Welcome to Fandible Picks of the Month! Every month, members of the Fandible crew will tell you about the newest and coolest things we’ve discovered, sharing the wealth with you. Keep reading for new games, anime, and TV shows to watch out for.
Fandible Picks of the Month November 2015
Dark Matter
After hearing a lot of buzz about it, I decided to try out the Syfy show Dark Matter, a series about amnesiacs in space trying to remember who they are while not getting blown up in the process. After one episode, I was unimpressed. It looked like every generic scifi TV show that you see pop up every once in an awhile. Unlike Firefly, which was a western in space, or Farscape, which was Sesame Street in space, Dark Matter didn’t seem to have that unique twist that made it interesting to watch. Still, I didn’t want to just quit and decided to give it one more go before seeing what else was on. It was during the end of the second episode that I had a realization: Dark Matter is cyberpunk in space.
It had all the elements. A group of morally dubious people that still try to do right in an amoral world? Check. Vast corporations fighting over resources while treating their employees like disposable chess pieces? Check. Powerful technology that could improve lives being used for profit and pleasure? Check. A powerful space empire based off feudal Japan, for some reason? Check!
My interest now piqued, I devoured that rest of the season and now I can’t wait to see what they do next. Watch Dark Matter if you want your cyberpunk with a heavy dose of space ships. -Jesus
Good Girls Revolt
For Amazon Prime subscribers, one of the best benefits (aside from the 2 day free shipping) is access to the Amazon Pilot Season, when the pilots for Amazon-produced shows are released and subscribers get to vote on what they’d like to see made into a full series. While I haven’t watched the whole lot of them yet, I’m definitely intrigued by the explicitly-feminist drama Good Girls Revolt.
Based on the true stories of women who worked at Newsweek in the mid-60s, the show is set at the fictional News of the Week magazine and follows the trials and tribulations of running a weekly news magazine, primarily focusing on the women who are relegated to only working as researchers while the men get the glory of the bylines on the published articles. The pilot juggles the personal and professional stories of a lot of characters, and some of them are much more successful than others. Patti, who has spent time in San Francisco embracing the Free Love movement, is immediately a dynamic character, while Jane is set up merely as her up-tight counterpart. Nora Ephron – yes, that Nora Ephron – is also a character, and the end of the pilot leaves it ambiguous as to what role she’ll have in the rest of the series, as right now she’s set up as a feminist fairy god mother. She’s the one who has attended consciousness raising meetings and makes a scene about the sexist double standards of the newsroom, while the other women in the show are all in various, very early, stages of recognizing inequality in their lives. Even with some of this un-evenness, it’s a must watch for anyone who wanted to enjoy Mad Men but felt it was often too complicit (rather than skeptical) in the sexism the female characters faced. -Angela
Longmire
Some of you may recall my affection for for the television show Justified, featuring a U.S. marshall with a dark, complicated past trying to do right in a small southern town filled with criminals. Well, my tastes as a viewer have matured to Longmire, a show about a sheriff with a dark, complicated past trying to do right in small town in the vast open vistas of Wyoming. If you’re like me and want to watch a show where the protagonist holds onto a pistol and inner turmoil while dealing with personal, legal and cultural politics (the show takes near a Cheyenne reservation) then you’ll enjoy this series.
The primary reason you should watch this show, however, is because Lou Diamond Phillips is in it. -Â David
One Punch Man
This recent anime, based off of the excellent manga of the same name, and currently airing on Hulu, is a hilarious send-up of the superhero genre (along with a lot of the usual anime tropes). In a world constantly menaced by giant monsters and strange supervillains, a man called Saitama lives in City Z. Disillusioned with his life, a certain event inspires him to become a ‘Hero for fun’, and he spends the next three years mostly off-camera training. Unfortunately, by the time his training is done, he’s so ridiculously strong and powerful that he can defeat any threat with a single punch – which leads him to become frustrated and disillusioned again at the lack of challenge in his life. Soon enough he’s joined by the young cyborg Genos, and the two embark on a new adventure as they join the Heroes Association. The animation quality is high, and the constant hilarity of monsters and enemies being completely outclassed by Saitama, who takes it all in bored stride, is a hoot to watch. As the series progresses, you get to see some truly amazing worldbuilding as the truth of the world, Saitama’s training, and the Heroes Association is revealed. The series is only 6 or 7 episodes in right now, so it’s a great time to jump on and get hooked. -Daniel
Until Dawn
I ended up buying Until Dawn, a horror game exclusively for PS4, because I was bored and had cash to burn. I heard that the game had some sort ‘butterfly effect’ meter that would change the story depending on the decisions you make. And while I have heard other games do the same thing, I wasn’t expecting much. But let me tell you – it was well worth the cash. The story is fantastic, the characters are fun, and the so called ‘butterfly effect’ meter wasn’t bad. The story certainly has a main narrative that is going to be told, but the little choices you make can effect how certain events happen in that narrative. Remember that baseball bat you decided to have your character play around with during the earlier scene? Well, since you played with it, you can use it to clobber the maniac who is chasing you!
Overall, I give Until Dawn a 3.5 out of 4. If you have a PS4, absolutely see about adding this to your collection. -Billy
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Thanks for the tweet about One-Punch. Its been a great ride while waiting for more Ash vs. Evil Dead.