Spring Cleaning the Spring Anime Season Part 2

(If you like what you see, you can go to camseyeview.biz to see more of my work on video game reviews, editorials, lists, Kickstarters, developer interviews, and review/talk about animated films. If you would like, consider contributing to my Patreon at patreon.com/camseyeview. It would help support my work, and keep the website up. Thanks for checking out my work, and I hope you like this editorial!)

Here we are with Part 2, and while the first part of this overall season was stuffed to the gills with good shows, here we have some other great shows, but this was definitely the second half of the season where we ran into some true garbage anime. Some of these could have been saved by better execution of their plots and bad source material, but more times than not, it’s a bad adaptation. Let’s dive right into the spring season and let’s finish it! 

Fantasy/Isekai

I Got a Cheat Skill in Another World and Became Unrivaled (Crunchyroll)

CW: harassment, bullying, fatphobic

Do you mean to tell me the same author behind Fruit of Evolution has another terrible isekai that is also problematic, hateful, and mediocre? Color me surprised that this author is pretty terrible or at the very least, has a big issue with fat people. As I not so subtly said, this is based on the novels by Miku. The adaptation is produced by Millepensee, is written by Shin Itagaki, and co-directed by Shin Itagaki and Shingo Tanabe. We have yet another isekai where we have a lead character who is fat, and then one day finds all of his problems are solved when he is able to go from his human world to a fantasy world, turns into a super thin hot guy, gets two worlds worth of friends and harem acquaintances, and is as shallow as a puddle. The mean-spirited nature of this show is cartoonish and melodramatic in the worst way possible. It’s one of those lazy and uninspired power fantasies that aren’t interested in going in-depth with how society treats people who look different or are heavy. It’s a bad version of Lookism that actually delves into the topics this show failed to tackle with much more nuance. Outside of its repugnant characters and terrible writing, it’s just another power fantasy that isn’t interesting at all. These authors need to do better. Screw this self-indulgent power fantasy nonsense. Your petty pathetic power fantasy ruins any potential this anime could have had in the story department.

My One-Hit Kill Sister (Crunchyroll)

CW: themes of incest

This show honestly has the exact opposite problem from which most of these shows from this season suffer. This anime is directed by Hiroaki Takagi, written by Yohei Kashii, and produced by Studio Gekko. It’s based on the novels and manga by Konoe. What’s so fascinating about this anime is how hard it goes with its visual presentation. Out of all of the shows to have a stunning visual look and some of the best-directed action of the season, it shouldn’t be the anime with an incest kink with the older sister wanting to be very close to her younger brother. The whiplash you get from how well-executed certain scenes and jokes are is on the level of some of the best action and comedy anime out there, and yet what falls apart is the fact that this has a heavy emphasis on an incest subplot. Sure, they can try to write it off that she really cares about her brother, but it’s not in a way that says she just cares for him on a platonic level, because without that angle, it’s just a middling if well-executed edgy dark isekai fantasy comedy. It has a funny angle of the brother being sent to a fantasy world and not being the special one, whereas the sister is the one with all of the power fantasy tropes, and some of the jokes, (or at the very least, the execution of the jokes are more humorous than usual), but the incest angle is an instant turn-off to ever recommending this show. It also isn’t the only show this season with incest or a possible incest angle. 

The Aristocrat’s Otherworldly Adventure (Crunchyroll)

CW: Harassment played for laughs, and some slight hints of incest. 

Well, while I do not like this show for a multitude of similar reasons I don’t like most isekai power fantasies, I can say that at least this isn’t a tedious chore in many ways. This is based on the novels by Yashu. It’s produced by EMT Squared. It’s co-directed by Noriyuki Nakamura and Mitsutaka Noshitani, and written by Natsuko Takahashi. As I said, it suffers from a lot of the nonsense that plagues the most boring and generic isekai stories that include no stakes and harem elements that become slightly creepy when it’s about our lead who is a child for much of the show’s run. They also introduce mentors who don’t do anything, and there are no stakes in the action since our hero can’t be harmed. They try to make the characters more interesting by focusing on the more comedic angle of the series, and that is honestly its strongest aspect. The show is really adamant about being a comedy and it does a lot of different gags and jokes to make for a more entertaining sit. Even if the jokes don’t always land, it’s more than most isekai that play their stale power fantasies straight. They are trying a lot of things with this show and due to bad pacing and the stuff mentioned above, it still falls flat, but it’s not a boring sit. 

KamiKatsu Working for a God in a Godless World (Crunchyroll)

Honestly, while I wouldn’t call the fantasy/isekai genre this season as good as others since it’s pretty rancid in a lot of ways when one of the best shows is still a dumpster fire, that’s a telling note of this being one of the best by default. It’s based on the manga by Aoi Akashiro. It’s directed by Yuki Inaba, written by Aoi Akashiro, and produced by Studio Palette.Yeah, this is one of the most infamous anime of the season, and not because characters do repugnant things or a creative is a terrible person. I mean, who knows, those things could happen, but more about the production side of things is why this show is being heralded as a dumpster fire/ironic classic. Shoddy editing, wild jumps in quality with animation, and inconsistent tones make this a real hot mess of a series to watch. On one side of the quality spectrum it’s a harsh snappy commentary about religious extremists and sex, but on the other side, it takes itself too seriously at points for the few laughs to fall flat, it restarts its stakes about halfway through the show’s run, and the zany tone it wants to go for doesn’t truly stick to that lane. This could have been the new generation Cromartie High, but due to its lack of commitment to the bit, it falls hard on its face. It’s a real shame, because I was down when it stuck to the zany unhinged side of its run, but it’s hard to fully recommend, since this show will either be your cup of tea or just turn you right off. Sure, it’s being made by a studio that is relatively new and a director who hasn’t done a lot of actual directing, but it at least stands out from the rest due to how wild it tries to go at points with its story and humor. 

Sacrificial Princess and the King of Beasts (Crunchyroll) 

Thankfully, we don’t end the fantasy isekai genre of this season on a bad note. Granted, if this show was in any other stronger season, it wouldn’t be at the top, but here we are, and at least it’s a solid show. This is based on the manga by Yu Tomofuji. It’s produced by JC Staff, written by Seishi Minakami, and directed by Chiaki Kon. While this is yet another take on Beauty and the Beast, unlike last season’s similar show and has to compete with The Ancient Magus Bride this season, Sacrificial Princess and the King of Beasts actually does stand on its own compared to other shows with similar premises. For one thing, our female lead actually has stakes, unlike some shows where they take all of their stakes and have them solely rely on the beastly individual for everything. What also makes this stand out is that while it is a fantasy romance, it’s more interested in the world and politics of our beast king’s actions of having a human bride and how she is treated in both the human and beast world. While I am not fond of how young the lead is compared to the king, their chemistry almost distracts from that. It’s nothing original for this type of story, but being original can sometimes be its own beast of burden, and just being a well-constructed show is enough. Again, if this was in any other season, this probably wouldn’t be at the top, but due to the world, the characters, the inciting incidents that kick off this powder keg drama, and the twist and turns we see unwrap, it makes for a really solid watch. 

Romance/Comedy

Rokudo’s Bad Girls (Crunchyroll)

This category is starting out with a rough and rather clunky show based on the manga by Yuji Nakamura. It’s directed by Keiya Sato, written by Yuichiro Momose, and produced by Satelight. You would think an anime that’s trying to be retro in its visuals and premise about a boy who ends up with a curse where he gains a harem of ladies, but they are only delinquents and “bad girls”, would be funny or creative, but it’s not. It doesn’t seem sure what it wants to be with its take on masculinity and finding a more peaceful approach to conflicts, due to how the entire premise is based around our lead inadvertently getting all the bad girls to like him. What makes this premise worse are the implications of a single male individual thinking he can tame “wild girls” and how they all don’t really have any personality to speak of. They have character quirks, but they are extremely surface level, and the main blonde bad girl has no personality. Sure, they might show off some backstory about these characters at one point or another, but by the third episode, when you have been sitting there tolerating the mediocre action, animation, and writing, you just end up feeling like you wasted your entire time watching those episodes hoping for something good. It’s terrible, and not in a fun way other shows can be fun while being bad.

Yuri is My Job (Crunchyroll)

Hey, look, a Studio Passione project that isn’t sleazy and creepy. This is based on the manga by Miman. It’s co-directed by Hijiri Sanpei and Takahiro Majima, written by Naoki Hayashi, and produced by Studio Passione and Studio Lings. This show had me conflicted about how to feel about the few episodes I watched. On one hand, the premise is creative about a girl who puts on a facade in front of everyone who is put to the test with said facade when she gets roped into a dinner theater-like cafe. It’s definitely a melodramatic, possibly queer romance story where our lead has to come to terms with the persona/face she puts on when she has to do it differently when the theatrical stuff takes place at an all-girls school that obviously dips into queer romantic intent at points. It’s a fascinating premise that gets a touch repetitive until the third episode gets the ball rolling. I like the ideas that this show brings to the table, and the drama, if a bit melodramatic and queerbait-feeling, is compelling stuff. What do you do when the face you put on to make people compelled to like you, is put to the test in a setting where that face has to adapt on the fly? What happens when the persona is so much your personality that it becomes hard for people to know when it’s on or off? I have heard and read it gets better past the third episode, but if this all sounds interesting, give it a watch! It’s just not for me. 

