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As for the three churchmen generally: the addition is a good direction: it explains Santiago's little pause better, also why he's opening the chest: he's working for the church and gets his orders from them. ALSO why he's taking it to the catedral. It was easy to miss the ealier hooded peeps, visually at least (methinks you had prayers scripted in though but even then the clarity is better this way). Some gripes however:
* the inquisition guy's look might be a bit too, I dunno, executionerish? Shouldn't he have some sort of religious insignia/props? This makes his grabby hands at the gold potentially confusable: instead of three factions of the church vying for the gold it could look like a light-fingered hireling.
* "Take the gold" etc. A very minor thing: could he say "Take this" or "Take it" instead to be more natural? It's all very obvious he's talking about the gold.
That's LOUIS?!? It took me a few seconds to get why he was there, but when I did I loved the change. Great job. This rids you from one consequenseless minor character in the beginning as well as sets Louis' introduction apart from James', and sets mood for his character. Wonderful. With his snide little comments it should be clear to new viewers what he was doing.
Louis has changed from a carefree but proper-enough Catholic to a more reluctant one, with the wipe gesture. No strong opinions here, but this does differentiate him more from Santiago, so on principle this is an improvement.
About the Spanish guard... I saw your line-up of the new characters including the churchmen, I must say that the guard looks a whole deal like Santiago! The differences in their outfits and especially their body languages do help a lot but it's still concerning to me that they have pretty much the same face and the same hairstyle. This could be old biblethumper's son... What a frightening thought 8D
As for the cathedral interior... could the Bible scenes be ironic to the churchmen and Santiago's treasure hoarding please :3 I'm thinking of these as suggestions: the camel-and-needle thing, the widow who gave her only coins for charity, Jesus turning up money exhanger's tables at the temple...
Action begins. I'm sorry to say this but much of the energy and flow seems to have been lost here. The overall impression is heavier on speech. Louis seems to lack a plan (which might well be true), however he also seems to act deliberately... It's hard to put this into words, I hope you can understand the idea here. It's like Louis was prepared to dance his way around the heavily armoured Santiago, but has no idea where he's going, then again he seems to be heading steadily towards--an entirely wrong direction. Is he lost?
Anyways I very much like what you did with the altar and cross thing. It's like Louis is knowingly making stabs at Santiago's personality... which, knowing the sneaky lil' minx, he probably is doing. Was this his plan all along?
As for Jesus, he flies way a bit too long, even considering a bit of humorous exaggeration (it's a solid object after all, and the bits between Louis flicking it and Santiago catching it do have quite a bit of dialogue during which Jesus would still be flying). Cutting the catch into an earlier instance would be good. Santiago can't be getting after the others just yet, but that delicious bit of fussing over Jesus standing comfortably could well be stretched... Louis did muss up the altar quite a bit after all. Santiago could set everything nicely, growling and scowling worse by the moment, only to be very nearly roaring with (righteous) rage (of holy wrath) when he finally gets to go after the two blasphemous blabbermouths--oh, wait, not until a nice sign of the cross--RRRAAAAAH. All of this could be cut into alternating shots with the now extended exchange at the painting gallery. Heh, got carried away there. You get the idea.
As for the changed ending... well, first, why is Louis' fancy lil' footie sooo far away from James' face? X3 A minor concern: double usage of a darkening close-up of the general chest area of an approaching character.
All in all... interesting changes. I'll be keen to see where you're steering this ship :3 It's looking more complete, again.
This has certainly come a long way from suggestions of outfit color combinations and tweaking character designs~! It's been so long since I've been able to sit down and look at things, I'm quite amazed with all of the wonderful, beautiful, amazing progress this has come into. Going through the posted storyboards, I must say I favor the uncut version, but this as the final is absolutely stunning. The flow of the panels is magnificent, and everything is clean, crisp, and just pure gold. Since I've last seen things, I must say I love James (<3) and Louis's final looks, they're very sharp, appealing, and true to character. Santiago is a wonderful addition as well, and I must say he's very true to his Spanish roots. You're characters have developed vastly, and through this animation, once can truly understand each individuals view points, attitudes, and standards. There mannerisms and actions define them indefinitely, and each expression given throughout the this series of frames only gives further definition of character. These characters of yours are so truly wonderful, it is easy to find yourself emotionally attached to them, wanting to know more and more of them and their pasts. (Though I must say, James still has my heart.
I can't wait to see this is further progress though. I have to catch up on all of the new things you've included, like the voice actors still, but I'm sure each voice is just how I've always pictured your characters.
And thank you. I never would have thought in my wildest dreams that Louis and Co. would garner the following they have, but it's definitely what keeps me going through all this. If I can be honest, I'm working on the animation to get my degree and graduate from LASALLE, but I'm finishing it because I want to, now, to have something to show for HAT and so that I don't disappoint all these people who have helped me with feedback and who have really supported me so far throughout the last few months. I'll make a graphic novel happen one day!
I'm really excited to see the scene of the paintings I just adore how James loses it
Just one comment, when Santiago is going at Louis, you use the expression "Tú maricón", being an spanish speaker I would recomend omiting the "Tú" given the fact that when angry one tends to use less words, if you use "tú maricón" you cut the air coming out your lungs, but if you use only "Maricón" the insult comes out in one blow from inside your gut (you feel it in the stomach and then spurt it out), and unlike english in spanish we rarely use articles when we are insulting someone, like "Hijo de puta" not "Tú hijo de puta" or the way you used "Malparido".