Wakfu: A French Anime?
Hello everybody! On this week’s anime club we have a French anime called Wakfu.Preview
WAKFU
STARRING: Juls De Jongh, Jessica Bell, Ross Grant, Kier Stewart, Hugo Chandor, Arthur Bostrom
DIRECTOR: Ankama Animation
NO. OF EPISODES: 26 episodes
GENRE: Fantasy
YEAR: 2008-
COUNTRY: France
These games take place in the same world, called, “The World of Twelve”, named for the 12 gods that rule over the world. Though they’re set in the same world, Wakfu takes place approximately 1,000 years after the Dofus. Both games are strategy style combat games, with anime-style cartoon graphics, around a dozen classes to choose from, and a large and unique world to explore. But we’re not focusing on Dofus here, or even the game of Wakfu, which preceded the cartoon, no, the animated series is what I want to talk about briefly.
Wakfu is a fantastic anime, and out of France nonetheless. I really liked the animation style, as it was designed by a Japanese animation studio yet was childish and stayed true to the overall tone of the show. The characters have unique personalities, allowing for me to cheer on each individual character in my own way. Not to completely gloss over everything, but the back story was actually interesting too. The French know what they are doing. I can’t wait for season two to be released in English so I can have more to compare.
I watched both the English dub and the French original, and I have to say that while the English dub isn’t horrible, it doesn’t come close to the original French recording. The animation actually reminds me quite a bit of Avatar: The Last Airbender. What do you make of the story? I thought there were plenty of filler episodes that were not necessary. Also, there were a few characters introduced in the latter half that should have received more screen time. What can you do?
PROS:
- Interesting back story.
- Interesting characters.
- Fluid animation.
CONS:
- English dub could have been done better.
- Some characters should develop more.
- More screen time for those characters.
SCORE: 7.0 / 10
If you have any suggestions for films/TV/Games/Music/Anime for me to review, drop me a comment! Remember: Like Media In Review @ https://www.facebook.com/MediaInReview?ref=hl Follow Media in Review @ https://twitter.com/Media_In_Review.
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This is a great anime made by a small group of people. I agree the English version could’ve been done better.
“the game of Wakfu, which preceded the cartoon”
The cartoon was in fact released first, though the MMO had of course been in development for years. The game does chronologically come first by about ten years.
“the animation style (…) was designed by a Japanese animation studio”
I’m pretty sure that’s not true, except for the special Nox episode.
“I can’t wait for season two to be released in English so I can have more to compare.”
It should already be on Netflix as we speak.
“Juls” should be spelled Jules.