#it's not even the animation quality like things that have no animation budget can still be done with so much joy

[seldomsee]

when a story you like gets adapted by people who clearly don't give a fuck about it that's the 9th circle of hell i think

[oceansarepink]

I told myself I'd see this season through to the end just to be able to watch it as whatever completed story they're supposed to be telling

but man can I barely even be bothered

the only good thing in this episode was we didn't get owl in a cage (which we still could next ep, you just know they're going to make Blitzo pity Stolas even more when he finds out what the deal with Stella is) but even that had the drawback of having to have Stolas sing again (which I figured would be the case if it was Viv's favorite)

and this song was the worst of all of them. just tuneless boring rambling garbage. like most of his songs suck but some are at least listenable.

the favoritism was even more blatant than before. Stolas got the vast quantity of all the high quality animation shots. just all the budget wasted on his miserable mug. again

I mean yeah everyone must know by now who her favourite is

Oh of course the “you’re my heart” stoliz shit is her favourite. This is really gross.

[nikox400x]

Kung Fu Panda 4-All the budget went to the animation (spoilers)

Hey all, its me, the guy who everyday make a tour around this site but almost never talk. How are ya?

Two days ago something arrived to the cinema's screens, something that me and everyone were waiting for since 2018, the fourth film and the begginig of the new kung fu panda triology.

You know? When I sat on that theather seat with my friends to see what Dreamworks had prepared for us, I told myself; "Maybe that post I made a while ago throwing shit at what seemed like Kfp 4 was going to be was a bit hard, I hope I can come out regretting what I said that time"

And as soon as the credits ended, it was clear to me, I dont regret a shit. Maybe it was a little exaggerated, compared to what a megamind fan would think about the terrible sequel they made, but still: the film is crappy and boring most of the time. But why?

I'm going to explain some points.

1- Po? Is that you?

I don't know you guys, but i don't think the panda we knew in the end of the third film is the same as this one. Seriously, he share more comparisons with the Po from the legend of awessonless than the one from the films, maybe its a personal thing but it feels that way. At least in the beggining of the film feel like that.

And I don't know what he was thinking about when he decided to follow a thief he doesn't know at all and who tried to steal in his own palace, and that suspiciously know who is the chameleon, whose were her plans, her past, where she lived, where exacly they had to pass through avoiding all the guard inside her home, why the others thiefs of the city hate her so much... With Po's experience with criminals this is like a chef throwing water on a pan with boiling oil, it's obvious what is going to happen.

2- Zheng- Female Nick Wilde but without charisma or half of his intelligence.

I knew it from the first moment I saw Zheng's desing, the people who know me can corroborate that; her facial expressions, her tone while she talk, her animal race, her position as thief, her final when she is part of the justice same as the protagonist... it's clearer than water I think.

Everyone could say this is forgivable if she's smart, but surprise, she's not. This character is just an absurd try of this company for """"conect with infant audience""""(I don't know in what sense, I supose for the cute design, idk). But the point is, the supposed objective of the hollywood companies is give the new generetions better things than we got at their age, but what I see is laziness for write a decent scrip only for take an advantage of a known IP and make easy money. Even the children have quality standars, this is not the dragon warrior and of course this is not kung fu panda.

And talking about the dragon warrior, having our deep and lovely Tigress with her magnific development or Tai Lung back from the spirit realm... why in the hell this character exists?! Oh yeah, for being trending topic in twitter for three days. Yay...

3- The furious five and Shifu, for us : our pretty boys, and for Dreamworks: living jokes.

What made Kung Fu Panda what it is, is not the fucking panda, it's them. They're the inspiration for Po, their allies, the royale representation of kung fu and the ones which everything started with.

Po's a comic relief, and his mission is show his development in part using his humor, but the humor in this film barely works because of the lazy script. Something that even the talented Jack Black himself can't fix, beacuse his only role there is dublin his character, unlike the rest of the residents of the Jade Palace except Dustin Hoffman.

Seth Rogen (Mantis) himself even said that he wasn't even contact by Dreamworks in the first place, only for make a scream in the credits, that's sad beacause he really wanted to see Mantis on the screen. And I know and I understand that the five are expensive, but cmon, they could just simply change the voice actors and offset it with a good script but that's not the case of course. Their role in the film is being a counter for Po's constant jokes, for not to saturate the spectator with jokes, now that's not in there anymore, thank you Dreamworks.

4-The chameleoooohhn and her "motivation".

I can't say much, basically because out of her design she's nonsense. She says that because of her size, she was reyected for being a kung fu warrior.

Yeah of course but only one little thing, what about Shifu? Viper, a warrior without tips? Mantis, literally a dawn insect? Master Oogway, a TURTLE? The masters goose? C'mon even there's a fucking master chicken! Don't talk shit chameleon!

Her importance for the plot? Its almost a lie, the others villains had links to important characters; Tai Lung (with his link to Shifu's past), Shen (with his link to Po's past) or Kai (with his link to Oogway's past), all of them related to important characters. And her? To zheng's past and present I guess? But again, anyone know this character. She's like a villain from a Disney show, you know the type of villain who say a lot of things but at the end, she don't support nothing to the lore.

And her personality is like a mix of all the previous villains, and this sounds good right? HAHAH nope. Do you remember when as a child you mixed all the plasticines of all the colors to create the final color and you ended up with a color similar to poop? well that's exacly how her personality feels like.

5- Po's dads; the only reason they're there is because they ran out of characters to make the film.

The tittle itself tell everything, they don't do anything for the script in all the film, and their objective could be done since the start.

The script of the film except for the final looks like a draft which they didn't know how to complete, everyone who watch it can see it perfecly. The animation, the music and the backgrounds are the only things notable here.

6- Tai Lung and the cheapness nostalgia.

Fan service is not necesarry bad, above all if is used in a good way, they sold us Tai Lung as a miracle but his importance for the plot feels just like a Stan Lee cameo, I like Tai Lung I can say that. But this is too weak, Shen and Kai are only characters in the background who don't do nothing except being defeated or make facial expressions (I don't even joke that Shen would show respect to Po considering what we saw in the second movie, and Kai wasn't supposed to be destroyed as a spirit, what the hell is he doing here again? *sign* I'll to stop trying to make sense of this).

By the way, anyone else think that the dragon warrior role is understimated? I mean Shifu obligated Po to transfers the role to another one just because yes, i mean he only has been the dragon warrior for less than 5 years and now they want to replace him with a random. Everything just for at the end, he choosed a thief with at least 30 crimes registred and who was a traitor during the 75% of the movie.

7- The """""""""humor"""""""", except they forgot the parts where I must to laugh.

Seeing nonsense hits only beacuse yes stopped of being funny a long time ago, and no, I don't want to talk about the bunnies of the portrait because I would get sick. I had to go to the cinema drunk to endure the filler that the movie had, no joke, it was the only way to laugh at those jokes.

