Anime of the Week: Snow White with the Red Hair Ep. 3

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July 23, 2015

Snow White with the Red Hair has certainly come a ways from its premiere episode–and I liked that one quite a bit. The series has developed Shirayuki into one of the strongest female characters in anime, outside of those that carry loaded guns and act like men, of course. This third episode does so much to prove Shirayuki’s gumption in the face of external powers who should have a strong level of control over her, simply because of their position in the world. In the face of all this, Shirayuki proves to be made of the stuff that most of us can only aspire to.

The episode, “Shining Time of Promise”, revolves around Shirayuki’s growing friendship and companionship with Prince Zen, and the reaction that various members of the castle’s ecosystem have to it. This ranges from guards who think Shirayuki is just the swellest, to Lord Haruka–a member of the court elite–who finds Shirayuki’s social status to be a disservice to Prince Zen.

With that foundation, “Shining Time of Promise” becomes more than just a manifesto on what it means to be a strong woman, but also what it means to believe in one’s self in the face of society’s class confines. Shirayuki never hesitates to see her future self as an equal of Prince Zen, in spite of what her lower class distinction would make the upper class think of her. At one point she tells Prince Zen,

I want to one day be able to go through the gates [of the castle] by myself and come be your ally.

Of course, she finds opposition to her true wishes. The majority of the episode revolves around Lord Haruka believing that he can pressure and intimidate Shirayuki into exiling herself from the castle–and from Prince Zen, more specifically. Haruka fails to see the strength of self that lies at Shirayuki’s core, instead viewing her as a silly girl that has tricked Prince Zen into giving her a higher social status than she deserves. At every turn, however, Shirayuki deftly proves this to be a falsity of epic proportions. In the face of physically violent threats, Shirayuki pushes forward to join Prince Zen as a friend and an equal.

One of my favorite moments of the episode sees Shirayuki face-to-face with Lord Haruka, he with a sword to her chest in the hopes that she will turn away out of fear. Instead, Shirayuki wears her resolve on her sleeve and pushes forward, forcing Haruka back in fear of Shirayuki actually falling on his blade. It’s a terrific scene that feels of a piece with any moment of “civil disobedience” throughout history. I was immediately reminded of the bravery of the members of the Civil Rights movement, standing up against a society that would have them believe they were “lesser than”, all to say that “we are human beings, we are equal”. Clearly that was a much more important statement than this girl saying that she has a right to be friends with the Prince, but they each speak to the frailty of society’s divisions once those divisions are questioned by the right people; people who are willing to give their lives in the name of true freedom. It’s a message that’s increasingly needed in a time when societal confines are just as strong as ever, but much less considered or openly talked about. Alright, so hopefully that’s not too grandiose, but clearly Snow White with the Red Hair stirred something inside of me this time around.

Aside from commenting on the quintessential meaning of personhood, Snow White with the Red Hair is a cool little cartoon. The animation is still on the money, for my tastes, capturing the majesty of the court through vibrant colors and brightly lit scenes. The world outside the walls, however, is even more beautifully animated–and much less barren–reminding us, as it does Prince Zen, that the castle isn’t the only thing in the country and probably isn’t even the best thing. The combination between the quality of the art, the commentary on societal norms and the general sweetness that exists within Snow White with the Red Hair still vaguely gives me a Studio Ghibli vibe, as if this is the show that famed studio would make were it ever to venture into television–that’s right, I’m completely disowning Ronia the Robber’s Daughter, sorry Gorō. Obviously, Snow White doesn’t quite hit the upper echelon that certain Ghibli films do, but it’s certainly inspired by them.

Snow White with the Red Hair is a true gem that’s relatively easy to overlook in our current age of media consumption, because it’s not hard and gritty like Gangsta, Ranpo Kitan or God Eater. While all those shows do have worth in their individual messages, those messages simply don’t resound as well–at least not for me–as this story about a strong woman who refuses to be told what her role in the world is.

If you’re looking for more fantasy series, give Jennifer’s summer anime roundup a look-see.

Runner Up: Classroom Crisis – Ep. 3

Was there any doubt that if Snow White could finally topple Classroom Crisis for me, it’d only be to knock it down a peg? Of course not, because Classroom Crisis is still at peak performance, doing what it does best with both character development and world building.

This week’s episode finds Kaito and crew being put through even more paces than last week, with a new accountant being brought in by Nagisa who turns their world upside down. Is she there to destroy A-TEC or to do what she can to save it?

