Acetonic Mushrooms Season 1

Acetonic Mushrooms is a series of very, very bizarre movies made with RM2k. Essentially it seems to be about the creator and his friends having weird adventures in and around their school... which sounds like a lot of self-indulgent slop, but turns out to be pretty entertaining.

Completely lacking gameplay, Acetonic Mushrooms has to sell itself on its... er... plot. And despite the copious in-jokes and the broken English, it actually manages to keep you focused. I guess you'd call it a comedy, though this isn't your typical RM2k comedy which bludgeons you over the head with fart jokes or ironic usage of the "Alex" sprite. Acetonic Mushrooms relies on lots of visual gags and a couple genuinely clever jokes. And just in case you're confused, sometimes it even uses a laugh track to let you know when to giggle.

Each episode runs about fifteen minutes and follows a basic plot, although there's so much craziness in each individual story you might not notice. You'll see nuclear bombs going off, a zombie infestation, Iraqi terrorists, children being slaughtered, a concert, giant robots, and fairy vagina... just to name a few of the zany situations the "heroes" find themselves in.

What really struck me about the shows were each one has very good production values. Photos are used as backgrounds, battle animations are used cleverly to display action, sound effects aren't too loud or obnoxious, and the characters are very well animated. Each episode is broken up into scenes you can jump to from the title screen, so you can watch your favorite parts without having to start over from the beginning.

Bizarre as it is, Acetonic Mushrooms will definitely get a chuckle out of you. There are far worse ways to kill an hour than to watch Season One. Here's hoping for Season Two!