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matt_zimmerAlso reviews for Marvel Anime: Iron Man, Marvel Anime: X-Men, and the latest episode of Futurama.
Upcoming reviews on this journal include Grimm: Season 1, Community: Season 3, The Looney Tunes Show: There Goes The Neighborhood, The Hunger Games, Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: Season 1 - Volume 1, Green Lantern: The Animated Series: Rise Of The Red Lanterns, Once Upon A Time: Season 1, Transformers Prime: Season 1, TRON: Legacy Blu-Ray, The Adventures Of Young Indiana Jones Volume 2: The War Years, The Adventures Of Young Indiana Jones Volume 3: The Years Of Change, and Heathcliff: Season 1 - Volume 1.
The Dark Knight Rises
I wasn't looking forward to writing this review because I'm afraid anyone who reads it will look at me as if I have two heads. The Dark Knight Rises has gotten nothing but critical praise from critics and fanboys and people have even said it was better than The Dark Knight.
I disagree. It's a well-made movie but it is SO freaking depressing that it is almost no fun to watch. Yeah, it's great and exciting but it is SUCH a downer. The Dark Knight was actually a film that had an optimistic view of humanity but here everything is just so bleak. I may be a lightweight but those aren't the kind of movies I enjoy watching. I went in expecting Batman and got Schindler's List. Now Schindler's List was a great movie too. But I most certainly didn't enjoy watching it.
Batman faking his death was a nice surprise because I went into the movie expecting him to die (how else can a Batman story actually finish?). I was infuriated by the rift the movie created between Bruce and Alfred and I don't think the end resolved it to my satisfaction. But yeah, it's cool that Bruce and Selina got a happy ending together and they still sometimes meet up with Alfred.
Speaking of Selina she was the best character in the movie. I was surprised by how well Anne Hathaway played her. I especially liked that this version of Catwoman was NOT a sex object at all which is the first time I've EVER seen the character portrayed that way and especially refreshing after the recent overrated Batman: Year One animated movie and that embarrassing, horrid DC Showcase Catwoman short.
I heard Tom Hardy was going to be unintelligible as Bane but I understood most of what he said. Did they redub any of his lines? He is easily the most evil character ever in a DC live action project. He makes Heath Ledger's Joker look like a puppy dog.
Talia was a nice twist but it wasn't all THAT shocking. Betrayals like that are all the rage in superhero movies and cartoons so it didn't surprise me.
Loved Batman revealing his identity to Gordon at the end. VERY cool. And the statue to Batman was great. How come Superman is the only one who usually gets statues?
Great that they got cameos from Liam Neeson and Cillian Murphy. Murphy's small role of Crane was especially great and funny.
Look! Torchwood's Burn Gorman! Total casting shock, especially without his British accent. I also giggled when I saw Reno 911's Thomas Lennon playing that doctor.
I was surprised at how much I liked the character of Blake. Usually I don't find myself drawn to characters in different media projects based on comic books that are created specifically for that story but I really like him. He was no lame Ethan Bennett or Ellen Yin. But are they implying he will be the next Batman? Because that's just plain wacky.
A terrific, great, awesome movie that I barely liked. I cannot overstate what a superb filmmaking achievement this is. But I didn't enjoy it at all. ***** for the movie. **1/2. for the experience. Overall: ****.
Futurama "Near-Death Wish"
I have a hard time believing BOTH of the Professor's parents are alive especially since they both looked younger than he does. But maybe that was the joke.
This episode was pretty good. I'm glad that we got to revisit the Near-Death Star and like us visiting the Robot Homeworld a few weeks back, it makes it seem like a firmly tied together universe, to go back to places explored in the first and second seasons of the show.
The end surprised me a bit and I love how they set up the idea that Farnsworth's brother is still out there. Can you say "Sequel"? ****.
Marvel Anime: Iron Man - The Complete Series
That beat Batman: Gotham Knight. To death. With a shovel.
After DC Universe's Anibatrix fiasco I was looking forward to this like I was a head cold. But man, even if the first two episodes were completely boring and the ending a bit of a let-down it kicked the snot out of Gotham Knight.
Let's get the complaints out of the way first. Tony Stark's character design is ridiculously ugly. Adrian Pasdar as the English voice is able to salvage the character but the design is repellent. I haven't watched the Japanese Language track yet so I can't tell how well his Japanese voice fares but Pasdar actually sounds like Tony Stark even though the character doesn't look like him.
Another complaint is that the story is too slow moving in places. Although that may be just due to the anime sensibility.
I really dug the newspaper reporter Nanami and was hoping she and Tony would eventually have a thing. She's so funny and cute that I was rooting for her the entire way through. When she got sick in "Outbreak" my jaw hit the floor.
I also really liked the romance between Tony and Chika. Tony was annoying in the first couple of episodes but like Chika I eventually warmed up to him.
Best episodes were the freaky sickness episode (Outbreak) and "A Duel Of Iron", which was the series high point. Worst episodes were the first two (Japan: Enter Iron Man / Going Nuclear). Series Overall: ****.
Japan: Enter Iron Man: Honestly, this was super boring. I'm glad I stuck with the series as it improved as it went along but this and episode two were dullsville. I like that Editor Homura seems to be based on J. Jonah Jameson. He's even voiced by Daran Norris in the English version who voiced Jameson on The Spectacular Spider-Man. **.
Going Nuclear: As I said, this was boring but I think Nanami is a cute and funny character. **.
Reap The Whirlwind: Disappointingly, this isn't about the Iron Man rogue. It's still a vast improvement from the first two episodes though. ***1/2.
