Category: Anime review

Ghost in the Shell

Ghost in the Shell is one of the most influential animes of all time, spinning off other movies and anime series and the live action film adaptation in 2017. Weirdly enough, I never watched the anime, instead starting directly with the live action film. As I watched both, I began to see the reach of the influence it’s had on science fiction over the few past few decades.

What’s the same? In the future, technology has evolved to such a degree where people have used cybernetics to enhance themselves, whether on a small level or extreme level. We follow Major Motoko Kusanagi, an officer of Section 9 that deals with cyber crimes. Her and her partner Bato are on the hunt for a dangerous hacker that is screwing with peoples memories and rewriting people. Major is a ghost, a living brain in a full mechanical body. Many of the breathtaking and gorgeous images have been recreated in the 2017 version, as well as the context to both.

What’s different? The anime film was a more contained story where the live action film went into some heavy Blade Runner territory, trying to make it a deeper story and give more answers. In the anime, the adversary is the Puppet Master, while the live film has a more elaborate villain. Major is more coldly portrayed in the film and surprisingly more human in the anime.

Ok, so which do I like better? Though not quite my favorite anime and/or film, I respect both of them a lot. I love the concept and art style of both. I found both fascinating and beautiful but somehow neither grabbed me as much I thought they would. I recommend watching the anime first but I think you’re solid either way. May the gaming gods bring you glory.

 

Aqua Teen Hunger Force: The movie

athf the movie

It finally happened: the Aqua Teens finally face Dr. Weird as we finally discover there origin in this epic feature film. Seriously, this movie sneaked up on me. It opens on a cameo of Abe Lincoln, a trip to the moon, and a sweet nu- metal remix of the theme song. So the plot mainly focuses on the gang getting a new piece of exercise equipment that turns out to be an apocalyptic death machine. If you love the show, you will love the crazy scale of the movie and will appreciate the other cameos throughout (Space Ghost man). I found myself liking it a lot more than I thought I would; may the gaming gods bring you glory.

The Boondocks

the boondocks

I just got into middle school when the Boondocks hit the scene on Adult Swim and wow it hit hard. A decade and a half later I’m still impressed with the show’s mix of racial comedy, deep messages, and influences from Hip hop and anime all in one. It’s rare a show can make me laugh hysterically, look at the world a little differently, and even stare in awe at a couple of epic fights along the way. The show centers on two brothers, Huey and Riley Freedmen, who go to live with there Grandfather, a former Civil Rights activist who struck it rich and now lives in a all white gated community. With a list of colorfully strange characters and a cool art style, this show is definitely worth checking out, though I do suggest trying to track the show down unedited because you will hear a lot of bleeps. May the gaming gods bring you glory.

Black Dynamite (adult swim)

black dynamite

What can I say, he’s mother f$%king Black Dynamite. Whether he’s kicking a racist Kermit’s ass for trying to hypnotize kids or defeating a racist conspiracy to eliminate legendary black porn stars, and even guarding Richard Pryor, Black Dynamite straight up kicks ass. Through an insane few seasons, I got to say I loved this cartoon based on the exploitation film of the same name. The voice acting is great and the animation is really well done. I love the celebrity parodies throughout, whether it’s a alien Michael Jackson or my favorite,  a maniacal Mr. Rodgers. If you are looking for a quick watch full of ass kicking and humor, I recommend checking this show out, and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

Aqua Teen Hunger Force

athf

Again, here I was watching adult rated cartoons as a kid when Aqua Teen Hunger Force. In seasons it’s changed names but the theme always kept the same: Anthropomorphic food stuffs Master Shake, Frylock, and MeatWad act as “Detectives” from there New Jersey home and deal with crazy shit like 8 Bit aliens from the moon, giant robots, the robot ghost of Christmas past, and there arch enemy Dr Weird- and occasionally there pissed off, perverted neighbor Carl. With only 15 minute episodes, the many seasons can be eaten up in a flash if you want something quick to watch. I got to give the show credit, it stays pretty damn inventive and never really feels played out. As a childhood favorite, it’s worth looking into if you need something weird in your life. May the gaming gods bring you glory.

Expelled From Paradise (2014)

expelled from paradise

Expelled From Paradise is the story of what happens after humanity almost wipes itself out. Humanity now lives in two places, some on a barren Earth struggling to survive and the other in Deva in space living in cyber space. Living inside a computer program in a paradise of their own making in a world where everything they could possibly need or want.

