I initially ignored the Amazing Digital Circus. Judging off of the pilot cover, I thought it was a children's show, and though I knew there was some sort of hype around it I simply chalked it up to the new Bluey or something. Gooseworx if you read this I'm sorry. How much more fucking wrong I could have been? Every time an episode drops I immediately run off to tell everyone about the little details, and then proceed to vomit buckets of fanart. The Amazing Digital is a very mature, dark, but hopeful, and most of all, just human story about seven characters that are trapped within a virtual reality, the show's namesake.
The Amazing Digital Circus was very much made for it's era, aesthetically and topic-wise. 2019 and the 2020's saw the rise of aesthetics as a past-time wholly surrounding creating and consuming photos as everyone was shut in with covid, and generally the real world became more deeply ingrained with social-media. And with that, censorship was becoming an increasing concern.
The aesthetic is important to the topics, not just appealing to a modern audience, not only to serve as a thin facade hiding tradgedy underneath, but to remind the characters of how they are only playthings, to remind them how they must wear these bodies possibly for the rest of their lives, and that they must filter themselves for an unknowable invisible audience. It is the horror, and their life, and life is the horror. The aesthetic categories of this period I associate with The Amazing Digital Circus most of all are kidcore and liminal spaces; the main scenery and cast are made of bright colors, toys, and silly shapes, but some of the other locations within the show seem abandoned, dismal, and eerie; and as it goes on, even the cheerier things take on a bitter taste with the plight of the characters.
The Amazing Digital Circus contains self-aware meta about the character, the act of becoming and being a character for an invisible audience, about destroying the self to feed the mask. Each of the cast cope with these very real struggles and their undesirable roles in different ways, and I think Gooseworx handles the nuance of their interactions in relation to this beautifully. People try to wall the characters into "good" or "bad" boxes, but their moral performance or lack thereof is so beside the point - they're supposed to be sympathetic. Being trapped in a strange world, made to perform strange tasks with seemingly no reward beyond the task itself, and an entire lack of privacy is of course going to make one act a little stupid or unpleasant.
Beyond the symbols and plot and so on though, the animation itself is a good enough reason to watch this show. The textures, detail, and setting are enjoyable to look at closely, and as the show progresses, and more locations revealed, it becomes more dream-like and fascinating. The childish toy-figures serve to make quite interesting visuals in the way of animation, as they are fluid, stretchy, and being toys allows for interesting movement and visual gags. This too, though, is also setting the stage for themes of being and becoming the character, and the mask. The animation itself carries these themes which you will see later in the show.
Considering all this, I have in my mind made The Amazing Digital Circus the mascot of the 2020's. Not at all in a shallow way, not like a haphazard collage, but a tapestry of love, fear, sadness, and hope that has followed us through these recent years, and it holds a very special place in my heart during these trying times. I hope it will for you too, and that if you haven't already, you'll give it a chance.
9/27/25 re-written:1/25/26
When I saw Howl's Moving Castle for the first time years ago, I had read the books first and thought the movie a rather hollow imitation, but upon rewatching it I was surprised at the richness of it. I suppose it might just a part of maturing and enjoying the slower things of life, or simply that my observational skills have become finer, buy it's rare that things become more magical with age for me, rather than the other way around. So is the case for character relationships and ships as well, I usually find dynamics I used to ship rather uninteresting now. But Howl and Sophie are a more entertaining pair now and even the witch is more charming to me.
The idea of seeing a girl years ago that witnessed you eat a demon now show up as an old woman to run your castle is funny to me, and it's a great set up for their dynamic. One must wonder what was going through Sophie's head when he let her stay, since she doesn't know he's seen her in the past. I've always said I abhor the concept of soul mates, but I think I just hate when it's done for the sake of itself. I do enjoy when characters are tied together by some magical means, like Re-l and Vincent from Ergo Proxy being literally made for each other... in a way I don't even fully remember. There's a lot to unpack in that anime so can you blame me? But anyways, I was much more attuned to Sophie's old life in the hat shop and her new one in Howl's Castle, so both of those being ripped away hit harder for me. I had completely forgotten about her flower shop after my first watch, I was a bit emotional to see it burn and Howl fly away on the second. Not in tears emotional, but just, melancholic. Tense. I don't think I felt a whole lot at the resolution, because everything already felt maximally interesting to me. But I don't think I disliked it either. It tied up things well enough. So that's all I have to say about Howl's Moving Castle, the movie. I once disliked it, and now I don't. And I will have to re-read the books one of these days.
11/27/25
To-do list:
2/25/25