CK's Cartoon Corner

[Cmdr_King]

Adventure Time (Season 5)

So I meant to sit down and watch the intervening seasons again before this one came out; I knew I was going to watch it right away since due to my lackluster internets I can only be as up to date on the show as the DVD releases.  Oops.  This also means though that I'm going to be talking about this season as though all those other ones are something you're familiar with.  But more than that, a lot of my thoughts on the season have little to do with the highlight episodes and a lot to do with the progression of the show to this point, so I'm going to knock those out first before moving on.

Weakest Episode: Shh!  It's a clever episode idea, really, and has that nod to the golden age of animation (I get a strong Tom and Jerry vibe off it in particular), but a lot of it comes down to being unintentionally (but extremely avoidably) cruel to B-MO rather than Finn and Jake wrecking each other over their bet, which just doesn't sit right with me.

Best Episode: All the Little People.  I'm having trouble articulating what's so special about this episode.  It's... layered.  It mirrors a) Finn's development as a character in his emotional arc in this episode, b) Finn's character flaws and how he's going to seriously dent his heroism for the remainder of the season, c) the show's development, d) the fandom's development, and even e) the writer's relationship to all of the above.  It's an incredibly dense 11 minutes, and that's with noticeable chunks of it being basically "Finn stares at a wall in a state of emotional shutdown, seeing the full carnage his hubris has wrought".

So excepting season 1 (which is more a series of stories more related by their tone than by continuity), I feel like each season of the show is sorta about a particular aspect of the show, generally a character (season 2 is more fleshing out Ooo as a cohesive setting, in as much as it even is one).  And season five is basically all about Bubblegum.  To this point we're already seen that she was definitely more harsh than was strictly necessary in defending her kingdom.  Goliad for an easy example.  But in season 5 we get something approximating her full backstory; candy-blobs were the only non-malevolent mutants in the aftermath of the Mushroom War, and Bubblegum arose from them some 850 years ago.  She essentially by herself forged the Candy Kingdom, building first robotic guardians and then inventing Candy Life, from which all citizens of the modern kingdom descend.  She's almost solely responsible for technological discovery/reclaimation in Ooo to this day, and it's no exaggeration to say that the Candy Kingdom is basically the source of civilization in Ooo, and in turn Princess Bubblegum is the Candy Kingdom in any governmental or military respect.  Her only true peer is her sometime lover, who took such a different view of nigh-immortality and the responsibilities thereof that they've never been able to reconcile in untold time sense their original parting.
And unfortunately for her the rest of Ooo civilization has advanced far enough to start seriously resenting her meddling.  A brief perusal of the episode list suggests that Season 6 is in large part about this coming to a head.  I look forward to it.

The scattered Bubblegum moments are definitely the highlights for most of the season, but it's also worth noting that the first nine or so episodes, which actually don't touch on this, are probably the strongest string of episodes in the series (that I've seen).  After that there's a more normal number of average and good episodes, but those first several are a lot of very good episodes in a row, which is great.  Actually, come to think of it they do tie back into Bubblegum though; they're largely about struggling with responsibility.  Bubblegum as a character is essentially about assuming ALL THE RESPONSIBILITY.  For everything and everyone.  Forever.  Somewhat literally.  Heh, always nice to make connections while actually writing the review/write-up/what DO I call these anyways.

Grade- 8/10.  The good episodes are spectacularly good and the weak episodes are still pretty okay.  I keep thinking I should go up to 9/10 but the sheer size of the season (Season 5 is two seasons of episodes.  But it's all one season for some reason.  But they gel as a single season so I decided against dividing it up) means that proportionally there's still more just okay episodes than awesome ones.

[Grefter]

http://www.amazon.com/Dungeons-Dragons-Complete-Willie-Aames/dp/B002DH20Q0/ref=sr_1_1?s=movies-tv&ie=UTF8&qid=1439565203&sr=1-1&keywords=dungeons+and+dragons

$7.50 at the moment.

[Cmdr_King]

I was able to procure a copy actually.  It's in the queue.  Actually I think it's next up, although I'm behind a writeup (as in I finished a show but haven't written it up yet) so it won't be the actual next post.

[Grefter]

[Cmdr_King]

Batman the Animated Series (Volume 2)

The main standout feature of this set is it actually has Robin in a majority of episodes.  We'll come back to that.

