Toony Tuesday 2015: We Bare Bears

Hi everyone.
I'm Andrew with more Toony Tuesday.
This time it's on Cartoon Network's latest original series, We Bare Bears.

Created by Daniel Chong, this animated series is based on his webcomic "The Three Bare Bears", and is about three bear brothers who try to adapt to the human society in the San Francisco Bay Area, and learn a lot about themselves and their lives along their adventures.

At face value, this series has a vibe reminiscent of Regular Show, because of the animation. It's really good, but also really simple. It's vibe is also similar to Clarence as well, because of it's light, calm humor and dialogue. Both really gives this a real nice charm.
And the three main characters add on to this; they aren’t unlikable or difficult to swallow. In fact, they’re really cool, upbeat and fun. And they enjoy each other’s company. That’s great enough for a show for me.

The title sequence and theme song has to be some of the best of either in television animation of this decade so far.

While the former shows what is the entire series on a pedestal, it does it so well, and captures what we know about it so far without stretching in too much.
It’s the Bare Bears Bear-Stacked trekking across San Francisco and doing what they’re planning on doing. Recurring characters like Nom-Nom the koala and Chloe Park also appear briefly, along with parts mimicking scenes from some early episodes, like Grizzly throwing a basketball to a hoop (and missing, as shown in the first episode “Our Stuff”). It’s a perfect encapsulation of what the series is in 20 seconds, and that’s awesome.
And the theme song is just as awesome. From the first time I’ve heard it, I couldn’t stop thinking of it and smiling from it. It’s sweet, bouncy and bubbly, not to mention catchy as heck, from start to end. And what also makes it great is that it’s sung by British R&B music star Estelle. Known best for either her breakthrough song “American Boy” or her role as Garnet on Steven Universe, Either way, her being the voice of the theme song makes it fantastic.

Now to the Bare Bears themselves. The characters are likable, cool, and have their own personalities that break them apart from each other.
Grizzly, Panda and Ice Bear are three furry anthropomorphic quadruped brothers who live in a nice cozy cave near the San Francisco Bay. They go and do whatever they fancy for the day, and whatever happens, happens. All of them have a different personality that sticks them apart from each other, yet they are very close. (Although I wonder if they are brothers or just friends going by as brothers, because they’re clearly of different species. More on that later)
-Grizzly is loud, excited, and has many interests that involve himself, like getting famous on the internet or winning a burrito-eating contest. In the end when those come back to bite him, he realizes his faults and his bros come through and forgive him.
-Panda is introverted, shy, rational and emotional. He also has an attachment to his cell phone and longs for contact with the rest of the social world (I can relate to that; come on, who can’t?).
-and Ice Bear is calm and extremely prepared for whatever. He can do martial arts, can cook, has a fondness for his axe and spending time in the refrigerator. But he is an expert on a lot of things.
Also, Ice Bear in another way is very memorable. From his first line (“Ice Bear has ninja stars.”) to his actions (playing basketball like he’s Steph Curry) to his voice and mannerisms, Ice Bear has become the breakout character of the series, and has had many fans since its debut (like me).
There is so much to love about these guys:
--They’re so close, it’s creepy-they always stick together in whatever situation and rarely leave the others behind. There are times when this happens, but they are few and far in-between
(the only times this happens so far is in “Viral Video” where Grizzly ditches Panda and Ice for a limo ride with internet sensation Nom-Nom, and in “Panda’s Date” where Panda is jealous of his brothers’ new friendship with his crush Lucy, a woman he met at a farmer’s market while suffering an allergic reaction [long story]).
--They don’t fight-never have I yet seen them in a skirmish for anything. And it’s refreshing to see that. I’d be hurt on the inside if they actually got into a fight sometime down the road, because they’re too cool and sweet to each other to get into scraps like that. Although I will say that if that may happen...Ice Bear will win, no doubt.
--They’re so friendly-these guys are so sweet, that it’s kinda sickening.
--The voice actors for them are just perfect in their roles.
bring layers upon layers of personality and chemistry to their characters and also make this series amazing. Just watch this, and you’ll enjoy the voice acting as much as the Bare Bears themselves.

--The Bear Stack--the Bear Stack is a way the brothers go about. But it’s not just their usual mode of transportation, which is stacking themselves on one another in certain sequence and walk to whatever destination they're going to in San Francisco, it’s also how they show how close they are as a family. Aww. It's both funny and endearing, with a splash of charming as well. In fact, it's one of my favorites things about the series in general.

There are other characters of this series I also like.
There’s Nom-Nom, a koala/internet sensation who turns out to be more than what he lets on when he meets Grizzly; he’s quite a self-centered arrogant jerk (especially for the second he appears in the title sequence). But he voice is quite nice to hear--the fact that he’s voiced by Patton Oswalt is a huge plus.
And then there’s Chloe Park. As I mentioned earlier, she’s a young girl who’s already in college, and is of high intelligence. Despite her actions in the beginning of her first episode, the aptly-title “Chloe”, she is a very adorable, precocious, and humble young girl. There’s no way you can’t like her; from her personality, to her character, to her voice (by Charlyne Yi, best known as the voice of Ruby on Steven Universe) she's way cute. And from the moment I first watched her,I enjoyed her presence and I really wished she would appear more, and from the likeness she’s gotten so far (and the fact that she also appears in the title sequence), it seems everyone else does too, with the implement that she might appear in future episodes. I won’t blame them.
Another character I like is Lucy, a lady the brothers meet when Panda suffers an allergic reaction to nuts after eating a cookie filled with them in “Panda’s Date”, saving him by giving him a shot of epinephrine and become the girl of his dreams. She’s lovely, kind, and is definitely one to be around. She’s also voiced by Ellie Kemper (you know? Erin from The Office and Kimmy Schmidt?). Yeah, this character is just as perfect.
All of these characters I mentioned, along with a some one-shot or recurring characters in some episodes that I didn’t mention, are very likable and appealing to everyone. They bring oodles and oodles of personality and enjoyment to a series that already had personality and enjoyment already in the first place.

In conclusion: There is so much to love about this series--the light, bubbly nature; the likable characters; the snappy wit and sharp writing; the easy-yet-near-complex plots; the fantastically expandable range in music (whether incidental, background or sung), simple-yet-great animation and that it’s not edgy or overly-emotional like many other shows (not that there’s anything wrong with them, either). This series has it all, and that is why it rocks.
(...although there is one moment so far that can make you tear up immediately. That is in "Burrito", where it is revealed after Grizzly gets a large life-size burrito, that it kinda reminds him of a terrible part of his life, where he is stuck on the top of a high tree during a thunderstorm, until he is rescued by a firefighter. The guy's warm embrace is what Grizzly gets from the burrito.

This moment has stood out as one of the series' most memorable and beloved moments. And it can start waterworks.)
(It also makes you wonder how the three Bare Bears got together. In "Our Stuff" alone, Grizz refers to them as bros, assuming they're actual brothers, putting aside the fact that they're of different species. Oh well, I love them anyway, so I'll be cool with whatever relation they are to each other.)

We Bare Bears definitely fits the network's brand of absurd, goofy, edgy and hilarious original programming (although it's definitely not as edgy or absurd), and is a very nice fit for it. The goofy, charming and cutesy feel and the likeness of the characters hit the right spots for me right out of the gate, and the other elements make for a perfect weekly 11 minutes of your life you just might be cool with taking away. And I wasn’t surprised that it’s rated TV-Y7, whether because of the feel or not. In fact, I would’ve been shocked as heck if it was ever rated TV-PG like CN’s other shows, because it’s not the best rating for it, and it would’ve been unnecessary and unneeded. But that doesn’t matter to me, as this series is just fantastic and I couldn’t be any more happy to begin watching as soon as I did (which was five days after it’s premiere).

(In fact, I’m so happy and in love with this show, that I decided to do something I never would’ve thought of doing: I created a Tumblr page. It’s called Ice Bear-isms, where I showcase all the quotes, memes and video featuring the series’ big mute lug himself Ice Bear, along with those from Panda and Grizzly, and other featured characters too, as well as memorable moments from the series itself. Other blogs based on him and the series official page are reblogged regularly.
It’s at icebear-isms.tumblr.com--check it out and follow. And I hope you like it.
Now that the shameless plug-in is over, we now return to our regularly-scheduled review.)

I really didn’t mind the huge push it got from the network--a five night debut with the first six episodes airing during that workweek, and the first two airing in the first night--in fact, I’m happy it got this because I honestly believe it can be a big hit for Cartoon Network (and has been so far) and can be yet another memorable series for everyone to watch and enjoy.
I know this will become a success and last for a long while, because it's a kind of series for anyone (me included) to sit back and relax to, even though my television watching is a broad as the sun and the moon. I can also think that the network can and will treat it just as well as its other shows, and give it the fans and recognition it deserves and then it’ll be another piece in the puzzle of This Great Renaissance of Animation of the 2010s.
Congratulations, Cartoon Network; you have another hit on your hands.
At least I think know so, since on August 12, CN renewed the series for a second season. So it's clear that the execs at the network has given a huge liking to it; I mean that had to--they gave it a panel at Comic-Com.

And that is the another Surprise Review for another animated series I believe will be a hit for not only its network, but also for all animated television. Thank you for joining me, and I’ll see you later.