#they’re all cartoons that are enjoyable because they’re clever and funny in ways that both kids and adults can relate to

[spaceraes]

when people realize that really good cartoons are made to be enjoyed regardless of age and that “adult cartoons” are only listed as “adult” because there’s sometimes in your face sociopolitical commentary and sex jokes maybe we will finally know peace. “adult cartoons” often suck as much as they do because they are literally made to be unenjoyable to a huge demographic of people.

[that-shamrock-vibe]

Movie Review: Scoob! (Spoilers)

Spoiler Warning: Alright so this isn’t the type of movie that really warrants two separate reviews, but because it was only released recently I feel a spoiler warning is warranted as I will be talking about specific points in the movie. So if you haven’t yet seen Scoob! and don’t want anything ruined before you do, go and watch then come back.

General Reaction:

So, I’m having a hard time really getting to grips with my enjoyment level of this movie. Because while I don’t think this was a bad movie by any means, I always wouldn’t rank it as one of my favourites particularly with this new wave of nostalgia-based movies that seems to be a thing in recent years.

Maybe the problem is I am not an avid Scooby-Doo fan, a lot of people may think that is sacrilege and I did grow up watching the original Scooby-Doo shows and movies, but I wasn’t as into it as I was other Cartoon Network shows or even other Hanna-Barbera properties.

On that note, something that fascinated me about Scoob! in its promo campaign outside of it being a stunning CG-Animation movie was the inclusion of other Hanna-Barbera properties. In the trailer it is simply Dynomutt, Blue Falcon and Dick Dastardly, the former two who I believe were spin-off characters of Scooby-Doo originally and Dick Dastardly who of course is Dick Dastardly. Wacky Races and its spin-off Dastardly and Muttley in Their Flying Machines were shows I was an avid fan of, but once you see the movie and you realise that Warner Bros. Animation is really pushing for a Hanna-Barbera cinematic universe to stem from this with the amount of references and cameos of other characters and properties it is fascinating to me.

For instance, The Amazing Spider-Man 2 attempted something similar by effectively shouting about the fact that this movie was supposed to not only set up a third Spider-Man movie but also a Sinister Six movie and a Black Cat movie, then it was revealed Venom and Carnage were supposed to come into play, but then the whole thing got canned because the movie tried doing too much too soon.

Here though, they are subtle references that, unless you know the characters, don’t really register. I mean one or two are really obvious like having this universe’s version of Captain Caveman be somewhat of an antagonist here...I will be talking about him further down...but there are also just simply posters and name references that catch your eye if you know the characters. I don’t know every Hanna-Barbera character but the one that did catch my eye was a cardboard cutout of Hong-Kong Phooey.

As for the actual movie from a storytelling perspective, again I never really thought there was anything that grand about Scooby-Doo in terms of how they told a story. It was one of the first “monster of the week” shows in how formulaic it was and there was almost always a predictable formula in how each character would play their part.

In hindsight to that, I do appreciate both this movie and the first live-action Scooby-Doo movie for actually making that a satirical plot point, but in not having that much of a plot to base the movie on...I mean you can tell this is really an origin story of sorts in that if they are planning a cinematic universe this is that first rock, but unlike Iron Man they never had that hook that made you want to see the story continue.

I guess you could compare it in-house to what the DCEU did with Man of Steel. I didn’t really need more from after seeing that movie but I did want to see what this universe’s versions of some of my favourite DC Characters would be like, in a way this is similar.

It does sound stupid but the plot very much feels like a Scooby-Doo movie plot, in that the movie opens with that classic “monster of the week” unmasking, but the main threat of the movie is a real monster with some type of supernatural mystical twist.

But also, in adding the entire universe of Hanna-Barbera characters to that, you also have the most blatant in-movie Warner Bros. promo campaign with so many of the studio’s other properties being name-dropped it was borderline laughable.

In terms of the actual movie experience, this isn’t the first time I’ve watched a movie for the first time not in the cinema but knowing that the movie should have been released in cinemas rather than me simply not seeing it for any reason was rather surreal and, I do feel that this is the type of movie that warrants an audience viewing rather than just me watching it in my bedroom.

I also feel I would have enjoyed it a lot more with an audience, particularly an audience that doesn’t mind slightly dated, cheesy or somewhat really obvious plot points at times. I kind of predicted every major plot twist in this movie, although a couple of them I feel the audience is supposed to know from the get go otherwise why make it so obviously unless your pandering to a really young audience that don’t have two brain cells to rub together and tell that Fred with a really sinister grin full-naming Scooby is really the main villain in disguise particularly when you just saw him do the same thing ten minutes before.

But anyway, rather then going character by character in this spoilery section I’m going to break it down into what I liked and what I didn’t like. There was nothing I loved but also nothing I hated.

What I Liked:

But in terms of the overall message of the movie, Scoob! really hammers home that old-school notion of Man’s Best Friend, and not just with Shaggy and Scooby which is all I will say on that.

Alright so this movie is obviously called Scoob! and focuses on Scooby as effectively the main character as well as his friendship with Shaggy. The two really are one character in that you can’t really imagine one without the other, and the movie really explores that in both good and bad ways...we’ll get to the bad.

As a dog lover and dog owner myself, this movie really spoke to me on that level and the bond that Shaggy and Scooby share I finally understood. In all other media for me it’s more a case of Scooby and Shaggy just being friends but here that bond goes deeper because you see them meet and you see them essentially become family.

I really didn’t like the plot device of making them fall out only to have them make up later, it just is a very lazy trope at this point particularly as I’ve already seen it in a Scooby-Doo property before.

But they do kind of explain why it is necessary and why it happens because while they do have their friends at Mystery Inc. Shaggy and Scooby had no one before having each other, so when one feels like they’re drifting apart something flips and they get very possessive.

Also that ending, I mentioned this movie has a lot of things thrown in but while Hanna-Barbera and Warner Bros. references are kind of in sync with this movie, how about Greek mythology to the point where they effectively summon the Underworld to Earth!

I’m a massive Greek mythology fan, and seeing the main monster of this movie actually being from Greek mythology and animated so beautifully is why this is in the good section, even if the Underworld actually looked like the Cave of Wonders from Aladdin.

The voice cast for this movie is also unexpectedly brilliant. A lot of people may complain that the original cast who are still all alive, I think, weren’t asked back but outside of Frank Welker as Scooby I don’t think you really need them.

Zac Efron is one of those actors at the moment that can do no wrong for me, he can do comedy, he can do musical, he can do drama, he can do serious gritty drama. I really loved him as Fred here.

Will Forte didn’t fool me into thinking it was Matthew Lillard returning to the role because I feel his voice here wasn’t as squeeky or high as Lillard’s, but he still did a great job, Ian Armitage voicing the kid version was great too.

Gina Rodriguez is a choice for Velma not just because like a lot of these characters the classic Velma’s voice is very distinct and almost iconic but to actively race-bend the character and make her Latina I thought added some much needed diversity to this movie and the Hanna-Barbera universe in general.

Jason Isaacs as Dick Dastardly was really a fantastic choice both for the actor and for the character. There were times particularly towards the start when he made Dick sound like Captain Hook and even his design here is very Captain Hook/Gru esk rather than the lanky Dick Dastardly design, and I was missing his classic hat. But for me Jason Isaacs is at his best when he’s playing a villain.

On that note, Dee Dee Sykes and Dynomutt I thought were absolutely wonderful here, I’d actually say these two and Dick Dastardly were my favourite characters. All the D’s apparently.

Not only was it a teachable moment for me because I had to look up someone I was pretty sure was someone I thought they were in terms of me knowing Dee Dee originated in Captain Caveman and the Teen Angels, but here was on Blue Falcon’s crew with Dynomutt and no reference to Captain Caveman whatsoever I was okay with.

Also, I cannot believe I am saying this but, this movie actually made me like a Ken Jeong performance. I cannot stand this man, I do not find him funny, I do not find him entertaining, yet something about him voicing Dynomutt who originally I swear what meant to have the brain capacity I associate with Ken Jeong, but to make me like the character was impressive.

The final thing on my good list to mention is that opening sequence, after the very heartwarming opening scene of Scooby and Shaggy meeting and a Halloween setting of the team first coming together to battle a monster of the week in a It inspired haunted house, they show a shot-for-shot remake of the opening credits for the OG cartoon which is rather clever.

The only other voice actor to mention in the good section for me is Simon Cowell, not only do they have Simon playing himself in such a brilliant way but also his son Eric also voices a character, very brief and not central to the plot, but really a cute moment. Also I don’t know why but Simon in voice over sounds almost like a parody to Simon in live-action.

What I Didn’t Like:

Alright so these are really knitpicks but I think they’re worth noting in terms of moving this universe forward.

Scooby Doo is a dog, a talking dog yes but a dog none the less...so why the heck does he talk so much. I mean granted this is a universe with a robotic dog and a biped martial arts vigilante dog...but they never genuinely explain how Scooby can talk and while it’s understandable in the original cartoons as it’s mostly groans and the odd mispronounced word...here he was having monologues...also as a puppy he should have had a puppy voice, just saying.

As mentioned, I never really got into this franchise when I was younger so outside of Scooby and Shaggy I don’t really know these characters...but was Fred always so weirdly obsessed with the Mystery Machine? I get being happy with your vehicle but I thought Fred and Daphne were supposed to be the ship of this property...not Fred and the van.

I really really really really really really really really did not like the cop out ending they had, I didn’t let them get away with it in Stitch Has a Glitch and I am not letting them get away with it here. This big dramatic heartstring pulling thing happens, yet it’s almost immediately rectified with no solid explanation other then “we need to wrap things up”.

So to see one of these properties not authentically translate I thought was annoying, by which I mean Captain Caveman. Looks wise he is on point and I am fully aware that Mel Blanc is not going to rise up from the grave to voice him again, but the very essence of him being a caveman in his speech was not there for me here.

It would have been better if they allowed some time to go past and let the heroes stew in their sorrow before somehow discovering a way to fix things, but no it is literally as soon as the bad thing happens we are supposed to believe this was thought out?

My final thing is this. The Hanna-Barbera properties I grew up with are Scooby-Doo which I liked, Top Cat which I loved, Wacky Races which I loved, The Jetsons which I wasn’t as acquainted with as I would have liked to be, The Flinstones which I loved, Hong Kong Phooey which I liked and Captain Cavemani which I liked.

