Ninja Scroll (1993)

Writer: Yoshiaki Kawajiri

Director: Yoshiaki Kawajiri

Studio: Animate Film

First watched: 29/07/2025

Review contains ***SPOILERS*** for Ninja Scroll

Ratings:

OVERALL	NB: These are not weighted equally (if at all)	Plot	Storytelling	Animation	Characters
5		4	6	7	4

Ninja Scroll. Kinda cool but sadly over-hyped. I wouldn't necessarily say that Ninja scroll is a bad film but it's certainly not deserving of too much high praise. The main thing about it is that it absolutely has so much of that aesthetic, thematic and stylistic character of dope 80s/90s anime and undoubtedly is one of the big contributors to making that whole sub-genre what it was (and still is). However, although it's very visually appealing, the film itself, i.e. its story and characters, lacks substance and any kind of direction. So while it's a pretty cool nostalgic memory, it's not actually a great film.

Frustratingly, I have to kick this off with noting that the role of women in the film is absolutely atrocious. Every single woman character (which is a grand total of 3) had personality traits and story beats that revolved exclusively around sex or sexualisation, usually in a terrible way. They also had barely any impact on the plot for the most part.

First, you have the 2 female members of the '9 monsters': Benisato and Zakuro. Benisato is the first to appear, when she strips naked in the bathouse to show off her tattoos and activiate her snake technique. She then of course has the snakes glide around her breasts before she attacks. She later on appears completely naked again in the temple (meaning the context of being in a bathhouse was irrelevant the last time, apparently), to use the snake attack again; however, this time when she gets cornered, she has a snack pop out of her pussy for a sneak attack (not joking). The only other aspect of her character that we learn about is that Gemma (the main antagonis) regularly "makes love to her". That's it. You then get Zakuro, whose first lines of dialogue are her confessing her love to the leader of the 9 monsters, then trying it on with him. Her character story then concludes with her killing him for rejecting her advances. She has no other elements to her character.

Then we finally get to Kagero, the main female character of the film. She does actively participate in and influence the story, however it's all through insane or pathetic misogynistic means. Firstly, her 'power' is that she is immune to poison but also that any man she sleeps with will then die by poisoning. This is conveniently exploited by Dakuan (a government official), as the poison he uses on Jubei (the main man character) will be neutralised if she shags him. And as the story plays out, since he's the only man who views her as a person and not a tool, she ironically falls in love with him and wants to shag him for both reasons. This is the kind of role for women that you can only come up with when you genuinely do no view them as actual people and instead think they're just sex toys and romantic prizes. But the thing that really solidifies the mistreatment of women characters is for her troubles, we see Kagero get sexually assaulted not once but twice on screen. The first time you could argue is plot related, as she 'allows' this so that she can kill Tessai with her poison. Even then, the concept of her having to get sexually assaulted to win a fight shows an insane level of hatred and disregard towards women. But even if you did give that one a pass, you'd still have the second time, when Shijima, the sneaky shadow ninja of the 9 Monsters, manages to kidnap her to lure Jubei into his trap, he makes sure to take a moment to quickly sexually violate her for good measure. To be honest, I would find it difficult to describe this film as good when the treatment of women in it is blatantly terrible. So I guess that is something that should be kept in mind if anyone else ever reads this.

(Oh, also just remembered there is another woman character who appears - an unnamed woman who is very literally just there getting fucked by the head of Kagero's village when she goes to report back the death of her squadron to him. The guy doesn't even stop to have this conversation with her and just keeps fucking this women, who of course has to scream and moan the entire time. She's presumably a concubine, again showing the type of women the writers wanted to see in their film).

To speak about the other elements of the film then, I'd say that its concept, design and style are genuinely pretty cool. The 9 monsters is a great vehicle/set-up for driving interesting action sequences and overall creating obstacles in the story. Sadly, none of the monsters themselves really get enough screentime to properly create a problem, let alone have the main characters solve it meaningfully. A lot of their powers were really cool and very thematic for sneaky, hidden ninja technique type stuff, but the fights semed to end as soon as they started, pretty much. There was also randomly one of them whose power was just like... bees? That was a bit odd; maybe there's some Japanese mythology I'm not familiar with.

The story is pretty much a nothing story and doesn't really make much sense (to me, at least). All of the aura and mystique of the secret ninja techniques and the Edo period is kinda lost in the main storyline basically revolving around government representatives and a trade deal for blocks of gold(?). Super boring and just means the plot has no real weight to it. We're kinda just told that we should care about this trade deal enough to follow it, rather than it being geuinely interesting. Then right at the end of the story, Gemma, the big bad, decides to change up and want all the power to himself, which is so unbearably boring and predictable. Again, it carries next to no weight, because both he and the people he betrayed only appeared on screen 2 minutes prior. (I will however excuse the plot being boring and predictable, given the fact that this is one of the films that would have laid the foundation for these types of stories on the big screen - it is now 32 years old!). Gemma himself as the main antagonist is also very surface level. Pretty basic design, no interesting powers to speak of, just immorality (which is conceptually huge but narratively pretty pointless).

Even Jubei (the main character)'s journey to halt this evil plan is literally forced, so there's actually no real buy-in to wanting to see how it all gets resolved. Jubei has no specific or even general motivations in the film, which is good for forming his identity as this rogue shinobi but terrible for making the story engaging in any way. Also, the hatred Jubei feels towards Gemma is all based off an implied past that we learn very little about. We see a few flashbacks here and there, then get told that Gemma's an awful person and a demon over and over in the dialogue. It's a little bit patronising.

The animation is good! However, I think I could only give it 'good'; no higher. The fights are animated really well, with lots of environment, clothing and flowy hair also moving pleasantly and believably around it. And generally, whent things move, they move through 3 dimensional space very convincingly. The artwork is also fantastic throughout, especially how they use light and shade to describe forms in quite a lot of visual detail (which really adds to the sense of depth to the characters and movement). There is a fair amount of the animators being 'economical' but that's understandable; it also happens to a point that it breaks your suspense or looks uncanny.

For the storytelling, I think the fights, the tone, the style and concept etc. all come together to create a decent viewing experience. Your eye is directed well and it's clear what's happening, where things are etc. Although there aren't any particularly interesting storytelling devices, like. Plus the explanations around the plot are a little bit clunky. So not great but can't say it's terrible.

To be honest, I've struggled to find the focus to sit and write about this film and I think that itself explains how I feel about it. It's a film that didn't really strike me in any way for its brilliance and and no point did it make me feel any emotion more than mildly (other than contempt for its creators). So sadly, although this film is maybe a cult classic, I'd say that overall, it isn't actually very good. I would maybe relegate it to being great for having on in the background for visual interest but even that would be suspect, what with all the women getting raped and stuff. So really there's no place for this film. But it is kind of cool in some parts. That's about it.

Tokyo Godfathers (2003)

Writers: Satoshi Kon and Keiko Nabumoto

Director: Satoshi Kon

Studio: Madhouse

First watched: 07/12/2024

Review contains ***SPOILERS*** for Tokyo Godfathers

Ratings:

OVERALL	NB: These are not weighted equally (if at all)	Plot	Storytelling	Animation	Characters
6		6	7	7	6

This film is so so lovely and despite the bleak and depressing subject matter of the story, leaves you feeling warm, comforted and hopeful. It was also a nice surprise that it's a Christmas film and it can definitely be strong shout for an unconventional festive favourite. Strangely, however, I would say that despite how much I loved the film, I didn't actually like it. Although it really does fill you up with all these warm fuzzy feelings, it doesn't actually have the hard story substance to support it. It kinda gives you these emotional climaxes with a bit of back-filled story context and real-world relatability but all of these moments are practically completely divorced from the main story. Even the main story itself is relatively shallow, with opportunities to reflect and ponder profound questions but it's not all that well constructed. So ultimately, it's all icing no cake but I won't pretend I've never eaten spoonfulls of icing by itself.

The characters are probably the best example of this all-fluff-no-fibre phenomenon. The 3 main characters of the story are all so incredibly interesting and joyfully unpredictable. This creates a really great dynamic that drives a lot of the film and the enigma surrounding each character's history and circumstances gets you really invested as a viewer. However all of this complexity and backstory is never adequately explained nor resolved. We get a glimpse of each of their past lives either through flashbacks or interactions with someone from their past but ultimately it's a passing conversation that gives a bit of context to where they are but very little else. None of the characters have a desire nor motivation and from what I can tell, their lives don't seem to have any kind of new direction following the events of the story. Also none of them face any repercussions for their past actions. Gin abandoned his daughter entirely and after (in)conveniently bumping into her, gets invited to her wedding. Miyuki also stabbed her father, who again she coincidentally bumps into but then we get no resolution nor reconciliation for their falling out. Everything is vague and quite pointless. The final member of the trio is Hana, who is also very interesting, however has the least story significance. She seems to act as both the comic relief for the film as well as the organiser and moral compass. Again, we get some really interesting back story for her but its fleeting and inconsequential.

Now of course, the point of the movie didn't go completely over my head. These characters each highlighted a host important issues in modern societies, like homelessness, poverty, alcoholism, gambling addiction, depression, the experiences of transgender women (both the fetishisation and the transphobic mistreatment), bereavement, family and all sorts of other things. And especially on the inclusion of a transgender woman as a main character, with a rich and meaningful backstory, the film was really pioneering and important for the people whose story it told, especially back in 2003!. So of course, I appreciate that greatly about the film and give it its props. But as I seem to say in every review, I think that truly good films highlight issues and convey themes or messages as part of an overall strong plot.

So moving onto the plot then. It's definitely fun. It's an out and out mystery story from the very start, with the gang trying to find out who this abandoned baby's parents are and why they would abandon the poor thing. The insane and hilarious jumps from place to place as we go on the journey to answer these questions is really entertaining and always holds your attention. Each different scene is completely different from the last, which makes for visual interest just as much as story intrigue. Now I won't say that it's completely disjointed, because the main thread of the story holds up quite well. However there are just too many other elements that are so coincidental they just become silly; like bumping into mobsters that Gin's had run-ins with before, the gang being stood right outside a store that an ambulance crashes straight into or Hana and Miyuki literally walking past Sachiko as she's about to jump off a bridge. It all makes for a very unsatisfying story, especially since it sets up a mystery and clue hunt, so for everything to be so serendipitous feels very unfulfilling.

The storytelling is pretty strong. The film does a really great job of setting a tone and creating lots of different feelings. As you'd expect from Satoshi Kon, it also makes great use of the animation medium to exaggerate the expressions and actions on screen, as well as creating beautiful and imaginative imagery. I wouldn't say that the film does anything revolutionary with its framing or staging but overall it was definitely a positive.

