[this review is exclusive to Newgrounds and Pillowfort]
[And so once again Santos city is saved. Thanks to Super Pitoca]
The Enchanted Ones From Santos is an animated series by @TheMiamiDeSantos, and his most recent episode, "Super Pitoca" is so good, I decided to review it. This not only serves as an analysis, and critique of the episode, but also as a promotion. It's not like the previous episodes of the series, and it's the reason why it's so good, to the point where it earned fifth place on Newgrounds as well as underdog of the week.
Pitoca, who is an extremely unintelligent, and an extremely vain orphan, decides to play heroine and cause trouble across the city of Santos. However, the word "heroine" is actually spelled "heroin" and it is actually not a typo. It serves as a funny joke because the way that Pitoca behaves gives the impression that she is actually using heroin, and it is the reason why she is impulsive. So, not surprisingly, she is my favorite character of the series. Then, she is followed by Gilleianne (the dyke), and then Antonia (the girl who looks like Velma from Scooby-Doo).
Because Enchanted Ones is a one-man production, I am fine with Miami using one template for all characters. For that matter, the character design is quite acceptable, despite obviously being low-quality. But, taking influence from Japanese animation such as Sailor Moon, the characters are still visually appealing, and I don't think the series could work with better character design. With the amount of violence (or gore), it would be redundant to make them look nicer.
I am absolutely glad that I decided to watch this, because it's not only funny as hell, but also convinced me to watch the rest of the series, which I was completely unaware of. It's also a massive improvement over the older episodes.
Because of how much happens, as well as how much animation there is, I can actually sit through it in one viewing. This is something I can't do for the longer episodes, such as "Beach City," and especially "Calabresa." These two go on for way too long with very little happening. The best way of describing them is all talk and no animation.
At twenty-seven minutes in length, "Super Pitoca" has just the right amount of the length for an indie animation; for that matter, it is easy to re-watch. Episodes that are just under half an hour are not only less work for one person, but also easier for the viewer.
I also respect that the entire episode (and entire series) is spoken in the Brazilian Portuguese language. I can not only hear a foreign language, but also learn a bit of it, even though I was never interested in learning it at all. The same applies for Brazilian culture, something I was never interested in before watching.
My only real complaint is the subtitles, which is a bit too small. Not only that, but some of the text is harder to read due to having dark colors on a black background. I would be fine with this if they were in bright colors, such as yellow or white.
The music video for "Deus," by Z-Maguinho do Piaui is removed from the Newgrounds edit of the episode. I honestly wished it wasn't, and it also would've been easier to not take it out, even if I (and other Anglophones) wouldn't understand it.
There are also a few disturbing images, although they're not as disturbing as the ones at the end of "Super Trouble." In spite of this, I was never frightened due to how quickly they appear, and then disappear from the screen. Although, I still don't recommend pausing to look at them.
While I haven't actually gone in-depth with the jokes or humor in the episode, analyzing it would just ruin the fun. But, "Super Pitoca" has everything that an animated series should have, such as music, humor, action, and obviously, animation in a timespan close to half an hour. All of this proves that Maria Julia Franca Liberty truly is a super heroin.
Grade: A
