#samurai jack season 5 episode 7

[3nigm4art]

An informal essay/rant on Samurai Jack S5

I love Samurai Jack, for the most part. But my biggest gripe is how season 5 turned out.

Despite the artistic achievement of season 5, the main issue was how rushed it was. With only 10 episodes and still having to deal with the 50-year time skip, many characters feel underdeveloped.

Take Jack as an example. Jack's change was the most drastic yet resolved the quickest. 50 years of a battle with no end in sight is incomprehensible to a normal person, and winning seems impossible at this point for Jack. Understandably, depression, guilt and anxiety have taken over Jack, especially after he lost his magic sword. The voices in his head and the vision of the phantom samurai are evidence of his mental decay. But as a mental health struggler of many years, it feels like Jack's mental struggle should have been way past that stage. Though it should be said that everyone experiences these mental health struggles differently, it just felt less realistic as Jack's descent was not documented well enough. Depending on when his descent started, it could have very different results. Many things could happen in 50 years that would affect a person's outlook in life. It could be total despair: Jack finds no way of continuing and believes that he has completely failed. It could be dutifully depressed: Jack no longer considers himself righteous but still carries on out of habit. It could be blind optimism: despite losing the magic sword, Jack thinks, "Hey, I have fought for 40+ years. I could still do this!" Are these outcomes sound? No! Because there is no development for Jack to prove that they are sound. It also doesn't help that Jack's characterisation is so consistent in the first 4 seasons that jumping from level 1 to 100 in depression for Jack seems improbable and leaves the audience to imagine what happened. After all, depression and anxiety often do not originate from a singular event and build up gradually. Sure, I can buy that Jack is depressed, but I cannot buy that it can be resolved within 7 episodes, with half of that time occupied by Ashi's arc.

Speaking of Ashi's arc, her arc demanded the most time yet is the most unrefined. Her character has simply bitten off more than it could chew for 10 episodes. Within season 5, she went from being a daughter of Aku to an ally of Jack to Jack's lover. Each of these changes can be at least 10 episodes on its own. Especially when she has to undo 20+ years of conditioning, and completely acknowledging that she is on the wrong side of the war is bound to take a toll on her perception of reality. Yet it was resolved as quickly as 6 episodes, thanks to finding out, "Wow, Jack is actually a good guy and helped so many people!" This part of the arc was resolved because of Jack. So naturally, she becomes Jack's ally and then becomes Jack's lover. There is a terrifying idea that lurks in Ashi as one comes to realise that her entire personality revolves around Jack. In other words, if you remove Jack from Ashi's life, she becomes nothing. It is also deeply worrying that Ashi lacks emotional maturity and development as she "falls in love" with a man she has only met for maybe a week (not to say Jack is not also immature here). Her lack of independent development makes her character flimsy and frankly disturbing. She is literally made to become Jack's love interest. There is some irony in one of her final lines in the show; she says, "Without Aku, I would have never existed" when on a meta-fictional level, she would not have existed without Jack.

Character development is crucial in crafting the themes of a story. The above tackled the lack of character development leading to weak characters, but there is one thing that will determine the legacy of the story, the ending. Though it is often commented how Samurai Jack's ending was unfulfilling, it is not true that unfulfilling endings are bad. (Minor spoilers for True Detective season 1) True Detective season 1 did not end in a fulfilling manner, as it did not resolve all of the mysteries it brought up. That wasn't a huge issue as it complied with the genre of strange fiction and the theme of the world being a strange and inexplicable place that evokes more mysteries than it explains. Samurai Jack's ending and, thus, the conclusion to Jack's arc promotes the idea that overcoming one's weakness, sacrificing for the greater good, and bringing justice will not bring you the happiness you deserve... Which does not make sense relative to Jack's character development and characterisation. Jack is often characterised as a selfless hero and a bringer of hope. And the people benefit greatly from his aid. The only person who often does not benefit from this is Jack himself, who often forsakes his opportunity to return to the past in favour of saving the people in need. The show promises that Jack will find peace and happiness when he fulfils his destiny of defeating Aku. And with the classic hero's journey-type story Samurai Jack has, the show rips it apart at the very last moment, with no warning whatsoever. It wasn't a comment on the genre, as it did not deepen its themes. If one wants to turn Samurai Jack into a "we don't always get what we deserve" (please don't) story, then make fate truly cruel and unkind and provide Jack with no divine help in the story. Again, with the irony of Jack's tea being unbalanced, the show is unbalanced, too, as it rewards a suffering protagonist with more sadness and suffering at the end of his story.

Despite what this blog is about (it's art, by the way), art and aesthetics are not everything. Samurai Jack as a whole is beautiful aesthetically, but the rushed story and an unfulfilling legacy feel like a shame. Characters did not have the time to grow in complexity or realism, which made the audience feel disconnected from the characters. I wished I could see Ashi grow and develop into something more than "Jack's love interest". Or they could even develop into something that is not romantic, such as a mentor and apprentice story, which could be as, if not more, interesting. Having more refined characters creates a more refined theme that, if done right, can stir the right emotions in the audience that impact them for a lifetime.

Samurai Jack season 5 had a lot of potential but just couldn't deliver.

[seeksstaronmewni]

7 years have passed since Samurai Jack got back to the past...

Highlights of events regarding Genndy Tartakovsky and the like during this time include the following:

Genndy in interviews talked about the importance of visual storytelling (including an obvious disliking for "This is me"-type openings in animated movies), reducing dialogue in the script for a sexual animated comedy called Fixed (produced by New Line Cinema, Sony Pictures Animation, and Renegade Animation), and the viewpoint that "Character design informs posing, and it all works together."

Samurai Jack has the Checkered Past lineup on [adult swim] joined, airing on Fridays (soon to be Thursdays) at 6:00 PM... technically like around 5:59 PM, due to other Checkered Past shows having end credits time-compressed. Cartoon Network's social media accounts promoted this with a clip from EPISODE XCVIII, which is the second post they made regarding specifically Season 5 since their first one, in which they used Mao Mao x Samurai Jack fan art to promote Samurai Jack: Battle Through Time... which is now deleted due to Warner Bros. Discovery purging Mao Mao: Heroes of Pure Heart in an effort to save $3 billion.

Speaking of WBD's animation purge: Cartoon Network Studios' building is now abandoned as the crew was forced to relocate to a new building joining Warner Bros. Animation with affiliate CNS as another cost-cutting move. The Cartoon Network logo on the building was originally moved to the new building, but it was soon sold off letter by letter.

As if things couldn't grow worse; after MGM (on the home entertainment level, still an affiliate with Warner Bros. Home Entertainment/Studio Distribution Services) turned 100, Primal Screen, the studio behind much of Cartoon Network's branding including the Powerhouse era, announced that they were to shut down (likely due to financial issues - thanks a lot Warner Bros. Discovery). Buck's Pastel / Prism / Split-Screen branding is by far the cheapest, blandest, and ugliest one CN ever used, and the negative consequences of Discovery on Turner & WB make this era of CN truly the worse, with little sign of any improvement in their branding and their programming.

