天下制覇

Because if you haven’t watched it, you should.

Last night, The Boondocks came to its apparent conclusion after five years, forty five episodes, three seasons, and being passed through about as many animation studios, including Madhouse at one point. Probably. It’s a little difficult to tell since they touted it 6 months ago as the final season, but didn’t make any kind of hullabaloo over the apparent final episode. I have no problems admitting that I ignored it through most of its first season and well into its second before the Stinkmeaner Returns episode caught my eye with its sickeningly good fight scene and choreography.

There’s a lot more to it than just anime styled fight scenes in suburbia though. The show is subversive to the extreme. Often, there aren’t too many things that you’ll laugh out loud at, but it knows how to parody and it knows how to do it really well without taking the cluehammer to work in order to drive home every single point. There are times when the cultural references get a tad too heavy handed and topical, such as this season’s episode based on Tyler Perry. If you’re not already familiar with what they’re mocking, then it’s just slightly weird. More consistently, the show loves to mock BET. I think I was in college before I knew BET existed. My middle class white suburban upbringings have done little to prepare me for hip hop culture and I definitely don’t count episodes centered around that stuff as my favorites. There are more than a few episodes that are either just phoned in out of obligation (Obama) or more depressing than funny (MLK), but for the most part it’s good stuff.

The show also excels at its tertiary details. Uncle Ruckus (no relation) and his nonsensical racist rantings are often amusing, but he really shined whenever he got an episode devoted to him and they could let him play off of the traditional racist stereotypes in the media. Juxtaposition of opposites like that was one of the show’s hallmarks, from the streetwise Ann Coulter, to the effeminate rapper Gangstalicious, to the highly intelligent A Pimp Named Slickback. The show reveled in stereotypes instead being bound by them. Ed and Rummy’s Pulp Fiction, Fight Club, etc shoutouts were also some of my favorite riffings of the series.

I also really like the way that the show handled its music. In a lot of ways, it reminds me of how Static Shock used its soundtrack. The main thing of note is that they used vocals to augment tracks instead of overwhelm them. Particularly during the action scenes, it gives a more visceral undertone to what’s happening on screen, actually complimenting it instead of distracting from the foreground events. Anime’s usual routine is to toss up an insert song and call as much attention to it as possible so that everybody can notice and wonder over the singer. Well, except for JCStaff. They just like to play the OP as many times as possible. Anyway, they may as well have a giant neon sign flashing "BUY THIS CD." 

I will admit that it’s not a show for everybody, and its brand of dark humor is something that even the most self-deprecating stuff in anime barely begins to approach, but it’s an excellently made show, and I’m going to miss it. If you haven’t at least given it a chance, I highly recommend that you do. This is the kind of animated show that I would love to see the US produce a lot more of; adult, edgy, and very well made. And all this based on something that came from a little four panel comic. Suck on that, –insert any of too many anime shows to list here–