This week’s home entertainment releases include one of the most visually-ravishing “bombs” ever made, the live-action Ghost in the Shell, the animated hit Boss Baby, the underrated family drama Gifted, plus the first new Dragon Ball saga in 18 years, and the second season of the anime adaptation of Rumiko Takahashi’s supernatural comedy Rin-Ne.
Theatrical Movies
While The Boss Baby was a box office success and spawned a sequel, the live-action Ghost in the Shell (Paramount, “PG-13,” $29.98, BD $39.99, 3D $49.99), which starred Scarlett Johansson, was a box office bomb, grossing just $170 million worldwide versus a cost of $110 million. The live-action Ghost in the Shell was attacked for “whitewashing” in the casting of Johansson (in a black wig) as the Motoko Kusanagi character, and the climactic sequences are more reminiscent of American superhero films than Shirow’s original manga. Of course, If you haven’t seen the original Ghost in the Shell anime, by all means see that first, but this live-action Ghost in the Shell is a visual tour de force that those who have seen the original may well want to check out for the sake of comparison—a box office failure without a doubt, but still an interesting film (and not just for Scarjo fans).
Speaking of superhero films, Chris Evans who plays Captain America for Marvel Studios, stars in Gifted (Fox, “PG-13,”, a low key family drama about an intellectually precocious seven-year-old who is caught up in a custody battle between her grandmother and her uncle. Director Marc Webb (500 Days of Summer) is far more at home here than he was on The Amazing Spider-Man, and Gifted, which was written by Tom Flynn (no relation, sad to say), is a solid little film that resonated with audiences and earned a solid 70% positive rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
This week’s other major release is Unforgettable (Warner Bros., “R,” 120 min., $26.98, BD $30.99), which stars Katherine Heigl as a sort of Fatal Attraction/crazy ex-wife in a domestic thriller that didn’t find favor either with the critics (only 27% positive on RT) or audiences (it made just $11.4 million at the box office).
Anime
This week’s top release is Dragon Ball Super, Part 1 (Funimation, 325 min., $39.98, BD $44.98), which contains the first 13 episodes of the first new Dragon Ball saga in 18 years. DBS has reached 100 episodes in Japan, but this is the first U.S. disc release of the new martial arts saga produced by Toei Animation. Dragon Ball creator Akira Toriyama has written the overall plot for the new Dragon Ball Super series reveals what happened during the ten-year time skip following chapter 517 of the original Dragon Ball manga.
Also new this week is the romantic comedy And You Thought There Is Never a Girl Online?: Complete Collection (Funimation, 300 min., BD/DVD Combo $64.98, LE $84.98), which collects 12-episode 2016 series from Project #9 that is based on the sexy light novel series by Shibai Kineko, which has also spawned a seinen manga.
Fans of harem comedies might want to check out Monster Masume: Everyday Life With Monster Girls: Complete Collection (Sentai Filmworks, 300 min., $59.98, BD $69.98), which collects the 12-episode 2015 series based on the seinen manga series by Okayado published here by Seven Seas.
Another new anime romcom worthy of notice that is due on Tuesday is Rin-ne: Season 2 Collection (Sentai Filmworks, 625 mins., Subtitles Only, $69.98, BD $89.98), which collects the 25 episodes of the supernatural-tinged series produced by Brains Base that aired in Japan in 2016 and is based on the manga by Rumiko Takahashi (Ranma 1/2) that is published here by VIZ Media.
Also worthy of interest this week is the first North American Blu-ray edition of the 2012-2013 Jo Jo’s Bizarre Adventures Set 1 (Viz Media, 625 min., BD $69.99), which provides the first North American Blu-ray version of series.
TV on DVD
Slim pickings this week, but there are a few items of interest including the ABC Family teen mystery drama Pretty Little Liars: The Complete 7th and Final Season (Warner Bros., $39.99) as well as Pretty Little Liars: The Complete Series (Warner Bros., $209.99), which contains all 160 episodes.
Also ending its run is Lena Dunhams Girls: The Complete 6th and Final Season (HBO, 420 min., $24.98, BD $34.98), which contains all 10 episodes of the adult contemporary urban slice-of-life comedy/drama.
The dark and brooding Oz-based Emerald City: Season 1 (Universal, 423 min., $44.98, BD $49.98) often seemed more like Game of Thrones than The Wizard of Oz, but in spite of such popular intellectual parentage, the show was cancelled by NBC after one season—still it has enough of the “cult series” vibe to be fondly remembered for year by some.
The only vintage TV release this week is the 1980s sitcom Diff’rent Strokes: The Complete 6th Season (Shout Factory, 585 min., $19.98).