The Time for Adventuring has Ended (Spoilers for Adventure Time including the finale)

After 8 years (and 10 seasons, because why have logic, right?), I'm a bit in awe that Adventure Time has actually come to an end. It actually feels like it's been ongoing for over 8 years and if you told me the show has been going for 15 I would have totally believed you. The show has come such a long way in those 8 years but it did it, for the most part, in such a slow, steady and focused way that you might not notice unless you went back now and watched some early episodes.

Jake let himself go as those paychecks rained in.

I would honestly say that some of the very early episodes really don't stand up that well nowadays. The first season in particular can really have that feel at many points like it's trying to be "random for the sake of being random". It's something that a lot of newer Cartoon Network shows seem to have really tried to copy in their own right and dialed up to 11 in a really obnoxious way whereas Adventure Time actually started to dial it back over the years. I honestly can't say for sure if I would watch Adventure Time beyond a few episodes if it had just started airing from season 1 right now.

Uh...

As the show went on, things could still be "random" but there was a method to the madness and they even started to apply that method retroactively. In an interview, they stated how something as silly as the businessmen frozen in ice in Season 1 was actually what made them decide that the Land of Ooo was a post-apocalyptic world. In one sense, it's fascinating and surprising they didn't have that planned out from episode 1, yet at the same time it's pretty inspiring to me how they were willing to analyze and build off of strange things like this as they put them out there. The amount of lore they ended up with as a result is outright impressive. Some 2nd and 3rd rate characters had absolutely enthralling backstories that built up over the years. Somewhere around season 4 or 5 the show really hit a stride and I started to watch every episode as they came out instead of just whenever I happened to stumble upon the episodes on TV. The stories kept you wanting to know what would happen next, the songs were so catchy and often relate-able and the animation seemed to consistently subtly improve. If you told me in season 1 that this same show would really be able to tug at your heartstrings it would be hard to believe.

I still have no words for this storyline.

The more recent seasons unfortunately seemed to fall into a little of a frustrating pattern. They'd have an amazing season premiere episode followed by maybe one or two more episodes with a bit of a cliffhanger but then they'd go on often completely unrelated tangents until the season finale where things would go full circle and finally connect off of the cliffhanger from the beginning of the season. It felt like the creators knew what people wanted but felt like they couldn't stretch those stories out enough so they had to put in a lot of filler. It's not as if the earlier seasons always had one story connecting all throughout a season but it seemed better paced in those middle seasons with a main story line episode or two much more "sprinkled throughout" the season instead of just book-ending it. Starting at season 7 they thankfully fixed this issue a bit again with the introduction of the "mini series" format starting with Stakes. All three mini series (Stakes, Islands and Elements) were absolutely amazing in their own right and I would absolutely recommend those to anyone who may have missed them. Stakes, being the first of these, definitely completely caught me off guard.

Ever so slightly...

Everything seemed to be a step up from where it had been for several seasons, particularly the character development, story and music. Perhaps the music can most be attributed to the fact that, for the first time in years, Rebecca Sugar came back temporarily to work on the series. I really do feel there's something to be said about her music. Somehow she can write a song about the silliest or most basic concept and make it truly heartfelt. Everything Stays is still to me among the very best songs in the entire show. It seems so basic but as you listen to it there really feels to be so much more under the surface. If I'm being honest, I got distracted from completing this post over 2 weeks ago and then I heard Everything Stays and something clicked. I knew the draft of the post was still here waiting, right where I left it. Perhaps the strong memories of the finale faded a little, ever so slightly, from when I first watched it those weeks ago but I knew they were still there. They stayed. I could still pull them out and put them to text.

On that note, for a post about Adventure Time and more specifically the finale, I really haven't talked about the finale itself. As tough as it was to watch the show come to an end, it really was a great finale. There were so many references from throughout the years that I catch new references every time I watch it. It almost felt like a fake out too because the first half of the finale essentially just felt like what the last season or two has led to but then the second half of the finale really felt like it was what "everything" has led to. So many characters, even if they weren't all A-list characters, felt like they got the finale that they needed. In a weird way, Finn felt like he didn't get all that much of an end to his story but his story feels like it could have truly ended a few seasons ago and still been "complete". Ice King, who really felt like he had a lot more of an ending to his story than Finn did, also felt like he needed it that much more. For people who've followed the show through the years, that really resonated. Giving an ending to PB and Marceline was that extra cherry on top too.

It's impressive how much they've built to this.

If there's any minor complaint I could make about the finale it's that the big song in the finale, "Time Adventure" felt almost too simple and not strong enough for what it felt like it needed to be. I fully understand the concept of Adventure Time having a song for the final big "battle" when music has become such a big part of the show over the years but when this song is held up against other songs like "Everything Stays", "Remember You", and "Best Friends in the World" it just seems a bit too repetitive and like it doesn't stand up properly. As I've gone back to listen to it again during this post I feel like I really see what they were going for but somehow it just didn't feel to me like it translated completely right into the episode but I may be an odd one out on that.

The truth?

Beyond that, there were a few strange moments, like Jake's alien powers, that seemed to be way too much of a footnote for how much time was spent developing them before this finale but I guess it reaches a point where it's impossible to focus the proper amount on everything with the sheer amount of lore they have built up.

