CCW: Crazy Clay Wrestling

A wonderfully creative and inventive sports anime from arguably the industry's freshest director, Nagao Takena.

Centered around the conflict between the Red Wrestler (listed on MAL as "Orange" but generally referred to as Red Wrestler within the fandom) and the Yellow Wrestler, portrayed as a wrestling match on a surface level, C.C.W. is a microcosm of the duality of man.

The animation is excellent, rivaling such esteemed claymation works as The Wrong Trousers and Takena's earlier work Within the Bloody Woods. The action is fluid and the impact visceral.

The soundtrack and sound design are also noteworthy, with tracks such as "CCW theme" and repeated audio motifs like ... "3 2 1" contributing immensely thematically.

C.C.W.'s characters are primarily simple, representing internal conflict within the human psyche as well as greater societal issues faced by humanity today. The "X-factor," if you will, can be said to be the unnamed announcer character, who, by my reading, represents an outside arbiter of human civilization, perhaps God or an advanced alien species.

Arguably C.C.W.'s strongest element is its mastery of pacing. I've heard somewhat paradoxical complaints in the past of it being paced "too well" (leading to the viewer neglecting real-life responsibilities for the sake of watching and rewatching) and such concerns are understandable but I frankly disagree. The series maintains such a masterful control over its suspense and tension that its cathartic moments (especially near the end) carry an impact similar to slow-burn television series such as Aria.

Overall I enjoyed C.C.W immensely, and consider it one of my favorite anime. For further recommendations I'd posit any of Nagao Takena's other works, especially No Littering, Pussycat, and Shitcom.

Final score: 10/10

Esta review también está en español.

CCW: Crazy Clay Wrestling is a six-minute short directed by Nagao Takena, a specialist in claymation. CCW is basically a wrestling match between a yellow little man and a red little man, in a ring which, curiously, has no ropes. The fight is pretty intense (read: violent) in the wrestling standards, but nothing compared to the other works of Mr. Takena, which are, well, quite brutal.

The animation is well done (I personally love claymation, thanks to PSOne's cult classic SkullMonkeys), stop motion animation with clay dudes pounding each other. The hits and keys are based on actual wrestling moves, and ... are well executed. Everything is very artisanal. As for the character design, a five years old could do it in less than five minutes xD.

The sound is a weak point: although there isn't much, it can be very irritating, specially the constant CCW!, CCW!, CCW! chant. The cheers (yaaay) are as dull as possible.

All in all, there's not much to say about this. CCW is, to say at least, an interesting short. Just two clayman wrestling, nothing more. I think it worth watching for the style (I already say I find it very appealing), after all, claymation is not that abundant. I recommend it for the simple fact that it's only six minutes long, so is not that big of a loss if you don't like it anyways.

For those who enjoy this style of animation, I recommend the other works of Takena, especially Bloody Date and Chainsaw Maid. In general, those are better than this one (more stuff happens, better story and characters), but beware: BD and CM are sick, sick gorefest (so, if you are not in the violent stuff, don't watch those).
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CCW: Crazy Clay Wrestling es un corto de seis minutos dirigido por Nagao Takena, un especialista en claymation. Es, básicamente un encuentro de lucha libre entre un hombrecito amarillo y uno rojo en cuadrilátero, que, curiosamente, no tiene cuerdas. La pelea es bastante cruenta para los estándares de la lucha libre, pero nada comparada con los otros trabajos del señor Takena, que son, lisa y llanamente, brutales.

La animación está muy bien hecha, tecnología en stop motion con hombrecitos de arcilla golpeándose. Los golpes y las llaves se basan en movimientos de lucha reales, y están bien ejecutados. Muy artesanal todo. En cuanto al diseño de personaje, ninguno de nosotros tardaría más de dos minutos en hacerlos xD.

El sonido es un punto flojo: aunque no hay mucho, puede llegar a ser muy, muy irritante, especialmente los constantes gritos de CCW, CCW, CCW! Los vítores (yaaay!) tienen menos onda que un renglón.

En resumen, porque no hay mucho más que decir, CCW es un corto, como mínimo, interesante. Son solo dos hombrecitos de plastilina golpeándose. Pero vale la pena verlo por el estilo, dado que la claymation no abunda. Al menos a mi me parece muy atrayente. Recomiendo verlo por el simple hecho de que dura solo seis minutos, así que tampoco es que se pierda mucho.

A los que les guste este estilo de animación, recomiendo los otros trabajos de Takena, especialmente Bloody Date y Chainsaw Maid. Son, a líneas generales, mejores que este, pasan más cosas, hay mejor diseño de personajes, y hasta hay una historia (especialmente en Bloody Date... es muy bueno, en serio)... pero cuidado, son extremadamente violentos y perturbadores. Quedan advertidos.

Rate a 4
english dubbed

Helpful tip: it just became know to me that with this artist he publishes his work separately. With and without audio. Not sure if that applies to all his works just something to keep in mind.

Story
basic. A who will win fight. Story does provide tension for the winner is not always clear.

Art/sound
Transitions are good. Overall appearance is good. Timed well with sound. As for sound, it is terrible. Don't get me wrong it is nice to have the sound effects. That was a plus. But the constant chanting that for the most part had no emotion was annoying.
...
Character- doesn't apply

Enjoyment: those who are clay lovers and or W.W.E. lovers. Everyone else might not like it.