Win or Lose is Pixar’s latest animation project on Disney+. After watching it the first time, I see that not all hope is lost with Disney Studios. It is a fun show, and I enjoyed it. Yet, just like with Disney’s remakes, there is a lot of controversy surrounding the show’s production, which keeps the company under the public eye’s scrutiny. Let’s weigh the good and bad of how the finished project came out.
Trailers advertised the release of Pixar’s Win or Lose all over Instagram and YouTube. The premise is about a middle school softball team and their personal struggles on and off the field. To emphasize this, a lot of imagination is mixed into the reality that the characters are experiencing.
A major complaint about the trailers is that the art style is redundant, but I still find it very cute! The narrator in the final trailer claims that Win or Lose may be the best thing Pixar has ever done, which is a stretch. Still, the show is better than most recent Disney movies.
The Animation
The 3D animation for the show is outstanding! The camera angles and transitions are well done. I like the solid world-building that makes their world feel relatable. The small-town middle school setting reminds me of Turning Red. A familiar scene is in episode three when Rochelle is in the bathroom making money, and everyone lines up to see her. She may not be a big panda, yet she is a big influence in school.
To me, the animation looks like it’s made of clay because of the roundness of the character designs. Everything has a cute, chunky look to it! The mix of 2D in Ira’s episode is my favorite. It is a great choice for illustrating his imaginativeness and shows a fun distinction between their reality and his imagined one.
The character designs are adorable and so real. Each character has a different look that resembles real people you may see in everyday life. The unique manifestations of their anxieties add more to the story so that it’s not a mundane slice of life. The best part is how you can notice things happening in the background of each episode that shows everyone’s experiences melding together.
Overall Summary
The series covers the personal events of several characters during the week before their softball championship game. It rewinds every episode and focuses on the POV of a different main character each time. They’re part of the Pickles, a middle school softball team in a suburban town.
It starts with Laurie, the coach’s daughter, having anxiety about her weak skills not impressing her father. Then Frank, who is a teacher and referee for the team is having relationship problems. Duo episodes are released about Laurie’s friend Rochelle and her mom’s overlapping financial struggles.
Now, instead of an episode about Taylor, a student on the team, we get the perspective of her little brother, who daydreams a lot and has trouble making friends. His morals are challenged when he befriends some bad kids who are committing crimes at the game, and they pressure him to support them. Next, we see the inner heart of Yuwen, who becomes Taylor’s boyfriend during the week. Their love blossoms like a fleeting flower, and his immaturity gets in the way.
Kai may be the only character whose story extends past the one-week prior timeline. Their story focuses on them undergoing significant life changes, influencing their choice to join softball. Now, she struggles to keep up with her dad’s expectations of being a perfect athlete.
The last episode shows a little bit of Laurie’s dad’s POV, bringing the show full circle. He is struggling financially while going through a divorce. He tries his best to be a fair, competent coach, but the parents of his students doubt him and try to push him out of his job with a replacement. Because of this, he and Frank blow up at each other during the championship, and the audience stampedes onto the field in a riot.
Favorite Character Storylines:
I became interested after seeing many clips of the show flooding my YouTube page. I just had to know what was going on, especially with Rochelle and her mother. They are my favorite because their stories are so interesting.
I love the visual effect of Rochelle’s anxiety turning into anti-gravity. The 3rd and fourth episodes show how serious their conflicts are and present them in a relatable way. They don’t downplay how hard it is to be a single mom. Even though Vanessa hides it and Rochelle interprets this as her being irresponsible, she is trying her best.
I wish they had shown us how the conversation ended. How did they make up, and what is their current situation? Their conflicts represent the desperate need to survive financially for their family.
As a Christian, I was surprised and delighted to see the daughter’s coach, Laurie, praying in the first scene of the story. I didn’t think I would ever see that in a non-Christian cartoon, much less a new Disney one. I cheered for Laurie’s prayers to be answered.
Her anxiety blob wasn’t too amusing, and I related to Laurie’s frustration in wanting to throw him out the window. At the end of the show, Laurie tells her dad that she wants to quit softball. I’m curious to know why and how he feels about that. What hobbies does she move on to do now?
Kai
We can’t forget about Kai’s controversial story. Kai’s episode was very good. Everyone’s been talking about how removing the direct mention of them being transgender is disappointing to those who wanted progress of such representation in fiction. Despite this, it is still self-evident that Kai is transitioning when watching the episode’s visuals.
Kai’s story and relationship with her father seem relatable and well-written. Her manifestation of anxiety is the opposite of Rochelle’s, where she sinks into the ground instead of everything floating around. Unlike others, she also has an effect when extremely happy, floating softly up in the air. I think this represents how much the way other people see her affects her self-esteem.
Interestingly, her dad is the source of stress for her and her coach in the last episodes. He is pressuring her to be a perfect athlete. Meanwhile, he and some parents believe the Coach isn’t pushing the kids hard enough, so they should replace him. I tried to imagine what it would be like if her dad did win the coach job and start cracking down on her and her friends even more.
Overall, I like Win or Lose. It is a great story, the characters are likeable, and the visuals are adorable. There is so much fun fan art to be made about the character’s slice of life, and many fans wish for a season 2. Do you think Pixar will listen and attempt a sequel? It did take them three years to make this. Even so, many are making fan art about potential slice of life situations. So, don’t be afraid to watch this and recommend it to your friends!
