ANI-MOVIES, *Dragonball Super: Broly

Being the first DBZ movie under the Super label, this was meant as a follow up to the Dragonball Super anime series, although whether its officially canon is slightly up in the air. The character of Broly was featured in three other Dragonball films, but none of them have been in the same continuity, and more of an expanded universe, which is what Dragonball GT eventually came to be accepted as. This movie introduces the "legendary Super-Saiyan" into the established timeline, but fitting all the events previously covered in Dragonball Super. Unlike the previous theatrical Dragonball releases, this was co-produced with 20th Century Fox Japan along with Toei.

The first part of the movie retcons alot of the origins of the Saiyan race, which apparently excludes Goku's father Bardock getting psychic powers allowing him to see Planet Vegeta's destruction. Paragus, a prideful Saiyan, resents his unpredictably powerful son Broly being exiled to a far off planet by King Vegeta, and chases after him just as Frieza nukes their homeworld. Jump a few decades, sometime after the Universal Survivor Arc, Frieza is alive again after helping save his own universe, and sends some of his low level flunkies to get the Dragonballs on Earth, all so he can wish himself to be taller. Meanwhile, a pair of Frieza Force minions rescue Paragus and Broly from their outcast to join Frieza's team. All this activity gets Goku and Vegeta's attention as the last Dragonball in the North Pole, where Frieza sicks Broly on Vegeta. After a major tussle between the Saiyan prince and outcast, Goku steps in, but Broly beats him two even in his Super-Saiyan Blue form. Goku and Vegeta teleport away and try to perform fusion, all while Broly stomps the tar out of Frieza in his gold form for a solid hour. Now combined to be "Gogeta", the 2-in-1 Saiyan nearly ends Broly, while turning the Arctic into a volcanic wasteland. Broly was fortunate to make friends with his original rescuers who use the Dragonballs to wish him back to his home planet. Goku seems to not have any problem with this as he teleports their later on with some supplies from Earth, hoping to sometime spar with Broly again just because he enjoys the challenge.

Again, it's not confirmed if this movie is officially part of the Dragonball canon, or if it ties into the Super Dragonball Heroes internet series. It does make for a good retrospective of the established Dragonball history, plus establishes a new status quo concerning Earth's heroes and Frieza's reborn empire. The fight scenes are bombastically invigorating, with probably the greatest superpowered melee shots ever done for an anime. The dub keeps the majority of actors from the previous TV dubs, so there's no real shake up in the localization. The film achieved a major success in America, largely due to it getting a direct theatrical run in U.S. theaters, which helped it not only become the highest grossing anime movie in the franchise, but one of the biggest anime blockbusters of all time.

Legally speaking, you can't be "vengeance", "the night", and "Batman". Pick just one you greedy bastard!

You'll never see a He-Man x Skeletor kiss!

Meanwhile...in every amusement park everywhere...

ANI-MOVIES, *Deathstroke: Knights And Dragons

Similar to Constantine: City Of Angels, DC Comics original "Deadpool" got his own internet animation mini-series that was eventually re-released in this compilation film. Deathstroke was a dark shadow of Captain America originally introduced in the mid-80s as a repeating foil for the Teen Titans, who eventually spun off to his own title as an anti-hero. The character has been seen on the Teen Titans animated series, Arrow, and a cameo in the Justice League movie, but this is the first time that the one-eyed gun for hire has been the star of his own feature. The animation seems more similar to that used on The Venture Bros., which is largely due to a good portion of the production being handled by Titmouse, Inc. The story is also separate from any existing DC Universe titles, as there doesn't seem to be any other superheroes in this reality. J. M. DeMatteis wrote the script, and gives it the lethal seriousness that he showed in Spider-Man: Kraven's Last Hunt.

