Inu-Yasha Vol 18: The Demon Within

Well in this DVD, Inu-yasha finally learns how to use his sword. Yay!  I was getting tired of him dragging it around and whining all the time. :)  You also learn the reason for the sword and its real purpose. Lots of action in this one.

The Day the Earth Stood Still Quick Review

This is the only movie I went out to see during the Christmas and New Years break. Nothing else looked real interesting. Maybe the new Bond film, but I can wait for it on DVD.

Oh, I'm including spoilers so if you haven't seen the film stop reading now.

-----Spoiler Alert!!!!! -------- You have been warned.
So the basic plot is an alien spacecraft lands in Central Park. We send all 4 branches of our military, the New York City Police, and the National Guard, all armed to the teeth and ready for action! An alien (Klatu, played by Keanu Reeves) and his robot pop out of the ship to greet us. Someone shoots the alien and the robot then takes out the assembled military. The shooting stops and the alien dude is rushed to the hospital and saved. The story goes from there.

The original short story starts the same way, but the alien dude doesn't live. The story is more about the mystery surrounding the robot and what happens to it after the initial incident.

In this version, the alien dude is here to serve judgement upon the human race. We apparently are going to destroy the planet, so a consortium of aliens has sent Klatu to do a quick review of things and take us out. This is where things start to get silly.

To "save" the earth, the aliens decide to take DNA samples of the all living species on the planet. Then, they proceed to destroy all life on the planet. lol. A very interesting way to "save" the planet.

In the end, Klatu is convinced that there is hope for us. So he proceeds to stop the planets desctruction half way thru. Thus leaving our female lead and her child alone and with no food, water, or transporation of any kind. And since the aliens apparently destroyed all our electronic equipment, no way to get any help. So their reward for saving the human race is probably starving to death or dying of thirst.

In addition, the end result of Klatu's actions would be the death of millions if not billions of people due to starvation, famine, and disease because of the complete destruction of human infrastructure. Real happy stuff. lol. I will not be purchasing a personal copy of this movie. :)

Review: Scrapped Princess

This is the most recent series I completed watching. A solidly good series, but not great. Spoiler alert! Detailed plot elements are discussed in the Thoughts section of the review. Skip that section if you wish to avoid spoilers

Plot
The story takes place in a medieval world of knights and chivalry. Well at least that is where it starts. The main characters are a young 15 yr old girl named Pacifica, her brother Shannon, and sister Raquel. The story starts with the family on the run. Long ago, there was a prophecy that a princess would be born that, if not killed by her 16th birthday, would be the poison that destroys the world. That is what the Church of Mauser says anyway, and since they are the only religion and also the official state religion, what they say goes.


As you may have already guessed, Pacifica, is in fact, the scrapped princess. Instead of killing her, the knight assigned the task of killing the baby, gave her to a kind couple in a small town to raise. As the series starts, the government and the church have found out that the scrapped princess is still alive. Since there are only a few weeks until Pacifica's 16th birthday, can her family keep her alive long enough to poison the world, or possibly save it?

Thoughts
The world the story takes place in starts out very medieval. The first hint that things may not be as they seem is Raquel's use of magic. Her powers seem to come from devices that appear throughout the world. Then the group ends up fighting and encountering unworldly beings that turn out to be robots. More and more technology is discovered. Eventually, we learn that humanity fought a war against a technologically advanced alien race some 5000 years before the story, and lost. The aliens locked the humans on Earth, regressed their culture, and left a number of robots as jailers. However, a couple of the human built robots not controlled by the aliens were also left behind to help the humans break free when the scrapped princess appears. So there are quite a few giant robot fights by the end of the series. lol.

The story progression is pretty good and the character development is pretty good as well. I'm not sure I really cared for the ending. It seemed to really contradict everything that took place up to the final episode. Why spend all that time trying to kill the princess when you are just gonna let her decide the fate of the earth? That didn't make a lot of sense to me and is the main reason for the 3 stars rating. This series can be purchased via Amazon. See the following links if you are interested.

