A modern animation series in an old jacket. The Cuphead Show! is original design, but has uninspired stories.The Cuphead Show! starts with a catchy intro song and you are immediately impressed by the animation style. Or in my case, there was a sense of nostalgia. The animation style is very similar to that of the old Disney films about Donald Duck and Mickey Mouse. In addition, I also immediately thought of Tom & Jerry.
The Cuphead Show! is about the adventures of Cuphead and his brother Mugman. They live in Elder Kettle's house, who sometimes also becomes part of the (wrong-ending) adventures of the two brothers. The series is based on the popular and critically acclaimed video game Cuphead. Both also have the same old school animation style. In addition, the series also borrows a number of plot elements from the video game.
The first season consists of twelve episodes of separate stories that sometimes overlap. For example, the devil appears in several episodes in which he wants to steal the soul of the main character Cuphead. But all episodes can be viewed separately from each other. A large part of the episodes consists of the opening and closing credits. If that is subtracted from the running time, an average duration of ten minutes per episode remains.
The opening and closing credits are one of the strongest points of the series in my opinion. They are also in the old style that the animated series used to have. Older viewers in particular will appreciate that because of the nostalgia it evokes. For younger viewers, this feeling will probably be less and it may be perceived as modern. The authentic old-fashioned design is well-developed. Sometimes there are even those black spots as if they were made on old film reels.
The opening and closing credits are one of the strongest points of the series
I didn't really like the story of the series. They were pretty standard storylines and they usually came across as childish. Not surprising since the series is also indicated in the kids' section of Netflix. Given the popularity of the video game Cuphead, among both young and old, I expected the approach to be a little more mature. That's why it didn't quite grab me. Usually, when I start a series, I want to finish it, including the subsequent seasons. That won't be the case this time, despite the series ending with an open ending and a second season already announced.
The animation style of The Cuphead Show! is impressive and a lot of attention has been paid to the authentic old-fashioned design. However, I didn't find the storylines really interesting and felt very childish. I don't feel drawn to watch the second season.
Based on the above, I am giving the first season of The Cuphead Show! a well-deserved 6.
About the writer, Karzal
Mike (1995) has been a member of MySeries since 2016 and is mainly active on the English version of the site. Since 2018, he has been actively translating news articles, columns, reviews and basically everything that ends up on the Dutch site. The original articles, columns and reviews were actually written by others. During the week Mike can be found at IKEA, where he is a national systems specialist and occasionally also in the classroom to teach an English lesson. In addition, Mike logically enjoys watching series and has actually been spoon-fed this from an early age. The genre doesn't matter, there is a place for everything in the otherwise busy life.
