At the Toronto Animation Arts Festival International (TAAFI) in 2016, I had the privllage of watching the premiere and Q&A of the animated film "Nova Seed." A college professor helped organize the premiere, being a mentor and friend of Nick DiLiberto, an animation director for AAA studios in Japan who quit his job to pursue independent animation (it continues to baffle me how easily artists throw away a dream career on such misguided ambitions). Anyway, "Nova Seed" is notable because it was directed, written, and animated entirely by Nick. This isn't the first time an animated feature film had been made by such a small team, but it's still rare enough to warrant some attention.While initially only viewable at a handful of festivals and through digital release, I was pleased to see a physical DVD release was made available, albeit only through Amazon's custom print-on-demand service, and with box art and DVD menus that looked like they were prepared by a high-school student. I suspect the four-year project didn't quite make Nick back a proper return on his investment, but it did get a small cult following of fans. If you are a fan of 80's nostalgia, and sci-fi-fantasy, and don't mind your films a little rough around the edges, I think you too will appreciate "Nova Seed" for what it is. Having seen the premiere, I think I have a unique respect for the project, despite any shortcomings.The details and lore behind the film's story sounds fascinating from the synposis on the back of the DVD case, but most of these details never get conveyed in the dialogue-sparse movie. Set in an alternate future, mutated animals roam either as dangorous parasytes or humanoid creatures treated as lesser beings to the human race. Dr. Mindskull, a green man with a skull head who lives underground, threatens all humans with his diabolical scientific experiments, culminating most recently in a mysterious green girl kept sleeping in a water tank. The human government acts to attack Dr. MindSkull, utilizing a captured N.A.C. (a mutant animal that resembles a lion-man), but in the chaos the N.A.C. is able to escape, taking the girl with him. The adventure proceeds through the barren desert as the N.A.C. seizes his chance at freedom, while both MindSkill and human parties try to hunt him and the girl down.Let's get the production out of the way. The art and character designs are neon-colored misfits out of a bad indie-comic. The website claims inspirations from "Heavy Metal" and "Rock & Rule," I would also cite comparisons to animated film "Wizards" by Bakshi and the television series "Neon Flux," all with the style of studio Klasky Csupo ("Rugrats"). It's poorly drawn, but unique, as if the artist had good ideas but not the skill to draw them out. The animation is more impressive, thanks to a fluid 24 frames per second of hand-drawn animation, consisting of over 60,000 drawings in total. This is compounded by the regularly occurring action, and how the camera always seems to be moving, even during times when characters are still, making the art more forgivable. But if you look for consistency or carry-through of running and punching, you'll find it ignores animation basics and fundamentals.
A special note has to be made of the audio. The music track is actually decent, mostly a techno-beat that matches the atmoshpere of the world. But the sound effects are noticably worse: you can tell immediately that some of them, from sword clangs to pistol fire, where made by a human's mouth. This isn't all that unusual in film post-production, but you aren't supposed to NOTICE what made the sound effect.. It's distracting to hear "pew-pew" during a gun battle. What little voice-acting there is barely deserves to be present, with the exception perhaps of Dr. MindSkull's raspy delivery, they all sound like a couple students volunteers to do voices for multiple characters for school credit. During an after-screening question period, director Nick admitted he considered having some of the sound redone, but decided to keep the original stand-in effects out of pride. It was simply more fun to do himself! I admire his honesty and fully understand the thought, but the film suffers for it.Despite all the flaws, I can't deny that "Nova Seed" is one of the most original animated films of its decade. Films wih this type of pure action story simply aren't made anymore. It's the type you would imagine while looking at fantasy comic book posters on your wall while listening to hard rock, perhaps while enjoying an adult beverage or breathing in a mind-stimulant. The story isn't necessarily consistent, and desparately needed a third-party rewrite, but individual scenes are well directed both visually and thematically. It has a strong beginning, a clean finish, and a fascinating middle that juggles multiple characters with competence. And once more, I remind you that ONE PERSON MADE THIS. There are many instances of films with a staff of over a hundred people turning out worse than this.It's hard to grade a film like "Nova Seed," because it has many issues, but the result is worth more than the sum of its parts. It's a labor of love for a specific audience, and while it isn't for everyone, it is deserving of its minor cult status.