WesternAnimation A decent guilty pleasure to say the least.
Personally, I enjoyed this series. Yeah, it's cheesey, but it's got it's charm.
first off, While the story is often cheesy, more often than not doesn't have much subtlety to it, and the show's occasional attempts at gross-out humor leave afew things to be desired, but it's got more than a few likable characters that kept my interest and in my opinion help make even the most cliched of plots in an episode enjoyable enough to watch all the way through.
Pac-Man in particular I argue is alot more three-dimensional in Ghostly Adventures compared to almost every other incarnation of the character. Pac-Man in this show is portrayed as being a clever, friendly, optimistic guy which is balanced out by the the fact he's a glutton (and some episodes even have that working against him), his patience has limits when he thinks he's being taken advantage of, and he's very driven to finding his parent, which sometimes even falls to the point of obsession, which the villains have used to their advantage quite often.
Second off, The animation and art design is, while not groundbreaking, is decent, with even some minor characters sometimes having some pretty cool designs to them, and how locations like Pacopolis and the Netherworld can sometimes boast some enjoyable visuals, Pacopolis in particular has this Raygun Gothic theme going on, showing off a good amount of some incredible pieces of technology that go with it.
Last but not least, the action is also enjoyable, sure it's rarely blood-pumping amazing, but the cartoony visuals combined with Pac-Man using either his Power Berry powers or the unique sci-fi inventions made by Sir Cumference still allow for some enjoyable and creative action scenes.
Sure, it's not as great as something like, say, Steven Universe, but I personally don't really see it as anything that's really bad (and believe me, I've watched more than a few cartoons that are far worst in every sense)
Bottom line; I advise you give it at least a fair chance, you might be surprised by what you enjoy.
WesternAnimation Absolute Crap
I know this show is for kids, but that doesn't excuse the utter lack of quality. The writing is awful, the comedy is cringe inducing at worst and simply unfunny at best and the characters are simply annoying. The only remotely decent aspects of this show are the animation (until liquids are involved) and the voice acting (and even THAT gets ruined by how annoying most of the voices are.)
The central plot involve Pac-Man fending off the incredibly incompetent villain Betrayus (Real fucking subtle, must have taken a week for the writers to think that one up) using various power ups that simply make him more over powered. But there's no actual reason for these power ups this time around. Pac-Man is already completely over powered, having super human strength and being able to eat ghosts in his base form. His power ups simply add some completely generic power like invisibility and flight. There's nothing clever in any of the fights, and the only times he actually can lose, it feels more like Strong as They Need to Be than actual tension, since he'll just eat some new berry ripped out of his ass to get conviently appropriate power.
The characters are yet another weak point. The main character is Obviously Pac-Man himself. He eats a lot. That's it. There is nothing else to him, aside from maybe being a moron. Once or twice he has some hints of actual depth when mourning his parents, but usually it never goes anywhere. His best friend is a stupid carrot looking thing named Spiral, who... Is an idiot? Sometimes? I can't really get any character at all out of him. Then there's the token chick. Like all token female characters who exist just to be the token girl, she's the wiser more down to earth member of the trio. That's about it.
The villain is probably the worst role Sam Vincent has ever played, Betrayus, who would be mildly amusing if his voice didn't make you want to rip your ears out. The others are his painfully generic subjects.
The comedy is completely intolerable. I know this is subjective, but for me it doesn't work. The writers usually just throw some horrible fart joke, or Pac-Man eats something. Those are the most recurring sources of lack luster comedy, so if that doesn't sound funny, stay away.
All in all, I simply can't fathom why anyone outside of its young target audience enjoys it.
WesternAnimation It's been years since I've seen such a stupid show
My little brother invited me to watch this with him and I saw two episodes. I usually watch more than that before I judge a show, but this one was so bad I had to stop watching.
This series does something I haven't seen in a while; talking down to children. Sure, there are lots of terrible children's shows, but at least most of them take themselves seriously. But naming a character "Buttocks" and "the Buttler"? Give me a break!
The animation is good, and I like the color scheme, but the jokes are so disgusting. The episode where Pacman becomes a planet involves a joke about "can you imagine what his boogers would look like?" and one where Pacman opens his mouth and you can see his ocean-levels of spit.
This review makes me feel like one of those moms on a parenting website. That's not a good thing. Look, I don't mind gross humor, but it needs to have some intelligence or else it looks patronizing. Speaking of which, it always sounds like Pacman's VA is trying to sound like a "cool" teenage boy, and the rest of the characters (especially the girl) sound like they're talking to three year olds. The villain's voice is so whiny and cringe worthy.
I want to say good things about the show, but I can't find any. It's a sellout. End of story. 1/5 stars
WesternAnimation Disturbing and uncomfortable, but actually kind of decent
This is a show based on one of the oldest, most primitive videogames there is. There's no getting around that, and as fleshed out as everything is, it's still difficult to forget that. In justifying the premise, it becomes even more bizarre, with the losing side of a war being sent to Hell(including what appears to be young teens), the good guys having a racial caste system, with the leaders able to devour everything, including souls, and the fact that this bizarre, uncomfortable society exists in an series where the villains are quite literally butt jokes. The action, with all its (reasonably successful) attempts to vary things up, is still all centered around eating the enemy.
And yet, somehow, it all works. For all the strangeness of the setting, there is a definite heart to it, with consistent, fleshed out, genuinely likeable and diverse characters, a campy wit, and an overall sense that the creators are really trying to make something good. Every character leaves an impression on me, which is the mark of good writing however you slice it.
Though the more I think about the setting, the more disturbing it becomes, I can say with honesty that I enjoy this series.
WesternAnimation Horribly cliched
I really do not understand the love for the series. It's just another Wake Up Go To School Save The World series, as if it hasn't been done to death yet. The jokes fall flat, the character designs are horrible, and Pac-Man's voice actor is really grating. Every single cliche of the genre is abused here, and to me that is the greatest sin of all.
WesternAnimation Meh?
Summary; This show is okay. It has an interesting concept, but falls short due to several horrible choices.
Upsides:
- Decent ideas.
- many good characters.
- several funny moments
DownsidesTotal Score. 52/100. Meh. It's only okay.