So I think about applying the same method as in any movie with bad jokes, ignoring the jokes. I tried to do the same thing but with the pace that the film managed, such a thing was impossible, the pace of the movie seems to be made for Tiktoker children with attention deficit. From the chaos in the quarry until Po takes the bitc... uhg fox out of prison, only 10 fucking minutes pass, all of that for what? So that you feel like the baseless information and the nonsensical plot that they tell us is of any use? they could simply make a non-canonical short and that's it, but no, yes or they were going to tell us a story written by rotten old men who spend the entire day watching Tik Tok. It's not going to be that the child who sees this doesn't get bored, we know that much today's children don't have many neurons as they say, but even to make movies for them you have to have a certain talent.

In some point at the beguining Po make a joke about the ausence of the furious five saying that at least he had them in cardboard posters, and this would be a good joke. Only if the stupid film could be prove that the franquise can do something memorable without the furious five, but again, that's not the case.

Don't have any respect for this movie, look what it had with you. I understand that it is enjoyable because of the animation but it does not go beyond that line, it destroys important things about the canon and spoils its teaching about the need for change by treating it in a terrible way.

Coclusion: KFP 4 is just another Po's adventure as Shifu says, it won't tell nothing to you or make you feel different, it's a shame but after Megamind 2 I imagined something like this. It's a dark era for film, expecially the animated one so like Scar said; Be prepare, there're worse things waiting for us.

Do you want something with real quality? You don't even need kung fu panda 1,2 or 3, for make it easy to this film let's take this marvelous example; kung fu panda: secrets of the scroll (2016). You'll say; "An animated short, this is not like-" Shhh Just watch it, you won't regret it.

If you think I'm wrong in something, just rewatch the film. And if still you aren't agreed with me, well, I respect you and I'm happy you like it. I wish I could love it as you do, but that doesn't mean that the movie isn't bad, because if you watch it with your brain on or remembering the previous movies it's terrible.

. Me? I've to write a story, I love you all. Except you, Dreamworks, I'm mad with you, expecially when you do this at the same day as Akira Toriyama's death :(

[maxwellatoms]

as a person on the inside of the animation industry, are there signs that we might be heading to another dark age of animation like the 1980s (e.g. animation is regulated to just glorified toy commercials or dark fantasy movies)?

"Kid Vid" regulations mean you can't advertise for stuff kids might buy from within a show anymore. Generally, you can't even have (say) Yogi Bear wearing a shirt with his best friend BooBoo's face on it as a gag, because "what if someone made that shirt one day?" Then it would be a retroactive ad, I guess? I'm not schooled in reverse-time law like studio lawyers, so I can't really say. Still, it's almost impossible to get even a fictional product into a kid's show these days, so I think the 1980s will probably stay in their timeline. At least in that way.

I do think a bit of a "Dark Age" is upon us, though. Maybe just a small one. Just a wee little snip of a Dark Age is all.

As far as I can glean, there are going to be precious few animated shows coming out over the next couple of years because not much was picked up during the pandemic. There are only a few things being developed here and there, and I'd wager that those properties "win" simply by existing in a competition-free environment. It takes a long time to produce animation, so almost anything greenlit right now is looking at a full year for turnaround. If you talk to people in the industry right now about jobs, they use words like "wastelend" and "ramen noodles".

Then you've got A.I., of course. The other night I was having dinner with a friend and I found myself in the A.I. conversation I always imagined myself having one day-- the one where we're talking with some immediacy about what the rest of our futures look like as artists, because we know they're not going to look the same ever again. It was pretty cool in a William Gibson sort of way, but I honestly didn't expect to be having that conversation for another decade. Turns out A.I. is becoming a problem right now.

I've already talked about the "art theft" angle, and that's not the problem I'm speaking about here. The problem I'm talking about is the "what do I do when what I do becomes trivial?" problem. If anyone can make a TV show or movie in a week or a day using AI assistance, who determines what gets seen? Networks, I'd imagine, would become redundant. You don't need to fork over $15 a month for Netflix if you can make Netflix-quality content yourself. And if you can't make anything decent even with A.I. assistance, surely someone on the internet can. There would be an incredible glut of content to choose from, so again... who decides what gets seen? An algorithm, probably. Who owns the algorithm?

Peak Dark Age will be the time period when the networks realize that they're going to die, and sink all of their resources into forcing their own survival on the rest of us. I imagine massive layoffs (you don't need multiple writers or artists or support staff when you've got the right tools.) Studios will want to own the tools (of course) and/or suppress the use of those tools by anyone who might want to cut into their profits. Expect to see "A.I. is just too dangerous for the public to utilize, so it needs to be left in the capable hands of corporations". Expect to see customizable Batmans, the ability to put your mom in any Star Wars, and the serialized fever-dreams of billionaires.

I think that's the next 5-10 years. And while that's happening, the tools will keep getting better and better until literally anyone can sit down, ask for an Oscar-worthy part-rom-com/part action movie starring a twenty-five year old Steve McQueen and and eighty year old Daniel Radcliffe rescuing Air Bud from the Death Star, and then watch the resulting film with some degree of satisfaction. There'll come a point when content of any visual, auditory, and written complexity can be generated on-the-fly, and the traditional limits of budgets and schedules will just be gone.

It's easy to spin off into fantasy and try to guess exactly what's coming. I could probably spin on that all day. But what I know is that the future of the animation industry won't look anything like what I've become accustomed to. And maybe that's okay because what I've become accustomed to looks nothing like the industry I started in. Things change, and you roll with the punches. Thanks to the self-fulfilling dystopian prophecy we find ourselves in, just about everyone on the planet is finding themselves rolling with the punches coming from the Powerful Greedy. That's less a "me problem" and more a planet-wide problem we should probably all sit down and hash out, like, yesterday.

My immediate problem as an artist (and yours if you're an artist too) is figuring out how to get your ideas seen in a world where the amount of entertainment content is exploding exponentially. Especially if you're the sort of artist who needs to eat and live somewhere.

So yeah, I think there's going to be just a little peppering of Dark Age coming up. But in every time of change, there are opportunities. Hey, I'm down for an animated Dark Fantasy movie. Let's do this!

[starcatttt]

lmk Season 5 trailer spoilers below the cut! (Bonus ramble about my thoughts about it too lol)

Link to the trailer if you haven't watched (first one I found): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GEYwtKDD9NE

Sooo uh, I have some thoughts about the new info regarding the switch from Flying Bark to Wildbrain Studios. Literally just some random opinions I have about it so far, nothing super serious lol.

First up though, definitely no hate to Wildbrain or the animators who worked on this whatsoever, animation is SO difficult to do, and the expectation for the show's quality was definitely set very high early on, even in season 1. Other people have probably said this better than me, but absolutely no hate or harassment to them.

For my opinion on the animation in the trailer, I can't say I'm the biggest fan? I don't think its horrible. I think it will definitely get better when the episodes actually start releasing.

But for now, some or a lot of the shots looked stiff and kind of like they were sliding a PNG for the movement in some scenes.

Speaking of, I found this and idk (a scene in the trailer)

Its the same PNG face, just flipped. Not super happy that they just used the same image you can find just by looking swk up, but it's not terrible? Just wanted to bring it up ig.

For me, I think the biggest thing was the proportions and movement. It sort of felt low budget, and I'm not sure if that's the case, or its just the studio getting used to the monkie kid style.

