News Victorian Psycho Maika Monroe Has Big Questions About Evil in Victorian Psycho Trailer A Merchant Ivory film this is not By Molly Templeton | Published on May 21, 2026 Screenshot: Bleecker Street Comment 0 Share New Share Screenshot: Bleecker Street Is it weird to say that the trailer for a movie about a murderous governess is delightful? It’s true, though: the trailer for Victorian Psycho is peculiarly charming. It’s the song choice that does it: those guitars come in (courtesy of the Die Spitz song “Throw Yourself to the Sword”) and the tone is set. It is not an uptight tone, or a bleakly gory tone, or a gloom-and-doom tone. It’s anachronistic and weird and, yeah, delightful. More delightful than all the severed body parts might suggest. Victorian Psycho is based on the novel by Virginia Feito, which follows a governess (played by scream queen Maika Monroe) who is “hiding her psychopathic tendencies” at her new—and conveniently remote—place of employ. The trailer suggests she will not hide said tendencies for all that long, as there’s quite a bit of screaming, blood, and two children who are really rather chill about being told to “kill them all.” The film premiered last night at Cannes to a five-minute standing ovation. That’s nowhere near the record set by Pan’s Labyrinth—22 minutes—but it is quite respectable, and tied with Moulin Rouge and Top Gun: Maverick. Along with Monroe, Victorian Psycho stars Thomasin McKenzie, Ruth Wilson, and Jason Isaacs. It’s really quite a lineup. The film is directed by Zachary Wigon (Sanctuary), with a screenplay by novelist Feito. It’s in theaters this fall.[end-mark] The post Maika Monroe Has Big Questions About Evil in <i>Victorian Psycho</i> Trailer appeared first on Reactor.

Movies & TV Star Wars Every Star Wars Movie and TV Show in Development A galaxy of projects that are technically not canceled yet By Matthew Byrd | Published on May 21, 2026 Credit: Lucasfilm Comment 0 Share New Share Credit: Lucasfilm It’s a weird time to be a Star Wars fan. While the franchise remains as culturally present as ever, you have to sometimes stop to realize we’re in a bit of a dry period for new Star Wars TV shows and movies. While the release of the sequel trilogy seemingly signaled a new era of regularly released projects, the truth has been a little more complicated. While there was a time when it felt like new Star Wars shows and movies were being announced every other week, little has come from that flurry of headlines. It’s gotten to the point where it’s genuinely difficult to remember if that movie or show you once heard of was just a rumor or the real deal. For that matter, trying to follow up on what’s actually going on with any of those projects often yields a mixed bag of jumbled results at best. So, based on everything we know now (and in the future as this article is updated), here’s every Star Wars movie and TV show that is actually in development. As a bonus, I’ve included a few of the more notable canceled projects that still float around as possible upcoming releases. Upcoming Star Wars Movies Image: Lucasfilm Star Wars: Starfighter (Release Date: May 28, 2027) One of the most anticipated Star Wars films in recent memory, Starfighter has benefited from an air of mystery many projects in this franchise are not afforded. We know it’s a standalone story set after The Rise of Skywalker, and we know it stars Ryan Gosling as a pilot on an important mission. Beyond that, we’re mostly working with hope and speculation. Whether Starfighter is concealing some grand mystery that hides its epic nature, or it really is a more intimate kind of modern Star Wars movie, what we don’t know about it has been half the fun so far. At the very least, it’s nice to look forward to a new Star Wars movie that offers a glimpse of that exotic concept known as “something slightly different.” Upcoming Star Wars TV Shows Image: Lucasfilm The Ninth Jedi (Release Window: 2026) One of the standout stories of the Star Wars: Visions series, Kenji Kamiyama’s The Ninth Jedi followed the daughter of a lightsaber maker who encounters great dangers after her father is kidnapped. It was a beautiful, clever, heartfelt story that really captured the potential of the entire Visions concept. And soon, The Ninth Jedi will get a standalone story that is being described as a “spinoff limited series.” It’s not clear how long this miniseries will be or how it relates to the original story, but it certainly has the potential to be one of the most exciting Star Wars specials since we all learned about Life Day. Credit: Lucasfilm Ahsoka Season 2 (Release Window: 2027) The good news is that we are getting a second season of Ahsoka. The bad news is that the show will not return until 2027, which will effectively mark a nearly four-year gap between new seasons of the show. That’s a long wait, though the optimists among us may argue that it suggests no lingering Star Wars project is ever dead until it is officially dead. And at least we have more Ahsoka to look forward to. Anchored by the great Rosario Dawson, the show’s first season was one of the better modern Jedi stories that teed up an intriguing new (canonical) storyline for Grand Admiral Thrawn. I suppose we’ll all just have to trust the benefits of Jedi-like patience for this one. Credit: Lucasfilm Star Wars: Maul — Shadow Lord Season 2 (Release Window: 2027) What’s this? A Star Wars series that was not only released in a relatively timely manner but was also quickly renewed? Maybe we really are entering a new era