Tag Archives: series

Madoka Magica Review

Madoka Magica Review (Anime, 2011)

Why do magical girls exist? Whose great cosmic plan involves putting preteen and teenage girls into dangerous battles against inhuman enemies for minimal gain? And why the hell are the little critters that bring the pretty transformation items so stinking cute and happy?

Madoka Magica, an anime written for television by Gen Urobuchi (creator of the equally subversive Psycho-Pass), takes a rather cynical approach to the magical girl genre. Madoka is a painfully average middle school student. There is nothing special about her except her level of empathy and kindness. A new girl, Homura, transfers into the school at an odd time of year and starts a strange relationship with Madoka. Then, Madoka and her best friend Sayaka meet a cat-like creature named Kyubey who promises them one wish if they agree to fight against witches as magical girls. The dream is obviously too good to be true since every magical girl they encounter begs them to stay away.

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Godzilla Review (Film, 2014)

Godzilla Review (Film, 2014)

15 years ago, an unexplained disaster hit Japan, wiping out a nuclear reactor and killing Joe Brody’s wife Elle. Now, in 2014, his son Ford is called to Japan to claim him from police custody. Joe has convinced himself that he can prove the disaster was not an earthquake if he breaks into the quarantine zone surrounding the disabled reactor. Ford humors him, only to discover that scientists have known for years that Joe’s theories about giant creatures and echolocation are correct.

Godzilla, the fifth attempt to reboot the giant monster series from Japan for an American audience, thankfully succeeds as a Godzilla film. The focus is not placed on the monster himself but on the people from all walks of civilian, science, and military life trying to find a solution to the rampage of an inexplicable beast.

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Ghost Hunt Review (Anime, 2006)

Ghost Hunt Review (Anime, 2006)

I’m a sucker for a good haunted house story. I went in blind on my marathon viewing of the 2006 anime series Ghost Hunt and my one regret is that there is only one 25 episode season. (Fear not, dear readers; a second season is scheduled to arrive December 2014).

Mai is a first year high school student who accidentally gets pulled into Shibuya Psychic Research, a company run by Kazuya, a 17 year old tech expert, and his stoic assistant Lin. Kazuya introduces Mai to a cadre of spiritualists consisting of a famous teenage TV medium, a self-proclaimed priestess, a monk turned rock star, and a teenage fully ordained exorcist. The team uses the combined skills of science, Buddhism, Shintoism, Catholicism, Taoism, psychic abilities, and intuition to identify and eradicate paranormal menaces all over Japan.

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Hellraiser Ranked

Ranking Hellraiser

As part of the 3rd Annual Cinefessions Summer Screams Challenge, I’ve spent the past two days watching all of the films in the Hellraiser franchise. I’ve been obsessed with this series since seeing the trailers for Hellraiser III: Hell on Earth when I was seven years old and have only grown to love the universe and Clive Barker’s expanded works since.

However, because I so disliked Hellraiser III, I never really paid attention to the six subsequent sequels released straight to video. I’ve seen bits and pieces of most of them, but not the whole way through while actually paying attention.

This time, I paid attention. Oh, goodness, how I paid attention.

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The Most Important Thing You Need to Know About Mario Kart 8

This is a game changer, people. The newest entry in Nintendo’s Mario Kart series lets you upload game-generated highlights reels (or complete races, for that matter) to YouTube.

That way, I can point out things like this: the new Mario Kart lets you ride a carousel horse cart with big wooden wheels. It’s…not an advantage at all except for looking super kawaii. I feel like Kyary while losing every online race I enter. Mii + Carousel Car = Winning.