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J-Sosa
Reviews
Digimon: Digital Monsters (1999)
Very cool anime! My kids love
Digimon: Digital Monsters is an English translated version of Digimon: Adventure, it's your typical imported Japanese anime from the late 90's about monsters and children. Critics have criticized it as being a pseudo version of Pokemon, Digimon however is far from being a rip-off it shares common aspects with more popular Pokemon such as children befriending the monsters, the monster evolve, the monsters battle etc. Unlike the lighthearted Pokemon however, Digimon is more of a classic tale of good and evil it's plot is completely different from that of Pokemon. I have seen other anime that follow what I call the Pokemon formula, Digimon is not one of them.
The Pokemon formula: A character aims to be great at something, goes on a quest, wins things, monsters come out of stuff to battle (cards, toys, balls, etc), usually involves some kind of monster tournament. Beyblade, Yu-Gi-Oh, Bakugan, and others follow this formula more than Digimon. If anything Digimon has more in common with science fiction anime's or Saturday morning American cartoons about action and adventure, than it does with the other monster anime.
The characters are not your typical one dimensional anime characters, all of the characters seem to have very distinctive personality's with interesting back stories that keep the viewer interested. Even some of the villains and Digimon themselves. The anime is a lighthearted tale of good and evil, with some mature themes mixed in such as losing your parents and death, the anime also teaches kids about teamwork, friendship, and the importance of working together. The anime has great plots and sub plots that are not to complex for children to follow, but are very well written and interesting.
The English version of Digimon is filled with cheesy puns and comedy to keep kids laughing, and a score composed of cheesy 90's early 00's pop rock to catch their ear. The English version also has some of the more intense scenes removed from the original Japanese version making it more appropriate for kids, without parents having to worry about Digimon being a bad influence on children or to dodge controversial Japanese anime stereotypes. For the older audience who may enjoy anime, the original Japanese version of Digimon Adventure, features a much more serious script (the dialog at times is usually completely different), a beautifully composed score made up of orchestra, electric synths, J- Rock and J-Pop, and features much more as a lot was cut out of the English dub to make it more suitable for western children and western audiences.
La rosa de Guadalupe (2008)
Cute idea with horrible acting and cheesy plots
The show follows the typical formula of other Mexican dramas such as ''Mujer Casos De La Vida Real'', ''Como Dice el Dicho'', and others. Like those dramas mentioned, ''La Rosa De Guadalupe'' usually does not feature or focus on one cast throughout the series, it also does not follow any formula of continuity instead they feature a new cast and setting every episode. Each episode aims to tell a different short story each time, that aims to teach emotional life lessons, which are usually resolved through someone praying to the Virgin of Guadalupe.
The show seems to be aimed at children and teens, since most of the problems revolve around the problems of stereotypical teenagers, and sometimes children. Common problems such as bullying, teen pregnancy, alcohol abuse, gun violence, etc. Others seem to focus on more domestic issues that some how have effects on children and teens, such as a mother being abused by her alcoholic father, abusive parents, etc.
The premise of the show itself is fine, but it's lack of focus on plot, it's bad scripting (filled with butchered Spanish, Mexican slang, and English-isms), and horribly bad acting kill the show for me. The show has many sub plots within itself that are sometimes filled with complete plot holes (never fully explaining what the life lesson was for the episode for example, other than the Virgin's fairy dust randomly appearing and fixing everything). Or another case, never fully explaining what happened to a character or what happened in the plot to fully cause the problem. The acting is over exaggerated at times, as well as some of the story lines themselves, even for the theme that it's trying to preach. I've caught myself asking at times, who seriously acts like this in real life or who says this kind of stuff, yes it even fails at making common issues seem unrealistic and even stupid at times.
The bad acting and the bad writing and the bad plot make this show a disaster along with the other factor I've mentioned. I only give it a 2 because hey it's at least better than some of the other garbage that's on TV these days. Since La Rosa targets a younger audience, it uses more upbeat rock music and pop music that appeals to Mexican children and teens, instead of orchestras or ballads like Novelas. The music itself however, just sounds like random stock music that was composed on a cheap budget. If anything they could at least get a better music producer or use actual bands.
So if you like cheesy plots, with horrible scripting, and terrible actors, mixed with a cutesy religious theme then this show is for you. There is a rip-off version of this on Telemundo as well, which is much better FYI.