Ninja Scroll

Jubei Kibagami is a Samurai for Hire.  He is a swordsman with no equal and will take any job no matter the price.  His carefree travels come to a screeching halt when Jubei stumbles upon the lone survivor of a team of massacared Ninjas.  Together with the beautiful Ninja, Kagero, Jubei is pulled into a mission to save the Shogunate from the Eight Devils of Kimon: a legion of demonically powered warriors led by a man Jubei personally killed a long time ago.  When Humans face off against Demons from Hell in the ultimate battle of Good versus Evil, only those with the strongest killer instinct will survive.

The 1990’s was the decade where Anime began to cement itself as “Not for Kids”.  In the wake of Akira, the more action/adult side of the genre was embraced and a whole new breed of entertainment was unleashed upon the world.  Ninja Scroll is one of the greatest offspring of that era and, in my honest opinion, also one of the greatest Anime ever made PERIOD.  This is a movie from the glory days of ultra violent Anime and it is a helluva lot of fun to watch.

FIF#126-Basilisk: The Ouka Ninja Scrolls

Ten years have passed since the war between the Koga and Iga clans ended.  An uneasy truce has been reached but tensions between the two eternal rivals remain as high as ever.  As both clans look to two new heirs and their budding romance as a way to end the hostilities forever, a new challenge and a new darkness threaten to begin the battle anew.  A new generation of Ninja take center stage, each armed with their own mysterious powers and talents, and the deathmatch once thought concluded 10 years ago, stands poised to tear both sides apart for good.

How do you do a sequel to Romeo and Juliet?  I mean…theoretically you could look at what became of their two families in the wake of Romeo and Juliet’s tragic demise.  Otherwise, it’s a timeless tale that is best left alone, a flawless masterpiece.  So, ahem, why the heck would you even try to do that with Basilisk?  I knew of The Ouka Ninja Scrolls sequel as I was doing my recent watch through and was wondering how a follow up could be done.  The answer from the first episode is…it’s not a good idea.

Resident Evil: The Final Chapter

It has been ten years since the destruction of Racoon City.  The T-Virus has ravaged the Earth and Humanity is down to its last days.  As the end looms, a single hope emerges: an airborne Anti-Virus that could cure the entire infection.  The catch: it’s buried within The Hive, back where the nightmare began beneath Racoon City.  Once again, the fate of mankind lies in the hands of Alice, the former Umbrella Agent who has been fighting a neverending war against her former employers and the Undead.  Welcome to the Final Chapter of the End of the World.

Resident Evil: The Final Chapter is a film that, for all intents and purposes, goes all in on it’s far from Video Game roots premise as possible.  It is a film that tries to go out with the loudest bang with the biggest set pieces and a few last minute revelations to shake things up.  It’s also the most chaotically edited, boring entry of the franchise.  Even if one were to give the first five films the status of “guilty pleasure,” when the same cant be said of the big finish, something has been done very wrong…more so than what’s already been done wrong with this mess of a film franchise already.

Resident Evil: Retribution

Following a surprise attack, Alice, former agent of the Umbrella Corporation, finds herself captured in a facility where illusion is the greatest weapon and history is being predicted.  Tasked with an impossible mission, Alice teams up with a host of new allies but finds herself face to face with familiar friends, resurrected by Umbrella with the sole purpose of ending her existence.  As the war against Umbrella reaches a fever pitch, Alice must find new resolve to finish the fight that began so long ago.

I cant believe it.  They’ve actually gotten worse since Resident Evil: Extinction.  That third film was, and probably is, the last film to have any high marks for this terrible movie franchise.  As if it wasn’t possible at all, Resident Evil: Retribution turns out to be even worse than Resident Evil: Afterlife.  Not only is it more removed from the Resident Evil name, it feels insulting to slap it on this wreck…but it is beyond dull and that’s talking about a movie chalk full of cute girls shooting up Zombies and other bioweapons.

