This is the NSFW trailer for the 2015 Anime version of the latest Ghost In The Shell story, and it takes a bit of a look back at its predecessors. Along with Akira, this franchise changed the face of Anime in the west, and it was one of the best Cyberpunk stories I have ever read or watched. It will be in theaters in Japan in June, I am hoping it makes it to some in the US shortly after that.
It is finally time for the release of Home, the animated adventure about cute aliens trying to find a world of their own… without much luck. The unluckiest is Oh, who may have accidentally destroyed their original homeworld, and a number of the other ones they were hoping to take over. Now he is on the run from them, and they might destroy the Earth to be rid of him once and for all. Based on the book The True Meaning of Smekday, this one looks like silly fun.
In movies this week we get The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies, which you can pick up as a stand alone or as the full trilogy, all three Hobbit movies in a single box set. The other fantasy worth watching again is Disney’s Into The Woods, the musical made into a wonderful movie.
If you need a dose of silly, there is also Mystery Science Theater 3000: XXXII, which I can never decide if I should be classifying it as a TV show or a collection of movies. If that is not silly enough for you, they are re-releasing Rowan Atkinson’s Mr Bean: The Whole Bean, which is definitely a TV show and completely silly.
There are a few new anime releases this week, but the only Genre titles coming out are re-releases. I count School Rumble – Season 1 + OVA and Season 2, both in S.A.V.E. editions among them, since it has flying saucers and wild dream sequences. But mostly it is just funny, and is never about anything that rumbles.
Yes, this one certainly looks like silly fun, and continues the 8 Bit Silly Theme we began yesterday. The Pixels Movie assumes some aliens intercepted Voyager, got the data off the disc included with the ship, and got upset. The result was an invasion of 8 Bit video games out to exterminate mankind.
I suspect Hotel Transylvania II will be cute, silly fun. In fact this trailer seems to guarantee it. Possibly even a little too cute, but I am willing to risk that.
In movies this week we have Vice (maybe), the Bruce Willis re-imagining of a Westworld-like place. I say maybe because it was originally set for release this week, but when I look up my pre-order it says both that it will be delivered on Tuesday and that it is not available. The critical response and box office were both so bad on this film that they may have decided to give the disc a pass after all. The beautifully animated Academy Award nominated Song of the Sea looks to be the winner among this weeks films, with the rather silly Penguins Of Madagascar also coming out.
In TV we have WKRP in Cincinnati: The Complete Second Season, a show I couldn’t watch when it first came out because I was always asleep. I had to be awake and alert when I got to the radio station at 11PM to go on air at midnight in those days. A whole lot of folks told me about the show, and asked if I had gotten paid to let them model the character Doctor Johnny Fever on my life. Sadly enough I didn’t see a penny from the show, but they nailed what being on an AOR radio station was like in the late 70s, and it is a favorite of mine. I am looking forward to seeing this new group of episodes.
In Anime we have Devils and Realist Complete Collection, all 12 episodes about the guy who broke into his family vaults to steal his tuition money, only to discover he had to choose the new ruler of Hell. That link will let you stream it at Crunchyroll. Tokyo Ravens: Season 1 Part 1 brings the first 12 episodes of the magic battlefield that is school (OK, that description sucks, watch the show and come up with your own; it is streaming at Funimation). Finally Bleach: Season 24 Uncut Box Set brings episodes 330 through 342 of the Soul Reapers adventures home. We can expect the Disc releases to slow down now, since they have just about caught up with real-time; episode 366 is streaming live this week from Japan on the Viz web site.