The main thing that grabbed my attention relative to other bits of the series is how different Batman himself would seem from week to week.  I'm getting the impression that they're taking the characterization of Batman from whatever era of the comics the story that day is most similar to, so he'll go from stoic to barely functioning to master of obscure rhymes and phrases to finger wags at villains like they're children from episode to episode.  It's not really something I remember seeing in the first or third volumes (the forth, which is after the network change and revamping of the show to match the New Timm style, I'm actually not all that familiar with), although if that's because I wasn't paying enough attention or because they legitimately wrote him somewhat differently I dunno.

In part though it's probably because this season has the most appearances from The Riddler, and simply put the Riddler is the silliest Batman villain and requires Batman to be silly sometimes.  And Robin to be dense.  I guess I'm saying the Riddler episodes have cool moments but they definitely lame up our heroes.

It is interesting to note that Poison Ivy feels like an entirely different character in Harley and Ivy than in any of her other appearances.  I don't think this is necessarily bad writing either.  It feels more like not having to perform for/seduce men is extremely liberating for her, so with Harley she actually gets to show off and enjoy her human side (as opposed to the supervillain eco terrorist side).

Back to Robin.

Best Episode- Robin's Reckoning (Part I).  The handling of Robin in the show in general is actually cool.  He EXISTS in the first part, but it's established that he's sort of on sabbatical; he's focusing on College, but it's implied that he and Batman have been active for a while because he legitimate did hero as Robin in his early teens.  So he's in one or two episodes.  Putting his Origin Story up front early into the season (or dividing up the sets such that the start of the Robin-Centric set has his origin, I'm not feeling like looking up which it actually is) is just a good move in general.  In general though it's a very simple but powerful episode.  The dude who killed the Greysons is back in town, Bats tries to keep Robin off the scent, flashbacks.  I really like that the flashbacks have very direct elements of Batman: Year One in there; the character designs are lifted almost note for note, it's a nice touch.  Doubles as both a reference AND makes the flashback immediately visually distinct.

Weakest Episode: Tyger Tyger.  I... just never understood what they were doing with the characterization in this episode.  Well, for Batman it's obvious, but everyone else?  Ehhhhh.  I also feel like this basic plot was done a couple other times in the series, both before and after this episode, and done better, but I actually can't think of any episodes in particular so maybe not.

Grade- 7/10.  My memory is that volume 1 has some of the absolute grand slam best episodes of the series, but that this set might be a bit more consistent overall? I should probably hold off on that conclusion until I get that rewatch in.

[Cmdr_King]

Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker

There are two very distinct parts to this film.  We'll be talking about them separately.

The first half of the movie is pretty typical of Batman Beyond stuff.  Terry gets the job done, if with somewhat more collateral damage than he'd like, but something is off.  The subplot about Bruce Wayne returning to control of Wayne Enterprises serves two purposes (gives a date to the film: between seasons 1 and 2, and as an obvious but plausible red herring for later) but largely fluffs things out.  But hey, gotta have something for Bruce and Terry to be doing while the villains are getting the plan together.

I should  note that the Jokerz gang in the film is fun to watch, not just because it's a neat set of designs but because they're very distinct from the ones in the show proper in a critical way: They actually resemble the average Joker gang from TAS.  Ghoul's tech savvy is a fine stand-in for the Joker's chemical wizardry, Dee-Dee is obvious, Bonk shares a lot of character design with Joker Goons, Wolf of course is half hyena.  I guess that makes Chucko Captain Clown.  Heehee.

The second half has a sense of drama between Terry and the old guard that so rarely got a chance to crop up in the series, but makes a lot of sense.  Bruce mentoring a teen through super-heroing is nothing new, but with Robins he was on the scene, able to deflect the worst of it to himself.  Terry might have a guiding voice in his ear, but he's out there on his own.  Bruce getting such a cruel reminder of how that can end and more seriously questioning the morality of this is good to see addressed.  It's also a nice chance to do a "Terry's identity is discovered" story without having it TOO seriously impact the continuity.  They also continue the trend of giving Jason Todd's backstory to other characters because they can more or less, which works out nicely here because it goes in an opposite direction; Terry often comes across as a bit Spidey-ish anyway, so that element of never getting to reconcile with his father over his own stupid mistakes makes perfect sense.  In a lot of ways this isn't Terry's story, but he still gets good moments in it and it's pretty enjoyable as such.

