Glitch Techs - TV Show Review

Near the end of the last decade video games began to slowly, but sure integrate themselves into other medias in effective ways. Sure there have been bad video game movies in the past like the original Mortal Kombat and any film directed by Uwe Boll, but in the past couple of years we've had Detective Pikachu and most recently Sonic the Hedgehog. But before those though there have been attempts to make TV shows out of video games, including plenty of Sonic the Hedgehog cartoons, Pokemon, and very recently Castlevania. But earlier this year I saw a show about video games that I couldn't help but take an interest in: Glitch Techs.

The show follows two gamers in the town of Bailley: Hector "Hi 5" Nieves and Miko "Me-K.O." Kubota. Both attend a local video game tournament hosted by a company called Hinobi and during this competition something goes wrong and the game begins to act oddly and attack people. Both meet each other in real life and discover a secret organization called Glitch Tech that hunt down "glitches" that escape from video games and wreak havoc in the real world. Soon, after fighting off a glitch themselves they become a part of this organization and the two work together to protect their town from these digital menaces.

I've been waiting to review this show for a while, especially when I saw the announcement that it was coming out on my birthday. But honestly I just think it's a great idea. It's basically Men in Black, but instead of hunting aliens you're hunting video game monsters. For teens, pre-teens, and gamers this is just... perfect. We have a world where being a gamer is totally epic and not just sitting on a chair or couch and looking at a screen. Characters are running summoning pixelated hammers, shooting laser from their tech gauntlets, fighting giant monsters from their favorite games, it's basically a dream come true. With all the endless energy and excitement the show keeps emanating it becomes an attention grabbing fun fest.

Now some of your may be like, "Nah man, this show is probably made by a bunch of old people whose only video game experience is something like Pac Man on an arcade machine or Super Mario Bros on the NES." To that I say... not entirely. Yes, there are references like that, but it seems the creators do know a lot about video games because there are also modern video games and video game slang throughout the show. There's a lot of VR equipment, plenty of more modern game references like Guitar Hero, Metal Gear, Super Smash Bros, Overwatch, and Nyan Cat (to name a few). Plus there are also lots of video games terms, from old terms like RPG to newer terms such as "Griefer," which for those who don't know the term means a gamer who goes about making people's lives miserable in game and not actually attempting to play itself. With all this video game knowledge I can clearly tell there's great passion for video games from the creators.

The biggest strength of the show to me is the main characters. Hi 5 and Miko have wonderful chemistry one another and work off each other very well. Hi 5 is the awkward, yet calm and passionate about video games team player while Miko is the unfocused, full out boundless energy game enthusiast with very strong loyalties to her friends. They're both very likable characters and I can see a lot of people being able to relate to them because both have some strong characteristics that gamers can have. They also have unique, eye-catching designs to them that make them stand out, especially Me-K.O. with her shorter, fuller body and her dyed hair. In season 2 we get to know even more about them as we explore a bit of their backstories and their uncovered stories, especially Miko's, make them even more interesting and relatable.

But what makes these two really good is that there's no romance between them. You might be saying, "Wait no romance? That's boring!" But honestly I'm very happy about that. So many shows, whether they're animated or live-action, that involve a girl and guy main character often end up with the two hooking up. True, when done right like with Steven Universe they grow even more and the audiences cheers for them to officially get together, but guy and girl don't always have to become romantic partners. They can just be best friends and that's what Hi 5 and Miko continually show! That to me means more than a half-hearted, cliche romance because men/ boys and women/ girls can totally just be good friends and I'm very happy we got a show that can show that.

After our main two we got a diverse cast of characters. There's Phil, the sulky, donut-loving boss of Bailley's Glitch Techs; Zahra, a more serious support class Glitch Tech (who is also Muslim because of her hijab) who's often non-chalant, but also very honest with her answers; Mitch Williams, the pompous, egotistical, mean-spirited professional and jerk of the Glitch Techs; BITT, the upbeat, glitchy robotic assistant of the Glitch Techs; and Bergy, a Glitch Tech noob with a very kind heart and eager to make friends. To name a few. All of them, like our main characters, stand out with their designs and personalities and each add their own flavor to the show.

Another major plus of the show is the animation. Nickelodeon is the studio behind the show and before Glitch Techs they haven't been doing well with their animations. A lot of their shows over the past decade have tried to recreate the magic of Spongebob and either failed badly or tried something new without a good direction or heart to it. These include shows like Sanjay and Craig, Fanboy & Chum Chum, Planet Sheen, Bunsen Is a Beast, and The Adventures of Kid Danger. Honestly Nickelodeon entirely relies on Spongebob to stay afloat because its popularity has lasted for generations, even as the show as begun to deteriorate in quality. That's why they're going to be a spin-off show about when all the characters were kids, which is entirely against what the creator of the show, Stephen Hillenburg, wanted. But now that he's dead Nickelodeon thinks it can milk the show for every single penny.

Anyways, back to Glitch Techs. The animation is definitely eye-catching and continually has a lot of energy to its animation. For viewers younger than me the plethora of colors, mass of video game-like effects, and the action are going to wow them to the extreme. There's a lot of great facial expressions and emoting, interesting environments (for instance a control point mission taking place in food-themed park with places like "Marshmallow Mountain"), and very fun battles where the Glitch Techs use a ton of different tools to defeat monsters from lasers to pixel hammers and swords to summoning pets and much, much more. There's just so much creativity throughout the show and I love it!

Now this show isn't perfect. The writing and stories can be basic at times. There's plenty of stories in Glitch Techs that we've seen many times before in other cartoons. I did find some of these to be well executed with some unique spins, but I'm sure there will be others who won't be as forgiving and that's understandable. There was definitely at least one episode though where even my forgivable nature wasn't enough to ignore some of the writing. For instance I really don't like Mitch Williams (nobody is supposed to) because so often he comes out of nowhere and keeps stealing glitches from our main characters and taking all the exp. Also it is kind of incredible (in a negative way) how barely has been able to notice the chaos that escaped glitches have created on the town. True, Glitch Techs can "reset" people so they forget all about their experiences with glitches, but even so it's hard to cover up so much destruction.

Now I will say that if you're not experienced in gaming, a lot will go over your head in Glitch Techs. It's a show made by gamers for gamers and so I can see older audiences not enjoying it as much. Other than that I believe Glitch Techs to be a very entertaining show that I want to see more seasons of! Great animation, fun and interesting characters, decent plot, and just the right elements from pop culture to get people The fact I've gone through the two seasons that are out multiple times is enough for me to recommend it. Not many shows can do that for me, but Glitch Techs does.

Tentative Score: 8/10

Definitive Score: 8/10

I do hope Nickelodeon can keep pumping out more unique, entertaining content like this. Their working with Netflix to release more shows and hopefully together they'll give us some really good stuff in the future.