I'm not a big fan of the rigging animation either, probably because of the stuff I said earlier. Again, how its done in the trailer looks really weird in some shots, same in how its very obvious how they use rigged puppets instead of handrawn animation. It makes me kind of worried that we won't get any of those cool fight scenes we got before (like swk and Nezha or MK and Azure). I hope it'll get only better in the future, and I'm pretty sure it'll at least be decent.

I think its going to take a WHILE to get used to the change, and it personally really threw me off this morning. It feels pretty sudden, mainly because 1, the trailer dropped out of nowhere, and 2 nothing about the switch until today gave me emotional whiplash lol.

I actually am still excited about the new season, and will definitely watch when the English dub drops! Guess I just wanted to dump my thoughts here and see who agrees ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

tldr: I thought the animation looked off, same as the style and stuff, but I'm pretty sure it'll get better once the season actually comes out.

Can't wait to watch it though! AND remember to tag spoilers if you post about it!

[angelicguy]

was talking about it the other day but its sad how we are never going to get really big budget games w/ funky artstyles again. like if you look at the majority of big budget releases lately, they are all kind of going for the same thing as far as actual modeling goes- hi fi, super detailed complex models that try to portray as much detail as possible. which is fine for certain games, but it makes me miss the big swings devs used to take.

take street fighter 4 for instance- despite being over 10 years old at this point, it still looks REALLY good. great art direction, has a weird painterly look so everything has a cool watercolor style to it, models are expressive, etc. and this was a BIG release, its not some indie game (where most big stylistic swings tend to be made nowadays).

compared to street fighter 6, which is going for photorealism (with strong choices made as far as animation and color goes) it looks dated in the context of graphics generally, but looks WAY better than its contemporaries from the same time period. my fear is that street fighter 6 wont look that great in 10 years time.

side note, its also why street fighter 5 was really only loved by hardcore fans. it does nothing particularly well! its a halfway point between realistic and artistic to the point where it feels like a side-grade rather than an improvement or even its own original idea!

whatever leaps were made in lighting and texture quality are essentially irrelevant here. fucking gross!

the thing is, i dont think this is a deliberate choice that devs are making right now. from what i can tell, recent rendering tech has made it way easier to achieve a handful of lately- hi fi LIGHTING, increased TEXTURE DETAIL and HI POLY COUNTS come to mind. these are cool, but if youre a dev who wants to make a triple A product, you kind of have to use whatever tech is on the table to make a product look cutting edge. none of those encourage taking wild stabs at cool art directions. devs used to use those cool art directions because it was the ONLY OPTION THEY HAD.

classic case being windwaker right. the gamecube was a huge graphical leap from the n64, where even getting a model to look like something was a challenge. compared to ocarina of time, windwaker looks absolutely fucking incredible. it got a lot of pushback at the time for being too kiddy, but really the strength of its style is a result of doing as much as they possibly could with the platform they were working on. no high poly counts, the shading tech was relatively simple, and the textures (while a huge improvement over the n64!) are still basic compared to what we have today. windwaker still looks impeccable to this day, and even the HD remaster they made which, ahaha, improved WHAT

LIGHTING and TEXTURE DETAIL. but without a real consideration for the original artstyle (or why it even existed... which was the gamecubes limitations) it just looks worse.

in response to this pushback (i think, idk i didnt work at nintendo at the time) they gave twilight princess a way more "realistic" look. but given the rendering restrictions of the time, it still has a fairly robust artstyle

proportions are more realistic obviously, but in order to achieve that realism without the kind of lighting tech we have now the "lighting" is BUILT Into the textures. look at links sword, how it kind of darkens near the hilt, or how the shadow on the keese's wings is just kind of painted in specific areas. i would argue that twilight princess looks a LOT like street fighter 4 in that area-

damn! they almost look like theyre from the same game! but twilight princess was celebrated for being "realistic" while sf4 was noted for having a funky watercolor style (thats built into the focus attacks even!). its so so smart, because the devs knew they couldnt go for photorealism (like so many games of the era tried at and completely failed at!) so they went for a mix of cool stylistic decisions that allowed a game to look GOOD in a subjective, artistic way.

Not that games don't try and apply artistic principles now, but its a lot less unique. look at mario odyssey

its just a beach. and it looks great, its well rendered, but its just a beach. colors are clearly intentional and very pretty, but it's nothin that special right now, probably will look even less special in 10 years even compared to levels in the same game.

what im curious about is when are we gonna get back to that kind of artstyle meets rendering tech! if ever! current tech makes it so devs are kind of forced to go down the same boring path. look at mortal kombat 1:

im sure there are some leaps in texture and lighting, but they keep taking shortcuts. all the faces are modeled after REAL peoples faces and they mocap for expressions/conversation, which gives a really boring look to it. the fact that mk11 and mk1 look so similar so many years apart (4 i guess isnt that much but there have been leaps!) is disappointing to me.

then you have tekken 8, which is like the best looking game ive ever seen. for a while i found it hard to put my finger on why, but my brother said something really smart i feel- they made all of these models by hand. theyre essentially digital statues. they didnt pull actual face models, they just worked on their features until it looked correct. on top of the lighting and texture work, it creates a look not unlike the renders tekken has been using for years. which is convenient for them, because they can finally match the kind of real-time fidelity they've been chasing for like 30 years

hell it looks BETTER than that. so what im trying to say is im hopeful that art direction will catch up with the kind of rendering tricks/strengths we have.

i think tekken 8 feels like how soul calibur 2 probably felt at launch. does a lot of the same things given the time period

i still think hi fi rendering doesnt make for a good looking game, but rather where the focus lies for the player. for tekken it makes sense that they would focus their horsepower on detailed models and stages- youre gonna be lookin at that forever. look at elden ring

texture wise, SUPER low res for 2022. maybe even 2020. but what they do with the horsepower is genius- they focus on scale to translate locations of objectives to a player while also reinforcing the feeling of adventure, on top of extremely strong choices in color and lighting. i hope, going forward, games focus on how they can use this kind of tech to reinforce a games "gameplay mission statement" while keeping strong artistic choices present rather than focusing on being able to wow someone with a couple of screenshots at the cost of BOTH of those things. im just ranting though french press got my ass

[scarecrowofthefields]

sotf surveys - Naruto: Ninja Clash in the Land of Snow

Yo, welcome to a series about my reactions to the Naruto movies and OVAs. Today we will be reviewing Naruto: Ninja Clash in the Land of Snow (legit thought about doing this right after I finished the movie while having dinner lol)

I had previously watched Naruto Movie 1 when I was younger so this was more of a refresher to me. I remember a few major details but the rest were cloudy so I had a few surprises which was exciting, this is the benefit of rewatching something you've seen ages ago and become encapsulated with it all over again. Let's get into it:

OH MAN, you can definitely tell this was movie quality animation. I did not notice how well it was animated when I was younger, they really used up the budget well. Animated shows like to cut corners when it comes to animating to save both time and money which can make the animation feel stale. BUT THIS OUGH, you can see the overshoots and the anticipation in the characters' movements which adds more to their personality, specifically Naruto and Sakura who are outwardly expressive.

SPEAKING OF EXPRESSIONS

FINALLY I KNOW THE CONTEXT OF THIS IMAGE, I've seen it around before but wasn't sure where it was from.

