Ericho's movie Reviews on Newgrounds

[Chrono Trigger Unglued 15]

Tried everything

This was based on an RPG (I think) so it would only fit that it would be an interactive movie. It seems like about time this happened in the series. I am so glad I managed to watch one of these right after another. Granted, I was not able to advance beyond trying everything I could, but it was a fun trip. I am not sure why the guy had to call out that trampoline, but whatever. The funniest part was when the two guards were arguing over who should get the playing cards.

That scene was also funny with the wounded guy there. I did find it strange he was not bleeding, so of course he was not dead. It was cool to see some action with Chrono using the flaming sword, even if it did not defeat the dragon. I guess I am now glad "Flee" was not the final option as it would have made the scene a bit pointless. The dragon tank is very well designed, too.

Clovis15 responds:

If you weren't able to see the entire movie, the option to fight the Dragon-Tank works after you've first tried all the other options. As Crono says when you select it earlier on, "This should be a last resort." I'm sorry if you found yourself stumped by the interactive scene and unable to proceed onwards, this episode actually contains a 1 minute fully animated fight sequence once fight is selected after first doing all the other options first (and I know more action is something you've often asked for in your reviews of other episodes).

As for why the Chancellor asks for a Trampoline, in the original game he would jump straight up and down a ridiculous height when he was angry. It didn't really seem practical he could just jump like that, unless he had a trampoline underneath him. So, when he fails to jump up and down dramatically at the beginning of his speech, his has the guards bring him a trampoline so he can complete his dramatic effect.

[Sasuke shorts Part 3]

Very neat!

It just goes to show that people will simply never run out of ideas to show these characters off in funny scenarios. The coolest part was easily the beginning. It was hard to tell if this was supposed to be a comedy or not. It showed humorous things like Hidan and Asuma, but also showed serious things like Itachi beating up Sasuke. It was still fun to watch this and I could easily tell after awhile it was supposed to be more of a parody. The way the characters move and are designed is really well done too.

It was sweet with how you had no idea what was going to happen next. The zaniest once was probably when Rock Lee had a race with Sonic. It was so random how he just blew up at the end! I liked the cameo by Blockhead and the brief appearance of Sasuke in his demon form. The voices seemed to connect with the characters well too. I love how Kisame just glopes over Itachi.

KKING1 responds:

I am happy to know that you liked it :D

[Blachnon & Flora EP 1]

Certainly decent

It seems like you were really working on making an experimental flash with this. I know it does not say that in the description but that is how I interrupted it. The only problem is that it is in fact fairly short with not that much point. I recognized the sound effect as being from that one bomb game with medals. This was certainly creative, as I had absolutely no idea what was going to show up next on the screen. The green main character kind of reminds me of Oogie Boogie.

It seems like you were vaguely going "Ghostbusters" with what his appearance was. I love how it transitions to a scene where the art is completely different. He did seem to really contrast with the background in the first half of the cartoon. It was nice to also know what he was thinking. It doesn't matter if a story makes any sense, as long as the animation is good.

mesclas responds:

thx :)

[Mother 2]

I am (or was) a Spongebob fan

It was nice to hear that audio as I could recognize it. This still needed improvement on a lot of levels, mostly because the animation was not that good. It seemed like the whole thing was random. How was "Earthbound" similar to the Spongebob Squarepants episode you were parodying? I guess the lips sync up well and everything, but it needs to make more sense. In case anybody is wondering, in the cartoon Squidward does not get to eat that krabby patty and I doubt Ness will.

The color effects are okay, but that does not distract you from the flow of the artwork. The score board thing at the beginning was also really weird. The audio clip used did seem to have the best quality either. It seems like you could have worked with sprites if you want to make it more authentic. The title also seemed random.

Zirch45 responds:

Well, to answer a few things you said:
Earthbound was similar because you can eat hamburgers out of garbage cans and that happened in Spongebob.
I HAVE tried working with sprites before, and that was not pretty ^^'
And I couldn't really think of anything to call it.

[Chrono Trigger Unglued 16]

Gaspar's back!

