Detentionaire is one of those shows I loved to watch in my childhood. Every Thursday, a new episode would drop, and after that, my mind would focus on where the story would go next. I loved it, but I was worried that it wouldn't hold up if I revisited it. Well, after a rewatch, I am happy to say that 10 years later this series still rocks!
The show follows Lee Ping, a 10th grader who is framed for a huge prank he didn't do, and thus has to prove his innocence, "breaking rules to prove he didn't break any rules" as he puts it. This setup seems like it would be a simple whodunit type of plot, but the more Lee (and the audience) learn about the prank, the deeper the mystery gets. I love how even when the stakes are high, there are still callbacks to earlier seasons. It's clear that everything in this show happens for a reason, like an intricate puzzle. Despite the show touching on some dark themes, it also knows how to have a sense of humour, and has lots of funny quotable moments!
The characters are really likable because they subvert your expectations. While at first glance they may appear to be tropes you can find in any other show set in high school, each character soon reveals there's so much more to them, or a trope is flipped on it's head entirely. A "dumb jock" could actually be pretty smart, a big tough guy could actually be a softie, and the shallow popular girl could have many insecurities of her own. The voice cast helps to bring these characters to life. In particular I loved Jonathan Tan as Lee, David Berni as Chaz, and Brian Froud as Lynch. Each performance is just oozing with charisma, helping the characters stay that much more memorable.
While we can always hope for a continuation of the show, one thing is for sure: Detentionaire is one of the best story-based mystery cartoons out there, and is criminally underrated. If you see this review, I urge you to go check it out for yourself!
