Tag Archives: Elena of Avalor

Hailey’s On It! Spoiler-Filled Review

Hailey’s On It! is a comedy-adventure animated series by Devin Bunje and Nick Stanto. Both are well-known writers and producers. This is the first animated series they’ve created together. Both wrote on series such as Phineas and Ferb and The Replacements. This is the 95th animated TV show produced by Disney Television Animation, since its founding in December 1984, with 37 Monkeys as an uncredited production company. Saerom Animation and Rough Draft Korea, two South Korean animation studios, did animation services for the series. Bunje and Stanto executive produce the series. Wade Wisinski directs and Matt Brailey edits. Matthew Tishler and Andrew Underberg are series composers.

Reprinted from Pop Culture Maniacs and Wayback Machine. This was the seventy-first article I wrote for Pop Culture Maniacs. This post was originally published on April 24, 2024.

Hailey’s On It! focuses on a resourceful teenage girl named Hailey Banks (voiced by Chloe Auliʻi Cravalho) who is on a mission to complete every item on a long list of challenging, and sometimes impractical, tasks so she can save the world. She tries to deal with her fears, which include facing her romantic feelings toward Scott (voiced by Manny Jacinto), her best friend. Hailey is helped by a futuristic A.I. named Beta (voiced by Gary Anthony Williams).

The series is part of an ambitious list of Disney productions, which includes Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur, Kiff, Primos, and others, such as Tiana and Moana 2. Cravalho will voice Moana in Moana 2. Unlike some series, Hailey’s On It! is an original story, and not based on any existing intellectual property, unlike Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur, Tiana, and Moana 2.

Hailey’s On It! is aimed at those aged 6 to 14, and families. But, the series is more than that. It includes a selection of music from many popular genres, such as pop rock, EDM, K-Pop, and musical theater. This is helped by Tishler and Underberg as series composers and the series’ sci-fi tenner. The series is a brilliant original project. It supplanted The Owl House since Disney may be leaving behind serialized storytelling. It could be the start of another set of series which are “equally as exciting.”

One executive producer and director, Howy Parkins, is known for his work on Rugrats and Lloyd in Space. The show’s story writer, Karen Graci, worked on Tuca & Bertie as a story editor and wrote for the short-lived series, The Harper House. Series creative director Lee Ann Dufour is a Black woman. She previously worked on The Breadwinner as an ink and paint supervisor, and a character designer and artist on other series.

Show producer Wade Wisinski is known for his work on The Owl House and Kim Possible. Jaison Wilson, an artist for this series, is a Black male illustrator who worked in Amphibia, Candace Against the Universe, and Milo Murphy’s Law. Leslie Park and Cat Harman-Mitchell are series directors. Park previously did storyboarding for Paradise PD, Farzar, and HouseBroken, and is an adjunct professor at Woodbury University. She’s of South Korean descent. Harman-Mitchell is The Owl House, and Ducktales, and describes herself as a “queer director/story artist.”

Joining Cravalho, Jacinto, and Williams, who voice the three series protagonists of Hailey’s On It, are Cooper Andrews, Julie Bowen, Josh Brener, and Sarah Chalke. Andrews is a Samoan man who voices Hailey’s Hawaiian father (Kai Banks). Bowen voices the White realtor and mother of Hailey (Patricia Banks). Brener voices the spoiled rival of Hailey who does whatever he can to win: A.C. Aychvak. Last but not least, Chalke voices a scientist known as “The Professor” who comes from the future and often has high energy. There’s also Hailey’s classmates Thad and Jonathan, voiced by Nik Dodani and Nico Santos, who become a gay couple. Dodani is a gay Indian man in real-life, while Santos is a Filipino gay man.

Apart from these voice actors, there’s Judy Alice Lee, Amanda Leighton, Joy Osmanski, Dee Bradley Baker, and Carlos Alazraqui. Lee voices the destructive and mischievous younger sister of Scott, Becker Denoga, who soon develops a crush on Hailey (more on that later) and begins a romantic relationship with Kennedy, her former school rival, voiced by Shara Kirby, at another point. In real-life, Lee is Korean-American, who voiced many video game characters. Kirby is a Black woman from the Midwest and known for voicing Alyx in RWBY. Leighton, a half-Latina woman in real-life, voices a popular school girl who loves fashion and was in a relationship with Scott before breaking up with him. Osmanski voices Scott’s mother, Sunny Denoga, and is Korean-American.

Baker does the vocal effects for Frank, a gay flamingo who loves Petey (Scott’s pet peacock). Alazraqui, a man of Argentinian descent, voices a local business owner named Bill Board who runs a company that erects billboards (per his name). Other well-known voice actors include Billy Hametz (as Road Rash), Chris Parnell (as Robert Vandertranche), Natasha Rothwell (as Carla), Martin Starr (as Cody), and Weird Al (as Chip Dingle).

Casting directors of Hailey’s On It! fumbled in choosing voice actors for this series. A Samoan man voiced a Hawaiian character (Kai Banks). A White woman voiced a time-traveling scientist (the Professor). A light-skinned Latina woman voiced a darker skinned Latina character (Kristine). Otherwise, casting choices seem fine in a series which unlike Hamster & Gretel, The Ghost and Molly McGee, The Proud Family: Louder and Prouder, or The Owl House, does not have White characters as protagonists. However, it shares having a diverse cast with Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur, which centers on Black and Brown protagonists and very few White characters from what I remember.

Hailey’s On It! begins with a bang. Hailey and her friend Scott are chased by people on a golf cart, throwing the viewer into action. This all happened because at New Year’s Day: a chaos bot tries to shred her to-do list but a time traveler stops it. A recording from her, in the future, tells her to complete everything on the list. The time traveler says she is important and absurdly claims that her list is the “first step” toward her saving the world. This premise is at the series’ center. Hailey is terrified to do one list item: kiss Scott. She tries to erase it from the list, but that causes a time glitch, allowing chaos bots to come and get her.

Later episodes involve romantic tension between Scott and Hailey. Kristine Sanchez (voiced by Amanda Leighton), a popular school girl with over 2,000 social media followers, asks out Scott, even though Hailey doesn’t want her dating him. Beta often helps Hailey, and Scott, allowing her to fulfill her list. This involves going to a taco festival, stopping mischievous motorcyclers (when becoming sheriff of a Wild West-like coral), and a sand-building contest where she faces AC. Beta, who looks like a teddy bear, is often chased by other creatures.

The aforementioned tension between Scott and Hailey reaches a tipping point in the episode “The Show Must Go Wrong.” In that episode, Kristine directs a school play about hats. Kristine is demanding. Scott’s sister, Becker (voiced by Judy Alice Lee), talks to Hailey. She is pulled into the play and helps Scott get over his stage fright. Scott and Hailey sing a romantic duet, which the audience loves. This hilariously ends when Becker smashes the stage to Kristine’s horror, declaring the show is a “smash hit.”

Hailey is an interesting character because she is not traditionally attractive but is more “bookish” and thinks on her feet when in tough situations. This allows her to get a photo of a rare owl, when she feels connected to her ancestors, building a tower with pop-sickle sticks, cosplay, fighting off bullies, correcting guessing jelly beans inside a jar, getting out of an escape room, and using up gift cards. In the last instance, Kristine and Hailey agree to be friends, and Scott calls Hailey “Hails.”

Other episodes introduce characters such as Frank, a flamingo, when Hailey adopts him. He’s later described as a queer icon by those crew members. Otherwise, she hosts a successful town concert, teaches a mouse to play an instrument, works to save a lighthouse from being sold (it becomes a wedding venue), beats a dance challenge game, eats a raw onion, wears high heels, and helps Kristine with her quinceañera. In the latter episode, there is some queer representation, but none in the main cast. That episode reminded me of a quinceañera held for Naomi Turner in Elena of Avalor and another for LaCienega Boulevardez in The Proud Family: Louder and Prouder.

Beyond this, episodes focus on restarting a cancelled show, trying to catch a chaos bot, earning a letter in a varsity sport (cheerleading), winning the “Crab Queen” honor, and an online contest to meet a K-Pop band. There’s also a funny character named Joane Droid. The protagonists think she is a robot but she is actually just an eccentric… Canadian student. All in all, there are White characters, but they are in the minority in this series, with many more characters of color.

In the episode “Catching Felines,” Becker, the wild free-spirited sister of Scott who blows up things for fun, comes out as the first openly queer character. Other characters include Jonathan and Thad, two gay young boys. She saves Hailey and Scott from wild cats. At the episode’s end, she tells her friend Chainsaw (voiced by Kyle S. More), that she believes that Hailey is into her, and that “some day I’m gonna kiss Hailey Banks.” This is something which Chainsaw supports! Although her voice actor is Korean-American, she is a Filipino-Korean character in this series, like Scott. Their mother, Sunny, is South Korean and their father is from the Philippines. It was revealed that their last name comes from a close Filipino friend of the show creators. Fans and show staff have shipped Becker with Hailey.

The 20th episode is a sea-change. Hailey, Scott, and Beta stop an extraterrestrial from being snatched by N.O.P.E. (National Organization of Paranormal Extraterrestrials). They destroy a chaos bot. At the same time, they rescue Beta from Area 37, and find a symbol which makes Hailey think she is evil. The professor from the future tells her that the symbol is for Haileytonium, the most powerful renewable energy source ever created. There is a probability strike after Kristine breaks up with Scott, increasing the possibility she can kiss Scott.

Scott becomes depressed after breaking up with Kristine. Hailey tries to get him out of this funk. She brings Scott on a romantic dinner. Kristine remains supportive until her declaration that no one else can date Scott, even though she broke up with him, because the break-up has been “so hard” on her. As a result, Hailey ends up destroying a cake which showed her true feelings. With this episode, Kristine’s possessiveness over Scott made me dislike her character more than I had previously.

The next two episodes involved Hailey trying to host a cool party and accidentally building something from the future. In the former instance, she invited a cool girl from Genesis who she was nervous about inviting, and others like Becker, who her voice actor called a “lovable menace.” In the latter episode, she climbed a nearby mountain and she began to gain more confidence and self-assurance. At the same time, Becker realized that Hailey is past-news for her, and got closer to a fellow schoolgirl named Kennedy. Both end up getting together. When Becker admits to Hailey that she liked her, Hailey has no idea what is going on.

By the 25th episode, there’s still an open question as to who is sending the chaos boats to “the present.” In that episode, Hailey is tired of people leaching off her. She becomes cool and confident while wearing a leather jacket. Even Kristine says Hailey has the confidence within her without the jacket. Other episodes involve Hailey taking care of a crab, vacuuming coins out of a couch, playing a mock trial, and learning the truth behind a factory. In the process, there’s some gay secondary characters and a lesson about misinformation. In the latter case, a Willy Wonka-type character named Chip Dingle, voiced by Weird Al Yankovich, explains how the dogs run the company and they “free” the beagles by letting them play outside.

Other episodes give some background. A cleaning robot, which sings a song about cleaning like Rainbow Quartz in Steven Universe Future, is the basis for Beta’s operating system. Hailey tries to complete a corn maze and asks a girl (Lucy Morgan) to come over to her sleepover. She also has an all-nighter, completes a trampoline course (with a nod to film noir), and has a sandwich named after her. Later, Hailey has to tell the truth for a whole day, including in front of “chemical spill king” Robert Vandertrache. His favorite thing is paving over playgrounds and he started a campaign to eliminate weekends!

Through it all, Hailey records a message in which she admits her romantic feelings for Scott. After she and Beta are saved, Hailey throws Scott’s phone away so he can’t see the message. Hailey implies she may have feelings for girls, like Lucy or Genesis as mentioned earlier. There are two girls talking intimately in school (one of their lockers has the LGBTQ+ flag symbol). In the thirty-fifth episode, the series directly alludes to homophobia. Frank the Flamingo is called a “failure.” Chuck Power (voiced by Kyle Kinane) detests his peacock, Petey, being attracted to Frank and vice-versa. Chuck appears to be a stand-in for homophobic people.

Last but not least, Hailey tries to lose a game of bowling to her dad. She attempts to save Christmas party ruined after people from the future engage in portaling pranks. As a result, the cosmic timeline is disrupted. This episode raises the question again: who is sending the chaos bots from the future? Do events need to happen exactly one way? Or can these events happen differently? This reminds me of the reported the necessity to keep “canon events” in Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse.

Upcoming episodes may answer those questions. Recent episodes, which premiered on Disney+, focused on obsession with mermaids, Scott’s family living temporarily in Hailey’s house (because Becker released termites for her pet peacock to eat), making fun of sitcoms, relationship honesty, and catching a foul ball. Others were about magicians, crass livestreamers, banned hair gel (with a fake ad which resembles those in Futurama), hosting a wedding, getting detention, flying kites, strikes, parental labor, invasive/non-local species, and other topics.

Presently, forty-seven episodes of Hailey’s On It! are on Disney+, officially packaged as twenty-five episodes. Many are doubled-up into 22-23 minute blocs. Whether Hailey’s On It! will be a hit remains to be seen. There’s strong voice talent which mixes with the fact it is cute, silly, and a rom-com. It focuses on an interracial couple. The latter is rarely shown in media.

Main and recurring cast is diverse. The voices of Hailey, Scott, Thad, Kai, Sunny, Jonathan, and Becker are of Filipino, Chinese, Hawaiian, Puerto Rican, Indian, Samoan, and South Korean descent. A Black man, Gary Anthony Williams, voices Beta. Brown-skinned characters, such as The Professor and Kristine, are voiced by White women. The latter weakens and dulls the show’s diversity. They are joined by two other White characters: Patricia and A.C. Although the guest cast includes actors of Colombian, African, and Filipino descent, many other guest stars are White actors.

While some say that the writers room being queer matters more than the actors being queer, I think it does matter. A series can have a queer writing room and queer actors, with the latter making such representation authentic. Cravalho herself came out as bisexual in April 2020. Some crew members, like Jaison Wilson, previously worked on Amphibia, which had various LGBTQ characters. Unfortunately, episodes to-date have not added any queer characters to the main cast. This includes Hailey, who could have been canonized as bisexual. The latter hasn’t happened, even though it would be very easy to canonize her bisexuality.

The latter is a similar issue with actors like Raven-Symoné (who voiced Monique in Kim Possible), Alyson Stoner (voiced Isabella Garcia-Shapiro in Phineas and Ferb), Keke Palmer (who voices Maya in The Proud Family: Louder and Prouder), and Karan Brar (voiced Prince Veer in Mira, Royal Detective and Gozi in Cleopatra in Space) to name a few, who are within the LGBTQ+ community. None of these actors got to voice a character which reflected their real-life identities, likely because they were in the closet or those behind those shows didn’t care to add LGBTQ+ characters. For Palmer and Brar this is even more unfortunate considering how recently they voiced characters. Hopefully, Isabella’s character reflects the identity of her voice actor in the new season of Phineas and Ferb.

A largely-circulated spreadsheet in which people anonymously described their conditions in animation studios mentions Disney Television Animation (DTVA), which produced the series, along with 37 Monkeys. Also, Rough Draft Studios and Saerom Animation did animation work for the series. DTVA was described as having low pay, bad treatment, and disorganization. On the other hand, reviews said DTVA had creatively fulfilling projects and the ability to work from home! Work conditions at 37 Monkeys and Saerom Animation are not currently known. Rough Draft Studios was universally criticized for assigning too much work, anti-union activities, having inflexible hours, forcing workers into “crunch time,” and being otherwise hostile toward workers.

Whether the series is overwritten or not, it lacks the magnetism of other series. It becomes somewhat repetitive and does not have the depth of other Disney series like Amphibia or The Owl House. Still, it has its strength in its own way. On that note, it’s hard to say that streaming is “the issue.” The real issue is that companies are replacing quality with a desired subscription growth. Hopefully, the Disney execs recognize the series’ quality instead of bringing additional drek to the platform or another platform-wide purge.

Hailey’s On It! is currently streaming on Disney+, airing on Disney XD and the Disney Channel, and episodes can be purchased on PrimeVideo.

[begin ratings box] Animation: 5 Voice Acting: 5 Music: 4 Writing: 3 Story: 3 Total rating: 4 [end rating box]

© 2023-2024 Burkely Hermann. All rights reserved.

Burkely’s Top Twenty Anime TV Shows of 2023

Composite image comprising of screenshots from seven of the twenty shows on this list. Top row: Birdie Wing (left), Magirevo (right). Middle row: Kuma Kuma Kuma Bear (left), Skip and Loafer (right). Bottom row: Yuri is My Job! (left), 16Bit Sensation (middle), The Apothecary Diaries (right). Not pictured: Ippon Again!, D4DJ, BanG Dream! It’s My Go!!!!, Shy, The 100 Girlfriends, Yohane the Parhelion, Otaku Elf, Power of Hope: PreCure Full Bloom, I’m in Love with the Villainess, Soaring Sky! Pretty Cure, The Vexations of a Shut-In Vampire Princess, My New Boss is Goofy, and Tearmoon Empire.

In my last post, I chose ten (Western) animated series which I felt were the best of 2023. However, of the over 40 reviews I wrote in the past year, 14 of them were anime. Originally I was planning to make this a top 10 list, but I decided that was too limiting, and added entries for five series I didn’t review on PCM (Shy, 16 Bit Sensation: Another Layer, Tearmoon Empire, The 100 Girlfriends Who Really, Really, Really, Really, Really Love You, and The Apothecary Diaries), as I did not wish to overwhelm myself by writing reviews of every single series that I watched in 2023, as that would be too much. There will be spoilers for each series.

Reprinted from Pop Culture Maniacs and Wayback Machine. This was the fifty-ninth article I wrote for Pop Culture Maniacs. This post was originally published on December 21, 2023.

Originally I planned to only list 15 anime series, but later decided to expand it with five others (Power of Hope: PreCure Full Bloom, The Vexations of a Shut-In Vampire Princess, Soaring Sky! Pretty Cure, My New Boss is Goofy, and I’m in Love with the Villainess). Although I would put Stardust Telepath on this list, I am still bringing together my thoughts on that series. So, it wouldn’t be right to include it in this list. Also, I wanted the list to be a round number. As a warning, this post will discuss death, near-death experiences, memory loss, murder, poisoning, sexual harassment, bullying, and sex work, among other topics.

20. “Power of Hope: PreCure Full Bloom- Streaming on Crunchyroll”

Originally, I hadn’t planned to watch this series, a continution of Yes! PreCure 5 and Yes! PreCure 5 GoGo!. Some have been calling this the “adult PreCure” series. It is the only series within Izumi Todo’s Pretty Cure franchise which includes adult magical girls, specifically Nozomi Yumehara (voiced by Yūko Sanpei), Rin Natsuki (voiced by Junko Takeuchi), Urura Kasugano (voiced by Mariya Ise), Komachi Akimoto (voiced by Ai Nagano), and Karen Minazuki (voiced by Ai Maeda). They are joined by Kurumi Mimino (voiced by Eri Sendai), a rabbot-like fairy who has a human form, and two fairies from the Palmier Kingdom (Coco and Natts), a bird-like fairy from the Donut Kingdom (Syrup), a handyman and humanoid bumblebee named Bunbee (voiced by Wataru Takagi), and many others. Each magical girl can transform into a PreCure.

Some fans were disappointed that the magical girls transformed into their younger forms. This was transformation is purposeful: they can only transform thanks to a sinister time flower, a plant which dictates how long someone lives. This means that every time they transform, they risk causing themselves to be mortally injured or die! Nozomi struggles with this the most: she is pushed to the brink of death to fight the “shadows.”

Like everyone else, she juggles her professional life with that of a hero, although the latter takes precedence. All of them fight against the system. The main villain is Bell (voiced by Yoko Hikasa). She is the town’s guardian angel who traveled from the future to the present. She’s convinced that if she culls the town of “selfish” people, she can stop its destruction by human-induced climate change and abandonment by humans. Later, she’s convinced that this is foolish. Her super-powered shadow later begins destroying the very town she swore to protect!

19. “The Vexations of a Shut-In Vampire Princess- Streaming on HIDIVE”

The Vexations of a Shut-In Vampire Princess, also known as Hikikomari Kyūketsu Hime no Monmon, is an adventure fantasy anime based on a Japanese light novel series by Kotei Kobayashi, which Riichu illustrates. The plot of this series is relatively simple: a vampire hermit named Terakomari Gandesblood (voiced by Tomori Kusunoki), or Komari for short, awakens to learn that she is commander of an army, as arranged by her father. However, she leads a notoriously insubordinate group, and the fact she hates blood has put her in a bad position. Her trusted maid, Villhaze (voiced by Sayumi Suzushiro), helps her, to ensure that she can be successful, despite her obstacles. There’s a lot more going on than that description.

For one, Komari does not actually “hate” blood, but was hypnotized for her own protection. When she has even a drop of blood, it causes her to go into a rage, allowing her to decimate any foe. She displays this on various occasions against villains and to protect her friends. However, she can’t remember these blood-induced moments and denies they happened. Unfortunately, this series has a problematic side. The manga was criticized because Villhaze engaged in sexual harassment and cares little about consent. This is also true in the anime adaptation. It is one reason I am extremely ambivalent about this series. There are certainly good points about hiding one’s “true self” from others and presenting a certain version of yourself to others. At the same time, Vill’s sexual harassment (which Komari hates) is cringeworthy and, in some ways, implies that such behavior is permissible (it is not).

18. “Ippon Again! – Streaming on HIDIVE“

I gave this series one of the lowest ratings, apart from D4DJ, which also has a cumulative total rating of 4.3. Ippon Again! was based on Yu Muroaka’s ongoing manga series, is a judo sports anime produced by Bakken Record. It centers on Michi Sonoda (voiced by Ayasa Itō) who planned to quit judo, but was encouraged by her friend and two others to change her mind, resulting in all three forming a judo club at Aoba Nishi High School. All of this is to the chagrin of Anna Nagumo (voiced by Nene Hieda), who wants Michi to join the fencing club instead. Although I’m not much of a sports person myself, was drawn in due to the well-animated action sequences, voice acting, and simple story. This series is nothing like any of the other sports anime I’d watched before.

In many ways, this series is in a league of its own, with some yuri subtext (especially between Michi and Towa), comedic moments, social awkwardness on the part of Towa, and talented voice actors. The series also is authentic in the sense that the writers clearly knew the right lingo about judo martial arts style. The series is filled with drama, emphasizes how determination and strategy are just as important as personal strength, and unfortunately says that hard work / gumption can lead to success (which is not always true). Regardless of whether people see any moments are problematic or suspicious, it is fair to say that this series has mild fan service. The choreography of this series is strong, fitting with the oft focus on sports matches, some romantic tension, and strong animation in the fight scenes, which offsets weak character development at times.

17. “D4DJ- Streaming on Crunchyroll and YouTube“

D4DJ was an enjoyable series for many reasons. Directed by Seiji Mizushima, this music anime is part of a wide-ranging Japanese music media franchise of the same name. The most recent season (named D4DJ All Mix) aired this year. The first season, aptly named D4DJ First Mix, centers around an idolish DJ unit named Happy Around! at Yoba Academy which plays a mix of J-pop and dubstep. It includes jubilant Rinku Aimoto (voiced by Yuka Nishio), school DJ Maho Akashi (voiced by Maho Akashi), VJ and talented illustrator Muni Ohnaruto (voiced by Haruka Mimura), and wealthy-born piano player Rei Togetsu (voiced by Kanon Shizaki). Music is front and center, informing character actions and dialogue, with the story almost built around the songs. Other musical units completing with Happy Around!, each have their own themes.

Although there isn’t anything to write home about, when it comes to the plot, songs played by each band are catchy. Then there’s the Muni-Runku rap battle (as shown above) about their feelings. This series has as much glitz as recent Love Live! anime series. Since this series has a 3D animation style, it took me some time to adapt to it. However, the distinct character personalities, fast pacing, and character journeys, made me more invested in the series. The second season pivots to another DJ group, composed of students at Arisugawa Academy, a well-regarded all-girls Catholic school. Like the first season, with Muni and Rinku especially, there is abundant yuri subtext. Unfortunately, these episodes do not pick up where the first season leaves off and Crunchyroll treats the show’s first and second seasons as separate shows, leading to even more confusion.

