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Something to Watch: Discs

Movies brings the Disney treat Tomorrowland, about the future I always wanted to be a part of, and why we didn’t get it after all. It includes some excellent Tesla references and associations from a secret history of the world, and some great special effects delivered in a non-stop roller coaster ride of a movie. Also this week San Andreas destroys a major California city for your viewing enjoyment. I was pretty much done with disaster movies around the time of The Towering Inferno, but it still counts as genre since it is a fictional story based on scientific facts. Even though it isn’t new, it is worth mentioning that the Disney animated classic Aladdin will be available in the Blu-Ray format for what may be the first time.

TV has The 100: Season 2, continuing the story of the outcasts sent back to Earth to see if the planet had healed enough to support life. Wayward Pines: The Complete First Season is the surreal story that seems to have been lifted directly out of Twin Peaks, or certainly inspired by it, or so it seems to me.

Anime is led off by Ghost in the Shell, Arise: Borders 3 and 4, finishing up the prequel stories telling us how the team got together and what they were up to before. Cyborg and hacker Motoko Kusanagi gathered them and forged them into the most unique police unit Tokyo had ever seen. In Beyond the Boundary: Complete Collection a woman with powers who is the last surviving member of her clan teams up with a half human/half youmu boy to save those who have no other hope. Finally Samurai Jam: Bakumatsu Rock tells the story of government suppression of Rock and Roll in 1800s Japan, and the six string Samurai who’s only goal was to be a rock star.

Something to Stream: Miss Monochrome, Hackadoll

Bite size Anime (in the 5 to 10 minute long range) is fun when you don’t feel like giving up half an hour but still want to watch a little something, and this season we have several. Miss Monochrome is an android (the humanoid robot, not the operating system) who wants to be a Pop Idol, in a show that pokes fun at the entire Idol business model. About half of each 7 minute episode is Vocaloid-sounding music performed by singer and voice actress Yui Horie, so you don’t end up needing to burn too many brain cells to follow the story line. They are calling this the 3rd series, but only if you count the singer’s Secret Mission Tour in 2012 where the character was first introduced as a series. I do find it somewhat amusing that the android’s house pet is a Roomba. The other short story series this season I am watching is Hackadoll the Animation, about three personal entertainment AIs who don’t have a clue. Their assigned goal is to to improve the efficiency of their clients by filtering the sea of information into the bits important to their human, but these three have no idea how to go about the task. I am sure it will be no surprise that this one is a comedy. So far I only have a single episode of either to base an opinion on, but they both have the potential to entertain if they are done right.

Something to Do: Movies

Two movies in different genres but with a link between the protagonists this week; Pan is the latest reiteration of the Peter Pan classic story, giving it a Prequel spin, showing how it got to the beginning of the event sequence we all know and love. Steve Jobs tells the tale of another who refused to grow up and give up his dreams, but instead dragged the entire world with him into the future his imagination created. If I only have time to see one of them this weekend I am going to have to flip a coin, because I really feel the need to see both. Of course, I may just go off the deep end, and opt for Yakuza Apocalypse instead, and enjoy watching a Tokyo Vampire Crime Lord go bats all over the Cityscape.

Something to Watch: Discs

I am happy to report that Movies this week include Tremors 5: Bloodlines, returning Burt Gummers to the universe of Perfection, where the usual high-tension comedy ensues. In the same vein, Sharknado 3: Oh Hell No!, a movie that couldn’t have been even slightly serious at any point in its production path, is also coming out. There are also the usual collection of old horror films being re-released in the hopes that they will get some new sales as we roll up on Halloween. What may be the final film released from Studio Ghibli, When Marnie Was There, is also being released this week. Finally I need to mention a documentary, AWAKE: The Life of Yogananda.

TV gives us Reign: Season 2, taking place just following the plague, when survivors guilt was sweeping Europe. Also this week, the miniseries Tut starring Ben Kingsley. Because it is October we get Penny Dreadful: Season 2, the Showtime series with a Horror edge to it, and Leftovers: Season 1, about the people left behind.

Anime has Brynhildr in the Darkness: Complete Collection, a dark tale about a girl who believed in Aliens and then supposedly died but later returned as one of an army of human weapons. The World is Still Beautiful: Complete Collection is a fantasy about royalty with supernatural powers marrying for reasons of state. The fourth princess of Rain lost a game with her sisters to determine who would marry the King of Sun, and when she meets him neither is what the other is expecting.

Returning series this week include Fairy Tail: Part 17 bringing episodes 188 through 199, and The Last: Naruto the Movie. In addition, Aesthetica of a Rogue Hero is being released in a S.A.V.E. edition.

Library Wars: The Last Mission

On October 10th Library Wars: The Last Mission hits the big screen in Tokyo. This time the Armed Librarians are guarding the one-of-a-kind “library law handbook” on display at a special exhibition. What they don’t know is this is a trap meant to overthrow the Library Defense Force and possibly wipe them out. This is the third presentation in this series of live action projects based on Hiro Arikawa’s series of Library Wars light novels, but besides the award winning books, this has also been a Manga, Anime series, and Live Action TV series. For the live action movies they started in 2013 with the film Library Wars, which will be airing on TBS (Tokyo Broadcast System; the same folks who came up with the Ninja Warrior and American Ninja Warrior game shows) on Sunday the 4th. A made-for-Television second live action film, Library Wars: Book Of Memories will be airing on Monday, October 5th, and the new movie itself follows that Saturday in Theaters. The author also got to write the Manga and the screenplays for the movies, so her romance and comedy made it into the films as well as the action. Thanks to the team at Tokyo Pop for the heads up on this one.