I have not played the Cuphead video game. It’s something I wouldn’t mind playing, I’m aware of the difficulty just getting an opening on gaming. But I love the art style of the game. Styled after old 40s and earlier cartoons back when they were shorts produced for cinemas. So coming out in 2022 on Netflix came the Cuphead show and today as the start of December we are looking into the first episode.
The Cuphead show is created in that style of old 1930 cartoons even to the point of including artificial film fuzz. The show is set before the events of the games on the Inkwell Isles and it is there we open up on the shenanigans of the titular Cuphead, and his much more reserved and nicer brother Mugman. While they were picking up more paint to paint the fence following Cuphead’s attempt to clean it with a cannon, they are turned to a sudden Carnevil (no not misspelling this) Which is actually a plan by the Devil (who is a major character) to collect souls.
Cuphead being too good at the ball toss freezes the soul collection resulting in the Devil who was in the middle of an introductory song and dance number going up there, to confront them, things happen, Cuphead loses, but soul gets yanked back by Mugman, entertaining chase sequence featuring Old Scratch.
It’s only a little over 10 minutes but captures those old cartoons’ feel but for a little bit of an older audience well.. not in the sense of being more “mature” by having… you know… what people normally mean when they say “adult” but it is … look the Devil is a main character, that should say everything.
And the Devil voiced by Luke Millington-Drake is at least for me the best character. Accompanied by a side kick literally called Henchman to play off of his transformations, magic and personality are showing right away with that introductory song and dance number and further shown during the chase sequence. All the characters play off each other well. Mugman as the ensemble of the two brothers thus being the straight man pairs off with his more rambunctious brother and his cartoonish actions. It’s a great first episode that will tell you if you are interested in seeing more.
There are a total of 36 episodes, one of which is a Christmas special (thankfully starring the Devil again yay best character) but this first episode will be the decider if you want to go forward, and it’s a good first episode. Well paced, good stylish animation and good voice work.
Rating: 🎅🎅🎅🎅🎅
