Tag Archives: fantasy

Supernatural: the Animation

Main Cast (voices): Jared PadaleckiAnnakin SlaydJensen AcklesHarry Standjofski

supernatural-anime

If you are looking for a good anime and you like horror and fantasy, well, look no further. The Japanese had a pretty nifty idea, they remade the live-action show Supernatural (created by Eric “evil genius” Kripke) which is awesome to begin with, into 22 animated episodes. So our favorite hunters of all-things-that-go-bump-in-the-dark, Sam and Dean Winchester, take us on the road from case to case; you get classics like vampires, demons and werewolves or stranger stuff based on urban legends and ancient mythology. Like Buffy, most of the episodes are a “monster of the week” type of story but there is also a series arc with a Big Bad.  The different medium allows for a more striking and creative rendering of all that is supernatural compared to live action. The animation itself is top-notch and it doesn’t hurt, at least in my book, that Sam resembles Spike Spiegel (fans of Cowboy Bebop won’t fail to notice it). It is fast-paced, grim and quite dark but still with plenty of funny moments. If you know the live-action show, this series covers roughly the storyline of season 1 and 2, taking a few liberties with background stories and making it more PG13. Furthermore all the characters’ appearance, except for the Winchester bros, are very different so it might take a while to get use to. Lastly, one minor issue, unless you are a hardcore anime fan who watches everything in the original Japanese, the English version has Jared Padalecki (live-action Sam) dubbing Sam but Annakid Slayd dubbing Dean for all but two episodes instead of Jensen Ackles (live-action Dean), which sounds really weird and requires from the viewer a little time to adjust to it. Anyway great anime with gripping story and characters. —7.5/10

4 Comments

Filed under Animation, TV-shows

The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug

Director: Peter Jackson, Main Cast: Ian McKellenMartin FreemanRichard ArmitageOrlando BloomEvangeline LillyLee PaceBenedict Cumberbatch

We pick up the story of our brave 13 dwarves plus a hobbit and a wizard exactly where we left a year ago. This time around they meet Beor the skinchanger, evil giant spiders while walking through the Mirkwood, get captured by the elves, arrive by very unusual means at Esgaroth on the Long Lake and finally get to Erebor. Most of the times Bilbo is the one who saves the day while Gandalf has gone south on his own mission against the dark power that is growing in Dol Gurdul a.k.a the Necromancer. In this second installment Peter Jackson takes far more liberties from the original story and there is an excess of orcs and elves for my liking, yeah they look cool when they fight but after a while it gets irksome. I find even more irritating the whole part about Gandalf, it feels kind of deja vu (Isengard, Saruman etc., right?) and too much an add on that has no support from Tolkien, even if we consider the appendix in the Lord of the Rings (White Council and such). Anyway we finally see the dragon and that’s something! The cast does a great job, the costumes, settings and special effects are gorgeous but I’d cut 20-30 minutes of the film and the 3D is completely useless, no point to it. I’d expected better, hopefully next year we get a grand finale. —6/10

Leave a comment

Filed under Seen at the cinema