Review: HAL

Hal

Here is this initial setup for the movie:

• Kurumi struggles with the loss of her boyfriend, Hal, and shuts herself off from the world. She remains a recluse until an android is made to look like Hal and sent to help her cope.

From this point the audience is treated to an even paced "slice of life" which slowly pulls you in to where you buy into the plot devices completely.  

Hal maintains the premise through most of the movie.  There are the odd moments however when Hal is it would appear, reintroduced to childhood friends who are completely nonpluses when Hal doesn't recall them at all.  Now this would at first blush be expected, however it is the friends reaction that begins to be telling.  Not all is as it seems.  That mixed with an ofttimes melancholy and often tearful happiness.  

The ending moments are hardly a given.  I was privy to the concluding moments and still found myself asking why such and such a development happened.  

The film at times is cute, other times heart breathtakingly sad and through it all is woven a thread of mystery.  

I would give the movie a solid 8, I would take off some for what appears to be deliberate confusion

Review: Redline an Anime Movie

Redline is a 2010 anime film, running 102 minutes.  Released by the studio Madhouse in Japanese

with English subtitles.

Redline is an auto racing movie.  In the far distant future our main character JP qualifies for the REDLINE underground (against the law) auto race.  

As you can expect, the Redline race is a "no rules" competition with plenty of crashes, fires and other forms of constant mayhem.  The graphic are all over the top, almost suggestion an altered state while putting the frames together.  Psychedelic  colors and characters alike make for a surreal feel. 

It might take you a couple of tries but you can get through the movie and may even like it at the end. 

I had trouble getting started for the simple reason there is very little reality to grab a hold of and for me, that is a turn off.  Others have enjoyed just this aspect.  

The DVD has plenty of extras though so there is a plus for those that like deleted scenes or a director's commentary.   

I appreciate the effort that went into this film, but in the end I felt as though I needed a Bleach movie to clean my anime palette.   Rate 5 for the movie and 7 for the extras for an overall 6.  

Review: Gantz dvd series

Review: Gantz anime DVD series

Gantz is an anime series based on the Gantz Manga series written by Hiroya Oku.  

The story line orbits around  Kei Kurono and his friend Masaru Kato who die while saving a drunk who has fallen onto the tracks of the subway.  But instead of nothing, the pair wake in a room with a dark sphere and shortly there after a man dressed in what appears to be a dark latex body suit.  

They are informed that they are not really dead, but in between and as such have to complete tasks devised   by a mysterious Gantz.  As the series proceeds, more people join under the very same circumstances and even more are "killed" under increasingly more difficult tasks.  

The Animation of Gantz which appears in Japan as Manga, is directed by  Ichiro Itano and produced by Gonzo.  The series aired in Japan on Fuji Television and AT-X. The Gantz anime is divided into two seasons: The first season is known as "The First Stage", while the second season is known as "The Second Stage", which is a direct continuation of the first season. The First Stage aired in Japan with several scenes censored due to inappropriate content such as violence or nudity. However, the DVDs from the series contained the scenes uncensored. The Second Stage aired on Japanese network AT-X on August 26, 2004.There are a total of 12 Japanese DVDs, released from August 28, 2004 to June 29, 2005.  The US release contains ALL the scenes as the Japanese dvd release. 

On June 25, 2010, anime distributor Funimation Entertainment announced on their online FuniCon 4.0 panel, that they have acquired the rights to the series, along with 3 other former ADV titles after ADV's collapse in 2009.

That's the basic history of Gantz.  If you want a break from High School antics, Gundam power suits and move into something more sophisticated as say Ghost in the machine, with an even harder edge, you might just want to check Gantz out.  However FAIR WARNING The average character is unpleasant, the action is fast and violent to the point that if it can be cut off or sliced up, it is!  With great gusto.  Gouts of blood and flying body parts are the rule of the day along with...well if you caught the review about scene censoring you have to know where that was headed.  If you want introspection, you are not going to get it here! Graphic violence and nudity, and more, that would get this series canceled except on dvd anywhere you can imagine.  If this is your cup of tea, well you are not going to be able to rent it, so pony up and buy BOTH sets and you will not be disappointed   But if you want introspection for the ages, put the DVD down and run away.  

