Xavier: Renegade Angel (2007–2009) User Reviews

Love it. First thought it was an internet meme.

[ButterJuggets666 · 9/10 · 28 August 2017]

It's so weird.

I discovered this show on the internet from a snippet, and I thought it was some weird creature in the form of "Shrek is Love Shrek is Life" type content. To my surprise I found out it was actually from late 2000's Adult Swim.

There is a unique charm to this show, with its low cgi quality that is actually nostalgic to a degree, and the crude surreal, sometimes disgusting humor and absurdity that of course will only appeal to warped minds like myself.

This show is so odd and yet, for me personally, something as weird as this show is a breath of fresh air compared to the stale content of mass media these days, including sadly most of the internet.

I would not suggest this to normal people who have to have a perfect sensible world, and if you show this to children you'll probably need to go find a therapist. It's on Adult Swim for a reason, which is why it's so good.

I wish they would make more of this show, provided that they dust off the old computer that they used to animate this and not upgrade anything about it, keep it cheesy.

I would give it a 10/10 but sometimes things like this are best described as perfectly imperfect.

From the twisted minds that brought us 'Wonder Showzen'...

[Kalifire · 9/10 · 30 November 2007]

The title of this review should say it all. The people who created this are clever writers, appealing to an intelligent viewer by delivering what those who don't quite understand it think is absurd and unfunny. The truth is, it's anything but.

This is an intentionally poorly animated, comedically fast-paced glimpse into the twisted, surreal world of Xavier, an aesthetically (not to mention morally) objectionable wanderer, with delusions of philosophical grandeur. As Xavier lands himself in situations born almost completely out of his absurd incompetence and inability to reason, he attempts to further understand himself and nearly always fails.

Comedically, this is a real gem. The attention to detail elevates this from a 'weird cartoon' to something that has very obviously had a lot of thought and care invested in it. The show has many layers, from odd almost dream-like logic to conveying some very intelligent ideas (which unlike South Park it doesn't always turn into the main focus of the show). It's a show that can move dramatically in completely unexpected directions, often from just a turn of phrase or an internal after-thought. In that way it's very similar to Wonder Showzen, but Xavier takes the surreal humour to a whole different level! I'm loathe to say "if you don't like it, you don't get it" about comedy shows because it's invariably a cop out of a proper justification, but some of the criticism this show is getting is as a result of things (deliberately dubious animation, consciously offensive stereotypes, etc.) that the creators intentionally set out to portray. There's often a very tangible commentary on social responsibility to the show's sub-text and in amongst it's absurdity lies some pretty deep stuff, apparently lost on it's critics.

In summary, I haven't been this excited about a comedy show since, well, Wonder Showzen.

"Mom Spelt Backwards is Wow..."

[EvelPlatypus · 9/10 · 22 April 2009]

Xavier: Renegade Angel is the apocalypse of randomness. This show is about the strange-looking...person(?) who is trying to find out his origins-His father's killer, is mother whom abandoned him, and whoever else in the next season. I Think. This show makes NO sense, so if you try to follow it...you'll stop breathing because your lungs would've already busted out and your brain will be virtually non-existent since it would've been burnt out in the war of your mind...kind of. This show features humor familiar to Wonder Showzen, since it IS pretty edgy (although not as racy as Wonder Showzen in my opinion), but surly crazier (and THAT'S saying something). Xavier (portrayed by Jim Tozzi, who also played Him on WS) is of himself 'deep' and complicated and there could've just been a show about his ramblings and philosophy. It would've been awesome. Vernon Chatman and John Lee have created what seems to be a cult classic, a show where you can say "Yeah, I watch Xavier, but you shouldn't. You'll hate it." Kudos to you guys of PF/F/FR for creating another designated audience show.

Try it out if you liked Wonder Showzen, (to some extent) Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job!, and other shows with VERY awry and eccentric views of life, and seem to create philosophy of nonsense. You'll be quoting this for weeks...IF you're not brainwashed by Xavier's powers of philosophical awesomeness.

9/10. Worthwhile for a weekly viewing. Next season.

Brilliant in its crude stupidity

[swankgd · 10/10 · 28 October 2009]

Don't worry, mattbromagin, I won't tell you you JUST don't get it. Because you went far beyond JUST not getting it.

