Op34 (Op34) vs Emerald (Mustika)

[C3WhiteRose]

Op34 has a pretty good intro, but the actual fight goes to musica. Mus intro was a bit bland to me. But was better. Op didnt end it the best. The op transformation is done too much and too easy to pull off. Op form is like the easiest way to end your battle. Can't think of ending? Power up and become op. I dont like the grappling of the mus ending though. Uneeded and a bad decision by the guy who grabbed. He didnt do much with the grab. He grabbed and just held. Until she stabbee him.

Those words ^ are from Armand, not me.
I didnt say those are my critics comments. Just putting what I thought after watching. But watching the animations only to see who has better combo, ignore the rest, is wasting effort & creative for Mustika on her cinematic & angle.

[Haru]

Former Trash-Pivot Animator here, so I somewhat know what I'm talking about. Gives me a basis to critique, though I don't really need one.

Alright, let's see here. Just before I get in, I want to list some opinions.
1. I do not give a shoop about combos. I give a shoop about solid combat.
2. I will not judge intros, cause that doesn't really show how good the animation is. It's an intro.

Spoiler for Mustika! :D:

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First off, I want to say that the background looks really good. Well done.
It's strange how Op34 says "I'll try not to harm her much", then proceeds to AIM FOR A HEADSHOT(plz).
The angles were amazing, as well as the "comic book" panels, which made the battle much more interesting to watch.
It's been a while since I saw something this creative in a battle.

Personally, I only have a few complaints with this animation, but one thing really stood out to me.
The way the characters move seem a bit stiff, and sometimes the fighting seems a bit slow. Sometimes, the lack of flow diverts the action a bit, and it feels a bit choppy.
Especially the scene when Op is GUNNING the door like crazy, the stick shakes from what I guess is recoil, but it looks really weird from the perspective you chose in that scene.
I never saw the Death Rage ability from Op34, which I guess is because Op34, as stated in the beginning, does not want to hurt her too much?
I felt like it was a bit of a missed opportunity, but that probably differs in your point of view.

The combat with the covering and hiding behind barricades was AWESOME. The close quarters combat was a little bit worse.
Op grabs a table, which made my eyebrows go up.
Is he gonna swing it around? Throw it? Ram?
Nope, he does something like a Ram, but it looks more like he's just speedwalking with it towards Emerald, Emerald simply ignores the attempt and smacks Op with her recorder.
He surprises Emerald by knocking her to the ground, but then SOMEHOW misses another not really easy, but somewhat easy shot, due to the fact that Emerald is recovering from the shock.
Now here comes the point C3 was talking about. Op grabs Mustika. Why? It says specifically in his profile that he is good at CQC, but this is just a stupid move.
This move proceeds to get him shanked, which prompts his defeat.

So, things I personally think need improvement are:
-Make sure your opponents actions make sense from their profile and character, as well as their abilities.
-Try to make the animation more fluid to convey a more exciting atmosphere.

Spoiler for OpieOpie34:

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"Are you Emerald?"
"Yes. But what is it to you?"
"Well I only need you to.."
"No."

Unlike Mustika, I felt like there isn't really a "set-up" of sorts to make the viewer understand what is going on.
Why the shoop does Op think he can just walk up to a person, and say "I need you to do this". It is played for humor with Emerald dismissing him immediately(tomboy), but there are so many other questions too.
How does Op know where she is? How does he know her name? Did he research beforehand? What does he mean "What if I make you interested?"
I guess making people interested includes beating the person up? The focus isn't the story, but a good story to an animation always helps, and clears up confusion.

The combat is very fluid, which I like, though it mainly is on the 2 dimensional plane. I don't mind this though, I love me a good 2d animation (Hyun )
Fairly basic things, nothing really spectacular, but very very solid. I must say, Emerald seems to have a lot of durability, even though she supposedly has low stamina.
Wait, if that's the case, why can she move so fast after getting rekt like that? She freakin does a jump spin kick! Stamina, according the the untrustworthy internet, is "the ability to sustain prolonged physical or mental effort".
Since Emerald has low stamina, it surprises me that she can recover very quickly and move very quickly.

