It's 2019, Bitches!

It's not Mary Poppins, ya'll!

ANI-MOVIE, *Marvel Rising: Secret Warriors

Following up to DC's Super Hero Girl, Marvel decided to instead focusing on their more recently introduced teenage superheroines shown in the comics. Marvel Rising first started out as an online mirco-series that was collected into a single special titled Marvel Rising: Initiation, mostly highlighting the character of Spider-Gwen(here called "Ghost Spider"), and Secret Warriors is a follow-up to that with only a brief offhanded remark to Gwen, possibly since she's already getting plenty of airtime in Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse. This one focuses more on the current Ms. Marvel and the other Inhumans popping up in the Marvel Universe. This is a leftover plan Marvel had to replace Inhumans as their standard for the X-Men after their constant head-butting with Fox for the movie rights to the characters, but since Disney bought out Fox the Inhumans are being swept under the rug. Marvel did though take advantage of the "rise" of new super-powered teenagers that were created during this storyline, and reserve some of them to be part of this "toyetic" line-up.

In Secret Warriors, Kamala Khan is a girl turned into an Inhuman by a special mist that covered the Earth due to a story arc involving Thanos, and because of this she gains the ability to stretch and mold her body, allowing her to occasionally change her appearance like Mystique, or make parts of her body large like huge hands. Kamala then takes up the moniker of Ms. Marvel, which was previously used by the current Marvel Comics version of Captain Marvel(not "Shazam"!). She teams up regularly with plucky unbeatable mutant, Squirrel Girl, and they become involved in a plot where young Inhumans are being kidnapped by the alien Kree race to use as super-soldiers. With some help from other heroes like Patriot, Quake, America Chavez, and Inferno, they mount a rescue with Captain Marvel to stop the space invaders.

There was a few differences between the story in the movie and what goes on in the comics, like America Chavez being an Inhuman when her powers are magic-based, and bad guy Exile really gets his powers from one of the Mandarin's rings instead of himself being an Inhuman. The animation used in the movie was a little below quality, even compared to some of Marvel's Disney shows like Ultimate Spider-Man, even though it works considering it was created as being a free online promotion for their Marvel Rising toyline. There's supposed to be two follow-up specials to this showcasing Spider-Gwen and Iron-Heart, possibly with the same tone of animation. It would be nice if this new incarnation of the Secret Warriors succeeds in creating a new young superhero series that aren't either mutants or Avengers.

Baby, it's cold outside.

Note: Stark died on the way to his home planet

Dude...you've studied the Avengers 4 trailer long enough!

Will the Goat make it to X-Mas without being burned?

ANI-MOVIES, *Godzilla: Planet Of Monsters

After several decades of live-action movies, Toho finally decided to make a Godzilla anime, and not just as a single film but a full on back-to-back trilogy. There have been two unsuccessful American animated TV series(one based on the U.S. film), but never a genuine anime. Instead of standard animation, they got Polygon Pictures to do a CGI production. Polygon has already gotten a good track with Ghost In The Shell: Innocence and The Sky Crawlers, also handled American properties like Transformers, Star Wars, and Tron. The anime itself doesn't have it take place in the normal Godzilla setting, but acts as a far flung outer space epic.

A quick opening narrative tells that the Earth was overrun with kaiju during the late 1990s, and the most powerful of them all was the overgrown fire-breathing reptile called Godzilla. Godzilla ends up finishing off the other kaiju, with mankind not having any way of getting rid of him. Suddenly, an alien alliance made of two races come to Earth offering to help humanity kill Godzilla in exchange for being allowed to migrate to Earth. The aliens try to counter with their own "Mechagodzilla" which fails to activate, leaving the aliens no choice but to round up the remaining humans and head off in a big space ark to find another planet to live on. Cut to two decades later, and the allied humans and aliens decide to head back to Earth after not locating an inhabitable world. After warping back to the Solar System, they discover that twenty millennia had past on Earth, and the Big-G still stomping around. Captain Haruo becomes de facto leader of an anti-Godzilla exploration team to lure the lizard into an ambush after finding he has an Achilles heel in his dorsal fin. Their plan actually works and this Godzilla gets blown to bits, however the original Godzilla was waiting in the wings and is over 300 meters tall(over twice as big as the Monsterverse version!). Haruo awakens from the attack in the care of an insect like humanoid native, meaning we could stand to see a giant butterfly in one of the sequels.

Planet Of Monsters acts as a decent beginning to the Godzilla anime trilogy, more setting up the hardships the humans and aliens had trying to survive in space for twenty years, and finding out how much Earth itself has changed during the passing thousands of years. The film seems more like a Starship Troopers anime movie as opposed to the standard kaiju story. If you're a fan of the original Showa Era of Godzilla, this anime might seem like a Gene Roddenberry-inspired follow-up to that set of films. The animation itself is fair enough with the characters, but works much better with the starships, mecha, and monster diagrams. You can see though that it would have benefited from having more standard animation as opposed to having it all done in CGI with more lifeless-looking character expressions. Whether or not this all works together as a well-toned trilogy is yet to be seen.

MISC. MANGA, *Bat-Manga

As the first ever manga based on an American comic book, the 1966 Batman series rode the success of the live-action Adam West show, but based each entry on stories from the original Batman and Detective Comics first printed in America. Jiro Kawata, famous for doing the art for 8-Man, was picked for illustrating this special Japanese run, which allowed him to do manga versions of other American properties like The Time Tunnel and The Invaders. Prior to DC Comics' release of the Bat-Manga, there was a one-shot special published by Pantheon Books highlighting a few of the at the time available manga remnants, as well as several great photographs of the huge wave of Batman merchandise that flooded the Japanese market at the time.

Bat-Manga retells several of the classic Batman stories from the 50s-60s, although rarely using any of the general Bat-villains, possibly due to international licensing rights concerning the characters. There were two separate appearances of Clayface(the second one of which shows his first appearance!), plus C-list villains like Planet Master, Catman, Outsider, and Lord Death Man. This included rebranded bad guys like Flash's foe Weather Wizard rebranded "Go-Go the Magician". The rest of the villains were usually one-shot adversaries that only appeared for one issue like aliens, mad scientists, mutants, and super-intelligent gorillas(not Grodd!). Batman himself is relatively the same, along with Robin wearing an outfit with a slightly longer tunic. Also featuring a rarely occurring Alfred, a brief guest spot by a brunette Vicki Vale, and Commissioner Gordon who apparently knows the Dynamic Duo' secret identities. The Caped Crusades sport the 60s Batmobile, plus a Bat-Copter that is like a large-domed vehicle.