The power of this week’s Classroom Crisis lies in its point-of-view on community, and the importance of said community in surviving hard times. As we’ve seen in previous episodes, Nagisa and his brothers–those that run the Kirishina Corporation–continue to come to a head this episode, putting their sibling rivalry on full display at the top of a wobbling corporate infrastructure. In contrast, while the A-TEC crew certainly suffers some losses–both of physical resources and human resources–they tend to feel like more of a family, with their common goal keeping them going. At one point, Kaito finds himself at a bar, drinking his cares away with his old chief–the one that was relieved in the first episode. Kaito reminisces on all the time he’s put into A-TEC, saying,

…all that hard work we put in, half-killing ourselves along the way… What was all that for? Just because of a slight change in company policy, they’re denying all our achievements til now, calling us good-for-nothings, and now we have nowhere to go.

Kaito is a man with a family who’s been kicked out of their home, at a loss with what he can do to steer things back on the right path. But in all of this, Kaito never puts himself–the I–before the group–the we. It’s never his accomplishments, but their accomplishments. In stark contrast, Nagisa and his brothers seem to only speak in their own individual strengths–usually in comparison with each other to see who’s the strongest–rather than as a cohesive collective. It’s moments like this that give the audience hope for the A-TEC crew and makes Classroom Crisis a truly enjoyable underdog tale.

Biggest Surprise: Ranpo Kitan – Ep. 3

Much like last week, a handful of shows surprised me in this week’s viewings, from God Eater‘s charmingly gritty second outing to Gangsta‘s thoughtful development of its one-eyed badass, Worick. But it was Ranpo Kitan, with its harsh look at child abduction, that bumped it from last week’s biggest disappointment to this week’s biggest surprise for me.

No, the characters don’t seem any more well defined this week–in fact Akechi’s dressing up like a girl felt like blatant fan service for the cross-dressing crowd, and didn’t do much of anything for his character–but Ranpo Kitan was able to set a mood in this episode hitherto unseen. Between the Shadow-Man, a truly creepy-seeming character, and the child abductions, Ranpo felt much closer to creepy anime mainstays like Paranoia Agent and Boogiepop Phantom, than the CSI procedural vibe I was getting off the last two episodes. Granted, Ranpo is never as interesting or as interested in the human condition as those other two series are, but the fact that it can channel them tone-wise, puts it ahead of the crowd in a relatively arid genre. I’m interested to see where the series goes from here. I don’t necessarily need episodes that are as dark as this one, but I would like to see Ranpo Kitan continue to be just as unsettling.

Biggest Disappointment: Charlotte

I’ve been decidedly mum on Charlotte so far this season for a few reasons. First off, I didn’t find anything interesting about it from the beginning, except for maybe the animation, and it felt like the perfect show for the hardcore otaku who likes to pick fights. Secondly, there’s nothing outright awful about Charlotte–unlike Overlord and Aoharu x Machinegun and countless others this season–so I wanted to give it the requisite three-episode try, for fear of missing out on something that got better as it went on. Sad to say, for a series from an animation studio with as beautiful an output as P.A. Works, Charlotte has to be one of the most vanilla series airing this summer. Its characters all feel similarly bland and I generally have a hard time remembering what I watched just a day after tipping my toes into the world of Charlotte. That’s disappointing considering some of the work that P.A. Works has done in the past.

Shirobako was a great watch–one of the best in the last few years–and though it’s on my shame list–series I still need to check out–The Eccentric Family has been equally heralded amongst anime fandom. Sure, Glasslip didn’t really go anywhere, and its characters were equally vanilla as here, but it was gorgeous beyond belief. Charlotte doesn’t seem to even bring the same level of consistent animation as Glasslip had. Certain scenes are beautiful–mainly the action scenes–but static character shots often feel lacking. I really wanted to like Charlotte, but its just not pushing my buttons the way that it does for hundreds of others. I’m just hoping that P.A. Works hits it out of the park with their next project. They’re certainly a studio that’s proven themselves in the past.

If you’re still interested in Charlotte, keep up with Logan’s weekly episode reviews of the popular series.

Predictions for Next Week

The broken record spins again because I’m still holding out for a truly great episode of Gangsta. Maybe my expectations are too high, and I’m sure many think the series has been incredible all the way through, but I still can’t help but feel that Gangsta lacks an emotional intelligence that its obvious forefathers–Cowboy Bebop, Outlaw Star, Samurai Champloo to name a few–have in spades. Elsewhere, I’ve got a good feeling about Ranpo Kitan, now that I have a better idea of what to expect from the series; all mood and little substance, which is fine because we could always use more anime mood pieces. I’m a little more dubious about GATE–which has certainly been off and on so far–and Seiyu’s Life–which seems to have become much less purposeful with this week’s episode. Aside from that, I’m still stoked that the summer season seemingly salvaged itself, with series like Classroom Crisis and Snow White with the Red Hair dropping some quality on the anime audience while Prison School and God Eater are doing interesting things–sometimes with character and storytelling, sometimes with animation–whether you truly enjoy either series or not. Tune in next time to see where things stand in the week in anime. I’m crossing my fingers, Gangsta.

