Tear Along the Dotted Line

I am a 37 year old Mexican woman and I just felt this series as a biopic of my life if I was an Italian man. It is so wonderful.. funny, relatable, fast paced and anxiety inducing.. as life itself. I highly recommend it. Loved it.

It's definitely not easy to talk about this show without many spoilers about the main twists of the last two episodes but I'll try anyway, because I don't want to ruin the experience. This show was made by Zerocalcare (if you were wondering, his real name is Michele Rech) , an italian comic book writer with a pretty peculiar style. His narratives are autobiographical but surreal streams of consciousness full of irony, cyinism and self-pity, but also handling some very serious issues at times in a very deep and personal way. This show is exactly what you would imagine a show based on his comics would look like. It's funny, clever and full of detours that don't add anything to the plot but they get so hilarious you can let that slide. Zero dubs almost every character and that may sound ridiculous, but don't worry, it will make sense in the end. And then, in the last two episodes, you break down crying, when some great plot twists make you realize what Zero is really talking about. I won't get specific, but this is a story of regret, sense of guilt and of being scared of the future. Also trigger warning: there is talking of depression and suicide, so be warned if that disturbs you. I hope for the success of this show and that it could actually revitalize the almost dead industry of italian animation.

I had no idea where this story was heading until the very last episode. And that's a really good thing.

No spoilers. So all I can say is that the film-maker is brilliant. Beats most recent anime hands down (and I love anime).

And I think choosing the animated format was the only way to go - makes the story all that much more impactful.

Now, I have to give credit to IMDb for recommending this to me because I had no idea this show even existed until a month after it released.

This show is based off of the shy graphic novelist Zerocalcare who is the main character in the show AND the books, his name in English is 'zero limescale" and it was based off of an italian commercial for a descaler product because he quickly had to come up with a name to join the discussion online. He was a protester in the Genoa G8 Summit, so that's why if you watch the show you'll see references to a protest and even references it in some of his books.

But the plot is about Zero explaining his relationship with someone named Alice whom he met in his teens and them traveling outside of the city, it really isn't until the last episode until we find out what's going on but, I won't spoil it here.

But, I'll probably talk a little bit about the characters obviously the first person is Zero: This show tackles anxiety in a very painfully realistic light, and I wasn't really expecting that. Zero may come off as self-absorbing and neurotic and...that's the point, he narrates every single character in this show except one character which I will talk about soon. Because he's basically retelling what happened EXCEPT for the end.

The next character is a bit of a strange one, it's Zero's conscience which is an armadillo which is basically him inside his head. I didn't think I would enjoy him as much as I did because he comes off as a dick sometimes but he sometimes comes off as source of reason (not always though).

Sarah is one of Zero's best friends and she is usually a voice of reason for him but a lot more than the Armadillo. I kinda felt like sometimes she was a bit of a Mary Sue but it didn't really bother me that much.

Secco is another one of Zero's friends who plays online poker and constantly ask people if they want to get ice cream, didn't think I'd like him as much as I did too.

And Alice, oh Alice.... I won't really talk about her because she's sort of the entire plot for this series.

I might as well talk about one of my favorite moments in this show, I think it was in episode one or two.

It's where Zero is sitting on the couch and is trying to find something on Netflix (Yes, a character in a Netflix show tries to find something on Netflix which the show is ON Netflix) and he complains how there's ever 8,000 movies and there's nothing good on, then the armadillo appears and says "Don't say that you won't get anymore work!". That moment genuinely made me laugh and that leads me to my next topic: The Humor.

Now, it painfully combines humor and drama into realistic notes.

I won't really spoil the punchlines or it's drama because they're funny and sadly realistic, but just trust me.

One more thing, I usually watch every single show watch with my mother who is around 52 years old and she ends up really enjoying some of the strangest shows I've ever seen like Harvey Birdman, Everybody Hates Chris, Duncanville and many others.

But, I realised that she didn't really click with this show along with a couple of other people I've mentioned to, which brings me into my next point: This show is not for everyone. Because usually because the style of humor and themes come off as a little off-beat and maybe the weird humor of Calcare might be ridiculous to some, but my mom said she enjoyed it but it wasn't the style of humor she was interested in and that she "Wasn't mad that she watched it but it was okay".

But, yeah give this show a shot.

You'd be glad you did....

Mini cartoon series that takes you and makes you laugh for its irony and for the criticism of an acute intelligence of the protagonist. The Roman accent is fun. The series suggests many things, especially the feelings of a typical asocial teenager. TV series to watch all in one breath, recommended!