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Something to Watch: Discs

The best selection this week is the animated Marvel feature Big Hero 6, with a soft robot in an iron suit as one of the 6. The film is a bit of a homage to all things anime, and has a lot more humor than I was expecting. Dragonheart 3: The Sorcerer’s Curse is the next direct-to-disc release in the Dragonheart franchise, with Ben Kingsley as the voice of the dragon this time.

In Anime Space Brothers: Collection 1 is literally about two brothers training to be astronauts, and this pack is the first 13 episodes in the series. There are at least 3 more seasons to the story after this first set; Crunchyroll is currently up to episode 99, I believe. Tiger & Bunny: The Rising is a feature film length presentation which has Bunny teamed up with a new partner on Hero TV as they fight to protect the citizens of Stern Build. In Love, Chunibyo & Other Delusions! Yuta has worked hard to get past the belief he has has secret knowledge and hidden powers, but now a neighbor with that same belief system has shown up to drag him back into his delusions… or are they? Diabolik Lovers finds a girl living with six hansom but non-human boys, and she has to work hard to keep them at fangs length.

Something to Do: Movies

Somehow Monday slipped right by me without my noticing, so a bit late this week with the movie entries. Hot Tub Time Machine 2 might be as much fun as the original, this time they end up in the future while trying to get to the past… much like a certain 80s time travel trilogy. The Last: Naruto the Movie will only be available in a limited number of theaters in the US, but if you are near one of them it should be worth seeing on the big screen. Big in Japan is a musical comedy that has been making the festival circuit, it also has a limited run but looks kind of fun.

Rurouni Kenshin 3 trailer

Rurouni Kenshin 3: The Legend Ends completes the trilogy about the Samurai assassin who decided he would kill no more, and protect the weak and helpless. One OK Rock continues to be featured on the soundtrack, and the action is intense. You can find out more at the RuroKen Fan Site. The movie came out last September in Japan, and has been making the festival rounds; Amazon carries an all region DVD in stock, but somehow the release date went right past me without my noticing. This trailer was posted because it is about to be released in the UK.

Something to Watch: Discs

In Movies Birdman deserved its Oscar nominations, a sort-of superhero movie that spoke about the art and the actor, rather than the character. Then there is The Theory of Everything, where one of my real life heroes, Steven Hawking, was the character at the core of the story; and yes, this one too took home its share of Academy Award nominations. It won a Golden Globe, a Screen Actors Guild, and another dozen awards, so I look forward to seeing what it wins in the next round. We also get the latest Studio Ghibli feature film, The Tale of Princess Kaguya. It is based on one of the oldest and best known folktales from Japan, The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter, which would have fit right in with anything from the Brothers Grimm.

In TV we have Doctor Who: Last Christmas, where Nick Frost gets to be a companion while playing Saint Nick… or something very much like him. For a completely different flavor of sci-fantasy there is Game of Thrones: The Complete Fourth Season, continuing George R.R. Martin’s epic mad battle to rule the world. Fortunately, not our world.

Anime gives us Hozuki’s Coolheadedness: Complete Collection, a story about the chief bureaucrat in Hell, and how he deals with the day to day running of the place. Space Dandy: Season 1 also comes out this week, quite the twisted reality!