Disney Schedule February 2017

Like Nick, this will include sister network and live-action content. Info courtesy of Toon Zone.

Bunk'd on Disney Channel
Fri Feb 24 - ?:?? - 210 - Food Fight

Elena of Avalor on Disney Channel
Sat Feb 25 - ?:?? - 112 - Olaball

Liv & Maddie: Cali Style on Disney Channel
Fri Feb 17 - 5:30 - 410 - Tiny House-A-Rooney
Fri Feb 24 - 5:30 - 412 - Big Break-A-Rooney

Stuck in the Middle on Disney Channel
Fri Feb 3 - 8:00 - 201/202 - Stuck in the Waterpark (60 minutes)
Fri Feb 10 - 8:00 - 203 - Stuck in a Commercial
Fri Feb 17 - 8:00 - 204 - Stuck in the School Photo
Fri Feb 24 - 8:00 - 205 - Stuck in a Slushy War

Atomic Puppet on Disney XD
Fri Feb 3 - ??? - Atomic Weakness / Private Proton
Mon Feb 6 - ??? - Switch / Lacer Takes Over
Tue Feb 7 - ??? - Worm Boy

Guardians of the Galaxy on Disney XD
(No new episodes in February)

Kirby Buckets: Warped on Disney XD
Wed Feb 1 - 7:00 am - 312 - Orbed and Dangerous
Thu Feb 2 - 7:00 am - 313 - Yep, Still Happening

Star vs. the Forces of Evil on Disney XD
Mon Feb 6 - 7:00 am - 215A - Raid the Cave
Tue Feb 7 - 7:00 am - 215B - Trickstar
Wed Feb 8 - 7:00 am - 216A - Baby
Thu Feb 9 - 7:00 am - 216B - Running With Scissors
Mon Feb 13 - 7:00 am - 217A - Mathmagic
Tue Feb 14 - 7:00 am - 217B - The Bounce Lounge
Wed Feb 15 - 7:00 am - 218A - Crystal Clear
Thu Feb 16 - 7:00 am - 218B - The Hard Way
Mon Feb 20 - 7:00 am - 219A - Heinous
Tue Feb 21 - 7:00 am - 219B - All Bets Are Off
Wed Feb 22 - 7:00 am - 220A - Collateral Damage
Thu Feb 23 - 7:00 am - 220B - Just Friends
Mon Feb 27 - 7:00 am - 221 - Face the Music
Mon Feb 27 - 7:30 am - 222 - Starcrushed

Star Wars Rebels on Disney XD
Sat Feb 18 - 8:30 - 316 - Legacy of Mandaolore
Sat Feb 25 - 8:30 - 317 - Through Imperial Eyes

Walk the Prank on Disney XD
To be announced

Nick Schedule February 2017

List includes sister networks and live-action content. Info courtesy of Toon Zone.

Nickelodeon
ALVINNN!!! and the Chipmunks
Saturday, February 25th 11:00 am "Snake Charmer"

Bunsen Is a Beast!
Tuesday, February 21st 5:30 pm "Bearly Acceptable Behavior; Beast Busters" (Series Premiere)
Wednesday, February 22nd 5:30 pm
Thursday, February 23rd 5:30 pm
Friday, February 24th 5:30 pm
Saturday, February 25th 10:30 am

Crashletes
Sunday, February 12th 8:00 pm "Ramp-age With Tony Hawk"
Sunday, February 19th 8:00 pm "Sibling Rivalries"

Game Shakers
Saturday, February 11th 8:30 pm "The Mason Experience"
Saturday, February 18th 8:30 pm "Bunger Games"

Henry Danger
Saturday, February 11th 8:00 pm "Double Date Danger"
Wednesday, February 15th ??? "JAM Sesson"
Thursday, February 16th ??? "Green Fingers"

Jagger Eaton's Mega Life
Sunday, February 12th 8:30 pm "Sumo Style"
Sunday, February 19th 8:30 pm "Mega Ramp Up"

Kuu Kuu Harajuku
Saturday, February 4th 8:00 am "Control Plus Alt Plus Dimension; Angel Hair"
Saturday, February 11th 8:00 am "Inside Job; Sea Monkeying Around"

Mutt & Stuff
Wednesday, February 1st 9:30 am "Doggy Advenuture Day"
Thursday, February 2nd 9:30 am "Sit, Stay, Stand Up!"

Nella the Princess Knight
Monday, February 6th 10:00 am "Sir Clod; Up All Night" (Series Premiere)
Wednesday, February 8th 10:00 am "Princess Nella's Orc-hestra; The Blaine Game"
Friday, February 10th 10:00 am "New Kid in the Kingdom; Big Birthday Surprise"
Tuesday, February 14th 10:00 am "That's What Best Friends Are For; In Hot Watermelon"
Thursday, February 16th 10:00 am "The Dragon Bully; Royaliscious Plumberry"

Nicky, Ricky, Dicky & Dawn
Saturday, February 4th 8:30 pm "Quadsled"
Saturday, February 11th 9:00 pm "Ye Olde Hand Holde"

PAW Patrol
Monday, February 6th 9:30 am "Pups Save a Blimp; Pups Save a Chili Cook-Out" (Season Premiere)
Wednesday, February 8th 9:30 am "Pups Save a Teeny Tiny Penguin; Pups Save the Cat Show"

Power Rangers Ninja Steel
Saturday, February 4th 12:00 pm "Live and Learn"
Saturday February 11th 12:00 pm "Presto Change-O"

Regal Academy
Saturday, February 4th 7:00 am "Hawk and the Poisoned Apples"
Saturday, February 11th 7:00 am "Fairy Tales on Earth"

Ride
Wednesday, February 1st 8:00 pm "Three's A Crowd"
Thursday, February 2nd 8:00 pm "Gone Guy"
Friday, February 3rd 8:00 pm "Wild Horses"
Monday, February 6th 8:00 pm "One Lump or Two?"
Tuesday, February 7th 8:00 pm "Happy UnBirthday"
Wednesday, February 8th 8:00 pm "After the Ball"
Thursday, February 9th 8:00 pm "The Cup"
Friday, February 10th 8:00 pm "Stalled"

Shimmer and Shine
Friday, February 17th ??? "Potion Control; Feel Better"

SpongeBob SquarePants
Monday, February 20th 7:00 pm "Goodbye, Krabby Patty?"
Saturday, February 25th 10:00 am ???

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
Sunday, February 5th 9:00 am "Tokka vs. the World"
Sunday, February 12th 9:00 am "Requiem"
Sunday, February 19th 9:00 am "The Tale of Tiger Claw"

The Thundermans
Saturday, February 4th 8:00 pm "Date of Emergency"
Saturday, February 18th 8:00 pm "Orange is the New Max"

Nick at Nite
Nashville (CMT Series)
Thursday, February 2nd 11:00 pm "A Little Bit Stronger"
Thursday, February 9th 11:00 pm "Hurricane"
Thursday, February 16th 11:00 pm "Stand Beside Me"
Thursday, February 23rd 11:00 pm ???