The first brilliant thing about this show is that there isn't a bit of dialog that's throw-away. Every sentence, every word is carefully crafted in service of some point. Sometimes the point is as crass as a stupid wiener joke, sometimes the point is a genius bit of biting social commentary. Which brings me to the second brilliant thing about this show is that it is equally comfortable with the high brown and the low brow, recognizing that each has its place and that "smart humor" isn't about content as much as craft. It makes little distinction between the two and fluidly uses one in service of the other.

If you think the dialog is dumb or inane, you don't get it. If you think the content is pointlessly crude, you don't get it. And if you think the animation is crappy, you reaaally don't get it.

A Great Show For Those With Open Minds

[vredesbyrd · 10/10 · 25 May 2009]

I decided to write this review as a counterpoint to the one star review which was obviously written by someone who didn't quite get the show despite their insistence on understanding it.

Xavier: Renegade Angel (from the creators of MTV2's Wonder Showzen) is a show best described as the TV show Alejandro Jodorowsky would make if he was obsessed with wordplay. Every episode (with the exception of two) follows the title character, who is voiced incredibly well by series creator Vernon Chatman, NOT Jim Tozzi, as he tries to help people who he believes need help while causing a chain of events that only harm and frequently ruins the lives of those he is "assisting" all while searching for his father's killer and his missing mother. He is a character that was purposefully made as ugly as possible in order to show his inner wretchedness. He speaks mostly in wordplay in an attempt to appear more intelligent than everyone else. The wordplay is, for me, the highlight of the show and is by far some of the most clever I have ever heard. A favorite line of mine is (in reference to the Mayan God Quetzacoatle) "Let's give this sadis-dick Sun God a taste of his own meta-META- sin, man". A common problem amongst people who don't enjoy this show is not being able to see the multiple layers of a single line like that. And that lines a simple one...

The animation is also not as bad as detractors like to ascertain. The first season was very choppy and a bit clumsy but by the second season the animation improved drastically. Like Xavier the show was purposefully made to be ugly as another way for the creators to challenge the viewers and our often shallow perception. Theirs a reason that the show's writing is so good and that because it's the star of the show, not the animation. If you can't look past the animation you simply shouldn't be watching the show and if you enjoy ANYTHING else on Adult Swim you are a hypocrite for saying the animation effects your experience as it's the best animated show on the network (tied with Superjail).

Xavier was described as "a warning to children and adults about the dangers of spirituality" by the shows creators though it's other main focus is displaying ignorance as one of mankind's biggest flaws. Xavier himself is possibly the most ignorant character on the show though he perceives himself as a gift from God and the answer to stupidity. This again ties into the shows look which only exposes the ignorant among us. Speaking of "ties in", another major aspect of the show is the fact that every episode is insanely well constructed (something the other reviewer said the exact opposite about and more so than anything proves he doesn't quite understand the show and it's structure). The show normally starts with Xavier walking through the desert and speaking to himself about the topics we will come across during the next 10 minutes. It's very important to pay close attention to this as everything he says here comes back up in more wordplay and metaphors/visuals later in the episode. Each episode is very tightly put together and references to important issues and jokes are spread throughout. How someone can say "there is zero balance" to this show is absolutely beyond me.

If you need any more proof of the other reviewers ignorance of the show go watch the episode "Shakashuri Blowdown" on AdultSwim.com. He claims Xavier simply plays the flute on and on and on. Go watch it and see if thats a correct statement or maybe you'll see that flute part for what it is... A brilliant piece of animation that marries music and image incredibly well. Hope this helps. And as I said before, if you don't like the show then that's totally fine but don't judge something if you don't understand it for what it is. This review barely scratched the surface of what this show is so give it a shot. The whole first season is up on Adult Swim though it's far more tame than season two which is my favorite season of any animated show ever.

The sum of all subtractive inequality.

[newpicnictime · 10/10 · 10 November 2013]

Beyond the places in your own dark, childish imagination that you are afraid to revisit, Xavier does lay. And lie. Or, at least, obfuscate the truth a little.

Do not watch this show if you are unwilling to self-actualize. An actual self is required for viewing. Sometimes objects in this freakish fun- house mirror are a little bit closer than they appear... like in the brain of your own tiny mind.

Subtly, despondency will envelop your soul shoes and envelope your shoe soles. To Satan.