The Bat-Manga was restored in its entirety by DC Comics, partially thanks to Chip Kidd's efforts on the original Bat-Manga collection special. You get each chapter as it was printed in Japan, although the sound effects are still in Japanese attached to an asterisk in the lower corner of the panels, as well as most of the narration blocks being crushed and put to the side making it slightly difficult to read. The paperback version are done in oversized manga format in regular right-to-left format. The manga itself influenced a brief appearance on the Batman: Brave And The Bold TV series, as well as making Lord Death Man a regular foe of the designated Batman Incorporated agents of Japan. If you long for the fun action that anime like Speed Racer and Cyborg 009 became infamous with American otaku, then Bat-Manga needs a spot on your shelf!

ANI-MOVIES, The Incredibles 2

Despite there being 2 sequels and 2 spinoffs to Cars, Pixar took its sweet time to finally come up with a follow up to The Incredibles. The Fantastic Four-inspired animated film was about two superheroes who were forced to retire from being active crimefighters and raise their superpowered kids, only to be dragged into a scheme where most of all the other heroes had been killed off during their retreat. Brad Bird returns to bring the superhero family back to the screen.

Taking place right where the previous one left off, The Incredibles try to stop the subterranean villain The Underminer, only for him to make a clean getaway, leaving our heroes to clean up after the mess they made confronting him. Their activity gets the attention of Winston Deaver, the rich head of a telecommunications company who wants to have supers being legalized again. Along with his sister Evelyn, they contact Mr. Incredible, Elastigirl, and Frozone about their plan, but choose Elastigirl to be the figurehead of their campaign. Elastigirl saves a runaway train, while Mr. Incredible, Dash, Violet, and Jack-Jack move into a new estate provided to them by Winston. A mysterious new villain called Screenslaver who can hypnotize people with screens is responsible for the train accident, and an attack on an ambassador, so Elastigirl manages to track the bad guy down with Evelyn's help. However, Elastigirl realizes the man she caught was just a fall guy, and that Evelyn was the one setting up all the attacks, getting back at supers for having the public relying on them too much instead of fending for themselves. Evelyn takes control of Elastigirl and Mr. Incredible, then sends a group of hypnotized heroes to round up their kids, who are having enough problems after finding out baby Jack-Jack has come into his own multitude of powers. The kid Incredibles have to rescue their parents along with Frozone and the other heroes from a plan Evelyn had for sabotaging the heroes legalization ceremony on a huge yacht. Evelyn is eventually captured, and the Incredibles continue their crusade as a superhero family.

After seeing this film after the first one, its clear that the animation is of a better quality, but still keeps the look and motif of the original using a mod/art deco style to the times and characters fashion. Not a lot is referred to the original movie, which makes it slightly convenient for those who didn't watch it and just wanted to see a good superhero film. Most of the previous cast is back, and hopefully will be around to voice a third chapter! If Avengers: Infinity War gave you such a downer, then Incredibles 2 will take you back up and away!

I'm sick of this FUCKING weather!

MISC. MANGA, *Plus-Sized Elf

Plus-Sized Elf is Synecdoche's premiere online Japanese manga mixing in fantasy females and monster girls with physical fitness. These are two concepts that blend together oddly well considering that most otaku aren't that much into getting in shape.

Naoe works as a massager at a health clinic, and on his way home one day he come across a honest for real elf named Elfuda. The pointy eared girl comes from a fairy world, and came to explore the modern day human world, but ended up being unable to return home because of her love for French fries. Now, she's a "plus-sized" elf, and seeks Naoe's help in getting back to her petite shape so she can fit back to her weight-specific wormhole back to her dimension. For some reason, Elfuda ends up becoming Naoe's roommate, and his constant attempts to help her trim down keep backfiring, even after she occasionally reaches her original size. Not only this, but other females from the fantasy world keep popping up with the same problem of not being able to return to their realm because they also get hooked on fast food. Despite this, the other dark elves, mermaids, dragons, ogres, and werewolves manage to blend into Japanese society well, sometimes being confused with cosplayers.

This manga presents a unique story that works for printed format, meaning it might not turn out as good as an anime. Aside from the engaging quirky characters, it also cleverly gives hints and techniques for manga readers to keep themselves fit. This is a little more appealing as a webcomic as opposed to a printed graphic novel series, but its still a charming read.

MISC. MANGA, *Batman And The Justice League

With Marvel movies doing well over in Japan, DC Comics decided to do its first manga modeled after the current DC Universe. There have been a trio of genuine manga about Batman, but this is introduces the rest of the JLA to manga readers. Shiori Teshirogi was tasked with creating this, as she already had success doing the colorful heroes of Saint Seiya, and does a reasonable job transferring the Justice League into a manga.

Japanese teenager Rui Aramiya travels to Gotham City looking for his parents who were recently reported to be dead. Rui encounters the Joker, who is using his mother to gain access to ley lines, which allow people to obtain ultimate power in the DC Universe. Batman shows up to rescue Rui, but once again, "the Joker got away!" The Clown Prince turns out to be allied with Lex Luthor who offers Rui answers to his parents disappearance. But Batman calls in the Justice League to help defend Gotham from the slew of villains like Ocean Master planning on using the ley lines for their own evil schemes.

The manga is slated to be at least two volumes long, but creator Teshirogi also did a short origin for Wonder Woman that looks similar to her initial scene in the live-action Justice League movie. Teshirogi brings a fresh look to the JLA, although Bruce Wayne looks a little younger than he usually does, but makes it seem like hardly anyone wouldn't be able to tell that he's really Batman. It's not exactly as memorable as the 60s Bat-Manga, however it performs well as a Justice League story for manga fans.

Via Con Dios, Stan Lee

MISC. MANGA, *Legends Of The Dark Crystal

Before the current renaissance of comics and novels based on Jim Henson's gamechanging fantasy film, Tokyopop acquired the publishing rights to The Dark Crystal, as well as Labyrinth. Their installment was a prequel taking place at least a century prior to the movie. Split up into two volumes, The Garthim Wars, and Trial By Fire. A third volume was planned, but canceled, possibly due to publishers like Archaia Comics also sharing in the franchise.

Set on a far off planet, the world is ruled by the large bird-like Skeksis, who fear their rule may come to an end one day because of a prophecy claiming the peaceful Gelflings will bring about their downfall. The Skeksis send their giant insect-ish walking suits of armor called Garthim to attack two separate Gelfling villages, each one of which has a single survivor, the male shepherd Lahr, and sewing girl Neffi. The two meet up and head another Gelfling village in the mountains. The Gelflings form a defense against another Garthim horde by using their broken instruments as weapons, and a large net thought up by Neffi. This uprising causes waves in the Skekis hierarchy, giving Lahr and Neffi the opportunity to sneak into their castle in an attempt to free their remaining kidnapped people.

This manga-styled series fits finely in the continuity of the movie. Barbara Randall Kessel did an admiral job adapting the story into a prequel, and Heidi Arnhold with Max Kim crafted the look of Brian Froud's original designs. The only downside is that it was printed on off-white paper in manga-size, when the splendid artwork would have been more enjoyable in at least standard comic book dimensions and at a higher resolution. The series is currently now out of print, and not available legibly online, so you'll have to search some used book stores to try and dig up copies of this hidden gem.

ANI-MOVIES, *Constantine: City Of Demons

The third DC Comics animated web series on CW Seed was based on the Hellblazer story arc involving Constantine, the main character portrayed by Constantine actor Matt Ryan returning to voice him for the second time, once before in the Justice League Dark movie. Whether this feature is part of the DC post-Flashpoint line-up, or taking place in the Arroverse like the previous two CW seed animated shows isn't fully revealed, as there's little to no mention of other characters outside of the standard Hellblazer comics.

Exorcist Constantine gets a call from his childhood friend Chas to save his daughter Trish, who is in an unexplainable coma. John calls in the Nightmare Nurse, a benevolent female demon, and realizes Trish is possessed by a demon lord Nergal, who wants Constantine to come Los Angeles. Once there, John and Chas are confronted by Nergal, first disguising himself as a slothful lower demon, and goats Constantine into getting rid of five demons muscling in on his turf, otherwise Nergal will send Trish's soul to Hell. John also meets the living spirit of L.A. who can temporarily possess its citizens one at a time, and wants him to find a way to snuff out Nergal. Constantine gets an Aztec god to take out the quintet of demon hoods, and then threatens Nergal with releasing hundreds of demons from Hell unless he frees Trish, but ultimately they had to sacrifice the memory of Chas' existence from Trish and her mother in order to overflow Nergal's body with love, which destroys the demon like a cancer. Chas suddenly has no memory of having a daughter, or even knowing Constantine, leaving our hero to wander back home alone with one of his leftover inner demons for company.

City Of Dreams works alot better from The Ray and Vixen animated projects as it flows as a full story as opposed to the previous episodic entries. The only major flaw storywise is the ruse Nergal tries to use on Constantine by taking on the persona of a Godfather-type demon, and revealing this to him a little earlier in the plot than was needed, and would've worked better near the finale. Matt Ryan does a fantastic job as Constantine, and Laura Bailey does an amazing Nightmare Nurse by doing her Lust voice from Fullmetal Alchemist. J. M. DeMatteis was a great producer in this picture, and a big improvement over his previous two Batman animated films. Anyone who felt stiffed over Keanu Reeves' performance will be pleasantly surprised by this Constantine movie.

MISC. MANGA, *El-Hazard

The original El-Hazard OVA was an anime reimagining of Edgar Rice Burroughs' Warlords Of Mars(i.e. John Carter), which was followed up by an OVA sequel, plus two TV series, the second of which continues the OVA storyline, all of which were produced by Pioneer Entertainment. With their Tenchi Muyo OVA carrying on to a successful manga, Pioneer got Hidetomo Tsubura to put together a comic combining elements from the El-Hazard OVA, and its TV series remake El-Hazard: The Wanderers.

Makoto is a high school student being chased by his self-proclaimed rival Jinnai, and then escapes into some ruins underneath the school's campus. He finds a beautiful girl locked in stasis who awakens claiming to know him. She then uses her apparent magic powers to send Makoto, Jinnai, Jinnai's sister Nanami, and their teacher Mr. Fujisawa to the alien world of El-Hazard. However, in the manga, all four of them don't end up there at the exact same time, as Makoto ends up there several weeks after the rest had. Jinnai ended up in the land of insect humanoids called the Bugrom, and becomes their general bent on taking over the world. Makoto meets up with Fujisawa and Namami who have allied with the kingdom of Roshtaria, lead by the slightly younger Princess Rune Venus. Along with three feisty elemental priestesses, our heroes fail to prevent Jinnai from gaining control of an ancient weapon as the Demon God, who it turns out is the Ifurita, an android similar to Amazo from DC Comics who can copy the attacks of anything thrown at her. Ifurita is also the same one who sent Makoto to El-Hazard in the first place, but has no memory of him. Another neighboring clan called the Phantom Tribe happens to have two of their own Demon Gods(both original to the manga), and the plot becomes a big arms race to claim power to a mini-Death Star known as the Eye Of God between the three warring kingdoms.

The manga tries to plug a lot of elements from the original OVA, along with Makoto's flirtation from The Wanderers with Rune Venus, as well as the addition of two more Demon God powerhouses that mainly act as an extra target for the heroes and other villains to deal with. Visually it works very well, with anime-accurate portrayals of the original characters. The downside is the plot of a 7-episode OVA series(some of which were double-length)into a 3-volume manga makes it seem rushed and condensed. The plus side is that there is a bonus chapter of El-H Campus featuring all the characters in high school parody, which was a concept that was used later on by several other series such as My Little Pony and Attack On Titan, and is actually quite funny. The manga was originally first put out in three single-issues mini-series from Viz, and then later on as a trio of trade paperbacks. If you really dug the original OVA anime, then the manga adaptation is worth considering.

Oh, my God! They killed Ben Tramer! You bastard!

ANI-MOVIES, *The Pirates: Band Of Misfits

Originally titled The Pirates In An Adventure With Scientists, this UK animated film was created by Aardman Animations, most noted for the Wallace And Grommit films. Based on Gideon Defoe's first Pirates book, Peter Lord again directed this production which was largely popularized due to Disney's Pirates Of The Carribean series, but managed to maintain its own signature among filmgoers who were tired of the whole "pirates" genre.