But much like Epilogue, a Justice League story that's actually the capstone Batman Beyond story, Return of the Joker is a Batman Beyond story that's actually the Grand Finale for Batman: TAS.  And, y'know, damn.  I feel like this is a sort of stand-in for The Killing Joke, not just in terms of scope and some visual elements, but in basic outline.  Which funnily means that the difference between them is Harley having an odd mediating effect on the Joker... that actually makes him do WORSE THINGS.  Kudos guys.  But yeah I think this bit is actually animated differently, and the whole thing is gorgeous and creepy and mmmm.

Grade- 8/10.  Probably my favorite bit of Batman Beyond, to the surprise of nobody because to my knowledge that's basically true of everyone.

[Cmdr_King]

Big Hero 6

So apparently the internet has decided there's this huge rivalry between this movie and Frozen.  Which uh sure you do that dudes. 

I can kinda see it in a way though, mostly in that this film is, by Disney standards, very much the B movie by comparison.  Less push, less hype, less followup, and I strongly suspect less budget.  But being fucking Disney this is all relative and its still a huge movie obviously.  But it manifests in small ways actually watching the film.  That attention to detail and small plot points being layered into the film throughout isn't as strong, and consequently the movie itself just isn't quite as strong/compelling as Frozen.

So back to gushing about how awesome Disney's current run is.

Baymax is the sort of character we all wish we'd come up with first.  Front and center in the marketing, the movie, the soul of the story, and of COURSE he is c'mon now.  The little bit of synch up between the sort of character he is and the sorts of jokes he's in is a nice touch ('I am not fast.')

Hiro is handled well enough, if a bit standard.  But the real standout moments of the movie are actually him and Tadashi interacting.  Or in the case of the climax, him reacting TO Tadashi.  Unless the emotional climax was "I am detecting life signs."  I'm not entirely sure.

It hits the super hero movie notes well enough, with just enough action to space out the emotional bombs properly.  The application of SCIENCE was actually pretty nice for once.  Each character has an actual speciality, bound together by Hiro's ability to enhance existing specs into something practical (making his field moreso mechanical engineering than anything else, with some sides in programming).

The only real fault I'd hold against the movie in itself is a shockingly poor use of that supporting cast.  You've called your movie Big Hero 6, but um... aside from bodies and being a collective gaggle of 'friends', what do Honey Lemon, Wasabi, Fred, and GoGo atually accomplish in the movie?  Getting themselves in and then out of danger mostly?  It's not a deal breaker by ANY stretch but it's a definite disappointment.

It does however have the Best Stan Lee Cameo.

Grade- 8/10.

[Cmdr_King]

Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths

Well, first things.  http://www.rpgdl.com/forums/index.php/topic,6338.msg177280.html#msg177280

So this is nominally an adaptation of this comic.  But not really.  It definitely has the Crime Syndicate and borrows heavily from the first few pages of that book re: Lex Luthor of the alternate earth, but otherwise it goes in a very different direction.  Production history plays some role: this is actually a mashup of JLA Earth 2 and a planned (but scrapped) inter-season film for the DCAU Justice League.  I bears more earmarks of that original concept than JLA Earth 2, and aside from a sorta superfluous subplot with J'onn it's probably better that way.  Morrison was writing a lead-in for other people to use the Multiverse, this is a movie trying to tell a complete story.

Anyway so it's pretty good.  A lot of credit to the voice crew in particular (James Woods playing everything so deadpan is especially amazing after being used to him from Hades or Family Guy appearances) for really giving the Crime Syndicate nuance with not a lot of lines.  Opening scene is also fantastic for setting the tone and letting you know right away what we're in for.  Being less of an anti-morality and more a world where the greatest of heroes and villains traded roles, but the everyday person just wants to live in peace like anywhere else, is a much better fit for a short story (Morrison's comic is arguably better as a comic setting, but for a one shot story it's wonky and a strange decision).  It was also a great showcase for Flash to steal the show, which of course makes perfect sense when you remember this is basically DCAU Wally West, not Barry Allen, although more just in terms of lines than showing off moments.  Wonder Woman probably fared the best there.  ... okay the Jester showed off the best but that's the awesome opening talking again.

I think I'm going to keep going in circles on this one.  It's good, though doesn't have huge amounts of substance so only so good.

