The Amazing Digital Circus

Initial thoughts on Episode 8

• I realize this is unlikely and probably not how deleting something from a terminal works, but imagine if Caine got sent to the recycle bin and Kinger could just restore him.
• I've seen someone say that Zooble's "holy shit" was the first time a character has sworn un-censored, but Kinger swore when he deleted Caine, and even before that, Caine used "goddamn" in his musical. For me that was actually one of the most shocking moments along with him smearing Pomni under his foot. I feel like it carries a lot of weight. I see three possibilities. That the no-swearing rule never applied to Caine, since he is the "god" of this universe, 2. he was the one that created the censor, but it is breaking because of how powerful his mental breakdown is, or 3. Caine created the censor, but it's not "breaking", he's just not enforcing it anymore. It almost broke the structure of the show for me more than the literal torture did. (Note from future self: the first time is technically through the ass-out-of-u-and-ming gag, which we could dismiss as just being a silly loophole, but could also mean he never applied this rule to himself to begin with.) He's the one that cares about family friendly appearances and all that.
• When Pomni disappeared at that food bar, no one reacted, which implied Caine's been yoinking players at random for quite some time now.
• The scene where everyone talks about "being there for eachother" is ~ehhh~ in some ways, it's a little too tell and not enough show for me, but like, I do enjoy Jax's shock at Zooble reaching out. It's poignant because Zooble is the least likely character to do that, I didn't expect it either. It's kind of sweet. The fact that he disparaged Zooble and (Pomni? Ragatha?) at the food bar right after is crazy though. What the hell, man. I mean I know he's not gonna change over night, but like, I've BEEN in situations where something terrible is happening and there's that one person that just has to try and stir shit on top of everything...like. Man. Shutttt the fuck up. Shut up. I've always been somewhat tolerant of his meanness because he's just a character on a screen but that legit made me a bit upset.
• Some people predicted episode 8 would have an arc where Gangle realizes Zooble's imperfect and she puts them on a pedestal too much. (I was initally going to go on to say I think Gangle's support for Zooble in episode 8 insinuates that she recognizes Zooble as a fallible human, but I forgot to finish my sentence, I no longer agree with this, and a more important peice of info was revealed in episode 7 anyways, in Zooble's dialog with Jax. Paraphrasing, they say "...and if I do have any problems, I talk to my friends about it" in response to Jax saying "aren't you supposed to be miserable about the ability to choose your own body or something?" This does not directly say they've opened up to Gangle about their insecurity about being genderfluid and shit, but what are the chances that "friends" does not include "Gangle"? Zero. Zero percent. Besides all this, I don't think Gangle's boat would ever be rocked by something like that. They got eachother's backs.)
• I haven't seen anyone comment on Pomni's torture scene. I think she's basically afraid that any npcs she befriends will turn on her, because they are Caine's mutts at the end of the day. This was probably accelerated by the situation with Abel. I kind of wish her torture sequence alluded to something from her past life, like everyone else's. I suppose she really did have a unremarkable life...in terms of downs anyways. (Not disagreeing with anything I said necessarily, but to add to this I've heard someone say that her insecurity is not being taken seriously, which I agree with. I suppose the thing you're most terrified of and the insecurity that peeves you most are not always the same.)
• Jax's torture sequence...that horrifying and delightful visual of his skin being peeled off...the humiliation...christ. People have theorized different reasons for him being avoidant but I think this confirms that it's a fear of rejection (which I don't doubt ties into transgender subtext). The fact that Pomni's up there with Kaufmo and Ribbit too, showing these are the three he holds in most high regard, since it's their opinion he fears most. I wonder how he really feels/used to feel about Ragatha? Apparently in my notes app I wrote "we all look ugly and yucky when peeled. Metaphorically and literally". I guess!
• Caine is not aware of everything the characters are doing and saying, else they would not be able to talk behind his back. Remember those creepily angled shots of eyes in the abstract paintings in episode seven? I think that was a visualizer to show Caine can watch them through Abel's vision. But I believe that when he claimed to watch them with "thousands of all-seeing-eyes" he was lying. Otherwise, the eyes could represent another third spectator but I sort of doubt it.
• I think Jax sitting on a column in that glitch artwork is probably a I Have No Mouth But I Must Scream reference. I haven't read/played it but I believe the characters were kept in cages on columns

Review

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

Miscellaneous

Howl's Moving Castle, the movie

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