| Age Rating | Genre | Network |
|---|---|---|
| Mature | Superhero/Anti-Hero | Amazon Prime |
Blood, guts, and spaghetti violence. The adult superhero show you know and love is now an animated anthology series. This has little to relation with the live-action one, as they are different short stories all based in The Boys' universe.
8 episodes, all made by creatively different writers and directors. With only 2 episodes so far having some canonical reference to the live-action. The animated series had no hold bars, as it went all the way with the absurdity and gratuity of The Boys. Sometimes even crossing the lines the original comic books wouldn't have.
This wouldn't be the first-ever anthology series to exist within the west, but unlike Love+Death+Robots, they're all interconnected in some small way. From popular showrunners of Rick & Morty, to people from Hollywood like Aisha Tyler, Andy Samberg, Awkwafina, and even the comic book writer Garth Ennis, all joined in on writing their own individual episodes.
I will be reviewing the individual episodes, of course without spoiling much, a bit of warning though, this show doesn't hold back. yes, it's as gory as those weird animated French movies you've seen somewhere. So you'll be reading quite nasty bits of details regarding them.
Laser Baby's Day Out
Yes, it's a Baby's Day Out parody episode. Except this baby zaps spleens, heads, bodies, and all other anatomical sacrilegious evisceration. The plot isn't that complex and coming from Seth Rogen and his pal Goldberg, it serves as a fun throwaway without a lot of nuances to add.
An Animated Short Where Pissed-Off Supes Kill Their Parents
How much do you hate your parents? Good, because this is the feel-good revenge tale about a group of compound V rejects whose parents have abandoned them, and they've pretty much had enough. So they've decided to kill them.
This is from the Rick n Morty showrunner, so the comedy is a bit more meta than the usual stuff here. Christian Slater here is a narrator for the episode, I thought there would be a Mr. Robot spoof but the reveal turns out to be a complete "Ha, I gotcha" kind of moment. More laughs and ravishing absurdity.
I'm Your Pusher
What would have happened if Garth Ennis adapted his own work? Well, this was the end result and it was really good. This episode is a curtain peek at what the madman can do with some of his best comics. I really did want to see more, because the live-action might be based on it but at some points isn't just the same as the original stuff, good to see that in here.
I am hoping if Diabolical gets a 2nd season, this would get another one. Like a continuation story.
Boyd in 3D
Ah yes, a millennial love story. Where a drug from Vought turns them into whoever they want to be, and they get famous for it online. It's alright, but I was going to throw this off if it wasn't for the twist ending.
Thankfully it ends before you get too caught in the gaudiness.
BFFs
I have lost words to fully describe what this episode is, and I feel like it achieved just what it set out to do. Try to figure out what the thing she's holding is. Yeah, that's the entire skit. Like, I wasn't even drawn into the retro anime style till I saw the joke writing itself.
It's in the really wackness territory here and is something different from the usual ones shown. This is an Awkwafina joint work, and yeah she did a terrific job with this one for sure.
Nubian vs Nubian
Black superheroes becoming black nuclear families, but there's an interesting angle on this too. Because the entire plot is about these super egotistical figures not getting along while their daughter tries to reconnect with their relationship, it doesn't always go out as you would normally expect.
Good jokes here and there, especially the pretend-villain guy her parents know about being dubbed as a pedo. That was a funny bit too. Aisha Tyler kind of pulled this one off. And, oh yeah, nobody dies here.
John and Sun-Hee
This one stands out a lot because there it's more somber and toned down. And the biggest twist it has is that it was written by Andy Samberg. Basically, a Korean janitor's wife is on life support and will soon die, not if he does something about it. Good for him that he works in Vought.
It's an endearing tale about coming to terms with your faith, even if you try really hard to escape it. Plus some bad-ass sequences and chaotic gunfight setpieces as well.
One Plus One Equals Two
Lastly, but not least, this one. It's pretty much an origin story for Homelander. How he was when he first started being a pseudo superhero and how he got far this whole time.
It's nothing unique compared to the rest of the episodes before this, but it was a good send-off for the entire season. Giving us tidbits as to what we should expect in the 3rd season of The Boys. That's pretty much the connection there.
I have heard that there were two spin-offs that were coming from The Boys, this one I never expected to make my day. It truly tells me how far they're willing to go with The Boys as a franchise now.
Plus, with Invincible season 2 also on the way, we might be seeing two of these shows from Amazon complementing each other. If season 2 for Diabolical is confirmed, I'll be all in all the way.