There are several interesting choices this week. The Last Witch Hunter is an action fantasy about an immortal witch hunter and his reincarnated most powerful opponent, battling it out in modern times to determine if the human race gets to survive or not. While not genre, Steve Jobs is a look at one of the people who completely changed how the world works (and plays) during and after the computer revolution, and will probably be the best film coming out this week. There is a lot of controversy about the live action Jem and the Holograms since the original Anime was at its core about women’s empowerment, with the heroine owning the record company the band played for and using the super-science of her AI computer Synergy to project holograms from her earrings. Those holograms protected her secret identity, generated illusions that baffled and confused the evil doers she was constantly fighting, and also created special effects for the band. It appears that in the new live action version Jem is not the owner of the company, not the possessor of a secret identity fighting the bad guys, not in possession of proprietary advanced technology that is indistinguishable from magic and makes her powerful. Instead she seems to be a wanna-be rock star who leveraged a YouTube account into a ticket to being exploited by a record company, which is not even close to the original story line. Or is she? The trailer seems to have changed since it first came out, I am wondering if the production company may have realized their mistake when the public outcry started over the changes they introduced. Not hopeful, but wondering.
Movies bring us Jurassic World, this year’s continuation of the classic series. In my opinion the latest addition stands up to the original in terms of action and story, and surpasses it for special effects. If you don’t already have the previous installments you can also pick up all 4 at once in the Jurassic Park Collection. Also out is a post apocalypse tale called Z for Zachariah about what may be the last 3 people on Earth after a nuclear war. I suspect the release timing for this one may be because Chris Pine stars in both sci-fi movies and they are hoping that might boost its sales. I did not see any genre TV this time around.
In Anime, Hayate the Combat Butler 2nd Season embeds 25 episodes of combat fun into the domestic matrix. Meanwhile, Space Brothers: Collection 5 has both brothers being hit with failing health while they are being overworked. Collection 5 adds episodes 52-64, so we are past the half way point on the current story.
Sometimes called Chap Hop, SteamPunk music has quite a few interesting tunes. Tonight we are presenting Lady Has Bustle from the Desert Rose Theatre, and the second tune is the Steampunk Style parody of the famous Psy song. OK, one more I couldn’t resist; the Gentleman Robot VS Iron Man 1889!
In the Anime series Mobile Suit GUNDAM: Iron Blooded Orphans you have the continuation of the war between Earth and Mars in all its depth and complexity. The Martian independence movement has gained an important supporter in the person of Kudelia, daughter of one of the major terrestrial governing families on the red planet. She has chosen the child soldiers to escort her to Earth, and the are abandoned by the adults looking to save themselves when the assassination teams arrive. The consequences could be much different than the ruling houses on both planets would ever wish. If you are not already a fan of the Gundam franchise, this might be the series that opens your eyes and brings you on board.
Hopefully everyone caught part on in the theaters, because Attack on Titan Part 2 will be on the big screen next week. At one point there were reports that Crunchyroll would be streaming the live action TV series that aired in Japan between them, but I can’t find a link to it. Happily they do have the full Anime series available to watch.
Aniplex has confirmed that the Sword Art Online Movie project is going forward, with a brand new story from Reki Kawahara. It looks like this will push back the release of Season 3 to 2016, which is also when the film comes out. The movie and season 3 will have completely different stories, but be created by the same production team.