'Toon Reviews 21: Xiaolin Showdown Season 1 Episode 8: Night of the Sapphire Dragon

If you like this review and want to stay updated for what else I have in store, become a follower of this blog, click here to like the official Facebook page, and click here to follow me on Twitter. Now on with today's review:

Night of the Sapphire Dragon

The featured Shen Gong Wu for this episode has a huge mystery surrounding it and a huge dark direction to take the story in.  As a result, the series becomes more than just a light-hearted action series. 

The mystery is apparent at the beginning when it’s seen as a black dragon bauble, but no one knows its name or abilities.  That said, getting the Shen Gong Wu brings on the exciting tone for the episode.  It’s an intense dive into a volcano to retrieve it before Jack Spicer does.  We even get a huge Xiaolin Showdown for it that’s big on intensity in the volcanic setting. This could be a problem through getting the climactic showdown in so early in the episode with nothing else living up to it.  However, as great as the showdown is, what follows is just as exciting, maybe more. 

The Xiaolin Warriors win the Shen Gong Wu, but its mystery persists and from that, the darker turn slowly becomes apparent.  The buildup to the darkness feels natural to not make what happens feel out of place.  Things start calm as Kimiko researches the Shen Gong Wu, then when she scratches it, there’s a layer of sapphire-blue under the black.  Things get dark the moment the dragon’s eyes glow and the room fills with blue smoke. The result is the darkest fate imaginable in fiction when Kimiko turns into solid sapphire, and more people around the Xiaolin Temple face petrification over time.  While the occurrences leave a lot of shock of many good people becoming inanimate objects fated to never be heard, it thickens the desire to learn how this is happening. 

The petrification aspect soon crosses with the mystery of what the new Shen Gong Wu is like.  It looks like a black dragon, but it’s actually called the Sapphire Dragon.  It goes from a bauble to a real blue dragon that turns the good, evil, and indifferent into sapphire, getting more powerful with every victim.  It only loses its power when covered in soot, which is why it was hidden in a volcano.  Something making people statues at will makes the petrification instances more disturbing than it already is.  Even so, it does make the statues its sentient lackeys who attack the only remaining victim, Dojo. 

Speaking of Dojo, this episode is a major shining role for him developing past just being the Warriors’ smart-talking dragon guide to Shen Gong Wu.  He’s self-conscious about his strength after failing to help his comrades get the Sapphire Dragon earlier. Also, he's constantly cowering in fear when the Sapphire Dragon starts its dark powers doesn’t help his case.  It’s an endearing side of Dojo whose conflict is not foreign to most people who can easily feel inferior in certain areas. 

His eventual takedown of the Sapphire Dragon not only brings his character to a good conclusion for the episode, but is also very clever.  There are a few signs of Clay’s hot sauce being resilient to intense heat by sustaining the volcanic lava and how he suggests Dojo use it to build up his fire breath.  It turns out that’s just what Dojo does to save the day.  In a humorous Western getup, he mans the hot sauce bottles like a cowboy welding his guns, drinks them all, and gets a fire breath that overpowers the Sapphire Dragon’s power.

With everyone back to normal and the Sapphire Dragon once again dormant , it’s a big grand end to the ensuing drama and Dojo’s arc for the episode.  It leaves the episode as one of the show’s grandest Shen Gong Wu escapades which sells the dangers of the artifacts, develops characters, and is big on creativity.

A+

The Ranking

1. Night of the Sapphire Dragon
2. Shen Yi Bu
3. Chameleon
4. Katnappe
5. The Journey of a Thousand Miles
6. Like a Rock
7. Ring of the Nine Dragons
8. Tangled Web

Be sure to stay tuned for the review of the next episode where Omi has to claim a new Shen Gong Wu through playing basketball in New York City.

If you would like to check out other Xiaolin Showdown reviews on this blog, click here for the guide made especially for them.

'Toon Reviews 21: Xiaolin Showdown Season 1 Episode 5: Shen Yi Bu

If you like this review and want to stay updated for what else I have in store, become a follower of this blog, click here to like the official Facebook page, and click here to follow me on Twitter. Now on with today's review:

Shen Yi Bu

The Xiaolin Warrior I find to be the most relatable is Raimundo.  His character flaws make him feel identifiable, especially since he develops past them as the series goes on.  They’ve been present a few times in prior episodes mostly through caring more about frivolous maters and a messing with Omi.  His development past his attitude problems starts here. 

