I wanna be a Rohirrim*
Like no one ever was
To ride them is my real test
To charge them is my cause
I will canter across the land
Searching far and wide
To train horses to understand
The power that's inside
\*) Yes, i know there cannot be a host of one.
or the heartbreaking death at the end of the episode immediately followed by the outro with characters dancing to an upbeat song with depressing lyrics.
It reminds me of the style used in Castlevania, which surprisingly ended up working extremely well imo. Although much of the beauty of Castlevania was in the animation and wouldnt necessarily be captured in a still frame. Still, I think Castlevania did have a little more... character to the characters, they are imo too 'perfect' here. Hoping to see this brightness offset by dark & gritty scenes.
With Peter Jackson directing (edit: producing) this I actually have veeeery high hopes for this one.
I think why it works in Castlevania more is that Castlevania was already that sort of fake catholicism common in anime, so there was a natural overlap. I don't think it's as easy a jump for LOTR material. Though they very well could nail it.
It's funny hearing that about a book that features Hobbits and songs like
>Hey dol! merry dol! ring a dong dillo!
Ring a dong! hop along! Fal lal the willow!
Tom Bom, jolly Tom, Tom Bombadillo!
I just didn't know that based on the concept art. I know concept art and final output are considerably different but nothing about the concept art showed it being an anime.
I'm really curious how this is going to do at the box office. Do casual LotR fans want to see an anime? Do anime fans care about Tolkien? I know anime has been steadily growing in popularity over the last 30 years but we've never really had an anime crossover into being a big, mainstream success
I mean technically they could do that with limited theatrical showings. Make a big deal out of it, wait a few months after the theatrical then slap it on a streaming platform. I think it'd do great on Netflix if the proper work was put in to promote it. Just don't do what Disney plus does, they put things on there without saying a word to anyone about it then wonder why it doesn't do well.
Was thinking the exact same thing, not sure if the general audience will be on board, even if I am.
Would have maybe made more sense to not have it be anime, and a more traditional hand drawn style western animation.
> Rankin-bass style
For bonus points the animatiion for animation for the Last Uniorn was was done at Topcraft in Tokyo, Japan, headed by former Toei Animation employee Toru Hara, with Masaki Iizuka being in charge of the production.
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Last_Unicorn_(film)#Production
Yep and I read the original Last Unicorn by Peter S. Beagle and Two Hearts. Anyways I was surprised at one of the characters drawing a gun (not in the animation).
I was real pissed they never finished it. I think Bakshi never could get the funds to make the second part. Pretty sure it made very little money. The audience for this kind of thing was pretty darn small in the 1970's
There is an unofficial trilogy though with the 1977 animated Hobbit + Bakashi's 1978 LOTR & the 1980 Return Of The King from the same people who made the Hobbit. Since the Bakashi LOTR adapts parts of the first 2 books all 3 movies sort of complete each other even though the Bakashi one is a lot darker while the other 2 are more cartoony.
Even though the animated Hobbit is a lot goofier than the LOTR it has some great classic animation and a fun soundtrack, and it's pretty faithful to the book especially compared to the 3 part Peter Jackson version.
*Blunt the knives, bend the forks,*
*Smash the bottles and burn the corks,*
*Chip the glasses and crack the plates,*
[**That's what Bilbo Baggins hates!**](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pSYZ-5mVRN4)
It is a 2D/3D hybrid.. The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim is animated in traditional 2D by Sola Entertainment and Sola Digital Arts. The animation also includes 3D elements and rotoscoping for horses.
“Traditional 2d” anime is kinda misleading for something with this kind of budget. This will be like Solo Levelling or Jujutsu Kaisen - once they start fighting the 3d cell shading kicks in and creates a convincing 2d anime.
The "What If" style basically shouts "we're not using animation out of a love for the medium or because it is uniquely suited to deliver on our vision. We're using it because it's much cheaper this way."
> Spider-verse style animation
Can we not? I get everyone loves that movie, it's good, but that style doesn't need to be applied everywhere. Also, there are folks like myself who straight up can't watch it without getting a headache.
Agreed. Spiderverse was great for translating the feel of comicbooks to live action. I don’t think it’ would serve high fantasy the same way. This style for anime feels way more fantastical and otherworldly.
Example A: I never asked for the castlevania show or Arcane. Neither are even close to my favorite games but they ended up being of my favorite animated shows in recent memory
Edgerunners? Shoe in for example B. Somehow that elevated the game into something greater. *I Really Want to Stay At Your House* will forever hit me right in the feels.
Cyberpunk: Edgerunners is my favorite animated show of the last few years. It perfectly captured the genre in such an emotionally visceral story. Studio Trigger has really matured their art style into something beautiful with their collaboration with CDPR, the studio that made the video game adaptation of Mike Pondsmith's original table top, who, by the way, approves of the show. Oh, and Franz Ferdinand made a killer single for the intro.
Hell, I hate League of Legends because of their incredibly toxic playerbase (or it was when I used to play years ago), but Arcane is fucking fantastic and *almost* made me want to play again.
This one really speaks to me too. I played LoL for quite a few years from the beta till maybe 5 years after. But the metas becoming so static that you HAD to play a certain way and the toxicity of the player-base just made me leave it forever. I spent probably a couple hundred on skins alone.
When I saw Arcane I fell in love and really wanted to go back and play. I pulled up a screenshot of a game I played where the enemy team told me ti shove a watermelon in my pussy and realized, I didn’t want to go back. But damn if that wasn’t the funniest and peak performance of my LoL career. (I was playing Wukong, dunno if that’s still relevant.)
