#random but i wonder what falin means?

[seraphirism]

Hallo again! (●’◡’●)ﾉ I’m the Falin anon...maybe I should choose a different name but that’s for another day. And man I’ve been gone for a while. I’ve heard that there’s a Sanrio collab apparently??? WITH EVERYONE???? AND ITS LIMITED TIME?!? Welp there goes my wallet.

Aside from my poor spending habits I’ve just recently caught up on the most recent main story chapter and…well yeah I’m crying. Though it does kinda leave me wondering who the remaining butlers could be since there are only two (?) slots left according to the prophecy. Maybe Zepal (The butler Flure admires) or if Studio Wasabi really wanted to throw us a curve ball, maybe an angel? Ahhh the possibilities are endless!!!

Sorry for the rambling but I hope you have a good day and thanks so much for all your contributions to the eng Akuneko community!!

(P.S. I heard Senyjushi is getting a switch version which will have the completed main story +_+ so there’s some hope there. Hopefully all the antagonists will be able to be voiced along with the unreleased musketeers such as Minie and Mauser)

hiya, Falin-anon! long time no see! (plus, let me know if there’s something else you want to be called by :D) I agree! the sanrio collab came out of nowhere. I expected it to happen some day but this soon 😭? the cards are lovely though and the time is little (actually the event is decently long, this whole month to be specific?)

this chapter is going to become more emotional my friend, these first two parts were just a preview lol! though, I wonder what’s going to be the huge ‘turn’ that the devs talked about (about chapter 5)?

we have no known candidates (for becoming possible butlers) this time, i think. like in the case of villa butlers we did have Teddy + Yuhan (npcs at the time.).

the possibilities really are endless this time! they can do anything! I’m not sure though whether it’s going to be like early next year or later—technically it should be later since we had 2 more butlers that were added this soon.

in case of angels, we will have another angel added! the number of angels (intelligent) will become 4. i wonder what the 4th angel will be like?

also, please don’t apologise for rambling! I love it when people come into my inbox and talk—about aknk or anything. it’s nice having people to talk to about something I like (*^▽^*)!

(and thank you, I made this account on a whim in late July because I noticed the fandom was slightly active here. I thought it would be nice to interact with people about it; and it was good damn decision since it’s been very enjoyable posting about aknk and talking to people about it 💗)

you’re a senjyushi fan too \(//∇//)\ ?! i can’t believe I’m meeting senjyushi fans long after the game is over 😭 who was your favourite character by the way 👀?

the game should be fully voiced! i agree! we deserve this after both games ended this services (T-T) also, how far did you get in the main story of Rhodoknight? i hope the main story ends on a good note. i heard (from jp fans) that the older game mc had a not-so-satisfactory ending in the new game; since the new game is set quite some years after the older one.

unfortunately, I think we won’t get another game from the senjyushi universe again after this; it feels like the story will end for good after this 😭 since both games ended services in the end.

I hope the game generates enough traction that we another game from this same series with the old characters 🙏 (delusional) senjyushi is way too good and has us too emotionally invested to not get another game ✨

[tanoraqui]

Dungeon Meshi Liveblog: Endgame...

I have no real notes on the 'escape from the dungeon' sequence, other than that it IS going to be fun to have an epic 'galloping away from total urban collapse/tidal wave' sequence in the anime.

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This is technically accurate-ish but also totally not, nobody but Laios (and we the reader) knows what happened in that final confrontation, and I wonder if he'll tell them? He has no reason not to, other than it being...deeply Weird(TM) in the way that only Laios really is.

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Namari expresses many feelings, including love, through violence, and I respect and appreciate that.

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I tagged this before, but: future royal advisors lmaoooo. (I know Shuro has his own princedom to rule, but not yet, okay, and even once he inherits, lbr every time he visits Melini for diplomatic reasons, Laios is going to be like, "Shuro!! :D Come to dinner! Do you have any ideas about [infrastructure taxes/crop rotation/vigilante assassinations/etc issue of the day]?")