I’m sure Tracy Morgan is a likeable comedian, but then play on the comedy of the character and have him be like he originally was.

Hanna-Barbera Cinematic Universe:

I would love to see The Flinstones, Top Cat and the other Wacky Racers get this movie treatment. In fact if they market it correctly, Warner Bros. Animation could have a different genre movie for each property, be that comedy for Flinstones, action for Hong Kong Phooey, maybe a heist movie for Top Cat, sci-fi for the Jetsons, the list goes on.

As mentioned before, I do not see that groundwork for a cinematic universe here. Rather than it showing signs of being like the MCU I think it does stick more in-house as the DCEU by simply giving me the want to see other Hanna-Barbera characters inhabit this universe.

Do I feel this is the start of something big? No, do I feel there is potential here absolutely.

Overall I rate the movie a solid 7/10, it’s enjoyable, it’s cute, it’s family-friendly and I believe that’s its USP. It’s not a groundbreaking movie but it does have that cinematic universe potential and, as mentioned, I do look forward to see if more Hanna-Barbera properties get the same treatment.

So that’s my review of Scoob! What did you guys think? Post your comments and check out more Movie Reviews and other posts.

[nellie-elizabeth]

Grey's Anatomy: It's Raining Men (16x04)

Jeez what a dark episode title, given what happens in this hour of TV!

Cons:

What the heck is this show trying to do with the character of Tom Koracick? It makes no sense. I have been so staunch in defending him over Owen, but it's like they made a decision that Owen is going to be the good guy now, so they have to make Tom a ridiculous jerk in order to compensate for that. It's not funny, it's not clever, it's frustrating in the extreme! Setting aside the love triangle of it all, Tom was a multi-faceted character whose love for Teddy was actually quite sweet and charming. And now he's pretty much a villain and everyone hates him. He antagonizes Owen, and tries to prey on a scared family in order to drum up good publicity for the hospital. There's a moment of nuance when Schmitt calls Jackson to task, but for the most part Tom is just an unimaginable asshole here. I don't like the direction they are taking this character at all.

Also, Bailey's pregnant now too? I feel like they've run out of ways to add drama to the lives of these characters, so they're just giving everyone a baby story-line. Please don't let Maggie or Meredith or Jo get pregnant, I seriously couldn't take it right now.

With this whole Bailey being pregnant thing, we get a somewhat satisfying explanation for why she's been so emotional recently. But even so, I feel like the confrontation between Meredith and Bailey was lacking something. Meredith is apologetic about the publication, and that makes sense. But Bailey fired her, and Meredith still believes that she did the right thing. I feel like it would make sense for Meredith to be the tiniest bit resentful of Bailey's role in all of this. But that's one aspect of this situation that nobody seems to be focused on at all! I find that frustrating.

Pros:

I continue to be delighted by Alex and Richard working at this disadvantaged, chaotic hospital. Owen, who is taking time off because of Koracick, and so that Teddy can work and Owen can stay home with the kids, ends up getting roped in to working with Alex for the day, and then accepts a job to work at the hospital with them. As I said, I hate that we're just supposed to accept Owen as the good guy and Tom as the jerk, but I do like the idea of Grey Sloan continuing to lose doctors to this new hospital. As chaotic as it is, you can tell that Richard and Alex are having a good time trying to make a difference, getting their hands dirty and doing what needs to be done.

As I said, the title of this episode is brutal. Basically, a stowaway on an airplane falls out of the sky and crushes a woman. She and her new boyfriend are both rushed to the hospital. The guy is mostly unhurt, although covered in blood, but his girlfriend dies on the table. The story is about the futility of life, about how everything is so unfair, and random, and sometimes men literally fall out of the sky and crush you to death. How do you protect against that? You can't. Stuff just happens. And yet, out of that, we get the moment of Link confessing his love to Amelia. I love that there's a goofiness to it, as Amelia is laying on top of Link like a compression blanket, something he used to do for her but doesn't anymore because of the baby. We see that Amelia is a little freaked out, but she doesn't bolt. I know that there will be drama, because there always is, but it seems like maybe Amelia is going to stick this one out and try for some real happiness. I'll admit I'd be happy to see that.

So it's annoying that Tom has turned into a cartoon bad guy, but there was one moment with this plot thread that I thoroughly enjoyed. Jackson is playing the smug hero here, as he gets a kid a pro bono surgery and doesn't let Tom get his publicity out of it. On the surface, even if Jackson is being a bit of a tool, you agree with his perspective. The family was clearly uncomfortable with the media attention, but were willing to go through it for the free surgery. Jackson makes them feel more comfortable. The surgery goes great. But then Schmitt points something out - the publicity could really have helped out a lot of people's careers. Jackson is financially secure and his career is already made. But what about the reputation of the hospital as a whole? What about other people's careers? Jackson can afford to be magnanimous, but things aren't always so simple.

The big plot thread of the week is obviously Meredith's incendiary article. She wrote a list of problems with the health care industry as ideas for an article she could write, but the publisher just takes the whole list and publishes it with a headline that makes it seem like Meredith is attacking Grey Sloan Memorial in specific. There's so much juicy material to come out of this, and I loved seeing the various reactions to the news.

Obviously, Bailey is crushed and angry. Meredith is upset that her words are being taken so wildly out of context. Alex is amused. Jo is a little miffed because she's just been made an attending at the hospital, but she agrees with Meredith's points. Helm is still hero-worshiping as usual. DeLuca is trying to support his girlfriend while not associating himself directly with what she wrote. Amelia is a little angry but mostly letting it go. I love how many different reactions there are, and how each perspective is more or less understandable. Meredith is being reckless as regards her personal career, but she's not wrong morally about big pharma, etc. DeLuca is trying to play the middle, and while Meredith is a bit out of line to go off on him the way she does, I can also understand her frustration with his waffling. Bailey, as we've discussed, is obviously hormonal, but even without that as an excuse, I do understand why she would be less than jazzed about Meredith's behavior, and why it would feel like such a personal betrayal.

I must give a shout-out to the Cristina cameo - a text from her to Meredith: "Move to Switzerland before Bailey murders you in your sleep." I understand why they don't do that stuff more often, as it would just draw attention to Cristina's absence, but it is nice to hear something from her every once in a while.

And that's that - another busy episode, with mostly enjoyable developments. I'm irritated as all hell with what they're doing to poor Tom Koracick's characterization, but at least there wasn't more Maggie/Jackson nonsense this week. I like Jackson's new girlfriend!

8/10

[loopy777]

You've got me curious now as to what anime youve seen, enjoyed and why.

Oof, I don’t track that type of thing. I’ve been asked about anime I like previously, and I feel like I always forget something. I suppose I should start a MyAnimeList one of these days, just for reference.

So let’s list everything I can remember, as well as a pithy reaction.

Baccano!This one is just so much fun. It’s violent and crass in a classy way, it’s funny in a weird way, and it’s a great example of a non-linear narrative. I love it.

Code Geass (Season 1)Ugh, I only watched this one because people solicited my opinion on it. Well, my opinion is that it’s not as smart as it wants to be, there’s too much contrived melodrama (and considering the wild premise, that’s saying something), and Kallen would be a wonderful and interesting character if she wasn’t always being demeaned for fan-service. I quit when the first season finale kicked off, because I felt things were just getting too contrived. I hear it really fell apart in the second season.

Cowboy BebopI found this a bit pretentious. It had good episodes and bad episodes. The production quality is good. But I'm not sure why it's legendary. Still, I liked its sense of humor, and enjoyed it when it wasn’t trying to be super serious. My favorite character is Ed.

Demon SlayerI'm mainly watching this because my brother wanted to give it a try on Toonami, but I kind of checked out when it unceremoniously removed everything difficult about the sister being a demon and made her into an order-following sidekick that fits in a suitcase. Now the latest episode introduced a loud annoying side character, so we may quit. I have no idea why this one is so popular.

Fullmetal AlchemistCovered

Gatchaman CrowdsI was asked to watch this one, as well, but it went a lot better than Code Geass. It’s a bit weird, and I think it's naively optimistic about the internet in many ways, but I still found it's exploration of Internet-age superheroes to be interesting, and it's the best, most mature take on the Power Rangers-style ‘sentai’ genre that I've seen. I don't know how well it matches up with its Gatchaman legacy, but as its own thing, it's pretty good.

Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex (including 2nd Gig)This is another legendary one that I think is good but a bit over-rated. It's a good piece of modern Cyberpunk, but it's very talky, and very jargon-filled. I'm almost convinced that the viewer is not meant to follow half of the conversations, that they're just part of the ambiance. I tended to like the stand-alone episodes better than the storyline episodes. Still, it’s a very smart series, and probably the best thing in the franchise, from what I’ve heard.

Log Horizon (first season only)I’ll tell you what- I think it’s possible to make a good anime with the premise of people from the modern, real world entering a fantasy realm (either another dimension or a VR video game). Log Horizon did not end up being that ideal. The main character is a Gary Stu, his romances with girls who are either ten years old or just look like they’re ten years old are creepy, and it got boring seeing the protagonists’ plans always succeed without much of a hitch.

Lupin III (series 4 and 5)I like this franchise when it's being clever, when it's springing a twist while playing fair. Sometimes, though, it doesn't play fair with its twists, leaving me underwhelmed. And while the regular cast is amusing, they're fairly shallow characters; this isn't always a bad thing, as that allows them to slot into all kinds of genre fare, but does limit the storytelling ambitions. It’s fine.

Macross franchiseSuper Dimensional Fortress MacrossI still like the original, despite how dated it is. It's probably the best possible implementation of 'soap opera in space.'

Macross PlusI'm not sure why this one is so revered. I feel like it doesn't play fair with its mystery, despite being such a short story, and whole thing with the killer popstar AI just left me cold.

Macross 7I like the music, but the story really drags for the first half with a formula that’s repeated far too long, and then falls apart in the end. The love triangle isn’t resolved, and in fact I’m of the opinion that two of the participants didn’t even know they were in competition. The bad guys are allowed to sail off into the sunset, forgiven, despite still inhabiting the bodies of kidnapped humans. But this isn't a series you watch for the story; this is a series you watch because you like the idea of a rockstar flying into space in a transforming mecha, controlled by an electric guitar, to sing at alien invaders. Personally, I think the idea is dumb. Plus, this ruins the premise of the original series by adding in what is effectively magic.

