Kaichu
Short Synopsis: Our lead character is a member of his school’s archery club.
I’m… astonished. This is an OVA, apparently consisting out of only two episodes. The first episode was four minutes long. There was no second that wasn’t filled with some cliche here… I mean… I guess that the creators were going for some sort of high school adventure about archery, targeted at people who get turned on by young boys who dress as girls, but this takes poorly executed to a completely different level here. The acting is abysmal, the script is dull beyond belief. the animation was terrible… what the hell were the creators thinking when they made this?
Potential: -50%
Cat Shit One – The Animated Series
Short Synopsis: Our lead character is a battle-hardened soldier.
I’m not sure what the format of this thing is going to be exactly, whether this is just one shot or a longer production, as the hints it has given so far are rather contradicting each other. In any case, this one is entirely in 3D CG, but the creators avoided the botox-faces problem here by simply making their characters animals. It’s a bit weird to see rabbits battle a bunch of dromedary, but nevertheless this episode was quite gorgeous. Especially the backgrounds were really well rendered with a lot of attention to detail. The episode itself feels very much like a first-person shooter, there is a nice use of military tactics and overall this is a pretty nice recommendation for those who want to spend a bit of time with some solid action. There are downsides though: the dromedary here look like a bunch of noobs and a lot of this episode feels like murdering cats with a bulldozer. There’s also no background whatsoever on what’s going on, beyond “we good they bad”. There was a bit of drama, but it’s mostly cheesy action fluff. Don’t expect anything from that. Nevertheless though, I’m impressed. Apparently this one was done by some independent animation production. They could make it big with a more solid scenario.
Potential: 70%
Well I was anticipating the CG in this to be pretty bad but I’m glad to hear it’s pretty good. Also the manga takes place during the Vietnam war but it looks like this one takes place in the middle east. Weird change and can’t say that I like it. Being American I’m a little sick of the focus on the middle east for every war based movie, book, show, etc.
And you mean that there aren’t a ton of media based on the Vietnam war?…
I think the fact it’s taking place in the Middle East is a great idea. It’s true that in the USA we are flooded with GulfWar 2.0-related stuff all the time. But it’s a powerful setting, and it will be interesting to see all this from a different country’s perspective. And with anthropomorphized critters, no less.
YESSSSS!!!! I DIDN’T KNOW IT WAS COMING OUT THIS SEASON!!! I HAVE BEEN WAITING FOR THIS FOR 18 MONTHS SINCE THE TRAILER IN JAN 09!
For anyone watching this series, reading the original “Cat Shit One”(which takes place in vietnam) manga is recommended.
Seriously awesome stuff.
P.S. The Original manga is called “Apocalypse Meow”
Action fluffs are fine too, and I really feel we are lacking things like these nowadays. Well, one of the things this show done great to impress me is a more realistic military themed plot and of course, the gun porn… and I love how the attack helicopter came in to the rescue.
To quote Packy’s words: “Well… that’s one hell of an angel who came to help us.”
A possibility why the camels are such noobs is because most terrorists have very little training just like a random angry civilian that knows just how to shoot a gun, while the rabbits are military trained pros. They also may simply be stupid and overconfident due to their numbers. Also being that the heroes cant die that may also be another reason for stormtrooper marksmanship.
I still can’t believe that I actually watched it
“But it’s a powerful setting, and it will be interesting to see all this from a different country’s perspective.”
That’s all well and good, but given psgel’s emphasis on the writers’ lack of any background besides “they bad we good,” I for one can pass up the thousandth instantiation of the same old racist Arab caricatures we’ve seen in Hollywood (even cutsied up as they are here, lol).
APOCALYPSE MEOW
“But it’s a powerful setting, and it will be interesting to see all this from a different country’s perspective.”
No, it won’t.
I have to admit the CG is amazing. But aside from that, this is just like a bad war film. Everything, and absolutely everything, is cliched (wow, I totally didn’t see that shit coming at the end, the pairing of a pro soldier with a nub soldier, two guys taking down a hundred guys, bad guys always missing).
@Nymbryxion: Don’t try to explain away these things. They’re not realistic. If you’re okay with that, fine.
I loved the production quality. I hated the lack of story. I loved the action. The fact that they are apparently assigning animal types to “races” stinks. Reminds me of the redlettermedia review of Avatar, well just the part where he talks about character design…
It’s not that they decided to avoid the bad human CGI by making them animals. The reason they did that was BECAUSE ITS THE HOW THE ORIGINAL STORY WENT. Its time like this I wish you actually looked the source material.
And did you really expect THAT much from a four minute ova?
And congrats on winning the tourny!
Watched Kaichu…I deleted it as soon as I finished the episode (I gave it that much of a chance, I held out for THAT long [it’s a 3-4 minute show]) What complete garbage. I am interested in watching Cat Shit One, but I might marathon it later – I am already watching 8 series this season.
I think this negative review about kaichu is just about your talk on your personal “taste.” I actually enjoyed the show and can’t wait for more. You are complaining about boy who’s drooling with girl who’s actually a boy? Well check this out dude the genre of this anime is “comedy” gender bender so of course it is! Lol