Ahh Adventure Time, how we love you and your silly cartoon. Originally intended for young children, it has come as a welcome surprise to the creators that a prominent number of young adults have embraced the cartoon as well . In hindsight however, the show has many lovable, interesting and intriguing traits that appeal to us post adolescent humans and here's why:
1. Finn and Jake
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| Finn the Human |
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| Jake the Dog |
Bros, best friends and house mates, all of the aforementioned describes Finn's relationship with Jake. They live in a tree house while spending their days as adventures in the World of Ooo. They spend most of their time saving princesses from the forces of evil and look funny doing it. While both of them have character flaws, they are relatable and somewhat projections of what we wish we could do as well in our own lives. Their character dynamic really sets the tone for most of the adventures they go on and really is the foundation of the whole series.
2. Rebecca Sugar's songs / The songs
On a Tropical Island, Bacon Pancakes and Gummedup/Warmedup are just a few selection of songs which Rebecca Sugar has written for the show. Yes I know they are other songs that other people have wrote, but its Rebecca's songs which I always find myself subconscious humming to. As all you Adventure Time fans will know, the songs are tastefully done sometimes for comedic effect and sometimes to push forward the plot. The songs are kept short enough as not to take away momentum from the story arcs and are just long enough to get lodged in your cranium.
P.S. Please check out my favorite song 'Good Little Girl'. In my humble opinion its her best song yet.
3. Crazy and Uncanny Stories
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| The Party God |
Zombie people, finding a bro a girlfriend by venturing into the evil fire kingdom, getting over an extreme phobia of water, a group of bears partying in the bowels of a monster and partying in the sky with a giant wolf head are among the few basic plot lines that occur in the story. If I were to continue writing all the mind-blowing plot devices I would literally be writing for days and I ain't got time for that cause I need to watch some more Adventure Time. I love the way how stories are told in disjointed fashion but some elements (well mostly) from each episode are taken into the overall canon. It greatly reminds me of my other favorite cartoons like The Marvelous Misadventures of Flapjack,Gravity Falls and Hey Arnold.
4. Alternate / Gender Bending Characters
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Marshall Lee - Half Demon, All Badass
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I have to admit one thing, I think Marshall Lee (Marceline's male counterpart) is one of the coolest character ever. I loved how they made him into a character who thinks he is bad but actually just wants to get Fiona (Finn's female counterpart) to like him. Unfortunately for me though, as of the writing of this article there has only been one appearance by him in the cartoon. Nevertheless, Adventure Time always manages to break the monotony by introducing alternate deviations of the characters. This allows a wider pallet for the creators to work with in return giving us a larger lore to enjoy and explore. I loved the way the gender bended Finn into a tomboyish girl and Princess Bumblegum into an effeminate boy. The Farmworld characters was pretty cool too, but if I start elaborating, I might spoil it for some of you guys out there.
5. Art Style
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Natasha Allegri's Comic- The art is beautiful, don't deny it
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Everything in Adventure Time is hand drawn by the animators at Frederator Studios. It takes me back to the good old days of the golden age of cartoons where things were done out of love rather than profit, but I'm going of on a tangent. The art utilized is very simple (completely contrasting the intricacy of Japanese manga) and is super easy on the eyes. I might also argue that Adventure Time actually makes art more accessible for the people out there as it illustrates that good art does not necessarily mean being able to paint like the Renaissance painters as snotty elitists might define.
6. The Continuity Suspense and the Underlying Creepyness (Spoilers Ahead)
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| The World of Ooo, Post Mushroom War |
In all seriousness, I think the main reason while older people persist with the series is because everyone is curious about the events leading up to the creation of the World of Ooo. The mushroom war is one of those things. I'm pretty curious about what exactly happened to the world and what triggered everything that unfolded. Take the cloud hunt rhyme for example:
"Over the mountain, the ominous cloud
coming to cover the land in a shroud,
hide in a bushel, a basement, a cave,
but when cloud comes a-huntin',
No one's a save... no, safe!"
For a lot of people the cloud seems to refer to a nuclear cloud due a nuclear bomb. The Farmworld story arc explains this in a bit more detail but does not clear up all the questions the viewers have about the war. Adventure Time seems to make a habit out of making us laugh but delivering humor and dialogue with an sinister undertones. I could go on but fans of the series should know what I am talking about (i.e. the existence of Hyoomans, Finn's mutated eyes, etc).
All the pictures used are obtained from Adventure Time Wikia. All materials used are for the purpose of demonstration and no copyright infringements were intended. All materials utilized solely belongs to Pendleton Ward, Frederator Studios and Cartoon Network.
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