passanima

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i decided all plays are time loops btw. it’s true because they keep getting performed over and over and over and the ending never changes and they can never escape it. if you even care.

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one thing i forgot to say about the 2017 vs 1999 version of notre dame:

1999 opens with a song that ends with the line "the end of this wold is planned for the year 2000" which is very funny in the context of when people saw the musical

and somehow funnier in 2017 like... yeah, shh, just ignore what year it is now

#i rant about stuff #notre dame de paris

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comparing the 2002 italian (ita) notre dame de paris to the french (fr) musical of 1999

prefacing this with: the audio of (ita) was really bad, having the music much louder than the singing, and it was without subtitle so... i missed a lot of the lyrics sadly. thus, it's an incomplete comparizon

the make up of (ita) is SO fun specially gringoire and frollo! clopin... i have a problem with. they put a lot of lines on his face in a similar manner as quasimodo. which. is not good. there's a reason quasi's make up look this way! it's to show his difformity. so why. give the same treatment. to clopin...

i enjoyed how clopin put himself (literally) between esme and phoebus. he's more physically protective of esme in this version which is nice!

i do not like however how in (ita) esme is much more openly flirty toward phoebus. in the original she's just dancing, minding her own business, very clearly not realizing how men look at her. that's an important part of her characterization as she gets a song with clopin where he tells her to be careful of men. so her attracting phoebus not just from doing her own thing, but by actively flirting with him goes against that song and part of her character

one perhaps positive thing about that choice is that it makes it more understandable why, when he tells her to meet him later, he's so sure she will. in (fr) she just glares at him which makes it look like he just has a giant ego and doesn't believe a woman could ever turn him down (which i prefer cause it's immensely funny) but in (ita)... yea obviously she's gonna go, as she's not being subtle about her interest here

speaking of the "be careful of men" song, in (fr) some of the lyrics are very immature, literally "men are mean" (what is she? 5 y/o?) while in (ita) it was replaced by "in this world, there are demons" which feels less awkward to listen to. it doesn't infantilize her too much, gets to the point but it's also vague enough that she wouldn't fully understand what he means exactly (who he means to warn her about)

i miss the mannerism of (fr) quasi. he acts and sounds innocent, childlike, naive. which works for his role in the story and to make the audience sympathize with him. his (ita) counterpart looks more pathetic, tortured and sad, which absolutely fit the chara too! it's an interesting choice! but part of his characterization is completely lost because of that

in the song where esme and gringoire get to know each other, she asks him the meaning of a latin word. (fr) has gringoire hesitate for a moment, having him think on it, which i liked. but i can perhaps understand why (ita) cut the hesitation. italian is closer to latin than french so perhaps it would have seemed strange to the audience

gringoire is kind of the comedy relief guy but in (ita) they keep changing his silly lines to be more serious, and i'm upset by it. let my silly guy be silly!

quasi has one BIG pathetic scene where you're supposed to feel for him even more than usual. but because (ita) actor had been playing him pathetic the whole time it doesn't hit as hard... awkward

one character has a flower name and (ita) translate it instead of keeping it as is which is strange since. it's her name. and she's french. the story is taking place in france. why are you making her italian suddenly

(ita) has them sing the name esmeralda differently than (fr). not sure how to explain this well but they elongate a different part of her name, which almost change the tempo of the song, it's a bit strange

another problem i have with (ita) esme is that on top of acting too much like a child... she give the wrong reactions to scenes. in this one she confess to quasi that she's scared of him. (fr) singer act scared to fit the lines, makes sense. but (ita) singer just... smile. i do not get this

another thing with this: (ita) esme acting childishly and (ita) quasi being so much more morose than innocent... basically reverse their roles in their relationship. i do not... get this

in (fr) quasi tells her his house is her house, if she wants it. whenever she's scared or doesn't know where to go, she will always be safe here. it's a touching scene cause he's sincere and doesn't expect anything in return. she acts shocked by it and emotional, like it's hard for her to believe/accept

but in (ita) she just... "oh yeah? cool" about it. we lost so much...