Macross ZeroThis is pretty good and has the best dogfights in the series, but it has one of those weird arty endings that anime sometimes likes to do where no one can tell what actually happened and we need to find translated interviews with the creative team to get it explained.

Macross FrontierBy this point, I was wondering why everyone is so eager for the Macross franchise to get American distribution. It’s better than Macross 7, but feels like a first draft of the intended story, and the creative team lost track of their own subplots. The two AU movies do a more satisfying take on the same basic story, but sometimes they come across like an abridged recap of the series, so you really need to watch everything to get a satisfying experience. That said, the final experience was indeed fairly satisfying, making this the second best thing in the franchise for me. Still, I wouldn’t say it lives up to the original in any way.

Macross DeltaBoy, this one was dumb. Everything wrong with Frontier is worse here, with none of the good stuff.

The Melancholy of Haruhi SuzumiyaI still want an ending for this, despite nothing worthwhile coming from it since 2011. It wouldn't even be hard to pick it up again; set it in modern times, and explain the fact that everyone has smartphones now to be a result of some weird off-screen Haruhi antics.

Mobile Suit Gundam franchiseMobile Suit Gundam: Iron-Blooded OrphansI've only ever experienced the Gundam franchise because my brother wants to get into it and he keeps trying to find a vector. This was my first experience with it, and I found it very 'teenage boy,' in both tone and story. I was underwhelmed.

Mobile Suit Gundam Unicorn RE:0096Another case where the storytellers reached the end only to have forgotten the rest of the story. Why does that happen so often in anime? And I think it assumes the viewer is familiar with the whole rest of the franchise, because there was a lot that just went straight over my head but didn't seem like it was supposed to. Nice animation and art style, though.

Mobile Suit Gundam: The Origin - Advent of the Red CometEverything I said about Unicorn, only more.

My Hero AcademiaCovered

NichijouThis thing is still hilarious, even after a rewatch. Stick with the sub, as the new dub's voice-acting doesn't have the same range and power of the original, losing a lot of the humor.

Outlaw Star I'm struggling to remember a lot of this one. it’s another I watched because my brother was interested in it. I do recall that it was a fairly standard Space Western that ends in a way that's more like serious science fiction, and that for some reason a Japanese swordswoman in classic clothing was part of the cast. Now I wonder if that was an homage to Lupin III. Or maybe Japan just really loves throwing classic samurai into everything, regardless of setting or genre.

Pokemon (part of first series)I was in high school when this franchise first came to America, and for some reason all the geeks in my high school thought it was the greatest thing. The games were good, yeah, but the anime? I don't think it's bad for a kiddie cartoon, but it obviously has no greater ambitions than pleasantly occupying the kids for 22 minutes. Personally, what I really want is a series about Team Rocket done in the style of Cowboy Bebop.

Princess TutuCo-owner of the Best Magical Girl designation. I forget who asked me to watch this, but I owe them.

Puella Magi Madoka MagicaCo-owner of the Best Magical Girl designation. I still haven't bothered with anything but the original series, and I continue to be happy with that choice.

Samurai ChamplooI liked this better than Cowboy Bebop, but only because its ambitions were lower. It leaned more into its genre, had fun with its style more even when being serious, and as a result became more enjoyable. I overall liked going on a journey with these rascals, but I think it ended at a good point. I don’t need more.

Spice & Wolf (first season)I watched this on someone's suggestion, and found it a little underwhelming. What I really appreciated were the two main characters, especially that they seem to be into each other, romantically and sexually, and aren't freaked out by it while at the same time not being in a hurry to become a couple. It was just a kind of, "Yeah, this could really be something if we ever find the time." It was so amazingly mature and real. Too bad the main Economics plotlines just wound up being tepid.

Tekkaman BladeMy thoughts haven't changed on this.

Tiger & BunnyI'm still fond of this one, and I'm actually kind of curious to revisit it in light of My Hero Academia.

Transformers ‘Unicron Trilogy’These three cartoons are true anime, produced by and for Japan. (The other cartoons in the franchise were written, and sometimes animated, in the west.) It's garbage that assumes its child audience are morons, and on top of that the first two series wound up with laughably bad dubs. How this trilogy revitalized the franchise, I have no idea, and thankfully I'll never have to worry about it.

Volton (original)Either this or Robotech/Macross was my first anime; I was too young to say which I discovered first. I'll admit that the original Voltron isn't good, despite the toy being neat, but I have a soft spot for it. I tried the Netflix reboot, watching the first three episodes, and found it to be vacuous junk. Maybe some day a version of this will come along that will do justice to the toy.

And I think that’s it. If I remember anything I left off, I’ll reblog with the addition.

[monkey-network]

Steven Universe is Anime Garbage (And That’s Okay)

WARNING: This is gonna be a very weebish brain fart. I didn't come into writing it for any purpose, I just decided to write out my general stream of thoughts to see where it took me. This was the result. Thank you, take care out there, and enjoy.

A key to enlightenment is the severance of attachment

Can’t deny it. Steven Universe is a cartoon practically on the boundary with its many fans. Some find it engaging and wonderful, others find it wasted potential and struggling, and others are terrible fans with no sense of control or integrity, like most fandoms really. But I, a fan since its beginnings, wish to make a case that could potentially bring everything and everyone together in somewhat reasonable understanding (a stretch, somewhat). Steven Universe is a trash anime....and it is the best trash out here. Now I’m not saying this because it has an anime look, or that Jasper is a tsundere, or especially...

“Hey it’s a reference to that one anime that’s also very aesthetic™ and sad with lesbians and allegories!”

Nah, I’ll be real with you here. Now we really can’t deny that Steven Universe has its major flaws, not a hard pill to swallow way I see it. Wishy washy in tone, seldom in world building, basic animation, off putting character models, and so forth (though the last point is a malleable nitpick tbh). Furthermore, we can’t deny that the “plot” is up in the air and really not in the mood on coming down with anything truly shaking yet (putting a pin in that). But, I won’t deny that it looks good, some characters are worth my investment, and there is some development to be had in all this, for better or for worse. You could say it’s down the middle, so where am I going with this? Well, I think I found something that may be able to bring this together: Sword Art Online

*imitating Austin Powers* YEAH, BABY!

For those unaware, Sword Art Online is a light novel turned RPG Game turned full series anime about thousands of people getting trapped in a VR game with one seeking to escape by beating the 100 levels of the game. It has action, death, good game feel, wonky gameplay, and fanservice.... I do not and will not recommend this to anyone, nor am I just comparing this to Steven U because both have OP protagonists, a myriad of female characters, and how one character is generally Lars if a better person initially. To repeat, I’m not saying these shows are the same in plot and such. Though the similarities certainly come in their perceptions and reactions.

Also dual wielding

Let me sidetrack a bit and do understand, at the time SAO premiered, otakus, anime fans, and even esports fans were hyped! This was before My Hero Academy blew millions away, before Attack on Titan throttled its theme music onto people, many were stoked and kept up that stokeness for this for quite a bit. This was SAO’s keepsake: Mass Appeal and timing. Then people started seeing the cracks of the show’s true faults, and now we’re at the point where more of the franchise is coming and the fandom is dragging between people that find it sucks or never should’ve been invested in the first place, people that continue to make the lemons into lemonade regardless, and the creeps (you know who they are). Sound familiar?

I mean we could say the same thing for the current Star Wars fandom, but that’s a tad more complicated

But this isn’t enough to say this is trash anime. No, like SAO, there is one thing that can tie everything together to implode into an enveloping infinite wormhole of foolishness and cleverness. One moment that just brought everything together and is gonna put everything together in the end. The definitive proof that...

Rose Quartz was the Origami Killer all along!!

But seriously, this was a twist that certainly cemented itself into being on par in writing with SAO and similar trash series. I mean, from a meta perspective, it’s pretty hilarious that the biggest twist the show presented was mostly considered a joke in the same way people thought The Simpsons could predict the future with the absurdist jokes they made. And really, all the symbolism and foreshadowing from every episode previously doesn’t excuse the blue balls I felt with the recent two seasons. I’m sorry guys, the eye opening revelation can go so far with someone who was only glad something actually came together after so long (even if the episode leading up to it lacked that “special shit”).

But as for Pink Diamond being the real Rose Quartz, the twist admittedly lack that impactful-ness and really shows how they’re twanging a string in the efforts to make you take the story seriously. For one thing, it’s pretty stupid to believe that nobody questioned the abilities the one Rose had compared to a typical quartz, not to mention that it felt pretty convenient that she never lost her form revealing her gem to anyone beside Pearl. Secondly, it kinda bait and switches not just the ideal, but a reasonable idea of Rose Quartz for just being the ambitious dictator turned anti-villain bent on liberating the Earth from her bigger than thou parents and more or less her own armada. Like, “Ha ha, you thought Rose Quartz was an ordinary gem that had to make genuine sacrifices in her efforts to best the higher ups and liberate her kind. But in reality, she had the abilities to win all along and generally did everything for the sake of not being a dictator anymore. MWAHAHAHAAAA” We can examine the complexities behind her motivations all we’d like, but that just feels like rewriting the already stupefying concept to make it sound more sensible.

Funny enough, Rose could’ve definitely working as the Charles Xavier of this series but they never delve into that reasonably valuable concept*

Lastly, it sort of--lack of a better term--irons out the whole show up with Steven being Pink Diamond, if that makes sense. In the back of my mind, I’ve generally lost my suspension of disbelief in believing that a fourteen year old child is not only the reformation of a failed rebel leader, but said failed rebel leader actually being the supposed antagonist and jumpstarting source behind everyone’s frustrations, ambitions, and tragedies. As if Steven wasn’t special enough on the fact that he can revive the dead, like Sword Art Online, it’s already apparent that he’ll generally win in the end due to him being the Special, the Ninetail, the Last Jedi, the Hollow, and the Fullbring all in one. It’s kinda hard getting invested in your story when I can’t care about your protagonists! Maybe he might actually suffer long term consequences, but I don’t have much in the future since it now feels hard to relate to the protagonist, who by the way is the central protagonist meaning no episode can go without his presence apparently.

He’ll enter your dreams if he must

And I’m afraid that Steven Universe has officially sunk to trash tier anime. And frankly, it’s always been anchored to this. I mean with SAO, as much as I saw before quitting, there was plot variety, not plot flips. It is one thing to have your series shift from light villain of the week slice of life to something like Oedipus Rex, but to get this far, nose diving into this belly flop of a reveal, to then ask to be taken with a modicum of seriousness, what? To put so much ambition into your work, that you’re essentially believing your own hype, barely exploring a big handful of your own ideas, until now, trying to make sympathy and reason coincide with the villain(s) instead of making them somewhat real. One could say “Monkey, it’s not about taking on villains, it’s about achieving resolve within the group’s personal struggles.” And while that is a reasonable and pathetic way of saying violence can’t resolve things, it doesn’t bear the fact that the Crystal Gems were essentially fighting villains beforehand while achieving resolve, so why change things up now? Especially when the villains before don’t bear any quirk of their own besides being relative to the plot. Or a plot, since again, it wants to be taken seriously with the “story” it has, but juggles way too many things that it can feel hilariously jarring when the show actually gets somewhere.

And as a character drama, the establishment of its world and idealogies don’t feel as valuable when the importance and passion to them are continuously muddled or dull

And this is the way of trash anime. People shouldn’t have to continuously think of how things could’ve been better, why plotlines and characters don’t mesh well, why it can just feel so contrived. Yeah it’s unfortunate that an SU Critical community exists, and yeah sometimes they deserve scrutiny because some try to make it deeper than it is, but we can’t deny that this all appeared from a vacuum. With criticisms can come a consistent string of logic that some things have turned up wrong, something that the series failed to grasp previously. Like SAO, most Shonen works, and “those” shows that I won’t speak of, this series was and has become a glorified gamble on your interests and the anticipation to see where it lands, how cathartic it’ll be, and what’s to look forward to and look back on.... has somewhat slimmed. While it is most certainly its own thing, it doesn’t bear that evolutionary yet timeless nuance Avatar and Adventure Time has, nor the continually captivating hook the best anime can have with its episodes and characters. This series has gotten stupid...and I say it’s not wrong to think that way.

Anime isn’t that big of a mistake, you guys. Come on.

If there’s anything I learned as one of the smartest idiots around, it’s that stupidity can be enjoyable; trust me, I know. So while I say SU’s anime garbage, I’m not saying it’s the bad kind that kills your mood/investment like the shit I found. it’s the Rocket Raccoon of Cartoon Network (and if you’ve seen Guardians 2 and get where I’m coming from, I love you for it). It’s still enjoyable, for the most part, and I’m not gonna ignore the influence it had on its fans. Hell, Black Panther is a movie I find flawed as fuck, but I and the millions (and the millions) still recognize and appreciate it for what it provided, for black people especially. While it can be predictable, there are some good moments to think over, for better or for worse, like how the Rose Quartz was subtly hinted at throughout the seasons. It’s still competent in some aspects, there are a few characters I still love and, to unpin, things look like they’re finally heating up. It still has that “Fuck yeah” spirit buried underneath, like many anime good and trash. It’s certainly better than Star vs th- Point I’m getting at is that this series sure as hell ain’t bulletproof, but I’ll gladly bandage it up and see it through to the end. Not as some guilty pleasure, but as a series that staggers constantly and consistently but makes up in keeping it compelling (in a way). That’s a quality only the best trash anime achieves, shooting itself in the foot while proudly making that run to the finish line. I’m not just blatantly criticizing it or supporting all the hype it makes, I’m embracing it for going this long with this many bruises, willing to take more hits, all the while never really losing sight of what it set out to do. I’ll still smack it upside the head for the stupid shit it might pull, because I know it can and will, but that smack is delivered with love. And really, is that not a reasonable feeling to have?

Steven U is anime garbage... and I’m fine with that.

[sammyjs-ponies]

My Thoughts on MLP G5 Rumors (Potential Spoilers)

So you've probably heard about the massive MLP leaks lately. Among those have been a supposed plan for a Generation 5.

Below the Read More is my detailed opinion on the rumored direction of G5, and the things that I would like to see in a new generation.

The leaked concept art and information is highly debated on if it's real or not. I'm not going to share the images since it's a touchy subject for a lot of people, but by now if you want to see them, it's easy to find if you google "My Little Pony G5".

So, while the images are convincing, to me they look more like a really nice quality fanart than something a show would produce. From an animator's point of view, while the designs are pretty to look at, they are very complex and not practical at all to animate. I've heard rumors that it will be done in 3D instead of 2D (which is a huge disappointment), but even then, the designs have a LOT going on that would be distracting as an animated character.

It gives the impression that the show will:

Cut corners on animation quality to make up for the time it takes to work with that much detail.

Cut corners on story quality to make up for the time and effort it would take to animate that much detail nicely.

Become a more toy-focused generation and not have much of a show at all.

Judging how they've made a lot of smart decisions with G4 business-wise (not saying all the decisions were smart), it seems unlikely they would make a lot of these changes. But then again, the staff has changed a lot since the "good seasons" of G4. There's also looking back at how we all thought things like the Pokemon Sun & Moon starter concept art was fake, but it turned out to be real.

Assuming it is true, the plans/rumors I've heard so far are as follows:

(POTENTIAL SPOILER WARNING)

The same "Mane Six" characters are staying, and their designs (as in their colors and hairstyles) are staying the same. However, their species' are changing. Twilight to an Earth Pony, Fluttershy to a Unicorn, Pinkie to a Pegasus, etc. They will also be living in somewhat of an alternate universe.

Right away, this sounds more like a 0.5 generation. A completely new generation would have all NEW characters in an all NEW world. They might borrow a few names (Like Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, and Fluttershy all came from G3), and their designs and personalities might nod to their past incarnations, but they would be completely different characters. While a 0.5 generation will instead keep all the same characters, maybe change a few designs or personality traits (like what happened to Toola Roola and Cheerilee in G3.5/Core 7) and make a dramatic change in the art and animation style.

It will be CGI/3D.

This one is argued on whether or not it's true. Like I said above regarding how difficult the leaked designs would be to animate, 3D would certainly make the most sense if they want to animate this much detail efficiently. But if this is the case, I am severely disappointed. I was proud of MLP for going so long without falling into the generic, cheap, 3D animation route.

It will cater to an older demographic and have more mature elements.

This I am skeptical of, but not doubting. The MLP franchise knows all too well what they can get from an adult fanbase, but they could also face a lot of backlash from angry parents who might feel like they can't let their little girls watch MLP anymore because it's suddenly become violent (or God forbid, sexual). I'm curious to see what they mean by this. It could be fantastic and enjoyable, or it could be a massive failure.

They are changing some of the characters' personalities. In particular, they are changing Applejack to something more generic to promote diversity.

Am I the only one who sees a HUGE contradiction here? To create a more diverse cast, they're getting rid of the most unique main character, the only one with an accent and a tie to a specific culture? Do they know what diversity means? Removing a race is the opposite of diversity. Diversity is to have a lot of unique and different things. Diversity is NOT simply removing everything that is white or tied to whiteness. If this is what they plan to do, it says a lot about the direction the show is going to go. We may be bracing for a propaganda-fest of progressive racism and who knows what other Leftist and Social Justice ideals being shoved down our throats. The fear of this once pure show tiptoeing into sexual content doesn't sound so farfetched now...

They want the ponies to act even less like horses, because even now, they think they're too much like horses.

In a leaked email, McCarthy was recorded expressing worry that the ponies are too horse-like. THEY ARE HORSES for crying out loud! That was the appeal of the show, especially for people like me. We like the show because we like horses! We WANT them to be horses!

(END OF POTENTIAL SPOILERS)

So, what would I want in a Generation 5?

Knowing what MLP has done right and done wrong in its lifetime, plus what I would like to see, this is what I would want from a Generation 5:

First of all, MAKE THEM LOOK LIKE THEY'RE ACTUALLY SUPPOSED TO BE EQUINES.

What was appealing about past generations (G3 in particular) is that they were horses, resembled horses, and appealed to horse lovers. G3.5 and even more so G4 strayed violently from looking like something that was supposed to be a horse. I might get a lot of hate from G1 fans for this, but while the G1 TV show did a great job of making the characters look like horses, the toys looked like Hippopotamuses. I loved the G1 cartoon, but the toys don't appeal to me at all. They did improve some over the years, but in general (ESPECIALLY the baby ponies) looked more like Hippos to me than horses. The G3 toyline in particular did the best job of looking like horses, and I'd love to see something go that route again.

While you're at it, let them ACT like horses!

In complete contradiction to what the MLP staff say they want, I really loved it in the first few seasons in G4 when they would nod to the fact that they were horses by giving them horse-like mannerisms once in a while, like making them whinny when they were surprised or excited (they did bring it back once recently for Shining Armor) and that one time in the Buffalo episode where Rainbow Dash snorted when she was angry. It was really clever.

Not so many main characters, yet still not focusing on any one particular pony

One thing that both G1 and G3 did right was not having a set cast of main characters that dominated the series. There were a few "spokesponies" that appeared often, but were more seen as... idk... like the "leaders" of the town? than "THESE are the MAIN characters that you're SUPPOSED to pay attention to!!!" It gets old focusing on the same characters for so long, and you can only drag out a character arc so far. That's why FiM has lost my attention. When you start out from the beginning by focusing on a different character or set of characters every episode, you could seemingly run the show as long as you wanted to and always have new material.

Bring back the wide character assortment in toys!

My Little Pony's "Thing" has always been, until now, to have a wide selection of characters to collect. If the character was in the show, there would (almost) always be a brushable toy figure of them that you could own, and then some. There was no shortage of designs and colors to choose from, and if they weren't in the show, that added to the creativity of playing with them because you could make up your own personality for them. With G4, all you get are the main characters, maybe 3 or 4 background characters, and 2 or 3 "creative" characters. I don't know about other kids or kids nowadays, but when I was little, I always loved to have empty slate characters that I could project my own ideas and personalities onto.

Don't you DARE make it 3D.

This is more of a personal preference than what may or may not benefit everyone, but PLEASE MLP. PLEASE don't fall into the "just another generic, dumb 3D kids' show" hole. PLEASE.

Make something wholesome that can still touch on not necessarily adult topics, but deep topics (like the reality of death) the way older shows weren't afraid to do.

Don't focus too much on being funny. Like the 3D trap, nothing makes civilized people who crave substance turn off your show like a cartoon that acts like the only emotion kids feel is humor. Witty and clever gags are good. Random is funny in moderation. But if that's all your show has going for it, people are going to brush it off at best, and rabidly hate it at worst. We need shows like G1 that could go on adventures and help characters overcome problems. Problems that often got deep, and even invoked empathy, sadness, or even fear. We need shows like G3 that could inspire us and ignite our dreams. We don't need more shows that have to rely on pop culture references, making every moment "funny", and breaking the fourth wall.

[thesinglesjukebox]

RANDY NEWMAN - PUTIN [3.55] Days since last bout of controversy: five 0

Brad Shoup: This was corny when Randy dropped it last year. After 14 months of Putin standing in for the failure of technocratic governance, it's excruciating. It's a sketch of the man as rendered from a Colbert monologue: a collection of rusty zingers (the Kurds line, pretty much everything related to The Putin Girls) with rotted connective tissue. I suppose I should be thankful that he just made a mildly ambitious Mark Russell tune, rather than stretching this to Broadway length. [1]

Alfred Soto: He's topical and funny! He inserts details like the Trans-Siberian railroad. Through it all he sings in the thick-as-tar accent signifying that He's Being Ironic. As usual with this dude, he goes over my head and talks to boomers. [4]

Iain Mew: Robbie Williams's take was more enjoyable to listen to and funnier. It was also 90% about Robbie Williams and still had as much to say about Putin as this. [3]

Ian Mathers: This sub-Capitol Steps crap is the kind of thing that makes it very hard to remember that Newman is perfectly capable of both cleverness and decent melodies. I mean, he is, right? Have I been living a lie? [3]

Edward Okulicz: Newman takes this barely-there song which would have to weigh twice as much to even be a trifle, and sings it in a way that's so leaden, it crashes like a bowling ball. It's like a really awful musical number where the writer smugly thinks that because things rhyme, they're clever. It's no "Putin Putout," that's for sure. [2]

Nortey Dowuona: Big, shiny, cheesy singing from Newman as the swinging, chaotic piano sails through the expanding, energetic drums, tangled horns, tinkling guitars, sharply drawn strings and goofy choirs alongside the stiff and vivid bass. [7]

Rebecca A. Gowns: This reminds me of elotes: corn covered in cheese. Randy Newman has made Putin into a cartoon villain, one that's half-Disney, half-South Park. It's theatrical, silly, clever in a nerdy way, and dumb if you think about it for longer than a moment. Lord help me, I like it. I really shouldn't. But I do. Much like elotes. [7]

Katherine St Asaph: Well, now I know how Mueller's flipping everyone. [3]

Joshua Minsoo Kim: "Great political art doesn't exi-" [0]

Jonathan Bradley: In his 1999 song "Great Nations of Europe," Randy Newman turned the colonial powers of the West into Randy Newman characters: nasty, self-serving, and pathetic in a way that fails to dispel their malice. "Putin," from Newman's 2017 album Dark Matter, does the same for Vladimir; the Russian president is here an aspiring imperialist overly amused by silly puns about "Kurds and whey." When The Simpsons had George H.W. Bush move to its setting of Springfield, the show's executive producer Bill Oakley clarified that their parody was "not a political attack; it's a personal attack," and "Putin" works along similar lines. This Putin is a man who thinks a great deal of himself, and is dangerous enough to insist that those around him should too. That allows for propagandist grandeur as well as pettiness; this Putin claims everyman status while insisting at every turn of his own superiority: "You saying Putin's getting big-headed?" he scoffs. "Putin's head's just fine!" Newman allows his character to wander into bombast before that character reels back his comedic excesses in recognition of their silliness. So this Putin has a chorus line that chants ribald praise, only to have it negated by a paternal scolding: "Putin hates the Putin Girls, cause he hates vulgarity." Later, when his offsiders try to tell him the United States won the Second World War, he chuckles: "that's a good one, ladies." This probably has little in common with the real, nastier, more capable Russian leader, but "Putin" doesn't need to have a lot to say about Eastern European geopolitics. Its concerns are about subjects Newman has sung of across six decades now: power, and the brazenly squalid ways those who wield it are happy to use it. [9]

Will Adams: At the beginning of the year I complained about "Chained to the Rhythm" and its passive, inoffensive approach to the protest song format, but I didn't know how bad it could be. Imagine that same lack of insight except with plonky piano, punching down on women and Peter Griffin levels of explaining-the-joke ("Putin puttin' on pants!" "Kurds! Way!" GET IT?!). At the end of 2016 we were relieved the year was over, and that 2017 would be a fresh start. It's now almost 2018 and with each day we're wondering how many more circles of Hell we're about to descend. Won't the music at least sing us sweetly into the fire? [0]

[Read, comment and vote on The Singles Jukebox ]

[joyofcrime-elinorhigh]

2017 Year in REVIEW: Part 2

Hello everybody, my name is JoyofCrimeArt and welcome to the final week of Deviant-cember! It's been fun ride, but it's time to wrap up 2017. And I'm doing by going over all the major animated series/animation related news that came out this year, ranking the shows from best to worse, and deciding which animation network "won" the year. If you haven't seen part one yet I suggest you check it out before continuing this part, 2017 Year in REVIEW: Part 1 But for those of you who have seen the first part, let's just jump back into things.  Teen Titans Go! had another miniseries this year as a follow up to Island Adventures. This time, based off the episode "40% 40% 20%." one of the most popular episodes of the series. And to celebrate this event Cartoon Network decided to have a marathon airing nothing but Teen Titans Go! and the newly premiered O.K. For an entire week!  I'm starting to feel numb to this.  This is the "Night Begins To Shine" Miniseries, how was it?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NGIe8d9w8O4

 Now before I get into this, I do feel like I need to briefly go over my opinion on the episode "40% 40% 20%" since that's the episode that this miniseries is directly based on. And my opinion on it is pretty much the same as everybody else's. The episode is great, and shows that Teen Titans Go! can be genuinely good when it wants to be. The episode featured a stylish art style, a story that focused on abstract visual storytelling, and a really catchy song. The episode isn't without it's faults, but it is one of the best Teen Titans Go! episodes, in my opinion. So how did this sequel do?  Well let's start with the positives. The visuals in the music word are still really good, capturing the 80's aesthetic perfectly. It honestly reminds me a lot of Moonbeam City. Anybody remember Moonbeam City?  No, oh. Okay...  The covers of the song "Night Begins to Shine" by Fall Out Boys, CeeLo Green, and Puffy Ami Yumi were also neat to hear. Especially Puffy Ami Yumi, it was a nice throw back to the old show having them preform. However, I do wish that more time where devoted to these covers.  However, the special does have it's fault. One problem, surprisingly, is that the special focuses too much on story. Complex stories are not Teen Titans Go's! strong suit. Part of the reason why "40% 40% 20%" worked so well was because of it's simplicity. It focused less on story and more on visuals and atmosphere. But by trying to stretch the story out to an hour, and giving the music world this whole backstory it takes away that simplicity. Also we spend a lot of time in the real world, away from the psychedelic visuals that we all came for. And while "Night Begin's To Shine," plus the new song they make are both extremely catchy, they aren't enough to fill up an entire hour. And since all the covers are all shoved in at the end, the song kinda get's old after a while. And visually they don't really do much new with the music world that wasn't done in the first episode.  However, I don't want to be to hard on the episode, because unlike a lot of other episodes, you can really feel the passion that went into it. It feels like the people behind TTG were really trying to make something epic. And while I don't think it entirely works one hundred percent of the time, I do give them an A for effort. The special is better than Island Adventure from a technical standpoint, but it doesn't have the "so bad it's good" element that Island Adventure had. So it's kinda up to you're own personal preference to figure out which mini-series is more enjoyable.  But that's not all CN did, as like I said before, It wasn't just a Teen Titans Go! marathon, but also a marathon for there new show "OK KO: Let's Be Heroes."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xWyHZQARrnM

 OK KO: Let's Be Heroes, created by Ian Jones-Quartey, follows the adventures of KO, a young optimistic kid who work's at a mall plaza. The twist however being that it's set in a world with the rules and logic of a shonen anime or a beat-em-up video game, and by working at the plaza he'll be able to fulfill his dream of becoming a hero. Already the show has a lot of promise with it's premise alone, but how does it succeed in terms of execution?  Let's start with the characters. They're all pretty good for the most part. KO is a very likable character very reminiscent of the young hot blooded shonen protagonist that he is inspired by. Enid works well as the straight woman-  But not to straight, ammiright!? Up top!

