99% of this is originally posted from 2023:
"I was curious at first. But now it's here, and it was:n't it.
It's the lite version of Invincible x New 52 Superman comics (which is where some of the inspiration for the show came from)
Wasn't dogshit, let's get that out the way, it's only 2 episodes so far.
It means well, the execution/ order of events of the origin /how the show so far is written, are the biggest agitations for me.
EP1-2
- Decent animation…✅
- Jack Quaid works in some scenes, but others, he doesn't. But he's not a bad choice for Clark specifically, he's decent. I need to hear him as Superman when in rage, or a very dire situation with a rival.
- LOIS-Chan, an aged up Luz Noceda + Genki Anime caricature = Lois parody/ She's underwhelming, bland
- Music is very underwhelming 90% of the time
Yet the music during the Jor-El scene EP2 was cool✅ Sounded creepy as fuck
- The dialogue feels off✅ too current gen
- How he got the suit is too rushed
- Ma & Pa Kent✅ Ma Kent being chunky was a RANDOM design choice, but it's been done in the lore before and it reminds me of Inko (aka best mom), heavy built mums are cute sometimes. Realistic. I like that Martha is involved in Clark's discoveries also.
- Clark doesn't have a grip on his powers, knows how dangerous he is, but goes to the city anyway. Odd.
- Lois & Clark just have the hots immediately because, "purdy". They're cute, but it's shallow. Better to have an actual relationship first before jumping straight to that, forming respect, takes too long, too old fashioned but it works.
- Jimmy, "James" is black for some reason. A conspiracy nerd, and that's his entire character. so far.
- Perry White, is black, for some reason. Zero energy, just a lump of jadedness. Fine, whatever.
- The comedy is well paced, sometimes, other times it's cringe. Sometimes very fasted paced, very modernized.
Snarky "lawl" humor, characters talking a lot but not really saying shit. Again, dialogue is very modern, thus very centered around being ironic, or overtly clever in some way, and it's forced.
Like a boomer trying to write "young people talk."
- The villain is severely underwhelming, an alternate take on Livewire. Not impressed so far, she's not interesting at all.
- Very little background characters on some settings, just empty husks of a city at times, DCAMU had the same issue, but the characters are just static cutouts. Budget limits. Looks odd in a city, but then in EP2 there's people around during Leslie's meetup sequence.
- The plot itself is standard, doesn't really kick off anything interesting, just The Animated Series Episode 2-3 again but more rushed. Except these kids have something to prove Scooby Doo adventures with the Lois-Chan squad
Not a fan of "slice of boring" anime. Unless it's unique like Usagi-Drop
The best praises I can give this show's first 2 episodes are:
SOME of the animation is ok, most of the character designs are dogshit, the sfx are sometimes good, then it's lacking in some scenes.
The Kryptonian Technology having an ancient vibe to it is cool, and I like that Jor-El isn't immediately speaking English. Makes him seem otherwordly.
As does the mysterious Bio-Boost (Superman Blue) effect this particular Superman has when his eyes glow and he activates some kind of augmentation power.
- Can't wait to see what that's about.
Jor-El looking rugged is actually something i really, really liked.
My biggest issue, is the handling of the introduction to Clark and the show's decisions regarding what exactly Episode 1 was and did in execution.
Again, The Superman Blue aesthetic with his electricity aura moment piqued my interest the most, cause it's different, but ofc they don't develop that in EP1 to reel you in.
No explanation on his Blue aura, which is a new thing for Supe animation.
Have Clark ask what the fuck that was, pan the camera on Jor-El's face, cut to the next scene for dramatic effect, have the remaining events play out and then by the end of the episode show Clark learning what it is.
Boom.
And that alone would've been better, can't argue it wouldn't be interesting. Cause it's not a complete info dump, or instant gratification, cause it's not instant.
But it happens gradually in the same episode, not blue balled for another episode, and it's NEW lore, most importantly.
It's not something we've never seen before, at least in this medium.
- Superman Blue hasn't been a thing in mainstream animation, not even in TAS. This is prolly just a visual coincidence or a easter egg, this likely isn't Superman Blue, cause Superman Blue is a mutation.
