Young Writers Society

Positives:I will reiterate that the songs are still the best parts of the show. They have consistently remained clever, energetic, or emotionally satisfying. Even the weaker songs are nice to listen too. The soundtrack is an absolute bop, and it’s so cool to see so many Broadway actors a part of the show. I mean, Keith freaking David voices one of the main cast. Everyone put their hearts into both the speaking and the singing roles.

I love both the animation and the art style. It’s so refreshing to watch an adult animated cartoon that looks pretty. Every scene is just breathing with life. Colors just pop out in the big musical numbers. The sound design is great, and the lighting. Oh, the lighting! That’s probably my favorite aspect, visually. The characters are very expressive. I don’t super love the wacky faces characters make in a lot of modern cartoons (something the pilot also has), but it wasn’t super annoying in the show, which I appreciated.

Speaking of the characters, there are very few that I disliked from the very start. The Vees steal the show by far. I love that they genuinely enjoy each others’ company. (More villain groups who are actually friends.) “Stayed Gone” and “Respectless” are my top two favorite songs by them. And maybe this is a controversial opinion, but I also love Valentino. His introduction was hilarious, but it also set him up as Angel Dust’s abuser, getting deeper with that in the fourth episode.

Which brings me to the first problem of Hazbin Hotel: the expectations.

Issues: The show is set up in a way that is almost fully dependent on the audience already knowing what the show is about. They watched the pilot, the “Addict” music video, read the prequel comics, followed the livestreams, etc. Even casual fans like me need to have at least seen the pilot to understand the first episode. The premiere introduces all the residents of the hotel within minutes of each other, and while it does a good job at showing us their main personalities, the episode rushes through each character (there are six, mind you) in order to get to the plot that we don’t have time to get to know them. Even the whole point of the hotel (rehabilitating Sinners) is brushed by in a couple of comments in the first half of the episode. A general audience would have a hard time following. It feels like the pilot is actually the first episode, and Episode 1 is the second episode.

The pacing is probably the biggest flaw the show has. The show is just rushing through the story and character arcs without letting them breathe. The season is only eight episodes, and each episode is under 30 minutes. So I understand the time constraint the showrunners are under, especially on a major network where they don’t know if the show will be picked up for another season or not. (Season 2 was announced mid Season 1 production.) Still, the mysteries the show is setting up needs more time to be developed.

it was quite interesting, and I watched all the episodes. but it was like, so confusing and ended so confusing and grrrrrrrrrjejeeeojejsojwnoeuejoeijwowijwoiejdou i just don’t know how i feel about the season finale (even over a year after i watched it)