Loved the original series and you're just raising the bar from here on out - congrats!
Reviews for "TOME Episode 05"
So many memories, and to top that, Zetto, The twin swords, and also hopefully we get to see everyones favorite cat-girl of TOME in the next episode as a partner, Here is hoping for a Flamey Vs Ruri match. As always extremely well done voice acting the kirb flame and alpha seemed perfectly done, So many good memories glad it is still going well.
Congratulations, I think this is the first genuinely interesting episode of TOME. Things are finally going somewhere and an actual plot is starting to form. Better yet, you've dropped the 'hacker of the week' format in favor of introducing a far more threatening villain who, unlike the hackers, actually defeated the heroes for once.
The scene with the argument was probably one of the strongest as we finally got to see how the main troupe react when things get a little emotional and personal. I especially liked how defensive the players were getting when it came to their reasons for playing the game, that was great. Nylock sheepishly trying to break things up, Alpha raising his voice, and Kirb and Flame Girl just mouthing off at each other. The only thing that annoyed me was GC, who just sat there and did nothing like he pretty much always does.
This episode isn't without its faults. For starters, following all the tension that escalated with the argument, the audience is suddenly dragged into a long series of action sequences and we never get to taste the repercussions of Kirb/Flamegirl spitting bile at one another.
On a technical side I think the voice acting is fine (especially Shadyvox who plays a great 'anime main character guy'), I'm glad you've dropped Nylock's tiring catchphrase to a sort of 'once an episode' gag now. However the animation still seems rather lousy and half-assed (especially when Zetto used the grappling hook); I know you're quite capable of animating well since I saw Balancing Act, but to be honest those text boxes and avatars have just got to go. They tend to take me out of the story and they remind me that I'm watching a Flash that's pretending it's a video game.
Speaking of the whole 'video game' angle, there is a gigantic plot hole that has always been apparent in TOME, but never as apparent as it is in this episode. Whenever the characters are in extreme 'danger' (which occurs alot in this episode), I just think to myself "why not just log out of the game"? To me, the only way that things can be 'dangerous' is if they're fully hooked up to a matrix-like system that can hurt or kill them - but this causes another loophoole because only a fucking masochist would play a game that can potentially cause them physical pain. Furthermore, aren't there any moderators that can simply ban or delete the hackers' accounts? Some backstory on how the game works regarding 'real life' would probably be beneficial, even as supplementary material. Are the characters in a sort of virtual reality environment, are they sat at their computers, are they playing this on a console? My point basically is, why even dress TOME up as a video game in the first place when you could just make it a fantasy world or something?
Regarding the video game's setup, another thing that confuses me is how battles are initiated. You'd think players would just be able to accept a battle, but then at some points, Alpha and Zetto literally just blow players' avatars up. What exactly happens to the player when their avatar explodes? I can't see it more than an inconvenience, like they just get kicked out of the game and then have to log back on.
Another major thing, and I think someone else may have mentioned this about previous episodes - all the 'adult' comedy in this feels very forced. Jokes like Kirb implying Flamegirl is only on TOME to get a boyfriend are fine, but then you've got Alpha saying shit like "who bottoms?" when he confronts the swordsmen and it feels sort of jarring considering the rest of the cartoon would probably be fine for kids.
All that said, whilst it's not particularly great, it's definitely heading somewhere, and the shorter format is helping too.
excellent as allways, im glad your continueing the series and thank you for a good one.
awesome beast form dude!!!! ^.^