Quick thoughts: November 2019

Anime: 

City Hunter: Shinjuku Private Eyes is a movie for the fans of City Hunter and thus prioritizes being a fan-service movie over being an actually good standalone one. Which is shame considering how episodic the content of the TV show was. I had a little fun watching all the known cast again, even Cat's Eye but without the 80's setting and animation, it doesn't quite tickle the nostalgia boner.
Watch it if you're an existing fan, avoid other wise. 

Fairy Gone was a bit of a surprise. Going by the community I expected it to be mediocre trash but despite meh beginning it managed to hook me in. The world building just grew on me, as a sucker for political drama and the fact that the show mostly avoids anime tropes made me appreciate it all the more. That's not to say it's without flaws, the info dump in a short amount of episodes makes it hard to follow, characters and factions are not fleshed out enough and it even makes very basic story telling mistakes. It needed atleast 24 episodes to properly tell the story.
Despite all this it was a breath of fresh air in an industry as stale as the Anime industry.

Seirei no Moribito is an old classic that I finally got around to starting. I only watched 5 episodes so far but first impressions are as follows: Great lead protagonist, pretty impressive animation and sound tracks but the story hasn't grabbed me yet. It's so good to see strong female protagonists that isn't there just to pander, I have hope that it will grow into something special. For now I leave you with this OST.

Movies:

The King was a movie that I watched on a whim only because I enjoy anything with a medieval setting, and I have to admit I wasn't too disappointed. The characters were engaging enough and while history nerds might nitpick the hell out of the costume & set design, it felt authentic enough for me. Robert Pattinson's dumb and hilarious french accent alone made the movie worth watching.
My main criticism would be the movie goes through events too quickly and doesn't give characters enough time to flesh out their circumstance and motivations. This would have worked better as a mini series. 

Death Proof is definitely one of less popular Quentin Tarantino movies and it makes sense why. My take on the movies is that on one hand it's a decently fun grind house movie with a distinct style and lots of feet shots to make good old Quentin happy while on the other, the movie's a rather weird exploration of what a strong independent female is.

[SPOILER]
In the 1st half, the girls are brash and pretend to be in control of their lives but are really aren't. Only one of them have a have a job and that also only because she sexualized herself for billboard ads, they think they are in control but are constantly taken advantage of by guys and finally end up dead as a result. The 2nd half in contrast has girls that are actually in control of their lives, all of them have jobs. Although brash like the girls 1st group of girls, they have their own hobbies, ambition and can actually stand up to anyone. As a result they end up killing the "bad guy".
[SPOILER END]

While the story structure works and conveys the message, I feel it's a bit too shallow and reductive of femininity. But I'm speaking that as a guy so I can't speak for other perspectives. Overall a fun watch, I mean what Tarantino movie isn't.

Klaus is netflix original animated movie that successfully breaks away from the Disney/Pixar style and gives us not just a gorgeously animated movie but a solid wholesome christmas story too.
GO. WATCH. IT. 

It: Chapter Two is the sequel to the surprisingly well made prequel 2017 movie and this just felt meh to me. It's not completely bad cause I did complete watching it but it's just so incredibly unimpressive. The trauma of the characters over the years didn't connect with me and thus defeating the same bad clown had 0 emotional investment from me. Not to mention they defeated It but calling it names, I mean wtf? I don't know, I don't care enough to even talk about this.
The acting was solid though, so that's a plus. 

Ready or Not, now this is a fun movie. The premise is just an excuse for some fun gory action and it delivers. It wastes no time in the setup and quickly jumps into the "game" where the bride is going to be hunted. She starts off weak and timid but after witnessing some lucky fuck ups by the family, she hardens up and looks for ways to get away or defend herself. Thankfully her change in personality never feels forced and the movie always keeps a comedic mood to take the edge off the gorefest.
You're in for a treat if you're into these type of movies but it's not gonna convert you if you're not. 

Games:

I usually try out many different games throughout the month but only focus on one or 2. I'm gonna only talk of what I played extensively or something that elicited a high enough reaction from me. 

The Outer Worlds is game that I had high hopes for, it didn't quite meet them but was fun enough. I'll do a full post about it when I get time but for my short thoughts, It has witty dialogue, decent companions and fun FPS combat for a RPG  but not a strong enough story to carry it through. The 1st map you land created a very strong positive impression for me but it just redoes that same type of faction based plot Obsidian is known for without much depth or giving you a good reason care. I would call this the definition of slightly above average game. A game that has too much potential but plays it too safe. 

Life is Strange 2: Episode 1 was a big disappointment for me. As a big fan of the 1st life is strange game I was excited for the full sequel. Before the Storm had weaker writing that the original and felt like a fan project but few strong carried me through to the end. LIS2 however I had to drop in episode 1 itself. This game has a very overt political message in it and while that not a problem, here it feels like the writers discovered racism for the 1st time and wrote a story about how bad it is. That not even the worst part, the game goes out of it's way to remove player choice to push it's narrative. I'm all for developers telling the story they want to tell but DO NOT give player choice if you can't even maintain the illusion of choice. Not sure if I'm gonna visit this game again. 

That's all folks! Hope December is better year for you and wish you an early merry Christmas. 🎉