Too Cute Crisis (HiDive)

Some viewers may want compelling thrillers. Some viewers may want high-octane action. Some may just want to see someone who has never seen cats or dogs before react to them and have their love for them to not have the earth blow up. It’s based on the manga by Mitsuru Kido. It’s directed by Jun Hatori, written by Aya Satsuki, and produced by SynergySP. Honestly, this is the most straightforward anime of the season. An alien is sent down to survey the earth and see if it’s worth blowing up, but is smitten by encountering cats and has a change of heart. Its main focus is poking fun, but also being sincere about the obsession pet owners have with their animals and this passive competition of the owners having the cutest animal. It doesn’t have the flashiest animation and a lot of its humor is reliant on viewers being pet owners, but it’s a cute series. It’s extremely silly and lightweight, but if you are down for a bunch of animal and pet owner jokes with a slice of sci-fi in your comedies, then you will like this series. It even has real-life photos of pets in the credits, and it does just make you want to snuggle and take photos of your favorite pets or cute animals. 

A Galaxy Next Door (Crunchyroll)

Sometimes, a rom-com needs to have an out-of-this-world angle and perspective to stand out from the rest. Sadly, it also came out in the same season as Tonikawa Season 2. This is based on the manga by Gido Amagakure. It’s produced by Asahi Productions, directed by Ryuichi Kimura, and written by Gigaemon Ichikawa. Reading up how this manga was from the same author that made Sweetness and Lightning makes so much sense due to how both manga and anime are about a father taking care of their kids, and in A Galaxy Next Door’s case, the father meets a young woman who is actually from a race of people from the stars that took refuge on an island off of Japan. It feels a bit like a wish fulfillment. Oh, the woman who signed up to do illustration work for the lead’s manga happens to be a huge fan of his work, has read everything obsessively, and happens to be drop-dead gorgeous? It’s not as self-indulgent as some of the isekais we talk about, but it has that feeling. What does help is that the characters are likable and they take their time for their bond and relationship to build and grow as the two bond with one another. It’s a bit slow-paced and that does hurt the show due to how low-key it all is. At some point, the family drama and the bond between the father and his kids can be more interesting than the main romance of the couple. With all that said, if you like slow-burn and I mean really slow-paced shows, then you will like this one. 

The Reason Why Raelina Ended up at the Duke’s Mansion (Crunchyroll) 

While this is technically an isekai, it’s really more of a romantic drama. It is based on a South Korean web novel by Milcha. It’s directed by Junichi Yamamoto, written by Mitsutaka Hirota, and produced by Typhoon Graphics. Instead of Raelina reincarnating as the main female lead of a romance novel, she is a minor character in the novel the isekai world is based on, and her fate is to be killed. So, that puts us in the shoes of our lead who goes out of her way to make sure she doesn’t end up on some royal’s hit list and to make sure she gets the life she didn’t have in the modern world. Much of the runtime is her maneuvering around the rich socialite lifestyle so she doesn’t end up six feet under the ground, and a lot of the emphasis is put on her relationships with everyone. It can be compelling stuff, if a tad clunky from time to time. Some moments feel like a bit too big of a leap in logic, and the sometimes solid and sometimes underwhelming animation can make yet another slow-burn thriller feel very frustrating to sit through. It gets juicy though when our lead realizes that while she is playing her version of chess to make sure she doesn’t die, her key player in her plan is also playing his own version of chess to get out of certain situations, and it combines in a romantic drama that can be compelling to watch. It definitely got me wanting to check out the rest of the series.

The Dangers in My Heart (HiDive)

It’s always nice when an anime decides to surprise you every season, and this is one of those hidden gem surprises that snuck up on this anime fan. This is based on the manga by Norio Sakurai. It’s directed by Hiroaki Akagi, written by Jukki Hanada, and produced by Shin-Ei Animation. Basically, it’s a story about an edgy teen who thinks of dark murder-like thoughts of taking out his other classmates, but in reality, is just an angsty teenager who is depressed, and he has the realization about his classmate he decides should be his first victim. The realization is that he thinks the popular girl is cute, but also finds out that she isn’t just a stereotypical popular girl, but is silly, loves snacks, and so on. The show is basically about their blossoming friendship and love. It captures a very real feeling of that time period of being a teenager where you become edgy, discover your attraction to the other sex, and become an individual who doesn’t quite know how to take in all of these new situations and emotions. Ever want to see yourself squirm and remember how awkward or terrible you are as a blossoming teenager? This show will do that well! It’s a sweet show that does a lot with its premise, and shows constant character growth and makes some types of jokes work that I don’t normally care for. That’s rare! Anyway, this was a surprise gem this season and it shows how good a lot of HiDive’s shows were this season. 

Oshi no Ko aka My Favorite Idol (HiDive)

Spoiler talk

Content Warning, Stalking, mentions of suicide, and abuse.

This one is a lot, and that’s both good and in some ways bad. But when the manga is by the same author of Kaguya Sama: Love is War, then you know you are in for something. This is based on the manga by Aka Akasaka. It’s directed by Daisuke Hiramaki, written by Jin Tanaka, and produced by Doga Kobo. So, since it’s been more than a month since this anime’s release, it’s time to talk about this film’s extremely unhinged premise, but surprisingly well-done execution of said premise. If you don’t want to know about the premise, skip this section until you see the first episode. Now then, let’s begin! First off, it starts with a 90-min first episode, and you get why it did. If your plot was of a doctor and a terminally ill teen being reborn as the two children of their favorite idol, and what feels like a sweet romantic slice-of-life turns into a drama with a slow-burn revenge thriller of finding the person behind the idol’s murder, then you would need 90 minutes to get all of that out of the way first. They could have made a 30-minute or an hour-long premiere, but it really does set up the emotional connection you make with the characters, and then those last five minutes really stab you in the feelings. It turns from idol stuff into a romantic drama about the two now teenage kids going about their lives in the entertainment industry, where the daughter tries to make it as an idol and the son tries to find connections to his mother’s murder. It also starts to sharply critique the entertainment industry on multiple avenues from idols, child acting, to the cynical marketing made by production companies to hamper actors who are truly great. It’s a show with layers of character depths and what drives them. Granted, the manga has some issues and irksome manga/anime-like elements, but the 90-min episode skips through a lot of the baby/child phase of the story for good reason since it seems like the focus of the people behind this adaptation knew what was more important to focus on. It might not grab everyone and you have to get through the 90-min first episode and the out-there premise, but I would easily recommend it as one of the stand-out series this season. 

Loving Yamada at lv 999 (Crunchyroll)

Still, if someone had to ask what romcom anime gave me the best impressions from its three-plus episodes, then this one would be it. This is based on the manga by Mashiro. It’s produced by Madhouse, written by Yasuhiro Nakanishi, and directed by Morio Asaka. We have yet another romcom anime this year with college/young adults as the leads, and as always it feels so refreshing that it isn’t just teen romance. Even when the teen romance is good, you just want to see some variety in ages, and this season brought us that in spades. What also helps is how they created this great parallel between the online game the characters connect with, and the story of a woman going through a rough breakup and bonding with a member of a guild via the game they play in real life. Both of our leads are complex, interesting, funny, and truly human in their interactions. Sure, our male lead is a shut-in gamer who doesn’t have a lot of human connection, but obviously isn’t a terrible person. Our female lead is dealing with pain and wants to put the sadness and anger of her breakup through the wringer instead of dealing with it sensibly. It’s another compelling drama/romcom that’s equal parts funny, romantic, and appealing to the eye via Madhouse’s fantastic animation. You feel for them, and their chemistry is wonderful. The cast of side characters are also great additions to the roster, and makes it an incredible series. I wholly recommend it to anyone who wants to watch the best of the romcom/drama. 

And that is the Spring 2023 anime season! Overall, thinking about the lineup between Part 1 and 2, this was a great season. It definitely took some time to get good, and some of the bad anime were intensely terrible, but since the anime industry is going to keep chugging along no matter how many times people tell them to slow down, we might as well keep track of the industry in its doom spiral. Hopefully, they change, because as usual, when anime is great, it’s really good! 

My Spring 2023 Anime Recommendations: Loving Yamada at lvl 999, Oshi no Ko, Hell’s Paradise, Skip & Loafer, The Dangers in My Heart, Magical Destroyers, Mashle, Otaku Elf, Insomniacs After School, My Clueless First Friend, Heavenly Delusion.

The Other Side of Animation 274: Cyberpunk: Edgerunners Review

(If you like what you see, you can go to camseyeview.biz to see more of my work on video game reviews, editorials, lists, Kickstarters, developer interviews, and review/talk about animated films. If you would like, consider contributing to my Patreon at patreon.com/camseyeview. It would help support my work, and keep the website up. Thanks for checking out my work, and I hope you like this review!)

Video game adaptations are a cursed situation as there never seems to be any true or correct formula to make them work. Some have come close like Detective Pikachu and the Sonic films have been very successful, but those are the rare films to make it work. Even when you adjust the format from film to TV, TV shows or limited shows seem to fumble in that regard as well. 2020’s Dragon Dogma was an awful show, and yet 2022 has had three really good adaptations of video games. We had The Cuphead Show, which was pretty much Looney Tunes-style antics, but with Cuphead, Tekken: Bloodlines which adapted the third game’s storyline with fantastic CGI animation, and now we have the highly anticipated combination of Studio Trigger and CD Projekt Reds’ Cyberpunk: Edgerunners on Netflix. 

