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| Overall | Art | Animation | Character Design | Music | Series Story | Episode Story | Reviewer | |
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| Rent | 10 | 10 | 9 | 7 | 7 |
 Ggultra2764
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[series:1429#1552] | |
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It's not the best anime film I've seen, but Wonderful Days did offer some decent enough material to latch me on its nearly hour and a half run. The obvious best feature with the film is its impressive visual presentation as it blurs CG and cel-shaded animation quite seamlessly with both having realistic details in the designs and rendering of its characters and settings respectively. Action scenes were very fluid and intense as hand-to-hand combat, firearms and vehicles were used in the battles depicted. Beyond the visuals, Wonderful Days is also effective in believably portraying its world without making things too complex within its 86 minute time frame. The movie focuses around pollution and the struggle of class portraying a corrupt post-apocalyptic world where the residents of Ecoban have a colorful and lively world they inhabit while the outcasts live in densely populated slums. Lead characters Jay and Shua recall the time they could see the blue sky clearly before Ecoban's polluting led to the sky being totally obscured in the smog produced by the city. Also, some characters of Ecoban clearly have little regard for the lives of the outcasts as they desired to hurry along their pollution project to both supply them with the necessary energy they need and to kill the outcasts. What the movie is lacking in though is characterization and that is certainly evident in its focus on the interactions between Jay, Cade and Shua. Wonderful Days is prominently focused on Jay's self-doubt over Ecoban's merciless treatment of the outcasts and conflicted over who she should be loyal towards. While the movie does do well at slowly building up Jay's eventual decision in whom she wishes to support, it doesn't do a convincing job of having me care about her bonds with Cade and Shua due to the limited amount of time the movie has at exploring the bond, especially as we don't get to peek into the heads of the two guys to figure out what drove Shua to eventually defect from Ecoban and Cade's thoughts on the major events that occur with Jay and Shua. Otherwise, Wonderful Days made for a decent Korean animated film that laid out its post-apocalyptic world solid enough without making things too complex for its limited running time and sports an seamless rendering of CG and cel-shaded animation impressively well. Last updated Wednesday, December 07 2011. Created Wednesday, December 07 2011. | ||||||||
| Watch | 10 | 9 | 9 | 7 | 7 | 7 |
 Dreamer
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[series:1429#2279] |
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According to the images shown above and the synopsis, it show promise but.... Art, Animation & Character Designs Here's another one that came pretty darn close to the FF VII title in artwork and animation. If you've seen the breathtaking CG in FF, then you'll get an idea of what to expect here. If you don't, then to briefly explain, this is an astonishingly good CG animation. The details were extremely high and clear. Animation was very smooth... almost velvety. As for character designs, they were tranditionally drawn, but still extremely well done. Music The soundtrack had some soft pianos and other similar instruments. They were mostly audio fillers that really didn't do much for the plot. Just barely noticeable. However, during some of the battle scenes, it would pick up and get dramatic. It would add to the intensity of the battles. Series and Episode Story As good as the art and animation was, the expectations for the story fell short. Although it wasn't a loss or come close to one, it lacked any real substance. It was good and entertaining but started off pretty slow and finally when it did pick up, it didn't have the punch one would expect to a plot that takes time to build to a climax. Overall, it was a feast for the eyes but the story was just average. Still good enough for a watch rating. Last updated Tuesday, May 12 2009. Created Tuesday, May 12 2009. | ||||||||
| Watch | 10 | 10 | 8 | 5 | 6 | 6 |
 Xenoknight
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[series:1429#2967] |
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A trio of friends from years past and a dire tale of war and oppression... Now this was an OK title. It shined in many departments and was lacking in some others, but still presented a fairly enjoyable story. The plot started out extremely slow, and didn't pick up until the middle of the movie. Besides the long pause, I was entertained for most of the movie and the characters and animation brought it all together as a whole. The animation itself was enough to think highly of this movie. It was a CG movie the entire time, but the animated characters brought me back to reality and made me realize that this was an anime. Also, it being a Korean title, I had a tougher time wanting to follow the dialogue as I am so used to Japanese. It made the movie "tough" to watch in a sense. There were tons of different things going on in this title and I walked away from it fairly pleased. The epic struggle between Shua (hero), Jay (female lead), and Cade (enemy commander) was a strong foundation. The back story from the past shows Cade's true colors and how the battle for Jay began. I enjoyed the love triangle and it was a saving factor in case the movie were to tank in another area (though things turned out average in every other department save for art and animation). The music was kind of annoying, though I still appreciated it and how it fit the situations to a "T". Among the most epic moments in the movie, the music became that of an "opera-like-drama" and dragged out entirely too long for my tastes. Nonetheless, those parts were so shocking, that I didn't care about the music (or was able to filter it out I should say) and was too enveloped in the movie's action and death sequences to worry about such a small aspect of the movie. The art and animation was the entire movie - period!!! Not to show any disrespect, but I would say that anyone watching this movie with even the smallest appreciative bone in the body could see some Final Fantasy VII - Advent Children in this movie. It was that serious! The only difference was in the characters, which remained fully animated. It was like the movie was done twice, one for the undeniable animation and the other for the beautifully done character design. ...From the water droplets from the rain, to the bullet holes in the screen, all I can say is that this movie was a feast for the eyes. All in all, I can't say it was the best movie ever, but I can say that it is certainly worth a watch. I would even go as far as to say that this is among the most sincere watch ratings I've ever given. It was simple enough for the everyday anime fan, but still complex enough for the hardcore anime lover. My friend, Chris, who recommended this title to me said, "This movie was a statement to the world that Japan is not the only outlet for anime." You can take that statement with a grain of salt if need be, but I would say that this title is certainly grounds for a reason to diversify your anime selections a bit. Check out my award list to see some of the best anime titles in the world! Never forget Xenosaga. Last updated Monday, May 11 2009. Created Tuesday, May 05 2009. | ||||||||
| Rent | 9 | 10 | 6 | 9 | 8 | 7 |
 Devil Doll
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[series:1429#752] |
[Score: 78% = "Rent"]
This movie has been the one with the highest production budget for a Korean anime at its time, and it shows: The "twin brother" of Kumo no Mukou, Yakusoku no Basho features breathtaking animation and some excellent musical pieces, most notably during the battle sequences. The post-apocalyptic setting features a similar cultural clash as, say, Mononoke Hime, resulting in a similar story development. Then again, the lead characters form a classical triangle that seems forced in this story, and the plausibility of the characters' actions is the weak part of the show for me. Like many movies, this one is more for the eye and ear than for the brain. But if you don't expect too much about the storyline you'll get a chilling ride that is well worth a "Rent". Last updated Wednesday, August 10 2011. Created Monday, August 14 2006. | ||||||||
| Rent |
 Jan-Chan
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[series:1429#967] | ||||||
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Great animation – lots of computer generated backdrops and images with very good R1 script and dubbing. The weakest element is the plot which is a bit linear and predictable, but still very entertaining. Well worth the watch or rent (or whatever….). The posted snapshots from the Movie web site. (And yes, I know that this is really a Korean anime movie! We discussed this earlier. But since is it listed in both ANIDB and ANN, it probably should be mentioned here as well) Last updated Sunday, September 23 2007. Created Sunday, August 13 2006. | ||||||||
Other Sites
| Name | URL |
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| English Language Movie Web Site | http://www.skybluethemovie.com/ |
