The Cuphead Show Is Already Getting A Second Season Full Of Soul Collecting At Netflix
Rejoice, animation fans! "The Cuphead Show" is coming back for season 2! Netflix made the announcement via its Geeked Twitter account, also revealing a summer release date for the sophomore season of the cartoon. The creators of the show have spoken before about having a 36 episode order, but now it is Netflix official.
"The Cuphead Show" is adapted from the critically-acclaimed fan-favorite video game "Cuphead." Both follow the misadventures of two brothers, named Cuphead and Mugman, as they get in all sorts of trouble, like Cuphead literally losing his soul to the Devil while playing at a carnival. The first season debuted on February 18, 2022, with 12 episodes that ran for about 12 minutes each.
A treat for animation fans
"The Cuphead Show" is an absolute treat for both casual and hardcore animation fans. The characters are memorable and funny — just look at this clip of the Devil and his second-in-command and tell me those are not some stellar designs. It is also a testament to the writing team for the show that they managed to turn a fun arcade-style game with a minimal story into a fleshed-out show with substantial stakes and narrative. As creator Dave Wasson explained, the story of Cuphead dealing with the Devil is the throughline for the whole show. "We also have a running story with Cuphead and the Devil, but it's peppered in between other [episodes]," Wasson said in an interview with ComicBook.com. "Since it was going on a streaming service, it seemed like we'd be crazy not to take advantage of wanting people to binge-watch stuff. So that's where the idea of doing these connective Devil stories came in."
What makes the show stand out is its stellar visuals, which are inspired by the works of Fleischer Studios from the 1930s and other Depression-era cartoons. There's an episode that serves as a giant homage to macabre shorts of the time like "The Skeleton Dance," "Shiver Me Timbers!" and "Swing You Sinners!" But not all is gloom and doom, as "The Cuphead Show" has enough slapstick humor and surreal characters with noodle-limbs to make it feel at home in the post-"Animaniacs" and "SpongeBob" era of animation. Between this and "Arcane," Netflix is showing that video game adaptations may be best when animated.
There's no specific release date for "The Cuphead Show" season 2. In the meantime, here is the synopsis for the show:
"The Cuphead Show!" follows the unique misadventures of the impulsive Cuphead and his cautious but easily swayed brother Mugman. Through their many misadventures across their surreal home of the Inkwell Isles, they've always got one another's backs. The new series will expand on the characters and world of Cuphead, with an animation style inspired by the classic Fleischer cartoons from the 1930s.