My Review Of Paprika (2006)

Disclaimer: The image being featured here for this review is only being shared in the purpose of fair use only. All credit solely belongs to the original makers, creators, and owners, and absolutely no infringement is intended of any kind/type at all whatsoever.

Satoshi Kon was an acclaimed director, animator, and writer of what many consider to be some of the absolute greatest films to ever be made in the genre of anime in Japan who sadly passed away in 2010, but before that happened, Satoshi Kon made an animated major motion picture adaptation of Yasutaka Tsutsui’s 1993 novel Paprika released in 2006 from animation studio Madhouse, and sharing the same name of the book as the movie adaptation is too also called Paprika (which is Satoshi Kon’s last film before his passing).

In order for me explain what the plot of Paprika is mostly about without giving too much of it away to those who haven’t checked it out yet, Paprika is a techno-thriller psychological sci fi story about the hunt for a criminal who has stolen a prototype device called the DC Mini, and is using it to negatively affect the minds of others by manipulating their dreams which causes them to behave mentally insane. To help with the investigation, Doctor Atsuko Chiba uses her alter-ego by the name of “Paprika” (hence the title) to enter into the dream world in the hopes of looking for the necessary clues needed to find the thief, and recover the stolen DC Mini.

What has to be quickly mentioned in this review is that since the film contains moments of subtle female nudity, it is officially rated R by the MPAA, so only those who are 18 years and older of age should watch (and see) 2006’s Paprika.

Right off the bat, the biggest stand out in Paprika (2006) is the spectacular & creative animation (and what it is used to visualize) that is still very impressive to look at even during the 2020s, and the 1080 HD (high definition) video transfer featured in Sony Pictures Classic’s official Region Free Blu-Ray release from 2007, that I am lucky to still have & own, adds a very nice upgrade to the already wonderful animation in regards to the visuals, character movements & expressions, and backgrounds.

Both the Japanese, and English Dub voice acting are very good with each voice actor being a perfect fit for their respective characters, and the English subtitles used to translate the Japanese dialogue are done professionally well-enough for those who just want to read what every character is saying in Japanese.

The overall story in general can be very confusing, hard, weird, and difficult to understand at first viewing, but the plot truly is intriguing enough to keep audiences invested for them to find out what’ll happen as it keeps going on from beginning to until the very end all throughout. It’s also recommended to give Paprika multiple viewings in case to fully know what it’s all about without needing to ask any questions concerning its structure, themes, and concepts.

Susumu Hirasawa’s soundtrack that he provided for Paprika, is one of the first to be made using “vocaloid” to ever be featured in a movie, and it is most definitely for certain one of the best scores I have ever heard in a film as all of the music is a joy to the ears to hear with all the tracks being memorable in my opinion, but that should come to no surprise due to how talented & gifted Susumu Hirasawa is at making great music for whatever it is he works on.

While it is sadly Satoshi Kon’s last film that he ever worked on before his passing in 2010, Paprika from 2006 is yet another amazing movie in his filmography worth taking a look at because of how much of an achievement in Japanese animation it is with all of the good qualities, aspects, and elements I’ve gone over in this review, and it’s just a great science fiction film to begin with that shows a very creative & imaginative style of how the premise of entering one’s mind and their own dreams to its fullest potential without holding anything back whatsoever.

I give Paprika (2006) 5/5 Stars, and Two Thumbs Up!

If you would like to do so, please be sure to support me on Patreon as it’ll mean a lot to me, and please do follow me on Pinterest if you are interested in doing so, and following me on Instagram will also be very much appreciated by me too as well: https://www.patreon.com/EugeneAlejandroThe4th, https://www.instagram.com/eugenealejandroauthor/, and https://www.pinterest.com/gene98159796/_created/

My Review Of Roger Corman’s Forbidden World (1982)

Disclaimer: The image being featured here for this review is only being shared in the purpose of fair use only. All credit solely belongs to the original makers, creators, and owners, and absolutely no infringement is intended of any kind/type at all whatsoever.

If you ever wondered what Ridley Scott’s Alien (1979) would be like if it was a cheesy exploitation B-movie produced by the legendary king of B-movies named Roger Corman, then you’re in luck because 1982’s Forbidden World is the cult classic for you that’s totally worth checking out.

