The Amazing World of Gumball The Shell (2011– ) Online

In April 2011, I stumbled across a clip from an upcoming Cartoon Network show. Two siblings of two different species forcefully dilate their eyes to persuade one another into retrieving a doll from a T- Rex. The older brother gives up and gives in, if only his sister and by-standing brother joins him. Ever since then, I have watched every episode of The Amazing World of Gumball and Thursday night was anticipated for years.

Before "The Shell", Gumball was a child-oriented series involving visual gags and slapstick, retro pop culture references, some cutesy banter between the characters. With this episode being aired during a time when the shtick was getting stale and uninteresting, a change of voice actors for the two main characters, and the show slowly becoming a softer Regular Show, it was a breath of fresh air, as well as setting new standards for Gumball. This episode touched me in a certain way more than a two-parter episode of some male- infested Equine Circus for Girls, or any other television series, in a little under 11 minutes.

We finally get to see a certain character's true form, after the much liked fan theory of this lass being a deer, or doe-nut, kept us tided over, then proved to be completely wrong. I won't say, but it's very Miyazakian, so much that it made me watch Spirited Away again the next night. There are elements of comedy, but under its shell is a drama that reaches Toy Story 3-level tenderness.

I was very glad I kept following this show for about 3 and a half years. Maybe that's why it resonated with me so much, I cared about these adorable characters for as long as I can remember. I am eagerly waiting for the next episode and follow the continuity.

Warning! This review contains spoiler, strong language and swearing!

"The shell" is a terrible episode. It almost made me wanna commit a suicide. More than one year passed and I'm still traumatized. Plot absolutely makes no sense. I waited months to see Penny unshelled and I realized that she is a stray fairy of The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask. The show is plenty of references of that video game, even the intro music is the "Saria song" and "Epona song" put together but, this time, we have a shameful ripoff. The deer version was an excellent idea, I totally loved it. Why Penny is not a deer? She has antlers! This is one of the many things that will remain unexplained in this cartoon. This fairy think not only doesn't make any sense, is also a freaking insult. Not only Penny looks uglier now (I mean really, is this an appealing image for kids? She looks like a light bulb when meets a squid. She' f*****g horrible), she's also annoying, hateful and makes me wanna smash her head with a hammer. She's the worst fictional character after the Jar Jar Binks (no kidding, I hate her more than him). There are also a lot of huge plot holes like: why unshelled she has no hands and no feet? She's an athlete, she needs those. Why unshelled she has wings? Unshelled she's dangerous so why do they put her into a shell which she can break whenever she wants? Really she had no problem destroying it. How did Patrick know that unshelled Penny is dangerous and unstable? Why Patrick decided to took Penny away from Elmore just because Gumball cracked her shell? That doesn't make any sense, his reaction is way over-the-top. Why unshelled she still has her antlers? She's a shapeshifter so why she doesn't turn in to a deer? Her transformation scenes are freaking terrifying, not funny. This episode sucked, even the kissing scene, at the end disappointed me. Gumball felt forced to kiss Penny. She was destroying everything, so he kissed her to calm her down. That's not love: it's blackmail. It was like "Love me or I'll destroy the world". That Penny is really a monster. She was friendly and sweet with her shell, now not anymore. Bocquelet just killed her. Really, what kind of message this episode is trying to convey? "Love the unlovable"? "Love is forcing"? "Love is stupid"? This allow you to understand how horribly written and hoe poorly planned this cartoon is. This episode conveyed me only night terrors. This is the worst love story I ever seen. Gumball and Penny together are the worst cartoon couple ever existed. If you didn't quit watching this cartoon before now you have no reason for not doing that. F*** this episode. Please don't even try to compare this cartoon with any Hayao Miyazaki's work.

Final score 1/10

"The shell" more like "The hell".