Rooster Teeth, the folks who brought us that masterpiece of combat comedy Red Vs. Blue, have a tasty new animation project: RWBY. The latest trailer is the top one, the Black trailer. After that are the earlier trailers, the White and Red. They haven’t released the Yellow trailer yet, but this will give you an idea of what the new series is up to. I find the style on these very interesting, almost like they recorded Machinima and then rotoscoped them into Anime. Which wouldn’t be a huge surprise, since Red Vs. Blue was some of the finest machinima ever made.
The winner this week is Tatsumi, based on Yoshihiro Tatsumi’s autobiographical manga, A Drifting Life. While Tatsumi idolized Osamu Tezuka, and met him in postwar occupied Japan as a young Manga artist/writer, he decided after a while that he didn’t want to just write stories for children. So in the 1950’s he invented Gekiga (dramatic pictures), a new adult oriented genre of graphic novels. Manga (irresponsible pictures) and Gekiga started influencing each other as time went on, with even Tezuka trying his hand at it by the 1980s. Of course here in the US everyone just calls both genres Manga, even though lots of people prefer Gekiga without knowing that’s what it is. Besides segments of Drifting Life, 5 of Tatsumi’s best stories are also brought to life in this feature length animation.
The classic Futureworld is being re-released on Blue Ray, just as Westworld was a while ago. 1997’s French/Italian film Virtual Weapon isn’t a classic, and it also isn’t getting the blue ray treatment, coming out in DVD format only, but at least it is getting released. The Dinosaur Project looks like a home made cross between Blair Witch and Jurassic Park, and won’t be coming home with me.
In TV Continuum: Season One is out Tuesday, and I find I haven’t quite made my mind up about it yet. I really enjoy watching it, I like the characters and the way they interact with each other, and it is good quality production. They don’t seem to be evolving the characters or advancing the story arc very fast at all, though there has been a lot of background and setup. I am hoping that the pace picks up soon, because they have a lot of potential that I would love to see realized. Lego Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Out was a TV special they did to run between episodes IV and V. I like Lego versions of films and movies, they are always fun to watch.
In anime, Phi-Brain: Puzzle of God is releasing season 1 collection 1, the first 13 episodes of the series. Kaito love to solve puzzles, but now he is trapped inside one with his friend and if he doesn’t solve it correctly they both die. If he does solve it, a hidden organization will just set more fiendish puzzle traps for him to resolve. This show is particularly fun if you enjoy solving puzzles, you can play against Kaito and see if you can beat him to the solution as you watch. You can also watch it on Crunchyroll if you want to see what it is like.
Amagami SS+ Complete Collection continues the story of Junichi’s evolving relationship with his girlfriend… in each of seven parallel universes. As with the first season, each girl and universe gets two contiguous episodes to explore how the relationship progresses. This is an interesting exploration of the way life changes as the result of our decisions, and I don’t think I could compare it to anything quite so much as the movie Sliding Doors; if you are a fan of one, you will love the other.
Shakugan no Shana season 3 comes out in two parts, each a box set, and continues the story of the near-dead human boy and the spirit warrior woman. But now they are on opposite sides in a massive spiritual battlefield, with the future of the whole world at stake. If you were wondering, you can also watch this one online over at the Funimation channel.
Finally, InuYasha the Movie: The Complete Collection puts all four of the feature length films from that series in a single Blue Ray box set, at a reasonable price. And yeah, that is another series you can watch online, this time over at Viz Anime.
There isn’t much this week, but The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey is worth checking out. I was hoping they would have stuck with the one book = one movie format they did with the Ring series, but this one book they are dragging out into 3 movies. They are doing this by showing you a number of complete battles they mentioned in one or two sentences in the book, dragging in filler from some of Tolkien’s other works, and so forth. That’s it for movies, and there do not seem to be any live action TV shows this time around.
