How Hazbin Hotel Stole My Soul

Intro:

When the pilot for Hazbin Hotel dropped way back in 2019—ya know, before someone unleashed the Mummy’s Curse to begin the apocalypse—I remember quite enjoying it. The concept of an animated series set in Hell, all about this parody of a Disney princess trying to redeem sinners, was quite compelling.

Especially as an animated project that was specifically for adults without feeling soulless like most adult animated sitcoms, and likewise featured an incredibly unique art style that was honestly right up my weird, red-loving alley, I was impressed.

The writing wasn’t stellar, but I cared enough about the character pitches that I could see myself enjoying the story once it was further polished. But then I kinda… forgot Hazbin existed over the years. Not because I eventually soured on the pilot, but rather that it didn’t fully hook me.

Helluva Boss, another series created by Viziepop, had my interest during its first season, but lost me during season 2 as the story focused less on the main characters, and more on the unending drama between Blitz and Stolas. I love me my problematic gays, but they can’t be the only thing in the story for me to stick around. And in turn, Hazbin faded further from my mind.

That was, until, the first episode of Hazbin Hotel appeared in my recommended. I gave it a try… and gurl, the way I was not expecting to love it the way I did. The story structure felt so much stronger. The opening monologue made me care immediately for the plight of Hell’s denizens and the story of Lucifer and Lilith. The presence of Adam and the Exorcists gave the story a much-needed antagonistic force to rocket the protagonists to action. And oh my God… THE MUSIC WAS EVERYTHING.

The more I watched, the more I felt enamored by its passion. By the scope of its vision, the beauty of its art, and the shameless messiness of its characters. The idea that, yes, the people here in Hell are deeply flawed. Some of them are monstrous and cruel. But others do just need a second chance to make amends, and a helping hand to face their problems head on.

I think especially with how many people have felt the need to remain morally pure and correct at all times in recent years, this approach has felt wonderfully refreshing. It’s not about being perfect and never making a mistake. It’s about trying your best, and being true to yourself, even if the systems in place deem you inherently evil for doing so.

And yet, for many a reason to do with the show itself and its creator, Hazbin Hotel has found itself incredibly polarizing online. People tend to either hate this show and condemn it to the deepest ring of Hell like the Angels, or they shamelessly adore its every facet the way my short king Lucifer loves his ducks. I’d consider myself to be closer to the latter, but I do have some qualms with the show’s execution for its first season. Ones that I hope will be ironed out by the time the second season rolls around.

And so today, we’re gonna talk about why I love Hazbin Hotel, where it resonates with me, and where I feel it comes up short. Please remember these are my own subjective feelings. I do not claim to speak for anyone but myself, and if you dislike my opinion… I mean, I don’t really care. I’m not sure why you’re here in the first place then, but pop off, sis.

The Music:

As with any medium, a great musical uses its songs to effectively entrance the audience. It’s not just having songs for the sake of it. It’s using music’s ability to get stuck in your head and to captivate the viewer to help tell the story, heightening emotional moments which advance the plot, and painting a portrait of a character’s inner world at a pivotal or introspective moment.

Not gonna lie though… I forgot Hazbin was gonna be a musical. The songs in the pilot were… fine. I completely forgot about the opening song used to try and introduce us to Hell, mostly because while it’s trying to emotionally resonate, it doesn’t do enough to get us invested in the story or understand what’s going on to work, at least for me. It tries to get you to care without giving you enough to care about, or giving you a reason to care.

The main song, “Inside Every Demon Is A Rainbow,” is the one I remember more of, because it communicates Charlie’s goal with the hotel. I remember even thinking it could work as a theme song with a bit of retooling. Ah, the way I miss theme songs in western animation that pitch you the show.

While the new series lacks a theme song, it certainly does not lack in engaging musical numbers. Right off the bat, you get an “I want” song from Charlie as she skips through the streets of Hell, happily singing about redemption and dreams as the people around her scream in agony, insult her, or go about their own sinful business in plain view.

Especially with Disney being in the dumps lately, it is so nice to see a musical that fully embraces a Broadway approach, advancing the plot through its songs with bombastic, compelling numbers. “Happy Day in Hell” communicates Charlie’s goal effectively and entertainingly. It does a wonderful job in endearing the innocence and earnestness of her character, which is much-needed considering the realm she’s trying to help.