Unicorn: Warriors Eternal got the ACME Night marathons and airings it was promised to have, but that is unlikely to happen again since Cartoon Network stopped at 5PM with the debut of Checkered Past, causing ACME Night to be part of [as] as well (that may be just technical laziness on Discovery's part - they're already forcing Turner channels to use Discovery's rating & closed captioned screenbugs). Any future airing of Unicorn on TV, if any, so far will remain with the [adult swim] label, even on ACME Night (even though it was supposed to be for CN).

Relative to samurai in general; the Looney Tunes Cartoons episode "Yosemite Samurai" made its TV debut on Cartoon Network, though airing minutes earlier than the 9:30 AM schedule due to longer episode lengths.

Teen Titans GO! celebrated the 100th anniversary of Warner Bros. in October 2024 (was planned for September but was pushed in part due to revisions), and apparently "JACK, SAMURAI" was on the list! Dexter and Dee Dee, along with The Powerpuff Girls (in altered versions of the 2016 models), made cameos as well.

Tara Strong (a Zionist Jew and the voice of Ashi as well as Ilana Lunis) became controversial due to posts she made and liked speaking against the attacks against Jews by the Hamas, a terrorist group in Palestine. I may suffer from flack over this, but I honestly doubt that she is ultimately racist with the people of Palestine in general - just speaking against a terrorist group in Palestine killing people of her own race. May be that we're just too woke about racism?

The Powerpuff Girls Season 10 (the Hanna-Barbera Studios Europe revival; I personally count the 2016 "reboot" as Seasons 7-9 for a number of reasons) is still in production with people from Titmouse on the crew.

Dexter's Laboratory: The Complete Series DVD is set to release in June 2024... featuring the long overdue official US DVD release of Dexter's Laboratory: Ego Trip! There was a planned US DVD release long ago.

Warner Bros. may be 101 years old now (impressive considering that Discovery put them at over 60% risk of bankruptcy by December 2023), but they're not finished with celebrating their 100th anniversary; a screening of various WB (and affiliate-owned) shorts including Cartoon Network episodes like Dexter's Laboratory and the Steven Universe pilot "The Time Thing" (on which Genndy was the timing director) was announced for Annecy 2024.

Relative to a block that Samurai Jack used to rerun on; [adult swim] announced another nostalgic block: Toonami Rewind! This is so far exclusive to anime.

Personally, Cartoon Network entering into the Pastel era was bad enough, but Discovery exercising more control of WB affiliate Turner Broadcasting System pretty much killed CN for me (regardless of the many older shows airing on special occasions that weren't rerun on the network in years and even decades). I still remain faithful to a fair extent to CN, but, as you can see, there's a lot about the animation industry that's crumbling.

I'll add more to this post if I find anything else that happened.

Highlights of Year Passing 1

Highlights of Year Passing 2

Highlights of Year Passing 3

Highlights of Year Passing 4

Highlights of Year Passing 5 (incomplete; I know)

Highlights of Year Passing 6 (also incomplete)

[waeirfaahl]

Aku's depression issue

Aku's depression idea is actually not a bad one. Here it was the great potential for revealing the feelings and psychology of the character, and not to invent it as a flimsy excuse for Aku's inaction and passivity in season 5. After all, in season 5, Aku has a couple of new abilities that literally break and make pointless the whole plot. He could have killed Jack during these 50 years, either by blowing him up with the power of thought (as he did with Scaramouche in episode 9), or by turning him into a monster and controlling him (as he did with the lambs in episode 7), or by exhausting and killing him with the help of restoring and repairing robots many times (5 season 9 episode and the game). And he could just look in his mirror and find out about Jack's lack of the sword. I also can't understand why he assumed that Jack became immortal precisely because of time travel, but not because of the destruction of all portals.

But I am concerned about a slightly different aspect. If the authors added the idea of depression, let's look a bit deeper into this element of the character. Aku has seized depression due to Jack's immortality and uncertainty about how much longer the samurai will roam the planet. But why didn't Aku develop paranoia and depression during those thousands of years before Jack arrived in the future, but traveled in a time tunnel? After all, in 1 episode of 1 season Aku did not know in what period of time he sent Jack. He was weak and scared, he worried about saving own life at this moment, he knows about the threat and danger of the magic sword, but he did not find or invent any magic artifacts to protect himself from the sword (I'd say he's pretty confident and wants Jack to pay for his pain of the past). This fear of encountering a sword (the only weapon capable of injuring Aku) should have been devouring him from the inside all these centuries.

This is the same stress that Jack should have been experiencing all these 50 years, being without the only weapon capable of protecting him from the demon (well, Jack did nothing too in 5 season for resolving the problem, but could easily do this, just going below the mountain and taking back the sword). Well, with these facts, in 5 season we could see cool emotional tie between these two depressing bro...

[stillsmybeatingheart]

[craftmanatee]

Samurai Jack S5 Ep6&7

Reviewing episode 6, and the amazing episode 7!

Also now with a Final summation for those who do not want to read my cluster wall of text.

Episode 6

Is a lackluster episode in my opinion. It was fun, but it added very little to the plot. Maybe I am wrong, but episode 6 sure as hell felt like a call back episode that did not add to itself.

I was right about seeing the next episode on Ashis point of view, and that is what happened. Ashi travels through to find many of the previous inhabitants that Jack has saved back in the cartoon network days, and that is how she sees more confirmation to what has Jack done to the world as for the better. There is a minor sub-plot with Sacramouch as a head trying to get to Aku and tell him that Jack lost his sword, and its pretty funny. I think the sub-plot is the major highlight for Episode 6 as Sacramouch says the word “penis” and there are a few funny cameos, like the George Jetson dog, haha!

Ok so the one cool thing we got from this episode is Ashi UNDRESSING! OOOOOOOOOooooooooo! Just kidding, what the truly cool thing is how she does it and what her suit previously was. They even show you how they got those black suits, and it is actually pretty disturbing. I am doing research on a genre not yet existing called Punk-Fantasy, and stuff like the Ashi suit fits it like a glove. There are so many questions and the more I think about the suit, the more disturbing it is.

Like seriously, imagine the suit. How does she poop? Does the suit grow with her? Was she actually always semi-naked, almost like body paint? These are answers better left unexplained but simply the science and the thought behind it gives a much more disturbing implication if it were to be more defined properly. Shit like that makes fantasy “FANTASY” again! Samurai Jack even back in the cartoon network days has had many episodes that have these visually explainable tactics that are defined just enough but not too much to be questioned. And here I see that again and I love it!

Also, ashi sports a very nice new look and saves Jack from committing seppoku (Suicide). I am sorry but this episode was very boring and lackluster, it had its moments. One that I particularly loved but the episode felt like it stretched itself out too much just to give space for the next one.

Episode 7

And the next episode is AMAZING! Holy cow! This episode was both funny, action packed, incredibly refreshing and it finally picks up the pace!!!

 You finally get to see how Jack lost his sword, with Aku destroying the final portal. Before that, Jack sees the portal and his immidiate instinct is “JUMP IN JUMP IN JUMP IN” and he guns it with no hesitation! This is the exact feeling and thought I would have had and they illustrated it perfectly. Jack gets pulled out by Aku, and there we see classic Aku again!

This entire flashback was very much like the standard samurai jack cartoon where you have everything be the same. Except for blood. Jack kills some goats. He gets all sad and from that he looses his sword.

