If there is one of the new shows that came out that stands out it’s this one, my god did it grab me from the beginning and didn’t let go. This amazing piece of TV is from the awesome Ryan Murphy who gave me one of my all-time fav drama’s Nip/tuck and my fav comedy drama Glee. Yes this is a writer director of mixed tastes and has been able to appeal to both sides of mine. I love a dark and disturbing drama, full of violence, sexuality, menace and controversy but I also love a big bright camp spectacle and Murphy has given me both those. So when I found out he was doing a new show going back to his dark ideas and twisted worlds I was very excited. Also horror is one of my fav genres in fact horror is my fav genre and there aren’t enough shows that really get to grips with its true potential. Were lucky we are in an era of great horror TV such as Dexter, Walking Dead and True Blood an era that isn’t afraid to make TV shows for adults that really expose the darkness inside of us, not supernatural drama’s for teens but true horror. The dark desires and wishes of humanity, shows that push the boundaries and expose us to controversial sights and sounds that takes thing we all think about but because of our sense of morals and ethic know are wrong and therefore enjoy watching others get exposed to and cross the lines we can never. Horrors that take our insecurities and play on them, making a terrifying life events like a family death even more horrifying by bringing in a supernatural element. I digress American horror story is a modern embodiment of our dark desires run amok, out onto screen for us to witness and revel in while exposing our fears and appetites for the macabre. The plot for AHS follows the Harmon family: Ben (Dylan McDermott), Vivien (Connie Britton) and Violet (Taissa Farmiga), who move from Boston to Los Angeles after Vivien gives birth to a stillborn baby and Ben has an affair with Hayden (Kate Mara), one of his students. The family moves to a restored mansion, unaware that the house is haunted. The house also ‘comes with’ Moira O’Hara (Frances Conroy/Alexandra Breckenridge), a housekeeper who, to men, appears as young and seductive, but, to women, old and matronly. Ben and Vivien try to rekindle their relationship as Violet, suffering from depression, finds comfort with Tate Langdon (Evan Peters), one of Ben’s new patients. Constance (Jessica Lange) and Larry Harvey (Denis O’Hare) routinely and frequently affect the Harmons’ lives.

AHS is like watching the old 1970’s haunted house films, a house of secrets and sinister intensions like that of Amityville. A house of old and daunting architecture making it seem sort of out of touch with its own time period setting to further alienate the family living within from the world outside. The house has so much character that it itself is a character on its own and it’s fighting for dominance. There’s a mythology in japan that when someone dies it’s not just their ghost that can stay behind to haunt but also the ghost of the emotions born from their death. In other words if someone dies in a brutal and horrific way full of pain, regret and anger its these feelings that are left behind to haunt a place rather than the ghost of a person. This is what this house is like all the brutality and horror that it has seen has been absorbed as part of its own will giving it a conscience of itself a conscience that wants to cause more harm and continue the violent cycle within it feeding the darkness and misery within. The house only knows negative feelings and it lives for these dark desires and brutal endings, all it knows is what it’s feed off and that’s the darkness within humanity and negative emotion. Thus in order to keep living to grow and involve past its inanimate bonds it preys on the darkness within people promoting madness and violence so it can continue to feed and grow. In other words it’s a force born of evil, which only knows evil, wishes for evil and consumes evil only to create a cycle of evil for anyone who steps through its doors.

Every person who has stepped into this house has had their insecurities, pain and suffering exposed forcing them to face their fears and ultimately be driven made by those fears until a tragic and violent conclusion unfolds. This house has more ghosts than you could ever imagine and each has a tragic story to tell. As the episodes unravel you find out more about the various ghosts who they died and why they do what they do in death. Each character has their burden to bear and there is not a soul in this house that is without misfortune and sorrow. For example there is the tragic tale of Chad Warwick (Zachary Quinto) he put his heart and soul into the house making it a place to live in with his boyfriend, they were planning on adopting a baby and living a happy life. But the more he obsessed with the house and its decorating the more he alienated his boyfriend who began to stray and instead work on his relationship seek the attention he craved with another man. Before the two men ever had a chance to work out what was happening between them the house and its ghost saw they were drifting apart and saw fit to have them killed. Chad was murdered by one of the ghosts and his boyfriend brutally assaulted and killed made to look like a murder suicide. As ghosts they are trapped in a domed relationship, Chad wants to look after the house and dreams of children but has to face the reality that his boyfriend was about to leave him and he is stuck in a nightmare with a man that doesn’t love him only to watch his love go after any man but him in his need to escape chad’s obsession with a perfect life that neither can ever have.

There are so many ghosts in the house and half the brilliance of this show is trying to work out who is a ghost and who isn’t, which ghosts are in alliances, what are their own agendas and goals and how they came to be trapped in this possessive house. Some of the more terrifying ghosts are that of a gimp suited rapist, a pair of creepy ginger twins, some kind of deformed offspring lurking in the basement. What was brilliant about this show was that it gets under your skin and began to frighten even me. Now I’m a horror connoisseur I raised myself on a diet of Asian horror films like Ringu and Ju-on with dark thrillers like Silence of the Lambs. I’m no wuss, not easily scared and don’t shy away from violence and controversial viewing material. But AHS tested even me it has the unique ability to get under your skin to find the things that creep you out and wear down your defences until you are left feeling paranoid and unsettled. It’s a powerful drama it knows how to tackle the darkness inside us and at the same time make you feel very uncomfortable. It began to give me nightmares and I had to stop watching it at night. Once I started to settle with it and it finally started to explain its plot I was able to continue evening viewing but god did this show creep me out. Even the opening sequence with is surreal and disturbing images with the most unsettle score ever totally got under my skin. I had never seen an opening scene where they uses such harsh and disconcerting sounds to distress you mixed with images so unnatural you can’t help but feel scared and freaked out.

The filming is also beautiful such sensual sights, beautiful dreams and grand aesthetics make for a mix of pure pleasure and horror. Moira is a great example, she appears to men as a beautiful and seductive temptress, a gorgeous red head who can make men’s fantasies come to life and is a walking vision of sexual desire but to women she is a scorned old women who wants to mother and nurture them, protect them from the predatory and infidelity nature of men and expose men’s bestial needs. She drips lust and seduction and at the same time warns just what men are like when exposed to the desire inside them and their weakness towards such a woman. While the show looks out of place in this timeline because of the house and its imposing manner that clings to its own history it does delve into all the modern concern of our reality. It has modern issues such as a gay couple, having children once you’re in your 40’s and loss of innocence of childhood as younger girls are exposed to the expectations of the modern day. It also has a brilliant concept on the pressure on youth and how their insecurities created by the modern world can drive them mad, a madness that seems to have no explanation but can create a child that is a beautiful monster, for all their tender loving nature they are missing a part of their own humanity and can do unspeakable evil with no regret simple because they can and nothing can redeem them not even love. It’s this lack of sentimentality that I love, love doesn’t save the day you do evil and there isn’t redemption but the knowledge that even your most beautiful and heart felt acts cant wash your soul clean and once your born a monster without the same morals of socially functioning humans you stay a monster.

What else can I say about this brilliant series, it looks good, it sounds good, it unsettles and terrifies, it delights and seduces, it exposes darkness and it exploits darkness and it enthrals and captures you. It is a must see who and I for one can’t wait for another season.

Remember to follow me on twitter @lonedreameryaoi of the Let Zoe Spoil You facebook group!!

Ok so this review is long overdue but since the DVD just came out and I just came back from the Hub convention I feel inspired to write about my beloved series.

So after reviewing Children of Earth I was so torn on whether I could handle more Torchwood.
http://www.lzsy.co.uk/2009/10/torchwood-children-of-the-earth-a-critic-and-a-fans-review/
Then I did in fact watch the new series and ended up loving the first ep.
http://www.lzsy.co.uk/2011/07/torchwood-miracle-day-–-an-early-review-because-i-can’t-help-myself-it’s-my-biggest-fandom-and-i-love-john-barrowman/

Ok so there’s no point reinstate things we know by now that in my head there are 2 torchwoods and the show has now evolved into a new animal and therefore must be taken as this. But I have to say I loved the series because it did what I love most in television and use the medium of science-fiction/horror to express a social commentary on how as a race we aren’t so heroic and that when faced with great danger it brings out the worse in a lot of us. Take falling Skies I didn’t like it because it played it safe, no grey area, no exploiting the darkness in the human heart and every character was so clichéd. This is why as sci-fi Miracle day kicks Falling Skies arse. I loved the social commentary the show of human weakness and characters that don’t fit the mould. God so much to say about how this show has evolved. But let’s start with the basic plot that no one can die and how it affects the whole world throwing the planet into a situation they have no control over.

When nobody dies, hospitals fill up, supplies run low, laws have to be re-thought and people’s religions fall apart. All these things are addressed and I was so surprised by how in depth these issues were focused on this series really brought a serious social concern to light, overpopulation and the strain on our resources. We saw that laws had to change Murder no longer exists but this can breed a whole new way to torture and kill knowing your victims won’t die. How do you cope with hospital cases, who has top priority, what about coma patients, the terminally ill, those in accidents so horrific they’ll never be the same again, what is the policy for giving out drugs, how do you control the spread of disease. So many brilliant ideas all explored and that just one area of a problem likes nobody dying. How about the prison system, those with life sentences, those on death row how do you deal with crime when the punishment can be forever. Overpopulation is no one dies what about housing, nursing homes, people are still aging what kind of long term care is there, how do we feed all these people, would the poverty line drop again and what is the financial implications of all this. Then there’s problem of religion and soul, what direction will faith go in when you live in a world without death or where you should have died and your still alive, do you have the right to still live, what are you living for and if the medical is reversed what state would you be returned to. Who would have thought a series that homage classic horror and had episodes about alien sex gas possessing people would have turned into a series that asked such harsh and intense questions.