Grade- 7/10.

[Grefter]

[Cmdr_King]

The Princess and the Frog

Here we are, the launch of the current era of Disney.  Because the last time around was a lot of fun for me, we're going to make this a regular element of Disney Musicals (well and if anything else is a proper musical they'll get that treatment too but if they exist I don't know them)

Down in New Orleans- Well not really a musical number but hey, as a pure mood setter it's pretty good, historical setting and all.

Almost There- Adore the art shift.  Bit dry musically though, and as a song it just emphasizes one emotion without really advancing the story or detailing the characters much more.

Friends on the Other Side- The whole song's kinda done almost recitative, which works well enough considering the purpose of the song.  God damn Keith David sells the hell outta this.  But duh, it's Keith David.  In general though Dr. Facilier is one of Disney's better villains, and a lot of it is what you see in this song.  Showy, manipulative, but under all that you can see the anger and frustration that lead him to be the villain.  Working out of a run down alley, dismissed out of hand by some stuffy ass servant, seeing people raised above him by circumstances of birth.  It's right there.

When We're Human- "We Haven't Learned Anything Yet!"  the song.  Really fun song though.

Gonna Take You There- Mmm.  Not really a hugely impactful song.  Catchy but short and just kinda "hey we need to introduce each character in song."

Ma Belle Evangeline- ;_;

Dig a Little Deeper- "... well one of us learned something."  Actually though this brings up an interesting thought for me; EVERY song in this movie involves either a full art shift or a complete lapse into Disney Song Acid Sequence territory.  Correction, every song but Ma Belle Evangeline.  Interesting really, each song is really more about quirky side characters than the main cast doing something.  Odd.

Down in New Orleans (Reprise)- Perfect little outro song. 

Other thoughts.  I'm surprised that Charlotte doesn't have a song, because she's already the biggest cartoon character in the film and her every moment on screen is  pure joy.  Actually she's basically Pinkie Pie. 

A lot of Disney movies are at their strongest in the first half, setting up, establishing the characters, front-loading all the best music.  The Princess and the Frog instead has its absolute best scene, Tiana's last temptation, at the climax.  Actually in general the musical aspects are a bit weaker than the renaissance films it's reviving, but the film has plenty of flavor and casting and characterization the equal of any of them so it's certainly worthy of its position as the lead in for what... okay if this isn't called the Disney Revival or something pithy like that it NEEDS to be.

Grade- 8/10

[Cmdr_King]

My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic (Season 1)

I used to wonder what friendship could be.

The first few episodes are pretty rough.  While Pinkie and Rarity seem to have sprung forth fully formed from the brow of ZeusFaust, going back to season 1 Rainbow and Twilight is weird, and Fluttershy and Applejack are kinda painful in the first couple episodes because they clearly don't know what actually to DO with them yet.  All the cast do develop through the seasons of course, but the latter two don't even have a basic foundation for about five episodes before the actresses find their footing and get the personalities down. 

The rest of the season is pretty good.  It's proportionally the most slice of life oriented (as I remembered it), but that works since the writers had lots of play just introducing the core cast at this point and still had their A material to draw from.  There's a lot of conscious use of Looney Tunes gags throughout the season which I didn't really remember, but it feels out of place in most episodes since they're so character driven.  It does give off the impression the show is channeling Tiny Toons at times, which makes bunches of sense.  Also probably the animators saying "look at what we can do in Flash now!"

The show has no relationship whatsoever with chronology at this time.  The writers probably kick themselves for it now.  Also makes me wonder if they only expected to get that first season, which would be weird because it's not like Hasbro is going to NOT make more toys...

... hah, just noticed something.

Weakest Episode: Feeling Pinkie Keen.  I talked about this waaaaay earlier in the topic.  This rewatch has not revised my opinion much.  There is less faux-science gibberish than I remembered at least, so instead of sounding like an asshole AND an idiot Twi just sounds like an asshole with a side of mocking her subject.  Basically any episode that pushes the character outside their usual personality for sake of the message is going to rub the wrong way, and this episode additionally stands out because of the whole "Twi is kinda an asshole" thing.  It's really the fact that they had her be so BOTHERED by it.  You could have had a similar episode that wasn't a chore just by having the approach be "Pinkie does have a lot of abilities that don't follow the rules of magic.  Alright, I'm going to figure out how she does it!"  Twi can still eat cartoon gags, episode can still end with "I guess some things just can't be explained", but nobody's an asshole.

