#Anime on @Tubi: "Wicked City" - A Great Prototype for @StarWars Porn

 

*This blog post was started on October 22, 2021.

An exciting weekend has lead into a stressful work week.

Of course when the manager gets exposed to COVID 19, vaccinated or not, everything goes wrong. A fraudulent check ring has emerged. There is a new person to train. I actually had to figure out how to place holds on check without ever being trained how to. We are frankly all impressed that everything seems hunky dory.

It is fair to complain about the lack of expertise and managerial structure, but for us to come out on the other side in some degree of working order, the team is solid. We may lose the neighbor next to my station, but we know how I feel about them. There is optimism all around, especially when the comic con they went to was in Indianapolis and not Rosemont.

Optimism is a good thing coming off of a fun weekend. I remember placing the staff at OSF's Partial Hospitalization Psych ward on alert when I would return from an AAW weekend. Fun was had when I was in Berwyn. Upon returning to Morton, my mind was in the state that it shall not get better than that.

And, has it? Well, I can say things outside of Captain N cosplay have been better. Today's difficulty will be getting nourishment. There is no reason to complain because I have a podcast recording scheduled. With Fite TV allowing me to watch AEW Rampage anytime I would like, this should not be a problem. The trouble arises because I did not have to go into work today until noon.

Do you think I took an extra hour of preparation to have a meal before a shift without lunch? How much time will I have to eat before the recording when I need to make an alcohol run? On top of all this, I need to open the bank tomorrow. Will I survive the drive to Peoria for the Rivermen's opening weekend?

I guess there being so many questions leaves me with a bit of excitement? Life is not mundane for the moment, and perhaps that is what keeps me going. The moment I know things are going to get dull, I am fucked.

With that said, I am back at the retailer starting November 6.

Until that day, I have the upbeat attitude for a bunch of double features. The podcast I am recording this week with Kodiak Thompson will be about "Event Horizon". To get myself more material, the "Hellraiser" franchise seemed to run parallel to Paul W.S. Anderson's classic from 1997. Shudder allowed me to watch the first two for free.

October 26's episode of "NinetyForChill.com - The #Podcast" has the padding with those two features, but I was still in the mood for "the sights" Pinhead suggested showing me. Signing up for a free trial to AMC+ to see the other eight features in his franchise seemed like a hassle, so I turned to Tubi for Barker-like material. This lead me to revisiting "Wicked City", a feature I did not particularly care for back when I saw it on Starz a decade prior.

I guess giving this feature a second chance comes from my time buying anime on VHS. Renting was rarely an option, so if you dropped $25-30 on a tape, you got to justify the purchase. In other words, desensitizing one self allows for enjoyment of even the most blatant softcore porn that distracts from the narrative. With Yoshiaki Kawajiri film (TV movies in many cases), this is a common practice.

Wicked City (1987)

Taki Renzaburo is a member of the "Black Guard". He serves the interest of all humanity because there is a demon world that exists and needs to be monitored. For millennia there have been peace treaties between the world, but since demons have monstrous powers, a minority of them are not so keen on the idea of live and let live. The Black Guard keeps those radicals in check.

It is time to negotiate another treaty, so both sides are on edge to make sure no one sabotages the proceedings. The most important representative for humanity is the 200+ year old Giuseppe Myart, so the radicals will obviously target him with nearly all the assets at their disposal. With this increased pressure, Taki has been assigned a partner for this guard duty. She is Makie, a Black Guard who not only uses a modeling profession to cover for her real job, but to cover that she is from the Black World.

Myart is obsessed with pointing out Makie's beauty and sexuality to Taki. It may be a challenge for Taki to avoid getting his feeling and passion involved with this mission. Can he keep a clear head to secure the safety of the human race? When Myart is determined to run from his security detail to indulge in the seedier side of Tokyo, there maybe too many variable to succeed.

If your first exposure to a film of Yoshiaki Kawajiri is not an edited for basic cable version, it will be difficult to get past how sexually explicit his features can be. Thanks Syfy for making "Demon City Shinjuku" and "Vampire Hunter D" so accessible. I think they may have shown "Wicked City" a few times on the Saturday morning anime time slot, but I never caught it in that form. Which is probably a good thing because I would imagine the screen would be blurrier than a Barbara Walters's interview.

