Jest'O'Clock Animation Review N2: Spirits Excel!

Mind  your watches! Everything has to stop, 'cause now it's Jest'O'Clock!

Silly title drop aside, welcome, my Jesters, to the second installment of my Animation Reviews! This time around, we'll take a look at the second episode of what I can now consider as one of my favorite Sprite Animation series ever: Spirits Excel!

Let's get this thing started!

Plot:

The story continues where it left off: Kombo left the orphanage that had seen him grow up, only to follow his dream and eventually become a Star Hero, protector of this alternate Dreamland.

But this time, we get to follow the movements of an organization shrouded in darkness, bold enough to perform vile actions to get what they want: a powerful toxin guarded by the Star Warriors Alliance (S.W.A for short), toxin that seems to be of great interest for the organization.

Join me, dear Jesters, and you shall be introduced to a scary bunch of monsters stuck in the maze of this mysterious plot…

Summary:

Oooh. Tense situation there.

...Yeah, scratch that, they actually look much less scary from up close.

Probably 'cause they're all puffballs, but hey, even puffballs can be frightening, I mean Kirby EATS people on a daily basis. How messed up is that? And to prove us how scary these puffballs really are, SkytheStarHero even goes as far as introducing the members of this dark organization right from the get go, and they don't appear to get along that much.

That blade looks freakin' amazing.

From the mostly heartwarming first episode, we immediately jump in a much gloomier setting. Two members of this organization begin a little battle (as illustrated up there), after which their Liege sends the masked one (I shall now refer to him as Red, very creative I know) on a mission to find and retrieve the powerful toxin that seem to be of interest for their cause, whatever that may be. However, while this dark plot is beginning to form itself, we're introduced to Caramel City itself, the city Kombo wished to travel to in the last episode.

Simple and yummy. Lovin' that name.

From what we can see, we've been thrown in some sort of Talk Show during which Penny Parfait, the one presenting it, introduces us to yet another group of new characters, that are apparently surprise guests to Caramel Talk.

Fancy capes: check. Very important when you're a hero.

Percival and Freeshia form a famous team of Star Heroes, and their appearance makes the crowd go crazy.
...As in… Really, really crazy. For all the wrong reasons.

...Best part about this? Insanely realistic.

So crazy, in fact, that Revel and Crusade, two Star Warriors from the S.W.A. have to try and control the crowd in an… unconventional way.

Violence? Problem = solved.

After pretending that it all never happened, Penny continues her show, and as she does so, Percival starts by confirming that his team is indeed looking for a potential third member (Would that eventually turn out to be Kombo? Maybe?) before continuing with an explanation about Fragments and Dark Heroes, as well his opinion on the subject.

With his little tutorial, we can see that Fragments are basically super-powered monsters, and that the Dark Heroes seem to be the only ones able to stop them from wrecking havoc in the Braverse (what? It's not such a bad name…). After the explanation, and after establishing himself as gentle hero protector of the Braverse, Percival, accompanied by Freeshia, leave the scene, and we are left to discover yet another aspect of this alternate Popstar SkytheStarHero has created...

*gasp* ...Those shiny visors... *__*

...Which happens to be a training session of the S.W.A, during which a much more important event occurs.

A team of two unknown troublemakers appears to be after the toxin as well, but little did they know that Red was flying at full speed in their direction, as he was tasked with taking the wanted substance at all costs, using any means necessary in order to fulfill his mission.

Atmosphere:

I have so many things to say about that part. Mostly because this episode is a vast improvement from the previous one, and although a lot of time has past, it is clear that Sky used his time wisely. Allow me to explain.
As I had previously mentioned, this episode shows us a much gloomier atmosphere than before. The mysterious organization, the conflicting personalities of their members, the toxin, the Fragments and Dark Heroes… there are a lot of information here that are only partially shown, explained yet not entirely developed so that we can grasp the seriousness of the situation. Once again, we have a very informative episode, and some impatient folks among you Jesters might find it utterly boring due to its info dump and heavy amount of dialogue.

However, the way these big bits of information are throw to us is marvelous, and it creates the magnificent illusion that we're in a BIG. World. A world with its own its history, its own troubles, its evil plots and even its own people to deal with the various troubles. This is exactly what we're supposed to find in any fictional work, and it does seem that Sky has grasped this idea and incorporated it in his story.

And once again, SkytheStarHero manages to juggle efficiently between humorous settings...

