FightingSeraph's movie Reviews on Newgrounds

[sfct episode five]

Not bad if I do say so myself.

This reminds me of the stuff that was made back in 2002-2004, but with an engaging plot and interesting characters. (Just like Ninjai and Genryu's Blade.) With that out of the way...

Graphics: This is the exact opposite from that Adventure Babies cartoon I previously reviewed. As in it has a unique style, but not the best animation. However, you did do a good job on the lip-sync and gave them some gestures. On the other hand, I think that your characters could use better poses, and a better sense of weight. In other words, consider investing in books on animating.
Sound: The voice acting was well done, but could have been a bit more expressive. Then again, that's a personal preference. The music used in this was both good and fit the setting quite nicely. However, I would also suggest that you expand your musician roster by adding Papkee and Bosa next time.
Content: I have to admit, you did a great job on the direction, story, and dialog for these so far. Plus, the pacing was also nice unlike those who slowly tween digital paintings across the flash stage or have things go so fast to where it's almost impossible to follow. Of course, I know a lot of people have complained about the length, but if there is something they need to learn; it is that longer does not equal better.

The Good:
-Original
-Great direction
-Well-written
-Good voice acting
-Nice music selection

The Bad:
-The animation could have been better, but I know you'll get better over time.

Overall: How would you like an eight out of ten? (4/5)

littlegoblet responds:

Oh I was curious so I had alot at those episodes you mentioned and they blew my mind. I only hope to be as good as that some day cause that would be a dream come true. I don't think I have the patients or discipline to ever become a professional. But my standard is always changing so who knows.
and thanx for the mention of those music artist there work is also fantastic. Yeah I hope as time goes by I will get better at conveying more expression across to the audience.
in the past I think I was also very bad at pacing so it means alot that you liked that part.
thanx for the great review buddy. this was very helpful and insightful. cheers

[ADVENTURE BABIES - SODAR]

Great animation and layouts, but that was it.

Josh, I know that you and everyone else will get all upset at me for saying this and your fans will hate me for it as well. However, I will be fair in my critique due to the effort that went into this.

When it comes down to it, the animation is up to par with John K, but smoother. In addition, your layouts and colors are also excellent. In other words, you and Sprite37 did well in this department. Unfortunately, everything else fell flat on its face and I'll explain why. First of all, while I already know about the fuzzy recordings, the actual voice acting sounded phoned in and not very expressive when compared with the animation. Look, as much as I like Chris Zito and Cailen Denton, it seemed like they were misdirected. As for Intero's music: while it was well-composed, it didn't complement every situation at all. In other words, I would recommend that you study classic cartoons from the late '20s up till the early '50s. Finally, the content is devoid of humor, especially the kind of funny that John K is synonymous with. Every joke in this was poorly delivered and I didn't laugh once. Maybe try plotting out your cartoon on a storyboard first or team up with someone who knows how to write such as Chester Kwan or the Dark Maze guys. Yet, I can appreciate you making something original, but that won't make much of a difference if this ends up being another popular throwaway series.

The Good:
-Great animation and layouts
-Nice colors
-Original
-Nice pacing

The Bad:
-Voice acting sounded labored and didn't fit the animation. (This has nothing to do with the recording quality, by the way.)
-The Music, while not bad, was unfitting.
-Unfunny

Overall: I have no right to give you guys a zero since there was an insane ammount of effort that went into this in a relatively fast ammount of time. Here's a five for the work, but try harder next time. (2.5/5)

[Take a Key for Coming In]

Easily the best G'nG/Makaimura themed flash cartoon on here.

Wegra and Shock Dingo hit the nail on the head with their comments on this. Why didn't I get to see this when it was first released is just silly. Ok, enough talk...

