The podcast was started in February 2020 by GeeXPlus, a subsidiary of BookWalker, who helped the three hosts relocate to Japan, helping the three have more access to Japanese culture. GeeXPlus and BookWalker also promote their products on the three's channels. Since the three were brought to Japan, they decided to start a podcast that had already been planned for some time.[5][6] The first episode of the podcast was uploaded to YouTube on 5 June 2020. Since then, new episodes have been released every Friday, with exceptions for the release of specials.[7]
On 26 January 2021, the first live show called Trash Taste After Dark was broadcast on Twitch. This was followed-up on 19 February when they co-streamed the 5th Crunchyroll Anime Awards.[8]
On 26 May 2021, the hosts moved out of the studio in which they had recorded the first fifty-four episodes, dubbed season one, and relocated to a new studio that officially kicked-off season two.[9] On 17 June 2021, the hosts were invited for a live 'podcast' event about Japan-based YouTubers by the Foreign Correspondents' Club of Japan; discussions range from living in Japan to how Trash Taste got started.[10][11] Trash Taste also appeared in the Foreign Correspondent Club Japan's Number 1 Shimbun Magazine June 2021 volume.[12]
On 19 March 2022, they hosted a 24-hour long charity event for Doctors Without Borders on Twitch, raising a total of $181,000 in donations.[13]
In May–July 2022, Trash Taste podcast recordings were done outside of Japan for the first time. This included three episodes in London, eight episodes in Los Angeles, and one Trash Taste After Dark episode at the Twitch Australia studio in Sydney (aired 17 July 2022). These episodes were released on 10 June through 9 September 2022. Also during this time, the hosts held Q&A/discussion panels and special events at MCM London Comic Con, Anime Expo, Florida Supercon, and SMASH![14][15][16][17] In October 2022, during the Trash Taste 2022 Tour, the hosts participated at the New York Comic Con and had an impromptu podcast recording in Tampa, Florida (aired 25 November 2022).[18]
Format
Discussions in the podcast are about more than just anime, and delve into various topics, including otaku culture, life in Japan, and topics varying on the episode's theme. The show will occasionally have a special guest that will have an entire episode devoted to. Past guests included:
Generally, each episode is between one and three hours long, and is broken up intermittently with sponsor spots and a list of all Patreon subscribers near the end. The intro and outrotitle card both feature the copyright-free song "Soul Searching" by Causmic.[29]
On 23 September 2022, Trash Taste podcast embarked on its first live tour, with a total of 23 stops in North America, beginning in Los Angeles, California, and ending on 30 October in Portland, Oregon.[31][32]
Announced on the 5 May 2023 podcast, the second live tour was from 30 August to 11 September, with eight stops in Europe, beginning in Dublin, Ireland, and ending in Cardiff, Wales.[33][34][35]
Shows
List of shows, showing date, city, country and venue
The Trash Taste podcast has four channels on YouTube. The main channel, Trash Taste, was created on 14 February 2020 and includes all podcast episodes and specials. Trash Taste After Dark (originally called Trash Taste Streams) was created on 23 August 2019 and features the recorded livestreams from the podcast's Twitch channel and behind the scenes videos. Trash Taste Highlights, created on 14 February 2020, and Trash Taste Shorts, created on 11 March 2022, both provide short clips from each podcast episode that are significant or interesting. All four channels have received a silver YouTube Play Button for surpassing 100,000 subscribers; while only the main channel has received the gold YouTube Play Button for surpassing one million subscribers, which it achieved on 17 July 2021.[36][37][38][39]
Specials
Typically debuting on a week in which no episode of the podcast is released, the specials, available exclusively on YouTube, feature the hosts of Trash Taste outside the studio.
General public reception has been mostly positive, with several podcast review sites giving five-star ratings, or high ranks in various categories, including Apple Podcasts and Podbay.fm.[44][45][46]
^The show on 11 September 2023 was originally scheduled to take place at St David's Hall, but was moved to Cardiff University Students' Union after the venue was closed due to the discovery of reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete in its roof.[35]
^Trash Taste Podcast. Audible. Retrieved 27 May 2021. Summary: Trash Taste is the premiere anime podcast exploring anime, manga, and otaku culture with top anime YouTubers: Joey from The Anime Man, Garnt from Gigguk, and Connor from Cdawgva, and occasionally special guests.