Nick Jr.
Digby Dragon
Wednesday, February 1st 7:00 pm "A Good Fairy; Firework Knight"

Dora and Friends: Into the City!
Sunday, February 5th 7:00 pm "The Bridge to Caballee" (Season 2 finale)

Nicktoons
The Fairly OddParents
Wednesday, February 1st 9:00 pm "Fancy Schmancy; Spring Break-Up"
Wednesday, February 8th 9:00 pm "Knitwits; Dadlantis"
Wednesday, February 15th 9:00 pm "Chloe Rules!; Tardy Sauce"
Wednesday, February 22nd 9:00 pm "Cat 'n Mouse; Nuts & Dangerous"

TV Land
Teachers
Tuesday, February 7th 10:00 pm "Held Back
Tuesday, February 14th 10:00 pm "Snap Judgement"
Tuesday, February 21st 10:00 pm "Brokeb***h Mountain"
Tuesday, February 28th 10:00 pm "Thirty-One and Done"

Throwing Shade
Tuesday, February 7th 10:30 pm "Episode 104"
Tuesday, February 14th 10:30 pm "Episode 105"
Tuesday, February 21st 10:30 pm "Episode 106"

CN Schedule February 2017

This list will exclude the bombs for AT and SU as they are currently airing as of this writing. However, SU is returning to its weekly format starting Feb 10th. Unless otherwise noted, all premieres are to air on the main CN channel in the US.

Info courtesy of Toon Zone.

Be Cool, Scooby Doo
Mon February 13th - ??? PM (EST) - 201 - Some Fred Time
Mon February 13th - ??? PM (EST) - 202 - There Wolf
Tue February 14th - ??? PM (EST) - 203 - Renn Scare
Wed February 14th - ??? PM (EST) - 204 - How to Train Your Coward
Thu February 15th - ??? PM (EST) - 205 - Worst in Show

Clarence
Fri February 3rd - 6:30 PM (EST) - 239 - Pizza Hero [SEASON FINALE]
Fri February 10th - 6:30 PM (EST) - 301 - Valentines [SEASON PREMIERE]

Justice League Action
Sat February 4th - 7:30 AM - 107 - Zombie King
Sat February 11th - 7:30 AM - 108 - Galaxy Jest
Sat February 18th - 7:30 AM - 109 - Time Share
Sat February 25th - 7:30 AM - 110 - Under a Red Sun

Lego Nexo Knights
Sat February 4th - 7:45 AM (EST) - 301 - The Cloud [SEASON PREMIERE]

Mighty Magiswords
Fri February 3rd - 6:15 PM (EST) - 121 - Share and Share Dislike

Sonic Boom
Sat February 4th - 6:00 PM (EST) - 213 - Mech Suits Me [BOOMERANG]

Steven Universe
Fri February 10th - 7:00 PM (EST) - 416 - The New Crystal Gems
Fri February 17th - 7:00 PM (EST) - 417 - Storm In The Room

Teen Titans Go!
Fri February 3rd - 6:00 PM (EST) - 410 - Inner Beauty of a Cactus
Thu February 16th - 6:00 PM (EST) - 411 - Movie Night
Sat February 25th - 6:00 PM (EST) - 412/413 - BBRAE [HALF HOUR SPECIAL]

The Tom and Jerry Show
Mon February 13th - ???? (EST) - ??? - Downtown Tabby
Tue February 14th - ???? (EST) - ??? - Return to Sender
Wed February 15th - ???? (EST) - ??? - Home Security
Thu February 16th - ???? (EST) - ??? - Tom-Fu
Mon February 20th - ???? (EST) - ??? - Art of the Deal
Tue February 21th - ???? (EST) - ??? -
Pillow Case
Wed February 22th - ???? (EST) - ??? -
Tail of Two Kitties
Thu February 23th - ???? (EST) - ??? - Vanishing Creamed
Fri February 24th - ???? (EST) - ??? -
Unhappily Harried After

The Amazing World of Gumball
Mon February 6th - 5:00 PM (EST) - 511 - The Fuss
Thu February 9th - 5:00 PM (EST) - 512 - The Potato
Tue February 14th - 5:00 PM (EST) - 513 - The Outside
Mon February 20th - 5:00 PM (EST) - 514 - The Sorcerer

Adventure Time: Islands Spoiler-Free Review

Adventure Time: Islands is an 8-part mini-series event, and the second such event after Stakes. Islands covers episodes 7-14 of the 8th season and is scheduled to air on Cartoon Network in the US January 30th to February 2nd (similar to the latest Stevenbomb event). However, those who want to watch it early can purchase the complete set now available for digital download on Amazon and iTunes. I, of course, watched this in advance, so here's a short, spoiler-free review.

Islands follows up the revelations shown in last season's two-part finale "Preboot" and "Reboot", in which other humans happen to exist outside of Ooo, and that Susan Strong is part cyborg.  Finn, Jake, Susan, and BMO went on a journey to find the islands where Susan Strong originated from, as well as to learn more about the rest of the human race.

Islands answers one of the biggest questions regarding the lore of Adventure Time - what became of the human race after the Mushroom War. The event also reveals in full detail Susan Strong's origins, as well as provide closure for her character. Finn for his part gets a revelation and a reunion of someone from his past (those who bought the official Adventure Time Cookbook will know who). All this while the tone of Islands is dialed back to the show's roots, with each episode being a really fun adventure for Finn and the gang. I actually watched Islands with my niece and nephew and they both enjoy the adventure and comedy Islands brings, even in scenes where they make references to The Matrix and Alien franchises.

It's nice to see Finn & Jake go back on adventuring, to which a lot of fans have missed seeing in this series as of late. At the same time, those who have heavily invested themselves in Adventure Time will have some emotional feels with regards to Finn and Susan, thanks to their major character development, and Susan's closure. However, the proggression leading to their resolve is fitting and is transitioned smoothly. I do commend the writers for a good job at that. Those who bought the Digital Download version or the upcoming DVD release will also get a treat that each episode has a different ending animation and tone, something you will never see in the broadcast version.

Kids will definitely enjoy the advetnures of Finn and the gang in Islands. But for adults, they cannot help but notice a relation between what is shown in Islands, and what we see now in today's world. In a way, Adventure Time: Islands is a subtle, metaphoric, cautionary tale of what our world would be if Finn, meaning us, do nothing about it.

In the end, Adventure Time: Islands has plenty to offer - science fiction, comedy, a bit of drama, and of course, plenty of adventure. It's quite a roller coaster ride that is so enjoyable, it's worth keeping the Digital Download, the DVD, or on your DVR when it airs on Cartoon Network. On a scale of 1 to 5, I give Adventure Time: Islands a 5 out of 5.