Lastly then, the animation. As mentioned, there's a lot of great expression work throughout the film, however I did think it fell flat in some areas. First and foremost was the inconsistency of a lot of the drawings. Sometimes the facial features or even body propoprtions of the characters would just look completely different from shot to shot, to the extent that it did actually detract from the viewing experience a few times. For some reason it was really noticeable on Miyuki's face, which occasionally just seemed to be wrong, anatomically. Similarly, I don't think the animators or animation supervisor got the right balance of when to have fewer, simpler lines for long-distance shots and when to have detail for close-ups. Another area I found lacking but obviously undertand is just an industry standard was of course, the mouth-only speech animation. Won't hold that against them too much, though. Bigger picture, however, the animation is really good, really fluid interesting, underpinned by brilliant character and background art. So still a really well animated movie despite some flaws.

It sounds like I haven't got too much praise for Tokyo Godfathers but I do really think it's such a sweet and wonderful film. I can definitely see a lot of people watching this film today and absolutely loving it too! I just sadly can't give it an substantive score much higher than 'above average'.

Arcane (2021)

Creators: Christian Linke & Alex Yee (various writers)

Directors: Pascal Charrue, Arnaud Delord, Bar Maunoury
Finished first watch: 23/11/2024

Animation Studio: Fortiche

Review contains ***SPOILERS*** for Arcane

Ratings:

OVERALL	NB: These are not weighted equally (if at all)	Plot	Storytelling	Animation	Characters
8		8	9	9	9

It's tough, because I'm still feeling a lot of emotions from having just finished Arcane season 2, smashing out the last 3 episodes on the day of release as well. So I think this write-up might suffer from my immediate feelings getting in the way of objective assessment. Maybe I'll come back to this after a few months, maybe even a rewatch, and check myself. But for now, there are 2 things I would say about Arcane that I think are undeniable:

    1. It is simply one of the greatest series ever made (and a good candidate for the #1 spot)

    2. Despite this, there are still lots of ways it could have been improved.

Characters

Even above its stunning animation, I would say that the absolute strongest element of Arcane is its characters development, alongside the strength of the characters themselves. Every single member of this ensemble cast went on a journey throughout the series - they changed their attitudes, they fell under each other's influence and they significantly grew as a result of their on-screen experiences (including through some really thoughtfully used time-skips). And it was all driven my the massive, literally life-changing events that we saw them go through as part of the plot. Even side characters had such understandable and realistic responses ('realistic' more so meaning consistent and believable within the Arcane universe, than reflective of our real world); Caitlyn's dad, Salo, Sky(!!), for example, were all complete side characters yet still had really meaningful development throughout the show. And if main characters didn't have amazing development throughout the series, we'd get insight into their back stories which would still give us a really great sense of how they got to who they are in the story. The writers, who cannot be given enoough credit, then of course used this development to create more tense situations and force more decisions, which would lead to more of these seismic life events, building even more development and the cycle would continue.

    The incredible development also wasn't just within the characters' personalities but was also masterfully reflected in their character designs. I have to use a pretentious word like 'masterfully' because the designers genuinely did show a mastery in their craft with this. All the young versions of the main cast are brought into the present era so well, visually. Jinx stops looking like a sweet little kid and instead does look like a troubled teenager. Vi goes from a tough kid to someone who will beat the shit out of you. You even see Jayce's outfit get more and more formal and regal as his political capital increases. Then when you get to season 2, the events get truly foundation-shaking and again this is reflected brilliantly on the characters. Dishevelled Jayce, pit brawler Vi, demigod Viktor, fascist dictator Caitlin. All significantly shifted desigs to reflect the characters' mental state and motivations, all whilst still being so incredibly appealing! That's something that is consistent throughout - every design is just so incredibly distinct and intersting. Even characters who didn't change too much still get thoughtful redesigns; thinking Silco (in the flashbacks and in the Alternate Reality) and Ambessa, who (literally) shows more of herself and gets more battle ready as season 2 progresses.

    The apex of this incredible character design flexibility shows up in the phenomenal AU episode in season 2. Seeing how different Ekko and Powder would look at the same age if they hadn't been through the same events wasn't just creative and very cool to see but also really underscored the fact that they are who they are because of what they've experienced. Honestly, Arcane might have the best, clearest and most tangible character development I've ever seen. No 'subtle', half-baked nonsense - the stuff really happens and it really shows.

The characters themselves are, of course, also great. The cast is varied and deep. They all have understandable motivations and opinions and really interesting flaws and limitations. For example, it's easy to love Vander but still see that he's complicit in the status quo and, to an extent, a coward for accepting it. Silco is cruel and mistreats his own people but still has moments where it seems like he has genuine affection for Jinx, which is endearing. Of course this is all rooted in League of Legends lore but it made for characters who were great ingredients to an excellent story.

Oh and also, even the weapon designs develop over time! Vi gets the v1 rusty mitts, then the hex tech prototypes, then the final enforcer version. Jayce comes back from the Void with a completely overgrown wild rune Hammer. Jinx of course improves her proficiency and makes bombs and tools that are less cute and far more intimidating over time. More attention to detail that makes these characters and their journeys so great.