Gaspar is easily the most entertaining character in this. It was weird how there was a brief moment where the characters talked and you heard their dialogue. It seemed a bit out of place, especially when it talked about a boner and stuff. This is still funny on several levels, but it is bad for Chrono to have an abscence (except in flashback). Speaking of which, when was the last time that devil/angel shoulder thing was played straight? Nowadays, like both the angel and devil are evil or the angel is a vigilante; geez, it's good to see that trope back.

Anyway, this had lot of good moments and some really good sprite work. I do wish there was some more action in this. The part at the ending credits was the most action-packed of all and I do wish it was more like that! What matters is that you guys spend a good amount of time developing the characters. In case anyone's wondering, Akira Toriyama is the name of Dragonball Z's creator, and I think he might have created Chrono Trigger as well.

Clovis15 responds:

Akira Toriyama did the art design for Chrono Trigger, but much of the concept and writing was actually done by a man by the name of Masato Kato. As for the shoulder angel/devil scene, I don't think it would have been nearly as funny if we hadn't played it straight. Then again, the places that usually perform a parody of the angel/devil sequence are not trying to maintain an internal narrative consistancy like CTU is trying to do. On that note, I thank you for the generous comments in regards to all the work we have put into setting up strong internal characterizations rather than just having characters whose personalities change constantly just to facilitate a joke.

[Otaku meets Loli]

Fairly disappointing

I guess I can not really hate this submission, because it does have pretty good animation where it is. It really does not succeed my expectations because there were icons of boobs on the preview image! It doesn't help that there was little going on in this. I guess you were trying to be decent by not showing us actually loli. That "Hare Hare Yukai" music and dance will simply never get old. I suggest that next time you work on making it more like the preview icon.

Then again, I did not pay much attention to the author's comments which did explain it. This could be much better in itself by probably being longer and having more jokes. I did like it how you could go back. The intro (well the icon at least) was pretty good. I hope you learn to take some time to do some more work on the premise.

powermanX responds:

i am a disappointment...ever since Vietnam i haven't been the same.

[Cheeto Clocks Day Off]

Close to decent

I am glad there are some people who do not just submit a single page for Clock Day. It's amazing how every single one made seemed to make it into the collection! It was also great to see CheetoClock, as I believe this is the first time I have seen him in action. He has a good design with the orange shades on him. It's also cool to see the characters go across the ocean like that. For something that uses Speakaphone (or whatever that is) it's amazing how you can put emotion in the voices.

The biggest weakness was that there was no music. A lot of times there were intervals of no sound at all and it got a little annoying. I think there might also be a glitch when the characters leave after defeating CabbageClock or ArtichokeClock or whoever that was. I think the animation culd also be a bit better, but it is traditional clock style. This is the second Clock flash I have seen where StrawberryClock appears as a bad driver.

ScrewClock responds:

thank you my good man

[Chrono Trigger Unglued 13]

Woah...

This was a great way to get into the series if only because of that "tralala" song. That guy at the beginning is easily the best character in the entire show. I like how you do a recap because there are simply so many of these lengthy episodes it's hard to keep up! You showed a great deal of detail in this, especially with the wide shot of everyone in the town. The only thing that was missing was some action. If not for that, I would have given this a perfect 5.

This is still great because you have no clue what's going to happen next. It was weird how there was some spoken dialogue mixed in with just the words on the screen. The ending credits were just great, I wish there was more of that in the actual flash! I could not help but think you were influenced by Kirbopher's "TTA" series. Yeah, that's just wishful thinking.

Clovis15 responds:

I'm really glad you liked Fritz's Flashback sequence. Gaspar, the narrator, was first introduced because - thanks to College - the episodes were extremely far apart after I first took over. He then stayed around, even when things picked up a bit, because everyone loved him so much. I'm sorry that the series is often action lite, but in staying true to the original creator's vision - Cryokenetic - CTU is a primarily dialogue driven affair. I do try to spice it up with stuff every now and then, and Episode 25 in particular should have something particularly spicy in it that hopefully will be a "Thriller".

I love TTA, but I did not discover it until the summer of 2010... well after the time it had already died.