Heroes of Envell

Heroes of Envell is a 2017 Russian, cel-shaded/CG-animated television series. It was co-created by Anton Lanshakov and Evgeny Golovin with production by Parovoz Animation.

Plot
The story begins in St. Petersburg where four junior high schoolers (Art, Phil, Vic, and Kira) discover an unusual laptop that transports them into the world of a video game called Heroes of Envell. There, they meet and make new friends while fending off enemies as they go through an array of various video game levels, environments, and scenarios before facing off against the final level boss, a baddie named Mourgarth who wants to move into the real world and plans to dominate it.

Why It Rocks

 * 1) The animation and cel-shading/CG art style are equally great, the graphics are breath-taking, and the effects are different from the aforementioned, making those appear more 2D than CG. Some may not be quite sure and find that hard to tell. Also, the featuring of scenes with the players and opponents as sprites in 16-bit is a nice touch, and homage to 16-bit video games.
 * 2) The story is well-inscribed in the designation of the show as being one of those that are serialized and not too repetitive.
 * 3) There are two intros featured in the first season and they are magnificent in taking the viewers zooming through them before reaching the show's title.
 * 4) Many likable characters who are spiffy.
 * 5) The character designs seem creative enough, especially the characters who inhabit the game worlds.
 * 6) Action sequences that are exciting enough to keep viewers invested.
 * 7) Good, instrumental theme song.
 * 8) Cleverly-written dialogue that includes witty jokes.
 * 9) The voice acting in the English dub sounds flawless.
 * 10) The backstories of certain characters and how the video game came to be provides plenty of interest.
 * 11) Pop culture references are used sparingly, like the mention of Silent Hill in the penultimate episode of the first season.
 * 12) In the second season, the main cast is somewhat older and the continuation shows their growth, and just how much they've matured since the previous season.
 * 13) Proper character development, such as that between Art and Kira, and the gradual relationship of them becoming more than just friends.
 * 14) Some episodes contain subjects with moralistic messages, such as whether one should help another cheat on a test or not.
 * 15) It spawned a movie called Heroes of the Galaxy.

Bad Qualities

 * 1) Less than twenty minutes per episode isn't satisfying enough. The run time should be closer to half an hour.
 * 2) The actual video game the series spawned for the Android IOS isn't without its problems.

Trivia

 * In the "Magic Forest" episode of Fantasy Patrol, the guardian of the titular forest wears a shirt featuring the Heroes of Envell logo. Both shows are produced by the same studio.
 * When Kira is in the real world, her hair is mostly black with a purple streak on the fringe, but when she's in the game world, her hair is completely purple and she wears some kind of black hair wrap.

Videos
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