Movie Review: Big Hero 6

Big Hero 6

Anime Review: My Hero Academia

Back when the spring anime season was getting underway, I talked on the OASG podcast about how I still wasn't sure what shows I would end up liking but I was sure Concrete Revolutio and Flying Witch would be among them. I was right but imagine my surprise when I also really ended up liking the "populist" hits My Hero Academia and Kiznaiver! My tastes usually don't like up that way but this time they did and I hope that Funimation found a whole slew of fans for MHA since I can't remember the last time I saw this much pre-airing hype for a new anime (as in, Funimation was even making dubbed character spots to advertise for the show even before the first episode, that takes money!). I have seen a lot of buzz for it online and I have to say folks, I've considered getting a Weekly Shounen Jump subscription before but held back (not enough series I like/the series I like are monthly) but if I can figure out a way to catch up with this series (ie, library please hurry up with my holds!) this might be the manga that makes me do it.

My Hero Academia

Anime Review: Concrete Revolutio: Superhuman Phantasmagoria: The Last Song

I don't believe it, I somehow managed to hold out all the way until the spring season batch of shows without running out of things to blog! I'm pretty thrilled by this turn of events, although I didn't watch many spring shows so I'm going to actually run out of things to blog pretty soon. 

Hmm, well for the moment, as per-usual my first review of the season is my favorite show/the one that really needs as many views as it can get (places like Funimation have said that the views that count towards determining if a show is going to get a physical release or not are all of the views while the show was airing+one week, although I've missed that window). I talked about the first half of Concrete Revolutio earlier in the year so I suppose this is my last shot to convince folks that yes, this is yet another superhero anime worth watching.

Concrete Revolutio: Superhuman Phantasmagoria: The Last Song

Anime Review: Concrete Revolutio

Wowzer, so I expected to take only the week before Katsucon off reviewing but two weeks ago I realized I just did not have the energy so, blogging had to go! Sorry about that but hey now you have the best ConRevo post I could make which is what I wanted to do from the start.

Concrete Revolutio

Anime Review: Gatchman Crowds Insight

I, like everyone else, was surprised when I heard that were was going to be a sequel to the 2013 incarnation of Gatchaman since it seemed like the series had tied itself up quite nicely. However, after having seen this sequel it's a must see, that story wasn't complete before which I suppose makes this the best sequel ever in a sense.

But first things first, if you have seen Crowds but not the director's cut of episode 12 you need to see that. Given the half recap episode in the tv run they had to re-edit episode 12 on the DVDs (Japan only, Sentai could not get the license in the US) which includes how Hajime finally defeated Berg Katze and a few other key details. Next, make sure to watch episode 0 on Crunchyroll before going onto episode 1 since it has new stuff as well. And then you're all set for what may be the most decisive anime of 2015!

Gatchaman Crowds Insight

Comic Review: Ms Marvel (volumes 2 and 3)

So this week's anime review is Gatchaman Crowds Insight which is a complicated thing to talk about so I'm taking my time and will get it up later in the week, that's why that one is late. Honestly even if I tried to rush it I don't know if I could get a coherent post out earlier because that show just requires a lot of thought, not impulsive button-pushing.

And this review is also later than I'd like, not only because my review backlog is large but because I didn't realize my library was getting new books in this series until I saw volume 3 appear on the shelves and then started looking for volume two. Wohoops, at least I know now that I should start looking for volume four soon!

Ms. Marvel volumes 2 and 3 written by G. Willon Wilson and illustrated by Jacob Wyatt, Adrian Alphona, Takeshi Miyazawa, and Elmo Bondoc

 

Webcomic Review: Kiwi Blitz

Sorry for the delay guys, ended up having a much more full work day than I expected yesterday and wanted to make sure this review was actually coherent before I posted (which I'm sure everyone will grudgingly admit they prefer)

While I don't regret trying to review a webcomic every month, since I'm not worried about running out of comics to talk about anytime soon, I am starting to realize just how delayed all of my regular comic reviews are becoming now. Partially since I alternate them with movies/tv shows every week anyway, since I usually don't consume enough of either of those to have a full review each week, I'm really wondering if I should come up with a new plan so I can talk about even more, wonderful comics here....

  Kiwi Blitz by Mary Cagel

TV Series Review: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (season two)

I blame cosplay for this post going up late but at least at this point it's still before midnight. Let's just go ahead and dive into it shall we?

Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.

Movie Review: The Avengers: Age of Ultron

My schedule has such few, odd free hours at this point that I thought I just wouldn't have the time to see The Age of Ultron until sometime in June at this rate but as I was playing catch-up with Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. I got to the tie-in episode and realized, I really wanted to see the movie right now! The tie-in seems to be that the "Operation THETA" that was mentioned a few times prior to the episode was Coulson working out a way to get into a HYDRA base to learn where Loki's scepter is and then I think they end the episode on the line "It's time to call in the Avengers." Oh and there's also a wonderful bit of Coulson sass earlier in the episode saying to someone "Here's Fury's toolbox, you can have it until he wants it back. Oh, spoilers." I'm so grumpy that they still aren't working this guy back into these movies since he really is my favorite Avenger. 

The Avengers: Age of Ultron

Comic Review: Ms Marvel Volume 1: No Normal

I've been hearing great things about this comic for a while but it didn't occur to me to look for the collected issues at my library until I stumbled across one. I also didn't realize that the second collected set is also out now so be assured, as soon as I find that I'm reading that one too and bemoaning how short these volumes are compared to the manga volumes I'm used to.

Ms Marvel Volume 1: No Normal written by G. Willow Wilson, art by Adrian Alphona

TV Series Review: Agent Carter

Sorry that this is late folks, there's no really good answer for it except general tiredness coupled with knowing this was going to be a long review and not wanting to start it. Since I did really love this show, hence why I knew it was going to be a longer one! 

Agent Carter

Comic Review: The Shadow Hero

I heard Gene Luen Yang talk about this book at Small Press Expo 2013 and it sounded like a pretty cool idea, take an older comic which had never gotten off the ground and indulge in some fan theories by redoing it as a Chinese-American superhero for sure and just making a good story out of it. I didn't expect my library to get it but over the past few months I've started seeing more newer manga titles out there and my theory that my branch suddenly has a very savvy librarian was confirmed when I saw a "Sad that Naruto is over? Try these!" display in the window. I was walking out and glanced back over only to see this book there, doubled back, checked that these books were actually available to check out, and then headed home with one more book in an already too-full book bag, hope some other people got something good out of that display as well!

The Shadow Hero written by Gene Luen Yang and illustrated by Sonny Liew

Comic Review: Battling Boy

Another comic I would have read earlier if my library had let me, although this time it's my own fault since I simply forgot to check earlier to see if they had it, still haven't figured out how my city library buys their comics yet (especially since they have volumes 3-5 of Gundam: The Origin but not one or two, I'm really confused by this one!). I'm also confused how it seemed like I was seeing reviews for the next book, The Rise of Aurora West back at the end of July when it's not even out yet, wonder how soon my library can get that one..... 

Battling Boy by Paul Pope

Movie Review: Guardians of the Glaxay

When I saw the trailer for this film before Captain America 2: The Winter Solider all I could think was Thank God for Marvel and how they've convinced the movie-going public to give sci-fi films another chance and I don't think I'm going to stop being thankful for this for a while (and it's also proving just how loose the definition of superhero really is which is also a good thing in my opinion). I knew absolutely nothing about this franchise going in except what I saw in those trailers but it looked like it was going to be a fun, spaghetti-space-western romp and that sounded like a pretty great summer movie to me!

Guardians of the Galaxy

TV Series Review: Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.

Given how Marvel's superhero films are such big deals these days I doubt this show needs much in the way of introduction. I will note that it does cross over into the films in two places, in episode 8, The Well, we see the gang cleaning up after the effects of Thor: The Dark World and in episode 16, End of the Beginning, we see everything flip upside down as it takes place at the same time Captain America: The Winter Solider is happening. You can see the show without having seen Thor 2 (I saw the episode afterwards and was just fine) but I don't recommend it for the Cap 2 tie in so hopefully anyone interested in checking out the show has already seen it!

Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D

Anime Review: Samurai Flamenco

The winter season was an odd one for the noimainA timeslot, it had Silver Spoon returning for the second of it's split seasons and then this show continuing on from the fall as well. Like many noitaminA shows, there wasn't a lot of information available about Samurai Flamenco before it started airing beyond a few posters and a weird motto about how a hero never gives up and I remember that I didn't think highly of the first episode. But after a few episodes it grew on me and then a few more after that it had the biggest genre shift I can ever remember seeing which left my social media feeds swearing for a solid two days.....

