Holy mother of God, this was worth the wait. The action scenes were awesome, the emotional connections were strong, and everything just looked really good. I may not have been following the series since the beginning, but I can assure you that I've rewatched it over and over since I discovered it in maybe 2007 or 2008, eagerly anticipating each new bit of content that would come along. When the announcement of the series' hiatus happened, it was unfortunate, but I understood the necessity of it. Now, after all this time, I believe that this is exactly what we've been wanting ever since then. Thank you for putting in the time and effort to make such a fantastic animation. Here's to the success of the new series - I can hardly wait for the next episode!
Reviews for "Super Mario Bros. Z (Episode 1)"
@CrowTheGuy You're forgetting that Luigi also had a hammer earlier in the fight. He loses it after the Bulky Bob-Omb explodes, and doesn't use it again. It's safe to assume he dropped it, and Mario picked it up after his own was deflected out of the arena.
This video takes everything about your original episode, and ramps it up to 11! Incredible art, dynamic choreography, smooth motion, revitalized dialogue... everything about this is superb! Even the subtler things, like the use of the Mario games font and the sound bytes work together to enhance the feel.
My only gripe is that some of the gags were repeated a few too many times. The "BOO, you stink!" line was used 3 times, which felt redundant. If the second use at 9:19 was omitted, I think the reuse when Bowser appeared at 12:00 would've had a greater impact. Also, the bulgling eyes for the Toads was a funny visual gag, but I don't think it should've been used when they ran away from Bowser's fireballs. It took away from the serious tone of the moment.
I remember watching the original episodes and remember being so pissed off when it just suddenly ended. This animation is almost one hundred percent perfect, and 99% is good enough for 5 stars. The only problem I found is that during the fight scene, the hammer is knocked away... out of the arena. It then shows up later in the fight having moved a very small amount of distance away from which it was immediately knocked out. Most people would forget details about that (you probably did because the hammer being knocked away was a few minutes before he picked it up again) but for some reason that stuck in my mind. Honestly that's just a minor error I noticed but I loved the original version of this series and I know I'm going to love the reboot.
Can't wait for the next episode,
--Red-Kun (CrowTheGuy)
whattttttttttttttttttttttt! This used to be my favorite series back in the day. Glad to see you back!
Awesome to see you back with this series, cant wait to see what comes next! Hokto no Mario