Green Phoenix - Inside the Enchanted Forests Review

You know, for all that I have been reviewing a variety of films and television programs whilst a part of this website, I haven't really taken advantage of all the streaming shows that are now available to me. I have occasionally perused Amazon Prime or Crunchyroll, but the variety of services has become almost saturated in recent years, giving me plenty of opportunities for new content to write about. Especially because I also want to start reviewing and recommending more nonfiction and documentary pieces.

I say all this to bring up the fact that Disney+ and Hulu have a wide variety of National Geographic nature documentaries available for viewing. I have absolutely adored nature documentaries and animal programming ever since I was a small child (thank you, Crocodile Hunter) and so when I saw the options for viewing, I was genuinely thrilled. The only question became, what do I review among the wide variety of nature documentaries?

Then I saw it. A six part nature documentary  series entitled Inside the Enchanted Forests, focusing on the vast array of forest and woodland biomes throughout the globe. A episodically light documentary with a light and whimsical tone was just the sort of thing to take a deeper look at.

***

Green Phoenix - The Legend of Vox Machina (Season 2) Review

 

Click Here to Check out my Review of Season 1 of The Legend of Vox Machina

Early last year, the world was blessed with Season 1 of the The Legend of Vox Machina, the culmination of a years-long Kickstarter project, based on the wildly popular role-playing live-stream Critical Role, that went on to become the largest Kickstarter project ever created. Beyond the Kickstarter itself, Critical Role has been a massive cultural touchstone that has begun to pervade countless other entertainment venues with even Hollywood finally recognizing the financial success of role-playing games with the release of film's like Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among Thieves.

Season 1 of The Legend of Vox Machina was a trial-run and a test of faith in the Dungeons and Dragons animated concept, one that I am thankful to say was incredibly successful. So successful that a guarantee of at least two or three other seasons was already achieved by the airing of the pilot episode. The fact that Season 1 ended on a massive cliffhanger that left fans of the streamed games chomping at the bit, only made excitement for Season 2 reach a fever pitch.

Was the excitement warranted? Did Critical Role manage to strike gold a second time and prove that The Legend of Vox Machina could be more than adult jokes and succeeded at multi-season long-form storytelling?

***

Green Phoenix - Bear in the Big Blue House Retrospective

 

I consider myself quite blessed to have grown up during a golden age of children's television, as my childhood was marked by the rise of Nickelodeon and Cartoon Network, as well as the children's block of PBS and, of course, the Disney Channel. For a kid in the mid-90s and early 2000s, the world was my oyster as far as good television was concerned.

 

Of course given my rather conservative upbringing, my parents didn't care for me watching Cartoon Network or Nickelodeon, believing them to be far to anti-authority and immoral for viewing (not that that stopped me from watching some shows on the channels). Because of this opinion, I grew up largely watching the Disney Channel, especially its early children's block Playhouse Disney.

 

Playhouse Disney during the late 90s and early 2000s was, in my opinion, a glorious time for children's entertainment, filled with so many shows that I still hold close to my heart even to this day. We had Out of the Box, a musical show that focused its lessons around physical activity and arts and crafts, as well as Rolie Polie Olie, a CGI show about a family of robots created by the author William Joyce, just to name a few. But if there is one show that seemed to stand above the rest in terms of popularity and personal affection on my part, it would have to be Bear in the Big Blue House, produced by the Jim Henson Company.

 

Initially I wanted to do a review of Bear in the Big Blue House in order to convince you guys how good this show was. However, I actually realized that I didn't want to actually critique the show so much as I just wanted to go on about how this show made me feel and what watching its episodes are like now as an adult. To reflect upon my feelings rather than convey those feelings with numerical ratings.

 

So that's what this article is going to do. Rather than quantify my opinions numerically, I'd rather just create a reflective retrospective of the series in my mind (also because it would take too long to watch all the episodes of the show to truly get my take). This will be less a technical explanation and more a subjective self-analysis; so let's get going.

***

Green Phoenix - Tonikawa: Over the Moon for You (Season 1)

My love and adoration for romance is something which, at this point, should almost go without saying. I am an inveterate shipper and will almost always find myself attached to at least one relationship in any piece of media that I can find. In addition, I often find myself drawn towards romantic media, especially with regards to anime.