When it comes down to the animation, you did a magnificent job on that department. It was fluid, well-drawn, and excellently timed. To be honest, I haven't seen your Shamoozal series, but this really shows that you've improved considerably. In addition, the backgrounds were magnificent with your usage of color and texture. In other words, it worked out perfectly.
In terms of music, this is one of those instances where nothing but actual game songs were the right choice. The final boss theme from Demon's Crest set the mood perfectly and clever use of the Super Ghouls 'n Ghosts theme was also nice. Kudos for not using voices in this since they weren't really needed.
Finally, the content of this piece has something that most front page submissions are lacking in these days: Sincere charm. It takes a delicate hand for someone synonymous with comedy to make something serious work; anyone else would have fucked up. The direction in this was up there with Stick Slayer and Keegan's Truck Chronicles ep. 1 in terms of staging, pace, choreography, and flow. You also get an added bonus for an underused subject. Honestly, I wish more people would do more obscure games rather than milk overdone material dry.

What was good:
-Underused subject
-Excellent direction
-Good audio selection
-Great animation with nice colors

What was bad:
-Nothing that I can think of

Overall: I think this deserves a ten, and hopefully people on here can learn something from this. (5/5)

[Some BSE]

Great animation and timing, but as much as I liked it...

...Stick fights are becoming increasingly banal as of recent. Look, I have no problem with stickmen as long as the cartoon is well done, but you should try more cartoons with fully-drawn characters. (I Loved Simply Business and Date Night.) On the other hand, what you did with the theme was pretty badass!

Animation: You have some nice colors, and excellent animation to go with this cartoon. Plus, this is one of those instances where typography was put to good use. (I usually hate that kind of animation since it's just tweened text, which is something that anyone with Flash/Swish/etc. can do.) I think a lot of people on NG can learn something from you.
Sound: The sound effects were excellent, and while I'm not a fan of Queens of the Stone Age; the music was decent. However, I think it's time to leave mainstream music behind and start turning to the Audio Portal for music. (I know plenty of music on there that you can use.)
Content: I've already mentioned how horribly unoriginal this was, but ideas always take a back seat to the execution. Terkoiz, has anyone told you that you have the eye of a director? If not, than consider me one of the first few to say so. Your direction skills are magnificent, and it takes a delicate hand to make something like this cohesive and flowing fluidly. However, the only other gripe I have with this is that it's quite short, but the small file partially compensates for that.

The Good:
-Excellent direction and animation
-Fitting music and sound effects
-Nice color selection

The Bad:
-Not very original
-Short, but not in a good way.

Overall: Here's a nine from me and I hope you broaden your horizons more often.

Terkoiz1 responds:

hey thanks for this man, i appreciate the constructive criticism :)

I agree with most of the things you said here and I'm already transitioning away from stick figures into more drawn out characters. However, stick figures are still my first love and I'll never leave it out of sight 'u'
I agree that it's unoriginal but the premise of a BSE was to execute a sequence of actions. Pretty bland and boring but hey~ not much else happening lol.

also, i should look into the audio portal a lot more. I've been getting annoyed of these copyright issues that have my animations blocked! thanks!

[SNAPSHOT: Vol 1]

Reminds me of the top ranking submissions made between 2000-2003.

I have to agree with GuitarmasterX7, Sam, David, Ericho, Hulalaoo, and the other reviewers on this movie. Plus, this really shows that you and your brother know your shit when it comes down to making a great movie. However, if you do continue this, I would like an actual story to go along with this. That and I've seen this several times before, but finally got to write about it.

Animation: I could say that this is great, but that would be too trite. The animation is well-drawn and moves excellently considering that you had to use the line tool with your mouse. (Assuming that you don't have a tablet) Plus, you did a great job on the backgrounds and the Flash 3D effect was really crafty. However, when we cut to the part where we see the soldiers' legs, the animation in that segment looked sloppy. On the other hand, that's nothing to get worried about.
Sound: The music that was used in this shows that you have the ear of a director. Balderdact's Chaser fit the entire movie perfectly, and clever use of Circle as the credits theme. As an added bonus, you also did a great job on the sound effects considering that most free sound effects suck. However, for future episodes, consider getting more Audio Portal music. (Examples: Bosa, Waterflame, Xarnor, xenith800, A-n-d-Y-J, Papkee, and Dythen)
Content: As said before, you and your brother have direction skills that are definitely praiseworthy. The pacing is excellent, your choice of angles was well-planned, and the story was neat albeit trite. Also worth noting is the tethered gun, which is a sign of well-executed creativity in my book. Kudos for being one of those people who did the plot on a storyboard rather than a script. Something this action-packed just can't be scripted. The only other minor flaw is that there isn't much of a story, but hopefully that will be explained in future installments.

