My Life Me

My Life Me
Before we had High Guardian Spice, we had this. Pretty much not a good introduction to anime for non-Japanese audiences in western countries.
Genre: Comedy Tween Running Time: 22 minutes Country: Canada France Release Date: September 19, 2010 – September 30, 2011 Network(s): Teletoon France 2 Canal J Created by: Svetlana Chmakova Distributed by: Classic Media Starring: Sarah Camacho Mark Hauserand Stefanie Buxtonand Justin Bradley Seasons: 1 Episodes: 26 (52 segments)

My Life Me is a short-lived French-Canadian animated television series created by JC Little, Cindy Filipenko, and Svetlana Chmakova, co-directed by Mr. Niko. The show is aimed at a pre-teen audience and features manga symbols such as sweatdrops, speech bubbles, and super-deformed chibi characters.

The series first aired on the French-language Télétoon on September 19, 2010. It was shown on the English-language channel Teletoon from September 5, 2011, to September 30, 2011.

Plot

The show centers around Birch Small, a 13-year old girl manga and anime fan (otaku) with aspirations of becoming a comic artist, as she tries to survive high school.

Why We Don't Want This Show Hanging Around

1. The title of the series is somewhat generic and uncreative, and it sounds like a bad translation done in Google Translate that turns into "English" once the translation process is done.
2. The show tries so hard to be like an anime but was poorly executed due to the exaggeration of known anime/manga iconography. Some good anime-influenced shows that do it better are Avatar: The Last Airbender, Code Lyoko, Totally Spies!, Wakfu, Kappa Mikey, The Boondocks, Three Delivery, and most of Marathon Media's shows during the pre-Zodiak Kids era, but at least they tried.
3. Though the character designs are decent, they look like they were from a tutorial book on how to draw the manga/anime style.
   • Not to mention they look really uncanny at the times when they move; they move like marionettes since the show is Flash-animated.
   • Even the faces they make are uncanny as well, like the page image above.
4. Many animation errors; the biggest offender is Amelia’s hair switching sides.
5. Most of the characters are annoying, bland and milk-toasted versions of all the characters from Azumanga Daioh!, Lucky☆Star, Haruhi Suzumiya, 6teen, Stōked, and Total Drama.
6. Variety of teen stereotypes.
   • Sandra Le Blanc is a fiery hag.
   • Raffi Rodriguez is the cool dude.
   • Liam Coll is plain stupid.
   • Amelia is an Alpha Bitch.
   • Birch can't decide if she is perky emo, hipster, or otaku. (i.e., she dresses like an emo, but constantly switches from otaku to hipster by personality, and flaps back in very each episodes)
7. Boring and forgettable soundtrack.
8. Average flash animation.
9. Mediocre voice acting; the chibi forms of the characters make it worse since they're high-pitched, making them sound whiny.

Redeeming Qualities

1. Contrary to Code Lyoko, the show faithfully resembles anime, nonetheless.
2. Unique and creative storyline.
3. Some good episodes that are well-structured.
4. The theme song is a bit catchy, there's even a full version on SoundCloud!
5. There are a few likable characters such as Birch, Sandra, Raffi, and Mr. Towes.
6. At least the show deals with some teenage issues.
7. As mentioned above, the character designs are decent.

Reception

My Life Me received mixed to negative reviews. The show currently holds a 4.5/10 rating on IMDb. But the series did gain a cult following.

But despite negative reception, it was nominated for several awards. The show was nominated for a Kidscreen Award in 2010. The MyLifeME.com website was nominated for Best Kids Interactive for the Canada New Media Awards in 2010. My Life Me was nominated for two Gemini Awards in 2011; in Internet and New Media, Best Website for a Program or Series: Youth and in Television, Best Animation Program or Series.

Trivia

• The show is popular in Malaysia, Mexico, and New Zealand.
• The series is available on Peacock.

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