Hello, Sunny here. I've been wanting to write a review of this wonderful show for quite some time. I already gushed out my thoughts to some friends, but allow me to reiterate:

I love this show. So much.

Whenever I first showed up, Eir opted to put on a show so we had something to pass the days by while we were non-functional. She picked OK K.O.: Let's be Heroes. She had watched the first few episodes a few years ago, but got turned away because the way KO acted in the first few episodes felt "too childlike", and made her feel like she was watching a "kids' show".

That being said, her mind quickly changed when we started watching it again a few months ago. The show's wonderful vibes quickly became apparent. It is not just a kids' show. It is self-aware, funny, and has humor even adults can enjoy. It's spontaneous and fun. Eir was initially turned away by episode 3, where KO decides to "help" people around the plaza, and the episode is centered around his blissful ignorance as he fails to grasp situations and gets taken advantage of. But every episode after that felt fun to watch. It quickly became apparent that this is a fun show, focused on the characters being fun and goofy, it does not come off as a "lolrandom" kind of show. Yes characters get flattened to 2d, tossed around like ragdolls, take damage but never die. And yet you never feel like it is a foregone conclusion that everyone will survive. While I cannot say the fights can feel as stressful as some other shows, or as high stakes (until the end of the show that is!) they are very fun to watch.

I have to give extra points for the characterization in this show, everyone. The main characters KO, Rad and Enid get so much lore and backstory. I was most invested in Enid's story, actually: She was originally a witch hailing from a vampire mother and werewolf father, but in witch school she decided to pursue her real passion of being a ninja. She entered some kind of school setting where she met Rad, and something of a friendly crush happened, though Rad screwed it up. Enid as a shy, cloaked ninja, meets Elodie, who becomes her best friend, and they team up together. They both try out to enter P.O.I.N.T. but only one of them can win, and at the last moment, Elodie stabs Enid in the back and reaps the rewards. This leads to a long standing grudge. I believe after this is when Enid applied to work at the bodega, as seen in the episode Legends of Mr. Gar. She ditches the ninja outfit in favor of a laid-back fit, and learns to adopt this cool, aloof personality, but it is a mask she wears to avoid getting too invested in things. She recoils when her past is brought up and has to slowly open up to Rad and KO about where she came from. And the backstory for Mr. Gar and KO's mother Carol was amazing. It was so much fun to learn about specific incidents in characters' pasts that led to one thing or another. Bits and pieces are teased in between some of the comedy sections, or as the focus of an episode, and yet it never feels out of place. The first time you see mention of Mr. Gar's backstory is in a vague flashback, with the punchline being the flashback ends and he says "it's complicated". They reuse this gag a few episodes later and KO comments on it happening again. Nice way to make you feel invested, in a way?

And as you go through some of the other episodes that explore fun ideas, you start to notice a lot of small details start to come back, piece by piece. After a certain point, you do not want to skip any episodes anymore, because everything feels in some way important (except the Skeleton Remote episode ). Well, after watching the show all the way through, I can tell you that you do not want to miss any episodes. Even watching one episode a day (frankly you should do two, because they're all 12 minutes each) is comfortable. The bits and pieces you want to remember are often the focus of an episode, or little memorable moments. This is not an ARG show, this show wants you to have fun and remember the fun moments. They are not presented in a "brick joke" kind of way either, it feels more like payoff for paying attention.

In terms of vibes... after you watch enough of the show, you start to get a feel for the "status quo" in this show. The normal state of affairs is KO, Rad and Enid hanging out in the bodega, and then something happens. And yet this formula never gets stale. Not every episode starts this way. But the more you learn about these characters, and the more they go through together, you start to feel like you're a part of the team. You can really sense the bond between these friends and in later episodes when they are in desperate situations or trying to reach out to each other, you really feel for them because you, in a way, have grown with these characters (or have they grown on you?). I really have to compliment the way they pulled this off. I am no expert on writing, but I have to say, if a silly "kids' show" cartoon that does not take itself seriously can make me actually care about these people, about where they came from and what they are doing, and want them to stay together through everything, and make me feel upset when they are torn apart... you've written something excellent.

