The State of Adult Animation in 2024 - Renegade Animation #166
In this episode, Captain Kaye and the Animation Guru reflect on the current state of the industry, through the lens of shows such as Tokyo Override, Arcane Season 2, and Jentry Chau vs the Underworld! They also give their first impressions of DC's Creature Commandos!
What’s going on, everyone? This is your Captain speaking, alongside my esteemed co-host, The Animation Guru! As you may have noticed by the thumbnail image and the series that are under the microscope in this episode, we’re kind of stretching the definition of “adult animation” to include shows that are aimed at a young adult demographic. Say what you will about the detrimental effects of the streaming wars on the industry at large, one thing I will give it credit for is servicing an audience that has mostly been ignored in Western animation. So, without further ado, please tune into the podcast to hear the full discussion!
Creature Commandos
At the time of the recording, only the first two episodes have been released. As I’m writing this today, I’m personally caught up to episode 3, which includes one of the best sequences I’ve seen in a James Gunn project since the ending of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2. Anyway, Creature Commandos is awesome, it does an excellent job of seamlessly translating Gunn’s irreverent sensibilities into animation, introducing audiences to a colorful cast of characters and soft launching the new DC Universe. We will have more to say once the season has concluded, but for now, I’m liking what I’m seeing so far!
“While off to a familiar start, Creature Commandos is a delight action comedy romp that adds a different flavor of rag tag heroes to the DC franchise.“ -The Animation Guru
Tokyo Override
Here is but a small taste of the cool as hell cyberpunk futuristic world established in Tokyo Override! Riff Studio pulled out all the stops for this 6-episode miniseries, enlisting the help of Yamaha and Honda, and designer Joshua Dawson to create the architecture. I wish we had more time to live in this world, but the story itself is still quite engaging, and I had fun with these characters. One of the highlights of the English dub cast is Hugo, voiced by Talon Warburton.
“Tokyo Override is a slick and easy to binge cyberpunk thriller that has some stellar cgi visuals they make for a fun watch.“ -The Animation Guru
Arcane Season 2
Admittedly, we didn’t really get to talk about this too much on the podcast itself, so if you want more of my thoughts, check out the latest episode of Zeroing Out. For now, I feel comfortable enough saying that Arcane Season 2 is a step down from Season 1, but only because ANYTHING looks like a step down compared to absolute perfection. On its own merits, it still has all of the core strengths that came before: incredible animation, compelling character drama, an awesome soundtrack. I wish the story was better paced, and that’s a recurring issue with all three of these series, but we also understand that time and money are not unlimited resources in this industry.
“It’s a shame that this second season of Arcane is overly stuffed, because it still has so much of the amazing animation, action, and character dynamics that folks loved from the first season.“ -The Animation Guru
Jentry Chau vs the Underworld
Guys, I’m not that subtle. Sometimes I choose which thumbnail image to use for these show notes that will grab the most attention, and sometimes I just want to highlight the best movie and/or series we discuss on the podcast. This time, it might be both. Sure, it may sound like recency bias to say that Jentry Chau vs the Underworld is my favorite animated series of the year, but that doesn’t make it any less true. Anyone who grew up on shows like Buffy the Vampire Slayer or American Dragon: Jake Long need to watch this as soon as possible!
“Jentry Chau vs the Underworld is an exciting and action packed romp about dealing with finding your own destiny. With some incredible action and endearing characters, this show deserves a second season.“ -The Animation Guru
That’ll do it for this episode! Thank you all for joining us! We have provided resources for those who wish to support the victims of the Israel-Hamas war: https://www.jewishvoiceforpeace.org/, https://www.ifnotnowmovement.org/, https://itch.io/b/2120/games-for-gaza, https://www.instagram.com/palestineredcrescent/, https://buildpalestine.com/2021/05/15/trusted-organizations-to-donate-to-palestine/, https://www.npr.org/2023/10/13/1205235922/help-israel-gaza-humanitarian-organizations.