(Note 2: I also know his name is "Toshiro" but the characters haven't stopped using the mispronunciation, so I'm going with what's dominant in the story.)

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He Suffers for this friendship :)

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CHILCHUCK IS BEING MEAN TO HIS FRIENDS AGAIN! NATURE IS HEALING!!

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THEY'RE BESTIES YOUR HONOR!!

Fun fact: this specifically, screenshot at 4:46am, was the point at which the combination of visibly lightening sky, mortifying threat of my roommates waking up early and seeing me still up, and the fact an eager Shuro/Laios hug signalled that clearly everything was going to be basically happy from here on out, all combined to make me finally close my laptop and get ready for bed...whereupon I read the rest of the comic in bed, because I REALLY needed to see Falin safely rezzed, for my own peace of mind.

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Hell yeah time to eat! our! girl!!!

And btw, shoutout to Laios for, indeed, eating the Winged Lion. King shit. (/Yaad voice) (ah shit, is someone going to have to break it to Yaad and all the other villagers that their "prophecy" was a demon's manipulations? Or has Yaad picked that up by now while traveling with Izutsumi?)

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Kabru: You know what you were doing, right?

Laios: 8|

Kabru: Never mind, don't answer that, so I can sleep at night ever again. Actually, never answer that, especially in front of any sort of press and/or foreign nationals.

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I really like how the orcs aren't offering Laios kingship so much as sanctuary. The underground here is theirs, because nobody else ever wanted it, just like nobody ever wanted them. If Laios is going to be arrested by elves if he stays above ground, and Pattadol and Flamela with their oh-so-polite and flattering invitations trying to do, then he's an orc in all but name and form, and he's welcome among them for the rest of his life.

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Laios: I need you to help me eat my sister!

The rest of the party, as one: We know this sounds insane and we're sorry about that.

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HIGHLIGHTS OF THIS PANEL:

Marcille resignedly headlocking Izutsumi so she doesn't maul anyone in response to being swarmed

Shuro, under duress, defaulting to strangling Laios (again)

Laios rolling his eyes because he's so accustomed to and tired of everyone reacting overdramatically to his perfectly reasonable requests

Kabru just rubbing his temple. He has a headache. He's so tired that he's not even trying to talk anyone down from anything.

Chilchuck closing one eye like maybe if he pretends to be asleep he doesn't need to be involved in this.

Holm nervously saying that he can't because he keeps gnomesher (gnome kosher)

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[happy sigh] politics!

I just love love love the 'all the random disparate allies you made along the way rally together at the end for an epic battle to defeat the big bad" - except the big bad is already defeated. USUALLY the way that works is:

Core hero party faces pre-plot climax interparty conflict, then resolves it

Rally disparate allies made throughout the journey to fight the Big Bad (note: allies may rally themselves; still counts)

Fight Big Bad first as a group, then winnow/isolate down to core party, then down to single Main Protagonist who faces and defeats the Big Bad in a character foil-heavy, extremely thematic final confrontation

Everyone lives happily ever after, the end!

In Dungeon Meshi, however, it was:

Disparate allies made throughout the journey rally together to...help the core hero party deal with their pre-climactic interparty conflict! (Marcille's monster army - which does still come down to the core party, of course)

Core party, then isolated to single Main Protagonist (Laios) faces and defeats the Big Bad in a character foil-heavy, extremely thematic final confrontation

Rally disparate allies to accomplish what Laios explicitly says was the TRUE goal all along: reviving Falin! (Via eating as a group because that's live! understanding! connection! life!!)

Everyone lives happily with continuous hunger, because that's what it means to live ever after, the end!

I JUST THINK IT'S NEAT

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It is sooo notable, though by this point unsurprising, that the elves' chief consideration of the consequences of all of this is that "things" (magic, international politics, etc) may end up "harder to keep under control."

