by Nick Nitkowski

“Hazbin Hotel” is a brand-new adult oriented animated musical series created by Vivienne Medrano and is centered around the princess of hell name Charlie Morningstar whose goal is to rehabilitate the sinners of hell through her new hotel. After the annual extermination of hell’s population by the exorcist angels of heaven, Charlie Morningstar, with the help of her girlfriend Vaggie, their sinister backer/host Alastor notoriously known as the Radio Demon, their hilariously unstable little maid Nifty, their bitter bartender Husk, and their famous porn star patron Angel Dust, they will attempt to prove that the souls of hell can be redeemed into heaven before the next extermination takes place.

This show started off as an independently released animated pilot episode that was uploaded to YouTube on October 28th, 2019 and was met with great success gaining over 54 million views by 2021. Following that success, the show was picked up by A24 and distributed by Amazon.

The original YouTube pilot featured some independent voice talent. However, when the series got picked up, the voice cast was replaced by more well-known names from both films and Broadway. Hazbin Hotel features the voice talents of Erika Henningson as Charlie Morningstar, Stephanie Beatriz as Vaggie, Blake Roman as Angel Dust, Keith David as Husk, Amir Talai as Alastor, and many others such as Alex Brightman, Kimiko Glenn, and Jeremy Jordan.

Now, I’ve been a fan of the show since the pilot episode released back in 2019. I’ve even really enjoyed the spinoff YouTube series “Helluva Boss” which takes place in the same hell universe and once I heard that “Hazbin Hotel” got picked up to be an official series, I couldn’t wait to see how it turned out and having seen all eight episodes, for me, it did not disappoint.

I really enjoyed the story and the way it was executed. I also really liked the characters in the show. My favorite being Alastor the Radio Demon with his sinister smile, his red design, and his radio filtered voice. All of the characters in the show have their unique qualities, so you’re bound to have a favorite of your own. I also like how the show takes time to explore some of their characters. You get to learn more about them as the show goes on.

The animation of the show is also great. As I mentioned prior, I love the unique character designs in this show. More so than that, I love the overall artistic style of the show from the vibrant colors to the background designs. The aesthetic definitely makes it stand out from any other adult animated show and makes it incomparable. This some is 2D animated and I feel that 2D animation has become more of a lost medium for big studios like Disney or Universal/Dreamworks and I hope that this series can show that there is still very much an audience for 2D animation.

I personally think that the biggest standouts of this show are the songs. Each episode has two musical numbers to help enhance the story and I believe they do so with great effect. I would go so far as to say that these songs are Broadway level great. The songs can stem from being so catchy to the point of getting stuck in your head, from leaving you with tears in your eyes.

If I had anything negative to say about the show, I’d say that there were some moments that I think could have benefited more from having a little more time to breathe. I’d also say that not all of the characters work. Some don’t stay more than a single episode, but it was something I couldn’t help but notice and think to myself, “does this character need to be here right now?” But these are nothing more than minor nitpicks.

This show is also not afraid to get a little dark. Particularly episode four. So needless to say, based on the synopsis of the show alone, this show is absolutely not for children. Some have already taken to the internet to attack the show because they believe that all animated medium is automatically targeted towards children and this is never the case. Animation has been and will always be an artform and while some are specifically geared towards children and families, that doesn’t mean that they all are. This show contains a lot of foul language, bloody violence, and sexual related content all taking place in hell. So, if the subject matter is bothersome for you, then I can unequivocally say that this show is not at all for you.

But for me, this show was very entertaining. I enjoyed each episode for many different reasons and I certainly can’t wait for Season Two, which is already in the works. All eight episodes of Season One are available now to stream on Amazon Prime. So, if you’re a fan of edgy adult animated musicals, then I think you’re really going to enjoy this show.

At the time of writing this, “Hazbin Hotel” is currently Amazon’s number two most streamed show and is also Amazon’s number one top streamed original animated series.

I’d say it’s definitely worth checking in. So be sure to book your reservation at this Hotel.

4.5 Stars