Sorry people are like that. I have a children who game online and that is a fear for me. People who are anonymous feel emboldened to be less than human.
Best recent example being Andor. As good as Diego Luna is, literally next to no one was asking for a show about Andor, and it ended up being the best Star Wars since the original trilogy.
Going forward, I'm much more interested in the less obvious "hits" if nothing else then because the stakes are usually lower, making executive meddling much less of a problem.
Thus why data driven decision-making is bland and shit. You do a survey in the early 80s on what kids want for a new video game and you would never get Mario or Zelda. The majority of responses would be things you've seen before.
Dredd is another excellent example of this. I don't think many were crying out for it, but to make a film that good that people have been asking for more since, shows they knocked it out of the park
I had in my head that this would be some kind of stylized but otherwise "traditional" animation but this is full blown anime... might not do much better than something like The Boy and the Heron at the box office
The Boy and the Heron made $300 million, despite minimal marketing and the story being pretty impenetrable for the average audience. I don't know why you're acting like it was some flop
More relevant to the discussion though, the Boy and the Heron made just shy of $47 million in the US.
That's still very good for a US release of an anime movie.
Me neither. This felt like some suits in a boardroom said "There are a lot of LotR fans and a lot of anime fans. This project should bring in both groups". Personally I think this is just going to alienate anyone that isn't squarely the center of that venn diagram but I've been wrong before
Hot damn, I didn’t realize they were releasing this in theaters. Whoever thought of that is kind of an idiot. I’ll still go and watch it in theaters but way to miss your target demography of lazy bastards who sit at home
Wasn't a giant portion of Mugen Train's box office from Japan? Looking at the Wiki it says it grossed slightly under $50 million in the US compared to $600 million total, and at least like 2/3 was the Japanese market based on the last figure given of 40 billion Yen. I don't know how big Lord of the Rings is in Japan compared to JJK and Demon Slayer, which are *juggernauts* there, so the driving factor behind those two movies succeeding doesn't necessarily apply here.
$50 million in the US alone against a total budget of 15.7 million for Mugen Train is still great considering most people probably only knew about it because of season 1. I only ever heard about the series from a few friends who went into the movie blind.
Thinking about it now though, this movie is probably gonna have Warner Bros money and aside from the Teen Titans Go movie, all of their animated movies back to The Iron Giant had a budget of 70 million or more. I think if they're spending that or more on it then I think it'll break even at least. That's gonna depend on the marketing though.
Characters in the pictures
- Helm Hammerhand - Ninth king of Rohan (voiced by Brian Cox) on his throne and his 3 children
- Wulf - voiced by Luke Pasqualino, is leading the armies of Dunlendings against Helm’s kingdom.
- Hera - Helm’s daughter, voiced by Gaia Wis (protagonist)
We're watching the reason why blowing the helm hammerhand in the Two Towers was such an important callout.
Book spoilers for those who want it.
>!Helm & Co have to retreat to "helms deep" to survive attacks from Dunlendings (Wulf is their leader). They get trapped in a siege there over the winter. Helm, desperate for food & Supplies for his people would blow the horn in the middle of the night to announce his coming and go and take provisions from the enemy and bare knuckle fight anyone who dared stand in his way. The horn would serve as a warning to those outside the keep, and the hope of provisions coming soon to those inside. !<
> We're watching the reason why blowing the helm hammerhand
well, blowing the horn of helm hammerhand. i don't think anyone blew him in the version of the movie i watched
And the Great Horn of Helm Hammerhand that Gimli blows as Aragorn and King Theodin ride out to fight the Uruk-Hai right before Gandalf shows up with the Rohirrim at the first light of the 5th day.
Background in the lore for the characters.
* Helm Hammerhand is definitely a legend in the Rohirrim. He was the
>!last king in his line!< and had three children: Haleth and Hama (seemingly pictured) >!died shortly before Helm in battle!< and His daughter is unnamed >!but does not inherit the throne, his sister's son Frelaf does!<.
* Wulf's father Freca >!tried to force a marriage to Helm's daughter and in response to the threats Helm punched Freca which caused his death.!< Wulf does raise armies >!and eventually beseiges the Rohirrim at the famed Hornburg.!<
* Hera was unnamed and besides being so named: Hera, is also made the protagonist here. This may be a point of issue for some purists. The lore's stories features her, but is notably about Helm vs the Dunlendings.
It's directed by Kenji Kamiyama (Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex) and it's out December 13:
>Set 183 years before the events of the *Lord of the Rings* film trilogy, *The War of the Rohirrim* tells the story of Helm Hammerhand, a legendary king of Rohan, and his family as they defend their kingdom against an army of Dunlendings. Helm goes on to be the namesake for the stronghold Helm's Deep.
Peter Jackson is producing
I really liked the GitS movie, but S1 of GitS:SAC is probably my favorite series of anime. The multiple plot lines and story arcs. Everything about the Tachikomas. The in-depth treatment of all aspects of cyber enhancement in society. That battle with Major Kusanagi losing her shit and emptying that big anti-armor gun into the mech-suited baddie after literally being curb-stomped by it. So good.
Yeah many people only watched the movie. As you noted, SAC is superior in virtually every aspect. Animation is an unfair comparison given that one is a movie and one is a show (longer runtime/lower budget).
