Favorite Girl from K/DA Pop Stars?? For me it's still Evelynn! Check out my reaction to K/DA More and Follow my Twitch, I'm streaming tonight!: twitch.tv/philiphartshorn
@@Storbuki yeah not alot of people picked up on that. In the K/DA lore/universe, Popstar Ahri is K/DA Ahri, just younger. The song lyrics even coorelate to that in the video, with her essentially talking about how she grew out of the popstar persona and found herself and matured into who she is now, etc
An interesting thing about KDA is that Riot Games probably didn't expect it to be nearly as popular as it got. For example, the original KDA Akali skin didn't really use any of the bold neon colors that she gets in the video - they actually changed it by popular demand. The colors, the animated mask, etc. was probably all flair that came from the animation studio that made the video. Between Soeyon's incredible performance, and the amazing animation, they really caught lightning in a bottle with pop/stars. Soyeon, the voice behind Akali, really carried KDA's debut with that rap part, so hard that Riot even created a more hip-hop focused spinoff group, True Damage, featuring Akali.
I mean. Riot always made top tier music. Warriors with Imagine Dragons, Legends Never Die, Rise & Awaken but Pop/Stars were just insanely massive along with legends never die and Rise
The laundry scene with Ahri (fox girl) is a throwback to K-pop scenes (BTS, Blackpink ect.) that are very popular motifs. The outfit in the basket is her old K-pop skin form the game and is a bit symbolic or the transition from her old music identity into this more mature version of herself. All about those Easter Eggs eh?
@@PhilipHarts Different group made by Akali. After the worldwide success of K/DA, Akali made it her mission to recruit accomplished and up-and-coming artists to form a new supergroup: True Damage which includes 4 other league characters.
Different group. Kda is based on kpop but true damage is a group akali basically gathered talent from the west to make and centered it around a differet champion called ekko. Giants was LARGELY inspired by into the spider verse. Even some of the singers voice acted parts in the movie lol. Its 100% hand drawn as well which is a very different artistic approach from standars kda videos as well.
ya was going ask the same youll have fun with the camera work also intrest in the live action video as well for this and the pop star if you have time for both :)
Akali switching to neo is the most amazing visuals I've seen. Hell, even her mask synch with her rapping, uses of sprays and the easter dragon. I'm gonna give you a little lore from each character. Akali - Ninja. Ahri - Kitsune. Evelynn - Demon. Kai'Sa - A Void Hunter.
Idk if you caught this but the camera is always moving backwards, away from the characters. Even in scenes where it looks like it’a not like the car scenes with Evelynn. If you slow it down you can see that the camera is ALWAYS moving backwards, kinda cool.
@@PhilipHarts from what i understand in the lore of k/da, akali used the fame from pop/stars to promote her old group true damage and released a new single with them. or she created a group of newbies and used her fame to promote it, idk i've heard both. either way, same akali. the dj in the video also apparently helps to write the music for k/da as well as true damage, but he only appears with true damage.
I love the reaction and the breakdown with this and the "More" video. Not a lot of reaction do proper analysis of the video. Extra lore that might help if you come back to More again. Evelyn in game is known for popping in and out of stealth. That's why she turns into a shadow silhouette a lot in this video. Akali, a ninja. Turns invisible if she pops a smoke bomb in an area. Ahri, the nine tail fox, is known for charming ❤ enemies and shooting fox fire. Kai sa, The one with a booster floating on her back, they represented her mobility in KDA. You look great btw. Better than the image in the thumbnail.
One of my favorite parts of both videos is something that I didn't even notice until I watched TB Skyens animation breakdowns of both videos. He mentions how they could have easily copied the same animation four times for the choreo scenes, but in both videos all the dancers have slight differences in timing and style, including once how 3 of them are looking at their own hands because they're making sure they have it right, but Eve is just staring straight at the camera like a predator. I think his description of it was "so fucking extra". Also, in regards to toxicity, league is weird like that. In game its a cesspit, but out of game its one of the most accepting communities there is. Except the Reddit, stay away from that.
The sequel to POP/Stars was actually “The Baddest”, but they didn’t get a music video/concept video, only a lyrics video. More is actually the 3rd K/DA song. (4th being “Villain”, 5th being “Drum go Dum”, and 6th being “I’ll Show You”)
Akali is a ninja. Her weapons are her shuriken, which were in the subway train walls near the end, yes. The blacklight effect they do, with her and Evelynn switching in and out of sight with the lights is a reference to her (Akali's) smokebomb ability, which she can become invisible in while she moves around in it. The only way to see her is if she leaves it or if you have a ward that grants vision. The blacklight itself being your "ward" for the music video, with all of the neon/rave/nightclub aesthetic being her in the ability. I thought it was VERY smart and creative on their part when the video first came out. Then they actually incorporated the effect in to the skin released in the game for her. When she uses her smoke bomb and walks in to it, her skin changes to be the neon look and the music of the song plays. when she leaves the smoke rings area of effect, she goes back to the version we see of her in the light.
If you like fight choreography, check out League of Legend's "Kin of the Stained Blade". It has a very "anime/samurai movie" feel to it. It's probably one of their best animated works so far. It isn't a music video but it's basically an "animated short film" that does... it does a lot, in my opinion.