the point of this scene was that she trust him, and is no longer scared of him! quasi is now her friend! but because (ita) was never scared or touched by his kindness... we get nothing. legit you could have just cut that whole part then

lyrics changes i do not understand: (fr) "ave maria, forgive me, for i come here (the church) without shoes" (ita) "ave maria, forgive me, i don't know what i've done but you must know"

very interesting change but how did we get here. this isn't the only change in that song. both versions barely have any lyrics in common for some reason

funny lyric change (to me): in (fr) phoebus describe esme's dress as being "rainbow colored" which has always been strange to me as she only wear green. (ita) completely remove any mention of colors, instead focusing on the movement of the dress, which makes more sense for phoebus to focus on (as he's more interested in catching glimses of her legs as she dance)(legit why did he mention colors at all in (fr), as if he'd give a shit about that)

incomplete because again, the audio was really bad! in all: lyrics were improved in places but characterization lost and i have no clue what they were doing with esmeralda

she's young and that's part of what makes her tragic: not realizing when she's being used, but that doesn't mean you should have her act like a child! similarly, she shouldn't be acting in a purposefully sexual way. men look at her that way without help. having her act like a sexually confident mature woman and an innocent child with no understanding of the world at the same time is already contradictory in a ridiculous and unbelivable way! but also erase the whole point of the story: that she's a victim. neither frollo or phoebus sees her as a human being, she's just a body they want. a body that she had just grown into looking mature, making her unused to that kind of attention re the need for clopin to warn her... make it make sense! anyway, 1999 (fr) still the best

#i rant about stuff #notre dame de paris

[passanima]

2017 notre dame de paris musical (compared to 1999)

the best: gingoire. i really like his voice! very smooth, it surprised me + genuinely fit the character

the worst: esmeralda. not the voice but her acting, very reminiscent of the italian production which is. not good. in both of these versions they tried to make it clear how naive she is but over did it. girlie is acting 10 y/o instead of 16, it's super awkward

the same: frollo. literally the same singer, it made me laugh! his costume is really good this time!

in general

some lines were added which confused me as they were pretty much unnecessary. all i can imagine as to why was to make the story more clear but... i watched the original when i was young and understood the story without problem then, so it's strange

some lines were the same but given to a different character which i simply do not understand! very jarring

for some reason they changed the tempo of some singing lines which is jarring as well as i was mumbling along. also for most of these, the original tempo was better, so why?

this quasimodo isn't bad but i still prefer the 1999 singer. he gave quasi such a believable innocence both in singing and acting. maybe it's a question of tastes but since the first time i watched it as a kid he was endearing to me and it always seemed like a crucial part of the story. you're supposed to care for him + it makes way more sense for quasi to be this naive with the way he was raised instead of putting it all on esme

re acting some WEIRD choices were made, usually happens with esme (still with her acting too much like a child) but there's also "hmm?" moments where characters are laughing... when they really shouldn't be. ex: a scene where clopin was originally very upset now he's having a good time and it makes no sense with what's happening. odd!

i hoped the stage directions would be different from 1999, specially fot the background dancers who are badly utilized. alas, it's the same as before, which means the weakest point of the musical

ouh, liked the way fleur de lys was directed in phoebus "pls baby take me back" song where she just stare at him unamused and when he's done, holding her hands, she pushed them away as she stands up, clearly upset. that was a way better choice than the original where she just gives herself to him in a kinda strange way at the end (bending)

at the same time the original way she acted in this song was also interesting, not facing him until he said what she wanted to hear

hmm, but the one right after that, where she sings alone, in this version they chose to keep phoebus around for her to act toward which makes sense as she singing about their relationship, but... prefer the original that focus all our attention on her

she doesn't even get on the ground at the "rolling in the mud" line, boring! this version has her acting way too seductive in her anger which is a strange choice to me. yes the lyrics are sexual but it isn't a love song. her ego was hurt alongside her trust. she's not crying about her fiancé cheating on her, she's enraged that she wasn't enough for him. she gave him everything without question and he threw it all away. this is a song about her innocence shattering. so why have her act cutesy at times or roll her hips here? she's not trying to get him back, he came begging by himself!

this ver sure struggle with the girls and i don't get why cause both singers gave really good performances that made sense for the characters in 1999, so... what happened here?

sad cause 1999 fleur de lys is so good it's wild! she's still one of my favorite performance

for some reason 2017 esme didn't scream when she was being tortured, but moaned very soflty, which was very strange and made the events coming from this nonsensical, but... in another song at the line "i bite like a dog" she barked the "bite" and it was so good! but then again, if the singer isn't afraid of screaming, why didn't she do it the scene where it was required of her? then! at the end of that song she has a tired and terrified scream, begging frollo to leave, and here too she put a lot of emotion into it, so clearly she's capable! so why... didn't she scream... when tortured...

when they save her, the first thing she does is hug her brother, that was very sweet! don't remember if that happens in 1999

