David Prowse is just spending a year dead for tax reasons!

ANI-MOVIES, *Miss Hokusai

Even casual admirers are aware of the classic artwork by Katsushika Hokusai, at least from his Great Wave Of Kanagawa, a woodblock print of a giant wave off the Japanese coast. The life of Hokusai's daughter, O-Ei, was chronicled in a manga series by the late Hinako Sugiura, which was later turned into a full-length animated movie by Keiichi Hara, whose previous works dealt with more family-centered titles like Shin-chan and Doraemon.

Set in Japan's capital city Edo during the early 1800s, Hokusai is a celebrated artist, whose techniques seem to have a supernatural life of its own. His daughter O-Ei helps him with his work, and is a proficient artist on her own usually specializing in erotica. Hoskukai has a younger daughter, O-Nao, who is O-Ei's half-sister that unfortunately is blind and weak from constantly being ill. O-Ei has difficulty settling on her feelings for more than one romantic inspiration, either her father's only student Zenjiro, or another fan of Hokusai. She ultimately tries to find passion with a crossdressing geisha, but still can't focus her heart's direction into her work. O-Nao continues to struggle with her condition, and believes her father won't visit her because he's afraid of sickness, all while O-Ei keeps consoling her sister as she tries to show her what the visual world is like.

The anime has been released dubbed through GKids, although though quite alot of the material is not especially for all ages. The quality of production that Madman Entertainment put into this project is impressive, despite the occasional drop in performance making it appear like something more out of a made-for-TV movie instead of a theatrically released film.

OBSCURE O.V.A.S, *Record Of Lodoss War

Beginning as a Japanese remake of fantasy games like Dungeons And Dragons, Record Of Lodoss War was developed into a related series of novels by creator Ryo Mizuno. This also prompted the printing of several different manga, and eventually into one of the earliest ongoing OVA series. Madhouse took up the Herculean effort of making the anime while it was produced by animation veteran Masao Maruyama. Having one volume released monthly in the early 1990s, all 13 episodes were put out within the span of less than two years. The anime itself was based on the first four volumes of the prose novels, plus the two-part manga, Record Of Lodoss War: The Grey Witch. The storyline was carried out further in the Record Of Lodoss War: Chronicles Of The Heroic Knight anime TV remake which expanded on a newer generation of characters, as each portion of the series' history deals with six different characters forming a party to save their land from darkness, largely in the spirit of The Lord Of The Rings.

Set hundreds of years after a war of the remaining gods, their final battle caused part of the continent of Alacrast(which would be the basis for the fantasy comedy Rune Soldier)into breaking off and forming the cursed island known as Lodoss. Centuries later, Lodoss is seperated into several kingdoms, most of which are allied to each other, except for the mirky smaller island nation of Marmo, lead by the reckless Emporer Beld. Marmo begins invading Lodoss with its forces of goblins, wolfmen, and dark elves, all lead by their general, the dark knight Ashram. While this is happening, the sturdy old dwarf Ghim seeks to find Leylia, the daughter of a high priestess that saved his life. Ghim sets help from his wizard friend Slayn, and the two come across the wannabe knight Parn with his friend Etoh, a recently graduated priest. The four team up to save Parn's village from Marmo forces, and then travel to the nearest kingdom to join in the struggle for freedom, which has them teaming up with the pretty high elf Deedlit. After gaining the thief Woodchuck to their party, the now six heroes go on various quests to prevent Beld's ambition from tearing Lodoss apart. However, all sides a secretly being played by Karla, a grey witch who keeps all the opposing forces in perpetual battle so as not to give any one side the most power to either conquer or unify all the kingdoms. Parn and his party have several members either leaving temporarily, or permanantly, and their quest leads to dragonslaying, epic duals, and the resurrection of an evil goddess.

Record Of Lodoss War wasn't Ryo Mizuna's take on the RPG-inspired genre, not only with the various spinoff titles, but also with his more recent Record of Grancrest War, which despite the similar title doesn't have any direct connection to the Lodoss franchise. There was an anime continuation titled Legend Of Crystania, even though it works more as a sequal to the TV remake, as some characters died in the OVA series who show up alive in the frst Crystania movie. There is some difficulty structuring together the collected plot of OVA series, which skips some chapters and characters from the original novels, in fact the premiere episode is more done as a preview of the anime as it takes place in the middle of the first story arc with the six party members having already gotten together. Another criticism is you can tell which episodes had a bigger budget due to the slight lack of quality in animation, or reusing footage from previous episodes, like a red dragon that was repainted black. But, despite the mileage, Lodoss War has achieved level of nostalgia unparalleled among other 90s OVAs, as its one of the few to actually get a Blu-Ray re-release. Whether it's gamers, Tolkien fans, or generic otaku, Lodoss War is an excellent example of bringing life to a genre which at the time wasn't as huge as it would be since fantasy anime was a niche market back then.