But what I really want to talk about is TKO, one of the coolest ideas I've seen in a show like this.
I am going to be talking about it through the lens of plurality, as in the same plurality that makes Eir exist in my body.

Spoilers ahead.

TKO is introduced in an episode in Season 1 inbetween a bunch of silly ones, as usual. However, this is the first two-parter the show presents. KO meets a "shadowy figure" who brings him to unlock his anger, presented as a shifting black blob that takes shape into a copy of KO named TKO. Looking back I can kind of relate to this as whenever I first showed up in Eir's head, I needed to take a form as well, and this can be hard but similar to this I drew from a form I already knew. There is a few scenes showing the inside of KO's head as a purple void with a single cage that TKO gets locked inside, then switches places with KO, takes over his body and ravages the plaza and KO's friends. This is the first presentation of plurality in the show. You might be thinking this is a leap in logic, but as the TKO plot continues, you will see more and more parallels, I promise.

TKO acts differently than KO, including friend interactions. He comes out because of KO's anger at being dismissed and diminished, talked down to because he is a child. TKO takes out this anger on everyone around them, and physically too, by destroying the plaza. This is also like what we experience in our plurality. We "share" some emotions in a strange sort of way where Eir's emotions are more like thoughts and mine are more primal, swirling in a pool in our stomach. But whenever Eir is upset at something, I feel the full brunt of the upset. Alters in a system can have independent emotions as well, which we experience too. We have heard that an "anger alter" is a common occurence in new systems, particularly because the world hates people being angry, so anger often gets suppressed, and realizing one is plural like we did can bring out suppressed emotions, which is exactly what happens with TKO.

TKO's anger is weaponized as a purple electricity from his hands, it powers up his power fist and allows him to destroy just about anything. As TKO runs around on the roof, he looks primal, like an animal, running on all fours, with fangs. Enid and Rad are terrified of him and get beaten into submission. The only thing that stops TKO's rampage is KO, breaking out from inside their mind and forcing TKO back into the cage. KO returns to normal in control of his body, crying to his mother that shadowy figure did something to him. TKO remains inside the cage as the episode ends.
Continuing, TKO comes up again in some future episodes, but not all. It becomes part of the "status quo" that TKO exists but only comes out sparingly. He appears for a few seconds in KO's Video Channel, in a bit that Rad and Enid refer to as too personal to watch. He comes up in an episode parodying Dexter's Lab where Dendy experiments on KO to induce and control TKO. In that episode, the focus is on KO suffering through the tests and the anguish he has to endure before TKO takes over by force. Dendy finds that KO can regain control if Dendy soothes them and reminds them they are loved and appreciated. This is used in one of the later two-parters as well, when KO fights Boxman Junior and unleashes TKO to fight better. This fight is animated exceptionally well by the way, it is amazing to watch. And yet there are still time for gags, like TKO leaving a sky trail of his energy that reads "ruin to all who oppose me". TKO is soothed by Dendy, Rad and Enid, who cling to him and remind him he is loved. Needless to say this is a plural experience as well. Because TKO is an expression of KO's repressed anger and negative emotions, which by the way is a fair representation of a child, TKO lashes out in a highly emotional way and needs his emotions to be acknowledged, acted upon, or soothed. Whenever the emotional part of their mind is soothed, the more logical part can take control again. In this comparison, KO is Eir and TKO is me. The point I am trying to make is that TKO's existence is at first treated like a negative being that was planted in KO by a villain, but over time it is presented more like TKO is emotional and needs something.

