Ode (@thatsod.e / @thatsod_e) and Mo "Kid" Licorish (@licorishislegit) welcome S. Carlos Carbon, co-host of The Blerd Effect podcast and founder of Harlem Cinematic Universe, to this Black and Snerdy bonus episode. Carlos traces his fandom from West Baltimore, where Batman: The Animated Series, Superman: The Animated Series and Kevin Conroy's Batman were his way into DC Comics, to a Harlem cafe where a barista's latte art led him to Demon Slayer. He lays out why The Blerd Effect treats One Piece, Attack on Titan and Code Geass as political texts, and why Black nerds need institutions of their own. That conversation runs through Lorraine Hansberry's A Raisin in the Sun, Octavia Butler, W.E.B. Du Bois and Afrofuturism. Mo counters with his case for JoJo's Bizarre Adventure and Hirohiko Araki, while Carlos argues that Demon Slayer moved anime forward and compares the Cowboy Bebop soundtrack to Waiting to Exhale.

The interview closes with My Hero Academia, the Deku and Bakugo scene that made Carlos cry, and a Golden Girls versus Living Single breakdown he uses to coach new podcasters. Then comes an anime edition of Emoji Me, Senpai, with clues for Tanjiro, All Might, Light Yagami from Death Note, Eren Jaeger and Mikasa from Attack on Titan, Guts and Griffith from Berserk, Anya from Spy x Family, Speed Racer and Roronoa Zoro. The mental health check-in covers therapy, anxiety medication and managing bipolar II. We Big Mad takes on a Hasan Piker interview with Symone Sanders, split streaming rights for Spy x Family on Netflix, and AI deepfake channels that manufacture Black trauma stories. The closing segment turns to Big Brother on CBS, Black women's friendship, and the weekly return of JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Steel Ball Run.

Check Out S Carlos Carbon's Linktree: https://linktr.ee/s.carloscarbon

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