When Ashi and Jack come to the location again, they go down the hole and search for the sword. They do not find it, but jack realises that the sword LEFT HIM! Mmmmm loving this episode already!

Jack decides to go into a spiritual journey to find an answer, while ashi... waits. Until, uh oh! An army of orcs come up the mountain. Ashi takes the responsibility to protect Jack, so she goes down to challenge the huge army. She proceeds to destrooyy them! like a Dynasty Warriors game! She goes all berserk on their asses-ABRUBTLY CUT TO

Jack meditating... This is what makes the action sequence funny in a way. Its so well done and I love it for that. Jack goes through this spiritual journey and the visuals for this is AMAZING! Here the quality really shows you what animation can do and its... beautiful. Jack takes a small journey and rafts to a small house on a lake, and there he has to make tea for some mini-Buddhist guy. He proceeds to do things as peacefully and nicely then BAM!

We are back with Ashi kicking ass! The entire army is destroyed, a bit stupid that one person did that with her bare hands, but it was a cool sequence none-the less. She spots someone already up the mountain near jack, and deflects a barrage of arrows that could have killed Jack. And there, her mother reveals to Ashi. I gushed, it was a pretty “Oh shit” moment. They go all kung fu on each other using basically the same tactics against each other, the only difference is the mother sometimes takes the opportunity to attack Jack whos sitting and meditating, the fight sequence is alright. The mothers death was a bit meh, and Ashi collapses in exhaustion from all the fighting.

Back to Jacks mind, the tea he made for the mini-monk was... bad. The mini-monk says it lacks balance, which spawns Jacks inner rage. That motherfucking alter-ego from the previous episodes. Jack identifies the inner-alter-ego finally as the fault for the flaws he made when he lost the sword. He got pretty mad at Aku for destroying the “Last portal”. So he slaps his alter-angry-ego to oblivion with his eyes and there the Gods show themselves to Jack and give him back his sword. Also a shave and his signature outfit. The episode ends with Jack waking Ashi up, and their next plan of action... AKU!

Jack is Back!

[WHUATCHAAaaa…..]

Final Summation

Episode 6 was a wasted episode for me. It gave me somethings but I did not feel like Re-watching it, It felt closer to a straight up filler. Episode 7 however makes me wanna re-watch it, just like how I did with Episode 2 and Episode 5, also episode 7 felt like a proper samurai jack episode. The classic samurai jack helps that notion. I honestly must study exactly why these episodes where so great. Which is why I partly make these “Reviews”, mostly for my own sake. I would go into more detail but that would bore me as well as you and Ide rather write details in an actual documentation.

[ifeelalot]

[disneywizard]

What can we say about 2021? Well it’s not 2020. But that’s about all it’s got going for it.

We lost Ed Asner, one of my favorite voice actors of all time, as well as Betty White, right before the end. But we have some bright spots too. I have my health, my family, and more merchandise than ever for my favorite animated series. On that note, let’s start my list.

First up, honorable mentions:

Young Justice: Phantoms

Okay, let’s be clear. Just like the last time, this show SHOULD be my number one, because it’s easily the best thing I’ve watched all year, bar none. But because of violence and ‘adult content’ I’ve had to restrict it from my normally family friendly list. Well I’m not doing that anymore. With Young Justice, Samurai Jack, Invincible...we’re finally starting to break the trend of homogenized adult animation. Starting next year, I’m implementing the “because of Young Justice” rule. If an adult show is good, and I mean really really really good, it can now potentially earn a spot on my list. But for this year, it’s only an honorable mention.

Hilda and the Mountain King

Hilda’s second season ended on quite the cliffhanger that was resolved in this movie event. It was very good, (and possibly a series finale? Unsure at this time). As a movie, however it doesn’t get to be on the list.

Dishonorable Mention:

Trollhunters: Rise of the Titans

It’s not very often that I put a negative on my list, but I have to acknowledge how incredibly AWFUL this movie was for what WAS one of my favorite franchises. It actually ruined the rewatch value of the series for me. This is a must MISS movie.

And now, the list itself:

10: Star Trek Prodigy

This show has only had five episodes that basically just set up its premise, but those episodes were so engaging and interesting that it set the stage for this show to snag my tenth slot. Available on Paramount+

9: The Owl House

The Owl House’s second season has been nothing short of amazing, and I cannot wait to see what Dana Terrace has in store for us in the future. Disney+

8: Carmen Sandiego

I’ve sung this show’s praises many times before, and the finale season was easily it’s best season, with quite a tearjerker of a final arc. Netflix Original.

7: Miraculous: Tales of Ladybug and Cat Noir

Season 4 has been WHAM episode after WHAM episode. Honestly the best season yet. Still having scheduling issues though. First 3 Seasons on Netflix, fourth season on Disney+

6: Kid Cosmic and the Stones of Power

This show by Powerpuff Girls/Wander Over Yonder’s creator Craig McCracken is his first stab at arc based storytelling and he nails it. Netflix Original.

5: A Tale Dark and Grimm

Based on a series of books, themselves inspired by Grimm fairytales, this show was my sleeper hit this year. It is what it sounds like. Netflix Original.

4: Centaurworld

What would happen if a character from a serious show like Avatar wound up in a World like Care Bears? Find out here! Netflix Original.

3: Jurassic World: Camp Cretaceous

Seasons 3 &4 dropped this year, and I just love the direction that they went. The Long Run is one of the best episodes of anything I’ve ever seen. This show just keeps getting better, and I cannot wait for season 5. Netflix Original

2: Amphibia

This is the best show currently airing on Disney Channel, and I cannot recommend it enough. On Disney+

1: Maya and the Three

Discounting Young Justice Phantoms, nothing else I watched this year even came close to how good Maya and the Three was. Easily the best show I watched that qualified this year, without question. Watch it, you won’t be disappointed. Netflix Original.

[giveamadeuschohisownmovie]

Predictions for the Powerpuff Girls live-action series (based on what I know of the CW shows):

1) The Powerpuff hotline is now a smartphone app

2) Buttercup coming-out-of-the-closet character arc 

3) Blossom-Brick angsty romance (superhero falling for a supervillain type of angst)

4) At least one villain will get killed by the Powerpuff Girls, as an attempt to make the PPG morally-grey. 

5) Most of the fights will be in a warehouse

6) The Mayor will be written in a more villainous manner with him trying to start an affair with Miss Bellum, despite being married 

7) At least one of the Powerpuff Girls will have daddy issues. Something that Professor Utonium did in the past caused the rift. 

8) Samurai Jack appears in one episode as a way of setting up his series (it’ll be the Flash to the PPG’s Arrow). Also, let me just say this...if there’s ANY Cartoon Network series that deserves a dark live-action adaptation, it’s Samurai Jack. That’s literally just season 5.  

9) At least one male character will be genderbent. If I had to pick, it’ll most likely be HIM (so...it’ll be HER in the live-action version).

[setaflow]

SJ Fans: Wow Aku was finally defeated! It’s nice to see Jack and Ashi finally get their happy ending!

Genndy Tartakovsky:

[seeksstaronmewni]

4 years have passed since Samurai Jack Season 5 ended...

and over a dozen eggs of news came during the 4th year.

