Zig & Sharko

A refreshing break from the writing formulas mainstream kids cartoons and no repetitive dialogue. Has a Pepe le Pew meets Animaniacs feel to it.

This cartoon is presumably a remake of 'Wile E. Coyote and the Road Runner'. Instead of a hungry wolf, however, we got a starving hyena whereas an ostrich is replaced with a mermaid.

The series so far consists of two seasons with seventy eight episodes each. The plot almost solely circles around Zig - a desperate hyena on a remote island who tries to catch and eat Marina - a redhead goofy mermaid. Most of the plans to catch the mermaid are neglected by Sharko - a great white shark (duh!) who is Marina's very protective boyfriend. Zig is also accompanied by a hermit crab named Bernie. Occasionally, a few other characters are introduced but most of them just once.

The cartoon is very colorful, nonetheless, the first season has different character and background graphic design than the second one. This may be probably explained by the fact that the first season ran during 2010 whereas the second was broadcast during 2016. Noticeably, some of the character changes are present as well. Personally, I prefer the first season.

There are several music themes present in both seasons and interestingly, there is no spoken dialogue. All characters communicate with each other by gestures and other ways of non-verbal communication.

As explained the cartoon bears considerable amount of similarities to the Road Runner show. Zig is very creative in methods concerning capturing Marina just like Wile E Coyote was. Very often he uses various sea animals to obtain his goal which is hilarious. Of course typically he is either out of luck or mostly his attempts are hampered by Sharko - needless to say in a quite horrific manner but as an adult I am not much bothered by this. The show was meant to be quite silly and as an entertainment it is pretty good.

This is one of those baby shows that is free on YouTube with episodes posted every week that you have probably never seen air on actual TV. You would expect it to be bad based off of that, but it's actually a really good baby show. The visual style is... okay. It does what it needs to. It is probably the best animation you can get out of a show with this level of obscurity and disposability. Xilam, the studio responsible for it, seems to specialize in taking shows with passionate creators that aren't quite working with the big names yet and giving them a good and just treatment.

This show is about a mermaid, her shark boyfriend, and an animal that attempts to eat her. It is reminiscent of slapstick comedy like The Looney Tunes or Tom and Jerry. Humor wise, it is surprisingly funny. Sometimes it can get a good laugh out of you and have unexpected (and somewhat offbeat) turns. It has a handful of creative bones in it, and you can tell at least a few of the people making it cared about it at least little bit. There is a sharp increase in general show quality in season 2, and season 2 and 3 are the best of the show.

It is very hyperactive and attention grabby, though. The constant, FOP style of music use and sound effects can be a turn off for some. Also, I'm not sure what was trying to be achieved with the theme song.

It is a show for very small children, but it has a certain simplistic charm, and I ended up admittedly liking it after watching. Compared to the sludge that's on YouTube nowadays, it is one of the best things your kid could mindlessly click on.

Borrowing heavily from the classic Looney Tunes and MGM animation tropes, this series will elicit nostalgia for a bygone era of animation. This series is the classic scenario of might over cunning, although neither Zig nor Sharkolo are particularly ingenious. Lots of prats and big booms, and violence invariably causes and solves all the problems on this show. The helpless mermaid adds even more tropism as the damsel in infinite distresses. On the rarer occasion where Zig and Sharkolo have to work together, it reminds me of those episodes of Tom and Jerry where the two would set aside their obvious differences to solve a shared dilemma, only to be back at each other's throats as soon as it's resolved. The art direction relies a little too much on Ren and Stimpy and Spongebob Squarepants, but even still, it manages to stand on its own. Non-verbal, so translation won't be a problem to any global audiences.

I dislike this show because it portrays women and girls as helpless beings, who always need to be rescued by men when in trouble. I don't want my daughter to watch this show.