Kaiji S1 — rewatched for first time in many years, I forgot the plot moves soooo slowwww but it’s such a great premise and the real bright spot imo is the s2 storyline where he’s in the prison work camp (degenerate gambler but he stands up for losers but he himself is kinda a loser but he’s a real genius at spotting scams but he still makes idiotic life decisions)
Samurai Champloo — also rewatched for first time in years after seeing it recommended on YT; music + style + art are better than I remembered; but story was worse — too many side quests, not enough character growth / change, not enough progress towards a rather mediocre main storyline
Sword of the Stranger (2007 movie) — the best thing I’ve watched in months; amazing that it came out almost 20 years ago; great characters, great relationships, fast moving plot, fun historical elements but it’s kinda sad that so few Japanese anime have any nuanced depiction of Chinese whatsoever (though I suppose the same can be said for Chinese media depiction of Japanese)
Monsters by Gareth Edwards (2010) — creative low-budget flick; District 9 vibes; good editing, tension, cinematography, acting; but wanted monsters and scares and got very little of either
Civil War by Alex Garland (in theater) —- disturbing premise, with powerful cinematic moments; similar cast and vibes to his other work (eg, Devs, Annihilation, Ex Machina), including the emo soundtrack and melodramatic segues
Garouden (Netflix) — Baki-lite, I’d rate it 5/10 at best but honestly I watch any and every pvp fighting anime (including the BEST EVER Hajime no Ippo and Kengan Ashura); subpar on animation, fight technicals, character dev, plot, but at least the protag fights a giant malevolent bear…