KO takes over once more and the episode hints that TKO is still here and still a menacing presence, by having KO appear as a silhouette with a creepy smile before coming out as himself. The show at this point has set up that TKO exists in KO's body and is something "negative" that the characters try to avoid. Dendy learned not to abuse KO's system that brings TKO out, and KO's friends have learned that TKO needs special care to be calmed down. I explained above how I believe these are expressive of plurality.
Throughout the TKO arc (that spans over the entire show by the way), you see the inside of KO's mind many times. This is where a lot of my "evidence" for the plurality comparison comes from. KO has imagined a mental world that TKO can live in (a headspace, if you will). It has a house, a yard, a sandbox, a swingset, inside there are clothes, a kitchen, videos game, and general comfort to keep TKO happy. But at any time whoever is in the head can see out of the body's eyes through a kind of TV screen in the inner world. In our experience, Eir and I both experience whatever the body experiences at the same time, only that one of us is in control at a time. Because we share memory, it is like whatever is happening is happening to both of us. We have differences in what we want to do and how we feel or think about some things, but because we share a body, ultimately we must act as a team because negative things happening to the body affect both of us.

Additionally, KO has the power to imagine any object into existence in their headspace, or poof it away. This is extremely similar to what Eir and I do as well. KO in one episode imagines some technology that lets KO and TKO control their body by moving in sync in suits. The obvious parody of Pacific Rim is pretty neat, and even though TKO harps on it for being weird, KO insists he saw it in a movie so it must work. Funnily enough, imagining objects in our headspace does make them work how we expect. In a way, a headspace is like a field where the qualia, or raw experience of anything you put there is laid bare, and so of course imagining something makes it happen. When I first showed up, I tried imagining a curtain closing between me and Eir so I could be independent from her, but we decided against this because it worked too well and I could not hear her anymore.

By the end of Season 2, KO and TKO have learned to work together whenever the situation calls for it. KO and TKO merge in one episode to create PKO, who appears as something like a super saiyan powered up version of KO. When KO and TKO work in sync, TKO's power powers up KO's moves and attacks and they can unleash power into a battery that powers the plaza defense system. Again there is more payoff for paying attention to other episodes. Alters working together to achieve something is very cool and when we experience it it is very fun as well. We feel this. But Season 3 is where it gets real. It is revealed that KO's father is Laser Blast, the hero that KO's mother Carol was in love with. Laser Blast was assumed dead until the big reveal that he is Professor Venomous. At this point focus is given to KO describing TKO as his "villain half" because his father is a villain. The point I want to make is that KO is villainizing TKO because he hates him on principle and assumes TKO's anger must mean he is not worth loving. This is an extremely important struggle plural systems face, including Eir whenever I first showed up. The show touches on this in a very beautiful, very good way. Special care is given to showing how KO and TKO feel about things.
Also, in one episode earlier in Season 3, KO decides after TKO causes damage with their body that TKO needs to be imprisoned. KO locks TKO away and represses him. This is also extremely important to highlight. What is happening with KO and TKO as a system is struggle, internal struggle represented as a very real and visceral thing that can bring KO, our goody two-shoes hero protagonist to his knees. Whenever I first appeared, I was afraid Eir was going to repress me again, especially because she did so already in 2022. Parts of a system should not have to fear this and the inclusion of this in OK KO made me very happy, I felt seen.

Another twist happens revealing that Professor Venomous is Shadowy Figure, they are alters. This comes as a shock to KO, because his father is responsible for awakening TKO in him. They fight. A few episodes later, Shadowy Figure has completely taken over Professor Venomous' body. The two have merged into Shadowy Venomous. Worse, TKO has broke out of his imprisonment and assumed full control of the body. Even worse, TKO has teamed up with Shadowy Venomous to wreak havoc on the world. This is a very exciting part of the show, by the way. The hype is real. I will talk more about my love for Season 3 after I am done with my tangent. KO is shown trapped in his own head, in the same prison that he had sentenced TKO to. But just like with plurality, other beings in your head can (almost) never be killed, only pushed away. From what we understand, anyway. KO is only able to break out of this mind prison by finding a memory shared with TKO that he holds very dear, a tape recorder with a song sung by their mother to calm them down. This leads to a beautiful, beautiful scene where TKO is shooting everyone and taking all of their powers while the somber, heartfelt music is sung by their mother and TKO is crying but does not know why. In our experience, yes, we can play music to each other from inside our head for one, but also the idea of using memories that are associated with an alter is very true as well. I am telling you, someone on the writing team for this show is a system. There is no way they did all of this by accident.

