Gumball - The Origins Review

As promised, I haved watched the advanced screening of the Gumball episode "The Origins" from the other CN branches that will air it first before the US. So here is my spoiler-free review.

Though to be honest, the episode synopsis of The Origins pretty much revealed the ENTIRE plot anyway, so it's basically what it's all  bout - how Gumball and Darwin first met. It doesn't help either that the numerous sneak peeks released from Cartoon Network pretty much told the plot as well.

That being said, the whole two-parter is simply amazing to watch. No doubt creator Ben Bocquelet and his staff took pointers from the Studio Ghibli films and add their own flair, like they did in "The Shell". But with "The Origins", the crank it up even further. By the time you get to the middle section of Part 1, you already have these feels for Darwin and Gumball. Both their first meeting and interaction is clearly taken from Hayao Miyazaki's "Ponyo" and you can't help but feel 'awww' on how the two are so adorable together.

Part 2 of The Origins focuses mainly on Darwin and his epic journey to return to Gumball. It also includes one of the best song numbers from the series, or pretty much in animation in general so far. It's not easy putting an insert song while making it entertaining and advancing the plot. It's also very catchy and quite funny.

Another that I find The Origins so captivating is how it handles with dark subjects and trying to make it funny, despite Gumball, and the audience know what those subjects are. Once again, it's the magic of Ben Bocquelet and his staff on how to make these subjects entertaining and funny. And even though the basic plot of The Origins is a given, the episode contains key areas that define a good part of the show's lore.

One such part is in one of the sneak peeks. When Richard suggested going back in time but got interrupted before he could complete his sentence, he's referring and confirming the tweet made by Ben Bocquelet that suggests Gumball was actually born out of wedlock, which resulted in Richard and Nicole having a shotgun wedding.

Like many episodes before, Gumball does take made a lot of references to pop culture. In this one, you can easily spot references to the Gremlins movie, as well as the Carameldansen meme, Ponyo, as I said earlier, and also Finding Nemo. There's probably more that I missed as I do this review.

After seeing it, I pretty much understand why Cartoon Network chose to air this in the US on the same time as the Gravity Falls finale. Simply put, this episode of Gumball, from production to presentation, is essentially worthy of an award for Best Animated Feature, because it is. It's incredibly entertaining, yet funny all over, smart, and emotionally uplifting and very thoughtful.

I will dare say, and I believe I'm not alone in this, that The Origins has placed The Amazing World of Gumball as THE best Cartoon Network Original of this generation surpassing Steven Universe, Adventure Time, and We Bare Bears combined. I'd even say this 22-minute story even tops the Little Witch Academia movies. It's. Just. That. Good.

Regardless of how you watch The Origins, I must insist that you do, because that is how, no pun intended, "Amazing" the episode is. On a scale of 1 to 5, I give the The Amazing World of Gumball Episode "The Origins", a 5 out of 5.