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Something to Watch: DVDs, 31Dec13

Shaolin Warrior comes very close to being genre, since all martial arts movies are fantasy films at heart. I don’t mean because of the various gods and demons that sometimes populate them, that is a matter of personal belief and spiritual worldview. I am referring to the superhero-like powers the fighters have, which enable them to do many things on a par with Captain America, Thor, or Spider Man. The other movie that looks interesting this week is CBGB, a movie about the punk scene centered around the legendary club n New York.

In TV there is a BAFTA-nominated fantasy/supernatural program focused on teens called Wolfblood. They are high school aged werewolves who must hide what they are even from their closest friends, or their entire specie may be hunted down and killed. Like being in high school wasn’t stressful enough. This release is the first season of the CBBC series, hopefully season 2 will be along soon.

In Anime, So I Can’t Play H: Complete Collection is not the most subtle series you will run across (Hint: in these kind of titles, the H always stands for Hentai). This is about a teenage boy who makes a deal with a Shinigami to let her use some of his essence to stay in this world, but instead of taking years off his life like a normal goddess of death would do, she drains off his lecherous libido. Now he has to figure out how to get those feelings back, or he will completely miss out on a major aspect of any mans youth. Fate/Zero: Complete 2nd Season continues the epic of the Holy Grail Wars, with Zero being (rather confusingly) the 4th such war, but the first one to take place.

Ikki Tousen: Great Guardians is the third series in the original martial arts with exploding clothes franchise. Each of these high school students is the reincarnation of one of the most famous martial artists from throughout history, and they will battle it out to see who is the best. Chrono Crusade is coming out in a S.A.V.E. edition, which means if you shop around you can pick up the entire series about the premiere Combat Nun of the 1920s (and her demon sidekick) for around $20.

Something to Watch: DVDs, 24Dec13

I would have thought this would be the perfect date to release some blockbusters to drive last minute Xmas shopping, but not so much it seems. In fact, I didn’t find a single live action sci-fi/fantasy movie or TV show that had not been previously released. Pretty disappointing, especially if you were looking for some last minute gift inspirations.

I had hoped to do better in Anime, and I did, marginally, finding a single new title. Humanity Has Declined is about a woman who takes up the family business of arbitrating between Humanity and Fairies only to discover the task more difficult than she had imagined. And even though the Fay are taking over the Earth as humanity dies off, there is always hope for the future.

Something to Watch: DVDs, 17Dec13

Looks like some excellent selections were held back for last minute shopping opportunities. In movies, Elysium would stand out on its own merits anyways, but it has to be about the only time Jodi Foster got to be the bad guy, at least that I have seen. And even though it doesn’t stand up to District 9, his previous work, for originality (that’s what happens when they hand you a corporate run big budget; too many folks have a vote in what you can and can’t do), Neill Blomkamp still did a quality job within the constraints they saddled him with. Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters was a great YA book, and I am pleased to see they didn’t just stop with the first Percy Jackson story; with any luck, they will continue to go through converting all of the books to feature films. The comic-book-to-movie installment of Kick-Ass 2 continued the franchise’s tradition of having over-the-top actors in the adult superhero role, with the underage superheroes being the sane ones. Scary thought, that, but it definitely seems to work for them.

While I only believed The Lone Ranger to be genre within a certain narrow range before this movie came out, Johnny Depp completely changed the dialog for the story. I consider this the best Lone Ranger tale ever, quite the fitting reboot for what has always been an American classic series. And for those wondering why I considered it genre at all, it is twofold. First, you have the whole ghost who walks thing of the Spirit Warrior who can not be killed (not to be confused with The Phantom, that is a whole different Ghost Who Walks). The second reason is the Lone Ranger had a nephew named Dan Reid, who grew up to be a captain of industry, and had a son named Britt Reid, also known as the Green Hornet. The same authors created both series, I always liked the fact that they linked them together that way. Ghost Team One is a comedy horror movie, but after I have said that, I have nothing to add. Except that this one will not be following me home.

We don’t have anything directly genre in TV, but Burn Notice: Season Seven is coming out, as is Burn Notice: The Complete Series. For western animation, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2 is good silly fun (and it comes with a 3D version).

In Anime, Aesthetica of a Rogue Hero is a cautionary tale of what Happily Ever After might devolve into. Akatsuki has saved the fairy tale kingdom and escaped home with his prize, Miu (daughter of the Demon King); and that’s where their real problems begin. In what one would think would almost be a related series (but isn’t), Blue Exorcist: The Movie has the son of Satan out to eradicate demonic forces the world over. Dad wouldn’t be proud.

Vividred Operation: Complete Collection shows what kind of world will result from a peaceful use of technology to solve the Earth’s energy problems, when that solution is attacked from space, and only a team of 14 year old girls can protect our planet. Like so many other shows, you can watch it on Crunchyroll if you prefer. The Pet Girl of Sakurasou is a twisty little story that leaves us wondering who will wind up on who’s leash, but finding that out is a fun ride. It is hard to describe Di Gi Charat beyond the fact that she is an alien who came to Earth to break into the music industry, but trust me when I say she gets in lots of trouble. Hopefully you will find something interesting in this collection; enjoy!

Something to Watch: DVDs, 10Dec13

I usually hit movies first, but Day Of The Doctor gets the number one spot this time around. This is after all the 50th Anniversary Doctor Who Special, and definitely had more Doctors than any other episode. While we are on the topic of TV, I should mention Futurama: Volume 8 and Futurama: The Complete Series will both be hitting the shelves this week.