T5W#272-Top 5 Katsucon 2020 Cosplays (Part 2)

During any normal year, I attend anywhere from 2-4 conventions.  There’s always Otakon and Katsucon and a couple of smaller cons too if I can squeeze them in.  Usually, I try to save all the cosplay themed Top 5 lists for October because it’s the universal month for costumes and what not.  However, this is not a normal year by any means.  So four straight weeks of cosplay themed Top 5s is kind of impossible…well maybe not, I just wasn’t thinking much about it considering what kind of a year its been.  Still, there’s no reason I cant do another look at the only con I got to go to this year, Katsucon (that’s a lie, I went Animore too).  Considering I see hundreds of cosplays everytime I go to Katsu, I could do like a Top 20 if I wanted.  Anyway, rambling, how about we check out some more Katsucon Cosplays.  These are my Top 5 Katsucon 2020 Cosplays (Part 2).  Oh and if you’re interested in Part 1 from a few months back, feel free to take a look at it right here: http://gundamanimeblog.blogspot.com/2020/04/t5w242-top-5-katsucon-2020-cosplays.html

Resident Evil: Afterlife

Former Umbrella agent Alice continues her search for life in a world gone to Hell.  The discovery of a mysterious signal leads her to the ruins of Los Angeles, where a small band of survivors hopes salvation lies at the signals source.  To get there, Alice must navigate a prison of terror, as newer and deadlier menaces produced by the T-Virus emerge.  At the end of this journey lies an old enemy, hellbent of capturing Alice for their own ends.  The time has finally come to take the fight to the enemy that started this nightmare: the Umbrella Corporation.

Four films into an eventual six film series, Resident Evil the Movies have strayed so far from their source material that theyre simply borrowing random elements from the games just for the sake of keeping things looking cool.  That can only get you so far and it hasn’t gotten this movie franchise far at all.  And then they went to the literal apocalypse and it feels like Resident Evil has been trying to justify its existence when really, this should have been named something original altogether.  If it feels like I’m rambling, that’s because it’s really hard to open this review with anything positive about Resident Evil: Afterlife.  I mean, if you though Apocalypse botched promise, Afterlife might actually be worse for a whole slew of reasons…and for once Alice might be the least of those reasons, though she continues to be pretty high on the list.

Resident Evil: Extinction

Racoon City has been destroyed but the T-Virus survived and spread.  Now the Earth has become a desolate wasteland, home of the living dead and a quickly dwindling mankind.  Alice, a former operative of the Umbrella Corporation, is one of the few warriors still in the fight.  Armed with new and untested psychic powers, Alice leads a rag tag band of survivors who may have found a safe haven from the infection.  But Umbrella has plans for Alice and her abilities and will stop at nothing to retrieve her.  They fought the Infection.  They survived the Apocalypse.  Now…they face Extinction.

After one not terrible but not amazing start and a less than stellar second outing, you’d think there’d be some major retooling and reassessment of where to take Resident Evil next.  After all, by this time (2007), you had five main entries to dig through and one of them was Resident Evil 4 aka one of the greatest video games ever made.  However, Resident Evil: Extinction proves to be the beginning of the period where the only thing really similar between video game and movie is the title.  This is where the franchise takes a hard left turn into something zombie apocalypse fans might find a little amusing while basically banishing the hardcore Resident Evil fanbase as this is no longer their beloved franchise. 

Resident Evil: Apocalypse

Alice, a former member of the Umbrella Corporation, barely survived the biohazard in The Hive.  But now the T-Virus has escaped to the surface, infecting Racoon City.  As the streets become filled with the Undead, Alice and a small band of survivors must hurry to escape before Umbrella can destroy the city to cover up their involvement in this disaster.  But more than undead zombies stand before them.  Newer, far deadlier results of the T-Virus have appeared; among them the dreaded Nemesis.  Alice thought she’d escaped the nightmare…but it’s only just begun.

