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rabbitos
MyAnimeList: https://myanimelist.net/profile/iridi
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Reviews
Ryû to sobakasu no hime (2021)
Shiny but dull
The movie fundamentally misunderstands how digital spaces work to the point that a bunch of elements are nonsensical. I was excited for a movie that portrays VR/Vtubers/sudden internet fame, but instead it's like whoever made the story has 0 experience and isn't able to grasp how digital spaces function, not just in terms of possibilities but the culture and social expectations in them. Some of it, especially the social media portrayal and the characters reactions, were great! But then you go right back to showing interactions in VR that really made me go "wow, the creator sure is in his 50s huh." The 2nd half feels like they tried to cram a literal Beauty and the Beast story into something digital without reworking things to make sense in the new context. And I won't spoil, but the way they handled something heavy was also frustrating in that it's presenting bad problem solving as "heroic" despite the actions being how you get people killed in real life.
The plot itself is basic and shallow and there are some pacing issues in the first half. Which wouldn't necessarily be a problem if other parts of the movie could make up for it. And they almost do! The visuals are great! The soundtrack is great! There are some good jokes and interactions and references here and there. But it was disjointed and the internal logic was so off to the point of being distracting.
Don't Watch This (2018)
Garbage
These all felt like first year student films with a glossy editing job and had very little going for them. It's just a regurgitation of horror tropes with a healthy dose of nonsense. The only shorts that were passable were the first (Friendship Bracelet) and fourth (Keep Out) and even then I'd hesitate to call them mediocre.
Crazy for It (2012)
Mixed medium art piece
To be clear, I don't quite know if this film is supposed to be telling a story or not; however, the amount of effort put into this is evident and the visuals are fantastic. They don't follow the music but they're fast paced, ebbing and flowing, covering a range of mediums including ink, pencil, pastel, and watercolor (plus possibly more that I couldn't differentiate). Everything is drawn by hand, frame by frame, in both black & white and in color. It's kind of amazing how well animated it is considering there are a lot of traditional animations out there that end up really disjointed looking even without switching between tons of different tools. I'm probably biased because I used to animate when I was a kid and have a soft spot for work-heavy pieces like this.
The music was fine. Nothing special. It's the kind of vocal-less track you find in art films that doesn't stand out but isn't bad. It complimented the art in its own way.
I don't know how much enjoyment someone could get out of this if they don't care much about animation/art and are just looking for a story (or music) so maybe skip it if you're not interested in the tools/mediums themselves