Last year saw the release of Batman V. Superman: Dawn of Justice, an extension on the DC movie universe. If you’ve read my review, you know I was … not thrilled by that film, to put it mildly. However, one bright spot from that movie was the big-screen debut of Wonder Woman, as portrayed by Israeli-born actress Gal Gadot. As one of the big three super heroes from DC Comics, the amazon princess is one character many have wanted to see get her own film and given the royal treatment.

The only two times she’s had her own movie or show have been on TV and those were in the 70s. Cathy Lee Crosby had portrayed her at one point, but it was Lynda Carter who made the character iconic for a 3 season TV series. This is the image many held in their heads for 30 plus years, so it was time for some new blood to make a big splash and give women someone new to idolize in what might hopefully be a good project. Does this film succeed? Well…

We begin the story on the island of Themyscira, a beautiful place with sunny skies and incredible structures built into the lush green landscapes, protected from the world’s view by a hidden field. It is populated exclusively by women…. and one precocious child. The child, a 10-year old girl it seems named Diana, bounces around through the women who wander around and escapes her tutor to get to where her aunt Antiope (Robin Wright) is training her soldiers to fight. She keeps begging for a chance to train but her mother the Queen, Hippolyta (Connie Nielsen) appears and forbids it, wanting to protect her from danger as much as possible. Eventually, after much pleading, she relents, but only after making Antiope promise to train Diana harder and more brutally than any other Amazon in order to be ready for some mysterious enemy….

Years pass, and we now see Diana (Gadot) as a fully grown adult, who indeed surpasses her teachers’ fighting abilities, and demonstrates other assets no one foresaw. After training, she heads toward the ocean where she sees something fall out of the skies and into the ocean. Diving in, she fishes out a man named Steve Trevor (Chris Pine). As she’s never actually seen a man before, Diana is naturally curious about him. But this respite is short-lived as he tells her a German army is chasing him and they indeed show up to clash with Amazons.

Afterward, Steve is made to answer to Hippolyta and tells her he’s an American Captain on loan to British forces fighting in the Great War taking place in the outside world and that he needs to deliver vital intelligence to London. Hearing that there’s a war killing millions across many countries, Diana decides to take Steve back with her own ideas on how to end the conflict (over her mother’s objections of course.)

ill likely see some influences from major creators in the script such as George Perez in the 80s, Brian Azzarello in the new 52 era and some elements of the 70s TV show, all of which evolved William Moulton’s created character over the years. Story writers Zack Snyder, Allan Heinberg and Jason Fuchs did a decent job meshing a lot of these elements together. It’s nice to see the World War I era and Greek mythologies mixed up here. Equally nice is the way Diana and Steve’s relationship is developed. Both have interesting points of view coming from opposite worlds and their characters are well-developed along the way. It’s a lot of fun to see Diana learning about the modern, more mechanized world outside the island as well as how women are treated in various walks of life there.

I was not actively familiar with director Patty Jenkins prior to this movie. But in looking her up I realized she’d guided Charlize Theron to an Academy Award in Monster, a film I absolutely loved. So it’s not surprising to me that I came to enjoy Wonder Woman as well. I do have some issues with her pacing at times as some shots could’ve shaved off a second or two to be more effective and maybe a few less slow-mo shots during the action would help as well. However, the locales are nicely shot and the dialogue scenes are generally decent. Gadot and Pice have nice chemistry together in serious and funnier scenes. They’re also enhanced by the presence of Lucy Davis as comics mainstay Etta Candy, Steve’s secretary. There are also s a few other supporting characters who become more entertaining to watch as the film goes on.

I’m a long time comics fan, like some of you reading this I suspect. I’ve often enjoyed when heroes have been brought to life in well-produced films. For DC, my favorites have been Superman The Movie and The Dark Knight, and I’ve long been disappointed not to see any super-heroines in such a good film or even a decent one…. until now. This was a joy to watch, despite its flaws. After enduring years of dreck such as Supergirl, Catwoman, and Elektra, it really is nice to see a female-led comics-based movie that doesn’t suck. This was the kind of treatment befitting one of the longest lasting super-heroines of our time (or as my fellow anime aficionado Renee referred to her, the world’s first magical girl). If I had a daughter, I’d be happy to take her to see Wonder Woman, and encourage in her an interest in world history, mythologies, and martial arts…. and maybe let her watch Sailor Moon afterward.

Grade: A-/B+

Anime Expo hosted some very prominent production talents from the land of the rising sun last year. We were on hand to take in some presentations and get interviews from a few creators who attended the con.

Our first was a press conference with artist and character designer Yoshitaka Amano, who is most famous for giving life to folks in the Final Fantasy games and Vampire Hunter D novels. He had come to promote his art book “Illustrations.”

• He was primarily influenced by Superman and Batman and other western comics. He’d like to create a new character for western audiences but it’s still in his imagination so it’s a secret. Also, he wants to work on motion pictures, not just animation.

• How has anime changed since the days of Speed Racer?
Animation back then was more traditional animation. Right now it’s developed more in computer graphics. Even though the media has changed, it’s all still moving pictures. I was working on Macj Go Go Go in Japan, and it spread worldwide but I didn’t know that. I learned a lot from my work on that show. I was sketching each movement and key frames.

• On how his career started:
He was watching Space Ace and was inspired to join the industry. He was scouted by studio who did that show, Tatsunoko. Originally came from Shizoka, then moved to Tokyo. At Tatsunoko, he focused on making original animation and worked on different moods and styles for the specific animations. He grew as an animator while doing character designs and animations on Speed Racer and Gatchaman.

• How does he see himself as it relates to the anime world?
He talks to the artists, works on profile of characters and sketches them initially. Even if it doesn’t look exactly like illustrations, if they cover 70% of his designs he’s happy. He didn’t get to check on the animation for Vampire Hunter D, only got to do illustrations. For game art, he does rough sketches and then he’s done. FF6, sketched many illustrations. The drawing gives that raw feeling. So after that he original work He started to work on illustrations for novel covers after then.

• On game character designs. Is there a different process for each type of program /medium you might be working with?
He doesn’t change in his process. He gives artwork to different companies/individuals to develop. They come pick up stuff from him. So when there’s a new media, he always receives offers from different companies to do different projects..

Yoshitaka Amano

Reo Kurosu, director

After this we were able to interview Reo Kurosu, director of the current Berserk TV series.

• What attracted you to the Berserk project?
It has a long history. It’s been around since the 90s on TV and movies since 2012. Because it’s a popular comic all over the world, we figured it’d be a good time to have a new series. Everything covered before is of the Golden Age Arc.

• Compared to the manga, there has been little of the Berserk story adapted for animation and the last effort was a retelling of the Golden Arc. Why do you think it’s taken so long to see more of the story? And also, how much of the material will we see covered in this new series?
Timing, maybe some of the technology. I think it’s market timing as whole. We had Attack On Titan which affected the market especially in Japan. Everything previously recently had been moe or happy. There wasn’t really stuff that was manly heavy stories or anything. Attack on Titan made something like Berserk easier to be animated.

• The opening sequence of this show’s first season takes potions of the golden arc finale which is still one of the most horrific things ever in anime TV and mixes it with some of the new characters. Why did you go this course? Was it to set the tone of the show?
We wanted to make this series stand alone so that you don’t have to watch the previous TV show to understand what Guts went through. We used the depiction of the Golden Arc as background for what he’d gone through in short time, but we didn’t want to focus on that too much. We wanted it to stand alone.

Director Shin Itagaki has been great to work with. He’s a 2-D animator and he’s been great. Storyboard is all him. He uses 2-D 3-D and hybrid. There’s a scene where Guts is screaming looking up and it’s 2-D because we get the nuances of his emotions better depicted in 2-D. The camera going along the dragon slayer is more in 3D. The 2-D team, 3-D team and director all meet and determine how the scenes will go.

• What is the biggest thing fans should expect from this series?
The obvious answer is the opportunity to animate stuff not done before. I’d love for everyone to watch that. The 2-D / 3-D thing is challenge for us as well. Music and sound effects are pretty crazy. We hired Shiroh Sagisu, composer for the Evangelion TV show and movies and also the Berserk movies. We asked for 40 music tracks and he came up with 80. It’s a challenge but a lot of fun to channel this into 30 minute episodes.

• Do you think Griffith can be redeemed after what he did to the band, Gutts and Casca?
I wouldn’t personally for him. He’s in a stage beyond all that. What he makes of the world I’m not sure if it’s good or bad thing. That what makes Berserk so deep, if you think about it, if you think about bad things yet you had a vision of this perfect new world. Griffith opened something new there are some things there a different perspective for Griffith. Personally I wouldn’t like him to be redeemed at all.

Reo Kurosu

Makoto Shinkai’s ‘Your Name’ premiere

Before millions of fans across the world made Your Name a box office-smashing success, director Makoto Shinkai premiered the movie at Anime Expo last year just 4 days after finishing it and negotiating the release rights to Funimation. As the lucky attendees took in the screening, Shnkai walked among them watching reactions. Afterwards, audience members admitted they cried during the story, and the accomplished director with Voices of A Distant Star, 5cm Per Second and Children Who chase Lost Voices to his credit took in other attendee questions / comments.

• Where did the concept of ‘Your Name’ come from?
Shinkai wanted to make a happy story with happy ending. The concept was to have young characters who haven’t met yet to eventually meet after everything they dealt with through happenstance. Five years ago, we had the Toho earthquake. He wanted to touch people who lost their towns and houses but add some positivity to such an earth shattering event.

• How did you come up with the incredible music?
Shinkai got told about the music group The Rag Wimps while traveling in London. Some students there recommended this band to him. It took 1.5 months to create the soundtrack for Your Name. He wanted to have a movie where the story and music weren’t boring.

• He keeps in mind Japan and international markets when coming up with movie titles.

• One attendee says Shinkai is his hero and that his films helped him through suicidal phase. Shinkai says he works through his own loneliness by watching Miyazaki movies
• Attendee asks if Shinkai would do longer format such as TV shows. Shinkai sees appeal and thought but prefers movies where everything is done in one shot, but he may try TV or a longer film one day.
• Is the spiritual aspect the reason these two characters connect? Shinkai says he feels Mitsuha and Taki connect randomly.

Makoto Shinkai

Shoji Kawamori panel and interview

The famous mecha designer and animator of many works including Patlabor, Gundam 0083, Vision of Escaflowne gave an extensive overview of his anime career and opened his segment by saying, “Thank you all for coming today. I have so many things I’d like to share. I will focus on Macross, as well as something I am working on. I do many things: story, screenplay, storyboard, director and design.” The highlights included:

• Early life
“I was born in mountain prefecture called Toyama, 10 minutes from a world heritage site. Heavy snow in winter time was 2.5 meters. When I hit 3, I was moved to Yokohma. We moved from the most rural area with no sign of technology. I had serious culture shock when I moved and saw a train. Much of my work revolves around culture shock because of what I experienced at 3. I started making transforming toys in 2nd grade in elementary school. When I was in 3rd grade, I saw a man walk on the moon. I’d wanted to take the first step myself. I dreamed of aerospace development and rocket development. My dad was an engineer. I went to the naval air station, they would tell me which button to punch to open the hatch.

• Introduction to Studio Nue
“I enjoyed paper crafts and other things, when in middle school met friend who was very good at drawing. I’m not very good at drawing. In the 9th grade, Space Battleship Yamato started broadcasting. A friend of mine got the contact information for Studio Nue. Nue talked about gathering of sci-fI fans who would get together to talk about designs and drawings. One of the people who came was Kennichi Matsuzaki, writer on first Mobile Suit Gundam, as well as Haruka Takachiho of Crusher Joe. I eventually designed suits based on Starship Troopers. In high school, l went to monthly meetings with these people and showed drawings. Along the way, I met various people who were classmates in high school and became makers of Macross. As a sophomore in college, I joined Studio Nue.

• Early mech and toy designs leading to the Macross Valkyrie fighter
“I was 19 when I started working on Macross. Six months after joining Nue, I was assigned to start working on new toy. I wound up working on Diaclone (first generation Transformers before they were bought to the U.S. by Hasbro) and they liked it. I worked on Car Robots series, including initial designs for Optimus Prime along with other designers. Haruhiko “HAL” Mikimoto and myself were majoring in mechanical engineering. We had meetings about Macross characters at campus, and I got kicked out of classrooms frequently.

I wanted to develop a plane that turned into a human-shaped robot. Not too toy like more realistic. Aircraft didn’t look realistic. During this year, I took real good look at what an airplane looks like and played with a model of an F-14 tomcat. I decided two arms would be folded in the gap between engines. Toymakers told me aircraft do not sell. I was told space battleships don’t sell. ‘When someone tells you something won’t sell, it means there’s a big chance in it.”

After the panel, Kawamori consented to individual interviews with a few news outlets, including the Fandom Post. Hence the following:

• You’ve often demonstrated a preference for environmental themes or at least leaned toward them in works like Arjuna, and Macross Zero and seemingly The Next. It’s rather interesting to see the theme of ending wars without shooting but with song at the panel tonight. Are you worried about the future of life on earth given humanity’s treatment of our planet?
With the population growing if we let ourselves increase our dependence on energy, the ecosystem will fail us in 20-30 years, so we have to maintain the environment.

• The Do You Remember Love theatrical movie is rich in detail, especially the backgrounds. This seems to be an element that is missing in many modern anime. Why do you think this might be the case, if you agree?
The focus is on characters. The voice actor is most popular attention background is more second thought. Even so, I love taking photographs and love to have backgrounds and details in my works.

• When you’ve previously been interviewed about Macross Plus, you’d indicated it was hard to get the project funded unless it had the Macross name attached. Do you still have this difficulty even with all you’ve achieved?
It’s true that it’s harder to get it funded, unless when Macross name, songs battles and love triangle are in the show. Some days, I would get to use two of the three out of those.

• What one last thing would you like to say to your fans?
I haven’t been to Anime Expo in quite some time. I’ve taken a lot of photographs this weekend and automatically feel power of fans enjoying themselves. I’m working on the upcoming second of Macross Delta, and The Next project. I will try for new Deculture. Look forward to it.

The 1980s were interesting years for anime. They were the height of the real robot era in which we saw serious sci-fi shows with mecha being used for war and general transport. One of the most successful was Super Dimension Fortress Macross, a 1982 TV show from Studio Nue, Tatsunoko and Artland which was later imported by Harmony Gold to the U.S. and rewritten as the initial story of the Robotech series. The premise focused on a group of people trapped on a battleship attempting to fight off a race of giants from space known as The Zentradi by using “culture shock” as a weapon, which came from a singing star’s music. Since the giants had no concept joy or peace in their society (as they were a race bred for war), they were distracted and could be potentially be defeated in battle.

Amidst this backdrop was a young girl named Lynn Minmay who evolves into a major singing star and becomes involved with the show’s lead character Hikaru Ichijoe, a pilot who rescues her during the initial episodes. He in turn eventually becomes involved with one of his commanding officers, Misa Hayase. The series combined the better elements of romantic triangles, pop music, mecha and galactic warfare, and started a very profitable franchise of music, models, toys and art books among other things.

This led to a theatrical film being released in 1984 entitled Super Dimension Fortress Macross: Do You Remember Love. Director Noboru Ishiguro utilized the best people from his staff on the Macross TV series, including mecha designer-turned-animator Shoji Kawamori and character designer Haruhiko Mikimoto to create an equally successful movie re-imagining some aspects of the TV series’ story but with higher quality animation and detail. The concepts of romance mixed with the power of music set against a backdrop of intergalactic war got people to hit the theaters and buy the art books and posters and paraphernalia. This film was also brought to the U.S. both unedited and in its severely re-cut incarnation, Clash of the Bionoids.

Another interesting 80s trend was the development of the OAV (Original Animated Video) format in which titles were released directly to home video. While these were primarily full fictional works, there were also music video collections that would come out taking vocal songs (openings, closings, background music) and put them to scenes from a given TV show. Often there would be new footage highlighting the context of the music videos, with a new extended ending for the characters involved. One example would be Genesis Climber Mospeada: Love Live Alive. This collection depicted the show’s singing character Yellow Belmont (known to Robotech: The New Generation fans as Lancer) giving a concert while telling an author about his adventures with his friends after saving the Earth from giant crab creatures known as The Invid.

