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NEWS: Wakfu's English Dub Kickstarter Adds 2 Japanese-Animated Episodes




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configspace



Joined: 16 Aug 2008
Posts: 3717
PostPosted: Mon Jan 27, 2014 1:15 am Reply with quote
I love the animation and designs. It's a great use of flash without being stuck to x-y plane, flat vector animation. I wish they also offered figures of Amalia and Evangelyne though. Ah well, if anyone's interested, here's character designer/cocreator Xavier Houssin's sites:
http://xa-xa-xa.deviantart.com/
http://xaxaxa.canalblog.com

and another site for Ankama artist and sculptor:
http://studium-sibyllin.deviantart.com/
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Guile



Joined: 18 Jun 2013
Posts: 595
PostPosted: Mon Jan 27, 2014 1:52 am Reply with quote
configspace wrote:
I love the animation and designs. It's a great use of flash without being stuck to x-y plane, flat vector animation.


The animation is one reason I find myself unable to get into French animation. Most of their works use that floaty, puppet-like animation which I find too ugly and distracting. The recent Mysteries Cities of Gold remake uses it as well, which is quite a shame. I'm really disappointed that seems to be the main method they use to animate a lot of their shows. Canada has a similar problem as well. Flash is something I absolutely abhor and have yet to see it match up to traditional works and is too distracting.
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Fronzel



Joined: 11 Sep 2003
Posts: 1906
PostPosted: Mon Jan 27, 2014 11:30 am Reply with quote
Guile wrote:
configspace wrote:
I love the animation and designs. It's a great use of flash without being stuck to x-y plane, flat vector animation.


The animation is one reason I find myself unable to get into French animation. Most of their works use that floaty, puppet-like animation which I find too ugly and distracting. The recent Mysteries Cities of Gold remake uses it as well, which is quite a shame. I'm really disappointed that seems to be the main method they use to animate a lot of their shows. Canada has a similar problem as well. Flash is something I absolutely abhor and have yet to see it match up to traditional works and is too distracting.

Wakfu isn't perfect (the earlier episodes have trouble with a believable sense of physics) but it does handily avoid that sense of flatness that Flash animation often has. It's an interesting use of the technology.
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SpacemanHardy



Joined: 03 Jan 2012
Posts: 2509
PostPosted: Mon Jan 27, 2014 2:45 pm Reply with quote
Thanks for putting this up, ANN! Very Happy

I don't see how anyone could honestly "hate" the animation. No, it's not perfect, and there are times where it's painfully obvious that it was made in Flash, but other than that it's one of the best-looking animated series I've ever seen. What they've been able to do despite the limitations of Flash is simply mind-boggling. Wakfu makes MLP: FIM look like a high-school fan project.
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configspace



Joined: 16 Aug 2008
Posts: 3717
PostPosted: Tue Jan 28, 2014 12:53 am Reply with quote
FYI from recent updates: they are also accepting fanart, like from http://migouze.deviantart.com/gallery/

It's also interesting to read about some of the difficulty they've had in getting Wakfu on some networks in some countries:
Quote:
I must admit I was really anxious when this KICKSTATER started. A lot of people had advised me against doing it. But we found ourselves incapable of having our series on a lot of countries' networks. “Too violent,” “too naked,” “too serialized,” “not our target demographic”... We met with every possible comment and started slowly giving up...

Quote:
What I’m getting at is this: I already have ideas for all the stories that need to be told in a season 3. But I don’t have much hope. This is because many factors will prevent a channel from pre-buying season 3 from us if we make it as we envision it being made.

The first issue is that I want it to take place several years after the 3 specials, when YUGO is an adult. That might be the biggest issue. If he becomes an adult, channels will have a “target demographic” problem. No children in a children's show, that's only possible in Japan.

The other issue is that I want to make it darker, with bigger stakes. I loved how J.K. Rowling had Harry Potter evolve as his adventures went on. The more Harry would grow, the darker the story would be, and the bigger the stakes. I've been thinking from the start about something along those lines for YUGO and ADAMAI. As I was just telling you, our characters have become alive. Out of respect for them and our viewers, we just can't let them stay the same age forever. If they can't grow old, I don't want to tell their stories anymore. I'd rather, then, not tell anything at all, and allow us all to keep a pleasant image of them.