ANI-MOVIES, *Seoul Station

Being one of the few Korean animated movies to be recieve a release in the States, Seoul Station owes its initial success as being a loose prequel to the live-action Korean zombie film, Train To Busan. Being released in theatres merle weeks after the original movie, the animated prelude was directed by the same creator, Yeon Sang-ho simultaneously had both films in production for a near simultaneoue debut. This was followed up by a live-action sequel years later titled Pennisula, although like Seoul Station, all three installments aren't really direct follow-ups, but more seperate stories set in the same universe.

The movie begins with a homeless man at the main train station in Seoul having been bitten by an unseen attacker, from which he gets back up and starts spreading a zombie plague among the numerous homeless population. The main part of story deals with Hyu-San, a runaway prostitute now bunking up with her current boyfriend Ki-woong, whom she breaks up with after finding out he's been taking pictures of her sleeping to sell online. Suk-gyu, a man claiming to be Hyu-San's father tracks down Ki-woong when a detective locates her picture, and the two men spend a lengthy amount of time weeding through the zombie hordes to find her. Hyu-San meanwhile has to work her way around the fascist police who see everyone, living and walking dead alike, as being a hazard. She is finally reunited with Ki-yoong after finding refuge in a model home, but is shocked to find out that Suk-gyu is in reality her ex-pimp, who murders Ki-yoong, and spends a large amount of time stalking the showroom for Ki-yoong. The killer pimp spent all this effort chasing her down because she stole some money from him, but gets his just desserts as he's attacked by a now zombie-fied Ki-yoong. All this while the city of Seoul gets overrun with increasing numbers of living dead.

You can watch either Seoul Station or Train To Busan without needing to see the other as there is little carryover from one to the other. The animated movie is more of a study of how Korean society looks down on its homeless population, and how manically depressed your average blue collar Korean worker can get, even without the addition of a zombie apocalypse. Filmrise managed the American release, with it being currently available on DVD and Blu-Ray, along with most streaming services. The CGI-animated characters are better than average without taking away too much from the constantly shifting plot, although the "twist ending" might derail alot of gorehounds who wanted to see more of an animated zombie film instead of a character study of represserd Korean citizens.

MISC. MANGA, *Leia: Princess Of Alderaan

Claudia Grey wrote a bestselling novel taking place in the new Disney-approved Star Wars timeline which covered the early years of Princess Leia's life. This was adapted into an official manga webcomic titled Leia Organa: Ordeal of the Princess by artist Haruichi, who also did the artwork for The Legends Of Luke Skywalker. The manga itself is being reprinted as a series of manga graphic novels through Disney.

Speeding through the adorable years of the post-prequel trilogy, Leia, the adopted daughter of the Viceroy Bail Organa and Queen Breha of the propserous planet of Alderaan, which has fallen under the control of the newly risen Galactic Empire. Leia is now sixteen, and going the the three trials to become the recognized heir to the throne of Alderaan. She first goes on a mercy mission with Alderaan military to the war ravaged world of Wobani(shown in Rogue One), but is appauled by how the Empire treats its impoverished citizens. Not able to take provide relief for all the citizens, she allows a hundred of them to be hired as members of her ship's crew in order to give them a better life on Alderaan, but this unkowingly shoots down a plan that Bail Organa had for give all the Wobani people. This strengthens Leia's resolve to understand politics better by becoming a galactic senator. She then begins another part of her royal trials by engaging in pathfinder training. Future adventures have Leia crossing paths with Star Wars regulars like Grand Moff Tarkin and Mon Mothma, plus the beginning of her relationship with fellow senator Holdo.

Haruichi does a splendid job of bringing life to Claudia Grey's young adult novel, especially with how adorable Leia was when she was a "youngling". This fits well into the current Star Wars history, as its been revised after Disney bought out Lucasfilm, which seriously rewrites alot of the original expanded universe lore. Fans of the dearly depated Carrie Fisher will totally enjoy this spotlight on the "Young Princess Leia Chronicles".