Similar to this format, the producers of Macross released a 30-minute collection entitled Macross: Flashback 2012, in which Lynn Minmay gives a farewell concert. The videos were made with footage from both the TV series and the theatrical film, as well as bits of live footage of city scenery. The songs were the same ones performed by Minmay seiyuu and singer Mari Iijima. After the opening concert scene, the retrospective starts with “Sunset Beach”, a pop-styled vocal with elements of Hawaiian luau music. The next ones, “Zero G Love,” and “Shao Pai Lon” (Small White Dragon) bounce out short dance pieces while “Silver Moon, Red Moon” plays like a light evening semi-jazz styled piece you might hear at a local restaurant. This set of videos centers around Hikaru, Minmay and Misa’s times together.

Following a small interlude, we come to the next video which always gets me, entitled “Ai Wa Nagerwu” or “Love Drifts Away.” Initially the focus is on Hikaru’s tragic ‘big brother’ Roy Fokker but shifts to the lives of soldiers heading into battle, as anime footage is intercut with clips of live military forces further illustrating this song’s martial focus. It’s a song designed to fighters a bit. The series episode where this song was first heard (which also shares the same name) depicts a climatic battle showing the Zentradi wiping out Earth’s population, while what remains of humanity on the Macross leads a desperate battle to defeat the superior invading forces. (Robotech fans will likely recognize this episode as the epic “Force of Arms.”)

After an acapella interlude entitled “Cinderella,” we come to the title song of the theatrical feature “Do You Remember Love.” For the film’s iteration, this is the song Minmay sings to confuse and ultimately help the humans defeat The Zentradi. It’s a slow piece with balanced pacing, described in the story as one the giants’ and humanity’s creators (known as the Protoculture) enjoyed thousands of years back, helping to establish Macross’s theme of the power of culture over the power of war. In essence, a powerful invading fleet is defeated by “a love song.”

The final video is the highlight of the collection and is the only one to feature brand new animation. Flashback 2012 was promoted as the final farewell to Lynn Minmay and the show’s other original characters. The segment, directed by Shoji Kawamori this time, is broken up into two parts with Minmay singing “Tenshi No Enogu” (An Angel’s Paint), the majestic mid-tempo closing theme from the theatrical film. The collection opens with her already performing the concert for her fans in front of the resting Macross. The second part concludes Flashback with a fleshed out (yet unspoken) story.

Taking place a couple years after the TV series, Minmay walks quietly through an empty concert arena, reflecting on past performances and better times before Hikaru and Misa appear and offer her a place aboard a new battle fortress called the Megaroad-01, departing for space alongside a Zentradi fleet. We get to experience a myriad of her remembrances while Misa commands the cruiser and Hikaru flies a new Valkyrie fighter, the VF-4. The animation quality is the same level as the theatrical film, right down to the heavy amount of detail in the artwork and very busy backgrounds. This is the last glimpse we get of Minmay as she bows before the audience and the closing credits play with an alternate version of “Runner,” the TV series slow-paced outro as performed by Ms. Ijima and Fujiwara Makoto.

This was the last impression fans had of Macross for five years as people were hearing rumors of a new sequel but with little of the veteran staff returning. In ’92, the 6-part OAV series entitled Macross II: Lovers Again was released, occurring 80 years after the original show. Only character designer Haruhiko Mikimoto returned for this project, which was released in Japan and in America by U.S. Renditions soon after. Although none of the original characters returned, the themes of space warfare and the power of music continued to be present.

In ’94, Shoji Kawamori and Studio Nue teamed with Triangle Staff to continue the franchise in Macross Plus, a highly regarded 4-part OAV series combining computer and cel-based animation techniques. The first volume contained the short retrospective piece “A Future Chronicle,” which detailed the franchise timeline up to this point. It declared the TV series and Flashback actually had taken place and that the theatrical film was made by the characters to tell their story to future generations. While Macross Plus and its contemporary TV series Macross 7 were said to be direct sequels, Macross II was placed outside the official continuity from that point. However, the “Future Chronicle” short was removed from Manga Entertainment’s U.S. release of Macross Plus.

Sequels Macross 7 and Macross Frontier have expanded the franchise with stories of how humanity and the Zentradi have established space colonies while encountering new races and other threats, which may be affected by music and culture in various (sometimes extreme) ways. Often in these shows, there’s new music, new mecha and a romantic triangle in the story. In the background though, you can still hear references to Lynn Minmay’s music, as the universe continues to grow after jumping off with Flashback 2012.

Director Shoji Kawamori has claimed stewardship of the Macross franchise as he’s been in control of most of the sequels including the current Macross Delta, and the prequel show Macross Zero. Haruhiko Mikimoto went on to work as character designer on Macross 7 and for works such as Aim For The Top Gunbuster, Salamander, and Aquarian Age. After a distinguished career, Noboru Ishiguro went on to direct the epically-long series Legend of the Galactic Heroes as well as Tytania before his passing in March 2012. Mari Ijima continued her recording career releasing albums in Japan and the United States, where she can be seen as a guest at various anime conventions.

The trend of music video collections continued after Flashback 2012’s release. Sonic Soldier Borgman, Bubblegum Crisis, Superbeast God Dancougar, and more recently Gurren Lagann and Macross Frontier all had collections lasting about 30 minutes with new footage included. Meanwhile, Flashback 2012 was never released in the United States. Due to many licensing entanglements encompassing much of the Macross franchise, neither it nor any of the sequels are likely to be translated and officially released here any time soon, if ever. However, Japan and the U.S. are in the same region code for blu-ray media, so if people were to find it in that format, they could easily enjoy this small but very integral piece of the Macross story.

Thanks to Dave Merrill for helping to edit this piece.

What They Say:
Their war has not yet ended…
It is Universal Century 0079, at the end of the One Year War between the Earth Federation and the Principality of Zeon. The space colonies of Side 4, or Moore, were previously destroyed by a Zeon attack, and many colonists lost their lives. Side 4 became a shoal zone filled with the wreckage of destroyed colonies and warships, lit by constant flashes of lightning due to collisions between electrified debris. It soon came to be known as the “Thunderbolt Sector.”

The Moore Brotherhood, an Earth Federation Forces unit made up of surviving citizens from Moore, set out to exterminate the Zeon forces in the Thunderbolt Sector in order to reclaim their homeland. To halt the Federation advance, the Zeon forces deployed their own Living Dead Division, which was established to collect combat data on soldiers with prosthetic limbs.

Io Fleming, though part of the Moore Brotherhood, hates being tied down by his homeland and family history. Daryl Lorenz, having lost his legs in earlier battles, is now an ace sniper of the Living Dead Division. When they confront each other on the battlefield, they will reach a mutual realization. These two are destined to kill each other.

Special Features:
The Review:
Audio:
The audio comes through fine in Japanese and English LCPM 2.0 with no distortions during playback. The soundtracks were mixed well in both languages. This applied to the extras as well.

Video:
The picture is gorgeous with very vibrant colors taking advantage of the modern world of HD broadcasting. The series is an ONA which means a series distributed via the internet as opposed to broadcast TV or physical media. A lot of time was dedicated to the animation, artwork, and detail, which we’ll get more into in the content section.

Packaging:
There is a standard plastic Blu-ray case with a double sided insert. The font hast the principal characters along the bottom. Above them is a depiction of two mobile suits fighting in space it seems, but everything is so shadowed down making it had to see what’s going on. The title masthead is displayed horizontally up top. The back has the masthead again and text from the ‘what they said’ in the center of it, but it’s very small and hard to read. There are 4 pictures cut into components of a circle but they are also small and don’t really add to the page. Technical information takes up the lower quarter. The flip side of the insert is a full out poster of Io, Daryl, and their respective suits. Nice picture here.

Menu:
The dark battle scene from the inset’s front cover takes up the right 2/3 of the screen. The masthead is in the upper left of the screen while the menu options take up much of the left 1/3. Text selections are listed vertically for ‘play’, ‘scene select’, ‘setup’ and ‘extras’.

Extras:
We get different Japanese promos, commercials, and trailers for the show on here. All are decently edited.

Content:(please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
I’m a long time fan of the UC version of Mobile Suit Gundam whether a given show is good or bad, I’ve often found this ever-expanding universe exciting and intriguing to take in, as much as Star Trek and Star Wars have been for sci-fi fandom. For the most part, though, certain paradigms have been in place for this continuity, in that the Eath Military Federation has a Gundam suit fo a lead character to fly and the Zeons usually are depicted as the villains. (This paradigm is shifted somewhat in Zeta Gundam but that’s a different story.) For Gundam Thunderbolt, however, this premise is blurred a bit and gives an interesting (and rather brutal) viewpoint into the infamous One Yea Wa.

The setting is near the destroyed colony Side 4, where various bits of leftover debris cause incredibly powerful electric discharges throughout the area. Both the Federation and Zeon units in this sector have lost the majority of their units and are scavenging their resources to fight in new ways. The Feds’ Moore Brotherhood have armored their line produced GM units to try and take back the sector entirely but they have a serious problem with The Living Dead Division, a Zeon squad who has repurposed veterans who’ve lost their limbs in battle. These men pilot their Zakus and Rick Doms in key spots with powerful long-range beam rifles to snipe enemy mecha from a distance and essentially wipe out whole squadrons, such as the one Fed soldier Io Fleming is part of. However, he escapes the battle and makes it back to his battered fleet.

This is much to the dismay of Daryl Lorenz, one of the Zeons’ snipers. Daryl is very close with his group as they’ve all suffered life-altering injuries, and seem to enjoy similar music. The group becomes even more unsettled when a new mobile suit starts to appear with high-speed thrusters capable of evading beam weapons, extra shielding, and an overabundance of firepower. It doesn’t help that whoever this pilot is, he’s always broadcasting jazz music, which Daryl instantly recognizes….. and hates.

Like I said, I’m a long time fan of this particular iteration of the Gundam franchise. I’m quite aware of political and warfare aspects of the universe. However, this show really harps on the harsh physical and mental effects of war on everyone involved, and the extent the military will go to win out, either by reinforcing the front lines with kids fresh out of training or engaging in experiments designed to speed up suits’ reaction times. These aspects aren’t entirely new but the animation style and techniques used to bring a more stark realism to the story at hand, particularly the latter which seems like a subplot in itself.

Director Kou Matsuo is very adept at dealing with violence in action anime as demonstrated in his Berserk: Golden Ac movies and Rozen Maiden TV shows. He’s also no novice in making mecha works, having helped on Gundams 00 and Unicorn. What he brings to us in Thunderbolt is a rather unique experience so far as Gundams shows go though. We’ve seen other anime with good movements of the mechs in fight sequences, and those are present here. In addition, we get some rather brutal deaths along the way. One of the more memorable scenes is a first person perspective of a Zaku futilely trying to fight off the Gundam right up to its very end.

There’s also the dichotomy of the overall artwork that’s visually appealing. The dark overtones emphasize the grit and despair felt on both sides in their respective base ships. Meanwhile, there are bright rainbow-like multi-colors of the weapons, explosions and lightning discharges punching through the dark grayness of the surrounding area. Adding to the uniqueness is the soundtrack overseen by Naruyoshi Kikuchi (Trigun, Lupin III: The Woman Called Fujiko Mine). He presents interesting samplings of country, j-pop, and 60s styled R&B, but it’s his prevailing use of jazz (especially the saxophone for which he’s most known) that really sets the motif in battle as Io becomes something of a Red Baron to the Zeons who must be put down. The overall atmosphere becomes reminiscent to Cowboy Bebop at times with many American musical influences present.

Gundam Thunderbolt is adapted from a manga by Yasuo Ohtagaki (Moonlight Mile) and seems to take interesting cues from other aspects of the UC timeline. The Gundam here, for example, referred to as the Full Armored Gundam is similar to the FAZZ from Gundam ZZ. We also get an early look at a Psycho Zaku, which was featured in Gundam ZZ. Between these aspects and some from Gundam Unicorn, it looks like there might be a bit of renewed interest in ZZ, though with little mention of the Newtype / ESP phenomena. The one aspect that’s a bit bothersome is that the weaponry displayed here is a bit overpowered compared to the early depictions of the One Year War in Mobile Suit Gundam. It’s a bit strange to reconcile that, like MS 8th Team and Gundam 0080, there’s another prototype variant of the RX-78 that never made it to Amuro Rey.

The characters here are intriguing, though at times shown all too briefly in this 70-minute piece. Lead character Io (voiced by Max Mittleman) is a bit of a jerk, dating his commanding officer Claudia Peer (Cherami Leigh), who herself may not be ready to be a captain. Daryl (Johnny Yong Bosch) on the other hand is a bit of a pragmatist dealing with what the war has done to him physically through constant flashbacks. The experiments which are eventually done to him help him cope with things a bit as he may get to fight the Gundam finally on equal terms. Through this, he begins a rapport of sorts with Karla Mitchum (Tara Sands), one of the doctors who is ordered to experiment on him. Karla starts to feel a bit of remorse for the experiments though as Daryl’s humanity seem to be taken away more and more at times, somewhat similar to a couple of doctors turning Alex Murphy into Robocop during that film.

We do get to feel a bit for these and others characters thanks in part to the vocal performances produced and directed by Stephanie Sheh and Mike Sinterniklaas of NYAV Post. They’ve been working to create dubs in recent years for Gundam Unicorn and Gundam Origin and appear to have a rhythm of sorts in working on the nuances of the Gundam series as a whole. When we hear the Zeons bemoan the fact this war has cost them their home of Side 4 for instance, it resonates genuine sorrow here.

In Summary:
This is a single film compilation of a 4-part series that tells an effective story conveying a lot of information (both stated and implied) in a relatively short period of time. Between the action, drama, story execution and music choices, I have to say Gundam Thunderbolt is the baddest mech show I’ve enjoyed in years and as a veteran UC fan, I’m looking forward to more. December Sky ends on an interesting note, but there are 5th and 6th episodes on-line now as of press time so it’ll be interesting to see where the story goes from here.

Features:
Trailers, Promos, and TV Commercials

Content Grade: A-
Audio Grade: A +
Video Grade: A+
Packaging Grade: A-
Menu Grade: A
Extras Grade: A+

Released By: Sunrise / Right Stuf Anime
Release Date: July 11th, 2017
MSRP: $34.99
Running Time: 70 minutes
Video Encoding: 1080p AVC
Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1 Widescreen

Review Equipment:
Samsung 1080P HDTV, Sony PlayStation 3

When Fox announced plans to revive this franchise with a new origin story about the Apes’ evolution, I was skeptical at best, like some of you reading this. The original Planet of the Apes movies were a staple of classic sci-fi, and though they could use an update of sorts, people weren’t entirely certain a reboot would work. There was a lot more trepidation after Tim Burton’s Planet of the Apes reimagining did badly at the box office. So many Apes fans weren’t sure what to make of this new film series.

Fortunately, the first two films, Rise of the Planet of the Apes and Dawn of the Planet of the Apes turned out to be solid, high-quality sci-fi. Every aspect from the storytelling to the acting to the visual effects by WETA was well-handled. There was a distinct effort to explain the Apes’ rise and humanity’s fall in an intelligent fashion deviating from the theme of nuclear holocaust. Instead, we got a virus that creates a flu that kills humans but makes apes intelligent, and so there are lingering long-term tensions between the two species since the humans’ numbers are naturally dwindling. At the center of this has been Caesar (Andy Serkis), an ape who was trained and cared for immensely by a human but could not tolerate the cruelty shown toward his fellow simians. Eventually, he just wants a home where they can all thrive (including humans) but the events of the first two films show this may not be possible.

This new film starts up a couple years after the events of Dawn, in which last we saw, the humans who remained sent out a distress signal and an army of some sort was coming. We see soldiers attacking apes forest stronghold, with help of a gorilla named Red (Olsson) who was loyal to Koba, a very unsettled ape who betrayed Caesar’s desire for peace. Caesar’s forces win out however and he interrogates the soldiers, showing enough mercy to let them go. Afterward, his adult son Bight Eyes (Max-Lloyd Jones) returns with news of a section where the apes might go to live entirely away from all humans. However, a fateful meeting with a human soldier known only as The Colonel (Woody Harrelson) sets Caesar on a new quest, leading him to discover new layers to the human ape war with consequences nobody could have foreseen.

