Magic pencils and paintbrushes abound, as characters continue to provide savvy interaction with the audience.
Feb 26, 2025 • Subscribe
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Cartoons About Cartoons (Part 20)
A significant leaning toward Looney stories from Warner Brothers today, with only two titles in our discussion coming from the ranks of other studios. We’ll be doing some…
Cartoons About Cartoons (Part 21)
Character recognition of the cartoon medium tends to come in short spurts during the years of 1953 and 1954.
Cartoons About Cartoons (Part 9)
1942 and ‘43 (with one stray included here from ‘44) continued to bring us self-referential cartoons, plating at breaking the fourth wall, and immersing characters into the movie-going…
Cartoons About Cartoons (Part 19)
Submitted for your approval: evidence of characters who know they are on screen, and are prepared to use this to their zany advantage.
Cartoons About Cartoons (Part 5)
All action today takes place in 1938, and all from two studios: Warner Bros and Paramount.
Cartoons About Cartoons (Part 17)
A surprising number of Terrytoons appear in this week’s survey as we resume our overview of characters interacting with audiences, narrators, and/or animators.
Cartoons About Cartoons (Part 16)
A wild bunch of episodes today from 1947 and ‘48, including a quartet of Tex Avery adventures into the surreal (two of which are among his most controversial),…
Cartoons About Cartoons (Part 23)
Cartoon consciousness comes in groups today, as we present a quartet of Tom and Jerrys and a duo of Bugs Bunny adventures, together with solo spots for the…
Cartoons About Cartoons (Part 8)
1942 is our subject year. Many films from this period keep their self-referential elements on the brief side, so some of the discussions below are a little briefer…
Cartoons About Cartoons (Part 2)
Cartoons exploring the mysteries of their own medium; characters with a knowledge of their ink and pen origins - all this and more!
Cartoons About Cartoons (Part 1)
Not only cartoons about animators and the animation process, but cartoons about characters who knew they were in cartoons.
Cartoons About Cartoons (Part 26)
Today, we transition from the 50's into the early half of the 1960's in theatrical cartoons. You've been warned!
Cartoons About Cartoons (Part 4)
The 1930's continued to progress, as animated characters became more and more knowledgeable about their own world.
Cartoons About Cartoons (Part 22)
More self-referential fare, with Bugs and Daffy - and some surprises from a few relative-unknowns in Terrytoons.
Cartoons About Cartoons (Part 11)
Another batch of animated eccentricities, all featuring characters that are well aware they are in a cartoon.
Cartoons About Cartoons (Part 13)
A feast of prime Grade A titles from MGM, Paramount, and Warner Brothers is on the table today.
Cartoons About Cartoons (Part 32)
A survey today of animation from the 1960's into the mid 1980‘s, predating the cartoon Renaissance, which will be discussed next week.
Cartoons About Cartoons (Part 12)
All our action this week is centered upon four characters, all installments containing self-winks to the illustrated media.
Cartoons About Cartoons (Part 27)
The late ‘60’s were not entirely devoid of characters knowledgeable of their existence on screen or of interaction with offscreen narrators and animators.
Cartoons About Cartoons (Part 28)
Animation made for television brought about some mixed trends in our survey of cartoons self-conscious of their medium.
Cartoons About Cartoons (Part 10)
1943 continued to abound in self-conscious cartoons, ever aware of their theatrical venue, and eager to draw the audience into the storylines through direct reference. Characters also continue…
Cartoons About Cartoons (Part 15)
Multiple cartoon-conscious visits with Warner Brothers, another with Droopy at MGM, and one-shots from the waning days of Columbia/Screen Gems.
Cartoons About Cartoons (Part 30)
In the wake of the “Disneyland” anthology show, there was a flow of copycats who attempted to expand animation made for television .
Cartoons About Cartoons (Part 3)
Part three in our series highlighting the medium and savvy characters with knowledge of their pen-and-paper world.
Cartoons About Cartoons (Part 14)
This week’s installment includes brief references out of chronology to several Warner Brothers cartoons I missed. Then, we move on in 1945 and 1946
Cartoons About Cartoons (Part 7)
Some behind the scenes at Disney, a new franchise for Goofy, and the debut of Walter Lantz’s most durable personality.
Cartoons About Cartoons (Part 18)
A lot of familiar faces today, as Warner, Paramount, and Terrytoons all provide contributions continuing to exploit their toon existence for all they’re worth.