Survivors of the Week

Classroom Crisis
Snow White with the Red Hair
Monster Musume
Gangsta
Ranpo Kitan: Game of Laplace
Seiyu’s Life
GATE
Prison School
God Eater
My Love Story
Ninja Slayer: from Animation

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What’s really going on in a Harem?

By

Logan Peterson

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July 23, 2015

So as I’ve been watching Monster Girls this season, I’ve come to the realization that this is the first Harem show that I have watched in a long time. For those of you who don’t know, Harem is a sub-genre in mostly Anime where the story revolves around a group of girls all vying for one boys affection. Now I know that there are shows that have Harem elements and aren’t quite fully Harem shows. So for the sake of this article keep in mind that I am referring to Harem specific show. Also keep in mind that while not everything I talk about is in every Harem, it shows up in the majority. So now with that disclaimer, let’s get a little context on me and Harems. To let you sort of get where I’m coming from.

My formative years and Harems

My formative anime years occurred during my early teens, so about 2004-2008. During this time just anything that was anime would do. I didn’t really have a source to look up what anime was good or not. And I was just so enthralled by the concept of anime I thought anything with the label was amazing. So as I look back on those years I see that most of the anime I watched back then was Harem shows. And for me going through puberty it was the best thing ever. The screen was always being flooded with cute girls who all were DTF. And a good amount of their screen time consisted of them being naked of half-naked. And if not that they were getting caught in some sort of suggestive position. And to top it off, every now and then you would get to see a nipple. Nipples in anime, that was like mixing chocolate and peanut butter to me. But once I let my hormones slow down some and the allure of anything anime wore off I started to get bored with harems. As a teen I thought it had something to do with my tastes getting more mature or something. And while some of that is true, I didn’t really know why else for a long time. But now revisiting a Harem show in Monster Girls, I think I’ve finally grasped why the genre just doesn’t do it for me anymore, and here’s some reasons why.

Scenarios so easy, an infant could write them

One of the few luxuries from seeing so many Harem anime is that I was able to pick up patterns that spread across the whole sub-genre. Among these patterns is the concept that the male character is almost always a MacGuffin. The only reason he is there is to get these girls who probably wouldn’t be hanging out together, and to get them all together. In doing this you are able to get characters who most likely have conflicting personalities together and naturally hijinks will ensue. And since you have the MacGuffin of the male lead there doesn’t have to be another reason for them to be together. Having girls all be in love with the same guy usually will naturally take care of the plot, story, setting, and sequence of events. At that point it just becomes a matter of showing the viewer what they want to see. Which is genius in a way. Why would you want to sit through characters getting to know each other and them forming relationships naturally? That would take too long. Instead if they all are interested in the same guy they will be forced to hang out, and the only explanation needed is the Harem factor. And isn’t that all the we want from a Harem? to see girls hanging out and being sexy.

The girls are actually the main characters

The term “milk-toast” is often used to describe a male character who is bland and basic. People equate this kind of character to being a blank slate that the viewer can project themselves on. But recently I have come to the conclusion that the reason the male leads are so “milk-toast” is so they don’t take the attention away from the girls. I mean it would be a distraction if the male character was interesting. If they chose to develop the main male they would take away screen time from all the girls who are vying for his affection. Also if the main character were developed it would mostly be unimportant to the story. Because ultimately the story is about the Harem, all other plot lines are irrelevant and just there to fill up air time. As soon as the show starts becoming about something other than these super hot girls that the viewer wants to bang, it stops doing its job. This makes the scenarios that can happen rather repetitive and predictable.

Repeating things over and over

Most Harem shows fall into a formula of a set number of tropes. These tropes are there for two reason. The first is to get the girls into positions where they are being sexy and/or nude. While the other is to stop the story from progressing at all. Lets start off with the first. Girls who are clumsy and girls who are sexual deviants will almost always exist. These traits almost count as a twofer because usually when they aren’t bumping or rubbing on the main character, they are doing that to another female character. For example, a clumsy girl can fall on the smart girl and they both end up in a position with their asses up in the air. Another repeating formula is that almost every girl the male character meets will fall for him. This allows the show to seem fresh since it will add new girl characters and personalities into the fray. And like I said before, this doesn’t need any development since the only reason they need is because they are in love with the male character.

Now for the second kind of trope. Everyone will either live in the same house or very very close to each other. And if neither of these are the case, it will be almost impossible to find the male alone with a girl for long. The thing I’m getting at is there must be more than one girl in the situation all the time, even if at first it seems like the boy and a certain girl are alone. And that is for one reason, to cock block the main male character. If things are getting hot and heavy between one set of characters than that could lead to favoritism. To stop this another girl almost always pops in to stop the sexual tension, usually in a comedic fashion. All this is to ensure that the status quo is kept and that the Harem will continue. This is also the reason the main character is always so indecisive about his feelings. Sure maybe sometimes he will start to prefer on girl over another, but he will always return to the status quo. Because that’s just the way it has to be. Normally the only time this changes is the finale of a show where the status quo doesn’t need to be kept anymore. Of course 90% of those situations are still left sort of ambiguous.