Like I said earlier, Rise and Dawn were solid entries into the franchise but honestly, War is the best one of the three. In talking with a fellow reviewer, we came to realize this is one of the few trilogies that gets better with each film. It’s not that the first movie written by Rick Jaffa and Silver and directed by Rupert Wyatt was bad; far from it. But when director Matt Reeves took over, something about the quality went up a notch. His ability to create tension by using creative sound design really hooked me when he debuted with Cloverfield and continued on Let Me In. It’s an insight and talent that really has served him well on these last two Apes films, especially War. The use (and omission) of sound proves crucial, as we have a whole society of apes who use sign language.

Reeves also co-wrote this movie alongside Mark Bomback and it’s quite clear they have a serious affection for the original Planet of the Apes films. There are many influences presented throughout the scenery and screenplay which are fun to spot and speculate on. They aren’t unwilling to try new things though, such as the inclusion of two new characters who are both well-acted and well-written. One is a little mute girl (portrayed by Amiah Miller) who comes to find family strength among the apes. The other is Bad Ape (Steve Zahn), a chimpanzee who is a total scene stealer as he tries to relate to Caesar’s group. Meanwhile, Maurice the orangutan (Karin Konoval) Rocket the chimpanzee (Terry Notary) and Luca the gorilla (Michael Adamthwaite) remain Caesar’s most faithful allies and it’s great to see their tight-knit dynamic in action.

Speaking of dynamics though, what eventually develops between Caesar and The Colonel is an excellent adversarial relationship between two rulers of their peoples. Their scenes set the stage for what is truly at stake for both species. The Colonel’s perspective is both a reasonable viewpoint in some respects as much as it is a descent into madness depicted via conversation alone, and it’s wonderful stuff to watch.

In the end, though, everything comes back to Caesar, his design and his portrayal. I’ve often believed Andy Serkis and the effects artists of WETA deserved special recognition for creating this character (and the other simians) so convincingly, much like they did with Gollum in the Lord of the Rings trilogy. Caesar’s design has evolved over the years and it shows here as the responsibilities of being a king have worn on him. He’s visibly older and battle weary, but resolute, loving, protective and fierce. He runs through a gamut of emotions and like so often in the prior films, gives us many reasons to care about his issues and fate. I couldn’t help but to wish Roddy McDowall of the original films were here to see this rendition of Caesar on screen and perhaps star alongside him in some capacity. I genuinely think he would be proud.

So as you might guess, as a film fan and as someone who enjoys the franchise overall, I really enjoyed War For The Planet of the Apes. Effects and visuals aside, if this trilogy were to replace the last three films after Beneath The Planet of the Apes, I would have no issue as this arc is told in a better fashion and builds to a great conclusion. The summer offerings of 2017 have been a mixed bag but this is definitely one of the strongest of the bunch and deserves your funds. I know Matt Reeves will now be directing the next Batman movie and I’ve gotten a little more faith in him from what I’ve seen here. Recommended.

Grade : A

What They Say:
Hikaru Shidou, Umi Ryuuzaki, and Fuu Hououji are just three average Japanese schoolgirls. While on a field trip to the Tokyo Tower, the three girls’ minds are on anything but different worlds filled with magic and wonder. That is, until Princess Emeraude, the Pillar of Cephiro, cries out for the Magic Knights to save her world–and that just happens to be those three!

The girls must learn to control the magic they suddenly possess, drive back the monsters that plague the land, revive the Rune Gods that have been sealed away, and then fight against the High Priest Zagato, who has kidnapped Princess Emeraude. It’s the only way they can return home, for willpower influences Cephiro, and it is the Princess’s will that the three girls become the Magic Knights of legend, and save her world! Mecha, magic and mystery abound in Magic Knight Rayearth!

See what becomes of Cephiro in this complete Blu-ray collection, containing both seasons of the classic CLAMP anime presented in High-Definition for the first time!

The Review:
Audio:
The audio on the episodes themselves come through fine in Japanese and English LCPM 2.0 with no distortions during playback. The extras though have varying levels. Some sound perfectly fine but others have a hiss dating back to the VHS / Beta era of camera equipment. So results may vary.

Video:
On the episodes themselves, the video quality is quite exquisite. I’ve had the prior releases by Anime Works and this set is the best-looking presentation by far. It benefits greatly from the modern blu-ray technologies and remastering capabilities, correcting and improving on the errors found in the original film clips. The extras vary in video quality. Some look good fo modern HD while others clearly had no video enhancement and looked like they came right off the classic console or VHS releases. We’ll tackle this a bit more in the ‘extras’ section.

Packaging:
There is a slipcover with the three lead characters standing in front of a sky-blue-ish background with the title masthead above them. The back has the text of the ‘what they say’ section taking up the upper left area. Although it’s clearly distinct in black lettering against the sky blue background, it’s rather small and hard to read. The upper right has very detailed artwork displayed prominently. There are more screencaps displayed horizontally across the page, with features listings and technical information taking up the bottom 1/3. The actual case is a plastic blu-ray case designed to hold 6 discs on individual pages. There is a reversible insert here. One side is exactly like the slipcover and the other has a different bit of artwork on its front but the rest is exactly the same.

Menu:
Each disc has footage and music from a given season. In the lower left corner is a circular-styled symbol with text based menu options. When not highlighted these are somewhat easy to read though the text is a bit small. When lit thought, it’s nearly indistinguishable on smaller TVs.

Extras:
This set is just exhaustive in the amount of material. Discotek Media really went all out collecting various kinds of videos to watch. In the ‘extras’ link on the 6th disc, there are 47 separate links to interviews with voice cast and production staff, as well as openings, closings, episode omake, TV spots, trailers, storyboards and production artwork. For example, I’m sitting here looking at footage from a Rayearth console game I’d honestly not known of before. The interview with series director Toshihiro Hirano was most insightful on the challenges of adapting CLAMP’s work for television. It was also fun to hear 90s remarks from Wendee Lee and Lex Lang as well. The English interviews are a bit had to hear which is both a little frustrating but fun for the nostalgia of pre-HD era recordings. But yeah, I could write paragraphs on this section alone.

Content:(please note that contents, portions of a review may contain spoilers)
When it comes to unconventional dark fantasy tales, the ladies of CLAMP have proven themselves to be excellent storytellers. From X/1999 to XxxHolic and various works in between, their stories have often featured lavishly beautiful characters facing horrible situations in supernatural settings. Magic Knight Rayearth is a prime example of this.

Starting in Tokyo during a museum field trip, three female junior high students are suddenly whisked away into a fantastic realm with floating islands and odd creatures. The girls, named Hikaru Shidou, Umi Ryuuzaki and Fuu Houiuji, are met by Master Mage Clef. He explains they’re trapped in a world called Cephiro, which needs the three Legendary Magic Knights to save it. Cephiro has beings whose strong wills can make miracles, or allow monsters to be created through their darkest fears.

Much has to do with a being called the Pilar, who keeps Cephiro existing through strength of sheer will. The current one, Princess Emeraude, has been imprisoned by her high priest Zagato. So the girls have been called psychically by Emeraude to awaken three powerful Rune Gods (large mecha) to aid their quest to save the princess and the realm. The ladies initially refuse, saying the people of Cephiro should solve their own problems, but Clef notes Zagato is virtually unbeatable without their help and there’s no way home without his defeat.

Like I said, CLAMP (whose name means potato) have proven themselves the masters of dark fantasy, and their story here is excellently done. Rayearth itself initially feels like lighter fare. However, it does take a rather shocking turn in the end of the first season, which (although well-done) is a bit of a downer, all things considered. The second season has the girls return to Cephiro where things have gone horribly wrong as a result of their actions. They resolve to put things right and have to fight many menaces along the way, while finding a new ruler for the realm.

Right from the get go, you have these teens who’re taken from Earth and thrust right into a fantasy adventure. Rayearth is akin to the ’80s Dungeons & Dragons cartoon in that regard. The general tone remains somewhat lighthearted, with characters randomly alternating from chibi (super-deformed) to normal designs in an instant. The series is directed by Toshihiro Hirano (Hades Project Zeorymer, Vampire Princess Miyu), who demonstrated an affinity for guiding mecha and strong female characters through unusual situations in Fight! Iczer-1. In some respects, the mix of mecha in a fantasy setting works as well as it did for Vision of Escaflowne and Aura Battler Dunbine, though those shows went in different directions from Rayearth.

There are those who may look at this series and be instantly tempted to compare it to Sailor Moon or other shoujo fare but Rayearth isn’t quite like them. Part of me wants to say it’s a mix of the darker elements of Puella Magi Madoka Magica and the fantasies from Record of Lodoss War, even though those two shows are from different eras of anime. There are some lighter elements similar to other CLAMP stuff such as Cardcaptor Sakura, but they are few. Overall, the first season has decent pacing and story development. The second isn’t quite as good to be honest but the action is still solid, I was still invested in the characters’ fates and the conclusion, while not as good as the first season is reasonable at least.

In Summary:
Though it hasn’t had the notoriety recently that it once had, Magic Knight Rayeath was one of a few shows in the 90s that got many women into collecting anime and manga and so it deserves to have a decent place in fandom history. I’m glad Discotek Media has given this show the treatment it deserves even if I’m not super into the magical girl genre. Hopefully, I’ll get to catch the OAV series someday. But in any case, just for the picture quality and the educational value of the extras here, I have to say this set is one of the best anime releases of 2017, and definitely for the serious fan’s collection.

Features: Both English and Japanese Versions, Remastered in HD from the Original Film Elements, All Next Episode Previews, Bumpers, Recaps, & Omake Endings, English Pilot, Opening &V Endings Collection, Trailers & Promotional Spots, Interviews with English Cast & Crew, English Outtakes and Greetings, Production Art Gallery, Storyboards, Mokona’s Song, Episode 49 English Dub Director Commentary

Content Grade: A-
Audio Grade: A / C+ (varied)
Video Grade: A+
Packaging Grade: A-
Menu Grade: A
Extras Grade: A++

Released By: Discotek Media
Release Date: January 31st, 2017
MSRP: $99.95
Running Time: 1176 minutes
Video Encoding: 1080p AVC
Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1

Review Equipment:
Samsung 1080P HDTV, Sony PlayStation 3

What They Say:
Deep in outer space, the emperor Muge plots his next conquest – an out-of-the-way planet known as Earth. Mustering all the forces of his own personal Empire of Death, the Emperor is by far the most formidable foe humans have ever faced. And now he’s even more fearsome thanks to the defection of Shapiro Keats, a power-hungry Earthling reborn as an Empire informer.

Army after army crumbles in the face of an onslaught of the Empire’s seemingly indestructible robots. But now there’s a team that just might be able to stop them: an ace pilot named Shinobu, Sara (Shapiro’s one-time girlfriend), and Ryo, a very unlikely young hero. Together, they’re in command of a new secret weapon developed in a laboratory hidden deep in a lake in Japan. Enter Dancouga, the Super Beast Machine God – and the battle’s just beginning!

This complete TV series collection includes all 38 television episodes remastered and in Japanese language with English subtitles.

The Review:
Audio:
The audio on the episodes themselves come through fine in Japanese Dolby Digital 2.0 with no distortions during playback.

Video:
The picture is very nice and clear. Lines are well defined and there’s no blockiness or distortion. The colors are vibrant as can be for high-quality DVD production. It’s definitely an upgrade from the Software Sculptors VHS releases and so lives up to the remastering hype.

Packaging:
There is a slipcover with three of the lead male characters somewhat shaded standing around the team’s lone female member who is lit better comparatively. The Dancouga robot stands behind them all front of a dark blue-ish background with the title masthead below them. The back has the text of the ‘what they say’ section taking up the upper left area. Although it’s clearly distinct in white lettering against the dark screencap background, it’s rather small and hard to read. The upper right has very detailed artwork displayed prominently. There are more screencaps next to this text as well as displayed horizontally across the lower section, with credits listings and technical information taking up the bottom 1/4. The actual case is a clear plastic DVD case designed to hold 6 discs on individual pages. There is a reversible insert here. One side is exactly like the slipcover and the other has a different bit of artwork on its front but the rest is exactly the same.

Menu:
Each disc has a still shot of a different character off to the right side, who is also on the cover of the corresponding disc. The opening theme loops in the background. White text options list the individual episodes. Selections are highlighted in yellow. Subtitle options are listed at the bottom and the title masthead dominates the top section. All text is large and very easy to read.

Extras:
None

Content:(please note that contents, portions of a review may contain spoilers)
I’m a big fan of giant robots and have been ever since I was a kid, billions of years ago. Whether it’s the super robot genre where the hero or heroes with multiple machines would join together to create a giant gestalt and save the day, or it’s the real robot gene where characters would use giant mecha as instruments of war and casual transport. The 80s were the height of such shows as many stories got told (which didn’t hurt toy and art book sales at all.) What set Dancouga apart from many similar shows of that time though was the intensity of the storyline as well as the way the “big bot saves the day” routine would actually come into play and at times it blurs the line between the two genres. Believe it or not, it was quite different from, say, Mazinger Z, Voltron or similar fare.

The initial premise starts off rather grimly in that the Earth has been invaded by the Muge Zorbados Empire, an alien force with powerful weaponry whose occupation army is being led by General Death Gaia. What makes things worse is that one of Earth’s military, an officer named Shapiro Keats, has turned traitor and is leading the enemy, giving them tactical advantages and finding Earth’s hidden military bases with ease. Humanity’s armies are overwhelmed and on the verge of losing the planet completely.

In these desperate times, leading Earth General Ross Igor and Dr. Hazuki decide to recruit hothead pilot Shinobu Fujiwara to fly a new experimental fighter plane, which resembles an eagle, feeds off his anger and becomes nearly invulnerable to attack in the process. He’s soon joined by Sara Yuki who pilots a tank that can change into a cougar, Masato Shikibu who pilots one that transforms into a liger-like mode, and Ryo Shiba whose mech turns to a mammoth-type creature.
These special fighters give the enemy all they can handle for about half the series, but eventually they a third mode that can only be activated by their combined fighting spirit, as well as shouting out the letters “D! A! N! C! O! U! G! A!” Sure enough, the music kicks in and the fighters reconfigure to interlock into the big butt-kicking ‘bot Dancouga! This stack & attack sequence becomes the money shot for fans to see in just about every episode thereafter, and audiences are better for it.

The transformation isn’t the sole appeal of this TV series—its violently intense story is full of intrigue and good characters. It has very much the feeling of a war story so there’s heroism and death aplenty. Sara has a bit of a running subplot since she was romantically attached to the traitor Shapiro, who came to have delusions of becoming a god if this invasion succeeded. Lead pilot Shinobu is a bit of a hothead (to say the least) and doesn’t completely get along with Ryo but still works with him despite differences. Still, it is a show about a giant robot fighting aliens, so the target audience back then was kids who can watch and buy the toys afterwards, but are given credit for having the ability to decipher complex themes for themselves.

Director Seiji Okuda put his prior mech show experiences from Combattler V and Psycho Armor Govarion to good use here and produced a rather effective show as a result. He oversaw a well-written story and energetic characters were the foundation for the great production values of the ’80s, particularly in the fight sequences which utilized highly detailed art pieces prevalent in mech shows back then. Designs and art direction from Masami Obari (Bubble Gum Crisis, Cross Fight Dangaio, Gravion) led the way in that regard. There were times where the general tone could be compared to Machine Robo, SPT Layzner and God Mars, but Dancouga carves a niche all its own.

In Summary:
Dancouga enjoyed extra success beyond its 38-episode run. There was a feature-length recap OVA entitled “Requiem For Victims,” which whet fans appetites after the show’s end, as well as the Dancouga Song Collection, featuring 30 minutes of music videos created from songs and footage from the series. This included both openings sung by Rie Fujiwara, who voiced American orphan Laura Sullivan in the show. Following this was the sequel video “God Bless Dancouga” as well as the four-part series “Dancouga: Blazing Epilogue,” which would be the last animated release featuring these characters. I really hope someday we can see some of these extra spinoffs imported someday if the initial TV series is successful here (or at least God Bless Dancouga because that’s just such a cool name!)

