Most people have heard about Adventure Time – a hit cartoon about a magical dog, Jake, and a normal boy, Finn. Penleton Ward, the creator of this series, was inspired by The Simpsons and as a result, created Adventure Time in 2010.

Within the vast franchise, there have been two characters that have stood out to most, if not all, fans – Fionna and Cake. 

Fionna and Cake came from an alternative universe created within the franchise where all characters in the show are gender swapped. This universe’s protagonists, Finn the Human and Jake the Dog, are newly portrayed as female characters, Fionna Campbell and Cake the Cat.  Later, it was explained how they were stories made up by the Ice King (the villain of the franchise). 

Unfortunately, Fionna and Cake only appeared for a few episodes and afterwards were never mentioned or seen again within the franchise, but there were many requests from fans (including me) to see more of them. 

After much demand, HBO announced a spin-off, Adventure Time: Fionna and Cake, dedicated to them and the universe they reside in. This series presents a fresh new art style and animation which was not too drastic, but definitely made a change that differentiated this spin off from Adventure Time.  

This spin off also introduced a familiar face, Adam Muto. Muto has previously worked on other Adventure Time spin-offs, so this came to no surprise. As for the story, both Fionna and Cake are living an ordinary life instead of a magical one. Fiona, working many part-time jobs and Cake, just a cat. All of the side characters previously seen also had this same effect.

But, the “ordinary” aspect of this spin-off did not stay that way for long and instead took a turn for the better after the first episode. Towards the end of the first episode we see Cake jump into an ice cream cart and disappear, which we later come to find out that it was a portal to Simon’s (Ice King) universe. 

Later in the series we see the same happening to Fiona, which results in both Fiona and Cake finding each other and reuniting in Simon’s magical universe. Cake gains the ability to talk as well, which filled me with nostalgia, seeing both characters side by side as they were originally portrayed. These two characters wholeheartedly embraced this newfound magical world believing it was where they truly belonged. 

The main premise of this series are the main characters – Fiona, Cake, and Simon – escaping Scarab. Scarab wants to catch them as evidence to show that Prismo, the wishmaster, made an unauthorized universe. 

Scarab is a newly introduced character to the series. He is portrayed as a villain and is both ambitious and cold-hearted, which, in my opinion, is what makes him a good villain. Other than Scarab, there were many other notable characters which were introduced in this series

Embedded within the series are many easter eggs and nostalgic nods, which only helps make this series more enjoyable, especially to past fans. But even so, past fans should not be tricked into thinking this spin off will be exactly like Adventure Time, but rather take in account the new personalities and characters that are newly introduced, and allow this spin off to seem more of a “what if?” than a continuation. This may either disappoint past fans or encourage them to watch this series. For me, it encouraged me and I enjoyed seeing this brand new feeling to the Adventure TIme franchise. 

There are 10 episodes and each has the characters traversing new universes. With it being a very short series, it was very well written and not rushed at all. The advertisement of this series as “Season one” is shown throughout the top of the posters. This made many suspect that there may be another season to come. In an interview in Variety, Muto said,  “The future of “Fionna and Cake,” and the “Adventure Time” franchise as a whole, is still in the brainstorming phase.” I don’t think another season is necessary because one season tied everything together and another season may botch the storyline. 

Muto also excelled at bringing everything together, as this series solved the many mysteries of the past series. This series not only met my expectations, but it also likely met those of other fans. The characters, the plot, and depth are all unique to the franchise. This shows the dedication of the creators as they also made this spin-off make sense in the vast universe of Adventure Time. 

I highly recommend giving this spin-off a watch especially if you grew up watching Adventure Time. I’d give this series a solid 9/10. Even if you have not watched Adventure Time or if you’re unfamiliar with the franchise, you should definitely give this show a try. Many spin-off series tend to disappoint, but this one undoubtedly did not.