@Exit Seems we've watched a lot of the same stuff.
Arcane was good, and is probably the best new show on Netflix right now. But I feel it got weaker over time when they were setting up for season two and sometimes the rapid pace of the show prevented certain emotional beats from landing. Like that one bridge fight between two childhood friends might have meant more to me if they had appeared on screen together for more than just two very short scenes. There's more to nitpick about, but it's not really worth bringing up.
Invincible was also excellent, and had a very powerful final episode to its first season. I think it could have used a lot less Amber though, and it's clear some of the side plots were better fleshed out in the comic.
I stopped watching Castlevania after season two ended because I didn't really care for where the plot was going, and talking to people who saw season three made me think it probably wasn't for me. I did like Alucard and Belmont's relationship though. He was a Belmont, right? Been a while.
Avatar: the last Airbender was excellent. It did have tonal shifts and felt a bit unfocused at the start, but I also feel like that was partially because, surprise surprise, it was a kid's show on Nickelodeon. Though it does get mature enough later on that really anyone can enjoy it. I was never put off by it. Most of the worst episodes were in season one, but I also feel like it was kind of nice to get the core characters established before the real meat of the story started. Also, the Korean studio did some fine work with the animation. It was really refreshing to see something that while clearly anime inspired, wasn't afraid to be its own thing. Toph best character.
LoK gets a lot of hate, yea. I liked the first and third season while the second and fourth seasons were a snooze fest or bordered on painful. But really every season of Kora had its share of good and bad episodes. Regardless, a lot of the hate it gets is justified. The writing isn't nearly as careful in Kora, and at times the logic is so baffling that even a kid could pick it apart. Once such instance I'll put in hiders, which actually comes from my favorite season. While there are plenty of plot holes/contrivances, I felt like this was a big one given how much the plot rests on it.
Kora is a special avatar because she is the first one to learn how to metal bend. Something that is frequently brought up over the course of the series is that platinum is too pure a metal to be bent by metal bending. So when she is captured in the later half of season three, they bind her with platinum bonds. And then they poison her, because that's just what villains do.
After the bad guy is defeated, someone approaches Kora and laments that they have no way to heal her, as the poison has no cure and she's on the verge of death. For a moment it looks like we're not going to get a forth season, but wait! The poison is a metal based one! So one of the metal benders that are hanging around her just pull the poison out of her, and she more or less makes a full recovery by the time the next season's first few episodes end.
If the poison was metallic, why did Kora allow herself to ingest it? Why did the bad guys pick a metallic poison if they knew she could bend metal? Didn't they account for the fact that she has a trope of like, 23452345 characters that could bend metal even if she couldn't? If you just wanted to kill her, why not just stab her with a platinum sword, cause a cave in, etc.
And this sort of stuff really breaks one's suspension of disbelief to the point where you become critical of everything.
Kora also focused way too much on its side characters, to the point that Kora became a side plot in her own show during season four.
If Flee or Mitchells vs the Machines doesn't win the Best Animated Feature at the Oscars then I will continue to mock them and call them out of touch while also caring way too much about pointless award shows.
I just think it would be nice if something other than a Disney movie won because in the past ten years only 2 animated movies won that weren't Disney and like sorry, Brave, but ParaNorman was better and also fuck you Big Hero 6, Princess Kaguya ruled.
What I'm saying is I've never forgiven them for giving it to the rat chef movie over Persepolis
@BrokenPromiseListen you, I already don't understand why I like it, alright? Stop reminding me of the details! It's great, okay?! TRUST ME. AVATAR IS GREAT @Fabricant451. YOU CAN TAKE MY WORD FOR IT.
You started with the metal thing and now I'm in a rabbit hole of issues with the show. Like did we get a proper explanation for how Amon blocked her bending??? Or maybe we did and the answer is easy to find and I've just stopped trying to find it back when the show was still new. Not only that but just Aang showing back up to Deus Machina the issue. Or Jinora doing the same thing in season 2. Or Zaheer being so god awfully amazing with his abilities in season 3 but holy did I love to see it.
Or Korra being a side character in season 4. Or Toph giving Kuvira a stern talking too.
And yeah, we share pretty much the same opinions across all the shows, especially the bridge fight in Arcane and season 2 of Castlevania. Anyways, since you're copying me I think you owe me recs now. Pretty sure this is how this works.
Avatar is great, but only if we're talking about Last Airbender. Kora was mediocre, but after you got done with Airbender, Kora was downright insulting.
Amon was able to block the blood bending because he was a far more powerful blood bender. In fact, he was so strong he was able to replicate Aang's ability to block bending, which was just done through blood bending I guess? Season one of Kora wasn't too offensive, but some of the stuff wasn't spelled out for you. And I seem to recall Kora unlocking Aang's memories and just undoing the blood bending. If Aang and Kora were both alive at the same time, that's a huge lol moment.
Season two sucked. It only gave us those twins and "JULIE, DO THE THING!" but was otherwise something that more or less shouldn't have happened.
Zaheer is why I think Kora is worth watching at all. I really wanted to see what an evil air bender would be like and season three delivered on that. going back into how they don't explain things great, it wasn't untill several days after I watched the episode that I realized the only reason he was able to fly was because his waifu who died was the only thing he cared about in the world. So once she was dead, he had no more worldly desires. 10/10 villain, wasted on this show though. His skill with bending was a little weird, but the idea of people just magically becoming benders was a weird angle. I guess they justified it because he more or less worshipped the air benders, and most of their training was inner strength stuff, which he had in spades.
Sorry to hurt you though.
In regards to the Oscars, I'm pretty sure people will take it seriously again when/if it gets back in touch with reality and doesn't serve huge media conglomerates by being a popularity contest.
Still need to get to the other seasons, but the first season of Infinity Train is almost the perfect response/counterpart to the last show I watched.
The main character is lost somewhere unknown, and actually acts like she wants to get somewhere fast. The show does its dark and playful scenes far better. (And the character hates singing songs in cartoons as much as I do.)
Plus, almost all the jokes are dogs are cute and morbid humor. Both things which I'm a sucker for. So yeah, it was pretty entertaining/well-animated. (Now I'm just waiting for them to fuck things up.) If I could give my original two cents on Korra. I honestly didn't find the first season all that bad on my first uncritical viewing. (Maybe a 6/10.) Liked the bad guy in concept, and didn't care that much about the anti-climax ending that bothered others more.
But the 2nd season turned me off so fast. And I wouldn't even be able to tell you exactly why. But watching glimpses of episodes throughout while my friend/roommate watched it. I think I'd hate it for the same reason I found Digimon Frontier so insufferable to watch.
1. BAD, like VERY BAD, comedy. 2. The lead is a mary sue/stew character. 3. Your hero still loses every goddamn fight.
You know, most people like characters having to train, then overcome their battles. But if you're going to be "I'M THE AVATAR AND YOU HAFFTA DEAL WITH IT." or "Friendship. Friendship! Friieendshiip!" And be unlikeable as sin every episode, you could at least outsmart your opponents and win some battles on your own maybe. <.<'
(Don't know if its even fully accurate to Korra. But every time I looked at the screen, it was either (A.) A god awful joke. (B.) Korra being unlikeable. (C.) Korra failing.
I can't call the second season of Infinity Train, "a bad cartoon". (Because it isn't. It builds from season one more than I expected it too, and it has some decent creative moments in its second half.)
But in its efforts to be a more cohesive story. It became significantly less enjoyable than the previous part. Since it's main character is literally named MT. (Empty) Because they're a husk of a previous character, and they're defined by what they aren't/don't want to be. Hence, a bad character.
Plus, the (lul so random) humor is almost non-existent and comes from a single character that exists to create and resolve half of the episodes conflicts. So, I go into "the dark" 3rd season, with hopes that it can be executed better. The third season is baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaad. Better animation and an arguably more compelling lead. (Than season 2.) But it's basically a modern comic that can't make a 'villain arc' to save its soul. With some pretty bad writing to boot. But at least one of the writers got to kill off her ex-boyfriend in a kids show?
Watching Robozuna again. I started it a long time ago but I honestly forgot about the show even being a thing, which is sad since the concept is honestly interesting to me. Robot "battle basketball" and rebel fighting against an oppressive ruler/country? Sounds cool enough. It even has Ali-A of all people voicing a character in it.
Also, personally some of the character designs remind me so, so much of the Teku from the old Hot Wheels Acceleracers, which is probably another reason why the show draws my interest. For instance:
Essentially, they have nearly the same color schemes. Blues, oranges, etc. Had I not grown up with the World Race/Acceleracers series + games as a kid, they could've probably passed off as a background Teku character.
Live action, I know, but it falls under the same category. That said, who thought this would be a good idea? I'm honestly on the fence with the whole real life actors but cartoon fairies/magic. They already did the "show's main characters but live action and grown up" years ago with the movie, too.
I know I'm gonna get burnt at the stake for saying this but I absolutely positively cannot care less for Amphibia or Owl House.
I still need to finish watching Amphibia. Admittedly, I've only watched like the first episode, but the pacing felt awkward IMO.
