Looking back at this show that I used to watch as a kid, it does have its flaws. However, I must say that a lot of these reviewers are overreacting way too much about how exactly bad it is, and I'm assuming that they must have a bias towards feminine shows that aren't My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, as is the typical 2010s Brony behavior. Admittedly I did find it strange it aired on Boomerang of all channels at least in the US and UK, given that it's a channel that has reruns of old Cartoon Network and Hanna-Barbera cartoons.
Yes, the animation is not as good. While a lot of the character designs are great, being very detailed and almost anime-like, some characters and even backgrounds are lacking, especially with Flipper's uncanny design being a fish with teeth, and Steel Wool just being some random sheep with a whistle tied around his neck (he doesn't even have horns either). Some aspects like human hand-like dexterity in the paws of the animal characters, Krakia's wings on occasion looking like human hands, and a lot of the animal characters having flat teeth are rather uncanny. There are noticeable inconsistencies and blemishes with the animation itself too. They recycle animation way too much, including scenes where the characters are talking, which even use the exact same lip flaps. Not only this but there are way too many obvious errors, such as Balloon and Mela suddenly switching spots, large differences in FPS rates for no reason, and characters such as Ava being off-model in some scenes. The animation studio behind it, Studio SEK (who often works with Mondo TV, the producers of this show), is based in North Korea, so I'm sure they had a very limited budget and the animators were so overworked and underpaid, but my point still stands.
The voice acting varies from dub to dub, as some dubs are better than others (personally I think the French dub is the best out of all of them), but the US and UK English dubs are rather hit-or-miss. Stephanie Sheh, despite the excessive filler noises with her character, did well on voicing Kate in the US dub, and so did Johnny Yong Bosch with Magic. However, other characters often sound a bit too monotone (such as Princess Ava, voiced by Julie-Ann Dean), or is clearly overacted (Eva, voiced by Joanna Ruiz, being a good example). At least they got professional voice actors here, many of them known for roles in anime dubs or other children's shows, though it doesn't save this show by any means. Not only this but I've even noticed a bunch of script errors. For example, how does Ava already know Magic's name, knowing that his original name was Oristolfo, yet didn't know Kate's name yet? Not to mention they sometimes get breeds wrong, such as Leo (the dog from "In the Cove of the Cat") resembling more of a foxhound despite being described as a bloodhound, and the performers in episode "Nearly" being called chihuahuas when they're supposed to be Jack/Parson Russell Terriers. Danny is also called a Neapolitan mastiff despite resembling an English mastiff, and Toby/Tobia being described as a Maremma sheepdog although he looks like an English sheepdog, though that's in merchandise rather than the show itself.
Then there's the plot and character personalities. The plot is simple: save Princess Ava and piece the Friendship Heart back into one. However, it's near the end where things start to make no sense even more. For some odd reason, though it depends on how much time has passed, the Pet Buster is suddenly freed from prison. Pretty sure he would've spent even more time there if it was more realistic. And not only this, but aside from the other silly and petty laws the Pocket Kingdom has, there is one where all criminals are pardoned and released on a holiday, thus freeing Eva and her lackeys. I think this was all an excuse to make another switch-up happen when both of them imprisoned was already fine as it is. Unlike Zull and Gort, who have their fair share of redeeming qualities, Eva lacks in them. She even says that she "always has been evil", which is pretty unrealistic given that things considered "evil" are taught to or learned by someone, and nobody is born that way. As if Eva growling like a dog instead of a cat (except in the French dub where she makes more realistic cat noises) wasn't strange enough. It's nice that the Royal Guards each give a nod to the Four Temperaments, and the other characters (except for some of the more minor ones) having good and bad traits, though Kate is probably the only character to get proper character development, and it's too bad she and Magic get way too much screen time and voice lines compared to other characters, even the Royal Guards. And the Pet Buster, well, we don't talk about him.
One user here said that "all the characters live in one big castle". That's incorrect: only Ava and the Royal Guards do. The rest live in the town that's next to the hill Pocketville Castle is on, or further away.
So yes, Adventures in Pocketville has way too many flaws to be considered a "good" show, but it is not by any means the worst of the worst. I've seen even worse shows produced by Mondo TV and other studios, especially from Dingo Pictures and Bevanfield. Do I recommend it? Not at all, but if you want to watch this show, that's fine, but be aware that the animation and sometimes the voice acting are lacking. I definitely recommend seeing some of the fanmade works of this show, such as the Yamatoverse and Pocketville Lost Diamonds novels if you want to see "fixfics" and AUs of this show.
