Alfred J. Kwak is a cartoon about a duck that does not fuck around
Yep. This anime goes into all sorts of issues, from the sad themes of loss of family, adoption and growing up as an orphan, into far more real issues such as facism, abuse of power, apartheid and much much more. Also, the main antagonist character is literally a crow version of Adolf Hitler. Good show, gets real the more it goes on.
(and yes it is anime, it was co-produced between the Dutch and Japanese)
We’re just halfway through the series (all of it is on youtube in at least both Dutch and English) and it’s amazing how plainly it lays out these things. While newer cartoons might use vague metaphors (stuff like ”the blue aliens are mean to the green aliens, for being green!”) Alfred J. Kwak bluntly shows exactly how things like this work.
That first three-episode arc with Dolf (the crow) rising to power did a clearer and more comprehensible job explaining how fascism occurs than any history class I’ve ever taken. The monarchy is lazy, greedy and barely more than a figurehead and here comes this very wealthy, very clever public speaker obsessed with power and petty vengeance. The more people like him the more shit he can get away with, plain and simple.
I also appreciate how the HEROES in this show will resort to trickery, sabotage, espionage, theft and more when it’s truly necessary to save lives, and there’s never any “oh no, we can’t do this, we’ll be just like them” bullshit. Alfred is realistic and practical about what has to be done for the greater good. Without a thought he’ll break any rule, take advantage of anything possible to save innocent people. He defeats Dolf that first time by just straight-up robbing him blind of all his money so he can’t make good on any of his deals. That’s so contrary to the morals pushed by most American media that it’s no wonder it never aired here.
I’ve been trying to find this show and what it was called for years, I remember seeing a very few episodes when I was young on television and it was so compelling and brutally honest that it stuck in the corners of my tiny brain and has stayed there ever since, I’m so glad it’s popped up on my dash so I can rediscover it.
(via bowlersandtophats)