But exploring it, would've been enough to mix the formula beyond Office shit.
- Cause another thing that i noticed, where are the other Planet employees, maybe i need to watch the episodes again, but Metropolis, feels a bit....empty.
Otheriwse very weird decision to withhold a more interesting element in the introduction to the series compared to Lois-Chan, James & Clark getting into trouble, which is less interesting.
That electricity superpower is something you do in the middle of the episode (SETUP) so that the rest of the episode is spent exploring and building up to what it could be then end on a cliff hanger after a reveal. (PAYOFF)
But most of the episode was spent on the mediocre slice of life plot beats, so the content that's actually interesting is left for the end, or a glimpse of it.
The point is to have an intrigue to begin with, and the Lois squad solving Scooby mysteries isn't it.
Part 1 Episode 1 felt like it jumped the gun, in a rush to go nowhere, because we're on adventures with a Clark we don't know.
He wasn't established first, he was introduced as a child, but not established.
- AMERICAN ALIEN left a similar impression, i was skeptical at first.
But #1 impressed me. Spent more time with the Kent family than expected, Jon wasn't the biggest fan of Clark, they let it play out, and it was resolved through organic means. Jon grew to like Clark through a fun little sequence, after choosing to accept Clark for what he is, and not basing how he sees the boy off of paranoia:
After reading that strip: If most of Episode 1 was spent setting up the Kent family/Clark like that before the time skip: It would be a better story/ stronger introduction to the character. And his parents to boot.
In just two episodes I notice the show's writing is in a rush to get somewhere, hence why 3 minutes into the show before we even get to know Clark he already bumps into Lois.
And in the process it overlooks the importance of slowing down and absorbing what was already presented to the audience. Just 2 min ago.
- Non-linear storytelling is can be good, but it doesn't work for every story. Most times when you introduce something, it helps that element to commit and explore it before moving to something else. Cause that scene in Episode 2 with young Clark, should've been tied in Episode 1.
- There's no downside to developing something thoroughly, but there is flaw, and a severe lapse in judgement to jump from one thing to the next.
The Intro scene of Episode 1 is perfect✅
Very much like RED SON movie, intro scenes with Young Clarks are majestic, well shot, good direction, good animation. Excellence.
Regarding "Lois-Chan",
So far, Lois is essentially not "Lois Lane" in execution.
They're trying to "create" Lois Lane, present her coming up from intern status, fine.
And yet the result is literally not Lois, just a genki anime girl named Lois, that looks more like an aged up Luz Noceda.
Hereby dubbed "Lois-Chan"
And it pisses me off that people are thirsting cause Lois is a "tomboy" now, when she's been a Tomboy since the 40s.
This one has a haircut, and now magically she's a tomboy.
Dear Normies, please be seen and not heard.
Cause you same people will forget this show exists 72 hours after the finale.
People don't like my criticisms sometimes, that's fair, I talk a lot.
And yet I'll be the one still mentioning the show 2-10 years from now while everyone is hyping something else, forgotten it completely.
So who really gave a shit & who didn't?
Rhetorical. But think about it.
Part of the appeal of Lois is she's a tough city-girl tomboy that wears skirts and girly shit, whatever she wants.
The subversion is that she's not fitting the stereotype, independent, self-made, is the entire point.
But what people are going gaga for, is this version is basically being 2 stereotypes at once.
If yer attaching to the fact that she's an anime stock character, fine, but don't be one of those people that says this is the "better/best" version when the most you've likely seen of Lois is whatever you watched.
Lois-Chan & Clark,
One hand I like that Lois likes Clark, than Superman. She fucks up with her lies, and apologizes later after throwing a tantrum in James' ear about it. But she says sorry.✅
- What I don't like is the over-emphasis of the attraction like this is a CW show.
- Meaning, Its not subtle at all, less about her drive and agency & instead it just turns her into a Genki Senpai NPC, Haruhi clone, zero imagination was put here. And she has zero presence, this is not Lois Lane, this is Haruhi Suzumiya reincarnated.
- (Again) a stock anime character.
For an alternate take, they waste no time, and they're almost immediately DTF, very rushed.