So again, my feeling towards harem shows

Have you ever eaten so much of one food that it just becomes bland. Whether it be macaroni, or ramen noodles, it usually is a pretty plain food. I mean I don’t think anyone is getting bored with steak or bacon no matter how much they eat. I know I could eat bacon for every meal and still not get bored with it. But the reason that things like ramen and macaroni become bland is because they were always bland in the first place. It’s just that due to the sheer repetition of eating something your brain becomes aware of this and you stop enjoying it. That’s why you never really get bored with things that have a lot of flavor no matter how much you eat. And Harems are sort of the same way for me. They are bland by nature, comparable to junk food. There is little flavor and almost never any substance. And if I compare it to a show that has flavor and substance, I start to think, why would I ever want to go back to a Harem? The only real way I can justify watching a Harem now is by it having monster girls as the catch. But even if they came out with another Harem show with monster girls in it, I probably would have to say no. And until they stop coming out with good quality shows, I probably won’t be watching many Harems.

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The Marvel Cinematic Universe’s Villain Problem

By

Nick Enquist

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July 23, 2015

This past weekend I got to see Ant-Man, and overall, I enjoyed it. The humor was constant, the conflict was interesting, and the action was clever. It was a good service to the characters Scott Lang and Hank Pym, and I was happy I saw it. It wasn’t nearly as good as Guardians of the Galaxy, or Winter Soldier, but it was definitely a great way to beat the heat. However, as I left the theater, I came to a strange realization. I could not remember a single bit of dialogue from the antagonist, Darren Cross. The only thing I could remember is that he was played by Corey Stoll (and the only reason I remember that was because Corey Stoll is kind of weird-looking).

Sadly I wish this was just a problem associated with Ant-Man, but no, the villains in the MCU are at best mildly interesting, but at worst completely forgettable. (With one exception, but we’ll get to him later). This is a problem that needs to be addressed, because it’s hard for audiences to care about the hero winning the conflict if the villain isn’t interesting enough to offer legitimate stakes to the conflict.

The Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) has spent the past seven years making fantastic superhero movies. From the snarky Iron-Man to the loveable loser Ant-Man, they’ve created a whole universe of funny, dynamic, and interesting heroes that are making billions. And, I, like so many fans, keep going to see their films. Even the ones that are bad (Thor 2, Iron Man 3) offer some entertainment. They are great at building these heroes, but ever since the first Iron Man movie they have had weak villains.

Spoilers Ahead

Looking at Ant-Man we have this great lead character, Scott Lang. He’s funny, likeable, and has a great motivation with wanting to do what’s right for his daughter. And then we have Darren Cross, who could be a really fascinating villain. He was a former apprentice to Hank Pym, and the film could have explored the resentment he feels toward his mentor. But, instead of examining the possible psychological issues that Cross has, and what his yearning is in life that led him to villainy, we as an audience are simply told, “Oh he’s just crazy, because of the Pym Particles. That’s why he’s evil.”

That isn’t satisfying for the audience. So when we see Ant-Man kill Darren Cross (who became the Yellow Jacket) we don’t really care. It’s not the same feeling of seeing a hero triumphantly defeat his enemy. It’s the same feeling of seeing a friend finally take out the trash in his living room. It’s good to see him finally do it, but it’s not a worthwhile viewing experience, which is a shame, because almost everything else in Ant-Man is fun, and entertaining. It just has a boring villain.

Though admittedly his costume is a lot better than the original.

Looking at a few other examples can show the MCU how to create a great villain. The original Sam Raimi Spider-Man trilogy did a great job showing off very sympathetic, and intriguing villains. Willem Dafoe’s Norman Osborn was a likeable, funny, and intimidating man. We as an audience got to see all the different lairs of him falling deeper into his insanity, before he fully embraced the identity of The Green Goblin. And this was not done at a sacrifice to Peter Parker’s development as a character; they were both given even amounts of screen time. In fact almost all the villains in the Raimi Spider-Man trilogy are given a lot of fascinating character development to make them interesting villains. Except for Topher Grace as Venom.

But, there are more superhero movies that understood how to create interesting villains. The Dark Knight, X-Men, and even the ever so controversial Man of Steel had great bad guys that were just as important to the movie. Heath Ledger’s Joker wanted to watch the world burn with his unique blend of urban terrorism, and sick humor. Ian McKellen’s Magneto wanted to make the world a safer place for mutants by eradicating humans. Michael Shannon’s General Zod felt that his only duty was to save the Kryptonian race by making Earth their new home. These are antagonists with clear wants, goals, and in some cases sympathies. That is more than what I can say for MCU’s display of bad guys.

