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So I've seen Mavka: The Forest Song a couple of times now and... it's alright. It's nothing special but I do HIGHLY recommend it purely on an artistic level. The character designs are brilliant, the animation is great, the soundtrack is beautiful, and the backgrounds are breathtaking. Then there's production history, this is an Ukrainian movie that was made during the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Animators were literally working on the film while bombs were going off outside. I don't even know how to describe that level of dedication and love, and that love is certainly on display.

Sadly the story is pretty basic and as a character Mavka is pretty weak. I love her design but she's just another mary sue where her biggest flaw is that she cares too much. You know just because a character is pure of heart doesn't mean they can't have an actual flaw. Take Yugo from Wakfu or Wander from Wander Over Yonder. Yugo's flaw is he's unable to prioritize some thing he will drop everything every time someone is in trouble even if that trouble pales in comparison to the bigger issue. This is an actual problem that has long lasting consequences in the Dofus OVA as he's unable to make hard choices instead making everything worse as he tries to fix everything on his own. Wander's problem is he will outright ignore the wrong doings of others or try or try to find a meaning behind their actions because he is unwilling to accept that some people truly don't care about others and only want to serve themselves. Mavka doesn't have anything like that. I think they wanted to have her be gullible but that doesn't work, because unlike a character like Snow White, she is never actually tricked. It also bothered me that she never actually hurt anyone or anything in her dark form (which I will be finishing soon) and she never actually defeated the villain. The villain just defeated herself.

Oh well a bit of a shame, I couldn't get behind the character more but I do highly recommend the film.

Description
So I've seen Mavka: The Forest Song a couple of times now and... it's alright. It's nothing special but I do HIGHLY recommend it purely on an artistic level. The character designs are brilliant, the animation is great, the soundtrack is beautiful, and the backgrounds are breathtaking. Then there's production history, this is an Ukrainian movie that was made during the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Animators were literally working on the film while bombs were going off outside. I don't even know how to describe that level of dedication and love, and that love is certainly on display.

Sadly the story is pretty basic and as a character Mavka is pretty weak. I love her design but she's just another mary sue where her biggest flaw is that she cares too much. You know just because a character is pure of heart doesn't mean they can't have an actual flaw. Take Yugo from Wakfu or Wander from Wander Over Yonder. Yugo's flaw is he's unable to prioritize some thing he will drop everything every time someone is in trouble even if that trouble pales in comparison to the bigger issue. This is an actual problem that has long lasting consequences in the Dofus OVA as he's unable to make hard choices instead making everything worse as he tries to fix everything on his own. Wander's problem is he will outright ignore the wrong doings of others or try or try to find a meaning behind their actions because he is unwilling to accept that some people truly don't care about others and only want to serve themselves. Mavka doesn't have anything like that. I think they wanted to have her be gullible but that doesn't work, because unlike a character like Snow White, she is never actually tricked. It also bothered me that she never actually hurt anyone or anything in her dark form (which I will be finishing soon) and she never actually defeated the villain. The villain just defeated herself.

Oh well a bit of a shame, I couldn't get behind the character more but I do highly recommend the film.