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Monday, August 24, 2015

5 Reasons You Should Be Watching We Bare Bears



During the month of July, I noticed some strange ad appearing over and over on Cartoon Network. Now I've seen more than my fair share of bizarre TV spots on the network, many of which are quite welcome, but in all my years of watching, I've never seen a stack of bears walking about. The threesome consisted of a grizzly bear, a panda bear, and a polar bear walking through numerous backgrounds of established Cartoon Network original shows. Like Steven Universe before it premiered, We Bare Bears was being hyped up to it's July 27th air date. Unlike a lot of new shows, however, We Bare Bears was given a solid week to air the first six episodes. Yeah, I'd say Cartoon Network has a lot of faith in this show.

Ice Bear is prepared for intruders.

With Steven Universe once again going on hiatus after a third Steven Bomb, We Bare Bears came along at just the right time. It is now one of my favorite shows on TV and I look forward to new episodes just as much as I do any other show I'm heavily invested in. If you like cartoons, if you like to laugh or you just need something on the tube, you should already be watching We Bare Bears. If, for some strange reason, you aren't tuning in, I've got a few reasons why you should be.



1. The Clean Animation and Art Style



The animation and the art style of We Bare Bears is simple and clean. The colors aren't as vibrant as those in other cartoons, but at the same time, the colors aren't washed out either. Its a very good mix and I love the super round art design of the bears and the human characters. Speaking of the humans, the character designers did an excellent job of giving them some distinguished looks. Be it the background humans or those that show up for one episode, the humans have a great look about them. 

2. Fitting in As a Main Theme



According to show creator Daniel Chong, the main theme of We Bare Bears is fitting in. Lots of shows have a central theme and I think Daniel choose a good one to run with. Trying to find your place in the world is something each and every one of us can identify with. Everyone fits in somewhere but doing so for the bears might be more difficult than others. They really do seem like outcasts as a lot of humans don't know what to think of them. It isn't X-Men levels of shunned, but the bears are often on the outside looking in. Grizz, more than Panda or Ice Bear really wants to make friends and its a bit discouraging to watch some of his attempts fail in "Viral Video." On the human side of things, we have Chloe, a child prodigy that has trouble talking with a lot of college students because she's shy and she's a lot younger than everyone else there. She can really relate to the bears, which might be why she became such fast friends with the trio. 

3. Family That Isn't Related



Gumball and Darwin aren't related by blood but they are still brothers. Steven isn't blood related to the gems but they are very much part of his family Grizz, Panda and Ice Bear may not be born of the same mother, but these three are family in every sense of the word. There's something very heartwarming about three bears giving up a jean jacket that has the power to make everything go their way in order to maintain the bond they have.

4. Laugh Out Loud Funny



"Ice Bear smells like clean babies."

That is but one of the many, stoically delivered lines from Ice Bear. Its almost impossible not to laugh whenever he opens his mouth.

We Bare Bears is loaded with tons of hilarious dialogue and funny scenarios. When the bears try to improve Chloe's report in "Chloe," it's done in a power point video fashion and overloads her laptop, causing it to crash with tons of freeze frame bonuses for careful eyed viewers. Panda's attempts to have a date with Lucy in "Panda's Date" go horribly wrong and end with him in the hospital, and the above gif is what happens when you give bears lots of money in "Food Truck." 

But for all the humor the show provides, it can still tug on you feels strings. Just watch "Burrito" to see what I mean. And bring some tissues.   

5. The Musical Numbers are SO GOOD!



I always consider it a major plus when a show can hook you with the opening tune and We Bare Bears came out guns blazing. That intro song is the stuff catchy beats are made of and the icing on an already delicious cake is that its sung by Estelle, who voices Garnet on Steven Universe. Thankfully, the good stuff doesn't end there. Some episodes have montages complete with awesome vocal music numbers. Much of the show's music is composed by Brad Breeck, who is also behind the music of Gravity Falls. He's even sung quite a number of the show's songs. On the song writing end, Daniel Chong has actually written a few tracks. The genres these tracks range from are all over the place so there's some very nice diversity.   


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The first season of We Bare Bears is 52 episodes and Cartoon Network has already renewed the show of a second season of another 52 episodes. Only 9 episodes have aired thus far and this show already has my full, undivided attention. I want to see more of the bears interactions with Chloe and other humans. I want to find out more about the bear's pasts. I want more award worthy musical performances. I want more. We Bare Bears.


1 comment:

Kerr9000 said...

I watched the first episode this morning, I think it was its UK premier. I obviously don't have a good enough sample of it to massively comment but it seemed pretty good. I would defiantly think anyone who enjoys Adventure Time or Stephen Universe would enjoy this as it has a similar feel to them in some ways while still feeling like its own thing.