Features:
38 episodes, Japanese 2.0 Audio, English Subtitles

Content Grade: A
Audio Grade: A
Video Grade: A+
Packaging Grade: A-
Menu Grade: A
Extras Grade: N/A

Released By: Discotek Media
Release Date: July 25, 2017
MSRP: $59.95
Running Time: 830 minutes
Video Encoding: 480i/p MPEG-2
Aspect Ratio: 4:3

Review Equipment:
Samsung 1080P HDTV, Sony PlayStation 3

I still remember when I saw The Goonies at the theaters as a youngster. The prospect of seeing a misfit group of kids go on an adventure against rough times and bad people was a lot of fun. Films like this tap into one of adults’ biggest fears: the possibility of seeing kids get hurt. None of us like it at all, not one bit. So when I first heard about the story of ‘It’ by horror writer Stephen King, I was not entirely thrilled at the prospect of experiencing said novel.

Eventually, I got older and saw there was a mini-series on ABC adapting this story. It wasn’t bad. The acting was quality and the effects were best as they could be on a mid-90s television budget. The screenplay did tap into the fears of kids facing danger and not coming back, so it was effective. But sometimes, knowing that there’s technology and talent in the theatrical industry that could possibly make an adaptation feel even more intense and horrific enough to convey what the original author intended… The knowledge that such things exist leaves one wanting for an improved version.

So we come to this new theatrical adaptation of Stephen King’s It…. and man, this exceeded my wildest expectations. When it has come to bringing his work to the silver screen, there have been many misfires like the recent rendition of The Dark Tower, where the screenwriters take a Hollywood approach and decide to amalgamate and rearrange the story while completely missing the point of King’s work. A few like Carrie, Christine and Needful things have been brought to filmgoers and been very entertaining. The high-quality talents behind the screen have often been adapting his non-horror works such as Stand By Me, The Green Mile and The Shawshank Redemption. By and large though, many attempts to bring his horror to the theaters have been abysmal at best.

But now, after having seen this 2017 version of It, I still can’t stop thinking about what I’d just watched. When the story begins in 1988, we are introduced to Bill, a very sick boy with a stuttering issue. He makes a paper boat for his little brother Georgie (who seems to have an irrational fear of their basement) and lets him go play outside in the rain. The waters carry the boat all the way to the sewers down the street and it winds up underneath. Georgie peeks down only to see a glow-eyed clown peering back at him. Introducing himself as Pennywise, the clown offers the boat back to him and talks to him a bit before… well…

Months later, we see Bill at high school with his friends Stan, Eddie and Richie. They’ve formed a small camaraderie called The Losers Club, because they’ve been repeatedly bullied (sometimes brutally) by an increasingly sociopathic boy named Henry and his group of friends. Meanwhile, there’s a young woman named Beverly who is literally dumped on by the other girls at school and has to deal with terrible rumors about her. However, she befriends Ben, a heavy-set newcomer deciding to hide himself in the library all the time since he hasn’t really made friends before. Both have become targets of Henry’s gang as has Mike, an African-American boy who doesn’t go to the school but instead has been living on his grandfather’s farm since his parents were killed in a fire.

Through various sets of (sometimes unfortunate) circumstances, the kids all come together and the Losers Club is expanded. With all the terrible things that Henry’s group has inflicted (as much as their own parents have), it’s genuinely fun at times watching them bond and have good times and awkward moments that normal kids are supposed to have. This makes the characters eminently relatable, and everything much more harrowing when certain realizations occur to them. Each of the kids recalls certain visions of things that they fear most, accompanied by the presence of a sinister looking clown. Bill has been trying to study the town’s sewer systems for months hoping to find Georgie. Ben has been studying the town’s history and discovered a strange number of incidents, including the fact that the town has six times the national average of missing adults, and that the statistic for missing children is much, much higher…

The screenplay by Chase Palmer, Cary Fukunaga, and Gary Dauberman provides good build-up of the characters before the inevitable confrontations take place. Pennywise’s power is often teased but when he attacks, his malevolence is quite unforgettable on the big screen. He is a truly horrifying juxtaposition of the enjoyment a clown should bring and the monstrous evil he represents, likely akin to serial killer John Wayne Gacy or Spawn’s comic book villain The Violator. I can’t say enough how well the visual FX team did here. Their work compliments the screenplay and the timing guided by director Andy Muschietti for a very effective flick. The set design and art direction are also effective for evoking the fear that’s needed. I really enjoyed how the kids are written and portrayed here (better than the book, in some respects), making me and my movie companions invested in knowing their fates.

Some of you reading this are wondering how Bill Skarsgard ‘s portrayal of Pennywise compares to Tim Curry’s performance in the 90s miniseries. I’ll simply say that Skarsgard has a rougher vocal delivery than Curry whose smoothness was chilling. Both however were able to present total nastiness when the time required them to do so. Skarsgard also benefits from the modern production values here. So think of it as an amped up variant of something you already enjoyed. If you’ve not experienced this character before now though,… you might just come out of this movie messed up, especially if you hate clowns. There’s a scene in a garage I won’t be forgetting anytime soon.

I spoke earlier about adaptations of Stephen King’s works. Many film fans rank The Shining, The Mist, and Misery as being the best in horror/thrillers. I would honestly place this rendition of It among those works. This is an excellent movie and I’m hoping this same production team returns to complete the story they’ve started here.

Grade: A

©2017 ALCON ENTERTAINMENT, LLC., WARNER BROS. ENTERTAINMENT INC. AND COLUMBIA TRISTAR MARKETING GROUP, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

Thirty five years. Man, it’s been a long time since the original Blade Runner had been released into the theaters. It was directed by the great Ridley Scott at the top of his game and Harrison Ford as the semi-tough, yet lonely and vulnerable street detective Rick Deckard who hunted down artificial humans called ‘Replicants’ in the run-down futuristic Los Angeles. It should have been a big hit but interestingly it didn’t do well in the theaters, owing to its rather serious somber tone compared to the blockbuster nature of Star Wars at the time.

However, it remained in the minds of film and sci-fi fans for its high-quality effects and multi-layered screenplay. It was re-cut, retooled and remastered a few times, with major elements added or removed. Meanwhile, it had been made into a bit of a franchise with computer games and spin-off novels based on this adaptation of Phillip K Dick’s “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?” One question remained in the minds of fans though: would there ever be a high-quality theatrical sequel one day?

So now we come to Blade Runner 2049, taking place thirty years after the events of the first film. It was often alluded that the world back then had become a bit run down despite many technological achievements. This gets expanded a bit in the 2049 movie as many changes and drastic events have shaped Earth since then. In the opening text, we learn that the Tyrell Corporation, which created many of the Replicants went bankrupt. Humanity has moved to other means of doing the hardest labor work on and off Earth. However, due to terrible conditions, unrest and various incidents, an enigmatic man named Niander Wallace (Jared Leto) had decided to buy the remnants of Tyrell and revive Replicants into full production. However, artificial humans are outlawed still and so the Blade Runner detectives are constantly ‘retiring’ any artificial human they find.

The movie opens with our main character K (Ryan Gosling) heading out to a farming center to complete an assignment. Afterward, he scans the surrounding area and reports to his boss Lt. Joshi (Robin Wright) who tells him to take off for a bit while her team digs some things up. K gets some R&R with his girlfriend Joi (Ana De Armas) but is called in abruptly as the cleanup crew has found something significant: a box that sends K on the most unbelievable case he will ever take.

K is a bit of a loner in this world, who rarely smiles and is rather dour, taking in only the briefest pleasures around him. When you see the world he moves through, you come to understand why he’s turned out this way. He’s also a very effective detective, quite capable of taking care of himself. Gosling gives K effective emotional ranges though when the situations call for them. (And yes, they do come into play.) K’s journey is quite interesting to take in here as he gets put through a lot. Equally important is the presence Harrison Ford infuses into the returning Rick Deckard. (No I’m not going to tell you how he fits into this story. You’ll just have to watch.) He’s still the gruff everyman with some emotional vulnerabilities like we all enjoyed in the 80s and 90s. Though much older, we see that he’s not entirely a pushover and still has a trick or two when needed.

The world director Denis Villeneuve presents to us here is a truly visceral and harrowing one K and Deckard deal with. Even accounting for the fact Ridley Scott’s rendition was shot on film versus Villeneuve having HD digital at his command, this new movie feels entirely congruent with its predecessor. There’s a wonderful mix of practical and CG effects to give 2049 the advanced atmosphere that is required with a few touches of retro-futurism. In this respect, it kind of reminded me of the classic Metropolis and the anime Giant Robo to a degree. Many homages to Syd Mead’s revolutionary designs from the original are present here, as much as the amusing product placement. I wouldn’t be surprised if they hid the Millennium Falcon again as a backdrop of some sort. The casting and general background still remain in style with the original. Much of this sensation is accentuated by the music score which feels right out of the first film. Done by Benjamin Wallfisch and Hans Zimmer it’s as though the artists never stopped playing in the 30 years between productions and just continued the whole time. The mix of soft instrumentations and classic electronica give the movie a stoic dystopian feel like Logan’s Run and THX 1138.

The final aspect that has to be touched on is the story by Hampton Fancher and Michael Green. Like the previous film, 2049 is very much a multi-layered work. Yes, you could take things at face value, but would you be correct in your interpretation of events? There is a lot to digest as things unfold. I’m a longtime fan of the original film and I still had to think about things I’d just witnessed here. To prepare audiences for 2049, Villeneuve commissioned three shorts for online distribution to bridge the gap between both films. The first two were live action ones posted to youtube.com. The initial one, “Nexus Dawn” focused on Wallace and his Replicant plans; and the next entitled “Nowhere To Run” talked about a character named Sapper Morton portrayed by Dave Bautista (Guardians of the Galaxy). The third is a Japanese animated piece called “Black Out” directed by Shinichiro Watanabe of Cowboy Bebop fame. (That’s right, Bubble Gum Crisis fans. Yours is no longer the only Blade Runner-esque anime.) It’s the longest of the short films and was originally released via Crunchyroll. This one tells why the world has changed between the two movies through a series of different incidents.

Before you watch the new movie, I definitely suggest watching the original and these shorts. And then after you see 2049, revisit all of it as there will be a lot to discuss among movie enthusiasts and sci-fi fans alike. Yes, you do have a seedy detective trekking through the trashy multicultural cyber sprawl of future Los Angeles, but there is much more to the screenplay than that. I honestly think Phillip K. Dick would be amazed at how his vision has been realized by both Ridley Scott and now Denis Villeneuve, who along with Fancher and Green has proven to be the perfect team to take the Blade Runner franchise forward, with hopefully future installments. As things currently stand, Blade Runner 2049 might be my favorite genre film of 2017 alongside Logan and Stephen King’s It, depending on when you catch me.

Til the next review…

Grade: A+

© Warner Bros. Ent.

Hey everyone. So yeah after four films, Warner Brothers is now rolling out their newest movie Justice League, which is designed to be a starting off point for several DC comics heroes to have their own movies possibly while taking up storylines built in prior comic=based adaptations. The first three films, Man of Steel, Suicide Squad, and Batman V. Superman: Dawn of Justice, were honestly not great films at all. While they were profitable, they were not as highly regarded either critically or fan-wise as they could have been Earlier this year though, we got Wonder Woman, which was both well made and set a new standard for female-led action movies. So many folks were hoping that the momentum and goodwill built by that high-quality movie would carry into this new Justice League movie.

We start the film sometime after the events of Batman Vs. Superman: Dawn of Justice. The world is still in mourning after the death of Superman (Henry Cavill). His mother Martha Kent (Diane Lane) and girlfriend Lois Lane (Amy Adams) are still attempting to move on. Meanwhile, in Gotham City, Batman (Ben Affleck) is investigating the appearance of creatures called Parademons who’ve been popping up, as well as references to three small boxes that pop up in various places. Deciding these appearances are a prelude to a possible invasion foretold by Lex Luthor, Batman decides to contact the metahumans he learned of in files stolen from Luthor. Wonder Woman (Gal Gadot) confers with Batman and decides to help him after a strange, possibly related incident happens on her home island Themyscira.

Batman heads north to track down an interesting, boisterous man, named Arthur Curry (Jason Momoa) who spends an inordinate amount of time swimming in deep cold waters and may have the ability to talk to fish. Later he meets an incredibly fast individual named Barry Allen (Ezra Miller), who’s been running around Central City in a red suit made to resist high amounts of friction. Wonder Woman meanwhile, catches up to a brooding young man named Victor Stone (Ray Turner) whose father (Joe Morton) gave him a half machine body capable of incredible weaponry and computational power, in order to save him following a terrible accident. In recruiting these people, Batman decides on a desperate plan to save Earth from the impending threat. But will it be enough?

In reflecting on the movies prior to Wonder Woman, I honestly wasn’t certain I would enjoy this movie, with all the behind the scenes shuffling at WB and the first films not being so good. The unfortunate departure of director / writer Zack Snyder due to his poor family’s tragedy added to the uncertainty. However, the coming of Joss Whedon to complete the project did restore some faith that this movie might be decent at least, as I’ve largely enjoyed his work on The Avengers, Firefly and other geek-minded ensembles. Largely, I was happy to see my faith was rewarded here.

© Warner Bros. Ent.

The story of the heroes assembling is actually okay, as everyone has to take on a powerful ancient villain known as Steppenwolf (Ciarán Hinds). His design is not that great and we only get pieces of who he is so he mostly serves as a MacGuffin for greater things to come in future films. Still, the screenplay is somewhat lean compared to other comic-based movies, pretty much introducing us to these characters who’ve had no real screen presence before. In this respect, the movie is effective, as is the chance to learn more about the heroes we’ve already seen in prior films. The issue though is in assembling the various scenes together, things are a bit disjointed and events don’t flow entirely smoothly as they should. Also, Barry (AKA The Flash) is written in as comedy relief and some of those scenes are hit or miss. Many folks around me though seemed to enjoy those parts more than I did so I’ll chalk it up to individual taste.

The other issue I had concerned the visual quality of the movie. For some reason, the CG overall wasn’t quite a good looking as Wonder Woman which is strange to notice as I usually praise comic movies for having good quality there. On the other hand, unlike the first three DC Comics movies, we actually have a world in color, making it easier to connect to than a monochromatic one. As to the characters themselves, everyone is ok. Their interactions play out logically and not everything is hunky dory at first. Some of the humor does feel forced but it’s largely appreciated at key points. The dramatic interactions are about as effective.

Many of my friends found The Flash to be their favorite. For my money though I was happiest with how Superman was handled here. As a long time fan of the character, this was the closest I’ve seen anyone come to capturing the best aspects of the Kryptonian since Superman II with Christopher Reeve. Here, Superman’s heroism and nobility combined with his connection with humanity are seen as good things, which resonate more than just his ability to throw punches and set things on fire, though these are quite cool to see as well.

Bottom line, although it’s not as good as Wonder Woman I found Justice League to be a fun, effective and solidly entertaining comic book movie that remained largely true to the spirit of the source material, something I couldn’t say for the first three outings. I am honestly impressed they pulled this one off under the circumstances. I say go out, take the kids and form your own opinion though (like I do with any other flick) and see for yourself how decent this movie really is.

Grade: B / B+

Ah yes. Star Wars. Since the year 1977, this has been the one franchise etched into the collective conscious of boys and girls, grown up to be enthusiastic me and women who hold this single sprawling epic as one of the great standard bearers of theatrical science fiction. Much like Star Trek and Mobile Suit Gundam, when a new entry is presented into this expansive franchise, many people take notice of the story and the toys that go along with it. So we come to Star Wars The Last Jedi, which continues the story of a group of heroes fighting against tyranny in various ways.

