I think this pilot deserves an "A" for effort and passion. You can tell a lot of sweat tears went into making this pilot and it is probably one of the most professionally looking pilots I have ever seen.
As someone who didn't follow the development of this (other than a few rare occasions where I ran into concept art or fan-art) I had almost no expectations for it. I will say, however, I really didn't like the look of it from the trailer and the concept art that I did see. Something about it screamed that the show would be incredibly juvenile and just be edgy for edgy's sake (I'll get to that later). That being said, I thought it was entertaining for the most part, the characters had very definable personalities and played off of each other pretty well. The animation itself really sells how extreme and over the top the characters can be and I like subtle design shifts that the characters get when they are mad or not (like when Charlie sometimes looks like a demon, but only for a couple of frames).
The character designs themselves are very expressive, with my only issue being that too many of them have a very similar rhythm/flow to their design. Most of them have popsicle/balloon body proportions with super huge smiles. Granted, the designs are still really good but it would be nice to see a little more variety.
That being said, the premise of the show does give way to some possible problems if it were expanded upon. The basic idea of the show is actually pretty clever: A demon wants to bring demons to redemption but absolutely nobody in hell (literally) wants to be saved. Everyone in hell wants to be a miserable and self-destructive being. The premise has a lot of potential for depth and comedy where demons have to fight their inner urges to be terrible yet continue to be awful, but where the issues come in is more about how the show frames the characters. While the characters are all awful, they are all awful in a quirky and cartoonish way. The demons are in hell so nobody really cares if they are sexist, racist, homophobic, mean, selfish, etc.. That's all fine, but when the show's basic premise is about redemption then the show also needs to make sure that it knows what "good" is.
I hate to use the fan-base as a lens to view the series through, but the fan-base of the show seems to view a lot of characters as not "bad" but just quirky. One of the characters is a drug-addicted porn-star/prostitute. The show presents him as "cute and quirky" while also being immature. As an adult, I can understand that drug-addiction and prostitution aren't good things for society so I don't need the show to explain to me why they are bad. However, I don't think the audience of the series (mostly tweens) really understands that while the characters are designed to be cute that they themselves are not cute. They are all awful characters in their own way but they need to be awful to be redeemed. But I don't think the fans of the show (or possibly even the creators) are aware that they are bad. I've seen so much fan-art that seems to praise the characters based on how edgy they are and seem to be missing the point that you aren't supposed to like their personality traits.
It feels to me like most of the people who are watching this pilot are young and may not fully understand that none of these characters should be considered role-models. This kind of concerns me that the message of "redemption" and "quitting addiction" is interpreted by the fans as "be edgy, extreme, and live however you want" which is the exact opposite of the message.
I think the potential of this show really hinges on whether it takes morality seriously. If it just leaves the characters as cute, quirky, and relatively harmless, then I think I would dislike it very much. However, if it actually tries to make a point that being self-destructive, selfish, and careless are genuinely bad traits and that people should work to change themselves then I think it could bring about something good.
The other thing I really hope the series doesn't do is make angels, heaven, god, etc. some abusive evil regime. A lot of modern media seems to make easy jabs at "whoever is in power is really the cause for all of your problems" which wouldn't work about a series that wants people to have personal change. If the angels are evil (which would be cliché) then that would mean that the demons don't really need to change because they would view themselves as the lesser evil. I also find it odd that the main character is labeled as queer (though nothing specific is given as to why she would be labeled as queer) when that itself is traditionally considered sinful. If the show is about getting rid of sins from demons then what is the gauge that the creators are using to determine sin? Is swearing a sin? Is violence a sin? Is homosexuality a sin? Etc..
Long story short, I think the pilot itself is pretty good and well made, but it is hard detach it from its fanbase that seems to embrace all of the aspects of the characters instead of finding them reprehensible.
As someone who didn't follow the development of this (other than a few rare occasions where I ran into concept art or fan-art) I had almost no expectations for it. I will say, however, I really didn't like the look of it from the trailer and the concept art that I did see. Something about it screamed that the show would be incredibly juvenile and just be edgy for edgy's sake (I'll get to that later). That being said, I thought it was entertaining for the most part, the characters had very definable personalities and played off of each other pretty well. The animation itself really sells how extreme and over the top the characters can be and I like subtle design shifts that the characters get when they are mad or not (like when Charlie sometimes looks like a demon, but only for a couple of frames).
The character designs themselves are very expressive, with my only issue being that too many of them have a very similar rhythm/flow to their design. Most of them have popsicle/balloon body proportions with super huge smiles. Granted, the designs are still really good but it would be nice to see a little more variety.
That being said, the premise of the show does give way to some possible problems if it were expanded upon. The basic idea of the show is actually pretty clever: A demon wants to bring demons to redemption but absolutely nobody in hell (literally) wants to be saved. Everyone in hell wants to be a miserable and self-destructive being. The premise has a lot of potential for depth and comedy where demons have to fight their inner urges to be terrible yet continue to be awful, but where the issues come in is more about how the show frames the characters. While the characters are all awful, they are all awful in a quirky and cartoonish way. The demons are in hell so nobody really cares if they are sexist, racist, homophobic, mean, selfish, etc.. That's all fine, but when the show's basic premise is about redemption then the show also needs to make sure that it knows what "good" is.
I hate to use the fan-base as a lens to view the series through, but the fan-base of the show seems to view a lot of characters as not "bad" but just quirky. One of the characters is a drug-addicted porn-star/prostitute. The show presents him as "cute and quirky" while also being immature. As an adult, I can understand that drug-addiction and prostitution aren't good things for society so I don't need the show to explain to me why they are bad. However, I don't think the audience of the series (mostly tweens) really understands that while the characters are designed to be cute that they themselves are not cute. They are all awful characters in their own way but they need to be awful to be redeemed. But I don't think the fans of the show (or possibly even the creators) are aware that they are bad. I've seen so much fan-art that seems to praise the characters based on how edgy they are and seem to be missing the point that you aren't supposed to like their personality traits.
It feels to me like most of the people who are watching this pilot are young and may not fully understand that none of these characters should be considered role-models. This kind of concerns me that the message of "redemption" and "quitting addiction" is interpreted by the fans as "be edgy, extreme, and live however you want" which is the exact opposite of the message.
I think the potential of this show really hinges on whether it takes morality seriously. If it just leaves the characters as cute, quirky, and relatively harmless, then I think I would dislike it very much. However, if it actually tries to make a point that being self-destructive, selfish, and careless are genuinely bad traits and that people should work to change themselves then I think it could bring about something good.
The other thing I really hope the series doesn't do is make angels, heaven, god, etc. some abusive evil regime. A lot of modern media seems to make easy jabs at "whoever is in power is really the cause for all of your problems" which wouldn't work about a series that wants people to have personal change. If the angels are evil (which would be cliché) then that would mean that the demons don't really need to change because they would view themselves as the lesser evil. I also find it odd that the main character is labeled as queer (though nothing specific is given as to why she would be labeled as queer) when that itself is traditionally considered sinful. If the show is about getting rid of sins from demons then what is the gauge that the creators are using to determine sin? Is swearing a sin? Is violence a sin? Is homosexuality a sin? Etc..
Long story short, I think the pilot itself is pretty good and well made, but it is hard detach it from its fanbase that seems to embrace all of the aspects of the characters instead of finding them reprehensible.