Topping the list this week is The Avengers, one of the best films I have seen in quite a while. Everything else would pale against this film anyways, but when the only other live action feature film has a title like Strippers vs. Werewolves, one wonders why they bothered.
However, there is a movie series release worth noting: Bond 50: Celebrating Five Decades of Bond. Supposedly this box set has every James Bond movie ever made, 22 movies in Blue Ray format, but that’s not really true. Obviously it doesn’t have Skyfall, but the Woodie Allen version of Casino Royale is also conspicuous by its absence. Each movie lives on its own disk and includes hours of extras, so this does end up being quite the collection.
In TV, American Horror Story: The Complete First Season also comes out. I am not a horror fan, but this series has its moments and so is worth mentioning.
For western animation, the TV version of The Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes Volume 5 will be released in support of the primary film.
For animated feature films, Resident Evil: Damnation will also be released, but while this isn’t western animation it also isn’t Anime. It is more of a Machinima filmed in the 3D gamespace that the franchise grew from.
In Anime, Steins;Gate: The Complete Series Part 1 is one of the more convoluted and interesting time travel stories I have ever seen. Our primary mad scientist keeps sending text messages to the past through the microwave, at first to try to correct what he sees as a few interpersonal relationship hiccups with girls he wanted to be with. As each message changes the past, and therefore the present he lives in, things go from bad to worse on so many levels, and every effort to get back to the timeline he started in just digs it deeper. This package has the first dozen episodes, which gets you half way through the story. It is a special edition in both blue ray and DVD formats, so it is a bit pricey. The only extras I see are commentary on 2 episodes and a map of Akihabara, so I plan to wait for either a good sale on this package or a more cost effective release, but it absolutely will become part of the permanent collection.
The other two new anime series are historical epics. In Hakuoki: Season 1 a young woman disguises herself as a boy to seek out her father and his magical elixir of speed and strength, but ends up with the Shinsengumi as they battle the vampires of Kyoto. Croisée in a Foreign Labyrinth: Complete Collection is about revolution; the industrial revolution in Europe at the same time as the cultural revolution in Japan which opened the country to the western world. Our protagonist may be just the one to bridge the gap and help both sides grow into their new forms.
One Piece: Complete Collection 8 is the returning anime this time around, bringing more fun adventures from the Straw Hat Gang.