I'm 3 years late but there is something that you overlooked and I'd like to bring to attention cuz it's actually really cool! If you think about this song, it is an empowerment song. "You can't tear us down we'll reach it to the top" sort of energy. 'More' is a confidence song. "We're the best you can't hope to reach us" sort of energy. This is really well represented in the videos too. Rather, than attempting to make them look real, they're attempting to make them look like they're at the bottom. The subway, the road tunnel, the laundromat compared to a throne room, multiple rooms dedicated to just LED screens, a top floor suite in the heart of a bustling city. This shows that they have made it to the top, after rising from the bottom. It's, in my opinion, one of the most interesting things about these songs.
yes there are some of their their abilities: 10:07 KaiSa can dodge and move around and 20:28 she can fire those thingies, Ahri can charm enemies 16:06 , akali can become stealth 10:22 and those blades are her weapon yes.
If you're looking for an in universe video Warriors 2020 is a great one where you'll definitely have a lot to talk about with color theory and set design. Echoing others that if you want another music video: True damage - Giants is amazing. Akali is a ninja assassin who has the ability to stealth with a smokescreen (using her spray-paint as a smoke bomb is referencing that) Kai' Sa is a super fast assassin marksman able to dash an incredible distance that's why she gets all those after-images.
For context, in League of Legends, Evelynn is a demon who feeds off of agony. She literally feels nothing without it. Other demons similar to her are Fiddlesticks, who feeds off of fear, and Tahm Kench, who feeds off of addiction. Evelynn took the shape of a beautiful woman so that she can easily seduce people and then once they’re excited, she shatters their expectations and tortures them to death. One of her voicelines in-game is “I like the happy ones; they have so much farther to fall.” She uses her sharp claws and her two lashers to kill people in-game. Voicelines suggest she may also use her fangs as well, just not in-game.
Personally I'm a Kali man myself, but I'd love to see your reaction to the actual League cinematics, like "Twist Of Fate" or "The Lesson" just to name a few.
You should also react to League of Legend's "RISE" video. Masterclass in animation, style & music. Side note, when you do your analysis (which rocks btw), please consider going through an entire scene before breaking it down, so we can enjoy the video scene-by-scene at least before you pause it 30 times. You could also consider watching it the whole way through first, and then come back and analyze. Keep up the good work.
So I commented this on another person's video about this music video, and I personally (also as a person in the animation field) think it's not so much the budget of the video that is the problem with the style of the character's I think it's just the vibe that the director designer wanted to go because if you really look closely...yes, there is the difference between "MORE" and "POPSTARS" however Pop Stars has this "painterly feel " which kind of goes with the rise video (If you ever go and see that) but this video has the ability to have their characters animated a lot more Loosely. You can tell when they do their viral dance coreo moments, they actually really offset some of the characters movements to make them feel like they're real people dancing, where in the "MORE" video, it's still good but there's a bit more of a robotic feel to them them. In "popstars" also the Expressions when they have some they're close-ups and some of the dance moves in this video is actually very appealing compared to "MORE" now Moore is just overall a straight-up music video with all of the cutaways and throw away shots AND the polish makes them look real good, don't get me wrong. I just in the end, I think that whatever video you saw first is going to be your bias. I saw "POPSTARS " first, however, I enjoy "MORE" just as much. It took me a couple of times to enjoy "MORE" just as much but I looked at it and appreciate it for what it was and also remember pop stars as the breaking point for their music career videos and I think they came out with such a strong Banger that it would have been hard to get another one that was just as appealing. I'm so excited to see where they go. Love your videos! Very knowledgeable and in depth! Also here for the Evelynn simp train!!
Kai'sa the one with the shoulder wings, one of her things in game is teleport dashes. The other big thematic thing is the constant pan-back of the camera in all scenes, even in the tunnel car scenes, its this video's version of the "domains + transitions" in More. There's so much "trying to make it real" around the More video like Twitter photos of them at Louis Vuitton for a fashion shoot etc etc.
As you know League has a bunch of videos that do fight chreography! One of my favorites is Rise, you should check it out! Glad I found your channel, great insight! Edit: There's even a Rise poster! At 24:05 those sneaky producers snuck in their own advertisement, crazy seeing new things 2 years later!
The blacklight look for Akali's "invisibility zone" is only associated with her Pop/Stars skin. Vanilla game and "More" skin (I forget the actual in-game names, not a LOL player, lol) have effects that match their respective aesthetics.
Also, at the very end, the second colorshift (from the neon/blacklight palette) that you called Sith (because red sabers) gave me a very strong Naruto genjutsu vibe.
While I've never read this as officially confirmed, one of the prevailing theories of the "light sticks" is that they are intended to be Quasar lights (I plead ignorance but believe they are a well respected lighting brand for music videos among other uses) and the iconography is about them shattering the chains being in the spotlight puts on them.
The light sticks are called Quasars. Also, one of the things I found so impressive in this video that was superior to the KDA/more Video is that if you take it frame by frame you will notice that the dancers (full CG btw not MC) are not in sync. They have subtle differences in their timing like you would have in a real live group. To me, this makes them seem so much more realistic, They feel almost robotic in the KDA/more video.
An important note about the laundry and Ahri that always seems to get missed is that it's referencing that Ahri in the lore of the K/DA skin line has had a career prior to K/DA being formed with her Popstar skin, as that's the outfit in the laundry basket.
