[I’m not entirely sure season 1 is finished, but it’s summer and there’s been nothing new for weeks…I say good enough.]
Krapopolis was one of those weirdo shows that I’m always afraid is going to blow up into a massive hit that’s going to aggravate me years down the road (I still have some residual bitterness over South Park), but a few weeks pass and I can hardly detect any buzz at all. Primetimer has averaged like 2 comments per episode. The only general consensus I got was “If you totally love Greek mythology, you’ll enjoy this. Probably.”
From what I’ve seen, the style isn’t unlike Rick and Morty. Most of the cast is unpleasant to some degree, but in more “irritable world-weary cynic” than “shrieking out of control rampaging jerk”. By far the most likable character is the Shlub, a sex-obsessed irresponsible hardheaded mutant, which says a lot right there. The early episodes suffered from a dizzyingly fast pace, but it got much smoother near the end. Also noteworthy is that the first few stories were positively dripping with rampant cynicism and hostility…I honestly wonder how anyone survived that long…but as the characters gradually got fleshed out, the stories flowed more naturally, and the overall quality of the show improved as a result. I wouldn’t say that spoofing modern-day issues like social media rumormongering or safe spaces was the ideal way to set the foundation, but go with what you know, I guess.
My biggest problem is Deliria. Not just because she’s completely selfish, petty, arrogant, and devoid of empathy, but because she’s a goddess. And not a weaksauce Populous/Ah Megamisama/Touhou Stage 1 boss goddess; she demonstrates very early on that she could crush everyone who displeases her with a thought. So, not to put too fine a point on it…why doesn’t she? This is a deity who absolutely should be going the feel-my-wrath-wretched-mortals route every moment and…doesn’t! I know there’s a certain amount of license in any show, definitely any cartoon, but Krapopolis feels like it’s constantly fighting its own premise with this character (who is otherwise, I admit, pretty funny).
Add it all up, and the best way to put it is I’m pleasantly surprised at how much the first season didn’t suck. A lot of the lines are spot-on, the interactions are at least sometimes engaging, the nasty stuff never got so disgusting it was unwatchable, and overall I see a lot more effort put into actually making a funny, engaging program than I ever did from Family Guy or Son of Zorn. I’ll probably never become a regular viewer simply because rampant cynicism has never been my scene, but there’s some real potential here, and I wouldn’t mind at all if it eventually became a sleeper hit.
Thoughts?
