MrShoeShine7's movie Reviews on Newgrounds

[brawlersworld.com V3]

Nice trailer, and the website itself is really fun, its LEAGUES better than your last site, lots of improvements and I like the design of each page, and the transition animations. If you made the music it'd be cool to see it on the site, or at least a link to the songs elsewhere.

brwler responds:

the songs are currently jacked from 20+ year old flash websites bc i need to save up to comm some original songs. But! I will upload the current loops and future songs in a zip file in the future, per request :D

[Twoex: Overcoming Reality|EP 2: Overnight Change|]

Honestly this sequel is bursting with world lore and took a dark turn. I'm so happy to see so many improvements with this episode! Great introduction with the different shots of scenery, I love the little insects and animals you sprinkle throughout the video. The photo shattering is a great reminder of the character and foreshadowing her story.

Roxas was going to propose for Flare to live with him, but the way the music started was symbolic of his heart dropping at the horrific sight, I love it. Roxas and the girl I can finally identify as his sister have less screen time but their personalities have shown who they are more than episode 1! I love that in the build up to her rescue theres no shortage of violence, there is so much going on and you have represented that chaotic feeling really well. The way Flare was hiding in the chimney is really smart, the one place where she couldn't be easily spotted is while working. I like seeing some other familiar faces like "the newcomer who will curse us all" and I think the child was the orphan from episode 1. But those are the only two I can account for, at least until I watch some of your shorts, which I do want to admit is a great way at expanding your universe with new characters separate from the main ongoing story.

Speaking of which, you stated this series was "ever changing" as in it wasn't meant to have a main character but many different stories, unfortunately until you have a full episode without your main characters (Roxas and Flare) that's what will really solidify the sentiment. I am excited for that! (Despite me not having seen your shorts as of writing this)

I noticed you moved the subtitles on the top, rather than having them at the bottom? Interesting choice. I did notice a handful of errors, at frame 820/821 you forgot to color the critter... at first I thought you just needed a few more frames before he appeared but I noticed he was there. On frame 3890 you missed Flares eye color fill. On frame 3425 I couldn't tell if the door disappeared behind the mother or if this is a different scene with the re-used background. I like your camera movements but sometimes they're a bit disorienting and its hard to tell whats going on, mainly in the action sequences. At 9:13 when Flare is turning her head, the fur on top kinda comes and goes, its a little nitpick for consistency. I think the sounds you've added are nice, but it feels like you heavily rely on the music where there isn't much sound. I get not having voices, and in areas where the crowds will be screaming or yelling being dead silent is eerie especially if you can hear footsteps fighting and etc. during the commotion, its just something I wanna mention. You could always try using free crowd noises to give that feeling of the terror and violence.

I love that the overall look of the art is cleaner and better quality, no more pixelated lines. It really shows the improvement in that time between 1 and 2. The transitions and animation is really good, the characters are still as cute as I remember. The music is nice and adds to the tone of the episode. I love that at the end we can see the eye of the cursed one, so hype!

Twoeliz responds:

Working on this series means a lot to me so I tried my best make improvements and give it a nice atmosphere. I have thought that adding scenery shots and wildlife really add to the experience. This includes an unusual choice of moving the subtitles to the top instead. My reasoning is that for some readers it would be easier to follow on the top since the progress bar might be in the way when someone needs to pause and read. Depending on the platform this might block the words completely and make it more inconvenient. I do have the animation saved without subtitles if the day ever comes where we can add voice acting so this won't be an issue or too distracting in the future. I should have thought about this for episode one, but my first thought was to keep it consistent with what I thought the standard was.

Character's screen time will wildly vary depending on who the attention will be on throughout the episodes. At some point we might see less and less of a character until the focus completely changes, this is what I mean by ''ever changing''. We will see more of the kids who survived in future episodes. They can serve as a contrast to Flare's current live style
but at some point, they might become the main focus until the story changes again to explore other's struggles. You may have noticed that I don't immediately tell the audience who is who or what they are, I like to try to keep the conversations natural as you saw with Roxas and Roxy. We will learn character's names and their relation to each other slowly. Soon the characters will show their superstitions about the newcomer and many more interactions!


I was aware about some of the mistakes such as the discolored eye but not the critter, thanks for pointing that out. I think I might be somewhat of a perfectionist but with a big project like this when I notice a mistake way too late I try to remain calm by '' someone may have fun finding my mistakes'' or '' hey it can be potential for extra engagement!'' But yes, the door did disappear I was supposed to duplicate the background and move some frames around, but I guess I forgot to do that. So in the end we have a mistake I didn't know of, One that I left there knowing it existed and one that I thought I took care of but hey that's just how it goes.