Set in the mid-19th Century, a crew of no-name pirates lead by their captain, Pirate Captain, who hopes to finally win the coveted Pirate Of The Year after dozens of failed attempts. Several failed raids lead them to crossing paths with Charles Darwin on another of his expeditions. Darwin is surprised to find that the pirates' parrot is in fact the last known dodo bird, and convinces them to take the endling England for a science exposition. Pirate Captain and his crew manage to win while disguised as scientists, but their deception is uncovered when confronted by the pirate-hating Queen Victoria. However, the Queen offers a treasure trove to Pirate Captain for the dodo to be part of her personal zoo. Pirate Captain takes the booty, and wins Pirate Of The Year, but his status as a pirate is revoked by his fellow swashbucklers with they find out the Queen pardoned him. Pirate Captain meets up with a dejected Darwin to learn the Queen actually took his dodo to a special meeting of world leaders that dine on endangered animals. Pirate Captain, Darwin, and the rest of the crew get back together to save their feathered friend, and really stick it to the royalty.

This wasn't exactly geared towards the youngsters with some cheeky adult humor thrown in here and there. The Pirates: Bands Of Misfits works better as another humorous Aardman creation for film lovers. There's a tremendous cast of talent behind it, including Hugh Grant, David Tennent, Martin Freeman, and Brian "effing" Blessed! The stop-motion animation is in good form, although still not near the epic levels of Laika. Fans of most Aardman films will enjoy it, but might appeal to fans of sporadic British madcap comedy.

Fuck DCU App!!!

MISC. MANGA, *Record Of Lodoss War: The Lady Of Pharis

This prequel to original Record Of Lodoss War: The Grey Witch manga, and the original OVA and anime TV series was conceived by the creator, Ryo Mizuno, and brought to life by artist Akihiro Yamada. It was first released in the 90s after The Grey Witch, and then later released in English in the early 2000s by CPM Manga, first in comic book format, then as a trade paperback, followed by an extended first volume, and finally as a second volume which featured the rest of the printed material, making both complete volumes very rare buys for American otaku.

Set decades before the time known as The War of Kings, an wicked Duke seeking power unleashes a creature known as the Demon Lord who appears as a young naked woman. The Demon Lord then sends her legions of monsters to ravage all over the fantasy island of Lodoss. A mercenary called Beld and his wizard partner Wort come across the sexy warrior priestess Flaus(also the title character!)who employs them to help protect her region. A holy knight named Fahn joins them in order to clear his name when an doppelganger working for the demons stole some relics that are used to protect his kingdom. They are later joined by a surviving dwarf king, and elf girl, and a masked sorceress. Their crusade leads them to help the elves purge their forest of demons. This leads into the War Against Evil which went on for three years, and shaped the kingdoms of Lodoss.

The Lady of Pharis brings a darker tone to the Lodoss storyline, and Yamada's artwork takes a less than familiar look to the anime/manga's history. It appears more like traditional fantasy illustrations instead of the standard "big eyes and speed lines". More in the set of a dark fantasy like Berserk or Bastard. The manga isn't as readily available if you wanted to find the entire series in both completed volumes, but might want to sample one of the single issues which are considerably cheaper.

Which one of these buttons do I push to make Lara Croft have sex with me in real life?

ANI-MOVIES: *From Up On Poppy Hill

Based on a short-lived 80s manga, From Up On Poppy Hill is a coming of age story set in 1963 Japan, just prior to them getting the Olympics(the first time). It was produced by Studio Ghibli, and the second one being directed by Goro Miyazaki, whose father Hayao wrote the screenplay for along with Keiko Niwa. As more of a slice of life tale than the usual Ghibli fantasy, this movie acts a self-aware teenage melodrama.

Umi is the main caretaker of her grandmother's boarding house for ladies. Her mother is studying medicine in America, and her father disappeared during the Korean War. She keeps setting up a flag for ships in the harbor near her house, hoping deep down that her father will recognize it should he return. The school she goes to has an old dilapidated building called the Quartier Latin used by several clubs made entirely of boys, and it is under danger of being demolished to give Tokyo a fresh look when the Olympics come. The head of the school's journalism club Shun is one of the main campaigners trying to save the Quartier Latin, who also wrote about Umi's tradition of setting up her flags. Umi seems to fall for Shun in his heroic efforts to keep the clubhouse up, and convinces a lot of the school's girls to help clean up the joint which prior to that looked like a disaster area for bookworms. Despite their fiery crusade, the clubhouse is still threatened with being torn down, and even though Umi finds her feeling growing for Shun, he discovers from an old photograph that the two of them might have the same father, thus they can't go any further without turning the plot into a stereotypical incest harem anime. The return of Umi's mother from the States sets the story straight on their shared background.

This works as a splendid period piece in the same way the flashback portions of Only Yesterday give the look of 1960s Japan with the nation was trying to speed along progress in order to bury their past in the previous wars. There is some genuine character growth and comradery among the high school student as they try desperately to rescue their clubhouse, which ends up taking a larger portion of the story than the budding teen romance. The animation is not exactly as breathtaking as your average Ghibli production, but as setting is more based in reality in place of the spirit world. The American dub features some surprising additions including Ron Howard, Gillian Anderson, Jamie Lee Curtis, and the late Anton Yelchin as Shun. Probably one of the single most charming anime movies of the new millennium!

Nike-man to the rescue!

Only hate and snap judgement will guide you through the future.

OBSCURE OVAS, *Read Or Die

There are some OVAs where the anime is set a separate chapter to the manga its based on, Read Or Die is defined as being follow up to the original manga series. This 3-episode anime fits into the continuity of the source material with the terminal bookworm, Yomiko Readman, acting as a special agent for British Library with her skills a "papermaster", someone with the ability to control and contort paper in the same way Airbenders can manipulate air. The OVA is set some years after the manga, both written by the original author, Hideyuki Kurata, which is an odd blend of X-Men and League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen.