A Twist Of Memory, A Turn Of The Mind: The Petrelli brothers reunited! I love that it appears all of these Marvel Anime projects will share a continuity, loose or not. It was awesome seeing Logan. I like the twist at the end of Yinsen being alive. I didn't understand the motivation of the race car driver. Surely he can't believe that if he kills Tony Stark, especially in so public a setting in front of hundreds of witnesses that he wouldn't go to jail, much less still be able to race. Plot hole. ****.
Outbreak: That blue vomit was absolutely freaky and scared me more than any sickness since The Stand's Captain Trips. Yikes. Great episode. ****1/2.
Technical Difficulties: The good: the computer virus scenario was imaginative. The bad: I could give a flying frak about the villain's motivation and tragic backstory. ***1/2.
Daughter Of The Zodiac: Diverting enough. I can't tell if I find Aki funny or annoying. Cute though. ***.
A Duel Of Iron: Best episode of the series. It had an exciting climax, a great cliffhanger and took things up to the next level. Excellent. *****.
Casualties Of War: I am SO disappointed Yinsen didn't turn out to be the Big Bad of the series. He really puts Tony through the wringer and I found his deathbed repentence unconvincing. It was good, don't get me wrong, but I could tell after watching this that the next two episodes would be let-downs and I was right. ****.
The Beginning Of The End: I liked this episode when I was watching it but in retrospect after seeing the series finale I don't think it's probably as good I as originally thought it was. I liked the last shot of Sakurai dying though. ***1/2.
The End: Major let-down. Bummer of an ending and simply not enough action. I don't know what I was expecting but after A Duel Of Iron I knew this series could knock it out of the park when it wanted to. Not terrible and it doesn't really diminish the series but I am really disappointed. ***
The Marvel Anime Universe: Re-Imagining Iron Man: Featurette about the making of the series. ****.
Voicing Tony Stark: Interview With Keiji Fujiwara: Interview with the voice of the Japanese version with subtitles. I find it interesting that the actor find links between this version and the live-action one. I don't personally see it but it's something to look out for. ****.
21st Century Hero: The Technology Of Iron Man: About the technology of Tony Stark's suit. **1/2.
Special Cross Talk: Marvel Anime's Iron Man And Wolverine: I found this roundtable discussion of the Japanese animators funny because it's pretty clear they have no real idea of how American superheroes work. It amuses me that people who worked on a 12 episode Iron Man TV series still have zero understanding of Tony Stark. To be perfectly fair, I don't much understand Japanese heroes either. I think the very different approaches to heroes is what made this experiment interesting. ***1/2.
DVD Menus: Static and mute. The language menu is easy to access though and choosing the English version sans subtitles is a breeze. **1/2..
Marvel Anime: Wolverine - The Complete Series
As bad as Batman: Gotham Knight. This is the most boring of the Marvel Anime series and it has the annoying habit of killing off the most interesting characters. Practically the entire cast save Wolverine and one more was killed off by the end of the series and I found that greatly unsatisfying. It's also slow as all get-out and REALLY boring. There is practically zero forward momentum in the story and the entire thing could probably have been told in three episodes had the series not been filled with such dull filler.
Milo Ventimiglia makes a poor Logan in the English dub. They should have had him voiced by Steve Blum like the X-Men anime (Blum DOES have a role here as the honorable assassin Kikyo). I'm also having a hard time placing the timeframe this takes place in the Marvel Anime Universe. It all fits into the same continuity, I guess, but it's still a bit confusing.
All in all, a disappointment especially since I actually liked the X-Men and Iron Man animes and LOVED the Blade one.
The only episode of the series I enjoyed was "Hell Road" although I will acknowledge the finale "Logan" wasn't terrible. The other ten episodes are pretty much a ten way tie for worst of the series. Series Overall: *.
Mariko: Boring beginning. Didn't like this. **.
Yukio: They shouldn't have killed off Asano. He was one of the most likable characters. I like that Logan's computer password is "Logan". **1/2.
Kikyo: Kikyo is a cool character but the episode itself is a dud. Even Omega Red at the end didn't really wow me. *.
Omega Red: Just one long fight scene. Scratch that, one long BORING fight scene. 1/2.
Asano: No question, Cyclops' appearance at the end was welcome even if the rest of the cartoon sucked. **1/2.
Min: Min is adorable especially since she's voiced in the English dub by The Batman and Wolverine and the X-Men's cutie-pie Danielle Judovits. Sucks that Cyclops' role was so brief though. **1/2.
Vadhaka: Another outing that moves at a snail's pace. *.
Koh: That poison was gruesome. I'm impressed. **1/2.
Hell Road: The only episode of the series that I outright liked because stuff actually happened during it. Great death traps and if some of the escapes were implausible, at least the animation kicked butt. ****.
Shingen: Stupid move to kill off Min. They keep getting rid of the most interesting characters. *1/2.
Kurohagi: I didn't enjoy this gorefest but I'll admit it wasn't boring for once. **1/2.
Logan: I don't know if this is an anime thing or not but it feels kind of lousy to watch 12 episodes of something and then have the entire cast killed off except for Logan and Kikyo. The coda between the two was fun though and the episode was watchable. Mariko's death scene and her goodbye with Logan was great too. ***1/2.
The Marvel Anime Universe: Wolverine Reborn: This talks about the making of the series and the comics it was based on. ****.
The Ferocious Anti-Hero: Wolverine Defined: I guess I'm not as big of a fan of blood splattering violence as other fans seem to be. I personally find it a bit distasteful. ***.
Wolverine Meets X-Men: A roundtable discussion between the Japanese animators and directors from both Wolverine and X-Men. ***1/2.
