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Kappa Mikey (2006)
A show ahead of it's time in some ways
Kappa Mikey is decently well known online, for better or worse, but personally I think that it holds up pretty well to this day and deserves a lot more positive recognition. The series begins when Mikey Simon, a self-absorbed and unsuccessful American actor who wins a contest to become the new star of Lilymu, a Japanese anime series. It's a slice of life comedy series that typically follows a day in the life of Mikey and his friends working on Lilymu. Such friends include the sweet Mitsuki, the well-meaning oaf Gonard, and the neurotic Guano.
The humour is very fast-paced, and they hit you with jokes one after another. The animation can be humorous at times with how they poke fun at exaggerated faces in anime, but it doesn't overly rely on that either. I would describe it as one part a parody of anime, and another part a character comedy where a lot of the jokes come from how characters interact. The main five characters, while they argue quite a lot, are still a believable and memorable friend group in the end. A lot of the scenarios the characters find themselves in can get downright ridiculous as well, further adding to the comedy of the show.
While I think this series is a great comedy cartoon, it still has it's issues and aspects that didn't age too well. The animation is not the best and sometimes appears very stiff, and while the voice cast is generally great, Ozu and Yesman's mimicking of Japanese accents was pretty annoying. This problem was most apparent in season 2's Karaoke Episode, where Ozu just screams out his songs and has no rhythm whatsoever.
In conclusion, I think that Kappa Mikey, though it has it's issues, is still a great animated comedy worth a second shot. Don't go into this expecting some serious action anime, because that's not what they want to deliver here.
Detentionaire (2011)
Action, Adventure, and Holger from school!
Detentionaire is one of those shows I loved to watch in my childhood. Every Thursday, a new episode would drop, and after that, my mind would focus on where the story would go next. I loved it, but I was worried that it wouldn't hold up if I revisited it. Well, after a rewatch, I am happy to say that 10 years later this series still rocks!
The show follows Lee Ping, a 10th grader who is framed for a huge prank he didn't do, and thus has to prove his innocence, "breaking rules to prove he didn't break any rules" as he puts it. This setup seems like it would be a simple whodunit type of plot, but the more Lee (and the audience) learn about the prank, the deeper the mystery gets. I love how even when the stakes are high, there are still callbacks to earlier seasons. It's clear that everything in this show happens for a reason, like an intricate puzzle. Despite the show touching on some dark themes, it also knows how to have a sense of humour, and has lots of funny quotable moments!
The characters are really likable because they subvert your expectations. While at first glance they may appear to be tropes you can find in any other show set in high school, each character soon reveals there's so much more to them, or a trope is flipped on it's head entirely. A "dumb jock" could actually be pretty smart, a big tough guy could actually be a softie, and the shallow popular girl could have many insecurities of her own. The voice cast helps to bring these characters to life. In particular I loved Jonathan Tan as Lee, David Berni as Chaz, and Brian Froud as Lynch. Each performance is just oozing with charisma, helping the characters stay that much more memorable.
While we can always hope for a continuation of the show, one thing is for sure: Detentionaire is one of the best story-based mystery cartoons out there, and is criminally underrated. If you see this review, I urge you to go check it out for yourself!