What A Cartoon!

Bob and Henry are indulging in some protoculture this week as we dive into one of the more dramatic episodes of Robotech (and Macross) ever! After digging into the history of Robotech and its effect on the western anime fandom, we then explore the amazing mecha action and engaging human drama of this groundbreaking animated series! Do you remember love--er, I mean, Robotech? Then listen along and...

A comic book that never should have been a comic book becomes a TV show that never should have been a TV show? That's the story of The Maxx, a slavish 13-episode animated adaptation of Sam Kieth's work by the very same name. Though the storytelling can be uneven, and many questions go unanswered, The Maxx remains an unflinching examination of some very sensitive subject matter carried by ahead-of-...

Grab your lasagna for the best Halloween cartoon of 1985 as we do our scariest What A Cartoon! podcast yet! We're joined by Matthew Jay of Cartoons 101 once more to discuss the history of Jim Davis' Garfield and how he was a rising star of animation in the 1980s. Learn how Phil Roman worked with Davis to legit scare '80s kids with ghost pirates, and listen as we explore the iconic voices and class...

Thanks to patron Alex Irish, What A Cartoon! is exploring new territory: A Disney television show from the 21st century! In case you didn't know, House of Mouse exists as the first real revival of classic Disney shorts, created more than a decade before the one that actually took. This 2001-2003 series takes a new framing device and wraps it around cartoons both new and old for a Disney love-in th...

This week we dive into the unique and incredible world of JoJo and we have a great guest to help us, Woolie from Super Best Friends ! We go into the long history of one of Japan's most popular mangas ever, and then chat about the anime adaptation, as well as what makes both so special! It's a treat for JoJo experts and noobs alike, so puff up that hair and get ready for the bizarre summer of 1999!...

Ha ha! Classic cartoon podcast... This week Bob and Henry are joined by a special Patreon supporter as we go through the Adult Swim original Harvey Birdman. The series' second episode takes hot coffee and shrink rays, turning it into comedy gold. Plus we go over Harvey's long history right ahead of the series getting a comeback special to roast our current presidential insanity! Listen along if yo...

We're back to anime this week as we tackle the mega-hit from Japan that failed to catch on in America, Case Closed. Known as Detective Conan in its home country, this long, long, long-running series about a teenage master detective trapped in a boy's body hit Adult Swim in the summer of 2004, but its mix of kiddie antics and extremely dark subject matter mostly confused an audience tuning in for t...

We hope you merry mutants are ready to get X-treme this week, because we're talking about X-Men with Matt McMuscles (check him out at Super Best Friends and his personal YouTube channel ). No superheroes in the early 1990s were more popular than the X-Men, and their 1992 animated series was a huge hit on Saturday morning as a result. How did this strange series come to be? And how well does it hol...

Straight from Retronauts and Retronauts Video Works , Jeremy Parish is here to help us with his deep love and knowledge of G.I. Joe as we watch our first ever '80s cartoon. Sure, G.I. Joe was conceived as a toy commercial, but the folks creating the series could still write subversive episodes like this trippy two-parter and get it past the censors. We delve into Cobra lore here, so make sure you'...

Let's get dangerous! It's time to take a trip back to The Disney Afternoon by digging deep into one of its most important (and entertaining) shows, Darkwing Duck! Disney's duck superhero broke new ground for their TV animation department by choosing to go a more Warner Brothers-y route with plenty of slapstick, wild takes, and utter destruction of the fourth wall. The result is a fun little series...

This week we visit our friendly neighborhood web-swinger and we have our podcast buddy Gary Butterfield of Duckfeed to help us out! While Batman was getting all the accolades, Spider-Man got his own animated series in 1994, and while it may not have aged as well, Spidey still has great writing and voice acting when the animation budget is lacking. We check out the season one episode The Menace of...

In one of our freshest podcasts ever, Bob and Henry dig into the third episode of Matt Groening's brand new Netflix series, Disenchantment! We go in-depth into the show's third episode, seeing how Lucy will save Bean, how Elfo properly makes daisy chains, how good Bean is at drunk driving, and we explore all three of the sciences, even smoke! Listen along and learn about how the series came to be...

ONE PUNCH! What A Cartoon! takes another trip to Animeland (thanks to the generous donations of Patron David Whittington) as we explore the crossover hit, One-Punch Man! This adaptation of a manga that's an adaptation of a webcomic tells the story of Saitama, a thoroughly average man who worked out enough to become the strongest human being on earth. (Unfortunately, this also caused total hair los...

