Gods’ School Review

Gods’ School is an indie animated series. It has elements of fantasy, mythology, and romance. 2D French animator Gaylord Cuvillier Philippe Libessart is the series creator. It received support from the French National Center for Cinema and Animation in 2018. Currently, seven episodes have aired on YouTube. This review will have spoilers.

This series, which began airing in January 2019, is centered on Olympian gods. It is inspired by Greek mythology in Homer’s Iliad and Hesiod’s Theogony. The primary protagonist, Eris (voiced by Morgan Berry), is a teenage goddess of discord trying to find her place among the gods on Mount Olympus. This all changes when she meets Paris (voiced by Brandon Winckler), a young human on Mount Olympus. Both contend with the goddesses of beauty and love (Aphrodite), wisdom and battle (Athena), and marriage and family (Hera). Eris is helped by a sphinx named Sfiga (voiced by Lizzie Freeman).

The animation of this series is smooth, which fits with the adorable and cool nature of the animation itself and its talented voice cast. Apart from those previously mentioned, there’s Freeman, Kira Buckland, Keenan Spencer, and Deneen Melody, who voice Aphrodite, Athena, Hera, and Demeter respectfully. Others, such as Melissa Sternberg, Ivy Dupler, Michele Knotz, Sean Chiplock, and Griffin Puatu lend their voices to the characters of Eos, Iris, Minthe, Persephone “Poppy”, Apollo, and Ares, to give a few examples of the many characters within this series.

The first episode of Gods’ School throws the viewer right into the action. Smart alecky talking columns, known as caryatids, claim to be sacred guardians of Olympus. They are hilariously scared off by Sfiga. It is easy to be drawn into the story, whether interpersonal conflicts or relationships between the gods. The story is set up so the viewer sympathizes with Eris, when Hera claims she is sneaky and cruel.

This exuberance is offset by the snobbishness of some goddesses, who detest humans, and jealousy. The latter is the case in the competition between Minthe and Poppy, who both like Hades. In some ways, Gods’ School shares themes with Lore Olympus, an ongoing popular webcomic by Rachel Smythe, although her webcomic has a fundamentally different perspective. As for Gods’ School, these themes are reinforced by a careful focus on drama and music. The latter by Gold Tiger and SleepWalker.

Unlike other series based in Greek mythology, the characters in this series are all teenagers, and in a school environment like that in Ever After High, except it is not as glitzy. As such, it is markedly tamer than mature series like Blood of Zeus. It is more akin to Disney series in that kids and family could watch this series with ease. This is not a surprise since the show’s creator has said that Ariel, in The Little Mermaid (recently in the news because the live-action film adaptation), is his favorite character.

The importance of setting boundaries is a key theme. This is shown through Poppy’s push against romantic advances by Hades. Eris also tells Paris to not touch Sfiga and treat her like a cat (and pet), but a living being. Gods’ School makes clear that possessiveness is not acceptable. For instance, Poppy, who is easily influenced and intimidated, is pressured by Minthe, to leave Hades alone. Although Minthe declares that Hades is hers exclusively, Poppy still wants to be with Hades.

Like other fictional school environments, certain characters fulfill the “bad girl” and “bad boy” tropes. Some of those characters are bullies and their actions are not shown positively. Mount Olympus is not a peaceful place, but filled with discord. For example, Zeus commands Artemis to stay behind, even though she wants to fight the invaders of Mount Olympus.

The series promotes the value of self-acceptance, by stating that outcasts should not be rejected and that people should be true to themselves. All the while, men who flaunt their power for fun and two-timing men are criticized. In fact, the show’s official Twitter account posted a video of Eris cutting her hair with two women’s rights hashtags, while Artemis has a squad-of-sorts.

There is no easy division between good and evil in Gods’ School. For instance, the Aloads want to take over Olympus, but would-be evildoers are scary and mysterious. For instance, Eris goes through a moral dilemma and lives with the consequences of telling Paris to go back to “where he came from,” words which haunt her to no end. This dilemma first begins in the show’s third episode, with her even going on a quest to find him while Olympus is under attack, but it fades after he is found injured. At the same time, Nyx, her mother, and goddess of night, is lording over her. She reminds me a bit of Orizaba in Elena of Avalor.

There are many secrets that each of the gods, and goddesses, try and keep from one another. To give one example, in the fourth episode, everyone is trying to stop Echo (voiced by Deneen Melody) from revealing unflattering information. Hera even mutes her, preventing her from speaking first ever again. This has a disastrous side effect that Hera never realized: it prevents her from warning those on Olympus about the coming danger!

Unlike other series, Gods’ School features a disabled character, who uses a cane: Hephaestus (voiced by John Choi Carter). Premiering in the fifth episode, he listens to Aphrodite after her arguments with Ares, and tries to be understanding, after she enters his workshop. This humanizes him. It shows that the gods are not superhuman but can be physically disabled just like anyone else. In a conveyance that everyone is unique, he says that everyone has something that makes them special “even if they don’t see it,” which fits with the other themes of this series.

