It Doesn't Feel That Good To Critique Hazbin Hotel, I Want To Give It All The Support I Can, But...the

It doesn't feel that good to critique Hazbin Hotel, I want to give it all the support I can, but...the story just isn't living up to the hype.

I was expecting, wanted, a story about what it really means to be redeemed. About self-improvement and learning, that instead of continuously yearning for a better place "grass is greener on the other side" style you should try to make the place you're in better, be the change you want to see and find the strength to do so in your loved ones and family. And once you make the place you are in and yourself happier you fight to defend it.

Instead, we get a rushed story about hell vs. heaven with an idealistic (to the point of feeling dumb) and underdeveloped disney princess protagonist with side characters who I vastly prefer to her. There are plot holes, the original premise of the pilot gets shoved to the backseat. A good mystery is set up only for it to be mostly solved a bit later and for the deed to have been done by a character we don't even know. We are told a sinner has made great progress and they don't even fucking show how he got there, just that he somehow did. And two episodes prior this character wasn't even near being redeemed! They lean a lot on the popularity of the pilot and don't try to build the characters or develop their relationships, we're just left to assume that they do grow closer when we're not looking.

Hazbin hotel has its merits. The songs are great, the style is amazing and unique, I like the side characters, the story has stuff that I like, too. I will watch it to the end. But I can't help but feel that the original premise, the one we were promised, is being trampled in favour of a narrative without depth and little to no cohesion. It's not the discussion of morality and self-betterment and found family I wish we had instead.

You can disagree with me. Rather, I wish you do. These are just my thoughts and I'm sad I have them. But I wanted to get them out there. Hopefully you won't rip me a new one.

Thanks for listening to my screams, void

Interesting! 👀

One thing I especially like is how the magic to transform into a "magical girl" is already familiar to the users (because usually in magical girl animes, the protagonist(s) is usually a newbie who's unfamiliar with these abilities.)

Also, the fact that instead of using their magical powers to fight evil, these kids basically just like to fuck around and cause chaos. A very Koopaling thing to do.

The best part of all of this imo? The ability for a Koopa to change into a human form is actually not too-far fetched for the Mario universe. Sort of. (For context, the Super Mario Bros. 3 cartoon had an episode where Kootie Pie—aka Wendy O. Koopa—was turned into a human form to distract Mario in another one of their wacky Koopa schemes. "The Beauty of Kootie" it was called. Boy, was that a thing.)

Anyway, very interesting lore! Definitely gonna keep an eye out for more.

How did these guys become magical koopas (? Is that what we should call them?)

yes, magical koopas is the best way to describe them LOL also!!

i love the fact that magic is already a major part in the Mario lore, especially surrounding Bowser, Kamek, Jr, and the Koopalings! so i decided to lean into that already-existing lore!!!

i like to think certain species of Koopa are more likely to be magic-users, with Magikoopa and the more dragon-like Koopas like the species Bowser, Bowser Jr, and the Koopalings are being the ones with the strongest connection to magic and Koopa Troopas being the ones with the weakest connection to magic

since Kamek is Jr and the Koopalings' teacher and grandpa, he's the one who helped them learn transformation magic. while he himself can't hold his humanoid transformation very long anymore as he gets older, he found it best to teach the nine children how to do so for many reasons. for one, it's a good disguise; despite their humanoid forms still having features similar to their Koopa forms (namely hair, eyes, and some accessories), they can accomplish some tasks easier... or mess with the students at their school for fun if you're Iggy. another reason is because it's a good way for them to practice for their future positions in the Koopa Army, since having troops that appear human is a good fake out for certain opponents!

and finally, the reason they were all excited for this in the first place: they could live out their anime battle fantasies, because why learn how to have a humanoid disguise if you're not gonna use it for fun AND practicality?

in fact, Rose was the one who had the idea for them to use their humanoid disguises to be a magical girl inspired troupe! outside of generally using the transformations for fun, they also use their human forms at school (with the exceptions of Rose and Jr, who are homeschooled by Kamek since their magic is still somewhat unstable) since it's practice for future battles on the front lines. it helps them learn how to hold their humanoid forms for long periods of time, and the schools all know that it's part of their magic homework from Kamek; if they get tired during the school day, they can go back to their Koopa forms without being accused of being a different student or skipping class.

