OSMcast! & The Carbuncle Chronicle

Hello Adventurers! During the Halloween weekend , we had the final FanFest before Evercold, the Final Fantasy XIV Fan Festival in Chiba City (which is also a part of the greater Tokyo metropolitan area), Japan! There was all sorts of announcements and updates, we talked about it all! Or, at least a whole lot of it. New and updated trailers, a new ranged DPS job, new updates about the various Raid, and oh so much more. So much.

The Spoiler Food is: Miso Soup with Tofu! “A Far Eastern staple, often eaten multiple times a day, this soup is...

Hello Adventurers! Right on the heels of the Berlin FanFest was Otakon, an anime con in Washington DC. They even had some awesome Final Fantasy XIV guests there, too! The men, the myths, the legends, Michael-Christopher Koji Fox (Localization Director at Square Enix) and Toshio “Foxclon” Murouchi (Head of Square Enix’s Community & Service Division and Global Community Producer for Final Fantasy XIV), to be exact. And somehow, we were fortunate enough to get to interview them!

But to really give our Adventurers as much Koji and Foxclon content as we could, we also talk about two of the...

Hello Adventurers! This past weekend was the 2026 Berlin FanFest and, of course, there was a ton of announcements. So what is a podcast about Final Fantasy XIV to do? Well clearly, we gotta podcast about it! So we did. We talk about the latest job, Bastion. It’s a tank with couple of huge shields with guns attached for good measure. Then some wild speculations upon what the Ranged DPS job could possibly be! After that, we roam around our mind palaces to gaze upon the wonders of the new realmships we’ll get to traverse next year. Plus, we g...

Hello Adventurers! We just got back and have been recovering from attending the latest Final Fantasy XIV Fan Festival in beautiful Anaheim, California. And there we got see the first teaser trailer and all the latest announcements for the latest FFXIV expansion! It’s 8.0, it’s called Evercold, and sure looks to be a doozy. The development team are taking some mighty big swings with this one, and get into all the juicy details. After, of course, we dig into our experiences at FanFest!

The Spoiler Food is: Rock-fisted Popoto Stew “Based on a traditional Alexandrian recipe that d...

Hello Adventurers! It’s the most hype-able time of the year! In just a matter of weeks, the NA FanFest will be here and we’ll have the first details of Final Fantasy XIV’s next expansion! And the immediate Tuesday afterwards Patch 7.5 “Trail to the Heavens” drops! That’s a lot. So we’re here to break it all down and guess as to what our future holds. We start off with a look back at the previous Live Letter talking about the patch, then head straight into our hopes and predictions that are going to happen at FanFest! It’s...

We’re bringing back yet another MTAC Another World OSMinterview! Today, we’ve got our interview we did for Ed Chavez! Here’s what MTAC had on their webpage about him:

Ed Chavez is the President and Publisher of DENPA Books. A twenty year veteran of the manga industry, Ed started his manga career as a journalist, writing for publications such as Comic Book Resources, Animate and Publishers Weekly. He would eventually do editorial work for Seven Seas and DC Comic’s manga line CMX. In 2007 he began working with Japanese manga publisher Kodansha. He split time doing ma...

We’re bringing back yet another MTAC Another World OSMinterview! Today, we’ve got our interview we did alongside The Side Quest Podcast for Ricco Fajardo! Here’s what MTAC had on their webpage about him:

Ricco Fajardo is an actor whose performances have been seen in many ways: on stage, film, commercials, industrials, voice-over, animation, motion-capture- if it involves the body and voice, he’s done it! Known locally for his indie film work, abroad folks best know him for his roles in anime and video games. Most recent credits include the egoist striker Isagi in “Blue Lock...

We’re bringing back yet another MTAC Another World OSMinterview! Today, we’ve got our interview we did for MC Frontalot! Here’s what MTAC had on their webpage about him:

MC Frontalot (née Damian Hess) is the original mastermind of Nerdcore Hip-Hop and still its Final Boss.

Front was born in San Francisco and grew up in Berkeley. He was tall and scrawny, had trouble breathing, and could not see well. A special teacher was called in to help him attain basic competence on the monkey bars, another to give him standardized tests meant f...

We’re bringing back yet another MTAC Another World OSMinterview! Today, we’ve got our interview we did alongside The Side Quest Podcast for Lauren Landa! Here’s what MTAC had on their webpage about her:

Lauren Landa is a voice actress born and raised in Los Angeles. In the last 15 years her voice has been in over a hundred different anime and video game titles, playing the voice of many beloved characters. Lauren is most known for roles such as the ninja beauty, Kasumi in Dead or Alive 5; the sexy Litchi Faye Ling in the popular fighti...

In our third foray into the OSMtable!, Dylan, Basil, Tobias, and Niko talk about how to find inspiration. Where and why do we struggle with it? What techniques break us out of writer’s block? What options exist to draw players into that process–and when might you not want to do so?