DVD Menus: Still and silent, but easy to navigate which is a plus when you are dealing with different dubs and subtitles. ***.
Marvel Anime: X-Men - The Complete Series
Another superhero anime that deeply shames Batman: Gotham Knight. What was Bruce Timm thinking?
This is better than Iron Man: Anime in some ways and worse in others. It had a MUCH better and stronger beginning than Iron Man. By a mile. And the ending was more satisfying too (I actually want to see a sequel now which is something the Iron Man toon didn't make me feel). On the other hand, there is no single episode as great as "A Duel Of Iron" on this set. Maybe that's understandable since Iron Man was a BIT less serialized but I wish we had gotten a knock-out like that one.
It's also great to hear Steve Blum, Fred Tatasciore, and Jennifer Hale return to the voices of Logan, Beast and Jean Grey respectively on the English dub. I still miss Wolverine and the X-Men greatly and it was a treat to hear some of the cast together again, especially since Blum and Tatasciore got the opportunity to play around with each other a bit. Greatness.
I also love that Emma Frost is a straight up good guy in this. You question her allegience a bit at the beginning because of what happened with Scott and Jean but by the end it's cleared up that she's innocent. Nicely done.
Best episodes on the set are the two where Sasaki CANNOT stop confessing to her evils ("Countdown" and "Revenge"). No real bad episodes but "Power" did leave a bit of a sour taste in my mouth for reasons I'll get into below. Series overall: ****.
The Return: Interesting premiere. The show definitely got off to a better start than Iron Man did. ***1/2.
U-Men: "Mutie" is one of those fictional racial slurs that makes me cringe. That and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine's "Cardies" really seem to be reaching for a level of offensiveness that simply isn't there. DS9 calling the Cardassians "spoonheads" in the later seasons worked better because it was mean, personal, and you can tell the bigots spouting it off thought it was really clever. Offensive words are able to make the user, no matter how stupid or ill-bred they actually are, seem superior to their target if only in their own minds. Oh, and on an unrelated tangent how was the episode? I liked it a lot especially the reveal of Emma Frost at the end. ****.
Armor: I'm pleased they rescued Hisako so early in the series run and made her a part of the team (I was unaware she was a comic book creation until I watched the special features). I had been worried the entire series would revolve around trying to get her back. I mean, a missing kid may be a good hook for an Ashley Judd TV show (or not) but for a superhero toon I'm relieved it set up the premise rather than being it. ****.
Transformation: I like that the series periodically returned to the Xavier Institute. It made the mission seem global in a way that Iron Man's was not. Don't get me wrong, I loved the Iron Man: Anime. But it didn't really start to involve big stakes until the last couple of episodes. ***1/2.
Power: Cyclops really IS a turd, isn't he? There was NO need to involve the kid in a fight to the death at this stage in the game and a REAL hero wouldn't work out their love frustrations by abusing a child. The fact that he received kudos from the others afterwards really rubbed me the wrong way. ***.
Conflict: Another cool episode even though you can tell it's still just mostly set-up. Some cool action scenes though. ***1/2.
Betrayal: I cry foul! The episode title and preview made me think there would be a, well, BETRAYAL of some sort. Not even close. Were the producers referring to Sasaki? Because she was HARDLY ever allied with the team and nobody trusted her from the start. Still, it was a pretty great episode. ****.
Lost: Getting good. I don't recall Mastermind from any of the cartoons. Does he go by another alias? ****.
Revelations: It's funny that this episode is called "Revelations" when it's really the next that answers the big, juicy stuff. ****.
Countdown: Was I the only one getting Zapp Brannigan vibes from The Garden of Eden in Futurama's "Inna-Gadda-Da-Leela" from this episode? Sasaki KEPT having to confess to embarrassing stuff when confronted, each thing more wicked than the last, and it just seems to keep going on forever. Loved it. I also loved Beast calling her crimes "unpardonable". That is such a great word. It's long, sounds REALLY intelligent, and yet everyone knows what it means when someone says it. That's the best kind of "smart" word. I WILL admit that this show tends to over-explain things but I think that is more common to Anime than it is in regular superhero cartoons (or at least that's what I've gathered from the few times I've sat down and suffered through Pokemon). Best episode of the series. ****1/2.
Revenge: Wolverine's Berserker rage was a REALLY clever way out for him and Beast to defeat the villain and it also happened to be awesome and funny as heck too. It was SO great to hear Steve Blum and Fred Tatasciore playfully riffing with each other again. I forgot how much I missed that. ****1/2.
Destiny: Do I wish there had actually been a major villain to fight in the last episode? Yeah. Iron Man had the same problem. But unlike Iron Man I felt the personal ending was earned. Plus, the show went for broke with cameos globally from characters from all over the Marvel Universe so no complaints from me. I loved Iron Man but this show had the better ending. And where's Magneto?!?! ****.
The Marvel Anime Universe: Re-Examining The X-Men: I like this interpretation of the X-Men and I didn't know Armor and the U-Men were from the comics. Cool featurette. ****1/2.
X-Men: A Team Of Outsiders: This is about the concept and characters. I think the most interesting thing for me was Warren Ellis' observation that as a weather goddess and now a queen, Storm no longer faces the kind of bigotry the other X-Men still have to put up with, so it sets her apart a little. I had never considered that before but it's true. ****1/2.
Special Talk Session: Marvel Anime's X-Men And Blade: I think the creators here have a better handle on the characters than the Iron Man team did. I also was VERY pleased to learn that the hopeful ending was purely on the Japanese animators and that Warren Ellis was originally gonna serve us a bummer. SUCH a modern comic book problem and I'm glad the Japanese animators had the good sense to actually make the ending satisfying. ****1/2.
