OK K.O.! Let's Be Heroes

OK K.O.! Let's Be Heroes
"OK K.O, you fight to the end, you are my best friend, let's be heroes!"
Genre: Action Comedy Adventure Superhero Running Time: 1-2 minutes (shorts) 11 minutes (series) 22 minutes (specials) Country: United States Release Date: August 1, 2017 – September 6, 2019 Network(s): Cartoon Network Created by: Ian Jones-Quartey Distributed by: Warner Bros. Television Distribution Starring: Stephanie Nadolny (Season 1) Courtenay Taylor Ashly Burch Ian Jones-Quartey David Herman Kate Flannery Jim Cummings Seasons: 3 Episodes: 112

OK K.O.! Let's Be Heroes (known simply as OK K.O.!) is an American action-comedy animated series created by Ian Jones-Quartey for Cartoon Network. The show is based on the pilot Lakewood Plaza Turbo, which was released as part of Cartoon Network's 2013 Summer Shorts project. The web series premiered on both Cartoon Network's YouTube channel and Cartoon Network Video on February 4, 2016. The television series premiered on Cartoon Network on August 1st, 2017. It got renewed for a second season on December 4, 2017, which premiered in 2018. The third and final season premiered on July 7, 2019, and the series finale aired on September 6, 2019.

Synopsis

Set in the futuristic year of 201X, K.O., and his efforts to become the world's greatest hero, while working at Gar's Bodega (run by the no-nonsense Mr. Gar), a hero supply shop in the Lakewood Plaza strip mall. Alongside him are his best friends and co-workers Radicles, an apathetic, narcissistic alien, and Enid, a levelheaded big sister-like employee, as well as other heroes who work and frequent the area.

Why It Can Be a Hero

1. Amazing opening sequence done by Hiroyuki Imaishi, the co-founder of Studio Trigger.
2. The animation is very well done and does a lot with a simple art style, thanks to Digital eMation.
3. It takes influences from anime like Dragon Ball Z and video games such as Street Fighter.
4. Plenty of likable characters:
   • K.O. is a nice, helpful albeit naive kid who wants to be a hero.
   • Enid, the cashier, is sarcastic and acts like a big sister to K.O.
   • Rad is narcissistic and selfish, but he’s still likable.
   • Dendy, K.O.’s friend, is adorable.
5. Awesome and kinetic fight scenes.
6. Its comedy is very good, especially its used of the Fourth-Wall jokes for most of all episodes. Unlike current shows in modern Cartoon Networks.
7. The villains, such as Lord Boxman and Professor Venomous, are pretty cool.
8. It has plenty of good lessons such as 'it's good to take breaks and have fun once in a while'.
9. It even got its own video game called OK K.O. Let's Play Heroes, which was moderately successful.
10. The chemistry between K.O and his mother Carol is heartwarming and cute to watch.
11. The using of video-game inspired setting is beneficial for both the show's characters and the comedy.
12. Using various Cartoon Network characters as noble cameos (ex. Crossover Nexus) or part of their own episode's plot, without completely wasting them. For example, Monster Party had the monster girls from the 1980s TV film Scooby-Doo and the Ghoul School (even bringing back the surviving cast members such as Susan Blu and Russi Taylor), while The Power is Yours crossed over with Captain Planet and the Planeteers (which brought back Dave Coburn as Captain Planet and LeVar Burton as Kwame, with the rest of the team being absent; in-universe, it was because none of their lessons besides gang violence, AIDS, and nuclear power got through to people thanks to Corporate America wielding too much political power, as well as the fact they could never function coherently without resorting to Captain Planet and constantly argued, and they decided to get real jobs, while in truth, it was because their voice actors were too busy).
13. They even made an episode called "We've Got Fleas", which was about the Furry fandom in a positive light without being too blatant and used it as to introduce a new recurring frenemy robot, Mikayla.
14. The series finale, "Thank You for Watching the Show", was very heartwarming. K.O. became the hero he always wanted to be, Enid takes over the Fitness Dojo with Red Action, the two are in a stable, loving relationship, Rad becomes a decorated war hero and opens a cat cafe with an overly long name, Dendy becomes the CEO of Pow Card! Industries and may or may not be married to K.O.; their exact status is intentionally kept ambiguous, Boxman and Venomous get married, and everyone else gets a happy ending, except Mr. Cardsley and Billiam Milliam, who are explicitly shown burning in Hell for his racism towards kappas and being eaten alive respectively.

Qualities That Are Not Being a Hero

1. The character designs can be inconsistent at times. In many scenes, the character designs are off model.
2. The tone is always at a non-stop fast pace, even in the calm moments, which can be annoying for some viewers.
3. The episode "Let's Not Be Skeletons" was not well received by fans.
4. Mr. Cardsley is sent to Hell in the finale despite repenting for his racism against Kappa.

Reception

The series was received positively. Melissa Camacho of Common Sense Media described the series as fun, with a "hard-working wannabe hero" but warned of cartoon violence. She also called the series "quirky", said it has "lots of positive messages" and "clever moments", with some scenes understood more by young tweens rather than small children.

Praise has been given to the series' overarching storyline and character writing, as well as for its LGBTQ representation.

Trivia

• It had a crossover with Sonic the Hedgehog that is well received by fans due being referenced the entire fandom.
• From "Monster Party" onwards, the show aired new episodes on Sunday afternoons with no advertisement except on social media and the day of the premieres in question. There were also little to no reruns and episodes were often released early on the CN app, where they would sit for months before actually premiering on television.
  • The lack of advertisement also resulted in abysmal ratings during the second half of season two and the entirety of season three, ultimately leading Cartoon Network to cancel the show without consent from creator Ian Jones-Quartey. At the very least, Quartey was notified of this in advance so that the show could wrap up its major plot threads and end the way it was intended to.
  • The animation itself was subject to editing, making several episodes eye-searingly saturated and leading to criticism. Word of God is the animation was tampered with after the animators submitted it and they were just as upset as the audience upon seeing the final product. This was alleviated after season 2 finished airing, presumably after complains from the crew.
  • "Thank You for Watching the Show", the show's final episode, was given some rather questionable marketing. CN's social media promoted it as a special episode, but not as the series finale. This led to quite a bit of confusion from the target audience and the show consequently being pulled from the airwaves shortly after it ended.
  • In reality, the show was ultimately canceled after its third season finished production. Prior to the official announcement, the second season had only just finished airing two months ago after an over year-long hiatus, and the network was halfway through the third season's broadcast before the series' cancellation was announced; all in the span of four months.

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