Wow, this was cool! It gave me real Windwaker vibes, what with the tapestry intro, the magical clothing passed down from the mom to the daughter and even the music. Your design for the evil god was really cool too, reminded me of some Ghibli type stuff. It's nice to see animation from other countries/cultures other than the US and Japan, and it's a shame that we don't get to see more of that on TV or in theaters. For what it's worth, this felt like a pilot to what I could very easily see becoming a long running series. I think it's definitely worthy of that, but I'll have to check out your webcomic too. Just hope that doesn't mean you're gonna stop making animation.
Reviews for "Donaji & the Magical Poncho"
Shi-Gu responds:
Thanks a lot!
Indeed, I gotta admit Windwaker was a big inspiration for this.
I'm really glad you liked it and also to see interest in other cultures.
Back in the day I had the impression that people in NG did reject anything that were not in english, so I was pretty nervous when uploading this here.
Glad to see such a positive responce.
I won't stop doing animation, I'll try to have some animated parts in the webcomic as well. It's just that it takes so much time to do, so I often don't get to do as much as I would like to.
I really loved the animation in this! My only complaint is that it was kind of sappy with the story. I mean, she just wears the thing and is protected. Of course, this is apparently base on some mythology. I wish I was more familiar with it. I appreciate the great artwork.
Yeah, I don't understand most of the Spanish. That always makes me feel bad about my work in High School. Well, I felt this worked well for how long it was. You have to keep up the viewer's interest that long. The colors are so wonderfully bright too.
Shi-Gu responds:
Thankyou!
I do agree, story could have had a bigger developement. I wrote it 6 years ago as a folkloric tale for highschool, and it was pretty simple. Heroine obtains magic object, villain fools her to relinquish it. Hero comes and save the victim, lesson learned, happy ending.
It is loosely based on mesoamerican mythologies, but I took many liberties with it.
I would love to get into more depth with it, but I rather continue the story in the webcomic and make a more complex work there.
En primero lugar, el hecho de ser LATINO! Me encantó! Este contenido no se lo pudo haber hecho de otra manera mas que trabajando organizadamente, si bien la historia no es una locura, pero es genial el concepto y por sobre todo la moraleja que deja, "A veces necesitamos de los demas".
Quizas a ti te parece un logro o el fin de un objetivo, pero ponte a pensar que en algun momento, quiza alguien necesita que le digan esto: A veces necesitamos de los demas, dejar el orgullo de lado y crear una armonia que ayuda a todos!.
Sinceramente te tengo que FELICITAR por: Originalidad, Simbologia (lo tomo como homenaje a nuestra cultura) y animaciones. A partir de este punto creo que ya solo creceras en todas las habilidades que vi en este corto.
Felicidades nuevamente y seguramente estoy con contacto contigo. Quiza podemos hacer algo juntos! Saludos y gracias por compartir!!
Wow very nice
Wow what can be said about this fantastic piece that has not already been said it has some nice ideas some good action scenes some nice slow moments a really good story base and the characters are brilliant so very well done I thaught the animation was very smooth and we'll detailed and you did well with it I would love some even more flashy effects on this piece though don't get me wrong it's some solid stuff if you ask me so keep that up for sure
~~THINGS TO IMPROVE ON~~
A bit more flashy effects but it was a fantastic piece
~X~
if the poncho can assume human form then why bother giving it to the girl? realistically everyone should be dead except her. the Wind god would just kill everyone unless she becomes his property. The weapon the poncho used to scare away the totally not aku from samurai jack was already lost in the beginning of the animation unless any weapon touched by the poncho has the ability to morph. im also a huge critic of deus ex machinas made only for the mc. the wing god ate everyone but conviently makes her a tree that the anti cold poncho has the ability to return back to human form. it isn't that it doesn't have potential it just relies on people to care more about the art and animation then the easily torn apart plot.
Shi-Gu responds:
I agree there's many flaws in the plot, indeed, the story is pretty old and when translating it into animation, I focused more in the animation itself rather than the plot.
However, I think there are some misunderstandings here.
The wind god had not killed everyone, he's ruthless, but also the kind of wicked god who does play with his victims instead of going directly for the kill, I believe that's easy enough to see in the way his character was treated (also, I wouldn't say Aku was at all an inspiration for him. This god is another manifestation of Tezcatlipoca, an aztec god of the night who controls smoke, so I wanted him to be ethereal like smoke as well. Resemblance to Aku is just a coincidence, as I watched Samurai Jack only a few times as a kid).
The weapon of the dead warrior at the begining is the standard "aztec sword", a "macahuitl", so the Poncho God having it is just like anyone owning a regular sword in a medieval setting. The "lost" weapon at the begining and the one he has are not related at all.
Gods transforming people into trees, then killing others, then giving fortune to some others. That's normal in mesoamerican myths as there was no concept of "good" or "evil" and I wanted that apparent irrationality present in this little story. The Wind God is moved by his own personal desires and his attraction to the protagonist makes him want to keep her as a tree rather than eating her.
Once again I do agree this explanation may not compensate for a plot that could have been more consisten, but I do believe it needs context in order to be judged correctly.
Still, I appreciate the criticism and I will try and fix all these issues in the webcomic that will follow this story in the future.
Thanks.