The Amazing Digital Circus is about people who are trapped in a virtual world that is supposed to be a fun vr game. The runner of the game Caine is an AI that awkwardly tries to entertain the world's prisoners by creating "immersive adventures" for them to engage with while failing to understand that they just want to go home. While this is going on, Pomni and the others are trying to figure out how they got here, where they even are, and how to leave.
The world of TDAC is presented with fantasticly cartooney and expressive CGI animation. Colors pop without burning your retinas and the movement is eye catching. What makes the visuals in this series truely stand out is the extra attention to detail that is given to the characters. Every single one has a unique way of moving and expressing themselves that takes both their form and personality into account. While the animaition is very high quality overall, I hold two issues. While I appreciate how expressive the cast can be, they can often feel over animated. This makes sense for characters such as Caine, but especially with non applicable charachters it takes away from moments where the show is either trying to be taken seriously or hold a slower pace. I also noticed that the shot compisition could be really stilted at times.
Not only is the animation great, but the overall art direction is as well. The whole show has a distinctly high quality yet strangley unfinished, outdated look to it. For example, many of the show's textures have a flat, almost plastic look to them and the backrounds are designed to look like beta-testing rooms. This really adds to the idea that the digital circus itself is a strange, slapped together mess of a "game". Quite impressivly, the show manages to pull off this "slapped together" asthetic while not looking shoddily made itself. I also appreciate that the character designs are all able to fit in to this crummy 2000s game look while being unique and reconizable though I would say that certian charachters are bit too derivative for my liking.
While the visuals of TDAC hold strong, the audio experience falls flat. The over abundance of cartoon noises got annoying quickly and the soundtrack added to this adjetation. The soundtrack consists of awkwardly pseudo-emotional orchestral pieces and annoying wads of cartoon noises. Perhaps this sound direction would work better if the charcters aknowleged it in some way. For example, a character could be confused by the squeaky noises they hear when walking or attempting to sleep while a whole orchestra blasts because someone else is having a dramatic moment. This would make the audio of the show feel more like it is a part of the show's world rather than an irratating overlay.
Because the show is so short, I will go over the plot episode by episode.
The story begins with the protaganist Pomni being thrust into the world of the digital circus. After breifly meeting the other characters and a tour, she is told that she is unable to leave and given the name Pomni. Caine procedes to announce the show's first adventure "Gather the Gloinks". The circus residents (other than Zooble since they opt out) now have to collect the titular gloinks wich are geometric creatures. Our cast splits up with Jax, Pomni and Ragatha checking in on Kaufmo who has not been present for a while. Jax who suspiciously has keys to the rooms, unlocks the clown's room only to see that it has become a nightmarish mess. It is then reavealed that from his misery, Kaufmo has abstracted, or turned into a digital monster?? You know, because the title abstracting toatally implies turning into a tangible, representational being. This new monsterous version of Kaufmo rushes towards Ragatha and attacks her as Pomni leaves the situation. The show cuts to Kinger and Gangle investigating a hole that some of the gloinks entered and then being pushed into said hole by Jax. The three end up in a cave that holds
The second episode takes place soon after the previous one with.
Episode 3 tries to return to some of the horror theming of the first.
The (current) final part of the series starts with .
Pomni is a functional, but shallow protagonist.
Caine does a solid job at complementing the setting of the show.
I frankly have very little to say about Zooble.
Gangle is an utterly bizarre attempt at being sympathetic and relatable.
Ragatha is
Jax is a zerox of a zerox of the sly, cool guy trope that forgets why people liked that archetype in the first place.
Gumigoo is an Aussie flavored cardboard cutout that the writers expect you to adore.
Kinger is the most endearing part of the cast.
The show's strongest feature is it's presentation by far.
TDAC's greatest weakness is that in all aspects, it is trying to have its cake and eat it. It tries to be this wacky collection of semi-episodic adventures while also trying to be a chronologicly orderd mystery with deep underlyng lore. It tries to be deep and emotional with its characters that almost never push past basic Saturday morning archetypes with emo backstories slapped onto them. It tries to be taken seriously while the characters flail around like the cast of Scooby Doo. All of this leaves me frustrated, confused and unable to derive much of anyting from the show. I also felt that
Debatably so. The show has some utterly grueling flaws that can make it insufferable at times, but it is not incompetent to the point of being unsalvagable.