OSMnotes

Resources

Hosts:

After 8- er no make that uh 15 years, King of the Hill is back, and as long-time fans with an encyclopedic knowledge, we have powerful thoughts about it. Did it live up to the original? How well did they build on the well-established plot arcs from the original? What about the recasts and missing characters? We enlist KotH superfan Jess from MomoCon to answer these questions with us.

OSMnotes

So how does one watch this fancy newfangled King of the Hill? That’s easy!

Hello Adventurers! Wait, is that how it goes for this? Does it even matter? Who knows! So this episode, theoretically a "bonus" episode, is actually a product of two years worth of work. In 2024, over the course of two different panels at MomoCon and KamiCon HAI (RIP), we had panels where we attempted to rank all the mainline Final Fantasies (plus two bonus games). As we had different people on each panel, we of course had two different rankings! What was a podcast to do? Well, all six of us got together to record One Final (Fantasy) Podcast...

Back in May of 2008 for our 5th episode of the OSMcast, we talked about the 2004 OVA Re: Cutie Honey from Hideaki Anno and pals. So for our 200th episode, we have decided to go back and do it again! And for a decent bit longer than last time. Thankfully since then Discotek and Media OCD continue to do the lord’s work, and we have an amazing new Blu-ray release to talk about. The anime finally has a kick ass release, and more people need to know about it. Only took 20ish years to do it!

OS...

We’re bringing back yet another MTAC Another World OSMinterview! Today, we’ve got our interview we did alongside The Side Quest Podcast for Robert McCollum! Here’s what MTAC had on their webpage about him:

Robert McCollum has been working in anime for almost twenty-five years, voicing more than 300 roles going all the way back to Teen Goten in DRAGONBALL GT. Notable work includes Reiner in ATTACK ON TITAN, Stain in MY HERO ACADEMIA, Donquixote Doflamingo in ONE PIECE, Jellal in FAIRY TAIL, Julius The Wizard King in BLACK COVER, Marcus in DEMON LORD 2099, Earl Vincen...

Hello Adventurers! Earlier this year we took a trip out to St. Louis, Missouri to check out a most excellent Final Fantasy XIV fan convention: GATEway FATE 2.0! This was their second year and we had heard so many good things about its first year, we were really excited to try it out for ourselves. And we were not disappointed. But don’t take our word for it! Wait, no… Actually do take our word for it, but in audio form! This is a podcast, after all.

Spoiler Levels: Larboard/Starboard Chicken Tenders with fries “are ready to fry...

We’re bringing back yet another MTAC Another World OSMinterview! Today, we’ve got our interview we did alongside The Side Quest Podcast for Natalie Van Sistine. Here’s what MTAC had on their webpage about her:

Natalie Van Sistine is a voice actor, audio engineer, and writer who currently lives near Dallas with her dog, Nico.

In anime, you can hear her as Yor Forger in Spy X Family, Star and Stripe in My Hero Academia, Miorine in Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch from Mercury, Selene in Fairy Tail: 100 Years Quest, the Fox Devil...

Hello Adventurers! Did you know that Final Fantasy XIV is the fourteenth mainline Final Fantasy game? It’s true! In fact there were a whole thirteen other games that came before it, if you can believe it. So for this episode, we are talking about the first three. But it’s been a minute since some of us (Basil) has played the first three games, and we needed some help. Some fresh eyes on these games, some eyes that really know how to grind out some gear. If you haven’t figured it out yet, our special guests for th...

Hello Adventurers! Well, here we are again. There has been a brand new patch, and we are here to talk about it all! Well… at least a lot of it, anyroad. We cover some of the less spoiler-y parts of patch 7.3 The Promise of Tomorrow, before really digging into spoilers talking about the MSQ, dungeon, the trial, and more! That more includes a bunch of things that has just happened, but also things that are happening right now… But also in the future? This podcast contains multitudes, and we welcome you to come listen.

Spoiler Levels: DAM...

The OSMtable! returns with a new TTRPG discussion. Dylan, Basil, and Tobias are once again joined by Niko (con co-chair of the Middle Tennessee Anime Convention) to talk about safety tools, session zero, and other elements of the social contract. As people with familiarity with these approaches, how do they play out in different contexts?

OSMnotes

Resources:

Hello Adventurers! Over these past couple of months, some of us have reignited with an old collectible card game flame (and some of us are brand new to it)! That flame of a card game is Magic: The Gathering, and we're playing it all thanks to it's latest expansion: Final Fantasy! All sixteen mainline games are represented, which includes the critically acclaimed MMORPG that this podcast is all about. So here is an episode all about it. We talk about what cards we like, what it was getting back into it, how well it works as a Final...

