#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.

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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)

Check out the rest of this critique at AnimeRuss.blogspot.com - For those curious about anime but hate the geeks

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.

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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)

Check out the rest of this critique at AnimeRuss.blogspot.com - For those curious about anime but hate the geeks

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)

Check out the rest of this critique at AnimeRuss.blogspot.com - For those curious about anime but hate the geeks

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.

Check out the rest of this critique at AnimeRuss.blogspot.com - For those curious about anime but hate the geeks

 *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.

Check out the rest of this critique at AnimeRuss.blogspot.com - For those curious about anime but hate the geeks

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.

Check out the rest of this critique at AnimeRuss.blogspot.com - For those curious about anime but hate the geeks

 

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.

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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".

Check out the rest of this critique at AnimeRuss.blogspot.com - For those curious about anime but hate the geeks

Imagine We Still Had VHS - Blue Seed (Episodes 1-3) - In the Shadow of Evangelion

*Blog post started on October 6, 2020.

It seems like there is light at the end of the tunnel in terms of my exhaustion. Lets just hope it is not depression. Eva the Cat has been a little too cozy with me at night even after nearly hugging her to death when I was stoned and New Order's "Bizarre Love Triangle" came on. She shared the bed with me and Skimbleshanks yesterday, so either her or I is pretty down.

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At that party and from my ex who thinks I am going to ruin my life in Peoria tonight, I have found that my under two-minute movie reviews have drawn people to my blog. This means that I should go and make a quick video for this "Blue Seed" review. Guess I will need to swing by Japan House during a lunch hour for proper ambiance.

Yuzo Takada's Blue Seed

Check out the rest of this critique at AnimeRuss.blogspot.com - For those curious about anime but hate the geeks

Imagine We Still Had VHS (Instead of Depressed Trolls like @CfuFreedom) - Agent AIKa - Naked Missions

  *Blog post started on September 29, 2020.

Adulting can be pretty hard. Yes, I know. That is common knowledge. Everything is probably just a blur to me because I have worked everyday since the 21st and even fit in the time to put 180 miles on the car to visit my parents during this stretch.

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Because I was reviewing only the first 90 minutes of series, I feel it is best that I not open anything up new and revisit what I had not reviewed. In essence, an entire series is being represented by three episodes, thus I do not want to give the wrong impressions of products that I have yet to have an all encompassing opinion on. The Blu-ray series have all been taken care of in the past four weeks, so lets go through my DVD's, starting at the letter A.

Unfortunately, this leads me to "Agent AIKa" a series I remember for its obscene amount of fan service and objectification of women. The worst thing about that is that I purchased it "used" from an FYI. I do not feel cool just selling it back. If it was a once defective DVD sold at Big Lots or a truck stop, mine opinion about reselling a resell is different.

Those initial statements maybe harsh. I did not have my critical lenses on. Being caught off guard seeing an upskirt shot of every female character, my opinion of the story may have been tainted and I could have missed enduring details. This rewatch should give this series a fair shake. More importantly, it warrants this series being a purchase instead of a rental or a torrent.

Agent AIKa - Episodes 1 to 4 (Naked Missions)

Check out the rest of this critique at AnimeRuss.blogspot.com - For those curious about anime but hate the geeks

 

Agent Aika (1997) - IMDb

 

Imagine We Still Had VHS - Hellsing (TV Series) - Volume 1

Some people just want you to be realistic. I had shared a meme that touted how Barack Obama had given us affordable healthcare, constant improvement in the job market, and saved us from the great recession. A person responded with the rise in immigrant detentions, drone strikes, and inequality growth that happened during his presidency. My response was to tell them why that happened and how he brilliantly responded (DACA, troop reduction, and healthcare costing him chances to fix the problem that the rich are). In addition, since Trump had made all of points worse, why do you want us not to think of better times?

I can ignore high school sucking hard. I had wrestling and was team captain on top of that. Bruce Springsteen wrote about the attitude in "Glory Days".

Wrestling and an anime collection allowed me to survive my hometown. Then adulthood almost immediately cut the latter out of my life. I have spoken of this before. Once Toonami, Adult Swim, and IFC took over anime distribution, every kind of release came out in season box sets. College classes and jobs did not allow me to watch the content as it aired stateside, so I could not sample the content before making a decision to buy. It felt like the cost of getting away from Morton, Illinois was half of my sanity.

Fortunately, my little brother was borrowing DVD's from friends, so I occasionally got lucky and caught an intriguing enough series. Thus, "Hellsing", my introduction to Gonzo studio and their standard too harsh for run after "Cowboy Bebop" products.

Hellsing - Episodes 1-3

Check out the rest of this critique at AnimeRuss.blogspot.com - For those curious about anime but hate the geeks

Imagine We Still Had VHS - Persona 4: The Animation (Volume 1)

Dean (@Northerner83) - Pinterest

*Blog post started on September 17th with a September 16, 2020 flashback.

I have already worked out how I will replenish my checking account to take care of my website expense. It just sucks saying goodbye to an NES Zapper that had some nostalgic value. When are we going to get "Duck Hunt" on the Nintendo Switch? That would be a better buy than "Super Mario 35".