Steven Universe - Out of This World Full Review

The following is a full transcript version of my video for the Steven Universe event "Out of This World"

Hey guys. Ryoga316 here. By next week in the US, Cartoon Network will release its latest Stevenbomb event called "Out of This World". Now I actually watched the bomb in advance when Cartoon Network put it up on their website, and I did use some of the scenes for the JoJo memes. I even made a review that is already done, but it's only now  that I've made a video of it as I've been too busy with everything else, that my review of the latest Steven Universe went to the back burner.

Also when I made this review, Cartoon Network had yet to label the Stevenbomb event as "Out of This World". So I gave it a different name. In any case, it is here. It's ready. And I hope you guys enjoy my review of the Steven Universe event "Out of This World".

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If you are a constant viewer of Cartoon Network in the USA, you will notice that more recently, whenever there is an ad for the latest episode of a particular show, not only did it provide an airdate of when that episode will be on, but also viewers can watch it in advance either by visiting the Cartoon Network website, or the CN App. I do not know what's the marketing strategy behind this, but I would think the goal is to get more kids to get the app or check the website, though I have no idea how will this mean in profits for the network.

In any case, this is Cartoon Network's latest gimmick now, and among the shows you can now watch in advance before the broadcast release, is the latest set of episodes for Steven Universe, also known as "Stevenbomb". These episodes are scheduled to air from January 30th until February 2nd. But for those who simply cannot wait, just visit the website or get the app and you can watch them right away.

Something tells me Cartoon Network decided to do this because they either somehow knew it's going to get leaked eventually so they might as well put it up. Or more diabolically, CN wants to "burn off" these episodes and be done with it for good. Evidence of this points to their promo showing the upcoming episodes of their lineup for 2017. What's missing in the promo are clips for Adventure Time, Steven Universe, even Justice League Action. So again, we have the conspiracy that the top brass of Cartoon Network just doesn't like shows such as Adventure Time and Steven Universe, and wants to get rid of them as soon as possible so they can bring in more shows, like Teen Titans GO, and Mighty Magiswords.

But let's not get ahead of ourselves and just focus mainly on Steven Universe. Instead of reviewing each episode individually, I'm going to review all 5 episodes as a whole. This is mainly because these 5 episodes a built around a single story arc, similar to the mini-series "Stakes" and the upcoming "Islands" from Adventure Time. I would personally call this arc more of a mini-series than as a bomb. While no official title has been given for this arc, for the sake of this review, I will call it "Greg in Space". The title pretty much explains the general plot of this arc.

The mini-series begins with Steven defying Garnet's orders to not investigate more about Pink Diamond, after learning she was killed by Rose at the end of the Gem War. Steven, along with Greg, begin their investigation by finding what is called the "Palanquin", basically a transport shuttle for Diamonds. After landing in Korea (and learning they're fictional characters in a cartoon after getting inside an animation studio), Steven and Greg found the Palanquin, only to discover that there were two with one belonging to Blue Diamond, who was also on the scene mourning her fellow Diamond's death. Greg then ends up being captured by Blue Diamond, so Steven and the Crystal Gems begin their journey in space to find and rescue Greg.

Before I continue, I'd like to point out that the first episode, "Steven's Dream", shows a side of Garnet that's out of her character like we're used to. In this case, she was totally freaking out over her knowledge of Blue Diamond coming to Earth, which explains her adamant order to Steven to not investigate about Pink Diamond, and the heated drama that ensued. As any fan of Steven Universe can tell you, Blue Diamond is both Ruby and Sapphire's superior. Naturally if you find out your boss with the attitude of the Trumpster is going to your house to check things out, of course you're going to freak out.

You know given that this story arc is set in space, it would've been pretty cool if Steven and the Crystal Gems somehow ran into Mordecai and Rigby from Regular Show, as the latter's final season is also set in space. Even if it were just a cameo, I would still be excited about it. But alas, that never came to be.

Anyhow, Steven and the Crystal Gems arrived at a facility known as "The Zoo", where many of the humans from the Gem War were imprisoned, and is most likely where Greg ended up. Despite the awkward and hilarious attempt to sneak into the facility, Steven was able to get inside the Zoo and reunite with his father. We also learn that the Zoo remains active with humans living there who are the descendants of the original captives, and are living well within the Zoo. Obviously these humans have no idea of the world beyond their confined space, let alone know anything of Earth life. While it would seem that Steven should be obligated to free them from their captivity, it's probably best to leave that to those who write the Star Trek episodes.

The Zoo is run by a group of Amethyst and Jasper-class gems acting as guards for the facility. Turns out they all come from the same Kindergarten as Crystal Gem Amethyst, which makes it easy for the latter to quickly make buddies with them. Thanks to their help, Steven and Greg make their escape. As they proceed to rendezvous with the Crystal Gems, they encounter Blue and Yellow Diamond and we get to learn a bit more about them.

After Pink Diamond's death, all the Rose Quartzes were poofed and bubbled to prevent another Rose Quartz from going rogue. Yellow Diamond insists the Quartzes be destroyed, while Blue Diamond objects because the Quartzes are all of Pink Diamond's creation, and thus the only remaining part of her existence. While both mourn the loss of Pink Diamond in their own way, Yellow Diamond wishes to move forward and settle the score with Earth.

Now I honestly cannot remember the last time I wasn't so thrilled with a song number in Steven Universe, but this one, performed by Patti Lupone as Yellow Diamond, is definitely one of them. Her song just doesn't connect at all and I find it quite cringe-y and forgettable. It's only saving grace is that the song is also part of the narrative as it shows how Yellow Diamond deals with Pink Diamond's death.

Anyhow, Steven and Greg did manage to avoid being detected by the Diamonds, but were found out by Agate, the warden-of-sorts of the Zoo. She was however easily subdued and is forced to not speak of the incident to avoid receiving the wrath of the Diamonds, as Steven, Greg, and the Crystal Gems made their escape, ending this mini-series.

The good parts of this arc are that despite being a rescue mission to save Greg, it's mostly a very light-hearted one and there were plenty of funny moments. We also learn a bit more of the Gem Lore as we are slowly inching closer to the show's eventual finale. Given the state of the Amethyst, Jaspers, and Rose Quartzes, I would predict that if a second Gem War were to occur, those three types of Gems would end up being Steven's allies against the Diamonds.

The question of course is would there be a 2nd Gem War at all? In spite of what Steven has gone through, from fighting Jasper as Stevonnie and Smoky Quartz, and poofing out Bismuth in self-defense, Steven remains quite the pacifist. I doubt he'll go and say "Ok, let's go to war against the Diamonds and battle the other Gems", as that would mean a drastic change of his character. And I certainly doubt Rebecca Sugar, or the Steven Universe fanbase, would allow such a drastic change. In my opinion, for that to happen, Steven needs to be shoved to the edge in a sense. And for that to happen, he needs to experience some pretty terrible things, like the Diamonds somehow killing Greg right in front of him.

