Well GO USA Archives | Otaku No Culture

Going ‘Back to the Past’ is No Stormy Ride In This Tribute

A long-awaited follow-up to a beloved TV series, Back to the Past delivers time-travel spectacle, nostalgic fan service, and lingering questions about destiny, even if some ideas feel better suited to a longer format.

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Mild spoiler alert

No prior knowledge of the 2001 Chinese TV series A Step into the Past is required to enjoy Back to the Past (尋秦記). Those familiar with the series will spot how the film connects to its small-screen origins, though the transition isn’t seamless. The budget behind the more ambitious stunt work doesn’t always disguise the green screening, and a bit of suspension of disbelief is definitely required. Still, it’s manageable. My lingering question is how much of Ken’s troops and equipment were conveniently waiting to be teleported along with him. There is an answer, and I won’t spoil where the technology came from.

Although the film took many years to reach screens following the series finale in 2001, fans of the historical drama about Hong Siu-lung (Louis Koo), a modern man trying not to distort the past too much for fear of altering the future he knows, will feel right at home. Over the course of the series, he becomes part of a trusted inner circle and is eventually made Grand Tutor. Much of the story revolves around avoiding temporal paradoxes, and anything essential is neatly recapped in the film’s introduction.

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The Royal Cat (金陵御猫) In Review: A Hair’s Breath of Whisker of Mystery and Bewilderment

Cao Liang’s The Royal Cat delivers a playful, mysterious blend of talking‑animal charm and Eastern folklore. A rare North American release, The Royal Cat colourful and whimsical but never quite scratches beneath its own magic.

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Coming to Digital Oct 14, 2025

Liang Cao’s The Royal Cat (金陵御猫, The Imperial Cat of Jinling) may be one of the few Chinese animated features in recent years to secure proper North American distribution—a rare catch for curious cinephiles who love a whisker of something different. While I’m happy that other animation studios can show off their style worldwide, Light Chaser Animation’s White Snake 3, Chang’an, and Curious Tales of a Temple remain hard to find on this continent. As for a physical home video release? That’s a mouse most likely to escape the kitchen.

This film offers a variation on the Puss in Boots formula rather than Kung Fu Panda. Zhan Ao (Tu-Te-Ha-Meng), a talking tabby cat, doesn’t wear shoes and lacks a tail—a bold fashion choice for a feline hero. He’s a skilled fighter who once loyally served General Kou. After his master’s death, however, he reinvented himself as a Robin Hood–like figure, prowling the streets with cause and cunning. That missing tail? It’s not just a style statement; it hints at something mystical. When Ao becomes a wanted fugitive, it raises the suspicion that there’s more to his nine lives than meets the eye. In this world, other animals can also converse with humans—which means the line between myth and reality is as slippery as a fish in a pond.

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Baby Assassins Franchise – Friendship, Mayhem, and the Future of Japan’s Funniest Hitwomen

In what makes the Baby Assassins franchise unique is its blend of over-the-top action with sitcom absurdities, showing how Mahiro and Chisato juggle odd jobs, bills, and bullets. And we talk about its spin-off TV series too!

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Check out the reviews for the second flick, Babies, and the third one, Nice Days.

Now that Yugo Sakamoto’s Baby Assassins 3 is available on home video in North America, watching all three films back-to-back shows just how uniquely fun this franchise has become. Better still, the story isn’t finished. It’s not over yet for the Baby Assassins franchise!; a 12-episode spin-off mini-series aired on TV Tokyo in September 2024. It is available for import through YesAsia, but without English subtitles, leaving fans to hope the North American distributor will secure international rights.

What makes the series stand out is its mix of action, deadpan and comedy. Imagine Laverne and Shirley—if they were professional killers. That’s the dynamic between Mahiro (Saori Izawa) and Chisato (Akari Takaishi). One is outgoing and impulsive, while the other is more laid back and prefers to avoid action unless persuaded. Their partnership feels like a live-action twist on the “girls with guns” formula, with classics such as Dirty Pair and Noir serving as touchstones. The franchise succeeds because these stories balance buddy-cop banter with constant clashes against the criminal underworld, keeping the familiar tropes fresh.

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Baby Assassins 3 Is Finally Coming to Home Video!

Baby Assassins 3 is headed to North America to satisfy fans of the girls with guns genre, and they got some biggums here!

Well GO USA
Release Date: August 26

After Baby Assassins 3 successful run last year at Fantasia Film Festival, Well GO USA is finally releasing this killer action movie to home video! It’s a fun ride to chart what’s next in the relationship between Akari Takaishi (Chisato Sugimoto) and Saori Izawa (Mahiro Fukagawa), and our movie review can be read here. These girls may seem like today’s answers to the Dirty Pair from long ago, but they have other issues that go beyond being trained by professionals to be the best trouble consultants, often hired to take down targets for one reason or another!

Writer/Director Sakamoto Yugo (A Janitor) and action director Sonomura Kensuke (Ghost Killer) return to keep this franchise going, and in this latest chapter, what they have to deal with isn’t too hard to follow. Continue reading “Baby Assassins 3 Is Finally Coming to Home Video!”

Two of South Korea’s Hottest Kpop Acts Will Stream as Video Concerts on Well GO USA’s Network

Two huge kpop video concerts are coming to digital this week! After watching demon hunters, some newcomers may well want to visit the real deal!

After watching Kpop Demon Hunters (movie review link), I had to revisit this scene to look at today’s hottest acts. While what’s presented is a fairly good look under a global lens, but I wanted songs that are more rooted rather than be another broadway musical. This week, Well GO USA will soon deliver video concerts Taeyong: Ty Track In Cinemas and Aespa: World Tour In Cinemas. Both are today’s biggest stars in South Korea. The former loves to rap, and the latter helped popularize hyper-pop.

Lee Tae-yong (이태용) is a singer, songwriter, and dancer. As the lead of NCT, a boy band managed by SM Entertainment, his fame grew as moved up the ranks. Record labels create and manage most of these bands; as for how they discover talents is almost like living that Hollywood dream of yesteryears. SM Entertainment trained Taeyong in their rookie project, and they selected him to be today’s face of this group because of his charisma and leadership. When considering how this film presentation opens with him talking about where he came from, this rags-to-riches story is a lot more engaging than the concert itself!

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Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep, Please My Lord, Don’t Let The Soul Reaper Come to Keep

Although Soul Reaper treads on familiar territory, the fact it includes some Indonesian folklore into the mix makes it worth the watch.

Well GO USA
Coming to Digital June 17

When Soul Reaper wants to catch the attention of horror fans, it needs more than just scares—it delivers something fresh by weaving Indonesian folklore into the story. When Respati’s family comes under threat, the teen (Devano Danendra) has to act. Though nightmares haunt him frequently, these visions mean more than just bad dreams—they carry real warnings.

Respati isn’t the only one struggling with sleep. A dark force haunts a group of kids, putting them all at risk. The premise may remind some of Nightmare on Elm Street, and that’s no coincidence—the film draws inspiration from the real-life phenomenon “Sudden Unexplained Nocturnal Death Syndrome” (SUNDS), reported in this region.

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