The short film Sunspring was written by a set of algorithms, including the lyrics of the song. Humans performed and recorded it, and wrote the music of that song, and while the results are a bit strange it is an interesting beginning.
The genre films this week are animations, with Zootopia being set in an alternate universe filled with anthropomorphic sentient creatures from all animal species. They created some wonderful characters and a great story line, if you missed it when it was in the theaters you should really try to catch it now. The darkly comedic fantasy Anomalisa also hits the shelves, after having been nominated for the Academy Award for Best Animated Film. Not genre but sufficiently strange to merit a mention here, Hail, Caesar! comes to disc this week.
In Anime Mamoru Hosoda’s multiple award winning film The Boy and The Beast is ready to become part of your permanent collection. Yona of the Dawn: Part 1 begins the story when Yona sees her childhood sweetheart murder her father and usurp the throne. Now she is on the run, gathering allies and preparing for the war that will retake the country and make her its rightful new ruler once again. In Gonna be the Twin-Tail!! Complete Collection Soji is a normal high school boy who suddenly has to battle monsters while wearing pigtails. Fairy Tail – Part 20 brings episodes 227 through 239 of the magical combat comedy home, with all the collateral damage its fans could wish for. Medaka Box: Complete Collection puts season 1 and 2 into the same package for the first time. When Medaka became Class President and put out her suggestion box, she was expecting to be faced with simple issues. Instead she finds herself neck deep in a years old mystery and coverup centered on her school. Likewise Berserk: The Golden Age Arc – Movie Collection allows you to get all three of the films in the arc in a single boxed set.
There are a few re-releases worth mentioning this time around. This time, when you pick up Mamoru Hosoda’s award winning The Girl Who Leapt Through Time you can get it in both Blue Ray and Ultraviolet HD streaming formats, neither of which were available previously. Also Lupin the 3rd: Alcatraz Connection, After War Gundam X, and Mobile Suit Gundam ZZ all become available again for the first time in years.
New from Studio Ghibli, The Red Turtle looks to be another amazing animation, full of heart. For once it isn’t a total Studio Ghibli project, but includes the work of the Wild Bunch and a few other production houses. Thanks to Japan Today for the heads up on this one.
The D in David is a very amusing short animation created by Michelle Yi and Yaron Farkash, in which the statue of David gets embarrassed about being naked around all the other artwork. It is a good concept nicely executed, and I enjoyed the punch line.
The D in David from Michelle Yi on Vimeo.
There are three completely different films to select from this weekend, each pointed at a different audience. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows continues with that franchise’s silly fun action/adventure served up Michael Bay style. Approaching the Unknown is a near-future story about a solo mission to colonize Mars which doesn’t seem to have its own web page. Andron has a small group of people trapped inside a maze who have to solve puzzles and win fights to survive, while the rest of the world watches.
Anthropomorphic animals doing a popular musical reality show is pretty much the story line here, but it could be quite entertaining if they took the time and effort to involve the correct animators, singers, writers, and stage crew. I think this one has the potential to be very good, if they gave it the right touch. Keeping my fingers crossed and looking for their next animation.