After New Years we get a few movies worth checking out, including Paradox, a story about a theoretical physicist who’s wife is murdered. He build a paratime device to allow him to jump between parallel universes, looking for one in which she is still alive. Unicorns is about a teenage girl who retreats into a fantasy world when her first romantic entanglement turns violent. This one doesn’t seem to be genre really, but it is as indie as they come, so I thought I should at least mention it on the off chance it does go into a fantasy realm.
Shaolin Warrior comes very close to being genre, since all martial arts movies are fantasy films at heart. I don’t mean because of the various gods and demons that sometimes populate them, that is a matter of personal belief and spiritual worldview. I am referring to the superhero-like powers the fighters have, which enable them to do many things on a par with Captain America, Thor, or Spider Man. The other movie that looks interesting this week is CBGB, a movie about the punk scene centered around the legendary club n New York.
In TV there is a BAFTA-nominated fantasy/supernatural program focused on teens called Wolfblood. They are high school aged werewolves who must hide what they are even from their closest friends, or their entire specie may be hunted down and killed. Like being in high school wasn’t stressful enough. This release is the first season of the CBBC series, hopefully season 2 will be along soon.
In Anime, So I Can’t Play H: Complete Collection is not the most subtle series you will run across (Hint: in these kind of titles, the H always stands for Hentai). This is about a teenage boy who makes a deal with a Shinigami to let her use some of his essence to stay in this world, but instead of taking years off his life like a normal goddess of death would do, she drains off his lecherous libido. Now he has to figure out how to get those feelings back, or he will completely miss out on a major aspect of any mans youth. Fate/Zero: Complete 2nd Season continues the epic of the Holy Grail Wars, with Zero being (rather confusingly) the 4th such war, but the first one to take place.
Ikki Tousen: Great Guardians is the third series in the original martial arts with exploding clothes franchise. Each of these high school students is the reincarnation of one of the most famous martial artists from throughout history, and they will battle it out to see who is the best. Chrono Crusade is coming out in a S.A.V.E. edition, which means if you shop around you can pick up the entire series about the premiere Combat Nun of the 1920s (and her demon sidekick) for around $20.
The obvious mention this time goes to J.R.R. Tolkien’s prequel The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug, a single book dragged out into three complete films. I thought I should also mention Saving Mr. Banks, a movie about making the movie Mary Poppins, which almost never got made at all. It will be in limited release this week, and wide release next week.
I usually hit movies first, but Day Of The Doctor gets the number one spot this time around. This is after all the 50th Anniversary Doctor Who Special, and definitely had more Doctors than any other episode. While we are on the topic of TV, I should mention Futurama: Volume 8 and Futurama: The Complete Series will both be hitting the shelves this week.
Another break from my normal structure; I usually do live action movies first, but Despicable Me 2 has to start out the movie presentations this week. It was way too much fun, and you just can’t have too many minions. The other movies worth mentioning have either Cantonese or Mandarin as their primary sound track, including Man of Tai Chi. Note that that is the second Asian-centric film Keanu Reeves has starred in this year, and the first one he has directed. Saving General Yang takes place in 986 AD, and involves the famous Yang Family Generals. For something different, The Rooftop seems to be a Taiwan gangland musical with lots of singing, dancing, and fighting. It looks like a fun film to check out.
In Anime, Bleach: Season 19 brings us up to episode 279. To put that in perspective, they are up to episode 366 streaming from Japan, so the DVDs are finally starting to catch up with the streaming sources. Another returning favorite is Fairy Tail: Part 7, bringing episodes 73 through 84, and they are also releasing Fairy Tale: The Movie this week, so you get a double dose.
Btooom!: The Complete Series is about a combat game which suddenly changed when the 7 best players in the world were kidnapped, and woke up on an island with a bag of bombs each and holes in their memories; now they have to kill each other off and be the last one standing to escape, or so they are lead to believe. Finally, in the main series, a bunch of friends had their bodies repeatedly swapped so they never knew who they were going to be next, had their ages change at random, and had their desires overwhelm them and take control, all being done to them by an outside force. Now, in Kokoro Connect: OVA Collection, their inner emotional state is suddenly being projected into one of their friends, including phobias and suppressed desires, sometimes with near lethal results.
In film, J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey leads us off, and if you don’t already know all about this one you haven’t been distracted, you’ve been comatose. Computer Chess is set in a 1980 tournament where some of the best programmers in the world got together to run their programs against one another and determine a winner. A comedy-drama about the first steps on the road to the invention of artificial intelligence and the creation of software that can beat us at our own game. I should probably mention that while this is its DVD debut, it have been available for purchase and download at iTunes and the like for a while. Much as I hate sparkly vampires I suppose I have to mention Twilight Forever: The Complete Saga, for those who somehow missed it earlier, or who absolutely have to have the several minutes of extra footage they stuck back in.
In TV we have Under the Dome, the series based on the Steven King story.
In Anime Hiiro no Kakera – The Tamayori Princess Saga Season 2 tells of Tamaki, the new Tamayori Princess. Which makes her the protector of the universe, with 5 protectors of her own. The five hansom boys devoted to her well being do cause a bit of confusion among her high school peer group, and more than a little amusement for the viewer. Living to inhabit her new role is not at all guaranteed, with lots of things doing their best to kill her. Zetman is about two guys with special powers, who each want to use their gifts in the cause of justice. What justice means is different for them, which becomes a source of trouble as their lives intertwine.
Fate/Zero is about the first Holy Grail War, which took place 10 years before the one covered in Fate/Stay Night. If you are not already following this series, whoever wins the wars gets an item that will make any dream come true, no matter how impossible. This particular special edition is a bit pricy for me, so I will be waiting for a more cost effective release to come out.
Rurouni Kenshin looks like it should be quite a tasty story; an assassin who is now just a humble wanderer, seeking the life he would have chosen had the option been his. When his past hunts him down, he is forced to return to his old ways to protect his friends and family, as best he can. I suspect the hunters are going to regret their actions. While far from the only variation on this plot line, this is one of the better done. Check it out and let me know what you think, and if what you are thinking is it should have been an Anime, it was, back in the 90s. It was a Manga before that, and quite an enjoyable story in any format.