The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy: This is one of the more well-known cartoons on this list. You've probably heard of this one, and if you haven't, you need to watch it! This is a show about two kids who permanently enslave the Grim Reaper. One of the kids is a complete imbecile named Billy, and the other is a vicious and merciless little girl named Mandy with plans to take over the world (and that's not Played for Laughs-- it's entirely feasible). As for Grim, he is a pretty nice guy when he's not working or pushed to his limits, and he has a Jamaican accent. This is a very weird show, with lots of surrealism, absurd plots, and shameless parodies of pop culture. It has an insane, quirky supporting cast, and it's often difficult to tell exactly what is normal in this world. Many episodes have unresolvable endings, so the show has very little internal continuity. It breaks the fourth wall constantly, and is filled with so many references and dirty humor that it's hard to tell whether it's for kids or for adults. It's very likable, and grows on you over time. Voltaire has done two songs for this show, featured in the episode "Little Rock of Horrors" and the feature film Billy and Mandy's Big Boogie Adventure.
Danny Phantom: A very well-known cartoon. If you don't know what it is, it's basically Ghostbusters meets Spiderman (secret identity superhero + highschool drama). Not an outright "goth" show, but probably something Goths would like. Sure, it's a show about ghosts and other spooky stuff, but this show is on this list purely for Sam Manson. "Regular people sweat. Goths? We simmer." Most Goths will probably be able to relate to her, and the best thing about her is that she is very realistic and only marginally stereotypical, in the same way that all Goths are marginally stereotypical. She also becomes less and less so as the series goes along. (Incidentally, Sam's voice is also the voice of Mandy.) I'm particularly impressed by this show's ability to be serious and fun at the same time. No episode is difficult to watch, no matter how intense it gets. This show is fun and thrilling and worth the watch.
Ruby Gloom: I was very excited when I found this! This is a Canadian Netflix cartoon about "the bright side of the dark side" that takes spooky imagery and turns it into an adorable, cheerful show with endearing characters. The protagonist, Ruby Gloom, is possibly the most perky Perky Goth that ever was. Despite her name, she is endlessly optimistic and friendly. Her friends include Misery, an extremely unlucky and pessimistic girl (possibly a banshee); Iris, an adventurous cyclops; Skull Boy, a skeleton; Frank and Len, conjoined twins (possibly zombies?) that love rock music; Poe, a pretentious raven; Scaredy Bat, an adorable little bat that is afraid of flying and the dark; Boo Boo, a ghost that would rather prank than scare people; and Doom Kitty, an intelligent black cat that speaks only in violin chords. The best thing about this show is that the spooky setting and characters are treated as being entirely normal, without being overly "Halloweeny," and constantly breaking stereotypes. It's just the world they live in! (To give an example, while the friends are all hiding from the sun, Scardy Bat throws a pink lawn flamingo among a jumble of stuff. Everyone looks at him. “What? It’s a phase. I’m over it now.”) This is an ideal show for Goths.
Growing Up Creepie: A Discovery Kids show about a girl who was raised by insects, and can talk to bugs. She goes to an ordinary middle school with ordinary people, and has to keep her secret. She lives with her insect family in a Addams-Family-esque mansion. She's Goth without being stereotypical-- not outwardly cheerful, but laid back and friendly, with a delightfully dark fashion sense. In one episode, she takes beautiful photos of a cemetery, and even her teacher has to admit that she "found beauty in the darkness." The mysterious and spooky events of each episode are usually explained away by her various creepy-crawly relatives (followed by bug facts), but something actually supernatural is revealed at the end. (It's worth mentioning that in one episode, Creepie does make friends with more stereotypical, South Park-ish Goths.) If you love entomology, you'll probably love this show, and even if you're not that into bugs, you'll still probably like it! Turns out that most of the Ruby Gloom cast is also in this show!
Netflix' Castlevania: Unlike the other cartoons on this list, this is not a kid's show in any way, shape, or form. Swearwords abound, it features extremely graphic violence throughout, and the first episode ends with a conversation about bestiality preceding a bar brawl. But this is, for once, a good video game adaptation! The second season got a full 100% on Rotten Tomatoes, and it deserves it! They successfully made a good drama series out of a game that mostly consists of killing stuff through a labyrinthine castle. The story is loosely based on Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse and follows vampire hunter Trevor Belmont, a sorceress named Sypha, and the half-vampire Alucard as they attempt to prevent Dracula from committing genocide out of grief for his murdered wife. It's packed with gothic imagery, vampire politics, commentary on religious corruption, and references to the games. The most impressive thing about this show is how it is easy to sympathize with almost every character, among both the heroes and the villains (there were only two that I actively hated). Also, for every scene of gore that made me want to cringe away from the screen, there was another scene with Alucard to cancel it out. (I think I have a crush on Alucard, which is saying something.) This show got me into the games. Two of the best games in the franchise were re-released for the PS4 the day season 2 came out, so I'm going through a whole Castlevania phase right now. I can't recommend this enough.
Honorable mention goes to Gravity Falls. I'm a huge fan of this show. It's not a Goth show, but I first got into it because it was listed on PhantomStrider's Spookiest Cartoon Episodes list, so that should tell you something. In general, the show has excellent character development, episode plots, and overall storytelling-- I would recommend it to anyone, but Goths might really enjoy this show. Some of the episodes in this series are really dark, and there are plenty of ghosts, zombies, monsters, and inter-dimensional space demons. "Northwest Mansion Mystery" is a particularly gothic episode.
No comments:
Post a Comment