Not digging that decision, especially 3min into the show and we don't even have a grasp on Clark's roots and neither does Clark.
Very sloppy prioritization.
The new series Clois is the hallmark of modern storytelling in some ways, instant gratification: Rushed, they get along, they're wholesome and cute & yet have zero chemistry.
They instantly fall for each other and it's kawaii fodder that everyone's eating up because dopamine fest.
Which is where the "So wholesome", "wholesome this", "wholesome that" comes from.
Same exact feedback from multiple people, why? One trick pony.
Not earned. It's already established that they like each other within the first few seconds they see each other. Wow! Okay, that was quick.
They have zero chemistry, they just blush whenever they hear each other's name, and act cute. And that's all it takes. Superman's always been a Shonen Protagonist but this show in a good & cringe way , makes it official
She can't even send a text to the guy without trippin, mind you, she does NOT know this guy, she met him like what 48 hours ago.
He's just "beautiful", very surface level stuff. Very superficial, you're hot, so now you matter to me. One-dimensional
Too easy, Not earned. Not exclusive bad writing to modern writers but very very modern anyway.
Literally just happens, and i'm not exaggerating: He goes to a store, and she literally, LITERALLY just shows up. Before we even get to know the guy in isolation.
TAS, Smallville, L&C = Banter, back-and-forth, cheeky looks, competition and a rivalry, time to build the dynamic = Chemistry
The show's writing is overall rushed, safe, it's not setting groundwork it's just going full speed. Too eager to take off, with no foundation or hook.
It almost immediately has Clark & Lois ready to take each other's pants off with one look, they knew each other for what 2 or 3 days? And he's on the couch validating her and singing her praises- like they have history. (EPISODE 2 btw)
Of course she doesn't compliment him back. It's just him kissing her ass.
Which is a Red flag that you don't know how to write a relationship, a man just validating a woman in bulk isn't chemistry, feeding her ego isn't romance.
- Just because they look cute doesn't mean it's selling anything.
- A relationship is about 2 people, not just one being put on a pedestal.
And then before they could go anywhere with the scene, before she could reciprocate, take whatever it is they have somewhere, ofc James barges in.
Red Flag #2 that you likely don't know how to write a relationship: Interruptions
Because you don't know how to wrap up the scene properly or commit to it.
DekuxOchako anyone?
And it's fine if you don't know, there are things i'm still learning through fucking up & research.
But if it's new territory, look at better examples, like some 40s movies, look at the chemistry of those couples, the back and forth. The time the relationship is given to breathe, look at recent decent examples of smaller couples:
- Aang & Katara
- Marcie & Bubblegum
- Robin & Starfire 2003
- Makoto & Batou
- Eve & Mark (Comics version)
- Ashi & Jack
- Clark & Lois (Superman & Lois)
Clois so far, juvenile. forced. locked eyes once, now we're on the "you like him/her don't you?" phase of the game, literal middle school tier shit, and they met like way less than 48 hour span?
Maybe form an actual relationship first to warrant all this.
And i love wholesome, but i'm not a sucker for it. I don't take bait.
Not calling 2 episodes of a show the best version of something just because the characters blush every 2 minutes and stress over sending a simple text, it's cute, and it's fun. And it is, but at the same time, what is the mfing rush?
Otherwise, because Lois & Jimmy are stock current gen blobs, they're the epitome of typical. Lois was not written woke, that's a surprise, but she's not interesting.
She speaks her, she has drive, she's a leader type. Sounds like Lois, but it also sounds like Haruhi Suzumiya, which who she more accurately resembles, reserves a room for their little group and everything.
A Genki stereotype who just serves to have big eyes, bounce around, blush every time Clark is mentioned like this is a tween show because "quirky".
And that's all people care about beyond Clark being a "wholesome" hunk. And he is.
She's quirky but she doesn't have the cut throat Lane charm, so she's not even entertaining, she's just short and cute.
- But she's not a pet waifu (which is what most ppl are stuck on)
She's a woman. So I'm gonna need more than just cute and googoo eyes for Clarky boy. And hopefully we'll get that in later episodes.