Honestly, I think it would've been better off if they started the show off with some buildup with Anne and Co, leading to them stealing the box and then being transported to the other world. Just feels like it would have better flow that way and that you'd have a better connection the human cast.
As for Owl House, the show is okay but it does have flaws, mainly owing to Disney planning to can the series ahead of time. You can clearly see the effects in the show, where plot points were rushed, etc.
So I binge watched ben 10 in a nostolgic rampage. I have to admit, I liked it. Most of it. Alien force is as amazing as I remember it it being. Besides from a few bad eggs it was great. The first series was a lot less enjoyable than it was when I was ten but hey, it does what it needs to.
What I want to talk about is ultimate alien. It has so much going for it and so many plots I would have loved to see played out right but don't. The first season was great. Aggregor is easily the most dangerous and nefarious bad guy yet and genuinely got under my skin before he slowly became an annoyingly cliche and repetitive character. The short side plot of dealing with Kevin's power-induced madness was equally as fun to me. The rest of the series was just bland. Old George and an eldritch horror couldn't help it at all!
I know I'm gonna get burnt at the stake for saying this but I absolutely positively cannot care less for Amphibia or Owl House.
Completely Valid, dude. They're both not for everyone. My interest with Owl house wained thin as the show went on. To me it has a lot of great artist and voice talent and a cool style but beyond that I'm really just watching it to see hooty. Even then, hooty is pretty annoying half the time.
Amphibia is honestly one of my new favorites at this point. Love the characters, love the story, and I can completely agree that the pacing is bizarre to say the least but the plot points seem to crop up at good times to me. Especially in season three where there is a bit more of a coherent plot.
I find your take surprising, not wrong or offensive, just surprising! I felt like the second season was my favorite. In my eyes MT is defined by wanting to escape what she isn't/doesn't want to be, rather than those things she was forced to be (as Tulip's reflection). It's a character I think a lot of young people can empathize with in that regard. People are after her for being unique/going against the grain and she feels the need to hide her true self while also craving nothing more than to be free. I love seeing how different people see shows and characters differently. Thought I'd throw my own to cents in the mix.
Anyway, I need a new show to watch. I started spectacular spiderman but if anyone has suggestions let me know!
I find your take surprising, not wrong or offensive, just surprising! I felt like the second season was my favorite. In my eyes MT is defined by wanting to escape what she isn't/doesn't want to be, rather than those things she was forced to be (as Tulip's reflection). It's a character I think a lot of young people can empathize with in that regard. People are after her for being unique/going against the grain and she feels the need to hide her true self while also craving nothing more than to be free. I love seeing how different people see shows and characters differently. Thought I'd throw my own to cents in the mix.
My enjoyment from the 1st season primarily came from the comedy. Which is as subjective as it comes.
So I can 100% understand why you'd like Season Two the most. I think it does the lore/world-building bits the best there.
I think my biggest pet peeve, no pun intended, is how the comedic sidekick horse creates a lot of the problems. (Compared to OneOne in the first season. When he had plot relevant reasons to do so.)
But I really do wish more cartoons were this plot-centric. So I watched the first season of "Static Shock". (Because it's another beloved show that I never saw growing up.) And I can totally see the appeal of it.
The characters are likeable, and even the "message" episodes aren't handled too badly.
However, I stopped at Season Two. Because it suddenly became a season of cameos. And celebrity cameos are my least favorite gimmick in shows of this era. (And I didn't know how much I'd be able to tolerate it.)
Plus, the music in this show is pretty bad. But, what rap theme song is good in this era of cartoons?
Live action, I know, but it falls under the same category. That said, who thought this would be a good idea? I'm honestly on the fence with the whole real life actors but cartoon fairies/magic. They already did the "show's main characters but live action and grown up" years ago with the movie, too.
It does break one's suspension of disbelief when you take a cartoon and make some of the characters real and others not. I'm not familiar with the show, but such a thing would bug me if it happened to something I was more familiar with.
I'm reminded of one of my favorite movies as a kid, which remains a good watch even today. Though it was a different deal since the main toons were original and treated the more familiar cartoons in a meta way by making them actors that resided in toon town. Even if you don't care for the movie, a lot of work went into making cartoons and humans work side by side. You had puppeteers, animatronics, and animators working without the assistance of computers. They even used props for some of the toons in scenes to inform the animators on how they should be shaded, which is probably why the effects still look sharp today.
I am of course referring to "Who Framed Roger Rabbit."
Plus, the music in this show is pretty bad. But, what rap theme song is good in this era of cartoons?
The Boondocks says hello. Aqua Teen Hunger Force too. Samurai Jack is top tier. And I will tolerate no slander of the 4KIDS One Piece theme but that's anime so it probably doesn't count