Will he resist the tentation of tipping his fedora? STAY TUNED.

...And dramatic settings.

Last time, everything was centered on Kombo and his reality, which prevented us from appreciating the expanded world out of the orphanage. And now? It's the opposite: Sky shows us the many aspects of his world, with Kombo only appearing once. On top of that, the cliffhanger situations are still as good as usual. Between two different organizations looking for the same item and finding themselves on the same place, and the mentioned struggle opposing the S.W.A. and their Star Heroes against the Fragments and corrupted Dark Heroes, everything is set so that the various monsters Sky presents to us lose themselves in this maze that is the Braverse, only to clash or goof around for our viewing pleasure.

“Monsters in the Maze”. Definitely a fitting title in my book!

Personal Observations:

Again, so many things to say, and I'm going to start with the Caramel Talk scene. That one was the most impressive scene to my eyes, mostly because it appears to me that Sky used it as a perfect opportunity to introduce us to his big world. Sure, the episode is basically a big info dump with cleverly-placed cliffhangers, but Caramel Talk is a Talk Show. We're supposed to watch people saying stuff while we focus and listen, which is the perfect excuse for dumping info. Add some amazing music, dramatic close-ups and funny moments in the mix and there you go: one masterful world building added in the menu. This scene is really a perfect representation of Sky's style: a constant juggle between humor and drama.
Plus, for you battle-hungry Jesters, we still had a promise of a BIG fight for the next episode, so hey, it's definitely a win-win deal that any of us can enjoy, right?

General Opinion:

Originality: I've seen my fair share of Animes and Cartoons, and usually, bad guys are certainly NOT introduced this fast and with that much quality. Keep in mind, Jesters: this is the second freakin' episode, and we already have a big fight coming our way, a heroic figure that's actually not heroic at all, and the introduction to a world in which your enemies can regenerate and move faster than light at will, knowing that the only way to defeat them is essentially to tap in the dark side of the Force.

Dunno about you, but I didn't expect that.
Animation: <--- Got even got better. The close-ups, dramatically drawn facial expressions, the “camera” moving along with the characters as they move, even when they fight or as they goof around, the voice samples, everything is SO. SMOOTH. Let's just hope that it'll remain as smooth as it is during full fight sequences. Please… Let this happen. This has the potential to be a really, really good series. It already is to me, anyway.
Music & Sound: Don't expect me to be perfectly impartial. But then again, how do you expect me to react in front of such quality? Fun fact: many of the music used in Spirits Excel are actually from Kirby games, and the others are simply so fitting and atmospheric, for the most part. It just wouldn't be the same if they weren't there.
Graphics: It's not just the sprites and the anime-style haircuts that are good. Take that Caramel Talk scene again, for instance.

The backgrounds, foregrounds and overall sprites don't seem off, they're simple, yet effective. It's all consistent to the style of a Kirby setting, and I've played enough Kirby games to know what I'm talking about here.

...Well except for those S.W.A. airships. These… these are obviously not from a Kirby setting. Sure, it's excused by the fact that the technology's supposed to be quite advanced, but um… I dunno, maybe something about the color scheme should be done. This is still my opinion, however, maybe it's fine for other people.

Honestly, can you look at this and think "oh this is obviously from a Kirby game"?

Though I must say: I'm totally fanboying on those (probably) custom-made visors. I love'em.
Overall: I grew up with Sonic sprite animations, and Super Mario Bros Z is pretty much what introduced me to the Sprite Animation world.

...Technically.

Point is… Since SMBZ, I've traveled around the web, searching for quality in sprite battles or stories, and to be fair, I found more disappointments than successes. If you've looked around Youtube for these too, you know exactly what I mean.

And see, this is exactly why I'm being so positive with Spirits Excel. It just feels like a cartoon I'd watch, or a least a sprite series with enormous effort that, sure, takes a long time to come out, but when you finish the episode, you can remove your headphones and say to yourself: “Yeah, that was worth the wait.” This is no fanboyism there are very few sprite animations for which I can say the same thing. There are thousands of them, and only about 20 that I truly enjoyed.
We need more stuff like that, Sky. We need more stuff like that. As for you, my Jesters, thank you for stickin' around, reading through my happy banter (with some good music I hope!). But now's the time for me to say goodbye to you all, though as usual, I'll leave you with a parting gift:
orig08.deviantart.net/cac9/f/2…
Enjoy! And see you for my next installment of Jest'O'Clock Reviews!