Wakfu Review

A few years ago, while I should have been studying, I ended up watching a French cartoon called Wakfu. The best way I can describe this show is a French made anime. But make no mistake, this definitely isn’t Japanese, but still managed to hold an all ages story a cut above the rest. I have never watched a French show before, but this show is absolutely gorgeous. It uses flash animation to its full extent, this is animation in the hands of masters. So what is Wakfu? The show is based of an MMO game by the same name and therefore exists in the same world, the world of the ‘twelve’ where there are twelve gods and whomever you initially worshiped you’re appearance begins to change to resemble them, so there are a lot of animal themed anamorphic people. Wakfu is life essence that is pretty much magic, what the show is named after. This particular story is an epic fantasy-adventure.

Anyway, the television series follows the exploits of an unlikely group of people as they party together to fulfill their own destinies. There is the orphan who must find out about his people, there is the princess, escorted by her bodyguard who must get back to her kingdom, there is the really old treasure hunter who will sell your left kidney for some money and an assigned guardian of a demon, who really sucks at his job. Together, they save the world.

Now you're thinking with portals! The fights and animation are amazing.

Not only is the animation fluid and beautiful, but the soundtrack and themes (Click me) are really stand out as well. But where this series truly shines is the characters. They are fantastically voiced, have unique designs and are really the heart of everything here, giving you something to root for. I have described the protagonists, but the main villain of the first series is really worth mentioning.

Nox has a serious fetish for clockworks, looks like a guy wrapped head to toe in bandages and armour, has an echoed, almost robot voice and spends the majority of the series siphoning Wakfu from all kinds of living creatures to build up enough energy to power an ancient and dangerous artifact he found centuries ago. Not bad, huh? With enough energy, he plans to reverse the flow of time, because, no, he doesn’t want to intentionally destroy the world, he just wants to see his family again and save them from his own madness. The thing is, his methods may be incredibly brutal and evil, but he doesn’t care because if he can reverse everything, the damage he does won’t matter. He’s just a husk of a former man who wants to rectify his mistakes from the beginning and protect his family.

He has a point...

But that's just the main guys, every episode is full of rich characters, lush scenery and daring adventure. Speaking of which: The story is mostly one-off adventures in the world (With the larger plot lingering in the shadows), as is to be expected from a French Saturday morning cartoon, but the you can tell the writers really love this world they had painstakingly created and once the plot really kicks in during the final half of the series, it paints a perfect heroes journey for our protagonists. I'll admit, as I was watching it, I was cheering, pumping my fist into the air, getting teary eyed and laughing along with the characters. It’s funny, charming, action packed and gripping whether you’re a kid or an adult. Light-hearted with some emotional weight behind it, this show deserves to stand with the best serialized animations of recent years.

And now they want to do and English dub of it, huzzah!

On a scale of 1-5, 1 being ‘This show killed my family’ and 5 being ‘Euphorically incredible’.

JJJJJ

FIVE SMILEY FACES.

Go-Busters Review

Go-Busters

A Super Sentai series following the 35^th anniversary series Gokaiger. Go-busters is a lot more grounded and less fantastical than any other super sentai series, and this change is actually one of its strongest suites. It would have been hard to follow the Space-Pirate series where they use every sentai power ever to defeat billions of ships and soldiers of the evil space empire. Bringing it in is actually the best thing they could have done, despite the low ratings Go-Busters ended up with.

Go-Busters also takes a lot of queues from its younger Power Rangers cousin, with such phrases as ‘It’s Morphin’ Time!’ and ‘Megazords’; a nice little nod to them, since Power Rangers is on the eve of its own 20th anniversary. I have to say that the production values have been stepped up slightly, even though the CG is still a bit hit and miss; it looks fantastic in the Morphin’ sequences, but the giant robots transforming could do with some improvement. This doesn't take anything away from the experience as the actual giant robot fights are still guys in rubber suits. Perfect. Anyway,

In the series, a sentient alien computer virus infects the computers of the main Enetron Research Center (Enetron is a new, powerful energy source). Unfortunately, the virus, who dubs itself ‘Messiah’ decides to go all evil and tries to take over the world. The researchers teleport the entire complex (sacrificing themselves in the process) into a sort of digital hyperspace to put an end to the threat. Only three kids survived, saved by an anti-virus put into them at the last second (The anti-virus gives them enhanced strength and endurance, but also crippling, computer-themed, weaknesses such as locking-up, overheating and running out of energy. Something they all have to deal with in their own ways).

These kids grow up to become the Go-Busters, a special ops team working for the Enetron Management Centre, their mission is to stop Messiah from making a come-back (Yes, of course Messiah finds a way of transporting Digital Avatars and giant robots from hyperspace back to earth, his mission is to steal as much enetron as possible so he can become indestructible and get back to earth to take it over/destroy it.)

This series is about friendship, impossible odds, sacrifice and kick-ass martial arts and giant robots fighting; so the usual for a sentai series, except Go-Busters really brings it in with its characters, making it much more personal. The fact that the team is backed up by the command team and we get to see dozens of engineers working on the Buster-Machines is a real nice touch: They are not alone.

The villains are all throwaway, except for ‘Enter’ and 'Escape', digital avatars sent to earth by Messiah. Enter is the accumulation of absorbed data and embellishes French phrases into his language (Ca va, Go Busters!). Enter (And later on, Escape joins him too) is the one responsible for making androids, stealing enetron and gathering data. And boy, does he do that well. Enter’s evolution throughout the series is one of the high-points, as he looks down on humanity, then looks up to it, then strives to be it, then strives for perfection. He is funny, theatrical, but airs a dangerous presence and is really quite deadly with his wits.

A recurring theme throughout is the humanity of artificial intelligence. From Messiah and his lackeys, to the ‘Buddyroid’ robot companions of the go-busters, they are just as real as people. The series plays this card often, but it isn't until the third act of the series that it really hits home. What are we, after all, but the accumulation of our bonds with other people and our own achievements. We’re not so different: Just data in the wind.

And they really like to show pain in Go-Busters, shattered visors, battle-damaged suits (The new biker-esque suits look fantastic, by the way) and they aren't afraid to cake their heroes in their own blood and sweat.

I had a hard time clicking with this series at first, especially after Gokaiger, but, as I had heard, sticking with it really really pays off: Giving a fantastic over-arching story, wonderful characters (Especially the Fifth Ranger, Beet J Stag, a hilarious robot that can also transform. Imagine Bender from Futurama mixed with Tron from… Tron.) and a really nice aesthetic. I loved the bold direction it went in, it's just a shame this series wasn't that well received; it is however understandable, as I feel it only became a 'Must-Watch' half way through the series, a time where most people would have already given up on it.

Having never reviewed a series here before, I’ll start here, on a scale of 1-5, 1 being ‘This show killed my family’ and 5 being ‘Euphorically incredible’.

JJJJ

FOUR SMILEY FACES.