She-ra Season 1 Re-watch Thoughts

She-ra Season 1 Re-watch Thoughts

Going back and watching season 1 after watching season 5 is actually really strange. The show has changed so much. Not just the themes and the stakes, but even the animation. Watching it all at once makes it very clear the jump in animation quality season to season. That’s not to say season 1 had bad animation, far from it, but the use of color, lighting, and framing is much better utilized in later seasons and the action scenes get better as time moves forward. I will say I was always a fan of the art style. I never really understood why shows get attacked for their art style before the show even airs. I think every art style can bring something new to the table and how they use that art style to their advantage is what matters and I think she-ra capitalizes on it.

The character designs are my favorite. You can tell a lot about each character by their design alone which is an impressive feat to pull off. Like for Catra she has heterochromia which is used to outwardly display her dual nature and warring inner conflict between her love and hatred of Adora and in the 5th season it’s used to portray her struggle between self betterment and sliding into old habits and self destruction. The blue eye is the one covered by the corruption in season 3 symbolizing Catra’s decision to open the portal making Adora realize that she can’t save her anymore and so on.

The use of music gets much better within the season around episode 11. This is where the most emotional scores come into play that become recurring leitmotifs for the characters and relationships. The most notable being the one that plays in “Promise” when Catra is cutting the webbing and leaves Adora to fall. This score becomes the leitmotif for their relationship and continuously pops up when they are having a breakthrough or major shift in their relationship like in the aforementioned scene, when Catra tells Adora she would rather see the whole world destroyed than let Adora win, during Catra’s apology in Corridors, during the confession in the finale, and many more. The music is breathtaking. I really hope they release the full score at some point.

I also just realized that, other than the 5th season finale, this season has easily the happiest finale. All the other ones get increasingly dark. The second season ends with Shadow weaver standing over Adora’s bed and Catra getting caught in a lie and choked by hordak, the third ends with the portal being closed but Angella sacrificing herself and Adora having given up trying to save Catra, and the fourth season ends with Glimmer and Catra captured, She-ra seemingly destroyed, and imminent invasion by Horde Prime’s overwhelming forces. While I enjoy the finale of this season I think it’s weaker than the episodes leading up to it. Princess Prom, Promise, No Princess Left Behind, and In the shadows of mystacor are stronger episodes as a whole in my opinion.  

I'm split on the finale of this season on the one hand I did really like the whole “the night is darkest just before the dawn '' feel the finale had to it but on the other I think it was wrapped up a bit quickly. To go off the first point the reason I liked it has more to do with how it works within the context of the whole story. The rebellion has lost almost all of its members, the world is a mess, and the horde is marching on a mostly defenseless Brightmoon. Catra has clawed her way to the top, torn down shadow weaver, and managed to be a driving force in the princess alliance falling apart. The villains are for the first time a very believable threat to the rebellion. The battle seemed hopeless and the fight between Catra and Adora that brought them face to face for the first time since promise was everything I could have asked for. So I was a little put off by the sudden reversal of situations. I still find it to be jarring but I also like how the reversal makes it so that when seasons 3, 4, and 5 come around and we see the actual lowest points of these characters and their situations it feels like a natural progression, that the characters were lucky this time.

The finale also emphasizes the idea that there is strength in bonds which I think is a big part of the end message of the show. The series finale isn’t a big battle, at least not on Adora’s front, but Catra cradling Adora in her arms asking her to stay which gives Adora the strength to pull through. If the rebellion hadn’t won this battle I don’t think the coming struggles and hardships would have hit as hard as they did. I actually think the finale did a good job with what it was trying to do and set up. It gives off the “A New Hope” vibe so that when season 4 rolls around and hits us with a “The Empire Strikes Back” it hits really hard. (I still think the tonal shift is jarring and the themes explored in this episode are done much better in Remember and the portal though)

This season suffers from what a lot of shows first seasons do. It was a solid season with some great episodes, but I don’t think it’s the best example of what the show will become outside of 3 or 4 of the episodes which are all in the latter half of the season. Promise is probably the best example of what the show will become inside of the first season. The show tackles themes of abuse in such depth that the string of 4 episodes after the premiere are very misleading in how lighthearted they are. And even the season finale episode doesn’t do the best job at conveying what the show will become with later seasons because of how neatly the conflict is resolved. It seems like a much simpler tale than the serialized story about the struggles to overcome trauma and programming that it is. I will say that it does strongly establish that the relationship between Catra and Adora is the heart and driving force of the series. This is the strongest point of the season and where it most clearly shows what the series is about.