Needless to say, when I first saw this feature (and when I had rented "Ninja Scroll" from Morton's Movies America) the explicit nature was a turn off. If I wanted hentai, I know where to find that. This took me away from the narrative and just left me being judgmental about the excuses to warrant the director's decision. With this viewing, knowing what to expect allowed me to look past most of this and find an easily accessible narrative.

This feature comes across as knock off fan fiction. "Wicked City" is just pure pulp. Knowing this, Kawajiri plays it up very well. It has the feel of a manga and the action sequences thrive with a minimalist approach. Like Dario Argento's "Suspiria", the color choices make everything pop out at you. Regardless of how you feel about making every moment of this fairy tale revolve around sex, you cannot help but appreciate the art.

As for the dependence on objectifying our heroine, it is far too great. There are some clever scenes with other female beings where you can appreciate the implication of something nonsexual being totally sexual, but these antagonists are not spending 15 minutes being raped. This makes the feature come off as a grindhouse era revenge feature, but only a man can provide it to the victim. Perhaps, this is a cultural issue. I would need to look up the Japanese box office for 1978's "I Spit on Your Grave" to see if that is the case.

The only other way to interpret the story is to think of it as some pervert writing fan fiction where it is about the man showing his dominance while displaying the woman's frailty. You can easily see this as what the Proud Boys (and a lot of downstate men) would have wanted "Rise of Skywalker" to be. It is all about the misunderstood Kylo rescuing an abused Rey. If I was not looking for something with demons it it, I would not have had a reason to give this another chance.

"Wicked City" has moments of looking beautiful, but the immediate need for the story to make that beauty its bitch makes it too insulting to recommend. I will say the other Kawajiri works I have seen get away from being insulting, but the sexualization of elements is something that still gets in the way of appreciating his art. There is a way to tell its story without being so sexualized, and you watch this wishing for that feature.

This time around, "Wicked City's" narrative got old fast. Even if you love the character design and direction, his repetitive nature of wanting to let us know it is hot results in near immediate burn out. A feature should not leave the male audience wondering if they need Blue Chew to get into it.

The Behemoth Post Evangelion 3.0 Pixiv Prime: CrunchyRoll

SiN: An #Anime to Promote an American Video Game

*This blog post was started on October 7, 2021.

I have yet to line up a guest for my podcast "NinetyForChill.com - The #Podcast" this week, but the past few days have felt pretty productive.

A blog each day, sleep has been caught up on, I finally requested that the "libertarian" who works in the next to me stop watching those hate videos.

"I will turn the volume down."

"Thank you."

The request was made after they were chuckling a long with a talking head who was calling all those who have been vaccinated dumb. That is an implication that you think half of your coworkers are dumb. Why do you want to insult us. Once I knew they were a right-wing nut, I had stayed away from political conversation to avoid confrontation.

"It just is not the place for politics."

"I get it, but I am not watching anything harmful."

Is that an attempt to call me a snowflake? I did not respond because the only appropriate one is, "What about all the guilty pleas for January 6th? They claimed videos as their instructions."

We will see how long there is peace. They were working a half day, so they did not get that behind my back time to bitch to our coworkers. Of course, the catty one did announce before she started watching her murder porn, "I will try to keep the volume down" and "That's why I have captions on." It is cool to know that I am not the only one who uses subtitles all the time.

If only HBO Max would keep that consistent. With "Robot Chicken" on my Apple TV, I end up having to put the captions on for each episode. Weed is my path to relaxation when I put Stoop!d Monkey's show on. What do you expect a stoner to be capable of?

With my nightly routine exposed, I may as well transition to last night's DVD.com (Netflix mailer) feature. The awkward meshing of CG and anime to serve as a sequel to a forgotten first-person shooter for Windows 95 could have served as an amusing display for someone who had just partaken in self medication.

This feature must have been a big get for ADV Films in 1999 since "SiN: The Movie" had its trailer attached to all of their VHS releases. They probably did more to promote the franchise that Ritual/Activision did for the game. If only they were quick enough to release it before I lost track of the anime industry, I might have been impressed.