An example of animation that display's Sakura's personality is in a scene 11 minutes into the movie where Team 7 (minus Naruto) gets a debrief on their mission with the film team.

Just for those 7 seconds we see how interested and excited Sakura is being in a movie studio. If it were set on the show I feel like she would only look over her shoulder and that would be it. In movie form we get a bit extra, not just looking over her should but she's innocently rocking back and forth. In addition, we have some background characters moving around which makes the space feel alive.

Another thing to note is the fluid motion of a character or scene being carried over from one frame to the next also the physical weight of their actions.

My favorite example of this is Yukie getting drunk in a small bar, you can see in both her and the other patron are clearly drunk and it's not because of the sake present. Yukie would slosh around, jerk forward suddenly, and have a heavy hand. When Sandayuu and Sakura burst in you can see the weight of their movements as well.

I'm also a sucker for sound quality and the use of foley sounds in movies ever since I learned about it in school. The sounds in Naruto Movie 1 are DELICIOUS. I'm fortunate to have access to a surround sound software also the website I'm using to watch the movie still contains the original sound file so, audibly, it feels like I am in a physical movie theater.

Interestingly, noticed a few scenes used dolly zoom. Not much to comment about it, very neutral about it.

Ma ma, enough with the technicalities, let's get into the plot-

"I guess it can't be helped." KAKASHI!?!? STRAIGHT UP WHIPS OUT THE SHARINGAN JUST TO PUT YUKIE UNDER A GENJUTSU. LIKE I GET IT, GOTTA MOVE HER ALONG NO SENSE IN BICKERING, BUT LMAO

Baby Koyuki and her father :(( the whole dream/flashback was adorable, even if it was short-lived.

Time to be a little Kakashi-biased, mainly the voice acting teehee. I'd like to note that I'm watching this in sub so Kazuhiko Inoue I am all ears. This is the scene where the filming gets interrupted by the villains, Kakashi springs into action, with a quick and commanding voice directs Team 7 to protect the now revealed princess, Koyuki.

If only y'all can hear this gif

Not the villains boasting about their literal plot armor to our protagonists.

Good job Sakura on doing what you're suppose to be doing! Protecting Koyuki-sama. Naruto ran straight towards one of the antagonists, though to be fair Sasuke was defending himself against the female antagonist. For theatrics sake makes sense, you gotta have a fight scene yknow.

I need to remember the movies aren't canon- Kakashi copying Ice-Style? Not possible since it's known as a kekki genkai, though for the sake of the plot and theatrics Kakashi's allowed to use Ice-Style lol.

ANBU KAKASHI SPOTTED IN FLASHBACK

"I, Sandayuu, will protect you with my life!" My pattern recognition senses are tingling...

Gonna dip back into some technicals again for a moment:

One of my favorite tropes in shows and movies is the involvement of the behind the scenes team present on stage, regardless if it's the camera crew, the animation crew, the production crew, etc. It's a funny gag, letting the audience know how hard these people work to produce their shows and movies. In Naruto: Ninja Clash in the Land of Snow is no different where they show the type of work they put in setting up the scene with backdrops and props, ensuring the actors are in costume and make-up, and the final touch is the lights, mic, and camera are a go before calling action. The movie takes it a step further and shows us how far the director is willing to go to produce the final chapter of their movie series, it's also a chance of a lifetime.

I WAS RIGHT- BUT HOLY FUCK WAS THAT OVERKILL. RIP Sandayuu

I love the initial exchange in dialogue between Koyuki and Naruto during the prison scene,

"Well deserved." "You too."

MORE BABY KOYUKI AND HER DAD FLASHBACK

"Everyone seems to forget, I'm an actress." Ngl, thought Koyuki was under a genjutsu at first, then she double played me by stabbing Dotou. She really is an actress, go off girl

Sakura and Sasuke showing off their clever battle tactics??? A really impressive scene with their skills as shinobi; using their environment to their advantage, great use of ninja tools, great use of taijutsu too, and lastly they figured out how to destroy the chakra armor.

"Even if ninjutsu and genjutsu don't work on you, a shinobi still has taijutsu." The essential Shinobi Battle Skills!!!

A common trend with the first movie and the following Naruto movies, the main villain is always defeated with a rasengan variant, with Naruto: Ninja Clash in the Land of Snow it's a 7 color chakra rasengan, or "rainbow rasengan". I find the variants really cool, though the trend to be silly /pos

baby Koyuki and her father memory? NO, baby Koyuki and her father projection!!! Legit thought she was having another flashback.

MY MAN KAKASHI JUST FOUND OUT ICHA ICHA PARADISE IS GETTING A MOVIE ADAPTION AND KOYUKI IS STARRING IN IT

Like any marvel movie, if you stick around until the very end the animation crew shows their gratitude towards the audience by thanking them which I really like especially since this is the first Naruto movie so they worked really hard on this and I appreciate their efforts.

[doverstar]

Err actually, I was talking Disneys DTV sequels (wel a few of them were theatrical) to their animated canon films.

YES! I enjoyed all of those. I grew up with them. I know they're not all high-quality, I know they all had much lower budgets, and in some cases, completely different tones or poorer writing, but when you're watching them you can genuinely see that the people making them did their research and were big fans of the source material. (I think the sequels to Hunchback and Atlantis were both straight-up garbage. But I love the concept of Madeline, and I like that Atlantis got to be revisited; the original deserved that!) My nostalgic favorites are Lady and the Tramp 2, Patch's London Adventure, Stitch Has a Glitch, The Lion King 2: Simba's Pride, Cinderella 3: A Twist in Time, and The Little Mermaid: Ariel's Beginning. I have seen every single Disney animated sequel there is. All of them. I have seen them all. And I love them all. The thing is, these live action remakes are absolutely cash-grabs. 100%. They are only made to make money or to "clean up" some sort of 'political' thing that modern-day Disney would like certain vitriolic crowds today to forget from the originals, and they are terrible. The remakes are crap. The old, direct-to-video-ish sequels of the animated Disney films may have been monetarily-motivated, sure. Maybe. But when you're watching those, they are obviously, clearly trying to continue a story that they loved. They're doing their best to animate and recreate the magic with what limited funds and tools they have. Everyone is (usually) in-character, and the progression of the stories all make sense. Plus there is no need for the music to go as hard as it often does in these sequels, but graciously, it does! There's so much heart in the DTV sequels. So much. I can forgive lots of mistakes, or lacking animation, and I can forgive awkward writing, even, because often I can see what the Disney teams wanted and how excited they were to be revisiting those beloved Disney stories, and I applaud them. They were just playing pretend! Writing fanfiction! But they got to actually make movies while they did it, and call them canon. Give me that- Don't get me started on the new characters and concepts these sequels introduce. Who among us didn't love Melody as kids? Or Scamp, or Angel? Madeline is a doll, with darling character design, in spite of being part of arguably the worst Disney sequel. Did you see Anastasia get together with the baker?! Did you see them make an entire third Cinderella film based on that one concept?! Please tell me more about Lilo's mother! Please tell me about the girl Kenai used to play with, Nita, who is bound in an innocent love to him forever in the eyes of the ancestors because of a wooden necklace! Give each of Ariel's sisters personalities and for the love of Pete, tell me everything about her mother and why Triton hates humans! Jane Darling, from the very last chapter of the original Peter Pan story, brought to life in war-torn London and sent to Neverland to learn she is still a child and should be a child while it lasts? The opposite of what her mom needed to learn in the original? Wow, the Emperor of China has three daughters and they long to have normal lives and they fall in love with Chian Po, Yao, and Ling - yes please! Bernard proposed to Miss Bianca! SIMBA HAD A DAUGHTER AND SHE MET AND FELL IN LOVE WITH A BROWN LION NONE OF YOU SHOULD HAVE CRUSHED ON? TELL ME MORE. Bambi 2 made me cry, Tarzan 2 made me cry, Stitch has a Glitch made me cry, Cinderella 3 made me cry, I am telling you that John Rolfe is ten times better than John Smith even if Pocahontas 2 was awful, why yes, I did want to learn about how Timon met Pumba, how did you know? Who doesn't want to see more of Tod and Copper being happy as children before it all fell apart? Shanti gets more screen time! Stitch has 625 cousins! Kronk! Fell! In love! I said don't get me started- Yes, huge difference between these sequels and the live action remakes. And I will go to my grave supporting them.