Samurai Jack: Battle Through Time, a video game exploring select moments from past episodes of the series, was released... and even Cartoon Network had to eventually promote that. A marathon aired on [adult swim] to celebrate the release of the game.

Genndy Tartakovsky’s Unicorn: Warriors Eternal was announced for Cartoon Network and HBO Max.

Some cartoons featuring many of Genndy’s artistic creatives are revived: Bruce Timm’s vision of Batman is BACK man... with the announcement of Batman: Caped Crusader for CN & HBO Max! Tiny Toon Adventures is also returning with Tiny Toons Looniversity; Genndy worked on both Warner Bros. cartoons (Batman & Tiny Toons) in the early 1990s. Then, of course, is The Ren & Stimpy Show coming for its 7th season to Comedy Central, a controversial but ground-breaking cartoon featuring many storyboard/layout artists who went on to work on most of Genndy’s cartoons... and much of Burbank & Canadian animation.

Season 1 of Genndy Tartakovsky’s Primal concluded (the last 5 were not Season 2 but the delayed part of Season 1). Soon afterward a digital soundtrack for that season was released by Watertower Music, and the in-home release of the first season was announced for June 1st, 2021.

Paul Rudish’s vision of Disney’s Mickey Mouse was retitled as The Wonderful World of Mickey Mouse, now formatted specifically at 8+ minutes and exclusive to Disney+.

Craig McCracken’s Kid Cosmic finally debuted on Netflix; Stephen DeStefano, who turned 55 this year (2021), contributed additional art to the 2nd episode.

I became known to Joel Valentine, sound designer of Samurai Jack and most of the Cartoon Cartoons that were a nostalgic part of my childhood.

Speaking of “Cartoon Cartoons”, Cartoon Network had the name, block and shorts program Cartoon Cartoons revived on April 15th, 2021! Pete Browngardt and Katie Rice are among the heads of the shorts program aforementioned.

Star Wars: Clone Wars, the 2003-2005 Cartoon Network Studios micro-series, being owned by Lucasfilm, was added to Disney+ under the Star Wars Vintage collection, labeled not episodically but as the 2 volumes (akin to the DVD releases) that contain all 3 seasons... and a decade passed since I bought those DVDs at a closing, local Movie Gallery. Luckily for nostalgic CN fans, Disney preserved the Cartoon Network Studios logo.

The Powerpuff Girls Season 7, ran by Haley Mancini, Nick Jennings and Bob Boyle, began to be 5 years old. Though nostalgically incorrect on many levels, the new PPG episodes, considered more like a slice-of-life style comedy, reeled me further back into my love of Cartoon Network (partly by Ms. Keane) and, being nostalgically incorrect, made me more hyped for Samurai Jack Season 5.

Syfy did a nice article about the creative influences of Dexter’s Laboratory, which, as a show format, became 25 years old.

Hotel Transylvania’s franchise continued with a new short, “Monster Pets”, and the announcement of Hotel Transylvania: Transformania.

Sym-Bionic Titan became a decade old, including the passing of a decade since the Season 1 finale, and was removed off of Netflix on December 15th, 2020.

Wander Over Yonder, a show featuring some of Genndy’s creatives and even a reference to Samurai Jack, also joined Disney+.

Bill Wray, a background painter and comic book artist for Samurai Jack, joined Twitter.

I look forward to seeing what exciting news comes about in the 5th year to pass.

1 bad Jack egg broken still leaves over a dozen...

Tweet version here.

1st year passing events here.

2nd year passing events here.

3rd year passing events here.

[waeirfaahl]

The true villains in “Samurai Jack”. And about inconsistency of the magic sword.

Being a kid, I was kinda scared by these three alien gods from “Birth of Evil” (they terrified me even more than the dragon-like shadow from 9 episode of 3 season), and I felt untrust toward them and their words. And the same fear and untrust I experienced during watching 7 episode of 2 season, where Jack climbs up the mountain with the three creepy monks, which just disappear later. I genuinely believe that these monks are these alien gods from “Birth of Evil”. Since my childhood I had incredibly deep impression that these alien gods are the true villains of the show. Just let’s see at what they do in the show: 1. For unknown (unclear) reasons they fought with the cosmic black creature and killed it, considering the creature as Ultimate Darkness. But they didn't destroy the small fragment themselves, when Aku wasn't even born. And they KNEW that the fragment survived and was on Earth all this time. All these million years the alien gods ignored it, until Jack’s father’s attempt to destroy the fragment gave the life to the new creature (Aku) instead. Another weird aspect of these gods is that although they incredibly resemble Ra, Shiva and Odin, they are way older than humankind and obviously the Earth. And I don’t think that it’s their true faces (these alien gods are literally expressionless, as if they hide under emotionless masks). And since there were still people who believed in Scandinavian/Indian/Egyptian gods and created cults and myths about them... These alien gods apparently tolerated the fragment on Earth until Aku’s birth (while the fragment actually could devour and absorb the planet). 2. Instead of destroying the fragment or instead of defeating Aku by themselves, these alien gods forced Jack’s father (and later Jack) to fight with Aku. 3. The alien gods literally lied to Jack’s father. How? Well, that’s their line about the sword and humans’ purity as the only weapon that can kill Aku: “Only through the strength of the human spirit and virtue of human righteousness can this evil be vanquished” (they also never referred to Aku by name, even in comics they always called Aku “sliver of the Ultimate Evil void”, they never saw him as a living being, just as something which must be destroyed only ‘cause of its origin). What?! Might I remind you that they actually themselves HAVE the weapon, which killed Aku's ancestor, and this happened for MILLIONS years BEFORE humankind's emergence, so what a hell are they talking about?! 4. They literally did nothing during Jack’s traveling in the time portal (thousands years of Aku’s reign on Earth) and for another 50 years, when Jack was in despair in 5 season (the funniest thing is the absence of Jack's reaction and caution toward them — he sees them for the first time, but he doesn't even assume that they can be Aku's spies and so on). 5. They didn't tell to Jack that his lady friend was infected by Aku's blood all this time. And they were completely okay with Emperor’s wrong deed in “Birth of Evil” toward Aku, completely okay with the suffering of many humans and other mortals and Jack’s suffering all those years. Seems to me, they just lied to Jack's father about "the pure evil" thing in desire to destroy the inconvenient person (Aku) with someone else's hands. It wouldn’t be surprise for me, if there were a twist that Aku is some heir of the true divine entity, which represents both life and death and nature itself, gives and takes away the life (or conditions for this life to exist and evolve), but these alien gods intentionally misrepresented the entity and its descendant (Aku) as the pure evil, ‘cause they couldn’t conquer it and use in own goals.