Oh man, we got ourselves a sad lonely lesbian up in in this hiz-ous! Quick, Somebody give this show an Emmy!  Also I'd like to give special mention to Lord Boxman and his robot children, who are my personal favorite characters. Imagine Megaman's Dr. Willy and his robot masters crossed with Team Rocket from the Pokemon anime. The only character who I'm not super crazy about is Rad. He's not awful or anything, but his obnoxious personality can definitely become overbearing at points. Also his entire character arc is pretty much just Lars' character arc from Steven Universe, only not as well done. But he doesn't ruin the show for me or anything.  The animation for the show is kinda hit or miss. The show has a very sketchy art style that people seem to either love or hate. Personally, it's not really something I gravitate to. Though I do admire that it has an art style that looks different from the traditional "CN" art style that we've seen so much of the last couple of years and also do like how it has a kinda "middle school doodle" aesthetic to it. It's not a bad art style, just not really my thing.  However, what is a bigger problem is the consistency of the characters designs. And thus we enter the online debate that's been haunting the animation community have been having since Ren and Stimpy came out in the nineties. Is off model animation ugly or expressive? I feel like it can work in some cases, but I don't think it works here. Characters look off model so much that it just comes off as sloppy. Which is a shame because if we're talking just about the actual movement this has some of the most fluid animation that I've seen in any Cartoon Network series.  I also have a bit of the problem with the writing. I don't know what tone this show is trying to go for. Half the time it seems like it's trying to be this super silly cartoon while the other half of the time it tries to be a serious lore show and it doesn't gel well. The comedic elements mix well with the lore, like having the big season one mystery revolve around a falling sandwich.  I just couldn't find myself caring about it all. Also the shows main evil shadowy figure pulling the strings name is Shadowy Figure. I'm sorry I can't take this villain seriously. Coupled with some episodes with some really hammered in morals and a odd amount of gimmicky episodes, the show ends up feeling like a jumble of interesting yet disconnected ideas without any clear cohesion.  But is the show bad? No. What I think saves the show is the characters. They are genuinely likable and I like just seeing how they interact with each other. It's defiantly an improvement over there last couple of shows (Ben 10, Mighty Magiswords, Powerpuff Girls,) but I don't think it lives up to some of there other modern classics (Like Steven Universe, Adventure Time, or We Bare Bears.) OK KO is Okay...KO.  The unwatch button is down there. I completely understand.  Meanwhile Disney decided to get into the reboot game with Ducktales 2017. And can i just say that I genuinely think that if they didn't  use the old theme song everybody would hate this show. Like they could keep everything else the exact same, but if they cut the theme song down to say thirty seconds like most cartoons now of days people would hate this as much as they hate the Powerpuff Girls reboot.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YKSU82afy1w

 Well the show doesn't have any of the original voice actor and the creator's different, so the show must be awful right guys? Okay cool, done. Next show-  No, obviously I'm kidding. Let's talk about Ducktales 2017. No need to spend to much time on the plot, cause it's Ducktales. You all know the story. Three trouble making young ducks move in with there rich adventure loving Uncle Scrooge, and shenanigans ensue. They solve mysteries, rewrite histories ect. Disney hyped this show to hell, and even aired the hour long series premiere TWENTY FOUR TIMES IN A ROW! I really wanna know, was there anybody who watched ALL twenty four showings back to back to back? I mean someone must of, right?  Now I don't know much about Ducktales. It was WAY before my time, though from what I can gather this is a pretty good series in terms of it being a reboot. It isn't just adapting the old show. It's combining elements of the old show, the comics, and new ideas and that's honestly the best way to go about a reboot in my personal opinion. I'm glad they just make it a rehash with all the still living cast members returning, and a ton of wink and nod references to the old show that new fans won't understand. I give the show a lot of props for that.  I also want to praise the shows beautiful art style. I love how it looks like a comic book, not only calling back the series roots, but also giving it a unique visual identity. The show is also really funny, having a very clever wit mixed with a very comically exaggerated world. The world feels very comic book-y and has a real sense of fun to it. It's cool seeing all the creative shrines and temples that exist in this world, just waiting to be explored.  The characters range in quality, though that may not be the shows fault as episodes are being aired out of order, and as such the amount of attention given to each cast member is not equal. But I won't hold that against the show.  However, the show is far from perfect. It suffers a bit from what I call Milo's Murphy's Law syndrome. As in, the show is great on it's own but is so similar to what came before that it takes away some of the enjoyment. "But JoyofCrimeArt" I hear you saying "I thought you said that this show wasn't rehashing the original Ducktales cartoon." And it's not.  It's rehashing Gravity Falls. Okay, maybe "rehash" is a strong word, but It's hard to not notice the similarities. I don't know if this show is borrowing from Gravity Falls or if Gravity Falls was actually just a ripping off the original Ducktales and it just took me five years to realize it, but just take a look at the similarities.

 We got a group of tween age twins/triplets-

 -who move in with there miserly jerk with a heart of gold great uncle.

 And a socially awkward spunky girl with a grappling hook-

 -Who are trying to solve a mystery involving a missing personal. All without letting the miserly uncle know what's going on.

 With the miserly uncles dim witted older assistant-

 -and a cool "older sister" like role model along for the ride.

With an antagonist who is a rival businessmen to the miserly uncle.  Seriously, it's pretty blatant. And to be fair it's not an exact rip-off or anything. Some things are executed differently. The world and comedy of Ducktales is definitely a lot more cartoon-y and over the top than Gravity Falls. And there are elements in one but not the other for sure. But there are definite parallels, and judging by the marketing Disney is doing for this show it seems pretty clear that they want this to be their "new Gravity Falls." It's not that the show is bad per say, but it's hard for me to not compare it to Gravity Falls, and I'm sorry but Gravity Falls is definitely the better of the two series. In fact you could say that this show is basically...

Also can I just say that I don't give a crap about this shows lore. Like, at all. They try to do the big overarching mystery thing and I am just not invested at all. I like shows with lore, I really do, but this is far from a new concept at this point and if you're going to do it now you got to add something new to it But this is just the same beats. And I could be wrong, but I feel like I know exactly where it's going. Without going into to many specifics there's a character who mysteriously disappeared, and it looks like they did something really bad before disappearing. But I know their's going to be some explanation given to make their actions justifiable because I know they wouldn't make this character a bad guy. Their's another character who their playing up as working for the villain, but I know their going to give this character a redemption arc because that's what all lore shows like this do. Their doing that thing where they're solving this mystery but they don't want anybody to know about it, without any real reason why other than just the "we can't trust anybody" crap. Character's keep secrets from each other just so there can be more mystery. These tropes were new and innovated when shows like Gravity Falls and Steven Universe came out.. but that was a while ago and we've had a lot of mystery shows since then we've seen all these story beats in those shows, and nothing new is brought to the table.  So yeah, I can't say that I love this show as much as most people. But that doesn't mean I hate it. Their are things I do really like about it. Like the humor, the cartoon-y atmosphere and the art style. But it is a shame when the mystery, the thing that's suppose to be the most enticing, ends up being the shows weakest element. I think if this show came out a couple years ago. before so may cartoons followed this kind of formula, I would of liked it a lot better.  But hey, at least it's better than Marvel's Spider-Man. Ha-ha! Segway!

Yeah...this show doesn't really have a theme song...  Now it's hard to talk about Marvel's Spider-Man without talking about the previous Disney XD Spider-Man series, Ultimate Spider-Man. I only watched a little over one season of USM before I dropped the series because honestly, it wasn't very good in my opinion. The whole show felt like it was made by a committee featuring dumbed down writing, obvious cross promotion to other Marvel properties, and a Spider-Man who came across less like a nerdy genius and more like an arrogant buffoon. So when this series was announced, with official press statements referring to it to a "back to basics" approach to the franchise, I was hopeful. How did the show turn out?  Well...it's better than Ultimate. I think....  Honestly it seems odd that they cancelled Ultimate Spider-Man for this because the series feels like it has most of the problems that Ultimate Spider-Man had. Just slightly less so. The writing still feels dumbed down, but slightly less dumbed down. The series is less focused on cross promotion and mostly features Spider-Man characters, which is a plus as I though that Ultimate Spider-Man was a bit too "Marvel Universe Centrict." But that still hasn't stopped the show from already having an episode where Spider-Man meets Iron Man, and another episode where he meets the Hulk. IN THE FIRST FOURTEEN EPISODES. This version of Spider-Man is more of a nerd which is good, but they messed it up by going in the opposite direction by making him TOO MUCH of a nerd, with him constantly talking about how awesome science is at every possible opportunity.  Also the animation of this show is really bad. Nothing is shaded properly, and it's very distracting.  The only thing that I really like about this show is Norman Osborn. He's voiced by Josh Keaton, who played Spider-Man in the Spectacular Spider-Man and I was shocked to see how well is was able to pull off such an opposite character. He's just as petty and cartoonishly conniving as Norman Osborn should be. But other than that, the show doesn't have much to offer. It's clearly made for really little kids, and their isn't really much for adults. It's that bland kind of bad, where it feels like there just wasn't much passion put into this. I'm sure that's not true but that's how it feels.  Speaking of reboots of 80's properties, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2012 aired it's final episode after five seasons and over one hundred episodes. Now like I said in part one, I've only seen the first two seasons of this show, so I don't know how good the last three seasons where, but I'm glad that the show got a good run. From what I saw, it was a pretty great show. However what does annoy me is that Nickelodeon moved it to Nicktoons with only TEN EPISODES LEFT! Like really Nick? You couldn't just air the last ten?  Meanwhile at Netflix, not satisfied with just one anime-esq cartoon project they decided to make another. This is...(sigh) This is Neo Yokio. Or, another installment in my side series series, (Oh, the Cringe!)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dLNRZ_1WyzM

 Neo Yokio, created by Ezra Koenig and starring Jaden Smith was a show that was originally pitched to the Fox ADHD block, but ended up in a state of development limbo after said block got canned. But someone at Netflix decided that this show was something that the world desperately needed and decided to pick it up themselves. The series stars Kaz Kaan, the most popular bachelor in the entire city of Neo Yokio. He's you're average millionaire celebrity dealing with all the first world problems that a millionaire celebrity have to deal with. But he's also a demon hunter...and..and...and...  Jaden Smith is younger than I am. How come he has his own anime?! I want my own anime! Come on Netflix, pick up "Average Spirit Warrior" please!  This show is odd. Not just odd, it's an odd kind of odd that's hard to explain. I don't know what this show wants to be, and so I don't know how to judge it. Sometimes it seems like it's trying to be an action show. Other times it seems like it's trying to be a straight forward comedy. OTHER other times it seems like it's trying to be parody of anime. And other other OTHER times it feels like it's trying to be a serious show about social issues like the wealth gap and the gender spectrum?!  Is there just some rule in the Netflix contracts that says that every Netflix show has to tackle gender identity, regardless of it it fits the series or not? Is that why Bill Nye's show had a rap about a vagina? Is that why?  It has a real adult swim vibe, like they bought the rights to some obscure early 2000's anime and decided to make there own dub. The animation even has the quality to it to, with lots of really bad lip syncing. The show's art is also not that great, looking like it's ten years older than it actually is.  The show varies in quality from so bad it's good, to actually pretty dull. Unlike other over the top weird anime Neo Yokio has a very slow pace, which makes everything feel at lot more mundane. Also Kaz is a very hard character to relate to because he is so rich and so oblivious to the world around him. Though the show does definitely have it's stand out moments. The show is so bizarre that there are plenty of funny "WTF" style moments, like the running gag with the Big Toblerone bar and some of Jaden Smiths bizarre spiritual-isms. Jaden Smith, while pretty monotone as a voice actor, did surprise me a couple of times with some okay comedic timing believe it or not.    The show also has some interesting world building that I wished they elaborated more on. There's sort of this alternate history element to this world's history that result in a lot of creative idea. It's a world with no 9/11, the Soviets are still around, Japan and Italy are somehow one nation...  You know I bet if your reading this without watching the show first I sound like a raving lunatic. WHY IS EZRA KOENIG MAKING AN ANIME? He's primarily a INDIE GUITARIST!  Do I recommend watching it? Ehh, I can say that I have never seen a show quite like it...I'd say watch the trailer. It's a good representation of the show, and if you find that trailer "funny bad" then you'll probably get a kick out of this show. If not, then you can skip it. Overall, to me at least, the show just didn't have much synergy...  But hey, don't say you love the anime if you haven't read the manga...

