Jeoffrey

I am not familiar with either Dofus or Wakfu turn-based combat systems, although I always have kind of gotten into the animation inspired by this tactical RPGs. Oh, and as with Wakfu, I am going to more or less praise the cinematic version of Dofus. This time I was slightly familiar with the world, so things like Gobbowl failed to surprise me much, though it is true that some more extensive knowledge is not required of the viewer in the final game. The narrative, as with Wakfu, is easy to understand (even for a person who has hardly heard of those games), well thought out, and interestingly presented. The characters are great; they are not black and white. They have their pretty fundamental weaknesses. On the other hand, even the character who should be evil actually has perfectly understandable reasons for what she does (no, I am not going to spoil it). Even the most recent character is quite believable, original, and well done. I guess the only small shortcoming I can see is that the characters are largely similar to the ones from Wakfu, so while it may evoke a slight nostalgia in a person who has seen Wakfu, it does not feel very original in places. It is interesting and quite funny at times (the post-credits scene, in particular, is just hilarious), and it is also quite fun to watch. So once again, I feel satisfied, and I have to say what I discovered when I was a kid watching Asterix cartoons: the French know how to make good animated TV shows and movies. This movie is even more interesting because it is a movie inspired by an RPG, and let’s be honest; those do not usually come out very well. Well, the Wakfu anime-influenced TV series and the Dofus movie are definitely exceptions, in my opinion. 8/10.

Speaking for myself, I have to say that I expected it to be much more kinky and ecchi, it is an OVA after all, plus there are a lot of girls, and Kazuma is a smart and healthy young man. In the end, I was pleasantly surprised that everything was played out with some wit and insight, and everything was moderately kept within certain limits. The pacing was a bit slow, but the conclusion made me laugh quite a lot, and the way Kazuma apologized to the various girls was also quite amusing. 7.5/10.

What happens when you meet Zombieman, who is supposedly the man that, even in death cannot die, at a superhero party in a hot spring resort? When the party gets going, it is only a matter of time before someone starts investigating a crime. On the bright side, he was lucky a katana and not a Pri-Pri-Prisoner impaled him. I laughed all of two times, which again is not enough. 6/10.

The fifth One-Punch Man OVA, The Sisters Who Have Too Many Things Happening, has a narrative concerning Fubuki. It features a rather dramatic relationship with her older (!!!) sister Tatsumaki. There is also her team, The Blizzard Group. Plus, there is the train rescue, which also involves Genos, and it is action-packed, a little bit dramatic, however, (and this is probably the biggest problem) it is not funny at all. By the standards of One-Punch Man, this OVA could be described as rather boring. I like Fubuki quite a lot, and I can more or less understand her motivations. Tornado, does not bother me that much, even though she is a typical "annoying brat" and does not get that much screen time in this OVA (for example, in the last OVA, you can see a lot more of her). Genos does not get much screen time either, so it is mostly about the more serious stuff and the problems of the younger sister who lives in the shadow of her much more successful sibling. I would almost say the best character was the nameless C-class heroine. I cannot say if this OVA was completely pointless, although I can safely say it is the weakest of all the OVAs. On the other hand, it is quite a standard fare for an OVA, albeit weak. 4.6/10.

The movie Little Witch Academia: The Enchanted Parade is the sequel of the first special short film Little Witch Academia. It is a little longer and a little more thought-out narrative than the first movie, and still interesting, charming, quite amusing, a little endearing, and very enjoyable. This franchise definitely deserves a longer fully-fledged anime series adaptation of some kind because, in addition to the really good setting, it also showcases a lot of interesting characters and good ideas. Admittedly I am not a fan of big social events, so the word "parade" only elicits a bored sigh of "right, a parade..." although I quite enjoyed it in this movie. The soundtrack stood out, which I also enjoyed, and it complemented the sometimes pleasant and sometimes suspenseful atmosphere well. 8/10.

They announced an anime television series of Little Witch Academia on June 24, 2016, following the final episode of Space Patrol Luluco. I was, therefore, immediately intrigued by a witch on a broom I had not seen before. Every once in a while, I let something slip I should not have, and Little Witch Academia is a good example. If you make a show about a magical world, well, the result has to be magical. Otherwise, it is going to be a lot of hard work. I fell for the supernatural aspect almost immediately with this lovely short film. While there are a lot of elements taken from mythology and other anime series I have already seen about magic, the resulting combination is very well done. On top of that, it has a good atmosphere, a bit of wit and likable characters. For example, Sucy Manbavaran was "love at first sight" for me. I liked it; I even liked it a lot, although I do not see it getting five stars. That is because the narrative could have perhaps been much better. Still, this was a very enjoyable affair. 8/10.

Because it took thirteen years to make this sequel, the screenwriters had enough time to think about it properly; I did not believe it would be a disaster. On the other hand, I was expecting that it would be much more of a mess by focusing the narrative on Dory as the main protagonist. In the end, the result is very good, and Pixar has managed to keep the bar of this franchise still very high. The animation is, of course, perfect, and the characters, both the old ones and the new ones, are also very good. The narrative does feature a few minor quirks, although I could not find anything majorly bothersome. The ending was good, and I found the moment with Dory and Marlin interestingly profound. So, in the end, they pulled Finding Dory off really well, though I do not know why, although I was expecting a bit more. 8/10.

Piper is a brilliantly made, cute, funny, and fresh short film that perfectly set the mood for the underwater adventure about Dory. However, this also stands on its own. The animation is simply gorgeous, the narrative is great, even though the theme of "overcoming fear" is a bit of a cliché. However, because of the shorter running time, it certainly does not have the chance to get boring. The moment when the little bird watches the wave sweep away the others and then it naturally does not want to go to the beach made me laugh my socks off. So I thought it was very good. 9/10.

Ookii 1 Nensei to Chiisana 2 Nensei features a pleasant narrative about growing up, friendship, overcoming fears, and a great adventurous journey to the Ipponsugi forest to find blossoming spotted bellflowers accompanied by Dvorak's Humoresque and other very good musical motifs. The animation is endearing, the narrative features decent storytelling, and the whole thing is very likable and heartwarming. 8.5/10.

There really is not much to say about this insane movie, and what could be said has already been noted by others. Anyway, the gentlemen from Studio Trigger are a mental bunch of people that can combine some mental things into a mental narrative with some mental characters and some very original animation. It is only a few minutes long, yet it is still pretty much taken up by the opening by Japan Animator Expo and the theme song. Sex and Violence with Machspeed is a mental and peculiar ride even though it is definitely not boring. 7/10.