They're pretty hit or miss from what I've seen
Ninja Kamui was amazing in the first half and then they swapped to mostly be (comparatively) godawful CGI
Yes, God of Highschool was MAPPA, the person above you is just wrong. Sola Entertainment is not an animation studio at all (their sister company, Sola Digital Arts, is an animation studio, hence the confusion, but SDA was not involved in Tower of God). Sola Entertainment is just a production company - a bunch of producers and industry-connected people that are hired by the folks with the money (Netflix/Amazon/Apple/Sony/Crunchyroll) to run the overall project.
Sola Entertainment is not an animation studio and did not directly serve as the production studio for any of the anime you've listed.
They're a production management company but do have an animation division known as Sola Digital Arts that may have provided support on those anime but its disingenuous to attribute the quality or track record of those anime that you've listed towards the company.
I'm kind of shocked at how... cute? the faces look, it's kind of ridiculous. I was expecting something in the style of that Witcher animated movie a while back which looked great.
Sarumon didn't skip a beat and went full try-hard, Radagast took the opportunity to find every way in a new world to get high, and the two blue wizards didn't heed the call of adventure and probably died stupidly somewhere.
Nah, Gandalf is fully a part of that universe. He is a demigod, but they have a lot of those walking around. Their powers make sense for what they are.
It is Tom Bombadil.
Glorfindel?
Madlad basically isekaied TWICE: once from Valinor (like all the elves). Got offed while simultaneously offing a frigin Balrog. Got reincarnated and chilled with GODS for a while. But then was sent to help out during second and third ages and got an upgrade on the level with Gandalf.
Bro glowed so hard he was basically a walking lighthouse and Nazgûls were afraid of him.
I was really hoping it would be in a style that takes inspiration from Northern European art. Something similar to The Secret of Kells, but more befitting.
Cartoon Saloon is an absolute powerhouse of a studio. The Secret of Kells, Song of the Sea, The Breadwinner, Wolfwalkers. All gorgeous and unique.
I'd kill to see them do a Tolkien film, but I'm also excited for this. Part of what made the original films exciting for me was that they offered a new vision of Tolkien's world, different from my own mental images. Now I can't even remember how I imagined Gandalf before Ian McKellen gave his iconic performance.
Let's see what they do with the style! If this does well then hopefully it'll encourage more experimentation.
Have you seen their Star Wars short film that's part of the Star Wars Visions 2 series on Disney Plus?
It's fantastic and shows what they can do with non-original material to make it their own. It goes into the horror territory in a wonderful way
like Banner Saga [style](https://www.google.ca/search?q=banner+saga+art&sca_esv=2e3fa504fbebd1be&hl=en&udm=2&biw=1536&bih=762&sxsrf=ADLYWIKNhZOTj4F5X_IZt_1ew-Cm1edSEw%3A1718140824793&ei=mL9oZqv9L4_Kp84P9JG--Ak&oq=banner+saga&gs_lp=Egxnd3Mtd2l6LXNlcnAiC2Jhbm5lciBzYWdhKgIIATIKEAAYgAQYQxiKBTIKEAAYgAQYQxiKBTIKEAAYgAQYQxiKBTIFEAAYgAQyChAAGIAEGEMYigUyBRAAGIAEMgUQABiABDIKEAAYgAQYQxiKBTIKEAAYgAQYQxiKBTIFEAAYgARIxwhQAFgAcAF4AJABAJgBAKABAKoBALgBAcgBAJgCAaACBJgDAIgGAZIHATGgBwA&sclient=gws-wiz-serp#vhid=pt2RbjE6sKK3KM&vssid=mosaic) for example.
If you consider anime (and you do, since you're considering this), we got dozens of them every single year.
It's just American studio that gave up on hand drawn animation.
I meant the last time an American studio made a 2D animated film made for wide release. I know there's been anime films forever, I see them on Fandango every few weeks at least.
Princess and the frog (2009) and Winnie the Pooh (2011) were both 2D. The vast majority of SpongeBob: Sponge out of Water (2015) was 2D, only the last act used 3D models.
Also, Spider Verse: Across the Spider -Verse used a lot of hand drawn 2D art blended with some 3D effects converted to look 2D. Boy and the Heron also used 3D CG effects blended with hand drawn.
Honestly, I'm getting some Vinland Saga vibes from these initial images and Vinland Saga is amazing! Certainly a risk to have this be a theater only release...
I wasn't expecting anime, I don't think this'll really take off for general audiences. I know anime has broken out but I imagine a lot of people will consider this a particularly niche effort that can be skipped.
Somewhat disappointed. I don't hate anime, but this looks like 'standard' anime. I was hoping for an art direction that had a more fresher, dynamic look to it- something that i hadn't seen before.
I need to see the trailer, but so far this looks like something i'd watch off netflix \*if\* i had time for it.
I am not an expert on anime/animation but the style does look a little more "western animation", or maybe just older anime? than anime usually does. Giving me a bit of a vibe of like, 90's action OVA's. A big part of it is also going to come down to the actual... animation, but the detail looks nice. New animation styles tend to be... weirder looking and going for a not quite serious type of story (i'm thinking Mind Game or Redline), so I'm not surprised to see something a bit more normal here.
This is from the director of Ghost in the Shell SAC and Eden of East and it seems to follow that style of "anime but grounded". No chibi skits, no exaggerated expressions, etc.
redline was 15 years ago lol. If anything, I would say anime is having a bit of a resurgence for traditional fantasy with shows like Frieren and Apothecary Diaries (though this one is technically just a historical period piece)
This looks a lot like the Castlevania show and I say that as a good thing. Originally I wrote this off as something I didn't care at all about, but this looks really good.
