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!
This week sees comic book into film Jonah Hex lead the movies onto the shelves, if only for the presence of Selma. The direct to disk Lost Boys: The Thirst was the second attempt to milk some additional box office returns out of the original cult classic. I don’t see how it can hope to cover the original attitude when its immortal vampires have aged so completely; I will not be adding this to my collection, but might Netflix it if they have it streaming. On the other hand, the 1959 classic Hakuôki (Samurai Vendetta in English) does look to be worthy of everyone’s attention, even if some of the sound stage filming is a bit surreal because of the background choices. Also out this week, the feature film animation How To Train Your Dragon from Dreamworks. If you enjoyed the movie and want more, they are also releasing it in a two pack with Legend of Boneknapper for further Dragon/Viking adventures.
Topping the TV choices this week is Dollhouse: The Complete Second Season. This is an amazing series, containing some of the best work of both Joss Whedon and Eliza Dushku, and this box completes the set. Also out this week, both the final season and complete box set of Ghost Whisperer.
If you only buy one Warner Brothers classic cartoon collection, make it this one: The Essential Bugs Bunny. This collection includes those musical masterpieces The Rabbit Of Seville and What’s Opera Doc?, and a lot of the top classic Bugs bits, including works with Elmer Fudd and Marvin the Martian. Of course, if you can afford to, you can skip this one and grab the full series of the Looney Tunes Golden Collection, which includes everything in this package and a lot more. Whichever way you go, these wonderful shorts never grow old.
Sengoku Basara Samurai Kings: The Complete Series takes you into a brutal world in feudal Japan of the Warring States period. This era was marked by continuous fighting between the various generals and warlords in an environment reminiscent of the city-states of medieval Europe, until the rise of the Devil King, Oda Nobunaga. He proved such a threat to all concerned that there was no choice; everyone else had to band together or be destroyed. And yes, this isn’t quite a pure history; there is enough genre content here to justify its inclusion. The other new Anime release this week is Tytania: Collection 2, finishing up the story of two Galactic Empires that go to war, and the rebel force that battle generates as common people do their best to survive.
Economical re-releases this week include the crossworlds demon combat story Tokyo Majin and the delightfully twisted hikikomori tale Welcome to the NHK, both in S.A.V.E. editions. If you shop around, you can pick up Super Amazing Value Edition complete 26 episode series for less than $20, quite a bargain.
Genetic engineering gone wrong at its finest, Splice will be on the shelves this Tuesday. It caused quite a stir on the Film Fest circuit, but didn’t do as well at the box office, in part because it was released on a very limited number of screens. While Splice is a thriller, the other feature film releases this week are out-and-out horror, including the reboot of A Nightmare on Elm Street.
TV did much better than movies this week. Continuing the tales of the Battlestar Galactica universe, Caprica: Season 1.0 shows how the Cylon’s were developed and sets everything up for the Cylon-Human wars. The tech base for their development is only a few years in advance of ours own, which helps remind us we need to get ready for the Robot Uprising. Also out this week, the complete first season of Star Gate Universe, previously available as parts 1 and 2, also from Syfy and also bearing a resemblance to Battlestar Galactica. In a completely different genre, Medium comes out with Season 6, as well as Seasons 1 through 6 in a single box set.
For western animations, we have Dr. Who: Dreamland, with David Tennant doing the voice-over work for the Doctor. This story was previously available to watch online, but only if you live in the UK. From Dreamworks comes another in the Penguin series, Penguins of Madagascar: I Was A Penguin Zombie.
Several gems from the Anime realm, starting with Linebarrels of Iron part 2 and the Linebarrels of Iron OVA collection (all two episodes of it). Being re-released in more affordable form, Jinki:Extend – The Complete Series comes out in a S.A.V.E. Edition for more giant mecha fun. There was a series I saw some time ago I thought was called Super Gals that involved the three lead girls growing to 7 stories tall and fighting off alien invasions and giant monsters, but the Super Gals complete series being released this week seems to have a completely different plot description; I thought I would link it here anyways, in case it does turn out to be the one I was thinking of.
The winner in the movie category this week is obviously Iron Man 2, a film that built on the premise of the first one and ran with it. Of particular interest is the way it fleshed out more of the Avengers arc and back story, and introduced several new characters with Black Widow being the best represented. The other movie this week is no slouch, even if nowhere near as well known: Suck is a rock-and-roll vampire film with some real bite, and a cast that includes Malcolm McDowell as Eddie Van Helsig, Nicole de Boer, Rob Stefaniuk, Jessica Paré, Iggy Pop, Alice Cooper, Moby, Henry Rollins, and more. It picked up at least seven awards including ones from the Toronto IFF, SXSW, and Fantasia.
Live Action TV series include Legend of the Seeker: The Complete Second Season, based on the Terry Goodkind novels, and not much else that I have seen.
In the field of western animations, the important releases are the final two seasons of Red VS. Blue, Red vs. Blue: Recollection which is season 7, and Red vs. Blue: Revelation, season 8. With these, the entire run of Red VS. Blue is available to play even on TVs with no web interfaces.
There are several Anime releases this week, including Bleach Box Set 6, another season of our favorite Soul Reapers in action. If you want to watch some of these online, including the latest episodes as they air in Japan, you have a couple of choices; Crunchyroll, where a premium membership allows you to watch the latest episode an hour after it airs in Japan, and Viz Anime, where you can see the released in the US episodes as well as the current season only a week or two after they played in Tokyo.
