X-Men ‘97

Warning: Mild gore, flashing lights, and spoilers ahead

I wish I had gotten into this show sooner because it is an intense yet beautiful show to watch. They were able to incorporate the intense, action packed scenes with quieter moments in a way that doesn’t feel overwhelming or rushed to the point where it’s confusing or frustrating to watch.

Something I love about the X-Men is you can understand everyone’s motivations. From Cyclops and not wanting to witness leaving his son since his own father left him, Storm’s identity crisis when she loses her powers, and Rogue’s grief and how the grief clouds her judgement. We are able to understand why they make the decisions they do and while we don’t always agree with there choices, there journeys are able to make us sympathize with them, specifically Roberto. While I hate that he goes with Magneto in order to have mutants be respected and make a brand new Genosha. I don’t agree with it, but seeing his journey and how is own mother deserted him after discovering he was a mutant, along with Jubilee is understandable. I could feel his pain, along with Rogue in how her own grief is slowly consuming her with Gambit. It’s authentic and raw.

I appreciate that we were able to see the quiet moments after a major attack happens, from Storm losing her abilities after shielding Magneto to Gambit’s sacrifice, there’s a humility in how the writers/animators were able to showcase these moments. They wanted the viewers to have these moments sink in the viewers mind in how much destruction is there and the aftermath of it all. It’s devastating, especially Genosha. However, the aftermath in how Beast is able to quote Dr. King and Mr. Rogers, it made me shed a tear. While there is chaos and destruction in the world, we often forget about the people that help in the aftermath and those are the things we should be focusing on instead of the harm one or a group of people cause.

My favorite character without a doubt was Storm. Her journey from losing her powers and having her doubts/fears consume her if she will ever be the same again is relatable until she meet Forge, another mutant. Despite having the abilities that she has, there is a loyalty they have towards one another that is beautiful to see and I hope we get to see that in season 2. Even with the anger Storm has for Forge, she refuses to let him die and fights her demons in order to restore her powers and she comes out stronger than ever. I personally love her journey as it was realistic and didn’t need a bunch of action in order to tell this story (minus the Adversary, which was an owl containing her own fears. That was necessary.). It was a nice change of pace that the show was going for and hope we get more of those moments in season 2.

The animation is breathtaking and mixes the action/subtle moments perfectly and the soundtrack is perfect for this show. I would most definitely checkout X-Men ‘97 as it is a gorgeous show and you will not be disappointed!