Forbidden World’s existence was clearly meant to come off as a low-budget mockbuster imitation of Alien from 1979, in the exact same manner that many sharksploitation features were made after the success & popularity of 1975’s Jaws (or even just imitators of Jaws in general that used a different animal as the main threat overall), and while Forbidden World does give off the first impression of being a sleezy campy copy of Ridley Scott’s Alien, it still somehow manages to ironically be an unintentionally good sci fi horror movie all in thanks due to its charming elements of being able to strongly appeal to fans of cult cinema in an amusing & fun way that is in no way boring whatsoever.

Despite the film’s low-budget, a majority of the special effects in Forbidden World are actually very good as the monster does look threatening enough to be taken seriously as something to be genuinely scared of, and many of the blood & gore scenes are very graphic but in an impressive fashion, which is something I must kindly make very clear before I ever forget to explain in this review is that because of the movie’s moments of bloody violence, and sex & nudity, it’s best to be viewed only if you are 18 years old and above.

The acting is also surprisingly decent considering this is an exploitation B-movie, and while I liked seeing Dawn Dunlap in the film, there were times in which I was kind of annoyed by her screaming & yelling whenever her character was terrified, but it made sense based on the context of the scenes that caused her to react in such a way.

Since Forbidden World is suppose to take place on a outer-worldly planet, the set designs of the film perfectly match that very well since it is science fiction after all, but a downside to that I must nitpick is that the space station the characters primarily are seen in is cheap-looking for the most part as the walls on the hallway are obviously made from egg cartons, and fast food box containers.

The official Region A Blu-Ray release of Forbidden World (1982), put out by Shout Factory through their “Roger Corman’s Cult Classics” line, is a wonderful home video release as the picture quality of the movie is great, and the interviews included in the special features are worth taking a look at also, with there also being a fantastic documentary about the making of the film I truly recommend watching if you want to get this home video release of Roger Corman’s Forbidden World. I actually almost forgot to point out that this Blu-Ray release also contains the unrated director’s cut version simply titled “Mutant”, so that too is worth checking out as well thanks to the awesome release by Shout Factory.

Forbidden World is an honest guilty pleasure of mine that I always find myself watching multiple times, for it does a fantastic job at keeping me entertained by how much of a schlock production it is that imitates 1979’s Alien in a fun style that makes it rightfully deserving of it being a cult classic that has to be seen to be believed.

I’m going to give Roger Corman’s Forbidden World (1982) 5/5 Stars, and Two Thumbs Up!

If you would like to do so, please be sure to support me on Patreon as it’ll mean a lot to me, and please do follow me on Pinterest, and Instagram if you are interested in doing so: https://www.patreon.com/EugeneAlejandroThe4th, https://www.pinterest.com/gene98159796/_created/, and https://www.instagram.com/eugenealejandroauthor/

My Review Of Robowar (1988)

Disclaimer: The image being featured here for this review is only being shared in the purpose of fair use only. All credit solely belongs to the original makers, creators, and owners, and absolutely no infringement is intended of any kind/type at all whatsoever.

In the exact same manner, fashion, and style as Shocking Dark released a year later in 1989, Bruno Mattei’s Robowar from 1988 is a mockbuster that this time is a low-budget imitation of the first Predator film from 1987, and it even goes as far as to sprinkle in an idea & concept lifted from the first Robocop movie also from the year 1987 too as well, even if it is minor for Robowar copies elements from Predator the most more so then it does Robocop to be fair (although there’s actually a ton of differences that make Robowar stand-out from those two, even if that really isn’t saying much since it’s a mockbuster of them after all).

Thankfully for this review, I was finally able see Robowar in the USA due to the fact that Severin Films had put it out on home video in 2019 in an official Region Free DVD & Blu-Ray release that is a 4k remaster scan from the original camera negative, and I’ve also been incredibly lucky to have gotten myself a copy of the limited edition Blu-Ray release of the movie on Amazon, which as far as the Blu-Ray release of the film is concerned, the video quality is very impressive to look at considering Robowar most likely had never gotten such a transfer before since it wasn’t available to watch in the United States Of America for such a long time until the year 2019 at last by Severin Films as already mentioned.

Just like Shocking Dark (1989) in that despite it also being a mockbuster made as a complete cash-grab which also rips off other more well-known & popular works of cinema that obviously have higher budgets put into them, Robowar too is yet another so bad its good guilty pleasure (at least in my own humble opinion anyways) from the mindset of Bruno Mattei, that truly is entertaining to sit through despite its imperfections, with one of the major reasons being that the actions scenes in Robowar are amusingly fun to watch, the effects & production values are surprisingly competent even if still not the best things ever put onto film, and the overall soundtrack is general is that of nice 1980s epic cheese that fits the tone well in this movie.

