Draft:Lastman (animated television series)

Lastman is an adult animation series French, developed by Jérémie Périn based on the Lastman (comic), of which it is a prequel. It was broadcast on France 4 in November 2016 for its first season then on the digital platform France.tv Slash^[1][2][3] from October 28, 2022 for the second^[4][5][6].

Synopsis

In the fictional American town of Paxtown, plagued by violence and corruption, the young boxingur amateur Richard Aldana lives between the search for a job and his boxing club. Although having an innate talent for boxing, he is content with the bare minimum, to the chagrin of his friend and mentor Dave McKenzie who sees in him a potential that is just waiting to be exploited.

His daily life changes when Dave is kidnapped before his eyes by a mysterious sect called "The Order of the Lion", led by a mysterious man named Rizel, mastering electrokinesis. Richard will gradually discover that Dave has many secrets, including that he has a hidden girl named Siri, whom the Order of the Lion is looking for. Finding himself having to protect the young girl from the cult with the help of Howard, Dave's younger brother, he is forced to take up serious boxing when the key to saving Siri from posession can only be obtained by winning the prestigious Fist Fighting Funeral Cup.

Detailed Summary of Season 1

In the town of Paxtown, Richard Aldana is an unemployed man who, despite his boxing skills, prefers to hang out, much to the chagrin of Dave McKenzie, a professional trainer. One day, a cult called "The Order of the Lion" attacks them and abducts Dave while Richard is grounded by Rizel, their leader, electrokinesis. Richard manages to find Dave, tortured to death, who asks him to protect his daughter, Siri, before succumbing to his injuries. Richard manages to get her to safety and discovers that his late friend's boxing club is hiding an arms depot and that Dave was looking for particular people who seem to have no connection between them.

After a confrontation with Winch, an inmate capable of turning his arms into blades, Richard and Siri meet Howard McKenzie, Dave's brother. The latter explains to them that they were associated to hunt down demons, the Wrens, released by mistake. Each inhabits the body of a human and only reveals their true form when necessary. Numbering 31, the two brothers had begun to eliminate them until they came across Siri, still a baby, inhabited by Chorum, the most dangerous of all, because endowed with an insatiable appetite. Dave refused to kill the child and asked Howard to find a cure, which Howard reluctantly agreed to do. To prevent Chorum from taking possession of Siri's body when she grows up, the only way is to "calm" it down by giving it blood from the hearts of its congeners. As the series progresses, Richard will fight against demons but also in the ring during the Fist Fighting Funeral Cup in duet with Duke Diamond, another boxer, to win the Kings Cup trophy, made by Gobnu , one of the Wrens, which, according to Howard, would permanently cure Siri. Richard will also begin an affair with Tomie Tanaka, a singer, not without causing some problems with the Holy Father, the head of the mob of Paxtown. For their part, the surviving Wrens, led by Rizel, end up joining forces (although it is against their nature) to also seize the Cup, which would allow them to return to their banished home.

In the final of the tournament, Duke is injured by Gémini Kross (possessed by Aruméri, the Kinglet Chameleon) but Richard ends up triumphing and the duo wins the tournament. Upon touching the Cup, Richard briefly glimpses a cave in the middle of the desert near the town of Nillipolis. Howard explains to her that this is the place that will allow Siri to be definitively rid of Chorum. There, the two men and the little girl begin the ritual, but things take an unexpected turn: instead of healing, Siri turns into Chorum, which opens a dimensional portal. Richard then understands that Howard betrayed them and that his goal was never to help them. Still a student, Howard and his friends were fascinated by a legendary world, the Valley of the Kings. To access it, they contacted Gobniu but another Wren, Raghan, answered them. Only Howard and his friend Charles went through with the process thinking that the demon would help them but freed the creatures instead, prisoners of Limbo. Rizel took refuge in Charles' body before vanishing, and Howard contacted his brother to help him fix his mistake. Still, Howard didn't give up on his dream of finding the Valley and made a pact with Rizel at the Fist Fighting Funeral Cup so the two of them could achieve it. Howard walks through the portal but Rizel (who has been following the small group from Paxtown) is blocked by Chorum who wishes to kill him. Richard has no choice but to join forces with the Wren to stop Chorum from engulfing his world, which they manage to do thanks to Siri. The little girl thanks the boxer just before the monster devours itself by autophagy and disappears for good.

The only survivor, Richard returns to Paxtown where he is comforted by Tomie, while Milo Zotis, the new godfather, contemplates the city. The latest images show Howard on his motorcycle crossing the desert flew over by fantastic birds, announcing in voice-over that he has reached the Valley of the Kings.

Music

Fred Avril and Philippe Monthaye.

Production

The series is produced by Everybody On Deck and the studio I am very happy^[7].

Writing

The 26 episodes of Lastman were written by a team of screenwriters working in a workshop under the direction of Laurent Sarfati: Balak (also creator of the comic strip), Jérémie Périn (also director of the series), Laury Rovelli, Léonie De Rudder, Matthieu Choquet and Guillaume Mautalent.