Don’t believe me? Well, the magic sword also has some weird moments. The core of the sword is in it: “The sword was forged in purity and strength. It can only be used for good, In the hand of evil it can never harm innocent” — that’s what the classic seasons mentioned many times and demonstrated in 4 episode of 3 season. Even Phil LaMarr (Jack’s voice actor) in some interviews points out that “the sword hurts only bad ones”. But what we see in the show? Several times it gives impression that the sword harms not the evil in therms of deeds or morality, but exactly Aku exactly in therms of his origin. The sword didn’t harm the dragon-like shadow from 9 episode of 3 season (while the beast devoured and tortured its victims in own inner dimension), it clearly didn’t harm Demongo (Aku’s servant and a collector of hundreds of souls) or Jack’s dark twin (created by Aku from Jack’s anger). But when Jack was infected by Aku’s blood in 4 episode 4 season, the sword harmed some lizard monks. And the sword killed X-9, who just wanted to save his beloved pet Lulu. What a heck? More fun and bizarre things happened in 5 season — again, the sword doesn’t harm an innocent, but for some reason the sword killed the lambs instead of freeing them from Aku’s dark magic, and instead of freeing from Aku’s blood the sword for some reason harmed the human girl, who is also an innocent, according to the narrative of 5 season (and Jack clearly forgot about “The sword will never harm an innocent” thing and didn’t try to pierce the girl one more time, killing Aku’s blood and freeing her). What a hell is going on?!

[monkey-network]

Good Stuff: Best of 2020

I don’t need to say much about how this year sucked. What matters is that if you’re reading this, congrats because you made it through and you’ll know that animation in 2020 has certainly made its marks as much this year as it did the last. Effort was still made to provide some of the best entertainment imaginable, and I’m here to provide the TOP TEN BEST entertainment I’ve experienced and loved this year. With that said, let’s get to it…

10. Sonic Rebuilt

I’ll admit, I don’t like the Sonic Movie. It was not a good film to me & while I’m holding out for the sequel, I genuinely never want to see it again. But like Biden to Trump, the people behind Shrek Retold gave us a reanimated telling of the Sonic 1996 OVA. Like Shrek Retold, it offers a compelling new light to the OVA and while the original is much cleaner, and it’s not the most hype thing to come from Sonic overall, the imaginative cauldron of artists that put into this makes it far more rewatchable. 

9. Central Park

I knew after watching Bob’s Burgers that creator Loren Bouchard would eventually make a musical cartoon and I’m glad I was right. Central Park is a first for me where it’s an animated musical that isn’t a film or only occasional like Steven Universe or Adventure Time and while it isn’t the best plotwise, the numbers themselves were heartfelt and sometimes catchy. There’s a struggle in being episodic and serialized, and it’s a slow burn to connect with the characters, but this was admirable in its experimentation and I’m interested in the direction season two will go.

8. Interspecies Reviewers

The first horny anime I can safely say was never an off-putting or one-note gag fest; that’s gotta count for something. The momentum of this series never truly dies and even when there were a couple times where I just wasn’t feeling it, they pull me back with something ten-fold entertaining. Fresh variety is what I can describe this series at its best, it knew how to keep things going and growing even when it’s otherwise formulaic. All the while, this series never felt tasteless; it really felt structured and gallantly clear-minded in what it wants to show. Plus, it has Crimveal who next to Steven Universe is the best boy of 2020. Of course this show ain’t for everyone but my god, it does so much right for me upon most ecchi stuff.

7. Primal

I wanna believe this was what Genndy Tartakovsky always wanted to make after Samurai Jack ended (well, the 2nd time). This show really exhibits his many techniques in direction, like you can tell this is his work if you’ve seen his other shows. Primal always feels like the culmination of all that’s he towards as a man of animation. Even with the roars and the harsh sounds of violence, this is the only cartoon that never says anything but conveys everything so vibrantly. This admittedly isn’t my favorite piece from Genndy, but it definitely made it’s way to the top three.

6. Team Fabulous 2 Reanimated/Suponjibobu Anime

We got a tie here because these I especially felt brought people together. Suponjibobu brought people together to celebrate Spongebob Squarepants like never before, making it as legendary this year as Mr. Krabs Overdoses on Ketamine. A beginning to a series long in the making and can hopefully go for more as animation on Youtube has certainly delivered. 

The Team Fabulous 2 Collab was where a community came together to honor the creator to one of the most recognized fanworks for a game that has stood the test of time. Like Sonic Rebuilt, it’ll never replace the original but god damn it’s like the stars aligned, especially after we were dealt with another loss this year, where we could appreciate TF2 for the culturally powerful game that it is.

5. Crash Bandicoot, It’s About Time

I’ll say again but this game feels like a dream. A good, fresh looking, fun to play Crash Bandicoot game that feels like the gamiest game this year after all the discourse surrounding Last of Us 2 and plenty other shit surrounding the game industry, Nintendo included. Like, I just gotta appreciate this. It’s by no means the greatest Crash game, the completion journey is horrifying, but my god it was a great game to jump into again and again. It feels like a testament to what Crash can be in the modern era and I certainly want more of it. Bugsnax is objectively game of the year if not Hades, but Crash 4 is my personal GOTY. 

4. Glitch Techs

It’s the gamer equivalent to Men in Black, that’s enough of a seller. From the people behind Fanboy & Chum Chum, it’s genius well-animated, realized, and not immediately dated. It’s a mind-boggling crime Nickelodeon isn’t treating this show better because it deserves recognition as an innovative idea. It does a lot right and it’s a worthwhile action series up there with Rise of the TMNT that’s worth the risk to give it more of an audience as opposed to just thinking it’ll be the next Spongebob. If it’s future is anything, I enjoyed this series and there’s nothing like it.

3. Wolfwalkers

This was an animated film with the most personality to me in a long while, with the most memorable look to it, compelling leads, and animation that really made its mark in the moments that mattered. I’ll agree with other reviewers that, outside Mebh who is the greatest and besterest girl of 2020, it's a simple story but it’s effectively simple. Beside the 3rd act which was noticeably long, the moments flow one after another fluently and you really get the struggle between two immediate friends that are shackled with responsibilities their parents didn’t want to put on them. Like Netflix’s Klaus, it all comes together like a beautifully seasonal tapestry. Worth watching and supporting is the best I can tell you for this film.

2. Elinor Wonders Why

This is my most personal of personal choice for the list; like True and the Rainbow Kingdom, it’s the one that helped pick me up after being in a slump for most of this year. I’ve always had an interest in understanding the fundamentals of nature, and this show encourages thinking about the wonders of science, where something as simple as a feather can make you wonder of its many shapes, abilities, and functionality. It appealed to me in the best way that it does more than represents your existence but deep down represents why you are the way you are with your interests and the flexibility of your outlook. I wish it was number one but it did enough to make the top of this list.

1. Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken

I mean what else could be number one? This is the most ‘anime’ anime I have ever seen. The story, characters, and world building are at their most realized. I can’t imagine anyone other than Science Saru, with the based Yuasa, animating this with the style it has. Every episode is an engaging puzzle to every 4th episode where it all culminates with the in-universe final product of our Eizouken trio. It’s so compellingly meta it hurts as I could gush about every single detail that went into this series both in universe and the real behind the scenes. But what makes this the greatest is how nothing feels contrived, everything in this anime exists for something and the obstacles our characters face are things you’d definitely face in you were in there shoes. It’s energy is what really carried me through this year and I can safely say this is one of my all time favorites. And it really says don’t give up believing and working for better things to come, because if art like this can be made nearly flawlessly, it’s always worth carrying on to see something just as great if not greater. That’s why this is a masterpiece to me...

Then again...

