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When Ninja Kamui debuted, anime fans hoped it would be a modern masterpiece. We’ve seen the ninja genre plenty of times before, but this series could’ve offered a more mature take, with far darker violence and a grim message.

The first four episodes of Ninja Kamui were brilliant, with clean animation and a solid premise that looked like it was building up to something epic. However, after those initial episodes, we have never seen a series fall off grace this fast in a long time.

It’s as if the writers had a draft of what they wanted Ninja Kamui to be, and then someone else took over. Ironically, that’s what happened to the animation. Recently, the series got renewed for Season 2 and 3, but does it deserve to?

What caused the downfall of a promising anime series like Ninja Kamui?

When a series has the word “ninja” in it,...

From the tip of his pompadour to the heels of his boots there is no mistaking Dandy for a serious man. His adventures include hunting for galactic ramen, brokering peace between clothing-obsessed aliens and participating in a high school musical. So it comes as a surprise that the eleventh episode of Space Dandy , the show that bears his name, is quite serious indeed. It begins with Dandy holding a box he can’t remember acquiring. When his boss Scarlet opens it by mistake, the world turns red and then monochrome. Inside the box is a mysterious book. That’s just the start. “I’m Never Remembering You, Baby” is one of the most unsettling episodes in the series. It portrays Dandy as not foolish but unreliable and vulnerable as well. He travels to a planet that substitutes the show’s typical bright colors for crumbling charcoal architecture. Meanwhile, Dandy’s archnemesis,...

Ninja Kamui takes the idea of ninja technology to a whole new level, integrating futuristic tech with classic ninja themes. Unlike Boruto, Ninja Kamui fully embraces technology as part of the story, making it an essential part of the DNA of the series. Park's visionary choice to blend technology with physical and supernatural abilities in Ninja Kamui has captivated modern viewers.

One of the gifts Boruto has bestowed on the shinobi anime genre is the idea of "ninja tech", and while the idea has appeared in other ninja-based anime, few have tapped into the promise of a technologically enhanced shinobi more than the new hit series Ninja Kamui. Adult Swim's new hit series is a mesmerizing tour de force of ninjutsu and tech that advances what Boruto pioneered to the next level.

Sunghoo Park's original anime series Ninja Kamui follows the brutal adventures of Higan, a shinobi...

Warning: This article contains Spoilers for Blue Eye Samurai season 1.

Fowler's plan to overthrow the Shogunate failed as Mizu intervened and he saved his own life despite killing the Shogun. Mizu leaves Japan and heads to London for Season 2, seeking revenge on the other potential fathers who cursed her life. The show is based on a fictional story set in an accurate historical context, with elements of real events and figures like the navigator William Adams.

The Netflix original Blue Eye Samurai ended on a promising note, offering a slew of interesting possibilities within its medieval Japan setting. Be it with the case of cult classics like Samurai Champloo or feudal reimaginings like Samurai 7, the legends of these Japanese warrior clans have fascinated anime fans for a long time. The nail-biting season finale keeps the viewers rooting for Mizu as she finally gets a step closer to exacting...

Following the November 2021 announcement of upcoming releases from Yen Audio at Anime NYC, Yen Press, LLC has announced the narrators for these new audiobook adaptations of beloved light novel series.

Spice and Wolf Vol. 1 will be narrated by J. Michael Tatum. J. Michael Tatum is an actor, writer, Adr director, and adaptive scriptwriter. Nurtured by anime classics, Tatum has lent his voice to several popular anime franchises over the years. After being cast as Rikichi in 2005’s Samurai 7, Tatum was able to attain a slew of dream roles, most notably Kyoya Ootori in Ouran High School Host Club, suave, demonic Sebastian Michaelis in Black Butler, France in the Hetalia franchise, Tomoe in Kamisama Kiss, and the equal parts maniacal and vulnerable Rintarou Okabe from Steins;Gate. Recently, he can be heard in the epic My Hero Academia as Tenya Iida. Most relevantly, he also played Kraft Lawrence in the 2009 anime adaptation of Spice and Wolf.

In this episode of Off The Shelf, Ryan and Brian take a look at the new DVD and Blu-ray releases for the week August 2nd, 2016.

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Follow-up Dead Ringers Collector’s Edition Blu-ray Dated Scream Factory: Rabid Collector’s Edition Blu-ray Dated News Lionsgate bows new Vestron Bd series, plus BFI’s Napoleon, Peter Gabriel, Da Vinci Code 4K, Phantasm & more Warcraft official for Bd, BD3D & 4K on 9/27, plus Everest 4K, Bates Motel: S4, Arrow’s Dark Water & more Vestron Video – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Vestron Video VHS Covers Vestron Video – Clg Wiki Scorpion Releasing: Joseph Losey’s Steaming Heading to Blu-ray Glengarry Glen Ross Blu-ray Upcoming Eureka Entertainment Blu-ray Releases The Lodger Blu-ray Detailed First Look at New 4K Remaster of Paul Verhoeven’s Showgirls Kino: New 2K Restoration of Night People Coming to Blu-ray The Almodóvar Blu-ray Collection Babyface (1977) Blu-ray...

Japanese animation or “anime” as it is commonly known, has been a major part of the mainstream entertainment since the 80s, when they experienced a boom in production. In the following decades, anime became a global phenomenon, and currently over 430 production companies are involved in an industry that has a total market value of $13.5 billion.

Almost exclusively based on manga, their print equivalent, anime stretch in a plethora of genres, address audiences of all age, sex, and preferences, and entail elaborate animation, despite being in their majority, at least partially hand-drawn. Here is a list with some of the best series in the category.

