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Description
Y'know, I've already gone over two shitty ass series that I think are completely terrible in telling a story (lol this aged kinda poorly. SU's storytelling in S4-5 was complete garbo but was pretty good beforehand), so how about we go in the opposite direction and look at a show that's actually really fucking great at telling a story. No no, I am not letting my disapproval gang strike, instead it's safe to say MY APPROVAL GANG APPROVES OF GRAVITY FALLS BABYYYYYYYYYY. Nah but fr, I knew even before going into this show that it was going to be something great, but when I fully watched it, I found something even better, something that could do more than just tell a story, something that completely exceeded my expectations. Let's talk about why.

HISTORY: Gravity Falls was a series that went under the radar for me since it first aired, but I began to hear more and more about it around 2015, where it turned out that a lot of people in my school actually loved this show and would always tell people to watch it. I hadn't seen much of it at the time-- I recall watching episodes like Double Dipper and Soos and The Real Girl, but nothing else. Granted, I loved those two episodes a lot, but it still wasn't a show that completely grabbed me until the three parts of Weirdmageddon aired between late 2015 and early 2016. I actually watched all three parts of the finale as they aired, and the best part is I could understand everything that was happening in spite of not seeing a majority of the series, that's some top-tier writing. I knew that one day I had to watch this whole show, but when exactly wasn't decided until I went over two of the shittiest shows of this decade (Steven Universe and Star vs.) and watched this show as a way to remedy watching those fuckfests. It's safe to say that watching this series didn't make me lose hope in modern serialization.

And now we get to the part where I gush over three aspects of this show and why I think it's just as good, if not better, than everyone makes it out to be. I really had no general issues watching this series.

ANIMATION: Oh boy, I love this show's animation. Not only is it really smooth moving, but the backgrounds are really beautiful to look at and have lots of attention to detail, but that's not even scratching the surface of what makes this show's animation so good. The character designs here are on-point too, all the characters are extremely well-designed, albeit a bit simplistic, and their appearance says everything you need to know about their personality (though one complaint I do have is that Dipper's voice is off. I've gotten used to it, but the last thing I'd expect to hear from a 12 year old kid is a 32 year old man's voice). Where the animation really shines though is when they incorporate different animation styles into the series like in Fight Fighters and that segment in Little Gift Shop of Horrors where stop-motion is apparently a villain. The animators seem to have a blast animating all the mysterious and creepy parts of Gravity Falls, and it's no better demonstrated than through the antagonists of nearly every episode, especially Northwest Mansion Mystery, where they did such a great job having extreme shadows and beautiful color contrasts-- it really helps build a unique and captivating atmosphere that I've seen no other show be able to do.

tl;dr version: A lot of time and effort was put into this series's animation and it shows since not only is it gorgeous, but helps add a sense of atmosphere that I notice most shows lack nowadays.

CHARACTERS: This show's characters are an absolute blessing. I can't name a single one I'm able to hate, all of them are extremely likeable and deal with realistic struggles. Dipper is a character who seems to be in a rush to get answers and grow up, and the way the show explores his character by placing him in realistic scenarios make him likeable, like when he decided to give up going to a party to spend time with his sister in Summerween, understanding what unrequited love through his crush on Wendy as shown in Into the Bunker, and even standing up to those who're much more powerful than him (All of Weirdmageddon and Northwest Mansion Mystery), all these aspects make Dipper a three-dimensional character that viewers can connect with. He could come off as selfish sometimes, but that's perfectly okay with me since some of his flaws exist only to make him someone better.

I don't know if I'm alone when I say this, but... Mabel is a great character. I'm sorry, I just couldn't hate her at all. Her optimism and child-like personality is extremely charming, but it also presents a realistic idea of how some people are blinded by sunshine and rainbows, and again, this makes Mabel a flawed, yet likeable and understandable character. She shines in episodes like Boss Mabel where her excessive generosity gets the best of her, and Weirdmageddon 2: Escape From Reality, where we see how she's genuinely afraid of the outside world, and growing up in general. She's somewhat of an antithesis to Dipper, and as a result, I find both Dipper and Mabel's bond funny, emotional, and even cute.

I don't have much to say about Soos, but I was honest to God surprised the show actually dedicated two episodes to exploring him and his struggles in Blendin's Game and Soos and The Real Girl (this one's a little silly but it still counts), I love this guy's dedication to the Mystery Shack and his general clumsiness (don't confuse this for stupidity) make him a really pleasant character to be around. I also like characters like McGucket and Stanford, but I wanna dedicate a section to my absolute favorite character in this show: Grunkle Stan.

