Encanto (2021) – Review/ Summary (with Spoilers)
Fully expect Encanto to dominate this upcoming award season for its lessons, its themes, its characters, even its immigrant story, it is all too perfect.
Animation
Be it hand-drawn, CGI, and the various other techniques, the animation tag focuses on fully or partly animated productions.
Clifford The Big Red Dog (2021) – Review/ Summary (with Spoilers)
Funny, heartwarming, and potentially tear-inducing, Clifford The Big Red Dog not only brings back childhood memories but begins a lovable new story.
Luv U Cuz (2021) – Review/ Summary (with Spoilers)
With an FX/ Adult Swim vibe, Luv U Cuz might be one of the strangest animated shorts out of NewFest but might be one of the most memorable things we’ve seen overall.
The First Time (2021) – Review/ Summary (with Spoilers)
The First Time gives you webcomic-turned short web series vibes, but it is not long enough.
Carino (2021) – Review/ Summary (with Spoilers)
In this three-minute short, we get an innocent and adorable showing of the lengths someone will go through for a crush.
The World’s Finest Assassin Gets Reincarnated In Another World As An Aristocrat: Season 1/ Episode 1 “Plan 01: Quantum of Trust” [Series Premiere] – Recap/ Review (with Spoilers)
You may think this is yet another reborn into a fantasy world anime, and you’d be right. However, this one has a far more interesting protagonist than most.
Takt Op.Destiny: Season 1/ Episode 1 “Chapter 1: Conduct – Creed” [Series Premiere] – Recap/ Review (with Spoilers)
Classical music, gorgeous animation, eccentric characters, and over-the-top battles make Takt Op.Destiny a curious but engaging new show.
Irina: The Vampire Cosmonaut: Season 1 Episode 1 “The Nosferatu Project” [Series Premiere] – Recap/ Review (with Spoilers)
Irina: The Vampire Cosmonaut starts its season with a bit of information overload, but once the introductions stop, the fun begins.
Footsteps On The Wind (2021) – Review/ Summary (with Spoilers)
In this music video, you get a sad, animated story that illuminates the lyrics of Sting’s “Inshallah.”
The Black Disquision (2021) – Review/Summary (with Spoilers)
In The Black Disquisition, a young man recaps the moment his parents had to tell him what it means to be Black, and the journey to find Black to be beautiful
To Your Eternity: Season 1 – Review/ Summary (with Spoilers)
To Your Eternity creates the opportunity to know a character from birth and watch as they navigate hardship, their first taste of love, and the side effects of trauma.
Words Bubble Up Like Soda Pop (2021) – Review/Summary (with Spoilers)
Words Bubble Up Like Soda Pop may not have the best pacing, but when at its best, it’ll make you swoon and potentially have you teary-eyed.
Remake Our Life: Season 1 Episode 1 [Premiere] – Recap/ Review (with Spoilers)
Remake Our Life! pushes feelings of nostalgia as it allows its protagonist not to think, “What If?” but to choose the other path when they were at a crossroad.
Batman: The Long Halloween – Part 1 (2021) – Review/Summary (with Spoilers)
For what is one of Batman’s legendary stories, Batman: The Long Halloween seemed rather run of the mill.
She Dreams At Sunrise (2021) – Review/Summary (with Spoilers)
I hope you’ve been drinking enough water for She Dreams At Sunrise will not only make you cry but ugly cry.
BITCHIN’: The Sound and Fury of Rick James (2021) – Review/Summary (with Spoilers)
BITCHIN’: The Sound and Fury of Rick James shall be known as the definitive documentary when it comes to Rick James, for it leaves very little left to question or answer.
Blush (2021) – Review/Summary (with Spoilers)
In 11 minutes, you get one of the cutest animated sci-fi love stories since Wall-E.
The Orange Child – Review/Summary (with Spoilers)
The evolution of self-image is explored as a Black child growing up in France finds a way to be empowered by his Blackness.
LOVE, DEATH & ROBOTS: All Through The House – Review/Summary (with Spoilers)
All Through the House presents the idea Santa’s Little Helpers may not be cuddly and friendly reindeer, and naughty kids may not just deal with coal.
Horimiya: Season 1 – Review/ Summary (with Spoilers)
While Horimiya starts off cute, with a potentially beautiful and complicated story, it eventually boils down to something silly and at times bloated.
