We all remember Gatchaman from back in the 80s, or the other name would be Battle of The Planets. It is one of the cartoons that we ended up growing up with, and unknowingly one my first introductions to Japanese Anime. Its very sad but Imagi the company that made Astro Boy and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie seems to have shutdown its LA office and is barely getting by, making this project in the dead in the water. Astro Boy just didn’t get what it needed to survive and so the company has fell under the water as well which is very sad, from this trailer that has leaked onto the net it look to be an amazing movie, which isn’t going to be made.

Recently I have been happily watching a lot of anime, it seems at any time that I find I watch a few episodes of anime. Just as I get home, midway through the day an epsidoe or two. There are a lot of good shows currently out and I have a few lined up that I want to watch. A lot of the time I watch these shows on flights or in transit, some of the shows do have risque scenes but I just keep on watching. Right now Katekyo Hitman Reborn and Needless are at the top of the list, because they have action tied in with comedy and a very good storyline.

Watching:

• Bleach
• Full Metal Alchemist 2 – Brotherhood
• Koukaku no Regios
• Katekyo Hitman Reborn!
• Naruto Shippudden
• Needless
• Shikabane Hime Kuro

Plot Summary:
Set in the Shinigami technical school for weapon meisters, the series revolves around 3 groups of each a weapon meister and a human weapon. Trying to make the latter a “Death Scythe” and thus fit for use by the Shinigami, they must collect the souls of 99 evil humans and 1 witch.
Soul Eater is an anime that centers around meisters and their weapons and their mission to collect 99 evil souls and 1 witch soul. Upon doing that the meister’s weapons will become a Deathscythe, which is the highest title for a weapon. Maka, Soul Eater, Black Star, Tsubaki, Death the Kid, and Patty and Liz Thompson are the characters Soul Eater revolves around. Besides taking the time to gather souls these students of Shibusen defend Death City from some of the most powerful of creatures while still attending school and trying to become stronger.

The Shinagami are an ongoing theme in Japanese Anime and stories, they are specially tasked people who make sure that spirits go to the heaven and to defeat demons. In this case Maka and the other Meisters attend Shibbusen to train and become more powerful to defeat these monsters, it is run by the Shinigami who is one cooky character. The action picks up from the start, the weapons of the Meisters are humans as well, and every Mesiter is paired with a specific Weapon based on their characteristics. In this case Maka has Soul Eater, Black Star has Tsubaki, and Death Kid has the Thompson Sisters. The combination of these characters with a lot of comedy thrown in, they face some adverse characters while in development with alot worse in store. This is one of the longer animes going for about 50 episodes but once its don’t your just not happy its done, you keep wanting more, the comedy and entertainment of the characters with the great story line keeps you wanting more.

Link: AnimeNewsNetwork
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Now this is something I have been waiting for a while, a remake of the old Japanese Animated tv show which we all knew and enjoyed. I expected a lot for this movie, its probably a build up from childhood memories but the story isn’t exactly what I expected or the voices, honestly Nicolas Cage was a bit annoying as Dr. Tenma but Astro Boy was a good character. Astro Boy is built from the memories of Dr. Tenma’s son and he set off to find himself after he discovers that he is a robot. Now the story has some twists and turns, but always entertaining, humoring with the laws of robotics and the attitude that humans take to robots even though their artificial intelligence allows them to understand humans clearly. An entertaining movie, I honestly expected something a little edgier but it was a lot of fun to watch.

Link: IMDB
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Halo Legends is a collection of 8 stories from the most creative minds of Japan, taking the story of Halo and turning into an animated feature. 8 Separate episodes with different animation, story lines and ideas each, but there is a subtle connection and flow between them. They have taken this to another level, the different types of animation are amazing, and some better then the others. Master Chief and Spartans are on another level, showing that there are different types of Spartans, they are different then the ODSTs, they are bred to fight armies and destroy the Convenant. Each one of these episodes depicts a different angle of the Halo story, and each time you are amazed. The only reason I didn’t give it a full 5 is because it leaves you wanting more, I wish they made a whole series for Halo with at least a full storyline and arch, there is so much depth available in the story that they could use. If you are even a remote fan of Halo then you should watch this and you will love it.

Link: IMDB
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As of recently I have had some binge watching of Anime with Katekyo Hitman Reborn and Soul Eater, these are two hilarious and very good shows. And I’m trying to catch up on shows that I have so I can start downloading again all the anime that I have missed for the past 7 months. There are a lot of good ones out there, just need to find the time to watch them all.

Watching:

• Bleach
• Full Metal Alchemist 2 – Brotherhood
• Koukaku no Regios
• Katekyo Hitman Reborn!
• Shikabane Hime Kuro
• Naruto Shippudden
• Soul Eater

A whole new world of hurt! He was a monster, impossible to control, too dangerous to ignore. So Earth’s mightiest heroes exiled him into outer space. But now THE INCREDIBLE HULK crash-lands on the distant planet SAKAAR, ruled by the tyrannical RED KING. Sold into slavery, the Hulk becomes the planet’s mightiest gladiator—but his new masters get more than they bargained for when he forges a bond of brotherhood with his fellow fighters: crafty insectoid Miek, ruthless rock-man Korg, ex-shadow pirest Hiroim, and the noble-born rebel Elloe. Unlike Earth, the desperate people of Sakaar believe a monster is just what they need. But will the Hulk be the one to save their world…or destroy it?

Hulk ripping monster after monster apart, whats not to like, the story is interesting that the Hulk develops intelligence unlike what we are used to seeing. I always think of the Hulk as an unstoppable raging machine that gets stronger as he gets madder, but this time around he serves a different role on a different world. The animation is pretty good and the story is entertaining, but I keep hoping for more from the new Marvel DVDs.

Link: IMDB
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I have was gifted the original Kotobukiya Iron Man Statue last year, and its probably one of my favorite models that I currently own. I honestly look at that Iron Man consistently, wondering what it would take to make a machine such as this, and it looks so realistic and such a fantastic model.

Now they have come up with the new design of the new Iron Man, and it looks good, they look fantastic together. Now the movie comes out in May of 2010 and this model from Kotobukiya comes out in September of 2010. You can see the developments in the suit, now to see what this equates to as weaponery and suit strength in the movie. I hope that Kotobukiya comes out with a War Machine model that can go with these beautiful models as well.

Link: GeekTyrant

Every once in a while a new model comes out which grabs my attention, this time around its the battleship from Macross. Macross Quarter is die-cast model from Japan which has both ship and robot form. A battle ship that is meant to house hundreds of thousands of people as well as weapons and spaceship, as can be seen one arm looks like an aircraft carrier and the other has more canons on it turning into a super canon.

The quality build of this model is very high and currenlty available through Japan. I’m trying to get my hands on one because its very rare ot get a model of this quality every day. Its selling for around $170 which isn’t too bad for an anime model.

Link: HLJ

Dante a soldier of the Crusade returns home to find his wife slain and her innocent soul taken to hell by Lucifer. He must traverse all 9 circles of hell to free his precious wife and destroy Lucifer, with it facing all his past and demons.

Right off the bat this is an R rated movie, I knew it was dark from the trailers but it was also perfectly shocking and disturbing. There is more blood shed in this movie then all Tarantino’s movies combined, the best part was all the different styles of animation. I loved how the character was presented differently in each level of hell the characters and world around him changes to a different style of animation.

The story and the script of Dante’s inferno is well thought out. You jump right into the mess of things and get pulled into the whole adventure not knowing what is going to happen next. Not knowing what to expect made this movie an even better experience. When it comes down to it an animated movie is only as good as the story and the script, and this one is a hit.

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