Magnifique Monday-Wakfu Season 1 Review

Sometimes it seems as though the only ones producing animates television shows are in the United States or Japan, but that is far from the case. Lots of companies all over the world produce their own animated series, and many of them exist in France. England's eternal rival has harbored a love of animation, especially Japanese anime, for quite some time, and one of the most prominent examples of their own works is Wakfu, an animated series set in the same universe as Dofus, an MMORPG made by the production company.

While it was produced aiming at a children's demographic, there's enough story sophistication and adult jokes that it ended up with a worldwide fanbase on the internet. I was introduced to it by my friend The Game Professor from Games as Lit 101, and he has every reason to love the series.

Set in it's own unique fantasy world, Wakfu follows the young boy Yugo with the power to make portals in mid-air, as he and his party of adventurers travel the land trying to solve the mystery of his past and stop the time-mage Nox. The framework for the story is fairly basic, and for most of the season it's more of an excuse to tell one-off side stories than an actual plot.

This format is part of why I don't exactly love the show. I think the second half is actually pretty great, but the slow meandering first half keeps me from really diving headfirst into the material. Say what you will about Book 1 of Avatar: The Last Airbender, but at least they had a concrete, specific goal. Wakfu is animated using Flash, and it actually looks great. As I've said before, I'm far from an expert on art or animation, but I never found myself rolling my eyes at the visuals on-screen.

The cast here is pretty good. Yugo it your typical young kid protagonist, Ruel is a greedy old man who's likability is pretty shaky in some episodes, Sadlygrove Peridal is a perfect moron cinnamon roll, Evangelyne is literally Artemis from Young Justice, and Amalia is just kinda okay. I look forward to season 2, to see if the cast grows more there.

Honestly, the season's villain might be the most entertaining character. Nox is a clockwork man who sucks wakfu, or life energy, out of other beings to life, and he's been amassing more for centuries by killing thousands and leaving wastelands in his wake. He's also a gibbering madman who has super flashing teleport moves and great dialogue. Without spoiling anything, his backstory is fascinating and ultimately his story is tragic.

If it sounds like I'm being down on this series, I don't want to. I really enjoyed this season on the whole, and I do recommend it to anyone who likes action cartoons with story to them. I'm actually looking forward to season 2, with the hopes that it can make the same strides forward there that many of it's fellow animated series have. But as much as I do enjoy it, this is closer to quality to Xiaolin Showdown than Avatar: The Last Airbender. I don't mean that as an insult, but I do feel like my expectations were set a little high when I first saw it. The show is definitely worth a watch, but I wouldn't expect the experience to be a game-changer for you. If you want to give it a try after my review, it's available (dubbed into English) on Netflix.

#animatedseries #monday