With that in mind however, I do often find myself frustrated by some of the more annoying and, unfortunately, ubiquitous tropes within the romance genre. Things like the will-they/won't they, the almost kiss, the assault on a male protagonist due to some innuendo laden accident, and other such commonalities of the genre more often than not fill me with frustration and a deep desire to see such tropes and archetypes subverted in the media I consume.

Thankfully, today's article will be on an anime that presents such a wonderfully grounded romance, with likeable characters and is fundamentally built on subverting some of the more frustrating tropes of the romance genre whilst still presenting a worthwhile and entertaining story. I am talking about Season 1 of Tonikawa: Over the Moon For You, initially airing on October 3, 2020 and with an upcoming Season 2 to premiere on November 22, 2022 on CrunchyRoll.

Let's get into it.

***

Green Phoenix - By the Grace of the Gods Review

 

To say that anime is currently saturated with the isekai genre is like stating that the ocean has a bit of water in it. It's technically true but it fails to truly grasp the scale of its presence. And by and large, these isekai anime are woefully inadequate or reductively similar to one another, either trying to be a carbon-copy ripoff of Sword Art Online, or being a massively boring overpowered, oversexed power fantasy.

And while both of these can absolutely be fun in the right setting or the right mood, it does leave me hungering for something that feels a little different, especially when I want a story a little lighter in tone or less oriented towards overpowered magical harem fantasy.

It is with such a desire that I find myself immensely grateful to have discovered By the Grace of the Gods, an isekai adventure slice-of-life that released its first season back in 2020; with plans for a second season announced June 2021. When I first saw this anime, I didn't know what to think, initially believing it to be something along the lines of That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime, or another slime-oriented isekai show (its a little amazing that is such a prevalent subgenre). But what I got instead is a relaxed, grounded and immensely intelligent and heartwarming adventure of a young man's journey to find his place in a new world and heal from a past lifetime of pain and suffering.

But enough of my waxing poetic, let's get into what exactly about this slice-of-life isekai do I find so enjoyable.

***

Green Phoenix - How a Realist Hero Rebuilt the Kingdom Review

As I have stated in the past, my appetite for anime can be very picky and distinctive, preferring light-hearted slice of life and romance stories to the more dramatic or dark stories that tend to become the main stays of anime seasons. I will gladly take a That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime or Restaurant to Another World to Attack on Titan anytime.

And among this list, I tend to find isekai's a surprisingly enjoyable affair, even if I do think some of them tend to come out a bit rote and tropy. Just the degree of fun of a fantasy setting, chance for silly romance moments from a harem anime, and the introduction of modern world elements to lend a degree of science fiction to the whole mix really brings me a tremendous amount of joy.

So it should come to know surprise that I found myself drawn to How a Realist Hero Rebuilt the Kingdom. I was drawn to the anime due to its focus on modern technologies and political intrigue, utilizing a grounded sense of actual political acumen in our main character  rather than overwhelming magical powers granted through sheer dumb luck. But was this an accurate approximation of what we as the audience were sold. With both Part 1 and Part 2 of this show now finished, the question now arises. Was How a Realist Hero Rebuilt the Kingdom good or was it just another one of the cookie cut-out generic isekai.

Could there be something more?

***

Green Phoenix - My Dress-Up Darling Review

 

In the past, I have expressed a degree of pickiness when it comes to watching certain anime, generally preferring to watch largely comedic, lighthearted, or romantic-based anime. I will however, make exceptions for anime that particularly capture my attention, either due to an interesting narrative or thematic concept or simply one that has a beautifully done animation style. The consequence of this is that I don't tend to watch a great deal of anime, but when I do, it is usually of fairly high quality or at least is something that I personally can become invested in.

So when I say that today's anime is one which managed to tick off every damn box I have ever required of an anime and is one that I not only watched, but watched in both dub and sub and hope to continue watching in a future season 2, I hope that expresses to you the sheer degree to which I adore My Dress-Up Darling, the anime that might already very well be my favorite anime of 2022.