 And Teen Titans Go! is getting a movie and wait...what? NEXT JULY!? Shouldn't there be like a...trailer or something out then?! I mean Spider-Verse has a trailer and that's not coming out till December! But hey..."In general, if a traditionally animated film comes out in theaters I'll see it just to support the medium." Right? I mean that's what I said in the last part...rIgHt?1  Now all the stuff that I've previously mentioned we're all fine, but none of it was grabbing the cartoon community attention to much. Ducktales came the closest, but with Rick and Morty Season three about to end there needed to be another show to be the new big thing. Then...Big Mouth Happened. Or...another installment in my newly booming side series (Oh, the Cringe!) REAL WARNING: NOT SAFE FOR WORK! For Real.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v8DlpO5UOnI

 Now when I decided to watch this show in preparation for this review, I thought that I was going to be the only person in the cartoon community to really talk about it. I thought that this show would like "Legend of Chamberlain Heights" or "TripTank." An awful show, but a show that would fly under the radar just because of how "generically awful" it would be. That's why I was suprised when this show became the biggest hot topic in our community,and a widely debated topic at that. For real, I haven't seen a show this polarizing in a long time. People like Mr. Enter and I Hate Everything say that the show is awful, and one of the first cartoons ever, bordering child porn in terms of the content that the series shows. Other's like PhantomStrider on the other hand found the series to be a smart and deep dive into the lives of prepubescent adolescents and tackling the topic well. Which side do I land on?  Ehh, somewhere in the middle I guess.  I'll start with the pros of the show first. The show's biggest strength it's relatability. Being a show that tackles puberty it is almost impossible for you to not relate to this show on some level. This does help ground the world and get you into the characters easier because you see yourself in their shoes. The characters are fairly good for the most part, with Andrew being the most stand out character out of the main four kids. This I think was what surprised me the most, as most of these shows tend to make the characters assholes for the sake of being assholes but they stay mostly likable. Though the best character overall to me personally is The Ghost of Duke Ellington played by Jordan Peele. His performance is just so over the top and it's just such a random idea for a character that I can't help but kinda like it. Also there's this one gym coach character who I feel like I should be more annoyed by, but I kinda end up really liking. Though that might be just because he reminds me of Coach Z from Homestar Runner.

 I show also covers a lot of topics that aren't covered in a lot of other shows, and covers them well. There is actual thought put into it. Honestly I think this show would be a good one to show somebody who is in puberty, as it gives a lot of informative info out in a much more personal way then most sex ed videos do.  The internal continuity of the world is very hey wire. Sometimes people can see the hormone monsters, sometimes they can't. Sometimes they have the ability to effect the world around them, while other times it's kept ambiguous to weather or not they even are real, or just figments of the characters imagination. But I also don't think that it's really the point of the show. I think it's just whatever is funnier in the moment. There's a fluidness to the reality.  However, there are definitely some problems with the show. Whenever the humor is trying to be crass or offensive the jokes tend to land a lot less. The show can end up becomes genuinely uncomfortable, and there were a lot of moments where I did end up changing tabs while watching. Being on Netflix they are able to get away with a lot, including showing full uncensored penis, vagina's, semen, and more. Often times involving the kids, and there is a real creep factor to it. I know the shows about puberty and that's the subject matter, but I feel like this is a rare case where "show don't tell" doesn't apply to storytelling. This is the shows biggest issue, and it's hard to ignore cause it's in almost every episode.  The shows art style also isn't the best. It has this "Family Guy meets Klasky Csupo" look to it. And those are to properties that aren't most well regarded for there animation.  Overall I can say that I did enjoy the show more than I was expecting to. Though keep in mind my expectations were "Brickleberry." I think the show is more good than bad though, with the comedy and the likable characters being the saving grace. But if you don't like ugly animation or gross out, then just pull out now.  Meanwhile in the real world McDonalds released the "Mulan Schezwan Sauce" to the public for one day only. All in honor of a Rick and Mortyjoke from the first episode of season three. Fan's rioted as there was not enough supply to meet demand, leading to the story getting national coverage from major news outlets. Honestly, I have nothing to add to this, I just think it's funny.  But forget about joy, it's time to become suddenly all serious and depressing! As the #MeToo movement happened several animators where accused of sexual misconduct. Some of the names of those accused include Loud House creator Chris Savino and Head of Pixar and Disney animation John Lassenter. I do want you to keep in mind though that these are just accusations. It seems like lately when a celebrity is accused of something like this people always decide that their guilty until proven innocent. Because they don't want to come off as victim shaming. However that doesn't mean they didn't do it either...yeah I have nothing else to really say here. Chris Savino was fired and John Lassenter was put on a six month leave, with rumors saying he'll be fired afterwards. Um...there's no non awkward way to segway out of this topic is there? Crap.  Um, anyway Teen Titans Go! had there 200th episode. And guess how they celebrated. Go ahead, just make an educated guess. Well if you said an almost four day Teen Titans Go! marathon over Thanksgiving weekend, then you'd be right!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_7MWNWJReqU

Okay well, at least this one was actually celebrating something! So there's that at least!   

 Meanwhile the same night Nickelodeon premiered "Hey Arnold! The Jungle Movie." The finale thirteen years in the making. 

  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pfSPjRoQjCk

He's got a journal and a long lost relative. Y'know what that means, it's time for some LORE!  Now, I've never really watched Hey Arnold before, outside of a few episodes-  JESUS CHRIST! WHAT HAVE YOU SEEN?!  -But despite that, I did find myself enjoying this movie more than I thought I would. The movie is fairly stand alone, and for the most part can be enjoyed without prior knowledge of the show. The biggest strength of the film is the cast, who are genuinely likable, and the comedy which is genuinely funny. I also like how the movie does have a bit of a darker approach to it. It's not Samurai Jack dark or anything, but the villain is genuinely threatening and there are some actual onscreen deaths. It's not bloody or anything, but it's pretty intense for Nickelodeon. This really gives the movie a since of stakes and danger that I really enjoyed. It earns the PG rating.  There are some problems though in terms of the story telling. There are some forced conflicts that seem like they're just there to be there. Also the movie is actually pretty confusing in terms of what is magic and what isn't to the point where I'm still not one hundred percent sure if the ancient prophecy was true or not. Maybe I missed something, but it seems kinda muddled. Also the villain, while threatening, isn't very interesting. He's just the cliche "want's money" villain, with nothing making him really stand out. But most of these problems aren't TOO glaring and I was able to enjoy the film regardless. And if I enjoyed it then I'm sure people who actually watched Hey! Arnold probably loved it. And I'm glad that the fans finally got a proper ending after all this time.  Unfortunately, despite trending on twitter the movies actual ratings were not very good, getting a 1.7 million across three networks. That might sound okay, but it only barely beat out The Loud House episode that aired right before and that only aired on one network. Even Teen Titans Go! 200th episode, which airs on a much less popular network, was only a couple thousand views less than it.  I'm torn, because on one hand I liked the movie and wished it did better, knowing how long the creator and fans were waiting for it. On the other hand, I'm hoping that this might help Nickelodeon get out of their "90's kids phase" that they seem to be in. i mean there's Hey! Arnold, Invader Zim, Rocko. All these announced revivals really makes it feels like there kinda having a mid life crisis. And while there nineties shows where great, I think they need to acknowledge that it wasn't there only good period.  If there's something to take away from this, it's that as much as you hear people talk about how much better things were better in the nineties, these people are the minority. Most of the people who watch these channels are kids, and kids don't care about old nineties and two thousands shows they've never heard of. They care about what's on now.  Also, while this news effects much more than just animation, Disney bought most of Fox's entertainments rights for fifty two billion dollars. Which is an amount of money that I cannot even begin the fathom. That's enough money to buy everybody in the world five large McDonald's Soda. And that includes like new born babies and stuff. (Alternatively, that might be enough for about three Schezwan Sauce packets.) In terms of animation, that means Disney now owns The Simpsons, Family Guy, Bob's Burgers, Archer, All the Ice Age and Rio movies, Allen Frickin' Gregory. I'm honestly a bit worried about this. Disney is become more and more powerful, and I feel it's only a matter of time till they monopolize entertainment. I'm also worried how this will effect other TV channels. For example, if Disney wanted could they pull all the Fox shows off of adult swim, or TBS? Only time will tell, as this deal will take about a year to really go into effect, but hopefully our new mouse overlord will be merciful.  And to cap of f the year, Cartoon Network decided to celebrate Christmas by having an EIGHT DAY LONG TEEN TITANS GO! MARATHON! (with two episodes of Steven Universe sprinkled in.)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qc7hwNB4Cv4

