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‘The Amazing Digital Circus’ Review: Self-Aware and Deep

This cartoon is packed with deeper ideas that go beyond just comedy and bright colors! The Amazing Digital Circus is loaded with lore!

GLITCH Productions

The Amazing Digital Circus is an animated show by indie studio GLITCH Productions. Though it may look cutesy and colorful, what lies within the cartoon’s content reveals a darker concept of reality.

With the latest episode release and the series hitting Netflix, The Amazing Digital Circus has gained a lot of traction over the past year. The series has received millions of views so far. Its pilot episode, premiered on YouTube, gained over 2 million views in a single day.

What about The Amazing Digital Circus makes it so special?

The Amazing Digital Circus “The Mystery of Mildenhall Manor” thumbnail. Credit: GLITCH Productions

The Amazing Digital Circus: Synopsis and Characters

From GLITCH Productions, the plot of The Amazing Digital Circus follows “a woman [who] gets trapped in a crazy virtual world along with five other humans and are now subject to the whims of wacky AI and their own personal traumas.” This woman, Pomni, has to navigate her new life in the Digital Circus with no known escape. The characters she meets within the circus have been stuck there for years with the AI, Caine, creating numerous “adventures” to entertain them. These characters have vague memories of their time before going into the digital circus.

Each character in The Amazing Digital Circus has a distinct personality. Ragatha is one of the most caring individuals in the cast and is always trying to help in any way she can to make Pomni feel welcomed and comfortable in the circus. Jax is your average jerk who finds a way to either be violent or cause problems through sarcasm.

(Characters shown from left to right) Ragatha, Caine, Gangle, Zooble, Pomni, Jax, and Kinger. Credit: GLITCH Productions

Gangle and Zooble are the lesser-known characters of the bunch. Zooble is a nonbinary individual who doesn’t want any part of the adventures and struggles with body image, often appearing in episodes with different body parts. Gangle, based solely on content from episodes, is the most “fragile” character. Her mood is based around her two masks, comedy and tragedy, where she is very emotional with the comedy mask on.

There is another character I will go into more detail about later.

There were more characters in the circus before Pomni joined, but they were driven to the point of insanity and “abstracted.” Abstracting in The Amazing Digital Circus when, a character becomes mentally unstable to the point where they lose a sense of themselves and transform into a black mass with multiple colorful eyes. There is no cure for abstracting and they are sent into the “cellar” by Caine to keep the others safe.

Kinger: Crazy on the Surface, Thoughtful in the Dark

Kinger, left, touching abstracted Queenie, right. Credit: GLITCH Productions

Kinger has been in the digital circus for the longest amount of time. He is very erratic in his movements and mannerisms and often paranoid. He also displays delayed reaction times and startles easily. Characters like Jax assume that he will be next to abstract, but despite this, Kinger avoids losing his mind completely.

Before episode 3, Kinger is more of a comedic relief character who has nearly lost his mind. This changes after he and Pomni go in a different direction on the adventure. While in the dark, Kinger displays a clear mind and wisdom to Pomni. He talks less frantically and shares more compassion towards her.

Kinger standing in front of abstracted Queenie in the dark. Credit: GLITCH Productions

This happens because of his last moments with his wife, Queenie. The viewers never met Queenie, but we see a flashback Kinger has of his last moment with her. She is abstracted, but Kinger gets one last moment to look at her in this form while in darkness before Caine sends her away. Ever since then, he has only had a peaceful state of mind when he’s in a dark space.

The viewers have caught a glimpse of Kinger’s past before the circus and how he copes with the harsh reality of being stuck in a place in a body you don’t know. Knowing this adds a new layer to not only his character but to all the other characters in The Amazing Digital Circus.

GLITCH: Aware of their Audience and Theories

Jax. Credit: GLITCH Productions

Leading up to GLITCH’s latest episode of The Amazing Digital Circus, fans bounced around theories over small details within episodes, particularly about Queenie. Fans were quick to notice a marked-out picture on a door in the pilot episode, a queen chess piece character that paralleled Kinger in design. The fandom theorized Kinger and this character to be related to each other in some way, and the latest episode revealed just that.

With this information, more theories have come to the surface. Fans are trying to figure out details about the other characters’ previous lives or possibly where the story could be leading based on subtle dialogue.

Besides leaving easter eggs for fans to find, GLITCH includes major references to who they presume to be their audience. The show is full of wacky cartoon imagery and fun colors, but that doesn’t mean it’s marketed to children. Episode three features a character, Bubble, talking in reverse, and when played backward, they say, “I can’t wait for all the children in the audience to get horrible nightmares from the monster!” This show is intended for teenagers and older to enjoy and makes a few references that poke fun at the unsupervised children watching the show.

Take a Dive into The Amazing Digital Circus

The Amazing Digital Circus Pilot. Credit: GLITCH Productions

The Amazing Digital Circus combines comedic with dark themes. Will Pomni and the others ever be able to navigate out of this virtual world? Are they stuck forever and must succumb to madness? The show brings in many of these themes of reality and purpose and asks these questions through an animated story.

This is where you have a go at watching The Amazing Digital Circus. Learn about the complexities of the characters and the circus they navigate. Maybe you’ll notice something other people don’t, and maybe that’s the key to understanding how to escape.

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