Killjoys - TV Show [Syfy]

Cowboys in space… somewhere I heard or read it being called that and truthfully I might almost agree with it, except I don’t know much about cowboys other than that they ride bulls and wear brimmed hats and carry pistols. Yes, my knowledge about ends there. Still would I call Killjoys something close to space cowboys, maybe…?

The TV show has gotten me into the idea that a lawless space town might be interesting to live in though. The show follows a group of bounty hunters who fly through space looking for convicted felons to bring back to what they call the R.A.C and they do it with style.

But that’s not all they do as they also complete other missions like delivery and other miscellaneous tasks that have them forced into some sticky situations. But lucky for our group they aren’t an ordinary bunch as you find a trained assassin, an ex-soldier and his techie brother on board and together they are capable of almost doing any job that comes their way.

The show is pretty cool when it comes to the overall feel of it. It has some kickass action scenes and epic technology displayed for your viewing pleasure as it takes you on a ride through its rough universe that has clearly seen some better centuries.

The acting could be better, but it’s not horrendous and the female lead is gorgeous so I doubt many would complain, especially when the people behind the show seem to find almost any reason to get her to take her clothes off.

The character development is choppy as well as the storyline but the kinks can almost be forgiven when looking at the cinematography and the growth of the characters as each of the actors get more comfortable in their roles.

Overall, I can say I like the show, but I can see a potential chance of it being cancelled after maybe a season or two. I would hope not, but who knows, right? Maybe I’m wrong, I hope I am but I guess we’ll see.

Noragami - Anime

If there’s one thing I love about the vast genre that anime has to offer, it’s that it brings you into so many different worlds that have their own rules and religions that never fail to fascinate me because someone somewhere sat down and took the time to create them. Of course you get the ones that are based off things that already exist, but then they twist off into their own little world as they create the existence within the anime we watch.

One such interesting anime that caught my attention was Noragami. A show that revolves around gods and phantoms as it follows a seemingly good-for-nothing-jersey-wearing god by the name of Yato. Though the gods in the anime are still based off a bit of reality, the world it creates is pretty interesting and fun to watch. But truth be told, I think most of the fun comes from following our useless god and his companions.

The story opens with our heroine, Hiyori Iki, who risks her life to save Yato and as a result becomes a half phantom, someone with basically one foot in the grave. Her new condition has her introduced into a whole new world of what the gods call the ‘near shore’, where all the humans exist and the ‘far shore’, where the gods and phantoms come from.

Her condition also brings her closer to Yato as she requests his services to fix her. As a god in need of finance, both due to his lack of shrine and big dreams of wealth and praise, Yato accepts and thus begins their adventures together.

For the most part the anime is pretty entertaining to watch and the interactions between the perpetually out of luck god and the half-phantom Hiyori are quite fun to follow. Things are especially intriguing when our tracksuit wearing god gets himself another troublesome companion that moves the majority of our storyline forward.

All in all it was an anime that was good for a weekend of binge watching on my part. I especially like that it has a good message behind it all as it rubs in the fact that every action, sin in particular, has a consequence and not a very good one.

So a funny anime with a moral message, what can’t you like?

Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation - Movie

If there’s one thing you can always count on, it’s that action movies always follow a certain formula that has been built through a time-tested algorithm sequence that has been created by those who know better and tested and approved by us average Joes and Janes. This sacred formula pumps out constant fast pace, in your face, delicious action movies that has graced the screens over the years since who knows when and to deviate from that formula would be, dare I say it… impossible.

Yet here we have a movie that took that formula and left out a few sequences as it delivered something of a brilliant piece of cinema magic as it graced our eyeballs with the fast car chase, the epic fight scenes and a bunch of other mouth-watering scenes that left you on the edge of your seat. All except for the lovely, sexy scene where the guy gets the girl if only for a moment, can you believe that?

I’m all for the fact that things like that shouldn’t be the focus in a good movie, but this just blew my mind. Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation accomplished what many action movies tend to fail at and it did it with style. The movie was brilliant in my opinion as it delivered enough action and storyline to carry the whole thing through without relying on cheap tactics like a partially nude scene in the middle of nowhere.

The story followed our main hero as he struggled with the fact that he may have met his match as he came across an enemy that seemed everywhere while he himself had to deal with the CIA hunting him down.