Now I know what you're probably thinking. "Wait, if they just passed two hundred episodes, then doesn't that mean they only have enough episodes for about two days?' Well normally yes, but even though there's only enough episodes that last two days, through a miracle it was able to last for eight nights.  And that's why we celebrate Hanukkah.  For real though, I try to defend Cartoon Network, but this is just too far! We had JUST gotten a multi-day Teen Titans Go! marathon literally a month ago! While annoying, at least I understand that one. It was for there two hundredth episode. It's a big milestone that should be celebrated. But this is just Christmas! Cause who wants to watch Christmas specials on Christmas right?! And it's not just Teen Titans Go!, I'd be upset regardless of the show. As of the time of this being posted it's still going on.  And it's not just CN. Nickelodeon had a last minute schedule change replacing several of there Christmas specials with Spongebob and Loud House reruns. Not all there specials though, and it was only for one day, so it's far less egregious. But it shows that when one channel falls they can all be effected. Ugh!  Yeah, I hate to end on that note, but honestly I'm just happy that I didn't end on sexual harassment, which was a real concern at one point. 2017 was a wild ride for the animation community, and I'm glad you came along with me on this look back through it all. Now, it's time to rank the shows. Keep in mind though that this is just my personal opinion. Also I'm not very good at these list things, and my opinion tends to change all the time. This is more of just a "for fun" thing. Let's do this. 9. Bunsen is a Beast 8. Castlevania 7. Marvel's Spider-Man 6. Ben 10 5. Neo Yokio 4. Big Mouth 3. (TIE) OK KO: Let's Be Heroes and Ducktales 2017 2. Hanizuki: Full of Treasures 1. Samurai Jack Season Five  Though that's just my opinions now. Who knows how they might change in the future. And keep in mind that there were a lot of shows that I didn't see or talk about that came out this year. Like these...  (Apollo Gauntlet, Big Hero 6: the Series, Billy Dilly's Super Duper Subterranean Summer, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, Danger and Egg, Dorthy and the Wizard of Oz, Hotel Transylvania: The Series, Legend Quest, Mysticons, Niko and the Sword of Light, Sex Swings, Strech Armstrong and the Flex Fighters, Tangled the Series, Tarantula, Tarzan and Jane, Tender Touches, The Jellies, The Magic School Bus Rides Again, Unikitty, Vampirina, Wacky Races 2017, Welcome to the Wayne, Wishfart)  As for the grade, last year got a B-. Good, but could use improvement. This year...honestly I have to give a C. Just...average. Even not counting the shows I talked about this year there were several shows that I watched, intending to put into this review, that I ended up cutting cause I had nothing to really say on them. And honestly, even shows like Ducktales and OK KO, which are pretty high on my list have their problems. But I acknowledge that every year's quality won't be exactly even, so I'm not going to panic just yet. I still have high hopes for 2018.  Now for the network that "won" this year. BTW since this is a new segment, I'll announce the winner for 2016 too. Last year I would say that Nickelodeon "won" the year for their success with The Loud House and for getting Spongebob out of it's seasonal rot. I've never seen the public opinion of a network to change so quickly. As for this year, I will say that the winner was Netflix, for really proving that their committing to animation. In addition to having the most shows I talked about this year (3/10) they also had other series that I didn't mention like Strech Armstrong Magic School Bus. Not to mention new seasons of Bojack, F is for Family, Voltron, Trollhunters and more. Sure not every show they had was great, but it shows initiative, and shows that they are a worthy contender in landscape of animation.  So that was 2017 year in review. While not the best year, it did have it's some very memorable series and moments. And I can't wait to see what 2018 has in store for the world of animation. What did you think of any of the shows or stories that I talked about today? Are there any that I missed? Feel free to leave your thoughts in the comment down bellow. I'd love to hear them. Please fav, follow, and comment and have a great year. See ya in 2018! (I do not own any of the images or videos in this review all credit goes to there original owners.)   

  https://www.deviantart.com/joyofcrimeart/journal/2017-Year-in-REVIEW-Part-2-722602821 DA Link

[deepestenthusiastmilkshake]

My First My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Review

Yes, the title gave the surprise away: I am a brony. I watch a show that was aimed at little girls, but has grown into something much greater. And I am proud of it. Proud to watch a show that has changed the lives of many people, including myself. Proud to be a part of a great fandom that has endured through all adversity. And above all else, proud to be as straight as can be, so I can prove all Anti-Bronies wrong. I joined the fandom sometime before Season 4 aired and have finally built up the courage to try reviewing. I’m not going to review the show as a whole, because Friendship is Magic doesn’t have a long story arc the way Transformers does and it would be too difficult to talk about all the ways this show is awesome. I could write a whole book if I wanted to do that. Plus, there are a lot of specific episodes that I want to focus on, and I can’t do that if I review the series as a whole. Instead, I’m going to talk about my favorite character centric episodes. What that means is that I’m going to review all of the episodes that focus on a specific character, be it that is demonstrates their best selves or bring out the best selves of others, which I find to be the most enjoyable. I’ll be doing this for every main and secondary character, so buckle up get ready for the ride.

I was going to start this review off with my favorite Twilight Sparkle episode, but recent events have forced my opinion to change. So instead, I’m going to go through the list in the same pattern that all of the Mane Six got their keys in Season 4, saving Twilight for last. And that means I’m going to start this off with Rarity.

Rarity was a character in the show, that I didn’t have that high expectations for when I started watching MLP. I’ve seen thousands of characters that are focused on beauty and fashion across dozens of shows, cartoons or otherwise, and they always drive me nuts!! They’re either vain, selfish, stupid, or evil, and I got really tired of that kind of character really quickly. That sends the kind of message that says that that’s the wrong way to be a girl, and that’s a very toxic message. But Rarity was very, very different. She’s friendly, fun to watch, funny, considerate, and above all else, she never looked down on anyone because of their appearance. She may have been a little passive aggressive at times, but she never saw anyone as anything short of worthwhile. She’s a prime example of how the show takes tropes and cliches and subverts the audience’s expectations.

Having said all this, you might think she’s my favorite character. Well, not really. I do love and appreciate her, but I don’t necessarily relate with her the way I do with Applejack or Twilight. Also, there are aspects of Rarity I don’t enjoy. Such as how she flirts with stallions to get her way. My problem isn’t with the flirting in particular; flirting has been used to create and maintain strong relationships both in and out of the workplace. My problem with this lies in the fact that whenever Rarity does it, it’s for her own benefit and not the benefit of both herself and the stallions she flirts with. That’s how flirting should be used in the real world: to benefit both parties, not just yourself. I don’t see that with Rarity. Whenever she does it, it not only benefits just her, it can also lead to the detriment of the stallion she flirts with. But then again, that’s one reason why I fell in love with this show: the characters have flaws. They’re not perfect, and that makes for much more dynamic characters and leads to some interesting stories. And besides, that is just one aspect of her, and not her whole character, and it doesn’t take away from an all around awesome mare and awesome character.

Figuring out my favorite Rarity episode was pretty difficult. Simply because, Rarity hasn’t had an episode that I can call bad. All of her episodes are episodes I enjoy, some of which are my favorite of all time. Now, she’s been in some episodes that I can call bad, such as Cart Before the Ponies, Mare do Well, and Putting Your Hoof Down, but the focus wasn’t on her. Whenever the focus has been on Rarity, it rarely fails to entertain me. And after long hours of soul searching and deciding (and flipping coins) I have finally decided that my favorite Rarity episode is….

The Saddle Row Review!

This episode feels like kind of a cheat considering my character centric rule, and this episode focuses on the Mane Six as a whole. However, the events that take place here are based on Rarity’s development and it demonstrates how she can bring about the best in others, so I’m counting it.

And besides, I can’t help it: this episode is amazing, and is one of my top three episodes of season six. The humor is great, the story is told in an interesting way, the characters (both old and new) are great, the animation is great, everything about this episode is just phenomenal. But enough prattle, LET’S DO THIS!

This episode is about Rarity opening up her new boutique in Manehattan. This was touched upon in Gift of Maud Pie, and now it’s being expanded upon. Didn’t expect it this soon, but I can roll with it. The place Rarity bought for the boutique is in shambles, but with the help of her friends, Rarity pulls through and opens, what some of the customers call, one of the best boutiques in history.

From that description, the episode probably doesn’t sound all that interesting. Cliche even. However, how it’s told and what goes on during it really makes this episode shine.

This episode is really unique compared to others because it is told through not one, but two framing devices, that make for some excellent humor. More into the humor later, but let’s talk about the framing devices. The events that happened in this episode already happened and the Mane Six are reading about them through an article in the Manehattan newspaper. That, on its own, probably wouldn’t make this episode as memorable as it is. However, that’s not where it stops. While the interview is shown as a flashback, the ponies being interviewed narrate the events to the articles writer (who looks a lot like J. Jonah Jameson for some reason) in a Manehattan diner.

That is a really unique and creative way to tell the story, especially for this kind of show. The way the scenes transition from one to another leads to some very clever humor, be it background gags from the setting, or one character saying something happened, and then the opposite happens. And what makes this so great is just how clever each joke is. You can probably see where they’re going to go with each one, but that doesn’t make them any less funny. For example, there’s one joke where Twilight starts singing a dance remix about sweeping, and Rainbow Dash and Applejack tease her about this when they’re being interviewed, however the scene then cuts to them singing along with her and enjoying it. The timing on each joke is great. The episode doesn’t spend too much time on one joke in the hopes that you get it. They move at such a rapid fire pace and just expect you to get it. That’s not that far off from Over a Barrel in season one, which is always welcomed.

But then again, I really shouldn’t use humor as a selling point for an episode, as humor is subjective. Fortunately, humor is not the only thing that makes this episode succeed. There’s also the moral. At first, one might think it’s another, friends are always there to help you kind of tale, but we already got that from Super Speedy Cider Squeezy 6000 and Applebuck Season. While that lesson is there, the deeper moral here is that when a friend asks you to help them, you shouldn’t think about how they might want you to handle it. Instead, you should handle it the way you would handle it, because that’s why the friend asked you for help in the beginning. That’s a really unique moral, that I haven’t seen in a lot of cartoons. It’s easy to think about how someone would want you to do something, but when you were given a task, it’s not because that person trusts you to do it the way they would do it, it’s because you know how to handle it best, in your own special way. And I really love this moral. It stresses individuality instead of mob mentality and that is always appreciated.

The characters were also great as well. Each of the main characters had a chance to shine and show their best, and the secondary characters provided some great humor as well, such as Coco being sick and Plaid Stripes spoon clothing thing.

But that also leads to the only problem I really had with this episode: Spike wasn’t here. Given how much he cares about Rarity, I find it odd that he wasn’t around to help her when she needed it. However, that’s my only gripe in what is otherwise a fantastic episode.

So, all in all, The Saddle Row Review is definitely my favorite Rarity episode, and all around one of my favorite episodes of the series. It was funny, it was thought compelling, it was a joy to look at, all the characters were great, and it was just a lot of fun. Definite recommendation from this guy.

The Saddle Row Review: 9/10

Hope you enjoyed this review and join me next time for when I review my favorite Rainbow Dash episode. I’m the Reviewer With No Name, and I’ll see you next time.