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The Modifyers (2007)
This should have been a full series
I would never be able to understand what kind of criteria Nickelodeon had at the moment of picking new shows during the 2000s and early 2010s: On one side, they rejected Adventure Time and this, yet they green-lit awful shows like Breadwinners or Fanboy & Chum Chum, not to mention all those horrid live-action sitcoms by Dan Schneider.
Maybe they believed the kids wouldn't be interested in a female-lead cartoon (But they green-lit The Mighty B!)
Wasn't the premise marketeable enough? Or maybe they believed kids would be confused by a show in which the main character was a hero and a villain at the same time? (But they green-lit El Tigre: The Adventures of Manny Rivera!)
I personally think this would have been a great series. I personally liked a lot its wacky animation style and setting, which homaging both steampunk fiction and the aeasthetic of 60s cartoons in a way similar to Wander Over Yonder.
Perhaps they were afraid kids wouldn't like a show with a serialized plot (Yet they already had success doing this type of series with Avatar: The Last Airbender and Danny Phantom!)
Nickelodeon had something with great potential here, yet they shelved it, without giving it a chance. And these other shows they accepted to green-lit were massive failures and ruined the reputation of the channel, which nowadays seems just dedicated to keep producing more and more Spongebob spin-offs.
A shame, really.
L'heure de l'ours (2019)
Bear Time
A beautifully haunting tale of innocence and horror, in which the growing resentment of a child towards his stepfather is able to alter reality itself.
I must confess the meaning of certain scenes completely eludes me, particularly on its ambiguous conclusion, where seemingly allegorical characters turn out to be not so imaginary after all.
But even when I didn't fully understand every detail from the story, I still was entirely captivated by its mysterious, almost nightmarish aura from beginning to end, loving each second.
I particularly loved its animation style, at moments reminiscent of chalk drawings in motion, with a great use of minimalism for the character designs (Case in point: The stepfather figure is entirely faceless, yet he still manages to be a pretty expressive) alternated with scenes of great complexity and detail.
One of the best shorts I have seen this year so far, without doubt. Highly recommended.
8.5/10.
Armor del Amor (2018)
Armadillo Love
A CGI gag short parodying nature documentaries.
While the jokes are honestly pretty simple (Such as armadillos using dating apps on cell phones being treated as a mating ritual), I have to admit it made me chuckle a bit.
Truth to be told, the plot just seems an excuse to display some impressive photorealistic animation, being practically flawless from a technical standpoint.
It might not be a life-changing experience, but at least the visuals are nice.
While the video description refers to this short as "a subtle commentary on the frustration of modern love", I think this would work better as a PSA about how armadillos often end roadkilled. Poor little guys.
6.5/10.
Armor del Amor (2018)
Armadillo Love
A CGI gag short parodying nature documentaries.
While the jokes are honestly pretty simple (Such as armadillos using dating apps on cell phones being treated as a mating ritual), I have to admit it made me chuckle a bit.
Truth to be told, the plot just seems an excuse to display some impressive photorealistic animation, being practically flawless from a technical standpoint.
It might not be a life-changing experience, but at least the visuals are nice.
While the video description refers to this short as "a subtle commentary on the frustration of modern love", I think this would work better as a PSA about how armadillos often end roadkilled. Poor little guys.
6.5/10.
Alien Song (1999)
Silly but fun
I remember the time when the internet was flooded with little animations like this one, featuring some CGI character either singing a song or being involved in a humorous situation.
On its early years, Youtube helped a lot of those animations to explode in popularity, becoming memes overnight.
Nowadays, Youtube is much more corporate and its algorithm keeps promoting a lot of unwatchable garbage, changing from a meme factory into a brainrot central (With all due respect to all the talented creators who still showcase their work there)
This one minute short (Which actually predates Youtube by 6 years) might be just a silly gag, but at least manages to be more effective on its execution than similar works from the following years: Just compare this with stuff like "The Gummy Bear Song" video, which doesn't even have a punchline. Or with the video with the mouse singing "You sexy thing", which was done two year later, but looks much worse visually.
And it also helped Victor Navone to start a career working on Pixar. Good for him.
Spoiler: The alien didn't survive at the end.
L'enfant terrible - Conte bambara (1993)
A tale of an ungrateful brat and his meek older brother
Another African stop-motion short, this time from Congo.