DVD Menus: Similar to the Iron Man Menus. **1/2.
Marvel Anime: Blade - The Complete Series
That. Was. AWESOMESAUCE!
Easily the best of the Marvel Anime series, mostly because the concept lends itself better to adult storytelling. Marvel's version of vampires reminds me a bit of Buffy's in that they are irredeemably evil. I think I like Joss Whedon's take a LITTLE better (a demon walking in a dead person's skin strikes me as scarier than someone infected with a virus) but this was still excellent.
I saw the first Blade movie once, and the Blade episodes from the old Spider-Man cartoons, but both were so long ago that most of this stuff was completely new to me. I liked it a lot.
Best episodes of the series are the pilot (His Name Is Blade), the second one (A Night For The Living, A Mourning For The Dead!), the one with the vampire soldier (Old Wounds, Fresh Blood), the origin story for Deacon Frost (Sins Of The Father), and the series finale (The Final Glory Of Deacon Frost). There are no bad episodes. Series Overall: ****1/2.
His Name Is Blade: This series gripped me from the start and had the best opening of all four Marvel Anime series. I was immediately hooked. ****1/2.
A Night For The Living, A Mourning For The Dead!: Love, love, LOVED that detective and think it was a shame this was his only episode. What a bad cat. Those blood farms were ghastly in the very best way. ****1/2.
Dead On Arrival: Not usually a fan of flashbacks but this was fascinating. Not being familiar with the comics, this was all new to me. ****.
That Was Then, This Is Now: Another cool flashback episode. I'm loving this show. ****.
The Island Of Fire: One of the weaker episodes but I still liked it. ***.
Bad Blood: Excellent animation effects in this one. A bit predictable storywise but VERY watchable. ***1/2.
Claws And Blades: Wolverine! Fun episode and I think Lucius was a great villain. It's almost a shame he was slain. ****.
Old Wounds, Fresh Blood: I loved that honorable G.I. vampire and was surprised to see Kikyo show up. Great episode. *****.
The Bond: The weakest of the flashback episodes, it's still decent. ***.
Sins Of The Father: Man, Deacon Frost and Blade are YOUNG if he became a vampire after he had an adult son who studied genetics. The timeline doesn't really add up here. Oh, did I mention the episode was otherwise awesome? Because I really should have. *****.
The Last Sunset: So sad that Makota died and think it sort of sends a bad message that every single strong female character in these animes gets killed off. Is that an anime trope? Because I don't like it. That said, the episode was powerful and it set up Blade's confrontation with Frost well. ****.
The Final Glory Of Deacon Frost: Loved the ending especially the fact that more characters survived than I expected. Great finale. ****1/2.
The Marvel Anime Universe: Blade Re-Awakened: The American producers and writers talk about the series. ****1/2.
Blade: The Vampire-Slayer: About the character of Blade. VERY cool and handy for those of us who don't know much about him. ****1/2.
Special Talk Session: Marvel Anime's Blade And Wolverine: The Japanese animators discuss Blade. ***1/2.
DVD Menus: Still and mute, but easy to use. For a foreign-language DVD that's appreciated. **1/2.
Upcoming reviews on this journal include Grimm: Season 1, Community: Season 3, The Looney Tunes Show: There Goes The Neighborhood, The Hunger Games, Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: Season 1 - Volume 1, Green Lantern: The Animated Series: Rise Of The Red Lanterns, Once Upon A Time: Season 1, Transformers Prime: Season 1, TRON: Legacy Blu-Ray, The Adventures Of Young Indiana Jones Volume 2: The War Years, The Adventures Of Young Indiana Jones Volume 3: The Years Of Change, and Heathcliff: Season 1 - Volume 1.
The Dark Knight Rises
I wasn't looking forward to writing this review because I'm afraid anyone who reads it will look at me as if I have two heads. The Dark Knight Rises has gotten nothing but critical praise from critics and fanboys and people have even said it was better than The Dark Knight.
I disagree. It's a well-made movie but it is SO freaking depressing that it is almost no fun to watch. Yeah, it's great and exciting but it is SUCH a downer. The Dark Knight was actually a film that had an optimistic view of humanity but here everything is just so bleak. I may be a lightweight but those aren't the kind of movies I enjoy watching. I went in expecting Batman and got Schindler's List. Now Schindler's List was a great movie too. But I most certainly didn't enjoy watching it.
Batman faking his death was a nice surprise because I went into the movie expecting him to die (how else can a Batman story actually finish?). I was infuriated by the rift the movie created between Bruce and Alfred and I don't think the end resolved it to my satisfaction. But yeah, it's cool that Bruce and Selina got a happy ending together and they still sometimes meet up with Alfred.
Speaking of Selina she was the best character in the movie. I was surprised by how well Anne Hathaway played her. I especially liked that this version of Catwoman was NOT a sex object at all which is the first time I've EVER seen the character portrayed that way and especially refreshing after the recent overrated Batman: Year One animated movie and that embarrassing, horrid DC Showcase Catwoman short.
I heard Tom Hardy was going to be unintelligible as Bane but I understood most of what he said. Did they redub any of his lines? He is easily the most evil character ever in a DC live action project. He makes Heath Ledger's Joker look like a puppy dog.
Talia was a nice twist but it wasn't all THAT shocking. Betrayals like that are all the rage in superhero movies and cartoons so it didn't surprise me.
