New Gods Yang Jian. All the Trailers You Can Find and Sequel News

Light Chaser Animation’s next production, New Gods Yang Jian will be out in North America just in time for Chinese New Year 2023!

New Gods Yang JianAnyone keeping track of Light Chaser Animation’s next production New Gods Yang Jian will be glad it’s getting a global release just in time for Chinese New Year 2023! It originally debuted in China back in August, to steller reviews and beating out Minions: Rise of Gru.

GKIDS released an American-side trailer yesterday, and it puts the focus back on the titular hero when compared to the other teasers offered so far.

People who read Creation of the Gods or Journey to the West (Amazon USA links) know this hero is named Erlang Shen, a god of justice. This immortal has superhuman strength and a third eye, which allows him to see the truth. This includes seeing through the deception made by magic and outright verbal lies. In this film, it looks like he’s chosen to seal away his gift than to use it. That’s because, like Superman, he can use it emit a ray of fire (laser) at his enemies! It’s too powerful and quite often, he’s been holding back. This immortal knows when to pull his punches, and as for how he feels when serving the will of others, his superiors, it seems he has reservations.

When he used his abilities in a huge battle to bury Lotus Peak under more than one mountains worth of rock, perhaps he became even more aware of the dreaded power he wields, and thus decided to leave heaven.

Continue reading “New Gods Yang Jian. All the Trailers You Can Find and Sequel News”

Fox and Hare’s All Explosive Cyberpunk Action! (and May 25th Release)

Fox and Hare is all cyberpunk, and is finally headed to comic book stores near you this week. (or mail order)

Fox and Hare #1 From Vault ComicsNot to be confused with the stop-motion animated series of the same name, Fox and Hare, by Vault Comics is all cyberpunk! That’s a good thing for the duo who take on this codename about two bounty hunters, or should that be mercenaries? Because of unforeseen circumstances, this comic originally slated for November 2021 was delayed. But it’s on track for release ‌soon.

Jon Tsuei (writer) and Stacey Lee (artist) have crafted a work that brings the colourful aesthetics from Blade Runner to life. It’s not as noir as the film, but instead comes through as slick and clean. Lee’s manga style presentation gives us a work that truly shows how Asian talents can reclaim the aesthetics of the cyberpunk genre. These talents wanted to demonstrate this ability, and I feel this debut issue does the job.

Continue reading “Fox and Hare’s All Explosive Cyberpunk Action! (and May 25th Release)”

The Usagi Chronicles isn’t Running at Full Throttle Yet

The first season of The Usagi Chronicles is rough and has some pacing issues.

Samurai Rabbit The Usagi Chronicles Fans of Usagi Yujimbo by Stan Sakai are most likely thrilled that he’s fully crossed over to the animation medium in The Usagi Chronicles. His appearances in the past were scant and even though Miyamato is mostly a background character in this new Netflix series, it’s his ancestor, Yuichi Yujimbo, who is the star of Samurai Rabbit.

The emphasis is on the latter since it’s his story. This youngling’s goal to become a samurai. One day, he’ll be the leader of the team he’s friends with. The first episode sees him having difficulty gaining Gen the Rhino, Kitsune the Fox, and Chizu the Cat’s respect. This rabbit has much to learn, especially when making the rough and tumble streets of Neo-Tokyo his “home.”

Continue reading “The Usagi Chronicles isn’t Running at Full Throttle Yet”

It’s Frantically Fun with Turbo Overkill Early Access in Review

Turbo Overkill Movie PosterTrigger Happy Interactive
Apogee Entertainment

Available on Steam for the PC

What would you do if you find that everyone in your city has been turned into violent half-cybernetic war machines, bent on taking over the world for a malicious artificial intelligence called Syn? As a cyborg with a chainsaw hidden in your leg and missile launchers up your sleeves, you’ll fight your way through the streets and take back the city. Blasting your way through hordes of enemies to put an end to the AI’s plans once and for all! 

Turbo Overkill is simply a love letter to the 90s. It’s a first-person shooter that mimics what computers were capable of back in the early days of 3D accelerator cards while adding some modern touches like reflections and proper environmental lighting. The level design, brightly glowing power-ups, colour-coded keys, jump pads, and a huge variety of ways to blow up your enemies just screams mid-90s shooter. Playing this early access game over the last few days really brings back memories of playing Quake, Unreal tournament and Duke Nukem 3D for the first time.

Continue reading “It’s Frantically Fun with Turbo Overkill Early Access in Review”

The Matrix Resurrections Missed Opportunity

This fourth film feels more like a cowboy western than anything else.

The Matrix Resurrections.jpg

By Ed Sum
(The Vintage Tempest)

Spoiler Alert

To bring back The Matrix nearly 20 years later with Matrix Resurrections has fans wondering what happened in the meantime? There were two video games (one considered canon) and a spinoff animated anthology. The leads Keanu Reeves and Carrie-Anne Moss said they’d love to revisit this franchise, and they’ve aged a lot. As for whether that’s important to the Architect (the enemy), it’s hard to say. That leader is gone.

Their feelings for each other is eternal, and is hard to comprehend by a hive mind. There’s no way to describe in code or an algorithm the concept of love. Their synergy is very different from others as apparently, it can help power the simulation.

Continue reading “The Matrix Resurrections Missed Opportunity”

%d bloggers like this: