This may be the most mature thing Cartoon Network has ever been a part of. The music is hyper reminiscent of the ho-fi hip-hop youtube channel that college kids (and me) use while doing work. Doug Ito’s delivery is so realistic so much so that all of the audio literally sounds like someone interviewing their brother and then animating it. The metaphor of using monsters as a stand in for race (specifically the Asian race, but honestly it is a stand in for any marginalized group). The animation style mixed with real world photography is very interesting. They aren’t trying to make the animated people look real (compared to the environments), but their own thing. It allows for the animator to add commentary to bullying in schools as well as how easy it is to understand another person (or monster). The documentary device is also fantastic, I don’t think I’ve ever seen it done in such a grounded way in animation before.