A new episode format appears! In this episode, Dylan, Basil, and Tobias are joined by Niko (con co-chair of Middle Tennessee Anime Convention) to talk TTRPGs. Today's roundtable topic: general approaches to world-building when gamemastering.

OSMnotes

It's an old name, but a new format! Big thanks to Dylan for wanting to spearhead a whole new OSMtype of podcast. What did you think about it? Let us know! Hit us up on Bluesky or on Discord! But also, have some links of things mentioned in this episode:

We’re back from MTAC Another World, and we’ve got a bevy of interviews for you all! Today, we’ve got our interview we did alongside The Side Quest Podcast for Alexis Tipton! Here’s what MTAC had on their webpage about her:

Alexis Tipton has been voice acting since 2008 and has loved every minute of it! She can be heard in over 450 anime, video game, and foreign live action film dub projects.

Some of her most notable anime and video game roles include Mei Hatsume in My Hero Academia, Kaguya Shinomiya in Kaguya-S...

This past weekend we got the chance to talk with Jason Charles Miller at MTAC Another World! Not only was he the English voice of Raubahn Aldynn during the MSQ of A Realm Reborn, but he as also provided the vocals to the songs like Close in the Distance, To the Edge, Shadowbringers, and Unleashed! As well as a ton of other things.

OSMnotes

We want to thank Jason and once again for taking the time to chat with us! And you can find all the places where Jason is by checking out him...

Another time, another place. That time? 1984. That place? The movies! Where a rock & roll fable was born, yet no one watched it at the time. In America, anyway. In Japan, someone saw it. A few someones. A few someones, that would go on to make some of the coolest anime and video games around. Now, in 2025? It’s the perfect time to go back to that another time, and another place. To go back to the 1984 cinematic cult classic, that is the theatrical film Streets of Fire. Or at least we did. You should too!

OSMnotes

Hello Adventurers! We hope that this 24 Hour Maintenance of Final Fantasy XIV is treating you well. To help pass the time as we while away the hours for the game to come back online, we have a new episode covering the little things in latest Patch Notes for 7.2: Seekers of Eternity. Not the MSQ or the Combat Job revisions, or even the new raids… But the little things. The things you might gloss over at first glace, but once you dog in for deeper dive… Things that could still be pretty important!

Spoiler Levels: Roast Chicken! Roas...

Giant robots… What a concept! Who would have thought? Well, sure, lots of people have. In fact, we have talked about those great big ol’ hunks of metal in animation a few times on this podcast before! Now? This time is no different. Okay, maybe a little bit different. But that’s just the kind of show that Brave Bang Bravern! is. Different. Or maybe… Perhaps not so much? In any case, it sure was a show directed by the great Masami Obari and animated by the fine folks over at CygamesPictures. We also dig into the video games Su...

Well it only took us one hundred and ninety seven episodes, but we have finally done it! Our internet radio show has talked about actual radio. Kinda. We talked about an anime based off a manga that’s about actual radio. Er, well okay, not an actual radio station, it was a fictional one. But the anime is real! It’s called Wave, Listen to Me!, based off the manga by Hiroaki Samura. The anime was animated over at Sunrise, directed by Tatsuma Minamikawa. We also get into the anime Astro Note, the sudden reappearance of Ninja Gaiden game...

Hello Adventurers! As Valentione’s Day has just passed us by, we thought now would be a great time to show some of the characters in Final Fantasy XIV some love. As it just so happens, GPOSERS had kicked off the month with a post on Bluesky that links to a FFXIV character Tiermaker. And thus, after recording for three or so hours… and many… many more hours of editing after the fact, we now present to you The Official Carbuncle Chronicle Character Rankings: From ARR to Endwalker. But also, we talk a little bit about what we are ex...

Hello Adventurers! And wait for it, no longer! Since we’ve gotten the vast majority of things one can do in the current patch that is 7.1: Crossroads, we figured now would be a great time to talk about it. But not only that, we also delve into some of things that we are looking forward coming to Final Fantasy XIV this year. (And in fact, after we recorded, we learned even more about what is coming soon since there has been a Live Letter all about 7.2: Seekers of Eternity!)

Spoiler Levels: Popoto Chips! Thin slices of po...

It’s now the year 2025, so what better way to kick off a new year… Than to release an episode that we meant to record and release in 2023! If it helps, it’s about an anime that came out in 2020 that not enough people watched at the time. Including us! But we have now rectified that problem. As we have watched it, enjoyed it, and now are releasing a podcast it all about so you can hopefully enjoy it too!

And that anime is Appare-Ranman! It’s a wild crazy racing romp across the United States of Ameri...

