On July 1st, this supernatural slice-of-life comedy anime directed by Hiroaki Sakurai came to an end. This series was based on an ongoing six volume manga series by Izumo Itō of the same name. The Demon Girl Next Door tells the story of a demon girl, and her two magical girl companions, as they learn more […]
Author: Burkely Hermann
An Alternative to the Studio System?: Indie Animation Forges Ahead
Indie animation is on fire as of late. This is clear from the hundreds of thousands of dollars given to Final Space creator Olan Rogers for his animated project, Godspeed, which will document the “entire process of developing, writing, boarding, animating, and even pitching” an animated series. Sara Eissa, the creator of Astur’s Rebellion, an […]
The Promise of Rad Sechrist’s “Project City”
In November 2021, Rad Sechrist, creator of the well-regarded series, Kipo and the Age of Wonderbeasts, announced the creation of a platform known as Project City. Writer, comedian, and musician Ethan Becker, director and storyboarder Chase Conley, and character designer, storyboarder, and illustrator Coran Kizer Stone, joined on as co-creators of this platform. Project City […]
The Indie Animation Boom Continues in 2022
In August of 2021, I wrote about the boom in indie animation, consisting of almost exclusively crowdfunded animations. Earlier this month, I expanded on that and wrote about various indie animations, specifically noting Hazbin Hotel and Wild Card which are in development. As storyboarder Amber Avara put it on January 7, “2022 is the year […]
Metal Family Review
In recent years, there has been an increase in indie animations, including on platforms such as YouTube. One of those series is the musical-themed Russian mature animation series, Metal Family. The action-adventure and drama series focuses on a Russian family of metal fans, each with their own personalities: there are Victoria and Glam, two metalheads […]
Booming LGBTQ Representation in Animation in 2021
In December 2020, I wrote that there is “hope in the future for diverse storylines and expanded representation,” adding that there is “a lot to look forward to in 2021 in terms of animated series…[which] will undoubtedly affect the ongoing war between streaming platforms for more subscribers, profits for themselves, and film distribution itself.” That […]
Arcane Season One Review (Spoiler-Filled)
As the streaming wars have picked up, there has been a push for more animated series than ever before, which includes basing these series on comics, like Dead Endia and Hilda, or on video games, like the upcoming Earthworm Jim series. The latter is the case for the nine-episode-long Arcane, a science fantasy and action-adventure […]
The Great Jahy Will Not Be Defeated! Review
In recent years, demons have graced TV screens, from Vivienne Medrano’s two interrelated web series, Helluva Boss and Hazbin Hotel, to Castlevania on Netflix, and are set to premiere in the upcoming series Satina and Far-Fetched. One such series brings this to the fore: a funny slice-of-life Japanese anime series named The Great Jahy Will […]
The Indie Animation Boom and Crowdfunded Animation
On August 21, Vivienne Medrano happily promoted the newest episode of Helluva Boss, calling it the “most ambitious” episode they had done so far, thanking the Spindlehorse Toons team, and adding, in part, “Indie animation has POWER! Enjoy our hardwork!” Another indie animated series, EddsWorld, praised the episode, which garnered 800,000 views in a few […]
LGBTQ representation in animated series in 2020 and beyond
In the past year, various series have premiered on broadcast television and streaming platforms with LGBTQ characters and diverse casts. While there is still progress going forward, as every single major studio had failing, poor, or insufficient ratings for LGBTQ-inclusive films in 2019, according to the recent Studio Responsibility Index released by GLAAD, there were […]