Yes, the animation is not as good. While a lot of the character designs are great, being very detailed and almost anime-like, some characters and even backgrounds are lacking, especially with Flipper's uncanny design being a fish with teeth, and Steel Wool just being some random sheep with a whistle tied around his neck (he doesn't even have horns either). Some aspects like human hand-like dexterity in the paws of the animal characters, Krakia's wings on occasion looking like human hands, and a lot of the animal characters having flat teeth are rather uncanny. There are noticeable inconsistencies and blemishes with the animation itself too. They recycle animation way too much, including scenes where the characters are talking, which even use the exact same lip flaps. Not only this but there are way too many obvious errors, such as Balloon and Mela suddenly switching spots, large differences in FPS rates for no reason, and characters such as Ava being off-model in some scenes. The animation studio behind it, Studio SEK (who often works with Mondo TV, the producers of this show), is based in North Korea, so I'm sure they had a very limited budget and the animators were so overworked and underpaid, but my point still stands.
The voice acting varies from dub to dub, as some dubs are better than others (personally I think the French dub is the best out of all of them), but the US and UK English dubs are rather hit-or-miss. Stephanie Sheh, despite the excessive filler noises with her character, did well on voicing Kate in the US dub, and so did Johnny Yong Bosch with Magic. However, other characters often sound a bit too monotone (such as Princess Ava, voiced by Julie-Ann Dean), or is clearly overacted (Eva, voiced by Joanna Ruiz, being a good example). At least they got professional voice actors here, many of them known for roles in anime dubs or other children's shows, though it doesn't save this show by any means. Not only this but I've even noticed a bunch of script errors. For example, how does Ava already know Magic's name, knowing that his original name was Oristolfo, yet didn't know Kate's name yet? Not to mention they sometimes get breeds wrong, such as Leo (the dog from "In the Cove of the Cat") resembling more of a foxhound despite being described as a bloodhound, and the performers in episode "Nearly" being called chihuahuas when they're supposed to be Jack/Parson Russell Terriers. Danny is also called a Neapolitan mastiff despite resembling an English mastiff, and Toby/Tobia being described as a Maremma sheepdog although he looks like an English sheepdog, though that's in merchandise rather than the show itself.
Then there's the plot and character personalities. The plot is simple: save Princess Ava and piece the Friendship Heart back into one. However, it's near the end where things start to make no sense even more. For some odd reason, though it depends on how much time has passed, the Pet Buster is suddenly freed from prison. Pretty sure he would've spent even more time there if it was more realistic. And not only this, but aside from the other silly and petty laws the Pocket Kingdom has, there is one where all criminals are pardoned and released on a holiday, thus freeing Eva and her lackeys. I think this was all an excuse to make another switch-up happen when both of them imprisoned was already fine as it is. Unlike Zull and Gort, who have their fair share of redeeming qualities, Eva lacks in them. She even says that she "always has been evil", which is pretty unrealistic given that things considered "evil" are taught to or learned by someone, and nobody is born that way. As if Eva growling like a dog instead of a cat (except in the French dub where she makes more realistic cat noises) wasn't strange enough. It's nice that the Royal Guards each give a nod to the Four Temperaments, and the other characters (except for some of the more minor ones) having good and bad traits, though Kate is probably the only character to get proper character development, and it's too bad she and Magic get way too much screen time and voice lines compared to other characters, even the Royal Guards. And the Pet Buster, well, we don't talk about him.
One user here said that "all the characters live in one big castle". That's incorrect: only Ava and the Royal Guards do. The rest live in the town that's next to the hill Pocketville Castle is on, or further away.
So yes, Adventures in Pocketville has way too many flaws to be considered a "good" show, but it is not by any means the worst of the worst. I've seen even worse shows produced by Mondo TV and other studios, especially from Dingo Pictures and Bevanfield. Do I recommend it? Not at all, but if you want to watch this show, that's fine, but be aware that the animation and sometimes the voice acting are lacking. I definitely recommend seeing some of the fanmade works of this show, such as the Yamatoverse and Pocketville Lost Diamonds novels if you want to see "fixfics" and AUs of this show.