The bad part of this mini-series. Aside from the disappointing song number, the entire arc doesn't give us anything significant besides more Gem lore. If the Diamonds were to discover Steven and Greg escaping, then they probably would respond by ordering a full invasion of Earth. That would've been big and something I would've looked forward to. Instead, the arc ended pretending nothing really happened and everyone is back doing about their business. So in a way, this latest Stevenbomb is almost skippable.

It's best to say that "Greg in Space" is a good mini-adventure for Steven and the gang, but other than that, not much. On the one hand, it sucks because there's very little to do with regards to the show's continuity. On the other hand, it makes it easy for someone to watch the arc but hasn't seen the previous episodes of Steven Universe. So for those people, they don't have to worry much about continuity and enjoy the Stevenbomb as is. The result is 50/50, and for that I give Steven Universe - Greg in Space, a 3 out of 5.

Regular Show Finale - Full Review

Well, a week has passed since the Regular Show finale aired on Cartoon Network in the US, and I've pretty much recovered well from it and regained my composure. So it is time for me to get into detail as to what makes the Regular Show finale so great. Given that time has already passed since the broadcast release, this review will contain spoilers for the final episodes of Regular Show.

Part of why the finale of Regular Show was so great is because of course, it was the final episodes, and many of its fans have invested so heavily on Regular Show throughout its 6 year run. So to see that kind of bond disappear can be gut-wrenching. This is seen in many finales from well-known TV shows over the years.

Recalling my review of the Regular Show movie, and reading some of the comments from my quick thoughts video of the series finale, the Regular Show fanbase can relate themselves to that of the characters, in particular, Mordecai and Rigby. Although the final season promoted Pops from supporting character to being the central character, he is still very much likable thanks to his persona. And despite all this, Regular Show has never forgotten that Mordecai and Rigby are the main protagonists and the finale shows the two playing a vital role in the fate of the universe.

We begin the final journey with the episode "Cheer Up, Pops", where everyone in the park, including some of their cosmic allies, try to do the said title to help Pops deal with the impending final battle. While this appears as a stand-alone episode, like what we've seen throughout the season, Cheer Up Pops is part of the ongoing continuity. Half-jokingly, we get to see what the complete series set would look like on Blu-Ray. But sadly, due to Cartoon Network no longer providing Season Box sets of Regular Show, a complete series set will forever remain a fantasy. So the only way for people to watch past episodes of Regular Show would be through streaming, which is ironically one of the villains of this series, and it turns out in the finale that Streaming is an ally of Anti-Pops.

We move on to the finale proper. Upon arriving on Lolliland, Pops's home planet, we meet three individuals known as the Kranuses. With Anti-Pops having an incredibly bad luck of being late to the final battle and having to hire a Space Uber to take him to Lolliland, the Kranuses show a tapestry that records Pops's past incarnations. The tapestry reveals Pops's real name being "Mega-Kranus", the ultimate evolution of all that is good. "Malum-Kranus", aka Anti-Pops, was made as a counterbalance to Pops. The tapestry not only records the numerous battles the two brothers had that resulted in the universe's reset, but it also reveals that everyone in the park have also been involved in all of these battles.

It's probably just me, but every time I look at Mushroom Guy, he looks less like a mushroom and more of an upside-down scrotum. If that's true, then hats off to Quintel and the staff for making a subtle joke that can bypass the censors. Another is Anti-Pops's motivation for destroying the universe - his incredible bad luck. After all, Pops gets all the good graces, whereas Anti-Pops gets the exact opposite.

Back to the story, Mordecai proposed a plan to defeat Anti-Pops using a series of traps. Obviously it was a futile attempt given that Anti-Pops has celestial powers, so he and Pops squared off while Mordecai and the gang battle Anti-Pops's lackeys and Streaming. Enter the Celestial Friends, including Death, the rest of the Space Park Rangers, and the Baby Ducks, for the epic semi-main event as they all combine into a giant mega robot. Benson has the bad luck of being on the shoulders head, unfortunately.

Although the Park Rangers are successful in defeating Streaming, Anti-Pops begins erasing portions of the universe. One by one, we see everyone being wiped from existence until only Mordecai and Rigby are left. Angered over the loss of his friends, Pops attacks at full force against his brother. Knowing the universe is about ot reset, Mordecai and Rigby made one desperate attempt to stop it by flying right between the two.

While I was watching the finale when it first aired, I was also chatting with a lot of people who are also watching the same. I can tell you we all gasped at the cliffhanger, as well as the shock with what Anti-Pops did to everyone. At that point, in my mind, I was already saying that Cartoon Network has somehow gave JG Quintel some free reign in this finale, by allowing several characters to be killed on-screen. I've said before that character deaths in American animation only apply if the said characters are either minor or supporting casts, they are villains, or they are killed only to be brought back as soon as the next episode. So at the same time, I knew those things still apply as it is just the end of Part 2 and there is still one episode left. So anything can still happen.

Then Part 3 began and, we all gasped as it featured "The Power", which was the first episode of the series. I would think those who caught the advanced screening back in LA had the same reaction. However, Rigby still retains memories of what happened with Pops and Anti-Pops and was able to convince Moredcai the same after unearthing the Blu-Ray Box Set. Turns out their interference caused a glitch, resulting in everything rewinding back to the very beginning, but everyone from Benson to Pops are omitted. It's worth noting animation-wise that the crew intentionally used scenes from The Power, but as soon as Rigby retains his memories, you can see the sudden change in the character designs.

Using The Power Keyboard, Mordecai and Rigby return to the final battle and tried their best to assist Pops, but to no avail. As Pops is beaten and later pushed back, we not only see a Fourth Wall Breaking by showing images of the world of Regular Show being pure fiction a la The Amazing World of Gumball, but Pops even went to the scene of JG Quintel's very first animated short "The Naive Man from Lolliland".

Now this is perhaps the one thing I have an issue with regarding the finale, at first. While showing scenes from Quintel's first short, and the notion that they're all fictional characters is a great Easter Egg, it doesn't really do much in terms of the overall narrative, or Pops's resolve. However, with regards to 'The Naive Man from Lolliland', if you actually watched the short, you can see a relation between that and the Regular Show finale. Pops's struggle in dealing with the bar staff over his naiveness to pay with lollipops is quite similar to how he deals with Anti-Pops - his biggest flaw being his naiveness. The short also explains in part as to why Pops is the central character in the final season - he was the very first character JG Quintel made.

