FIF#109-Psycho Pass 3

When a brand new model transport drone crashes into Tokyo Harbor, most authorities rule the incident as an accident.  However, a missing passenger attracts the attention of Public Safety Bureau agents Arata Shindo and Kei Mikhail Ignatov.  Put in charge of a newly built Unit 01, Arata and Mikhail begin using their unique skill sets to uncover something far deeper than a simple accidental death.  A secret cabal within Tokyo is playing with the countrys future and their endgame could upset the natural order the Sybil System has worked hard to keep in place.  With many eyes watching them, Arata and Kei move out to investigate, regardless to the cost of their careers or their own Psycho Passes.

Jeez this one took forever.  It’s not like there haven’t been Psycho Pass projects since the abysmal second season.  There was, of course, The Movie, and the mini follow up anothology trilogy: Sinners of the System.  But now, about five years later, we’ve finally gotten a proper third season of the Psycho Pass TV Series.  Could Psycho Pass 3 redeem the franchise’s lowest points?  From the first episode alone…there’s potential even if some problems from the past still persist in the form of one person in particular.

A (mostly) whole new crew, a new case that might be the biggest yet…and now Shimotsuki has been promoted to Chief…not gonna lie, the scene where she tells our new protagonists, Arata and Kei, that she isn’t a hologram, I wanted to punch her.  But I’m not here to just completely rag on Psycho Pass’ infuriating punching bag…not yet.  While we do get glimpses of familiar returning faces (and plenty of questions about why they are where they are) most of the premieres focus is on Arata and Kei and it’s clear that Psycho Pass 3 is going for more of a buddy cop feel compared to the first couple of seasons.  Arata is arguably the most happy go lucky character in Psycho Pass to date…which raises a crap ton of red flags right there.  But his Mentalist abilities that make him able to virtually look into the history of just about anyone is an interesting addition to the crime solving skills of this universe.  It doesn’t mean he immediately solves crimes, there are limits, which his good.  I’m just waiting for the shoe to drop on what the heck Arata’s real deal is and why he’s seeing the Devil’s Hell Hound trying to catch him.  As for Kei…besides the fact that he’s a foreign detective (Immigration matters are going to play a heavy role in this season), there’s not much too him yet besides his being Arata’s caretaker and isn’t prone to taking crap from his Enforcers. 

One major note about this new season is that it looks like its taking a new approach to episode structure.  Psycho Pass 3 clocks in at 8 episodes but each one is about 45mins long.  Fans might recall there was a Directors Cut edition of the first season that was done in this same manner, basically taking two episodes and fusing them into one.  It’ll make Psycho Pass 3 feel more like a US Procedural drama like NCIS or Criminal Minds (the latter ive compared this franchise too on several occasions.  I don’t know if this could backfire or not.  But if im honest, I missed the morally out of control world of Psycho Pass.  So at least for the first episode, I enjoyed watching the new cast work and the seeds of the new mystery begin to take root.  Who knows, maybe if this hour long format works, future TV Seasons of Psycho Pass could be done in this same manner.

Despite the quirkiness of Arata and the fact that everyones least favorite character in the franchise is now in charge (while Akane is locked up WTF?), Psycho Pass 3’s premiere episode feels like a solid return to form.  Much like the start of Season Two, things start off far different from where we left them and the groundwork has been laid for a very different kind of murder mystery (one that hopefully doesn’t involve this secret cabal trying to find out what the hell Sybil actually is).  Well, you’ll have to wait a little while but I’ll announce here and now: I will be covering Psycho Pass 3 this year on the Gundam Anime Corner (current target date is September 2020).  Whether this becomes as good as Season One or falls even flatter than Season Two…we’ll find out how things go together later this year.  Til then, welcome back Psycho Pass.