A criminal organization called the I-Jin composed of evil clones of historical figures, each with their own superpowers, its collecting rare books in an attempt to kill off most of the human race using a song that makes its listener want to kill themselves(very similar to the bad guys' intentions from Kingsmen). The British Library, which here is acts as covert collectors of hidden knowledge, sends in their best agent, Yomiko Readman, aka: The Paper, and teams her up with Black Widow stand-in Nancy, and special ops soldier Drake. Nancy has powers similar to Kitty Pryde as she can phase through solid objects, but is revealed to be a double agent working for the I-Jin, and steals Yomiko's copy of Beethovens' Immortal Beloved, so a clone of the famous conductor can use his suicide symphony to kill billions of people. The Paper along with Drake leads a final assault on the I-Jin's moving island stronghold to stop their Bond-villain scheme for world domination.

Despite being a continuation of an already existing media, the R.O.D. OVA works as a good separate story on its own, and doesn't require the viewer to have read up on the manga's background. Even the anime sequel series, R.O.D. The TV, doesn't incorporate too much from the manga, even though it completely retcons the true intentions of the seemingly noble British Library! The OVA has some slick action, likable characters, a sizzling smooth score, and a fits fine into the video collection of even a moderate anime fans. Its been released on DVD in America through Manga Entertainment, but only available on Blu-Ray in the R.O.D.: Complete Collection which includes the entire TV series by Aniplex.

YOU HAVE DESTROYED MY DREAM! AND NOW, I WILL DESTROY YOOOOUUUU!

ANI-MOVIES, *Freedom Fighters: The Ray

Set as a pseudo-prequel to the "Crisis On Earth-X" crossover arc set in the Arroverse live-action TV shows, The Ray was a Golden Age hero from Quality Comics back in the 40s, that DC Comics bought up along with other characters from the same publisher and put them on their own separate world known as Earth-X, set in a different universe from the normal Justice League-version of Earth. On Earth-X, the Nazis didn't loose WWII, and have dominated most of America, with the only superheroes to stop them are the Freedom Fighters, comprised mostly of Quality Comics characters.

Set some months before the annual Arrowverse crossover specials, the main heroes of the Resistance(never actually called the "Freedom Fighters" in the movie)made up of Phantom Lady, Black Condor, Dollman, Red Tornado, and The Ray are leading rebels to a safe location, but are ambushed by the Nazi villains trinity called the New Reichsmen made up evil versions of Supergirl(Overgirl), Green Arrow(Black Arrow), and Flash(Blitzkrieg, who might be their equivalent of Zoom). The battle results in the death of Dollman, and Red Tornado getting trashed leaving only his android brain. Earth-X Vibe shows up and transports a lethally hurt Ray with Red Tornado's brain to Earth-1. Once there, he meets his Earth-1 counterpart and bestows his powers to him just before dying. The new Ray uses his powers to save lives and fight crime, although they mostly seem to center on the victims being of the LGBT community, and shows more when Ray bullies a politician into equalizing the laws for minorities(which should send off some serious supervillain flags!). His activities get the attention of Flash and Green Arrow, who bring him in to help fight a random giant robot attacking Vixen's home turf. Earth-1 Ray then decides to have his Vibe send him to Earth-X to fight the New Reichsmen, and decides to stay on this world to help the Resistance.

This web series-turned-compilation movie doesn't 100% fit into the storyline shown in the Crisis On Earth-X story, mostly concerning Ray's physical appearance and whether or not this version was from Earth-1 to begin with. The main problem storyline-wise is it introduces overly-sensational concepts like giant robots into the Arrowverse, at least under the Earth-1 technological dynamics. The other main setback in this is that the DC TV universe writers continue to prove that they seriously fail at genuine dialogue for its LGBT characters, which they tend to go out of their way to point out in each show. Despite their good intentions, it shows a major lack of sincerity when you have heterosexuals providing dialogue for LGBT characters, which isn't insulting but just widely inaccurate. As far as a "superheroes vs. Nazis" in modern day plot goes, it pulls through, especially when Ray as handing Overgirl her butt on a plate!

Turd in the wind, Muddafukka!

How some cosplay girls see themselves

MISC. MANGA, *Sam Zabel And The Magic Pen

Fantagraphics got New Zealand artist Dylan Horrocks to do a full-length version of his webcomic, Sam Zabel And His Magic Pen. This hardcover is a sprawling journey throughout different comic genres for fans of the Golden Age, indie zines, and manga.

Sam Zabel is a comic book artists working on the current version of a Silver Age superheroine done in an "extreme" sleazy adaptaion. He takes a trip to a small town to give a speech at a college on comics culture. While there, he runs across a zine artist who introduces him to an old comic she found at a local shop. Sam picks up another copy of it, and then finds himself sent to the John Carter styled sci-fi world of Mars where he's worshiped as a prophet by the Martians. He encounters the schoolgirl manga-character brought to life, Miki, who uses her intense collection of comics to go from one comics world to another. The two travel throughout different genres in search of the "Magic Pen" which can help get Sam home.

This one-shot graphic novel works as a fine trip through the annals of comics history, with something for all fans. Manga otaku will find Miki especially fun with her rocket boots and laser gauntlets as she goes from world to world. A great look out how real life effects the works we read and create on our own, as well as the opposite of how it evolves in comics storytelling over time.

ANI-MOVIES, *Batman: Ninja

Well, this was different! Batman: Ninja is the second attempt at a full-length anime movie based on the Masked Manhunter, but this one is mostly one continuous plot, although handled by different Japanese animation studios. Afro Samurai creator Takashi Okazaki was tapped to handle this non-Elseworlds story by Warner Bros. Entertainment. This one for the most part takes place in the existing DC Comics Universe, but isn't canonical.

Flash villain Gorilla Grodd comes to Gotham, and holds a special meeting in Arkham Asylum of all places for several of the local villains, whether they were asylum inmates or not. Grodd then activates a huge time machine that he somehow manages to smuggle in the worst secure criminal institution, and this transports himself, Joker, Harley Quinn, Bane, Poison Ivy, Penguin, Two-Face, and Deathstroke back to feudal Japan. Fortunately, all current/former Robins happened to be there too, plus Alfred, Catwoman, and the Batmobile. Batman himself shows up, but about two years later than everyone else, despite the fact that not everyone appears to be physically that much older. All of the Gotham criminals have set up their own mini-empire in Japan, with Joker holding the bulk of Grodd's time machine. Batman gathers the other Robins, and a ninja clan they allied with themselves with who believe Batman to be part of some ancient prophecy. After multiple betrayals, double-deals, and backstabbing, Grodd takes back his time machine in Joker's castle, which can of course transform into a mechanical mobile fortress. The other villains each have their own transformable fortress, and plan to have a big civil war, but Grodd takes control of them to merge their robots with his to a mismatched steampunk combiner mecha. Joker retaliates with Harley, wrestling control of the giant robot from Grodd. The gorilla gives Batman the power to control his army of "samurai monkeys", who merge with a humongous flock of bats to form a Batman-shaped colossus. This leads to final duel between Batman and Joker, who in the last two years the Clown Prince apparently was really working on his swordplay. The heroes eventually capture the villains, and do the timewarp again back to modern day-Gotham.

