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Something to Watch: Discs

In movies, the only real choice this week is Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb, the conclusion of this world-class trilogy. We lost Robin Williams shortly after this one, but everything else about this film is spot-on! There doesn’t seem to be anything in TV this time, at least not that I have found.

In Anime Familiar of Zero: Knight of the Twin Moons continues the adventures of the sorceress with very little control of her magic. Her control is so bad that when it came time for her to summon a familiar, she ended up with a human from our world rather than a magical creature. Now Louise the Zero and her familiar Hiraga Saito have to try to rescue the newly crowned Queen Henrietta from her kidnappers while the world plunges into war. In The World God Only Knows: Season Three – Goddesses the demons Keima must capture are hiding inside real goddesses, and even worse, those he has conquered before. How does he defeat them this time?

For those looking to continue a favorite, Fairy Tail: Part 15 brings us episodes 165->175 of some of the most deadly and hilarious magic duels ever recorded. To put that in perspective, the link I included to Hulu’s Fairy Tale collection tops out at 302 episodes at this point.

Something to Watch: Discs

In Movies we get The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1, which continues to be an excellent translation into film of the books by Suzanne Collins. The third book was broken into two pieces, possibly because the story was too dense, or perhaps in hopes of getting one last payday out of their investment. The other feature film this time around is the Disney animated Tinker Bell and the Legend of the Neverbeast

In TV Outlander: Season One, Volume One brings the book series by Diana Gabaldon to life. The stories merge time travel, romance, mystery, and war to tell a very interesting tale.

Anime has Unbreakable Machine-Doll, where Raishin is studying Machinart, a dangerous blend of magic and technology. There is a competition between the puppeteers that borders on open warfare, and some are not shy about using humans parts as doll components to defeat their opponents. In Outbreak Company Shinichi has been drafted by the government of Japan to be an Otaku Ambassador to a parallel world filled with Elves, Dwarves, Dragons, and other magical creatures who all love anime and gaming. Where exactly do I go to sign up for that job?

Something to Do: Movies

I spoke too soon in Monday’s post about this weekend; I didn’t know then that Snow Girl and The Dark Crystal would be in the theaters this Friday. It is Well Go’s first 3D Theatrical Release, which is a romantic fantasy adventure about the legendary hero Zhong Kui. He was a warrior with mysterious powers who was forced to conquer the realms of Heaven and Hell to save his people and the woman he loves. It is only going to be in a few dozen cities across the country, if you are lucky enough to live in one of them it looks like the big screen would be a great way to see it.

Oscar Week 2015: Animated Features

I love the fact that even the folks putting together the Academy Awards realize that animation is a wonderful way to create and share stories that could never be told any other way. Chris Buck and Jennifer Lee created Frozen last year, won a ton of awards, and this year they got to host the Oscar party for all their fellow animators as their reward. I think they approached this with the right style, sharing a small but important slice of each nominees production, and then interviewing them about it, so they could share their vision with the world. This is a wonderful presentation; enjoy!