When a hacker starts breaking into Deva security member Angela is sent to the real world and down to earth to discover this hacker and put an end to it. Upon arriving on Earth, Angela will take her Human for a test run by eating, well dirt. Then she will fight a bunch of bugs and meet the necessary male friend Dingo.

The movie is fun, looks good and is full of a few twist and turns that were quite fun and the late movie action scenes were great. The only real issue I had was at times the story could be predictable and the characters were pretty much stereotypical anime characters, tho they do work. That said it was still fun and most anime fans will enjoy it, best wishes and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

 

Beavis and Butthead

beavis and butthead

Before the dawn of South Park and Family Guy, this was the cartoon that pissed off parents and scared PTAs because no one wanted to say they spawned idiots like Beavis and Butthead. These two dimwit teenage headbangers were the nightmare of there school, neighborhood, and all of Highland with there raw stupidity as they persevered in the name of scoring chicks and getting beer and nachos. And god love you if they get there hands on power tools. One of my favorite shorts was them stealing poor Mr. Anderson’s (prototype Hank Hill from King of the Hill) riding mower to destroy peoples flowers, get drive through, and ditch it in a four way intersection. May favorite times were when Beavis got jacked up on sugar or caffeine and became the Great Cornholio- which on a personal note, I went trick or treating as when I was 18. Don’t judge. Indeed the show is dumb but some of the satire and parodies are pretty clever and if anything, it’s very much a time capsule of the 90’s for all it’s worth. In the end, I recommend the classic 90’s seasons, not the newer ones they tried in this generation. May the gaming gods bring you glory.

Ghost in the Shell: Ghost Pain (2013)

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So I was looking for something to watch and came across something called Ghost Pain. I am not really an Anime guy, @torstenvblog normally takes care of that. However this looked interesting so I figured I would check it out.

A couple things to note, I had no idea this was Ghost in the Shell until after I had watched it. Another, I had never seen Ghost in the Shell until I saw this. I am essentially watching this as a guy that has no idea what the hell is going on. Also this movie has a bunch of different names as you can tell from the picture so pick your poison on that one.

Essentially our main heroine here is investigating a murder after a bomb goes off and kills a major arms dealer. She also has an issue with her memory which turns out to be some sort of a memory hack causing false memories. There is honestly a lot going on and explaining it all would ruin much of it. It is a fun watch but I honestly can’t say its for me. Best wishes and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

 

 

Little Witch Academia:Enchanted Parade (2015)

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Now I am not a fan of Little Witch Academia, in fact until I saw this I had never even seen it. This just happened to catch my eye and I figured I would kill an hour watching it. It was actually pretty funny because the English subtitles did not at all match the words they were using, it kind of reminded me of the old Godzilla movies where people would stop talking but their lips would keep moving.

The story itself is a rather cute story about these magic students having to manage the annual witch parade. Clearly this show is meant for kids and teens, but its cute and fun and despite the childish nature of the show I had a lot of fun watching it. The local kids disliking magic and preferring their technology was also a nice touch of social commentary. It is definitely a series worth checking out for anime fans, best wishes and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

Godzilla: Monster planet

godzilla monster planet

Full Disclaimer: unlike many of my friends, I’m not a avid Godzilla fan nor a particular fan of Kaiju in general. Not to say I don’t mind the promise of giant monster crashing and thrashing through the civilization we busted our asses o build- if you had my job, you would find yourself wishing a radioactive iguana would tear through your workplace to break the monotony of the day.

Humanity has been brought to the brink of extinction and is forced to live in space, isolated, losing oxygen, supplies, and hope. But Why? What caused our ultimate downfall? Godzilla. What’s left of the human race is desperate to find another habitable world to no avail. Suddenly Earth becomes the only option, despite the unkillable beast. 1000’s of years passed and the environment and it’s creatures have changed, but the king of the monsters still lives. In the end, it’s up to an enraged major and a vast quantity of Earth’s last military to make a final stand against the insurmountable…

I have to say I wasn’t really a fan of this episode, and at 90 minutes it is a episode. Minor spoiler, there is generously 15 minutes of Godzilla in the whole thing but a hell of a lot of people telling you how either OP he is or how much they hate him. The animation quality varies. Sometimes good, sometimes strange. Like something about the way Godzilla is animated feels wrong or out of place. The rest of the time feels like a somewhat generic space plot. The action is kinda neat but I couldn’t help but think of Attack on Titan at times. For the casual fan, I can’t really recommend it honestly. Best wishes and may the gaming gods bring you glory.