[generalluxun]

how do you feel about this... Think it's AI, but I wouldn't put it past him to say this

AI? You mean the translation or his answer itself?

It feels very Thomas to me. The man cannot keep his yapper shut. I remember another tweet from him railing about how one season of Arcane costs ten times as much as one of ML.

It might be true. The thing is, no one should be comparing them. That is all he has to say. The rest is him being sore and snippy.

ML is a kids show in a kids slot, presumably made on a shoestring budget and that budget is a part of the appeal to buyers. A low-cost supers show can do a global release much easier, it can be a simple line item in a budget year over year without thought. The merch can be slapdash but still bring in enough coin. Basically, it can be unobtrusive enough fiscally that it gets to avoid any demands while remaining profitable. *This is fine. This is business. Someone needs to create this sort of product*

Riot on the other hand has always gone big budget and heavy into production on its side projects. Take a look at their music videos. (Compare them to the ML one, ha!) Riot created a whole pop idol group out of it's characters. Each of their videos had a unique one-off aesthetic. It was a way to sell new skins, but it was also *art*.

Arcane is the same way. It's not some animation-mill product created to keep kids buying things. Themes, drama, personal narrative, art direction, score, presentation; it's meant to be a high quality presentation top to bottom. So, of course it costs more.

A 2006 Chevy will get you wear you need to go, and have some quirky charm. A 2024 Mercedes will give you a luxurious driving experience designed to make the trip better than the destination. One will also cost you ten times as much as the other. Makes sense, right?

As for the 'very American' nonsense

TA's jingoistic sniping is a long standing tradition. I'm not sure what he even means here though? Like, script rewrites are supposed to be bad? Too many maybe, but sometimes they are needed. Does he not do them? It would actually explain so much.

ZAG: Hey Thomas. I just reviewed your latest script and there's a few things that don't seem to line up with what we've shown before...

TA: Oh? Well. I am sorry about that my friend, but you see: I am already finished. It can't be helped. Ah well, Ceste la vie.

Would I look like a tosser for saying 'Very French'?

Yes I would, and so I won't. I've seen plenty of French films that were finely crafted with rewrites and changes along the way to improve them.

Nothing inherently wrong with slap-dash production on the cheap, but trying to sell it as a virtue and mock quality commitment is weird.

[angelictearsshapedbytealeaves]

I’ve decided to review the first TGAA case. Because why not. Spoilers ahead if you haven’t played as well^^ as a newcomer to the series.

The first case in my opinion is a great tutorial for the game. Albeit with issues. A lot of good but the flaws it has prevent it from being truly great. Let’s begin with positives:

This game looks beautiful, is it a remastered 3DS game? Yes, but that doesn’t take away how stunning it all looks. The character models are well designed and brimming with personality, not only just that but the animations are spectacular. I have played games with a presumably higher budget and none come to how satisfying and smooth the animation is. I love how when Naruhodo slams his hands onto his desk and he for a second glances at them, it gives off a feeling of anxiety and fear so well. Alongside his eyes darting around the courtroom.

The gameplay is actually quite addictive, it’s a more subdued version of Danganronpa’s trials (have not played those but this is from speculation) yet it also feels very intense and gives me a dopamine rush the moment I point out a contradiction correctly. I even adore the fact you can investigate evidence further and it adds to the experience significantly.

The dialogue in this game is shockingly well translated and is full of charm and wit, Naruhodo, Kazuma, Jezaille and even the witnesses are plenty likable. I especially adore them all as characters and seeing Naruhodo grow more and more confident throughout the trial was so satisfying to see. Even if a dumb moment or two was here, overall it’s still very good quality. I also adore the little callback to Sherlock Holmes lore with Jezaille Brett’s name being a callback to the weapon that injured Dr. Watson in the Anglo-Afghan War (The Jezail) seeing as she killed him in this case. It’s a lovely reference honestly.

The music to this game is second to none, asides the Pursuit theme, my favorite track in this game is “Trial In Disorder”. The string section swelling up and it makes the atmosphere so much more oppressive in the courtroom. Especially as events transpires. This games music should not be at the high level of quality it actually is because the music in this game beats out a lot of soundtracks in games and its for a lawyer visual novel. (Track mentioned appears at end of post.)

Here are my negatives however:

The pacing in this case was so unbelievably slow, I don’t even think it was this long of a case but it felt like I was stuck playing it for two whole days, the amount of blatant in-court BS that happened to make this case go on longer (I get why it happened though, to show off how untouchable she seemingly was.) made it feel so much worse to go through.

Alongside the slow pacing I feel like a lot of the animations made it feel so slow, they’re all very well done and smooth but they also feel too drawn out at times and like the game was spending more time showing off the animations rather than allowing the case to flow by at a marginally better pace.

The entire steak segment and some of the testimonies should have been cut. A bunch of it really was pointless meandering.

Honestly not a bad tutorial. A 7.5/10. The very slow pacing and how stupid certain things were drag it down.

[lilblucat]

I just saw the ask by slushysblog. In response you sent a gif that blew me away:

You see, I'm just getting into digital art, and my PC can only handle about 5 or 6 layers before my graphics environment crashes. (Ofc this forces me to restart my PC and lose anything not saved.)

I've learned to work around this, my art isn't nearly so complex as yours, but I know if I want to continue I'll have to get a better computer at some point.

I was hoping you could tell me a bit about the technical side of your work. What are your PC specs? What software do you use? That sort of thing.

Thanks in advance! I love your art!

My set-up is complete overkill for art. It's a heavy gaming-ready desktop PC I got a few years back that I've upgraded the RAM and storage on over the years. I was doing fine with 16GB of RAM but I always have open a lot in CSP and other stuff so upgrading was definitely something I needed to do. 16GB should be fine for most people though.

You can also see that I run Arch Linux and uh yeahhhhhh it's a long story. The short of it is that my old laptop broke its Windows install during an update and I was completely unable to fix it so I just.... switched to Linux lol. I started out on Ubuntu and switched to Arch after a while. I don't rec using Arch unless you know what you're doing, Ubuntu is way easier.

