We have several this week, including Psycho-Pass the Movie in theaters for a limited run on Tuesday and Wednesday, the 15th and 16th. Topping the wide release list is The Divergent Series: Allegiant, where Tris and 4 must escape Chicago, or die trying. The Little Prince is a children’s classic with a core story as true today as it was back then, and very nicely animated in this version. Pee-wee’s Big Holiday and Midnight Special are also available to check out…
I didn’t see any movies, and TV has a single title, Game of Thrones: The Complete Fifth Season. In Anime, C³ as a complete series with an OVA tells the tale of a cursed object who morphs into human form, and wants to escape her condition. With her personality learning to do positive things (the way to break her curse) will be a real fight, though. When They Cry: Season 1 has a boy moving to a small town, where he makes four friends. Not long after, people start dying, and he needs to figure out why and how to stop it before it is his turn.
This week has radical scientist Victor Frankenstein, who along with his lab assistant sidekick Igor breathes new life into an old classic. And that’s it for western TV and Movies as far as I can tell.
Anime has Psycho-Pass 2, the cutting edge police procedural that brings predictive paranoia to a whole new level. Note that this one is just in time for you to binge watch it and make it to the theaters in a week to see the season finale in the form of Psycho-Pass the Movie. The Chinese historical epic Kingdom: The Complete Second Season is the retelling of a classic series of wars as multiple kings and generals all fought each other to unite over a hundred countries under their own banners. The artwork and style on this is quite nicely done, and the history is as accurate as you usually get when talking about a war that covered an entire continent for 500 years. Season 2 is 39 episodes long on top of season 1’s 38 episodes; considering this portion of the war lasted about 30 years, the last nine of which were the Qin’s wars of unification which founded the Qin Dynasty ruling a unified China in 221 B.C., this portion of the story was every bit as realistic as the gap between now and then would allow it to be. Finally, Wolf Girl & Black Prince didn’t turn out to be a fantasy about royalty employing werewolves in their wars as I had been hoping, but if you are looking for a little lite RomCom you might find it enjoyable.
The SIGGRAPH 2016: Computer Animation Festival is the heart of what comes next for movies, games, and so much more. Watch and be amazed, and remember, no show gets more than 5 or 10 seconds of screen time! I would love to make this gathering in person and see each entire presentation come the 24th through the 28th of July 2016 in Anaheim, California.
The two best choices this weekend are animated: Mamoru Hosoda’s The Boy and the Beast has won awards around the world and is nominated for still more of them. I can not wait to see this one, and would have already declared it the must see film for the weekend were it not for Zootopia. Some reviewers are saying this is the best animation to come out of Disney in decades, and the quality shown in the trailer certainly makes me think they could be right. Let’s face it, I am going to have to see both movies this weekend; decision made!
Of the few Western genre offerings this week, Lego Star Wars: Droid Tales definitely looks like the best choice, with Don Verdean coming in both second and last. Sadly, that is all I can find from Western TV and Movies.
Anime fares a little better, but only a little. Wizard Barristers: Complete Collection tells what it is like to defend the magically inclined criminal elements of society, while trying to get the innocent released. I do have to say, the barrister’s familiars set a tone I was not expecting in this one. Death Note is a re-release of a classic, in 2 formats. The Complete Series includes all the TV series. The Omega Edition includes the TV series plus the 2 Re-Light movies. It would be nice if you could get the Live Action TV shows and Movies bundled with the anime ones, but so far that does not seem to be an option.