Post by szuniverse on Nov 18, 2015 16:15:50 GMT -6
How do we define a parody? Well by looking it up online the definition of Parody is this: “an imitation of the style of a particular writer, artist, or genre with deliberate exaggeration for comic effect.” So with that in mind, I was at least hoping that Attack on Titan Junior High would get what makes a good parody. I was wrong, look I’m not gonna say that episode one of the simuldub for Attack on Titan Junior High sucked entirely. There were somethings I genuinely enjoyed, however I cannot say that the show fully understands what makes a good parody.
First off, I have to say that the dub from the first episode is great. I find it to be on par with the original Attack on Titan dub. Everyone from the original reprises their roles and I found it to be enjoyable. Just hearing Bryce Papenbrook continually giving Eren that angst sound in his voice made me smile. The rest of the cast who returned from the original while didn’t make me laugh brought me a couple chuckles here and there.
Another thing I really enjoyed were the sight gags. This show does a lot of them and while some don’t hit their marks (like the naked titan in math class). I find some of them enjoyable like the scene where Sasha gives half of her rice ball to her teacher Keith (that scene of course mocking one in the original show) that brought a smile to my face. The other gags used such as a larger scale school for titans was also okay, but I can’t say they were amazing gags.
Unfortunately, this is where my praise for the show stops because while it did make me chuckle here and there, Attack on Titan Junior High doesn’t do justice to what good parodies are capable of doing. Maybe it's just me, but I grew up watching a lot and I mean a lot of parody films. From classics like Young Frankenstein to Airplane! parody films have brought me a lot of enjoyment over the years. So it's sad that Junior High doesn’t fully understand what those films did correctly.
In terms of parodies films they were all about taking a classic film and twisting it to be less serious and treat a lot of it as one big joke. In terms of something like Young Frankenstein, Gene Wilder’s character, refuses the name Frankenstein and prefers Fronkenstein. Or in one scene where the blind man meets Frankenstein’s creation and spills soup on the monster causing a painful, but funny reaction. These are stuff from the original film that are twisted around to make it more of a humorous experience.
If we want to go with another example, Airplane! That movie makes a ton if not hundreds of pop culture references, sight gags, and has somewhat racist humor. So how does that make it a good parody or separate it from others like Epic Movie? Well what sets apart Airplane! from something like Epic Movie is that it has a central theme.
Instead of bombarding the film with other movies and pop culture references that don’t do anything, but make a reference. Instead the film is smart by having small portions of jokes used from other films like the small Saturday Night Fever gag in the bar. Another scene has an Atari game on an air traffic machine a small sight gag used in the background of the film. These are small touches of jokes used in these films that are just an example.
Another reason why Airplane! works is that it’s story is focused which isn’t the case with something like any of these recent parody movies. They take the time to develop the characters or have them be the complete opposite of the characters they’re mocking from the original movie. It also shows that good comedic writing can save you a lot of the time. I will always get a good laugh when Ted Striker (the main character of the film) tells his life story of how he and Elaine (love interest of the film) met then everyone killing themselves after the story is done. To me that’s hilarious and greatly mocks characters and sappy backstories.
These are only small examples if you want a full idea of what a parody is go watch the Nostalgia Critics, Is Parody Dead? editorial. He does a much better job of explaining what makes a parody great and he also addresses what current parody films have done wrong in recent years. So with that being said, why doesn’t Attack on Titan Junior High work as a parody? Well to me a parody has to be more than making references. It’s about taking that reference and morphing it into a joke.
(Here's The video link if you want to watch it)
Its sad to say that the opening makes a much better parody than the actual show since it’s taking a serious opening from the first season and twisting it into a joke. Making fun of how serious it is. For instance, in the opening the main characters using the 3D maneuver gear to get around in the titan classroom, that to me does a great job mocking of how serious in tone the original opening was. The show doesn’t go all out and instead makes more of a reference to the show then making a statement or using it as a joke.
I would’ve loved it if the show had more than small sight gags in terms of what’s presented. Like I would’ve loved to see the titans wear clothing or have a school uniform on or at least something just seeing giant naked monsters is kind of boring. Although this is coming from a guy who never thought the titans were that scary looking to begin with. They always looked really derpy and didn’t seem like a threatening foe.
I also would’ve enjoyed to see more dark humor used like making fun of serious scenes in the original show. Like in episode one at the end where the titan ate Eren’s lunch was very lame. “Oh no” the titan ate my burger is just dumb. I would’ve loved to see them making a dark joke to what's in the his basement or a very dark joke like them making light of Eren’s mother dying in the first episode. Seeing more of this type of humor used at least for me would make it more enjoyable.