Matthew Jay (of Cartoons101 ) joins us to talk about a superhero parody that was way ahead of its time: The Tick! We explore the 1994 Fox Kids original and one of its best episodes. Can Tick defeat Barry and protect his intellectual rights? Can  ie Fledermaus find a new girlfriend? Will Arthur be stuck in the Sidekicks Lounge? And will The Midnight Bomber What Bombs At Midnight be able to bomb the...

Matt Groening's first new show in almost two decades is just around the corner, and thanks to our generous friends at Netflix, we're here to tell you our thoughts on the first five episodes! And with no major spoilers! (We promise!) Listen in as we talk about the generalities of Disenchantment, including the cast, the staff, the writing, the tone, the humor, and just where we think the series is h...

We're back to the land of MTV to revisit Daria, the sorta-spinoff of Beavis and Butt-Head that gave all of us smartass introverts a hero of the people. And with the recent announcement of a sequel series, our little podcast is jumping into one of the more pivotal moments of the series: season one's "The Misery Chick." Listen in as special guest Sam Leichtamer (of GameSpot ) joins us to explore an...

Cowboy Bebop isn't the only Western-influenced anime series to make waves on Cartoon Network in the early '00s. Just a few years before Spike Spiegel blew the minds of American cable viewers, The Big O emerged as an ultra-stylish and enigmatic series that blended the look of Batman: The Animated series and Japanese giant robot shows from the '60s and '70s. And, thanks to its infamous cliffhanger e...

Matthew Jay (Cartoons 101) joins us to jump into one of the most disturbing shows in Adult Swim history, PFFR's Xavier: Renegade Angel. From the creators of Wonder Showzen we dive into the lid-flipping mind-expander as we ramble along with Xavier as he helps people by making their lives much worse. We hear epic monologues and pan flute solos alike, so listen along and learn, younglings! Oh, fritta...

Steady on, listeners, because this week's episode is a deep dive into the iconic British adventures of Wallace & Gromit! Matthew Jay joins us to discuss the Oscar-winning short film, "The Wrong Trousers" as chosen by a premium Patreon supporter! We chat about Aardman Animations' history, the many contraptions of Wallace, Gromit's knack for silent comedy, obvious Hitchcock references, and so much m...

We're returning once again to the world of Nicktoons with the first creation to follow the original three series, Rocko's Modern Life! Two years after launching Doug, Rugrats, and The Ren & Stimpy Show, cable network Nickelodeon realized adults made up a sizable chunk of their audience, and Joe Murray's edgy-yet-silly creation took full advantage of this fact with its tales of 20-somethings making...

We had threatened to do it, and now Matthew Jay joins your Simpsons-loving pals to discuss a season three episode of Family Guy! It's one of the more heartfelt episodes of the show with some solid jokes in there, and we're pretty fair to the fricken sweet series about Quahog! Listen along and we promise you'll hear at least two minutes of Seth MacFarlane singing! Support this podcast at Patreon.co...

After producing one of the most influential anime series ever—Neon Genesis Evangelion—animation studio GAINAX went from adapting a comic about high school relationships to something even more unexpected: a coming-of-age story about robots that come out of a young boy's head. Thanks to its sheer weirdness, amazing animation, surprising emotionality, and atypical (but awesome) music choices, FLCL em...

Chosen by one of our premium Patreon supporters, we're doing one of the first season favorites of Kids WB's Freakazoid! Matthew Jay joins Bob and Henry to talk all about this episode as the pinnacle/end of an era for Steven Spielberg's TV toon empire! We cover the very insider episode, as well as explore how the concept of "nerd" has changed between 1996 and now! It's fun and a little sad, so list...

We're headed back into Adult Swim territory as we check out the UPN reject that helped kick off Cartoon Network's successful programming block and ultimately didn't find a great home there. But for four glorious seasons, Home Movies adapted the limited animation and naturalistic conversations of Dr. Katz to something with a little more ambition that wasn't necessarily tied to stand-up comedy bits....

This week Bob and Henry are joined by Matthew Jay of Cartoons 101 to dig into Space Ghost and his oddball show that would pave the way for Adult Swim. After digging into how Alex Toth's fantastical superhero became the face of Cartoon Network's dadaist comedy, we dig into a double-length episode from 1996 where Penn & Teller and Joel Hodgson of Mystery Science Theater 3000 join the show for a Kubr...