This simple 12 episode romantic comedy is a masterful combination of compelling and deep narrative story-telling, a heartwarming and slightly erotic (whilst maintaining an innocence) romance, and a beautiful thematic love letter to cosplay and the passion of artists and fans; all expressed in beautifully flowing animation that is some of the best that I have ever bore witness too.

I could keep on going in this intro, but I think its more important to get into the main article now.

***

Green Phoenix - The Legend of Vox Machina (Season 1) Review

 

I am a man of many passions and hobbies, owing in large part to my eccentric personality and propensity to acquire sudden urges to try weird or new things. Of all of my passions, my two strongest would probably be my love for film/television and my absolute adoration for table-top roleplaying games, especially Dungeons & Dragons.

I haven't mentioned this a lot in these articles, but I spend a great deal of my free time on Dungeons and Dragons, specifically in building my own world and characters that I hope to populate into my own campaign someday (I've already got some friends interested in playing in a few years when I finish my current campaign). I adore the capacity for storytelling and getting into the minds and mentalities of a character, allowing myself to be immersed in a unique perspective or history that is not my own but may have referenced themes at their center that I can look back on with reflection.

In fact, this love for immersing myself in strange and different viewpoints as actually resulted in me acquiring the reputation as the "weirdo" of my D&D groups, as I almost always play either a strange subversion of your standard fantasy trope or a high-concept character that requires complex additional rules to effectively roleplay.

So with all of this in mind, it should come as no surprise to any of you that I am a huge of Critical Role, the live D&D streaming show starring professional voice actors Matt Mercer, Ashley Johnson, Travis Willingham, Laura Bailey, Sam Riegel, Taliesin Jaffe, and Liam O'Brian. Airing on Twitch every Thursday, the stream follows the players as they battle enemies and engage in fantastic roleplaying with each other, with Mercer acting as the Dungeon Master (the person responsible for managing the game). The show is a blast and has built a massive fan following; so much so that the Critical Role Productions company actually started a Kickstarter to create a full-length animated special detailing an adventure from their very first campaign.

To say that this Kickstarter campaign was a success would be an understatement. Within the first day, the campaign had raised 4.3 million dollars of an necessary $750,000 for a single 22 minute episode. By the end of the 45 day campaign, Critical Role had raised over 11 million dollars, making it one of the highest earning campaigns in the site's history. This popularity also caught the attention of Amazon Prime, who agreed to assist the production of a whole season of animated contented around the characters from Campaign 1 of Critical Role.

Thus The Legend of Vox Machina was born. In production since 2019 and highly anticipated by its fans and the larger D&D community, does the Legend live up to the hype, or was this all an over ambitious Kickstarter campaign?

***

Green Phoenix - My Next Life as a Villainess: All Routes Lead to Doom Review

Sometimes there comes along an anime that just speaks to you, you know?

I have made it no secret of my love for romance stories in fiction. I also enjoy isekai's and self-aware stories which comment on their own narrative's shortcomings and tropes. Combine all of these with with a very sweet and ditzy main character and a truly humorous comedic plot with the occasional dash of emotion and you have My Next Life as a Villainess: All Routes Lead to Doom.

Yeah its a mouthful but this anime released in 2020, with a second season set to air in 2022, has been a highlight of my pandemic watch list alongside That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime. The adventures and life of Catarina Claes and her efforts to avoid her death or exile at the hands of a bad dating sim story line is a treat to view and I think you all come to agree with me after my review.

So join me as we take a look at the comedic reverse harem romance that is My Life as a Villainess: All Routes Lead to Doom.

***

Green Phoenix - Walking with Cavemen Review

 

 

At long last, we come to the final of the Walking with... documentaries, not including the specials (like Sea Monsters) or more child-oriented programming.

Released in 2003, Walking with Cavemen was technically the third series in the franchise, as Walking with Monsters wasn't released until 2005. However, I've always held that Walking with Dinosaurs, Walking with Beasts, and Walking with Monsters makes up the trinity of mainline films with Walking with Cavemen acting like more of an expansion of Walking with Beasts, covering largely the same time frame as the latter half of the series.