Based on the infamous sci-fi RPG by CD Projekt Red, it’s directed by Hiroyuki Imaishi, written by Yoshiki Usa and Masahiko Otsuka, and produced by the famed anime production company, Studio Trigger. We follow a young man named David Martinez, dubbed by Zach Aguilar. He lives within a city that’s constantly on the move with technological upgrades being the name of the game. After an incident that ends up with his mother getting killed, David goes on the offense and starts to get enhancements done to himself including a special military grade upgrade. After doing so, he ends up becoming an Edgerunner, an outlaw mercenary taking on tasks that will sooner or later get them intertwined with the major corporations that run the entire city. Can David and his team that includes Lucy, dubbed by Emi Lo make a living in this chaotic world or will he find himself short-circuiting to the dangers in which this world lathers itself? 

Now listen, the video game this anime is based on is not known for much outside of its problematic development history and its disastrous release. Do you need to know anything about the game to enjoy the show? Not really. If you have seen any major piece of cyberpunk media, then the world and its commentary should be fairly familiar to those that enjoy this type of sci-fi worldbuilding. It also mixes in the sensibilities of the late 80s early 90s OVA boom from the anime scene. This means plenty of intense amounts of violence and some titillating nudity and sexual moments. However, while those three elements were made for a very specific crowd back then, the limited series uses them here for more substantial purposes than just shock and titillation. Or, at the very least it feels more substantial than stuff like the recent reboot of a certain infamous OVA franchise that’s also on Netflix. What is refreshing about this cyberpunk story is how it doesn’t try to be like Ghost in the Shell or other anime that would use this setting to be more about the human condition and just meander around with long diatribes. Edgerunners is fast-paced, action-packed, and while it can be at multiple points stimulus-overload with the visuals, they still find a way to fit in a compelling story and great characters. While the cast is overall strong, our two leads David and Lucy are the core of this story. Even when the screen is covered in bright colors, nudity, and violence, the heart of their romance and the story of finding freedom in a world where society is basically being watched by a thousand eyes and mega-corporations. It’s also all about the danger of losing your humanity in a metaphorical and literal way. It’s a complex show, and it’s so satisfying to see that Studio Trigger keeps showing that while they can be all about the bombastic action, they can still tell a good story. It may not rise to the levels of philosophical complexity as something like Sonny Boy or Ghost in the Shell, but it’s executed in a way to make the journey and the story comprehensible with the motivations of our characters. 

It’s Studio Trigger, so you can already tell what their animation style is going to be, and the animation is, for better or worse, what you expect. It can be busy and stimulating to a degree that you need to have down time from watching the visuals on screen, but it’s so good. There is something so delightful about being able to know what a Studio Trigger anime looks like. Even though the game this anime is based on has a more boring realistic look, they basically took blockier looks on the more traditional anime visual style, and have wildly expressive visuals and character movements. It might fall under the same limitations that the anime industry put in all of their projects, but they find ways to work around it all and still give us very expressive characters. The action is on point, and let’s just say there will be plenty of moments where you see explosions, bullets, and bodies getting turned into chunky salsa. The bright neon colors are also turned up to 11, and instead of going the route of making everything grungy, drab, and or murky as heck, it’s bright and colorful. It’s very impressive with how they make this world look distinct from other sci-fi worlds. The English cast is a mix of well-known anime voice actors and a few character actors you would know from live-action stuff who pull off some fantastic performances. You have Zach Aguilar, Emi Lo, William C. Stephens, Marie Westbrook, Stephanie Wong, Ian James Corlett, Alex Cazares, Giancarlo Esposito, Gloria Garayua, Borge Etienne, and Matthew Mercer. Akira Yamaoka, a composer most people would know from their work on Sparkster, Contra Hard Corps, Silent Hill, Silent Hill 2, Silent Hill 3, Shadows of the Damned, and Patema Inverted provided a tech-savvy vibe with some punk and hard rock edges to the technological cityscape. Also, the anime opening for this show is by Franz Ferdinand! When was the last time you heard from that band? That’s probably the biggest surprise that this show offers. 

Cyberpunk: Edgerunners on Netflix is a beautiful, bittersweet dive into the technologically driven hellscape of a future where everything is driven by cybernetic enhancements. While it is based in the world of the infamous Cyberpunk: 2077, you will not need to wait months to enjoy the world of Cyberpunk with patches or mods. It might have a moment where the story shifts to a new batch of characters that isn’t the best at going from story A to story B, and if you aren’t into the hyper vibe of the animation at points, then you may want to skip this title, but otherwise, give this video game adaptation a watch! It’s impressive how this year, we have had three great adaptations via the world of animation. It’s a stellar time. Now then, next time, we will be talking about the new film GKIDS has released known as Goodbye Don Glees. 

Rating: Go see it!

Fall 2020 Anime Impressions Part 2

(If you like what you see, you can go to camseyeview.biz to see more of my work on video game reviews, editorials, lists, Kickstarters, developer interviews, and review/talk about animated films. If you would like, consider contributing to my Patreon at patreon.com/camseyeview. It would help support my work, and keeps the website up. Thanks for checking out my work, and I hope you like this review!)

Here is part 2 of the list! If you have yet to see part 1, you can go to this link!

Average: Not the best, but not the worst, these anime are, simply put, okay, but have the potential to become great.

Our Last Crusade or the Rise of a New World (Funimation)

Impressions: It’s a pseudo-Romeo and Juliet-style romantic war story that’s based on a light novel and manga by Kei Sazane, directed by Shin Onuma and Mirai Minato, and animated by Silver Link. It’s set in a world where military personnel fight against powerful witches and wizards. It’s kind of a unique setting, but with designs we have seen before. Let’s just say that the comments I have seen comparing the leads to characters seen in Sword Art Online are not new. I think the chemistry between the two leads is cute, and the action is solid enough, but it all feels like something we have seen before and done better. At least by the third episode, the plot is kicking in.

Magatsu Wahrheit (Funimation)

Impressions: We have yet another anime based on a popular mobile game. It was developed by KLab. The anime itself was directed by Naoto Hosoda and produced by Yokohama Animation Laboratory. We have yet another steampunk/WW1-looking world with some fantastical elements. Unlike most anime that tend to look like this, the magic and world are more grounded, which is nice. It makes it feel more believable. However, it doesn’t stand out in most areas. It has decent action, a decent story, decent characters, and a somewhat cohesive world. I want to feel invested, but there isn’t much to be invested in that I couldn’t find in previous seasons or this season of anime. 

The Day I Became a God (Funimation)

Impressions:  Well, in terms of original anime series, this show directed by Yoshiyuki Asai and produced by P.A. Works has some supposed baggage that comes with this release. The story of a young girl claiming to be Odin befriending a normal boy who just happens to be named after a sun goddess is an interesting premise, to say the least. While I am finding the dynamics between the two leads grating, it at least has some comedy that is legit funny. Granted, the first two episodes get close to running their best jokes in the ground, and I’m kind of curious to know if this girl is just messing with the boy or not. Still, she can be pretty obnoxious, so your mileage may vary with this show. Oh, and since this is apparently by a director of some known projects that go awry, if that is your thing, then maybe stick around to see how this one unfolds.

Warlords of Sigdrifa (Funimation)

Impressions: So, we have a multi-media franchise entry with this one. It has two light novel series by Tappei Nagatsuki, two different manga by Kanari Abe and Takeshi Nogami, and this anime series directed by Hirotaka Tokuda, and animated by A-1 Pictures. It’s Evangelion mixed with Raiden, and for some reason, this world’s art direction isn’t working for me. Normally, I would be fine with old-fashioned customized fighter planes fighting angelic-looking monsters, but it’s not gelling with me. I think it’s mostly because of the cast. Outside of the whole debate of using teens as child soldiers, the designs clash with the overly serious aspect of the show. It also makes a terrible first impression with an hour-long first episode that drags out what seems like a single episode-level story. The animation is pretty great, but the dialogue isn’t all that memorable, and some of the dynamics between the characters feel a touch uncomfortable for me. There are some genuine solid moments of levity, but they are few and far between. It has the potential to maybe be one of 2020’s hidden gems, but it’s not gelling with me so far.

Kuma Kuma Kuma Bear (Funimation)

Impressions: This quirky isekai anime is based on a series of light novels and manga by Kumanano. The anime is directed by Hisashi Ishii and Yuu Nobuta. It was produced by EMT Square. Its one gimmick of a young 15-year-old getting zapped into an online VR MMO RPG with a special over-powered set of items is nothing all that new to the genre. Its cutesy art style is the only real thing that makes this show stand out. So far, it seems to have one real reoccurring gag with how strong the main character is, and it has gotten tired by the third episode. It is nice to get an anime in this genre with a female lead this time, but outside of that fun little addition, the fantasy world she inhabits is not all that interesting. There are some interesting aspects to her character, but they are her real-world self, and since she’s stuck in this fantasy world, we might not see them again. It’s a show that is struggling to keep me invested in its story, characters, and world.