Kid Cosmic Series Thoughts/Review

I’ve been a casual fan of Craig McCracken and his cartoons, catching them on air here and there, until recently (well I say recently but it’s probably 5+ years now) when I really got into animation and decided to binge watch his cartoons. I can easily say that he manages to entertain me, make me laugh, and break my heart all at the same time within each of his shows and Kid Cosmic is no different. His unique and quirky characters are always a fun time. I have nothing but respect for his creations. Craig McCracken simultaneously makes his shows both a love letter to their genre and a deconstruction of it and Kid Cosmic is no different.

Kid Cosmic just dropped its final season on netflix and like a lot of people I have a lot to say about it unlike most people I didn’t get into kid cosmic until its final season dropped. So I spent the last few days having a binge of the series as a whole. As a huge fan of superheroes I loved how this show played with classic superhero tropes and brought its own spin to it. It was a really fun ride from start to finish full of the same heart, passion, and adventure that drew me to animation in the first place.

Now to get into my actual full thoughts.

I had so much fun with the characters. They all had this playful, heartfelt innocence about them that is a staple of many Craig McCracken characters that draws you in and makes you want to see them succeed. I especially loved Jo, Kid, and Papa G. I think Jo was my favorite character. I loved Jo’s arc and her growth into becoming a better leader. The fact that it was her empathy and anxiety/caution that made her the best fit to be a leader is something I really appreciate. I’m really liking this trend in animation that deconstructs/subverts the hard, tough, super prepared leader trope that many characters grow into or start out as. Especially with the way the show sent that message with Xhan and Flo. I really loved that Jo and Flo had such a strong relationship in the show and it was her mom that taught her how to be a leader even though she didn’t have a job that would conventionally put her in the place to mentor Jo in that way. Jo’s heart and intelligence are what make her both a great leader and a great fighter. Her fighting skill is also something I like about her. She doesn’t have the stone with the most raw strength, that would be kid’s telekinesis stone or Rosa’s growth stone, but she has the mind to use her stone to its full potential which makes her portal power really fun to watch in battle. 

Kid’s relationships to Jo and Papa G are what elevated this show to me. Jo and Kid had an amazing sibling relationship and Kid and Papa G got the most emotional moments of the series. I don’t think there was a single dry eye when watching the scene pictured above. I know that this moment had me on the edge of my seat begging for Papa G to make it. The flashback to when he first took Kid in at the start of the episode being juxtaposed with this final scene hurt more than I ever thought it would. When he appeared at the beginning of the finale I have never felt so relieved over a cartoon grandfather. 

I also loved how the third season really wasn’t afraid to critique and deconstruct or poke fun at comic book tropes. The perfect world, the parents returning from the dead, the long living mentor, the kid getting powers and immediately mastering them, etc. And how many callouts to Craig McCracken’s other works there were. It worked really well. I think the show became better with each season and that’s because it let itself do wackier and more crazy things with its superhero inspiration. 

There were only a few things holding this series back from being one of the top 5 of 2021 for me. The first is that it took me a while to come around to Kid as the main character. Don’t get me wrong I felt he was well written and an accurate portrayal of what a kid who got powers would be like but I personally didn’t feel as strong of a connection with him as I did with Jo and I wasn’t as intrigued by him like I was with Papa G and I didn’t laugh at him as often as I did Chuck. He wasn’t one of my top 3 characters until season 3 came around and really made him grow on me (Which is part of why the 3rd season is my favorite). I never hated him but I was neutral about him which is something a protagonist shouldn’t be in a series to me. I think this is my most personal problem because I’m sure there were plenty of people who were able to relate to Kid and loved him from day one. I just wasn’t one of them but I wish I was.

The second is that I found the first season didn’t hit me nearly as hard emotionally as the second or third seasons (especially the third). It struggled with letting us sit with the most emotional moments. It used bathos a lot more then the other two seasons which I think took me out of the moment too frequently and I found myself taking a break from it more than once whereas I binged the second and third seasons. The second and third seasons weren’t afraid to let us stay in emotional moments without a joke to break the tension and really feel them which is something I really appreciated about them. I’m someone who loves drama and I think children’s television can tackle heavy themes in a unique way that sometimes hits harder than things that are rated mature but only if the show respects it’s audience and lets them experience them fully. Kid cosmic doesn’t do this as well in the first season as it does in the other two which disappointed me.

This wasn’t my favorite animated show to come out of 2021 but don’t take that as a slight against Kid Cosmic. Animation in 2021 was amazing both for films and for shows and the company it finds itself in for that year is phenomenal: Arcane, Invincible, Inside Job, Maya and the three, and centaurworld to name the standouts. It may not have been my favorite but it had just as much heart as the others I listed and managed to hit me in a different way. 2021 will have a special place in my mind when it comes to animation and kid cosmic will always be a part of that. I can’t wait to see what Craig McCracken does next.

