Rare Quickie Reviews: the Dark Knight Rises

Today's Review: the Dark Knight Rises. Warning, there will be spoilers.

"I'm here finally!" Date said. "Great, didn't miss much."

1st hour: zzz *explosion* what? *Bane Appears* Hey, Baraka called he wants his head back.

2nd hour: zzz *explosions* Spoiler Alert *necksnap* "I miss Paul Dini's Bane."

Later...

Date: "Christian Bale, I'd hit that."
Me: "Val Kilmer was the best Batman."
Date: "Bale!"
Me: "George Clooney!"
Date: "Aw hell naw!"

3rd hour: Jeez, they really are pusing for Lord of The Rings time aren't they? What the -? What a tweest! Gainax ending what?

Overall: Few scenes were missing that violent touch. I kinda wanted it to slide on the R Rating Scale. Bane just isn't menacing enough. Plus he kept reminding me of Dr. Henry Killinger, all he needed was his Magic Murder Bag. Few plot holes, not intimidating enough as the 2nd one, but it was pretty good. See it matinee or early bird.

Word of Advice: Don't get into the movie too much! Unless your date is clinching at the edge of her seat, then that's a good sign.

Rare's First Impressions: Jinrui Wa Suitai Shimashita

"Memories of the world before the fall remain... But the light of dawn doth never change, nor e'er the hearts of men..."- Cyan, Final Fantasy VI Advanced

The thought of a civilization found centuries later has not been a particular topic in my mind. Opening up a time capsule in the past to remember who one once was long ago is kind of a hard pill to swallow. In some cases discovering lost technology and preserving it would give you a healthy reminder that though we progress further and further into the future, not everyone has adapted to it.

Such is the case for this show I've started watching. Now according to the title and premise of the show, simply put Humanity has Declined. Jinrui wa Suitai Shimashita or simply put Declining man is set in a post apocalyptic world where mankind is not doing so hot. The people of this world are too inept to hunt and gather and hate mass produced products. Thus is the fall of man.

Before I get into what this series is about this is a first impressions so rule is after 3 episodes, I will decide whether or not I will continue with the show.

The protagonist is a girl with really long hair only known in the village as the Mediator. Aptly named Watashi (female I), she is the person who is the voice of reason between the humans and what looks like genetically botoxed faeries with permanent grins on their faces. They are rather adorable if look past the casual talk and decree of "yay, mankind is in a decline. Soon the death of humans in imminent."

I'll be honest with you, to put in an understatement, this show is weird. Not in weird from a literary standpoint, not weird in a Robo Bear vs Cyber Gorilla but weird in a visual standpoint. If a stoner were to watch this, they would actually make sense of it. And that's saying something considering that getting high makes you see all kinds of strange shit.

From the episodes that I've seen, the villagers asked the Mediator to kill chickens for food since they are for lack of a better term retarded to hunt for themselves. The chickens run away, and so man has no food. No food for you! At night, the Mediator talks to the uncanny valley faeries and asked where she can find some food. Come morning and cans with the faeries on them appear. They come from a nearby factory called Fairyco. So the Mediator seeks to solve the mystery behind the goods.

Ok, first, I was expecting a Soylent Fairy reveal after first seeing the goods, but then things start getting a bit... off.

The Mediator is joined by her mute assistant who I immediately like because of his camera. When it flashes, it makes a bullet shot sound. Why can't all cameras have that function? They run into other humans who are also part of the factory as employees, but the factory is barren which all adds to the mystery even more.

They come across a robot loaf of bread and explains how the factory uses all kinds of "literal crap" to mass produce food for the villagers. Even the robot bread sees no point in living and immediately commits suicide by splitting it's head open with blood spurting out that will make a hemophiliac jealous and immediately dies... Ok he said he was made from carrot juice for kids who don't like eating them, but the effects are all the bloody same. "Please help yourself." "No thanks." "This show is so deadpan.", I might say if my pun quotient had allowed me one..

It's soon revealed that sentient skinless headless chickens are the culprits behind everything. And now here's where my acid laded frosted flakes run out. It seems that the chicken with the cigar in it's... wing? is the leader, and it's got quite a foul... uh... the hole where the head should be... you know, the hole head talky thing. Now the Mediator can't understand a "word" it's saying, so a fairy on her shoulder pulls out translator glasses. While the villain was explaining how the chickens will take over the world by shipping off the humans to an "educational place" (just roll with it) and curses her out, but she's still adjusting the subtitles to understand it.

Everybody got that?

Suddenly the Assistant comes out of nowhere, armed with his guncamera and frightens the chickens. Why Ave Maria is playing in the background while he is shooting the chickens in a GodFather style, I have no idea. Thus begins a short slapstick scene where the chickens become products. From chicken meat by products, chicken curry, chicken clothing?, to chicken toys, roasted chicken to chicken scales? A fry cook at an amusement park would say that's drawing the line.

As the chickens reach the end of a cliff outside of the factory, the Mediator and Assistant finally catch up with them only for the chickens to plunge off the cliff in slow motion from the flash of his camera, while Ave Maria is playing. Indeed it is Poultry in Motion (poetry).

Now from what I saw in the third episode, Y, the Mediator's "partner in crime" discovers Yaoi doujinshi and distributes it to the ladies of the village. Dear god! it's 50 Shades of Grey all over again! You might know how this will turn out.

So from what I explained, will I be watching this show? Yeah, I am. This is the kind of dark social comedy that I've never seen before that doesn't pull punches at how humanity is right now. Or it's taking a jab at Japan, I don't know. Plus, the art style reminds me of Threads of Fate on the Playstation for some reason or something. Would I recommend this show to people? It's already been hastagged on Twitter as #jinrui so yes. Also, the ED has this Shaft vibe as you look at it. Wait what? Masumi Ito? Oranges & Lemons? I got Raspberry Heaven flashbacks going on here.

It's on Crunchyroll so give it a shot. It's not everyday you see something that requires a thesis from stoners to make sense of what you just saw. Japan, whatever you are getting high on to make something like this, I want some.