6 Animated Shows That Stole My Heart In 2019
Because animation is doing pretty damn well right now.
The world is on fire right now. That’s true more now than ever, and I realise that it can cause me to be paralysed by shows that require me to invest considerable time and energy to feel…well, sad. While I know those shows are cinematic experiences that I will get to, on a daily basis I just want to watch something more lighthearted, you know?
That doesn’t mean, however, that I’m buying into the antiquated notion that animated shows are less worthy of cinema than live-action. Instead, the range of emotions, characters, and storylines that animated shows are more wide-ranging, and it just makes it easier to consume, since they’re not connected to a real person or actor in the world. They provide the same amount of escapism that sci-fi and fantasy live-action has, but with less emotional pain, personally-speaking.
So, here are the 6 shows that I heartily binged in 2019:
The Dragon Prince (Netflix)
This show premiered early last year, but the highly anticipated third season just dropped in November.
The show focuses on two young half-brothers (who happen to be princes), who find a dragon egg and decide to give it back to the dragon queen with the help of an elf who was supposed to kill their father.
It’s…a lot, and is a stellar example of diverse characters, accents, storylines, that all somehow work together. Your mind might register the differences, but it never feels like you’re being pandered to, or talked down to in any way.
There are many reasons why you should watch The Dragon Prince (elves!mages!magic!dragons!boys who talk to animals!), but the thing that sets it apart from other shows is its commitment to fully-developed characters.
If you’re reading this after only watching the first season, you will be dead wrong about who ends up being in the final troop of dragon protectors. The show allows each character to develop in stages, which can cause some episodes to drag but also, viewed as a whole, really allows the viewer to understand the decisions undertaken at any point. Some plot points are, yes, pretty obvious to the viewer, but they allow the characters to figure it out for themselves instead of just blindly throwing fan-service.
However, I’m slightly worried as the show hasn’t been picked up for a fourth season, and recent allegations of misogynistic behaviour against co-creators Aaron Ehasz (yes, the guy who was the head writer for Avatar: The Last Airbender), which he has denied, make me loathe to give him another season.
Rapunzel’s Tangled Adventure (Disney Channel)
I’ve been a fan of this animated series that follows the events of Tangled (2010), where we get to see how Rapunzel handles being back in Corona, since it premiered in 2017. It’s earnest and a little cutesy, yes, but the episodic stories do get more interesting midway through the second season.
It’s currently midway through its third season, and comes burdened with a betrayal at the end of season two and some interesting recurring characters that make the show a lot more than just a princess show for children.
Yes, it does veer into preachy territory pretty often, but if you go in tailoring your expectations accordingly, Rapunzel’s Tangled Adventures does stand out as one of the more complex Disney Channel animated shows out there.
She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (Netflix)
What can I say about She-Ra and the Princesses of Power that hasn’t already been said by its 100% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes for 3 out of its 4 seasons? Or the multiple awards its been nominated for since it premiered in 2018?
This animated series, a reboot of the 1985 Filmation spin-off from He-Man, endows a teenager with the powers of She-Ra. She teams up with other princesses and rebels to fight the Horde, an army that’s trying to conquer the planet Etheria. Oh, she also grew up in the Horde and has to contend with her childhood best friend, who is now angry as shit at being abandoned.
It’s a little Rah-Rah, I’m not gonna lie, but it’s also impressively layered, considering that it starts off with a clear good-vs-evil dynamic. That dynamic gets progressively muddled, creating expansive stories, both for the overarching plot, as well as for the different episodes.
The show has also been lauded for its diverse cast, all-female writers room, commitment to body diversity, and more, which makes for even better viewing, as you can always find a character to identify with. Also, the seasons come out really quickly, with a total of 39 episodes released in the 1 year it’s premiered!
Disenchantment (Netflix)
This is a weird one to include, as reviews have been mixed, and some early episodes were…not strong, to say the least. Maybe expectations were also too high, as this series, launched in 2018 and created by The Simpsons Matt Groening, is his first after The Simpsons and Futurama, and the most R-rated of the lot.
The story focuses on a medieval princess called Bean, who is an alcoholic and rebel in a world named Dreamland.
Her best friend is an Elf called…Elfo, and there’s a personal demon called Luci.
Most of the first few episodes of world-building are just wild rides of complete no-fucks-given, as it seems dead set on being something you might want to watch only while high.
However, it picks up significantly from episode 8 onwards, and continues on an upward trajectory with the second half of season one, which premiered in September this year. When there’s an overarching plot line and mission, the stories become much stronger, and you get to see how each random character plays into the story.
The odd thing is, the reason I like to watch this show is because it really gives no fucks. The show is willing to go out on a limb when it comes to storytelling, and although it often makes you wonder if you’re watching the same show from episode to episode, that is also part of its appeal.
Big Hero 6: The Series (Disney Channel)
I love the world that was introduced in Walt Disney Animation Studios’ Big Hero 6 (2014), but I have to admit that I didn’t have very high hopes for the animated series that was subsequently announced for Disney Channel. The film seemed tailor-made to spin-off into a cutesy children’s show that focused only on Baymax’s abilities, so I thought that was the direction they were going towards.
Surprisingly, the themes are quite mature, despite the focus on villains that look like they’re imagined by children who’ve watched too many Scooby-Doo episodes. We see Hiro dealing with school, his secret identity as a superhero, friendship issues, internships, and more. He really struggles with having it all, which is something I feel is extremely relatable in this day and age.
Season two, especially, gets really fun as we see a mysterious new threat turn villains into monsters, making for a bunch of interesting episodes where Big Hero 6 have to find ingenious ways to defeat them. It all builds up to the end of the first arc in season two, where the heroes have to grapple with some confusion over what to do when lives in San Fransokyo are in danger.
Harley Quinn (DC Universe)
There have only been 5 episodes released of this animated DC Universe show so far, and I’m already fully in love.
The Big Bang Theory’s Kaley Cuoco stars as the titular villain in an adult series, and trust me, it takes full advantage of being R-rated.
Revolving around Harley Quinn’s attempt to establish herself as a supervillain separate from The Joker, the show situates Harley Quinn firmly within 2019, with a sardonic BFF in Poison Ivy. She finds innovative (but yet extremely reasonable) solutions to her problems, continues to have that streak of deranged glee that makes her a wild card, and yes, she interacts with all the other DC characters.
I can’t wait for the rest of the season!
Originally published at https://onereelatatime.org on December 31, 2019.
