Carol & The End of the World

This has everything a good show needs, such a delightful surprise at the end of the year. The pace of the series is wonderfully slow, this has sadly become a rare thing in modern productions. The voice actors do a great job. Carol is relatable for anyone who is at least at times, on a deep journey to find out what makes them happy. I love how the show highlights the extraordinary in the ordinary.

I also really enjoyed how the show reveals more and more gradually what drives the other characters. I really recommend it. Watching it felt like an odd meditation and if you let the message in, it really gets you thinking about your own life and what matters to you.

If someone brought it to you no one would complain when they get it, but nobody would really feel much of anything either.

I quite like the concept of this show, but I feel that they could have done much better with the execution of it.

Maybe an anthology could have worked?

TLDR: Overall I wouldn't recommend this show to people if they have anything better to do, but it was a nice background watch.

Some things that I liked:

• The animation was pretty nice, when they used 3D it didn't feel too out of place
• I think that almost all the characters were at the very least mildly entertaining
• I quite liked all the side stories

Now for some of the stuff that I didn't really like:

• The main character... I just didn't click with her, her personality was eh, her voice was eh (very flat and emotionless), and worst of all I didn't really like her design (her eyes touching each other bothered me every time I noticed it...)
• The nudity, yeah it made a statement in the first episode, but after that it felt needless... If anything it took away from situations...
• The world building also kind of bothered me, how is the world still functioning if everyone is off having fun, it bothered me every time they had to do anything out in the world.

The world is going to end in 6 months due to a small planet crashing into earth. How to proceed? Most people start living every day as if it's their last; they travel the world, run around naked, skydive and learn French, eat whatever they like and screw whoever they want. Meanwhile Carol is trying to pay off her debt with a bank that's not even in business anymore. She doesn't know what to do. We follow Carol as she tries to cope with the lack of meaning in her life.

The show is episodic, mysterious, dry, sarcastic, humorous, emotional. It reminded me of Bojack Horseman in the surreal depiction of real life problems like depression and coping mechanisms.

Maybe it's me. Like Carol, I'm 42, single, childless and don't know how to find the meaning in life or how to enjoy it, while it so often feels that the apocalypse is around the corner. Not a planet about to crash into earth, but climate change, wars, pandemics. So needless to say, I found Carol & The End of the World very relatable.

I'm certain the show is not for everyone. This is not really a review. Rather the void I'm filling after binge watching the whole show. Watch it, don't watch it. I'm sure some will stop after 1 or 2 episodes and some, like me, will enjoy it while crying at least once every episode. I'm sure it will find it's audience. 9/10.

I haven't finished the season yet, but from what I've seen so far, this show keeps you interested in what happens next even if the main character, Carol is very flat emotionally.

Carol is introverted and a bit withdrawn. She struggles with opening up about her feelings to friends or family. I feel if she were honest, maybe she could work through her issues better.

Carol just wants things to be like they used to be. She also wants to be productive and have a sense of purpose regardless of the dire situation the planet is in. She doesn't want to just live in the moment, party, travel or participate in risk taking activities like everyone else she knows.

When eventually does come across people that are like her and have the same interest, she finds that's they are even more withdrawn than she is. She desperately wants to make a friend that she can relate to. But her social awkwardness and quiet demeanor make that even more difficult.

The show also realistically addresses how things might be if we were to face an end of the world situation like having the military work at the grocery stores so that people don't loot or hoard food. This is a level of forethought that I appreciate that makes the show more immersive and engaging. This show also makes you wonder what you would do if faced with a similar situation.

I look forward to seeing what the rest of the show has to offer.

Carol & the end of the world is yet another entry into the quiet, mature sci-fi animated menagerie of 2013 alongside Fired on Mars and Scavengers Reign. It is a bit more comedic than both, but still relatively down to earth and not as extravagant, since it deals with very real problems like depression, introversion and impostor syndrome.

The character designs are rather unique for an adult animated series, with Carol herself having this tear drop shaped eyes that quite encapsulate her character.

As someone dealing with depression and a life crisis, Carol is very relatable to me, seeing her struggle to find something to do as everyone is having their bucklists fulfilled.

Overall a very solid cartoon.