for the franchise. Granted, this one is probably helped by the personal involvement of new Lucasfilm president Dave Filoni. So while we don’t know much about this new season, what we’ve seen of Shadow Lord speaks to the potential of this (likely short-lived) series moving forward. Star Wars Movies That Are On Hold Credit: Lucasfilm Simon Kinberg’s Star Wars Trilogy In 2024, we learned that Star Wars Rebels creator Simon Kinberg had started working on a new trilogy of films. Those movies are apparently still in development as of 2025. Some reports suggest that they will essentially function as Episodes X–XII, chronologically, while others argue that the movies will be disconnected enough from the rest of the franchise to allow them to function as their own things. Beyond that, Kinberg has said that he really wants to find a way to balance the space opera epic storytelling of the Star Wars franchise with some of the more intimate character work seen in Andor and The Empire Strikes Back. It’s a familiar tonal promise, and we’ll see if Kinberg can deliver on it if and when these films are ever released. The Standalone Rey “New Jedi Order” Movie Basically Schrödinger’s Star Wars movie, the Rey film exists and doesn’t exist depending on how you look at it and when. At one point, director Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy and writer George Nolfi were attached to this project that seemed like the surest follow-up to the sequel trilogy. Since then, we’ve been hit with a series of rumors that suggest that the project is either essentially on hold or, for all intents and purposes, dead. Theoretically, Disney is still interested in releasing a standalone Rey movie, but conventional wisdom tells us that this one is less likely to happen the longer development drags on. We’re still technically in never say never territory, though. James Mangold’s Dawn of the Jedi James Mangold’s Dawn of the Jedi is reportedly set some 20,000+ years before the events of the prequel trilogy and largely explores the origins of the Jedi. The script, written by Mangold and Beau Willimon, was described by Kathleen Kennedy as “breaking the mold” and has been compared in some circles to a classic religious epic. According to Kathleen Kennedy’s exit interview, this movie is “on the back burner.” That’s become a bit of a catch-all phrase for projects that may or may not be properly canceled, but the mood does seem to be a bit more positive so far as this one is concerned. If the schedules align and the new regime deems that it fits into the new Star Wars vision, Dawn of the Jedi may rise again. Dave Filoni’s “Mandoverse” Star Wars Here’s a weird one. Way back in 2023, it was reported that Dave Filoni was working on a new movie that would essentially wrap up the stories told in the unfortunately dubbed “Mandoverse.” Filoni actually (briefly) discussed the project in interviews around the time, but little has been said about it either way since then. The latest reports suggest that this is yet another project that is basically circling the airport and may even eventually become a TV series or special. The most likely possibility is that this project was quietly dropped along the way as other projects took precedence and the shape of the entire Mandalorian universe rapidly changed. However, with Filoni stepping up as president and chief creative officer of Lucasfilm, it’s certainly possible that some version of this idea could become a priority (especially if The Mandalorian and Grogu exceeds expectations). Taika Waititi’s Star Wars Movie Quite a lot has happened since it was confirmed that Taika Waititi was working on a new Star Wars movie in 2020. What once looked like the surest and most exciting Star Wars project in the pipeline now feels a touch cursed. Between some of Waititi’s recent misses and his apparent commitment to taking on as many theoretical projects as possible, this movie feels less likely to be released than ever before. According to Kathleen Kennedy, Waititi’s Star Wars movie is still technically alive, but its fate will ultimately be determined by the new Lucasfilm regime. If it ever moves forward, this movie will reportedly feature quite a lot of comedy and a tone that has been described as “adventurous.” Like many on-hold Star Wars movies, a lot of willingness and availability will ultimately determine the fate of this one. Donald Glover’s Lando Movie Donald Glover’s Lando movie and the Taika Waititi movie have a lot in common. Both are helmed by notable creators, both once seemed like sure things, and both are described as being lighter and more comedic. Both are also in advanced states of production purgatory. Glover claims that this project is still alive, and there’s never been any doubt that he’s incredibly interested in making a standalone Lando movie happen. Ultimately, this is just one of many Star Wars projects that was approved at a very different time for the franchise and now must survive whatever this new era for Lucasfilm brings. Patty Jenkins’ Star Wars: Rogue Squadron Patty Jenkins’ Rogue Squadron movie has been rumored to be dead for quite some time. However, those rumors are seemingly largely based on the negative online chatter that has surrounded the director ever since Wonder Woman 1984 flopped. In reality, the Rogue Squadron crew has been quietly chipping away at the movie for quite some time, with one of the film’s writers indicating that progress had been made on the film just a few months ago. So this is really just another Star Wars film that