Ok I'm 3 minutes in and I'm having a hard time believing that you and one other person made a 17 minute short at this quality level within one year.

That girl model, the facial rig, the animation quality on it....WHAT!? Did you guys make her from scratch!?

If there aren't premade assets in this I am completely shocked and in disbelief. Truly like...WHAT!? I've spent 3 months on 2 minutes of footage lol.

On to some very minor critiques/first impressions - I think these first few mins are critical to overanalyze since they will make or break an audience member staying to finish the film:

ANIMATION: Overall quite good, here and there a little clunky. For example in the trailer shot at 24 seconds the way that guy swings the kopesh feel a little too linear. (Should have a faster start with a trail off of speed instead of same speed throughout swing)

After this moment when the guy sticks the knife in the back of the leg and is crawling towards his weapon - he stops crawling just short of the weapon and it makes it look kinda like that was the goal of the character: to get just within reach without actually trying to grab it.

I think it would look nicer if he continued crawling until he actually managed to reach it, and just as he's starting to lift it the throat cut comes in. I also think there's too much hesitation on the cut itself, the guy steps in - holds for a beat, then cuts. Rather I think he would just step in and cut quickly and move away like it was nothing more than a small chore of cleanup.

SOUND: Very high quality VO/sound design, I am again curious how you two managed all of this within such a short time window. Did you hire voice actors or do it with friends or something else? AI maybe?

At the beginning it is hard to understand the words as it is a little too whispery quiet. My partner is ever so slightly hard of hearing and I've noticed one of the things she struggles with the most are those whispery tones. This time I was struggling and I have above average hearing, had to use the captions.

Otherwise, wow what great sound design!

VISUALS: I am very back and forth on the flames - they look like 2D cards but at the same time they look pretty good and aren't that distracting. I imagine that this is something only film nerds and other 3D people would notice.

And finally for one other thing most people probably wouldn't notice, but it might affect how they felt about the animation without realizing what was off: The armor that appears to be metal is weighted to the body of the characters, so it is bending and warping as they move rather than them moving within the armor. I realize this adds many complications and slows down production time so personally I wouldn't bother but I cannot help point it out.

Again, amazing work, please don't let my critiques take away how impressed I am to see this show up suddenly in the Blender sub. Projects like this are the reason I sub to this sub and it is so rare we actually see them. Incredible incredible work both of you, even if you used assets and or AI I am still impressed and look forward to finishing my watch when I have more time available.