10-31-00

Hail,

Today we're going to do things a little differently. Just to break my rut, I'm going to spend some time complimenting things that have been going well or improving.

The voice acting has been great. Jane's voice has always been one of the best done ones, and it's stayed that way. Her "No sleep, two days" scene was absolutely perfect. Jodie's voice was quite well done this last episode ("Daria Dance Party"), for the whole three or four lines she got.
The animation has been going great, too. There's been some very nice little touches, like Jodie's expression delivering her "Nut'n Honey" line, and Brittany's little whimper when she found out Kevin was at Sandi's party.

Peggy Nicoll wrote "Daria Dance Party" and is getting (with me at least) a reputation for focusing on the supporting characters. Her first episode ("The Lab Brat") highlighted Kevin and Brittany's relationship, as did DDP. Her second episode ("Genius") was not on my favorites list, but is one of the few that have included a significant role for Jodie, as did DDP. Her third episode ("Fair Enough") gave us one of Andrea's few speaking parts and a look at the Fashion Club, as did DDP.
Speaking of which, this episode may have been the first real clue as to Jodie's morals. I've seen "The F Word" so I know how she appears later, but it seems that her advice to Brittany is the first hint of this.

My biggest problem with this episode was Daria and Jane's reaction to Bret and Brad. They were enjoying their time with them before they found out who he was related to, and for all they knew Bret was making fun of Charles with that weak "grrrrr", which seems likely considering their earlier conversation. So we get to see Daria and Jane act just as shallowly as the Fashion Club does; judging someone by their relatives. Sadly, they're even more shallow than the Fashion Club here, as the Fashion Club doesn't go to this extreme for mere cousins.

Wraith