After experiencing all of this, Pops had the realization that he's been fighting Anti-Pops the wrong way the entire time. So Pops chose to fight his brother another way as himself,  the Naive Man from Lolliland. Pops's kindness removes Anti-Pops's aggression and power as the two flew directly to a giant star, essentially killing themselves. Pops said his goodbyes to Mordecai and Rigby while Anti-Pops, now feeling the kindness of his brother, regrets his 1-Star reviews and wished he could take it all back. Pops assures Anti-Pops they can still do that as they enter the star, creating a Big Bang-like effect while Mordecai and Rigby cry wishing they'd be reincarnated as animals.

And that's the part where I started crying. And I can tell everyone else also had the same feeling. Pops, for the lack of a better way to say it, never committed a sin throughout Regular Show's run. He is such a gentle person, you have to be extremely cold-hearted to ever wish him harm in any way. So for him to provide the ultimate sacrifice to save the universe and bring everyone else back, it's hard not to cry for Pops.

Pops's death is also a big deal because it breaks the rules with regards to character deaths in American animation. He's not a supporting character anymore and is promoted to being the central character. His death is not a temporary, but a permanent one. He's never coming back, so the loss of Pops will be there for the rest of time. It left such an impact that I cannot think of anyone from any other series past and present who made as much the same breakthrough and impact as Pops did.

The final minutes of Regular Show is an epilogue of what happened after Pops's death. Everyone was brought back and returned to Earth after spending 3 years in space. The gang celebrated with friends and family while Rigby and Eileen finally kissed. A statue of Pops was erected at the park in honor of his memory. Mordecai and Rigby have left the park and gone their separate ways. Notice that on Mordecai's car, there's a California license plate on it, suggesting the series does take place in California. Mordecai followed his dream of being a painter and is very successful. He would meet up with a fellow painter who would eventually became his wife.

So Mordecai didn't end up with either Margaret or CJ. It's probably to avoid any backlash to those who support either one. Another clue is the tie-in comic from storyboarder Madline Queripel (excuse my pronunciation), which during the 3 years the Park was in space, Margaret and CJ have established a relationship. While the comic does not specifically say it out loud that the two are more than friends, it's very easy to think they probably did.

Meanwhile, Rigby and Eileen moved in together and start a family. Benson and Pam got together again after their breakup earlier in the season and both now run the park with Skips and the new employees. Muscle Man and Starla still live in the trailer with even more kids. Finally, Hive Five Ghost and Celia became a DJ duo and also got married with a child.

Everyone with their families returned to the park for their 25 year reunion, sometime after Maellard passed away and his statue was erected right next to Pops's. After which, they all gather and took a commemorative photo - all while the song "Heroes", from the late David Bowie, played in the background. Mordecai and Rigby went off to play some old-school video games as the show ends, to which we hear Pops say "Jolly Good Show" as the tape ejects from the VHS. So Pops ended up in heaven of sorts and became us, the audience, watching Regular Show in its entirety and enjoying the final outcome. 

Word has it JG Quintel worked really hard to get permission to use David Bowie's "Heroes" for the ending, as he had no backup plan. Thankfully he got it. But Bowie's "Heroes" was more than just a cool background music over the scenery. Often in these kind of things we would take it for granted. But the use of "Heroes". along with the ending, left as much an impact towards the viewer as it is with Pops's sacrifice. The lyrics and composition of the song blends so perfectly with the scenery. It just not sounds right, it IS right.

We've seen a number of animated shows in the US end their run in the past few years, But of all those endings, Regular Show is perhaps the most memorable and the most emotional of them. It actually makes the journey of watching the entire series worth seeing. It's not perfect, of course, and Regular Show has reached a slump at times, something that was acknowledged in-universe. But the staff did pull themselves together to make the final season, and the finale, an incredible experience that will be long remembered.

So to JG Quintel, the voice actors, the writers, and the rest of the Regular Show staff, thank you for the amazing 6 years of Regular Show. I'm going to give two ratings for this review - one for the finale, and one for the series overall. For the Regular Show finale, I give it a 5 out of 5. For the series overall, I give Regular Show, a 4 out of 5.

Dragon Ball Super - New Universe Survival Arc info

Latest scan from Dragon Ball Park Monthly shows the sibling Androids in their new look for the upcoming Universe Survival Arc, expected to to begin on Toei's Dragon Ball Super series Feb 5th.

To the left you will see another God of Destruction (Hakaishin) and Angel from one of the 12 Universes, though they did not specify their names. In true Toriyama-style, the God of Destruction does bear a striking resemblance to one of the characters from the Dragon Quest games.

The bottom left is a battle stage for the Universe Survival arc. And yes, it looks like one giant top.

Finally, the scan also announced a new OP theme for the Universe Survival arc titled "Genkaitoba x Survivor" performed by Kiyoshi Hikawa, famous in Japan as the "Prince of Enka".

Little Witch Academia Episode 2 Preview

So the 2nd episode pretty much follows the events of the first film with a few differences. Looking forward to how they will portray Diana Cavendish, who's been of the popular characters of the series.

Regular Show - Road To The Finale

Only a few days left until the final episodes of Regular Show is aired on Cartoon Network in the US. Honestly, I still feel quite saddened that this series, which is among my favorites of the current generation of Cartoon Network Originals, is reaching its end, be it intentional or unintentional. Nevertheless, I am prepping myself up for the finale by looking back at the episodes of the current season. So I thought it would be a good idea to recap what's going on with Regular Show so far, leading up to the final episodes.

We start off with the aftermath of the previous season's finale. After Rigby graduates from High School, he along with Moredcai, Benson, Pops, Skips, Muscle Man, and High-Five Ghost, met up at the park to perform one final task of the park's so-called "Dome Test" set by Maellard. Unbeknownst to them, the final test is to set them off into space. Eileen was also unintentionally taken along for the ride. After a few misadventures and meeting other park rangers in space, the gang learns that they were chosen as part of the "Spark Initiative", Spark being an acronym for "Space Park". Essentially a step-up from their current job with the goal of expanding the park to other parts of the universe.

Everyone is happy with the project except Benson, who prefers to head back to Earth as the initiative means literally leaving everyone behind. But after convincing, Benson changes his mind and helps lead the gang to the initiative. The next series of episodes are your common self-contained stories of Mordecai and Rigby making a mess of things, all the while meeting new characters.

By Episode 15, Mordecai, Rigby and the gang are officially promoted to Space Rangers, with Mordecai and Rigby given their own personal ships. The two ships were exactly the same ones as seen in the Regular Show movie, thus establishing a connection. However, the ceremony was interrupted by the arrival of an entity known as "Anti-Pops", wreaking havoc in search of Pops. The gang did made their escape, but not without a number of their fellow Space Rangers taking the fall.