SiN: The Movie (2000)

John Blade is a cybernetic colonel in the HARDCorps, an elite force that primarily works in vice, but after a string of serial kidnapping and murders of young girls, the drug busts are not impressing the media. When the team gets a break in this case, their body count begins to rise. It turns out that the killer is/was a nearly indestructible mutant that can absorb other organic matter. Blade's best friend JC ends up being assimilated as they try to capture the monster, resulting in Blade killing his compatriot in an act of mercy.

The latest kidnapping victim is rescued, but JC's sister, Jennifer C, wants to take control of the case with her military authority. She also wants to bring down Blade for not only his recent failures, but his possible ties to the mob. With the physician over seeing the victim Elise's treatment does not feel she can be moved from the hospital, so nothing can be done investigation wise to find the answers.

This dead end seems to be the ideal time for Elexis Sinclair to act. Using mutants of her creation, she commences an operation to capture the girl. Her target seems to hold the key to unlocking her father's work, creating unstoppable humanoids that would embarrass god's image. SinTek has the politicians in their pockets, so despite the casualties, the HARDCorps hands are tied.

It is up to Blade, his mob ties, and Jennifer to bring down Sinclair. If you are a betting person, I would put your money on the colonel. Sinclair is the reason for Blade being as much machine as human. Her goals also resulted in the death of Blade's father. Did she need to give him any more motivation?

"SiN: The Movie" is a brief piece of action (1 hour) that provides an intriguing enough story that does not bog itself down in exposition like many video game adaptations tend to do. When you have seen the likes of "Battle Arena Toshinden" and "Tekken", you will appreciate the decisions made in terms of storytelling. It is the computer generated dependency that will bug you.

At the turn of the century, anime must have thought that it had become stale because many title try, mostly unsuccessfully to incorporate it into the programs. The problem is, this technology was not experimental at the time, so it should not feel out of place at all. This feature ends up with scenes that present a CG monster, but when the monster attacks, traditional animation is used. If you cannot integrate the new effects seamlessly in, you have the feel of a made for Syfy movie.

What really makes this embarrassing is that anime has been trying to use computer effects since the early '80s. "Golgo 13: The Professional" had computer generated effects in 1983. The reason they work is because it is essentially an aside to the rest of the content. They were not meant to interact directly with the traditional animation. Just because your tech is superior, does not mean you know how to approach it. This ends up muddling a good narrative by distracting us from what the film does right.

What it does right is just abandoning character building. It is kind of like they knew video games were not at the point of two-hour cut scene tutorials. This movie knew it had to end quickly, so it makes our characters deal with the horrors they face. The audience knows it is crazy, and we just become impressed at how well they are dealing with the trauma.

"SiN: The Movie" feels like a fun, over-the-top, horror take on cyberpunk anime. Too bad half of that fun is ridiculing the poor CG effects, but an hour of a "get to the chopper" attitude is amusing enough on its own. If only this could have been dedicated to a console game, because I am not getting a PC to play this.

Wikipedia

 

Kai Doh Maru - Great Art but for What?

 *Blog post was started on September 4, 2021.

Working Saturday mornings are starting to throw me off. It is only a monthly obligation, and after today it will be overtime for the foreseeable future, but that does not mean I am ever ready for it. Or at least, I am not ready for a day with downtime. Still, this is not something I would trade for a return to 50 hour weeks with retail thrown in there.

If anything, I blame wrestling again. ECW was on Friday nights when I was just out of high school. The friends were out to hit the parties, so I had to play catch up. Thus, my virginity was not lost till 24. AEW has must watch television during the latter portion of prime time. What am I to do with myself from 6:30 till when I prep my wings at 8:30?

Last night it was drink and watch anime. By the time I got over my calls to offer Marty Scurll another chance, there was not the time to watch "Risky Business" (Ally's Accessories Shop on Etsy gave me some too trashy "R" titles...a Hallmark movie and "The Reaping" which I saw on a first date 14 years ago. Bad movie...iffy relationship). There are always previously watched OVA's to grab at resellers, so this lead me to "Kai Doh Maru", an original video animation from renown studio Production I.G. Promise is a guarantee with that studio ("Blue Seed", "Evangelion: Death and Rebirth (My review for the Chinese Subtitled version is on the right side panel of animeruss.blogspot.com)").