Like "Samba le grand", this is also an adaptation of an African folk tale, which has some elements reminiscent of the movie Kirikou and the Sorceress by Michel Ocelot, namely the premise of a newborn child being able to talk, walk and being very skillful in general.
However, while Kirikou was noble and heroic, the child from this short is a horrible, malicious brat, who loves causing trouble for no reason, and turns against those who come to his aid just for kicks.
There is a clear message here not only about the consequences of ingratitude, but also about how negative behaviors shouldn't be just meekly accepted, even if they come from our relatives.
A lesson well conveyed, and one that always remains relevant.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Turtle Tracks (1987)
Silly 80s fun
Shortly after the passing of James Earl Jones, another legend of American dubbing also recently passed away: Peter Renaday, the original voice of Master Splinter in the original Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles animated series from the 80s.
Revisiting the very first episode of the series was a fun reminder how cheesy most Saturday Morning Cartoons used to be, with rather silly plots and situations; but then again, most of us were far more impressionable kids than the current generation.
The sanitized backstory of Splinter and the turtles feels more bizarre than the one from the original Mirage comics (Which was already bizarre enough), featuring a disgraced Hamato Yoshi willingly living on the New York sewers after being expelled from the Foot Clan, and adopting the rats he found there as his pets (Was it really necessary for him to live on the sewers? One would think that moving to another continent would be enough, but then again, most of us rarely questioned cartoon logic during our childhoods)
It honestly was pretty silly, but entertaining anyway.
May Peter Renaday rest in peace.
Who's in Rabbit's House? (1995)
Rest in peace, James Earl Jones
James Earl Jones, the iconic voice of characters such as Darth Vader and Mufasa has recently passed away.
This is an animated adaptation of a picture-book inspired by a Masai folktale, depicted here as a play with actors wearing masks.
A rather odd stylistic choice, but it works, with a very pleasant aesthetic directly lifted from the source material, wonderfully enhanced by the excellent narration by Jones.
The story itself was pretty charming, with a nice message of how using our wit can achieve better results than just trying to get thing by mere brute force, and also how some people are not always what they claim to be.
May the memory and legacy of James Earl Jones live on through the following years.
Samba le grand (1979)
A beautiful short film nonetheless, disregard of the technical constraints
I think this might be the very first African animation I ever saw on my entire life.
Despite the evident technical limitations, I found the plot to be pretty captivating, expressing the beauty of traditional folklore on its most raw form, without any of the usual "Disneyfied" elements in order to make it more palatable for modern audiences.
As such, some of the reveals and plot twists might result strange, and even baffling at certain points (Particularly on its unexpected conclusion, where the main hero, unable to deal with more requests from his love interest, decides to take his life)
I sincerely believe this deserves a higher score than just 5.3.
Megacycles (1989)
Interesting piece of early CGI animation
This was one of my favorite segments from the The Mind's Eye: A Computer Animation Odyssey; funny how a mere change in background music could cause an entirely different impression on me: In The Mind's Eye, this sequence was accompanied by a more playful melody, giving it a dream-like vibe, while the original footage used a somewhat monotone tune with some weird chords at the end, feeling almost dystopian as a result.
While I prefer the Mind's Eye version, I do appreciate the bizarre existentialist angle from the original, depicting an endless cycle of featureless figures riding monocyles through an equally endless maze, going nowhere ad infinitum.
It might be dated by modern technological standards, but its otherworldy aesthetic retains its appeal, even after all this time.
Saint Seiya: Silver Saints! Hokori takaki shikaku (1987)
The silver saints appear
The episode that introduced the silver saints.
While most of the fandom tends to consider them weaklings (with a couple of exceptions, such as Eagle Marin or Lyra Orphee) due the way in which later parts of the series basically treated them as cannon fodder (Not to mention the anime version didn't do many favors, showing them having trouble to deal with filler characters such as the Steel Saints), on their first apparitions they actually were a pretty big deal, often putting Seiya and his friends on serious trouble.
Lizard Misty, the first of those silver saints, was a rather peculiar character; I must confess the first time I saw him, I actually thought he was a woman, due his extremely androgynous appearence. Said first impression vanished once he started speaking.