The Last Jedi follows up on the events depicted in the prior entry The Force Awakens. Following that film we see that the New Republic has indeed been reduced to a Rebellion of several ships and several hundred fighters in the wake of the devastating attack by The First Order’s Starkiller Base. General Hux (Domhnall Gleeson) leads a powerful fleet of Star Destroyers and Dreadnoughts in pursuit of the Rebels. Daredevil X-Wing pilot Poe Dameron (Oscar Isaac) leads a reckless mission to stave off the order, somewhat to the chagrin of General Leia Organa (Carrie Fisher). In the midst of all this, stormtrooper turned her Finn (John Boyega) wakes up from his prior injuries and wonders where his friend Rey is…

Rey (Daisy Ridley) has taken her newly found abilities with The Force along with Chewbacca and R2-D2 to find the only known jedi master left: Luke Skywalker, who gives her a rather unexpected reaction to seeing her with his lightsaber, long lost in Bespin’s Cloud City. Meanwhile, aboard The First Order’s flagship, Sith apprentice Kylo Ren (Adam Driver) faces his displeased master Supreme Leader Snoke (Andy Serkis) who’s a little miffed that the grandson of the great Darth Vader can’t handle an untrained Force-user.

All these elements which have spun out of the events of The Force Awakens are developed in great detail over the film’s 2.5 hour running time. For the most part, the direction and screenplay by Rian Johnson (Looper) works. We get to see Finn go off on his own adventure to save the Rebellion after he makes a new friend named Rose (Kelly Marie Tran) and looks to overcome the fears he felt in the last film. We also get to see Poe’s immense and possibly foolish heroic nature come into conflict with General Leia’s experienced resolve as he’s given more of a fleshed out personality here. Kylo’s obsession with Rey takes an interesting turn.

Speaking of her though the film honestly works best with Rey’s inevitable training to become a Jedi, while she draws the legendary Luke out of the wall he’s built around himself. Much has happened to each of them in their dealings with The Force and in many ways they help each other. The high point of this film though is seeing Mark Hamill in this outing. He honestly gives his best performance ever as the famous hero. Learning why he has become the way he is while seeing him reunite with old friends (especially the late Carrie Fisher in her final appearances) makes for excellent cinema throughout the film. Yes the movie is decent when he’s not there, but Luke’s story is something very special here as he’s slowly brought back into the fold and runs through a full gamut of emotions, starting with the news of Han Solo’s demise.

If I were asked to rank it out of the 9 films to date, I’d probably place it at no. 3… with Empire and New Hope above it and Rogue One just below. I enjoyed the film a good deal as we got new heroes, new stories and new technologies to take in. The Last Jedi is a really emotional, multi-generational work. It delivers better at some points than it does others, and to be honest there were aspects of the story I was really hoping to get but apparently will not from this movie. Nevertheless, I found myself satisfied with the end results. The events here are worthy of discussion and speculation of deeper meaning overall. I am very much looking forward to the final installment of this Star Wars trilogy.

Grade: A

At last…. the final piece of the puzzle that Marvel producer Kevin Feige has been putting together for 10 years since Iron Man, leading to the culmination of Avengers Infinity War. We have the one comic book movie that many comic book fans have been waiting for since his appearance in Captain America: Civil War. Ladies and gentlemen, let’s talk about The Black Panther.

I type this after having attended two screenings of the film, which honestly helped me firm up my feelings on the film The first was a standard press screening. the second, however, was a special event hosted by comic creators Marcus Williams and Greg Burham of The Tuskegee Heirs. Sponsored by several organizations including Abstract Elements, Challenges Games and Comics, Momocon, and Rise Ventures, attendees were encouraged to dress in their best cosplays and African attire. Different tiers were able to possibly walk away with Black Panther T-Shirts, artwork, event passes, and many other items after taking in fan-oriented panels. You can see more in the video below.

As the film opens, we’re shown a scene in 1992 in Oakland, CA. where King T’Chaka uses his Black Panther mantle to catch up with an old acquaintance who seems to have his own agenda at the time. The events of this meeting have more ramifications than anyone could ever guess. We flash forward to modern times, during which T’Challa (Chadwick Boseman) has assumed the mantle a few days after the events of Civil War. He flies aboard a cloaked jet piloted by his general Okoye (Danai Gurira), leader of the all-female bodyguard team known as the Dora Milaje.

After a brief encounter with his girlfriend Nakia (Lupita Nyongo), T’Challa heads home to the hidden Wakanda, a beautifully realized, technologically advanced country that has remained hidden as a third world country for centuries. T’Challa gets ready to face the trials that will make him king of the five tribes that comprise this civilization. His mother Ramonda (Angela Bassett) and sister Suri (Letitia Wright) await the opportunity to guide him through this ritual.

Meanwhile, in London, we see the newly armed Ulysses Klaue (Andy Serkis), last seen in Avengers Age of Ultron. Klaue and his group help a highly assertive young man named Erik Killmonger (Michael B. Jordan) steal an artifact from the museum’s African exhibit. This activity attracts the attention of Wakanda’s elders, who’ve wanted Klaue for serious crimes a long time now. T’Challa, Okoye, and Nakia resolve to track him down.

A lot of stuff happens in this movie as were given a rich mythology and culture to absorb while the story unfolds. Many of the most impressive advances stem from research and developments of highly coveted metal called Vibranium, which Wakanda solely possesses (well, outside of Captain America’s shield, that is). The story of this tech is equally as interesting as the Wakandans’ desire to remain hidden from the outside worlds for fear of poverty, colonialization, warfare and other threats. Those themes form the backbone of the story in many interesting ways, which screenwriter Joe Robert Cole weaves together very well with co-writer and lead director Ryan Coogler, who executes the story and legend of the Black Panther very effectively. A lot of information is thrown at us here and it will likely take a couple screenings to absorb everything. It will also help to take in Avengers Age of Ultron and Civil War again as there are several references to those films.

That’s not to say the movie doesn’t stand up entirely on its own. The story here is a rich one with a lot of thought-provoking themes presented regarding heroism and what it truly means to define your place in the world. These themes haven’t really been presented much in comic book films before making the Black Panther a very refreshing movie.

As to the acting, there’s not a single weak link in the entire cast. I suspect many women will want to train to emulate Okoye’s moves as she and her Dora Milaje team are the fiercest fighters I’ve ever seen in the MCU. It’s wonderful to see Gurira show how much Okoye relishes her role whenever the action begins. My personal favorite character is Suri, who is a bit of a playful scene stealer as realized by Wright. She’s the snarky tech genius whose abilities would be fun to match against Tony Stark. The tribal leaders M”Baku (Winston Duke), W’Kabi (Daniel Kaluuya), and Zuri (Forest Whitaker) are all interesting to watch for different reasons.

But it’s both Boseman and Jordan who really shine as the centerpieces of the story. Killmonger’s very intriguing as we learn more about him and between his intensity and various articulations, we get a truly dangerous, complex villain who is presented much like Michael Keaton’s Vulture in Spider-Man Homecoming. There are many elements to this character that make you uncertain as to what a bad man really is. As such, Killmonger is now my second favorite antagonist in the MCU, just behind Wilson Fisk in Daredevil. Jordan brings some convincing mannerisms which make Killmonger menacing and funny at the same time, and his final line is very haunting. Boseman retains his forcefulness and sensitivity that is required for a good man to be king (so he thinks). It’s an excellent journey to see his character evolve and learn what it means to take on adversities and rule wisely.

There are excellent costumes by Ruth E .Carter and visual effects as well. But it really is the dynamic of The Black Panther and Killmonger that keeps everything in focus. Everything about this movie is expertly done. I think it’s currently my 4th favorite MCU movie, the more I reflect on it. Ryan Coogler has done a hell of a job since doing Creed and Fruitvale Station, and he should definitely be brought back to direct future Marvel flicks.

Grade: A / A+

Hey folks. Decided to give my final thoughts on one of the best years for genre films I’ve ever seen. A lot of these deserved special recognition beyond what the award shows tend to give (IE: best special effects or some other technical award) but as usual, outside of a couple (which we will definitely get to in this article), we still had the stigma of fans buying tickets for such movies while nominators largely ignore them. That’s not to say there weren’t any really good non-genre works this year. In fact, I checked out a few I wanted to give some praise to.

*Darkest Hour – Gary Oldman absolutely deserved his long overdue Oscar for portraying Winston Churchill. The man is a chameleon.
*Dunkirk – Christopher Nolan continues to prove why he’s one of the great visual storytellers of the game. This battle was a sight to behold.
*Girls Trip – One of the funniest, top attended comedies of 2017 … which was not screened or recognized by any award committee for top comedy. Hmmmm….
*Mudbound – I still can’t believe I’m here typing the words double Oscar nominee Mary J. Blige for her work as a both a singer and actress here, or that this well-shot story made Rachel Morrison the first woman ever to be nominated for an Academy Award for Cinematography. Great work here.
*The Post – Nice bit of history and journalism by the usual acting suspects. Pretty solid stuff.

In prepping this article, I omitted action films that aren’t fantasy or sci-fi or such… and came to realize we had some excellent entries in this genre, so much so that… well…. I honestly couldn’t rank the best one for the year, including:

*Atomic Blonde (excellent comic adaptation)
* Baby Driver (beyond excellent editing and use of Atlanta)
* The Foreigner (Jackie Chan, Pierce Brosnan and director Martin Campbell = gold)
* The Hitman’s Bodyguard (crazy blend of action and comedy. better than I though it’d be)
* John Wick Chapter 2 (poor guy just can’t catch a break)

Then I started to pare down the many genre movies I saw and realized some were just not worth effort, such as:
The Dark Tower – D (Should’ve left when I saw book killer Akiva Goldsman attached to the script)
Valerian and the City of A Thousand Planets – D (Looked nice… but then people started talking….)
King Arthur: Legend of the Sword – F (Not even close to a decent take on Camelot)

So I got my 17 (cause I didn’t want to do just 10. Everybody does 10.) and finally started my rankings. The year really good, and it took some serious thought to separate things out. I attached either prior reviews or trailers where warranted. Here goes:

17. Alien Covenant C
I was genuinely excited to see Ridley Scott come back for the Alien franchise, but got tired of the idea of stupid scientists and explorers again. Also, I was rather irritated by the fate of Dr. Shaw from Prometheus, who would’ve been fun to follow into a seemingly dangerous universe that had been hinted at. Nice visuals but upon further consideration, only worth a C, despite more fantastic performance(s) by Michael Fassbender.

Alien: Covenant Review

16. Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales C
I liked the visual effects surrounding the vengeful Captain Salazaar, and the expansion of the storylines of Will Turner and Captain Barbosa, but every scene of our usual protagonist Captain Jack Sparrow felt overly exaggerated for forced humor, making this movie a serious exercise in mental fortitude. Big meh.

15. Ghost In The Shell C+
This is such a weird mixed bag for me. It was nice to see various scenes emulated from the 90s anime movie as well as some elements of the Stand Alone Complex TV series, but… they were missing something. They weren’t totally engaging. The overall movie though was strangely solid though. Also, the much contested presence of Scarlett Johanssonn as Major Kusinagi actually works actually works here as it makes her being here simultaneously a good and bad thing. The city is beautifully designed though. Also, Batou is handled decently, and we get some hardcore “Beat” Takeshi kitano action eventually.

Ghost In The Shell Review

14. Justice League B
Man… this movie… truly could’ve been so much better if it weren’t for backstage executive shenanigans. I actually did enjoy it, but… there’s so much that was made to go wrong. I don’t hold Joss Whedon accountable here entirely as he had a lot of clean-up work to do to streamline what seems to have been a bloated story by Zack Snyder. The biggest issue concerns Steppenwolf. Aside from being one of the (many) special effects that was not well-realized, I never could entirely understand his connection to the Mother Box as interpreted in this version of Jack Kirby’s creation. We hear about Darkseid in one line … that’s about it, and never understand anything about his mother here. Anyway, the movie was a decent action spectacle (though I still hate The Flash’s armor). It was nice to see the DC heroes together and even better to finally get a version of Superman that was the best use of the character since Superman II, which is honestly the reason for the higher grade here.

‘Justice League’ Is A Fun Flick

13. Jumanji B
Genuinely fun addition / remake of sorts. I was surprised at how much I actually enjoyed it. The Rock did a better remake here than Baywatch (thank God).

12. Star Wars: The Last Jedi B+
As a long time fan of the franchise, I generally enjoyed the film but as time wears on, there are some things I still have misgivings about. For one, I didn’t mind General Leia’s space survival scene because I’d wanted to see her display some affinity with The Force since we learned of her parentage. The actual scene could’ve been handled a little better, I grant you, but it largely worked for me. Also, there’s the issue of new character Rose. I liked her in that we get the type of side character who isn’t the superlative star pilot, Force user, or a warrior actually. She tends to machines and stuns deserters. It was fun to see her come into her own and help Finn and Poe in this story. My problem though is how her romance with Finn plays out. It feels contrived and shoehorned in, somewhat out of left field. It’d have been better to not have this pairing develop until the third film or even not at all, instead just have her do her thing and be appreciated on that basis. Laura Dern’s character was ok and all but the audience was asked to believe in her out of the blue since she’s supposed to have some significant relevance to Leia’s character that you had to have read a novel to know anything about. So when she does her final act, it’s cool but doesn’t have the impact that having someone’s connections to the audience such as Admiral Ackbar had. The space bombs at the beginning should’ve had some sort of propellant like missiles to make that scene in a non-gravity environment work. My biggest issue though concerned Captain Phasma, who was hyped heavily in The Force Awakens, but was written dismissively here with nearly no lines and a terrible ending to her character. This honestly pissed me off to the point where I’ve no interest in reading her novel now because she’s pretty much irrelevant and doesn’t really accomplish anything in two movies, as opposed to say Boba Fett, who tracked down and captured Han Solo. Rey’s development is decent but I’d have liked to see more of her training. Which comes to the final thing that makes the movie work at all: the end of Luke Skywalker. Like many people, I wanted to see how powerful he had become as as master of The Force with hellified green lightsaber skills he’d been indicating he was training for during The Force Awakens. Instead, we got what we got, which although it featured an excellent performance by Mark Hamill depicting a compelling final arc for this iconic character and his psyche (as explored by an excellent article by Zac Bertschy), is quite different than what many wanted to see and thus met with resistance that big screen executives shouldn’t dismiss. Speaking of which, where does this leave the next film in terms of villains as it’s become quite clear that without Supreme Leader Snoke, Kylo Ren is a whiny jerk and General Hux is… well, an idiot. We now have nothing resembling compelling villains to look forward to guiding The First Order, which is only dangerous due to superior technology. So, all in all, The Last Jedi is an entertaining film to watch but definitely has flaws to it.

Star Wars: The Last Jedi Review

11. Spider-Man: Homecoming A-
Please do not mistake this entry as being weak since it’s not in my top ten. There were just so many strong contenders in 2017 that I had to make hard choices. That said, It’s a lot of fun seeing Tom Holland as teenager Peter Parker trying to adjust to his newer life as Spider-Man while living up to expectations set by Tony Stark and Happy Hogan in the wake of Civil War. You tend to feel for this kid trying to do right by everyone around him and not totally getting everything right despite his super powers, much like he’s been written in the comics all these years. The surprise though was how well-written and acted The Vulture was as depicted by Michael Keaton. He’s someone you can kinda root for in a sense as he and his crew have been forced into desperate measures because of Tony Stark. I’ve never like The Vulture in the comics, but here, he’s become my 4th favorite villain in the MCU overall.

10. Kong: Skull Island A
The high caliber of actors including Samuel L. Jackson, John Goodman, John C. Reilly and Tom Hiddleston help the interesting take we get with King Kong this go around as we’re taken on an ersatz rendition of apocalypse Now…. with giant monsters. The effects are very well done but it’s also cool to follow the story of these characters’ adventure as they’re taken through some horrible stuff they did not ask for. For my money, this was the best ever King Kong movie period, and portends some wonderful stuff for fans of kaiju movies in general.

9. Thor Ragnarok A
The previous movies about the God of Thunder were ok, but were missing something. It was fun getting to know Thor and his brother Loki through their adventures and conflicts. This particular movie though has fun with their dynamic but also embraces the larger and more cosmic aspects of their existence as gods and larger than life figures much like the comics of Jack Kirby and later Walt Simonson did, with a goofy Flash Gordon-type vibe to boot. While I absolutely hated how important characters were taken out with little fanfare, I did enjoy Cate Blanchett chewing scenery as Hela, the Goddess of Death. Equally fun was Jeff Goldblum as the laid back but callous elder known as The Gamesmaster, who manipulates The Incredible Hulk as Thor’s opponent in gladiator combat. We also got an interesting addition in Tessa Thompson as the angry and somewhat enigmatic Valkyrie. Hopefully we’ll get to see more of her in future films, as we await some serious unpleasantness in Avengers: Infinity Wars.