16. “BanG Dream! It’s MyGo!!!!!- Streaming on Crunchyroll“

With a total rating of 4.8, this series, this anime series adapts the band MyGO!!!!! and is the latest adaptation of Bushiroad’s BanG Dream! music media franchise, also known as Bandori, with Koudai Kakimoto as series director. The series centers on a girl named Anon Chihaya (voiced by Rin Tateishi) who returns to Japan and learns that everyone at her new school is in a band. She meets avid rock collector Tomori Takamatsu (voiced by Hina Yomiya), piano player Sakiko “Saki” Togawa (voiced by Kanon Takao), drummer Shiina Taki (voiced by Coco Hayashi) and  a student from a prestigious academy, Soyo Nagasaki (voiced by Mika Kohinata). However, Tamori, Soyo, and Taki were former band members, and there is tension between them as a result.

The CGI looks better than previous iterations. There’s relatable characters (including autistic-coded Tomori) and yuri subtext (either between Tomori and Taki, Tomori and Anon, or any others). Kaname Rāna (voiced by Hina Aoki) throws a wrench to the mix. She only participates when she feels like it and avoids getting caught up in interpersonal drama. Taki, Tomori, Soyo, Anon, and Rana form a band. Strains and teenage angst split them apart. When Soyo departs, the band breaks up, with the revelation she wants the band to crash and fail, and revival of her former band. None of this seems rushed. Each character is relatable without falling into a bad/good binary. Although their band reunites, with everyone realizing they are “lost.” Their tension fades, the series central focus shifts toward Ave Mujica, setting the stage for BanG Dream! Ave Mujica. I wish that pivot hadn’t happened.

15. “Soaring Sky: Pretty Cure!- Streaming on Crunchyroll”

This magical girl series is the latest in the Pretty Cure franchise apart from Power of Hope: PreCure Full Bloom. Like that series, it is produced by Toei Animation, a studio known for Cutie Honey, Dragon Ball, Sailor Moon, Smile PreCure!, and Sailor Moon Crystal. In Soaring Sky: Pretty Cure!, Sora Harewataru (voiced by Arkia Sekine) travels to watch the birthday of Princess Elle. In an effort to escape her captors, she and Elle (voiced by Aoi Koga) end up in Sorashido City, where she meets Mashiro Nijigaoka (voiced by Ai Kakuma). Later on, she comes across Tsubasa Yuunagi (voiced by Ayumu Murase) who can transform into a bird, and a young adult woman named Ageha Hijiri (voiced by Ayaka Nanase). All fight together against the Underg Empire, its plans to kidnap Elle, and learn what it means to be a hero.

Although fights with villains get repetitive, the magical girl transformations are amazing. The characters are relatable. Sora tries to be the best hero possible. Mashiro tries to become an illustrator. Tsubasa, the only male PreCure protagonist in the franchise, attempts to fly. Ageha is an aspiring preschool teacher. She comes from a divorced family, knows that Sora and Mashiro are Pretty Cures, and is the only adult PreCure as a protagonist, to date. Technically those in Power of Hope: PreCure Full Bloom are not adult PreCures as they don’t transform into adult forms. A mysterious woman named Empress Underg (voiced by Takako Honda) leads the villains. She vows to get revenge for Cure Noble “killing” her father 300 years ago. She is assisted by generals, monsters, and cold-hearted Skearhead (voiced by Mitsuru Miyamoto). It is later implied that she became cold-hearted over time.

14. “Shy- Streaming on Crunchyroll”

I only started this series on a whim and was pleasantly surprised, looking forward to the release of each episode every week. It is unique to have a series be critically analyzed on Anime Feminist in a positive way (sometimes they can be overly critical) and while I won’t say as much as their reviewer, Toni Sun Prickett, there is still a lot to talk about with this series. For one, Teru Momijiyama (voiced by Shino Shimoji), who transforms into a superhero named Shy using Heart-Shift Bracelets, is constantly awkward and embarrassed, hence her hero name, making her very relatable, especially to those who are socially awkward. There is a constant strain between Teru’s shyness around people and her hero self (as Japan’s hero), where she has to be among people.

There is abundant yuri subtext in this series, whether between Teru and her friend Iko Koishikawa (voiced by Nao Tōyama), or vibes between Teru and her hero colleague Pepesha Andreanova (voiced by Mamiko Noto). This connects with Teru’s long-standing empathy for others, allowing her to save her friend Iko from Amarariruku leader Stigma (voiced by Mutsumi Tamura), who tries to take ordinary people’s hearts and change their desires/wishes into reality. Iko and Teru go closer and even go together to the same school. One of the most heart-wrenching recent arcs was when Pepesha (as Spirit), who is a heavy drinker of Russian vodka, faces her mother, Letana Andreanova (voiced by Miyuki Sawashiro), in another form, and is able to share a short moment with her until she disappears. In the process, more about Stigma’s motivations to destroy the world and make a new one are hinted.

13. “The 100 Girlfriends Who Really, Really, Really, Really, Really Love You- Streaming on Crunchyroll”

Known as The 100 Girlfriends for short, some on social media disdain this series as yet another harem anime, I look forward to it every week as much as the reviewer on Anime News Network. I can understand people being critical of this series, as there are surely ways to go even with, as one reviewer put it, “a rise in polyamorous romance in Japanese anime and manga.” However, even that reviewer calls The 100 Girlfriends as a “landmark series” and notes it takes place in modern Japan like Girlfriend, Girlfriend, going against societal expectations. The protagonist, Rentaro, received explicit consent from Hakari and Karane to date them both at the same time, and did the same for every new girlfriend he added to his grouping, later called the “Rentaro Family.”

Surely, this series is bizarre and very entertaining, but its hard to know whether it sensible portrays polyamory or not, but it is undoubtedly better than depictions in Futurama. Its also more outward than polyamory in Young Justice, Steven Universe, She-Ra and the Princesses of Power, with the latter two confirmed after the fact by the series creators. However, there are also good depictions in Open Earth, Muted, and Ma Belle, My Beauty to name a few. The 100 Girlfriends shows what it means to have a healthy relationship with multiple people and loving each one of those people equally.

12. “My New Boss is Goofy- Streaming on Crunchyroll”

This series was another one that I had not intended on watching, but came across on a whim, and don’t regret my decision, one bit. At first, it might seem this is about a goofy boss (Yūsei Shirosaki) who has a new subordinate (Kentarō Momose) who is learning the ropes. There is more at-play. For one, Momose (voiced by Koutaro Nishiyama) dealt with power harassment at his previous job, where he often worked overtime, resulting in mental and physical injury, like trauma. He often has flashbacks to the terrible work environment of his previous company. However, his new boss (voiced by Takahiro Sakurai) is supportive and reassuring.

He even lets Momose live with him, to avoid his abusive former boss, and his new cat Hakoto (voiced by Hiro Shimono), who had a former owner who disliked him. Also brightening the mood are two others who work at the company, including is manager Mitsuo Aoyama (voiced by Tomokazu Sugita) and fellow employee Aigo Kinjō (voiced by Tatsuhisa Suzuki), who also left his former company because of power harassment. In more ways than one, this series is wholesome, making Momose and Kinjo, and others, realize that even if life is terrible, there is always hope it will get better. This series also has serious yaoi vibes, although it does not compare to the slow burn in Sasaki and Miyano between the two protagonists, or the upcoming yaoi comedy entitled Cherry Magic! Thirty Years of Virginity Can Make You a Wizard?!, among the many others out there.

11. “Yohane the Parhelion: Sunshine in Mirror- Streaming on Crunchyroll“

This series was a bit of a shoe-in for this list, considering that it is a spin-off of Love Live! Sunshine!!, and I’m generally a fan of idol anime, although I detest the idol industry. This series re-imagines characters from the aforementioned Love Live! series in a fantasy world, while being directed by Asami Nakatani, written by Toshiya Ono, and having Yumiko Yamamoto as the character designer and Tatsuya Kato asn the music composer. Sunrise, a division of Bandai Namco Filmworks, an anime studio which produced animated series within the Love Live! franchise, produced this series.

In this anime, Yohane (voiced by Aika Kobayashi) fails her audition to become a music idol and returns to her hometown. She re-connects with her childhood friend, Hanamaru (voiced by Kanako Takatsuki) and a talking wolf named Lailaps (voiced by Yoko Hikasa), while she tries to become a fortune teller. She meets administative chief Dia (voiced by Arisa Komiya), Dia’s fairy sister Ruby (voiced by Ai Furithata), Dia’s administrative assistant Kohaku (voiced by Mao Ichimchi), and others. As is typical in this franchise, there are many catchy songs, with the characters transported to fantasical and magical places, while singing. This even comes to play in the series finale, where they sing together to stop an evil force. There is yuri subtext between Yohane and Hanamaru, but also between the so-called mysterious Demon Lord Mari (voiced by Aina Suzuki) and Yohane. Friendship, family, togetherness, and self-worth are key in this series.

10. “Otaku Elf- Streaming on HIDIVE“

Originally, I hadn’t been planning to watch this series, but when I did, I was not disappointed in the slightest. Otaku Elf, also known as Edomae Erufu, is a fantasy comedy anime based on Akihiko Higuchi’s manga of the same name. This series focuses on a sixteen-year-old named Koito Koganei (voiced by Yuka Ozaki) who becomes a shrine maiden and caretaker of an immortal elf namec Eldarie “Elda” Irma Fanomene (voiced by Ami Koshimizu). Koito often attempts to get Elda, an otaku who fears going outside, to enjoy life outside the shrine. The animation style, comedy, endearing characters, and centrality of food drew me in.

What makes this series so interesting is that every episode has a story about Japanese culture, especially from the Edo period. There’s also undeniable yuri subtext in this series, specifically between Koito and Elda, while the anime as a whole centers on the importance of spending time with others above everything else. A related theme is the value taking breaks and not overextending yourself. I enjoyed the slice-of-life nature of this series, the other elves who come to the shrine, Koito’s sister Koyuzu, and another miko (and social influencer) named Komari. Unfortunately, the series implied that gambling was a non-issue and downplayed it, when it could have been more critical. Even so, the series often highlightd the importance of rememberance and preservation.

9. “Tearmoon Empire- Streaming on Crunchyroll”

This was another anime I watched on a whim. In a sense, it has some sci-fi themes, with the protagonist, Mia Tearmoon (voiced by Sumire Uesaka), getting a second chance which she uses to prevent herself from being killed by a guillotine (as she was in the original timeline). In some ways, this shares similarities with My Next Life as a Villainess: All Routes Lead to Doom!, which is also known as I Reincarnated into an otome game as a Villainess With Only Destruction Flags. Surely, enjoyment of this series may depend on how, as one reviewer put it, how you feel “about the glamorization of royal figures like Marie Antoinette.” On the other hand, I see this series as a redemption story, of sorts, for Mia, as she attempts to do better for the world than in her first life.

On the one hand, Mia comes with a plan to prevent a revolution and her death. Her reasoning is completely self-serving. She makes allies, rather than enemies, wherever she can. She becomes “The Great Sage of the Empire” rather than “The Selfish Princess who Ruined Tearmoon” as charms people along the way. I’m not necessarily a big fan of noble / royal fantasy, but I don’t have as negative of a response to this series as others. The animation and voice acting is excellent, and I don’t see any characters as badly written. On the other hand, this series falls into existing heterosexual patterns, with Mia having romantic feelings for Abel Remno (voiced by Yoshitsugu Matsuoka). There are no yuri subtext or themes in this series at all. Even so, this series is still enjoyable, although not as much as the others on this list.

8. “The Apothecary Diaries- Streaming on Crunchyroll”

Like Tearmoon Empire and Shy, I started it on a whim. This series did not disappoint! The Apothecary Diaries goes beyond exploring ways that women try to survive under a patriarchal system and help others in their own way. Set in a fictional country based on real-life China (in the Ming Era), Maomao (voiced by Aoi Yūki), who is working in a brothel in the red-light district, is kidnapped and sold to the Imperial Palace. Her anonymous actions save the life of the emperor’s children and catch the attention of Jinshi (voiced by Takeo Ōtsuka), an influential eunuch, leading her to become forensic pathologist in the rear palace, using her skills as an apothecary, and a taste-tester and lady-in-waiting for an Emperor’s concubine named Gyokuyō (voiced by Yoko Hikasa). She even puts freckles on her face so she is less attractive.

This series is more critical of the inner workings of royalty than Tearmoon Empire and much more than relatively pro-royalty Disney series like Rapunzel’s Tangled Adventure, Elena of Avalor, She-Ra and the Princesses of Power, and Sofia the First, or even Sailor Moon. More than that, I enjoy this series because of how Maomao uses her skills to solve mysteries for the royal court, often involving poisoning or death, but also related to bullying and allergies. There’s continual romantic tension between Jenshi and Maomao. Obviously, she has no interest in him, but he often teases her, which annoys her to no end. Her own life is a bit of a mystery, but it is implied that she may be the child of one of the former or current concubines.

7. “16Bit Sensation: Another Layer- Streaming on Crunchyroll”

You would not think that an anime centering on a time-traveling illustrator named Konoha, from 2023, who works on bishōjo games in the 1990s, traveling thanks to opening classic games, would be a hit! But, it was one of my favorite series from this year. In fact, it is what convinced me to watch the animated adaption of Kanon, an eroge visual novel, a series that goes beyond a male protagonist interacting with cute girls, to characters becoming endearing, and an effective transition between humor and serious content. The series gets very heavy in the last half, due to trauma caused by death, magical disappearance, sickness, and memory alteration, to say the least. Every week I look forward to the newest episode of 16bit Sensation: Another Layer.

Without a doubt, this series has nostalgic elements that only some fans would know, with Konoha (voiced by Aoi Koga) as an effective and energetic guide to these elements, even if annoying at times. This series is effectively a spinoff from the original manga which entirely took place in the 1990s, with Konoha getting a second chance to use her passion and skills, and it has feminist messages. More than anything, it is entertaining, interesting, and a love-letter to the 1990s, without having romantic relationships between the protagonists. Although I’m not sure I would classify this series as “isekai,” it does have unexpected sci-fi elements. This includes the impact of Mamoru, Konoha, and the rest of Alcohol Soft creating an amazing game in December 1999 entitled The Last Waltz, dramatically changing Tokyo’s Akihabara neighborhood, and the world as a whole.

6. “Yuri Is My Job! – Streaming on Crunchyroll“

This yuri comedic anime is a stand-out series for 2023. Yuri Is My Job!, also known as Schwestern in Liebe! or Watashi no Yuri wa Oshigoto Desu!, is based on Miman’s ongoing manga. Passione and Studio Lings produced this series, while Hijiri Sanpei directed it. The plot of this series pulls you in quickly. A high school girl named Hime Shiraki (voiced by Yui Ogura) who cares about her outward image as sweet and helpful, actively works to hide her self-centered nature. She is guilt-tripped into covering shifts at a yuri-theme cafe (Cafe Liebe) after accidentally injuring the manager, Mai Koshiba (voiced by Yukari Tamura). At the cafe, waitresses pretend they are students at an all-girls boarding school, each with their own persona. In the process, she’s drawn to another waitress, Mitsuki Yano (voiced by Sumire Uesaka) who appears devoted, but seems to hate her in private.

Each character shows a different level of fakery as waitresses. Sumika Chibana (voiced by Makoto Koichi) is calm and collected as a waitress but a gyaru outside work, Kanoko Mamiya (voiced by Minami Tanaka) is a shy girl and knows Hime’s true personality. As time goes on, Sumika grows closer to Kanoko, despite Kanoko’s unhealthy obsession with Hime. Yano becomes a “sister”/partner of Hime (who is hinted as demisexual). This anime also alludes to Maria Watches Over Us and parodies the Class S genre. This is coupled with appealing animation, drama, and emotional scenes. It is later revealed that Hime and Yano met each other as kids and they work to clear up this misunderstanding. Miscommunication is a major theme: Yano is coded as autistic and Hime tries to get everyone’s approval. The anime itself explores expectations built into existing social interactions.

5. “Skip and Loafer- Streaming on Crunchyroll“

This anime is a stand-out romantic comedy and slice-of-life series, which was written and directed by Kotomi Deai. It was produced by P.A. Works. This series has a simple storyline, with Mitsumi Iwakura (voiced by Tomoyo Kurosawa) going to a school in Tokyo, with the goal of becoming a rural planner in her hometown. She leaves her friends behind and meets another student, Sōsuke Shima (voiced by Akinori Egoshi), who helps her get to the opening ceremony in time. All of this is part of this coming-of-age story, with a protagonist who is driven, anxious, and endearing, which includes Mitsumi’s trans female guardian, Nao (voiced by Mitsuki Saiga). There’s humor which isn’t based on any tropes or common stereotypes. It is easy to emphasize with the characters.

Each character is given depth, even among those who appear organized on the surface. For instance, student council treasurer Tokiko Takamine (voiced by Minami Tsuda) is anxious and barely holding it together. Mitsumi and Sōsuke get romantically closer as their friendship strengthens. This anime focuses on the plot, characters, and worldbuilding. There’s casual queerness in this series, either through Nao, or yuri subtext between Yuzuki Murashige (voiced by Maaya Uchida) and Makoto Kurume (voiced by Megumi Han), who are opposites from one another. Mitsumi is sympathetic because she isn’t good at athletics. However, Ririka Saijou (voiced by Minako Kotobuki), an unsympathetic toxic character, nearly destroys Sosuke and Mitsumi’s burgeoning friendship. In the finale, she departs Sosuke’s life for good.

4. “I’m in Love with the Villainess- Streaming on Crunchyroll”

Although I’m still collecting my thoughts on this series, I’m in Love with the Villainess, it certainly is a stand-out series for 2023. This yuri isekai and romantic comedy anime is directed by Hideaki Ōba, written by Ayumu Hisao, and produced by Platinum Vision. This series has the typical story of an isekai, with Ooshashi Rei (voiced by Yu Serizawa) dying as a result of her office work and finds herself in the life of Rae Taylor, the protagonist of her favorite otome video game. She sets her heart on the game’s antagonist, Claire François (voiced by Karin Nanami), using her game knowledge in hopes of giving Claire a happy ending. At first, she teases Claire, which some called “uncomfortable” and “awkward.” But, those actions are purposeful, as she believes her love is one-sided.

Claire slowly starts to catch feelings for her, especially after Rae admits she is a lesbian and explains why she loves Claire. She seems to lose interest in Prince Thane, a romance supported by Rae, who believed that only Claire’s happiness mattered, not her own. This thinking is smashed into a billion pieces when Princess Manaria, an outward lesbian, enters the scene. She tries to take away Claire from Rae and is successful, at first. Claire is outraged they are both fighting over her, causing Rae to resign as her maid. The series finale ends this arc. After she is defeated at the scales of love, Manaria reveals her true goal: to be with Rae. She only wanted infuriate Rae and get under Rae’s skin. Ultimately, Claire blurts out “Rae belongs to me! You can’t take my things from me!” Hopefully there is a second season!

3. “Kuma Kuma Kuma Bear- Streaming on Crunchyroll and Hulu“

Some time ago, I first came across Kuma Kuma Kuma Bear, a fantasy comedy with isekai and iyashikei elements. Since then, I’ve watched the dubbed and subbed versions of the series. The second season picks up where the first season leaves, following Yuna (voiced by Maki Kawase), a bored teen reincarnated in a fantasy world. The world’s God gifts her an all-powerful, but comical, bear suit. She adapts to her new life and meets a ten-year-old girl named Fina (voiced by Azumi Waki), who becomes her work partner and sister. She also meets another ten-year-old, Noire “Noa” Foschurose (voiced by Rina Hidaka), who founds a fan club for the bears that Yuna uses to defeat monsters, Fina’s younger sister Shuri (voiced by Miyu Tomita), and granddaughter of Gran Farrengram, Misana “Misa” Farrengram (voiced by Satomi Amano).

Although this series is an isekai, it is unlike any other out there. Its immersive setting, worldbuilding, and characters in calm environments are devoid of romance, music, camping, or mystery. Instead, Yuna only tries to enjoy her life, with help from her friends, her bears Kumakyū and Kumayuru, and her bear powers. There is particularly strong yuri subtext between Yuna and Fina. Often, Yuna is pulled into the world of nobles. After all, her fan club includes princesses Flora, Noa, and Misa. Even the local feudal lord owes her favors. The series also makes clear that judging based on appearance is faulty and that overwork is a negative. In many ways, Yuna is inspirational, as she is extremely loyal to her friends and will do anything to rescue them from harm.

2. “The Magical Revolution of the Reincarnated Princess and the Genius Young Lady- Streaming on Crunchyroll“

This yuri isekai, named The Magical Revolution of the Reincarnated Princess and the Genius Young Lady, also known as MagiRevo for short, centers on a Princess named Anisphia “Anis” Wynn Palettia (voiced by Sayaka Senbongi). She saves Euphyllia “Euphie” (voiced by Manaka Iwami), who was publicly dumped by Prince Algard, Anis’s brother. Anis whisks her away on a magic broom. She applies what she remembers about witches from her previous life in Japan, to this new world, to move it toward social, or industrial, revolution. This series mixes dramatic and slow scenes with bloody battles, and remains engaging, with Algard (voiced by Shogo Sakata) trying to seize power by any means necessary, even if people are killed or hurt along the way.

Unlike other series, MagiRevo depicts monarchies as slow-moving and bureaucratic. This contrasts with the incompetence shown in Disenchantment or the benevolent monarchy in Elena of Avalor. I liked how Anis’s principled nature influences Euphie to see a societal potential for Anis’s inventions. Anis even creates special weapons for Euphie! Even so, Anis can be reckless, going to extreme lengths to ensure she can use a power akin to magic. MagiRevo is woven together nicely. Other than the cuteness of the show, the writers did a good job. Euphie is more practical, attempting to sell magicology, concocted by Anis, to skeptical people. One well-constructed aspects is the internal struggle Anis must confront when faced with the prospect of becoming queen. The final episode ends very powerfully with romantic development between Anis and Euphie, and sets the stage for a possible second season.

1. “Birdie Wing: Golf Girls’ Story- Streaming on Crunchyroll“

There was no contest to putting this series at the top slot of anime for 2023. I wrote two reviews of the first season in May and July, but the second season blew the first one out of the water. This original (wild) golf anime is directed by Takayuki Inagaki, with Yōsuke Kuroda as the series writer. The first season centered on a spunky teenage girl named Eve (voiced by Kito Akari) from the Nafrece slums who illegally golfs for money and a rich Japanese girl named Aoi Amawashi (voiced by Asami Seto). Both match each other in their skill and determination. Diversity is central to Birdie Wing. Issues like undocumented immigration, corrupt urban renewal, political corruption, and racial injustice brought to the forefront. Yuri subtext is abound, primarily between Eve and Aoi.

The second season picks up where the first one left off, with magical girl-esque golf drives by Eve and Aoi. This series flaunting rules of the sports genre, mixed with well-placed comedic moments. Birdie Wing goes above and beyond other sports anime, with compelling plot and characters, and physical toll of playing such intense golf hitting both protagonists. I liked how the series seemed to imply that Eve and Aoi were half-sisters, then demolished this idea with an absurdly complex web of relationships. In an intriguing twist, it is revealed that Eve doesn’t remember her past because of amnesia. She is displaced from Japan, thanks to Aoi’s controlling / overprotective mother, and works to get herself back so she can face Aoi again. Although the final episodes of the series are strong, it wrapped up too quickly. Even so, there is space a possible third season could expand upon.

Runners-Up

There are a few series which are runners-up to this list. Two of those are Tokyo Mew Mew New and Oshi no Ko. I liked the former much better than latter, because was very environmentally focused. On the negative side, it sent an unclear message about abusive relationships and involved the protagonist torturing one protagonist by almost electrocuting her to death. The latter series involves the protagonist being murdered, their mother (once reincarnated) being murdered, and manipulation. It is  very male-centered, similar to how Spy x Family focuses on Loid Forger while Yor is too often sidelined. At the same time, I enjoyed watching Ron Kamonohashi’s Forbidden Deductions, I’m Giving the Disgraced Noble Lady I Rescued a Crash Course in Naughtiness, I Shall Survive Using Potions!, The Way of the Househusband, Kubo Won’t Let Me Be Invisible, and World Dai Star this year.