Walking with Cavemen, as you can imagine, turns its focus largely on the evolution of man. Using many of the same techniques and filming methods employed by the rest of the franchise to explore the lives of the various hominids which called Earth home before modern man, Walking with Cavemen stands in my mind as something as an outlier and oddball among its fellow series.

As I will go into further detail in the actual review segment, Walking with Cavemen makes a few changes to the overall formula that really bother me, despite my love of the subject at hand. Despite a good narrative angle for the documentary, there is only a single massive element which keeps this film from being regarded as equal to the rest of the franchise.

***

Green Phoenix - Walking with Monsters Review

 

 

Happy Friday everybody!

So this week has been very busy for me at my job. Most of my coworkers were out for the week and, for one reason or another, I was the only individual trained for my particular position in the company. As such, I'm currently writing these articles in the moments of downtime during my shift. But honestly, I find this environment highly conducive to my writing and this may be a continued situation for the foreseeable articles.

Felt like giving you guys a little update of my day-to-day life as it does tend to impact my output of these articles and the content therein. In my downtime at work when I'm not working on articles, I've been catching up with streaming shows. And among my favorite streaming channels to watch, CuriosityStream is definitely high on that list (I am not getting paid by CuriosityStream to say that, by the way).

I've stated on numerous occasions my love of documentary, with particular interest on geological and biological history. Many of my past documentary articles have been on the Walking with... series. The BBC documentary series has long been held as the gold standard of dinosaur documentaries with Walking with Dinosaurs and the franchise released another hit with its sequel Walking with Beasts (which covered the history of life following the extinction of the dinosaurs).

But with today's article, we will examine the prequel to Walking with Dinosaurs. Detailing the myriad forms of life which preceded the Age of the Dinosaurs. In Walking with Monsters, we bear witness to the evolution of the countless forms of life that inhabit our world and the innumerable forms which seem to defy logic itself.

How does the prequel stand up against the original and the sequel? Does the BBC's trilogy on the Tree of Life end with a bang or a whimper?

***

Green Phoenix - The History of Swear Words Review

 

 THE FOLLOWING ARTICLE WILL OBVIOUSLY POSSESS QUITE A LOT OF OBSCENITY, EVEN BEYOND MY USUAL AMOUNT. 

READER DISCRETION IS ADVISED.

*** 

It's not often that I come across the trailer for a film or series that makes me immediately go, "I MUST WATCH THIS!!!!". For all that I am a rabid viewer of cinema, my past economic difficulties have fostered in me a deep sense of "Wait and see" when it comes to many films, hoping that word of mouth can entice me into making the effort to see a new film. Even in the age of streaming services, where money is less of a pressing issue, the sheer amount of temporal investment (and time is money) into any movie or TV series is oftentimes difficult for me to get over.

So you can imagine my surprise and excitement when I came across the trailer for Netflix's documentary comedy series The History of Swear Words. Watching Nicholas Cage just scream the word fuck for thirty seconds was apparently enough to completely hook me onto the idea of this documentary series. Released on the 5th of January, 2021 The History of Swear Words is one of the first new releases on Netflix for the year and, as you will see in my review, a fantastic way to start this year.

***

Green Phoenix - 2020 in Review

HAPPY NEW YEARS EVERYONE!

And good riddance to hot garbage, I say. This year was a trying time for all of us and it is my sincere hope that my articles might have done something to provide entertainment or education for my readership.

As we enter 2021 with, hopefully, brighter expectations than 2020, I would like to take a quick analytical look-back on 2020 in terms of my articles and viewership. Though this year was far from ordinary, perhaps there remains things that I can improve upon and aid in making 2021 a better year than the shit-show we were given in 2020.

***

Green Phoenix - Let's Talk...The West Wing

Hey everybody!

I hope that you have managed to keep yourselves in high spirits and good health given all the anxiety and stress that this last week has likely given quite a few of you. I know that I personally had some serious anxiety attacks as thoughts of the election have continued to pervade the back of my mind. Thankfully, some R&R and loved ones has ensured that I am in decent mental form for you all and enabled me to focus on providing you all with a different kind of article this time around.

