Review for "Dark Green Episode Five" by Cherry Chan
Just cover it
with ten thousand...somethings.
Okay so I can't think of a line to make that lyrical reference work, can you? CAN you?
So it has been a while since I reviewed. I haven't a clue as to which/where/or Why. Humblest apolo-gies. Now let's think back to where we were when I last took a gander at ole Dark Green.
I totally had to go back and check out what happened from my last review. All I can remember from this series is Aozora doughy head which just kept getting fatter and gooshier in my mind until his head was the size of the Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man!!!! YOINKS!!!
Or something. Oh who cares what happened, really? All you need to know is that Akaiya just like...vaporized an entire room full of people. Sound like a definate party downer? Lets see how DOWN it gets ^__________^
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Aw, the super mario brothers opening credit music. Who says love wasn't invented in the 80's? (And by Nintendo no less! Those Japanese think of EVERYTHING)
Ugh! And then that title screen with Mint looking like someone stretched her face like TAFFY! There goes the loves.... -_-
Oh! Look Cherry-chan named the episode Koi...like...the fish. Hmmm...ugh...okay. I'm hoping there's a wordplay working in here.
Akaiya: Hey if I saw myself in clothes like those, I'd have to kick my own ass.
(But...you've seen her in those clothes ALL THE TIME. WTF?! This line is like...ugh. Dying)
Midori: Akaiya! I don't want to fight you!
(Who....cares what you want?)
Wow, something crazy (yet cool) is going on with Akaiya's hair in scene 11. Seeing is believing!!!
Midori: Well how about some cookies and milk instead?
(Midori: How about the cookies and milk that I've apparently had up my ass for like the past 4 episodes! Extra WARM!!! *I mean seriously, WHAT is up with the randomness in this episode?)
Midori: You're so funny! That's what I like about you!
(Midori: I don't care that you killed like a whole bunch of people! I just want to rub my latex clad body all over your stylish gray suit!! *Sigh you slu...er love)
Akaiya: You're creeping me out now Midori...I'm outta here!
(Girls are icky!)
Midori's hair is all kinds of colors. Did anyone else notice that? It must have been a pain in the ass to color....
Akaiya: I can't stand it anymore! Why can't I beat her!?...
(Becaaaause you spend your time vaporizing rooms full of people and then run away when she rubs her boobies all over you? I think...that's part...of the problem. Work on it, k?)
In scene 21 I swear I thought the Clerk was eating a giant chicken leg.
Clerk: The book of Koi is a dangerous book of dark spells, are you sure that's what you want?
(OMG! Seriously? Akaiya would never want something like that, not with his dark hair and GLOWING RED EYES! He's a good boy! A good boy I tells ya!!!)
Clerk: The book of koi should not fall into the hands of someone with a darkened heart like yours.
(Kinda defeats the purpose of making a book full of evil spells don't it?)
Akaiya: Heh, I'm darkness itself.
(You are a little Goth ain't cha?)
AWWWWW!! Libra's head swelled up to the size of a BOULDER in scene 30!!! Someone get the vaseline and chisel!!! (In that order!!)
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Aaaand then we end the scene! Yesh! Or rather the episode.
What did I think of "Koi" overall?
Well to start off I think that once again the art comes off as the strongest point of this kamishibai as a series and as an episode. There were light smatterings of animation throughout the episode and that was good, nothing heavy. Then again nothing inappropriate either as far as the animations went. I think that expressions, for what they were supposed to be, were excellently done. There were some proportion issues but nothing too glaring or off-putting. So Art is fine.
The music: Good stuff. I seriously liked some of the selections, ALTHOUGH some songs took me OUT of the story itself. Dangerous ground but nothing too bad. The music at the very least was not a glaring distraction or anything.
Ooookay so. Last but not least we come to the story itself.
I think this episode was incredibly sloppy for no reason whatsoever.
The actual structure of the episode was sound. I will say that for what was presented. The structure of:
1.Connect to last episode
2.Establish repulsion at actions of the antagonist
3.Attempt to accomplish prior goal
4.Goal thwarted
5.Antagonist seeks exterior aid to defeat nemesis
6.Antagonist selects irreversable path
7.Protagonist must deal with failure to accomplish goal
That is FINE! it's a long kind of structural outline but its what happens and its ACCEPTABLE. However that doesn't excuse how this episode stepped and ROLLED all over that structure doing things that were...ridiculous. When I look at what was done I see lost opportunities abound.
Firstly the attempt at being witty near the beginning of the episode might have been cute...
Had the villain of the series not murdered dozens of people before the heroine's eyes. We're shown NOT ONLY is Midori selfish (she wants to go to a party even though her friend is on his potential deathbed) but she also has little to know regard for human life. Why is that bad? Because that is EXACTLY the opposite of what the author would WANT us thinking. -_- It is obvious that Cherry-chan would LIKE us to come to conclusion that Midori/Mint is a good person who courageously fights evil and cares about her friends. And then she goes and for the SAKE of entertainment has the character do something so contrary...
Let me make this a little clearer.
I gripe about this because Midori/Mint has a choice of whether she can take venegeance against Akaiya's evil or forget about what he's done in order to help Aozora. She does both. She doesn't make a defining choice. She at first rails about how she's going to kick Akaiya's ass and then in the very next breath forgets about the dead and is rubbing all over him like a cheap suit in a fetish store! Huh? If I want venegeance I DO not forget about it! How can you avenge someone and then say "Nevermind"...but without saying "nevermind"? Where is the character transition between:
This is awful---------> TO ----------->
Wait I can't do anything for these dead people, and the best thing I can do for the future is to get Akaiya connected back to Aozora so that something evil like this never happens again.
Mint/Midori doesn't make the decision. We're just shown random moments in a sequence. Its a sloppy and useless chain of events that does nothing for the series other than show that the author can inject levity into otherwise morose moments. If THAT was the goal, mission accomplished. However I would bet that that is NOT what Cherry-chan had in mind.
Then we have the next portion with Akaiya getting the book of koi, which is a portion that could have literally been done in less scenes than were used. Hell we were introduced to the clerk who just so happens to be selling the book...And is worried about someone's soul?! Your a merchant selling MAGICAL ITEMS. One of which is truly awful and you don't THINK that someone is going to come one day to purchase this item? If the author truly wanted to get into the subject of Akaiya descending into a deeper form of darkness (one which even HE isn't aware of) then she should have done a better job of utilizing the scene and dialogue to get that across.
However, what can I expect from someone who is young and not fully learned in writing? I of course had (and still have) my writing moments where it's very "WTF"?! You know? So I of course mention it, but I won't condemn the series for it either because its not alone in the world of Kamishibai. "Star Soldier Polaris" has many "outside influence" moments that go from simple "influence" to full blown "assimiliation" that doesn't come off as smooth. Luckily as writers grow their awareness blooms to certain situations and they can correct them.
So...enough talkie talking for now. I leave off with my non-proofreading (this must be a fun one to read!) and Pink Floyd song-age.
Laters kids!