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Camera Apps: Ghost in the Shell, FiLMiC

The folks at Production IG have released yet another sci-fi app in the form of the Ghost in the Shell: Optical Camouflage Camera. This one allows you to snap pictures or capture video that turns transparent against the background, as the characters did in the original GITS movie. To make it even tastier, they are throwing in free backgrounds from the GITS: SSS movie for you to position your people and objects in front of, to maximize the fun. It is currently on sale for $1.99 during the roll-out period, but expect the price to go up after a bit. While you are in there, you might want to grab their previous two apps which are running at 99 cents each. The first is the Character Music Player from Ghost In The Shell: S.A.C. Section9, the second is the 3D Cyber Clock. While I like all of these apps, only the first allows you to create your own original video.

The other app worth mentioning is FiLMiC Pro, which gives you a bunch of functionality for enhancing your HD video capture. It is a bit pricy at $2.99 compared to most other apps (or at least most I find interesting), so check out the new stuff it gives you before making your decision. *grin*

Black Rock Shooter on TV

Yes, it is true; the game is migrating to the small screen. Black Rock Shooter on TV will lead the winter lineup in January on Fuji TV’s set of programming. Hatsune Miku sings the theme song for the series with the musical group Supercell and the composer Ryo, and a one hour OVA was previously put together by Studio Ordet with a release to magazines. As of a few days ago, a game edition of Black Rock Shooter with animation by ufotable also hit the shelves. If you are a fan of the game, keep your eye out for the Anime.

Mardock Scramble 2nd film live event

The second in the series of Mardock Scramble movies is going to be rolling out shortly, and in honor of that there will be a live-broadcast talk event on Ustream and Nico Nico Douga at 7PM Tokyo time tomorrow, 30Aug11, which is 5AM PST, and 8AM EST, but at least all on the same day. The guests on screen include the writer (Tow Ubukata wrote both the sci-fi novels and the screenplays), the director, and the lead actor (actress, in this case). The first film doesn’t get released in the US for another month yet on September 27th, but the English trailer for it is now available (the second one here), and it will be OnDemand from The Anime Network in October.

Something to Do: Movies

Both of the two offerings this week seem to be in the horror field, which I am not a fan of (unless the film has a good level of comedy to balance it out, which these don’t appear to have). If I had to pick one, I suppose it would be Apollo 18, because at least that one takes place off Earth, unlike Shark Night 3D. But I think I will give them both a pass, and use the time I free up to catch up with some current Anime series I am behind on, instead.

Something to Watch: DVDs

The movie choice for the week for me is Gantz, the live action variant of the Manga and Anime favorite. While some of the reviews I have read complain about it’s pacing, I really don’t care, I just want it for my collection. And if it bothers me enough, like anybody else I could always re-edit it to exclude the boring bits. Anyways, this is just the first in the set; Gantz 2 will be out soon, so I will reserve judgement until I see how the entire work fits together. Red Faction: Origins is the only movie of interest out this week in English, giving some serious detailed background to the game environment that spawned this film. From Thailand, Panna Rittikrai’s latest offering BKO: Bangkok Knockout is also out this week, continuing the work he did in Ong Bak and Chocolate.

Police, Adjective is not genre but rather crime comedy from Romania’s Corneliu Porumboiu that has won awards from all over the globe, and Norwegian Ninja is action comedy based on Norway’s major government scandal of 1984 (pick up some great wallpapers from the flic here). I pretty much had to mention these two, since they are each different in their own way from anything else you might have seen.

Notice how I went out of my way to avoid mentioning A Big Box of Zombies, with 8 zombie movies that were made from 1936 to 1971. While it is important to study your enemies to be ready to defend yourself come the Zombie Apocalypse, I really don’t think that this collection is the optimal way to do that. But it is fun. *grin*

TV this week is the latest version of a classic: Nikita: The Complete First Season. The successor to 1990’s La Femme Nikita movie and the subsequent TV series that ran from 1997 through 2001, this new spin on the story is a whole lot of fun.

In Anime, Neo Angelique Abyss: The Complete Collection tells of life on Arcadia, where evil demons battle the small number of Purifiers set against them. The humans are not doing very well, but Angelique may hold the secret that will allow them to survive. Ikki Tousen: Great Guardians Part 1 was supposed to be released this week as well, with Part 2 coming in October, but Media Blasters has announced that they have evaluated the market and decided to do a single box set release of the entire series, but that will not be available until March of next year. Great Guardians is the third season to become available in the US, although there is now a 4th season in Japan and they are working on a fifth.

Something to Watch: DVDs

From Norway we have Troll Hunter, a fantasy adventure done in the venerable Blair Witches style of pseudo-reality film style (think no budget, shoddy film gear, and total lack of skill sets). Three collage students take a cheap film camera and follow a hunter into the wilderness, eventually figuring out that he was hunting creatures the government claimed were bears, but which turned out to be much less of this world. Also out this week, Assassin’s Creed: Lineage is a compilation of three short films that together make up a prequel to Assassin’s Creed II, bridging the gap between movie and game.

For TV, the primary selection this week is The Event: The Complete Series. I haven’t actually seen any of this shows episodes, because the premise and trailers struck me as somebody trying too hard to jump on the Lost bandwagon, which was kind of silly considering Lost was terminally past tense long before then. Much more interesting is the Live From Tokyo documentary about the city in Japan that has 1,000 bands playing each and every night.

Live From Tokyo Trailer from Lewis Rapkin on Vimeo.

In western animation, I have to vote for the New Adventures of Captain Amazing-Lad, pretty much a parody of any other superhero cartoon going. In eastern animation this weeks winner has to be Samurai Girls, which takes place in an alternate timeline where twenty first century Japan is still ruled by the Tokugawa Shogunate. The entire series may only be 12 episodes long, but they cover a lot of cultural and social upheavals in that time. Also out this week, the new Eden of the East: Paradise Lost brings us the next feature film in the exciting series. It would have gotten my top spot vote if it had been a season instead of a movie.