What makes Torchwood’s evolution so amazing is while all this larger picture issues are being explored its still Torchwood; Jack will always be Jack with his larger than life personality, his heroics, his quiet vulnerability that he doesn’t show to anyone, his lust for life and desire to protect humanity no matter what it has thrown at him. Gwen has evolved the most to a person who is focused and determined she has her own problems torn between the needs of her family and the bigger picture of protecting the world. She is a wife and mother and her duty love and care lies with them, we see that if it came down to it she would even kill Jack if it meant saving her family but she also is a hero she feels that need and duty to protect those innocent and in need of help. Her and Jack’s relationship has also matured, there is a deep love and bond stronger than any bond 2 people can have, but it’s not romantic it is beyond that, it is beyond the hero worship, respect and devotion and now its 2 people that understand the path they have chosen and a shared sense of duty. They need each other; they support each other but also hate each other and the sides they bring out of each other that no one else will see. Jack make Gwen reckless inspires her to fight for her beliefs and cross a line that she doesn’t want, Gwen makes Jack question his humanity, exposes his vulnerability and pushes him to make the right choices. Gwen dislikes the fact that sometimes jack is the only person ready to cross that line to get the results and she lets him, she can’t do that last bit and the guilt she feels is visible. Gwen is ready to let Jack shoulder the guilt and responsibility and live with the consequences and I feel sometimes Jack is jealous that she still has that freedom and a place to return to, a family and a life jack will never know. Jack envies the life Gwen can have and he feels bad that he needs their connection and is ready to pull her into his world even though he knows she’d be better without that life he needs her. But when it comes to it they would kill for each other and even more importantly kill each other if it meant saving the life they have made for themselves. They are both desperate to protect their life, their purpose and their humanity and if one threatened the other they would end that person’s life.

I do love how dark this series got and it really exposed the monsters that lurked inside humanity, the depths we go to and the decisions we make when in desperate situations. We wouldn’t all come together and make nice, our governments would make harsh decisions for us and we would even know half of what was happening. The camps were a brilliant idea at first just a place to send all those that were alive but in no state of living and the even worse category 1, coma victims and terminally ill being burnt alive because there isn’t space or anything that can be done for them. It was so harsh and moving, Gwen’s struggle with her dad broke my heart. Desperate to keep him with her but knowing that he was going to die, not wanting unseen forces making the decision of when he should die but allowing the family the time to come to terms with this heart breaking situation. Who really has the right to say when someone is dead and gone, what makes governments think they can play god and that they have the right to reject the emotions and wishes of families and loved ones.
The series continues to expose man’s greed, desire and turmoil. Especially in characters like Oswald Danes, where would a death row paedophile becomes a spokesperson for the forgotten, loved by people for being able to say what everyone else is thinking? He wants to preserve his life so badly he’ll do anything but at the same time he is a dark and twisted person. He feels no remorse for what he’s done, even in his dying moments to the last breath he feels no regret for his crimes, he relishes in his twisted being and his dark path. He is a truly brilliant character ready to stand up and say that people aren’t being treated fairly in this new world, riding his publicity train to fan and using the system to ensure he continues to live and then even when he decides to die for the cause he doesn’t ask for forgiveness no he is the monster to the end.

So much great plotting and characters make up this dysfunctional and dangerous world and then we have the actual alien element. This I must say got a bit confusing; there is a shaft that runs from Buenos Aires to Shanghai that somehow affected the whole world through a field and jacks blood. So ok some of it got a bit weird, it’s all connected to a beautiful love story from jack past, a secret family organisation that took jacks blood and tried to find the secret of immortality and ended up reorganising the shape of the world. The thing that interested me was the fact that unless you saw the Christmas special of Doctor Who ‘The Runaway Bride’ you would have missed something important. Jack say’s the Doctor told him about a legend about the world being formed around the spine of a ship, which we know is the Racnoss ship. So somehow the Christmas special also ties into Miracle day but I don’t mind I like my DW references and reminders the shows are still linked.

I’m not going to go too much into the plot just go watch the series and discover all the great plotting, character developments and how far this series has come. The one thing I will talk about is Jack’s love life in this series and how people got all offended. So in one ep we get like a 1 minute sex scene where jack decides to have some fun with a barman, and why not he’s human and horny and Captain Jack Harkness, the scene is brief and at the same time Rex and Vera are having their own very strait sex scene. Why this caused controversy I have no idea one gay sex scene and one hetro, both got equal screen time both just not really explicit, both showing that the characters have these needs and feeling and that we are watching a show for adults. I hate it when people start complaining that they don’t want their children watching gay sex scenes, their children shouldn’t be watching Torchwood at all its for adult. Ever since DW we’ve known Jack in omisexual, and after three seasons and the development of his relationship with Ianto we know he’s been in gay relationships so why so shocked that he sleeps with a barman. It’s stupid that it got cut from the UK version for not having plot relevance, there are about a million shows and movies that have pointless striate sex scenes and no one complains, I for one am sick of watching those scenes they do nothing for the plot. I totally reject the whole hetro monogamous couple its boring to watch, I can be in those relationships I want to see something I can’t be a part of and relationship that is beyond me and far more interesting. Plus gay sex is hotter to watch!!! So this lead onto a very important episode which introduces Angelo, Jacks lover from the past and a relationship that put in the foundations that allowed jack to later learn to let someone in and love, there would have been no jack and Ianto if jack hadn’t had this earlier relationship. Also there would have been no Miracle if not for Angelo and how this relationship literally tore Jack apart allowing his ability to be exposed to people that want to use it for their own good. But plot aside people started complaining about the gay agenda, it was one ep with one sex scene and it detailed a beautiful and important relationship. It was another world and place where homosexuality was so much more difficult, we saw another side of jack and what was missing from his life and we saw that sometimes love isn’t enough. I am so sick of putting in a relationship just to keep strait people happy, why shouldn’t there be beautiful gay relationships, why shouldn’t I be allowed to watch 2 beautiful men fall in love and make love, we live in a modern world and therefor people should be more open with the nature of modern desire.

Well I’ve talked a lot more about the social and cultural importance of this series but it really is great and I’m waiting for my box set to arrive and watch it again.
Remember to follow me on twitter @lonedreameryaoi

I was going to stay away from this series I mean I loved the 80’s films they were great but without Michael J Fox and the good old 80’s effect and music I didn’t see a reason to watch this show. But alas curiosity got the best of me and I thought why not give it a go it’s gonna be terrible but maybe at least cheesy fun after a long day of work. So it turned out to be just that so bad it’s kinda good like a terrible B-movie that you just can’t help but like even though it’s possible the worst movie ever made. The plot is a simple one and revolves around social outcast Scott McCall, a young lacrosse-playing student at Beacon Hills High School. His life drastically changes when he is bitten by a werewolf one night. Upon discovery that he is a werewolf, with the help of his best friend, Stiles, and the mysterious werewolf, Derek, he is forced to learn to balance his newfound identity among the many dangers that it presents with his teenage life. He must keep his loved ones safe and balance the relationships he shares with each person around him.

As you can imagine this is basically a teen drama the usual thing I stay away from being neither a teenager nor that much a fan of drama’s like the OC. But this is the high school with werewolves and if I can love a high school drama because they break into song and dance I can love one where people get eaten. They really are a bunch of annoying teenagers dealing with their teen angst and all the social problems you get form being 16. You have the jocks, the pretty girls and the social outcasts and you have the theme of trying to fit in and be part of a community. This is mirrored in the plot line of becoming part of a werewolf pack, do you leave the friends you’ve started to make or do you join a pack with others like yourself, where does a person really belong.
Although they do have this little social message it’s kind of out shadowed by the pure silliness of this series. First thing it took a while to get into because I just didn’t like Mr teen wolf himself much and they concentrated a lot on the romance between him and the new girl and their sappy boring hetro growing love. I have to admit whenever they were on screen together and the producers were shoving this budding relationship down our throats I may have skipped on a bit. I’m way too old to watch annoying teens be all giggly and silly in their experience of first love. God this relationship is so boring it’s all perfect and shiny and happy and just not me in the slightest. Luckily teen wolf’s best mate is a sarcastic, joke cracking geek who is far more interesting to watch and seem to actually care a little more about the whole werewolf thing rather than the girlfriend thing. Then there is the jock that I would have overlooked until he starts getting a little manipulative, arrogant and not such a nice guy but a guy with his own agenda. Plus there’s hot anti-social werewolf Derek with a past, he comes back to town all attitude, and angsty and brooding, in control of his werewolf powers and has a tragic past. I like an attractive guy with issues and being a bit older I much appreciate it when he takes his shirt of, why look at a skinny 16 year old when I can look and a 20 year old who works out.


We also have the hunters, can’t have werewolves without those that hunt them especially when one is a hot dad, a very attractive man who may have been the reason that I thought ok I’ll keep watching this if he has more screen time. Everything is of course connected and histories between all the characters are all mixed up which means at least it get past the boring romance but you expect all the clichés to pop up. Oh who would have thought that girlfriend is actually indeed daughter of hot hunter dad or oh no hunter family is behind the tragic events from angsty werewolf’s past never saw any of that coming. Put aside the predictable plot, annoying couple and did I mention the terrible graphics, no well I’ll get to that. At least there are some other attractive characters and some decent killing. Characters do get hacked in half, eaten, dragged screaming into the words and ripped apart by angry werewolves. So it doesn’t shy away from the violent nature of werewolves and it gives us some teen frights. If I was a teen ager and not part of the generation that grew up with Scream than maybe I would have found some bits scary. I mean they do the good old slasher homage of a bunch of teenagers trapped in the school at night being hunted by a savage killer. It’s actually done pretty well just like all those great 90’s horror films about teens so it made me feel nostalgic over a period where I watched a lot of slasher films and was a teen myself.

