I've been mostly watching kids shows: Shaun the Sheep, Sarah and Duck, Sailor Moon, and My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic.
Shaun the Sheep: Great stuff! Its made by the same guys that made Wallace and Gromit. In fact, Shaun the Sheep is a spin off of the W&G movie "A Close Shave." The premise is simple. Shaun and the flock get into misadventures around the farm. An interesting thing to note is that there is no dialogue. Sheep goes, Baa, dog goes woof, chicken goes cluck. The humans are welsh, so they just speak in incoherent grunts and moans. Seasons 1-5 and the first movie is on Amazon Prime. Netflix has picked it up and released season 6 late last year along with a sequel movie "Farmageddon." Its great!
Sarah and Duck: Sarah and Duck is an enchanting show about a girl named Sarah and her pet Duck. Its hard to describe, but its just really chill and surprisingly quiet for a kid's show. Each episode is about 5-8 minutes long and it feels so much longer than that, and in a good way. We ended up buying the whole series on Amazon, but its free to watch in 20 minute to as long as an hour long compilations on youtube. Moon is by far the greatest character.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F87fpmUgPUASailor Moon: I largely avoided this show as a teenager. My wife however loved it when she was younger and we started watching it with my daughters. Its surprisingly good. The best way I can describe it: Its like the original Power Rangers. In the original Power Rangers the episode formula is 1) Teenage slice of life, 2) interrupted by Evil person sending a monster to attack innocent people and the rangers fight them, 3) giant robot fights a giant monster. The Sailor Moon formula is 1) Teenage slice of life, 2) investigate why strange shit is happening, 3) Transform and fight monster. Each season appears to have an overarching story, and although monster of the week is prevalent, it is leading to something. Surprisingly compelling story and well developed characters that far surpasses anything I expected.
MLP:FiM: So I had no interest in this show...until Q from TNG shows up. Now when I say Q from TNG, I don't just mean the actor. It is Q from TNG in all but name and appearance. I put it on for my kids so I can do stuff around the house and pretty much ignored it. Until I heard John de Lancie's voice. I sat down and watch and was surprised that it was Q! Same sassy mannerisms, reality bending powrs at a snap of his fingers, being sly and an annoyance to the main cast that are just ready to be rid of him. Since then I started taking an interest in the show and its surprisingly well done. I can see why it has 9 seasons and a theatrical movie. The songs in the show are Broadway quality and a few are real ear worms.
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Away from the kids stuff, I have been watching Fire Force on Hulu:
After seeing clips and art on imgur, I decided to try it out. The intro music is really nice.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JBqxVX_LXvkIts a post apocalyptic world, and in Tokyo people have started to spontaneous combust. When doing so they become fire zombies called "infernals." The government created a response team to put down these demonic entities and investigate in what causes this phenomenon. They are called the Fire Force and are deployed like, and alongside, the fire department. The fire department puts out the fires after the Fire Force puts down the infernal. Some people have been born with pyrokenetic powers. Some of these people can manipulate existing fire and use them against the infernals, and some have developed X-men style abilities that are fire based. Most fire force companies consist of these individuals. There are also pyrokenetic terrorists and arsonists to contend with too.
The story follows Fire Force Company 8 as they put down infernals and try to figure out the cause of spontaneous combustion. The leader of company 8 doesn't have any powers and is just a normal human. Our protagonist is Shinra, who is a recruit. He can shoot fire out of his feet which he uses to launch himself like a rocket, do fire kicks, and break dance fighting. He also has a nervous tick, kind of like the Joker, in that when he's nervous, anxious, or scared, he can't help but smile. This gets him into trouble a lot. He has a tragic past and wants to investigate the fire that killed his family. There are many other crew mates on the team including another rookie that can make a plasma sword and thinks he's King Arthur, a pyrokenetic woman that was recruited from the military, a nun that reads the last rites for the infernals when they get put down, a no nonsense lieutenant that can manipulate guns, and the captain that has no powers which is uncommon in the Fire Force.
The first few episodes are great, with the second episode being a real gut puncher. The third episode is also great and deepens the mystery of the show. There is one glaring problem that shows up. A new character is introduced and the opening sequences indicates they will be joining the team. Maybe its just my problem and I just don't get it, but her character is just cringey. She dresses in a bikini under her fire suit and has this "clumsiness" where she'll trip and fall into a guy which results in him touching her boob or butt. She then berates them for sexual harassment. In her introduction scene I didn't even see her trip but in a blink of an eye, Shinra was just standing there awkwardly, and then his hand was under her bikini top and on her boob. He doesn't even know how it got there and he's not a lecherous character. She yells at him and "trips again" and now he has his hands on her butt. I just don't understand this type of character at all. It really breaks my immersion and is just awkward, and not in a funny way. Looking up the show, this is her entire character. She has the power to give herself fire cat powers, but other than that she's just there for fan service and to accidentally get groped.
Shitty side character aside, its really good. Real gut puncher moments and cool fight scenes with a couple of decent mysteries.
I need to catch up on Letterkenny. Season 9 is out but I think I am still on season 3.