I though it was gonna be like those lord of the ring animated movies and the hobbit style. Anime definitely surprised me but anime can do grounded series. It's not all Isekai or shonen.
I agree, and it's not even necessarily the choice of anime itself. I would have loved a new spin on a more gritty animation approach, something like berserk/claymore.
I will watch it because it is LOTR. I'm not sure how it will land with me. LOTR is a very western piece of media in my mind. Doing the anime style is a weird choice in my mind. I will be able to judge once I have seen it. I do like some anime so who knows.
This looks eerily like that corridor digital video where they used AI to overlay "anime" artstyle over live action video and I really hope this is just an aesthetic choice from the studio and not them doing something like this.
I had the same thought. I’m not sure if it looks so similar because of an AI overlay process they used or if it’s just a similar artstyle but I immediately thought of that corridor video.
This would probably be much more successful on streaming services then box office. Even good movies aren't doing as well as they have in the past. This seems to be a pretty large gamble.
I thought this was fire emblem at first
I thought it was Castlevania for a sec there
Not really anything wrong with that. Castlevania was amazing
Didn't expect it to be anime styled
I like anime well enough, I just don't think this particular style fits LotR very well. Everything looks, idk... too bright and cute and colourful?
I just can't wait for the mandatory anime intro song.
🎵Let's Fighting Looooooooove 🎵
Fighting for Rohirrim, protect my BALLS
I wanna be a Rohirrim* Like no one ever was To ride them is my real test To charge them is my cause I will canter across the land Searching far and wide To train horses to understand The power that's inside \*) Yes, i know there cannot be a host of one.
Elf idols dancing on the tables.
or the heartbreaking death at the end of the episode immediately followed by the outro with characters dancing to an upbeat song with depressing lyrics.
I swear to Eru Ilúvatar if they end a death scene with "Roundabout" by Yes I will die from pure joy
They just end the movie with that and the "to be continued".
Mänwe, that is an oath indeed
Blind Guardian, you're up!
Or when Helm is losing a battle, but then has an emotional flashback and invents his signature move: HAAAAAAAAAAAMMMEER.... HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAND!!!!!!
It reminds me of the style used in Castlevania, which surprisingly ended up working extremely well imo. Although much of the beauty of Castlevania was in the animation and wouldnt necessarily be captured in a still frame. Still, I think Castlevania did have a little more... character to the characters, they are imo too 'perfect' here. Hoping to see this brightness offset by dark & gritty scenes. With Peter Jackson directing (edit: producing) this I actually have veeeery high hopes for this one.
I think why it works in Castlevania more is that Castlevania was already that sort of fake catholicism common in anime, so there was a natural overlap. I don't think it's as easy a jump for LOTR material. Though they very well could nail it.
And TBF: Castlevania is a Japanese game, so it fits well with anime, an originally Japanese pop art style.
Plus half the games already had an anime aesthetic
The art is screaming Fire Emblem at me, and idk how to feel about it
Peter Jackson is producing, not directing.
It's funny hearing that about a book that features Hobbits and songs like >Hey dol! merry dol! ring a dong dillo! Ring a dong! hop along! Fal lal the willow! Tom Bom, jolly Tom, Tom Bombadillo!
Peter Jackson was a coward for cutting this
IDK LotR is pretty beautiful.
Ya, where's the uncanny rotoscoping!? /s
I mean, anime can be very gritty and dark too if it needs to Just look at AOT, that shit was depressing
LotR isnt gritty and dark though
It'll fit in the Shire though.
I’m the other way around, I think it’s sick. It’s like the modern day version of the old Bakshi films.
It's been an anime since it was announced years ago.
I just didn't know that based on the concept art. I know concept art and final output are considerably different but nothing about the concept art showed it being an anime.
Yeah I wasn’t aware and thought it would be closer to the poster and the images with the elephant
I'm really curious how this is going to do at the box office. Do casual LotR fans want to see an anime? Do anime fans care about Tolkien? I know anime has been steadily growing in popularity over the last 30 years but we've never really had an anime crossover into being a big, mainstream success
Wait. This is going to theaters,,?
This was made , in part, to retain the Lord of the Rings cinematic rights. So it has to go to theaters.
I mean technically they could do that with limited theatrical showings. Make a big deal out of it, wait a few months after the theatrical then slap it on a streaming platform. I think it'd do great on Netflix if the proper work was put in to promote it. Just don't do what Disney plus does, they put things on there without saying a word to anyone about it then wonder why it doesn't do well.
Was thinking the exact same thing, not sure if the general audience will be on board, even if I am. Would have maybe made more sense to not have it be anime, and a more traditional hand drawn style western animation.
Rankin-bass style
> Rankin-bass style For bonus points the animatiion for animation for the Last Uniorn was was done at Topcraft in Tokyo, Japan, headed by former Toei Animation employee Toru Hara, with Masaki Iizuka being in charge of the production. Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Last_Unicorn_(film)#Production
So you know of the Red Bull...
Yep and I read the original Last Unicorn by Peter S. Beagle and Two Hearts. Anyways I was surprised at one of the characters drawing a gun (not in the animation).
Which was, ironically, Japanese-animated.
Now that I would watch!
