MARIAH's THOUGHTS on Blood Lad (2013) Anime Series

Genre:

Action, Comedy, Demons, Seinen, Paranormal, Vampire

Episodes:

10 + OVA

Rating:

PG-13

Run Time:

24 min. per episode

Release Date:

Jul 8, 2013 to Sep 9, 2013

Based on the manga series by:

Koama Yuuki

Directed by:

Shigeyuki Miya

Studio:

Brain's Base

Produced by:

Kadokawa Shoten, The Klock Worx, flying DOG

Plot Summary:

Staz is the vampire boss of a section of the demon world, but he has little interest in human blood. He's more infatuated with Japanese culture. When he learns that Yanagi Fuyumi, a Japanese teenage girl, accidentally wanders into the demon city, he jumps to the occasion. However, while Staz deals with an intruder on his turf, the oblivious Fuyumi is killed by a monster of the same type and becomes a wandering ghost. The disappointed Staz vows to Fuyumi that he will find a way to bring her back to life. [Source: http://myanimelist.net/anime/11633/Blood_Lad]

Cast:

Ryota Osaka & Waku Sakaguchi (as Staz Charle Blood), Sarah Emi Bricutt (as Bell Hydra), Takuma Terashima (as Wolf), and Iori Nomizu (as Fuyumi Yanagi)

~~~~~

*My Thoughts*

Note: This review may contain spoilers

Seeing Blood Lad in December 2015 and writing a review about 3 months later, I am sorry to admit that it does not leave a long lasting impression on me. To start off with the opening credits, it seems like a random compilation of characters who will appear in the anime but upon closer inspection we can get most of, if not everything, about the 10-episode series. To list a few of the obvious things: Staz, Wolf, and Fuyumi, are the main characters; Fuyumi is trapped in a ghost form with blood thirsty demons coming after her and slowing disappearing along the way, Staz likes to show off his power, and two other characters with a tangible aura appear symbolizing some type of relationship to Staz.

Since Blood Lad is 10 episodes, it only seems natural for the story to be rushed to the point where it will give its audience a tepid resolution. The only character development the audience sees is a little about Fuyumi’s past and Staz’s full potential. This short anime leaves off, where Staz fully admits to wanting to protect/revive Fuyumi… and that’s it. The other characters that appear such as Wolf only add a comedic effect to the series, considering he and Staz are former friends, and the anime continues to play off of these small instances of comedy throughout the series. As a seinen anime, it didn’t have long-term serious tones therefore, coming back after a 3-month break, made me believe it was a shonen anime instead. Blood Lad in short is a very stereotypical boy’s anime including busty females, a sudden power up in the male protagonist, a hot-headed rival/best friend, and some type of antagonist that wants power. It leaves much to be desired. If the anime series continued for a second season, however, I think it would have great potential for idealistic or political messages.

My Rating:

MARIAH's THOUGHTS on Deadpool (2016)

Genre:

Comedy

Action/Adventure

Science Fiction/Fantasy

Rating:

R

(strong violence and language throughout, sexual content and graphic nudity)

Run Time:

1 hr 40 mins

Release Date:

February 12, 2016

Distributor:

20th Century Fox
Marvel Entertainment

Based on the Comic Book Series by:
Marvel

Screenplay by:

Rhett Reese, Paul Wernick

Directed by:

Tim Miller

Produced by:

Ryan Reynolds, Simon Kinberg, Lauren Shuler Donner

Executive Producers:

John J. Kelly, Stan Lee, Jonathon Komack Martin, Aditya Sood, Thane Watkins,

Plot Summary:

This is the origin story of former Special Forces operative turned mercenary Wade Wilson, who after being subjected to a rogue experiment that leaves him with accelerated healing powers, adopts the alter ego Deadpool. Armed with his new abilities and a dark, twisted sense of humor, Deadpool hunts down the man who nearly destroyed his life.

Cast:

Ryan Reynolds, Morena Baccarin, Ed Skrein, T. J. Miller, Gina Carano, Brianna Hildebrand, Stefan Kapičić

See Full Cast on IMDB


