Welcome back to a week where cartoons are beating anime tenfold and another one of these who conquered last year was Zootopia.
Judy Hopps is a bunny with big ambitions, she wants to become a cop but the job is dominated by big animals mostly predators, undeterred she graduates from the Police Academy as best student and gets a position in Zootopia's Police Force but is dismayed when she gets stuck in a Meter Maid post. Later she meets Nick Wilde, a fox with a knack for schemes and hustling, while initially helping Nick with a hustle without realizing she later drags him into a city wide Police case as mammals have gone missing throughout the city, Judy does this by essentially blackmailing Nick and will let him walk free in return for information as he has been in contact with at least one of the missing mammals.
After a tip off from the local mob boss, Judy and Nick arrive in the jungle where they get attacked by the mammal they wanted to question. After more investigation they discover that all the missing mammals have reverted back to their predator instincts with no reason why which suddenly creates a divide between prey and predator, something that the two leads know all too well so it's up to Judy to find the cause of these sudden devolutions back into animals. (Irony)
What I like about this film is that despite all the internet buzz, trailers and society's penchat for spoilers I went in not knowing what the end result was going to be and that's quite a number of months after the original release so I was kept on the edge of my seat the whole film.
But I think what Zootopia really did right was that it understood the real world better than real life humans which is both fascinating and a little sad. There's talk in the news all the time of racism and prejudice just for being different or being part of a group with a bad history or even tainted image from terrible people but what really hits the nail on the head is that the supposed innocent party are just as terrible as the people they paint as being terrible. It even felt heartbreaking watching Clawhauser packing his things away after the whole Predator reveal and he's the nicest guy in the whole film. I even felt sympathy for Nick, who was only pushed into hustling because of some bad people in his youth. Yeah kind of makes you think this movie and it's probably the best Disney have done in a long time.
Don't really have anything bad to say about this movie.
Now to follow on from my previous review this is what anime is like at the moment.
Kohana gets enrolled in Magic Arts school to follow in her legendary mother's footsteps as she aims to create magic art from her flower arranging, but before she can even show what she can do she gets selected to help arrange the Hoshinomori Summer Festival, the school's magnum opus that sees the crowning of the Artisan Prince and Princess, a title Kohana's mother had; but first she must retrieve all the other committee members which consists of six smexy men. They are.
Teika: A singing major who comes across as a jerk but acts so to win family approval, seems to be a reject from Clamp.
Aoi: A Calligrapher who can't seem to get his words out on paper, pretends to be L from Death Note considering how he always sits.
Rintaro: A Sculptor who later takes a major in baking, wants to be like his grandfather, wouldn't feel lost in a Final Fantasy team.
Louis: A very smexy dancer who lost his mother's approval because he was enjoying dancing too much, probably the only one with a half decent backstory, feels like a lost student from Utena.
Monet: A Monochrome artist who is impossible to work out, has a pet hedgehog, may have be obtained from another magic school given his looks. *cough* Negima.
And Kanato: A cellist who is kind to everyone that the protagonist will likely not end up with despite being the best male, may have been overlooked for a career in Kuroko's Basketball.
Along with the fact that Kohana feels and acts like a typical reverse harem protagonist you got yourselves an unoriginal unspectacular copy of Ouran High School Host Club.
*Clap, Clap, Clap*
Sarcasm was intended as the story does little to stand out amongst better anime and while the concept and anime looks really nice, the lead and story that centers around her comes off as Mary Sue in her own self indulgent fantasy surrounded by men who worship her. Don't believe me, watch the awful ending.
No dub, although a dub might improve it a bit.
If this is the best anime can do with a new frachise I'm not sure I'm going to like future anime.
Final Verdict: It had every intention of being good but the audience it's aimed at have all seen better examples of this genre and I can't really give a passing review to a protagonist as cringeworthy as Kohana.
I think we've reached a point in animation where American cartoons is beating Anime and this review will tell us why.
If you must blink, do it now.
Kubo is a young boy with a story to tell and a unique gift for bringing origami to life with his Shamisen, a Japanese instrument used for telling such stories in old Japan. Kubo has to watch over his mother who barely escaped with their lives from the Moon Kingdom running away from the mother's sisters and father who wants Kubo's eyes but upon escaping the mother gets badly injured and Kubo is without his eye.
When the local village puts on a festival of remembrance, Kubo making a makeshift grave for his fallen father ends up staying out past dark and gets chased down by his cruel aunts. In effort to save Kubo, his mother sacrifices herself to save him leaving behind a Monkey guardian who helps Kubo locate a set of magic armor that can protect him from his grandfather, they are later joined by a samurai beetle with no memory as they set out to find the armor.
