A cartoon for grown ups?

Written by AnneTuen on March 5, 2011 at 6:38 AM

There are so many holes in the material, one has to just ignore them and move on.
The hero is a 16 year old boy, living on his own, in his own house - well there are no sign of parents - and all his friends just happen o be super-spies for illegal top secret organizations.
The cat alients not only ave cat ears and a tail bit also human ears, only two breasts (cats have 8 by the way) and apart from the ears and tail, have no other cat like features.
Also, cats are an interesting species as they have the least diversity of any species. Apart from colouring, they are all pretty much the same.
The anti-heroes, based on dogs - a very widely diversely shaped species, also look the same apart from the 2nd pair of ears.
These blatant incongruities do not bely the fact, it is a charming story.

The main plot, common in japanese anime, is the awaking of children to the larger and seemingly overbearing adult world.
In the first episode, the young lad, as innocent and niave as only a cartooon character can be, takes a sip of beer and instantly falls unconscous. Rediculous? Only if you don't see this as a metaphor of entering the complex world of grown ups.

The plot in a nutshell is a race of fun loving cat based aliens come to earth to have fun and discover they can not, because their enermies, in the classic shape of dogs, got their first, marked heir territory and are doing unspeakable things - why is never made clever, nor does it need to be.

The story is a metaphor for growing up and realising the world does not rotate around you any more, fun is not the only reason to exist and immaterial of what you try to do, the world is busy doing something else and you have to fall into place or get burnt.

There are lots of homage to other cartoons and general Sci-Fi genre's. Mutley makes an appearance but is more dark than the original self-centered WB character. The assistaroids are cute and fun and often do their best to steal the scene; many of their antics are reminisent of Woody Allen or the B&W slapstick films of old.

I was waiting for "Sorry, Elis... I can't do that..." but luckily, that clique was avoided.

Each episode is half an hour of cute fun and just like real life, without really noticing, things get dark, complex and hard for the heroes. They have to grow up and deal with the numerous crisies that pop up before they are ready, leaving their micro-problems til they can catch their breath.

This series is quite deep if you look hard but also, just * darn it! * jolly good fun.