is on hold until the future of the franchise looks a little clearer. Like many of the movies from notable directors that are nearly ready to go, this one’s high-profile status could actually work against it as Lucasfilm’s new creative regime potentially looks to start with a fresh slate clear of prior major obligations. Time will tell. Star Wars TV Shows That Are On Hold Image: Lucasfilm Carlton & Nick Cuse’s Star Wars Series In 2025, we learned that Carlton Cuse (Lost, Bates Motel, Locke & Key) and his son Nick had started working on a new Star Wars TV series. Details were thin at the time, and wouldn’t you know it, they’re just as thin nearly a year later. The timing of this one makes it particularly difficult to judge. In theory, it’s got a better chance of making it across the finish line when compared to some of the other shows and movies that were greenlit ages ago and have lingered in development hell. But with how little has been said about the show, it’s possible that not much progress has been made on it, which would make it all the easier to walk away from. It’s a toss-up at this point. The Mandalorian Season 4 The Mandalorian Season 4 wasn’t really canceled so much as it was converted into The Mandalorian and Grogu. Even that isn’t really fair to say, though, as those involved with The Mandalorian Season 4 suggest that it was really going to be an entirely different thing before the decision to make that movie was made. We’re ultimately getting that movie instead of a new season of the show, which is sure to be a contentious decision, especially if the series never returns. There’s still technically a possibility that this season reemerges in some form down the road, but that doesn’t seem to be the plan at the moment. Canceled Star Wars Movies and TV Shows Image: Lucasfilm The Hunt for Ben Solo Though it was never really greenlit in the first place, The Hunt for Ben Solo has certainly become one of the most notable “canceled” Star Wars projects. In case you didn’t hear, director Steven Soderbergh reportedly spent a couple of years trying to get a Star Wars movie made. The movie would have been set after the events of The Rise of Skywalker and would have starred Adam Driver as a very much still alive Ben Solo. The project was reportedly shot down over, among other things, someone’s inability to imagine how that character could possibly still be alive. It certainly had the potential to be something special, though. Star Wars: Rangers of the New Republic This Jon Favreau and Dave Filoni series about New Republic soldiers was reportedly set to revolve around Gina Carano’s Cara Dune but was quietly canceled around the time that Carano was fired over her social media posts that compared the treatment of conservatives to the Holocaust. Carano recently settled her lawsuit against Disney, but there’s really no chance of this one ever coming back. Untitled J.D. Dillard/Matt Owens Star Wars Movie J.D. Dillard and Matt Owens reportedly started developing a Star Wars spin-off movie sometime around 2020. However, the project was quietly shelved just a couple of years later. Unlike some other ideas around the time of the Star Wars gold rush, this one probably never made it very far in the first place. Rian Johnson’s Star Wars Trilogy Oh, what could have been. After the excellent, though divisive in some circles, The Last Jedi, Johnson was offered the chance to direct his own Star Wars trilogy and enjoy the room required to really develop his own vision of that universe. It was an incredibly exciting prospect. After years of lingering in “will they, won’t they?” status, though, this project (at least as it existed) is essentially dead. To hear Johnson tell it, the ideas for the trilogy never made it far beyond conversations, and the director’s other work ultimately prevented things from moving further than that. We actually know almost nothing about Johnson’s vision for this trilogy, though it was reported that it would have been pretty far removed from the Skywalker saga. Kevin Feige’s Star Wars Movie Remember when Kevin Feige was supposed to walk to the other side of the lot and get involved with Star Wars? Barely, you say? Join the club. What once sounded like a high-profile idea that everyone involved would surely make happen at some point just kind of fell apart. All accounts suggest that this idea was little more than a nice thought that Feige and Lucasfilm walked away from due to various scheduling issues. David Benioff & DB Weiss’ Star Wars Trilogy Not to open old wounds, but the era of much-hyped Star Wars movies that just go nowhere really began here. Following the success of Game of Thrones, David Benioff and D.B. Weiss seemed like the perfect people to take a stab at a new age of Star Wars films. However, the pair stepped away from their planned trilogy in 2019 after they signed a deal with Netflix that reportedly led to scheduling conflicts. Whether Game of Thrones falling off an absolute creative cliff at the end of its run contributed to this decision is another matter entirely. A Droid Story Technically, we don’t really know the status of A Droid Story: an ILM animated series that was announced in 2020. We’ve barely heard an official word about the show since then. Given everything that’s happened since then, it would be wild to learn that this seemingly small show that would have followed C-3PO, R2-D2, and a new droid actually managed to survive the buzzsaw.[end-mark] The post Every Star Wars Movie and TV Show in Development appeared first on Reactor.