~~~

~~~~~

**My Thoughts**

It is not a movie for the family to all go out and see, hence the R rating… but worth watching on Valentine’s Day weekend for couples or alone. Much like the trailers, available on YouTube, Deadpool is action packed, energetic, and vulgarly humorous. Deadpool the character, in short, is a grown man sized child with the skills of an old, stereotypical martial arts master. He breaks the fourth wall, has a big mouth, and mocks people as his own form of torture. The witty remarks and references were often offensive at the cost of someone else for example other characters, stereotypes, race, or the opposite gender. These remarks are not to be taken seriously and for the most part a funny enough to get the audience laughing. What nagged at me more than that, was the CGI used on Deadpool’s mask but I can only image it as necessary to show off his over exaggerated reactions. I’m not familiar with all of Deadpool’s background but the movie was perfectly paced based upon Deadpool’s own impatience, the short amount of time the movie has available, and the movie’s budget. We are given all of the necessary characters and focus on Deadpool throughout the movie. Commenting on that, Ryan Reynolds looked like he was having the time of his life playing the juvenile-like hero. Morena Baccarin and many of the other actors (minor or not) performed believably enough. Although there is a sequel coming along in the future, if they weren’t Deadpool, their performances made it seem like this Deadpool movie was going to be a one shot gig. Overall, it’s entertaining but doesn’t leave enough of an impression on me to take home a message.

My rating:

MARIAH'S THOUGHTS on World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War by Max Brooks

Genre:

Science Fiction/Horror Zombie Thriller

Edition:

Movie Tie-In Edition

Pages:

420 pages

Publish Date:

May 28, 2013

Publisher:

Broadway Books

Summary from Goodreads:

We survived the zombie apocalypse, but how many of us are still haunted by that terrible time? We have (temporarily?) defeated the living dead, but at what cost? Told in the haunting and riveting voices of the men and women who witnessed the horror firsthand, World War Z is the only record of the plague years.

     

~~~~~

**About the Author**

Max Brooks is the New York Times bestselling author of The Zombie Survival Guide and World War Z. He has been called "the Studs Terkel of zombie journalism."

Brooks is the son of director Mel Brooks and the late actress Anne Bancroft. He is a 1994 graduate of Pitzer College. His wife, Michelle, is a screenwriter, and the couple have a so, Henry.

Stay connected with Max Brooks

Website

 

~~~~~

**My Thoughts**

Note: This Review contains NO spoilers

Black and white, heaven, hell; World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War by Max Brooks is a direct, straightforward book of survival. It didn’t tickle my fancy in a want for adventure because it is what it is, as stated in the title: an oral history. World War Z the book is a whole of the movie version; the book jumps from person to person and location to location in an interview-like fashion. Each new narrator tells their story and point of view of what had happened during the zombie apocalypse, the rumors that had spread, ideals, and legends of influential people. Although a fiction novel, it felt very much like a documentary, which is what the author must have been shooting for anyway.

World War Z was recommended to me due to my belief of overall “This world is rotten.” Reading the book didn’t leave me with life lesson that I didn’t know and held had ideals I agree with, such as “Survival of the fittest,” “The next generation having to deal with the previous gens bull crap,” and “People just cannot ‘get over it’ and fight for the stupidest of reasons.” A few of my favorite parts from the book are in Chapter 4 (The Great Panic) and Chapter 5 (Turning the Tide). The ideas of blind obedience (following without question, but with no regard for moral consequences) and removing your sentiments to do your job are discussed. And the harsh reality of “Some people deserve to die while others deserve to live” are brought into fruition in the story through a man named Paul Redeker and his society would be built upon IQ, fertility, safety zones, other “desirable qualities.”

This novel observes humanity, government, society, and its faults. It calls out the mistakes of human emotion and asks, “What use are they really,” especially when everything is declining and the apocalypse is happening all around you. Can you deal with the consequences of your actions? In which case, I really liked the story but also disliked the classroom lesson style of their interviews, the reactions to people’s experience. To the average human, I suppose you don’t need another history lesson, opinions or not.

My Rating: