Hazbin Hotel
2019-
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Pros: Animation, Art Style, Comic Timing, Voice Acting
Cons: Writing Gets a Bit Crude, Scattershot
I’m not going to lie, I think this show is refreshing, but this probably has a lot to do with my hatred for CalArts Style. For a decade or so, animation companies have privileged this mediocrity, and I’m happy to say that independent creators are taking a stand (not to say there aren’t plenty of good-looking toons coming from studios here and there). I liked Vivienne Medrano’s “Die Young” despite some technical nitpicks explained by its humble origins. With a team of animators working together, Viv has now produced something that looks better than almost anything a studio is coming out with on TV. It's also a sign of a new age of creators over studios, as their other video got more views than a Disney Star Wars clip released the same day.*
The cartoon has garnered some undeserved controversy, mostly coming from the Cancel Culture Community. Part of it involves absurd accusations that some the creators’ older and arguably tasteless artwork were offensive in unspeakable ways, even though it was blatantly clear that the pictures were not endorsing certain behaviors depicted and were not genuinely pornographic. One crew member is the subject of accusations that could be explained as OCD symptoms, but the weird dream cult stuff, which may or may not have been exaggerated, was not fully denied by him. This is the closest thing I’ve seen to a credible accusation, but I generally don’t support killing careers without a conviction. There was also a rumor that disgraced voice actor Chris Niosi was involved with the product. A quick IMDb search would prove otherwise.
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| But we do need to cancel Blade Runner for promoting zoo/pedo stuff. This character is four years old and look what she's doing to that snake! |
The animation is very good. It’s expressive and stylized akin to classic rubber hose style with a goth twist. The atmosphere his enhanced by rich digital coloring. I would like the shot framing to be better, but the characters still stand out effectively from the often somewhat busy background imagery. Character designs fit the cast well, but I have one nitpick in the case of Alastor: his antlers are small to the point of being hardly noticeable. Slightly annoying since antlers do tend to look sinister, and this is a sinister character. On the other hand, I love how Sir Pentious does not have a permahood (a hood that remains permanently flared for no apparent reason), which I’ve seen on many cobra characters. That this animation was produced independently doesn’t stop it from being impressive by professional TV standards, and has garnered praise from many professionals.
Unfortunately, some people have decided to pretend otherwise, in the same way some people claim that Last Jedi is a good movie. This aesthetic gaslighting has become popular in the political arena, oddly enough, either as a pathology or an attempted exercise in power outside ideology. What’s more, there seems to be a bunch of people who clearly like this general aesthetic. I suspect a lot of these are SoCal furries who never made it past the gate of the animation industry, gave up, and are now jealous of some people who actually accomplished something outside the system.
A more valid criticism is the show’s humor. Though it has its moments (like its blink-and-you’ll-miss-it background text), it’s mostly scattershot crudeness with a great deal of gratuitous cussing. It’s been compared to Family Guy, but I think that’s unfair because Hazbin does not share that show’s overdependence on pop cultural references, which I actually have much less tolerance for than outright vulgarity. It’s more like South Park for its blatantly late 90’s edge. However, one strength of the animation is the way it enhances the humor. Jokes are better when the characters' emotions are believable, for one thing. I believe that delivery is often key to good comedy; there are multiple occasions where good delivery has salvaged a terrible joke (the latte spill from Zoolander) and poor delivery has ruined a very clever one (the black market bootleg toy ring run by Mall Santas in Jingle All the Way). This moment is a good example of how Hazbin turned to lead into gold through impeccable timing, and it also confirms Alastor as having one of my favorite villainous temperaments. I’d like more dry wit from this show and Husk has great potential for this: he could be like a cross between Shadow the Hedgehog and Michael Bluth. The creators said they put in jokes they like, and I respect that, but it seems the high concentration of them is reflective of understandable assumptions that they might not make it past the pilot. This might be a good thing, since it could be more restraint in the future. Also, spin-off(?) Helluva Boss is funnier, even if it crosses some of my lines in terms of dark humor.
The voice acting is solid and it enhances the character development. Charlie Magne (Jill Harris, Elsie Lovelock when singing) is the daughter of Satan and Lilith. In response to the population of Hell’s being culled due to overpopulation, she runs a Hotel in which she plans to use to rehabilitate damned souls so they can go to heaven. She perseveres despite her own doubts and the established rule that the Damned cannot be redeemed. Almost everyone, including her own father (appropriately), tell her this is impossible. I like this theme of hope in the face of hopelessness. Charlie is a light in the darkness despite her own demonic** roots. Backing her up is her fiercely loyal girlfriend Vaggie (Monica Franco) and the lovable, violent mimbo Angel Dust (Michael Kovach), who cares about them more than he lets on. He momentarily plays role of straw centrist so he and the audience can be given an exposition dump on the villain.
The primary antagonist(?) is Alastor (Edward Bosco, Gabriel C. Brown when singing), a powerful demon who “supports” Charlie’s quest for no other reason that he wants to watch her fail. It’s an interesting dynamic set up of a Neutral Evil Character who alternately helps and threatens the protagonists, only this time in closer and more constant proximity. He brings to the table likably manic cleaning demon Niffty (Michelle Marie) and curmudgeonly bartender Husk (Mick Lauer). Another villain is Sir Pentious (Will Stamper), who frequently engages in turf wars against Angel’s friend Cherri (Krystal LaPorte) with his army of Egg Bois (Joe Gran). Other cast members include an odious anchor Katie Killjoy (Faye Matata) and her partner Tom Trench (Joshua Tomar).
I could have a field day about the theology of the series, but that would probably be a bit too over-serious for a series like this. Some of the gripes concern the birth of people in Hell and, most seriously, the implication that angels come over and commit infernal genocide in spite of this. It’s more like a fantasy in which Hell serves as a fantasty stand-in for some sort of prison colony (which explains why there are innocent people born here in addition to the presence up people sent there for a reason). It can explain the corruption, since such places are no place to raise a kid, anyway. There’s an interesting concept that the Damned simply indulge their vices without any real love, but then again we see genuine tenderness from some characters. Another interesting element as these souls know better than to have real respect for Satan outside fear, and they give none toward Charlie. Theologically, I don’t expect much, so it’s a mixed bag. I might as well nitpick when Satan is being depicted as being beholden to a Finnish hard rock frontman.
Hazbin Hotel is imperfect, but it’s imperfect in a promising way. I know this is overly optimistic when talking about a small indie animation, but many long-running shows (South Park, TNG, Adventure Time, The Simpsons) have started out rough, but stuck through because of a novelty hook with potential. These shows just had to smooth out their edges and focus more on their strengths and appeal, whether it be a gimmick or not. Hazbin Hotel can coast for a bit on its visuals before it realizes the potential of its story and characters (particularly Lucifer). To paraphrase another Star Trek show, it has flaws but it has teeth.
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| And here's some fanart I made. |
*There are some confounding factors, though, like people watching the Star Wars clip from multiple sources, but it's still impressive.
**Or possibly angelic, and I'm not the first to point that out.
