YMMV / Santiago of the Seas

• Awesome Music: The theme song is very epic and is inspired by Latino music. Season 2 has presented a lot more music than the previous and most pretty good. Bonus points for having one of the new villains, Pepito the faun, be voiced by Broadway and film star Robin de Jesús. His songs "In Your Shoes" and "Shake Your Pirate Booty" are particularly very well done and catchy. Other excellent songs of the season include "Respira" and "Escarlata's Song".
• Draco in Leather Pants: Bonnie often gets this treatment, mainly because her personality is more interesting than the Flat Character main protagonists.
• Fandom Rivalry: A one-sided one with PAW Patrol. Santiago fans more often than not hate PAW because it dominates the Nick Jr schedule and the toy aisles, not to mention that it ushered in a five-year era of mediocre Merchandise-Driven Nick Jr toons that tried to copy its success, but almost all of them failed and were canceled. Santiago is seen as a step in the right direction, due to its lack of toyetic content and honest commitment to good storytelling, education, and representation. On the other hand, PAW fans don't mind Santiago at all.
• Fanon: Although it's a bit uncommon, there are some fans who assume that Enrique and Bonnie have somewhat Dark and Troubled Past. Usually it has to do with abuse from their parents and bullying as a way of explaining their villainous behaviour. And is now taking their rage out on Santiago and his crew, because their respective abuser are out of their reach.
• Friendly Fandoms:
  • With the fandoms of fellow modern Nick Jr. shows Butterbean's Cafe, Corn & Peg, Blue's Clues & You!, and The Adventures of Paddington, as they are all well-received. Blue and Santiago fans often team up to promote their shows and to avenge Butterbean, Corn, and Paddington, all of whom were screwed over.
  • There's also a nice overlap with not only for the fans of The Owl House but also, with Jake and the Never Land Pirates. The latter Fandom even considered the series to be a fun, interesting and worthy Spiritual Successor.
• Growing the Beard: While season one was considered well done, season 2 has shown a big jump of quality especially in terms of writing, music, and animation. The stories have higher stakes and dive a lot more into the lore of the world and hints to having a continues narrative arc that will span the season which is rare in a preschool series. The series has also taken to talking to the audience much less- now only addressing them at the beginning and end of the episode.
• Ho Yay: There seem to be sprinkles of this in some season 2 scenes of Tomas/Pepito and Lorelai/Escarlata.
• Love to Hate: Bonnie is a very popular villain thanks to her hammy, over-the-top dialogue.
• Memetic Mutation: A fancam of the show set to Flo Milli's song "May I" went viral on Twitter and made people aware of the show's existence. The fancam is one major reason why the show became so popular.
• Moe: Tomas is absolutely adorable with his tooth gap and kindness. His sister Tina is also very cute.
• Narm: Santiago's catchphrase, "A pirate always does what's right," especially since that's the opposite of what a "pirate" is.
• Periphery Demographic: The show has been getting a lot of praise from teens and adults for its positive Latino representation, lovable characters, catchy music, and interesting plot.
• They Copied It, So It Sucks!: Some people accused the show of ripping off Jake and the Never Land Pirates just because both shows are about pirate kids. Never mind that Jake is based on a decades-old movie. Fortunately, this has died down thanks to Friendly Fandoms.
• Trans Audience Interpretation: Some people headcanon Bonnie as non-binary because of her green asymmetrical '80s Hair.
• Win Back the Crowd: People regard this as one of the best shows on Nick Jr. in the 2020s.

---