The Xiaolin Warriors represent a certain natural element. This is why the action has often cut to them doing a fight move as they say what they represent against an elaborate backdrop. Raimundo’s element is wind.  The featured Shen Gong Wu, the Sword of the Storm, is wind related, so Raimundo would be the best one to use it. 

However, pertaining to his flaws, Raimundo drifts away to things he finds more interesting such as surfing and impressing beach babes.  He doesn’t listen to the importance of the Sword of the Storm.  As for the Sword itself, it’s an interesting Shen Gong Wu that creates violent wind storms of immeasurable magnitudes while also turning the user’s body into wind.  While Raimundo finds it, because he didn’t listen to the information, he can’t use the Sword of the Storm properly. As a result, he loses it to another villain hired by Jack and Wuya, a ninja named Tubbimura.  Now, Tubbimura may be a standard evil ninja personality wise, but a few things make him stand out.  It’s amusing to see him fight skillfully with such a round stomach, and while not in battle, he’s soft-spoken and civil. 

As for Raimundo, his development kicks in when he regrets his failure greatly.  He brushes up on as much information as he can on Shen Gong Wu and showdowns going late into the night.  This attitude is an impactful and relatable form of redemption.  It’s like brushing up on a lot of information to make up for failing a test so to do better on the next one.  I’ve been through this in school, so I know how this feels. 

As was the case for me, Raimundo’s endless studying pays off.  There's a reveal of another Shen Gong Wu the Shroud of Shadows, and he knows what it does, covering up the user to make him/her invisible, before anyone else.  During the episode’s Xiaolin Showdown with Tubbimura, Raimundo’s knowledge shines through. 

He makes it a Shen Yi Bu Dare, a special type of Showdown where the opponents can wager more than one Shen Gong Wu.  The Showdown itself is one of the coolest.  It’s modeled after a Japanese pond the Shroud of Shadows is found.  Its rocks reach to the sky and the setting becomes stormy. Raimundo and Tubbimura have to use their Shen Gong Wu to knock each other off their rocks while big koi fish randomly switch their Shen Gong Wu around.  In the end, Raimundo impresses everyone by combining two Shen Gong Wu, the Eye of Dashi and Sword of the Storm.  This allows him to move with the wind, give Tubbimura a humiliating defeat, and win a bunch of Shen Gong Wu for the Xiaolin side. 

More development from Raimundo is to come, but how he evolves in this one episode is already impressive.  Starting as a bored lollygagging student and becoming a champion at knowledge in battle, he’s the highlight of the episode. It goes to show the good that can come from the most unlikely of places.

A+

The Ranking

1. Shen Yi Bu
2. Katnappe
3. The Journey of a Thousand Miles
4. Like a Rock
5. Tangled Web

The next Xiaolin Showdown review puts the Warriors' tiger instincts to the test when Kimiko is replaced with a doppelganger robot.

Next time on MC Toon Reviews is "Face Your Fears" from OK K.O.! Let's Be Heroes.

If you would like to check out other Xiaolin Showdown reviews on this blog, click here for the guide made especially for them.

'Toon Reviews 21: Xiaolin Showdown Season 1 Episode 4: Katnappe

If you like this review and want to stay updated for what else I have in store, become a follower of this blog, click here to like the official Facebook page, and click here to follow me on Twitter. Now on with today's review:

Katnappe

One of the show’s biggest strengths is its extensive variety of villains.  Eccentric and whiny Jack Spicer and seriously thinking Wuya are the most prominently seen.  However, there are several episodes devoted to other villains of different interests and personas. 

This episode’s featured villain, introduced at the end of the previous one, is Katnappe.  She's the alter ego of a girl Jack knows who’s obsessed with cats, right down to dressing like one and making incessant cat puns.  She also means serious business in fights, taking out Jack’s robots with her bare claws or her small yet destructive robot kittens.  Now that Jack’s constant failures to obtain Shen Gong Wu are becoming an issue, Katnappe is the best way to counteract them. 

