Best Episode Ever?

Actually, it’s a rather slow episode in which not that much happens.  The rescued Black Knights members celebrate their freedom and regroup inside the Chinese embassy.  Zero welcomes them back, but some of them are understandably upset, due to Zero abandoning them during what was supposed to be their moment of glory.  He offers no explanation, other than to say that it was all for the sake of defeating Britannia.  They seem to think that he’s using them as pawns (which is true) and not offering up any real answers.  Toudou steps in and explains, that sometimes secrecy is necessary on the battlefield and they need Zero’s abilites.  Ougi also shows his support, saying that they need to believe in him and no one else can do what he does.

Alright, who cares about story when you have this?

This all takes part during Suzaku’s welcoming party at Ashford Academy.  As does this:

Make no mistake about why I watch this show.

The President uses the welcoming party to try once again what they attempted last year: to make the world’s biggest pizza using a Knightmare.  So, of course C.C. is on the scene, much to Lulu’s horror.  Unfortunately, our favorite pizza loving witch doesn’t fare so well.

Oh, C.C., will you ever obtain that which you desire most?  Probably not.

Do people really look like that in real life?

The episode ends with Suzaku revealing to Lulu that he intends to become the Knight of One, the Empire’s highest knight.  The Knight of One gets the privilege to own any Area that he chooses and he intends to pick Area 11, effectively giving him indirect rule.  He gives Lulu the opportunity to speak to the next governor on his cell phone and who’s on the other end but Nunnally.  Dun dun DUN!

We have to tape everything, Pablo.

REC is a 2007 horror movie from Spain, a movie which I just recently discovered, slowpoke that I am.  It’s shot in much the same way that Cloverfield or The Blair Witch Project was and, in some areas, is a lot more effective.

The story follows reporter Angela, with her cameraman, Pablo.  They work on a early/late night news show called “While You’re Asleep”.  For their latest show, they’re spending the night with the crew of a local fire house, interviewing them about their job and documenting what the crews do during the night.  Eventually they get a call about a woman trapped inside her apartment building, a pretty ordinary call, which Angela and Pablo follow them along on.  Of course, it turns out to be anything but ordinary and their soon dragged down into a nightmare.

I’ll say no more, in case people haven’t seen it, it’s one of those movies where the subsequent viewings are never as good as the first.

I mentioned before that it’s shot in the same way as Cloverfield.  This movie came out three months before Cloverfield, so one could argue that this movie inspired Cloverfield for some of its ideas and shots, but I’d rather just say that they both took inspiration from Alien.  I told myself I wasn’t going to mention Cloverfield much, but I guess it was inevitable.  It’s a very claustrophobic movie, it draws you in very quickly and lets you share the fear that the characters are all facing.  I found it to be one of the better horror movies to come along in the last few years.

At 1 hour and 15 minutes, it’s a short and satisfying movie and because of the movie’s length, it avoids getting dragged down into monotony.  Just for the record, this movie doesn’t really do anything new.  It’s just that what it aims to do, it does it rather well.  Word from the recent Cannes festival is that Spain is planning on making a sequel, which, if they don’t drag it down like most sequels, should be very cool.  On another note, Hollywood is working on a remake, due out October 17th, called Quarantine.  This is another issue entirely, one of which I’ll talk about soon, but in my mind it’s both unnecessary and unwanted.

If you’re a fan of the horror genre, you’re probably going to want to check this film out.  It’s currently not available in the States, so you’d probably have to get a hold of an imported copy, but in my mind it’s well worth it.

Sorry for the hiatus, it was my birthday a couple weeks ago and I ended up getting pretty sick, so I lost the will to do anything for a while.  Lots of stuff to mention, posts will follow today.  Also, if you haven’t seen it, go see Iron Man.

PS. Probably going to drop Kyouran Kazoku Nikki from being blogged.  Not because it’s bad, it’s still good, but there’s just not much there to actually blog.

Yes.  Yes, we shall.

Kyouran Kazoku Nikki is nothing new as far as anime goes.  It’s a new 13 episode series this season from Nomad, the same studio that brought us the likes of Rozen Maiden.   The formula is pretty simple: a long time ago, a crazy ass monster called Enka almost destroyed the world.  Humans banded together and in the end, Enka was defeated.  Before he died, he gave out a prophecy, that in 1,000 years, his child would finish his work and destroy the world.

Flash forward 1,000 years to our protagonist, Ouka Midarezaki.  Ouka is from the “Great Japanese Empire Paranormal Phenomena Bureau of Measures”.  His mission: to live in a house with 5 possible children of Enka and the title character Kyouka-sama, another possible child of Enka and his wife to be.  Kyouka is like, some ungodly catgirl…thing, with seemingly supernatural powers.  The other possible children are just as strange, amongst them we have: a lion, a biological weapon, a jellyfish, a normal young girl and a homo.

Ouka’s objective: to live with these, uh, people and try and find out who the prophesied child of Enka is and, if possible, warm their heart so that they no longer want to destroy the world.  Or kill him/her/it, whatever works.  A setup like this definitely made me want to check out this series.

