Featured in YellowFlash 2: FlashCast: Wukong the Ape Man SALT!
Line of Events
A surprise attack by Wolf, the clever and cunning ruler of Rohan who seeks revenge for his father’s death, forces Helm Hammerhand, King of Rohan, and his men to make a daring last stand at the ancient fortress of Hornburg. Miranda Otto reprises her role as Jovin from Sir Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings; the series serves as the film’s narrator. After an encounter with the orcs, an animation of Helm’s flowing hair appears behind his ear. The Warner Brothers Animation logo briefly appears in Japanese kanji to pay homage to the film’s anime style. .
Sony’s Concord FAIL!
Star Wars The Acolyte Cancels CHAOS! (2024). The difficulty with standalone releases is always that they are based on an original work, which leads to the problem of how to make them stand on their own? Usually, this requires them to be cohesive and artistically distinct and unique. Making an anime based on Peter Jackson’s trilogy seemed like a crazy idea, but it certainly solves this problem well.
Given that this is an anime film, more dynamics and creativity in its use would have been needed
Director Kenji Kamiyama is best known for his recent directing work on the Blade Runner anime spin-off, as well as the sci-fi classic Ghost in the Shell Stand alone complex series (which is also a spin-off of the original anime film). He has also worked on classics like Akira and Princess Mononoke (which is certainly the most important starting point for War of the Rohirrim) in smaller roles. The animation style in terms of anime is generic (safe for Western audiences) with a mix of 3D graphics with the occasional cartoon animation. The quality varies quite a bit from scene to scene and you can see that there is a limited time frame for some specific scenes. The film largely follows the formula of Jackson’s stories with some anime tropes, but I think the possibilities of the anime style are underused here.
However, the designs are very interesting
If someone decides to make an anime film, it really won’t do any good for the audience if the end result feels too subtle. Howard Shore’s music carries the epic feel of the original PJ trilogy, although otherwise the universe here feels a little different as a more fantastical setting. The story is based on a short additional text by Tolkien himself, so it’s a very universal classic plot, albeit a very predictable one. Aside from the main character, there’s not really much to it that’s interesting. I also liked the English voice acting in general.
Not sure who this is made for?
The film manages to stand on its own with its style and story, but it’s held back by being too safe for a Western audience, as well as some shoddy production. Many Tolkien fans are geeks who are familiar with anime, so going too safe with the style here doesn’t make sense. Making the animation more bland doesn’t make it more appealing to an audience that wouldn’t enjoy it anyway, and it makes the overall film less memorable and more like generic action animation. It’s not a bad movie, but it’s not memorable either.
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