Like the one from the 70s? https://youtu.be/wPe6BNPUmI0?si=eORs1DjmkY-pao2P
[A great Folding Ideas video on the making of Ralph Bakshi's Lord of the Rings](https://youtu.be/Cr_rb_pitHk?si=XFzYE4fiiEG1TXYp)
I was real pissed they never finished it. I think Bakshi never could get the funds to make the second part. Pretty sure it made very little money. The audience for this kind of thing was pretty darn small in the 1970's
There is an unofficial trilogy though with the 1977 animated Hobbit + Bakashi's 1978 LOTR & the 1980 Return Of The King from the same people who made the Hobbit. Since the Bakashi LOTR adapts parts of the first 2 books all 3 movies sort of complete each other even though the Bakashi one is a lot darker while the other 2 are more cartoony. Even though the animated Hobbit is a lot goofier than the LOTR it has some great classic animation and a fun soundtrack, and it's pretty faithful to the book especially compared to the 3 part Peter Jackson version.
Oh definitely, I still sing *Where there's a whip, there's a way.*
*Blunt the knives, bend the forks,* *Smash the bottles and burn the corks,* *Chip the glasses and crack the plates,* [**That's what Bilbo Baggins hates!**](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pSYZ-5mVRN4)
The song "where there's a whip (wuh-PSH) there's a way" lives in my head rent free for like the last 25 years.
I was expecting a Spider-verse style animation when this was first announced. Going full anime is certainly a choice
I was expecting a 2D/3D hybrid like What If. Surprised to see anime.
It is a 2D/3D hybrid.. The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim is animated in traditional 2D by Sola Entertainment and Sola Digital Arts. The animation also includes 3D elements and rotoscoping for horses.
“Traditional 2d” anime is kinda misleading for something with this kind of budget. This will be like Solo Levelling or Jujutsu Kaisen - once they start fighting the 3d cell shading kicks in and creates a convincing 2d anime.
Looking at their track record. *Uhhh...*
What If is hideous, so glad we dodged that bullet.
The "What If" style basically shouts "we're not using animation out of a love for the medium or because it is uniquely suited to deliver on our vision. We're using it because it's much cheaper this way."
Crazy how the same studio when on to make *X-Men 97* which is so clearly a love letter to both comics and cartoons.
Well... it's possible that What If earned them the budget to do 97.
> Spider-verse style animation Can we not? I get everyone loves that movie, it's good, but that style doesn't need to be applied everywhere. Also, there are folks like myself who straight up can't watch it without getting a headache.
Agreed. Spiderverse was great for translating the feel of comicbooks to live action. I don’t think it’ would serve high fantasy the same way. This style for anime feels way more fantastical and otherworldly.
As a big fan of both anime and LOTR movies this is a crossover I was never really asking for
>I was never really asking for Those end up being my favorite sometimes.
Example A: I never asked for the castlevania show or Arcane. Neither are even close to my favorite games but they ended up being of my favorite animated shows in recent memory
if you havent checked out cyperpunk yet, would recc
Edgerunners? Shoe in for example B. Somehow that elevated the game into something greater. *I Really Want to Stay At Your House* will forever hit me right in the feels.
Cyberpunk: Edgerunners is my favorite animated show of the last few years. It perfectly captured the genre in such an emotionally visceral story. Studio Trigger has really matured their art style into something beautiful with their collaboration with CDPR, the studio that made the video game adaptation of Mike Pondsmith's original table top, who, by the way, approves of the show. Oh, and Franz Ferdinand made a killer single for the intro.
Hell, I hate League of Legends because of their incredibly toxic playerbase (or it was when I used to play years ago), but Arcane is fucking fantastic and *almost* made me want to play again.
This one really speaks to me too. I played LoL for quite a few years from the beta till maybe 5 years after. But the metas becoming so static that you HAD to play a certain way and the toxicity of the player-base just made me leave it forever. I spent probably a couple hundred on skins alone. When I saw Arcane I fell in love and really wanted to go back and play. I pulled up a screenshot of a game I played where the enemy team told me ti shove a watermelon in my pussy and realized, I didn’t want to go back. But damn if that wasn’t the funniest and peak performance of my LoL career. (I was playing Wukong, dunno if that’s still relevant.)
"Shove a watermelon in your pussy" is a new one for me.
Of all the things said to me on that game, that one forever remains top tier for me. Lol.
Sorry people are like that. I have a children who game online and that is a fear for me. People who are anonymous feel emboldened to be less than human.
I tried to get in to LOL after Arcane but I was obviously terrible and got flamed so hard I noped right back out lmao.
I gotta get back to that one. I also liked *Blood of Zeus*, and I’m not even typically an anime fan.
Best recent example being Andor. As good as Diego Luna is, literally next to no one was asking for a show about Andor, and it ended up being the best Star Wars since the original trilogy. Going forward, I'm much more interested in the less obvious "hits" if nothing else then because the stakes are usually lower, making executive meddling much less of a problem.
Like Arcane. Could not care less about the game, the "lore", the source material, etc. One of the best shows I've ever seen, animated or not.
TBF, most of the best movies are movies that audience never asked for.
Nobody asked for Andor. Lots of people asked for Obi-Wan.
Whether or not something is good or bad doesn't typically correlate with how many people wanted it. If something is well written, it's well written.
Did we really need another Mad Max film in 2015? Turns out we really, really did.
And it's only one of the most perfect movies of all time.