Speaking of Shen Gong Wu, although it was revealed and obtained in the last episode, this episode shows a lot of the Golden Tiger Claws.  They’re a glove of claws that rips a hole in the fabric of the universe that can transport the holder anywhere he or she desires.  It’s a cool fictional idea brought to life, and the scenes of the Xiaolin Warriors trying them out feel believable to how they’d work in reality.  The appeal of the Golden Tiger Claws crosses paths with Katnappe when Omi challenges her to a Xiaolin Showdown for the more constantly used Changing Chopsticks.  However, Omi’s desperate desire to use the Golden Tiger Claws in a Showdown is his downfall.  He doesn’t prepare himself for a baddie like Katnappe and loses them and the Chopsticks to her. 

The episode then goes in an interesting direction.  Instead of waiting until the next Xiaolin Showdown to beat Katnappe, the Warriors try to better understand her so they can stop her on their own. Doing so comes with enjoyably crafted escapades.  First, they’re put through a seemingly easy task of stealing a jade elephant from Master Fung for a week without chores.  They lose the challenge when he prevents their chances of winning by breaking it.  That’s victory enough for him, and the kids pay the price by hand scrubbing the floor (or skating with scrubbers in Raimundo’s case). 

This event plays a role in learning the importance of knowing Katnappe before catching her.  They get their chance to learn about her through reports of her robbing malls after she quit working for Jack and Wuya and stole the Golden Tiger Claws.  Although she defeats them swiftly, their research and first encounter give significant information about the shady cat fanatic.  It all leads up to a grand conclusion where they put her interest in leisurely locations and cats together and track her down to a cat-themed amusement park.  The park itself is mostly used as a backdrop for the confrontation and doesn’t have its rides and attractions play an actual role the takedown which is a missed opportunity.  Still, it's satisfying enough that everything the warriors went through pays off.  There’s even boldness from Omi who badly wanted to use the Golden Tiger Claws. He sends them to the center of the Earth so no one, including villains, will be able to use them.  Even if he doesn’t get the chance to use them (at least not until later in the season), it’s great that he’s mature enough to do what’s right for all and not just himself. 

This episode has a lot to love.  There's a new fun and creative villain, a big look at one of the more interesting Shen Gong Wu, and an engaging villain defeat strategy whose steps neatly fall into place in the end.  That’s entertainment enough for me.

A

The Ranking

1. Katnappe
2. The Journey of a Thousand Miles
3. Like a Rock
4. Tangled Web

Be sure to stay tuned for the review of the next episode that puts Raimundo on the path of great development and introduces a special kind of Xiaolin Showdown, the Shen Yi Bu Dare.

If you would like to check out other Xiaolin Showdown reviews on this blog, click here for the guide made especially for them.

'Toon Reviews 21: Xiaolin Showdown Season 1 Episode 1: The Journey of a Thousand Miles

If you like this review and want to stay updated for what else I have in store, become a follower of this blog, click here to like the official Facebook page, and click here to follow me on Twitter. Now on with today's review:

Today’s show is new to this blog and is one you don’t hear a lot of people talk about these days, but as someone with a lot of fond memories of it, I’m excited to bring it to mind, especially since I find it to be one of the most creative action cartoon series:

Xiaolin Showdown (Season 1)

Basic Premise

When it comes to shows from Kids WB, I have to admit that they’re not programs I particularly grew up with, mostly because I was too attached to shows on other networks to find out what channel the block was on.  Even older shows from the block, one of which I looked into not too long ago, were ones I didn’t watch when they initially aired.  It wasn’t until long after that time when I got the urge to look into some of them, and Xiaolin Showdown was one of those Kids WB shows.  My exposure to it was through reruns on Cartoon Network running from 2006 to 2007.  At the time, I was just opening up to action-oriented shows with lots of travelling to exotic locations, creative setups to the series universe, and strong continuity between episodes to bring all events together and ensure the audience keeps watching.  This show turned out to be a great fit to my interests.

