A few months ago I posted a review of some children’s shows that might be fun for adults and why adults might _want_ to watch them (I’ll leave the link to the original in the comments). It’s been a little bit, so I figured I’d update the list.
Kipo and the Age of Wonderbeasts
Kipo is geared at slightly younger audience than the other ones I’ve reviewed, and it shows. The story follows a girl named Kipo in a cheerfully-mutated post apocalyptic Earth as she tries to make it back to the bunker she calls home.
For what it was, the show was fine. I think after having watched Steven Universe and Adventure Time I have come to expect these shows to grapple with existential questions or scratch at some deeper truth. Kipo does neither. Which is not to say it isn’t fun. I probably laughed out loud at every episode. But I’m not sure I’d recommend it to an adult.
Over the Garden Wall
Over the Garden Wall is for ages six to twelve, but unlike Kipo there’s definitely something going on under the surface. It follows two brothers that have gotten lost in an archetypical Dark Forest, full of magic and strange creatures. There is plenty of little kid silliness, but there is something aesthetic about it that is transfixing. It is strange and surreal, but not in a way that feels random; instead everything you encounter feels at home in the forest. The best way to describe it is the whole show, the color palette and creatures and setting, feel like Fall as you experienced it as a child.
Centaurworld
Centaurworld is insane and I have no idea how it exists or what the creators intended. The primary character is pulled out of her intense, anime-esque war-torn world and plopped into the colorful kids-show Centaurworld. The opening episode underscores how horrifying the typical kids-show magic-esque gags would be in real life. I was excited; I expected this to be some sort of deconstruction of the typical kids show tropes. But the magic is horrifying *and* played straight. The show slews wildly from absolutely unbearable juvenile gags to intense emotional beats. The music is _fantastic_ and the side characters are more a poorly constructed collection of bits than actual characters. The finale is straight up Adventure Time level horrifying, has a scene that almost made me cry, and a magic purple llama knits a horse pajamas made out of their own fur. The thruline is a compelling story about searching for your family, the other 80% is stuff that even a six year old might think was too much. I do not know who this show was made for.
Should you watch it? Absolutely not. Do I regret that I did? Not at all. Take from that what you will.
Deus ad Machina 