As a kid, I genuinely believed Marin actually turned evil and killed Seiya...Until the end of this episode revealed he was actually alive, albeit on a rather dire situarion against his new enemy.
The stylish art by Shingo Araki made this one of the most beautifully animated moments of the series, in my opinion.
Saint Seiya: Seika shika! Makaito no kessen (1987)
When a helmet saves the day
The battle against Geist and her spandex-wearing Ghost Saints continues, this time with Seiya and Co. Trying to retrieve the helmet of the Sagittarius Gold Cloth stolen at the end from the previous episode.
For the first and last time, Seiya shows his musical abilities playing the guitar on the first scene (Some fans might wonder how and when did he had any time to develop such kind of skill, considering his extremely harsh training to become a saint, but honestly, it doesn't matter very much, a man's gotta have a hobby. Also I wish the melody he was playing had been included in one of the many soundtracks from the series)
One by one, the Ghost Saints are defeated by our heroes. As usual, poor Shun is not allowed to have a single victory, not even against such an irrelevant villain such as Jellyfish Krag.
Without doubt, the most interesting part of the episode was the climatic battle against Geist on the final act, a rather infamous moment in which Seiya basically finishes off Geist while she is down, after being unexplainable attacked by the Sagittarius helmet (talk about a Deus ex machina)
And to think later in the series, Seiya would claim he is incapable of hitting a woman. (Despite all the previous instances of him fighting without qualms against Shaina)
A fun episode, nonetheless. In some ways, it kinda foreshadows a dynamic between the main cast which would end becoming prevalent in the rest of the series and the movies, with the other saints constantly having to sacrifice themselves in order to help Seiya to save the day at the end.
And pretty much like in the non-serial movies and the Poseidon saga, the Sagittarius Gold Cloth ends being the key for the final victory.
Behind the Clock (1943)
My introduction to Anson Dyer's filmography.
The first animated short by Anson Dyer I ever watched.
Dyer was a pioneer of animation from the United Kingdom, being hailed at one point as Britain's equivalent of Walt Disney, but sadly, most of his work seems to largely forgotten nowadays.
I personally liked his Hamlet parody short "Oh'phelia" (Making him also the very first person to adapt Shakespeare's ouvre into animation) from the silent era.
This little short from later decades, done in color, is heavily reminiscent of the films made by Max Fleischer. Sadly, it pales in comparison with its American counterpart, due its uneven animation and stiff voice acting.
Dyer kinda feels out of its element here, lacking the charming cleverness of his Shakespeare parodies. The stop-motion used in couple of scenes was pretty nicely done, however.
Saint Seiya: Oo abare! Karibu no Ghosts Saints (1987)
Meet the Ghost Saints
Ah, the Ghost Saints. (Not to be confused with the Ghost Saints from the Eris movie)
I think they might be the less popular characters from the series, perhaps even less than the extremely controversial Steel Saints trio.
Why, you might ask? Well, for starters, their design was a little bit goofy, wearing some sea life-themed spandex suits instead of regular armors.
In addition to that, they were a little bit generic antagonists, though I always liked their leader Geist due her unusual powers and
her friendship with Ophiuchus Shaina.
The two episodes featuring them are still entertaining to watch anyway, despite (or maybe because) the inclusion of a couple of unusual elements which would end becoming rarer in later arcs.
While some fans dislike the seemingly more "mundane" elements of the filler episodes made by Toei, I do like how they give more human qualities to the main characters, showing them interacting and helping ordinary people, an element often overlooked by most of the spin-offs and movies.
Aria (2001)
An unusual approach to Madame Butterfly
In my opinion, the segment directed by Jonathan Hills from the television movie "Opera imaginaire" is perhaps the best adaptation of Madame Butterfly into film.
In just a bit more than four minutes, it manages to do a beautiful summary of the overall plot of the play, accompanied by the aria "Un bel di, vedremo".
By contrast, this stop-motion adaptation has a more post-modern, almost irreverent vibe. It has, however, a rather moving ending, in which the suicide of Cio-Cio-San is depicted through a fourth wall breaking sequence, with her dismantling each piece of her body until nothing is left.
A very original, impressive approach which takes full advantage of the medium, in my opinion.
On the other hand, the sex scene at the beginning was a little bit too awkward for my taste, feeling kinda reminiscent of the "Only a Woman" sequence from Team America: World Police.
