rudykawa

This very brief mini-series brings the story of a young female that gets a job at a resort for Pokemons. The four episodes show her journey from insecurity of what it's expected from her to becoming a reliable employee.

That's it. The story is very simple and couldn't be much different considering both the short running time of the show and the show's direction. Considering the protagonist and her arc I'm not sure if this show would be popular amongst children even though the messages are told in a very naive and gentile manner and the art style is very cute. I would argue the show aims more towards adults that wants to consume a naive and simple narrative with a subject they can relate. The atmosphere is of a more calm and contemplative nature than the typical action, explosion, chases, screams, that usually is used when your public is more juvenile.

The art style is unique and fits the Pokemon universe quite well making all of them not only look but almost synesthestically soft and fluffy. The stop-motion animation might feel strange for a lot of viewers, specially younger ones that are more used to only the flashy CGIs from past decades.

It's a Pokemon midia that feels different from what the franchise usually delivers and one should be grateful that the Pokemon Company realizes that the franchise is already 25 years old and so it has fans that are not younger kids anymore. They don't need to abandon the naive and simple nature of its story and characters (Ghible movies are naive and simple, and yet not childish), but it is possible to do it focusing in adult themes and adult protagonists. Hopefully GameFreak will expand their view also in their games and create fresher narratives and mechanics so that the franchise doesn't stagnate in time. Embracing all layers of the fans from a franchise is a way of not end up becoming just a relic of time like many media made exclusively for kids (Teletubbies, Banana in Pajamas, Dora, etc).

Available at Amazon Prime.

Cangaço Novo (New Bandits) is a brazilian streaming show that follows the protagonist Ubaldo Vaqueiro in his descend to the criminal world to pay for his father medical bills. After discovering that he has an extended family far away he chases this chance of easy inheritance money but finds himself following the footsteps of his birth father into a world he was not familiarized.

The cast is perfectly selected and there isn't really any weak point in this regard. The main cast (Ubaldo, Dinorah, Dilvânia, Sabiá) is very solid. Ubaldo shows his turn into a criminal with subtlety. While Dinorah is a force of nature in her way of living instinctively and violently always, and contrasting with Dilvânia in her sweetness and caring nature.

The cinematography and production design at real locations give the show the roughness looks it needs to sell all the hardlife these people has to go through and why many chooses the path of criminality.

The show adopts a naturalistic editing style with some exceptions like an hallucination sequence that features some historic figures from brazilian history (for non-brazilians the scene might seem random and confusing). The show also chooses to start the episodes with flashbacks to slowly fill in the viewer about an important event from the protagonist's past.

There is a lot of violence shown (shots, runnovers, etc) that is necessary for the type of story that is being told. There is very mild and quick nudity scenes shown, some for comedy purposes other than in sex scenes.

The show has a proper ending, differing from the usual cliffhanger season endings many shows use. Not saying the ending doesn't have misteries to be discussed, but it is a proper ending.