- In this regard, it felt like a teenager/ or fanfic writer in general wrote this version of the relationship, as it is in EP1-2, it's so rushed. With all the emphasis on the poorly paced romantic overtones, "Let's prove ourselves & get that story" this show reads like a CW script that got animated.
Raceswapping "Oh Noooo-",
Not wasting too much time with this, all imma say is, if the point of continuously recoloring white characters is representation, you're a tool.
Not impressing this poc with a DLC recolor of white characters, you're annoying me by doing that.
Why does that annoy you?
Glad you asked,
Maybe air another Static show, or a show for Rocket, Vixen, John Stewart, ICON, Mr.Terrific, N52 Solstice? (Indian girl), Cassandra Cain,
But instead you do the safe thing, and recolor cause all you'll get in reponse is detractors that complain but watch it anyway. Or nitpickers that complain and won't give it a chance.
Translation: ZERO Risk. Instead of making pet blacks, usually side characters or knockoffs.
Take a risk, and give the existing blacks, people of color a chance to reach broader audiences of all colors.
Give Cassie Cain her own show, animated for god's sake, animated please (2026 edit: rated-R, don't be a coward DC animation)
Try that. Make it good. And then I'll bite.
Clark's decision to leave, or the writers decision regarding Clark.
I'm confused as to how/why he's this old but still hasn't gotten a grip on some of his powers, let alone strength, one of his firsts.
The point of his time in Smallville to Metropolis is learning how to control it then feeling comfortable to leave after. Otherwise why have him discover his powers that early at all, with all that time passed and he's done what exactly?
- This is why establishment first is key
And yes, I know we'll get context later- but that's the point. To get people invested "NOW", you don't rely on belated context later to try to be clever or something.
This is SUPERMAN, not Dr.Fate, Batman or Swamp Thing.
It's okay to be more direct.
Storytelling wise, makes zero sense to do that.
Otherwise think about what this is saying about Clark:
- It's dangerous to leave the nest and still be this sloppy, and Clark would know that. A loose cannon like him with no grip on his potential, can kill someone.
But this Kent looks reckless and stupid to be a willful loose cannon.
(But this is what happens when the writers want a wholesome clumsy cutesy Clark Kent for the "uwu kawaii" audience, without thinking about ramifications) How it makes him look.
- Otherwise him being clumsy was the act he puts on intentionally to misdirect people. An act, meaning he was in control.
- Here, he's actually clumsy and he's destroying almost everything in his apartment lmfao. He's an actual danger, what happens if his Heat vision just spasms? We haven't seen that yet.
Very unwise decision on the writers part.
Revealing Omniman as a Hero, setup.
Then end with a twist slaughter as established in Episode 1, payoff, good.
The double twist that he's actually an agent is saved for later, good. Why?
Because he was established with the basic information first, so the 2nd twist is the double payoff. And we see his trying to mold Mark as hints, which is more set up.
Him being evil wasn't saved for episode 2-3, the HOOK was given to reel you in and it worked.
The hook for episode 1 was Clark glowing...ook, now here's the issue. If we knew what the hell it was prior, or he did. Or it was established that he couldn't control it earlier then it happens later again, maybe it would've had some more weight.
It's just random. I believe more set up was/is needed going forward.
Now just because you personally don't like something doesn't mean it's bad, but the punchline, i don't dislike it.
It's not bad. It's just sloppy. under-written, bland and very rushed.
- 2 Episodes in, a lot happened and it doesn't feel like anything.
And the most people keep saying over and over again is "Wholesome", there's been hundreds of wholesome anime that nobody gives a shit about anymore.
So that means nothing.
Wholesome for the sake of wholesome doesn't mean it's good. Stop repeating the same thing everyone else is saying, and actually have something to say that's not emotionally-centric or related to what gives you the butterflies.
Cause if a show is reliant on your feelings, instead of what it's actually doing right in execution, that's how a show becomes irrelevant in seconds when people stop typing the hashtag. Feelings are fickle.
Cause frfr, fuck me and what I think for a second:
If YOUR script is just plain surface-level shit that you can see in any Office Anime, but the content that would set it apart (The Alien lore), the good stuff is what you choose to hold back for some reason.
What exactly are you doing different or that's not beyond the formula? And why would you hold that back?
