“It's been a year since Seymon returned from "Sovyonok" and met the girls from the camp in the real world. But it's New Year at hand! And it needs to be celebrated!”
Well, I reviewed a non-canon sequel to Katawa Shoujo, so I might as well do the same for Everlasting Summer. I can't really recommend it, but here I go. Seymon returns from the magic bus that found him back in the USSR. The same girls are there, except for one. Miku the Japanese girl has been replaced by Masha the Russian. I don't know why. Maybe Miku only existed on the magic bus.
Most of the girls retain their original personalities. Slavya has short hair. Ulyana is still the wild child. I guess that makes her my favorite. This novel involves him starting a romance with one (and only one.) of them. Which one is up to the player. Playtime is reportedly very short. Only about an hour for a full play-through.
Unlike the first game, this non-canon sequel was made by 2Chance Projects, not the aptly named Soviet Games. It's a very short game designed specifically for New Year's 2015. That said, it's okay for what it is, but doesn't bother developing the characters. Frosty Kiss assumes you played Everlasting Summer, plops you in modern Russia, and gets right to the romance...it's very Russian that way.
Speaking of Russian, a final word of warning. When you download this game from Steam, you have to manually set the language from Russian to English, rather than downloading a separate English release, as with Everlasting Summer. I had to re-install it, while searching for an English version, because I thought I downloaded the wrong language version. But, after Googling the problem, I discovered the language settings are in the game's main menu.
Like Katawa's side-story, I can only recommend it if you liked the original game. Except unlike Summer's Clover, Frosty Kiss doesn't add much, and is mostly characters commenting on the last game and the new year. Give it a look, if you're interested. Make sure you play Everlasting Summer first. I can't really recommend it on its own. Otherwise, you'll have no idea what's going on.
“Everlasting Summer is a visual novel that tells the
story of a man living in modern Russia who finds himself mysteriously
transported to a summer camp somewhere in the Soviet Union.”
A lonely modern
Russian kid named Seymon goes to the bus station one day. When he wakes up, he
finds himself mysteriously transported to the Soviet Union in a pioneer camp.
Think Soviet Scouts! Within the pioneer camp, there's a number of different
girls you can pursue, including Alisa, Lena, Ulyana (the party animal.), Miku,
(A Japanese girl.) and Slavya. Each girl has 2 endings good and bad. There are
also “secret endings” I've heard about where you can discover a nuclear shelter
in the camp, or discover evil clones.
There's even an ending where you make a
robot cat girl, who will be available to pursue next game. I've never gotten
that far. As far as I know, each girl has 2 endings. One where you stay in the
USSR and lead a good life. Or one where you find your way back, but something
bad happens! (Lena's version has Seymon kill himself.) It's a unique game. Heavy
on sci-fi, and alternate realities. I'd say give it a try, if you can stomach
the sappy USSR nostalgia! The game was originally released in Russia only in
2006. The 2013 version is the English release.
"An Interpol agent tracks the world's most wanted art thief."
Red Notice is free on Netflix, so I figured why not? It's a pretty good action-heist flick. There's a police officer John Hartley (Dwayne Johnson), a conman Nolan Booth (Ryan Reynolds) and a thief called The Bishop. (Gal Gadot). Each one is trying to get the golden eggs of Cleopatra. Pretty formulaic structure here though.
John Hartley is trying to catch The Bishop and sets up the action scenes. Gal Gadot comes in and sets up the sexy/heist scenes. She's always one step ahead. Ryan Reynolds is comic relief who makes fun of Dwayne Johnson's character as he's fooled through Russia, Spain, Egypt, and other exotic locales. He really enjoys seeing Agent Hartley in a bind, and makes it harder for him at every turn.
It's not a bad movie, it's just a little formulaic. Ryan Reynolds is in full wise-cracking mode. You want Gal Gadot? Well, you get Gal Gadot: Sweet talk, and krav maga. Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson is as game as ever to bonk some heads, and not afraid to laugh at himself. Plus, there's a few surprises in store. If you can stomach the setups, watch this one...there's a couple big twists. No spoilers!
“Early 1700: Cartographer Jonathan Green (Jason Flemyng) from Viy (2014) is back to map the Russian Far East. He's forced on to China, where he confronts the Dragon Master et al. The iron masked Russian Czar escapes the Tower of London to a Russian ship.”