News Avatar: The Last Airbender It’s Time to Learn Earthbending in the Trailer for Avatar: The Last Airbender Season 2 Rocks are friends? By Molly Templeton | Published on May 21, 2026 Image: Katie Yu/Netflix © 2025 Comment 0 Share New Share Image: Katie Yu/Netflix © 2025 The long wait for season two of Netflix’s live-action Avatar: The Last Airbender is almost over—which means it’s time for a trailer. Netflix has been a little cagey about the series so far; a previous teaser focused primarily on introducing Toph (Miya Cech), a talented earthbender from whom Aang (Gordon Cormier) needs to learn. This new look gives a little more sense of scope to the second season, including a new threat: propaganda! Enter the catchphrase “There is no war in Ba Sing Se.” Ba Sing Se is central to this season’s plot, as Netflix’s synopsis explains: After a bittersweet victory saving the Northern Water Tribe from the invading Fire Nation, Avatar Aang (Gordon Cormier), Katara (Kiawentiio), and Sokka (Ian Ousley) regroup and set off on a mission to convince the elusive Earth King to aid in their battle against fearsome Fire Lord Ozai (Daniel Dae Kim).Their journey to the impenetrable city of Ba Sing Se, home of the Earth King, is treacherous but also fruitful — Aang discovers Toph, an audacious young master of earthbending, and convinces her to help him add earthbending to his powers of airbending and waterbending.But even the city’s mighty walls cannot keep the Fire Nation’s forces at bay. Prince Zuko (Dallas Liu) continues his quest to capture the Avatar — made even more difficult by his status as a fugitive traitor from the Fire Nation, and a nagging conscience that makes him question whether he is on the right path. Even worse for our heroes, his formidable sister, Princess Azula (Elizabeth Yu) now joins the fray. But the most dangerous enemies of all may be those unseen, for soon the Avatar and his companions will learn: Nothing is as it seems in a city of walls and secrets. This season has a small army of new characters coming on board: Chin Han (Mortal Kombat, Skyscraper) as Long Feng  Hoa Xuande (The Sympathizer, Top of the Lake: China Girl) as Professor Zei Justin Chien (The Brothers Sun, The Great Leap) as King Kuei Amanda Zhou (Spinning Out, The Handmaid’s Tale) as Joo Dee Crystal Yu (Doctor Who, Good Omens) as Lady Beifong Kelemete Misipeka (Sons of Thunder) as The Boulder Lourdes Faberes (The Sandman, Operation Fortune: Ruse de Guerre) as General Sung Rekha Sharma (Yellowjackets, Battlestar Galactica) as Amita Terry Chen (Lucky Star, Jessica Jones, House of Cards) as Jeong Jeong Dolly de Leon (Triangle of Sadness, Between the Temples, Ghostlight) as Lo and Li  Lily Gao (Blue Sun Palace, Twisted Metal, Slip) as Ursa Madison Hu (The Brothers Sun, The Boogeyman) as Fei Dichen Lachman (Severance, Jurassic World: Dominion) as Yangchen If you need more Avatar as you wait for next month’s premiere, Netflix also released a blooper reel that features a lot of giggling; you can watch that at Tudum. Season two of Avatar: The Last Airbender premieres June 25th on Netflix.[end-mark] The post It’s Time to Learn Earthbending in the Trailer for <i>Avatar: The Last Airbender</i> Season 2 appeared first on Reactor.