It reminds me so much of ‘90s Disney animated movies specifically. That was truly the golden era of Disney, especially in regards to its music. And no doubt the Broadway cast is helping in that regard. Admittedly, I don’t know much about what went down when the cast was changed for full production, but uh… please don’t shoot me, I love this new cast. Everyone fits their role perfectly.

The songs can easily stand on their own, most of them being high-quality, certified bops. But equally, the songs embrace the fact they’re part of Hazbin’s story, helping us to learn about the characters, their goals, and their dynamics with each other. My favorite song of the show exemplifies this best: “You Didn’t Know.”

As Sera shuts down discussion on how Heaven’s hypocritical system denies the fact Angel Dust is trying to become a better person, Emily begins to sing about how they’re turning a blind eye to someone doing exactly what they said someone needed to. It escalates with Charlie standing up to Sera, Adam and Lute antagonizing her and accidentally revealing the Extermination to the people of Heaven, and ends with the reveal of Vaggie being an angel in a devastating moment that lives rent-free in my head.

This song manages to hit so many beats and effectively communicate them, in the process creating one of the best moments of the show, and one of my favorite moments from… anything, really. Charlie and Emily’s duet as they read Heaven for filth is one of my favorite things ever.

Now THIS is how you advance the plot through your music, baking your character development, plot points, and conflicts into an engaging, memorable number. Also, the fact it does this while being a technical reprise of “Hell Is Forever”? Masterful. Chef’s kiss. 11 out of 10, thank you everyone who created this for me to obsess over.

And speaking of “Hell Is Forever,”  EXCELLENT villain number. I watched Cellspex’s review shortly before writing this script, and felt seen by many of her points and critiques, highly recommend it. But I’m with her in this being the best villain song since the Disney Renaissance. King Magnifico could fucking never.

Adam is a terrible man, but that’s what makes him such a compelling character as a villain. He’s misogynistic, cruel, hypocritical, the list goes on. He’s basically every shitty man who benefits from oppressive systems, believing his very existence makes him more worthy of praise and power, and gives him the right to be monstrous to people he views as inherently lesser.

That’s reflected in his number, backed by Heaven’s hypocritical, unjust system. It’s what enables him to have one of the best numbers in the entire show, the guitar riffs matching his screeches of how he looks forward to slaughtering sinners he sees as inferior to himself, and reflecting his disrespect towards the princess of a realm he disdains.

Another favorite is definitely “Loser, Baby,” for both myself and the fandom as a whole. Having Husk meet Angel Dust where he is in a low, vulnerable moment, seeing these two let down their guards to commiserate, absolutely warms my heart. Sometimes, you don’t wanna hear someone say it’ll get better, or crowbar in a silver lining. You just need validation that a situation sucks or is unfair, and to know you aren’t alone in that awful place. To have somebody sit there in the darkness with you to talk shit.

And “Respectless”? Was not expecting to love this one as much as I did, mostly cuz it’s between two members of the supporting cast, which… I have some thoughts on that we’ll get into later. But it’s an absolute earworm made better by Velvette and Carmilla’s gorgeous voices. Especially love the use of Spanish guitar for Carmilla’s number, I assume to pair with her Latina coding. You put Spanish guitar in anything, and I’m sold.

The way the song has Velvette confront Carmilla about the dead angel, poking and prodding her into the reaction Velvette needs to confirm what she wants to know, is the height of using a song to emphasize conflict. Even if I feel these characters weren’t handled the best in terms of story structure, their duet is by far one of my favorite songs from the show.

And “More Than Anything”? OH. MY. GOD. I wasn’t expecting the direction they went with Lucifer at all, nor how surprisingly wholesome and positive the dynamic was between him and Charlie. After a long time of no communication at all, they bridge the divide between them to actually begin a relationship, coming to better understand and respect each other.

To see Lucifer overcome his cynicism, inflicted by Heaven punishing him so harshly, to support Charlie’s dream really warms my heart. And of course, Jeremy Jordan’s vocals are, ironically, a Godsend in that regard.

