Tuesday, November 3, 2015

Space Dandy

    As implied by the name, Space Dandy is about a Dandy in Space, who coincidentally is named Dandy, or Space Dandy to those he wants to impress (kinda confusingly simple). Dandy is an alien hunter who searches the galaxy for unknown forms of life, and brings them in so he can get paid. He is accompanied by QT: a vacuum cleaner robot who is probably the smartest in the crew, and Meow: a not exactly smart Betelgeusian (his name is not "Meow", it's just that Dandy and QT couldn't understand Merowmreowreow plus he looks cat-like). All episodes are relatively stand-alone so there isn't much of a grand storyline to mention. The only similarity between episodes is that A: Dandy is broke and trying to find an Alien in order to get a paycheck, and B: Dandy breaks the universe (covered later). There are also recurring characters including Dr. Gel: a scientist tasked with pursuing Dandy, Scarlet: an inspector at the space alien registration center who often denies Dandy a paycheck because of trying to fake his way to money, and the narrator (yes the narrator is actually a character).
    The animation of this series was, lets just say interesting. For the most part it was pretty plain, except for having a lot of motion (which improves the quality, but is a pain to animate). However in the first season particularly it used a style (only in moments where movement was critical to the scene) where things moving fast were drawn slightly bland with inconsistent drawing between frames. This gives things a kind of warped look, but is EXTREMELY effective when it comes to portraying motion (and also makes things easier to animate). They also use another style similar to this one, but without the inconsistent drawing. This is mainly used to create a wonderfully fluid movement that is only used on special occasions.
    There are a lot of things I like about this series, for one the comedy is an extremely point-blank, almost slapstick comedy that is hilarious. This series references numerous things including (but not limited to) Planet of the Apes, Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy, and Google Street View. This series is also fond of breaking the fourth wall, which is quite a delight because it not often used. As you watch through, the story line appears to be quite simple, but in the final episode everything becomes complex (as well as explaining a few things). In the finale the universe literally ends, during the end of this episode Dandy is contacted by the narrator, who is revealed to be "god". God then proceeds to ask Dandy if he would take over for him because of a special trait Dandy has: he is an omnipresent being who exists in all hypothetical timelines. This explains a great deal. In some of the preceding episodes Dandy (and his crew) dies. As a viewer I originally thought that the series was just going in the direction of the story just restarting every couple episodes, but that is not the case. Instead each "death" was just one of the "hypothetical timelines" (very confusing I know). Overall I would recommend that anyone who likes straight up humor and an enjoyable, but intricate, storyline should watch this series.


Dandy: Center, QT: Right, Meow: Left

   
   

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