Hello, and welcome to Tooned In. After two semesters of editing various blogs, I have decided to write one of my own. The only problem was that I couldn’t decide what to write about! I don’t keep up with sports, I don’t know much about cars, and I’m awful at saving my money. Then it hit me – cartoons. I know a lot about cartoons. I watched cartoons as a kid and still watch the same and more recent ones to this day. I have sat down, watched recent cartoons and re-watched old cartoons, and compared my feelings towards them from when I was younger to now. Those opinions and feelings are what this blog is all about.

To start things off, I would like to talk about a more recent cartoon that I stumbled upon a while ago called “Over The Garden Wall.” This miniseries consisted of 10, 15-minute episodes that originally aired as a special on Cartoon Network this past year. I had the pleasure of catching the first four episodes before I became too busy to watch the rest of the episodes when they premiered. Luckily, Cartoon Network re-aired the series in a marathon style, so I was able to catch the rest of the season and that is how I spent an entire Friday afternoon.

At first, I was quite uninterested when I found out that this series was just a miniseries. Cartoon Network hasn’t come out with a new series that I have found myself asking for all the time since “Adventure Time.” Before that, who knows? I quickly found myself wishing that Cartoon Network would make “Over The Garden Wall” into a full series with multiple, endless seasons.

The series follows two brothers, Writ and Gregory, who are trying to find their way home from the strange world they have stumbled into. As the story progresses, the two brothers meet unusual characters along the way that bring about peculiar situations these characters must overcome to continue their journey.

The story line is well thought out. Not much is connected between the 10 episodes besides the brothers’ journey to get home. Making this one main plot point clear to viewers allows the writers include basically whatever they want to in the story (which by watching the series, you can see that they took advantage of this). The whole series is filled with comedy, which is appropriate because it’s a kid’s cartoon, but it also contains deep moral messages. The creators of this series also threw in a bit of a dark aspect. While watching this series, I looked for a parental advisory of some sort because of the creepy characters, story additions and animation.

The animation of “Over The Garden Wall” is also something to talk about. The animation style is something unlike any other cartoon that has been aired on Cartoon Network. The characters are made in a friendly cartoon-style while their surroundings are drawn almost like an anime series (most closely resembling something along the lines of Kiki’s Delivery Service). Both of these characteristics are covered in a filter that makes viewers feel like they are watching an old-timey cartoon. The style of this cartoon alone is what drew me to it.

As a lover of cartoons, “Over The Garden Wall” is a series that has made its way to the top of my “Cartoon Favorites” list. That’s something to be said being a more recent release. Both the style and story line will keep any viewer interested. The sad fact that the series is only ten, 15-minute long episodes is heartbreaking, but once you watch it in its entirety, you may feel like those tenepisodes were just enough. I highly recommend this series for any cartoon lover. Now that I have told you about this amazing cartoon, go watch it and stay tooned for my next cartoon review!