Most of their villains overall lack any real depth, or complexity with their actions. Whiplash, Iron Monger, Abomination, The Mandarin, Aldrich Killian, Red Skull, Baron Von Strucker, and Ronan are all motivated by revenge, money, or trying to take over the world for whatever reason. They aren’t there to be a real challenge to the hero; they are there to fill out the bad guy checkbox and then move on. Most of them die anyway and can’t be reused for later films; part of this is probably because the writers and producers aren’t interested in bringing them back to flesh out their characters. It’s easier to kill them off.

While that mind-set of killing the bad guy off might work for lesser villains, it’s becoming a big problem for the bigger ones. Alexander Pierce from the Captain America: The Winter Soldier could have been a great character to come back to. Imagine Captain America having to interrogate him for more information about Hydra in a Silence of the Lambs style. But, no it was simpler to kill him off, so they wouldn’t have to go back to him. Ultron’s another character they could have easily brought back in many ways to create more conflict. But, again they killed him off.

And the award for most disappointing villain goes to…

The only villain they’ve kept alive and brought back for reuse is Loki. Who, at first, had a lot of interesting moral dilemmas as the lesser brother trying to prove himself worthy as a king. But, after a while his desires and conflicts just boiled down to, “I just want to rule something. I don’t care what it is anymore.”

And that leads to the biggest problem of the MCU; most of their villains suck. Loki just amounts to a whiney kid, Ronan was a religious fanatic angry over a conflict we as an audience didn’t get to see or understand, Ultron’s character was completely ruined to satisfy Joss Whedon’s dialogue of witticisms as opposed to the menacing robotic genocidal maniac that’s genuinely threatening, and can any of you remember anything about Malekith or what he did in Thor 2?

Now you might be wondering, “Wait a minute, what about Thanos. Surely the Mad Titan will be a major threat to the Avengers once The Infinity War Movies come around.” My response to that is simply, “Sure, if he actually does something.” Thanos has been built up so much that he can no longer intimidate us based on his design. He needs to actually do something that’s worth his anticipation. And now, I’m not seeing it. Especially considering Guardians of the Galaxy had the perfect opportunity to show off his destructive habits, but neglected to do so. Sure, it could have been because of time, but having him sit around saying what he might do to a character we aren’t invested in does nothing to build up his villain credibility. Now once the movies come out, then maybe Thanos will be as devastating as they make him out to be, but he’s just a vague adversary that’s coming eventually.

This is one instance where DC’s movies do have an advantage over Marvel’s. The Suicide Squad film is setting up villains that we’re going to see more of. We’ll see what makes them laugh, cry, and the struggles they go through. So, if and when we see them in the future, we’re going to have more of a connection to them. We may even feel sympathy towards them when Batman punches them, or we’ll get to see them in action. Say what you want about Joker’s face tattoos, his five seconds in the trailer was much more intimidating and memorable than most of the MCU villains. The movie might be shitty, but we’ll be able to see him in action, and actually cause some damage, which will make him a more viable threat.

However, there is one case where I am very happy to say, Marvel created a perfect villain. Wilson Fisk in Daredevil was fascinating on so many levels. He was sympathetic, he was intimidating, he took action, and it was impossible to tell how he was going to react to whatever situation was given to him. He was a great villain for the hero to overcome, and fight against. He had a love in his life that was heartbreaking to see get torn apart. He also didn’t die, and there are many stories and ways to bring him back, not just in the Netflix Marvel pocket, but the entire MCU. Vincent D’Onofrio did a great job giving this character a much more depth, and complexity than any of the MCU villains. Because, the audience cares about him, and is frightened by him; he creates an emotional reaction out of people.

I think we can all agree this made everyone shit their pants.

Now in all fairness Daredevil had thirteen episodes to build up the characters, even the side characters, and the movies only have two and half hours at max, so obviously things need to be cut. But, that doesn’t mean the bad guy’s motivation, or struggle should be simplified to a point where they are two-dimensional cutouts.

Marvel is great at creating good super heroes that are emotionally complex, have internal struggles, and are not cookie cutter boy scouts. Even Captain America isn’t perfect. But, when they keep fighting the same boring, dull villains that bring nothing new to the table and then get killed off, there isn’t much reason to keep coming back to root for them.

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Spider-Man Film Concept Costume Photos

By

Matthew Sardo

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July 23, 2015

We at Monkeys Fighting Robots are not sure if this is a really or fake Twitter account but the internet is starting to rumble with these photos of potential Spider-Man costume elements.

The Russo brothers are currently filming Captain America: Civil War and these photos could give us clue as to what the feel Peter Parker and Spider-Man might have. Will Peter Parker have a makeshift costume and then Avenger up to the traditional red and blue costume with the help of Tony Stark?