What's good:
-Great animation
-Excellent audio
-Original
-Magnificent direction

What's left to be desired:
-The plot

Overall: Here's a ten from me and I look forward to the next episode. (5/5)

QuasimodoxArt responds:

Thank you very much for taking time to write the review and your kind words. The story will be told entirely in the next episode, I promise. I will look into the music artists you suggested, thanks!

[SuperFamily]

Not bad for something incomplete.

It's always nice to see an overlooked subject get covered on here. Plus, I also liked this cartoon's style.
As for the morale issue, I see where you are coming from on that. Now, I'll give you my two cents.

Visuals: As said before, I liked your unique style and most of it was pretty good considering that I've seen worse. However, the overall animation was inconsistent in quality ranging in from a very fluid Spider Man to some rigid looking clips (Captain America and the tarantula). Nothing that some practice and studying won't fix.
Music: Hzlancer's song fit perfectly, and for future cartoons I would recommend that you get sound effects.
Content: It may not be a complete cartoon, but this shows a nice degree of skill when it came to the pacing. Not agonizing slow, nor is it so fast that it becomes impossible to follow. As an added bonus, you were wise to use an underused subject like Marvel Comics. Only a scant few have used that imprint as flash fodder to varying degrees of quality.

The good:
-Great pacing
-Fitting music
-Underused subject
-Spider-Man was well animated

The bad:
-The other characters could have been better animated, but I know that you'll get better over time.
-Incomplete

Overall: I'll give you an eight for the effort that went into this. (4/5)

[Star of the North Fist]

That was pretty funny!

As a fan of HnK/FotNS, it's about time that there were more spoofs of it on here. After a string of lame parody/skit cartoons that have great animation without any worthwhile content; it's great to see something funny again.

When it comes down to it, the animation has some of the nicest colors I have seen. You really know a lot about color theory, don't ya? With that being said, the animation looks much smoother than the actual show which may result in people accusing you of rotoscoping and in-betweening the footage. Then again, there's no evidence to that claim. However, some of the characters are disproportional at times, but that was probably intentional on your behalf. Speaking of intentionally bad, this is one of the rare cases of bad acting actually being funny. Truth is, when it comes to intentionally bad voices, they usually turn out to detract rather than augment. (Example: Those Sailor Moon spoofs that Jaxxy and Nalem did.) However, it would have been better to use actual music from the anime, because what you had in the background didn't really fit. I understand that you didn't want the copyright fascists on your ass, but that guitar solo was really out of place. Finally, the content of this piece was well-done considering that you weren't the first to do an HnK-in-a-nutshell-type skit. I was laughing most of the time at this. The only other gripe about this is that the filesize is huge when compared to the length.

The Good:
-Underused subject
-Funny
-Great colors
-Nice use of the show's style
-Intentional bad acting done right

The Bad:
-Too big for the length
-Animation looks too smooth to be authentic

Overall: A nine is what you and Sir Undead are getting for this. (4.5/5)

[Freak Ep. 3 - Storyboard]

Better late than never.

I didn't expect you to post what was left of this, and how did you manage to import those models into flash? Plus, I see where you're coming from on the whole derivative work thing in spite of this being an underused subject.

