The Lip Flapper : Volume 11.5 - Awesome Bunneh Review

[CodeZTM]

Introduction

I know that my past comments have talked about me reviewing an action video that doesn’t suck. Well, that’s not the elitist in me talking, and it’s not the snobby AMV critiquer either.

It’s no secret that I have a personal distaste for action videos. To me, 90% of them are exactly the same. Hard Cuts on Drum Beats + Fighting Scenes = Action AMV. Noooooo. That does not make a “good” action video.

So what video doesn’t suck, and really has good qualities of an action video that I find intriguing?

Why it’s none other than Awesome Bunneh by AllyKatAVR!




Concept

This is where most action videos lose me. I can forgive the weaker concept of most action videos if they are well synced or have a clever premise (Bleach! by gote is a perfect example of this), but Awesome Bunneh has it all!

AllyKatAVR re-creates the story of Summer Wars to focus solely on King Kazma’s reign as a champion fighter in the world of OZ. Instead of the dramatic tension of the anime against Love Machine, we’re shown King Kazma protecting one of his friends from being bullied, and he finds his equal rival in the fighting competition.

From there, we move on to the plot of re-taking his throne as the champion.

It was a fun concept, and I loved how it really focused in on this one aspect of the movie and turned it into what it was. The scenery is well chosen and does well to convey the plot.







Sync/Editing

As with most action videos, beat sync was the primary focus in editing.

Awesome Bunneh is an instrumental AMV, and has a wide variety of pacing and sounds within it. AllyKatAVR does a lot of interesting things with the music. From the basic cuts with the guitar riffs, piano keys, and drum beats to completely syncing to a combined melody being played. The more “techno” aspects of the song are also well synced, utilized as a transition between time frames and as a means of conveying a change in focus between the two worlds.

I especially loved the editing at the 1:20 mark. We’re introduced to some visual effects to highlight the dramatic tension and importance of the situation that we’re in. It does a good job of giving that “epic” feel to the battle, as well as just giving it the “oomph” that the climatic scene needed.

The video wasn’t without flaws though.

I was a little disappointed that the first time we’re introduced to Kazma’s human character is 30 seconds into the AMV. I felt like the stereotypical OZ opening could have been replaced with something more related to this character and to give him a short introduction.

The video also suffered from something that was likely out of the editor’s control. Because this particular arc of the movie is so short with Kazma, the ending part feels a little forced due to the lack of scenery. It seemed out of character that the proud Kazma would just try to trap his opponent in a room and seal it off. Even though the actual ending with the final blow is extremely entertaining and well crafted, the video is just a little unfocused right before it and isn’t in alignment with the rest of the video.







Visuals/Audio

I have no complaints in this department. The audio and video are of high quality, and have no glaring flaws or distractions that really take away from the video’s experience.

Final Opinion

When deciding to review an action video, I had a ton of options to go through. I was very tempted to review Bleach!, Zetsumo, Resonance, Tyler VS Hito, To the Future or even Bring the Beat Back. (I may actually review a majority of these videos as time goes on) Yet I didn’t. Each of those videos did something wonderful in the world of action videos, but Awesome Bunneh just really brings it all together. A solid/original concept, great editing, good visuals and a fantastic pace are what make any great video (in my opinion at least). Having all of that AND the kind of action-inspired scenery and editing really brought it all around. Awesome Bunneh has all of that, and it’s why it’s personally one of my all time favorite action videos.

Next Week:

Next week, join me as I review a fantastic video about an infectious disease! We also speak with Kariudo and see what the holdup with the site update is!

[zibbazabba905]

I love it when people can take a show and tell a different story with it

[Ileia]

Lack of concept or premise makes action videos suck?

Sorry, that's not something that's restricted to action videos.

[CodeZTM]

Lack of concept or premise makes action videos suck?

Sorry, that's not something that's restricted to action videos.

True, but action videos seem to be (in my experience) the most notorious of it.

