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Something to Watch, DVDs 25Jun13

The fantasy film this week is a re-release of 1965’s Beatles Help!, but since this is the first time ever a fully restored version will be available on Blue Ray, perhaps it could be counted as a new release. Also, while not exactly genre, The Incredible Burt Wonderstone is a fun film with more than a tip of the hat to the magically inclined.

In TV, Todd & the Book of Pure Evil: The Complete Second Season is finally being released in the US. It has been available on streaming for a while through various paid streaming services, but this will be the first opportunity to add it to your permanent collection in this country. Meanwhile, the cast and crew have been trying to raise the funds to get a third season going; read about it at their web site.

In Anime, Heaven’s Lost Property: Forte is season 2 of the series and continues the trail of havoc the wishes of the high school protagonist creates as his android angels (or angelic androids, they are a little unclear on that point) carry them out. Juden Chan: The Complete Series is about spirit girls from another universe who charge up the depressed so they can live their lives, and what happens when they meet a boy who can see them.

Another spirit girl is a shinigami called Momo: The Girl God of Death, who does her best to help the spirits of the no longer living she guides to the other side. Helps so much she herself winds up in trouble, in fact. This is more of an OVA than a series, since the entire thing is only six 25 minute episodes long, but all of them are here.

Old school anime from the late 80s, Saint Seiya Movies 1 & 2 are being re-released together, with the 3rd and 4th movies in another box set. I couldn’t find a link to the official web site, so I linked one of the TV series instead, where you can watch episodes and get an idea of the program.

Something to Watch: DVDs, 18Jun13

The prime movie this time is Jack the Giant Slayer, where Jack accidentally opens a gateway to a land of giants, who immediately invade the world they were driven out of long ago and attempt to take it back. Also coming out is The Ghastly Love of Johnny X, aliens exiled to Earth for delinquency who just keep getting in trouble once they arrive. This one is campy silliness with some fun musical numbers and several surprises in the cast you might enjoy.

In TV, Wilfred: The Complete Season Two brings more strangeness between a man and his neighbor’s anthropomorphic dog. In both TV and western animation, Kung Fu Panda Legends of Awesomeness: Good Croc, Bad Croc is the first release of the Panda-centric TV show. The production house changed, the original films were a joint production of Disney and Chinese animation works, and most of the voice actors are different than the films as well, but there is still some good stuff here.

In Anime, last year’s Kill Me Baby brings a truly bizarre series of events to a normal high school filled with anything but normal students. Things like escaped bears, several separate groups of assassins, a family of ninjas, voodoo curses, and killer mosquitoes, to name just a few.

Saiyuki: The Complete Collection brings 50 episodes of Demon fighting goodness. Long ago demons and humans lived together in peace, but now some renegade demons are trying to manifest a great evil. A small group of disparate souls come together to oppose them, and the fight is on! This classic anime series is from 2000, and if you shop around to can pick this one up at a decent price. Finally, Chrome Shelled Regios has been released in a S.A.V.E. edition, so you can pick up the entire series for just around $20.

Something to Watch: DVDs, 11Jun13

A couple of real winners in Movies this week, starting with Oz: The Great and Powerful. This Disney built prequel was a true homage to the 1939 movie on so many levels, as well as to Frank L. Baum’s wonderful but scary universe. Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters is another excellent selection, and I am definitely going to have to go for the unrated version with the extended footage. If those weren’t enough the Korean historical epic Masquerade tells an exciting tale of a commoner who becomes a king in the 16th century.

While there doesn’t seem to be any true genre TV this week, Burn Notice: Season Six comes awfully close. Hey, it’s got Bruce Campbell, that ought to qualify it right there.

In Anime, Lagrange: The Flower of Rin-ne is the story of a helpful high school girl who agrees to pilot a giant robot to kill aliens who are trying to invade the Earth. So yes, now that you ask, this one is a comedy, and I believe they are working on a movie to go with this 12 episode TV series. Bleach: Season 17 has the Soul Reapers battling their own weapons, which are under the control of a power with his eye set on the world of the living. This brings the US anime release up to episode 255, but I think the current Japanese episode is 640. We have a ways to go to catch up.

Sengoku Basara: Samurai Kings has season 1 at 13 episodes, season 2 at 12 episodes, plus the OVA. It is a 3-way battle between ninjas, samurai, and pirates, each group trying their best to conquer the country, until the Demon King shows up to threaten everybody. Then the warring parties join forces to eradicate their common foe. While I am not sure if Mysterious Girlfriend X is genre or not (I am only about a third of the way through the series, it could still go either way), it is sufficiently bizarre to be worth checking out.

