The Cuphead Show has finally returned, with an all-new season full of new characters, stories,
and locations that fans have been ready to sink their teeth into. And with a fanbase as big as
the one Cuphead has, a lot of differing opinions are bound to be heard throughout the internet.
From the deviations from the source material to the show’s format, almost everything that could
be said about the show has been said at this point. But what do we feel about these topics?
What hot takes and opinions do we agree on, and which do we have some reservations with?
I’m Caleb with WickedBinge, and this is Cuphead Season 2 Opinions We Love and Hate!
The first opinion we’re going to address is probably the most common one you’ll hear with
the new season’s arrival, that being that the second season is better than the first.
Many fans felt the second set of episodes was better structured, had more interesting stories,
and were just more entertaining overall when compared to what came in season one.
On this matter, we most certainly agree! We felt the new set of episodes was much stronger than
the first batch, so we had a more enjoyable time watching these episodes than the ones
of the first season. That’s not to say the first season was bad or anything like that,
we just feel that when you compare the two, the second season has the far better set of episodes.
It felt like the show’s creative team had finally settled into the show’s characters and the world,
giving them the freedom to tell whatever story they felt like. They were no longer bound by
introducing the major players like they had to do in the first season, so they could finally
roam free with these characters we already know. The episodes of this season also employ a variety
of different tones and there are even a few longer episodes here, which makes the season
only better in our eyes. While we enjoy both seasons of The Cuphead Show thus far,
when it comes time to pick which one we prefer, it’s the second season that’s coming out on top!
One thing that was common to hear during the lead-up to The Cuphead Show’s initial release was
criticism aimed at the show’s art style. Why the negative feelings? In a nutshell, many thought
that the show’s art style was not true to the look of the game. People argued that the Cuphead
game’s major source of charm was its classic, 1930s-Esque animation, and that the Netflix series
looks more like your average, run-of-the-mill cartoon by comparison. With all due respect,
this is an opinion we strongly disagree with. As many artists within the animation industry have
already pointed out, it’s rather unreasonable to make a full-length animated series with the
old-school method that the Cuphead game employed. That method already took the game many years to
finally get released, but if the series used it, we’d probably still be waiting on it! The show
might also not look one-to-one with the game, but to say that it’s not true to it is disingenuous.
The show employs a lot of elements seen in classic animation that help make it feel like the game,
without using the exact same art style. It certainly does not look like any other cartoon
on right now, that’s for sure! While we understand people who were unhappy with how the look of the
show turned out, we ultimately disagree with people who don’t think it fits the franchise.
Another opinion heard since the show’s release, although a bit more on the positive side,
is that the series is better than the video game. This usually comes from fans who either are not
into video games in general, or just find Cuphead as a game too hard to truly enjoy. They may also
find the expanded look into the Cuphead world and characters to be more interesting here than it is
in the game. If we’re being honest, we have some pretty mixed thoughts on this one. On one hand,
we do agree that the series does a far better job at fleshing out the characters and all their
relationships than the game ever did. But on the other hand, if it wasn’t for the Cuphead game,
we wouldn’t even have the show! And while we do like seeing the characters in a TV show,
there are a few deviations from the game that we aren’t the biggest fans of,
some of which we’ll touch on later. While we do really enjoy The Cuphead Show,
to say it’s better than the game it spun off from seems a little premature to say.
Maybe that will change after a hypothetical third or fourth season, but as it stands now,
we still believe the original game is the best work to bear the Cuphead name!
Speaking of the show’s changes from the game, let’s talk about one of the more contested changes
made! It’s no secret that every adaptation has its fair share of changes to better fit
the medium the story has been adapted to, and Cuphead is no exception. In this case,
many fans feel that changing King Dice’s casino background was a mistake. For those unaware,
in the Cuphead video game, King Dice is the owner of casinos called Die Houses. In the cartoon, King
Dice is simply the star of his own game show, with the casino nowhere to be seen. Some fans dislike
this change because they feel it undermines the main idea of the story: don’t deal with the
devil! This is another opinion we have to agree with. While the original moral is still intact in
the series, it feels somewhat hollow without the casino element. Sure, making a deal with the devil
at a carnival isn’t that far out of the realm of possibility, but doing so while at a casino? That
felt not only more realistic, but also far more true to the show’s old-school roots. It feels like
a change made simply because the target audience is children, which is understandable, but also a
disappointing move. Maybe the show will rectify this in future seasons with the introduction of
Dice’s casino, but from what we’ve seen thus far, this is one change that we just cannot get behind!
One hot take that seems to have appeared more with the advent of the second season
is the comments saying that the show has wasted “insert character here”. If you look long enough,
the chances are high that somebody somewhere was not happy with how a character was depicted in the
series. Maybe they didn’t like their personality, perhaps it was their voice, or it could have been
that they felt the character lacked enough screen time. Whatever the reason is, it’s fairly common
to see fans bemoan that some character from the game wasn’t given the attention they deserved.
We are pretty mixed on this take ourselves. While we think a lot of viewers just need to be patient
and await the character’s return in inevitable future episodes, some appearances do leave us
scratching our heads. Hilda Berg was a major boss in the video game, but in the second season,
she’s only on screen for a few seconds. While it’s likely she’ll come back in a later episode, was
there any reason to even feature her here? Those frustrations we can definitely understand! But
again, on the opposite side of the spectrum, there hasn’t really been a character interpretation that
we feel has gone against what the game presented. Even King Dice and The Devil, who both underwent
several changes for the show, feel like natural interpretations of what the game gave us. In
conclusion, while we don’t think the series has wasted anyone based on how they’ve been portrayed,
we will say that there are a few characters whose short appearances left a lot to be desired!
