I was introduced recently to this show by a friend, who gave me the link to the first episodes, and I went watching them without really knowing what to expect. The pilote wasn't incredible, but the character were likable enough and the setting interesting enough to draw me in. By now, I have watched the majority of the episode up so far, and I gotta admit, Mysticons shocked me with how good it was.
As I mentioned above, the setting played a big part in getting me to stay. I am a sucker for Magitek, so the idea of a fantasy universe that did not follow Medieval Stasis already was a plus to me. In practice, there are some areas where the genre have difficulty blending, but overall it's done well enough to be unique, and the world-building is rather nicely done; you feel like an actual effort was put into it. One of my favourite part is that, whenever something is written in this show, it's in a fictional runic scripting invented for the show rather than Earth writing. This is an attention to detail I really appreciate.
The characters, while not incredible, all get fleshed out fairly well; the pilote gives them all basic personality traits to make them recognizable (Arkayna is the Spoiled Sweet but responsible princess, Zaryah is the Lovable Rogue tough girl, Em is the calm and supportive one and Piper is Pinkie Pie as an elf), but as the show progress, they all developped in a way that raise them above their mere archetypes. On a personal note, I also like that they included a female dwarf as a protagonist, since that's actually surprisingly rare in fantasy stories.
But by far, where this show shines the most is the storytelling; Mysticons has very little fillers (even though they're still present), and the plot move forward rather fast, with actual progression and a very strong continuity. In an era where more and more occidental cartoons are focused on juvenile comedy and short filler sketches, it's actually nice to see a show actually trying to make a good story, and I greatly appreciate it.
Not to say the show isn't without flaws, though. The animation can be, at times, a bit... lackluster. CGI when inserted is rather obvious, background characters will stay still in a distracting way, and animation occasionally gets recycled. I personally tend to focus on stories and characters rather than animation so it didn't bother me that much, but I can imagine people experienced with animation might get annoyed by this, which might explain why some people of youtube have not necessarily been positive.
Still, this show is amazingly good in my opinion, and I am sad that it seems like it's already getting Screwed by the Network at the time where I write this review. I highly recommand it.
A hidden gem
I was introduced recently to this show by a friend, who gave me the link to the first episodes, and I went watching them without really knowing what to expect. The pilote wasn't incredible, but the character were likable enough and the setting interesting enough to draw me in. By now, I have watched the majority of the episode up so far, and I gotta admit, Mysticons shocked me with how good it was.
As I mentioned above, the setting played a big part in getting me to stay. I am a sucker for Magitek, so the idea of a fantasy universe that did not follow Medieval Stasis already was a plus to me. In practice, there are some areas where the genre have difficulty blending, but overall it's done well enough to be unique, and the world-building is rather nicely done; you feel like an actual effort was put into it. One of my favourite part is that, whenever something is written in this show, it's in a fictional runic scripting invented for the show rather than Earth writing. This is an attention to detail I really appreciate.
The characters, while not incredible, all get fleshed out fairly well; the pilote gives them all basic personality traits to make them recognizable (Arkayna is the Spoiled Sweet but responsible princess, Zaryah is the Lovable Rogue tough girl, Em is the calm and supportive one and Piper is Pinkie Pie as an elf), but as the show progress, they all developped in a way that raise them above their mere archetypes. On a personal note, I also like that they included a female dwarf as a protagonist, since that's actually surprisingly rare in fantasy stories.
But by far, where this show shines the most is the storytelling; Mysticons has very little fillers (even though they're still present), and the plot move forward rather fast, with actual progression and a very strong continuity. In an era where more and more occidental cartoons are focused on juvenile comedy and short filler sketches, it's actually nice to see a show actually trying to make a good story, and I greatly appreciate it.
Not to say the show isn't without flaws, though. The animation can be, at times, a bit... lackluster. CGI when inserted is rather obvious, background characters will stay still in a distracting way, and animation occasionally gets recycled. I personally tend to focus on stories and characters rather than animation so it didn't bother me that much, but I can imagine people experienced with animation might get annoyed by this, which might explain why some people of youtube have not necessarily been positive.
Still, this show is amazingly good in my opinion, and I am sad that it seems like it's already getting Screwed by the Network at the time where I write this review. I highly recommand it.