Best Of Animation 2021 - Tumblr Posts

The Owl House - Top 5 Episodes of Season 2A

With the owl house returning in a month I decided to re-watch all the episodes currently released and I want to rank what I think are the 5 best episodes of season 2A for fun. This is just my opinion and I’d like to hear everyone else’s. Also almost all the episodes in this season are incredibly strong so this was really hard to do and none of these episodes are anywhere close to bad.

1. Eda’s requiem

This episode is amazing and my favorite episode of the series. It has one of the most beautiful sequences in the whole show with Eda’s requiem which is just as emotionally resonant as it is stunning. Eda’s fear of abandonment and decision to almost commit suicide to stop the emperor was arguably the most emotionally heavy the show has ever gotten. And I know it hit me like a train the first time I watched it. Not to mention it managed to create a poignant, tragic romance between Raine and Eda in the span of 22 minutes.

I really love that the show has doubled down on the found family trope that Eda, King, and Luz have become. Eda’s fear that she’ll be left behind once King and Luz have their real families paired with when Raine asks Eda “You have kids?” and Eda responds “They’re not mine. Mine.” and tries to push on with her sacrifice makes it so you are hit full force with just how replaceable Eda believes she is. Which makes the ending reveal that King made himself legally Eda’s child all the more heartwarming.  It can be hard to acknowledge just how important you are in other people’s lives and seeing this struggle displayed so honestly was powerful.

2. Knock, knock, knockin on Hooty’s door

This episode was an amazing follow up to Eda’s requiem. It has the structure of an anthology except everything comes together in the end. While I love the Lumity of this episode and that they got together without a long “will they, won’t they” period I have to say my favorite part of the episode was Eda’s portion. I appreciate that they have decided to do a deep dive on the consequences of Eda’s curse and her isolation that stems from it. In the first season it was ever present but because they wanted to keep the focus on the mystery of who cursed Eda we didn’t get to deep dive into how the curse effects her outside of the physical transformation. Seeing all the people she’s lost due to it makes the effect Luz has had on Eda all the more powerful. Also Harpy Eda is awesome.

I enjoyed all the other parts of the episode as well. The fact that Lilith and Hooty are actually pen pals was oddly heartwarming. Their friendship was something I didn’t know I needed. Hooty wanting to help everyone and doing it in a unique and kind of creepy way is really in character. I’d have to say King’s part of the episode was probably weakest which is mainly because it’s the payoff that had the least amount of build up towards it. Lumity becoming canon and Eda reconciling with the owl beast are both things that we began the journey towards in season 1.

3. Hunting palismen 

This episode was a fantastic introduction to who Hunter really is. We got glimpses of the golden guard before this point but we finally got to know the boy behind the mask. This episode makes a compelling character out of Hunter, establishing his goals and motivations as well as his grievances and shortcomings. He has an easy chemistry with Luz that makes you wish they were on the same side which worked really well if all the older brother Hunter fanart is to go by. He’s the character I’m most excited to see the trajectory for the rest of the season. He has so much potential to effect the story moving forward.

4. Eclipse lake

The character moments in this episode really made this one for me. I had been wanting to see how Amity and Hunter would interact since Hunting Palismen and this episode delivered. The similarities between the two were right in front of us and I’m happy the show decided to head right for the heart of it instead of beat around the bush and have the characters recognize it as well. 

Hunter himself seems to be an amalgamation of what I thought Lilith and Amity would be. Just like Lilith he’s dedicated his life to the emperor and the coven and fears being replaced and failing. He’s willing to do whatever necessary to make sure he isn’t useless until he finds worth outside of this. And just like Amity he has the conflict of what is planned for his future and the pressures to be perfect clash with the fact that he has found some camaraderie with people who oppose this planned future. I will admit that in season 1 I was disappointed they didn’t take Amity or Lilith in these directions but with how the show has handled them and Hunter in season 2 I am completely on board.

5. Through the looking glass ruins

I just had a lot of fun with the A and B stories of this episode. There wasn’t a ton of plot progression but that doesn’t matter because I loved the character and relationship development. On one end we finally got some more Gus development which was sorely needed and on the other we got some pretty massive Lumity development and some plot progression with finding Philip Wittebane’s journal (an echo mouse ate it but still). I almost put Yesterday’s Lie in this spot but this one beat it out just based on pure enjoyment on my end. The plot progression and drama of yesterday’s lie are phenomenal but I sometimes need an episode I can sit back and watch without having my heart torn out.

Feel free to disagree. This list is just my list and I’m sure everyone has vastly different opinions. If anyone would like to share I’d love to hear in the comments, tags, or an addition to my post. All of that is welcome.

Best of Animation 2021 - Where I Really Come From (Invincible)

“Finish high school I guess”

When I read that line in the comics for the first time I thought it was meant to sound defeated or unsure. Mark had just been beaten within an inch of his life by his father, who he loved, and wasn’t sure what to do with his life. I thought Mark was feeling defeated. But when Steven Yeun spoke the line in the show there is a much more hopeful tone to his voice that I think brings so much to the character and this moment that my initial interpretation lacked.

Mark is unsure of his future and he is hurting from his fight with his father but his spirit isn’t broken. He still has hope for the future and he still wants to do good. Mark’s spirit and drive are unbreakable, or invincible if you will, just like the title of the show. It brings new meaning to the moment and his actions that will follow.