Overall, the finale was really great. They tied up even more loose ends than I ever could have imagined they'd be able to in only 44 minutes. They paid so much respect to everything that's been built that I can't help but truly appreciate everything about it. Even something as absolutely silly as Orgalorg did not go without being noted. Ending the episode on "Come Along with Me" felt like such a perfect choice as well since it's always been a strong song that never really got enough notice since Cartoon Network has always had the tendency to cut out ending credits songs entirely for some reason or another. We got to see how everyone not only had an "ending" but continued their adventures afterwards. As awkward as Shermy and Beth may have seemed in the episode opening, they suddenly made so much sense to me when they were the final sendoff to show us that, even thousands of years later, perhaps the time for adventuring never truly comes to an end.

It all comes full circle.

As much as I figured this post was going to be full of some great jokes about Adventure Time throughout the years, I'm finding myself wrapping this up without all too many jokes at all. Maybe in a weird way it's telling of how the show developed and matured over the years. How it stopped just being merely "silly" and started being thought provoking. Or maybe not. Don't ask me, I'm just a kid.

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Everything is Ordinary (Spoilers for FLCL Season 1 and the First Few Minutes of Season 2)

Earlier this year I was absolutely floored by the announcement that they were making not just one but two additional seasons to a favorite show of mine from high school. That show being FLCL, Fooly Cooly, Furi Kuri or whatever they were deciding to call it at that particular moment in time. The original series of only 6 episodes came out a full 18 years ago and having probably seen it all the way through at least 8 times by now I can confidently tell you that no, I don't get it either.

This crazy guitar hit and run is early in Episode 1

That being said there are certain themes that were always very prevalent throughout the show that become obvious, if not during the first watch of it, at least during the second. The main story is definitely a "coming of age" story for Naota in all the weirdest ways possible. Naota is feeling alone and lost in the world and is trying to find his place. There is a lot about puberty even though I doubt they ever say the word. I mean, why talk about actual puberty when you can instead have the phallic imagery and metaphors literally come out of the main character's head? 

By the end of the season, Naota has grown up quite a bit and come into his own and one of the interesting themes that develops during this is that we notice just how immature his parental figures and, frankly, all adults in his world are. In the FLCL world, adults are children and children are adults. Cats are still cats.

Except when people are cats?

As nonsensical as FLCL always seemed, the three things that always truly grabbed me while watching it were:

1) The exploration of Naota's sense of feeling alone, abandoned and unsure of himself along with his development throughout the series.

2) The action scenes which sometimes seemed to make absolutely no sense and yet really drew you in. 18 years later, I somehow still have very vivid memories of watching Naota "swing the bat" on a big TV with surround sound. 

3) The soundtrack by The Pillows. Although 95% of the lyrics are in Japanese, music itself is truly a universal language and I think The Pillows really proved that here with how well their music can often set the scene and get you pumped. 

With all of that in mind, once I got over my initial shock over the announcement of a season 2 and 3 after all these years, I had a few worries of how it would end up. I quickly heard that The Pillows were returning which relieved a lot of my worries but there were certain things that left me still a bit concerned.

Season 2 was shown to now be following a completely new female character named Hidomi who is a high school student much like Naota was. That left me a little uncertain. So... was season 2 just going to basically be season 1 but with a female lead instead of a male lead? Was that really what they brought the show out of a 18 year hiatus for? I mean, I had nothing wrong with a 2nd season being basically just "more FLCL" but it just seemed anti-climatic.

The male lead looking a bit like Naota didn't help either.

Soon after season 2 came out, I got a chance to watch it and I dove in pretty blind. I have to say that it took no less than 3 minutes 5 seconds for all of my fears to vanish. The show opens with a new incredibly catchy song from The Pillows (Thank You, My Twilight). Hidomi says a few of Naota's lines, enough to draw some parallels with him, but we still get enough of a look at her being a unique individual. The only English words I caught in the song the first time I saw the opening scene was "Life is Beautiful" which was an interesting compared to the images on screen. Soon after the short sequence, Hidomi wakes up in her bed and we realize we just witnessed a dream she was having as the song from her dream continues as her alarm tone. Much like that time I had a dream about a scary ghost following me and woke up to Scooby Doo reruns. 

I swear it was scarier in my dream.

From that first scene, I was absolutely hooked and have watched every episode since no more than a day after it was released. Unfortunately, that means I finished season 2 this morning but it was a great ride and I'm even more pumped now for season 3 which is supposed to be a releasing this September. Since season 2 is still so new and I really enjoyed walking into it so blind I really don't want to spoil it for anyone else but I will say that the action scenes and soundtrack were just as great as they ever were in season 1. I also found that Hidomi becomes just as interesting of a character as Naota and a few of the crazy FLCL world mechanics work a bit differently now with a female lead which is fun too. Honestly, if you liked FLCL season 1 at all, I think you owe it to yourself to watch Season 2. I don't think you'll be disappointed and I plan to rewatch it after rewatching season 1 again. Now if you'll excuse me I believe I have to set my alarm to "Thank You, My Twilight" before I go to bed.