2017 gave esme a line that is both written and acted childishly. the singer even made her voice more like a little girl which she does not do for the rest of the musical. if you made me listen to this line without visual i'd assume the character is 6 y/o it's BAD. genuinely think who gave her directions to act this way do not understand esme as a character

in the end it was... meh. some interesting choices, but too many baffling

#i rant about stuff #notre dame de paris

[passanima]

very serious thoughts when watching dracula 1931

#i rant about stuff #dracula 1931

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being autistic is so ridiculous it makes you relate to count orlok of all people

#i rant about stuff #nosferatu 1922 #the way he moves... me too brother

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if snow white was a boy

in the original the step mom obsession with beauty comes from the social power it gives her. it is beauty that put her on the throne, it is both her weapon and shield, which makes her feel treathened by snow white. because she not only have beauty but youth on her side, so it's only a question of time until she "surpass" her.

but if snow was a boy, she wouldn't see him as a rival right away. not for beauty, at least.

as the kingdom's prince, he'll grow to become king unless he dies before that and the step mother birth a son. but the current king goes to war before she can get pregnant and it is her role to raise the prince until his return. she keeps a distant relationship to him and think little of the child.

but as snow grows to a young teen, his beauty is undeniable. still young and small enough where he hasn't become masculine yet, his features delicate looking. everyone comment on how he look like his deceased mother, who was known as a great beauty. it is when the step mother becomes jealous.

he has everything that she desire: undisputable power (being a man and future king), youth, beauty, and attention.

meaning he needs to disappear.

_

the prince grew up without a mother, so when his father remarried he was happy about it and did his best to please his step mother, yet she always remained cold toward him.

he grew quiet and timid, scared of stepping out of line, of angering his mother. because of this, snow wasn't in habit to talk about what bothered him. the attention he would get from adults around him when he became beautiful made him deeply uncomfortable, but he wouldn't speak of it. he couldn't, even if he wanted, because he didn't understand. what changed and why.

why everytime people compare him to his birth mother it doesn't sound like a compliment. why eyes on him makes him want to run away.

he didn't understand why his mother was no longer cold, but mean now.

(thinking of writting something about this, here is just the base concept and relationship with gender, beauty, and his step mom)(note: outside of his mom he spend most of his time with his teachers)

#i rant about stuff #snow white #gendering #rewrite

[passanima]

ideas of what the future of the spyfam kids would be like:

1- damian keeps crushing on anya for years but only find the courage to confess to her in middle to high school. she rejects him (lol) and he gets so pissed he proclaims her his nemesis right there in front of other students

2- they lose track of each other after high school but somehow both become spies as adults and are forced to team up on missions. damian can't stand how anya does thing (very instinctive) and they bicker a lot

3- damian is very good at both paperwork and working on site, but sucks at hiding his identity to his friends. anya helps with that often and he's seething, unable to admit he owes her. she makes fun of him a lot for it

4- anya dates becky and they're both very happy about it because becky spoils anya who loves the attention (and gifts), she also enjoy how silly anya gets and follow in her nonsense no question asked, and due to her job anya would be physically fit, which is ideal for becky who loves romantic dramas: she ask her to act like a stereotypical prince and anya oblige gladly, bridal carrying her around and stuff

5- anya probably would have broken the job secrecy to becky (possibly on accident) but it's cool cause becky is happy to be in the known and use her influence to get her out of situations when needed

#i rant about stuff #spy x family

[passanima]

Dunno how to put it properly into words but lately I find myself thinking more about that particular innocence of fairy tales, for lack of better word. Where a traveller in the middle of a field comes across an old woman with a scythe who is very clearly Death, but he treats her as any other auntie from the village. Or meeting a strange green-skinned man by the lake and sharing your loaf of bread with him when he asks because even though he's clearly not human, your mother's last words before you left home were to be kind to everyone. Where the old man in the forest rewards you for your help with nothing but a dove feather, and when you accept even such a seemingly useless reward with gratitude, on your way home you learn that it's turned to solid gold. Where supernatural beings never harm a person directly and every action against humans is a test of character, and every supernatural punishment is the result of a person bringing on their own demise through their own actions they could have avoided had they changed their ways. Where the hero wins for no other reason than that they were a good person. I don't have the braincells to describe this better right now but I wish modern fairy tales did this more instead of trying to be fantasy action movies.

[passanima]

Time to talk an unnecessary amount about floors!

Episode 6 of Dungeon Meshi was produced in collaboration with a smaller studio, Enishiya - and it went way harder than I expected, for being made up of two relatively simple and self contained stories focusing on one character each.

And you can really see how those extra resources meant the animators could give full focus to both halves of the episode. Let's take a look at one piece that stole the show.