Love, Death + Robots: The Tall Grass – Review/Summary (with Spoilers)
You may feel like you’re getting flashbacks from In The Tall Grass, while watching The Tall Grass, but it’s not the same and gets out before it can get bad.
Love, Death + Robots: Snow In The Desert – Review/Summary (with Spoilers)
So, what video game were these cut scenes from, when is it out, and for what platforms?
Love, Death & Robots: Pop Squad – Review/Summary (with Spoilers)
Imagine living in a world where you could live forever if you forego having children. Is this a tradeoff you could accept? Especially knowing the price to pay if you had kids?
Love, Death and Robots: Ice – Review/Summary (with Spoilers)
Two brothers, separated by one having modifications and the other not, have a night out where they bond and could potentially lose their lives.
Love, Death & Robots: Automated Customer Service – Review/Summary (with Spoilers)
While buying robots makes almost all of your daily chores easier, can you imagine if the company behind them installed some special features to kill you?
The Promised Neverland: Season 2 – Review/ Summary (with Spoilers)
The Promised Neverland: Season 2 is a proverbial sophomore slump compared to season 1 as it presents no credible threats or reasons to get invested.
To Your Eternity: Season 1 Episode 1 “The Last One” – Recap/ Review (with Spoilers)
To Your Eternity begins as a slow show, one which may come off potentially dull, but by the end, you’ll realize it hooked you without you knowing.
Shadow House: Season 1 Episode 1 “The Shadow and Her Doll” – Recap/ Review (with Spoilers)
Shadows House begins with establishing its core relationship, featuring two strikingly different opposites.
Super Cub: Season 1 Premiere Episode 1 “The Girl With Nothing” – Recap/ Review (with Spoilers)
Super Cub is the epitome of the slice of life genre. It presents an everyday person, in animated form and focuses on the simple joys and dullness of life vs. the occasional chaos.
Joran: The Princess of Snow and Blood: Season 1 Premiere Episode 1 “Confidential File 101, The Blue Flower of Carnage” – Recap/ Review (with Spoilers)
In a supernatural revenge story, we watch blood get shed in the name of a country and personal vengeance.
Higehiro: Season 1 Premiere, Episode 1 “The Teenage Girl Beneath The Lamplight” – Recap/ Review (with Spoilers)
In a show with one of the longest titles we ever had, you have a 26-year-old taking in a teen runaway and trying to keep their relationship appropriate.
Redo of Healer: Season 1 – Review/ Summary (with Spoilers)
Redo of Healer is your classic, starts off violent and shocking, but as you become adjusted to the sex and violence, you realize there isn’t much there.
Violet Evergarden: The Movie (2020) – Review/ Summary (with Spoilers)
Closing out the franchise, Violet Evergarden: The Movie gives Violet the closure she has desperately needed and the tears you expect.
Mushoku Tensei: Jobless Reincarnation: Season 1 – Review/ Summary (with Spoilers)
Mushoku Tensei: Jobless Reincarnation may get to be a bit much at times, with its ecchi, but beyond that, it is one of the most consistent quality shows we’ve seen in a long time.
Raya and the Last Dragon (2021) – Review/ Summary (with Spoilers)
Raya and the Last Dragon acts as a reminder Disney can still make impactful original productions that will not only make you cry but be added to their collection of classics.
Redo of Healer: Season 1 Episode 1 “The Healer Starts Over!” [Series Premiere] – Recap/ Review (with Spoilers)
Redo of Healer is a revenge story that may make you think of The Rising of the Shield Hero, but this is far more graphic, violent, and Keyaru’s revenge is active.
Wonder Egg Priority: Season 1 Episode 1 “The Domain of Children” [Series Premiere] – Recap/ Review (with Spoilers)
What begins as a story about an adorable recluse becomes a rather bloody tale about how the lead character’s friend committed suicide.
Mushoku Tensei: Jobless Reincarnation: Season 1 Episode 1 “Jobless Reincarnation” [Series Premiere] – Recap/ Review (with Spoilers)
Mushoku Tensei: Jobless Reincarnation is a reincarnated/transported to another world anime featuring ecchi, magic, and a notable amount of potential.
Adachi and Shimamura: Season 1 – Review/ Summary (with Spoilers)
Adachi and Shimamura takes the slow and steady approach to love. Thus giving you something which may feel annoyingly slow at times, but often authentic.
