You might have thought Genndy Tartakovsky had already achieved this honor with Star Wars: Clone Wars and Samurai Jack, but in Sym-Bionic Titan Tartakovsky tops even those fantastic pieces of animation and creates the greatest action cartoon ever made.
Tartakovsky's trademark action, off-beat humor, and storytelling skills are ever present, but they are so much more refined and mature in Titan. We all knew Tartakovsky was a fan of Japanese mecha and this is chiefly where the show draws it's visual style from and it is truly striking. The character designs in particular for this show are incredible, but still familiar to fans of Tartakovsky's previous work.
The plot is nothing truly unique, but in typical Tartakovsky fashion, it takes its cues from all over the nerd-o-sphere from classic Anime, to American comic books, and even 2001: A Space Odyssey. Ilana, a young alien princess, Lance, a young rebellious soldier, and Octus, a robot programmed to guard the princess at all costs, flee to Earth from their home planet Galiluna, which has just suffered a crippling surprise attack led by a traitor general and an army of psychically controlled mutants. On Earth Lance, Ilana, and Octus must fit in as typical teenagers meanwhile defending themselves and the rest of the humans on Earth from a vast array of mutants the traitor general has sent remotely, to hunt down and kill the princess. Fortunately they have help in the form of Titan, a Voltron-style robot that Octus is able form when all three of them are together. The high school setting mixed with the, "save the world once an episode" structure will probably appeal to Buffy fans, and the action and humor is obviously top notch.
We've seen Tartakovsky do this before, he clearly loves popular fiction and loves incorporating it into his cartoons and for a sci-fi fan, it is really satisfying to see him at work in Titan. The special thing about Titan, however, is how good he's gotten at it. Characters learn, change, and evolve. Mysteries are uncovered and span whole episodes. Plot points are scattered all over the tragically singular season we have available to us and come together satisfyingly in an excellent finale.
I can not stress how quality this show is and how well it comes together as a full package. As of this posting Titan is currently on the 2am Saturday Adult Swim (now Toonami again) anime block, and that is where you can find it, and pray we get another season.
