This show is such a guilty pleasure. It's well-voiced, has smooth animation, and a nice 50/50 split of gross-out jokes for the kids and a more mature sense of humor for the older folks. It reminds me of Animaniacs with less slapstick and a martial arts theme. Omi is a young monk with a yet-unexplained "destiny" who is able to harness the power of water. Early in the series, his teacher Master Fung acquires three friends for him with similar elemental powers: Kimiko (fire) is a hotheaded girl from Tokyo who always has some form of technology on hand. Clay (earth) is from America and is always quick to point out his Texas roots. Raimundo (wind) is from Brazil and enjoys sports, with plenty of hints that he's a lady's man. Most of the earlier episodes were set around a quest to attain a mystical object before the bad guys; the temple dragon Dojo pointed them in the right direction and fighting ensued, usually against a comic-relief bad guy called Jack Spider. The later episodes are less focused on acquisition and show the four monks in fights against Spider (who becomes more and more of a wimp as the series progresses), as well as the evil witch Wuya and assorted bad guys. The show suffers from a serious case of Dragonball Z Syndrome, where each season concludes with the defeat of the "ultimate evil" and the next season begins with the discovery of a brand-new bad guy that makes the last one look about as villainous as a piece of dry toast, but there is a continuous story running through each season that tries to tie this liability together. Last season concluded with the defeat of Chase Young, the world's best warrior; Young could use magic, was almost undefeatable in battle, could transform into a dragon, and had an army of wild cats who are not quite cats at all (spoiler). This season's villain appears to be a talking lima bean. Ridiculous? Sort of, but a lima bean doesn't have much going for it in the way of martial arts skills or upper-body strength, and it looks as though this little bean is a threat only because he is able to outsmart instead of outfight his enemies. Any kid's show where the bad guy doesn't have guns, robots, or a steroid-enhanced body and is still able to give the good guys a run for their money for thirty minutes is well worth watching. Additional bonus points are Master Fung's speeches to the monks, where he discusses things not usually brought up in cartoons Good and evil are not always absolute; don't believe everything you see; bad guys who pretend to turn over a new leaf are still probably bad; learn from your mistakes or you are doomed to repeat them; etc.
Review of Xiaolin Showdown
