Purely Academic with Jonathan Lack & Sean Chapman cover art

Purely Academic with Jonathan Lack & Sean Chapman

Purely Academic with Jonathan Lack & Sean Chapman

Written by: Jonathan R. Lack & Sean Chapman
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About this listen

Critics and teachers Jonathan R. Lack and Sean Chapman host this monthly variety series where we talk about our favorite video games, movies, anime, and much more, having fun and maybe even learning something along the way. From the creators of The Weekly Stuff Podcast and Japanimation Station. Visit https://www.jonathanlack.com for more!© Jonathan R. Lack & Sean Chapman, 2012 - Present Art Science Fiction
Episodes
  • Purely Academic #27 - The Top 10 Video Games of 2025
    Jan 22 2026

    The time has come, once again: Sean and Jonathan are here to count down the Top 10 Video Games of 2025. It was an undeniably weird year for the medium, with some exciting developments – like the launch of Nintendo’s Switch 2 and a strong first year of exclusive – marred by a lot of depressing industry upheaval, and the AAA space was largely pretty thin. We go quite a bit off the beaten path this year discussing our favorites, and while you’ve heard us talk about some of these before, there are a lot of surprises along the way. And this is the only Game of the Year podcast where you won’t hear anyone talk about Clair Obscur, because we simply didn’t play it. If nothing else, our lists are very unique.

    TIME CHART:

    Intro: 0:00:00 – 0:15:27

    #10: 0:15:27 – 0:32:00

    #9: 0:32:00 – 0:48:23

    #8: 0:48:23 – 1:03:48

    #7: 1:03:48 – 1:20:06

    #6: 1:20:06 – 1:44:22

    #5: 1:44:22 – 2:07:28

    #4: 2:07:28 – 2:21:02

    #3: 2:21:02 – 2:39:17

    #2: 2:39:17 – 3:06:48

    #1 GOTY Picks: 3:06:48 – 3:39:40

    Read Jonathan Lack’s movie reviews and stay up to date with all our podcast projects at https://www.jonathanlack.com

    Subscribe to JAPANIMATION STATION, our podcast about the wide and wonderful world of anime: https://www.japanimation-station.com

    Read Jonathan’s book 200 Reviews in Paperback or on Kindle – https://a.co/d/bLx53vK

    Subscribe to our YouTube channels!

    Japanimation Station: https://www.youtube.com/c/japanimationstation

    Purely Academic: https://www.youtube.com/@purelyacademicpodcast

    Support the show at Ko-fi ☕️ https://ko-fi.com/weeklystuff

    Original Music by Thomas Lack https://www.thomaslack.com/

    ©2012 - Present Jonathan R. Lack & Sean Chapman

    Show More Show Less
    3 hrs and 40 mins
  • Purely Academic #26 - The Best Films of 2025 & Sean’s Digimon Adventures
    Jan 15 2026

    For our first show of 2026, we look back on the best movies of 2025, as Jonathan talks us through his list of the 20 best films to come out last year, from undisputed favorites like Paul Thomas Anderson’s One Battle After Another, to anime stunners like the Chainsaw Man and Kimetsu no Yaiba movies, to some weirder, smaller, and more personal picks. Then, Sean talks us through his busy winter vacation spent in the world of Digimon, reviewing the latest Digimon Story game, Time Stranger, alongside the 2021 Digimon anime Digimon Ghost Game and the first cours of the brand new Digimon Beatbreak. Finally, we round out the episode with a very depressing Monthly Ten where Sean is tasked with imagining ten ways we could sell our souls to become more popular podcasters.

    Enjoy, and come back next week for our Top 10 Video Games of 2025 episode!

    TIME CHART:

    Intro: 0:00:00 – 0:08:33

    News: 0:08:33 – 0:40:16

    Jonathan’s Favorite Films of 2025: 0:40:16 – 1:58:40

    Sean’s Digimon Adventures: 1:58:40 – 2:58:38

    The Monthly Ten: 2:58:38 – 3:27:20

    Read Jonathan Lack’s movie reviews and stay up to date with all our podcast projects at https://www.jonathanlack.com

    Subscribe to JAPANIMATION STATION, our podcast about the wide and wonderful world of anime: https://www.japanimation-station.com

    Read Jonathan’s book 200 Reviews in Paperback or on Kindle – https://a.co/d/bLx53vK

    Subscribe to our YouTube channels!

    Japanimation Station: https://www.youtube.com/c/japanimationstation

    Purely Academic: https://www.youtube.com/@purelyacademicpodcast

    Support the show at Ko-fi ☕️ https://ko-fi.com/weeklystuff

    Original Music by Thomas Lack https://www.thomaslack.com/

    ©2012 - Present Jonathan R. Lack & Sean Chapman

    Show More Show Less
    3 hrs and 27 mins
  • Purely Academic #25 - Metroid Prime 4, Super Robot Wars, Netflix/WB Merger, and Improving Christmas
    Dec 18 2025

    Fair warning: this month’s episode starts out as a major bummer, what with news of the Netflix/WB merger and the pricing madness around RAM spelling doom for both Hollywood and the gaming industry, topics we dive deep on to make ourselves extremely sad. But once you get past all that, we start having some fun, as Jonathan reviews the flawed but extremely fun Metroid Prime 4: Beyond on Nintendo Switch and Sean talks at length about falling down the Super Robot Wars rabbit hole, which is an absolutely amazing segment. Then we finish things off with a very misanthropic – but very funny – Monthly Ten segment in which Jonathan lists 10 ways to improve Christmas in 2025, most of which involve taking aim at traditions people love. Pa rum pa pum pum.

    Enjoy!

    TIME CHART:

    Intro: 0:00:00 – 0:08:50

    Netflix/WB Merger: 0:08:50 – 0:26:50

    Star Wars News: 0:26:50 – 0:35:45

    Steam Machines: 0:35:45 – 0:51:42

    RAM Madness: 0:51:42 – 1:14:38

    Call of Duty and Game Award News: 1:14:38 – 1:54:35

    Metroid Prime 4: 1:54:35 – 2:38:02

    Ultraman Cosmos: 2:38:02 – 2:55:00

    Super Robot Wars: 2:55:00 – 3:24:04

    Monthly Ten: 3:24:04 – 3:52:10

    Read Jonathan Lack’s movie reviews and stay up to date with all our podcast projects at https://www.jonathanlack.com

    Subscribe to JAPANIMATION STATION, our podcast about the wide and wonderful world of anime: https://www.japanimation-station.com

    Read Jonathan’s book 200 Reviews in Paperback or on Kindle – https://a.co/d/bLx53vK

    Subscribe to our YouTube channels!

    Japanimation Station: https://www.youtube.com/c/japanimationstation

    Purely Academic: https://www.youtube.com/@purelyacademicpodcast

    Support the show at Ko-fi ☕️ https://ko-fi.com/weeklystuff

    Original Music by Thomas Lack https://www.thomaslack.com/

    ©2012 - Present Jonathan R. Lack & Sean Chapman

    Show More Show Less
    3 hrs and 52 mins
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