Young Justice: Invasion - Happy New Year! review

Young Justice: Invasion

Happy New Year!

*Skip to IN SUMMARY down below for a spoiler free mini-review

  Young Justice's first season was a massive success from beginning to end. With top notch animation, overall fantastic stories and a strong team of characters, YJ engraved itself as a cartoon to remember.

  The first season introduced us to our team of heroes, that joined together to prove that they can handle themselves. That they were more than just sidekicks. Robin, Aqualad, Kid Flash and Superboy started the team, and were then joined by Miss Martian, Artemis, Zatana, Red Arrow and Rocket. 

  With the season finale, we saw the team at their finest. They saved the Justice League itself, and were never stronger as a team. They had no more secrets, no more lies and they all accepted each other for what their backstories were. 

  "Happy New Year" begins with a quick scene of the last episode. Back in the Watchtower, the team debriefs and wonders what happens to six of the Justice League members as they had vanished for several hours whilst under control of Vandal Savage. 

  What follows is a brilliant move on behalf of the writers. They decided to skip a couple of years in the universe. Much like Time Jumps in other series, this means that we are faced with a whole bunch of new characters and a whole bunch of new situations for our regulars. 

  What's not so brilliant is the execution. I myself am quite versed with the DC universe. Most of the character, bar two, were known to me. And I knew their backstories quite well. Problem is, if you're not versed, then you're shit out of luck. Much like Rocket and Icon last season, these characters are thrown at us with not much else to go on. 

  The good news here is that they at least say their names a few times, giving unversed people a chance to at least know those. On the other hand, you don't really get to know these characters besides the most blatantly obvious characteristics. For example Blue Beetle. He's a schizophrenic, right? Wait, no, that's just him in telepathic connection with his scarab. OH, or euh Tim Drake! The next Robin, since Dick Grayson became Nightwing! Wait, he got little personality at all ...

   Speaking of Tim Drake. Does that mean Jason Todd has already come and went? Poor Jason... (plotpoint?)

  Anyways, back to the characters. As a fan of the DC universe, I geekgasmed each time I saw a new character hit the scene. At least that's something the people familiar with DC will get out of it. 

  Still, we have a whole new season to get to know these guys. So, let's focus on the story. Well then, we get to see some very interesting story elements going on here. For one, there seems to be an anti-alien agenda at hand in politics. Much like "The Legend of Korra"'s Amon and his Anti-Bending movement. Could lead to some very interesting storylines. 

  We also have a Men In Black thing going on with aliens in robot suits that look like humans. Ties in with the anti-alien agenda, and is actually a seperate storyline. Now this could get some juicy things going!

  Then we also get some intel on what happened to those Justice League members when they went missing. Have to admit, not a huge fan yet of the new planet, far far away. But, we'll see where that goes.

  Besides main story plots, we also got some tidbits on character development. Some were actually quite shocking, considering the build-up last season.

  As usual, the animation and sound were both great. Nothing wrong to say here, as they are both done incredibly competently. So also for the writing, that more than once managed to be brilliant. Especially with Blue Beetle. 

  IN SUMMARY

  A successful beginning of the season, albeit lacking in a few departments. It maintains the same level of quality last season had, but lacks in a few departments where it really shouldn't have. Though, I am maintaining hope we'll see some explanations for missing story later on in the season.