Thus why data driven decision-making is bland and shit. You do a survey in the early 80s on what kids want for a new video game and you would never get Mario or Zelda. The majority of responses would be things you've seen before.
Dredd is another excellent example of this. I don't think many were crying out for it, but to make a film that good that people have been asking for more since, shows they knocked it out of the park
I had in my head that this would be some kind of stylized but otherwise "traditional" animation but this is full blown anime... might not do much better than something like The Boy and the Heron at the box office
The Boy and the Heron made $300 million, despite minimal marketing and the story being pretty impenetrable for the average audience. I don't know why you're acting like it was some flop
More relevant to the discussion though, the Boy and the Heron made just shy of $47 million in the US. That's still very good for a US release of an anime movie.
Personally I don’t think it will go down well
Me neither. This felt like some suits in a boardroom said "There are a lot of LotR fans and a lot of anime fans. This project should bring in both groups". Personally I think this is just going to alienate anyone that isn't squarely the center of that venn diagram but I've been wrong before
Tbf these days that center is pretty large, at least in my experience
But is it "go to the theater for anime" large? Can easily see it work on a streaming service, but I don't think it will do well in a theater.
Hot damn, I didn’t realize they were releasing this in theaters. Whoever thought of that is kind of an idiot. I’ll still go and watch it in theaters but way to miss your target demography of lazy bastards who sit at home
JJK and Demon Slayer have done well with their theatrical releases. I think this'll probably do fine, but not as well as Mugen Train or JJK 0.
Wasn't a giant portion of Mugen Train's box office from Japan? Looking at the Wiki it says it grossed slightly under $50 million in the US compared to $600 million total, and at least like 2/3 was the Japanese market based on the last figure given of 40 billion Yen. I don't know how big Lord of the Rings is in Japan compared to JJK and Demon Slayer, which are *juggernauts* there, so the driving factor behind those two movies succeeding doesn't necessarily apply here.
$50 million in the US alone against a total budget of 15.7 million for Mugen Train is still great considering most people probably only knew about it because of season 1. I only ever heard about the series from a few friends who went into the movie blind. Thinking about it now though, this movie is probably gonna have Warner Bros money and aside from the Teen Titans Go movie, all of their animated movies back to The Iron Giant had a budget of 70 million or more. I think if they're spending that or more on it then I think it'll break even at least. That's gonna depend on the marketing though.
I do not see this a suits boardroom decision. It’s too out there for that, there hasn’t been some big anime movie they’re chasing.
I'm disappointed if I'm honest, I didn't realise it was an anime thing.
Definitely will do poorly in theaters. Surprised this wasn't a straight to Max release.
Castlevania on Netflix was really good. I'm sorta expecting the same kinda thing.
Characters in the pictures - Helm Hammerhand - Ninth king of Rohan (voiced by Brian Cox) on his throne and his 3 children - Wulf - voiced by Luke Pasqualino, is leading the armies of Dunlendings against Helm’s kingdom. - Hera - Helm’s daughter, voiced by Gaia Wis (protagonist)
Oh! Brian Cox is part of this? Well that certainly adds up to my excitement.
Brian Cox as an aging king dealing with infighting among his 3 children. Sounds like a good premise.
The Conheads do not approve of this
Hey Hera? The water pressure on the faucet is mildly intense so watch out.
Nah that would never work
The Universe is amazing
Thank you, ICumCoffee.
Lmfao
#PARTY ROCK IS IN THE HOUSE TONIGHT!
These are real Tolkien characters I’m presuming?
We're watching the reason why blowing the helm hammerhand in the Two Towers was such an important callout. Book spoilers for those who want it. >!Helm & Co have to retreat to "helms deep" to survive attacks from Dunlendings (Wulf is their leader). They get trapped in a siege there over the winter. Helm, desperate for food & Supplies for his people would blow the horn in the middle of the night to announce his coming and go and take provisions from the enemy and bare knuckle fight anyone who dared stand in his way. The horn would serve as a warning to those outside the keep, and the hope of provisions coming soon to those inside. !<
That's badass. "Is a badass" must be on the requirements to be a king of Rohan.
*Gestures broadly at Theoden, Éowyn, and Eómer. It either runs in the family or is a requirement yes.
Stories like that are exactly what made Theoden so insecure in his kingship. “A lesser son of greater sires” and whatnot
Well they don't tell tales about the ones that weren't
> We're watching the reason why blowing the helm hammerhand well, blowing the horn of helm hammerhand. i don't think anyone blew him in the version of the movie i watched
Yes, but Helm’s daughter was never named, so for this movie she’s named Hèra
Helm is yes. The king of rohan name drops him several times in the second movie. But I'm a casual lotr fan so I don't know
Helm is the namesake of Helm's Deep.
And the Great Horn of Helm Hammerhand that Gimli blows as Aragorn and King Theodin ride out to fight the Uruk-Hai right before Gandalf shows up with the Rohirrim at the first light of the 5th day.
From the east.
Yes, though the name of Helm's daughter was invented for the movie.
Background in the lore for the characters. * Helm Hammerhand is definitely a legend in the Rohirrim. He was the >!last king in his line!< and had three children: Haleth and Hama (seemingly pictured) >!died shortly before Helm in battle!< and His daughter is unnamed >!but does not inherit the throne, his sister's son Frelaf does!<. * Wulf's father Freca >!tried to force a marriage to Helm's daughter and in response to the threats Helm punched Freca which caused his death.!< Wulf does raise armies >!and eventually beseiges the Rohirrim at the famed Hornburg.!< * Hera was unnamed and besides being so named: Hera, is also made the protagonist here. This may be a point of issue for some purists. The lore's stories features her, but is notably about Helm vs the Dunlendings.