8. Get Out A
Jordan Peele wrote his ticket to instant stardom outside of his run in Key and Peele. in his racially charged horror debut, tackling a subject the likes of which has not really been seen in mainstream suspense movies. There are a couple spots of levity here and there but it’s very much a terrifying situation that we find lead character Chris involved in. The entire cast is very effective depicting tensions (subvert and overt) until we get to a point where we actually wind up liking of all people… the TSA. Peele penned a brilliant script worthy of George A. Romero’s original Night of the Living Dead that won Peele the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay. I was very happy to see Get Out given more Oscar consideration for best picture, best directing and best actor regarding breakout star Daniel Kaluuya. It’ll be very sad if the rumor is true that older Academy members were deliberately ignoring any screening of this movie, but then… sadly it will be no surprise either.

7. Stephen King’s It A
How do you amp up what was considered one of the better adaptations of a Stephen King novel? You make the visuals incredible with a modern film budget instead of a made for TV budget, and you actually take the time to make us care for your characters, paying great attention to their acting and story development. Pennywise was frightening to experience, but pulling us into the general misadventures of The Losers Club (beginning with Georgie’s horrible fate) is what makes the film so effective.

Stephen King’s It (2017) Review

6. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 A
In another of those highly regarded, financially successful comedies that the Golden Globes didn’t nominate for best comedy, we return to the cosmic section of the MCU in the sequel to one of the most highly regarded movies from that franchise. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 had me cracking up from beginning to end. I’ve noticed a certain divide in reactions to it. Usually, the older the viewer, the better the reaction. It’s rather intriguing. Nonetheless, I can’t wait to see what James Gunn has in store next.

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 Review

5. Wonder Woman A
With the DC movie universe seemingly not ever going to come near the critical success or fan connection that had largely been achieved by Marvel Studios’ film success, it was down to the amazon princess to do what had never been done before: have a comic book movie led by a female character become a complete success. Thanks to Patty Jenkins, we got to see Gal Gadot assume her place at the forefront to succeed Lynda Carter and take Wonder woman to new heights in record setting fashion. Definitely one of the most important films of the year, as well as one of the best.

Wonder Woman Review

4. War For The Planet of the Apes A
There are very few film trilogies without a weak segment or a weak ending. The recent Planet of the Apes movies manage to satisfy entirely in both aspects. From Dawn, to Rise, til now, weve seen Caesar rise as an effective leader for ape-kind as well as a loving husband and father for his family. As we’re taken through his final battle with the single minded Colonel (Woody Harrelson) for the domination of the Earth, we see a very memorable tale play out to its endgame with the futures of ape and mankind decided. CG actor Andy Serkis deserves a special award alongside director Matt Reeves for bringing War to celluloid life.

War For The Planet Of The Apes Review

3. The Shape of Water A+
I was very glad to see Guillermo Del Toro’s work earn various Oscars including Best Picture and Best Director, as well as a Best Actress nomination for Sally Hawkins. It’s a beautiful love story and a great tribute to the Creature From The Black Lagoon type movies I grew up watching. I was honestly sad when I’d heard folks in the audience laughing dismissively at the relationship between the deaf cleaning woman and the merman she communicates with. Honestly, I think if you keep an open mind, you’ll appreciate its production design as well as how the events play out. In addition, Michael Shannon continues to be an excellent villain actor.

2. Logan A+
This is one of two films I will argue is the best genre flick of the year. Right from the beginning, the gravitas that both Hugh Jackman and Patrick Stewart bring to James Manigold’s story is established and never let’s go, especially as we’re introduced to X-23 / Laura who is equally good. It’s one hell of a fitting end to the 2000s X-Men as we knew them and I just couldn’t stop thinking about everything that took place here. The academy nomination for its screenplay is well-deserved.

Logan Review

1. Blade Runner 2049 A+

My other contender for best genre film really was a breathtaking film. Watching Ryan Gosling’s K make his way through a wretched version of the technologically advanced future Earth with sh*tty living conditions was quite compelling. Due in part to the Oscar winning cinematography and visual effects, it was rather easy to forget we were following the exploits of an A.I…. who himself was in love with another A.I. in Joi (Ana de Armas). I was very impressed with how writer / director Denis Villanueve recaptured the world Ridley Scott created on screen. Equally, it was good to see Harrison Ford as Rick Deckard treated with the respect the character deserved. The long suspected nature of Deckard’s existence is deliberately left vague again. Perhaps Villanueve, who proved himself an anime fan by commissioning the short youtube piece “Blackout” for this movie, may have had Armitage The Third in mind while writing BR 2049. Does killing something that’s artificial make one a murderer? What does it truly mean to be alive? Who knows? Anyway, excellent work here from everyone involved.

Blade Runner 2049 Review

*sigh*….. just damn.

What They Say:
Iron Man, Thor, the Hulk and the rest of the Avengers unite to battle their most powerful enemy yet — the evil Thanos. On a mission to collect all six Infinity Stones, Thanos plans to use the artifacts to inflict his twisted will on reality. The fate of the planet and existence itself has never been more uncertain as everything the Avengers have fought for has led up to this moment.

The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
Anthony and Joe Russo, along with Kevin Feige have truly created an epic here, both for comics fans and casual filmgoers. I’m honestly not wanting to spoil what takes place in this movie, even right up to its final shot. However, to give folks an idea of what’s going on….

Basically the premise stems from Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.)) going out on a walk with his fiancée Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow) to discuss their possible future. Suddenly, they get a visit from Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) who tells them Tony is needed to save the universe from some horrible menace called Thanos, who is looking to assemble six gems (most of which have been seen in the previous MCU movies in some way) which together can make their possessor into a god. Meanwhile, out in space, The Guardians of the Galaxy led by “Star-Lord” Peter Quill (Chris Pratt) are responding to an SOS, the origin of which could change their lives forever…

… and that’s as much as I am comfortable telling you about the plot. Seriously, this really is an epic gathering of characters we’ve come to love and root for. Captain America, Thor, Black Panther, Black Widow and so many more become entangled in this story in which reality itself is threatened. Followers have created many theories about where this story might head. Basically a reworked combination of the Marvel Comics stories The Infinity Gauntlet and The Thanos Quest, with some aspects of the Infinity maxi-series/ graphic novel. As a whole the script works as a story on its own.

I’ve been debating with someone as to whether a story that’s built in things that came before can work by itself. I say it can. The movie here does work because as the film progresses, the characters speak about some of their past (in-film) experiences so the viewer doesn’t feel entirely lost from 10 years worth of storytelling. The action is as solid as the dialogue moments, though I do have to say right off the bat, The Russos set a damned serious tone for everything that follows. There are some well-timed jokes thankfully though. I liked most of the logical progressions but the use of one of the stones is something I have a little trouble with. I’ll elaborate more when others have a chance to see the flick.

There’s a serious juggling of all the characters. They still act the way we’ve come to enjoy them so I’ll focus more of my attention on Thanos, who is not like comics version entirely. I’d read that his motivations were going to be is different here and I wasn’t sure I’d like this fundamental change to Jim Starlin’s lover of death but it actually works for this movie’s screenplay and they actually credit Starlin for crating Thanos so I’m a little more inclined to accept this. Josh Brolin is an appropriately nasty vocal performer and between his nuances and the extremely talented FX team we get a very good depiction of Thanos in our physical universe.

In Summary:
As a long time comic collector, i never dared hope we’d see such spectacle in a live film, or even still, one that didn’t feel cheesy as hell. I’m damned happy to report I’ve very much gotten my wish after growing up through TV versions of Marvel characters that weren’t true to their origins. I’m off to catch a second screening and hopefully get some footage for you folks to enjoy. But this was something I had to talk with you about initially. I’ll be back to this article soon. Dosvedonya!

Grade: A

What They Say:
A collection of art, animation & robots for the first time in High-Definition. Crawling across a desolated landscape, the Robot Carnival comes barreling its way onto Blu-ray for the first time! A visual treat for the eyes as well as the mind, Robot Carnival is an anthology collection of nine short films, many directed by Japan’s top animators before they were famous. From funny to dramatic, artistic to entertaining, each story reaches towards the furthest corners of time and space to bring you a title of robots, and the people who make them. Whether you have a love for great hand-drawn animation, an appreciation for storytelling, or just like robots, this anthology is a must!

The Review:
Audio:
The audio came in loudly and quite clear in Dolby Stereo 2.0. Both Japanese soundtrack and the English mix from Streamline Pictures played fine with no distortions of any kind.

Video:
The picture quality for the restored film is outstanding. The hues are perfectly saturated and more enhanced than any previous presentation. The footage that didn’t get restored purposefully, such as the vintage trailers still looks great from the VHS era. The still shots and galleries are nice and clear as well but we’ll get into that in the ‘Extras’ section.

Packaging:
There is a glossy slipcase with the title masthead taken directly from the film’s opening sequence. The back has the text of the ‘what they say’ section dead center with screen shots listing the individual segments on either side of the text. Press quotes and the title masthead are in the top section while production credits make up the bottom third. The inner disc case is a standard clear Blu Ray one. There is an information slip with the art / information arrangements similar to the slipcase on one side and an alternative movie poster piece on the reverse side.

Menu:
Footage from the various segments plays in the background with instrumental music from one of the segments. About ¼ across the screen horizontally are a list of text options, which when highlighted and activated lead to vertical text options. All words are easy to read and therefore highlighted options are easy to activate and navigate.

Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
I love animation collections. As a fan of motion art medium, there’s nothing cooler to me than seeing different artists come together to give their own styles of interpretations on a selected theme. Great anthologies can sometimes follow a theme but this is not necessary. Walt Disney’s Fantasia movies are seen as the pinnacle of animation collections on the American scene I still get completely into Sorcerer’s Apprentice ever since I saw it as a kid in the theaters, but I did appreciate the styles of the other sequences. In the Japanese animation scene such anthologies as Manie-Manie Labyrinth Tales (AKA Neo-Tokyo), and Short Peace have only been partially successful while having no unifying theme. However, it’s also interesting to see a how well things go when artists interpret a specific theme, like in Leiji Matsumoto’s “The Cockpit” presents varying tales of World War II combat.

Fans were exposed to several such talents when the profits from The Matrix movie allowed for The Animatrix to present several talents to audiences all over the world while thinking about robotics and artificial intelligence. It’s hard to imagine The Waichoskis (who’ve demonstrated their love of anime in their films The Matrix and Speed Racer) didn’t have Studio APPP’s Robot Carnival in mind when they came up with their project. Robot Carnival had some of the best anime directors working in the 80s to contribute to this collection and… to be honest, every time I sat down to write this review, I kept getting distracted by the flow of the initial segments. I’d seen it at an anime club in 1988 and even back then when it was untranslated, the power of the stories kept me captivated and it was a fun time figuring out what was going on in the spoken segments.

The whimsical music of Jo Hisashi (creator of many scores in the Studio Ghibli films) sets the stage for an amazing show as the circus building travels in the opening sequence directed by Akira creator Katsuhiro Otomo (who emulates the style of GAINAX’s Wings of Honneamise with amazing detail and movements here and in the closing) alongside character designer Atsuko Fukushima (Giovanni’s Island). We are presented with tour first segment entitled “Franken’s Gears” by Koji Moriomoto (Memories – “Magnetic Rose”). This is a majestic, wordless short about a scientist who brings a giant robot to life obeying his every whim against thunderous orchestral music and powerful thunderstorms. Mary Shelley would’ve been proud of how this plays out.

From there we move to “Deprive”, an adventure about a heroic hard-fighting cyborg of sorts. The first time I saw this story by Hidetoshi Oomori (Gundam: Char’s Counterattack), there was a manga being released by Viz / Eclipse in the U.S. called Heavy Metal Warrior Xenon about a cyborg with design aesthetics similar to the marines in Aliens. Deprive’s wordless action reminded me of that series for a long time and held a special place in my nostalgic heart. Even without that comparison, though, it’s a great piece.

Then comes the one segment that has had many viewers gripped for years: “Presence.” Every time I spoke with fellow fans about the work of Yasuomi Umetsu (Megazone 23 Pt. 2, Kite) in this movie, everyone would have the same haunted reaction to this moving story of unrequited love in which a toymaker creates a doll who can’t stop being in love with him. This is one of the two dialogue-heavy parts in Robot Carnival. Like I said the first time I saw it, there was no translation available, but the emotion was conveyed very well the whole time with all the shadowy contrasting backdrops dominating the characters here.

When Robot Carnival was brought to the U.S. by Streamline Pictures, producers Carl Macek and Jerry Beck did a good job overseeing the English dub by recruiting Michael McConohie and Lisa Michaelson as the leads, as their performances gave “Presence” the same gravitas it had in Japanese.

To offset things, we get to take a ride with the “Star Light Angel” in our next segment from Hiroyuki Kitazume (Relic Armor Legaciam, Armitage III), a carefree romance at an amusement park between a teenage girl and a shy robotic admirer. Yes, the robot can’t figure out how to approach the pretty teen who comes to check out the roller coasters and such. The story goes in a rather unpredictable direction but is quite enjoyable by the end. Star Light Angel often reminds me of the upbeat spirit of contemporary Project A-ko (also from Studio APPP) and sends me into serious 80s nostalgia mode every time I watch it.

The most introspective experience is the abstract “Cloud” by Mao Lamdo (Bobby’s Girl, Gosick) which reflects a minuscule character’s thoughts in the sky above. This one isn’t bad at all but it feels strange among the more concrete pieces here. Still, it’s a wordless work worth watching to think about times gone by or whatever one might take from it. I’ve watched this segment many times over the years but never could connect with it until right before writing this review.

The goofiness of “A Tale of Two Robots” by Hiroyuki Kitakubo (Roujin-Z, Blood The Last Vampire) is something that has to be seen to be believed as two warring villages from feudal era Japan convert their surroundings into giant golems to duke it out. This is the only other piece with dialogue and it’s crazy as hell, in both English and Japanese. To close things out, we take in the “Nightmare” of Takashi Nakamura (A Tree of Palme, Be Forever Yamato), a surrealistic segment which evokes sensations of the 1930s Fritz Lang flick Metropolis. There’s action aplenty concerning “A Chicken Man and a Red Neck” (the segment’s original Japanese name before it was brought to the U.S.) but it’s something you’d have to take in for yourself.

Extras:
This aspect, along with the video quality is the best reason to upgrade from the prior DVD or whatever formats you may have had before. The amount of work put in here is truly astounding. To start with, the menu offer you a choice to watch the film as is, in its original Japanese structure, or in the order as presented by Streamline Pictures on their VHS tape or in the Manner presented on Streamline’s laserdisc edition. There are differences here as Streamline had rearranged the segments for American theaters, and … strangely I liked their arrangement more. (I’ll elaborate in a later paragraph.) Also, the laserdisc version was fun to watch as we see logos of bygone companies and get one subtle experience in the middle of the movie. You’ll know it when it happens.

You can see the film like I said as a whole or you can watch individual segments of your choosing, and next to each playback option (which includes the segment name in English and Japanese) are options to look at storyboard / animation comparisons, art galleries from the programs and art books, and liner notes featuring profiles and remarks from the individual segment directors. These were a lot of fun to read through / watch.

In addition to the various trailers and other galleries, the best aspect is the newly created documentary “The Memory of Robot Carnival,” narrated by Mike Toole (who imitates James Earl Jones the whole time) and edited by Justin Sevakis. I’m honestly not certain who did the most research here as both men are known to be extremely knowledgeable on anime production history, but I have to say it’s immensely satisfying to hear all the knowledge presented here. I’d not known before that each segment took 9-24 months to complete due to logistics and that this film was completed before Manie-Manie even though the latter started production first, mostly due to the animators working on both films. Included here is an interview with Jerry Beck on how Streamline Pictures got started between himself and the late Carl Macek of Robotech fame, who were trying to develop a structured home video market through the comic shops. He indicated their desire to eliminate the Cloud segment at one point as he wasn’t sure audiences would react well to it, but the restructuring gave Robot Carnival new life in the American art house theater scene. These are some of the many fascinating factoids we get in this doc.