My personal theory/headcanon-until-proven-otherwise is that mana levels above-ground will simply never fully subside to their dungeon-era levels again, and dungeon mana levels will be correspondingly lower - it'll all even out, basically, though underground will still have generally higher levels. This means:

there will be more monsters on the surface, especially large ones

magic will be easier for all races (though limits on how much they can hold at once will remain)

"dark" ancient magic, which (I headcanon) is particularly defined by an assumption that there is a Shit Ton of mana to draw on, will become easier and thus more common...which is okay because "need huge power source to draw on" is no longer the first step on a slippery slope to "let dungeon demon consume the world."

corollary: Marcille is going to live her best damn life studying and innovating with the above

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This micro-interaction is so sweet. Kabru isn't even talking to Laios, but he's still keeping him in mind, and he so casually says "my friend."

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TO LIVE IS TO WANT!!! CONTINUOUSLY! YOU JUST GO ON!

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It's so great and interesting how much the Canaries care about Mithrun! It'd be so easy for him to just be their royally-imposed boss, or their weird mascot that they have to take care of, and both of these things are part of the dynamic. But they also all care about him as a person! Fleki was smothering him like a doll a minute ago, but the instant there's real hope for his life, she's jumping on it breathlessly! They're all suggesting hobbies he could take up, and standing around rapt and breathless waiting to see if Kabru's speech works to get him back on his feet!

There's definitely parallels to be made with Laios here, in terms of adventurin party rolling their eyes affectionately at their leader and saying, "yeah, we WOULD follow this total freak into hell. That's our day job, actually. #onlysomeregrets".

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Mithrun... /single tear

I just wanna see this panel in color SO BAD, though. The green grass, the pale brown earth and the paler birch trees, and the semi-translucent ice fracturing the dark red dragon meat, with Mithrun's pooling green cloak and these 2 guys standing amids all of it... It's going to be so striking.

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I've decided that the one (1) headcanon I'm holding in total defiance of explicit canon is that TO ME, Yaad was the original concept art where's she's a fairy princess in aesthetic, the perfect princess-in-the-tower for a brave knight to rescue and so earn the right to kingship of the land.

She still ends up possessing her grandfather's body, to be clear, and having this and every other conversation. It just intensifies the "I survived 1,000 years of being a ghost by focussing all my hope on THIS TROPE and you are going to play it out!!" Sure, marriage isn't an option anymore but that's fine, that wasn't the most important part! If Laios doesn't know how to govern, then she (in her grandfather's body) will teach him! Or else!!!

TLDR Yaad's gender is Princess and I will not be taking counterargument unless it's very compelling.

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Lol @ how 1 of these guys is the actual, legally appointed ruler of the island and 1 is the top local crime boss, and everyone, even Laios, know they're on equal footing (at best - the Island lord is not a competent man.)

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Kabru of Utaya, PR Professional :)

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This really is a fun little chapter, with Izutsumi's struggle to figure out what to do next mirroring Laios's. She's wandering freely, insisting on her own freedom - and nobody is arguing with her! Everyone takes it for granted, so much that she feels a little unwanted! While every conversation she walks into involves responsibilities to others.

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Holy shit, forbidden civvies!Chilchuck. He has his sleeves rolled up and collar open and everything, sluttily baring his collarbone and a hint of chest hair... He's even implicitly about to get his forearms blood-splattered, while doing a domestic chore and explaining the importance of responsibility to his teen(?) adopted catdaughter. If he still looked like the 50yo tallman with 5 o'clock shadow that he equivalently is, he'd be the hottest sexyman on tumblr right here.

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Even though it has vegetables! Because it's made with love and life!!

[chuckeroo777]

Dungeon Meshi Volume 9 Part 1

Welcome back! I hear you loud and clear. Cover images are fine, as long as they aren't actively spoilery. Now, join me for a very interesting volume!