Again these photos could all be fake! What do you think?

pic.twitter.com/XulEzGhV3a

— Russo Brothers (@Russo_Brothers) July 10, 2015

pic.twitter.com/lo1BdSz928

— Russo Brothers (@Russo_Brothers) July 9, 2015

pic.twitter.com/aeTdnsqPmZ

— Russo Brothers (@Russo_Brothers) July 22, 2015

pic.twitter.com/AVmbzqIxef

— Russo Brothers (@Russo_Brothers) July 10, 2015

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‘Jurassic World’ Sequel Set For June 22, 2018

By

Matthew Sardo

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July 23, 2015

Chris Pratt and Bryce Dallas Howard will return to ‘Jurassic World’ on Friday, June 22, 2018 Universal announced Thursday. Colin Trevorrow and Derek Connolly will write the script.

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FX Cancels ‘The Comedians’ After One Season

By

Matthew Sardo

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July 23, 2015

Apparently you find out your show is canceled on Twitter now. Showrunner Ben Wexler announced the show starring Billy Crystal and Josh Gad was canceled after one season.

The series never gained a following despite a star studded cast.

#TheComedians is cancelled at FX. I could not be more proud of the work we all did.

— Ben Wexler (@mrbenwexler) July 23, 2015

From FX:
In The Comedians, Billy Crystal plays a comedy legend who is reluctantly paired with Josh Gad, an edgier up-and-coming star, in an unfiltered, behind-the-scenes look at a fictional late night sketch comedy show where egos and generations collide. Stephnie Weir stars as “Kristen Laybourne,” the anxiety-ridden producer behind The Billy & Josh Show who frequently finds herself caught in the middle of Billy and Josh’s arguments, Matt Oberg stars as “Mitch Reed,” the show’s head writer, and Megan Ferguson stars as “Esme McCauley,” a no-nonsense production assistant. Together they spend most of their time managing the egos of their two stars and the generational divide that keeps them from ever fully seeing eye-to-eye.

Larry Charles (Curb Your Enthusiasm, Seinfeld), Matt Nix (Burn Notice), and Ben Wexler (Community, Arrested Development) are Writers and Executive Producers of The Comedians, along with Crystal. Carl Molinder and John Nordling also serve as Executive Producers. Charles directed the pilot. Josh Gad is serving as Co-Executive Producer. The half-hour, single-camera comedy is produced by FOX 21 Television Studios and FX Productions.

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The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2 “We March Together” Trailer Debuts

By

Felix Albuerne

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July 23, 2015

Lionsgate Publicity has officially released the first full trailer for The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2 that debuted at Comic-Con earlier this month, as well as high-res versions of teaser posters and marketing art for the film. Here’s the trailer, titled “We March Together”:

And here are the teaser posters — first, the “Faces of the Revolution” series …

And then, “Imagine Tomorrow” …

What do you think of the trailer and the teasers? Are you more excited to see The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2 now that you’ve seen them? Let us know!

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Meet X-Wing Pilot Bullhead From ‘Star Wars: The Force Awakens’

By

Matthew Sardo

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July 23, 2015

Someone is going to get in trouble over at Lucasfilm. Star Wars 7 News has an image of an alien X-Wing pilot named Bullhead from From ‘Star Wars: The Force Awakens.’ The name is pretty lame but the practical effects are amazing. What do you think of Poe Dameron’s follow X-Wing pilot?

From Disney Studios Media:
Lucasfilm and visionary director J.J. Abrams join forces to take you back again to a galaxy far, far away as “Star Wars” returns to the big screen with Star Wars: The Force Awakens.

Episode VII in the Star Wars Saga, Star Wars: The Force Awakens, opens in theaters December 18, 2015.

Star Wars: The Force Awakens, directed by J.J. Abrams from a screenplay by Lawrence Kasdan & Abrams, features a cast including actors John Boyega, Daisy Ridley, Adam Driver, Oscar Isaac, Andy Serkis, Academy Award winner Lupita Nyong’o, Gwendoline Christie, Crystal Clarke, Pip Andersen, Domhnall Gleeson, and Max von Sydow. They will join the original stars of the saga, Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher, Mark Hamill, Anthony Daniels, Peter Mayhew, and Kenny Baker.

The film is being produced by Kathleen Kennedy, J.J. Abrams, and Bryan Burk, and John Williams returns as the composer.

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Review: Sharknado 3- Oh Hell Yes!

By

Dewey Singleton - Film Critic

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July 23, 2015

One thing can be said about Sharknado 3, is that it lived up to its subtitle: Oh Hell No! This movie is just full of cheap gore, horrible gags, and a legendary list of c-level celebrities. Even the movie’s star agrees with me.

Steve Sanders and I are basically best friends.

The end result is a movie that is so bad that it reaches legendary status.

