APAC: IBIS QUEEN: SEASON ONE REVIEW

The most high-concept of the Fresh Blood animated series is set aboard a cruise ship after flooding has devastated the planet. Sadly, it’s mostly dead in the water.

There’s a lot going on in Ibis Queen, certainly more than the show manages to tell you in its 3 episodes. Basically, the action takes place entirely on the ship (also called the Ibis Queen), which is run by Captain Caveri. I gathered from context that the Captain is meant to be the main antagonist, but her characterisation never extends beyond eccentric and hedonistic. Even her imprisonment of the world’s dolphins, her only action that seems intentionally villainous, is because she wants her party to be a success. As motivations go, it’s simply confusing.

Meanwhile, episode 1’s description mentions the “seductive green activist Numa”, and yet only one of these descriptors is ever demonstrated throughout the entire season: the environmental activism, not her name. That’s right, Ibis Queen doesn’t even have time to name one of its main characters. There’s also Paul, the ship’s musician and the show’s straight man, who suffers from the same lack of personality as Numa. Caveri’s characterisation may not be what the writers intended, but at least she gets one.

More than any other Fresh Blood series, Ibis Queen suffers from format and pacing issues. This is most noticeable due to the unusual and baffling decision to tell one serialised story throughout the entire season. The dolphin plot simultaneously feels rushed yet insignificant; regardless of the short length, its bizarre climax doesn’t justify 3 episodes of anticipation. Similarly, each episode also chooses a strange and jarring place for its cliffhanger, especially given the writers must have known that the show would be airing on a streaming platform and likely be binge-watched.

It ultimately feels as though one episode was simply divided into 3 parts for the sake of it. I suppose that the idea may also have been to add more jokes, but given how flat most of them fall, this seems unlikely. For instance, the rare ‘Fukushima green’ dolphin has an amusing enough name, and probably would’ve made me chuckle had someone not decided it needed to speak. Only 3 episodes in, a character has already reached Scrappy-Doo levels of annoying.

I was also confused by every episode beginning with a forgettable opening sequence, wasting precious time where Ibis Queen could’ve set up different stories. In addition, some shots, such as Caveri stepping on dolphins’ heads, were overly long and repetitive, which heightened my concern that the show wasn’t using its time effectively.

Focusing entirely on the dolphin storyline also severely limits the show’s worldbuilding, which is a huge problem when the premise is so specific. Apart from two establishing shots of major landmarks underwater, there’s never any indication that a flood of apocalyptic proportions took place, nor why people would choose to stay onboard the Ibis Queen (or indeed, if they have a choice). Recalling my earlier point about the Captain merely seeming eccentric, I’m not sure why some of the staff were orangutans or flying tablets with accents other than those things being funny, I guess? Shots of the ship’s deck and interior also feel strangely empty, which is likely to reduce costs but also conflicts with the implication that many surviving humans have been forced to take refuge aboard it.

Honestly, it was only in its technical elements that Ibis Queen wasn’t outright frustrating. The animation was distinct and smooth, the voice cast were fine (apart from that damn dolphin), and the music was surprisingly catchy. In fact, I felt the influence of Bob’s Burgers on the latter, particularly the final number.

Which reminds me, Bob’s Burgers did a cruise ship episode years ago that was better than this entire season.

All 3 episodes of Ibis Queen are now streaming for free on ABC iView.