How would rate this? if looking for edge of your seat action you will get it in spades.  If I had to I would deduct a point for just to damn much! that would still give it an 8 or 9 with the graphics right up there with it.  Hey its' no DC or Marvel but then it ain't trying to be.  If weird weapons and whacked power suits (not gundam but form fitting latex with weird power globes at strategic locations) you will be watching one dvd and have two or three right at hand ready to go, and the world will go away for several hours....

Review: Oblivion Island: Haruka and the Magic Mirror

Every now and then you get surprised by something that is really good, I mean way past expectations. Seems that is happening to me more and more with what I would call, High Concept Anime. Most often in the feature length versions, but not always.

I was recently notified by list that a new animated anime feature was available called Oblivion Island: Haruka and the Magic Mirror". If you enjoyed the lovely anime feature "Spiriting Away" then you really have to take a look at "Oblivion Island: Haruka and the Magic Mirror". Oblivion is a 2009 Japanese computer-animated film directed by Shinsuke Sato. It was produced in commemoration of Fuji Television's 50th anniversary.

I am not a great fan of computer animation, mainly because it gives the characters a somewhat plastic look as apposed to the hand drawn version which I consider more pleasing to the eye.

That being said, the movie is every bit as fast paced and environment rich as say Spirited Away. The premise of the movie is that forgotten or otherwise lost items are collected by the fox god.

A young girl missing her mother and feeling unloved, asks for the return of her mother's long lost hand mirror. Soon she finds herself in a small shrine, where through misadventure manages to witness this very same fox god "collecting" items.

Following him, she finds herself thrust into a world of small creatures who build their world with the collected detritus from the human world.

Our main character Haruka soon discovers that this world is ruled by someone called the Barron who in fact has the very mirror she wants returned. The balance of the movie follows Haruka as she and one of the "foxes" as she attempts to regain the mirror and in the balance foil his plans of destruction.

You might not get the same feel of rich legend that Spirited Away provided, but it is clear that the movie's plot and characterizations are rooted in Japanese mythology and a lot of respect was given to the legends that helped formulate the plot.

As far as animated features go, this film I think exemplifies the art-form without being pedantic, so in it's class I would give it a 9 with the drawback of the slightly plastic look to the graphics. I would say that it is well worth tracking down. I found it on YouTube, check it out.

Wikipedia article on Oblivion can be seen HERE

Tor to podcast from this years's WorldCon

From SFSignal's blog I hear that TOR books will have a podcast from the worldcon in Japan.

Marking the first time that Worldcon has ever taken place in Japan, Tor publisher Tom Doherty and senior editor Patrick Nielsen Hayden will podcast directly from the convention. This international podcasting event will kick off Tor's new podcasting program, which will continue with regularly scheduled podcasts beginning September 12th.

Here is a link to the Tor preview podcast LINK

Jiggling Asteroid

Shaun Saunders, just sent me a very interesting article concerning the asteroid Itokawa. It seems that the diminutive asteroid (only 1,600 feet ,500 meters, in diameter.) jiggles like jar of mixed nuts! This "jiggling" action, is sorting loose rock particles on its surface by size, causing the smallest grains to sink into depressions. Images, taken by the Japanese Hayabusa spacecraft in 2005, revealed that some areas were coated with fine particles and appeared smooth, while others regions looked bumpy, The regolith (a mix of boulders and gravel), distribution suggests Itokawa has been shaken up in the past, but what might have rattled it is still an open question. One hypothesis is that smaller asteroids occasionally strike Itokawa and shake the space rock up. Because of its diminutive size, even tiny impacts could send Itokawa into a tremor. Another idea is that Itokawa might occasionally fly close enough to the Earth, where our planet’s gravity could jostle it.