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Hilda Season 1 Review

Hilda is an animated streaming television series that premiered its first season on Netflix in 2018. It’s a wonderful show.

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“If you ask me all houses are basically the same“

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Based on a graphic novel series of the same name, the series follows Hilda and her friends as she embarks on numerous adventures and meets many interesting people, animals and spirits around her town and the surrounding forest. This is a wonderful watch for the whole family as kids will adore its imaginative elements while the adults themselves will undoubtedly be impressed with its world building. It is somewhat reminiscent to ‘Gravity Falls’, but ultimately it stands on its own due to its well developed characters and an intriguing, well explored world.

One of the highlights is the animation that is beautifully old-fashioned and modern at the same time. The designs of the animals and people are more modern while the hand-drawn approach was timeless. The series is continuously gorgeous to watch due to its stunning autumnal aesthetic where colorful fall leaves were the name of the game. The library looked incredible, the forest was astonishing and the town itself is very well detailed and quite cool to explore. The show takes the time to properly realize this intriguing world and its inhabitants, making for such a cozy watch perfect for the fall season.

The score and sound are both excellent too while the voice acting was uniformly strong with every single character sounding great. The series is a dramedy that is above all else a spirited adventure, but it has its supernatural horror elements as well as some impressive fantastical episodes. It’s a mish-mash of genres that really worked while its endearing tone made it a terrific fit for the whole family.

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Hilda made for an instantly iconic cartoon protagonist. She is adventurous, sympathetic and daring, but she also has her flaws, in particular her stubbornness and a failure to listen to others, which lands her in trouble at times. She’s a terrific heroine. Frida and David made for great friends. The former has a tumultuous relationship with Hilda while the latter’s fearful personality is very well explored. The mother is wonderful and their relationship is moving and very well developed while the elf character named Alfur was the most memorable creature on the show. His paperwork obsession made for great comedy fodder.

The first of the thirteen episodes is Hidden People. It established the world very well and it introduced us to the elves and their role in the story. I loved the storybook feel to this debut episode. The Midnight Giant is wonderfully mythological in its feel and so well crafted, but the move to the town was ultimately a two-edged sword. The town is so well explored, but I did miss the forest itself.

The Bird Parade is solid albeit not spectacular while The Sparrow Scouts is the weakest episode of the bunch. It’s still fine, but just not as imaginative or as memorable as others. The Troll Rock is also endearing and fun enough, but far from great. But The Nightmare Spirit is by far one of the creepiest, most horror-oriented episodes of the season. It fully worked and it will prove to be chilling to kids.

The Lost Clan is easily the greatest episode of this first season. It’s a perfect episode that is both fantastical and adventures as well as funny and goofy. The worm creature made for a memorable obstacle while Alfur has never been funnier than he was in this contract-heavy storyline. The show really knows how to mix humor and adventure so well.

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The Tide Mice and The Ghost are both pretty good with the latter being quite emotionally draining in the failing relationship between Hilda and Frida. The Storm and The House in the Woods are both very well done in the catastrophe-riddled story. The Nisse introduced us to the titular creatures, which were so well established. The Black Hound concluded this storyline with the titular creature and the Nisse while also memorably closing out the entire season. It had high stakes and excellent writing throughout.