This production has at least more than one version as the Japanese adaptation has a strikingly different script from its American release, as original writer Kazuki Nakashima from Gainax had his screenplay rewritten for the American release. The animation style itself fluctuates a lot as well from CGI models similar to Berserk, to scratchy rotoscope styled format like in Tekkonkinkreet, usually changing at different plot intervals. As a story set in the given current DC Comics timeline, its very much out of place where characters like Two-Face and Poison Ivy have knowledge of robo-technology, plus Bane's brief cameo who went from being a luchador-styled fighter to a sumo wrestler(who they didn't show being taken back to modern day along with the other Arkhamites!). The most unbelievable segments involve the what could be called "ninja magic", where gigantic a Batman hybrid of multiple monkeys and bats, or Batman himself being able to turn into living flock of bats like Dracula in his showdown with Joker. Despite its current high praises, this tale of the Dark Knight is one that might not hold the same amount of water years from now.

ANI-MOVIES, *Brave

Giving into their uber-powerful corporate overlords, Pixar felt it was time to finally do a movie in the tradition of standard Disney fairy tales. Brave was an original story set during the Middle Ages featuring magical elements, so nothing too far off from your average Grimm Bros. chapter.

Merida is a Scottish princess who leads a charmed life under her strict mother, but slightly fun-loving father. Her mother Elinor lets her know that the neighboring clans will be gathering at their castle where the first born sons of the lords will compete for her hand in marriage. Merida is furious with this news, and takes place in the archery competition for her own hand. Elinor locks Merida away, while King Fergus pacifies the other clans. Merida runs away, and is lead by a will-o'-the-wisp to a witch in the woods, who gives her an enchanted cake that will change her destiny of Elinor eats it. Later, Elinor is talked into eating the cake that in fact turns her into a bear, which is really bad news as her husband is an infamous bear hunter. Merida takes her now bear-able mother back to the witch's cabin, where a "recorded" potion tells them that the witch has left, but that the spell will become permanent unless she can repair a family tapestry that she earlier ripped. This leads to a merry chase between Fergus, the drunken clan lords, and the original recipient of the bear spell who is an unstoppable wild animal.

Brave was first directed by former Dreamworks animator Brenda Chapman, but then later picked up by Pixar-regular Mark Andrews, which you can tell there was a division in some of the feminist viewpoints sprinkled throughout the production. The movie keeps the tradition of medieval storytelling with shapeshifters, curses, and secret doors to the world of fairies that usually was told to be splintered from the mortal realm. Despite her Pixar origins, Merida is considered to be a "Disney Princess", which brought about some conflict when she was remodeled for their line-up, but has stayed true to her scruffy origins, despite the fact that she's with the rest of the royalty in the Wreck-It Ralph sequel. The home release also features an origin story for the original curses bear Mordu that elaborates on the magic that operates in this world. A more fitting fairy tale animation than most releases over the last year, as this movie relies more on storytelling and character motivations than musical numbers.

Don't cosplay as dead Infinity War characters!!!

ANI-MOVIES, *The Death Of Superman

Originally done as an abridged version of the entire comic book saga in DC Universe's first production, Superman: Doomsday, this film acts as the half of a retelling of the 90's storyline, but set in the current DC Animated Universe taking place after Justice League: War. Sam Liu directed this continuation of DCAU timeline, making this the first one to actually centralize on Superman, instead of having him just be a member of the League.

It opens with Superman stopping crooks using retooled weapons from Apocalypse after Darkseid's invasion, and then takes Lois Lane to STAR Labs where they're inspecting the starship that brought him to Earth as a child. Lois is seen later on as now dating Clark Kent but totally clueless to his alter-ego, with a brief exchange between Supes and Wonder Woman stating that they stopped dating a while ago. Lex Luthor meanwhile is under "mansion arrest" when his Legion of Doom fiasco failed. A meteor is boom-tubed at Earth, destroying a space satellite, and lands in the ocean. A large hulking lifeform emerges from it, killing a few Atlanteans along the way, and begins a trail of destruction. The Justice League sends some of their active members to deal with the monster, but flattens Green Lantern, Cyborg, Martian Manhunter, Hawkman, Flash, Aquaman, Batman, and Wonder Woman, which is a stark contrast to their power level considering they managed to defeat Darkseid and his Parademon army before they even came together as a group(even though there's no mention of Shazam or Justice League Dark during this whole picture!). Superman finally shows up, another oddity in the movie's logic considering the attack is just happening on the other side of Metropolis, and battles this marauder that Lois dubs "Doomsday". The battle lasts for a good while, and makes for an epic clash of titans, but ultimately results in the death of both fighters. The world mourns the death of Superman with a funeral MCed by Luthor who tried to kill Doomsday during the battle, but was saved by Superman in the end. This leads into the closing credits showing Superman's crypt being opened up, and a shadowy caped figure flying off into the night, along with quick scenes of three other individuals each bearing the "S" shield.

The Death Of Superman was a definitive improvement over the original animated attempt, and successfully managed to utilize the majority of the Post-Flashpoint continuity. It makes for a better story experience seeing the brand members of the JLA fighting Doomsday instead of the cannon-fodder heroes they used in the 90s comic. The final bout between Superman and Doomsday is also epic, especially since this version of DD doesn't have a weakness to Kryptonite, making him even tougher for Supes to take down on his own. The movie also follows the continuity of the previous DCAU movies pretty well, although no explanation as to why Shazam wasn't available, specifically since he's on the same power level as Superman. There's also some decent character development in Superman's personal life concerning his secret identity and his blooming romance with Lois, and here than was done in the entire Lois and Clark TV show. This is the first part of a story that will conclude with Reign Of The Superman, even though the movie acts as a good enough installment on its own.

