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Something to Watch: DVDs

Topping the list this week is The Avengers, one of the best films I have seen in quite a while. Everything else would pale against this film anyways, but when the only other live action feature film has a title like Strippers vs. Werewolves, one wonders why they bothered.

However, there is a movie series release worth noting: Bond 50: Celebrating Five Decades of Bond. Supposedly this box set has every James Bond movie ever made, 22 movies in Blue Ray format, but that’s not really true. Obviously it doesn’t have Skyfall, but the Woodie Allen version of Casino Royale is also conspicuous by its absence. Each movie lives on its own disk and includes hours of extras, so this does end up being quite the collection.

In TV, American Horror Story: The Complete First Season also comes out. I am not a horror fan, but this series has its moments and so is worth mentioning.

For western animation, the TV version of The Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes Volume 5 will be released in support of the primary film.

For animated feature films, Resident Evil: Damnation will also be released, but while this isn’t western animation it also isn’t Anime. It is more of a Machinima filmed in the 3D gamespace that the franchise grew from.

In Anime, Steins;Gate: The Complete Series Part 1 is one of the more convoluted and interesting time travel stories I have ever seen. Our primary mad scientist keeps sending text messages to the past through the microwave, at first to try to correct what he sees as a few interpersonal relationship hiccups with girls he wanted to be with. As each message changes the past, and therefore the present he lives in, things go from bad to worse on so many levels, and every effort to get back to the timeline he started in just digs it deeper. This package has the first dozen episodes, which gets you half way through the story. It is a special edition in both blue ray and DVD formats, so it is a bit pricey. The only extras I see are commentary on 2 episodes and a map of Akihabara, so I plan to wait for either a good sale on this package or a more cost effective release, but it absolutely will become part of the permanent collection.

The other two new anime series are historical epics. In Hakuoki: Season 1 a young woman disguises herself as a boy to seek out her father and his magical elixir of speed and strength, but ends up with the Shinsengumi as they battle the vampires of Kyoto. Croisée in a Foreign Labyrinth: Complete Collection is about revolution; the industrial revolution in Europe at the same time as the cultural revolution in Japan which opened the country to the western world. Our protagonist may be just the one to bridge the gap and help both sides grow into their new forms.

One Piece: Complete Collection 8 is the returning anime this time around, bringing more fun adventures from the Straw Hat Gang.

Something to Watch: DVDs

There are two animated full length feature films worth checking out this week, with The Pirates! Band of Misfits being another excellent comedy from the folks who brought you Chicken Run, Wallace and Gromit, and Shaun The Sheep. The trailer alone had me in stitches, the movie itself is a hoot. On the more action/adventure side of life Starship Troopers: Invasion is the fourth story in the film sequence, with Casper Van Diem as the executive producer. Which may be a bit confusing since it is an animated presentation rather than live action; but it is part of the feature film series, and not the Roughnecks TV show animations. And with Shinji Aramaki as the director (his work on the Appleseed movies, Halo, and Gasaraki among others prove his skill set in producing adult oriented mecha power suit combat films) this will definitely end up being a production Robert A. Heinlein would have been proud to see.

The live action movie this time is Battleship, which still makes me scratch my head; I consider this the strangest choice for a computer game you would want to turn into a movie, perhaps exceeded only by Solitaire. Unlike the two animated feature films this week, I will catch this one on streaming when it hits that market rather than add it to the permanent collection.

In TV, Once Upon A Time was one of my two favorite shows on broadcast TV (Grimm being the other) last fall, and with the new season kicking off at the end of September the timing is perfect for this DVD release. A big chunk of why I think that is I normally DVR broadcast TV shows and watch them from the hard drive, but with this series and Grimm I decided to try out a strictly streaming approach. Unfortunately between my workload from the office and some capacity issues with the streaming servers during peak usage times I missed some episodes of each series before they were replaced by the following weeks offering. So now I have a chance to catch up with everything that happened before the new season starts, and yes, I did grab the $10 off coupon the ABC Once site has posted, good for this week only.

The other TV show this go round is The Walking Dead: The Complete Second Season. I am not a horror fan generally, but my friends who are seem to love this show. I may get around to checking it out soon if they keep up the positive comments.

For western animation I am a bit torn on whether to give a recommendation or not. I absolutely love Dreamworks and all their masterpieces of whatever length, but this week is just confusing. The DVD is Dreamwork’s Spooky Stories, which is made from Shrek’s Thrilling Tales, as well as Scared Shrekless and Mutant Pumpkins From Outer Space. I already own the latter two discs which were released months ago, and I own another Shrek short DVD which may or may not be the third story under a different title. But if you don’t own any Mutant Vs. Alien or Shrek short presentations than I can definitely recommend it, as the stories are hysterical. I just wish they would have been a little less ambiguous about the included titles, so I would know if I already owned them all, or at least had a search function of the Dreamworks home page so I could find more information.

In Anime, Freezing is a tale of genetically enhanced schoolgirls called Pandora’s out to kill alien invaders with the aid of their male partners, known as Limiters. And yes, you may assume the males job does not involve any actual combat, this series being more fan service oriented than anything else. One particular newly forged battle couple (Satellizer el Brigette as the Pandora, Kazuya as the Limiter) seems to be under attack by their classmates as well as the aliens, and must work twice as hard to annihilate their opponents. This one is a bit pricey, running around $42 for 12 episodes.

Pretty much the opposite of that series is Koihime Musō – Ultimate Collection, about a woman warrior from historical times who becomes a role model for other oppressed women, who all take up arms and flock to her banner. This boxed set is comprised of 3 full series each of which is 12 to 13 episodes, plus a few OVAs, so even though the asking price starts at $52 for the set (lowest price, it ranges up to $80), you get 975 minutes of program for your money, which works out to $1.30 per episode for this series.

Finally, K-ON! Season 2 – Collection 2 becomes available. I know it isn’t genre, but it is about rock music, and that is good enough for me.