Evelyn gets invisible in the game, she only appears when she does something. Which is why she is always in the dark and only gets "light" when she sings (like in the subway for example)
To answer some of your questions about the abilities of the characters, Evelyn is a highly stealth centric character, she's always invisible past level 6 as long as she's outside of combat and as long as she isn't right next to you. Also Evelyn is sort of like a succubus, she's a demon who takes on the appearance of a beautiful woman to lure men in and kill them(She usually gets their wives as a bonus kill when they realize what they're husbands are doing). The after images that you saw for Kai'sa reference a bit of her skills, her ultimate lets her dash an extremely long distance in an instant and one of her basic abilities allows her to charge up a burst of speed for a few seconds. P.S. of course Evelyn is the best, I mean, did you even see those thighs?
two things i want to say and im sorry if they have been said already. 1) every shot, or near to every shot in this video is zooming out, even when the car is driving towards you 2) in my opinion, this video was purposefully made to look "low budget" and simple, because this is K/DAs first song, they werent famous yet and with More, they have the fame and funds to make a bigger and more extravagant video
What’s really cool is that in the train car (with evelynn and akali) there’s actually a poster of Rise which is another one of League’s music videos. It would be super cool if you could also react to Rise (or possibly Takeover)!
Akali = "Uh-Call-ee" :P But seriously, there is a shit tonne of League of Legends videos you can react to. They have a playlist: th-cam.com/video/xoWxv2yZXLQ/w-d-xo.html I'd recommend doing them in this order: Rise (One of the posters on the subway during the rapping part of this video is for "Rise" and the actual Rise music video has a tonne of easter eggs that so you'll really want to pay attention for) Awaken A New Horizon / Light and Shadow (do them together, they're short. I'd recommend reading a little about the Star Guardians first, too. I can provide a bit of primer knowledge beforehand if you like, otherwise the videos probably won't make a tonne of sense, even if they are still absolutely GORGEOUS.) Call of Power A New Dawn Annie: Origins Phoenix Kin of the Stained Blade True Damage - Giants Ekko: Seconds The Curse of the Sad Mummy As We Fall (Music's weird, video is breathtaking) Legends Never Die Take Over Get Jinxed
I read from a different comment that the budget for this song (pop/stars) wasn't as big as it was for More, so they were kind of restricted with regards to their appliance. So the studio probably had to consider how they could animate it without spending too much money
the difference in animation comes from the fact that it's not the same studio, pop/stars was made by Fortiche, the French studio that made Arcane (they didn't make the other clips because they were busy with Arcane) and it's on another level than the other animation studios that work with Riot
I've noticed that you were quoting the other video as if it passed in the past, but this K/DA clip was the first one, and because of the success that they made with their fan base, they decided to do a short album. I hope a could add any info.
Is it just me or does Akali during the black light segments in the train look like they're using rotoscoping for her dancing? Her frames seem to go up significantly during the black light segments and makes me think that they had an actual professional do the dancing and then did some rotoscope work to tie the dancing in with the character. I mean, they could just use bright, vibrant neon colors to hide any imperfections in the rotoscoping. Just a thought from someone who doesn't know much about much. Side note, I love how you can't see the seam when they transition from real world locations to CGI ones, like inside the train or the laundromat.
I have the exact same reaction to Ahri displaying her nine tails. I dunno if it's because kitsunes are my thing but it's so well animated! Seeing all nine of them is the cherry on top for that short scene.
alright so a tad late on this but i found your videos today and have been loving em so i wanted to contribute with something. but anyhow during the first long scene with ahri the fox girl, you can see clothes next to her which is a nod to another music skin she has called pop star.
Fun fact: most of them have an invisible ability/passive in the game. My girl Eve has her passive of going invisible My girl Kai'sa has the speed turn into a temporary invi to reposition in team fights Akali also has a temporary invi which is her smoke bomb ability(basically she hides in the smoke bomb and the enemies can't target her) and Ahri has her charm...her ult is 3 speed ups(more on this in the A New Dawn Cinematic pls react to it) True Damage has Luise Vitton in partnership and you would see it in the music video. Akali is also there pls react to it, i will give you lore there after. Also in the live performance, the box for the Worlds LoL tournament was inside a Luoise Vitton themed kinda geometric shapes. Pls react to the live version of KDA Pop Stars thougH! Not so much the live of KDA More, it's uh..depressing to say the least but good effort I guess. I mean it is covid. There are so many League of Legends videos but my highly recommended vids are: The Path an Ionian Myth Kin of the Stained blade(watch the path first before this) next to the Star Guardians one or the lovers series..drama-ish...The lovers one and the Star Guardians you also have to watch in order.
Loved the reaction man and you breaking down this video as well as More. It was really interesting and I loved you pointing out so much stuff I never noticed before or explaining why certain scenes draw you in as a viewer more. You should definitely react to Awaken for League of Legends. It is beautifully done animation wise and would love to see your breakdown of the scenes. Another more recent one would be Warriors which was done Jan 2020. Cheers
Oh, oh, it's getting dangerous! Don't get addicted to Riot's Cinematics, Philip. They are amazing :) (Annie, Kin of the Stained Blade, Warriors, Awaken, Star Guardian, ... just to name a few of my favorites) ... and if you are already at it -> Diablo 4 Trailer, it will blow your mind.