The voice acting, animation, music, etc all come together to create an unforgettable experience that improves upon the source material. That final line reading by Steven Yeun blew me away in hindsight because it’s something so little but it has such a massive impact on the story and Mark’s characterization that I personally didn’t get when I read the comics (The comics are phenomenal and I highly recommend reading them so saying the show improves certain aspects of the story is high praise).

One rather impressive feat is how well the show translates how the invincible comics portrayed violence.

The invincible comics were well known for their bloody and visceral fights and translating that to the screen could have been a tricky task. Violence is something that could easily become gratuitous and be purely used for shock value if used incorrectly. The show sidesteps this by having every use in this episode serve a purpose. At no point does it distract from the personal conflict that drives the episode- the clash of ideologies and upbringing between a father and his son. 

For example, seeing the destruction in the city after Mark is punched through a building. We see Mark pulling a severed arm from the building rubble after he fails to save the building and a daughter soaked in the blood of her crushed father. All this shocks and horrifies you in the same way it does Mark. That is the arm of a mother he failed to save and it happens right after he tells the mother’s child not to be afraid. We are being faced with the same hard truth that Nolan is trying to beat into Mark. That Mark can’t protect himself let alone anyone else. 

And the same can be said about the train scene. This scene is easily the goriest and most brutal sequence of the entire show (which is saying something) but it very effectively gets across how fragile humans are to Viltrumites. Mark comes out of the ordeal physically unscathed while hundreds of people die. They splatter against Mark almost like a bug does on the windshield of a car (though much more mentally scarring). Nolan even compares humans to pets and talks about humans being lesser than viltrumites further accentuating this point.

There are a lot more examples but anyone who’s seen the episode I think understands. These scenes are gory and intense but they are used very effectively within the context they are being used. If you were to remove any one of them (at least in this episode) something would be lost.

JK Simmons is excellent at getting across that Nolan is trying just as hard to convince himself of these lessons he’s trying to beat into Mark. Each step he takes is him trying to prove to himself that he sees these people as inconsequential collateral in the viltrumite’s conquest like his upbringing taught him to believe.

The photo above may have become a meme but it is an excellent scene that puts Nolan’s desperation on full display. It conveys the conflict between who he’s become from his time on earth and the loyal viltrumite he was so well. And it leads into the best moment in the entire episode.

“What will you have after five hundred years?”

“You dad. I’d still have you.”

This whole episode was amazing. It is easily one of my favorite episodes of television ever but it was this moment that hit the hardest.

Even after everything Nolan has done- all the people he’s killed and how brutally he’s beaten Mark- Mark still loves his father. 

This episode manages to expand on what was ultimately a single issue fight and really dig into the core tragedy of it. 

The one moment I think the comic does better is the moment when Nolan flies away, leaving Mark alive, and crying once he reaches space. I don’t think it was clear enough that he was crying. A lot of people I know didn’t catch on to that fact and a few reviewers didn’t either. In the comics it was very clear and purposefully put into stark contrast so that no one could miss it. This is a little moment but it is one thing I wanted to point out due to how significant that tiny moment is for Nolan’s character.

I’ve seen a lot of people trash Invincible’s animation online and while I do agree there are instances of noticeable CGI that can take you out of it there are also incredibly beautiful and breathtaking sequences of animation as well. A lot of this episode has amazing animation. They spared no expenses on the fight. Here are a few of my favorite moments.

This episode isn’t short on spectacle but it also hits all its smaller moments as well. I’ve mentioned a few above but I want to shine a light on a smaller one near the end of the episode.

The moment I’m talking about is in the hospital when Debbie tells Mark she’s proud of him. She goes to touch his face and he turns away. There’s so much pain in that small moment. Mark is hurting because of the betrayal, the trauma of the events, and because he failed and lost his father even though he tried his best. It’s these smaller moments in the aftermath of the fight that works really well.

When it is trying to set up future events it distracts a bit from what the episode is trying to do but I’m grateful it takes the time to have the quieter moments that get across the heartbreak of the characters, especially Debbie and Mark.

Despite everything going on Invincible never loses sight of the vulnerability and humanity of these characters.  

I can’t wait to see the rest of the Invincible comics animated and brought to life for a new audience. Trust me this is just the beginning. It gets even better from here.

Extra Thoughts

I love the way JK Simmons emphasizes “believe” when he’s telling Mark the truth about Viltrum. “But I believe in our cause” He’s talking about the past but he makes sure to emphasize that this is a present belief which I think plays into how a lot of JK Simmons’ performance hints that Nolan is also trying to convince himself of the rhetoric that he’s spouting at Mark.

I really like how the Viltrumite’s uniforms are white. White is usually associated with good and purity. It’s typically seen as heroic which can be seen in the rhetoric that Nolan is regurgitating to Mark. He’s speaking of the Viltrumite’s actions and conquest as a good thing. It’s all painted in a positive light. There’s a dissonance between how the history is relayed to Mark and how it is seen on screen. Everything Nolan says is sanitized and belays the bloody reality of everything that happened. I just really like this detail.

The score for this episode was fantastic and I really hope it gets released at some point.

I didn’t want to put this above due to the fact I want to stay positive but I wasn’t a fan of Mark and Amber getting back together. With how the show did their relationship I would have preferred them staying broken up. I don’t hate Amber’s character and would actually like to see her friendship with Eve explored and I would have been interested in seeing her be friends possibly with Mark instead of a relationship. I just don’t think they wrote the relationship well enough to get me invested and it’s pretty clear even without reading the comics that they aren’t meant to be endgame. (If you like their relationship then great. It just wasn’t for me)

I know I already said this but I can’t wait for season 2 and 3!