Slade Wilson is a injured American soldier who volunteers to be part of testing the army's own super-soldier formula. It doesn't seem to work at first, and Slade then separates himself from his lover, Gen. Addie Kane. While he takes his leave from the armed forces, Slade has a brief affair, as well as realizing the experiments had a delayed reaction, where he now has enhanced strength, speed, and reflexes, as well as a powerful healing factor. Thus, Slade adopts the identity of "Deathstroke" as a hired mercenary, while keeping his career secret from Addie, who he marries and has a son named Joseph. Deathstroke is eventually tagged by a terrorist group known as HIVE that send their main agent Jackal to kidnap Joseph and add Slade to their ranks. Joseph gets rescued, but at the cost of his vocal chords, as Deathstroke seemingly kills Jackal. Time jump a decade later where Slade is divorced from Addie, and became a full-time merc. HIVE however is reforming under the leadership of a mysterious new queen, and has Joseph kidnapped again as the mute teen has psychic powers which the terrorists' plan to exploit in their plans for world domination. Slade teams up with Addie and his ex-partner Wintergreen to stop the HIVE, and their commander which turns out to be Deathstroke's daughter Rose he never knew existed who has all of her father's abilities. Rose is really working for the revived Jackal, who was an original character made up specifically for this movie.

Deathstroke: Knights And Dragons functions better as a mini-series as you can see there are breaks in the flow of the plot where they would timeskip several years at a time, and go from one big bad to an even higher big bad waiting in the wings. This was one of the faults with the Constantine mini-series, plus the two Arroverse animated spinoffs, Vixen and The Ray. The production quality seems to lack a little of the more cinematic style of the regular DC Animated Universe titles, but at least as good as the Harley Quinn series. The main drawback in the movie is the motivations of the Jackal as we never learn his true intentions, and spends the entire film under battle armor, so we don't find out his real identity. It was suggested that Jackal is supposed to be a stand in for Deathstroke's original son(aka: Ravager), but his appearance seems more like he's with the DC Comics' criminal organization Kobra. If you've been waiting as long as most fans have for Deathstroke to finally get his own movie, then this will tide you over until they give him the eventual live-action film. Although, fans of hard-R splatterhouse action should also be satisfied.

OBSCURE O.V.A.S, *Grey: Digital Target

Frontier Line creator, Yoshihisa Tagami, specialized in military manga with a science fiction spin to it. One of his earliest works, Grey: Digital Target, was a post-apocalyptic saga that got turned into a mid-80s feature-length OVA one-shot by Ashi Productions, which would later go on to do Blue Seed. They Were Eleven's Satoshi Dezaki directed and co-wrote this anime take on Mad Max.

In a war torn Earth that had been through more than one armageddon, the world is divided into various segments called "towns". The citizens can work their way up to joining the A-Class by taking on military operations against other towns. Commando specialist Grey(better known as "Grey Death")takes the most dangerous assignments he can to move up the social ladder as fast as possible, partially to honor the memory of his ex-lover Lips, who he honorably wears her monogrammed battle helmet. After a suicide mission where only he and sexy blue-haired Nova, and the two survivors become questionable of the system they work for. Grey's mentor Red is reportedly captured by an enemy town, so Grey and Nova break protocol and try to rescue him. Travelling to Africa, the renegade soldiers uncover a plot involving a super computer named Big Mama that has been manipulating humanity into perpetually fighting each other, using each town feuding with their nearest counterpart. So, like a more under-the-table version of Skynet that used androids and cyborgs to act as dummy soldiers fighting the human armies into a never-ending war. Grey is recruited into one of Big Mama's militia after loosing his arm and having it replaced with a huge laser cannon, but breaks free after Nova rescues him. The two head for a final battle against the remaining Big Mama computer tower, which by the way they give a last detail after the closing credits.

The manga only lasted for two volumes, which were released in English through Viz, who also did the anime on VHS that was given a dubbed and subtitled release. The OVA is broken up into various segments labeled as numbered "Approach"es, this is mainly used to separate the time skips from one scene to the other. The actual animation is fairly relevant for the time, but up for most motion picture anime quality. There is some mature themes like nudity, sex, and people getting strait up shot in the face, so really not for kids.