Some people seem to dislike this program because it is obviously designed to appeal to the spiritually confused. I think those people are delusional. They aren't willing to see how confused they really are themselves, or may possibly have a mental disorder preventing them from doing so.

Don't hate Xavier because you know you love him. And he loves you.

Xavier Renegade Angel is my favorite TV show.

[tawdry_hepburn · 10/10 · 12 December 2009]

When you were a kid did you ever have crazy, bizarre nightmares filled with images right of Salvador Dali's psycho-analysis sessions? Well, if you didn't, now you can pretend you did thanks to Xavier Renegade Angel.

Xavier Renegade Angel is an intensely surreal (even by Adult Swim standards) show from Wonder Showzen creators, PFFR. It's about a freakish man beast who is covered in fur, has 6 nipples, backwards knees, a third eye where his penis should be, a snake for a hand, an eagles beak, and Heterochromia, who wanders America trying to find spiritual fulfillment and the identity of the man who killed his parents. Unfortunately for Xavier and everyone with whom he comes into contact, he has no spiritual insight whatsoever, and remains totally oblivious to the fact that he was the one who killed his parents, even though their ghosts tell him so repeatedly. He most often ruins the lives of those he is trying to help while failing to grasp even the most basic truths about the world around him. At the end of each episode Xavier knows even less about the world than he did at the beginning.

I could write 1000 words on how Xavier employs Brechtian narrative elements and uses alienation to allow the viewer to perceive reality with disinterested contemplation. Or how it acts as a reader for the work of Jean Baudrillard. Or how it brilliantly remixes elements of Foucault, Judith Butler, Hegel, Marx, Kant, Nietzsche, Douglas Adams, Vonnegut, Gogol, Voltaire, Ginsberg, Beckett, T.S. Eliot, E. E. Cummings, and David Foster Wallace with an art style that is heavily influenced by the proto-Dada work of the Die Bruke and Blue Rider movements of the Weimar Republic. But it's one of those things where if you don't already know, I probably couldn't tell you.

Xavier is not a show for everyone, or even most anyone. It is vile, obnoxious, mean-spirited, confusing, and really ugly to look at thanks to CGI graphics made by a company that usually does economy class video game cut scenes. However, if you can see beyond the aggressively alienating exterior of the show you will discover a razor sharp Juvenilian satire of American Bourgeois values that makes salient points about the hypocrisy of mainstream and subculture ranging from hippies and environmentalists to neo-cons and fundamentalists.

The wonderful thing about Xavier is how high brow/low brow it is. The program goes well out of its way to ask complex, soul searching questions about the nature of reality and humanity's inability to perceive truth, but then asks these questions using the most base and puerile dick and fart jokes imaginable. During the best episodes of season 2 there are some 40 jokes a minute thanks to its triple and quadruple-entendre dialogue. And though the creators designed the show to look as unappealing as possible, underneath the hideous character design there is actually some really inventive and boundary pushing use of the camera going on.

Upon a first viewing, most will notice the sparse, clipped dialogue featuring words seemingly arbitrarily echoing into infinity, but after seeing a few episodes it becomes clear that this is a stylistic choice. Every time the vocals abruptly cut it signals the viewer to some type of wordplay within the sentence. Clips and phrases like "Take that! Taste the pain!" repeat in all 20 episodes in different contexts, sometimes dropped in in the middle of other words. It's really mind-bending stuff. Meanwhile, the echoing effect is most often used to recall a reference to a previous episode or else to highlight a piece of new age jargon that the show is mocking.

At first glance Xavier seems like a show with less plot than Family Guy, every two minutes or so there is a bizarre plot twist that seems to come from nowhere and lead nowhere. One of the best episodes begins with Xavier trying to sell road kill to a restaurant and ends with a prostitute aura (who provides aural sex to the point of soul-jaculation) causing the end of the world with a spiritually transmitted disease. Along the way the episode also touches on huffing glue (as well as snorting tacs and shooting staples), bestiality, cannibalism, and camels that open up to reveal machine guns. It's pretty abstract and incredibly weird, but upon second and third repeat each episode begins to come together. Instead of seeming random, the show's intricacies come into view, with each successive turn clearly foreshadowed and generally motivated by larger thematic elements. The show employs nonstandard narrative structure and deeply couched post-modern plotting that can be difficult to decipher, but is very rewarding if you're willing to put in the effort.

