Confrontation de Xiaolin

Using cartoons as a link to my passing childhood, I am tending to watch a lot of them. I was surprised, in fact, to find Xiaolin Showdown as such a delightful show, not just for younger children but for teens, and even my dad finds the show's humor amusing. Even though it is animated, it has fantastic battle-like scenes between the good Xiaolin side and the evil Heylin side, jokes and wisecracks that are actually funny, and characters that viewers grow to like despite their human-like flaws. The storyline centers around four Xiaolin warriors that live in the Xiaolin Temple: Omi, a short yellow orphan who appears to be the main protagonist, is the Dragon of Water; Raimundo, a hot-headed Brazillian character, is the Dragon of Wind; Kimiko, the rich, clever, and electronically adept Japanese girl, is the Dragon of Fire; and Clay, a cowboy from Texas, is the Dragon of Earth. Their duty is to retrieve the mystical ancient artifacts known as the Shen Gong Wu before they fall into the hands of the evil Heylin side. The warriors are aided by a wisecracking Chinese dragon by the name of Dojo. As seasons go on, the warriors are confronted with different and increasingly dangerous Heylin villains, but the villains that are most focused on would have to be Jack Spicer, a whiny, red-haired goth wannabe villain who has dubbed himself "Evil Boy Genius"; and Wuya, the 1500 year old evil spirit of a Heylin witch.

It is very interesting to watch as the characters grow and develop as they learn to work together to meet their goals. However, I find the characters of Omi and Clay to be most irritating. Omi is sometimes used for comic relief when he uses arrogant comments and claims to be the best of the dragons. Though this is used for entertainment, it feels to me as though it is strained. The show revolves around Omi, and he comes off sometimes as a self-important, arrogant little jerk which takes my admiration away from him.

Clay, on the other hand, is arguably the least focused on of the 4 dragons, yet he still succeeds in annoying me. Having being a "cowboy", he possesses all the stereotypical qualities of what one would think a cowboy would have. I think his stereotypical way of speaking, acting, and even fighting takes away from seeing him as an actual character, which also allows him to be considered less interesting. When I look at him, all I see is "cowboy".

Now, this show, however, possesses the most interesting, creative, and entertaining line of villains I have ever seen, Jack Spicer being my personal favorite. Though he is a whiny, girly, mama's boy, he succeeds in being the most entertaining villain. He has the best wisecracks, and his constant bickering with Wuya is very funny. He spends the majority of his time creating a vast array of creative and sometimes humorous robots that he calls "Jackbots". As a viewer, I have mixed emotions about Jack. Though he is a villain, he is so likable and you eventually begin to sympathize with him.

The character design and animation in this show is, in my personal opinion, stunning. It combines the clean-cut American style of animation with Asian animation techniques including many spirals and curly-q's. I also enjoy Kimiko's ever-changing outfits and hairstyles that define how creative the animators are. The voice acting is also fabulous, and the plot line is very intricate for a cartoon. Also, I rather like the theme song. It's really something you can jam to.

I am surprised by how much I enjoy this show. It does have its flaws, but this initial order has so far been better than most other first seasons launched by Kids WB, including my fav, The Zeta Project which died an angonized death.

Omi is hilarious, Clay is admirable, Kimiko is sweet without annoying the fudge out of me, Master Fung floors me, and Jack Spicer is a good arch nemesis.

I have problems with Raimundo, Katt Nappe, and that ghost lady with Jack however. Fortunately, the last couple episodes have been Katt free. Best of luck to the show!!

I remember this show growing up. It had enough going for it that I have a positive view of it years later. Some may say there weren't many shows that stood out in the early 2000s, but I think this is a show with style that sets it apart. Other shows like Jackie Chan Adventures had a similar style of Asian culture mixed with American animation, and this one definitely shares some similarities (heck, both shows came out from the same network). However, I really enjoyed this type of style, and while the characters and story aren't the selling point, the imagination put into some of the concepts got me hooked. It works well in the show, and there's even significant character and plot development moving along (such as the writers bringing back a certain plot point in the past), which is definitely something I really appreciated.

At first glance, Xiaolin Showdown might appear to be formulaic, with four monks embodying the four elements and a largely comedic villain (Jack Spicer). Many episodes follow a standard "showdown" plot. However, as mentioned, the good guys don't always win, and as time goes on, we discover that this series, unlike so many American cartoons, dares to explore its characters and (gasp) allow them to grow. The good characters are allowed flaws, and the bad ones allowed (sometimes to their own consternation) to have good aspects. The introduction of Chase Young in the second season as would-be evil influence on Omi improved the series by providing the monks with a more formidable--and less straightforward--opponent. But who is influencing whom? The occasional depth of the series continues to surprise. Bonus: The magical aspect of the series allows for imaginative psychedelic sequences that can be a hoot.

Xiaolin Showdown is not a perfect show, but it is very good. I feared it would not be my thing and that it would be lacklustre, that it would fail at any attempts at humour or that it would have obnoxious characters. It was a really nice surprise that it had neither of those negative traits.

The animation is actually pretty good with interesting use of colour and character designs. The music is funky and cool, especially the theme tune, while the story ideas are a lot of fun and have originality and energy. I agree the writing can be a tinsy bit poor and predictable at times, but it does have a good balance of intelligence and humour. The characters are engaging, the title character for example while flawed is brave and loyal while the villain Jack Spicer is more comedic than threatening, but when he is amusing he is amusing. Another strength is the rock-solid voice acting from the likes of Danny Cooksey, Tom Kenny and Wayne Knight.

In conclusion, interesting show, and quite clever and fun. 8/10 Bethany Cox