I liked, no, loved the background animation in "My Little Yoshinari Academia can't be this Hey Did That Giant Dragon Explode into a lame Butterfly Rainbow of Fireworks?"
There are people here who are often whining about traditional mechanical animation (or its absence, to be exact) so let me whine too will you? There has always been too little background animation in anything (except Yuasa who loves animating backgrounds - man of my soul) so thank you for the cherries on this cake Mr. YO YO(shinari)!.. YO!
Couldn't stand the speed lines. They generally look like shit in almost anything and they look worse in "My Little Yoshinari Academia can't be this Hey Why Are Those Holds so Long, Please Animate?" (Kanada style a shit? Kanada style a shit - yes I am that guy from the previous thread on /carcom/- stills and holds are not animation when they're noticeable and interrupt the flow of motion, and they make a scene with falling objects like girls and dragons really lame when nothing is actually falling, or moving). Where was I? Oh, speed lines.
Yes, they reminded me of those scenes in the Joshiraku OVA where they just slap these manga effects over anything - speed lines to make it dramatic, bubbly bubbles to make it fluffy - which looked pretty shitty, but that was the whole point because it was a gag. If there was an animation gag in Little Witch Academia (what did you expect another complaint disguised as a long ass caricature of a title, oniichan?) I must've missed it. Yes, manga is the cancer killing anime, with its visual shortcuts and symbols. If I wanted to fool myself into believing a still and some speed lines in the foreground and background equal motion, I'd just stick to manga. If you can make the motion, than do it, God Dammit!!
The character animation was goofy and cute. I liked that. Stuff like That Girl #1 (couldn't be bothered to remember their names) pulling the helmet out of her head with a *suimp* sound and a stretch. Deformed and expressive acting in few frames during the dialogues (yes, limited animation isn't always shitty. sometimes it's just limited) or nice body action during the catacomb exploration or when That Girl #1 runs to pick the Big Fucking Green Gem Magic Thingie in the tower with the dragon. This shit was cool. And best I liked the effects animation for all the magically bubbly wandy stuff. You know, the kira kira~ kyuuuuun they do with the wands. Or those fire things. Very cool motion (and also, very cool use of colour) - sparkly and fun. Except the fireworks. They looked like shit every time.
And........ that's it I guess. Pretty good short. And overall (not just animation/storyboarding/art direction/blah blah wise) I think it's my second favourite Young Animator/Anime Mirai short since Tensu Warashi in 2011.
Disclaimer: Being THIS MAD over anything is only done for oratoric purposes. Read between the lines. Sankyuuchuuu~