You know, with this pandemic mess going on; I’ve been doing more and more blog content. But doing that has helped me realize something: I don’t talk about Western Cartoons enough. I usually wait for the end of a season to talk about a show(it’s why you haven’t gotten a Rick And Morty Mid-Season review). Don’t get me wrong; I love and adore the anime I talk about up here. I would love to continue to talk with all of you about them for as long as I possibly can. But…….it just kind of feels like the blog is oversaturated with anime/manga content recently. It’s too early for a review of Rick And Morty Season 4 and too late for Amphibia Season 1, but I can at least do a review for the first half of season 1 of Disney’s newest show: “The Owl House!”
Much like it’s sister show, Amphibia; “The Owl House” is a creation of Dana Terrace, a former storyboard artist for the ever phenomenal Gravity Falls(my personal favorite show of the 2010 decade). So, as you can imagine; I’ve had my eye on these 2 for quite some time. Amphibia was great, but how does “The Owl House” measure up in comparison?……..That’s what you’re supposed to say, right? “Measure up?” Or should I change it to “stack up?” No? Okay……….
In terms of enjoyment; I think I like Amphibia a bit more. But if you want something interesting, then I definitely recommend “The Owl House.” It’s enjoyable, and it has a handful of mysteries surrounding it. It may be the One Piece fan in me talking, but I truly adore lore and mystery plots. And unlike Amphibia, which only has 1 or 2 unconnected mysteries; “The Owl House” has 5 or 6 interconnected plots going on. Like Eda’s curse and history, Luz’s and Willow’s potential, and the interactions between humans and the Demon realm.
I love all the characters. But my favorite is easily King; Eda’s demon dog friend and self proclaimed “King of Demons,” voiced by the genius behind Gravity Falls himself: Alex Hirsch. That alone put him above other characters for me. And the fact that it’s his Bill Cipher voice-even more so. King is the comic relief character; he tries to be a fearsome Demon King, conquering things and claiming it for himself. But to Luz and Eda; “he’s a cute little sweetheart!” It’s alsways funny when Luz baby’s him, like calling him “cutie petutie” and such. And his movements are all incredibly funny. What makes them so funny is that he moves like a child pretending to be an villain. But don’t let his stature and behavior fool you; he can actually be very threatening-given the proper circumstances.
In just the mid season finale episode alone; he manipulated a half-cursed Eda into helping him conquer a playground. He holds grudges over small things, like this kid pushed him down the slide. Which lead to the Eda thing. Speaking of; Eda.
Eda Clawthorne follows the same character archetype as Stanley Pines: The old, tough, morally questionable guardian whose life lessons mostly come from a life of crime. Hopidiah and Stan’s similarities involve being oblivious old men on the surface, but know more than they let on. Eda and Stan similarities are listed above, but also in that their comedy and tragic history. Eda wanted to join the “Emperor’s Covent” with her sister, Lilith Clawthorne. But somewhere along the line; she went the other way, and ended up a criminal. This might be due to the theme of “The Owl House:” the idea that people should always be themselves. The Boiling Isles, where the series takes place, is a place that restricts individuality; something the main cast has in spades.
The governing body will lock you up for small things such as conspiracy theories or creating romantic fanfictions about food(no; I’m serious. People do that here!), to much larger things like eating your own godd@mn eye balls. That’s what I like about this series; it’s a simple message that comes through so easily……….I was talking about Eda, right? Sorry; there’s just too much to the series for me to focus on just 1 great point! Anyway; Eda has a curse. This curse turns her into a literal Owl if she doesn’t drink her elixir. This curse isn’t just some one-off plot thread; episode 10 makes it painfully clear that this is going to be an important plot point in the future. RJ Writing Ink thinks it’ll be important for most of the rest of the season. MY guess is that we’ll find out who cursed her, but not why. We might get the typical “Heh…..you don’t even know…….,” but that’s all I’m expecting. And I’m only expecting that in the last 2 or 3 episodes.
All this, and I haven’t even gotten to the main character yet! Luz Noceda is the main protagonist. Hobbies: anime and fantasy. She’s one of us. She’s a weird kid that stands out in a negative light in the human realm. But here in the Isles-she shines. There may have been a hint to her connection to the Demon realm in that she managed to correctly predict that Griffin’s breathe spiders(PLEASE WATCH THIS SHOW), and that she is capable of doing magic. And we know that the Demon realm and the human realm have interacted before because this is where Giraffes are from originally! So for everyone speculating that Luz has some connection to this world more than just “stumbling into Eda’s open door;” don’t give up hope. I’m not saying she’s some “child of prophecy,” but I think she’ll be an important character for this world.
Other characters include 1 “Half-a-Witch” Willow and Augustus. Not to mention our Pacifica stand-in, Amity. I’m honestly more interested in Amity because of her relationship with Luz and the others, as well as the fact that she’s Pacifica-but doesn’t want to be. You can see it in the way her character arc is going. And it’s coming along fast. It’s only the first 10 episodes, and it already looks like she’s beginning the “process” of becoming a friend and proper rival for Luz. It took Pacifica a season and a half to come around on Dipper and Mabel. I also find her older siblings, Edric and Emira, very fascinating characters.
Stop me if you heard this story, over and over again: 2 siblings of a bully come up to you. They’re not as afraid of the bully as you are; they’re quite playful when teasing them, in fact. They seemed quite cool, so you start to pal around with them for a minute. But soon……..their true colors are revealed as they take you to find the bully’s diary. Edric and Emira, everybody. They seemed cool, but it turns out their the “bad” kind of “cool;” they skip class, play pranks, and maybe even steal. But it’s Amity that makes sure they get in trouble. So they’ve taken to making her life miserable. Even calling her “Mittens.” Can’t wait to here the backstory behind that one. But yeah; that’s Amity.
Man………I came into this thinking this wasn’t quite as fun as Amphibia, and leaving thinking that it’s almost as good as Gravity Falls! In short; I loved and adored “The Owl House.” I cannot wait for the next batch of episodes. 9.5 out 10; will definitely watch again. That’s all from me for now. I’ll be seeing you guys later!
Demon God Tadd 