Gotham - TV Show

I love my superheroes. I especially get excited for origin stories that bring about a new fresh look into the very characters behind the masked vigilantes. But Hollywood does tend to make things interesting with their twists and turns in the re-telling of the old stories that tend to be just another re-telling of the same thing over and over again. This can be seen in the TV show that’s gotten me hooked with its dark and gloomy tone that is so often associated with the hero that will eventually (hopefully) be born from it.

Gotham is quite an interesting approach to the world that births Batman and as it weaves it’s intricate story with all its cherry picked characters that ring bells for the future it creates a very captivating story to watch. Set in a relatively old time when Bruce Wayne is still a young boy, the story begins when the fateful tragedy that will one day be the defining moment for our dark knight befalls him and sets into motion a string of events that has various stories unfolding in the underbelly of Gotham.

Coming to the scene of the crime we have our lead investigator and lead on the show, Jim Gordon, a name we know well as a man who will one day play a large hand in helping the masked vigilante clean up the town, but for now he is a new detective bent on living the right way in the wrong town. Partnered up with a man by the name Harvey Bullock, who has become more jaded by the realities of the corrupt town, we see them take on various cases that have them crossing paths with all kinds of people as they try to find out who killed Bruce’s parents, along with other cases that draw them into gang fights and some bizarre situations.

It is these bizarre situations that have us introduced to some interesting characters, some of whom are the very villains who will grow to be Batman’s enemies. Watching the origin stories of the bad guys is quite a treat as you learn more about their lives and what makes them tick and how they break, or evolve if you prefer. 

One particular character to note is the girl who will grow to one day be Catwoman. Her relationship with Bruce is fun to watch and it’s interesting to see how she grows and changes with her environment, slowing becoming the master thief and ambiguous baddy we expect her to become one day.

The character development is pretty amazing to observe and the stories do keep you entertained most of the time, though I’ll admit to it being a bit of a drag there in the first season near the end. But the story picks up again as the finale comes about and the second season so far has kept me hooked enough to care to look forward to the next episode.

I won’t say I’m not looking forward to more scenes showing Bruce actually becoming the dark knight, because I am but I will say that for now Jim Gordon has definitely proven to be an intriguing character to keep my interest occupied and my attention on him and other villains being created is quite okay for a little while.

So do I recommend it, maybe... but only if you like detective shows and have a penchant for dark styled TV shows and you have patience. Because I think we’ll be waiting for a while before we get to see any Batcave action. But I like it and I’ll continue watching until I don’t care for it or it gets cancelled, whichever comes first.

Minority Report - TV Show [FOX]

People are predictable. If they find things that are awesome they must exploit it. This is just the way of things. But should all things be exploited? That is the question that plagues me as I watched a few episodes of a recent series that was based off a pretty cool movie from back in the day.

Don’t get me wrong the series, Minority Report, is pretty cool. The effects and futuristic take on the world is pretty epic and the tech makes me drool, just a teeny tiny bit. But I can’t help but feel like there’s just something missing from the show. And no, it’s not Tom Cruise. Although that would be pretty cool though, wouldn’t it?

Anyway, the show is set farther in the future than its predecessor as it follows the actions of one of the three siblings that powered the ‘hive mind’ that initially created the ‘pre-crime program’. The young boy who was once used as a tool in a machine to find crime has now grown up and become a man who now uses his limited ability to try and do what they once did as he struggles with the idea of doing nothing at all.

Needless to say he runs into a detective who has gotten used to working in a world where ‘pre-crime’ and its workings has become nothing but a myth used as stories to tell to children in museums. Obviously, things get complicated as our precognitive hero tries to explain things to the detective and things get messy as we learn just how limited his abilities are without the help of his siblings, thus leading to various twists and turns that carry the story on.

To be honest I have to say I’m slightly disappointed by this show. It didn’t grip me as much as I hoped it would and my attention wavers as I try to focus on it. All in all, let’s just say it’s not the first show I go to pick when looking for something to watch. Albeit, if I’m out of things to watch and I can’t sleep and have some time to kill, maybe I’ll consider it then…

Got to love the tech tho! >.<

Hidan no Aria AA - Anime

There are a lot of fandoms in the anime universe. I should know that by now. Yet somehow I still get blown away by the various genres I come across in my daily viewing as I randomly pick through all the lovely choices I am presented with to watch. One of the relatively normal ones that I decided to go with though had me questioning whether I had strayed too far from my normal viewing as it had innocent looking moe girls dressed in bullet proof sailor uniforms fighting crime.

Hidan no Aria AA features a group of girls in high school learning to be a special team of detective who take down bad guys, all while wearing these special made uniforms that could probably have a little more material covering them if you ask me, but whatever. The plot follows a very low ranking girl, Akari Mamiya who is an E-ranked Butei.

Butei are individuals who undergo special training that enables them to counter attack the worsening crime conditions of the world they live in. Because of this they are taught various skills, all of which our dear Akari Mamiya seems to fail miserably at. However, this doesn’t stop the fact that she dreams of being one of the elite Butei’s ‘Amica’.

One day as luck would have it though our low ranking lead gets a rare shot at being her idol, Kanzaki Aria’s partner and after some trouble lands up as having a semi-contract with the elite. Of course things become interesting for Akari as she works hard to fully be accepted as Aria’s Amica.

The story seems on the surface pretty below average, with maybe a little interest as it spikes my curiosity about Mamiya’s past, but overall plot is watery at best. The characters are interesting, but not enough to draw you completely in as you can almost predict them and become quickly bored.

The comedy is exaggerated and the drama a bit forced. Then there’s also the yuri* hints that smack you in the face here and there, though that was pretty different for me compared to my normal interests, but it wasn’t unpleasant. I suppose all in all this isn’t an anime that’s going to win any awards, but it passes the time at least.

*Yuri - the Japanese term for girl's love, or relationships between females in manga and anime, also referred to as shojo-ai