The acting was amazing as you had great performances from the lead and his co-stars. The cinematography was beautiful and let’s not even get into the choreography. Another thing I loved was the attention to detail with the technology. Oh wow, was I drooling at that.

It’s safe to say this movie reaffirmed my geekdom and love for technology, but I’ll live with that. I mean come on camera’s that recognize your walk, posture and overall existence? Seriously? seriously!

Technology Banzai!

Akagami no Shirayukihime - Anime

Fairy tales are something that always tend to pull at the heartstrings and not just because they tend to be filled with true love and magic but because they basically come from many people’s childhood. So it’s safe to say there exists a tiny taste of nostalgia in those stories that were either read to us lucky few or found in dusty old libraries, or in these days in the apps built for children. A recent anime that scratched at this nostalgia is proving to be quite the sweet viewing experience as it recreates the age old story of snow white and the seven dwarves with more than a few twists here and there.

Akagami no Shirayukihime is something of a cute anime that strikes me as an effortless show that doesn’t want to attack you with its surprise twists and turns but lets you enjoy the story as it flows slowly along while it follows its own storyline, even though you know where its inspiration comes from.

The story follows its main protagonist, Shirayuki, a skilled herbalist who is driven out of her hometown for various reasons and while on her journey to the next town she unexpectedly runs into a certain prince by the name of Zen. 

Ironically their initial meeting leads to an interesting twist that has our Prince eating a poisoned apple that was meant for Shirayuki. However, the incident doesn’t result in his death or him falling into any deep sleep but it does result in showing the prince and his attendants Shirayuki’s sincere determination and quirky personality. Here is where we see an interesting twist that the fairy tales don’t necessarily show us as the prince begins to fall for Shirayuki.

But the twists don’t end there as the show turns its focus on Shirayuki and her determination to be independent and capable of standing on her own as she supports the Prince with her skills, being as useful as possible.

The overall story is very sweet and endearing as you watch the innocent love story of the Prince and the herbalist. Though some aspects seem a bit over emphasised, for example Shirayuki’s determination sometimes seems too repetitive as if the creator thinks the viewer has forgotten this is not just some love story, but a true love story. One where love doesn’t end with just finding each other and running off into the sunset but about getting to know each other and supporting each other to the best of your abilities. But I guess it doesn’t hurt to point that out every now and then.

In the end, it’s a good anime. Sweet and innocent, just like the fairy tales it draws its inspiration from, or at least the version we read to children anyway.

iZombie - TV Show [The CW]

Every time there’s news of a superhero TV show that’s going to air I tend to get excited because frankly my little nerdy heart likes to jump at the idea of sitting back and watching some hero do his or her thing on screen as they take me on a journey into their curious world that I may or may not have researched in depth for months before the release date of the pilot episode. Granted I sometimes find myself so distracted by other dramas and anime that I also tend to forget for a bit the TV show is coming out and have the added bonus of ‘rediscovering’ it from time to time.

Odd, I know but a recent TV show that travelled this confusing path in my world has proven to be quite resilient in being continuously rediscovered as it kept popping out in front of me and intriguing me every time. Though not the average superhero stories I’m used to, iZombie actually still proved to be just as engrossing as any other hero story that my nerdy heart skipped a beat for.

The story followed a woman, at the prime of her life, who suddenly found herself scratched by a zombie and now unable to live on the perfect wave her life was riding. Now a brain-craving zombie, she took her medical skills and worked as a Medical examiner for the police, while skimming some brains on the side from the victims she examined.

The hero part comes from the cool abilities her appetite seems to give her. Aside from being undead, our heroine seems to gain the memories, or fragments of them, from the brains she eats. Fuelled by a desire to help these poor deceased, she works with a detective- who thinks she’s psychic- and they go off to solve various crimes together.

The show is quirky and fun to watch and I like the characters very much. I especially applaud the main actor for displaying the various personalities that come with eating brains as she takes on different people, while retaining the original characters personality.

The supporting actors are also very well developed and likeable. One of my favourites is our zombie’s ex-fiancé whom, despite seemingly giving off a very ‘throw away’ vibe as an actual stay-on character in the beginning, proves his worth as the story progresses.

Now I know this is supposedly based on a comic, but I know nothing of that so my views are purely on the TV show alone and they say this stuff is pretty great. It has character development, gory action and storyline from all sides. It’s really hard to dislike it, in my opinion.

F.Y.I Brains are apparently delicious…