Which immediately preceeds

Best Episode: Stare Master.  I am of course a sucker for Fluttershy Badassery, and few things are as conceptually as awesome as "Stared down a Cockatrice.  And won."  But the episode is just a lot of fun in general.  It's a great showing for the CMC in particular, because they just get to be kids for a while and do kid things and be adorable and loud and have a pretty danged good musical number.  They often lose this aspect when they have to carry an episode (or at least it's splitting time with them being lectured at or going DRAMAAAAAAAAAAA), but here it's part of Fluttershy's development for the episode which works wonderfully. 

Grade- 7/10.  Better at the end than the start, basically a pretty normal first season for a show that had multiple more after that.

[AndrewRogue]

Element of Honesty.

Just drop from this cliff. You'll be fine. Seriously. Trust me. It's way too much effort to tell you the pegasi will catch you.

>:|

That may actually literally be my least favorite moment in the entire series.

[Dark Holy Elf]

Weakest Episode: Feeling Pinkie Keen

For some reason the people trying to get me to watch this show selected this as one of the episodes to preview. This was a poor decision. (I liked the other episodes I saw pretty well, but not enough to watch a whole TV series, getting me to do that is a herculean task.)

[Captain K]

I was also shown one episode of MLP to get me to like it, and it sucked.  Did not watch more.

[Cmdr_King]

Dungeons & Dragons

Welcome to the Time Warp.

So this isn't the greatest show, but it's really very watchable.  There's a clear sense that the writers were trying to write something better than a saturday morning kid's show, and really wanted to have a story here.  Despite being almost entirely episodic for the entire series, there's a clear sense throughout that the kids are in fact getting better and making small, gradual differences in the Realm.  They don't seem to notice, but taking down dungeons and releasing old heroes definitely creates a less bleak setting as time goes on.

Probably the biggest factor in the show working is how well the main villain is handled.  They set up even in the intro sequence, and back up in every episode he plays more than a perfunctory part in, that he's more powerful than the kids put together, and has strangled the Realm into obedience, but is not all powerful and has a clear reason to go after the kids even before they start making an actual dent against his tyranny.  He's a villain that is 100% willing to say "Mmm, this could be a threat to me.  I should probably take care of it." or "this artifact could give me the advantage I need to finally destroy the last pockets of resistance and ensure my reign is eternal" and take care of the matter with all available resources, including going himself if things aren't going well.  Aside from being a bit prone to monologueing his weaknesses, he does an admirable job of being credible and competent throughout.

Which does lend to the idea that the unproduced finale was pretty much something they did from the start and just kept it under their hats a liiiiitttleee too long.

Best Episode- The Dragon's Graveyard.  Going along with both the above, we have a latter episode where the heroes realize that they can accomplish their goal a dozen times over but it'll never mean anything because Venger is too savvy for them to get away when they do.  So they decide to take care of him... over much objection from Dungeon Master (this is the most direct nod to the plot of the unproduced finale: Venger is his son, who sealed away his goodness for power.  Two or three previous episodes also allude to a strong connection between them, but that's one of the appeals of the series: they clearly had a pretty detailed series bible the whole time, in particular the rough shape of the finale) and involving an especially daring and risky plan that quite likely might have gotten them killed if they had succeeded.  It's got a distinct sense of "holy shit they got this to air?"

Weakest Episode- Beauty and the Bogbeast.  In which one hero does something patently stupid and we all suffer for it.  The whole thing feels very forced, in the Editorial Mandate sense.

The show also features Peter Cullen and Frank Welker, which leads into a larger point.  This show was released in 1983, making it basically contemporary with The Transformers.  Apart from sharing some headline actors, both shows also took creative direction from Marvel and was mostly animated by Toei. 

Except Dungeons & Dragons just blows the other, better remembered show out of the water in terms of animation and VA quality.  In the sense that it very clearly used a lot more in between frames, paid more attention to visual continuity and characters being off-model, and did no small amount of ADR and cleaned up voice quality quite a bit.  Which of course is just animation speak for "this show had a WAY bigger budget".  and that's the thing.  Transformers exists because Hasbro had already made GI Joe and knew how to make this shit work.  They had a clear expectation of how much money they could put into this and still make money.  And no mistake, D&D was at this time a known thing, and there were definitely tie-ins in the actual game plus toys and shit.  But the level of branding doesn't seem to have been there.  There's no way it was making the sort of money Transformers was, but they were SPENDING a lot more of it.