It does do the werewolf clichés; they howl, have glowing eyes, don’t much care for silver bullets, have increased senses and strength and go a little mental on the full moon. But there’s a mixed bag when it come to the transformations. They have the decency to not give us a full “werewolf in London” stretching out scene most of the changes happen behind sights. I think it’s a clever way to save budget and keep a sense of mystery to have a character walk past a pillar one side human the next wolf man. And the make up for the wolf man phase isn’t that bad their not too hairy with big ears and teeth they look more like wolverine with just a little more wolf. Derek really does tend to have a bit of the Hugh Jackman wolverine look going on which may be another reason why I liked this show.

Then there’s the good old Alpha the proper big bad wolf who transforms fully more beast than man. At first they did try to keep some mystery behind him only showing him in reflections or blurred camera shots but then they started giving too much away and he was there on screen. You can tell this series is low budget with very obvious CGI. Oh the bad CGI and green screens where guys jump up on roofs just doesn’t look good. The fun spurty blood and gore is fine but not the CG werewolves prancing about.
Oh well I knew it wasn’t going to be big budget so I’ll forgive them that it is harmless fun and if you just want some no brain entertainment then give it a go it’s not that bad.

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It’s been a while since I’ve seen an anime this good and if you haven’t heard or seen of this then the pun in my tittle is perfect for this series. At only 13 eps I watched it in one setting which was easy to do as it was so engaging. It’s like a really messed up psychotic version of Alice in Wonderland but completely twisting the classic fairy tale to a violent and dangerous nightmare version.
The plot for Deadman is that a massive earthquake ravaged Japan’s mainland and destroyed most of Tokyo, sinking three-quarters of it into the ocean. Ten years later, the story shifts to Igarashi Ganta, a seemingly ordinary student attending Nagano Prefecture’s middle school. An escapee, a survivor of the great earthquake, Ganta has no memories of the tragedy and has lived a normal life. This all changes when a strange person covered in blood and crimson armour floats through his classroom windows. Grinning madly, the Red Man massacres Ganta’s entire class but instead of killing him, embeds a red crystal shard in Ganta’s chest. Within days of the massacre, Ganta is declared the sole suspect and, following a quick trial, is sentenced to life imprisonment in Deadman Wonderland, a massive theme park like prison. Arriving at the prison, Ganta is fitted with a special collar which monitors his location and life signs. Due to the heinous nature of Ganta’s ‘crime’, he has to live out his imprisonment under Deadman Wonderland’s ‘Death Sentence’. A lethal poison is constantly injected into his bloodstream through the collar, but it can be neutralized by consuming a peculiar candy-like medicine every three days. Additional candy can be earned through hard work or by purchasing it. In order to gather Cast Points, the prison’s currency, an inmate has to perform in the facility’s lethal games and survive. Fortunately for Ganta, he is aided by a mysterious girl named Shiro, who apparently knows Ganta, and is known by other prisoners as well. While trying to survive as an inmate on death row, Ganta becomes increasingly obsessed with the ‘Red Man’ and tries to find him so he could clear his name. In a bizarre twist, Ganta begins to develop the ability to manipulate his own blood, to the point of turning it into a weapon. Unbeknownst to him, Ganta has become one of the prison’s ‘Deadmen’, a segregated group of prisoners possessing the Branches of Sin which makes them capable of controlling their blood. After his ability is discovered, Ganta is forced to participate in brutal gladiatorial death matches, known as Carnival Corpse, whose anonymous spectators pay large amounts of money to watch. In his struggle he manages to befriend some of those he fought off in the arena, and with their help Ganta continues his quest to uncover the identity of the Red Man, why he turned into a Deadman and the dark secrets the prison authorities are hiding.

What I love about this series is that it’s defiantly for adults it’s a very harsh and violent world a true “ultraviolent” anime and there haven’t been that many recently. It is the very definition of aesthetic violence of the glamorization of chaos and exploitation of humanities darker side. It’s so many of the things I love in my escapist television, not a safe world of family values but a world where people are put through the most horrific extremes and how they can breakdown. I love the total breakdown of a characters world how they crumble emotionally and physically as well as spiritually. Seeing characters worlds turn and twist until they themselves have evolved into the terrifying products of their extreme situations. Deadman has this in abundance, no character is safe they are all messed up and grey area fighters, surviving by changing their very nature or allowing their true nature to shrine through. This prison is so harsh, I have a soft spot for shows based in prisons, and one of my fav TV shows of all time is Oz. But this is so much more than a prison, after all where else do you have a prison where the inmates also have to provide the entertainment for a theme park. It’s crazy they work the attractions, conveniences, maintenance and are the attractions. For example one episode features an extreme race but the kicker is that all the hazards and obstacles are in fact deadly and there a 99% chance you’ll die or be seriously injured by the end of the race. I mean some of the contestants are shot with arrows, sliced and diced or even doused in acid all for the entertainment of the crowd. It shows that as an audience people love watching people fail and get injured and we have a morbid fascination with death and violence. There’s a little bit of the social commentary and the idea people get pleasure from watching the fall of others but the public are not entirely aware that the shows they are watching do have a high fatality rate and you wonder what they would think of how much excitement and pleasure they got from watching people get tortured and killed.

The people in charge of this prison are also a mixed bag of corruption, insanity and way to into their job as prison guards. The warden, who is a one of those terrifying beauties, a real harsh kind of sexy and carries that attitude with her, she knows she is attractive but it’s a dangerous and mean sexy where she is not afraid to use the power she has to put people down. She loves her role as peace keeper and takes her job seriously not afraid to lash out and physically punish someone she thinks deserves a lashing. She doesn’t deal out sympathy as far as she’s concerned these people are prisoners and therefor property and has the respect and fear of those around her, never cross her she is vicious in her sense of justice. The prison owner has some social and psychological problems; he exists in his own childlike fantasy world and is happy to use the prisoners as his own playthings to experiment with and control. As if things weren’t dark and cruel enough there’s a whole other underground to this prison beyond the exploitation of human suffering for others entertainment and that’s the exploitation of people stuck in the system and their usefulness as guinea pigs in a world of experimentation. Under the prison is a world centred around the “branch of sin” a strange ability to control one’s own blood and use it as a weapon.

I have a huge passion for what I call blood magic’s and the idea you can manipulate your blood to be more than its intended purpose. I’ve always wanted that as a super power to expel your blood and then let it form a sword or a scythe. Think Abel’s power in Trinity Blood and give it to a bunch of crazed captive prisoners that are all either borderline psychotic or sociopathic or just plan crazy. Each blood sin is great, from forming blades to shooting projectiles this blood manipulation is original and beautiful as well as extremely deadly. I mean the blood swirls dramatically it flows and forms, its liquid sin to physical deadly sin. I love it from the majestic aesthetic to the deadly precision of these weapon users. Apart from a group most of these “branch of sin” characters embrace their power with fervour, they relish in using it and are so on the edge of sanity its terrifying to seeing how they switch and change through the personalities they’ve created for themselves to survive. But it gets worse these people are then forced to take part in a terrible game where they are pitted against each other in brutal fights for the entertainment of an anonymous audience. Unlike the audience in the theme park they are fully aware they are watching people kill and maim each other for their entertainment. These battles are pretty epic with some great shows of violence and lack of mercy with some keen killers who embrace this role they found.

But there’s a flip side for those who don’t embrace their powers or the fearful battle royal they have to take part in. They have formed a freedom group uncovering the conspiracy that placed them in Wonderland and now they are trying to find a way to escape and break free back to the world they know and love. It’s not easy this resistance group has to face the full wraith of their owners in a fight for survival and freedom and extra added danger from another group that work for the prison owner who have the unique ability to defuse the effect of the “branch of sin”. These people are even crazier than some of the more extreme sin users. Most notable the psycho monk who kills without discrimination and is madly in love with the leader of the resistance after he witnesses him lose his mind after watching his pregnant wife be slaughtered in the sin fights. Oh boy did he lose the plot and just went on a relentless killing spree with no sense of mercy or distinguishing between people so strong was his grief. He truly is psychotic but he had since reformed keeping the violent killer under wrap and not allowing this brutal nature to be released. Unfortunately crazy monk was so turned on by this show of violence he breaks down the walls to release the crazy killer so he can have the ultimate and most terrifying lover. It would be easy to think of this monk as a murdering sociopath but his problems are so deep rooted in the trauma of his youth you realise that even he is a victim of a cruel and punishing world.

Finally we have the issue of the “red man” himself and who he is, where is he hiding and how is Ganta going to take his revenge. Complicate this with his relationship with Shiro a friend from his past that is somehow connected to everything without really seeming to understand the seriousness of the world she lives in. Shiro seems like a complete innocent blind to all the cruelty and violence and only wants to stay friends with Ganta, protect him and look out for him. She seems to have a free range of the prison, is unknown to the prisoners and guards but somehow related to the “branch of sin” and this is shown in the fact she seems to have unlimited strength and regenerative powers. She goes from ditzy innocent to a precise killer with deadly power and an unforgiving nature. The worse part of falling for a greatly crafted series like this with so many questions, conflicts and conspiracies is that when it only has an incomplete ending and you don’t know what happens in the end. I hate no ending endings where you’re like but what happens next, you haven’t answered all the questions there’s so much more to tell and I’m only just starting. I hope to god there will be another series or they start translating the manga because this world is rich and dark and beautifully twisted that I want more.