ANI-MOVIES, *DC Showcase: A Death In The Family

For the second time in a decade, a collection of DC Showcase shorts is collected into a single edition. This brings together four different segments originally featured in full-length animated releases like Superman: Red Son. However, in order to pad out the product as a complete package, instead of coming up with another team-up like Superman/Shazam: The Return Of Black Adam, Warner Bros. decided to take their blockbuster Batman: Under The Red Hood movie and give it the Choose Your Own Adventure technique. This upset quite a few people as you can't make any of the divergent paths in the streaming release, and is only on Blu-Ray or DVD.

The Batman: A Death In The Family segment shows how things might have gone different during the Under The Red Hood movie from the beginning where Jason Todd, the former 2nd Robin, instead took on the identity similar to later Batman villain Hush, or Red Robin. There are numerous choices, like deciding if Jason for survives his ordeal with the Joker, but becomes broken, or if Batman was the one who died in the explosion, with Jason taking up Batman's job. Some of these have different turnout like runins with Talia, Two-Face, or an unmasked final confrontation with the Joker. The story fits well into the original movie similar to Marvel's old What If? comics. But if you don't have the home video release, you're just getting a clip show of the genuine film.

The first of the regular DC Showcase shorts is Sgt. Rock, DC's equivelant of G.I. Joe. Set during WWII, Rock(voiced fantastically by Karl Urban)looses his entire troop in battle. The tough soldier now gets tasked with leading the Allied Forces monster army known as The Creature Commandos to raid a secret Nazi base making its own nightmare brigade. Normally, Sgt. Rock's character isn't involved in "weird war stories", but this feature balances out the horrors of war as well as the supernatural.

Next is Death, the younger sister of Dream from Neil Gaiman's Sandman Vertigo comic, who regularly doesn't meet up with the general DC Universe characters. Taking place in Gotham City, an unemployed artist is struggling to find something to inspire his creativity, while being brought down by his own personal demons. Death here looks like a cute gothic girl who poses for him, although the main reason she shows up was to bring him into the afterlife. It's a very steady-paced story, having less to do with the actual fantastic realm of The Dreaming, and more about how a single person's place in the world can be shoved aside by everyday minutia.

The Phantom Stranger is another look into the mystical side of DC Comics. Stranger himself is probably the most enigmatic character in comics altogether since he's almost never really gotten a proper origin, or exactly who/what he represents, but ususally acts as an oberver of the mortal realm. Here, he acts as a defender of humanity as he tries to persuade a young woman from getting involved in a demon's scheme to steal her soul, after already sucked the life out of a group of teens right out of Scooby-Doo. If you were to compare this to other DC attempts at horror like in their previous Showcase spot of The Spectre, than this one takes a second place, although it still makes for an interesting watch. Plus, DC regular Michael Rosenbaum as the devious demon is a real treat.

Finally, Adam Strange gets his own solo adventure. Traditionally, Strange was the Flash Gordon of the DC Universe, as he's an Earthman who regularly gets teleported from his homeworld to the distant but advanced planet of Rann. There, he married the resident Alanna, and the two of them had a daughter. Rann eventually gets invaded by the Hawkpeople from Thannagar, who cause Alanna's death, and Adam being beamed to an unknown snow world currently being mined by alien humans. After years of being stuck on this planet, Adam gives up all hope of being able to go back to Rann and find his daughter. Strange however gets to show why he was a true space adventurerer with his jetpack and raygun as he barbecues big bugs rampaging through the space station, Starship Troopers style.

Each of these chapters are largely acceptable on their own, although it might depend on your taste in comics as most of the aren't geared toward costumed crimefighters. The original DC Showcase installments are mainly done to hightlight the more obscure parts of the DC Universe, and this collection does its job of making the wider world of comics not be all capes and cowls.

ANI-MOVIES, *Fate/Grand Order: First Order

In 2016, to premiere their new Fate/Stay Night spinoff mobile game, Lay-duce studio produced a made-for-TV animated movie based on the story's prologue. Like most of the titles in Fate universe(s), it stems from the original Fate/Stay Night anime, and its two divergent anime showing alternate takes on the storyline. Fate/Grand Order brings a Terminator element into the mix with this introduction to the new series in First Order.