In short, this show shouldn't exist.  It's an anachronism, closer to the post-Batman era of the early 90s than when it was actually made.  How they hell did they actually get the money for this thing?

And I think it's basically the first real example of American Anime (making it doubly anachronistic!).  The show bears much more in common with stuff like Robotech (read: Super Dimension Fortress Macross) and Mobile Suit Gundam than what existed in american animation at the time, or for a few years immediately following.  TRS and whoever else pitched this (probably to CBS from a brief glance at its broadcast history) were gambling that they could tap into the emerging anime market, and the crossover between that, the coming Fantasy boom of the 80s (for all the money THAT didn't make), and Dungeons & Dragons and its related markets.  Basically the first show by nerds, for nerds.

Which kinda makes the year of broadcast fitting.  I was born in 1983~

Rating: 6/10.  But no mistake, this show is just endlessly fascinating in a weird way. 

[Captain K]

I think what really makes the show work is Eric.  He makes the setting seem so much more realistic with his constant complaining.  Going on quests isn't all fun and excitement; it's a lot of trudging through swamps with mud in your boots.  And even though he's a total heel, those moments when he does save the party are that more compelling because of it.

[Cmdr_King]

He's also the only one of the kids that noticeably improves beyond martial skill throughout.  That's one of the flaws with the show really, it tends to kinda forget some of the kids are there a lot of the time such that you could have cut it down to just Eric, Bobby, and Hank without much change.  Diana in particular gets to do almost nothing the vast majority of the time, which is just a waste.

[Grefter]

Everything I wanted minus a bit about the ending that never happened.  I would like your read on it and an elaboration for the uninitiated?

I also appreciate the attempts at a female cast in 1983, though you are right, it could have worked as a sausage fest because it was still 1983.

Now all you have to do is review the opening theme song to Conan the Adventurer and we are good.

[Cmdr_King]

Actually yeah, I meant to comment on that in the Dragon's Graveyard section; dude all but says "please don't do this you don't know the whole story".  Edited.

And yeah, the girls is a shame but not unexpected.  Sheila's on the other end, she gets attention but it's mostly girly stuff; she's defined by her relationships with Hank and Bobby and being team mom.  They do take some steps to at least justify this, Bobby is much younger, and her character role is Thief so direct action just isn't going to be her bag.  It just also means she very rarely directs the plots of episodes so you could probably omit her despite her getting a decent amount of screen time and character moments.  Presto's in sorta the same boat, he's generic nerd person, although they do that kinda buddy cop thing with him and Eric that kinda works once in a while.  As noted Diana just never gets to shine and exists because "we need not-white/male people!"

[Captain K]

Diana was black and a woman, it was 1983.  Not that that's an excuse, but it is what it is.  In this case it's not a matter of forced diversity, rather the show was pushing the boundaries of what was acceptable.  Just not pushing *too* hard so that there would be backlash.  Remember this was before even The Cosby Show - if blacks were in a tv show it was in the Blaxploitation manner of the 70s.  D&D was quietly showing America's youth that you could hang out with black people without them being BLACK.

[NotMiki]

One of the quaint charms of the 80s is how everything - everything - followed the "1 of each" model for racial diversity, alongside a lot of products that emphasized superficial cultural differences (Street Fighter, ABBA) in ways that would be embarrassing in 2015.

[DjinnAndTonic]

Well of course! Things are more collectible that way!

[AndrewRogue]

Really not sure going the direction of collecting minorities is the right choice for this conversation. It rarely ends well.

[Cmdr_King]

Aria: The Animation

ara ara~

Okay so I know that slice of life is a thing in anime, and said genre was probably at its height in 2005.  Even so this manages to be a continuation of the last entry in a way; holy hell how did they get this made!  I've seen movies that were less detailed, clean, and fluid in their animation.  The little tricks of animation to save budget ARE there, but... daaaaamn this show is pretty.  Unlike the last show, I'm willing to guess here that it's the simplest case; the production house fell in love with the manga and its aesthetic and said fuck it, we're doing it and god I hope we don't go broke doing it.  Seeing as they went on to produce three times as many episodes after this I assume it must have worked out somehow.