As the gang continue to flee from Anti-Pops, more revelations are given as to who Pops really is. It turns out Pops was not really Maellard's biological son and that he is actually a celestial being, destined to battle Anti-Pops for control of the universe. This also isn't Pop's first rodeo, as the two brothers have fought before. Each battle ended in a stalemate that results with the destruction and reconstruction of the universe.

Pops initially refused to take part in the Celestial Battle, seeing that it would mean the end of the universe, thus losing his friends. But thanks to the encouragement of Mordecai and Rigby, Pops accepts his destiny, though he remains reluctant on having to battle his brother and letting the universe end in the process.

In the episode "Kill 'Em with Kindness", Pops tries a different approach to end the conflict by reasoning with Anti-Pops, despite the objections of Mordecai and Rigby. Turns out the latter was right, as Anti-Pops refuses to listen to reason and begins erasing portions of the Universe. What is noticeable in this particular episode is the way Anti-Pops does his erasure. If you've watched The Amazing World of Gumball and learned the revelation at the end of Season 4, the same revelation, though subtle, is seen in this episode. The following episode "Meet The Seer", makes this revelation even more obvious to the viewer, while masked as a parody of The Matrix movies, as well as the media distribution from physical to digital.

Another thing to note with "Meet The Seer" is that the episode also serves as a bit of a social commentary from Regular Show creator J.G. Quintel and the staff regarding the series itself. During the meeting with the Seer, the latter will show various clips of Regular Show's 8 season lifespan. At one point the Seer addresses the problem with Mordecai's relationship with Margaret, a direct reference of how fans of Regular Show complained that Mordecai's love life was the focal point of Regular Show for a number of seasons. Another is the Seer wishing that Eileen had a much bigger role, an indication that had Regular Show been given another season, it would provide more episodes with Eileen as the central character, given her popularity among fans.

And that's where we've gone so far. The final episodes will air in the US January 16th at 6pm EST, starting with the episode "Cheer Up Pops" and ending with the two-part finale.  I will of course provide my review of the finale as soon as I get my hands on them, so hope you check back here in my channel when that happens.

TV Asahi's Top 25 Voice Actors

Although NHK's Top 100 Best Anime and Best Anime Songs are still open, TV Asahi has listed the Top 25 Anime Voice Actors, according to Anime-Now.

The complete list is below, along with one or two series the voice actor/actress is best known for.

1: Kōichi Yamadera (Beerus, Dragon Ball Super; Spike Speigel, Cowboy Bebop)

2. Masako Nozawa (Son Goku, Dragon Ball)

3. Keiji Fujiwara (Hughes, Fullmetal Alchemist)

4. Miyuki Sawashiro (Fujiko Mine, Lupin III)

5. Tomokazu Seiki (Domon Kasshu, G Gundam; Gilgamesh, Fate/Stay Night)

6. Mayumi Tanaka (Monkey D. Luffy, One Piece; Kuririn, Dragon Ball)

7. Minami Takayama (Conan, Detective Conan)

8. Ryusei Nakao (Frieza, Dragon Ball Z)

9. Toshio Furukawa (Piccolo, Dragon Ball Z)

10. Akio Otsuka (Anavel Gato, Mobile Suit Gundam 0083; Solid Snake, Metal Gear Solid)

11. Megumi Hayashibara (Rei Ayanami, Neon Genesis Evangelion; Ranma Saotome (female), Ranma 1/2)

12. Toshiyuki Morikawa (Yoshikage Kira, JoJo's Bizarre Adventure)

13. Hidekatzu Shibata (King Bradley, Fullmetal Alchemist)

14. Junichi Suwabe (Dandy, Space Dandy)

15. Kotono Mitsuishi (Usagi Tsukino/Sailor Moon, Sailor Moon)

16. Akiko Yajima (Shin-chan, Crayon Shin-chan; Relena Peacecraft, Gundam Wing)

17. Yoshiko Sakakibara (Sir Integra, Hellsing; Haman Karn, Gundam ZZ)

18. Kiyoshi Kobayashi (Daisuke Jigen, Lupin III)

19. Yoku Shioya (Will A. Zeppeli, JoJo's Bizarre Adventure)

20. Shigeru Chiba (Pilaf, Dragon Ball; Kazuma Kuwabara, Yu Yu Hakusho)

21. Noriko Hidaka (Noriko Takaya, Gunbuster; Akane Tendo, Ranma 1/2)

22. Akira Kamiya (Kenshiro, Fist of The North Star; Roy Fokker, Macross)

23. Kaneta Komotsuki (Suneo, Doraemon)

24. Yuji Mitsuya (Kaioshin, Dragon Ball Z; Virgo Shaka, Saint Seiya)

25 (tie). Hiroaki Hirata (Kotetsu Kaburagi/Wild Tiger, Tiger & Bunny)

25 (tie). Sumi Shimamoto (Kanata Izumi, Lucky Star)

NHK's Top 100 Anime Voting Guide

As of January 8th, the polls to vote for NHK's Top 100 Anime is now open until March 31st. The voting method is similar to voting for Top 100 Anime Song, but with a few slight differences:

To Vote for Best Anime:

1. Visit the website here:

2. Scroll down until you see two leopards waving flags. Select the button on the right.

3. In the Search Menu, you can enter the Search Box for the title of the Anime, the name of the studio, the producer, or the director. Obviously, the title MUST be in Japanese unless it is actually written in English, such as "One Piece".

4. You can filter your search by putting check marks on the following from left to right, top row - TV Anime, Film, TV Special, OVA, Event-Exclusive, Independent Work, or Others

5. You can filter your search further by highlighting the decade on the lower left box, and the specific year of that decade (0-9) on the lower right box.

6. On the results window, click to button next to the Anime of your choice to make your selection.

7, Last Step is the submission form, which must be entered - Your nickname, gender, age, prefecture (if you're overseas, just choose the bottom-most selection), comments (I just use Google Translate for this), and checkmarking the circle to agree to their fine print. Once done, hit the button below to cast your vote.

Below is a form I made.

And that's it! Wishing your choice the best of luck in making it to the top!

Little Witch Academia TV Quick Thoughts

So earlier this week, Studio TRIGGER, the team behind hits like Kill la Kill, Inferno Cop, and more recently Space Patrol Luluco, just aired their latest project on Japanese TV - the TV adaptation of Little Witch Academia. Already those who've seen 24 hours after it aired are already calling it as contender for Anime of The Year in 2017. I can't blame them. When I watched the episode, I was actually shedding tears. Not because it's sad or anything, but the entire presentation of the first episode of Little Witch Academia is just beautiful.

For the uninitiated, Little Witch Academia, or LWA for short, is an adaptation of the two films of the same name also from Studio TRIGGER that came out some years ago, to universal acclaim by critics and fans (the 2nd film, in particular, was funded via Kickstarter by around $625,000). The TV version follows the same story as the films, but given a lot more detail and a number of changes. As such, you do not have to watch the films to enjoy the TV series.