While the characters aren’t particularly all that memorable, the acting is serviceable based on the material all of the actors & actresses are given to work with, and I must mention before I ever forget to do so is that Robowar was filmed in The Philippines in order to be set in a jungle as a means to copy 1987’s Predator, and the cinematography, camera work, and lighting are most definitely top-notch aspects in this mockbuster. The design of the antagonistic threat that is the malfunctioning killer robot may not be the best, but it still isn’t the worst, and it does deliver some unique kill scenes even if it is meant to simply just be a Predator (1987) knock-off.

To wrap up this review, 1988’s Robowar by Bruno Mattei is ironically a spectacular film to watch, all in thanks to the movie’s charm of not taking itself too seriously, and it is worth seeing in order to better understand how the early years of making mockbusters was like in the old days of cinema.

I’m giving Robowar (1988) 5/5 Stars, and Two Thumbs Up!

If you would like to do so, please be sure to support me on Patreon as it’ll mean a lot to me, and please do follow me on Pinterest, and Instagram if you are interested in doing so: https://www.patreon.com/EugeneAlejandroThe4th, https://www.pinterest.com/gene98159796/_created/, and https://www.instagram.com/eugenealejandroauthor/

My Review Of Shocking Dark (1989)

Disclaimer: The image being featured here for this review is only being shared in the purpose of fair use only. All credit solely belongs to the original makers, creators, and owners, and absolutely no infringement is intended of any kind/type at all whatsoever.

Before I begin with my review of Shocking Dark (1989), I first want to explain who Bruno Mattei is, and what mockbusters are, because I feel it’ll help in giving context on all that’s needed to know about Shocking Dark, to better help fully understand its existence considering it’s a movie I know not a lot of people are even aware of is even real despite what I will saying for this review of the film. Bruno Mattei was an Italian film-maker known for making a ton of exploitation B-movies (including mockbusters) who sadly passed away in 2007, and a mockbuster is essentially a film that is a low-budget imitator that’s made to jump on the bandwagon in an attempt to make a financial profit off of a much more well-known, and successful movie a mockbuster happens to be imitating (even if it’s solely an imitation of the genre alone that the other film has).

1989’s Shocking Dark, easily without any doubt fits well into the category of it being a mockbuster due to the fact that it heavily copies from both of James Cameron’s Aliens (1986 & 1991 in regards to the “Special Edition” version), and Terminator (1984), to the point that even going as far as to being marketed under the title known simply as “Terminator 2” in it’s original release in Italy as a means to trick audiences thinking it was an actual sequel to the first Terminator, even though it really isn’t (which is kind of ironic seeing how the real official Terminator 2 made by James Cameron would come out in 1991).

As a result of the obvious legal reasons, Brunto Mattei’s Shocking Dark was unable to get an official release in the United States Of America from a copyright concerns point of view, but thankfully in the year 2018, Severin Films was able to finally get it officially distributed and put out in the USA on DVD & Blu-Ray at last with it also being an official Region Free home video release digitally remastered in 2k, and while this movie does heavily copy both Terminator, and Aliens, Shocking Dark is a film that is still (surprisingly) able to be a highly entertaining guilty pleasure from beginning until the end, and I say such without being sarcastic in the slightest.

Shocking Dark really does achieve the impossible in that it’s a mockbuster that manages in being enjoyably cheesy despite all of its poor qualities that range from the mediocre acting, average effects, absurd logic (or the lack of logic thereof if you wanna go as far as to describe it that way), and the blatant lack of originally with the premise, story, plot, and characters since all of it it basically a low-budget version of both Aliens, and Terminator.

The only nitpick I have to say about Shocking Dark is that the creatures the characters encounter are often obscured from the camera which at times makes it impossible to fully see them, and I’m not sure why that is the case. I can only assume it was a budgetary reason, but I strongly doubt that was the main reason. Also, there seems to be a lack of subtitles for when watching the film in a different language based on my knowledge with the Severin Films DVD I have of the movie.

In regards to old-school mockbusters from the 1980s is concerned, Bruno Mattei succeeded in making Shocking Dark one of the greatest ones ever made in the ironic sense at least in that it truly is so bad its good, and the 2k transfer scan in the official DVD release of it by Severin Films is visually appeasing to look at (which does help in the viewing experience of seeing Shocking Dark in all of its schlock-filled glory).

I give Shocking Dark (1989) 5/5 Stars, and Two Thumbs Up!

Stay tuned as my very next review after this one is none other but another mockbuster Bruno Mattei made that was released a year earlier than Shocking Dark, which is the 1988 low-budget knock-off of Predator (1987) called “Robowar” (and yes, it very much does exist).

