Little did I know the creator, Peter Chung, had made some deliberate moves to subvert the concept of narrative. There was little to no continuity between the episodes I saw. The two central characters had a relationship, but that relationship seemed to be completely different from one episode to another, veering between lovers and enemies at the slightest whim, sometimes within a single episode.
This creative sensibility was taken to Hollywood where, lo and behold, they made something of it.
True, it doesn't retain all the stylistic elements of the original series, but I'm finding it's captured what I liked about the series - the minimalist dialogue, the tone, the acrobatics - while adding structure.
And while that structure brought sufficient intrigue, not only did it have a sorely-needed coherency, but it provided a vehicle to make sense of the contradictory scenarios of the original animations.
At that same time it took away some of the more angular aspects - both in narrative and visual style - which to my mind weren't much more than a hindrance.
To read an altogether more scholarly take on the animation series, it's worth reading this overview and recap by an aficionado, in a blog called the Concept Den. It also contains some of the original animations for comparison. The writer may argue me wrong, but I'm happy enjoying the Hollywood version.