The last stumbling block comes from the fact that channels are looking for more and more “kid-friendly” serials, and most important, they have to be able to play around with their planning. Finding a show's best broadcast slot is an art in and of itself, and it is way more complicated to do with serials. In this way, “animated serials” don't really have a future. I know how sad that sounds, but it's the truth. We've already had an outstanding luck doing WAKFU the way we did. And speaking of which, I'll never thank FTV's Julien Borde and Voyelle Acker enough for that.

While in the USA and in England, serials have never been more powerful, we are forced, in many countries, to do sitcom...


So if anyone has ideas or contacts for production partners and media channels:
Quote:
.... In any case, if you have ideas or contacts in the offices of risk-taking media channels, I'd be glad to hear it. Once again, a big thank you to you all, and sorry for the big rant. ....
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Jen Bigby



Joined: 20 May 2013
Posts: 112
PostPosted: Tue Jan 28, 2014 2:11 am Reply with quote
SpacemanHardy wrote:
Wakfu makes MLP: FIM look like a high-school fan project.


Confused Um, you're not exactly setting a high bar there if you're using My Little Pony as your magnum opus for animation. I personally found the animation pretty wonky and too distracting.

configspace wrote:
It's also interesting to read about some of the difficulty they've had in getting Wakfu on some networks in some countries


I can't think of a single thing objectionable in this show. It's no more violent than any American cartoon on air right now, and it sure isn't anywhere close to anime's level of content. Even if there was, given how censored anime is on TV, I'm sure they could edit out anything objectionable in it if that was the issue. More than likely the issue is the show is basically a commercial for the MMO, which pretty much bombed in America. There's no reason at all to air an old 30 minute commercial made to sell a game if the game already came and went and is no longer marketable.
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SpacemanHardy



Joined: 03 Jan 2012
Posts: 2509
PostPosted: Tue Jan 28, 2014 5:22 pm Reply with quote
The Kickstarter page just updated with info and character profiles for season 2.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1836563008/wakfu-the-animated-series
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SpacemanHardy



Joined: 03 Jan 2012
Posts: 2509
PostPosted: Thu Jan 30, 2014 2:30 pm Reply with quote
....I'll just leave this here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zbOiP-816lc

Razz
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SpacemanHardy



Joined: 03 Jan 2012
Posts: 2509
PostPosted: Thu Jan 30, 2014 9:43 pm Reply with quote
Ankama have added the Mini-Wakfu animated shorts to the Kickstarter:

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1836563008/wakfu-the-animated-series/posts
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Adnae



Joined: 31 Jan 2014
Posts: 7
PostPosted: Fri Jan 31, 2014 1:02 pm Reply with quote
And it reached the second season stretch goal!
40$ for both seasons + 2 OVAs, that's pretty interesting :)
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SpacemanHardy



Joined: 03 Jan 2012
Posts: 2509
PostPosted: Sat Feb 08, 2014 12:56 pm Reply with quote
Not only has the campaign broken the $250k stretch goal for the Mini-Wakfu episodes, but they've announced one of the hidden stretch goals: A BRAND NEW episode of Wakfu at $450k!!

That may seem like a lot, but we can get there if we spread the word!! Very Happy

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1836563008/wakfu-the-animated-series
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SpacemanHardy



Joined: 03 Jan 2012
Posts: 2509
PostPosted: Wed Feb 19, 2014 11:06 am Reply with quote
One final update:

Wakfu's Kickstarter campaign recently ended with a grand total of $483,524 CAD, funding at 604% of their initial goal with 5,707 backers! That makes it the fifth highest-funded animated Kickstarter project ever, right behind Bee & Puppycat, Little Witch Academia 2, and The Goon.

https://www.kickstarter.com/​projects/​1836563008/​wakfu-​the-​animated-​series/​?​ref=​kicktraq
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