Aaron's Review: Manny Rivera-The Adventures of Manny Rivera

 I…have no problems with this show. No seriously. This is straight up one of my favorite shows. I liked it as a kid. So, when I rewatched it as an adult, I figured my opinion would be lowered a little. Nostalgia goggles and all. I am so happy it still holds up.

Guys, Gals, & Non-Binary Pals, this is Animated-Aaron’s Review of ‘El Tigre-The Adventures of Manny Rivera’

!Set-up!

Explained as a part of the intro, Manny Rivera is the son of super hero ‘White Pantera’ and is the grandson of super villain ‘Puma Loco’. Thus, he’s constantly trying to be a hero but is tempted to do villainous things. Or, he uses tactics a villain would in order to stop other villains. Either way, the show is about his going back and forth between being good and bad.

!The Story!

There is so much creativity put into these 11 minute A & B stories. Manny is either trying to live up to his father’s respectable reputation or enjoy being like his crime loving grandfather.

There’s an episode where all the villains in the city get loose while the heroes are trapped. He stops them by reading a ‘villain quarterly’ magazine to find out where the one who imprisoned them would most likely hit and tricks her using a technique his grandpa did. Another episode is about him using the money for guacamole to buy an instant tattoo machine instead. He gets a bootleg jar of guacamole from a super villain in disguise who wants revenge on his father. Now, his father and grandpa are turned into guacamole monsters. Another good episode is where a nerdy kid wants to be El Tigre’s side kick but sucks and is annoying. You feel kind of bad for how much smack Manny & his friend Frida are talking about the kid, but the line delivery of each insult is so funny that it doesn’t really matter.

Okay, so the set ups for the episodes aren’t original. But there’s always some kind of twist of sense of off the rails passion put into the jokes that makes up for it. Usually both. It’s so much fun watching how these situations come about. Either it’s a constantly changing story with lots of twist and turns. Or it’s just a scenario created to see how many one liners and crazy expressions the characters can dish out.

Let’s talk about the characters, shall we?

!Characters!

The title character, Manny Rivera, is sort of that trouble loving but well-meaning protagonist that’s been in a lot of children’s shows. What’s the twist? The show focuses on his switching sides. There’s a very subtle nature vs nurture debacle going on with his character where he wants to be respected. If it’s his dad, then he’s a hero who catches the bad guys. If it’s…pretty much anyone else in Miracle City, Manny will show off his powers, destroy school property, and get into fights with bullies. Manny is surprisingly pretty accurate for a 13-year-old.

He does this prank where he gets fudge to shoot out of city water pipes (physics takes a vacation in this show) cause he and Frida want something to do. But, in the same episode, a friend of his is framed for a crime and he goes undercover to help clear their name. He’s a well thought out take on what’s usually a very typical character.

His best friend Frida is…not a good influence on him. A lot of the comedy between them comes from her one liners and want for disruption. Where Manny does bad things cause it’s fun and he’s getting peer pressured, Frida is sort of a brat for no other reason than because it’s fun. Normally, this would make her an annoying character. But, her voice actress puts so much variety and passion into her lines that you can’t help but laugh at her antics. She’s goofy. She’s cocky. She’s greedy. But she never takes up to much of the spotlight. She’s also never fully ‘evil’. She’s usually helping Manny and his grandpa steal stuff if they’re on a bender. She’s also the first to help Manny with his good deeds. She’ll complain as she does it, but she’s got his back. There may be a line about her doing something horrible, but it’s rarely shown.

Manny’s dad, White Pantera/Rodolfo Rivera is this sort of stuffed shirt type of hero. Remember the days when super heroes would tell you, ‘brush your teeth and pick up trash’? Yeah, Rodolfo is that kind of guy. He sucks at lying and is kind of a dork. He’s strict and well-disciplined so when he chastises Manny, you can feel how deep it cuts for both of them. A simple character who perfectly does his job and is voiced perfectly.

Final character I’ll talk about is Grandpapi/Puma Loco. While he puts his family above all else, he still does criminal acts. You get the sense that it’s more out of habit do to him doing it for so long, but he still plans out robberies as if he wasn’t retired. There’s this very odd atmosphere with the character when he’s interacting with others. He wants Manny to be a villain like him, but he also wants his grandson to be happy. Thus there’s not a lot of lectures but just hard looks. That’s pretty clever.

Honestly, that’s how I would describe this show. Clever.

!The Show!

The editing, the expressions, and the voice acting are what put this show in my top 10 favorite shows of all time. That is not an exaggeration.

The editing during fight scenes is very face paced but not so fast that the jokes don’t sink in. The animators out do themselves with these rapid fire visuals and over the top expressions on the characters. The way their faces contort when screaming and laughing and even when coughing have me laughing until I cough. You can watch this on mute and just enjoy flash animation at its best on its own. But then you’d miss the voice acting.

There is not a single actor/actress that doesn’t bring their A-game. Carlos Alazraqui as Grandpapi. Eric Bauza as Rodolfo Rivera. Grey DeLisle as Frida Suarez. Alanna Ubach as Manny Rivera. These people are putting so much passion into each and every line that it’s just fun listening to their conversations. There’s a lot of side characters that I can’t get into. Not because they’re not good, but because they are that good! I’d be here praising April Stewart (Maria Rivera), Susan Sio (Sartana of the Dead), Jeff Bennett (Sergio), Richard Horvitz (Dr. Chipotle Jr. & Sr.) all day.

!Grade!

I have…no problems with this show. I think there’s like, 1 joke per episode I didn’t laugh at. Or I just over think a joke cause of a twist it did. Aside from that. Nothing. I’m surprised more people don’t talk about this show. Hopefully that’ll change. Because my God, El Tigre is glorious!

El Tigre: A+

Final Word: It’s the prime example of how to do a simple slapstick heavy, tongue and cheek, cartoon.

What’s Your Opinion?