Even songs I’m not as fond of do great jobs at endearing you to the characters, like “It Starts With Sorry” in beginning Sir Pentious’ redemption arc, or “Stayed Gone” in establishing the conflict between Vox and Alastor. And naturally, the musical numbers are made spectacular by the bombastic, top-tier animation. Speaking of which…

Art & Animation:

With my recent video on the live action Avatar series, and learning about the production history of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, my lifelong adoration of animation has reached its zenith. Animation is an incredible medium that truly means the sky’s the limit with what you can create. Even with a low budget, with enough ingenuity, those constraints can help to create something timeless, beautiful, and deeply compelling.

And that is precisely why animation is the perfect medium for Hazbin’s concept. It allows the show to fully embrace the fantastical, otherworldly qualities of Heaven and Hell, be it the permanent red pentagram sky of Hell, and the many eyes across its buildings, to the golden clouds of Heaven’s metropolis marred by maroon and violet shadows.

The spindly designs of the characters, with wacky, exaggerated shapes that help to communicate their personalities, adds to that fantastical flair. I am OBSESSED with how unashamedly stylized and cartoony Hazbin is.

This Disney-esque, expressive style stands on its own when put next to its contemporaries, while also helping to provide something beautiful to behold in a story that really feels like it shouldn’t look this good. A live action Hazbin just wouldn’t give you the same vibe that these spindly, colorful dweebs would, and would probably just be far more mundane, with frames flooded in illegible darkness to the point you can’t even tell what’s happening.

There are some valid points about the art style, namely the fact so many characters are similarly thin, along with the color palettes of characters being shared along with the world they inhabit. Viviziepop’s style has also been critiqued for how busy the frames and designs tend to be.

For me personally, none of these things bothered me. If anything, they actually attributed to why I wound up loving it as much as I do. For one thing, I love me tol, spindly designs that are also flowy.

I can understand the annoyance at lack of diversity in body types, but that’s true of most animation sadly… and most media, honestly, especially live action going for thinner, lighter-skinned, more conventionally attractive actors most of the time. If you have this issue with Hazbin, you gotta be real in the fact you have it with the systems that make this true for most media.

But in terms of the color palette, I actually love how cohesive the characters and world feel as a result. To me, the characters don’t feel identical at all, instead feeling like they belong with one another, with the repeated use of reds, whitess, and yellows. Oh, and black, which wow, this is lowkey how I wish RWBY kinda tackled its own use of those four colors. Wow. The list of better RWBYs increases.

I especially love how you can tell what realm someone is from just by their palette and design. Heaven’s characters tend more towards white and gold, with some shades of blue and purple, especially for the seraphim. And the fact the angels have golden blood? YES.

Fuck, that’s probably why Lucifer’s design has so much white, given he’s still an angel, albeit fallen. His white suit, the white-and-red wings, the little snake around his top hat, the apple staff? JUST YES. Oh, and I saw someone on Tumblr recently point out that the shape of his coat specifically resembles an apple core? THAT IS THE DESIGN SHIT I FUCKING LIVE FOR.

And yes, I’m about to be that person - I’m a big fan of the Biblically accurate elements for the angel designs. Seriously, angels are horrifying creatures when you read the way they actually appeared in scripture, and I love the fact the show embraces that inhuman vibe. Specifically, the use of eyes all throughout their designs, along with the armillary sphere motif for even background angels. I’m a sucker for armillary spheres.

And the Exorcists? I’m obsessed with how monstrous they are specifically. Using masks to hide behind anonymity, even someone like Adam trying to hide his face as he slaughters and condemns, with teeth as sharp and eyes as soulless as Alastor’s, and HORNS?! It’s not lost on me the fact they often look like demons garbed in white and gold.

I’m also a major fan of the character redesigns. They’ve been relatively simplified to make them easier to animate, as is standard. Charlie’s fully red design with some white breaks on her chest and midriff make her pop way more, and her ponytail helps animators not have to worry about getting her hair shape exactly right in every frame, and to me, reads as more professional, and more stylish.

Alastor, Angel Dust, and Husk got some quality of life improvements as well. Some more contrast, some removed details that would be a nightmare to animate, but mostly the same.