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Ok so as much as I love sci-fi and Steven Spielberg there was something missing in this show. Now from the premise it sounded amazing and I knew it had the budget to pull off a great sci-fi show for the small screen. Falling Skies tells the story of the aftermath of a global invasion by several races of extra-terrestrials (including the lizard-like beings known as Skitters; a race of seemingly humanoid grey-skinned beings that seem to be their commanders; and mechanical Attack Drones called mechs) that neutralizes the world’s power grid and technology, quickly destroys the combined militaries of all the world’s countries, and apparently kills over 90% of the human population within a few days. The invasion and the objectives of the Aliens is not explained, though the aliens try to round up children between 8 and 16 and attach a metallic obedience device onto (and into) their spines. The aliens use mind control to control the children. Forcibly removing the device instantly kills the child. The story picks up six months after the invasion and follows a group of survivors who band together to fight back. The group, known as the Second Massachusetts (an allusion to a historical regiment from the Continental Army), is led by the retired Captain Weaver and Boston University history professor Tom Mason who, while in search of his son Ben, must put his extensive knowledge of military history into practice as one of the leaders of the resistance movement. So with a producer such as Spielberg I was expecting good things I mean I’ve loved all his films even the War of the World’s re-make (and I hate remakes and Tom Cruise is not an actor I like). But with this background I was expecting a rather bleak tale of humanities struggles and the breakdown of family units when faced with such a depressing world full of hard choices and extreme situations.

As you guessed this is not what I got, I got a far more uplifting tale of human triumph and families being brought closer together so kinda the opposite really. The show is cast completely by stereotypes and clichés. The good guy with strong morals not a soldier but ready to take up the cause so he can protect his family. The tough military leader who thinks civilians are a drag on resources, that shoots first and thinks everything would be better with military rule rather than democracy, the well-meaning kid who gets into trouble, the doctor out of her depth but doing the best she can offering moral support and a pretty face, the hardnosed bitch whose been through hell and is out for herself, despising men and trying to keep herself isolated from the group. Need to say any more about all the typical character types populating this series. It makes it so black and white good guys and bad guys, evil aliens and moral humans. I mean where is the depression, the moral decay of a population desperate to survive, where are the adrenalin junkies getting off on fighting the aliens, where are those using the hard times to profit, the corrupt and amoral. I know the world isn’t all doom and gloom and sometimes you want there to be light in a world of chaos and troubles but I’m a fan of films such as Blindness and 28 Days Later. Films that show when an apocalyptic event happens humanity tends to go to shit and the moral lines a crossed. The series has a little of this but no way in the kind of depth I wanted it’s all very clean and easy to see where the lines are and I believe that humanity lives in a much more grey area. I mean take the film District 9 and the blurring of morals plus the fact that the aliens have a side to tell in this story.
We never really see anything of the alien’s side of things and while that works in something like Cloverfield it didn’t in this. There was so much tension created in Cloverfield around the fact you had no idea where this thing came from, how it got there, what was going and what it wanted. Seeing everything from just normal people’s points of view made it so much more terrifying and real. But in Falling Skies its shows enough of what the aliens are up to, to expect some kind of insight to their goals and ambitions beyond the one dimensional desire to take over and enslave humanity. It’s so black and white, the aliens are bad, they’re here to enslave us and that’s that. I wanted to see a little more of their workings, their society and why they needed the children, they introduced the idea that there’s more than one race that they had already another alien race that now work for them. This could have been a really interesting concept but the show never wanted to be that dark instead it was about getting over adversity and saving children it was all so nice. These people never seemed that upset about food or the conditions they lived in, the threat hanging over the survivors, I mean why was no one having a mental breakdown over stress!!!

The major storyline was a lovely tale of a family trying to find each other and be reunited and even this never seemed that dramatic it was very mild and family friendly the show wanted a larger demographic as an audience so never really went where there was too much danger or real human pain. There was only one character who was grey area my fav character Pope who had his own moral code and did what he did to survive anyone else in his path be damned. He was far more interesting to watch more amoral but at the same time did things that helped the people he met and show his appreciation. You couldn’t hate him you respected him for making his own choices, for being a hero when he wanted but not being pressured to be a good guy as he had his own rules.

The series did have great effects and looked awesome, the aliens were well designed and original but effects are not enough to save a series from a bland cast and a lacklustre plot.

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Ok so it’s easy to make the connection between Games of Thrones and LOTR’s as it stars the brilliant Sean Bean. Sean Bean is no stranger to period set shows and this seems like such a natural progression for Boromir and I can’t think of anyone else to star in GOT as Ed Stark. The show is based on novels by author George R. R. Martin’s. Set in the Seven Kingdoms of Westeros, where “summers span decades and winters can last a lifetime,” Game of Thrones chronicles the violent dynastic struggles among the kingdom’s noble families for control of the Iron Throne; as the series opens, additional threats from the snow and ice covered region north of Westeros and from the eastern continent across a narrow sea are simultaneously beginning to rise. This series is a brilliant medieval fantasy series that is epic and personal at the same time. It is up there with the likes of Spartacus not quite as aesthetically violent and it uses its special effects in a different way but it has that intense storytelling and beauty.

The story is rather complex with many characters and stories being woven together to create the bigger picture. The world is a complex and interesting place, the opening sequence along shows this diverse and growing land of great cities. I can’t even begin to tell you everything about these characters as I know the series is based on a much larger wealth of information from books yet to be adapted but there are a few key stories in this first series. We have Ed Stark’s family their trials and tribulations as they get mixed up in a plot of corruption that they never wanted to be a part of but seem to be the only ones with the strength of duty and morals to learn the truth. Sean Bean leads the first season cast as Lord Eddard “Ned” Stark, patriarch of the protagonist family of the series, the Starks. His wife, Catelyn Stark née Tully, is played by Michelle Fairley. Their children are Robb (Richard Madden), Sansa (Sophie Turner), Arya (Maisie Williams), Bran (Isaac Hempstead Wright) and Rickon (Art Parkinson). Kit Harington plays Ned’s bastard, Jon Snow, and Alfie Allen plays Theon Greyjoy, political hostage and ward of Lord Stark. King Robert Baratheon is played by Mark Addy, and his wife, Queen Cersei Lannister, is played by Lena Headey. Cersei has two brothers; her twin, Ser Jaime Lannister (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau), and the clever dwarf Tyrion (Peter Dinklage). Cersei’s oldest child is Prince Joffrey Baratheon (Jack Gleeson), and his bodyguard is Sandor “The Hound” Clegane (Rory McCann). Aidan Gillen plays Petyr “Littlefinger” Baelish, Master of Coin for King Robert’s Small Council. Across the Narrow Sea are Viserys (Harry Lloyd) and Daenerys “Dany” Targaryen (Emilia Clarke), exiled children of the previous king that King Robert overthrew, on the run for their lives and trying to win back the throne. Dany is married to Khal Drogo (Jason Momoa), the leader of the Dothraki, for the promise of an army for Viserys. Iain Glen plays exiled knight Ser Jorah Mormont, who is sworn to help and protect the siblings.

This is only the briefest summary of our main characters, the manipulative and highly corrupt Lannister’s are at the heart of much of the corruption and assignations in this series, so desperate to secure the power of the kingdom they use their fortune to win favours while sitting themselves high above those they seek to lead. They also hold much darkness about their own desires from the fact that the twins are in a sexual relationship and it’s their inbred son (which the King Baratheon believes is his own heir) they wish to seat as the next king.
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Their son himself may act with dignity in front of his subjects but like his manipulative parents he knows how to play people and is in fact a weak and cowardly young man who has the capacity to be very cruel and hide behind the strength and brutality of those that protect him.
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The only member of this family that isn’t as ugly and cruel is in fact the dwarf brother of the Lannister twins, Tyrion. He is a brilliant character who knows who he is and is confident with the decisions he makes and the lifestyle he has chosen, knowing he will never have the adoration and respect of the people he chooses to use his wealth to drink and whore his time away but at his heart he is actually a decent man who does care for those he gets close to and has far more morals and honour than his siblings. It’s unfortunate that because he is not beautiful like his brother people only see the outside appearance rather than good man inside, which is an ironic twist as his handsome brother, is cruel and incestuous with a thirst for blood and by far more the ugly sibling. Tyrion is also the most amusing character with his great sense of wit and brilliant intelligence that is lost to people for they are unable to see past his stature, but it’s his brain and charms that has allowed him to live to the fullest and gain respect.

Across the seas plays out a very different drama from a rival bloodline to the throne in the brilliant story of the Targaryen family. Here is the brilliant story of a young woman sold by her brother to the leader of a powerful but rather savage tribe in the promise of gaining an army to fulfil his own selfish ambitions. Daenerys goes on one of the biggest journeys of the series from being nothing but an object to trade and essentially a sex slave to the tribe leader to being the most powerful women in this tribe’s history. She learns how to survive, how to be a true queen, how to use her sexuality to find love and respect, she learns to lead and most importantly how much strength and maturity she has, how the blood inside her grants her true nobility and you really feel that she has the right to be a queen and is far more deserving of the iron throne over the Lannister’s, if only she could cross the narrow sea and bring this strength and dignity to a country about to fall into war and infighting.