Universe of the series

Main Characters

Richard Aldana: Tall, muscular and fiery, Richard is an unemployed man with a great talent for boxing, frequenting and squatting the club of his friend and mentor Dave McKenzie. His laziness means that this situation suits him very well despite Dave's attempts to find him a job that matches his skills or make him realize his potential in professional competition. He also has an annoying tendency to throw his fists as soon as his interlocutor pronounces one word too many. When Dave is kidnapped and then killed by the mysterious Order of Lion cult, led by Rizel, he discovers that Rizel was hiding a lot of secrets, including a girl named Siri whom Richard goes to protect with his friend Taylor Brando says " Chubby" and Howard, Dave's younger brother, pushing him for the first time in his life to fight for someone other than himself.

Dave McKenzie: Manager of the boxing club where Richard vegetates, this mustachioed fellow is an icon of his neighborhood, guaranteeing calm and training many of its inhabitants. He is, according to many of his students, righteousness incarnate and a good coach. He knows how to hold his club, not hesitating to raise his voice in case of conflict. It was he who trained Aldana in boxing after their fortuitous meeting described in episode 4, however without the student ever surpassing the master. He is indeed an excellent boxer "despite his age". He maintains a genuine friendship with Richard, despite the many jokes the latter can make and his laziness. His abduction by the Order of the Lion is the trigger for the series. He has a hidden daughter revealed shortly after his abduction, Siri.

Siri: hidden daughter of Dave aged about ten, she lives in a posh boarding school outside the city. After the attack on the boarding school by the Order of the Lion and the death of her father, she is taken in by his friend: Richard Aldana, who passes her off as his niece. Gradually, this situation will cause her to consider Richard as a surrogate father, which will lead the narrow-minded boxer to be less selfish. She has a big appetite for a child of her age. This appetite is explained by the fact that it is the host of the most powerful of the kinglets: Chorum the Devourer.

Howard McKenzie: Dave's younger brother, he has been obsessed with the Valley of the Kings and the idea of ​​going there since his childhood, refusing to believe that this legend is fictitious. While trying to find a way to open a passage to the Valley with his friend Charles Vales, he accidentally released the kinglets into the town of Paxton and subsequently spent the next ten years hunting them down with Dave, until until he crosses paths with Siri, still an infant but possessed by a wren. Refusing to kill a baby, Dave pushed his brother to find an alternative solution which he found with a serum made from wren hearts. When his brother is killed by the Order of the Lion, he helps Richard protect Siri but still wants to go to the Valley. After an attempted robbery that costs him his right arm, he pushes Richard to participate in the Fist Fight Funeral Cup to win the cup awarded to the winner, capable according to his words of curing Siri.

Rizel: wren who can manipulate electricity, he is the head of the sect of the Order of the Lion. Above all, he desires to return to the Valley of the Kings, from which he was banished along with his fellows thousands of years ago. He believes that young Siri is the key to opening the passage to the Valley and seeks to capture her at all costs. Likewise, he seeks to take possession of the cup of the next edition of the Fist Fight Funeral Cup, in reality the cup of the Valley of the Kings created by the kinglet of Fascination Gobniu. He does not hesitate for this to manipulate, torture and kill humans; and even goes against his wren nature by allying himself with other wrens like Aruméri and Prim.

Secondary characters

Tomie Katana: pop star in the making, guitarist and singer, she dreams of being recognized for her talent more than for her looks but often comes up against the jealousy of her companions or the harsh macho reality of the milieu . First meeting Richard by accident, they see each other more often as he progresses through the Fist Fight Funeral Cup competition. Following a misunderstanding, they fake a romantic relationship in front of the press on the advice of his agent Milo Zotis, although their feelings for each other change.

Duke Diamonds: African-American boxer late to registration for the Fist Fight Funeral Cup, he will be named Richard's partner during the competition after the Holy Father selection test during which they will save themselves mutual life. The interviews they give show him combative and motivated to win the cup. This motivation will often bring him into conflict with Richard's lazy and flippant side.

Chubby: whose real name is Taylor Brando but nicknamed so because of his chubby appearance, he is a generally jovial and somewhat clumsy character. Although he would have liked to be a boxer, Dave and himself saw that he did not have the abilities and would become his right-hand man, especially for the maintenance of the boxing gym. He nevertheless compensates for his physical appearance with a great talent as a mediator and sometimes unexpected flashes of genius, saving the day for Richard, Siri and Howard more than once.

The Holy Father: godfather of Paxton's mafia, he is an excellent businessman and despite a certain affability in his way of speaking, he is a formidable mafia. He is nonetheless attached to family values, no doubt because of his Italian origin, although he recognizes the impulsiveness and stupidity of his nephew Harry. He is constantly protected by his two bodyguards: the twins Jean-Luc and Jean-Michel.

Harry Zenkova: nephew of the Holy Father, this mafioso who never takes off his red suit is the exact opposite: impulsive and nervous, bad in business according to his uncle himself, he inspires very little respect, especially to Richard. He owns a strip club where he treats his employees and dancers very badly. Despite everything, he seems to have very little authority outside his club, almost systematically needing the help of the Holy Father.