Alastor specifically is… just yes. I stan the Strawberry Pimp. I’m obsessed with his perpetual shark-tooth smile, and the fact you have to rely on his eyes and eyebrows to discern his true emotions. Also, the little deer elements for his demon form? His pupils becoming radio dials? EXCELLENT.

Vaggie got the biggest improvement, though. Before, her white outfit got lost in her hair, and her hair itself looked quite plain. Now, her hair features sharper, more triangular shapes, with added contrast with the bits of purple to make it stand out more. And the addition of red and black into her outfit also helps keeping her body from getting lost in her hair.

Even the simple visual storytelling present throughout, adding to character personalities and physical comedy, is an absolute highlight. It’s a joy to see just how much passion was put into this project. It’s at its best though in them musical numbers, though.

They take full advantage of animation to go all in, momentarily creating entire dimensions for each line, each verse and chorus, and make sure you remember what the characters are going through as they sing. The music on its own is gorgeous, but paired with the animation, this is some top-tier content.

Now thus far, I’ve mostly talked about how the story is communicated musically and visually, because those are the avenues Hazbin excels in without question. Those are why the show is talked about as much as it is, not just by hardcore fans, but by casual fans. It’s wild seeing how many people like me who weren’t that interested in Vivzie’s content before now got absolutely enchanted with Hazbin once it properly dropped.

That said… the writing is probably the weakest aspect here. Not to say the story itself is bad, far from it. But more so that there are some kinks that need to be worked out for next season… and not ones Angel Dust would be into.

The Story:

As mentioned before, the show’s premise is about redeeming sinners trapped in Hell, only to discover that they’re only here because Heaven’s system is broken, and unable to acknowledge nuance and redemption. Charlie Morningstar, the Princess of Hell, opens the Hazbin Hotel to help sinners redeem themselves, then quickly realizes Heaven will exterminate their souls permanently regardless of whether they try to improve themselves.

This isn’t exactly the angle I was expecting, but I am fucking obsessed with it. I think a lot of queer people specifically can relate to these frustrations with religion, especially institutionalized religion. We’re told our very existence is sinful and wrong.

And speaking as someone passively raised Catholic, yeah, you’re kinda taught humans just suck. It’s a horrifyingly cynical, cruel view of people when you break it down. I actually remember getting into arguments about whether or not being a good person mattered compared to believing in the right God, or even the correct version of God.

For reference, I’m technically an atheist now. But not in the, “There is no God” way. More so that I’m generally spiritual, without subscribing to any one religion. If your religion brings you comfort, I’m happy for you. I tend to believe it works sorta like a divine mirrorball, and that people will find whatever works best for them.

I just have problems when people use their faith to try and dictate how others should live. I just say try to be as kind and good as you can be, and do your best to own up to your own mistakes, while standing up for people with less power and standing.

Hazbin doesn’t quite enter those waters, at least not yet. I’m no expert when it comes to the show’s lore, and I’d rather deepthroat a cactus than read up on it via wikis. If it’s important, put in the damn show, or I will kick your ass. But that said, I’m under the impression that there isn’t exactly a God or Jesus in Hazbin’s universe. Rather, this is a version of Abrahamic theology, the way Disney’s Hercules is a Disneyfied version of Ancient Greece.

But that said, we can kinda see Heaven parallels a lot of evangelical attitudes that condemn people who don’t subscribe to their exact worldview, or that… well, are just trying to live in a world that’s very fucking difficult to live in. And I’m pretty sure they’re homophobic too, given Lute’s comments on Charlie and Vaggie’s relationship.

That all said, I wish the show delved more into these fucked up, arbitrary views on who is worthy of crossing the pearly gates. There’s an acknowledgment at the trial that Adam, nor the Heavenly court, know what gets someone into heaven, and I’m suspicious that Sera herself doesn’t seem that interested in it either. And I hope we dive more into it next season.

But I’m really disappointed that for being the show’s namesake, the Hazbin Hotel doesn’t really seem to be the thing it’s most interested in. All we get are team building exercises that, yes, are cute, and as Cellspex points out, do a great job in showing how Charlie herself doesn’t quite understand how people come to sin, or wind up here in Hell.

