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Cloaked Critic Reviews Ao Oni the Animation

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!!!!SPOILER ALERT!!!! 

While although the genre of film and animation is no stranger to video game adaptations this might be the first example of a modern RPG indie game I’ve seen so far to receive such lofty treatment. “Ao Oni: the Animation” (yes, they ACTUALLY called it that), the awkwardness of that title aside, is an animated film adaptation loosely based on the indie freeware game of the same name (not to be confused with the animated mini-series also of the same name). If you’ve spent any considerable time on Youtube over the past several years you will have most likely seen at least some part of this game played by many a Youtube let’s-player, as I’m pretty sure it owes much of its popularity to both Pewdiepie and Markiplier…they were MY first introduction to this game at least.

This film is actually the latest in a number of multimedia spin-offs to arise from the game’s surprising fandom. Since the game was first released back in 2008 there has been a light novel series published in 2013, a manga published the following year in 2014, not one but TWO live-action movies released in 2014 and 15, a 13-episode animated mini-series that ran from 2016 to 2017, and finally this film which came out February of last year on the 11th. Good Grief!!

Now I suppose some inkling of credit should be given to this film for its unexpected attempt at creativity. The writers of this movie try to shoot for a somewhat meta-aesthetic by referencing the original game that this story is based off of; presumably setting the film in the “Real World” while alluding to the game having been inspired by a real mythological creature called the “Bellflower Monster”. However I’m honestly still not sure whether to praise it for this approach or berate it for being overly convoluted and just slightly pretentious.

Story-wise, the film doesn’t really bother me. It’s actually not all that bad for an animated feature based on a freeware indie game. The one thing that does bother me however IS THE ANIMATION!! Holy Jesus On A Tricycle, This Animation Is Crap!! This movie looks like it was made using a bootleg version of GoAnimate! They seriously had enough money to blow on two live-action movies but couldn’t manage to hire better animators?! This Shit Looks Terrible! Plus I swear, some of the characters in this thing look like they're fuckin’ cross-eyed! And I seriously don’t know what’s worse, the horrible CGI from the live-action movie or the terrible imagery used here to portray the monster. I mean for what it was the visuals from the live-action film didn’t actually look TOO bad (it was on par with some of the lame shit you’d see on the SyFy channel), but for an animated film this was seriously pathetic! :facepalm:

Crummy-looking animation aside, the movie is surprisingly faithful to the original game, given the new plot and setting. In fact, one could even look at this movie as being something like a sequel to the original game introducing new characters while expanding the world and fleshing out the lore of the titular creature. Plus in addition to that they keep true to the key characteristics of the monster such as its ability to mimic people and its lightning fast speed (for something with such a fat head). Heck, they even use the same ear-piercing music from the game!

One could say that the story for the film takes some very strong liberties with the source material (for what little there was to begin with), but it’s the ultimate direction of these liberties that left me thoroughly surprised. “Necrotic phallic autonomy”? I can honestly say I didn’t see THAT cumming! Talk about a twist! They seriously took an RPG horror game about a big-headed purple monster chasing you around a mansion and turned it into some weird Hentai shit involving high school students and some exotic flowers that turn you into a monster after giving you a blowjob! I’m not sure whether to be amazed or thoroughly grossed out! Although what is this strange erection I’m suddenly getting? But of course the movie definitely does do more with the concept than the game ever did, so this is one of those rare instances where the film actual winds up being better than the source material…if only because the source material was practically a blank canvas, and besides as batshit as the blowjob sex flowers in this thing are…they are way more scary than the actual monster! I won’t spoil anything here, but after this I’ll never look a bouquet the same way again! :fear:

At the end of it all though I’m just still completely baffled; out of all the indie titles and popular RPG horror games out there who on Gaia’s green Earth looked at motherfuckin’ “Ao Oni” and thought, “This has GOT to be a movie!” (plus two live-action films and an animated mini-series)? I mean for the life of me, I still honestly don’t see why this game got to be so popular anyway; especially when compared to other horror RPG’s with far better writing and more memorable characters. Seriously, apart from the titular monster, none of the characters from “Ao Oni” are the least bit memorable, let alone endearing. The character that you play in the game has an utterly bland personality and doesn’t react to ANYTHING that happens, and all the other human characters in the game are just a bunch of lifeless red-shirts! There is little to no story short of you farting around a mansion for an hour or two solving irritating puzzles, and while areas found later in the game would seem to imply that there’s more to this monster than meets the eye you literal get none of it! The end game has you escaping from the mansion without even questioning a thing! Of all the RPG horror games I’ve watched other people play “Ao Oni” has to be the blandest. The only reason I can honestly see for why this game became so popular (outside of Youtube LPs) is because of the bizarre appearance of the monster. It’s not even scary, it just looks funny! Like the unholy love-child of Tweety Bird and Grimace! “The Witch’s House”, “Mad Father”, “Yume Nikkie”, “Ib”, “Mogeko Castle”, “The Crooked Man”…and it’s “AO ONI” that gets three movies and an animated series! WTF?!

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Kirbymyfriend972's avatar
Has the Cloaked Critic ever reviewed The Shining?