Column Anime Spotlight Five Anime for Fans of Ursula K. Le Guin Not including the Ghibli adaptation of “Tales of Earthsea”… By Leah Thomas | Published on May 21, 2026 Credit: Wit Studio / MAPPA Comment 0 Share New Share Credit: Wit Studio / MAPPA Last fall, during my chaotic morning commute through Shibuya’s infamous rush-hour crush, I coped with my temporary status as a sardine by finally diving into Earthsea. Last year I purchased an anthology of the first four novels and drifted frequently into the beautiful worldbuilding, evocative prose, and philosophical ennui. What did it matter if I were pressed against a salaryman’s nape or elbowing the forehead of an innocent high schooler? Ged was dissociating on his island homeland, or Tenar was exploring the labyrinth she was doomed to rule, and later growing old and contemplating a woman’s place in a magical world and how best to take care of a scarred, powerful adopted daughter.  Reading Le Guin is forever humbling. She is among my favorite authors. The Dispossessed altered my thinking when I needed it most, and as a young queer person, the unflinching approach to dismantling assumptions about love and gender in The Left Hand of Darkness was revelatory. I could not believe a powerful novel about androgyny and gender had been written while my mother was still in elementary school. Half a century before “genderqueer” became a byword on Tumblr, Le Guin wrote a staggering novel about the culture clash and subsequent love that colors the relationship between a Terran man and an ambisexual from Gethen. Le Guin was always miles ahead of whatever era she occupied. And perhaps that is another reason that the sole anime adaptation of a Le Guin work, which held a great deal of promise—it was Studio Ghibli production, for Pete’s sake—looked beautiful in trailers but was destined to disappoint. Tales from Earthsea, directed by Goro Miyazaki, failed to do justice to either legacy. Too much was changed from the books to appeal to Earthsea devotees, and the condensed plot made the storytelling too convoluted for many Ghibli fans. While Howl’s Moving Castle proved that Ghibli adaptations could depart from the source material and still be magnificent, Tales from Earthsea missed the boat.  However, fans eager to find the majesty and insight that characterizes Le Guin’s writing reflected in anime shouldn’t feel too discouraged. Though we’re still waiting for an adaptation that does justice to her work, there are a few great series that remind me—be it thematically, emotionally, or narratively—of Le Guin’s writing and worldbuilding. Some of these anime I adore, while others unsettled or even alienated me, but in each example, the parallels are there, and the thoughtfulness is, too. If you’re looking for stories that capture some of the magic and complexity of Le Guin’s imagination, I’d recommend the following anime. For Fans of Earthsea: Vinland Saga Credit: Wit Studio / MAPPA Vinland Saga is not a second-world fantasy series—or even a fantasy series at all. Instead, I’d argue it’s the best historical fiction work ever put to manga, crafted by the ever-impressive Makoto Yukimura (I recently referenced another fantastic Yukimura series, Planetes, in my piece on Hard Science Fiction in anime). A dramatized biography of Icelandic explorer Thorfinn Karlsefni hardly sounds like ideal fodder for a seinen epic, but thanks to Yukimura’s keen worldbuilding and meticulous character arcs, Vinland Saga strikes true and beautiful. Like Le Guin’s Ged, Thorfinn is a troubled soul who errs often in his youth. While he does not wield magic, Thorfinn becomes a violent creature, shaped by the brutal murder of his father. He falls in with the Viking band that did the deed, determined to kill the man who ended his childhood: Askeladd. Things become more complicated when he comes to admire Askeladd and, despite his best intentions, begins to view Askeladd as a surrogate father figure. Just as Ged is haunted by a cursed shadow of his own creation, so is Thorfinn haunted by the ghosts of the lives he takes over the course of his violent youth.  But this is only the start for Thorfinn. Like Earthsea, Vinland Saga is a sprawling tale that took Yukimura more than two decades to complete. The payoff to this epic is extraordinary and likely to fill a certain type of Le Guin-shaped hole in the hearts of those who embark on the journey. For Fans of The Dispossessed: Terra E (Toward the Terra) Credit: Tokyo Kids When I watched Toward the Terra (2007), I remember wondering why no one was talking about it. It struck me as a fantastic anime, classic science fiction done correctly. As usual, I was just out of the loop. Toward the Terra, an award-winning manga written by Keiko Takiyama between 1977 and 1980, saw its first animated adaptation in 1980. Like The Dispossessed, Toward the Terra feels eerily prescient, given all that’s happened since. Set in the 31st millennium, Terra’s Earth is governed by artificial intelligence, supercomputers called Superior Dominance. Superior Dominance has a hand in the lives of every human being, deciding their traits, assigning them parents, and wiping their brains in adolescence in order to program them into being useful adults. A faction of humanity