A World-Wide Web of Indie Animations
The Blacksmith: “The five of you have had a greater impact than you know. Just like Alyx and Lewis did before you—just like others will after you. One small kindness in one small moment led to such a marvelous transformation. Much like one act of dishonesty caused an unfortunate change.”
RWBY “Of Solitude and Self” (Season 9, Episode 10)
Animation is more difficult than people think. Every minute of footage requires more than 1,000 frames that must look only slightly different in motion to show a continuous scene. It’s exhausting, expensive, and takes a very long time. Big studios can help by bringing in animators, colorists, and other professionals, but what if you don’t have big studio money? That’s when you make indie web animations.
These series are passion projects worked on by groups of people or tiny studios. Series are lucky to release two episodes per year, but popular ones can attract big fish like Netflix to air their works and make them shine. So what are the best indie web animations? Have any of them broken through? Let’s find out.
Our criteria this time: No works based around pre-existing IP.
Scene Select
#5: Pretty Pretty Please, I Don’t Want to be a Magical Girl!
Created By: Kiana Khansmith
Voice Actors: Anairis Quiñones, Bennett Abara, Christine Marie Cabanos, Aleks Le
Zira: [watching Aika beat Eclipse] “Don’t you have a magical star beam or an energy blast or something?!”
Pretty Pretty Please I Don’t Want to be a Magical Girl! “I Don’t Want to be a Magical Girl!” (Season 1, Episode 1)
Aika: “Hm… yeah, I guess I do, but like, what even is a star beam, y’know? Now a lead pipe to the shins? That’s just reliable, baby.”
Synopsis: Aika is a teenager excited for her first day of school. She quickly falls in with local loser Zira, who is bored with all the mundane things that Aika adores. They are attacked by dark wizard Eclipse, forcing Aika to save the day as Star Guardian: Guardian of the Stars. Zira is awed by her new friend being a superhero, but Aika doesn’t want to be a Magical Girl.
Why This Series: I Don’t Want to be a Magical Girl plays with that archetype’s tropes. Aika is desperate to be a regular girl, despite her magical mascot Hoshi insisting otherwise. She prefers solving magical problems with simple, violent solutions. The only spell Aika directly casts is her magical transformation back into school clothes. She and Hoshi dance around why she quit and allude to larger conflicts.
Zira is Aika’s foil, constantly geeking out over Magical Girl tropes that she loves and becoming disappointed when they’re subverted. She’s sensitive over being a self-proclaimed loser and is developing a crush on Aika. Eclipse spends most of his little screentime getting beat up. He thinks he’s cooler than he is, but is really a pawn for main villain Lady DeVoid.
Look to the Future: Pretty Pretty Please, I Don’t Want to be a Magical Girl’s pilot has 4.7 million views now. A second episode was recently released with a post credit message that Mercury Filmworks (Star vs. the Forces of Evil, Krypto the Superdog) would be fully animating the indie web animation’s pilot. That’s not confirmation of a full series, but it’s a foot in the door.
Fun Fact: I Don’t Want to Be a Magical Girl features alumni from its main inspiration, Sailor Moon. Zira’s actor voiced Sailor Jupiter in the English dub while mascot Hoshi voiced Sailor Saturn and Mistress 9.
#4 Knights of Guinevere
Created By: Dana Terrace, John Bailey Owen, Zach Marcus
Voice Actors: Eden Riegel, Michaela Laws, Zelda Khan Black, Kayleigh McKee
[A Guinevere android has leapt off a building in absolute terror]
Knights of Guinevere “Pilot” (Season 1, Episode 1)
Olivia: “It’s okay, papa. They’ll bring her back. And when they do, I’ll fix her again.”
Narrator: “It was so very long ago, and no one ever heeded the Princesses’ prayer for rescue. Will she ever escape? Will she ever find her knights?”
Synopsis: In the far future, the Park family rules Park Planet, several floating island amusement parks themed around their most popular franchise: Space Princess Guinevere. The rich spend their days enjoying the parks while poor people work there or scavenge in slums.
A woman named Frankie finds a heavily damaged Guinevere android that her boss plans to scavenge. Alongside her partner Andi, she goes on a mission to rescue the android. They don’t know that this Guinevere is being hunted by Olivia Park, the owner of Park Planet, who will do anything to get it back.
Why This Series: Knights of Guinevere is a former Disney employee’s critical look at the industry. Park Planet is a stand-in for Disneyland, weaponizing childhood nostalgia against its visitors and employees. Viewers see various Guineveres differing from when artists were in charge to when corporate marketers took over. Olivia is on life support and desperate for ‘her’ Guinevere, symbolizing Disney exploiting creators and hyper-focusing on the past.
Frankie and Andi explore the gritty underside of Park Planet. Frankie is stuck working for a drug-smuggling scavenger and often hallucinates her toys advising her. Andi is high-strung and implicitly sick with a plague caused by chemicals used in Guinevere androids. The Guinevere android, Gwen, was abused by Olivia as a child, including having her guts used as a leash. She has become sapient and is strong enough to annihilate a giant robot knight sent by her owner. But what makes her different from the others?
Look to the Future: Knights of Guinevere had an explosive pilot thanks to series creator Dana Terrace’s fame from Disney’s The Owl House. It’s sitting at 17 million views as of February 2026 and a full season of this indie web animation has been greenlit by GLITCH.
