Arlo Whispers to Kid Cosmic & He-Man - Renegade Animation #35
Tonight, on a POWERFUL episode of Renegade Animation, Captain Kaye and The Animation Guru go through Kid Cosmic's second season, I Heart Arlo, the OTHER He-Man series on Netflix, and take another stop on the Ghibli journey with Whisper of the Heart!
How’s it going, fellow Renegades? It’s THE DIRECTOR here to bring you a long awaited episode of Renegade Animation! And I gotta say — this one’s a very nice and stacked episode with a lot of fresh thoughts to some absolutely great cartoons! Not only that, but even a discussion of some trailers for some up and coming series, such as the spin-off of everyone’s favorite Netflix original series: BRIGHT!…. Remember BRIGHT? It’s got an anime apparently! Neat.
Well, with that said, there’s a lot to get through, so I’ll let the Captain himself take it away!
KID COSMIC (2021 - PRESENT)
“Season 2 is great, probably even better than the first! The story picks up right where season 1 left off, as Moe's Oasis is transported to space, and from there the stakes are raised to a whole new level. But that's not actually what made this part of the story so compelling. This time, we focus on Jo's development, learning what it means to be the leader of the Local Heroes. Craig McKracken and his team have knocked it out of the park again, and 2021 has been an incredible year for Netflix animation!” - Captain Kaye
I HEART ARLO (2021 - PRESENT)
“I think it's pretty cool that we got Arlo the Alligator Boy and its follow-up series I Arlo in the same year. I don't know if the series is quite as good as the film, but there are two things I can certainly appreciate. One is the cast, in which everyone from the film reprises their roles. The other is the soundtrack, which has plenty of bangers. The story itself is a bit sleight, and that's not necessarily a bad thing. It reminds me of similar shows from my childhood, but filtered through a modern vernacular.” - Captain Kaye
HE-MAN AND THE MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE (2021 - PRESENT)
“I am 100% not kidding when I say that this series is the best version of this property, at least one unbound by the legacy of previous iterations. It has a stellar voice cast, incredibly stylized CG animation that feels inspired by Jack Kirby's comic book aesthetic. But best of all, it leans hard into blending the sci-fi and fantasy aspects of its mythos, and tells a great meta-narrative about destiny and forging your own future. So between this, Kevin Smith's Master of the Universe: Revelation and Noelle Stevenson's She-Ra and the Princess of Power, there's a great reimagining of the mythos for everyone!” - Captain Kaye
WHISPER OF THE HEART (1995)
“Kondō worked as a key animator at Studio Ghibli from 1987 till his untimely death in 1998 due to an aneurysm. He was supposed to be the next big director at the studio, succeeding its founders Miyazaki and Takahata, and his passing was what inspired Miyazaki's first retirement announcement. All of this makes talking about this movie so bittersweet, because I genuinely believe it's one of Ghibli's very best, arguably in the top 5 of all time. At its foundation, this has all of Miyazaki's strengths, particularly when it comes to telling a compelling love story, hell multiple love stories if you want to get specific. But it's not just that, the main theme truly dissects what it means to follow one's dream. Although it's not going to be easy, and you shouldn't expect perfection on the first try, if it's something that's important to you, that hard work and determination will be worth it in the end. Considering where I'm at in my life at the moment, this movie cut deep, and it hurt so much more knowing that the director is no longer with us. I saw so much potential in Kondō as a director, his experience in animation gave him such a great eye for storytelling. What's unique about this movie, at least compared to most of Miyazaki's directorial efforts, is that the fantastical elements are mostly contained to the novel that Shizuku is writing, while the rest of the narrative is grounded in reality. I'm hard pressed to find any genuine criticisms, except for a few awkward interactions between the students, but that just shows how well Miyazaki writes teenagers. Like all Disney-era dubs, the English voice cast is stellar. Since a surprisingly large chunk of the film is devoted to interpolating John Denver's ‘Take Me Home, Country Roads,’ it makes total sense to cast Brittany Snow and David Gallagher, two actors who can sing, as our romantic leads. But the rest of the supporting cast is great as well, including Ashley Tisdale as Shizuku's best friend Yuko, Harold Gould as Shiro Nishi, the owner of an antique shop, and of course, Carey Elwes as Baron Humbert von Gikkingen, which he would later reprise in The Cat Returns. Whisper of the Heart is one of those movies that will stick with me forever, and if you haven't seen it yet before, I highly recommend checking it out as soon as you can!” - Captain Kaye
That’ll do it for this episode! Thanks for Cameron for editing the audio today, and keep a weather eye on the horizon, as we’ll see you in the next one.
