Huntik, or Why the Director of Winx May Not Suck After All
mrman1...@lycos.com
I may have to give Ignicio Straffi some props and snaps, if not an
apology.
I killed the man for excreting Winx, the European production so
amatuerishly assembled, even the localizers at 4Kids couldn't be
blamed for all of its transgressions.
Since then, he attached his name to the ugly but imaginative Monster
Allergy. If Winx had more likeable characters, less crumby computer
tracking, less sloppy editing, it might have approached MA's charms.
It proved that Straffi wasn't simply a hack, butchering magical girl
power fantasies for profit. He was capable of telling an deliberate,
ambitious, character-driven story, if he wanted.
His most recent product premiered last week on the CW 4Kids block:
Huntik: Secrets & Seekers. On a scale from Winx to Monster Allergy,
it leans more towards Monster Allergy's non-suckage.
Promise comes early, with appealing anime-styled character design. No
more middle-schoolers (like MA): If a character designer competently
reimagined Winx's teenagers using anime rules, this might be the
result. The males and females can reasonably be dubbed "hotties".
The foibles of fashion designers are still present: female protagonist
Sophie looks like she's ripped from the runway, and has the gall to
wear striped socks of different length. Ew. The voice acting seems
fine, with the Anglo-throated Sophie scoring early and often. The
dialogue doesn't seem to feature any campy one-liners or many akward
exchanges, as Winx often did, and MA rarely did.
Promise degrades eventually, with mediocre animation, and
occassionally questionable dialogue editing. Animation is credited to
AKOM, Hong Ying, and Rainbow, which might be the worst triumvirate of
talent ever assembled for a single series. Aside from the weak
character animation, many shots are infested by distractingly quick
tracks, pans, and zooms. DO NOT DO THIS. IT IS STUPID. If you're
going to imitate anime, accept the fact that anime has no problem
using slower camera moves and competent quick cuts between static
shots, without all of the whiz-bang hoo-ha. Spells are "announced",
Street Fighter-style, in English, so skeptics like me are gonna have
to roll with it. (Seriously, guys. Just shoot. You don't have to
*tell* us what you're shooting.)
If Huntik doesn't suck, Straffi's gonna steal the Most Improved Player
Award from Mike Fallows, who leapt from Donkey Kong Country to Jane &
the Dragon like a caterpiller blossoming into a butterfly. (He may
lose it if he winds up directing a terrible Tom & Jerry movie, but
that's neither here nor there.) Now that Chaotic: M'rillian Invasion
has settled into a rut, Huntik may be the only CW series worth caring
about for any length of time. Combine that reality with the
dissolution of the 4Kids TV lineup, and it's hard to imagine any show
on this lineup lasting for very long.
If you dig Full Metal Alchemist, well, I'm can't promise you'll
tolerate a younger-skewing, less melodramatic series like this.
Still, if the young adult, light fantasy action genre means anything
to you, Huntik could prove safe. If you miss W.I.T.C.H. (*sniff*),
Huntik may make for a nice rebound fling. Let's see how long we can
put up with her... er... it.
Terrence Briggs, who had a hard enough time remembering Sophie's
name. Don't make me remember anyone else's.
Patrick McNamara
<mrman1...@lycos.com> wrote in message
news:1aad26e4-54d2-4a3f...@r28g2000vbp.googlegroups.com...
> Huntik, or Why the Director of Winx May Not Suck After All
>
> His most recent product premiered last week on the CW 4Kids block:
> Huntik: Secrets & Seekers. On a scale from Winx to Monster Allergy,
> it leans more towards Monster Allergy's non-suckage.
I was a little surprised that they would wait until mid-season to bring out
a stronger animated show like this. I found it much closer to W.I.T.C.H.
than to Winx, so close that it could be mistaken for being from the same
studio, especially when they have a girl with striped socks and a short
skirt (an outfit reminiscent of the witch outfits).
I found the show more interesting when they weren't engaging in fights,
probably because the fights weren't that appealing. Having a wimpy main
character who happens to have power just when he needs it doesn't help it's
appeal. The girl seems like a much stronger character, but that might be
because the studio is use to doing a female show with Winx. (I never
bothered with Monster Allergy so I can't say how it compares to that show.)
But it's going to take a few episodes to really tell where the show is
going.
--
Patrick McNamara
E-mail: patjmc...@gmail.com
Webpage: http://www.geocities.com/writerpatrick
Podcast Ping podcast: http://podcastping.blogspot.com
Torrentcast: http://www.mininova.org/rss.xml?user=PodcastPing
Terrence Briggs
wrote:
> <mrman1mrm...@lycos.com> wrote in message
>
> news:1aad26e4-54d2-4a3f...@r28g2000vbp.googlegroups.com...
>
> > Huntik, or Why the Director of Winx May Not Suck After All
>
> > His most recent product premiered last week on the CW 4Kids block:
> > Huntik: Secrets & Seekers. On a scale from Winx to Monster Allergy,
> > it leans more towards Monster Allergy's non-suckage.
I take it all back. The dialogue editing sucks, the animation editing
sucks, and the result is nigh unbearable in its sloppiness. Monster
Allergy seems like a fluke now.
> I was a little surprised that they would wait until mid-season to bring out
> a stronger animated show like this. I found it much closer to W.I.T.C.H.
> than to Winx, so close that it could be mistaken for being from the same
> studio, especially when they have a girl with striped socks and a short
> skirt (an outfit reminiscent of the witch outfits).
>
> I found the show more interesting when they weren't engaging in fights,
> probably because the fights weren't that appealing.
Blame the Unholy Trinity of animation studios behind the grunt work.
AKOM, Hong Ying, and Rainbow.
> Having a wimpy main
> character who happens to have power just when he needs it doesn't help it's
> appeal. The girl seems like a much stronger character, but that might be
> because the studio is use to doing a female show with Winx. (I never
> bothered with Monster Allergy so I can't say how it compares to that show.)
It's too late to bother with it now. Legally, anyway. I bet some eps
are available on the European Youtube pages :-)
> But it's going to take a few episodes to really tell where the show is
> going.
Now that we're there... Can we go home again? :-P
> Patrick McNamara
> E-mail: patjmcnam...@gmail.com
> Webpage:http://www.geocities.com/writerpatrick
> Podcast Ping podcast:http://podcastping.blogspot.com
> Torrentcast:http://www.mininova.org/rss.xml?user=PodcastPing
Terrence Briggs, not sure about mixing his USENET business with his
Facebook business. Spooge not accepted.
Peace to you...
Antonio E. Gonzalez
In spite of all this, what can I say, I'm a sucker for young love,
and can't help but notice the romantic tension between Lok and Sophie,
especially notable during their sparring match. Meh, just another
half-hour a week . . .
--
- ReFlex76