So, there's basically two films going on here. One is a basic supernatural wushu (historical Chinese fairytale.) and the other is the action movie between Arnold Schwarzenegger and Jackie Chan that American audiences were sold. Well, they fight for five minutes. They aren't even the main characters.
In this world, tea is actually the healing tears of a mystical dragon. An evil witch kidnaps and replaces the Russian czar with an imposter, while Johnathan Green is trying to map China. Are you following? Good. Of all people, Arnold plays a British guard. There are some funny moments, but ultimately it pivots to being just another wushu film, with some line about how the lead actress is Jackie Chan's daughter, the rightful empress who has to fight the witch, and reclaim the throne.
By itself, it's an alright movie. I just feel it's a bit bait-and-switch. It feels like two movies. Arnold and Jackie come back to end the film. Jackie explains to Arnold that the dragon is everywhere. Usually, I like wushu films for their effects. But, I think here they just ran out of money to show the dragon again. I would recommend this film. But, just bear in mind, it's a little convoluted.
“What if baby Kal-El's rocket landed, not in Kansas, but in the Soviet Union? That is the premise of this Elseworld's tale from DC Comics.”
There's a lot going on here. This is an alternate world based on the 2003 comic by Mark Millar where Superman was raised in the USSR. He kills Stalin after he finds out about the gulags. He beats back capitalist Bizzaro created by the US with Lex Luthor. He defeats the Green Lanterns as they are recruited in the Cold War, and single-handedly wins the Korean War for the Communists.
So, in this world, Kal-El is still the same person. He still cares about helping people, only he believes the Soviet system is the way to do so. Even with his vast power, and big heart, he finds that he can't control people the way he'd like to in the name of equality. He fights Batman over this. In this version, Batman survives the gulag.
To add to the list of heroes making a cameo, he courts Wonder Woman on a diplomacy mission. Eventually, she withdraws when she finds out that with the help of Brainiac, he's been turning people into robots to make them more agreeable. Superman discovers that the villain soon can't be trusted. This leads to a showdown between Brainiac and US President Lex Luthor.
All-in-all, this is a fantastic showcase for a DC what-if scenario. The comic is a bit more detailed, but I highly recommend this one for a watch, however you can. It really shows the ability of comics and animation to transport us to other worlds. Plus, I like Jason Isaac's faux Russian accent. In Soviet Russia, Superman cartoon watches you!
Hunted down in the US after “Civil War”, (2016) Black Widow elopes to Eastern Europe to find her family. But, she's not even safe there, as Russians try to bring her and her family back under a mind-control program and she's being pursued by Taskmaster. This film does a great job with action scenes, as well as family drama. It's basically a spy film with a superhero twist.
The film doesn't slow down very much. If I have one complaint about the movie, it's that anything other than the action feels very slow. But, maybe that's just because they address the questions of free will vs. Authority very directly, and it being a Marvel film, they have to make it over two hours. I'm a fan of Black Widow, and Scarlett Johansson is a good action star, but there was something about the pacing that gave me a sort of mental whiplash.
David Harbour is funny as Red Guardian. He sort of exists to establish the Russian supersoldier legacy. A major theme of modern Marvel movies seems to be leaving legacies behind. Whether for yourself, or family. Anyway, I enjoyed it. It's female James Bond with a Marvel twist. If that's your thing, check it out!
Avengers Confidential: Black Widow & Punisher (2014):
Black Widow: Don’t kill them, Frank!
Punisher: I have no choice!
This movie could’ve been so cool, if it were an actual Punisher anime! Instead, it’s an excuse for Black Widow to have a romantic fling with the villain. It starts off kind of cool, where Punisher shoots up a whole room of weapons dealers. But, then, he’s reduced to a tagalong. I’m not kidding. That’s what Nick Fury basically says. You see, because the villain has mind control powers, he needed to have two agents around. And who ends up mind-controlled? Yeah…Punisher.
To the film’s credit, it does show that Black Widow can go toe-to-toe with Punisher. (Frank Castle). Their fights last about a minute each time…the second time he’s mind-controlled. You see, Punisher is on the heels of a weapons dealer named Kane. Who turns out to be the pawn of a lovesick SHIELD (Elias) Agent who steals SHIELD supersoldier tech to impress Black Widow. He is also the pawn of a Russian terrorist organization. Because that would impress her….invade New York.
