FIF#217-The Ultraman

Earth, the 21^st Century, is under attack from monsters of unknown origin.  The Science Defense Squad fights a neverending battle against them.  But they’re not without help.  Unbeknownst to them, their newest recruit, Hikari Chouichirou, has bonded with an advanced Alien, an Ultra Person, called Ultraman Jonias.  Though this joining, Hikari is able to become Ultraman, the titanic guardian who has the power to fight the Monsters on their own terms. 

 
So this one came as a bit of a surprise for me (a friend stumbled across one of Shout Factory’s 24/7 series streams).  Of course I know of the current Ultraman Netflix CG Anime but I never knew that Ultraman had an Anime adaptation prior, especially one dating as far back as the late 70s.  This seems fitting considering the 70’s were all about Giant Mecha teams being used to fight against Kaiju and Aliens.  So why not one of Japan’s most iconic superheroic defenders? 
 

T5W#477-Top 5 Sexiest Assassin’s in Anime

Last week we got our first look at the long awaited spin off of the John Wick franchise, Ballerina.  I’ve been excited for this one for a while for a couple of reasons.  First, the John Wick movies are freaking awesome, with plenty of room for stories beyond our titular hitman.  The second is Ana de Armis.  If you haven’t seen her in movies like Blade Runner 2049 or Knives Out, you should cause she’s a fantastic actress.  More importantly to todays topic, in her criminally underutilized role in the James Bond film No Time to Die, Ana’s Paloma kicks a tremendous amount of ass in a sequence that is probably the reasons she landed the role of titular Ballerina Eve Maccaro.  Personally it’s also kind of obvious but she is as gorgeous as she is a talented actress.  Got me thinking about Anime femme fatales who have a penchant for taking on deadly jobs with the odds stacked against them and making good use of their arsenal of weapons and to die for good looks.  And today we’re giving these ladies a shoutout on Top 5 Wednesday with the Top 5 Sexiest Assassin’s in Anime.

 

Psycho Pass: Sinners of the System-On the Other Side of Love and Hate

Four years after his exile from Japan, Shinya Kogami continues to work as a freelance Mercenary in East Asia.  After saving a young girl from a bandit raid, Kogami finds the girl is determined to become his student and learn the ways of combat and revenge.  As Kogami begins to reevaluate how far he’s come since killing Shogo Makashima, discord in the region brings a new wave of violence he cant avoid…as well as a beautiful officer from Japan’s Foreign Affairs Bureau in need of his special set of skills.  This is where the road home for Shinya Kogami begins.

While I’ve stated multiple times that Sinners of the System feels like a huge apology to Psycho Pass fans for the abysmal Second Season, I didn’t expect all three stories to be a bridging point between the events of Psycho Pass: The Movie and Psycho Pass 3 (and by eventual extension Psycho Pass: Providence).  Sinners of the System has done a great job fleshing out or course correcting a lot of the supporting cast but the final chapter of this trilogy brings one of the franchises two main leads back to the focal point and it’s about time too.  Much of Psycho Pass’ overarching narrative is about Akane and her dealings with the Sybil System.  But Kogami is just as important to the shows success and it’s about time he got a solo story free of the others for a little bit.  That’s not to say that I don’t miss him being with his colleagues, it’s just good to get a fun little Kogami existential action romp as only this guy could deliver.
 

FIF#216-Shimoneta: A Boring World Where the Concept of Dirty Jokes Doesn't Exist

Welcome to the world of Tokyo 2030.  Here you will find nothing that can corrupt the mind and soul as everything that does so is outlawed.  This includes lewd materials, foul language and a ban on almost all sex education.  But there is one dares to rise against this oppressive mindset: the Blue Swan.  This vulgar and promiscuous terrorist raises Hell wherever she can and now she’s roped a poor freshman student into her plans to start an all out revolution of sexual freedoms and the will to speak as raunchy and wild as one wants.

 
Random question: has anyone ever seen the 1993 action classic Demolition Man with Sylvester Stallone and Wesley Snipes?  I only ask because the world of Shimoneta feels very much in line with that vision of the future: a utopia where violence and anything that’s bad for the brain has been eliminated, oh and harsh language has been outlawed. Anyone who breaks these laws is fined for it (and honestly I forget if there was any larger punishment for multiple offenses).  It’s the kind of world Stallone’s cop out of time is prime to tear a new one with his old school action ways.  But Shimoneta isnt about bringing back the ultra violence, no it’s got something a lot more fun in mind and if you haven’t laughed your butt off by the end of the first episode, this might not be for you.
 

T5W#476-Top 5 Upcoming Netflix Video Game Adaptions

Well Netflix has certainly been hard at work, haven’t they?  Last week during GeekedWeek we got a slew of new trailers for upcoming animated project all centered around popular Video Game franchises, many of which I either follow extensively or are personal favorites that I’ve played.  I’d heard about a couple of these but one or two were total surprises (one in particular for all of us and in a very good way).  Could be a good time for Netflix to capitalize on their corner of the Video Game Adaptation market the same way Amazon and HBO have with Fallout and The Last of Us respectively and maybe not crash and burn as hard as Paramount did with Halo.  Anyway, let’s take a closer look at what’s headed our way with the Top 5 Upcoming Netflix Video Game Adaptions.