Parallels - Movie

Sometimes you watch something and all you can think is ‘what the f#@k!’ when you get to the end. Recently I watched said ‘movie’ and I call it a ‘movie’ very cautiously because I still don’t agree with it being referred to it as such. To be honest this movie felt more like a long pilot for a TV show than anything else.

Frankly, I have to be straight and say that if you go into watching this ‘movie’ expecting movie grade specs you will be somewhat disappointed as you get served a TV show meal with TV show acting and TV show plotting.


But alas, where ever one looks on the interwebs they say this is a ‘movie’ so what can measly ole me say or do about it?


But don’t get me wrong, Parallels is interesting. The concept is very intriguing as it has you anticipating what can be accomplished and explored, had this been a TV show, but also what is shown on screen is still pretty engrossing and has you wanting to see more of these various earths they speak of. 

The acting could be better, but I suppose they put whatever budget they had into CGI and the set to build the worlds they travelled to, even though it was only about three they showed us. The advantage of travelling to parallel universes is that you get to keep the casting pool relatively small, while the disadvantage happens to be the fact that whether these actors and actresses can act affects the whole movie, so it’s a win-lose situation I guess.

But, had this been a TV show, the actors and their respective characters could grow so it wouldn’t be a total loss and we’d get to see a possibly epic new fandom, but alas that remains to be seen.

Anyhow, all I can say is it’s a good movie to watch but it would be an even better TV show pilot, in my opinion.

DanMachi - Anime

I’m not much of a gamer, though I find myself drawn to the gamer world every so often that the only thing keeping me from it is probably actually playing the games at this point. But alas, even that becomes a small hurdle that I’ll jump soon enough once the right game comes along and eats away the last dregs of my so-called free time. But for now, I’ll stick with watching the anime that takes the gaming world and brings it to life.

A recent anime that fits this description has me quite hooked as it takes you on an adventure through an interesting world based on some curious rules. Though as interesting as I find the anime, I have to admit the name is probably the stupidest thing about it, yet also the cutest thing that most probably gets one to watch it. Dungeon ni Deai wo Motomeru no wa Machigatteiru Darou ka*, is quite the mouthful to say but gets its point across in what the general idea for the show is.


DanMachi*, has a similar setting to that of Sword Art Online and Log Horizon but where it deviates from the two is that instead of being a ‘virtual’ world of dungeons and magic, it exists as an actual world with real people and their stories. This change lends a slightly darker tone to what it means to be an adventurer in this world as there is no rebirth giving the anime an interesting edge, I think.

The anime starts off by following a beginner who is just starting out in his journey as an adventurer, making it easier for the rest of us to follow how things work in this curious world. Especially since it seems that to be an adventurer, it seems one is required to be part of a ‘familia’.

These ‘familia’ bring in an interesting lore of the world where gods and goddesses exist among the mortals to live and play as they do, simply because they got bored being divine creatures.

Our protagonist teams up relatively unknown goddess and becomes part of her familia in order to become an adventurer. He dreams of conquering the dungeons and becoming stronger for various reasons, one of which is to be able to stand beside a swords woman he greatly admires.

It’s an interesting anime with captivating characters and in the few episodes I have watched I have to say I enjoyed the character development that the main protagonist experienced as well as a few of his companions went through. I’m definitely looking forward to seeing more from this, though I have to admit to hoping it doesn’t drag out too long.

*DanMachi - Danjon ni Deai o Motomeru no wa Machigatteiru Darō ka?

English translation - Is it wrong to try and pick up girls in a dungeon?

Shokugeki no Soma - Anime

Back in the day there was an interesting anime I watched that focused on bread, Yakitate Japan. It was a culinary show and despite the odd image one would have when you try to picture anime and bread it was quite a fun anime to pass the time with as the baker protagonist created various dishes that evoked extreme reactions from whoever tasted his amazing bread.

In a recent batch of anime I was given to enjoy, I had the pleasure of reliving the joys of another culinary show that had a similar premise to Yakitate Japan, except instead of focusing on bread this show turned your attention to food in general. Shokugeki no Souma takes you into the kitchen and hypes you up for the process of cooking as you watch the protagonist create his various dishes with seemingly random resources, all of which are targeted at being consumer friendly and relatable to the affordable pocket.

The main story follows a young chef, Yukihira Soma, who strives to beat his father’s cooking and become the best chef in the world. He also takes pride in the cooking he grew up learning in his father’s little diner and wants to become the best while serving his common style cooking that is available to the average customer and not just the ‘elite’.

But despite being a great chef, Soma has an unfortunate habit, picked up from his father, of experimenting with new dishes which almost always turn out horrible and the poor taste testers of these dishes always tend to be his friends.

The show is very light and full of humour that has you laughing along with learning a thing or two about the culinary arts. One thing in particular that’s quite noticeable is the reactions that the characters have when tasting delicious food. If ever you could apply the term ‘food porn’ to a place, here would definitely be it.

Another thing I like about the anime is probably a bit cliché but screw it – it works for me. I like that the protagonist is talented and strong enough to take on tough opponents from the get go and generally comes across as the underdog type. It makes for fun viewing and it also brings about some anticipation for when he might be really challenged and maybe knocked around a bit. That might sound sadistic, but it’ll be interesting to see how he recovers and such from blows like that. After all we can’t have him only winning all the time, where would be the fun in that?

Anyway, the anime is worth watching, if only to make yourself hungry for the food that is so deliciously drawn and presented on screen. 

