I re-watched Code: Lyoko and it was fun

I used to watch this as a kid on MBC3 as a kid way back then. But it was dubbed in Arabic and I not only didn't know Arabic back then, I believe the episodes weren't aired in order either.

However, years later (Now) I found it dubbed in English on YouTube and watched the whole thing in a few weeks. You could say this was the first time I was properly watching it.

For an animated show from 2003, I have to say, it holds up fine after almost 20 years.

To start things up lets take a look at the starting special "XANA awakens"

(SPOLIERS FROM NOW ON)

The premier, even though not entirely bad, is quite a bit info dumpy. It certainly feels like the show wants to get out a lot of stuff before it can easily start it's story and that isn't a good sign.

It introduces us to all the main cast in in a very odd way (No pun intended towards the character Odd) and doesn't quite develop them enough to be interesting enough for us to engage in their story. It wants to tackle a lot of stuff and hence it fails to do many of what it wishes to accomplish and mostly info dumps you about the whole plot at the end of the special.

Not the worst, but certainly not good.

Moving on to season 1.

This season is mostly episodic disaster that the main cast deals with and at the end of each disaster everything but the main casts memory is rest via "Return to the past".

Every episode in this season follows a very generic plan. "disaster occurs-> They find activated tower -> They fight monsters to get to the tower -> Aelita deactivated the tower in a clutch -> return to the past.

While most of the first season is in this format, it still has a final goal in mind to accomplish; "stalling time so Aelita can materialize" so that the cast can shut down the computer for good and defeat XANA afterwards.

And another important thing to mention, is how the villain of the story develops it's tactics through out the first season. It starts with causing random chaos to directly targeting the heroes to fully endangering the whole planet. XANA's strategy gets smarter and smarter with every episode.

Lets move on to season 2.

While Aelita is now in human form, it seems she is still linked to the super computer and hence before shutting down the computer, they must destroy this link first.

Second season of the show can be described as "when the show actually started"

It improved in both writing and animation. We were introduced to new characters which later down the line would be very important and new mechanics.

Season two introduced vehicles for our heroes on Lyoko which was a great addition for more action and engaging fight scenes. But our villain didn't just stop either. XANA too, revealed a new monster, the tarantulas. At first they give the team quite the hard time with their high offensive capabilities but as time goes on, they too will be seen as normal mobs for our heroes to deal with.

Another thing that the new season manages to address, is "Return to the past" as we learn with each one, XANA gets stronger and there is a certain price to be paid for using it each time. This helps the show a lot in the long run as it allows more room for character development outside of the main cast and adds more value to when they have to use that option each time.

But that's not all. In addition to all of those, we will also get a brand new sector. Sector 5! The home to three different monsters (Schiphazoa, Creeper and flying mantis), an atmosphere that changes itself and a lot of reward for the risk it possesses.

But on top of all those, the story started to branch out for Aelita. We start to get pieces of her past life slowly and slowly until the finale where XANA manages to escape the super computer, but we learn who Aelita is and how is she connected to lyoko and XANA.

Season 2 was a big step up for the show and it set up a great arc for later seasons.

Moving on to season 3.

With our heroes loosing their last encounter and letting XANA escape the super computer, XANA now wants to destroy lyoko so that our heroes can't stop him.

Season 3 doesn't add much as season 2 did, but improvement to the 3d animation is still visible.

But, it makes up for it by raising the stakes of each encounter and making things difficult for heroes in their real life. Sectors will be wiped out one by one, in hopes of destroying lyoko once and for all. And even though our heroes try their best to stop XANA from accomplishing his goal, they ultimately loose all 4 sectors.

This leads them to recruite a new addition to the main cast to help them deal with XANA. William, who was introduced in season 2 as a love rival for Ulrich, proves himself to be trustworthy and will become a lyoko warrior. But in the exact episode we get to see him in action with his big sword, he will be possessed by XANA, defeat all the other lyoko warriors and destroys Lyoko with himself inside.

Season 3, raised the stakes, crushes our heroes in defeat and makes them bear the loss of their new recruit. It all seems like it's over, except, it's not.

Season 4.

Somehow, our heores manage to re-create lyoko get back into the fight. And this time, they have come prepared.

This season, much like season two adds a ton of new stuff, including but not limited to upgrading our heroes looks. And gives our heroes a proper rival to face that poses a real threat. William.

William is now under XANA's control. And he is by far the best addition to the whole show.

One major problem that XANA as a villain had, was that he didn't quite have a form to appose our heores directly. He is a program that uses other means to accomplishes his goals. But with William, he now had a proper right hand to be in the action.

From Willaim's theme to his brand new looks, he is out right a great villain. But sadly, he doesn't have the most satisfying closure to his story.

Through out the 4th season, we get to explore the digital sea through a submarine, we have the addition of se battles with new monsters that even though don't seem to do a lot, they have a great design.

Our heroes destroy XANA's replica's one by one, but they realize they can't quite get to all f them Not to mention, after a few encounters, XANA reveals his ultimate weapon. The kolossuss! A gigantic creature that can wipe out anything with one swing.

Ultimately, our heroes manage to find a way to destroy XANA once and for all and free William. And in the end, with the last episode, they all say their farewell to the secret they all shared and move on to their next stage of life.

Although the show managed to be entertaining and engaging with it's story for the most part, it also failed to give proper closure to one character they've been building up through out season 2 to season 4. William.

William will be freed from XANA, only to be used by him one last time in the final battle. No, William doesn't get back on lyoko to settle the score with the program that enslaved him, he just stays back and gets used for one last time.

Personally, I think that was the least entertaining end for William.

But that said, the show overall was a fun experience. A lot of the comedy holds up after all this years and you get quite a fair amount of cool action along with it. The show is far from perfect, but I can assure you, it's certainly worth giving a shot.

And lets end this blog with Code Lyoko's outro song: Subdigital's Break away. (Which is quite the banger imo)