An Abstract Agglomerate: Zach’s Thoughts on The Amazing Digital Circus

Disclaimer: This post is not sponsored nor endorsed by Glitch Productions, Netflix, or any other business or organization. All views are the author's own.

Times are changing in the world of animation.

What once used to be for the land of toddler shows has evolved into something much bigger than you or I could possibly have imagined — and that's not even talking about South Park!

Especially when you think about all of the international indie production companies. Surely, there would be something that breaks expectations and defies what people have thought constitutes TV?

That honor would go to Glitch Production's The Amazing Digital Circus. Which is equal parts comedy and drama. This YouTube sensation caught the Internet by storm and launched a fandom similar in size to other indie channels. It is a theorist's dreams, and a logician's nightmare.

Me? It was quite something. Here are my thoughts on The Amazing Digital Circus.

The show has been kicking around since 2019 at the earliest, when the showrunner (Gooseworx) presented it as one of three concepts to Glitch, who approved of the idea. Pre-production began in 2022 with the pilot released on YouTube in October of 2023 to huge success. So much so that the series was immediately ordered to a full production season of 9 episodes. It was to be limited. I am of the believer that Hazbin Hotel walked so that The Amazing Digital Circus can run.

The Amazing Digital Circus tells the story of six humans who are trapped in a virtual reality game themed as a mini-game circus simulator run by an erratic quasi-sentient artificial intelligence named Caine. In order to pass the time, Caine creates wacky little "adventures" that eventually end up to be nightmare fuel. Along the way, they have to keep their sanity lest they become monsters known as "abstractions".

While you may presume that this takes place in some ultra-futurstic supercomputer, it isn't. The graphics and design of it all imply that the game was built in the 1990s — the advent of CGI and gaming as we see it.

Now, when you combine all of these elements together, as well as the (many obvious) mental issues that the players face as a result of… everything, you get a surprisingly amusing comedy with some dramatic/terrifying scenarios.

Since the dawn of entertainment, there have been plenty of concepts of individuals trapped and trying to make do, or escape. But none have gone so far into the depths as this show. I mean, stuck in a 90s-era video game with an evolving AI at the risk of losing your mind?

Plus, when you add all of the "adventures" that are put in per episode, it gives the Circus an angle of originality that hasn't been seen in animation for a hot minute.

Not only that, but the traps themselves become self-aware! What's worse than being psychologically tortured, having your torturer also go through it! It's a never-ending loop.

No one in the Circus is entirely healthy, which is obvious given their situation. But when you stop and look at each cast member individually, you see just how fleshed out they were made. Even if it was not inherently clear at first.

Let's take Kinger, voiced by Sean Chiplock. On the outside, he is arguably the most rationally insane of the cast, and has jumbled thoughts alongside paranoia, anxiety, and etc. However, place him in a dark room, and you get his tragic backstory and lucidity. It gives a new dimension to the character, and let him be someone who the audience can relate to (to a certain degree, of course).

Gangle is another example. She was a community college dropout with an interest in art. Many people would dismiss her outright as being generic. But we forget that many people do not have exciting lifes, but dull ones. Having someone, alongside the whole cast, who aren't these insane heroes by trade allows us to see people on screen who may relate to us, even if we hadn't thought about that prior.

When you are placed in a computer simulation, nothing is to make sense; that includes the funny pieces that could rise up. Due to its independent status, the show has much more creative leeway with its writers able to come up with laugh-out-loud moments.

Some of these are in terms of actions that the characters do, such as Jax (a rabbit-man who cares little (allegedly) for others), or the situations that they were put into.

Also amusing are the dialogue lines that the characters say seemingly at random. When you combine it with the semi-coherent plotline that is going on, it gets pretty entertaining.

The one thing with the show, that they have thankfully already have solved with making it a limited run of nine episodes, is that eventually it will get repetitive. There are only so many zany ideas that could be compiled before the audience starts to feel its staleness.

You can argue that there are infinite possibilities, but only some will advance the story and character arcs, which appear to be the case. It's a good example of not extending something than it needs to be, a la The Office.

Many people only know of The Amazing Digital Circus through the Internet, and it isn't definitively known through the mainstream. So there is a question on whether it is worth watching this show. I argue yes. It's humor, character development and styles, and the overall plotline of the story make it worthwhile to watch.

So if you're looking for a binge-watch that isn't too long, and willing to watch some antics in a 90s-like environment, then this show will be just what you're looking for.

As you may (or may not) have expected, democracy prevailed to have this post bypass Succession. Which will instead be released next Sunday.

While looking through the calendar, I noticed a disproportionate number of upcoming posts were reviews, This may change, but it's something that I'm aware of.

Finally, I'm pleased to formally share the introduction of the "TLDR" block. As of now, a preset for the entertainment reviews has been designed and patched into the post template. At the top of every post will be a snippet with "Want the TLDR? Click here" will link to a generated text box at the bottom with basic information on the piece, what my official rating is, as well as where to find it. I do want to incorporate it into the travel reviews in a different form, but I have no further comment on that at this time.

Regardless, thanks for reading. See you next Sunday!