Plot

The story writing is incredible. Not only does it have the previously mentioned events, impacts and character decisions linked but it also has the different strands of the story interact with and influence each other in really clever ways, as well as managing a really intriguing fantasy/magical component and tying that in with everything else. The story also does reflect very relatable and topical issues from the real world in very entertaining and appealing ways but never relies on the viewers' perceptions of these issues. They always clearly show how each character feels about them and thoroughly explains why. The plot is also constantly evolving and shifting too. So the twists and turns the story takes keep it interesting and keep a great level of tension throughout. And nothing ever feels like a cheap twist, either. I would honestly say that the plot and writing for season 1 are the best I've ever seen, although I'd sadly have to say that season 2's isn't quite as good. The two main reasons being: 1.) the lack of explanation and resolution of quite a few of the storylines, and 2.) the pacing. The pacing for season 1 was perfect but there were quite a few events in season 2 that just needed a bit more time to breathe or maybe a bit more of a build-up. For example, Jinx accepting that she was being heralded as a rebel hero or Caitlin implementing martial law in the undercity. Both were quite abrupt and didn't necessarily follow on directly from where the storylines had last left off. As for the storylines that weren't actually fleshed out enough, here's a mini list:

    -Mel being magical. She gets a whole new backstory, as well as mage powers and accepts and masters both of them within an episode, to the point that she's then war ready. Definitely needed more explanation and learning (for her) and a lot more exploration (for us). I'd also say I liked the way Mel influenced the story as a clever councillor early on, so the magic felt unnecessary.

    -Linked to that, the Black Rose storyline was far too vague throughout. We're given thee bare bones but we then got no real explanation for why they actually wanted to kill/get Ambessa. Then at the end, Mel says "I see through you" or whatever, with zero explanation of what she actually means. Did she save her mother from them? What did she see through them about? Were they dishonest about something? Why did it matter? They were also just too abstract as characters as well. We only ever see glimpses of 2 of them on screen (apparently not even in their true forms), yet they're driving force behind Ambessa's entire story. It would have improved her character significantly if we'd been given the full context.

    -Viktor's actual plan and motivations**. We spend the vast majority of the show hearing Viktor talk about helping people, including becoming a magical healer. To the have him suddenly flip to wanting to evolve humanity(?), effectively make everyone braindead and also be willing to fight a bloody war to achieve it is very jarring. But also it just didn't make sense mechanically. What was he actually doing, how did the wild rune magic work? What even is Jayce's solution?

    -Jinx's madness practically disappears. She also becomes very altruistic out of nowhere (if anything she should be more fucked after losing Isha). Even before that, we end Season 1 with Jinx being at her most lost, unable to turn to Silco or Vi but then Season 2 kicks off with her pretty much finding immediate stability and safety. Side note, but I also remember being incredibly disappointed with Jinx's first appearance in season 2, because it was very anticlimactic. Whereas her first appearance as Jinx in season 1 is so fucking good. So impactful.

    -Singed. What was his actual plan and why did it rely on Viktor? And if it did rely on Viktor, why did it still kinda work out even though Jayce stopped him? Also, how did Singed slip out completely free after his role in the war? And did he actually reanimate his daughter? He was another one who was basically the root cause of a lot of stuff but just didn't get the exposition needed on screen.

I would also just say that in season 2, the show kinda lost itself. It got too swept up in the mystique and mythos and lost sight of the storylines that had been so engaging up to that point - the love and hate between the 2 sisters and Zaun's struggle against Piltover. Completely brushing those 2 stories to the side to fight for the existence of humanity didn't create a very satisfying final act for me. In general, I'd say that massive, existential stakes are generally a lot less compelling than small-scale, very human stakes. There were also just some other choices they made with the show that I didn't personally like, although they weren't necessarily bad or wrong:

    -The shift away from very tangible story and magic mechanics (hex tech, shimmer) towards unquantifiable and unknowable magic (the wild runes, Viktor)

    -Bringing back Vander didn't really work for me either. It led to some really beutiful moments (one of which made me actually cry) but it felt strange to (literally and metaphorically) revive his dead corpse as a way of bringing the sisters back together.**

    -Again, definitely just a style preference but it's become very predictable and honestly a bit stale at this point for fantasy series to end in a big war. So that was a bit disappointing too. Same again for multi-versing; it's a bit of a trend recently but fair enough, they made a genuinely beautiful episode out of it.

 

On storylines, I also want to give a specific mention to Caitlin and Vi's romance storyline. I usually find romance stories in entertainment to be a bit boring and forced. A good example of this is AU Ekko and Powder kissing. I think that episode would have had more emotional impact as a reflection of Ekko grieving a lifelong friendship - making it romantic sort of undercut that because it seemed to be more of a fantasy than the loss of the deep bond they already had. However, Caitlin and Vi on the other hand, is possibly the first on screen romance that I have absolutely loved, because it was constructed and executed so well! You see these two characters, who are both in crisis in their own ways, have their worlds and perceptions changed by each other. They each represent the other's enemy but over time, they warm up to each other and that opens up the possibilities of humanising the other side. Their romance also completely mirrors the overarching storyline of Piltover vs. Zaun, so it's thematic and story-relevant. And even if it's not healthy, they find comfort in each other during times when they're grieving or feeling lost. Importantly though, they clearly find really admirable traits within each other during their excursion in the Lanes (Caitlin learns that Vi is loving and principled rather than just a criminal and Vi learns that Caitlin is honorable and tough rather than just pampered and pretentious). This also means that the will-they-won't-they moments even feel real, because Jinx's actions start to erode away at those very same traits - they find themselves in crisis again and retreat back into their old habits but they can still see those admirable qualities within each other throughout it all. I absolutely loved the dialogue before before their big scene in season 2, when Vi says "I choose wrong every time". Because it was so clear that yeah, duh! That's what Caitlin loves about you! You choose to believe that everyone can change and you want to show them compassion, even when you say you've given up on them. And of course, it's great to see a romance between two women that doesn't end tragically. Bechdel test of course passed with... flying colours.