The first half was handled primarily by episode director/storyboard artist Keita Nagahara and co-animation director Hirotoshi (or Hiroaki? [1]) Arai. It's actually kinda insane how much of this section can be attributed to these two.

But the real star of the show is the second half, Chilchuck vs the mimic, led by co-animation director Toya Ooshima in his first animation director role for TV anime!

And the biggest aspect that knocked my dang boots off was something that's very consistent with Ooshima's style: background animation!

By animating the backgrounds rather than using painted still images, Ooshima and the team of other similarly skilled animators are able to create these beautiful dynamic camera movements that wouldn't be possible otherwise. Like these cuts by Takeshi Maenami where the camera becomes an expressive part of the scene, zipping forward and backward, and tilting to emphasize the speed of this murderous hermit crab. (Maenami's style is also very recognizable here - snappy timing and quick camera movements)

Or this cut by the incredible Kaito Tomioka which cleverly combines a traditional background for the walls with a fully animated floor. The level of detail in these tiles is just completely insane, and used to great effect with this wide, diagonal angle, and the way the camera tentatively drifts forward before reversing direction, and the tiles blur out as it speeds up.

I don't think I'm the only one caught off guard by how much they full-assed this little side story, but it was a pleasant surprise!

I broke down the entire episode in this video here. A lot of research went into this one, and I think it's the best one of these videos I've made so far, so if you're at all interested in more of this type of analysis in video form, I would really appreciate it if you checked it out, or re-blogged this post! Thanks

[1] It's listed as Hirotoshi on Anime News Network, but Hiroaki on a key frame that Studio Trigger shared on Twitter, so I'm not sure which one is wrong.

#animation

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orlok o'clock: valentine edition

(friends suggested the text in middle row, last two are a direct quote and a reference to the movie)

#i rant about stuff #memefying #nosferatu #nosferatu 1922 #count orlok

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orlok o'clock!

#i rant about stuff #memefying #nosferatu #nosferatu 1922 #count orlok

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so i watched the hunchback of notre dame 1923...

#i rant about stuff #memefying #the hunchback of notre dame 1923

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watched a movie called "no one will save you" (2023) (spoilers)

it's a horror alien story (tho not scary) and i am both confused and fascinated by it

the ending made me go "WHAT" and "oh, fun!" and also "but why?" legit don't think i fully understand it so ok. there's a woman living alone. one night an alien come in her house. she's able to kill it the next day in a panic she tries to run away from the town but some people go after her and we find out that last night the aliens went in other houses than hers and were able to "get" some humans they don't kill them but use their bodies as puppets

so ok. at that point i had many questions, cause my focus was on the aliens and how and why they were designed the way they were (both physical and mental, like why they act the way they do) they're very basic "grey" human looking aliens, not scary looking at all, tho there's some variety of design (mostly size) that's interesting, i like the way they move sometimes and the noises they make i thought, why they only "attack" at night and use humans as puppets was like, cause the sun hurt their skin or something, but no we never fully get why they use people as puppets

each night they come back and try to get the main girl (she came back home after she was attacked by a puppet on the bus) and she's able to fight back good! kills like… 3 of them in total i think? no, 4! very impressive idk why the aliens keeps going at her one by one but eh

i'm very confused how they work, senses wise. they don't seem particularly intelligent or have higher senses like hearing or anything some of them don't attack her, just look at her with curiosity so for a while i was like "are they not actually 'monsters' and weren't gonna do anything mean but she killed one of them so going at her out of revenge?" the answer is no… they do hurt people (puppet wise, stealing their bodies and agency)

at some point near the end she gets "got" and they put the thing in her mouth to puppet her, because of this we learn that when it happens to a human they lose consciousness and the aliens give them pleasant dreams/hallucinations based on their memories why do they do that, buh! maybe they need them relaxed to puppet their bodies? anyway girlie is able to break out of the hallucination and take out the thing they put in her (WILD) but then they get her into one of their ship and for some reason, even tho with the hallucination thing they already knew about her memories (or maybe it was only the thing they put into her that knew?) they touch her forehead to access her memories and witness something in her past and the ending is that they let her go?

like um like she's the only non-puppet around now and she's happy about it, they're all friends with all the puppet-alien controled bodies idk! if it's another hallucination or her reality. felt more lire reality cause why would her pleasant dream to live with them after all the fighting for her life but it was SO funny like what did the aliens want??? what's the point in controlling humans (and only humans it seems) they're not even in the bodies, wearing them like costumes to blend in (like i thought was their goal, to assimilate on earth or something) they put something in your mouth to control you and MAYBE (not even sure) the alien inside his ship can control you and has access to your memories? but it's only one alien to one human if the case, they don't have a hive mind so they don't. kill humans to live on earth. they don't want necessarely to assimilate with human civilisation. they just. want to play doll???

