The Owl House: a horror-comedy Disney series

How do you know that?

I know that stating that modern cartoons look alike isn't exactly new, but Owl House still makes me thing of Mystery Shack while everything outside could easily be from Star Vs Forces. Show me a screenshot without protagonists and I could never tell which is it.

I wouldn't have called anyone out for saying this show looks like Star Vs.

It's very similar.

Similish.

I can see that. Sorta like how Amphibia can often look similar to Gravity Falls at times.

Glad that storywise though, this show has been considerably more like the former rather than the latter...though it does feel a bit tamer than both. Ideally it'll stay closer to GF than Star is Vs The Forces of Evil.

At the moment I'm waiting for more episodes to be released to purchase a Disney+ subscription and binge them.

But waiting is hard.

It’s not on Disney+ yet anyway.

Honestly while I'm enjoying the show so far I don't find the humor nearly as good as Gravity Falls's or Amphibia's. I don't know why but it feels forced to me compared to either of those.

Also, I like Amity more than Willow and Gus. She may not be nice but I find her way more interesting. That said, I still like Gus. Willow not so much though.

Eh, I wouldn't call it "forced" so much as tame. I mean there was one show with humor that was very forced at times, but it definitely wasn't tame. Also Amphibia itself took awhile to hit the stride.

Anyway, more bummed that King has mostly just been a Kero Expy instead of a Salem Expy.

I don't agree about Amphibia taking awhile to hit its stride. Plotwise, sure, it took awhile. But in my opinion its humor hit well from the start.

I mean yeah, the character interactions worked out quickly, but that was it. Everything else was a Cliché Storm with very little new to offer...the most egregious offender being that evil pet episode.

I'd say much of that kind of criticism is applicable here too. Albeit with the dynamic mostly between King and Eda...that said, this last episode did an excellent job setting up Gus and Willow forming a Freudian Trio w/ Luz.

I mean, there are some moments where the humor is pretty meh but we also only have 3 episodes to go on. Right now the show is establishing character, setting, and plot, so a fair amount of time is spent on just exposition. It's pretty natural for a plot driven show to have a pretty weak first half season before really hitting it's stride, and it can sometimes take the voice actors and writers a little time to really get a good feel for the characters and setting (thus why a lot of early episodes of a lot of shows have character moments that contradict what we end up seeing later; certain character traits haven't been established yet, writers are still figuring everything out, etc)

My main issue with the show is that it seems like most Disney animated shows are starting to slip into a certain formula; we get a normal (relatively) character or group of characters who are suddenly forced to interact with a/several character(s) or in a world that is far outside the usual, and that they must solve some kinda mystery and take down some kinda bigger threat, sometimes several. I'm not saying it's necessarily a bad thing, and considering two of these shows (Amphibia and Owl House) were in development around the same time it's probably more coincidence than anything else. I kinda suspect that, at least for Svt Fo E, Amphibia, and Owl House what we're seeing is the first generation of American animators who not only love anime but actually grew up when anime was at it's most popular in the states, considering all the anime story telling tropes we're seeing lately.

I wouldn't say that modern animation is worse than animation was 10/20/etc years ago, animation has always had trends where we would get a bunch of shows at once that were all pretty similar to each other.

https://mobile.twitter.com/chriscopelandrt/status/1222665067373588485

Bridget Underwood, a director for Kipo And The Age Of Wonder Beasts, is also working on the series .

Just when I was thinking the "horror" part of this horror-comedy series was a little oversold and not reflective of the show itself, THIS episode happens. Eda's cursed form was legit horrifying.

Edited by Isaac_Heller on Jan 31st 2020 at 6:08:41 AM

Quick Thoughts

"The Intruder" I'm glad Willow got a cameo appearance, glad the title was almost incidental, but most importantly, glad to see Eda and King get some good fleshing out...even if I'm kinda bummed that King's books seem more based on his personal findings as opposed to something a bit more...researched. Glad to see a sort of alchemy-basis for magic instead of as Eda put-it "thin air", and what better way to divulge this character moment than to establish a Meaningful Name behind the character of the moment! This episode was even better!

Quick Thoughts

"The Intruder" I'm glad Willow got a cameo appearance, glad the title was almost incidental, but most importantly, glad to see Eda and King get some good fleshing out...even if I'm kinda bummed that King's books seem more based on his personal findings as opposed to something a bit more...researched. Glad to see a sort of alchemy-basis for magic instead of as Eda put-it "thin air", and what better way to divulge this character moment than to establish a Meaningful Name behind the character of the moment! This episode was even better! Oh and also the playful mockery of the whole Talking To Himself nature of Hooty and King was quite boss too.

Well, folks, what have we learned this episode? DON'T. MESS. WITH. EDA'S. ELIXIRS.

But still, Luz got some magic spell experience out of the whole mess, so there's that silver lining. Something tells me we haven't seen the last of that cursed form, though...

No, we have not. Especially since the ending hints at an ongoing mystery subplot about who cursed Eda.

I realized that Eda swallowing Adeghast whole in the second episode was a Foreshadowing for the fourth episode: as a side-effect of the curse, she shows some owl-like behaviour even in her humanoid form.

https://youtu.be/kk2OELArmRs

Look Hoo's Talking

Yeah, so I retract my previous complaint about Amity being Unintentionally Sympathetic. The latest episode shows that the sympathy is intentional, and Luz actually does get called out as in the wrong for what she pulled alongside Willow. The show even let Amity voice the same point I made: she actually worked for her top student position and no matter what her character flaws are she does not deserve to have it stolen by people who cheat. I was really happy about that.

Also, we finally have our Big Bad: the Emperor's Coven, and by extension Emperor He Who Must Not Be Seen.

Edited by Isaac_Heller on Feb 7th 2020 at 2:22:59 AM

So... Lilith is totally going to have a Heel–Face Turn in the season finale. Calling it now.

Assuming the Emperor's Coven thing is a seasonal Story Arc and not a Myth Arc, then yeah, most likely.

I think it'll be Amity who as the heel face turn of sorts.

Given her position in the credits, opener, and the history of her VA, this was obvious.

Anyway, "Quick Thoughts" for "Covention"

Good to see some world-building and character building elements [for Amity & Eda] and Eda herself get called out for some her methods. The gags were a bit weak, and Willow/Gus were barely there...but what parts Gus/Willow were at were superb, and the back half was good. Weaker than the last two, but much stronger than the 2nd episode.

Amity doesn't really qualify for Heel–Face Turn since she wasn't a villain, just an antagonist. It's more Defrosting Ice Queen with her. With Lilith, it's different since she's not just an antagonist due to her sibling rivalry with Eda, she's actively working for an almost certainly villainous regime, so her turnaround would be a true Heel–Face Turn.