Up until now, my style of articles have been of four general varieties: Reviews, Countdowns, Editorials, and Literary Recommendations. Today's article is going to be a variation of Editorials that I'm calling "Let's Talks". Whereas my editorial articles are usually me trying to discuss a specific point or debate a topic that I'm focusing on in that article, Let's Talks will be much lighter in tone and more free-form. Let's Talks have no objective or point beyond me talking about some topic on my mind, be it a review or a rant, etc.

And for my very first Let's Talk, the recent election drama has brought my mind to one of television's greatest Presidents. So we are going to talk about just how great of a show The West Wing was and what I liked and missed about it.

***

Green Phoenix - Walking With Beasts Review

 

A few weeks back, I took a look at the BBC Documentary series Walking with Dinosaurs. I've gone on record stating just how much I adored that series and its influence on my cinematic tastes and experiences.

Knowing how important Walking with Dinosaurs was to my childhood and cinematic sensibilities, it really should come to no surprise that I would keep the show going by taking a look at the other entries in the Walking with... franchise at some point down the line.

Well...today is the day.

Released in 2001, 2 years after its predecessor, Walking with Beasts uses the same combination of animatronics and computer-generated imagery to tell the story of life after the extinction of the dinosaurs. With Kenneth Branaugh reprising his narrator role from Walking with Dinosaurs for the British version of the series, Walking with Beasts brings together much of the same crew and team that brought dinosaurs back to life to tell the story of the rise of mammals and their transition into a world dominated by human beings.

But does Walking with Beasts live up to its predecessors legacy? Or was Walking with Dinosaurs to big of a shadow to shine against?

***

Green Phoenix - 8 Amazing Anime Openings

I've always been fairly picky when it comes to the anime that I choose to watch. I have just had too many situations where I was uncomfortably surprised with an anime that I really didn't want to watch. This is particularly the case with anime that deals in horror elements, as I am a chickenshit coward when it comes to anything remotely scary, and Japanese anime can be very scary to me.

To avoid getting caught unaware, I often have to rely on the openings of the show in order to give me a good sense of the show's general nature and outlook. This has resulted in me oftentimes finding the openings of anime almost as entertaining as the show itself. Thus the reason for this particular countdown.

This will not be some exhaustive list of the greatest anime openings, but rather an opportunity for me to talk about some amazing anime openings and hopefully inspire you to check out some amazing anime if you haven't already.

***

Green Phoenix - Restaurant to Another World Review

In these introductory segments, I have long made it a pattern to reveal specific details or experiences of my life which draw me into the media I am reviewing or editorial I am writing for that respective week. Whether it is a personal anecdote, a memory attached to a theme close to the media in question, or some unique quirk of mine, I have always held that the audience will connect to my reviews more if I apply a personal connection to anything I am reviewing.

With that in mind, this week's interesting foible is that I have always enjoyed watching people enjoy things by proxy. This is fundamentally why I enjoy watching people in reaction videos online or reviewers and critics. Just viewing someone earnestly enjoying themselves is so immensely cathartic to me, even if it might occasionally creep some people out due to my incessant need to people watch.

Growing up, this led to the Food Network being one of my all-time favorite TV channels, which for a child or pre-teen is kind of strange for a kid with no actual interest in learning to cook. I loved watch Emeril Live, Unwrapped, and Good Eats whenever I got the chance, just because watching everyone enjoy themselves with good-looking food was exciting to me. As you can imagine, this led to me loving to watch others eat and enjoy themselves when eating.

So when I found out that there was an anime out there whose entire runtime was dedicated towards fantasy characters talking about good food and enjoying themselves eating good food, naturally I had to check it out.

Released between July 3 and September 18, 2017 and simulcasted on CrunchyRoll, Restaurant to Another World is based on a light novel by Junpei Inuzuka, which is still being written as of this review. This 12 episode slice-of-life cooking isekai covers only a portion of the light novel's content, leaving much excitement on my part for the possibility of a sequel series or second season someday.

The show has a tone that is unlike any isekai I have ever watched and, as I hope to show you in the article below, it makes Restaurant to Another World a singularly unique viewing experience.