But the infighting between noble families and the literal game for the iron throne is only part of the threat to this world. Amongst betrayal and corrupt politics is also the creation of true heroes with honour and their futures being sculpted so that they can rise to the challenges that are about to rip the world apart. One of these challenges that the people are yet to be aware of is from beyond the wall, an area to the north separated from the rest, which contained ancient and almost supernatural threats. And in this frozen world an ancient horror is awaking and getting ready for its own invasion. It is said that creatures and monsters are coming back from hibernation and are ready to concur the wall and invade bringing un-told and unknown power. Only a few are beginning to see this threat but their voices are not reaching those in power, so while a war is being played out a possibly larger and more dangerous threat is being ignored.

The world these characters inhabit is amazing with scenery that rivals that in LOTR, from grand city’s and castles on pedestals of rock towering above the lands to the great site of the frozen wall and the beautiful architecture of the throne room there is a lot to admire. They really made an exquisite world the misc-en scen is divine with so much attention to detail. The weather, clothing, homes and peoples are all well-crafted and full of true feeling. You can identify the affiliations of the characters and the settings, which I can’t stress enough how beautiful these locations are, my favourite being an impregnable castle that sits high on a tower of rock with sheer drops all around and epic views of the mountain scape that surrounds it. The camera sweeps over the scenery offering the kinds of views you wish you could see of a vast and magnificent world.

Another aspect I like about this series is the gritty reality of it even though it’s based in fantasy. You feel the perils of this world and the toll it takes on the characters, from how cold the north is and the bitter fight against it to the green and lustrous fields of the tribes across the narrow seas and how it provides for the people that rely on it. The fact that this world can be unforgiving, that characters and families can go through trauma such as injury and death and that it doesn’t matter what role you play in the world any one can die and no one is safe including title characters. The violence whether it’s from punishing a criminal in accordance with the honour and respect of the law or the brutality of war is all shown equally. This world understand that violent acts exist if you break certain laws it’s a beheading for you and that is how peace is maintains. In war there is death and violence and GOT doesn’t shy away from bloodshed but doesn’t glamourize it, getting your head cut off is brutal and violent and death is never pretty. Also this show is very sexual and very erotic, it has such an attractive cast and it likes to sexualize its characters equally, it is comfortable to show all kinds of sex from glamorous encounters between lovers to the unfairty of rape. It treats each sexual encounter with respect never glamourizing rape but showing that it is a brutal truth of this world. It also represents all kinds of couples from mixed race, to incest to even a gay couple which is something I respect in a show.

I loved this series and now very much want to read the books and see how this huge and turbulent world grows and develops. How are these characters going to grow, who will survive and who will inherit the iron throne. I can’t wait for another series and to continue to be surprised by the trials of these characters and their quests both personal and epic.

Now I know that I usual wait to the end of a show to review it as then I can rant about everything plus spoil it rotten but I just have to give me first impressions of the new torchwood. It will be interesting to see what kind of review I’ll give at the end of the series. So before Miracle Day I listened to the radio plays, first 2 were ok was nice to have some old school stories but god did it make me sad about Ianto. Now I loved Ianto so I was excited at first to have some more episodes even just audio ones with him in it now that I was out of Torchwood books to read. When it came down to it having Ianto back just made me realise how much I missed him and wished he hadn’t died reminding me what the fandom had lost. Now the 3rd radio play, my god did it break my heart. At first it was all yay Jack and Ianto together solving a case until that mega twist of doom!!!!! House of Ghosts was so brilliant for that and heart breaking. What can you say as a Janto fangirl when confronted with the wonderful plot of Jack missing Ianto so much he goes to see his ghost? Ianto as a ghost, the one person in all of Jacks life, with all his loves and loss he wants to see again. That alone spoke volumes to us of how much Ianto meant to Jack.
The whole thing was torturous; they fought beautifully, the combination of Jack’s own selfishness combined with desperation to see Ianto again. Ianto so in love with Jack but appalled by Jacks actions while also coming to terms with what that means and how strongly jack does love him and that they have to be separated again. Even just as voices the pain of finding and losing each other came across through fantastic acting. Jack willing to give up life rather than be without Ianto, his world being empty and just not willing to continue, Ianto convincing him to give up the fight let someone else deal with it so they could have a chance just for it to be a rouse because he doesn’t want Jack to die. How many times can I say heart-breaking but it was and then Janto fangirls around the world rejoiced for Jack told Ianto “I Love You”? There’s no implications, no doubt no room for denial Jack loves Ianto and it’s Ianto he wants to see at the end of it all!!! I like to believe that when Jack does finally die it will be Ianto he meets again in the afterlife and Ianto will be waiting for him probably with a strong cup of coffee in hand.
This finale radio play gave me a lot of closure because I finally got the confession they never gave us in COE and it allowed me to go into Miracle Day knowing that no matter what Jack does his love for Ianto was real and when it’s said and done they will find each other in the afterlife. So I was very happy to accept Jack in Miracle day understanding that he may be depressed and isolated but Ianto gave him a chance to live again and he has a duty not to waist his life but live to protect and be Captain Jack Harkness in all his glory saving the human race and making a difference, his journey isn’t over and if we believe in Doctor Who he has to become the Face of Boe and live a very long life as Earths observer, saviour, protector and make the great sacrifice before he can die.

So Miracle day, I was rather excited I was so ready for the return of Captain Jack Harkness to my screen and the trailers looked good and the reviews had been good. I have decided to be good and watch it on the BBC rather than get it from the states as I want to make sure it gets the ratings to prove how well it’s doing. So here’s where I stand on TMD and the TW fandom. Its kinda like 2 different series really you could almost say there set in two different realities. TW series 1 and 2 was cheesy, fun and silly, it had its darkness and angst but it wasn’t too harsh in my opinion plus it followed the weekly formula so wasn’t as epic. Now I loved TW that way, I mean all it needed was jack running around and I would love it as John Barrowman can do no wrong. Though I also loved Ianto and it was his and Jacks relationship that interested me the most. I wanted more than the plot and storylines to see the two of them interact and for Ianto to deliver his brilliant one liners. There were brilliant episodes that could carry themselves based on the great writing then there were episodes I liked less for the plot and more for the amount Janto scenes in them.
Now there are two types of shows I like, shows that aren’t the best dramatically but have an awesome slash pairing that blinds me to any of the shows weaknesses and then there are shows so good dramatically that I don’t care that there isn’t a slash paring in them for me to focus on. Good examples of these are Merlin, Hawaii 5.0 and Vampire Diaries for slash though I have to admit I love the first 2, VD even I have given up on. Then there are shows like Fringe, Xfiles and SGU which are just so good I don’t care that nobody is gay. Of course you get shows that fulfil both these criteria like Oz, Glee and Nip/Tuck but series 1 and 2 of TW was for me more about the slash than the plot a lot of the time. Don’t get me wrong TW is my top fandom and I would never let anyone say a bad thing about it because it was brilliant and great fun but lacked the intelligence of great sci-fi like Fringe or the gritty harsh reality of Oz and the extreme dramatic tension and killer style of SGU. But then things shifted in COE which I did a review on back when it came out so I won’t go on about it again.

http://www.lzsy.co.uk/2009/10/torchwood-children-of-the-earth-a-critic-and-a-fans-review/
Now back then I had no intentions of re-joining the fandom but I couldn’t help myself!!! You see COE was a turning point making a new show out of the ashes of the old. Miracle Day has all the epic qualities of COE with the one on-going and intense plot line. With this new style of an epic plot comes far more dramatic tension and the writing has become another level. From the first ep we have a new Torchwood a show where the intelligence of the plot, dramatics and harsh reality become such a driving force that I’m hooked. I’m so intrigued and invested that I don’t miss the slash. TW has become a show like Fringe where my interest isn’t just focused on gay storylines and moments of slashability but truly interested in what’s gonna happen to these characters. Now being TW and having read spoilers and JB interviews I also know that we will still be getting the gay and I am very much looking forward to a bit of naked Jack and sexy times. Though I do wish Ianto had lived to this point but I have my knowledge of that no matter how much sex and boyfriends Jack has in life its Ianto he will return to and is waiting to see after his death. After all it’s not fair to ask Captain Jack Harkness, immortal 51st century omisexual time traveller to stay celibate for the next 6million years.

As for all the other concerns I had about the show from ep one it doesn’t feel too American and it never can with brilliant lines from Kai Owen, how much love do I have for Rhys and “Captain Jack Bollocks”. Also Gwen has matured so much and with her love for Rhys and their child she is no longer the character I felt was a threat to my Janto pairing but honestly a strong women who is very close to Jack and they make a strong team. I loved Gwen in the first episode, baby ear muff shooting down helicopters was just awesome and I very much hope we see more of the kick arse side of Gwen. Yes I know a lot more of the show will be in America but you can take Gwen out of Wales but you can’t take the Welsh out of Gwen. Jack has always been timeless and impossible to place so he will just always be Jack wherever he is so I don’t fear for him apart from the not being immortal anymore. It’s a very interesting place to go dramatically and I hope they use it well but I will miss the ha ha I’m not dead even though you blew me up moments. I think a lot of the faith I have in this series comes from the fact it was co-produced with Starz and they gave me Spartacus: Blood and Sand which is one of the best shows on TV.
So I know they won’t dumb down the actions, violence or sex they now have the freedom to do. As for the other characters so far Rex seems interesting so concerned with his own goals and advancements he doesn’t mind who gets hurt because of his ambition. He’s going to be a disliked character at first but I think he has a journey to go on so not going to paint him as a bad guy yet just a guy whose priorities need work and is going to make some bad decisions even though he thinks he is doing the right thing. Ester is our other main character who is just the American answer to Gwen series 1, she’s the character that comes in and introduces the American audience to TW. She seems nice and because she is clearly in love with Rex she’s not a threat as a potential Jack love interest but she will also probably grow and have a similar journey to early Gwen. The other character I’m intrigued by is Bill Pullmans paedophile murderer, a brave and bold choice for a character who looks like he has some major weight in the overall plot. I do love a villain that is charming and ruthless and you don’t know exactly where you stand with him so I’m very interested to see his journey as I’m sure nothing in this series is going to be black and white.

