Ninety For Chill: The #Podcast with @CatBusRuss

Episode 171: #AniMay Spectacle: "Jujutsu Kaisen 0" with James Slunder

Eva the Queen Kitty is mystical as any of the JJK student body

And this is why ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ is the top trivia team in Downstate Illinois. James Slunder comes to the rescue to make sure ⁠CatBusRuss⁠ does the month of Ani-May right. The team's self-proclaimed anime expert suggested our host watch the prequel to the ⁠"Jujutsu Kaisen"⁠ television series, the 2021 motion picture ⁠"Jujutsu Kaisen 0"⁠.

The result of this suggestion is a clash between generations of fandom. We use the term self-proclaimed expert to describe James because he was not around during the days of Streamline Pictures/Central Park Media and multicolored VHS tapes. Our host feels there has to be something from his tape collecting days that gives him the edge when it comes to being an otaku.

Anime has become a lot brighter and more colorful, and ⁠CatBus⁠ may sound like an old man shouting at clouds because it is too busy for it to have that nineties, Suncoast charm. He also did not watch many magical high school themed cartoons.

Fortunately, JJK0 (James says that is what the cool kids call it.) is "Harry Potter" on steroids. Who needs Quidditch when you wield a cursed katana alongside a giant, anthropomorphic Panda and a classmate whose voice is cursed to the point that he can only safely speak in rice ball ingredients. And of course you have some "will they, won't they" relationship to tease some tension. This is how they needed to sell the third "Fantastic Beast" flick.

Episode 173: Mortal Kombat (1995) & Collateral Cinema

Eva the Queen Kitty being blessed by the penguin god of thunder

CatBusRuss⁠ and ⁠Collateral Cinema's Beau Maddox⁠ have been interacting with each other since our host joined ⁠Bluesky⁠. Over the past week, they finally have found a feature that the two felt good about collaborating on. "⁠Ninety For Chill: The Podcast with CatBusRuss⁠" has covered ⁠Paul WS Anderson⁠'s "⁠Mortal Kombat⁠" before, but that was to pay tribute to French action star ⁠Christopher Lambert⁠. Beau and ⁠Russ⁠ will take a look at this beloved feature from all angles. The effects that still hold up, the less is more style of direction, and the charm of special effects that do not hold up after 4K TV's came into existence.

Does this lead to the conclusion that the nineties, with hindsight, were a good time for video game film adaptations? Is Hollywood still underutilizing ⁠Cary-Hiroyuki Togawa⁠ and ⁠Linden Ashby⁠? Should this script been delivered to ⁠John Carpenter⁠?

We discover the two have their polarizing opinions of the work of ⁠Tom Green⁠, so we quickly learn that conversational fireworks maybe a possibility. Perhaps it is that heat that lead to the pod's technical difficulties and not Beau's phone overheating. Russ hopes that throwing in his review of Sylvester Stallone's "⁠Escape Plan: The Extractors⁠" will be an adequate apology for those issues.

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The Bus's Transit of Anime Reality

This is how I became a rabid otaku. My first website was not suppose to be strictly dedicated to anime, but all things that were a 17 year-old Russ (Star Wars, Red Dwarf, and Highlander).

It became my first lesson in website design. Don't try to cover too much because you are going to be left disappointed. So I kept it to anime, and it wasn't till college took up most of my time did I ever feel disappointed by it.

I was also the creator of a fairly popular Neon Genesis Evanglion site: EvaUnit03's Tokyo 3 Station. This is where I took Danielle Scott's idea of incorporating alternative rock with the series for a critical and musical look at Evangelion.

The anime reviews for the show can be found at http://evaunit03.homestead.com/. The manga reviews can be found at Russ's Online Home.

A Critique of the Chinese Subtitled Version

Evangelion: Death

Evangelion Death is basically a review of the entire series up to Episode 24 that uses the rap around device of the first four children playing classical pieces on stringed instruments. For each kid who joins in, his story is told. Through Shinji we also learn the story of Misato and Ritsuko. Since I don't know Japanese as well as I thought, maybe that hurt my opinion on the editing. Maybe I just prefer chronological order.

There are a few enhancements to the animation to set up the second film, Rebirth, but everything else is from the T.V. series besides for the rap around device. If your like me and saw Eva through A.D. Vision, they did a lot of unreasonable editing (allegedly restored), so we missed a lot via this company. If you enjoyed the series you'll enjoy this, but if you're overly anxious for the conclusion like I was since I felt the T.V. series ending was perfect, you could get bored with the Death, and fast forward 45 minutes to Rebirth.

Evangelion: Rebirth

All of the angels have been destroyed, so what is there left for Nerv to do? On that thought, Seele decides its time to take Nerv back from Gendo Ikari by hacking in and taking over the Magi. Luckily, Ritsuko creates the 666 program through Casper which stops this invasion.

Before the hackers stuck, Misato had been searching for answers about the concept of the Third Impact. Shinji is looking for sympathy after killing Kaworu, and Asuka has become almost totally unreceptive to anything. Unfortunately, the cast can't go back to these plans because Seele has launched an assault force to kill everyone in Nerv to make sure Seele is absolutely in control.

Obviously this film sets its self up for a sequel, especially since we find out what Seele now has as their secret weapon. I don't support why the films were made, but this is a beautiful piece of animation which surpasses the quality of Gainax's last big film Wings on Honneamise. The story is superb, and I was actually impressed in the emotional performances of the voice actors. It has some of the most superb sequences I've ever seen in an anime, and its sound track lives up to the series's. Love the end of the T.V. series or not, this 45 minute film will blow you away.

On that note about the soundtrack, here's the theme song in midi form.