Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla

It is a time of great calamity.  An Azumi Priestess has a vision of the destruction of a city.  At the same time, Godzilla seemingly attacks his allies in brutal fashion.  A team of scientists and archeologists begin looking into the matter only to discover a new threat to the planet.  Godzilla himself finds his true equal in a robotic duplicate that might just surpass him in everyway.  Together with the Guaridan kaiju King Caeser, Godzilla must summon all of his powers and more to stop this mechanical terror before it destroys the world.

We come to the end of Godzilla Month with the debut of yet another of Godzilla’s most recognizable foes.  Yeah, it would seem kind of easy and obvious to do a robotic replica of the King of the Monsters (particularly when you think about how it would no doubt inspire Power Rangers down the road).  Thankfully, while most of Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla still retains the usual negatives that drag down a Godzilla movie, the debut of Mechagodzilla himself isn’t one of them.  In fact he’s a highlight, along with another monster debut that sadly should have happened in its own film.
 

Final Impact-An Evangelion Gundam Anime Corner Special (Part 14)

Previously:

Just go read Part One right here: The Gundam Anime Corner: Final Impact-An Evangelion Gundam Anime Corner Special (Part 13) (gundamanimeblog.blogspot.com)…oh ok fine, if you don’t want to: Shinji got back in the game and took on several Mass Produced Evas to protect Asuka but ended up being captured and used to kick off Third Impact anyway.  Meanwhile, Gendo thought he had won the day but a farewell bullet from Ritsuko and Rei seizing his Adam Embryo (wow that sounded grosser than I intended) and rising up to meet Shinji for the big end of the world event.  Final Impact has reached Third Impact and the final act of the Evangelion Manga.  Shall we?

Final Impact-An Evangelion Gundam Anime Corner Special (Part 13)

Previously:

NERV found itself under an attack it was doomed to fail against.  Gendo revealed his plans to become God to get revenge on God because he’s Gendo Ikari and surprising no one, he admitted he hates Shinji and always has.  Meanwhile, Asuka got back into the fight against crazed looking Eva’s and Misato saved Shinji’s life at the cost of her own, though she got some bad guys in the process.  Now Shinji stands ready to protect Asuka and fight some terrifying Mass Produced Evangelions.  It’s Part One of this double sized finale to Final Impact: An Evangelion Gundam Anime Corner Special.  I’m ready, you ready?  Let’s roll.

FIF#146-Gundam: Reconguista in G

It is the year 1014 of the Reguild Century.  Over a millennia has passed since the close of the Universal Century.  Following centuries of turmoil and chaos, Humanity has finally found a measure of peace and prosperity in this new era.  Bellri Zenam emerges as one of its newest defenders, tasked with protecting an orbital elevator that the world relies on for energy.  During Bellri’s first sortie, the tower is attacked by Pirates with a mysterious Mobile Suit, the G-Self.  This is only the beginning of a strange journey for Bellri as he meets the beautiful pilot Aida Rayhunton and learns he is one of only a handful of people who can pilot the G-Self.  The eras may have changed, but once more a Gundam chooses a young man to protect the future.

I’ve always said that I feel it is my destiny, having a blog with the title “Gundam” in it, to review just about everything Gundam in existence and I’ve done a pretty good job over the last seven years I think.  There’s plenty still left to review, including what I have planned for December.  But come 2022, there are only a small batch of shows left in the Gundam franchise left for me to take a look at.  One of those is my First Impression today, Reconguista in G.  Now, this isn’t one of Gundam’s most beloved entries, in fact I hear it’s one of the worst.  Most of the complaints I’ve heard stem from G Reco being a confusing mess with little clarity.  And judging from the first episode…they may be right about that.

Cowboy Bebop (2021 Live Action TV Series)

2071 AD.  Mankind has colonized the Solar System thanks to warp gates across the cosmos.  With this expansion, crime runs rampant and even the Police are stretched thin.  Spike Spiegel, Jet Black and Faye Valentine are Bounty Hunters.  Their mission: track down the worst of the worst and get them of the streets in exchange for a tiny profit.  Each has their own baggage and hangups, some worse than others.  But with rival Bounty Hunters, even more dangerous Bounty Heads and the ruthless steel of the Syndicate all in their way, Spike, Jet and Faye will have to find a way to work together as a team to get rich…or risk getting dead themselves.

 
Live Action Adaptations of any kind are tricky, no matter the subject.  If you try to work too little into your project, it’ll show a lack of trust in the material.  You work in too much, you might run the risk of overcompensating for a lack of proper understanding of the material.  The latest Netflix attempt to bring Anime to life, Cowboy Bebop, comes with a lot of heavy expectation.  Cowboy Bebop is one of the most universally beloved titles in the genre, one that both casual and hardcore Anime fans alike can enjoy.  And despite it being an Anime, there are times where Cowboy Bebop transcended the genre and felt more like watching an action packed scifi movie week after week, hence it’s popularity beyond love of the medium.  The Netflix series has a wealth of material to work with but in the end has no idea what it wants to do so it just throws in everything it can to hopefully appease the fans.  Thus, it falls into that latter category I mentioned: doing too much and in doing so showing the people behind the scenes don’t know what makes Bebop, Bebop and instead hope all the Easter Eggs, replica costumes and familiar music will do the job for them.