We Bare Bears

[Drtooth]

Anyone catch this yet?

I can't say I've had high hopes of the series due to it's strange name and odd concept. Not to mention the cryptic advertising it got up until 3 weeks or so ago. But I was very pleasantly surprised by how the show actually turned out. This series could have been pretty stupid, but instead it was delightfully quirky and the characters are kinda adorable. I really like the concept of them desperately trying to be friends with humans.

I especially loved the one where Griz (or whatever his name is) was forcing Ice Bear and Panda to join him in being internet celebrities with no one biting. Overall, nice commentary on the difference between social media "friends" and real life friends, as well a great one on how memes just come into popularity by chance, and trying hard only sets you up for failure.

 

[mr3urious]

I really like the way these three play off each other, and how the whole show is more refined compared to its webcomic original thanks to the medium of animation being able to depict these grander adventures. Ice Bear's my favorite so far with his short, third-person dialogue and questionable use of ninja weaponry ("Ice Bear bought these legally.").

 

[Drtooth]

Absolutely loved them ripping into food truck/Millennial foodie culture with this new one. It really seems that trying hard to become something in a field of odd flukes and failing is a recurring theme, and that's a nice little commentary there. Effort is disproportionate to luck sometimes, and the meme episode established that.

Plus, I always found the food truck fad to be kinda annoying. Not as annoying as the designer cupcake fad, but something I roll my eyes at a lot.

Oh. And I love the running gag (though not seen in this episode) of PanPan drawing anime style poorly. Seen waaaaaay too much of it on DA.

 

[mr3urious]

Absolutely loved them ripping into food truck/Millennial foodie culture with this new one. It really seems that trying hard to become something in a field of odd flukes and failing is a recurring theme, and that's a nice little commentary there. Effort is disproportionate to luck sometimes, and the meme episode established that.

Though Bob's Burgers did it first.

And dry, pre-packaged ramen in the shape of a taco shell? I'll pass.

 

[Drtooth]

There's this whole thing about eating uncooked ramen lately. Some quirky person did it on the internet, and it became a thing somehow. Though, it's not as strange as you'd think, as instant ramen noodles are actually fried, making them no weirder than those things you put on chow mein. Actually tried it once, but it was salty as heck. Strange thing is, I can't even find the fictious angle of a ramen noodle taco shell. Unlike a 1980's Ninja Turtle Pizza, I can totally see someone selling that. Wonder if its based on a real thing.

Anyway, I love how Ice Bear is a gourmet. Loved seeing it in the Viral Video episode, loved seeing his silent breakdown trying to sell calzones. And I'd rather eat at that Food Truck than weirdo fusion cuisine.

 

[mr3urious]

The Bears have finally made a human friend in the form of a child prodigy college student named Chloe! I loved the "corrected" presentation they secretly gave to her with all its awful clip art animation and gratuitous use of misspelled Comic Sans text.

 

[Drtooth]

This show is absolutely adorable. I'm glad I decided to give this series a chance, and it fits in perfectly with their other CN originals. I love how Panda has a subtle obsession with Asian culture, but he's clearly a white American kid that loves Asian stuff. That could have gone very close to an easy stereotype, but they went with a more clever fanboy route.

I'd say the creator and writers enjoy Asian culture.

The bears are breaking out of their shells quickly enough in the series. Last 2 episodes they actually managed to make friends. Panpan taking one too seriously and making a fool of himself in the process.

Chloe seems she could be a recurring character. Watching the theme song again, they pass right by her at one point. Really hope she is one, since the bears played off her nicely.

And that theme song is great. Really wish someone's sound cloud would pop up with an extended version of it.

 

[snichols1973]

The CN version is apparently milder than its webcomic counterpart in some instances:

Their assault on a hitchhiker is averted when he pulls out a chocolate bar, they buy some tropical cocktails at a bar and have a mild run-in with the law, while Ice Bear is just about ready to unleash his martial arts moves on a robber that runs away when the police arrive.

So far, Panda appears to be the most sensitive one of the trio while looking for love, Grizz likes to party and enjoy good food while looking out for his brothers, while Ice Bear evidently knows quite a bit of martial arts and delivers quite a number of deadpan one-liners.

The Three Bare Bears: March 2011
The Three Bare Bears: April 2011
The Three Bare Bears: May 2011

 

[mr3urious]

The CN version is apparently milder than its webcomic counterpart in some instances:

But overall, I feel the animated series is superior due to the more defined personalities of the Bears, the satire of millennial/hipster culture, and the higher quality animation that allows for a bigger scope than the gag-a-day strips can allow.

 

[Drtooth]

I find that a general rule of comic strip based cartoon series that the animated series is always superior for that exact reason. Single frame strips like Heathcliff and Dennis the Menace got some great expansion through their DIC produced shows, Garfield is always better animated, and Dilbert's animated version was vastly superior in every way.

I just saw these strips in reference to the series, and the same humor is there, but it gets fleshed out to something even better in a 10 minute cartoon. There's a lot of character development and depth of writing that a comic strip, no matter what quality, can't really deliver unless there's a huge multiweek event. That's what I loved about Monty. He always went for multiweek storylines because the bizarre humor can't be contained in a 4 panel strip like that.