Back to valentinefaye's Profile valentinefaye's Profile

*spoiler free*

As I enjoyed previous Conan movies featuring Kaito Kid, I was really looking forward to this one. Conan movies are not without flaws, but I can usually look past those flaws based on enjoyment alone - but for this movie, not so much.

Let's jam:

Story (3/10)
The story is quite straightforward: the Suzuki family wants to organize an exhibition featuring all of van Gogh's "Sunflower" paintings with the help of a group of hand-picked individuals called the "Seven Samurai", but for some reason Kaito Kid decides to get involved. This in turn causes the police to become involved, as everyone tries to protect the paintings from ... Kid while making sure the exhibition goes off without a hitch.
There were two things that I found annoying about the story: 1) it was not well-executed. It felt like the writers wanted to make the story more interesting by adding random plotlines and events unrelated to the main story, but this only served to make the movie unnecessarily complicated. Since the characterization was weak to begin with, the movie was unable to justify these creative decisions. 2) It was quite predictable. Anyone who is familiar with the Conan franchise can pretty much tell how this story will play out after the first 15 minutes. This can be a good or bad thing depending on how the writers further develop the story, but in this case it definitely did not enhance the viewing experience.

Art (7/10)
The movie was well-animated, employing bright colors and beautiful shots of New York City and Tokyo. The animators also did a great job setting the atmosphere and mood for various scenes. One sequence taking place on an airplane really stood out for its great visuals and intense action.

Sound (5/10)
For the most part, the soundtrack was quite enjoyable and complemented the movie. Not the most memorable soundtrack of all time, but effective nonetheless. I do have to say that the ending song was terrible, and did not belong there at all.

Characters (3/10)
Characters can make or break a movie, and in this case the characters did the latter. We all know that the new characters introduced in a Conan movie are one-shot characters, but the Seven Samurai were boring and generic even for one-shot characters. When the writers tried to utilize them to further the plot, it was rendered ineffective because none of them possess any personality whatsoever. It felt like they were introduced for the sake of the storyline, and then completely abandoned. There was also an old lady character who had some sort of personal connection to one of the Sunflower paintings, but the writers spent extremely little time sketching out her storyline, therefore stripping it of all its emotional value.
On the other hand, it was nice to revisit the rivalry between Conan and Kaito Kid. For some reason though, most of the main characters in the Conan universe play extremely small roles in the storyline and mostly let stuff happen to them, and even Conan doesn't do as much detective work as usual. Kaito Kid may be as charming as always, but the plot doesn't do him any favors as well.

Enjoyment (6/10)
I enjoyed most parts of the movie, especially the action scenes, while other scenes were utterly unenjoyable. I really wanted to like this movie, but I couldn't look past the flimsy plot and ineffective characterization.

Verdict
Out of all Conan movies, this is one of my least favorite, along with the Jolly Roger one. For long-time viewers of Conan, I would recommend re-watching a previous movie featuring Kaito Kid instead of seeing this one. For anyone new to the Conan franchise, I would recommend movie #7 or #10 instead, since both feature well-executed and exciting storylines that also further develop the relationships among the main characters.

I know the team behind Conan can do better than this, so I'll be looking forward to the 20th movie!

I first encountered Chuuka Ichiban when I was about 10, as reruns of it were being shown on Chinese TV. The premise is quite simple: the protagonist Liu Mao Xing explores China's culinary landscape, while making friends and battling other chefs, in order to become a legendary chef himself. I didn't remember too much from the show, but I did remember having a lot of fun and learning about food at the same time (entertaining and educational - who'd have thought?) The simple premise, humor and intense cooking scenes were enough to keep me hooked back then.

I revisited the show about a year ago, mainly ... due to nostalgia. Although the animation and sound don't hold up to today's standards anymore, I still felt the same degree of excitement I did 10 years ago. The characters are quirky and likeable, the show doesn't take itself too seriously (and neither should you), and there's also LOTS OF FOODPORN. Not only do all of the dishes look scrumptious and amazing, but the show always manages to re-imagine traditional Chinese cuisine in creative and unexpected ways. Being half Chinese, I really appreciated that. (If you're interested in Chinese cuisine in any shape, way or form, I would also recommend this show - it's certainly more entertaining than a documentary)

Verdict: this is the kind of show you can watch sporadically, when you're looking for some light-hearted entertainment that'll make you hungry (you have been warned). The show doesn't place too much emphasis on an over-arching storyline, so you can jump in and out without feeling guilty. I didn't watch it for the character development or compelling plot, but for the sheer joy of accompanying Mao on his quest to become the very best.