It follows a young Xiaolin monk named Omi who’s young and ambitious as he trains to become a fully-realized warrior along with new companions, Raimundo, a street-smart jock from Brazil, Kimiko, a stylish tech wizard from Japan, and Clay, a kind-hearted cowboy.  Their mission is to travel around the world looking for mystical artifacts called Shen Gong Wu sensed by a cowardly shapeshifting dragon named Dojo.  Each Shen Gong Wu has its own unique power which makes their reveals a huge point of interest.  Their quest to find them however is made challenging with a vast collection of villains who are also after the Shen Gong Wu for more evil purposes, mostly a self-proclaimed boy genius, Jack Spicer, with the guidance of a ghostly head named Wuya who has experienced their power thousands of years ago.  As for the showdown portion of the series, they come up when two opponents fight over one or more Shen Gong Wu too much.  This brings about creatively conceived challenges varying in every episode and is a clear demonstration of the imaginations of this show’s crew.

This certainly makes Xiaolin Showdown sound like a fun and exciting series, and I enjoyed and held it in high regard for a couple of years now, but as I’ve been reviewing a lot, I’ll be able to analyze it enough to determine if it truly holds up well today and if it should be better remembered than it is now.  I am most pleased to start finding that out as I look into this series, starting with this review set on Season 1.  Without further ado, Gong Yi Tanpai!

Now on with the reviews:

The Journey of a Thousand Miles

This premiere episode sets the show into motion, but while it’s designed to introduce the series elements and major characters, it’s still pretty great.  It wastes no time explaining what the show is all about with the first scene being on the origins of Shen Gong Wu, powerful artifacts used by a brave Xiaolin Warrior named Dashi against the evil witch Wuya in a battle for the fate of the world which were later spread all over the world to not fall into the hands of evil. 

It’s after this opening information where we get to know the characters.  Omi is established as passionate about being a Xiaolin Warrior in training giving great attention to perfecting his fighting moves while under the guidance of his mentor, Master Fung.  However, making Omi better-rounded is a relatable character flaw of having a big ego when he meets the new students, Raimundo, Kimiko, and Clay, and acts like he knows better than them through training them at his skills when they’re perfectly capable of their own.  It does bring out some comedy and fun banter between the characters though. 

On the villains’ side, we meet the first of many well-crafted baddies, Jack Spicer, who may be your typical evil genius bent on world domination and robotics, but is made incredibly entertaining through his childish behaviors with similar ego problems and freaking out easily.  He gains much more relevance when he opens the puzzle box holding Wuya, now interestingly reduced to a floating ghost head who’s more sinister, and begrudgingly has to put up with Jack’s insanity to find the Shen Gong Wu and put the world into darkness. 

With Wuya out, the Shen Gong Wu start going active one-by-one, prompting Omi and his new companions to travel all over the world to find them as they reveal, with Dojo as their guide.  This episode leads them to three specific Shen Gong Wu, setting up their interesting quest for peace on Earth.  Each Shen Gong Wu has its own unique power like the Mantis Flip Coin allowing the holder to jump great heights, the heavy armor called the Two Ton Tunic, and the Eye of Dashi that shoots lightning.  They also allow for changes of scenery being hidden in different locations to keep finding them feeling fresh and interesting be it the bustling city of San Francisco, the canals of Italy, or just a calm field. 

When finding the Eye of Dashi, things get really interesting when Omi and Jack, who have their own Shen Gong Wu, both get to it leading to the titular Xiaolin Showdown.  This is where the crew’s imagination goes all out when the showdown brings them to a mystical location in which they use their Shen Gong Wu in a given physical challenge to win the featured Shen Gong Wu and their opponents’, in this case a race over stone columns, presenting them as the show’s biggest highlight.  This one stands out for featuring character growth from Omi as he utilizes all the different skills his new friends taught him to win, from Raimundo’s pranking, to Kimiko’s knowledge on off switches, and Clay’s more humble fighting techniques. 

Ultimately, the episode stands as a strong introduction to what to expect from the series while also selling it as a fun and exciting setup with identifiable characters, individual creativity in what they’re set to find, and everything building up to an exciting showdown.  It’s a basic introduction, but still an effective one.

A

The next Xiaolin Showdown review features Clay putting up a strong fight without throwing any punches while the other warriors get trapped in an invisible box by a mime.

Next time on MC Toon Reviews is the OK K.O.! Let's Be Heroes episode, "Just Be a Pebble."

If you would like to check out other Xiaolin Showdown reviews on this blog, click here for the guide made especially for them.