The first Resident Evil ended with a solid cliffhanger and the promise of seeing the zombie action reach the streets of Raccoon City.  Then it was announced that series mainstays Jill Valentine and Carlos Olivera along with the Nemesis, one of the greatest video game bosses of all time, would appear.  Maybe this would be the Resident Evil movie everyone wanted to see.  And then we had to remember some characters would be back and…well I wont say that this is the Mortal Kombat: Annihilation of the franchise.  But as a sequel to a so-so video game adaptation, Resident Evil: Apocalypse somehow manages to do things worse than its predecessor and, therefore, chart the course by which the franchise would proceed.

Resident Evil

The Hive: The most advanced research facility on the planet…has gone into lockdown.  In response, the Umbrella Corporation sends an elite spec ops unit in to investigate.  What should be a simple search and rescue mission turns into the ultimate nightmare.  A bioweapon of unspeakable power has been unleashed and among its horrific abilities is to return the dead to life.  At the heart of this crisis is Alice, an amnesiac survivor who may or may not have played a hand in the birth of this disaster.  With survivors and supplies dwindling, Alice and her allies must escape before they are locked inside The Hive and trapped in this nightmare forever.

Since it’s first chapter in 1996, the Resident Evil series has remained one of the most memorable Video Game franchises of all time.  And you know what that sometimes means…well not sometimes, ALWAYS means: who’s gonna make the movie?  While not nearly as disappointing as say the Super Mario Bros. movie or Mortal Kombat: Annihilation, Resident Evil, the first in a series of six films, isn’t recognized as a historic breakthrough for the genre.  It’s not Detective Pikachu or Sonic the Hedgehog…it’s just ok.  Sometimes that’s enough but in this case…it should’ve been amazing.

Basilisk Part 4 Episodes 19-24

A centuries old blood feud was used to determine the destiny of a Shogunate.  In a contest of skill, deceit and mastery of death, only four members remain for both the Koga Manjudani 10 and Iga Tsubagakare 10.  Among them are Gennosuke and Oboro, the temporarily blind leaders of both sides.  Desperate to end the fighting, they press on to Sunpu despite factors both within and outside their own camps plotting to stop them.  All they wanted was to marry and bring peace to their two clans.  But is that impossible at this point?  It all comes down to one last, heartbreaking duel.  Will Gennosuke and Oboro’s love survive?  And who will claim victory in this war that has cost them everything they hold dear?

Well that…sucked.  So that there’s no misunderstandings, I don’t mean that in regards to the finale overall.  Even though we all knew how this tale of tragic love would probably play out, still witnessing it for myself…just sucks.  Many could say the same for Romeo and Juliet and it most certainly can be said for Gennosuke and Oboro.

FIF#125-Castlevania

When the church burns his beloved wife on accusations of Witchcraft, Count Dracula swears revenge on the entire county of Wallachia.  The dark lord keeps to his promise and a year later, he unleashes an army summoned from the very bowels of Hell itself to slaughter humanity.  Terror and fear grip the helpless masses.  But there are those who are coming out of the shadows themselves to challenge Dracula’s vengeance: Trevor Bellmont, one of the last of the Bellmont family known for slaying monsters for centuries; Syphia Belnades, a beautiful Speaker Magician; and Alucard…the dhamphir son of Dracular himself.  The fate of a blood soaked land rests in the hands of these three unlikely allies as the war against the night begins.

You know, given its popularity throughout gaming history, im surprised it’s taken so long to see a Castlevania series some to light.  It’s got loads of Dracula lore, memorable characters, bloody impressive action and epic scope, enough to make a possible Anime adaptation become the fusion of Berserk and Hellsing.  Well while this particular Castlevania on Netflix isn’t an Anime (it’s more of an Anime inspired American production along the lines of Avatar: The Last Airbender and Voltron: Legendary Defender), it still looks like it could be that ultimate fusion of horror, action and epic thrills.

