“Hazbin Hotel” is a Prime Video exclusive animated TV show for ages 16+ that was released on Jan. 19. Starting off as an independent, 32-minute pilot in October of 2019, “Hazbin Hotel” became immediately popular with teenagers, adolescents, and adults alike, especially artists and those in the queer community. The show, even as a lowly pilot, became famous for its unique characters, well performed voice acting, and not-so-suggestive innuendo based comedy, especially for an independent project. Many changes were to be made from pilot to full fledged show and expectations from all parties were all over the place. Even before the last episode’s release on Feb. 2, many were already debating the true quality of such a show with such a unique real world story. This caused much online debate and there appears to be no general consensus.
Hazbin’s Story and History
“Hazbin Hotel” starts its story in the 2019 pilot which is continued in the first season, consisting of eight episodes with the first currently available on YouTube. The show follows Charlotte “Charlie” Morningstar, Princess of Hell, heir to the throne of Hell, and daughter of Lucifer and Lilith Morningstar (based on the religious figures). Born and raised in hell, Charlie sees all the atrocities that are committed every day in the city streets, including Heaven’s mandatory annual purge; to keep Hell from becoming too powerful Heaven sends a team of “exorcists” to murder random sinners which reaches multiple hundreds of casualties. In a hope to end this purge, Charlie creates the “Happy Hotel,” as a way for the citizens of Hell to redeem themselves with the possibility of a second chance of getting into Heaven, Heaven ironically becoming the villain of the show. Almost everyone in Hell doesn’t believe in her plan, which is part of the reason why the hotel gets renamed “Hazbin Hotel” by one of its cynical supporters. This leaves the first season for Charlie and her team of supporters to attempt to bring in more desperate souls into the hotel. Unfortunately for Charlie, Heaven’s purge suddenly becomes biannual, leaving even less time for Charlie to prove herself to not only the citizens of Hell but the higherops of Heaven as well.
“I think I first watched [Hazbin Hotel] when it came out in 2019 when I was a little nerd,” Junior Klaus Bullis said. “Over time it grew on me, truly, because of Helluva Boss, because I’m like, ‘whoa, this other show has been hyped up for years; this offshoot show, Helluva Boss, as a time filler. It became so good, the animation became amazing, the music was great; Helluva Boss really helped to make me excited about Hazbin Hotel. I think [Hazbin Hotel’s] journey is amazing, but I don’t think they could have done it without Helluva Boss, like if it was just the one pilot. It showed everybody that what [the creator] can do is good and worth money, and time, and effort. Hazbin Hotel is great, and the pilot made people go crazy, and I remember watching the pilot and going crazy, but the journey is partially thanks to Helluva Boss.”
The pilot to “Hazbin Hotel” became even more famous after the show creator, Vivienne “Vivziepop” Medrano, made “Helluva Boss” and posted it to her YouTube channel. “Helluva Boss” takes place in the same universe as “Hazbin Hotel” (The Hellaverse), in Vivziepop’s interpretation of Hell, telling the story of a team of demon “imp” assassins called “The Immediate Murder Professionals” who kill Earthlings for money. “Helluva Boss” seemed to show off more of Vivziepop and her team’s skills when it came to voice acting, animation, comedy, and writing, almost like a resume to get “Hazbin Hotel” on TV. “Helluva Boss” had two seasons with 7 episodes each even before “Hazbin Hotel” came out on Prime, helping to grow Vivziepop’s following and people’s interest in her work, including “Hazbin Hotel.”
Characters
Many viewers of the pilot became especially attached to the characters, including Charlie’s stubborn girlfriend Vaggie, a video star casanova and addict Angel Dust, the threateningly powerful and cynical “Radio Demon” Alastor, the apathetic bartender Husk, and the tiny cleaning girl Niffty. These characters were unique in personality and looks, as not all demons took a strictly humanoid or goat-like appearance like some other works suggest about demons.
These characters became increasingly complex as the season progressed, helping to show sides of seemingly flat characters that one would not expect. Most obvious was the show delving into Angel Dust’s trauma that comes from his job as a “video actor” run by an abusive and powerful director, Valentino. This was not much of a surprise as Viviziepop delved into these topics with two music videos about Angel’s abusive work life: “Addict” in 2020 and “Poison” in early 2024. The show also delves into the hidden backstories and origins of other members of Charlie’s crew, which involved connections to Hell’s most powerful demons and even Heaven. Some characters even switch (or have already switched) sides, often choosing to fight for the Hazbin Hotel, showing some success in Charlie’s plans. All in all, the characters become very fleshed out and complex, leaving more interest to be developed from their stories, albeit at a very rushed pace.