***

Green Phoenix - Goblin Slayer Review

NOTICE: GOBLIN SLAYER CONTAINS CONTENT THAT DEPICTS EXPLICIT ACTS OF VIOLENCE, INCLUDING SEXUAL VIOLENCE. I WILL DISCUSS THE TOPIC AT LENGTH AT SEVERAL POINTS IN THIS REVIEW. I HIGHLY RECOMMEND VIEWER DISCRETION IF YOU CHOOSE TO WATCH THE SHOW.

***

Last week, I did a review on the first season of Dr. Stone, an incredible anime for anyone who is a massive fan of science and technology. Which I am. So as you can imagine, I absolutely adored that anime and wanted to talk about it months after it first premiered. But there was another anime that I wanted to talk about for almost as long, but I was limited by circumstance and personal issues that I have with the anime, specifically in its first episode.

But I just love the concept behind Goblin Slayer way too much to not at least give a basic review on the show. It is somehow both a loving tribute to and a criticism of many of the underlying narrative elements present in the fantasy genre, especially in fantasy role-playing games like Dungeons and Dragons. As a D&D nerd myself, the concept immediately grabbed my attention, and barring the first episode, I was immediately hooked on the show. This was due in part to the word of Mother's Basement and other anime reviewers, which brought the show to my attention.

Such a grimdark and gritty exploration of a fantasy world, Goblin Slayer is not for the faint of heart but it is a realistic portrayal of the horrors of war and battle, and a criticism on a society that does not value those who engage in menial or necessary labors. So lets a dive into this controversy-ridden anime.

***

Green Phoenix - Dr. Stone (Season 1) Review

Before my passion for filmmaking and film criticism had fully crystallized, I was absolutely obsessed with science, technology, and mathematics. I've always fancied myself as a futurist, looking towards the latest scientific and technological advancements and imagining how our world could be improved by the widespread introduction of certain technologies.

This passion played heavily into my love of science fiction and alternate history, and it makes me deeply excited about any form of hard science fiction.

So when I saw advertisements on Crunchyroll for a new shonen anime early last year whose main protagonist wasn't a muscle-bound meathead, but a scrawny scientific genius struggling to rebuild a collapsed world. I was immediately hooked on the concept.

I ended up watching the show, spellbound at the portrayal of not only science and technology, but the depth of the characters, the moral philosophies and ideologies at play in the background, and a genuinely excellent mix of personality and humor from nearly every orifice of the show.

In truth, I wanted to talk about this show last year, but I wanted to finish the show in its entirety and make sure that we would, in fact, receive a second season. But it is, so...

...let's talk about the first season of Dr. Stone, one of my favorite animes in recent memory.

***

Green Phoenix - Walking With Dinosaurs (1999) Review

As stated many, many times during my various Jurassic Park reviews, I was absolutely obsessed with dinosaurs and paleontology growing up. A love I have actually healthily maintained to this day.

While I enjoy the fictional portrayals of dinosaurs, that passion also helped me to develop a love for documentaries and educational television and films. So much so that I even have a subscription to CuriosityStream simply because I want to have access to documentaries that I can't get on Netflix, Disney +, and Amazon. I had considered acquiring the documentary streaming service for a few months, due in no small part to the recommendation of some of my favorite YouTube educators and theorists. But the information that finally convinced me to purchase CuriosityStream was the knowledge that they had the entire Walking With... series available for viewing.

In the wake of the release of Jurassic Park in 1993, public interest in prehistoric life reached a fever pitch. This public excitement inspired Tim Haines with the idea of using ground-breaking computer effects and animatronics, similar to Jurassic Park, to create a dinosaur-centric documentary miniseries. Collaborating the Jasper James and special effects artist Michael Milne, Haines succeeded in creating the most advanced paleontological documentary ever seen to that point.

Walking with Dinosaurs is easily one of the most notorious and influential nature documentaries in recent memory and the progenitor of an equally influential franchise. It was a game-changer in the field of nature documentaries, utilizing state of the art animatronics, computer graphics, and the top paleontological knowledge of the time to bring the world of dinosaurs to life.

While dinosaur nature documentaries are a dime-a-dozen nowadays; back in the late 90s, Walking with Dinosaurs was truly revolutionary and the chance to talk about it in detail is exhilarating to me.

***