Furthermore, I’m unsure about The Dangers in my Heart, felt that The Family Circumstances of the Irregular Witch was mediocre like Alice Gear Aegis Expansion and Kizuna no Allele. Nor have I finished My Happy Marriage and Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch from Mercury before publication. 2024 promises to be a good year for anime, with the premiere of Whisper Me a Love Song, Pon No Michi, Laid-Back Camp (season 3), the Rinkai! anime, Jellyfish Can’t Swim in the Night, Metallic Rouge, Love Live! Superstar!! (season 3), and many others. So, I look forward to it immensely.

© 2023 Burkely Hermann. All rights reserved.

Burkely’s Top Ten Animated TV Shows of 2023

Collage of all ten top animated TV shows for me in 2023, using available screenshots. Top row: Kizazi Moto (left), The Proud Family: Louder and Prouder (middle), Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur (right). Middle row: Villainous (left), Supa Team 4 (middle), My Adventures with Superman (right). Bottom row: Disenchantment (left), Adventure Time: Distant Lands and Young Love (middle two), and RWBY (right)

On December 13th, fellow writer Jean Hannigan published Pop Culture Maniacs‘ annual TV top ten TV shows list. I decided to put together my own list of my top ten animated series for 2023. I’ll be focusing only on Western animated series, not anime or films. Like Jean pointed out, this year, for television, was tumultuous, with the twin strikes of actors and writers through the summer and into the fall, leading to delays. However, this, generally, did not impact animated series, only live-action ones, for the most part. There are rumblings on social media of a possible strike by the Animation Guild when the union’s contract with Hollywood studios expires next year. Whether that comes to pass or not, the impact of this year’s strikes will undoubtedly impact future creatives in animation.

Reprinted from Pop Culture Maniacs and Wayback Machine. This was the fifty-eighth article I wrote for Pop Culture Maniacs. This post was originally published on December 19, 2023.

There are many shows worth putting on this list. I struggled with only choosing ten shows. However, I’m content with those which made it onto the list, reflective of my (sometimes) eclectic and animation-heavy tastes. Although I watched live-action series this past year, like Jean, I didn’t watch enough of them for an entire list. This year was, as Jean pointed out, strange when it comes to entertainment. I see that as a positive. I look forward to the series upcoming in 2024 and 2025. The Disney animation powerhouse will lead the way, followed behind by other studios. As a warning, this review will discuss murder, blood, death, mental health, near-death experiences, gentrification, sexism, suicide, blood, torture, and abuse.

10. “Kizazi Moto: Generation Fire – Streaming on Disney+“

This series, also known as Kizazi Moto, is laudable. It’s the second animated series produced by a South African animation studio, Triggerfish, and an Africanfuturist animated film anthology series. It does not shy away from death, suicide, blood, and related themes. However, it is a bit hard to describe. Unlike other animated series, apart from Star Wars: Visions, it comprises ten short films, each from a different African perspective. They focus on different themes, such as ancestry, family, culture, gentrification, value of one’s life, confronting one’s fears, togetherness, godlessness, and acceptance. The sinew holding the series together is not strong.

Even so, each episode/film can stand on its own. Many provide a launching pad for future animated series. Some episodes/films reminded me of Steven Universe, Birdie Wing, Star Wars Resistance, Yasuke, Rapunzel’s Tangled Adventure, Tron: Uprising, Star Wars: The Clone Wars, and Elena of Avalor. However, each film/episode is unique and involved animators and creators I’d never heard of before. Hopefully, this series provides opportunities for those creatives to share their talents beyond the African continent and connect to creatives in the U.S. and elsewhere.

9. “The Proud Family: Louder and Prouder – Streaming on Disney+“

It seems almost ages ago since I watched The Proud Family: Louder and Prouder. That feeling is not accidental. The entire second season aired over less than a month, from March 4 to April 1. In my review, I said it was unfortunate that the aforementioned ten-episode season wasn’t spread out across two months. That would make it easier to watch series and take in all that happens. Even so, the season is less glitzy than the first season, a benefit to the entire series.

On the one hand, I appreciated that this coming-of-age animated sitcom and adventure, a revival and soft reboot of The Proud Family, featured various openly gay characters, an interracial couple, and promoted racial togetherness. The series is not politically neutral. It has a strong focus on racial injustice, genealogy, Black history, family, Indigenous rights, problems with celebrity worship, family, paying people fairly, and friendship. On the other hand, only one of the protagonists is directly part of the LGBTQ+ community. Hopefully, this changes in the upcoming third season. There is an ongoing issue with colorism, as it relates to how certain Black and Brown characters are treated within the series, or repeating narrative set-ups.

8. “Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur – Streaming on Disney+“

Of all the animated series I watched in 2023, Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur vibed with me more than any other. Although it would have been better for the character to be aged up, for a young adult or mature series, I enjoyed it all the same. Not only was the diverse cast (which is majority Black and Brown characters) a plus, but so was the mix of old and new, and cool fight scenes. Apart from well-known voice actors, cast, and crew, and superb animation, like many recent Disney series, it endeavors to be dynamic, punchy, smart, enchanting, and comedic. The next season, which premieres in February 2024, will probably blow me away, again.

Like other Disney animations of later, representation is central to the show’s storyline. The 13-year-old roller-skating protagonist Lunella “Lu” Lafayette (voiced by Diamond White) has no special abilities. Her brains are her superpowers. There’s also LGBTQ+ representation, including her non-binary classmate (Tai) and non-binary trans female classmate (Brooklyn). Lunella’s best friend, Casey “Case” Goldberg-Calderon (Libe Barer) has two dads, who are voiced by gay actors (Wilson Cruz and Andy Cohen). Some ship Casey and Lunella together. But there are only friends in the series, not lovers.

7. “Villainous – Streaming on Max“

I never expected that 2023 would be the year that Villainous, Alan Ituriel’s Mexican animated series also known as Villanos, would air on a streaming service. I had heard of this series, which mixes science fantasy, morbid humor, and comedy horror, before, but it was only available in Latin America and had not been released in the U.S., leading some fans to post their fandubs on YouTube. Those were no replacement for the official dub, which aired on May 23 of this year.

This series flips the script often employed in superhero fiction, similar to Helluva Boss. It focuses on the villainous Black Hat Organization, with intriguing camaraderie, contracted by other villains to “solve” their hero problems. This leads viewers to sympathize with the villains. The series mixes humor with violence and “coarse language” and pokes fun at itself. The season one finale has a “hero” being locked away for something a “villain” would do. The voice actors stand out. The themes of overcoming your inner dreams and lampooning popular Cartoon Network series, fit with entertaining characters, and wonderful character design and animation. Unfortunately, the cast is not very diverse and LGBTQ+ characters are non-existent. Hopefully, it gets a second season.

6. “Supa Team 4- Streaming on Netflix“

I only heard about Malenga Mulendema’s Supa Team 4 on a whim, on social media. I’m glad I did because Netflix continues to inadequately promote this series. Although I don’t always like computer-generated animations, this superhero action-comedy series remains one of my favorites for 2023. This series, produced by Trigger Fish Animation Studios, shares some characteristics with other teenage superhero series and classic 2000s series from the 2000s. The story is wholly Zambian and centers on four girls with different (and sometimes clashing) personalities: Temwe Chiti, Komana Mwinga, Zikomo “Zee” Phiri, and Monde Wamunyima. They are brought together by a former secret agent named Mama K.

Similar to other entries on this list, Temwe, Komana, Zee, and Monde feel obligated to keep their real identities secret. They have one of the coolest superhero transformations, with upbeat music and a distinctive flair. It is only rivaled by Sailor Moon, series within the Pretty Cure franchise, and magical girl works. Themes like environmental protection, family, work-life balance, value of art, and obsession with popularity are key. They face off against a villain who tries to steal the city’s electric power, while masquerading as a “Black empowerment” capitalist. The second season premieres on December 21 and will .

5. “My Adventures with Superman – Streaming on Max“

Some time ago, on social media, I heard about My Adventures with Superman, and with all the corporate shenanigans at Warner Bros. Discovery, I thought it would be cancelled and never see the light of day. Luckily, that did not happen. Although I’m not a fan of the films produced under the Marvel Cinematic Universe umbrella, finding them often formulaic, pro-military, and otherwise detestable, I thoroughly enjoyed this series, which mixes the romantic comedy, action-adventure, and sci-fi genres. This was, in part because Clark Kent transforms into Superman in a magical transformation partly based on Kaido Minami’s transformation into Cure Mermaid in Go! Princess Pretty Cure, one of the first times I’ve heard Pretty Cure mentioned as an inspiration for a U.S. series.

This animesque series shines through with a focus on identity, canon-compliant Lois/Clark romantic relationship, diverse cast (Jimmy Olsen is a Black man and Lois Lane is a Korean woman), trauma, social media, fighting injustice, and dimensional travel. There’s also supporting gay characters (Mallah and Brain), villains who try to trap Superman (Task Force X), and complicated family dynamics. There are unavoidable comparisons with Superman in Justice League and Justice League Unlimited. The show crew includes former crew members of She-Ra and the Princesses of Power, Young Justice, The Legend of Korra, Glitch Techs, Kipo, Pantheon, and Final Space, and many talented voice actors. Hopefully, the second season is even better.

4. “Disenchantment – Streaming on Netflix“

The ending of Disenchantment this year was bittersweet. I have remained a fan of this mature animated adventure fantasy series, despite negative commentaries from online reviewers. I even penned reviews of Parts 1-3, Part 4, and most recently Part 5. Series creator Matt Groening is better known for The Simpsons and Futurama. This series can be as strong, with trauma, murder, blood, death, mental health, near-death experiences, and other related themes. There’s even an episode which criticizes asylums as inadequate, implying that existing psychiatric care for those with mental illness punishes innocent people.

The fifth, and final part of the series, with cool and creative visuals, focuses on Princess Bean (voiced by Abbi Jacobson). She is unsure what to do with her life. She is conflicted on whether she should stay with her lover, a mermaid named Mora (voiced by Meredith Hagner), or oust her controlling and arrogant mother, Dagmar (voiced by Sharon Horgan) as queen of Dreamland. Ultimately, she decides to pursue the latter. The series emphasizes drama more than comedy, apart from some funny moments. This includes her traveling to a gender-equal industrial steampunk city, Steamland, to save her dad.

There’s also a romance between “Mop Girl” and a half-elf named Elfo, evil manipulative puppets, and open queerness. Bean realizes she has “electric” magic powers. Strong irreligious moments, like “God” being powered by an electric lightbulb, are bright points. There are some cringeworthy moments. The series ends with a nice bittersweet reunion between Bean and Mora. Both get a “happily ever after” while Elfo becomes ruler. In addition, there is a same-sex wedding between Odval and Sorcerio. Alva is stranded on the Moon with the Arch Druidess. The latter got what they deserved.

3. “Adventure Time: Fionna and Cake – Streaming on Max“

Back in summer 2019, when I started watching She-Ra and the Princesses of Power, one user told me on an online forum about Steven Universe, saying it had better LGBTQ+ representation. I happily watched the series and learned about Rebecca Sugar, a non-binary creator married to Ian Jones-Quartey (best known as creator of OK K.O.!: Let’s Be Heroes). Around that time, I first learned about Adventure Time. I especially liked characters such as Marceline the Vampire Queen, voiced by the talented actress Olivia Olson. In the years since, I’ve remained a fan, and watched Adventure Time: Distant Lands with delight.

However, I only remember Adventure Time vaguely. So, I wasn’t sure to expect when I started watching this young adult animated series. Although Adventure Time: Fionna and Cake is accessible to anyone, in theory, it is truly made for fans who know the ins and outs of the Adventure Time world. I liked the anime references, relatability of protagonist Fionna Campbell, and Fionna’s journey through multiverse with her talking dog, Cake (voiced by Roz Ryan), and Simon Petrikov (voiced by Tom Kenny). Some characters from the original series reappear in this series, as do new characters, including Scarab (voiced by Kayleigh McKee).

I enjoyed the differences between each world they pass through, including how Princess Bubblegum and Marceline are depicted (continually with queer tension between them) and the racial diversity. The season one finale ends with a bang. Scarab tries to destroy the “unauthorized” world of Fionna and Cake, even after it becomes a canonized universe. Although the finale implied that the series was self-contained, without a season 2, the series was recently renewed. I am curious to see what happens next for Fionna and her friends. This renewal is a bright light of hope in a dismal animation landscape these days.

2. “Young Love – Streaming on Max“

Unlike every other series on this list, this mature animated comedy, a spin off from the short film, Hair Love, aired without much fanfare earlier this year. Young Love comes at a time that many Black-centered animated series are on streaming services. This series centers on three members of a tight-knit Black family in Chicago: a hair stylist named Angela Young (voiced by Issa Rae), an aspiring music producer and partner of Angela named Stephen Young (voiced by Kid Cudi), and their daughter Zuri Michaela Young-Love (voiced by Brooke Monroe Conaway). Their family strains come to the fore, especially when it comes to Angela’s parents.

Young Love, like The Proud Family reboot/revival, provides social commentary on many topics such as the sharing economy, sexist beliefs from men, gangs, social media influencers, homelessness, crowdfunding, anti-Black racism, pyramid schemes, video game addiction, gentrification, and marijuana smoking. All the while, comedy is part and parcel of the series, which has a strong slice-of-life vibe, and emphasizes the value of art and the creative process, even with many episodes having warnings for strong or coarse language, and occasional violence. While parental romance, family bonding, and rejecting religious belief in favor of spiritualism are not unique to this series, the next-to-last episode takes a bold stab at marriage itself.

Young Love concludes that love isn’t only possible through marriage. This contrasts from the marriage of convenience in Spy x Family, or the same-sex marriage either canonized (or believed as a headcanon) in yuri and yaoi anime or manga. There can be romantic friendships and romances without any legally binding life-long commitments. However, such depictions in popular culture are rare. The idea that unmarried/single people are abhorrent, bizarre, or “suspicious” is promoted instead. I hope that this series gets a second season, giving new/newish screenwriters, writers, and animators a chance to shine once more.

1. “RWBY – Streaming on Crunchyroll“

It was hard to choose which series would be number one on this list. This anime-inspired science fantasy action-adventure series joins the next six series on this list, with a total score of five in animation, voice acting, music, and story. Although I may have been too generous with those ratings, the ninth volume/season of RWBY really blew me away, more than any other series. It remains more captivating than previous volumes. It has mature themes such as death, suicide, blood, torture, animal death, and physical (and emotional) abuse. Those themes are not treated lightly, and shown with care, as opposed to gen:LOCK.

This series centers on four protagonists (Ruby Rose, Weiss Schnee, Blake Belladonna, and Yang Xiao Long) who are training to be warriors. The ninth volume has a classic conflict between good vs. evil, intricate storytelling, horror elements, character development, and strong visuals. The protagonists are stranded in the Ever After, a magical land. Even so, they still have their superpowers-of-sorts. The magic and sci-fi elements are often emphasized. Representation is stronger than ever. There have been LGBTQ+ characters before Volume 9, but the scene between Blake and Yang is a stand-out for 2023. Both realize their feelings for each other and kiss. Even so, Volume 9 could have been longer. RWBY should have more Black and Brown characters in the cast, at the very minimum.

Some predicted Warner Bros. Discovery’s bankruptcy, due to the corporate mismanagement resulting from CEO David Zaslav‘s actions since May 2021. This includes a HBO Max content purge (with some titles turned into tax write-offs), removal of many Warner Bros’ animated programs from streaming platforms, and cuts to Turner Classic Movies. Bankruptcy could put Rooster Teeth’s RWBY into peril unless Crunchyroll buys Rooster Teeth. Regardless of Rooster Teeth’s documented internal problems, such as sexual harassment, bad work conditions, and discrimination, a buyout is possible considering the existing Crunchyroll-Rooster Teeth relationship . After all, the film Justice League x RWBY: Super Heroes and Huntsmen, released in two parts in April 2023 and October 2023, has been well-received.

Runners-Up

There are five series which are runners-up to this top-ten list. This includes My Dad the Bounty Hunter, with a collective score of 4.65 for seasons one and two, on Netflix, Unicorn: Warriors Eternal in Max, Star Wars: The Bad Batch on Disney+, Star Trek: Lower Decks on Paramount+, and Futurama on Hulu. While I also reviewed Kiff (on Disney+) and Velma (on Max), both were mediocre series in my opinion. On the other hand, I watched rad series like Scott Pilgrim Takes Off!, Hailey’s On It!, and Scavengers Reign, which I enjoyed, and would recommend.

This contrasted with Gods’ School, an ongoing indie animated series. There are few currently airing indie animations, other than Helluva Boss, Godspeed (created by Olan Rogers of Final Space) pilot, Zeurel’s Monkey Wrench, EddsWorld, Bob’s World, Nora and Zin, and Swift Spark and the Defense Five. Some indie animations are in development, such as Far-Fetched, Lackadaisy, Lumi and the Great Big Galaxy, Defenders of Alodia, Mugshot & Pollen, and The West Patch. Others include Captain Zero, LimeLight, Sunnyside: Royals of Cora, Battle of the Bands, Wild Card, and Fighting All Odds. Although a “boom” or “renaissance” is debatable, more series are being produced today.

2024 will see Hailey’s On It! season one conclude, premiere of indie-ish Hazbin Hotel, and two Cartoon Network series: Invincible Fight Girl and Iyanu: Child of Wonder. The Ghost and Molly McGee season 2 will end. Velma season 2 will be released. Star Wars: The Bad Batch will end, as will Invincible season two. Primos will air, as will Stugo, X-Man 97, Creature Commandos, and Tomb Raider: The Legend of Lara Croft. Possibly, Arcane season 2 will premiere, as will Ark: The Animated Series, Asterix, and Iwájú. 2024 portends to be a good year for animation no matter what, even if The Animation Guild strikes.

© 2023 Burkely Hermann. All rights reserved.

Justice League x RWBY Super Heroes and Huntsmen, Part Two Spoiler-Filled Review

Justice League x RWBY: Super Heroes and Huntsmen, Part 2, also known as Justice League x RWBY, RWBY x Justice League, or JLxRWBY for short, is the second part of an anime-inspired science fantasy action-adventure film. It brings together Justice League and RWBY characters. The first part was released on April 25, 2023. Yssa Badiola and Dustin Matthews directed the film using Megan Fitzmartin’s script. Sam Register and Michael Uslan executive produced. Kimberly S. Moreau, Ethan Spaulding, and Jim Krieg were producers, with Laura Yates as supervising producer. As a warning, this review will discuss traumatic situations such as murder, suicide, and near-death.

Reprinted from Pop Culture Maniacs and Wayback Machine. This was the fifty-seventh article I wrote for Pop Culture Maniacs. This post was originally published on December 12, 2023.

Lindsay Jones, Kara Eberle, Arryn Zech, and Barbara Dunkleman reprise their voice roles as Ruby Rose, Weiss Schnee, Blake Belladonna, and Yang Xiao Long, in RWBY. They are joined by Ozioma Akagha as Vixen, Jeannie Tirado as Green Lantern and Tru Valentino as Cyborg, who appeared in Part 1. New cast additions include Jamie Chung as Black Canary, David Dastmalchian as The Flash, Laura Bailey as Wonder Woman, Troy Baker as Batman, and Travis Willingham as Superman. Maxwell Friedman, Christopher Sabat, and J. Michael Tatem also have voice roles.

Team RWBY and the Justice League team up once again, fighting soulless creatures known as Grimm which want to destroy humanity. Ruby introduces the film and summarizes what happened in part 1. This reminded me of songs used in Steven Universe: The Movie to refresh viewers about the main characters. This may have been designed the same way to pull in non-RWBY fans. At first, the Justice League and RWBY’s situations parallel each other. The Justice League fights a Grimm invasion on Earth. Team RWBY battles snakes and other monsters bear Vacuo. Yang, after what happened in Volume 9 of RWBY, is worried about Ruby taking unnecessary risks. She chastises her for showing off and putting her life on the line. This directly alludes to Volume 9.

The desperation of Team RWBY is clear. Yang rightly notes that Vacuo is their last hope and says they can’t have “a repeat of Atlas.” Understandably, the latter gives Weiss nightmares and shivers. She is traumatized over her home’s destruction and death of thousands when Atlas fell onto Mantle. Evidently, each of her teammates is going through trauma, but they do not experience it the same. This is an important sub-theme in the film.

This focus on Weiss echoes RWBY: Ice Queendom, a 12-episode anime spinoff from RWBY. It almost exclusively focuses on Weiss, due to her nickname “Ice Queen.” In this film, she talks to Klein, a former butler who helped her flee the Schnee mansion earlier in RWBY. She says that where you grow up shapes who you are. She asks, while speaking with another superhero, what happens when that place (where you were born) is gone? Who you are when your home is no longer real? She is directly referring to the destruction of Atlas. However, her words could as easily refer to Palestinian, Myanma, Mexican, Ethiopian, Congolese, Sudanese, Syrian, Pakistan, Iraqi, Yemeni, and Haitian people who lost their homes. They are among those affected by major and minor ongoing armed conflicts across the world.

Unlike the first film, the villainous A.I., Kilgore, works for a mysterious main villain. He is a pawn, but thinks that he is in a partnership, which comes to the fore later. Part of their plan involves incapacitating Batman, with a neurotoxin so he can’t uncover their strategy, right before he, Vixen, and Cyborg have almost break Kilgore. The latter is onboard with the plan. He wants to destroy the Justice League, no matter what. This involves altering Grimm to make them more deadly.

Team RWBY and the Justice League meet once again, thanks to the Flash, in a video chat. Both teams realize something is off when the time dilation, since their last encounter, is revealed. Soon enough, they are reunited. Cyborg uses processing power of Schnee family-owned computers to open a portal to Earth. They escape before robotic soldiers murder them. Due to a possible issue with the dimensional portal, their clothing, bodies, and powers change.

As is typical in superhero films and media, and in RWBY, the characters have no time to rest, and are thrown right into the action. They fight off a Grimm attack. These monsters can transform based on superhero’s weaknesses. Each hero tag teams with others. Green Lantern/Jessica, Cyborg, Weiss, and Blake battle together in Gotham. Yang, Wonder Woman, Black Canary, and Vixen do the same. Meanwhile, Ruby works with Superman, realizing her semblance is like a superpower.

Through all of this, there are some cameos and funny moments. Yang makes fun of the dumb villain names, such as Weather Wizard and Mirror Master. This is not only in character for her, but echoes how she made fun of Superman’s name in the first film (she called him Clark instead). Secondly, there’s a cameo of Joker and Harley Quinn drinking martinis. Thirdly, there are hints at storyline from the original RWBY series, with name-dropping of Salem’s unhinged lackey (Tyrian Callows), Salem, and some villains. The latter comes full circle when the primary villain, running the show, is later revealed.

There are similarities between the film and gen:LOCK. It is revealed that Kilgore is working with someone experimenting on Grimm and building a machine that transfers consciousness. This is exactly what gen:LOCK is about. Protagonists transfer their consciousness into robots and fight for the “democratic” Polity, and against the “evil” and “autocratic” Union. That series remains problematic, controversial, and plagued by issues. This included series creator Gary Haddock leaving Rooster Teeth following complaints about negative work environment in September 2019, prior to the second season’s release from November to December 2021. Although my views on the series are undecided, gen:LOCK still has some good points.

The film has some nods to Volume 9. For instance, Superman says they need to rest, noting they won’t be in good shape unless they take care of themselves. I saw this remark as alluding to what happened to Ruby in Volume 9. In the film, Ruby is annoyed, literally storming off, and Weiss follows her lead. In contrast, Blake and Yang almost function as a unit, wanting to rest, and are in the right. Not long after, Ruby compensates by doing a lot of training, and tells Superman she is trying to live up to her mom’s stories. She even tells him that she wants to get as much as she can before she “falls” and says “heroes fall.” The latter happens in Volume 9. Team RWBY fall into the Ever After and eventually find a way to leave, but not without traumatic experiences.

Finally, Yang withholds her worries. She later confronts Ruby, with Blake’s moral support, and tells her that she isn’t exuding confidence, but a “death wish” instead. Understandably, this surprises Ruby. She wasn’t aware that her sister thought of her that way. She hugs her and tells her that she “isn’t going anywhere.” The latter line undoubtedly hints to her near suicide in Volume 9, resulting in Yang’s protectiveness.