In Summary:
The great thing about anthology titles is that there’s likely a style for everyone who takes the collection in at some point. For many years, I’ve held on to my Streamline Pictures VHS tape and would hope Sci-Fi Channel would run this movie again someday just to experience it at any time. I’m very glad Robot Carnival has made it to Blu Ray finally and Discotek Media has done an excellent Criterion-level job with its presentation. I definitely recommend it for purchase at your first availability.

Features: HD Restoration From The Original Negatives For Both Japanese and U.S. Presentations, New Documentary “The Memory of Robot Carnival”, Extensive Liner Notes, Storyboard to Screen Sequences, Art Galleries, Trailers

Content Grade: A
Audio Grade: A-
Video Grade: A+
Packaging Grade: A
Menu Grade: A
Extras Grade: A+

Released By: Discotek Media / Eastern Star
Release Date: March 27, 2018
MSRP: $29.95
Running Time: 91 Minutes
Video Encoding: 1080p High Definition
Aspect Ratio: 1:85:1 16×9

Review Equipment: Samsung 1080P HDTV, Sony PlayStation 3

Hey folks. Time to talk about our favorite merc with a mouth Wade Wilson (Ryan Reynolds) as he’s in a new movie that’s pretty damned entertaining.

What They Say:
Foul-mouthed mutant mercenary Wade Wilson (AKA. Deadpool), brings together a team of fellow mutant rogues to protect a young boy of supernatural abilities from the brutal, time-traveling mutant, Cable.

Review (warning: portions may contain spoilers)
We catch up to the nearly unkillable mutant doing what he does best: taking contracts, wiping out villains and talking trash while doing so. However, our hero is pretty sad these days, so in comes Colossus (Stefan Kapicic) the steel-skinned strongman of the X-Men who offers to let Deadpool stay at the mansion and train to join the team. Eventually, they go out to deal with a situation where a boy named Russell (Julian Dennison) is preparing to unleash his incredible powers against the orphanage where he’s been living. Meanwhile, in the war-torn future, the heavily armed cyborg known as Cable (Josh Brolin) has decided it’s a good time to hop through the past to our present to execute a deadly mission of his own.

As it’s my job to talk about the good and bad of any movie, I’ll get the bad out of the way first. There are parts of the script that do feel predictable and not quite as strong as the first film. Also, there are times that we see characters tossed aside as I would’ve liked to see used more. That being said, many other aspects of Deadpool 2 are much stronger than the first. We get a lot of characters to start off with. If you’ve been into Marvel’s mutant comics like X-Men, New Mutants, X-Force, etc., you get some serious eye candy here (much better than X-Men, The Last Stand. I promise.) There’s a lot of mutant mayhem to go around.

In that vein, we get to have scene-stealer Negasonic Teenage Warhead (Brianna Hildebrand) return from the first film to help out, as well as newcomer Domino (Zazie Beetz) who also shines big time as she establishes herself as an arse-kicker and trash talker in her own right and becomes more of a highlight as the film goes on. Meanwhile, the usual background cast of bartender Weasel (T.J. Miller), grouchy neighbor Blind Al (Leslie Uggams), and cab-driver Dopinder (Karan Soni) (who desperately wants to emulate Deadpool more) still manage to get laughs throughout the movie and keep things interesting.

The action sequences are both well-timed and laugh-inducing. We can tell what’s going on much like the first, which puts these above any Michael Bay flick. Serious kudos to director David Leitch (Atomic Blonde, John Wick) deserves serious kudos for this aspect and the film’s pacing overall. Also, there’s one rather amusing sequence between Cable and Deadpool that’s quite memorable. Speaking of Cable, I have to say Josh Brolin does an admirable job bringing the hard-edged mutant to life. Basically, picture Clint Eastwood’s grizzled drill sergeant in Heartbreak Ridge or Gran Torino and you’ll get an idea of how Brolin portrays him here, grit and all. The machine arm and endless use of guns and martial arts complete the ensemble.

But through it all, it’s easy to see Ryan Reynolds has a wonderful time immersing himself into Deadpool and happily pulls the audience into his world. Through the quiet moments with his one true love Vanessa (Morena Baccarin) which are well-placed to break the action and humor, we get to truly experience every facet of Wade’s personality. At all other times, he remains one of the best at making a comic-based antihero come to life and keeping us laughing, right through the very end in possibly the absolute best closing sequence of any comic book movie. I was still thinking about it the next day after seeing the flick. The opening sequence (designed to parody another successful franchise) was also quite good.

All in all, Deadpool 2 isn’t quite as good as the first film but still great fun and the perfect antidote to what many Marvel movie fans are feeling after Avengers: Infinity War. Definitely recommended.

Grade: A-

Well, another year of the largest Japanese animation convention in America is coming up and there was a lot to take in and to learn from last year. There really was a good deal to try out on the anime scene. Breaking over 100,000 people again last year (actually more like 115,000 and change), the cosplayers came in droves as usual, as did the music lovers. My personal focus was on the anime premieres / special screenings as well as the creators who came.

A few of these were fun to take in. One was the official U.S. premiere of Lupin The Third: Italian Game. For the most part, it’s a feature-length summation of the recent Lupin TV series currently airing really late on Adult Swim / Toonami. Everyone who attended though got a brand new Lupin T-Shirt found on all the seats.

I also got to check out Infini-T Force, the latest offering from Tatsunoko which is an interesting experiment on their part. Basically, it’s their version of an all-hero series similar to Marvel’s Avengers and The Defenders. Four of the studio’s biggest superheroes including Ken of Science Ninja Team Gatchaman, Casshan the Robot Hunter, Hurricane Polymar and Tekkaman The Space Knight (AKA the characters from that Tatsunoko vs Capcom game) will all team up to battle some unknown force. Unlike prior versions of those characters’ shows, this will be an all CG work. The show’s producer and director were on hand to make brief remarks before and after the episode screened. The most notable thing was that they did say none of the iconic music from the prior shows would be used at all and all new tracks would be used throughout the show. A new compilation movie will be released via Viz Media in North America in 2018.

Production IG was present for a couple of panels during the weekend. They also held a separate panel to discuss the new sequel seasons to FLCL, the popular 6-episode OAV series from Gainax which aired on Adult Swim / Toonami for a good while. Adult Swim producer Jason DeMarco was present alongside the Production IG members. They said that seasons 2 and 3 will be six episodes each, and would be separate stand-alone stories. Also, The Pillows will be returning to do the music, and original Gainax member Yoshiyuki Sadamoto will be returning for animation duties. They were a bit coy on how many of the original series characters would be returning in the sequels, but gave a semi-hint that Haruka might be returning in a back up role of some sort in season 2. Season 2 will begin playing on Adult Swim in June 2018.

Funimation’s Godswill Unga helped present one screening that got to me more than any other during the con. I had not heard of the manga anime film In This Corner of the World before this but there was a full-page ad in the program guide noting there would be a screening followed by a Q&A with director… and producer Masao Maruyama. Based on the manga by Fumiyo Kōno, this incredible movie tells the story of a young woman who grows up in the town of Kure from her 20s onward during World War II, right up to a fateful day in the nearby city of Hiroshima.

At this moment, you might be mentally comparing this movie to Grave of the Fireflies or Barefoot Gen, which also tell tragic horror stories of that war. However, this movie depicts more of a slice-of-life viewpoint, as our lead heroine Suzu Urano is shown talking with her family & neighbors about relatives serving in the military, going shopping, and tending crops while surviving bomb runs. It puts the face of the average person who is surviving the battles instead of depicting things from soldiers’ perspectives and doesn’t really give a nationalistic viewpoint.

Producer Maruyama spoke about working with Katabuchi. “I really wanted to work with him after seeing his prior film, Mai Mai Miracle. I’m grateful I made the right choice.” Director Sunao Katabuchi stayed true to the manga’s minimalist/cartoonish character style but used different techniques to tell his story, similar to Your Name and The Tale of Princess Kaguya. Each technique elicited a different response perfect for getting the screenplay’s point across. The detail in the backgrounds was part of why this panel was so fascinating to take in at Anime Expo, as he explained his techniques for getting total accuracy in many of the city shots, and the effect it had on the audience.

“I wrote to miss Kōno. She knew my name. She realized I would tell her story. Miss Kōno and I were on the same page. Ten months later we met. I had been doing research on Hiroshima. We worked together a lot during this. She helped me with the short film as well. I campaigned very hard to make this movie after reading the manga.”

Director Katabuchi then turned to talk extensively about the accurate backgrounds. “A lot of the backgrounds were taken from the memorial. All the buildings were wiped out. But it was very important to recreate area before the atomic bomb. We created many scenes from pics of people who were there when bomb went off.” As to buildings that weren’t entirely pictured already, “Some photos were used to extrapolate and theorize what a store looked liked.”

A girl from one such pic met him came forward and shared memories of what the store and city were like. “We were looking at what Hiroshima and Kure looked like at the time. We had a spreadsheet listing weather reports of how each day was. She still remembers details. She just as weird as me. She still remembers weather when see be was sitting in fields with husband.” One pic was a couple hundred meters from the Hiroshima bomb.”

How did Hiroshima survivors feel about the movie? Katabuchi recounted “One survivor had an album. She came to see the movie many times. I put her family into the movie. Her older sister was a teen, and her older brother was in the movie. In watching this movie. there was a grandmother finally accepted after 70 years family not coming back.” He’d drawn glimpses of other people memories. “When we opened had a small crowd. But got told parents bringing their kids. The “kids” were in their 40s.Parents using the film to show lives from back then. In one case, we showed a scene in Kure. An elderly couple watched and whispered. The woman was 4 years old at the time and saw this scene in real life. Many folks were hoping to connect elder generations to younger with this piece of history.”

I’m writing this not as a die-hard fan of Queen or of biopics in general. I’m just an average joe who likes films. So in that vein, I have to say Bohemian Rhapsody is one of my favorite flicks of 2018.

When I say I’m not a die-hard fan, I mean to say I didn’t grow up loving Queen. When I was a kid I was listening to music by the Bee Gees, Chic, Earth Wind & Fire, and a slew of acts you might not know about without watching episodes of Unsung as I wasn’t really exposed to classic rock much. I didn’t know of Queen’s existence really until I saw Flash Gordon and kept singing the music from there. Ditto for the movie Highlander. When searching for the latter’s soundtrack, I learned more about them and realized they were the ones singing Another One Bites The Dust when I was younger. Then I had one more experience that made them a kind of magic to me: sitting at my grandmother’s house watching them perform among others at Live Aid in 1985. I didn’t know the significance of this performance, but it was truly awesome to see Wembley Stadium filled like this.

But, enough nostalgia on my part. For now, I’ll just give a basic layout of our film here which starts in 1970 where we see young Farrokh Bulsara (Rami Malek) working as an airport baggage handler and being ridiculed for his Pakistani heritage….. which he attempts to correct as he is Indian, but no one cares. He can’t stop thinking about the music and artistry that keeps coming out of his head and onto his notes. He’s visibly full of this energy compelling him to write and draw out his thoughts, which leads him to head out to see live music every night… much to the chagrin of his family who’d like to have him join them for dinner just once. One such excursion leads to a chance meeting with a lovely woman named Mary (Lucy Boynton) who points him to a band sitting outside. The group consisting of Brian May (Gwilyn Lee), Roger Taylor (Ben Hardy), and John Deacon (Joseph Mazzello) end up working with Freddie after a while and the adventures begin.

The initial pacing of the film takes us through the years and concerts in a whirlwind fashion as it tends to feel like a music video in a way, or maybe the short movies about The Beatles from way back. Yeah, this type of storytelling can get to some important moments, and we get some hellified re-creation of big concerts but this doesn’t give too much context to the development of Freddie as a character until about 1/4 or 1/3 the way through. For more contemporary viewers reading this, picture the pacing of Captain America: The First Avenger where we see Cap’s life flash by in order to rush and get ready for The Avengers but we spend so little time actually seeing him battle all the evil forces in WW2. That’s what the pacing felt like for a while in Bohemian Rhapsody.

Eventually, the movie does settle into a decent groove balancing the ups and downs of Freddie’s interactions with everyone with the group’s greatest performances we get a fleshed out idea of what he was like, the good and the bad. Supporting characters such as manager John Reid (Aidan Gillen), lawyer Jim Beach (Tim Hollander) and handler Paul Prenter (Allen Leech) help tell an effective story. It’s really fun to take in these interactions.

We get to see how the most iconic songs are created by the various band members who don’t act the same by a long shot. Their studio sessions are definite highlights of the film for certain. The concerts are done in such a way that you can tell everyone behind the cameras had a ton of fun producing this film.

But it really is the evolution of Farrokh into Freddie that is most compelling as generated by Malek’s impressive performance. From watching this movie I truly get that this man had amazing energies that were constantly wanting to come out as an artist, creator and as a man. One outlet was not enough … which was both good and bad for him. You can see though he truly loved his music and those closest to him, most notably his wife Mary for the majority of this story. Now as I say that, there are those who have been concerned about whether or not his health issues or sexuality are depicted. I can honestly say this movie doesn’t shy away from any of that. You can clearly tell what’s going on throughout this movie, but it’s done respectfully without judgment from the storytellers.

Speaking of whom, the film lists Bryan Singer as the sole director, even though he left the project partway through production. I couldn’t find who took over that over duty, but Newton Thomas Sigel is listed for cinematographer while Anthony McCarten and Peter Morgan are listed as writers. Between their effort and the surviving band members and friends who knew him best taking over varying producer duties, we’ve got a fun and heartbreaking account of Freddie’s life that I think he’d probably not mind having the world see. I honestly loved how the songs were used throughout the film. One scene was a true gut punch though. You’ll likely figure out which. As I said, I’m a casual fan of his music. I didn’t even know what Bohemian Rhapsody was until I saw an AMV (anime music video) done to it during college and came to understand the effect it has on people around me. But I honestly have to say I really enjoyed this movie and would not be surprised to see Rami Malek gain award consideration for his portrayal.

As this is also an anime review site as well as one that reviews general features, I’ll leave this for you to enjoy. No, it’s not an episode of Cromartie High School which clearly features a Freddie-inspired character, but something else you might like. Some of you reading this may be familiar with the Daft Punk / Interstella 555 music videos animated by Leiji Matsumoto. It turns out that Matsumoto was such a big fan of Queen that he animated his own space opera take on Bohemian Rhapsody. So here’s that video for you and I’ll see you at the next review.
Grade: A-

I’m still sitting here thinking about this movie days after having seen it, and as an animation fan, comics fan and film fan, I find myself still very impressed by this movie. I’ve been into Spider-Man since the 70s off and on, when I collected stuff by Steve Ditko, John Romita, Roger Stern, and J Michael Straczinsky. Watching Peter Parker be the everyday guy we can all relate to as a young nerd who’s bullied to a functioning adult with everyman problems has been generally fun. Even though he has powers and can beat up bad guys, his relating to the people around him outside the costume and seeing those issues affect his time in the costume made for great storylines for the writers who took advantage of the opportunity. The first 2 live action Sony movies and the recent Homecoming flick conveyed these aspects pretty well.  Even the 70 Nicholas Hammond show had its moments doing so effectively.

The thing is though, much as I really have enjoyed these works, they were adaptations of a comic book world into a live medium, and there’s something that doesn’t transpose artistically from one to the other, (though the Japanese Spider-Man with its crazy angle fight scenes and cheesy super robot Liopardon does come close in an odd respect or two.)  You never see the lettering and expressions that can only be conveyed through artwork instead of physical actors. So then we et the newest flick Spider-Man Into the Spider Verse, focusing primarily on a character I’d honestly never really taken the time to know: Miles Morales. I knew of him as a protagonist created by Brian Michael Bendis who had created an alternate Universe outside of regular Marvel Comics continuity. The Ultimate Spider-Man was a highly regarded book for a good while focusing on a different variation of Peter Parker…. until he was killed off and replaced by Miles, who came in with his own issues, somewhat similar to Peter’s in a way universal for all young men, but entirely different in many ways.