At least at the show’s worst it's not pulling a Family Guy and have references that’s irrelevant to the actual story. To me it's just disappointing to see a show that could’ve been an excellent joke series and completely miss the mark. Understand, I don't find the show to be a turd. After all this was the first episode so maybe future episodes will expand on the humor,but as for now I don't see the point in this spinoff series.
I can understand that maybe this is made for a younger audience than me. That’s probably unlikely, but you never know. Still if this show was meant for kids it should be something that appeals to everyone not just to children. So why can’t they make a joke that feels skewed to an older audience? If it is made for that young age rate.
Before I forget in terms of the script writing for the dub I’m unsure of who wrote it. I would’ve assumed J. Michael Tatum was working on the script and Mike Mcfarland with ADR direction the same team that worked on the original. However, I’ve been getting conflicting results on who was the script adapter for the dub. At this point in time I am unsure since Funimation never put out an official statement on who is behind it, but if it is Tatum well I’m disappointed in it. I should start off and state I have zero beef with J. Michael Tatum I like him as an actor, ADR director, and even sometimes scriptwriter.
It's just a lot of the shows that I’ve enjoyed the most from him as a scriptwriter aside from Attack on Titan are mainly comedies. Stuff like Is This A Zombie?’s dub really made it an enjoyable watch. Well at least for season 1, but that's a discussion for another time. I always find the stuff he changes in those dub to be funny. So if this is him doing the script well it's not funny.
Of course, not every comedy he’s worked on has been the case, but the slight changes in the dub make it at least to me more appealing to watch. So if it’s not Tatum I guess whoever did write it wanted it to be a little more faithful to the sub. However, I can’t comment whether it made drastic changes subbed. I would need to watch the sub version myself and since I’m not much of a subtitle watcher anyways, I just can’t make an assumption without doing research.
So unless Funimation themselves states it or the scriptwriter announces it on twitter (assuming he/she has one) I’m unsure of who it is. I’m not trying to say the script is awful I’m just saying that it isn’t laugh out loud funny. Which is very sad to say since I’m all for series like Junior High a show that mocks a serious series and turns it on its head.I just wished there was more to it.
In terms of how you should approach this show. Well with the case of this impression all of it is based around humor and humor is subjective. If I don't find something funny that tends to be my personal tastes in humor.I wouldn’t say my palette is very sophisticated, but I need at least a good joke to laugh at.
So in terms of a final verdict honestly, if you're unsure I’d at least check out the first episode and see where things go from there. It’s not something I would watch multiple times and get enjoyment out of, but I can’t say I wasted my time watching it either. Like I mentioned before if later episodes improve the humor then I think this could be a great parody. However, as of right now I’d approach Attack on Titan Junior High with caution.
First off, I have to say that the dub from the first episode is great. I find it to be on par with the original Attack on Titan dub. Everyone from the original reprises their roles and I found it to be enjoyable. Just hearing Bryce Papenbrook continually giving Eren that angst sound in his voice made me smile. The rest of the cast who returned from the original while didn’t make me laugh brought me a couple chuckles here and there.
Another thing I really enjoyed were the sight gags. This show does a lot of them and while some don’t hit their marks (like the naked titan in math class). I find some of them enjoyable like the scene where Sasha gives half of her rice ball to her teacher Keith (that scene of course mocking one in the original show) that brought a smile to my face. The other gags used such as a larger scale school for titans was also okay, but I can’t say they were amazing gags.
Unfortunately, this is where my praise for the show stops because while it did make me chuckle here and there, Attack on Titan Junior High doesn’t do justice to what good parodies are capable of doing. Maybe it's just me, but I grew up watching a lot and I mean a lot of parody films. From classics like Young Frankenstein to Airplane! parody films have brought me a lot of enjoyment over the years. So it's sad that Junior High doesn’t fully understand what those films did correctly.
In terms of parodies films they were all about taking a classic film and twisting it to be less serious and treat a lot of it as one big joke. In terms of something like Young Frankenstein, Gene Wilder’s character, refuses the name Frankenstein and prefers Fronkenstein. Or in one scene where the blind man meets Frankenstein’s creation and spills soup on the monster causing a painful, but funny reaction. These are stuff from the original film that are twisted around to make it more of a humorous experience.
If we want to go with another example, Airplane! That movie makes a ton if not hundreds of pop culture references, sight gags, and has somewhat racist humor. So how does that make it a good parody or separate it from others like Epic Movie? Well what sets apart Airplane! from something like Epic Movie is that it has a central theme.
Instead of bombarding the film with other movies and pop culture references that don’t do anything, but make a reference. Instead the film is smart by having small portions of jokes used from other films like the small Saturday Night Fever gag in the bar. Another scene has an Atari game on an air traffic machine a small sight gag used in the background of the film. These are small touches of jokes used in these films that are just an example.
