Now we reach the final entry in Cartoon Network month it's been a long month but finally we've reached the end, a post on every single day of June. (If it doesn't seem that way it's because of timezones)
So lets finish this off with part 2 of the best Cartoon Network shows.
5. Codename Kids Next Door
What do you get if you took all the mundane problems kids have and take it up to the level of a secret organization on James Bond level? What you get is an act of genius never before seen in cartoons until it came along. The Kids Next Door are a secret organization led by British born leader Numbah 1: Nigel Uno, along side Numbah's 2-5 in the main team each with their own unique abilities and personalities. What makes this show special is the amount of depth they went into to create a kids environment, their gadgets are made by 2x4 technology, their guns look like gumball launchers, they power most of their big vehicles with pedals, even the memory restorer used in the film is just a jack-in-the-box mixed with an old fashioned camera. Even the villains are basically children's worst enemies, such as the crazy cat lady, a toilet man, the delightful children, ice cream men, a brace man and top of the list is the always hilariously awesome Father. If I had any complaints it would be that some characters were created to the voice actors needs rather than the creators needs, (I'm looking at you Numbah 5) but other than that you can't go wrong with this series, if you ever felt that your childhood was mediocre then remind yourself how awesome it is with this series.
4. Adventure Time
Oh boy does this show get a lot of praise and the amazing thing about it is, most of it is fairly normal. No seriously I judge most of the episodes as being normal, not unique or awesome just normal. Allow me to expand; in a series that relies heavily on it's two leads to do more than just, fight and sprout exposition, the two do their jobs a little too well and it eventually becomes the norm in most episodes, while the series is awesome it's also what we expect every time we watch it and it's what we always get, but what got this series so high on this list is the Ice King's backstory. Not only does it explain why the bumbling villain is crazy but also explains why the world exists the way it does, I won't spoil it for you but lets just say that some of the content on the Ice King's backstory along with Marceline's actually made me cry, seriously, the last time I cried was watching Fairy Tail.
A surprisingly dark turn in a story that has the color scheme of a 3D Mario game. There aren't many series who can pull that off and that's why Adventure Time is here.
3. Regular Show
I didn't believe I'll ever find a show that appeals to me as a late 20s adult and yet Regular Show does just that. I fell out of favor with most adult Cartoons recently; Simpsons has turned crap, Family Guy is dire, Futurama is cancelled and even reruns of Daria fail to grab my attention and even South Park isn't looking so funny anymore, yet Regular Show which is as out of place as Ren & Stimpy was on Nickelodeon does what the adult shows failed to do, which is making their references awesome which is the life blood of an adult cartoon and the reason why this is, is because it was made by someone of my generation and every joke & reference on the 90s & 80s is not only funny but goes a step further by making it awesome at the same time; here is a short list of some of the things Mordecai & Rigby face on a regular basis, a giant cassette tape with an evil repetitive song, a jinx that turns into a zombie apocalypse, a pixel video game villain, a table hockey deathmatch, arm wrestling with death himself, a rampaging secret diary, nuclear fallout from a grilled cheese sandwich and even in the very first episode they make cereal look awesome followed by a rock, paper, scissors match that breaks the space time continuum. That's only a small list, the full list would be too much for this post. Regular Show, although you have to be in your 20s to fully appreciate it, it still does such a good job at entertaining you.
2. The Powerpuff Girls
Before My Little Pony became the must see girls cartoon for boys, The Powerpuff Girls filled that role in the 90s, a group of superpowered kindergarten girls fighting crime and giant monsters.
It doesn't matter if it's pink, the amount of action you see is intense, the story is intelligent and it really exposes a lot about how society sees superheroes. Here are some choice moments for you to browse.
In one episode the girls dress up as comic heroes in an attempt to appeal more to the town but lose their identity in the process only for the giant monster of all things to remind them who they are; in another episode the girls are challenged by a feminist only to be reminded by other female characters that a criminal is still a criminal and not a representative of the gender, even during the movie which explains the creation of the Powerpuff Girls, they become outcasts when their so called playtime causes wanton destruction through out Townsville; the point I'm getting at is that no matter what the situation, the Powerpuffs are always portrayed as their age and never older, and that adds a whole new dimension to the superhero genre that no one other than Powerpuff Girls could explore. I've often accused many pre-school cartoon heroines of the same age as being either too perfect or acting beyond their age when they don't need to, yet the Powerpuff Girls always act their age which makes them more vulnerable and easier to connect with and support. Between Craig McCracken and his wife Lauren Faust, they are the best creators of girls cartoons and the only two creators who can get boys to watch their girls cartoons.
1. Samurai Jack
But it takes something special to beat Samurai Jack, a series that redefined what it means to be an action cartoon. A demonic shape-shifting being named Aku which is Japanese for evil, unleashes an UNSPEAKABLE!!!! evil, when a foolish Samurai warrior wielding a magic sword steps forward to oppose him, but before Aku could be finished off the Samurai is sent to the future where Aku's evil is LAW!!! Now the Samurai seeks to return to the past and undo the future that is Aku. (RIP Mako such a good actor) Named Jack through a misunderstanding with the locals, the Samurai spends the entire series fighting numerous unique villains with powers that always tests Jack's limit and always has that kind of suspense just to see if he can succeed, even a comedy episode where he has to spend the entire episode as a chicken still has that kind of suspense, and yet Jack's dialogue in each episode is no longer than three lines at most and it's with this that the series wins on this top ten. Action has always been core to Cartoon Network's best shows so it makes this series all the more special when you've got nothing but action on screen with no need for any spoken lines from Jack himself, other villains and support characters sprout a bucket full but Jack barely speaks relying entirely on body language and facial expression to tell the audience what's going on. Anyone can say "oh no" or explain everything that's happening in very obvious detail or say redundant things like "That Tornado's carrying a car" but Jack just fights the villains like your supposed to, and that my friends is how you make a good action series. Samurai Jack, easily one of the best cartoons ever made.
And with that ends Cartoon Network month, thank you so much for viewing. Details on my next projects will appear later on but for now good night and god bless.