Grunkle Stan is just... glorious. From his debut, he became a character I adored to no end. He's a conman that runs a shack that's obviously designated to get money, so he's basically Mr. Krabs if he were somehow extremely fucking hilarious. His personality and voice are just perfect and every single line that comes out of this character's mouth is pure gold. What's even better is how, like literally every other character in the series, they give him so much depth by the time the second season rolls out. Not What He Seems may be praised to hell and back, but it honestly deserves all the love it deserves. Stanley may be a character that deceives a lot of people, but this reached a point where not even his own family knew whether to trust him or not, and this lead to a lot of really powerful moments and character depth where it shows that Stan puts his family above all else, and that when he was younger, he was a loser that only had his brother as a best friend. The fact that this series was able to make me feel emotions with this character who's usually there to be a comedy relief is just a showcase of beautiful writing.

I also love this show's villains, every single episode is either able to catch me with a twist (the first episode really caught me offguard with a reveal that not only had me shocked, but laughing too), and have villains that are extremely well-designed. Ghosts, zombies, skeletons, dinosaurs, this show has it all, but the best villain of them all is Bill Cipher. His design is simplistic, but somehow really scary and comical at the same time. His voice acting is on-point too and bursts with personality. He's extremely cunning and threatening and he knows how to heighten tension at any point in the series, even in ones you wouldn't expect such as Sock Opera. His transformations are also amazingly designed and are just another example of how great this show's visuals are, and I have to give major kudos to Robert Ryan Cory for his various designs (If you're wondering why season 6 of SpongeBob looks so grotesque, he's the man responsible, but that's not a bad thing. He's got serious talent.). He's been hyped up since the first season and by Dreamscaperers and the series finale, it's safe to say that they delivered.

tl;dr version: I've got nothing more to say than... this show's characters are absolutely phenomenal. Each and every single one of them are extremely three-dimensional and likeable. They even manage to give one-dimensional characters like Pacifica more depth in episodes like The Golf War and Northwest Mansion Mystery, and make her more likeable as a result. Just brilliant characters through and through.

THE STORY: Gravity Falls knows how to tell a great story. They can all be enjoyed on two different levels: As an episode that builds suspense towards something great, or a regular fun, enjoyable episode. From both these standpoints, it's safe to say this series excels in the storytelling department. Every single episode is jam-packed with engaging conflicts, hysterical jokes, and moments that actually evoke emotions out of the viewer. Nothing is ever contrived or unexplained, this series knows how to do worldbuilding especially in a place where anything can happen at any given moment. I'm always invested by the setting and what unnatural occurrences will happen and how the characters will pull through, I love how some characters can reveal a different side to them within the span of a single episode and then have that aspect be explored and built upon, I love this show's sense of adventure. It's always so enthralling to go through each episode because all of them having something unique, suspenseful, comical, or something emotionally powerful to offer. This is even furthered by the fact that the show references previous episodes and has a great sense of foreshadowing (hi Into the Bunker), so it pretty much comes off as rewarding to those that pay close attention to the series. This is the kind of clever storytelling I adore and it really reminds me of how The Simpsons and Avatar are written. What I think actually sends this show even above The Simpsons is how many themes this series is actually able to tackle-- I've mentioned some of them when discussing the characters, but this series tackles things such as the true meaning of family, friendship, the necessity of growing up, love, grief, freedom and all of them are handled so maturely, and because of this, this series is extremely memorable. I can quote numerous lines, point to moments I fucking love and felt for, it really is a powerful series with stories and characters that have deeper meanings to them.

tl;dr version: Watching this series made me realize why it's received all the acclaim it's gotten: It surprisingly touches upon heavy themes and provides stories are extremely engaging and hilarious. It also really knows how to build and heighten suspense and they payoff greatly at the end of both seasons. The worldbuilding is top-notch.

CONCLUSION: This show is marvelous all around. Everything about it is actual perfection, and here's the kicker: I actually think this could be my favorite show of all time. Yes, I'm serious, I fucking adore it. It's got everything I'd ever want from any TV series: three-dimensional and lovable characters, amazing comedy, captivating and fresh stories, and a storyline that slowly but subtly builds on itself with each coming episode, and going off with one huge bang. Gravity Falls didn't need 5 or even 6 seasons to make its point, it just came, stayed for as long as it needed to, placed its mark, and left; it would be an absolute joyride to come back to this series again. It's worthy of a MASTERFUL and is just a beautiful series all around-- one that I can rewatch for the ages, but maybe calling it the best is a stretch too far. It's in my top 5 favorite shows ever made for sure though.