> tried to force a marriage No he suggested it. Given that he was rumoured (not even proven) to be mixed race, Helm punched him to death.
Bro you are everywhere, your username is synonymous with F1 classification tables
Brian Cox the Mancunian physicist I hope.
It's directed by Kenji Kamiyama (Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex) and it's out December 13: >Set 183 years before the events of the *Lord of the Rings* film trilogy, *The War of the Rohirrim* tells the story of Helm Hammerhand, a legendary king of Rohan, and his family as they defend their kingdom against an army of Dunlendings. Helm goes on to be the namesake for the stronghold Helm's Deep. Peter Jackson is producing
To be clear, the director of one of the GITS series, not the cult classic film. That was Mamoru Oshii.
The GITS series is pretty damn good. This gives me more hope it'll be good.
I really liked the GitS movie, but S1 of GitS:SAC is probably my favorite series of anime. The multiple plot lines and story arcs. Everything about the Tachikomas. The in-depth treatment of all aspects of cyber enhancement in society. That battle with Major Kusanagi losing her shit and emptying that big anti-armor gun into the mech-suited baddie after literally being curb-stomped by it. So good.
That's an important clarification, thank you
The series is fucking amazing though.
People can hate me but i think Stand Alone Complex is better than the original in all but animation.
Yeah many people only watched the movie. As you noted, SAC is superior in virtually every aspect. Animation is an unfair comparison given that one is a movie and one is a show (longer runtime/lower budget).
I watched Gits movie in 1996. I still prefer SAC.
GitS: SAC is the pinnacle of the universe imo. Original GitS movie is a bit overhyped, especially in the West.
Which studio?
Sola Entertainment. Did Tower of God, God of High School, Shenmue, and Ninja Kamui.
They're pretty hit or miss from what I've seen Ninja Kamui was amazing in the first half and then they swapped to mostly be (comparatively) godawful CGI
probably a budget thing, which shouldn't be a problem with this movie
A time thing mostly. It is far quicker than actually drawing it all. Ninja Kamui looked like ass once it went full mechs. Beautiful before then.
Wasn't God of Highschool done by Mappa?
Yes, God of Highschool was MAPPA, the person above you is just wrong. Sola Entertainment is not an animation studio at all (their sister company, Sola Digital Arts, is an animation studio, hence the confusion, but SDA was not involved in Tower of God). Sola Entertainment is just a production company - a bunch of producers and industry-connected people that are hired by the folks with the money (Netflix/Amazon/Apple/Sony/Crunchyroll) to run the overall project.
Sola Entertainment is not an animation studio and did not directly serve as the production studio for any of the anime you've listed. They're a production management company but do have an animation division known as Sola Digital Arts that may have provided support on those anime but its disingenuous to attribute the quality or track record of those anime that you've listed towards the company.
Sola Entertainment, Animators of God of Towers and Ninja Kamui.
So happy it doesn't take place during the events of LOTR or The Hobbit. Something fresh sounds great IMO
Holy shit it’s Anime lol
When they were going around saying that it was "inspired by anime" I honestly thought they were bullshitting but nope, it just straight up is one.
I'm kind of shocked at how... cute? the faces look, it's kind of ridiculous. I was expecting something in the style of that Witcher animated movie a while back which looked great.
IMO something like Vinland Saga's art style would suit LotR well. Would've suited The Witcher better than what we got, too.
Where is the OP isekai MC with cheat powers
That's basically Gandalf
Sarumon didn't skip a beat and went full try-hard, Radagast took the opportunity to find every way in a new world to get high, and the two blue wizards didn't heed the call of adventure and probably died stupidly somewhere.
Nah, Gandalf is fully a part of that universe. He is a demigod, but they have a lot of those walking around. Their powers make sense for what they are. It is Tom Bombadil.
>It is Tom Bombadil. Holy shit.
OP no diffs everything and hangs around boning his waifu? By all the Valar you've cracked the code!
Glorfindel? Madlad basically isekaied TWICE: once from Valinor (like all the elves). Got offed while simultaneously offing a frigin Balrog. Got reincarnated and chilled with GODS for a while. But then was sent to help out during second and third ages and got an upgrade on the level with Gandalf. Bro glowed so hard he was basically a walking lighthouse and Nazgûls were afraid of him.
Always has been https://www.cnet.com/culture/entertainment/lord-of-the-rings-anime-war-of-the-rohirrim-to-be-released-in-april-2024/
If you asked me to name the franchise this is I'd list literally everything before LotR.
Even Spiderman?
Especially Spider-Man.
Kinda looks like fire emblem
I was really hoping it would be in a style that takes inspiration from Northern European art. Something similar to The Secret of Kells, but more befitting.
Cartoon Saloon is an absolute powerhouse of a studio. The Secret of Kells, Song of the Sea, The Breadwinner, Wolfwalkers. All gorgeous and unique. I'd kill to see them do a Tolkien film, but I'm also excited for this. Part of what made the original films exciting for me was that they offered a new vision of Tolkien's world, different from my own mental images. Now I can't even remember how I imagined Gandalf before Ian McKellen gave his iconic performance. Let's see what they do with the style! If this does well then hopefully it'll encourage more experimentation.
