An Autist Reviews: A Lesson For Your Next Life (Invincible Season 2 - Episode 1)

*This is a brand new review!*

*All Reviews Are Spoiler-Free Aside From Any Spoiler Sections*

*This is a bare-bones/lite review made after only a single viewing. (Hence there not being any replay rating)*

A month after Mark’s fight with Omniman everything is more or less back to normal, but the battle remains burned into Mark’s brain and the trauma is still hindering him and his mother. Meanwhile the Guardians of the Globe are struggling and Cecil makes big changes. Elsewhere and in different universes, one man and the Maulers seek to create a utopia. Everything is fine.

“I’m fine.”

Well damn. This certainly was pretty tense and paranoia inducing, huh? I kept wondering if what I was seeing was real or if it was a red herring, I looked at everyone and everything as suspicious, I was waiting for a turn for the worst at every opportunity, and man did I like it. I wouldn’t say this was the most enthralling episode or that it did the most for me personally but I did certainly get into it and when the credits rolled I was angry there wasn’t more, so that’s certainly a good thing. The post credits was also great. The writing had its ups and downs, Mark’s PTSD was a standout as well as Angstrom. A good bit of the dialogue was a little stilted and some scenes could have been expanded or shortened but I did overall enjoy this episode despite these flaws. The pacing was good if a little off of what I’d like it to have been and there isn’t really anything I’d call narration, so that doesn’t really matter. I can’t rate this as an adaptation, but I can say that this was really enthralling and that it’s definitely a good way to start a season, lots of threads thrown out, lots to worry about, lots of anxiety already built up, and damn when the title card finally dropped it was great. My biggest complaint is that a few things felt forces, especially and most importantly the constant teasing of the title card with characters CONSTANTLY saying Invincible’s name after a drawn out pause, stopping any scene in it’s tracks and making it feel so much worse, plus it just made me angry, and not the good kind, it just pissed me off. Also Amber being a cunt is literally just being ignored, which, I mean, it’s probably the best way to do it, but jesus just seeing her pisses me off and I’m hoping that rage fades away over time and also that her and Mark get better writing together  than was in this episode.. Anyway, onto the  acting.

The acting is a step down from the special, but honestly everything being a step down isn’t really unexpected since that was a special and it’s reasonable it’d get more effort put into it since it’s standalone instead of being one of eight episodes. Anyway, for the main characters the voice acting just occasionally isn’t great, sometimes a little stiff, but overall it’s the best of the acting here easily, even if I’d still love it to be much better. The side characters have the worst acting in my opinion with Rudy especially sounding rather  stiff but everyone was just kinda off most of the time, so I’m hoping to see that improve. That said Cecil and Eve were on point at least, and Rex was pretty much as infuriating as ever. The “bad guys,” and I’m using that term leniently here, were a mixed bag. The Maulers were almost perfect with really only a few lines holding them down, Omni-Man was pretty stiff in all of his lines but it somewhat worked for everything, big ‘somewhat’ there though, and then we get to Angstrom. Is it even a spoiler to say Angstrom is a villain? It’s pretty obvious from early on what he is even if you didn’t get the scoop on the core plotline of this season. Angstrom is pretty great all around, his arrogant, savior complex having, supposedly perfect and brilliant self is played really well and especially at the  very end of the episode he is just amazing, well, that version of him is. Angstrom sadly does have a lot of iffy or stunted lines, which really is a shame because he’s very interesting as a character. Anyway, let's move on so I stop rambling… oh wait…

Okay let me start with the fact that some of the 2D animation clearly needed more time in the over because there were moments where shit didn’t line up with dialogue or where shit was weirdly fast moving, like they cut out frames or something. Also please get better at animating drinking if you’re going to show it so much. Now, let’s get to the good shit. The music was fantastic, utterly amazing, and the sound design was a hair away from perfect; look no further than Invincible flying around saving the day while utterly depressed for a scene with utterly perfect music and sound design. The voice effects were amazing, as expected, and the CG is much improved from season one even if it’s pretty noticeable. It’s noticeable, though, in a way where it feels like part of the style, and that’s a really good thing when it’s used as much as it is in this series. The fighting is probably my biggest animation issue with this episode aside from what I mentioned at the start of this segment, and that’s because a lot of it just didn’t feel great, especially the first fight which I got the completely wrong vibe  from and that just kind of felt disconnected from what it was supposed to be, plus other flights just didn't really have the feel they should have, they didn’t have the weight, or they were over too soon. I guess I may be being a little harsh but the fact that I was rarely on the edge of my seat because of the  fights is a bad sign. Now, the designs this episode were really good, but I do have issues, like with the laziness of a lot of the alternate dimension versions of characters and I don’t really like the way Angstrom looked at the end, but that opinion might change in later episodes. The set pieces this episode were also somewhat… shall I say ‘ordinary?’ Look, I like fights in the sky and in a random city as much as the next guy, but it is kind of lazy and if you’re going to do that, especially if you’re in the sky, go all out damnit, don’t fuck around if you’re basically allowing yourself to work with a blank background; aside from these complaints really the set design is perfect, but of course this does drag the cinematography rating down with it alongside the action rating dragging it too. Anyway, all my rambling is pretty much done now. This was a beautiful episode, and I know I'm probably being nitpicky, but this series is great and I know how good it can be, so I’m holding it to a high standard, dammit. This episode was lovely, really, but the animation can be  better, it really, easily, can be.

All in all, this is a very good, if not amazing, way to begin a season. It sets up a lot, it keeps the tension high, the acting is decent, the animation is beautiful when it isn’t feeling lazy, and dammit I’m excited! I really am! Angstrom has so much potential, the plot threads laid out all seem so enticing, I have questions and theories already piling up and I know it’s just going to get worse as the episodes keep coming! I feel invigorated, I am so hyped, but I know this series can do so much better so I am being harsh on this episode and I hope you understand why. Compared to the good shit we got last season and the Atom Eve special, my standards for this series are high and this episode didn’t meet a lot of them, but I have faith that the coming episodes will not only meet my standards but exceed them. Until next week.

Total - 8 (I KNOW the series can do better, there were a LOT of flaws here.)

Plot - 9

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Story - 9

Pacing - 9

Dialogue - 7

Narration - NR

Exposition - 9

Adaptation - NR

Enjoyment - 8

Twist/s - 10

Resolution/s - 9

Ending/s - 10

Acting - 8

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MC/s - 9

SC/s - 8

BG/s - 8

Narrator/s - NR

Animation/Effects - 9

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Music - 10

Voice Effects - 10

2D Animation - 8

3D Animation - 10

Set Pieces - 9

Designs - 8

Action - 8

Cinematography - 9

Sounds - 10

Replay - NR

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Re-Enjoyment - NR

New Details - NR

-=- If you want to see more of my reviews, some of my craziness, my thoughts on stories I've experienced but not reviewed, and the important libtard things I share around because I'm a filthy liberal snowflake, check out my Instagram page @maxtheautist -=-