But other than that, it was a pretty interesting short which I sincerely recommend.
Tree Robo (2005)
A neat CGI Korean short
A Korean CGI short from Moon-saeng Kim, director from the visually impressive anime film Wonderful Days (Also known as "Sky Blue" in the United States and the United Kingdom)
Like in "Wonderful Days", there is a strong enviromentalist theme here, dealing with the ways in which technology can affect nature, both positively and negatively.
While it was clearly intended to be seen in 3D, it can be perfectly enjoyed in a normal manner, and personally I think the visuals have aged gracefully, in comparison with many other animated movies and shows from the same era.
Even when the ending was kinda nonsensical, its emotional impact was effective enough for me.
There is a strong story here, which could be easily developed into a full feature length film exploring the premise and the characters.
A shame it remains to be such an obscure work to this very day.
For all its flaws, Wonderful Days had plenty of captivating elements, and it would have been nice to see more animations by Moon-saeng Kim.
¿Gustas? (1997)
Brief, but effective anti-drug PSA
An extremely brief anti-drug claymation, barely lasting about 20 seconds (Not counting the credits)
This is also one of the very few animated shorts directed by Rigo Mora (A Mexican animator from Jalisco who was a very close friend of Guillermo del Toro, who in turn made a) which I was able to find online on its entirety.
The animation is a bit crudely done, but I must say the somewhat unpolished visuals end working on its favor, adding a more nightmarish effect, particularly in the sequence where the drug addict starts melting.
Despite its extreme brevity, I found its use of imagery to be quite well done.
Worth-watching.
6.5/10.
Saint Seiya: Cygnus! Hyogen no senshi (1986)
Cygnus Hyoga appears
A pretty solid introduction for Hyoga, the Cygnus saint.
On these first episodes, he was the character with the most captivating aura, having a tragic backstory and very cool (no pun intended) powers.
He also had a rather imposing demeanor, feeling like the typical "bad boy" character which usually ends becoming the rival of the protagonist in this type of anime series, and the end of this particular episode definitely gave the impression he was going to fight Seiya at one point.
However, once Ikki was introduced, the dynamic between the main cast changed completely, with Ikki becoming the "cool, dark character with an edgy personality" while Hyoga was sidelined into a more bitter role, being often forced to fight against all his mentors and friends (First the Crystal Saint, then Camus, and then Isaac, his childhood partner), and in each one of those fights the Cygnus saint was revealed to have a very vulnerable soul underneath his initial cold facade.
Despite this, he still has plenty of fans, and I myself think he is perhaps one of the most interesting characters of the whole series due his inner emotional conflicts, opposed to his somewhat more stoic companions. But boy, he surely had a harsh life, being often chastised just for keeping a strong memory of his deceased mother.
And poor Ichi never stood a chance against Hyoga. And like the other secondary Bronze saints, he was relegated to a background role for the rest of the series, if appearing at all. (Not to mention he was put as a mere comic relief in Saint Seiya Omega)
While the whole Galaxian Wars arc was dropped very quickly, I think it would have been entertaining to see a battle of Seiya againts Hyoga once in the series (Since we already saw a fight of Hyoga against Shiryu in the Battle of the Gods movie)
Carn (2012)
A brief, but intense animation.
Part fairy-tale and part a tale of survival, the addition of certain whimsical elements (such as a talking animal) does not detract at all the grittiness of the plot, particularly on its rather cruel, sudden conclusion in which breaking a promise is meet with a terrible price, in a similar way to many old legends and myths.
I honestly didn't expect such a dark conclusion, but it certainly give it a more memorable effect.
As for the technical aspect, the animation is pretty stylish on its depiction of characters and sceneries, not to mention its captivatingly somber atmosphere.
Definitely worth-watching, even if tragic conclusions are not your thing.
Stickin' Around (1996)
Underrated
I remember Stickin' Around used to be aired on Nickelodeon somewhere during the late nineties; back then I used to think said show was part of the Nicktoons line produced by that channel.
And it was a fun, charming show I enjoyed watching.
It seems some people hate this series merely based on the crude art style (reminiscent of the doodles made by little kids), but such simplistic is pretty fitting to depict the playful imagination of the two main characters, with a naive charm a more polished aesthetic
wouldn't be able to match.
