Conclusion & Epilogue
I did a bit of a “break away” from the FOF format I established in my “Baka & Test” breakdown (that “break away” is a very specific Code Lyoko joke), and that is because this is a slightly rushed job.
I rushed this because of two reasons:
1- I could over-describe every minute detail about the things I remember about Code Lyoko and that would take forever.
2- It’s the New Year and I’m almost done with school so I want to rush this out before things get hectic again.
In some way I enjoyed making this stream of consciousness and taking a walk down memory lane. “Code Lyoko” was one of those things that was very unique and although I did not know much about the context of animation and cartoons and their production as a little kid, looking at it now I can appreciate the intricacies of it.
A few years ago I watched the last 5 episodes over and over again and that final shot of the characters saying goodbye to the viewer really hit me in the feels. Now being able to see it on Netflix or on the Official Channel on YouTube gives me another avenue to go down memory lane again.
"Code Lyoko" is far from perfect. I held off until the end to talk about the most glaring flaw that anyone points out when talking about the show:
The characters have massive foreheads and it became a running joke when talking about its artwork.
The voice acting and script is kinda cringe, but as a kid its something you can easily overlook.
"Code Lyoko" is also very episodic and trope-heavy. Many of the episodes are predictable plots that you've probably seen several times over, but just in the context of the universe. They episodes have a formula to where you will almost always hear/see certain phrases or sequences, and the "Return to the Past" feature often nixes some points of character development preventing any significant changes from being long-lasting.
The attempts to revive the “Code Lyoko” brand after the conclusion of the main series were total flops. The initial games were good additives, but the “Code Lyoko: Evolution” show was objectively awful and other attempts at reviving it were dead in the water since the company that created it (Moonscoop) apparently filed for bankruptcy in 2014.
But to go back and look at how this show started off as a totally foreign production to a hit show that captured the attention of many American fans and be among the first few to put French or Canadian animation productions in the US Cartoon Network spotlight in the early 2000s. That isn’t to say that American TV is the only way to get exposure, but I’m saying I’m glad to have been exposed to something that broadened my horizons.
Especially when a lot of other good shows either got cancelled or completely faded from relevancy, I’m glad to have “Code Lyoko” as a complete series that is easy to access rather than a fleeting memory and a theme song.
-END
P.S:
I couldn’t find a way to shoehorn this in during the rant, but I believe “Code Lyoko” influenced a couple of other sci-fi cartoons of a similar theme.
One show that I remember that I often compared to “Code Lyoko” was a half live-action half-CGI show called “Zixx.” It was pretty much the proper way to do “Code Lyoko: Evolution” where the live-action was more of an action-drama than a cringey cosplay-fest of real people pretending to have the personality of anime characters, and the sci-fi portion was done in an engine that looks an awful lot like early “Halo” games rather than the harsh CGI.
I don’t remember much of its plot, I believe it revolved around aliens or cyborgs that teenagers had to defeat by going into a virtual world, quite like Lyoko. I was able to find an episode or two on YouTube, but I didn’t put much stock into it.
Another show was called “Level Up.” Again, another live-action show put on Cartoon Network in the early 2010s era. It had more of an “arcade” aesthetic to it kinda like “Scott Pilgrim” or the movie “Pixels” rather than full-on immersive sci-fi or virtual reality aesthetic. From what I know it didn’t last very long, either, and I haven't even attempted to find it since it wasn't really anything of merit in my opinion. From what I remember of watching it with my younger cousin I remember telling her “That sounds like an old cartoon called ‘Code Lyoko’.”
Of course she didn’t know about “Code Lyoko” since that show had been off the air about as long as she had been alive, but now that she’s older and has taken a slight interest in anime and older cartoons, I think it’s something she would enjoy, or something we could bond over.
So if “Code Lyoko” is not your cup of tea, there are certainly other alternatives with similar concepts if you ever feel like doing a “Return to the Past.”