And if the entire point is the office shenanigans, why would you limit your show to what anyone could see by going to watch Servant x Service? Which is basically what this is lol.
It's been done and it's just underwhelming.
I get the point that him finding out is the arc, but if him finding out is just third party to the scooby gang mysteries, it's not really a main story development than it is a side story, isn't it?
Cause notice how that's the arc, title card rolls, then 3min later timeskip, and we're meeting Lois instead of establishing further Clark's motivations that we just got 2min ago-
Now we got Taskforce X, Amanda Waller, all of this but we don't have a full grasp on Superman's origin or what that blue shit is, which are the BASICS.
Jumping the gun across the board. What is the rush my guy?...
Again, plays like a CW show that's paranoid of cancelation at any second, so it's just firing on all cylinders to justify it's place. Except regarding the information that would make the show interesting. Cause again, Episode was prime territory to set up the lore, and establish Clark instead of nuggets per episode.
Clark gets the origin rundown in Episode 2, narrating it as it happens, which is distracting, he sees the ship launch. We get that, but nothing more than that. It's cut off again.
Then he just...gets the suit for some reason, he didn't request it, it just happens.
And Jor-El doesn't speak English, so why does he get the suit?
Martha patches it up, he gets a phone ring, then he almost immediately goes to save Jimmy and Lois.
Just quick quick quick, gotta go fast. Zero time to absorb any of what just happened.
Again, Speedster level pacing. Rushed, sloppy.
What's the rush.
Episode 1 gave me the impression, that they wanted to emphasize Krypton's lore.
Episode 2 has a very good scene with young Clark being spooked by the craft and runs to his parents, and i will assume he never went back to it in what.. 10 years?
They finally give us the rundown later in Episode 2, finally, yet it was literally the shit we've seen before already.
Not impressed. At all. Run of the mill anime with a super-powered person in it.
And ironically, I talk about instant gratification, but it sounds like I want the info dump of Krypton & other things at once. Have your cake and eat it took Eh ?
No, cause i already pitched how to do it and make it work.
It's not what you do, it's how you do it. That's why the Episode 2-3 of this (below) show wasn't a pacing nightmare:
Cause it's not revealing everything at once.
After i watched "My adventures", i went to the original 90s series as an experiment (watched the episodes 2-3) We get to see the parents find him, some of his school life, using his powers, save a little girl, meet Lana,him finding out about his past flies for the first time, he moves to the city he meets Lois, meets Jimmy, meets Perry, and now we see Lex, Corben, a fight scene, Supes causes a Plane sabotage because he was also a SuperRookie at the time.
That's just Episode 2 btw, one Episode.
- With everything I just dumped, you'd think The older series was rushed & sloppy with how i described it, but it was better in writing because of how it structured the events.
Slower paaace, it wasn't in a rush.
- The origin wasn't chopped up and scattered, it was founded first like a cement flooring, then everything else was built on that. Thus better pacing. The current events wasn't hijacked by the past, and the past wasn't hijacked by the present.
- One was established so focus could go into the timeskip events without disjointed transitions.
So much is done is less time.
Just poor decisions all around.
Not bad, mediocre. Sloppy.
Clark is a vacuum because we got see him as a kid, but before we could learn ANYTHING to get to know him, timeskip. Which defeats the point of establishment.
So now all the info we get of his background is going to chopped up, diced, and edited all over the course of multiple episodes.
Main issue with this show so far, is a very sloppy script trying to do everything at once, at a breakneck pace and holding back on the potentially new lore/ content we should be getting exploration for.
- It's not enough that Clark is adorable & Lois is "uwu kawaii waifu"
And i'm not speaking for myself, people, time and time again hype something up defend it religiously, then forget it 3 days after it's done.
Look at My Hero, after Season 6 ended, who was talking about it? No one.
On a positive note, I am excited to see what they'll do (for better and for worse) with the rest of Superman's rogues gallery, and who they'll choose to use. Or if this series will spawn a TV-verse
Imagine Blue Beetle or Shazam in this style.
I would 1000% want that. Especially Captain Marvel/Shazam
Otherwise, this is the dumbed down version of TAS with some not so charming modernization, because as I watched TAS EP2-3, the similarities with MADWS is very apparent.
