kayaksan

This series tries to take a bit from deadpan and absurd humour, which aren't very famous in Brazil, so it's a bit experimental in the ways the cast, the direction and the writing moves. Along episode 6, everything falls into place. It's still subpar, but it goes in the right direction: everything wrong happens to the characters and events unfold with no reason at all, including an almost-paranormal real myth (¿) about a certain famous figure in the country.

Before ditching the efforts of the artists, remember that the first season of The Office US and Parks and Recreation, two masterpieces, weren't well-received either. Of course, they had Ricky Gervais, Michael Schur and Amy Poehler, but no one would be here without encouragement.

{Note for the future: the UK version was well-received since the beginning. If I'm mistaken and this series isn't good in season 2, just dismiss this "review".}

I think a good way to describe this series is "Japanese Monty Python of RPGs", the satire being about RPG and hero stories clichés. It does it very well with its random takes.

In this series, there is the Buddha. Now, how one imagines him? Calm, composed, enlightened; his devotees, respectful ad dutiful. No.

The Buddha talks angrily after appearing in the sky and Yoshihiko can only see him with 3D glasses; the "instructions" and "directions" given to the heroes are vague and, of course, called out and questioned; the bandits that appear to fight the heroes are normal people with jobs or thugs with delusions of grandeur; conversations derail and get weird meanings thanks to bad delivery from the characters; people follow each other and contribute to "causes" based on petty desires.

However, all of this is satirized: the clueless of the hero who can only see "duty" until it blinds him to every other aspect of life and eventually gets constrained in it -- all a façade since neither he or anyone else actually knows his quest, and he succumbs too easily to carnal desires; the brawniness of the sidekick who can't solve anything that doesn't involve a fight; revengeful desires that only lead to thoughtlessness; the inefficiency of a mage without intelligence. All we would see "played straight" in a series is subverted.

The scenes also are not drawn out, meaning you never get tired of the segments since they all mean something different.

This is all done without much CG -- cheap practical effects all the way -- but when it's used, it's absolutely essential, such as when the Buddha appears or a little sparkle... sparkles.

Although an extensive knowledge of RPGs isn't necessary to appreciate this masterpiece, it can only be fully savoured with at least one hands-on experience with these games. In this case, a good 'subtitler' should put translator notes to help others navigate the series (I needed this a lot, thankfully I had the notes).

This is not a lengthy and well-thought review, it's more of an encouragement to appreciate this work.

In this special, the creator of "Darkplace", Garth Marenghi -- horror writer, dream-weaver -- and his cohorts Learner and Sanchez share their thoughts on the horror genre. More than that, they discuss its history, influences, the process of creating Darkplace, writing in general, hardships whilst recording, working with women and how they "don't die, they always die heroically" in all his books, drunk-driving and last, but definitely great, Garth Marenghi's genius ability to turn into masterpieces everything he touches -- reputation he has to defend on camera.

Fictional descriptions aside, this is a great satire on the "genre" of interviews, which Richard Ayoade would maybe quite coincidentally mock in his book "Ayoade on Ayoade" years later, and the ego of the artist being interviewed, showing his art as a way to his psyche, inserting "meaning" and farming metaphors wherever he can, making it forcefully deeper. A timeless critique.