Review by CJ

Director:
James Tucker

Writer:
Lauren Certo, Brian Ford Sullivan, Wendy Mericle, Keto Shimizu

Starring:
Megalyn Echikunwoke, Stephen Amell, Grant Gustin

Other notable appearances:
Neil Flynn, Carlos Valdes, Emily Bett Rickards, Anika Noni Rose, Sean Patrick Thomas

Running time:
5-7 minutes per episode

Number of episodes:
6

Mari McCabe (Echikunwoke) is a young woman who was orphaned as a baby. When she tries to use the necklace left by her birth mother to trace her family, Mari discovers the necklace has the power to grant her the strength and abilities of certain animals. This discovery brings Mari to the attention of friend and foe alike.

Vixen is an animated web series set in the Arrowverse. The Arrowverse is the universe in which television shows Arrow, The Flash and Legends of Tomorrow exist.

Vixen is a succinct introduction to a new character within the Arrowverse. While it hasn’t received as much promotion as its predecessors, it was a good introduction for the character of Vixen to make an appearance in Arrow without needing to explain who she is or what she can do. The interested uninitiated need only jump online and spend a little over half an hour catching up.

Given that there are four writers credited for something under 40 minutes long, I would have expected the dialogue to flow a lot better than it did. The only saving grace was the interactions between Green Arrow and Flash which were, as in their television show crossovers, hilarious.

Conversely, the writers have managed to tell the origin of an interesting character in a short amount of time. Something that took Arrow flashbacks throughout an entire 24 episode season to do.

The animation is dark and mature, with hints of anime style throughout, but feels slightly off at times which is distracting. In this sense, it reminded me a lot of Batman: Gotham Knight.

Overall, Vixen is a decent web series that gives viewers of Arrow a look into the background of a character who later appears in the live action series. For these purposes, it is good but would not stand well alone. I would recommend this for Arrowverse viewers who are not already familiar with the character and die hard fans who need to see everything related to the Arrowverse.

Rating:

“I don’t think you’re crazy. I think the idea that your necklace is magic might be a little crazy.”