Milo Zotis: Tomie Katana's agent, he is an ambitious young mafioso with heavy debts to the Holy Father. A kiss exchanged involuntarily between Tomie and the boxer Richard Aldana at the time of the arrest of the latter allows him to feed the various facts with the false couple, to become quickly rich and to climb the ladder of the mafia as and when Richard progresses in the competition.

Monica Mendoza: a police inspector who has been working for years in Paxtown, she finds herself in charge of the heartbreaking investigation after the death of Eric Rose, where she is fully involved. She then gradually becomes aware of the existence of kinglets. She is rather temperamental and does not support the tendency of journalists to pry into her investigations.

Wrens

Howard McKenzie describes them to Siri this way when speaking of the Valley of the Kings:

“Thousands of years ago, demon lords clashed here in an apocalyptic war. These demons, they were called kinglets, evil creatures that were eventually defeated and banished to limbo, until a fool freed them a decade ago. They reincarnated in our home, poor people picked at random in Paxtown.

It is revealed during the series that the one who accidentally freed the Wrens is none other than Howard. Fascinated since his childhood by the Valley of the Kings and eager to go there, he tried with his friends during a seance of spiritualism to speak to Gobniu, the kinglet having created the cup of Valley allowing to open the passage to get there. Instead of Gobniu, they come into contact with Raghan, Wren of Clairvoyance. Howard's friends, starting to get scared, leave the place. Only Charles Vales remains with Howard. Raghan manipulates him into telepathically showing him the ritual apparently needed to make the cup appear. Howard falls into the demon's trap and the ritual, when performed, releases the Wrens who scatter around the city. One of them, Rizel, is reincarnated in Charles's body.

For the next ten years, Howard and his brother Dave track down the kinglets to eliminate them. To catalog the kinglets, they make a list of the 31 demons and their hosts which they update as they eliminate them. Indeed, as Raghan explains to him, Howard being the one who performed the ritual, he is the only one who knows the names of the hosts of the wrens. However, although he is aware of it, he nevertheless does not know which wren each person is associated with until he sees him use his powers.

In human form, they retain the memories and attitudes of their host (career, family...) and more or less of their physical traits when they transform. They all have in common the black sclera and a great capacity for regeneration. The heart is their weak point. Also, each wren has specific abilities and powers.

The wrens below are listed in order of appearance.

“The kinglets below are those who were killed before the start of the series but whose death is not shown. Three of them were murdered by Eric Rose, the others most likely by Howard and Dave McKenzie."

Episodes

Season 1

The episodes were broadcast from November 22, 2016 to December 13, 2016^[8][9] on France 4. Since 26, they are also available for free on France.tv Slash.

1. You're an Aldana jerk
2. You say that because I have a grenade
3. You know, me, the moustached ones
4. Get out of my mother!
5. Squares within squares
6. Teeth, teeth, teeth
7. You speak like a man of honor
8. We will dismember you
9. Yellow Brain
10. We had a date ?
11. Be careful when it blinks
12. Why is this guy hitting me?
13. You're cute Aldana
14. Go sing something to see
15. I am the passenger
16. Settings my ass
17. Family is always complicated
18. Stock !
19. Stay with us on Paxnews
20. Could you pass me the mustard?
21. Oh no…
22. Your hermit crab has a dirty face
23. Never let him touch you
24. Cash in and not die
25. I'm sorry
26. This is the last time I ask you politely

Season 2

After a crowdfunding campaign launched in 2022^[6] which raised €192,355, the second season of Lastman is being released under the title Lastman Heroes (formerly The shock wave)^{[1][2][10][4][5]}.

This season consists of six episodes of 45 minutes, each one dedicated to a hero of the series^[4]. They are available for free on France.tv Slash. However, since episodes 2, 4 and 5 are subject to signage not recommended for children under 16, they can only be viewed between 10:30 p.m. and 5:00 a.m.^[11].

The first five episodes are available on 28, after the first, Richard, was broadcast live on Francetv's YouTube channel Slash^[12]. The final episode is available on 9.

1. Richard
2. Harry
3. Tomy
4. Siri
5. Marianne
6. Sat

Broadcast

Due to its change in target audience in 2017, France 4 is broadcasting episodes in groups of six or seven, in order to spend the entire season on four Tuesday evenings before the end of the year . As some episodes are not recommended for children under 16 by the CSA, the series is broadcast after 10:45 p.m. The management of France 2 also showed interest^[13].

On July 1, 2018, Netflix is offering the complete First Season in France^[14]. Since 26 September 2021, the series has been broadcast for free on France.tv Slash.

The second season, Lastman Heroes, is also available on France.tv Slash from 28.

Reception

Critical reception

The series has had a generally positive critical reception, highlighting the uniqueness of an animated series for adults made only in France^[7].

The series obtains the excellent averages of 8.6/10 on IMDb^[15], and 4.4/5 on Allociné^[16].

Notes and References

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External links

• Official website
• [1] on France.tv