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Something to Watch: Discs

Movies have Last Knights this week, which comes under the Epic Fantasy category. The film did not do well with the critics, and I don’t believe I will be watching it myself. Much more interesting is the indi film Kumiko, The Treasure Hunter, about a Japanese office assistant who mistakes a VHS thriller for a documentary and goes off for the hunt of her life. This is a much more surreal fantasy, but it is actually based on a true story. The only TV show worth mentioning here also seems like a total fantasy to me, although I suspect the show creators intended it to be more like real life: Banshee: The Complete First Season starts with the premise of the Amish Mafia, and gets rapidly less realistic from there.

Finally the actual fantasy film Forbidden Empire looks like it could be a lot of fun, I intend to check it out and see if it lives up to its promise. It is a Russian film based on Nikolai Gogol’s story Viy, and appropriately released there under the name Viy 3D. The story is about an 18th century explorer who sets out on an epic journey to map the forbidden uncharted lands of Transylvania; what he learns scares the holy living crap out of him, and more than likely most of the audience. It has already been signed off for a sequel which is filming in China, starring Jason Flemyng, Rutger Hauer, and Anna Yo, with help from Jackie Chan Stunt Team. I can’t wait to see how it does.

In Anime, Space Brothers – Collection 3 brings episodes 27 through 38 to the shelves, continuing this amazing story about the conquest of space and what it means to one family. In .hack//G.U. Trilogy our protagonist must unlock the mystery behind a computer glitch capable of leaving players comatose, and possibly killing them. Turn A Gundam – Part 1 brings us the first 25 episodes in an epic about the separation thousands of years ago of the two branches of Humanity, one on the Earth, the other on the Moon.

For the bridge between sci-fi and fantasy this week we have A Lull in the Sea: Complete Collection, a variation on the Turn A Gundam story, except with the separation of humanities branches being between below and above the sea. There is also BlazBlue Alter Memory, where it takes a serious combination of technology and magic to defeat the beast out to obliterate the human race.

There are a number of excellent titles out this time around on the pure fantasy level as well, starting with Magical Warfare, which has a Kendo geek suddenly finding out he has to become a magician to survive and protect those he holds dear. The Irregular at Magic High School team also has a new release this week, although limited in scope to 7 episodes. Tokyo Ravens: Season 1 Part 2 is a supernatural fantasy featuring otherworldly battles and forgotten promises, and worth taking a peek at.

My Little Monster: Complete Collection is about an impassive girl who meets a trouble maker in a brand new love story. While not exactly genre, it has enough fantasy elements to satisfy my immediate needs in a story line.

Something to Watch: Discs

I couldn’t find any genre movies or TV shows this week other than re-releases, but there is a TV show that comes close. Ripper Street: Season 3 is close to being a Steampunk police procedural, and so becomes worth mentioning. An actual Steampunk police procedural, and my favorite of the type, is Murdoch Mysteries, complete with guest stars Nikola Tesla, H.G. Wells, Arthur Conan Doyle, Thomas Edison, Mark Twain, and many more. Sadly, that show is not having a new release this week. Another non-genre release worth mentioning is the Rolling Stones From the Vault: The Marquee Club Live in 1971 if you are looking for a taste of classic rock.

In Anime we do noticeably better, starting with Nyaruko: Crawling with Love!: Season 1 in a limited release. By limited I mean only one US store seems to be stocking it for its initial release, in this case RightStuf. The story of the Soul Reapers continues this week with the Bleach: Season 25 Uncut Box Set, bringing episodes 343 through 354 to the shelves. The currently streaming episode is 366, so this release finally puts us right up to date on the disc production.

Hayate the Combat Butler: Season 4 AKA Cuties is also out this week. This fantasy series (how can a Combat Butler be anything but a fantasy?) has a goodly balance of action and comedy, and if you haven’t been following it you can start from the beginning at Crunchyroll and stream your way up to the current season. Finally Origin: Spirits of the Past is coming out in a S.A.V.E. edition, allowing you to pick it up for around $12.

