Episode 10
King
Yakko
Now we’ve come to the cartoon that fully convinced me that
this animated series would stand above all others. The story, characters, animation, music, and
comedy all together show the appeal of animation for how it can tell big grand stories
and make for creative gags that stand out better than in any other
medium.
It’s about the Warners coming to
a small kingdom called Anvilania, the largest producer of anvils in the world,
because Yakko is the only living member of the king’s royal lineage. In such a high position, Yakko is in top form
with jokes coming a mile a minute through everything he does like giving witty
remarks to his assignments, making big speeches to his subjects to see if they
can make funny faces, how he flirts with the prime minister, and more. Yakko also gets in great entertainment
through music with variations of a bombastic musical number to
address his subjects on certain matters, which is especially useful in
explaining complex things like his family tree.
These comedic moments greatly displays how well animation works as a
generation of laughs. Every single one
hits a bullseye and brings out a lot in the main characters.
However, these funny moments really mean
something when Yakko gets involved in a serious situation. Because he’s a kid in charge, that leaves the kingdom
open for invasion from other forces such as a man named Umlatt of
Dunlikus. When he first demands
Anvilania, Yakko isn’t threatened by the force and jokes on Umlatt’s control
attempts, his uniform, his dictator status, and how he wages war on the
kingdom, all of which are hilarious. The
hilarity also continues when everyone prepares for the coming war, and Yakko
just has a grand old time with witty remarks on everyone’s battle preparations
and putting more concern on frivolous things like changing the national anthem.
As enormously entertaining as everything is, Yakko
seems completely incompetent when his own kingdom is at stake. That turns out to be where the thing that
makes this cartoon so amazing lies when in the end, Yakko turns out to be
completely competent. He and his
siblings end up facing Umlatt and his army alone with their zany knowhow. In
the process, they take out his army with a payoff to one of the many jokes, get
Umlatt to admit that all he wants is the kingdom’s anvils, and let him have
them in a grand tribute to animation as a comic vehicle modeled after the
classic cartoon gag of an anvil dropping on one’s head. It starts off with the kids simply dropping
an anvil on Umlatt’s head, but gradually grows to a big display of falling
anvils with their own comic blow aided by a big orchestral piece. It’s both hilarious and epic at the same
time, and brings an appropriate end to the war when Umlatt can’t take any more
of the anvils.
The big thing about all
this is the approach to a deal as big as a war.
While most would act serious and fearful at such a thing, what we see
here has characters enter light-heartedly without fear or worry, and win
through wit and comedy. With the aid of
more great usage of gags, music, and cartoony animation, the result is the
ultimate example of animation’s versatility.
Then, we finish with a combination of one last triumphant variation of
the main song and even more hilarious gags.
In conclusion, “King Yakko” is no doubt the greatest success of Animaniacs with an endless collection of
top-tier jokes and character moments tying into a creative and impactful way to
solve a big conflict. It’s a cartoon
that’s sure to get you into this show the most and one that confirms this
animated series’ status as the absolute best. 10/10
Cartoon Ranking
- King Yakko
- Slappy Goes Walnuts
- H.M.S. Yakko
- Hooked on a Ceiling
- Temporary Insanity
- Bumbie’s Mom
- When Rita Met Runt
- De-zanitized
- Win Big
- Taming of the Screwy
- Piano Rag
- Cookies for Einstein
- The Big Candy Store
- Wally Llama
- Where Rodents Dare
- Operation: Lollipop
- Goodfeathers: The Beginning
Song Ranking
- Yakko’s Universe
- Yakko’s World
- The Monkey Song
- What Are We?
Miscellaneous Ranking
- Gilligan’s Island Parody
- Nighty-Night Toon
- Flipper Parody
The second
disc of the set is now officially covered.
Next time we'll start on the third one with a review of Episode 11 in which it's Pablo Picasso's turn to deal with the Warners, and Rita and Runt steal the show in a parody of Les Miserables.
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