The collaboration between the Justice League and Team RWBY is empowering, especially since both groups have only worked together one time before (in part 1). Cyborg is a hacker of sorts and works to ensure their victory. Thanks to their information sharing, they realize that Arthur Watts, an unhinged scientist working for Salem, faked his own death, and is partnered with Kilgore. At the same time, the film shows growing connections between both teams.

One example of this is the heart-to-heart between Yang and the Flash. While Kilgore haunts him, and he tries to figure out the biopoison killing Batman, Yang tries to reassure him. She tells him about what happened after her arm got cut off by Blake’s sadistic ex-boyfriend Adam Taurus and how she felt her whole identity had been taken from her. Following this, she makes a plea to Flash. She tells him to improve his emotional intelligence, explaining that his anger doesn’t only affect him, but everyone who loves him. Also, this could be referring to Yang’s emotional connection with Blake.

Another example is the Ruby-Superman bond. Both had parents who died young. For Superman it was both of his parents, while for Ruby it was her mother. The connection between Weiss and Batman is emphasized, as it was in the first film. Weiss talks to Batman about Gotham, and he tells her that he wasn’t running from Gotham but that didn’t like the answers he got when he was a teenager. Then there’s a tense scene when she gives Batman the antidote, but it doesn’t seem to work. Predictably, the antidote does work, somehow, since none of the superheroes die in this film.

The film’s last part involves a huge battle between the heroes, Watts, and Kilgore, inside the holo-trap created by Cyborg. This allows Team RWBY to return to their usual forms. This is no easy battle. Watts manipulates the holo-environment to his advantage. He takes over Wonder Woman, Jessica/Green Lantern, Yang, and the Flash, although not at once. All the while, Cyborg realizes he needs to plug himself into all the Grimm at once, even if it kills him! At the same time, Weiss’s trauma flares when they fight in a simulated Atlas. Ruby is there to support her, likely delighting White Rose shippers.

After they goad Watts into arrogant declarations, the battle ends. He claims he was born to remake the world, that none of them can measure up to him, and that he planned to trap Team RWBY in the digital world with Kilgore, but it didn’t work. The latter infuriates Kilgore. He realizes he is a pawn and tries to take down Watts. The heroes turn this against both villains. They trap both in a virtual prison, a holo-trap to be exact, while both fight one another rather than the heroes. As a result of this prison, neither can control Grimm anymore and the rest of the world is fine.

The film ends with some of them tired from the fighting and heartfelt moments. This includes a photo together (shown at the beginning of this review), all celebrating their victory. Following this, Yang fist-bumps with Flash, Blake laughs with Black Canary, Wonder Woman, and Vixen. Weiss talks to Batman and Ruby talks to Superman. They have little time to connect after that: the Justice League must fight Lex Luthor and Team RWBY returns to Remnant. The film’s final scene features the Justice League standing on a ledge looking out at the city (I believe it’s Metropolis).

Overall, the movie was good, and the music was fitting, but I liked Part 1 better than Part 2. This is partially because the movie wrapped up too quickly. This perception is no accident. The film is eight minutes shorter than Part 1. In addition, it was disappointing that there were few Bumbleby (Blake/Yang ship) moments apart from both tag-team fighting, Blake declaring that a fake Yang could never fool her, and Yang and Blake kissing in the background of the aforementioned photo. According to the RWBY wiki, this film takes place after Volume 9 and an expected Volume 10. So, this closeness makes sense.

I also felt that the voice acting in the film, either from the main RWBY voice cast, or from others like Akagha was excellent. I liked the film’s messages of empowerment and stating that people can choose their own path. Ruby says exactly this, noting she isn’t her mom, that she isn’t going to leave, and that they make their own futures.

There were other differences between part 1 and part 2. Kerry Shawcross directed Part 1, but not Part 2. That went to Dustin Matthews and Yssa Badiola. Matthews animated episodes of gen:LOCK and RWBY (in Volumes 1-5), directed RWBY Volume 7, RWBY Chibi, and was this film’s lead animator. Badiola, on the other hand, was lead animator on Nomad of Nowhere, directed four episodes on RWBY Volume 9 (and voiced some minor characters), and created Recorded by Arizal.

Otherwise, this film features many iconic voice actors, as Zech pointed out. Apart from the recurring cast from the first film, five voice actors are new: Jamie Chung, Christopher Sabat, J. Michael Tatum, Travis Willingham, Troy Baker, and Maxwell Friedman. Chung recently voiced Vax in My Dad the Bounty Hunter. Sabat voiced Watts in RWBY (and reprises that role here). Tatum voiced Klein Sieben in RWBY and RWBY Chibi.

Willingham voiced Grog in The Legend of Vox Machina, assorted characters in Kid Cosmic, RWBY, Phineas and Ferb, and Amphibia, and King Roland II in Elena of Avalor and Sofia the First. Baker lent his voice to characters in Star Trek: Lower Decks, American Dad, Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated, and many video games. This is the first voice role for Friedman, who is a pro wrestler. Tatum will also voice Quinn in the indie animated pilot, Far-Fetched.

This film, a collaboration by Rooster Teeth Animation, DC, and Warner Bros. Animation, features Meghan Fitzmartin as the writer. Fitzmartin was an executive assistant on Supernatural, writer for the first film, writer for Supernatural Academy and DC Super Hero Girls (the first version), and other series. This film’s animation is superb. The animators, artists (like art director Erin Winn), sound designers, visual effects staff, and others deserve praise and recognition.

Officially released on October 17th, this film wasn’t released in Crunchyroll’s online store until October 31. By that time, the film could be purchased on PrimeVideo for $19.99. Later, prices dropped to $4.99 to rent and $14.99 to buy. As of this review, the film has not been added to Max. In early December, both parts were packaged together in Justice League x RWBY: Super Heroes & Huntsmen – The Complete Adventure. That is available on the same/similar platforms as Part 2. Presently, Blu-ray versions of Part 2 are sold out in the Crunchyroll Store!

Justice League x RWBY: Super Heroes and Huntsmen, Part 2, like Part 1, can be purchased on Prime Video, Vudu, Google Play/YouTube, Microsoft, or have the DVD and Blu-ray ordered from other online marketplaces. Justice League x RWBY: Super Heroes and Huntsmen, Part 1 can be viewed on the same platforms or be streamed on Max. While you’re at it, you can purchase RWBY on Prime Video and Vudu, or stream it on Rooster Teeth (seasons 1-8) and Crunchyroll.

[Ratings: Animation: 5 Voice Acting: 5 Music: 4 Story: 3 ]

© 2023 Burkely Hermann. All rights reserved.

Star Trek: Lower Decks Season 4 Spoiler-Filled Review

Star Trek: Lower Decks is a mature animation which combines elements of the adventure, comedy, and sci-fi genres. Series creator Mike McMahan is known as a co-creator of Solar Opposites, a producer on Rick and Morty and as a consulting producer on Star Trek: Strange New Worlds. This is the ninth series in the Star Trek franchise and second Star Trek animated series after Star Trek: The Animated Series ended in 1974.

Reprinted from Pop Culture Maniacs and Wayback Machine. This was the fifty-sixth article I wrote for Pop Culture Maniacs. This post was originally published on November 30, 2023. PCM editor Jean Henegan she said she added some content “since I’m a massive Trek nerd/fan, I added a bit of context around some of the things you pointed out…and cleaned up a couple of things that weren’t quite accurate…Nice piece, overall.” I have incorporated those additions here. Most of the text is the same as what I submitted on November 28th.

This animated series, which has aired for three seasons, takes a different tact than previous Star Trek series. It focuses on lower-ranked officers who engage in menial labor, known as lower deckers. Others are supporting characters. Star Trek: Lower Decks focuses on Starfleet, the military and exploration division of the United Federation of Planets, in the 24th century. It is tasked with establishing contact with races across the galaxy using a ship no one cares about: the USS Cerritos.

Four lower deckers are protagonists: Beckett Mariner, Brad Boimler, D’Vana Tendi, and Sam Rutherford. They are voiced by Tawny Newsome, Jack Quaid, Noël Wells, and Eugene Cordero. Four others are recurring characters: captain of the Cerritos (Carol Freeman), first officer Jack Ransom, tactical officer Shaxs, and head medical doctor T’Ana. Dawnn Lewis, Jerry O’Connell, Fred Tatasciore, and Gillian Vigman voice these characters. All are well-known voice actors.

This series stands out because of its animation style, comedy, plot, and characters. Mariner is a big part of this. Her romantic relationships became a big part of the series, especially in the third season, when she is dating Jennifer Sh’reyan (voiced by Lauren Lapkus). Like actual relationships, they don’t stay together, partially because Jennifer does not stand by her. She abandons Mariner when many on the Cerritos incorrectly think she is a traitor. Mariner is bisexual or pansexual. Previously, she dated Steve Levy. She tells Tendi, in a season two episode, that she dated “bad boys, bad girls, bad gender non-binary babes, [and] ruthless alien masterminds.” She dated Amina Ramsey (voiced by Toks Olagundoye) while at Starfleet Academy. McMahan stated that “every Starfleet officer is probably at the baseline bisexual” and that there was no intention for “anybody to be strictly heteronormative or straight or cis.”

Unfortunately, this is rarely explored in Star Trek: Lower Decks season 4. There are some romantic vibes between Mariner and T’Lyn (voiced by Gabrielle Ruiz), a fellow crewmember on the Cerritos (who also happens to be Vulcan), in the fourth episode. They care for each other (as much as a Vulcan can care, with their repressed emotions), especially after knives keep stabbing Mariner during the episode. In the episode after, T’Lyn calms down Mariner’s emotions after her fever causes everyone’s emotions on the Cerritos to go out of control. In another episode, Mariner enjoys being kissed by a guy. Otherwise, her development during the season revolves around her promotion to a higher rank and ramifications of that decision. Although she is still part of “lower decks,” she is now a junior grade lieutenant, which makes her uneasy.

Boimler and Rutherford get closer, especially after the fourth episode. They even solve a disagreement by dressing up as Mark Twain and talking on a simulated steamboat. Both struggle with their promotions, although in different ways than Mariner. For instance, Boimler gets his first mission as commander and attempts to do everything himself. With some prodding from T’Lyn, he ends up sacrificing himself to save everyone and is later brought back to life. Rutherford also tries to find his place on the ship following his promotion. The closeness between Boimler and Rutherford has led some to ship them together. After all, in the eighth episode, Boimler doesn’t mind taking off his pants when Rutherford asks. Presently, there are less than 20 fics shipping them. Comparably, there’s over 120 fics for the Marinler ship (Mariner and Boimler). The latter has a small chance of canonization as compared to the Rutherford/Boimler ship.

Otherwise, there are wild plotlines, whether about Betazoid “diplomats” (actually undercover intelligence officers) with a hidden agenda who almost bring the Cerritos into the neutral zone where Romulans await battle, a fake marriage between Tendi and Rutherford, or megalomaniacal A.I. – known as Badgey – trying to get revenge. In the case of the latter, the A.I. comes out of the Daystrom Institute on Earth, returning following its initial appearance in season two. In the time between the seasons, it was imprisoned in a penitentiary holding other A.I. of a similar nature.  His plans are foiled when he realizes that ultimate power is too much. The plans of two A.I., Peanut Hamper and Aegus, also fail after they realize that killing others isn’t worth it. Both commit to reforming their selves, so they aren’t evil anymore.

The depiction of A.I. in Star Trek: Lower Decks is somewhat similar to the rogue A.I. in Futurama‘s Season 8 Part One, or near-planet-destroyer Light Hope in She-Ra and the Princesses of Power. It differs from the mixed representation in Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur and Cleopatra in Space, or more positive depictions in My Dad the Bounty Hunter, Kizuna no Allele, and Supa Team 4. This matters considering social media rumblings that some actors will not vote for the recent contract between SAG-AFTRA and the Hollywood studios due to reportedly subpar A.I. provisions [Note: The previous line was removed from the PCM version.]

Throuhgout the season, there are also scenes with spoken poetry, a bar fight (started by Mariner, naturally), and an instance of Boimler getting addicted to a Ferengi television series. There’s even a funny episode where everyone recounts their experiences about being stuck in a cave with different Starfleet officers. However, it’s the journey that Mariner takes over the course of the season that truly hits home as the season comes to a close. Following her promotion Mariner struggles to be a leader, desperate to keep bucking command. How can you be rebellious against the command structure when you are part of it? She asks herself this question, trying to determine what her purpose within Starfleet is. It isn’t until the close of the season that she truly understands who she is and why she is so hesitant to take on more responsibility.

In that episode, Captain Freeman is worried about Mariner. She’s unsure why Mariner is taking risks and trying to get herself killed. She orders Mariner’s friends to distract her. This backfires. Mariner, along with T’Lyn, Tendi, and Boimler, all teleport to a planet surface before their ship is destroyed. When they admit they are worried about her, and reveal the Captain’s order, she is unhappy. She agrees to stay with them until she slips out during the night. In the process, she bonds with a Klingon, who tells her what no one has stated directly: she’s at war with herself.

This is only part of Mariner’s attempted self-examination. It is akin to Yor Forger asking herself why she is an assassin in episode 33 of Spy x Family, lingering doubts of Teru Momijiyama / Shy in Shy about her reasons for being a hero, or Sora Harewata-ru / Cure Sky wondering why she hesitates to fight the Undergu empire in episode 42 of Soaring Sky! Pretty Cure. Mariner reveals she is partially in Starfleet to honor Sito, a friend from her time at Starfleet Academy who died a senseless death several years earlier, which makes her continue to question Starfleet’s mission. She admits that while she doesn’t hate Starfleet, she tried to get out of a promotion. She believes Starfleet should solve the puzzles of life, not start wars (which could violate the Prime Directive). As she tells the Klingon, she doesn’t want to send her friends off to die. She wants to be an ensign and nothing more.

Ma’ah (voiced by Jon Curry), the Klingon, suggests that she honor her friend, slay her enemies, and study to be better. In response, she hugs him, rather than fighting him, and says they should work together. The episode hints at her future leadership, possibly in Star Trek: Lower Decks Season 5. She rallies everyone together in a rousing speech. Unfortunately, she is kidnapped by “Nicholas” Nick Locarno (who, like Sito, previously appeared in live action in Star Trek: The Next Generation and were once again portrayed – in voice over – by their live action actors Robert Duncan McNeil – who also starred on Star Trek: Voyager – and Shannon Fill), who beams her up into a mysterious ship – a ship that has been “destroying” various species’ ships throughout the season. Thanks to her efforts, Boimler, T’Lyn, and Tendi, along with new allies, destroy a Klingon warbird. They are disappointed that Mariner isn’t aboard.

The Season 4 finale ends with a bang, as it turns out that ships “destroyed” across the galaxy have joined the renegade Nova Fleet/Squadron. It resembles the rag-tag rebel fleet in Star Wars Rebels. There’s a major difference: Nick is willing to engage in terrorism, i.e., threat or use of violence to cause panic or intimidate, especially as a method to affect political conduct, as defined in the Third Pocket Edition of Black’s Law Dictionary. Mariner easily stops this. She calls out Nick as selfish and brainless, then steals a genesis device, which can destroy planets.

Captain Freeman shows her dedication to her daughter, and to the well-being of her crew. She goes to extreme lengths to rescue Mariner. After a failed contest on her homeworld of Orion, Tendi agrees to work for her pirate sister, D’Erika (voiced by Ariel Winter), so they can get a battleship. They use the decrepit warship to smash through the barrier. It creates a hole big enough for the captain’s yacht to enter. In the process, they save Mariner. Nick is left on her ship after he tries to kill her and activates the genesis device. In a moment of clever dark humor, Nick is destroyed by the device since he can’t pay the money needed to deactivate it (since it is a Ferengi model, of course).

The episode ends with Captain Freeman not court-martialed, T’Lyn refusing to return to her previous ship, and the four protagonists come together for a party in the mess hall. While they party for a short bit, this soon ends, as Tendi feels obligated to fulfill her end of the bargain she made with D’Erika: she must return to a life of piracy alongside D’Erika. Although this depresses Rutherford, neither he, Boimler nor Mariner, stop her from leaving. Tendi prepares herself for what comes next. Undoubtedly, her story will be expanded in Star Trek: Lower Decks fifth season, which was in production as of March.

As noted earlier, queer representation was lacking in this season, as opposed to previous ones. In the past, I’ve written that the ship engineer, Andy Billups (voiced by Paul Scheer), was possibly asexual. A recent post on treksphere makes the same claims. It argues that Tendi is aromantic, Billups is an asexual icon, and points to possible asexual vibes from Spock, Data, and Odo in the Star Trek franchise – although all three characters have relationships with women at various points in their stories. Such claims are only headcanons, similar to those who believed that Page in Tron: Uprising was asexual. There are no asexual characters in the Star Trek universe, to my knowledge. As such, having a canon asexual character in Star Trek: Lower Decks, outward in their identity like Todd Chavez in Bojack Horseman, would be great.

Asexual representation in animation, and in popular culture, is slim. While Alastor in Hazbin Hotel, Lilith Clawthorne in The Owl House, Peridot in Steven Universe, or Perry the Platypus in Phineas and Ferb, are asexual, they were confirmed off-screen. The same is the case for Spongebob Squarepants and Percival “Percy” King in Epithet Erased. Some have stated that Seiji Maki in Bloom Into You and Shōko Tanimoto in The Case Files of Jeweler Richard are asexual. In a previous review, I noted this was the case for Hime Shiraki in Yuri is My Job!. I’ve seen social media chatter about the manga which comes to a similar conclusion.

Hopefully, Star Trek: Lower Decks fifth season expands on Mariner‘s personal relationships and her identity, and that of the other protagonists. Undoubtedly, it will retain its mature comedy and quirkiness. All the while the characters will be thrown into conflict-prone situations, a breeding ground for trauma. This is not unique. There are multiple series airing this fall featuring characters in tense and stressful situations, sometimes involving murder of human beings. This includes certain The Vexations of a Shut-In Vampire Princess and Spy x Family episodes.

Otherwise, people anonymously described their conditions at Titmouse in a largely-circulated spreadsheet about animation studios. In the spreadsheet, which has 11 entries for the aforementioned animation studio, people praise Titmouse for good pay, flexible and healthy working hours, opportunities for rapid advancement, and good management. Others criticize Titmouse for disorganization, overwork, low pay, and say it is only good for those entering the industry. Clearly, it’s a mixed bag. There are different experiences, depending on each production, if I’m understanding these entries correctly.

In my previous review of Star Trek: Lower Decks, I noted that LGBTQ+ representation is at the heart of the show. I pointed to myriad examples of such representation (and in the franchise), and note that many fan fictions for Mariner are skewed toward men. As such, I still see the interactions between Mariner and Boimler as platonic rather than romantic. I understand how people see them as the latter, shipping them as Marinler, but I see them as good friends, rather than good lovers.

In the past, this series had some of best queer representation in mature animation. Other examples include RWBY, Disenchantment, Final Space, Bojack Horseman, and Harley Quinn. In season 4 of Star Trek: Lower Decks, this was less emphasized. Even so, the series is still moving in an inclusive direction. It isn’t like Star Wars: The Bad Batch. That series had “four White men and one person of color, in the main cast,” as I wrote in January.

This direction is clear from the cast and crew. Tawny Newsome and Dawnn Lewis, who voice Mariner and Captain Freeman, are both Black women, like their characters. Noël Wells (voice of Tendi) is of Tunisian and Mexican descent. Eugene Cordero (voice of Rutherford) is of Filipino descent. Gabrielle Ruiz is of Mexican descent. Carlos Alazraqui is Latine. Black men such as Marcus Henderson, Phil LaMarr, and Carl Tart also voice characters. There are some White male voice actors, such as Jack Quaid, Jack McBrayer, Jerry O’Connell, Fred Tatasciore, Paul Scheer, and Paul F. Tompkins. White women like Gillian Vigman, Lauren Lapkus, Georgia King, and Jessica McKenna voice characters too. Although, they are not the majority of the main cast, they comprise much of the recurring cast.

Many of these names were familiar. For one, Newsome voiced Jessica Williams in Craig of the Creek, Quaid voiced Clark Kent / Superman in My Adventures with Superman, and Cordero voiced Jamie in Steven Universe. Lewis voiced LaBarbara Conrad in Futurama, Professor Klabrax V in Cleopatra in Space, The Chief/Tamara Fraser in Carmen Sandiego, and Fannie Granger in Spirit Riding Free. LaMarr is best known for voicing Hermes Conrad in Futurama, Virgil Hawkins / Static in Static Shock, and John Stewart / Green Lantern in Justice League, along with Sky Gunderson in Disenchantment.

Alazraqui prominently voiced Puff in The Proud Family (in the reboot/revival) and Skylar in Elena of Avalor. Winter voiced Princess Sofia Cordova for the entire Sofia the First series, in the Elena of Avalor series finale, and in Elena and the Secret of Avalor, a backdoor pilot for Elena of Avalor. Wells, O’Connell, Tataiscore, Scheer, McKenna, McBrayer, Lapkus, Tart, and Tompkins, had assorted voice roles, as well. However, this isn’t counting anyone in the guest cast.

In terms of the show’s music, the opening and closing themes were good, and it fits with the action. I don’t recall any tracks there were necessarily memorable (apart from the opening and closing tracks). So, I’m downgrading the music score for this review. Even so, Chris Westlake did an excellent job as the series composer. The music echoes Star Trek scores in other parts of the franchise. Those who directed, wrote, storyboarded, and animated each episode, including some well-known names like Jamie Loftus, McMahan, and Grace Parra Janney, deserve plaudits for their hard work as well.

I look forward to the fifth season of Star Trek: Lower Decks. I hope that the personal identities of the main cast are explored more in the next season. I’m optimistic that Paramount executives realize the series’ value. It would be devastating to have the series cancelled unceremoniously like Star Trek: Prodigy. Netflix recently nabbed that series as part of the streaming wars.

Star Trek: Lower Decks is currently streaming on Paramount+ or for purchase on PrimeVideo.

[Ratings box] Animation: 5 Voice Acting: 5 Music: 3 Story: 4 Overall: 4.5 [end]

© 2023 Burkely Hermann. All rights reserved.

My Adventures With Superman Season One Spoiler-Filled Review

My Adventures with Superman is animated superhero series which mixes the romantic comedy, action-adventure, and sci-fi genres. It’s the latest adaptation of Superman, a DC Comics character. DC Entertainment and Warner Bros. Animation produce the series. Studio Mir was contracted for animation services. Studio Mir, a South Korean animation studio, is known for its work on The Legend of Korra, Kipo and the Age of Wonderbeasts, Dota: Dragon’s Blood, and Harley Quinn season 3. Jake Wyatt, Brendan Clougher, and Josie Campbell developed the series, with Campbell as producer. Wyatt and Clougher are executive producers along with Michael Ouweleen and Sam Register. This piece was written during the 2023 WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes. Without the labor of the writers and actors currently on strike, My Adventures with Superman being reviewed here wouldn’t exist.

Reprinted from Pop Culture Maniacs and Wayback Machine. This was the forty-ninth article I wrote for Pop Culture Maniacs. This post was originally published on September 21, 2023.

The first episode begins with a bang. As a little kid, Clark Kent (voiced by Jack Quaid) discovers he has superpowers. In the present, he tries to be “normal.” He and his his friend Jimmy Olsen (voiced by Ishmel Sahid) go to The Daily Planet. Along the way, he meets Lois Lane (voiced by Alice Lee) and develops a crush on her. As it turns out, Lois is also applying to be an intern. All three get the job. Their boss, Perry White (voiced by Darrell Brown) shoots down Lois’ ideas for stories. Lois ignores this. She meets her “source,” a newspaper girl named Flip Johnson (voiced by Azuri Hardy-Jones). The reality is more terrifying: Livewire activates robots which Clark barely defeats. He only survives due to his powers and Lois’s quick thinking.

At the end of the episode, Lois declares she wants an exclusive interview with Superman, where she will expose all his secrets, terrifying him. That’s only the first episode! In later episodes, Clark tries to find out more about his past. He talks to Jor-El (voiced by Jason Marnocha), who speaks Kryptonese. Despite the fact he is Superman, he works with Lois and Jimmy on an investigation into Superman. He even has a magical transformation sequence. Some said it was inspired by magical transformations in Sailor Moon. Other fans argued it resembled Pretty Cure.

