This week a few additional tracks from J-Pop band frederic (no, I have no idea why their name is un-capitalized). The first is Tomei-ningen (Invisible Man) posted last October, the second is Only Wonder, posted online on May 12th of this year.
BBC Taster is the experimental site for the development of digital content and emerging technology, and it is chock full of both 360 degree videos as well as true VR experiences, which are well worth exploring. In my mind, the difference between the two is interactivity; if you can click on icons to change the presentation in different ways it is VR, if not it is a 360 movie. As a single instance of what is on offer at BBC Taster, The Kraken Wakes 360 started with the radio play and musical score they created from John Wyndham’s science fiction novel of the same name. They layered the 360 degree video on top of a piece of that and made it available for public viewing, with the request that once you watch it (or any of their VR/360 pieces) you rate it. They are trying to get an idea of what works and doesn’t work for people with different kinds of presentations before they crank it up to full production mode, and unlike all the developers using focus groups and test audiences in secret or restricted environments, they are making the public part of the decision making process right from the beginning. They are also taking it on tour across the UK to events like the Sheffield Doc/Fest 2016 which begins today, setting up VR presentation areas complete with the hardware and headsets, so people who don’t have the gear at home can give their feedback. Nor are they the only ones; the Alternate Realities: Virtual Reality Arcade at the Sheffield Documentary Festival has a range of presentations, including the ones from BBC Taster, organized and implemented by Site Gallery and supported by the Arts Council of England. As the year progresses there will be more and more of these kinds of organized public VR gatherings all over the world, so keep your eyes out for the ones happening in your neighborhood.
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.
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.
My favorite movie title this time is Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, because I loved it as a book title when Seth Grahame-Smith released it in 2009. I am not normally a fan of Zombie movies, this one made my tiny handful of exceptions, which also includes Shaun Of The Dead and Warm Bodies. Gods of Egypt is the other fantasy movie this week; I missed it in the theaters, and I will be waiting to see it until it comes to a service I already have. If there was any SF/F TV this week I didn’t manage to find it.
Anime has When They Cry: Kai, the second season finding the survivors of the 1983 Great Hinamizawa Disaster continuing to fight for their survival as the time loops keep bringing the disaster back. Log Horizon: Season 2 Part 1 begins six months after thousands of players were trapped in the game, and there is still no escape in sight. With winter coming on they have some hard decisions to make if they want to live into the spring. Saekano: How to Raise a Boring Girlfriend: Set 2 brings the second season of that story, and the creative team gathered has most of the skills needed to finally build the game. The only aspect they are missing is the music, but the only person they know who creates there own music has no interest in gaming, and urges them to give up their otaku project. The only anime this time around which is not the second season is One Piece – Season 8 Voyage 1, bringing episodes 457 through 468 home; to put that in perspective, they are currently streaming episode 783.
Sekirara has a great sound and a lot of energy, as you can hear. The band formed in July of 2014, played live shows all over Japan, and started releasing singles in the middle of 2015. The first track is I Want To Be In Your Memory Long Even One Second from their second demo single, the next is Merry-go-round from their first full album, just released in January.