Gotcha pork roast 

Sensory Couple - KDrama

My recent Korean drama fix has me fixated with an interesting brand of serial killer which functions in a pretty intriguing way as he evades capture from the police as he goes about his killings while a single witness exists close to him that could bring him down, except she doesn’t yet know she’s the only witness…

I’ll admit it wasn’t the initial reason I started watching the drama. Though I was drawn to the drama by the promise of mystery, it was the fantastical element that caught my eye with the lead female’s ability to see smells that hooked me first.

As the main story goes, a young teen walks in on the abduction of her parents by a notorious serial killer. Despite her shock she is able to escape and runs away, but in the process gets into a car accident that leaves her in a coma. 

When the girl wakes from the coma a few weeks later all her memories from before the accident are gone and the colour of one of her eyes has changed. We soon learn it is the changed eye that enables our lead with the ability to see smells in various colours. 

The drama really kicks off a few years after the accident has occurred and our young teen has grown up and moved on to live a seemingly normal life in a comedy troupe. But due to some circumstances destiny comes knocking and leads her to cross paths with a certain police officer who desperately wants to make detective.

Our male lead is portrayed as a ‘senseless’ man in the literal sense. We quickly learn that he is an odd man who doesn’t quite function as the average person, something that doesn’t help with his standoffish character that puts others off from liking him. We also learn that our policeman is connected to our female lead through a very unfortunate case where his sister, who was in a minor car accident a few years ago, was mistaken for someone else and was murdered in their place.

When the two main leads meet it’s an interesting chemistry to witness and it definitely works in my opinion. It’s hilarious and easy to watch. 

Although I understand the whole idea of the romance undertone to everything, I’m glad to see the drama keep some attention to the mystery and drama of the serial killer and the investigation because I must be honest and say that my interest is largely moving more towards that instead of the couple antics.

I especially like the involvement of the other characters as they investigate the serial killer. The banter makes for interesting side chatter as they try to move the plot along. 

This is really a good drama that fell before me and I’m quite excited to see how it all plays out with the ‘Barcode Serial Killer’ and how they plan to have our poor lead female find her memories. I imagine it will be quite a rough ride when the couple discovers their unfortunate connection in the past. Either way I’m sure I won’t regret watching this drama!

Avengers: Age of Ultron - Movie

Excitement for a thing can sometimes be overrated. It’s an unfortunate reality that happens sometimes and in the case of going to watch the latest Avengers movie, I think this was one of those times, as much as it pains me to say it. Going with a rather large group you would think there would have been enough excitement to overshadow any possible plot short comings that the movie would throw at you but surprisingly that doesn’t seem to be the case. Or maybe there were too many trailers for this movie that gave away key plot points that made the overall experience seem rehashed? I don’t know….

In any case I can’t argue that the movie didn’t deliver in terms of action and pretty awesome cinematography, because it did. Plus there were some really enjoyable comedic scenes that were shared between the characters that had me smiling as you watched cute banter that highlighted their different personalities. 

The fights were also okay, I guess. They tickled my action-loving bone and squeezed my hero-obsessed heart, but I can’t deny feeling like something was still missing throughout the movie. But maybe I’m just full of too much expectation when it comes to the sequels of stuff.

The plot wasn’t too bad, though I feel not much focus was given to it as the movie strayed to the focus of some personal details of our avenger’s personal lives. I’m sure there was some reason to this, but I didn’t see it clear enough to care for it much.

What was interesting was where the movie seemed to be heading as it concluded. It was like an opening for a whole new line of hero movies to be excited for as it introduced the new players in the game. I’m very curious to see how that turns out, simply because the world can never have too many hero movies, well at least in my opinion.

Magi - Anime

There is always something very irritating about binge watching a show, but to be honest I think it comes more from the lack of sleep and many hours spent staring at a screen than anything else. When I first started watching Magi, I had to re-watch the majority of the first season because I had put off watching it for a time because I had backlogged it and forgot I had it. As so often happens with me…

Anyway, getting into the show was easy enough as I followed the story of a very perverted young boy by the name of Aladdin traveling around with his friends Alibaba and Morgiana as they adventured through a world of magic and dungeons where wars still raged and countries discriminated heavily between the haves and the have-nots. It was a definite treat to watch and I’m glad I backlogged it for as long as I did as I had so much to watch with season 1 and 2 at my disposal.

Season 2

Season 1

The main story, focused on Aladdin, a magi, who travelled around at first trying to find out who he was and eventually what he was meant to do. It’s an interesting twist in the old Disney story that I’m familiar with and I have to admit I love it to bits, despite the little guy being a complete pervert when it comes to boobs.

While on this journey Aladdin comes across what would become his best friend and ‘King Candidate’, Alibaba. His character is developed quite slowly, but very obviously during the course of the series as he is faced with the countless struggles that occur in the various countries which each have a similar theme of oppression where the wealthy thrive and the poor suffer. I enjoyed watching his struggle with what was right and wrong.

An interesting addition to things was definitely Sinbad. I mean who doesn’t know the sailor in one way or another? The legendary sailor isn’t built to be a side character without a badass reputation, so it’s a given that this anime brought to life such a colorful and epic character that’s probably capable of having his own spin-off. Which I think he even gets…

Another aspect I really loved about the anime was the Djinns that lived in the dungeons and gave their dungeon capturers their powers. These god-like creatures that transferred their spirits into the weapons of those who they marked as their ‘King Candidate’ made the fighting very interesting with so many different djinn equips which had me excited for each battle that was fought.

It really was a fascinating anime to watch, especially as it felt like I was learning about a whole new culture and religion when it came to certain things. Whether it was real or fictional, I don’t care because it was ultimately quite brilliant to watch.

I will say this though, I expect there to be a season 3 or rather I NEED a season 3 to exist, because you can’t end a thing so beautifully built like that. You just can’t….

Needless to say, I need more of this anime.