Pinterest @db0051

Kai Doh Maru (2001)

This tale takes place in ninth century Japan. Five years after Kintoki escaped from her uncle's coup to take over her family's region, she was raised as a warrior by defense agent Lord Raiko. Being a noble woman, Kintoki is protected from the despair caused by disease epidemics outside of the city walls, but safety is not guaranteed as bandits aim to attack the capital. Raiko and his three soldiers seem up to the task, but they are unaware of the magic the bandits have sold their souls to. To make matters worse, Kintoki's cousin who thought she was a boy aims to reclaim her beloved. With so many variables, will Kintoki be destined to the fate she avoided half a decade prior?

"Kai Doh Maru" would have been a brilliant experiment in animation if only its story was not so convoluted. This story is very hard to follow with its 45-minute runtime. Wikipedia says this OVA is "set against a background of a capital under threat from disease, outlaws, and political plots". This definitely seems to be too much to cover in three-quarters of an hour.

It is beautifully crafted animation wise. The overall pastel tone is unique and the decisions to reduce or increase tones with each scene are masterfully done. But once the scene is established, the story is so thick nothing seems to move. You sit around waiting for the next dramatic palette change, not really caring about what is actually occurring in the scene.

Production I.G is always pushing the envelope in term of style, but "Kai Doh Maru" is the first time they let it consume the substance. The experimental OVA may not have been the ideal format for this samurai tale with wizardry, but this may be a demonstration of faith or lack there of in a project. It is a pretty work, but pretty vacant as well.

 

Golgo 13: Queen Bee - If James Bond Had Too Much Sex

 *Blog post was started on September 1, 2021.

I have just come back to work after what I found to be an enlightening vacation. The enlightenment is probably going to kill me as I plan to drive up to Chicago tonight for AEW's Dynamite taping to then immediately drive back home. But I was able to get an extra hour of sleep and it seems like I will be downing an entire pot of coffee from work, so will I ever be more ready?

The vacation was a busy one, at least when it comes to the days that I would have been at work. Atrophy kicked in Sunday after two days of not leaving my apartment. There was a podcast recorded on Friday, so again, I still made use of the time that would have been dedicated to work. When it comes to the enlightenment I was speaking of, that came from my trip to Milwaukee for AEW's tapings. It would have been more eventful if I had left for MKE on Tuesday, but the tetanus and pneumonia vaccines were kicking my ass from Monday.

With that said, Pfizer's Covid Vax did not do shit to me. Get your fucking shots people.

I went to the arena and saw that the Hyatt Regency was only three blocks away, so I booked it presuming the crew was there. Well, the hotel bar was closing by that point and I obviously did not know downtown. If you are looking for food though, Ian's Pizza by the Slice was solid. Otherwise, this meant that I did not know where the after party(ies) were. This led me back to the hotel before midnight. At least there were the  "Archer" premiere replays. RIP Jessica Walter.

As I called it a night, I heard some Sting "Woos" around 2 am, but no other indication that I had missed much. Alone in an expensive hotel room, it kind of left me thinking where my life was heading. And I am proud to say that I took some initiative. I finally laid myself out there to a girl I had been chatting with for a year, and I am more dedicated to watching movies. Both seem to be paying off.

The date occurred, good weed was smoked, and she has not been ghosting me. On top of that, I had got the most out of my free trial of IFC Films Unlimited on Apple TV. My submissions to the ID10T's Community Corkboard and C2E2 Panels had been made. And I was able to still manage an extra hour sleep as Netflix delivered me "Golgo 13: Queen Bee", a one hour OVA. Perhaps I should jump on SixtyForChill.com

Golgo 13: Queen Bee (1998)

A South American militant has been taunting the presumed Democratic presidential nominee. The Queen Bee has been sending weekly notes to the campaign suggesting how she longs to see the president dead, so the nominee's top adviser determines that it would be best just to eliminate the threat by the simplest and yet most effective way possible. That being, hire Golgo 13 (a.k.a. Dick Togo) to assassinate her. With a 100% success rate, who can argue with this decision?

Togo is more than who he seems, and the seductive Queen Bee knows this. She finds Togo to offer him a contract to kill the nominee's advisor and test his horizontal reputation. Despite satisfaction when it came to the latter, Golgo 13 states he only takes on one job at a time. His word is his bond, so she knows she is next.

This may be his toughest assignment since she is protected by the mafia and her rebellion. Once she heads into hiding, the nominee's advisor decides to pull some strings with the military to unleash a psychotic special ops agent, Benning, and a military strike on the rebels. For Togo, it is one thing to kill a target. It is an entirely different thing to go scorched earth for one person.

On top of this, Queen Bee declares her motives in derailing the presidential campaign. Dick Togo may have to let his morals make the call when it comes to how he approaches this delicate situation, but will he let his reputation be diminished for the right side?

From what I have gathered (I have seen half of the TV series and the feature "Golgo 13: The Professional"), Dick Togo is supposed to be Japan's James Bond. He is a super agent who is irresistible to all woman. Unfortunately for the OVA (original video animation), "Golgo 13: Queen Bee" puts far too much emphasis on the latter.

With the focus on assuring that Queen Bee is naked and overly sexualized, the feature does not move along well. The great action pieces from the previous media (manga and the 1983 feature) are lacking, so you start to wait for a conclusion. Its one hour runtime end up being a blessing.

This video tries to make up for the lack of action by trying to hard to reference the manga's style. It stops the animation seeming every minute to try and emphasize the importance of those 60 seconds with a frozen frame which was seemingly pulled from the manga. Once every sentence ends with an exclamation point, excitement is lost. To do this at the start of the video results in us feeling the project is pretentious 10 minutes in.

It also figures out how to make the runtime a hindrance. Like "Golgo 13: The Professional", some messed up sexual circumstances are provided for character motivations. This is a shocking revelation, but no time is given to let it really settle in. In this case, Dick Togo kind of comes off looking bad for following his code as well.

Everything comes off as bad with "Golgo 13: Queen Bee". The television series and the original theatrical feature look better in nearly every way. Not to say that it looks bad, but when a TV show outshines the production level of an OVA, you are dealing with a flawed project. And when you try to divert our attention from the flaws with sex, your video just comes across as tacky. With distributor Urban Vision's decline, it is not a bad thing for "Queen Bee" to be a tough find. 

Pinterest - @ashitanojoe76

 

 

 *The first draft of the review was originally written in 2009(ish). Hence the "Avatar" joke.

Princess Mononoke: Visual Masterpiece sans Giant Blue Smurfs

Hayao Miyazaki may be the greatest animation director of all time. Coming from anime roots with limited production values, everything he produces/directs is worthwhile and he almost always tops his previous film. With this assumption, it would not be surprising if we all but overlooked the standard set for visual environments in "Princess Mononoke".

After a fallen boar god nearly destroys his village, Ashitaka is cursed for stopping its chaos. No medicine can cure his terminal ailment, so his only hope is to head west to find the Spirit of the Forrest to beg for it to lift him of the burden. On his journey, he learns of the battle between the forest gods and the human settlement of Iron Town.

Each race is fighting for a mountain, and Ashitaka must find a way to make peace between the two races before all of them are destroyed. The key to finding success might be relating to the wolf gods through their adopted human family member, San. Since she was abandoned by her parents as a child so that they could escape the wolves' wrath, she bares no love for any human, but the compassion Ashitaka exhibits may show her a path that does not lead to destruction.

Disney did their best to suppress "Princess Mononoke" from finding success in the states, but with the decline of the quality of their films (at the time), it is good to know that Miyazaki is a household name. Only problem is that his dramas are still generally over looked. (With that said, this feature did not have a talking cat or a humorous animal, so I may see why.)

Perhaps for the sake of anime, it might be better to focus on his tales about children like "Spirited Away" and "Ponyo" than to discuss his feature with intense violence and tentacles. Sad, because I have yet to see a superior artificial environment presented in a cinema. The only flaw with the animation is that the characters themselves are not as vivid, so at times, they may seem out of place.

The story is easy to follow and is wonderfully paced. An animated film having two hours of material was rare at the time (at least stateside), so this film is even grander by having amazing replay value.

To maintain the integrity of the picture, the celebrity voice cast makes it a point to go over the top with their performances leaving the culture and story intact via this translation. If it was not a violent hippie movie, it would have been accessible to nearly any audience.

