#i didnt consider myself a furry before i watched ahkj

[atomic-rena]

What were your first thoughts to seeing king Julien?

well the first time i met him was in mada 1 and 2, i wasn't a huge animal person (still am not) so even if i liked the movies just fine they never really stuck with me at such a young age.

then in the wonderful year of 2008 tpom started to air on nick. now i still am not an animal person but i really loved tpom! i remember finding king julien funny, a core memory of him that always stuck with me was when he get's his crown stolen by the big rat guy and skipper retrieves it but gets badly beat up only for kj to notice a spot of dirt on it and throw it away in exchange for one of his many replacement crowns. i think generally i just saw him as an asshole tho, he is the cause of most problems in tpom. so yeah, funny guy but not my favorite, (mort was my favorite because he was cute).

but then last year i watched the really long video about mort. you guys know the one, "crimes of mort" or whatever its like 4 hours long. anyways, my jaw was on the floor the entire time. how could the cute little guy from the silly penguin be this eldritch entity?? what the fuck?!?! so i watched ahkj. i had a vague understanding of the mada timeline up until this point, but i figured since ahkj is the prequel to the movies (+ tpom) i should just watch it all in order. i dont really do much, so i have the time...

i was on a road tip with my family the next day, perfect! i can start ahkj! i was captivated by this world i had rediscovered, not only for mort but for king julien too. he was no longer just an asshole that causes problems, he was a more complex and tragic character. one that is somewhat delusional but tries his best to be good (most times). it was a much kinder take on him and my brain just really clicked with him. i watched a few more episodes and decided i should tell my sister.

we get to our destination and we had some down time to kill in a spare bedroom, i had my laptop with me. i ask her if she wants to watch ahkj with me. "it's actually kinda funny!" i modestly promise her, trying to convince her to jump off the deep end with me. she's tired and bored but ultimately still curious enough to say yes. we are fucking hooked to this godforsaken show.

the next couple of months are spent watching nothing but this fucking show with her. i not only start to like king julien more and more, but also maurice and clover. and mort, fucking mort. this little guy found his way into my heart again, this time of course for reasons other than just 'being cute'.

but back to the question: part of the reason kj had such a big appeal to me upon revisiting him was his queerness. i missed it as a kid but this lemur is queer, so obviously queer. but unlike other shows it's not something that others him, it's just him and it felt really natural?? i dont know if i can articulate how i feel fully in text, but regardless of it being very queerbaity, because they never outright say it, i dont think the show had too explicitly say it. now that's a very personal interpretation feel free to disagree but yeah that's kinda how i feel.

another thing is that is a big draw to this character for me is that he's not a fucking teenager. shows about teens are fine (i love the owl house!!) but as an adult that is no longer in high school i dont wanna watch shows about kids in high school. it just feels like every goddamn thing is set in high school (especially anime which i also love but, ughhh different topic). ahkj and just the mada franchise has the advantage of having non human characters, so it's still a funny kid cartoon thats aloud to be silly and lighthearted, but with adult characters with more adult responsibilities. i think ahkj just hit me at the right time in my life, i was able to relate to some of the more general ideas of the show, ya know??

so tldr; as a kid i didnt care for him in tpom but as an adult revisiting him in ahkj he was weirdly relatable. mort is still my favorite despite everything.