Description
Y'know, I've already gone over two shitty ass series that I think are completely terrible in telling a story (lol this aged kinda poorly. SU's storytelling in S4-5 was complete garbo but was pretty good beforehand), so how about we go in the opposite direction and look at a show that's actually really fucking great at telling a story. No no, I am not letting my disapproval gang strike, instead it's safe to say MY APPROVAL GANG APPROVES OF GRAVITY FALLS BABYYYYYYYYYY. Nah but fr, I knew even before going into this show that it was going to be something great, but when I fully watched it, I found something even better, something that could do more than just tell a story, something that completely exceeded my expectations. Let's talk about why.

HISTORY: Gravity Falls was a series that went under the radar for me since it first aired, but I began to hear more and more about it around 2015, where it turned out that a lot of people in my school actually loved this show and would always tell people to watch it. I hadn't seen much of it at the time-- I recall watching episodes like Double Dipper and Soos and The Real Girl, but nothing else. Granted, I loved those two episodes a lot, but it still wasn't a show that completely grabbed me until the three parts of Weirdmageddon aired between late 2015 and early 2016. I actually watched all three parts of the finale as they aired, and the best part is I could understand everything that was happening in spite of not seeing a majority of the series, that's some top-tier writing. I knew that one day I had to watch this whole show, but when exactly wasn't decided until I went over two of the shittiest shows of this decade (Steven Universe and Star vs.) and watched this show as a way to remedy watching those fuckfests. It's safe to say that watching this series didn't make me lose hope in modern serialization.

And now we get to the part where I gush over three aspects of this show and why I think it's just as good, if not better, than everyone makes it out to be. I really had no general issues watching this series.

ANIMATION: Oh boy, I love this show's animation. Not only is it really smooth moving, but the backgrounds are really beautiful to look at and have lots of attention to detail, but that's not even scratching the surface of what makes this show's animation so good. The character designs here are on-point too, all the characters are extremely well-designed, albeit a bit simplistic, and their appearance says everything you need to know about their personality (though one complaint I do have is that Dipper's voice is off. I've gotten used to it, but the last thing I'd expect to hear from a 12 year old kid is a 32 year old man's voice). Where the animation really shines though is when they incorporate different animation styles into the series like in Fight Fighters and that segment in Little Gift Shop of Horrors where stop-motion is apparently a villain. The animators seem to have a blast animating all the mysterious and creepy parts of Gravity Falls, and it's no better demonstrated than through the antagonists of nearly every episode, especially Northwest Mansion Mystery, where they did such a great job having extreme shadows and beautiful color contrasts-- it really helps build a unique and captivating atmosphere that I've seen no other show be able to do.

tl;dr version: A lot of time and effort was put into this series's animation and it shows since not only is it gorgeous, but helps add a sense of atmosphere that I notice most shows lack nowadays.

CHARACTERS: This show's characters are an absolute blessing. I can't name a single one I'm able to hate, all of them are extremely likeable and deal with realistic struggles. Dipper is a character who seems to be in a rush to get answers and grow up, and the way the show explores his character by placing him in realistic scenarios make him likeable, like when he decided to give up going to a party to spend time with his sister in Summerween, understanding what unrequited love through his crush on Wendy as shown in Into the Bunker, and even standing up to those who're much more powerful than him (All of Weirdmageddon and Northwest Mansion Mystery), all these aspects make Dipper a three-dimensional character that viewers can connect with. He could come off as selfish sometimes, but that's perfectly okay with me since some of his flaws exist only to make him someone better.

I don't know if I'm alone when I say this, but... Mabel is a great character. I'm sorry, I just couldn't hate her at all. Her optimism and child-like personality is extremely charming, but it also presents a realistic idea of how some people are blinded by sunshine and rainbows, and again, this makes Mabel a flawed, yet likeable and understandable character. She shines in episodes like Boss Mabel where her excessive generosity gets the best of her, and Weirdmageddon 2: Escape From Reality, where we see how she's genuinely afraid of the outside world, and growing up in general. She's somewhat of an antithesis to Dipper, and as a result, I find both Dipper and Mabel's bond funny, emotional, and even cute.

I don't have much to say about Soos, but I was honest to God surprised the show actually dedicated two episodes to exploring him and his struggles in Blendin's Game and Soos and The Real Girl (this one's a little silly but it still counts), I love this guy's dedication to the Mystery Shack and his general clumsiness (don't confuse this for stupidity) make him a really pleasant character to be around. I also like characters like McGucket and Stanford, but I wanna dedicate a section to my absolute favorite character in this show: Grunkle Stan.