If you would like to do so, please be sure to support me on Patreon as it’ll mean a lot to me, and please do follow me on Pinterest & Instagram if you are interested in doing so: https://www.patreon.com/EugeneAlejandroThe4th, https://www.pinterest.com/gene98159796/_created/, and https://www.instagram.com/eugenealejandroauthor/

My Review Of Robots (2005)

Disclaimer: The image being featured here for this review is only being shared in the purpose of fair use only. All credit solely belongs to the original makers, creators, and owners, and absolutely no infringement is intended of any kind/type at all whatsoever.

Released in 2005, and from Blu Sky Studios distributed by 20^th Century Fox, Robots is a computer animated science fiction comedy film that I can safely say is still one of the most enjoyable family movies that kids, teens, and adults can like despite its typical basic premise.

To clarify on what I am talking about with that last statement, while the story & plot of Robots is still good, and backed-up by memorable & entertaining characters, such qualities featured in Robots aren’t exactly the most original even if in a fictional world populated by sentient robots (hence the title), as it has been done before in other works of fiction with the main conflict being somewhat of a class struggle between the outmode robots and the upgraded ones (obviously being a reference to the lower class poor people rising against an unfair society ruled by the upper class rich people), but for what it honestly is, it isn’t bad at all whatsoever.

The many good aspects that make Robots a fun film to watch is that the writing does have genuinely clever moments that help keep the audiences invested in the likable characters with a good amount of solid jokes and humor, the voice acting is very top-notch thanks to a talented cast of voice actors, the music is incredibly nice to listen to, and the most noticeable positive that I can be said about this movie is the absolutely incredible animation that still looks amazing to look at even to this day all in thanks to the visual creativity the animation gives off to make the world of Robots feel believable.

While it is by no means an cinematic masterpiece in animation that it could’ve been due to all of the positive aspects in it that I’ve already explained, Robots is still a charming film that’s well-made enough, and the movie has a nice message to it that works favors with how it is presented to the point that it is recommended to check out for fans (and even historians) of animation.

I give Robots from 2005 4/5 Stars, and Two Thumbs Up!

If you would like to do so, please be sure to support me on Patreon as it’ll mean a lot to me, and please do follow me on Pinterest, and Instagram if you are interested in doing so: https://www.patreon.com/EugeneAlejandroThe4th, https://www.pinterest.com/gene98159796/_created/, and https://www.instagram.com/eugenealejandroauthor/

Dragon Ball Super: Broly Review by Eugene Alejandro

Dragon Ball Super: Broly is a 2018 Japanese animated feature film by Toei Animation, and was made into an English Dub by Funimation Films (which is the version I’m reviewing by the way), and was distributed theatrically for an official USA release by 20^th Century Fox for the year; 2019 (January 16^th, 2019 to be more specific). The movie’s screenplay (or script however you’d like to call it) is also written by the creator of the Dragon Ball franchise; Akira Toriyama (thus making this entire movie canon to the whole franchise).

The primary plot of the film without going into any spoilers is that after Universe 7 won the tournament of power seen in the Dragon Ball Super anime TV series and manga (that’s not a spoiler by the way as even a lot of the official marketing and advertising for the film explained this even before it come out in theaters), Frieza (who participated in the tournament of power, and was brought back to life as a reward), still wants revenge against Goku and Vegeta, so he ends up discovering two lost surviving Saiyans named Paragus, and Broly (who this movie is named after) thanks to some of his own troops finding them on a deserted planet.

With Broly’s immense power, Frieza now decides take advantage of the opportunity to use Broly in order to have him kill both Goku, and Vegeta, but perhaps there is a whole lot more to Broly’s power than anyone else can even realize.

Before I begin explaining my thoughts on the film in great detail, I must also point out that there is also another story that happens in the movie that while it does a very good job at connecting to the rest of the movie (as well as the main franchise’s continuity), I prefer to not to say too much about it for this review as I really do want people to see Dragon Ball Super: Broly without it being ruined, and I will explain why I say such.

I usually like to start with positive aspects, but for this review, I prefer to start it off with some minor nitpicks worth mentioning since I did notice them when seeing this movie in a big screen theater, and they thankfully don’t contain spoilers.

The first is that while the movie does acknowledge the fact it takes place after the Universal Survival Saga, I felt the movie didn’t explain that too well as it mostly came off as a short mention, which isn’t a bad thing, but for those watching the film that have never seen that story arc in Dragon Ball Super, a lot of confusion is bound to occur.