**Last point on plot, I recognise that a lot of what I know as 'Arcane' is built off existing LoL lore. So the two starred points above, were always in the plan, since they were already established elements of those characters' backstories. The Viktor and Vander from season 1 were already destined to become the Viktor and Warwick from LoL (which I now know, following a week or so of watching youtube videos/shorts about the lore). Same with things like the Black Rose, which have their own deep mythology already established, apparently. That doesn't mean Arcane's creators get a pass to not develop or explain these things properly, in fact it's maybe the opposite. I think it highlights the fact they really needed more time to get from the end of Season 1 to where they wanted to end up. What I wll give them credit for, however, is how well they established these new versions of these characters, so that their already published histories felt like they were thrust upon them. I'd also include in that Vi becoming an enforcer - they gave Arcane Vi such a strong identity that even though she has Police Officer skins in game, it still felt strange seeing her become a cop. Side note though, being an underprivileged kid and having served jail time, fucking a cop inside a jail cell is absolutely insane behaviour. Great scene, just insane for a very ACAB character.

Storytelling

This is another thing that the series does exceptionally well! Of course, 'show, don't tell' isn't an absolute law of film and TV but the way Arcane tells its story visually without having to spell things out via dialogue is amazing. I'd even extend the phrase to 'show beyond what you need to tell', which the show does an incredible job of doing. One example of this that I loved was NewJinx heading back to the arcade in Season 1. It's a place of comfort and somewhere that will always be linked to Jinx's past - so we subconsciously get a sense of where she is mentally from that alone. But when we see her actually turn the boxing machine on, not only do we get a great action sequence with really strong, visually impactful poses, we get to learn that Jinx, unlike Powder, absolutely can fight. She's physically strong, she's quick and she's willing to get involved in combat. So that shows us how her character has developed during the time skip. But then the scene finishes with her completing the round on the machine and the scoreboard lighting up to show her high score - 2nd highest. She enters the 3 letters for her name slot but of course, the no. 1 spot, not illuminated, is taken up by none other than Vi. That confirms to us that although Jinx is now clearly an adept fighter, Vi would still beat her ass if it came to it. But beyond that, I think it showed that Vi was still dominating her thoughts and that she was still chasing after her. Especially since the entire sequence has cuts and flases of her memories of Vi. The whole passage also happens over the span of about 2 minutes. So we get such rich, engaging and visually pleasing story telling without wasting valuable screentime. That's pretty much consistent with the rest of the show.

In general, I'd say that the storytelling always keeps things visually interesting, so that even straightforward conversations are coupled with visual symbolism or at least atmospheric/quiet world building. They never leave you just looking at the same angle for long enough for it to become stagnant. The staging/framing is also excellent, especially when they draw parralells. For example, Jinx injecting Silco's eye comes across as such a domineering power play by Silco at first, as we see Jinx being incredibly delicate and precious in how she approaches him. But when she finds out Vi is still alive, this is completely flipped, so that it becomes an act of aggression and assertion from Jinx, to the point that it feels like Silco's life is in her hands as she holds the needle. Especially across season 1, it just felt like they kept finding great ways to do transitions and montages and it was always cool and visually pleasing. It may be a bit harsh to say but there were times in Season 2, however, where they leaned on the great storytelling a bit too much to try and bridge gapw left by the absence of some important story events. It was a bit frustrating, because they effectively found the most interesting way to cover up a lack of substance with literal style, where they actually used different animation and art styles to tell the story. Can't knock the storytelling for that, I guess it too was just complicit in the story falling short.

Something else I think the directing did amazingly well was having amazing, powerful, metaphorical and cinematic shots, which were story-relevant. One of the best ones, in my opinion, was Silco appearing in the lanes and holding out the vials of shimmer to the shimmer addicts, after they sold out Vi. It's a really cool shot, that frames Silco as being like a god to these people but really, it's more the case that they're at their lowest point. I would compare it to a similar shot in Batman v Superman, when Superman gets adoration from a bunch of people wearing Mexican Sugar Skulls. I'd say both are equally cool shots but in the Superman shot, these characters are not story relevant (they don't appear in any way outside of that shot and are not named or otherwise interacted with), whereas for Silco, this shot is used to give the viewer and Caitlyn/Vi a sense of despair, as they realise these people they had trusted (who are afflicted by Shimmer, one of the central plot points) are actually loyal to Silco (really their addiction), which makes their situation much more desperate. There were so many more shots like that, especially in season 1.

Also, incredible music, fantastic voice acting (and a stacked voice cast!) and an amazing, very well thought out world also support that brilliant storytelling.

Animation

Somehow, I'm speaking about animation last but I think it's all already been said by every other Arcane fan. The animation is absolutely stunning. I genuinely don't think there is a single project, big or small screen, that has such fluid and intentional movement of its character models. Even subtle movements and secondary actions, like eye movement and small smirks were done with great attention and care and added to that phenomenal storytelling. Of course, in addition to this we saw great shots, really strong poses (which were held for just long enough at the right times) and some really brilliant fight scenes. To be honest, after watching quite a few Netflix animated series/movies, I was astonished at the animation quality in Arcane. Of course, that's because it isn't quite a 'Netflix' series in the way that Nimona or The Sea Beast are Netflix movies, but Arcane blows everything else completely out of the water.

