RC9GN is a well animated flash cartoon that focuses between action and comedy equally and teaches valuable life lessons through, a rather passive aggressive book known as the ninja nomicon.
The entire show is aesthetically pleasing and the art direction is incredible. Vasquez (Yes THAT Vasquez, you know Invader zim?) and Takayama did beautiful designs and set the overall design of the cartoon- and it honestly goes PERFECTLY. The series follows the misadventures of two shoobs dealing with monsters, robots, bad guys, and the life of a high school freshman in Norrisville (presumably in America). The main character is far from perfect and exhibits great spurts of irrationality, impulsive behaviors, selfish acts, and a lack of understanding of the world around him. Despite this, he somehow manages to find himself in a situation requiring him to become the Ninja of Norrisville- saving the town from the wrath of a crazy sorcerer, a stressed business man and his mad scientist companion, and at one point a crazy swamp man. The protagonist (Randy Cunningham) best friend is equally intriguing. Unlike his heroic and eventually upstanding pal, he seems apathetic or indifferent to situations around him. He's got a tough outer exterior and appears selfish and angry (which most of the time he is) but proves, he's also the best friend a ninja can have. If not for him it can be said that Randy and perhaps the entire town- would have dealt with their own despair and destruction. The backing characters are all also, incredibly unique and pull the plot of each episode ahead in their own ways. Julian the goth, Morgan the dancer, Bash the thick skulled bully, Theresa the baton twirler, and Debbie Kang (who is overall the CHEESE). My personal favorite aspect of the show- as aforementioned, is the unique balance of action and comedy. It never allows itself to become too serious but maintains that feeling of suspense and on-your-seat-action. It always finds a way to make even the toughest audiences laugh (whether it be movie references or bad puns), and shows the difficulties of life in a way that gives you hope. The ninja Nomicon is a key (character??) of the series- and gives the oblivious Randy anything from cryptic advice that can be easily misinterpreted to advice as straight forward as 'don't go in other peoples houses'. The writers are amazing and manage to come up with new sequences for every episode. The animators are amazing putting so much time and effort into this masterpiece of a cartoon, the storyboard artist are witty and entertaining- and the creators of this show (Scott Thomas and Jed Elinoff) have given me a reason to tune in to cable (which I normally do not). It's an uplifting and lovely show and I recommend it to everyone regardless of age or natural preference.
