Aaron’s Review: El Tigre-The Adventures of Manny Rivera
I…have no problems with this show. No seriously. This is straight up one of my favorite shows. I liked it as a kid. So, when I rewatched it as an adult, I figured my opinion would be lowered a little. Nostalgia goggles and all. I am so happy it still holds up.
Guys, Gals, & Non-Binary Pals, this is Animated-Aaron’s Review of ‘El Tigre-The Adventures of Manny Rivera’
!Set-up!
Explained as a part of the intro, Manny Rivera is the son of super hero ‘White Pantera’ and is the grandson of super villain ‘Puma Loco’. Thus, he’s constantly trying to be a hero but is tempted to do villainous things. Or, he uses tactics a villain would in order to stop other villains. Either way, the show is about his going back and forth between being good and bad.
!The Story!
There is so much creativity put into these 11 minute A & B stories. Manny is either trying to live up to his father’s respectable reputation or enjoy being like his crime loving grandfather.
There’s an episode where all the villains in the city get loose while the heroes are trapped. He stops them by reading a ‘villain quarterly’ magazine to find out where the one who imprisoned them would most likely hit and tricks her using a technique his grandpa did. Another episode is about him using the money for guacamole to buy an instant tattoo machine instead. He gets a bootleg jar of guacamole from a super villain in disguise who wants revenge on his father. Now, his father and grandpa are turned into guacamole monsters. Another good episode is where a nerdy kid wants to be El Tigre’s side kick but sucks and is annoying. You feel kind of bad for how much smack Manny & his friend Frida are talking about the kid, but the line delivery of each insult is so funny that it doesn’t really matter.
Okay, so the set ups for the episodes aren’t original. But there’s always some kind of twist of sense of off the rails passion put into the jokes that makes up for it. Usually both. It’s so much fun watching how these situations come about. Either it’s a constantly changing story with lots of twist and turns. Or it’s just a scenario created to see how many one liners and crazy expressions the characters can dish out.
Let’s talk about the characters, shall we?
!Characters!
The title character, Manny Rivera, is sort of that trouble loving but well-meaning protagonist that’s been in a lot of children’s shows. What’s the twist? The show focuses on his switching sides. There’s a very subtle nature vs nurture debacle going on with his character where he wants to be respected. If it’s his dad, then he’s a hero who catches the bad guys. If it’s…pretty much anyone else in Miracle City, Manny will show off his powers, destroy school property, and get into fights with bullies. Manny is surprisingly pretty accurate for a 13-year-old.
He does this prank where he gets fudge to shoot out of city water pipes (physics takes a vacation in this show) cause he and Frida want something to do. But, in the same episode, a friend of his is framed for a crime and he goes undercover to help clear their name. He’s a well thought out take on what’s usually a very typical character.
@mexopolis