Graphics: I really like the whole Flash 3D look that this series--along with Gunchest, CI: Unregulated, Evangelion: CGD, and Starlight Odyssey--had over the kind that's commonly seen. However, seeing that this is an animatic, it had none 3D models aside from the intro. You may not be known for draftsmanship (Scenes were inconsistent in quality), but at least it had some bits of animation. Plus, there was some decent use of color. As for that intro, the animation looked reasonably well even though the models were probably done with Poser.
Sound: You did a good job on the music selection, and the sound effects were also done well.
Content: I have no problem with something like this as long as the movie is good. While this may be an animatic, the scenes were well-staged and the story was cohesive. I don't know if anyone has told you this, but you have the eye of a director. Did I mention that the pacing of this was great?

The Good:
-Good direction
-Decent 3D animation for the intro
-Nice colors
-Excellent music selection
-Underused subject

The Bad:
-Drawings were inconsistent in quality, but since your not the best draftsman; I won't take off points.
-Not much in terms of animation seeing that this is an animatic of sorts.
-People will accuse you of being a hypocrite considering that this is fan fiction.

Overall: Here's an eight for showing what you had planned. (4/5)

Evil-Dog responds:

Thanks for the lengthy review :) I wish it would have been on the real thing but a storyboard is all it will ever be.
thanks

[Obama Care]

That was funny and poignant.

As a Libertarian, I have to concur with Ze Witch Kid, Chemich, and Viper Studios on this one. Free healthcare may sound good on paper, but doesn't work due to how the Law of Supply and Demand works. Demand eclipses supply, resulting in long waiting lines, higher costs when it comes to government, and even worse care for those who sure as shit need it the most. Plus, it took a lot of balls to make this and even more considering that this was going to get berated by most NG users. With that being said...

When it comes to the animation, there's not much to it aside from jerky cutouts. However, I liked how you drew the leg patient in the style of a newspaper comic. A breath of fresh air from all of those who try to recreate what early portal pioneers did. As for the sound, there wasn't any music and the sound effects are sparse. If you need music, I suggest that you search the Audio Portal for what you need. Finally, the content of this piece was a very clever attempt at sarcasm towards the Obama/Romney healthcare plan. The usage of facts, along with the punchline were funny though it could have been done better. I think if you really want to get your point across, try cranking up the explicitness all the way up. After years of redundant, (mostly) unfunny conservative parodies that were made by people who don't know shit about joke telling or writing; it's great to see a REAL satire on here.

The Good:
-Original
-Informative
-Unique still
-Not a generic Bush parody (and this is coming from a Libertarian)
-Small filesize

The Bad:
-Not much animation
-Could have been much funnier (or more salacious)
-Sparse sound

Overall: Here's an eight from me. (4/5)

[Au79: SAVIOR]

Not bad, but I've seen better from both of you.

To Zombie Pimp: While it's great to see you back here; this was a bit disappointing and I would like to see Limiter Removal be continued.

To Kalen (JazLyte): While this isn't your best, I have to approve of your work ethics. (Something that I need to work on.)

Animation: This isn't as good as many of your previous works, but it's still decent none-the-less. While this has some good frame-by-frame work, but it was offset by stiffly done tweening. If you're going to do tweened segments, I suggest that you take a look at what McFretN has done years ago. On the other hand, the character designs are decent and you have nice colors that were used.
Sound: You guys did a great job on the sound effects, but the music that was chosen for this didn't fit the action. I think that any of Waterflame's Control songs or Xenith800's Sentient would have made this more engaging.
Content: As much as I liked your angles and pacing; these types of fights have gotten homogenized over the years. I mean, there wasn't any real setup to this considering that the average SunnyGOES fight cartoon had proper setups. In addition, the choreography lacked any real sense of intensity when you compare this to that aforementioned author. However, at least the aforementioned direction sort of compensated for those flaws.

What was good:
-Good pace and clever angle selection
-Nice character design and colors
-Decent sound effects

What wasn't so good:
-Inconsistent animation quality
-Not very original
-The fighting lacked any real sense of intensity
-Out of place music

Overall: I hate having to say something like this, but hopefully you'll do better next time. Here's a seven for both of you on the merit of effort. (3.5/5)