Something to Watch: Discs

On the movie front, Chappie is the clear winner. This Robot/AI coming to life tale is engaging on so many layers you won’t ever wonder why it belongs on this list. There were aspects of this production that surprised me, like their choices of gangsta-rap celebrities as core cast members (that would not have been my choice, but then I wasn’t the one telling the story), but the film as a whole had my approval. The other near-genre film this time around, The Lazarus Effect, was just a cheap horror flic as far as I was concerned, and not worth the time it takes to watch it. A non-genre release that was nominated for an Academy Award (best foreign language film) because of its amazingly twisted story was Wild Tales, which certainly is worth the time it takes to watch it, if you can handle how completely off the hook it gets. And then there is the documentary offering: The Wrecking Crew, about the studio musicians who showed up on almost every major recording from the 60s and 70s that is still overplayed today, because they were just that good.

In TV there is only one choice this time around: Through the Wormhole with Morgan Freeman: Season 5! This show has been one of my favorite programs for quite a few years now, and this season just proves it yet again. Trust me when I say you want to watch this one and see if you don’t also find it both entertaining and educational.

In Anime, there seems to be some confusion about Tokyo Ravens: Season 1 Part 2, which is being released either this week or at the end of the month. Both of the sites I trust to get it right say at the end of the month, but I am going to mention it this week anyways. Whichever it is, this rather dark series will draw you in, and hold your attention. Hard though it may be to believe, Is This a Zombie? of the Dead is a much more lighthearted adventure, with much sillier situations springing up, and it really does come out this week. Finally, Captain Earth: Collection 1 begins to tell the story of yet another teenager who is tasked with saving the world using his special video games skill set. All of these look like fun to me, and I have been enjoying them; I hope you do, as well.

Something to Watch: Discs

In movies this week we get Kingsman: The Secret Service, an action/adventure/comedy based on the Mark Miller Marvel comic book series The Secret Service. In TV we get The Last Ship: The Complete First Season, an end of the world thriller with a lot of action.

In Anime, Hyperdimension Neptunia is one of those recursive anime about gaming on thinly disguised platforms anthropomorphized as (of course) cute girls. Knights of Sidonia: Season 1 takes place a thousand years after the destruction of the Earth by the Gauna, with the remnants of Humanity still fleeing for their lives. This one is a Netflix original, and they have already signed on for season 2, which will be online on July 3rd. Mardock Scramble: The Trilogy puts both the directors cut and the theatrical version of these three movies into a single box set for the first time. Our protagonist is murdered in the first film’s opening sequence, and her memory recording (taken before her human body fully cooled down) spends the rest of the story wearing a cyborg body and attempting to bring her killer to justice. It is just as cyberpunk as Ghost In The Shell, and worth watching.

Something to Watch: Discs

In Movies this week we get Jupiter Ascending, another tasty sci-fi action romp from the Wachowski’s. We also get the direct to DVD Monsters: Dark Continent, taking place a decade after the original movie. Critics have commented it lacks the originality of its predecessor, and was instead just another war movie.

In TV we have Falling Skies: The Complete Fourth Season, coming out just in time to rewatch it before the 5th and final season starts on June 28th.

In Anime, Fairy Tail: Collection 4 has episodes 73 through 95, originally released as Fairy Tale parts 7 and 8. To put that in perspective Part 15 is about to come out on disc, and the current season is at episode 235. Also this week, Nobunagun is about alien invasion and a girl who can manifest weapons possessed by the spirits of historical figures. This is the complete series, 13 episodes in all.

Something to Watch: Discs

The movie selection Seventh Son is about the battle between mankind and supernatural forces that want to control or annihilate us. Unfortunately, there are not a lot of 7th sons of a seventh son to defend us. I don’t know if this is the first time it is being released as a single box set or not, but all 118 episodes of the Roger Moore interpretation of The Saint: The Complete Series will also be hitting the shelves this week.

In Anime Magi: The Kingdom of Magic has Aladdin and Alibaba attempting to survive the war they stirred up as episodes 14 through 25 run their course. And to think it all started because they were invading dungeons to steal their treasure. Student Council’s Discretion: Level 2 has the characters rewriting their own anime, adding new characters, advancing others, and generally cranking the silliness factor up to 11. Particularly if you enjoy recursive humor (anime that makes fun of anime and manga, in this instance) this is a good show to watch.