I can’t believe I only just now caught this. When Vi gets up and stands up straight she covers Vander completely from our sight. She is literally and metaphorically taking Vander’s place as the protector of the lanes in this moment.

Animation in 2021 was fantastic! So many of my favorite shows came out during this time and all it’s done is make me even more excited for animation in 2022 and 2023. I don’t really think this list expresses how much all these shows helped me this year. I know it’s probably cheesy but they gave me a lot to look forward to during a time in my life when I was having a hard time even just putting one foot in front of the other. Animation has always helped me get through hard times and I hope that any of these shows were able to do that for someone else out there :)

Top 5 Animated Shows of 2021

Okay so ground rules first: The show must have started airing for the first time in 2021. I don’t want people being confused as to why amphibia or owl house or any other amazing show that aired episodes this year isn’t on the list. That’s a different ranking for a different time. Also this is my list. If you have a different opinion then that’s great. Everyone having their own views and experiences is part of what’s great about media. Everyone connects to different media and different characters and that’s what I love about it :)

I’m gonna start with my favorites and work my way down because the top 2 shouldn’t surprise anyone who kept up with animation this year. The order may shock some people though. I know it shocked me because I thought my #2 had #1 in the bag until this show premiered.

Keep reading

I don’t know if anyone will read this but I really need to get it off my chest because arcane has been making me really emotional for about the past week and a half, especially with Vi’s story and arc. I feel more seen by an animated character than I have by another person in my life (this seems to be a recurring theme with me). I’ve been trying to work through a lot of my past this last year and this show hit on a lot of it and made me emotional in a cathartic way. I’ve been Vi. I’ve made mistakes and in trying to fix them and help my younger siblings I’ve sometimes made it worse. Vi tries to reach out to Powder in episode nine and accidentally triggers her. I’ve done that. I’ve hurt my sister more when trying to help. When Jinx says that Silco didn’t make Jinx but that it was Vi I understood that because I’d been told something to that extent by my younger sister. I’ve heard the words “You try so hard to fix things but all you do sometimes is make them worse” and those words have hurt me for a long time and I’ve never seen an older sister go through a struggle so eerily similar as Vi does with Jinx. I had to watch my sister spiral while I tried my best to reach out and I failed because I didn’t fully understand that the way I was trying to reach out wasn’t what was best for her and what she needed. I’ve had to come to terms with the fact that while I tried my hardest to protect my youngest sibling I wasn’t able to succeed on many occasions. I have had my emotions in the spur of the moment of pain and loss cause me to lash out at my younger siblings and come to regret it immediately. I’ve been the older sibling that is responsible for their younger siblings in the absence of a parental figure that does what they are supposed to do (my parents weren’t dead but there was a point where they just stopped being parents). I’ve had the thoughts of being there for my siblings be the thing that kept me moving forward some days when things got really hard. 

Being the oldest sibling is a hard thing to be. I know I felt responsible for them and wanted to protect them at every turn. I wanted to make things better for them in any way I could. The sad reality is that you can’t always succeed but I always tried to get back up and keep going. And seeing that exact same thing from Vi and those exact same feelings portrayed so accurately brought a catharsis. I always felt isolated in a way because of these struggles and tried to make sure no one could see that these struggles were effecting me. And seeing those struggles onscreen made me realize I wasn’t so alone in it and that my feelings of hurt were okay. Seeing Vi continually get back up after everything made me emotional because I knew how hard that was. It can feel impossible sometimes. Vi’s ability to get back up and keep trying for a better life for those around her just made me so emotional and made me hopeful too. I wasn’t expecting to be hit so hard by the writing for Vi’s character but it’s effected me for long after I finished the show. 

One day I want to be able to be a part of making stories that can help make other people feel seen and less alone in their struggles like animation so often does for me. 

The monster you created is the perfect title for the finale. The whole episode and series is about how the world creates it’s own demons. Ignoring the problems can create monsters (Silco and his hold on Zaun) just like how violence and anger can create monsters (Powder’s descent into Jinx). And how all of it is interconnected. The violence in Zaun wouldn’t run as rampant if the topsiders would offer any sort of actual help. And there wouldn’t be so many people like Silco who want revolution and change through violence if the topsiders had treated the Zaunites well and not like ants to be trampled over and ignored. But Silco also hurts his own people to maintain his power just like many others from Zaun. And so on and so forth. It’s all layered and absolutely brilliant.