ANI-MOVIES, *Like The Clouds, Like The Wind

While the rumor of it being a Studio Ghibli production, the 1990 made-for-TV anime movie, Like The Clouds, Like The Wind, was in fact done by Studio Pierrot. The confusion comes from the character designs of Katsuya Kondo, who worked on several Ghibli titles like Princess Mononoke and Howl's Moving Castle. Kenichi Sakemi wrote the original novel that the movie is based on, and the majority of his titles deal in Chinese history and legends. Gatchaman animator Hisayuki Toriumi directed the film, and features some theatrically-relased movie quality.

Set in 1600s China, the residing emperor passes away, and his oldest son is set to inherit the throne, thus must acquire a harem of wives to solidify his lineage. Happy-go-lucky farmer girl Ginta decides she'd like to give a shot at being a pampered concubine, but once at the capitol's inner palace begins to realize the stark reality of the power-shifting kingdom. Ginga is one of several girls from all over China who apply for a position as one of the new emperor's wives. There's an assassin plot from the mother of the previous emperor's younger sons, and a rebellious uprising from some hooligans who start their campaign just because they were bored. The real meat of the story though it Ginga, and the bonds she forms with the other bridal candidates, as well as her relationship with the castle staff, including her future husband in disguise.

This movie is set apart from most "harem anime" as it is about an actual harem, plus it is one of the few ones to give real respect to Chinese culture. Sometimes referred to Kumo Kaze, the film was finally released on DVD and Blu-Ray by Discotek Media, although only in Japanese with subtitles. It has very somber moments, but some truly memorable characters, and worth a look at least on streaming.

2020 in a nutshell

ANI-MOVIES, *Scoob!

With having more made-for-video movies than any other cartoon character, Scooby-Doo was inevitably going to get a legit animated theatrical movie, even though COVID-19 had different ideas. Scoob! is the first non-live-action film to feature the Mystery Inc. team that was intended to be shown in cinemas, but the black plague of the 21st Century caused movie houses everywhere to shut down, so it was released instead first on demand, and then regular DVD and Blu-Ray. Done as another remake to the Scooby-Doo franchise, this doesn't go the standard "guy in a monster costume" route, but instead trying to set up an expanded Hanna-Barbera cinematic universe.

Starting out during the A Pup Named Scooby-Doo years, Shaggy adopts Scooby, and the two of them befriend three other kids on Halloween where the end up solving a mystery with a neighborhood thief. Over the next few years, the gang have a successful run of covering several similar cases, and as eventually want to expand Mystery Inc into a legit business. However, completely randomly added Simon Cowell shows up to sponsor them, but thinks they should lose Shaggy and Scooby. Distraught, the two chums go bowling, and are attacked by transforming mini-robots. The twosome get rescued by real life superhero, Blue Falcon(actually the son of the original), plus the bionic Dynomutt, and Dee Dee formally of the Teen Angels. Turns out that Wacky Races bad guy, Dick Dastardly, needs to capture Scooby to open a door the Greek Underworld, which would unleash the monstrous three-headed canine Cerberus on the world. Fred, Velma and Daphne get abducted by Dick and his robots, while the Blue Falcon crew is searching for one of Cerebus' skulls that will open the door to the Underworld.

There are several nods to various Hanna-Barbera cartoons, some of which were connected due to shows like Laff-A-Lympics that teamed up various cartoon characters from different shows. There could've been some more set up with the Blue Falcon backstory, and how Dynomutt got to be less of a goofy idiot sidekick to an genuine crimefighter, plus Dee Dee's ties to Captain Caveman who also has a part in the movie. The animation is slightly above average for some other studio created 3D computer animated productions, although not exactly in the Pixar level of perfection. The choice to have most of the cast to be voiced by currently trendy celebrities as opposed to the veteran voice actors is also a major distraction. Scoob! might not specifically be the best for old school fans of the original Saturday morning cartoon, but makes for a decent rental.

OBSCURE O.V.A.S, *Kite

To make one thing clear, I'm only reviewing edited version of this, not the uncut versions which were mostly gratuitous hentai. Kite was a 2-episode OVA series by Yasuomi Umetsu, mostly known for a segment from Robot Carnival, that was later released in the States as a combined anime, with several different releases in the States. It's a high-action crime drama, but included with some pointlessly added sex scenes in some cuts. The anime is intended for mature audiences in any incarnation, mostly due to the gory fight scenes and explicit content. Very much like an animated La Femme Nikita.

