A site dedicated towards animation, the Animation Zone provides: Reviews, reactions, fan stuff, Top lists, links to content, etc.
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Its the second week of the top 5 online list. Just to let you all know, this will be a weekly thing that i will be posting every Monday, my time. What makes it to the list is animations that are posted online that fall within the monday to monday week before the next list is to be posted. it can be anything, trailers, clips, shorts, online reviews, etc. as long as it has a predominance of animation. It must also be searchable by Blogger's "Insert Video: search youtube" feature. This list will not just be comprised because of the quality of the animation alone, but can also be chosen for premise, concept, or just plain entertaining. I take suggestions, just leave them in the comment sections on the last list up.
1. "Insects" by Ramtin Ahmati.
2. "After the Fact: Do Princesses Dream of Magic Sheep?" By
MLP-Silver-Quill.
3. "The Broken Podcast is Back, Trailer." By PewDiePie.
("Felidae." Screen Shot, Property of Senator Film Distribution)
Film: Felidae.
Directed by: Michael Schaack.
Running time: 82 min.
Released: 1994.
Felidae is a fascinating 1994 German Adult animation based off of a
1989 novel and series of the same name by Akif Pirinçci. It is about a house
cat named Francis who recently moves into a new neighborhood and gets caught up
in investigating the murders of other felines.
This is not the kind of animated feature that you would stick the kiddies in
front of unless they have a great deal of maturity to understand graphic
(violent) imagery. This is a story that takes talking animals to a whole
different, nitty-gritty level.
The first thing to note is the differences between the original German voice
acting and the English dub later developed. You can tell right off when doing a
comparison between the two, that the voice acting and the lines is definitely
better in the German one, the voice actors matching their characters personalities
quite well, with Ulrich Tukar as the voice of Francis and Mario Adorf as
Blaubart. The English version cleaned up a lot of the language which actually
felt part in setting the tone, particularly of Blaubart, and did have some
noticeable differences to wording outside of that which was not to the film’s
advantage.
So like with anything else that is done in a language different from your
own, if your English, stick to the subtitled version if you want the full
effect of the film.
The animation was a rather fascinating mix of the standard, though good,
quality of animation during that period, but then you get these moments where
it takes a step above itself, particularly in Francis' dream sequences, and one
in particular whose contents won’t be given away, but its style works well with
the disturbing and potent imagery you’re not likely to forget.
There is also a sense of environment with this, an idea of the sort of old
run down once lofty urban district which is established through the movements
of the cats, done particularly well through a really well animated and detailed
chase scene between Francis and the cult followers.
The story itself is another highlight, appropriate given the popularity of
the books, the narrative flows from one sequence to another well enough, though
there are moments that do feel a little rushed, it does weave its mystery in a
very engaging way with equally engaging characters, Blaubart being a nice
humorously crass counterpoint when it gets a little too heavy at the right
times. It actually reads almost like a film noir, with some of the tropes of
the genre, but not dominantly so.
One of the things going against it is that there are certain things that do
make it dated, and a product of its times, such as a scene or two of less than
PC use of homosexuality in a negative connotation, particularly exemplified in
the scene between Kong and his crew and Francis and Blaubart in the first half,
but that is very brief thankfully, and doesn't impact with the rest of the
film, so it can be skipped.
The other negative perhaps is that while the climatic ending was really well
done, the "bad humans and there corruption" message did feel a little
forced here, almost shoe horned in with those last words of the antagonist, and
then Francis before he passes out. It felt already established and stated by
the antagonist’s backstory already, but then again, it is a product of its
time, and it didn't take away from the overall enjoyment of the film.
This was a great film that has a really compelling narrative and tone that
sucks you in, a great set of characters in Francis and Blaubart, great
animation, particularly in the dream sequences, and a gripping action-filled
ending, if a little preachy here and there. Definitely a recommended watch for
those who enjoy a good horror/mystery, are not squeamish, and like good quality
adult animation.
(“Little Witch Academia”, Promotional Artwork, Retrieved from Wikipedia.org, Property of Trigger.Film Shorts: Little Witch Academia and Little WitchAcademia: Enchanted Parade.Directed and Created by: Yoh Yoshinari.
Released: 2013, 2015.
Running Time: 26 min and 53 min.
The first installment Little Witch Academia (2013), was a
short animation that was produced by Trigger for the 2013 Anime Mirai (a
funding project for young animators) about a somewhat inept but
enthusiastic girl named Akko who is inspired into becoming a witch by a
magical performer called Shiny Chariot, whom she idolizes, and hangs out
at her magic school with her friends, Sucy and Lotte.