DJ4D First Mix (Funimation, Crunchyroll, VRV, and HiDive)

Impressions: I feel badly for this anime that’s based on a multi-media project by Bushiroad, because it had to come out almost a month after Hypnosismic Division Rap Battle Royale, and I worry that viewers are going to constantly compare the two due to their focus on rap and pop music. Sure, they are different projects and are entirely different setting-wise, but you know how the internet tried to make a drama fight last year with Fire Force and Promare? The petty nature of fandoms will never die. Anyway, this anime is directed by Seiji Mizushima and was produced by Sanzigen. It’s a cute premise of a girl wanting to be a famed DJ, and the CGI animation used is pretty alright. It’s expressive and snappy, so that’s more interesting than what that Berserk reboot had going for it. The music is popping, but otherwise, the anime is generic overall. You know what’s going to happen by the base set-up of the anime and the opening. I could see it may be getting better as the show goes on, but it’s an okay first impression at best.

Hypnosismic Division Rap Battle (Funimation)

Impressions: This anime is based on a multi-media project by King Records, has a slew of manga written by Yuichiro Momose, a game developed by Idea Factory, and an anime series directed by Katsumi Ono, written by Shin Yoshida, and produced by A-1 Pictures. On one hand, this show’s premise of a world where weapons are abolished outside of specialized mics made for rappers is so dumb. I have no idea how this would work in real life. However, on the other hand, they commit to the silly premise, and you will laugh when you see someone rob a bank and hold a mic up to someone’s neck like it was a gun or knife. The rap battles are also fun, and it has even driven a lot of curiosity in the rap scene in Japan, which is pretty cool. The four rap groups the show follows are also distinct in their designs, personalities, and dynamics among one another. 

On the other hand, this show is so flippantly sexist with how it treats female characters, that it also takes away all of the goodwill that the show commits to its goofy premise and sometimes decent comedy. There are barely any female characters worth caring about, and I’m so worried about how they are going to handle the fact that the government is run by a woman. I was okay with it being mildly sexist at first, but now I’m worried about how sexist it’s going to go. The show has also lost the plot. We are about halfway through the first season and there has been no battle royale or big rap event. The rap groups know of one another, but so far, the battles have all been one-sided. I’m hoping the rest of the season picks up the pace.

Check in the part 3 soon!

The Other Side of Animation Awards 2020!

(If you like what you see, you can go to camseyeview.biz to see more of my work on video game reviews, editorials, lists, Kickstarters, developer interviews, and review/talk about animated films. If you would like, consider contributing to my Patreon at patreon.com/camseyeview. It would help support my work, and keeps the website up. Thanks for checking out my work, and I hope you like this review!)

Welcome, one and all, to The Other Side of Animation Awards! To end the decade, we will be celebrating the theatrical animation scene. I’ve got to tell you all, this was tough! With a group of judges of me, myself, and I, I decided to make an award show that would pay tribute to the thrilling year of 2019. Before we begin, if you wonder why I chose me, myself, and I as judges, well, that’s because of the 32 animated films submitted last year, I saw 29 of them. That’s more than most of the Academy Voters ever see. Now, let’s get started!

Best US Animated Film: The category for the best US feature film.

NOMS: Toy Story 4, The LEGO Movie Part 2, Abominable, Frozen II, Missing Link, How to Train your Dragon: The Hidden World, Klaus, and Spies in Disguise.

Result: This was tough, because while I did enjoy all of these films, 2019 was a mixed bag. Not all of it was great, but I still very much enjoyed the contestants here. I was thinking about which one gave me an overall splendid and emotional experience, and that kicked off Abominable, How To Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World, and Frozen II. I love those three films, but their overall enjoyability was hampered by certain story elements. Spies in Disguise was surprising, but it could have been stronger. So, that leaves us with The LEGO Movie Part 2, Toy Story 4, Missing Link, and Klaus. Toy Story 4 probably had the best emotional story of the four choices, LEGO Movie 2 was poignant, but I enjoyed films like Klaus and Missing Link more. In the end, I had to make it a tie with Klaus and Missing Link as the Best US Animated Features, because they gave me two experiences that were refreshing and unique to see. Plus, it’s my award show, and I can do what I want.

Winner(s): Missing Link and Klaus

Best Foreign/Indie Animated film: the category for the best foreign/indie animated film of the year.

Noms: Funan, Bunuel, Promare, The Swallows of Kabul, Weathering with You, White Snake, Marona’s Fantastic Tale, Children of the Sea, Penguin Highway, I Want to Eat Your Pancreas, Okko’s Inn, I Lost My Body, This Magnificent Cake, Nezha, Another Day of Life, and Pachamama.

Result: As usual, the foreign animation scene was strong this year with many powerful, important, and incredible films. This was tough, because I recommend everyone check out these films. Some of them had downright jaw-dropping animation, and some had great stories. Due to how hard this was, I had to narrow it down to just a few films. My choices then came down to Marona’s Fantastic Tale, Bunuel, Funan, Promare, White Snake, and Weathering with You. I chose those, because they were the most compelling of the films, but then it came down to what I looked for in an animated film that was able to balance out both animation and story. At the end of the day, I had to go with Dennis Do’s Funan as the most fulfilling and satisfying balance of story and animation, but I think everyone should check out the films in this category.

Winner: Funan

Best 2D Animation: This Category is to award the film with the best use of 2D animation.

Noms: Funan, Bunuel, Promare, Children of the Sea, Weathering With You, The Swallows of Kabul, Penguin Highway, Klaus, Okko’s Inn.

Result: This is tough, because technically, most 2D animated films use some level of CGI, so I decided to nominate the films that use mostly 2D visuals, but CGI to enhance the experience. Promare is a visual treat, but a lot of it is using CGI. Weathering With You is drop dead gorgeous, but it has the same look as most of Shinkai’s films. It’s iconic, but familiar. Penguin Highway has some wonderful visuals, but you don’t get to the trippy stuff until the third act. Okko’s Inn is beautiful, but the more family friendly designs may turn off viewers. Bunuel has great visuals, but the animation can look stiff. It then came down to Children of the Sea, Klaus, The Swallows of Kabul, and Funan. All four of these films have incredible animation to them, and while I could technically make a four-way tie, I don’t want to keep doing that for each category. I then took it down to two films, Children of the Sea and Klaus. Both were stand outs in the animation scene due to their visuals and the execution of visuals. While the techniques used in Klaus are nothing new if you keep up with animation tools, the fact they took 2D animation and painted them like they were 3D models is wildly impressive. This is a nail biter of a decision, because the award could have gone either way, but I had to give it to Children of the Sea, because you watch that film in motion, and you get some of the most ethereal visuals that you will ever see in animation. Seriously, how it mixes its beautiful 2D animation with the CGI sea animals is out of this world.

Winner: Children of the Sea.

Best CGI Animation: This category is for the film with the best CGI animation.

Noms: Toy Story 4, Frozen 2, The Lion King, White Snake, I Lost My Body, The LEGO Movie 2, Abominable, Nezha, and Spies in Disguise.

Result: This one was a bit easier to narrow down in terms of what I thought had the best animation. The Lion King was a technical marvel, but outside of how bonkers real everything looks, that’s all it offers, and it’s not like we don’t have realistic CGI being used all the time. I love the look that I Lost My Body has made with its mix of CGI models and 2D textures and features, but the stuff with the detached hand was more interesting to look at animation wise than the humans. The LEGO Movie 2 looks great, but it’s still the same we have seen with the previous LEGO Films. Abominable had great scenery and some standout shots, but otherwise, it looks like another CGI animated film. Spies in Disguise is probably Blue Sky’s best looking film, even if some of the designs looked wonky, but I found the lighting super impressive. This leads us to the finale of the remaining nominees, Toy Story 4, Frozen II, White Snake, and Nezha. To me, while the two Disney films objectively look better, the visuals I saw in White Snake and Nezha were way more wild and surprising to me. CGI animation was rough for a good decade or so with Chinese animation, but now, we have these two films that look like they had Disney/Pixar money thrown at them. I then had to think about which one had the better shots, and I had to go with White Snake. Everyone should get a copy of White Snake and Nezha and watch them to see how far Chinese CGI animation has come, and to put it in their Blu-ray player of choice, and be in shock and awe at how gorgeous they are. Still, White Snake had some of the prettiest visuals I saw last year, and that’s why I chose it.

Winner: White Snake

Best Mixed Media Animation: This category lists the nominees are the films with the best mix of different kinds of animation styles.

Noms: Promare, Marona’s Fantastic Tale, I Lost My Body, Another Day of Life, and Bunuel.

Result: This is a fun one, because every once in a while, an animated film will stretch itself, and expand on what animation as a medium is. Bunuel and Another Day of Life do something fun by combining either Bunuel’s 2D animation with footage from the real life documentary they are making in the film, or Another Day of Life combines vibrant comic book-like visuals with actual live-action documentary-style footage of the time period in which the film takes place. I Lost My Body, like mentioned above, combines CGI models with 2D textures and designs. Promare uses a super vibrant color pallet with its mix of cartoonish 2D visuals and CGI models. However, the one winner for me in this category is Marona’s Fantastic Tale. Since it’s told from the perspective of a dog, the visuals take advantage of this fantastical world seen through the eyes of the dog, and every person the dog meets is animated differently. I could honestly gush about this film’s visuals all day and how there are fun symbolic elements to some of the characters. In short, Marona’s Fantastic Tale wins this award.

