Nothing like a good film to enlighten the creative process.
Pompo the child prodigy film producer and director is quite a household name in Nyallywood, despite her talent, she only prefers to make B-Movies, after challenging her assistant Gene Fini to edit a trailer for her film "Marine", Gene's skills at editing prompts Pompo to make Gene direct the next film "Meister" about a washed up composer whose heart is healed by a young girl in Switzerland.
Pompo casts legendary actor Martin Braddock with new actress Natalie Woodward in the two roles and lets Gene get on with it.
The film production goes smoothly initially but Gene unhappy that the film is missing a vital scene calls for one more take, threatening to derail the film, prompting an old high school friend in the banking industry to step in, with only editing left Gene finishes his first film.
If I would choose a tone for this movie, it's a bit erratic, granted all the editing techniques used to transition scenes and move everything along feel right at home in a film about making films but you rarely get a quiet moment to reflect on what you've just witnessed, thankfully the strong characters more than keep the film on the rails, Gene doesn't stress or over react too much, there are no second or third act breakdowns stalling the story, Martin and Mystia could easily have been arrogant but both are professional and really supportive, Alan could've easily been the bad guy but he ultimately saves Gene from failure, Natalie could've dominated the film as a shrinking violet but takes it in her stride and gets the job done and then you have Pompo who is the right amount of charisma and charm without being too annoying, the whole film, it's characters and even the dub were so carefully created to reflect the plot, it's an absolute triumph of a film.
Final Verdict: Pompo is the best film you could watch about the subject of film making and Hollywood using the anime style, carefully made and smartly executed, it's a joy to watch.
This features some hot takes on Idol shows.
An AiPri is an idol that performs in the virtual world incognito, a sort of vtuber take on the idol genre; Himari finds a bracelet and enters the virtual world to discover that Mitsuki her best friend is an AiPri idol, breaking a childhood promise to debut together, joined by the mysterious Tsumugi, the three form Secret Friends idol group with the overarching theme of each girl having secrets and like all Pretty series shows become the top idol.
The whole season is mediocre, the Pretty series has a reputation for being the most off the wall of the idol shows but this feels so corporate that alot of the extreme rainbow colour palette feels dead on arrival, also tell me why monologues and commentary dominate the idol performances over I don't know the bloody selling point of an idol show, the music!
How do you mess this up?
Were getting to the point now where the well for idol shows has run dry, Aikatsu knew this trying to be a live action hybrid, the Pretty series needs to either evolve or end, because every season now is less quirky fun, more corporate bull shit.
Dub is non-existent.
Final Verdict: Going all corporate has spoiled a very fun franchise, I pray this isn't the new normal.
A dating sim anime in 2013? Surprised there was still an audience for it.
Kazuya Maeda starts high school having inherited his father's camera with the intention of finally having a purpose in life, after reluctantly joining the photography club, Maeda unlocks a new world of possibilities as he finds himself intertwined with romances with one of seven girls through photography.
Photo Kano is even animated like a dating sim, after four episodes, each girl gets their own episode with Maeda each ending in a love confession.
It's more proof that romance isn't dead in anime and one of the few anime to keep the genre alive in the 2010s era, Maeda isn't exactly the most interesting character though but you never play dating games for the protagonist, how he acts is based on your choices, so depending on the route, he can act differently such as blackmailing the class president, something he wouldn't do in other routes.
As long as you treat it like a dating sim, you can get around the disjointed storyline, the presentation and photography motif more than keep you engaged.
No dub, probably wouldn't work to be honest.
Final Verdict: A pleasant school romance presented like a dating sim so every girl gets to shine, it's presented well and the photography motif gives it it's own unique style that cannot be copied, just remember that it is a dating sim as the story doesn't have a typical structure.
Oh yeah, I review anime.
Piccolo is concerned that Gohan is no longer training especially when he's doing more errands for him such as training his daughter Pan, and with Goku and Vegeta training Broly to be a better more controlled warrior, Piccolo is worried they are unprepared for the next attack.
Cue the Red Ribbon army as Magenta, the son of it's former leader recruits Dr Hedo, the grandson of Dr Gero. Piccolo infiltrates the group after fighting the newest android called Gamma 2 and learns of a much bigger threat known as Cell Max; knowing that Gohan is a target, Piccolo pretends to hold Pan hostage disguised as a Red Ribbon Army grunt in order to trigger Gohan into battle.
As Gohan and co fight the two Gamma androids, Cell Max is released triggering the final battle.
Two ways to look at this.
Super Hero acts as a nostalgia trip along with a look at what Dragonball Super is starting to become and had we not known at the time that Toriyama would pass away, a look at what the franchise will look like with Toriyama getting less involved. It's also nice that Piccolo is finally getting some proper screen time.
On the other hand, the plot reads like a fanfic and it's hard not to see future projects going the same way, it gives me flashbacks of early 2000 internet rumours of Dragonball AF, a series post GT with ever increasingly ridiculous super saiyan forms and Gohan personifies or even references this with his Beast Gohan form.
While I enjoyed the film it does fill me with caution knowing that we are closing in on that AF fanfic ridiculousness from early internet forums, a testament to Toriyama's world that can cater for it and still come out in a decent state.
Dub maintains it's high standards.
Final Verdict: Maybe because I'm old enough to remember the Dragonball AF phenomenon that I can't help but think that Dragonball Super is turning into this but I do feel at least confident that it's in good hands.
Arthouse has it's own appeal.
In the year 3195, a thousand years after an apocalyptic war, a girl named Ikuru finds a robot named Shaian abandoned, having lost his human pilot and buried under sand, finding out his rival is still operational, he joins forces with Ikuru to defeat him and his army.
40 minutes is far too short to really explain how this story is meant to go, so the only thing to really draw from this anime is the art style, it takes inspiration from the French artist Moebius, in fact the anime is a little too inspired by Moebius, not the first time the French has provided inspiration for many an anime; British artist Roger Dean has a similar style.
I call it abstract science fiction, a lone desert dweller stumbling upon unexpected wonders in what is otherwise a vast horizon of nothingness, one can even draw upon the fantasy genre despite not being related to traditional Tolkien, European Folklore, fairy stories or medieval settings. It's an aesthetic that is rare and cannot be easily replicated.
Dub is non existent.
Final Verdict: It's a massive art and tech demo from the 80s, whether you like it or not, it's worth watching.