The second nitpick is that since this movie does have a slightly different art style to its animation, while it is indeed good to look at for a theatrically-released film, I wasn’t really too impressed with how the character of Beerus looked since I felt that in some scenes, this face looked like that of a Dog’s as opposed to a cat. But again, it’s only a nitpick as opposed to a major part of the film.

Now on to the positives since there are indeed lots of them I want to talk about for this review. As I already mentioned, the animation and the art style presented in Dragon Ball Super: Broly are great to look at, and truly show the amount of money, effort, and passion that was put into it looking nice (despite my nitpick about Beerus’s new design). One thing to mention about the animation before I forget is that there are small moments where CGI (Computer-Generated-Images) is used for some scenes, and they surprisingly look ever good and never detract from the hand-drawn animation.

The fights scenes were simply epic and really help add to the martial arts feel the series is most well-known for thanks to them being very fast-paced, but never in a way they were hard to follow.

The English Dub provided by Funimation Films was done very well with each voice actor displaying a good voice performance, and each of the voices matching the respective characters very well. At the time of me making this review, I haven’t seen this movie in Japanese with English subtitles yet, so I sadly cannot say if the original Japanese voice acting was also good, nor can I also compare it to the English Dub. But from what I’ve seen, the English Dub is still very good to hear.

The soundtrack provided by Norihito Sumitomo in Dragon Ball Super: Broly is extremely energetic for all the right reasons, and fits a martial arts sci fi action movie such as this very well.

As for the overall story concerning the main plot of the film (and just the whole movie in general), it isn’t anything way too unique for those unfamiliar with Dragon Ball, but the story is indeed a fun joyride to those who are fans of Dragon Ball as it contains all the ingredients necessary to make a fun Dragon Ball movie (there are also a lot of fun little “Easter Eggs” present in the film).

Dragon Ball Super: Broly may only appeal to hardcore Dragon Ball fans in the sense that it does require lots of knowledge about the franchise to fully (and truly) appreciate it, but it is still a very fun and entertaining film that I had the honor to watch in a big screen American cinema, and I can most certainly recommend it to Dragon Ball fans since it is also canon to the franchise.

I give Dragon Ball Super: Broly Two Thumbs Up, and 5/5 Stars.

Kill The Minotaur Review by Eugene Alejandro

Kill The Minotaur is a six part comic book mini series published by both Image Comics and Skybound Entertainment, and is written by Chris Pasetto & Christian Cantamessa, and features artwork by Lukas Ketner (pencil and inking work) & Jean-Francois Beaulieu (digital coloring).

Without going into any spoilers, Kill The Minotaur is a re-telling of the classic Greek myth of Theseus and The Minotaur, but adds a lot of newer twist and elements in order to have it stand out from many other re-tellings.

Before I mention all of the positive aspects, I want to point my biggest nit-pick with Kill The Minotaur which is the lettering. Now to clarify what I mean by this is that while the lettering by Clem Robbins is very solid to look at, since Kill The Minotaur takes place in Ancient Greece, I felt that all the characters should’ve had translation notes in their speech bubbles since it would’ve been much more realistic to have them speaking Greek as opposed to English.

Another nit-pick that I just remembered for this review is that while the ending isn’t terrible, it sadly ends up not tying up a lot of loose ends as not much is explained within the overall plot.

Now on to the positives. The most notable (in my opinion) is the artwork as the Ancient Greek setting is represented with great amount of detail as it truly does feel like a story set during that time period. With this being a six issue mini series, the story moves at a very good pace, and since I was able to finish reading it all in one day, that truly is an accomplishment.

So if you are somebody who is interested in reading someone else’s unique take on a well-known Greek Myth, please give Kill The Minotaur a read as I’m sure you won’t be disappointed.

I give Kill The Minotaur 5/5 Stars, and Two Thumbs Up.

Kingsglaive: Final Fantasy 15 Review by Eugene Alejandro

Disclaimer: For this review, I am only going to be reviewing the English Dub because that is the version I watched before making this review.

Kingsglaive: Final Fantasy 15 is a feature-length computer animated major motion picture that serves as both a direct prequel and midquel to the video game from Square Enix; Final Fantasy 15 (which I am currently still playing at the time of me writing this review).