Arcane distinguishes itself stylistically through its painted textures, that all look incredible. There's no substitute or software solution for painting all of your props, models and backgrounds and these guys did it beautifully, to create a style that is distinct and clearly video-game-like, whilst never being too abstracted from reality to keep your sense of immersion. They also incorporated lots of different animation styles throughout the run. Most prominently was all of the hand-drawn effects animation. Somehow, this never looked out of place against the 3D modelled world and it was all done beautifully. As far as I could tell, it only ever needed to be straight-ahead animated, so I think the artists who got to work on it really were allowed a lot of freedom. So lots of details did end up looking really gorgeous, like explosions, smoke or even just a little bit of steam from a hot cup of tea. Really pretty. Then of course, there are the full sequences where they change styles entirely. Like Vander's memories being rendered in watercolour, which really added to the feeling of nostalgia and sadness. Or when they rendered Ekko's fight with Jinx on the bridge in a charcoal/stencil style - was clearly still modelled but again, the consideration and attention to render it in a different style amplified the impact of the sequence.

   

The animation is actually probably the only thing that doesn't dip in quality from season 1 to season 2 - in fact, it might even improve in the second half! When you get to these abstract and ethereal passages with Viktor, the animation (and overall concept) is really beautiful. I don't know if Sky in season 2 is her actual spirit or just an apparition summoned by Viktor's guilt (which is actually the kind of thing I don't mind being left to interpretation, because it's completely inconsequential to the story) but the way that the two of them look in this spectral dimension really takes you there as a viewer. They aso really stepped up the combat sequences for the war in the final episode, which was a lot of fun.

Conclusion

The more time I spend thinking about Arcane, the more I realise how well put together it was. It's definitely the kind of thing that people can write analysis and interpretations of for years and years into the future, and I personally can't wait to follow along with all of it. I know there's a whole bunch of symbolism and foreshadowing I missed! Sadly though, I think I'll always remember it as something that was astonishing and wonderful but didn't realise its full potential.

However, to finish off, I have to give massive props to the executives from Riot who decided to create this series and their overall approach and philosophy. Great story and great animation are not easy nor cheap to create. However, they made a clear decision that if they were going to create this show to draw new players to their game, they were going to do it in a way that honours the existing lore and creates a fantastic series that could stand and be brilliant on its own. I especially loved this quote from Marc Merrill, Chief Product Officer at Riot, in response to a question about Arcane's reported $250million budget:

"We're more than comfortable with the spend it took to deliver a show that was worthy of our players's time." 

That alone is enough to make this show great. Right now, most of what we see on our screens, especially in animation, is held back by companies and executives choosing lower costs over a perfect end product. To have someone give a piece of art this kind of backing and commitment is rare and commendable. So alongside anything else I might say, I will always consider Arcane legendary for the fact it was made for its fans and no one else.

Random Thoughts:

-Ambessa's mask design was so fucking cool. I'm sure they designed it to look like the face of a leopard, which is even cooler (although potentially kinda real Earth-centered).

-It should be noted that it's a huge win for the series to feature a prominent lesbian/sapphic/wlw couple between two of its major main characters (and do it so well!). This is something that absolutely should be celebrated, because it isn't the norm yet.

-Similarly, this is a series that included several incredibly well-developed and well written women characters, none of whom were tokenistic in any way. So again, the show's creators should get a lot of credit for that.

-Ambessa absolutely loves a Twink and that was both hilarious and relatable (and tbh good strorytelling still).

-I could have watched Ambessa kicking the shit out of Caitlyn and Mel all day, that was an amazing fight scene (I think I love Ambessa)

-It was very cool how they included character models for the band Imagine Dragons in the actuall meat of the show. Great service to them as artists.

-The more and more I find out about LoL, the more I appreciate how well they honoured the game through the series. E.g. Ekko specifically stating that his time skip tool could go back exactly 4 seconds is actually a nod to one of his in-game abilities

-Jayce and Vi teaming up to go and bust up the shimmer plant was a reall fucking cool scene.

-Shout out to FlowChartKen for loads of great LoL lore videos, which I've been watching since finishing the series. They've really helped give me a deeper appreciation of a lot of stuff. Also shout out to this other random video for catching the Vander-Warwick thing on the spot after season 1.

-Similar to the point about Vander being a coward, I really liked how Ekko ends up putting Heimerdinger to shame in the AU by being so adamant on getting back to their universe. Heimerdinger is so content to just forget his failures and hardships in the main universe and enjoy the paradise here but Ekko knows that he can't do that when so many people are relying on him back home. Similarly, it creates a parallel with Jayce's AU adventure, where Jayce had to fight through a nightmare to get back but Ekko had to make the more difficult choice to leave this perfect paradise and go back to hell. He's a legend for that.

Cowboy Bebop: The Movie (2001)

Direcor: Shinchirō Watanabe

Writer: Keiko Nobumoto

Studios: Bones, Bandai Visual, Sunrise (Bandai)
Watched on: 01/09/2024

Review contains ***SPOILERS*** for Cowboy Bebop: The Movie (aka Cowboy Bebop: Knockin' on Heaven's Door)

Ratings:

OVERALL	NB: These are not weighted equally (if at all)	Plot	Storytelling	Animation	Characters
8		7	8	9	6

 

This film isn't just a classic because it's iconic or significant - it's an an absolute scorcher of a film. I finally got round to watching it and can't describe it as anything less than fantastic. Of course, the film (and Cowboy Bebop overall) does not need mine or anyone else's seal of approval but I'm at least glad to part of the club.