Eventually, the Russians use Elias’s mind control to invade New York with supersoldiers. Much of the movie consists of Black Widow being lovesick with Elias. She can take down Punisher, yes, but is apparently weak in the knees over a random SHIELD scientist who she should’ve just taken down. At least Amadeus Cho is there, a child genius SHIELD Agent who creates a mind shield after Black Widow promises to kiss him. She’s Punisher with flirting abilities. Win-win!
And now that Russian supersoldiers are invading New York while Black Widow is being romantic and angsty, The Avengers show up to defend the city! This is one instance in the movie where I did like it better than the movies. Because it’s animation, they have the budget to have all the Avengers show up and do their jobs. Hulk, Iron Man, even Captain Marvel. After all, it is Avengers: Confidential. Gotta have Avengers show up.
In sum, I liked the movie. I liked that they were able to show that Black Widow can kick butt after she was kinda sidelined in The Avengers movie. Unfortunately, this leaves very little time to build up Punisher’s kick butt credibility. I mean, normally he has weapons that fire nukes! But, here he’s regulated to a Hawkeye-type role (I‘m calling it being “Hawkeyed”, from now on!) providing connections to the Russian terrorists, and then being mind controlled. It’s always mind control.
Mind control aside, I do think It’s a good action film, and they build up Punisher nicely in the beginning. I just wish more superhero movies actually used all their superheroes. Punisher really could’ve been anyone. Anyway, nice to see all The Avengers together in anime form. But, who the heck is Elias? Oh, well. At least Punisher gets some revenge in the end! Go see it! 3/5 stars from me! Worth a watch.
Street Fighter II: The Animated Movie (1994) Review:
“The world is your arena, now. Not just the street.”
- M. Bison to Sagat
In the Olympic Spirit, here’s an anime based on a 90s fighting game (which I remember playing from a van for the first time, and being completely enthralled by!) about international fighters! But, Street Fighter II: The Animated Movie is no mere videogame movie. It also combines buddy cop, kung fu, and Terminator motifs all nicely meshed together against the backstories of the characters. The best fighting game movie ever!
Now, yes, I know if you don’t know about the game, it’s not going to grab you. But, I think it’s the best videogame movie ever made because, for starters, there’s actual fighting in a fighting game movie. Within 15 minutes there are about 4 matches. (Ryu vs. Sagat, Ryu vs. Fei Long, E. Honda vs. Dhalsim, Ken vs. T. Hawk!) and many of the special moves of the characters are used throughout the fights.
Street Fighter II’s impact on the world of videogames is colossal enough. But, this movie captures enough 90s cultural tropes to make it more than just a straight kung fu flick. And that’s what makes it great! To begin, M. Bison (Or Vega in Japan…how’d this movie work out over there?) is tracking down Ryu (And yes, it’s REE-you, not RYE-you.) via “monitor cyborg” after he beats Sagat. Ryu’s power level is 3620, which is supposed to be very high.
Bison’s psychic power along with his cyborgs allows him to turn people into mindless terrorists (Cammy assassinates an English anti-drug politician under such hypnosis!) and drug dealers for his evil organization Shadowlaw. So, Ryu is on the move at random around Asia: China (Fei Long’s encounter.) India, (Where he meets E. Honda, who beats Dhalsim.) and then Thailand. He is portrayed as a nice guy who’s just passing through and looking for the next good fight, but he knows that his only equal is Ken Masters of Seattle, who trained with him for 10 years in Japan.
Ryu’s movements catch the attention of Shadowlaw, INTERPOL (Represented by Chun Li, misspelled as INTERPOLE, but, oh well.) and the US Air Force, both of whom are investigating Shadowlaw. At first, Guile (The All-American Air Force Captain, who keeps an outrageously cool hairdo.) doesn’t want to investigate with Chun Li, but after she’s attacked by Vega (Balrog in Japan…again, how was that movie different, guys?) The Spanish wall-jumping ninja, he agrees to track down M. Bison for her.
