | But if you enjoyed this episode, then definitely… uh, subscribe because we will be doing way more and we will always be talking about different, fun things! |
| Spencer | And hopefully we’ll be more prepared next time! |
| Pagan | Yeah! |
| Spencer | So—let me just take this, this small moment to just say I’m sorry that I was a mess throughout this podcast, I’m sorry to everyone whose books and art I talked about because I didn’t do you all justice, and let me just explain that this is because Pagan and I spent—what was it, like an hour? |
| Pagan | Yeah… *Laughing* |
| Spencer | Trying to figure out what was going wrong, the program that we paid for to record our podcast wasn’t working, we ended up trying a few different things, nothing worked—in the end Pagan came through on the clutch, she figured something out so that’s why we’re here! |
| Pagan | Yeah! Yay! *Laughing* |
| Spencer | Woohoo! |
| Pagan | We’ll try and be more prepared for next time. |
| Spencer | Yeah, so, you know—be a little forgiving, and, um, we’re just so grateful that you listened to the end of this garbage fire. *Laughing |
| Pagan | Yeah, that you didn’t like leave when we started batting out Harry Potter. |
| Both | *Laughing* |
| Pagan | Yeah, that’s a risky topic. Um—I’m going to tell you where you can find us, just so that, you know, if you decide that you wanna stalk us a bit more, you can. Um, so you can find me… and I didn’t even write down which handles these were, so that’s gonna be awesome—um, I think my Twitter handle—I think, is @PaganMalcolm— and that’s p-a-g-a-n m-a-l-c-o-l-m. So you can find me on Twitter there. You can also find me on Facebook at ‘AuthorPM’… and then you can also find me on Instagram at @p.s.malcolm—so, I’ll put that in the shownotes as well. Uh, but yeah! If you wanna come stalky-stalk, or just yell at me for hating on Harry Potter then come over there— |
| Spencer | Ahhh! |
| Both | *Laughing* |
| Pagan | And then, yeah, you can find Spencer at her handles… |
| Spencer | And I’m super generic so all of my handles are ‘at’ all lowercase, right? Spencer Hoshino (‘spencerhoshino’). |
| Pagan | Awesome! I did not even do that when I set up mine, I was like oh, I’ll just do it this way! And now I can’t change them! Yeah… |
| Spencer | Alright! Well, we’ll see you all next time! |
| Pagan | Yeah! But, definitely tune in! Okay… |
| Spencer | Byyyyye! |
| Pagan | Baiiiii! |
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