Ahri still best girl. But this video shows quite a few of the character's abilities. In game, Akali uses a smoke bomb to become untargetable, and Ahri has a charm in the shape of that heart (which is why it's fitting that she sings to "Keep your eyes on me now"). Evelyn has "shadow walk" which is an invisibility and her lashers (the tentacle things) are the basis of another of her skills., and Kai'sa has a skill that shoots missiles and a short range teleport. That's also why Evelyn had no problem driving full speed at her. Not murderous intent, but confidence. Fun fact that is kinda to do with Akali and kinda not, her mentor (named Shen) has a special ability in his lore to see into the spirit realm and walk within it. When seeing through his eyes, we see everything to do with the spirits shown in a neon hue, while anything else is muted and dark. That's more than likely the reason they took the route they did with Akali's portions of the song.
I like ur reactions because u actually react and also give feedback ( not in annoying way because most of the reactors are very over-reacting that it looks fake)
I'm a League player and love this kind of analysis of their videos. I really hope you review Awaken, which League released in early 2019. Different batch of characters (though Akali has a very small role), totally different style and story. I think your perspective of it would be really interesting to see.
Loved this! I do prefer the art style and sound of this video, but they were able to make the new video really great too! Props to Riot for the moneymoney and Fortiche Prod. for their hardwork! Another request I'd like to add after True Damage is Rise :) I've never played LOL and I didn't understand the context of Rise when I first saw it (until I read the TH-cam comments lmao). It's really good. Like... really, really. The animation is so tasty. The music makes me feel so motivated. It's great.
If you liked this league videos you should see True Damage - Giants, it's also very cool and a bit different from the two kda songs you've reacted to so far.
I would suggest doing a reaction to Rise, which is a music video as well, but it's more focused around fight choreography and the video envision how players climb through the ranks to reach the world stage.
My favorite girl in KDA was always Ahri, but Akali has reached a close second since I saw an interview with Soyeon who is the person who did Akali's voice in this video, her real life personality is just too adorable and a complete reversal from how she appear (as Akali) in KDA!
For K/DA riot released a full album for this year -Baddest (lyric video) -More (music video used in LoL worlds champion ship opening) -Drum go Dum(Upcoming Lyric Video) -Villan(Upcoming Lyric Video) -i'll show you(Upcoming Lyric Video) every year they release a song for the World Championships you can check their youtube they have a lot of high quality animation, cinematics and videos.
Talk about spiderverse-like artstyle, you might want to check out this League of Legends MV - "Giants" by True Damage. Another fictional group by Riot Games. Once again Akali make appearance in this MV and Spice it up to the next level. th-cam.com/video/sVZpHFXcFJw/w-d-xo.html
There is more money behind KDA More that POP?STARS. "More" has product placement and therefore funding beyond that coming from Riot Games. More has Ducali motorcycle and KDA themed Logitech head phones.
Favorite Girl from K/DA Pop Stars?? For me it's still Evelynn! Check out my reaction to K/DA More and Follow my Twitch, I'm streaming tonight!: twitch.tv/philiphartshorn
I gotta say Akali (the ninja) i just love her attitude in these videos.
Kaisa in both for me.
I see you're a man of culture as well
Forever Akali total badass
@@nicolasrodriguezbadala1024 same
The Laundrymat is also a referencing an old K-Pop trend there too! It was a well known set in Korea, iirc
Ohhhhhh that makes sense! So fascinating! I need to learn more about K Pop!
@@PhilipHarts She is also washing some of her old costumes/skins from the game in the basket.
An example of the coin laundry trope in kpop is Amber Liu "Shake That Brass"
@@Storbuki yeah not alot of people picked up on that. In the K/DA lore/universe, Popstar Ahri is K/DA Ahri, just younger. The song lyrics even coorelate to that in the video, with her essentially talking about how she grew out of the popstar persona and found herself and matured into who she is now, etc
An interesting thing about KDA is that Riot Games probably didn't expect it to be nearly as popular as it got. For example, the original KDA Akali skin didn't really use any of the bold neon colors that she gets in the video - they actually changed it by popular demand. The colors, the animated mask, etc. was probably all flair that came from the animation studio that made the video. Between Soeyon's incredible performance, and the amazing animation, they really caught lightning in a bottle with pop/stars.
Soyeon, the voice behind Akali, really carried KDA's debut with that rap part, so hard that Riot even created a more hip-hop focused spinoff group, True Damage, featuring Akali.
Thank you!!! I love hearing about behind the scenes too, it’s all very fascinating how it came together to perfectly for kda!
I mean. Riot always made top tier music. Warriors with Imagine Dragons, Legends Never Die, Rise & Awaken but Pop/Stars were just insanely massive along with legends never die and Rise
Soyeon also did a significant amount of mocap for Pop/Stars; she posted behind-scenes stuff in her vlog.
The laundry scene with Ahri (fox girl) is a throwback to K-pop scenes (BTS, Blackpink ect.) that are very popular motifs. The outfit in the basket is her old K-pop skin form the game and is a bit symbolic or the transition from her old music identity into this more mature version of herself. All about those Easter Eggs eh?
Please react to “True Damage” another LoL song.
Woah! Another one by K/DA??
@@PhilipHarts Different group made by Akali. After the worldwide success of K/DA, Akali made it her mission to recruit accomplished and up-and-coming artists to form a new supergroup: True Damage which includes 4 other league characters.
Different group. Kda is based on kpop but true damage is a group akali basically gathered talent from the west to make and centered it around a differet champion called ekko.
Giants was LARGELY inspired by into the spider verse. Even some of the singers voice acted parts in the movie lol. Its 100% hand drawn as well which is a very different artistic approach from standars kda videos as well.
ya was going ask the same youll have fun with the camera work also intrest in the live action video as well for this and the pop star if you have time for both :)
@@PhilipHarts pls react to true damage
Akali switching to neo is the most amazing visuals I've seen. Hell, even her mask synch with her rapping, uses of sprays and the easter dragon.
