ANONREVIEWS! REVIEWS!

I’ll be honest: for a long time, I didn’t understand fandoms. There have been works of media that I enjoyed greatly, but I never got how people could obsessively follow fan artists, line their rooms with shelves and shelves of merchandise, or spend half their waking lives arguing online about ships.

Then I watched this funny little show about gay devils And I get it now

That funny little show is an adult animated web series called Helluva Boss. Created by Vivienne Medrano and produced through her indie studio Spindlehorse Toons, the series follows an imp in Hell named Blitzo (the ‘o’ is silent) who leads an assassination company specializing in killing people onEarth. His employees include Moxxie and Millie, two imps who are married to each other, as well as Blitzo’s adopted hellhound daughter, Loona. Rounding out the cast is the owl-like demon prince Stolas, who provides Blitzo with a magical grimoire he and his employees use to travel to Earth in exchange for, uh, sexual payment The show focuses on the interactions between these characters and the darkly comedic misadventures they get up to.

The most striking thing about Helluva Boss that sets it apart from other shows – even other LGBTQ+ shows – is how little it seems to care about catering to a straight audience Society is becoming more accepting of LGBTQ+ people, but there’s still this expectation that we need to cater to heteronormative culture to earn that acceptance. It’s common to see complaints that gay people “won’t shut up about being gay” or “make being gay their entire personality”, even if all they’re doing is expressing their sexuality as much as straight people are You can be gay, but not too gay. Moreover, queer people are held to a much higher standard. Any failure on one queer person’s part is seen as proof that the entire LGBTQ+ community is inferior or doesn’t deserve equal rights

Helluva Boss isn’t having any of that. The show is unabashedly queer, almost to a fault In the main cast alone, Blitzo is pansexual, Moxxie and Millie are both bisexual, and Stolas is all but confirmed to be gay. Their sexualities are not just a passing detail either, but a fundamental part of their characters and the show Aside from this, many identities outside the heteronormative perspective are also depicted, such as same-sex couples, non-monogamous relationships, transgender people, and other forms of gender and sexual deviancy.

Even Moxxie and Millie, the show’s token heterosexual couple, still engage in crossdressing and pegging. Furthermore, these characters are just about the opposite of a “good gay”.

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When Blitzo and co. aren’t killing humans in violent, gory fashion, they’re behaving as dysfunctionally as you’d expect from denizens of Hell. All of them have personality flaws that often drive a wedge in their relationships. They can be caustic, ignorant, petty, and incredibly horny. So horny that in an already profane show, one character’s dirty talk still has to be censored. While I can see this being off-putting for some people, even some LGBTQ+ people, I found it refreshing how shamelessly queer Helluva Boss is. It’s a reminder that we don’t need to downplay ourselves to be more palatable to the straight gaze, and we should demand acceptance and equality on our own terms

As much as I applaud this transgressive side of Helluva Boss, it’s the depth of the character writing that elevates it to another level Underneath all the raunchiness and violence and comedy, there’s a soft, beating heart at the core of the series In between the assassinations, we get to glean the personal lives and relationships of the cast. These include Moxxie and Millie’s sweet, stable marriage and Blitzo’s and Stolas’s complicated yet loving relationships with their respective daughters There’s a lot of dysfunction in Hell, but there are also flashes of family, friendship, and love within that dysfunction.

Additionally, the more you dig deeper into the characters’ unpleasant behavior, the more their behavior reveals itself to be a facade that hides their innermost insecurities and desires. Nothing shows this better than the show’s take on the “Will They or Won’t They?” trope with Blitzo and Stolas Unlike the usual setup, Blitzo and Stolas actually are in a sexual relationship, but it’s one of transactional sex that is deeply problematic. It doesn’t help that Stolas treats Blitzo condescendingly (Stolas is a prince while Blitzo is just a lowly imp) or that Blitzo is aloof to Stolas’s affections

As the story goes on, however, it becomes clear that both of them do truly yearn for a more fulfilling, romantic relationship, but their personal traumas and issues make it difficult for them to progress to that stage. It’s messy and complicated in the way real-life relationships often are, but the series still gets you to hope that these two crazy kids can somehow find their way to each other.

I love it.

I’m not going to pretend that Helluva Boss is perfect. In the early episodes (especially the pilot, which is probably best skipped), the writing can be inconsistent, as if the creators weren’t sure what direction they wanted to take The art is typically fantastic, with gorgeous backgrounds, evocative visual effects, and dynamic animations. Unfortunately, this occasionally comes at the cost of choppy framerates. However, when the show’s firing on all cylinders, particularly in the spectacular Season 1 finale, there’s nothing else like it. It can deliver scathing humor, showstopping musical numbers, and emotionally devastating moments in an episode 20 minutes or shorter. All while still being queer as hell my lover is secretly seven seagulls by Dane

There were better shows I watched in 2022, but I can’t think of another as close to my heart as Helluva Boss. The stunning animation, the way it ricochets between over-the-top dark comedy and sincere tenderness, the sheer lack of filter in its portrayal of queerness – all of this made Helluva Boss a show I not only loved but would wholeheartedly consider myself a fan of. It won’t fit everyone’s tastes, but as someone still coming to terms with my own sexuality, it resonated with me in a way that few other shows do I hope it will resonate with you, too. But if you still need more convincing, there is a gay kiss in episode 6 and it is glorious.

(All nine released episodes of Helluva Boss are available on YouTube for free, and season two is currently in production The length of the episodes ranges from about 11-22 minutes.)

Waking up in a brand new location

Seagulls flying through pine tree oceans

Dance it off to the beat of the motion

Feathers peaking from underneath your dress

I always fly in my dreams

But you only see black and white

I don’t know what it all means

But I know we’re both lucid tonight

So take my hand feel a whole new sensation

I’ll take your breath if you don’t pay attention

Dance with me til the end of devotion

With seagulls flying through pine tree oceans

The stars they fall from the sky

The planets have closed their eyes

And the roses are red with the blood of a gull work writeup:

Recently realized I have repressed trauma surrounding relationships, which is rather distressing. I guess this poem is on mutual entrapment that was disguised as escapism from real life. Or maybe it’s just about seagulls.