What you might find more interesting is my away from home set up on my laptop since it's an older gaming laptop.

The graphics card is actually a NVIDIA Geforce 850 or something. It's so old that you can't play some games on it. However, I have no issues with it for art. I can open my comic project files in CSP fine on it. It's also running on Linux Mint, which isn't showing up on the little image for some reason. Both of my devices run Linux, but that's a me preference/need thing and I don't rec messing with your operating system if you don't know much about computers. It gives me a bit of an edge since the system doesn't use as much RAM as Windows but yeah don't touch unless you're committed to learn. Windows will serve you fine. Or MacOS even.

As for my program, I use Clip Studio Paint EX. I bought Pro a long time ago and upgraded to EX because of the extra tools for comics and animation (I've heard animators don't like CSP though, it's the BEST program for comics however). It's a really solid program but the recent changes to pricing and updates is really stupid. Fun fact: I use only default brushes and materials because getting it to run on Linux breaks the store. I also use an older version of it because of how I got it working on this system.

For my tablet I use an XP-Pen Artist 12 Pro. It's a pretty solid screen tablet on a budget (I bought it on a sale) and I have no issues with it. I actually partly got it because I thought it was cool that XP-Pen carries official drivers for Linux too, and this helped a bit since this was before Windows bricked on me and I switched to that. It was kinda weird how it played out lol. I would heavily not rec a Wacom tablet unless it's an older one for cheap. Wacom is stupidly expensive and you can get a better bang for your buck at other companies. My first tablet is a Wacom and it's still holding up pretty well but their quality on their new tablets isn't great. Check out XP-Pen, Gaomon, and Huion for better tablet options.

[firstagent]

Spoiler-Free Review: Digimon Adventure 02 The Beginning [Sub]

In this movie, one more troubled relationship between one more kid and their partner threatens the world one more time. The Zero Two kids help… a little.

As much as Last Evolution Kizuna’s message spoke of our need to be able to let go of our childhood fancies, and as much as it would have been an appropriate final bow to the original Adventure canon, it also proved that this world is still capable of turning out some wonderful, thought-provoking stories. Especially when given the kind of budget this movie relishes in throughout. Before we tiptoe around major plot points without actually revealing them, it must be said that The Beginning looks gorgeous. The big action is animated beautifully and minor details in the art go far in supporting the story. It’s important because the movie is all about quality. Quality above distracting subplots, quality above unnecessary fights, and—perhaps more concerning—quality above cherished Digimon Adventure establishments.

The first sign of the movie’s lack of concern about bending the knee to prior Adventure canon: this is 100 percent Lui’s story. If you’re expecting the Zero Two kids to have some deep character growth the way Taichi did in Kizuna… well, it’s the Zero Two kids; half of them didn’t get that in their own season. No, this is all the Lui and Ukkomon show. After tri. and Kizuna you might be thinking “isn’t this the third time now we���ve been introduced to a new character whose partnership issues are a harbinger for chaos?” The answer to that is no: it’s the fourth time if you count Wallace in Hurricane Touchdown. But while tri.’s format allowed the established cast to have full character arcs alongside Meiko’s and Kizuna was still fundamentally about Taichi dealing with the problems Menoa creates, The Beginning is too compact and too tightly wound to give anyone but Lui room for growth.

That’s not a bad thing though! In a relatively short time, we get all the gory details of Lui’s past, where Ukkomon fits into the equation, how things go wrong, why it’s everyone’s problem, and how Lui fixes it. It’s told vividly, and viscerally at times: some of the story is straight-up disturbing and the movie understands the importance of not shying away from it. These are some horrors that would bother even the Ghost Game kids. The facts of Lui’s story aren’t particularly complicated—it’s a surprisingly simple story for a feature-length film—but they’re presented with a nuance that hits the upper echelon of what Digimon has ever been capable of.

Still, it does leave the Zero Two characters a little in the lurch. Character moments are sprinkled in whenever they can get them and everybody’s heard in group conversations (sometimes even making a good point!), but some feel like they’re only there because they have to be. Until the fade out at the end, there honestly isn’t much more of the Zero Two kids being Zero Two kids than we saw in Kizuna. Anyone longing to see these kids tackling their own problems instead of someone else’s will be left hanging. That said, the revamped evolution sequences are fire, we’re still treated to Target and Beat Hit, and there’s even a couple teases for the shippers. And the ending is absolutely a “Zero Two kids being the Zero Two kids” moment.

But yes, one of the trickier conversations will certainly regard The Beginning’s relationship with Adventure canon. On one hand, Lui’s situation suggests a conflict with Adventure and tri., and some could interpret the resolution as incompatible with particular aspects of the epilogue. On the other hand, none of the issues are in any way major, and countered both by references to events in Adventure and tri., and the fact that everybody is still barreling straight toward their epilogue fates. Weirdly, the most dubious point of contention may be with Kizuna. Any direct discrepancies are again insignificant, but the revelations of the prior movie feel like they should weigh more on some minds as they process everything going on here.

To its credit, The Beginning seems fully aware of what it’s doing. It understands how much it’s potentially shaking things up. The characters recognize it! The movie delivers on the things that really matter: the kids, the Digimon, the music, and the heart. Things like adherence to an increasingly rigid and cluttered timeline are more superfluous. It doesn’t dismiss anything for the sake of dismissing it, but it’s not going to let it get in the way of a good story. Even as the kids dutifully stay on track for the epilogue, the ending narration suggests that anything goes from here. We may find out: unlike Kizuna’s sense of finality, The Beginning builds momentum for more stories in whatever interpretation of this world grows them best. If they’re anything like this one, we’ll welcome them.

My Grade: A

Check Back November 10 For the Spoilers/Dub Post!

Thanks to Toei Animation for providing me with an advance screener of this movie.

Want to support my site and/or my work? Buy me a coffee!

[ceratosaurtalks]

Is there such thing as a "Beginner Snake"?

This is a topic Ive talked to a lot of people about. A lot of different breeders, and a lot of long-term keepers. When you think 'Beginner snake' A lot of the species that come to mind are things like Corn snakes, Ball pythons, Kingsnakes, ect. And a lot of people feel limited based on their experience and the false connotation that these species are really the only species that they can get based on care requirements.

However, it is widely agreed up that this really isn't true? Yes some species are easier to keep than others. Yes, some species should only be kept by advanced keepers who know how to handle animals that don't have room for mistakes. But there are other species beyond the most common sp. Available on the market that might be better suited for someone.

The issue with 'Beginner snakes' Isn't that they're particularly hard to keep. All snakes have their 'problems' and Quirks, I.E Balls are known for going on long hunger strikes if their husbandry isn't up to standards and in extreme cases, that means assist feeding which a lot of people are uncomfortable with. The problem often comes from the keeper getting an animal that they will rapidly loose interest in and rehome or neglect within a few years. Ive been open about this but I've taken in a lot of rehomes of various quality and health in my time, and if you follow me from Discord you've probably seen some pictures of some of my more... Unique, rehomes Ive picked up in the past.