The biggest difference is Miles is a biracial son of an African American man (Brian Tyree Harris) and a Latin mother (Luna Lauren Velez), so his relating to the world around presents different challenges on top of being the lonely kid. The movie we have here conveys this well as Miles (voiced by Shameik Moore) starts his time at a new live-in prep school where he doesn’t fit in and has a desire to rebel intellectually so he can be kicked out. The problem is that his teacher recognizes this tactic and instead challenges him. Also, there’s a new girl who’s also just started attending the school but Miles’s mishaps in getting to know her cloud any real chance he might seemingly have at getting romantic with her. Miles’s only relief comes from hanging out with his father’s brother Uncle Aaron (Marshela Ali) whose life may have not been on the straight and narrow. Their conversations and hangout times when Miles can go graffiti-tag special spots underground are seemingly the highlight of his life.

One such night though is quite different as Miles heads to the tunnel and gets bitten by a very special spider, labeled 42.  The next day goes rather poorly for Miles as certain effects take hold of his body and well… they send him away from everyone and headlong into a very strange battle under the city between a monstrous Green Goblin and the Amazing Spider-Man (Chris Pine). This battle introduces us largely to our villain The Kingpin (Liev Schreiber) and sets up many encounters which will change Miles’s life forever.

I really don’t want to say more but there are a lot of surprises that make a viewer want to go back and examine every frame on here. There are tons of references for comic book readers even before we wind up meeting other wacky interpretations of the Spider-Man mythos. As a long time reader, I was pretty damned happy to see Peter Porker, The Spectacular Spider-Ham (John Mulaney) get involved, but it was also fun to see Spider-Man Noir (Nicholas Cage), Peni Parker (Kimiko Glenn) with her back-up robot and last but not least Spider-Gwen (Hailee Steinfeld) come to help solve the problem at hand.

This leads me to the two greatest strengths of Into the Spider-Verse. First the animation which is fluid and skillfully incorporates so many aspects of comic books such as lettering, thought bubbles, shading and coloring into the CGI medium. So much lore is placed here it’s unreal like no other film adaptation before it.  The live action films are great thanks to the VFX artists who transpose comic-based concepts to our world but in our world we don’t see lettering or such plastered all over the place because we experience sound while living through incidents. An art-based world has no such limitations or difficulties. Previous animated adaptations of comics such as the much beloved DC movies, don’t really utilize this style from comics, and often adapt the stylings of the real world.  Directors Bob Persichetti, Peter Ramsey and Rodney Rothman worked in reverse here and created an artistically rich world in the process.

The other best aspect is seeing Miles’s character so well developed in how he relates to the world and his family. It’s so much fun seeing him go through the troubles life throws at him and coming out triumphant, just like Peter has in the past. I honestly feel a little bad not having read any comics about Miles but have a serious desire to try the comics now thanks to this story by Phil Lord & Rodney Rothman. It’s especially endearing to see his relationship with his father who’s a policeman trying to maintain the peace while understanding and guiding his son. This dynamic resonated with me most as things played out.

It’s honestly great to be living in a time when there’s so much diversity from comic book adaptations. Between Black Panther, and Into the Spider-Verse, I’m enjoying seeing imaginations extended to all races, giving all kids someone to emulate someday. There are sequels coming up to expand the Spider-verse even more. I’m hoping the writers take full advantage of this as they’ve started something really special with this movie, and its crazy post-credit sequence.

Grade: A+

Actually, this one was made 32 years earlier but I had too much research on this story of how good can come from failure. So, in that vein, it’s time for the way back machine to celebrate a little history. Some of you reading this are relatively new to the anime hobby, having hopped into fandoms such as Kill La Kill and Gurren Lagann, either via streams or watching shows on Toonami. Others may have taken in Toonami many years earlier when the whacked out series FLCL (Fooly Cooly) was broadcast on there. Others still may have learned about the existence of the animation studio GAINAX when the controversial mecha-Christian mindscrew known as Neon Genesis Evangelion changed how many could view the powerful potential of animated storytelling in both Japan and the United States.
There are other high points in the history of GAINAX and its offshoots. But many of them might not be possible if it weren’t for a simple vegetable: the radish. Known to the Japanese as ‘Dai’ It’s apparently a fun vegetable that it inspired a sci-fi convention called Daicon. Co-chairs Toshio Okada and Yasuhiro Takeda commissioned young director Hiroyuki Yamaga to create an opening animation video for two of the events, utilizing everything in Japanese and American sci-fi, comics and animation centered around a single red-haired girl fighting off every conceivable figure in popular fiction, eventually adorning a Playboy bunny outfit in the second video. (FLCL ep. 5 make a little more sense now?)

Soon after Daicon IV, these three men got together with character designer Yoshiyuki Sadamato and animation veterans Hideki Anno and Takami Akai to eventually produce a short film based primarily on Yamaga’s story concepts. During this, they eventually formed an animation company called GAINAX (which means ‘big’ in Sanin dialect) and filed their business license on Christmas Eve 1984. The following year, they finished the short and presented it to Bandai Company Limited, a toy company at the time who was looking to branch into filmmaking. Having secured funding here, Gainax worked hard to create their first feature-length film, the focus of this article entitled Wings of Honneamise: Royal Space Force. Under Yamaga’s direction, Honneamise was full of incredible detail and tons of key animation techniques, setting a standard in motion picture quality that none could match at the time, which turned out to be both a boon and a detriment to the film.

Taking place on a fictional world similar to Earth, we meet Shirotsugh Lahdatt, a young man who had just graduated high school of sorts and wanted to join the Navy as a pilot to fulfill his dream of flying. However, his grades are too low so he joins the space force instead. This world’s version isn’t quite like NASA though as there hasn’t been a successful manned spaceflight yet, due to technical failures and astronaut deaths. Although decently funded, it is still considered somewhat a joke as an organization. When we see him initially, Shiro is arriving late for the funeral of the last test pilot (much to his commander’s chagrin of course.) He appears to take very little seriously except his desire to fly and worries about having a job if the Space Force doesn’t work out. He muses on this again during physical training…. which his C.O. doesn’t take to well, earning Shiro a long lecture and LOTS of push-ups.

Later, Shiro and his comrades hit the city to toast their fallen friend and drown their sorrows. Eventually, everyone splits off and Shiro winds up exploring the city alone until he comes across a lone woman speaking about the final days of judgment and God’s plan for humanity. Shiro takes one of her fliers and heads off. The next day, he wakes up and heads out of the city to find the church address listed on the flier and finds…. a single run-down home occupied by a very quiet little girl named Manna and the woman from last night, who is very surprised Shiro came. She introduces herself as Riquinni and has Manna help prepare a meal for Shiro before they begin philosophizing about humanity’s current economic plights, God’s ways, and other things.

Back at the base, Shiro walks around with a bit more intensity and focus than before. He even attends the daily briefing in proper uniform for once. This is where the commander tells them that the military is considering scrapping the program entirely since no manned flight has been successful and only small objects have been launched into space. When he decides the only way to have all their hard work count for something is to finally have a successful manned spaceflight, he asks for volunteers. Three guesses who is the only person to raise his hand. However, there are some in neighboring countries who do not want to see the space force succeed and so the effort to send Shiro into the skies becomes a race against bureaucratic interference and dangerous outside interests threatening them all.

Back in the 80s among fan circles, Wings of Honneamise was often referred to as a cross between The Right Stuff and An Officer & A Gentleman. Basically, we have an aspiring astronaut who needs to grow up a bit and appreciate the world around him. He does eventually get to accomplish his goal, but it really is the build up to that point that makes this movie worthwhile. Watching him mature and develop a decent rapport with Riquinni and Manna is pretty involving, as much as his training and avoiding conspiracies surrounding the launch. But then we get to the launch itself after all the anticipation and efforts to help (and stop) Shiro, war breaks out and it’s truly one of the most magnificent sequences ever in animation history. I’m trying not to throw too much hyperbole into this description but this is one sequence where words do not do justice to the animation, sounds effects and timing of the music cues presented in this scene. It’s an excellent payoff for everything that has come before, and the denouement is wonderful to chill to afterward with so much imagery in the final montage. The movie is almost perfect… except for one scene. Anyone who watches the movie knows of this scene. I won’t repeat it here just yet, but when it’s spoken about, everyone has the same pained reaction to it. When Honneamise was released in the U.K., this scene was removed entirely, which sounds like a perfect version of the movie to me, but we’ll talk more on this a little later.

Yamaga used 3000 animators on the film which was a serious commitment of resources. The amazing key animation flow was matched only by the background details which were as intricate as could possibly be. The setting of Naghatsumih City was designed similarly to Osaka where Gainax was founded. The animation team got inspiration and technical advice while visiting the Smithsonian in Washington DC and attending the launch of the space shuttle Discovery Florida. These trips inspired the team so much to be as realistic as possible that they created their own CG program to simulate metal flakes falling off during the climatic launch sequence. Yoshiyuki Sadamato did some co-direction work with Yamaga, but focused primarily on character design. In trying to emulate Hollywood actors of the time, he modeled Shiro after Treat Williams (Deep Rising) and his best friend after Harrison Ford (Indiana Jones). Rinna was based on the tomboyish Tatum O Neal (Paper Moon) and Shiro’s teacher/commander was made to look like Lee Van Cleef (The Good The Bad and The Ugly).

Composer Ryuichi Sakamoto handled soundtrack duties for a style meant to be different than standard orchestral style in most films. Sakamoto used various sound sampling techniques and electronic types to create what sounds like Japanese steampunk of sorts. It was truly a unique collection at the time. Sadamoto himself had carved a name for himself on two fronts as both a musician and actor in Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence and for his music work on The Last Emperor, which garnered him major awards. The latter caused him to have a bit of conflict with the Gainax crew as he would frequently fly off to London to work on LE and communicate production notes based on initial storyboards to the animators. Eventually, it all worked out though. Later in life, he returned to prominence garnering many nominations and awards for composing the score for 2015’s The Revenant.

Honneamise had a strange road in both Japan and in the United States, where it apparently debuted as a special screening in February of 1987, 3 months before being released in Japan. A company called Go East created an English language dub for the film and renamed it Star Quest, with extra bits of monologue to give the film a heavier and in some instances a bit more of a religious tone. It was never shown again after this screening and never released on any of the home video releases as key industry figures were apparently very unhappy with this dub.(Side note: I recently got a copy of this dub. I can understand the displeasure.)

Speaking of which, as this film is now over 30 years old, it got many high-end releases in Japan soon after its theatrical run, including the uber $80 LDs and +$100 VHS’s. (Yes, Japanese tapes were more expensive than laserdiscs back then. Go figure.) However, it didn’t receive any substantive English release until the mid-90s, when new companies were forming and establishing themselves as ones which would import animes uncut and in Japanese with English subtitles (after many years of works being dubbed (badly) and edited down for time and to remove adult content.) Companies such as U.S. Renditions, Viz Media, AnimEigo, AD Vision, Central Park Media and others were jumping into the market.

One company called Manga Entertainment would make its entry by taking up some licenses after U.S. Renditions / L.A. Hero went defunct. They brought over newer ones like Macross Plus and Giant Robo. However, they also took up releasing anime films into theaters, competing against Streamline Pictures at times. Thus, American art house theaters saw runs of Ghost In The Shell, Patlabor The Movie, Legend of the Overfiend and more. Manga sent promo posters and tapes to local anime clubs to promote these screenings. I still remember getting some of these at Atlanta-area Anime-X meetings for showings at either LeFont Theater downtown or at Georgia State’s Cinefest. Honneamise was no exception to the marketing as we got to see this flick on the big screen, often in English.
This particular dub was produced by the husband and wife duo Les and Mary Claypool, who oversaw many productions for Manga Entertainment and other companies prior, often working with the late Kevin Seymour. According to Les. who had been working on anime dubs for two years prior, “It was an insane time. I was working on Guyver Dark Hero when I got recruited for this. The original dub wasn’t well received. We dubbed it stateside and sent it out. Multiple entities were hiring us for multiple anime projects. Things got blurry. We were doing 70-80 hour weeks. Mary was the scriptwriter. She got the translation and went to writing. My studio’s involvement was for recording ADR. We dubbed in my garage before moving to the main office at magnitude.”

Mary, who hadn’t heard of the film before doing this project, added about her experiences as well. “We took creative liberties with script because it worked better and sounded better. The nuances were perfect. I really think it was an outstanding dub. The technique and artistry were magnificent.” She then talked about Kevin Seymour.

“Kevin was all-purpose guy. The casting was handled between Kevin Seymour’s company and Doug Stone. He put together the bible on researching and wringing talent and crammed everything into a very tight schedule. They would have casting there. Kevin and Doug they would have several choices. They would do a few line reads. Then meet with everyone involved. Kevin would do background voices alongside Steve Blum (yes of Cowboy Bebop fame) who would do 6 voices for bit characters. Kevin cast young skinny guy named Bryan Cranston. (Yes, of Breaking Bad fame.) My office is on the other side of studio. Mary would go in there and she’d find him on the computer and chase him off.”

Les continued. “Kevin was a master scheduler. Hard to dub with 20-30 actors. He is almost singlehandedly responsible for anime post-Carl Macek era 1992. He would bring manga by the truckload during the 80s and was into it at least 10 years before we started. Kevin would work with me. He. Had respect for original creators, and had a direct connection to original creators. He would call them and 4 days later a master tape came from Japan. Kevin was 120% into it.

Turning back to Honneamise, Les noted, “One of the things I liked was that they (Gainax) treated animation totally seriously. If you listen to Inoue from Gainax, talk about it, it was a miracle it ever got made. It’s a bunch of interns getting ok rates with horrible time frame. Not luxurious studio. Everybody was new.”

Manga Enterainment released the movie on VHS in 1995 in the UK and removed one (unnecessary) attempted rape scene to get a more family-friendly rating. The U.S. release left this scene intact. Subsequently, they released on DVD in the 2000s. Although it had a decent commentary by Hiroyuki Yamaga and Takami Akai, this release had extremely poor quality video-wise from double encoding resulting in heavy after-imaging in the visuals. Manga Ent said nothing was wrong with discs, and that it was the players’ fault. However, folks familiar with the technology at the time showed screencaps of Japanese R2 DVDs which looked fine, which pointed this to being a manufacturing problem that the company refused to take responsibility for.

So for a good while, fans of the film felt little hope that this movie would be released on modern format with the best possible video quality in the U.S. In the mid-2000s, a high-definition format war occurred between HD-DVD and Blu-Ray formats. During this period Bandai Visual USA (a subsidiary outside of the previously established Bandai Entertainment) decided to release higher priced anime titles targeting high-end collectors under the Honneamise label that originally produced Royal Space Force. Several titles including the Gunbuster compilation movies, Battle Fairy Yukikaze, Freedom and the Patlabor films among many others were released on this label. In 2007, Wings of Honneamise was released on both Blu-ray and HD-DVD in box sets containing their respective high-definition discs, a 20-page art booklet, and a standard DVD. These discs contained the film in English and Japanese as well as the trailers and the short pilot film. Eventually, Bandai Visual USA went defunct and the license was picked up by Maiden Japan, who released their own Blu-ray of the film in 2011 with more trailers added. The streaming platform Hidive added it to their programming as well.

Even in the aftermath of Honneamise underperforming in its initial release in Japan, Gainax as a whole was able to move on in various successful ways with the high profile OAV series Aim For The Top Gunbuster. However individually for some members, this was not entirely the case. The proposed sequel film Blue Uru was supposed to take place 50 years later but was postponed. There have been recent rumblings that a newer version of the Gainax company might re-start production on it though. Sadamoto was also working on a film entitled R20: Galactic Airport, but this was shelved indefinitely. He went on to do character design for Neon Genesis Evangelion, Nadia and the Secret of Blue Water, Summer Wars, Wolf Children and all three seasons of FLCL (Fooly Cooly). Yamaga went on afterward to write the screenplay for Gundam 0080: War in the Pocket and lend his talents to more Gainax projects such as Mahoromatic, Magical Shopping Arcade Abenobashi, and Panty, Stocking & Garterbelt among others.

The author would like to thank Les and Mary Claypool for their interview time and Sean O’Mara for his research help. Also, respects to the work of Carl Horn.