Witchy Hoo

I’ll try to keep this spoiler free. Initially I was hooked by the movie’s commentary on police corruption and curious to see what it would do with this concept, and I was curious to see what would happen with Galo and Lio, and how the two would be intertwined. Unfortunately, the movie never once came back to this concept, and, despite trying to reinforce it’s main commentary, it ultimately fell flat, and was VERY inconsistent with either trying to draw parallels to Lio and Galo or trying to present them as very different in backgrounds. All of the characters(with the sole exceptions of Vinny and Lio, hence why I gave this a two star instead of a one star) were inconsistent, and, keeping the final plot twist with the Governor in mind as well as the ending…the allegory for systemic oppression falls flat and does not work. I was close to giving this a one star but it slightly picked itself up in the second act(and I also enjoyed the characters of Lio and Vinny). Overall, this movie has a bad habit of making characters inconsistent(two characters in particular are guilty of this, both learning the same information in two plot points but being shocked both times), leaving many characters out of the story that were presented as central, switching from a social commentary to a mecha anime to a sci fi space action??, and ultimately having a huge problem with introducing a lot of plot points and twists that either completely contradicted previous points or restated the same points as before. As someone who enjoyed other Trigger works such as Kill la Kill and Little Witch Academia, I can see why people enjoy this movie but I personally did not like it.

I was so happy to find this for free on YouTube. I enjoyed the movie, and being an avid fan I enjoyed seeing Melanie’s creative growth. I do agree with people on the aesthetic. The set design (in my opinion) is pleasing and ties in the story nicely. I wasn’t confused on what grade Crybaby was in because of the visual clues scattered throughout the movie; the sign on the door saying 1st or 3rd grade, the lockers symbolizing middle school, and the high school dance. The issues that were being tackled weren’t in your face, and actually helped tell the story (which is something I don’t see very many movies do!). However, there are problems. For example, many of the song placements. There would be some songs that weren’t tied in that nicely (ie, Strawberry Shortcake). There were also some missed opportunities; They could’ve developed more on Lilith, and Fleur and Magnolia definitely didn’t have enough screen time. Another problem I had is with character names; I had to turn on closed captions just to know Celeste’s name. Aside from that, I enjoyed the movie. It’s definitely far from being a cinematic masterpiece, but I recommend that you watch it. The movie is full of creativity, and Melanie Martinez fans will not be disappointed.

I just finished playing Deltarune Chapter 1 with my sister. Before I get started; if you play this on the Switch there’ll be a heads up asking if you’ve played Undertale first or if you want to dive right in anyways. Personally, as someone who hasn’t played Undertale, I was still able to understand the game quite well. It doesn’t matter if you’ve played Undertale or not, you’ll still be able to understand the game quite well as Undertale characters aren’t too major to the story, or if they are somewhat important, have had some of their relations to be somewhat stripped away making this an AU, not a sequel. If you’ve come for the story, I’d say that this is your average chosen heroes tale (which might change as the game wraps up development). Not groundbreaking, but not a bad story either. Fortunately the witty writing and likeable characters (with one exception) make up for this. If you’ve come for the gameplay, it really depends if you’re fast or slow paced with gameplay, as some fights against bosses are more fast paced than others, making it frustrating for players who are more slow paced. Some boss fights are also more slow paced and easy, which can be frustrating for more fast paced players. Let’s get to the pros and cons; the biggest strength Deltarune has is with its characters and dialogue. Colors are also used nicely; bright but not eye bleeding, and the world areas you explore have lots of secrets and areas to wander around but don’t make you lost at any point in the game. The controls (at least for the Switch) are easy to learn and you can master them quickly. Now the cons. Although the world designs and characters are cool, the world of Deltarune doesn’t exactly feel alive. Thankfully, there’s not too much of a problem with that. Also, I found it confusing how Undertale characters were in Deltarune, sticking to their original design but having some parts of them stripped away to make them somewhat different, a hard thing to adjust to if you’re an Undertale fan. Another con is how some parts of the game may feel a tad bit boring at times, mainly when you’re aimlessly wandering to find out where you’re supposed to go next. Overall, I recommend Deltarune. It isn’t the best thing in the world, but it’s certainly a great game and I recommend it. 8/10