The number one box office sensation of 2016 in Japan finally comes to US theaters this weekend: Makoto Shinkai’s masterpiece Your Name. That’s the one I intend to see, but another interesting option is Colossal, about a woman connected to a gigantic alien trashing downtown Seoul (because I guess it couldn’t afford the ticket to make it to Tokyo, which has a rich cultural heritage of being trampled by giant monsters). Actually, I might have to see them both this weekend.
The obvious winner this week is Star Wars: Rogue One, arguably the best film in the franchise so far. In Anime, Naruto Shippūden Set 30 contains episodes 375 through 388 for more Ninja goodness; for reference, they are currently streaming episode 500 from Japan. Hyperdimension Neptunia is being released in a S.A.V.E. edition, which makes now a great time to add this game-to-anime project to your collection.
Tor published an excellent article yesterday about how Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind not only helped found Studio Ghibli, but set Miyazaki on the path that would define his career. It is one of the best postings I have seen on the subject, exploring both its influences and results, and now I am going to have to break the film out and watch it again, 30 years after its initial release, and see just how close she came to telling the true story. Pretty close, I am thinking.
Today we finally got to see the second teaser trailer for Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets, based on the groundbreaking graphic novel Valerian & Laureline. This is the second major motion picture taking place fully in this universe (Fifth Element was the first), but you have seen scenes inspired by the series in other movies (including Star Wars, which took the cantina scene, Chewbacca, The Death Star, the Slave Leia outfit, and a whole lot more from it) and TV shows. It also had its own TV show in 2007 and 2008, but that is difficult to come by in North America. The new film will be on the big screen on July 21st, and I WILL be in the theater to see it!
Disney/Pixar just posted Dante’s Lunch – A Short Tail, and it was too much fun to keep to myself. It is a short slice of Coco, which opens in U.S. theaters on Nov. 22, 2017. I am also including the official teaser trailer, for those who haven’t seen it yet.
There is only one movie I will be in the theater for this weekend: Ghost in the Shell live action US remake. Was there ever any doubt?