History YMMV / TheEmperorsNewSchool

* GrowingTheBeard: While it's an average show overall, consensus is that the second season is better than the first.

* NightmareFuel: The skeleton anteater. On the bright side it came with a really catchy song.

* UglyCute: Baby Yzma.

** Young Yzma is quite popular despite only appearing in one episode, and not even more than 3-4 minutes of it at that. This is due to a combination of satisfying fans’ curiosity of [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin seeing what Yzma looked like when she was young]], her young version looking very cute, and being voiced by Creator/GreyDelisle in almost exactly the same way as [[WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender Azula]], reminding fans of another beloved character.

* EnsembleDarkhorse: Guaca, Kuzco's LoonyFan quickly became an AscendedExtra and even got some CharacterDevelopment.

* OlderThanTheyThink: Malina is actually a reworking of [[https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/disney/images/7/74/Tumblr_n4yciwUF8o1qi8pxqo3_1280.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20140519021808 a female]] [[https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/disney/images/2/2c/Tumblr_n4yciwUF8o1qi8pxqo2_1280.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20140519021801 character]] conceived for the original "Kingdom of the Sun" version on the movie, a peasant girl who would serve as Kuzco's love interest and take none of his ItsAllAboutMe bullshit. The name of the character, however, would go to the waitress at Mutka's Meat Hut, who in this series is the school lunch lady.

* OlderThanTheyThink: Malina is actually a reworking of [[https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/disney/images/7/74/Tumblr_n4yciwUF8o1qi8pxqo3_1280.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20140519021808 a female]] [[https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/disney/images/2/2c/Tumblr_n4yciwUF8o1qi8pxqo2_1280.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20140519021801 character]] conceived for the original "Kingdom of the Sun" version on the movie, a peasant girl who would serve as Kuzco's love interest and take none of his ItsAllAboutMe bullshit.

* RetroactiveRecognition: Jessica [=DiCicco=] as Malina, who would later go on to play Lynn and Lucy Loud on ''The Loud House''.

* SeasonalRot: The 2007-2008 second season in comparison to the 2006 first season. Season 1 was very straightforward, with a standard 21 episodes that formed an almost equal mix of half-hour stories and episodes with two stories (9 and 12, respectably). Season 2 was 31 episodes long, and all but a handful of them were episodes containing stories--among the exceptions being the holiday specials and series finale--suggesting the writers couldn't come up with a story to last 22 minutes.

* NeverLiveItDown: The series re-uses so many of the gags from the first movie that it tends to be remembered more for this and not much else.

** The episode "Evil and Eviler" [[LampshadeHanging Lampshades]] this for Yzma and Kronk's usual secret lab routine. Firstly, when Yzma tells Kronk to pull the lever, Kronk does, causing something they've seen before to come down. He then keeps pulling the lever saying "Seen that, seen that" until they flip in. Next, the "Roller Coaster Inside The Lab" joke was used so many times that the coaster announcer actually couldn't come up with something witty to say that hadn't been said before. When they get to the lab, Yzma struggles to think of something new to turn Kuzco into and suggests several previous animal she turned him into, including a llama. Kronk asks, "You're kidding, right?"

** The episode "Evil and Eviler" [[LampshadeHanging Lampshades]] this for Yzma and Kronk's usual secret lab routine. Firstly, when Yzma tells Kronk to pull the lever, Kronk does, causing something they've seen before to come down. He then keeps pulling the lever saying "Seen that, seen that" until they flip in. Next, the "Roller Coaster Inside The Lab" joke was used so many times that the coaster announcer actually couldn't come up with something witty to say that hadn't been said before. When they get to the lab, struggles to think of something new to turn Kuzco into and suggests several previous animal she turned him into, including a llama. Kronk asks, "You're kidding, right?"

** This is [[LampshadeHanging Lampshaded]] in one episode in which the whole "Roller Coaster Inside The Lab" joke was used so many times that it actually couldn't come up with something witty to say that hadn't been said before.
** Another LampshadeHanging comes when Yzma struggles to think of something new to turn Kuzco into and suggests a llama. Kronk asks, "You're kidding, right?"
** Yet another LampshadeHanging in that episode comes when Yzma tells Kronk to pull the lever, and Kronk does, causing something they've seen before to come down. He then keeps pulling the lever saying "Seen that, seen that" until they flip in.

* SeinfeldIsUnfunny: The series reused so many jokes from the originally movie so many times that, to a certain extent at least, the jokes ended up becoming more annoying than funny.