Loved Batman revealing his identity to Gordon at the end. VERY cool. And the statue to Batman was great. How come Superman is the only one who usually gets statues?
Great that they got cameos from Liam Neeson and Cillian Murphy. Murphy's small role of Crane was especially great and funny.
Look! Torchwood's Burn Gorman! Total casting shock, especially without his British accent. I also giggled when I saw Reno 911's Thomas Lennon playing that doctor.
I was surprised at how much I liked the character of Blake. Usually I don't find myself drawn to characters in different media projects based on comic books that are created specifically for that story but I really like him. He was no lame Ethan Bennett or Ellen Yin. But are they implying he will be the next Batman? Because that's just plain wacky.
A terrific, great, awesome movie that I barely liked. I cannot overstate what a superb filmmaking achievement this is. But I didn't enjoy it at all. ***** for the movie. **1/2. for the experience. Overall: ****.
Futurama "Near-Death Wish"
I have a hard time believing BOTH of the Professor's parents are alive especially since they both looked younger than he does. But maybe that was the joke.
This episode was pretty good. I'm glad that we got to revisit the Near-Death Star and like us visiting the Robot Homeworld a few weeks back, it makes it seem like a firmly tied together universe, to go back to places explored in the first and second seasons of the show.
The end surprised me a bit and I love how they set up the idea that Farnsworth's brother is still out there. Can you say "Sequel"? ****.
Marvel Anime: Iron Man - The Complete Series
That beat Batman: Gotham Knight. To death. With a shovel.
After DC Universe's Anibatrix fiasco I was looking forward to this like I was a head cold. But man, even if the first two episodes were completely boring and the ending a bit of a let-down it kicked the snot out of Gotham Knight.
Let's get the complaints out of the way first. Tony Stark's character design is ridiculously ugly. Adrian Pasdar as the English voice is able to salvage the character but the design is repellent. I haven't watched the Japanese Language track yet so I can't tell how well his Japanese voice fares but Pasdar actually sounds like Tony Stark even though the character doesn't look like him.
Another complaint is that the story is too slow moving in places. Although that may be just due to the anime sensibility.
I really dug the newspaper reporter Nanami and was hoping she and Tony would eventually have a thing. She's so funny and cute that I was rooting for her the entire way through. When she got sick in "Outbreak" my jaw hit the floor.
I also really liked the romance between Tony and Chika. Tony was annoying in the first couple of episodes but like Chika I eventually warmed up to him.
Best episodes were the freaky sickness episode (Outbreak) and "A Duel Of Iron", which was the series high point. Worst episodes were the first two (Japan: Enter Iron Man / Going Nuclear). Series Overall: ****.
Japan: Enter Iron Man: Honestly, this was super boring. I'm glad I stuck with the series as it improved as it went along but this and episode two were dullsville. I like that Editor Homura seems to be based on J. Jonah Jameson. He's even voiced by Daran Norris in the English version who voiced Jameson on The Spectacular Spider-Man. **.
Going Nuclear: As I said, this was boring but I think Nanami is a cute and funny character. **.
Reap The Whirlwind: Disappointingly, this isn't about the Iron Man rogue. It's still a vast improvement from the first two episodes though. ***1/2.
A Twist Of Memory, A Turn Of The Mind: The Petrelli brothers reunited! I love that it appears all of these Marvel Anime projects will share a continuity, loose or not. It was awesome seeing Logan. I like the twist at the end of Yinsen being alive. I didn't understand the motivation of the race car driver. Surely he can't believe that if he kills Tony Stark, especially in so public a setting in front of hundreds of witnesses that he wouldn't go to jail, much less still be able to race. Plot hole. ****.
Outbreak: That blue vomit was absolutely freaky and scared me more than any sickness since The Stand's Captain Trips. Yikes. Great episode. ****1/2.
Technical Difficulties: The good: the computer virus scenario was imaginative. The bad: I could give a flying frak about the villain's motivation and tragic backstory. ***1/2.
Daughter Of The Zodiac: Diverting enough. I can't tell if I find Aki funny or annoying. Cute though. ***.
A Duel Of Iron: Best episode of the series. It had an exciting climax, a great cliffhanger and took things up to the next level. Excellent. *****.
Casualties Of War: I am SO disappointed Yinsen didn't turn out to be the Big Bad of the series. He really puts Tony through the wringer and I found his deathbed repentence unconvincing. It was good, don't get me wrong, but I could tell after watching this that the next two episodes would be let-downs and I was right. ****.
The Beginning Of The End: I liked this episode when I was watching it but in retrospect after seeing the series finale I don't think it's probably as good I as originally thought it was. I liked the last shot of Sakurai dying though. ***1/2.
The End: Major let-down. Bummer of an ending and simply not enough action. I don't know what I was expecting but after A Duel Of Iron I knew this series could knock it out of the park when it wanted to. Not terrible and it doesn't really diminish the series but I am really disappointed. ***
The Marvel Anime Universe: Re-Imagining Iron Man: Featurette about the making of the series. ****.
Voicing Tony Stark: Interview With Keiji Fujiwara: Interview with the voice of the Japanese version with subtitles. I find it interesting that the actor find links between this version and the live-action one. I don't personally see it but it's something to look out for. ****.
21st Century Hero: The Technology Of Iron Man: About the technology of Tony Stark's suit. **1/2.
Special Cross Talk: Marvel Anime's Iron Man And Wolverine: I found this roundtable discussion of the Japanese animators funny because it's pretty clear they have no real idea of how American superheroes work. It amuses me that people who worked on a 12 episode Iron Man TV series still have zero understanding of Tony Stark. To be perfectly fair, I don't much understand Japanese heroes either. I think the very different approaches to heroes is what made this experiment interesting. ***1/2.