Today, we go on an ADVENTURE!

It's a good thing you're both so naturally good looking, cause neither of you can style for shit.

As much as I love their relationship, Marcille is definitely pretty controlling, especially early on here. She does improve a lot by the end of the manga though.

Can't really blame them. Between the Asivia disaster, and just, elves in general (Seriously, name a single elf in this story who isn't problematic in some way.), they are right to be wary. I like how each of them has a particular hangup with her. Chilchuck is particularly worried about another Asivia, Shuro doesn't want a total noob, and Namari is a dwarf about it.

They're just such good friends guys.

Thank you random background NPC for agreeing with me.

An important image.

God, I love my two idiot children.

Gosh dang it Dandan, so it was your fault? Also, I have to wonder how medical fraud works in a world with healing magic. Like, what could be possibly be pretending to have that Falin couldn't heal?

You were only mostly dead. And mostly dead, means a little alive.

Lol

Seriously, of all our main characters, she's the only one whose relative age I can't really figure out. Honestly, at this point, I'm starting to suspect she is reletively younger than Falin. Half-elves sure are confusing! While most of the other races have maturity rates proportional to their average lifespan, Half-elves age quicker than elves, but have a much longer lifespan. So who knows.

Three guesses what he does literally two seconds later. The last two don't count.

You know, with how precisely shapeshifters and succubi can extract this sort of information, makes me wonder how easy mindreading would be for a mage. Like, these are scrub-tier monsters wielding some seriously potent telepathy.

It's really sad, isn't it? She's been treated poorly for so long, she's had it drilled into her that she is a freak of a human, when in fact she is a very talented cat.

Izutsumi: Screw you guys. I don't need no one.

Izutsumi two seconds later: Gotta go save my friends!

Moral of the story: Chilchuck thinks the whole party is pretty.

Izutsumi has had just about enough of this nonsense.

Pro tip for all my succubus readers. If you're just mimicking someone's type, like Chilchuck, hordes work great. But if you're mimicking a specific person, the trick stops working if there are multiples. Makes it kinda obvious that it's a trick.

There is something darkly humorous about the fake mothers being defeated by killing their babies.

That's altogether, truly, enough of this nonsense. Actually, the fact that they stayed the same, can succubi only transform once? Or maybe there is just a long cooldown on switching forms?

:3

Presented without comment.

Probably because Kui the dungeon lords are inspired by those old myths. Pity demons aren't real.

Things are getting juicy! Stay tuned for part two.

[saccharinescorpion]

(was already serious but still suddenly gets even more serious) i get it. i KNOW people are not consciously thinking "we must protect the fictional white female character's purity from the scary foreign man!!!" but it is curious to examine how it produces something that is indistinguishable from that, and what that means. more than that though, what i find interesting is what this is actually born from most of the time, which is that Shuro poses a "threat" to Farcille in the minds of fans lol

(it's also at least partially born of Shuro being cruel to Laios after the Faligon incident and i've actually sort of made a post about that already if you're curious. today this is a surprise Farcille post.)

as a big fan of the series who started reading seriously since around Volume 7 of 14 and as a bigtime Farcille fan, i have so many thoughts about how people approach the ship that i know i will inevitably need to put them all in their own entire seperate post. it's gonna happen!!! for now i will just say, i don't "agree" with how a lot of shippers approach it, and yet i have to emphasize, i can't fault a lot of them, because of how the full "scope" of Dungeon Meshi is, to be honest, hard for the average reader to grasp because of the sheer amount of supplementary material there is (a lot of it not readily avilable in any language other than Japanese!). i GET that. so i try to keep that in mind when i disagree with other fans

that said, when people start outright ignoring basic facts of what is presented to them, and, i must reiterate, accidentally (?) reacting in super racist ways, i feel like i gotta say something lol