Samurai Flamenco

Movie Review: Captain America: The Winter Solider

It felt a bit odd to be seeing a "summer blockbuster" movie long before it was summertime (even if it was unseasonably warm the day I saw it) and it looks like this summer is going to be another light one for me movie wise. There are a few that have caught my eye but not much so I'm glad that I at least enjoyed this film so it's off to a good start for me!

Captain America: The Winter Solider

Webcomic Review: Strong Female Protagonist

Strong Femal Protagonist by Brennan Lee Mulligan and Molly Ostertag

Allison Green used to be a superhero, she's retired now but she still has all of her biodynamic super-abilities. Too bad you can't solve most problems in the world by punching something but she's willing to learn how to deal with problems in other ways.

When I first saw the title for this comic I got nervous and put off reading it for quite a while, while the phrase "strong female protagonist" started out with good intentions these days it's a phrase that usually means "a female character who is physically strong and NEEDS NO MAN, YEAH, well okay that's a lie since she's emotionally weak/has no emotions to speak of at all." So, a very flat character, I've seen people describe it as "writing a male character in a female shape", which in and of itself comes wit a whole slew of weird connotations, and let me say that Mulligan and Ostertag are very clearly familiar with what the phrase means and that it was a very deliberate choice for a title. SFP takes a route that you don't see as often in superhero stories (I've seen so many different superhero stories that I'm not even sure if it's a straight retelling, a deconstuction, or reconstruction) where has Allison willingly "outed" herself as Megagirl live on national television and now works to try and help save the world as a more ordinary citizen instead of simply punching people through walls (and, while the story isn't completely clear about this, she seems to be the only masked/only American superhero to have done this). One thing I really like about her character is just how honest she is, not as in she's always telling the truth but how she's very upfront that even though she's helped save the world seven times she doesn't really know that much about how it works ("I've been in the Pentagon four times and I'm not sure what they really do") and really shouldn't have gotten as much media attention as she did. I think one of the best moments of the series so far was when she has not quite a rant but a piece where she said yes, she's a violent person and it's just so easy for her to let loose and really hurt people and both how hard it's been to break those habits and how it scares her. I'm rather surprised that I haven't seen that speech in more superhero stories actually, since wrestling with yours powers and responsibility is a classic part of the superhero story, and it's part of the reason why I think both long time superhero fans and newcomers would enjoy this story.

That's not to say that every part of the story has been smoothly written, I found the story involving Allison's teacher to be so blunt and obvious with it's themes that any meaningful message it could have provided was just killed by it's execution. Sadly, yet perhaps unsurprisingly, that's one of the earlier stories in the series so I advise people to keep going if they find the details in the other, concurrent subplots interesting even if this particular subplot doesn't quite work the way it should. But by and large the story's writing is strong and fresh. I find it interesting that a large part of the reason behind Allison outing herself was from encountering the super-villain Menace since usually when a hero actually listens to a villain's schemes it's a sign that they were rather weak-willed and easily manipulated all along, in other words not a hero after all. Here it doesn't feel like the case, it does seem a little odd that Allison actually took his words to heart but here it's a sign that she's incredibly strong-willed, she very much wants to save and protect the world and once she realizes that there's a better way to do it she switches tacks (although if it turns out that this was a long-term plan by Menace I'd only be half surprised, rather interested to see how the story continues to develop his character as well).

To talk about the look of the comic, I get the impression that the art strives to be a bit more realistic than it actually is but superhero comics are one of the genres that look equally good both super-cartoony and super-realistic. The comic itself is in black and white but the cover for the latest chapter has me intrigued since instead of following the series usual predominate colors (yellow, blue, and a bit of orange) it's in magenta and cyan, it's a sign that just like everything else in the comic the art is constantly changing and evoling and, again like the rest of the story, I can't wait to see where it ends up.

And as a heads up, while you can get the first issue or two of SFP right now I believe they're going to be running a KS for the first four chapters (issues) to be collected into one tradeback sometime in April or May so if you like the comic remember to put aside a bit of your money for that if you can!