DVD Menus: Static and mute. The language menu is easy to access though and choosing the English version sans subtitles is a breeze. **1/2..
Marvel Anime: Wolverine - The Complete Series
As bad as Batman: Gotham Knight. This is the most boring of the Marvel Anime series and it has the annoying habit of killing off the most interesting characters. Practically the entire cast save Wolverine and one more was killed off by the end of the series and I found that greatly unsatisfying. It's also slow as all get-out and REALLY boring. There is practically zero forward momentum in the story and the entire thing could probably have been told in three episodes had the series not been filled with such dull filler.
Milo Ventimiglia makes a poor Logan in the English dub. They should have had him voiced by Steve Blum like the X-Men anime (Blum DOES have a role here as the honorable assassin Kikyo). I'm also having a hard time placing the timeframe this takes place in the Marvel Anime Universe. It all fits into the same continuity, I guess, but it's still a bit confusing.
All in all, a disappointment especially since I actually liked the X-Men and Iron Man animes and LOVED the Blade one.
The only episode of the series I enjoyed was "Hell Road" although I will acknowledge the finale "Logan" wasn't terrible. The other ten episodes are pretty much a ten way tie for worst of the series. Series Overall: *.
Mariko: Boring beginning. Didn't like this. **.
Yukio: They shouldn't have killed off Asano. He was one of the most likable characters. I like that Logan's computer password is "Logan". **1/2.
Kikyo: Kikyo is a cool character but the episode itself is a dud. Even Omega Red at the end didn't really wow me. *.
Omega Red: Just one long fight scene. Scratch that, one long BORING fight scene. 1/2.
Asano: No question, Cyclops' appearance at the end was welcome even if the rest of the cartoon sucked. **1/2.
Min: Min is adorable especially since she's voiced in the English dub by The Batman and Wolverine and the X-Men's cutie-pie Danielle Judovits. Sucks that Cyclops' role was so brief though. **1/2.
Vadhaka: Another outing that moves at a snail's pace. *.
Koh: That poison was gruesome. I'm impressed. **1/2.
Hell Road: The only episode of the series that I outright liked because stuff actually happened during it. Great death traps and if some of the escapes were implausible, at least the animation kicked butt. ****.
Shingen: Stupid move to kill off Min. They keep getting rid of the most interesting characters. *1/2.
Kurohagi: I didn't enjoy this gorefest but I'll admit it wasn't boring for once. **1/2.
Logan: I don't know if this is an anime thing or not but it feels kind of lousy to watch 12 episodes of something and then have the entire cast killed off except for Logan and Kikyo. The coda between the two was fun though and the episode was watchable. Mariko's death scene and her goodbye with Logan was great too. ***1/2.
The Marvel Anime Universe: Wolverine Reborn: This talks about the making of the series and the comics it was based on. ****.
The Ferocious Anti-Hero: Wolverine Defined: I guess I'm not as big of a fan of blood splattering violence as other fans seem to be. I personally find it a bit distasteful. ***.
Wolverine Meets X-Men: A roundtable discussion between the Japanese animators and directors from both Wolverine and X-Men. ***1/2.
DVD Menus: Still and silent, but easy to navigate which is a plus when you are dealing with different dubs and subtitles. ***.
Marvel Anime: X-Men - The Complete Series
Another superhero anime that deeply shames Batman: Gotham Knight. What was Bruce Timm thinking?
This is better than Iron Man: Anime in some ways and worse in others. It had a MUCH better and stronger beginning than Iron Man. By a mile. And the ending was more satisfying too (I actually want to see a sequel now which is something the Iron Man toon didn't make me feel). On the other hand, there is no single episode as great as "A Duel Of Iron" on this set. Maybe that's understandable since Iron Man was a BIT less serialized but I wish we had gotten a knock-out like that one.
It's also great to hear Steve Blum, Fred Tatasciore, and Jennifer Hale return to the voices of Logan, Beast and Jean Grey respectively on the English dub. I still miss Wolverine and the X-Men greatly and it was a treat to hear some of the cast together again, especially since Blum and Tatasciore got the opportunity to play around with each other a bit. Greatness.
I also love that Emma Frost is a straight up good guy in this. You question her allegience a bit at the beginning because of what happened with Scott and Jean but by the end it's cleared up that she's innocent. Nicely done.
Best episodes on the set are the two where Sasaki CANNOT stop confessing to her evils ("Countdown" and "Revenge"). No real bad episodes but "Power" did leave a bit of a sour taste in my mouth for reasons I'll get into below. Series overall: ****.
The Return: Interesting premiere. The show definitely got off to a better start than Iron Man did. ***1/2.
U-Men: "Mutie" is one of those fictional racial slurs that makes me cringe. That and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine's "Cardies" really seem to be reaching for a level of offensiveness that simply isn't there. DS9 calling the Cardassians "spoonheads" in the later seasons worked better because it was mean, personal, and you can tell the bigots spouting it off thought it was really clever. Offensive words are able to make the user, no matter how stupid or ill-bred they actually are, seem superior to their target if only in their own minds. Oh, and on an unrelated tangent how was the episode? I liked it a lot especially the reveal of Emma Frost at the end. ****.
Armor: I'm pleased they rescued Hisako so early in the series run and made her a part of the team (I was unaware she was a comic book creation until I watched the special features). I had been worried the entire series would revolve around trying to get her back. I mean, a missing kid may be a good hook for an Ashley Judd TV show (or not) but for a superhero toon I'm relieved it set up the premise rather than being it. ****.
