Geek of Oz

At Anime Expo Lite, Disney+ announced the names of the seven Japanese anime studios bringing their unique talent and perspective to “Star Wars: Visions” - a collection of animated short films from Lucasfilm that will stream exclusively on Disney+.   The anime studios revealed were Kamikaze Douga, Geno Studio (Twin Engine), Studio Colorido (Twin Engine), Trigger, Kinema Citrus, Science Saru, and Production IG. Each studio will use their signature animation and storytelling styles to realise their own visions of the galaxy far, far away.    Lucasfilm’s Jacqui Lopez (Executive Producer), James Waugh (Executive Producer), Josh Rimes (Executive Producer), and Qubic Pictures’ Justin Leach (Co-Executive Producer) and Kanako Shirasaki (Producer) were on hand at the event to reveal each studio and give fans a special look at the environment and concept art as they debuted the title and first details of each short.   + Kamikaze Douga - The Duel  + Geno Studio (Twin Engine...

Welcome to BINGE-READ MANGA, our occasional segment where Geek of Oz reviews a manga with a back catalogue and tells you why it's worth binging, Netflix-style. --- THE STORY AND CHARACTERS We've all wanted to be a superhero at some point, right? In a world where 80% of the population are born with Quirks - abnormal powers that make them eligible to become superheroes - Izuku "Deku" Midoriya stands out. He was born Quirkless, and has to make do with spectating for both his own superpowered friends and the publically beloved heroes they strive to one day be. After a run-in with one of those heroes, the charismatic All-Might, Deku gets a shot at finally having his own Quirk in order to enter the Hero Academy, given a chance to one day stand shoulder-to-shoulder with the world's greatest caped and cowled characters. Essentially, it's Harry Potter by way of  Teen Titans and X-Men . I've heard worse ideas. When reading  My Hero Academi...

Throughout its storied history of video game adaptations, Dragon Ball  is a franchise that has always had more hits than misses. Handheld offerings like Legacy of Goku  and more full-on platform fighters like the Budokai Tenkaichi  and Xenoverse  games far outweigh the lackluster disappointments in entries like Supersonic Warriors , Sagas  and whatever that Kinect thing was. So it comes as little surprise that Dragonball FighterZ  sticks to the rule rather than the exception, being both a solid fighting game in its own right and a highly successful adaptation of the source material. Mechanically, the game hews close to established fighting game standards with a left-vs-right battle system and reliance on combos, power attacks and dodges (so pretty much Tekken  with more yellow hair and aliens), as opposed to the full 3D movement used by the recent  Xenoverse  entries. Your team of three fighters - chosen from a possible unlockable roster...

THE SHORT VERSION   Comparisons between Nier Automata and Horizon Zero Dawn may be inevitable, but not wholly accurate. Though the two games emerged at roughly the same time, the former is a tightly-focused and coherent single character journey across a well-paced and thoughtfully written plot. Nier: Automata is...a little different. THE SLIGHTLY LONGER VERSION  In a post-apocalyptic future with the drabbest colour palette ever conceived, humanity is attacked by aliens. The resulting conflict wipes humanity from the face of the Earth, relegating the survivors to a colony on the moon. To defend them, the humans commission a number of androids in the YoRHa initiative to reclaim Earth from the aliens and their swarm of robots who now occupy the planet. One of these androids, 2B, teams up with another android, 9S, to defend humanity and learn more about the alien threat. The plot quickly spirals out from that point. To call the story of Nier: Automata ab...

BEFORE YOU READ ANY FURTHER, PLEASE NOTE THE FOLLOWING. I cannot stress enough that it's important, if possible, to see this movie with as little foreknowledge as you can. Don't Google a trailer. Don't look at a poster. Don't even scan your eyes over the press photos used in this review. If you can, just avoid anything to do with this film's marketing, and go see it unmolested. Words cannot describe how much I loved Your Name , but a lot of that love comes from knowing as scant as possible about it; its premise, its characters, its plot turns. Although most of the current media surrounding the film has been fairly good with keeping the major stuff hidden from view, there are some things you could still infer. Therefore, if there is any Faustian bargain you can strike to completely block out anything resembling anything to do with Your Name before you see it, go do that. For those who are after a hot take or a nice shiny review score before you determine if yo...

So it's been a little while.... Due to the busyness of the Christmas/ New year period plus some poorly timed technical difficulties It's been far too long between podcasts. But hey we're back now, ready to delight your ears for another year with our bullshit-laced pop-culture  ramblings. This episode we talk about our favourite things from last year and look forward to all the read/watch/play fun 2016 has to offer.  We recorded this episode mid-January so although it might be a bit dated we had a whole lot of fun recording it and wanted to share it with you all.   Enjoy! -Christof                                       Get it from Podomatic  here                                             Get it from Itunes  here

I didn't read, watch or play enough of any one thing to be able to make a dedicated top 10 list of books, comics, games, TV or films, so I'm going with the buffet option. Here's a list of some things you need to experience, some things that'd be nice to experience, some things you should avoid experiencing at all costs, and a few things I have yet to experience (but which are meant to be good all the same). In no particular order: BEST STUFF The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt   A marvel of video game design that marries an engrossing story to some truly excellent gameplay. Geralt's final chapter works well as a standalone and a capstone, and is definitely worthy of play. Star Wars: The Force Awakens It. Was. Excellent. Let us all rejoice that Abrams gave us a retro, swashbuckling tale of heart and humour in a galaxy far, far away. Star Wars Battlefront: Twilight Company Who'd've thought a video game tie-in novel could be so good? Far eclipsi...

If nothing else, Resurrection F highlights just how goofy Dragonball Z truly is at its core. I mean, look at the basic premise: one of the most iconic DBZ villains gets resurrected by the magical dragon Shenron, tries to find and kill his worst enemies - who are busy training under the tutelage of a pair of gods on another planet - and ends up attaining a form that turns him into gold while he does battle with blue-haired antagonists. Like I said: goofy. Following on from Battle of Gods , the plot of Resurrection F kicks off with former galactic tyrant Lord Freeza getting brought back to life thanks to the unfortunately-named Lord Sorbet (because every major Freeza-related villain, like King Cold, Cooler and Lord Chilled, has to be named after something frosty - next thing you know, Goku will be fighting King Esky and his apprentice, Lord Gelato). Freeza quickly sets off for Earth to smack around Goku and his friends, whilst Goku and Vegeta are off learning to be Super Saiya...