Another common critique of The Cuphead Show that’s been floating around for a while
is that the show needs to be more plot-driven. Many fans and reviewers alike criticized the
show’s structure upon its release, believing that the lack of a genuine story arc was a
poor creative choice. This opinion is one we intensely disagree with, and
for a few reasons. For one, the show is trying its best to feel like a cartoon from the 1930s.
Having a big storyline that changes episode to episode would’ve made it feel far more
modern than anything else. There’s also only so much plot contained within the original game,
so to see the cartoon simply adapt that would’ve been quite the disappointment. Last but not least,
is there anything wrong with cartoons that are a bit more episodic? Since the rise of cartoons
like Gravity Falls and Steven Universe, it has become increasingly common to see people write
off any cartoon that isn’t focused on telling some grander story. As such, it’s not too surprising to
see The Cuphead Show get this complaint from some viewers. However, we think episodic cartoons can
be every bit as entertaining as their serialized siblings, and this show is living proof of that!
If you happen to be someone who was turned off by Cuphead as a result of its structure, we ask
you to give it a chance. You might just fall in love with episodic animation like never before!
One of the bigger critiques of The Cuphead Show relates to the runtime of the episodes. To put
it simply, some feel that the episodes could be a lot longer. An average episode of Cuphead comes
out to about fifteen minutes. Around three of those are credits, so you’re really only getting
eleven minutes out of each episode. This is another one of those opinions that we have mixed
feelings regarding. We’ll be the first to admit that you can only explore so many characters,
concepts, and punchlines in an eleven-minute runtime. A few episodes in the show we believe
would’ve certainly benefitted from having a few more minutes to flesh out their stories.
However, we also don’t think that we need Cuphead to be a cartoon that has half-hour episodes.
The shorter runtime feels far more in line with the runtimes of classic animated shorts,
like the Looney Tunes or Tom and Jerry, for example. This is also
probably what the creators were going for, hence the decision to have eleven-minute episodes.
Not only that, but in the second season, we do get a few episodes that run a bit longer.
This allows some stories the room to breathe, and also gives the overall show a bit more variety
in terms of episode length. At the end of the day, we think that eleven minutes is probably the best
runtime for a show like Cuphead, but having some episodes run a bit longer certainly wouldn’t hurt!
Going back to the show’s cast of characters, something that excites fans every time
new episodes drop is the question of what characters from the game will appear in them.
As a result of this, it isn’t too shocking to see some fans become frustrated when the show chooses
instead to focus on original characters created for the show, rather than spotlight those from the
game. This has caused a few fans to argue that the show should only be about the characters seen in
the game, instead of new characters. This is yet another opinion we aren’t really on the same page
as. As we said prior, just because a character who came from the game hasn’t appeared yet or
didn’t have a lot of screentime in the show, that doesn’t mean they’ll be gone for good. It’s very
likely that these characters will all return in future episodes, and with a lot more to do,
too. The original characters that have appeared so far in the show have also been a lot of fun!
Who didn’t get a kick out of Bowlboy, or enjoy the antics of the Birnbaum Quadruplets? All the
characters who have come out of the show feel as part of the world as the original faces from the
game do, and that’s by no means an easy feat to accomplish! We also feel that you kind of have to
have new characters in a show like this. If they limited characters to only those from the game,
it would only be a matter of time before they run out of them, which would then limit the number of
stories they could tell within the show. By creating new friends and allies for Cuphead
and Mugman to interact with, it gives the show some longevity it wouldn’t have otherwise had.
Regardless of whether you like them or not, the original characters in The Cuphead Show are an
integral part of the series, and it’s likely the show would be a lot worse off without them.
Last but certainly not least, it’s a bit of an understatement to say that people enjoy the
Cuphead animated series. However, some people more than just like it. Some viewers have gone as far
as to say that Cuphead is one of the best video game adaptations to date, alongside the likes
of Arcane and Netflix’s Castlevania. More than probably any other opinion we’ve looked at today,
we completely agree! Admittedly, it’s not too hard for this show to be at the top of such a list,
given how many bad video game adaptations have been released,
but it’s still a title we think the show deserves. The Cuphead Show succeeds because it manages to do
something most of these adaptations fail to do. It’s welcoming enough for new viewers without
sacrificing what made the games so appealing to those that played them. So often it feels like
video game adaptations sacrifice everything great about the games to appeal to a wide audience,
or they focus so hard on looking like the game that they ward off potential new fans.
That is not the case with Cuphead, and that’s why we feel it has become such a big success. It’s not
easy to balance these things evenly out, as we’ve seen with the number of bad adaptations released
over the years, but this show has managed to do something that seems impossible to so many. The
Cuphead Show absolutely deserves recognition as one of the best video game adaptations
ever made, and it’s a title we don’t see the show losing any time soon!
But let us know in the comment section if you agree or disagree with our opinions.
And tell us what we should cover next. Remember to hit that notification bell
and binge more of our videos. But most importantly, stay wicked.