The Most Confusing Animated Shows, According To Reddit
It is quite a pop culture stereotype to reduce animated shows to brainless cartoons. In fact, the animated format allows creators to play around with more introspective themes and smarter jokes that live-action shows might not be able to execute.
With shows like The Midnight Gospel and Undone involving storylines open to interpretation, several Reddit users have voiced their confusion regarding particular plot elements or the ominous endings. On the other hand, there are cases like Archer and Castlevania in which certain characters' decisions end up confusing Redditors further.
From its trance-like visuals to existential quotes, Netflix's The Midnight Gospel is heavily psychedelic in its approach. The plot basically deals with a space traveler who journeys through various planets to answer questions on life, death, and the very fabric of existence.
Despite its themes being too complex for some viewers, they were still in awe of the show's brilliance. As cute_tickles puts it, "The Midnight Gospel was amazing and confusing as f**k." Then, there's aurochs who is confused about the stylistic violence despite its calming atmosphere. To quote the user, "It's a weird juxtaposition to watch bloody carnage while listening to someone talk about enlightenment or meditation".
Rick and Morty has cemented its reputation as a pop culture phenomenon and one of the best current Adult Swim original shows. On the surface, it deals with the time-traveling, dimension-hopping misadventures of an alcoholic scientist and his teenage nephew. However, with the presence of all sorts of planets, planetary creatures, and clones of the titular protagonists, the plot can be a tad bit haphazard for a few viewers.
As Rick had also cloned his daughter Beth, it is difficult to ascertain who the real Beth is. heisenbeeg7700 points out that according to Rick, Beth is 10 years old when Szechuan sauce came out back in 1998. But then, it is not possible for Beth's 19-year-old daughter Summer to grow up in the 2000s! Other Redditors answered that it is a made-up story by Rick while others feel that this wasn't the real Beth at all. This is just the tip of the iceberg as there's an entire thread that discusses the most confusing episodes of Rick & Morty.
The flashy and over-the-top anime JoJo's Bizarre Adventure is truly bizarre with its characters and action-driven storylines. The central plot is centered upon a family whose every generation is tasked with warding off supernatural threats.
Despite its light-hearted tone, what confuses Reddit viewers is whether they like it or not. Just take what user ThrowAway4765_6 has to say about it. "What is up with that show? I can't tell if it's good or if it's bad, all I know is that it's wrecking my brain." Other users elaborated on the comments that the original manga series was written in the 1980s and the 1990s, the reason why some of the show's humor might fly over the audience's heads or seem too cliched. As rxdukexr puts it, "It's a great show and quite funny if you know the references."
Family Guy is largely a conventional adult animated sitcom with a dash of bold satire. However, the Family Guy character Stewie has confused viewers with regards to his perspective of the world. Apparently, the youngest member of the Griffin family is viewing the world from his imaginative viewpoint, adding to the bizarre and extreme nature of the show. This might also explain why the dog Brian talks in the show.
Redditor iFornication added more context to this theory with a detailed analysis but the ultimate consensus was that it's still "unclear whether everyone can understand Stewie or not". Unsurprisingly, the theory has had its detractors with lilamoln pointing out how Stewie would understand or mention pop culture references way before his time. TurtlingTerran disproves it further by saying, "The characters don't act any differently when Stewie is not involved, and if it was from Stewie's perception, at the very least they would act a tad more normally." In the end, the sitcom does have the potential for several assumptions around the Stewie and the rest of his family.
After a near-death experience, a 28-year-old discovers that she has abilities to manipulate time. She uses these powers to go back in time and revisit her father's death. While time travel has been an overused trope, Undone takes a more nuanced and surrealist approach to it. Hence, it is only natural for it to leave some open-ended strands.
The cliffhanger ending of the first season has left much to be answered. As the sun rises over the pyramid, Alma sees something that the viewers never get a glimpse of. Kringlord97 captures the frustration of this ending, "What actually happened at the end of Undone? We NEED a film theory ASAP!". The answers to the thread have been divided between the theories that Alma either had actual superpowers or she was mentally ill all along.
