Based on a French MMO. Wakfu follows Yugu a young boy with the power to make portals, on a quest to discover his family and true origins. From that simple premise, the shows creators manage to create one of the most satisfying animated series I've seen in years. The animation is beautiful, the characters are mostly great, (Amalia can be a bit grating at times, but she's still a good character in her own right,) and the action sequences are EXTREMELY well done. Early on most the action is on par with what you might see in an episode of Avatar the last airbender, or Naruto, and although it keeps this flavor throughout the series, eventually we see some fights that look like they might be more at home in shows like Dragonball Z, and yet it all still fits.



On top of all that, the first season villain, a time mage named Nox. An insane tinkerer surrounded by all sorts of clockwork monstrosities, Nox desires an immense source of Wakfu (think, aura, chi, ki, or chakra,) all to undo the effects of one bad decision. Nox is one of the best written villains I've seen in a long time. He manages to simultaneously be frightening, effective, and sympathetic, all at the same time. By the end of season one, while there is little doubt that Nox is a monster, it's impossible not to empathize with his situation, we all have regrets and who wouldn't want to change things if we could.

That isn't to say the series is without downsides. It heavily references terms from the MMO it's based on, without giving an explanation of those terms. For the most part these terms are mostly slang however, so most of the time not knowing these slang terms immediately doesn't impact the story, and you pick up on their meaning in time. The exception to this, is that later in the series, (During the OVA, which has not come out in America yet,) they reference events, people, and relationships, that you wouldn't know of if you hadn't played the game, even then it doesn't impact enjoyment too much however.

The other downside, is that the English localization is a bit, spotty. Some of the names of characters have been changed to sound less French, (I guess,) and some characters are not voiced that well. (Percedal's screams man, ugh.) This is a huge shame, as personally French is not a language I particularly enjoy listening to, for reasons I don't understand myself. This isn't to say the localization is horrible though, many of the characters voices are spot on, and name changes in a localization aren't a huge deal if you aren't already following the franchise before the localization.

Overall, despite one or two flaws, I cannot recommend Wakfu enough. It is currently Streaming exclusively on Netflix, and can be viewed both in English and in it's original French language track.