In some ways, this reminded me a bit of Diary of a Wimpy Kid (The original books, not the horrible live-action movies), albeit with a much less cynical tone.
Even if it was "cheaply drawn", the characters were likeable and stories entertaining. And personally, I think it is just as much deserving of appreciation as other slice of life animations from the 90s, such as Recess, Hey Arnold and Doug.
Rabbit Habit (1975)
Bugs the junkie
A fan-made Looney Tunes short from 70s aimed at adults, depicting Elmer Fudd as a drug dealer, and Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck as junkies.
I guess we can say "Rabbit Habit" was way ahead of its time, considering how this same exact type of parody (depicting wholesome cartoon or video game characters doing drugs) was done pretty often in several Newgrounds and Youtube animations from the 2000s (Though in those times Mario was the most frequent target of such type of humor) until the joke was milked dry, becoming a relic of a begone internet era.
Despite the awful animation and the bad voice acting (It was a student film with zero budget, after all), there is a genuine love towards the Looney Tunes displayed here, lacking the malice many modern parodies tend to have.
Apparently Tex Avery had the chance of seeing this short and loved it.
Dororo: Hyakki maru no maki sono ichi (1969)
Way ahead of its time
After seeing the first episode of Big X, I gained some interest for 60s anime shows, and this time I decided to watch the first anime adaptation of Dororo, another show created by Osamu Tezuka, the same man behind classics such Astroboy and Kimba the White Lion.
I was frankly pleasantly surprised to discover how ahead of its time this series was, at least from what can be seen on its very first episode: Despite the cartoonish character designs, this is a somber series, far more violent and cynical than other animated shows from the same era, without romanticizing at all the particular period of Japanese history where the story takes place.
How many other television series from the same era would go as far as showing rotting corpses on streets, or people being melted alive? The premise alone of man sacrificing the body parts from his son to demons in exchange for power is already haunting enough.
And meanwhile, in the west we got stuff like Scooby Doo the same year this series was originally released.
Such a world of difference, isn't it?
Gumbasia (1953)
Clay magic
The very first claymation short by Art Clokey, creator of Gumby and the Christian series Davey and Goliath.
I must confess I never had the chance of seeing any Gumby-related material during my childhood, so I'm not biased in that aspect. And personally, while the stop-motion used here is not incredibly polished or "sophisticated", I still found this a pretty engaging, almost hypnotic watching-experience.
Being a rather abstract work, there isn't any real plot or characters to discuss about, but the visual display here is captivating enough to keep my attention: Inanimate matter comes to life here. Clokey turns his clay into shapes and landscapes that almost feel like breathing creatures, mutating constantly in front of our eyes in perfect harmony with the music.
The face winking its eye to the viewers at the end kinda breaks the illusion, playfully reminding us the whole thing is just a visual trick. But it was still something pretty wonderful to behold while it lasted.
Lighthouse (2008)
The light of solidarity
Wow, apparently a lot of students had to write a school assignment about this short according to the Youtube comment section.
The short itself is quite brief, with a direct and simple message about the importance of solidarity.
A very important, valid message. (Especially in times like these, with selfishness and narcissism being strongly encouraged by social media) But with only three minutes of lenght, there doesn't seem to be much to be said about the story and the characters.
I mean, it wasn't bad, but it wasn't bad particularly groundbreaking either.
Still, it was nice to see for once a tale encouraging communal effort to make things better instead of yet another tale where a single soul has to save the day.
Only working together for the common good people can make a real difference in this world. But as long we keep waiting for someone else to solve everything, nothing will change.
World of Warcraft: Reckoning (2019)
Impressive CGI
I must confess I never played Warcraft game in my life; I have nothing against that franchise, I just never got into it.
My only contact to that series was the 2016 film, which I found merely okay. Still better than the large majority of films inspired by video games churned out by Hollywood, but I wasn't crazy about it.
Durotan was the most likeable member of the cast, but sadly he ends dying pretty early on, and once the movie starts focusing in the human characters, I kinda lost my interest.
But I think this was a very nice CGI short, far more interesting than that movie. It has a rather impressive visual fare, which made me think Warcraft would work better in animation. And with the orcs as the main protagonists.