Orphaned schoolgirl Sawa secretly leads a double life as an assassin, part of an underground vigilante society that targets rich celebrities and upper class deviants that prey on young victims. Sawa's boss is Akai, a police detective that covers up the assassinations, who also plotted the death of Sawa's parents in order for her to join their cause. Akai's partner is the scarred unblinking weirdo Kanie, who he also shares Sawa in bed with inbetween missions. Kanie is the handler for another teen assassin, the lonesome Oburi, and both young killers develop a short romance. However, Sawa gets in way over her head when she has to take out one of two famous twins in a bathroom, which leads to one of the most bombastic sequences outside of a Road Runner cartoon. Despite surviving the ordeal with the sort of luck lottery winners couldn't even wish for, she ends up getting blamed for the screw up, and has a falling out with Akai, then goes to Oburi. Akai later finds Kanie murdered by Oburi, and has a final confrontation with Sawa where she reveals she knew about his deception the whole time. There is a secret almost Sopranos ending letting viewers know that the vigilante organization is still active.

The success of the gritty OVA lead to a sequel titled Kite: Liberator which adds a whole new science-fiction element to the story with nothing less than space monsters, plus a third installment is in the works. There was of course an American live-action remake starring Samuel L. Jackson which went on to be one of the most panned anime adaptations ever made. For the original anime release, Media Blasters had the edited version, a Director's Cut, and a Special Edition, the latter two are usually labeled under "hentai". Kite is also a shared universe with Yasuomi Umetsu's other OVA series, Mezzo Forte, which eventually got its own television spinoff titled Mezzo TV. Obviously not intended for kids, but Kite is great for a fan of Tarantino's splatter fests.

If Optimus Prime and Optimus Primal had a baby...

OBSCURE O.V.A.S, *8-Man After

Before The Six Million Dollar Man, Robocop, and Teen Titans' Cyborg, the very first man-machine crimefighter was 8-Man, a manga by Jiro Kuwata, who later went on to do the 60s Batman manga, which was turned into one of the first anime titles to be shown on American television in the 1960s, known out here as Tobor the 8th Man. Unlike numerous anime released in America in the 60s-70s, this unfortunately wasn't one that was kept in reruns like Speed Racer, even though it did get its own retro-styled live-action movie in 1992 that did get a limited English release. Following the movie's success in Japan, it was decided to do a 4-episode OVA followup to the first anime series titled 8-Man After. It's initial release was done by Streamline Pictures with 1-episode per VHS tape, and eventually in the obligatory Perfect Collection video, then later on DVD by Image Entertainment, and more recently on Blu-Ray by Discotek Media. The various releases though haven't exactly boosted the superhero's infamy in the States.

Taking place sometime after the original 60s series, the 8-Man(secretly private eye Azuma)disappears, and his city is overcome with a crimewave of cybernetic thugs. Azuma's old secretary who only discovered his secret identity shortly before his last battle is now working for a company, which is in reality behind the whole robo-baddies empire, run by the evil "Mr. Halloween". The chief bad guy is taken out though very early in the series by his second-in-command, an ex-cop that killed former officer Hazama's sister. Hazama himself is in an accident and given the cybernetic frame of the previous 8-Man to become the new hero on the block. With super-speed and robotic strength, 8-Man has to hunt down the mechanical menaces, while still trying to cling to his humanity.

8-Man After takes the approach of doing a classic hero and refitted for the 90s, similar to Batman Beyond and Phantom 2040, except this was one of the first titles to do so. The anime is much grittier than the campy 60s series, highlighting this 8-Man's willingness to use more extreme methods to take down killer cyborgs. The major drawback is they never give any real answer as to the fate of the original 8-Man, and how his robot body was recovered to be filled in by another candidate. The addition of a "fresh kid" to act as the Scrappy-Doo of the series doesn't help out either. However, the OVA does make for an above-average cyberpunk 90s anime, at least of the ones that came out before Ghost In The Shell.