“13” is hard to review for. It’s stuck between super special awesome and deep down god-awful. The enemies aren’t that interesting and the plot centering around them and the main character is neither grand nor inferior, it’s just “eh”; an episode that's stuck in a situation where it's good to watch on the first run or two, but not enough for longer enjoyments. The only specialty this episode has on me is that this was the first Danny Phantom episode I watched, even if it was the last seven or so minutes (so much so I was convinced Jazz was a girl Danny had a crush on--ooh, the controversial behind that potential plot), but I’ll give it a whirl or otherwise this review would have ended after this paragraph.
The "villains" (they don’t necessary do anything severely evil) don’t do much to contribute an exciting plot. As touching as Johnny and Kitty’s love is (the two extending to touch hands at one point was an especially sweet moment), there was no “oomph” to back it up. Johnny plays as the primary baddie, motivated by the love (and mouth) of his girlfriend and he backs it up with his charming 1950’s charisma (with a 1980's grungy look). Kitty from the moment she speaks rings clear that she wears the pants in the relationship while Shadow is an eerie, but beautifully design being that emphasizes the lurking mysteries of shadows; impressive with it’s own set of character despite it’s inability to speak. All three got personality, but their story is lacking and almost non-threatening to be of any worth in and out of this episode.
Tucker’s subplot is an example of his general status in the series before he was relegated to full flanderization by end and an even bigger example of DP holding down a seemingly irreverent subplot for half the show before making a connection with Plot A. It’s a different stage for his character when he decides on a change to get away from the Techno-Geek look and hobby he loyally follows. Anytime he shares screen with Sam earns bonus points because the two work together and connect/contrast so greatly that they can make an even boring plot interesting with just their interaction. But like the rest of this episode, it’s no shoe worth spit-shining and utterly predictable.
The high caliber point of this episode is seeing Danny and Jazz star as their respective siblings' roles in a nontraditional take on the switcheroo plot. If “Public Enemies” started Danny’s gradual path to maturity, “13” seem fit to be a precursor to it. Jazz removes all forms of adult behavior and nagging increase towards anything ghostly because she has fallen into something beyond her control: love--technically a crush, an infatuation, a like. Pushing Danny away for some privacy, rebelling against her parents, spending every waking moment with Johnny, Jazz has entered the pages of every single teenage girl’s diary. She, in all her grown-up glory “de-aged” herself with Kitty’s clothes pushing her further. Danny, knowing who and what Johnny is, but unable to tell his sister shoots up his given age meter and plays the role of surrogate older brother. Possessing a mature and wily outlook, Danny ultimately saves his sister and defeats the enemy and for that, their bond, while still in the dark over certain secrets, have brought them closer and made them discover the capabilities they have inside. Think of it as a foreshadowing of what they will both be by end.
The episode’s animation alters between the solid and the fugly. Jazz is the clear offender as she gets not just the usual big mouth syndrome, but wide eyebrows straight out of a cosmetic horror, and huge saucer plate eyes. Tucker’s hive-infested face inflicted during school hours disappears by school’s end (a source of artistic license I was never a fan of) and Kitty’s frizzy unstable form is rendered forever solid by the latter half. The rest were fortunately solid, if not one of the better of Season One because of their effective use of lighting and shadowing. Shadow himself moves as gracefully and viciously as his killer design emphasizes.
6/10
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Article Written revised in: Somewhere in May, 2008
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