Sharknado 3: Oh Hell No! is a horror movie, but the only thing that is horrific about the plot is that Ann Coulter is the Vice President of the United States and Mark Cuban is the President. And the Iwo Jima style impaling that they do to destroy an attacking shark. But, the thing about this movie is that it knows what it is and is not ashamed to be it. One of my biggest pet peeves is when a movie tries to do much more than it should. Sharknado 3 sticks to what it does best: cheesy gore. It is a cinematic guilty pleasure. You know it’s terrible for you but you just can’t get enough of the falling sharks.

Yes, this actually happens in the movie.

Once again we find that Fin Shepard (Ian Ziering) is defending humanity with his wits and a golden chainsaw. April Wexler (Tara Reid) lives in Orlando and apparently has an Evil Dead like weapon to use against any oncoming sharks. While she is at Universal Studios with her daughter and her mother, who’s played by a very weathered Bo Derek, a Sharknado hits. The storms this time are so bad that they are turning the East Coast into the “Feast Coast.”

This movie can’t truly be judged like a typical theater release. It has: sharks in space, staircase surfing in the White House (on presidential portraits, no less), animation that is supposed to be flood waters, a shark slayer who emerges from a crash in Universal Orlando’s lagoon wearing Victoria Secret underwear, guns that were wobbling, and a scene where the only thing left on Frankie Muniz was Malcolm’s middle. This sort of thing has to be measured by how much you are into campy horror films.

This movie plays to the absurd and had me giggling the whole time. Sharknado 3 is never going to be in the realm of high art because quite frankly it’s barely watchable and even then I couldn’t take my eyes of the screen. This movie is stupid to its core and I loved every minute of it. Am I suggesting you watch a movie on the SYFY Channel? Oh Hell Yes! It’s weird but that’s what I loved most.

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Summer 2015 Anime Roundup Part 2: Dark and Adult Series

By

Jennifer Valure

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July 23, 2015

Welcome back to the Summer 2015 Anime Roundup! This installment will give you a quick run-down of some of the darker, more adult shows of the season. This is an arbitrary label decided upon by me, so feel free to disagree on which shows are “dark” and “adult”. I’m going by general feel of the series as well as overall content.

I’m going to go ahead and just point you to Logan Peterson’s episode reviews for Monster Musume, because I am not going to watch that show. You can’t make me.

Due to feedback received for the first installment, I will be adding information on where to legally watch each show as well as a bit of background on director and animation studio. Please let me know what else might be helpful in the roundups!

School-Live!

This series airs on Crunchyroll and updates on Thursdays at 10:00am.

Director: Masaomi Ando (Hasn’t fully directed anything hugely popular. Has done episode directing for Fairy Tail and Gintama.)
Animation Production: (Assassination Classroom, Persona 4: The Animation, Fate/Prototype)
AKA: Gakkou Gurashi!

School-Live! is about a group of girls who live at their school 24/7. Their club is called the “School Living” club, and their purpose is to learn about and become closer to all of the other clubs. If you have read any other descriptions of the show, you will have seen something about zombies.

Let me tell you that you will want to gouge out your eyes for the first 19 minutes of episode one. “Nothing could possibly make me watch more of this utter bullcrap,” you will think. “Not even if there ARE zombies, because if there are they can’t possibly matter….oh. OH. Okay. I think I will be watching more of this now.” Just hang in there. Something is wrong. Make it through episode one and you will be hooked. There are some darker themes in this show to be explored, and more twists to be revealed.

I really thought I was going to hate School Live! because I am automatically suspicious of shows that follow a cast containing mostly girls that just do club things. Such shows either end up boring or turn out to be a harem. In this case, it is something completely different. Give it a shot.

God Eater

This series airs on Daisuki and updates on Sundays.

Director: Takayuki Hirao (Hasn’t fully directed much of anything yet, but GYO: Tokyo Fish Attack sounds amazing, am I right?)
Animation Production: ufotable (Fate/Zero, Fate/stay night: Unlimited Blade Works)

This series is set in post-apocalyptic earth. Humanity has been largely wiped out by monsters called the Aragami. An organization has risen up to fight the monsters with weapons known as God Arcs, which are made with Aragami cells and fused with humans. The protagonist of the show is Renka Utsugi, who of course signs up to fight the Aragami. He has managed to survive “outside” up until now and is able to control a new type of God Arc that can switch between the gun and sword forms rather than remaining stagnant in one form.

The animation style of this show is pretty neat. It falls somewhere between a painted graphic novel and video game animation. Many have compared the plot to Attack on Titan. I think that’s probably true, but Attack on Titan was hardly the first story about earth being attacked by monsters and fighting the monsters with things or people made out of monsters *cough*Blue Gender*cough*. Just saying. These stories have popped up over and over again because they work and are entertaining. There’s nothing hugely special here so far other than the animation, but sometimes you just need to watch a show where people kill monsters to survive.