Storyboarder Diana Huh confirmed that Superman’s transformation sequence was based on the part of Kaido Minami’s transformation into Cure Mermaid in Go! Princess Pretty Cure, “specifically the part in her transformation when her back ribbons and hair were formed.” She noted that she watched it on “repeat for inspiration.” As for Clark, he grows closer to Lois. In fact, she even gives Superman his name. Clark’s adopted mother puts together his superhero costume. All the while, those who call themselves “good guys” torture people.

This focus on identity is not unique to My Adventures with Superman nor is the relationship between Lois and Clark. The latter is key in many Superman series, including Justice League Unlimited. In that series, their romance is even known by other superheroes. They never kiss in that series, from what I remember, but the closeness between them is apparent. Another difference is that Jimmy is a Black man and Lois is a Korean woman. She also calls Clark by the nickname “Smallville.”

Clark struggles with his powers. In other depictions he is older and fully aware of his superpowers. In this series, his identity struggle is complicated when Lois calls Superman a liar. It weakens Clark’s resolve to tell her the truth about himself. Clark continually tries to cover his tracks that he is Superman, even ripping out a key piece from the tabloids. After she tells him that she hates being lied too, he chickens out, again, in telling her the truth. Their relationship development is better paced than dragging it out across the season. It gives them more time together.

The push-and-pull between Lois wanting to find out about Superman, and Clark’s determination to ensure that Lois doesn’t realize the truth defines the early part of the first season. Both have identity crises. In fact, in the second episode, he is traumatized by his adopted parents almost being killed when he visits a spaceship which is supposed to show his origins. They face challenges along the way. They fear that The Daily Planet‘s star reporting team (Steve Lombard, Cat Grant, and Ronnie Troupe) will scoop their story. These characters are voiced by Vincent Tong, Melanie Minichino, and Kenna Ramsey respectfully. Even so, Lois is persistent. She swipes the keycard of the warden (also voiced by Minichino), allowing them to see a prison cell.

At first it seems that the fifth episode might not be the big confrontation between Lois and Clark. He shows Lois his “murder board”/investigation board, and plans to say he likes Lois. She even goes to the extreme and chains herself to him, but he breaks free. This is dashed quickly. Later, she falls off a building to see if he will catch her! While this generated some online discourse about how she was “wrong” and Clark was “right,” the truth is simple. Clark was lying to her and her reasoning makes sense. At the same time, Clark understandably held back, as he was afraid.

Social media has a key role in the series. Jimmy has a secret YouTube channel named Flamebird which covers conspiracies in Metropolis and beyond. This comes to a fore in the fifth episode: Jimmy gets a response video for every single video he has posted. Some internet troll attacks him, and it turns out that star reporter Steve is behind it all! This focus also gives Jimmy character depth, as a sort of social media influencer, and makes you sympathize with him when Lois and Clark leave him behind.

There an interesting secondary plot in My Adventures with Superman. Mist/Kyle (voiced by Lucas Grabeel) and Rough House/Albert (voiced by Vincent Tong) break out Mist’s sister, Siobhan/Silver Banashee (voiced by Catherine Taber), the leader of Intergang. They accomplish this thanks to weapons Livewire (voiced by Zehra Fazal) and are able to escape. Using these weapons, they rob Metropolitan City Bank. Superman saves them all when one of their machines goes haywire. This is interlinked with the tech plan of Ivo (voiced by Jake Green), the founder of Amazo Tech. He creates a super suit named Parasite and markets it as something which turns people into their own personal Superman. Of course, this doesn’t work, since the prototype is unstable.

Superman takes extreme risks to protect those he cares about and support justice. Often, he saves people across Metropolis. He fights villains like Heat Wave (voiced by Laila Berzins) and supposed “good guys” like Agent Wilson (voiced by Chris Parnell). The latter only stops at the urging of Amanda Waller (voiced by Debra Wilson). The General (voiced by Joel De La Fuente) wants Agent Slade Wilson / Deathstroke (voiced by Chris Parnell) to eliminate Superman once and for all.

While writing this review, I can’t avoid comparisons between My Adventures with Superman and previous series, like Justice League and Justice League Unlimited. The latter’s end marked the end of the DC Animated Universe (DCAU). Some fans call DCAU the Timmverse, after animator and director Bruce Timm. It comprised eight animated series, four feature films, four short films, and two digital series between 1992 and 2006. While I haven’t watched all the series within DCAU, I see some similarities, especially with the two Justice League series, when it comes to Amanda Waller. She’s a Black woman who’s continually skeptical of superheroes. She even partners with Lex Luthor to fund a research center supporting a superhero-hating metahumans.

In this series, Waller gives Task Force X one mission: to take down Superman. This differs from the two Justice League series, where her goal is broader. She intends to ensure that Earth can defend itself if the superheroes go “bad.” Waller, in this series, along with the General and Agent Wilson, believe that Superman will bring the end of the world. They remember how someone like him killed many during an event they call “Zero Day.” This military slang means a day in which a Basic Combat Training company “picks up Soldiers.” I think The General meant it to be equivalent to a D-Day or “Invasion Day.” The General is misguided. Superman is not like the marauding Supermen he (and Lois) sees on a record from the League of Lois Lanes.

In another major difference, My Adventures with Superman depicts Cadmus more positively. Lois and Clark go through the forest to save Jimmy. He was kidnapped by Monsieur Mallah. The latter is an intelligent ape, voiced by Andre Sogliuzzo. He is working with Brain (voiced by Jesse Inocalla). Like the two aforementioned Justice League series, Cadmus is a secret government project. In this series, it was begun 20 years before. It is where Mallah and Brain fell in love. However, Task Force X came to eliminate them. The Task Force believed that no one survived the unstable Black hole.

The reality, obviously, is very different. Mallah and Brain are almost trapped. A nearby minefield, drones, and a protective bubble stop anyone from leaving, or reaching, Cadmus. Task Force X wanted to ensure that no one could discover Cadmus. At one point, Lois and Clark are chased by robots. They are only saved when mutants, created by Mallah, attack. Thanks to Clark’s actions, the black hole maintains its power and a containment field stabilizes it.

In a heart-felt scene, Mallah and Brain step through the wormhole, wanting to reach a world where they can live freely. The Brain warns them that once the person who is trying to get Superman (The General) sees him as a threat, they will never stop. This is clear from a final scene, in that episode. The General asks Ivo to help him figure out where the technology is, and to help him take down Superman. The Brain nor Mallah is evil. The former is exclusive to the continuity of this series and is an adaptation of a character which first appeared in Volume 1 of the comic book Doom Patrol.

The sixth episode of My Adventures with Superman is one of the strongest not only because of the action-packed sequences or the romance between Lois and Clark, with Clark saving Lois from dying. It shines because Clark tells Lois the truth. He admits to her (and Jimmy) that he didn’t want to reveal his true nature due to a fear that Jimmy and Lois would see him as an “alien” and treat him differently. Instead, he wanted to be “normal.” Jimmy, who already knew Clark was Superman, reassures him they are friends because of who he is. Lois says they want to be open with him. In the next episode, he declares there will be no more secrets, so he brings them to a spaceship, the same one which brought him to Earth, which surprises Lois and Jimmy.

By the seventh episode, it seems that the romance of Lois and Clark, is moving forward. Both lose their minds over a date, having charts, maps, and other ways to ensure it goes perfectly. These plans never come to pass. A so-called international “peacekeeper,” Mxyzptlk (voiced by David Errigo Jr.), asks for Clark’s help and declares that Clark is a Superman is in every universe. Meanwhile, the aptly named League of Lois Lanes, peacekeepers tasked with saving the Multiverse, come to save Lois. They declare that Clark is in danger, and Jimmy comes along. In the process, Lois and Jimmy become skeptical of the League. Clark realizes that Mxyzptlk lied to him and only wants chaos. Clark tries to do the right thing and stop Mxyzptlk from stealing.

The episode focuses on what Lois sees on a computer screen: a restricted file about Superman only accessible at League headquarters. Not only is this suspicious, but the centrality of a classified record drew me into the story. I say this is a person who indexes such records for my day job and someone who has written about archives and archivists in popular culture for many years. I liked how Lois even works with Mxyzptlk to get to the League headquarters, despite being wary of him. While there, she accesses a mainframe and gets the restricted record. Of course, her temporary ally-of-sorts is only there for his own benefit. He gets what he wants, allowing him to villainous “again.” On the whole, the episode is so absurd, it’s a bit funny.

The League sees Superman as evil, shooting him with guns filled with kryptonite. In some ways, the episode ends well. Lois, Jimmy, and Clark work together to take down Mxyzptlk. However, he later escapes prison. He sees Lois looking at the file which has the “truth” about Superman. He soon leaves, declaring it will be “more fun” to watch her figure it out. Lois doesn’t consider possible manipulation of the record or that it only shows one “truth.”

The eighth episode goes a different direction. It begins with Ivo collecting former villains and saying they need to fulfill their “debt” to society. Lois and Clark both face villains of sorts. Lois meets a reporter she idolizes, named Vicki Vale (voiced by Andromeda Dunker). She soon sours on Vale. It is revealed that Vale has an anti-Superman bias. Clark becomes obsessed with finding The General, thanks to his new power of super hearing. He ignores the pleas from Lois and Jimmy, going off on his own to face “the evil.” In a local park, he takes a beating. He is kidnapped and The General calls him the “end of the world.” Due to the splintering of the typical friend squad (Lois, Jimmy, and Clark), the ending sequence is different. It features the cityscape and none of the characters.

In the ninth episode, everything goes off the rails. Lois and Jimmy enlist the help of the Newskid Legion to find Superman. In actuality, he is in custody of The General. Falsely, The General believes that Superman is the enemy. He tortures him with electricity and declares that he won’t let any more of “his kind” invade Earth. While Superman tells him what he knows, this isn’t the “right answer.” There is a powerful scene in this episode in which Clark sees what happened on Zero Day, 22 years before, as The General terms it. Many of Superman’s kind come through, attacking people on Earth, until a light shines and the attack ends. Due to this incident, it makes sense he, and Waller, created Task Force X, and used the tech left behind to create new U.S. government weapons.

Superman empathizes. He realizes that not all Supermans are good, and asks why Supermen would do this. His responses takes The General back and makes him realize that he is making the wrong call. He begins to ask if Task Force X is wrong. Arrogantly, Waller shows her commitment to the task force: she claims that it is never wrong. As The General even admits, Superman was too young to be part of Zero Day and implies he is innocent. To make matters worse, Waller deactivates a camera, encouraging the villains to get out of their cells, including Ivo, who wants to “finish off” Superman, in revenge for what happened in the past.

He somehow escapes in a weakened state. He makes his way back to Lois and Jimmy. Thanks to assistance from his two friends, he defeats the Ivo Kaiju monster, which is attacking Metropolis. They call on everyone in town to turn off their power so that Ivo cannot suck in any more electricity. As a result, Superman is victorious. Jimmy lets Lois and Clark have time alone, together. Clark proceeds to carry Lois into the sky and kiss her. The General stands against Waller. She relieves him of his duties. Waller becomes head of Task Force X. The General gets a new mission: to track down and terminate Superman.

The season one finale of My Adventures with Superman goes further than showing Superman as the immigrant, “the adoptee living in a world that says being different is bad.” He embraces his differences every day, with his weirdness and strangeness as his strength, as Campbell put it. Everything comes full circle. Clark becomes a full-time reporter with Lois and Jimmy. He dreams about being an evil Superman and learns something about The General: he is Sam Lane, Lois’ dad! While Clark is, understandably, nervous about telling Lois this reality, Jimmy pushes him to do the right thing, causing Lois to come to his aid.

This all happens during Thanksgiving. There’s family drama between The General and Lois. Clark’s adoptive parents are also there. This all falls to the wayside when kryptonite inside the record weakens Clark. Although none of them are entirely sure what kryptonite is, Jimmy rightly realizes that the rock is causing the problem and puts it back. The entire scene echoes part of the She-Ra and the Princesses of Power series finale. Clark risks his life to ensure that the portal can be closed. He puts the kryptonite on the ship core, causing it to explode, and Jor-El saves him. Lois also saves his life, after he ensured that she (and everyone on Earth) wouldn’t die. She stands in front of her dad, stopping him from killing Clark.

While The General listens and follows the pleas of Lois, he does not stay for Thanksgiving. It is only Lois, Jimmy, Clark, and his adoptive parents. In a funny scene, Jimmy announces that he sold Flamebird to the Daily Planet for $5.6 million and is “super rich now,” surprising them all. The series ends with one final scene:, a kryptonian warrior declares they have found a new planet (presumably Earth). One commander tells him that it doesn’t matter whether they destroy the ships and close the portals, saying they will kneel ultimately. That sets the stage for a season 2, which Campbell confirmed.

My Adventures with Superman somehow survived corporate fuckery. It had an uncertain future through various corporate mergers, the pandemic, and a thin budget. But, the passion of the writers and crew showed through, as Campbell noted. Such a message can’t be more apt, considering the continued twin strikes by writers and actors, regardless of efforts by some to break the strike and fill their fat pockets with wads of cash. Previously, Drew Barrymore withdrew her plan to restart her show after intense criticism. Bill Maher sneered at the strike by writers. Thanks to backlash, he decided to put his show on pause. He has made Islamophobic and anti-Chinese statements, supports NSA surveillance, dislikes critical race theory, and opposed accepting Syrian refugees into the U.S., in the past.

A second season will include more moments between Clark and Lois, shipped by fans as Clois, generating fanart and fanfics. In fact, many of the over 130 stories on AO3 focus on this ship. In the words of Campbell, the second season will “blow people’s minds.” It will consist of 10 episodes, like Season 1. It is likely that the Kryptonian warriors will attack Earth. Spider-Man, Lux Luthor, and Lana Lang might appear. Hopefully, a second season has more outward LGBTQ+ representation in the main case. In this season, there is only, directly, a lesbian couple helped by Superman (he returns their child) and a gay couple (Mallah and Brain).

Fans who enjoy Clois are undoubtedly looking forward to another season. As for others, they may believe that the second season will reveal the truth behind Clark’s birth father or infuse strong sci-fi elements “with heart,” and make viewers love Superman all over again. Whether viewers see Lois as adorable, enjoy the fluid animation, humor and character designs; see Superman for gays and girls, or compare Lois with Luz, there are many reasons to enjoy this series, especially for those who like shonen action or shojo romance. Furthermore, it is relatable that Superman has been training, but doesn’t have hold of his powers.

My Adventures with Superman is very animesque, from opening and closing credits which resemble anime series in more ways than one. Clark’s voice actor, Jack Quaid, described it as “some anime influence…that is just so fun.” Along with the aforementioned magical transformation of Superman, some said there was a reference to Ouran High School Host Club opening sequence (“Kiss Kiss Fall In Love”) in the title of the seventh episode: “Kiss Kiss Fall In Portal.”

As part of a thread on X/Twitter, producer Josie Campbell confirmed this. She noted other influences on the series from Pokemon‘s Team Rocket, the anime Gurren Lagann, and many other media. While Sailor Moon likely didn’t influence the series, the fact that a Pretty Cure transformation influenced Superman’s transformation has caused interesting results. For instance, some social media users called on people to watch series within the ongoing anime franchise.

In a strange coincidence, this series is airing at a time that a character, Sora Harewata-ru, in Soaring Sky! Pretty Cure, transforms into Cure Sky in a manner which resembles Superman’s transformation. Cure Mermaid’s transformation likely inspired both. The My Adventures with Superman ending sequence is meant to resemble “old anime EDs with the softer palette and slow pan while time passes.” In Crunchyroll News, Briana Lawrence wrote an article about the similarities between Usagi Tsukino in Sailor Moon and Clark. Others pointed to Dragon Ball and Kill la Kill references, and anime tropes.

The anime influence isn’t the only factor influencing My Adventures with Superman. While fans have pointed out that some of the Crew-Ra, the name for the crew of She-Ra and the Princesses of Power, worked on the series, this was more limited in reality. Campbell, a co-producer, was a story writer and staff writer on She-Ra. Writer and co-executive producer of one episode, Brendan Cougar, was a storyboarder on She-Ra. He also storyboarded on Young Justice and on The Legend of Korra. Storyboarders Jasmine Goggins, Karen Guo, Diana Huh, and Jessica Zammit all worked on She-Ra.

More of an influence on this series could be, in some manner, Harley Quinn. 17 crew members of this series worked on that series, including animator Yew Yung, writer’s assistant Sari Cooper, production executive Audrey Diehl, and executive in charge of production Jay Bastian. In addition, nine crew members did work on Young Justice, including prop designer Austin Reinkens and storyboarder Chris Palmer. Another eight worked on DC Super Hero Girls. The latter included effects animator Jason Plapp and storyboarder Michael Nanna. Other crew members worked on Dogs in Space, The Casagrandes, Glitch Techs, Kipo and the Age of Wonderbeasts, and the Justice League x RWBY: Super Heroes and Huntsmen Part 1 film.

The co-executive producer for My Adventures with Superman, Jake Wyatt, was a background designer for Steven Universe. Art director Jane Bak was a background designer on the same series. Bak did the same on Steven Universe Future and Adventure Time: Distant Lands. Animator Edward Artinian worked on Steven Universe too. Online listings show that some crew members were part of the crew of Pantheon and Final Space. Series composer worked on Nomad for Nowhere. Others contributed their time and labor to series ranging from Chicago Party Aunt to Invincible, Unicorn: Warriors Eternal to High Guardian Spice. The title sequence animator, Yves Bigerel, better known as Balak, is the director and writer of Peepoodo & The Super Fuck Friends.

The voice cast is talented. Jack Quaid lent his voice to Peter Parker / Lizard in Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse and more prominently as Ensign Bradward “Brad” Boimler in Star Trek: Lower Decks. This series marks one of Alice Lee’s first voice roles, apart from voicing a character in Mickey Mouse Funhouse. She has played characters in TV series since 2009. Ishmel Sahid has been working on similar series since around the same time. In an exclusive interview with Lee and Sahid, both said they were excited to see fanart, but also said it was challenging to maintain the high energy of Lois and Jimmy. Both noted the writers and producers helped them. They described how they had to adjust their speaking voices to the characters and explained the flair they gave each character through the voices.

One member of the voice cast, Kari Wahlgren, is well-known. She voiced Martha Kent, and young Clark Kent, in this series. She has done dubbing of anime characters since 2002, and has voiced iconic characters in Western animation. This includes Electronique in Kim Possible,  Suzy Johnson in Phineas and Ferb, Tigress/Sheena in Carmen Sandiego, Callie in the somewhat underrated Cleopatra in Space, and Zatanna in DC Super Hero Girls. She also lent her voice to characters in Sym-Bionic Titan, Young Justice, Infinity Train, Dota: Dragon’s Blood, The Ghost and Molly McGee, The Owl House, Velma, and OK K.O.! Let’s Be Heroes.

Wahlgren is voice actor powerhouse in her own right. There are few voice actors, in the cast, who have voiced as many characters as Wahlgren. One exception is Zehra Fazal. She is recognized for voicing Nadia Rizavi in Voltron: Legendary Defender and Halo/Violet in Young Justice. She also voiced Faraday and Shannon in Craig of the Creek, Mara in She-Ra and the Princesses of Power, Zahra and Sabrina in Glitch Techs, General Yunan in Amphibia, and Tassia in Dragon Age: Absolution.

Others have voiced just as many characters. Chris Parnell voiced characters in Gravity Falls, BoJack Horseman, Elena of Avalor (Migs), Samurai Jack, and Dogs in Space (Ed). Debra Wilson previously voiced characters in Cannon Busters (Lady Day), Final Space (Quinn’s mother), The Casagrandes, The Owl House, Star Trek: Prodigy, Black Dynamite, and The Proud Family. Catherine Taber voiced her share of animated characters including Padmé Amidala in Star Wars: The Clone Wars and Lori Loud in The Loud House. Lucas Grabeel voiced characters such as Jiku in Elena of Avalor and the haughty scammer Julian in Spirit Riding Free.

The voice cast includes other prominent voice actors. Vincent Tong voiced characters in 16 Hudson, Ninjago, LoliRock (Mephisto), My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Polly Pocket, and The Dragon Prince (Prince Kasef). André Sogliuzzo voiced King Bumi in Avatar: The Last Airbender and King Verago in Elena of Avalor. He also voiced characters in Samurai Jack, Star Wars Rebels, and The Owl House. Darrell Brown previously lent his voice to characters in Gabby’s Dollhouse and Madagascar: A Little Wild. Azuri Hardy-Jones voiced Jade in Deer Squad. Kenna Ramsey voiced various characters in video games.

Apt viewers may recognize Jake Green, Laila Berzins, Jesse Inocalla, David Errigo Jr., Max Mittleman, and Andromeda Dunker. Errigo Jr. is known for voicing Ferb in the 2020 film, Candace Against the Universe. The film is the most recent iteration of the Phineas and Ferb franchise. Inocalla voiced Soren in The Dragon Prince. Berzins voiced characters in indie animations such as Satina, Wild Card: Shuffled, and Monkey Wrench.

Other well-known individuals voice bit characters in the seventh episode: Kimberly Brooks as Jalana Olsen, Osric Chau as Lewis Lane, and Lauren Tom as Leader Lois. Brooks is best-known as Princess Allura in Voltron: Legendary Defender and the rough-and-tough Jasper in Steven Universe. Some may remember Chau as the one who voiced the villainous computer hacker known as The Troll in Carmen Sandiego. Tom voiced Mop Girl in recently ended a mature animation, Disenchantment, and Amy Wong in currently airing Futurama, another mature animation. This differs with actors such as Reid Scott, Joel De La Fuente, Melanie Minichino, and Michael Emerson (as Brainac). All four do wonderful voice work on this show, but have almost exclusively, or exclusively, previously done live-action TV series.

Warner Bros. Animation is a subsidiary of the Warner Bros. Discovery conglomerate. This subsidiary produced Velma, Harley Quinn, DC Super Hero Girls, Young Justice, Justice League Unlimited, Teen Titans, Justice League, Static Shock, Superman: The Animated Series, and Batman: The Animated Series. Rooster Teeth, another subsidiary, is recognized for RWBY, its flagship series. The CRWBY is doing all they can to ensure RWBY gets a tenth season. The RWBY superhero crossover film (part 2) is coming out this fall. It may include a version of Superman, like part one.

A largely-circulated spreadsheet in which people anonymously described their conditions in animation studios mentions Warner Bros. Animation. In one entry, Warner Bros. Animation is said to have too much work and treat workers badly. However, it acknowledges that each production is different. People on Glassdoor praised Studio Mir for high-quality projects and talented colleagues. Others were more critical.

Whatever the second season of My Adventures with Superman brings, the number of fans will continue to grow (including the  10,000+ fans across two subreddits), regardless of the corporate decision to air it on Adult Swim rather than Cartoon Network, possibly because of “dark moments” in the series. Hopefully the next season goes above and beyond what the first season delivered. Even so, I can’t rate this series high enough, as it is just as strong as Harley Quinn and superior in many ways to the sometimes-convoluted Young Justice and mediocre Velma.

My Adventures with Superman can be streamed on Max or Spectrum. It can also be purchased on Prime Video, either as an entire season or individual episodes, iTunes, Vudu, Google Play, or Microsoft Store.

Ratings: Animation: 5 Voice Acting: 5 Music: 5 Story: 5 Total score: 5

 

© 2023 Burkely Hermann. All rights reserved.

My Dad the Bounty Hunter Season 2 Spoiler-Filled Review

My Dad the Bounty Hunter is a coming-of-age animated sci-fi adventure series by Everett Downing Jr. and Patrick Harpin. It is a continuation from the first season, which came out in February. It comes at a time when Black-centered animations are blossoming. This piece was written during the 2023 WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes. Without the labor of the writers and actors currently on strike, My Dad the Bounty Hunter, being reviewed here, wouldn’t exist.

Reprinted from Pop Culture Maniacs and Wayback Machine. This was the forty-eighth article I wrote for Pop Culture Maniacs. This post was originally published on September 4, 2023.