Ludwig, as the one with the strongest magic, can hold his form the longest. Roy, Morton, Wendy, and Iggy can all hold their transformations around the same time frame as each other, with Iggy being able to hold his form second longest. Lemmy and Larry also hold their forms for similar lengths of time, with Larry being the one who holds his form just a few minutes longer than Lemmy. Rose and Jr, however, hold their forms at different lengths of time each attempt; their magic is still more unstable and erratic due to lack of practice, hece the homeschooling from Kamek.

(also my first ask being about worldbuilding is so perfect because it gives me an excuse to yell about all the worldbuilding ideas™ ive been cooking for MONTHS.)

I “love” how in the aftermath of the pilot we were led to believe that Valentino was controlling and abusive (the Addict MV basically proved this), even calculated, and yet in the first minute of him actually being on screen he’s actually portrayed as whiny, thoughtless and petulant, to the point where he has to have Vox (who, by the way, was stated by Vivzie herself to have had several of his screens smashed by him) tell him what to do and actually be the one to act dominant and suggestively abusive towards him, and then be subdued by Vox lighting his goddamn cigarette.

Who the fuck even is this character anymore?

"(Although Vox is hot, and episode 4 was great)"

You and me both there, pal.

The fuck is Charlie doing and is it interesting?

I don't mean this in a bad faith analysis type of way. I do tend to be very critical of media, tearing apart writing flaws is something of a hobby, and I will admit I haven't loved the first three episodes (Although Vox is hot, and episode 4 was great). HOWEVER, I'm genuinely curious about what the fuck Charlie plans to do with the hotel, because we saw her idea get shot down by heaven in EPISODE ONE.

I was honestly surprised to see stuff about Heaven so early, and I was especially surprised to see Charlie's idea get directly shot down by an angel so soon because it makes me question Charlie's behavior. If you don't understand my surprise or confusion, let me explain. Typically the story structure in a cartoon like this would be that the start of the show is building up the hotel, and getting someone to a point where redemption seems actually reasonable for them, and THEN they go to heaven and get shot down, potentially sending characters spiraling towards relapse in their good behavior and bringing up new challenges. This sets up the one at fault to be HEAVEN, which would eventually unite the group and bring them together again to figure out redemption for real. But that's not what's happened so far.

With Charlie getting shot down so early, and getting shot down alone, it sets up something that could potentially become very interesting if it's handled correctly, because at this point Charlie is keeping secrets from the group (aside from Vaggie). From what we've seen on the show, nobody else knows she brought her ideas directly to an angel, she pulled Vaggie aside to tell her this. Now, imagine the scenario I described previously again. They build up the hotel and get someone to a point where redemption seems reasonable, go to heaven and get shot down. But this time the interaction ends with the angels telling the group that they ALREADY told Charlie that it'd be impossible. Now in this scenario, despite the fact that heaven is still at fault, the group now also has a reason to be upset with Charlie, the one who brought the whole thing together. This could lead into a WAY MORE FUN path to coming back together and building the idea of redemption up for real, with everyone eventually believing the same way that Charlie does with actual character work necessary for the group to get there. And I really hope this is the direction that the show goes.

However, I'm nothing if not a critic, and I was let down very heavily by Helluva Boss, so I'm not impressed by Vivzie's writing. This could also get brushed off. This might've just been a rushed way to set up the extermination coming sooner and heaven being bad and dangerous. This ISN'T a hate post, I enjoyed episode 4, and I'm sure future episodes will be good too, but Vivzie's work has a bad habit of never giving interesting conflict to the female characters and never exploring them in favor of giving us more backstory for the male leads. I really hope that Charlie gets an interesting conflict with the other characters, I don't care if it's not what I described in this post, I love being caught off guard by a show, I just really want something interesting with Charlie, she deserves better than to be brushed aside like the women of Helluva Boss.

Write your own story ~

Sorry for the crappy quality, but I prefered to use Glaze to avoid AI stealing (you never know). It's the first of an LGBT+ Princess Tutu fanart series I want to do.

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