There she is!!
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
There she is!! (Korean: 떳다 그녀!!) is a Flash cartoon series produced by a three-person team and hosted on the Korean website SamBakZa. The cartoons became particularly popular during the Spring of 2004 when it was exposed to American and European audiences, particularly for its classic manhwa (Korean:만화) style elements and its high quality of animation, in which the characters move lively and fluidly. The first There She Is!! generated a large amount of positive feedback from its online audience, including fan art, which drove SamBakZa to produce more cartoons in the series.
At the 2004 Anima Mundi animation festival in Brazil, this video won first place in both the Web Animation - Professional Jury and Web Animation - Audience divisions, as well as winning the Special Award Anima Mundi Web. [1]
Contents |
[edit] There she is!!
The first animation in the series was released on the website on April 20, 2003. Its soundtrack is the Korean pop song "There she is" (Korean: 떳다! 그녀!!, with the extra "!") by Witches (Korean:위치스).
The plot revolves around a female rabbit, Doki (Korean: 도키, cf. Korean word tokki 토끼 "rabbit") chasing a male cat, Nabi (Korean: 나비, cf. Korean word "go yang ee" 고양이, "kitty") in a world where love between the two species is socially unacceptable, obviously in love with him despite his refusal to accept her advances. The theme of the animation is that all love can be accepted and has a chance.
They meet in front of vending machines. Doki drops her carrot juice while spotting Nabi going for a cup of fish tea. Nabi looks to the cats and to the rabbits for help, who both look awkward and disapproving. When Doki makes it obvious she's attracted, he runs away. Nabi is totally against any thought of being together with her. Nevertheless, Doki follows him everywhere. They go through several interesting situations where Doki tries to win Nabi's heart. Usually, as part of this, she stuffs carrots in his mouth.
In the middle, Nabi sits Doki down and tries to explain (via a slide show presentation) that they are not meant to be lovers. Nabi tries to make her accept that there can't be anything between them -- that romance between a cat and a rabbit can only lead to heartbreak -- but Doki does not care. Nabi even presents her with three more "suitable" rabbit suitors: Doki deals with them ruthlessly.
In the end, Nabi finally gives up and accepts Doki as his girlfriend, after she cuts down a tree he was hiding in. When Nabi gets to know her better, he realizes that there is not so much of a difference between them. In the coda, as Nabi watches a male rabbit (referred to only as "Grey Rabbit") pursuing a female cat (Hana) with flowers, he accepts a cup of carrot juice from Doki. As he drinks it, surprised at not disliking it, he sees Doki drinking a similar cup of fish tea -- with a clothespin on her nose. He and the viewer realize that Doki must hate fish tea, but she drinks it to please Nabi; quickly he tries to conceal the evidence of his sudden affection for her.
In addition to being on the SamBakZa website, a version with English titling was published in 2004 to high acclaim. This, along with the English titled sequel has given a much wider audience for SamBakZa in the western world where they now have a respectable fan base. Although the animations have no dialogue, and the characters names weren't disclosed until 2006, the webtoons are admired for their constant and well played action, which gets laughs and "aw"s out of its viewers.
It was nominated for both the Professional Award and the Cyber Jury Award at the Anima Mundi Web Festival in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in 2004, and won both categories. [1]
[edit] There she is!! Step 2 -- Cake Dance
The second animation in the series is called There she is!! Step 2 - Cake Dance (Korean: 떳다 그녀!! step 2. - 케잌 댄스) and was released on the SamBakZa website on February 25, 2005. Its soundtrack is the Korean pop song "Happy Birthday to Me" by Bulldog Mansion.
Like its predecessor, it was carried by classic anime style elements, but also included considerable amounts of full-animation action. That, along with the success of the original, allowed Step 2 to become popular very rapidly.
The cartoon continues the story of Nabi and Doki from the first story, but now Nabi and Doki are happily going steady. As before, names weren't disclosed in the toon and there is no dialogue (However, names of the characters are now available on the casting page in Amalloc's section of the SamBakZa site). It is Doki's birthday, and her family and friends are gathering for her party. Nabi is lagging behind; who is supposed to be bringing the birthday carrot cake.
The story revolves around Nabi's efforts to bring the cake to the party, but it is not going to be easy. He has to navigate the urban crowds, evade stampeding animals (During this scene, a fish goes across the moon. If clicked on, it will show a cartoon, translated from Korean to English, with Nabi and Doki, and a special thanks screen) and various other hazards, all while struggling to keep the cake intact. Meanwhile the families of the two arrives at the restaurant, but Doki does not want to start the party without her boyfriend. With the restaurant in sight, he runs straight into Sam-ho of the Jjintta set(gang) knocking them both down. Yi-ho (the one with the eyepatch) tells Il-ho (the gang leader) that Nabi was bullying Doki, and effectively forcing her to be with him. Then they try to rough him up. Although Nabi tries to keep the cake safe, he is pushed through the door of the restaurant, where the cake is ruined before his girlfriend's eyes.
Although she appears to be angry at first, it turns out that she loves the cake, and shows her affection to him in her usual over-the-top way. The Jjintta are forced to stay, Il-ho seeming particularly irritable with Yi-ho (near the end of the movie it shows him throwing a sideways punch to Yi-ho's head). In the end, Nabi runs into a younger rabbit in the same predicament as he was, and he offers to help her negotiate the streets with her cake safely.
[edit] There she is!! Step 3 -- (Doki and Nabi)
The third part was estimated to show up in August, 2006, but that release estimate has been missed. It has passed around half a year and it's still on production.
[edit] References
- ^ Awards. Animemory 2004. Anima Mundi Film Festival (2004). Retrieved on September 23, 2006.
