Many eyebrows journeyed north when it was declared that Matthew Inman’s oddly successful party game Exploding Kittens was to be niftily adapted into an episodic animated rollercoaster ride on Netflix. This wacky, fast-paced card game pits two to five players against one another amidst bizarre whirlwinds of explosions, cat toys and oddball instances, all veering a tad towards Cards Against Humanity. It might not have had a storyline woven into it, but it managed to enthrall a legion of fans, as observable from its smashing Kickstarter victory run. So, making it a TV series seemed the natural next step… didn’t it?

The creators pulling the strings behind the scene, Shane Kosakowski and Matthew Inman, turned the innocuous party game into a celestial duel between good and evil, humorously embodied by God and the Devil themselves… as cute and cuddly kittens. Apparently, God (played by Tom Ellis), despite his divine stature, was having trouble keeping his work performance up-to-par. Apparently burning down wings of Heaven, inattentiveness to the world’s evolution and binge-watching pterodactyl flicks isn’t very becoming of an almighty deity. The divine punishment? A fluffy, bearded reincarnation as a house cat, assigned to humanity’s pitifully uninspiring family – the Higgins.

Try picturing the Higgins household as an anti-Olympian troupe of underperformers taking up residence in the stale air of one-horse-town Horkville. Mum, Abbie (voiced by Suzy Nakamura), is an unhinged ex-Navy SEAL turned animal control agent with a borderline unhealthy fascination for violent encounters. Dad, Marv (brought to life by Mark Proksch) is having a midlife crisis fascinatingly manifested by playing perplexing board games. Their son, Travis (voiced by Kenny Yates) is an aspiring internet celebrity, while daughter Greta (voiced by Ally Maki) is an introverted academic with a keen sense of social justice.

Add in a fluffy divine cat and a Devilcat – the dark queen herself (voiced by Sasheer Zamata) having to go through her version of evil probation – and let the sparks of cosmic comedy fly. Chaos, CEO battles, and galactic absurdities promptly follow suit.

What happens when you mash up a card game revolving around felines and harmless destruction with an animated series featuring a divine and devilish narrative? There’s a curious void in connectivity that only seems to bridge towards the end of the season. Inman’s card game was this straightforward tabletop experience, reveling unabashedly in frolicsome violence, cat humor, and utter absurdity, which in fact spearheaded its success.

However, that very simplicity wasn’t exactly prime time material. To ensure it could meld with the Netflix mold, Inman and Kosakowski had to rally their creative horses and flesh out a much deeper narrative. Evolving the whimsical cat graphics from the game and introducing them into the animated narrative required a good degree of transformative thinking — all to the extent that the original aesthetics of the game were juiced down, leaving behind only a faint echo in the form of character designs and art style. A couple of scenes may retain a few elements reminiscent of the original game, but that’s clutching at straws. The storyline of Exploding Kittens is pretty much a full detour from the source material – a levy equally beneficial and detrimental for the series.

Adapting a game, especially something as simplistic as a card game, into a film or series isn’t a walk in the park. History bears witness to many a filmmaker’s futile attempts at crossing this media bridge, landing short or flat out tripping over. Success stories have started to emerge recently, with successful adaptations like League of Legends navigating the intricate aspects. Exploding Kittens finds its groove somewhere in between, with promising chunks of creative craft and hilarious translations of its original concept glowing amidst its flaws.

This synthesis of a cosmic black comedy, redemption tale and domestic humor saga stitches together the finest spectrums of contemporary theosophy-inspired narratives, providing a sensationally graphic exploration of a divine feline-wrapped life lesson. While edgy animations and weird tropes are explored and hilariously executed, what sets Exploding Kittens apart is its surprisingly genuine indwelling vibe and a warmly revolving narrative that embraces its characters in all their imperfect glory. That alone makes it worthy of at least one watch.

For a good part of the last decade, adult animations usually would register on either end of the scale – dark, tragic narratives seeping with cynicism on one extreme, and bawdier, slapstick segments abundant with vulgarity on the other. More recent years did witness a significant shift, with content blending seamlessly across these pre-set boundaries. Smiling Friends offered the high-octane comedy minus the existential bitterness, and Growing Pains humorously backslapped the highs and lows of parenting after a hefty dose of fantastical and gross elements. Bob’s Burgers, with its charmingly upbeat domestic tales, laid a robust foundation for dialogue-based humor within the genre.

Exploding Kittens, in embracing this pivot, marries the hallmark aspects of contemporary adult animation with philosophical undertones – quite a graceful leap from a card game in which victory is decided by detonating a balloon kitten. Despite packing in its share of the gross, macabre and tantalizingly raunchy, the series also introduces a surprisingly sweet, at times eyebrow-raising genuine side that takes viewers on quite the roller coaster.

The good certainly outweighs the not-so-interesting aspects. Jokes that are time-specific, likely to lose relevance over time are frequent, as are a few facepalm-inducing clichéd humor attempts. And despite the trendy format, the series does struggle to leave a lingering presence. However, it is comfortingly clear that Exploding Kittens has notched up its own identity – preferential to an era in adult animated humor where the smirk and the edge are finally making way for a deeper narrative.

Exploding Kittens scores decently on the respectability scale, while not necessarily shattering any barriers. The animation itself doesn’t exactly impress or stand out, except for the occasional neon-infused contrast against an otherwise drab color palette. The voice cast and their performances, however, stand tall as the pedestal on which the series shines. Tom Ellis, in a deliciously ironic shift from Lucifer to God, lends a certain poise to the series. Yet, despite solid performances and humor that does occasionally hit the mark, parts of it feel dated, even amidst its 2024-specific references.

Despite being a tad vulgar, immature, and prone to the occasional nasty jest, Exploding Kittens treads a path distinctly less cruel than what you might expect. The humor carries echoes of the Rick and Morty era, arguably the pinnacle of adult cartoon comedy, but it’s less smug. Gags that strike a chord are interspersed with almost embarrassingly obvious allusions; but at least they’re not mean-spirited.

While Exploding Kittens might not provide the shot in the arm that the animation industry needs to snap out of its slump, it does manage to whip up some unique elements, inducing laughter and carrying a commendable positive subtext. Fun and fleeting, the series is likely to disappear from thoughts as soon as the end credits roll. However, for those looking for a amusing diversion (even if it’s not very memorable), Searching for more than a chuckles-and-kittens card game on screen? Exploding Kittens is now live and kicking on Netflix.