Basically, if you love An Andalusian Dog, Beyond Good and Evil and Freddy Got Fingered all in equal measure, then Xavier Renegade Angel is for you.

Too Brilliant for Television

[famguy3 · 10/10 · 3 June 2013]

This show is so funny it hurts, but just like myself it is not often understood. The show takes advantage of every scene by squeezing as much humor as you can from every possible situation. As ridiculous and crazy as Xavier himself is, the people he comes in contact with are as equally entertaining.

There are basically no rules to the humor presented in each episode from Xavier kidnapping seven babies whom he thought were abandoned and spending the rest of the episode hunting himself down to a town catching a virus from hundreds of computers thrown into a lake infected with the question "What Doth Life?"

It is a show that can only be loved or hated. An acquired taste that gets better the more you watch it.

Constancy, Blizzard

[tedg · 24 November 2008]

This comment is on episodes 9 and 10, which I am told are the best.

I have a special place in my heart for the absurd, especially the cleverly absurd. These guys have something like that gift.

But here's the problem. Its like anything else precious, it needs to surf what we consider normal. It has to establish its distance and it can only do that by varying in a deliberate way the level of absurdity. It requires a seduction of the mind, teasing us into and out of the amazing.

If it stays at the same level, it is just a blizzard of stuff. These guys have the stuff for the deep layered effect of fundamental absurdity, but it is lost because once they start, they keep us from the group zero that would contrast. A skilled artist would work back and forth, in and out, keeping us alert, guessing, trying to scope when something connects and deviates and how, and in what way. This is just all white, all the same; turn it on and get precisely the same level of deviance for ten minutes with no modulation.

Ted's Evaluation -- 2 of 3: Has some interesting elements.

Too "smart" to be funny

[soccerguy_393 · 1/10 · 11 December 2008]

Since the days of Monty Python's absurdity and irreverence multiple comedians have tried to duplicate it. The problem is that they almost always fail. This show is no different, it's ever winding absurdity of philosophical nonsense is supposed to be clever and funny if you're "smart enough to get it". I'm tired of garbage like this and Tim and Eric being compared to genius level endeavors that are just so complex and intelligent. It's parallel to some guy at the art museum trying to explain the deeper meaning of a crucifix that's been urinated on. Pretentious and Worthless. Save yourself this insult to your intelligence, and go watch some Flying Circus for real absurdity, and complex thought...

One of the few really original shows

[mzart · 10/10 · 29 February 2012]

Xavier, the Renegade Angel will not be to everyone's taste. It can be ludicrous, lewd and is scatological and juvenile at times. But here also is deconstructionist combination of smart-ass street jargon and zen poetry diatribe. Xavier's rambling nonsensical musing are like a modern cultural melting pot, he talks from his unconsciousness, our unconsciousness. Some people don't want to go there. But I love it and I have re-watched this show twice and enjoyed it equally each time. Repeating review below to fulfill the 10 line minimum. Xavier, the Renegade Angel will not be to everyone's taste. It can be ludicrous, lewd and is scatological and juvenile at times. But here also is deconstructionist combination of smart-ass street jargon and zen poetry diatribe. Xavier's rambling nonsensical musing are like a modern cultural melting pot, he talks from his unconsciousness, our unconsciousness. Some people don't want to go there. But I love it and I have re-watched this show twice and enjoyed it equally each time.

15 Minutes of Shame

[Spartanwarrior98 · 1/10 · 13 February 2009]

Xavier: Renegade Angel is not an animated series worth watching. Firstly, the dialogue is nonexistent. The characters just blather nonsense with the random and extremely offensive sexual innuendo the only discernible speech. Secondly, the computer animation is terrible and pointless considering the technology available today. I also wouldn't mind seeing a few more traditionally animated cartoons. Thirdly, there is no social commentary, no moral to the story. Shows such as South Park make social commentary that make one think and get one's blood boiling, heightening the entertainment value. King of the Hill episodes end with a "lesson learned" and have a good moral value. Xavaier offers neither of these. Case in point, Xaiver has no entertainment value. It is not worth watching.