The story in this film is that in the world of Eos, two nations are at war with each other over the planet’s crystal because said crystal grants whoever uses ultimate power (which the kingdom of Lucis has, and the other wants to take). The two nations are Lucis, and Niflheim. The Kingsglaive are a group of elite soliders tasked in protecting Lucis from Niflheim’s invasions. I could go into more detail about this movie’s plot, but I prefer not to because I don’t wanna go into any spoiler territory regarding this movie’s story at all in this review.

For a movie that is meant to be a companion piece to the Final Fantasy 15 universe, I have to say that I found this movie to be spectacularly awesome to watch as not only does it work at benefiting Final Fantasy 15’s overall story, but it also turned out to be a very entertaining movie to watch as far as my opinion is concerned.

The most notable aspect in Kingsglaive: Final Fantasy 15 is the computer animation which is meant to have a very photo-realistic look to it. For how it looks, the animation is simply breath-taking and beautiful to look at. The character’s movements regarding facial expressions, lip-syncing, and walking, jumping, etc, are all done very well in order to help all the characters feel alive. The visuals, background animation, and creature designs are also very nice to look at. All of this really shows how talented Square Enix is at making good photo-realistic computer animation.

The English Dub voice acting in Kingsglaive: Final Fantasy 15 is another good quality/aspect of the film as each voice actor delivers their lines perfectly, and each voice fits the characters very well. The lip-syncing also helps with the movie’s English Dub because it makes the character’s mouth movements believable.

The soundtrack in this movie awesome. While I should go into more elaboration and detail on as to why I think the music for this film is good, all I can honestly say is that for what it is, its great to listen to while watching the whole movie.

The only nitpicks that I have regarding my experience of watching Kingsglaive: Final Fantasy 15 are that while I was completely entertained by the whole movie, I still felt the movie went on for way too long to where I was worried the film would never end. But even then despite that, the movie is still worth sitting through in order to get the full Final Fantasy 15 story experience (at least in my honest opinion anyways). Another nitpick that I have is that while this film works very well as a companion piece to the Final Fantasy 15 universe, I personally think it would have been even better had it been its own stand-alone movie with the Final Fantasy name and some of the themes and elements from the franchise added to it. Now I shouldn’t fault the movie for being part of Final Fantasy 15 as that is what Square Enix made it out to be,but I still would’ve preferred it being its own movie rather than a prequel and midquel to the game.

Kingsglaive: Final Fantasy 15 is a sci fi and fantasy action movie that I can easily recommend to Final Fantasy fans, as it works very well as both a companion piece, and as an overall movie.

I give Kingsglaive: Final Fantasy 15 Two Thumbs Up, and 5/5 Stars.

Ghost In The Shell (1995) Movie Review by Eugene Alejandro

Disclaimer: The version of the movie that I’m reviewing is NOT the 2.0 version. This is a review of the normal version of the film which I own on DVD. With that said, please enjoy the review.

The 1995 Ghost In The Shell movie is a Japanese animated science fiction and cyberpunk film directed by Mamoru Oshii, made and released by Bandai Visual and Production I.G, released into English by Manga Entertainment, and is adapted from the Manga series of the same name by Masamune Shirow (the movie even has an alternative titled called Mobile Armored Riot Police: Ghost In The Shell).

The plot of the film is about an intelligence department named Public Security Section 9 who is on the task of hunting down a massive ghost hacker called The Puppet Master. The world of Ghost In The Shell is that there exists a special technology that allows the consciousness of a human being to enter an enhanced cybernetic body (hence the title of the movie), and for there to be someone who can hack into the cybernetic bodies is a very big problem. The movie mostly centers on the main character for the film; Motoko Kusanagi, who while going along with the mission in trying to capture the Puppet Master, ends up wanting to know more about the hacker (which ends up leading up to a pretty clever and surprising plot twist that I won’t spoil in this review).

In the same vain of other Anime movies such as Akira, and Ninja Scroll, Ghost In The Shell helped introduce Japanese animation into the USA, and was the huge critical and financial success when it first came out back in the year 1995 (the movie also served as inspiration for The Matrix franchise). Does the movie hold up and aged well from it’s grand reputation though? Yes it does. Similar to what I did in my review for the Akira movie, I will talk about each aspect of Ghost In The Shell (1995) in good amount of detail, and then say my overall final thoughts on the movie.