develops psychic abilities and flees Earth to colonize the stars and save their kind, but longs to return to their homeland of Terra. The story takes place across several timelines, but our main protagonists are two young men, Soldier Shin and Soldier Blue. As in The Dispossessed, inhabitants of an ideological world must vie against an authoritarian one, and any would-be utopia turns out to be ambiguous at best. Paralleling Le Guin, Takemiya’s feminism helped her create truly groundbreaking art. She is counted among the Year 24 group, women who redefined the shoujo genre in the 1970s, shifting its production into the hands of female mangaka. In particular, Takemiya was a pioneer of shounen-ai manga: she is credited with illustrating manga’s first gay kiss. Among her most acclaimed works is Kaze to Ki no Uta, an iconic tragedy about boys falling in love at a French boarding school. The relationships in Toward the Terra, to me, feel queer-coded—particularly between Shin and Blue—despite the sometimes-sanitized storytelling prevalent in the decade in which it was first written. This did not feel like queerbaiting. It felt, instead, like a statement being quieted only because it had come from the future. For Fans of The Word for World Is Forest: Land of the Lustrous Credit: Orange I tried very hard to love Land of the Lustrous. It looks fantastic, polished (pun perhaps intended). Its fans grow glowy-eyed and fond when discussing it. Land of the Lustrous features genderless leads and willowy character designs. Somehow, it felt like the sadgirl answer to the joyful queerness of Steven Universe: both series depict shiny intergalactic rocks as people. The Lustrous are a race of gems in humanoid form, trying to survive the invasion of their planet by the Lunarians who wish to harvest them. I just could not get into the show. I think some of this had to do with decisions made in production, which clearly missed the memo on the androgyny front; every one of the Lustrous characters (who are established to be agender and nonbinary) feels femme-presenting to me, given that the whole cast is composed of female voice actors and each one is drawn with a slim torso, long eyelashes, and, well, a booty. The limitations in the character design destroyed whatever personal empowerment I may have felt in watching it, but I appreciate that the story means and has meant a lot to many of its queer fans. And then again, what does a voice have to do with gender? What does an appearance? Where is the line? It feels odd to me that it’s only aliens that are allowed to be nonbinary (and even then, they are very pretty aliens). But maybe it just isn’t the right representation for everyone. Similarly, people who love Le Guin do not necessarily love her 1972 Hugo-winner, The Word for World Is Forest. To be fair, any book sandwiched between The Left Hand of Darkness and The Dispossessed in the Hainish Cycle would have had heavy boots to fill. But what is missing, for me, from Word for World is any degree of subtlety. Le Guin wrote the novel as a furious response to the ongoing atrocities in Vietnam. The plight of the Athsheans, peaceful denizens of a tropical world besieged by Terran colonists seeking lumber, is familiar territory. So too is the plight of the Lustrous. I do not mean to dismiss or belittle either story—forced colonization and the kinds of violence it entails is always traumatic, and always a threat to the good things in the world(s). I mean to say that while both Land of the Lustrous and Word for World are essential stories worthy of their acclaim, both follow storylines that are already well-trodden. It is right to feel furious about the deaths of innocents, and profoundly unfortunate that stories such as these are always goddamn relevant. For Fans of The Lathe of Heaven: Paprika Credit: Madhouse / Sony Pictures Confession: I have not yet read The Lathe of Heaven. I assume I will one day, which is what I also assumed about Paprika. I wrote a separate piece about the years I spent adoring Satoshi Kon without ever indulging in his work, so this feels about right. In Lathe, a man named George Orr has dreams that reshape reality. In Paprika, a psychologist named Atsuka Chiba chases a dream terrorist who leaves a trail of nightmares in their wake. While Orr’s dreams alter the past and present of the real world, Chiba’s forays into dreamscapes are more surreal, filled with whimsical, chaotic, and sometimes sinister imagery. But we’ve all heard the old adage that dying in your dreams means dying in real life, and when the barriers between waking and sleeping blur, the threat feels more and more imminent. While Le Guin uses her premise mostly as a vehicle for exploring philosophical themes of morality and the tenets of Taoism, Kon’s film is colored by the world as it was in the early 2000s, when the internet was truly becoming a formative factor in the trajectory of humankind. If hers is a thought experiment, then his is a thriller. Regardless, both stories provide ample food for thought and, well, dread. For Fans of The Left Hand of Darkness: Kaiba Credit: Madhouse I discovered Kaiba by accident, while spinning the wheel with my fellow otaku Bridget as part of the Anime Grab Bag feature. Another Masaaki