Rating: 3 out of 5

Favorite: Last Exile

Last Exile is a very special series for me as it really got me interested in Anime. The visuals are a combination of computer generated graphics and normal anime. Mostly, they are just amazing to look at.

Plot

The plot centers around Claus Valca and Lavie Head, two teenage orphans who have grown up together after the tragic death of their parents. They live in a world that is a strange mixture of advanced technology and 1920s steam power. They make their living delivering messages and such using a van ship. This ship is like a small plane, except it uses anti-gravity technology to fly instead of wings.

When the story starts, the nation the kids live in is at war. The series follows the adventures of Claus and Lavie as they get sucked into the conflict. As they story progresses they find out more about this conflict and their own past.

Thoughts

The world created in this series is very rich. But you are not spoon fed all the details, rather the creators throw you into the world, and kind of let you figure things out as the story plays out. I really enjoyed this, but if you like everything cut and dried, this series may not be for you. The story and world it takes place in are pretty amazing. You have everything from people fighting with muskets, to spaceships.

My guess is this series was designed for 8 or 9 year old kids in Japan. Maybe a little older. Although there isn't a lot of "scary" stuff in the series, there is a great deal of violence. I wouldn't consider Last Exile gory, but people get hurt and they die. The show does not hide the realities of war.

A great series that I highly recommend.

Favorite: Spirited Away

Spirited Away is one of the most visually beautiful films you will ever see. Director Hayao Miyazaki is known for his great visuals, and this film is no exception.

The story is about a little girl who is moving to a new town and a new home with her parents. On the way, they kind of get lost on a side road and stumble upon what appears to be an abandoned theme park. But this turns out to be a doorway into a very Alice in Wonderland type spirit world. Soon she is separated from her parents and is forced to survive in a very strange and beautiful world.

The spirits and creatures in this world are just amazing. It is unlike anything you would see in a Grim's Fairy Tales rip off. :) There is a scene with a train traveling over a lake that is simply breathe taking. This is definitely a classic and a great place to start if you are new to anime.

The story is good and is not real predictable. In Japan, I would guess this movie was targeted at small children. But, I would say it is kind of on the Snow White/Sleeping Beauty level of scariness. So probably not good for very small kids.

Rating: *****

Avatar: The Last Airbender Book 1

The first title I'm gonna recommend has been around a while, but I didn't discover it until recently. Avatar: The Last Airbender is a series created and produced for Nickelodeon. So technically, its not anime since its not Japanese. But, pish posh on that, it is a great example of Anime.

The story takes place in world that is divided into 4 nations. Each nation can manipulate an element through use of martial arts: water, earth, fire and air. This ability is refered to as "bending" in the series.

Every generation a person is born who can manipulate all 4 elements, called the Avatar. The Avatar's job is to maintain balance between the 4 nations and keep everything in harmony.

One hundred years before the series begins, the fire nation decides to get all militaristic and invades the other nations. An Avatar has been born into the air nation, but just when he is needed, the Avatar mysteriously disappears.

Fast forward 100 years. Two kids from the water nation discover the Avatar frozen in ice near the south pole. He turns out to be a 12 yr old air bender named Ang. The story follows Ang and his friends as they try to save the world from the evil fire nation.

The series is well written with good characters and excellent plot lines. The first season (linked below) follows Ang and his friends as they travel to the north pole to get training.

A Note on Ratings

Since most Anime is shown on TV, not at movie theaters, most shows have no rating associated with them. Therefore, if you are a parent trying to get a handle on whether a show is age appropriate, the only way to be sure is to preview the title yourself. You can also read reviews on Amazon or one of the many Anime sites on the Internet. But standards for both sex and violence can vary greatly.

Anime titles can be anything from a very hard R to a G rating. So if you want to be sure, watch the title yourself first.

On this blog I will attempt to estimate who the show might be appropriate for. But it is merely my opinion. It is ultimately up to you to decide what you want to watch.