The second installment, Little Witch Academia: Enchanted Parade (2015)
was a longer sequel partially funded through Kickstarter after the
initial release of the first one garnered some modest fanbase. In this
one the main character in conflict with her friends as they struggle to
create the best parade (a punishment) so they can avoid expulsion.
First off, if you are a viewer who is seriously picky about the
quality of their anime, then these shorts are definitely up your ally
visually. The animation here is just spectacular! Fluid, malleable,
colourful, enduring, and the character designs are unique to each
character to aide in strengthening each individual identity.
The animation of the opening of the first installment especially was a real visual treat!
The characters outside their design, are rather likable, and some
even funny, though Akko can come across as a little to bratty at times,
particularly in the second installment, but in the end she realizes the
character flaw, so she works well enough as a main lead, though definite
props go to to the sidekicks and background characters.
Sucy is one of the best characters in both of the films, sort of like a cross between Severus Snape from Harry Potter franchise, Raven from Teen Titans.
Everything she does and says is almost always funny, her utilization of
potions is always fun to watch, with much of the best humour coming
from her quarter, and her almost cartoon Dracula-like design is the best
of the lot by far!
One of the draw backs of the films is that the pacing of the story of
the first one doesn’t match the short time frame, feeling a little
rushed. The second film seemed to be trying to rectify that, and it was
an improvement in pacing. Despite that though, it did present some
interesting elements that I wished could have been flushed out bit more,
such as the relationship between the witches and the non-magicals, the
hints of gentrification among witch culture, the history behind the
Sorcerer’s stone (and yes, if your harry Potter fan you roll your eyes,
but to be fair, it wasn’t the first to use that magical prop.)
There are some problems with the characters such as a few of them
coming across as a bit to stereotypic such as Diana, the condescending
overachiever aristocrat who comes across like a less dickish Draco
Malfoy (also from Harry Potter) for example, and the under
utilization of the 3 new characters Amanda, Constanze, and Jasminka from
the second movie, who each had something very interesting about them,
but wasn’t fully explored or utilized, though with time constraints and
the focus being the friendship of the main cast, it was likely not a
concern.
This is why while they work alright as short films (with the second
treading that line very finely I might add)I feel they would be great to
watch as both a full length TV series to really flesh out the
characters, history, and the story, or even a feature length film,
perhaps.
The only other nitpick would be the English dub which was also not
overly well done, and can distract from the film, though the actresses
for the Japanese version are pretty good, with the exception of Diana,
whose voice sounds a little too mature for the age she is supposed to
be.
Overall these were very well done anime with its strengths resting in
its animation and characters, and felt like a nice little homage to
Harry Potter while still maintaining its own identity. I would recommend
giving it a watch.
("SHUDŌ." Screen shot, property of To-Anh Bach, Charles Badiller, and Hugo Weiss.)
Short: SHUDŌ.
Directed by: To-Anh Bach, Charles Badiller, and Hugo Weiss.
Running time: 2 min.
Released: 2015.
This is a very short promotional animation from Goeblins Le’Ecole de
L’Image that features a fight between two swordsmen, Hayate and Iwa out
in the snow.
This is an excellent little animation, almost like a clip form some
larger project really, with this amazing visual dance between the past
and the present as the relationship is shown between the two battling
swordsmen, the images between fighting and embracing were particularly
poignant given the ending.
The animation style itself was unique, and attention to detail, such
as the cloths whipping in the blizzard wind, the angle and the choice of
cold colors for the present battle, and warmer tones for the past
scenes was well done.
This is how film should be, showing. There is no dialogue, and the
actions in the animation play out a deep relationship within such a
small space of time, that it rivals many feature length films.
This section will be a recurring spot where I post a list of random clips, trailers, etc. of animation, perhaps from shows, movies, commercials or fan made content (from any period I so choose, because that is how I roll), that I venture across that i felt was worth sharing for entertainment value, nostalgia, and putting animation itself perhaps in perspective, so enjoy!
"Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles - Bad Days" - Season 3 Ep 11
"I'm So Ronery" Clip from Team America: World Police.
"Unicron meets Megatron and his Transformation into Galvatron" from the 1980's Transformers: The Movie.
"If Jurassic Park were in Different Geological Eras?"From College Humour.
"Master Jiang and the Six Kingdoms" Trailer for the 2016 Chinese Animated Feature.
"Animated 1950s Listerine Commercial with Catchy Jingle"