Obviously, we have to start with animation, and it is incredible. It's got all the brilliant quality and style of the main series, with maybe about 10% extra added on top*. Everything that moves does so convincingly as a solid object with believable volume and mass; that includes the characters, the big and small spacecraft, the guns, the props, even quite a few elements of the backgrounds. As the main series did, the film really shines during the fight scenes. They're so much fun and both well choreographed and well directed - we always get a perfect shot to emphasise the dynamicism or the impact of every blow. Practically flawless other than having limited animation for practically all of its speech. I can't knock it for that, really, it's sticking to its roots. I'd give it a 9 for animation, noting that the only film I know that has better animation is Akira (which I also rated as a 9 but could easily change to a 10 tbh).

The plot was actually very good, in my opinion. Far better than the overarching storyline of the series, or any of the individual episode stories. The main aim of the villain isn't quite clear but he's clearly mad enough to want to infect a bunch of people for no reason. Everything else is great, from how the conspiracy is uncovered, how we get to piece it together bit-by-bit and even the mechanics of the story are pretty much airtight. It also did a great job of leading us into each fight or interesting sequence. So no complaints (and I'd also add that the plot for James Bond 'No Time to Die' is incredibly similar).

Touched on it a bit in the animation section but the storytelling is great too. All the shots are framed really well for interesting and clear scenes. This is especially true for scenes where there isn't a lot happening - we'd often have a bird's eye view of the characters, then a shot of the background, then a focus in on a small detail etc. Always kept it visually interesting and showed off the great work of the artists and animators (drawing large crowds of people moving across the horizon line in dramatic perspectives really is not easy!). Also, in true Cowboy Bebop style, the uptempo jazzy soundtracks not only help to distinguishing Cowboy Bebop's quite unique identity and style but also just add so much appeal to it. You can't help but get excited in those big moments.

Not sure if this is a storytelling point but will just add it - the 'fan service' is way too much. As always, I can appreciate this is what they had to do to increase its mass appeal and of course, Faye is pretty much designed to be eye candy for people who want to ogle cartoons but 2 things: 1. it was far too gratuitous in my opinion and was compounded by the fact that Faye had shit all to do as a character except fail and get assaulted for the sake of the plot. 2. The scene where Vincent has her tied up/semi-conscious is far too forceful to be considered sexual. My problem with it, is that the directors present it as fan service when really it should be treated as terrifying and violent. When this guy's threatening to rape her, we don't need to see her boobs flopping out of her shirt. To me, that's a clear decision that you want it to be sexy, rather than horrifying, which is a shitty decision.

Lastly, characters. Possibly the only element of this film that isn't super strong. There's nothing wrong with the characters. They're all very appealing, interesting, well designed and play their parts very well throughout. However there isn't much of a journey for any of the characters, especially not the main cast. I guess this is because the movie has to fit in somewhere within the series, so it's understandable. At the very least, if they didn't develop, they did learn throughout the film, which is what you need for the narrative to continue, so it definitely didn't detract from the enjoyment of the film.

I don't think I've stressed enough just how good the animation in this film is, as is very well known, over 20 years after its initial release. But I'd just like to re-iterate one last time that the animation in this fim is absolutely stunning and it's worth watching just for that. Even if you only watch the shootouts and fight scenes.

Also, a quick shoutout to Ghibliotheque who put on the screening of the film in IMAX, which was incredible. Hopefully lots of similar events from them in the future.

Overall conclusion: this film is fantastic and lots of fun and I'd say it warrants the undivided attention of animation nerds, however is also just so cool and visually appealing that anyone would enjoy it.

*Just went back and watched a few scenes from the series and think I was giving it a bit too much credit it my memory. The movie has SIGNIFICANTLY better animation. The series animation is maybe a 7 at best.

How I Would Improve 'Elemental' (2023)

I watched Elemental last night (02/08/2024) with no intention of writing a review of it. I decided today though, that I'd make a note of things I think could have improved the film. These are generally small tweaks or reworking what's already in the film. However, I started writing them out and it ended up being longer than most of my reviews. 

Anyway, I hope somebody reads and enjoys:

Ember's reluctance to run the shop is literally introduced more than halfway through the film. Up to that point, it's shown that she actually really wants to run the shop and prides herself on it.
Similarly, we never see her blowing glass artistically. Only ever doing it when it's practical and necessary.

I'd fix both of these by having Ember clearly have a love for creating art from the beginning, even as a baby. (Like it seems so random when they're sat on the beach and she makes a ball with the flower in it). Also "your temper is trying to tell you something" makes no sense in the context of the film.

I'd also make the glassblowing internship more real. It's one of several things they tell but don't show. The guy's mum just mentions it so off hand, like "hey I can get you a job" and that's kinda it.
Maybe Ember's tempered glass fix could have been super beautiful and Gale doesn't just say it's satisfactory but maybe she calls Ember into a big fancy glass building the next day (which we can then be shown is super beautiful and is something she connects with) and be introduced to the glass boss.

There were also lots of very disparate storylines that were either unresolved or underplayed. Definitely had changes in writing or directing, is my guess. But I'd get rid of lots of these.

E.g. The big bow down is meant to be this huge, significant thing that ties them back to their culture but also so is the blue flame. They're serving the same purpose. I'd get rid of one, probably the bow, because the blue flame is much more visual. I'd make it so that the flame shows on someone like an imprint when they are "ready", which is why Ember isn't trusted to run the shop (because her imprint hasn't shown up) but it pops up on her in the glass factory.