-The Story and Writing: In a very good way, the story in Ghost In The Shell 1995 is very deep and complex, and moves at a great pace thanks to how the script is written. If there one small thing about the story (and how it’s written) that I should mention however, is that because of the complexity of the plot, the story can sometimes be hard to follow, so I would strongly recommend watching this movie multiple times in case you are unable to fully understand the story from just one viewing. As far as the character development is concerned in the story and writing for Ghost In The Shell 1995, while there aren’t any flashbacks that show each of the characters origins in great amount of detail, the characters that are mostly presented in the film do at least have solid motivations for what they are doing, and serve a good purpose in the film. So as far as Ghost In The Shell 1995’s plot and writing goes, it’s excellent. I should also mention before I forget that the movie does have a very good way of foreshadowing things that happen. I won’t go into the specifics about if for this review, but it is something I wanted to bring up about the film’s writing and plot.

-The Animation: One of the truly most memorable things about Ghost In The Shell 1995 is its animation. The movie was (at least to my best of knowledge) the first Japanese animated feature film to use an animation making process called DGA (Digitally Generated Animation). This is the result of combining cel animation, and computer graphics together. As far as how that process of making the animation for Ghost In The Shell 1995 went back then, it was done incredibly well as the backgrounds have such strong amount of detail put into them, the character movements are very strong and help the character feel real, and even the animation regarding character facial movements also does a good job at helping the characters feel alive. The use of computer generated graphics for this movie also help make the animation even better as the visuals are groundbreaking for the year that the movie came out. So without rambling on and on, the animation in Ghost In The Shell 1995 is amazing and holds up very well to this day.

-The Music/Score/Soundtrack: Another memorable part of Ghost In The Shell 1995 is the outstanding soundtrack for it that was created by Kenji Kawai. What’s very fascinating about the music is that a majority of it is actually created using the ancient Japanese language; Yamato. The overall score by Kenji Kawai in the film is beautifully haunting, and helps fit with the movie’s very deep and complex tone. There are moments however when the movie is devoid from the soundtrack, but that at times is actually a good thing because the silent moments in the film actually work with how the overall movie is made. I honestly got nothing else to say about the movie’s score, so let me just say that overall, the soundtrack in Ghost In The Shell 1995 is fantastic.

-The Voice Acting: Both the Japanese language, and English Dub voice acting for Ghost In The Shell 1995 are really good. I do have to say however that because of me watching this movie mostly in the English Dub, I will say that I strongly recommend watching the movie in the English Dub of Ghost In The Shell as all the voice actors in it do the great job with their roles as each voice actor matches the character they are voicing very well. As far as the Japanese voice acting is concerned, it’s done very well, but not as memorable as the English Dub in my opinion. So in a strange way, I will have to say to mostly stick with the English Dub of Ghost In The Shell 1995.

-The Subtitles: The DVD that I own of Ghost In The Shell 1995 includes subtitles that are colored white. The subtitles that I saw when watching the movie in the Japanese language are done very well as all the words are very easy to look at, and they stay on the screen for a good amount of time for the watcher to read them. So if you want to watch Ghost In The Shell 1995 in Japanese with English Subtitles on, be glad to know that the subtitles (at least in the DVD copy that I own) are well made.

With all that I could say about Ghost In The Shell 1995, I’ll finish up this review of it by saying that the movie truly does deserve the strong reputation that it has gotten since it first came out thanks to its deep and complex story, themes, and tones, groundbreaking animation, and breath taking music. To anyone who is a fan of Anime, Sci Fi, CyberPunk, etc, should really give Ghost In The Shell 1995 a watch.

I give Ghost In The Shell 1995 Two Thumbs Up, and 5/5 Stars.

Akira: The Movie Review by Eugene Alejandro

Akira is a post apocalyptic, science fiction, and Japanese animated feature film directed and written by Katsuhiro Otomo, made by TMS (Tokyo Movie Shinsa), and originally released theatrically in Japan in the year 1988. The movie is also adapted from Katsuhiro Otomo’s own manga series of the same name.

The setting of Akira is that it is the year 2019, and Japan (more specifically, Neo Tokyo) is going through a massive economic crisis due to them trying to recover from the aftermath of World War 3, and spending most of their money for the upcoming 2020 Tokyo Sports Olympics (the reason for why World War 3 happened in the movie is explained, but no spoiler about that will be said in this review). The movie’s basic plot is about a boy named Kaneda Shotaro who gets worried for one of his best friends named Tetsuo Shima after Tetsuo is taken by the Japanese military after an incident in which the biker gang that Kandea and Tetsuo are members of were fighting another biker gang (to clarify, this isn’t the very start of the movie. This only happens during the beginning of it).

