Invincible is a story about Mark, a teenager who recently developed his powers, the son of Nolan and Debbie. Nolan is deemed the strongest superhero on earth, and Mark aspires to be just as great as he is.
The structure of the season is simple. While there is an overarching plot around Mark, Nolan, and Debbie, new villains are showcased episodically. With the introduction of villains comes the introduction of other superheroes and recurring characters.
All the recurring characters will not be mentioned here nor hold weight in the main plotline, but they do have their own subplots. Eve, Mark's eventual friend, goes to find her own meaning of living life as a superhero. Cecil, the director of the series' Global Defense Agency, investigates the truth behind the killings of the Guardians of the Globe. There are more prominent side characters, but this post will stop with Cecil.
Most of the subplots are harmless, but one did become a chore to watch: the high school romance subplot of Mark and Amber. Amber is introduced in the first episode, and she is characterized as a woman with initiative. However, the quality was not seen when her relationship with Mark took a downward turn. The development of their relationship felt contrived and superficial. There are better ways to introduce the problems of Mark's becoming a complacent superhero overnight, and none of them includes a silly romance subplot.
As the series is animated, there are plenty of scenes that take advantage of the medium. Some of the fights are flashy and impactful. This is strongly evident in the final episode of the first season, wherein a certain fight took place around the globe.
The series tackles action, comedy, and drama well. However, it disappoints in sound mixing. The voice acting and dialogue are significantly leveled lower than the soundtrack and sound effects. This inconveniences the viewer to frequently change the volume of the sound system. While the sound effects are typical of an animated action series, the inclusion of contemporary music -- be it pop, indie, or rock -- is questionable. The music is a little too on the nose. Rather than adding to the emotion of the scene, they take away the seriousness and gravity.
The voice acting could also have been much better. Voice acting, in general, should be able to convey the feelings even if the eyes of the viewers are closed. The magic of knowing the emotion of the actor should be experienced by the viewer through listening alone. Many of the scenes in Invincible do not leave a good impression. I cannot precisely point to the reason as to why the scenes with dialogue fall flat. It could be because of the sound mixing, the directing, the material the voice actors dealt with, or maybe because the lines themselves aren't impressive by themselves. Regardless, I find myself looking at my phone during dialogues.
Invincible is still fun and contains enough engaging twists for new to the franchise, even with noticeable flaws.
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