Like eeehhh, it wasn’t THAT bad, but I think my biggest issue is the tonal whiplash this show has. Like it goes from funny, loser college boy meeting a goth baddie who is a magical, gamer bunny girl and they’re cracking jokes and talking about ACE to a deeply emotional scene about identity all in 2 episode?
I think the Bunlith show would be stronger if it just stuck with a pure comedy tone. Like no attempt at anything serious or dramatic. Hell, some of the gags in the first episode made me think it was gonna be more Chowder and less later seasons of Helluva Boss.
Like the scene where she says “the government is after me because I’m trans” would have benefited from being more comedic. Like she could be like the government is after her for being trans and also maybe she hacked a bank or something. I get that drastic tonal whiplash is popular now thanks for dropping attention spans and shows like The Amazing Digital Circus and Murder Drones popularized it.
Like Bojack Horseman and Futurama, which were in the same vein of alternating comedy and drama, often took long episodes in between each other of comedy and drama. Not slamming them both together haphazardly in the space of 20 minutes. And even The Amazing Digital Circus and Murder Drones often waited till the end to drop the drama bomb.
And my god, that infamous “estrogen scene” comes at such an odd moment. Like a guy breaks into your house, you spend the whole episode yelling at him and insulting him, you kill an NPC because he got pissy you asked to not be called “dude,” you make out with a wolfwoman, and then NOW we have a serious and deep conversation about identity!?
I think that was the biggest issue with Bunlith. It just feels like it is trying to do too much. Like be a funny gamer comedy show that has a very tough anti-DRM message and also be this deep, serious thing tackeling issues of identity. I’m hoping the creator can slow things down in later episodes or at least find a tone to stick with. Because this just felt like it both wants to be a serious thing while carrying the excuse of “GOSH, IT’S A COMEDY SHOW! IT’S NOT THAT SERIOUS!”
Had it been straight up comedy and focused more on anti-DRM in gaming, it might have been pretty good. I’ll be honest, some of the jokes and gags in it were cool and the art was legit amazing. The creator herself has done a lot of 3D animation and made Bloodborne Kart, so honestly it might have been amazing.
And I think that is what is so frustrating about it. Not that it is bad, but that it could have been good. That is the worst kind of bad media.
The comparison I went for was moreso that I see what they are trying to do. Blend comedy with drama like how Futurama and Bojack do, though the more apt comparison is The Amazing Digital Circus and Murder Drone which also did that. Hilariously, Lilith Walther also worked on TADC. That’s what I was trying to say, not to any sort of quality or whatever.
And like I did expect a bit more out of this, but in the end I think I’m more happy it exists than it doesn’t. I think the creator can probably figure out what she wants from the show. Though like I said, I wanted more Chowder of just pure comedy and gags and less attempts at sincerity.