Little delayed with some reviews, those should go up later today pending a few things, for now lets look at 90s film Balto.
But first some history; Balto was a real dog, he was the lead dog of the sled team that successfully completed the 1925 serum run from Nenana to Nome transporting diphtheria antitoxin during a major outbreak of the disease in the harshest of winter storms, the successful journey saved the lives of hundreds of people and Balto has a statue in his honor in Central Park.
The film apart from the fact that it's obviously for children doesn't try to sugar coat or cushion the reality of the event albeit with a few historical inaccuracies but again it's an animted film.
Narrated by an old lady at the start, the film centers around a half wolf hybrid named Balto, who is fundamentily a stray dog at the beginning of the film and goes through the typical routine of causing a nuisance just to get a decent meal.
When diphtheria grips the small Alaskan town, Balto attempts to prove his worth as a sled dog in order to save Rosie and the other children from death, however top sled dog Steele isn't pleased with the idea of being beaten by a half breed and sabotages his chances of joining the sled team. But when it becomes clear that Steele is out of his depth leading the team back from retrieving the antitoxin, Balto goes into the wilderness to try and save them and finish the journey.
Like I said, it doesn't try and sugar coat or cushion you from the reality, it's made clear very visually that these kids are going to die; the scenes where it's looking more and more hopeless to the undertaker building loads of coffins are among the most powerful and it really sets the tone for the movie well, it also makes Steele look all the more despicable as he'd rather the delivery fail and have all those children die than lose his pride and position to Balto, Balto even says that he's not here to prove anything or fight Steele for his position he justs wants to deliver the medicine; when you look at it in that context you really despise the villain, also I kind of feel bad for the human rider, he gets thrown off so many times that he's in need of several hot cocoas laced with Brandy just to survive this film.
The side characters and comedy relief are tolerable and never take away the film's sense of danger and reality.
I watched this film when I was young and again earlier this year with my partner and apart from the obivous 90s aethetics it not only holds up well but it's aged very well and you know it could use some spotlight, it's been underrated for the last 20 years.
Not done an anime review for a while, this is Hanayamata.
Naru is an average girl who dreams of one day escaping mundane life and doing something exciting and dazzling but lacks the confidence to really go through with it, that is until a chance meeting with a mysterious American girl named Hana outside a Japanese Dance Festival inspires her to participate in the world of Yosakoi a mix of traditional Japanese dancing with modern day music and styles. Along with her other friends they hope to compete on the stage and dazzle everyone with their dancing.
The plotline seems to follow the pattern of Love Live, energetic girl creates an outlandish club and brings in members who are initially reluctant to join but do anyway, there are constant sceptics about why the club exists or if they can even succeed with suggestions they shutdown, they are aiming for a major festival to participate in, plenty of moments of stage fright, teenage angst, anxiety about a past event, girl working herself too hard and becoming sick and finally one of the members has to leave for another country. Seriously if you’ve seen Love Live this is just more of the same, only the characters are way more mean spirited and drop the drama bomb every single episode which causes it to try and salvage it’s pride by the end as it’s wasted it’s screen time having the characters fight and make up all the time and not enough time for actual Yosakoi dancing and even when you get to the end, the payoff wasn’t worth the trouble as the final dance is pretty much shown in the opening theme, the back stories are rushed and were never given enough time to absorb what we learn about the cast nor do I understand why certain characters have to be a bitch all the time, some of the things that were being spoken really broke the feel of the anime which should’ve been more relaxing, cheerful and colourful but dropping drama bombs all the time has made this anime a bad teen sitcom in animated form.
Dub was fine if a little grating, sub would suit this series better.
Final Verdict: I paid for bright and colourful Yosakoi dancing and the trailer promised me that but all I got was a lousy teen sitcom with too many drama bombs and too much like Love Live which most viewers know I despise.
More second opinions on shows that I found new respect for or feel differently about after another try. Four shows as usual.
My Teen Romantic Comedy SNAFU
If you read my last review on the Looney Tunes top ten, I learned what SNAFU stood for, and knowing that meant that I learned what the overall punchline of this show was which makes me understand it a lot more than I used to, I will still insist on seeing Season 2 but learning about the nature of SNAFU makes the show that much better to watch.
Penn Zero Part-Time Hero
I wrote that this show is extremely underrated but I go further and say "WHY IS IT UNDERRATED?" it's brilliant, it certainly needs just as much if not more love than what other shows are getting on Disney XD and it's abyssmal time slot doesn't help.
Attack on Titan
I wrote that Attack on Titan was a series that grabs your attention but whether you keep that attention is dependent on your overall opinion of the story but another look and I miss the most obvious power that Attack on Titan has and that's bringing new people into anime who may have written it off, I have friends who ignored anime for years and suddenly want to try it thanks to Attack on Titan. My experience is still the same but I respect this a whole lot more than Sword Art Online.
