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Reviews
The Amazing Digital Circus (2023)
The Pretty Okay Digital Circus
Honestly, the title sums it up. TADC is a good pilot-interesting characters, a fun idea, an animation style that I personally like, and amazing VAs. Overall, the pilot is pretty good, and I would definitely recommend giving it a watch.
However, notice I said "give it a watch", not "give it a watch and you'll like it". Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying it's bad, because it's not. I am however saying that at least for me, it doesn't live up to the hype. The plot's main mystery was resolved instantly, many of the jokes didn't really land, and the idea feels underutilized. It doesn't feel like comedic digital horror, it just feels like a fun, wacky project on Youtube. That's not a bad thing at all, but as the title says, it's not amazing like everyone on the face of the Internet claims, just pretty good.
Overall, good show, but pretty overrated IMO.
Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2018)
Best TMNT series
I was a big 2012 fan, so for a long time I just stuck to that and let this thing fly under my radar. However, two or so years ago I finally went "Eh, what the heck" and clicked the play button.
I fell in love with EVERYTHING-from the animation to the characters to the soundtrack to the voice acting and all that lay in between. The characters were absolutely different, but honestly that just added to the show for me-getting to see the exact same characters with the exact same arcs gets boring after a while, and this was perfect in that regard.
Speaking of the characters, they are so well done in every way. No one left the series unchanged, and the arcs are so fun to watch onscreen. Leo went through a major glowup, turning from the serious leader that he was in the previous season to a flamboyant and humorous teenager who's just really fun to see and hear onscreen. Donnie is probably my favorite character in the series, being dramatic yet aloof and deadpan in a way that doesn't feel forced, rather fun. He also has major 'mad scientist' vibes about him and was probably the best autistic character I've seen onscreen in terms how how he is portrayed. Mikey is the creative little brother, keeping his optimism from 2012 but gaining intelligence and a creative spark all his own. Raphael finally got to be the leader, and he played the role very nicely, changing from a temperamental turtle into a caring older brother who's just trying to do his best and keep his family out of the s*** they get themselves into lol. And I absolutely loved April's character change, as she's no longer 'too OP' or a 'damsel in distress', instead being capable of fending for herself and fighting in a way that's realistic. Her and Donnie's relationship was another highlight, where it turned from an obsessive and at times unhealthy crush into a really nice friendship (one of the if not the best in the series imo).
The plot, though it could've used more time to develop (*cough* Nickelodeon *cough*), wasn't bad. It was cohesive and any twist or reveal was properly foreshadowed without being obvious to the casual viewer. It had a good mix of more silly episodes to focus on world-building and character/relationship arcs and plot-based lore episodes, and I never felt there were too many or too few of either. The humor/comedic timing was right on point, and this is one of the only shows where I can say nothing ever felt too forced.
What's more is this wonderful thing finally fixed one of my biggest problems with the TMNT 2012 series: representation. Pretty much all the humans in TMNT 2012 were white, and the only form of 'representation' was Mikey's cliche ADHD, which as an ADHD person myself I found to be more offensive then representative. However, ROTTMNT not only fixed that problem but gave us diverse and well-rounded characters. There is so much representation here: April being black, Donnie's autism, and Mikey's (well-done this time) ADD.
All in all, this show is amazing and does not deserve the hate. Yeah, it's not 2012, so what? It doesn't have to be, that was kind of the point of it in the first place. 10/10 stars for being my favorite TMNT adaptation so far, and likely forever. Please give it a chance and watch past the first episode (which if you'll read some of the other reviews, you'll quickly find that that simple task is a rarity). I promise you won't regret it.