#3 The Amazing Digital Circus
Created By: Gooseworx
Voice Actors: Lizzie Freeman, Michael Kovac, Alex Rochon, Amanda Hufford, Marissa Lenti
Pomni: “I guess I just don’t want you to feel like you’re nothing. I don’t want anybody to feel like that.”
The Amazing Digital Circus “Candy Carrier Chaos!” (Season 1, Episode 2)
Synopsis: A young woman called Pomni wakes up in The Amazing Digital Circus, a saccharine simulation run by an AI named Caine. Together with other players, she endures adventures that Caine makes for them while trying to maintain her sanity. But how did she enter the Circus? Is there a way out?
Why This Series: The Amazing Digital Circus is psychological horror masquerading as a kid’s show. Pomni copes with panic attacks and depression as she navigates her new surroundings. Other players have their own reactions, from Ragatha insisting that everything’s fine to Jax acting pointlessly cruel because he can.
Adventures keep the cast on their toes. They never know what the mad AI has planned, from investigating a haunted house to working in a fast food joint. The one catch is Abstractions, when a player loses their sanity and permanently becomes a glitching monster. Only Caine can stop them, leaving the players struggling to survive until he learns that they’ve changed.
Look to the Future: The Amazing Digital Circus’ pilot has a whopping 408 million views as of 2026. The most recent episode of this indie web animation has 52 million of them. Small wonder that Netflix signed a deal to stream the series. Two episodes remain in the series and no continuations are planned.
#2 Indie Web Animation: RWBY
Created By: Monty Oum, Roosterteeth
Voice Actors: Lindsay Jones, Kara Eberle, Arryn Zech, Barbara Dunkleman
[Ruby has created a giant slingshot with herself as the ammo]
RWBY “Of Players and Pieces” (Season 1, Episode 8)
Weiss: “Only you would think of a plan like this.”
Ruby: “Think you can make the shot?”
Weiss: “Hm. Can I?”
Ruby: “… Can y-”
Weiss: “Of course I can!”
Synopsis: The world of Remnant is under siege from The Creatures of Grimm and protected by Huntsmen. Aspiring Huntress Ruby Rose attends Beacon Academy with her sister Yang, prideful heiress Weiss, and mysterious Blake. Dark forces begin targeting Remnant and Team RWBY may not be enough to save the world.
Why This Show?: RWBY is a Harry Potter-like series that matures with each season. The first three are YA fare, attending school and saving the city. Volumes four through six have the team travelling the world and uncovering an ancient conspiracy. Seven through nine grow darker and venture into High Fantasy when the Big Bad makes her move and all-out war looms.
The characters make the show work. Ruby is an optimist whose idealism is slowly challenged. Weiss and Blake are both running from tragic pasts that refuse to stay buried. Yang has to adapt after a mission grievously wounds her. We’d be here all day talking about the heroes and villains, so why not check out our RWBY Retrospectives of the Heroes and Villains?
Look to the Future: RWBY was a very popular web animation in its heyday, regularly crashing Roosterteeth’s website when episodes were released. The franchise seemed over after the studio’s dissolution, culminating in two crossovers with the Justice League. Viz Media obtained RWBY from Warner Bros. and has confirmed Volume 10 with the main cast returning. The existing 9 seasons are on Hulu. Talk about coming back from the brink.
#1: Hazbin Hotel
Created by: Vivienne Medrano
Voice Actors: Erika Henningsen, Stephanie Beatriz, Amir Talai, Alex Brightman
Vaggie: “Just don’t sing to them.”
Overture (Season 1, Episode 1)
Angel Dust: “[Charlie] is halfway down the street.”
Vaggie: “Is she-”
Angel Dust: “Oh, she’s dancin’.”
Vaggie: “Ah, no…!”
Synopsis: Heaven hosts annual Exterminations to keep Hell’s population from rising against them. Princess of Hell Charlie Morningstar opens the Hazbin Hotel to rehabilitate Sinners and help them get to Heaven. Notorious serial killer Alastor assists her while pursuing his own agenda. But is redemption possible, even in Hell?
Why This Series?: Hazbin Hotel tap-dances across a tightrope. This foul-mouthed Disney musical from Hell could easily veer into bad taste, but the charming characters and heart behind each scene keeps it from going too far. Demons have their virtues and Angels have their crosses to bear.
Redemption provides a major mystery as viewers learn that even angels don’t know what makes someone worthy of Heaven. The characters who think its possible must figure out how and why. And while it is possible, there are many in Heaven who don’t want to see the damned ascend.
Look to the Future: Hazbin Hotel’s pilot hit 122 million views in 2026. Several bonus web animations and songs created a thriving fandom. Amazon bought the series, hiring many big name singers and actors. Check out the image above from the troupe’s appearance on Broadway. We’re two seasons into a planned five. Check out our thoughts on the first and second seasons of Hazbin Hotel.
What Indie Web Animations are your favorite? Did we miss a stellar series? Tell us in the comments.
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Image: Hazbin Hotel: Live On Broadway by David Giesbrecht/Prime © Amazon Content Services LLC
Jared Bounacos has written for Movie Rewind since 2016.
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