Winner: Marona’s Fantastic Tale

Best Action/Adventure Film: This category awards the film that symbolizes the best action/adventure film in the animation scene this year.

Noms: Promare, Toy Story 4, Spies in Disguise, How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World, Missing Link, White Snake, Nezha, and Batman vs TMNT.

Results: This was another category that was easy to break down, because the nominees were limited, and it was fun to break down what films I thought had the best action sequences, and gave us the best adventure out of the animation scene. Batman vs TMNT was the first to go, due to the limited budget hampering the film. They really should have spent the extra coin to give the animation to a studio like Studio MiR. Toy Story 4 has a lot of entertaining sequences, but it’s more of a drama. How to Train your Dragon: The Hidden World also got put on the chopping block due to its focus on story and comedy. Missing Link is a great adventure film, but the action is limited as it also focuses more on story and comedy. That left me with Nezha, White Snake, and Promare. While these three films do have great stories and characters, I then had to get critical with the action sequences. Nezha was ambitious and very creative, but it does have that low point where they resort to a fart joke to help progress the fight. The action in White Snake and Promare are both flashy, over-the-top, stylized, and are fun to watch. It was really splitting hairs, but I had to go with the one that had the more coherent fights, and I went with White Snake. Like I said, it was splitting hairs, and while I enjoy Promare more as a whole, White Snake had the more focused and enthralling story. Like I said though, I was splitting hairs.

Winner: White Snake

Best DC Animated Film: This category awards the best of the straight-to-video films from DC and WB.

Noms: Reign of the Supermen, Batman vs TMNT, Teen Titans Go! vs. Teen Titans, Wonder Woman: Bloodlines, and Justice League vs. The Fatal Five.

Results: Unlike most years, 2019’s lineup of direct-to-video DC features was pretty stellar. Each one had a certain theme and intriguing story that made them more worthwhile watches than most of the DC films that come out in this category. Like the Best Animated Feature and Best Foreign/Indie Feature, I look for the film that gives me the best overall experience. It really came down to Justice League vs. The Fatal Five, Teen Titans Go! vs. Teen Titans, and Batman vs. TMNT. I then narrowed it to just Teen Titans Go! vs. Teen Titans and Batman vs. TMNT. To be honest, while Teen Titans Go! was funny and amusing, I’m getting tired of the style of humor with the whole self-deprecation and meta aspect they know that no one likes this iteration of the teen team. That’s why I chose Batman vs. TMNT, because it checked the boxes of what I look for in these films. Does it have good writing? Check! Does it have solid animation? Check! Is the story interesting enough from beginning to end to be invested into? Check! It also had a different art-style, which I always look for. It was the one film where I don’t hesitate watching again.

Winner: Batman vs. TMNT

Best Comedy: This category goes to the film with the best comedy.

Noms: The Angry Birds Movie 2, Toy Story 4, Frozen II, Klaus, The LEGO Movie Part 2, Teen Titans Go! vs Teen Titans, and Missing Link.

Results: This is a tricky category, because comedy is so subjective and any winner I choose could be someone’s least favorite comedy. The first film to go was Teen Titans Go! vs Teen Titans, because while I found it funny, that show’s style of humor is starting to get a touch tiring, even if it is still pretty funny for 90% of the time. Klaus was next, because while the jokes and the characters are funny, I enjoy the writing and the chemistry the most and the great jokes are ones I don’t consistently think about. The same goes with Frozen II, because it’s funny, but I think more about the dialogue and the chemistry. Toy Story 4 probably has the best comedy of the four films in the franchise, but, like a broken record, I think about the story first and the jokes second. To me, the jokes came first for this award, and the last three films were hard to choose from because the comedy in Missing Link, LEGO Movie Part 2, and The Angry Birds Movie 2 are all different. Missing Link uses slow and very subtle wit. The LEGO Movie Part 2 uses the brand meta comedy that Lord & Miller have made popular. The Angry Birds Movie 2 uses the approach of being as ambitious as possible with all the humor and jokes that we push into the film. It’s wildly brave at how many kinds of jokes they try out, and for the most part, work. So, do we award it to meta humor, subtle wit, or everything and the kitchen sink comedy? Well, here is a good question, which film has the best comedy and what has the best combo of both story and comedy? When I thought about that, I had to give it to Missing Link. I love the story and the humor, whereas the other two films don’t fully live up to their stories.

Winner: Missing Link

Best Drama: This award goes to the best drama-focused animated film.

Noms: Funan, Bunuel, Children of the Sea, Toy Story 4, Frozen II, The Swallows of Kabul, I Want to Eat Your Pancreas, I Lost My Body, Okko’s Inn, and Weathering With You.

Results: So, like usual, I nominate a lot of films, but then start to break them down with how I enjoyed the drama and the story. I first films I let go of were I Lost My Body, Frozen II, then I Want to Eat Your Pancreas, Okko’s Inn, and then Children of the Sea. That left me with Toy Story 4, The Swallows of Kabul, Weathering With You, Funan, and Bunuel. These remaining films have very personal stories with intimate themes of life and personal discovery. I took off Weathering With You and Toy Story 4 because of story elements that hindered their experiences. That results in Funan, Bunuel, and Kabul. This is really hard, because I then had to cut Bunuel due to the slightly repetitive nature to Bunuel’s drama. At the end of the day, I decided to choose The Swallows of Kabul, because while Funan has great drama, The Swallows of Kabul lingers with me with its drama.

Winner: The Swallows of Kabul.

Best Director: This category goes to the best director or dual directors.

Noms: Salvador Simo (Bunuel in the Labyrinth of the Turtles), Dennis Do (Funan), Jennifer Lee (Frozen II), Zabou Breitman and Elea Gobbe-Mevellec (The Swallows of Kabul), Sergios Pablos (Klaus), Hiroyuki Imaishi (Promare), Josh Cooley (Toy Story 4), Makoto Shinkai (Weathering With You), Chris Butler (Missing Link), Anca Damian (Marona’s Fantastic Tale), and Troy Quane and Nick Bruno (Spies in Disguise).

Result: To me, the best director did, well, the best directing with the film. Like, who helped make the best experience, which director got the best performances out of their actors, and you get the idea. To me, that resulted in Salvador Simo, Dennis Do, Zabou Breitman/Elea Gobbe-Mevellec, Anca Damian, and Sergios Pablos. All of these directors did such fantastic jobs with their films, and if I wanted to, I could and really want to give it to all of them. I then finally broke it down to between Dennis Do and the duo of Zabou Breitman and Elea Gobbe-Mevellec. Like a lot of this editorial, it came down to splitting hairs, but I went with the duo behind The Swallows of Kabul, Zabou Breitman and Elea Gobbe-Mevellec.

Winner: Zabou Breitman and Elea Gobbe-Mevellec. (The Swallows of Kabul)

Best Short: This category goes to the best animated short.

Noms: Hair Love, Kitbull, My Moon, Memorable, Hors piste, and Sister.

Results: The animated shorts scene this year was unique as Disney didn’t really have one for their films, and Pixar was moving their shorts to Disney+ through their SparkShorts program. I then had to really rely on what got nominated and which ones I saw online. Now, the winner might be very obvious, but this wasn’t to say that it was an easy task of picking to award just one. They are also all different types of experiences. Yes, they all share a personal relationship theme, but some of them are funny, some are abstract, and some hit on very personal subject matters. However you may weave how I chose the short to win this award, but I had to give it to Hair Love. While I might adore the animation in some of the films slightly more, Hair Love is so personal, loving, caring, funny, relatable, and took the animation world by storm. Still, I highly recommend everyone get online to try and find a way to watch all of the shorts nominated.

Winner: Hair Love.

Best New Release That Was Previously Unreleased in the US of 2019: This category is for the best animated film that finally got a release in 2019.

Noms: Aya of Yop City, Son of the White Mare, Genius Party/Genius Party Beyond, The Case of Hana and Alice, and Mai Mai Miracle.

Results: As usual, the challenge came down to what gave me the best experience. I love the two Genius Party films, but those are anthology films, and you will either love every short or find some to be annoying. The Case of Hana and Alice is a sweet endearing teen drama, but it takes a bit too long to get going. Son of the White Mare is a visual marvel, but a bit repetitive due to its fairytale-style story. That left us with Aya of Yop City and Mai Mai Miracle. Both are great in their own respective ways as they show life during a certain period in history. I then decided to award the one I would watch the most, and that narrowed it right down to Mai Mai Miracle. I’m not shocked I liked this movie the most, since it’s the same director behind In This Corner of the World.

Winner: Mai Mai Miracle.

Best Lead Actor: This category awards the best male lead in an animated film.

Noms: Jorge Uson (Bunuel), Simon Abkarian (The Swallows of Kabul), Tom Hanks (Toy Story 4), Billy Matez (Promare), Brandon Engman (Weathering With You), and Jason Swartzman (Klaus).

Results: While it might not be on camera, actors still need to put in good performances to pull you into the film. Since this is the first time I’m awarding voice actors, I decided to go with variety. Jason Swartzman brings a lot of earnest sarcasm and pathetic nature to his character. Tom Hanks is just great as a wise and weathered Woody. Brandon Engman does well as a teenager finding his place in the world. Billy Matez does a good job at keeping up that impossibly optimistic and heroic spirit. Jorge Uson portrays a director trying to save his career while conflicted with his past and who he is as an individual. Simon Abkarian was also great as a man tired and weary of his country’s ideals as he tries to figure out what to do about the driving force of the story. After thinking about it, it came down to Jorge Uson and Simon Abkarian, and between the two, I think the best actor goes to Simon Abkarian. He left an impression on my viewing experience with a powerful and subtle performance.

