Let's Talk About How Cool Hazbin Hotel Is
*cough* Hire me for your writer's room *cough*
So remember that animated pilot that went viral last year? Yeah, I know I am a bit late to the party for just getting into this now, but Hazbin Hotel is pretty fun y’all.
I initially found the project not because of how it went viral, but because I listen to a D&D podcast (it’s called The Unexpectables and it’s really good if you’re interested) where one of the players is the voice of Alastor in the show, Edward Bosco. So between that and me being an animation fan in general, I was sold not knowing much more about it.
Then I actually watched it and discovered that this is absolutely my jam in every way. There’s really well done and fluid animation, an interesting style and aesthetic that separates it from other animated pilots, it’s set in Hell which is always a fun setting for a story, and it is heavily influenced by theater and old school Broadway. The only thing that could make this more fitting into my aesthetic is if it were featuring Dante from the Devil May Cry series.
The pilot itself, for the uninitiated, follows the Princess of Hell, Charlie, and her girlfriend Vaggie as they announce their new Happy Hotel. The goal of which is to rehabilitate the demons and the damned so they can leave and make their way to heaven. Doing this would also help with Hell’s apparent overpopulation issue.
Practically no one thinks it’s a good idea and view it as a lost cause besides them and their sole guest, a spidery looking porn actor named Angel Dust, is causing more chaos for them than good press.
After a disastrous announcement on the news, Charlie seems ready to almost give up until the hotel is visited by Alastor: The Radio Demon.
This is where the pilot really picks up steam. Alastor’s particular brand of lunacy is matched by only how psychotic he is. The design of the character itself is so much louder than the rest of the characters, and even the audio design of making his voice sound like it’s coming out of an old radio makes him stand out among the rest of the characters.
It’s like when Toph comes into the core cast in Avatar: The Last Airbender. They fit the aesthetic of the show so well but they bounce off of the established cast in such a new way it makes the viewer feel like they’re watching a different show whenever they are on screen.
And let me be clear, that is great! That is a great sign of writing talent. The writing staff on the pilot clearly have a gift when it comes to character writing and tone.
After I watched the pilot I also found out that some of the characters in the show were designs the creator made when she was a child, and they just stayed with her through the years. That additional knowledge added such an endearing quality to the project that clearly makes this a passion project that is infectious.
I think “infectious” is actually the best word I can use to describe this pilot. It isn’t perfect, I personally think it has issues with its pacing and how it decided to deliver its exposition. But it doesn’t matter. It’s just a fun ride that is difficult to turn off once you start it and difficult to get out of your head once it’s over.
While I haven’t seen much of the criticisms towards this show, and it is a show now with A24 picking it up for production, there has been I few I saw that came across as annoying.
Mainly the criticisms that the show is too offensive and problematic with its representation. And I just don’t see how? Like, I know I am not the authority on what it is and is not offensive but I really do struggle to see what’s so wrong with this.
I know a few people view Angel Dust as a harmful gay stereotype, but as a man who identifies himself as a member of the LGBTQ+ community, I just don’t see it. Angel is certainly flamboyant but not in a stereotypical way. He’s more like a fast-talking mobster from an old school noir movie. He has more in common with The Joker from Batman the Animated Series than he does a gay stereotype.
I guess people find it offensive that he does drugs and is a porn star, but again I fail to see how that’s bad. His drug addiction just shows the character has issues he is working through, and that’s how the show characterizes it. It’s clearly set up as one of his conflicts. And I don’t see being a porn star as a stereotype because I honestly can’t think of any male gay sex workers in a cartoon. And being a sex worker, in general, isn’t exactly problematic, it’s just a job. It honestly just raises the question to me of “why is there jobs and money in hell?”.
I do wonder why he’s a porn star. But that’s just because the story of the show hasn’t gotten there yet to deliver most of his backstory. That’s a question that I am meant to have and the show I’m sure will get into as it goes along.
The show is also super tongue-in-cheek with its humor. This is why one of the lead gay female characters is named “Vaggie”, it’s not exactly subtle and that’s ok, it’s just the tone the show is going for.
Its lesbian leads aren’t exactly stereotypes either. They are archetypes, but that’s a different thing. Archetypes are just basically character roles and Vaggie being the more realistic and grounded one to Charlie’s hopeful optimism is just a classic comedy set up. It can be seen from everything between Abbot and Costello and Harley Quinn and Poison Ivy.
As for the other characters in the show, I didn’t go into, I honestly don’t think we have seen enough of them yet to even have much of an opinion on beyond whether or not you like their designs.
As I said, the pilot isn’t perfect. But no pilot is, nor should they be. Shows need room to find what makes their exact voice unique and to work out the kinks. Some of my favorite shows not only had bad pilots but entirely bad first seasons before they figured it out. Nitpicking the Hazbin Hotel pilot for hot twitter takes isn’t going to actually help anything. Because it’s not bad, it’s just a first episode.
What we should glean from the pilot is just how special and offbeat this show is so far. It’s going for something that really no adult animation ever goes for in western animation.
It’s a show clearly made for adults and clearly wants to use that audience to talk about more complicated issues. And unlike other adult animated comedies, it’s using the style of classic cartoons to tell this. Unlike most stuff on Adult Swim and the like (though I also love the shows on Adult Swim, this isn’t a knock on them I’m just trying to illustrate how wacky Hazbin Hotel actually is) it’s not using a simple or “gross” art style to show off their comedy.
Hazbin Hotel is one of the cleanest and classic looking animated shows I have seen being picked up in a long time and that excites me. I love how classic this show looks, I love how exaggerated yet smooth the movements of the characters are. I generally just love this shows an odd combination of aesthetics and how shockingly well they fit together.
It creates something truly unique, and I can’t wait to see how this show progresses in its first season. Because if it lives up to the pilot's potential, we are in for something special.
