Manga Review: Maria Holic Book Two
Spending time at the Christian all-girls school, Ame no Kisaki, we meet all the quirky students. The quirkiest has to be Mariya and it’s the main character, Kanako who has to put up with most of his/her drama. Have fun getting to know these characters, along with other notables like the maid and dorm leader, in this verbal comedy.
Manga Review: D N Angel Volume 13
Another episode of Daisuke’s world. A young teen dealing with an unusual genetic quirk. Whenever he has romantic thoughts, his alter ego comes out. This is “Dark”, who is and art thief. Add to this a romantic triangle of sorts. Daisuke loves a twin, but at first his affection was directed at the wrong one, and Dark likes the other. Luckily the twins like him/them back. Although this certainly can make things complicated.
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Blu-ray Review: UP
Up is the latest offering from Disney and Pixar. It stars Ed Asner (The Mary Tyler Moore Show/Lou Grant, Gargoyles, X-Files, Superman, Spider-Man) as Carl Fredricksen, a grumpy old man who has had enough, and Russell (Jordan Nagai – Up), an enthusiastic cub scout-ish kid who ends up stranded on Carl's porch just as Carl unleashes thousands of toy balloons. But you know all this, that's just the trailer…
Movie Review: The Blind Side
Coming late to the reviews party this week is Warner Bros. release of The Blind Side. Based on the Novel The Blind Side: Evolution of a Game by Michael Lewis. The movie tells the story of how Baltimore Ravens 2009 first round draft pick Michael Oher reached this point in his career. The Blind Side is an acting tour de force that provides plenty of substance over style and is one of the most powerful movies I’ve seen this year as well as one of the greatest sports movies I’ve ever seen.
Manga Review: Rurouni Kenshin – VizBig Volume 8
In Viz's latest released of their “BigViz” edition of the shōnen historical fiction manga Rurouni Kenshin BigViz volume 8, which covers volumes 22-24 in the original print run, we see all of the final battles between Yukishiro Enishi and his henchmen against all of the protagonists. After this the final section begins to move into the aftermath.
Julie’s Guide to the Yaoi Top 5 (ukes are included)
I just got back from the first ever BishieCon and I am stoked and excited to give you my top 5 yaoi picks for 2009! Yaoi, of course, being a specialized form of manga dealing with the love of men for other men, and not everyone's cup of tea, I give you my choices for those yaoi that best combine sexy men with beautiful pictures and great stories! Wonderful stocking stuffers for the yaoi lover in your life. Enjoy!
Karl’s Horror Hidden Treasures Gift Guide
Horror Hidden Treasures
You know the Hidden Treasure Horror movies, the ones you see on the shelves and look interesting but you’ve never heard of it or of anyone in the movie. Well, here’s some I run across recently that are definitely worth more than a passing glance.
Timecrimes (Los Chronocrimenes) – DVD
This is an import from France, about a man who accidentally gets into a time machine and travels back in time one hour. In an attempt to make sure his “other” self does what needs to be done so he can safely return home he recreates the events that brought him to enter the time machine. What could have been played as a comedy turns deadly serious.
Sarah’s Gift Guide For The Devoted Doctor Who Fan
Let's see what this season is bringing us: Torchwood season four is set to start taping next year. The season three finale of Sarah Jane Adventures just premiered. Doctor Who itself is about to switch from Tennant to Smith with the Christmas story "The End of Time". Add in the constant delicious flow of audios from Big Finish, and you can see why Whovians have reason to be excited this holiday season. So here's a guide to the top five toys, books and accessories for either yourself or the Doctor Who fan in your life, the one who sleeps in the same pajamas the Doctor wore in "The Christmas Invasion" and only eats bananas and chips and drives a car that proudly proclaims the driver's other vehicle is a TARDIS: this one is for them.
Manga Review: Slam Dunk Vol. 7: The End of the Basketball Team
Slam Dunk is Takehiko Inoue’s classic basketball manga, finally being re-released in Viz editions. The star of the story is young delinquent teen Hanamichi Sakuraga; he was a huge failure in love, and a member of teen gangs until he fell in love with Haruko Akagi, a first year student at Shohoku high school. He joins the basketball team to impress her (and her brother being the team captain means she’ll be around frequently), but his basketball spirit is starting to kindle…of course, they all still need a lot of work if they’re going to reach the finals! The series is a mix of strong characters, comedy, and a lot of dramatic basketball action.
Manga Review: This Ugly Yet Beautiful World, volume 1
Takeru and Ryou are seventeen year old boys who are best friends and have been for years, but where Ryou is a veritable girl magnet and very at ease with the opposite sex, Takeru is much less so. In fact they find him a bit abrasive, whereas Ryou is universally adored (although his cousin Mari does like him more than she lets on). While making a delivery one night for Takeru's Uncle Icchou, the two boys see and follow a mysterious beam of light into the woods. There Takeru discovers a naked young girl with no memory that he names Hikari (which is Japanese for light), and this point he says is the beginning of the end of his normal life, in Ashita Morimi's This Ugly Yet Beautiful World.
Top 5 Blu-ray Anime 2009
1. Samurai 7, This is a great adaptation of Akira Kurosawa Seven Samurai and is so much better on Blu-ray.
2. WitchBlade, For all you WitchBlade comic book fans this is a must for you. See what the Eastern viewpoint of this Iconic series looks like and do it in style.
DVD Review: Something unknown is doing we don’t know what…
“Something unknown is doing we don't know what.”
– Sir Arthur Eddington, English astronomer (1882 – 1944), comment on the Uncertainty Principle in quantum physics, 1927
Dutch filmmaker Renée Scheltema has chosen to use this quote as the tile of her new documentary film on the science behind psychic phenomena. Prompted by three seemingly mystical experiences in her own life within a short period of time, Scheltema decides to search for answers to how these things could have happened and if they could possibly be real or just coincidence. Armed with a camera and a tablespoon from her house that she watched a “Spoon Bender” twist like it was made of warm butter, she sets off to speak with some of the leading experts in the study of psychic phenomena.
DVD Review: Nana Box Set 2
Nana is the story of two women who share the same first name and end up living together in an apartment in Tokyo. One of them, Nana Osaki, is a punk and lead singer of the band Blast who has come to Tokyo to promote the band. The other, Nana Komatsu, is a bubbly girl nicknamed Hachi. The two are polar opposites, and yet are close friends.
Movie Review:20th Century Boys
The masterful manga story by famed Naoki Urasawa, the creator of Monster and the epic Pluto, is being brought to the Big Screen and in Live Action. 20th Century Boys, is a highly acclaimed manga that took over 8 years for Urasawa to produce, is now being made into a trilogy and the first of the three installments will be released on December 10th.