Yuasa arthouse masterpiece, illustrated in an avant-garde style that recalls Tezuka’s, Kaiba is a feast for the eyes and the brain. When a nameless, heartless young man (literally—there’s a perfectly circular hole in his chest) wakes in a peculiar world without any memories of who he is, he pulls the audience along with him through a trippy universe in which people can transplant their minds into other bodies and memories are stored as organic data on memory chips that look more like toy blocks. The young man, later called Warp, is initially aimless, propelled through the universe by the forces and laws that surround him. In place of his own will, he has the will of those who choose to protect him. As he gradually regains his memory, he becomes entangled in the troubles of a divided society in which the poor struggle to find good bodies to exist in and the rich traffic memories for sport. I hesitate when it comes to making comparisons to The Left Hand of Darkness, because it is such a singular work. But it is also a work preoccupied with questions of what it means to be a person, and whether a body plays a part in that or not, or whether anatomy matters in the least. If Warp is aimless at the outset of Kaiba, so is Genly Ai when he visits Gethen and meets Estraven. Both characters become engaged with their surroundings and become better for it, though they are plagued by uncertainty. It takes the work of understanding others to ultimately understand themselves. So, those are some suggestions, but I’d love to hear your thoughts on other anime that might resonate with readers of Le Guin, whether they remind you of specific works or simply share some stylistic or thematic DNA with her many worlds…[end-mark] The post Five Anime for Fans of Ursula K. Le Guin appeared first on Reactor.

Books samurai Seven SFF Samurai Stories Sword-wielding samurai vs. monsters, time travel, magic, and more! By Lorna Wallace | Published on May 21, 2026 The Last Contract of Isako cover art by Thomas Walker Comment 0 Share New Share The Last Contract of Isako cover art by Thomas Walker I’ve loved stories filled with samurai and martial arts since I was a little kid. Understandably, my parents weren’t keen on putting a katana into my hands, but they did sign me up for karate classes, which fueled my love even further. I don’t really recall encountering sci-fi or fantasy elements in any of the samurai movies I watched when I was growing up, but in recent years I’ve been seeking such stories out wherever I can find them. Given that Akira Kurosawa’s Seven Samurai (1954) is one of the most influential films ever made, I thought it would be fun to also take inspiration from the best by choosing seven examples for this list. The samurai books, movies, and TV shows below run the gamut of SF, fantasy, and horror, with some works drawing on real-world history to some degree and others focusing far more on speculative elements, from magic and monsters to time travel and distant planets. Into the Badlands (2015 – 2019) The AMC series Into the Badlands is set in a post-apocalyptic world that has limited technology and is ruled by barons—each with their own army, people, and key resources (such as opium and oil). Sunny (Daniel Wu) leads the army of the most powerful baron and is widely regarded as one of the most skilled fighters in the Badlands, being an expert in both martial arts and sword fighting. But both his loyalty and his skills are put to the test when a rebellious teenage boy with strange powers (Aramis Knight) steps into his life. I enjoyed the high-stakes plot and character drama of Into the Badlands, but the fight scenes were the real highlight for me, with Daniel Wu’s skills in particular stealing the show. Sure, he isn’t the only character we see deftly wielding a blade, but it’s his scenes that stick most vividly in my mind. The Sword of Kaigen by M.L. Wang (2019) The Matsuda family live on a mountain on the edge of the Kaigenese Empire and—along with a few other warrior families—are trusted to keep the Empire safe from its enemies with their exceptional sword-wielding skills and ice-bending abilities. The book follows two members of this family: 14-year-old Mamoru and his mother Misaki. Mamoru has been training to be a warrior since he was big enough to hold a blade, but his worldview is challenged to the point of shattering by the arrival of an outsider. As for Misaki, she married into the Matsuda family and has a little more knowledge about the wider world, but she’s been forced to hide her samurai past. The combat scenes in The Sword of Kaigen bristle with frenetic energy and the impressive action is given extra punch thanks to the emotional arcs of the characters who are swinging the swords. Both Mamoru and Misaki go on transformative personal journeys over the course of the story, which digs into the horrifying ramifications of war on both a personal and public scale. The book is a war epic and a family drama all in one, with each of those threads enhancing the other. Blue Eye Samurai (2023 – ) I’d recommend going into Blue Eye Samurai with as little information as possible (that it was an adult animated samurai series was enough to convince me to check it out!), but I’ll explain the basic