I'm gonna give you a little lore from each character.
Akali - Ninja.
Ahri - Kitsune.
Evelynn - Demon.
Kai'Sa - A Void Hunter.
Thank you!! This helps a lot and I love hearing about the lore!
Idk if you caught this but the camera is always moving backwards, away from the characters. Even in scenes where it looks like it’a not like the car scenes with Evelynn. If you slow it down you can see that the camera is ALWAYS moving backwards, kinda cool.
I was looking for this comment.
Always, ALWAYS, pulling back, pulling you away from these characters, you can never get closer to them.
please react to the“giants”by True Damage and akali is in there too，Giants is the MV riot released last year！
A lot of people have been suggesting this, I might have to!
@@PhilipHarts from what i understand in the lore of k/da, akali used the fame from pop/stars to promote her old group true damage and released a new single with them. or she created a group of newbies and used her fame to promote it, idk i've heard both. either way, same akali. the dj in the video also apparently helps to write the music for k/da as well as true damage, but he only appears with true damage.
In the subway they even low-key placed some posters from some of their previous songs (such as "RISE"). So good.
I love the reaction and the breakdown with this and the "More" video. Not a lot of reaction do proper analysis of the video.
Extra lore that might help if you come back to More again.
Evelyn in game is known for popping in and out of stealth. That's why she turns into a shadow silhouette a lot in this video.
Akali, a ninja. Turns invisible if she pops a smoke bomb in an area.
Ahri, the nine tail fox, is known for charming ❤ enemies and shooting fox fire.
Kai sa, The one with a booster floating on her back, they represented her mobility in KDA.
You look great btw. Better than the image in the thumbnail.
Thank you so much for the kind words! And for this incredible info on K/DA girls, I really want to go back to More! Stay tuned :)
Another great break down and once again loved the technical terms and analysis of the video
Thanks Orange!! These are fun music videos! Nice change of pace
One of my favorite parts of both videos is something that I didn't even notice until I watched TB Skyens animation breakdowns of both videos. He mentions how they could have easily copied the same animation four times for the choreo scenes, but in both videos all the dancers have slight differences in timing and style, including once how 3 of them are looking at their own hands because they're making sure they have it right, but Eve is just staring straight at the camera like a predator. I think his description of it was "so fucking extra".
Also, in regards to toxicity, league is weird like that. In game its a cesspit, but out of game its one of the most accepting communities there is. Except the Reddit, stay away from that.
LoL's fanbase is really great
LoL's playerbase is really cancer
As a filmmaker I would love to see you review the last 2 cinematics called awake (2019) and warriors (2020)
Pls react to other LoL music video and cinematic, esp True Damage. Love your vids❤️
I would love to, thank you! True Damage added to the list!
The sequel to POP/Stars was actually “The Baddest”, but they didn’t get a music video/concept video, only a lyrics video. More is actually the 3rd K/DA song. (4th being “Villain”, 5th being “Drum go Dum”, and 6th being “I’ll Show You”)
Akali is a ninja. Her weapons are her shuriken, which were in the subway train walls near the end, yes. The blacklight effect they do, with her and Evelynn switching in and out of sight with the lights is a reference to her (Akali's) smokebomb ability, which she can become invisible in while she moves around in it. The only way to see her is if she leaves it or if you have a ward that grants vision. The blacklight itself being your "ward" for the music video, with all of the neon/rave/nightclub aesthetic being her in the ability. I thought it was VERY smart and creative on their part when the video first came out. Then they actually incorporated the effect in to the skin released in the game for her. When she uses her smoke bomb and walks in to it, her skin changes to be the neon look and the music of the song plays. when she leaves the smoke rings area of effect, she goes back to the version we see of her in the light.
i havent seen any comments myself but that focus on the laundry basket was a reference to one of her old skins where she was a solo popstar
If you like fight choreography, check out League of Legend's "Kin of the Stained Blade". It has a very "anime/samurai movie" feel to it. It's probably one of their best animated works so far. It isn't a music video but it's basically an "animated short film" that does... it does a lot, in my opinion.
I'm 3 years late but there is something that you overlooked and I'd like to bring to attention cuz it's actually really cool!
If you think about this song, it is an empowerment song. "You can't tear us down we'll reach it to the top" sort of energy. 'More' is a confidence song. "We're the best you can't hope to reach us" sort of energy. This is really well represented in the videos too. Rather, than attempting to make them look real, they're attempting to make them look like they're at the bottom. The subway, the road tunnel, the laundromat compared to a throne room, multiple rooms dedicated to just LED screens, a top floor suite in the heart of a bustling city. This shows that they have made it to the top, after rising from the bottom. It's, in my opinion, one of the most interesting things about these songs.
yes there are some of their their abilities: 10:07 KaiSa can dodge and move around and 20:28 she can fire those thingies, Ahri can charm enemies 16:06 , akali can become stealth 10:22 and those blades are her weapon yes.
If you're looking for an in universe video Warriors 2020 is a great one where you'll definitely have a lot to talk about with color theory and set design.
Echoing others that if you want another music video:
True damage - Giants is amazing.
Akali is a ninja assassin who has the ability to stealth with a smokescreen (using her spray-paint as a smoke bomb is referencing that)
Kai' Sa is a super fast assassin marksman able to dash an incredible distance that's why she gets all those after-images.