When it comes to choosing your first pet snake you should figure out what you want and what you're expecting out of your animal. I think in my year of keeping, the best things you should ask yourself are these:

Do I want an animal I can take out and chill with? That won't be moving around a whole bunch? Or do I want an animal to that is more active, that will be interesting to Handle but won't typically sit still?

Do I want an animal that I can handle in the first place? Does handling play a factor for me? What is my budget? What is the reasonable sized space I can set aside for an animal that I want? What kind of temperament do I expect out of my animal? Do I want a display animal? Do I want an animal I can watch move about its enclosure and be active or do I want an animal I don't mind seeing a whole lot of?

Ultimately, different sp. Of snakes are vastly different from each other. And these behaviors *can and will* change based off the husbandry you're providing them. If you have a big empty enclosure with a hide or two and maybe a singular piece of decor, yeah, your BP is probably going to be a pet rock. They're semi-arboreal and Nocturnal, give them lots of climbing opportunities and cover and they'll be more inclined to explore.

King snakes and Milksnakes are a joy to handle and a even bigger joy to feed. I've kept Honduran Milks and Ive shared pictures of my Honduran Milks, theyre super active, always on the move, and when it comes to feeding sometimes I make them work for their food because they will peruse prey. A lot of Kingsnakes are the same way.

And beyond that, there are other sp. of animals that are not unreasonable for someone starting out to keep. Childrens Pythons are a *fantastic* sp. Of snake to get into and can be full of spunky personality. And if you want something that's an absolute treat to interact with, the Rosie Boa might be the best thing for you!

Theres tons. And I do mean tons. Of available sp. of Reptiles out there for you to enjoy. Find one thats going to fit your needs that isn't completely unreasonable, and research into it before you make any decisions for yourself. I cant stress this enough: Always do your research!

There is tons and tons of misinformation and outdated information about Herp keeping. There are people who will lie to you about an animals care to make a sale. The best thing you can do for yourself and for your animal is to *not* get all your information from one source. Use multiple credited sources. Join actual communities of keepers and private breeders and talk to them about their experiences and how they do things. Find forums, join discords or (vetted, trustworthy) Facebook communities. Watch some Youtube videos from (respected) content creators. Take a look on Morph Market, browse through whats commonly available.

This isn't to encourage you to do something stupid. No ones first snake should be a Hot(Medically-significant Venomous animal), or a unreasonable giant like a Reticulated Python. Just be reasonable, and don't be afraid to reach out to people and ask questions.

Tl;dr: Yes and no, there are animals that are easier to keep than other and some animals that are unreasonable to start with. But, whats more important is making sure whatever animal you pick is a good match for you as an individual and not because its the 'easiest'.

[sentienceisoverrated]

Things I miss about old tv shows:

1. Set Designs

One thing I miss most is actual tangible set designs. There used to be a handful of sets that would get used time and time again, and the characters actually interacted with them. Sets now look so damn clinical and clean, characters barely interact with them (mostly because half of all sets are almost entirely CGI) and they barely change over the course of a season or episode. Reflect your characters’ mental states by their rooms. Make them messy, dirty, have characters comment on the state of certain sets. Come on make them UNIQUE. And not in the way of just the objects either, make them unkempt or overflowed and mix up the lighting a bit.

2. Actual Episodic Structure

Most TV shows I’ve watched that came out in the last few years have had a continuous plot. Which is great. It makes me invested in the story, makes me excited for the next episode. But unless done correctly, it can feel like nothing was actually achieved in those episodes. Often it comes that a character spends the entire episode trying to do something, only for their plan to unravel right at the end of the episode and the next episode to be set up. It makes me feel like nothing was actually completed. Every episode is designed to set up for the next one and in some cases this works, but in others it doesn’t. An episodic structure is where each episode has its own individual storyline that may or may not add to the overall plot. Avatar: The Last Airbender used this structure, as did the Star Trek series (excluding season 2~ of Discovery) and BBC Merlin. A structure like this adds considerably more to character development and subsequent relationships between characters before moving on to more plot-driven antics, which in turn raises the stakes.

3. Fantasy Lighting

This, I believe, is self-describing. TV shows are too dark. I can’t see. Even if you want to establish how dark a setting is, there is still usually a source of light that a character is holding. It’s enough to make us actually see what’s going on, so let us. Please. And, anyway, it’s fiction. Doesn’t have to always be 100% realistic.

4. Filler Episodes

This comes in tandem with episode numbers. I do understand that in production the creators don’t have much time to film and edit before release. But. Where did the 20 episode seasons go? A lot of series are being released half-and-half, but even if it’s weekly, most people I know would be fine with it as long as each episode is produced to the best of the ability of the creators. I also miss fillers. Give me those character shenanigans. No plot, just pure antics. Those episodes keep me alive.

4. CGI Consistency

I will always maintain the opinion that good CGI relies on how consistent its quality is throughout a film, season or episode. Personally, I don’t care how good the CGI is so long as it remains relatively the same level throughout what I’m watching. I see this a lot in recent tv shows *cough* marvel *cough* where one scene will have the most spectacular CGI ever seen and another looks more like a low-budget animated kids show. It breaks immersion. I’m not into it. Just give me bad CGI all the way through. Or, on contrast, no CGI whatsoever. Construct scenes using actual corporeal sets and makeup. I miss funky little puppets.

(Note: this is opinion based. Feel free to agree or disagree, add or remove. I won’t contend)

[lachiennearoo]

I AM ASSEMBLING A TEAM FOR A LOW-BUDGET ANIMATED MOVIE

I know am asking a LOT right now, but considering this is a passion project without a deadline or budget, I guess it's why I'm asking here (and well, I'm no professional lmao).

In 2019, I wrote a short quebecois (french canadian) cyberpunk, action, sci-fi story novel. It was my most beloved project, and it still holds a big spot in my heart (even tho some newer stories of mine are higher quality). Ever since I made it, all I've done is draw scenes, characters, anything from it. I have a folder of about 200 pictures, animatics and concept art added to it over the years. One thing doesn't work for me to do the project though: I can't voice act, I can't make music, and I can't animate (well, not anything above basic storyboards, and I wanna do something in 3D lmao).

I have... well, not a lot of money (no seriously, I am VERY broke). So well while I can try my best to pay anyone who is willing to help, I can't guarantee it'll be a lot (which I know it can be frustrating, as an artist, to not be monetarily compensated for your hard work, so that's why I'm saying it now).

Due to all of this, I'm only asking for people who are GENUINELY interested. I can't provide much in terms of budget so I don't wanna give anyone false hopes. But I promise that I will work very hard to fill in any position that I can, like script writing, character and environmental concept art, direction, I can even try to voice-act if there's not enough actors! As for the work itself, I allow as many breaks as needed. You're allowed to work on any personal project if you ever feel tired or overwhelmed. I too will take many breaks. I don't mind how long it takes, months, one year, a few years even, as long as I know it'll eventually be done and that the people working are genuinely interested.

