Code Lyoko

This is one of my favorite shows! It's my favorite French anime show, definitely, and I love the way the plot works. There's something new and yet a little bit of something old in every episode. And every episode is different! I've been exposed to Code Lyoko for about two months now, and it's one of the best I've ever seen! My two best friends and my two sisters agree with me on this show! I like to write stories in my free time, and this show gives me SO much room for ideas for writing that I don't know which ones to choose! My best friend introduced me to this show. I have thanked her numerous times for that. My all-time favorite thing about the show is that there are no adults involved in saving Lyoko! Congrats, Lyoko crew! Aelita, Ulrich, Odd, Jeremy, and Yumi, you all are a great team!

I heard about this about the time it came out, and got hooked a few weeks before Season Two began its US run. Though, as all cartoons do, it began a bit confusing for me (The first time I saw it (about the middle of the first ep) I thought Sissi was Yumi...), I caught on quickly.

Code: Lyoko is unique among cartoons. It is shown in both an anime style for the real world (which results in many-including some well-known sites- mistaking it for a Japanese cartoon, it is not, it is French) and a computer style for the Lyoko world. It has probably the longest distance between two seasons recordable (a year and four months for the US). And, it has-almost-no backstory. They don't tell us how Lyoko came to be, how Ulrich and co. found it, and why the computer has a virus. This is left to the fans-and Season Two, as we hope...

The show has realistic characters, an amazing plot, and a good eye for suspense. It does, however, have flaws over all this greatness.

First, bad dubbing. Like most inter-language imports, the dialogue does not match the mouth movements of the characters. The dialogue is often rushed, and flawed in some cases. One drastic example is Jeremie. Near the beginning of the series run, his voice was very high, but around the fourth or sixth episode, it changes, and it now sounds like he's trying very hard to sound older. (Puberty? Decision of the dubbers? Or perhaps he's just trying to impress Aelita, eh? Well, keep trying, man. The new voice sounds horrible.)

Second, scene reuse. This is abused heavily in season one. It's like the made scenes of everyone going into the sewers beforehand, and just used them where they were needed. This, for the most part, is discarded in Season Two, which is good. Although they STILL use that shot of Odd getting hit in the chest...

But don't get me wrong. Even with its flaws, this is a GREAT show. Not an EXCELLENT show, but a GREAT show. If you see it on, watch it.

But very carefully...

Personally, I love the animation series. Although most are critical to the show, I believe it is better than most I've seen.

First off, the personalities are great. They seem like everyday kids...unless you dig deeper into their secret lives of heroes... But most say the animation is horrible. I think the huge foreheads are better than having CD-ROM shaped eyes, such as most shows(I do consider this anime/cartoon)

The eyes are normal shaped!

The dubbing is bad, I must admit, but it got a whole of a better within season two, mostly now that it is, supposedly, receiving help from American artists.

Children of all ages can watch it, making it a hit with adults with younger children, as some say.

Also, the plot is very attracting to many people. It has an interesting writing style, and plot line.

No one has yet to create such mixture of strangeness and creativeness. To my friends and I, anyways.

Also, it has been able to forage a DVD, in which cases people would say it has many a fan; it does!

There are plenty of fans, most of which have proved they like the show and are not afraid to say they do.

With more help and merchandising on the way, it'll turn into a better show.

Overall, the show is awesome and an attention grabber for life!

Code Lyoko is an action adventure show that goes further than action and adventure. It goes beyond a group of good guys fighting attacks from bad guys. The "good guys" are complex, flawed characters who have feelings beyond "Yo, Joe! Let's get 'em!". The minor bad guys have their own feelings and complexities, and can be sympathized with at times, although they are usually real little horrors who usually get their come-uppance at the hands of the good guys.

There is one true "bad guy" without virtues and one "good guy" without any real vices, but that's excusable since neither of them is human.

The dialogue is hilarious. The verbal battles between Odd and Sissy are sophisticated to an almost Shakespearian degree. Sissy's monologues are the only soliloquies I have ever seen and heard in a cartoon show.

There are an amazing number of goofs in the show and a lot of stock scenes are re-used, but this does not really detract from the enjoyment of the show.

All-out action fans will hate this show because it's not all-out action. What it is, however, is a refreshing change and hopefully a pointer for the future.

Code Lyoko has both good and detrimental points. For a cartoon, it actually requires some effort to follow. Episodes are serial, but usually contain enough individually packaged information to give you a sense of what is going on.

Some of the positive points are: For a cartoon, Code Lyoko has an interesting amount of writing and character development. The set up for the show is also very interesting, adding a sci-fi element. The Characters are broad based, and while they play set roles, they can occasionally do something developmental. The action in the show is interesting, and although small scale, seems to have the appropriate tension associated with it. The computer graphics portion of the art is quite well done, reminiscent of shows like Reboot.

Some negative things about the show: The dub is of rather poor quality. Characters lines are often rushed to match existing footage. There are a distracting amount of stock scenes in any given episode. Also there are many goofs, but most of those are related to the stock scenes. Some people may not like the ultra-angular hand drawn portion of the art, especially noted are that people's heads are drawn very large.

With all that said, I still recommend this show. You'll get enough enjoyment out of just following the plot and characters to make up for the poorer features.