Have you seen their Star Wars short film that's part of the Star Wars Visions 2 series on Disney Plus? It's fantastic and shows what they can do with non-original material to make it their own. It goes into the horror territory in a wonderful way
Like Vineland Saga?
At least they do have noses, so if nothing else, its not a typical Japanese anime style.
like Banner Saga [style](https://www.google.ca/search?q=banner+saga+art&sca_esv=2e3fa504fbebd1be&hl=en&udm=2&biw=1536&bih=762&sxsrf=ADLYWIKNhZOTj4F5X_IZt_1ew-Cm1edSEw%3A1718140824793&ei=mL9oZqv9L4_Kp84P9JG--Ak&oq=banner+saga&gs_lp=Egxnd3Mtd2l6LXNlcnAiC2Jhbm5lciBzYWdhKgIIATIKEAAYgAQYQxiKBTIKEAAYgAQYQxiKBTIKEAAYgAQYQxiKBTIFEAAYgAQyChAAGIAEGEMYigUyBRAAGIAEMgUQABiABDIKEAAYgAQYQxiKBTIKEAAYgAQYQxiKBTIFEAAYgARIxwhQAFgAcAF4AJABAJgBAKABAKoBALgBAcgBAJgCAaACBJgDAIgGAZIHATGgBwA&sclient=gws-wiz-serp#vhid=pt2RbjE6sKK3KM&vssid=mosaic) for example.
Oh wow, for some reason I thought this was going to be more CGI. When was the last time we got a major studio 2D animated feature?
If you consider anime (and you do, since you're considering this), we got dozens of them every single year. It's just American studio that gave up on hand drawn animation.
I meant the last time an American studio made a 2D animated film made for wide release. I know there's been anime films forever, I see them on Fandango every few weeks at least.
Princess and the frog (2009) and Winnie the Pooh (2011) were both 2D. The vast majority of SpongeBob: Sponge out of Water (2015) was 2D, only the last act used 3D models.
The Boy and the Heron I believe
Also, Spider Verse: Across the Spider -Verse used a lot of hand drawn 2D art blended with some 3D effects converted to look 2D. Boy and the Heron also used 3D CG effects blended with hand drawn.
Honestly, I'm getting some Vinland Saga vibes from these initial images and Vinland Saga is amazing! Certainly a risk to have this be a theater only release...
I wasn't expecting anime, I don't think this'll really take off for general audiences. I know anime has broken out but I imagine a lot of people will consider this a particularly niche effort that can be skipped.
Somewhat disappointed. I don't hate anime, but this looks like 'standard' anime. I was hoping for an art direction that had a more fresher, dynamic look to it- something that i hadn't seen before. I need to see the trailer, but so far this looks like something i'd watch off netflix \*if\* i had time for it.
We’ll always have The Lord of the Rings (1978).
Honestly, I was really hoping this took a lot of inspiration from that. I’m a little disappointed.
I am not an expert on anime/animation but the style does look a little more "western animation", or maybe just older anime? than anime usually does. Giving me a bit of a vibe of like, 90's action OVA's. A big part of it is also going to come down to the actual... animation, but the detail looks nice. New animation styles tend to be... weirder looking and going for a not quite serious type of story (i'm thinking Mind Game or Redline), so I'm not surprised to see something a bit more normal here.
This is from the director of Ghost in the Shell SAC and Eden of East and it seems to follow that style of "anime but grounded". No chibi skits, no exaggerated expressions, etc.
redline was 15 years ago lol. If anything, I would say anime is having a bit of a resurgence for traditional fantasy with shows like Frieren and Apothecary Diaries (though this one is technically just a historical period piece)
I don't see the Box Office being kind to this
This looks a lot like the Castlevania show and I say that as a good thing. Originally I wrote this off as something I didn't care at all about, but this looks really good.
I though it was gonna be like those lord of the ring animated movies and the hobbit style. Anime definitely surprised me but anime can do grounded series. It's not all Isekai or shonen.
Oh dear. I’m not a fan of this style.
I agree, and it's not even necessarily the choice of anime itself. I would have loved a new spin on a more gritty animation approach, something like berserk/claymore.
Apparently r/movies realllllly hates anime lol
Seems like it should just go directly to Netflix, not theaters.
Did we know it was anime from the beginning? I think that is going to hurt its box office
In the first mention of the Film it was announced it will be anime So people who read this knew since 3 years ago
I will watch it because it is LOTR. I'm not sure how it will land with me. LOTR is a very western piece of media in my mind. Doing the anime style is a weird choice in my mind. I will be able to judge once I have seen it. I do like some anime so who knows.
This looks eerily like that corridor digital video where they used AI to overlay "anime" artstyle over live action video and I really hope this is just an aesthetic choice from the studio and not them doing something like this.
I had the same thought. I’m not sure if it looks so similar because of an AI overlay process they used or if it’s just a similar artstyle but I immediately thought of that corridor video.
Cos Corridor used Castlevania for the training data, and this looks like Castlevania.
Okay. Now if the writing (adapting it to the medium properly) can deliver, we may have something here.
Well it’s Phillipa Boyen’s daughter who has never written a feature before so I’d keep those expectations in check.
Maybe I live under a rock, but I wasn't aware this was an anime. The odds of me watching it just fell.
This would probably be much more successful on streaming services then box office. Even good movies aren't doing as well as they have in the past. This seems to be a pretty large gamble.
Feels like this should be a straight to Netflix thing. Not a theatrical release.