Cartoons About Cartoons (Part 25)
All action in this post comes from the stars of Warner, Paramount, and MGM, with the final appearance by Terrytoons’ Dinky Duck.
Catoons About Cartoons (Part 31)
A cross-section of television cartoons from the early 1960's is on tap today. You've been warned!
Summer ’24 Mid-Season Report, part 2
This part of the report is for series which are hitting their seventh (or, in one case, sixth) episode during the week of 8/18. Plus, I’m adding in…
Dungeon People, Mission: Yozakura Family, Plus-Sized Elf, Why Does Nobody Remember Me in This World?
Summer ’24 Mid-Season Report, part 1
The week of 8/11 marked the official halfway point of the Summer 2024 season, so it’s time to take a look at how various series have been faring.…
2.5 Dimensional Seduction, Alya Sometimes Hides Her Feelings in Russian, Quality Assurance in Another World
Fall ’24 Mid-Season Report, part 2
See here for part 1. This half of the report covers Orb (which I somehow overlooked in my first half) and all fall season series I have been…
Shangri-La Frontier, Spheres, The Do-Over Damsel Conquers the Dragon Emperor, Bleach, DEMON LORD 2099
Spring ’24 Mid-Season Report, Part 1
We’re approaching the midpoint of the Spring 2024 season, and thanks to having more free time on my hands than expected, I am still keeping up with way…
The Banished Former Hero Lives as He Pleases, The Irregular at Magic High School, A Salad Bowl of Eccentrics, Delicious in Dungeon, Laid-Back Camp
Other Posts to Crow About – 2020 Week 24 Edition
My Favorite Posts from the Anime Blogging Community Welcome to a Crow’s eye view of the posts that caught my attention this week! These are my favorite anime…
What makes Japanese cartoons “anime”?
What is anime? All animation from Japan? All animation of a certain style? Then what about Japanese animation outside of that style? What about the international productions? An old…
Calling Anime Cartoons: An Opinion.
I’m just going to clarify that ‘An Opinion’ refers to my opinion. So, a few weeks back, I had a friend who wrote in our little group chat…
Episode One-Derland (Cartoons) ToonMarty
Plot: ToonMarty follows the adventures of Marty, the mascot of ToonMart who becomes alive when a billboard is hit by lightning. Together, he and his friends Burnie and…
The Cartoons That Made Us
Take a fantastical trip back through animation history with this old asshole as he makes fun of internet trolls for being fucking stupid as usual.
Winter ’24 Mid-Season Round-Up, part 2
In Part 1 last week, I covered series that have not been getting episode reviews at Anime News Network. In this installment, I will be offering my take…
Winter ’24 Mid-Season Round-Up, part 1
Really, this should have been started last week, when the earliest-starting series were first hitting episode 7s, but sometimes real life intrudes. Anyway, I have plenty of time…
Lupin the Third Part 6 – 24 (Finale #Lupin6)
AstroNerdBoy reviews Lupin the Third Part 6 - 24. Lupin pulls one on Tomoe. He then convinces Mattea to move forward with her life.
About “Psycho-Pass”, part 1: Sibyl Society
Three detectives stand in a vacant apartment, barely furnished. The setting is stark: no decorations and little color, no real sign of life at all, except for the…
About “Psycho-Pass”, part 2: Data Control
The Sibyl System makes the paranoid, Patriot Act-inspired world of Spielberg’s Minority Report feel like a pretty chill and forgiving place; at least the cops arresting people for…
WHY WE NEED PUNK ROCK CARTOONS
Punk Rock Cartoons. Anime. Bonsai Pop. It's time to talk about what really matters, why we make the videos we make, the state of YouTube and why you…
Episode One-Derland (Cartoons) Code Monkeys
Plot: Set in the 1980s, in an 8-bit video game-esque version of the real world, game designers at GameaVision develop new games while basically being as unpleasant as…
+14: The Rebel of Soviet Cartoons
Looking at the early films of Priit Pärn, Estonian iconoclast.
The 5 Best Cartoons of 2021
This was a stellar year for animation—and not just on the Japanese side of things. Here are my picks for the best new animated TV series I watched…
WORST CARTOONS EVER: “Chris Welkin, Planeteer”
All you need to know about one of the WORST cartoons ever!
2023: A Year Full of Cartoons
Taking stock is tricky when there's so much of it.