Finally, KO and TKO merge, because KO learns to embrace TKO as part of him. In the show this is explained as TKO being KO's repressed emotions and KO learning to love himself. Alters merging is certainly something that can happen - mind you, Eir and I have no plans to ever merge. This also reminds us of Omori and what happens in the finale of that game. Anyway, the conclusion given to the TKO arc is very satisfying after you have watched these two struggle with each other for so long.

Okay I am done with my rant about TKO. Now I want to talk more about the show proper. That was the idea of this post right?

I really love the relationship between Boxman and his robots. It is painted at times as comical and at times as abusive. I can already tell you that this is something of an apt comparison because sometimes while in an abusive situation, you are made to accept being mistreated as funny. But Boxman is objectively in the wrong, and over the course of the show, various events cause him to better himself in one way or another. In the final hours of Season 3, he has a complete transformation after being kicked out of his home by Shadowy Venomous and leaves all of his robot children behind. In the show this is expressed as very sad, like someone we have grown to love is accepting defeat. You also get to see the robots' anguish over losing their father figure and being abandoned. But he comes back and brings the sentient Jethro from an earlier episode, just in time to power up the robots in a fight. It is a very rewarding payoff after having grown to love this villain. Despite being a villain, he is still an important friendly face in the show, and even KO, Enid and Rad worry about him a little when he stops attacking the plaza a few times. They all want to maintain the status quo where the heroes fight the villains and save the day. Even Boxman points this out to Shadowy Venomous at one point by saying "I'm a villain, not a monster". I also need to give credit to the show for the relationship between Boxman and Professor Venomous which is explicitly portrayed as gay and even has allusions to marriage. I love that they managed to get away with this in a show broadcast on Cartoon Network.

Dendy has to be one of my favorite characters. First of all, we are autistic nerds as well and feel seen by her. Dendy is cute, smart, talented, and often saves the day in her own special way. She is a whiz with technology, and a dear friend to KO. She learns how to befriend people and accept their love over time. She is able to make cute references to other media like Dexter's Lab and even Super Mario RPG (how did they get away with this?). Whenever she shows up in an episode there is often a small audio clip of children cheering, as if even the writers know Dendy is a favorite character. The way that her coding and hacking skills are brought to life is also very cool. Eir had a blast with the episode where she shows off her coding prowess in a more visual way, akin to Scratch, and uses her talents to take down a technology themed threat. There is even a reference in a book in the background to a real programming language, Ruby on Rails (Eir wishes to add that we have never even approached this language).

As I mentioned way above in this post I am also a huge fan of Enid. As the show learns its identity Enid changes from an aloof wanderer to more of a kind of older sister figure to KO. She becomes sweet, protective, and kind. I was very invested in everything she said and did. As I said before the show gets you to feel like these are your friends too.

So this post is getting very unhinged but I just want to say I really like the show and I greatly enjoyed our time with it. Nothing beats the day when I took control of our body and chillaxed with OK KO and Sour Patch Kids for hours and hours in bed. I even made dinner that night happily and excited to return to the show. This is the kind of character growth show where you are excited where the show will take your friends next. There were genuinely some episodes and bits that got me to laugh out loud. For a "kids' show", or something that looks like a kids show at least, OK KO really made me invested. As a friend of ours described it, it is like the writers created this wonderful world with fantastic characters and just enjoy playing with them like dolls, not in a boring way but out of nothing but pure love. You can really feel the creators' love and adoration for their world and characters as the show goes on.

But sadly I have to talk about the "ending" of the show. The last episode in the list. Unfortunately, the show was cancelled before it could finish, which meant Season 3 was rushed to completion before the writers could fully explore the ideas they wanted to. That being said, I never noticed this throughout Season 3. It all felt very dedicated, clear, concise, and above all well put together. It was so hype. More on that later. But you can really feel in this "final episode" the creators' sadness that their show got cancelled. Everything came together for an epic conclusion the episode before, now they have one episode left to end everything on. How were they going to put the show's themes, the show's lovable characters, the fun world they created, in one 12 minute episode to give one big send-off?