Wade's back story is also very weak. Like his dad dying being the reason he "goes from job to job" did absolutely nothing for the story. What we do see is that he's got love and support from his family, which could have easily been flipped to "I get to try lots of different jobs and find what's right for me". Also we only ever see him do 1 job lol. So it has zero impact on the story. Bin it.

I'd also completely cut the Vivisteria subplot. It's a tool they use to let Wade do something nice for Ember but it was super weak. It loosely tied back to the discrimination against fire people but kinda just half arsed both. Let Wade be involved in supporting Ember's art. Also it was pretty visually disappointing, considering the were some great visual moments there were in the film.

I'm generally not a huge fan of romance plots but I think they could have made it a lot more convincing why these two would fall for each other. There's a very weak, off-hand comment about how Wade "connects with people" but this isn't something that's an issue for Ember at all. It's her temper. But they tried to link the two by making her dad say "take a breath, connect" when she loses her temper but this literally does not make any sense. She connects with her parents just fine, connects with the other patrons just fine and only loses her temper when people are being complete dicks to her. So there's no actual link.

The only person she could arguably do a better job connecting with is Clod (I thought she was meaner than she needed to be). Could have been a small little moment, where she keeps his flower but teaches him to be himself, instead of a little knob. But they don't do it.

As for why the two main characters actually do like each other, I think it would have been better if Wade liked Ember for her artistic flair and she liked him for being able to accept his emotions, which is a clear strength of his. (I also didn't love that they chose to portray a man in touch with his emotions as just being a big crybaby). Could have been done in lots of ways but they could easily have set up foil moments where she reacts 1 way to something, then watches as he reacts completely differently.

(Also, the final speech she gives to make him cry was a great opportunity to for her to show how she has learned to connect with him by using her own fucking examples of things that make him cry. Not just repeating the things he said back to him, beat-for-beat).

The biggest issue with the plot overall (not the story) is the source of the leaky pipes. Like this is a massive, structural, life-threatening issue. And it's just like... a broken gate? To me, it seemed like there was meant to be a much bigger and more significant cause, given the tight deadline from the City and the very intentional mention of rust and motor oil (twice). They either needed to make it clear that cause of the issue wasn't a big deal (because at least the leak comes back later on), make the impact of the leaky pipes a lot less devastating or just remove it entirely. Make Wade actually come down as a city inspector. If not, there would have to be a big plot that involved some kind of structure or machinery but that would move too far away from what the film is actually about tbh. (Although there could have been a plot about how Element City is falling apart without the Fire people, since they got banned because it needs everyone living together harmoniously).

Another very persistent issue with the film is its incredibly patronising "tell don't show" approach, as previously mentioned. Idk if this is a reasonable suggestion but I'd just change every instance of characters needlessly saying or explaining something with an at least decent way of showing it. Pixar is usually very good at this.

The most pertinent example is the smoke readings. The mum in general has an embarrassingly insignificant part (could have made her a cooky side character tbh) but the smoke reading is a fairly important plot device. But in the key moment when Wade uses his body to focus Ember's flame, we actually have no idea what the smoke shows. This would have been significantly improved by showing the earlier couple having a somewhat brightly coloured smoke, then Ember and Wade having a super bright combo. What we get instead is very unclear, because the wisps kinda blend together but then from another angle they appear to swirl and never touch. There is no inherent sense of whether this shows a good or a bad match. (This could also easily replace the Vivisteria moment).

Related to this is the Mum being able to smell love. It's a weird plot point but contains two very annoying instances of telling: one when she finds the photo and says "but who is this boy????", like yeah no shit, we know that's what she's wondering; the other when she decides to follow Ember to dinner by sniffing the air and shouting "love!". These would have both been much better if there were a visual representation of the smell of love. We could see a purple (/whatever colour) wisp go by Mum's nose and know immediately what she was smelling.

The biggest overall criticism I have, though, is of the incredibly shallow fake immigrant narratives. It's so surface level that it doesn't do justice to real immigrant stories. Are they supposed to be Hispanic or Chinese? Maybe Indian? Really they're nothing, just a generic, catch-all, foreigner which doesn't represent anyone (for reference, as a child of immigrants, I'd connect better with a real but different culture than I did with a fake placeholder trying to represent mine). And the discrimination ultimately played very little part in the story as well. I personally would have removed the immigrant struggle and replaced it with structural struggle (things burning down etc.) and tied it back in with how people live in harmony together. The line "Element City wasn't built with Fire People in mind" is completely wasted otherwise. What did they change in the city to make it work better by the end? We saw lots of cool adaptations for other elements (like the blimps for the wind people, that was great!). At the end of the film, we should see some great adaptations for fire people. They actually did a great job showing all the really practical uses of fire and they could have built on this. (And taken a page out of ATLA's book - fire doesn't just destroy, it gives us light and life!)

And finally, the romance itself. I didn't mind it too much but I thought that the moment of Ember and Wade realising they could touch each other - hold hands and hug - was much more powerful than their final kiss. So that last scene could have been improved by them maybe realising but not fully confirming that they can touch, then finally fully embracing for the first time after the finale, rather than kissing.

Now if Pixar really wanted to make this a truly great film, I have one last suggestion that is definitely me stepping too far away from what's already there. I think they should have been very bold and actually kept it so that Ember and Wade can't touch. It would have said so much more about the nature of love and companionship if they decided that they loved each other so much that just being near one another was enough. That's what they'd been doing the whole film anyway. They could have easily added a line about how Wade feels warm near Ember and Ember feels cool near Wade. But I get that audiences wouldn't like that.

Also the sports game is just Quidditch.