Cybersix (1999)
8/10
Beautiful animation and action, but the story feels like it's missing pieces.
13 May 2020
Based on an Argentinian comic involving Nazis, prostitutes, and mad science it's nothing short of amazing that this managed to squeak by the Fox Kids censors. The show animated by TMS who animated Batman: TAS and Animaniacs is absolutely beautiful with graceful movements elegantly choreographed upon the gorgeous backgrounds making up the fictional city of Meridiana. As an example of sheer tradecraft and technical skill Cybersix has few equals(except for maybe the Spawn animated series). The story however is where things become less polished the premise is certainly one that we've seen before where a creation(in this case Cybersix) rebels against an evil creator, but many details feel like they're either not expanded upon enough or are just flat out missing. In the first few epsiodes Von Reichter makes a good impression as an antagonist, but whatever good will is soon squandered as the true antagonist of the series is his whiny, arogant, brat of a son Jose who often feels like he's at a marked disadvantage to Cybersix because he's incapable of projecting menace or threat(especially with how often the show will put him in humiliating slapstick). Also the villains aren't given any depth mainly because they can't. In the original comic it's made clear that both Jose and Von Reichter are Nazis and there are some allusions to that in the show(such as Jose goosestepping when he walks), but because the villains have such a taboo connection in the comics the creators just pretend it doesn't exist so the villains never really achieve the level of depth we'd seen in contemporary actions shows like Batman: TAS. That's not to say that there were never moments of complexity on the show, episodes such as Terra and Daylight Devil put Cybersix into intriguing moral quandaries where Von Reichter's creations questioned their mission in trying to destroy Cybersix but for the most part many of the aspects were often avoided. As it stands, Cybersix is a flawed bu entertaining series.
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