The second season of My Dad the Bounty Hunter picks up where the last one left off. Sean (voiced by JeCobi Swain) tells a story about his space adventures in class. Lisa (voiced by Priah Ferguson) acts like know-at-all to her science teacher. She declares that their dying planet and slow technology growth will ensure that outer space exploration is impossible. Their mother, Tess (voiced by Yvonne Orji) comes to school, learning that the school administrators see Sean as a genius, but they see Lisa as a problem student. She talks to her husband, Terry (voiced by Laz Alonso), who is working at a shoe store, telling him they shouldn’t keep secrets. Everything goes awry when a bounty hunter captures him, which she, Sean, and Lisa see, traumatizing them.

And that is only the first episode. This season throws you right into the action with new characters like Blobby (voiced by Patrick Harpin), a scammer extraterrestrial who was once captured by Terry in his bounty hunter persona of “Sabo.” Later, Tess puts herself, and her kids, in danger. She travels in Glorlox’s stolen ship to a nearby prison. She hopes that Terry is imprisoned there, while there’s an active bounty on her head. There are typical sci-fi elements like space warping and laser battles. Scenes in the space restaurant Bucky Quantos and A.I. like KRS (voiced by Yvette Nicole Brown) enhance this. The quick action and exciting plot make the series even more engaging. It draws you into the animation, by Dwarf Animation Studio, which has a smooth 3-D style.

The Conglomerate, officially known as Endless Horizons Conglomerate, are still the villains. With the death of The Fixer in the first season, Pam (voiced by Chelsea Peretti) is the organization’s new CEO. However, there is a twist. The Conglomerate is not holding Terry in their prison. Pam claims to investors that the Conglomerate is trying to become “socially conscious.” She boasts about reported rehabilitation of criminals to make them “productive” corporate slaves. She further champions the new food options at the ever-popular Bucky Quantos restaurant. The Conglomerate’s changes ensure the restaurant is no longer a “glorious palace of meat and grease and cholesterol,” as one character puts it. Instead, Pam declares that Conglomerate will connect people, and the universe, with warp gates. She is assisted by robot enforcers, such as Beta (voiced by Mara Junot), who calls Pam “the Creator.”

This series reminds me of Okja. The 2017 film mixes the science-fantasy and action-adventure genres. Directed by Bong Joon-ho, also known for Parasite and Snowpiercer, the Mirando Corporation are the villains. The corporation has a similar goal to the Conglomerate. They plan to raise genetically modified super pigs to sell meat to the masses. However, when they kidnap one pig, Okja, its owner, Mija, a young South Korean girl, tries to get it back. She is helped by an animal liberation group to rescue Okja. The group plans to reveal the corporation’s misdeeds to the world. Obviously, My Dad the Bounty Hunter is different from Okja, which focuses on the horrors of the food industry. Both have a strongly anti-corporate message even as they are on the streaming platform of Netflix, a conglomerate of its own.

Coming back to My Dad the Bounty Hunter, the second season shares similarities with space operas in the Star Wars franchise, like the third episode. In that episode, the fissures between the family members come to the surface. For one, Sean and Lisa can’t enter the casino because they are kids. Only adults are allowed in. Secondly, Tess admits she grew up in constant danger when she was younger but doesn’t want to talk about it, making Lisa suspicious. Thirdly, Sean begins to bond with Blobby, and Blobby with Lisa. She gives him tips on playing galactic poker. The episode hints at what is to come. The Widowmaker (voiced by Ralph Ineson) reveals that the Doloraam High Council kidnapped Terry. This terrifies Tess, confusing Sean and Lisa as to her reaction. She is implied to be non-human.

The third episode was the first time I had laughed during the season. The mother of Philip, a cat-faced creature, embarrasses him. She forces him to apologize for insulting Tess. It is moments like that which make me like the series even better. However, at other points, dramatic elements are more emphasized than the comedic ones.

The fourth episode continues directly from the third. The Afrofuturist themes come to the fore. This season is more Afrofuturist than the first season. The Doloraami royalty are revealed: Emperor Odoman (voiced by Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje) and Empress Gurira (voiced by Janet Hubert). Odoman towers above Terry, on the coliseum floor, and conducts the trial against him. Terry gets a sleazy public defender named Ja Boluu. Boluu’s voice actor, Godfrey, previously voiced Kofi in Steven Universe. Kofi is a stern, and somewhat authoritarian patriarch, of the Pizza family in Beach City, and owner of the family business. While Boluu is different from Kofi, there are other comparisons between Steven Universe and this series.

In both series, the protagonist is on trial. In Steven Universe, Steven is on trial for his mother’s crimes (killing a Diamond). He is accused of being his mother because of the pink diamond in his belly. (Blue) Zircon defends him. She finds a flaw in the Diamonds’ case. She accuses them of being complicit. As a result, Yellow Diamond poofs her. The trial in My Dad the Bounty Hunter is quite different. Emperor Odoman charges Terry with spacecraft theft, assaulting a royal guard, and abducting Sa Janeera, princess of Doloraam. Also, his public defender has wronged many people.

As it turns out, Tess is Sa Janeera. Terry acts surprised, but likely knew already. Unlike Steven in Steven Universe, who barely escapes the all-powerful Diamonds, Terry goes through tribulations of fire to annul his guilty sentence. The pompous B’Caala (voiced by Keith David), a Prince-like cat man who desires political power, tries to make a deal. He suggests that Terry narc on Tess. He refuses. Terry loves and cares about her. This refusal shows his loyalty to her.

Viewers who watch this series may see similarities to Black Panther and Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, which have Afrofuturist themes. However, Africanfuturist animations like Kizazi Moto, or futuristic elements in Supa Team 4 are more apt. Black Panther has been criticized for embodying police habits and tendencies. Some have said it sanitizes “cop behavior and brand it as heroism.” In contrast, the main characters in My Dad the Bounty Hunter, like Tess and Terry, are on the run from bounty hunters. They are the furthest thing from cops. This series doesn’t have copaganda, even though the Kingdom has a retributive justice system.

One of the major themes in My Dad the Bounty Hunter is the importance and value of family. Those ties are tested in this season. Lisa is annoyed that Tess is keeping secrets from her. She ignores Sean’s warning about not knowing the full story. This comes to a head in the fifth episode. Adja (voiced by Thando Thabethe) claims Tess made the “wrong” choice in leaving Doloraam. Although this is hurtful, it is nothing compared to Beta kidnapping Lisa and Sean. Tess loses it. She is paralyzed, unsure of her next steps. The credits further emphasize this by not having a music track. This encourages audience members to sympathize with Tess.

These themes mesh with Sean and Lisa’s connections to their Doloraami roots. Tess also unlocks her long-forgotten Doloraami powers, allowing her to defeat Beta. Interlinking to one’s ancestral identity is not unique to this series. For instance, the Kizazi Moto episode/films “Mkhuzi: The Spirit Racer” and “Hatima” emphasize similar themes, as does the lackluster episode/film “First Totem Problems.” Similarly, Carmen Sandiego, in the series of the same name, investigates her Argentinian roots in an important sub-theme of that series. In addition, Amphibia and The Ghost and Molly McGee incorporate Thai culture into the storylines, with the protagonists examining their parentage and ancestry.

Like other nations in Black speculative fiction, Doloraam has independence to make its own decisions. Pam detests this. It puts her plan to seize the planet’s crystals, known as Kalatite, in jeopardy. Like in the Kizazi Moto episode/film “Herderboy,” with herding of cattle to gain crystals, to power their society, the Kalatite crystals are the foundation of their society. They are sacred and have been in hands of the Doloraami people for generations. It makes sense that the Conglomerate would work with B’Caala in hopes that the royal council will agree to the Conglomerate’s terms. Even though the council is unaware of B’Caala’s treachery, they are rightly skeptical of the Conglomerate. They worry whether they will be kings or if the Conglomerate will have control instead.

The Conglomerate doesn’t put all their eggs in one basket. Pam develops a plan which aims to achieve the Conglomerate’s goals. There is a huge demonstration of the “good” that can come from warp portals. This does not convince the royal council. As a result, Pam later grumbles that she is tired of being nice. This implies that she will soon show her “true” nature. Her expression changes after learning that Sean, Lisa, and Tess are royalty. She believes that returning them to Doloraam will cause the royal council to vote in favor of the Conglomerate. This is a major miscalculation.

Odoman and Gurira are glad to see Tess, and meet Lisa and Sean. Terry is freed, after Tess confronts her parents about his kidnapping. B’Caala is tossed aside like a used dishrag. Pam says that because she brought back Tess, she doesn’t need him. To make matters worse, his tribe no longer recognizes his sovereignty, after he beats up Terry in a fight. His removal from the royal bloodline dashes his attempt to seize political power. B’Caala is further crest-fallen by Tess’s marriage to Terry.

Pam cares little about B’Caala. She only wants the deal with the royal council so she can exploit the citizenry, like any imperialist. She does not want to get involved in leadership squabbles. The royal council gives Pam a container with gold bars for her trouble. At the same time, they reject the Conglomerate’s proposal. Gurira says that they cannot, “in good conscience,” accept it. She argues that the Kalatite crystals are part of the Kingdom, as are the people and their family. The Conglomerate’s real plan manifests itself at the end of seventh episode. Their full-scale invasion almost resembles tactics of the Galactic Empire in the Star Wars franchise. The latter wants order and stability, while cracking down on any who disobeys.

The season’s last two episodes involve the struggle against the Conglomerate. It is revealed that Doloraam is not defenseless. A shield protecting the city is activated, as are cannons to fire at invaders. An arsenal of weapons is also revealed. During this fight, Lisa connects with the Kalatite. She fights alongside Adja in the city, calming Tess’s worries. Blobby and Sean work together to shut down the portal which is providing the Conglomerate with additional forces for their assault. In a scene akin to an Imperial cruiser falling toward Ryloth, in the Star Wars Rebels episode “Homecoming,” the portal’s closure slices a Conglomerate ship in half. The end is near. Despite this, Pam desperately attempts to finish the plan, at any cost.

The final episode of My Dad the Bounty Hunter wraps up everything, almost too nicely. The robots accelerate their extraction of Kalatite crystals. Pam has not learned the lesson that Elena (in Elena of Avalor) and Lunella Lafeyette in Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur made abundantly clear: speeding up the timeline only leads to disaster. Glorlox and his crew gives a helping hand, as does B’Caala. He informs Tess about Pam’s location. In a conversation with her, he reveals that he wanted to rule the planet, not see it destroyed. Following this is a great hand-to-hand combat scene between Pam and Tess. She pulls out Pam’s neural link, implying that the ship she was piloting the ship remotely, like the robots. Of course, this isn’t the end.

Tess fights Pam in a battle in a creepy swamp. The true form of Pam is revealed to be a huge alligator-like monster. Tess barely wins the battle. She is heavily injured, and Terry, Sean, and Lisa save her just in time. The fast-forward that follows is typical of many animations, either films or series. Kipo and the Age of the Wonderbeasts had one in the final episode as did Nimona in the end of that film.

The fruits of their victory are apparent. Tess (wearing boots made from Pam’s skin) hangs out with her family, her mother (voiced by Leslie Uggams), her friend Adja, and other compatriots on Earth. Everyone bonds. Lisa agrees to show Adja (who has a crush on Glorlox) around Earth. Blobby works with Sean to turn his story into a movie. There is a good, but untrue, quip from Blobby about how “all the good books” get turned into movies.

The series ends on a slice-of-life note. All of them play football together. However, a cliffhanger post-credits scene, which shows a warp gate activating, and a ship passing through, hints at a possible continuation. However, a lack of continuation for My Dad the Bounty Hunter would not leave fans hankering for more, as they do with High Guardian Spice, which has which raises more questions than answers. While the central conflict in the final episodes ended too quickly, the second season finale is perfect. I’m afraid that having another season would ruin that ending for fans and others alike.

In my season one review, I noted that the series impressed me. I described the animation and voice actors as top notch, praised the music selection, and noted that many voice actors were well-known. I also compared the series to episodes of Dogs in Space, Cleopatra in Space, Star Wars: The Bad Batch, and contrasted it with more mature themes in Helluva Boss and Invincible. Those insights still ring true. New characters like Blobby bring more humor to the series. Joshua Mosley’s score for the series, often including rap or hip-hop music, can make you excited to watch more.

The voice actors of My Dad the Bounty Hunter are a diverse bunch. JeCobi Swain has been in the entertainment industry since at least 2016. He has voiced characters in Eureka! and Firebuds. In contrast, Priah Ferguson, well-known for her role in the 1980s nostalgia trip known as Stranger Things, voiced Bailey in the subpar animated series, Hamster & Gretel. Yvonne Orji has range as evidenced by the fact that she also voices Gigi in Velma.

Laz Alonso has worked in the entertainment industry since early 2000s. His voice role in this series is one of his first voice roles, apart from some characters in Robot Chicken. Patrick Harpin, who is also this show’s creator and a storyboard artist, provided his voice to characters in two Hotel Transylvania films. Yvette Nicole Brown has been very prolific in her voice acting. Brown voiced characters in Strange Planet, The Ghost and Molly McGee, Dogs in Space, Fairfax, and many others.

Voice actors Chelsea Peretti, Mara Junot, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, Janet Hubert, Keith David, Thando Thabethe, Leslie Uggams, and Ralph Ineson are just as talented as those previously listed. This series also features Venice May Wong (also called Venice Wong) as Halvey, a friend of Sean and Lisa. Apart from her role in this series, Peretti recently voiced Queenie in Adventure Time: Fiona and Cake. Junot voiced Shoola in Arcane. Akinnuoye-Agbaje is known for providing his voice for Bilal in the film Bilal: A New Breed of Hero. David has voiced characters in Firebuds, The Proud Family: Louder and Prouder, Final Space, DuckTales, and Young Justice. In contrast, this series is one of the first voice roles for Hubert, Thabethe, Uggams, Ineson, and Wong.

The show’s cast is stellar, making the characters more relatable. The series is geared toward a Black audience and designed for families. This can draw people in, even those who prefer 2-D animation over 3-D animation. Those who watch it may connect with the messages, social commentary, or other aspects. They may also enjoy the show writing of Harpin, Downing, Justin Gordon-Montgomery, Shakira Pressley, Ryan Harer, or Tomi Adeyemi.

Gordon-Montgomery previously directed episodes of DC Super Hero Girls and storyboarded High Guardian Spice and Rapunzel’s Tangled Adventure episodes. Pressley wrote for Craig of the Creek. Harer was a script coordinator for Centaurworld and Middle School Moguls. Adeyemi is a Nigerian-American writer best known for her Legacy of Orïsha trilogy of young adult fantasy novels, which have Afrofuturist themes. All these people comprised the majority-Black writers room for the series.

Overall, the series is fun to watch. It is almost as fun as some Cleopatra of Space episode. In my season one review I said that series was unique and shined. I described it as “not my favorite series ever.” In contrast, I enjoyed the second season even more. There are many more series to compare it to now than there was in February. My predictions that the series will explore more about family dynamics and conflicts proved correct, as did the portrayal of a “loving Black family.”

However, Lisa did not have a boyfriend or a girlfriend in this season. In fact, neither Lisa nor Sean had romantic connections to anyone else. I think this is purposeful. In fact, Sean cares more about the fate of Beta, and the control she has over her body, than any person, apart from his family and friends. Sadly, the dearth of fan fiction for this series on AO3 or Fanfiction.net makes views of fans on this subject unknown.

As I say with every show that drops on the same day, I would have preferred 1-2 episodes of My Dad the Bounty Hunter air every week. The same “binge” model has been followed for Kipo and the Age of Wonderbeasts, Supa Team 4, Carmen Sandiego, and latest season of Disenchantment. Hopefully, future series will follow the lead of anime and release only one to two episodes per week.

I liked the emphasis on storytelling, as shown through Sean wanting to tell his own tall tales, and trying to be true to himself. The latter has a parallel in Blobby reuniting with his other half in the sixth episode. It echoes how Steven Universe reunited with Pink Steven in the Steven Universe series finale, “Change Your Mind”. Watching this season was worth it. I was glad I did so because this season is more Afrofuturist than the first season, as it addresses concerns and themes of the African diaspora through its speculative fiction and technoculture.

I’m glad I remembered that My Dad the Bounty Hunter even had a second season because I only was reminded when reading social media posts from fans about it. Unfortunately, mainstream reviewers seem to have ignored the second season‘s release. Despite the fact there are reviews out there, an online search indicated that major sites like The A.V. Club, IGN, Los Angeles Times, CBR, and The Hollywood Reporter have not penned reviews for the show’s second season. I’m not sure the exact reason, apart from unconscious racism, but it does this show a disservice in many ways.

At present, the series is on hiatus. Its fate has not been determined. Fans on social media have praised the series as awesome, fun, sweet, beautiful, incredible, and enjoyed the attention to detail. Netflix also deserves criticism for not marketing the series, leaving that job to the fans and creators (and crew). It is a clear insult. On the other hand, the release of this series shows that original stories matter.

My Dad the Bounty Hunter comes out at a time that negotiations to end the strikes of writers and actors are ongoing, with no agreement in sight. Wildbrain’s workers have said they are moving to form a union and the animation industry is under strain, with work drying up and studios cutting back on employment. Dwarf Animation Studios is not mentioned on a recently-circulated spreadsheet noting conditions within animation studios. Some reviews on Glassdoor were positive, describing it as having a good company culture. Others noted it can be disorganized or were more critical.

It is not known if Netflix will renew the series for another season. This series comes at an apt time, since many other Black animations are being released nowadays. It is worth checking out, despite Netflix’s lack of promotion and mainstream reviewers completely ignoring the second season’s release.

My Dad the Bounty Hunter can be streamed on Netflix.

Ratings: Animation: 5 Voice Acting: 5 Music: 5 Story: 4 Total score: 4.8

© 2023 Burkely Hermann. All rights reserved.

Kizazi Moto: Generation Fire Spoiler-Filled Review

Kizazi Moto: Generation Fire, known as Kizazi Moto for short, is an Africanfuturist animated film anthology series. It is the second animated series produced by a South African animation studio, Triggerfish. It follows Kiya and the Kimoja Heroes, which premiered on Disney+ earlier this year. Peter Ramsey is the executive producer. Tendayi Nyeke and Anthony Silverston join him as supervising producers. Shofela Coker, Raymond Malinga, and Ahmed Teilab developed the series. As a warning, this review will discuss death, blood, suicide, and other related themes. This piece was written during the 2023 WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes. Without the labor of the writers and actors currently on strike, Kizazi Moto, being reviewed here, wouldn’t exist.

Reprinted from Pop Culture Maniacs and Wayback Machine. This was the forty-third article I wrote for Pop Culture Maniacs. This post was originally published on August 6, 2023.

Unlike some other series, Kizazi Moto is a bit hard to describe. While each of the ten short films within this series clearly has an African perspective, told by one or more directors, the themes of each episode can be vastly different. The music, animation style, writing, and everything else can also differ. Sometimes, it feels like the sinew holding the series together is not as strong as it could be. Even so, each film stands on its own, with many providing a possible starting point for future animated series.

To understand where the series stands, it is important to have some background about the genre. This series is outwardly Africanfuturist. In the reporting, before the series released, some media outlets incorrectly described it as “Afrofuturist.” These two genres are not the same. Afrofuturism, which is well-known as a genre, explores intersection of science and technology with the African diaspora, addressing concerns and themes of that diaspora. The term was coined in 1993 by White male cultural critic Mark Dery. This has led some to use broader terms like “Black science fiction” and “Black speculative fiction” or embrace the term “Africanfuturism”.

Africanfuturism centers on fusion of African mythology, history, culture, technology, and point of view, within Africa itself. Nigerian-American writer Nnedi Okorafor coined the term in 2019. She described it as a sci-fi sub-category deeply rooted in “African culture, history, mythology and point-of-view” which does not center or privilege Western countries, while retaining optimistic future visions. It is also, in her description, written and centered on people who are of African descent, and rooted in Africa. As such, it can also include the African diaspora.

While there has been more Africanfuturist literature, and comics, in recent years, there are very few films. One such film put in the genre (by some) is Black Panther. Others have included Pumzi and Ratnik, along with Okorafor‘s Binti and Who Fears Death, which are getting live-action series adaptations. Even so, there are no currently ongoing Africanfuturist series. As such, Kizazi Moto may prove vital to the possibility of future series in the genre. It will only join the ranks of series in development, like Iwájú, created by a Pan-African British company, Kugali Media, in collaboration with Walt Disney Animation Studios.

As such, Kizazi Moto differs from My Dad the Bounty Hunter, the upcoming Dantai (produced by Idris Elba and Sabrina Dhowre). The still-in-production Iyanu: Child of Wonder (releasing in 2024) may include some Afrofuturist, or Africanfuturist, elements. More common examples of Afrofuturism include music of R&B/pop/funk/hip hop/soul musician Janelle Monáe and R&B/soul/hip hop musician Erykah Badu.

The first episode/film of this series, “Herderboy,” features artful, colorful, and amazing animation. It is coupled with impactful voice acting and fitting music. The story of a wanna-be hero, Ndahura (voiced by Koona Blair Matthias “Wonders”), is typical. Some characters are speaking Yoruba (voiced by people in Benin, Nigeria, and Togo). The beast, a Nyamiyonga (voiced by Jon Olson), feeds off negative energy. Both are unique. It is unlike any other series I’ve seen. There aren’t any simple naming conventions, like the original world of the Diamonds in Steven Universe called “Homeworld,” rather than something more creative. The herding of cattle to gain crystals, known as chwezinite, to power their society shows the sci-fi nature of the episode. What really caps off this episode are the amazing action sequences and compelling characters.

The episode/film is directed, and written, by Raymond Malinga. Mpho Osei-Tutu does other writing. I was unfamiliar with any of the voice actors, either Florence Kasumba (voiced Ndahura’s sister, Captain Katono), Idringi Patrick “Salvado” (voice of somewhat technology adverse Dushiime), or Omara Daniel (voiced of robot Isingoma).

The second episode/film of Kizazi Moto, “Mkhuzi: The Spirit Racer,” is unlike the first. It focuses on racing. The episode/film is set in a futuristic city where some speak Zulu. The racing scenes are fluid. They fit with characters jumping across the screen, garnering the viewer’s attention. Unlike the first episode/film, this episode/film focuses on the importance of family, culture (being Zulu), and ancestry. The themes of displacement, gentrification, and togetherness are key. The neighborhood where Manzo (voiced by Nasty C) and his mother Manomi (voiced by Carol Ofori) live, is almost demolished by Ogun (voiced by Hakeem Kae-Kazim). He is an intergalactic racing overlord. Manzo only saves it when he takes on his mother’s garb as Mkhuzi and becomes all-parts Zulu.

The episode/film had nice upbeat rock music and well-done animation. It has none of the same directors and writers as the first one. Malcolm Wope directed and created it. Simangaliso “Panda” Sibaya was a fellow director. Leslie Pulsfier wrote the episode. Apart from the aforementioned voice actors, I was unfamiliar with Sandi Dlangalala, who voices racer Cosmizi. In some ways, this episode reminded me of Birdie Wing, but that anime is more wild with golf-obsessed Mafia, even more than The Phantom Menace, which has a well-known pod racing scene, or similar scenes in Star Wars Resistance.

When it comes to writers, each episode/film had distinct individuals. The animation and writing weren’t done in the United States. As such, their studios aren’t mentioned on a recently-circulated spreadsheet noting conditions within animation studios. However, their labor and economic conditions are worth noting. The entertainment industry remains highly profitable. Disney, brought in over $55 billion to the company’s Media and Entertainment Distribution division in 2022 alone. They can clearly pay writers, and actors, what they deserve, and fulfill their demands in the recent strikes. It should be no issue for them at all.

The third episode/film of Kizazi Moto, “Moremi,” took a quite different tact than the others, making it stand out. In part, this was because it had moderate violence. It artfully combined mystical magical, and sci-fi themes all in one. Like the first episode/film, the Yoruba language is spoken. In some ways, this episode reminded me of the episode in the far-too-short animeseque Yasuke in which the samurai, Yasuke, travels upstream with Saki. A fundamental difference between that series, focused on the Black experience, is that this episode has character development, depth, and no tonal shifts.

This episode/film focuses on the frailty of the human condition, family togetherness, and the value of one’s soul. The protagonist Luo (voiced by Tolowanimi Olaoye), who must recharge himself every day to keep his heart functioning, learns a story from Moremi, the woman who saves him from soul-eating monsters. Moremi (voiced by Kehinde Bankole) tells him that in the past, the land of Ife was filled with the aforementioned monsters from another realm. She adds that woman built a machine which closed the inter-dimensional gateway between worlds. Of course, even though this woman made an oath to the Gods, she vowed to save her child by any means necessary, even if the monsters returned.

