Future Diary

I stumbled across this anime and was intrigued by the plot. A very brief description of it would be that it's a combination of Danganronpa and Death Note, with some time travel tossed in.

The main character is named Yuki, a very solitary boy who keeps an observational journal on his phone. He has no friends, by choice, and is in every way an observer of his own life, not actually taking part emotionally. His only 'friends' are imaginary beings, a god named Deus, and a little sprite my creature. One night while talking with his imaginary friends, Deus tells him that things are going to change, and the next day, he finds that his diary posts on his phone have already been written for the day, telling him what will happen. He happily takes advantage of his soothsaying device, until on day, a girl in his class approaches him, and reveals that her phone is also special, also able to predict the future. This freaks him out obviously, but it isn't until that night when he meets Deus, as well as several other faceless strangers, that he finds out what's going on. He, as well as several other people, have been granted devices that tell them the future, and they must use these devices to find and kill each other. When a person has been targeted by another diary user, their own diary will tell them that they have a 'dead end', and they must try to change their fate if they can.
The last person standing becomes god. And all diaries are different, and reflect the personality of the user. Yuki is an observer, so his diary predicts events that will happen around him, but there are other types of diaries too. Yuki then is faced with a battle royale to inherit the seat of god.

I had some annoyances while watching this. Yuki is a very timid boy, which is fine, but he doesn't show any significant growth until very late in the show. He's always whining and crying, and the other characters comment on this as well throughout the story. What was refreshing is that this personality is usually given to females in anime, but all of the females showed various levels of considerable strength, which was nice. Yuno's character, the girl who is apparently obsessed with Yuki, was also troubling at times, but her character became more of a mystery as the show went on, so I was more curious about what her story was than annoyed by her rabbid obsession.

This is definitely not a pg show. There is physical, sexual, and emotional violence, as well as some nudity. It is a pretty good show however. The plot becomes increasingly complex and surprising, and will leave you guessing to the very end, after the credits. It's only 26 episodes long, and that goes by pretty quickly. It's one of those shows that you'll want to marathon. And while you might be annoyed by some of the characters at various points, you won't be bored.

Smokey and the Bandit (1977)

This is just a fun movie. If you like car chases, the besting of jerk cops, car crashes, and the tom foolery of brotherhood, this movie is for you.

The film starts off with two big shot money grubbers who are challenging anyone who can to smuggle a truck load of beer into their truck festival, and they're promising a huge amount of money to anyone who can do it. The problem is that this is almost impossible because it's illegal, and if they get caught by the police, the shows over. Now we are introduced to the Bandit (a young Burt Reynolds), a famous trucker who has never met a job he hasn't been able to complete. He currently is hired to sit around at a truck show as an exhibit, until he is challenged to complete this seemingly impossible task. Drawn by the exorbant amount of cash, he and his trucker buddy Snowman take on the task. Snowman drives the tractor trailer to be filled with beer, and the Bandit drives a sporty Pontiac Trans Am to screw around with the cops. They pick up their load with ease and head back. All seems to be going their way until Bandit picks up a young Sally Fields, who is running away from an unwanted wedding, and subsequently, a big jerk of a cop who just so happens to be her would be father in law. This sherif then takes on a personal vendetta to chase and capture the Bandit and the woman who left his son at the alter. With the dogmatic sherif on their tail, and in a race against the clock, will Bandit and Snowman be able to deliver their load on time to collect the cash? Or will the police catch up with them first?!

This is just a fun movie. The Bandit and Snowman are devil may care, happy go lucky truckers, And they're just looking to have a good time. We also get to see the really close network and bond truckers have with each other, and get to hear a lot of lingo. What I liked about this movie that I usually don't like about these car chase, run from the cops stories, is Taft these guys are just having fun. There's no life or death situation, they don't have any 'I'm so badass and cool cause I'm such a rebel' frowns on their faces, they're just laughing the whole time. There's no pretense to badassery. There's also no overdone slapstick stupidity just for the sake of cheap laughs. It's just what they do, and how they have fun. It's the reckless impetuousness of youth with a love of cars and trucks, and challenges. The movie almost has the feel of a western. It's just a couple of guys on their trusty 'steeds' trying to best incompetent lawmen. It's lighthearted, funny adventure.

American Horror Story

This is a really good series. So far three seasons have come out, but a fourth is in the works. It is a horror series, and each season deals with a different theme often dealt with in the horror genre.

The first season was about a family that moved into a haunted house. At first, everything appears to be normal, but they are repeatedly warned that the house is bad news and that there have been many killings there. Strange things start to happen, and with each episode, we learn about a new ghost that is cursed to forever live in the house. We travel back and forth in time and discover what happened in the house in years past and why the friendly or angry spirits reside in the house. How they died. What will happen to the family currently living there I wonder?

The second season takes place in a 19th century insane asylum. A reporter goes into an asylum to report on a new resident there supposedly guilty of murder, and who is supposedly a sick serial killer who skins his victims, but she is then not allowed to leave. We see some of what life was like in those institutions at that time, complete with human experimentation, evil nuns, exorcisms, shock therapy, and more. Will this reporter ever be free? And will she encounter this brutal serial killer?

The third and most current season was about a coven of witches. Young girls with special abilities attend a school of magic to learn how to properly use their skills. At the same time, they must learn who the next supreme, or ruler, will be. We have the classic magical school genre here, but we also get to see some voodoo. This wasn't as scary as the other seasons, but was still worth the watch.

The upcoming season is called circus and will take place at... A circus.

The stories are all very well written and interesting, but what really stands out for me in this series is how the actors are recycled. The same actors reappear in every season, and the fascinating thing is that they play the same character. For example, in each season, Jessica Lang plays a woman was once powerful, but now that power is fading, and she has or does use sexuality to gain or wield that power. Sarah Paulson always plays a woman with a 'sight' and with latent potential not fully realized. She seems to be able to see things that others can't. Evan Peters is always on the search for a seemingly unattainable love, and ends up being some woman's tool. Lily Rabe always plays the innocent who is later corrupted, used, and destroyed by evil that she did not initially seek out. And so on.

It's a fascinatingly complex story that is well written, and has very interesting characters. Worth the watch.