The Netflix sci-fi anthology TV series Love, Death & Robots is a mixed bunch of animated segments filled with graphic violence, nudity, and dystopian settings. One of the most talked-about episodes was The Witness which involves a woman being chased by a mysterious assailant in a cyberpunk-inspired time loop.
While the other episodes also had an inconclusive end and have divided Reddit, The Witness continues to be one of the most polarizing one. It is not surprising to find several “Ending Explained” threads on the discussion platform for the same. Everything from the concept of rebirth to gender transition have been suggested as the ending’s true meaning.
A Nickelodeon classic animated series, SpongeBob Squarepants takes place in the underwater world of Bikini Bottom. With enough self-aware humor and meta elements, the cartoon ends up subverting all notions of reality. Be it Tom & Jerry or The Looney Tunes, unrealistic animated shows are obviously common, and finding mistakes would be petty nitpicking.
But when it comes to Reddit, users have a field day in discussing and laughing at the ludicrous nature of Bikini Bottom's science. For instance, in one SpongeBob episode, the titular protagonist and his best friend Patrick burn a fire in the water until they realize this is not possible in real life. "Physics is determined by the character's own thoughts.", writes Watcherwithin. More discussions point towards the existence of "beaches" and "pools" in Bikini Bottom, with one swimming pool running out of water! One Reddit user lorus has gone on to explain that "There are areas at the bottom of the ocean that look like they themselves are by the shore of a lake." This proves that even an intentional no-brainer like SpongeBob can lead to overanalysis on the internet.
Castlevania cemented its presence as one of the best Netflix animated originals in recent times while staying faithful to the game franchise it is based on. The final season however left some viewers struggling with loose ends.
Season 4 ended with several character decisions that didn't seem to match with their personality traits. This is perhaps best exemplified by a set of pointers by Reddit user JumpRopeNoop. Some of the points that incited confusion included Alucrad's sudden change of heart. Even though he was betrayed by the vampire hunter twins in the preceding season, his arc doesn't go anywhere and he still trusts humans to the point that he invited Saint Germain to his castle. Germain's rebus creation process is interrupted by Varney (Death) even before it starts when the latter could have easily waited and then taken full control over the rebus. Such doubts continue to be elaborated upon in the incredibly detailed thread.
The timeless classic cartoon by Hanna-Barbara centers upon the rivalry of the cat Tom and mouse Jerry as they constantly trouble each other. While Jerry is often depicted as the "good guy," Reddit is largely divided and confused on who actually is the hero of the show.
Both pro-Tom and pro-Jerry factions cite different instances of the show to evoke sympathy for their respective champions. While it is common knowledge that Tom has devised several evil plans to kill Jerry, the latter is no exception in troubling the cat for no reason. For instance, as NewBuddhaman references the episode "The Year of the Mouse", "There is an episode where Tom is just trying to take a nap. Jerry messes with him and makes him believe he's trying to commit suicide in his sleep." In the end, who is worse? Tom or Jerry? The question still incites online debates.
One of the longest-running animated shows of all time, The Simpsons has always been filled with iconic pop culture parodies and scaringly true predictions for the future. But some of the jokes might be straight-up confusing, as is evident from questions around some of its jokes.
When a (now unknown) Reddit user asked the question, "Any particularly confusing joke on The Simpsons which you are trying to figure out to this day?", they got several nods in agreement. Particular examples include the fan-favorite episode "Treehouse of Horror" in which Homer Simpson simply says "I'm the first non-Brazilian person to travel back in tim." The quote continues to confuse viewers to date without any true meaning. Then, there's a moment where a fish falls from a Russian satellite onto Homer's car. As Redditor kobun04 asks, "Is it just supposed to be absurd?". Maybe yes. Or maybe there's a larger meaning.