No more story otherwise spoilers.
Kubo and the Two Strings is incredible, the design that went into it really gives a mystical feel and is not afraid to take risks to aid the story and leaves you wanting more, it never feels rushed, it doesn't play on cliches and the ending while confusing gives you the sense that there's more to the enemy's motives than it seems and that were not finished with Kubo's adventure, it feels like a crime that not many people saw it.
To reiterate my opening statement, I've noticed the decline in my anime reviewing and moving more towards cartoons recently, this is because two to one, cartoons have been doing way better than anime is at this point in time.
Cartoons have become the serious groundbreaking epics that draws everyone to watch like Game of Thrones is to live tv while anime is having a serious identity crisis as it doesn't seem to know what it wants to be now and is trying to revived older anime to cover the short fall, the next anime review will serve as a warning while this movie shines a positive light on animation in the west.
Been away for a bit but I've been busy watching more movies and anime to update this blog, after this review, Kubo and the Two Strings, All Dogs Go To Heaven and Magic Kyun Renaissance but first it's Lego Batman.
Without giving away too much as this is a current movie, Lego Batman Movie is basically a comical look at the most overlooked part of Batman's psyche which is of course his crippling fear of accepting family again, so lets see what Lego makes of it.
Batman is being Batman as he is Batman but after the latest battle with Joker and his villain friends, Batman rejects Joker as his biggest enemy, this is followed by Barbara Gordon taking on the head role of Police Commissioner from her father and calling out Batman for not actually catching the criminals which leads to a strange moment when Joker surrenders, unable to fight crime anymore, Batman resorts to getting rid of the Joker once and for all with the help of Robin but in doing so creates an even greater scenario which is where this review stops as it's spoiler territory.
Lego Batman is funny which is what it was aiming to be to begin with, it's Lego it's not meant to be taken seriously but I get the sense and this will make me a massive hipster, that Lego has become too mainstream.
It's absolutly everywhere, it's making the franchises they cover into sellouts and this film is so ridiculously cheesy and marketable that I kind of feel cheated. I say that because the Lego Movie was actually really good and was written well and actually felt like what Lego was representing. This is a cash in trying to rebuild (No pun intended) Batman's shattered movie career and using Lego to bring yourself back is as last resort as you can get without resorting to an unpopular reboot.
It's still funny and it's non offensive but I still feel cheated considering how much I enjoyed the Lego Movie.
Review time and we look at a show that just finished, it's Regular Show.
A couple of weeks ago from time of writing, Regular Show ended it's run, the final episode closing on what has been the best cartoon I've watched in many years and I don't say that lightly.
The exploits of park keepers Mordecai and Rigby were a sight to be hold, one minute you're slacking off work, the next you battle an intergalactic space demon from an arcade machine or battling the very forces of the internet, anything they can come up with they did, heck the first episode featured a rock, paper, scissors game that nearly destroys the world.
What made this show work were three things.
1. No cartoon had really covered the in's and out's of a young twenty something adult.
2. The music and references as well as the throwbacks were more than enough to appeal to the gradually growing twenty something demograph.
3. When it did have to give a serious message it was spot on, most notably on Mordecai's tortured love life.
And that really helped this demograph blossom along with the help of Adventure Time and the My Little Pony reboot, all released after 2009 the darkest days of animation and Cartoon Network especially.
This cartoon isn't for everyone; a younger person won't get the references, some jokes are outdated while others outstay their welcome and as it was nearing the climax it was starting to show decay in the writing but all forgiven based on how the final episode went.
If there is one thing I can take away from Regular Show is this; the real test of life is done in your 20s not your final school days or in your College years or University, it's what you do after.
Your ideal job may elude you, the qualifications you get may go to waste, love isn't as simple as it was in school, there will be plenty of people to screw you over and nostalgia will feel like your only escape but you are not alone, the most perfect of diamonds still need to be mined in the cold dark ground and even the most awkward looking gems still have value and Regular Show despite it's penchant of going way over board with it's most weird and unusual concepts still had enough life lessons to survive the twenty something era.
Had I been born in a different era I wouldn't like this but as it arrived as my 20s were in full swing I embraced it as a cartoon I could really get behind and I doubt we'll see another one like this again, least not for a long time.
It's sad to see it go and I do wonder what Cartoon Network will do next now this show has ended and Adventure Time is drawing to it's conclusion but its got a tough act to follow.
That's Regular Show, it's anything but.
And as the late David Bowie sang as well as the song used in Regular Show's Final Episode.
"We can be heroes, just for one day"
