Just finished the series. Kinda crazy to think it's been almost four years now since the show started -- although the TV release schedule means that most people probably won't actually see the ending for maybe another year or so depending on how they space the airing of the episodes. (Like I mentioned in an earlier post, "The Harmattan" and "The Accidental Avalanche" are only just airing on TV this coming weekend.)
Overall, I actually liked it; keeping in mind that this is still ultimately a show written specifically for preschoolers (although most of the target demographic when the show originally premiered are almost a decade old now), it had a lot going on, especially in this last batch of episodes. Granted, it did feel a bit rushed; I think it would've served the seasons' pacing way better had some of the journey to the Tree of Life been cut instead of having the entire first half of the series being about the trip, especially given how quickly they were able to return to Pride Rock in short amount of time in only one episode. The arc with the Night Pride was interesting and went exactly how I thought it would when Rani was first announced at least in terms of she and Kion ending up together, although her forwardness to Kion about wanting him to stay with her was a bit refreshing to see and actually came across as more pragmatic than romantic, at least before their song.
Elton John wrote:binge watched the eps. mostly enjoyed them. it had a rather satisfying conclusion.
there was one really bizarre moment 5 minutes before the end of the last ep. maybe the most bizarre moment in this entire franchise. if you saw it you know what i mean.
I actually thought it was fitting enough given how overpowered the roar has already been demonstrated to be in just the last two or three episodes anyway, although I was actually hoping Kion would lose it forever once he passed it Vitani; I feel like that would've fit the theme of not needing the roar to lead. In fact, if the roar was lost altogether and nobody had it in the end, that would've been even more fitting to said theme.
Aelwen wrote:One more thing I noticed. There was not a single one LGBT character during all three seasons. Thats weird.
I mean, we don't know for sure that none of those characters are LGBT+, they just never explicitly showed such a thing. (I'd have bet it would be Ono, actually, and he never got any sort of romantic interest throughout the series; birds are pretty well documented in this regard.) That said, I think it'll still be a while before you see an openly LGBT+ character in a children's show, at least as far as Disney is concerned.
TTB-Kun wrote:JackStover wrote:I still feel like Fuli got shortchanged in this show. She was always the character that fascinated me the most, but they barely used her and I feel like she got less focus than the other characters. Hell, in the final ten episodes, she only had a strong role in one episode, and that was in episode 11, so she practically did nothing in the final nine episodes. I still don't like Azaad.
Azzad is my boi, he’s awesome don’t u dare! (I have a soft spot for charather that toalks themself in third person)
I honestly don't care about Fuli and Azzad either way; I actually don't think Fuli should've ended up with anybody. If I were writing this, she'd at most have developed feelings for Kion, then gotten a bit jealous when Rani x Kion became a thing, but then came to realize that it was better for all parties involved and so she'd stay as his supportive friend. Seems a bit more realistic and emotionally satisfying than what the show writers actually did. (Plus realistically, she'd only have Azzad around every once in a while to mate; cheetah couples only stay together for a couple days during mating season and then go their separate ways until next time. In a more child-friendly context this would probably just amount to them hanging out together every once in a while.) All that said, I do think she was somewhat underused throughout the show.
Handful of random thoughts to close:
- Beau Black clearly stopped caring about trying to make his songs fit into the feel of The Lion King franchise's brand of African music this season, though you can kinda tell he had more fun writing many of these than in prior seasons. Still a shame that there wasn't a song that actually incorporated Christopher Willis' actual orchestral score, which was really nice to listen to throughout the season, especially how he incorporated various Asian-invoking elements and mixed them into his more African sounds. (Still mad Disney's not gonna release a proper score album.)
- Kion's massive singing voice drop really makes me wonder how much time passed between Max Charles recording "On the Last Night" and his last few songs. He almost sounds like Beau Black in those, if not deeper.
- So what happens with Makini's slot as Pride Lands' mjuzi now that she's living at the Tree of Life?
- "Long Live the Queen" was really touching to watch and brought on a lot of feels for me, having just gone through a similar experience earlier this year with my grandfather. Though I saw it coming as soon as that character was introduced, I still hold that it's definitely one of the show's highest points.
- The design of the Night Pride males never failed to bother the heck out of me, specifically their manes.
- The season had an interesting focus on Asian animals and even hired Asian voice actors to voice said animals to the point of having distinct accents and musical cues for various characters (Chinese vs Japanese vs Indonesian, etc.). If only, if only, if only such attention was brought to the African characters throughout the show; I still find it incredible that Rafiki remains the only such character in this entire cartoon franchise (and his accent is still more Afro-Caribbean than anything else).
by TTB-Kun » September 2nd, 2019, 7:27 pm 