For context, in League of Legends, Evelynn is a demon who feeds off of agony. She literally feels nothing without it. Other demons similar to her are Fiddlesticks, who feeds off of fear, and Tahm Kench, who feeds off of addiction. Evelynn took the shape of a beautiful woman so that she can easily seduce people and then once they’re excited, she shatters their expectations and tortures them to death. One of her voicelines in-game is “I like the happy ones; they have so much farther to fall.” She uses her sharp claws and her two lashers to kill people in-game. Voicelines suggest she may also use her fangs as well, just not in-game.
Personally I'm a Kali man myself, but I'd love to see your reaction to the actual League cinematics, like "Twist Of Fate" or "The Lesson" just to name a few.
I can't lie, Akali is dirty in this video and her outfit is straight fire, thanks for the suggestions!
You should also react to League of Legend's "RISE" video. Masterclass in animation, style & music.
Side note, when you do your analysis (which rocks btw), please consider going through an entire scene before breaking it down, so we can enjoy the video scene-by-scene at least before you pause it 30 times. You could also consider watching it the whole way through first, and then come back and analyze. Keep up the good work.
So I commented this on another person's video about this music video, and I personally (also as a person in the animation field) think it's not so much the budget of the video that is the problem with the style of the character's I think it's just the vibe that the director designer wanted to go because if you really look closely...yes, there is the difference between "MORE" and "POPSTARS" however Pop Stars has this "painterly feel " which kind of goes with the rise video (If you ever go and see that) but this video has the ability to have their characters animated a lot more Loosely. You can tell when they do their viral dance coreo moments, they actually really offset some of the characters movements to make them feel like they're real people dancing, where in the "MORE" video, it's still good but there's a bit more of a robotic feel to them them.
In "popstars" also the Expressions when they have some they're close-ups and some of the dance moves in this video is actually very appealing compared to "MORE" now Moore is just overall a straight-up music video with all of the cutaways and throw away shots AND the polish makes them look real good, don't get me wrong.
I just in the end, I think that whatever video you saw first is going to be your bias. I saw "POPSTARS " first, however, I enjoy "MORE" just as much.
It took me a couple of times to enjoy "MORE" just as much but I looked at it and appreciate it for what it was and also remember pop stars as the breaking point for their music career videos and I think they came out with such a strong Banger that it would have been hard to get another one that was just as appealing.
I'm so excited to see where they go.
Love your videos! Very knowledgeable and in depth! Also here for the Evelynn simp train!!
Kai'sa the one with the shoulder wings, one of her things in game is teleport dashes. The other big thematic thing is the constant pan-back of the camera in all scenes, even in the tunnel car scenes, its this video's version of the "domains + transitions" in More. There's so much "trying to make it real" around the More video like Twitter photos of them at Louis Vuitton for a fashion shoot etc etc.
Woah! There's more twitter content of K/DA "real" theory? I need to see this !
As you know League has a bunch of videos that do fight chreography! One of my favorites is Rise, you should check it out! Glad I found your channel, great insight!
Edit: There's even a Rise poster! At 24:05 those sneaky producers snuck in their own advertisement, crazy seeing new things 2 years later!
Yes rise is amazing, would love to see a reaction to rise as well!
The blacklight look for Akali's "invisibility zone" is only associated with her Pop/Stars skin. Vanilla game and "More" skin (I forget the actual in-game names, not a LOL player, lol) have effects that match their respective aesthetics.
Also, at the very end, the second colorshift (from the neon/blacklight palette) that you called Sith (because red sabers) gave me a very strong Naruto genjutsu vibe.
The other thing i noticed on this video is that on pretty much every single shot the camera is panning out
Good point. Also almost all square on and every character is centrally framed.
idk if u caught this, but in the rap part with akali, you can see paint flying off her hands as she moves them in certain parts of the scene!
Evelynn main ❤️
I would like you to react to Annie: origins. Its very lore intensive and beautifully emotional.
Also Terror in Democia. Its shorter but a thrillar.
While I've never read this as officially confirmed, one of the prevailing theories of the "light sticks" is that they are intended to be Quasar lights (I plead ignorance but believe they are a well respected lighting brand for music videos among other uses) and the iconography is about them shattering the chains being in the spotlight puts on them.
Woah, that's very fascinating, thanks for sharing, I love hearing this K/DA lore!
The light sticks are called Quasars. Also, one of the things I found so impressive in this video that was superior to the KDA/more Video is that if you take it frame by frame you will notice that the dancers (full CG btw not MC) are not in sync. They have subtle differences in their timing like you would have in a real live group. To me, this makes them seem so much more realistic, They feel almost robotic in the KDA/more video.
Akali is basically a classic hollywood ninja.
she fights with kama (war-sickle), throws shurikens and kunais, uses smoke bombs.
My fav girl from K/DA and just from League of Legends period is and will always be Ahri.
My favourite are KaiSa in More, Akali in Pop Star. Ahri is gorgeous all the time. She is first who had Pop Star Skin, the inspiration of KDA.
An important note about the laundry and Ahri that always seems to get missed is that it's referencing that Ahri in the lore of the K/DA skin line has had a career prior to K/DA being formed with her Popstar skin, as that's the outfit in the laundry basket.