T5W#271-Top 5 Action/Horror Anime

 

Ah October.  When we’re not dressing up as our favorite characters or monsters of all time, we’re telling stories about them to anyone who doesn’t mind a good scary story.  Recently, I’ve been diving back into Resident Evil over on my Twitch channel and enjoying some classic survival horror and action packed moments.  Which brought to mind, last week I did a pretty somber list of the Top 5 Scariest Moments in Anime (you can check it out here if you missed it: http://gundamanimeblog.blogspot.com/2020/10/t5w270-top-5-scariest-scenes-in-anime.html).  But while horror should be scary, it shouldn’t have to be just that.  Sometimes, it’s cool to faces the forces of darkness with a good blaster at your side.  Hence today’s Top 5 Wednesday.  Today we look at horror with the added bonus of having awesome weaponry, magic and good friend to watch your back.  Filled with bullets, blood and the occasional gorgeous femme fatale, these are my Top 5 Action/Horror Anime.

Basilisk Part 3 Episodes 13-18

Determined to avoid the loss of more of his clan, Gennosuke boldly travels to Sunpu, to speak with Tokugawa himself out the destroyed peace treaty.  Determined to win the war at any cost, Tenzen orders the remaining Iga 10 to pursue them.  Both Gennosuke and Oboro have been blinded by various means, eliminating the trump cards of both sides.  That might matter little when tensions are at an all time high and both of their teams seek to settle old scores.  For love, for vengeance, for power, there is no stopping to storm of blood when Ninja clans go to war.

I’m just gonna get this out of the way…TENZEN…MUST…DIE!!!!  What he does to Oboro, a blind and helpless girl this week is unforgivable and despicable beyond reason and he deserves every bit of punishment the Koga, or even the Iga if they wanted, to doll out on him.  I don’t care how “immortal” he might seem.  Sure he survived being choked to death by Gyoubu and probably even survived Hyoma’s Golden Eye attack…honestly, he deserves a far worse fate and I hope he gets it (either from Gennosuke or even Oboro preferably).  Actually I don’t know who deserves it worse: Tenzen for committing the heinous act or Koshirou, who despite being blind could hear what was happening…and didn’t do jack to stop it cause he has commitment issues to both Oboro and Tenzen…kind of lose sympathy for the guy when he has to think about the “right thing” to do.

Gundam Anime Corner-Twitch Announcement

Hey everyone,

As you can tell, ive been trying to keep myself busy thoughout the year and I’ve just added a new endevour to a long list of things…Twitch streaming.  That’s right, I sort of fell into it while trying to share Hitman gameplay footage with a friend and now, I’m trying to do a little bit more with it.  My Twitch page is still pretty young and because of my current level with Twitch, gameplay videos are gone within 1-2 weeks.  Still, I’ve done several playthroughs of Hitman, Overwatch and Halo.  Recently, I’ve dived right back into the world of Resident Evil for the Halloween season.  I just completed playthroughs of Resident Evil 2 and 3 and intend to complete a first time playthrough of Resident Evil: Revelations and Resident Evil 5 before the end of the month.   

There’s no set schedule for this little project.  It actually began as a super late night broadcast cause what is sleep right?  But because I need an audience to judge how I’m doing, I’ve been trying to play during “normal hours”.  I’ve thought about dedicating Friday’s to Halo and that might continue.  I will be making an exception today so I can show off gameplay of the recently returned Overwatch Halloween Event.  So, for now, yeah it’ll be a little random but I’m working on getting this more balanced and expanding my horizons a little bit.  I’m also really trying to figure out what to talk about besides sharing reactions to gameplay.  So I have been sharing new of forthcoming Anime Corner Reviews (including adding some Resident Evil themed flicks to the end of the month) as well as little factoids about myself, the games I play, life, the universe and everything…all that jazz.

