Hopefully everyone caught part on in the theaters, because Attack on Titan Part 2 will be on the big screen next week. At one point there were reports that Crunchyroll would be streaming the live action TV series that aired in Japan between them, but I can’t find a link to it. Happily they do have the full Anime series available to watch.
Aniplex has confirmed that the Sword Art Online Movie project is going forward, with a brand new story from Reki Kawahara. It looks like this will push back the release of Season 3 to 2016, which is also when the film comes out. The movie and season 3 will have completely different stories, but be created by the same production team.
Movies brings the Disney treat Tomorrowland, about the future I always wanted to be a part of, and why we didn’t get it after all. It includes some excellent Tesla references and associations from a secret history of the world, and some great special effects delivered in a non-stop roller coaster ride of a movie. Also this week San Andreas destroys a major California city for your viewing enjoyment. I was pretty much done with disaster movies around the time of The Towering Inferno, but it still counts as genre since it is a fictional story based on scientific facts. Even though it isn’t new, it is worth mentioning that the Disney animated classic Aladdin will be available in the Blu-Ray format for what may be the first time.
TV has The 100: Season 2, continuing the story of the outcasts sent back to Earth to see if the planet had healed enough to support life. Wayward Pines: The Complete First Season is the surreal story that seems to have been lifted directly out of Twin Peaks, or certainly inspired by it, or so it seems to me.
Anime is led off by Ghost in the Shell, Arise: Borders 3 and 4, finishing up the prequel stories telling us how the team got together and what they were up to before. Cyborg and hacker Motoko Kusanagi gathered them and forged them into the most unique police unit Tokyo had ever seen. In Beyond the Boundary: Complete Collection a woman with powers who is the last surviving member of her clan teams up with a half human/half youmu boy to save those who have no other hope. Finally Samurai Jam: Bakumatsu Rock tells the story of government suppression of Rock and Roll in 1800s Japan, and the six string Samurai who’s only goal was to be a rock star.
Bite size Anime (in the 5 to 10 minute long range) is fun when you don’t feel like giving up half an hour but still want to watch a little something, and this season we have several. Miss Monochrome is an android (the humanoid robot, not the operating system) who wants to be a Pop Idol, in a show that pokes fun at the entire Idol business model. About half of each 7 minute episode is Vocaloid-sounding music performed by singer and voice actress Yui Horie, so you don’t end up needing to burn too many brain cells to follow the story line. They are calling this the 3rd series, but only if you count the singer’s Secret Mission Tour in 2012 where the character was first introduced as a series. I do find it somewhat amusing that the android’s house pet is a Roomba. The other short story series this season I am watching is Hackadoll the Animation, about three personal entertainment AIs who don’t have a clue. Their assigned goal is to to improve the efficiency of their clients by filtering the sea of information into the bits important to their human, but these three have no idea how to go about the task. I am sure it will be no surprise that this one is a comedy. So far I only have a single episode of either to base an opinion on, but they both have the potential to entertain if they are done right.
The first interesting Anime I found now that the new season has started is Heavy Object over on Funimation. It is based on a light novel by the author of A Certain Magical Index and takes place in the medium future, where warfare has been transformed by the development of weapons systems called Objects. I liked the characters in the first episode, the story telling was interesting, and there seems to be something of a mystery to be solved. I haven’t read the book yet, but I think I am going to enjoy following this show, and it has become the first one of the new season to be added to my Que.
Wednesday we get Attack on Titan: Part 1, and while it is in somewhat limited release it is still in a number of theaters per city. Thanks to Funimation for setting up the network of digital theaters this live action movie duo will be showing in. Friday we get The Martian, another film I have been waiting a long time for. That one is actually late Thursday, which has pretty much become the default for weekly movie releases. I think because it boosts the claimable box office for the Opening Weekend just enough to make films look like they had a good opening. I intend to see both of these this week.