We do somewhat better in Anime, with One Piece Season 4 DVD Part 4 bringing us episodes 242 through 252; at this rate, we may catch up with real time episodes in another few years. Toriko: Part 3 continues the gastronomic combat series (it doesn’t deserve to be on the menu if it doesn’t have at least as good a chance of having you for diner when the hunt finishes).
Fate/Stay Night: Complete Collection is all 24 episodes of the Stay Night storyline, but remember there is also a movie called Fate/Stay Night: Unlimited Blade Works, which is an alternate retelling, an OVA collection called Fate: Prototype, and another TV series titled Fate: Zero, so I tend to take exception to the Complete Collection part of the designation.
Vampire Princess Miyu TV is an actual complete collection of the TV series, although there was an OVA set for this show as well. The half human vampire girl is doomed to be a teenager forever, fighting the forces of darkness to save mankind. The series aired in 1997 through 1998, but it was a sequel to the original 1988 show, so this is old school style anime. Another classic being re-released this week is Shin Getter Robo vs. Neo Getter, a Giant Mecha battle drama from 2000. It is an OVA of four 30 minute episodes. Finally, the much more recent Corpse Princess: The Complete Series is being released in a S.A.V.E. edition, which means you can add it to your collection for $20 or so if you shop around. She’ll kill anything that’s dead, to protect the living.
The most interesting movie this week is about a man who made interesting movies; Hitchcock. Anthony Hopkins does an amazing job in the role title role. Someone is releasing the 1962 movie Jack The Giant Killer, probably in the hopes you will confuse it with Jack The Giant Slayer which hit theaters last week and buy it by mistake. Rise of the Guardians is a fun little animated film from Dreamworks you might enjoy, with various mythical characters teaming up together to fight evil.
In TV Ripper Street is a crime drama in Victorian London with a Steampunk edge, as the law enforcement team struggles to keep control of the streets of the city. And always, they keep an eye out for the one that got away… Jack the Ripper.
Anime brings us Bleach: Season 16, with episodes 230 through 242. Of course, we still have a ways to go there; Japan just watched episode 366 last week. Penguindrum: Collection 2 brings us closer to Himari’s appointment with Death by supernatural forces.
There are also a few re-releases worth noting; Shingu: Secret of the Stellar Wars and Trigun: Complete Series each bring their entire stories out in box sets. If you have missed them so far, now is your chance to pick them up.
In movies, Wreck-It Ralph was one of my favorite recent animations, well worth watching again and again. Meanwhile, The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn, Part 2 brings what is hopefully the conclusion of this series to the small screen.
In TV the Australian Mermaid fantasy series H2O Just Add Water is having all three seasons being released in the US. Likewise the Canadian Steampunk series Murdoch Mysteries is coming out with season 5, and also putting seasons 1 through 4 into a box set.
In Anime, Rurouni Kenshin: New Kyoto Arc is a feature length OVA alternate history ninja vs. warlord story. Bodacious Space Pirates: Collection 2 brings the second half of the series about a high school girl who inherits a spaceship full of pirates from her father. Finally, Natsume’s Book of Friends rolls out season 3 in a premium edition. It seems Natsume was shunned for his ability to see yokai (spirits and/or monsters), and spent the first two seasons resolving things with the spirit world, in the process of which he gained a family and made friends. Now the spirit world is coming back for him with new problems to be solved.
There is a great set of three articles over at Anime News Network about copyright’s as they apply to fandom, written by a lawyer who specializes in Intellectual Property law. While they specifically address Anime fans, the concepts discussed are equally valid for any genre fans. They are well written and easy for the non-lawyer to understand, and I highly recommend checking them out. The first article is What Is A Copyright And What Does It Do?, the second is Copyrights And Fandom, the third is Defending Yourself. There is a fourth article yet to come, discussing what is in the courts and pending legislation, and how it may effect your ability to watch or buy shows or merchandise. As with all discussions about the law online, there is a legal disclaimer at the end of each article. Ironic, that.