My Twitch address is www.twitch.com/arschelgundam87 and i proudly welcome you to: ArschelGundam-Games and Winging It…cause I’m gaming and have no idea what I’m doing with this Twitch idea…hence “Winging It”.  If nothing else, stop by every Friday around 630pm for Halo (or Overwatch) runs and let me know how I’m doing in the chat.  Let us see where this goes. 

FIF#124-Gankutsuou: The Count of Monte Cristo

In a future far from the one we know, young Albert travels to the moon based city of Luna to find something amazing, beyond his families wealth and title.  Here, in the midst of a grand festival, Albert meets The Count of Monte Cristo: a well spoken man of tremendous presence.  Little does Albert know that the closer he gets to the Count, the deeper he is drawn into a game that has been building for a very long time.  Who is the man with the power to reshape the world and what role will Albert play in this dramatic tale of vengeance?

Many of us probably had to read The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas at some point in high school.  It’s a fantastic and epic read: the tale of a man wrongfully imprisoned who plays a very, very long game to get his revenge on the people who wronged him.  It’s been adapted several times including a pretty fun action flick back in 2002.  Considering its core subject matter, you’d think it would have been adapted into an Anime well before it was.  Still, I don’t think anyone was expecting anything quite like Gankutsuou and the first episode is, in a single word, astounding.

T5W#270-Top 5 Scariest Scenes in Anime

Ah October, the months of ghouls, goblins, Michael Jackson’s Thriller being played on loop and Cosplayers treating the holiday like any other day…cause everyday for a Cosplayer is Halloween.  Anime is chalk filled with the scariest of the scary, the most nightmare inducing imagery you could ever imagine, probably why I consider the Japanese true masters of the horror genre.  Once you catch even a glimpse of these terrors, it’s impossible to forget them, no matter how hard you might try.  So, for today’s Top 5 Wednesday, I’ll be counting down the Top 5 Scariest Scenes in Anime.  BE WARNED: I haven’t seen all of these but know enough to go into detail about all of them and some of these are pretty squeamish.  So this is your warning going forward (man I don’t think ive ever done that for a Top 5 before, crazy).

Basilisk Part 2 Episodes 7-12

After centuries of uneasy peace, the treaty between the Koga and Iga Ninja clans has been abolished.  Two teams of ten battle to the death to determine the next leader of the ruling Tokugawa Shogunate.  Already, the Iga have dealt massive damage to the Koga Manjudani 10.  But those left on the Koga side are some of the most conniving the skillful in their ranks.  As more blood spills into the land, Gennosuke and Oboro, lovers and heirs to the two clans, find that it might be too late to put a stop to the violence just as peace was true peace was possible.  Who else will fall in this contest of warriors and demons and what will push Gennosuke and Oboro themselves to join the fight?

Well paradise looked good for Oboro and Gennosuke while it lasted.  But the cats out of the bag now and pretty much everything has changed for the happy couple.  Thankfully, Basilisk managed to slow down things a bit and take a look at the toll this battle is taking on them, their allies, and the world around them, while also somehow considerably keeping the kill count far lower than last weeks debut.

FIF#123-Yashahime: Princess Half Demon

It’s been years since the destruction of Naraku and the Shikkon Jewel.  Peace remains and Inuyasha and Sesshomaru both have daughters of their own: Inuyasha’s feisty Mohora and Sesshomaru’s Towa and Setsuna.  For over a decade, Towa has been trapped on the other side of the Bone Eaters well, living with Kagome Higurashi’s family in the present.  But now, fate has called her home and Towa returns to the Feudal Era to find some things have changed.  Most alarmingly is her sister, Setsuna, has lost all memory of her past.  Determined to restore her memories, Towa begins a new quest with her sister and her cousin, Mohora, by her side.

