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Something to Watch: DVDs

In movies, Veronica Roth’s #1 best-selling novel-turned-movie Divergent holds pride of place. A lesser known film, I’ll Follow You Down, looks to be a very interesting time travel story, somewhere between Safety Not Guaranteed and π. While I don’t see anything genre coming out in TV, I do have to mention that Top Gear 21 is becoming available, since that is always a fun show to watch.

In Anime, Katsuhiro Otomo has done it again. in 1995 his anthology Memories collected the short works of a number of animator/directors who were about to take over the Anime world of their day. Here it is a generation later, and he does it again with a new crop of award winning creators in Short Peace, just as amazing as the first collection. BTW, the Japanese version of that web site has a lot more information with a better trailer set, and a lot of it is in English. If you don’t already know about Katsuhiro Otomo, his Manga creations include Domu, Akira, Batman: Black & White #4, and Hipira: The Little Vampire, while his Anime creations include Akira (yes, he got to do his own Manga as an Anime, and he did it right), Neo Tokyo, Robot Carnival, Metropolis, Steam Boy, and Mushishi. He was both screenwriter and director on everything except Metropolis (he only wrote that one), and I should probably mention that was the 2006 live action version of Mushishi. If you haven’t seen any of those, do yourself a favor and watch them all soon.

Sengoku Collection takes place in a parallel Earth where a magical battle rages for world domination. Suddenly the primary characters from both sides, generals of the Warring States period reincarnated with completely different appearances, personalities, and genders, are transported to our own version of the planet, where they have to contend with technology they don’t understand. Some adjust better than others, and one is determined to get home at any cost. Freezing: The Complete First Season is a story about Pandoras, the genetically enhanced schoolgirls with enough superhuman strength to slaughter aliens, and their Limiters, partners in the battle to save the Earth. If they don’t do serious bodily harm to each other first. This has previously been released, but this is it’s first time under the Anime Classics Funimation imprint, which means you can get it for half the previous price, and only about $6 more than their S.A.V.E. editions run.

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.

Boxtrolls trailer

Put together by the folks who created the Coraline and ParaNorman animations, The Boxtrolls looks like it will be a lot of fun. The film stars Ben Kingsley, Elle Fanning, Simon Pegg, and Nick Frost, which all by itself is enough to put it on my must see list. It is based on the book Here Be Monsters by Alan Snow, purportedly a children’s book but a fine example of Fantasy as well. Since it is volume 1 of The Ratbridge Chronicles (the fictional town it takes place in, based on the real town Trowbridge in Wiltshire), perhaps there will be more of these down the road. It should be hitting the big screen in September.

New Show: The Musketeers

The show The Musketeers is coming to BBC America, and even though they are not exactly French (let’s face it, in most Musketeers variations, the British were the enemy even worse than the French king or Cardinal Richelieu himself!), this looks like it might be very good fun indeed. And I do like the Tag Line: 17th Century Paris, where Law And Order is more an idea than a reality. The show kicks off on June 22nd, and I intend to be there to check it out. Let’s face it, Alexandre Dumas was a genius with a unique place in time and a wonderful understanding of the human heart. I can’t wait to see which direction this newest variant on his story goes in.

Arthur isn’t Rory

Arthur Darvill played the part of Rory Williams in Doctor Who, but these days he is starring in a musical in London called Once. Because he wants everyone to know this, he went on BBC1 and sang this rather silly song, using Let It Go for the musical inspiration.