400 Boys

In the ruins of a post-apocalyptic city, several rival gangs band together to fight, well, I'm not sure what. But they're big and destructive.

Robert Valley definitely has a preferred style. Zima Blue was amazingly striking, kind of like how Peter Chung's work came out of nowhere to grab me in the 90s. All those weird angular shapes and dark shadows everywhere. It's so stylistic that you can see a short sample and immediately identify the team behind it.

400 Boys drops you into a story that makes little sense. It's basically like if a demented writer recalled the crazy dream he had after watching The Warriors and Attack the Block, and an equally demented team of artists worked as hard as they could to make it into an episode of LD&R.

I have to wonder if more worldbuilding would have spoiled the weirdness. The character designs were interesting, and I liked how each character seemed to have a scene where they shined. There's a bit of dialogue to set things up and establish who you're watching, so you're never completely lost.

The meat of the episode, though, is the climactic fight. It's a pretty brutal fight, full of stylistic violence. If you're into violent, stylistic weirdness, I think you'll like it. If you're looking for something more traditional, where everything makes logical sense, it might be a pass.

The episode oozes style.

The actual reason for the conflict? Who knows. All is in the past. Old quarrels give way to the new quarrel, and new alliances are forged.

Do we know the setup for the outside conflict?

No, we don't. All characters are focused on the right now, there's some bigger conflict, but we can't focus on that now.

The style, the unmistakable coolness of almost each character, Tarantino wishes he could have directed this one.

Sometimes, we only have one decision to make, and our lives depend on it. Quick thinking, one split second decision to live another day, or fall on the spot. That's what this episode is about.

Recommended to watch, one hundred percent.

I do not understand the other reviewers of this episode rating it 7+ stars. Its realistic rating should be half that at best.

No story foundation. We are dropped in the middle of random characters doing random things, finding random allies, fighting random enemies.

The premise - bad. The story - worse. The fight - terrible.

Pretty much the only saving grace is the animation style (which isn't my favorite, but it's done properly for what it is).

I understand that in that limited amount of time for the episode they couldn't do a lot of building up and explaining the story, but completely omitting any attempt to do so was a very, very poor choice.

400 boys is visually good, good graphics and animation but storywise it is pretty poor. A few more minutes of backstory or character setup might have helped, but as it stands, it's hard to stay invested. This feels like an idea that needed more time on the drawing board before being released. I was hoping for something more engaging and original. A group of rough youths with some abilities taking on a bunch of monster babies is not the strongest story. I think this is an entry that should have never left the shop floor and shelved until it was rewritten to be more compelling and creative. I was hoping for a stronger and better episode.

Robert Valley never disappoints with his unique, striking art style, though I'm not sure if this episode was a complete hit like the Zima Blue, which is already very high bar to climb over, and ICE, which had a very heartwarming story along with great character development, not to mention the visuals.

400 Boys doesn't bother explaining what's going on, you're dropped in the middle of it with nobody holding your hand, which, in my opinion, hurts the narrative a bit. One thing I love about LD&R is the amazing stories they tell, whether they be grounded in reality or absolutely bonkers. There might be no point in trying to find any symbolism or any story, which might be refreshing for some, but it left me wanting more. Unlike Zima Blue and ICE, the characters are a bit lacking, you don't know much about them until you see them die in the final battle.

Overall, it's, for me, the weakest of, but still an amazing experience.