Unicorn: Warriors Eternal

The series feels like an animated movie padded out with extra episodes rushing to resolve some of the previous setups. All the while creating literal run in circles episodes in the end.

Things go downhill after KO of the main antagonist with everyone else unable to even stay alive to pick up the slack. Hero challenges become vague, contradictive, rushed, or outright dropped.

The setup is good, the art is great, starter characters are interesting, but after 20 years on the cutting room floor a lot of the best parts of the story was lost.

The writers need to go through the feedback and fan criticism before committing to season 2. Everyone likes the series premise, but not the second half execution coming up so short.

The voice acting is pretty bad all around. Several characters feel like they don't belong in the world due to their design. The story is just barely compelling. I feel like they weren't able to decide if this was going to be made for children or adults/young adults and the vibe jarringly vacillates. I'm aware that shows can pull off doing both, but this ain't it.

Apparently I need more words for this to post: Melinda's voice actor is especially bad. Honestly brings down every scene with how unengaged and boring she sounds. How is this person getting paid to do this? Makes me want to give it a shot.

I have so far seen 4 episodes.

The best thing about it right now is the animation and an interesting premise for the story.

The Character design reminds me of old cartoons like Betty Boop and Pinocchio, the backgrounds are really well done and the animation is smooth. The story is about a reincarnating trio of heroes where you follow their latest reincarnation which seems interesting.

And now for the bad parts.

The pacing is really weird. Some parts of the episodes seems drawn out just for everything to happen really fast later. And my biggest disappoinment right now is the lackluster voice acting a lot of the time. The character can show rage with their facial expression and body language but the voice can be a normal speaking voice, it just takes away from the experience too much for me.

I will continue to watch for now but will stop if it gets worse.

Update: I have now watched the whole first season and it get better towards the end.

The art, themes, and pacing of the story really keep you off your feet. Eyes glued to the screen capturing every detail as it goes from moment to moment. An amazingly fun universe with characters that could start a franchise along its hoped 4 season run.

The world is a uniquely rich genre setting that has never been told before, and so cohesively. The attention and dedication given to the show is clearly seen by the amount of effort made that has made rewatching the same season and experiencing new details every time widening any understanding of story. It shows how well written, thought, and blocked out it was.

The dynamics of characters were highly enjoyable, though even thr characters alone with their sole motivations are appealing on their own. The world is so engaging and an irrepetably unique experience. Also the it has its cute comidic moments.

Overall, visuals and audio wise. Stunning and magnificent. Genndy never misses when it comes to his style of animation and the people he chooses to produce the music and audio.

Story wise however, I can follow the plot easily, but it feels like there's just way too many skips inbetween that it's hard to realize why this thing is important, or this thing is not. The main antagonist only appears for about a few episodes, and then vanishes as something else entirely, and it's not even known if that even is the same main antagonist because it isn't said or implied. But I'm just assuming it is because why wouldn't it be, ya know? Overall, the story is alright, but just pacing wise and context wise, it's mish mashed about 50% of the time.

Characters are fun, they look interesting and appealing. Though, unfortunately, like I said with the pacing and context, it just is difficult to make a connection to who/what they are. The main characters mainly, we're just forced into them after them only having like a minute of backstory. I wish they established more of a ground with them rather than just shoving them right in our faces like, "These are the main heroes." And some characters are completely pointless. There were a couple of situations where we're introduced to one person, only for them to never be shown again.

In the end, the show has potential, but the fact that this show was 20 years in the making makes it feel like they were stuck in a specific mindset like it was 20 years ago. In all honesty, the show leaves little to be desired since it leaves on such a weird cliffhanger that makes the finale seem like it wasn't even a finale. Though, I will give it props of making it seem appealing and interesting despite all of these negatives, though when you compare it to other works by Genndy, the show fails hard.

6.5/10.