And yet that process of realizing what landed the guests like Angel and Pentious in Hell should’ve been the catalyst to realizing Heaven’s system is broken! Either not being able to understand the rules given their inconsistency or arbitrariness, or just deeming them fucking unfair.

That really feels like the core issue I have with this season. It’s going for this great thesis with compelling themes about redemption, goodness, and injustice, but it’s missing a lot of crucial stepping stones, and instead leaping to fantastic moments across an abyssal void.

Now, I do adore the characters. I’ve come to adore most of them, even the supporting cast, but it does feel like - much like Helluva Boss - Hazbin doesn’t quite know how to prioritize. I understand many supporting cast members are important and compelling themselves, but there comes a point you have to realize there’s a reason they aren’t the protagonists.

The protagonists should - 9 times outta 10 - always receive priority above the supporting cast and antagonists. They lead the story, they’re taking charge, and they should be receiving development, character arcs, and the bulk of the screentime. Yet it often feels like the protagonists - especially anyone who’s not Charlie or Alastor - gets forgotten about to focus on whichever new character gets introduced that week.

As much as I love the Heaven plot, it honestly feels like the show tried everything it could to cram two seasons’ worth of events into just one. Maybe it’s cuz they weren’t sure if they’d get another season.

Still, I would’ve much preferred season 1 focusing on just the protagonists, dedicating entire episodes to each of them and telling the stories of how they went from Earth to Hell. Maybe investigating what exactly got them here so Charlie can help them, and in the process learn just how much they deserve better than the way Heaven discarded them.

The closest we get to that kind of approach is Angel’s plot in episode 4, where we see the extent of the abuse he receives from Valentino. It’s a difficult watch, but I’m also happy they don’t shy away from just how awful and isolating that kind of experience is. Even so, it’s just one episode, and not the standard for all of them. Other episodes will spend much of their runtime focusing on Overlords and Hell’s hierarchy, rather than giving us time to get acquainted with the people at the Hotel.

And the mention of Valentino brings me to another gripe: the Vees. They feel pointless as hell. You could remove them, and most of the story wouldn’t change, save for Angel’s story with Valentino. It really feels like they should be antagonists, but they feel more like nuisances on the periphery. Which makes me sad, cuz they’re fun, I love their designs, and I am a Velvette stan. Again, I’m a fan of the evil bitches, and I hope I get to watch Nifty skin Valentino.

If we were to save dealing with Adam and the Exorcists for season 2, I would’ve enjoyed the Vees being antagonists for season 1. Their petty vindictiveness would allow for an escalation in stakes between seasons, with season 1 having the Vees trying to interrupt the Hotel’s redemption process.

Maybe Velvette could have beef with Charlie or Vaggie for… some reason, I don’t know. But you could have Valentino oppose the Hotel for threatening to take Angel away from him, and Vox opposing it to get back at Alastor. And their power in Hell could make us worry about them destroying the Hotel’s credibility and getting it shut down in a season finale.

For what we got though, I do love the story, even for its flaws and fumblings. Even antagonists like Adam, Lute, and Sera are compelling in their own right, with Adam being mean and misogynistic, Lute being cruel and sadistic, and Sera being contemptful and dismissive.

But now, enough of that! Onto our protagonists, who truly deserved better, because I love them.

The Protagonists:

Now, I wanna emphasize who gets considered a protagonist, and why. The protagonists should be the characters at the helm of the story. The narrative follows them and their journey, with them having to make the big choices, and their arcs being the most prominent. That’s not to say other characters can’t have great arcs or make important choices, but it’s a question of priority.

To me, the clear protagonist trio of Hazbin Hotel is Charlie, Vaggie, and Angel. Charlie is the one running the hotel who is trying to save her people, Vaggie is the supportive partner with her own reasons for trying to fix this system, and Angel is one of Hell’s denizens who was failed by Heaven. These three are the most important to the story’s function, and such, they should receive priority.

Charlie herself is an excellent protagonist. Like many of her ilk, she’s kind, naive, and innocent, seeing the best in people, even the damned ones. But she isn’t unbearably sweet. Instead, she’s earnest, doing her best to stand up for people and give them a chance to help themselves, and I think her passion in trying to save the people of her realm is what elevates her to something great.