You know that ye ole holiday tune, The Christmas Song? You probably do, only most people would know it more as the “Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire” song. Well, this podcast is kinda like that. Only it’s not chestnuts roasting, but spent mobile suit artillery shells. Still on a open fire, though! That’s right, in the spirit of the season, we are talking about Mobile Suit Gundam 0080: War in the Pocket. It’s an anime OVA animated by Sunrise, directed by Fumihiko Takayama and written by Hiroyuki Yamaga. It’s a great six episode story all about th...

Ah, Fall. For many, it is the time for crisp, cooler air, pumpkin spice lattes, and bundling up all warm and toasty while you watch the leaves change from the colors of green to the colors of autumn. But if you’re us? It’s all about families of assassins, yakuza, military complexes, bear cults, and devious pro wrestlers. Or perhaps intrigue, spy craft, and amorous rendezvous aplenty! Oh, and murder. Just lots and lots of murder. All kinds. But mostly the kind of murder that’s best served up by feet-knives.

That’s right, this time on...

Hello Adventurers! While our last episode was all about our journey through Dawntrail as it was happening, this one is looking back at after finishing the Mainline Story Quest (colloquially known as the MSQ). Since we are now in the thick of Patch 7.1: Crossroads, we wanted to make sure to take a beat before the patch hit and get our thoughts out before the game continues to change and grow.

Joining us in reminiscing of uh, times not all that long passed, is our pal Umi aka Doug from OSMcast proper. He gives us a blow...

From 1988 to 1989, the anime studio Gainax gave us a six episode OAV(OVA?) series known as Gunbuster. It had it all: Giant robots, space aliens, ladies from an all-girls school training in giant robots to fight the space aliens, the whole nine yards! Then in 2023, Discotek Media gave an outstanding Blu-ray release of that show complete with a brand new English dub handled by Sound Cadence Studios. And then in 2024, the OSMcast! gave the world a podcast about Discotek Media’s Blu-ray release of the anime Gunbuster by Gainax. But also joining us to talk about Gunbuster is Me...

John is back with another interview, and this time it’s with the one and only Rebecca Forstadt. Her voice has been in tons of anime, like for example: Nunnally Lamperouge in Code Geass, Rika Furude in When They Cry, as well as Tima from Metropolis. Or perhaps you may better know her as Reba West, when she was the voice of Lynn Minmei in Robotech. It’s a great conversation that covers her career, her blogging, and all sorts of things.

OSMnotes

We want to thank Rebecca once again for taking the time to c...

Hello Adventurers! OK, we are actually finally here! It’s Dawntrail time! Now that said, it’s been a month and change since release. But this episode is a amalgamation of multiple sound bites that we all recorded when the expansion was just launched into early access. It covers the first, oh we dunno, two-thirds of the game? Right up into Zone 5. All those early moments, storytelling beats, the various dungeons and trails? Hanging out with Wut Lamat and scopin’ out Tural? As we experienced them, we set voice to microphone and recorded them for you. Enjoy.

Spoi...

Hello Adventurers! Well, we are finally here! Kinda. Not quite. We are now just days, days before the latest Final Fantasy XIV expansion: Dawntrail! The servers are down, the patch is up for download, and Square Enix is already asking folks to not spoil stuff. So we’re not gonna! Because this is all pre-Dawntrail stuff. The latest Letter from the Producer LIVE, our muses, our crackpot theories, all you need to keep that Dawntrail hype alive for a couple more days! And then we’re in it! So go forth, listen, and enjoy.

Spoiler Levels: Bake...

Hello Adventurers! While last year was the 10 Year Anniversary of Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn, this year is our 10 Year Anniversary of playing Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn! So, we thought it would be nice to look back at those halcyon days of times long ago. Specifically, ten years ago. And to join us down this trip on memory lane, we are joined by the fellows Chille and Paul of Moogle Go Round Radio! MGR is a FFXIV podcast and stream where they, if you can believe it, talk about Final Fantasy XIV. They also just...

Welcome to MTAC Dueling Dragon Interviews Week! Every day this week, we’ll be uploading a new interview that we did during MTAC Dueling Dragons from earlier this year. Today, we’ve got our interview we did alongside The Side Quest Podcast for Tiana Camacho! Here’s what MTAC had on their webpage about her:

Gym Leader. Stand User. Decepticon. World Warrior. These are just some of the lives Tiana Camacho has lived behind the mic as a professional voice actor. With her career spanning a bit over half a decade of experience, her vocal reach has pr...

Welcome to MTAC Dueling Dragon Interviews Week! Every day this week, we’ll be uploading a new interview that we did during MTAC Dueling Dragons from earlier this year. Today, we’ve got our interview we did alongside The Side Quest Podcast for Bryce Papenbrook! Here’s what MTAC had on their webpage about him:

Bryce Papenbrook has been a professional voice over artist since the age of eight. He was introduced to the voice acting scene by his father, Bob Papenbrook, and has continued the trade in his footsteps.

Bryce has performed in numero...