You may have noticed that every shot in the video was filmed with a zooming out camera effect. I find that an interesting choice
Evelyn gets invisible in the game, she only appears when she does something. Which is why she is always in the dark and only gets "light" when she sings (like in the subway for example)
I love how the camera always zoomed out and it didn't even seem forced or annoying. Great review btw
To answer some of your questions about the abilities of the characters, Evelyn is a highly stealth centric character, she's always invisible past level 6 as long as she's outside of combat and as long as she isn't right next to you. Also Evelyn is sort of like a succubus, she's a demon who takes on the appearance of a beautiful woman to lure men in and kill them(She usually gets their wives as a bonus kill when they realize what they're husbands are doing). The after images that you saw for Kai'sa reference a bit of her skills, her ultimate lets her dash an extremely long distance in an instant and one of her basic abilities allows her to charge up a burst of speed for a few seconds.
P.S. of course Evelyn is the best, I mean, did you even see those thighs?
Very nice breakdown and comparison of the two videos. Well done!
I love how he doesn't notice the rise poster in the background on the subway
two things i want to say and im sorry if they have been said already.
1) every shot, or near to every shot in this video is zooming out, even when the car is driving towards you
2) in my opinion, this video was purposefully made to look "low budget" and simple, because this is K/DAs first song, they werent famous yet and with More, they have the fame and funds to make a bigger and more extravagant video
What’s really cool is that in the train car (with evelynn and akali) there’s actually a poster of Rise which is another one of League’s music videos. It would be super cool if you could also react to Rise (or possibly Takeover)!
Hey I know you're a filmmaker but I'm sure you'll love K/DA Villain. It's Evelynn's Theme Song
My favorite LoL song is Rise... I'm obsesses with that song, the history and the animation 💖💖
Akali = "Uh-Call-ee" :P
But seriously, there is a shit tonne of League of Legends videos you can react to. They have a playlist: th-cam.com/video/xoWxv2yZXLQ/w-d-xo.html
I'd recommend doing them in this order:
Rise (One of the posters on the subway during the rapping part of this video is for "Rise" and the actual Rise music video has a tonne of easter eggs that so you'll really want to pay attention for)
Awaken
A New Horizon / Light and Shadow (do them together, they're short. I'd recommend reading a little about the Star Guardians first, too. I can provide a bit of primer knowledge beforehand if you like, otherwise the videos probably won't make a tonne of sense, even if they are still absolutely GORGEOUS.)
Call of Power
A New Dawn
Annie: Origins
Phoenix
Kin of the Stained Blade
True Damage - Giants
Ekko: Seconds
The Curse of the Sad Mummy
As We Fall (Music's weird, video is breathtaking)
Legends Never Die
Take Over
Get Jinxed
I read from a different comment that the budget for this song (pop/stars) wasn't as big as it was for More, so they were kind of restricted with regards to their appliance. So the studio probably had to consider how they could animate it without spending too much money
the difference in animation comes from the fact that it's not the same studio, pop/stars was made by Fortiche, the French studio that made Arcane (they didn't make the other clips because they were busy with Arcane) and it's on another level than the other animation studios that work with Riot
I've noticed that you were quoting the other video as if it passed in the past, but this K/DA clip was the first one, and because of the success that they made with their fan base, they decided to do a short album.
I hope a could add any info.
Is it just me or does Akali during the black light segments in the train look like they're using rotoscoping for her dancing? Her frames seem to go up significantly during the black light segments and makes me think that they had an actual professional do the dancing and then did some rotoscope work to tie the dancing in with the character. I mean, they could just use bright, vibrant neon colors to hide any imperfections in the rotoscoping. Just a thought from someone who doesn't know much about much. Side note, I love how you can't see the seam when they transition from real world locations to CGI ones, like inside the train or the laundromat.
I may be a little late, but an interesting thing to notice is that every single shot has the camera moving backwards
"i'm not sure if this is akali weapon....ummm...thick" then proceed to play the video
Evelyn has a charm attack the one that turns people into stone is Cassiopeia if it is spelled like that.
I have the exact same reaction to Ahri displaying her nine tails. I dunno if it's because kitsunes are my thing but it's so well animated! Seeing all nine of them is the cherry on top for that short scene.
La rapera coreana se llama Soyeon y la vocal se llama Miyeon :)
Evelynn 💜
alright so a tad late on this but i found your videos today and have been loving em so i wanted to contribute with something. but anyhow during the first long scene with ahri the fox girl, you can see clothes next to her which is a nod to another music skin she has called pop star.
You should also check out the Mortal Reminder music video :P
Fun fact: most of them have an invisible ability/passive in the game.
My girl Eve has her passive of going invisible
My girl Kai'sa has the speed turn into a temporary invi to reposition in team fights
Akali also has a temporary invi which is her smoke bomb ability(basically she hides in the smoke bomb and the enemies can't target her)
and Ahri has her charm...her ult is 3 speed ups(more on this in the A New Dawn Cinematic pls react to it)
True Damage has Luise Vitton in partnership and you would see it in the music video. Akali is also there pls react to it, i will give you lore there after. Also in the live performance, the box for the Worlds LoL tournament was inside a Luoise Vitton themed kinda geometric shapes. Pls react to the live version of KDA Pop Stars thougH! Not so much the live of KDA More, it's uh..depressing to say the least but good effort I guess. I mean it is covid. There are so many League of Legends videos but my highly recommended vids are:
The Path an Ionian Myth
Kin of the Stained blade(watch the path first before this)
next to the Star Guardians one or the lovers series..drama-ish...The lovers one and the Star Guardians you also have to watch in order.