[iamyourdarksyde]

(Picrew: here) 1. Alias / Name: Numa

2. Birthday: Sometime this month, actually (September)

3. Zodiac Sign: Virgo

4. Height: Around average

5. Hobbies: drawing, reading, video games, alt fashion, accidentally hyperfixating on a show/book/nostalgic thing I like on a whim

6. Favorite Color: I like a lot of colors, but I have a soft spot for purple and turmeric yellow. (I also like black and red together, but shhhh.)

7. Favorite Book: ohh it’s been a while, I like The Child Thief and The Plucker (both books by Brom) and the HP series by She-Who-Will-Not-Be-Named, if I’m being honest

8. Last Song: “The Nowhere King” from the Centaurworld soundtrack. It’s delightfully creepy for such a sweet lullaby.

9. Last Film / Show: Show? … Centaurworld and ReBoot 😅 Film? … … … Shrek 🤣

10. Recent Reads: Clinically Oriented Anatomy… It’s for a class I’m taking right now.

11. Inspiration: Samurai Jack has been a huge inspiration for me in general, ever since I first watched it; of course, seeing the variety of media that inspired Samurai Jack has inspired me to just have fun with this blog - sometimes serious, sometimes fun. Gives me the excuse to do crossover stuff and shenanigans too, which I am ALWAYS down for. I’ve drawn some inspiration from the games in the series too, and have developed my muse quite a bit in the past 10 years or so. There’s a lot that y’all don’t know about him yet - even some things he’s yet to figure out for himself too, so I hope I can build Mack up and let him shine when the time comes.

12. Story Behind URL: Got into SamJack around 2010, roleplayed him on DeviantART for a short while. I originally started this as another blog on Tumblr back in 2011 or so, originally called @ask-thedarksamurai-blog-blog (the -blog’s at the end there were because of tumblr tomfoolery back then when they were freeing up URLs people weren’t active on or were just hoarding in order to make room for active people who wanted those URLs instead. Somehow they accidentally put two of them on there, I don’t know either). I lost the password to the blog and haven’t been able to use it since. Besides that, Mad Jack is Jack’s ‘dark side’, as he states in the episode he first appeared in (season 1, episode 8) - but the title of the new blog reflects Mack’s change from just being Jack’s inner darkness, or just being ‘Mad Jack.’

Also, The Darksyde is my screen name on Twitter, which is a nod to Beast Wars, so I thought that’d be fun to throw in there too.

13. Fun Fact About Me: I’m trying my best :’) Okay, okay, being serious for a moment - I made a picture of Mad Jack around 10 years ago that somehow still goes around uncredited when people use it? It’s one of the first results on Google when you look up Mad Jack. This one:

This is the original posting of this picture on my old dA account - https://www.deviantart.com/numa-numa-shadow/art/Mad-Jack-201752095

If you use it, could you maybe credit me? Please? Thank you.

Tagged by: @dearaliceliddel Tagging: Uhhh no one, if you wanna do this go for it

[fearsmagazine]

Genndy Tartakovsky's Primal: The Complete First Season Available on Blu-ray & DVD June 1, 2021.

Eat, or be eaten! Kill, or be killed! Get into survival mode with Adult Swim’s #1 prehistoric animated series with the release of Genndy Tartakovsky's Primal: The Complete First Season on Blu-ray and DVD from Warner Bros. Home Entertainment on June 1, 2021.

The critically acclaimed series displays a perfect 100% rating by critics & 99% by audience on Rotten Tomatoes, and recently won 3 Juried Emmy® Awards for Outstanding Achievement in Animation. Travel back in time and binge on all 10 fascinating episodes from the first season and go behind the scenes with interviews from the incredible talent from this wordless series. The edge-of-your-seat thriller is priced to own at $24.98 SRP for the DVD ($30.99 in Canada) and $29.98 SRP for the Blu-ray ($39.99 in Canada), which includes a Digital Copy (U.S. only). Genndy Tartakovsky's Primal: The Complete First also available to own on Digital via purchase from digital retailers.

Coming off an award-winning final season of “Samurai Jack,” Adult Swim reunites with creator Genndy Tartakovsky on a new animated series. “Primal” features a caveman at the dawn of evolution. A dinosaur on the brink of extinction. Bonded by tragedy, this unlikely friendship becomes the only hope of survival in a violent, primordial world.

SPECIAL FEATURES • Behind the Scenes Interviews

INCLUDES ALL 10 EPISODES 1. Spear and Fang 2. River of Snakes 3. A Cold Death 4. Terror Under the Blood Moon 5. Rage of the Ape-Men 6. Scent of Prey 7. Plague of Madness 8. Coven of the Damned 9. The Night Feeder 10. Slave of the Scorpion

DIGITAL Genndy Tartakovsky's Primal: The Complete First Season is available to own on Digital. Digital purchase allows consumers to instantly stream and download all episodes to watch anywhere and anytime on their favorite devices. Digital movies and TV shows are available from various digital retailers including Amazon Video, iTunes, Google Play, Vudu and others. A Digital Copy is also included with the purchase of specially marked Blu-ray discs for redemption and cloud storage.

[aros001]

Going in blind: Watching season 1 for the first time. Random thoughts.

This show is kind of nice because I have no memories of the original She-Ra show, or even any of He-Man, honestly. I'm not sure if I ever watched the original, so I have no frame of reference for how the series is "supposed" to be. I can just take it and judge it as is.

Of the bat, all I know is that supposedly She-Ra and Catra get together as a romantic couple later, but I'm also a huge My Hero Academia fan and the fandom around me ships every character with every other character, so for all I know that might just be shipper wishful thinking I've been seeing and hearing. Given fandoms for Gravity Falls, Thor, and Supernatural ship even siblings together, I've learned not to trust anything except for what I see in the series for myself.

By the way, this isn't a review, just random thoughts and comments I'm having as I'm going through season 1 for the first time.

Episodes 1 and 2: Right off, I really like Catra's "No duh" response to Adora about the truth of the horde. She knows they've been lying to them and have been doing terrible things, she just doesn't care. If she and Adora play their cards right they could end up being the ones in charge and then they'd have all that power. Not necessarily to make things better but enough to where they could do whatever and live however they want. That's a good build for an antagonist. Not ignorant to the fact what they're doing is wrong, just simply so selfish that they don't care.

Episode 3: It really feels like there was no good reason why Glimmer didn't just outright introduce Adora to her mother and every reason she should have known it was a bad idea to try and hide her for a surprise. Being a former horde soldier she'd probably get treated with hostility if Glimmer brought her to the front gate but you'd almost guarantee Adora would get arrested or outright killed if she got caught while no one else knew she was there.

On the other side, we have Hordak being pretty intelligent in promoting Catra. He probably knows Shadow Weaver already doesn't like him, so it's not like he's losing anything making her upset with him, and it's clear she favors Adora way more than Catra, so that little bit of advancement towards Catra probably goes a long way in earning her loyalty to him and a person on the inside with Shadow Weaver.

Also, I'm not the only one who saw Madam Razz and immediately thought Adora had found her Yoda, right?

Episode 4: I don't know how it was in the original She-Ra and He-Man series but I kind of like She-Ra being this title from legend. Adora is not the first She-Ra, given what Razz was talking about with a Mara, so instead of being something new, impressing everyone with abilities they've never seen before, and creating the legend, Adora is placed in a position WAY over her head where she's having to live up to what came before her.