"Princess Mononoke" is definitely an under appreciated film. It may not be Miyazaki's best, but how long will his latest film hold that title. Missing this film shows a lack of respect to one of animation's most beloved directors. The film shows the range of what Miyazaki can direct and the beauty his animation brings out. It is a must see.

Twitter @ghiblisarchive

Evangelion 1.01: You Can(not) Overlook

 Am I crazy for entertaining the concept of reinventing the "Star Wars" trilogy? Trekkies gave into J.J. Abrams's concept and ended up embracing it, and the flaws of Lucas's scripts are quite prevalent.

Blasphemy. Well, we would all like to reboot the "Saga". No one can deny that, but when it comes to near perfection (with the exception of "Return of the Jedi"), why bother?

It is because we are starved for greatness and we will take our chances. That is why Hideaki Anno's reboot of "Evangelion" captured the world of anime's attention.

Shinji Ikari has been called to Tokyo-3 by his neglectful father Gendo. When he arrives, the city is under a military state of emergency and a battle with a giant monster ensues. After he is rescued by his chaperone, Lt. Col. Misato Katsuragi, he his escorted to Nerv's headquarters to find out his father's expectations. The primary one of these is for this 14 year-old to pilot a giant robot called Evangelion Unit 01 to defeat the monster.

 Should he fail, humanity is lost. But not being able to appreciate his own existence, why should Shinji care about the fate of mankind?

"Evangelion 1.01" is nearly identical in character design to the original television show, but it is far more than just a special edition of the first six episodes. This is a more concise version of the "Evangelion" story with an atmosphere that is more fitting of the dark conclusions of the initial series.

All of the mecha and kaiju have been visually upgraded and the theatrical budge is evident. Since budget held back the production quality of the first series, fans should definitely appreciate the upgrades. That is provided that they can get past the first two acts of the story being exactly like the first four episodes.

It can be frustrating that the "Rebuild of Evangelion's" story does not begin until act three, especially since the comic interactions between Shinji and the supporting cast are all but eliminated. The charm and optimism are removed, so those who did not appreciate the previous two endings that Anno had provided us, they may be left upset.

Those frustrations are worth enduring for the brilliant third act. The new vision and hints of what is coming up left me salivating for the film's sequel. On top of that, the action and drama sequences are greater than anything presented in the first half of the television series.

"Evangelion 1.01" is a great experience that promises even more to come. It provides incite into Anno's true vision that was confined to the restraints of 90's television. It is a darker journey, but well worth enduring for the reward of a new future for the franchise.

 

Rhb_RBS
 

 

 

 

Imagine We Still Had VHS: "Cat Planet Cuties" and the Curse of Too Much Physical Media

*Blog post started on February 19, 2021.

Trying to optimize my Twitter feeds (@maineventzombie, @catbusruss, @russthebus) yesterday has put me a day behind in terms of writing. What is the point of staying up late for content if it is not fresh in your mind the next day? There is a chance that the thoughts that ruined your original intentions bleed over into the next day. When you are obsessive compulsive like me, if one thing is optimized, all must be optimized.

That can kill some time at the day job. I may be going through my blogs to make sure that forwarding the reader on to my different blogs is not that tasking on the eyes. In other words, the reader maybe frustrated with reading through have a screen of text to be reintroduced to the same text again when they click on the "Check out..." link. Some further editing is definitely needed.

As for my Wednesday content search, it is a good thing that it was an anime television series. I got home from work, practiced some self care, and made dinner and watched the "NBC News Nightly News" from my DVR. With no wrestling on Thursday (I would say the best day for AEW's next program, but after Dynamite, everything is down hill to BTE on Monday.), it is the perfect day to binge the streaming services or watch those series you impulsively buy on DVD.

When it comes to streaming, I have two hours to catch up on "WandaVision". If WWE does something offensive to my taste on Sunday, the real superheroes can take their place. Which reminds me to cancel the WWE Network for the last time (There is no point to pay $9.99 for 17 days when it will be on Peacock on the 18th). Sorry NXT UK.

When it comes to DVDs, I can obviously make any night a wrestling night in my household, but there are some TV shows that I just have to own. This seemingly means half of post "Game of Thrones" HBO series ("Watchmen" and "Westworld" tell the audience that you need the special features) and what ever affordable anime series I can grab at Disc Replay or Best Buy. There definitely not as many of those.

