This may be an off-beat hot take, but I think Studio Psycho’s Heathens Pilot would be better as a graphic novel than an animation.
Studio Psycho’s Heathens Pilot: Great Visuals, Missing Exposition
Studio Psycho’s Heathens Pilot has been on my radar for exactly two weeks now, and I finally sat down to watch the 10-minute episode. Was it good? Yes, absolutely – but while watching it, I felt like it was missing something. Which is why I mentioned that it could really work well within the graphic novel, comic book or even webtoon medium over animation.
(Looking at the creator’s YouTube channel, it seems she is a storyboard artist for other popular animated series, so that is probably why the end-credits illustrations and image-based storytelling are so strong compared to the regular narrative animation’s storytelling.)
Axel, Carlos, and Aura: Dropped In on the Tail End of an Adventure
The Heathens Pilot felt like the snapshot of an adventure, where we as viewers, were dropped in at the very last moment and caught the tail end of Demon Bounty Hunters Axel, Carlos, and Aura’s adventure. And how do I know these three characters were even demons in hell? Well, I had to watch another video on Studio Psycho’s YouTube channel titled “Heathens | GlitchX 2024” to actually find and learn about the backstory of this trio.
Why Heathens Would Work Better as a Graphic Novel or Webtoon
It is in this video, and not the actual Pilot, where we get a brief narrative tease for the story, character motivations and their arcs in better storytelling in a 2-minute overview recap than the 10-minute Pilot that recognises none of this, but instead inserts a shadowy figure character from Aura’s proposed character arc and past in an after-credits scene.
Even as the credits rolled, simple illustrations gave us more backstory on Axel’s motivation for pursuing the Hellhound in the Pilot than the actual narrative episode does – hence my initial mention that this story created by Nezhahah would work extremely well through a graphic novel lens.
The After-Credits Scene and GlitchX: Lore Hidden in Supplementary Material
What was behind the decision to create a pilot with no character exposition, or subtle foreshadowing of the main storyline threads – but rather, prioritising the setup of the trio’s dynamic on a mission without even stating they are demonic bounty hunters in hell? Why hinge on the fact that people had to be familiar with, or search for the soft release video from a year ago?
In an era with increasingly short attention spans, this is (personally) just an odd choice to me. Because, judging by the Heathens | GlitchX 2024 video, Heathens has created a very rich world that could have been established quite differently in its Pilot episode.
After watching, I wasn’t left wondering: “wow, I wonder what whacky adventures this quirky trio will get up to next time”. Because I watched the GlitchX 2024 (soft) lore video beforehand, I was instead wondering:
- Why on earth isn’t Axel using any of his hell-given talents when he can make more trinkets out of thin air than the Warhammer Titan?
- Why does Carlos need the Hellhound – is it a pet or will it serve as security on their future quests? (and why didn’t he just go to the pound as Aura suggested Axel do if he really wanted one? Was it just to teach Axel a lesson?)
- If it was to teach Axel a lesson, and if Axel is hesitant to use his powers on the field and fails to conduct primary research on his targets, doesn’t that make him a liability to Carlos and Aura’s survival? Is this a society of kindly demons who co-exist in hell?
- Does Aura have a lot of experience taming Hellhounds? Why would Aura voluntarily put herself in danger to help Axel, who is clearly being portrayed (thus far) as an incompetent wimp?
- How is somebody like Axel a “Sentinel” when demons like Carlos seem much more suited to this work naturally? What is the net benefit that Axel brings to this bounty hunter team?
- If this is “the most dangerous time in hell” (to paraphrase Studio Psycho), why not reflect that in the Pilot? How does a hooded figure holding a ring, previously introduced through a line test animation in a separate video, now appearing in an after-credits epilogue signal a supposed harbinger of danger in hell? The current tone offers “buddy cop” vibes over the dark fantasy genre tropes promised.
Final Verdict: Finding the Potential in Heathens’ Dark Fantasy Premise
Not ripping the Heathens Pilot apart here as I think it has a lot of potential. I just cannot for the life of me understand the creative choices present in the Pilot’s narrative – which is meant to introduce an audience to your potential story – deciding against injecting literally 0.001% ounces of the actual intriguing plot into said pilot episode to introduce the characters properly.
Or the creative decision to make it clear they are ‘Demons in Hell’? For all I know, they could have been playing a video game or isekai’d, or it could have even been a dream sequence, and simply being in a desert-like setting (like a Da’at/ Duat overworld) and mentioning “Hellhound” does not automatically translate to: “Oh, the characters are demon bounty hunters in hell, of course!” on screen when viewed by the audience.
Or maybe it’s just me, who knows.
Did you also have these questions while watching the Heathens Pilot?
Expanding the Supernatural Horizon: From Indie Pilots to Worldwide Lore
If the “Demon Bounty Hunter” concept in Heathens caught your eye, explore how different mediums are reimagining the fight against the darkness:
- Spawn Universe: Bloodletter – The Return of the Hellspawn – Deconstructing the visceral, dark-fantasy roots of the May 2026 Trade Paperback release.
- Stand Firm: A Light in the Shadows – Faith vs. The Supernatural – A trailer review exploring the unique “Christian Anime” lens on spiritual warfare.
- Netflix’s Haunted Hotel: A New Era of Demonology – Why the streaming giant is doubling down on supernatural horror and haunted architecture.
- The Shamanic Origins of Legendary Hunters – Go beyond the fiction with our independent guide to Korea’s real-life supernatural landmarks and folklore.
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☆ In Asian Spaces ☆ Ephesians 6:12 ☆
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