Although, it felt weird in the 90s to me, now I think the US military probably WOULD investigate a terrorist organization turning people into zombies. So, now it feels prescient with The War on Terror. Meanwhile, Ken Masters is being followed in America by Chun Li, Guile, and Bison’s cyborgs, as Bison has figured out that he’s Ryu’s equal. He’s more of Smart Alec than Ryu. His scenes are accompanied by Alice in Chains, which is nostalgic. Second to the final battle is a three-way fight in Thailand (Because of course, Thailand is the last level in the game.) between Guile/M.Bison, E. Honda vs. Balrog (In Japan, M. Bison.), and Ryu vs. a mind-controlled Ken.
Finally, M. Bison is defeated by a double Hadoken by Ryu & Ken into his jet engine. I’m told Street Fighter: The Animated Series picks up after the credits scene where M. Bison follows Ryu in a semi! The credits music is Rage Against The Machine. How’s that for 90s nostalgia? This movie is awesome, and far better than anything Hollywood attempted with the franchise. And drawn in excellent manga-style!
Again, if you don’t know the game, then the entire post probably just sounds like a 90s nostalgia rant. And that’s okay. Because partially, it is. But, in the game it’s an international tournament. Maybe it is here too, but filmed on cyborgs. Whatever the case, I thought it was a good tribute to the Olympics, and Blanka, the beastman of Brazil actually tangles with Zangief, of Russia, in the movie! Still I can’t think of better representatives for the US of A than Guile and Ken!
This movie is great! 4/5 stars! Well, the dialogue could’ve been delivered a bit better. It’s amusing to hear Ken say things like: “Buffalo, or whatever your name is…you’re full of crap!” A wild ride that combines all things 90s with all things manga! If you don’t feel like playing Street Fighter II afterwards, something is wrong! Go Ken! Go Team USA!
“I’m just like everybody else now, Pepper. I’m just…normal. And I hate being normal.”
- Tony Stark
For context, there was a time when I was out of the loop with comics, and I wanted to get back in. So, I remember asking someone in my college cafeteria: “What’s happening with The Avengers these days?” All I knew of The Avengers back then was from videogames, and a few appearances in cartoons. He said: “Oh, they disbanded.” I said: “What?” Okay, so my jaw dropped. So, when I got back into comics, the first storyline I followed was “The Avengers: Secret Invasion” slightly before the first Iron Man movie came out.
Okay, that was for context. Because I believe “World’s Most Dangerous” may have been an attempt to close that Secret Invasion/Iron Man story arc, and here I have only one part of the story. But, it’s a good one! Tony Stark is on the run from Norman Osborn, who became a mayor, stole Tony’s tech and replaced SHIELD with HAMMER. Anyway, this is less an action graphic novel and more a chase across the globe…though there are battle scenes.
What bothers me the most though about this comic is the way Tony Stark is destroying knowledge of his tech by giving himself memory loss and brain damage. Surely, there must be a more efficient way…but we can tell in this respect that the Marvel movie era is in full swing, as it has him swing by Russia, and ultimately to Afghanistan, where it all began…previously his origin began in China.
Cleverly, he borrows Crimson Dynamo’s suit (an older Russian model.) as his understanding of more complex suits begins to dwindle. But, this gets him clobbered by Pepper Potts in her own suit until they recognize each other…there is some forced drama…but it’s nice to see Pepper kick butt for once.
In a way, the story is oddly prophetic…in Iron Man 3 he DOES DESTROY his suits for no good reason. I know…true love or something. But it least here he’s got brain damage as an excuse. There’s a subplot with Iron Man and Madam Masque, suggesting they had an affair…because of his brain damage? I guess when you remove Stark’s intelligence…he becomes a real jerk. But, I suppose he’s doing it for a good cause.
Lastly, at the big showdown in The Middle East…he gets shot by some terrorists, and he tells them they should just finish the job. But, they can’t, seeing that he’s not the “eternal angel of death” they make him out to be. The message is kinda mixed. It’s forgiveness and self-sacrifice, but also…he has the brain damage…which also seems to insinuate that he has a license to be a jerk.
The ending was satisfying, though. Because Stark gets the crap beat out of him by Osborn, showing the world’s media that Osborn isn’t a hero. So, he’s on the way out. It’s an all right read. Especially the little cameo reveal at the end by Thor-in-disguise! Maybe he can give him his brain back! I mean, without his brain, he is kind of a jerk. And I know it’s about empathy and self-sacrifice, but the way it’s portrayed is hardly a disability rights spin. But, maybe that’s next issue…also the art is fantastic…in spite of the sappiness! 2 out 5 stars!
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