The Raccoons
I still like the Raccoons but it hasn't aged very well, I gave it a passing review two years ago but in all honesty it feels like such a product of it's time that it's like watching a relic, I'd say the same about a few other shows as well.
Looney Tunes has been a staple of the cartoon world for over 85 years but there are few things you may not have realized about your favorite characters, here are 10 things you may not have noticed about the Looney Tunes.
1. Reusing Scenes
It's not uncommon for the Looney Tunes shorts to reuse scenes, there are several shorts that are similar to one another and certain gags are reused constantly, Road Runner being a notorious case but Bugs Bunny wasn't exactly immune to it and Looney Tunes isn't beyond using clip shows either.
2. Lost Cartoons
There are a number cartoons made by Warner Bros which were shown exclusively to the US armed forces, which includes the character Private Snafu, designed to improve troop morale and instruct on what not to do in certain scenarios. The name Snafu is an acronym meaning Situation Normal: All F***** Up, which is normal army slang used at the time. Ohhhhhhhhhhhhh that's why My Teen Romantic Comedy SNAFU is named like that.
3. Dr. Seuss
Continuing from number 2, Dr. Seuss famous for children's books such as the Cat in the Hat made Private Snafu for Warner Bros among other World War II shorts.
4. Go Go Dodo
Ever wondered who the Tiny Toons Character Go Go Dodo was based on? Well the Dodo first appeared in the Porky Pig short in 1938 "Porky in Wackyland" which redefines the term acid trip if you ever watch it.
5. Gophers Mac & Tosh
The Gophers Mac & Tosh, often referred to as the Goofy Gophers would easily be mistaken as homosexual stereotypes when in fact they were based on the mannerisms of early 20th century comic strip Alphonse and Gaston, however if you consider the Looney Tunes Show as canon they are confirmed as a gay couple.
6. Speedy Gonzales
It's been heavily implied in many of the shorts that Speedy Gonzales is a pimp, usually from rumors spread by the other mice of Mexico.
7. Cecil Turtle
Cecil Turtle is the only character who has never lost to Bugs Bunny.
8. Greatest Cartoon
What's Opera Doc? is considered the greatest cartoon short of all time from the opinion of over a 1,000 professional animators, numerous other Looney Tunes shorts also appear on the Top 50 Short List.
9. Live Action Bugs Bunny
Way before Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Bugs Bunny had cameos in two classic Hollywood Films, "Two Guys From Texas" and "My Dream is Yours" although Jerry Mouse has Bugs Bunny beaten on the cartoon in live action movie in "Anchors Aweigh" which predates the earliest Bugs Bunny cameo by about three years.
10. All Looney Tunes Shorts are actually Hollywood Shorts
Breaking the forth wall is nothing unusual in Looney Tunes cartoons but numerous times particularly in the Elmer Fudd and Bugs Bunny shorts show that the characters are aware that they are all actors working for Warner Bros as they reference contracts, poor working conditions and the fact that some cartoons even cut the reel strip or even out right mention that "this is an animated cartoon" as spoken by Daffy Duck in "Duck Amuck"
I'm back peeps, wishing I had more time to do reviews, hoping this one can jump start another run as I review Yo-Kai Watch.
Nate is a young boy who stumbles on a capsule machine which in turn frees the Yokai spirit Whisper, in return for helping him out and the fact that Nate can see these creatures called Yokai, sees Nate get rewarded the Yokai Watch, a device that can help find and see other Yokai, together Nate and Whisper capture different Yokai who cause problems in their town.
I'm not going to pull punches, this is simply a very, very Japanese Pokemon only without the epic journey and the dramatic battles; saying that, Yo-Kai Watch is very clever with it's plot. Essentially it takes the entirety of Japanese Folklore and applies it to a setting that essentially says that all lifes little niggling issues are caused by a Yokai, which actually clicked with Western Audiences particularly the already well versed anime crowd in the 20-35 age category, this is despite the fact that it's essentially the most Japanese of Anime to hit a mainstream cartoon channel.
It's not without problems, side characters are really, really bland, certain design choices can go from creative to surreal to run-out-of-ideas in a full season, there's more to Japanese spirits than just cats you know and Nate himself is not really that interesting. Dub is passable, only because Whisper has this bizarre accent that you cannot unhear.
Despite that, the anime is actually very good and as an ambassador and representitive for what is classed as mainstream anime in Japan, it's better than Sazae San, it's better than Doraemon, it's better than Crayon Shin Chan but nowhere near as good as Kochikame.
Final Verdict: It's doing a better job of advertising Japan than it's contemporaries, and while I wouldn't rate it the best anime to ever come out of Japan I certainly rate it high enough to warrant a watch.