You millennials and your damn internet!

What's more important than continuity? TIMELINE, muddafukka!

ANI-MOVIES, *Scooby Doo & Batman: The Brave And The Bold

While there's been several crossovers of the Scooby Doo gang meeting up with DC Comics superheroes(most of the focal point of the Scooby Doo Team-Up comic series), there were also two episodes of the 70s New Scooby Doo Movies where they align themselves with the Dynamic Duo, this is the first full-on animated film where the Hanna-Barbera characters take place in the DC Universe. Although for the purposes of this made-for-video production, its a follow-up to Batman: The Brave And The Bold animated TV show.

Mystery Inc. try trapping a "ghost" in Gotham City, which turn out to be Martian Manhunter and Detective Chimp, who are working with Batman to initiate the meddling kids into Mystery Analysts of Gotham, also composing of Plastic Man, Black Canary, and The Question, along with occasional appearances by Aquaman. Scooby and the gang get caught up in trying to solving this version of Batman's only unsolved case, the disappearance of Professor Milo's old assistant lost in a lab accident, although Milo's other assistant turns out to be The Riddler. A new villain called The Crimson Cloak shows up to haunt Batman over his past mistake, and it all leads up to the Dark Knight along with Mystery Inc. being framed while being hunted down by the Gotham Police, resident supervillains, and their fellow heroes. It all turns out to be a scheme between Riddler and the shapeshifting Clayface to gain access to Milo's old tech to terrorize Gotham.

This works as a Scooby Doo production, and even in the campy world of Batman: The Brave And The Bold, but a lot of things don't add up based on regular DC Comics story dynamics. One example is Martian Manhunter's serious downgrade as someone more powerful than Superman having problems catching a single 40 year old van, or The Question getting taken down by the Riddler was done only for story convenience. Despite its shortcomings, the Warner Bros. animated project is visually groovy, and a real treat for Silver Age comics fans.

Now, say my name! SHAZAM!

ANI-MOVIES, *Yellow Submarine

For half a century, Yellow Submarine has been one of the most groundbreaking animated projects ever put to film. Released in 1968, this took advantage of the worldwide popularity of the Beatles, and put forth a series of animated segments highlighting their music loosely strung together by a hazy plot featuring animated versions of The Fab Four. United Features "united" with the comic strip monarchs of King Features Syndicate in this mod odyssey!

Starting off in a sealed off place underneath the sea, a civilization called Pepperland was filled with music-loving folks that gets invaded by the music-hating Blue Meanies. Using unconventional methods of attack like a giant flying glove and multiple-headed canines, the Blue Meanies take over Pepperland quite easily, leaving only the newly promoted Fred to captain the flying vessel, the Yellow Submarine. Fred goes to London to randomly fetch the Beatles for help. The Fab Four use the sub to go through various areas under the ocean, each with their own bizarre set of physics like time moving backwards and lands filled with mismatched monsters. They befriend an eccentric genius named Jeremy who helps the crew fix their sub, and then joins them on their journey to Pepperland. The Beatles revive the Pepperlanders by impersonating the legendary Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band that they later discover are actual counterparts to themselves, and then pacify the Blue Meanies into being friends. John, Ringo, Paul, and George then somehow make it back home for their only actual live-action segment to close out the film.

Unknown to several people at the time, The Beatles themselves didn't actually provide the voices of themselves in the movie for the animated portions of it, just the music, including three new songs premiering in this film. Yellow Submarine was animated mostly by Jack Stokes and Robert Balser(who also worked on Heavy Metal and Narnia), and their legacy has influenced artists like Monty Python's Terry Gilliam, to American productions like Sesame Street and Schoolhouse Rock. It might seem to stretch it's creativity at times, like when they literally take over a minute in time just to countdown in non-animated letters during the When I'm 64 portion, and it takes a sharp mind for modern audiences to catch all the slurry 60's esoteric dialogue. Aside from that, Yellow Submarine is a must-watch for any wannabe animation aficionado, or fan of the 60s Three B's!

"Free Official Avengers 4 Title" Van

It don't get more "American" than this!

ANI-MOVIES, *Lego DC Comics Super Heroes: The Flash

Set in the same universe as the Batman Lego video game trilogy, the Lego DC Comics are set in their own continuity not connected to The Lego Movie or The Lego Batman Movie. This was even established in the Lego Dimensions game where the Batman Lego beats the Lego Batman, and you play the rest of the game as that version of Batman. So, with the success of The Flash show set in the "Arrowverse", and the possibility of a Flash spinoff of the Justice League movie, they though giving the scarlet speedster his own Lego animated flick might click with youngsters.

The Justice League introduces The Atom to the team, when Joker takes a vacation in Metropolis, and the citizens with his Joker gas. The League leaps into action(including Plastic Man turning into a helicopter with functioning exploding missles!), but Joker is finally stopped by a tardy Flash. But then a yellow blurry speedster shows up, and forces Flash to keep reliving the same day over and over in a timeloop. Flash finally catches up to him, and winds up several days later. The bad guy is really Reverse-Flash, a speedster from the future who came back in time to ruin Flash's image so people will remember him instead, and he also manages to sever Flash's connection to the Speed Force, the energy that gives speedsters their power. So Flash seeks out Dr. Fate and his dancing student Zatanna to help him go to the Speed Force Zone, and get his powers back.

This was a mostly enjoyable feature, certainly better than the previous Lego Justice League film. It's good for a watch on Cartoon Network, or renting through Redbox or Netflix DVD.

Dear Avengers movie conspiracy theorists...

MISC. MANGA, *Mai The Psychic Girl

Mai The Psychic Girl was essentially the very first manga to be printed in English for American readers. It was first published by Eclipse Comics, which then lead into the formation of Viz Manga, the first North American mainstream publisher of English-translated manga. Eclipse also went on to print manga like Area 88, Appleseed, and Legend Of Kamui, but their actions also lead into the formation of Studio Proteus who provided titles like Oh My Goddessto Dark Horse Comics. So, it's entry into the American culture pretty much paved the way for the booming anime fandom of the late 80s. Written by Golgo 13's Kazuya Kudo, and drawn by Ryoichi Ikegami who also drew the 70s Spider-Man manga, Mai The Psychic Girl achieved a modest success in Japan, but became a massive underground hit among American readers, and was even considered several times for an American live-action movie project.