Transformation: I like that the series periodically returned to the Xavier Institute. It made the mission seem global in a way that Iron Man's was not. Don't get me wrong, I loved the Iron Man: Anime. But it didn't really start to involve big stakes until the last couple of episodes. ***1/2.
Power: Cyclops really IS a turd, isn't he? There was NO need to involve the kid in a fight to the death at this stage in the game and a REAL hero wouldn't work out their love frustrations by abusing a child. The fact that he received kudos from the others afterwards really rubbed me the wrong way. ***.
Conflict: Another cool episode even though you can tell it's still just mostly set-up. Some cool action scenes though. ***1/2.
Betrayal: I cry foul! The episode title and preview made me think there would be a, well, BETRAYAL of some sort. Not even close. Were the producers referring to Sasaki? Because she was HARDLY ever allied with the team and nobody trusted her from the start. Still, it was a pretty great episode. ****.
Lost: Getting good. I don't recall Mastermind from any of the cartoons. Does he go by another alias? ****.
Revelations: It's funny that this episode is called "Revelations" when it's really the next that answers the big, juicy stuff. ****.
Countdown: Was I the only one getting Zapp Brannigan vibes from The Garden of Eden in Futurama's "Inna-Gadda-Da-Leela" from this episode? Sasaki KEPT having to confess to embarrassing stuff when confronted, each thing more wicked than the last, and it just seems to keep going on forever. Loved it. I also loved Beast calling her crimes "unpardonable". That is such a great word. It's long, sounds REALLY intelligent, and yet everyone knows what it means when someone says it. That's the best kind of "smart" word. I WILL admit that this show tends to over-explain things but I think that is more common to Anime than it is in regular superhero cartoons (or at least that's what I've gathered from the few times I've sat down and suffered through Pokemon). Best episode of the series. ****1/2.
Revenge: Wolverine's Berserker rage was a REALLY clever way out for him and Beast to defeat the villain and it also happened to be awesome and funny as heck too. It was SO great to hear Steve Blum and Fred Tatasciore playfully riffing with each other again. I forgot how much I missed that. ****1/2.
Destiny: Do I wish there had actually been a major villain to fight in the last episode? Yeah. Iron Man had the same problem. But unlike Iron Man I felt the personal ending was earned. Plus, the show went for broke with cameos globally from characters from all over the Marvel Universe so no complaints from me. I loved Iron Man but this show had the better ending. And where's Magneto?!?! ****.
The Marvel Anime Universe: Re-Examining The X-Men: I like this interpretation of the X-Men and I didn't know Armor and the U-Men were from the comics. Cool featurette. ****1/2.
X-Men: A Team Of Outsiders: This is about the concept and characters. I think the most interesting thing for me was Warren Ellis' observation that as a weather goddess and now a queen, Storm no longer faces the kind of bigotry the other X-Men still have to put up with, so it sets her apart a little. I had never considered that before but it's true. ****1/2.
Special Talk Session: Marvel Anime's X-Men And Blade: I think the creators here have a better handle on the characters than the Iron Man team did. I also was VERY pleased to learn that the hopeful ending was purely on the Japanese animators and that Warren Ellis was originally gonna serve us a bummer. SUCH a modern comic book problem and I'm glad the Japanese animators had the good sense to actually make the ending satisfying. ****1/2.
DVD Menus: Similar to the Iron Man Menus. **1/2.
Marvel Anime: Blade - The Complete Series
That. Was. AWESOMESAUCE!
Easily the best of the Marvel Anime series, mostly because the concept lends itself better to adult storytelling. Marvel's version of vampires reminds me a bit of Buffy's in that they are irredeemably evil. I think I like Joss Whedon's take a LITTLE better (a demon walking in a dead person's skin strikes me as scarier than someone infected with a virus) but this was still excellent.
I saw the first Blade movie once, and the Blade episodes from the old Spider-Man cartoons, but both were so long ago that most of this stuff was completely new to me. I liked it a lot.
Best episodes of the series are the pilot (His Name Is Blade), the second one (A Night For The Living, A Mourning For The Dead!), the one with the vampire soldier (Old Wounds, Fresh Blood), the origin story for Deacon Frost (Sins Of The Father), and the series finale (The Final Glory Of Deacon Frost). There are no bad episodes. Series Overall: ****1/2.
His Name Is Blade: This series gripped me from the start and had the best opening of all four Marvel Anime series. I was immediately hooked. ****1/2.
A Night For The Living, A Mourning For The Dead!: Love, love, LOVED that detective and think it was a shame this was his only episode. What a bad cat. Those blood farms were ghastly in the very best way. ****1/2.
Dead On Arrival: Not usually a fan of flashbacks but this was fascinating. Not being familiar with the comics, this was all new to me. ****.
That Was Then, This Is Now: Another cool flashback episode. I'm loving this show. ****.
The Island Of Fire: One of the weaker episodes but I still liked it. ***.
Bad Blood: Excellent animation effects in this one. A bit predictable storywise but VERY watchable. ***1/2.
Claws And Blades: Wolverine! Fun episode and I think Lucius was a great villain. It's almost a shame he was slain. ****.
Old Wounds, Fresh Blood: I loved that honorable G.I. vampire and was surprised to see Kikyo show up. Great episode. *****.
The Bond: The weakest of the flashback episodes, it's still decent. ***.
Sins Of The Father: Man, Deacon Frost and Blade are YOUNG if he became a vampire after he had an adult son who studied genetics. The timeline doesn't really add up here. Oh, did I mention the episode was otherwise awesome? Because I really should have. *****.
