Hazbin Hotel

Positives:

• Extremely fun and likable characters
• Wonderful Animation with beautiful lighting and a great energy
• Well done humor, in my opinion at least

Negatives:

• Plot moves at such an extreme break neck pace
• Way too many sound affects that became kind of distracting for me
• Poor shot timing in some scenes

Context, for the first three months of its existence I've been hating on this show out of sheer pettiness because it took the spotlight away from another indie thing that came out the exact same day. In march I finally decided I would give it a watch and was honestly surprised about how good it was. The animation was stunning, the music was fantastic minus a few songs, comedic writing was hit or miss in the first half but got better over time, then I reached the fourth episode and realized I was watching something that was truly special. If you've been debating whether or not you should watch it, I highly recommend you do so as it's honestly spectacular. I feel ashamed for not even mentioning Alex Brightman. He got his fame from "Beetlejuice the musical," and was phenomenal in that. In Hazbin Hotel he has two major roles, Adam who is the antagonist, and Sir Pentious who is an ally. He puts on his charm he uses in Beetlejuice for Adam and for Sir Pentious he goes completely different. I wouldn't exactly call this the best show out there, and you can see that with my list, But it's damn good and more shows should absolutely take a glance at its notes.

I've been following this show's development and progress for 2 out of the 4 years it was being made for, and now that it's finally out I can say that it exceeded every expectation I had for it. Not only was the animation beautiful to look at, but the entire thing was so ridiculously absurd and full of life. The characters are likable and very entertaining, my favourite probably being Alastor. The writing was also spot on. While it may have relied a little too heavily on swearing at points, the whole concept of it being set in hell kind of acts as leeway for that, along with the cartoony expressions, sexual nature of some of the characters, etc. But there were certainly a lot of funny moments in this pilot, in fact I had a massive smile on my face the whole time Alastor was on screen. There was a clear emotional center as well at points, so it was nice to see an adult show that wasn't ONLY centered on raunchy comedy. The music and songs were fantastic too, filled with a lot of energy, helped by the amazing voice cast. All the voice actors/actresses did a superb job and no one slacked off in the slightest. This was clearly made with true love and passion and I really hope it gets more funding or a network picks it up.

This show was put on on a whim, and wow was I surprised at how engaging and fun it is. The voice talents are amazing (love Keith David and Alex Brightman, and who could argue against Stephanie Beatriz?), and the writing is great! I honestly was not expecting songs, which are really fun, and there are a lot of references to biblical lore, which I find fascinating.

It tackles a lot more issues than just sinning and redemption, and it has an interesting take on demons and the inner workings between different factions. I love the biblically accurate angel representations and attention to detail, and while I was initially skeptical of the animation style, I have grown to really like it.

I will prefix this by saying I had a pretty good time watching this. But only because I was watching it with a friend who is a fan of the show that I could dunk on it with. If I watched it alone I would be miserable.

The show isn't awful and I can get why some would like it. But in my opinion it's a show that dies by a hundred cuts, it doesn't excell at anything and is only dragged down by its flaws that I'm gonna list, and then some positives, and a couple mixed things.

Flaws:

• None of the characters hit anything for me, they all feel very one note and never seem to evolve. Some can be enjoyable like Adam and Lucifer, but adam can sometimes feel overdone and Lucifer I only liked in episode 5.

• I think it takles too many plots, it should have been focused on the plot of trying to redeem a character, and when a character does get redeemed, it feels unearned and sudden.

• I hate Alister (however it's spelt), like really he feels like a discount bill cipher who leans too hard into being threatening, and ironically in turn becomes less threatening, even less than bill.

• it doesn't feel like it's made for adults, the sound design, characters, and writing, it feels like it's written for teens who think it's adult.

• the sound design is almost insufferable, the background music isn't subdude and they play far too many sound effects

I could go on but it's mostly nitpicks beyond that. Let's cut to the things I did liked:

• a few background gags were actually good and 2 or 3 gags gave me a quick exhale

• some of the line delivery is really well done, the VA's usually just do a serviceable job at the characters and some just suffer from the voices they have to do, but some shine through

• the base concept of a hotel to redeem sinners in hell is good

• I like how characters are drawn when far in the background, the simplicity is charming

And last, the mixed:

• the animation is sometimes really good, mostly it's serviceable but in some scenes it hits well

• character designs are another very mixed batch, most don't really hit much for me, but some I really dislike

There's probably more I could've gone over, I might add it later, but that's the main stuff I wanted to say. If anything I wish this show wasn't a comedy or just focused on being more episodic, just picking a lane. I'm glad this show got greenlit it's a pretty decent step for indie animation, and I'd like to see it continue, but I'd be lying if I said it was anything I enjoyed or would ever recommend.

My conclusion is; can't wait for season 2 so I can watch it with more friends who are fans and dog on it in with them all over again. 2.5/10.