This Kizazi Moto episode/film has a touching ending, with Luo merging his life force with the child, Olu. As a result, the monsters depart, and Moremi, the woman from the story, finally can reunite with her child. I can’t even think of a series in which a character gives up their soul to save another person. Rapunzel in Rapunzel’s Tangled Adventure nor Steven Universe in the series of the same name has done anything like Luo. The only equivalent I can think of is what happens in the original Tokyo Mew Mew manga and the early 2000s anime. Masaya Aoyama uses the Mew Aqua inside of him to not only sacrifices his own life, but that of villainous Deep Blue. This does not happen in the reboot series, which has more of a “happy ending” than in the original series (or manga).

I wasn’t familiar with the episode’s director, Shofela Coker, co-writer, Vanessa Kanu, or co-director, Andrew McNally. Coker even voices a character (Malimbe) in this episode/film. Coker is known for his animation and video game work and for feature films like Liyana. Kanu is a new screenwriter. She is a staff writer on Supa Team 4, reportedly the “first original African animated series” on Netflix. McNally is co-creator of Isaura, a South African animated film in development. It focuses on climate change and environmental conservation, and centers on Mozambique. The same company that made that film, Studio Lucan, also did the work on this episode. The episode/film, it is inspired by the real mythological story of Yoruba hero Queen Moremi/Moremi Ajasoro of Ife.

The fourth episode/film of Kizazi Moto, “Surf Sangoma”, goes in another direction. It’s about surfing and finding yourself. It begins in a dark place. The grandmother of the protagonist, Njabulo, is pulled under water by squids. This mortifies her grandson, who tries in vain to save her, but fails. Then, there is a flash forward to the present, where Njabulo is a surfing coach, and he talks to his friend, Mnqobi. In an almost ominous tone, an announcement declares that surfing beyond the wall, which protects the city, is illegal and deadly. Even the high water is said to have caused civil unrest. In a scene, which reminds me of the bike chases in the often-forgotten Tron: Uprising, Mnqobi and Njabulo race one another and find a spot which gets them “over the wall”.

This is where the episode becomes horror-like. Locals talk to Njabulo (voiced by Mandisa Nduna) and Mnqobi (Omiga Mncube), declaring that they either must surf or leave. Although Njabulo refuses to take part, with his grandmother’s voice telling him to avoid the water, Mnqobi obliges. All of them have squids, from the water, attached to their heads. This is even worse than the brain slug in Futurama. It’s more like the insidious brain worms in two episodes of Star Wars: The Clone Wars. To make matters worse, Mnqobi joins the local surfers and they beat up Njabulo, stealing his board, the last thing he has left of his grandmother.

With an undoubted lesson that people should confront their fears, the voice of Njabulo’s grandmother tells him to return to the water. Although the local surfers taunt him, he continues onward. His grandmother saves him from the ravenous squid. She is now part of the ocean. One of the best animated sequences in the episode follows. Njabulo is chased by other surfers, with the music and pace fitting the action. In the end, he is able to rescue his friend.

Perhaps to indicate the world’s cruelty, the surfer with malintent, Mlindos (voiced by Carlos Fonseca Mokgata), is brutally killed/subsumed by the squid. Although Njabulu and Mnqobi survive, a final scene, which shows a squid, in the water near the former city, roaring, implies a possible continuation. It also indicates that the city may be under direct threat.

This Kizazi Moto episode/film must be one of my favorites. Not only do some of the characters talk in Zulu, but the animation is smooth, colorful, and unique, having its own flair. On the other hand, it is a bit like a horror film. It is, perhaps, the scariest of the lot, and it took some time to come around to it since I’m not a big fan of the horror genre, with some exceptions. I wasn’t aware of any of the directors (Catherine Green, Nthato Mokgata, and Graham Gallagher), nor the creators (Nthato Mokgata and Terence Neale) or the writers (Nthato Mokgata, Catherine Green, and Phumlani Pikoli).

Similarly, I hadn’t heard of Sabelo Gumede (who voices Mlindos’ associate, Nsimbi), Tyson Ngubeni (who voices Mlindos’ associate, Joko), or Krofaa Sani Sekyiamah (who voices a little surfer girl/Njabulo’s student at beginning of the episode). Mokgata is part of a South African visual art duo and musician otherwise known as Spoek Mathambo. He has a distinctly and “socially-engaged” Africanfuturist perspective. Neale is known for music videos.

The other six episodes/films continue the show’s “unique African perspective” and play to a big audience. This series may be a breakthrough for the animation industry in Africa. Disney has under-promoted this series, without question. This leaves it up to the individual creators to do the promotion on their own. Triggerfish, the animation studio primarily behind the series, was praised on Glassdoor. Comments described it as extremely organized, having a great company culture, inspirational, great upward mobility, and high-quality animation. The same comments criticized it for a messy production pipeline, low job retention, and low pay.

I was intrigued when I saw the title of “First Totem Problems,” the fifth episode/film of Kizazi Moto. The colorful animated scenery and cheerful music pulled me in, as were the struggles of the protagonist. Sheba (voiced by Rene Setlhako) cannot get on a train because it doesn’t identify her as an adult. Later, she attends a ceremony to get a totem, so she can become an adult. By accident, she ends up in a dimension where her ancestors are living, akin to the spirit world in Elena of Avalor.

She is determined to get a totem. She enters the totem printing room with that goal. Her ancestors tell her that a totem is connected to your community and can’t be manufactured. This doesn’t faze her. She makes her own totem and is verified as an adult; despite the damage her actions may have caused within the spirit world.

Honestly, this episode/film was the least favorite one. The message appears to be that someone’s determination and smugness will help you achieve your goals. Not sure that is a good lesson. The episode could have done something like Hilda, where her arrogance causes her trouble and issues with others. I hadn’t heard of the episode’s writer/director, Tshepo Moche, nor Maame Boateng and Khadidiatou Diouf, who provided additional writing. The same went for the voice actors, like Tumi Morake, Lillian Dube, Rampepe Mohohlo, and Sne Dladla who voiced Momzo, Mimi, Malume, and Wewe respectfully.

My disappointment from the fifth episode/film of Kizazi Moto faded away when I watched “Mukudzei”. This episode/film not only criticizes online culture and obsession with likes as hollow, but it has the lesson that togetherness and cooperation are more important than individuality. Muku (voiced by Pious Nyenyewa) realizes this firsthand, while he is spray painting the ruins. He is transported, due to a timeline glitch, to a future parallel universe, Muchadenga. In this universe, Great Zimbabwe was never colonized. A fellow scavenger named Rumbie (voiced by Genesis “Gigi Lamayne” Manney) saves him. Rumbie tells him this society has all sorts of technology and the most sophisticated justice system in the multiverse. A monster bird chases them and there is an intense, and well-animated, chase through a tunnel.

The biggest twist is not that Muku realizes he messed up or that Rumbie is also from the past, and saw her brother die in the ruins. It is the fact that the bird is trying to help them get back to the past! The bird even assists them in keeping open the portal so they can return to the present, where Rumbie meets her mother (voiced by Fungai Muzoroza), once again. Muku realizes that being #1 as a social media influencer doesn’t matter. Rather, talking to his dad is more important. Preserving one’s culture and history is another important theme.

Like the other episodes/films, I hadn’t heard of the directors (Tafadzwa Hove and Pious Nyenyewa). While Hove was the writer, Nyenyewa also was the episode’s creator and voice of Muku, one of the protagonists, as noted earlier. Hove describes himself as a “filmmaker”. Nyenyewa is a Zimbabwean who leads the studio, Alula Animation. Manney is a South African rapper known as Gigi Lamayne. This series is the voice acting debut of her and Muzoroza.

The seventh episode/film of Kizazi Moto, “Hatima,” was one of the strongest. And I’m not only saying that because I enjoy reading stories about merpeople like Mermaid Huntress (formerly named Ice Massacre), Mora in Disenchantment, Coral in High Guardian Spice, or Lettuce in Tokyo Mew Mew New (who can sometimes be a mermaid). The fact that this took place in an underwater society makes me think of the underwater battles in Star Wars: Clone Wars, the secret society of Atlantis in the 2000s Disney films (Atlantis: The Lost Empire and Atlantis: Milo’s Return), the Gungan society in Star Wars, or the oft-appearing Atlanteans in Justice League, Justice League Unlimited, Young Justice, and other properties.

“Hatima” has common themes like a father’s death at the hands of an enemy. Being deemed unworthy to be a warrior, with someone holding you back from your potential is not a new concept. I liked that Mati (voiced by Nkosinathi Mazwai) is headstrong. He won’t listen to the reasoning of his brother, Sana (voiced by Tshepo Howza Mosese). Sana doesn’t understand Mati’s anger, or wants to use a “weapon of war”, the Hatima. In fact, he declares that the Hatima are only used by the “air-breathers” (i.e., the humans) and that they don’t use them. The backstory begins almost innocently. Nhela (voiced by Mo Mjamba) works in her makeshift lab. Her sister, Alani (voiced by Tumela Candice Modiselle) helps her. She learns that sodium chloride causes the Hatima cells to grow instead of destroying them.

It predictably goes south. Their actions incur the disappointment of King of their society, and their father (voiced by Herald Khumalo). He takes away the Hatima. After Nhela mocks his decrees, Alani refuses to work with her. In a possible allusion to chronic illness, Nhela, who is near death, and coughing up blood, submerges herself in the Hatima. She has changed. But no one will accept her, even after her pleas that this substance can cure all sickness.

The worst betrayal is that Alani says they can “fix” and return her to normal, which is ludicrous. Does she want her sister to almost die, again? Unsurprisingly, she leaves the society, feeling shunned by everyone. This connects Mati and the battle underwater. This whole story is in a memory orb, which reveals this backstory. It causes him to embrace his “enemy,” Ntsako (voiced by Lebo Mochudi), and realize they are all related. In some ways, this resolution makes me think of the sirenas in Elena of Avalor, likely referring to the mythologic creature in Filipino culture, which is like a mermaid.

I was familiar with themes of acceptance, the “other,” ancestry, and family. Even so, I hadn’t come across a series where characters speak Afrikaans, a West Germanic language which evolved in the Dutch Cape Colony used by German, French, Dutch settlers, and those they enslaved. Due to this history, it makes sense that the “oppressors” are speaking this language. I can easily sympathize with what Mati and Nhela are going through, on some level.

This episode/video has extreme potential to become a full animated series. Whether Terence Maluleke and Isaac Mogajane, who were the directors, with Maluleke as creator and Mogajane as writer, want to pursue a longer series, I’m not sure. Tatenda Mbudzi was also on the crew, helping with dialogue. I hadn’t heard of Sekoati Tsubane (who voices Mati’s father) or Kgomotso Kekana (who voices Young Mati), who are voice actors in this series. Maluleke is a digital artist, while Mogajane is director and writer.

The last three episodes/films of Kizazi Moto are unique, but also connect to others. The eighth episode “Stardust”, is all about discrimination, realizing who you want to be, and your “destiny” mixed with magic, amazing 3-D animation, and well-fitting music. The protagonist, Nawara (voiced by May Elghety), wants to escape her hard life, and sees the Oracle as the answer. Despite the Oracle’s guard saying that her “kind” isn’t allowed, the Oracle (voiced by Laith Nakli) gives her a scroll. He says that it has what she deserves. When she learns there is nothing inside the scroll, she is enraged. She declares she will “take” her destiny by herself.

Not everyone likes the Oracle. He is the enemy of the Pallids. They want a magical star from him, even destroying his droid protector. Later, Nawara escapes with some scrolls. Even so, she feels bad after the Oracle is captured. She becomes friends with Riphi, the oxen-like beast who is the Oracle’s animal companion. She goes on a typical hero’s journey to the observatory. In a powerful scene, the Pallid boss (voiced by Mo Ismail) tells Nawara that she shouldn’t waste her pride and ambition because people like her don’t get to choose their destiny. Of course, she can’t accept this. She fights alongside the Oracle and the Pallids are defeated. Comically, they are thrown out of the observatory.

The end of this episode/film implies that Nawara may stay with the Oracle, as she says that she wants to be “nothing, but this”. The camaraderie between Nawara and the Oracle is one of the best parts of the episode/film. The same can be said for the voice acting by Elghety, Nakli, Ismail, Amir Hedayah, Rami El Ashram, and Nayra El Sheikh. The latter three voice the droid announcer, a Pallid man, and Pallid woman. Ahmed Teilab wrote and directed this episode/film. Kenyas screenwriter Voline Ogutu does additional writing. Their talents make “Stardust” that much more impactful.

The ninth episode/film of Kizazi Moto, “You Give Me Heart” shares some similarities with the previously mentioned episode/film, “Mukudzei”. However, this episode/film, more than any of the others, criticizes the absurdity of online value. The protagonist, Sundiata “Sundi” (voiced by Sechaba Ramphele), has only two followers. This differs from Phefo and Moepi, voiced by Mhlangabezi Richard Mashiya and Lesego Vorster. He joins a show in which contestants are from a version of Earth called Oro Kotoko. Winners enter the land of the Gods, called Hodimo, and become the new God of creativity. To do so, they must convince Maadi, goddess of plenty, to favor them. If the judges are displeased, then a contestant can be rejected.

Luckily for Sundi, he ascends. The announcer, Tsbinki (Mukovhe Monyai), has it out for him, because Sundi embarrassed him by turning him into a clay hummingbird during the contest. Maadi is willing to help him. While he is happy for her help, he never gets close to the follower count he needs to truly ascend: one million followers. He admits to her that it is hard to get people to like you. When he sees the true form of Maadi (voiced by Pearl Thusi), he films her, and causes him to reach his goal.

This is at a cost. He embarrasses her. It results in her losing so many followers that her goddess status disappears. In the final part of the episode, he strikes back. Everything falls apart, with the help of Maadi, with each of the gods losing their forms, and the system overloads. Maadi and Sundi hold hands and tell the program, Jojoba (voiced by Simba Mudereri) to “delete” it all. They appear to die happy while this horrifying place disappears from existence.

“You Give Me Heart” was one of my favorite Kizazi Moto episodes/films. I thought the imagery of the Gods working in cubicles is apt. I’ve always thought that if a higher power was even possible (which it isn’t), there would be a massive bureaucracy to manage everything. This is almost never depicted in fiction. I liked Tsbinki’s character, to an extent, as she is very energetic and emphatic. Some of the designs reminded me of Gem fusions like Sunstone, Sugilite, and Sunstone in Steven Universe. The director/creator, Lesego Vorster, and writer, Nonzi Bogatsu, were both new names to me.

The final film/episode of Kizazi Moto, “Enkai”, shares themes with “Hatima”. The mother Goddess, Shiro, has fun with her child, Enkai. Both speak Swahili together. Despite this warmth, she insists that Enkai isn’t ready to create new life, and is not ready to come with her to Earth. Understandably, Enkai worries about her mother. She is excited when she makes her first being. Curiously, she travels to Earth and walks through a slum in Kirinyaga Mega City. People there are rapping that the Euro-Kenya Corporation is exploiting a mountain. Her mom, who is trying to put out fires made by the corporation’s robots, saves her, just in time.

Shiro’s belief that the corporation won’t destroy the sacred mountain is proven wrong. The corporate greed, of the humans, almost kills her. Not all hope is lost. Enkai (voiced by Stycie Waweru) creates a whole new world, using items from Earth over years and years, called Thayari. She tells her mom that humans can only save themselves now. She adds that isn’t her mom’s responsibility anymore, and heals her mother (voiced by Sheila Munyiva). In the final sequence of this episode/film, they both dance in this new world happily.

While the Earth is “left to die”, Shiro did as much as she could. She almost died trying to protect Earth. This episode/film has the implication that humans have no one to look up to but themselves. In some ways, this is an atheist theme. This contrasts with many of the other episodes/films, which have almost religious, or religious themes. I wasn’t familiar with the voice actresses for Enkai or Shiro, nor those for Awa (Kate Harbor) or Makanga (Varees Marko Lukyamuzzi). The director/writer, Ng’engo Mukii, was also new. She is a film director and Tufts University professor.

I have further thoughts on Kizazi Moto before I end this review. The series was promoted badly. I only remembered it all thanks to some savvy users on social media. As such, the promotional campaign could have been better. Secondly, having all ten episodes/films drop one day is a recipe for having them disappear altogether, with people forgetting about them. The release of the episodes/films should have been spaced out along 10 weeks, or five weeks at minimum.

This series is unlike any other series I’ve seen, in part because it is an anthology. Each episode/film doesn’t necessarily connect to the previous one. Even so, they all show the brilliance of African animation industry, whether through the writing, animation, or dialogue. Although I haven’t seen any of the episodes of Star Wars: Visions yet, it has a similar feel, in terms of each episode standing alone and not necessarily connecting to those before it. At the same time, this series differs from other well-known sci-fi anthology series like Black Mirror, The Twilight Zone, The Ray Bradbury Theater, and Love, Death & Robots.

African stories are front and center in Kizazi Moto, just as Mexican stories are at the center of Victor and Valentino and Villainous. The fact that Ramsey, known for his co-direction of Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, gives this series credibility. Unfortunately, many originally incorrectly labeled this as “Afrofuturist,” despite the distinction as I noted earlier in this review, with some exceptions. With the premiere of Supa Team 4 late last month, My Dad the Bounty Hunter season 2  this month, and premieres for Iyanu: Child of Wonder, and Dantai, hopefully in 2024 or 2025, Black science fiction is moving to a broader audience.

Recently, Disney announced that The Proud Family: Louder and Prouder would be getting a third season. At the same convention, Annecy International Animation Film Festival, it was also revealed that The Sunnyridge 3, StuGo, Dragon Striker, and The Doomies will be going into production, along with a second season of Kiff, and future premiere of Primos sometime this year. All of this shows that Disney appears to recognize the value of diverse storytelling.

On the other hand, Disney continues to resist demands of striking writers and actors. Recently, newly-anointed Disney CEO, Bob Iger, denigrated striking writers and actors as “very disruptive”. The former are asking for a ratified labor contract, a fair residual formula for streaming services, stronger regulation of self-tape auditions, preventing artificial intelligence from replacing actors, while the latter want to limit use of artificial intelligence in the writing process, size of writers’ rooms, job security, and increased pay.

Due to Iger’s statement, there’s no guarantee Disney would pay them fairly or accept their demands at the present. However, it seems unlikely that the twin strikes by actors and writers will last long-term because, hopefully, the studio heads likely want to make a deal, even though some want to let things drag on until union members start “losing their apartments and…their houses.” Furthermore, it is not known how this will impact Disney’s push for diverse storytelling.

Kizazi Moto, along with various aforementioned series which are in production, those renewed, or those airing (Kiff, Hamster & Gretel, Moon Girl, and Hailey’s On It!) is part of Disney’s present course of action. Disney also has series in development such as Iwaju, Cookies & Milk, Tiana, or Moana: The Series. Clearly, the executives want to bring in, promote, and produce non-White stories. This was already clear with the Thai focus in Amphibia and various Black and Afro-Latina characters in The Owl House. It is even more evident with recent announcements.

I’m not sure where Kizazi Moto will go from here, but each has the potential to be expanded into their own series, or something more. I hope that they don’t suffer the fate of the little-known web series, Recorded by Arizal, by Filipino creator Yssa Badiola. That series was ignored by Rooster Teeth, and not greenlit into a full series, despite the amazing potential of the four-episode prelude.

Kizazi Moto: Generation Fire can be watched on Disney+.

© 2023 Burkely Hermann. All rights reserved.

Ratings: Animation: 5 Voice Acting: 5 Music: 5 Story: 4 Total score: 4.8

Unicorn: Warriors Eternal Spoiler-Filled Review

Unicorn: Warriors Eternal is a mature supernatural fantasy comedy with steampunk elements. Genndy Tartakovsky, who is well-known in the animation industry, is the director and creator. He is best known for Dexter’s Laboratory, Star Wars: Clone Wars, Sym-Bionic Titan, and Samurai Jack, and more recently, Primal. This piece was written during the 2023 WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes. Without the labor of the writers and actors currently on strike, Unicorn: Warriors Eternal, being reviewed here, wouldn’t exist.

Reprinted from Pop Culture Maniacs and Wayback Machine. This was the forty-first article I wrote for Pop Culture Maniacs. This post was originally published on July 24, 2023.

This series has a simple plot: a group of heroes are inadvertently awakened by Copernicus, a steam-powered robot, in bodies of three teenagers (Emma, Alfie, and Dimitri), rather than in bodies of adults, like in the past. These heroes are opposed by a mysterious foxlike woman (voiced by Grey DeLisle), who embodies evil.

Unicorn: Warriors Eternal drew me in as a person who enjoyed watching Star Wars: Clone Wars as a kid (and have re-watched it various times), and liked Samurai Jack and Sym-Bionic Titan. Voice actors like Jacob Dudman (voice of Edred) who voiced two characters in Primal, and DeLisle, voice of the mysterious woman and the original Melinda, strengthen this series.

Delisle is well-known for her work in animation, including voicing characters in Invincible, Kid Cosmic, The Owl House, Kipo and the Age of Wonderbeasts, DC Super Hero Girls, She-Ra and the Princesses of Power, Elena of Avalor, Star Wars Rebels, The Legend of Korra, Young Justice, and My Life as a Teenage Robot. In contrast, Hazel Doupe, the voice of Emma in this series, is unique. This is her first voice role, as she has only done live-action series before.

I wasn’t as familiar with Jeremy Crutchley, Demari Hunte, Alain Uly, Tom Milligan, Ron Bottita, or George Webster, the voices of Merlin, Alfie, Seng, Lord Edward Fairfax, and Winston in Unicorn: Warriors Eternal. I say this even though Crutchley voiced Glad-One and One in Infinity Train, and Uly as Lieutenant Maylur and two stormtroopers in Star Wars: The Bad Batch.

Others, such as Hunte, Milligan, Bottita, Webster, appear to be new to voice work. Rosalind Ayres (voice of Lord Katherine Fairfax) previously voiced characters in video games while Robbie Daymond (voice of various one-off characters) lent his voice to the notorious Curious Cat in Volume 9 of RWBY! He voiced Jesse in Infinity Train season 2, Raymond in OK K.O. Let’s Be Heroes!, and many other English dubs of anime characters.

The steampunk setting in Victorian London, in 1890, in this series, reminded me of Steamland in Disenchantment, the upper city in Arcane, or the similarly steampunk action anime, Princess Principal, which spawned a multi-part film series. The steampunk genre has even reached into indie animation and comics. It includes films like Snowpiercer, Atlantis: The Lost Empire, and Howl’s Moving Castle, along with animated series like Nadia: The Secret of Blue Water and The Legend of Korra. I am even reminded of an unaired 2001 pilot for Constant Payne, by Indigenous writer Micah Wright. It has a strong steampunk aesthetic.

Unicorn: Warriors Eternal is different than all of those previously mentioned. It is unique in its own way. Just as Samurai Jack was set in the future, with magic, robots, lasers, and the like, this series is set in an alternate world. Unlikely the haphazard and strange inclusion of futuristic technology in the far-too-short Yasuke, this series is much more complete. It draws inspiration from works by animators Max Fleischer and Osamu Tezuka, films by Hayao Miyazaki (like Howl’s Moving Castle) and other steampunk aesthetics.

The show’s character designer, Stephen DeStefano, worked on Sym-Bionic Titan, Primal, and other projects, with Tartakovsky. He pushed, as did Tartakovsky, to ensure the series had an “old aesthetic” but was told “in a very contemporary way”. The studio producing the series, Cartoon Network Studios, has produced many of Tartakovsky’s previous projects. Some of the same animators who worked on his previous projects may be working on this series.

These animators could not do their work without the writers. If a recently circulated spreadsheet is representative of Cartoon Network Studios as a whole, it would mean that, for animators, there is repetitive work, little opportunity for advancement, sterile environment due to the Warner-Discovery merger, disorganization, burnout, and overwork. There are two primary show writers: Darrick Bachman and Tartakovsky. While the latter is more well-known, the former is not, despite his work on Primal, Samurai Jack, Regular Show, Star Wars: Clone Wars, and many animated series, some of which he worked on with Tartakovsky.