I have considered getting Crunchyroll or Funimation subscriptions, but Shudder is definitely the greater priority. It might also just be the hunter/collector in me who does not want to have everything at my finger tips. My "Speed Grapher" collection might be the pride of my 2000's/2010's collection. To get all the episodes on four-episode DVD's, the extra $100 spent was worth it. Truthfully, Ebay allowed me to make that hit a lot less.

Not being an anime streamer may also be a need not to develop another hobby. I know there is quite the Japanese animation lineup on Netflix, but I am starting to ponder if that service is worth maintaining. There are some great comedy specials, but again, I do not need the hobby. Especially when I need those sub two-hour time slots for NinetyForChill.com - The Podcast. They may have one series a year that is worth subscribing for. Is each series worth 15 bucks? How do I tell all those using my info that I am cutting it off?

It all comes down to having too much physical media. Yes, there are special features, but what is the point, aside from Steelbooks? I say physical media allows us to be of more critical minds. There are no worries of "Available till" messages, so when you watch them, you can take your time and find out the answers to why something does or does not work.

You can claim that can be done with streaming services, but I have yet to find a remote control that functions as well as those of a physical media player. Personally, the more buttons, the better. Of course there are special remotes, but you can usually buy at least two DVDs for the price of one of those.

Ironically, anime rarely has those kind of expansive extras to warrant a physical copy. But does "Cat Planet Cuties" need that when I could grab it for $10 bucks? I could not pass up something catcentric at that price. It is still a gamble because it is an anime. This is an anime with an American title that implies loads of fan service.

Fan service is best kept as an implication like the promises at the end of episodes of "Evangelion" or "Blue Seed". As a series, I have seen that backfire so many times like "Agent AIKa" and "Knights of Ramune".

 

 Eris from Cat Planet Cuties - ACDb

 "Cat Planet Cuties" - Episodes 1-3

 

"I am coming to drop by." That is the first extra-terrestrial message that humanity has received. It is not necessarily ominous, but the Japanese Self Defense Force is still on edge since the object they are tracking seems to be eying Okinawa as a landing zone. There is an incident of a smuggler's ship blowing up, but otherwise all was quiet the night of the message.

The next afternoon seems like any other. There is a celebration for Kio's late grandfather going on, but the most stress that could lead to would be Kio's uncle pushing him to flirt with the cosplay girl who just randomly showed up. Showing immediate concern for the confused stranger, Eris, the sixteen year-old ends up getting black out drunk when he consumes the booze that the uncle had meant for the new girl. Fortunately for Kio, Eris is quite caring and is able to walk him home at his uncle's behest.

The next morning, Kio awakens to a half-dressed Eris being curled up by his side. This leaves him immediately startled and Eris further confused. Before she can offer an explanation, Kio's neighbors Manami and Maki stop by to check up on him and inquire about the girl they presume he took home to fulfill some furry fantasies. Eris reveals to them and proves by letting the two pet her tails and ears that she is an alien from the planet Catia. She is on a recon mission to hopefully establish diplomatic relations with Earth, a planet that may lag in technology, but none the less, is very similar culturally to her home world.

With everything explained and established on Eris's end, all should be alright provided the girls do not blab about it. Well, they are not going to go public with it, but that is because they are both covert operatives. Manami has aspirations to join the CIA, so bringing in an alien should secure her a spot.

Maki is a part of the Beautiful Contract, a secret society that is looking to ensure that first contact with space beings will be a magnificent moment in history. To find out that the cosplay ideal is what the superior lifeforms look like does not sit well with them. They intend to eliminate her to prevent the embarrassment.

On top of these two agencies, another one of Kio's friends has been instructed to rid earth of Eris. The shy Aoi is a Japanese immigration agent who specializes in eliminating any threat to Japan. This all sounds like too much for Kio to handle, but Eris has an army of cute helper droids that can carry out almost any command. She is more concerned about figuring out how humans operate especially Kio. It is about time for her first mating season and after seeing some of the manga under her host's bed, she has some ideas that Kio is probably far from ready for.