There is a lot of humor here, which I like, and I like how Emerald's abilities are used correctly and creatively.
"Yep Now I'm Interested"
Which prompts Op to keep fighting and getting his face kicked up until the transformation. Instead of stopping the fight and explaining the job..?
Dang, I'm becoming cinemasins. Anyway....

Now here comes the most disliked part of the animation. The ending. Mainly because of its use of the cliche "Super Saiyan Powerup RAHHHHHHH other character gets rekt".
Also teh trope "Good character succumbs to his evil side to win the fight".
It makes sense, but, let's be honest, no one really likes cliches or tropes. So, I can somewhat understand where they are coming from.
Op then proceeds to rekt her clones, rekt her, prompting the "He's too Strong" cliche. Then he chokes her and uh... VIETNAM FLASHBACK!
Then she wakes up and everything is happy go lucky again.

I'm trying to find some animation flaws right now, and are finding only maybe a few, but under the logic that this isn't a realistic fight I can excuse most of them.
-The part where Emerald rolls behind and kicks op in the face seems a bit strange. Idk.
-In Emerald's profile, it states in her weaknesses that she needs to close her eyes while duplicating, and that it requires high concentration to duplicate with eyes open.
In that case, why can she duplicate MID COMBAT ROLL? Her eyes are open cause she's rolling(I believe), and she shows no sign of dizziness. Rolling a bit weird watching slow motion.
-There are a lot of jump cuts. Just a little nitpick. I see this in other stuff too.
-When Op is pulling Emerald towards him, it looks like you just redrew emerald in the same position slowly closer and closer. Maybe add some movement on the part of Emerald. She is trying to drag it away, away from Op.

Very solid piece. Things to work on...
- Make sure the character's actions make sense due to the personality and abilities. (What I said to Mustika as well).
- Try to make some backstory before entering a fight.
- Use cliches less, weaknesses more. (I personally like to make characters defeat each other because of the weaknesses, not because one guy goes super saiyan.)

My vote goes to Mustika. Though Op was much more fluid and the 2d was great, Mustika took a more creative approach, plus the story was better.
Congrats.

PS: I have a really really long critique that isn't really organized well. RIP ME

[Devour]

This is what Armand said when we chat to each other. His acc seems to be banned here. But his vote goes to Mus

Armand: Op34 has a pretty good intro, but the actual fight goes to musica. Mus intro was a bit bland to me. But was better. Op didnt end it the best. The op transformation is done too much and too easy to pull off. Op form is like the easiest way to end your battle. Can't think of ending? Power up and become op. I dont like the grappling of the mus ending though. Uneeded and a bad decision by the guy who grabbed. He didnt do much with the grab. He grabbed and just held. Until she stabbee him.

Just to make it clear, banned users can't vote on RHGs. His vote won't add to the battle results.

[Zero]

My vote definitely goes to Mustika. Reasons why I believe Mustika is overall better:

1.) Dynamic angles that kept me interested
2.) A better delivery of storytelling and pacing which integrates well into the fight
3.) Interaction with background objects

Whilst Op34 was objectively better in connecting hits, that's about it. There was little interaction with objects and the animation suffered from pausing a lot just to deliver their monologue's, which is SO BORING. I believe Mustika's major faults are 2 things:

(1) Way too much happening in the background and foreground WHILST dialogue is being said and with the color of the texts more or less blending with the background, it was seriously hard to read at first and;
(2) that midway decision of Op34's RHG just accepting Mustika's request to drop his weapon. Like, seriously? Why would he do that? It looked like a terrible excuse to have a fist fight. If you're going to direct a scene, put meaning into it. Don't just put random scenes just because you felt like it.

In summary,
Mustika:
+Dynamic Angles
+Kept me interested
+Better interaction with objects and characters
+Pacing was great
- Went with the typical "Drop your weapon because I said so" logic just to have a fist fight
- A lot of things are happening and/or being shown in scenes where dialogue is heavy

Op34:
+ Better overall animation (Objectively speaking)
+ Hits and combo's that flowed well
+ Some neat ideas on the choreography
- Pretty bland once you get to the first minute and you realize it's the same scenes but with just different movements and dialogue
- Suffers A LOT of pauses just for the characters to say something uninteresting
- Pacing was okay. Some parts felt like I was slugging through it though.
- It takes way too long for something to actually happen that has significance of value to the viewers

tl;dr:
Mustika did better overall. Op34 had it going for him but it got boring quick. Mustika gets my vote.