Shuro isn't a "threat" to Marcille and Falin's relationship. putting aside the way the series aproaches "textual" romance (that's an entirely different post lol), he is not a threat to their friendship or bond or anything. like... i don't even know what screenshots i could possibly post as "proof." like, just read the series? watch the anime? lol?

the question becomes: why do fans interpret Shuro as a threat to Marcille and Falin's relationship? the answer is, well, because he's a man and he's in love with Falin lol. i get it. trust me, i GET it. i'm sure we've all loved a relationship in some series that so totally should have become canon, only for one party to randomly be placed in a heterosexual relationship that felt like it came out of nowhere. it happens. but... it doesn't happen in Dungeon Meshi. so why treat it like it does?

if anything, doesn't acting like that's what's happening in Dungeon Meshi do a disservice to Ryoko Kui's wonderful, unique relationship writing? hell, doesn't acting like that's what's happening do a disservice to the ship you love? lol? Marcille and Falin have such an interesting and engaging relationship, and i feel like the way some fans treat Shuro is basically saying "the prescence of this random guy would ruin this" which is not only not true, it... is basically saying the relationship is super flimsy lol. it's basically an insult. i'm sure that's not what most people are thinking, but like... well, think about it! have some confidence in your ship!

i think, in the advent of ship dynamic memes and those graphics made to promote romance books where they just put a picture of the cover and list all the popular tropes, there's this temptation to "puzzle" out all the tropes and stuff in the things you like, be it entire series, characters, or, yes, ships. and i get that it can be fun, but i really think sometimes that way of thinking causes people to vastly oversimplify or even completely misrepresent good and interesting writing in the name of filling out a checklist no one was asking you to fill out in the first place

that's all to say, unironically, i think a lot of Farcille fans misrepresent Shuro in this way because they're unconsciously trying to make Farcille a "yuri where one girl is saved from a shitty man by the other girl" narrative when it isn't that at all lol. it's a story about childhood friends becoming lovers, but it's also a story where one of them doesn't realize how comically down bad she is for the other because she hasn't realized there's endings besides being swept away by a prince on a white horse yet. but it's ALSO a story about that same comically oblivious one committing the ultimate taboo to save the other, yet it's ALSO a story about the other admitting she, too, would make an enemy of the world to save her, the one who saved her first without realizing it

isn't that already fantastic? why does it need to be made into something else?

remember when Shuro proposed to Falin and, though it was strangely sudden, gave her time to respond without pressuring her and spoilers but remember when he did not broach the topic until literally after the series ended and remember when Falin gently rejected his proposal because she respects him and remember when he gracefully accepted her rejection because he respects her and remember how Falin still promised to visit him in his homeland because. she respects him. and they're friends. and remember how the Dungeon Meshi fandom's overwhelming reaction was to treat Shuro like he was a drooling Neanderthal who was attempting to kidnap Falin and bring her back to his cave to force her to be a 50s housewife

[placetobenation]

Bambi

Release Date: August 13th, 1924 (released August 21st nationwide)

Inspiration: “Bambi: A Life in the Woods” by Felix Salten

Budget: $858,000

Domestic Gross: $102 million

Worldwide Gross: $267 million

Rotten Tomatoes Score: 90%

IMDB Score: 7.3/10

Storyline (per IMDB): It’s spring, and all the animals of the forest are excited by the forest’s latest birth, a buck fawn his mother has named Bambi. The animals are more excited than usual as Bambi’s lineage means he will inherit the title of prince of the forest. Along with his mother, Bambi navigates through life with the help of his similarly aged friends, Thumper, a rabbit kit who needs to be continually reminded by his mother of all the lessons his father has taught him about how to live as a rabbit properly, and Flower, a skunk kit who likes his name. As different animals, they have their own issues and challenges which may not translate to the others. Being similarly aged, Bambi, Thumper and Flower may have to experience the uncharted phases of their lives without the knowledge or wisdom unless gleaned from those who have gone through them before. Bambi has to learn early that the lives of deer and of many of the other forest animals are not without their inherent dangers, for deer especially in the beautiful albeit exposed meadow. Bambi will also find that his ascension to prince of the forest is not a guarantee as other buck deer and situations may threaten that ascension.