Logan Peterson has been giving episode reviews of God Eater, so you can read those for a more in-depth look at the show.

Gangsta.

This series airs on Funimation and updates on Sundays at 10:30pm.

Director: Koichi Hatsumi (Looks to be a key animator who moved into directing more recently.)
Animation Production: Manglobe (Samurai Champloo, Samurai Flamenco, The World God Only Knows)

Worick and Nicolas are two “handymen” that take jobs for both the cops and the mob. Worick seems to have perfect recall, and the cops value his memory and information. Nicolas is a “Twilight” and can gain superhuman abilities from certain drugs. The pair decide to spare a prostitute named Alex after wiping out her boss on a job and take her on as a sort of secretary. She is often told to not stay long in the city of Ergastulum or she will never escape. It might be too late for that, though, because other Twilights have been turning up in the city.

To be honest, I keep dragging my feet when it comes to watching this show and I have no idea why. Gangsta doesn’t deserve to be ignored. It has the best opener hands down this season. The animation has an awesome style, and there’s a decent amount of balance between backstory or information drops and action or intrigue. Plus it has a decent portrayal of a deaf person, which came as a surprise because generally anime just ignores that people can have disabilities and still function. It even has characters signing to each other.

I suppose my problem is that I’m not really in the mood for something as gritty as this show right now, but you would be doing yourself a disservice to not try it for yourself.

Rampo Kitan: Game of Laplace

This series airs on Funimation and updates on Thursdays at 1:30pm.

Directed by: Seiji Kishi (Angel Beats, Assassination Classroom, Persona 4: The Animation)
Animation Production: (Assassination Classroom, Persona 4: The Animation, Fate/Prototype)

Kobayashi is a middle school student who is so bored with life he sees things in shades of gray. People aren’t really distinguishable to him unless he focuses on paying attention. His life changes completely when he wakes up in his classroom and sees the mangled corpse of his teacher. A genius detective high schooler named Akechi is assigned to the case and together they prove that Kobayashi was innocent of the crime. Kobayashi decides he wants to keep investigating murders because it is fun for him.

This show is disturbing on a few levels. Some people say it gets boring, but if you have done any sort of reading on serial killers it becomes clear that the insane stuff the killers are doing in this show are absolutely things some nutjob would try in real life. Also, Kobayashi himself is the creepiest character in the show. He thinks being accused of murders and getting himself into danger is awesome fun. The way they portray him makes you wonder if he would have become a serial killer himself someday if he hadn’t been framed for the murder of his teacher and found out that he liked detective work instead. Out of all the “dark” shows this season, this is the one I wouldn’t want to watch by myself at night, because then I would just keep thinking about how creepy it is and how these people could exist in real life.

Prison School

This series airs on Funimation and updates on Fridays at 1:05pm.

Director: Tsutomu Mizushima (Genshiken, Shirobako, Witch Craft Works, Bludgeoning Angel Dokoro-chan)
Animation Production: J.C. Staff (Bakuman, Food Wars, Golden Time, Orphen, R.O.D. The TV, the list goes on and on.)

Five boys are admitted into Hatchimitsu Academy, previously an all-girls boarding school. The school is very strict and breaking any of the rules results in a stay at the school’s prison system. Of course, the five boys are caught peeping on the girl’s locker room (while naked) and they are sentenced to a month in prison. They are beaten, humiliated, molested, and dominated by various girls on the “underground student council”. The protagonist, Kiyoshi Fujino, begins planning a breakout to keep a date with sumo-enthusiast Chiyo Kurihara despite the fact that a breakout results in another month in prison.

I was trying hard to not watch Prison School at all, but I needed another series for this roundup and there was no way I was gonna watch a silly monster harem, so here I am, watching the most ecchi thing I’ve ever watched. It really isn’t that bad. The animation is rough, but the style is fitting of the content of the show. The jokes are fetish-y and perverted, and the show is censored so much that it irritated me even though I don’t really have any desire to see lady-parts. I can definitely understand why it’s been popular, and I will admit it made me laugh. However, all five boys are completely unlikable to me, and I don’t think Kiyoshi deserves his date with Chiyo because he’s a lying liar who lies to her, so I probably won’t keep simulcasting this show. Maybe I will borrow it from someone once it is out on Blu-Ray and uncensored.

Don’t feel sad that I won’t be covering this show again, though. This is another series that Logan Peterson has been writing about!

Next Time on The Summer 2015 Anime Roundup

We need something a bit more light-hearted for the third roundup, don’t you agree? We will therefore be covering some currently airing comedy and slice of life anime.

Charlotte
Miss Monochrome
My Love Story
Sore ga Seiyuu
Shimoneta: a Boring World Where the Concept of Dirty Jokes Doesn’t Exist

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