'We Baby Bears' - Taking baby steps to greatness

 

We Bare Bears was one of the best CN shows of the 2010s decade. It had a chill atmosphere and a lovable crew of characters. The episodes focusing on the trio when they were cubs became so popular that they almost overtook the show, and caused the main show to end and this presumably non-canon spinoff to be greenlit. 

It seems as though baby spinoffs are making a come-back. First, Muppet Babies got a reboot. Then, we got Total DramaRama and Kamp Koral. Finally, We Baby Bears.

If you haven't seen We Bare Bears, this show is still accessible, as it focuses on the characters traveling to different dimensions using a magic box, attempting to find a home. It's also VERY heavy on the anime influence, what with the shiny eyes, shoujo roses, and 'kawaii' aesthetic. Although, a K-pop group performs the theme song. The series also reminds me of the anime that Nick Jr aired in the 80s and 90s (yes, really) like Maya the Honey Bee, Adventures of the Little Koala, Maple Town Stories, The Noozles, and The Little Bits. All of these shows are relaxing yet adventurous, just like We Baby Bears, for the most part.

It is a lot more frenetic and at times, loud compared to its parent show.  While the parent show was mostly grounded in reality, Baby has many more fantastical elements such as giants, mermaids, talking vegetable people, etc.

Writing - 1/2. While the stories are alright, some of the dialogue is rather preachy, hinging on that "quirky" millennial post-modern writing style often seen in current cartoons. We don't need Panda rattling off why monarchies enforce a rigid class system. It's true, but he shouldn't say it. The episode this quote is featured in, wherein Grizz becomes a king and lets power gets to his head, already SHOWS how monarchy is flawed without straight up TELLING us. Show, don't tell.

Voice Acting - 2/2. Demetri Martin, adult Ice Bear's voice, returns to narrate the show, and not only is his dialogue legitimately funny, but his trademark voice is perfect for the show. Also, they pretty obviously recasted the cubs because their previous voice actors hit puberty, but the VAs do a good job.

Animation and Art - 2/2. As previously stated, it is heavy on the anime influence, but the art style is still adorable without coming across as a knockoff or mockery of anime.

Characters - 1/2. While admittedly every show where the cast constantly travels to new locations suffers from this, the characters featured in each world the bears travel to are a bit undercooked, and it doesn't help that each episode is 11 minutes. Some of them are still memorable, such as the valley girl goose, Farah the mermaid, and the insufferable genius voiced by Sean Giambrone (why is he always typecast as this?). Also, I do like how Baby Ice Bear now talks. In the parent series' baby episodes, Ice did not talk at all, but we finally get to see Baby Ice talk and it is glorious. His talking in the third-person was influenced by that Russian guy Yuri, who also talked in the third person.

Music - 2/2. In the parent series, Panda was shown to be a fan of k-pop, and one episode even featured Monsta X. Thus, it is fitting that the girl group Tri.be was called upon to perform the series' theme song.

Final rating - 8/10. I hope the show improves in the later episodes.