Pre-Watching Thoughts: We continue on through this trek with a pretty interesting film here in Bambi. This is one that I have seen a few times when I was younger, but it was never one of my favorites and this is another one that I have not seen in quite a long time. This film is unique because it is pretty beloved and considered by many to be one of the best in Disney’s film canon, but we will see if this can live up to that hype and if I end up enjoying it more than I ever remembered.

Voice Cast: For the first time and what might possibly be the only time though we will have to see as we keep going forward, we have multiple actors voicing a character at different points in their life. To start things off, we have four different actors voicing Bambi at different stages of his life and they are Bobby Stewart, Donnie Dunagan, Hardie Albright, and allegedly John Sutherland though there is some debate as to who was the actual voice of Bambi as an adult. For the character of Thumper, we had Peter Behn, Tim Davis, and Sam Edwards provide the voices and they were a solid trio for such a fun character, and for Flower we had Stan Alexander, Tim Davis also voicing this character, and the returning Sterling Holloway as he starts to become a fixture for Disney. The only other character to have multiple voices is Faline as she is voiced by Cammie King and Ann Gillis, and then we have Paula Winslowe in one of her final roles as Bambi’s mother as well as one of the pheasants. We then have Will Wright as the voice of Friend Owl as he acts as the grandfather figure in a way to the animals, and then we have Thelma Boardman who at the time was the voice of Minnie Mouse providing voices for various animals. Finally, we have Fred Shields voicing Bambi’s father and Disney writer and producer Perce Pierce voicing Mr. Mole, and even though the dialogue for this film was fairly limited these actors were good fits for these characters.

Hero/Prince: After the last three films where we had a hero and no prince, that changes here as Bambi is technically called a prince by the animals when he is born. His father is the protector of the forest and is referred to as the Great Prince, but it would make more sense for him to be called a King since Bambi is called a prince. While it does seem kind of weird at first, it would make sense that the animals of the forest would organize into a sort of kingdom and the deer would be considered the highest order in the kingdom. We see Bambi clearly being groomed to take over for his father and he proves his worth by saving Faline from Rollo, and then he helps his father save the animals when the forest is burned by Man. While he probably won’t rank high amongst human princes in the canon, Bambi is worthy of being included as a prince.

Princess: Obviously with Bambi being called a prince, whomever he ends up being with would become his princess of the forest and in this case that is the doe Faline. While we don’t see much of their relationship play out on the big screen, we know that Bambi is not real fond of Faline when they are young and it isn’t until they are older that he becomes attracted to her. He even goes as far as to fight with another buck for her affections and then he helps save her from the dogs before the forest burns, and she ends up being his wife and they give birth to twins who will take over for them. Much like how Bambi will rank pretty low amongst the princes, Faline will probably rank very low amongst the rest of the princesses though she does deserve to be recognized here.

Villain: This is an interesting one since this is the first film to come out that features all animals as the characters and we don’t see any humans at all, but we do hear reference to what the animals simply call “Man” and he is the villain of this film. “Man” is a hunter who hunts the animals and at one point ends up killing Bambi’s mother, and then he returns with more hunters along with a pack of dogs who go after Faline and Bambi has to save her. They then indirectly lead to the forest being set on fire due to their campfire and while nothing ends up happening to them, they end up being one of the more memorable villains in Disney history. We do have to make mention as well to Rollo, the buck that fights Bambi for Faline’s affection and while he makes a very brief appearance, he does give Bambi a good fight only for Bambi to vanquish him and win Faline’s heart. In the end, “Man” will definitely rank higher than Rollo on the list of villains and it will be interesting to see where “Man�� ranks amongst the other villains in the Disney canon.