Just a few notes though. Each title represents the whole franchise, for example, the Monogatari title, includes Bakemonogatari, Nisemonogatari, the Evangelion one the remake etc. The descriptions and videos of those titles will be paradigms of the whole franchise. The list does not include films, just series.

The Writers Guild of America West (Wgaw) announced on Thursday that it is honoring Japanese filmmakers Akira Kurosawa, Shinobu Hashimoto, Ryuzo Kikushima, and Hideo Oguni with its Jean Renoir Award for Screenwriting Achievement.

The Jean Renoir Award, which is the Wgaw’s lifetime achievement international screenwriting award, is given to international writers who have “advanced the literature of motion pictures through the years and who [have] made outstanding contributions to the profession of screenwriter.”

Kurosawa (1910-1998) directed more than 30 films and wrote or contributed to more than 70 titles, including many classic films such as Seven Samurai, Rashomon, Ikiru, Yojimbo, Kagemusha, Ran, Red Beard, and High and Low.

Kikushima (1914-1989) contributed to more than 60 films and collaborated with Kurosawa on Stray Dog, Scandal, The Last Fortress, High and Low, Yojimbo, The Bad Sleep Well, and Red Beard. He also worked on Tora! Tora! Tora! with Oguni, and Willful Murder, the latter of...

Anime. It’s the one medium that I know that can flawlessly integrate genres to create some of the most original and entertaining films and shows I’ve ever seen. “Cowboy Bebop” and “Trigun” can be called sci-fi or space westerns, “Samurai 7” is a steampunk Samurai series, and the list goes on. Sci-fi romance is one of the newest to show up and heading the charge is Mamoru Hosoda. Hosoda burst on the scene with “The Girl Who Leapt Through Time,” which got rave reviews, unfortunately I haven’t seen it. But after reading up on it and the director I was intrigued. Hosoda is currently being hailed as the successor to Hayao Miyazaki, he of “Princess Mononoke,” “Spirited Away,” and “Ponyo” fame. That’s a lot of pressure to stand up to and after seeing Hosoda’s latest release I can say wholeheartedly he does so with vigor and flair.

Christmas is almost upon us, so what DVD and Blu-rays are out to buy in time for the festive season? Let’s just say this – it’s definitely an action-packed week!

The Expendables

Barney Ross (Sylvester Stallone) is a man with nothing to lose. Fearless and void of emotion, he is the leader, the sage and the strategist of this tight-knit band of men who live on the fringe. The team behind him is made up of Lee Christmas (Jason Statham), former Sas and a savant with anything that has a blade; Yin Yang (Jet Li), a master at close-quarter combat; Hale Caesar (Terry Crews), who has known Barney for ten years and is a long-barrel weapons specialist; Toll Road (Randy Couture), a skilled demolitions expert and considered the intellect of the group; and Gunnar Jensen (Dolph Lundgren), a combat veteran and an expert in precision sniping who struggles with his own demons.

For years now Akira Kurosawa’s Seven Samurai has been ranked as one of the best movies ever made, and is usually considered one of the finest achievement in cinema. In the most recent Sight and Sound poll of the best films ever made, critics ranked it eleventh (its highest charting was in 1982 at #3) while filmmakers ranked it ninth. It’s ranked thirteenth on IMDb.com’s list of the greatest films of all time. Ain’t no denying that Kurosawa and his cast (including Toshiro Mifune) made a masterwork. And my review of The Criterion collection’s Seven Samurai after the jump.

A band of marauding Ronin spot a village and are about to raid it when their leader notes that the village’s crops won’t be ready for another couple of weeks. They ride off, but a villager hears their plans. After a discussion, the villagers decide...

Online retailer Amazon.com has reduced the price for several anime series and movies. Most of them are from FUNimation, so check the disc detail page (using the disc icon) first to see if these are HD upscales and if they will play on your non-Region A player.

The Sky Crawlers – $12.99

Fullmetal Alchemist: Conqueror of Shamballa – $10.99

Paprika – $14.99

Blood: The Last Vampire – $9.99

Witchblade: The Complete Series – $22.99

Gunslinger Girl: The Complete First Season – $21.49

Gunslinger Girl: Il Teatrino – $21.49

Tekkonkinkreet – $13.49

Samurai 7: The Complete Series – $29.99

Vexille – $15.99

Burst Angel: The Complete Collection – $32.99

Evangelion: 1.11 You Are (Not) Alone – $16.49

Basilisk: The Complete Series – $28.99

Heroic Age: The Complete Series – $24.99

D. Gray-Man: Season One, Part One – $26.49

Claymore: Complete Series Box Set – $29.49

Trinity Blood: Complete Series Box Set- $29.99

Clamp Double Feature: Tsubasa RESERVoir CHRoNiCLE and xxxHOLiC – $14.99

Big thanks to Jeremy for the heads up!

Samurai 7: The Complete Series

Box Set [Blu-ray] (FUNimation)

It’s interesting how a good idea can be interpreted in many different ways. Take the premise behind Akira Kurosawa’s classic movie The Seven Samurai. Since being released in 1954, this film’s simple story — about a small village whose residents hire a rag-tag group of samurai to defend them from bandits — has inspired a virtual film festival of variations on the theme. Besides such classic reinterpretations as the 1960 Western The Magnificent Seven and the 1998 Pixar animated insect movie A Bug’s Life, Samurai has also inspired the 1975 Indian film Sholay and the 1980 sci-fi movie Battle Beyond the Stars.

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