I will definitely try to improve my camera work I do this all by hand and sometimes I just don't get the phasing right but I do know exactly what you mean. About the details of their fur coming in and out I am hoping that is a habit that I can break. In regular drawings I give them lots of detailed fur but in animation form I know I have to keep them simple. I draw extra details by full force of habit sometimes I think about going back and erasing them to keep it consistent but as a solo animator that is time that I could really use for the next scene. You are absolutely correct that I rely mostly on music to keep my animation going where it shouldn't. I am not the one that works on that side, Euphionia is the sound and music designer, and his expertise are mostly in music creation. He is not a fan of lot's of sound effects so I try my best to lean into his strengths. I do get to suggest sound effects here and there or when to cut out music, but I try to not be demanding. He has his own project to work on as he game develops. He is helping me with this but if the budget for the series is increase, we could afford to spend extra time on sound effects instead of relying on music so much. As for now I will take what I can get but let's hope that something can be better in the future!

Thank you for taking your time writing this! It really helps to keep me motivated. Currently working on the next episode as we speak! Just know that My animated shorts don't always have to do with this story. I do have many other characters that have a story line of their own without affecting the main story. You might see some familiar faces and you will see many new faces, the important thing is to enjoy the animations! I hope to keep animating and providing people like yourself more things to watch. Hopefully the wait was worth it, as you pointed out, no more pixelated lines! Hope to see you when episode 3 is available!

[We Love Cold War!!: The Anime (2023 Thesis Film)]

This is so cool! My favorite part is the god tier transition at 1:49 where the line on the road becomes the cord of her microphone, and I love the soviet sickle and hammer is like her bat signal haha. Awesome music and great use of sounds as well. It's very stylish the whole way through.

Nicojian responds:

Thanks! Yeah honestly I like, had one semester to make my thesis film and I spent a tooonn of time re-storyboarding and recutting the animatic's timing and music together even if it meant delaying the animation phase. Personally I'm trying to get better at hand-drawn animation, but I've always liked putting a focus on camera movements and audiovisual timing to do alot of the legwork as does a lot of anime with limited animation principles =)

[[Castle Crashers OVA] Pink Knight ni Aimasho]

He's literally me, the bgm is nice is it original? I like the kitty apron! So adorable. Great short and this was another great introduction to the characters!

KokoroHatsaru responds:

nope, it's not, the music is from sailor moon, i found it in a sailor moon music website, also, tnx a bunch :D

[treats for peckii]

THEY PLAYED A TRICK! Great short and the designs were nice. Some of the animation was snappy, and the lines sometimes going through each other. The backgrounds are gorgeous though.

MAESTROCELESTE responds:

Thanks! I'm glad you like it. Yes, it has a lot of mistakes because I made the animation in a very short time. It was supposed to come out on Halloween, but it didn't happen.

[Axum's Mango]

This is such a cool fight scene, I like the detail of the liquid and the backgrounds, they look so good. At 1:14 theres some quick movements that were a little hard to follow, but Axum dices that dude at the end. Great music choice, i love it.

D-slick responds:

Bro Thank you! imma keep this in mind for future projects.

[PxAY OFF! - ANIMATED FILM]

Fantastic work. I love the main characters, their designs and animation are so well made, Mr Bacas constant smile unless hes in the shadows, and Livs eccentric facial expressions are fun to watch. Both voice actors played them extremely well! The delivery and tone of every single line was spot on and fit right into the visuals. Even the way the lip sync is slightly off was a nice stylistic choice. Can't leave out pelo as well, very professional.

The quality all around is gorgeous and the different transitions and slides make the style stand out even more, especially the use of red and black where the character becomes a silhouette. The blocky art style is iconic and sharp, I like that it reminds me of PSG, Powerpuff, and Samurai Jack. I love the different camera angles, the poses the characters animate in, the backgrounds are awesome, the establishing shots and compositing look phenomenal. Even the sound effects were subtle but effective! (Like the silverware on the table in the first scene) ^^

Unfortunately I did see Livs drawing double at frame 5,705 (such a nitpick I know).
In terms of the plot, I love it! Great simple premise where Mr Baca and Liv attempt to secure her money and in turn get the run-around. The little details like Ennuikals character is a cool reference and the small missing poster thats seen multiple times really builds up the world.
I love the fun jazz music, it compliments the fight between Liv and the chimp champs.

Thats a 5 from me. Its so freaking good!
So why exactly is she avoiding fish?

MarcoCardenas responds:

THE DUP FRAME, I SWEAR I WATCHED AND FIXED EVERYTRHING !! Eagle eye right there!!

[Pepe's day off]

I love the future sci fi setting and the characters were really detailed. As someone who doesnt like/care for pepe, the animation and story were really good. Great visual storytelling with the main two and the girls powers, it was well thought-out.

ToadBurgerTV responds:

Pepe is simply a sympathetic face on which a story can built.

[Sploot Is An Alien]

He's so cute and squishy!!! I love the simple animated dance, its easy to follow along with and the song is catchy. I wish it was a tad longer but i like the usage of the 3d alien balloons, its really a Sploot celebration.

Inkhandprint responds:

They're*
Thank you so much! Yeah, I wanted (needed) to make something short to keep my motivation up. And making my own 3D models kept it fun ^^