Episode 5: Calling it now, as long as her personality is genuine I think Scorpia is going to be one of my favorite characters in this show. She's...endearing, I think is the best word. She's like a mix of Kronk and a nicer Shego.

For a little bit I thought Mermista was voiced by the same actress who played Poison Ivy in the Harley Quinn animated series. She's not but they do have the same kind of Daria-ish inflections, thus by confusion. Given the prom episode, Sea Hawk feels kind of like her Kite Man.

Episode 6: Okay, now it's between Scorpia and Entrapta who are likely to be my favorites by the end of this. She's fun and quirky.

Episode 7: Quite the lore drop. Shadow Weaver was once a Mystacor sorceress known as Light Spinner. I like to imagine we'll get more on that later. Her haunting Adora reminded me of the Teen Titans' episode where Robin was similarly haunted by Slade. This didn't go as far as that but that's probably for the best, since TT had two and a half seasons to build that dynamic up with Robin and Slade while we're only now halfway through the first season.

Episode 8: Well dang. Again, I don't know for sure if Adora and Catra do end up together but boy do I buy why they're shipped together after that dance. Also, good on Bow for standing up for himself. It's clear that he'll always be Glimmer's friend and this won't change that but that doesn't mean he has to just accommodate her. I understand where her issues stem from but I am still glad he gave her a reality check. It helps him feel a little more like his own character.

Also, another nice little bit of lore and worldbuilding. Scorpia's a princess, the horde landed where her people lived, and they seemed to join them willingly.

Episode 9: Surprisingly don't have a lot to say about this other than I don't buy for a second that Entrapta is dead (EDIT: She's not). This was mostly action.

Episode 10: Not going to lie, this one kind of annoyed me a little, at least the first half. The conversation between Glimmer and her mother saved it a bit. It was a bit of a trifecta. You have the alliance breaking apart, saying that the loss of Entrapta only happened because they were all together...even though Entrapta only "died" because of her own machine obsession that caused her to deliberately walk back into the purging chamber. You have Entrapta who might be turning to the horde's side because she feels abandoned by the other princesses...even though they thought she was dead, and again it was her fault they got separated. And you have Glimmer refusing to tell her mother that Shadow Weaver's dark magic has caused her powers to go on the fritz and is causing her great pain. It just feels like none of this would be an issue if most of these people would stop being self-absorbed for three seconds and talk like any normal person would. It feels very CW drama, like something I'd see in a bad season of Arrow or The Flash. The only person whose issues I buy is Adora, who is basically a soldier who was never properly raised to deal with emotion or loss and is already struggling with the burden of being She-Ra, the legendary savior. I get why she's beating down on herself for not being able to do more even if nothing that happened was her fault.

Episode 11: JEEEEEEEEEZZZZ, that was such a good episode! Focused entirely on Adora and Catra and their past together. Like, just showing someone this episode alone could probably get them to want to watch the series. That was everything you needed to know about their dynamic and history together.

Also, that moment when Catra and her past self are looking at each other, while obviously Catra takes the opposite lesson, it reminded me of this fanart I'd once seen of Jason Todd, the Red Hood, looking at his past self as Robin. The past says to the future "You ruined everything". Catra could be happy but, ironically for someone who hates Shadow Weaver, she's probably going to be a lot like her, sacrificing everything for power and ambition.

Given the way she looked, I'm guessing Shadow Weaver is either addicted to the power of the Black Garnet or she suffered some kind of past injury and its power is the only thing keeping her going. Or both.

Episode 12: I'll be honest, Swiftwind being able to talk kind of gobsmacked and I needed a moment to recover. What a great voice they chose for that character.

So She-Ra is kind of like the legendary heroes from Rising of the Shield Hero, coming from a long line of people chosen to wield the sword. I tend to dislike chosen one types of stories because I think prophecy takes a lot of weight out of the character's actions, so this and Avatar are more what I like. The MC is special but not the only one who's ever been special and they can still easily fail. Their destiny was only to be able to use the weapon, not that they would succeed in any specific purpose.

And dang, Catra's turn against Shadow Weaver happened faster than I thought it would but I'm not complaining. That great "This is what you've really been preparing me for" speech and Hordak, again, being an intelligent villain. "Oh, this experiment could net me a MASSIVE gain and all it could potentially cost me is this rock I already gave away to someone who lately hasn't been producing any results and has been consistently disobeying me. Yeah, I'm going to let this play out."

Episode 13: That was kind of a brutal fight between Adora and Catra. Not the worst I've ever seen even in other shows for this age range (Samurai Jack, for example) but those punches are connecting and those claws are leaving marks.

Also, maybe I'm just misunderstanding the exact situation but shouldn't the good guys' side be called the Resistance instead of the Rebellion? Being a rebellion would imply they are rebelling against an established power or rule over them, but the actual conflict we are shown is the established power and rule that is the kingdoms of Eternia resisting an outside force that wishes to establish a new order over them.

Season 1 verdict: I'm into it. I'm definitely more invested in the villains' side of things but that's not a fault of the series, that stuff is just way more geared towards me than the current princess stuff. I actively am at attention whenever the horde main characters are on screen. For the good guys it's mostly Adora and the She-Ra stuff I'm invested it. That isn't to say I have any real dislikes for that side. Bow especially I'm liking much more than I thought I might. He has kind of this gravitational pull around him. You will be his friend regardless of how much you might want to resist. He's definitely the rock for everyone else to hold onto.

Minor side note, kind of like Korra in Legend of Korra, I love how even when her powers aren't active Adora is shown to still be pretty strong physically with how easily she was lifting people up at the prom.

And I was right, Scorpia is my favorite side character.

On to season 2!

Original Reddit post: https://www.reddit.com/r/PrincessesOfPower/comments/nyll2e/going_in_blind_watching_season_1_for_the_first/

[ja-khajay]

2020-2021 Animation Watch(ed)list

I haven’t posted about animation in a while that I remember, and I know a lot of my followers are into it as much as me so I decided to make a list of the animated movies and series I watched on the past year or so, coupled with my short, spoilerless take on them. Enjoy!

Organized by

Things I saw for the first time

Things I rewatched

Under a cut for the sake of your dashboards! PS: I have not added any images yet. If you are interested in knowing more about the visuals of these movies, I might make an old fashion ask-prompted imageset list.

Part One: Things I saw for the first time

The Bear’s Famous Invasion of Sicily

Movie, 2019, Italian/French

9/10, a delightful little movie with amazing visuals. It feels like an animated picture book.

One of those “plot is in the title” media! I had never heard of this before but was heavily recommended it by my family members, who all loved it! It’s a sweet story, nothing groundbreaking but the unique colorful visual style alone makes it worth it.

The Castle of Cagliostro

Movie, 1979, Japanese

10/10. Reminded me of all the books i loved reading as a child

I assume its because it’s so old and the art style and themes are so different that it gets little to no love compared to other Ghibli movies, which is a shame! It’s fun with an endearing cast and as always, great animation and music

Mushishi

Series, 2006, Japanese

10/10 three episodes in I knew it was going to be my favorite series ever

One of the few things I’ve seen I’ll describe as life-changing. It’s absolutely lovely but never toots its own horn about it. Humble, calming, emotional and surprisingly mature. It’s pretty impossible to binge due to how intense the experience is. I just want to walk in the forest now...