Set in an alternate timeline during 2015, a special isolated base run by Chaldea Security Organization uses a mixture of tech and magic to monitor mankind's future history. A fluxuation within the timeline results in the probable exticition of all humanity, so the CSO sends their last remaining time-travel candidate Ritsuka(who could be a girl in the video game depending on the player's choice), along with his teammate Mash who during the trip has take on the spirit of a Servant Class. Servants in the Fate series are historical or fictional character reincarnated to take part in a war between several mages that use their powers to win the Holy Grail, a mystical chalice that can grant any wish, although sometimes in a Monkey's Paw fashion. Showing up in a dark alternate version of the Fifth Holy Grail War(i.e.: Fate: Stay/Night)in 2004, Mash has been given the spirit of the knight Galahad, and uses her new abilities as a magical shielder to protect Ritsuka as his servant. Another tagalong from the future was the commanding officer Olga, and the trio are attacked by Medusa, who in this timeline has been reclassified as a lancer. Cu Chulainn appears as a reclassified caster to rescue them from the grim gorgon, and relays to the time travellers that this version of the world has been tainted with the power of the Holy Grail, and now under the watch of a possessed Saber(originally a female reborn King Arthur). The new RPG party has to make it past some other possessed magic servants, one of which technically shouldn't even exist anymore since they're from the future which is at this point in time is non-existant. Our heroes defeat Saber thanks to Mash's Noble Phantasm super-attack, but its revealed that this was all part of the plan of a rogue member of the CSO, Professor Leff, who is secretly working for a cabal of demon gods bent on using time anomalies to make the human race extinct. Olga is killed during this confrontation as she unknowingly died in the future with only her spirit travelling back to take on a solid form. Ritsuka and Mash return to the future, but are informed that Leff's forces have opened up seven other anomalies, so the two of them have to journey to each timeline and retrieve the Holy Grail from each one, leading to a new assignment called "Grand Order".

First Order acts as the opening chapter to a campaign of seven different quests throughout time, two of which have so far been turned into their own anime TV series, making this movie a prelude to the entire new saga. If you had at least seen any of the original three different anime titles base on the first Fate/Stay Night game, then you shouldn't have too much trouble wrapping your head around the idea of the storyline. However, if you've never sampled any of the Fate titles, then you'll be pretty lost in this. It also seems to contradict the Fate/Extra: Last Encore anime series which is set even further in the future, but can be brushed aside if you dismiss most plot failings in time travel stories.

ANI-MOVIES, *Bon Voyage, Charlie Brown (And Don't Come Back!)

As the last of the original Peanuts movie series of the 70s, Bon Voyage, Charlie Brown was another depature from the normal neighborhood shennanigans where some of the cast goes not to summer camp, but all the way to Europe. Charlers M. Schultz wrote this original story based on his tour as an American soldier during WWII. Released in 1980, it would be the last Peanuts theatrical release until The Peanuts Movie in 2015.

Charlie Brown gets a letter from a mysterious girl in France who somehow knew that he was going there as part of the foreign exchange student program, which Linus only bothered to tell him about the day before they were supposed to leave with Peppermint Patty and Marcie. Somehow getting Snoopy with Woodstock along as part of their student group, they fly to England, where Snoopy gets kicked out of Wimbledon, to which an American domestic dog already has an unexplained membership with. They take a hovercraft across the English Channel(about a year before they actually had that kind of public transportation!), and get a rental car in France which Snoopy is able to drive despite his feet being nowhere near long enough to reach the pedals. Peppermint Patty and Marcie stay with a young farmer boy during their visit, while the rest go to this chateau they were invited to. Once there, they have to spend the night outside since there doesn't seem to be any residents, all while Snoopy sneaks out to get hammered on root beer at the local cafe. It's eventually revealed that Charlie Brown was invited by the granddaughter of a woman his grandpa new during WWI, even though they never explain why she didn't just send the invite to the entire Brown family since Chuck's dad is the direct son. The ticked off old "Baron" who runs the Chateau finally lets the boys stay after they help put out a fire that would have burned the joint to the ground. The Peanuts gang then head onto a European road trip viewing WWII memorials that were later covered in the TV speccial, What Have We Learned, Charlie Brown?

The final movie in the Peanuts tetralogy had lesser quality than the previous movies. It seems more like it was meant as an hour-long TV special elongated to be a feature-length film. There's alot of call backs to prior Peanuts installments, and repetition of gags like Pepperment Patty confusing her hosts hospitality for romance, or Snoopy causing two different auto accidents while not having to fill out any police reports. If your a hardcore Charlie Brown fan, than you should enjoy this for at least one viewing, but the movie was clear indicator that the golden age of Peanuts cartoons was drawing to a close.