Another reason why Airplane! works is that it’s story is focused which isn’t the case with something like any of these recent parody movies. They take the time to develop the characters or have them be the complete opposite of the characters they’re mocking from the original movie. It also shows that good comedic writing can save you a lot of the time. I will always get a good laugh when Ted Striker (the main character of the film) tells his life story of how he and Elaine (love interest of the film) met then everyone killing themselves after the story is done. To me that’s hilarious and greatly mocks characters and sappy backstories.
These are only small examples if you want a full idea of what a parody is go watch the Nostalgia Critics, Is Parody Dead? editorial. He does a much better job of explaining what makes a parody great and he also addresses what current parody films have done wrong in recent years. So with that being said, why doesn’t Attack on Titan Junior High work as a parody? Well to me a parody has to be more than making references. It’s about taking that reference and morphing it into a joke.
(Here's The video link if you want to watch it)
Its sad to say that the opening makes a much better parody than the actual show since it’s taking a serious opening from the first season and twisting it into a joke. Making fun of how serious it is. For instance, in the opening the main characters using the 3D maneuver gear to get around in the titan classroom, that to me does a great job mocking of how serious in tone the original opening was. The show doesn’t go all out and instead makes more of a reference to the show then making a statement or using it as a joke.
I would’ve loved it if the show had more than small sight gags in terms of what’s presented. Like I would’ve loved to see the titans wear clothing or have a school uniform on or at least something just seeing giant naked monsters is kind of boring. Although this is coming from a guy who never thought the titans were that scary looking to begin with. They always looked really derpy and didn’t seem like a threatening foe.
I also would’ve enjoyed to see more dark humor used like making fun of serious scenes in the original show. Like in episode one at the end where the titan ate Eren’s lunch was very lame. “Oh no” the titan ate my burger is just dumb. I would’ve loved to see them making a dark joke to what's in the his basement or a very dark joke like them making light of Eren’s mother dying in the first episode. Seeing more of this type of humor used at least for me would make it more enjoyable.
At least at the show’s worst it's not pulling a Family Guy and have references that’s irrelevant to the actual story. To me it's just disappointing to see a show that could’ve been an excellent joke series and completely miss the mark. Understand, I don't find the show to be a turd. After all this was the first episode so maybe future episodes will expand on the humor,but as for now I don't see the point in this spinoff series.
I can understand that maybe this is made for a younger audience than me. That’s probably unlikely, but you never know. Still if this show was meant for kids it should be something that appeals to everyone not just to children. So why can’t they make a joke that feels skewed to an older audience? If it is made for that young age rate.
Before I forget in terms of the script writing for the dub I’m unsure of who wrote it. I would’ve assumed J. Michael Tatum was working on the script and Mike Mcfarland with ADR direction the same team that worked on the original. However, I’ve been getting conflicting results on who was the script adapter for the dub. At this point in time I am unsure since Funimation never put out an official statement on who is behind it, but if it is Tatum well I’m disappointed in it. I should start off and state I have zero beef with J. Michael Tatum I like him as an actor, ADR director, and even sometimes scriptwriter.
It's just a lot of the shows that I’ve enjoyed the most from him as a scriptwriter aside from Attack on Titan are mainly comedies. Stuff like Is This A Zombie?’s dub really made it an enjoyable watch. Well at least for season 1, but that's a discussion for another time. I always find the stuff he changes in those dub to be funny. So if this is him doing the script well it's not funny.
Of course, not every comedy he’s worked on has been the case, but the slight changes in the dub make it at least to me more appealing to watch. So if it’s not Tatum I guess whoever did write it wanted it to be a little more faithful to the sub. However, I can’t comment whether it made drastic changes subbed. I would need to watch the sub version myself and since I’m not much of a subtitle watcher anyways, I just can’t make an assumption without doing research.
So unless Funimation themselves states it or the scriptwriter announces it on twitter (assuming he/she has one) I’m unsure of who it is. I’m not trying to say the script is awful I’m just saying that it isn’t laugh out loud funny. Which is very sad to say since I’m all for series like Junior High a show that mocks a serious series and turns it on its head.I just wished there was more to it.
In terms of how you should approach this show. Well with the case of this impression all of it is based around humor and humor is subjective. If I don't find something funny that tends to be my personal tastes in humor.I wouldn’t say my palette is very sophisticated, but I need at least a good joke to laugh at.
So in terms of a final verdict honestly, if you're unsure I’d at least check out the first episode and see where things go from there. It’s not something I would watch multiple times and get enjoyment out of, but I can’t say I wasted my time watching it either. Like I mentioned before if later episodes improve the humor then I think this could be a great parody. However, as of right now I’d approach Attack on Titan Junior High with caution.