A Lovenote to Daria

I realise that this isn't what I typically do, but Daria doesn't get nearly enough attention. Having spent the last week revisiting the show, I was reminded of how it stands in the same stead as other cartoon masterpieces like Avatar: The Last Airbender and Gravity Falls. This isn't going to be a review, just an appreciation post for one of the best animated programmes ever made.

For anyone who doesn't know Daria, she's an icon representing the disillusioned youth of the late 90s. Borrowed from Beevis and Butt-Head, the creators of the show clearly thought that Daria was too golden of a character to exist in the background, thus the series follows her and her family as they move to the suburbs of Lawndale.
  Daria herself is one of a kind, and frankly my role model. Her trademark sarcastic wit lends so much to the dark comedy of the show. We're so often given underdogs as protagonists in shows and movies catered to teens; the kind of characters that start off with nothing and want the kind of popularity that the typically pretty, confident people have, for example in Mean Girls or Wingin' It.
  Daria sees through that - misanthropic and never eager to please, Daria is happy to wander through life reluctantly as long as she has her best-friend and kindred-spirit Jane Lane to mock it with. She faces the kinds of trials that all teenagers typically do - peer pressure, unwelcome crushes, humiliating parents - but tackles them all with her own brand of dry wit, an entirely fresh perspective.

  Despite being true to herself all the way through, the unsmiling intelligent social pariah, Daria actually goes through an alarming amount of character development (which isn't true of most cartoon characters, since it's easy for a show to go on forever if the reset button is pressed at the beginning of every new episode). She is completely aware of the fact that she distances herself from others out of a fear of being rejected and disliked, but comes to terms with it over the course of the series, relying less on her sarcastic jokes as a defense-mechanism and actually expressing her feelings.
  All you need for a interesting show is a good protagonist, but Daria goes beyond and offers a diverse and smartly-written cast of dozens. The series does mirror classic teen movies by adapting some common tropes - the deadbeat aspiring rock star Trent, the passive-aggressive members of the Fashion Clubs, and the ignorant but well-intending popular kids Brittany and Kevin - but never takes them all too seriously. They parody and satirize pop-culture, playing these cliches for laughs (the Fashion Club, in particular, is hilarious).
  Even down to the character designs, Daria stands out. Companies like Disney, for instance, are guilty of giving all their characters the same face. Every face in Daria is so unique - Daria and Quinn are sisters, but their proportions are different; their head-shapes, noses and lips are different too. The end credits of every episode are usually paired with fun little images, where the characters are transformed into different objects, animals or guises, and every character is easily distinguishable regardless of what they're wearing.
  The voice talent contributes to this in spades. It reminds me of The Simpsons, how every voice actor gives their all to their performance. My shout out here has to go to Marc Thompson, since I didn't even realize he voiced five characters at one point.
  Even the animation is pretty stellar for 1997. It looks unrefined and simplistic, but it improves in quality over the course of  five seasons. Also, the lip-syncing is great! Obviously, it isn't perfect, but it's definitely a step-up from cartoons like Totally Spies (which only started a year later - even though it was initially French language, there was no excuse for the puppet-mouths in that show).
  My favourite thing about Daria is ultimately the relationship between her and Jane. It makes sense that the emotional climax was a bout of turmoil in their relationship, because they make up the heart of the show. I'm convinced that Daria likes and needs Jane more than her family at the best of times, and they're a constant support to each other. There just is no Daria without Jane, they're an inseparable force of evil.

Daria is a product of a different generation, but it stands the test of time - you don't need to see the dependence on technology to find Daria's experience of high school relatable. Re-watching it has been the best part of my holiday thus far.