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Where in the World

Authors: Ben K. <benk@tilde.team>

Date: 2021-01-26

Recently my wife and I started watching the new Carmen Sandiego cartoon, whose recent season only just came out this year, I believe. I didn't even know it existed in spite of the fact that it debuted in 2019. I remember some Carmen Sandiego show on TV when I was a kid, and itw as pretty good, so I wanted to see what they did with this reboot. At a glance the art style looked good, and the settings seemed interesting.

Once we started watching, I began to realize that this is not just some cartoon. It actually surprised and impressed me multiple times by the end of the first season. The first two or three episodes aren't bad, but they're more like just a warm-up as it gets better and better.

To understand what I like about it, you have to know all the levels of quality there are to pay attention to in the show. For example, the art style is great, so it's pretty to look at. It's a wonderful blend of detail and abstract, plus color. The direction is excellent, the action sequences and fight scenes are excellent (and surprisngly realistic, accepting the fantasy elements), the characters are very expressive particularly in their facial expressions and body language.

The show has great writing; very likeable characters, witty dialog, enjoyable humor, non-stop puns, fairly strong episodic plot. The music is excellent too. It seems to carry some positive messages about friendship, relationships, and female empowerment.

I mean, there's so much effort that went into the quality of this that I just wasn't expecting an animated show to be this good. It contains a lot of references to itself and other franchises, and it seems to consciously recognize the fact that it's some kind of anime. (Western anime?)

I'm not sure, but I suspect the first episode also consciously references Jackie Chan Adventures, another animated series about adventurers and stealing artifacts and stuff. I know this because I recently tried rewatching it and couldn't get past the first few episodes. I remembered it fondly as an after school favorite from when I was younger, but when I tried to watch it again last year I found the art quality was disappointingly low. (I mean, it must have started on a tight budget, I'm sure.) I just remember the first episdoe of JCA involving a shield and an arrow traps, which happens in the first epsidoe of Carmen Sandiego. I might actually have to try watching it again.

So, are you skeptical? Think the show is not for you? You're too old for it? You're wrong. It's really good. If you like shows at all, you'll probably appreciate this, and it's not too long either. There's three seasons, and I think it totals around 25 episodes; ten each for the first two, five for the last.

To end this post I'll quote user Jayda Phillips, who left this review on Google:

Absolutely Amazing!!!!!!! 100% recommended for ALL AGES!!! This show is without a doubt one of the best things I have ever seen/watched in my entire life.