#fanimator

Most newer members of the fanime community likely don’t recognize the title or work that was Take-It Sevenfold, but several older members may possibly remember it as one of the original staples to the fanime community back in its golden age in the late 2000′s - or not, as it was that obscure.

To refresh your memory, Take-It Sevenfold was the first semi-successful animated project tackled by Critical Pictures starting back in 2007, completed with over 20 short episodes in count. The story was loosely based off the lives of the real life band members Avenged Sevenfold, and was considered the Azumanga Daioh of fanime as it was known for its slice-of-life genre with wacky elements.

The five main characters were Matt, Zack, Jimmy, Johnny, and Brian, who were all high school students at a fictional private school located in the real seaside city of Huntington Beach, California. The central synopsis was the main character Matt wished to form a band with some friends, and the group slowly attempted to pull one together while dealing with high school on top of it. Other than that, there was no real plot.  

Take-It Sevenfold was one of those odd series you had to take in with a grain of salt and to not think too hard on it or else you’d get even more confused. Episodes were formatted as non-linear, random short stories involving the characters’ antics, no episode continuing off one another until its successor and remake Take-It Sevenfold: Reanimation tried to make sense of things in 2010. Both series had a few sub-plots, the largest being a mysterious apparition that lives in the forest known as IREX.

The main characters all knew of IREX, but his exact purpose was unknown except to the supporting character Raam, an eccentric girl obsessed with the paranormal. She claims she and IREX could take over the world, but the seriousness of this sub plot and character claim remains a mystery as it was never really touched on in the original running of the show, and barely elaborated on in the four episodes the remake had. In short: we don’t get it either. If anything, it was just another type of repeating gag reel you kind of just had to deal with.

What made Take-It Sevenfold stand out from other fanime series’ during its time was the fact it was one of the first to explore adult humor and explicit language, at some points pushing boundaries of controversy. It was also one of the few to feature an almost entire male cast and male protagonists. These themes are recurring in many of Critical Pictures’ works, including Gear Babies and 2.0. It was also possibly the first to be made by a team rather than one person, which was why episodes were produced so quickly and completely. The cast was only four people local to each other based out of Cincinnati: two brothers, and two friends. However, only one episode of the original series exists currently online. The remake has four episodes that were re-uploaded as well, hence the series was cancelled at episode five due to lack of interest and engagement. 

Hey guys! LONGGGG time no see. I have been rewatching old (and new) fanime and my love for it has come back strong. Aside from Youtube where is everyone in the fanime world meeting nowadays?

Is there a discord?

The fanime world forms?

A new skype since fanime rehab died?

Just here on Tumblr?

Well this sure is a thing I had way too much fun drawing

I’ve seen people do fake Youtube mockups with Voltron and Pokemon so I did one for TCU! I made so many new characters that I figured it would be a good way to help introduce some of them

I drew my friend, @magicalgirlemily (Emily Loves Cookies), as magical girl for her birthday! Sorry if there’s any mistakes as I kinda rushed this... qwq

Happii Birfdayyy, @emilylovesart !!