It's safe to say that Teen Titans is the first show of its kind. It's the first superhero show to focus on teenagers who have no adult supervision and who are trusted with an entire city to protect. Teen Titans blends standard animation with hints of Anime to create a unique look and memorable, recognizable characters. The show focuses on five teenage superheroes, Robin, Raven, Cyborg, Beast Boy, and Starfire, and their adventures. The Teen Titans live in a giant T-shaped tower in the bay beside Jump City, California. The animators created Jump City with a great amount of 70's influence and hints of Japan, making it like no superhero city seen before. Rather than being in the East like many cities in superhero shows, Jump City is located on the West coast. Teen Titans is a show with a relatively new concept. In most shows focusing on younger superheroes, there is some authority figure to give guidance and set rules. The Titans are entirely independant, relying on their own skills and intuition to get through situations. It'd a rather marvelous concept, these teenage superheroes. They have to be pretty incredible for an entire city to trust these five teenagers with their very saftey day in and day out. Teen Titans is also different from many other superhero shows because many of the others are based solely on action, on fighting bad guys. The Titans struggle with person problems also, as well as with villains. The Titans are more real as characters because of their struggles and inperfections and their uncertaity about what will happen next. The characters are also unique in thier approaches. Rather than copying the Titans that Marv Wolfman had created in his comics, the Titans on the show went in a different direction. Many shows involving drama and concept like Teen Titans does tend to pull the veiwer down with neverending angst, but the Titans' playful antics and the comic relief of the characters' interactions saves the show from being melodramatic. With the anime influence, the characters can stretch the bounds of reality when showing emotion, becoming 'chibi' or 'super-d' to physically show the depth of a feeling or reaction, giving the animators much more freedom with the characters. Many shows and movie based on comic books never really evolve into something beyond thier original roots, but Teen Titans seems to have become something entirely new, something that people understand even without reading the comics. Though the show is created for younger viewers, it's one that most anyone can watch, ranging from children to middle-aged adults. Because the concepts are mature and deep enough to capture the imagination, and the characters are fun enough to entertain the youngest minds, it can be seen as a relatively for-all show, even though much of its popularity lies within the early teenage age group. The show focuses on superheroes, but there's something in at least one of the characters that we can all relate to, which is what brings many viewers back time and time again to watch the adventures of the Teen Titans.
