One For The Kids: Battle Royale with Jimmy Aquino
April 27, 2026
Mandy Kaplan has thoughts about 42 Japanese ninth-graders being forced to murder each other on a deserted island, and honestly, who among us doesn’t?
Mandy Kaplan has thoughts about 42 Japanese ninth-graders being forced to murder each other on a deserted island, and honestly, who among us doesn’t?
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A 2012 micro-budget alien bluegrass musical starring the lead singer of Twisted Sister somehow became one of the most charming films you’ve never seen. Mandy watched it skeptical, played a drinking game through it, and came out the other side recommending it far and wide.
Manga is one of the biggest storytelling mediums on the planet, and Mandy has been successfully avoiding it her whole life — until now. World-renowned expert Helen McCarthy hands her three wildly different titles, explains why a pirate cartoon is secretly a manual for surviving childhood, and makes a convincing case that the comics your mom threw out were probably worth something.
Marvel made a superhero show where the hero spends eight episodes trying not to be a superhero, and somehow it’s the most compelling thing they’ve done in years. Mandy and returning guest Matthew Fox break down why Wonder Man works precisely because it ignores everything you expect from the MCU.
What happens when you take a children’s party game, move it to a Scottish castle, and fill it with Real Housewives who don’t know the rules? Mandy and Entertainment Weekly editor-in-chief Patrick Gomez break down The Traitors Season 4 — the strategy, the chaos, the Michael Rapaport of it all, and why the most popular reality show on television absolutely should not work.