I am not embarrassed to admit this, but most people who knows me were shocked (or disgusted) when I told them I follow “Taiwan Long Juan Feng” almost every night when I can. But even a show as crazy as that begins to bore me after the same shit happens for the umpteenth time.
So recently, I started watching the critically acclaimed “Mad Men”.
You know, the show where:
Every male character wears a suit;
Everybody drinks excessively like it’s going out of fashion;
Every characters have random sex with everyone else;
The one where every woman has the hots for the lead actor…
Hmm… guess these two shows have more in common than I thought.
Kinda makes you wonder if there’s a Jon Hamm/Christina Hendricks concert around the corner.
Has anyone ever noticed that there was an error in the sequence of Sylvester Stallone’s Rambo franchise?
John Rambo first appeared in 1982 in “First Blood”;
A 1985 sequel was made, titled “Rambo : First Blood Part II”
So, why the heck was the 1988 sequel after that named “Rambo III” instead of “First Blood Part III” ???
To make things more bizzare… 20 years on, Stallone returned to make a ‘prequel’ to Rambo III, titling the fourth installment… RAMBO. (which technically mean it is RAMBO 1?)
So, the question is… if they do make a FIFTH movie, should it be titled RAMBO II , or First Blood Part III?
So, did Puella Magi Madoka Magica produce a good first episode? In terms of working as a series hook, I would say yes. This being a SHAFT production that isn’t gag-based, I never really expect the first ep to produce a clear picture, at least in terms of plot development. All we’ve seen so far are the usual cliches, amongst them a happy family, a magical animal and a mysterious transfer student. Shinbo’s attempt to take on the mahou shoujo genre does have all the signature visual touches you expect from the guy. Given that I generally like his body of work, I remain cautiously optimistic for the moment.
This is the only selling point the creative staff could think up I’m afraid
I can’t believe the first new show of the season I watched is Rainbow Gate, which bodes extremely ill for the rest of the stuff coming down the pipeline.
There is precious little to talk about, and seasoned anime watchers already know what the series is aiming just by looking at the promotion pic. So yes, it’s an ecchi show and no, everything else is terrible, like a hobo’s version of Saki. I won’t even say the ecchi is decent either, considering the scenarios are so uninspired it’s clear the entire production team just phoned it in with the camera angles that are Aika-esque, but not quite. The sheer absurdity of a casino hiring an odd-jobs variant of a croupier with an aura of luck can be left as an exercise for the the watcher. I got a little bit of solace though in that her role didn’t require Marina Inoue to use her tsuntsun voice, which would be pretty tiring sans any good writing, which is manifestly not present here.
I once mentioned in a conversation that R:RG would be a good tourist board advertisement for a certain banana island republic that just happens to have two casinos. Given the origins of the titular character as a pachinko mascot girl I’m sure that giving the impression that the casino is a HAPPYFUN place (and not a Kaiji-ish nightmare pit where hopes go to die) was the general idea. Granted, did it have to be so silly it involves a little pipsqueak wandering around on the casino (and outdoors!) without supervision and a horrible episodic plot revolving around a damn teddy bear?
It’s going to be a long hard winter.
(Evryone would actually give this show a thumbs up if it featured Nicholas Cage as a permanent side character every ep, and he’s faithful to his portrayal in THOSE ads. Just sayin’.)
The best tourist guides bring the attraction TO you
Tired of your Gundam lead moaning his head off? Then this should be therapeutic.
Mazinkaiser returns, just seemingly shorn of the previous continuity in this OVA. What little plot there is involves a colony of Amazons in skimpy garb (predictably useless like most others from the Land of Nagai(tm)) and handwaving about a gravity curtain and somesuch threatening world devastation, but I’m sure the fans aren’t too bothered about all that. With a giant robot that’s a walking Equilibrium advertisement, dramatic rising from a flaming chasm and a suitably battle-crazed leading duo going by the squad name of Death Caprice, you know you’re in for a madcap ride. Other amusing notables include the greatest use and commentary on rocket punches EVER, and Satoshi Hino and Shintaro Asanuma being the 2 male leads, last seen in such roles as Tsuchida from Hanamaru Kindergarten and Junpei from Nyan Koi! respectively. People suffering from withdrawal syndrome post Shin Mazinger Z should be ecstatic about this new offering.
(Is it some some kind of seiyuu joke that Shiraishi Ryoko (everyone’s favorite butler with the poor face) is cast as the Hurricane character?)
For a 12 year wait, that was certainly very underwhelming.
I don’t wish to spoil anything (but that’s probably more because of apathy than a real desire not to ruin a film for others), but the entire feel of the film felt like it was a short arc transposed from the first half of the TV run. Which, to put it delicately, isn’t really the part of Trigun the majority of fans love the most. As a homage film it only did its job semi-adequately, as a genuine addition to the Trigun franchise, my honest opinion is that it failed. The film ghosted in and out of pre-production for a while, so I’m disappointed that after all this time, Nishimura Satoshi didn’t close out the franchise with a serious bang. Now, I also understand the movie is caught in the same quagmire that the Conqueror of Shamballa film from FMA (which coincidentally, was dire) found itself in, since Trigun Maximum doesn’t really play well with its anime counterparts, but you still have to set your expectations pretty low for this film not to give you a mixed feeling at best.
As much as I love the Ghost in the Shell franchise, I wish Production I.G would stop updating their classic shows. First, GitS 2.0 (not to be confused with Innocence) and now Solid State Society 3D.
These are great show which do not need to be updated. Please stop Lucasing them.