As one of the only indie animations currently airing, apart from Helluva Boss and Eddsworld, Gods’ School already stands out from animations made by well-known and prominent companies, which I’ve often reviewed since I began writing pop culture reviews in 2020. The series’ background designers, including Gavin O’Donnell and Libessart, also the animator and director, are skilled. Their work is showcased on Twitter, Tumblr, and Instagram. As such, it is no surprise that some have even gone to the effort to draw fan art or fan fiction of the show’s characters.

The series has aired in various languages. The English adaptation was headed by Brandon Winckler and Jenny Yokobori. There are different voice actors, including in French. There are also different episodes with French dubs, which means that the cast, and those who work on the series, is that much larger.

It is interesting that not all the episodes are necessarily sequential. Some of the shorter episodes focus on the growing relationship between Hephaestus and Aphrodite, the first meeting between Minthe and Hades, and the story of Hades with his previous lover, Leuke. While these episodes might be seen as “filler”, they provide information which helps expand the story.

There is something missing through all of this: LGBTQ characters. There may be implied characters. Possibly, there is subtext between Paris and the person who brought him to Mount Olympus, Aeolos. However, no one is outwardly queer, as far as I can tell. So, that is an area for improvement.

Even so, there are people of color in the cast. Take, for example Kayla Pitts, who voices a nymph, John Choi who voices Hades, and Griffin Puatu who voices Ares. If High Guardian Spice, Young Justice, and She-Ra and the Princesses of Power can have Black characters, then any series can have such characters. Hopefully, more characters of color appear in the future. After all, the show’s creator previously condemned racism, White supremacy, and called for equal rights in a social media thread.

Although the series may not reach the original goal of “an animated webseries project of 25 episodes” at 12 minutes long as the original Kickstarter for the series, stated, due to various factors, there is no doubt that Gods’ School will continue. The quality remains at a strong level, for a project primarily spearheaded by Libessart. This is evidenced in the latest episode which focuses on Nyx (voiced by Emily Wallace), dreaded goddess of night, and strained family dynamics. Although it appears this is all a nightmare dreamt of by Eris, her concerns appear to be dismissed. At first, Medusa (voiced by Crystal Jade Vaughan) asks if she is ok. Then she says she needs to “get it together” so she can sleep, making Eris feel bad about herself.

The episode raises a number of questions. Was any of what Eris dreamed about real? Can the balance between light and dark be disrupted? Nyx would likely love to do the latter, and unseat the goddess of day, Hemera, or Helios the Sun. She may be content in her castle shrouded in dark clouds. Furthermore, the nightmare makes me think that Eris has deeper problems which are manifesting themselves in her dreams.

The recent episode introduced new voice actors like Hannah Reed (as Little Eris) and Laila Berzins (as Hypnos). The next episode is scheduled for Fall 2023. It will likely be listed on the page for the series on TV Time. That app was one way I learned about the new episode premiere.

This series is more than a lovely series with amazing visuals showing the talent and passion behind it. For one, there is an amazing group of characters and the use of Toonboom for animation of the series. Secondly, the favorite character of the series creator in The Iliad is Cassandra. She is described as a “cursed Trojan princess.”

It would be great to see Cassandra in a future episode. When I hear the character’s name, I thought of the similarly named character in Tangled: The Series (also known as Rapunzel’s Tangled Adventure). That Cassandra who had a major part in the series as the lady-in-waiting for Princess Rapunzel. That character is mentally manipulated by a demon named Zhan Tri to manifest her anger against Rapunzel in a violent, destructive manner. In that series, that Cassandra is a complex lesbian-coded character exploited by the aforementioned demon. It is not known if the Cassandra within Gods’ School will go down a similar path or how her character will be different from other fictional Cassandras.

I am hopeful that Gods’ School will get even better as it moves forward, earning it an even-higher rating on IMDB and other online review sites. Brandon Winckler and Jenny Yokobori, who worked on previous episodes as show writers, and led the effort to adapt the episodes into English, from their original French. They are known for their voice roles in Fena: Pirate Princess, Edens Zero, The Simpsons, or Central Park.

The show’s cast have voiced English dubs of characters in Lycoris Recoil, Titan’s Bride, In the Land of Leadale, Komi Can’t Communicate, Re:Zero, and High-Rise Invasion. Others have voiced characters in Rainbow High, RWBY, Nomad of Nowhere, Megaton Girl, and The Loud House. Some cast members are new voice actors, like Vaughan.

With that all being said, I highly recommend Gods’ School. I hope that it continues onward, with new episodes, characters, and plot lines.

Gods’ School is currently streaming on YouTube and can be supported on Patreon.