Mai is a teenager that lives with her widowed father, and appears to be a normal Japanese schoolgirl. However, a secret group known as the Wisdom Alliance has been keeping track of children with the potential to become powerful psychics. Mai happens to be the descendant of a long line of mystic women, and her father is skilled in an ancient form of martial arts. This comes in handy as they are being chased by the Japanese branch of the Wisdom Alliance who send out a giant beast-like assassin to track them down since they both went into hiding. Mai's psychokinesis proves to be nearly on the level of Akira as her flared tempers can result in disaster if not controlled properly.

The manga was first released in America as a 28-issue comic series through Eclipse, then by Viz as incomplete 3-volume graphic novels, but then reprinted as the signature "Perfect Collection" of books, the term for which was used by various manga and OVA series in the 90s. It's still very popular among many old school otaku, but hasn't had much exposure since the turn of the millennium. It's worth tracking down the Perfect Collection editions of this, or at least some of the earlier single issues if you can scrounge them up in a dollar bin.

Lord Humungus wants to sing the song of his people

ANI-MOVIES, *The Incredibles

As its first set into doing an action/adventure film, Pixar created this superhero comedy prior to their complete acquisition by Disney. Director Brad Bird took his Silver Age of Comics style that he used in The Iron Giant, and brought them into this "super hero-meets-super spies" story slightly inspired by the family dynamic used in Fantastic Four.

Set in a world where superheroes are referred to as Supers, super-strong Mr. Incredible marries the stretchy Elastigirl(no relation to the Doom Patrol character!)just as the public opinion toward heroes starts to turn forcing them all to retire into their secret identities. Fast forward 15 years, and the Incredible family has 3 kids, only two of which apparently have powers, super-fast Dash and Violet with invisibility. After loosing his job, Bob(Mr.)gets an offer from a mysterious organization to use his powers to help test their robots, but its revealed that the company is run by Bob's old scorned fan-turned-villain, Syndrome, who spent the last few years killing off most of the worlds Supers to build the ultimate weapon to finish Mr. Incredible. Helen(Elasti)visits her old eccentric supersuit designer, Edna Mode, to discover she made him a new uniform, plus a tracking beacon which leads her to Syndrome's island headquarters. But Dash and Violet tag along, and the family reunites to stop Syndrome from terrorizing their hometown with a giant robot attack.

The Incredibles was a groundbreaking hit, with excellent performances by Jason Lee, Samuel Jackson, and oddly Brad Bird as Edna. The film brought a more lighthearted approach to superhero flicks, which inspired the production of an actual Fantastic Four movie franchise(ugh!). It did take several years for them to finally make a definitive sequel, even though there was a video game and comic book follow-up that are probably considered "expanded universe"(or "Legends")by now. This works as both a family adventure, and a serious homage to comic book lore.

God of Hammers...UP IN THIS MOTHERFUCKER!

MISC. MANGA, *Unmagical Girl

Unmagical Girl is an interesting premise in the vein of the old Justice Friends segment from Dexter's Laboratory featuring superheroes living in the "real world" and what they have to do if there are no supervillains to fight. This is one of the first manga by writer Ryouichi Yokoyama and artist Manmaru Uetsuki, and a fresh acquisition by Seven Seas Entertainment.

Mayuri is a student in college whose late father was the creator of a popular anime series titled Pretty Angel Nirvana. Going over her father's old desktop, Mayuri somehow releases the main but forgotten anime character, Pretty Angel NirBrave, who might be a small keychain brought to life. NirBrave has all the same powers that she had in the show, but her "secret identity" form looks almost exactly like Mayuri herself. The now live-action anime character now lives with Mayuri in her apartment, but has problems landing a job with her unwillingness to alter her appearance from a pink-haired girl in flashy bright getup. She also tends to alter her appearance if she ends up doing something that she wasn't originally scripted to do, like getting drunk. It turns out that other characters from the anime start materializing in the real world too, including NirBrave's sexier and more popular teammate Nirwind, and an old enemy now living with Mayuri's classmate.

Unmagical Girl is a funny take on the division between the material and ethereal realms. The manga works as a funny sitcom slice-of-life, while at the same time catering to many otaku tropes that anime fans will find endearing.

ANI-MOVIES, *Harlock: Space Pirate

Remaking the saga of Leiji Matsumoto's Captain Harlock, Appleseed's Shinji Aramaki pulled all his talent to do this fully-CGI movie. Toei Animation pulled together this which mostly rewrites the ongoing space pirate saga.

Way off in the future, mankind has set up colonies on other worlds, but has left the Earth behind mostly because of it being ravaged by centuries of abuse. But now, overpopulation throughout the galaxy has lead humans to want to return to their planet of origin. This lead to a new government called the Gaia Sanction being formed allowing only the elite to be allowed access to Earth. Harlock, a former space fleet captain broke away from the government and has spent the last century leading a crew of rebels on raids against the Gaia Sanction. Harlock himself has become seemingly immortal due to being exposed by the dark matter that powers his ship, the Arcadia, that and alliance he's formed with Miime, the last of a race of space elves who wish to see peace return to the galaxy. A government spy named Yama joins the Aracdia and plans to sabotage Harlock's efforts to use a special weapon to set back the clock. Whether this means to go back in time or to completely rewrite the timeline completely(like in Star Trek 11), is unknown, as its revealed that the Earth itself has been a wasteland for centuries, but Yama has proof that life is returning to it. So the Arcadia's crew plans to fight the Gaia Sanction to preserve the Earth and expose their conspiracy to the rest of the galaxy.

Shinji Aramaki's work on other popular titles like Starship Troopers and Halo shows in this for adapting an existing canon, although they rewrite it enough to make this film its own story, so its not necessary to have seen any of the previous Matsumoto anime like Harlock Saga or Arcada Of My Youth. Harlock: Space Pirates stands good enough on its own as an epic space opera, and worthy of the brand of "space opera", more so than most sci-fi anime production from the last decade outside of Gundam. Its slightly disappointing that their isn't an English version of this currently available on Blu Ray, only on DVD at this time. Certainly worth a viewing if the last few Star Wars incarnations have left you unfulfilled.