Something to Watch: DVDs, 4Jun13

In movies the comedy/horror/romance Warm Bodies tells a story of zombie love in a way I have never seen presented before. This actually is a good date movie, not something I usually would associate with zombies. Also out, the animated Escape from Planet Earth shows why humans are the scariest creatures in the galaxy. For the action addicts out there I should probably also mention A Good Day to Die Hard hits the shelves this week.

In TV we have Falling Skies: The Complete Second Season, continuing the alien invasion vs. human resistance story.

In Anime, Appleseed XIII – The Complete Series is a 13 episode TV series that follows up the movie with a deeper look into that clone and cyborg driven post war society. From Shirow Masamune, the man who gave us Ghost In The Shell, who shares a tendency with Philip K. Dick to have a single question at the heart of his stories: How do you define what it mean to be human, and who or what qualifies? Dusk maiden of Amnesia: Complete Collection is the story of a woman who was murdered 60 years ago, but now she can’t remember anything about it, or even who she was. But with the help of a boy who can see and hear her, they set up a paranormal investigation club with the goal of find out all about her and the event, even though a lot of the club members don’t know that is what they are doing.

Tegami Bachi: Letter Bee Reverse is bringing out season two collection 2, with the action heating up, the Letter Bee’s under attack by multiple threats, and destruction and mayhem being used by Reverse to undermine society and perhaps wipe it out. In The Everyday Tales of a Cat God: Complete Series is about a lazy goddess who gets kicked out of heaven and doesn’t seem to improve much on Earth.

Both Birdy the Mighty: Decode and Phantom: Requiem for the Phantom are having the entire series released in a S.A.V.E. edition this week, so if you shop around you should be able to pick them up for around $20 each. Birdy was always more dangerous to the innocent bystanders than the bad guys were, but the original collateral damage queens also have a lower priced release this week: Dirty Pair: Part One is being put out as a Litebox edition, which means less shelf space used up to boot.

Daisuki is Live!

Looks like the Daisuki streaming animation site is now live! Because, you know, I didn’t have enough online streaming services to watch anime on already, so I needed this. If, like me, you need more streaming anime in your life, sign up today and check them out. Also, starting today as part of their launch festivities, they are giving away a boatload of prizes of various sorts, you can pick one and apply to win each day.

Something to Watch: DVDs, 7May13

Movies this week include a ton of things released previously on DVD and now coming out on Blue Ray, like Hitchcock, but they have been available in some format for a while, so not new as such. The best of the new releases looks to be The Assassin’s Blade, the Jingle Ma 2008 film out of China. There is also Shifter about a kid who gains the power to shift into the body of a wolf and goes to save his parents, but I couldn’t find a proper link to it.

We do better in TV, with Fringe releasing both season 5 and the entire series as two different box sets. May I just mention how shocked and surprised I was that Fox actually let a high quality TV show run all the way to the end, without canceling it 6 episodes in after playing it in the wrong order and changing what time/day it airs each week? We also have K-9: The Complete Series, an Australian Doctor Who spin off that they made appear to take place in London by use of some London production input. Some of that London production input is from Bob Baker, who took a break from co-creating all those wonderful Wallace & Gromit projects to help out with the series. There is a rumor that they have a second series in the works, but I will remind everyone that when you look at the quality you need to keep in mind it is a children’s program, just like the Sarah Jane Smith series.

In western animation we have Superman: Unbound, where Superman goes up against Brainiac to try to save his home town of Kandor, miniaturized along with all of its inhabitants and held captive by the arch villein.

In Anime, Natsuyuki Rendezvous: Complete Collection is about a still grieving widow, the man who wants to woo her, and the ghost who comes between them, making for one of the stranger romantic triangle stories I have ever followed. Since they only have 2 bodies between the three of them, it can occasionally get a bit confusing as to who is doing what to whom. As you might suspect from the subject matter, this one is a bit melancholy. Toriko: Part 4 continues the combat gourmet saga through episodes 39 to 50, which are every bit as funny as the food fights that went before.

While not quite genre, both Sound Of The Sky and Kids on the Slope are music based series with a positive attitude, and look like a lot of fun. Finally this week, Sekirei: Complete Series puts both seasons into a single box set for the first time, making it a more cost effective buy.