Now if you've stuck this far and are still interested, I'll share the requirements:

MOST IMPORTANT PART: I am searching for 3D modelers and animators (if you can do both that's cool but it would be nice to separate tasks so it's less tiring for each person working). My characters are very diverse-looking and expressive, so above all, I'd prefer someone who can animate faces well because that's really what I want to pop out (but if you can't, that's okay too, I'm not THAT picky) (tho despite being cartooney, I'm more in the simplistic, Clone Wars - Arcane department than I am in the realistic Disney - Pixar one)

I need voice actors who speak french. No English-only speakers, sorry. Most should be natively québécois (or french who can imitate the accent fluently) but there's a few characters who are anglophones or have a french accent, so that could help too if you're not from Québec but wanna make a voice. The story is rather dramatic and action-packed, with a lot of violence, fight scenes, screams of pain and agony, all that, so be ready for that

And of course, I'd like to have some people who can do the soundtrack (one person or more working together). The story is sci-fi/cyberpunk taking place in Québec, so I'd expect someone who can go more techno, european (and cinematic too)

YOU DON'T NEED TO UNDERSTAND FRENCH TO WORK. I'm fully bilingual so I won't have trouble communicating with you. The only language requirements would be in voice-acting, or if you're working in team and need to communicate with someone else, but otherwise there really is no need because, well, google translate is a thing, and I can always be a translator for you as well if needed.

BONUS: If there's someone available (you don't HAVE to for that part, it's just to make things easier, but they're not requirements because those are all things I can do myself), I could always get some bonus script writers to help the process go a bit faster, and translators in case someone wants to put subtitles in different languages

Here is the folder of (most) of the art on Artstation: https://www.artstation.com/rosaliegosselin/albums/2467754

And here is a very short animation I did for it a while back (if you don't want spoilers tho, don't watch it, it's one of the last scenes of the story lmao): https://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/782216

And here's the story itself (it's just in french tho, sorry about that, but you can just use Google translate): https://www.wattpad.com/story/214223068-magicae-automata

I hope you feel inspired! If you know anyone who might be interested, do feel free to share this with them! I look forward to working with you! Shoot me a DM if you're interested, and if I get enough people, I'll start a discord for all of us to talk!

[little1too1dramatic]

Rue Keller; Shopping Heaven for Alt Kids and Geeks?

 Hi! (＾▽＾)

Rue Keller is known for it´s alternative stores, pleasing not only darkly inclined, but also those who prefer anime and Japanese culture. When you ask for those specific recommendations, this street often pops up. But is it deserved?

It´s not hard to get to rue Keller. It´s in nice neighborhood in the city center, more or less only 20 minute walk from Notre Dame and Centre Pompidou. That is, if you don´t keep walking in the wrong direction, which happened to me. I would like to say be careful, but most of you are not as dumb as me.

Only one-half of the street is actually filled with anything your dark heart would desire – if you come from the other, with café and elementary school, you might be quite surprised. Never mind, just confidently scroll through it, until you get through all the coutures and gallanteries to Manga Dori. You won´t be surprised with majority of their sortiment being mangas, but they also sell katanas, some magazines and of course, figurines. Staff is always nice and it´s probably the only shop where I was never the sole customer. They have decent amount of publications, neatly sorted out by name in the case of well-known authors and genres. They even have a BL corner, I need to actually go through it next time! You can occasionally find a piece in English, and as you walk around the aisles even non-Manga section! They have some publications (I still hope to see Fruits or Kera one day), from Japanese comics in less orthodox art styles to a Pusheen book. I have that in Czech and I feel the need the get French version for… scientific purposes. I found some publications with lolita characters, but I will have to report on their quality. 

You can go to Pop Culture next, they represent western geek culture from next side of road. Aside from comics and another round of figurines, they have vinyls! The owner of this place is a nice, chatty guy eager to help, and he didn´t mind me coming and looking for some vampires or Sandmand in the sales. The atmosphere here is nice, probably best out of all those stores, and if you need any other recommendation, our office manager buys his Star Wars figures here. His collection is enormous.

And now my favourite. L´indien Boutique. If you are into goth, punk, rock or even just some spooky things, come here. Even if you are on budget – they sell patches for 4 euros, buttons and pins for less and they even have a 1 euro section. You can buy postcards with some musicians here, but be warned. They have an unreasonable amount of Morrissey, and even weirder of half-naked Morrissey. I will forever treasure my card with Husker Du, the only piece of merch I was able to find anywhere. They some plainer clothing in the front, also hats, from crochet e-kids ones to band caps. And jewelry. A lot of jewelry, like this amazing coffing ring that I will need to get if I will have any money once I´m done in Paris. In the back, they have more interesting clothes. I have to say, in terms of price and what you get, L´indien is my favorite in entire Paris so far. It´s not ovepriced, the selection is nice and you get the feeling that (very nice) owners know what they are doing. Also, I never met a shopkeeper that wasn´t very nice here. They carry things from brands like Killstar and Banned, but also more whimsical pieces. For example corsets, Lots of corsets around 35 euro, over and under. I feel like anyone could pick one, from the most Victorian goth to cyber punk. You can also get band tees for 20 euros here, another thing I want to get by the end of my stay.

Now there´s New Rock. You probably know their shoes, super sturdy, super high, super cool. I want to buy them when I will actually start making money. Should you go in if you don´t have disposable 200 euro? Sure, they also sell hair colours. I saw Revolution and Manic Panic here, but they have much more that I don´t remember. Prices are always under 10 euros.

You won´t have to walk too far to Black Sugar. If you want cheap cosplay and Harajuku inspired dress, come here. If there´s anything to get excited about, it´s their bags. Sanrio, Sailor Moon and a lot more, on every shelf around the store. As for their clothing, it´s cheap. As in, you pay more than Aliexpress for the same quality. You can see some lolita dresses and blouses that would probably need a lot of restoration to be salvaged, but also some not so terrible pieces. Their pants look good and would suit both 90s ravers and Visual Kei enthusiast. Some of their boleros are actually cool too. They also have some better quality lolita clothing, in different rack. They probably realized how much the comparison would hurt them. They had really cute black and white dress for 55 euros and some blouses that actually made me think.

Other than that, they have some good figurines, for example Naruto ones for 5 euros, which is great. Any emo or scene kid should be aware of their accessories. Armwarmers, striped socks, chokers, etc. The price isn´t terrible either, but quality leaves something to be desired. There´s supposed to be another store of the same type next to Black Sugar, but it´s always closed. I only got in once, and it was worse than its neighbor, both in selection and quality. I can´t find it on Google Maps and I don´t remember the name, so behold the suprise, I guess.

If you will stay up until night, you can go to Dr. Feelgood, a really nice rock bar. Sometimes they have parties, so stay tuned if you are around!

If you go straight to Kilo Kawaii Shop in le Marais from this point, you will go around a cheap cosplay shop My Bootik, that also carries some alternative goods. The price is not high, but quality reflects it.

All in all, this place looks pretty good on paper, but once you get there, it´s not so much. You can go through all the shops in half an hour, feeling both over and underwhelmed. There is almost nothing original, the prices are only slightly better than on cons and you will sense that this place might be dying a little bit. At least you will get to see some cool people – this  place is never crowded and if you do meet someone there, they are either an otaku or a member of some subculture. And it´s near to our next spot, secondhands on Rue de la Verrerie.