Winner: Simon Abkarian (The Swallows of Kabul)

Best Supporting Actor: This category awards the best male supporting actor in an animated film.

Noms: Fernando Ramos (Bunuel), J.K. Simmons (Klaus), Zach Galifianakis (Missing Link), Johnny Yong Bosch (Promare), and Lee Pace (Weathering With You).

Results: To me, I was looking for an actor who was going toe to toe with the lead. The actors I chose for this award definitely accomplished that. Each of these actors was able to either keep up or even outshine the main character. It was tough, because I enjoyed all of these performances, but the one that stuck with me the most, and the winner of this one is Fernando Ramos from Bunuel, because he was so good as Ramon, and going head to head with the lead in the film, and having his own stand out scenes and lines.

Winner: Fernando Ramos (Bunuel)

Best Lead Actress: This category awards the best lead performance by an actress.

Noms: Zita Hanrot (The Swallows of Kabul), Stephanie Sheh (White Snake), Lizzie Brochere (Marona’s Fantastic Tale), Ashley Boettcher (Weathering With You),  Annie Potts (Toy Story 4), and Mana Ashida (Children of the Sea)  

Results: like I said above, I went with variety this year and this was even tougher to really narrow it down. I had to look at who I felt put in the stronger performance and I thought they all did. I went with who left a stronger impression on me. When it came down to it, my favorite performance was from Zita Hanrot from The Swallows of Kabul.

Winner: Zita Hanrot from The Swallows of Kabul

Best Supporting Actress: Obviously this award goes to the actress with the best supporting role.

 Noms: Hiam Abbass (The Swallows of Kabul), Christina Hendricks (Toy Story 4), and Yu Aoi (Penguin Highway).

Results: I know I said the other acting noms were tough, but this was the toughest one, because I didn’t find that many supporting roles that felt substantial from the female characters in the films from last year. When I thought about these three, I looked at their characters and their performances, and the one that stood out to me the most was Christina Hendricks as Gabby Gabby from Toy Story 4. She felt unique as a villain and was someone right out of a Ghibli film due to her layered character. This is probably my favorite acting that I have seen from Christina Hendricks, and she’s a good actress.

Winner: Christina Hendricks (Toy Story 4)

Best Soundtrack: This award goes to the best soundtrack and that includes the musical numbers.

Noms: The Swallows of Kabul, Children of the Sea, Funan, Bunuel, Frozen II, The LEGO Movie Part 2, Promare, and Weathering With You.

Results: So, I decided to combine both soundtrack and original songs into one category, because it’s easier that way for me. Put another coin in the jar, because I decided to make this category hard for myself. I love the music in these nominees, but which one had the best overall package of songs? Well, I loved Promare’s two theme songs, but I don’t fully remember the rest of the music. The same goes for Frozen II and The LEGO Movie Part 2. While I love the soundtracks to Funan and Bunuel, I don’t fully remember the individual tracks used outside of one song. At the end of listening to the soundtracks, I had to go with the soundtrack from Children of the Sea. It, like its movie, is so other worldly and mesmerizing. It captures a mood and experience unlike any other. Then again, it’s also Joe Hisaishi, and he always makes great soundtracks.

Winner: Children of the Sea.

And there we go! I apologize it took a month or two to get this done, but I hope you all enjoyed this, and I think I’ll do it again next year.

Thanks for reading the review! I hope you all enjoyed reading it! If you would like to support my work, make sure to share it out, and if you want to become a Patreon supporter, then you can go to patreon.com/camseyeview. I will see you all next time!

Animation Tidbits: Annecy Part 2

(Originally written: May 29th: 2019. Sorry for posting this late!)

(If you like what you see, you can go to camseyeview.biz to see more of my work on video game reviews, editorials, lists, Kickstarters, developer interviews, and review/talk about animated films. If you would like, consider contributing to my Patreon at patreon.com. It would help support my work, and keeps the website up. Thanks for checking out my work, and I hope you like this editorial!)

Alrighty, for the final part of this look at Annecy 2019, I decided to combine a bunch of films from different categories. This is because the various categories don’t have enough to warrant talking about in individual articles. At least, that is my opinion on the other categories. The one major change they made was a new category called Contrechamp, a category with animated features that are in competition, but have visuals that challenge the medium of animation. Otherwise, the films on the list will be from the screening events and In Production section of the festival. Let’s get started!

Children of the Sea (Contrechamp)

Directed by Ayumu Watanabe, the story focuses on a girl named Ruka, who saw a ghost in her dad’s aquarium when she was little. She becomes attracted to the aquarium and the appearance of two mysterious boys named Umi and Sora, all the while the adults who work there figure out the mass disappearance of the earth’s fish. In a lot of ways, it’s almost unfair that this film is the perfect representation for the Contrechamp section of the festival. It’s almost unfair how downright jaw-dropping-off-your-face beautiful the film is. Studio 4C has done a lot of great work, but this easily looks like it will be their best. Plus, with GKids now attached to bringing it over to the states this year, I have major hopes it’s going to be at Animation is Film 2019! If that wasn’t enough to get you hyped, Joe Hisaishi, the composer behind many of the Studio Ghibli classics, is composing the music for this film.

Away (Contrechamp)

Directed by Gints Zilbalodis, Away is about a young man who’s riding a motorcycle, trapped on a mystical island while trying to avoid a shadowy monster chasing him. This is also a film that looks like it will be taking advantage of the Contrechamp title. Sure, it kind of looks like an indie game that’s trying to be the next artistic achievement in gaming, but that’s sort of the fun of it. Plus, this was directed and animated by someone who is 25 years old. That is wildly ambitious and I give him kudos for that. It looks like a visually creative film that I hope does well.

Underdog (Contrechamp)

Directed by Sung-Yoon Oh and Chun Baek Lee, the story revolves around a blue dog that was once a house pet, but ends up back in the wild. He encounters wild dogs, and tries to help them survive and live freely. Generic title aside, I really like the visual look of this film. It reminds me of the work arounds French animation uses in projects like The Painting. It has a super vibrant color palette, and while the CGI may not be Pixar or Disney level at all, it has its own identity and personality to it. I’m happy to see South Korean animation finally making some break-out titles to show that they can make animated features that aren’t tied down to propaganda, and can be watchable by all. Though seeing some of the marketing blurbs say it was more emotionally gripping than Zootopia? Yeah, we will have to see about that.

Ville Neuve (Contrechamp)

Directed by Felix Dufour Laperriere, Ville Neuve focuses on a man named Joseph, who moves into a house with his friend, and tries to get back with his ex-wife, and this is happening with the 1995 Quebec Referendum happening in the background. I like the minimalist approach with its focus on whites, blacks, and grays. It comes off like a more personal and intimate film, and I can’t wait to see what the reviews say about this one.

Playmobil (Screening)

Now then, let’s jump in with the first film in the “Screening” category. Directed by Lino DiSalvo, the story focuses on a young woman named Marla, played by Anya Taylor-Joy, who gets pulled into this Playmobil world with her brother Carlie, played by Gabriel Bateman. They get separated, and it’s up to Marla to team up with Rex Dasher, a secret agent voiced by Daniel Radcliffe and Del, a food truck driver voiced by Jim Gaffigan, to get her brother back and avoid the evil clutches of Emperor Maximus, played by Adam Lambert. Yeah, this film did not get the warmest impression, being negatively compared to the 2014 The LEGO Movie. I can understand why. It comes off as a bit outdated that there needs to be a reason for the Playmobil world to exist, when people would rather just enjoy the world that they make. Still, the film looks silly and aware about itself, and some of the jokes I saw got a chuckle out of me. Hopefully it can be an entertaining flick once it releases later this year.

The Prince’s Voyage (Screening)

Directed by Jean-Francois Languionie and Xavier Pircard, this is a follow-up to a film Jean Francois did a while back called A Monkey’s Tale, which follows the prince from that film, as he washes up on the shore of an island, and encounters an individual named Young Tom and his two parents, who were exiled scientists. The film itself looks great, but that should be no surprise, because it’s the same guy behind The Painting, but I am curious to see how they make this film work, because who remembers A Monkey’s Tale? It has only gotten an English UK release, and no one in America has probably heard of this guy or his films. Still, the CGI looks stylized, and I’m curious to see how this film does in continuing the story with these characters in a travel diary-style form.

Abominable (Screening)

Finally, we are seeing actual trailers and footage for this film. Directed by Jill Culton and Todd Wilderman, we follow the exploits of a young Chinese woman named Yi, voiced by Chloe Bennet, as she encounters an actual Yeti on the rooftop of her apartment building. It was previously caught by a scientist named Dr. Zara, voiced by Sarah Paulson, and an evil rich man named Burnish, voiced by Eddie Izzard. It is up to Yi, her friends Peng, voiced by Albert Tsai, and Jin, voiced by Tenzing Norgay Trainor, to get the Yeti back to his home in the mountains. This is an important film, due to this being DreamWorks first Chinese collaboration with Pearl Studio. As per usual with their non-comedy stuff, Abominable looks visually great, and has some endearing moments, but the jokes and references made in the first trailer and in the recent trailer are iffy. Hopefully, this is more of DreamWorks working at a How to Train your Dragon and Kung Fu Panda level, and not Shrek the Third level. Also, what is up with their marketing for this film? Everyone has already seen a trailer for the film for two or so months before the “official” trailer was released last week. What was the point of having two trailers and one of them was already viewable in theaters? Oh well, I hope this is a good movie.

