Gundam Anime Corner-Fall 2020 Updates

Hey guys.  Well we’re in the last legs of a rather quick summer.  Worlds still a bit of a mess but I’m surviving and I know everyones doing the best to do the same as well.  As for the blog, well having a bunch of time off from work has set a lot of things in motion for the rest of the year and even well into 2021.  You saw some of this when I decided to binge review all of Gundam Seed and Gundam Seed Destiny back in May.  So…look forward to another extreme project like that down the line.  In the meantime, let’s walkdown what’s coming from September through December, shall we?

Resident Evil Vendetta

A botched rescue mission puts BSAA agent Chris Redfield on the hunt for an elusive arms dealer named Glenn Arias.  When Arias deploys a new kind of bio weapon based on the T-Virus, Chris’ mission leads him back to a pair of old friends: former member of S.T.A.R.S Rebecca Chambers and DSO Agent Leon S. Kennedy.  All three have faced the terror of bio weapons for years since the catastrophe of Raccoon City and all three have a personal stake in this mission.  Can they confront their demons before Arias follows through on his vendetta against the world?

Resident Evil remains to this day one of the most popular franchises in video game history.  A staple of the survivor horror genre, the series has been known best for blending pure terror and strategic gameplay for an unforgettable experience.  In recent years, however, later entries have gone more bombastic, dropping the survival horror in favor of survival action.  One could say this began with Resident Evil 4’s game changing brilliance but more so with the less impressive Resident Evil 5.  Wherever you place the change, the CG films made around these games have followed suit.  Resident Evil Vendetta, ergo, feels in the same vein as Resident Evil 5 or the much reviled 6 and less in the better vein of Resident Evil 2 or 4.

FIF#117-Message from Space: Galactic Wars

In the far future, Humanity has reached the stars and is thriving all across the galaxy.  The peace that comes with this is shattered when they encounter the Gavanas Empire, which quickly enslaves the Humans inhabiting the 15^th Solar System.  Hope remains in the form of a small band of freedom fighters.  Among them is Hayato, a rookie pilot with latent psychic powers.  Aided by his mentor, Ryu and eager Alien Warrior Balu, Hayato begins his journey to free the 15^th Solar System from the Gavanas Empire and confront his own mysterious destiny.

When Power Rangers In Space first aired back in 1999, one could think of it as the Rangers finally getting their own Star Trek/Star Wars style adventure to close out their first era which began in Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers.  Well as many know, Power Rangers is adapted from a plethora of Japanese Super Sentai series from the 70’s to the present.  I mention all of this because from the episode I glimpsed of 1978’s Message from Space: Galactic Wars, this show could be your old school answer to Power Rangers meets Star Wars…though in hindsight it might have more in common with the Tokusatsu genre, aka Kamen Rider.

T5W#263-Top 5 Most Disappointing Anime Sequels

It goes without saying, even beyond the world of Anime, if any major entertainment property, more likely a movie, performs incredibly well, a sequel is sure to be in the works.  And while the creative forces behind the original success might return, there’s a strong chance lightning isn’t going to strike twice.  Some good works are one hit wonders that are classics for a reason.  Trying to force more out of it for the sake of money or continued popularity seems foolhardy.  But that’s the nature of the beast and it’s resulted in many disappointing follow ups to some of the best Anime of all time.  Of course, I can think of 5 titles in particular who’s terribleness really cuts deep.  So onward, Dear Readers, to todays Top 5 Wednesday, the Top 5 Most Disappointing Anime Sequels.

Fatal Fury: The Motion Picture

The Armor of Mars, once thought lost to history, is being sought out by the power made Laocorn, who seeks to dominate all.  In an effort to stop him, Laocorn’s sister, Sulia, tracks down Terry Bogard, a world traveling fighter who’s just defeated one of the deadliest warriors in the world, Wolfgan Krauser.  Along with Terry’s brother, Andy; Andy’s sexy girlfriend Mai; and celebrity fighter Joe, Terry and Sulia race across the globe to beat Laocorn to a complete set of armor that, in the wrong hands, could mean the end of life as we know it.

In the era of fighting games of the 90’s, the cast of the SNK games, particularly Fatal Fury: King of the Fighters, kind of flew under the radar here in the States, save for the occasional crossover appearance in Dead or Alive and Tekken.  Still, Terry Bogard and his video game adventures were crazy popular in Japan, enough to merit a trilogy of Anime stories: two OVAs and this feature length motion picture.  As a series that constantly gets compared to Street Fighter, I couldn’t help but go into Fatal Fury: The Motion Picture thinking about the Street Fighter II: The Animated Movie I reviewed around the same time last year.  I was a little hard on that flick though I appreciated it for the dumb action fest it was.  Fatal Fury: The Motion Picture is…just ok, maybe a bit below that but not enough to say I truly hated it.