Hilda Season 1 (2018) Review

 Hilda Season 1 (2018) 8.5/10

Hello everybody. Today, I’ll be going over the children’s cartoon Hilda. Based on the graphic novel by Luke Pearson, Hilda is a Netflix original series that was released on September 21, 2018, with only 13 episodes.

I love this show. It’s a fantasy adventure, but it feels different compared to other high fantasy series. There’s elves and trolls and other mythical creatures, but they aren’t designed like your typical elf or troll. To me, the best way to describe this show is to take Steven Universe, put it in a more earthy mythological setting, and make it infinitely better, and that’s what we got. The show does have some minor stuff about it that keeps it from true greatness, but for what we got, this is incredible. Let’s discuss.

Our story follows main character Hilda, a blue haired little girl that’s no older than maybe 10 years old. She grew up in the wilderness with her mother in a cabin away from everyone. Her only real friend is her pet deer-pup Twig. She loves the wilderness and the adventures and mysteries it holds. After befriending a tiny elf named Alfur and trying to settle a political squabble with his county and also befriending a giant named Jorgen, she is soon forced to leave her home to live in Trolberg. Trolberg is a walled city in which the rest of the season will take place. In Trolberg, Hilda will meet her new friends Frida and David, who are both Sparrow Scouts. Frida is the perfectionist that always likes to have things organized and planned. David is the scaredy cat that has bravery issues. The whole show is about Hilda’s adventures in this weird fantasy world with her new friends.

I like this show. A lot. Each episode is “self contained” until the later episodes in which they actually start to tell a story for the season finale. I love this world and all the silly creatures that inhabit it. The Woffs are probably my favorite non-sentient species. They’re just these balls of fur with a dog face that fly around, migrating everywhere. I especially love their howls. The Elves are tiny little people with a fairly sophisticated society that revolves around paperwork. The Vittra are “onion people” that live deep in the earth and they’re kind of assholes to everybody. The Nisses are these beings that live in pocket dimensions within the world. They occupy every home and are very territorial. I like these things, especially the one that the show focuses on. There’s also Giants, Trolls, Thunderbirds, Spirits, Marra, and of course Humans. One of the reasons why I like this show so much is the world that’s been created here. It’s a different take on the fantasy genre and I would love to see this setting expanded on even more.

I like the characters for the show. Hilda is a fairly relatable main character and I love how she always tries to do the right thing and is always trying to help her friends, even if that causes them to almost be killed because of her reckless actions. I like Frida, although I feel like the season didn’t finish her character arc, which is a shame. Hopefully season 2 finishes this. I probably like David the most for my favorite supporting character. He’s a scaredy cat, but by the end of the season he stands up against a bunch of Marra (spirits that feed off of nightmares). Seeing this ever growing development for David was great. I love Alfur, the Elf that lives with Hilda; Raven, the Great Thunderbird; and Twig; Hilda’s pet the most. Also a special shout out to Wood Man. Wood Man is this living wood being that used to barge in on Hilda’s home back when she lived in the wilderness. I love his go-with-the-flow attitude and whenever an annoyance pops up, he just leaves. He’s a very relatable character and I would love to see more of him later on. I like how Hilda’s mother branches off into her own character as the series continues and I hope she becomes more important to Hilda’s adventures. One of my favorite characters is Jorgen. He only appeared in one episode “Chapter 2: The Midnight Giant”. This guy is very cool. He is taller than a mountain, but not trying to be destructive. I love his voice.

I really love the art style for the series. It looks like it’s straight out of a storybook with the line art. I love how everything looks like it’s hand drawn but the animation is clearly digital. I love the backgrounds and the color palettes used when specific lighting is needed for certain moments. The overall art direction for the series is phenomenal. Another thing I love about the show is the camera work. Every scene and still does not feel stiff. It’s not just characters standing around in a single shot and talking. You can actually feel the characters moving in the streets and running in the woods. It all feels natural and organic, which is something I don’t really see in western children's animation all that much. I love the overshots for the show and how the characters are drawn when this happens, especially Hilda. They look simplistic and chibi, but you can still clearly understand who is who.

Speaking of character designs, everybody looks great. I love Hilda’s design the most. It’s probably her hair color that makes her stand out, but not too much that she looks like an eye sore. Her hair actually looks natural instead of anime hairstyles/colors. The mom looks caring and understanding just from her design alone. Frida’s design matches her personality, with her being anal and perfect. David’s design screams “I’m scared of a lot of things, but I can get through those with the right support”. I love the design for the creatures, the towns, and the background characters. There’s so much creativity here that I can keep going on about it. I love how fluid the animation is. I immediately noticed this in the first episode when Twig wrapped that bell around the Troll’s noise. I love the movement for everything. It’s all so smooth.

Voice work is alright. Everybody is British, so I had to get used to that. It’s not overly annoying. I’m just not a fan of the accent. My favorite voice is probably Alfur, who is played by Rasmus Hardiker. Another one of my favorite voices is Wood Man, who is voiced by Ako Mitchell. Very interesting fact: all the children are voiced by children. Not very often do I see this happen with children’s cartoons. And the best part? These voices aren’t entirely annoying. They actually sound good. Props to these voice actors.

My only major problem with the show is pandering. As some of you know, I’m very picky with world building and consistency. In this show, you’ll see people in the background wearing hijabs. Why is this here? I just don’t see how Islam can be a thing in this world. I’d feel the same way if Christian nuns or Hindu priests were here too. These things just feel out of place from the rest of the world that’s been built here. If you’re Islamic or Hindu or any other religion/practice that has you wearing a hijab, that’s fine. Not hating against that, but this design choice just doesn’t fit in this world full of fantastical creatures such as dragons and elves and giants and trolls. All I get from having this in the show is “hey we’re inclusive too”.

My other problem with the show is that I feel like the show can go further with the character development. It’s doing a great job so far, but I think it needs just a little push to make it better. Other than these, the show is basically perfect.

Overall, I like the show so far. I love its world building, its characters, and the adventures Hilda goes on. It just needs a little bit to push it to greatness. I can’t recommend the show enough for children and parents alike and I can’t wait for season 2 to drop. I will be keeping up with the show to see how it’ll turn out.

Thanks for reading and I’ll see you next time.

This is Zorgak, signing off.