T5W#233-Top 5 Best Video Game Film Adaptations

Video Games and Movies aren’t exactly the best matched pair.  Hell this weeks Top 5 list was probably one of the hardest to assemble because…well a lot of them suck (and even then there’s too many to choose that I almost want to do a Top 10 next week).  I bring this up because next week, after a several month delay to correct a hideous wrong, Sonic the Hedgehog finally arrives in theaters.  Yes, yes, the first trailer prompted the aforementioned “delay”.  But while the new Sonic design is much, MUCH better, it doesn’t mean the movie is going to go the distance and become one of the rare few that breaks the “Movies based on Video Games” suck mentality.  To be fair…I assumed the same about Alita: Battle Angel and I ate my foot on that one so there’s a chance of greatness.  With all that said, we’ve got kind of a two part Top 5 Wednesday, beginning here with the Top 5 Best Video Game Film Adaptations.  I was going to keep this to live action…buuuuut there honestly aren’t enough of those to fil a Top 5 so there might be an Anime or two slipped in to balance the scales.  Could Sonic end up on this list in a later retrospect?  Probably, probably not, let’s get to the list anyway.

#5-Street Fighter II: The Animated Movie

Street Fighter is one of the most popular fighting game franchises in history.  So to capitalize on that popularity, a few film projects were put into the works.  One of the more infamous is the 1994 film starring Jean Claude Van Damme and Raul Julia (in his amazing final role).  While many claim it’s so bad it’s good (especially thanks to Julia’s performance as Bison), the Street Fighter II movie is a bit more true to it’s gaming routes.  The film follows Chun Li, Guile and Ryu, who are all on separate yet interconnected quests to take down M. Bison.  The film looks great and best of all, the action looks ripped right from the game.  You can tell the animators spent a great deal of time studying

#4-Resident Evil

This film series is kind of a guilty pleasure for me.  And while they get more and more ridiculous with each new entry, the first Resident Evil movie is probably the closest to the game there is.  And honestly, I can see why this one is considered the best of the series.  Focusing on fresh characters, led by the eternally bad ass Milla Jovovich and Michelle Rodriguez, the movie still retains the sense of dread and survival horror the video game franchise is known for, right down to the immense lack of ammo and overwhelming hallways of Zombies.  The problem most find is that the introduction of Alice in the movie and making her the face of the Resident Evil film franchise negated the original characters from the games themselves…maybe that could have been avoided had this been the only one.

#3-Mortal Kombat

Ok, ok, ok, this one is debatable but I freaking love it.  Yes it is the least bloody product to come out of the Mortal Kombat franchise…besides the sequel and DC vs. Mortal Kombat (and that’s the last we’re talking about that).  It is tame but it is still an awesome movie to watch.  The production design is great, the characters are all here and the fight scenes are very well choreographed and a lot of fun (Johnny Cage vs. Scorpion and Liu Kang vs. Reptile both stand out).  But let us not forget the true contribution this movie made to history…THAT KICK ASS TECHNO THEME SONG!!!!  Play it today and try not to get pumped…I dare you.

#2-Halo 4: Forward Until Dawn

Following the success of Halo: Combat Evolved and Halo 2, there was buzz about a potential Halo movie with big name directors like Peter Jackson (The Lord of the Rings) and Neil Blomkamp (District 9) attached.  Those sadly never materialized and, honestly, after watching Halo 4: Forward Until Dawn, that’s a shame.  Forward Until Dawn is a prequel to Halo 4, focusing on a young Thomas Lasky, who plays a vital role in the new trilogy of games, and his first encounter with the Master Chief.  Yes if feels like a SyFy movie of the week but this movie has better production value than needed for a tie in movie.  The visual effects, especially on the Hunters, are awesome and those are legit Warthogs being driven and Assault Rifles being fired.  And yes, it is a whole other level of thrill to see Master Chief in the flesh, armor and all.  This movie alone is proof why Halo is worthy of a bigger budget theatrical feature.

#1-Pokemon: Detective Pikachu

So…this movie isn’t perfect.  There’s definite holes in the plot and some leaps of logic.  So why is Detective Pikachu #1 on this list?  Because wherever it might fail, it succeeds at one particular thing: it gave us a living, breathing world with thriving Pokemon that look so goddamn real.  Never in a million years did I ever think I would see Pokemon thriving and interacting with humans in a ginormous city.  It’s enough to make any fan of Pokemon, no matter how much or how little you played the games, cry.  And yeah, Ryan “Deadpool” Reynolds as the most adorable little Pikachu ever is added win, in and of itself.  Like I said, it’s not prefect but this was a huge step in the right direction for a genre that hasn’t had much success in film history.  Let’s hope, beyond hope, that Sonic can follow in Detective Pikachu’s footsteps and learn from its mistakes and maybe succeed as a whole.