The reason why Tetsuo was taken by the military is because when he got injured in the incident, he ended up getting physic powers (I recommend watching the movie for more details as to how and why he got the powers). Because of these powers he’s gotten, Tetsuo falls into madness, and is determined into re-awaking a character named Akira (who he keeps hearing about in his head) even if it means destroying the world just to do so (and yes, the movie is actually named after that character). Later on in the story, Kaneda finds out about Tetsuo’s powers and goal, and is determined into stopping one of his best friends in order to save the world.

When Akira was released in 1988, not only was it met with high critical praise and financial success, it also served as a landmark in Japanese animation (or Anime to say it more simply), and is also one of many animated products from Japan that helped introduce Anime into the West (with the others being the 1995 Ghost in the Shell movie, and Ninja Scroll from 1993). So with all that info about Akira said, does the movie live up to all of that recognition? Indeed it does, and I’m going to try talk about all the aspects of the film so that you can know why I think it is a spectacular movie (also, there will be NO spoilers in what I’m going to say, so you don’t have to worry about that).

-The Story and Writing: While the story of Akira (for the most part) ain’t anything new (even for the time that it was originally released), the story is greatly supported by a strong script that contains solid pacing, excellent character development, and just overall all the aspects good film writing needs. All the important characters are each well-written, and entire movie in general just has an epic feel to it thanks to how the script was written into allowing that. I must also include that the movie also has a satisfying ending to it (and ending I won’t go into detail about for the sake of this review). Earlier in this review, I did mention that Akira is a movie adaption of a manga of the same name by same person who directed and written the movie adaption of it (Katsuhiro Otomo). I bring this up because to anyone who’s read the manga, would know very well that there are a lot of changes made for the film adaptation in regards to some of the characters and the ending of the story (stuff I will not spoil). For how the movie adaptation of Akira was made, the changes work very well, and help the movie maintain its legendary status without alienating people who read the manga. Before I forget now I’ve just remembered, while the story and writing in Akira are very good, the film is (at times) a very dark plot that contains a lot of scenes of violence, so I certainly CAN’T recommend watching this movie if you are under 18 years of age (trust me. The movie is rated R for a reason).

-The Animation: For a animated theatrical released movie from Japan that came out in 1988, It felt more like a movie that came out in 1998. The animation in this movie truly is revolutionary as for the time, this film utilized backgrounds and character designs with strong amounts of detail put into them. All the characters have excellent facial expressions for whenever they are happy, mad, sad, etc. This a good for the animation because it helps the characters feel alive. The animation regarding the movements is also very impressive, and helps make the animation in the entire film work. I should also talk about this movie’s use of colors as I’m sure that even the colors used in the animation for this film were also revolutionary. I say this because there is just so much detail put into this movie’s colors that helped make the animation look even better.

-The Music/Score/Soundtrack: The soundtrack in Akira was made and provided by Geino Yamashirogumi, and Tsutomu Ohashi. This movie’s music is without a doubt one of the greatest movie scores of all time thanks to all the instruments, notes, and how it fits the tone of the film very well. The music is also another novelty as (at least to my knowledge anyways) I don’t think any other Anime film at the time of its release (or possibly even before that time) had music this epic. So overall, Akira’s music is great, and definitely worth listening to.

-The Voice Acting: I must state that for this review that I am going to talk about both the original Japanese language and English Dub. While I myself don’t speak Japanese, I have watched numerous movies made in Japan to the point that I am able to notice how the performances are. With that said, the Japanese voice acting in Akira is great with each voice actor and actress fitting the character they are voicing very well. The English Dub by Pioneer/Geneon is also excellent with each voice actor to voice their characters in English fitting the roles perfectly without a single one standing out. In conclusion, the voice acting in general in Akira is good.

-The Subtitles: Originally, I didn’t feel like talking about the subtitles for this movie that were included in the Pioner/Geneon DVD that I own, but to those who are reading this review, and are interested in watching this movie with the original Japanese speaking language with English subtitles, the good news about that is that the subtitles for this movie are solid. The subtitles for the DVD that I have are colored yellow, and the way that all the words are presented whenever a character is speaking look well enough for the watcher to easily see them. The words also stay on screen for a good amount of time for the watcher to see them without them having to pause the movie just to read the subtitles. So if you are looking for good English subtitles when watching Akira in Japanese, expect the subtitles to do their job just fine.

Now that I have said and pointed out all my reasons for why I believe Akira is a fantastic movie, I can certainly recommend giving it a watch as the film truly is a legendary groundbreaking work of cinematic art that has helped introduce Japanese animation to Western audiences thanks to its very strong story and writing, fabulous animation, and epic soundtrack.

I give Akira: The Movie 5/5 Stars, and Two Thumbs Up.