The web site for J-World Tokyo now has a set of pages in English, for those of us who can’t read Kanji. The place is an indoor amusement park for the anime of Weekly Shonen Jump, including such favorites as Naruto, Bleach, One Piece, and Dragon Ball. There was a review of it done by Otaku USA Magazine you should check out if you plan to go to Tokyo soon, because you just might want to pay it a visit.
Sometimes words are not required, as this animation from House Special proves; enjoy.
There don’t appear to be any genre films this week, but there is one I find interesting; the first ever conversion of a Thomas Pynchon novel into a movie. The film, like the book, is called Inherent Vice, and is quite the twisted tale, taking place in the late ’60s and reminding me of nothing so much as Pulp Fiction. They have collected up quite a good cast, I think this one will be worth checking out.
Obviously, my choice in Movies this week is Guardians of the Galaxy, which still remains my favorite for this year, even as the year itself reaches its end. While not exactly genre, Frank is just strange enough to rate a mention (although it would have gotten one anyways for the music angle). If it came near a theater around me I missed it, now I get another shot at checking it out.
In TV we have Doctor Who: The Complete Eighth Series for Peter Capaldi’s first run as everyone’s favorite Time Lord. I do have to say I can’t wait to see Nick Frost as Santa in the Xmas special, come the day. Under the Dome: Season 2 is also out this week for the King fans. For those looking for nostalgia sci-fi, Mork & Mindy: The Fourth Season is the one where they get married and have a child, played by Jonathan Winters. It is also the final season of the show, so if you picked up the first three, this one will complete your collection.
In Anime, Ground Control to Psychoelectric Girl is about a boy who meets his unsuspected cousin, who turns out to be an alien. What started out as a strange encounter turned into something truly surreal in very short order, as he learns that Earth is being targeted. Infinite Stratos II continues the adventures of the only male who can pilot a combat mecha in a training academy full of heavily armed combat ready women. That rounds it up for this go round; everything else in each category being released this week has been released before.
With time travel at the core of the story, Terminator Genisys is poised for a reboot in ways orther movies haven’t been able to touch, spinning off its own parallel timeline as part of the acknowledged plot. I loved the first two films in the franchise, the ones after not so much. This trailer makes me want to be in the theaters for a Terminator movie for the first time in a long while; hope to see you there. Too bad we have to wait until July of next year.
Seventh Son is a nice looking fantasy adventure which should be on the big screen around February 6th. The film is based on Joseph Delaney’s book series The Last Apprentice, also called Spooks. I am looking forward to this one, and I think I have time to catch up with all the books before I sit down in the theater.