Toy Story 4 (Screening)

Directed by Josh Cooley, we follow our heroes dealing with their new lives and a new encounter with a self-made toy named Forky, voiced by Tony Hale. One day, Forky gets out, and Woody, voiced by Tom Hanks, sets out to bring Forky back, but also runs into Bo Peep, voiced by Annie Potts. Shenanigans then ensue as Woody and the gang try to get Forky back to their new owner Bonnie, and Woody starts to have a crisis of what it means to be a toy. It’s too easy and frankly lazy, to say how this is a “cash grab”, when all films are cash grabs. We didn’t need a 4^th one, but if we needed this one to get back on the train of original films starting with next year’s Onward, then so be it. Plus, I have been hearing good early word of mouth, and plus, who doesn’t want to see Keanu Reeves in his first ever voice role? Even if we might “not need it”, I’m glad to go back if the story is good.

Frozen 2 (Screening)

Directed by Chris Buck and Jennifer Lee, our heroes from the first film, Elsa, Anna, Kristoff, and Olaf are off on another adventure to go beyond the kingdom of Arendelle. Yeah, there isn’t much known about the film right now, so let’s talk about how incredible the teaser trailer was. This film looks jaw-dropping-off-your-face-and-exploding gorgeous. I’m sure a lot of this is just teaser editing, and the film may not be this serious in tone, but wouldn’t that be awesome if it was? I know there is a bit of Frozen burnout, but I liked the first movie, and I’m excited to see how this new one unfolds.

Weathering With You (WIP)

In the Work in Progress section, we have the newest film from Makoto Shinkai. The story revolves around a young boy who moves to Tokyo alone, and almost becomes broke, until he gets a writing job for an odd occult magazine. His life feels like it’s constant misery, as rain and dark clouds follow him everywhere. One day, he encounters a young girl who has a mysterious power to clear the sky of the clouds and rain. While I have been critical of some of Shinkai’s efforts and directorial touches in the past, this one has me very excited. To no surprise that Shinkai has more drop-dead eye-popping visuals, something about the story feels instantly likable, and GKids recently announced that they will be bringing it over! I can’t wait to see this film, and I hope to see it sometime soon.

Promare (Midnight Special)

Finally, for the Midnight Special, we have Promare. Directed by Hiroyuki Imaishi, and animated by Studio Trigger, we follow Galo Thymos and his team, the Burning Rescue Fire Department. Their main goal is to take down a group of evil mutants called BURNISH that emits and can control a special fire that is engulfing the planet. This movie looks so over-the-top, silly, nonsensical, it’s super drenched in its anime identity, and this is why I follow foreign/indie animation. This movie looks crazy in the most positive way possible. Sure, if you know anything about Studio Trigger’s previous work like Kill la Kill, Space Patrol Luluco, Little Witch Academia, and SSSS Gridman, then you know you are going to get some of the most vibrant Japanese animation around. It looks like a lot of fun, and I hope to also see it soon.

And that wraps up what I think looks to be the most promising at the Annecy International Film Festival. Even with these listed, there are truly more interesting features being shown in their completed form or work-in-progress form. Just go check out the site, and see the multitude of animated projects being shown, and find your favorites.

 

 

Animation Tidbits: Annecy 2019 Part 1

(If you like what you see, you can go to camseyeview.biz to see more of my work on video game reviews, editorials, lists, Kickstarters, developer interviews, and review/talk about animated films. If you would like, consider contributing to my Patreon at patreon.com. It would help support my work, and keeps the website up. Thanks for checking out my work, and I hope you like this editorial!)

So, it’s another year, and that means the E3 of animation, the Annecy International Film Festival, is going to happen! This year, the special guest country is Japan, and the line-up that includes films from Japan is impressive! This article will tackle the films that are in the main competition. The line-up has many strong films, and I’ll be talking about a few that I have mentioned before.

Honorable Mention: Bunuel in the Labyrinth of the Turtles

Competing last year in the “Out of Competition” section, I have seen the full film at Animation is Film 2018, and I loved it. It’s easily one of my favorite animated films of this decade, and it told a compelling story about a real-life filmmaker saving his career and finding out about himself. It has beautiful animation. The only reason why I’m putting it in the Honorable Mentions category is that it’s about to have a US release as well. Still, if you are going to Annecy, and you can go see this film, do so!

 

Now then, let’s get on with the other films!

Birthday Wonderland

Directed by Keiichi Hara, the director of one of 2016’s best animated features, Miss Hokusai, Birthday Wonderland tells the story of a young girl named Akane, who gets visited by an alchemist named Hippocrates and the student of the alchemist Pipo. They tell Akane that they are on a quest to save the world, and go into a basement to teleport into a world known as Wonderland. One of the stand-out details for me is the art direction. It looks incredible, but it’s more who is attached to it that is interesting to me. The visuals and character designs are being done by a Russian artist named Iiya Kuvshinov. You don’t really see outside artists work on Japanese productions. It’s a rare sight indeed. It definitely looks like a fun fantastical adventure with plenty of whimsical visuals and a cheerful tone that I hope delivers a wonderful experience.

Ride Your Wave

Directed by Masaaki Yuasa, famed director of Lu Over the Wall Mindgame, and The Night is Short, Walk on Girl, the story follows the relationship of Hinako, a college girl who loves to surf, and Minato, a firefighter who also loves to surf. After Minato passes away during a surfing accident, Hinako goes into a depression. However, when she sings a song that was close to the two, she finds that Minato is back! Well, as a ghost that’s trapped in the water. Yeah, this is going to be another odd and abstract film from the creative anime director. It looks to be a film about dealing with grief and growing up. I’m just sitting here now waiting for it to pop up at the Animation is Film Festival line-up, and for GKids to pick it up!

White Snake

Directed by Amp Wong and Ji Zhao, and a prequel to the Chinese Fable, Legend of the White Snake, it tells the story about a hunter and a snake disguised as a woman. I’m a bit worried how people who are not familiar with the original story will react to this, and its slightly more adult tone may turn off certain people, but I think for Chinese animation, it looks impressive. Their CGI might not be all there yet, but it looks better than most features that come out of China. Hopefully, the story will be compelling and interesting enough for those not aware of the fable.

Swallows of Kabul

I know I have talked about this film by duo directors Zabou Breitman and Elea Gobbe-Mevellec, but since we have a new trailer of the film based on the book of the same name, I wanted to make sure people know about it. It still has a lot of the incredible animation that we saw in the previous teaser for the film, and we get a little more about the story about two families that become intertwined by a corrupt society. It looks great, and I bet we will see this one at Animation is Film later this year.

I Lost My Body

Directed by Jeremy Clapin, this French animated feature focuses on a living human hand that goes on a perilous adventure to be reattached to its body. Yeah, this is easily one of the more complex animated features competing this year. You get an adult vibe from the trailer, which could lead to some fairly mature topics. I’m not entirely sure how this premise is going to carry on through a feature-length film, but it’s a film that stands out from the rest, due to its premise!

The Famous Bear Invasion of Sicily

We finally have a trailer for this one! The story itself hasn’t changed, about a bear prince that ends up in the human kingdom that causes a stir between them and the bears. I wanted to bring up the insanely creative visuals. This is done by the same studio that did the Oscar-nominated The Red Turtle and Zarafa, Prima Linea Productions. The vibrant colors, the well-executed CGI animation, and the fantastical imagery really give this film some life that not a lot of other animated features can have. All the visuals look like they are part of some kind of painting come to life, and it’s crazy how lush the colors are! I really hope this comes over to the Animation is Film Festival later this fall.

Marona’s Fantastic Tale

TheExtraordinaryVoyageOfMarona from Aparte Film on Vimeo.

Finally, we have Marona’s Fantastic Tale! Directed by Anca Damian, this Romania, France, and Belgium collaboration follows a dog, which recently passes away, and goes through a journey through her life and the people that she encountered. This is a truly unique-looking animated feature with a pastel painting look to the characters, with a bunch of bright colors and eye-opening visuals to tell a story about love. It’s a small-scale-looking film that I think would be awesome to watch.

The Other Side of Animation 144: Dr. Seuss’s The Grinch (2018) Review

(If you like what you see, you can go to camseyeview.biz to see more of my work on video game reviews, editorials, lists, Kickstarters, developer interviews, and review/talk about animated films. If you would like, consider contributing to my Patreon at patreon.com/camseyeview. It would help support my work, and keeps the website up. Thanks for checking out my work, and I hope you like this review!)