Winter 2014 Mid-Season Anime Round-UP

So I was thinking the other day that gee, while everyone obviously makes a fuss right when new anime series start, and a bit of one when they end, it's kind of hard to look at a season when it's half-way through and go "right, what did I miss?" Yes I follow quite a few anime blogs that post episode by episode thoughts and feelings, plus on twitter I see quite a few people talking about shows I don't follow, but you can't just jump into the post on episode 5 and get a feel from it if this something you really really need to start or not (plus, if you just try to read through a few posts chronologically you usually just end up horribly spoiled). So that's what I'm going to do here, I'm going to talk about all the shows I'm currently watching and hopefully convince a few more people to try them out, or not as the case may be since, while I am investing time each week into some of these shows, there are at least a couple I expect to have messy endings. And if there's anything I don't mention here feel free to chime in in the comments and convince me what to try out, there's a few I'm teetering on the edge of trying but just haven't been sure enough to dedicate the time to them. Oh and just to note I'm a week behind all the shows except Kill La Kill since even Funimation has free-viewer-delays now (they started it up DURING the new season with no prior notice, bah) so hopefully the last episode of these shows didn't do anything really weird that'll completely change my views.

Now, onto the shows and in the order they air each week, starting on Sunday!

Movie Review: Thor: The Dark World

I haven't been able to see many films this year since I was so busy with my last semester of college and once I graduated boom, no more $1 movies and tickets around here are about $12 each, ew. However my aunt found a unused giftcard recently to a local theater and I discovered that the morning movies are $10 instead of 12 so I'm going to have a chance to see just a few movies before the year ends after all! Part of the reason I wanted to see this one was not only because it was an Avengers film but because one of the recent episodes of SHIELD tied into it and I was curious about what happened in the film. I was able to watch the episode and understand it perfectly fine without having seen the film but it did make me even more eager to see the film, hurray for cross-marketing!

Thor: The Dark World

Summary: Sometime after the Battle of New York (and presumably Iron Man 3), Jane Foster is still looking for Thor and her search has lead her to London where she's finding strange things (including her former science partner, now not being over-shadowed by Loki, to be crazy-pants, or crazy-pants-less most of the time). And it seems she's chosen the right, or possibly wrong, time to be looking for Thor, strange events are happening and with the villains plotting how to use them and it's going to take Jane and Thor and all of their friends from Midegard and Asgard to keep the world's safe.

The Good: I had fun with this film, like the first Thor film there's just something about it that doesn't quite hang together in the end but there's also something about the way it's done that keeps it amusing anyway. I did feel like the climax worked well though, everyone had an important part to play and while the first film felt like Thor's story, with Jane as a side character, this story really felt like Jane and Thor's story which I enjoyed (and also find interesting, Marvel was already courting the female fanbase a bit more with the first film and I wonder if this is them continuing it by having a superhero movie with a female co-lead). 

The Bad: I feel like for the first film everyone was talking about how Jane was a rather flat character and then suddenly before the start of this film she was everyone's darling when really, she still is a bit oddly flat. I feel like the writers were going more for "eccentric" (since that's probably how I would have read a male version of the character) but she just feels a little off to me (but at least I can see why the fandom likes her, after this film I just have no idea why they like Loki, but I say that about every villain). I also found it a bit odd that Sif was being set up as a potential romantic rival in the first film and then here they shoot down that idea in what seemed like the first five minutes of the story, it seemed like the writers realized they had to scrap one sub-plot for the sake of time and just couldn't think of a better way to have it disappear.

The Production Values: This film looked and sounded like what a big budget superhero movie should and I was satisfied with it. I didn't see it in 3D, didn't want to spend the extra money, although I am curious what they did in the 3D movie to make it, well, 3D since I don't see how that would have added much. I did have a moment in the theater however where I thought "Dear god they've done it, they've convinced Americans, people everywhere actually, to turn out in droves multiple times a year for big budget fantasy/sci-fi films, yesssssss" which made me rather happy. I'd of course love to see more big budget fantasy and sci-fi films and tv shows (adapted and original properties) but for the moment this satisfies that itch for me quite nicely.


So I'm giving this a 3.5 out of 5 for being fun, would watch again with friends but I'm unlikely to buy. Oh and I'll warn people now, there are two after the credits scenes! The first one is during the credits (and according to other nerds is helping to set up the Guardians of the Galaxy film that's coming out in the next couple of years) and then the second one is actually after them, make sure to catch both!