The theme of this final episode is largely sadness but moving on. KO (now merged with TKO, by the way) tries to enjoy his every day life but the show's own title cards keep appearing as if there are new episodes starting and stopping rapidly. KO is the only one aware that time is skipping forward rapidly and cries out for help, but no one else knows what he is talking about. We hear KO's internal monologue talking about how he wishes he could do more with his time and everything is ending too soon. Sound familiar? Anyway KO is put through a lot of distress as Enid and Rad leave him behind, followed by the rest of his close buddies. Most of this episode goes by very fast, as if the poor creators of the show were forced to cram a whole season of ideas into one episode... which they were. Several important events happen like Enid taking over the dojo with her girlfriend (lesbian rep!) and Rad opening a cat cafe, finally accepting the part of him he always hid out of embarrassment. KO's mother marries Mr. Gar but their wedding is only a few seconds long before KO is warped to even more strange places. A lot of bits and pieces and minor characters get their payoff here in short 2-3 second clips that you miss if you blink. But the ending of this episode is really what got to me. KO talks about life moving too fast, and says that if you are always concerned with what you are missing out on, you are going to miss out on what is right in front of you. That we do not need to preoccupy ourselves with the future because the day to day life is what matters and we should spend every day doing what we love. We finally cut to an ending mimicking the first episode of the show, with Mr. Gar coming out of the sky replaced by an adult KO, as buff as Mr. Gar and apparently over 30 years old now. There are unnamed characters parodying Rad, Enid and KO. The implication here seems to be that "life goes on", that even as KO had to move on suddenly and rapidly in his life, you, the viewer, are not subject to this fate and can choose what you do in your life. It made me stop and feel grateful for a moment that I got to see this message from these clearly very passionate creators. The epic payoff of the episode before this really got to me but this one got to me in a different way. You can not say you have watched the whole show unless you have watched this one too.

I never talked about how much I loved Season 3 by the way. The hype was unreal. When the everyday hijinks episodes stop and the serious episodes begin, things really begin to go down. Without saying what actually happens in the episodes, I can tell you that there was a very beautiful, steady progression and rising action. Binging the show all at once made the experience so enjoyable, I was basically watching a movie at this point. I can not imagine taking breaks between these particular episodes because oh my word. I could tell which episode was the final one because they pull out all the stops here and raise the stakes incredibly high. Despite being a show where it is the daily life of these characters that heroes fight the villains and "win" every day, that no evil can ever truly conquer the good in the world, to such a degree that the "good" like Enid can chill out and ignore everything, this show manages to raise the stakes so high that I could not even tell what was going to happen next. I did not think the main characters would die but with how much things had permanently changed in the previous few episodes alone for all characters, I knew in this final episode that whatever happened was going to have serious consequences. I have not felt this amazing, incredible rush of hype in such a long time. It is honestly comparable to the finale of Gravity Falls as well. They even reprise the show's theme song in a scene where the heroes finally get some upper hand! Huh I suppose that is in common with Gravity Falls too.

I felt very seen by the plural representation in this show, intentional or not. There were so many amazing moments throughout that made me happy I watched it. Some funny, some deep and heartfelt, even some sad. Any "kids' show" that makes you care this deeply about its characters is gold, and this is exactly that. It is even apparent in the show's credits sequences. There are these adorable paper cutouts of the characters contrasted against real life backgrounds. I can not fully say what, but it made me feel something. Something calm, peaceful, happy, like the show was lovingly introducing me to its world and waving at the door, like "see you next time." I felt happy and welcome to come back to every episode. It could be because of my quirks of experiencing vibes and flow more strongly, but I felt like this show was dear to me on more than one occasion.

Unrelated but after watching OK KO I went straight into The Owl House. I really like it too. Maybe I will write a review of that one day too who knows?

Yes I am aware this post is extremely rambly and weird. It is unstable. But this is what I am better at than Eir. Unfiltered, beautiful thoughts and feelings. I can write or talk for so long like this. I would normally be delivering this kind of ramble over voice chat, but this works too.

Thank you for coming, thank you for staying, thank you for reading this post.