Kamen Rider Black Sun (2022)

Kamen Rider Black Sun (2022)

Dir: Kazuya Shiraishi | Script: Izumi Takahashi | 10 episodes, approx 44 mins each.

Until viewing Black Sun, the most recent Kamen Rider series that I'd watched in its entirety was the fruit-themed Gaim (2013-14), so if there's been a natural progression in how the franchise does things in the intervening years, from a production standpoint, specifically, I'm not aware of it.

Timed to coincide with Rider's 50th anniversary, Black Sun feels different because it's aimed toward an adult audience. The bright 'toy line' colours that usually adorn a Rider's suit are absent, replaced with nondescript shades of black.

Besides the longer running time per episode, there's also scenes of drug use and an elevated level of violence, including immolation, decapitation, severed limbs, etc, some of which is even perpetrated by and against children.

Re\Visioned: Tomb Raider Animated Series (2007)

Re\Visioned: Tomb Raider Animated Series (2007)

10 episodes, approx 6 minutes each.

An anthology of short animated tales featuring the virtual bra-busting Brit, Lara Croft, from a number of different writers and animators. See the end of post for a full list of names. [1]

Each creator puts their own unique spin on the Lara character, which range from the wonderfully inventive (Keys to the Kingdom) to the piss-poor self-parody (Revenge of the Aztec Mummy).

None of them bother to waste time giving her any back-story or history. They assume that most viewers will already have knowledge of that from the games. The short format really doesn't allow for that kind of exposition, anyhow.

Brief (and biased) thoughts on each episode are below the cut, if you care to know more.

Ghost in the Shell: SAC_2045: Season Two (2022)

GitS: SAC_2045: Season Two (2022)

Dirs: Shinji Aramaki + Kenji Kamiyama | Eps: 12, approx 25 mins each

The good news is it's better than Season One. But that doesn't mean it's good. It's like the difference between shitting yourself while wearing shorts versus shitting yourself while wearing trousers with bicycle clips. Both stink and are best avoided.

The first episode is numbered 13, which makes sense because — even though Netflix pretend otherwise — it's clearly the second half of Season One, which they didn't bother to finish properly.

It has a new opening and new theme song that despite not being at all memorable is definitely an improvement over the last effort. (It's called Secret Ceremony, by millennium parade.) It's the kind of thing you might get if you asked a manufactured J-pop band to make a more edgy song for one of the superfluous Kingdom Hearts handheld games.

Godzilla Singular Point (2021—)

Godzilla Singular Point: Series One (2021)

Dir. Atsushi Takahashi / Episodes: 13

A thirteen episode anime TV series co-produced by studios Bones Inc. and Orange.

Chronologically it was released after Godzilla: The Planet Eater (2018) in the Reiwa Era, but it's not connected to any of the feature films.

It begins with talk of a haunted mansion and a possible ghost or vampire, but moves away from that into crazy science - and I do mean crazy. It introduces and explains its concepts well, so it's simple enough to keep up, but it'll require some major acceptance on the part of the viewer. That's if you can actually read what the hell it is that's being presented or said.

Subtitles are sometimes onscreen for a mere fraction of a second and quite often they're white text on a white background, making it almost impossible to read anything without having to pause the episode. That particular issue was solved in the days of silent cinema!

Stargate Origins: Catherine (2018)

Stargate Origins: Catherine (2018)

Dir. Mercedes Bryce Morgan

If you've watched the Stargate (1994) movie, you'll maybe remember the little girl at the story's beginning that gets given an ancient gold amulet by her father, or the elderly woman that likewise gives a gift to archaeologist Daniel Jackson before he sets out on his journey.

In both cases it was Catherine Langford, played by Kelly Vint and Viveca Lindfors, respectively. Stargate Origins: Catherine has that same character, but is set ten years after the little girl receives her gift in the movie's timeline.

Her father, Professor Paul Langford (Erik Holland in the movie, now played by Connor Trinneer), is still trying to figure out what the circular device he found at Giza was used for. SGO's Catherine (Ellie Gall) is helping out.

Goedam (2020)

Goedam (2020)

Dir. Hong Won-ki | 8 episodes, various lengths (approx 74 mins total)

A Korean horror anthology based around the idea of urban myths, with episodes of various lengths, the shortest being approx seven minutes and the longest around fifteen minutes. The individual incidents aren't connected to each other, but a few of them do take place in the same location.

It's an interesting experiment, but the result is only 12.5% successful. That might seem like an odd figure to have choosen, but it’s exact and easy to calculate: seven of the eight episodes are dire.

The only exception is the final episode, Birth, which is the most complete, the most beautiful, the most terrifying (i.e. the kidnappings), and the best edited short of them all. The picture that I've chosen to accompany this post is taken from that episode.

Ghost in the Shell: SAC_2045: Season One (2020)

GitS: SAC_2045: Season One (2020)

Dirs: Shinji Aramaki + Kenji Kamiyama | Eps: 24, approx 25 mins each.

At first glance SAC_2045 seems to have many favourable ingredients in place: it's co-produced by Production I.G; has Kenji Kamiyama onboard as co-director; it features many of the original Japanese and English language voice cast; and continues the Stand Alone Complex continuity.

Alas, in reality the continuation fails to live up to its positives. It's a soulless venture with little to offer beyond its superficial 'on paper' credentials.

Viewers who are relatively new to the franchise, perhaps having advanced from the live-action movie, may understandably surmise that such weak plotting is the norm, but I suspect that many longtime fans will be wondering why the lofty concepts and aspirations of the SAC series have been abandoned and the characters disrespected.