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Shmee Sets Sail On The Verdurous With Gargantia!

I have been jonesing for some anime, so I fired up ‘Gagantia on the Verdurous Planet’ on Netflix.  For the most part it had what I wanted: mecha, evil squid, and a post apocalyptic world filled with massive boats.  Pretty much Gargantia is the anime equivalent to Water World, but much more watchable.  Not great, but it did the trick for my neglected anime habit.

In the future the human race has left Earth and is at war for its survival against the strange squid like creatures the  Hideauze.  That is until one day a Machine Caliber (the show’s name for mechs) pilot, Ensign Ledo, is sucked through a wormhole and deposited on Earth, a planet he was told had been destroyed.  The world has gone through some changes, and it is now covered in water, so people live in massive flotillas and dredge up stuff from the ocean’s floor.  It is a difficult yet peaceful life, and not one Ledo is sure he can get used to.

‘Gagantia on the Verdurous Planet’ has all the usual stuff: a random fan service episode, questions about humanity, and teenagers taking on responsibilities that they shouldn’t, but it was still well made and engaging.  As a matter of fact I blew through it in a couple of days.  I wish there was another season or two.  Mecha Water World is just the sort of thing this anime freak is down with.

Now if you are looking for an anime that changes things up and pushes the boundaries of the medium, you will be disappointed.  Gargantia is an above average standard anime tale, but that was enough for me, and one that I think a lot of anime fans like myself would enjoy.  Plus it is on Netflix.  In other words, if you like anime give ‘Gagantia on the Verdurous Planet’ a shot, if you are burned out on anime, or just don’t like it, you can skip it.  Nothing new to see here.

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With Season Two Master Of None Has Hit Its Stride!

I never thought that Aziz Ansari would have one of the best shows on TV, but here we are.  Season two of his Netflix hit Master of None is charming, poignant, and most important of all funny.  This season delves more in to what it is like to be single in this digital age while continuing to shed light on what it is like to be a minority in the United States.  Two things I cannot identify with, but this show portrays all of this in its signature mater of fact fashion while remembering it is comedy.

Master of None picks up after the first season with Dev in Italy learning to make pasta in a local shop.  He is clearly having the time of his life, but soon he will have to go back and try once again to establish his career in New York City.  The idyllic setting of the small Italian town is a great juxtaposition for the large and uncaring NYC.

If you still haven’t watched this show after my review of Master of None’s first season, I hope you will after this review of its second.  Master of None is a turning in to a masterclass for sitcoms.  We will see how long Aziz and Co. can keep this up, but I will be watching every episode that they release.  This was kind of a short write up, but it didn’t need to be long to tell you that Master of None is really, realty good.

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Hitman Developer IO Interactive Is Now Independent!

Square-Enix announced a while ago that they were trying to sell off IO Interactive in order to recoup the losses that the studio generated.  It was a sad tale for a studio that created one of last year’s best games.  However, this morning things got a lot rosier.  IO Interactive posted a letter on its website stating that the developer was now independent, and that it retained all rights to the Hitman franchise!

This is awesome news!  Season One of Hitman was great, and I hope they are able to get to work quickly on Season Two or Hitman’s follow up.  I will be here cash in hand.  Good luck newly independent IO Interactive!  We are pulling for you!

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Wonder Woman Is Having An Incredable Box-Office Run!

Remember when I said Wonder Woman was avoiding the massive day to day drops of the other DC Extended Universe films?  Well it turns out that she is avoiding the massive weekend to weekend drops as well.  In the blockbuster era any weekend to weekend drop of less than 55% is good.  Wonder Woman only dropped 43% for an impressive haul of $58.5 Million in its second weekend.  Marvel is probably kicking itself for not making that Black Widow movie.

There has been so much pent up demand for a good female superhero movie that Wonder Woman’s run is making film executives look like idiots.  Luckily for DC they already have Batgirl and Gotham City Sirens in pre-production.  Not to mention Wonder Woman 2 has no doubt been fast tracked.  Marvel still only has Captain Marvel on the schedule, but it hasn’t even finished its script.  Though I am guessing Wonder Woman’s success will set off a female superhero arms race.  Marvel has a lot of them, so it is time for them to come out shine with the ladies from DC.

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E3 2017 Continues!

I think it is time for the PC Gaming show to come to an end.  It is long and boring and the hosts try very hard to make everything seem exciting, but it is not.  Some of the games they showed were interesting like Griftlands:

Still the games shown at the PC Gaming Show could have just as easily been shown at another showcase.  Though hats of to Microsoft for saving them the Age of Empires Definitive Edition.  It looks great.

The company that was really swinging for the fences though was Ubisoft.  They announced a Mario tactics game, Mario + Rabbids: Kingdom Battle (AKA Mario XCOM), and they finally showed us all a glimpse of where they are headed with Beyond Good & Evil 2:

Though this trailer did leave a lot of people confused because it looks like it will be a radical departure from the first game.  And even more confusing because it is a prequel, but it still has a ‘2’ in the title.   Still, it is exciting to see that it truly does exist and that people are really working on it.  Even if it does have all the Ubisoft buzzwords attached to it, open world, co-op, and game as a service.

Sony closed out the second major day of E3 (third if you count the EA showcase, but I am not), and as always they know how to put on a great show.  Trailers for all their major first party games were on display, and they all looked great.  Shadow of the Colossus is coming back again, and who doesn’t want more Uncharted.  Though the big news for me was Monster Hunter World, but not for the reason Sony wanted, but because it is coming to the Xbox and PC as well.  I will leave you the way Sony left us, with Insomniac’s Batman Spider-Man:

Let me know your thoughts about this year’s E3 showcases, or what games you are interested to hear more about.