Passable Cartoons on Family Channel Again? Gravity Falls is Surprisingly Awesome

Wow. Is Family Channel starting to air relatively acceptable programming again?  I thought quirky kid shows like The Weekenders were gone for good in favour of the self-perpetuating-sanitized-child-celebrity-machine telling us that tank top over long sleeved shirt wearing Selena Gomez and Demi Lovato were "so right now" before we even knew who they were.

(Not that I wouldn't have loved the opportunity to don a conspicuously conservative spaghetti strap dress over long sleeved shirt and tights in the name of childhood fame.)

Anyway, it seems like now that Disney has their XD channel to dump their lame boy-themed programs like Wingin' It, a carbon copy of the world's awesomest Family Channel Sitcom Teen Angel except not remotely funny, they now have room for fun cartoons like Gravity Falls!

Ever-loveable Teen Angel features Marty (right) a deceased teen who died from eating a year-old burger under a bed, trying to help his socially awkward friend Steve (left). 

This is Wingin' It. I'm assuming they're going to photoshop the lockers in later .

Anyway back to Gravity Falls. This surprisingly great, very cleanly animated sitcom follows a pair of 12 year old twins Dipper and Mabel, accompanied by their fez-wearing Grunkle (Great Uncle) Stan as they encounter the paranormal. It watches like a PG South Park in terms of content with a more conventional flow.

Centre is Grunkle Stan in the aforementioned fez.

What's awesome about this show?

1. Paranormal Activity- in the non-mysetrious-sheets-moving way. 

2. Kristen Schaal (Louise from Bob's Burgers) as the voice of Mabel.

A sweater after my own heart- even more so if the circuits are shoddy and give off a lot of heat. ( I get really cold)

Louise from Bob's Burgers- I'm a little more of a sweater girl than a hat girl.

3. This is both a pro and a con: The show at first glance seemed so adorably Canadian without the in-your-face grossness that Yvon of the Yukon, or the desperate Canadian-ness that animated Bob and Doug seemed to have.

Look how painfully Canadian we are eh. -Aw, but still loveable :)

The characters were plaid-clad living in a coniferous forest. It seemed relatively cold- they were often wearing hats and sweaters, and there was even a herd of bison in one of the two episodes I saw.

However, later I discover that the show is only unassumingly Canadian because it's set in Oregon :( 

How the hell is this not Canada?

Now I'm going to pause for a minute to mention how much I hate it when people go far out of their way to try and make something look Canadian. For example, last year I went to see the Nutcracker and it was set on Wellington Crescent. The first five minutes of the ballet was a choreographed street hockey game. BAHH. When I see a Russian ballet, I want it to be Russian. A bit of street hockey isn't going to make this relatable for me. 

Next year this is how Russian I want it to be: Last night at a party, a friend of mine added vodka to pink lemonade and named it Lenin-ade. I want Lenin-ade to be the drink of choice at next year's ballet.

Back to business.

4. The series is by Alex Hirsch, the gravelly voiced maniac responsible for writing and voicing every good animated children's show in the past five years. On his list: The Marvellous Misadventures of Flapjack, a show that is kind of a mashup between Adventure Time, but with the exaggerated animation of Spongebob Squarepants, and Fish Hooks, a mildly funny show about fish that is made leagues funnier by Justin Roiland, Channel 101 superstar, voicing the main character.

Justin Roiland as Oscar. A paranoid fish in love with his best friend.
"Hahaha, yeah! Hahahaha, yeah!"

In conclusion, give it a watch. It's surprisingly adult. (As all good children's shows are).

Here's the theme. Pretty Cute

Lanfuest Quest and My Little Pony

Recently I was forwarded the opportunity to audition to voice for the cartoon series of the Anime Lanfuest Quest. Those who know me are probably wondering if I have all my limbs right now, because they know I would have mailed them an arm and a leg for the opportunity to achieve one of my greatest dreams. The auditions only ran two weeks, and I was alerted at the end of the first that I could send in my performance resume and they might slot me an audition. So either my resume was so resoundingly unimpressive that it somehow conveyed that I probably couldn't speak coherently enough to animate around, or they had already slotted their auditions far in advance. Oh well.

Lanfuest Quest is a French graphic novel set in a fantasy realm where everyone has a single power that can only be used in the presence of a sage (the equivalent of a studied magician in their world).

Lanfuest was apparently a a blacksmith who while handling an aristocrats sword, magically gained the ability to use any power and embarks on some manner of quest to learn about the phenomenon.

Apparently his adversary is some manner of evil pirate that has gained the same ability. (Why not, I like a good magical showdown)

As with pretty much every anime ever, this basic idea is made awesomer through piles of filth and gore. The version that DACAPO is producing will apparently be very toned down and aimed toward children.

This is Cixi, the slut I wanted to audition to be

Now the question is, am I who can be described by: 

1. Being an ultimate advocator of animation as a form of adult geared entertainment and not a medium only for children

2. Being a hater of censorship and firm supporter of all artistic freedoms.

3. Being a cartoon super-fan who happens to love a little gore on the site.

ok with the common decision to file down anime's sharp edges to appeal to a child audience?

Surprisingly the answer is yes.

As much as the animation community seems to collectively hate Seth MacFarlene's collective works of Family Guy, American Dad, and The Cleveland Show, we often disregard their immense contribution to dragging cartoons out of the sandbox, and into the adult eye. They also developed a completely new, non-plot based format that while being criticized as lazy (and rightfully so) has made huge influences to the formatting and pacing of new adult cartoons. 

Before this, you used to find a lot more cartoon-enthusiast-adults sitting around watching Spongebob waiting for the covert adult jokes that the writers frequently threw in to keep themselves from ending it all.

I've been told that the new My Little Pony is one of these such shows, hence the massive Bronie following- so immense that the show apparently added a character called "Derpy Hooves". 

Yeah this is Derpy Hooves. Is her bumstamp supposed to signify derp-dom?

If I have to tune in to watch Derpy Hooves's Shenanigans (evidently they are very derpy) to see some good animated programming, then I'm completely fine with that. 

As long as people are enjoying it, I'll turn on Spongebob and wait for a dirty joke.