That’s its so far the series has dramatic weight, tension, epicness, global appeal as well as that home grown feeling, interesting characters, great action and one liners and I for one can’t wait to see where this series is going to go.

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Arad Senki isn’t the most inspirational anime out there but for a bit of light hearted fun it’s worth a watch. It follows many anime that is RPG based and has a group of adventurers thrown together in a fantasy world that set off on a quest and have to battle an ancient evil at the end. We’ve seen the formula many a time in anime’s such as Ragnarok, Lodoss War and Star Ocean to name a few. And it’s a formula that always entertains because you know what you’re expecting therefore can’t really be disappointed. With Arad Senki there is defiantly more a focus on comedy than the more gritty tales like Lodoss War and Crystannia so it makes it just a very amusing and fun romp, imagine more Bakuretsu hunters where characters end up in stupid situations for a vast majority of the show before any real threat develops.

It’s not until the last part of the series that we really get a real sense of danger and a darker plot line that leads to our finale battle with the villain of the piece. While Arad Senki doesn’t have the heart or perfect balance of comedy, action, magic and dark villainy of the greats like Slayers it’s still has good points in the fact that its light fun and doesn’t take itself too seriously and it’s an interesting idea. The idea of a disease spreading demon possession through the inhabitants was interesting; the idea that part of your body is possessed by demon blood making you a stronger warrior but also the risk of turning fully into a demon was a good angle. In fact it’s a shame they didn’t explore this angle more but the series wanted to stay a little more light and fluffy than fully going with the demonic versus your humanity angle and therefore played it down a lot.

The series itself is based on a Korean game called Dungeon Fighter (which explains why so much of the cast and crew for this anime are Korean) that was renamed Arad Senki in Japan. The series based on an original web comic and has a very basic plot of Swordsman Baron travels the world of Arad to find a way to heal his demonic left arm. Accompanying him is Roxy, the ghost of a woman who unwillingly unleashed the evil that also caused Barons transformation. On their travel they get to know other fighters who accompany them and soon they call their group the “Party”.

The frustrating thing about this series for me is I like the darkness and a harsher storyline that really brings out the angst in the protagonists and this series just isn’t like that. I found I could skip scenes and not really pay attention because it just wouldn’t get dark enough for me. I don’t like too much comedy in anime unless it really is the surreal crazy of a series like Kemeko DX or a more situational comedy like Maria Holic. I love Slayers but they have a better balance of amusing situations and bizarre characters Arad is a bit of a poor copy really. Arad does rely a lot more on prate falls and slap stick, which I should have guessed from the “Slap up Party” part of the title.

There was one really good character that I really liked, Carpenshisu (many different places spell his name differently including various subbing groups) he looked cool and was the genius gunman of the series from another outer world of Arad. Unfortunately he was also the character that lost his entire cool in front of women and was reduced to an embarrassing failure of a Casanova and he was always falling over, rolling down hills and getting squashed, beat up and overlooked. He would do something amazing and cool and he really was awesome with his guns but they just kept ruining this cool façade and turning him into a pathetic idiot. That was very annoying to watch because I kept hoping they would make him less stupid and also expand on his storyline, he originally came to Arad from an outer world and when they returned to this amazing place he explained its history but not his own. We never found out why he left or what he left behind making him rather bland when he could have been so much more.

The other characters were not as well fleshed out, our main demon knight Baron was very laid back and didn’t seem to mind having a demon arm and it didn’t really cause him much trouble or lend him any really awesome powers, plus it never explained why only he could see Roxy’s ghost (who lived in his sword) and why none of the characters noticed him talking to the invisible friend. The girl fighter Ryunmei was cool but we never really got to see her have a proper brutal fight where she could go all out, the bad magician girl Ixia was just that, cute and mouthy but rather pants and then there was the warrior priest Jeda that may have been bisexual but we never really got to know his story he just turned up healed people, glowed, flexed muscles and then skipped off again. The villains were more interesting but then they always were with the usual handsome, talented and conflicted bishonen knight Irbek. He had some good angst and trying to do good but in the wrong way, clearly being manipulated while feeling guilty until he realised his mistakes and joined the good guys against the real enemy. He was one of the many clichés I feel were going on, I mean the angst bishie trying to protect his little sister from a demon virus is always going to go all self sacraficy and atone for his mistakes plus get the girl in the form of the trouble misunderstood daughter of a corrupted king, along with cherished side kick with blind loyalty because bishie knight is the only person not to overlook him and to understand that he is worth more than his appearance dictates.

In all the more I think about it the more clichéd I realise this series is, it doesn’t really hold any real emotional weight, the characters aren’t really that developed, the comedy is too slap stick for my liking and fights uninspiring and un-dramatic. The last few episodes at least pick up the pace and give us a creepy and evil villain bent on destroying the world but they don’t use all the characters well and some get left by the wayside in the final battle. In the end it’s a bit anti climatic and just goes back to the beginning as if nothing that traumatic happened and everyone is together, happy and on their little adventures again.

I liked the character designs for a bit but after a while they were just a mash up of costumes and character types I’d seen many a time and normally destroyed by all the stupid faces they pulled. I can’t say anything inspiring about the music apart from every now and again when something dramatic of scary was happening some of the scoring sounded like a tune I liked from the Casshern film. I can’t remember the opening themes they did nothing for me and the only song I really remember was the first ending theme because I like the old school computer game graphics they had on, little pixel people like in Final Fantasy 1 and 2 wandering around dungeons. The animation style was crisp and clear but nothing amazing, pretty run of the mill which I don’t mind unless there is nothing else to inspire me so by the fact that I was being uninspired by most of it means there wasn’t much I did like about the look and sound of the series.
Really if you just want a simple no brain watch of a series with a little plot to keep you entertained than this is good background viewing. If slap stick is your thing or you like RPG anime’s and just enjoying watching some adventurers travel about than it’s worth a little look but there is much better stuff out there like Bakuretsu Hunters (for comedy) and Crystannia (for excellent fantasy adventure fair). But alas sometimes the brain wants a simple show so it’s good to have some on back up.

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Now I’m a huge fan of series set in prisons something about how harsh and gritty they are with that beautifully twisted sense of morals and destruction of people both physically and mentally. I mean one of my all-time fav shows is Oz so I jumped up and got very excited when Prison break hit our screens years ago. Now Prison break came out not long after Lost offering us a more realistic based show with a similar us of flashbacks to explain character development and interesting twists and cliff-hangers leaving you desperate to know what is going to happen to these characters. Series 1 was pure genius and absolutely amazing it had amazing pace and was filled with suspense and tension. Every episode was edge of your seat and gripping with a very interesting array of characters all developing in ways I didn’t see coming. It was never the main brothers of Linc and Michael that had my interest it was all the other side characters and how they connected and why they were hear and what lengths they would go to see their personal agendas fulfilled. If you haven’t seen Prison break than series 1 really is amazing. The first season follows the rescue of Lincoln Burrows (Dominic Purcell), who is accused of murdering Terrence Steadman (Jeff Perry), the brother of the Vice President of the United States (Patricia Wettig). Lincoln is sentenced to death and is incarcerated in Fox River State Penitentiary where he awaits his execution. Lincoln’s brother, brilliant structural engineer Michael Scofield (Wentworth Miller), is convinced of Lincoln’s innocence and formulates an escape plan. In order to gain access to Fox River, Michael commits an armed robbery which results in his being sentenced to Fox River. In prison, Michael befriends the prison doctor Sara Tancredi (Sarah Wayne Callies) when he pretends to suffer from Type 1 diabetes, in order to gain daily access to the prison’s infirmary. The brothers’ fight to ward off the execution is aided by their lifelong friend Veronica Donovan (Robin Tunney), who begins to investigate the conspiracy that put Lincoln in jail. However, they are hindered by covert agents, members of an organization known as The Company. The Company was responsible for framing Lincoln, and they did so because of Lincoln’s father, Aldo Burrows (Anthony Denison), and his former connections to the company. The brothers, along with six other inmates, Fernando Sucre (Amaury Nolasco), Theodore “T-Bag” Bagwell (Robert Knepper), Benjamin Miles “C-Note” Franklin (Rockmond Dunbar), David “Tweener” Apolskis (Lane Garrison), John Abruzzi (Peter Stormare), and Charles “Haywire” Patoshik (Silas Weir Mitchell), who come to be known as the Fox River Eight, work together to try and escape in the season finale.

Now after series 1 I did enjoy the second series cause I was riding high on the kite of how awesome the first series was and the writers kept it fast and interesting with the inmates on the outside trying to escape and stay on the run. The third series was set back in SONA prison so I preferred it because it was again about trying to calculate a daring and dangerous escape from a prison without the rules and regulation of Fox River. Sona was run by the inmates and was a harsher environment with more edge and danger than the first prison but alas our protagonists escaped this prison too. Then I tried to watch the last series and after about 5 eps gave up until last week when I finally decided to finish the series. The problem with the last series is that again it was set on the outside and therefore didn’t have the harshness that comes from a prison setting. There was no insight into how the prison system works or doesn’t, no look at the interrelationship of prisoners and their cliques, no sense of imprisonment that sense of isolation from the world and everyday things. What was great about prison break was that you only had the prison and its walls you could feel the characters constrictions and seclusion it made it more interesting knowing that they had few resources, options and allies to help escape their confines. Michael seemed even smarter when he was trying to escape a prison as it was a far more difficult task than just being on the run, he has to be a step ahead of everyone know so many details and have so many contingency plans. The most amazing part of the first series was Michael’s tattoo and how it not only mapped out the prison but of how it was such an intricate puzzle and visual representation of the brilliance that was going on it Michael’s mind. Once they were out of Prison this brilliant tattoo lost its importance and meaning and was lost to the plot and development of the show.

