Ezan Charo 
I can’t believe The Cuphead Show season 2 has finally arrived!
“The Cuphead Show’s” first season was a lot of fun, but dialed back on the whole original story of the game, where the Devil (yes, THE Devil) gained control of main characters’ Cuphead and Mugman’s soul over a rotten bargain. It instead felt like a lot of setup and formulaic than most people thought, and of course wouldn’t be targeting more mature fans of the games. Overall, I had fun with it!
Season 2 is really pulling out all the stops! One huge improvement for me was the appearances of other characters from the video game now showing up in the cartoons, such as the bosses Brineybeard, Cala Maria, and Baroness Von Bon Bon in their own respective, self-contained adventures. Of course, my favorite character the Devil has been spilling milk over being beaten by the two porcelain brothers, and as such unleashed new foes to wreak havoc on Cuphead and Mugman.
Another great improvement we got to see was episode length. The “High-Seas Adventure!” episode was around 20 minutes long, and honestly the episodes being just 10 minutes longer than normal make them much more fun and flesh-out as concepts, especially for newcomers to the series.
Quick rundown of episode 1: After Cuphead and Mugman get landed in jail for breaking into a cookie factory with the supposedly ill-intending Ms. Chalice, they lament on their capture and plan various ways to escape, making fun of tropes like flushing yourself down the toilet or digging out with a spoon. Mugman is reluctant and makes the best of their predicament, but Cuphead is more eager to bust out. We’re introduced to a massive cyclops (the same one seen in the run and gun level “Rugged Ridge”) when Mugman delivers laundry to the inmates, including the cyclop’s comedically tiny pink blanket. After Cuphead gives up on escaping, they plan one final escape plan via a laundry boat coming in and out of the prison island. But they’re caught just before they can get out! Pandemonium breaks out in the prison, the cyclops remembers Mugman’s kind deed and tosses them directly out of jail to free them. Cuphead and Mugman land right in their backyard and return to their normal lives.
The perfect blend of comedy and animation is hard. You never want to oversaturate your show’s humor with dumb jokes, or be too obscure that no one gets it. “The Cuphead Show” has a perfect balance.
And who could forget Ms. Chalice? The ghost of the mausoleums from the games now given more screen time! It proposes a lot of exciting stuff from the catalog the showrunners have in store. Is Ms. Chalice truly to be trusted?
Netflix has been very cruel to this show and its production. The reason why Season 2 had taken so long is, according to gamerbraves.com, Netflix demanded various episodes made for “Cuphead.” The seasons aren’t seasons, but rather batches of episodes released as seasons, all to cut corners and pay the animators less.
It’s a real shame, but regardless the whole team did an excellent job, and I can’t wait to see what else they do.
By Ezan Charo, Junior, ChiArts
Twitter: @digitalwarlock8