premise for those who might need a bit more convincing. The story is set in an alternate version of 17th-century Japan and follows Mizu (Maya Erskine)—a half-white, half-Japanese samurai—as she pursues bloody revenge while disguised as a man. I came for the stunningly animated sword fights—the moves are slick, the gore is brutal, and the backgrounds are beautiful—but I stayed for Mizu. She’s an incredibly compelling character to follow, consumed by rage and self-hatred and yet somehow still maintaining a core of kindness and morality. Only one season of the show is currently out, but a second season is in the works. The first episode is also freely available to watch on YouTube, but you’ll need to head to Netflix to watch the other seven episodes. A Samurai in Time (2024) Kosaka Shinzaemon (Makiya Yamaguchi) is an Edo-era samurai who is about to fight another samurai when a lightning bolt hits his raised blade. He wakes up confused on an unfamiliar street where people are acting strangely and eventually comes to understand that he’s on a movie set in the 21st century. Left with no way to get back to his original time period, he decides to put his samurai skills to use by working as stuntman in jidaigeki (Japanese period drama) shows and movies. A Samurai in Time is light on the technical aspects of the time travel (basically, don’t expect to get an explanation) because that isn’t really the point of the movie. Instead, the focus is on fish-out-of-water Shinzaemon and his floundering attempts to carve out a place for himself in this unfamiliar world. The film is a little comical, extremely endearing, and essentially a love letter to the jidaigeki genre. Predator: Killer of Killers (2025) Set within the world of the Predator franchise, Killer of Killers is an animated anthology film told in four parts. The second section, titled “The Sword,” is set in 17th-century Japan and follows a pair of brothers—one a samurai and the other a ninja—who are forced to battle a Predator. Kenji and Kiyoshi (both voiced by Louis Ozawa Changchien, who fans of the franchise will recognize from 2010’s Predators) were close when they were young, but they’ve been estranged for 20 years after a bloody betrayal led to Kenji living in exile. Their feud is reignited with the death of their samurai lord father, but their unhappy reunion is interrupted by a Predator. Aside from a few words at the beginning and end, there’s no dialogue throughout most of “The Sword.” This stylistic choice puts the focus on the stunning action sequences, which see Kenji and Kiyoshi using all of their skills and shrewdness while fighting the Predator. But the lack of dialogue doesn’t mean there’s a lack of characterization—the conflicted emotions of both brothers come through razor sharp via their facial expressions and reactions. Japanese Gothic by Kylie Lee Baker (2026) There are two timelines and two main characters in Japanese Gothic, but they’re both anchored by the same house. The story starts in 2026, with college student Lee running away to his dad’s secluded house in Japan after possibly killing his roommate (he can’t quite remember what happened). The second timeline follows Sen, a young samurai who’s being trained brutally by her father and who lives in the same house, but in 1877. Sen and Lee find themselves slipping into each other’s timelines and although things get off to a rocky start, they eventually form a bond. This time-bending horror novel starts out fairly slowly, but it steadily builds to an explosive ending. From start to finish it’s both chillingly atmospheric and heartwrenchingly tragic. The horror comes less from spooky things going bump in the night and more from the awful situations that both Sen and Lee find themselves in. The Last Contract of Isako by Fonda Lee (2026) The Last Contract of Isako is set on a distant planet that has long since lost contact with Earth. Although resources are stretched thin (aside from for the richest and most powerful, of course), there’s hope for the future—either through terraforming the planet or by reconnecting with Earth. Titular character Isako has made her living on this world as a longknives-woman—a role which has seen her protect and advise various powerful people. But she’s in her 50s now and the physical demands of her life have taken a toll on her body, so she’s aware that retirement (which on this world means leaving the protection of the airshield and dying out in the frozen wasteland) is in her near-future. But then she’s roped into one last contract that turns out to be far more complicated than expected… The majority of the book is concerned with corporate espionage, which means that Isako’s longknife doesn’t do quite as much slicing and dicing as I’d like, but the fight scenes that are included are fantastic. Plus, the mystery that Isako finds herself unraveling is intriguing in its own right, and raises many fascinating questions about honor, loyalty, and identity. I’ve already got Samurai Jack high on my to-be-watched list, but I’d love to know if there are any other SFF samurai stories missing from this list that I need to read or watch. The comments are open below for any recommendations! The post Seven SFF Samurai Stories appeared first on Reactor.