- Homework notes were taken, and that's good, it's just they didn't copy the shit that worked in the original lmfao.
And the modernization isn't the entire issue, it's the writing decisions, as i've explained in full.
The modern animation is a testament of modernization, but that part is the better aspects of the show, ironically. As are the SFX, some of it, but those are aesthetic observations.
Everything to do with the actual show being good or bad, writing wise? It's basic so far.
All in all, the potential is still there. Not impressed so far, but it's only 2 episodes.
We'll see where it goes, not tryna see this fail or be a bum take where the most people can harp on about is it's "wholesome" 24/7
Hopefully, like Invincible, it makes a tone shift and pops off. And Jake Wyatt, the writer, can probably change some writing decisions along the way, everyone does it sometimes.
Personally,
I'd love if they give us Helspont in this take, seeing the heavy inspirations of New 52 Superman in the show, i'd appreciate if they introduced a beastly Helspont to the normies.
He's someone that legit gave Supes a concussion with a bitch slap, into the moon, i shit you not.
Read that Annual if you don't believe me lmfao.
2026 edit: 100% Called it.
Wyatt & Comp. were a plot driven storytelling team. Even in Season 2, it remained rushed, poorly executed, memey, wholesome and absolutely mediocre; too focused on plot, barely any time to cook with trauma, or character elements. Too much in a rush to go absolutely nowhere; plot contrivances out the as, which is more likely to happen in plot driven storytelling vs character driven.
(ATLA Book 3 Finale had two of the worst contrivances in the entire show despite it's character driven storytelling, which is to make it clear that both plot & character driven stories can have contrivances. However, those two were some of the worst offenders. Unlike My Adventures with Lois-Chan, ATLA had a track record of very few contrivances, 99% of the show wasn't asspulls & convenience, very organic for the most part. So the finale's asspulls could be forgiven. After Three Seasons of quality, it could afford those contrivances.)
My Adventures however was too focused on tropes, moments & gimmicks to cook with the story, themes, subtext, source material (or IMPROVE said material aka Kara is a BORE-EL, and they had one of the best chances in her history to set a new precedent for the character and they whiffed it anyway, which I knew they would.) & neglected to cook with the characters to make the best journey possible-- with an ANIME SUPERMAN no less., how often do we get a shot like this? Two seasons in, no excuses.
What a waste. Saw it coming.
Watch Superman The animated Series' first two episodes, just the first two & maybe Season 2 Episode 22 as a bonus .
It's not the information given that's the issue entirely, because again, at the time It was only two episodes of a brand new series but even then I saw the signs.
For TAS: just pay attention to the pacing and how it's written. Notice how it's not in a rush to get anywhere, why? Because back then, that young Superman story was telling an actual story & not sprinting through a story to get to the plot. Called it.
You don't need to watch 50 episodes or read 200 chapters/issues to know what you're getting into. Writing is like food, you don't need to finish the whole plate to know it's spoiled or a culinary delight. A smell, an inspection, maybe one or two careful bites, a taste test: that's all that's needed.
Two words: EXECUTION & Priorities. As the writer: what are your priorities? cute moments to meme? Just having fun in the studio at the cost of the outcome? Making animated fanfic vs a 3-Dimensional Superman story, an airtight story, (not perfect, but well written), a competent journey for the characters.
I saw it even back then 2023, Jake Wyatt's priorities were misaligned, I saw it in plain sight. That has nothing to do with him being a bad writer or good writer, it means his talents needed better leadership vs his talents being the lead, which is clearly what shouldn't have happened.
It meant well, that's obvious. But it was a mess and still is a whole lotta wholesome nothing burger.
I guarantee you if Joe Kelly (Superman vs The elite & Action Comics #775), David Slack (Teen Titans 03') or Aaron Ehasz (ATLA): if one of them were the head writer but Wyatt & his team were the subordinates: not fired but instead worked under the oversight of a more honed-in writer & other co-writers they trusted and have worked with. The show would've been an easy recommendation at the time then, and even now going forward.
It's not always what you do, it's how you do it. Execution and priorities.
