homfrog42's reviews

What's not to love about this show? It's got action, slapstick, observational humor, a weirdly sympathetic antihero on a mission of rage and vengeance, and a generally insane yet somewhat accurate depiction of life in Los Angeles. By that I mean that things tend to catch on fire with no provocation - but it's also the only cartoon I've ever seen that depicts day-burning street lamps in the scenery. That's attention to detail right there, to say nothing of the scenes in the show you can actually identify as real LA places. Sig alerts, sequestration, Silicon Valley; they might as well say "shot on location," because it's basically the real world in irony-laced ink. You can also play "who's that voice?" with the frequent guest VAs. The writers do an excellent job of keeping the characters consistent and the character development progressing smoothly, and the show has a definite continuity, but one that doesn't impede just jumping in anywhere.

Other reviewers have some discouraging things to say about the Flash animation, but having been raised on Homestar Runner and other web cartoons I can tell you that as Flash animation goes, this show is just about top notch. And the Dan Vs. animators manage to largely avoid the phenomenon of significant asset reuse that seems to plague most other symbol-based cartoons (Jimmy Neutron, Foster's Home, et cetera). This might be due to the background art having this funky watercolor style that scintillates into the character art.

Everything else positive I could say about the show has already been said by others. I'm just telling you what I've noticed. It's a great cartoon; watch it.