FMA: Brotherhood

Series, 2009, Japanese

6/10 Dissapointing adaptation of a classic story

I read the manga for this when I was in middle school and remembered loving it. The animated version does an ok job of presenting the characters and worldbuilding and has some nice action scenes but overall looks really damn cheap and just. Not very good. Seeing I already knew most of the plot I did not have the element of discovery that made me marvel so much reading the original. It’s still a nice series but I really recommend reading it instead.

Code Lyoko (s1+2)

Series, 2003, french

3/10. 1.5 being for the opening song alone

This show sucks ass if I hadn’t been watching this with my bestie I would have dropped it two episodes in. The art style is ugly the stories are always the same and the first season has a (later removed thank fucking god) LITERAL “erase any consequences” button as a plot device in every episode. If you watch it for one thing let it be the nostalgia factor of early 00s Vidya Game Plot

The Legend of Hei

Movie, 2019, Chinese

7/10. Impressive visuals and a poor story

I finally watched this, peer pressured by the load of gifsets on my dashboard! It’s a sweet movie with really impressive animation, sometimes a bit too flashy for my taste (the action sequences go so ham they become not very readable...) but the story was just ok? The setting is barely explained and you are instead bombarded with vague epicspeech about powers and stuff that made me fondly remember Kingdom Hearts lol but that asides it’s a really good time! I need to watch more Chinese movies the few I know are just delightfully off the shits in how they approach action and I love that

Hunter x Hunter

Series, 1999, Japanese

9/10. Superior to the recent one!

I first got introduced to the series via the 2011 one. Comparatively, the 99 series focuses way less on action and way more on the characters, which I love because that fits my personal preferences! Despite mediocre filler episodes and some weird slight pointless plot changes, what it changes from the original manga doesn’t have much of an impact on the characters. The animation quality isn’t always consistent including a huge art style change for an arc (???) but it’s overall pretty nice. The series really shines in the last arc it adapts.

Oban Star-racers

Series, 2006, Japanese/french

9/10 a lovely surprise

This series is completly obscure despite having been created by people famous for their other series (Cowboy Bebop, Code Lyoko that i can name) and it’s a crime! It’s a kids show but without being stupid about it who tells the story of an inter-planetary race. If you liked that one scene in the star wars prequels you know what I mean. It’s got surprisingly nice animation for a TV series, and some truly great character design. The art style is a bit unique in a not for everyone sense, but I didn’t mind it much. It’s also THE most offensively 2000s series i’ve seen in terms of visuals. y2k kids assemble

The Little Prince and the Eight-Headed Dragon

Movie, 1963, japanese

8/10. Classic fairytale format with incredible visuals

Watched this for the art style because I know it inspired Samurai Jack, and it delievered! I dont’ have much to say about this one, it’s a very simply film but it’s sweet. For my pirates out there if you want to find it in good quality with english subtitles it’s VERY hard to find. If you just want to see the looks of it, it’s on Youtube with portugese subs.

We now enter the Gobelins Shorts Zone....!

My Friend Who Glows In The Dark

10/10 makes me cry each time

Pure delight...great animation writing everything. A little short about death and friendship but not in the way you imagine!

Colza

9/10

Visual treat...homely and nice :) not far from a 10 but a 9 because nothing about it is that groundbreaking

Sundown

9/10

If you’ve ever been ten minutes from failing a group project because of a single dude you will REALLY enjoy this. Loved the colors and personality

T’as vendu mes rollers?

10/10

It’s SUCH a sweet little short I loved that one so much

Dix-huit kilomètres trois

10/10

Surprisingly well written dialog. Visuals are great but the humanity of the characters carries this to another level

Un diable dans la poche

9/10

Amazing visuals and the most tense/creepy of Gobelin shorts i’ve ever seen. Chilling

La bestia

8/10

I had some issues with the pacing. Interesting story and visuals choices but I was not fond of the art style

Goodbye Robin

5/10

Confusing but predictable. Both at once??? Yes!

Le retour des vagues

6/10

Cool animation stuff but felt pretty pointless

                                                                ***

Part Two: Things I rewatched

Ruben Brandt: Collector

Movie, 2018, Hungarian

10/10. Underrated as hell

Watched this fully blind for the first time in an animated festival and rewatched it with friends. It’s a crime I never see anyone talking about it given the amount of whining I see about the lack of both adult animation and 2D movies? This film is a unique love letter to art in the form of a weird mix of charming crime story and psychological horror with amazing visuals. I recommend watching it blind and also buying it to show appreciation for how nice it is!!! WATCH THIS MOVIE...

Mononoke

Series, 2007, Japanese

10/10 Visual/storytelling masterpiece in the weird shit departement

If you can stomach intense stuff watch this. The visuals are incredibly unique and beautiful and under the jewel tones and art direction high takes it’s a really cool horror series. My only obstacle to enjoying it the first time I saw it was how dense it is - simply put, it’s so...culturally Japanese it’s not very accessible to me who doesn’t know anything about the culture? Watching it for the second time helped understanding the stories more! 

Corto Maltese in Siberia

Movie, 2002, french

9/10 but really close to ten. A great adaptation!

I’m a huge fan of the original comic so I entered this a biiiittttt suspicious it would suck but it was a really pleasant surprise! It has all the wonder and charm of the original and the animation was surprisingly good for the little budget. If you’re not familiar with the series, it’s a sort of geopolitical action/adventure movie but with it’s own really poetic vibe to it. It’s almost impossible to find online but happens to be fully on YouTube so go ham I guess?

Redline

Movie, 2009, Japanese

10/10 cinema was invented for this, actually

Every review of this movie i’ve seen gives it five stars and starts by talking about how immensly stupid it is. I’m no different. It’s a masterpiece of escalating energy with the depth of a puddle and it fucking rules. It’s free on YouTube too so there really is no excuse to not watch it. Watched it for the first time on a huge cinema screen and despite this my second rewatch on my small laptop was as/even more enjoyable. If you watch this stoned with friends you might travel to another dimension

Spirited Away

Movie, 2001, Japan

10/10 deserves the love it gets

I watched this a single time as a kid and had little memory of it! I mean it’s Ghibli you know it’s going to be good as hell but this one rly shines in how colorful and detailed it is and in it’s world! It made me remember I had a huge crush on the dragonboy as a kid. I’m gay now

Kung-fu Panda (1&2)

Movie, Usa

10/10. KFP fucking rules

Honestly my favorite franchise of the whole disney/dreamworks/pixar hydra. It’s fun as hell, doesn’t skip a single beat and has amazing animation and character designs. If something is a good time I will not care if it’s deep or not and boy I fucking love these movies

Sinbad, Legend of the Seven Seas

Movie, 2003, Usa

5/10 Some great some really bad and overall generic

I tend to hate american cinema and this includes that era of animation I have no nostalgia for. Sinbad is in a weird place because I love adventure stories and the visuals of the movie absolutely deliver but it’s very predictable and TANKED by the addition of the female character, pushed in your face as “look we have woman!!!” despite her writing being misogynistic as hell lol. The evil goddess rules tho. This movie would have been a solid 9 if instead of the girl the two dudes had kissed