The Last Sunset: So sad that Makota died and think it sort of sends a bad message that every single strong female character in these animes gets killed off. Is that an anime trope? Because I don't like it. That said, the episode was powerful and it set up Blade's confrontation with Frost well. ****.
The Final Glory Of Deacon Frost: Loved the ending especially the fact that more characters survived than I expected. Great finale. ****1/2.
The Marvel Anime Universe: Blade Re-Awakened: The American producers and writers talk about the series. ****1/2.
Blade: The Vampire-Slayer: About the character of Blade. VERY cool and handy for those of us who don't know much about him. ****1/2.
Special Talk Session: Marvel Anime's Blade And Wolverine: The Japanese animators discuss Blade. ***1/2.
DVD Menus: Still and mute, but easy to use. For a foreign-language DVD that's appreciated. **1/2.
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Date: 2012-08-17 02:47 pm (UTC)I think the unintelligible Bane meme came from the trailers. His voice is fine in the film as you get used to it, but when you hear it in short, out of context snatches it's pretty impenetrable.
And yes, Owen's appearance was a surprise. And to top it off John Barrowman's going to be in the Green Arrow series...
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Date: 2012-08-17 08:02 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-08-21 11:37 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-08-21 02:31 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-08-20 06:39 am (UTC)Marvel Anime: Iron Man - The Complete Series - Tony's a complete uncanny valley. They tried to make him a Japanese pretty boy and ended up making him ugly. With an anime series, it's extremely hard to talk about individual episodes, and in this case, I feel like Blade worked the best. Iron Man worked decently well having good plots each episode, although I was disappointed, like you, that Whirlwind and the Zodiac weren't like the comic counterparts. I thought the series really picked up when Yinsen came back (what's with Iron Man shows and bringing back people who were supposed to be dead in his origin?) and it maintained the coolness all the way through the series. I think it's funny how on one of the Teen Titans special features with Puffy AmiYumi, it seems like they didn't understand American superheroes as well.
Marvel Anime: Wolverine - The Complete Series - I actually liked the second half of Wolverine, and I feel like Wolverine lends himself better to Japanese culture than the others, and this one was closer to the comics. I will agree that parts are dull, and that the Omega Red fight scene just went on and on. "Koh" and afterwards was cool, I thought. I do like Milo as Wolverine, if just because during the recording sessions he put pencils on his knuckles and pretended he had claws.
Marvel Anime: X-Men - The Complete Series - Still working on it.
Marvel Anime: Blade - The Complete Series - A great series, although I was worried he was going to keep doing that sword trick at the end of every ep. I like Marvel vampires too, and what I like about them over the Whedon ones is that it's not crosses that hurt them, but objects of faith and who can use them (for example, Kitty once tried to use a cross on a vampire and it didn't work, but when she used a Star of David, it hurt the vampire). I'd recommend watching the other Blade movies, even if Blade Trinity sucked, but at least Ryan Reynolds was fun in it (as was Ron Perlman in Blade 2). Haha, I didn't even think of the weird time issues "Sins Of The Father" present! As for women dying in anime, not too sure I've heard of that (I have seen women who are just as skilled/powerful as the men become useless in battle), but then again, I stick mostly to the kid friendly (and American censored) anime at that. What did you think of Harold Perrineau as Blade?
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Date: 2012-08-20 04:23 pm (UTC)Iron Man: In fairness to Puffy AmiYumi they are female pop singers and not animators. I just think it's a bit strange that most American animation directors seem to know more about the tropes of anime than anime directors do about American stuff. It really turns the "Americans are insulated from the rest of the world" meme on it's head. I mean, I KNOW how self-absorbed Americans are. But to think that's there's a country even worse than us in this respect is kind of scary especially in the creativity department.
Wolverine: I have no problems with Milo as a person and that sounds funny. But I do have problems with him as an actor and think he was wrong for this role.
Blade: Harold Perrineau was a great Blade. I'll have to watch the rest of the movies sometimes. That complicated thing about how certain religious symbols can and can't defeat vampires sounds pretty awesome.
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Date: 2012-08-21 12:35 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-08-21 02:32 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-08-24 06:32 am (UTC)Iron Man: How about the Korean animators who did "World's Finest" that assumed Batman can fly because he wears a cape?
Wolverine: I've seen Milo in...four...roles? Counting Wolverine. What would you say is the best performance of his that you've seen?
Blade: Well, if/when you do, I'd like to see a review.
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Date: 2012-08-24 01:19 pm (UTC)Iron Man: Hadn't heard about that but that's pretty bad too.
Wolverine: He did a guest bit on Law and Order SVU that I liked. When I found out it was him, I was like "That TOTALLY wasn't terrible".
Blade: You got it.
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Date: 2012-08-25 05:17 am (UTC)TDKR: Yeah, totally unbelievable (what's with him not having any cartilage in his knee?), screw the realism, but I still thought it was cool the way he built himself back up.
Wolverine: Hm, interesting.
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Date: 2012-08-25 01:49 pm (UTC)Wolverine: He played a kid who lied about being molested and sent his uncle wrongly to prison for years. His uncle escaped from prison and took hostages until the truth came out and he was exonerated. I absolutely loathed that kid and think that Milo would probably be better off playing villains than heroes. It's almost too bad he's so good-looking because casting people usually only use character actors for the heavies. Maybe in twenty years or so he'll start getting roles he's appropriate for.
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Date: 2012-08-29 06:09 am (UTC)Wolverine: Whoa...crazy.
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Date: 2012-08-30 08:07 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-09-03 02:00 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-09-03 11:22 am (UTC)