#2 Adventure Time! Vs. Pokemon

  Upon watching a couple of episodes of Adventure Time!, I’ve noticed some differences to this show in comparison to Pokemon, an ongoing series that began in my childhood. Adventure Time!, which premiered around 2010 on Cartoon Network, is a series of short episodes that follows the adventures of a young human boy named Jake, who wants to become a memorable hero, and his best friend Finn, a talking magical dog, as they explore the Land of Ooo. These characters befriend other unique characters such as Princess Bubblegum, Lumpy Space Princess, and many others which seem to have their own personality. Pokemon, which premiered around 1998 also on Cartoon Network, follows a young boy named Ash as he journeys through various regions with his first magical creature, or Pokemon, Pikachu, a yellow electric mouse, and collects other Pokemon to befriend and train them for competition. Ash wants to become a Pokemon Master, and to do that he fights other trainers in a sport known as a Pokemon Battle to see who is better skilled at training their Pokemon. Ash, like Jake, meets and befriends other young Pokemon Trainers, such as Misty and Brock, along his journey to collect 8 badges from a Pokemon Gym to qualify for the Pokemon League Tournament.
Even though Adventure Time! encourages creativity, the wonders of exploration, and friendship as seen through Jake and Finn, there are other characters or even episode plots which appear inappropriate for children. One example is Lumpy Space Princess, a purple cloud creature that portrays a rotten teenager. This character first appears in the second episode, “Trouble in Lumpy Space” and when she is denied the use of a car by her parents, she wrongly disrespects her parents with words like “Lump Off Mom” and “Stop Lumping Yelling at Me.” Then she calls them idiots, even though she was the one that made them upset. Unlike Pokemon, in which characters respected authority of parents, this character is showing children rebellious behavior and disregard for higher authority in order to satisfy a selfish desire. The character Jake, like Ash, is always doing his best to do the right thing, which is admirable but there are still issues on this show that shouldn’t be viewed by younger audiences. Some episodes mention make-out points, seven minutes in heaven, boyfriends and other sort of high school situations that make me question why this is on Cartoon Network. A show like Pokemon used to be about making friends, doing the right thing when there were problems, and just having fun through adventuring or participating in friendly competition.   

  I’m not trying to influence others to not watch Adventure Time! but I do want to bring an awareness to what is being discussed within the show. It has grown in popularity over the years and I’m sure there is still more that can be said on both a positive and negative perspective but that’s what I personally found watching it so far. Next time, I’ll be reviewing a Nickelodeon Cartoon, Planet Sheen.