Ever since Warner Brothers created "Batman: The Animated Series", the world of animated superhero shows took a turn for the better. Much like the comic books began to take on more of an adult nature, so did these shows. The style and quality of shows like "Superman: The Animated Series", "Batman Beyond", and "Justice League" all benefited the greatness of this series. But then Warner Brothers did something very strange. They created a new show that seemed to eschew this level of quality and once again aimed itself squarely at children. "Teen Titans" is (loosely) based on the long standing superhero team originally put together by Robin, The Boy Wonder in the comics. But instead of following the style of "Batman" The Animated Series", instead the creators employed a look and style closer to that of "Pokemon."

This isn’t to say that "Pokemon" was bad, but Anime has a place of its own, and the "Teen Titans" simply deserves better. To make matters worse, even the show's theme song utilizes a talentless Japanese singing duo, saccharinely named Puffy Ami Yumi (insert gag reflex noises here…).

Now for the good news, in spite of the decision made for the overall look of the series, it is still fairly entertaining. If you're wise enough to skip the nauseatingly awful theme song, you will find a few storylines that rise above the level of the animation. But still, whenever I see one of the fight sequences, with the characters frozen in position and the background turned into nothing more than streaking lines (giving that impression of forward motion), I expect to see Snorlax jump into the fray.

Originally, Warner Brothers was releasing episodes of "Teen Titans" in single episode discs, but finally opted to go to the full season sets earlier this year (a wise choice that they have also recently made with "Batman Beyond" and "Justice League"). The first set had 13 episodes as well as a number of extra features (both good and bad). The better of the features included a lengthy 'making of' documentary and a featurette on the voice cast. The not so great features focused mainly on the aforementioned Puffy Ami Yumi and come in the form of a video and a brief look at their own cartoon series. There is also an interview of the duo moderated by the animated Robin of the series.

This month, they are releasing the 2nd season, and while my opinion of the show hasn’t changed much, I will say that like its counterpart "The Batman", it is at least taking a turn for the better. This season is showing a tremendous improvement in the writing as I found the story arc to be quite compelling. I later learned it was taken directly (though changed up a little) from the Teen Titan comics in a storyline known as "The Judas Contract." Lately I've been picking up a lot of older trade paperbacks of Batman stories (hadn’t picked up a comic in quite some time) and enjoying the heck out of them. This season of "Teen Titans" convinced me to keep my eyes peeled for the trade paperback of "The Judas Contract" so I could read it for myself.

This new 2nd season DVD doesn’t offer nearly as much in the way of extras, as a matter of fact it only has a short featurette that brings viewers up to speed on the 2nd season.

As far as animated superhero series go, "Teen Titans" fairs pretty well in the area of writing, but if you are not a fan of Anime style animation, it'll take a little time to get past it.

EPISODES:
How Long is Forever?
Every Dog Has His Day
Terra
Only Human
Fear Itself
Date With Destiny
Transformation
Titan Rising
Winner Take All
Betrayal
Fractured
Aftershock Part I
Aftershock Part II

Extras: Catching up with Season 2
Specifications: Full Screen, Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround Sound
Studio: Warner Brothers
Release Date: 9/12/2006
Region 1
MPAA Rating: NR
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We'll give Teen Titans: Seasons 2 a C+.