We actually have a decent assortment of programs this week, for the first time in a while. In movies, Thor: The Dark World leads us off with yet another excellent entry into the Avengers Universe franchise. The previous film promised, and this one delivered. Gravity is no slouch itself, up for a boatload of awards, an adventure set against the most amazing background of all. Ice Soldiers is about human genetic engineering by governments gone wild, a Canadian creation that owes a lot to the Cold War mentality some people are still hanging onto. Finally, Mr. Nobody might be the most powerful story of the collection for this week, and is certainly worth exploring. If you never make a choice, anything is possible.
In TV, there really is only one choice this time around: Search was a sci-fi spy cult classic back in 1972, and even though lots of aspects of it are dated now, a ton of its revelations became the future we are still in today.
In Anime, Appleseed XIII: Tartaros & Ouranos pits anti-clone terrorists bent on bombing their post-apocalyptic paradise into oblivion against the cyborgs and biodroids defending civilization. In this series from Sci-Fi mastermind Masamune Shirow, creator of Ghost In The Shell, we once again get an opportunity to explore the range of possible options humanity faces as it grows into everything it might become, and still be called human. Dallos is a tale of the lunar rebellion, when the Helium 3 miners had finally had enough of their economic enslavement and fought for their freedom. This one is a 4 episode OVA, not a full season of a series, and is from Osii Mamoru, another well known science fiction author and creator. A lot of folks credit this as the very first OVA ever made back in 1983, which gives it its own unique place in Anime history. It is also debated whether 1995’s Mighty Space Miners 2 OVA story is a direct descendent of the original series, but it is also being re=released this week.
Blast of Tempest: Complete 2nd Season sees Hakaze jump back in time to find the truth behind Aika’s death, only to hear something unexpected from Aika himself. Is the present meant to turn out this way after all, or is there something more behind events? Meanwhile, in Di Gi Charat: Winter Garden, the most powerful Earth magic hits the alien Princess hard, as she discovers her future is not as set in stone as she thought it was. Finally, in K: Complete Collection, Shiro will have to evade the clans of seven powerful kings and desperately try to prove his innocence before they all manage to kill him.
Even though it isn’t genre, I also have to mention Love, Election & Chocolate as some serious silliness!