Weathering With You (Jonathan Clements commentary)
Having now listened to big JC's typically informative and entertaining talk track for the film, I now feel rather guilty of treating it like a typical summer blockbuster and watching it with my brain firmly in neutral. There's a lot of subtlety to its storytelling that I just did not pick up on, perhaps because I didn't expect that to be there in the first place. I'm not sure that this makes me like the film any more than I already did, something about Shinkai's films never quite clicks for me, but I do appreciate the sheer craft that's gone into it more than before.
Lupin III: The Woman Called Fujiko Mine (English dub) ep1-2
Rewatching a bit of the Fujiko series to support Screen Anime's stream, this being the first time I've seen it dubbed. The dub is very solid, with Michelle Ruff on excellent form as Fujiko in a much expanded role (she even dubs the spoken word opening!) and Richard Epcar arguably proving a better fit as Zenigata in this serious outing than he was as Jigen in the sillier Pioneer dubs.
Lupin III: Part 2 ep20-21 (English dub)
Kind of so-so, these two. 20 brings some good ideas to the table for a Goemon-centric episode (especially the 'oh snap' ending), but is a bit marred by its execution, failing to bring enough tension to key scenes with Goemon's rival in court. 21 on the other hand, has some particularly nice visual gags as Lupin and Jigen end up in a siren-like cult's compound, but kind of annoyed me as the villains showed little clear motive for their scheme to rapidly age their victims. It would be interesting to know if they play any better in Japanese than English, but Amazon does not provide the option. Nor does Amazon appear to provide episode 24, for some reason.
Having now listened to big JC's typically informative and entertaining talk track for the film, I now feel rather guilty of treating it like a typical summer blockbuster and watching it with my brain firmly in neutral. There's a lot of subtlety to its storytelling that I just did not pick up on, perhaps because I didn't expect that to be there in the first place. I'm not sure that this makes me like the film any more than I already did, something about Shinkai's films never quite clicks for me, but I do appreciate the sheer craft that's gone into it more than before.
Lupin III: The Woman Called Fujiko Mine (English dub) ep1-2
Rewatching a bit of the Fujiko series to support Screen Anime's stream, this being the first time I've seen it dubbed. The dub is very solid, with Michelle Ruff on excellent form as Fujiko in a much expanded role (she even dubs the spoken word opening!) and Richard Epcar arguably proving a better fit as Zenigata in this serious outing than he was as Jigen in the sillier Pioneer dubs.
Lupin III: Part 2 ep20-21 (English dub)
Kind of so-so, these two. 20 brings some good ideas to the table for a Goemon-centric episode (especially the 'oh snap' ending), but is a bit marred by its execution, failing to bring enough tension to key scenes with Goemon's rival in court. 21 on the other hand, has some particularly nice visual gags as Lupin and Jigen end up in a siren-like cult's compound, but kind of annoyed me as the villains showed little clear motive for their scheme to rapidly age their victims. It would be interesting to know if they play any better in Japanese than English, but Amazon does not provide the option. Nor does Amazon appear to provide episode 24, for some reason.