Netflix series, The Dragon Prince has set the fans abuzz with its path-breaking content and story but there is something the audience is not exactly happy about. The Dragon Prince, which launched on Netflix on 14 September is an original series from Wonderstorm, a TV company headed by gaming veterans who have worked on franchises such as League of Legends and Uncharted and is co-written by Avatar head writer Aaron Ehasz.
Despite being well-received by the audience for its vivid and intricate aesthetics, the animation aspect of the show has been brought into question by many for the sheer way characters move in the show. Even though the creators have gorgeously fused hand-drawn animation with computer graphics which look brilliant in stills, fans have complained about distractingly choppy movements of the characters.
It is basically a 3D animated show yet makers made a conscious decision to make it feel closer to 2D animated series. The movement and action impact the quality of everything ranging from the way characters emote to the way they perform actions in a fight-scene which has drawn plenty of criticism.
But the good news—whether you’re not keen on the stylistic choice from an artistic standpoint or otherwise—is that your voices have finally been heard.
Speaking to The Verge recently, series co-creators Ehasz responded to the criticism around the controversial animation of the show saying, “I think there’s a lot of valid feedback about the animation. It’s interesting because you look at it and you have a lot of people responding to the character designs, and the backgrounds, and the beautiful world, the cinematic story-boarding that director Giancarlo Volpe and his team has brought out. And then you do have people responding to some of the frame rate decisions”
It’s refreshing to know that the team behind The Dragon Prince is listening to fans like this. While Ehasz says the changes might not be as significant as some would like, a step toward improving the show’s frame rate should hopefully make it less of a distraction for people bugged by the faulty movements of the character.
Given the positive public reaction (of course outside the animation) this show is likely to get a second season in which case it will be interesting to see the changes that it might undergo so far as the animation is concerned.