Grunkle Stan is just... glorious. From his debut, he became a character I adored to no end. He's a conman that runs a shack that's obviously designated to get money, so he's basically Mr. Krabs if he were somehow extremely fucking hilarious. His personality and voice are just perfect and every single line that comes out of this character's mouth is pure gold. What's even better is how, like literally every other character in the series, they give him so much depth by the time the second season rolls out. Not What He Seems may be praised to hell and back, but it honestly deserves all the love it deserves. Stanley may be a character that deceives a lot of people, but this reached a point where not even his own family knew whether to trust him or not, and this lead to a lot of really powerful moments and character depth where it shows that Stan puts his family above all else, and that when he was younger, he was a loser that only had his brother as a best friend. The fact that this series was able to make me feel emotions with this character who's usually there to be a comedy relief is just a showcase of beautiful writing.

I also love this show's villains, every single episode is either able to catch me with a twist (the first episode really caught me offguard with a reveal that not only had me shocked, but laughing too), and have villains that are extremely well-designed. Ghosts, zombies, skeletons, dinosaurs, this show has it all, but the best villain of them all is Bill Cipher. His design is simplistic, but somehow really scary and comical at the same time. His voice acting is on-point too and bursts with personality. He's extremely cunning and threatening and he knows how to heighten tension at any point in the series, even in ones you wouldn't expect such as Sock Opera. His transformations are also amazingly designed and are just another example of how great this show's visuals are, and I have to give major kudos to Robert Ryan Cory for his various designs (If you're wondering why season 6 of SpongeBob looks so grotesque, he's the man responsible, but that's not a bad thing. He's got serious talent.). He's been hyped up since the first season and by Dreamscaperers and the series finale, it's safe to say that they delivered.

tl;dr version: I've got nothing more to say than... this show's characters are absolutely phenomenal. Each and every single one of them are extremely three-dimensional and likeable. They even manage to give one-dimensional characters like Pacifica more depth in episodes like The Golf War and Northwest Mansion Mystery, and make her more likeable as a result. Just brilliant characters through and through.

THE STORY: Gravity Falls knows how to tell a great story. They can all be enjoyed on two different levels: As an episode that builds suspense towards something great, or a regular fun, enjoyable episode. From both these standpoints, it's safe to say this series excels in the storytelling department. Every single episode is jam-packed with engaging conflicts, hysterical jokes, and moments that actually evoke emotions out of the viewer. Nothing is ever contrived or unexplained, this series knows how to do worldbuilding especially in a place where anything can happen at any given moment. I'm always invested by the setting and what unnatural occurrences will happen and how the characters will pull through, I love how some characters can reveal a different side to them within the span of a single episode and then have that aspect be explored and built upon, I love this show's sense of adventure. It's always so enthralling to go through each episode because all of them having something unique, suspenseful, comical, or something emotionally powerful to offer. This is even furthered by the fact that the show references previous episodes and has a great sense of foreshadowing (hi Into the Bunker), so it pretty much comes off as rewarding to those that pay close attention to the series. This is the kind of clever storytelling I adore and it really reminds me of how The Simpsons and Avatar are written. What I think actually sends this show even above The Simpsons is how many themes this series is actually able to tackle-- I've mentioned some of them when discussing the characters, but this series tackles things such as the true meaning of family, friendship, the necessity of growing up, love, grief, freedom and all of them are handled so maturely, and because of this, this series is extremely memorable. I can quote numerous lines, point to moments I fucking love and felt for, it really is a powerful series with stories and characters that have deeper meanings to them.

tl;dr version: Watching this series made me realize why it's received all the acclaim it's gotten: It surprisingly touches upon heavy themes and provides stories are extremely engaging and hilarious. It also really knows how to build and heighten suspense and they payoff greatly at the end of both seasons. The worldbuilding is top-notch.

CONCLUSION: This show is marvelous all around. Everything about it is actual perfection, and here's the kicker: I actually think this could be my favorite show of all time. Yes, I'm serious, I fucking adore it. It's got everything I'd ever want from any TV series: three-dimensional and lovable characters, amazing comedy, captivating and fresh stories, and a storyline that slowly but subtly builds on itself with each coming episode, and going off with one huge bang. Gravity Falls didn't need 5 or even 6 seasons to make its point, it just came, stayed for as long as it needed to, placed its mark, and left; it would be an absolute joyride to come back to this series again. It's worthy of a MASTERFUL and is just a beautiful series all around-- one that I can rewatch for the ages, but maybe calling it the best is a stretch too far. It's in my top 5 favorite shows ever made for sure though.