[TritioAFB]

Genre has nothing to do with the lack of concept. But it's true that some genres tends to be affected more than others

[Ileia]

It's not that slanted (in my experience).

I don't see a difference between "I wanna show that these two characters are in love" and "I wanna show that these two characters are fighting". It's the viewer who decides why one is pointless and the other isn't. Some people are more inclined to like one genre or another, which is normal, but they have a lot of similar faults.

For instance, I rarely like romance videos, because many of them are "here are scenes of these two in love". I don't know those characters or care why they are in love because the editor doesn't always go through how they fell in love or make a story of it at all. However, the same thing can happen in action videos! Okay, these guys are fighting, I have no idea why. The only reason I would watch a similarly "concept-less" action video is personal preference, I'd rather watch fighting than romance. (It's why I'm forced to beat Adam to express my love.)

And it's not restricted to those two by any means. Dance video! Scenes of characters dancing. Action video! Scenes of characters actioning fighting. Actually, with dance videos you'd be lucky if they're all scenes of dancing, a good portion of them are not. More like a lot of cool-looking scenes with heavy motion. And now that I think about it, I don't think I know of any dance videos with a concept other than "they are dancing to this song about dancing" but I digress. >_>


Anyway, I just wanted to add my two cents. The reasons you're saying action videos suck is the same as why any video can suck. *shrug*

(also made it sound like this video was god's gift to the action genre. It's a good video, I like it, but it's not THAT good)

[CodeZTM]

(also made it sound like this video was god's gift to the action genre. It's a good video, I like it, but it's not THAT good)

I didn't mean to personally come off that way (although upon re-reading my review, I do see where I gushed a little more than I should have). I do love this video to pieces, but I did mention several aspects in which it could have been improved upon. It was just a rare case in which I finally found an action video that had a solid concept, was well executed, and I personally enjoyed. I'll try to tone down on gushing in future reviews.

For instance, I rarely like romance videos, because many of them are "here are scenes of these two in love". I don't know those characters or care why they are in love because the editor doesn't always go through how they fell in love or make a story of it at all. However, the same thing can happen in action videos! Okay, these guys are fighting, I have no idea why. The only reason I would watch a similarly "concept-less" action video is personal preference, I'd rather watch fighting than romance. (It's why I'm forced to beat Adam to express my love.)

It's interesting to see it from a different perspective. (Especially since romance is my personal genre of choice) Again, like you mentioned, it's a personal preference from my end. I can stand to watch weaker concept videos in certain genres (Dance/Fun/Romance), because they're the kind of videos that I like to watch. To me though, action videos just aren't that entertaining unless it's got some great sync or some sort of interesting concept behind it.

The reasons you're saying action videos suck is the same as why any video can suck. *shrug*

I do concede that you're correct in this regard. I suppose I just took it a little more deeply because of my own personal distaste for the genre for this one specific reason. Again, I just personally think that (in my experience) that action videos seem to have this issue more often than other genre pieces (although reading your descriptions of dance videos, perhaps I do give action videos too hard of a time).


I'm actually glad for this kind of discussion, and thank you for your contribution. Genres might make for an interesting topic for a future panel to see how people perceive/enjoy/rank certain videos based only upon their genre.

[Ileia]

Oh, no, it wasn't that you gushed on about the video, (that's perfectly fine!) it was the repetition of "an action video that doesn't suck" in your last Lip Flappers, on your twitter and then again here that gave me that impression. >_>

[Diegao]

It wasn't bad, not awesome for me, but still enjoyable and entertaining.
I like the way you set up your reviews, especially the images with the text's line.
Keep going on, you're making me discover new interesting AMVs.

[TritioAFB]

And about the video:

I recently discover this movie, it's awesome
Video for some momets looks good, but I dunno why it didn't hook me up. However to be honest thanks to this Lip Flapper I discovered this amv. So that's a plus for the series.