and for some reason don't feel like doing it with main girlie no clue!!!!!! what this shit was about!!!!!! very funny tho like WHAT she killed a bunch of them and they were like "girl, you're crazy, wanna be besties?" it ends with her DANCING with them in their human puppets which used to be her neighbors she knows what this means for them as it happened to her. she knows how horrific it is. and she was dancing and smiling! UH?????? great movie

#i rant about stuff #no one will save you 2023

[passanima]

i watched a movie called "Jessie and the Elf Boy" and i'm here to tell you about it. absolutely not spoiler free but i doubt any of you will watch it (still do if it sounds interesting to you)

summary: "Follows Jessie, a teenager who wants to become a renowned hair stylist, and meets Ghillie Dhu, a forest elf who has a gift for hair styling, and they strike up a unique partnership which catapults Jessie to fame"

kinda bad in the writing and acting, felt very cheap but it had a plot twist i straight up did not see coming? and it's WILD cause they gave many clues about it! and the ending! actually made me emotional!

so, good on you movie! no clue why they describe jessie as a teen in summary, she's actually a working young adult

ghillie dhu "gift for hairstyling" is very edward scissorhand esque but uglier lol

if any of this sounds like a goofy low budget 90s movie... you'd be right expect for the date. it came out in 2022

ok, so! spoilers from now on. story was a lil girl gets lost in the woods and meets an elf. she can't see him until he gift her a necklace. they become friends and spend a lot of time together. then one day she moves away suddenly and the elf doesn't understand it's forever so he waits for her

until he's tired of waiting and go look into her abandonned house (they lived close to the forest) and finds a picture of her that he takes to recognize her as he decides to go look for his friend

NOW…….. this isn't technically how it starts. we instead start on a young adult getting ready for her first day of work. then. there's a record scratch and she says in voice over "yes, this is me. but it's not really where the story starts. we have to go back into the past"

i almost screamed at that. been so long since i heard such an opening it jump scared me no joke

anyway because it starts with her visually, and she says in voice over "let's go back to the start" you think the lil girl and the elf is from her memory

plot twit: it isn't

eventually the elf finds her and the only clue we have that years have passed (other than her being an adult lol) is that the picture he carries is so beat down you can barely see it

as an adult she still wears the necklace so able to see him but she doesn't remember him

the whole movie i thought the reason was trauma (hinted that she had a shit childhood) or that she told herself he was her imaginary friend and was very badly handling him being here again and fighting her own memories

but actually the girl the elf was friend with was this girl's mom

at least 40+ years had passed while he looked for her

…………………….. this movie is about hairdressing, remember that?

the elf also wear green eye shadow, has the most uninspired styling (clothes + hair), only has two expressions the whole movie and i

genuinely enjoy it. no i cannot explain it in a logical way

the elf reunites with the mom, it's cute, he stays friend with the daughter and her roomate, very sweet ending to a nonsense movie

so if you miss that brand of weird and cartoony but somehow touching movies and wish they were still made today: hey! they are!

#i rant about stuff #not quite a recommendation #<- new tag for when i just describe a movie in a quick and silly way #jessie and the elf boy

[passanima]

Morozko from the 1924 russian movie "Morozko" by Yuri Zhelyabuzhskiy.

Morozko (Grandfather Frost) is a spirit of frost or sometimes a wizard of winter. Since the 19th century this character has changed, and now he is a symbol of the New Year holiday. Morozko is similar to Santa Claus in his modern role in russian culture.

Honestly, I made this post only to promote the movie. You must see it, it's good. Morozko of 1924 is a silent movie, you can just read the tale to understand what is happening on the screen. The movie is basically a horror (but not really scary, not in modern sense at least), and the plot of the movie is closer to the fairy tale than the plot of the 1964 version.

Pro:

it's a movie adaptation of the fairy tale

it's a horror

Morozko!

actually interesting to watch

it's just 35 minutes long

authentical folk costumes from a century ago

wedding (the wedding song is a banger!)

There are no cons. Just watch it! :)

[passanima]

If anyones interested in learning about the first black vampire short story, published in 1819, heres a link to the wiki, its called The Black Vampyre, and its about a former slave turned vampire who seeks revenge on his slave master. Its actually a first in many categories!