Ouka seems to have a lot in common with Kyon.  He follows along with whatever Kyouka is doing, but he makes sarcastic quips and wonder’s how he got into his present situation.  That’s the funny thing, his bosses at the “Paranormal Phenomena Bureau of Measures” just signed him up for the operation without his knowing.  At the same time, he’s determined to somehow deal with the mess that’s been dropped in his lap.  He’s a pretty decent lead, but sometimes his expressions are pretty hollow.

Kyouka, while looking only 11, is actually something like 20 years of age.  She gives the show a lot of energy from her hyper-active personality and has no problem shouting out orders or complaints.  A lot of it is due to Ayumi Fujimura doing the vocal talent for Kyouka, she has no trouble keeping up with Kyouka’s top speed antics.  She’s basically the reason why the show is so easy to get into.

As for the show itself, like I said, the formula really isn’t new to anime.  Normal guy has to live in a house full of crazy, otherworldly types and keep it together.  It’s funny, it’s entertaining, but deep this ain’t.  The quality of the art is really top notch though and it looks absolutely gorgeous in wide screen.  It’s the type of show you can turn on and watch anytime and be amused.  Also, at only 13 episodes, the show will end before the concept goes stale.  There’s really nothing to lose with this show, so chances are that I’ll continue to blog it.

Taken from IMDB: The head of the Motion Picture Association of America, an organization that some Internet users have accused of using legal strongarm tactics to prevent them from downloading recent movies from the Web, has acknowledged that the downloaders go to movie theaters in far greater numbers than others. Speaking to the National Press Club in Washington on Monday, Glickman suggested that his organization is attempting to come up with a business model that will accommodate Internet users. “There’s no question in my mind that the studios hear their customers loud and clear on this point,” he said. “There are technology and policy issues to work through. But we’ll get there, advancing both the theatrical experience and the anytime, anywhere enjoyment of movies that consumers clearly want today and that technology is making possible. I think we’ll soon see some progress that will really open up how exciting this future could be for all of us.”

This is something I’ve been saying for a while now.  The majority of people that download movies, games and music are usually one of their biggest fans.  Movie execs and the MPAA are just now realizing this it seems.  You catch more flies with honey than you do with vinegar.  They’ve tried to counter piracy in the past by selling movies on the Internet, but you have to use some gimmicky media player that they’ve made and nearly everything is protected by DRM.  Thus, people don’t really feel like they own the film.

If they offer movies to be downloaded, at a fair rate, with no stupid requirements like having to use such and such company’s media player or having to acquire a license for the media every time it goes to play, then the purchasing and downloading of movies over the web will increase dramatically.  And, really, how would that be any different from people going to the store and buying the DVD?  If they’re worried about people sharing it on the net, people can already just as easily do that.  They go to the store, buy the DVD, rip it onto their computer and upload it right onto the web.  Stuff like that is going to happen regardless.  Unfortunately, you can’t control the free market 100%, it’s an impossibility and instead of trying to fight it, movie bosses should be offering better deals, tempting choices and easy availability.  Hopefully, this acknowledgement is a sign that things will improve.

From AnimeNewsNetwork: Singer/voice actress Megumi Hayashibara’s official page on the Starchild website has announced on Monday that she will sing both the opening and ending theme songs for the Slayers Revolution fantasy comedy television anime. She is already confirmed to return as the main lead Lina, along with most of the main original cast. Hayashibara had sung songs for all the previous Slayers anime incarnations, including the first Slayers series and the last two television sequels (Slayers Next and Slayers Try).

This is great news indeed.  Slayers would not be the same without Megumi’s vocal talents.  Here’s looking forward to more Lina.

 No better place to start than here.

Rather than go back and blog the first couple episodes, I decided to go straight for the newest episode. Any potential readers would most likely be caught up, so I thought it a good idea.

 As to be expected from Lelouch, he once again turns the favors to his side by playing people’s personalities against themselves.  Who didn’t see this coming?

 Convincing Rolo to first let him go by giving him C.C and then later playing towards Rolo’s desperate craving to fit in somewhere.  We all know where this is going: Rolo will probably side with Lelouch, thinking he can give him the future and family he desires.  This will either end in A) Rolo realizing that Lelouch really doesn’t give a damn about him and going insane or B) Lelouch actually warming up to Rolo and actually valuing him as an ally, friend or family.  My money is on A.

 I don’t know about anyone else, but I never get tired of seeing Kallen in her Guren.  This is a choicely shot, no doubt.

Kallen kicked ass this episode, but it was mostly cut short.  I hate that she’s considered the “ace pilot of The Black Knights”, but she can only dominate random soldiers on the battlefield.  Whenever she goes up against someone like Suzaku, she almost always seem to be outmatched.  Here’s hoping she really gets to cut loose during this season.

Speaking of Suzaku…

Looks like the Bitch is back and based on the uniform, returning to Ashford Academy.  That should make for a very interesting school year.

Decided to try out this whole “blogging” thing, mainly out of boredom and because people said I should do it. I guess we’ll cover movies, anime, video games and TV here.

I’m not quite sure what I’ve gotten myself into.

I should also be getting a banner up within this week to replace the ugly as hell main text at the top.