The Digital Circus explores character development through horror and Looney Tunes

I discovered The Amazing Digital Circus at a very good time. Because I found out it existed when almost all the episodes had already been released.

The story of six individual trapped in a digital world created and run by an insane A.I., the elevator pitch is ‘I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream’ with a lot less gore and a lot more character development.

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We enter the Amazing Digital Circus with the newest arrival, a woman who has been given the avatar of a harlequin clown and the name of Pomni who has been pulled into the circus. She remains the character with the best claim for protagonist but it is an ensemble heavy work with other characters getting a lot of development and focus.

At the beginning, the structure of the series and world is that the screwy ringleader/AI Caine sends the inhabitants on video game adventures. However, things start breaking down. It quickly stops looking like a serial adventure and becomes one arc.

Each episode took months to come out and, if I had gotten aboard the crazy train from the start, it would have been harder for me to stay on board. For me, the series didn’t really pull me in until the third episode. It was at that point that Pomni hits rock bottom and Kinger, who seemed to just be space cadet, pulls her out of it.

In fact, one of the games that the Digital Circus plays with us, the viewers, is that the characters are all presented as archetypes (something that is openly discussed in the show) but get deconstructed as the show goes on. As they grow in our understanding of their depth, the characters become more than their archetypes. A striking example, Jax, clearly a reference to Bugs Bunny, is shown to be highly emotionally abusive and deeply self loathing. 

As of writing this, there is only the finale left to be released. And there are many, many questions that left to be answered. For instance, are the characters actually human or are they AIs or copies of people? Is Kinger the father figure he seems to be or is he the actual big bad? (I will be very disappointed if he turns out to be evil but the story doesn’t seem to foreshadow that so I’m hopeful)

Pomni, whose growing empathy lets her become a leader to the group, acts as a strong focus to the overall story. Her growth drives other character’s growth, the catalyst to changing the cycle of the games. You want to get me hooked on a story? That’s a good way to hook me on a story.

I really hope the finale lives up to the rest of the series.