Now I made a review of the two films and gave them both 5 out of 5, as they are indeed so beautiful and a must see for everyone, whether you are an Anime fan or otherwise. The TV version is no different. From the surface, you might think it's a an all-female version of Harry Potter, and you may be right as LWA does have similarities. Having said that, the execution is done very, very well I would wish J.K. Rowling should give it a watch and express her thoughts on it.

As for the changes in the TV series from the films, I personally welcomed it. It provides an expanded scope of the world of LWA, as well as further expansion into the personas of the characters. The first episode has teased that there's a lot in store for our main characters, and it may not be as light-hearted as we see here. So for those who want a little bit of a darker tone, you're going to get it. Given TRIGGER's track record when it comes to action sequences, I expect nothing less than pure awesomeness. As usual, since the staff at TRIGGER are huge fans of Western Animation, those with a good eye can spot a cameo appearance of a well known animated character.

So yes, Little Witch Academia is amazing and I am just blown away by how Studio TRIGGER handled it. That's why I call them the next best thing after Stuido Ghibli, which is why TRIGGER gets courted a lot by Cartoon Network and others for a possilble collaboration. Which is also why I'm so surprised no one ever bothered to pick this up for an American release on Cable TV. Instead, the series will be available on Netflix, though I don't know when and if Netflix will air it in its entirely or a week at a time.

Anyhow, I will watch Little Witch Academia to the very end, and I strongly encourage every one of you, regardless of your taste in Anime or animation in general, or even if you don't watch cartoons at all. Check this out. I promise you, you will not be disappointed.

Bee & Puppycat Full Series Review

This is probably perhaps my longest review of a series ever, and it took me quite a while to write it down, because I had so many thoughts of it that keeps coming out left and right. I also did an awful lot of editing to keep things organized, and with my very little spare time, that's quite a lot. But it's finally done and I'm laying it out there. And before I continue, this will contain spoilers, so if you want none of that, do not proceed beyond this point.

Some of you may know this already, but I have a biased negative opinion regarding Bee & Puppycat, the 5-6 minute 10-episode mini-series from Frederator Studios (now known as Wow! Unlimited) and created by Natasha Allegri. The series ran from 2013 to 2016. So that's 3 years for roughly an hour of animated content in total that costs nearly $900,000, from the same studio behind Adventure Time and The Fairly Oddparents. I don't know about you, but I find that an hour of content over 3 years is a very, very bad deal. If this were done by single animator or a really small staff, I'd get it. But this is Frederator Studios. They're not be as big as Disney's Animation Studios, for example. But they aren't exactly a really small production company, either.

Honestly, I don't give a damn on Bee & Puppycat anymore because of the incredibly long production time, of which I do not have the patience to wait that long, and move on. But after the last episodes are finally released through Kickstarter backers, and later on the VRV app, I want to put the nail in the coffin as to how much I absolutely hate this series, and be done with it for good. But before I give my all-out rant, a look back at how it came to this.

Natasha Allegri was a former storyboarder for Adventure Time in the early seasons, and is credited as the creator of the characters Fiona & Cake, the gender-bent version of Finn & Jake from Adventure Time. In fact, Fiona & Cake's first appearance in Adventure Time was the most watched episode in the show's history, before being toppled by the two-part Season 5 premiere. This is in spite of the fact that leaks of the episode came out prior to the broadcast release.

In 2012, Frederator Studios launched the Cartoon Hangover channel on Youtube to show off some of the series of shorts from their staff. One of the shorts that became a hit with the channel was Bravest Warriors by Pendelton Ward, the creator of Adventure Time. Despite its success, Bravest Warriors was met with a series of problems, but that is another story.

Later, Natasha Allegri's pilot for Bee & Puppycat was released. It's about a woman in her 20s who, after losing her job, befriends Puppycat - a creature who, as the name suggests, is a cross between a puppy and a cat. The duo then go on a series of misadventures as temp workers taking odd jobs across the universe. The pilot also had a bit of lore with Puppycat's short backstory, being once a human and an outlaw cursed to becoming Puppycat, after his fling with the Space Princess turned south.

Looking back, I would desribe the Bee & Puppycat pilot as "the Steven Universe before Steven Universe". The pilot for Steven Universe actually went online around 2 weeks after the Bee & Puppycat pilot. Bee & Puppycat was such a hit among viewers and critics that a Kickstarter campaign was formed to fund additional episodes. They managed get close to $900,000 for 8 episodes when the campaign ended on October 15, 2013. They decided to stretch it to 10 episodes, later on.

On November 6, 2014, just well a bit over a year after the Kickstarter ended, the first two episodes of the Bee & Puppycat series premiered on Cartoon Hangover, with the next two episodes coming out the following month. This is when things get pretty bad.

Now I made a first impressions review of the first 4 episodes back in 2014. The short version is everything that made the original pilot great was tossed aside and replaced with a virtually different product. Changes in character design, changes in animation, changes in the tone and writing, etc. All of this at the behest of Natasha Allegri herself, saying she really wasn't satisfied with the way the original pilot turned out, and thus made these changes. Defenders of Bee & Puppycat would probably say the changes are no different than in the case of Steven Universe when it first aired on Cartoon Network. I agree that the end product of Steven Universe differs greatly from the pilot, and in turns out for the better. We've seen these with many pilots for popular shows like Gravity Falls and Adventure Time. But in my opinion, the changes for Bee & Puppycat ended up being the opposite of its intended result. Allegri should've retained everything that made the pilot great instead of doing these changes.

"If it ain't broke, don't fix it.", so the saying goes.

And then came the waiting. If you're a Kickstarter backer, you'd have to wait until August of 2015 for episodes 5 and 6 to come out. For non-backers, 5 & 6 won't come out until November of 2016. That's a solid 1-2 years for roughly 10 minutes of animation! And there's still 4 episodes to go! Does Frederator expect the Bee & Puppycat viewers to still be excited for the remaining 4 episodes after waiting this long? Apparently, Frederator believes so, as the final four episodes of "Season 1", according to them, finally went available to Kickstarter members in November of 2016, while non-backers can watch it on Cartoon Hangover's new premium channel on the VRV app. A general release is planned sometime in 2017.

By comparison, it takes 9 months to complete an 11-minute episode of Adventure Time, according to Pendleton Ward in an inverview at the A.V. Club. However, that production time is due mainly to the Adventure Time staff making several episodes at once. Otherwise, the time it takes to make an episode would've been much shorter. 6-9 months is also the standard timeframe to produce one Anime season in Japan.