"Cat Planet Cuties" comes across as a refined "Excel Saga". "Excel Saga" was all about making fun of all of the tropes associated with anime making every episode its own entity. This cat-girl anime focuses on one trope and builds a 12-episode narrative around it. If you are not looking to laugh at all types of anime but want a ridiculous premise, "Cat Planet Cuties" will treat you a lot better than the abrasive nature of a straight up parody like "Excel Saga".

This anime is very well produced. I personally prefer to have my colors a little more subdued as if the project was a manga with motion, but for a bright and loud comedy, you cannot complain about it popping out of the screen at you. Along with a very versatile soundtrack, the premise may have just sounded too nuts for Funimation to talk Cartoon Network into airing it on our shores.

What I really liked about "Cat Planet Cuties", aside from the obvious (six cat tats and counting), is that the storytelling is very similar to one of my favorite anime franchises, "El Hazard". I suppose my comparison to "El Hazard" speaks to how I loved that P-Anime (Pioneer produced Anime from the 90's) more than the better known "Tenchi Muyo!" That title is more appropriate to compare it to since this is a story about an alien entering a teenage boy's life instead of the protagonist being placed in an alien world. Either way, the story revolves around our hero as all the girls for the most part hide their infatuation with him. Either way, for a narcissistic boy, it is my dream (and a really weird one at that when you smoke a bowl before bed.).

As for the fan service fears, the dirty minds of the audience are amused with near tongue-baths and accidental boob grabs, but it does not dominate any elements of the story. The series is nudity-free through the first five episodes, with the exception of the third. In that episode, that is all played up for laughs instead of "Ramune" and "AIKa" who wants the viewer leering at the screen the entire series.

The best homage to fans are through the peripheral elements of Eris. She attacks with a mallet (like Harley Quinn) and her assistant droids gradually become chibi-cat tributes to other famous characters (samurai, even a Hong Kong gunfighter...spoiler for episodes 4 and 5). This series's humor is not breaking new ground, but it is an ode to the serieses that I would pay $25 per 1-hour dubbed tape in the 90's.

"Cat Planet Cuties" shows how important it is too feature relatable and likable characters. When you have those, any premise can be translated into entertainment. After three (or five) episodes, this series has done no wrong. If you can create a series based around cats that is reminiscent of the best comedies of the 90's, any anime fan should be pleased with purchase.

Now to find away to expose this to Anime Ally from Ally's Accessories Shop on Etsy. I may need an expert opinion.

NinetyForChill Dot Com: The Podcast - Episode 1: Ally's Abbreviated Anime Adventure

 

NinetyForChill.com: The Podcast

Episode 1: Ally's Abbreviated Anime Adventure

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It looks like we have made it. My Blue Snowball microphone, a Zoom meeting room, and Audacity open source, cross-platform audio editor has allowed me to produce my first true podcast. If anyone is interested, I do have an old assignment from a 2009 ICC mass media class that elaborates on my liberal leanings and how they are necessary for colleges to truly benefit their students, but I do not know if you want to perceive me as even being more pretentious.

Ally Higgins from AllysAccessoriesShop comes on and does her best to express her affection for anime, an animation style she was introduced to during our three and three-quarter year long relationship. We started with Studio Ghibli's classics like "My Neighbor Totoro", "Porco Rosso", and "The Cat Returns" and move on to the flicks where they just drew too many pictures. Makoto Shinkai's latest releases get some love and we find out Ally's surprising love for Mamoro Hosoda's library.

Studio Ghibli 10 best Studio Ghibli films - TimeOut

Please pardon our little asides about her recent COVID-19 related quarantine, the discovery that her current significant other is a mark, the brawls between my cat Eva and her cat/my roommate Skimble, and the influences of the podcasts "ID10T" [A Christopher Columbus rant (the director/writer/producer, not the genocidal moron)] and "Marty and Sarah Love Wrestling".

What can I say except to those podcasts' pets, "What you gonna do when Eva and Skim run wild on you?" It is not a threat. The furry ones and I just want to take that over from the Hulkster. I suppose I need to start using "brother" a lot more.

At this time, I am looking for a guest for the next episode, and would love to have the next episode out next Tuesday. Want to talk about sub 97-minute movies? Send an email to russthebus07@gmail.com.

Just to cover all legalities, the opinions expressed do not reflect those of Best Buy, Inc.

Grumpy Cat - Image #534,913 - knowyourmeme.com