The Animation Station

[Philip J. Fry]

[Philip J. Fry]

[Philip J. Fry]

[Philip J. Fry]

[Philip J. Fry]

[Philip J. Fry]

[Philip J. Fry]

[Philip J. Fry]

[Philip J. Fry]

[Philip J. Fry]

Five episodes into the new season. Pretty enjoyable so far.

[Philip J. Fry]

[Philip J. Fry]

[Philip J. Fry]

[Philip J. Fry]

[Philip J. Fry]

[Philip J. Fry]

[Philip J. Fry]

"Created by Raphael Bob-Waksberg, BoJack Horseman skillfully illustrates the struggles often encountered in the search for meaning. While known more for treading into darker territory, an argument can be made that the show’s exploration of existentialism provides a more optimistic message just beneath the surface of its pessimistic subject matter. This video offers a concise overview of nihilism, existentialism, and absurdism in order to describe how the show incorporates these beliefs in the construction of a pragmatic view of optimism."

[Philip J. Fry]

[Philip J. Fry]

A quick rundown of the shows I've finished lately:

Harley Quinn, S1 and 2 were very violent, energetic, darkly funny and had a few emotional moments. The creators watched the Ivy and Harley episode of Batman: TAS like 50 times.

The Seitokai Yakuindomo* OVA's exploits it's vignette-heavy format to tell as many dirty jokes as possible. Literally a show where nothing happens, but that nothing is super horny and entertaining.

Kipo and the Age of Wonderbeasts, S3 manages to up the stakes while remaining very optimistic and wholesome. One of the best animated shows of the year.

The last 5 episodes of Primal, S1 continue the streak of Tartakovsky's mastery of silence, action and visuals and it goes in some wild directions such as a literal zombie episode or the Coven of the Damned which delivers one big gut punch. Another of the year's very best.

From the Animaniacs (2020) thread:

Finished the season. The sense of humor hasn't vanished after 20+ years, the political and pop-culture satire is pinpoint (again, that Tucker Carlson segment *Chef's kiss*) and the energy remains. If there's any sort of gripe is the absence (sans a small cameo) of most of the original characters and I wish they could've kept the gag of the Warners being chased by Ralph in other shorts, but then again, since we only have Pinky and the Brain, I can see why.

I know there will be a second season, but I hope there are really more. I hope Tom Ruegger, the original staff and more of the original can join the new ones and most of all, that Animaniacs remains being as unique and refreshing as always.

Undone, S1 continues the sort of exciting experimentation with storytelling and the animated medium that Raphael Bob-Waksberg and Kate Purdy did with BoJack Horseman, anchored by a thematic tug of war between magic and insanity and the same sort of relatable and realistic characters that are now the norm for those two creators.

Archer, S11 was a welcomed return to basics for the agency formerly known as ISIS. The banter between the cast remains top notch and was funnier than the previous three seasons.

Big Mouth, S4: This show still baffles me a bit. I still admire some of it's ideas about puberty and mental health and yet I still find it's humor borderline lazy, much more hit than miss, and at times distracting from it's most positive aspects.

Twelve Forever, S1: A show about Reggie, an imaginative 12 y.o. girl whose desire to never grow up is so powerful she can access a magical island named Endless where she never has to grow up and where her toys and drawings can be real. It's good at capturing both the imagination of it's protagonist, it's somewhat introverted personality and the conflicting feelings of entering puberty ([

Show Spoiler

particularly because it's the POV of a gay character

]), backed up by an animation style that can be best described as pure candy. The show goes fast and it's fairly entertaining. Solid show overall.

The Spectacular Spider-Man S1 and 2 holds up on rewatches. Not a single episode that isn't excellent, not a character that feels wasted.

Disenchantment, S3: It's still a bit hit-and-miss with it's comedy, but it's worldbuilding remains top-notch. I'm not sure if the creators have an endgame in sight, even with the cliffhangers.

Hilda, S2 is an improvement over the already excellent season 1 and a much more confident season overall. It builds up from it's already rich and wholesome world and adds layers of some very unexpected black comedy, expanding some of the aspects introduced in season 1 such as the witch world and it's a little more bittersweet overall, probably helped by this season leaning more towards original episodes than adaptations of the Hilda GN. The Deerfox is gonna wreck everyone's shit.

[Philip J. Fry]

[Philip J. Fry]

Glitch Techs, seasons 1 and 2: Kind of a mix of Ghostbusters, Ready Player 1 and Scott Pilgrim (like, a lot of Scott Pilgrim) featuring a couple of dorks hunting computer glitches who have come to life. One of the protagonists is a video game geek who's sort of an everyman and another is as if you combined Pinky Pie and Mabel Pines into a gamer girl waifu-type (#IWatchedItForThePlot). Overall a pretty decent and fun monster-of-the-week serious with gorgeous animation, somewhat cringy, but mostly tolerable dialogue and tons of video game references (there's even an episode where they have to capture a monster in a Castlevania parody).

[Philip J. Fry]

[Philip J. Fry]

[Wryan]

Some real awkward humor, but I like the rest.

[Philip J. Fry]