What I'm saying is it takes a lot of time and effort to produce an animated work. And I should know, as I've done a few myself with the fan-made Kunio-kun series and even with pre-made sprites and Flash, it's still time consuming. That said, proper management of time and resources, a diligent staff, and a good direction of the production overall, will result in an incredible piece of animation that is well worth the wait. It took Studio TRIGGER 2 years and around $600,000 to complete their 2nd film of Little Witch Academia, to so much praise from viewers and critics alike, that a TV series is already planned for a 2017 release. That same dedication and proper management also allowed Studio Madhouse to produce and release the One Punch Man anime series in just 7 months after its announcement to a huge acclaim.

As for Bee & Puppycat? It had none of that. Poor management, a not-so dedicated staff, and so on. And the result is a very poor product that truly deserves its criticism. If it takes 3 years for Allegri and Frederator to produce an hour of animated content, they should have just made it a film instead rather than a series of shorts, at least to mitigate the flak myself, and others like me, give Bee & Puppycat.

Instead, Frederator wanted to capitalize on Bee & Puppycat's popularity and tried to push it as hard as possible to everyone's faces. So we got the first 4 episodes brought out that wasn't very good at all. Then Frederator doubled-down by announcing Bee & Puppycat related merchandise, which I would assume it didn't do so well because I have not heard of anything from the Bee & Puppycat line that ended up being best sellers. Anyone out there can tell me how well the "Butt-Cleavage Crab" T-Shirt has sold?

As for Cartoon Hangover's channel on VRV, which costs $3 a month, aside from watching every released episode of Bee & Puppycat and Bravest Warriors, what else is there? Cartoon Hangover hasn't released any new animated content for over a year. I don't know about you guys, but I'm not going to binge-watch every "107 Facts of X", episode for my $3 subscription fee. Did I mention as well as that VRV is currently only available in the US?

I could go on all day, but I assume at this point you get it - Frederator just shot themselves in the foot with how they run things. It's why Bravest Warriors is now being co-funded and co-produced by Nelvana, now Corus Entertainment - the same company behind shows for REALLY young kids like Clifford The Big Red Dog; The Care Bears; Chuck and Friends; Handy Manny. You can tell where I am going with this.

Bee & Puppcat is already a done deal, though Cartoon Hangover refers to the 10 episodes as being Season 1. If they are seriously going to produce a 2nd Season of Bee of Puppycat, forget it! I'm not going to wait another 3 years just to watch another hour of shorts that's just as bad, if not worse than what we have right now.

Now that I'm done ranting with how the series was produced and the awful way it's managed, it's time for me to rant on the series itself. I'm going to skip the first 4 since I've talked about it before already, and instead focus on the remaining episodes.

One of the things that got many people interested in the pilot for Bee & Puppycat is the latter's backstory, and viewers are hoping to learn more of that particular part and its resolution. Aside from a reference or two here and there, unfortunately, the series has never bothered to look into Puppycat's story again and is sending a subtle, yet cold message to the viewer that we should get used to it in that Puppycat will remain in his form for life. If this is what Allegri intended after all, why bother with the backstory then? Just have Puppycat be Puppycat and make it a slice-of-life adventure, and it'll be fine.

I personally never read any of the comics of Bee & Puppycat, so I don't know if any of Puppycat's backstory was explored in the format, or if the comics are canon to the shorts. All I know is that the comics was cancelled after 11 issues. This is according to Boom! Studios that publishes the comic series itself. 

At any rate, the remaining episodes focuses entirely on Bee to reveal that she is not what she appears to be, and that she is actually an android. Watching the first episode onwards, Bee's backstory has been planned from the beginning. However, nothing is resolved from that either as if Allegri and her staff intended that part of Bee's story to be used in the next Season. As I said before, no one is going to wait another three years for that arc to come up. She should have just lay it out on this series in full. Instead, she and the writers decided to bring additional backstories regarding the minor characters and a good portion of it is dedicated to parts that are completely non-sensical.

There's this one scene that features a story of an octopus mistaking a full flock of long hair of a princess as being another octopus and falling in love with it, that ends in a tragedy. Apparently, that whole segment is just to explain how Jellyfish was made and it lasted nearly 3 minutes. What does it have to do with the overall narrative of the series? NOTHING AT ALL! 

Another scene that came out earlier is of a character named "Toast", voiced by Terri Hawkes, the American voice of Sailor Moon from 1995 to 1998. Toast pops out of nowhere challenging Deckard's sister to a wrestling match for the title of the lowest-ranked wrestler. Again, this has nothing to do with the main narrative.

Finally we have Cardomon, the child landlord of Bee, who has his own backstory of his mother in a comatose state. We never know what happened, and I suspect again this was to be reserved for the next season. As for that guy from "The Room", that has a role in this series, he only got a cameo. All this combined with the eyecatches by Ko Takeuchi, the artist behind the Wario Ware games makes it seem like the show has gone over the budget. If true, that would explain the campaign to sell merchandise, and having the series up on VRV - meaning it had the same financial issues as Bravest Warriors and is struggling to get out of the red.

There is just so many opportunities for Allegri and her staff to put out all the lore they want and have it resolved in these final episodes. But instead, they want to introduce these lores, tease it for the next season, and have random stuff happening to fill in the rest of the runtime. It just feels like a total waste.

If Natasha Allegri and the production staff at Frederator Studios wanted this to be a slice-of-life series, then make it a slice-of-life series. If they want this to be a lore-based story, make it so. But you can't switch one with the other for its own sake! Rebecca Sugar has carefully planned out the stories for Steven Universe and was able to produce slice-of-life episodes that can be seen as is, while also providing an overarching plot. It's a style she learned in Adventure Time, and has been applied as well in Regular Show, and by extension, the Amazing World of Gumball. Allegri's approach to this is tease after tease with nothing to fill in for it other than say "Hey, look at these cute character designs! Would you love them for me, please?"

Eye Candy only applies if the animation itself is to be seen as a piece of actual art, or as a piece of entertainment value. Bee & Puppycat fails to achieve any of that. At the very least in the final episodes, they finally fixed the color and lighting, so I get to watch those episodes without having eye strain, unlike the previous ones. Unfortunately, that's the only thing I give good marks for this series.

Bee & Puppycat had a lot of potential to be among the many animated works that would've made its mark in the 2010s alongside the likes of The Amazing World of Gumball and Gravity Falls. It sadly just falls apart from production to distribution, and the final product after years of waiting ends up being a complete waste of time and money, especially the latter for Kickstarter backers. There's no justication for all of this mess. And if Natasha Allegri and Frederator are serious of a Season 2, I'm left with cringe and disgust rather than with any excitement at all.

If after all of this, you still enjoy Bee & Puppycat, I've got nothing against you for that. Do what you will. As for me, I'm done with Natasha Allegri and her staff, and I'm done with Bee & Puppycat and I refuse to invest my time and money for a Season 2. I would rather invest that on the new seasons of One Punch Man and Attack on Titan, because those works will deliver and it will be worth the wait. Bee & Puppycat isn't worth anything at all, so I give it a final rating of 1 out of 5.