K-ON!! Part 5 Episodes 17-20

Disaster strikes the Light Music Club in more ways than one.  When their beloved Club Room needs repairing, the girls must find a new refuge.  But what can take the place of the sanctuary that bought them together?  There’s still a school festival performance to prepare for…but first there’s a special stage play of Romeo and Juliet with Mio and Ritsu in the lead roles.  How can every balance the drama of the stage with the burden of their final performance as a band?  Amidst all the wacky chaos, it slowly begins to dawn on Yui, Ritsu, Mio, Mugi and Azusa…that the end is closer than they think.

K-ON!! begins it’s march towards the end in this weeks set.  Honestly though, this week could have been the grand finale and I would’ve been totally satisfied.  Seriously, how is next weeks final set of episodes going to top the gauntlet of feels that ran through the last three minutes alone?  I know I’ve been a little hard on this second season at times but this set I don’t think I have any complaints…save maybe one but there’s so much good around it, it hardly matters.

It's hard to say what the last four episodes of K-ON!! will look like so I can only imagine this week was about giving the girls one last little adventure and one final showstopping musical act together.  As such, everyone got to get into the spotlight at some point.  Sawako, Ui, Jun, Nadoka and even Mio’s Fan Club were all given shoutouts at the School Festival Performance, and rightfully so since they’ve all had pretty big roles to play this season and they’ve played them so well.  Perhaps most important was an episode where the girls were stuck without their club room for a period of time.  In a precise case of “Don’t know what you’ve got til it’s gone…you know until the finale next week”, you really felt the absence of the room and how important it has been to our amazing quintet of rockers.  It’s almost like looking at the Starship Enterprise or the Firefly class ship Serenity as core members of “Star Trek” and “Firefly” respectively.  The LMC Club Room is just as important a character in K-ON as anyone.

I was a little worried about splitting the Romeo and Juliet story arc into two episodes but it was worth it to see all the prep everyone went through.  Pairing up Mio and Ritsu as Romeo and Juliet respectively was a lot of fun and we got to see these two besties at their best together, fitting since theyre kind of the core duo in the main cast.  It doesn’t surprise me that they were able to pull off their roles with ease when the time came for the actual play.  As many noted, when anyone from the LMC really needs to pull through, they do and Mio and Ritsu rocked Romeo and Juliet in style.  Though my one gripe with this set came into play around this time.  Azusa has been playing with Yui and the others for two years now.  She knows how they operate and knows that even with a minimal amount of practice, After School Tea Time can play the greatest shows ever put on by modern man.  So why was she so worried that everyones dedication to Romeo and Juliet would ruin that streak?  Plus, Yui, Mio, Ritsu and Mugi are all Seniors so theyd have their hands full with class projects for the School Festival.  Point is, Azusa was worrying about nothing and she should’ve known better.

And then came the School Festival show itself.  I don’t know how Kyoto Animation can make High School Festivals look like the greatest place on Earth but man can they.  The overall Festival looked like so much fun to attend, full of life and unique projects from each class in the school.  As for LMC…well they brought the house down one more time.  U&I, which was written by Yui about her sister, brought me to tears.  It’s not just about Ui, when you think about it, the song is about Yui’s time with the LMC altogether.  How much fun have they had?  How much have they grown as people being in each others company?  It’s no wonder the school loves them.  And it’s no wonder that it was after the show, the Seniors finally broke down.  And it was done in such a heartbreakingly beautiful way as they all mapped out what they wanted to do next year…aka the year they weren’t going to have because this was their last show.  My God it’s impossible not to star getting all weepy and cry like a baby.  This was the best show Yui, Mio, Ritsu, Mugi and Azusa have played together and it was so spectacular and practically perfect…that I repeat I think I would be fine if the season (and the show) ended here.

But, this isn’t the end, not yet.  The Season/Series finale of K-ON!! drops next week right here at the Gundam Anime Corner.  Should I bring tissues?  I think I’m gonna need tissues.