Also out, Hell Girl: Three Vessels Collection 1 does not let go of the pressure generated in seasons 1 and 2, but continues to build on it. Season 3 collection 2 of Hell Girl will be available at the end of November, if you were wondering, and I can’t say I am very surprised to learn there is conflict in Hell. Kaze No Stigma: Season 1 is the story of a family of Fire Users who banished one member who later returned as a very powerful Wind Spirit controller to challenge them all. Nabari No Ou: The Complete Series gives you a taste of what it is to be a Ninja with a hijutsu (hidden technique) that can control all other Ninja’s, much in the spirit of One Ring to Rule Them All. All three of these tales fit in here because they are fantasies from my perspective, but in terms of the cultures which created each of these stories (and yes, like the US, Japan is not a monolithic society, no matter how much the multinational corps try to homogenize us all into one big consumer culture) is told from a world view considered the core reality by its society members.
Ondine did pretty well when it made the festival circuit, getting lots of good buzz, but when it finally made a limited theatrical release it played no where near me. Now that is coming out on DVD this Tuesday I will finally get to watch this tale of a mermaid-like creature and the fisherman who catches her. The other live action movie out this week is the
Ridley Scott/Russel Crow version of Robin Hood, complete with WWII amphibious assault craft.
For TV programs, Being Human: Season Two just finished its first run on BBC America and is now heading for the shelves. A lot of the second season involves dealing with the consequences of the first, such as George accidentally turning his girlfriend into a werewolf and Mitchell’s new position in the local Vampire hierarchy. But there are new enemies to deal with this time around, one just for Annie and an organization out for the whole group and all their associates. Mythbusters Collection 6 is also available for anyone who likes their science with some serious attitude, and the new season rolls out on October 6th.
Xam’d: Lost Memories – Collection 1 is the story of war between humans and human/Hiruko fusions, told from the viewpoint of the high school boy who just got merged. The animation quality is excellent, and a bonus is the opening track by Boom Boom Satellites. Two other animation series come out in reduced cost editions, Ghost Hunt – The Complete Series in a S.A.V.E. version, and Samurai 7 in a Viridian Collection.
Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time tops the feature length film selections for this week. This movie surprised me with its quality and how enjoyable it was, doubly so since few games turned into movies have survived the transition. This one did its franchise proud, and proved yet again that Disney is getting a serious grip on family friendly action adventure.
For live action TV, Fringe: The Complete Second Season is definitely the winner, with season 2 coming out with just enough time to re-watch it before season 3 starts on Thursday the 23rd. This is one of my favorite shows, so good that its draws an audience so huge even Fox won’t cancel it; and if they did, a real TV network would snatch it up in a heartbeat. For lovers of Historical Fantasy, Robin Hood: The Complete Series brings all three seasons of the most recent UK retelling of the classic legend to the shelves.
Anime has several offerings this time around. The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumia: Season 2 continues the story of the girl who changes the nature of reality with her desires, and so draws to herself androids, space aliens, time travelers, and espers, all there to keep her happy so the wrong thoughts won’t destroy the universe. This 5 disc release does include a CD, but I haven’t been able to determine if it also includes the The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumia, a stand alone movie that may take place between the two series.
Blade of the Immortal: Complete Collection brings the full story of Manji, a wicked Samurai killer who gets cursed with everlasting life for his deeds. As time goes on, he grows tired of his ageless life, but the only way to remove the curse is to slay 1,000 evil men. So he sets out to achieve that purpose, and win his soul back from hell.
Similar and completely different to Blade of the Immortal, Corpse Princess Part 1 (Shikabane Hime Aka) is the story of Makina Hoshimura, living in the land of Zombies. When she herself becomes Undead, her only path to heaven is to kill 108 corpses and make the world a better place. Corpse Princess Part 2 (Shikabane Hime Kuro) continues the plot line with a look at the real fight underlying the events of the first season. The goal is to defeat the bad guys (the Shichisei, or Seven Stars) before they can destroy all Shikabane Hime and the entire monk organization that uses them. The combined package is 26 episodes for $80 to $100 dollars total, so it is a bit pricey for me, but the trailer looked kick ass. I am going to have to watch a few episodes online to get an idea of what I am willing to pay to add it to the collection. With this release, Funimation may now have the first Anime to hunt Smartphones and use them in a rich media mobile advertising campaign.
Ghost Hound is definitely a bit different, and not at all a happy story. Three young boys have out of body experiences because of different traumas each of them have suffered, and they strive together to understand and control it all. And then the spirits from the Other Side begin to invade the world of the living and have their own influence on the events taking place there.
There is one anime this week which is uniquely Japanese, with a plot line twist they do like no one else: one or more inanimate objects get transmogrified into human form, and the stories follow their adventures. In the case of Hetalia, the inanimate objects are nation states from just before WWII, anthropomorphisd into young children. This series puts a twist onto history that is hard to imagine ahead of time, and hard to escape once you have seen it. A bit silly, but with a true heart.
Fair warning: Dirty Pair (at least the original series) is about to be release by Right Stuff in North America. I was a little confused by the fact the web site claims it will be the first time it will be available to people in North America, since I thought I already owned it. So I went to see what I actually owned in that series. The first box I pulled off the shelf said “Original Dirty Pair” on both the front and back covers, but when you went to the box spine it said “Movie Collection”. OK, not the original series then, although I am sure it has a lot of footage from it. The next box I found that said “Original Dirty Pair” followed that up with the words: “OVA Collection”. Still not there, but good to know I already own a lot of the harder to find stuff. So I looked at the final box, and it wasn’t the original series either, but rather “Dirty Pair Flash”, which was another season/series. I was introduced to Dirty Pair (Lovely Angels) in the mid to late 90s when they were featured weekly on Showtime; I hope the original series includes some of those shows I loved, but didn’t know how to find in my collection.