Month: June 2017

Black Blood Brothers

June 26, 2017
Anime
1 Comment

Today in Anime… I’m re-watching Black Blood Brothers.

This is an anime first released in the U.S. in 2007 (or so)… Yes, it’s really 10 years old. I bought it when it first came out and have re-watched it many times (probably once a year). While it’s not my favorite, I find it excellent. It has plenty of action, a fair share of comedy and a bit of romance between the leads.

I won’t bore you with a synopsis or review… there are plenty of those out there… instead, I’ll tell you why I keep coming back to this one…

  1. It’s short (12 episodes)… you can binge it in an afternoon (this past Sunday :-).
  2. It’s coherent… aside from the flashbacks that start each episode, the plot is linear and progressive which makes it easy to follow what really counts. Even the flashbacks are pretty straight forward, making it easy to connect the character’s history with the present story.
  3. It’s fun… while the action is over the top and there’s a lot of violence, it’s not ambiguous or uncertain like some more experimental anime can be. The good guys win and the bad guys loose in the end, and it actually has a conclusion. Minimal fan service and serious themes make this a nice change of pace from a lot of other anime I watch.
  4. The characters are fun… After 12 episodes with Mimiko and Jiro I do wish they were real people somewhere that I could meet and hang out with. Most of the rest of the characters aren’t as developed (of course), but they’re support after all. Also, the English voice actors do a fine job and they never take me out of the moment as I watch.

Finally… for those of you who haven’t seen this one, it’s available (Funimation S.A.V.E. Edition) for less than a buck an episode, making it cheaper to just buy it and add it to your collection than to rent/stream. I always prefer physical media… that’s how I can re-watch stuff 10 years later… when it’s gone from the rest of the world.

 

Movies and TV

June 25, 2017
Movies & TV

I thought I should share a bit about my video viewing situation so you understand some of my comments about the movies and TV shows I’ll talk about from time to time…

I’m a fan of both movies and TV and a collector of both, but like most people I have my preferences and idiosyncrasies.

Most things I like (enough to re-watch) and a lot I just think I may like I buy on DVD or Blu-ray (often both) and add to my video server, which catalogs them and lets me find them easily in the future. I also subscribe to Netflix and occasionally use other streaming services (Amazon, Hulu, YouTube) as well as cable (Verizon FiOS) which includes assorted premium channels.

I’m a huge anime fan. My introduction was Speed Racer as a child. I grew up on things like Robotech and as an adult was fortunate enough to see Ghost in the Shell’s initial theatrical release (I still remember it to this day). The relative scarcity of anime throughout most of that time lead me to start buying (collecting) it just to be able to watch it. My first DVD purchase was Noir. I think at this point I probably have 500 to 1000 titles in my collection. It’s a bit hard to say since only about half of my collection is in my database, and some of it collapses… for example, all the Slayers movies fall to a single “series”.

But I’m not just an anime fan… I also love older movies… let’s call them the “classics”. Everything from North by Northwest and Three Days of the Condor to assorted Abbott and Costello and Charlie Chan movies. I enjoy old horror as well… (Christopher Lee and Vincent Price, for example). I like thought provoking TV as well… The moment The Prisoner was available on DVD, I snapped that up. Same with The Avengers (the original TV series).

I like newer movies as well, but while I watch current Hollywood productions, I rarely buy them, since they are abundantly available on multiple media outlets. I usually buy things that are more obscure (Suck, for example) or older (Silent Hill) as they become harder to locate. My primary reason for collecting is to retain access to the things I loved enough to be interested in re-watching in the future at my pleasure and convenience, rather that at the mercy of some service.

Anyway, I hope that’ll give you some small insight into why I may say some of the things I say about movies and TV shows.