Other Characters: This is an interesting film in that there are a lot of characters involved, but the majority of them are simply background characters to fill out the space while there are only a few that have a larger role in the film. Obviously, we start out with both of Bambi’s friends in Thumper the rabbit and Flower the skunk, and Thumper is a lot closer to Bambi than Flower is though both of them remain close to Bambi as they grow up and become adults. We then have Bambi’s parents with his mother raising him by herself for most of his early life until her tragic death at the hands of hunters, and then his father who is the Great Prince of the forest taking him under his wing and grooming him to take his place. Finally, we have Friend Owl who as mentioned serves as a grandfather figure to the forest, and while all he wants to do is rest he is always there to help his fellow animals. The rest of the animals in the forest as mentioned are just background characters to fill out the space and they live out their own lives while Bambi grows up by them.

Songs: For the first time in the Disney canon and potentially the only time though we will see going forward, the songs that are performed in this film are not sung by any of the characters and are done by a mysterious chorus to serve as background noise. We waste no time as we start with “Love is a Song” which we hear during the opening credits to set the tone, and then we have “Little April Shower” which is a nice song to listen to during a rainstorm. Next we have “Let’s Sing a Little Gay Spring Song” to celebrate the arrival of spring, and finally we have “I Bring You a Song” which is essence a love song to celebrate Bambi and Faline’s relationship. While these songs probably won’t rank high amongst the other songs in the canon, they are fine songs nonetheless and are fitting for this film.

Plot: The plot of Bambi is about as simplistic as you can get as we see Bambi grow up to become the future Great Prince of the forest, and we see him as a young deer before becoming a stag and an adult deer. The beauty of the film is watching Bambi grow up as he learns about the world around him as well as the danger of man, and he gets a sobering dose of reality when he learns that his mother was killed and his father looks after him. We see him fall in love with Faline and fight off a challenge from Rollo before man returns to the forest, and he saves Faline from a pack of dogs before he and his father save the rest of the animals from the fire. We close out the film with Faline giving birth to twins as Bambi officially takes over as Great Prince of the forest, and while again the plot is pretty simplistic it works in this film and it is unique seeing this kind of film especially after what we have seen prior to this.

