#even if the animation sometimes falls below code lyoko standards
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shana’s thoughts on the dragon prince
now, i did like it overall, but there are a bunch of negative opinions i have about the show, so if you don’t want to read someone saying mean things about your new favorite show, that’s totally fair! but then this post isn’t for you
i’m putting this under a cut, and if the cut doesn’t work bc you’re on mobile ... scroll really fast? i can’t help you.
1. first and foremost, what the FUCK was that frame rate?? i’m sorry, i’ve seen smoother motion in early 2000s video games. that was literally painful to watch at times. i get they’re trying to save money, but please ... the two different animation styles are distracting enough, especially what the people are animated to be so flat. the animation, while beautiful in parts, is definitely not the strongest part of the show, but could be infinitely improved by a higher fps
2. so many “jokes” that just aren’t funny. they’re trying for everyone to be wry and it actually very rarely works. or even when the line is funny, it disrupts the flow of the story. “say hello to my little friend” as the trigger word for bait completely took me out of the story, but they didn’t even keep it as a trigger phrase, so it was pointless. rayla pausing to say goodbye to the ground before climbing the tree could have been very funny - but she paused!! people are in danger, this is time sensitive, why are you stopping to say something funny to no one? this thing in particular happened multiple times, where the line was funny, the delivery was funny, but the way everything stops so they can say the funny thing ruins it. i’m certain people can walk and talk at the same time, so let them.
3. holy shit there’s so much exposition. like straight up, that whole intro scene? worthless. everything gets covered again later on. it defs shouldn’t have been more than 30 seconds. there’s a lot of explainy moments where characters talk about things they should already know. there are also lots of clever moments where information is conveyed deftly and well, so more of that, less hitting the audience over the head with it. i found the first 2 episodes to be pretty boring because of this, and it wasn’t until 3 episodes in i was like, oh good, something interesting is happening. because of the long explanation in the beginning, the opening scene of reyla sparing the guard had less weight for me, because i was still trying to figure out what the fuck was going on, instead of accepting a fairly straightforward scene between rayla and the guard that would have been a fantastic starting point for the show
4. on a similar note, please some exposition about how magic works. what are its rules, its limits, how does it work?? we know about the six sources of magic, but that’s pretty much it. there’s laughably little information about how the rules of magic work in this world, and because nothing is ever explained, we have no idea how impressive something is, or what the stakes are, and its very frustrating
5. there was an awful lot of hype for how moon shadow elves were unstoppable only for them to be ... kind of invisible and really strong and fast? but like clearly very stoppable.
6. lots of “plot twists” were incredibly obvious, but this is a kids show, so i’ll let that one slide. but it does mean that as an adult viewer i’m less surprised by a big reveal than i am just waiting for it to happen so something else can happen
7. ezran’s animal speaking came out of almost nowhere, and it definitely should have come up like, 4 episodes in, not in the last episode when convenient. wtf. also, like, if this is a thing the king can do too, which would make sense with his bird and all, why is it a secret? why didn’t ezran just find a better way to prove it to callum before this whole thing started, instead of oh i tried with the raccoons now i’m done? his brother clearly listens to him at least sometimes.
8. rayla’s hand. oh my fucking god, her hand. she should have lost it you cowards. the line about her not understanding sacrifice in the beginning, having to take responsibility for bad decisions like the king said, the whole subplot with the giant wolf only having three legs and how he was just fine that way, literally like ten minutes before. and absolutely no mention about dragons being able to bite away the binding, or about royalty being able to break the binding. just oh good the dragon has bitten the binding off in the last two minutes of the show, all that set up and overarching themes we set up? pointless and worthless.
now for thing i like
1. the characters are genuinely likable and multi dimensional (excluding viren who’s pretty cookie cutter). they all have flaws and doubts and are all badasses in their own way. it’s 100% how i like to see characters written, and so rarely do, and it’s absolute pleasure that this show is full of them. it makes all the things i dislike about it so much easier to swallow
2. callum and his conflicted relationship about being in the palace and being the step prince are so incredibly obvious and real and wonderful, and i can already tell i’m going to write a fic, because it was done so well and i adore it. his conversation with the king was a masterpiece. definitely a high point of the show
3. callum’s relationship with ezran is so pure and loving and good. he loves his little brother so much, with no bitterness or resentment or anything at all. he just loves him. and he gets irritated by him, because they’re brothers, but it’s clearly a very good relationship.
4. claudia and soren get the runner up for best sibling relationship. they also clearly care about each other and get on each others nerves and make fun of each other.
5. soren is surprise fave. he’s a big dumb idiot who’s kind of a jerk but i love him. like one second he’s making fun of callum for being a step prince, and the next he’s pretending to get beaten by him so callum can impress his sister. it would have been so easy for him to make fun of callum instead, or to humiliate him for his crush on claudia, but instead he’s like “yeah i’ll help you look cool in front of my sister, even though you ruined my fun and didn’t let her walk into a tree” he’s dumb and a jerk and a good person. he’s great.
6. reyla’s internal struggle and her relationship with runaan is fantastic, and i wish we’d gotten to see more of it. she’s trying so hard all the time to do the right thing and make everyone proud and i love it.
7. amaya is fucking iconic. “breakfast is the most important meal of the day.” i love her. shes’s amazing and wonderful in every way. also the way she refuses to take the throne is badass.
8. the show is clearly trying so hard to be diverse and inclusive, and it really is like a breath of fresh air to see. there’s so much obvious care going on here, and the clear love in which all of it was done is another thing that blunts the edges of the many things i dislike about the show.
9. the landscape and background animation is very well done, and often beautiful.
look, i watched the whole first season in one sitting when i wasn’t planning to, so obviously it’s a net positive. i liked, i’ll watch a second season, but there are things which i really dislike about the show, and to be completely honest, if the characters weren’t written so incredibly well, i would probably drop it. but they are, and while there are other, smaller things about the show that make it good, the well written characters alone make it worth watching
#this is your granmda talking#tdp#tdp spoilers#there were a few more little things that bothered me but i didn't want to make this post too long and negative#also i've heard the fandom is already overrun with antis which makes me hesitant about getting into it#but still a good fun show#even if the animation sometimes falls below code lyoko standards
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