On the topic of video games, a series that I have gotten into in the last decade was "Persona". It is the otaku in me, but I also think I like the turn-based RPGs over the action-based modern style. You can have my curiosity with a classic manga style. My attention will be earned with "Pokemon" battle rules.

Do I put a Monsieur Candie meme into this blog to drive the point home with that Tarantino tribute?

After about two hours of watching static characters tell the story before actual gameplay, finding out "Persona 4: The Animation" existed seemed like a time-saving purchase. Especially when I bought the entire series on clearance before the closing of the last Suncoast: The Motion Picture Store in Illinois.

It kind of feels nice that the exit is not on I-57. The time saved not being detoured in Joliet to visit flash shops is nice on me and my wallet.

Of course anime and video game adaptations are like movie and video game adaptations. Trying to appeal to a wider audience or create an actual narrative can ruin the adaptation for the fans and the audience. With "Persona 4" art seemingly captured exactly, surely this will be the exception to the rule.

Persona 4: The Animation (Episodes 1 through 3)

Check out the rest of this critique at AnimeRuss.blogspot.com - For those curious about anime but hate the geeks

Imagine We Still Had VHS - Samurai Champloo - Volume 1

My best suicidal tweet/Facebook status update did not end up being a tweet. This was on a flip phone when I would text Twitter to post. Too bad my phonebook was organized in a way that put Mom's number next to Twitter's. The text went something like this:

I wish my cat had opposable thumbs so that she could be my second so I could commit seppuku. She could take off my head after the disembowelment.

Mom was a little freaked out, but seemed to appreciate the drama behind it. When you take in my last ten years or my 2005/2006 into consideration, I wonder if she understood ritual suicide to restore honor. I never knew she watched so much samurai-related programming. Was "Kill Bill" enough for her to get it?

She does not get Quentin Tarantino, that is for sure. His admiration for urban culture in the arts and relating to them via the concept of ACAB is something she will not get behind. The moment he stated that, Mom has refused watch any of his films. The woman just refuses to understand the power of great art. If she did, maybe I could expose her to "Afro Samurai" (She loves Samuel L. Jackson's Capital One ads.) or the far superior "Samurai Champloo".

Samurai Champloo - Episodes 1 - 4

Check out the rest of this critique at AnimeRuss.blogspot.com - For those curious about anime but hate the geeks

Imagining We Still Had VHS - "RIN: Daughters of the Mnemosyne"

*Blog post started on August 27, 2020.

And I am immediately regretting the TV/Blu-ray that I watched last night. First off, it is because the schedule for blog publicization (Because I want to see how everything looks, they get published about a week a head of the @maineventzombie tweet storm.) needed to be switched up. That is actually secondly when I try to put everything in chronological order.

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The lengthiness of what I wrote about second definitely shows that it deserved more time. My third concern is rather trivial. I did not need to watch an anime last night to review. It seems like I may as well just review all six episodes of  "RIN: Daughters of the Mnemosyne", the first entire anime series that was a blind purchase at regular price.

I suppose it was not totally blind. First off, there was probably a gift card involved, so was it really my money? Secondly, aside from the erotic tones the box art put off, I did look at the production company, Xebec, and recall they were responsible for "Martian Successor Nadesico". How I could I resist seeing what the team behind my second favorite giant mecha series do with this genre? The description gave me "Hellsing" and "Highlander" vibes, so how I could fault this purchase?

And then I got Netflix.

"RIN: Daughters of the Mnemosyne" - Episodes 1 and 2

Check out the rest of this critique at AnimeRuss.blogspot.com - For those curious about anime but hate the geeks

Imagining We Still Had VHS: "Claymore" Volume 1

*Blog post started on August 14, 2020.

Two more blog posts and I should be set for my vacation. It is great day to have multiple realizations. Unfortunately, the first being that you cannot have an anime review about a strong female protagonists that only covers its first few episodes and call it "A Taste of". I hope I get one more realization for an acceptable title by the time I finish the review.

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Speaking of my enjoyment of the Member Berries strand, I should have probably have partook in it last night. It would have been appropriate since I decided to focus less on 90-minute flicks by returning to what got me into writing and the internet. That is anime.

Member Tenchi? Oh I member Tenchi! Member when Jerry Lawlor talked about puppies?

The only problem was that having seen episodes multiple times, paying attention to them is a little difficult in a sober state. I knew everything that was going to happen when I put "Claymore" into my Blu-ray player. What I failed to remember was how stylized the violence was and how the manga is captured. With rock music, colors, and violence, being high would have probably reinvented the experience.

Marijuana might reinvent the experience that was the pseudo-medieval "Claymore", but since I would like to express my admiration of it, better tell you what it is like with a clear head. Here is the experience of what would have probably been the first VHS tape of the series. Oh how I miss tape collecting.

Claymore: Episodes 1 through 4

Check out the rest of this critique at AnimeRuss.blogspot.com - For those curious about anime but hate the geeks