I was really disappointed in series 4 it got more and more complicated and it was just an over the top conspiracy thriller by the end. I really didn’t care about the plot by this point it was too convoluted, more and more characters were introduced, everyone kept betraying each other, you couldn’t trust anyone and there were random plot lines introduced. We had Michael with his strange neurological disease that he somehow developed, a mother that came back from the dead, an evil company selling environmental weapons to china and no prisons!!!!

Now for the best thing about Prison Break and the reason I stuck with it to the end. The brilliant acting of Robert Knepper and his awesome character of Theodore “T-Bag” Bagwell. I can’t tell you how much I adored this character, by all accounts you should hate this vile creature and his awful crimes but you just can’t hate him. He is seductively charming, manipulatively brilliant, a genius and a terrifying man. T-bag is a horrific man with horrific crimes ranging from murder to rape; he is both psychotic and sociopathic. But he is a product of his father raping his mentally ill sister and therefore T-bag is a child of incest who was also abused by his father. This will never justify his action but it makes for a very conflicted, interesting and unpredictable character. There is something very charming about the man and also something in him that begs for redemption and a wish he had been dealt a better deal in life. I loved his character development, the way he spoke, the duality in his nature and his presence on screen and ability to steal any scene he was in. One of the things that I disliked by series 4 is how they downplayed his importance and after giving him some heart they just stripped it away and turned him into a monster again rather than showing how intelligent and calculating he could be. This nicely brings me onto Breakout Kings.

When I heard there was going to be another Prison show from the team behind Prison Break I was intrigued by the premise and then I heard that Robert Knepper would reprise his role as T-Bag and I was sold. I had to see this series. The premise for the show is in order to catch escaped convicts; a squad of U.S. Marshals makes a special deal with several current prisoners. If they agree to help, their sentences will be reduced by one month for each fugitive they bring in, and they will be transferred to a minimum-security facility. However, if any of them should try to escape, they will all be returned to their original prisons, and their sentences will be doubled. The show was a strange mix of Prison Break and a harsher meaner version of leverage. It has a simple formula, each ep a convict escapes (American prisons need better security since so many high profile prisoners seem to escape) and this crack team that include convicts that were themselves the hardest to catch by the team leader are called in to track down and catch the escapees. Now the series lacks the polish of leverage and the intelligence of Prison Break but it’s entertaining no the less. It’s not really a prison show it’s more a cat and mouse chase show. But the reason I watch it was not disappointing, in the third ep we get the return of Theodore Bagwell and he does not disappoint. I do feel bad for Fox River prison this is the second time T-Bag has escaped from this facility, you’d think they would learn since it’s also now the third time he’s escaped from a prion in the last 5 years. Robert Knepper again performs brilliantly in his role as the very messed up, brilliant and determined killer and this one episode had everything that was missing in the entire last series of Prison break.

T-bag’s dual persona is beautifully explored, how he is seen as nothing more than a monster, an animal that feeds of humanity but at the same time he has feelings and personal reasons for his actions. Even from the beginning of the ep when he tells his cell mate to keep the candle burning for him you know that his escape is about something more than him and he’s after revenge for someone else. We get to see both the vicious and brutal side of the man, always emphasized by the scoring of the episode as well as well as his lost and emotional side, triggered by his quest to revenge the treatment of his mother. Even with everything that he has done there is one thing that means he still has a soul and that is the love he has for his mother and the lengths he goes to to protect her. We learn so much about the man and all the conflicts within him as well as how others perceive him and how he perceives himself. Plus we see an amazing performance by Robert Knepper. But moving away from this one ep the series is pretty entertaining and I am enjoying the chase it provides me with each episode. I’m not as invested in the characters as I have been with other shows but the first series is only 13 eps so there’s room for development. The characters do interact with each other well and antagonize each other well so it does provide some good banter and dialogue but it needs some tighter scripts. There are some plots that even I think need more care, like the fact that they let these convicts out and about but haven’t put tracker bracelets on their ankles where shows like White Collar and Hawaii 5-0 have managed to put this into their plots.

The one character that really does raise this series up is that of Dr. Lloyd Lowery played by Jimmi Simpson a convict who suffers from gambling addiction even though he was a child protégé and brilliant scholar. It’s his brilliant evaluation of the people he meets, the way he can detect and diagnose people’s problems, insecurities, mental health issues and behavioural patterns making him essential to the team. He really is an interesting character that comes across as intelligent and a little mental himself, his own social skills are lacking but his evaluation of cases is such a huge help to this team and while he seems to wind everyone up he tends to solve the cases and speak the truths. I know there are a lot of procedural cop shows out there such as CSI, NCSI, Law and Order, Hawaii 5 -0 this one is a little different as it does give us a different prospective by having cons helping to catch cons. But if nothing else watch ep 3 which really is brilliant and worth it.

Dont forget to follow me on twitter @lonedreameryaoi and the facebook page let zoe spoil you

Ok so I finally watched all the Marvel Animated Movies in the end I watched up to 5 in one day and now have a head full of marvel goodness. I am a big fan of animation not just Japanese Anime and have followed nearly all the animations that were based on comic books. I am also a Marvel fan especially X-men cartoons and I collect the Wolverine origins comic series as well as New Avengers and Gotham City Sirens. So I would natural have gotten a hold on any Marvel film and these animation are generally better than the live action films that have been made over the last few years, with the exception of Iron Man, Thor and the Incredible Hulk (Edward Norton one) the Marvel live actions haven’t been great some entertain but lack any of the qualities that made the comics great or are basically cash cows, made for idiots and children and favour spectacle and special effects rather than true story telling or the gritty world these characters actually inhabit. The one thing the animated movie do is actually feel a lot more like the comic, I mean Hulk vs. Wolverine was a hundred times better than Wolverine: Origins, which was so wrong!!! So let me introduce you to the films in the order I enjoyed them.

Hulk vs. Thor/Wolverine – The plot for Vs. Thor is that for ages, Odin has protected his kingdom of Asgard. But every winter, the All-Father must rest and regain his strength for one week. During this time, all of Asgard’s foes (including trolls, giants, dark elves, and demons) try to claim the realm for their own, but they are always stopped by Odin’s son, the mighty Thor, albeit with the loss of many brave Asgardian warriors. Loki, god of mischief, has kidnapped Dr. Bruce Banner and brought him to Asgard with the help of Amora, once Thor’s lover, now the super villain known as the Enchantress. Loki makes Banner angry and he changes into the Hulk. The Enchantress then casts a spell over the Hulk which separates Banner from his monstrous alter-ego and grants Loki control over the Hulk’s body.
The plot for Vs. Wolverine starts with a prologue, Wolverine states that “I’m the best at what I do, but what I do isn’t very nice.” Wolverine wakes up dazed and confused in a crater in the mountains, as he asks, “What the hell happened?” he hears a roar in the distance. Just then the Hulk jumps over a cliff and lands in front of him, roaring in his face. Wolverine simply replies “Oh yeah…” The story then rewinds back to the events prior to this. Department H had sent in Wolverine to track down a mysterious beast known by the US Military as the Hulk, who is rampaging across the Canadian wilderness.

Planet Hulk - The Hulk awakes on board a shuttle which crashes on the planet Sakaar. Imperial guards appear and attach an obedience disk to the Hulk, and is able to communicate. From here the Hulk later wakes up on an imperial transport en-route to a coliseum, weakened after coming through the portal and imprisoned with Hiroim, Korg, Miek, Elloe Kaifi, Lavin Skee, an Android and a few hived natives. The slaves are forced to fight for their freedom in a succession of 3 fights. Lavin Skee takes charge, making battle plans for when they reach the coliseum for which Hulk shows no interest. Their first opponents are Korg’s brothers. Despite Korg’s refusal to fight, the Kronans attack his team. The fight leaves Lavin Skee impaled and the natives dead before Korg decides to destroy them, and sees Hulk trying to escape. But, when he realises the leader is the Red King he tries to attack him after killing the Great Devil Corker, and ends up fighting the Emperor’s lieutenant, Caiera. Red King shoots the Hulk, but doesn’t kill him due to the displeasure of the crowd. The Red King secretly plans Hulk’s death. The events that follow lead to hulks escape along with his co prisoners and their journey to survive and get revenge against the Red King.

Ultimate Avengers – The plot is In the last days of World War II in the European Theatre, Steve Rogers, a U.S. soldier, known as Captain America due to being enhanced with the “Super-Soldier Serum”, prevents a missile launch by Nazis, which are soon revealed to be shape-shifting extra-terrestrials led by one taking the form of SS officer Herr Kleiser. The missile explosion, however, sends Rogers into a catatonic state, and he falls into the icy waters of the North Atlantic, presumed dead. In the present day, Captain America is found and revived by a S.H.I.E.L.D. team led by General Nick Fury. Bruce Banner and his ex-girlfriend Betty Ross lead a team of government scientists working to recreate the Super-Soldier Serum in order to try and stop the real power that backed the Nazis – the alien Chitauri. Banner thinks the Super-Soldier Serum is the key to him controlling the Hulk, and he secretly uses his blood to try to create a cure, instead of using candidates that had been selected for the rebirth procedure. As excepted things don’t go as planned especially with the added threat of an alien invasion.