Inuyasha was a huge hit back in the early 2000’s and still has a good fandom attached to it.  Thanks to a highly successful run on Cartoon Network’s Adult Swim block, the show managed to become just as popular in the US as it did in Japan.  It’s been 10 years since the final season of the show, Inuyasha: The Final Act, which brought the TV Series to a close now that the Manga had wrapped up.  While I never saw the final season (or the last half of the show really), I know about the happy ending for Inuyasha and Kagome and their companions.  It seemed like a pretty definitive conclusion…buuuuut here we go again.  10 years later, it’s time for Inuyasha to take the Naruto route and set the next generation loose on a new generation of Anime fans (while giving those nostalgic for more Inuyasha more to cheer about).  So, how is the big debut of Yashahime: Princess Half Demon?

T5W#269-Top 5 Neon Genesis Evangelion Franchise Moments

Neon Genesis Evangelion.  What is there to say about this title that hasn’t been said multiple times or more in the last 25 years?  It’s one of the greatest Anime ever made.  It changed the Giant Robot genre forever.  It can still be enjoyed after 10 watches or more and still remains one of the most talked about Anime titles of all time, even in the new age of Boruto, Demon Slayer and Attack on Titan.  This masterpiece from legend Hideaki Anno revolutionized both Anime and Giant Robots in a way that shows have been trying to mimic and recreate for decades, some doing admirably in its footsteps like Rahxephon and others falling flat on their faces with their very first step like Darling in the Franxx.  The truth is, Evangelion is eternal and untouchable.  No amount of time will change its legacy or its impact on Anime.  Today, to celebrate the just past 25^th Anniversary of the franchise, I’m counting down my Top 5 Neon Genesis Evangelion Franchise Moments.  This includes moments from any part of the Anime, be it the TV Series, Movies or Rebuild films

Basilisk Part 1 Episodes 1-6

Japan, 1614 AD.  For years, there’s been an uneasy peace between two eternal rival Ninja clans: the Koga and the Iga.  That peace has now been shattered.  Lord Ieyasu proposes a challenge to both clans to settle a claim dispute within his own faction: select ten of their deadliest warriors for a fight to determine who will rule the Shogunate next.  Among the 10 warriors selected for this deathmatch are Gennosuke and Oboro, the heirs to the Koga and Iga clans respectively.  Both are deeply in love and hope their upcoming marriage will bring about a lasting peace.  But the time for love and feelings are over.  Now is the time for swords, skill and a river of blood to flow as the battle between clans begins once more.

Another October has come.  For those new to the blog, this time of year I always try to find an Anime that is either Horror or Supernatural themed for the Halloween Holiday.  Hellsing, Silent Mobius, Supernatural: The Anime Series and Hellsing Ultimate have all been solid choices (with varying degrees of success in both overall goodness and horror factor).  While I don’t think this years choice might be particularly scary, there’s still plenty of supernatural thrills to be found in a Team Deathmatch between two warring Ninja Clans.  Welcome to Basilisk, or as I like to call it “Romeo and Juliet…with Ninjas.”

FIF#122-Bakemonogatari

 

Koyomi Aragi has had an interesting life since he was turned into a vampire.  Barely surviving being attacked, changed, then changed back to a human, the young student has found himself drawn more and more to cases of a supernatural element.  A string of girls all seem to gravitate towards him, all afflicted after encounters with Ghosts who may or may not be Gods walking among them.  Aragi has been through that kind of torment before and he’s not ready to stand by while others suffers.  He’s determined to help these girls…even if they try to kill him in the process.

The Monogatari series is a long running saga of Japanese Light Novels connected by a varied cast of characters and the fact that each title has “gatari” in it.  Bakemonogatari is the first of this long running franchise to receive an Anime treatment.  It’s been around a bit, so naturally the name, and the name of its similarly titled brethren, has crossed my desk at one point or another.  Finally decided to take a peek into this deep rabbit hole and…well I can say I probs wont be sticking around for more but that’s not to say the first episode of Bakemonogatari didn’t leave a few memorable impressions.