Nothing short of absolute genius

[polysicsarebest · 10/10 · 24 March 2009]

Surreal, bizarre, completely 100% nonsensical at times... but so, SO unbelievably consistently hilarious, intelligent, clever, and mindbending. This is an absolutely brilliant show, from top to bottom, and is probably way too intelligent for the average Adult Swim viewer. So, if you're the typical Hot Topic-shopping "oh man look how funny this is when I'm stoned!" Adult Swim fan, you may want to pass on this one...

...but if you're into the films of Lynch, Giuseppe Andrews, Jodorowsky, etc. or the music of The Residents, Harry Partch, Captain Beefheart... you know, the truly bizarre and "outside" part of the entertainment world... you will most likely love this exploration of existentialism and absurdity. This show is probably the most insanely and violently brilliant thing on modern television. Ever. So unbelievably packed with sight gags and clever quips, an 11 minute episode has more energy and ideas than an entire season of.. oh, I dunno.. Stroker and Hoop or whatever Adult Swim fans like.

So, yeah, this probably isn't for your typical AS fans, but personally I think it's the most brilliant thing I've seen in forever, and I've fallen so hard in love for it that it's ridiculous.

Brilliantly stupid

[baldmosher · 8/10 · 15 March 2020]

I won't say as many words as others, but this is bizarre and deliberately weird, and brilliantly done

The possibilities are limitless

[jrgreenjr · 9/10 · 9 June 2019]

I came across this show because of a recommendation from the podcast "sardonically" but I'm not going to lie, I had low expectations for this, I saw the animation and thought it would just be nonsense on a screen like I had seen in some adult swim shows, but this, this was much more than that. It is probably one of the most clever, funny, and creative shows I've ever seen. Starting off an episode, it's impossible to truly tell what turn each episode will take, and its nearly impossible to catch all the word play and jokes in the show on the first viewing. This show takes the limits away, so literally anything imaginable could happen, and it always seems to be clever and have a punchline to each joke, not just random for random sake. It is so refreshing to see creators have their own brand of humor, it isn't like most modern comedies where the jokes are soft hitting or predictable, I think that's what elevated this show to being truly hilarious and interesting, it is never afraid to be in its own world with its own brand, and I don't think I will ever find something like this again.

This show is a spiritual experience

[gabrielscastaneda · 10/10 · 12 June 2019]

This show is a masterpiece. It is packed so densely with hilarious jokes. And there are only a couple weak episodes. But even those are still really good.

Best Fever Dreams Ever

[blazewolf-52555 · 10/10 · 16 October 2015]

I'm not so great with words so I'll keep it sort. It was the most bizarre show I ever watched. I don't know if there are any words that can accurately describe just how weird it was. It was like something out of my worst fever dreams..and I adored it. Um...I don't know what else to say, but I need to say something to fill the 10 line requirement, so I'm gonna put down a couple quotes from the show and link to Free Range Mannibalism for the rest.

"When I find that demon I shall slay him! to Death Death Death"

"I'm a survivor. We're a dying breed." - Xavier

https://vimeo.com/39260958

Terrible..

[scottpo · 1/10 · 14 October 2009]

This is clearly one of those shows that you have to "get" in order to fully enjoy. It is possible I just don't understand it. Honestly, I don't want to. There's something uniquely disturbing about this show. After watching one of the episodes I felt nauseated. The dialog is absurd, and the computer animation of the show allows them to create some of the most grotesque images I've seen on TV. I have to give the creators credit for managing to create something so surreal. I guess it's just one of those love it or hate it things. I personally don't see how anyone could enjoy watching this. I would advise not letting any kids near it, Xavier will haunt them in their sleep.

The first TV Show where i actually laugh when i am not a kid anymore

[RandomUser1296 · 10/10 · 5 December 2020]

Although the art style is unappealing, i think the art style fits the best with the show, the jokes are well thought-out, and there are nothing that feels forced in this show, and the amount of jokes and the wide array of the topics in the jokes are perfect.

Random Humor is Toaster

[JayWolfgramm · 5/10 · 21 June 2023]

"Xavier: Renegade Angel" targets a very specific demographic with a very strange sense of humor. If you showed this show to 100 people, 97 would likely hate it, but the 3 that liked it, would be on the floor laughing. It is very much a product of its time, but at the same time ahead of its time. It is signature Adult Swim, mixed with a series of early 2006 YouTube poops.

