One of my favorite J-Rock groups is Scandal, who started out as four actresses in training. Each was advised to learn a musical instrument to round out their skill set; so they chose 4 different ones and formed a kick-ass band. You mostly only hear them in North America on Anime DVDs, when they come through on tour, or periodically on a J-Melo broadcast. And while over here they are best known for their contributions to K-ON and other anime, they have a ton of top quality non-anime music as well, and more fans than you might suspect (some of whom can sing their entire catalog in Japanese). Did I mention the have won some awards, including the Viewers Choice Awards on J-Melo?
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This Friday’s offering is a bit different, but looks like it could be interesting. Hereafter is a film directed by Clint Eastwood about a psychic who sees the afterlife and a few people he connects with deeply. I am not a fan of Clint Eastwood, Psychics, or near-death phenomena, but the trailer makes me think that perhaps there is something about this movie that would make it worthwhile. Of course, that’s what I thought about The Last Airbender trailer, and once the film actually started the guy sitting behind me kept nudging me to stop me from snoring. I think I will wait until this one is on a service I get anyways, like Netflix or HBO, rather than take another expensive nap in a darkened room full of strangers.
Mamoru Oshii’s latest feature film Assault Girls takes us to a future dystopian China where we return to the virtual realm called Avalon, for more beautifully filmed and soundscaped combat. The environment is very like the one he created for Ghost In The Shell, and could easily occupy that same universe, shifted to the mainland instead of the home islands. This one gets my vote as must-have of the week.
It seems like Predators was just in the movie theaters, but it is already coming out on DVD. In this entry to the franchise, a small selection of Earth’s top killers are exported to a hunting planet as prey. And in absolute last place for this weeks feature films, I am only mentioning Vampire Girl vs. Frankenstein Girl because the title gives me a grin. But the people who built both this movie and Tokyo Gore Police look to be the Troma of the orient, except without the humor. And notice I am not even mentioning Zombie Christ.
For live action TV series, a couple of classics are finally out on disk, starting with The Bionic Woman: Season 1, the original version. Personally I thought the recent remake was a much better rendition, with a more realistic story line, better acting and improved FX, if only because we are so much closer to having functional tech these days. The other TV golden oldie is Tales from the Darkside, with both the final season and the complete series being released this week. While it was more horror than Sci-Fi or Fantasy, every story had a little twist that gave it an edge, and figuring that twist out became the fun for watching this series.
Several goodies from the realm of animation this week, with Eden of the East: The Complete Series beating out everything else. I just reviewed it the other day, so my opinions should already be obvious, but let me just restate it for the record: this is the best Anime series I have seen this month, and in the top 10 (maybe the top 3) for this year. Its numerous awards come from many events, including the Tokyo International Anime Fair and Anime Kobe.
Tears To Tiara – The Complete Collection tells the Arthur/Albion legend from a new perspective. I haven’t seen this one yet, but it sounds very interesting and the artwork looks great.
Also out this week, Bamboo Blade: The Complete Series puts the entire girls kendo team storyline into a single box, in their never ending battle for sushi. And Hetalia: Axis Powers – Season 02 continues the personified silliness of WWII. And for western animation, Shaun the Sheep: Season 1 is also available Tuesday. Yes, this last group is just good old silly fun.
Just saw almost this trailer in the theater before RED yesterday, with a small dialog difference that gave a bit more of the back story to the big screen version. The movie itself will be out on February 11th, and based on the trailer it might just be worth checking out. If you haven’t seen RED yet, you should head for your local presentation today; it was even better than the trailer and the buzz made it out to be.
Just about to be released on DVD in the US , Eden of the East sucked me in with the initial scene: the protagonist naked with only a gun and a cell phone in front of the White House saves a tourist girl from arrest, then starts running. In eleven episodes, they cover one of the most interesting conspiracy plot lines I have seen, easily on a par with Welcome to the NHK or Speed Grapher, and every bit as riveting. It carved hours out of my precious sleep schedule, because every episode demanded that I watch the next, to find out what happened. Yes, I watched the entire thing in one sitting; I could not help myself. The link to watch the program online still exists at HULU, but the site link for Funimation Video is already past that, moving onto the new seasons programing, Like Birdy the Mighty: Decode. The best news is that it isn’t over; we get to go back to that world in Eden of The East the Movie I and II and see what happens next!
Daft Punk will be doing some music (and making an appearance) for the upcoming TRON: Legacy, and now you can hear about 90 seconds of it to give you a taste…