Yes you're correct, Evelynn has permastealth, it's a very fun and interactive design. It isn't rage inducing at all :)
This is a great track in Beat Saber.
Loved the reaction man and you breaking down this video as well as More. It was really interesting and I loved you pointing out so much stuff I never noticed before or explaining why certain scenes draw you in as a viewer more.
You should definitely react to Awaken for League of Legends. It is beautifully done animation wise and would love to see your breakdown of the scenes. Another more recent one would be Warriors which was done Jan 2020.
Cheers
Should definitely check out true damage - giants next! Very different artistic direction
Yeah yo girl can do stealth! nice guess
Haha she just gets more amazing by the day!
Oh, oh, it's getting dangerous! Don't get addicted to Riot's Cinematics, Philip. They are amazing :)
(Annie, Kin of the Stained Blade, Warriors, Awaken, Star Guardian, ... just to name a few of my favorites)
... and if you are already at it -> Diablo 4 Trailer, it will blow your mind.
24:00 definitely true xD
Ahri still best girl.
But this video shows quite a few of the character's abilities. In game, Akali uses a smoke bomb to become untargetable, and Ahri has a charm in the shape of that heart (which is why it's fitting that she sings to "Keep your eyes on me now"). Evelyn has "shadow walk" which is an invisibility and her lashers (the tentacle things) are the basis of another of her skills., and Kai'sa has a skill that shoots missiles and a short range teleport. That's also why Evelyn had no problem driving full speed at her. Not murderous intent, but confidence.
Fun fact that is kinda to do with Akali and kinda not, her mentor (named Shen) has a special ability in his lore to see into the spirit realm and walk within it. When seeing through his eyes, we see everything to do with the spirits shown in a neon hue, while anything else is muted and dark. That's more than likely the reason they took the route they did with Akali's portions of the song.
I like ur reactions because u actually react and also give feedback ( not in annoying way because most of the reactors are very over-reacting that it looks fake)
To specify, the reason everyone had flashier sets in More is because this one came out first
This actually came out before More
You should react to LOL's cinematics. "Awaken" and "Warriors" are the best ones imo. I can't describe how good these are, they always give me shivers.
I'm a League player and love this kind of analysis of their videos. I really hope you review Awaken, which League released in early 2019. Different batch of characters (though Akali has a very small role), totally different style and story. I think your perspective of it would be really interesting to see.
Idk why this dude is obsess with tiktok and instagram but great vid tho i love how detailed it is 😄
Gracias por el video!! espero mas analisis sobre videos de LOL en un futuro!! saludos desde Castellón (España)
Akali is a ninja, so nah, the mask is natural. The translation from mask to bandana was clever.
Loved this! I do prefer the art style and sound of this video, but they were able to make the new video really great too! Props to Riot for the moneymoney and Fortiche Prod. for their hardwork!
Another request I'd like to add after True Damage is Rise :)
I've never played LOL and I didn't understand the context of Rise when I first saw it (until I read the TH-cam comments lmao). It's really good. Like... really, really. The animation is so tasty. The music makes me feel so motivated. It's great.
both eve and akali have invisibility in game, but Eve's is more camouflage and Akali has true invisibility, thats why the lights only show Eve
They released evelyn's music, which is Villain btw, so you couldn't be more right
True damage giants same production team, you will be in for a treat if you react to that lit song 🔥
the after images are more of a apecial effect on one of her skills
If you liked this league videos you should see True Damage - Giants, it's also very cool and a bit different from the two kda songs you've reacted to so far.
New York Subways don't have grab handles.
I would suggest doing a reaction to Rise, which is a music video as well, but it's more focused around fight choreography and the video envision how players climb through the ranks to reach the world stage.
My favorite girl in KDA was always Ahri, but Akali has reached a close second since I saw an interview with Soyeon who is the person who did Akali's voice in this video, her real life personality is just too adorable and a complete reversal from how she appear (as Akali) in KDA!
try also True Damage - Giants another song by riot :) it has good animations
For K/DA riot released a full album for this year
-Baddest (lyric video)
-More (music video used in LoL worlds champion ship opening)
-Drum go Dum(Upcoming Lyric Video)
-Villan(Upcoming Lyric Video)
-i'll show you(Upcoming Lyric Video)
every year they release a song for the World Championships you can check their youtube they have a lot of high quality animation, cinematics and videos.
You should watch some of their cinematics since you like to talk about the settings and animation
True damage next!
react to their opening ceremony for pop stars
Talk about spiderverse-like artstyle, you might want to check out this League of Legends MV - "Giants" by True Damage.
Another fictional group by Riot Games. Once again Akali make appearance in this MV and Spice it up to the next level.
th-cam.com/video/sVZpHFXcFJw/w-d-xo.html
React to awaken... it’s awesome
Great video. Please react to giants-Truedamage. Riot published it last year and its pretty cool
Akali squad where y'all at?
Akali have a dragon tattoo on her back.
Hah! Your ship name with Evelynn could be Philynn (pronounced like Villian her song).
now do true damage - giants. and work your way through all of League cinematics :thumbsup:
ehh Akali and Kai'sa for sure :)
There is more money behind KDA More that POP?STARS. "More" has product placement and therefore funding beyond that coming from Riot Games. More has Ducali motorcycle and KDA themed Logitech head phones.
Lesbian, gays, theys, we all simp for Evelyn 😩🤚🏻