If Glassdoor is accurate, each of these writers makes somewhere between $46,000 to $83,000 a year. I would guess that Tartakovsky is paid more than Bachman. In any case, the conditions the writers work in influences whether a show is “high-quality” or “low-quality”. High Guardian Spice was said to be the latter, until it was revealed that the working conditions at Crunchyroll were horrendous. This does not appear to be the case for Cartoon Network Studios. The recent closure of the iconic studio’s headquarters, with employees told to move to a sterile, lifeless Warner Bros. building instead, it does not bode well.

Even some predicted that under David Zaslav, it is difficult to “imagine a future in which the studio’s original animation output can match what it has been in the past,” with a strong shit to reboots rather than original series. However, if the writers, and actors, are successful in their strike, these conditions may change for the better. On the other hand, the studios are doing all they can to burn down motivation of actors and writers, while stockpiling completed works and scripts before the strikes began.

Coming back to the series, Unicorn: Warriors Eternal is a relatable coming-of-age story. The protagonist, Emma (who can transform into Melinda) is struggling to determine whether she is “Emma” or “Melinda”. She loses control of her powers after any emotional outburst she has. Having one’s powers tied to their emotions is not new. In the last half of Elena of Avalor‘s final season, the protagonist, Elena Castillo Flores, had to wrestle with the fact that her magical abilities were tied to her emotional moods. The same was the case for Steven Universe in the series of the same name, and in Steven Universe Future.

For Emma/Melinda, her anger and fury seem to be how she expresses her power, in a super saiyan esque transformation. While this expression of raw power can be effective in defeating enemies, it doesn’t prevent her from hurting people, unintentionally, in the process. For instance, in the second episode, she uses this power to defeat a huge magically possessed elephant. However, her fiancé Winston is badly hurt in the process and the surrounding area is nearly obliterated.

The use of her abilities in Unicorn: Warriors Eternal are complicated by her relationship with Edred, a warrior elf. He reincarnates in the body of a wanna-be magician named Dimitri. After Copernicus resurrects him, he rushes over to Emma/Melinda, and kisses her. While he has memories of their relationship, Melinda-as-Emma does not. Making matters worse, she still has some romantic feelings for Winston, who wants to “rescue” her from her “new” form.

This contrasts with Edred. He can effectively fight with a sword in manner which almost seems reminiscent of the sword-wielders in anime or those in Western animations like Amphibia, She-Ra and the Princesses of Power, and Steven Universe. Like all Tartakovsky productions, Edred has his own specific style. Every character is stylized in their own way. This is thanks to the aforementioned character designer, DeStefano, and work by many others at Cartoon Network Studios. The same is the case for their battle moves and attacks. It sets the series apart from others with similar themes.

The team of Emma/Melinda, a cosmic monk named Seng (in the body of a young Black ruffian named Alfie), Copernicus, and Edred, make an interesting combination. Each has personal issues they must overcome. Seng cannot fully comprehend the cosmic plane as a young child. Edred has a “clouded” mind despite having a largely intact memory and retains his power. Emma/Melinda has an identity crisis. She even tells Winston, at one point, that she isn’t Emma anymore and that the Emma he knew is dead. This is a cold, hard truth which is hard for him to accept.

The complications in each character’s lives make it an increasing challenge for these heroes, whose souls are tasked with protecting the world throughout eternity. With the scrambled memories, especially of Emma/Melinda, and the fact that only Edred remembers the most about their role in fighting evil, it makes the story that much more intriguing. The secretive villain is almost as devious as Shadowy Figure in O.K. KO!, but shares more characteristics with Kilgore in Justice League x RWBY: Super Heroes and Huntsmen, Part 1. He aimed to change the Justice League into teenagers, so they are “vulnerable”, are ripped apart by the world, and must deal with emotions they ignore or regress as adults.

There is one major difference. The villain in Unicorn: Warriors Eternal never intended on awakening the Order of the Unicorn (Melinda, Seng, Edred, and Copernicus). Instead, she wanted to destroy Copernicus so the order would cease to exist. The villain exploits the situation for her own ends. She hopes that these heroes will be resurrected one final time. The heroes will do anything they can to stop this evil, with Edred declaring that the villain will “not succeed”.

In future seasons, Melinda’s insecurities may be exploited just as Invictus did with Ash Graven in Final Space. If so, she may turn against her friends. It is hard to say whether the series villain will be as devious as Aku, who had built an entire empire and dedicated many of his resources to track down Samurai Jack.

By the show’s third episode, there is a clear focus on discrimination, specifically how humans will “other” that which they don’t understand. The response of the British police and Scotland Yard to a theft of priceless artifacts bound for the British Museum is to arrest anyone engaged in “magic” in London. There are mass arrests of soothsayers, fortune tellers, and anyone else on Mystic Row.

To make matters worse, they put up a Wanted poster for Emma/Melinda. Even when two spiritualists, Clarice Leydoux and Lao Xi Sheng, tell the police detective the reality, he doesn’t believe them. Clearly, the police in this series, including Inspector General Hastings (voiced by Gildart Jackson), do not know how to deal with the situation at hand. People such as Agatha (voiced by Rosalind Ayres), another royal official, try and put in place more order.

Through it all, Emma/Melinda tries to figure it out herself. She isn’t sure of her connection with Winston, who she inadvertently injured. She even goes to a seance which separated her two identities, making her question whether she wants to be a hero or not. As a result, she declares that she hates the other part of herself. Her father even realizes that she is different, remarking “that is not our daughter”. Winston remains in pursuit, even when he clashes with Edred on who “truly” loves her.

After the first two episodes, the series explored the insecurities of Seng. The villains cause him to be swallowed by a cosmic fox. The latter, known as a Lady Fox, attacks them. An amazingly animated chase scene on the rooftops follows, reminding me of similar scenes in Star Wars: The Clone Wars and Samurai Jack. In the fourth episode, this is more apparent. Seng is unable to use his powers while he is trapped on an abandoned ship with other Unicorn team members. He even starts to become translucent! Although they escape this predicament, it could foreshadow more trouble for Seng in the future.

As Emma/Melinda learns more about the story of her Melinda side, with the child version of original Melinda voiced by Marley Cherry Hilbourne. She learns that her mother, Morgan Le Fay (voiced by Peta Johnson), was terribly injured, thanks to her. It is revealed that Merlin (voiced by Jeremy Crutchley) is her father. The conflict between the two halves of herself remains an important part of the story. This is especially the case when they all fight a big squid threatening to destroy the town. Her attempts at reconciliation do not go well, even though she is making some progress by the seventh episode.

At the end of the fifth episode, Unicorn: Warriors Eternal takes a bold step: it appears to kill off one of its protagonists, Copernicus. This is comparable to a similar “loss” of Octus in Sym-Bionic Titan. While Emma/Melinda is most distraught, she works together with Edred to find someone to repair Copernicus. They find an inventor named Otto (voiced by Jason O’Mara), thanks to a robot named Dashwood (voiced by Chris Butler). He works on a huge floating airship, which functions like a space station.

He remarks that Copernicus is like a robot he hasn’t created yet, but he says it feels familiar. Copernicus cannot fully come back until his magical power is restored. He is a futuristic magical being. The power from an ancient magical stone is used by Merlin. He brings Copernicus back to life. Even so, this sequence implies that Copernicus can die, in certain instances.

The seventh episode of Unicorn: Warriors Eternal is a rollercoaster ride. It is revealed that Edred left his bride-to-be, in an arranged marriage meant to unite two clans, to be with Melinda. At the same time, it is further implied that Emma/Melinda somewhat remembers this. The quest to get the necessary magical power, the presence of Merlin, and restoration of balance, causes Edred’s brother, Aelwulf (voiced by Jack Bandeira), to regain respect for him.

At the end of the seventh episode, the Unicorn team learns that they still have evil to fight, and that their time in this world has not ended. It is implied that Merlin will help them stop it. The eighth episode throws this into question. Out of nowhere, Merlin appears and tells them to come “quickly” to battle an evil machine killing the land. While they meet the mighty tiger Rakshasa (voiced by Sunkrish Bala), Merlin attacks Emma/Melinda, surprising them all.

The last three episodes of Unicorn: Warriors Eternal lay bare tensions between the group members. This is clear with the addition of a new member, Winston, who can become a werewolf. Predictably, Edred objects, as Winston has feelings for Emma/Melinda. All the while there is the fight against evil, which exudes dark magic.

This reaches a critical point in the ninth episode when the evil leaves Merlin and enters the cosmic realm. They meet an older Seng who has been fighting it for over 20 years, with no success. It is said that if the evil devours everything, the world will end. Merlin and Rakshasa remain optimistic until Emma and Melinda are split apart.

I wish Unicorn: Warriors Eternal had been longer. By the eighth episode, it appears that Melinda is coming to peace with the part of her who is Emma, and vice versa. This seemed too quick. Her struggle with her identity could have stretched across an entire season of 20 to 26 episodes. Take Cassandra in Rapunzel’s Tangled Adventure, for example. Zhan Tri mentally manipulates her. Even so, she tries to figure out her identity and how she feels about Rapunzel. Like that series, which ended with a bang, this series is burdened by compulsory heterosexuality. Tangled differs by featuring well-recognized gay vibes between Rapunzel and Cassandra, shipped by fans as “Cassunzel”.

Much of the internal struggle that Emma/Melinda experiences is couched by a love triangle. Emma loves Winston, while Melinda loves Edred. However, Edred hates Winston and vice versa. Due to the propensity of male characters in this series, there isn’t any character, female, non-binary, or otherwise, written for Emma/Melinda that would allow her to have a queer romance.

Even so, the struggle of Emma to reunite with Melinda, resulting in defiance of her by-the-book parents, is promising. Considering this series is set in the 1890s, it is no shock that Emma’s parents try to hold her back. They think she is out of her mind and want to take her to a doctor, who will commit her to an asylum. Her actions, including drawing on equations on the walls of the bathroom, akin to the oft-memed scene from It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia in which Pepe Silvia goes on a conspiratorial rant, don’t help her case. In her defense, she is desperate and wants to get back to the cosmic realm at any cost.

This episode goes off the rails when two huge men try to capture Emma and bring her to “the doctor”. What follows is an intense chase scene in which Emma has many near-death experiences, and barely escapes those trying to get her, even riding a steam-powered tram to Mystics Row. Two mystic warriors (Clarice Leydoux and Lao Xi Sheng) offer to help her. With their assistance, she uses the Heart of the Forest to get to the cosmic realm.

The Unicorn: Warriors Eternal finale concludes strongly. Emma inspires everyone, reuniting with Melinda, and convinces them to combine their powers into one. They strike a decisive blow against evil forces. This is blunted by the surprising revelation: Morgan is trapped in the heart of the evil beast! At the end of the episode, the protagonists find themselves in a bizarre world in which “the evil” has changed everything. Emma/Melinda gets the last word, noting their determination to save Morgan and defeat the evil being no matter what.

The ending is not definitive, but is open-ended. The central conflict rings true, especially if seen as a metaphorical extension of Genndy Tartakovsky as a Jewish immigrant who faced pressure to support his mother and live up to the myth of a “model minority”. A possible second, or even third, and fourth season could expand upon these characters and their struggles. Possibly, the series may go an Infinity Train route, having different characters for each season.

I hope that any possible future seasons of Unicorn: Warriors Eternal would increase diversity of the cast. Surely, there are talented voice actors like a Black men Demari Hunte (voice of Seng) and Victor Alli (voice of Adult Seng). They are joined by a Filipino man, Alain Uy (voice of Lao Xi Sheng), an American actor of Tamil descent, Sunkrish Bala (voice of Rakshasa), and a British actor of Iraqi, Lebanese, and Indian descent, Brian George (voice of Darvish).

From the available lists of the cast members, I’m not seeing much diversity beyond the aforementioned individuals. A quick read of the cast list for Primal indicates that the series has a much more diverse cast than this series! Perhaps, this is just reflecting the fact that historically, London was ethnically homogeneous, composed primarily of White British residents, until after World War II. By 1891, over 5.6 million were living in Greater London, a number which would grow in later years.

Cartoon Network Studios president, Sam Register, is an executive producer, and Shareena Carlson is supervising director. Unicorn: Warriors Eternal is expertly animated thanks to Studio La Cachette in France and Studio Zmei in Bulgaria. Cartoon Network Studios is the aforementioned production company. This is reinforced by the show’s music, composed by Tyler Bates and Joan Higginbottom. It is effective, connecting the action with the story. It makes you excited to watch each episode, and become more invested in the characters.

None of this is much of a surprise. Bates is a well-known producer, composer, and musician, primarily of action and horror media, including the John Wick franchise. He was probably chosen because he composed the music scores of Sym-Bionic Titan, the fifth (and final) season of Samurai Jack, and Primal.

Similarly, Higginbottom was a composer on the same season of Samurai Jack, Primal, and John Wick Chapter 4. Tara Billinger, known as the creator of Long Gone Gulch and a storyboarder, did production work on the series as well. The animators either worked on French productions not known in the U.S., or series such as Love, Death & Robots, and Primal. Even Tartakovsky did some storyboarding. The animation, background art, and set pieces are strong in this series.

Unicorn: Warriors Eternal may have been a passion project for Tartakovsky. However, it is incorrect that the plot is “humdrum”. Furthermore, Emma/Melinda is not a “poorly written” character, nor does she have a “pat dilemma” or lack emotional complexity. Her struggles are at the series’ center. On the other hand, this series, like Dexter’s Laboratory, Samurai Jack, Star Wars: Clone Wars, Sym-Bionic Titan, and Primal, is male-centered. In fact, Emma/Melinda is the only female protagonist.

The series has “urgent stakes” and the characters are intriguing. This accompanies amazing mythologies and some worldbuilding. It could be better, but it is not missing “the magic of Tartakovsky“. Instead, this series is unique and different from other Tartakovsky series in the past. Surely, I’d love to have queer characters and even have a love triangle akin to the one between Hazumu Osaragi, Yasuna Kamiizumi, and Tomari Kurusu in Kashimashi: Girl Meets Girl. Unfortunately, this series did not go that direction, instead having male-female couples, without any one-way crushes.

Overall, despite my criticisms, Unicorn: Warriors Eternal is an enjoyable series and I’d recommend it. I can hope that it improved to become even better, breaking out of the good-evil dichotomy, and other common tropes used in Tartakovsky’s work.

Unicorn: Warriors Eternal can be watched on Adult Swim or streamed on Max, DirectTV, and Spectrum. It can be purchased through Prime Video, Google Play, Vudu, or Microsoft Store.

© 2023 Burkely Hermann. All rights reserved.

Ratings: Animation: 5 Voice Acting: 5 Music: 5 Story: 3 Total Score: 4.5

Gods’ School Review

Gods’ School is an indie animated series. It has elements of fantasy, mythology, and romance. 2D French animator Gaylord Cuvillier Philippe Libessart is the series creator. It received support from the French National Center for Cinema and Animation in 2018. Currently, seven episodes have aired on YouTube. This review will have spoilers.

Reprinted from Pop Culture Maniacs and Wayback Machine. This was the thirty-fifth article I wrote for Pop Culture Maniacs. This post was originally published on June 13, 2023.

This series, which began airing in January 2019, is centered on Olympian gods. It is inspired by Greek mythology in Homer’s Iliad and Hesiod’s Theogony. The primary protagonist, Eris (voiced by Morgan Berry), is a teenage goddess of discord trying to find her place among the gods on Mount Olympus. This all changes when she meets Paris (voiced by Brandon Winckler), a young human on Mount Olympus. Both contend with the goddesses of beauty and love (Aphrodite), wisdom and battle (Athena), and marriage and family (Hera). Eris is helped by a sphinx named Sfiga (voiced by Lizzie Freeman).

The animation of this series is smooth, which fits with the adorable and cool nature of the animation itself, and its talented voice cast. Apart from those previously mentioned, there’s Lizzie Freeman, Kira Buckland, Keenan Spencer, and Deneen Melody, who voice Aphrodite, Athena, Hera, and Demeter respectfully. Others, such as Melissa Sternberg, Ivy Dupler, Michele Knotz, Sean Chiplock, and Griffin Puatu lend their voices to the characters of Eos, Iris, Minthe, Persephone “Poppy”, Apollo, and Ares, to give a few examples of the many characters within this series.

The first episode of Gods’ School throws the viewer right into the action. Smart alecky talking columns, known as caryatids, claim to be sacred guardians of Olympus. They are hilariously scared off by Sfiga. It is easy to be drawn into the story, whether interpersonal conflicts or relationships between the gods. The story is set up so that the viewer sympathizes with Eris, when Hera claims she is sneaky and cruel.

This exuberance is offset by the snobbishness of some goddesses, who detest humans, and jealousy. The latter is the case in the competition between Minthe and Persephone “Poppy”, who both like Hades. In some ways, Gods’ School shares themes with Lore Olympus, an ongoing popular webcomic by Rachel Smythe, although her webcomic has a fundamentally different perspective. As for Gods’ School, these themes are reinforced by a careful focus on drama and music. The latter by Gold Tiger and SleepWalker.

Unlike other series based in Greek mythology, the characters in this series are all teenagers, and in a school environment like that Ever After High, except it is not as glitzy. As such, it is markedly tamer than mature series like Blood of Zeus. It is more akin to Disney series in that kids and family could watch this series with ease. This is not a surprise since the show’s creator has said that Ariel, in The Little Mermaid (recently in the news because the live-action film adaptation), is his favorite character.

The importance of setting boundaries is a key theme. This is shown through Poppy’s push against romantic advances by Hades. Eris also tells Paris to not touch Sfiga and treat her like a cat (and pet), but a living being. Gods’ School makes clear that possessiveness is not acceptable. For instance, Poppy, who is easily influenced and intimidated, is pressured by Minthe to leave Hades alone. Although Minthe declares that Hades is hers exclusively, Poppy still wants to be with Hades.

Like other fictional school environments, certain characters fulfill the “bad girl” and “bad boy” tropes. Some of those characters are bullies and their actions are not shown positively. Mount Olympus is not a peaceful place, but filled with discord. For example, Zeus commands Artemis to stay behind, even though she wants to fight the invaders of Mount Olympus.

The series promotes the value of self-acceptance, by stating that outcasts should not be rejected and that people should be true to themselves. All the while, men who flaunt their power for fun and two-timing men are criticized. In fact, the show’s official Twitter account posted a video of Eris cutting her hair with two women’s rights hashtags, while Artemis has a squad-of-sorts.

There is no easy division between good and evil in Gods’ School. For instance, the Aloads want to take over Olympus, but would-be evildoers are scary and mysterious. For instance, Eris goes through a moral dilemma and lives with the consequences of telling Paris to go back to “where he came from”, words which haunt her to no end. This dilemma first begins in the show’s third episode, even going on a quest to find him while Olympus is under attack, but it fades after he is found injured. At the same time, Nyx, her mother, and goddess of night, is lording over her. She reminds me a bit of Orizaba in Elena of Avalor.

There are many secrets that each of the gods, and goddesses, try and keep from one another. To give one example, in the fourth episode, everyone is trying to stop Echo (voiced by Deneen Melody) from revealing unflattering information. Hera even mutes her, preventing her from speaking first ever again. This has a disastrous side effect that Hera never realized: it prevents her from warning those on Olympus about the coming danger!

Unlike other series, Gods’ School features a disabled character, who uses a cane: Hephaestus (voiced by John Choi Carter). Premiering in the fifth episode, he listens to Aphrodite after her arguments with Ares, and tries to be understanding, after she enters his workshop. This humanizes him. It shows that the gods are not superhuman but can be physically disabled just like anyone else. In a conveyance that everyone is unique, he says that everyone has something that makes them special “even if they don’t see it”, which fits with the other themes of this series.

As one of the only indie animations currently airing, apart from Helluva Boss and Eddsworld, Gods’ School already stands out from animations made by well-known and prominent companies, which I’ve often reviewed since I began writing pop culture reviews in 2020. The series’ background designers, including Gavin O’Donnell and Libessart, also the animator and director, are skilled. Their work is showcased on Twitter, Tumblr, and Instagram. As such, it is no surprise that some have even gone to the effort to draw fan art or fan fiction of the show’s characters.

The series has aired in various languages. The English adaptation was headed by Brandon Winckler and Jenny Yokobori. There are different voice actors, including in French. There are also different episodes with French dubs, which means that the cast, and those who work on the series, is that much larger.

It is interesting that not all the episodes are necessarily sequential. Some of the shorter episodes focus on the growing relationship between Hephaestus and Aphrodite, the first meeting between Minthe and Hades, and the story of Hades with his previous lover, Leuke. While these episodes might be seen as “filler”, they provide information which helps expand the story.

There is something missing through all of this: LGBTQ characters. There may be implied characters. Possibly, there is subtext between Paris and the person who brought him to Mount Olympus, Aeolos. However, no one is outwardly queer, as far as I can tell. So, that is an area for improvement.

Even so, there are people of color in the cast. Take, for example Kayla Pitts, who voices a nymph, John Choi who voices Hades, and Griffin Puatu who voices Ares. If High Guardian Spice, Young Justice, and She-Ra and the Princesses of Power can have Black characters, then any series can have such characters. Hopefully, more characters of color appear in the future. After all, the show’s creator previously condemned racism, White supremacy, and called for equal rights in a social media thread.

Although the series may not reach the original goal of “an animated webseries project of 25 episodes” at 12 minutes long as the original Kickstarter for the series, stated, due to various factors, there is no doubt that Gods’ School will continue. The quality remains at a strong level, for a project primarily spearheaded by Libessart. This is evidenced in the latest episode which focuses on Nyx (voiced by Emily Wallace), dreaded goddess of night, and strained family dynamics. Although it appears this is all a nightmare dreamt of by Eris, her concerns appear to be dismissed. At first, Medusa (voiced by Crystal Jade Vaughan) asks if she is ok. Then she says she needs to “get it together” so she can sleep, making Eris feel bad about herself.

The episode raises several questions. Was any of Eris dreamed about real? Can the balance between light and dark be disrupted? Nyx would likely love to do the latter, and unseat the goddess of day, Hemera, or Helios the Sun. She may be content in her castle shrouded in dark clouds. Furthermore, the nightmare makes me think that Eris has deeper problems which are manifesting themselves in her dreams.

The recent episode introduced new voice actors like Hannah Reed (as Little Eris) and Laila Berzins (as Hypnos). Ihe next episode is scheduled for Fall 2023. It will likely be listed on the page for the series on TV Time. That app was one way I learned about the new episode premiere.

This series is more than a lovely series with amazing visuals showing the talent and passion behind it. For one, there is an amazing group of characters and the use of Toonboom for animation of the series. Secondly, the favorite character of the series creator in The Iliad is Cassandra. She is described as a “cursed Trojan princess”.

It would be great to see Cassandra in a future episode. When I heard the character’s name, I thought of the similarly named character in Tangled: The Series (also known as Rapunzel’s Tangled Adventure). That Cassandra who had a major part in the series as the lady-in-waiting for Princess Rapunzel. That character is mentally manipulated by a demon named Zhan Tri to manifest her anger against Rapunzel in a violent, destructive manner. In that series, that Cassandra is a complex lesbian-coded character exploited by the aforementioned demon. It is not known if the Cassandra within Gods’ School will go down a similar path or how her character will be different from other fictional Cassandras.

I am hopeful that Gods’ School will get even better as it moves forward, earning it an even-higher rating on IMDB and other online review sites. Brandon Winckler and Jenny Yokobori, who worked on previous episodes as show writers, and led the effort to adapt the episodes into English, from their original French. They are known for their voice roles in Fena: Pirate Princess, Edens Zero, The Simpsons, or Central Park.

The show’s cast have voiced English dubs of characters in Lycoris Recoil, Titan’s Bride, In the Land of Leadale, Komi Can’t Communicate, Re:Zero, and High-Rise Invasion. Others have voiced characters in Rainbow High, RWBY, Nomad of Nowhere, Megaton Girl, and The Loud House. Some cast members are new voice actors, like Vaughan.

With that all being said, I highly recommend Gods’ School. I hope that it continues onward, with new episodes, characters, and plotlines.

Gods’ School is currently streaming on YouTube and can be supported on Patreon.

© 2023 Burkely Hermann. All rights reserved.