It’s another year, and that means another Illumination Entertainment movie. It also means another time to say how Illumination is not a horrible studio in the sea of vitriolic hate and anger that is the internet that hates this studio with a passion. Listen, in the grand scheme of things, there are worse things to worry about than a studio that makes middle-of-the-road movies that rakes in boatloads of money, because they hit a massive audience. Now, in the context of the animation scene, I get the annoyance. You want films that put all the elbow grease into their animation, story, and writing to make all the money, or people to go see the incredible indie animation scene. Sadly, that’s an all too head-in-the-clouds way of knowing what’s going to actually happen. People are going to go see films that might not be perfect, but they personally find enjoyable. So, it is annoying that Illumination seems to do the bare minimum with their work, but rake in cash because of smart budgeting and business. It’s not their fault they are doing something that, at the end of the day, is going to make the studio money. Art might be why we make movies, but you can’t simply rely on that on its own to make the industry run. It’s a balancing act, and that’s why for every Missing Link, we get a Dr. Seuss’s The Grinch. Directed by Scott Mosier and Yarrow Cheney, this newest take on the beloved short story was released November 9th, and while getting mostly middling reviews, is raking in the money. To be fair, this is way better than the Ron Howard live-action version by millions of miles. Why? Well, let’s find out!

Benedict Cumberbatch voices our main character, the Grinch, a green furry individual who hates everyone in Whoville, and especially the Christmas holiday. He doesn’t like the cheerfulness, he doesn’t like the joy, nor does he like his overly happy neighbor “friend” Bricklebaum, voiced by Kenan Thompson. The only proper thing to be mad about is the aggressive groups of Christmas carolers that harass him while he goes to the store. When he finds out that the Whoville citizens are going to throw a Christmas celebration that’s three times bigger than normal, Grinch decides to steal the Who’s Christmas with the help of his dog Max. He has only a few hours to get it all done, and will encounter a few challenges, like cookies and little Cindy Lou Who, voiced by Cameron Seely. Can he do it? I mean, you know about the original story by now, or at the very least, you should.

Let’s talk about the positives that the film brings to the table. While sounding more snarky, sassy, and almost making you wonder what would have happened if Bill Hader got the role, Benedict Cumberbatch does a solid job as our grumpy green icon. I like that if you aren’t paying attention, or know that it’s him beforehand, you might actually think it’s Bill Hader doing the voice of the Grinch. The rest of the voice cast is also pretty solid. While not all of the characters get worthwhile dialogue sequences, like Rashida Jones’ role as Cindy Lou’s mother, other actors like Kenan Thompson get some of the better laughs in the movie. Oh, and the Whos are actually nice in this film. It’s fine if you grew up and love the Jim Carrey/Ron Howard version, but the one thing the film royally screwed up in that movie was making the Whos the most unlikable blithering individuals. They even have a few story elements that, while they do not go into them at all because it’s Illumination, I liked the ideas of. For example, Grinch has a “neighbor” who is always happy, optimistic, and friendly toward him, while being fairly unaware that Grinch hates him. But you can kind of see two different individuals who deal with the same kind of loneliness, but deal with it in different ways.  It would have been nice if they went more into that, but again, it’s Illumination, depth isn’t their strong point.

On an animation side of things, The Grinch is probably Illumination’s most visually impressive movie. You can tell that whatever the studio is using to animate this film, the artists and animators they have are incredibly talented. It’s colorful, has some of that Seuss whimsy in its designs, but also has its own Illumination touch. A lot of the textures and details were simply impressive to look at on the big screen. I even heard the 3D version is decent, but my viewing was in 2D. The animation on the character work also made for some solid physical comedy moments. All the visuals accumulate into the heist sequence, and while it is short, is a lot of fun to watch with the fantastical Christmas designs.

Many of the film’s problems come into the fray with making this story feature-length. Due to the original special being about 25 minutes in length, you don’t get to the actual heist part of the film until maybe halfway or a little over halfway through the 80-minute runtime. It adds in sequences of the Grinch interacting with the Who, and while this could have led to something interesting, it’s more lightweight snark and physical comedy. Along with more sequences of the Grinch with the Who, they give Cindy Lou a subplot and a group of friends who do not add anything at all to the overall story. It even takes out the major threat of the Grinch by giving him a reason why he slightly hates Christmas. The strength of the original special was that he didn’t really have a set reason to hate the holiday. As I sat through the film, I found myself bored at times, because some of the jokes weren’t landing. The audience I was with was the same, but they definitely got a few more chuckles out of the film than me. I also found myself thinking about scenes and ways the film could have improved upon itself through visual storytelling. However, I can’t judge the film because of scenes or ways of filmmaking I would found to be better, but with the film I have here, and it’s simply put, it’s another Illumination film.

In general, it’s another safe, visually pretty, decently funny, and forgettable animated feature. It might have a nice ending, Benedict Cumberbatch was good as the Grinch, and again, visually splendid animation, but why would you waste the money to go to this film? Just go see Ralph Breaks the Internet, or go and try to find a screening of Mirai or Liz and the Blue Bird to watch. I still stand by my opinion that Illumination isn’t the worst studio around, but it’s becoming harder to defend them when they are not willing to try and push themselves into more creative directions. They make money hand over fist, and they should be able to now experiment a little with different writers, directors, and animation styles. Hopefully, they start doing that more in the future. Now then, let’s talk about one of the great action-animated films of 2018 with MFKZ. Thanks for reading! I hope you enjoyed the review, and I will see you all next time!

Rating: Rent it!

Animation Tidbits #1: Storycorps

(If you like what you see, you can go to camseyeview.biz to see more of my work on video game reviews, editorials, lists, Kickstarters, developer interviews, and review/talk about animated films. If you would like, consider contributing to my Patreon at patreon.com. It would help support my work, and keeps the website up. Thanks for checking out my work, and I hope you like this editorial/quick review!)

Welcome to a new segment I want to try out called Animation Tidbits. This is a spin-off series of editorials/quick reviews of short pieces of animation. These could be shorts, talking about animated show openings, the occasional TV series, or short films that don’t qualify as “feature length”. I have recently come across a lot of great stuff, but didn’t feel like putting a full-on review about them. What am I going to talk about first? Well, it’s about a very cool non-profit organization I found out about last year. This company is called StoryCorps, and their goal is to record the stories of normal everyday people of different backgrounds. Now, why is this animation-related? This company sounds great, but why am I talking about it personally? It’s because with some of their stories, they will tell them through animation. Seriously, they will get a team to make these wonderful 2D-animated shorts done in a couple of different varieties of art styles. Some of them have this great 2D cartoonish Dexter’s Laboratory and Powerpuff Girls art style.

What kind of stories do they tackle from this organization? Well, there are a lot of different kinds that range from their life on a certain job, stories from the eldest members of the family, losing loved ones during 9-11, to other moments from their lives. What’s really amazing about these is that every story that I have seen is charming, heartfelt, touching, sad, interesting, and hopeful. You can tell that every emotion that is heard through the individuals speaking is raw and real. Since we just came off of one of the worst years in recent human history, and the beginning of this year hasn’t been all that nice either, hearing these stories and the surprising and heartwarming endings to some of them makes me smile. I’ll admit that I even cried during some of the more personal stories. I just adored that they decided to do this, and even if you decide to check out the non-animated stories, you will find a lot of fun and engaging ones. If you do decide to check out the animated stories that they have made, a good place to start is with a 30-minute video called Listening Is an Act of Love. It contains a couple of different stories, and I highly recommend checking that one out first, and making sure to support this great organization.

The only real nitpick I have is that sometimes the art styles look a bit off, and the animation quality is inconsistent. Still, it’s a very minor nitpick, and I’m not going to lose sleep over it. The main focus on these shorts is more on the human spirit and their stories than on the quality of the animation. These are fantastic, and I could listen to them all day.

Here are the videos I would highly recommend checking out! These are my favorite videos from this organization.

Listening Is an Act of Love: This is the video I mentioned above in this article. It’s 30 minutes long, and all the stories are touching and emotionally resonating.

Clean Streets: The story of retired sanitation workers, Angelo Bruno and Eddie Nieves, who worked together 10 years on the same route in Manhattan’s West Village. It’s probably one of the more ‘feel good’ videos, and always puts a smile on my face hearing the two talk about their time as sanitation workers.

Driven:  This video focuses on the first Africa- American racer to be inducted into the NASCAR Hall of Fame, Wendell Scott. The video is narrated by his son Frank, as he talks to Wendell’s grandson about his father’s life as a racer.

The Saint of Dry Creek: The story focuses on Patrick Haggerty growing up during the 1950s, and is about his father who knew that Patrick was gay. It’s a shining example of the human spirit during a time when it wasn’t easy, when you weren’t straight.

Facundo the Great: an interesting memory from famed musician Ramon “Chunky” Sanchez, about the time when he was little, and teachers would Americanize the Hispanic children’s’ names. That was, until a new student arrived.

A Good Man: It follows the story of how Bryan Wilmoth reconnected with his younger siblings after being thrown out of the house years ago for being gay. It’s a touching story, and it reminds me of how strong a family bond can be.

To R.P. Salazar, With Love: A love story about how Rachel P. Salazar and Ruben P. Salazar all started with an email being sent. It’s a cute romantic tale that will put you into a good mood if you are feeling down.

The Human Voice: Following oral historian Studs Terkel, it focuses on what Studs thinks is missing from modern day.

Danny & Annie: As for the final recommendation, a story about the 27-year marriage of Danny Perasa and his wife, Annie. The story follows them from their first date, to the sad final days of Danny’s fight with terminal cancer.

Like I said, I love what this company does, and I highly recommend checking them out. Thank you for reading, and I will see you all next time on the next Animation Tidbits.