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Something to Watch: DVDs, 13Jul14

In movies, the animation Rio 2 is a family friendly action/adventure worth the time to check out. Just like the original feature, the new one is very heavy with musical talent, both on the vocal and instrumental levels, as is fitting for the town where it takes place. In both films the animation is integrated with the music to an extent I have hardly ever seen before. I particularly like the aerial ballet work. A Winters Tale is a romantic Fantasy that I missed at the theaters, and am looking forward to seeing on disc.

For TV, Orphan Black: Season Two is the definite winner, and I have a hard time understanding why Tatiana Maslany was not nominated for half a dozen Emmy Awards after the insanely complex series of characters she has been portraying.

In Anime, Deadman Wonderland: Complete Series is a twisted little story about the unjustly imprisoned who are forced to fight to the death for the entertainment of the public and the enrichment of the networks. Not exactly a new premise, the plot has been around since at least 1975’s Death Race 2000, and renewed with The Running Man (the 1987 film with Arnold Schwarzenegger, or the 1982 Steven King book it was based on, your choice). Also this week, Mononoke: Complete Collection is a sequel to 2006’s Samurai Horror Tales, and tells the story of a medicine seller who travels the provinces looking for the evil spirits he is charged with defeating. When he finds one, he goes through a three stage process to banish it, the final step being to wipe it out with his sword. The tale takes place during the Edo period so this is a bit confusing to the locals, since society is broken up into four classes, and only the highest class, the Samurai, are allowed to use swords. The lowest class, merchants such as the medicine seller, would never be allowed near them; and yet, here he is, heavily armed to protect his fellow breathers.

Finally this week, To Love Ru: Darkness brings season three of the battle of the royal daughters of the planet Deviluke over the fate of the human Rito Yuuki. This one is a definite romantic comedy, and when the Golden Darkness shows up with an army of possessed high school students, things get really wild.

Spring and Chaos tribute

In Spring and Chaos we see the animated biography of Kenji Miyazawa. He was Japan’s most read and beloved modern poet. The film was released as a TV Special in 1996 to mark the 100th anniversary of Miyazawa’s birth, and while I do not know how they got permission to mirror it, it seems TokyoPop TV apparently did. Enjoy, and learn a bit about one of the worlds best artists, if you do not already know about him.

Something to Watch: DVDs

The documentary about one of the greatest Sci-Fi movies never made, Jodorowsky’s Dune has won a boatload of awards. He lined up Salvador Dalí, Orson Welles, Mick Jagger and Gloria Swanson for the cast, he had Peter Gabriel and Pink Floyd to do the soundtrack, H. R. Giger and Jean Giraud (Mobius) were doing set and character design, and the list goes on. It would have been amazing. As near as I can tell, all the rest of the genre movies and TV coming out are reissues and re-releases.

In Anime, Sasami-san@Ganbaranai has Sasami as a hikikomori who unknowingly has the powers of a god. She attends school remotely, using her brother who is a teacher there as her remote viewing platform. Other gods get jealous of her relationship with her brother, and take actions which make her school a very strange place to be. She may actually have to leave her house to set things right! Also this week, Naruto Shippūden DVD box19 hits the shelf.

SAO Season 2

Sword Art Online will be kicking off season 2 in a few days, on Saturday the 5th. If you liked the first season, I recommend you sign up for a free account with Crunchyroll so you can see the second season quickly, watching each episode a week after it airs in Tokyo. If you REALLY like the show, you might want to consider getting a premium membership, so you can watch each one an hour after it airs in Japan.


「ソードアート・オンラインⅡ」トレーラー by AnimeSlovenija

Something to Watch: DVDs, 1Jul14

Once Upon a Time in Vietnam is a surprising film, because even though Japan, China, and India all have a long history of making epic fantasy adventures, this is the first such film produced in Vietnam that I am aware of. I look forward to seeing how they did, because new sources of epic fantasy are always appreciated. Vamperifica is the story of the reincarnation of a vampire king in the body of a clueless kid, and it definitely looks like a horror/comedy to me. I have been trying to figure out just how you can reincarnate a soulless creature like a vampire, but I suppose that is what suspension of disbelief is for.

In TV Helix: Season 1 is about a team of CDC doctors who travel to a research facility in the arctic, they think to investigate a disease outbreak. Instead they end up fighting for their lives with the survival of humanity at stake, on a much bigger playing field than they thought they were getting into.

In Anime we have a couple of very strong pieces this time. A Certain Scientific Railgun S: Part One is the first half of the sequel to season 1. Mikoto discovers the stories of powerful talents being cloned are true when she runs into herself, and learns that her clones are being brutally murdered in an effort to steal their power. She vows to save her copies and destroy the project, but she will need to call in help to pull this one off. The new season is every bit as good as the original was, I have been enjoying it on the Funimation channel. Equally well done although in a completely different style, Devil Survivor 2: Complete Collection starts with various protagonists getting Death Videos on their smart phones, and watch news reports of how they died… in the next ten minutes. If they manage to figure out a way to avoid getting killed, they join the ranks of the Devil Summoners and get a demon on their cell to call up when they go under attack. The more times they avoid death, the more demons they get. Some are powerful, some are not; but the world is under attack by some very nasty creatures from another dimension, so they will need every one of them to make it through. The entire story takes place across the span of 8 days, which seems a pretty compressed timeline.

Also this week, Shakugan no Shana: Season Two is being released in a S.A.V.E. edition, which means you can pick up all 24 episodes for around $20 or so.