She’s an honest soul taking on an unjust, broken system that’s openly cruel and condescending, and that provides her with an underdog role that makes her incredibly easy to root for. Honestly, I think Charlie is what a lot of people aspire towards. To be this kind of kind, strong person who wants to make the world a better, fairer place.

Vaggie honestly wasn’t that compelling to me before the big twist with her being a fallen angel. It’s one of those cases I mentioned in my video about Korra’s Team Avatar, where characters have to be more than just supporting another person. They need their own goal. Their own reason for engaging in the plot, and up until that reveal, I couldn’t get a read on Vaggie’s goal at all.

Sure, she and Charlie are super cute, and we love sapphic rep. But Vaggie needed more than just a desire to help her girlfriend. The addition of her being an angel, whose wings were torn and eye ripped from her skull because she spared a damned child, adds much-needed complexity to her character. She sees how unjust what she and the Exorcists have been doing is. And in turn, that explains her desire to help Charlie, and likely why she admires Charlie’s passion so much.

And Angel? My spider boi needs hugs and protection. I’m not sure why he’s here, the easiest guess being that in this universe, homophobia is in power like it is here on Earth. In which case, some calling out of Heaven’s prejudice would be very welcome, as well as Charlie murdering Adam and Lute for their slut shaming, and their condemnation of sex work.

Honestly, I’m no expert in these kinds of topics, but I’d love to see the show tackle our culture’s hypocritical views of sexuality. How we villainize and demonize sex workers, and in the process, callously throw them into harm’s way. I don’t know if Angel would be doing this work without Valentino’s contract forcing him to, but that’s definitely something worth exploring.

Really, it’s just sad seeing Angel break down in episode 4, admitting he acts the way he does as a defense mechanism to survive what he’s put through. So seeing him be able to be vulnerable with Husk is heartwarming.

Alastor is a bit of a wildcard. He’s in a protagonistic role, helping Charlie and the hotel, but his goal to escape the mysterious deal he’s trapped in, along with his questionable motivations, mean he could eventually shift into an antagonistic role. He’s still important, but not in the same way the trio is.

Now, I don’t trust Alastor one bit, but I do fucking love him. He reminds me of a lot of Xelloss from Slayers (an anime which I must talk about at some point cuz it’s iconic). Basically, Xelloss is a kind of demon who occasionally accompanies the protagonists, but only when their goal aligns with his own, which he’s always obnoxiously cryptic about.

But the moment Xelloss’ goals no longer match up with the protagonists’, he’ll turn on them no questions asked, even entertaining the idea of ruthlessly killing them. Alastor is much the same. He has his own agenda, at times amicable, but only when it suits whatever he’s up to. It’s clear he’s a lover of chaos, but it’s even clearer that he wants freedom from whatever deal he’s under.

I actually really like the mystery of who this deal is with and who owns Alastor’s soul, but I absolutely love the fact it means that at some point, he’s going to do whatever he can to break free of it, even if it hurts Charlie or the others at the Hotel. At some point, he’s going to pull the rug out from underneath them, and it’s going to be tragic, but something we all knew was coming. Kinda like an iceberg of good character drama.

Husk and Nifty, meanwhile, I’d argue are more supporting characters. Husk is there as a bartender to talk people through their issues, most notably Angel. He has his own story, but I’d argue it’s not as important to the narrative as Angel’s.

I wasn’t expecting to love him as much as I do, nor become a Huskerdust shipper… but here we are. Thank you, Keith David. Also, I’m a sucker for Husk’s design, his wings, and his gambling motif with his throwing cards and explosive dice. Luxord wishes he was this iconic.

Nifty, meanwhile… well, she’s there mostly for fucked-up comedy and to be the mascot. I love her for it. She is my chaotic little gremlin, but a complex character she is not, and I’m okay with that.

Conclusion & Outro:

So… it’s clear I have a lot of feelings about Hazbin Hotel, most of them positive. It’s far from perfect, with some sloppy writing choices, and an art style that’s not up everyone’s alley. But I think for its problem, it more than makes up for them in its uniqueness, its boldness, and its commitment to its greater vision. I’m beyond excited to see where the story goes from here, and until season 2 arrives, trust that I will be stanning Short King Lucifer.