Some help for the Post-Gravity Falls lull
I know many of us are asking, now that Gravity Falls is gone, what will I watch?
Well, don’t worry, Uncle Feminist is here to help.
1. Adventure Time
This show is……weird. Not even Mabel in her most drug induced state could come up with half the stuff that’s written in the show. Actually, I think I’ve just unwittingly found it’s creator. Anyway, half the fun of this show is seeing how the world of Ooh works. The other half is the character and the jokes they make about others and themselves along the way. There’s also a little bit of a mystery element as to what happened and what’s going to happen. Look out for the snail, it’s kinda infuriating. Quite a few Gravity Falls Voice Actors show up here, such as the voices for Candy, Blendin, The Love God, even Mabel makes an appearance.
2. Steven Universe
If you’ll allow me to be unbelievably British for a minute, this show isn’t my cup of tea. There’s certainly an appeal to it, otherwise I wouldn’t recommend it, it just has no rewatch value. For me, anyway, I hope you can get as passionate for this show as you were for Gravity Falls. This show has intelligence in it, it talks about adult stuff that even adult media avoids like the plague. Topics like identity, home, homosexuality (it’s meant to be subtle however, it’s anything but), hell, even talks about love. And I don’t mean in the traditional sense like a Disney film or in an idiotic sense like any Romcom ever made, i mean they discuss it, seriously. This is the first show I’ve ever seen that outright rejects the notion of “Love at first sight” The characters are great too. Despite the fact this is a male lead show, women are definitely dominant here. Pearl is delightfully bitchy, Garnet’s straight act gets a lot of laughs and Amethyst is always a joy. Steven, I think, is the most realistic 12 year old boy I’ve ever seen. The episodes are 10 minutes long and you have to stick with it because it’s one of those shows that reveals it’s story little by little in each episode for, don’t worry, it all pays off in a big way later.
3. Star vs the Forces of Evil
For all those anxious about quality programming on the Disney side of the TV, don’t worry, this show has you covered. I once described Star Butterfly (yes that is the blonde girl’s name) as Mabel Pines on Speed. I think that more or less sums up this show. It’s weird, weird, weird (i’m starting to notice a pattern here). Star is truely a delight, in every meaning of the word. She’s a bad ass girly girl, with powers from another dimension. The series follows her in her attempt to grow up into a proper leader and to do that, her parents sent her to our dimension. She’s accompanied by Marco and he protects her from the villains seeking her wand (not that she needs it, she helps him out actually). The plots are funny, the animation’s great (it’s Disney, whatcha expect?) and the two characters have great chemistry. The thing I like about this show is the fact Star and Marco are friends, not love interests, FRIENDS. There’s no question that they love each other and would do anything to protect each other but loving each beyond besties is never questioned. Sorry, it really bothers that we never see this. If you do ship them, good for you, but….not for me.
4. Miraculous Ladybug
Tired of the Superhero tidal wave that’s hit us over the past 10 or so years? Well, this show probably isn’t for you. But it has enough creativity to it to help it stand out from the mainstream Marvel Cinematic Universe. It takes place in Paris, France and the two local teenage heroes are up against henchmen trying to steal their source of power by a mysterious, older man who does nothing but stand around in a dark room….did I mention this was an Anime? This, too, has great characters and great animation. They way they shoot Paris in this is really cool, they make it feel alive. This is also a great show to get into if you’re a massive shipper because the two main characters have a dynamic where Ladybug loves Chat Noir’s secret identity but she doesn’t tell him and Chat Noir loves Ladybug but she brushes him off because she loves someone else…..DRAMA. This series also has a bit of a mystery element. Look closely at the main title sequence and think about the main Villains power because it’s frighteningly similar to our main heroes. Just don’t post any theories you have about the source of the Villain’s power or his identity online because likelihood is, it’s already been talking about. finding all the episodes is a bit of a chore, finding the first 10 is easy but the others are really hard to find. Use this playlist to watch the episodes from 11 onwards.
5. RWBY
Love the angst of Gravity Falls? This show has you covered. It takes place in a world called Remnant, a place where everything is a gun, and I’m being perfectly serious. The animation is somewhat to be desired at first but it gets better as the show goes on and it really comes alive in the battle scenes. This was created by Monty Oum, so of course the battle animation’s amazing. This is a world crawling with monsters and the people trained to protect it are the Hunters and Huntresses. The four we follow are Ruby Rose, Weiss Schnee, Blake Belladonna and Yang Xiao Long as they train to become huntresses at Hogwarts, sorry, Beacon Academy. Actually, it’s ironic I say that because every character is based off a mythological character or a character from classic literature. Half the fun’s finding out who they’re based off of. Speaking of characters, they’re great. They’re all different, have they’re own different personalities and flaws and their own fighting style. The styling very Anime. In fact, I call it Amerime, an anime made in the US (I go by the Japanese definition of Anime, where it’s about style, not location) and it really helps the show. In fact, not only does the show have a Japanese dub and is broadcasted in Japan (which I think is half the reason why the episodes have gotten longer) but they also have had recent additions to the cast that have done English dubs of Animes in the past. Now, be warned, the show starts off light hearted but, by season 3, it gets dark and the angst builds and builds. Also, this has possible Lesbians. You see the girl in black and the girl in yellow, they’re hinting they’ll get together and no, this is not queerbaiting. Why? because the new director and the two people who voice them are shippers of these two characters. Also, this is Roosterteeth, they respect their audience enough NOT to queerbait. Or it could be the delusions of a Bumbleby shipper.
And there you go, the 5 shows I would recommend to Gravity Falls fans to replace the recent hole in their lives. I hope you enjoy them if you decide to check them out and, er, good luck.