Unfortunately I'm not entirely sure what else to say about this one.  Other shows with high slice-of-life content I've covered had been more forthcoming with things like tentpole episodes, while somewhat hilariously considering its me the continuity of Aria actually makes it harder to cover there; it doesn't have big set piece episodes and branch out, each episode adds a teensy bit of new character and development and world detail and you don't quite see it until the end.  And indeed since this season is less "ending" and more "suitable pausing point" there's not a lot to go on.  The whole show of course is saturated in moe anyway, but that goes along well with the general thrust because it's overtly themed around finding the beauty in the everyday and taking the time to appreciate it.

Although...

Weakest Episode: That Which You Want to Protect.  So aside from being an introduction to Athena (despite Athena only REALLY appearing in two episodes, and the other episode being a way better display of her powerhouse singing anyway) this is really supposed to be this development episode for Alice.  But in the end the whole thing just feels kinda mean.  The show itself is making fun of Athena so that Alice's complaints seem plausible and Alice herself is being a dick the whole time.  Which is sorta in character but doesn't work for me this time.  Could just be they were being too "see see see Alice you have to see all the good things too SEE SEE SEE" and it rubs me the wrong way?  I dunno.
I'll admit, I also don't get much humor out of Maa which hurts as well.  Stop biting the pervy space cat in the dick dammit.

Best Episode- That Soft Wish.  Probably the best aspect of Aria is the setting, and consequently the more mystical episodes which are basically a chance to give new facets to the setting stand out.  Of the two, this one is better.  Akari and not-Akari whose name escapes me doing their mirror thing is adorable, and they sell the sense of creeping wonder really well.

Rating: 6/10.  It's pleasant enough but doesn't really do too much for me I'm afraid.

[Cmdr_King]

Redline

So I actually made a short comment about this the first time I saw it.  And the core observation there remains true: Madhouse let a first-time director make his dream project, and everyone on board was so in love with it all they just did not give a fuck if they actually made money doing it.

So has the other thing changed?  Well... not exactly.  The direct animation influences on this movie clearly EXIST, but I'm not familiar enough with the ones they're calling to to actually spot it all.  However, we are a little bit better at this now.

Okay, so one of the things this movie is famous for is being fully hand animated.  Let's pause a minute on that.  The movie is 102 minutes, about 5-10 minutes longer than your feature length animated feature (ie Disney).  Okay so.
NOBODY DOES THAT.
Most people don't hand-animated 10 minute shorts, not in 2011 when this came out, not in 2005 when they started principle animation, not in the fucking Disney Renaissance.  The Little Mermaid did not hand animate every single frame.  You have to go back to like Sleeping Beauty, which not coincidentally also took forever to make (something like 8 years) and lost money, and that despite actually being a rousing success in the theaters (#2 for domestic gross in 1959).  But these loons did it.

And it's not just that they hand animated this shit, this movie is ALIVE.  Most shots of the film are crammed full of non-background elements that are moving, vivid actors on the stage.  Like we need pictures here.

This is Princess and the Frog, full budget Disney Film from 2009.


And you'll note that the character and the items IN the barrel are distinctly more colorful than the rest of the shot.  Those elements are in motion on the foreground, while the rest is background elements.

Redline usually looks like this:



That's insane.  Nobody does that.  These dudes said nope, the whole movie has to look like a cohesive artistic vision, DRAW THE LITTLE GLOWY LIGHT BOXES BY FUCKING HAND.

Unsurprisingly the rest of the movie is given a healthy coat of insanity over everything.  The basic plot seems to actually be "barely-legal street racing with a World Cup-level following in the far future is utilized by the Planet of Royal Magical Girls to expose the secrets and decimate the military might of oppressive cyborg planet."  Each racer besides the hero and the love interest are on screen about 5 minutes combined at best but are provided full bios during the movie because goddammit we wrote those bios and WE WANT THEM TO BE KNOWN.  It does have the cool effect of making the whole thing seem more like real life sports coverage, the media spinning stories for each competitor to drive up viewers and gather followings for each.

I'm a little torn though.

Rating: 7/10.  Like, this feels SO LOW for a movie with such overwhelming artistic quality, but I rate by general emotional response and well this is very definitely a fun as hell movie but doesn't have any deeper impact for me y'know?  I may have shamed myself here.