Note:
We should definitely have an RHG battle after the competition is over.

[Op34]

Those words ^ are from Armand, not me.

I know and my reply was for him not for you and the reason why I quoted you is
because your the one who posted it XD

- Make sure the character's actions make sense due to the personality and abilities. (What I said to Mustika as well).
- Try to make some backstory before entering a fight.
- Use cliches less, weaknesses more. (I personally like to make characters defeat each other because of the weaknesses, not because one guy goes super saiyan.)

1. I'm sure I nailed the personalities very well (since I ask Musti so many times to conform it) but sure I miss the abilities but I did that to make the animation interesting :3
2. I will agree that my story has a plot hole but lets be clear I really don't need to address it again if you know my character's goal -w-
3. If I did that I won't be making anything since let's be honest nothing is original anymore -w-, I did apply weaknesses and yes even my form has one if you notice it. it's just I have to make it look overpowered to make it engaging.

[Haru]

I know and my reply was for him not for you and the reason why I quoted you is
because your the one who posted it XD


1. I'm sure I nailed the personalities very well (since I ask Musti so many times to conform it) but sure I miss the abilities but I did that to make the animation interesting :3
2. I will agree that my story has a plot hole but lets be clear I really don't need to address it again if you know my character's goal -w-
3. If I did that I won't be making anything since let's be honest nothing is original anymore -w-, I did apply weaknesses and yes even my form has one if you notice it. it's just I have to make it look overpowered to make it engaging.

Ey, it's your animation, if your satisfied with it, it's fine.
Just posted what I thought, it may differ. Cmon man, do you really have to try and explain away everything?
Like, cmon bruh. It feels like you actually got offended by everything I said. I could technically counter everything you said, but I won't, just cause I don't want a full-fledged argument.
Especially the spam of these -w-, like CMON BRUH

[Kursura]

Very informative cncing going on here, specially Haru's. Finding things I really need to keep in mind in my own work, some of which I hadn't even thought about before.

[Rosie]

Very informative cncing going on here, specially Haru's. Finding things I really need to keep in mind in my own work, some of which I hadn't even thought about before.

Well looking at the advice given to others can be taken as advice in your own work.
I enjoyed both of these animations. But I do believe that Mustika overall did a better job. I'd go into detail but I don't want to repeat what's already been said by everyone else, they beat me all to it. Keep it up, both of you.

[Op34]

do you really have to try and explain away everything?
Like, cmon bruh. It feels like you actually got offended by everything I said.

No I'm not offended to be honest just feeling like explaining myself that's all :3

[Mustika]

So I'm pretty much 24+ hr late since this poll was closed because I wanted to post this particular something pretty much to celebrate how much people actually looked on this battle despite it taking so long to finish. [scroll down for art]

Regarding to critics I have read on this page, I have no strong reason whatsoever for either the lack of logic on my part, and my animation being too smooth on some parts (mainly the combos I'm aware). Yes, I struggled a lot when wanting to think of a very proper story but due to LOADS of consideration & internal conflicts from Op34's personality/backstory to be used in animation and a fair bit of direction attempt, this was pretty much the result. I was mainly focusing on whether I'd be able to pull out this battle based on my current knowledge of art thanks to lots of guides and tips I had received from some nice folks. Appreciate you guys' time for commenting and voting as well.

Op34 my dude, great job on the animation, mainly the combos. Cheers for the battle offer once again, I thought you would definitely rekt me since you had so much more experience in animating than I do. Turns out I won with a slight vote differences from you which is unexpected?? Idk XD Also salutation for actually implementing Emerald's backstory bit on the animation, your curiosity was worth it I think ;D Good luck with your real life stuff.

Zero I'll think about the battle challenge aight. You are way more skilled than I do that's for sure. We'll discuss that in Discord PM or something but just so you know, you have an interesting RHG in terms of current info.

For now,

Spoiler for Let them have their moment:

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