* SeasonalRot: The 2007-2008 second season in comparison to the 2006 first season. Season 1 was very straightforward, with a standard 21 episodes that formed an almost equal mix of two-part episodes and episodes with two stories (9 and 12, respectably). Season 2 was 31 episodes long, and all but a handful of them were episodes containing stories--among the exceptions being the holiday specials and series finale--suggesting the writers couldn't come up with a story to last 22 minutes.

* EarWorm:
** Vacation Time. Vacation Time. So much fun.
** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aL1G40piqy0 Yzmopolis, my metropolis...]]
** "Kuzco Allegiance, Kuzco Allegiance, Kuzco Allegiance Day is today!" Sung to the tune of "Music/RideOfTheValkyries."
** The theme song in general.
** The Kuzco Mambo.

* NightmareFuel: The skeleton anteater. On the bright side it came with a [[EarWorm really catchy song.]]

* AccidentalAesop: One in "Kuzclone": Just because your friend(s) have friends of their own doesn't mean you are any less their friend.

* ItsTheSameSoItSucks: Was ''heavily'' reliant on gags and jokes taken from the movie, most of which tended to appear once in every episode. It's not unusual to find fans who feel this did more to hold back the series than it was actually funny. That's to say nothing of Kuzco's apparent AesopAmnesia since the first film.

* SugarWiki/HeartwarmingMoments:
** In the episode "Yzmopolis", what finally convinces Kuzco to make the wish that fatefully starts the plot rolling? His attempt to cheat got Malina in trouble, and (aside from her anger) he's upset at how being different from the students even makes her life hard.
** Then later in the same episode, what convinces him to change his mind and wish to be Emperor again? Malina in the new universe was living in exile for being "pretty and smart", and she was sent to the dungeon for her new-found confidence (which Kuzco gave her[[note]] Double-heartwarming[[/note]]). So off he goes to undo his wish.
** In "Kuzclone", after Kronk comes clean about Yzma's plot, he, Malina and Pacha come to the real Kuzco's rescue. Despite his earlier belief that his friends already had friends of their own, Kuzco comes to the epiphany that because they came for him in his darkest hour, these three truly ''are'' his friends!
** In the ending of "Chipmunky Business", Yzma yelling at the condor who snatched up [[EvenEvilHasLovedOnes her nephews]]. They may be as [[CreepyTwins creepy]] as she is, but at least she wasn't willing to let the condor go without [[MamaBear a fight]].
** In "The Mystery of Machu Pichu", Malina revealing that when she's scared, she sleeps with her stuffed animal. She's showing Kuzco a vulnerable side to her, as a way to tell Kuzco that [[AnAesop there's nothing wrong with being scared]].
** The final episode's WhereAreTheyNowEpilogue reveals that Kuzco moves Pacha and the family into the palace with him after becoming emperor again.

* CrowningMomentOfHeartwarming: In the episode "Yzmopolis", what finally convinces Kuzco to make the wish that fatefully starts the plot rolling? His attempt to cheat got Malina in trouble, and (aside from her anger) he's upset at how being different from the students even makes her life hard.
** Then later in the same episode, what convinces him to change his mind and wish to be Emperor again? Malina in the new universe was living in exile for being "pretty and smart", and she was sent to the dungeon for her new-found confidence (which Kuzco gave her[[note]] Double-heartwarming[[/note]]). So off he goes to undo his wish.
** In "Kuzclone", after Kronk comes clean about Yzma's plot, he, Malina and Pacha come to the real Kuzco's rescue. Despite his earlier belief that his friends already had friends of their own, Kuzco comes to the epiphany that because they came for him in his darkest hour, these three truly ''are'' his friends!
** In the ending of "Chipmunky Business", Yzma yelling at the condor who snatched up [[EvenEvilHasLovedOnes her nephews]]. They may be as [[CreepyTwins creepy]] as she is, but at least she wasn't willing to let the condor go without [[MamaBear a fight]].
** In "The Mystery of Machu Pichu", Malina revealing that when she's scared, she sleeps with her stuffed animal. She's showing Kuzco a vulnerable side to her, as a way to tell Kuzco that [[AnAesop there's nothing wrong with being scared]].

* VisualEffectsOfAwesome: Lampshaded in Yzmopolis.

** "Kuzco Allegiance, Kuzco Allegiance, Kuzco Allegiance Day is today!" Sung to the tune of "RideOfTheValkyries."