A
Little Enlightened Reading
 Who
are you voting for this year? Why? Are
you certain the straight party ticket you're
no doubt
about to punch doesn't have a loony or
two in the bunch? Is it fair to give those
people your support just because he or
she has a "D" or an "R" after
his or her name?
Have you read the League
of Women's Voters voting guide yet? Do
it! Get it! Read it! Vote!
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(The following is an exercise in pure geek-flag-flying.)
 I am
a fan of animation. To me, it's moving
art. Furthermore, I, myself dabble in
Flash animation, I enjoy Japanese anime,
and
I appreciate
French
culture. That being said, imagine my delight
in finding a 53-episode, anime-style, half-hour
animated program, created by the French,
and using
a 3D version of Flash.
Jackpot!
It's called "Wakfu" and it's
a pure delight as the sumptuous backgrounds
and
character design are absolutely first-rate.
("Wakfu" is sort of like Star
Wars "force")
It's created in 3D but is presented in
a reserved 2D format. The story is
basic "heroes
on a quest"
stuff, aimed
at a
younger audience, but the writing will
really surprise you at times and there's
plenty of subtle, often risque, humor for
older crowd.
The video snippet below is how one episode
opens and gives an indication how it marches
to its own drummer... or sax player, in
this instance.
The first twelve episodes are simple stories
designed to grow the characters but somewhere
around episode 18 things start getting
really hairy. Stick around long enough
and you'll learn what's under Yugo's hat.
That it's
written and animated by the French is important
as Japanese animations are full of puzzling
non-Western motivations and personalities.
But Wakfu is Western through and through,
no
translation
necessary.
The audio is, of course, in French but
there's an English-dubbed version available
on
Netflix. If you're a stickler for detail
you can find the
original
French, with English subtitles (which
I prefer) here.
=Lefty=
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