Doctor Strange – the plot is Dr. Stephen Strange is one of the most gifted surgeons in medicine; however, he is also highly arrogant and dismissive of his colleagues. While driving home from the hospital one night, he notices Baron Mordo and his allies slaying a monster – notable because they are hidden from view by one of Wong’s spells. An unbelieving Strange dismisses it as stress-related hallucination. The next day, he is visited by the hospital’s administrator Oliver who states that Dr. Gina Atwater has problems with him. He then speaks with Dr. Atwater and discusses her case of a child — one of many — who is suffering from dangerous nightmares. Seeing the children causes Stephen to flashback to when his sister April had a headache similar to the ones the children have been having. The conversation also reveals that the two doctors have had a romantic relationship in the past. When touching one child, he sees an image of a demonic skull-face laughing while engulfed in flames and promptly leaves, telling Gina that there is nothing he can do for the children. While driving home, Stephen again sees the vision of flames with a burning face in them and swerves his car to avoid ghostly children in the road, careening off the cliffside. As a result of the crash, his hands are left shattered and useless. Spending all of his fortune and life savings in pursuit of a way to fix his fractured hands, the dejected doctor believes all is lost until his suicide attempt is thwarted by Wong who recommends the Ancient One to offer him hope and healing in Tibet.

Ultimate Avengers 2 – the plot is that of T’Challa, the Prince of Wakanda, returns from the outside world to learn the kingdom is being attacked by the alien Chitauri. Herr Kleiser, the alien shape-shifter who battled Captain America during World War II, kills T’ Challa’s father in combat and seeks Wakanda’s store of vibranium, the metal the Chitauri use to manufacture their ships and weapons. After becoming King and assuming the alias of the Black Panther, T’ Challa seeks the aid of Captain America. General Nick Fury of S.H.I.E.L.D. orders the Ultimate Avengers to assemble, with the exception of Thor (who is unavailable) and the Hulk (his alter ego Bruce Banner is being kept under surveillance).

Next Avengers: Tomorrows heroes – A battle with Ultron leaves the Avengers defeated, with six of the heroes killed during the fight, and the world at the mercy of Ultron’s machine army. Tony Stark / Iron Man decides to take the hero’s children to an underground fortified refuge hidden above the Arctic Circle. The children are James Rogers (son of Black Widow and Captain America), Henry Pym Jr. (son of Giant-Man and Wasp), Azari (son of Black Panther and Storm), and Torunn (daughter of Thor and Sif). Stark secretly raises and trains the children for 12 years, keeping their true origins secret from them. One day the Vision arrives at the refuge after hiding for over a decade from Ultron. He has come to warn Stark that Francis Barton, son of Hawkeye, is also alive. While the curious children are eavesdropping on Stark and the Vision, James accidentally activates a series of Iron Man style robots that mimic the look and abilities Captain America, Hawkeye, Black Panther, Thor, Black Widow and Giant Man. After they take off and crash through the refuge’s dome, Stark’s base is no longer invisible to Ultron’s worldwide sensors. Stark, now dressed as Iron Man, is able to stall Ultron long enough for the children to escape, but he is eventually subdued and captured. Ultron is also able to reprogram the Iron Avenger robots to follow his commands. The children now have to battle to recuse Stark and help save mankind from Ultron’s oppression.

Thor: Tales of Asgard – Before he ever lifted his mighty hammer Mjolnir, there was the sword. Fantastic journeys beckon from the mysterious nine realms. Places of dark mists and fiery voids. Of winged creatures and giants in the ice. And the most alluring quest of all – the search for the legendary Lost Sword of Surtur. Hungry for adventure, Thor secretly embarks on the journey of a lifetime, joined by his loyal brother Loki, whose budding sorcery equips him with just enough magic to conjure up trouble, along with the Warriors Three – a band of boastful travellers reluctant to set sail on any adventure that might actually be dangerous. But what starts out as a harmless treasure hunt quickly turns deadly, and Thor must now prove himself worthy of the destiny he covets by saving Asgard itself.

The Invincible Iron Man – Attempting to raise an ancient Chinese city using his company’s resources – while also diverting money into a project that he swears will bring Stark Enterprises big money without revealing the nature of the research – Tony Stark’s ambitions go up in smoke when the Jade Dragons attack the excavation site, killing most of the men there and kidnapping his friend James “Rhodey” Rhodes. Traveling to China to investigate, he is captured and badly injured by the Jade Dragons, his life only saved thanks to a Chinese shaman and Rhodes’ skills as an army medic after a piece of shrapnel damages his heart. Tony talks to the Shaman, who reveals that the Dragons seek to prevent the return of the Mandarin, an evil ruler of great power who ruled China three thousand years ago, and who the city commemorates. Should four rings created by the Mandarin – their purpose being to grant him power over death – be brought together after the city rises, the Mandarin will awaken and the world will be in great peril. The Dragons force Tony to construct a weapon to sink the city within a week or face execution and to show they are serious they kill the shaman. Befriending Li Mei, a member of the group, Tony learns that she has a great duty that has been passed down her family from father to son – she had no brothers – but she will not reveal what it is. Meanwhile, four elemental spirits are released by the raising of the city, the spirits subsequently acquiring two of the Mandarin’s four rings. Tony now as Iron man must find these 4 rings first and stop an ancient evil from taking over the world.

Ok so why these films are great, they are grittier than their live action counter parts for one thing most of them are 12’s and therefor are more violent for cartoons. I was shocked by some of the bloodshed and the harshness of these films as I was not expecting that from cartoons made in America. Hulk Vs. Wolverine does not shy away from showing Wolverine’s more violent character and doesn’t water him down like the live films do, instead he uses those claws to their full effect and we see him really slash people apart. Also it’s a great way to see him in his older days before the X-men when he was a harsher and more aggressive man, you get to meet the other members of the weapon X program such as Sabertooth, Omega Red and the wonderful Deadpool. Deadpool has always been a genius character you just can’t dislike a grey area villain like him, he’s the merc with a mouth and absolutely crazy. He is genius in the films delivering some amazing one liners and comic timing to the action and intensity. You get to see Wolverines best enemies and see him do what he is best at, plus the show down with Hulk is awesome, a brutal fight between two aggressive and anger driven protagonists.

As a fan of the Avengers I’m also enjoying how much is out there dealing with their genesis as a team as well as individuals. I have to admit that the only one I didn’t really like was Invincible Iron man it lacked something the others had and I didn’t like its take on Iron-man’s genesis and giving him a different love interest. I adore the new Iron-man films but the animated film fell flat for me even the Next Avengers was better and that was about children. The first Ultimate Avenger movie was also pure brilliance showing how desperate Bruce Banner has become and how the team work together giving us great insight into how these big characters can work as a team (I can’t wait for the live action film) the second one wasn’t as good but that’s more to do with the fact that I’m just not into the Black panther and kinda glaze over when the storyline is too focused on him.
I’m glad he won’t be in the new movie he just isn’t a character I find very interesting I prefer my characters a little more arrogant and wise cracking, I love the sarcastic nature of characters such as Iron-Man, Ant-Man and Hawkeye, I love the harsh and aggressiveness that plagues heroes so they are not cookie cutter good guys like Wolverine and The Hulk and duel nature of being a monster but also just a man and a haunted one at that like Bruce Banner. I love Thor because of his other worldliness, I love seeing someone from another world or time try and fit into our current reality especially with his old ways speech patterns and use of Norse lore. I also love the villains like Loki, who I always feel bad for cause I kinda understand why he does what he does he’s been completely taken over by his own rage and pain and its Odin’s fault really for that. I love the relationship between Thor and Loki, close brother to enemies but it’s not as simple as good versus bad as both are to blame for the way they are now. I even don’t mind Captain America, I shouldn’t as he is rather cookie cutter good guy but at least he isn’t the giant wet blanket Boy Scout that Superman is (I really hate superman), Captain America after all used to hang out with Wolverine and at least he fights Nazi’s and was humble enough to take orders from Iron-man.
So as you can tell I enjoy the characters that inhabit the Avenger universe nearly as much as the ones that inhabit the X-men verse. These films do justice to them giving each enough time to development; they are equally fleshed out and given plenty of characterisation. The Hulk has been given so much more than just smashing and bashing especially with Planet Hulk, which really is amazing. To see Hulk find a life for himself rather than as Bruce Banner is great and to see him not as an uncontrollable monster that just embodies anger and destruction was a great direction for his character. He found a world and a purpose a place he was accepted and could be part of and not hunted as a monster. Planet Hulk is great because it shows the duel nature of The Hulk himself, when you get passed the rage and give him the chance to truly live. It’s also rather brutal and harsh, you get character deaths and intense fights so not really one for the kids. Also not really for the kids is Doctor Strange a character I hadn’t ever really followed but has an interesting genesis. I like the mystical arts so a super hero that uses eastern magic’s as his weapon is great. I was taken by surprise by how creepy and a little scary this film was, as a child I would have had nightmares after this but luckily I’m an adult that watches a lot of horror. I mean there’s a scene where killer demon bat things are flying around stripping the flesh off people leaving only there skeletons, not very child friendly. But much respect for marvel going there and showing that super heroes inhabit a world that is more gritty and dangerous than is normally portrayed in cartoons. These films are defiantly for the comic fans themselves and not the average cinema going audience, these are for us that want a more realistic portrayal of our characters and a more honest adaptation of our comics.

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