Random Watching Thoughts: I’m anxious to see when we stop seeing Radio RKO Pictures; So if you are wondering who Sidney Franklin is, he is a director and had originally purchased the rights to do Bambi as a live action film which would’ve been wild, but he ended up selling it to Disney which in retrospect was probably the right decision so that’s why he’s recognized; This was originally set to be released after Snow White, but it was shelved due to the difficulty of adapting a novel aimed at adults into a film aimed for children; Reading up on this film, it is amazing how many ideas that they had for this film and also interesting that Disney had to cut 12 minutes from the film due to production costs; Poor Friend Owl looks like he just wants to relax but can’t because of all the hustle and bustle of Bambi’s birth; That was one hungry baby bird as he ate all the fruit and left none for his siblings; Could you imagine what’s going on in Bambi’s mind when he wakes up and all these strange creatures are looking at him with awe?; He got tired awfully quick after waking up which I get because he’s still a baby essentially; I wonder what name Thumper was thinking of; Thumper is clearly someone that just speaks what’s on his mind without thinking first; So in what ended up being an oversight, if you pay attention when the bunnies run with Bambi you see Thumper because he is grey but when they slide down the little hill, he becomes the same color as the other bunnies; He let that “bird” out loud if he blew away all the animals; Considering that Flower is a male skunk, he is pretty effeminate; So a fun anecdote, in my Senior year of high school for Drama class we had to reenact a scene with at least three different characters and one of my classmates chose the scene where Bambi and Thumper meet Flower; It is real talent of the animators to match up the raindrops and the sounds of the storm with the song as it is being played; That’s a pretty thick thicket that Bambi and his mother are in if they are not getting wet by the rain; I do wonder where this forest would be located in real life; Bambi’s mother says that the meadow is a wonderful place and gets him so excited, but then freaks him out when she says that it is dangerous as well; It would be like Thumper to only eat the blossoms of the flower and leave the greens; We always hear Thumper’s mother tell Thumper what his father would say though we never see his father; Faline is clearly smitten with Bambi and it is love at first sight for her at least; I love the majestic music they play when the bucks come through the meadow; I wonder why Bambi’s mother didn’t tell him right there that the Great Prince was his father especially after he looked at him; So reportedly hunters spoke out against the film saying that it was an insult to sportsmen; I do love the crows that appear before “Man” does as they are a great foreshadow; That was a quick jump to winter and I assume it is still the same year; I will admit if I was little and watching this in the theater, I probably would start getting a bit bored by this point; So instead of being frozen, the water in the pond is stiff according to Thumper; It is pretty funny watching Bambi try to stand on the ice and Thumper trying to help him; So Flower is trying to hibernate and Bambi and Thumper decide to wake him up for a brief time; The deer cleared the bark off of those trees pretty quickly and left themselves nothing for the rest of winter; So apparently Disney wanted to show Bambi’s mother being killed by “Man” on screen, but they decided against it which was probably smart since you didn’t want to traumatize the children watching it; I still wonder why the Great Prince now decides to take Bambi under his care only after his mother is killed and acknowledges that he’s his father; Again, is this the spring immediately after winter or did we jump ahead a few years since Bambi grew up fairly quickly; Once again, poor Friend Owl just wants to sleep and is bothered by the racket, but if he knows this keeps happening how does he not just block it out?; So leave it to Friend Owl to tell Bambi and his friends about love or as he calls it “twitterpated”; I love how Bambi and his friends are confident that they will never fall in love, but then they quickly fall head over heels for their female counterparts; That’s a pretty intense fight between Bambi and Rollo especially since it is in the shadows; So they wouldn’t show Bambi’s mother being killed on screen, but they have no problem showing the pheasant falling back to the ground after getting shot; I wonder if those hunters are actually poachers since they are pretty much firing at anything that moves; What did those hunters do to those dogs to make them so aggressive?; Bambi does a great job in taking out all those dogs by himself; How many gasps were in the crowd when they saw Bambi jump across the gap and then you hear the gunshot, thinking that Bambi has been killed?; So in another interesting fact, they originally wanted the men to be killed in the fire that they in essence started, but that was changed when no humans were shown on screen; How dry was the forest that the fire was able to spread so quickly?; Quite handy that there is a small island in the middle of a lake that the animals can take refuge at; It is a beautiful metaphor that despite all the damage caused by the fire, the forest was able to recover and bloom once again; Did Friend Owl stay in his tree throughout the whole fire?; That is cute that Flower named his son Bambi after his best friend; I wonder if Bambi and Faline’s children were fraternal twins or identical twins because if they were both boys, that would be a good plot for a sequel to see which one would become Bambi’s successor; Considering that 12 minutes were cut from the film, I can’t imagine what those 12 minutes would’ve really added to the film.

Overall Thoughts: Overall, the film ended up being a pretty decent little film though it was a bit weaker than the other films aside from Fantasia. This was an interesting film in that it was almost in essence a nature film about the lives of deer, and when it first came out it was not well-received as many felt Disney had finally lost a step and apparently even his own daughter did not like it. It also didn’t do well at the box office though again that was more due to World War II going on, but the reception of the film has gotten more positive as the years have gone on with many considering it a classic. I don’t completely agree with that because I do feel it can be a bit boring and slow in some spots, but that doesn’t take away that it is well done in terms of a story and in the animation. We are now five films into the canon and all these films have been pretty solid, but it does feel we have been on a bit of a downswing since Pinocchio and we will see how that continues to pan out. As for Bambi, it is a solid film that may not be one of the greatest in the Disney canon, but it is still a pretty good film.

Final Grade: 7/10