AdamTilford's movie Reviews on Newgrounds

[Throwverwatch 3]

This hurts my heart from how real this is.

[Pokeball CL]

Haha, I think I'm getting addicted to your parody/style of humor. They're just so random and out there without trying to rely on the overdone and played out styles of over exaggeration most people seem to go to on NG for laughs.

Kel-chan responds:

Thanks! The art and animation arent where I want them but I'm trying to do different things rather than the same of newgroundsy stuff

[Spirit Legends - Ep 1]

This was pretty good. It's something original on Newgrounds that isn't a blatant parody of style steal from other popular artists. The story so far is pretty anime cliche, and it reeks of DBZ, but meh, who cares. It's what you want to write and do so more power to you for doing something you enjoy. It's worth sticking around to see where the story goes. Good voice acting for the most part so far as well. Good job for starting something that's going to be involved.

[Rockoon's Modern Strife]

It's obvious with the recent episodes and this that you are becoming way more comfortable in your animation process. You're able to do more frame by frame work in a shorter period of time while improving the quality each release. Deven's character acting, as always is fantastic. While it was a short, it was a great way to give Rockoon some character depth and development. Nice subtle way of putting that in there. It's a nice way to lead into episode 8.

[Super Hero Clock Ep1 p1]

It's great to see this finally out! The timing is great too since we both put out our first episodes at the same time! The story and animation really is of a higher quality and it definitely grabs you in.

Looking forward to seeing where this all goes!

[Kaigan: SC -- Episode 1]

Making an original animation is difficult. Scratch that, making an original story is difficult. You're going to be judged and thrown comparisons at every which way you look. Influences and inspirations are all around us. People become storytellers because at one point, they were so captivated by a story, that they too, want to entertain others. There is no such thing as a completely original story anymore. Some one is always going to find some way to connect your story to another one. And when you try to fight that and become "unique" you end up spending way too much time trying to be different, that you forget how to tell a good story. Telling a story isn't about being unique, it's about expressing a story you want to write. Something that captivates your creativity. There's always going to be people who do not like what you do, who try to find fault, but at the same time, there's going to be people who will love what you do. Don't try to please everyone, because you just can't.

Onto Kaigan itself. It's an original, indie anime done in Flash. The style and overall look does come close to Inuyasha. But that doesn't make it an Inuyasha clone. It just means that it was an inspiration. There's nothing wrong with that. The characters are different, the scenario is different and the first episode is barely 5 minutes. You can't judge an entire story on something so short. The animation and line art is exceptionally clean, the audio work is above average and the opening sequence is extremely catchy. It's a beautiful show to watch. The interactions, while some may be shallow, are genuine. High school girls do act nosy, they like to poke fun. The first episode introduces us to the basic characters and touches on some of the lore. You are actually curious to wonder who the boy in the beginning was and what his connection with Akari is. While the episode is very short, there are a lot of things to take not on and think about. The tree doesn't bloom anymore, why? They are going to meet when the tree blooms again, so what's the connection and importance?

Some of the voice actors had some quality issues, nothing too big, but it can be a bit noticeable at times.

It's hard to get into the first episode completely because it doesn't feel like an actual episode. It just feels like the first part of the episode before the break happens. That could be a problem, and hopefully in episode, that won't happen. When telling a story, it's best to look at episodes as chapters in a book, there has to be a beginning, middle and end. It's all relevant. The end doesn't have to finish up what was brought up in the beginning, but it should be a lead into the next episode after establishing what the beginning set out to do. In this case, it was to introduce us to the lore and some of the characters. But there wasn't enough interaction to properly introduce the characters, specifically Akari. She was mainly the victim of being bothered, she didn't really do much other than day dream. We still don't know much about her personality or her motivation. A lot of that gets developed over time, but in the beginning, there should be enough established to either like or dislike the character. Right now, we're all basically "meh".

There doesn't have to be immediate action, so that's not an issue. Action without context is pointless. So if there's no action in the first episode, there better be an emphasis on character/plot development.

Overall, it's a very good start. The art is cleaner than most, the animation was sporadic. Meaning it only happened in short bursts. The anime portion, the electricity bits and other anime like memes are fine. They're not my personal taste, but I don't think it kills the episode. It felt out of place to me, but considering the style and influence, it's fine.

You tell the story YOU want to tell. Don't adjust your story because someone is telling you to be unique. You will never tell the story someone wants you to tell well, because it's not what YOU know. As long as the characters and the plot take their own turns and develop in their own way, you'll be fine. The power of love thing is a very anime esque theme, but who cares. That's what you want to utilize. The best story you'll ever write is the one you want to write. If you ever start compromising, that's when you skills will rot and you'll lose touch with who you are.

Listen to the technique advice given to help you explore your story. But don't change plot points for the sake of impressing/satisfying 1 or 2 people. For the next episode, try working on incorporating more actual animation, body language, walking, background animation, etc. Don't rely too much on high quality non-moving frames for dialogue with 3-4 frames for a rapid burst of movement. Try your best to make characters react naturally and smoothly. The talent is there, you got this going, now move forward and make episode 2 that much better. It's off to a good start.

[//Necropolis Synergy]

So much talent.

Another truly amazing work. The story is unique and deep, something not customary for NG, so that alone is pretty damn good. The VAs are talented and I recognize a few of them.

The art and the animation is so damn smooth and vivid, the environment and backgrounds are so detailed and given a lively presence that is admirable and to be honest, something I wish I was good at.

I wish there were more projects like this on NG. The site could use a break from the constant use of "cock jokes"

JazLyte responds:

Glad you enjoyed it :) I get exactly what you mean, but I suppose I can't complain too much. Most people either come here for comedy or games so that's the market right now, and I know what I'm getting into. Even still, the site admins are feature-friendly even to long-winded stuff like mine when I need it, so I'm cool with it. I like a good dick joke once in awhile my damn self anyway :P But I'm not gonna stop making pretentious flashime anytime soon.

[Kaiblade Episode 4]

Highly addictive

This is one of the first flash series I've actually been following, it's become that addicting. Like Tekken said, the pacing is great and it flows really well. It's pretty easy to follow along and the voice cast is excellent, as to expect from who's been cast.

I'm looking forward to more. I wish NG was more like this again, like how it used to be, where there were different flash series that had a story. So it's nice to find some amongst all the dick jokes.

CartoonCoffee responds:

Thanks for your support.
I was worried that since the series started off a bit slow, but I'm glad it's gaining some attention

[Sonic X: Cosmic Chase]

In regards to the review below me

So first off, 3 years is a long time, but guess what? He's one person. As an animator I know how difficult it can be to do an animation by yourself while living life and trying to make ends meat. Sorry, but flash animation is not a priority if it's not bringing in any income. So please, show the author a little more respect, and don't compare 3 years of Pixar movies when there's a shit load of people working on those for years. It's an unfair and to be honest, an unrelated comparison.

As for the animation. Yeah, I was one of those who has been waiting for this with much anticipation. I have to say it's noticeable how you got better through out this. I thought it was good. The art was crisp and clean, constantly clean and the FBF was smooth. It had the general Sonic feel. So for 3 years in waiting, I'll say that I was satisfied, and now I won't have to wonder if it's still being worked on haha.

[Kaiblade Episode 3]

I didn't even realize this was out

This is really good. The mood you set and follow up with in animation is impressive. The animation flows smoothly and just makes for an appealing episode. Yep, I'd say I'm rather hooked. ^^

CartoonCoffee responds:

thank you!