Super Robot Monkey Team Hyperforce Go!

This show was made in America, wtf? I first saw this on the Japanese version of the Disney channel a couple of weeks ago here in Japan. I had no idea it wasn't made here.

Japanese writing on the title. Campy theme song that sounds like it was recorded in one of those "you can be a superstar!" instant demo tape karaoke booths. Cheap 2-D animation. Title of random English words that makes absolutely no sense in either language and would be considered an entire sentence if it had any recognizable parts of speech. Mouths that flick mechanically between four positions - open, closed, gaping hole, and nonexistent.

The whole thing screams your typical daytime-TV Japanese animated show that come a dime a dozen over here. And not the kind they have out now that takes advantage of more creative plot lines and modern animation techniques. I'm all for international exchange of art forms, but instead of emulating the Japanese shows that actually have plot and style, this show emulates all of the horrible and campy things that the Japanese are finally beginning to get rid of in their own animated shows. It's like Engrish, except that Engrish is only funny if it's seriously created by someone who doesn't speak the language. When the Japanese do it, it's cute. When Americans do it, it's silly. It makes my head hurt.

That said, I can't hate it. The animation is clean and flows well. And the English version employs my two favorite voice actors to voice the main character and the main villain. Who can go wrong with Mark Hamill playing the bad guy? And while it doesn't bring anything new to television that the Japanese haven't been doing for the last forty years, it's still the kind of show that I would probably have watched and loved as a kid. Today's kids will like it.

I LOVED this show when I was a kid, every time there was a new episode or a marathon or pretty much whenever it was on I would make time for it. The characters were amazing, the art style was incredible, and the story line was fantastic. I wish WISH that they didn't cancel it. They deserved that final season so much. That is the only reason I'm not rating it 10. Please, anyone let me know if there's a petition going around or if not how can I start one because this show was absolutely amazing.

RWBY stans, feast your eyes on a Japanese inspired cartoon that will make you want to binge the entire series in one day. THIS! It's fun and full of energy and action. The art style reminds me of Gainax and My Life As A Teenage Robot. The voice acting is magnificent. I wish this show lasted a little longer, though. It was so much hyperactive fun.

Created by a British veteran of Warner Brothers' "Teen Titans", this show is among the first to be produced from a collaboration between Japanese animators and a major American studio, in this case, Disney's Jetix Animation Group (another example is Warner Brothers/Turner Cartoon Network Toonami and Production I.G. for "IGPX").

The animation is mindful of early Rankin/Bass shows like their versions of "The Hobbitt" and "The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King". he characters are voiced by an impressive cast of talent like Clancy Brown of "Starship Troopers", Kari Wahlgren, long time V/O artist for anime, most recently Otomo's "Steamboy", Mark Hamil ("Star Wars 4, 5 & 6"), Mako (Aku of Genndy Tartakovsky's "Samurai Jack") and James Hong ("Big Trouble In Little China").

With great sight gags and one liners meant for the adults in the audience, a sound effects library lifted from Horta/Manhana's loops from the original Star Trek TV series, appearances by characters from classic anime series (such as the captain of the "Yamato", aka the "Argo" of "Starblazers" fame, as an intergalactic tour bus driver in the episode "Big Lug") and plot lines that borrow from so many movie genres, including a showdown between Chiro and the Skeleton King that sounds vaguely like the exchange between Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader in "The Return of the Jedi" S.R.M.T.H.G. makes for great fun for young and old. With a title more convoluted than a certain group of radioactive, adolescent reptilian martial artists, how can you go wrong?

Usually when you see so much as a glimpse of a show, you know what your gonna be in for. When I first saw a poster for samuri jack, I thought evil guy/kung fu fight sequences, and I was right. When I first saw a poster for totally spies I thought teenage girls/kung fu fight sequences, and I was right. When I first saw a poster for powerpuff girls I thought worst cartoon ever/kung fu fight sequences, and I was right. When I first saw a poster for super monkey force...whatever (the title is longer than my review) I thought what the hell! And I was right, I mean, there are no such thing as robot monkeys (unfortunatley), no such thing as skeleton monsters, no such thing as teenagers (oh wait a minute), and there are certainly no such things as teenage boys who fight along side a bunch of robotic monkeys, to defeat a skeleton.

But despite it being the weirdest show in the history of TV, it is also the best. And the final irony is...no matter how weird (or original, as you might like to call it) this show is, it hasn't lost the classic formula of a prime time kids show...kung fu fight sequences.