Pacing and Other Critiques
When looking at the negatives of this show, many tend to look at one of two things: pacing and comedy. The pacing of the show appears to be the only things fans and critics agree with on this show. While each episode follows the general length of around 22 minutes, the season only consists of eight episodes rather than the typical average of 22 or even seven to 13 for a debut season. A lot of information appears to be crammed into these episodes including complicated character relationships and origins. This makes it rather difficult to remember all the complexities even for diehard fans. As for comedy, most critiques include complaints on the excessive swearing and not-so-subtle innuendos, usually relating to Angel Dust and his career. Needless to say, this show is not for the faint of heart regarding these innuendos, even to those ages this show is marketed for. And while the swearing in this show can be a bit excessive, it’s also important to understand that swearing can be used as a tool to improve comedy, but everything, even swearing, is only good in moderation. Not only that, but swearing can also just appear as part of one’s natural vocabulary and vernacular, so it may not be fair to judge a character or even a person in real life for swearing when their buttons are pushed through fear or anger.
Voice Acting and Singing
One of the biggest changes that “Hazbin Hotel” went through from pilot to season was its change in voice actors. Names in popular online projects like Michael Kovach as Angel Dust or Mick Lauer as Husk were replaced. Respectively, these characters took the voices of Blake Roman and, to everyone’s surprise, Keith David, famous for his works in movies like “Coraline,” “The Thing,” and most notably “The Princess and the Frog” where he played villain Dr. Facilier. While some are upset with this change, especially considering Kovach’s more recent prominent role in a similar independent online animation project, “The Amazing Digital Circus,” the voice acting in “Hazbin Hotel” appears to be one of the show’s most praised features, especially with regards to singing. Rather surprisingly, every episode of “Hazbin Hotel” consists of two musical numbers emphasizing the hopes, dreams, and values of specific characters, which may explain some of the changes in voice actors. These musical numbers have gained mass praise despite its debatable corniness, and already one can find these songs (labeled as explicit) on music platforms like Spotify.
End of the Show (spoilers)
Throughout the show so far, Charlie tries to find peaceful and negotiable ways to prove her point that souls can be redeemed even after damnation with Hell’s citizens and Heaven’s officials. However, Heaven is rather unforgiving with who is allowed into Heaven, themselves not even knowing what constitutes a Heaven worthy soul. The angel Adam, an extremely dislikable character and the first ever man, when questioned, gives three on-the-spot requirements to getting into Heaven: “Act selfless, don’t steal, stick it to the man.” Despite seeing evidence from Charlie that sinners in Hell do these very things, Heaven is unmoving in their decision that sinners can not be redeemed after death. Yet, this comes into play much later after the death of the slithery Sir Pentious. Sir Pentious, originally a villain with a Napoleon complex out to kill Alastor, becomes a side protagonist after being invited into the hotel by Charlie when he was at his lowest. After his anticlimactic death in an attempt to kill Adam, he ironically ends up in Heaven, which is the only time the audience sees what happens to a “double dead” sinner. Sir Pentious, in a surprising twist, most likely ended up in Heaven because he followed these three rules after joining the Hazbin Hotel. Possibly, only once a set of rules was established, a double dead sinner could actually end up in Heaven, opening the floodgates for more to come under Charlie’s wing. While the season ends with many questions left unanswered, as any good season does, it answers the biggest question since the show’s pilot: yes, sinners in Hell can be redeemed.
Closing Thoughts
Overall, “Hazbin Hotel” is a well made show with a promising future. Although it has some flaws that complicate the story a bit, especially for new viewers, those can be overlooked by its mass amount of positives. Some NN students are already listening to the 16 different musical numbers in the hallway and talking about the show’s positive characters; needless to say, “Hazbin Hotel” has reached its target demographic and those adolescents have responded with love and admiration. While the unique story and excessive not-so-child-friendly humor might not be for everyone, “Hazbin Hotel” is undeniably an inspiring story on the possibilities and opportunities a simple, well executed idea can have on the world and its media. It may be a long time before anyone sees a simple public project like “Hazbin Hotel” go so far as to make it on TV with such a lovable season as its first.