Another break from my normal structure; I usually do live action movies first, but Despicable Me 2 has to start out the movie presentations this week. It was way too much fun, and you just can’t have too many minions. The other movies worth mentioning have either Cantonese or Mandarin as their primary sound track, including Man of Tai Chi. Note that that is the second Asian-centric film Keanu Reeves has starred in this year, and the first one he has directed. Saving General Yang takes place in 986 AD, and involves the famous Yang Family Generals. For something different, The Rooftop seems to be a Taiwan gangland musical with lots of singing, dancing, and fighting. It looks like a fun film to check out.

In Anime, Bleach: Season 19 brings us up to episode 279. To put that in perspective, they are up to episode 366 streaming from Japan, so the DVDs are finally starting to catch up with the streaming sources. Another returning favorite is Fairy Tail: Part 7, bringing episodes 73 through 84, and they are also releasing Fairy Tale: The Movie this week, so you get a double dose.

Btooom!: The Complete Series is about a combat game which suddenly changed when the 7 best players in the world were kidnapped, and woke up on an island with a bag of bombs each and holes in their memories; now they have to kill each other off and be the last one standing to escape, or so they are lead to believe. Finally, in the main series, a bunch of friends had their bodies repeatedly swapped so they never knew who they were going to be next, had their ages change at random, and had their desires overwhelm them and take control, all being done to them by an outside force. Now, in Kokoro Connect: OVA Collection, their inner emotional state is suddenly being projected into one of their friends, including phobias and suppressed desires, sometimes with near lethal results.

Something to Watch: DVD’s, 3Dec13

In movies we have The Wolverine, another excellent selection from the ongoing Marvel universe, this time from their X-Men franchise. As usual, you want to stay all the way to the end, so you don’t lose any clues about what might be coming up next. The other film of note is based on a book without so many pictures, The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones. That one was written by Cassandra Clare, the opening volume of her YA series The Mortal Instruments, part of The Shadowhunter Chronicles.

In TV, we continue with the 50th celebration, this weeks offering being Doctor Who: The Doctors Revisited 9-11. This group is Christopher Eccleston, David Tennant, and Matt Smith, and concludes the first dozen Doctors. A worthwhile grouping of the next set of characters, don’t you think?

In Western animation, Marvel’s Iron Man & Hulk: Heroes United is a good companion piece for Wolverine.

In Anime, Aquarion Evol is not exactly a direct sequel to Aquarion, since it takes place 12,000 years later, but it is set in the same universe with the same underlying premise. I don’t remember the first one being quite this filled with less than subtle double entendre’s, but perhaps I just forgot; I should go back and watch it again before I start the new series. The unique series Girls und Panzer is all about the high school girls clubs which salvage, maintain, and go into combat with each other in tanks, and they are doing a duel release this week. They have the complete OVA series at 6 episodes long, and the complete TV series at 12 episodes both hitting the shelves.

One Piece continues the epic, with season 5 part 4 bringing you episodes 300 through 312. Zatch Bell mes out as the complete seasons one and two, but instead of the normal 26 episodes you might assume, this set weighs in at 104 episodes. In this series, creatures known as mamodo come to Earth every thousand years to battle it out and determine who gets to rule them for the next millennium. They can only use their magic when teamed up with a human, and the mamodo known as Zatch Bell has teamed up with 14 year old Kiyo for this round of fighting.

Something to Watch: DVDs, 26Nov13

My favorite movie this time around just might be Red 2, the amazing sequel to the first film they created out of this graphic novel. Scratch that, nothing “might be” about it; this one is world class! Also out, Jobs is a BioPic with a proper attitude.

In TV, I count Murdoch Mysteries: Season 6 as genre because of its near Steampunk goodness, mixing the 1890s super science cutting edge of forensics, air flight, electronic communications, and so much more with some well thought out mysteries and a bunch of characters you will thoroughly enjoy. The protagonist himself most reminds me of the Mounty from the TV series Due South, another excellent police procedural.

In Anime, Accel World: Set 1 is abut an unpopular boy who spends all his time in online gaming. He is surprised one day when a popular girl approaches him and invites him to combat in a new virtual world as her knight. As usual, all is not as it appears at first glance, and when they neurolink into the game he learns about Brain Bursting, which accelerates your mind when you go into combat mode. La Storia Della Arcana Famiglia is the complete collection, the tale of what happens when and organization leader retires and puts his position up for grabs to whoever wins the fight for it. Each member of the organization has a power granted by a tarot card, as well as the usual guns and knives, so the competition will be fierce. But when he throws in his daughter as part of the prize, she gets ticked and enters the competition herself, with the goal of winning her own hand. Her card gives her telepathy to spy out the plans of her would be suitors and rivals, but she is aware every one of them also holds a card.

Super Robot Wars OG: Divine Wars is the full 2006 series, while Super Robot Wars Original Generation is the 2005 3 episode OVA that got the ball rolling. Alien invasion, giant mecha, the fate of the world at stake, you know the drill. The link I gave actually goes to Super Robot Wars OG The Inspector, a different series (the usage is different in Japan, I would have said season to mean the same thing in the US), but it will give you the idea.

The anime gem this time is the multi-award winning Wolf Children, a feature film by Mamoru Hosoda, the internationally-acclaimed director of Summer Wars. It has won dozens of awards around the world, one of the prizes it won was the Japan Academy Prize for Best Animation of the Year, 2013.