The show itself is about Xavier, going around trying to discover the spiritual truth of "what is?". It is animated in a creepy pasta PS1 game. But beyond this description, the rest of what I have to say might as well just be a series of random words, that best fits the tone of the show.

Meow meow orange aglet tomato paste. :/

Fantastic

[matesgardening · 9/10 · 21 January 2017]

This is an absolute fantastic cartoon, unlike any other. i completely understand that everyone has their own sense of humour and that not everyone will find it funny, and have the capacity to truly get all of the 100 jokes per second that the viewer is subjected to. But i really do think this actually is a case of " if you don't like it, you probably really just don't have the same capacity to get it like some do". Thats not your fault and maybe if you watch it in another ten years you might find yourself dying of laughter. this show is definitely not for the simple minded population and it helps if you know a lil something bout the world we live in to get a lot of the jokes e.g. histories great thinkers, different cultures, current and past politics etc. it is by far the smartest, funniest cartoon I've ever come across.

"I want universal oneness. Can't you buy it for me, Daddy?"

[robotomen · 9/10 · 11 February 2018]

I wanna keep this review short, so i'm just gonna say that you need to watch it, its one of my favorite shows I have ever seen. The writing is so multilayered and complex, you can watch it over and over and discover a joke you didn't notice. The episodes are never predictable, it has no rhyme or reason, and its just beautiful. Watch it, the entire show is only 4 hours long and generally, I'm happy its only 2 seasons, short but sweet.

The Illusion of Randomness, in Complex, Surreal Formula

[minoritizedifunny · 10/10 · 24 May 2018]

Xavier, Renegade Angel is the story of a man who believes himself a freak as a result of societal rejection. He is broken by his childhood and its traumas, and is insane, though he strives to follow moral standards. The horror of the overarching story is masked behind humorous, surrealist puns and visual gags unrivaled by anything else aired on television, even nearly a decade after the end of the series. Anyone who has not seen X:RA should, and anyone who has and does not recognize its beauty as a medium of societal, religious, and spiritual messages should re-watch after some time to let the first viewing sit with them. The ratings for this show are far lower than they should be; The intellectual comedy of surrealist and dark humor allows multiple layers of understanding. Although many claim the show to be random, it is not random. It holds many clever lines and puns and presents information early before it becomes relevant. The series holds easy to understand as well as more complex jokes, gags, and lines. The same could be said about the metaphors and symbols employed throughout. The ending of the series ties all motifs throughout it together in a beautifully witty and humorous, yet oddly disturbing, package, leaving the audience to think about what they have just seen for days. 10/10, an excellent show.

Genius.

[wewserlethaldude · 10/10 · 31 January 2021]

The show blends stupid humour with extremely witty wordplay. The insane progression of the plots and the jokes making fun of stereotypes make the viewer question might make the viewer wonder if the creators have ever been a part of society.

The show does contain various themes and even messages, though these are hidden beneath thick layers of never-ending (really funny) jokes.

The ultimate message of the show is "Don't overthink it!", which gives it a supreme, post-modern irony.

I recommend at least becoming familiar with this show to everyone.

Don't pretend this show is smart.

[n-67158 · 9/10 · 17 September 2017]

I don't consider myself a normal audience member- which is why this show appeals to me so much. Many say this show is a social commentary, with vast amounts of insight into modern narcissistic tendencies- or even worse, a satire on religion. This is far from the point- which is, there is no point. if anything, it is a satire of those who look to unqualified & insignificant objects like TV shows for this level of meaning. Yes, narcissism, religion, and the savior complex are common themes throughout the show, but they are only used as elements of Xaviar's character, not as the subject of some message the show wants to spread. Those who consider this show to be "insightful" are the same ones who consider Rick and Morty to be an atheist bible. Now that I've gotten past what the show isn't, let me say what the show is. It is an experiment of maintaining the audience's understanding of a character in the midst of an illogical and surreal plot line. This show finds its success in creating a humorous 10 minute screening while bombarding the viewer with malapropism, graphic PS2-esque animations, and a fading of the lines between spirituality and sexuality. If you want an original show that will never let you predict what will happen within the next 6 seconds, this is the show. If you want a show that is insightful and thought provoking, you are exactly what this show intends to satire. If you want a show that isn't surreal and nonsensical, you probably wouldn't be reading this.