Review for "Dark Green Episode Seven" by Cherry Chan
Oh me, Oh my.
I've been spending time and half at the kamishibai forums and this place has hardly had any of my TLC. Considering that its only a journal it can be feeling vengeful right?
Who loves ya baby? ~_^
Anywho so we're back into the world of Dark Green with muffin faced Aozora, self-centered dew drop Mint, Angst button Akaiya, and the super sleep Darky.
Mmmmm, tastes like another review.
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Cherries, cherries, Mario Brothers 3, gotta love that logo.
I forgot how hideous that tornado of doom off in the distance of the title screen looks.
Followed by the world's most uninspired chapter title scene! What is that a rain cloud and lightning? What does that have to do with the word "Distance"? I bet you it will NOT rain in the episode once.
Oh my there's flower across some ocean that can seduce people! How convenient for trapping Akaiya in your CLUTCHES.
(Libra)Um well...you see...I haven't a clue the name or image of the flower, I've only heard about it.
(Oh wow, thanks for the information I CAN'T USE!!!)
(Libra) Well I DO know its a day trip there.
(Your head is so big in this scene I can totally understand why Midori is staring)
And in the next scene Libra is apparently being rather dainty about digging in her ass. Nothing like goosing yourself in front of friends!
And then she pulls out a map! Abracadabra its MAGIC!
(Mint) Thanks Libra, I'll set out first thing tomorrow morning!
(Because my friends missing soul isn't important enough to get as soon as possible! Not when I have this toasty fresh ass map you just gave me!)
(Libra) Just pack enough supplies, and be cautious when crossing the ocean and in the forest...
(Midori is so friggen dumb, stop giving her advice.)
Well scene 17 is creepy for all the wrong reasons. I swear I that was Rasputin in the window...
Darky's so compliant.
(Akaiya) It's just a map...Midori, are you taking a trip...?
(I care so much...)
All their lips are bright pink all the time...
Midori's boat looks like a giant vagina coming out of the water...
The Author Says in her notes:
Hey all, I'm sorry was such a boring ep,...
(Good, good, you should be sorry. It was VERY boring)
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Mmmm-hm
So we have with us the seventh episode of Dark Green.
There...was no rain.
And there is no doubt that that episode was boring. It in fact could have been done as a flashback and skipped entirely so that it could be merged into a larger episode. People the starting point of an episode can be just as important as what happens and the starting point for this one was two people sitting around chewing the fat.
If this was chapter an writing group would tell you to go back start over.
We the hero being sent on a more concrete quest for something, and the anticipation over "will she find the right flower" COULD be real...in another kind of story. Let's be frank, in an anime/manga/style story we know before hand that the main character will get what they need. You read to see where that takes them and how the achieve that goal. Then we see that Akaiya was lurking RIGHT around the corner the whole time and now knows where Midori is going...
How is Midori/Mint getting there without the map? Are we assuming Darky put it back after they looked at it?
This episode reeks of "appeaser installment" and those I normally forget.
The art was series standard and nothing spectacular, although I did notice Cherry-chan trying a few new things. One thing that just did not work well was her use of real backgrounds instead of drawn ones. In some places it worked well enough, but in other places it was glaring. Why switch from using drawn BGs to suddenly using photos? Sometimes that can work, but not in this case.
The music was fine. Liked hearing "Kryptonite" from 3 Doors Down
The sounds were okay, but...I wasn't able to hear most of the voice acting because the midis were blaring. And I always have my wave volume level pretty high, so I should have been able to hear them pretty well.
Anywho. Yeah. We'll just forget we saw this episode okay?
And let me be clear about this, I'm saying this episode isn't working because it NEVER should have been an installment. Nothing happens here that can't be summed up at some other point. Or within a few scenes, so as a STORY most of this can be edited out. The characters down change and are only affected to that degree that "Mint leaves and Darky follows her". That's it? You spent an entire episode to make that happen...OH! And Aozora gives Mint a gift.
If Cherry-chan had Mint contemplating her instructions while looking at the gift it would have been a great segue into what happened and then things could progress from there. But Dark Green is a series in which the characters DON'T change which is what makes this a difficult story in that area. The only character that undergoes any alteration is Akaiya and his changes are unseemly and angsty.